he " believed; with the tongue " he made " confession." " Remember me, O Lord, " he said, " when Thou comest into Thy kingdom." He hoped for the coming of his salvation at a time far remote; he was content to receive it after a long delay; his hope rested on an object far remote. The day, however, was not postponed! The answer was, "This day shalt thou be with Me in Paradise." 6 Paradise hath happy trees! This day hast thou been with Me on " the Tree " of the Cross. This day shalt thou be with Me on " the Tree " of Salvation...
16. "I have not hid my 1 righteousness within my heart " (ver. 10). What is meant by " my righteousness "? My faith. For, " the just shall live by faith." 8 As suppose the persecutor under threat of punishment, as they were once allowed to do, puts you to the question, " What art thou? Pagan or Christian?" "A Christian." That is his " righteousness." He believeth; he " lives by faith." He doth not " hide his righteousness within his heart." He has not said in his heart, " I do indeed believe in Christ; but I will not tell what I believe to this persecutor, who is raging against me, and threatening me. My God knoweth that inwardly, within my heart, I 1 Matt, xxiii. 3. 2 Isa. xxix. 31.
3 Sona labile, propinqua corde. JAudible confession, in the great congregation, was the primitive discipline. But St. Chrysostom, who teaches the like discipline, urges to private penitence before God as all-sufficient. Horn. xxxi. In Hebr. torn. xii. p. 216, ed. Migne. — C] * Rom. x. to.
* Corpus illitd non vacabat cateris membris; lingua vacabat et cor.
* Luke xxiii. 42, etc.
7 E. V. " Thy." So Vulgate also, tuam.
do believe. He knoweth that I renounce Him not." Lo! you say that you have this inwardly within your heart! What have you upon your lips? " I am not a Christian." Your lips bear witness against your heart. " I have not hid my righteousness within my heart."...
17. "I have declared Thy Truth and Thy Salvation." I have declared Thy Christ. This is the meaning of, " I have declared Thy Truth and Thy Salvation." How is " Thy Truth " Christ? " I am the Truth." 9 How is Christ " His Salvation "? Simeon recognised the infant in His Mother's hands in the Temple, and said, " For mine eyes have seen Thy Salvation." IO The old man recognised the little child; the old man having himself " become a little child " " in that infant, having been renewed by faith. For he had received an oracle from God; and it said this, " The Lord had said unto him, that he was not to depart out of this life, until he had seen the " Salvation of God." This " Salvation of God " it is a good thing to have shown unto men; but let thetn cry, " Show us Thy mercy, O Lord, and grant us Thy Salvation."...
1 8. "I have not concealed Thy mercy and Thy Truth from the great congregation." Let us be there; let us also be numbered among the members of this Body: let us not keep back " the mercy" of the Lord, and "the Truth" of the Lord. Wouldest thou hear what " the mercy of the Lord" is? Depart from thy sins; He will forgive thy sins. Wouldest thou hear what " the truth " of the Lord is? Hold fast righteousness. Thy righteousness shall receive a crown. For mercy is announced to you now; " Truth " is to be shown unto thee hereafter. For God is not merciful in such a way as not to be just, nor just in such a way as not to be merciful. Does that mercy seem to thee an inconsiderable one? He will not impute unto thee all thy former sins: thou hast lived ill up to this present day; thou art still living; this day live well; the'n thou wilt not " conceal " this " mercy." If this is meant by " mercy," what is meant by " truth "?...19. " Remove not Thou Thy mercies far from me, O Lord " (ver. n). He is turning his attention to the wounded members. Because I have not " concealed Thy mercy and Thy Truth from the great congregation," from the Unity of the Universal Church, look Thou on Thy afflicted members, look on those who are guilty of sins of omission, and on those who are guilty of sins of commission: and withhold not Thou Thy mercies. " Thy mercy and Thy Truth have continually preserved me." I should not dare to turn from my evil way, were I not assured of remission; 9 John xiv. 6.
