A COMMENTAEY ON THE PSALMS. A COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS: FEOM PRIMITIVE AND MEDIEVAL WRITERS; AND TEOM THE Uartous ®ffice=lioo6s antJ iH^gmns OF THE ROMAN, MOZAEABIC, AMBEOSIAN, GALLICAN, GEEEK, COPTIC, AEMENIAN, AND SXEIAC EITES. THE EEV. J. M. NEALE, D.D., III ' SOMETIME WAEDEN OF aACKVILtE COLLEGE, EAST GHINSTEAD, AND THE EEV. R. F. LITTLEDALE, LL.D., SOMETIME SCHOLAB OF TEISITY COLLESE, DUBLIN. VOL. III. PSALM LXXXI. TO PSALM CXVIII. THIRD EDITION. LONDON : JOSEPH MASTERS & CO., 78, NEW BOND STREET. MDCCCLXXXyll. LONDON : PRINTED BY J. MASTERS AND CO., ALBION BUILDINGS, S. BAETHOLOMEW CLOSE, E.C. 3 A COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS. PSALM LXXXI. Title. To the Chief Musician upon G-ittith, A Psalm of Asaph. Chaldee Targum : For praise, upon the harp brought from Grath, by the hand of Asaph. LXX. : To the end, for the presses, A Psalm of Asaph. Vulgate : To the Conqueror, [on the fifth of the Sabbath] for the presses, A Psalm of Asaph. Syriao : Of Asaph, when David was making ready by him for the festivals. ABftUMENI. Ana. Thomas. That we ought to sing of Cheist with all our mind on spiritual trumpets. The Voice of the Holt G-host to the people. Concerning the Holy Ghost. This Psalm relates to Pentecost, and the answer of Cheist. Further, the Voice of the Apostles to the people. The Voice of Cheist touching judgment to come. The Voice of the Apostles. Ven. Bede. The fifth of the Sabbath is the fifth day from the Sabbath, which is called Jove's Day by the Gentiles, and by us the fifth week-day ; wherefore GOD said : I/et the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creatwre that hath life^ and fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven ; mystically denoting that there should be bom persons of various merit from the waters of Baptism. The intention, then, of the title is of this sort ; To the end, is to signify Cheist the Loed ; For the presses, the Church tried by persecutors ; Asaph, the congregation ; the fifth of the Sabbath, Baptism. Whence we gather that the Paalm will speak of the regenerate congregation in the Church of the Loed. Hence too it is that Asaph is speaking historically to the Jews, but he is better understood spiritually by the Christian people. In the first part of the Psalm Asaph speaketh to the faithful, that they may sound the praises of God on divers musical instru ments for benefits many times received. Sing ye merrily to God our strength, ^c. In the second part are the words of the Loed threat ening them against the worship of idols, that He alone may be adored Who is wont to repay : Sear, 0 My people. In the third part Asaph speaks again, rebuking unbelievers for being deceitful, though God's gifts have been abundantly bestowed on them. Ths haters of the Lord should home been found liars, 8;c, III. B 2 A COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS. EiTSEBlus OF C^SAEEA. The calling of the Gentiles, and in struction touching the things which befell the former people. S. Athanasius. a Psalm of exhortation, and, to some extent, of command. VAEiotfs Uses. Gregorian. Friday : Matins. [Corpus Christi : III. Nocturn.J Monastic. Thursday : II. Noct. [Corpus Christi : II. Nooturn.] Parisian. Thursday : Lauds. [Corpus Christi : III. Nocturn.] Lyons. Friday : Lauds. Amhrosian. Tuesday of Second Week: III. Nocturn. [Cir cumcision : Matins.] Quignon. Wednesday : Lauds. AUTIPHONS. Gregorian. Sing ye * to God our strength. [Corpus Christi : The Loed fed us * with the fatness of wheat, and with honey out of the rock did He satisfy us.] Monastic. As Gregorian. Parisian. Hear, * O My people, and I wUl testify unto thee, I am the Loed thy God. [Corpus Christi : He fed them with the fatness of wheat, and with honey out of the rock did He satisfy them.] Lyons. As Gregorian. Amlrosian. Be merciful * unto our sins, O Loed. [Circum cision : Thou shalt not worship any other god, I am the Loed thy God.] Mozarabic. As Gregorian. 1 Sing we merrily unto God our strength : make a cheerful noise unto the God of Jacob.^ Agciiius. The words are in the first instance addressed hy Asaph, chief precentor of the Temple, to the musicians and singers, A as directions for their guidance and encouragement on the occasion of a great festival, and then they apply to the whole Eph. v. 19. body of the faithful, teaching them the duty of speaking to themselves in psalms, and hymns, and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in their hearts unto the Loed. s. Albertus The Psalm itself forms the natural continuation of the pre- Magims. ceding one, wherein the Church sends up her cry for the Advent of Cheist. Now she, as it were, beholds Him com ing, and making an end, and therefore calls on His true fol lowers to abandon all worldly thoughts and cares, and to Phil. iv. 1. rejoice in the Lord alway. Ye, then, who heretofore have T> been exulting in the world your deceiver, and in the devil your deserter, and in the belly your seducer, exult henee- forth in God your strength. And even if your voice and powers should fail you in the loud singing which is God's due, yet, as He may be praised in many ways, rejoice ' There is a trifling error in the I verse, corrected by all the other Prayer Book rendering of this | translations ; we should be ye. PSALM LXXXI. 6 (Vulg., S. Hieron.) in your inward heart, and He will accept such service with equal readiness. Further, the God in Whom you are called to rejoice is the God of Jacob, of D. C. the wrestler, the God of those who will strive in prayer and struggle against sin, not of the sluggard and fainthearted. 2 Take the psalmj bring hither the tabret : the merry harp with the lute. S. Augustine, commenting on the contrast between the A. words taJce and give (albeit such an opposition barely exists in the Hebrew), explains the first clause of this verse as an allegory of the mutual relations between a Christian teacher and his flock. The hearers are to take the psalm, to receive the living, oral instruction from his mouth ; and in their turn, they are to hnng the tabret, or rather, kettle-drum, which being made of the skin of a dead animal, denotes carnal things ; that is, they are to minister to their teacher's bodily needs, according to that saying of the Apostle ; " If we have j ^^^ ^^ j, sovm unto you spiritual things, is it a great thing if we shall reap your carnal things ?" S. Bruno works out this idea s. Bruno more deeply. Tahe from God Himself iihat psalm, which of Carth. yourselves you cannot have, the quickening spirit of inno cence and hoHness which comes of His mercy alone. G4ve Him the tabret, that is, mortification of your flesh by fasts origen. and vigUs, typified by the slain beast whose skin produces g ^ ^ the sound. Cardinal Hugo sums up the reasons why the Mor. 33! drum is a type of bodily mortification, in his usual fashion, Hugo Card with a distich : Terret aves, tenuis, iragilis, cava, mortua, lenis, Tensa, cutis, lignis, verbere, sicca, sonans. Slender, frail, hollow, dead, smooth, scaring birds. Strained skin and wood, dry, sounding with a blow. They are more nearly agreed in explaining the latter clause : the pleasant psaltery with the harp. (Vulg. LXX.) The psaltery, observes S. Augustine, diifers from the harp in ^_ having its sounding-board above the strings, which we strike from below ; whereas the sounding-board of the harp is lower than the strings. The first, then, means the preaching of God's Word, and is thus described as pleasant, while the latter denotes our good works done on earth, necessary to fulfil that pleasantness. And in this wise the divinely quick- s. Bruno ened human spirit is, as it were, the psaltery made vocal with *^^*- God's psalm, and thus pleasant to Him, while the lowliness wherewith He is obeyed is shadowed by the harp, sounding from below. Ayguan gives a slightly difierent turn to the ^ thought, by pointing out that the psaltery or decachord, ¦'' with its ten strings struck by the hand, is a type of the Ten Commandments carried out in action. A COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS. De Wette. Hengsten- berg. Targum. Hupfeld.Eampf- hausen. I Kings xii. 32.Ezek. xlv. 25. 2Chrou.v.3Neh. viii. 14 Titeiman.Gen. xxii. 13. Exod. xix. 19. Rev. i. 10. S. Matt. xxiv. 31. 1 Cor. xv.52. 1 Thess. iv. 16. 3 Blow up the trumpet in the new-moon : even in the time appointed, and upon our solemn feast day. There has been much discussion among modem critics, as to the special festival referred to here. Some, dwelling on the allusion, later in the Psalm, to the Exodus, wiU have it that the Passover is meant. But there seems no adequate reason for departing from the Chaldee, which expressly names the new moon of the month Tizri, the first day of the Jewish civil year, as it also was of the Sabbatical year, and of the year of jubilee, although occurring in the seventh month of the ordinary ecclesiastical computation. This day is particularly . described in the Law as a " day of blowing the trumpets," a ceremony which formed no part of the Paschal feast, and the Jews, always singularly tenacious of ancient tradition, still actually use the present Psalm in the ofiice of this day. The solemnities of the seventh month did not end, however, with the Feast of Trumpets. The tenth day was the great Day of Atonement, when the most august of the Mosaic sacrifices took place, and on the fifteenth day (that of the full moon [medio mense, S. Hieron.], held by the best critics to be the true rendering of mDJj, not time appointed), came the chiefest festival of the Law, the Feast of Tabernacles, which is the solemn feast-day oi the Psalm, and is described as the feast in more than one place in Scripture. It was the greatest festival, because it denoted the perfect rest of the Land of Promise, (whereas the Passover indicated merely the escape from the house of bondage, and the first setting out in quest of Canaan,) thus typifying for Christians the eternal peace of Heaven, won by the bloodshedding of the Lamb of God. B,easons have been sought for the special significance of trumpets at this great festival, and two in particular are dwelt on by Jewish writers. One that trumpets of horn were used in memory of the oblation of Isaac, when the substi tuted ram was caught by his horns in a thicket ;^ the other, that the giving of the Law is commemorated, as we read, " When the voice of the trumpet sounded long, and waxed louder and louder, Moses spake, and God answered him by a voice." So again, the Divine utterance is similarly de scribed in the Apocalypse : " I heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet, saying, I am Alpha and Omega." And thrice the trumpet-sound is mentioned, by the Loed Himself and His Apostle, as the signal of the second Ad vent to Judgment. A favourite exposition, then, of this verse with the early ^ It is to be noted that the word for trumpet in this verse is iDitJ, the curving horn or icepa- T^cij, as S. Jerome explains it. distinguished from the straight tube or aotKiriy^, rmsn, which is the term applied to the silver trumpets of the convocation. PSALM LXXXI. 5 commentators, is that it is a call to loud proclamation of the » Gospel (according to the saying, "Lift up thy voice like a isa. iviii. i. trumpet") in the new life which Christ has given us, a life Ay. not without its anxieties and changes here, and thus aptly denoted by the moon. Or, as another yet more beautifully takes it, the new moon is the Church, enlightened by Christ her true Sun. In this the trumpet-call of preachers began, Honorius. on our solemn feast day of the Resurrection, the renewal of ^• our creation ; and yet again, still louder, when the fiery tongues of Pentecost came dovro. And then we may take s. Cyrii. it, by anagoge, of that great rejoicing which shall be at the f^^'l^ consummation of all things, when the Archangel himself will sound the trumpet, when a new heaven appears, when the Feasts of Tabernacles and of Dedication shall be united in one, what time the great Voice shall say, "Behold, the taber- Rev. xxi. 3. nacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself shall be with them, and be their God." And, coming to the individual soul, we are well reminded that the two silver trumpets of ^'^^° ^^^^' the Jewish camp called the people to banquets, to battles, ^J^J^' "' and to sacred festivals, and that in like manner the preaching of the Gospel calls believers to the Holy Eucharist, to resist ance against temptation and sin, and to the unending bliss of heaven. Not merely by the mouth of the priesthood, but by that of every believer who has seen a new light rest on his soul, who has kept the solemn feast-day of the indwelling of the Holt Ghost within him, and who may well say, " O D. C. come hither, and hearken, all ye that fear God ; and I wiU Ps. ixvi. u. tell you what He hath done for my soul." 4 For this was made a statute for Israel : and a law of the God of Jacob. For the word COSJi'P, here translated law, the LXX. and Vulgate more literally read judgment, which draws the fol lowing comment from S. Augustine : Where there is a sta- A. tute, there is judgment. For they who sinned under the Law shall be judged by the Law. And the Lord Christ, Word made flesh, is the Giver of the statute : " For judg- jj-' ment I am come into this world, that they which see not might see, and that they which see might be made blind." Thus we are warned that the Lawgiver and the Judge are s. Bruno one, and that the commands He lays upon us are not merely earth. subject for meditation by Israel, the contemplative saints, but for practical operation by Jacob, the saints of active hfe, Ric. Hamp. and as the final test for aU at the Doom- In the literal sense, the clause reminds the hearers that no new rule, nor AgeUius. one of human invention, is being laid down, but that a Divine and ancient precept is enforced, when all people are called on to make God's promises known. S. John ix. A COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS. Targum. Ay. R. Kimchi. De Muis. Hupfeld.Rosen-mtiller.Exod. xi. 4. R. Kimchi. Rosen- milller, Hupfeld. L, de Dieu. De Wette, Delitzsch. Job iv. 16. Isa. liv. 1. 5 This he ordained in Joseph for a testimony : when he came out of the land of Egypt^ and had heard a strange language. There is more than one difiiculty in this verse, although its apparent meaning is obvious here and in all the principal versions. The sense on the surface, as taken by the majority of ancient commentators, and not a few modern ones, refers to the Exodus, and the intercourse with foreign nations which followed on it. But the Chaldee paraphrast, E.. Kimchi, and the best recent critics, understand it otherwise. The first explains the whole passage of the patriarch Joseph, not of the Jewish nation (especially the powerful tribe of Ephraim, as represented hj him) ; and paraphrases thus : " He laid a testimony upon Joseph, that he should not draw nigh unto his master's wife, in the day when he went out of the house of bondage, and ruled over the whole land of Egypt," and that on the anniversary, as a Eabbinical tradition alleges, of Isaac's deliverance. And this fits in with the words of Gen. xli. 45, "Joseph went out over all the land of Egypt." E. Kimchi, followed by some eminent modems, takes the second clause thus : When God went out against the land of Egypt, for the slaughter of the first-born, as it is written, " About midnight will I go out into the midst of Egypt." Fur ther, the last clause of the verse in the Hebrew is in the first person, not (as the previous one) in the third, and runs, I heard the voice of one unknown. This would present no difiiculty, were it not that in the immediately following verse the first person recurs, personifjdng God Himself, Who cannot be meant as the speaker of these particular words. The passage is thus a very difficult one, and is variously ex plained, either as spoken in the person of Israel dwelling amongst the alien Egyptians, for whom they needed an in terpreter : or, again, as referring to the Divine voice made known in the plains of Egypt and afterwards heard from Sinai ; or, lastly, that it is a sudden exclamation of the Psalmist, announcing his reception of the oracle of God, given in the succeeding verses, according to the analogy of the vision of Eliphaz the Temanite. Turning now to the mystical exposition, let us hear S. Augustine : Joseph is in terpreted increase. And as Joseph was sold into Egypt, so Cheist cometh to the Gentiles. Joseph was exalted there after his troubles, and Christ is glorified with us after the passion of the Martyrs. The Gentiles, then, belong to our true Joseph, and are fitly styled increase, because " the child ren of the desolate are many more than of her which hath an husband." The testimony of Joseph coming out of Egypt, means the vow of those who pass through the Red sea of Baptism, ruddy with the blood of Christ, and are thus freed from those sins, their enemies, which would soon destroy Acts ii, 6. PSALM LXXXI. 7 them. On the other side of that fiood, the Catechumens will learn mysteries now hidden from them, and will hear a tongue which they know not, the precepts of the New Testa- C. ment, delivered, literally, in a language differing from that of the Law. Cardinal Hugo most beautifully reminds us Hugo card. that Joseph himself never left Egypt alive, but that only his hones were carried up into the Land of Promise, whence this Exod. xiii. verse may well be taken of the Martyrs, who despise the life 19- of this world, and dying to it, pass to their true country, there to learn the Unknown Song. Yet another reminds us jj. of the great increase of the Church on that first Day of Pen tecost, when the Apostles were heard speaking in unknown tongues, according to the exact dialect of each hearer in the ' crowd. 6 I eased his shoulder from the burden : and his hands were delivered from making the pots. Here the Voice of God Himself declares His benefits to wards His people. But this direct address is lost in the LXX. and Vulgate, which read, Se removed Ms back from the burdens. The sense is the same, and we are well re minded by the Doctor of Grace that none can do this thing A. save He Who saith, " Come unto Me, all ye that labour and s. Matt. xi. are heavy laden, and I will give you rest ;" Who alone takes ^^¦ the grievous load of sin away from those who seek His aid. In the second clause the LXX. and Vulgate read. His hands served in the basket; doubtless the baskets of osier or of palm- leaves still used in Egypt for carrying loads, and employed ^_ like the hod of European bricklayers, and also for carrying manure to the fields. The term thus embraces all servUe labour, from which Cheist sets us free. And the basket will then be an emblem of the despised and lowly in this world, whom the Loed nevertheless fills with the fragments of His Flesh ; and when He chose His twelve humble Apostles, He then filled twelve baskets with good things from His own table. Further, as baskets are used for carrying away q the accumulated dust and filth of houses, so those who are still living in sin are said to have their hands toiling in bas kets, which toil ends when Cheist delivers them from that bondage. And if we keep to the idea of the building labour imposed on the Hebrews, we shall remember that sinners, Honorius. while in the darkness of Egypt, are busily engaged in rear ing up the walls of the mystical Babylon, contrary to that prayer of the Church, " Build Thou the walls of Jerusalem." ^*- ^' '^¦ There are some who take the latter clause of the verse in a good sense, as the occupation to which the ransomed slaves voluntarily turned, and thus one reminds us that spiritual Hugo card. persons, busied in hearing confession, toil in the baskets, by cleansing the hearts of sinners from defilement : while an- rjc. Hamp. other will have it that the basket is a type of charity, because 8 A COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS. AgeUius. Quesnel. S. Chrysost. Horn. 3 sup. Matt. In Ps. xxii. B. Thomas a Kerapis. Serm. 20, ad Novit. l. AgeUius.Exod. xiv. 24i xix. 1 fi Targum. A. Haymo. Hugo Card. it contains and embraces many things, and those whom God sets free must needs toil therein to please Him. But these interpretations will not stand with the literal sense of the passage. More to the point is the remark that this verse gives the reason for the sounding of trumpets, the warrior instrument, forbidden to slaves. As freemen and warriors, the Hebrews were at liberty to sound it, and its notes there fore fitly ushered in the year of Jubilee, when all debts were cancelled and all bondmen were released. 7 Thou calledst upon me in troubles^ and I de livered thee : and heard thee what time as the storm fell upon thee. Observe how troubles are the necessary forerunners of de liverance, for, as a great Saint teaches us, a grain of wheat shut up in the husk, cannot come out till it is ground, and so' man can scarcely be set free from worldly difficulties, which, like husks, entangle him, until he be chastened with some trouble. Not a light one either, for, as S. Augustine says very well. When you are under medical treatment, and feel the fire and steel, you cry out, but the surgeon does not listen to your wishes, he heeds only your cure. It is thus, then, that God hears us in trouble and delivers us, for He Himself sends the trouble as the very means to make us call on Him and thus gain our safety. And in this sense one, at whose feet tens of thousands have been glad to sit, tells us, " When any tribulation comes on thee, then Christ meets thee with His Cross, and shows thee the way to the kingdom of heaven, whither thou oughtcst to go." Therefore the time of trouble is the time of life, according to the pithy Jewish proverb, " When Israel is in the brick-kOn, then comes Moses." What time as the storm fell on thee. The A.V. correctly, and nearly in accord with the LXX. and Vulgate, reads, I answered thee in the secret place of thunder. That is, as they diversely take it, either in the actual passage of the Red Sea, when God looked out of the pillar of cloud, and troubled the host of the Egyptians, or when He spoke to Israel out of the thick darkness amidst thunders from Sinai. And this latter is the Chaldee view, for the paraphrase runs, "I heard thee in the hidden place of the house of My majesty, when the fiery wheels sounded before Me." God hears us too in the secret place of tempest, when storms of temptation and trial are raging within our hearts, and the waves of sin appear likely to wash over us. Some take the clause as though it meant in a place hidden from the storm,^ and then tell us of the calm which reigned in the souls of the Martyrs, while the fiercest whirlvrinds of heathen rage broke upon their bodies. ^ This is the sense of the word inp in Isaiah xxxii. 2, Dll inp, " a covert from the tempest." PSALM LXXXI. y 8 I proved thee also : at the waters of strife. The literal reference is to the murmuring of the people in Exod. xvii. Ilephidim, when Moses had to bring water for them out of ^' ^' ^• the rock, and in the double name given to the scene we find the two members of the verse, Massah telling that Israel was proved, and Meribah that the test ended in strife. For strife, the LXX. and Vulgate read contradiction or gainsaying. And this is mystically explained in three ways. It is taken cafth""" of the waters of Baptism, in which Christians are called on to p_ renounce and gainsay all evil, and thereby to be in their turn p contradicted by unbelievers ; of the trials of the Church by the gainsaying of heathen persecutors without or heretical teachers within, necessary for the proving of the Saints ; or, most deeply of all, that it is uttered of Him Who was a sign j^_ to be spoken against. Who stretched out His hands all day g j^^^^ ^ upon the Cross to a disobedient and gainsaying people. Who 34. suffered the stream of water and blood to flow from His isa. ixv. z. pierced side when He proved His nation, and was answered Rom. x. 21. with strife. And yet again, as another teaches us, the bil- s. Ambros. lows of passion and bitter thoughts which well in our hearts, p™'- '" ''^• are waters of strife, which only Christ can lull and calm, by ' . . . treading them under His feet, as He comes to us in the 25. darkness. 9 Hearj O my people^ and I will assure theCj O Israel : if thou wilt hearken unto me, 10 There shall no strange god be in thee : neither shalt thou worship any other god. Lorinus dwells at some length on the prominence which L. even Pagan religions gave to this precept, by discouraging the worship of alien deities, and aptly cites, amidst a crowd of other testimonies, that Law of the Twelve Tables : " Let them not worship foreign gods. Let no one have gods apart, nor new ones. Let them not even privately worship gods brought from abroad, unless invited by the State ; and let them worship those who have always been held celestial." But the particular turn given by the LXX., Vulgate, and Arabic versions to the word "Ifj strange, which they render new, recent, (a sense which the word does admit in Isaiah xxviii. 21,) gives occasion to much comment, justified in its scope by the parallel passage in the Song of Moses : " They Deut. xxxii. sacrificed unto devils, not to God ; to gods whom they knew '''' not, to new gods that came newly up, whom your fathers feared not." A new god, notes S. Augustine, is one made in time ; but our God is not new, for He is from eternity to A. eternity. And our Christ may be new as Man, but ever lasting as God. For what is there before the beginning .f 10 A COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS. S. Bruno Carth. Lu. s. Johni. 1. And yet "in the beginning was the Word, and the Woed was with God, and the Word was God." And He, our Cheist, is the Woed made flesh, that He might dwell amongst us. He&then idols are costly, , are of silver and gold, precious and shining, but they are new, fresh out of a workshop. The Arian Christ is new, for he exists only in time, and is posterior to the Father. The god of the Mani- chees is new, for he is an unsuccessful struggler against the powers of darkness and corruption, and is not the Almighty, the Uncreated Light, the perfectly Holy. Christians, too, may err in the same spirit, though not in the same way, by making idols of their appetites, their sins, or even of any of God's temporal gifts. And as none of these, for the most part, holds its worshipper long faithful, so the act of change from one to another sets up a new god on the deposition of the old. Yet again, it may be fitly taken of new heresies, alien from the Catholic faith, which result, sooner or later, in leading their followers away from God. And it is in warning of the deep spiritual blessing of cleaving to Him, that He says, Twill assure thee, or as the A.V. more forcibly and exactly, with LXX. and Vulgate, turns it, I will testify unto thee : that is, I will solemnly pledge the fulfilment of My promises, swearing by Myself. And so runs a similar Zech. iii. 6. passage of Holy Writ : " The Angel of the Loed protested unto Joshua, saying. Thus saith the Loed of hosts ; If thou wUt walk in My ways, and if thou wilt keep My charge, then thou shalt also judge My house." And what that means, we s. Matt. xix. may learn from yet another place : "Verily, I say unto you, ^5- that ye which have followed Me, in the regeneration when the Son of Man shall sit in the throne of His glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel." Honorius.Hugo Card. Ill am the Lord thy God, who brought thee out of the land of Egypt : open thy mouth wide, and I shall fill it. Honorius. A. Literally, it is spoken of the miraculous food provided for those who had left behind them the flesh-pots of Egy^t and gone out into the wilderness at the voice of God. Spiritually, they tell us that it is spoken of the soul rather than of the body. I Myself, thy Lord and God, have brought thee out of the darkness and bondage of thy sins, wherefore open thou thy mouth wide, as the young of a bird open their beaks to receive the food their parents bring them, and I shall fill it with good things. Open it wide, by breaking down the vain idols vrithin thine heart, which cramp and narrow thee, and give thyself room to love and praise Me. Open it wide, by preaching the Gospel loudly and clearly, by warning sinners plainly, by praising God worthily, and I will fill thee with PSALM LXXXI. 11 all spiritual grace. And thus we see the meaning of those words of the Apostle, " O ye Corinthians, our mouth is open 2 Cor. vi. unto you, our heart is enlarged. Ye are not straitened in us, "¦ but ye are straitened in your own bowels. ... Be ye also C. enlarged, be ye not imequally yoked together with unbe lievers." I will fill it, not merely with grace, but with My- Hugo Card. self. For, as S. Augustine most deeply says, " A soul which in Ps.cxviii. is capable of containing God, nothing less than God can fiU." Wherefore He gives Himself as our Pood in the Holy Sacra- Pseudo- ment, and truly is it said of the Christian mouth which has Hicfonym. fed upon such dainties, " Full of grace are thy lips, because „ , , God hath blessed thee for ever." He bids us open our mouths wide in yet another way, by asking boldly in prayer for whatever we need, assuring us that the greater and more "^Vt. aspiring are our petitions, the more abundantly shall they be ¦'' fulfilled. We have, further, in this verse, two things to note particularly. First, the easiness of God's conditions ; for .jj^^i^^n there is nothing less troublesome than opening the mouth. He does not say, " Stretch out thy hands to labour, and I will fill them," but only. Open thy mouth wide. Next, the lavish- nessof God's promise. He does not say, " Open thy mouth, and I vsdll put somewhat therein, and will not suffer it to be empty," but I will fill it, however widely thou mayest open it, doing far beyond all thou canst ever hope for. And so the Apostle confesses, saying, " Unto Him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, unto Eph. 111.20. Him be glory in the Church by Cheist Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen." What, then, asks Eichard mcard. vie of S. Victor, is this mouth of the inner man, save the heart's torin. longing? For all the dainties of Egypt cannot fill this mouth, for all the riches of the world are not enough to con tent carnal desire. See how small a part of the human body the fleshly mouth is, and what a narrow opening. Who can fail to see that it is so small that one morsel of bread is enough to fill it ? But the whole world is not so much to the desire of the heart, as the morsel of bread is to the bodily mouth, for the one does fill, but the other does not. And thus we come back to that saying of S. Augustine, that nothing save God Himself can satisfy our craving. So it is quaintly ex pressed by an old writer : The whole round world is not enough to fill o"^™?'^ The heart's three comers, but it eraveth still ; ScAooTofthe Only the Trinity, that made it, can Heart. Suffice the vast triangled heart of man. Epigr. 10. But observe, that the words are spoken only to those who L. have come out of the land of JEgypt. While they remain in PUiip de la darkness, they cannot see the food offered to their lips, till germ^'iso. they hearken to the Wise Man, " Open thine eyes, and thou Prov. xx. 13. shalt be satisfied with bread." While we continue in sin, we 12 A COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS. cannot avail ourselves of the promise, but when we once fight against the foes of our souls, we can say with Hannah, I Sam. ii. 1. " My mouth is enlarged over mine enemies, because I rejoice in Thy salvation." 12 But my people would not hear my voice : and Israel would not obey me. 13 So I gave them up unto their own hearts' lusts : and let them follow their own imaginations. It is not only disobedience, but ingratitude which God charges on His rebellious people. Servants and slaves count it an honour when their masters deign to converse familiarly with them, but Israel, mere dust and ashes, stops his ears against the voice of the God of all gods. Wot once only, as the Kabbins point out, but in the wilderness, in the days of the Judges, in the times of the kings after David and Solo mon, until they were driven into exile and their temple burnt, they would not hear. Observe, too, that as the charge seems brought especially against the house of Joseph, so it was the tribe of Ephraim which formed the mainstay of the idolatrous northern kingdom, after the rebellion against Ee- hoboam. But the words are still more forcibly applied to the rejection of Christ by the Jews. Beforetime, they had stopped their ears against the voices of the Prophets, they had beaten and slain the messengers of the Loed of the vine yard, but now their cry was, " This is the heir, come, let us kill Him." Nor are they alone in their sin. Again and again He is rejected still by His people, those whom He pur chased with His own Blood. He stands at the door and knocks, saying, " Open, O man, recognize the voice of the Lord thy God ; I will that thou open for Me to enter, and thou wilt not. Evil is that servant who will not shelter his Master." So I gave them up to their own hearts' lusts. The aper tures of the " press" are now opened, to let the dregs and lees fall out, that they may be cast away. For I gave them up, the LXX. and Vulgate, with little difference of meaning, read I sent them away, loosing, as it were, the reins which held them in check, and suffering them to run riot at their will. And this appears more than once in Holy Writ as the sternest of God's earthly judgments : " I will not punish your daughters when they commit whoredom, nor your spouses when they commit adultery," is the warning spoken Rom i 28 ^y *^® Prophet, and the Apostle confirms him, adding " Even ' ¦ ¦ as they did not Uke to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient." Wherefore is added, I let them follow their own imaginations, or, as the LXX. and Vulgate read, Bellarmine. They will go in their own inventions or desires : thereby heap- Bellarmine. AgelUus. P. S. Matt. xxi. 38. Lu. Hugo Card Hos. iv. 14. PSALM LXXXI. 13 ing up fresh indignation for themselves, by adding sin upon sin to their previous wickedness. 14 O that my people would have hearkened unto me : for if Israel had walked in my ways, 15 I should soon have put down their enemies : and turned my hand against their adversaries. Lorinus points out how the wording of these verses asserts L. the freedom of the human will, as the only other explanation possible is to charge God with ignorance of the future, and although his argument is to a great extent based on the word perhaps, which the Vulgate inserts in verse 15, yet the mean ing he enforces is sufficiently borne out by the actual text. And S. Augustine wisely teacnes us that the words also make p^ against false excuses. Israel might say, I sin, it is true, but not wOlingly, rather by reason of compulsion from the devil it is that I follow my own imaginations. But if Israel would but hear the voice of the Lord, He would soon put down all such spiritual enemies, and give us the victory. Observe further, that the two clauses of the former verse are not mere repetition, but denote two distinct stages of obedience. ^ Hearing the word, without walking in its ways, is of no J^' use. Herod listened gladly to John Baptist, but obeyed the daughter of Herodias rather than him. Felix communed often with Paul during two years, but though trembling at ^^ts xxiv. the Apostle's reasoning as to righteousness, temperance, and 26. judgment to come, yet took not on him at last the Gospel yoke. I should soon have put down their enemies. For soon, the LXX. reads. In the nothing, the Vulgate, not very differently, Hugo Card, fo^-- nothing {pro nihilo.) That is, as they variously explain it, (and first rightly) as a very easy thing ; or else, unto no thing, by utterly destroying them ; or yet again, freely, that is, without any merit or price on the part of Israel as a reason for having God as its champion, in contrast, as is well pointed Titeiman. out, to the great trouble and outlay in hiring allies and buy ing off invaders, which the Jews were compelled to be at when left to their own devices on several occasions in their history. And turned My hand against their adversaries. They take the Hand of God, for the most part, as denoting merely His power. One special force is, however, given to it, by interpreting it of the Loed Jesds. The words wiU. p. then point to His offer to the Jews of the headship over the nations, not only during His own three years of preaching, but by the voice of His Apostles for nearly forty more ; until, on their final refusal to hear, the Eomans were suffered to take away their place and nation, and the kingdom of the Church was transferred to the Gentiles. 16 The haters of the Lord should have been found liars : but their time should have endured for ever. 14 A COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS. Hupfeld.Kampf- hausen. Rosen- mviller. c. A. R. Ishaki. R. Aben- Ezra. Hupfeld.R. Kimchi. De Wette. L. P. The first clause ought to run. The haters of the Lord should have lied unto him, that is, unto Israel ; crouching before the chosen people with unvioLling and hypocritical submis sion, and denying all intention of war or resistance. But the LXX. and Vulgate reading. The enemies of the Lord have lied unto Him, is explained differently from this. It is, writes one of the earlier commentators, spoken of false be lievers, not of the heathen, who cannot be said to lie to God, inasmuch as they have given Him no pledges ; but the un faithful, who have broken their promises, shall be cast into hell, where their time shall endure for ever. And that because they take up again those things which they renounced in baptism ; the world, the flesh, and the devil, so that their last end is worse than the first. This interpretation squares in the latter clause with the view of some Eabbins and modern critics that the whole verse refers to God's enemies, and that the time of their punishment is unending, in that no restora tion wiU be vouchsafed them. But others take it as the Prayer Book version, and as contrasting the enduring pros perity of God's people with the sufferings of their adversaries. And then we may explain it, as not a few do, of the lying of the Jews in promising obedience to the Messiah, and yet denying Him when He came, so as to be rejected, and their dispensation brought to a close, while that of the Gospel en dures for ever, not only to the end of the world, but through the ages of eternity. 17 He should have fed them also with the finest wheat-flour : and with honey out of the stony rock should I have satisfied thee. Bochart,Hierozo. Bellarmine, Ay. S. Thomas Aquiii. DeVen.Sac Opusc. .58, cap. xxxii. The literal reference is to the produce of Canaan, to its rich harvests of com, and to the honey made by the wild bees in the clefts of the rocks, which serve them as hives ; though some are found to refer the words as they run in the LXX. and Vulgate, He fed them with the fat of wheat and satisfied them with honey out of the rock, to the manna in the wilder ness and the sweet water brought forth by the stroke of Moses' rod. But, save for a glance at one meaning of honey as denoting the sweetness of Divine wisdom, the expositors all agree in taking this verse mystically of the Blessed Sacra ment, the fine wheat-offering and sweet banquet of all be lieving souls, springing in both kinds from the Eock, which is Cheist. So the Angelic Doctor : " As the Eock signifieth the incorruptible Body of Cheist, so the honey from the Eock is the sweet Blood of Cheist, which the faithful suck in from Christ's Body." Accordingly, the Psalm is ap pointed for recitation on the feast of Corpus Cheisti, with this verse for the Antiphon, as well as making part of the Eesponsory at the Little Hours. PSALM LXXXII. 15 Wherefore : Glory be to the Father, our Strength : glory be to the Son, Who feeds us with the fatness of wheat ; glory be to the Holt Ghost, Who fills our mouth with a merry song tinto the God of Jacob. As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be • world without end. Amen. Collects. Open, O Loed, the mouths of Thy humble servants to show Ludoiph. forth Thy praise, that leaving the works of Egypt behind, we may rejoice in the confession of Thy Name. (1.) Unto Thee, O Lord, our Strength, we pray with the cheer- Mozarabic. ful noise of faith and hope, that our petition, poured forth in trouble, may draw nigh unto Thine ears : that Thou mayest in Thy goodness be present with the prayers of each one of us to deliver us ; and when Thou hast rescued us, grant us a burning desire to attain imto Thee, and with harmonious de votion to sing aloud to the Unity of the threefold Majesty, so that, alway busied in Thy praise, and following the paths of Thy commandments, we may obtain in Thee the adornments of exultation, the comforts of life, and the crown of faith. (1-) Let us sing merrily unto Thee, O Lord, Whom we acknow- Mozarabic. ledge and confess to be our Strength ; for which cause we take a cheerful noise unto Thee in our longings, a psalm in our teaching, we give back a drum in our mortification ; for in praising Thee we keep festival and take delight in making mention of Thy wondrous works. Grant, therefore, O Lord, that we who teU of Thy bounties may also win Thy rewards. (11.) O Lord, cause Thy people to hear Thy voice, open our D. C. mouth, and fill it with the praise of Thy grace, that in the trouble of this present life Thou mayest hearken when we call upon Thee, and Thou mayest deliver us from every as sault of our enemies and from the storm which endeth not. (1.) PSALM LXXXII. Title. A Psalm of Asaph. Syriac : Of Asaph, an invective against the ungodly Jews. AEGirMENT. Aeg. Thomas. That Ohbist is to be acknowledged as alone Almighty in the midst of the Gods. The Voice of the Church to the Jews. The Voice of the Holt GtHOST by the Prophet to the 16 A COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS. princes. And the Voice of the Church concerning the Jews and her own evil rulers. The Voice of the Holt GtHOSt to the people. They are blamed who turn aside to evil and feign themselves judges among disputants. When he goeth in unto the strangers. Ven. Bede. Asaph denotes the Synagogue, which attained to behold the Loed the Savioue in bodily presence. Asaph speaks throughout the Psalm against the Jews, concerning the Advent of Cheist ; in the first portion, warning them that the Loed had taken His stand in the midst of them ; and therefore that they ought not to admit the fellowship of sinners. God standeth in the congregation of princes. In the second part, he warns them to un derstand that He, Who in the flesh He took on Him seemed poor and needy, is very Cheist. Defend the poor a/nd fatherless. In the third part he says, that they were honoured so as to become sous of G-OD, but that by their own sin they had fallen into the snares of death. I said, Ye are Gods, Sfc. EuSEBius OE Ca;SAEEA. A rebuke of the princes of the Jewish nation, and a prophecy concerning the Gentiles. S. AlHAIfASltrs. A Psalm inflicting shame. Vaeious Uses. GregorioM. Friday : Matins. Monastic. Thursday : II. Nocturn. Parisian. Wednesday : Nones. Lyons. Saturday : Terce. Amhrosian. Wednesday of Second Week : I. Nocturn. Quignon. Wednesday : Nones.Antiphons. Gregorian. As preceding Psalm. Monastic. Thou only * art the Most Highest over all the earth. Parisian. The Loed is my refuge * and my GoD is the strength of my confidence. Amhrosian. Thou shalt inherit * among all nations. Mozarabic. Judge the poor and fatherless, * justify the lowly and needy. 1 God standeth in the congregation of princes : he is a Judge among gods. Of princes. The literal Hebrew, followed by all the principal versions (except the Syriac, which has of Angels, and Aquila, who agrees with this and A. V., reading iaxvpav), is of gods. Bieek. And hereupon is a division of opinion. One view, mainly Hupfeld' confined to a few modern critics, follows the Syriac, iden tifies Oods with Angels, and supposes the object of the Psalm to be a rebuke for negligence of duty, administered in heaven to those ministering spirits who, as we read in the Book of Dan. ji. 13, Daniel, are set over kingdoms and nations. The other, which Exod xxii '^ ^^^ °^ ^^^ Chaldee Targum, the Fathers in general, and 28. Margin, most critics, sees a reference to earthly officers alone, (as we judges. gmj in another place, " Thou shalt not revile the gods, nor PSALM LXXXII. 17 curse the ruler of thy people,") and, as S. Augustine points A. out, primarily to the synagogue of gods, (LXX. and Vulgate) or whole people of Israel, as God's Son and chosen nation, Exod. iv. 22. and therefore higher than other tribes of the earth ; and then to the Christian Church as the successor to the privileges of „ Jacob. And God the Son did in truth stand incarnate amidst '-'• the Jewish synagogue and the Christian Church, according to that saying of the Baptist, " There standeth One among s. John i. you. Whom ye know not." He is said to stand, because of ^ His immutability, His power. His abiding presence, and also s. Albertus because of His promptness in act, to decide for the right, and Magnus. to help the poor, as He did S. Stephen. But one common- Acts viT. 56. tator draws a yet deeper lesson from the word «teMrf. HeAgeiiius. reminds us that it is for the judge to sit, and for the litigants or accused to stand ; as it is written, " Moses sat to judge the Exod. xviii. people : and the people stood by Moses from the morning '3- until the evening." It is then a solemn warning for judges to remember, that whatever cause is before them is God's cause, since right and wrong are at stake in it, and that by acquitting the guilty, or condemning the innocent, they pass sentence against God Himself. And the synagogue of the Chief Priests, scribes, and Pharisees did in very deed so con- ^ demn God Himself, when He stood in the midst of them in human form. He is a judge among gods. Or, as the LXX. and Vulgate read, He judgeth the gods in the midst. That is, in the literal sense, He reviews the sentences of inferior judges, who are but His vicars, and will openly condemn them at the AgeUius. Doom for any false judgment they may have given on earth. But the version which S. Augustine and Cassiodorus had before them reads. He discerneth the gods in the midst. That is, as one will have it, Cheist stands between the Prophets Honorius. of the Old Testament, who foreshowed Him, and the Apostles of the New, who preached Him, being Himself the dividing and yet uniting link between them. Or again. He discerns, by selecting, His Apostles and Evangelists and all His Saints, C. from a guilty world, and leading them to the kingdom of heaven. In heaven itself He discerns too, by distributing s. Greg. rewards to each Saint according to his merit, appointing them ^''¦|- O"^*'- ^ their several grades of blessedness. There is another ren- ^ ^^ ' dering of the first clause, adopted by some, God standeth in the congregation of God. And then we may fitly take it as no pleonasm, nor yet as denoting the presence of the Most High among His people on earth, but the exaltation of the Man Christ Jesus, as God in heaven, in the presence of the Cocceius. Eternal Father, in the midst of the assembly of the Saints triumphant, for " lo, in the midst of the throne and of the Rev. v. 6. four beasts, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as it had been slain." A striking illustration of the whole verse is afforded by g ^ jj that custom of the ancient Councils, stiH adhered to by the Alex. Epist. Holy Eastern Church in aU solemn assemblies, of placing synod. 18 A COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS. A. S. Matt, xxi, 35, 38. Honorius. S. John xviii. 40; xix. 15. c. The Gloss. Ay. Hugo Card. Pseudo-Hieron.Mal.ii. 9. L. Ecclus. vii. A. S. Luke xxii. 2. Isa. Ivi. 10. the Book of the Gospels in their midst, as a symbol of the unseen presence of Cheist. And when accusations against some Bishops were offered to Constantine the Great at the Council of Nice, he tore them up, saying, "Ye have been given as gods to us by God, and it is not fitting that a man should judge gods, but only He of Whom it is written, God standeth in the synagogue of the gods. Re is a judge among gods." 2 How long will ye give wrong judgment : and accept the persons of the ungodly ? How long ? For already, throughout your history, ye have resisted, outraged, and slain the servants of the Lord of the vineyard, the prophets of God. Will you carry on your re bellion and false judgment against His Son, and lay mur derous hands upon the Heir, though He be very God ? And accept the persons of the ungodly, saying, on the one hand, " Not this Man, but Barabbas," and on the other, " We have no king but Csesar." Several of the Latin commentators dwell on the wording of the Vulgate in the latter clause of the verse, take the faces of sinners, and explain it as a rebuke for imitating the wicked, whether the evil Jews of old time who slew the prophets, or the yet more evil chief priests who conspired against Cheist. In this sense they urge that the first half of the verse refers to those rulers who actually con demned the Loed, and the latter to the multitude which might easily have rescued Him, but preferred to follow the lead of His powerful enemies. Cardinal Hugo dwells on the appli cation of the words to unfaithful prelates in the Christian Church, who fall into that old worst sin of the house of Levi, and " have been partial in the law," not bearing in mind the Wise Man's counsel : " Seek not to be judge, being not able to take away iniquity; lest at any time thou fear the person of the mighty, and lay a stumbling-block in the way of thine uprightness." 3 Defend the poor and fatherless : see that such as are in need and necessity have right. 4 Deliver the out-cast and poor : save them from the hand of the ungodly. These words are, they tell us, an appeal to the Jewish people to deliver out of the hands of His cruel enemies Him Who became poor and needy for their sakes, and to save Him from a painful and unmerited death. But a few hours before, and " the chief priests and scribes sought how they might kill Him ; for they feared the people," and now that the crisis had come, the people proved to be " dumb dogs', that cannot bark," when the wolves were gathering around the Lamb of PSALM LXXXII. 19 God ; when " the righteous perisheth, and no man layeth it to isa. ivii. i . heart." He was not only jooo*- for our sakes, but an orpham,, Honorius. (LXX.) one with no father on earth, with no mother in hea ven; and who left Himself not merely destitute of all earthly Haymo. succour, but endured that last mysterious pang, when He cried, "My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken MeP"s. Matt. Outcast, (LXX. and Vulg. poor.) There is a pathetic variant ^'""" ^^' here in some .Sithiopic copies, which read the lonely one, fitly spoken of Him Who trod the winepress of His Passion alone, isa. ixiii. 3. when all the disciples forsook Him and fied. Observe, more over, that it is not enough for a judge to be inflexibly upright in his mere sentence. It is his duty to see that it be carried out, and not set aside by favour or violence. He is to see that Bellarmine. such as are in need and necessity have right, and not merely a claim to be righted, he is to deliver them out of the hand of the ungodly. PUate achieved the first part of the counsel ; he defended the Poor and Needy seven times against the chief priests and the mob ; he gave right judgment, saying, " I find s. John xix. no fault in Him ;" but he did not see that He had right ; he ¦*¦ did not deliver Him out of th« power of His enemies. 