Psalm 95 (Vulgate 94)

1. Ver. 1. I could wish, brethren, that we were rather listening to our father: but even this is a good thing, to obey our father. Since therefore he who deigneth to pray for us, hath ordered us, I will speak unto you, beloved, what from the present Psalm Jesus Christ our common Lord shall deign to give us. Now the title of the Psalm is David's Song of praise. The Song of praise signifieth both cheerfulness, in that it is a song; and devotion, for it is praise. For what ought a man to praise more than that which pleaseth him so, that it is impossible that it can displease him? In the praising of God therefore we praise with security. There he who praiseth is safe, where he feareth not lest he be ashamed for the object of his praise. Let us therefore both praise and sing; that is, let us praise with cheerfulness and joy. But what we are about to praise, this Psalm in the following verses sheweth us. perhaps of Valerius Bp. of Hippo, Bishop.

2. O come, let us sing unto the Lord. He calleth us to a great banquet of joy, not one of this world, but in the Lord. For if there were not in this life a wicked joy which is to be distinguished from a righteous joy, it would be enough to say, Come, let us rejoice; but he has briefly distinguished it. What is it to rejoice aright? To rejoice in the Lord. Thou shouldest piously joy in the Lord, if thou dost wish safely to trample upon the world. But what is the word, Come? Whence doth He call them to come, with whom he wisheth to rejoice in the Lord; except that, while they are afar, they may by coming draw nearer, by drawing nearer they may approach, and by approaching rejoice? But whence are they afar? Can a man be locally distant from Him who is every where? Dost thou wish to be far from Him? Where wilt thou go, that thou mayest be far from Him? For a certain sinner indeed, but yet penitent with the hope of salvation and sorrowing for his sins, and fearing the anger of God, and wishing to appease Him, speaketh this in another Psalm, Whither shall I go then from Thy Spirit? or whither shall I go then from Thy^'' presence? If I climb up into heaven, Thou art there. What remaineth then? For if he climb up into heaven, and there find God: whither shall he go, that he may fly far from God? See what he saith, If I go down to hell, Thou art there also? If therefore by climbing into heaven, he there findeth God; if by going down into hell, he escapeth Him not; whither shall he go, whither shall he fly, from that angry God, unless unto Himself appeased? And yet, though no man could possibly fly from Him who is every where; unless some were far from God, it would not be written, This people do honour Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me. It is not therefore by place, but by being unlike Him, that a man is afar from God. What is to be unlike Him? it meaneth, a bad life, bad habits; for if by good habits we approach God, by bad habits we recede from God. One then and the same man standing bodily in the same spot, by loving God doth approach Him, and by loving iniquity doth recede from Him: he no where moveth his feet,1 and yet he can both approach and recede. For our affections are our feet in this journey, according as each man hath§»12-&c-Likeness to God is nearness to Him. affection, according as each hath love, so doth he either approach or recede from God. Do we not usually say, when we find any things unlike, This is far from that? When we are comparing any two men, two horses, two garments, and some one saith, This garment is like, it is such as that; or, This man is such as that man; what doth he say who contradicts it? It is no such thing: it is far from it. What meaneth, It is far from it? It is unlike it. They stand close together: and yet this man is far from that.. But two ungodly men, alike in life and habits, if one be in the east, the other in the west, are near each other. In the same way two righteous men, one in the east, the other in the wesl, are with one another, since they are in God. On the other hand, one righteous, and one ungodly man, even though they be bound with one chain, yet are widely separated from one another. If therefore by unlikeness we recede from God, by likeness we approach unto God. What likeness? That after which we were created, which by sinning we had corrupted in ourselves, which we have received again through the remission of sins, which is renewed in us in the mind within, that it may be engraved a second time as if on coin, that is, the image of our God upon our soul, and that we may return to His treasures. For what was the reason, brethren, that our Saviour chose to discover to His tempters, from a piece of money, what God demandeth? For when they resolved, by way of seeking a pretext of false accusation, to question the Master of Truth respecting the tribute paid to Caesar, and by consulting Him to tempt Him as to whether it were lawful to pay tribute unto Caesar; what answered He? Why tempt ye Me, ye hypocrites? He asked them to shew Him the tribute money, and they brought unto Him a penny; and He saith unto them, Whose image and superscription hath it? They say unto Him, Caesar's. Then saith He unto them, Render therefore unto Ccesar the things that are Ccesar's, and unto God the things that are GooVs. As if He should say: If Caesar seeketh on a coin his own image, doth not God seek in man His Image? Our Lord Jesus Christ, inviting us to the resemblance of this image, commandeth us also to love our enemies; and giveth us an example from God Himself: As your Father, He saith, which is in heaven; Who maketh His sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust. Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father. When He saith, Be ye therefore perfect, as He is, He calleth us to resemble Him. If therefore He invite us to resemble Him, it is clear that by being unlike we had receded from God, and had become far from Him through unlikeness, and are made near unto Him by means of our resemblance to Him that what is written may be realized in us; Come near unto Him,?*^^ and be lightened. To some therefore, dwelling afar, and living evilly, this Psalm saith, 0 come, let us rejoice unto the Lord! Whither do ye go? whither retire? whither depart? whither do ye fly, by rejoicing in the world? O come, let us rejoice unto the Lord! Whither do ye go to rejoice, when ye turn away? O come, let us rejoice unto Him by Whom we were created! 0 come, let us rejoice unto the Lord!