10 Luke ii. 30.
11 Factus in puero piter. He alludes to Matt, xviii. 3, cept ye be converted, and become as little children" 'Ex- [Psalm XL.
I could not endure so as to persevere, if I were not assured of the fulfilment of Thy promise...
" Innumerable evils have compassed me about" (ver. 12). Who can number sins? Who can count his own sins, and those of others? A burden under which he was groaning, who said, " Cleanse Thou me from my secret faults; and from the faults of others, spare Thou Thy servant, O Lord." ' Our own are too little; those " of others " are added to the burden. I fear for myself; I fear for a virtuous brother, I have to bear with a wicked brother; and under such burthen what shall we be, if God's mercy were to fail? " But Thou, Lord, remove not afar off." Be Thou near unto us! To whom is the Lord near? " Even " unto them that " are of a broken heart." 2 He is far from the proud: He is near to the humble. " For though the Lord is high, yet hath He respect unto the lowly." 3 But let not those that are proud think themselves to be unobserved: for the things that are high, He " beholdeth afar off." He " beheld afar off" the Pharisee, who boasted himself; He was near at hand to succour the Publican, who made confession.4 The one extolled his own merits, and concealed his wounds; the other boasted not of his merits, but laid bare his wounds. He came to the Physician; he knew that he was sick, and that he required to be made whole; he " dared not lift up his eyes to Heaven: he smote upon his breast." He spared not himself, that God might spare him; he acknowledged himself guilty, that God might " ignore " the charge against him. He punished himself, that God might free him from punishment...
20. " Mine iniquities have taken hold upon me, so that I could not see." There is a something for us " to see; " what prevents us so that we see it not? Is it not iniquity? From beholding this light 5 your eye is prevented perhaps by some humour penetrating into it; perhaps by smoke, or dust, or by something else that has been thrown into it: and you have not been able to raise your wounded eye to contemplate this light of day. What then? Will you be able to lift up your wounded heart unto God? Must it not be first healed, in order that thou mayest see? Do you not show your pride, when you say, " First let me see, and then I will believe"? Who is there who says this? For who that would fain see, says, " Let me see, and then I will believe "? I am about to manifest the Light unto thee; or rather the Light Itself would fain manifest Itself to thee! To whom? It cannot manifest Itself to the blind. He does not see. Whence is it that he seeth not? It is that the eye is clogged by the multitude of sins...1 P». xix. 19. 3 IV rxxxviii. 6.
> Natural light.
21." They are more than the hairs of my head." He subjects the number of the " hairs of his head " to calculation. Who is there can calculate the number of the hairs of his head? Much less can he tell the number of his sins, which exceed the number of the hairs of his head. They seem to be 'minute; but they are many in number. You have guarded against great ones; you do not now commit adultery, or murder; you do not plunder the property of others; you do not blaspheme; and do not bear false witness; those are the weightier kind of sins. You have guarded against great sins, what are you doing about your smaller ones? You have cast off the weight; beware lest the sand overwhelm you. " And my heart hath forsaken me." What wonder if thine heart is forsaken by thy God, when it is even " forsaken " by itself? What is meant by " faileth me," " forsaketh me"? Is not capable of knowing itself. He means this: " My heart hath forsaken me." I would fain see God with mine heart, and cannot from the multitude of my sins: that is not enough; mine heart does not even know itself. For no one thoroughly knows himself: let no one presume upon his own state. Was Peter able to comprehend with his own heart the state of his own heart, who said, " I will be with Thee even unto death "?6 There was a false presumption in the heart; there was lurking in that heart at the same time a real fear: and the heart was not able to comprehend the state of the heart. Its state was unknown to the sick heart itself: it was manifest to the physician. That which was foretold of him was fulfilled. God knew that in him which he knew not in himself: because his heart had forsaken him, his heart was unknown to his heart.
