where is the
disputer
of this world?
Augustine - Exposition on the Psalms - v4
The Passion of our Lord here prophesied.
Now the Apostle Peter
saith, Christ also suffered for its, leaving us an exam pie,
that we should follow His steps; this the meaning of 'to respond. ' The Apostle John also saith, As Christ laid down lJ>>hn3, His life for us, so ought we also to lay down our lives fur the brethren this also to respond. But the choir signifies coucord, which consists in charity whoever therefore in imitation of our Lord's Passion gives up his body to be
burnt, he have not charity, does not answer in the choir, VOL. IV.
responses,
Pet.
if
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:
is
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I 2,
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it,
226- Sony of the Martyrs' choir. Christ prayed, but as Man.
Psalm and therefore it profiteth him nothing. Further, as in Latin orTM ^6 terms Precenlor an(* Succentor are used to denote in
13,
music the performer who sings the first part, and him who takes up just so in this song of the Passion, Christ going before followed by the choir of martyrs unto the end of gaining crowns in Heaven. This sung by the sons
Core, that is, the imitators of Christ's Passion: as Christ was Mat. 27, crucified in Calvary, which the interpretation of the Hebrew word Core. This also the understandiny of JEman the Israelite? : words occurring at the end of this title. JEman said to mean, his brother: for Christ deigns to make those His brethren, who understand the mystery of His Cross, and not only are not ashamed of but faithfully glory in not praising themselves for their own merits, but grateful for His John1, grace: so that may be said to each of them, Behold an
Israelite indeed, in whom there no yuile, just as holy Gen. 26, Scripture says of Israel himself, that he was without guile. Let us therefore now hear the voice of Christ singing before
us in prophecy, to whom His own choir should respond either in imitation, or in thanksgiving.
2. Ver. Lord God of my salvation, have cried day and niyht before Thee.
Ver. 2. let my prayer enter into Thy presence, incline Thine ear unto my calling. For even our Lord prayed, not in the form of God, but in the form of servant for in this
He also suffered. He prayed both in prosperous times, that by day, and in calamity, which imagine meant by night. The entrance of prayer into God's presence
its acceptance the inclination of His ear His compas sionate listening to it: for God has not such bodily members as we have. The passage however, as usual,
repetition the words, let my prayer enter into Thy presence, being
equivalent to, Incline Thine ear unto my calling.
3. Ver. 3. For my soul filled with evils, and my life draweth nigh unto hell. Dare we speak of the Soul of
Christ as filled with evils, when the passion had strength as
Israelite, vulg. EzrahiUe, see also
the title of the next Psalm. Ben.
conjectures may be for Zaraite,' as
Ethan and Heman are called sons of LXX has Zarite.
Zara, Chron. 6. and in
. whero Solomon said to be wiser
Kings than Ethan the Ezrahite ami Heman;
it
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Hi* soul, at His Passion,fllled with the ' evils' ofgrief. 227
far as it had any, only over the body ? whence Himself ex- Ver. honing His brethren to the endurance of suffering, and, as it ----- were, urging his choir to respond, saith, Fear not them which Mat. io, kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul. Can then the 28' soul be filled with evils by the persecutors, though it cannot
be killed ? if so, we must enquire what sort of evils. It cannot be with vices, through which iniquity prevails over
man, that we can say that Soul was filled : but perhaps with
griefs, in which the soul suffers with its own flesh in its suffering : for even what we call bodily pain cannot exist without the soul, but sorrowfulness, which is the pain of the
soul only, precedes it when inevitably impending. The soul therefore may feel pain without the body: but without the
soul the body cannot. Why therefore should we not say
that the Soul of Christ was full of the evils of humanity, though not of human sins? Another Prophet says of Him, I*. 63, 4. that He grieved for us: and the Evangelist says, And He Mat. 26, took with Him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and began37' 38' to be sorrowful and very heavy : and our Lord Himself saith
unto them of Himself, My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death. The Prophet who composed this Psalm, fore seeing that this would happen, introduces Him saying, My soul is full of evils, and My life drau eth nigh unto hell. For the very same sense is here expressed in other words, as when He said, My soul is sorrowful, even unto death. The words, ' My soul is sorrowful,' are like these, My soul is full ofevils : and what follows, " even unto death," like, my life draweth nigh unto hell. These feelings of human infirmity our Lord took upon Him, as He did the flesh of human infirmity, and the death of human flesh, not by the necessity of his con dition, but by the free will of His mercy, that He might trans figure into Himself His own body, which is the Church, (the head of which He deigned to be,) that is, His members in His holy and faithful disciples: that if amid human tempt ations any one among them happened to be in sorrow and pain, he might not therefore think that he was separated from His favour: that the body, like the chorus following its leader, might learn from its Head, that these sorrows were not sin, but proofs of human weakness. We read of the Apostle Paul, a chief member in this body, and we hear him confessing
Q2
'2-28 How our Lord was 4 Free among the dead. '
Pcaim that his soul was full of such evils, when he says, that he
tf3"^" Rom. 9,
2. 4.
feels oreat heaviness and continual sorrow in heart fJor his ? '
brethren according to the flesh, who are Israelites. And if we say that our Lord was sorrowful for them also at the approach of His Passion, in which they would incur the most atrocious guilt, I think we shall not speak amiss.
4. Lastly, the very thing said by our Saviour on the Luke23, Cross, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do,
M'
Person is most clearly shewn : for who else is free among Rom. 8, the dead but He, Who though in the likeness of sinful flesh is alone among sinners without sin ? Hence He saith to those who in their folly deemed themselves free, Every man who
is expressed in this Psalm below,
/ am counted us one
pit: by them who knew not what they were doing, when they
Ver. 4.
of
them that go down into the
imagined that He died like other men, subjecied to necessity, and overcome by it. The word pit is used for the depth of woe or of Hell.
John 29.
free. power
/
Ver. 5. Free among the dead. In these words our Lord's
5.
have been as a man that hath no help.
. lohn 8,
ib. 36.
destroyed by them, at His will; Who, when all had forsaken Him on the eve of His Passion, remained not alone, because, as He testifies, His Father forsook Him not was never-
.
thelcss by His enemies, for whom He prayed, who knew not
committeth sin is the servant of sin: and because through Him Who had no sin it behoved them to be freed from sin, He saith, If the Son hath freed you, then indeed ye shall be
He therefore,/ree among the dead, Who had it in His to lay down His life, and again to take it; from Whom no one could take but He laid down of His own free will Who could revive His own flesh, as a temple
4o"&e7' wnat luuy did, and said, He saved others, Himself He cannot save He be the Son of God, let Him come down 3i"& from the Cross, a,ul we believe Him. He trusted in
God; let Him deliver Him now, He will have Him; He was by them counted as one who hath no help like unto them that are wounded, and lie in the grave. But he adds,
Whom thou dost not yet remember: and in these words there to be remarked distinction between Christ and the rest of the dead. For though He was wounded, and
is
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How He seemed to be forgotten of God. 229
when dead laid in the tomb, yet they who knew not what vrr.
they were doing, or who He was, regarded Him as like
others who had perished from their wounds, and who slept in
the tomb, who are as yet out of remembrance of God, that is,
whose hour of resurrection has not yet arrived. For thus
the Scripture speaks of the dead as sleeping, because it wishes them to be regarded as destined to awake, (hat is, to rise
again. But He, wounded and asleep in the tomb, awoke on
the third day, and became like a sparrow that sitteth alone Ps- 102i
on the housetop, that is, on the right hand of His Father in7- Heaven: and now dieth no more, death shall no more have^m. e. dominion over Him. Hence He differs widely from those9. whom God hath not yet remembered to cause their resurrec
tion after this manner : for what was to go before in the Head, was kept for the Body in the end. God is then said to remem ber, when He does an act : then to forget, when He does it not: for neither can God forget, as He never changes, nor remember, as He can never forget. I am counted then, by those who know not what they do, as a man that hath no
help : while I am free among the dead, I am held by these men like unto them that are wounded, and lie in the grave. Yet those very men, who account thus of Me, are further said to be cut away from Thy hand, that is, when I was made so by them,' they were cut away from Thy hand they who believed Me destitute of help, are deprived of the help of
Thy hand : for they, as he saith in another Psalm, have Ps &7 ' digged a pit before me, and are fallen into the midst of it 7. themselves. I prefer this interpretation to that whi(h refers
the words, they are cut away from Thy hand, to those who
sleep in the tomb, whom God hath not yet remembered: since the righteous are among the latter, of whom, even though God hath not yet called them to the resurrection, it
is said, that their souls are in the hands of God, that is, thatWisd
'
B- 6o*60. 7'
they dwell under the defence of the Most High ; and shall i. abide under the shadow of the God of Hearcn. But it is},s. 9I, those who are cut away from the hand of God, who believed
that Christ was cut off from His hand, and thus accounting
Him among the wicked, dared to slay Him.