5 They will not be learned nor understand, but walk on still in darkness : all the foundations of the earth are out of course. Will not be learned. A.V. more exactly, with the old A. versions. They know not. " For had they known it, they 1 cor. ii. s. would not have crucified the Loed of Glory." And because they walked on still in darkness, they chose Barabbas in His stead, but that " blindness in part has happened unto Israel, Kom- ^^- 35. until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in." Whence is added, all the foundations of the earth are moved (A.V. marg.) because thereupon began that great stirring among the nations, whereof the earthquake which rent the rooks at the Cruci- s Matt. fixion was the forewarning and type. And those foundations "^^^ ^'' still will be moved (LXX. and Vulg.) the shaking will never end tOl the gathering in of .the nations is accomplished by the Church. There are two other mystical explanations of A. the latter clause, one that it refers to earthly potentates and men of merely secular desires, who shall be moved, either with wonder at lowHness, poverty, and sorrow being volun tarily chosen by the Lord as His own lot, or with terror at Ric. Hamp. the judgment to come upon them, because when the Light shone in the darkness, they refused to comprehend it ; the ^- ^¦ other, that it is a prophecy of the terrible devastation of the Holy City and the entire land of Israel at the hand of the Eomans, as a punishment for rejecting the Saviour. The Ageiiius. literal sense makes a distinction between the ignorance and the dulness charged on the false judges ; the first accusation. They know not, having reference to their neglect of studying the law they have to administer, while nor imderstamd im- 20 A COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS. plies haste, inconsiderateness, and negligence in the inves tigation of any particular cause ; the just decision of which might be arrived at by honest diligence of inquirjr, without Calvin. any great legal information. But when haste and ignorance unite, then all the foundations of the earth are out of course, because the basis of society and all confidence in authority is rudely shaken. And so a heathen poet sings in like case : J.^Jj &va> voraiMuv Upav j^mpoBtri vajal, Medea. ko^ Si/ca koX Trdi/ra iraKLV (rrfietfjeTat. avSpdtrt juey 56KiaL ^ovXal, Oewu 5' 0VK€Tl Tr'iffTts &pape. Back flow the sacred rivers to their source. And right and all things veer around their course, Crafty are men in counsel, and no more GoD-plighted faith abides as once of yore. 6 I have said, Ye are gods : and ye are all the children of the most Highest. 7 But ye shall die like men : and fall like one of the princes. There is a divergence of opinion as to these two verses, whether they are to be taken as addressed to the same per- A. sons, or to two different companies. S. Augustine, who men tions both views, incKnes to the second, alleging that the earlier verse is spoken to the elect, whom Christ welcomes s.Matt.xxv. to the kingdom of His Father ; the latter to the reprobate, 2<''"- commanded to depart into everlasting fire. If addressed to the same persons, the sense will not be very different, but will run thus : " I have set you in a place of high dignity and trust, which ye have abused, and I will punish you vidth disgrace and death," and then, turning to the spiritual sense, " I have given you the choice of everlasting blessedness, and have granted you the adoption of sons, but ye have rejected My salvation, and shall perish in your sins." Herein ye shall die like men, because of your human frailty, anifall like one of the princes, because of your haughty pride, which will bring you down as it did Satan, who fell hke lightning from heaven, where he had been one of the princes. There is no practical difference, whether we take the words as spoken by God Himself, or by the Psalmist in the spirit of prophetic s. Bruno, rebuke and denunciation. One commentator subdivides the Carth. second verse, and sees in it a distinction of judgment between the less guilty Jewish multitude, who acquiesced in Christ's condemnation, and are therefore adjudged to die Uke men, while the more guilty chief priests are to fall Uke one of the princes, into the more terrible punishment of the devil, for Wisd. vi. 6. " mighty men shall be mightily tormented." We must bear in mind the use the Loed Himself made of this verse in defending Himself from the Charge of blasphemy. psalm LXXXII. 21 arguing that if Holy Writ gave the name of gods even to unrighteous judges, there could be no unfitness in His assuming the title Son of God, seeing that He was holy, and commissioned more directly by God than they had been. " Is it not written in your law, ' I said. Ye are gods ?' If he g j^^j^ ^ called them gods, unto whom the word of God came, and the 35. Scripture cannot be broken ; say ye of Him Whom the Fa ther hath sanctified, and sent into the world. Thou blas- phemest ; because I said, I am the Son of God P" And so doing, we shall see the fitness of that other explanation, which takes the whole passage of the election and subsequent cast ing off of Israel. The chosen people were gods, as the one nation which knew good and evU, even the children of the <3en. iii. 5, most Highest, as being named by Him thus : " Israel is My gxod. iv. 22. son, even My first-bom;" but they died hke men, either like their own father Adam (Heb., S. Hieron.) through disobe- Cocceius. dience, or hke the Gentiles around them, falling too like one of the princes of the various empires which had risen and set on the world's horizon during the progress of their own his tory. Assyria, Babylon, Persia, Greece, had come and gone, and now Israel's national existence was to be swept away also, deservedly, in its turn. 8 Arise, O God, and judge, thou the earth : for thou shalt take all heathen to thine inheritance. Arise then, O Sole-begotten Son of God, slain by ungodly Honorius. men, and buried in the grave, arise on the third day from the jy q_ dead, and sending Thy judgment on the wicked land, the sordid and earthly hearts which rejected Thee : take to Thy self all nations for an uiheritance, in the stead, of that one re bellious people which would not have Thee to reign over it. Arise also now from Thy slumber in the tempest-tossed bark of Thy Church, in judgment against her worldly foes, and cause her to preach Thee among all nations ; arise to final judgment, coming with all Thy Saints, gathered from east g. cyprian. and west, from north and south, out of all kindreds and tongues, and nations, and peoples, now militant here in earth, then to be triumphant and blessed in heaven. Wherefore : Glory be to the Father, Who is a Judge among gods ; glory be to the Son, Who shall arise to judge the earth ; glory be to the Holt Ghost, Who hath said to the faithful by the mouth of His prophet, " Ye are gods, and ye are all the children of the most Highest." As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be : world without end. Amen. Collects. Grant us, O Lord, according to Thy precept, to abstain Ludoiph. from wrong judgment ; and to minister to the needs of the 22 A COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS. poor, that we may attain to be joined unto the number of Thy children. (1.) Mozarabic. O Cheist, our GoD, make us ever ready to aid the poor and needy, and to keep Thy law, that abounding in works of mercy, we may become the fellows of the heavenly citizens. Through. (11.) Arise, O Loed, Who judgest the earth, and as Thou dwell- est in loving ownership of the faith of all nations, suffer us not to abide in darkness, but cause us to see the Hght of Thy truth, that we may build the foundations of our faith not upon the sand, which the whirlwind may cast down, but on the rock, whose strength Thou art. Through. (11.) Arise, O God, and judge the earth, that Thou Who rulest over all the Gentiles mayest be believed by those who cruci fied Thee, to have risen again, that the two nations may unite in love, when Thou bindest the circumcision and the uncir- cumcision together in the bond of Christian faith. Through. (11.) Arise, O God, Who judgest the earth, and rule with Thine arm of might those whom Thou hast vouchsafed to purchase by the victory of the Cross, and let the devout thanksgiving of them for whom the shedding of Thy precious Blood serves as redemption be offered unto Thee. And let us, who believe in Thy Passion for our redemption, who confess Thy glorious Resurrection, and proclaim Thine Ascension to the heavens, and await in awe Thy coming in terrible return, hasten joy fully to Thine Advent when the trumpet shall sound. And Thou, O most merciful Loed, deliver from the burnings of hell those whom Thou seest thus celebrating Thy holy rites, and grant that we may be partakers of a glorious resurrec tion. Through Thy mercy. (11.) O God, from Whom every good work proceedeth and is strong, justify us with the spirit of righteousness and strength, that never giving wrong judgment, nor accepting the persons of the ungodly, we may alway strive to do that which is right- and pleasing unto Thee. Through. (1.) Mozarabic. Mozarabic. Mozarabic. D. C. PSALM LXXXIII. Title. A Song or Psalm of Asaph. Argument. Aeg. Thomas. That Cheist is the moat High dweller over all the earth. The Voice of the Church to the Loed concerning the Jews, and of sons, and of all persecutors. The Voice of the Church to the Loed concerning the Jews and the sons of men. The Pro phet, concerning Christ, showeth that He reigneth over all nations here and in the judgment to come. Concerning persecutors. PSALM LXXXIII. 23 Ven. Bede. A Song of a Psalm is when, after a prelude on an instrument, the sound of a singing voice is heard, following and keeping time with the instrument, imitating the strains of the psaltery with the tones of the voice. And because a Song mysti cally signifies contemplation of Divine wisdom ; but a Psalm, which is produced by the hands, means the fulfilling of action, that is rightly called A Song of a Psalm wherein knowledge and instruction are united with effectiveness in good works, according to that saying, " If thou desire wisdom, keep the commandments, and the Loed shall give her unto thee ;" a wonderful token whereof was manifest in Cornelius the centurion. As to what a Psalm of a Song is and means, has been already said in the twenty-ninth (xxx.) Psalm. Asaph, inasmuch as he had already foretold many things touch ing the Loed's Incarnation, is now in the first portion about to speak of His second Advent ; beseeching Him, that as His enemies are to be greatly uplifted by means of Antichrist at the end of the world, His judgment ought to come quickly, lest the prolonged licence of that most grievous foe should avail to lay the whole Church waste. 0 God, who shall be like unto Thee ? keep not still silence, iifc. In the second portion he iutreats, under the simili tude of certain names, that vengeance may be taken upon them, through a desire for their correction, not with eagerness to curse them. Lo Thou to them as unto theMadianites. EtrsEBiTJS ov Gs.ik'KEK. A supplication for the people which had suffered heavy things, and a prophecy touching the end of G-od's enemies. S. Athanasius. a Psalm of address, and prayer, and supplica tion. Various Uses. Gregorian. Friday : Matins. Monastic. Thursday : II. Nocturn. Parisian. Saturday : Matins. Lyons. Thursday: Nones. Amhrosian. Wednesday of Second Week ; I. Nooturn. Quignon. Thursday : Nones. Antiphons. Gregorian. \ Thou only * art the most Highest over all the Monastic. J earth. Parisian. For the thought of man * will give thanks to Thee, and the remains of thought will keep holiday unto Thee. Amhrosian. As preceding Psalm. Mozarabic. Let the nations know that Thy Name is the Loed * and that Thou art only the most Highest over all the earth. 1 Hold not thy tongue, O God, keep not still silence : refrain not thyself, O God. The first clause of this verse runs in most of the older translations, (LXX., Vulg., .ZEthiop., Syr., Arab.,) O God, 24 A COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS. DidymuE. S. Matt. v. 48. I S. John iii. 2. A. Ps. xlv. 7. Haymo.Remigius. S. Albertus Magnus. Exod. XV. 11.Honorius. who shall be like unto Thee ?^ Likeness, comments a Greek Father, is of two kinds, according to substance, which is identity ; and according to quahty, which is merely resem blance. In the first sense, no one can be like God save He Who is consubstantial with God, but in the other manner all saints made perfect can be like Him ; for the Lord Himself has counselled us, " Be ye perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect." And we are assured that this can come to pass, for the Beloved Disciple tells us that "when He shall appear, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is." Like Him then, of Whom is said, " Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever, a sceptre of righteousness is the sceptre of Thy kingdom. Thou hast loved righteousness and hated iniquity, wherefore, O God, Thy God hath anointed Thee with the oil of gladness." Like Him then, precisely because He willed to be like us, and like the meanest of us here, taking on Him the form of a slave, crucified along with thieves. Yet, although we may attain thus to the likeness of His glorified Manhood, none can be like Him in the glory of the Father. None can be like Him when He returns in His divine majesty, as it is written, " Who is like unto Thee, O Lord, among the gods P who is like Thee, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders P" Least of all can that Wicked One, the Antichrist, attain to such resemblance, albeit he hath said, " I will be like the Most High," for he shall be smitten when the Lord comes again to judgment, when He will keep not still silence, but will utter His terrible voice so that all creation shall hear. And observe that He kept silence and refrained Himself here on earth in threefold fashion : There was His silence of speech before PUate, when " as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so He openeth not His mouth." There was His silence of act in the garden, when He said unto Peter, " Thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to My Father, and He shall presently give me more than twelve legions of angels ?" There was His sUenoe of will in His voluntary acceptance and endurance of death for us. But now His Church is sore troubled by her enemies, and would fain hear His voice bidding waves and winds be still, and commanding the evil spirits to depart into the abyss. 2 For lo, thine enemies make a murmuring : and they that hate thee have lift up their head. S. BasU. M. A murmuring, or rather, with S. Jerome and the A.V., a AgelUus. tumult, a loud, vague noise, as the roaring of the sea, such as an advancing army makes with the clashing of its weapons, the braying of its instruments, and the shouts of its soldiers. s.Bonavent, Isa. liii. 7. S. Matt. xxvi. 53. 1 Taking ^m as though = tttcn, and the negative ^« as an inter. rogative. PSALM LXXXIII. 25 And accordingly the LXX. and Vulgate agree in translating Titeiman. the passage have sounded (ijxv(rav, sonuerunt.) Sounded, not spoken, observes S.Augustine, because it is the voice of irra tional passion, not of intelligent, articulate reason, which the enemies of God utter. At first they are secret in their whis- 2. perings and incitements to error and iniquity, but when they think themselves strong enough for open war against the g. Albertus Faith, then they sound and preach their falsehood loudly. Magnus. And this His enemies, the chief priests, did, when after secretly inciting the multitude against Him, they caused it to break forth with the cry, " Crucify Him, crucify Him." B. Have lift up their head. That is, they have assumed a pos ture of bold attack, rising up from their former depression or obscurity, and this either by setting their head, that is, their R. mere human reason and faculties, against Almighty power D. 0. and wisdom, or by choosing themselves a captain, wMch is A. Antichrist. 3 They have imagined craftily against thy people : and taken counsel against thy secret ones. They note here two degrees of enmity, that directed by q unbehevers against the Faith in general, and that more par ticular hostility with which the chief saints of God are pur sued, those secret ones whom He hides under the shadow of s. Albertus His wings, whom He guards in peril as He did Noah in the Magnus. ark, David in the cave, Elisha in Dothan, Athanasius in the very ship which bore his pursuers ; whom He compasses Bakius. about with His own majesty to save them, as Alexander Severus folded tTlpian in the imperial purple when the Prae torians sought his life. Yet again, the words apply with especial force to those rulers of the Jews who imagined craftily against their own people, by leading them away from their Teacher, poisoning their minds towards Him, and took counsel of ttimes against the Hidden Wisdom of God, tiU they Heracleot. put Him to death. 4 They have said, Come and let us root them out, that they be no more a people : and that the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance. Here is the sound of which the second verse told us ; the g Albertus inner hatred breaking out into outward speech. And observe Magnus. the bitterness of that hatred. The Egyptian tyrant did not Hugo card. go so far as this, at any rate in his first plottings aga,inst the Exod. i. 16. children of Israel. He was content to prevent their rapid multiplication, lest they should be too strong for their task masters, and was willing that they should live, albeit as bondslaves. But the enmity of ungodliness against the Faith can be satisfied with nothing less than the total extirpation 26 A COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS. Ay. TertuU. Apol. 50. of believers, either through martyrdom or apostasy. They ask how the Church, which is gathered out of all nations, can fitly be here spoken of as but one people, and they answer their own inquiry by reminding us that Christians are the true spiritual descendants of Abraham, are born again alike in the one font of baptism, have one will and one King, and are citizens of one heavenly country. Their enemies would even, were it possible, abolish the very memory of the past, and cause men to forget th&t Israel, the "Prince with God," the Loed Jesus Christ Himself, once walked on earth, or that the people which takes its name from Him ever had a place among mankind. So it was in the great Tenth Per secution, so in the overthrow of the Church of Japan, so in France under the Terror. And to each and all the true children of Israel re-echo TertuUian's noble saying, " The more we are mowed down, the more numerous we become, blood is the seed of Christians." De Muis. Targum.Lyranus. S.Basil. M. Theodoret. z. Ewald. Neh. iv. 7. Bellarmine.Ben gel. Chron. iv 5 For they have cast their heads together with one consent : and are confederate against thee ; 6 The tabernacles of the Edomites, and the Is- maelites : the Moabites, and Hagarens; 7 Gebal, and Ammon, and Amalek : the Philis tines, with them that dwell at Tyre. 8 Assur also is joined with them : and have holpen the children of Lot. The enumeration of the peoples engaged in this confederacy against Israel has given rise to much discussion as to the date and occasion of the Psalm. A very few, with no good reason, include it amongst the Davidic portion of the Psalter. K. Kimchi, followed by several of the earlier critics, assigns it to the reign of Jehoshaphat, when Ammon, Moab, and the Edomites of Mount Seir did unite against Judah, others to Sennacherib's raid in Hezekiah's time, while several of the Fathers, followed by some eminent moderns, take it of the league made by Sanballat, with the Arabians, Ammonites, and Ashdodites, against the rebuilding of Jerusalem by Ne- hemiah. And others bring it lower down, taking it to be a Macoabee Psalm. The mention of Assyria, and indeed of Amalek, makes this last conjecture quite untenable, for the Assyrian empire (here apparently only growing into strength) had been succeeded by the Babylonian, Persian, and Mace donian dynasties long before the time of Antiochus Epiphanes, while the Amalekites, a very feeble remnant after Saul's great victory, were totally extirpated by the children of Si meon in the days of Hezekiah, which excludes the post- Captivity view also. But whatever be the historical and literal sense of the passage, there is little diversity in the PSALM LXXXIII. 27 mystical explanation of it, as denoting the various classes of God's enemies, who would fain lay waste and destroy His Church. Following in the track of S. Augustine, they seek for special lessons in the meaning of the proper names, though often erring as to their true signification. They remind us ^. that the tabernacles of the Udomites point to the unstable and transitory aims of men of earthly and cruel minds, typi- C. fied by the " red clay" which Adam or Edom denotes. The Ishmaelites are expounded as signifying those who obey themselves only, and not God. But the name Ishmael means " heard of God," and we may therefore better take the sense to be those false Christians brought near to God in His or- „^^ ^^^^ dinances, as was Ishmael by the rite of circumcision, but 23. who nevertheless mock at the deeper mysteries of His pro- cien. xxi.g. mise, and therefore lose their share of His inheritance. Moab, too, meaning seed of the father, is a type of such as have illicitly entered into the fold of the Church, claiming g j^-^^ ^ ^ to be lawful members of the Christian family, but who have climbed over the wall of the sheepfold, and not come in by the door. If the Hagarenes be named after Hagar, they will rank in the same class as the Ishmaelites, with, however, the special mark oi flight attached to them, shunning, like Jonah, the call of God, going out, like their ancestress, from the trials of God's house to the sorer cross of self-chosen suffer ing in the desert of unbelief. The interpretation S. Augus tine gives to this name, for an uncertain reason,' is that it denotes strangers and proselytes, who do not heartily submit to the laws of their new country, but retain an alien mind. Gebal, which is very diversely explained by the ancient commentators, seems to signify a boundary, and may then well denote those who busy themselves altogether with finite and temporal things, to the exclusion of such as are eternal and infinite. Ammon and Amalek, two of the earliest and most inveterate foes of Israel, are fitly grouped together, and once more signify for us revolted kin, not original aliens, for the one, springing like Moab from Lot, was of the race of Terah, Abraham's father; and the other, derived from a grandson of Esau, had the blood of both Abraham and Isaac in its veins. Ammon, a name derived from a root Dy^, ^'"' '""'^'• " to gather together," is a type of the multitude in all ages, averse from any check on its pleasures and caprices, fickle and often cruel, and most opposed to such as set before it a lofty standard of principle and action. Amalek, "the strangler of the people," an apt name for that nation of which the Lord said : " Eemember what Amalek did unto thee by the way, when ye were come forth out of Egypt ; how he met flf" ' ^^''' thee by the way, and smote the hindmost of thee, when thou wast faint and weary, and feared not God ;" is the type of all crafty and treacherous foes of the Church or of the soul, ' Perhaps his informant read onan, instead of D'T^n. 28 A COMMENTARY' ON THE PSALMS. A. S. Matt. xiii. 20. A. Pseudo-Hieron. Theodoret. Neh. iv, 7. S. Albertus Magnus. and in particular of those evil thoughts which attack us in seasons of languor and depression, when there is little vigour of mind or body to resist them. All these alienated kindred of the spiritual Israel league themselves with the Philistines, "strangers" or " wanderers," open and original foes of the chosen people, types of the heathen and of undisguised and open sin. They combine with them that dwell at Tyre; those hard and " rocky" souls which have no soil wherein the seed of the Word can take root. 8 Assur also is joined with them : and have holpen the children of Lot. Assyria, like Egypt at an earUer period of Jewish history, is put for the idolatrous world-power in rebellion against God, for the organisation of human strength and self-will ungoverned by religious principles, for the unbelieving State, and it consistently lends its help and is an arm (Heb., S. Hieron.) not to the children of light, but to the children of Lot, that is, of " darkness," because Lot signifies a "veil" or " covering." The Latin commentators, for the most part following S. Augustine, by interpreting jls^ar as "elated" or "oppressing," and Lot as "backsliding," see in this place the devil and his angels, the allies of heathen and of false brethren. As to the literal meaning, it is enough to observe that if Assur here means, as is most probable, the empire of Nineveh, it is the earliest appearance of that state in Western Asia. But Theodoret takes it to mean the Samaritan colo nists under Sanballat, who joined with Tobiah the Ammonite, and the Philistines of Ashdod, and the Edomite and Ish- maelite Arabians under Geshem, to prevent the rebuilding of Jerusalem. The total number of the confederates named is eleven, the mystical type of sin, because it is just one more than ten, the number of the precepts of the Decalogue, and thus denotes transgression of the moral law. Each bat talion has its own special banner and device as it marches to war against the Saints. The heretics bear a wolf: schis matics a screech-owl, hated of all the birds ; the proud dis play a unicorn ; the slothful a dormouse ; hypocrites a scor pion, stinging with its tail; the wrathful have a lion; the covetous a mole, which ceases not to grub beneath the earth ; the gluttonous bear a swine ; the envious a tiger ; the impure an ass ; the desperate a man hanging by a cord. 9 But do thou to them as unto the Madianites : unto Sisera, and unto Jabin at the brook of Kison ; 10 Who perished at Endor : and became as the dung of the earth. Here the tone of the Psabn changes, and the prophet calls PSALM LXXXIII. 29 on God to renew His old loving-kindness, and to fight the battles of Israel. How memorable the' overthrow of the Midianites was, may be gathered from the reference to it in Isaiah's great prophecy of the Incarnation : " For Thou hast isa. ix. ». broken the yoke of his burden, and the staff of his shoulder, the rod of his oppressor, as in the day of Midian." It is to be remembered that the special kind of suffering infiicted upon Israel by Midian was not a permanent military tyranny, like that of the Philistines, but famine, caused by sudden ju^g ^j, 3 raids made upon the crops by overwhelming forces. And hereupon the greatest mystical divine of the ancient Church ho^^'IIu ;„ reminds us that Israel suffered such things because, being jud. ' carnally minded, it was as "he that soweth to his flesh, [who] shall of his flesh reap corruption ;" whereas they who aim higher receive the blessing, " He that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting." These are the fields ^*'' "¦ ^" which the Midianites cannot destroy, nor so much as reach. And in Gideon's great battle against Midian in the valley of Moreh, he had to fight with Amalek also, and with the judg.vii. 12, Children of the East, the Ishmaelite allies of his foe ; that i9. the odds might be so overwhelming as to prove the divine origin of the deliverance wrought by the three hundred with their pitchers and lamps ; fit precursors of the little band of disciples who under Him of Whom Gideon, " the hewer down" of idols, was but a type, stormed the intrenchments and routed the forces of Paganism, after the shattered clay of the Sacred Humanity displayed the Light of Light to the darkened world. And observe that Midian, which means " strife," aptly denotes a world lying in anarchy, and capable of being brought into order by none save the Prince of Peace. Origen, who explains the word to mean " outside judgment," Origen. takes it as denoting all who live without the Law. A. From the rout of Midian the Psalmist passes to the earlier defeat of the Canaanites in their last great stand against •'"''s- '^- '^• Israel. Here too the proper names employed give a mystical signification. Sisera denotes "battle-array," Jabin is the " wise" or " understanding." Kishon the " winding" or " crooked" stream. Power and organization, craft and skUl, artifice and stratagem are in vain against the Lord. He conquered Sisera, and that by the " hand of a woman," first, ju^ig. jv. 9 when the Maiden at Nazareth reversed the curse of Eve's disobedience, in saying, " Behold the handmaid of the Lord, g j^^^^ ; be it unto me according to thy word ;" and next, when these. mystical Bride of the Lamb overcame the world through suf fering. Jabin is the ty^e of the carnal imderstanding, into origen. whose power we are delivered, when we refuse to learn aHom. iv. in higher wisdom. And so speaks the Apostle : " Even as they ^^'^ ;. jg did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them up to a mind void of judgment, to do those things which are not convenient." But this wisdom which " descendeth s. james iii. not from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish," Christ, is. 30 A COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS. 1 Cor. i. 19. Prudentius. S. Venant. Fortunat.The Hymn Pange Lingua. Who is the Power of God and the Wisdom of God, destroys ; " For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and wUl bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent." And this He did at Kishon, meeting the tortuous craft, the " thousand meanderings," of the old serpent, with Divine and superior intelligence. So, in the great Passiontide hymn, we read : For the work of our salvation Needs would have his order so. And the multiform deceiver's Art by art would overthrow. And from thence would bring the medicine Whence the insult of the foe. Wherefore it aptly follows. Who perished at En-dor.^ For En-dor means the " well of the dwelling," the very source and habitation of the powers of evil, the grave and hell, which were spoiled and made a show of openly, after they had admitted their Conqueror in the guise of a captive; since which time they had become as the dung of the earth, not merely in that Christians can afford to contemn powers in vested with unspeakable dread to others, but that as dung is profitable to fertilise the ground, so the very temptations of the evil one and the pains of death are used by God as means for the growth and perfection of the Saints. Evil men, too, perish at Endor, when they abide by their own springs alone, when they say, like Naaman, " Are not Abana and Pharpar, rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel P" refuse the waters of regeneration, which alone can cleanse Hugo Card, the leprosy of their souls ; and become as the dung of the earth by persevering in coarse, foul, and degrading sin. 11 Make them and their princes like Oreb and Zeb : yea, make all their princes like as Zeba and Salmana; 13 Who say. Let us take to ourselves : the houses of God in possession. The details of Gideon's great victory, resulting not only in the rout of the armies of Midian, but in the slaughter of four princes of that nation, are recalled, in prayer that God Haymo. S. Bruno Carth. A. 2 Kings V, 12. ' Some unnecessary diiSculty has been raised about this refer ence, as though it were the only record of a battle not else where named. But Joshua xvii. 11, names En-dor as lying in the portion of Manasseh toge ther with Taanach and Me- giddo, which two are coupled by Deborah in her song as the scene of the victory over Jabin. There is thus no need to imagine a second battle, as the rout may very well have spread over all three districts. PSALM LXXXIII. 31 may work equal deliverance for Jlis people again. Oreb, g Albertus the " raven," and Zeeb, the " wolf," are types of the un- Magnus. clean and rapacious powers of evil. Zehah is a " victim" or " sacrifice," but not in honour of God, rather such as is eccIus. condemned by the Wise Man, " Whoso bringeth an offering xxxiv. 20. of the goods of the poor, doeth as one who killeth a son before Pseudo- his father's eyes." Salmana or Zalmunna, the " shadowless" Hieron. or " shelter-forbidden," is that evil one who is the enemy and the opposite of the Man Who is " as the shadow of a 'sa. xxxu. great Eock in a weary land," a " shadow from the heat, when ^ ' '"'^' *' the blast of the terrible ones is as a storm against the wall." All these, gathering themselves together against the people of God, desire to drive them from their heritage. What, then, r. Kimchi. are these especial houses of God which they would fain seize ? "e Muis. The first answer given is that the words apply to the whole land of Israel, comparing the language of Jehoshaphat, "And 2 chron. xx. now, behold, the children of Ammon and Moab, and Mount '"¦ Seir . . . come to cast us out of Thy possession, which Thou hast given us to inherit." Others take it of the city of Je rusalem, and more particularly of the Temple, with which agree the LXX. reading, the altar, and the Vulgate, the sanctuary. The Chaldee paraphrast and S. Jerome extendi''^."'"' the meaning somewhat further, by rendering severally every pure thing of God and the beauty of God. But the words have a yet deeper import for us, when we remember that saying of the Apostle, " What agreement hath the temple of 2 cor. vi. 16. God with idols ? for ye are the temples of the living God," as we shall then recognise the attempt of the evil spirits and their wicked allies on earth to bring the bodies and souls of Christ's people into subjection to sin. But the sanctuary ^^^ which we possess, having the sacramental mysteries stored within it, the sacred Flesh and precious Blood, the graces of the Spieit's might, the perennial fountain, and the light Di- AmoWus. vine, is too strong for them to take, unless it is betrayed from within.' 13 O my God, make them like unto a wheel : and as the stubble before the wind. ' Two Cardinals of mediaeval times (Joannes Vitalis and Hugo of S. Cher) interpret this text of the nepotism of great nobles, ecclesiastic and lay, making the dignities, benefices, and goods of the Church the hereditary feoffs of their families, the apanages of their children; and the latter of them applies his censure more particularly to the greed of the Boman Court of his day, aver ring that the Romans not only kept the Popedom in their own hands, but nominated some of themselves to every vacant pre bend in Christendom, to the in jury of episcopal rights, and the ruin of the Church. Lorinus hints at this passage, but is too discreet to quote it, recommend ing his readers to peruse it for themselves. 32 A COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS. R. Kimchi. R. Solomon Ay. Hupfeld. A. S. Bruno Carth. Hugo Cai'd. Haymo. Genebrar- dus. Ecclus. xxxiii. 5. Like unto a wheel. So all the old versions, while modern critics, translating, some whirlwind, and others rolling chaff or thistledown, with reference to Isaiah xvii. 13, do not prac tically affect the inner meaning. The ivheel is explained as an emblem of short-lived and tmstable earthly prosperity, followed by spiritual destruction, because the hinder part of the wheel rises, and yet leaves behind what it has just touched, while the fore-part, typical of the future, is always sinking, and as being circular and having no end, denotes the worm that dieth not. And whereas there is something of solidity in the wheel : the stubble, on the other hand, is light, feeble, and incapable of offering any resistance to the storm. Others, again, instead of wheel, translate the LXX. Tpox>>s as a child's top, which is made to revolve quickly by lashing it, an emblem of signers under the scourge of God. But there is no reason to depart from the usual rendering. The idea is a common-place amongst heathen writers, and occurs also in Ecolesiasticus, "The heart of the foolish is like a cart-wheel, and his thoughts are like a rolling axle- tree." 14 Like as the fire that burneth up the wood : and as the flame that consumeth the mountains, 15 Persecute them even so with thy tempest : and make them afraid with thy storm. This is the true connexion of these verses, not taking the fourteenth with the preceding one, according to the Prayer Book punctuation. The fire and flame are ascribed to the Judgment- day in particular, as denoting the terrible wrath of God against sin, but are not thereby excluded from all reference to temporal punishment. The wood is taken by some to mean all savage, uncultured, and obstinate heathens, and the mountains as denoting the haughty and exalted. And observe that the latter clauseof the fourteenth verse intensifies the meaning, because the .freer play of the winds upon lofty heights makes a fire among the timber fiercer and more de structive than it can be on the level. So Homer : oiipeos iv Kopvip^s, €Ka06i/ Se T6 (paiif^Tat aityfi. As a fierce flame enkindles a vast wood On the hUl-tops, whose blaze is seen afar. Hugo Card. Cardinal Hugo, agreeing in the latter explanation, prefers to take the wood as the opposite idea to an orchard, and as de noting wealthy persons who bear no fruit, and are barren in L. good works.' Some have seen a reference to volcanoes in the S. Bruno Carth. Haymo. Horn. 11. 2, 455. * This, he observes, is spe cially true of the Romans, as every one who has much to do with the Curia knows well. And ;PSALM LXXXIII. 33 flame that burneth up the mountains, but there is no reason to suppose a Hebrew poet of so distant a day familiar with such an idea. The storm and tempest are taken universally Cocceius. by the old commentators to denote the irresistible wrath of God against impenitent sinners, and as signifying the terrors of the Doom. But the wording of the very next verse might well have induced some of them to add a milder explanation. The whole series of petitions may be taken in a good sense as praying for the conversion of sinners, whom God can make like unto those wheels which were guided by the spirit of the Living Creatures in Ezekiel's vision, bearing upon Ezek. i. 15. them the likeness of a sapphire throne, whereon sitteth the Man. They may be caught away by the wind, to speed on God's errand, as Phihp was when borne away from his Ethiopian convert to the city of Azotus, and the fire which j^^ts viii. 39. lighted on the Apostles in fiery tongues may so baptize them Actsii. 3. with its purifying fiame as to kindle them with burning love, destroying the wood, hay, stubble, but causing the fine gold j ^^^ y; ,2 to come out bright and clean from all dross. Wherefore is added : 16 Make their faces ashamed, O Lord : that they may seek thy Name. More exactly, with A.V., LXX., and Vulgate, Fill tlieir faces with shame. That is, in the literal sense, that they may , lose all confidence in their idols, and acknowledge the God of the Jews to be mightier than their gods, " because there is no other God that can deliver after this sort." And one ^^''^ '"' ^'' reminds us wisely that it is sometimes better for a Christian to fall, that he may be ashamed, and so seek the Name of ^y Jesus as his one hope and stay, rather than stand, and jj^ be filled with spiritual pride in his own strength. It is therefore spoken by the Prophet, " O daughter of Zion, thou Mic. iv. 10. shalt go even to Babylon, there shalt thou be delivered." Hugo Card. And this, too, is the aim and purpose of spiritual penalties L. and excommunications, such as that which shut Miriam out Numb. xii. of the camp for seven days, as also of that shame which "j is. attends confession of sin, a " shame which is glory and Ecclus. iv. grace," not like the false shame of concealment, which is ^'' additional sin. And on this a Saint observes, " In this way g. Greg. one can arm his soul with the weapons of shame, for whoso Nyss. Horn. indicts himself by open mention of his secret faults, hath the ^ '" Eccles. memory of his shame as a guide for the future conduct of his life." But as only some of these evil-doers will be softened and turned to God by His chastisements in this world, while others wUl be the more hardened, it follows : Titeiman. he points his observations by meekly quoting the words of Eliphaz the Temanite : " For the congregation of hypocrites III. shall be desolate, and fire shall consume the tabernacles of bri bery." (Job XV. 34.) 34 A COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS. 17 Let them be confounded and vexed ever more and more : let them be put to shame, and perish. 18 And they shall know that thou, whose Name is Jehovah : art only the most Highest over all the earth. A. C. S. Bruno Carth. We have in these words set before us the doom of the finally impenitent, who will see the overthrow of their king Antichrist, and the dominion of the Son of Man estabhshed over all creation, and who will then pass from His judgment- seat to their place of punishment. But, as before, a milder interpretation is not wanting nor unfit, and we shall perhaps better construe the whole passage in connexion with the sixteenth verse. Here we see shadowed out one great dif ference between the Old and the New Covenant, the sever ance made between earthly and spiritual well-being. To the Jew, so long as he was obedient to the Law, came victory and ease, while foreign tyranny, heavy exactions, and inces sant suffering were the penalties for backsliding. But the Gospel offers itself to the mourner, the hungry, and the out cast, rather than to those who rejoice and are full of bread. And thus it has been usually a time of sorrow and distress in a nation when it has received the Faith. So it was with Judsea itself, so with the Eonlan empire, so with England, Hugo Card, when the heathen Penda warred against the Cross. Let them then be confounded, when they reflect upon their guilt, and that more and more, by increasing sensitiveness of conscience, and a gradually higher standard of holiness ; or for ever and ever (A.V., LXX., and Vulg.,) by never again returning to their wickedness, and so let ihsTo. perish, by dying to sin and to themselves, that they may live to Cheist, and know that He Whose Name is Jehovah, is only the Most Highest over all the earth ; and especially that none save He, no earthly potentate whatever, may dare to claim the Headship of His Church. His Name is Jehovah, for He is Very God of Very God ; He is the Most Highest, for GoD hath highly exalted Him, and given Him a Name which is above every name. But it may be asked. Why Highest over all the earth, rather than over all the heavens P And the answer is, to quell the pride of man, who is earth, and will return to earth. " Why Ecclus. x. 9. ig gartj^ ^^^ ag]^gg proud ?" Not justly for itself, but be cause God stooped to that earth and ashes, and taking it to Himself, crowned man, heretofore lower than the angels, with glory and worship, and set Him over all the works of creation. And therefore : Glory be to the Father, Whose Name is Jehovah ; glory be to the Son, the King of Israel, Who only is Highest over all the earth ; glory be to the Holt Ghost, the Flame which D.C. Cocceius. Phil. ii. 9. A. Ps. viii. 5. PSALM LXXXIII. 35 burnt up with love those mountains of God, the Apostles and Martyrs. As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be . world without end. Amen. Collects. Take away from us, O Loed, all superfluity of error, that Ludoiph. leaving the tribes of sin behind us, we may fear Thee only. Who dwellest most Highest over all the earth. Through. (] .) Let the Gentiles, for whom Thou didst hang upon the Mozarabic rood of the Cross, know, O Christ, that Thy Name is the Lord, and let knowledge bring them back to their Maker, as ignorance gave them up to sloth, that they may be converted through knowledge of the faith, and rejoice in the hope of glory. (11.) Arise, O God, keep not stiU. silence, refrain not Thyself ; Mozarabic. but as they who hate Thee have lift up their head, fill their faces with shame, that being confounded, they may seek Thy Name ; and save Thy people, that they may know the testi mony of Thy might ; be gracious unto Thine inheritance. Who art only the most Highest over all the earth. (11.) O God, who is like unto Thee in goodness or in might P Mozarabic. Thou Who teachest Thy Saints with Thy goodness, and de- fendest them with Thy might. Who bridlest the foaming mouths of their enemies, and hearkenest to the prayers of Thy servants. Grant us, who trust in Thy goodness, some small share of good works, to keep us safe from the counsel of our enemies, to wash us from sin, and make us well- pleasing unto Thee, that Thou mayest bring us to ever lasting glory. Who art only the most Highest over all the earth. (11.) O Lord our Eedeemer, make Thine enemies as a wheel, Mozarabic. them to whom the mystery of Thy Cross is foolishness, that they may be scattered as stubble before the face of the wind, and that an abiding-place for ever may be granted unto them that believe, or shall hereafter beheve in Thee. (11.) Look, O Lord, upon Thy people, and be exalted in Thy Mozarabic. majesty above them that hate Thee, and drive into headlong ruin those who hasten to attack Thy faithful ones, that con founded and put to shame, they may know that Thou only art most Highest over all the earth. (11.) O God of celestial majesty, unto Whom none is like, de- D. C. stroy us not out of the nation of the elect, by reason of the multitude of our sins, but, of Thy merciful goodness, cause our names to be counted amongst Israel for evermore. Through. (1.) 36 A COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS. PSALM LXXXIV. TiTiE. To the Chief Musician upon Gittith, A Psalm for the sons of Korah. LXX. and Vulgate : To the end, for the presses, a Psalm for the sons of Eore. Chaldee Targum : For praise, upon the harp brought from Grath, by the hands of the sons of Korah, a hymn. Ae&umbnt. Abq. Thomas. That Cheist opens the kingdom of the heavenly house. Concerning them who have attained the Faith. To them who shall attain a dweUing in the house of the Loed. The Voice of Cheist to the Fathee on behalf of the Church. A Psabn to be read along with the Gospel of S. Matthew. TTnto them who have attained the Faith. The Advent of Cheist in Manhood, and concerning the Churches. A prayer over the field. Vbn. Bede. Three Psalms, viii., Ixxx. (81) and Ixxxiii. (84) are entitled for the presses, that is, for the sufferings of the Holy Church. And therein the numbers eight and eighty denote the hope of future resurrection, with the number ten, signifying the penny (denarius) of everlasting life, which the Church shall receive after her aifiictions, like a wine-cellar after the press. And this is that most blessed end, which is included in all the titles which are worded for the presses. And in that Ixxxiii. is the last Psalm which is named for the presses, this shows that the resurrection of the Church is hallowed in the vision of the Holy Trinity, when the God of gods shall be seen in Sion. The sons of Korah are the sous of the Cross, as has been already said ; or, as Arnobius ex pounds it, whereas in the previous psalm they who desired to seize on the sanctuary of God were confounded and perished, and ex cited loathing and produced hindrances to charity and other vir tues, now, on the other hand, that the Loed reigns in us, who once were sons of Korah the rebel, we become sons of God, our evil fathers having been swallowed up by the earth ; and we, who aforetime thought to bear the fire of lust and avarice, strange to GOD, now kindled with the fire of Divine love, say, 0 how amiable are Thy d/ioellings, Thou Lord of Sosts. This explanation of Arnobius is supported by the fact, that in the first, second, and third places wherein the sons of Korah are named in the title. Understanding is added at the same time ; but in the third place, as though these sons of Korah had been rebuked on stricter inquiry, it is thus written : For them who shall be changed, the sons of Korah, for un derstanding. These sons of Korah, in the first part of the psalm, declare their unutterable longing for the Church. O how amiable are Thy dwellings, 0 Lord ! In the second clause, they confess that he is happy, to whom the LoED gives help, and whom He causes to attain to the grace of Confession. Slessed is the man whose strength is in Thee. In the third place, they say that it is far better to dwell obscure in the House of the Loed than to enter the tabernacle of sinners with any worldly honours. For one day in Thy courts, Sf'c. SvEiAC PsALTEE. Of the SOUS of Korah, which David composed PSALM LXXXIV. 37 when he was going forth of Sion to worship in the House of the Loed. It is said also to be a prophecy of Cheist and of His Church. EtrsEBiDS or C.s:saeea. A prophecy of Cheist and of His Church. S. Athanasius. A Psalm of glorifying in the Loed. Various Uses. Gregorian. Friday : Matins. [Corpus Christi ; III. Nocturn. Dedication of a Church : II. Nocturn. Sacred Heart : III. Noc turn.] Monastic. Thursday : II. Nocturn. [Corpus Christi : II. Noc turn. Dedication of Church : II. Nocturn.] Amhrosian. Wednesday of Second Week : I. Nocturn. Parisian. Thursday : Terce. Lyons. Friday : Terce. Quignon. Wednesday : Vespers. Eastern Church. Nones. AtfTIPHONS. Gregorian. Ferial. As preceding Psalm. [Corpus Christi : From Thine Altar * O Loed, we receive Cheist, in Whom our heart and flesh rejoice. Dedication : This is none other * than the House of God, and the gate of Heaven. Sacred Heart ; God loveth mercy and truth * the Loed will give grace and worship.] Monastic. Ferial: Thou hast blessed * O Loed, Thy laud. [Corpus Christi : As Gregorian. Dedication : The temple of God is holy, it is God's husbandry, it is God's building.] Parisian. I believe * verily to see the goodness of the Loed in the land of the hving. Amhrosian. As Psalm Ixxxii. Mozarabic. My heart and my flesh rejoice in the living God. 1 O how amiable are thy dwellings : thou Lord of hosts ! 