22. "Be pleased, O Lord, to deliver me" (ver. 13). As if he were saying, " ' If Thou wilt, Thou canst make me clean.' 7 Be pleased to deliver me. O Lord, look upon me to help me." Look,8 that is, on the penitent members, members that lie in pain, members that are writhing under the instruments of the surgeon; but still in hope.
23. " Let them be ashamed and confounded together that seek after my soul to destroy it " (ver. 14). For in a certain passage he makes an accusation, and says, " I looked upon my right hand, and beheld; and there was no man who sought after my soul; " ' that is, there was no man to imitate Mine example. Christ in His Passion is the Speaker. " I looked on my right hand," that is, not on the ungodly Jews, but on Mine own right hand, the Apostles, — " and there was no man who sought after My soul." So thoroughly was there no man to " seek after 6 Luke xxii. 33.
* OxL mss. repeat respict.
7 Matt. viii. a. 9 Ps. cxlii. 4.
Psalm XL.]
My soul," that he who had presumed on his own strength, " denied My soul." But because a man's soul is sought after in two ways, either in order that you may enjoy his society; or that you may persecute him; therefore he here speaks of others, whom he would have " confounded and ashamed," who are " seeking after his soul." But lest you should understand it in the same way as when he complains of some who did not " seek after his soul," He adds, " to destroy it; " that is, they seek after my soul in order to my death...
24. " Let them be turned backward ' and put to shame that wish me evil." " Turned backwards." Let us not take this in a bad sense. He wishes them well; and it is His voice, who said from the Cross, " Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do." 2 Wherefore then doth he> say to them, that they should return " backwards "? Because they who before were proud, so that they fell, are now become humble, so that they may rise again. For when they are before, they are wishing to take precedence of their Lord; to be better than He; but if they go behind Him, they acknowledge Him to be better than they; they acknowledge that He ought to go before; that He should precede,3 they follow. Thence He thus rebukes Peter giving Him evil counsel. For the Lord, when about to suffer for our salvation, also foretold what was to happen concerning that Passion itself; and Peter says, "Be it far from Thee,"4 " God forbid it! " " This shall not be! " He would fain have gone before his Lord; would have given counsel to his Master! But the Lord, that He might make him not go before Him, but follow after Him, says, " Get thee behind, Satan! " It is for this reason He said " Satan," because thou art seeking to go before Him, whom thou oughest to follow; but if thou art behind, if thou follow Him, thou wilt henceforth not be "Satan." What then? "Upon this Rock I will build My Church." s...
25. "Let them speedily bear away their own confusion, that say unto me, Well done! Well done!"6 (ver. 15). They praise you without reason. "A great man! A good man! A man of education and of learning; but why a Christian? " They praise those things in you which you should wish not to be praised; they find fault with that at which you rejoice. But if perhaps you say, " What is it you praise in me, O man? That I am a virtuous man? A just man? If you think this, Christ made me this; praise Him." But the other says, " Be it far from you. Do yourself no wrong! You yourself made yourself 1 E. V. "driven backwards." Text, convertantnr.
* Luke xxiii. 34. 3 Priorem. * Matt. xvi. 22. 5 Matt. xvi. 18.
* E. V. " Let them be desolate for a reward of their shame, that say unto me, Aha! Ahai " such." "Let them be confounded who say unto me, Well done! Well done! " And what follows?
" Let all those that seek Thee, O Lord, rejoice and be glad " (ver. 16). Those who " seek " not me, but "Thee;" who say not to me, "Well done! Well done! " but see me " glory in Thee," if I have anything whereof to glory; for " he who glories, let him glory in the Lord." 7 " Let all those who seek Thee, Lord, rejoice and be glad."
" And say continually, the Lord be magnified." For even if the sinner becometh righteous, thou shouldest give the glory to " Him who justified) the ungodly." 8 Whether therefore it be a sinner, let Him be praised who calls him to forgiveness; or one already walking in the way of righteousness, let Him be praised who calls him to receive the crown! Let the Name of the Lord be magnified continually by " such as love Thy salvation."