6. Ver. 6. They laid Me in the lowest pit, that is, the deepest pit. For so it is in the Greek. But what is the
230 Our Lord in humiliation, seemed under wrath.
Psalm lowest pit, but the deepest woe, than which there is none
Whence in another Psalm it is said, TItou brought est me out also of the pit of misery.
In a place of darkness, and in the shadow of death, whiles they knew not what they did, they laid Him there, thus deem- ing of Him ; they knew not Him Whom none of the princes of this world knew. By the shadow of death, 1 know not whether the death of the body is to be understood-, or that of
p^"^nmore deep? '
3.
l Cor. 2' 8'
Is. 9, 2. which it is written, They that walked in darkness and in the land of the shadow of death, a light is risen on them, because by belief they were brought from out of the darkness and death of sin into light and life. Such an one those who knew not what they did thought our Lord, and in their ignorance accounted Him among those, whom He came to help, that they might not be such themselves.
7. Ver. 7. Thy indignation lieth hard upon Me, or, as other copies have Thy anger; or, as others, Thy fury the Greek word 5uj*o? having undergone different interpretations. For where the Greek copies have ogyti, no translator hesitated to express by the Latin ira but where the word 9u/aoj, most object to rendering by ira, although many of the authors of the best Latin style, in their translations from Greek philosophy, have thus rendered the word in Latin.
But shall not discuss this matter further: only if also were to suggest another term, should think indignation more tolerable than fury, this word in Latin not being applied to persons in their senses. What then does this mean, Thy in dignation lieth Imrd upon Me, except the belief of those, who
Cor. knew not the Lord of Glory who imagined that the anger
of God was not merely roused, but lay hard upon Him, Whom they dared to bring to death, and not only death, but that kind, which they regarded as the most execrable of all, namely, the death of the Cross: whence saith the Apostle, Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the Law, being made a curse for us for written, Cursed every one that hangeth upon a tree. On this account, wishing to praise His obedience which He carried to the extreme of humility,
Phil. he says. He humbled Himself, and became obedient unto
K
8-
Gal.
death and as this seemed little, he added, even the death the Cross; and with the same view, as fur as can see, he says
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Troubles aetual, and threatened.
Acquaintance far off. 23 1
in this Psalm, And all thy suspensions, or, as some translate Ver. waves, others tossings, Thou hast brought over Me. We also -- find in another Psalm, All thy suspensions and waves are come Ps. 42, in upon Me, or, as some have translated better, have passed 7- over Me: for it is 8<<jXflov in Greek, not ei<r>jA0ov : and where both expressions are employed, waves and suspensions, one cannot
be used as equivalent to the other. In that passage we explained- suspensions as threatenings, waves as the actual sufferings: both inflicted by God's judgment: but in that place it is said, All have passed over Me, here, Thou hast brought all upon Me. In the other case, that although some evils took place, yet, he said, all those which are here mentioned passed over; but in this case, Thou hast brought them upon Me. Kvils pass over when they do not touch man, as things which hang over him, or when they do touch him, as waves. But when he uses the word suspensions, he does not say they passed over, but, Thou hast brought them upon Me, meaning that all which impended had come to pass. All things which were predicted of His Passion impended, as long as they
remained in the prophecies for future fulfilment.
H. Ver. 8. Thou hast put Mine acquaintance far from Me.
Ifwe understand by acquaintance those whom He knew, will be all men for whom knew He not? But He calls those
to whom He was Himself known, as far as they could know Him al that season at least so far forth as
they knew Him to be innocent, although they considered Him only as a man, uot as likew ise God. Although He might call the righteous whom He approved, acquaintance, as He calls the wicked unknown, to whom He was to say at the end,
know you not. In what follows, and they have set Me for Mat, an abhorrence to themselves those whom He called before23- acquaintance, may be meant, as even they felt horror at the mode of that death but better referred to those of whom
He was speaking above as His persecutors. was delivered Mat. 2c, up, and did not get forth. Is this because His disciples56' were without, while He was being tried within Or are we
to give deeper meaning to the words, cannot get forth
acquaintance,
as signifying, shewed not Who made manifest
remained hidden in My secret counsels, was, did not reveal Myself, was nc;
And so follows,
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232 'Eyes' weakened, that illustrious Members.
Psalm Ver. 9. My eyes became weak from want. For what eyes ixxxvinare we to umlerstan(l |f the eyes of the flesh in which He suffered, we do not read that His eyes became weak from
want, that is, from hunger, in His Passion, as often the case; as He was betrayed after His supper, and crucified on the same day the inner eyes, how were they weakened from want, in which there was a light that could never fail But He meant by His eyes those members in the body, of which He was Himself the head, which, as brighter and more eminent and chief above the rest, He loved. It was of this body that the Apostle was speaking, when he wrote, taking
lCor. 12,his metaphor from our own body, Ifthe whole body were an
l/--
ib. 27.
eye, where were the hearing? the whole were hearing, where were the smelling And they were all one member, where were the body? But now are there many members, yet but one body. Tlie eye cannot say unto the hands, have no need of you and the hand shall say, Because am not the eye, am not of the body therefore not the body? What he wished understood by these words, he has expressed more clearly, by adding, Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular. Wherefore as those eyes, that is, the holy Apostles, to whom not flesh and blood, but the Father Which in Heaven had revealed Him, so that
Mat. 16, Peter said, Jhou art Christ, the Son of the Living God, when they saw Him betrayed, and suffering such evils, saw Him not such as they wished, as He did not come forth, did not manifest Himself in His virtue and power, but still hidden
Jin fuis in His secresy, endured everv thing as man overcome and
oribns
.
enfeebled, they became weak for want, as their food, their Light, had been withdrawn from them.
9. He continues, And have called upon Thee. This in deed He did most clearly, when upon the Cross. But what follows All the day have stretched forth My hands unto Thee, must be examined how must be taken. For in this expression we understand the tree of the Cross, how can we reconcile with the wlwle day Can He be said to have hung upon the Cross during the whole day, as the night considered part of the day But day, as opposed to night, was meant by this expression, even of this day, ibe first and no small portion had passed by at the time
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Our Lord's hands how stretched out " all day. " 233
of His crucifixion. But if we take ' day' in the same sense Ver-
10.
for a part, as Scripture sometimes uses this expression, I
do not remember an instance, in which the whole is taken
for a part, when the word whole is expressly added. For
in the passage of the Gospel where the Lord saith, 7%eMat. 12, Son of Alan . shall be three days and three nights in the
heart of /he earth, it is no extraordinary licence to take the whole for the part, the expression not being for three trhofe days and three whole nights : since the one intermediate day was a whole one, the other two were parts, the last being part of the first day, the first part of the last. But if the Cross is not meant here, but the prayer, which we find in the Gospel that He poured forth in the form of a servant to God the Father, where He is said to have prayed long before His Passion, and on the eve of His passion, and also when on the Cross, we do not read any where that He did so throughout
the whole day. Therefore by the stretched out hands through out the whole day, we may understand the continuation of good works in which He never ceased from exertion.
of time (especially as the word is used in the feminine, a gender which is restricted to that sense in Latin, although not so in Greek, as it is always used in the feminine, which I suppose to be the reason for its translation in the same gender in our own version,) the knot of the question will be drawn tighter : for how can it mean for the whole space of time, if He did not even for one day stretch forth His
hands on the Cross? Further, should we take the whole
10. But as His good works profited only the predestined to eternal salvation, and not all men, nor even all those among whom they were done, he adds,
Ver. 10. Dost thou shew wonders among the dead? If we suppose this relates to those whose flesh life has left, great wonders have been wrought among the dead, inasmuch as some Mat. 27, of them have revived : and in our Lord's descent into Hell, and
His ascent as the conqueror of death, a great wonder was wrought among the dead. He refers then in these words, Dost
Thou shew wonders among the dead? to men so dead in heart,
that such great works of Christ could not rouse them to the life of faith : for he does not say that wonders are not shewn to them because they see them not, but because they do not profit them.