3. Let us make a joyful noise unto God, our salvation, What is to make a joyful noise? Not to be able to express™118, one's joy in words, and yet to testify by the voice what hath been conceived within, and refuseth to be compassed within words: this is to make a joyful noise. Consider, beloved, those who make a joyful noise in any ordinary songs, as in a sort of competition of worldly joy; and ye see them while reciting the written lines bursting forth with a joy, that the tongue sufBceth not to express the measure of; how they shout, indicating by that utterance the feeling of the mind, which cannot in words express what is conceived in the heart. If they then in earthly joy make a joyful noise; might we not do so from heavenly joy, which truly we cannot express in words?

4. Ver. 2. Let us prevent His face by confession. Confession hath a double meaning in Scripture. There is a confession of him who praiseth, there is that of him who groaneth. The confession of praise pertaineth to the honour of Him Who is praised: the confession of groaning to the repentance of him who confesseth. For men confess when they praise God: they confess, when they accuse themselves; and the tongue hath no more worthy use. Truly, I believe these to be the very vows, of which he speaketh in 386 Confession prepares us to meet our Judge. another Psalm: / will pay Thee my vows, which I distinwith my lips. Nothing is more elevated than that distinguishing, nothing is so necessary both to understand and to do. How then dost thou distinguish the vows which thou payest unto God? By praising Him, by accusing thyself; because it is His mercy, to forgive us our sins. For if He chose to deal with us after our deserts, He would find cause only to condemn. O come, he said therefore, that we may at last go back from our sins, and that He may not cast up with us our accounts for the past; but that as it were a new account may be commenced, all the bonds of our debts having been burnt. How great then is His praise; how great His mercy. This let us confess, that is, by praising Him. For if confession were always the act of a penitent, it would not be spoken of in the Gospel of our Himself: In that hour Jesus rejoiced in spirit, and said, I confess to Thee, 0 Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because Thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes. Because Christ confessed, was He in any way a penitent? He could repent of nothing, Who had not done one action wrongly: but He confessed, by His praises of His Father. Therefore, since' this also is a passage of exultation, we ought perhaps to understand that confession which consists in the praise of God: whence also it is styled, The song of praise, that we may not here understand the confession of penitents, but of those who praise God. And why is it that he at once admonisheth us of some confession, when he saith, Let us prevent His face by confession? What meaneth this? He will come: Let us prevent His face by confession, beforehand: before He arrive, let us by confession condemn what we have done, that He may find that which He may crown, not what He must condemn. But doth not this very act of confessing thy sins pertain to the praise of God? Yea truly it most fully doth pertain to God's praise. And why? Because the more desperate was the state of the sufferer, so much greater is the honour of the physician. The more therefore thou despairedst of thyself on account of thy iniquities, do thou confess thy sins; for so much greater is the praise of Him Who forgiveth, as is the fulness of the Use of repetitions. Reasons for Praise. 387 penitent's confession more abundant. Let us not therefore imagine that we have receded from the song of praise, in understanding here that confession by which we acknowledge our transgressions: this is even a part of the song of praise; for when we confess our sins, we praise the glory of God. Let us prevent His face in confession.

5. And make a joyful noise unto Him with Psalms. We have already said what it is to make a joyful noise: the word is repeated, that it may be confirmed by the act: the very repetition is an exhortation. For we have not forgotten, so as to wish to be again admonished, what was said above, that we should make a joyful noise: but usually in passages of strong feeling a well-known frord is repeated, not to make it more familiar, but that the very repetition may strengthen the impression made: for it is repeated that we may understand the feeling of the speaker. Hence our Lord's words, Verily, verity, I say unto you: one verily sufficed: why, Verily, verily, unless because the repetition strengthens? Let us, he saith then, make a joyful noise unto Him with Psalms. And what shall we say in Psalms? what shall we say, or rather feel, in that burst of joy? what are the topics which belong to this song of praise? Hear now: (ver. 3.) For the Lord is a great God, and a great King above all gods. Let us therefore make a joyful noise unto Him. For the Lord will not cast off His people; let us make a joyful noise unto Him. (Ver. 4.) For in His hands are all the corners of the earth: and the heights of the hills are His also: for all these reasons let us make a joyful noise unto Him. (Ver. 5.) For the sea is His, and He made it: and His hand prepared the dry land: let us make a joyful noise unto Him. Now time sufficeth not for a proportionate exposition of what all this meaneth: yet if it be utterly neglected, we shall remain debtors. Hear then some brief remarks, as the time alloweth, gleaning as much as I shall be able: since even a few seeds, where the soil is fruitful, bear the richest crop.