"But I" (ver. 17). I for whom they were seeking evil, I whose " life they were seeking, that they might take it away." But turn thee to another description of persons. But I to whom they said, " Well done! Well done! " "I am poor and needy." There is nothing in me that may be praised as mine own. Let Him rend my sackcloth in sunder, and cover me with His robe. For, "Now I live, not I myself; but Christ liveth in me." 9 If it is Christ that " liveth in thee," and all that thou hast is Christ's, and all that thou art to have hereafter is Christ's also; what art thou in thyself? " I am poor and needy." Now I am not rich, because I am not proud. He was rich who said, " Lord, I thank Thee that I am not as other men are; " '° but the publican was poor, who said, " Lord, be merciful to me a sinner! " The one was belching from his fulness; the other from want was crying piteously, " I am poor and needy! " And what wouldest thou do, O poor and needy man? Beg at God's door; " Knock, and it shall be opened unto thee." " — "As for me, I am poor and needy. Yet the Lord careth for me." — " Cast thy care upon the Lord, and He shall bring it to pass." " What canst thou effect for thyself by taking care? what canst thou provide for thyself? Let Him who made thee " care for thee." He who cared for thee before thou wert, how shall He fail to have a care of thee, now that thou art what He would have thee be? For now thou art a believer, now thou art walking in the " way of righteousness." Shall not He have a care for thee, who " maketh His sun rise on the good and on the evil, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust "?"...
8 Rom, iv. 5, 11 Matt. vii. 7.
9 Gal. ii. 20, ,a Ps, Iv. aa.
[Psalm XLI.
" Thou art my Help, and my Deliverer; make no tarrying, O my God" (ver. 17). He is calling upon God, imploring Him, fearing lest he should fall away: " Make no tarrying." What is meant by " make no tarrying "? We lately read concerning the days of tribulation: " Unless those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved." ' The members of Christ — the Body of Christ extended everywhere — are asking of God, as one single person, one single poor man, and beggar! For He too was poor, who "though He was rich, yet became poor, that ye through His poverty might be made rich." 2 It is He that maketh rich those who are the true poor; 3 and maketh poor those who are falsely rich. He crieth unto Him; " From the end of the earth I cried unto Thee, when my heart was in heaviness." There will come days of tribulations, and of greater tribulations; they will come even as the Scripture speaks: and as days advance, so are tribulations increased also. Let no one promise himself what the Gospel doth not promise...PSALM XLI.« TO THE PEOPLE, ON THE FEAST OF THE MARTYRS.
i. The solemn day of the Martyrs hath dawned; therefore to the glory of the Passion of Christ, the Captain of Martyrs, who spared not Himself, ordering His soldiers to the fight; but first fought, first conquered, that their fighting He might encourage by His example, and aid with His majesty, and crown with His promise: let us hear somewhat from this Psalm pertaining to His Passion. I commend unto you oftentimes, nor grieve I to repeat, what for you is useful to retain, that our Lord Jesus Christ speaketh often of Himself, that is, in His own Person, which is our Head; often in the person of His Body, which are we and His Church; but so that the words sound as from the mouth of one, that we may understand the Head and the Body to consist together in the unity of integrity, and not be separated the one from the other; as in that marriage whereof it is said, "They two shall be one flesh." s If then we acknowledge two in one flesh, let us acknowledge two in one voice. First, that which responding to the reader6 we have sung, though it be from the middle of the Psalm, from that I will take the beginning of this Sermon.
" Mine enemies speak evil of Me, When He shall die, then shall His Name perish" (ver. 5). This is the Person of our Lord Jesus Christ: » Compare Matt. v. 3, " Blessed are the poor in spirit," and Luke vi. 30, " Blessed be ye poor."