a-
scribe?
where is the disputer of this world? there is no in congruity in calling them physicians, as if by their own unaided skill they promised the salvation of souls: against
b-
foiceth as a giant to run his course; that is Giant of giants, chief among the greatest and strongest, who in His Church excel in spiritual strength. Just as He is the Mountain of
934 The spiritually dead heyond a ' Physicitm's' power.
Psalm For, as he says in this passage, the whole day have Istretched forth My hands to Thee: because He ever refers all His works John 6, t0 the will of His Father, constantly declaring that He came to fulfil His Father's will: so also, as an unIbelieving people
Is. 66,
my hands all day unto u rebellious people, thai believes not, but contradicts. Those then are dead, to whom wonders have not been shewn, not because they saw them not, but since they lived not again through them. The following
verse, Shall physicians revive them, and shall they praise Thee? means, that the dead shall not be revived by such means, that they may praise Thee. In the Hebrew there is said to be a different expression: giants being used where physicians are here : but the Suptuagint translators, whose authority is such that they may deservedly be said to have interpreted by the inspiration of the Spirit of God owing to their wonderful agreement, conclude, not by mistake, but taking occasion from the resemblance in sound between the Hebrew words expressing these two senses, that the use of the word is an indication of the sense in which the word giants is meant to be taken. For if you suppose the proud meant by giants,
1 Cor. l, of whom the Apostle saith, Where is the wise? where is the
have out saw the same works, another Prophet saith, spread
P>>. 4,8. whom it is said, Of the Lord is safety. But if we take the Ps. 19, word giant in a good sense, as it is said of our Lord, He re-
1s. 2, -2. mountains; as it is written, And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the Lord's house shall be manifested inthe top of the mountains : and the Saintof saints:
there is no in absurdity styling
these same
Rom. i i , physicians. Whence saith the Apostle, ifby any means
may provoke to emulation them which are my flesh, and might save some of them. But even such physicians, even though they cure not by their own power, (as not even of their own do those of the body,) yet so far forth as by faithful ministry
they assist towards salvation, can cure the living, but not
and Imen great mighty
Miracles and preaching fail to raise them up. 235
raise the dead : of whom it is said, Dost Thou shew wonders v<<r. among the dead? For the grace of God, by which men's --! ^'-_ minds in a certain manner are brought to live a fresh life,
so as to be able to hear the lessons of salvation from any of its ministers whatever, is most hidden and mysterious. This grace
is thus spoken of in the Gospel. No man can come to Me, John 6,
except the Father Which hath sent Me draw him : and a little after this still more openly repeated The words that speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life but there are some of you that believe not. The Evangelist here interposes the remark, that Jesus knew from the beginning who they were that believed not, and ivho should betray Him and joining with this the Lord's own words, he adds, And He said, Therefore said unto you, that no man can come unto Me, except were given unto him of My Father.
He had above said, that there were, some of them who believed not: and He adds the last quoted verse as an ex planation of the cause of this unbelief: in order to shew, that the very faith by which the soul believes, and springs into fresh life from the death of its former affections, given us by God. Whatever exertions, then, the best preachers of the worde, and persuaders of the truth through miracles, may make with men, just like great physicians yet they are dead, and through Thy grace have not second life, Dost Thou shew wonders among the dead, or shall physicians raise
them? and shall they whom they raise praise Thee? For this confession declares that they live not, as written else
where, Thanksgiving perisheth from the dead, as from one Ecclu*.
17, 26'
Destruction also repetition of the grave, and signifies
them who are in the grave, styled above the dead, in the
verse, Dost thou shew wonders among the dead? for the
body the grave of the dead soul whence our Lord's words
in the Gospel, Ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which Mat. 23,
Ben. refers to P. Lombard, Sent. Di>>t. 18. Htc qumritur. '
g6!
that not.
11. Ver. 11. Shall one shew Thy lovingkindness in the
grave, or Thy faithfulness in destruction The word shew of course understood as repeated, Shall any shew Thy faithfulness in destruction Scripture loves to connect lovingkindness and faithfulness, especially in the Psalms.
?
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236 God's works not known in the 1 land of darkness'
Mat. 23, 27.
crisy and iniquity.
12. Ver. 12. Shall thy wondrous works be known in the
dark, and thy righteousness in the land where all things are forgotten? the dark answers to the land of forgetful ness : for the unbelieving are meant by the dark, as the Apostle saith, Eph. 6, For ye were sometimes darkness; and the land where all things are forgotten, is the mau who has forgotten God; for the Ps. H, unbelieving soul can arrive at darkness so intense, that the fool saith in his heart, There is no God. Thus the meaning of the whole passage may thus be drawn out in its connection : Lord, I have called upon Thee, amid My sufferings ; all dag I have stretched forth my hands- unto Thee, that is, I have never ceased to stretch forth My works to glorify Thee. Why then do the wicked rage against Me, unless because Thou shewest not wonders among the dead? because those wonders move them not to faith, nor can physicians restore them to life that they may praise Thee, because Thy hidden grace works not in them to draw them unto believing: because no man cometh unto Me, but whom Thou hast drawn. Shall then
Thy loving kindness be shewed in the grave ? that the grave of the dead soul, which lies dead beneath the body's weight: or Thy faithfulness in destruction. that in such a death as cannot believe or feci any of these things. For how then in the darkness of this death, that is, in the man who in for getting Thee has lost the light of his life, shall Thy wondrous works and Thy righteousness be known.
13. But question occurs as to what may be the use of these dead ones, what may be the advantage imparted by the Almighty to the body of Christ, that is, the Church, by means of these; namely, that in them may be displayed
Rom. the grace of God towards the predestined who are called
according to His purpose. Of this that in a former
Ps. 69, Psalm the Church exclaims, My God, His mercy shall
Psalm indeed appear beautiful outward, but unthin are fall of dead lxxxvhi men,s fanes,' and of all uncleanness. Even so ye outwardly
, . ,. . ? -. appear righteous unto men, but withm ye are fall of hypo
10'
prevent me and God shall shew unto me in mine enemies; and so goes on here in the next verse, and says, Unto Thee also have cried, Lord in which we must suppose our Lord speaking in the words of the Church, His own
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His grace glorified in those who are saved. 237
body ; for what means, Ialso, but that we also were at one Ver.
time the children of wrath naturally, like the rest. But,
unto Thee have I cried, that I
distinguishes me from other children of wrath, when I hear
the Apostle's terrible reproof of the ungrateful ; For who maketh thee to differ from another ? and what hast thou
that thou didst not receive? Now if thou didst receive
dost thou glory, as if thou hadst not received it? Salvation
the Lord's for there no giant that can be saved the p? . 33,
greatness his strength: but as written, Whosoever s^"^Ro'm i0 call upon the name of the Lord, shall be saved. How then 13. 16. shall they call upon Him in Whom they have not believed?
and how shall they believe in Him of Whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher and how
shall they preach except lfiey be sent As is written, How beautilul are the feet of them that preach the Gospel ofpeace,
and briny glad tidings good things They are the phy sicians who heal the man wounded by the thieves: but
the Lord Who brought him to the inn: they themselves are Lukeio, the labourers in the Lord's vineyard but yet he who plants, \*Qot and he who waters, is nought, but the Lord Who giveth the increase. Thus then loo have cried unto the Lord, that is,
have invoked the help of God for my salvation. But how could invoke, unless believed how could believe, did
not hear? But He was Who drew me to believe what
heard for was nut any chance physician that aroused me
to life from the death of the soul, but He Himself working in
secret. For many have heard Since their sound is gone outPs. 19, into all lands, and their words into the ends of the world 4,
but, All men have nut faith: and, The Lord knowelh them2Tim. 2, that are His. And then could not even have believed, had19-
not the lovingkindness of God prevenied me and, because
He calls the dead to life, and calls things that are not as things Cor. that are, by calling me in secret ways, by movmg me, and drawing me to Him, had brought me at last to the light of
faith. He therefore says, And early shull my prayers prevent
Thee. morning, when the night and darkness of infidelity
have passed away. Thy lovingkindness hath prevented me, that this morning might dawn upon me but as that day of light still to come, when the hidden things ofdarkness shall be
might be saved. For who
? p'h2'2 ' 3.