2 My soul hath a desire and longing to enter into the courts of the Lord : my heart and my flesh re joice in the living God. For dwellings, the A. V. more exactly, with LXX. and Vulgate, reads tabernacles, and thus suggests a contrast be tween these moveable tents and the permanent courts of the serm. in second verse. "There are," observes S. Bernard, comment- 1^|'-*-'°"'' ing on this passage, " three conditions of holy souls ; to wit, first in the corruptible body ; secondly, without the body ; thirdly, in the glorified body. First in warfare, next in rest, thirdly in perfect blessedness ; first, that is to say, in taber nacles, secondly, in courts, thirdly in the House of jthe Lord. O how amiable are Thy tabernacles, Thou Lord of Hosts ! But His courts are much more desirable, so that he adds, My soul hath a desire and longing for the courts of the Lord. Yet 38 A COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS. Cd. Titeiman, Ps. xxxiv. ; A.V. E. Apollina-rias.S. Cyprian. de Morta- lltate. S. Hieron. in Zach. xiv, A. 2 Cor. V. I. S. Hieron. Ep. 28. Ay. S. John xiv. 2. I Kings vii. 12. S. Athana sius. S. Albertus Magnus. Hugo Card. Numb. xxiv. 5. Anonym. Graec. S. Hieron. Epitaph. Nepotiani. as even in these courts there is some imperfection, altogether blessed are they who dwell in Thy House, O Lord." Some, however, reading the whole of the first verse in close connex ion, see in the tabernacles the abiding-place of the armies of heaven, for we read in another psalm, " The angel of the Loed enoampeth round about them that fear Him, and de- livereth them." Heaven is like a camp, for it is strong and secure from the enemy, and because there, as in an earthly army in time of warfare, there is neither marrying nor giv ing in marriage. And this is the view most dwelt upon by the earlier commentators. As the Jews in their captivity at Babylon longed for a sight of the Holy City, for its feast of tabernacles, and its solemn rites in the 'Temple ; so the Saints, exiles here on earth from their country, long to flee thither and be at rest. Hence it is that this Psalm has been so often on the lips of dying Christians, eager to depart and be with Cheist, for they " know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens." Ac cordingly, these verses were recited by S. Paula as she lay on her death-bed, and they form still a part of the Burial Office for Priests in the Western Church. Note too that the plural tabernacles points to the " many mansions" in our Fathee's House, while the word courts, implying size and spaciousness, assures us that there will be room there for all who desire to enter in. Wherefore it is written of Solomon's house, that " the great court round about was with three rows of hewed stones," because the circular form is the most capacious of all. There are other senses, too, in which we may take the words. The tabernacles may well denote the Churches of GrOD ; the outer courts here on earth of His great temple in the heaven, plural, as locally separate, just as were the various detached portions of the great House in Sion, and yet one, as belonging and united to it only. Again ; just as Gen tiles who are struck with the beauty of the Gospel, and desire to enter into the Church of God, so devout Christians look with admiration and love upon the Religious life, the warrior tents of the active Orders, the peaceful courts of the contem plative ones ; exclaiming with Balaam, " How goodly are thy tents, O Jacob, and thy tabernacles, O Israel." Yet again, as God is pleased to dwell within His Saints, all those who have made their souls a fitting habitation for Him, are taber nacles which excite the love, the longing, and the emulation of less perfect followers of the Lamb. Finally, the words may be taken by us in that primary sense which they bore for the Jews, love for the house wherein we worship God, and desire not only to seek Him therein, but to show our zeal by costly adornment and sedulous decoration of His shrine. Give all thou canst, high heaven rejects the lore Of nieely-ealculated less or more ; PSALM LXXXIV. 39 So deemed the man who fashioned for the sense, Words- Those lofty pillars, spread that branching roof S.m/s*'"''' Self-poised, and scooped into ten thousand cells, xliii. Where light and shade repose, where music dwells Lingering — and wandering on as loath to die ; Like thoughts whose very sweetness yieldeth proof That they were born for immortality. My soul hath a desire and longing. Here once more the Prayer Book version is too weak. The A. V. rightly trans lates, with all the old versions, instead of longing. My soul Eusebius faints. Not from weakness doth she faint, observes an early ^^^'''™- writer, but because of passionate love, for this is the wont of lovers parted from those they love. We may desire hea venly things, and yet not faint for them, comments S. Gre gory the Great, so long as we are held back by earthly plea- s. Greg. sures, but we both desire and faint when our eagerness for ^ j^h*^'"^iQ the highest blessings causes us to die to ourselves. And this fainting, which causes us to lose our own strength, is the true means for acquiring the strength of God. We fail, and cease s. Ambros. to be what we were before, but become something better and stronger, as the grape, forced out of its form and nature in the presses of which the title speaks, becomes rich wine fit A. for storage in the cellars. They remind us how often in Honorius. Holy Writ we read of the bodily suffering which great spi- L_ ritual visions entail, how the Queen of Sheba had " no more i Kings x. 5. spirit in her," when she beheld Solomon in all his glory ; how " Daniel fainted and was sick certain days" after Gabriel's Dan. vUi. 27. revelation to him; how Peter "knew not what he said," as s. Lukeix. he looked on his transfigured Lord ; how Paul could not tell 33- whether his trance were in the body or out of the body. ^ or-xu. .!. They count up seven reasons for this eager longing after the Hugo Card. heavenly Jerusalem, namely, its freedom, its pure and perfect joy, its bestowal of wishes, its endless and unbroken peace, its complete security, its unvarying health, its glorious com panionship. Many a divine and many a poet has endeavoured to give some faint expression to this craving of the soul, and perhaps none more effectively than the Cluniac monk : Jerusalem the glorious ! Bernard. The glory of the elect! Rh^hmus. O dear and future vision That eager hearts expect : Even now by faith I see thee : Even here thy walls discern : To thee my thoughts are kindled, And pant, and strive, and yearn. Jerusalem the only. That look'st from heaven below. In thee is all my glory, In me is aU my woe ; 40 A COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS. Hugo Card. The Gloss. A. Rom. xii. 12. Prov. xiii. 12. S. Albertus Magnus. S. Augus- tinus, Horn. 33. S. Thomas Aquinas.S. Fulgen- tius ad Tra- simundum. S. Luke ix. 58. Targum. A. And though my body may not, My spirit seeks thee fain. Till flesh and earth return me To earth and flesh again. My heart and my flesh. That is, my soul and my body. And the words prove the grade of saintliness which the true disciple may reach even here, that the flesh can be so sub dued to the spirit as not to rebel, but to obey its higher im pulses. Sejoice, but how, if desire and fainting precede ? The Apostle will tell us, " Eejoicing in hope, patient in tribu lation, continuing instant in prayer." Yet again, the Wise Man teaches us that "hope deferred maketh the heart sick." How can we then justly use the word rejoice ? The reply is twofold, or rather but one. First, that God gives His faithful ones, who are patient in tribulation, a foretaste of future glory, enough to sustain and gladden them, that they may continue in prayer. Next, as a great Saint observes, the soul " doth not rejoice in this world, in riches, in honour, in luxury, in drunkenness, in dead vanities, nor in vanities which will quickly die, together with the love of them, but in the living God. Why did he not say simply ' in God,' instead of adding, ' in the living God P' In order to show that every thing which belongs not to the worship of God we ought to account as dead." And, finally, we may take these verses as spoken in the person of Christ Himself, eaten up with zeal for the House of God, and Whose unstained Body co incided with every volition of His perfect soul, while both were inseparably joined to the Godhead of the Woed in hypostatic union. 3 Yea, the sparrow hath found her an house, and the swallow a nest where she may lay her young : even thy altars, O Lord of hosts, my King and my God. The exile would say that the very birds, mere irrational creatures, are suffered to dwell habitually within the most sacred precincts of that temple which he, God's servant, is forbidden to approach. And the verse thus foreshadows those pathetic words of the Saviour, " Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man hath not where to lay His head." There is some variation of the readings here, as regards the particular birds named. The Targum explains them as the dove and the turtle, and inter prets the reference to the altar as merely denoting the use of these birds in sacrifice. The other ancient versions agree with the English as regards the first word, but translate the second as turtle, like the Chaldee. S. Augustine allegorizes the verse, not without beauty, as follows : He has been speaking of two things which rejoice, his heart and his flesh, PSALM LXXXIV. 41 and he has set over against these, two parables drawn from birds, the sparrow and the turtle; the one denoting the heart, and the other the flesh. The sparrow hath found her an house; my heart hath found her an house. She plies her wings with the virtues of her life, faith, hope, and charity, wherewith she may fly to her house ; and when she comes thither, she will abide there, and the complaining note of the sparrow which is here, will not be there. For the sparrow is a complaining bird, of which is said in another Psalm, " As a sparrow that sitteth alone upon the house-top." Ps. cii. 7. She flieth from the house-top to the house. Only let her be on the top, and spurn her carnal dwelling, she will then have a heavenly, an eternal house, and there will end her moan. He ascribes young to the turtle, that is, to the flesh. The turtle hath found a nest where she may lay her young. The house is for ever, the nest but for a while ; and that nest is the Church militant on earth, the true faith, the Catholic faith, wherein Christians bring forth the fruit of good works. Again ; some explain the sparrow of the Saints of active Hugo Card. life, reminding us that it leaves the barren wood to dwell close to the houses of men, and that it is the bird, 1 i21f , Lev. xiv. 49. used in the rite of atonement for leprosy, and thus a type of the abandonment of sin and pursuit of hoHness ; while the p q turtle, as the constant emblem of chaste love and yet of .' mournfulness, denotes the penitent Saints of the oontem- ^^ plative life. Cardinal Hugo, according to his wont, sums up the qualities which make the sparrow a flt type of devout souls, in a distich, thus : Prole potens, hominum vioinus, et hostia leprae, Callidus, et cantans, hyemans, cibus est, volat, ignit. Eruitful, a friend of man, the leper's sacrifice. Wise, tuneful, migrates not, is food, flies, fires. One other interpretation sees in the sparrow, with its lofty s. Greg. flight, Christ Himself, seeking, at the Ascension, His house ^^^fi^"' in the highest heavens, while His faithful spouse, the Church, sighing for Him in her exile here, lovingly brings up her young in the nest of peaceful meditation. And with the former of these two notions agrees that old hymn addressed to our Loed : Ave passer salutaris, _ Psait. jesu. Qui frequenter immolaris Super tuis sacris aris, Nuuquam tamen consummaris. Hail, O sparrow of salvation. Thou which oft art made oblation At Thine holy altar's station, Eite which hath no termination. 42 A COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS. S. August. Horn. 33. .^lian. Var. Hist. v. 17. Herod, i. 169. Honorius. S. Bernard. Serm. in Cant. Ixi. S. Albert. Magn. Haymo. Hugo Card, S. Augustine gives another reason than this, taking, as he does in another place, both sparrow and turtle as types of Christ. Our Savioue, observes he, is compared to a spar row, because it is a very insignificant bird, as He first taught us humihty, and as the turtle is the chastest of birds, so He first taught us purity. If we translate the word 1 iTl, meaning " freedom,'' as swallow, which seems the most exact rendering, we then get a mystical contrast of another kind. The sparrow, keeping close at aU times to the houses, denotes the faithful soul abiding steadfastly in the Church on earth ; the swallow, a migrating bird, and the stvift, a variety of it, which is iu perpetual motion, and rarely touches the ground, wiU serve as the type of ransomed pilgrim souls which seek a better country, and seldom come in contact with earthly and carnal thoughts. Thine altars. The altar, as the most sacred part of the temple, is put for the whole building, around and about which the sparrows and swallows made their nests and fiut- tered in security. We are told how even heathens looked on the birds which so trusted themselves, as it were, to di vine protection as sacred and inviolate ; how one man was slain for harming a sparrow which had sheltered itself in a temple of iEsculapius ; how another drove out the sparrows from a sacred fane as a parable in action to shame those who proposed to deliver up a suppliant to his enemies ; and we may well believe that not less reverence was exhibited by the Jews. Interpreting the two birds of Christian souls, we may take the altars here in the most literal sense, with a true and deep meaning, as referring to the tables whence the heavenly banquet is dispensed for our refreshment, whereon lies that Body which gathers the eagles together. Or we may take the altars as denoting the human Soul and Body of Christ, on which the sacrifices of the faithful are daily offered, and wherein we shall have our eternal mansions, as we shelter in His side. And so the last of the Fathers exclaims : "O happy clefts, which build up faith in the Eesurrection and in the Divinity of Christ ! ' My Lord,' saith Thomas, ' and my God :' Whence came this oracle, save out of the clefts of the Rook ? Herein the sparrow hath found her an house, and the turtle a nest where she may lay her young. Herein the dove guards herself, and fearlessly looks on the wheeling hawk." As there are two principal altars in the Temple, those of burnt-offering and of incense, so Christ represents both to us, inasmuch as we offer up in Him our active works and the sacrifice of our animal passions, as well as the per fume of meditation and prayer. Or we may extend the word to denote all the sacraments and holy rites of the Church, which are the nest wherein devout souls abide, and where they raise their young. And as Christ suffered on PSALM LXXXIV. 43 the altar of the Cross, so all those who take up that Cross, and offer on it their affections and lusts, being crucified to the world, and imitating His Passion, make it their nest, where they shelter under His outspreading wings. Yet again ; when they pass from the sufferings of this world. Ay. their souls await their consummation and final bliss under the golden altar of God in heaven, their safe haven after a Rev. vi. 9. stormy ocean. But if Cheist be the speaker, and we are to look for His abiding-place, more than one interpretation is -n open to us. His altars will be, first, the will of His Father, on which He offered up His own will and His life ; next, they wUl be His Saints, whose life is a daily sacrifice, and in whom He is pleased to dwell ; and finally, we may take the altars, as in the case of His people, of the heavenly country itself. Note, then, the various epithets by which it Hugo Card. is described in the psalm. It is styled tabernacles, because of the indwelling ; courts, by reason of spaciousness ; house, as a place of quiet ; nest, because of security ; altars, by reason of the perfect oblation. And the delightsomeness of this happy land consists not even in all these, but because there is the palace of my King and my God, in Whose pre sence is the fulness of joy. Yes, God my King and portion, ^ In fulness of His grace, Cluniac We there shall see for ever, Rhythmus. And worship face to face. 4 Blessed are they that dwell in thy house : they will be alway praising thee. ' In the literal sense, this expresses the longing of the exiles Ageiiius. in a heathen land for the solemn rites of the Temple, and con trasts the happiness of those Priests and Levites who serve in the sanctuary with the misery of such as are cut off from all participation in the daily service of God. The words may titeiman, then fitly be applied by us to the happiness of those who are faithful members of the Church on earth, and especially, as some will have it, to the inmates of Eeligious houses, whose Hago Card. special task is the continual offering of the sacrifice of praise. But the highest sense is that which sees in the house that heavenly dweUing which is for all time, vast, spacious, and unshaken ; not like the frail and narrow nest in which we Bellarmine. make our abode here on earth. And observe, remarks S. Augustine, that all earthly happiness springs out of action or A. possession. Necessity is the mother of all inventions, a,nd we are unable to imagine any riches or any felicity which does not depend on our doing or obtaining something. What then does heaven offer us ? The possession of God, and the unceasing task of praising Him. Our business there will be the unending Alleluia. Nor let any one fear that weariness S.Bernard. 44 A COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS. Bellarmine. R, Kimchi. Rosen- muUer. Targum. Jer. xxxi. 21. Aben-Ezra.De Wette. Vatabius. and satiety must come of this; for praise can only cease when love ceases, or when wonder ceases. But as our love and knowledge of God will grow to all eternity, inasmuch as the subject-matter is infinite, the praise will be always new, always ardent, always delightful. 5 Blessed is the man, whose strength is in thee : in whose heart are thy ways. As the preceding verse taught us the blessedness of frui tion, so this one teaches the blessedness of hope. They are blessed who need no more help, who have attained their crown and rest, but he is blessed too in his degree, who is toiling onwards, leaning on the everlasting Arm, towards his home. In whose heart are Thy ways. The word Thy is not in the Hebrew, and though giving a very true sense, adopted by many, limits unnecessarily the scope of the meaning here. The literal rendering is. Highways are in their heart. The highway, a paved and solid road, contrasted with a mere path, miry, uneven, and short, is taken by the Chaldee paraphrast as denoting confidence in God. But a somewhat wider meaning is given by comparing the words of the two great Prophets : of whom the one, speaking of Christ's kingdom, says : " And an highway shall be there, and a way, and it ' shall be called, The way of holiness ; the unclean shall not pass over it, but it shall be for those : the wayfaring men, though fools, shall not err therein. No lion shall be there, nor any ravenous beast shall go up thereon, it shall not be found there ; but the redeemed shall walk there." Jeremiah, calling on his nation to repent, cries aloud, " Set thee up way- marks, make thee high heaps : set thine heart towards the highway, even the way which thou wentest ; turn again, O virgin of Israel, turn again to these thy cities." It is thus the way of salvation, the whole course of obedience to the will of God in self-denial and holiness of Ufe ; the chart of which must be indelibly printed in the pilgrim's heart, that he may not stray from the one track which leads to the hea venly city. And with this squares very well that literalist interpretation, not without its fitness and beauty, which sees here a reference to the Jews in distant places, setting their faces towards Jerusalem as the three great festivals drew on, and making their preparations to take the road which led thither. And remembering what is in truth the Eing's high way. Who it is that hath said, " I am the Way," we come to the truest and deepest sense of all, for blessed are they who have Him in their hearts. But the LXX. and Vulgate turn the latter clause of the verse, He hath appointed goings-up (aca^Sao-eij, ascensiones) in his heart. Here too we have a literal meaning assigned, not very difierent in its force from that already cited, that these goings-up, instead of applying to the elevated roadways, mean here the "terraces" or " stairs" PSALM LXXXIV. 45 which Solomon made for the temple with the algum-trees, AgelUus. for which stairs the same word fll VD/? is used. But what fi^*"™" "'• these goings-up maj mean for us, let us hear. One tells us A. that we ascend by love, and love only ; another that each n sm repented and conquered is a fresh step on which we tread „ „ . . as we leave it behind in mounting ; while a third specifies ^ three great terraces of ascent, to wit, humility, works of mercy, and contemplation, which have severally ten, six, (ac cording to the older computation of the works of mercy,) and seven grades. There are various other interpretations given g Albertus of these steps, but they differ only by indicating divers vir- Magnus. tues and good works as specially intended, and may well be Ay. summed up under the three heads of the purgative, illumina tive, and unitive ways of salvation. And man can appoint in Honorius. his heart such a going-up by the co-operation of grace and free-will. He can appoint it, that is, set his resolve towards § Bruno it, but he cannot accomplish it of himself. No one can do Carth. so, save He Who hath said, " No man hath ascended up to heaven, but He that came down from heaven, even the s. John iii. Son of Man, which is in heaven." And He too is that is. Blessed One, Whose strength was in His Fathee, and Who, Vieyra. even here in the valley of weeping, had already ordained His going-up on high to reign. 6 Who going through the vale of misery, use it for a well : and the pools are filled with water. The LXX. and Vulgate are at variance herewith the Eng lish version. Both agree in coupling the first part of the verse with the preceding one, as explaining the place of going-up, and read the clause thus. In the valley of weeping. That is, the spot whence our going-up must begin is in this A. present life of humihation and suffering ; the press wherein the grapes must be crushed into wine, the depth whence we must commence to climb to the mountain's summit. Then follows, in the place which he appointed. That is, as they ^¦ severally take it, in the place which man, by his sin, has -'^• made what it now is, a place of sorrow and pain ; or if we take he to mean God, then this world is the place which He has appointed for our education and cleansing. They take Haymo. also a ftirther and more beautiful view, by understanding the phrase as meaning, into (not barely in) the place ivhich He appointed. That is, we are going through the valley of weep ing, as mere passing travellers, not to abide there, but we are going into the kingdom prepared for us from the begin ning of the world, there to dwell for evermore. The true sense of the passage seems to point to the zeal and resolu tion which overcome all obstacles in th'e way. It should run thus : Passing through the vale of weeping, they make it a well, and the ea/rly rain covers it with blessing. The Ps. cxxvi. 7. 46 A COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS. valley through which the pilgrims journey to Jerusalem is arid and waterless, and there is therefore no use in sinking wells. But cisterns or tanks can be formed on the surface by diligent toil, so as of the whole valley to make a well, and the early rain then covers with blessing this valley with its artificial pools and fills them. And this holds es pecially of those who are set in some place where there is a dearth of the Word and Sacraments of the Church, but who set themselves at all costs to obtain the water of salvation to quench the thirst of their souls. It is not on earth, so far as they are concerned, but must come to them from heaven ; all they can do is to make ready in faith for its reception, and trust to God so to bless them with His rain, that they who have gone forth weeping, and bearing good seed, may come ' again with joy, and bring their sheaves with them. With this agree the words that follow in the Vulgate and LXX. which, instead of the pools are filled with water, read for the lawgiver will bestow blessing. He Who gave the Law as a press and a burden to afflict us, will give us grace and bless ing in its stead, that after our trouble we may have joy. A. There is a curious Jewish interpretation of the whole passage R^^h^k' ^° *^® effect that sinners, when beginning to repent, as they Cajetanus. pass through the valley, will weep so copiously as to make the whole place a well of water, and will then break out into blessings upon the Loed Who taught them the way by which they refused to go, and hath now afflieted them for their cor rection. 7 They will go from strength to strength : and unto the God of gods appeareth every one of them in Sion. Cocceius. From strength to strength. These words have been fre- De Muis. quently translated from troop to troop, and explained of the zeal of the new pilgrims, who hasten on so fast along the way, as to overtake and pass company after company of their pre- s. Matt. decessors, who at first had left them far behind. Thus the xxi. 31. publicans and harlots pressed before the priests and lawyers into the kingdom of heaven; thus weak women, like S. Faith, advanced into the noble army of Martyrs when men shrank 1 Chron xii ^^°^ afraid ; thus too, the great array of the Saints grows 22. ¦ ' ever larger, according to that saying, "At that time day by day there came to David to help him, until it was a great Hupfeld. ^°^*' I'^s *^® ^°s* °* GrOD ;" until the number of the elect is complete, and all appear together in Sion. But a more usual interpretation of the passage is to see here a special blessing promised to the pilgrims, that whereas in other journeys men become weaker and weaker as they draw near the close, those who seek Jerusalem will grow in vigour as they march, and will reach the Holy City in perfected strength. They will PSALM LXXXIV. 47 go from the strength of the Law to that of Grace ; they will n ascend the ladder of holiness, adding one virtue to another ; they will pass from the strength of action to that of contem- -K- plation ; they will pass from humility to grief for sin, and so A. to full repentance and amendment, from the strength of con- Hugo card. fiict in this world to the strength of sinlessness in the world „ to come. So again, we may pass from the lower stages of g jjieron holiness, from the commoner virtues, necessary for all men to Hugo Card. salvation, to the higher practice of those Evangelical counsels addressed to but a few ; we are to go on "growing up into Him in all things, which is the Head, even Christ." And ^p*"- ''¦ ^^¦ observe that it is said They will go, showing that not the will and affection alone, but the actions of our life must co-operate with God's grace in this ascent of the soul. Wherefore the Lord saith in one place, "If thou wilt be perfect, go and sellg jjjg^^j ^^j^ all thou hast, and give to the poor, .... and come, and fol- 21. low Me ;" and again in another, " Arise, take up thy bed, and s. Matt. ix. go unto thine house." And the immediate goal of such pro- 6- gress is the vision of God. Even here, in Sion, the place of expectation, we can spiritually contemplate Him, and still p ^^r""" more perfectly in the open vision of the heavenly Sion, where we may see Him face to face. To those under the Law the Hononus. words telling of the God of gods in Sion, were a prophecy of -^' *-'¦ the visible appearance of the Incarnate Savioue in the earthly Jerusalem, to those under Grace they are no less clear in promising His presence in Jerusalem which is above, the mother of us all, to see Him Who is God of gods on earth, that is, of those true Saints of His, who are gods in their likeness unto Him ; Who is God of gods in heaven. Eternal Cd. above the seraphim. In a glass, through types and riddles. The Hymn, Dwelling here, we see alone : Qutsquts Then serenely, purely, clearly. We shall know as we are known, Fixing our enlightened vision On the glory of the Throne. There the Trinity of Persons TJubeclouded shall we see ; There the "Unity of Essence Perfectly revealed shall be : While we hail the Threefold Godhead, And the simple Unity. And therefore, in his eagerness for this full enjoyment of s. Bruno the Beatific Vision, the singer bursts into a rapture of"^^'^"'- prayer : 8 O Lord God of hosts, hear my prayer : hearken, O God of Jacob. 48 A COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS. Hengsten- berg. R. Ishalci. S. Basil. Theodoret. L. A. C. S. Thomas Aquin. The Rhythm, Adoro Te. 9 Behold, O God our defender : and look upon the face of thine Anointed. The words of this verse have been taken to signify that the Anointed himself is the speaker in the Psalm, and this, in connection with the possible Babylonian date, on which the Greek Fathers dwell, has suggested the idea that the im prisoned Jehoiachin may be the author. But the Jewish commentators, for the most part, look on it as a mere appeal to the memory of David, and a prayer for help, for his sake, perhaps especially to his descendant, Zerubbabel, Prince of the Captivity, and thus, in a sense, the Anointed of the Loed. My prayer, my one longing, is for Thee ; hearken then, O God of Jacob, God of the wrestling, struggling soul which strives after Thee, and turn Jacob into Israel, pre valent with Thee, a prince of Thy kingdom, a spectator of Thy glory. Be our Defender in our contests with the enemy who would fain keep us back from Thee ; and if we be un worthy to make our petition, look upon the face of Thine Anointed, as He stands, our Great High Priest, before the mercy-seat, and for His dear merits, grant the longing of our hearts. And while some dwell on the word^ace in tms verse as especially denoting the Manhood of Christ, by which He became known to His brethren, others, especially of the Eastern Fathers, apply the words to Christians, who are the body of the Lord, members of Him, flesh of His Flesh, and who have put on Him at Baptism ; and thus interpret the words of a prayer that the Fathee will behold His Son in us, and be gracious to us for His sake. Or, as the Father always looks upon Christ the Son, Christ desires us to pray that He may so look on Him as to cause Him to be looked upon by others, to be known, believed, and worshipped by them, so that men may go from strength to strength, till they at last see the God of gods in Sion. So again, we may take the words as our own prayer to our dear Master Himself, Who hath made us His Anointed, with regal and sacerdotal unction, true kings and priests, and then the cry is that He, Who hath given us so much, may give us more. Thus, one of His truest servants exclaims : Jestt, Whom thus veOed I must see below. When shall that be granted which I long for so ; That at last beholding Thine uncovered face. Thou wouldst satisfy me with Thy fullest grace ? 10 For one day in thy courts : is better than a thousand. Ill had rather be a door-keeper in the house of my God : than to dwell in the tents of ungodli ness. PSALM LXXXIV. 49 Setter, because the one day of Heaven hath neither yester- p day nor to-morrow, because no night dims its brightness, no end overtakes it. Observe too, that the words may not be merely applied in general fashion to the attractions of God's service in His Church here on earth to the Jew of old, or the Ageiiius. Christian now, but they may be taken in a special way as looking to Christ's first Advent. The number a thousand not only stands often in Scripture to denote totality and per fection, and thus a dispensation of God, but it almost pre cisely marks the number of years which elapsed from the completion of Solomon's Temple tiU the Nativity of the Lord ; only one day in the sight of God. But the single day on which the heavenly hosts chanted their anthem over the manger of Bethlehem was better than all the festivals and rejoicings of the Mosaic code in its fourteen centuries of previous existence. A door-keeper. Literally, I had rather lie on the threshold. But the Prayer Book version gives the true sense. This is a Korhite Psalm, and the descen- Bossuet. dants of Korah were, in fact, porters, and " keepers of the i Chron. ix. gates of the tabernacle, and keepers of the entry," as well '^' as being permitted to swell the chorus of the inspired singers of Israel. On the love which the Saints have shown for the lowhest tasks of God's house, let us hear S. Paulinus of Nola: lUio duloe jugum, lave onus, blandumque feremus In Natali Servitium sub te, Domine, etsi Justus iniquis ®' Fs''diJ,ois Se iTffcois /ioxBeiV OVK aTTOKd/JLI^Cti, A pleasant task, O Phoebus, I discharge Before thine house, in reverence of thy seat Of prophecy, an honoured task to me. To give my hand in service of the gods. Not unto mortals, but immortal ones. And labouring iu such blessed tasks as these I weary not. Bossuet. And in the humility of this saying of the Korhites, which contrasts so forcibly with the grasping ambition of their fore fathers, we have a type of Christian holiness, repentant for Adam's transgression, and eager to yield the humblest obe dience to God. The LXX. and Vulgate, looking rather to the spirit than the letter, translate, I had rather be cast down ^„ in the house of the Lord. And hence they draw the lesson that this can be spoken only of suffering in the Church Mih- tant on earth, because no one can be cast down in the Church Triumphant. But this applies only to the Vulgate reading. The Hebrew verity does not exclude the notion of content with the humblest station in heaven, beside the warders of its 1 Cor XV gS'te, far below the seats of the loftier powers, for " one star 41. differeth from another star in glory." „ _, Amidst the happy chorus Bern. Clun. , , , ^' ¦', Rhythmus. A place, however low. Shall show us Him, and showing Shall satiate evermo. Than to dwell in the tents of ungodliness. That is, than to hold any station, however high, in the mere transitory and unsettled dignities of the world ; tents, because of their fra gility and temporary nature ; of ungodliness, by reason of the p. vices of courts. Hence they take occasion to remind us of those persons of lofty rank and great power, now numbered among the Saints, who descended the steps of thrones and Le Blanc, quitted the chambers of palaces, to serve the Loed in the bare cell of a cloister, in the coarse garb of a Eeligious. It is a glorious catalogue, from the many royal English Saints, Kenred and Ethelred of Mercia, Ina and Sigebert, Ethel- dred, Eanswith and Sexburga, Edith and Ethelfled, and the memory of S. Eadegund and S. Jane in France, of S. Ehza- beth in Germany, down to the later records of the great Emperor Charles V., and two centuries further on, Louise de Bourbon, who fled from the most luxurious court in Europe to the stern discipline of the Carmelites. 12 For the Lord God is a light and defence : the Lord will give grace and worship, and no good thing shall he withhold from them that live a godly life. PSALM LXXXIV. 51 The first clause here is more truly and vigorously turned by the A. V., as also by Aquila and Symmaohus, The Lord God is a sun and a shield, for in His deahng with His Saints, it is evermore according to His true promise that " upon all the glory shall be a defence." But the LXX. and isa. iv. 6. Vulgate translate, God loveth mercy and truth. This comes mystically to the same thing, as an old commentator says Ric. Cenom. very well, for God, in that He is our sun, is full of mercy, as it is written, " He maketh His sun to rise on the evil and the g_ Matt. v. good :" in that He is our shield. He is truth, for it is written 45. in another place, " His faithfulness and truth shall be thy ps. xci. 4. shield and buckler." Thus His mercy enlightens us in the Honorius. illuminative way, and His truth crowns us in the unitive. Because He loveth mercy. He comes to our aid ; because He A. loveth truth. He wiU give us what He promises ; as He showed in His deahngs with His great Apostle, " who was 1 Tim. i. 13, before a blasphemer, and a persecutor, and injurious," that 16. in him " Jesus Christ might show forth all long-suffering, for a pattern to them which should hereafter believe on Him to life everlasting." He gave him grace, for it is written, "By the grace of God I am what I am." He gave him icor.xv.io. glory, for he saith, "Henceforth there is laid up for me a 2Tim. iv.s. crown of righteousness, whichtheLoED, the righteous Judge, shall give me in that day." When it is said He wUl with hold no good thing from them that live a godly life, we are to bear in mind that only spiritual good things are intended. -^y- Temporal good things, which may be evils in disguise, are by no means either always promised or bestowed. Earthly riches may be seen abundantly with robbers, with ungodly A. sinners, with men steeped in the worst crimes of profligacy and violence, but these have no real wealth. As the world calls no man poor who has a chest full of gold, so Saints call no man poor who has a heart full of innocence, and to whom God has given the Death of His Son. From such He will withhold no good thing, for it is written by the Apostle, " He Rom. viii. that spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us ^2. all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things ?" A godly life. The Vulgate reads innocence, and the com mentators dwell on its various tokens and attributes. But one, pointing to S. Jerome's rendering, perfection (which is also that of Aquila, Symmachus, and the Targum) sea sonably reminds us that innocence by itself is but one imper- Ric. cenom. feet virtue, and needs prudence as its complement, according to that saying of the Lord, " Be ye wise as serpents, and s. Matt. x. harmless as doves." '^• 13 O Lord God of hosts : blessed is the man that putteth his trust in thee. And that by fully-formed hope, as Isaiah confesseth, " For j). q_ the Lord is a God of judgment, blessed are aU they that isa. xxx. is. 53 A COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS. Eocies.ii.io. wait for Him." So too it is written in another place, " Did any ever trust in the Lord, and was confounded P or did any abide in His fear, and was forsaken ? or whom did He ever despise, that called upon Him ?" Wherefore : Glory be to the Fathee, the Loed God of Hosts ; glory be to the Son, His Anointed, on Whose Face He ever look- eth ; glory be to the Holt Ghost, the light and defence of the Saints. As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be : world without end. Amen. Collects. Ludoiph. O Everlasting God, builder of the heavenly tabernacles, appoint, we beseech Thee, goings-up in our hearts whereby we may without falling back into sin ascend to Thy taber nacles. Through (1.) Ludoiph. O God, the defender of them that trust in thee, save us who abide in Thy service, that separated from the tents of the ungodly, we may be fitted to dwell in Thy holy house. Through (1.) Mozarabic. O GoD of Hosts, Whose tabernacles are amiable, and Whose courts are beauteous, within the circuit whereof holiness walketh, and godliness rejoiceth ; grant that our souls may long after them more eagerly, wherein one day is known to shine better than a thousand ; let us, we pray Thee, be brought in thither, however lowly, that we be not utterly cast out ; that in our new bodies our pure hearts may rejoice with perpetual gladness in Thee the living God ; and gladly through ages after ages offer praise to Thee in sweet strains and loving service. (11.) D. Q. O God, our strong Helper, we pray Thee that Thy might may be with us in the valley of weeping ; teach us so to appoint goings-up in our hearts, that going from strength to strength. Thou mayest vouchsafe us gladly to see Thee, the God of gods, in the heavenly Sion. Through (1.) PSALM LXXXV. Title. To the Chief Musician ; A Psalm for the sons of Korah. LXX. and Vulgate : To the end ; for the sons of Kore, a Psalm. Aesument. Aeo. Thomas. That Cheist vouchsafed to show us His mercy by His coming in the body. The Voice of the Prophet to the Son. Then the Apostolic Voice of the Lord concerning the new PSALM LXXXV. 53 people who are redeemed by the Loed. The Apostohc Voice to the new people. Ven. Bede. This Psalm, about to speak of the first coming of the Saviotje, is suited to the person of them who have believed in Him with sincere mind. In the first part of the Psalm the Pro phet briefly gives thanks to the Loed, because from that old time of the Jewish nation, the people have come to the worship of the Loed the Savioue. Lord, Thou hast become gracious unto Thy land. The second narrates how the Loed vouchsafed to allay His wrath against the Jewish people, and desires the coming of Cheist, wherein human blessedness hath received the light of faith. Thou hast taken away all Thy displeasure, &c. In the third part he turns his words to himself, and iu the spirit of prophecy foretells the coming of the Woed made flesh. I mil hearken what the Lord God will say concerning me, &c. Syriac Psaxtee. Of the sons of Korah. Concerning the re ward and salvation given to them by the Loed, and a prophecy of Cheist. Eusebius oe Cssaeea. A prophecy of Cheist, and of those redeemed by Him. S. Athanasius. A Psalm of thanksgiving. Vaeious Uses. Monastic. Thursday : II. Nocturn. 1 [Christmas Day : II. Noct. Gregorian. Friday: Matins. J Sacred Heart: III. Noct.] Amhrosian. Wednesday of Second Week : I. Nocturn. Parisian. Tuesday : Lauds. [Christmas Day : II. Nocturn.] Lyons. Friday : Compline. [Christmas Day : II. Nocturn.] Quignon. Saturday : Compline. Fastern Church. Second Psalm of Nones. Antiphons. Gregorian. Thou hast blessed, * O Loed, Thy land. [Christ mas Day : Truth hath sprung up out of the earth, and righteous ness hath looked down from heaven. So in all the other uses. Sacred Heart : The Loed will show loving-kindness, and He shall speak peace unto His people.] Monastic. The same. Amhrosian. As Psalm 82. Parisian. I will hearken * what the Loed God will say con cerning me : for He shall speak peace unto His people and to His Saints. Mozarabic. Loed, Thou wilt turn again and quicken us, * and Thy people shall rejoice in Thee. 1 Lord, thou art become gracious unto thy land : thou hast turned away the captivity of Jacob. Whereas it was aforetime said to the flrst man, " Earth Eusebius. thou art, and unto earth shalt thou return," and also, ^^°- "'• ^S' " Cursed is the ground for thy sake ;" and a certain Pro- iwd.'i?. phet hath said, " There is no truth, nor mercy, nor knowledge Ys.ose& iv. 2 of God in the land : cursing, and lying, and killing, and steal- lxx. 54 A COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS. S. Bruno Carth. Ric. Hamp. Hugo Card. Heb. vi. 7- E. C. Hugo Card. Isa. xlv. 13. A. Hugo Card. A. C. S. Bruno Carth. Hugo Card. Didymus. S. Albertus Magnus. S. Lulie xii. Lam. iv. 8. 1 S. Pet. iv. 8.Hugo Card. L. ing, and committing adultery are poured forth upon the earth, and blood touoheth blood ;" now on the other hand, that the Son of God hath shone upon us by His Incarnation, He hath mended all things, and filled the earth with blessing instead of cursing, seeing that temples of God are erected in all parts of the earth, and the fertilising waters of Baptism are poured over its arid soil. The Lord hath blessed the earth, that is, the whole of mankind, by taking earth to Him self, and making of it His holy Flesh, and He hath especially blessed one part of it, that garden inclosed. His ovrn most blessed Virgin Mother, who brought forth the fruit of salva tion. He is gracious also, and gives blessing to every faith ful soul which yields itself to His husbandry, " for the earth which drinketh in the rain that cometh oft upon it, and bringeth forth herbs meet for them by whom it is dressed, receiveth blessing from God." Thou hast turned away the captivity of Jacob. That captivity is the bondage of original sin whereby man lay fettered in the chains of the devil, but now saith the Loed of Hosts, " He shall let go My captives, but not for price or reward," for Christ hath turned away the captivity. Not, however, of all, but only of Jacob ; that is, of the younger people, of all who are by true faith descen dants, spiritual or lineal, of Abraham, of all who do not re main in slumber, but rise and wrestle against their sins. 2 Thou hast forgiven the offence of thy people : and covered all their sins. This, then, is the true explanation of the previous verse, withdrawing from the bare literal sense, and teaching us what is the hardest of all captivity, what the most perfect of all freedom. And observe that the ¦word, forgiven denotes the bounty of God's grace. He is not spoken of as accepting payment of our debt, but as remitting it freely. And covered aU their sins, by plunging them beneath the waters of bap tism, so that our guilt, original and actual, lies hidden be neath those waves, as the Egyptian foes of Israel did under the waters of the Ued Sea. He does not merely cover them, leaving them still there, albeit hidden, but takes them away altogether. As, remarks a great teacher, fire covers the blackness of coal, when it has once made its way into the substance of the coal, and destroys it in the very act of so doing, so the fire which the Lord came to send on the earth takes away that sin which causes it to be said of the fallen, " Their visage is blacker than a coal." This, then, is His tender love, that " charitjr which shall cover the multitude of sins." Others will have it th.a.t forgiven refers to the general remission in baptism, covered to the subsequent pardon in confession, or, once more, that the former term applies to grave and deliberate guilt, the latter to casual and venial sins. PSALM LXXXV. 55 3 Thou hast taken away all thy displeasure : and turned thyself from thy wrathful indignation. For taken away, the Vulgate reads mitigated, and from Haymo. this some of the Latin commentators take occasion to remark that God does still punish us for our sins, but gently, and not beyond our endurance ; and that He does not give us everything here, so that we may have somewhat better to look for hereafter. And whereas it is said all Thy displeasure, we s. Bruno are to understand on the one hand God's wrath against both Oarth. original and actual sin; and on the other His temporal and i^\ eternal punishments. Observe that in these three verses we Magnus. have six blessings of God set forth in six words. Thou hast Honorius. blessed the land. Lord Jesu, by Thy birth; Thou hast turned the captivity by Thy preaching ; Thou hast forgiven our offence by Thy dying ; Thou hast covered all our sins by Thy Hesurrection ; Thou hast taken away Thy displeasure by sending the Holt Spirit ; Thou hast turned Thyself from wrathful indignation, by leading us to heaven, and averting from us the terrors of the Doom. And that because the Bellarmine. offering of the immaculate Lamb is sufficient ransom for the whole world, so that no penalty will remain to be exacted from such as accept the salvation which He offers to all. For Ay. He stands before His Father as our High Priest, and pleads on our behalf with prevalent intercession, as He spake Him self in the person of His Prophet : " Bemember that I stood J^r. xviii. before Thee to speak good for them, and to turn away Thy ^"^ wrath from them." 4 Turn us then, O God our Saviour : and let thine anger cease from us. Here we learn that this Psalm is not altogether one of re joicing, but that troubles and distresses force Israel to cry to their Lord, by the memory of His former and His recent bounties, to complete His work of salvation, and grant a final deliverance to His people. Wherefore it seems most Theodoret. probable that the Psalm belongs to that period, just after Lyranus. the first return of the Jewish exiles from Babylon to Jeru- Neh.iv. 7. salem, when they were sorely harassed by the neighbouring tribes, and foresaw a fresh series of Divine chastisements. Cassiodorus will have it that the Prophet here, after giving C. thanks to God for the promised Incarnation of the Savioue, looking onward into the future, sees the rejection and cruci fixion of Him by the Jews, and prays that these new sins may be pardoned also, and that the blasphemers may be turned, like Saul of Tarsus, into saints. Turn us, too, who s. Bruno have so ill requited Thy great bounty, from cursing to bless- •^'¦rth. ing, from captivity to freedom, from a bent towards sin to forgiveness, from continuance in sins to their covering and overwhelming. Make us, too, defenders of Thy Church Honorius. 56 A COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS. A. I Cor. XV. Honorius. Ezek. xviii 20. which we have persecuted, preachers of the Word we have blasphemed, disciples instead of gainsayers. 5 Wilt thou be displeased at us for ever : and wilt thou stretch out thy wrath from one generation to another ? Not for ever, as God's displeasure means the punishment He inflicts on us for our sins. He made us, therefore, mortal and passible in Adam, but by renewing us in Cheist, and giving us a promise of sharing His immortaUty and impassi bility, He has shown us that His displeasure will pass away ; " for as in Adam all die, even so in Cheist shall all be made ^^' alive." From one generation to another. God might appear Hugo Card, to the Jewish exiles to do this by delaying to send the Messiah as their Deliverer, by allowing a fresh generation to pass away without beholding the King in His beauty. We, too, may feel a doubt as to His entire good- will towards us, and fear lest He should visit the sins of the fathers upon the children, but we have His ovra word, " The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son." Again, we may take the two gene rations to refer to the two great eras of man's spiritual his tory, that which dates from Adam to Cheist, including the Patriarchal and Mosaic dispensations, and that from the Nativity of Cheist, the Gospel dispensation, under which we live. We therefore beseech God not to be wroth with us as He was with that former generation, because we, though liable to fall into sin, desire to wash away its stains in baptism and confession, and to be reconciled to Him. 6 Wilt thou not turn again, and quicken us : that thy people may rejoice in thee? The LXX. and Vulgate do not read this verse as a ques tion, but state it as a prophecy : Thou wilt turn again, and Thy people shall rejoice in Thee. When a man is turned from us, we do not see his face, and cannot surely recognise him, but when he turns round and shows his face, we know hirn at once. So, before the Incarnation of Cheist, God was, s. Johni. 18. as it were, turned away from man, "for no man hath seen God at any time ;" but He turned His face towards us in the Incarnation, which is the cause of our justification and spiritual life, whereby we are quickened. Thus, when Peter fell, he continued in his denial till the Lord turned and looked on him, and that one look quickened his dead heart, and Hugo Card, brought a flood of penitential tears from the hard rock. And thus too He deals with all other sinners who do not obsti- s. Bruno na-tely keep their faces averted from Him, so that they re- carth. joice at last in Him, no longer in the world or in their sins. Ay. S. Luke xxii. 61. PSALM LXXXV. 57 He does not confine His mercy to this, but He wiU turn again and show Himself to us in glory at the last day, quicken us in the Eesurrection, and make us rejoice in im- Honorius. mortality and blessedness. 