6. Ver. 3. First, he mentions this, as a reason for our song to praise. For the Lord is a great God, and a great King above all gods. There are therefore gods above whom is our great God, to Whom we make a joyful noi&e, in Whom we heartily rejoice, to Whom we utter a song of praise. There are: but not unto us. For the Apostle saith: For though ' there be that are called gods, whether in heaven or in earth, (as there be gods many and lords many,) but to us there is but one God the Father, of Whom are all things, and we by Him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by Whom are all things, and we in Him. If therefore not unto us, unto whom? Hear from another Psalm, As for all the gods of the heathen, they are but devils; but it is the Lord who made the heavens. The Holy Spirit could not in terms more magnificent and lofty commend unto thee through the Prophet thy God and Lord. It was not enough to say that God is terrible above all devils: why is it high praise enough to say, that He is above all devils? For all the gods of the heathen are but devils. But where is thy Lord? But it is the Lord Who made the heavens. Thy God created that, where devils cannot dwell: for the devils were cast down from heaven. The heavens are preferred to the devils, thy Lord even to the heavens: because thy Lord made also the heavens. How much higher therefore than the heathen gods, that are devils, is He, Who is higher than the heavens, whence fell the angels, to become devils? And yet all nations wer§ under these devils: temples were built to devils, altars reared to devils, priests established to devils, sacrifices offered to devils, men brought in for prophets that were possessed with devils! All these honours the heathen offered to devils: all, in their true use, are only due to the one great God. The heathen erected a temple to devils; God hath a temple: the heathen established priests for devils; God hath a priest; the heathen offered sacrifice to devils; God hath a sacrifice. For those devils who wished to appear gods, would not exact such honours in order to deceive, unless because they know that they are due unto the true God; for what a false deity arrogates to himself, is usually due to the True God. We therefore acknowledge a true temple of God. For the temple of God is holy, saith St. Paul, which are ye. If therefore we are the temple of God, our soul is the altar of God. What is the sacrifice of God? Perhaps we are at the present moment offering sacrifice on the altar of God, when we praise God; for the Psalm teacheth us, in these words: Tfie sacrifice of praise but those whom His grace has made gods. 889 shall glorify Me: and there is the way, where I will shew the salvation of God. But if thou seekest for a Priest, there is One above the heavens; He intercedeth for thee, Who on earth died for thee. Therefore, The Lord our God is a34' great God: and a great King above all gods. Understand here men by the word gods: for the Lord is not King over devils. And hence we have Scripture testimony: GWPs.82,1. standeth in the congregation of princes: He is a Judge among gods. He calleth them gods, because they partake of the Divine Nature, not because they are in their own nature gods; by grace, through which He willed to make them gods. How great is that God Who maketh gods! or what sort of gods are those whom a man maketh? As He is great in making gods, so are they nothing who are made by man. The true God maketh gods of those who believe in Him, to whom He hath given power to become the sons of God. And for that reason He is the True God, because He is not a12, created God: but we who are created, are not true gods, though better than those which man maketh. Since thePs. images of the heathen are of gold and silver, the work of4' men's hands: they have mouths, and speak not: eyes have they9 and see not. For us our God hath created eyes that see; and yet He hath not created us gods, in that He hath made for us eyes that see; for this He hath done also for cattle: but He hath made us gods, because He hath enlightened our inner eyes. Unto Him therefore be praise, unto Him be confession, unto Him shouts of joy: For the Lord is a great God, and a great King above all gods.