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itI /
1 ofis
;
? it
1
:
?
? it
is
?
by
it, is
238 Why prayer of saints sometimes seems cast off.
Ps*lm revealed, and the thoughts of the heart be made manifest, lx^""Igwd every one shall have praise of Thee: yet now in this life,
6.
'in this wandering, in this light of faith, which compared with the darkness of infidelity seems already day, but compared with the day, when we shall see Him face unto face, is still
night, shall my prayer prevent Thee.
14. Ver. 13. But that those prayers, the blessings of which
surpass all words, may be more fervent and more constant, the gift that shall last unto eternity is deferred, while transitory evils are allowed to thrcken. And so it follows ;
Ver. 14. Lord, why hast Thou cast off my prayer? which may be compared with another Psalm; My God, My God, look upon me ; why hast Thou forsaken me ? The reason is made matter of question, not as if the wisdom of God were blamed as doing so without a cause ; and so here. Lord, why hast Thou cast off my prayer ? But if this cause be attended to carefully, it will be found indicated above ; for it is with the view that the prayers of the Saints are, as it were, repelled by the delay of so great a blessing, and by the adversity they encounter in the troubles of life, that the flame, thus fanned, may burst into a brighter blaze.
Pi 22,1.
15. For this purpose he briefly sketches in what follows the troubles of Christ's body. For it is not in the Head Act>>9,4. alone that they took place, since it is said to Saul too, Why
persecutest thou Me ? and Paul himself, as if placed as an
Why then, Lord, hast Tliou cast off my soul ? why hidest
they compassed me about together.
Ver. 18. A friend Thou hast put far from me : and mine
acquaintance from my misery. All these evils have taken place, and are happening in the limbs of Christ's body, and God turns away His face from their prayers, by not hearing as to what they wish for, since they know not that the fulfilment of their wishes would not be good for them. The Church is
Colos. 1, elect member in the same body, saith, " That I
fill up
*4,
may
that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh. "
Thou Thy face from me ?
Ver. 15. when lifted up,
/ amIpoor, and in toils my youth up: and from
was thrown down, and troubled.
Ver. 16. Thy'wraths went over me: Thy terrors disturbedme. Ver. 1 7. They came round about me all day like water :
Troubles of the Church ' all the daif of her pilgrimage. 239
poor, as she hungers and thirsts in her wanderings for that Ver.
food with which she shall be filled in her own country : she
is in toils from her youth up, as the very Body of Christ saith
in another Psalm, Many a time have they overcome me from Ps. 129, my youth. And for this reason some of her members am l- lifted up even in this world, that in them may be the greater lowliness. Over that Body, which constitutes the unity of the
Saints and the faithful, whose Head is Christ, go the wraths
of God : yet abide not : since it is of the unbelieving only
that it is written, that the u rath of God abideth upon him. John 3, The terrors of God disturb the weakness of the faithful,36' because all that can happen, even though it actually happen
not, it is prudent to fear; and sometimes these terrors so
agitate the reflecting soul with the evils impending around, that
they seem to flow around us on every side like water, and to encircle us in our fears. And as the Church while on pilgrimage
is never free from these evils, happening as they do at one moment in one of her limbs, at another in another, he adds,
all day, signifying the continuation in time, to the end of
this world. Often too, friends and acquaintances, their worldly interests at stake, in their terror forsake the Saints-; of which
saith the Apostle, all men forsook me : may it not be laid /t>2Tim. 4, their charge. But to what purpose is *i11 this, but that early 16
in the morning, that is, after the night of unbelief, the prayers of this holy Body may in the light of faith prevent God, until the coming of that salvation, which we are at present saved by hoping for, not by having, while we await it with patience and faithfulness. Then the Lord will not repel our prayers, as there will no longer be any thing to be sought
for, but every thing that has been rightly asked, will be obtained: nor will He turn His face away from us, since we
shall see Him as He is: nor shall we be poor, because God Uohn3, will be our abundance, all in all : nor shall we suffer, as 2.
fCor. there will be no more weakness: nor after exaltation shall 16,28-
we meet with humiliation and confusion, as there will be no adversity there : nor bear even the transient wrath of God, as we shall abide in His abiding love: nor will His terrors agitate us, because His promises realized will bless us : nor will our friend and acquaintance, being terrified, be far from us, where there will be no foe to dread.
18'
240
Lat. lxnvni
PSALM LXXX1X.
1See
JEthan the Israelite1 : which has given this Psalm its title.
SERMON I. ON THE FIRST PAET OF THE PSALM.
Delivered in the morning, on the festival of some Martyrs.
1. UnderstAnd, beloved, this Psalm, which I am about
to explain, by the grace of God, of our hope in the Lord Jesus
Christ, and be of good cheer, because He Who promised,
will fulfil all, as He has fulfilled much : for it is not our own
merit, but His mercy, that gives us confidence in Him.
He Himself is meant, in my belief, by the understanding of
noteon . ii . 11
/- title of lou see then, who is meant by JLtnan : but the meanmg of
Uixviii^6 wor(^ 's strong. No man in this world is strong, except in the hope of God's promises : for as to our own deservings, we are weak, in His mercy we are strong. Weak then in himseIlf, strong in God's mercy, the Psalmist thus begins.
2.
mouth will I
of fur
make known Thy truth unto all generations.
wilt sing Thg mercies, 0 Lord, ever: with my
Let my limbs, he saith, serve the Lord : I speak, but it is
of Thine I speak. With my mouth will I
Thy truth : if I obey not Thee, I am not Thy servaut :
make known if I >>ab>> Te speak on my own part, I am a liar. To speak then from* Thee, and in my ovvu person, are two things : one mine, one Thine : Truth Thine, language mine. Let us hear then what
faithfulness he maketh known, what mercies he singeth.
3. (2. ) For Thou hast said, Mercy shall be built up for ever. It is this that I sing : this is Thy truth, for the making known of which my mouth serveth. In such wise Thou
sayest, I build, as not to destroy : for some Thou destroyest and buildest not ; and some whom Thou destroyest Thou dost rebuild. For unless there were some who were destroyed to
Jer. l, be rebuilt, Jeremiah would not have written, See, I have this
10-
day set thee to throw down and to build. And indeed all who formerly worshipped images and stoues could not be built up in Christ, without being destroyed as to their old error. While, unless some were destroyed not to be built up, it
Ps. 28, would not be written, He shall destroy them, and not build
God's Truth shewn through His Mercy to Israel. 241
them up. On their account therefore who are destroyed and Ver. built up, that they might not conceive their being built up -- merely temporary, as the previous ruin was in which they were destroyed, the Psalmist, through whose mouth is made known the truth of God, held to1 the truth. Therefore willuenuit.
I make it known, therefore do I declare because Thou hast said that am man declare in full confidence, for Thou God hast said for even wavered in my own words, in Thine should be confirmed. What saidst Thou? Mercy shall be built up for ever: Thy truth shall Thou establish in the very Heavens. As He had said in the former place, will sing of Thy mercies, Lord, for ever: with my mouth will make known Thy truth to all generations. In
what follows, he joins these two words, mercy and faithfulness For Thou hast said, Mercy shall be built up for ever Thy truth shall be established in the Heavens in which mercy
and truth are repeated, for all the icays of the Lord are Psa. 26, mercy and truth, for truth in the fulfilment of promises could 10-
not be shewn, unless mercy in the remission of sins pre
ceded. Next, as many things were promised in pro
phecy even to the people of Israel that came according to the flesh from the seed of Abraham, aud that people was increased that the promises of God might bo fulfilled in it; while yet God did not close the fountain of His goodness even to the Gentiles, whom He had placed under the rule of the Angels, while He reserved the people of Israel as His own portion the Apostle expressly mentions the Lord's mercy and truth as referring to these two parties.
For he calls Christ a minister of the Circumcision for MeRom. 16, truth of God, to confirm the promises made unto the8'
See how God deceived not see how He cast not off His people, whom He foreknew.
saith, Christ also suffered for its, leaving us an exam pie,
that we should follow His steps; this the meaning of 'to respond. ' The Apostle John also saith, As Christ laid down lJ>>hn3, His life for us, so ought we also to lay down our lives fur the brethren this also to respond. But the choir signifies coucord, which consists in charity whoever therefore in imitation of our Lord's Passion gives up his body to be
burnt, he have not charity, does not answer in the choir, VOL. IV.
responses,
Pet.
if
;I is a
Q
:
is
is I
I 2,
I
it,
226- Sony of the Martyrs' choir. Christ prayed, but as Man.