7 Show us thy mercy, O Lord : and grant us thy salvation. These words, so familiar in the daily office of the English Church, which applies them to ferial use instead of their former employment in the festival preces of the Sarum rite, are interpreted universally by the Fathers as a prayer for the manifestation of Cheist. And our Anglican use in this particular carries out a precept here laid down by the Ecstatic D. C. Doctor, who observes : We also ought suitably to use this verse daily in prayer to this effect.: Show us, O Lord, Thy mercy, that is, show forth clearly and plenteously in us the working of Thy loving-kindness ; and grant us Thy salva tion, that is. Thy healing redemption, or even Christ Him self, by giving Him to us daily in the Sacrament of the Altar, and by His spiritual coming unto us to dwell in us, as is written of Him under the name of Wisdom, " Give me Wis- wisd. ix. 4. dom, that sitteth by Thy throne." Give Him to us, cries S. Augustine, after a burst of rejoicing comment, " Give us A. Thy Christ, let us know Thy Cheist, let us behold Thy Christ, not as the Jews beheld Him, and crucified Him, but as the Angels behold Him, and rejoice." We may also very . fitly explain the verse literally of that perfect salvation which shall be in the Eesurrection, for then God will most exactly show us His mercy, so that we may see it, and as it were, touch it, when He shall crown us with His mercy and loving- kindness, and heal all our infirmities, and satisfy our desire with good things, and renew our youth as the eagle. And ps. ciii. 3, 5. He will then give us His salvation for an everlasting pos session, when He shall manifest Himself to us. 8 I will hearken what the Lord God will say concerning me : for he shall speak peace unto his people, and to his saints, that they turn not again. The words concerning me, or in me, as the LXX. and Vul gate have them, are not in the Hebrew, nor in any way es sential to bring out its meaning : which is that the Psalmist, ceasing from his prayer, keeps silence for a time to wait § "|*^^^ God's answer by the Spirit, well assured that the answer sius. win be one of peace. The Prophet is here, observes a Greek Didymus. Father, acting as a, herald, proclaiming silence as the King is about to speak, and to make a declaration of peace. So Habakkuk saith : " I wUl watch to see what He will say in jj^b. ii, i, me," and again the Apostle Paul, " Since ye seek a proof of marg. 58 A COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS. A. Boys. S. Bernard. c. Haymo. S. Luke ii. 14. S. Luke xxiv. 36. Ric. Hamp. Ay. Hugo Card. S. John xvi 33. Christ speaking in me.'' Where observe that when Christ speaks in a man. He speaks to him, and what He speaks on this occasion is that peace which passeth all understanding, which is from God the Father and His Son Jesus Cheist, bestowed on all those who render unto God that which is God's, and who are truly His saints, because they are con verted to Him, not feignedly, but from the depths of their heart. He says, I will hearken, because the roar and tumult of the world is all around him, and he must stop his ears to it, in order that he may commune secretly with God, and hear the still, small voice. And thus the phrase aptly de notes the silent reverence which befits those who come to the house of God to hear His Word, and who may not talk and whisper as in their own dweUings, but hearken. When evil thoughts arise within us, we speak ourselves ; when good ones do so, it is God Who speaketh in us, our heart uttereth the first and hearkeneth to the second. The Peace which God speaks, the Word He utters, is the Loed Jesus Himself, the Prince of peace, the Eternal Woed of the Father, thus sent unto mankind. He spake Him to His people and to His saints, that is, alike to those who served Him, believed in Him, and looked for Him under the old dispensation, and who at last heard the Voice in peace when He preached to their spirits in prison, and bore them from Hades unto Paradise ; to the whole Jewish multitude ; and to those who are more strictly His saints, who listened to Him on earth, and loved the Gospel which He taught. So, on the one hand, at His Nativity, the Angels proclaimed " peace on earth to men of good wiU," embracing aU His people, Jew and Gentile alike, while He Himself, arisen from the dead, hailed His own chosen disciples with the greeting, " Peace be unto you." That they turn not again. Here the A.V. , rightly adds, to folly. Tlie intention of the Lord in speaking peace, is that His people may fall no more into vain idolatry, into worldliness and self-wiU ; but may, as they walk in His footsteps, and look to Jesus, the Author and Finisher of their new being, always have their eyes fastened on Eternal Wisdom. But the LXX. reads. He will speak . . . to them who turn their heart unto Him, and the Vulgate, nearly alike, ujito them who are converted at heart. And of these they make a third class, to wit, the Gentiles, who were converted to Him in heart, and abandoning their idols, served Him thenceforward. Cardinal Hugo, applying the whole verse to Christians, observes that the people here may well denote the laity ; the saints, the clergy ; and those converted at heart, the members of Eeligious communities. He remarks also that the blessing of peace spoken to the Church is like wise threefold, peace with God, of which is written, " He shall make peace with me ;" peace within one's own heart, whereof the Lord saith, " These things have I spoken imto you, that in Me ye might have peace ;" peace with one's PSALM LXXXV. 59 neighbour, as the Apostle teacheth, " As much as lieth in you, Rom. xii. is. live peaceably with all men." The first of these is necessary to salvation, and is therefore, while addressed to all, specially fitted to the laity ; the second, implying freedom from worldly cares and anxieties, befits the clergy, who are provided with ecclesiastical revenues precisely that they may not be mixed up in secular affairs in order to get their living ; while the third agrees with the quiet contemplation of the cloister, and the brotherly love which should prevail among its inmates. How effectual that speaking of peace was in the first fervour s. Albertus of the Bride's love we easily learn, for we read that " the *'^snus. multitude of them that believed were of one heart and of one ^'''^ ''*'¦ ^^• soul;" and we find a yet further result, in that Christ has knit together in one the saints of earth and those of heaven in one common fellowship, as it is written, " It pleased the f. , . ,„ „„ Father by Him to reconcile all things unto Himself, by ° ' '' ' Him, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven." So runs the old Easter hymn : He, worthily enthroned as King, S. Fulbert, In splendour now is triumphing. The Hymn, The earth below, the sky above, 'kfeZai:^ He makes one country m His love. 9 For his salvation is nigh them that fear him : that glory may dwell in our land. Therefore He appeared first among the Jews, where there A. were some at least to fear Him, whereas the Gentile world was still given over to idolatry. Yet even this fear was a carnal one, a dread of temporal chastisements and loss, of exile, captivity, famine, or sterility. The Jew asked for just the same things in prayer as did the Pagan, the one difference was that he asked of the one true God. Nevertheless, even this imperfect knowledge and service was so far rewarded that glory did dwell in the land. For there were the Patriarchs and Prophets, there the first temple, there the sacrifices to God, there dwelt the Virgin who bore her Loed, there He Himself was bom and manifested in our earthly nature, dwelling in it gloriously, there He walked and wrought His miracles ; there He taught His Apostles and Ay. founded His Church, and showed such honour to His people that He said of them to the Canaanitish woman, " I am not s. Matt. xv. sent, but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel." His ^^¦ salvation is also nigh them that fear Him, in that they are Aicum. careful to watch lest they should fall, even when they stand, f" ^™^'''^- that at the end of their trial, glory, the glory of immortality, "^° *' ' may dwell in that earth of their now mortal bodies. He makes another glory, that of a good conscience, dwell within His true servants, as the Apostle saith, "For our glory is this, 2 Cor. i. 12, the testimony of our conscience.'' Some of the Jewish com- ^"'s. 60 A COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS. R. Kimchi. De Muis. Deut. XXX. 14. L. S. Bernard. Serm. de Annunc. S. Luke X. 30. Gen. ii. iii. 3, 4. 17; Isa. xlviii. 22. mentators, alleging that the Shechinah, or mysterious pre sence of God, which was the chief glory of the first temple, was not to be found in the second, but is again to fill the third, which Messiah shall erect, point to a deeper meaning than their own, in the second manifestation in glory of Him on Whom the Apostles looked, with Whom they talked face to face, but Who is now hidden from our eyes till such time as the temple of Hving stones is completed in the heavens. And yet even here and now. His salvation is nigh them that fear Him, His glory dwells in our land, in that He gives Him self to the faithful to abide within them sacramentally, as He feeds them from His altar with His own Body and Blood. Wherefore it is written, " The Word is very nigh unto thee, in thy mouth, and in thy heart." And finally, the glory of holiness and good works done by the Saints dwells in the Church, in our land, and shines so before men that they glorify our Father which is in heaven. 10 Mercy and truth are met together : righteous ness and peace have kissed each other. " This," comments the great Abbat of Clairvaux, " is a deep mystery, and deserves to be diligently examined, unless un derstanding fail to cope with the secret, and words fail even the understanding. I fancy, beloved, that I see man in the first beginning of his creation, clothed with these four vir tues, and, as the Prophet saith, clad in the garment of salva tion. For the entirety of salvation lies in these four, nor can there be salvation without them, especially as they are not even virtues if they be parted from one another But man, to his own great hurt, and of his folly, went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, by whom, as we read first of all, he was stripped of his garments. Nor could he be clad again, or recover his stolen garments, until Christ should lose His. See, then, if it be not on account of these four parts of the garment which the first and old man lost, that the garments of the Second and new Man were divided into as many. . . . Man lost righteousness when Eve obeyed the serpent's voice, and Adam the woman's, rather than the Divine one. He lost mercy, in that Eve, to satisfy her desire, spared neither herself, nor her husband, nor her children, but bound aU alike under the terrible curse and necessity of death. And Adam himself exposed the woman, for whom he had sinned, to the Divine wrath, trying to shun the arrow as it were behind her back. Woman and man lost truth, the first by perverting the warning she had heard, from ' Thou shalt surely die' into the milder 'Lest ye die,' and so to the serpent's ' Ye shall not surely die ;' while Adam offered a vain and false excuse. And, lastly, they lost peace, for ' there is no peace to the wicked, saith the Loed.' Hence, after the fall, there was, as it were, a serious conflict between PSALM LXXXV. 61 the four virtues, for truth and justice were for punishing the wretched sinner, while peace and mercy, less jealous, were for sparing him ; and as the two former persevered in aveng ing, in scourging the rebel, and in aggravating present trou bles with the threat of future punishment, the two latter withdrew into the Father's Heart, returning to the Lord Who gave them. For He alone thought thoughts of peace, when all things seemed full of affliction. And hence mercy kept not silence within Him, but in loving whisper addressed His Fatherly tenderness, saying, "Will the Lord absent pgjxxvii. 7. Himself for ever, and will He be no more intreated ? Is His mercy clean gone for ever ; and is His promise come utterly to an end for evermore ?' And although the Father long and in manifold ways appeared to hide His compassion, that He might meanwhile satisfy the jealousy of truth and righteousness, yet the importunity of the pleaders was not fruitless, but was heard at the fltting time." Then the Saint continues, representing the pleadings and counterpleadings of the opposing virtues, and the final decision of the Judge, that the rights of all could be secured only in one way, by a perfectly holy death, suffered for love's sake, and without any fault in the victim, so that the meeting and the kiss took place on Calvary at the Cross. How the four virtues, parted in the first man, met again in the Second, we may readily learn. For Cheist showed mercy in healing the sick, truth 2. in teaching and speaking. The justice of Cheist appeared in His righteous judgment, when He reproved the wicked, and praised men endued with hoKness ; and peace in His meekness and gentleness. Further, the Divine nature of Christ, which hath the power of forgiving sins and healing infirmities, may be called mercy ; and His human nature truth, because there was no guile found in His mouth, and because He alone truly preserved that dignity and likeness of man whereby he was made after the image of God, and because He was Very Man, and no mere vision. And the phrase met together means, were blended in one, that is, united in one Person. P,ighteousness also is taken to be the Divine nature, for God alone is the righteous Judge. Peace, on the other hand, stands for the human nature, on account of Christ's noble and innate meekness. Again, mercy and truth met together in the Incarnation, because it was mercy which drew the Lord down to His creatures, that the truth of Haymo. the promises made to the Fathers of the old Covenant might i.yranus. be fulfilled, that the claims of justice might be satisfied by the obedience of the Son, and that He might make peace between God and man, giving man again that righteousness and peace with God which he had lost by his sin ; and might, Ay. moreover, blend in one dispensation the strictness of the Law and the gentleness of Grace. Further, if we lay stress on Genebrar- the words met and kissed, they will denote that the union of dns. persons coming from opposite directions is expressed, and 62 A COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS. we may therefore take the verse as signifying the reconcilia- Tremellius. tion of GoD and man. God's mercy encourages man to con fess his sins, and so to meet that mercy with truth ; God's righteousness in fulfilling His promises gives the comfort of peace to the consciences of His people. 11 Truth shall flourish out of the earth : and righteousness hath looked down from heaven. This is the verse which, in its Vulgate form of the past tense, supplies the Antiphon for the Psalm jn its use throughout the Western Church on Christmas Day. Truth, the Very Truth, the Sou of God, hath sprung out of the earth, hath been born of His Virgin Mother ; Righteousness looked down from heaven when the Eternal Word stooped from His throne of glory and united Himself in hypostatic union to the nature of man. Thus was fulfilled that pro phetic prayer, " Drop down, ye heavens, from above, and let the skies pour down righteousness : let the earth open, and let them bring forth salvation." That earth, that Virgin soil, is lowly, stable, fertile, and thirsting for the showers of Divine grace. For God in earth she is the royal throne. The chosen cloth to make His mortal weed ; The quarry to cut out our Corner-stone, Soil full of, yet free from, all mortal seed ; For heavenly Flower she is the Jesse Bod, The child of Man, the parent of a God. And an ancient Eabbinical gloss on this verse, dwelling on the word flourish or spring, and interpreting the passage of the coming of Messiah, gives as the reason why the term born is not here used, that Messiah's birth will be miracu lous, and out of the usual course of human generation. That Eighteousness might look down from heaven, that is, that men might be justified by divine grace, Truth was born of the Virgin Mary, that the Sacrifice of the Passion, the Sacrifice of the Cross, might be offered for them ; and how could He offer a sacrifice for our sins unless He died P How could He die unless He took flesh upon Him, and how could He take flesh upon Him, unless the Truth flourished out of the earth P There is yet another sense in which the words hold good. Now that man has been brought near to God, he is moved to confession of his sins, so that the truth springs up in frank acknowledgment of transgressions from the sin ner who is but earth, and righteousness then looks down from heaven to pardon and wash away his offences. 12 Yea, the Lord shall show loving- kindness : and our land shall give her increase. The Psalmist proceeds to explain the mystery of the In- Brevv. Rom. Sarisb. Paris., etc. A. C. S. Albertus Magnus. Robert Southwell. R. Moses, apud Titeiman. A. A. PSALM LXXXV. 63 carnation, and shows that Truth will spring out of the earth, Bellarmine, not in the manner that fruits spring out of ground ploughed and sown by the labour of man, but as flowers spring up in open plains without human culture, by the rain from heaven and the sunbeams which fall upon them. For, saith he, the Lord shall show loving -kindness, that is, shall send His Holt Ghost from heaven, to overshadow the Virgin, and so our land, untilled, unsown, and altogether virgin undefiled, shall give heir increase. Wherefore He saith Himself in the Can ticles, " I am the Flower of the plain, and the Lily of the val- cant. u. i , ley." Or again, the Divine nature of Christ is the loving- kindness of God, the human nature is the fruit of our land. But many of the early commentators are content to see here n j the result of Christ's coming, in the fruits of penitence and . good works put forth by men under the genial rays of the Sun sius. of Eighteousness, when the rain of tears poured forth in sor- Didymus. row for sin has caused the good seed sown in their hearts by j^. the Sower to spring up and yield increase. It is to be noted o. that the literal sense of the verse has caused the use of this Psalm in the Western Ofiice for the Benediction of Crops. 13 Righteousness shall go before him : and he shall direct his going in the way. The meaning of the latter clause of this verse comes out more Hugo Card. clearly in the LXX., shall make his steps into a way, that is, righteousness shall go behind Him as well as before, deepen ing, as it were. His track, that they who follow may not miss it. Observe, that where righteousness goes first, God steadily Arnobius. follows, and therefore most fitly did John Baptist, a type of righteousness, act as the forerunner of Christ, and prepare a way for Him in the wilderness of man's sin by preaching the baptism of repentance. Others take it that when righteous- Pseudo- ness hath so prepared the way for Christ, then He will Him- Hieron. self set His feet upon the road, and come to visit those who have thus made ready for His coming, as they clear the ground of all stones and thorns, and strew their garments and palm- branches in His path, crying, " Hosanna to the Son of s. Matt. David." He makes this road thenceforward a way for all^"'?'^' those who would follow Him ; and even in the works of ^' penitence. He Who did no sin was not content to be preacher only, but He gave us an example by His vigils, fasts, jour- neyings and other bodily toils. However, not a few suppose that righteousness is spoken of here not as going before s Athana- Christ, but before His people, or any who have turned to ^'"^j Him, to show them the way to Him, and to set their feet in ®^ "^' it, that they may not err. And thus it is said by the Pro phet of those who keep the true spiritual fast of charity, " Thy righteousness shall go before thee, and the glory of jga,. lyji; g. the Lord shall be thy rereward." Yet once more, a mean Rig Hamp. interpretation between these two is found by taking righte- Bellarmine, 64 A COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS. J, M. Neale. Easter Carols. ousness here to mean Christ Himself, Who went before His people as Leader and Example, and set His feet first in the way of sorrow and of holiness, of death and resurrection, that His disciples might follow confidently, in the Way, in likeness to Him, in union with Him, from Egypt through the Eed Sea, traversing the wilderness, crossing Jordan, till at last they reach their Country. And this is the true sense, as given by the A.V., And shall set us in the way of His steps, ov'&.Y ., And shall make His footsteps a way to walk in. Because He is Eighteous, He is our example, and nothing save righte ousness, not orthodox belief, nor emotional religion, but prac tical holiness of life, can keep us in that Way which is Christ. Where our banner leads us. We may safely go ; Where our Chief precedes us. We may face the foe. His right Arm is o'er us, He will guide us through ; Oheist hath gone before us, Christians, follow you. And therefore : Glory be to the Fathee, Who speaketh peace unto His Saints ; glory be to the Son, in Whom mercy and truth are met together ; glory be to the Holt Ghost, the Loving- kindness of the Lord. As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be : world without end. Amen. Collects. Ludoiph, Forgive, O Lord, the offences of Thy people, and show us Thy mercy, to lead us, with righteousness going before, in the way of peace. Through (1.) Mozarabic. Turn US, O God of our salvation, and take away Thy wrath from us, and grant Thy people that peace which Thou speakest, that they may rejoice in Thee, and understanding Thy salvation by Thy safe-keeping, may learn Thy mercy in prosperous seasons and receive Thy loving-kindness in the plenteousness of fruits. (11.) Turn Thy face, O Lord, from our sins, and put away all Thy wrath and anger from us ; grant peace unto Thy Church, and mercifully blot out all our iniquities, put away the guilt of our pleasures from before Thine eyes, and graciously lend Thine ear to our confessions, and grant us the medicine of pardon. (11.) Show us Thy mercy, O Lord, and fill Thy people with gladness as it waits for Thee, that Thou mayest do away the offence of Thy servants, and assuaged from Thine indignation mayest cover our sins. (11.) O Lord God, we humbly intreat Thy mercy, do away the Mozarabic. D.C. PSALM LXXXVI. 65 offence of Thy people, put from us the wrath of Thine in dignation, quicken us with Thy loving power and Thy strong right hand, that Thy people may rejoice in Thee with peace both now and evermore. Through (1.) PSALM LXXXVI. Title. A Prayer of David. Aeuument. Asa. Thomas. That Cheist, good and gracious, may hear the desires of them that beseech Him. The Voice of Christ to the Father. During the Fast. A Prophecy concerning Cheist, and counsel always to pour forth prayer to God. Concerning laudable prayer. Ven, Bede. David, signifies the Lord the Savioue : either because the interpretation thereof is held to be, strong of hand and desirable, or because He Who is God over all, blessed for ever, de rived from David's stem. Throughout the whole Psalm the Loed Jesus Cheist makes His prayer : in the first portion uttering words which can clearly be applied to Him only, Pow down Thine ear, O Lord, Sfc. In the second part, He prays yet more humbly for His members, whose Head He is : Teach me Thy way, O Lord. In the third portion. He utters again in His own person what specially belongs to Him self : O God, the proud are risen against Me. Steiac Psalteb. Of David, when he built a house unto the Loed, and a prophecy of the calling of the Gentiles. Further, a special prayer of a righteous man. EusEBiDS or Cmsassa. a Prayer of David, and a prophecy of the calling of the Gentiles. S. Athanasius. A Psalm of address, of prayer, and supplication. Various Uses. Gregorian. Friday : Matins. [Epiphany : II. Nocturn. Sa cred Heart : III. Nocturn.] Monastic. Friday : I. Nocturn. [Epiphany : II. Nocturn.] Parisian. Saturday : Compline. [Epiphany : II, Nooturn,] Lyons. Thursday : Sext. [Epiphany : II. Noeturn.] Amhrosian. Wednesday of Second Week : II. Nocturn. Quignon. Friday : Compline. Fastern Church. Third Psalm at Nones. Antiphons. Gregorian. As preceding Psalm. [Epiphany : All nations whom Thou hast made shall come and worship Thee, O Lord. So in all the other uses. Sacred Heart : Thou art good and gracious, O Loed * and of great mercy unto all them that call upon Thee.] III. F 66 A COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS. z. A. Monastic. Bow down * Thine ear, O Lord, and hear me. Parisian. Be merciful unto me * O Loed, for I have called to Thee all the day long. Amhrosian. Preserve Thou my soul, O Lord * for I am holy. Mozarabic. For Thou, Loed, art good and gracious * and of great mercy unto all them that call upon Thee. 1 Bow down thine ear, O Lord, and hear me : for I am poor and in misery. This Psalm, though bearing the name of David in the superscription, is held by the Greek Fathers, S. Basil and Theodoret, to be of a much later day, and to be probably the composition of Hezekiah. There are two circumstances on the face of the matter which lend weight to this adjudication of it away from David. First, the Psalm, if Davidic, stands alone in this third book of the Psalter, with no companion. Secondly, it is in a considerable degree a cento from earlier Psalms, or at any rate borrows many of its thoughts and phrases from them, and at least three passages are derived from the Pentateuch, and thus it is structurally unlike the original Psalms of the Prophet Eing, Yet it is a Eing of Israel who speaks throughout, whether as author of the Psalm, or as having it put in his mouth by one of the Korhite poets, and therefore we may truly say with S. Augustine, that it is our Lord Jesds Christ Who prays for us. Who prays in us, and is to be prayed to by us. He prays for us as our High Priest ; He prays in us, as our Head ; He is prayed to by us, as our God. Let us then recognize our own words in Him, and His words in us. He saith, then, in the form of a servant, and thou, O servant, in the form of thy Loed, sayest, Soiv down Thine ear, O Lord. He boweth down the ear, if thou lift not up thy neck. For He draweth nigh to the holy, but departeth far from the uphfted, save those humble ones whom He hath Himself lifted up. It is not to the rich, but to the poor and needy, (Vulg.) to the humble penitent, confessing his sin, and needing mercy, not to him who is full and haughty, who boasteth, as in want of nothing, and saith, " I thank Thee, that I am not as this publican." Sow down Thine ear, then, as a kind physician stoops over the couch of a sick man, too feeble to raise him self or to speak aloud, and hear me, pouring my griefs out. It is spoken in the Person of Cheist, Who asks to be heard, iiugo Card first because of His voluntary humility, so that His Father needs to how down to Him ; and next, because of His volun tary poverty, poor, in having no help from friends : needy, as lacking all earthly riches. 3 Preserve thou my soul, for I am holy : my God, save thy servant, that putteth his trust in thee. L- Taking these words as the prayer of Christ on behalf of S. Luke xviii. 11. Theod.Mopsuest S. Bruno Carth, PSALM LXXXVI. 67 His human soul and life, that He might not be slain untimely by His enemies, before He had fulfilled His work ; there is no diificulty in the words I am holy, for in Him, the Holy One of God, was no sin at all. But how can guilty man take Titeiman. these words upon his lips, and make such a plea to God P Because Christ, our Head, is not only Holy in Himself, but » is the cause of holiness in others. He hath given us the grace of Baptism and remission of sins, so that, as the Apostle saith, when after speaking of many kinds of sinners, he adds, " Such were some of jou, but ye are washed, but ye are sane- 1 cor. vi, 1 1 , tified, but ye are justified in the Name of the Lord Jesds, and by the Spirit of our God." Each of the faithful may therefore say, I am holy. It is not the pride of conceit, but the confession of gratitude, and the acknowledgment that Z. we have been solemnly dedicated to God's service, and are therefore holy in at least the same sense that the utensils of _, , Divine worship are so. And then, so far from expressing self-confidence, it is an acknowledgment of the increased perU of the Saint, of his greater need of a Saviour, because his very holiness exposes him to more malignant attacks from his spiritual foes. " The enemy," observes one of the most s. pet. eloquent of early preachers, " aims at the general rather than chrysol. at the soldier ; nor does he beset the dead, but the living ; ^^'''"- ^^¦ so too the devil seeks not to ensnare sinners, whom he holds already as his subjects, but toils to ensnare the righteous." Save Thy servant. He asks for salvation, as he had just Bellarmine, before asked for preservation and safe-keeping, lest he should lose the gift when bestowed, and then he adds the reason, by saying, that putteth his trust in Thee, because when God saves His servant. He is saving His own property; and when Thrupp, He saves a servant that trusteth in Him, He proves Himself faithfal and just in that He fulfils His promises. Observe how precisely, in this sense, the words agree with Hezekiah's prayer in his sickness : " Eemember now, O Lord, I beseech isa, xxxviii. Thee, how I have walked before Thee in truth and with a ^• perfect heart, and have done that which is good in Thy sight." And this reference further points the fitness of the Rit. Roman. Psalm for its use in the Visitation of the Sick, as prescribed by the Latin Church. 3 Be merciful unto me, O Lord : for I will call daily upon thee. It is one and the same God and man Jesus Christ, Who c. asks mercy, and Who bestows it ; teaching us that God's loving-kindness must be earnestly intreated by perseverance in prayer ; as He saith Himself in the Gospel, " Men ought s. Luke always to pray, and not to faint." Baily, (Symmachus) or ''™'- '• with LXX., Vulgate, and margin of A.V., All the day. That is, for each of us, prayer at all periods of our lives, in the dawn of youth, in the noon of maturity, in the evening of 68 A COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS. Ay. E. A. D.C. S. Matt. xxvi. 38. E. old age ; and again, as all the day embraces darkness and light, so our prayer should ascend in adversity and prosperity alike. We may pray with the whole day in yet another sense, with clear and enlightened minds, which have cast away the works of darkness. And though each of us cries to God in his own time, and passes away to be succeeded by another, yet each of us, as a member of Christ, does but swell the peti tion that goes up unceasingly from Christ's Body, which is, as it were, but one man on earth, crying through all the day of this world till the night of the doom cometh ; while our Head is, yet more unceasingly, pleading for us in the eternal day of heaven to the Father. 4 Comfort the soul of thy servant : for unto thee, O Lord, do I lift up my soul. It is He Who was forced to say, " My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death," that utters this petition, that His Father may rejoice (A,V., LXX,, Vulg.) His soul by the deliverance of the Patriarchs from Hades, by His own Eesurrection, and by the justification of His people through that means. For us, the first and last clause have a close, yet contrasted connexion. Bejoice the soul which Thou didst first sadden, by leaving it to its own miserable liberty, free to descend into the depths of sin and sorrow, abandoning Thy glorious and happy service ; rejoice it, because I have lifted it up from the earth, which is nought but grief and bitter ness, to Thee, where there is pleasure for evermore. Lift up your heart, then, from the earth, as you would your wheat, storing it high up, lest it should rot on the ground. How can I ? asks a sinner. What cords, what engines, what lad ders do I need P The steps are thine affections, the path is thy win. Thou ascendest by loving, thou descendest by neglect. Standing on earth, thou art in heaven, if thou love God. Note, too, the going-up in these verses, how the as cent is made by prayer. The petitioner is first described as poor, then holy, next trusting, after that calling, finally, lifted up to God. And each epithet has its fitting verb ; bow down to the poor, preserve the holy, save the trusting, be merciful to the caller, rejoice the lifted-up. It is the whole gamut of love from the Incarnation to the Ascension, it tells us that Christ's humihation will be our glory and joy. 5 For thou, Lord, art good and gracious : and of great mercy unto all them that call upon thee. Bellarmine. This is what gave him courage to lift up his soul to receive 1 s. John i. consolation, for as S. John saith, " God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all," so we may say, God is sweet, (Vulg.) and in Him is no bitterness at all ; while on the other hand, there is little sweetness and much bitterness in fleshly con- A. The Gloss. PSALM LXXXVI. 69 solation. And God is not only sweet, but gentle (Vulg.) so that He does not repel those who approach Him, but endures their imperfection. For He listens to our prayers, however A. unskilfully worded, and broken by wandering thoughts ; nay, receives them graciously, and hearkens to them ; whereas a human friend, if he saw his acquaintance, after accosting him, turn away without awaiting a reply to his questions, and address some one else; and still more a judge, who found the very man who had appealed to him, turning to gossip with others in court, would never tolerate such discourtesy. Again, God is good, in that He deals lovingly with His ser- Titeiman, vants, laying few and easy commands upon them, and help ing them by His grace to obey these commands ; while He is gracious, in that He does not exact the full rigour of just penalty from repentant sinners, but receives them readily back into grace and favour, which is the force of the A. V. ready to forgive. And these same attributes 'are those of which the Apostle makes mention, beseeching his Corinthian disciples "by the meekness and gentleness of Christ." Of 2 cor. x. 1, great mercy. His mercy is great and plenteous, (A. V., Vulg.) because it is sufficient for all sin and all sinners. But co- y q^^^^ pious though it be. He will not waste it, for He reserves it for all them that call upon Him. Hence we gather, first the q advantage of perseverance in prayer, for we shall be con tinually heard, and receive mercy if we enrol ourselves in that number, as there is no respect of persons, nor any stint ing with God ; and next, what it is we ought to call for. Upon Thee, the Psalmist says, and this shows us the mean- ^. ing of that other saying, " Then shall they call upon Me, but Prov. i, 28, I will not answer," that there may be a calling in prayer which is no true calling upon God. For you call on the thing you love, for which you are inwardly crying out, which you wish to come to you : it may be money, rank, the death of an enemy; but in that case you are calling on them, not on God, and are making of Him merely an instrument for your appetites, not a hearkener to your better longings. Call on God, then, as loving Him, and as desiring Himself, and He will be of great mercy unto you. 6 Give ear, Lord, unto my prayer : and ponder the voice of my humble desires. 7 In the time of my trouble I will call upon thee : for thou hearest me. The Psalmist asks that God may not only give ear, that is, -p mercifully permit the supplicant to approach Him in prayer, and listen to him, but that He will ponder or attend, that His wisdom may come into operation as well as His mercy, s. Albertus and the two may jointly fulfil the petition to the uttermost. Magnus. In the time of my trouble, as respects Christ, is spoken of D. 0. 70 A COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS. A His suffering Ufe, and especially of His Passion ; and as re gards Christians, it means the whole time of their sorrowful exile and pilgrimage here on earth, far from their Country, for the more they love and long for that country, the sorer is the daily trouble of the pilgrimage. It is also true of any Hugo Card special persecution, distress, or even of inward temptation, s, Greg, M.' according to that saying of a Saint, Prosperity closes the Ay. mouth, adversity opens it. For Thou hearest me. The Car melite reminds us in this place of the prevenient grace of God, which hears our prayers before we utter them, nay, which has heard them from all eternity, foreseeing that they would be offered, and has inspired us with the wUl and de sire of uttering them. Observe, finally, that all the Psalm, p down to this point, may be taken as the prayer of Christ in j^ His Passion on behalf of His whole Church, for He saith s, Johii xi. Himself, " I knew that Thou hearest Me always ;" but es- '»2. peciaUy " when He had offered up prayers and supplications ¦ ^- '• with strong crying and tears unto Him that was able to save Him from death, and was heard for His piety." 8 Among the gods there is none like unto thee, O Lord : there is not one that can do as thou doest. Ageiiius. If we take this Psalm as the utterance of Hezekiah, these words will form the fitting reply to the insulting message 2 Kings xix °^ Eab-shakeh : " Let not thy God in Whom thou trustest 10. deceive thee, saying, Jerusalem shall not be delivered into Theodoret, the hand of the king of Assyria. Behold, thou hast heard what the kings of Assyria have done to aU. lands, by destroy ing them utterly, and shalt thou be delivered ? Have the gods of the nations delivered them which my fathers have destroyed P" The verse, if applied to the Fathee, refutes the Semi-Arians, who asserted that the Son was not Con- substantial with Him, but only a Being of similar substance s. Athana- ^^^ nature to God, that is, Uke Him ; whereas confession of sius. the co-equality of the Father, Son, and Holt Ghost in the Undivided Trinity removes this difficulty at once. We have Bellarmine. '^®^^' Dioreover, the reason for taking refuge vdth God, and for calling upon Him only, because there is none like unto Him, in essence, in power, in wisdom, in goodness : whether 1 ymus. amongst men of exalted rank and power, as kings or judges, or amongst the purest saints and loftiest angels. Yet, we Ps, bixxii,6, ^^^ ^°^'i' " Y^ ^^® Gods ;" and again, that "we shall be like 1 s. John iii! Him, for we shall see Him as He is." There is no contra- 2- diction, for though we shall reflect His glory, as a pool re- G fleets the sun, we shall not be like Him in essence, for He is Mag^Mor. eternally and self-existently Almighty, all-wise, all-good, 10. whereas we are but His creatures, deriving our faculties and graces from Him as their source. Even the Son, as speaker in this Psalm, fltly addresses these words to the Everlasting Father, because He utters them in the nature of His Man- PSALM LXXXVI. 71 hood, whereby He is inferior to the Fathee, albeit co-equal with Him in Godhead. There is not one that can do as Thou doest. It is the voice ^ of the Church concerning Christ. For His created works are not intended only, nor His providence over all His' crea tures, visible and invisible, but His restoration of His crea tion. His destruction of the tyrant. His slaying of death, which He effected by His own death, and that successful fishing of the whole world which He wrought by a few mean fishers, not to cite His deeds of miraculous power. Not one. L. And yet He promised His disciples, " He that believeth on s. john xiv. Me, the works that I do shall he do also ; and greater works 12. than these shall he do." But He clears up the difficulty later, saying, " Without Me ye can do nothing." He wrought miracles of His own inherent power, they by derived and commissioned authority. Accordingly, the Prince of the Apostles saith, " Why look ye so earnestly on us, as though Acts iii. 12. by our own power or holiness we had made this man to walk P The God of Abraham, and of Isaac, and of Jacob, the God of our fathers, hath glorified His Son Jesus ; and His Name, through faith in His Name, hath made this man strong." 9 All nations whom thou hast made, shall come and worship thee, O Lord : and shall glorify thy Name. This, in its literal sense, seems to be looking forward to Theodoret. the effect on the nations around of Sennacherib's overthrow, fulfilled when " many brought gifts unto the Lord to Jeru- ^ chron salem, and presents to Hezekiah, king of Judah : so that he xxxii, 23. was magnified in the sight of all nations from thenceforth." But it has a deeper significance in foretelling the ingathering of the Gentiles, whence it is used as the Epiphany antiphon Ageiiius. to the whole Psalm. The words were uttered, remarks S. Augustine, when but a few, in the one Hebrew nation, wor- ^. shipped God, and they were believed in defiance of sight, and yet now that they are in process of fulfilment, men doubt them. He applies the verse himself to refutation of the Donatists, who held that the true faith of the CathoUo Church was limited to one corner of Africa. All nations, not only as t typified by the Wise Men from the East, but further, by the converts of many peoples and languages, made on the Day of Pentecost; the first fruits of the commission, "Go ye g, Mark xvi. into all the world, and preach the Gospel to every creature." 15. Whom Thou hast made. That is, not merely some out of every nation under heaven, but men once more appearing as God made them, in His own image and likeness, now re- Hugo Card. stored and renewed by Christ's redeeming grace, not as de- L. faced by the devil and by their own free-wiU abused to sin. .. So it is written in another Psalm, " The people which shaU a! v."' '*' 73 A COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS. be created, shall praise the Lord," created, that is, anew by s, James i. the supernatural and regenerating grace of Christ, for "of 18. His own will begat He us with the word of truth." Shall s, August, come and worship Thee. Not necessarily by bodily motion Ep, 80. from one place to another, but by beheving, in whatsoever Zeph, ii, 11, places they are, as is spoken by the Prophet: "Men shall worship Him, every one from his place, even all the isles of the heathen," And glorify Thy Name. It is true of the 1 Cor, vi, 20. Saints now, who obey the Apostle's precept, "Glorify God Titeiman. in your body and in your spirit, which are God's." It will be true of all nations at the last day, when, willing or un- wiUing, they must adore Christ sitting on His throne, wor shipping Him, some in love and some in fear, but all glori fying His Name, according to the prophecy in the Song of Moses and of the Lamb chanted by the Saints on the sea of Rev. XV. 3 gl^ss, saying, " Great and marvellous are Thy works, Lord God Almighty ; just and true are Thy ways. Thou Eing of Saints. Who shall not fear Thee, O Lord, and glorify Thy Name P for Thou only art holy ; for all nations shall come and worship before Thee, for Thy judgments are made manifest." 10 For thou art great, and doest wondrous things : thou art God alone. Bellarmine. This is the reason why the worship of false gods must cease, and why all nations shall come and glorify the Lord, especially in the Day of Judgment, when His marvellous power shall be fully displayed, so that the Apostle dwells particularly on the word great, as betokening His manifes- Tit.ii, 13, tationthen, saying, "Looking for that blessed hope and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus J Cheist." There is, besides, a confession of the Trinity in Unity in the verse. Thou art great, apphes peculiarly to the Everlasting Fathee, the Lord and Source of aU ; and doest wondrous things, tells us of the Son, by Whom the worlds were created, the mystery of redemption effected, the mira cles of the Gospel wrought ; Thou art God, teaches us that the Holt Ghost is a Divine Person, not a mere influence or C. manifestation, while alone joins the Three together in One indivisible Godhead. 11 Teach me thy way, O Lord, and I will walk in thy truth : O knit my heart unto thee, that I may fear thy Name. The LXX. and Vulgate translate. Lead me in Thy way, j^ but as Lorinus truly observes, with no variation of meaning from the original, which does not signify the communication of a bare speculative knowledge, but practical instruction, and PSALM LXXXVI. 73 actual guidance in the paths of God's commandments. Thy a way. Thy truth, is Christ. Therefore the Body goes to Him, and comes from Him. He saith, " I am the Way, and the g, jo^n xiv. Truth, and the Life." It is one thing for God to lead us to 6, the way, and another to lead us in the way. They who are out of the way are not Christians, or at any rate not Catho- Kcs, but are being led towards the way. But when that is done, and they have become Catholics in Christ, they are led by Himself in the way itself, that they fall not. And I will walk in Thy truth. Some, especially of the Greek Fa- origen. thers, take these words as contrasted to some extent with the Nicephorus. preceding ones, and interpret the woaj as denoting action, and truth as signifying contemplation. But it is better to take 2. it as denoting progress in holiness, or as covering the entire ground of a devout life. The prayer is like that of the peni- rpj^ggjo^gt tent sinner, asking God to put out His hand to guide him, s, Bruno as a blind and sickly child asks for the help of a wayfarer to earth, put him in the straight road. It is asked. How can words such as these be put into the mouth of Christ ? They an- L. swer, for the most part, that the Head is speaking here for His members, not for Himself, just as He spoke to Saul in the vision near Damascus. But the Carthusian will have it D, C. that this is the prayer of the Saviour that His human soul might be led in that way of God which brought it down to the Patriarchs in Hades, thence into Paradise, next to be re united with His Body in the Eesurrection, and flnally to be exalted together with it to heaven at the Ascension. O knit my heart unto Thee. This version, albeit giving a very deep and beautiful meaning, does not exactly express the original, in which the words unto Thee are not found. It is true that the heart may be so knit to God as to be interpenetrated with His feanr, as an old poet tells us : No, self-deceiving heart, lest thou shouldst cast Quarles, Thy cords away, and burst the bands at last ?**»'* "{ Of thy Redeemer's tender love, rU try ^^ What further fastness in His fear doth lie. The cords of love soaked in lust may rot. And bands of bounty are too oft forgot : But holy filial fear, like to a nail Fastened in a sure place, wOl never fail. This, driven home, will take Fast hold, and make Thee that thou darest not thy GoD forsake. But the A.V., with S. Jerome and Symmachus, gives the correct rendering : Unite my heart, make it so whole and imdivided that it may entirely love and fear Thee, not partly Bjn^j^ing fear Thee and partly fear the world ; nor divide its worship between Thee and other gods ; and further, that whereas it ^revetus. is now disturbed and broken up with the waves and storms of passion, trouble, and sin, God may still it, and bring it to 74 A COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS. L. A. S. Greg. M Mor. XX, 5, a perfect quiet, presenting an unruffled and tranquil surface, like the sea in a great calm. He unites the heart of the whole Church too, by granting it unity of faith towards God and Ric. Cenom. ^f Jq^^ towards brethren. But the LXX. and 7ulgate read, Let my heart rejoice, that it may fear Thy Name. It is lest we should be ensnared by over-confidence, the Doctor of Grace warns us, that this is written, lest the excitement of unrestrained joy, even in spiritual things, should cause us to stray from the road. Or, as another great Western Doctor comments, although the Saints are certain, even here, of their hope, yet they have reason to dread temptation, so that joy and fear are mingled in their spiritual experience. So we are to take heed that we do not find written in this place. Let my heart rejoice that it may feel secure, but that it may fear, in order that between the rejoicing of hope, and the fear of temptation we may be tried and chastened, and feel glad ness in God's pardon, yet so as never to forget that we may fall again. We need, as has been well said, to be glad in our victory, but to fear because of the conflict. Yet the Greek Fathers take it in a deeper and more spiritual sense, alleging that the fear of God is itself a source of true and pure delight to His Saints. And thus one of themselves has truly said, "The fear of the Lord is a paradise of delights, but where the fear of the Loed is not, there will the foxes dwell." Only it must not be a servile fear lest God should punish us, which is an impure feehng ; but a loving fear, lest He should leave us, which is pure. And with this latter fear even the Lord Jesus, in His Manhood, was filled, so that we may take the words of Him, and explain them in the hght of His bitterest cry upon the Cross. 13 I will thank thee, O Lord my God, with all my heart : and will praise thy Name for evermore. The Vulgate word here for give thanks is, as usual, confess, that is, make grateful acknowledgment of bounties. But the Latin commentators constantly take it of confession of sin, Hugo Card. ^^ therefore one of them, dwelling here upon that duty, tells us to lay particular stress on the words with my whole lieart. For the heart, that is, the intellectual part of man's being, is made up of four things, thought or imagination, memory, understanding, and will. Each of these should play its part in a good confession. There ought to be thought, in careful preparation for the Sacrament of penance ; memory, in duly recalling former offences ; understanding, in a full recog nition of the enormity of sin, and the grievousness of one's own faults : will, in the firm resolution to amend. But, taking the words in their more literal signification, we may note that the whole heart here is the result of the prayer iu the verse before, that God may umite the heart. Hence forth it gives thanks to Him under all circumstances, in ad- Z. S. Ephraim Syrus. S. John Cass. D.C. Ay. PSALM LXXXVI. 75 yersity as well as in prosperity, and puts its entire trust in Him, not confiding partly in temporal successes, and yielding Him but a divided confidence. And as Christ, in His human nature, gave us the most perfect example of en tire devotion to God the Father ; these words apply to Him _ as well as to His Saints, who plead for blessings to come in I*- C. the best of aU ways, by showing themselves mindful and grateful in respect of past favours. And will praise Thy ''«"»™™^- Name for evermore. This evermore is threefold. It is the whole fife of the pardoned sinner, thenceforth devoted to God's glory and service ; it is the continuous life of the Hugo Card. Church Militant on earth, wherein, throughout succeeding ages, the praise of God never ceases, so that our Head can speak of this act of His Body as His own ; it is finally, the everlasting AUeluia of heaven, which awaits the Saints who have conquered. 13 For great is thy mercy toward me : and thou hast delivered my soul from the nethermost hell. Here is the special cause for gratitude. And taking it of the Head, as so many do, we see in it a prophetic thanks giving for the Eesurrection. S. Augustine, dwelling on the a word nethermost, and arguing fairly that the word implies the existence of at least two hells, urges, that when we take the whole verse of Christ, we must interpret the first hell to be this earth, so called from lying so far beneath heaven, and from being so defiled with sin, and harassed with trouble. Into this first hell the Lord came by His Nativity ; into the second or nethermost, the grave and place of departed spirits, He came by His death, and was delivered thence by the Ee surrection. But if the words are to be put in the mouth of one of His members, then it is a thanksgiving for being res- jj ^g^^ ^^'' cued from that part of Hades where the rich man lay in tor ments, parted by a great gulf from that happier place where Abraham carried Lazarus in his bosom. In that nethermost hell no one gives thanks to God, nor can any come forth s. Bern. thence, wherefore deliverance from it is truly great mercy, j^ssarmt. 