< Lat. XL. s Gen. ii. 24: Eph. v. 31.
* [He begins with the " Anliphon; " i.e., a verse selected from the Psalm as expressing the chief thought of the Psalmist or the spirit of the festival. This was interjected, at set places, in response to the reader. — C.J but see if herein are not understood the members also. This was spoken also when our Lord Himself walked in the flesh here on earth...When they saw the people go after Him, they said, " When He shall die, then shall His Name perish; " that is, when we have slain Him, then shall His Name be no more in the earth, nor shall He seduce any, being dead; but by that very slaying of Him shall men understand, that He was but a man whom they followed, that there was in Him no hope of salvation, and shall desert His Name, and it shall no more be. He died, and His Name perished not, but His Name was sown as seed: He died, but He was a grain, which dying, the corn immediately sprang up.' When glorified then was our Lord Jesus Christ, began they much more, and much more numerously to trust in Him; then began His members to hear what the Head had heard. Now then our Lord Jesus Christ being in heaven set down, and Himself in us labouring on earth, still spake His enemies, " When He shall die, then shall His Name perish." For hence stirred up the devil persecutions in the Church to destroy the Name of Christ. Unless haply ye think, brethren, that those Pagans, when they raged against Christians, said not this among themselves, " to blot out the Name of Christ from the earth." That Christ might die again, not in the Head, but in His Body, were slain also the Martyrs. To the multiplying of the Church availed the Holy Blood poured forth, to help Its seminating came also the death of the Martyrs. " Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His Saints." 8 More and more were the Christians multiplied, nor was it fulfilled which spake the enemies, " When He shall die, then shall His Name perish." Even now also is it spoken. Down sit the Pagans, and compute them the years, they hear their fanatics9 saying, A time shall come when Christians shall be none, and those idols must be worshipped as before they were worshipped: still say they, " When He shall die, then shall His Name perish." Twice conquered, now the third time be wise! Christ died, His Name has not perished: the Martyrs died, multiplied more is the Church, groweth through all nations the Name of Christ. He who foretold of His own Death, and of His Resurrection, He who foretold of His Martyrs' death, and of their crown, He Himself foretold of His Church things yet to come, if truth He spake twice, has He the third time lied? Vain then is what ye becxvi. 15.
7 John xii. 24. 8 Ps.
9 In the City of God, b. xviii. c. 53, £4, he mentions that the heathens had some Greek verses, in the form of an oracle, to the effect that the magical arts of Peter had prevailed to procure divine worship to Christ for 365 years, after which it was 10 terminate. This period, he says, if computed from the first Pentecost after the Resurrection, would expire in the consulship of Honorius and Kutychianus, A.D. 398. The next year, which ought to have seen paganism re-established, was marked by the demolition of idols by imperial authority. — Bin. [Sec vol. u. p. 394, this series. — C] Psalm XLI.]
lieve against Him; better is it that ye believe in Him, that ye may " understand upon the needy and poor One; " ' that " though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that ye through His poverty might be rich." 2...
2. " Blessed is he that understandeth upon the needy and poor One: in the evil day shall the Lord deliver him " (ver. 1 ). For the evil day will come: will thou, nill thou, come it will: the Day of Judgment will come upon thee, an evil day if thou " understand not the needy and poor." For what now thou wilt not believe, shall be made manifest in the end. But neither shalt thou escape, when it shall be made manifest, because thou believest not, when it is kept secret. Invited art thou, what thou seest not to believe, lest when thou see, thou be put to the blush. " Understand then upon the needy and poor One," that is, Christ: understand in Him the hidden riches, whom poor thou seest. " In Him are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge." 3 For thereby in the evil day shall He deliver thee, in that He is God: but in that He is man, and that which in Him is human hath raised to life, and changed for the better, He hath lifted (thee4) to heaven. But He who is God, who would have one person in man and with man, could neither decrease nor increase, neither die nor rise again. He died out of man's infirmity, but God diethnot...Butas we rightly say, Such a man died, though his soul dieth not; so we rightly say, Christ died, though His Divinity dieth not. Wherefore died? Because needy and poor. Let not His death offend thee, and avert thee from beholding His Divinity. " Blessed is he that understandeth upon the needy and poor One." Consider also the poor, the needy, the hungry and thirsty, the naked, the sick, the prisoners; understand also upon such poor, for if upon such thou understand, thou understandest upon Him who said, " I was an hungred, I was thirsty, I was a stranger, naked, sick, in prison; " 5 so in the evil day shall the Lord deliver thee...