Psalm and therefore it profiteth him nothing. Further, as in Latin orTM ^6 terms Precenlor an(* Succentor are used to denote in
13,
music the performer who sings the first part, and him who takes up just so in this song of the Passion, Christ going before followed by the choir of martyrs unto the end of gaining crowns in Heaven. This sung by the sons
Core, that is, the imitators of Christ's Passion: as Christ was Mat. 27, crucified in Calvary, which the interpretation of the Hebrew word Core. This also the understandiny of JEman the Israelite? : words occurring at the end of this title. JEman said to mean, his brother: for Christ deigns to make those His brethren, who understand the mystery of His Cross, and not only are not ashamed of but faithfully glory in not praising themselves for their own merits, but grateful for His John1, grace: so that may be said to each of them, Behold an
Israelite indeed, in whom there no yuile, just as holy Gen. 26, Scripture says of Israel himself, that he was without guile. Let us therefore now hear the voice of Christ singing before
us in prophecy, to whom His own choir should respond either in imitation, or in thanksgiving.
2. Ver. Lord God of my salvation, have cried day and niyht before Thee.
Ver. 2. let my prayer enter into Thy presence, incline Thine ear unto my calling. For even our Lord prayed, not in the form of God, but in the form of servant for in this
He also suffered. He prayed both in prosperous times, that by day, and in calamity, which imagine meant by night. The entrance of prayer into God's presence
its acceptance the inclination of His ear His compas sionate listening to it: for God has not such bodily members as we have. The passage however, as usual,
repetition the words, let my prayer enter into Thy presence, being
equivalent to, Incline Thine ear unto my calling.
3. Ver. 3. For my soul filled with evils, and my life draweth nigh unto hell. Dare we speak of the Soul of
Christ as filled with evils, when the passion had strength as
Israelite, vulg. EzrahiUe, see also
the title of the next Psalm. Ben.
conjectures may be for Zaraite,' as
Ethan and Heman are called sons of LXX has Zarite.
Zara, Chron. 6. and in
. whero Solomon said to be wiser
Kings than Ethan the Ezrahite ami Heman;
it
O 1. :O
'
?
is
is 13
is
is it,
is
2, is
a II
O
is,
is it ;
1 is
is
1
is 4, : is
it,
is a;
it
of
1*0 3. '
Hi* soul, at His Passion,fllled with the ' evils' ofgrief. 227
far as it had any, only over the body ? whence Himself ex- Ver. honing His brethren to the endurance of suffering, and, as it ----- were, urging his choir to respond, saith, Fear not them which Mat. io, kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul. Can then the 28' soul be filled with evils by the persecutors, though it cannot
be killed ? if so, we must enquire what sort of evils. It cannot be with vices, through which iniquity prevails over
man, that we can say that Soul was filled : but perhaps with
griefs, in which the soul suffers with its own flesh in its suffering : for even what we call bodily pain cannot exist without the soul, but sorrowfulness, which is the pain of the
soul only, precedes it when inevitably impending. The soul therefore may feel pain without the body: but without the
soul the body cannot. Why therefore should we not say
that the Soul of Christ was full of the evils of humanity, though not of human sins? Another Prophet says of Him, I*. 63, 4. that He grieved for us: and the Evangelist says, And He Mat. 26, took with Him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and began37' 38' to be sorrowful and very heavy : and our Lord Himself saith
unto them of Himself, My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death. The Prophet who composed this Psalm, fore seeing that this would happen, introduces Him saying, My soul is full of evils, and My life drau eth nigh unto hell. For the very same sense is here expressed in other words, as when He said, My soul is sorrowful, even unto death. The words, ' My soul is sorrowful,' are like these, My soul is full ofevils : and what follows, " even unto death," like, my life draweth nigh unto hell. These feelings of human infirmity our Lord took upon Him, as He did the flesh of human infirmity, and the death of human flesh, not by the necessity of his con dition, but by the free will of His mercy, that He might trans figure into Himself His own body, which is the Church, (the head of which He deigned to be,) that is, His members in His holy and faithful disciples: that if amid human tempt ations any one among them happened to be in sorrow and pain, he might not therefore think that he was separated from His favour: that the body, like the chorus following its leader, might learn from its Head, that these sorrows were not sin, but proofs of human weakness. We read of the Apostle Paul, a chief member in this body, and we hear him confessing
Q2
'2-28 How our Lord was 4 Free among the dead. '
Pcaim that his soul was full of such evils, when he says, that he
tf3"^" Rom. 9,
2. 4.
feels oreat heaviness and continual sorrow in heart fJor his ? '
brethren according to the flesh, who are Israelites. And if we say that our Lord was sorrowful for them also at the approach of His Passion, in which they would incur the most atrocious guilt, I think we shall not speak amiss.
4. Lastly, the very thing said by our Saviour on the Luke23, Cross, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do,
M'
Person is most clearly shewn : for who else is free among Rom. 8, the dead but He, Who though in the likeness of sinful flesh is alone among sinners without sin ? Hence He saith to those who in their folly deemed themselves free, Every man who
is expressed in this Psalm below,
/ am counted us one
pit: by them who knew not what they were doing, when they
Ver. 4.
of
them that go down into the
imagined that He died like other men, subjecied to necessity, and overcome by it. The word pit is used for the depth of woe or of Hell.
John 29.
free. power
/
Ver. 5. Free among the dead. In these words our Lord's
5.
have been as a man that hath no help.
. lohn 8,
ib. 36.
destroyed by them, at His will; Who, when all had forsaken Him on the eve of His Passion, remained not alone, because, as He testifies, His Father forsook Him not was never-
.
thelcss by His enemies, for whom He prayed, who knew not
committeth sin is the servant of sin: and because through Him Who had no sin it behoved them to be freed from sin, He saith, If the Son hath freed you, then indeed ye shall be
He therefore,/ree among the dead, Who had it in His to lay down His life, and again to take it; from Whom no one could take but He laid down of His own free will Who could revive His own flesh, as a temple
4o"&e7' wnat luuy did, and said, He saved others, Himself He cannot save He be the Son of God, let Him come down 3i"& from the Cross, a,ul we believe Him. He trusted in
God; let Him deliver Him now, He will have Him; He was by them counted as one who hath no help like unto them that are wounded, and lie in the grave. But he adds,
Whom thou dost not yet remember: and in these words there to be remarked distinction between Christ and the rest of the dead. For though He was wounded, and
is
a
it,
;
6'
8,
; if
if
;
it
;
How He seemed to be forgotten of God. 229
when dead laid in the tomb, yet they who knew not what vrr.
they were doing, or who He was, regarded Him as like
others who had perished from their wounds, and who slept in
the tomb, who are as yet out of remembrance of God, that is,
whose hour of resurrection has not yet arrived. For thus
the Scripture speaks of the dead as sleeping, because it wishes them to be regarded as destined to awake, (hat is, to rise
again. But He, wounded and asleep in the tomb, awoke on
the third day, and became like a sparrow that sitteth alone Ps- 102i
on the housetop, that is, on the right hand of His Father in7- Heaven: and now dieth no more, death shall no more have^m. e. dominion over Him. Hence He differs widely from those9. whom God hath not yet remembered to cause their resurrec
tion after this manner : for what was to go before in the Head, was kept for the Body in the end. God is then said to remem ber, when He does an act : then to forget, when He does it not: for neither can God forget, as He never changes, nor remember, as He can never forget. I am counted then, by those who know not what they do, as a man that hath no
help : while I am free among the dead, I am held by these men like unto them that are wounded, and lie in the grave. Yet those very men, who account thus of Me, are further said to be cut away from Thy hand, that is, when I was made so by them,' they were cut away from Thy hand they who believed Me destitute of help, are deprived of the help of
Thy hand : for they, as he saith in another Psalm, have Ps &7 ' digged a pit before me, and are fallen into the midst of it 7. themselves. I prefer this interpretation to that whi(h refers
the words, they are cut away from Thy hand, to those who
sleep in the tomb, whom God hath not yet remembered: since the righteous are among the latter, of whom, even though God hath not yet called them to the resurrection, it
is said, that their souls are in the hands of God, that is, thatWisd
'
B- 6o*60. 7'
they dwell under the defence of the Most High ; and shall i. abide under the shadow of the God of Hearcn. But it is},s. 9I, those who are cut away from the hand of God, who believed
that Christ was cut off from His hand, and thus accounting
Him among the wicked, dared to slay Him.