2. seeing that it confers everlasting blessings. AndEuthymius, ^ who ascribes the Psalm to David, iij taking the nethermost hell to mean the double guilt of adultery and murder into which the king fell, so that deliverance from it means pardon of mortal sin, and may be thus applied to every penitent similarly rescued, has warrant from the Proverbs on his side, ^^ Blanc wherein the sin of lust is more than once so described. For the Wise Man saith of a strange woman that "her house Prov, vii, 27; is the way to hell, going down to the chambers of death ;" "*¦ '^' and again, " her guests are in the depths of hell." 14 O God, the proud are risen against me : and 76 a COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS. the congregations of naughty men have sought after my soul, and have not set thee before their eyes. Q. Here is the anticipation of the Passion, of the secret council of the Chief Priests and Pharisees, followed by the cries of the multitude for the Crucifixion of the Lord. And then, spoken of His Body the Church, it is a cry for protection against heathen persecutors, seeking the lives of Christians, Hugo Card, ^^'^ still more against heretics and false brethren, plotting against that faith which is the very soul of the Church's being. And the individual believer prays in these words Ric. Hamp. to be delivered from the principalities and powers of evil, , those ghostly enemies which wage unceasing war against the soul. 15 But thou, O Lord God, art full of compassion and mercy : long-suffering, plenteous in goodness and truth. ^y_ Here he showeth the cause of this suffering, why God permitted them so to rise against Christ, and to deliver Him over to death. And he saith that this was of God's great mercy. Who spared not His own Son, but dehvered Him up for us all, so that the Passion of Cheist was a work of great compassion and mercy. And the Son also is here referred to, as voluntarily giving Himself as a sacrifice for us, according to His most true promise ; He Who was j^ longsuffering, in that He bore so much for ourselves, plen teous in goodness, because He came to save, plenteous in truth, because He ever taught the truth, as even His ene- s. Matt. mies acknowledged, saying, " Master, we know that Thou xxii. 16, art true, and teachest the way of God in truth." And Rev. xix, 11, therefore He is styled in the Apocalypse, "Faithful and True." Hugo Card. Note, further, that there are seven names of God set down here, answering to seven of His energies, and as many classes of men with whom He is in certain relations. He is Loed to them who serve Him, and He demands service from all ; as Isa, Ix, 12. it is written, " The nation and kingdom that will not serve Thee shall perish." He is God, to them that worship Him, Isa. xix. 21. ^°^ "the Egyptians shall know the Lord in that day, and shall do sacrifice and oblation." He is full of compassion, Ps. cxiv. 9. for " His mercies are over all His works ;" He is full of mercy, in that He helpeth the unhappy. He is longsuffering Isa. XXX. 18. with sinners : " Therefore will the Lord wait, that He may be gracious unto you." Plenteous in goodness, in bestowing Isa. ixiv. 4. His eternal rewards, for " eye hath not seen, O God, what He hath prepared for him that waiteth for Him." And Rom. iii, 4, truth, in punishing the guilty, for " let God be true, but every man a liar." PSALM LXXXVI. 11 16 O turn thee then unto me, and have mercy upon me : give thy strength unto thy servant, and help the son of thine handmaid. Because of all the attributes of God enumerated in the previous verse. He is now called on to show His saving power. And the commentators, with almost one voice, agree in ex plaining this passage of the prayer of Christ for His Eesur rection. In saying. Turn Thee unto Me, or as LXX. and ^"S" ''*'^''- Vulgate have it. Look again upon Me, He asks for His Fathee's protection, for " the eyes of the Loed are over the Ps. xxxiv. righteous, and His ears are open unto their prayers." In '*• saying. Have mercy upon me. He asks for dehverance from misery ; in adding. Give Thy strength (or with Vulg. empire) unto Thy servant. He asks for judicial power over the world, and that because of His perfect obedience. This He foretold, earlier than His Passion, saying, " The Father judgeth no s, john v. man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son ;" and 22. He confirmed it after His rising again, when He said to His disciples, " All power is given unto Me in heaven a,nd earth." xx^^i's In saying. Help the Son of Thine handmaid. He asks for the Eesurrection, and that in His character as the offspring of that pure Virgin who answered the Angel's message with the words, "Behold the handmaid of the Lord, be it unto me s, Luke i. 38. according to thy word." Several of the Latins dwell on the ambiguous word puero, meaning child as well as servant, p here found in the Vulgate, and remind us that it is spoken of Him touching Whom, by reason of His innocence, the Prophet saith : " Unto us a child is born," Who was like a isa, ix. 6. child in His poverty. His holiness. His placability, and His s. Albertus obedience. . . ™"^°"^- Each of His members, too, can utter this prayer, who is jj^^j, ^^^^.^j God's servant and child because of adoption and obedience, who is the son of His handmaid, the Church, who may look jj. for a share in that empire of which the Lord said to His Apostles, " In the regeneration, when the Son of Man shall s. Matt. sit on the throne of His glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve ^"'- ^^• thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel." For the pro mise is not limited to them, inasmuch as He saith in another place, " To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with Me Rev. m. 21. in My throne." And although all Christian men are proud to bear the title of servant of God, as all Christian-women, L. like S. Agatha before the prefect, rejoice to call themselves Ruinart. by the name of handmaid, yet none is so exactly the son of ^'"- ®™'^- a handmaid as a convert from the bondage of Paganism, who has entered into the glorious liberty of the children of God, and acquired in Baptism the strength of the Holt Ghost, strength sufficient to overcome all the spiritual enemies of A. the soul. Note, moreover, the deep humility of the double expression, servant, and son of Thine handmaid. They are Bellarmine. 78 A COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS. Titeiman, ^'^ mere repetition, for a man may be reduced into a state of servitude from one of freedom, as a captive in war, albeit sprung of noble ancestry; but if he be the son of a handmaid, he is born a slave, and has had no time of liberty to look back upon. And in this sense the children born of the Church, God's faithful handmaid, are His from the first moment of their spiritual creation. 17 Show some token upon me for good, that they who hate me may see it, and be ashamed : because thou. Lord, hast holpen me, and comforted me. BeUarmine. Hitherto he has asked for internal consolation, for secret bestowal of help ; but now he asks for an external sign of favour, to the dismay of his enemies. And, still applying the Psalm literally to Hezekiah, we may bear in mind two such proofs of Divine favour towards him ; the destruction of Sennacherib's army, and the going back of the shadow on the sun-dial of Ahaz. The Chaldee, ascribing the Psalm to David, represents this as a prayer for a miracle, that of the spontaneous opening of the gates of Solomon's temple, to be vouchsafed him for David's sake, when bringing up the ark into its new sanctuary. Applied to Christ, the Greek Fa thers prefer to take the sign here of the Virgin-birth of the Lord, according to that saying in Isaiah, " The Lord Him self shall give you a sign. Behold, a Virgin shall conceive, and bear a Son, and shall call His Name Immanuel ;" a sign which was truly /"or good, and made the spiritual foes of man ashamed. But the Latins take it of the Eesurrection, look ing to that other saying, " An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign ; and there shall no sign be given to it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas : for as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale's belly ; so shall the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth." That they who hate Me may see it, and be ashamed, with that wholesome confusion which leadeth to repentance, that they may be converted and live ; or, if they resist ob stinately, with the final shame which awaits them at the Doom, when the sign of the Son of Man shall appear in hea ven, for the good of His servants, and the destruction of His foes. Applying the verse to the Christian soul, they remind us, on the one hand, of that sign of the Cross which fortifies us against evil, and affrays our enemies ; and on the other, yet more deeply, that we have been " sealed with that Holt Spirit of promise." And both these meanings appear in that victory of the Church through the sign which Con stantine is said to have beheld in heaven, on the eve of his C. decisive triumph over his Pagan opponent. Thou, Lord, hast holpen Me, and comforted Me. Thou hast holpen Me in the E. battle, comforted Me amidst the sorrows of the Passion; Targum.Didymus.Isa. vii. 14, S. Matt, xii, 39. S. Bernard. D.C. A. Arnobius. S. Greg. Nyss. Pseud o- Hieron.Hugo Card. Eph. i. 13. PSALM LXXXVI. 79 holpen Me when I was in the grave, comforted Me in the joy of the Eesurrection. And in like manner, the Lord shows a Hugo Card, sign upon us for good, whenever He converts sinners by the example of saints, or works any great deliverance for His people, whom He helps in their life-long struggle here, and '''<=• Hamp, comforts with the everlasting blessedness of heaven. Wherefore : Glory be to the Father, Who is great, and God alone ; glory be to the Son, Who is full of compassion and mercy ; glory be to the Holt Ghost, Who giveth His strength unto His servants. As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be . world without end. Amen. Collects. Make glad, O Lord, the countenance of Thine household ; Ludoiph. and deliver our souls fi-om the nethermost heU, that protected by looking upon Thy countenance, we may with spiritual power tread fleshly desires under foot. Through (1.) Lead us, O Lord, in the way of Thy truth : that we may Ludoiph, rejoice in fearing Thee, and give thanks to Thy holy Name, that we may be sealed with good works, and our enemies may be ashamed. Through (1.) O good and gracious God, of great mercy to them that Mozarabic. call upon Thee, bow down Thine ears to our prayer, and of the abundance of Thy mercy do away our transgressions, and that we creep not prostrate on the ground, set us upright to look on Thee, (11.) Have mercy on us, O Lord, who cry to Thee all the day Mozarabic. long ; and be gracious to them that call on Thee in trouble, that when we praise and worship Thy majesty. Thou mayest favourably accept us, and when we fear Thee because of our doings. Thou mayest graciously pardon. Make glad, then, our hearts with obedient fear of Thee, and comfort our doubt ing minds with the sweetness of Thy consolation. But as Thou art sweet and gracious, let us drink in sweetness from Thine indulgence ; and find Thee loving and gracious in be stowing reward. (11.) O Saviour and Lord, Whom the unrighteous wickedness Mozarabic. of them that rose against Thee smote ; Whom the congrega- Passiontide. tion of the ungodly, raging with its tongues, crucified ; grant that we may ever follow Thee in the deep mystery of Thy loving-kindness, that, as Thou didst for us bear the Cross and grave, we triumphing therein over a conquered world, may go our way into heaven. (11.) O Lord our God, save Thy servants, who put their trust Mozarabic. in Thee, for Thou art good and gracious, and of great mercy ; look upon us, and have mercy on us, that our heart may re joice in the greatness of Thy Name, may fear Thee so as to , be glad ; lead us in Thy way, and as we walk in Thy truth. 80 A COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS. comfort us with Thy help, and help us with Thy consola tion. (11.) Pseudo- We pray Thee, O Lord, that guarded by the sign of Thy Hieron. Cross, and kept safe under its guard, we may be delivered from aU the snares of the devil. For Thine. D. C. O Lord, lead us Thy servants in Thy way, that we may walk in Thy truth, so that Thy great mercy may bedew us, and Thou mayest deliver our soul from the nethermost hell, and make us to share in everlasting glory. (1.) PSALM LXXXVII. Title. A Psalm or Song for the sons of Korah. Chaldee Targum : A hymn uttered at the hands of the sons of Korah, and a song stablished in the mouth of the ancient fathers. Abg-ument. Ab&. Thomas. That Cheist loves the gates of His Church, set upon the holy hills, more than all the tabernacles of Jacob. The Voice of the Apostles touching the Church. The Voice of the Prophet, in the Holt Ghost, to the Apostles, or their Voice touching the Church. The Voice of the Prophet touching the Heavenly Jerusalem, that is, the Church of Chbisx, The Voice of Christ the Holy One to the Apostles touching the Church, and the merits of the Saints, Ven. Bede, The sons of Korah signify Christians ; to whom the Prophet proclaims the City of God ; to increase their yearn ing for such glory. Otherwise : Nearly all the Psalms which are inscribed For the sons of Korah, are full of rejoicing, for they do not imitate the sins of their fathers, and take to themselves the fire of lust, strange to the Loed, but loving that which the Loed desireth, speak glorious things concerning the City of God. In the first part, the Prophet speaketh to the faithful, proclaim ing the Heavenly City. Ser foundations a/re upon the holy hills. In the second part, the LoBD the Savioue declares her future belief by referring to various names, and reproacheth the Syna gogue because she knew not God, in Whom the devout faith of the Gentiles believed, I will make mention of Raliab and Babylon to them that know Me, Behold the Philistines, t^c. The third part in one verse touoheth on the blessedness of the world to come, and these parts are divided from each other by the interposition of pauses. As the dwelling of all rejoicing is in thee. Eusebius or Ca;SAEEA. The Incarnation of Christ, and the exalting of the Gentiles. S. Athanasius, A Psalm of narration. Various Uses. Gregorian and Monastic. Friday : Matins. [Circumcision : PSALM LXXXVII. 81 II. Nocturn. In the Octave of Epiphany : III, Nocturn, Eeasts of B.V,M. ; II. Nocturn. Dedication of a Church : II, Nooturn.] Monastic. Friday : Matins. [Corpus Christi : II, Nocturn. Coram. Virgins : II. Nocturn.] Parisian. Saturday : Sexts. [Festivals as Gregorian.'] Lyons. Thursday : Sexts. [Dedication of Church : III. Noc turn.] Amhrosian. Wednesday of Second Week ; II, Nocturn, Quignon. Wednesday : Nones. Fastern Chttrch. Christmas Eve. Antiphons, Gregorian. Her foundations are upon the holy hills, [Circum cision and Epiphany : A Man was born in her, and the Most High founded her. Feasts of B.V,M. : The habitation of all us rejoicing ones is as in thee, O holy Mother of God. Dedication : Jacob beheld a ladder, * and the top of it reached to heaven, and he be held the angels descending, and said, Truly this place is holy.] Monastic. As preceding Psabn. [Corpus Christi : Cheist the Lord, thinking upon them that know Him, stablished them with corn and vrine. Comm. Virg. : Draw me, we will run after the perfume of Thine ointments. Thy Name is as oil poured forth. Dedication : This is none other * than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.] Parisian. G-OD is our help, * therefore will we not fear. [Dedi cation : He that dwelleth in heaven hath His eye on that place, and defendeth it ; and He beateth and destroyeth them that come to hurt it.] Mozaraiic. The Loed loveth the gates of Sion * more than the tabernacles of Jacob. 1 Her foundations are upon the holy hills : the Lord loveth the gates of Sion more than all the dwellings of Jacob. The LXX. and A.V. more correctly. His foundation. The g m^^tt ¦' city that is set on a hill" is "God's building," not man's. 14. And so we read in another place, " The Lord hath founded 1 Cor, iU, 9, Zion." The scope of the Psalm is the spread of the know- ^*' '"^' ^^' ledge of Jehovah amongst the heathen nations around, and from the names specified, it may be most probably ascribed, like the preceding one, to the reign of Hezekiah, after the destruction of Sennacherib's army. Assyria, then the great „. enemy of Judah, is omitted altogether ; but we find Ethiopia 9; xxf^'^'" (the Marians) and Egypt (Bahab), which were allies of Heze kiah, in Tirhakah's army ; Babylon, from which an embassy isa.xxxix. 1. of congratulation was sent to the Jewish king ; and the PhU- ^ jj;^ istines, whom he had finally subdued ; all included in the xviii. s. list, with a special fitness inapplicable to any other date in the history of the southern kingdom, though some have tried to find in it a reference to the foundation of the Second Temple. The abruptness of the opening verse, remarks S. Augustine, suggests that something must have preceded, not A. III. G 82 A COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS. Eph. ii, 20. 1 Cot. iii. 1 Adam. Vict. The Se quence,Stola regni laureatus, in Comm. Apost. S. Bruno Carth. R. Hugo Card, Heb, xi. 10. S, Matt. xvi, 18. Exod. XX. 25.Deut, xxvii, 5, 1 Cor, ii. 4, Isa, xxxii, 2. S. John v, 41. Ps. xxii. 6. Ps, Ixix. 3, Isa, liii. 4, Job ix, 19. Isa. xlv, 15 Ps, cxii. 6. of necessity uttered aloud, but pondered in the mind of the tuneful citizen, who, filled with the Holt Ghost, and thinking with love and desire of the City, breaks out in this wise, in which he begins to tell us of that heavenly Jerusalem, whose foundation is upon the holy hills, the Apostles and Prophets, •whose Corner-stone is Cheist, none other foundation than Whom can any man lay. These, the Temple's sure foundations. These are they that bind the nations Into God's great house above : These the City's pearly portal, Knitting faith with work immortal, Jew and Gentile into love. The word holy is not superfluous, but distinguishes the hills of the mystical Jerusalem from those of the mystical Babylon, which are worldly power and ungodly wisdom. But Babylon has at any rate a solidity and grandeur of its own ; not so the frail and temporary dwellings of careless frivolity, shunned by " the heirs of the promise," who even while dweUing in tabernacles, look, as Abraham did, " for a city with founda tions, whose buUder and maker is God." There are six pro perties of a foundation, whereby we may see how it is a type of Christ : Sustentat sasis, sine vento, luce, ruina, edit aquas, pondus non sentit, forte, latens, stans. It props with rooks, is free from wind, light, fall ; Shuns water, feels not weight, is strong, hid, firm. He, too, props the whole spiritual building, " On this rock I will build My Church ;" and that with rocks, the un polished stones of doctrine, like the altars of unhewn stoneS under the Law, for the Apostle tells us, " My speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man's wisdom." . The wind of vain-glory comes not near Him, for He " shall be as a hiding-place from the wind," and saith of Himself, " I receive not honour from men." He needs not light, for though we see through a glass darkly. He ever hath open vision, " dwelling in the light which no man can approach ' to." He knows no fall, for His humihty has searched the lowest depths, as it is written, " I am a worm, and no man, a very scorn of men, and the outcast of the people." He shunneth the waters of pleasure or riches, and saith of Him self, " My throat is dry." He feels not weight, in that He counts toil on our behalf as nothing, for " He hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows." He is strong, for He is God ; yea, as holy Job saith, " If I speak of strength, lo. He is strong." He is hidden, " Verily, Thou art a God that hidest Thyself, O God of Israel, the Saviour." He is firm, " for He shall never be moved." psalm LXXXVII. 83 The Lord loveth the gates of Sion. These gates are two- g. Albertus fold, the Apostles and other preachers of the word, by whose Magnus. agency men enter into the Church, and the Sacraments which the converts receive in order to their full entrance into hea- ^„ venly citizenship. God loves them more than all the dwellings s. Athana- of Jacob, because the Gospel Saints and Sacraments are higher sius. than those of the Law, the Gospel Church nobler than the D. C. tabernacles of Moses and David, than the temples of Solomon and Zerubbabel. So it is written on the one hand, "Among s, Matt.xi. them that are born of women there hath not risen a greater n, than John the Baptist : notwithstanding, he that is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he ;" and on the other, that the Law hath only " a shadow of good things to come, „ , and not the very image of the things." There are, observes one commentator, four principal gates to the Holy City ; p Baptism, to enter in ; Penance, to return by ; Orders, to as cend by ; and Extreme Unction, whereat we go out ; whUe the twelve articles of the Creed are at once, like the Apostles, foundations and gates, each a single pearl of great price; Rev. xxi, 21. fairer and more blessed than those tents of Jacob which Ba- Numb. xxiv. laam, wondering, saw and blessed. ^• Again, the verse may be applied to the Blessed Virgin, Hugo Card. herself sprung from the holy and lofty race of Hebrew saints, prophets, and kings, and loved by God more than all other virgin souls, dwelling in the tabernacles of pure bodies which wrestle, as Jacob, against all sin. There is a curious Eabbinical belief that in the days of ^¦ Messiah, Mount Sion wUl be exalted by the heaping up of Sinai, Tabor, and Carmel, as a base beneath it, while restored Jerusalem crowns the height. And this they take as the sense of that prophecy : " The mountain of the Lord's house isa. ii. 2, shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills." 2 Very excellent things are spoken of thee : thou city of God. How excellent, how glorious, (A.V., LXX., and Vulg.,) does not appear till we reach the glowing language of the Apocalypse, and that of the many Christian hymns on the joys of the Heavenly City which have drawn their inspira tion thence, for in this Psalm the Church Militant and Tri umphant are so blended in idea into one, that it is impossible to sever them, or contemplate them independently of each other. " O blessed land of Paradise," exclaims one whose eyes have for centuries gazed on those dehghts for which S. Bernard. they once longed, "O blessed land of gladness, for which I sigh in this valley of weeping ; where wisdom without igno rance, memory without oblivion, understanding without error, reason without obscurity, will shine ! Blessed are they who dwell there, and who will praise God for ever and ever. 84 A COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS. tinop. S, Matt, XXV. 21. S, Bona- ventura. s. Proclus. Amen." So, too, are very excellent things spoken of her, the mystical city of God, wherein the Great King deigned Hugo Card, to tarry. There are many reasons for giving her this title, which may be thus summed us : Eex, prifisul, populus, defensio, templa, domus, lex. Pons, sohola, ludus, opes, commercia, pax, cibus, arma. King, pontiff, people, guard, shrine, home, and law, Fount, school, sport, riches, trade, peace, weapons, food ; all which are interpreted either of the sojourning of the Lord within her, or of the graces which made her a fitting abode s.Gerraanus fQj, jjim. Note, moreover, that every holy soul is, in its degree, a city of God, placed high on the holy mountains of contemplation, founded on the Book which is Cheist, and having the gates of mind and body ever ready to open to the Lord when He knocketh, but barred closely against His foes. Of such a one shall glorious things be spoken, even, " Well done, thou good and faithful servant, enter thou into the joy of thy Lord ;" and again, " Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of My God, and he shall go no more out : and I wUl write upon him the name of My God, and the name of the City of My God, which is New Jerusalem."' FinaUy, the Church is caUed in this Psalm by six titles : foundation, mountain, Sion, holy, gates, city; the first be cause of her firmness, the second by reason of her exaltation, the third because of her looking for her God, the fourth from her graces, the fifth to denote her security, and yet her readiness to admit, and the last epithet tells us of the gather ing together of the multitude within her. 3 I will think upon Rahab and Babylon : with them that know me. This rendering does not express the meaning of the original, nor is the A.V., though in part more correct, accurate either. Beiiarmiue, The whole verse, which is put in the mouth of God Himself, should run, I will record Rahab and Babylon amongst those that know Me, that is, amongst My worshippers. Bahab, "pride," (S. Hieron.) or "the haughty one," means Egypt, Isa, li, 9. which is SO styled by Isaiah, " Art not Thou it that hath cut Eahab?" Accordingly, we have a prophecy of the same Isa. xix. 21. ^^^^' *° ^^^ ^^^ effect; "And the Lord shall be known to Egypt, and the Egyptians shall know the Loed in that day." How gloriously this promise was fulfiUed, the long list of the ' In this sense of Christ found only in one other place, claiming the Church, or the Cant, viii, 8, where, as with the faithful soul, as His Bride, ^lere Piel of 1 Sam. xxv, 39, it means is a special force iu the Hebrew " to ask a woman in marriage." "laiPj which is the Pual form, PSALM LXXXVII. 85 great Saints of the Church of Alexandria and of the Thebaid may teU us for Egypt, while the roll of the martyrs under the fierce persecution of Sapor, who ruled where the King of Babylon once had sway, is not less eloquent for Mesopotamia. Accordingly, the verse is but another form of Isaiah's pro phecy : " In that day shall Israel be the third with Egypt isa. xix, 24. and with Assyria, even a blessing in the midst of the land ; whom the Loed of Hosts shall bless, saying. Blessed be Egypt My people, and Assyria the work of My hands, and Israel Mine inheritance." But nearly all the old commen tators suppose that Rahab the harlot of Jericho is here named,' and frame their glosses accordingly. Seeing, rightly ¦^• enough, that the calling of the Gentiles is here foretold, they point out how Rahab was a type of all converted sinners, bearing on their foreheads the red line traced with Cheist's precious Blood, thronging amidst the publicans and harlots into the kingdom of heaven, while Scribes and Pharisees re mained without, still in that fated Jericho, whence our true Joshua delivers them that trust in Him. Rahab, too, mean- s Bruno ing " spaciousness," is a type of those that once walked along " ' the broad way of destruction, but, receiving and hearkening Honorius, to the Apostles, messengers of the Conqueror, entered on the narrow way, and shall be saved when the world sinks in ruin at the sound of the Archangel's trumpet. And Babylon, the ¦^¦ city of " confusion," is named too, because from it there is a steady tide of emigration, of sinners justified by grace, and drawn into the fellowship of Jerusalem, With them that know Me. There are two readings of the Latin here, both difEering from this. One, the Vulgate, and more usually received is, I will be mindful of Rahab and Babylon, that know Me {scientium Me.) That is, as some explain it, God B. treats the future as present, and speaks of those whose con- ric. Hamp, version He foresees, as already knowing Him. But most of them take the words as meaning the same as the other read ing, that of LXX. and the Gallican Psalter, I will make men tion of Rahab and Babylon to them that know Me, (scientibus Haymo. Me,) that is, I wUl put the desire of preaching to Rahab and ^'^^° '^''^^¦ Babylon into the hearts of My Apostles and missionaries, that they may bring them to the knowledge of Me. 4 Behold ye the Philistines also : and they of Tyre, with the Morians ; lo, there was he born. The LXX. and Vulgate rendering, as usual, strangers or d ' The words are not quite alike in Hebrew. That found here is am, (LXX., 'PoJft) "proud," from a root meaning " to be angry or insolent." The harlot's name is srn, (LXX,, '7axa&,) " spacious," from ano ther root meaning " to be wide." The commentators have mixed up these meanings as well as the names themselves. 86 A COMMENTAKY ON THE PSALMS. S, Athana sius.Acts viii. 27 Targum. Genebrar-dus. ¦ aliens for Philistines (aX\6^v\oi, alienigence) give the key to the interpretations here, which see in the widest expression Eph. ii. 12. the Gentiles, " aUens from the commonwealth of Israel," while Tyre denotes, as they wiU. have it, those in the " strait" of penitential sorrow (it rather denotes those hard and stony with worldly prosperity,) and the Morians or Ethiopians, such as are black with sin, and long in spiritual darkness. There was he horn. The Hebrew is This one was born there. The LXX. and Vulgate read severaUy These were from there, and These were there. That is, these nations were admitted by the new birth of regeneration into that city whose dead ly liest foes they had been. Ayguan, observing that the Hebrew reads the clause in the singular, takes " this one" to mean each of the specified nations taken singly, a view in which he is at one with the chief modern critics. Others, seeing that it strictly applies to but one person, have referred it to a single Ethiopian, the eunuch of Queen Candaoe, but a truer sense is that the citizens of the new Jerusalem above are not ennobled as nations or communities, but each one separately, in the cleansing waters of Baptism, There is yet another meaning, that most obviously suggested by the Prayer Book Version, to which the Chaldee paraphrase lends weight. It reads. Where that king was born, or, as another rendering takes it, anointed. Because of the fame of Solomon, strangers from distant countries crowded to Jerusalem to see him, or at least the place of his abode ; because of a greater than Solomon, the Gentiles throng into the Church to kneel at His foot stool. 5 And of Sion it shall be reported that he was born in her : and the most High shall stablish her. This version harmonizes so exactly with the last cited meaning of the previous clause, that it is hard to forego it ; but, although it nearly agrees with some of the Latin com ments, it does not give the true sense of the passage, which is rightly translated by the A.V,, And of Zion it shall be said, this man and that was born there, which is, save for the first clause, not dissimilar to the LXX,, Mother Sion will say, Man and man was born in her} That is, the population of Sion will become vast from the natural increase of the alien immigrants, yet so that each new citizen is separately recog nized, separately ennobled, admitted by a separate act, that the individual shall never be logt sight of in the mass. S. A. Augustine, following the LXX. rendering, but pointing it difEerently, takes it thus : A Man will say. Mother Sion, and a Man was made in her. And he explains it of Christ, Himself the Most High Who founded Sion, choosing her for ' M^TTjp Siiv ipet &v$puiros Ka\ &v9pairos iyev-fjOi} iv avrij. This seems to have arisen from a misreading of ix.^ T-jj Si^v. Aquila and Symmachus agree with A.V, PSALM LXXXVII. 87 ffis earthly Mother, and condescending to be born within ler, words which another aptly takes of the Virgin Mother. Philip de la But Euthymius, admitting this same text, interprets the words ^'^''^¦ )f every Gentile convert who wiU recognize Sion as his true Z- Mother, because she has lovingly fed him with the nourish- nent of holy doctrine. Yet again, they turn it very inge- Honorius, liously thus : The Mother of Sion, that is, the Synagogue, crill say, A man, meaning thereby that Christ is only a mere luman being. But Sion wiU say, He is Most Highest. The i'^ulgate reads. Shall Sion say, A man, and a man was horn In her, and the Most High Himself founded her ? And it is Haymo. explained to be a cry of wonder on the Psalmist's part, as ;hough he were saying, I know that glorious things are spoken of thee, O city of God, but is it possible that thou janst ever declare that the Man has been born in thee, that ;he Highest has deigned to become Incarnate? Or, as others, R. fvith but little difference of meaning, take it ; Will any s, Albertus man say to Sion, A Man, even the Most Highest who founded '^^S""^- her, is bom in her 1 That is, can any merely human under standing assert or comprehend the mystery of the Man's birth Who is the Most High ? There is yet a third expo- Lyranus. sition, which alleges that one particular man is meant here Ay. is the herald of the Saviour's birth, and he, of course, John g, join, i_g_ Baptist, the Forerunner, the " man sent from God," who did isa. xl, 9, tell these good tidings to Zion. """S- 6 The Lord shall rehearse it when he writeth up the people : that he was born there. That is, the Lord, when registering the nations in the Book Geuebrar- of Life, will alone be able to compute the innumerable myriads '^"^' of His redeemed, and shall say of every alien who has sought Jerusalem and submitted to her laws, This man was horn oaiattnus. there ; meaning thereby that the acquired citizenship of the r. joses. Gentiles is as perfect and indisputable as that of the desoend- mts of Abraham, inheriting by right of birth. And that precisely because it is by means of the new birth in Holy Baptism that the franchise is conferred. Of this Isaiah spake in prophecy, saying, " And it shall come to pass, that he that isa, iv, 3. is left in Zion, and he that remaineth in Jerusalem, shall be caUed holy, even every one that is written among the liv ing in Jerusalem." But the Vulgate and LXX. read, Tlie Lord shall narrate in the Scriptures of the people and of the mlers that were [LXX. horn'] in her. This, as a Greek com- Z. mentator urges, has reference to the use made of the Old Testament by Christ Himself, to prove His mission and au thority. For S. Luke tells us how " there was dehvered unto s. Luke iv. Him the book of the Prophet Esaias. And when He had '7- opened the book, He found the place where it was written, The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He hath anointed Me to preach the Gospel to the poor." This sort of Scripture 88 A COMMENTARY ON THK PSALMS. C. Haymo. S, Bruno Carth. Ay. D, C. Ps, xlvii, 9, Galatinus. Genebrar-dus. AgeUius, Salmeron,S, Lulceii. i Tertullian, c. Marcion. AgeUius. Manilius,Astron. of the Prophets He calls the Scripture of the peoples, or of the princes, because they were given to the nations and rulers of the Jews, and were thus the peculiar possession of them that were born in Sion. The Latins, on the other hand, will have it that the Scriptures of the peoples here mean the New Testament, intended for the unlearned and simple, not merely for scholars and philosophers, but which are, nevertheless, the Scriptures of the princes too, of the Apostles, EvangeUsts, and great Doctors of the Church, for these are they of whom it is written, " The princes of the people are joined unto the people of the God of Abraham." Another lays stress on the phrase peoples, as the technical term opposed to that of the one nation of the Jews, and argues that the Gentile Scriptures are thereby denoted in contrast to the Jewish ones, not, as above, to the secular writings of philosophy. But a still more ingenious exposi tion is that which finds here a prophecy of the hallowing of the Gentile languages by their becoming channels for the narrative of Christ's life on earth, whereas they had pre viously contained only idolatrous blasphemies. Lastly, some have seen here a reference to that census of the Roman em pire taken by order of Augustus at the time of the Redeemer's birth, wherein He caused Himself to be enrolled among the princes of the people, as the lineal descendant of David's royal house. And Tertullian informs us that this record was in his day still preserved in the archives at Rome, and could be appealed to in disproof of those who cast doubts on the fact of Christ's nativity. 7 The singers also and trumpeters shall he re hearse : All my fresh springs shall be in thee. The true force of this verse is found by comparing the ver sions of Aquila and Symmachus, who, coinciding with S. Je rome, give us this result : The singers, as in dances, will say in praise. All my springs are in thee, "irhat is, for the Church Militant, that the singers and dancers of the world shall de dicate their once abused powers to the worship of God, and that gladly. The fountains then wUl be the sources of divine song, nay, the songs and hymns themselves, into which they win break forth, according to that saying of the Prophet, . " Therefore with joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation ; and in that day shall ye say. Praise the Lord, call upon His Name, sing imto the Lord." Their songs are streams of rejoicing, all derived from that one primal fount that issued from the side of Jesus. Cujus de gurgite vivo Omnis posteritas latioes in carmina duxit Amnemque in tenues ansa est dedueere rivos, Unius fecunda bonis. PSALM LXXXVII. 89 From whose living flood. All later time, enriched by one alone, Bore from its waters chalices of song. And boldly drew its stream in slender rills. And the blessed ones, rejoicing in the gladness of the hea- Bellarmine. venly Jerusalem, shaU, drinking of its pleasures as out of a river, fix all their happiness there, and regard it as the source cocceius. and well-head of fehcity. Another permissible rendering is Genebrar- not without a beauty of its own ; All my springs in thee '^'^^¦ shall sing like those that lead the dance ; for whereas many of God's springs in the Church below are waters of affliction and of penitential tears, in our Country above there will be no streams save those of perennial joy. A living stream, as crystal clear, , i, ^J inT IV j!_ i. li i-t, JohnMason, W elling irom out the throne 16S3_ Of GrOD and of the Lamb on high, altered in The Lord to man hath shown. **• ¦*¦ '^• This stream doth water Paradise, It makes the Angels sing ; One precious drop within the heart, Is of all joy the spring, Joy past all speech, of glory full, But stored where none may know, As manna hid iu dewy heaven, As pearls iu ocean low. Yet again, it may be, the singers and dancers, yea, all the springs of gladness, all expressions of joy, are in thee alone. But the LXX. and Vulgate, following a different reading of the Hebrew text, which afPects the previous verse also, translate. As of all rejoicing ones the dwelling is in thee. What does this As mean? asks S. Augustine. It tells us A. that our earthly joys are only a faint image of those delights which as yet we know not, and that the words our ignorance forces us to employ are quite inadequate to describe the gladness of heaven. The dwelling, too, is there, not the mere tabernacles of Jacob, shifting and uncertain in their place, but eternally unshaken, on the lofty hills of the Golden City. And, lastly, they take the verse of the Blessed Virgin, ""S" Card. as the holy place within which abode our true Isaac, our mystic "laughter,"' and in whom therefore the joy of the whole earth was for a time contained, in which sense the words are used as an Antiphon to the Psalm on her festivals. Therefore : Glory be to the Father, the Most High Founder of Sion ; glory be to the Son, the Man Who was born in her ; glory be to the Holy Ghost, from Whom flow all the fresh streams which water the Paradise of God. As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be : world without end. Amen. 90 a commentary on the psalms. Collects. Ludoiph, 0 God, the foundation of our faith. Who settest up the gates of eternity with the strong wall of righteousness in holy minds as upon lofty mountains ; grant that we may beheve gloriously in Thee, and confess by preaching that Thou wast made Man for our redemption. Who hvest. Ludoiph. O God, the founder of aU good things, grant us to become fit to attain fellowship in light everlasting with all them that rejoice in Thee. Through (1.) D. C. Quicken us, O Lord, from dead works, and lay in us the foundations of faith unfeigned and of active goodness, that our souls may build thereupon the fruit of virtues, and jour neying to Thee, may be received with welcome by Thy glorious city. 'Through (1.) PSALM LXXXVIII. Title. A Song or Psalm for the sons of Zorah, to the Chief Musician upon Mahalath Leannoth, Maachil of Heman the Ezra- hite. Or, A Song or Psalm of the sons of Korah, to the Chief Musician, for the flute (?) as a choir-song [or, as a lament, cf. 2 Sam. vii. 10,] an Instruction of Heman the Ezrahite. LXX, and Vulgate : A Song of a Psalm for the sons of Korah, to the end, for Maheleth responsively, of understanding of Bman the Ezrahite. S. Jerome. A Song of a hymn of the sons of Korah, to the Conqueror, by the chorus for singing, of instruction of Eman the Ezrahite. Argument. Arg, Thomas. That Christ, Who vouchsafed to die for us, may be glorified by early Eesurrection. The Voice of Christ to the Father touching the Passion, or of His sons to Him. The Pro phet, touching the death of Christ and His Resurrection. Ven. Bede. Maheleth is interpreted a choir singing Divine words ; and that which is added, responsively, denotes that the musical instruments came first, and that the choir responded so lemnly : mystically implying that the Church should harmoniously imitate the Lord's Passion, which is sung of in the Psalm. For Fman the Israelite, which is interpreted Sis brother, and the man that seeth God, denotes the same faithful people, whereof is said, S, Matt. " Q-o, tell My brethren." Eman, moreover, is the son of Joel, the xxviii. 10. gon of Shemuel, of the family of Kohath, son of Levi, one of the singers whom David set over the others for the singing when he brought up the Ark. Jerome hath explained this title thus : This Psalm refers to faith, and the whole choir responds in unison to the sons of Korah who preoent, and it is composed by the under standing and prudence of Eman the Israelite or Ezrahite. Arno- PSALM LXXXVIII. 91 bius, in this wise : In the title of this Psalm certain sons of Korah are named : but the Psalm directs its song for Amalech, and as cribes understanding to Eman the Israelite. The Hebrews call Amalech the " destitute," and Bman the " poor."' Therefore the discourse is addressed to the destitute and poor, I believe. Him Whom the disciples forsook alone and fled : Who, when He was rich, became poor for us. Throughout the Psalm the Lord speaketh. In the first part He maketh petition for help ; describing by various similes the con tempt which He was to sufi'er at the hands of the Jews. O Lord God of My salvation, Sfc. In the second part He counts up what He was to sufi'er, declaring that the dead cannot be raised up by physicians so as to give thanks to God. Thou hast put away Mine acquaintance far from Me. Thirdly, He saith that the buried can not proclaim the mercy of G-OD, nor the land sound His praises, and therefore He prayeth that His Resurreetion may come very swiftly. Persevering in this prayer, He speaketh on behalf of His members, mentioning the various sufi'erings which as well He as His devout people hath endured. Shall Thy lovingkindness he shown in the grave ? Eusebius or Cjesaeea. He prophesieth the death of Christ. S. Athanasicis. A Psalm of address, and prayer, and supplica tion. Various Uses. f Gregorian. Friday : Matins. Monastic. Thursday : Lauds. [Good Friday : III, Nocturn. Easter Eve : III, Nocturn. Se ven Dolours B.V,M, : III. Noc turn. Dedication of Church : JI. Nocturn.]^ [Easter Eve : III. Nocturn.] Bas- Parisian. Saturday: Prime. Lyons. Saturday : Prime. [Good Friday : III. Nocturn. ter Eve : III. Nocturn.] Amhrosian. Wednesday of Second Week : II. Nocturn, ter Eve : Matins,] Quignon. Saturday : Terce. [Eas- Aktiphons. Gregorian. As preceding Psalm. [Good Friday : Thou hast put away Mine acquaintance far away from Me, * I was delivered up, and I came not forth. Easter Eve, and Seven Dolours : I have been even as a man that hath no strength, free among the dead. ' These etyma are erroneous. But a similar result may be ob tained from the correct ones, nbriD, Mahalath, the true read ing here, comes from the root 'iin, to " pierce" or " perforate ;" p>ri, Seman, means "faithful," from JDM, "to be true," while F^ahite is from NpWj Fzra, whose root is "IIB, "to help," and the singer appears as the Faithful and True Whom they pierced, the Son of God, our Helper. ' The Monastic, by a very pe culiar use, employs this Psalm at the Matins of Easter Day also. 92 A COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS. Dedication : Jacob set up a stone for a pillar, * and poured oil upon the top of it.] Monastic. Let my prayer enter * into Thy presence, O Lord. [Good Friday, &c., as Gregorian.'} Mozarabic. Unto Thee have I cried, O Lord, * and early shall my prayer come before Thee. This Psalm stands alone in the Psalter for the unrelieved gloom, the hopeless sorrow of its tone. Even the very saddest of the others, and the Lamentations themselves, admit some variation of key, some strains of hopefulness ; here only is darkness to the close. Hence it is clear that only some most overwhelming disaster, national or personal, could have given birth to it, and this fact sets aside at once any such literal acceptance of the title as would refer the Psalm to that Heman the Kohathite whom David set along with Asaph in the first place of the Temple-singers. Nor is there any internal evidence for a date which shall he more than conjectural. But it seems most reasonable to take it, with the Hebrew and early Christian commentators, as written during the first shock of the Captivity, and before the exiles had in any degree formed a polity or established a worship among themselves to preserve their national existence amidst their heathen masters. 1 O Lord God of my salvation, I have cried day and night before thee : O let my prayer enter into thy presence, incline thine ear unto my calling. It is the cry of the Son of God in the bitterest hour of His r7 Passion. As Man, He calls on His Father as His Lord and -p' God ; as the God, further, of His salvation, of His perfect pureness of body and soul, and reminds Him of the perse vering prayers offered up with strong crying and tears throughout His life, and especially in the day of His Cruci- Lyranus. fixion and the night of His Agony in the garden. And as He speaks on behalf of His people Israel, He uses epithets suited to God's care for them : He calls Him Lord, as Eing and Ruler ; God, as Creator ; of salvation, because of the deliverance out of Egypt, the greater deliverance which He C. desires for them from the Babylonian captivity of sin. 0 let my prayer enter into Thy presence. Here we may see the mighty force of earnest prayer, in that its utterances are not dissipated in the winds, but it entei's, like a living person, into the actual presence of God, and discharges there that -^ office for us which the body cannot do, since it is unable to GuU. Paris, penetrate thither. As, then, a good messenger is swift, and goes at once by the straightest road to his goal, that he ap pear not robbed and naked before him to whom he bears a missive ; as he must have a thorough understanding of the message, so as to deal fitly with him to whom its execution belongs, and with all those who have infiuence with that person ; as he should not ask what should not be asked, nor be foolish in his asking, nor yet apply to any one who has no PSALM LXXXVIII. 93 power to do the thing wanted : as he should know who are his opponents, and should have some method of resisting or conciliating them ; as he should not contradict himself, nor speak with wandering thoughts or averted face, and should utter what he says with a distinct and clear voice ; even such should be the qualities of prayer which is to enter into God's presence, and find acceptance with Him. Here, then, the Christian may see how, following the Master's example, he may prevail with the Most High. He must pray de- „„„(, card, voutly, acknowledging Him to Whom he prays as Lord and God ; he must pray wisely, asking for salvation ; he must pray personally for himself, asking for my salvation ; he must do it perseveringly, day and night, in prosperity and adver sity alike ; he must do it fervently, before God ; he must do Lyranus. it with such purity of intention that the prayer may enter -r» n into the presence of God, whither nothing defiled can make its way ; he must do it with such trustfulness, that God, the Great Physician, may how down His ear to the sick man who cries to Him from the death-bed of sin. 2 For my soul is full of trouble : and my life draweth nigh unto hell. The soul of Christ was full of trouble, though there was A. no fault in Him, because He bore not only the betrayal, the reproaches, the stripes, the cross, and all other details of per sonal suffering, but still more, the sins and sorrows of all Ay. mankind, especially of those very Jews who had conspired against Him, so that His hfe drew nigh unto hell, as the death which they had plotted came hourly nearer. Herein t we may see the reality of Christ's Passion, as against those early sectaries who maintained that He merely seemed in outward show to suffer, but that His Divine impassibility extended to His human nature ; whereas He saith Himself, " My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death." And s. Matt. He declares Himself to be nigh unto hell, not merely nigh '"'^'' ^^" unto death, because Hades, not Paradise, was the dwelHng of the departed Patriarchs till He, by entering their prison, Ageiiius. released them. His members may take these words as their own, when their soul is full of trouble, not only by reason of j^,^ ^^j ^ the sorrows of this world, but when they think on their own sins, and fear the wrath to come, knowing that by reason of those sins, their life draweth nigh unto hell. But by de scending thither in thought and devout meditation while living, we may be wise in time, and escape from it when dead. 3 I am counted as one of them that go down into the pit : and I have been even as a man that hath no strength. 94 A COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS. Genebrar- dus. S. Hieron. in Esa. Haymo. z. S, Matt, xxvi, 53, 56, S. Matt, xxvii. 43, D.C. S. Lulte xxi. 17- z. A. S. John X, 18.Origen, Thrupp, That is, literally, I am so near death, that I am counted as already dead, so that men are even now making ready for my burial, although I be alive. And applied to Christ, the words denote not only the set purpose of His enemies to slay Him, but their belief that He would thenceforth vanish, like all other dead men, and be without help or power to return, or to nerve His disciples to further resistance ; nay, that He would even undergQ punishment in the place of torment, because by His blasphemies He had on earth gone down amongst sinners into the pit and depth of iniquity. He was counted as without help in another sense, because all His disciples forsook Him and fled, for His enemies knew not of that which He said to Peter, " Thinkest thou that I cannot now pray unto My Father, and He shall presently give Me more than twelve legions of Angels ?" They counted Him as without that Father's help, when they said, " He trusted in God, let Him deliver Him now, if He will have Him." And as with the King of Martyrs, so with His soldiers. The tyrants who slew them, thought to destroy them and their faith by so doing, and counted them amongst the worst of malefactors, according to their Lord's own saying, " Ye shall be hated of all men for My Name's sake." And finally, it may be taken of any tempted one over whom the spiritual enemy is confident of victory, cqunting him as already dead in trespasses and sin, and with no help for him in his God. 4 Free among the dead, like unto them that are wounded, and lie in the grave : who are out of re membrance and are cut away from thy hand. Free among the dead. The Lord was/ree from corruption, and free, too, in that He was not led by Angels, but went down Himself alone into the grave. He was free too from sin, the cause, near or remote, of death to all other men. He was free, because while others die unwillingly, and on compulsion. He died of His own accord and willingly. "I," saith He, " lay down My life. No man taketh it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself." He was free, yet again, because He was not bound by the fetters of death, but de scended thither with authority and dignity, and burst the chains of others. He was free, because inseparably united unto the Manhood which descended was the Godhead which is not subject unto death. But though this is the higher sense of the phrase as applied to Christ by His servants, it is plain that it cannot be the meaning as intended by His enemies. The word ''^PH is found also in 2 Kings xv. 5, applied to the leper's house to which King Uzziah was con fined, and it is there translated " several," that is " isolated." Free among the dead, then, means cast o^(V,R.), turned adrift, homeless, free from the organic bonds of life and of society, PSALM LXXXVIII. 