3. "And deliver him not into the hand of his enemy" (ver. 2). The enemy is the devil. Let none think of a man his enemy, when he hears these words. Haply one thought of his neighbour, of him who had a suit with him in court, of him who would take from him his own possession, of him who would force him to sell to him his house. Think not this; but that enemy think of, of whom said the Lord, "an enemy hath done this." 6 For He it is who suggests that for things earthly he be worshipped, for overthrow the Christian Name this enemy cannot. For he hath * Or " It," reading as Ben. Oxf. mss. have " not in that He is Man: and that which in Him was human, in thee He will raise again, and change to better, and lift to heaven." The future, " shall lift," is probably right. Ed. Ben. gives no various readings here; our mss. vary somewhat.
seen himself conquered by the fame and praises of Christ, he hath seen, whereas he slew Christ's Martyrs, that they are crowned, he triumphed over. He hath begun to be unable to persuade men that Christ is nought; and because by reviling Christ, he now with difficulty deceives, by lauding Christ, he endeavours to deceive. Before this what said he? Whom worship ye? A Jew, dead, crucified, a man of no moment, who could not even from himself drive away death. When after His Name he saw running the whole human race, saw that in the Name of the Crucified temples are thrown down, idols are broken, sacrifices abolished; and that all these things predicted in the Prophets are considered by men, by men with wonder astonished, and closing now their hearts against the reviling of Christ; he clothes himself with praise of Christ, and begins to deter from the faith in another manner. Great is the law of Christ, powerful is that law, divine, ineffable! but who fulfilleth it?
In the name of our Saviour,7 " tread upon the lion and the dragon." 8 By reviling openly roared the lion; by lauding craftily lurks the dragon. Let them come to the faith, who doubted; and not say, Who fulfilleth it? If on their own strength they presume, they will not fulfil it. Presuming on the grace of God let them believe, presuming (on it) let them come; to be aided come, not to be judged. So live all the faithful in the Name of Christ, each one in his degree fulfilling the commands of Christ, whether married, or celibates and virgins, they live as much as God granteth them to live; neither presume they in their own strength, but know that in Him they ought to glory...
4. "The Lord help him" (ver. 3). But when? Haply in heaven, haply in the life eternal, that so it remain to worship the devil for earthly needs, for the necessities of this life. Far be it! Thou hast " promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come." » He came unto thee on earth, by Whom were made heaven and earth. Consider then what He saith, " The Lord help him, on his bed of pain." The bed of pain is the infirmity of the flesh; lest thou shouldest say, I cannot hold, and carry, and tie up my flesh; thou art aided that thou mayest. The Lord help thee on thy bed of pain. Thy bed did carry thee, thou carriedst not thy bed, but wast a paralytic inwardly; He cometh who saith to thee, " Take up thy bed, and go thy way into thy house." IO " The Lord help him on his bed of pain." Then to the Lord Himself He turneth, as though it were asked," Why then, since the Lord helpeth us, suffer we such great ills in this life, such great scandals, such great labours, such disquiet from the flesh 7 Oxf. MSS. " It is fulfilled in the Name," etc. 8 Ps xci. 13 9 i Tim. iv. 8. I0 Mark ii. 11. » Al. " he complained."
13° [Psalm XLI.