6. Ver. 6. They laid Me in the lowest pit, that is, the deepest pit. For so it is in the Greek. But what is the
230 Our Lord in humiliation, seemed under wrath.
Psalm lowest pit, but the deepest woe, than which there is none
Whence in another Psalm it is said, TItou brought est me out also of the pit of misery.
In a place of darkness, and in the shadow of death, whiles they knew not what they did, they laid Him there, thus deem- ing of Him ; they knew not Him Whom none of the princes of this world knew. By the shadow of death, 1 know not whether the death of the body is to be understood-, or that of
p^"^nmore deep? '
3.
l Cor. 2' 8'
Is. 9, 2. which it is written, They that walked in darkness and in the land of the shadow of death, a light is risen on them, because by belief they were brought from out of the darkness and death of sin into light and life. Such an one those who knew not what they did thought our Lord, and in their ignorance accounted Him among those, whom He came to help, that they might not be such themselves.
7. Ver. 7. Thy indignation lieth hard upon Me, or, as other copies have Thy anger; or, as others, Thy fury the Greek word 5uj*o? having undergone different interpretations. For where the Greek copies have ogyti, no translator hesitated to express by the Latin ira but where the word 9u/aoj, most object to rendering by ira, although many of the authors of the best Latin style, in their translations from Greek philosophy, have thus rendered the word in Latin.
But shall not discuss this matter further: only if also were to suggest another term, should think indignation more tolerable than fury, this word in Latin not being applied to persons in their senses. What then does this mean, Thy in dignation lieth Imrd upon Me, except the belief of those, who
Cor. knew not the Lord of Glory who imagined that the anger
of God was not merely roused, but lay hard upon Him, Whom they dared to bring to death, and not only death, but that kind, which they regarded as the most execrable of all, namely, the death of the Cross: whence saith the Apostle, Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the Law, being made a curse for us for written, Cursed every one that hangeth upon a tree. On this account, wishing to praise His obedience which He carried to the extreme of humility,
Phil. he says. He humbled Himself, and became obedient unto
K
8-
Gal.
death and as this seemed little, he added, even the death the Cross; and with the same view, as fur as can see, he says
;
I
it
2,
2' i 3,
I
is
of
:
it,
it is
?
I
it
I
is
:
:
Troubles aetual, and threatened.
Acquaintance far off. 23 1
in this Psalm, And all thy suspensions, or, as some translate Ver. waves, others tossings, Thou hast brought over Me. We also -- find in another Psalm, All thy suspensions and waves are come Ps. 42, in upon Me, or, as some have translated better, have passed 7- over Me: for it is 8<<jXflov in Greek, not ei<r>jA0ov : and where both expressions are employed, waves and suspensions, one cannot
be used as equivalent to the other. In that passage we explained- suspensions as threatenings, waves as the actual sufferings: both inflicted by God's judgment: but in that place it is said, All have passed over Me, here, Thou hast brought all upon Me. In the other case, that although some evils took place, yet, he said, all those which are here mentioned passed over; but in this case, Thou hast brought them upon Me. Kvils pass over when they do not touch man, as things which hang over him, or when they do touch him, as waves. But when he uses the word suspensions, he does not say they passed over, but, Thou hast brought them upon Me, meaning that all which impended had come to pass. All things which were predicted of His Passion impended, as long as they
remained in the prophecies for future fulfilment.
H. Ver. 8. Thou hast put Mine acquaintance far from Me.
Ifwe understand by acquaintance those whom He knew, will be all men for whom knew He not? But He calls those
to whom He was Himself known, as far as they could know Him al that season at least so far forth as
they knew Him to be innocent, although they considered Him only as a man, uot as likew ise God. Although He might call the righteous whom He approved, acquaintance, as He calls the wicked unknown, to whom He was to say at the end,
know you not. In what follows, and they have set Me for Mat, an abhorrence to themselves those whom He called before23- acquaintance, may be meant, as even they felt horror at the mode of that death but better referred to those of whom
He was speaking above as His persecutors. was delivered Mat. 2c, up, and did not get forth. Is this because His disciples56' were without, while He was being tried within Or are we
to give deeper meaning to the words, cannot get forth
acquaintance,
as signifying, shewed not Who made manifest
remained hidden in My secret counsels, was, did not reveal Myself, was nc;
And so follows,
it I
it is
' 1
a
V
I:
;
I
/ ?
is, a
/
I it 7,
:
232 'Eyes' weakened, that illustrious Members.
Psalm Ver. 9. My eyes became weak from want. For what eyes ixxxvinare we to umlerstan(l |f the eyes of the flesh in which He suffered, we do not read that His eyes became weak from
want, that is, from hunger, in His Passion, as often the case; as He was betrayed after His supper, and crucified on the same day the inner eyes, how were they weakened from want, in which there was a light that could never fail But He meant by His eyes those members in the body, of which He was Himself the head, which, as brighter and more eminent and chief above the rest, He loved. It was of this body that the Apostle was speaking, when he wrote, taking
lCor. 12,his metaphor from our own body, Ifthe whole body were an
l/--
ib. 27.
eye, where were the hearing? the whole were hearing, where were the smelling And they were all one member, where were the body? But now are there many members, yet but one body. Tlie eye cannot say unto the hands, have no need of you and the hand shall say, Because am not the eye, am not of the body therefore not the body? What he wished understood by these words, he has expressed more clearly, by adding, Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular. Wherefore as those eyes, that is, the holy Apostles, to whom not flesh and blood, but the Father Which in Heaven had revealed Him, so that
Mat. 16, Peter said, Jhou art Christ, the Son of the Living God, when they saw Him betrayed, and suffering such evils, saw Him not such as they wished, as He did not come forth, did not manifest Himself in His virtue and power, but still hidden
Jin fuis in His secresy, endured everv thing as man overcome and
oribns
.
enfeebled, they became weak for want, as their food, their Light, had been withdrawn from them.
9. He continues, And have called upon Thee. This in deed He did most clearly, when upon the Cross. But what follows All the day have stretched forth My hands unto Thee, must be examined how must be taken. For in this expression we understand the tree of the Cross, how can we reconcile with the wlwle day Can He be said to have hung upon the Cross during the whole day, as the night considered part of the day But day, as opposed to night, was meant by this expression, even of this day, ibe first and no small portion had passed by at the time
?
it ?
it
if
is,
a
:
it :
if
a if
if is
?
?
1I
if is
''
is
if
?
if
?
I
;
of I I
is
'
Our Lord's hands how stretched out " all day. " 233
of His crucifixion. But if we take ' day' in the same sense Ver-
10.
for a part, as Scripture sometimes uses this expression, I
do not remember an instance, in which the whole is taken
for a part, when the word whole is expressly added. For
in the passage of the Gospel where the Lord saith, 7%eMat. 12, Son of Alan . shall be three days and three nights in the
heart of /he earth, it is no extraordinary licence to take the whole for the part, the expression not being for three trhofe days and three whole nights : since the one intermediate day was a whole one, the other two were parts, the last being part of the first day, the first part of the last. But if the Cross is not meant here, but the prayer, which we find in the Gospel that He poured forth in the form of a servant to God the Father, where He is said to have prayed long before His Passion, and on the eve of His passion, and also when on the Cross, we do not read any where that He did so throughout
the whole day. Therefore by the stretched out hands through out the whole day, we may understand the continuation of good works in which He never ceased from exertion.