95 loosed and therefore lost ; nay, as He hung upon the Cross, cocceius, free for every one to insult and wound at pleasure, being out of the pale and fence of the law's protection. In both senses the words hold good of the members as well as of the Head. That man is free among the dead, who walks in newness of Hugo Card. life in a wicked world, amidst those who are dead in their sin ; free, because He is subject to Him Whose service is j). c. perfect freedom, because he has " not received the spirit of „ .jj bondage again unto fear, but the Spirit of adoption," because 15. he is " no more a servant, but a son ;" and yet the ungodly oal, iv. 7, think him free among the dead, as cut off from all the plea sures of life, and turned adrift from all social ties and ame nities into a hard and mortified existence, which is but a living death ; the view commonly taken of the Religious Life by those who know not its enjoyments. Like unto them that are wounded and lie in the grave. That is, not merely cut Hugo Card. off by a sudden and violent death, but executed by the officers cajetanus. of justice in punishment for crime, because " He was wounded jg^ mi. 3 for our transgressions, and numbered with the transgressors," 12, and most literally wounded with nails and spear ; and like too to those wounded by the darts of the enemy, by the a smitings of sin, who lie, persisting in wickedness, in the _ _ grave of dead works, and are not alive to God. Once again, earth, the words hold good in a favourable sense of those whom the R. wicked hate ; for they, wounded with the love of God, sleep PMUp de la (Vulg. and LXX.), in that they close their eyes to vanities germ^'iss, and evil desires, and are buried, because they withdraw into retirement, and hide their works from the praise of men. 'Who are put of remembrance, or rather, with A. V., LXX., and Vulg,, whom Thou rememberest no more. As GoD cannot forget, most of the commentators agree with S. Augustine's a reading, whom Thou hast not yet remembered ; that is, those who must wait till the general resurrection, before rising again, instead of doing so on the third day. Some, however, jj take it as expressing those sinners whom God delivers over to their own evil will, never chastising them, but as it were forgetting their offences, and their very existence. And are cut amayfrom Thy hand. That is, who no longer need God's Ageiiius, providential care, as having lost those bodies which He pro- -r vided with food, shelter, and clothing, and other visible proofs of His care and governance, which do not appear in the case of the dead ; or again, that the thread of their life has been as it were cut off from the hand of God, and thus separated from the web of life. The figure of speech is not peculiar to the Pagan fable of the Parcse, for Hezekiah exclaims, " I have isa, xxxviii. cut off, like a weaver, my Ufe." But in their special refer- 12, ence to Christ, the words obviously point to the Jewish belief in His rejection by God as a sinner, whereas, instead Haymo, of being cut off from Him, the heavenly voice had declared ^ ^^^^ ... Him to be the beloved Son, in Whom the Father was well ,7. xii.' is.' pleased. It was to those who slew Him that the words in R. 96 A COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS. Honorius. Origen,Bellarmine. S. Chrysost. z.p. Pseudo-Hieron. A. Hugro Card. BeUarmine. Rom. viii. 32. Ay. S. Greg. Mor. Iv. 29. Hugo Card, Targum. S, Basil. M. Theodoret,Lyranus, Jer. xxxix, 7. this sense apply, for God no more remembers the obstinately impenitent, but cuts them off from His hand, even from fel lowship and part in His Only-Begotten. 5 Thou hast laid me in the lowest pit : in a place of darkness, and in the deep. This verse does not refer to the entombment of Christ, as some would take it, for the grave has already been named in the preceding clause, and though it may well be called a, place of darkness, yet it is not the lowest pit. That may better be explained of the descent into Sades, although there is no reason to reject absolutely the various steps of that descent which they enumerate ; the bitter sorrow and misery, the prison along with the thieves, the Cross itself; the abyss of sin which the Jews in their false accusations charged Him with plunging into, all made part of the descent into that depth, all made yet rougher His sharp passage to the grave. And this interpretation squares well with the LXX. and Vulgate versions, which read. They have put me, Sfc. But there is a truer beauty in the Hebrew text, which tells us that all the Passion was the act of God the Father, Who spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us. For in the deep they read In the shadow of death. And they teach that the phrase has a threefold sense; oblivion, sin, and bodily death. The Jews strove to put our Lord into the shadow of death in these three ways : first by attempting to destroy His teaching and very memory ; next by coupling Him with malefactors, and loading Him with false accusa tions ; lastly, by the Crucifixion itself. Yet for Him, as S. Gregory observes, it was but the shadow of death, the bare suffering of the body, and that suffering did away for ever with the reality of death, the spiritual destruction of the soul, for all who believe in Him. And God permits His servants to be similarly tried in their degree, when He puts them into the midst of sore trouble, of darkness and doubt, and above all, false accusation, to test their endurance. The literal sense found here by some early commentators is by no means improbable, that it has special reference to the Captivity, and perhaps to the blinding and imprisonment of the unhappy Zedekiah, the last king of the line of David. D.C. Isa, liii, 6. AgeUius, 6 Thine indignation lieth hard upon me : and thou hast vexed me with all thy storms. And that because Christ bore in His own person the sins of the whole world; which are under the just indignation of Almighty God; as it is written by the Prophet, "The Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all." And while this me taphor of a solid crushing weight is employed when speaking PSALM LXXXVIII. 97 of God's share in bringing about the Passion ; on the other hand, the raging winds and waves are used as the type of human passion and the iU-will of evil spirits loosed against the Most Holy ; yet called Thy storms, because even so they were but the ministers accomplishing the Divine will. The quaint mediaeval legend of S. Christopher brings this double idea of the verse very forcibly before the mind. After nar rating how the ChUd's voice summoned the giant to carry j^^ ^^ him over the river, the story continues : " Christopher, there- Voragine, fore, lifting the Child on his shoulders, and taking his staff. Legend, entered the river to cross it. And, lo, the water of the river began to swell little by little, and the Child weighed most heavily, as it were of lead ; and the further he proceeded, the waves waxed the higher, and the Child pressed more and more on the shoulders of Christopher with weight unbear able, so that Christopher was in a sore strait, and dreaded that he was in peril. But when he had just now come forth and had crossed the river, he set down the Child on the bank, and said unto Him : ' Child, Thou hast set me in sore peril, and didst weigh so grievously that if I had the whole world upon me, I could scarce have felt it heavier.' And the Child answered him : ' Marvel not, Christopher, for thou hast borne upon thy shoulders Him Who created it, for I am Christ thy King.' " And thus we have the trials of the j). c. Church and every faithful soul set before us in the double type. The hard pressure from above stamps on the patient believer, who has melted like wax in the fire of God's ten derness, the Image of the Only-begotten, sealed with the Holt Spirit of promise, the waves below wash away the defiling stains of sin, and turn the brief sorrow into ever lasting joy. 7 Thou hast put away mine acquaintance far from me : and made me to be abhorred of them. They dwell on the various fulfilments of this saying, re- j,. minding us of the rejection of the Lord by the whole Jewish 5,. nation, His kinsmen according to the flesh ; of the flight of g iren^us. His disciples, when they aU forsook Him ; of the suffering s. cyr, at the place of Crucifixion itself, when His bitterest enemies Hieros, crowded round Him to accomplish their evil deed, and to jeer 2, Him, whereas " all His acquaintance, and the women that s. Luke followed Him from Galilee, stood afar off, beholding these '"'"'¦ '''' things." And made Me to be abhorred of them, as even His chief Apostle denied Him with curses ; as the Name of Christ is still loathed and blasphemed by His unhappy and blinded kinsmen. How exactly the same trial was accom- Bellarmine. pUshed in His members, we may read again and again in the story of His early martyrs, abandoned, denounced, slaugh tered, by their own near relatives and acquaintance, and ab horred as guilty of the vilest secret crimes. Cardinal Hugo Hugo card. III. H 98 A COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS. AgelUus, S, Basil. M. Theodoret, Bellarmine. L. Job xxxi. 34. Moral, xxii. J7. c. Honorius. D.C. Pseudo- Hieronym. Cajetauus. Ay. Hugo Card, applies the verse to those who, abandoning the world, sought the religious life at the call of God, but against the will of their secular friends. And observe, that the whole verse, as well as that which follows, aptly depicts the position of a leper, cut off from human companionship, an object of dis gust and reviling, and thus a fit type of Him Who was de spised and rejected of men. The leper was not merely an exile, but a prisoner, unfettered indeed to the eye, but limited to a narrow boundary, to pass which was forbidden under severe penalties, amounting, in later ages, sometimes to death. It follows, therefore : 8 I am so fast in prison : that I cannot get forth. In the literal sense, they explain it either of an actual dungeon, such as that into which Zedekiah was thrust, and then of calamities hedging a man round like walls from which there is no escape ; or again, of such shame and confusion as to prevent the sufferer from daring to show his face in public. Interpreting the verse of Christ, they say, and rightly, that the sufferings of the Passion, laid on Him by the eternal desire of the Father, and by His own free will, formed that narrow prison whence His tender love to man would not permit Him to come forth till He had borne all to the very uttermost. And S. Gregory the Great, commenting on the kindred passage in Job, " I kept silence, and went not out of the door," observes, " He kept silence and went not out of the door. Who just before the hour of His Passion, when He was suffering the weaknesses of humanity, would not exercise the power of Deity. And when He was despised, because He seemed mere man. He could have gone forth, had He willed to disclose His hidden majesty, but as He showed His weakness, and concealed His power. He went not out to His persecutors, in that He remained unknown to them." The LXX. and Vulgate read, however, in the first clause, I was delivered up, or, as it may be turned, betrayed, whence many of the commentators explain the words to refer to Judas Is- eariot, and to the Jews who delivered the Lord up to Pilate. They also give other interpretations of the closing words, I came not forth : namely, that He made no attempt to escape out of the garden from the soldiers, nor to avoid His Father's will, nor yet to show His actual power as the Christ, nor, once more, to hasten His own Resurrection, but abode in the grave long enough to leave no doubt as to the fact of His death. The Carmelite gives a somewhat forced explanation of the phrase, taking it of the concealment and silence which Christ observed as to the name of the traitor, until such time as he had accomphshed his guilt, giving him full room for repentance, and shielding him from the indignation of the other Apostles. They give another meaning to the whole passage when spoken of the faithful soul, which God has PSALM LXXXVIII. 99 been pleased to call to affliction in this world. In the prison of repentance for all, in the prison of a religious life for a few, there is no coming forth, at least here. So it is written, " None of you shall go out at the door of his house until the Exod, xii, 22. morning ;" and again, " Whosoever shall go out of the doors josh. ii, 19, of thy house into the street, his blood shall be on his head." All the night of this life must, then, be spent in constant repentance for past sins, until the morning breaks of the everlasting day. 9 My sight faileth for very trouble : Lord, I have called daily upon thee, I have stretched forth my hands unto thee. The first clause seems literally to mean the soreness and Targum, dimness of sight caused by excessive weeping, and is so taken jan°en'^* by many of the commentators, and Lorinus aptly quotes a oand. " Latin poet in illustration — L. Moesta neque assiduo tabescere lumiua iletu bcvUi 55' Cessareut. Nor my sad eyes to pine with constant tears Could cease. The Carthusian adds, however, other reasons, such as the D. C. blindfolding of the Lord's Face, the buffets He received, the spitting on His countenance, the droppings of blood from the crown of thorns, as all working to the same end, and still more when to all was added the agony of the Cross; The LXX. and Vulgate reading. Mine eyes languish because of want, has led to a mystical interpretation, for, as S. Angus- A. tine observes, it cannot be taken literally of Christ's bodily eyes, since His betrayal, arrest, and crucifixion took place in quick succession immediately after the Paschal Supper, so that famine had no opportunity of wasting His physical faculties, and the metaphorical sense is excluded also, be cause the inner eyes of His mind were filled with unwaning light. Wherefore it is necessary to find a different meaning from these two, and to apply the words mystically to His Body the Church, whose eyes are the Apostles, His seers, and the " light of the world," made faint and weak in the s. Matt, v, time of the Passion by the withdrawal of the true Light, the '*• Bread of heaven, from them. But I have called daily [or, all day'] upon Thee, in the seven voices from the Cross, and A. in the prayer for Resurrection, and because the perpetual intercession of Christ ascends for His people, even when the Church becomes weak in faith and slack in prayer. I have stretched forth My hands unto Thee, is said in that Christ ceased not to perform His acts of power and mercy, symbo- c^?e°Mu8.' lized by the hands, throughout His earthly ministry, in that s. Bruno ' He continued fervent in prayer, in that He spread out His earth. 100 A COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS. Pseudo-Hieron. Hugo Card. D.C. .S. Cyprian. Isa. IxY. 2. Rom. X, 21. L. loving-kindness to embrace man as though with His arms, and finally, in that His sacred hands were literally strained upon the bitter Cross, stretched out all the day long, through the weary hours of that sad Good Friday, to a disobedient and gainsaying people. 10 Dost thou show wonders among the dead : or shall the dead rise up again, and praise thee ? 11 Shall thy loving-kindness be showed in the grave : or thy faithfulness in destruction ? 12 Shall thy wondrous works be known in the dark : and thy righteousness in the land where all things are forgotten ? The object of this passionate cry is not so much the private advantage of the petitioner, as the vindication of God's might, glory, and goodness, that He may so disclose them by His dealing with the suppliant, as to draw others to His wor- Exod, xxxii. siiip . and thus it resembles the prayer of Moses on behalf of ' ¦ the rebellious Israehtes, lest their destruction should further harden the Egyptians in their unbelief. And therefore the verses are most fitly applied to Him of Whom the great Jewish lawgiver was but a type and forerunner, and depict Him as expressing the fear of death entertained by His hu man nature, and also the necessity of His Resurrection, fore seen by His divine nature to be required, in order that the Apostles might have power to work miracles and preach His Name amidst the deadness and darkness of heathenism. For the most part, the expositors pass very lightly over the literal interpretation of these three verses, and prefer to follow S. Augustine in taking them allegorically of those who lie in the grave of sin, and asking what maybe God's purpose towards them, whether He have provided any means of reaching and delivering them. In the tenth verse, the second clause in LXX. and Vulgate runs, Shall the physician raise [thee] up ? which is mystically explained to be a reference to the Apos tles and other holy preachers, physicians of the soul, sent to proclaim the Gospel to sinners. S. Jerome's reading in this clause. Shall the giants arise ?^ is said by S. Augustine to im ply that no skill or might of physicians, however gigantic, is enough ; and by others, that the words refer to the antediluvian giants or any other, and thus they are explained of peculiarly grievous and obstinate sinners, respecting whose capabiHty of repentance the question is asked. They remind us, too, that the loving-kindness and faithfulness of God are only titles of the Lord Jesds, and that He did make His way into the very heart of the grave and of destruction, to show His ' These various renderings depend on the pointing and interpre tation of the word n'MDi. Z, Theodoret. Cajetanus. A. Bellarmine, c. A. Ageiiius. R. PSALM LXXXVIII. 101 wondrous work of salvation in the dark of Hades ; though there are some found to suggest that the grave here means the "open sepulchre" of the tongue of the Pharisees and Ay. Chief Priests, and the land where all things are forgotten, not merely the abode of the finally lost, but that ungrateful Honorius. Judaea which kept not in mind either the testimonies of the Prophets or the marvellous works of the Redeemer Him self, when it cried aloud for His crucifixion. And, spoken of any one sinful soul, it is true that a man of eariihly mind, L- who pays no regard to spiritual things, is himself a land, a mere piece of earth, where all things divine are forgotten, and where even God Himself can do no mighty works, be- sg."^*"' ^'"' cause of its unbelief. 13 Unto thee have I cried, O Lord : and early shall my prayer come before thee. This is the third time in the Psalm that the suppliant de- Le aianc. clares that he has cried to the Lord, doing so first, day and night ; next, all the day ; and now, early ; and, as is usual in such triple repetitions, there is a peculiar stress to be looked for here. This is alleged by several very ancient commenta- S- Athana- tors to be the petition of Christ, at the early beginning of the g.'cyrii. Passion, for His Resurrection, so that they who saw Him Hieros. stretching out His hands all day long upon the Cross, may Amobius, now behold Him in the morning glory of His arising, accord- meron, ing to that universal tradition of the Church that He rose immediately after midnight. But many of the Latins, hav- A. ing regard to the words that follow, urge that though Christ is the speaker, yet He is speaking in the person and on be half of His Church, crying to the Father, Who alone is a physician strong enough to deliver the dead, for salvation in the morning of the Gospel revelation which followed the clouds and darkness of idolatry ; that when the blazing noon tide of the Judgment comes, when the hidden things of dark- i Cor, iv, 5, ness shall be brought to hght, and the secrets of all hearts shall be revealed, a noontide compared with which even the morning itself is as night. His supphants may find grace with Him. In the morning of this Ufe, the morning promise of C. good works. Christians must make their prayer to God. We are reminded, too, how often in Holy Writ the early mom- jj^ ^^^ ing is the time when God bestowed some great favour on His people ; how then the Egyptians were drowned, the Law was given, the manna rained down, the Ammonites vanquished by Saul, and how even in the lower creation, the birds begin their song of praise, and the wild beasts flee to their coverts. We have then the literal sense that the first-fruits of the day should be hallowed to the service of God, for it is a shame, observes S. Augustine, that the sun's rays should find a Christian slothful in his bed. And so one of our own poets : 103 A COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS. Henry Vaughan, Rules and Lessons. S. Bernard. de Dilig. Deo. L. S. Albertus Magnus, R. Ay. When first thine eyes unveil, give thy soul leave To do the like ; our bodies but forerun The spirit's duty. True hearts spread and heave Unto their God, as flowers do to the sun. Give Him thy flrst thoughts then, so shalt thou keep Him company all day, and in Him sleep. Tet never sleep the suu up. Prayer should Dawn with the day. There are set, awful hours Twixt heaven and us. The manna was not good After sun-rising ; far-day sullies flowers. Else to prevent the sun ; sleep doth sins glut, And heaven's gate opens when this world's is shut. Come before Thee. The LXX., Vulgate, and A.V., pre vent, that is, anticipate. Yet how.P for as S. Bernard ob serves, God may be sought, and may be found, but He can not be prevented, and a prayer which He has not Himself inspired must needs be cold and poor. We cannot prevent His grace or His blessings, but we may prevent His judg ments and His rewards, by making our prayer in this life, by confessing our sins before He chastises, by giving Him praise and honour before He bestows gifts, nay, even when He sends chastisements. 14 Lord, why abhorrest thou my soul : and hidest thou thy face from me ? Here we may find the foretaste of that supreme hour on the Cross, when it seemed to the human nature of Christ as though that soul which He was making an offering for sin was rejected by the Father, and not received as an oblation of a sweet-smelling savour ; nay, that God, instead of show ing His Face in benign acceptance of the Sacrifice, hid Him self, and forced out the lamentable cry, " My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me ?" But the LXX. and Vulgate read, Why rejectest Thou My prayer ? and this is explained of that petition, " O My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from Me." They raise, in order to answer, the question of how the Father can be said to reject the prayer of the Sou, seeing that Christ Himself saith, "I knew that Thou hearest Me always." And they reply that it is spoken of delay on God's part, not of denial ; and also that Christ's absolute prayer, that for the redemption of mankind, was heard, but the cry of His lower will, for escape from death, was not. Spoken of His members, many reasons are assigned for God's delay in granting prayers. It is to make them more ardent, like the breeze which seeming to extinguish a flame, only fans it. It is sometimes because the thing we ignorantly ask for is dan gerous, and God purposes to give us something better. It Hugo Card, is often for our fault, in various ways. Either the prayer is Cocceius, S. Matt. xxvii, 46, S. Bruno Carth. S. Matt. xxvi. 39. S. Johnxi 42. B. Le Blanc. c. S. Greg, Mag, PSALM LXXXVIII. 103 too late, like that of the foolish virgins ; or false, like that of g. matt. those who content themselves with crying, " Lord, Lord," xxv. ii. but do not the will of their Father in heaven ; or that of obstinate sinners, of whom it is written, " He that turneth ^''°^- xxvm, away his ear from hearing the law, even his prayer shall be abomination ;" or cruel, like the desire of James and John ^4 ^"''^ "' to bring down fire on the guilty village : or lacking in per severance, as when Abraham ceased to petition for Sodom ; ^™- ''™'- or because it lacks the wings of almsgiving and fasting, for " prayer is good with fasting, and alms, and righteousness ;" ^obit xii. s. or because it is made for an undeserving person, for the Lord saith, " Pray not thou for this people, neither hf t up cry nor ^'"- ''"¦ ^^• prayer for them, neither make intercession to Me, for I will not hear thee," or because it is idle, for " Surely God will ^°^ "'"¦'"'• not hear vanity, neither will the Almighty regard it." But we may well bear in mind the loving-kindness rather than the judgments of God in this hiding of His face, and re member how He delayed that Incarnation for which the Ay. Fathers of the Old Covenant looked so yearningly, and „ lengthened out the pangs of the Martyrs of the New Cove- nant in order to increase their reward. 15 I am in misery, and like unto him that is at the point to die : even from my youth up thy terrors have I suffered with a troubled mind. The words, from my youth up, belong to the first clause, as in the A.V., not to the second, as here. Lest we should Bellarmine. fancy that the Passion of Christ was but of three hours, or of a single day, the Holt Ghost reveals to us here that Christ never Hved without suffering in the days of His flesh. ^ For besides the cup of His most bitter death, which He had ever before His mind's eye. He was throughout His life in toils and troubles. I, saith He, am poor and in labours from My youth, (LXX., Vulg.) for though I was blessed and rich in the form of God, I became needy for the sake of you men, and that from Mine infancy, as the manger, and the cave of Bethlehem, and the flight into Egypt testify. Wherefore the Hugo Card. sorrows of His Nativity are fitly commemorated in the great Passiontide hymn of the Western Church as the beginning of His woes in the glorious battle against sin : Laid an Infant jn the manger, S, Venant, In the stable poor and dim, EP'^S^*'' Wrapped in swaddling-clothes enfolding pZ^T^^ Every helpless infant hmb, lingua. Thus the Blessed Virgin Mother Mother's care bestowed on Him. Whence we too may take pattern not to put off austerity and self-denial till mature age, remembering that the Prophet 104 A COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS. Lam. iii. 27. A. S. Matt. xxvi. 38. Diodorus. S. Athana sius.Bellarmine.S, John xix 19. S. Luke xix 38. L. Eusebius. Bellarmine. L.R. Hugo Card, hath said, " It is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth." The words fitly betoken also the sufferings of the Church from Abel under the Old Covenant and Stephen under the New, through all the trials, vicissitudes, and strug gles against her enemies, ghostly and bodily. As her Lord was poor, in that He had no place to lay His head, so she is poor also, in hunger and thirst, here in exile, for the good things of her country, and her Saints are poor in voluntary poverty and in their humble estate in this world.' Thy ter rors have I suffered with a troubled mind. And this we may most fitly take first of the Agony in the garden, when the Lord said, " My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death," But the LXX. and Vulgate, following a different sense of the text here, read. Being exalted, I was humbled, and troubled. He was exalted by His Father in miraculous power, humbled in human weakness and mortality, exalted on the Cross, as on the throne of His kingdom, having over His head a title written, " Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews," He was humbled even unto death, and troubled because of the blindness of His people, and their coming ruin. He was exalted by the people when they cried aloud, " Blessed is the King Who cometh in the Name of the Lord," and humbled before His judges, doomed to the scourge and the Cross. It may not only be taken of the vicissitudes of the Church, which has always had to undergo troubles and persecutions after any great spiritual victory, but it may weU be applied to the history of the workings of grace in each soul, which is exalted in pride while puffed up with earthly thoughts, then humbled to confession by the sense of sin, and troubled or confounded at the thought of judgment to come. 16 Thy wrathful displeasure goeth over me : and the fear of thee hath undone me. 17 They came round about me daily like water : and compassed me together on every side. Because the wrath of God against the countless and varied sins of all mankind passed over them on to the head of Christ, Who was smitten for the transgressions of His peo ple. He was exalted on the Cross, and humbled unto death. The terrors (A.V., LXX., Vulg.) of God, whether in the form of the anticipation of the Passion during the Agony, or the permitted attacks of evil spirits, or the plots of the chief priests and angry cries of the multitude, encompassed the Lord ; and that like water, not merely because it drowns, but because it searches every crevice, goes to the very bottom. ' The nephews and kindred of Popes and Cardinals cannot apply this verse to themselves. caustically remarks Cardinal Hugo, for they are rich, and get benefices from their cradles. PSALM LXXXVIII. 105 and makes its way on all sides once it can obtain any entrance, thus fitly denoting the penetrating force of temptation and trouble. They remind us, too, that the words aptly tell us of the awe which the terrible thought of judgment to come c,j_ brings upon the souls of even righteous men ; but take com fort from the phrase goeth over, (Si^Afloy, transierunt) as im- q_ plying that God's chastisements do not abide permanently AgeUius, upon His people, but pass away from and over them when Eusebius. their work is accomphshed. The curses and terrors of the Law encompassed in hke manner the Jews of old, and it was only the same Saviour Who can deliver us from the judg ment that could free them from its sore bondage. 18 My lovers and friends hast thou put away from me : and hid mine acquaintance out of my sight. Herein, so far as our Lord was Man, was the crown of BeUarmine. His sorrows, that He had to drink His bitter cup alone, with no fellow and partner to share His grief. Lover and friend, (A.V., Vulg.) God put from Him when Judas became a traitor and an enemy, and when His nearest acquaintance, the Apostles themselves, forsook Him and fied, so that the prophecy of Isaiah was fulfilled to the letter : " I have trod- j ^^^ den the winepress alone, and of the people there was none with Me." Out of my sight. The LXX. and Vulgate read from misery, that is, that the reason why His acquaintance fied was to avoid sharing in the troubles which He endured. But the true rendering is My acquaintance are darkness, pg^g^tg This may be taken, literally, as equivalent to the Prayer Book version, implying that they had concealed themselves, so as to be unseen ; or again, as referring to the darkness on Calvary, the only thing which, while it lasted, met the dying eyes of Jesus ; or yet again, that the only friend left, the j^^ ^vii. 13 only intimate who would hold to Him, was — the grave ; as 14. His martyrs and confessors have found many a time in the midst of a hostUe and blaspheming world. Wherefore : Glory be to the Father, the Lord God of our salvation ; glory be to the Son, Who was free among the dead, and showed His loving-kindness in the grave ; glory be to the Holt Ghost, Whose wondrous works are known in en- hghtening the dark hearts of sinners. As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be : world without end. Amen. Collects. O God, Redeemer of all, and ineffable Giver of our sal- Ludoiph, vation. Who passing into hell for us, wast free among the dead, hear the morning prayer of Thy servants, and de- 106 A COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS. liver us from the grievous bondage of the crafty foe. Who hvest. Mozarabic. O LoRD Jesus Christ, Who foreknowing him that should Passiontide. deliver Thee unto death, didst foretell it before Thy death, and dying didst go down thither where is the appointed house of all living, to wit, into hell ; grant us that when the time of our summons shall arrive, we may not go down thither to be held in punishment, whither Thou camest dying to be a deliverer through pardon ; but stretching out Thine hand, save us by Thy manifest power from the depth of hell. Who alone didst vouchsafe to lay down Thy life for sinners. (11.) Mozarabic. O Good Christ, consider our need and poverty, lest Thou shouldst hide Thy face from us and cast off our soul, that we who are poor and afflicted from our youth up, may at length be refreshed with heavenly dehghts, and rejoice in being clothed vrith everlasting immortality. (11.) Mozarabic, Come quickly, O Christ, to Thy Church, to comfort her, poor and in troubles, that Thou, Who becamest poor and needy for her sake, mayest reward her with heavenly gifts in the world to come. (11.) Mozarabic. O Christ, Son of GoD the Fatheh, Who bearest the vision Passiontide, ^f ^]jg Qrogg^ when Thine acquaintance, the disciples, stood afar off iu Thy Passion, suffer not Thyself, we pray Thee, to go far from us, but make known unto us the paths of Thy sweetness, and as Thou didst not come forth when Thou wast delivered up, in that Thou didst not disclose Thyself as God to the inner sight of men, grant us a true knowledge of Thy God head, that after our passage hence we may enjoy Thee in that substance. Who with the Father and the Holt Ghost abidest One in Unity and in glory everlasting. (11.) J) Q O Lord God of our salvation, graciously have mercy upon us, and by the abundance of Thy propitiation call back our soul, which is fuH of troubles, and our life which, through sin, draweth nigh unto hell ; put us far from all sorrow now and for evermore, that through Thy bountiful mercy, we may evermore pay Thee our debt of praise. (1.) Pseudo- 'We humbly beseech Thee, O Christ, to strengthen vrith Hieron, rpj^^ might Thy servants delivered by Thy Passion from the snare of hell, and vouchsafe to loose them from the toils of the second death, that disburdened and free, we may be united unto Thy kingdom. PSALM LXXXIX. Title. Maschh of Ethan the Ezrahite. Chaldee Targum : A good understanding, spoken at the hand of Abraham, who came from the East. LXX. and Vulg. . Understanding of Ethan the Israelite (LXX.) or Ezrahite (Vidg,) PSALM LXXXIX. 107 Argument. Ars. Thomas. That Christ rules in equal power with the Father and the Comforter. The Voice of Christ to the Father touching the Jews. The Voice of the Prophet, touching Christ, to, the Father, or the Voice of the Son or of the Church to the Father touching the Jews. The Voice of Christ to the Father. The story is sung of the time when the people were numbered. Ven. Bede. Fthan is interpreted the Strong, and as this Psalm is about to tell of the praises and promises of the Lord, the un changeable firmness of its faithful words is indicated by the name Strong. And here Understanding is necessarily prefixed, no doubt because an everlasting throne is promised to David, which mean while we can see was destroyed long ago historically. This Fthan, hke Heman, was either one of the singers of David the king, whom the Words of Days mention, to wit, the son of Eishi, the son of Abdi, of the family of Merari, son of Levi ; or one of those wise men to whom the wisdom of Solomon is preferred in the Book of Eiugs, "Wiser," it saith, " than Ethan the Ezrahite and Heman." i Kings iv. This song is of such wisdom that it deserves to be ascribed to the 31. name of that very wise man. This Fthan the Strong, who was filled with such mental enlightenment that he is most truly styled an Israelite, at the first outset of the Psalm declares that he will sing of the mercies of the Lord, because He hath promised many things that will profit the faithful people. My song shall he alway of the lovingkindness of the Lord. In the second part he describes in various ways the praises and power of the Lord. O Lord, the very heavens shall praise Thy wondrous works. Thirdly, he counts up the promises of the Father to Christ, Thou spaJcest sometime in vision unto Thy saints. In the fourth place, the Lord Himself declares, by reason of the Passion which He endured, that He was dehvered up to His enemies. Bivt Thou hast abhorred. Fifthly, he prays for help for human weakness, because God hath not made the children of men for nought : Lord, how long wilt Thou hide Thyself, for ever ? Sixthly, he asks the Lord to fulfil His pro mises, which He declares that He made to David His servant, and to remember what reproaches His servants bore from the ungodly. Lord, where are Thy old lovingMndnesses ? Syriac Psalter. Concerning the people which was in Babylon. Eusebius op Cjesahea. He teacheth the Eingdom of Christ from the seed of David. S. Athanasius. A Psalm of narration. Various Uses. Gregorian. Friday: Matins. [Christmas Day: III. Nocturn. Transfiguration : III, Nooturn,] Monastic. I^day : Matins. [Christmas Day : II. Nocturn. Transfiguration : II. Nooturn.] Amhrosian. Wednesday of Second Week: III, Nooturn. [Christ mas Day : II. Nocturn. Epiphany (ver. 27 to end :) I. Nocturn.] Parisian. Thursday : Matins. Lyons. Friday : Matins. [Christmas Day : III. Nocturn.] Quignon. Thursday: Matins. 108 a commentary on the psalms. Antiphons. Gregoria/n and Monastic. Praised * be the Lord for evermore. [Christmas Day : He shall call Me. Alleluia. Thou art My Fa ther. Alleluia, Transfiguration : Tabor and Hermon shall re joice in Thy Name, * Thou hast a mighty arm.] Amhrosian. Thy truth shalt Thou stablish in the heavens. [Christmas Day : I will make Him My firstborn * higher than the kings of the earth. Epiphany : I will set His hand in the sea, * and His right hand in the floods.] Parisian. O Lord, * they shaU walk in the light of Thy coun tenance, their delight shall be daily in Thy Name : and in Thy righteousness shall they make their boast. Lyons. As Gregorian. [Christmas Day : First section : Eigh teousness and equity. Alleluia, * are the habitation of Thy seat, Alleluia, Second section : He shall call Me, Alleluia, * Thou art My Father, Alleluia. Third section : His seat is like as the sun before Me, Alleluia, * and as the moon perfect for ever. Alleluia.] Mozarabic. Thy truth shalt Thou stablish in the heavens, O Lord, 1 My song shall be alway of the loving-kindness of the Lord : with my mouth will I ever be showing thy truth from one generation to another. This noble Psalm, contrasting forcibly in much of its hope fulness with its sad predecessor, nevertheless implies dis tinctly the visitation of the House of David with severe chastisement, and the author is clearly the King of Judah himself, or some one speaking in his name, and putting words into his mouth. It has thus been conjectured, not without much plausibility, that it refers to the captivity of Manasseh, or, more probably stUl, from the mixture of thanksgiving and hope, to the release of King Jehoiachin from his prison, after a captivity of seven and thirty years, and his restoration 2 Kings XXV. to royal precedence and honours at the court of Evil-Mero- ^7- dach. King of Babylon. D. C. The opening of the Psalm, observes the Carthusian, is truly most sweet, and far, far pleasanter than any worldly, carnal, or idle pleasure. He does not say the mercy of the Lord, but His mercies (Heb., LXX., Vulg., A.V.,) for ac cording to the multitude of our miseries the mercies of the S.Bernard. LoRD are multiphed upon US. And that sevenfold ; first, in Serm, de that He guards us from sinning, as it is written, " I vri.ll Ho°'ea ii, 6. bedge up thy way with thorns, and make a wall ;" secondly, that He awaits the penitence of the sinner, " Thou winkest at the sins of men, because they should amend ;" thirdly, jiccius ^^ ^^^^ ^^^^"^ waiting, because " God is patient with them," xvUil^l, 14. and then " poureth forth His mercy upon them ;" fourthly, because He is so swift and tender in welcoming the penitent, for " He hath mercy upon them that receive discipline ;" fifthly, that He corrects us for our sins, and amends our Wisd. xi, 23, Ecclus PSALM LXXXIX. 109 hves, "Thou, because Thou art gracious, have mercy upon judithvi . us, or punish our iniquities with Thy scourge;" sixthly, comes 20, Vulg, • the bestowal of grace for the attainment of everlasting life, ""V ]^' for, " He that hath mercy on them shall lead them, even by j^^^ ^[j^' j^ the springs of water shall He guide them ;" and seventhly, He inspires us with hope of obtaining eternal blessedness whereof the Psalm itself speaks. The Psalmist saith, I will sing (Vulg,, A. V.,) whence we Hugo Card. may gather the joy that is in his heart. They who seek the Lord here in the Church Militant, and they who have found and hold Him fast in the Church Triumphant, alike raise in His honour the song of Holy, Holy, Holy. Alway, or as it is in LXX. and Vulg.,/o)' ever. Bellarmine, following several BeUarmine. of the early commentators, attaches these words to mercies, not to sing, for the somewhat jejune reason that the Psalmist, as a mortal, must cease his singing, but that the Lord's mercies are for ever. But there is no question as to the collocation of the words in the Hebrew, nor will the succeed ing clause allow us to explain alway as only to the end of the singer's earthly life. We may rather take it, on the one hand, as a prophecy of the continual use of this Psalm in the public worship of God, from one generation to another, from q the generation of the Jews to that of the Gentiles, through out the long ages that have elapsed since its notes were first heard, so that the Psalmist, "being dead, yet speaketh;" Heb. xi, 4. while on the other hand, it may denote the hope of joining, after death has silenced the voice here for a time, in the un ceasing melodies of heaven; where the generation of man joins in fellowship with the generation of angels. When this poor lisping, stammering tongue Lies silent in the grave, Then, in a nobler, sweeter song I'll sing Thy power to save. Cowper. S. Gregory the Great raises the question here as to how g Q^g, a perpetual singing of the mercies of God is compatible with Mag, Mor. unalloyed bUss in heaven, inasmuch as the thought of mercy "¦ ^^¦ connotes the memory of sin and sorrow, which needed mercy, whereas Isaiah saith that " the former troubles are forgotten," isa. ixv, 16, and " the former things shall not be remembered, nor come i7- upon the heart." And he replies that it will be like the me mory of past sickness in time of health, without stain, with out grief, and serving only to heighten the felicity of the redeemed, by the contrast with the past, and to increase their love and gratitude towards God. And so sings the Cluniac : Their breasts are filled with gladness, s, Bernard. Their mouths are tuned to praise, Cluniac. What time, now safe for ever, Rhythmus. On former sins they gaze : 110 A COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS. Hugo Card. S. Athana sius. L. S, Bruno Carth. D.C. Midrash TehiUim, Galatinus. S. Hieron. adv. Pelag. z. Frov.ix, 1. Honorius. L. A. The fouler was the error. The sadder was the fall. The ampler are the praises Of Him Who pardoned all. Note, too, that he says, with my mouth, not with that of any deputy; I will be showing, not secretly or timidly, not in a whisper, but boldly preach Thy truth, not my own opinion, far less my own falsehood, but Thy Truth, which is Thine Only-begotten Son. 2 For I have said, Mercy shall be set up for ever : thy truth wilt thou stablish in the heavens. The LXX. and Vulgate read. For thou hast said. There is no practical difEerence, for the I is here God Himself, Whose words are given directly by the Psalmist just as in Ixxxi. 6, and Job xiii. 1 — 5. It is God's answer to the first verse, as though He were saying. The reason, O man, why thou promisest to show forth My praise for ever, is because I, for My part, have said that the mercy, which I will stabhsh, shall be for ever. And if we read the clause in the second person, then the Prophet declares himself to be merely God's instrument, and that he vrill show forth what God has spoken and dictated to him. I will be showing forth, I speak for this reason, observes the Doctor of Grace, because Thou hast spoken first ; I, a man, may safely say what Thou, O God, hast said, for even should I waver in mine own word, I shall be stablished by Thine. Mercy shallbe set up for ever. More exactly, with A.V., and the early renderings, huilt up. For not only will this mercy of God be strong and unshaken by any earthly vicissitudes or any counsel of man, but the In carnation and Passion of Christ, in the act of redeeming mankind, will repair the wastes and build up anew the walls of the heavenly Jerusalem with living stones, so as to make good the breaches caused by the fall of the rebel Angels ; a view of this verse common to some Eabbinical authorities. For ever, not merely because God's mercy proceeds from an everlasting decree, and because its efEects have no end, but because throughout all time it is poured out upon fresh ob jects, and daily swells the ranks of penitents and saints. There are not wanting some to remind us that this mercy so eternally built up is none other than the Lord Jesds Him self, Whose Sacred Body was compacted of the holy flesh of Mary, whereof is written, " Wisdom hath builded her house." Thy truth shalt Thou stablish in the heavens. Whether these words be those of the Psalmist to God, or of God the Fa ther to His Son, we may draw the same lesson from them, that He Who is very Truth had His throne set up above the heavens at the Ascension, and that He hath established His Word and Gospel in the mouths of His holy Apostles, of PSALM LXXXIX. Ill whom is written, "The heavens declare the glory of God." pg.xix.i. ^ov stabUs7ied the Yv.lga.te reads prepared, whence thej dTstw the lesson that God makes ready the foundations of His mercy by first destroying those of sin, and builds up His temple on the very site of an idol shrine. So He enjoined His Prophet " to throw down, and buUd." jer. i, lo, 3 I have made a covenant with my chosen : I have sworn unto David my servant; 4 Thy seed will I stablish for ever : and set up thy throne from one generation to another. S. Augustine, leaving the literal sense here as too obvious j^ to need discussion, turns at once to the mystical meaning. What covenant is this that God has made, save the New Covenant or Testament, which brings us into our new heri tage, which we welcome with the new song P And they point out further that the double promise here cannot possibly be interpreted literally. There is, on the one hand, a promise of an unbroken line of descendants, and on the other, the maintenance of the royal dignity of that line. It is, to say the very least, supremely improbable that any lineal descen dants of the House of David now survive, after the measures j^ taken by Domitian and Trajan to root them out for political Easebiiis, reasons, and the long break in the genealogical records ; it is Hist. eccI. certain that the last Davidic prince who exercised even a ""' ^ ' titular sovereignty over the chosen people was Zerubbabel, as the power after his death lay between the Persian satraps of Syria and the High Priests.' And we are therefore com pelled here, as in Psalm Ixxii., to seek for a deeper meaning, a more glorious promise than the temporal prosperity of a single race. Most truly then shall we see here not merely A. the everlasting Kingdom of Christ, but the aspect of that Kingdom upon earth, the great company of the faithful who are the spiritual seed of Abraham, who, united to their kingly Head, as members of His body, are kings in and through Him, palaces wherein His throne as Lord and Master is set up even in the generation of our mortal life, and much more in that other generation of resurrection and immortality. It is to be noted that the word chosen, though singular in the BeUarmine. Hebrew text, is translated as plural by LXX. and Vulgate, and may thus be referred literally to the whole Jewish na tion, or to David and his sons, while mystically these elect will ' Some have imagined that the Hesch-GVutha, or civil head of the Jews under the later Persian dynasty and the Khali- fate, was of the House of David, but there is no satisfactory evi dence of the fact. In truth, the title first appears as applied to HiUel, as President of the School, and he was a Benjamite connected with the House of David only by his mother's side. See lost, Gresoh. d. Judenthums, ed. 1858, vol. II., 130, 144, 255. 112 A COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS. Diodorus, Hugo Card, BeUarmine, Ay. denote the whole company of the redeemed, and especially the Apostles and Doctors of the Church. A Greek Father points out very well how the final settlement of the Ark of the Covenant in the Holy City under David, after its pro longed wanderings from one place to another, forms an apt type of the firmness and universality of the Catholic Church set up by Christ in the terms of this promise of the Father. And we may take the whole promise as referring to each righteous soul, which is like David, the friend and beloved of God, which is strong in the battle of good works against sin, and comely in aspect by reason of inward holiness, and for which an everlasting crown is laid up in heaven. 5 O Lord, the very heavens shall praise thy won drous works : and thy truth in the congregation of the saints. We here on earth, tied and bound with the chains of our sin, feeble through our mortal frailty, cannot praise Thee aright; but the glorious skies vrith their bright constella tions, lifted far above us, the shining hosts of the Angels, vrill do what we cannot. And we may bear in mind how often the heavens bore their witness to Christ, how a new Star announced His birth, how the Angels sang carols over His cradle, how the heavens were opened above Him at His Bap tism, when the Voice of the Father was heard ; how the sun was darkened as He hung upon the Cross, how an Angel sate upon the empty sepulchre to declare the glad tidings of His Eesurrection. There are no works of God more won drous than the Incarnation of His Son, and His marvellous conversion of sinners by His grace, making the heavens to praise Him ; and so those especial heavens, the holy Apos tles and other great preachers of the Gospel, pour down the refreshing rains of doctrine on the thirsty and eager soil of the Church of the Saints, which alone lies so beneath those clouds as to drink in their showers freely. Such preachers are likened to the heavens, because they are raised high above the earth, are starry with virtues, shining vrith the lights of grace, honoured by the indwelling of God, and compassed with the circle of perfection. 6 For who is he among the clouds : that shall be compared unto the Lord ? 7 And what is he among the gods : that shall be like unto the Lord ? BeUarmine. Here the Psalmist gives the reason why the heavens wiU take up the song of praise which is too great a theme for human lips. They will not refuse the office, for they are themselves, however high above men, unspeakably below the A. S. Albertus Magnus. Hugo Card. psalm LXXXIX. 113 throne of God, are His servants and ministers, not His equals, nor even like to Him. And though He Who is the Lord became man, and took upon Him the form of a servant, yet even in His utter humiliation, in His lowest Didymus. estate, no Angel might be compared to Him in majesty, in wisdom, or in love. Observe that whereas the heavens were named in the fifth verse, we have the clouds in the sixth. j^. And what the mystical force of this term is, we may learn from the Prophet, when speaking of the judgments on the vineyard of God he says, " I will command the clouds that isa. v, 6, 7. they rain no rain upon it." And as the " vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel," we understand by this threat the turning of the Apostles to the Gentiles, after their Acts xiii, 46, message had been rejected by the Jews. The Apostles were clouds in their human weakness, in their passiveness, as they were heaven in the mightiness of truth ; but they were also Cd. clouds in that they were charged with that Gospel whereof God spake by Moses : " My doctrine shall drop as the rain, ugut. xxxii. my speech shall distil as the dew, as the small rain upon the 2. tender herb, and as showers upon the grass." They are E. clouds, too, because their holiness is veiled by their flesh, as a cloud, so that we cannot see that which lies within. We see what comes from the cloud, but not what happens in the cloud, so we receive the rain of Divine teaching from the Apostles, but cannot observe the process of Divine revelation within them. So runs the hymn for Apostles in the Paris Breviary : Like clouds are they borne Santol. To do Thy great wiU, Victorin. And swift as the winds l|!%^^T' About the world go ; oSs?*' All full of Thy G-odhead Arbiter. While earth lieth still. They thunder, they hghten, The waters o'erflow. Yet, with all their gifts and graces, there is none of them, none of any of those eminent for holiness, those gods or Eusebius. sons of God (LXX., Vulg.) that can be compared to the Lord Jesus ; for He is Son of God by eternal generation. Ay. and naturally ; they are sons of God only by adoption and grace. 8 God is very greatly to be feared in the council of the saints : and to be had in reverence of all them that are round about him. In the literal sense, the council of the Saints may most Hugo Card. probably denote the Jewish nation, which from its small numbers, and from being alone possessed of the secret oracles of God, is fitly styled His council, while those that are round ^ III. I 114 A commentary on the psalms. about axe the Gentile nations encompassing the Hebrews on C. every side. Or, if the reference be to the heavenly service. Rev, vii 11 *^^ words depict for us that scene of the Apocalypse : " And all the Angels stood round about the throne, and about the elders, and the four beasts, and fell before the throne on their faces, and worshipped God." They raise the question as to how the Angels can be said to be round about God, seeing that He is infinite and omnipresent, filling all the universe. BeUarmine. Cardinal BeUarmine answers that it is because God gives Himself to the view of His Angels, in such wise that they aU behold Him simultaneously, as though they did in fact A. encircle Him ; but the great Bishop of Hippo reminds us that He, when made man, was in truth circumscribed by a body and local boundaries, so as to be born, to dweU, to be cru cified, buried, and to rise again within the hmits of one narrow territory, and yet to be so preached by His Apostles as to be had in reverence of all those nations which lay round about BeUarmine. it. The word council is, they say, emphatic, as denoting in the case of the Angels, not that they give advice to God, Isa. xl. 13. for as Isaiah and S. Paul alike ask, " Who hath been His Rom. xi. 34. counsellor ?" but that He reveals His measures to them, and sends them as messengers to execute them; while the phrase, s, Bruno ^^ applied to the Saints on earth, denotes the reason, thought- carth. fulness, and dehberate nature of their service and devotion, s. Maximus. ^j^^ whereas he that has a retinue round about him, must ^" have some before, some behind, some on his right hand, some on his left ; so the Lord Jesus is foUowed behind by those who attempt to imitate His actions by the pursuit of holiness, they are on His left hand who turn secular learning and natural philosophy to spiritual purposes and the vindica tion of religion ; they are on the right who busy themselves in pure meditation on divine things only ; while those who have been made perfect in love of God's beauty, are suffered to have fuU enjoyment of the Beatific Vision, and see Him face to face. 9 O Lord God of hosts, who is like unto thee : thy truth, most mighty Lord, is on every side. BeUarmine. The Psalmist has hitherto been directing his words to hu man Hsteners, but fired with love and wonder at the thought D. C. of God's marvels, he suddenly breaks into an apostrophe to Him. Who is like unto Thee ? he exclaims, for there is no ratio between the finite and the infinite, and though His truth and power are already exerted and manifested in His works of nature and of grace, yet His mightiness is not Isa. xl, 28. exhausted thereby, for " hast thou not known ? hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, f ainteth not, neither is weary ? there is no searching of His understanding ?" And thus His truth is on every side, because He is the centre of aU creation, and PSALM LXXXIX. 115 His divine power and truth pour their rays on all His works, that we may behold them and worship Him, for, as the Wise Man saith, "by the greatness and beauty of the creatures Wisd. xiii, o. proportionably the Maker of them is seen." His truth is ^' round about Him also, because He has it perfectly and of 2. Himself as His attribute, and does not derive it from any other source. It clothes Him as a garment, for " righteous- jga. xi, ,1. ness is the girdle of His loins, and faithfulness the girdle of His reins," for as the girdle binds the garments closely round the body, so the truth of Christ binds the words of His promises, so that they cai^ot be changed, but must be ful fiUed, and that too vrith speed and readiness, as a man who BeUarmine. is girt up is able to run swiftly. These promises of Christ are round about Him, in that Church of which He is the centre, as it is the creation of grace whose midmost part He Honorius. is. On every side, too, because this Church is spread all s. Albertus over the earth, and even in it He is specially confessed by Magnus. His Saints, the chosen guard closest about their Monarch, Ay. as the tents of the great encampment of Israel once com passed the Tabernacle round about. And note that when -'-'• the truth of the Lord, the Gospel of the Kingdom, at first hidden in the central shrine of Judaea, began to be made known amidst the Gentiles roimd about, then the rage of the . powers of evil and of this world broke out in fierce storms of persecution ; wherefore is added : 10 Thou rulest the raging of the sea : thou stillest the waves thereof when they arise. 11 Thou hast subdued Egypt, and destroyed it : thou hast scattered thine enemies abroad with thy mighty arm. Here the literal sense recalls the passage of the Eed Sea, Ageiiius. and its reflux upon the horsemen and chariots of Pharaoh. The word here rendered Egypt is Rahab, the " proud one," Honorius, of whom we read in Psalm Ixxxvii. 3, and it is so translated by LXX. and Vulgate, which agree in reading. Thou hast BeUarmine. humbled the haughty as wounded, which closely agrees with a similar apostrophe in Isaiah, " Awake, awake, put on igg,. u. 9. strength, O arm of the Lord ; awake, as in the ancient days, in the generations of old. Art not Thou it that hath cut Eahab, and wounded the dragon P Art Thou not it which hath dried the sea, the waters of the great deep ; that hath made the depths of the sea a way for the ransomed to pass over ?" And S. Augustine, preaching on the festival of certain A. Martyrs, observes that when the Gentiles came to the know ledge of the Truth, the enemy rushed upon theni like a raging Uon, but was overcome by the Lord, Who rent him as Samson judg. xiv. 6. did his type. "What," he asks, "did the sea effect by its raging, save to bring about the holy day which we are keep ing ? It slew the Martyrs, it sowed the seed of blood, and 116 A COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS. Haymo. the crops of the Church shot up abundantly." Jaig.iv. 21. Arm of God, the Only-Begotten Son, Who That mighty wounded the Pseudo-Hieron. S, Bruno Carth. E. Hugo Card. A. Ay. Hugo Card. E. Ps. xxxiii, 6, Honorius, Hugo Card. Pseudo-Hieron. S. Bruno Carth. proud one, as Jael did Sisera, with the nail which fastened HimseK to the Cross, scattered His enemies, the Jewish nation which rejected Him, abroad in the terrible captivity and dispersion that f oUowed on the fall of Jerusalem and the destruction of the Temple. He, by humbling Himself, hath wounded and humbled the pride of man, and made him lowly, so that we, wounded in turn by love of Him, are scattered abroad, and parted from our native errors and sins, as weU as from the fellowship of the ungodly, so as to be made no longer the enemies; but the servants of God, and citizens of the heavenly country, when He has stiUed the wild passions of our stormy and unstable hearts, and made in them a great calm, on whose surface the rays of His glory may be eter nally mirrored, 12 The heavens are thine, the earth also is thine : thou hast laid the foundation of the round world, and all that therein is. Christ is Lord of the teaching Church of the Apostles, those heavens which send down the dews of holy doctrine and also of the Church which is taught, the earth which drinks in the rain and dew, and in its humility brings forth abundant fruit. The contemplative Saints are His, busied as they are with divine things, of which He is the source and goal ; the active Saints are His no less, for He inspires and guides their good works. The heavens and the earth are His, for by the Word of the Lord were the heavens made. He laid not only the foundation of the round world of visible nature, but also of that Church Universal which embraces all na,^ons, founded on the Eock, stablished in Him alone, and He claims as His own not the mere space, but aU living things therein, the entire body of His elect, rooted and founded in love, destined to enter into the fulness of the Saints. And note that the phrase round world is suitably typical of the Church, because the circle alone of linear figures is equidistant at all points from the centre of the space it encloses, and is thus a type of the perfect life, be cause, according to the old philosophic definition, "Virtue is the equality of a life which converges towards reason on every side." And thus Christ, as the Supreme Wisdom, is the centre of the Church, and the rays of His divine love and grace touch on aU sides the circumference of the Church with equal radii, infinite in number.' ' It should be observed that this sense can be drawn only from the Vulgate and the Prayer Book. The Hebrew tan does not include the idea of sphericaUty, any more than the LXX. oikou- liipr). PSALM LXXXIX. 117 13 Thou hast made the north and the south : Tabor and Hermon shall rejoice in thy Name. As Tabor and Hermon lie east and west of each other in Lyranus, the Lebanon chain, this verse is the assertion of God's crea- au"^'"^'''' tive and governing power over the four quarters of the earth. But the LXX. and Vulgate read the north and the sea} Mys- ticaUy, the North in Holy Writ is usuaUy taken as the symbol j^^^ ^ of evil, because on the one hand we read of Lucifer, " I will sit also in the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north;" and in Jeremiah we find the threat, " I will bring ^.b^sU.m. evil from the north, and great destruction," and as a literal fact, the great empire of Assyria and much of that of Babylon, by which the Jevrish nation was so grievously chastised, lay to the north of the Holy Land. And as the north wind is cold q . and biting, so they wiU have it that it is an apt type of Satan Haymo. or of Antichrist himself, lacking the fire of divine love, and s. Bruno nipping with his sharp frosts the blossoms and fruits of holi- earth. ness in the hearts of men ; while the sea, bitter, barren, and Ay, stormy, is taken of Satan's instruments in the world, the restless and cruel persecutors of the Church, of whom is written, "The wicked are hke the troubled sea, when it isa. ivii. 20. cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt." Tabor and Hermon shall rejoice. The former of these mountains, noted in early Jewish history as the scene of Barak's vie- Jude- iv. 14. tory over Sisera, and believed to be the special mountain from whose summit it was the wont of the tribes of Zebulun and Issachar to give notice of the Paschal moon, had a greater Deut, xxxiu, claim to rejoice in the latter days, for from its heights, nest- i^' , ling in the plain but a few miles ofE, Nazareth is still to be seen. And Christian legend, albeit with no sufficient war- s.Cyrii, rant, has named it as the scene of the Transfiguration; while g.'j^han. Hermon, less famous, nevertheless so rises up above the plain Damasc. of Esdraelon as to have within sight the part of Jordan made . P. renowned first by the passage of Joshua, and then by the baptism of John, including the greatest of all, and Nain, L. the scene of one of Christ's greatest miracles, so that both mountains had full right to rejoice in His Name. S. Angus- A. tine, supposing Tabor to mean coming light, explains it as mystically denoting Christ, the true Light that cometh into the world ; while Hermon, which he interprets his cursing, impHes the overthrow and punishment of Satan as the result of that coming. Others, accepting this etymology, vrill yet Haymo, have it that Tabor denotes the Jews, illuminated with the Ught of the law and of grace, and Hermon the Gentiles, aliens from God and buried in the sin of idolatry, which it learns ^ The reason is that the He brew word for south is here ]'n^ " right hand," spoken of the di rection as one looks east. This has been read by the LXX, as D'B<, " seas," with the change of the final letter. 118 A COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS. Honorius. Gesenius. c. L.P. S. Luke i. 51.S. Athana sius. 'Targum. Theodoret. A. C. The Gloss, to curse and abandon when the light from Tabor reaches it. But in truth no such meaning can be extracted at all from the first, or with certainty from the second, of these names. Tabor is " lofty," and Hermon " desolate," so named from its barren and snow-clad summit.' We may therefore see here types of two classes of the righteous, both pleasing to God, and rejoicing in His Name, but differing in vocation and dig nity. Tabor, a mere hiU, with its gentle slope and rounded summit, (whence the name is sometimes conjectured to mean " heaped like a navel") studded with trees, and green with shade and sward to its very summit, on which once stood a little town, fitly typifies the Saints of secular life, fruitful in good works, gracious and gentle, pleasant to God and man. But Hermon, the desolate, soars above Tabor with yet greater beauty and far more striking grandeur. The lonely summit, pure and cool with snow, when all the plain beneath is parched with the blazing sun of a Syrian autumn, denotes the con templative Saints of the Eeligious Life, towering upward to God in chastity and lonely contemplation, rejoicing not less, but more than Tabor, in spite of their seeming ruggedness and austerity of life. strong is thy hand. 14 Thou hast a mighty arm and high is thy right hand. That mighty arm of God is Christ the Saviodr ; mighty, because with Him being and power are identical, and His strength never wanes, inasmuch as He doth whatsoever He pleases in heaven and earth. Limited to Himself, the mighty arm of Christ is that Humanity which He took of Blessed Mary, and wherein He wrought such marveUous works, so that, as she herself exclaims, " He hath showed strength with His arm," and was manifested to be the Son of God with power. Strong is Thy hand, comments the Chaldee para phrase, to redeem Thy people : high is Thy right hand, to build up the house of Thy sanctuary. This thought is worked out further by the Christian expositors, who point out that the hand, by itself, denotes mere power and efficacy, but the right hand implies favour, grace, and protection. Hence the explanation that the hand of Christ is His power exerted against His enemies, to repress their persecution of His mem bers, while His rigJit hand is the justifying grace wherewith He strengthens and lifts up His elect, that He may set them at His right hand in the Judgment, when He wiU indeed be ' The roots are "on "to be high," and ay; "to be desolate," though no doubt Hermon may, like Hormah, come from Cinn, and mean an " accursed" place. I can offer no conjecture as to the proposed meaning of Tabor, unless it be from 2Nn desideravit (or else an, of awChald.reijii), and lis lux. PSALM LXXXIX, 119 exalted and high in majesty. And this comes back to the deepest spiritual meaning of the Targum, inasmuch as these elect are the living stones wherevrith Messiah builds the temple of God in the heavens. Lorinus, accepting the less j^. beautiful interpretation of several commentators, who see D_ Q. here two degrees of divine strength exerted to punish, inge- AgeUius, niously suggests that the strength of the left hand is exerted in holding a vanquished enemy in a firm grasp, while the right hand is lifted on high to deUver the fatal blow with sword or axe. But nearly aU agree that the Judgment is referred to as the special manifestation of God's right hand, whether in punishment or reward, and therefore follows : 15 Righteousness and equity are the habitation of thy seat : mercy and truth shall go before thy face. For habitation, LXX. and Vulgate read preparation, but Beda. the true rendering is basis. (Aquila.) Righteousness, as more Cd. than one commentator points out, often appears in Scripture Bellarmine. as a term including kindliness, while equity, or rather judg ment, bears a sterner sense, and thus the two bases of Christ's throne are reward and punishment. These connote in us fear and hope, to begin our justification, to inspire our devo tion. And therefore S. Bernard says very well, " Which of s. Bernard. you is there, brethren, who desires to make ready a throne |^'"nJJJ' ^^ for Christ in his soul.P Lo, what silks or carpets, what cushions, ought to be prepared P Eighteousness and equity are the preparation of His seat. Eighteousness is that virtue which giveth every man his own. Give, then, to each what is his, pay your superior, pay your inferior, pay your equal, pay every one that which you owe, and thus you fittingly celebrate the Advent of Christ, preparing for Him a seat in righteousness." But lest the thought of the strict judgment of God should overwhelm and crush us with its terror, we , are comforted by the next clause, Mercy and truth shall go A. before Thy face. These are the heralds through whom the Hugo Card, Lord announces His coming : mercy, whereby He blots out our sins, truth, whereby He performs His promise of saving to the uttermost those who trust in Him. These are the s. Albertus two disciples whom Christ sends before His face into every s.^£Ske'x. i. city and place whither He Himself wiU come ; yea, into D. C. every heart in which He offers to take up His abode, to each of which, before it can rise to pure contemplation of Him, He sends pardon and grace. And because our King is pre ceded by such messengers. His true subjects have no cause to dread His coming, for 16 Blessed is the people, O Lord^ that can rejoice in thee : they shall walk in the light of thy counte nance. 120 A COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS. Lev. xxv, 9, Doddridge, Haymo. Pseudo- Hieron.S, Bruno Carth. Ps. cxix, 105. Hugo Card. AgeUius, L. That can rejoice in Thee. The A. V., far more forcibly, and closer to the ancient renderings, that know the joyful sound. Literally, that is, the blowing of the trumpets of the Jubilee' on the evening of the Great Day of Atonement, when ushering in the year of release, when all debts were cancelled, all Hebrew bondsmen set free, and every man re turned to his own family, and to the enjoyment of his in heritance and possession. So the Christian, knowing^ the saving grace of Christ, rejoices in that, and cannot rejoice unless he knows it, and understands the source of that joy which is too deep for him to express in words. Thus we sing of that first coming of His, when He ransomed man from the bondage of sin : Hark the glad sound, the Saviour comes. The Saviour promised long, Let every heart prepare a throne. And every voice a song. He comes the prisoners to release In Satan's bondage held. The gates of brass before Him burst, The iron fetters yield. And they who do so rejoice in the Incarnation of their Lord, in having Him for brother and friend, walk in His ways. Who is the True Light of the world, the countenance and express image of the Father, and that they will do, guided by the illumination of the Holt Spirit. Progressively, moreover, not resting in the one grade of hoUness, but going on towards perfection, as the word walk denotes. And so it is written, " Thy Word is a lantern unto my feet, and a light unto my paths." But there is another year of release more perfect in its bounty and restoration than even the first Ad vent of Christ, and unspeakably blessed are the people who vrill know the sound of the Archangel's trumpet to be indeed a joyful sound, to whom it will be the note of victory, before which the walls of the spiritual Jericho fell down for ever, the summons to the marriage banquet of the Lamb, for they shall then learn the Unknown Song of gladness ineffable, and walk for evermore in rapt contemplation of the adorable Trinity, in the full light of the Beatific Vision. 17 Their delight shall be daily in thy Name : and in thy righteousness shall they make their boast. And that because the Name of Christ has been their sal vation, because the glory is not theirs, but is given to Him, This delight shall be daily, or all the day of this mortal life. ' The word nsiTB, here ren dered by A,V,, "joyful sound," is the same that appears as " ju bilee" in Lev. xxv. 9. PSALM LXXXIX. 131 and much more in the unending noontide of heaven. In Thy Honorius. righteousness, because of Thy merits, they who here have been humbled for their sins, and who have cast themselves down in penitence, shall he exalted, (A.V., Vulg., &c.) In Thy righteousness, when Thou oomest to judgment, they Hugo Card. shall be exalted to Thy right hand in glory. They shaU be exalted, even before that time, by gradual ascent in holiness, s. Bruno by conquering the world, the flesh, and the devil, and tread- •^^*''- ing them under foot ; they shaU be exalted ever afterwards by the continual growth of the spiritual capacity and blessed ness of the soul in heaven itself, a growth that hath no end, since it is a continual striving unto Him Who is infinite. And note the progress indicated by the terms used, walk being spoken of the body, naturally sluggish ; delight, of the soul grasping at bUss ; exalted of soul and body rejoined to "^° ^^ ' reign with Christ and in Christ, " Who of God is made s. Athana- unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and j'^^'j. j ^^ redemption ;" wherefore, " according as it is written. He that 31. glorieth, let biru glory in the Lord." 18 For thou art the glory of their strength : and in thy loving-kindness thou shalt lift up our horns. Christ is the glory of their strength, not merely because He s , Bruno bestows the grace and power by which they shun evil and Carth, effect good, but because that strength itself, or virtue (Vulg,) which they exercise, is put forth for His honour by His Hugo Card, Saints, and not for the sake of any worldly praise or favour. They have it from Him, and they give it to Him, since not q of their own free-wiU or personal holiness, but of His loving kindness and mercy. He, by humbling Himself to us, and becoming a " horn of salvation in the house of His servant s. Luke i, David," hath by that Incarnation of His, lifted up the horn ^' „ of our human nature, and exalted it, in bodily substance and in spiritual might, to the heavens above. Wherefore the Holy Eastern Church breaks out in song : Slaves are set free, and captives ransomed : S, Joseph The Nature that He made at first graph."" He now presenteth to the Father, Canoii for The chains of her damnation burst : Ascension. Ode viii. This the cause that He was born, Adam's race restored. Thou that liftest up our horn. Holy art Thou, Lord ! And note how glory and virtue are here united in one phrase, g^^^™*^''- On this S. Bernard teaches us, " The glory which is without s^victore* virtue comes, surely, without being due, is too hastily de sired, is perilously grasped. Virtue is the step to glory, virtue is the mother of gloiry. Glory is deceitful and beauty is vain, when she has not given them birth, it is she alone to 133 A COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS. Seneca,Ep, 79. AgeUius, whom glory is justly due and may be safely paid." And with this we may compare the wise saying of a heathen writer : " Glory is the shadow of virtue, and wUl accompany even those that desire it not. But as our shadow sometimes precedes and sometimes follows us, so glory is sometimes in front of us, and suffers itself to be seen, and sometimes is behind us, and greater, because later, when envy has passed away." 19 For the Lord is our defence : the Holy One of Israel is our King. Eather, with A.V. margin. Our shield is of the Lord, and our king is of the Holy One of Israel. That is, in the literal sense, we, and all we possess, our princes, our warriors, our king himseU, are God's, are His special belongings. And then, the words teU us that He Who is our defence and King, is God of God, consubstantial with the Father, the Holy One of Israel. He is our shield, because the Only -begotten Son protected us with His Body as with a shield, and drew the darts of the enemy away from us upon Himself, procuring our salvation by His death. And the Father is our defence too, in that He, the Holy One of Israel gives Christ to be our King, after the carnal Israel had rejected Him, gives Him to us. Whom we did not choose and appoint of our own vrill. The Vulgate wording. Our taking-up (assumptio) is of the Lord, has given rise to various comments. Some wiU have it that the word specially points to the assumption of human nature by Christ ; others of our being taken up out of mor tality and passibility unto salvation ; a third view is that it denotes the choosing out the elect from the mass of sinners. And in remembering that the Holy One is our King, we may be taught even by Pagan writers what are His quahfioations for His office, what our hopes from His exercise of it. " To be strong, just, severe, grave, high-souled, bounteous, benefi cent, Uberal, these virtues befit a king." "He is no real king," observes the greatest of ancient philosophers, " for Eth^Nicom. whom his own possessions are not enough, and who does not viii. 12, surpass others in the abundance of aU good things. For he who is of this kind, desires nothing further, and will look to, and set before himself, not his own interest, but that of those over whom he rules The friendship of a king consists in the excellence of his well-doing towards his sub jects, for he bestows benefits upon them, at any rate if he be a good king, and has a care for them, that they may pros per, as a shepherd has for his sheep." 30 Thou spakest sometime in visions unto thy saints, and saidst : I have laid help upon one that is mighty ; I have exalted one chosen out of the people. BeUarmine, In the part of the Psalm which opens with this verse, type Haymo. S. Bruno Carth. E. Cicero pro Dejo. taro. PSALM LXXXIX. 133 and antitype are presented with such close fitness of expres sion for each, that a dispute has arisen amongst the commen tators, whether to take the whole in the bare literal sense, as spoken of David son of Jesse, or the wholly mystical sense, as referring to Christ alone, as S. Augustine will have it, .^• or yet again, as referring in one part to David, and in another Z. to Christ. But the truest explanation seems to be that which admits the fuU validity of both methods, for here, un- Uke the partiaUy similar cases of Psalms xlv. and Ixxii., it is possible to accommodate each phrase to David or to Christ, according as we are looking at the type or the fulfilment. And in this very outset of the narrative an example is given of this fact, for the prophecies which foretold the mighty kingdom of David and his house were not the utterances of one seer, but of three, Samuel, Gad, and Nathan, Saints to j whom God spake in visions, while it is no less true of Christ, that " to Him give all the Prophets witness," a truth which ^^.j^ ^ ^3 He enforced when, on the way to Emmaus, " beginning at g ^^^^ Moses and all the prophets. He expounded unto them in all xxiv, 27, the Scriptures the things concerning Himself." / have laid help, that is, not only I have given help and strength to one Hugo Card. that is mighty, but I have laid on Him the office and duty s- Athana- of helping them that are weak, and of saving them out of ^'"^• the hand of the enemy. And as David was so helped that he might deliver Israel from Goliath first, and then, as King, from aU the enemies round about, and was therefore chosen out of the people, from his humble rank as a shepherd, and exalted to a throne ; so Christ, the Mighty One of God, mighty even in His weakness and humility, was chosen by the Father out of His people Israel, born of a poor woman, P- to fulfil the promise made to Abraham and his seed, and was exalted first upon the Cross, then in the Eesurrection, and finaUy in His Ascension. 31 I have found David my servant : with my holy oil have I anointed him. Found implies seeking, and it may be asked how the All- |- ^r™° seeing can need to look for anything as though ignorant of its whereabouts. They answer diversely, that the word de notes the care and providence of God in the matter, in that D. C. He knew fully what He desired to have, as a man does when he seeks eagerly after aught ; or again, that it signifies the Trevetus. approval vrith which God regarded His choice, as we say, " I have found something," when we light on an object of value in the midst of trifles of no worth. But the truest in- -^ terpretation sees here that same tender, seeking love which drew down the Good Shepherd to seek and find the sheep which had gone astray, a word which paints to us His dili gent care, without hinting that He did not know the precise spot where the wanderer lay. With My holy oil have I 124 A COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS. ] Sam. xvi. 13. 2 Sam. ii. 4: V. 3. Acts X. 38. Cocceius.Geuebrar- dus.Exod. xxx. 33. Aben Ezra. 1 Kings i. 39, R. Shelomo. Heb. vii. 14, L. Ay. anointed Him. And as the hteral David was thrice anointed king, once by Samuel in Jesse's house at Bethlehem, once at Hebron after the death of Saul, as king over Judah ; and again at seven years' end as ruler over all Israel : so also " God anointed Jesds of Nazareth vrith the Holt Ghost and with power" in His Nativity at Bethlehem; a second time over His Church at His Eesurrection, when the tyrant who sought His life was overcome, ajid then only over the small "confederation" (which Hebron m.ea,ns) of His Jewish disciples, but a third time in His Ascension to the heavenly Jerusalem, the Vision of Peace, where He, now crowned as King of Glory, was anointed over aU heaven and earth, su preme over the Princes of God. He was thrice anointed in another sense also, once as Prophet, once as Priest, and once as King. Observe, the unction is called by God My holy oil, by reason of the set directions given to Moses in the Law for its composition and.hallowing. But as this oil was strictly limited, under pain of utter destruction, to the consecration of Aaron and his descendants for the Priesthood, and there is no other oil which can be understood by these words, the Eabbins allege that by special revelation and permission Samuel and the other prophets were suffered to anoint David and his posterity therewith, but no other kings. That the fact was so is Iplain enough, for " Zadok the priest took an horn of oil out of the tabernacle, and anointed Solomon." Next, whereas kings had the unction applied in the form of a crown, priests received it in that of an X, or decussate cross. And in these two traditions we may see, first, the Priestly character foreshadowed which a King sprung out of .luda, and not of the tribe of Levi (as the Asmonaean princes were), should exercise; while we may note in the second place, that His earthly inauguration as Monarch was vrith a crown of thorns. His earthly consecration as a Priest with the bloodshedding on the Cross. 33 My hand shall hold him fast ; and my arm shall strengthen him. They take these words, when applied to our Lord, of the hypostatic union of the Eternal Word with the humanity of Christ Jesds, whereby it was impossible for Him, as man, to fall into any sin. And after pointing out how God's fa vour caused David' s one tribe to draw over to itself the eleven tribes which had ranged themselves under the banner of the house of Saul, albeit the chances seemed overwhelmingly against the weaker party ; they remark that the prophecy was not the less fulfilled in Christ because He was perse cuted to the death, because His whole intention of gathering and establishing His Church was amply fulfilled. And if we take the David of the Psalm, as we may well do, tropo- logically of any faithful soul, or of God's friends and people psalm LXXXIX. 135 in general, we shaU then see here the promise of help to all such through and from Christ, "for in that He Himself Heb. ii. is. hath suffered, being tempted, He is able to succour them that are tempted." And then the Carmelite goes on with a quaint minuteness of detail to tell us how He is fitly called the Hand of God, for the hand has five fingers, so He has five especial attri butes answering to the special qualities of each finger. He has power, denoted by the thumb, the strongest and most muscular of the digits. He is our guide, directing our judg ment, and pointing us the way, as the index, or forefinger, is used by men. By the middle finger, the longest of all, is typified His patience and long-suffering. The third finger is that on which rests the wedding-ring, unending, unbroken, the token of abiding love, that love which caused Him to lay down His life to save His enemies. And the little finger, shorter and weaker than the rest, betokens His humility and His suffering for us, when He stretched out His hands upon the Cross. 33 The enemy shall not be able to do him vio lence : the son of wickedness shall not hurt him. Historically, we may note that, on the one hand, David BeUarmine. never lost a battle, even to such a mere skirmish as that in which Asahel was slain ; and on the other, that the attempts made against his life or throne by single agents of evil, Goliath, Saul, Doeg, Ahithophel, Absalom, Sheba, all ended in failure, though in two cases he was driven into temporary exUe. This sense agrees with the address of Nathan to David when foretelling the reign of Solomon and the build- 2 Sam. vii. ing of the temple. But the force of the Hebrew seems more 9- fuUy brought out in the A. V., The enemy shall not exact upon him, that is, shall not deal with him as a creditor deals AgeiUus. with a defaulting debtor, reduce him to poverty, and bring ^' ''™'=Ji'- him into bondage. So runs that conditional promise to Is rael, " Thou shalt lend unto many nations, but shalt not bor- ]3g„t_ ^v. 6, row : and thou shalt reign over many nations, but they shall not reign over thee." Yet in the highest spiritual sense we cannot take the verse as true of David, in view of his terrible 0. fall in the matter of Bathsheba, and must needs turn to Christ in order to find its fulfilment. Accordingly, Origen, origen. explaining the first clause (vrith LXX. and Vulg.) The enemy shall get no help out of Him, comments, " We help our ene mies when we sin, and thus it is that Christ helped them in no respect. . . . For although they said. Come, let us kill Him, and have His inheritance to ourselves, yet this counsel was useless to Satan and the Jews, and their effort fell vainly to the ground, for the Saviour rose again the third day, and trampling upon death, spoiled hell." And whereas, by reason of our sins, the devil can prove some claims against each of 136 a commentary on the psalms. S. John xiv, 30. C. D.C. Hugo Card. S. Albertus Magnus. 2 Sam. vii. 10. S. Greg. Mag, Mor. xxviii. 28. S. Pet. Chrysolog.Serm. 12. Summa,ii.6. Q. 2, A. 5. 2 Sam. viii. Pseudo- Hieron. S, John xviii, 6, US, Christ alone, on the other hand, saith truly, " The prince of this world cometh, and hath nothing in Me." Where fore, neither Judas, nor the false witnesses before the San hedrim, nor the chief priests before Pilate, were able to bring any charge of guilt home to Him, but were forced to acknow ledge His innocence ; for " He did no sin, neither was guile found in His mouth." They lay stress, moreover, on the LXX. and Vulgate phrase here, " The son of vrickedness shaU not add to hurt Him," pointing out that David's enemies were often given one chance, so to speak, against him, and a temporary measure of success, as in the case of Absalom, but they could never repeat it. Applying this to Christ, they remind us that similarly an apparent victory was granted to His enemies against Him, in that they did succeed in compassing His death, but that His Eesurrection put Him finally out of the reach of harming. So, too, one reminds us seasonably, interpreting this Psalm of any righteous soul, that when any one has overcome the devil in a spiritual conflict, by resisting temptation to some particular sin, he thereby weakens the devil's power for all time as regards that special weapon, not only as regards himself, but as re gards others also. They wiU not be totaUy freed from aU trial and temptation thereby, but they will be encouraged, and the devil disheartened by the victories of the Saints, so that they cannot be fatally hurt without their own consent, as it is written, " I vrill appoint a place for My people Israel, and vrill plant them, that they may dweU in a place of their own, and move no more ; neither shaU the children of wick edness afflict them any more, as beforetime." Not that the malice of the enemy is lessened by such triumphs of the Saints, for it is rather increased, and his desire to overcome his conqueror is whetted; so that, as S. Thomas warns us, he will return again and again to the attack as long as he sees any remains of sin within us, yet that he grows feebler, and we stronger, after each repulse he suffers. 34 I will smite down his foes before his face : and plague them that hate him. This holds Uterally of David, especially where we read that " he smote Moab, and measured them vrith a Une, cast ing them down to the ground ; even with two lines measured he to put to death, and with one full line to keep alive." But it holds much more perfectly of David's Son, before Whose face His tempters so often retreated in confusion, baffled by His wisdom, as though driven away with swords, before Whom the soldiers in the garden on the night of be trayal, " went backward and feU to the ground," Who tri umphed over His spiritual enemies upon the Cross, and Whose terrible judgments feU upon the sinful nation that rejected Him, albeit He saved alive with one full line the PSALM LXXXIX. 137 Apostles and other disciples who believed on Him. These too 'Se smote down at first, as He did Saul of Tarsus, as He p does still vrith sinners whom He desires to bring to repent ance, to separate from their transgressions, and to put to flight from their former sinful life, that they may take re fuge with Him. 35 My truth and my mercy shall be with him : and in my Name shall his horn be exalted. This prophecy cannot be in its fulness taken of David, BeUarmine. albeit in a lower sense it is true of him also, but it is per fectly accompUshed in Christ, for the mercy which was with Him is that hypostatic union of the Godhead with the Man hood, which cannot be disjoined, while the truth is the fulfil ment of the promise to His Mother by the angel, " He shall s, Luke i. reign over the house of Jacob for ever ; and of His kingdom 33- there shaU be no end." Wherefore His horn was exalted in the Name of God, because His power is such that in His Name every knee must bow, of things in heaven, and things p^y jj j„ in the earth, and things under the earth. And this Name is the Name of God, for the glory of Jesds is as of the Only- begotten of the Father, so that He is worshipped by aU as the Son of that eternal Father, in Whose Name He comes, so that God the Father "hath highly exalted Him, and given Him a Name which is above every name," which would not be true if the Name of God were still above Himself. And observe, that as " aU the paths of the Lord are mercy A. and truth," so Christ is mercy and truth to us, by His par- pj. xxv, 9. doning grace, and His faithfulness to His word ; and we therefore, if we be desirous of showing our gratitude, and of being conformed to His likeness, are bound to give Him the same, by showing mercy to those in distress, by being true and just in aU our dealings, 26 I will set his dominion also in the sea : and his right hand in the floods. His dominion. It should be simply, his hand, (A. V., Vulg., &c.,) that is, the left hand, as distinguished from the right hand of the next clause. The prophecy was fulfilled so far as David is concerned, by his victories over the Philis- AgeUius. tines, four of whose five principal cities, namely, Ashdod, Ashkelon, Ekron, and Gaza, were actually on the coast of the Mediterranean sea, while his victory over Hadadezer, ^ g^^ ^jij king of Zobah, extended the Hebrew monarchy to the river 3. Euphrates on the other side. It is fitly said his right hand, because the eastern conquests were more conspicuous and extensive than the western, to which, accordingly, only the left hand is attributed. Mystically, they explain the salt A. stormy sea as the Gentile nations, or the world in general, bitter and turbulent, and the rivers as those persons who, 138 A COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS. S. Bruno Carth. S. Albertus Magnus. Eusebius.Haymo. Hugo Card. Philip de la Gr^ve, Serm. 189. Ay. Isa. Ixiii. l6. Jer. iii. 4, 19 Ecclus. xxiii. 1. B. S. John V. 18. S, Albertus Magnus. Hugo Card, E. greedy of the world's pleasures and gain, rush eagerly on in search of them, as the rivers pour into the sea. Another interpretation sees in the rivers, because of their powerful currents, a type of the kings and princes of the world, who require more forcible constraint than the multitude. On the other hand, a contrary explanation is suggested by the facts that the rivers are of sweet water, that they are not stormy like the sea, that they run in fixed and narrow chan nels, and that they admit of bridges being built over them for the passage of men ; whence they may be taken as types of the righteous and meek, to be set at God's right hand. But the Greek Fathers prefer to explain the river as the mystical Jordan, the type of Holy Baptism, where the right hand of Christ is placed, either because, as one wiU have it, only those regenerated in Baptism have the promise of being set on His right in the Judgment ; or, as a Latin expositor takes it, because His propitiatory and pardoning might, which is a higher and nobler attribute than His coercive and punitive authority, is exercised in the remission of sins. Not unlike this is that other view which finds in the sea and rivers types of secular and spiritual things, and reminds us that God gives us greater power of operation in the latter, in that we can achieve higher things therein. And thus a famous preacher teUs us that Eeligious, who have put themselves within the river banks of claustral obedience, in the sweet, calmly flowing life of the convent, keep their right hand there, not in the sea of worldly habits, and receive a special blessing from God. 37 He shall call me. Thou art my Father : my God, and my strong salvation. Here they bid us note the singular fact that David no where, in all the variety of epithets he applies to God throughout his portion of the Psalter, ever does caU Him Father, albeit the title occurs once or twice elsewhere in Holy Writ. But when we turn to the sayings of Christ, a remarkable difference at once strikes us. The name of Fa ther is given by Christ to the Almighty about one hundred and forty times, of which fifty-four have the emphatic word My prefixed, " Therefore the Jews sought the more to kiU Him, because He said also that God was His Father, mak ing Himself equal with God." This first part of the verse, then. He speaks according to His Deity ; but the latter part, according to His manhood, whereby He is inferior to the Father. My strong salvation. 'KoreliteraRj the Rock of my salvation, (A.V.) But LXX. and Vulgate, read the taker-up {avTi\-l)irTaip, susceptor) of My salvation. And that, they say, refers to those two takings-up of Christ by His Father' the Eesurrection and Ascension ; or else to the taking-up of human nature in His act of mercy unto salvation. PSALM LXXXIX. 139 38 And I will make him my first-born : higher than the kings of the earth. This type was, it is true, partly fulfiUed in David, in that he, the youngest of seven sons, was set over not only his brethren, but the whole of Israel, and in that he was victo rious over all the adjacent countries, " of Syria, and of Moab. 2 sam. vUi. and of the children of Ammon, and of the Philistines, and of 12, Amalek, and of the spoil of Hadadezer, son of Eehob, king of Ageiiius. Zobah." But the very fact that the promises here seemingly 2 Sam. vii. made to David only, are transferred to Solomon in the pro- '^' phecy of Nathan, teaches us to look further, to Him of Whom Ay. David the conqueror and Solomon the Wise were but types. Ma^us*"^ He is the first-hom of the Father in four ways. First, as BeUarmine. the Eternal Wisdom of God ; begotten and predestined be- eccIus. fore the worlds were made ; secondly, as the one only child Ep'h, i^ 4. of His Mother, and therefore caUed her " first-born Son ;" s. Matt, i, thirdly, because of the Eesurrection, whereby He is " the coioss i is first-born from the dead ;" fourthly, because He is " ap- Rev. i. 5. pointed Heir of aU things," " that He might be the first-bom Heb. i, 2. among many brethren," nay, " the first-born of every crea- jg""' """ ture." Col, i. 15. Higher than the kings of the earth. BeUarmine remarks BeUarmine. truly enough that even in the widest estimate of the power of David and Solomon, they could not rank in puissance with the Assyrian monarchs, albeit the petty kinglets around were tributary to them, " from the river even unto the land of the 2 chron, ix. Philistines, and the border of Egypt," and that we must 22, 26, therefore apply these words to Him only Who is " Prince of jj^^ j 5 . the kings of the earth," and Who "hath on His vesture and xix.'ie. on His thigh a Name written. King oe kings and Lord oe LORDS," before Whom the mightiest sovereigns now bow their heads, Whose Cross surmounts their royal crowns. A. Wherefore in the First Vespers of the Nativity, the Anti phon runs, " The Peaceful Eing is magnified, over aU the Breyv, Rom. Mngs of the whole earth." The word higher is noteworthy, ^*"^ ' for the Hebrew is ]^ V.!?, which, in all other places where BeUarmine. it stands alone, or is used of a person in Scripture, is applied Oesenius. to God only, and is usuaUy translated Most High in the A.V. And thus as He, being God, is Most Holy, as well as s. Bruno Most High, He is chief of aU those kin^s and priests, those ^^'^'^¦ saints who have conquered and ruled their own passions and have overcome the world, who exercise in the Church of God the double position of priesthood and authority committed to the first-bom under the patriarchal dispensation. 39 My mercy will I keep for him for evermore : and my covenant shall stand fast with him. ... S, Athana- The mercy of God was kept for Christ, that is, it was held sius. III. K 130 A COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS. Heb, viii. 13 vii, 19, A. S. Albertus Magnus. Galatinus. R. Akiba. S. Bruno Carth. A. S. Bona- ventura. Rom. xi. A. over until His coming, and was not given under the elder 7. dispensation, " for the Law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesds Christ." And because this mercy in the remission of sins is permanent, and cannot be set aside, it is added. My covenant. My new covenant, shall stand fast, in contradistinction to the old covenant, which decayed, waxed old, and vanished away, because " the Law made nothing perfect, but the bringing in of a better hope did." And it is for His sake that this new covenant does stand fast, for it was concluded through and in Him. He mediated it. He signed it. He is its surety, its witness. Himself the inherit ance bestowed by it, and therewith its co-heir. Others, less forcibly, take ^e faithful covenant to be the fulfilment of the prophetic promises in the person of Christ. 30 His seed also will I make to endure for ever : and his throne as the days of heaven. It was urged as an objection to the Messiahship of the Lord Jesus by some of the Jews, that He had no earthly progeny, and did not leave descendants, but the answer was easy, that according to high Eabbinical authority, the title of sons or seed is given to the disciples of a great teacher, as, for example, those of E. Hillel. And accordingly, the fa vourite explanation of this passage with Christian commen tators is that it denotes the perpetual duration of the Church. The seed of Christ are those who are like unto Him, and follow in His footsteps, who are His throne, inasmuch as they yield themselves to His sovereignty, who are as the days of heaven by reason of the brightness, clearness, warmth, and purity of their Hves. The throne of Christ, a saint tells us, is fourfold : the Church Militant, the Church Triumphant, the faithful soul, and the Blessed Virgin Mother. If we take the verse literally as referring to David, we shall come to the same result, as Christ was of his seed according to the flesh, and as the earthly Jewish throne disappeared with Jehoia chin or vrith Zedekiah, there is no other, save the Messiah, to whom the words may be fully said to refer. 31 But if his children forsake my law : and walk not in my judgments ; 33 If they break my statutes, and keep not my commandments : I will visit their offences with the rod, and their sin with scourges. Here they raise the question as to how the promises, the gifts and calling, of God can be without repentance, how they can be justly said to be firm and irrevocable, if they can be affected in this wise by the error, foUy, or sin, of so unstable a creature as man. And first, the Doctor of Grace most PSALM LXXXIX. 