of time (especially as the word is used in the feminine, a gender which is restricted to that sense in Latin, although not so in Greek, as it is always used in the feminine, which I suppose to be the reason for its translation in the same gender in our own version,) the knot of the question will be drawn tighter : for how can it mean for the whole space of time, if He did not even for one day stretch forth His
hands on the Cross? Further, should we take the whole
10. But as His good works profited only the predestined to eternal salvation, and not all men, nor even all those among whom they were done, he adds,
Ver. 10. Dost thou shew wonders among the dead? If we suppose this relates to those whose flesh life has left, great wonders have been wrought among the dead, inasmuch as some Mat. 27, of them have revived : and in our Lord's descent into Hell, and
His ascent as the conqueror of death, a great wonder was wrought among the dead. He refers then in these words, Dost
Thou shew wonders among the dead? to men so dead in heart,
that such great works of Christ could not rouse them to the life of faith : for he does not say that wonders are not shewn to them because they see them not, but because they do not profit them.
a-
scribe?
where is the disputer of this world? there is no in congruity in calling them physicians, as if by their own unaided skill they promised the salvation of souls: against
b-
foiceth as a giant to run his course; that is Giant of giants, chief among the greatest and strongest, who in His Church excel in spiritual strength. Just as He is the Mountain of
934 The spiritually dead heyond a ' Physicitm's' power.
Psalm For, as he says in this passage, the whole day have Istretched forth My hands to Thee: because He ever refers all His works John 6, t0 the will of His Father, constantly declaring that He came to fulfil His Father's will: so also, as an unIbelieving people
Is. 66,
my hands all day unto u rebellious people, thai believes not, but contradicts. Those then are dead, to whom wonders have not been shewn, not because they saw them not, but since they lived not again through them. The following
verse, Shall physicians revive them, and shall they praise Thee? means, that the dead shall not be revived by such means, that they may praise Thee. In the Hebrew there is said to be a different expression: giants being used where physicians are here : but the Suptuagint translators, whose authority is such that they may deservedly be said to have interpreted by the inspiration of the Spirit of God owing to their wonderful agreement, conclude, not by mistake, but taking occasion from the resemblance in sound between the Hebrew words expressing these two senses, that the use of the word is an indication of the sense in which the word giants is meant to be taken. For if you suppose the proud meant by giants,
1 Cor. l, of whom the Apostle saith, Where is the wise? where is the
have out saw the same works, another Prophet saith, spread
P>>. 4,8. whom it is said, Of the Lord is safety. But if we take the Ps. 19, word giant in a good sense, as it is said of our Lord, He re-
1s. 2, -2. mountains; as it is written, And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the Lord's house shall be manifested inthe top of the mountains : and the Saintof saints:
there is no in absurdity styling
these same
Rom. i i , physicians. Whence saith the Apostle, ifby any means
may provoke to emulation them which are my flesh, and might save some of them. But even such physicians, even though they cure not by their own power, (as not even of their own do those of the body,) yet so far forth as by faithful ministry
they assist towards salvation, can cure the living, but not
and Imen great mighty
Miracles and preaching fail to raise them up. 235
raise the dead : of whom it is said, Dost Thou shew wonders v<<r. among the dead? For the grace of God, by which men's --! ^'-_ minds in a certain manner are brought to live a fresh life,
so as to be able to hear the lessons of salvation from any of its ministers whatever, is most hidden and mysterious. This grace
is thus spoken of in the Gospel. No man can come to Me, John 6,
except the Father Which hath sent Me draw him : and a little after this still more openly repeated The words that speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life but there are some of you that believe not. The Evangelist here interposes the remark, that Jesus knew from the beginning who they were that believed not, and ivho should betray Him and joining with this the Lord's own words, he adds, And He said, Therefore said unto you, that no man can come unto Me, except were given unto him of My Father.
He had above said, that there were, some of them who believed not: and He adds the last quoted verse as an ex planation of the cause of this unbelief: in order to shew, that the very faith by which the soul believes, and springs into fresh life from the death of its former affections, given us by God. Whatever exertions, then, the best preachers of the worde, and persuaders of the truth through miracles, may make with men, just like great physicians yet they are dead, and through Thy grace have not second life, Dost Thou shew wonders among the dead, or shall physicians raise
them? and shall they whom they raise praise Thee? For this confession declares that they live not, as written else
where, Thanksgiving perisheth from the dead, as from one Ecclu*.
17, 26'
Destruction also repetition of the grave, and signifies
them who are in the grave, styled above the dead, in the
verse, Dost thou shew wonders among the dead? for the
body the grave of the dead soul whence our Lord's words
in the Gospel, Ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which Mat. 23,
Ben. refers to P. Lombard, Sent. Di>>t. 18. Htc qumritur. '
g6!
that not.
11. Ver. 11. Shall one shew Thy lovingkindness in the
grave, or Thy faithfulness in destruction The word shew of course understood as repeated, Shall any shew Thy faithfulness in destruction Scripture loves to connect lovingkindness and faithfulness, especially in the Psalms.
?
is
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if
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236 God's works not known in the 1 land of darkness'
Mat. 23, 27.
crisy and iniquity.
12. Ver. 12. Shall thy wondrous works be known in the
dark, and thy righteousness in the land where all things are forgotten? the dark answers to the land of forgetful ness : for the unbelieving are meant by the dark, as the Apostle saith, Eph. 6, For ye were sometimes darkness; and the land where all things are forgotten, is the mau who has forgotten God; for the Ps. H, unbelieving soul can arrive at darkness so intense, that the fool saith in his heart, There is no God. Thus the meaning of the whole passage may thus be drawn out in its connection : Lord, I have called upon Thee, amid My sufferings ; all dag I have stretched forth my hands- unto Thee, that is, I have never ceased to stretch forth My works to glorify Thee. Why then do the wicked rage against Me, unless because Thou shewest not wonders among the dead? because those wonders move them not to faith, nor can physicians restore them to life that they may praise Thee, because Thy hidden grace works not in them to draw them unto believing: because no man cometh unto Me, but whom Thou hast drawn. Shall then
Thy loving kindness be shewed in the grave ? that the grave of the dead soul, which lies dead beneath the body's weight: or Thy faithfulness in destruction. that in such a death as cannot believe or feci any of these things. For how then in the darkness of this death, that is, in the man who in for getting Thee has lost the light of his life, shall Thy wondrous works and Thy righteousness be known.
13. But question occurs as to what may be the use of these dead ones, what may be the advantage imparted by the Almighty to the body of Christ, that is, the Church, by means of these; namely, that in them may be displayed
Rom. the grace of God towards the predestined who are called
according to His purpose. Of this that in a former
Ps. 69, Psalm the Church exclaims, My God, His mercy shall
Psalm indeed appear beautiful outward, but unthin are fall of dead lxxxvhi men,s fanes,' and of all uncleanness. Even so ye outwardly
, . ,. . ? -. appear righteous unto men, but withm ye are fall of hypo
10'
prevent me and God shall shew unto me in mine enemies; and so goes on here in the next verse, and says, Unto Thee also have cried, Lord in which we must suppose our Lord speaking in the words of the Church, His own
I
it
O :
it is
8,
;a
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is,
is,
His grace glorified in those who are saved. 237
body ; for what means, Ialso, but that we also were at one Ver.
time the children of wrath naturally, like the rest. But,
unto Thee have I cried, that I
distinguishes me from other children of wrath, when I hear
the Apostle's terrible reproof of the ungrateful ; For who maketh thee to differ from another ? and what hast thou
that thou didst not receive? Now if thou didst receive
dost thou glory, as if thou hadst not received it? Salvation
the Lord's for there no giant that can be saved the p? . 33,
greatness his strength: but as written, Whosoever s^"^Ro'm i0 call upon the name of the Lord, shall be saved. How then 13. 16. shall they call upon Him in Whom they have not believed?
and how shall they believe in Him of Whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher and how
shall they preach except lfiey be sent As is written, How beautilul are the feet of them that preach the Gospel ofpeace,
and briny glad tidings good things They are the phy sicians who heal the man wounded by the thieves: but
the Lord Who brought him to the inn: they themselves are Lukeio, the labourers in the Lord's vineyard but yet he who plants, \*Qot and he who waters, is nought, but the Lord Who giveth the increase. Thus then loo have cried unto the Lord, that is,
have invoked the help of God for my salvation. But how could invoke, unless believed how could believe, did
not hear? But He was Who drew me to believe what
heard for was nut any chance physician that aroused me
to life from the death of the soul, but He Himself working in
secret. For many have heard Since their sound is gone outPs. 19, into all lands, and their words into the ends of the world 4,
but, All men have nut faith: and, The Lord knowelh them2Tim. 2, that are His. And then could not even have believed, had19-
not the lovingkindness of God prevenied me and, because
He calls the dead to life, and calls things that are not as things Cor. that are, by calling me in secret ways, by movmg me, and drawing me to Him, had brought me at last to the light of
faith. He therefore says, And early shull my prayers prevent
Thee. morning, when the night and darkness of infidelity
have passed away. Thy lovingkindness hath prevented me, that this morning might dawn upon me but as that day of light still to come, when the hidden things ofdarkness shall be
might be saved. For who
? p'h2'2 ' 3.
why
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238 Why prayer of saints sometimes seems cast off.