131 truly answers that God proves His Fatherhood, not abdi cates it, by the act of punishment. "For whom the Lord loveth. He chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom He ^*- ^"- ®- receiveth. If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as sons ; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not ?" Our fear should be not lest we should be scourged, but lest we should be disinherited. And God scourges, precisely that He may give us back the heritage we have forfeited. Next, they point out that God does not go back from His L. promises. What He undertakes to give, that He does give, as the Incarnation of Christ, promised to the sinners Adam and Ahaz, establishes. In this manner His fulfilment is ab solute. But the enjoyment and benefit to be derived from the thing promised and given is conditional. Thus the Uteral kingdom over Israel passed from the tribe of Judah to that of Levi, and the spiritual kingdom of the Church, after being first offered to the Jews, was handed over to the Gentiles. The refusal of the chosen people to accept the proffered mer cies did not cause withdrawal of them, but only a change in g. Matt. the recipients, as in the case of the marriage-supper of the xxii, a, g. king's son. Hence we gather that here we have set before p ns that lesson which is inculcated by so many parables, the mixture of good and bad Christians within the Church, and the double truth that the faU of a part does not involve the ruin of the whole ; but that even the fall itself is capable of recovery. There are four modes of transgression named AgeUius, here, against the law, the judgments, the statutes, and the commandments of GoD. Of these, the law is the generic term, including the others under it, or if taken specifically, it denotes the Decalogue ; the judgments have to do with the Hugo Card, decision of causes, the assignment of rights, and the meting out rewards and punishments ; the statutes are the negative or prohibitory rules, laying down certain acts as forbidden ; the commandments are the affirmative part of the code, en joining certain modes of conduct ; and of the third of these it is to be noticed that for break My statutes, the margin of A.V., rightly agreeing with the Vulgate, reads profane My statutes, whereby we learn the greater heinousness of sins of commission, especially such as involve irreverence in things sacred, than of any others. And the Carmelite hereupon j^j, justly points out that the sin of profanity, especially in the form of idolatry and foreign rites, was that especial one into which several of the descendants of David feU, notably So lomon himself, Ahaz, and Manasseh. There are two degrees Haymo. of punishment threatened, the rod, for the smaller and lighter offences, the scourges, for graver and more persistent sin. In the corresponding passage of the Book of Samuel, the warning runs thus, " If he commit iniquity, I will chasten ^ ^^^ ^^ him vrith the rod of men, and with the stripes of the children 14. of men," that is, with punishments such as earthly fathers cocceius, inflict upon their children, and not too severe for human nature 133 A COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS. Titeiman. Prov. xiii. 24. Ps, vii. 13, Ps, xxiii, 4. S. Albertus Magnus. to bear. And by the rod, in Holy Writ, fatherly correction is usuaUy signified ; whereas the punishment of a judge is with the sword. So, we read of the former, " He that spareth the rod hateth his son ;" of the latter, " If a man wUl not turn, He will whet His sword." Wherefore also He saith Rev. ii. 16. Himself, " Eepent, or else I will come to thee quickly, and will fight against thee with the sword of My mouth." But the rod and staff of the Lord comfort the wayfarer in the valley of the shadow of death, knowing that the chastise ment is given in love. He wUl take even the scourges pa tiently, because with them too God visits, as a firm but gentle surgeon who needs to use steel and cautery upon a patient for his healing, and instead of lamenting or resisting, I X, 12, the sick man vriU say, " Thou hast granted me Ufe and favour, and Thy visitation hath preserved my spirit." 33 Nevertheless, my loving-kindness will I not utterly take from him : nor suffer my truth to fail. 34 My covenant will I not break, nor alter the thing that is gone out of my lips : I have sworn once by my holiness, that I will not fail David. A. S. Augustine explains these verses in the manner already stated above, that the sin of man cannot make void the promise of God, since His purpose by predestination will stand, and be fulfilled in one, if not in another. It is also an encourage ment to hope and to repentance, if we once take in the thought that God's wiU to pardon never fails, and that our s. Chrysost. ^™''' ^^^ t° -^'^ mercy what a cobweb is to the storm, a spark " ~ ' to the ocean, sure to be swept away by the might of the one, to be quenched in the abyss of the other. They raise in this place the question as to the repentance and salvation of Solo mon, answering it, as do SS. Ambrose, Jerome, and Gregory, in the aflirmative ; alleging that he was punished by the re volt of the ten tribes from his Son, but pardoned himself, granted repentance, and deUvered from hell. And S. Jerome mentions a curious Hebrew legend to the effect that the penitent king, entering the Temple, put rods into the hands of certain men learned in the law, beseeching them to chastise him, but that they alleged that they dared not put out their hands against the Lord's anointed; whereupon he passed sentence upon himself, and abdicated the throne. Nor suffer My truth to fail. The Vulgate rendering, I will not hurt in My truth, has drawn from S. Augustine the comment that he who abides not by his promise does hurt, and that sorely, any one who depends on that promise ; and furthermore, „ that he who punishes according to the fuU rigour of justice, ^' hurts too. And another reminds us that although the ene mies of the Son were suffered to work their vriU upon Him, yet in the truth of the Father He was unhurt, inasmuch as Le Blanc. in Ps. 1 Hom. de Poen. Ay. S, Hieron. A. PSALM LXXXIX. 133 His glorious Passion wrought salvation for the world; while a third exposition, practically coinciding with the latter part of S. Augustine's gloss, sees here a promise of final salvation Hugo Card. in the day of Judgment, because God's scourges will heal, not injure us. My lips. This refers especially, they say, L. to the utterance of the Prophets, who are the lips where with God spake to His people. He vrill not alter the thing which they have spoken, for the Lord Himself saith, " Think not that I am come to destroy the Law, or the s. Matt, v. Prophets : I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil. For '7- verily I say unto you, TUl heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shaU in no wise pass from the Law, till all be ful- AgelUus. fiUed." I have sworn once. Some Hebrew expositors have interpreted this as meaning that God used the formula here given on this occasion only, a theory refuted by its appear ance in Amos iv. 2, for the true force of the word is to mark I^- the firmness and irrevocability of the Divine pledge. In My Tars"™' holiness, that is, as they variously explain it, by My holy Name ; or by My holy place, whether heaven (as it is writ ten, " For I Uft up My hand to heaven, and say, I live for Deut. xxxii. ever,") or the Holy of hoUes in the temple ; or in My secret ^°" -n counsel ; or, finaUy, by My Holy One, that is, Christ Him- p' self, which agrees with that other saying, " 'The Lord hath -^^^^ i^jj g sworn by His right hand, and by the arm of His strength." I will not fail David. The A.V. more exactly, with the ancient versions, I will not lie unto David. Therefore it is said, I have sworn on^e. How often, asks S. Augustine, A. would God have to swear, if He had once lied in swearing ? He uttered one oath on behaU of our Ufe, when He sent His Only Son to death for us. 35 His seed shall endure for ever : and his seat is like as the sun before me. 36 He shall stand fast for evermore as the moon : and as the faithful witness in heaven. Here, as in the thirtieth verse, we have the assertion of Christ's eternity, and the promise of the indefectibUity of the Church. So we read in Jeremiah, who thus gives us the literal sense : " Thus saith the Lord, If ye can break My ^^^ covenant of the day, and My covenant of the night, and that 20! there should not be day and night in their season ; then may also My covenant be broken with David My servant, that he should not have a son to reign upon his throne." And simi larly a heathen poet, writing of the dynasty founded by Ves pasian : Manebit altum Plavise deous gentis Enig.'ix. 1. Cum sole et astris, oumque luce Eomana, Invicta quicquid condidit manus, ooelum est. Jer. xxxiii. 134 A COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS. Targum, Bellarmine, A. S. Matt, xui, 43. Cocceius, A. C. Ay. Galatinus. Ay. Cant. vi. 10 S. Cosmas. Canon for Christmas Day.Hugo Card, The Flavian race shall last in high renown, With sun and stars, and light that shines on Rome, That which a conqueror's hand has raised, is heaven. His seat is like as the sun. That is, as the Chaldee will have it, radiant and glorious as the sun, or else, as other ex positors take it, enduring as the sun, a phrase equivalent to the "days of heaven" in the earlier passage. And taking the seat or throne (LXX., Vulg.) to mean the Church in which He dwells, we shall note its continuous visibility, and its office of enlightening the world, as both signified hereby. Or if we take the seat to be the righteous soul, wherein Christ reigns, we then have His own saying to confirm this one, for He tell us that when He hath ended the judgment, " then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the king dom of their Father," As the moon. The Eabbinical in terpretation of this clause is, that it declares how the house of David should be treated if it fell away from God. Even then it would not be cast off, but would remain as the moon in comparison with the sun, feebler in light and warmth, and suffering decrease almost to extinction, but, nevertheless, re turning in due time to the full. S, Augustine, dwelling on the same qualities of the moon, interprets them of our mortal flesh, which here passes through many phases, but will be a perfect moon (Vulg.) in the Eesurrection, no longer subject to any change. So too the moon may fitly be the Church Mili tant here on earth, waxing and waning, and deriving all her light from the Sun of Eighteousness. A curious Eabbinical gloss is, that as the sun and moon were created on the fourth day, so they foretold the perpetual kingdom of Messiah, sprung from Judah, the fourth of Jacob's sons. Another commentator, accepting the sun and moon as types of the souls and bodies of the elect, points out four attributes of the sun which correspond to faculties of the soul in bliss ; to wit, brightness ; swiftness, in that its rays pass instantaneously from east to west ; subtUty, in that it penetrates glass vrith- out leaving any trace of its passage ; and impassibility, be cause it is not defiled by being brought in contact with any substance that stains. If true of any holy soul, the words must hold good especially of that undefiled one of whom we read, " Who is she that looketh forth as the morning, fair as the moon, clear as the sun, terrible as an army with banners ?" whom the Holy Eastern Church styles the " throne of Che rubim." This is the great throne of ivory overlaid with gold, which our Solomon made for Himself ; ivory, by reason of her pureness ; great, because of her humility; a throne, be cause of her fruitfuLaess, Ligna, sedile, manus, ebur, aurum, brachia, scamnum, Argentum, leo, Eex, purpura, prsevia, gradus. Wood, seat, hands, ivory, gold, with arms, a stool, Silver, King, lion, purple, platform, steps. PSALM LXXXIX. 135 That is, firm and incorruptible as the cedars, her charity is the seat which admits repose ; the hands, on which the arms rest, her works of lowliness and devotion ; the ivory, her purity: the gold, her vrisdom ; the arms, reminding us of those infant arms so often clasped about her, the embracing tenderness of her nature ; the footstool, earthly riches and wisdom which she trod under foot ; silver, her tuneful and pure speech ; the fourteen lions of the throne, her virtues and gifts (or, as we might rather take them, her seven joyful and seven sorrowful mysteries) : the King, that only One Who lay in her bosom, (" the Prince, He shall sit in it ;") the Ezek. xiiv. purple, her martyrdom of soul at the Cross ; the platform, 3. her uplifted perfection, raising her above the level of the earth ; the steps, the six grades of holy veneration : namely, reverence, devotion, salutation, good words, obedience, and active compliance. As a faithful witness in heaven. The word as does not k. Kimchi. occur in the Hebrew, and some doubt has thus arisen as to the precise meaning of the clause. A very common inter pretation is, that the parallelism requires us to understand the moon to be the vritness meant, as it is the arbiter of sea sons and festivals ; but another, which has met with many supporters, interprets the passage of the rainbow, that witness Genebrar- of God's covenant with Noah ; the like of which is round dus. about the throne, and upon the head of the mighty Angel of ^^^' '^' ^ ' the Covenant. But the best explanation of all and that most foUowed by the early commentators, taking the clause. There is a faithful witness in heaven, sees in the faithful witness Christ our God Himself. So holy Job speaks, " Behold, job xvi, 19. my witness is in heaven ;" and the Lord saith by Jeremiah, " I know, and am a witness, saith the Lord ;" and further, j^^^ .^^1^ the epithet is twice directly appUed to Christ in the Apoca- 23. ' lypse, wherein He is styled the "faithful and true witness." Rev. i. s; He then, of Whom Isaiah said in old time, " Behold, I have "'• ^*j given Him as a Witness to the people ;" Who saith of Him- j^^ ^'^ self; "For this cause came I into the world, that I should s.iohii bear witness unto the truth," is rightly compared to sun and xviii, 37. moon. Which rule the day and night, for whereas each of Cd. these luminaries is hid for a time, and does as it were shut its eyes to the world, " He that keepeth Israel shall neither Ps. cxxi. 4, slumber nor sleep," but beholds all things at aU times alike s, August. clearly, and therefore wiU know all things, needing not other ^f ^gj' ^^^' witness, when He sits in judgment. 37 But thou hast abhorred and forsaken thine Anointed : and art displeased at him. Here the whole tone of the Psalm changes, and instead of looking on the glorious picture of stable prosperity, we hear the lament for the overthrow of all the splendours of the ._ Hebrew polity, the total eclipse of its brUliant day.. And ¦**¦ 136 A COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS. Theodoret, A. S. Ambros. in Ps. xliv, S. August. de Civ. Dei, -xvii. 10. A. S. Ambros. in Ps. xUv. Vit, Zutco- lius, Hom. 6 in Marc, Theodoret, A. E. whether we take this lament as referring especially to Ab salom's successful rebelUon, to Solomon's owh faU, to the revolt under his son, to the Babylonish captivity, or to the yet more disastrous ruin of the second Temple, bringing with it the disappearance of the Aaronic worship as well as that of the Davidic throne, we see in each and aU the work ing out of a divine and providential purpose. For had there been no such reversal experienced, the spiritual growth of the Messianic idea would have been checked in its very bud, and men would have looked to the peaceful splendour of Solomon's reign as fulfiUing aU the promises of a King and Deliverer, and would thus have never risen out of this ma terial notion into the higher spiritual truth. Thou hast for saken Thine Anointed. It is the cry, they teU us, first of the exUed Jews, seeing the captivity of their two last kings, discrowned and imprisoned. And thus, having regard to the Vulgate reading distulisti, which is Thou hast put off, S. Augustine explains it of God's continued delay in sending the Messiah to deliver His people ; but S. Ambrose more truly expounds the passage as the words of Christ Himself, declaring what He has endured, the shame and reproach and suffering of the Cross, and the mysterious abandonment thereon, for the ransom of mankind. A curious view which has been suggested is that the speaker in this verse is God Himself, accusing the Synagogue of its rejection of its King. But the more usual interpretation is sounder, and must be u)iderstood, as a Greek Father points out, not of complaint against God's will, far less as any charge of unfaithfulness, but as a prayer for mercy and restoration. 38 Thou hast broken the covenant of thy servant : and cast his crown to the ground. This verse may be taken in any of three meanings. The covenant may here imply the entire Old Testament pohty, in which case the servant is the Jewish nation, and the crovm, its spiritual pre-eminence, a view which gains consistency amongst the Fathers from their general explanation of the word ~Jj (ayiaajia, scmctuarium) as the sanctuary or temple instead of the royal diadem, as S. Jerome rightly translates it. The fuller rendering of the A.V., nearly identical, save for this one word, with the Vulgate, strengthens the notion, by saying, Thou hast profaned his crown, as the verb fits in so well with the notion of defiling a shrine. The second view makes the reference more personal, and confines it to the non-fulfilment of the pledge given to David and his house, as proved by the dethronement of his family. And the third, which is also the f uUest, sees here the rejection of Christ, and the apparent annulling of the promise spoken by Gabriel to the Blessed Virgin at Nazareth, whereby her PSALM LXXXIX. 137 Son was promised perpetual sovereignty over the house of s. miie i. Jacob. What then was this crown of his which was so cast 33. to the ground ? One teUs us that it is the Sacred Humanity cassiod, in which He took of His dear Mother, wearing which He con- cant. iii. u, quered and destroyed the empire of death, though it was cast to the ground indeed in the Agony, in the naUing to the Eood, in the laying in the tomb. And another takes the verse as referring less to Christ Himself, than to His Body the carth™° Church, and vriU have us see in this place the sufferings of isa, ixii. 3. the Martyrs, the crown of glory, the royal diadem, which s, Ambros. He, their King, wears upon His Brow. '" ^^' "'^^" 39 Thou hast overthrown all his hedges : and broken down his strong holds. 40 All they that go by spoil him : and he is be come a reproach to his neighbours. Here comes in the metaphor of the vineyard of Israel, whereof Isaiah says, " I wiU take away the hedge thereof, isa, v. 5. and it shall be eaten up ; and break down the wall thereof, and it shaU be trodden down." And this hedge may weU 2. be explained of the Mosaic Law, with aU its minute and thorny provisions for separating the Jevrish people from the heathen nations around ; although several take it to mean s, Albertus UteraUy the battlements and walls of the lesser cities of Magnus. Palestine ; attributing the latter clause of the verse to the fortifications of Jerusalem alone, or even to the citadel of Oddo Ast. Sion. The LXX. and Vulgate read the last half of the verse, Thou hast made his strong place a terror. That is, as they -q^ variously explain it, brought terror and dismay amongst the jj' defenders of the last fortresses, so as to lead to their sur render, or else put the stronghold itself into the possession of the enemy, so as to turn it into a means of overavring the native population. Spoken of Christ, we may take the words either of the breaking down in the popular mind of that " divinity which doth hedge a king," so that the rever ence m which He was held for a time gave way before the slander of the Chief Priests ; or again, that the multitude of ¦'-'• His disciples who once compassed Him about, forsook Him Haymo. and fled, and that even His strong one, the bold and zealous Peter, was fiUed vrith terror and failed Him in His need. The whole passage, as weU as the next verse, applies more strictly to the people than to the king, and deals with him as their representative ; whence the transition is easy to the sufferings of the Church in times of persecution, when the Hugo Card. prelates, who are the hedge of her solemn usages, and her great teachers, her surest strongholds, fall away or are out phuip de la off. For the faithful soul, the hedge, rough with thorns, is ^'¦^™' penitence, a fence through which Satan cannot force his way, "™" ^ ' nor yet the aUurements of the senses ; but where there is no 138 A COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS. S. Bruno Carth, Honorius. S. MaU. xxvii. 39. BeUarmine. such hedge, entrance is easy ; and all the passers h and strip the vines bare of their grapes. They thai go by. That is, as they tell us, aU transgressors, aU who pass over the fixed boundaries of the moral law, or those who pass by and neglect Him Who is the Way, Who was seized and bound in the garden, stripped of His raiment, crucified, and reviled by all them " that passed by." Literally the words teU us of the weakness and contempt into which the Jews had sunk, when every petty tribe around was able to instdt, plunder, and wrong them with impunity after their power had been broken by the resistless force of Babylon. The lion had made them his prey first, and then they became a " portion for foxes," scattered abroad in many a land, and a reproach to their neighbours. Of Christ it was true that He was stripped in His Passion, and that He was made a reproach, not only by His citizens, who would not have Him to reign over them, but by His neighbours, the foreign tyrant Herod, and the Eoman soldiers, who mocked and insulted Him, Nay, more, even after His Ascension, the prophecy held good, for the preaching of the Cross, which was to the 1 Cor, i. 23, Jews a stumbling-block, was to the Greeks fooUshness, and therefore received with jeers and derision. And, moreover, the soul which has given way to the enemy, and suffered spoiling when its hedge is broken down, is made the subject of more bitter reproach for its fall, when once it has yielded, than it was before, for refusing to yield in guilty compliance with sinners. Ay. P. L. AgeUius . E. Ay. 2 Kings xxv, 4. Arnobius, Haymo,Heb, iv. 12. 41 ThoU hast set up the right hand of his enemies : and made all his adversaries to rejoice. 43 Thou hast taken away the edge of his sword-: and givest him not victory in the battle. The Psalmist proceeds to dweU on the increasing severity of God's judgments, in that He not merely vrithdraws His aid from His Anointed, leaving him thus weak and unde fended, but joins the side of his enemies. And the commen tators bid us note the contrast here exhibited to the suc cesses of the scanty forces of Gideon, or of the Maccabees, against enormous odds, whereas under Zedekiah "all the men of war fled by night." In dwelling on the power given to Christ's enemies against Him in the Passion, and their rejoicing over His death, they remind us not only how Peter was forced to return his sword into its sheath, but that the help of the Eternal Word of God, that sharp and " two- edged sword," was taken from the Manhood of the Eedeemer, so that He had no comfort or support therefrom, nor any aid from those legions of Angels whom the Father could have sent Him. We are reminded, too, when the interpretation is transferred to the sufferings of His mystical Body, how. PSALM LXXXIX. 139 in literal fact, the heathen persecutors used to rejoice, and make festival of the torture and passions of the Martyrs ; whUe Cardinal Hugo, who explains these and the previous Hugo Card. verses of scandals in the Church of a later day, whereby it is stripped and plundered, and its discipline broken down by its own evil ministers, so as to make it a reproach to heretics, schismatics, and even to possible converts, declares that an evU prelate, sent as a chastisement to the Church, is the very right hand of her enemies, and his promotion a subject of hearty rejoicing to them, because he bears in vain the sword of temporal and spiritual authority. And another, not dis- s. Albertus similarly, warns preachers that their gift of sacred eloquence, Magnus. albeit the sword of the Word, is of no avail to themselves in the battle of personal temptations, if they venture to dis pense themselves from self-denial and prayer, not bearing in mind that saying of the Apostle : " I keep under my body, i cor, ix. 27. and bring it into subjection : lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway." 43 Thou hast put out his glory : and cast his throne down to the ground. His glory. That is, as Cardinal BeUarmine rightly ex- r. Kimchi. plains the passage, albeit following the unlike Vulgate read- BeUarmine. ing, all the pomp and splendour of royal attire and sur- ^* t"^' roundings, the external tokens of dignity, as weU as the substantial enjoyment of power, denoted by the throne of the latter clause. Apphed to the nation, rather than to the king, the words wiU denote the stately ritual of the Temple, Targum, which was made to cease (A.V.) first for seventy years, and then for ever. The LXX. and Vulgate read. Thou hast loosed (LXX., destroyed Yn\g.)from purification, partly misappre hending the meaning of the last word, and this has given rise to various comments. One practically agrees with that just cited, and takes the phrase of the fall of the Temple, ^_._ because seeing in purification {KaBapKr/xod, emundatione) a J) Q reference to the ceremonial washings and lustrations of the Law; whUe S. Augustine wQl have it that it means the . spiritual rejection of the Jews, who could not, because they woiUd not, be cleansed from their sins by faith ; and there- C. fore they were punished by their throne, their Holy City, and the whole land which they inhabited, being overwhelmed in total ruin. Spoken of the Church in times of laxity, we note that God's Haymo. punishments at times harden instead of purifying sinners, and overthrow that throne in their hearts on which Christ should reign. So exclaims the Prophet : " O Lord, are not Thine jer. v. 3. eyes upon the truth ? Thou hast stricken them, but they have not grieved ; Thou hast consumed them, but they have refused to receive correction : they have made their faces 140 A COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS. S. Bruno Carth. Honorius. Pseudo-Hi eron. Isa. Ixiii. 3. harder than a rock; they have refused to return." While in days of fervour and zeal, the Martyrs are slain either because of their very purity, or because slanderous tales of their crimes have been spread abroad in order to make public morality an excuse for persecution, so that the bodies of those Saints who are Christ's throne are tortured, slain, and cast to the ground. And in that awful time of the Pas sion, when the divine glory of the Lord was most of aU hidden in His supreme humiliation, when not only the throne offered Him on Palm Sunday was dashed down by the choice of Csesar as king and Barabbas as leader, but that surer one in the hearts of His chosen disciples seemed shaken to its very foundations ; then He was destroyed from purification so far as His enemies could effect it, by being numbered with transgressors and felons, and by Himself too, because, aU-pure as He was. He took upon Him our sins, and was iri a sense defiled thereby, according to His own saying by His Prophet, " Their blood shall be sprinkled upon My garments, and I will stain all My raiment." 44 The days of his youth hast thou shortened : and covered him with dishonour. AgeUius. 2 Chron. xxxvi, 2. 2 Kings Alcuin. Ay. Theodoret, c. Eusebius. S. Cyril. Alex.S. August. de Civ. Dei, xvii, 9. S. Bruno Carth. It is obvious that these words cannot be taken UteraUy either of David or of Solomon, each of whom died in full age, after a reign of forty years. But they may apply ex actly enough either to the very brief reigns of the later kings of the house of David, especiaUy Jehoahaz, who occupied the throne for only three months in the twenty-third year of his age, and Jehoiachin, who was deposed when but eighteen, after the same brief possession of the crown, while even the two remaining sovereigns, Jehoiakim and Zedekiah, were deprived in the prime of their life. Or else the words may point to the entire duration of the dynasty, so much briefer than was to be looked for from the terms of the divine promise, inasmuch as the national life of the Jews was violently interrupted before it reached maturity. And the phrase covered him with dishonour will apply not only to the whole nation, but especially to the disgrace and imprison ment of three of the last monarchs at the hands of Pharaoh- Necho and Nebuchadnezzar, as also to the still more fatal overthrow of the Jewish poUty by Vespasian and Titus. But the obvious application to the Lord Jesds, cut off in the flower of His days, and that amidst every mark of shame and insult, has not been neglected by the Fathers. Further, it is explained of the sufferings of the Church, and of the martyrdom and sudden deaths of her noblest and most de vout children, while those were spared who were neither eminent nor useful, whose evil living covered their Mother with confusion. PSALM LXXXIX. 141 45 Lord, how long wilt thou hide thyself, for ever : and shall thy wrath burn like fire ? Here the Psalmist, after pouring out his lamentations, BeUarmine. betakes himself to prayer, and implores God to send the DeUverer. And the words not only befit the Jews in their first prostration of the Babylonian captivity, but even after their return and the rebuilding of the Temple, for that event did nothing for the restoration of the Davidic throne ; rather cocceius. in truth, the sacerdotal kingdom of the Maccabees was an additional obstacle to the replacement of the old dynasty. God is said here to hide Himself ; not that He does change towards us, for vrith Him there is "no shadow of turning," s, James i. but that He suffers us to avert ourselves from Him, so that ''' the Ught of His countenance no longer shines on us. And Aj. He is then compared to a monarch who, after condemning AgeUius. a criminal, shuts himself up, lest any one should approach him with a petition for pardon. For ever ? The LXX. and Vulgate, as usual, translate this unto the end, whereon the commentators observe that the question is whether God will jj^'tt continue to hide His face from the Jevrish people till the Magnus. consummation of aU things. And they answer. No ; because the Apostle saith, " Blindness in part is happened to Israel, "<'">•''»¦ 25. untU the fulness of the Gentiles be come in, and so aU Israel shall be saved." How long then shall His wrath burn like fire ? So long, exactly, as there is any fuel of sin for the Ay. fire to feed upon. And observe that God's wrath is com pared to fire, by reason of four properties, according to the various substances on which fire acts. Fire reduces some to ashes, like wood, which is the manner in which obstinate sin ners are dealt vrith by God. It softens others, hke lead, which represents the moving to repentance and tears. Others, again, as gold, it purges from dross, denoting change and perfection through suffering. And finally it hardens earth enware, that is, the flame of divine love gives strength and fortitude to what was before weak and yielding, as in the case of the Martyrs. The verse may be taken also as the opening P. part of a prayer, either of Christ Himself, or of His Body the Church, preceding His Eesurrection after the terrible woes of the Passion; and finaUy, as the petition of a penitent Hugo Card. soul seeking reconciliation and peace vrith God. 46 O remember how short my time is : wherefore hast thou made all men for nought? Seeing, he would say, how soon my Ufe shaU end, and that AgeUius. I cannot look forward to a prolonged existence, let me, whilst I still Uve, see that which Thou hast promised, and behold Thy salvation, the Eedeeming King of the seed of David. It cannot be that Thou hast made man, with aU his pas- BeUarmine. sionate yearnings after beauty, Ufe, and holiness, for the 143 A COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS. c. Arnobius. S. Ambros. de Fide, 3. L. S. August, cont, Jul. 3 The Hymn, Christe, re- demptorgentium. s. isid. His- mere nought of this world, full of sorrows and trouble, grief pal. Sentent. and sin. Send us therefore One who may be our guide to '• '"¦ a happier dwelUng, our teacher for higher things ; send us Christ the Lord. The Vulgate, instead of how short my time is, reads what my substance is, and some of the com mentators explain it in a manner practically the same. Be cause my nature is weak and sinful, because Thou wUt not wantonly destroy Thine own creature, send the DeUverer. But another interpretation, making the words the address of Christ to the Father, takes them as His appeal on behalf of mankind because He is their Brother, their own flesh and blood, and at the same time He Who has fuU right to ask what He wUl, because He is also Consubstantial vrith the Father Himself. And then they may be used of our own prayer to God, reminding Him that we are made in His image, and therefore have a special claim on His mercy, while we caU on the Son in the words of the old hymn for Christmas : Salvation's Author, call to mind. Thou took'st the form of humankind. When of the Virgin undefiled Thou, in man's flesh, becam'st a Child. 47 What man is he that liveth, and shall not see death : and shall he deliver his soul from the hand of hell? Ageiiius. This is the cry of the previous verse put in another form. Not only I, the Psalmist would say, have no hope of seeing the Deliverer unless Thou hasten His coming, but there is no man whose expectation in the matter can be any surer than mine. All are frail and short-lived, wherefore, unless Thy mercy be speedy, all will pass away without beholding the desire of their eyes. They answer the question by saying that no man ever Uved who did not or else will not see death, including even Christ Himself; and the constant tradition of the Church is that ^' Enoch and Elijah, beUeved to Uve still, will reappear and die in the days of Antichrist. But while all ransomed souls vrill Uve again in the Eesurrection, and see death no more, of none can it be said, save of Christ, that they deUvered Hugo Card, their own souls from the hand of hell. He raised up Hita- self by His own divine and inherent power ; all His Saints are raised by Him too, by His sustaining grace, and not by any strength or holiness of their own. And therefore He only can say, " I will ransom them from the power of the grave ; I will redeem them from death : O death, I will be thy plagues ; O grave, I wUl be thy destruction." 48 Lord, where are thy old loving-kindnesses : which thou swarest unto David in thy truth ? A. D.C. Hosea xiii. 14. PSALM LXXXIX. 143 He calls them old, not merely because they dated from the r< beginning of David's reign, but because they were but the repetition of promises made to the Patriarchs ; and they ^^^ '"" were old even in their time, because established by God's § Athana- predestination before the beginning of the world, in His sius, truth, that is, in His Only-begotten Son. Hugo Card. 49 Remember, Lord, the rebuke that thy servants have : and how I do bear in my bosom the rebukes of many people j 50 Wherewith thine enemies have blasphemed thee ; and slandered the footsteps of thine Anointed : The most usual interpretation of the former of these verses Targum, is in agreement with the Prayer Book rendering ; that the people of God were a mock for aU the heathen round about ; whether we take the said people as the Jews, in opposition to Gentiles, Christians as contrasted with Pagans, or holy persons in distinction from the worldly and frivolous. These A. rebukes the whole chosen nation, or the Anointed as its re presentative, bears in the bosom, feeling its wound deeply, but giving no outward token of pain by complaint. But the LXX. and Vulgate are nearer to the original in their reading, for they do not attempt to fill in the elUpse (if it be such) of the second clause : and they read, which I have borne in my bosom, of many peoples. The literal Hebrew is, I have borne in my bosom all my peoples. And this phrase, to " bear in jsa. xl, ii - the bosom," imphes elsewhere fostering tenderness, as of a xUx. 22. mother, not secret repression, as it must do here if we repeat C, the word rebuke. A different rendering, somewhat more satisfactory, makes the many people the same as the servants, but although this is truer to the spiritual meaning of the passage, it yet overlooks the contrast obviously intended between the one nation which serves God and the many na tions which do not. Hence, a modern critic has suggested that the words may fairly be taken as a complaint of the Jewish nation at the intrusion of a number of foreign in- Delitzsch, vaders, settling on the sacred soU of the Holy Land, whom she was thus forced to bear in her bosom. But this again loses sight of the loving sense of that phrase. The truest meaning, that which at once seems to agree most fully with the Hebrew text and vrith the mystical purport, is discover able by comparing another passage : " Aiid Moses said unto „ . . the Lord . . Have I conceived all this people, that Thou 12, u.' shoiUdest say unto me. Carry them in thy bosom, as a nursing father beareth the sucking child ? ... I am not able to bear aU this people alone, because it is too heavy for me." And this sense, that the Good Shepherd, the King of the House of David, alone can carry all nations in His bosom, is half -r, guessed at by one mediseval expositor, who points out that ^' 144 A COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS. Isa. xiii. 1 S. John vii. 35. Targum R. Kimchi, 2 S. Pet, iii. 3. Gen. in, 15, A. Bellarmine. A. C. Haymo. Ay. S. Albertus Magnus, therehuke, the special charge of the Jews against the Anointed One and His servants the Apostles, was precisely that He did not confine His teaching and the divine promises to the children of Israel alone, but that in His embracing love He bore in His bosom all the peoples, the whole multitude of the Gentiles, converting them to the Faith, and co-opting them into the commonwealth of the true Israel. With this rebuke they slandered the footsteps of the Anointed, because He bent His way to " bring forth judgment to the GentUes." And so we read that the Pharisees and chief priests, when they sent officers to take Him, said, as the worst calumny they could frame against Him, " Will He go to the dispersed among the Gentiles, and teach the Gentiles ?" But the Eab binical comment on the verse is different, and very ingenious. It is that the GentUes rebuke the footsteps of Messiah, be cause of His delay ; that is, they mock and jeer at the He brews for looking for the coming of a DeUverer who is so tardy that there is little reason to suppose that He vrill ever appear. And the same interpretation applies to those unbe lievers now who reject the doctrine of Christ's second Ad vent, as the Apostle teaches us : " There shall come ¦ in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, and saying, Where is the promise of His coming ? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the begin ning of the creation." Yet another way of slandering Christ's footsteps is to point to the continued existence of evil in the world since His coming, and that even amongst Christians, as disproving the prophecy that His feet should bruise the serpent's head ; and it is thus that very bruising of His heel which is foretold in the same place. But the LXX. and Vulgate, instead of the footsteps, read the changing of Thine Anointed. And for the most part they explain this to mean the passage of Christ from hfe to death, the fatal change which thereby, as the Jews thought, came upon the fortunes of the new teaching, so that they reproached the disciples for worshipping a dead man, just as the Assyrian conquerors mocked at the changed prospects of the Davidic kings, after the overthrow of their realm. Yet that change which Christ's enemies mocked at was widely different from what they supposed ; for He was changed from tem poral to everlasting life, from Jews to Gentiles, from earth to heaven ; and thereby He changed the old man by calling him into the new grace of regeneration, and out of the dark ness of sin into the hght of faith, from mortality to immor taUty. And this change of Ufe, wrought by repentance through grace, inducing men to abandon pleasure and accept hardship, to care little for Ufe, and to welcome death, is pre cisely the thing most jeered at and reviled by unbelievers. S. Albert counts up for us the principal changes of Christ ; namely, the Incarnation, whereby the Creator became a crea ture ; the Transfiguration, which glorified His humUity ; the PSALM LXXXIX. 145 Holy Eucharist, wherein He changes bread and wine into His Flesh and Blood (the chief of aU reproaches levelled at the Catholic Faith) ; the Passion wherein He was changed into the paUor of death ; the Eesurrection, which brought Him back to life. Yet, again, change may be taken in the -r sense of price, or equivalent, a meaning often borne by the LXX. a.vid\Kayji.a, and the force of the phrase wUl then be the ridicule leveUed against the Jews by idolaters, for the poor thanks their God gave them for serving Him ; a re- AgeUius. proach stUl cast by unbelievers on the doctrine of our ransom through the Blood of Christ. Some commentators, how- pseudo- ever, give an explanation which brings us back to the truest Hieron. sense, telUng us that the wrath of the Jews was mainly ex- Honorius. cited by those words of the Lord, " Behold your house is s. Luke xiii. left unto you desolate," whereby He implied what was said 35. later in express terms by His Apostles, " It was necessary j^^^-g ^iii. 46 that the Word of God should first have been spoken to you ; but seeing ye put it from you, and judge yourselves unworthy of everlastmg Ufe, lo, we turn to the GentUes." Praised be the Lord for evermore. Amen, and Amen. With this doxology ends the Third Book of the Psalter, jj Kimchi. just as a simUar one closed the First Book at the end of ^y. Psalm xU., and the Second at the end of Psalm IxxU,, and it is De Muis. supposed by many writers to belong to the book collectively, and not to be an integral part of this particular Psalm. It ^ reminds us, observes S. Augustine, that the power of injury exercised by the adversary against the Anointed of the Lord is fleeting, but the power and goodness of the Lord is ever lasting. It teaches us also that our own sorrows and troubles are no reason for omitting the praises of God, but rather a ^ggnj^s reason for doubling them, as is here done by the forcible repetition of Amen, wherewith we welcome our returning Lord, as He comes victorious from the battle, with recovered pseudo- orown and firmly established throne. Praised be the Lord Hieron, Jesds by His twofold Church of Jew and Gentile, Amen, Qa^h""" Amen ; with the double service of soul and body. Amen, Hugo'card, Amen ; by all His saints in the hour of grace and in the ^"S"™- time of glory, in this world and the world to come. Amen, ^"'j^^' Amen. And therefore : Glory be to the Father, the Lord God of Hosts ; glory be to the Son, His First-born and Anointed, higher than the kings of the earth; glory be to the Holt Ghost, the Light of the Countenance of God and the holy oU of His elect. As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be : world without end. Amen. III. L 146 a COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS. Collects. Ludoiph, DeUver our souls, O Lord, from the hand of heU ; Who for us didst mightily break heU to pieces, that we, singing Thy mercies, may be deUvered from the shame of our sins and from everlasting death. (1.) Mozarabic, Christ Jesd, Wondrous Son of God, unto Whom there is none equal nor like among the sons of God ; unto Thee, O Lord, we direct our prayer, that Thou mayest vouchsafe to bestow on penitents that mercy which Thou hast promised to keep for the saints ; and we therefore beseech Thee to correct us with forbearing discipline, not taking away Thy mercy in Thy wrath, that Thy covenant may not be profaned by reason of the offence we have committed, but Thy chas tisement may be assuaged with heavenly pity, and Thou mayest wash away aU that displeaseth 'Thee. And Thou, Who justifiest and glorifiest sinners who return to Thee, and Who didst will that we should be, out of nothing, what we are, grant us to be fitted for the kingdom of heaven and to dweU with Thee for evermore. (11.) D. C. O God, the glory of the strength of the saints, grant us ever to walk in the Ught of Thy countenance, and to rejoice in Thy Name, that Thy mercy may ever go before our face, and we, when we have run the race of righteousness to the end, may be enabled to attain unto Thee. (1.) PSALM XC. Title, A Prayer of Moses, the man of God. Chaldee Targum : A Prayer wherewith Moses the Prophet of G-OD prayed when the people, the house of Israel, sinned in the wilderness ; he spoke and said thus : Aroument. Aro, Thomas. That Christ, become the refuge of the people, satisfies us early with His mercy. The Voice of the Apostles to the Father. The Apostolic Voice to the Lord. Here the Prophet showeth that man can hope little from this life. Ven. Bede. There can he no doubt that such names are at tached to the titles as serve to clear up the text of the Psalms by their interpretation. For this reason the name of Moses is fitly prefixed to show the force of this supplication, for he ofttimes ap peased the Lord's wrath by his prayer, and he was also a minister of the Old Testament, and a Prophet of the New. And because this Psalm unites both these, it is entitled by his name : which is itself radiant with a twofold mystery. For Moses is interpreted Taken up, because he was lifted out of the waters by Pharaoh's daughter; which thing, by reason of the Eed Sea, denotes the Israehtes, and by reason of Baptism, the Christians. Otherwise : PSALM XC. 147 Because the Psalmist was about to speak of God, eternal before the ages, Creator and Kuler of the world, and of mankind as subject to death by reason of sins ; all which things he had learned from the sayings of Moses, he consecrated by his name, not undeservedly, what he had obtained knowledge of from him. Moses in the first part begins with praise of the Judge : briefly commemorating His benefits and power : Lord, Thou hast been our refuge. Then he beseeches Him to help our infirmity, which he describes in many ways : Turn not man, ^c. Thirdly : he asks that the Advent of the Saviour may qmckly appear ; Who, as he knew, wovdd bestow blessings on mankind : Make Thy right hand so knoivn. Eusebius op Cssarea. The rejection of the Jews. S. Athanasius. A Psalm of narrative and prayer. Various Uses. Gregorian and Monastic. Thursday : Lauds. Amhrosian. Wednesday of Second Week : III. Nocturn. Parisian. Thursday : Prime. Lyons. Friday : Compline. Quignon. Wednesday : Nones. Fastern Church. Prime. AHiirnoNS. Gregorian and Monastic. Lord, * Thou hast been our refuge, Amhrosian. As preceding Psalm. Mozarabic. The glorious majesty of the Lord our GoD be upon us. It is to be observed, before entering on the exposition of this glorious Psalm, the opening one of the Fourth Book of the Psalter, that the ancient and mediaeval Christian commentators, with almost one voice adjudge it away from Moses, and decline to accept the title as any authority in the matter. S. Athanasius, S. Augustine, S. Jerome, Beda, Euthymius Zigabenus (who usually follows S. BasU and Theodoret) are agreed on this head with Cardinal BeUar mine, GrotiuB, and the great majority of modem critics.' BeUar mine, after citing S. Augustine's remark, that if the title were genuine, we should find the Psalm in the Pentateuch along with the other songs of Moses, and not in the Psalter; adds another objection, that the verse fixing the age of man at eighty years for its extreme limit is incompatible with the history of Moses himself, who, if he wrote the Psalm at all, did so at the close of the forty years' wandering in the desert, when he was a hundred and twenty years old, yet hale and vigorous, and perfectly competent for the conduct of afi'airs. Nor is it probable that he would have been chosen as leader at eighty years of age, or Aaron as High Priest at eighty-three, if such seniority then impHed decrepitude. Further, it may be noted that the Eabbinical tradition, which lays down a ' SS. Athanasius and Jerome do indeed caU the Psalm by the name of Moses in some parts of their writings, but this appears to be merely a conventional ac ceptance of the title to identify it, for elsewhere they cite it as David's. 148 A COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS. canon that uninscribed Psalms are to be taken as the composition of the last person named in the titles, assigns the nine following Psalms to Moses also ; a position at once refuted by the mention of Samuel in xcis. 6. And we shall thus most fitly takethe title to be merely a personification of Moses by the Psalmist, who speaks in his character. S. Bruno Carth. S. Athana sius, Ammonius, B. S, John vni 57, E. D.C. S, Albertus Magnus. Hugo Card. S. August, de Trin. v. 16. Hugo Card. Josh. XX. 2. Prov, xviii, 10. 1 Lord, thou hast been our refuge : from one generation to another. Our refuge. The A.V. more exactly, with Syriac and S. Jerome, our habitation. The word refuge, then, here signi fies a house weU fortified, and set on a high place, in which such as take refuge are most secure from aU harm of enemies, wild beasts, rain, or vrinds. And truly they who take refuge with God, and who dweU by faith, hope, and charity in Him, as in a fenced citadel, through steadfast meditation and con tinual desire, are very safe from all attacks of evil, since aU things work together for their good. The whole Psalm is a prayer of the Church to the Eternal Son, for His Incarna tion, that He may dehver man from the condition of mor tality. In the person of Moses the Psalmist recaUs God's mercies to him when he was drawn out of the water, when he overcame Pharaoh and his magicians, bringing the children of Israel out of the Eed Sea, and when he strove with the rebeUious people in the wUderness. Also as a prayer of the whole Jewish nation to God, it reminds Him of His deliver ances wrought in the time of Pharaoh, then under Joshua and the Judges ; and lastly, in the return from Babylon. And we, in appl3dng the Psalm to our dear Lord, are con fessing Him to be our defence from aU eternity, in contradic tion to those Jews who said to Him, " Thou art not yet fifty years old." He is our refuge from one generation to another, because He is shadowed in type and prophecy under the Old Testament, and is revealed in flesh under the New ; because He lifts us out of the carnal generation into the spiritual ; because He is not only the Creator of heaven and earth, the providential Euler of man from his first origin, but the Creator of the new heaven and earth of grace, of the new man born again in virtue of the Incarnation. He is our refuge from the world, the flesh, and the devil ; He is the refuge of penitents, who flee from sin ; of advancing Christians, who flee from the face of temptation ; and of the perfect, who flee from the anxieties and bustle of the world. And this is said relatively of Him, not that any change is wrought in His nature, but that we, being changed, seek shelter with Him, and know Him to be that refuge which He always was. He is our city of refuge, wherein we are safe from the avenger of blood ; He is our tower, for " the Name of the Lord is a strong tower : the righteous runneth into it and is safe ;" He is that Captain of the host. Who saith, " If the children PSALM XC. 149 of Ammon be too strong for thee, then I will come and help 2Sam, x.ii. thee." He is the Teacher, to Whom we cry, " I flee unto Ps. cxiiU. 9. Thee to hide me, teach me to do the thing that pleaseth Thee." He is the dove-cot, to Whom pure souls fly, " as the isa. \x. s. doves to their windows." He is that tender parent Who ex claimed, " How often would I have gathered thy children g, jij,tt. together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her xxiii. 37. wings." And all this is not in type alone, but in very deed ; in His stooping to us by the humility of His Incarnation, by His endurance of temptation for us, by His prayers, especially ^y_ in the Agony, and by His Cross, all which are a sure refuge for us from the destructive sin of pride. And on this a P. Spanish writer says very well, that the one remarkable prayer of Moses to God includes three petitions : first, that God Exod.xxxlii, would come in person to lead His people into the land of '^' '^' '^' promise ; secondly, that His presence might be a visible one ; thirdly, that He would show His glory to His chosen ; all which requests are made anew in this psalm, and granted in the coming of the Lord Jesds. 2 Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever the earth and the world were made : thou art God from everlasting, and world without end. Besides the obvious literal meaning of these words, whence s. Athan. S. Athanasius and other Fathers draw an argument for the S'^M' •„ Eternal Godhead of the Son, begotten before all worlds ; s. Ambros. ' there are mystical senses indicated, as that the wioMjiiaM*