Ps*lm revealed, and the thoughts of the heart be made manifest, lx^""Igwd every one shall have praise of Thee: yet now in this life,
6.
'in this wandering, in this light of faith, which compared with the darkness of infidelity seems already day, but compared with the day, when we shall see Him face unto face, is still
night, shall my prayer prevent Thee.
14. Ver. 13. But that those prayers, the blessings of which
surpass all words, may be more fervent and more constant, the gift that shall last unto eternity is deferred, while transitory evils are allowed to thrcken. And so it follows ;
Ver. 14. Lord, why hast Thou cast off my prayer? which may be compared with another Psalm; My God, My God, look upon me ; why hast Thou forsaken me ? The reason is made matter of question, not as if the wisdom of God were blamed as doing so without a cause ; and so here. Lord, why hast Thou cast off my prayer ? But if this cause be attended to carefully, it will be found indicated above ; for it is with the view that the prayers of the Saints are, as it were, repelled by the delay of so great a blessing, and by the adversity they encounter in the troubles of life, that the flame, thus fanned, may burst into a brighter blaze.
Pi 22,1.
15. For this purpose he briefly sketches in what follows the troubles of Christ's body. For it is not in the Head Act>>9,4. alone that they took place, since it is said to Saul too, Why
persecutest thou Me ? and Paul himself, as if placed as an
Why then, Lord, hast Tliou cast off my soul ? why hidest
they compassed me about together.
Ver. 18. A friend Thou hast put far from me : and mine
acquaintance from my misery. All these evils have taken place, and are happening in the limbs of Christ's body, and God turns away His face from their prayers, by not hearing as to what they wish for, since they know not that the fulfilment of their wishes would not be good for them. The Church is
Colos. 1, elect member in the same body, saith, " That I
fill up
*4,
may
that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh. "
Thou Thy face from me ?
Ver. 15. when lifted up,
/ amIpoor, and in toils my youth up: and from
was thrown down, and troubled.
Ver. 16. Thy'wraths went over me: Thy terrors disturbedme. Ver. 1 7. They came round about me all day like water :
Troubles of the Church ' all the daif of her pilgrimage. 239
poor, as she hungers and thirsts in her wanderings for that Ver.
food with which she shall be filled in her own country : she
is in toils from her youth up, as the very Body of Christ saith
in another Psalm, Many a time have they overcome me from Ps. 129, my youth. And for this reason some of her members am l- lifted up even in this world, that in them may be the greater lowliness. Over that Body, which constitutes the unity of the
Saints and the faithful, whose Head is Christ, go the wraths
of God : yet abide not : since it is of the unbelieving only
that it is written, that the u rath of God abideth upon him. John 3, The terrors of God disturb the weakness of the faithful,36' because all that can happen, even though it actually happen
not, it is prudent to fear; and sometimes these terrors so
agitate the reflecting soul with the evils impending around, that
they seem to flow around us on every side like water, and to encircle us in our fears. And as the Church while on pilgrimage
is never free from these evils, happening as they do at one moment in one of her limbs, at another in another, he adds,
all day, signifying the continuation in time, to the end of
this world. Often too, friends and acquaintances, their worldly interests at stake, in their terror forsake the Saints-; of which
saith the Apostle, all men forsook me : may it not be laid /t>2Tim. 4, their charge. But to what purpose is *i11 this, but that early 16
in the morning, that is, after the night of unbelief, the prayers of this holy Body may in the light of faith prevent God, until the coming of that salvation, which we are at present saved by hoping for, not by having, while we await it with patience and faithfulness. Then the Lord will not repel our prayers, as there will no longer be any thing to be sought
for, but every thing that has been rightly asked, will be obtained: nor will He turn His face away from us, since we
shall see Him as He is: nor shall we be poor, because God Uohn3, will be our abundance, all in all : nor shall we suffer, as 2.
fCor. there will be no more weakness: nor after exaltation shall 16,28-
we meet with humiliation and confusion, as there will be no adversity there : nor bear even the transient wrath of God, as we shall abide in His abiding love: nor will His terrors agitate us, because His promises realized will bless us : nor will our friend and acquaintance, being terrified, be far from us, where there will be no foe to dread.
18'
240
Lat. lxnvni
PSALM LXXX1X.
1See
JEthan the Israelite1 : which has given this Psalm its title.
SERMON I. ON THE FIRST PAET OF THE PSALM.
Delivered in the morning, on the festival of some Martyrs.
1. UnderstAnd, beloved, this Psalm, which I am about
to explain, by the grace of God, of our hope in the Lord Jesus
Christ, and be of good cheer, because He Who promised,
will fulfil all, as He has fulfilled much : for it is not our own
merit, but His mercy, that gives us confidence in Him.
He Himself is meant, in my belief, by the understanding of
noteon . ii . 11
/- title of lou see then, who is meant by JLtnan : but the meanmg of
Uixviii^6 wor(^ 's strong. No man in this world is strong, except in the hope of God's promises : for as to our own deservings, we are weak, in His mercy we are strong. Weak then in himseIlf, strong in God's mercy, the Psalmist thus begins.
2.
mouth will I
of fur
make known Thy truth unto all generations.
wilt sing Thg mercies, 0 Lord, ever: with my
Let my limbs, he saith, serve the Lord : I speak, but it is
of Thine I speak. With my mouth will I
Thy truth : if I obey not Thee, I am not Thy servaut :
make known if I >>ab>> Te speak on my own part, I am a liar. To speak then from* Thee, and in my ovvu person, are two things : one mine, one Thine : Truth Thine, language mine. Let us hear then what
faithfulness he maketh known, what mercies he singeth.
3. (2. ) For Thou hast said, Mercy shall be built up for ever. It is this that I sing : this is Thy truth, for the making known of which my mouth serveth. In such wise Thou
sayest, I build, as not to destroy : for some Thou destroyest and buildest not ; and some whom Thou destroyest Thou dost rebuild. For unless there were some who were destroyed to
Jer. l, be rebuilt, Jeremiah would not have written, See, I have this
10-
day set thee to throw down and to build. And indeed all who formerly worshipped images and stoues could not be built up in Christ, without being destroyed as to their old error. While, unless some were destroyed not to be built up, it
Ps. 28, would not be written, He shall destroy them, and not build
God's Truth shewn through His Mercy to Israel. 241
them up. On their account therefore who are destroyed and Ver. built up, that they might not conceive their being built up -- merely temporary, as the previous ruin was in which they were destroyed, the Psalmist, through whose mouth is made known the truth of God, held to1 the truth. Therefore willuenuit.
I make it known, therefore do I declare because Thou hast said that am man declare in full confidence, for Thou God hast said for even wavered in my own words, in Thine should be confirmed. What saidst Thou? Mercy shall be built up for ever: Thy truth shall Thou establish in the very Heavens. As He had said in the former place, will sing of Thy mercies, Lord, for ever: with my mouth will make known Thy truth to all generations. In
what follows, he joins these two words, mercy and faithfulness For Thou hast said, Mercy shall be built up for ever Thy truth shall be established in the Heavens in which mercy
and truth are repeated, for all the icays of the Lord are Psa. 26, mercy and truth, for truth in the fulfilment of promises could 10-
not be shewn, unless mercy in the remission of sins pre
ceded. Next, as many things were promised in pro
phecy even to the people of Israel that came according to the flesh from the seed of Abraham, aud that people was increased that the promises of God might bo fulfilled in it; while yet God did not close the fountain of His goodness even to the Gentiles, whom He had placed under the rule of the Angels, while He reserved the people of Israel as His own portion the Apostle expressly mentions the Lord's mercy and truth as referring to these two parties.
For he calls Christ a minister of the Circumcision for MeRom. 16, truth of God, to confirm the promises made unto the8'
See how God deceived not see how He cast not off His people, whom He foreknew.