7. (Ver. 3. in LXX.) For the Lord will not cast off His people. Praise be unto Him, and shouts of joy be unto14. Him! What people shall He not cast off? we have no right to make our own explanation here: for the Apostle hath prescribed this unto us, he hath explained whereof it is said. For this was the Jewish people, the people where were the prophets, the people where were the patriarchs, the people begotten according to the flesh from the seed of Abraham; the people in which all the mysteries which promised our Saviour preceded us; the people among whom was instituted the temple, the anointing, the Priest for a figure, that when all these shadows were past, the Light itself might come; 390 The Jewish nation, till it felly God's people. this therefore was the people of God; to it were the prophets sent, in it those who were sent were born; to it were delivered and entrusted the revelations of God. What then? is the whole of that people condemned? far be it. It is called the good olive-tree by the Apostle, for it commenced with the patriarchs: but there were boughs there that were dry, because they were raised too high in pride; they were therefore lopped off owing to their barrenness, and the wild olive engrafted owing to its humility. Nevertheless, most beloved, lest the wild olive when engraffed should become proud, what saith the Apostle? If thou wert cut out of the olive-tree which is wild by nature, and wert graffed contrary to nature into a good olive-tree; how much more shall these which be the natural branches, be graffed into their own olive-tree? As thou, by not remaining in thy infidelity, hast deserved to be engraffed upon the good olive, when thou wast a wild olive; so will they when repentant naturally be graffed more easily upon their own olive: such are the Apostle's words respecting them. This then is the tree itself: though some of its boughs have been broken,. yet all have not. For if all the boughs were broken, whence is Peter? whence John? whence Thomas? whence Matthew? whence Andrew? whence are all those Apostles? whence that very Apostle Paul who was speaking to us but now, and by his own fruit bearing witness to the good olive? Were not all these of that people? Whence also those five hundred brethren to whom our Lord appeared after His resurrection? Whence were so many thousands at the words of Peter, (when the Apostles, filled with the Holy Spirit, spoke with the tongues of all nations,) converted with such zeal for the honour of God and their own accusation, that they who first shed the Lord's blood in their rage, learnt how to drink it now that they believed? And all these five thousand were" so converted that they sold their own property, and laid the price of it at the Apostles' feet. That which one rich man did not do, when he heard from the Lord's mouth, and sorrowfully departed from Him, this so many thousands of those men by whose hands Christ had been crucified, did on a sudden. In proportion as the wound was deeper in their own hearts, with the greater eagerness did they seek for a physician. Jew and Gentile meet in the Corner- Stone. 891 Since therefore all these were from thence, the Psalm saith of them. For the Lord will not cast off His people. For the Apostle, speaking on this point, hath quoted this as a testimony: I say then, Hath God cast away His people? God forbid. For I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, ofll% the tribe of Benjamin. God hath not cast away His people whom He foreknew. If in fact the Lord were to cast away His people, there would have been no root for Paul himself to spring from: and whence he was, there were others also. In these is the Lord's people, not in all; but, as it is written, a remnant shall be saved. Not in all: but the floor hath beenf£*10 fanned: the wheat been garnered within: the chaff lieth left. In all that thou seest of the reprobate Jews, thou seest the chaff. The wheat hath already been gathered from the floor whereon thou seest this chaff, and hath been stored up in the barn. Let us see both, and distinguish both.

8. Ver. 4. What doth the Psalm add? In His hand are all the corners of the earth: we recognise the corner stone: the corner stone is Christ. There cannot be a corner, unless it hath united in itself two walls: they come from different sides to one corner, but they are not opposed to each other in the corner. The circumcision cometh from one side: the uncircumcision from the other; in Christ both peoples have met together: because He hath become the stone, of which it is written, The stone which the builders rejected, hath*118 become the head of the corner. If then Christ be the head of the corner, let us not regard the difference of those who come from afar, but the nearness of those who are united in Christ. Therein let us see verified the words: The Lord shall not cast off His people. Behold one wall, in which now as we have said, the Lord hath not cast off His people. Thence are the Apostles: thence all the Israelites who believed, and who threw the price of their possessions which they had sold at the Apostles' feet; poor by their own resolution, in God rich. We have recognised one wall, and what we have said, that the Lord will not cast off His people, hath therein been fulfilled: let us see another also. For in His hand are all the corners of the earth. Behold another wall in all the heathen, all the heathen came unto the Corner Stone, where they acknowledged the kiss of peace: to Him, One, who made the two one; not as the heretics, who made two of one. For the Apostle saith this same of our Lord Christ: For He is our peace, Who hath made both one. Let us therefore shout for joy in Him. Why? Because the Lord will not cast off His people. Again: Why? For in His hand are all the corners of the earth: and the heights of the hills are His also. The heights of the hills meaneth the high places of the earth. Sometimes these high places, that is, earthly powers, are adverse to the Church; they have promulgated laws against the Church, and endeavoured to blot out the name of Christian from off the earth: but after the fulfilment of the prophecy, All the kings of the earth shall fall down before Him, what is here said happened, the heights of the hills are His also.

9. Ver. 5. But perhaps thou art busied with temptations, and hence it is that, though placed in so great grace of God's promises, thou art disturbed by the world's stumbling-blocks? But those very stumbling-blocks do not really any thing to thee; since they have received their measure from God: For the sea is His. For the sea is this world, but God made also the sea: nor can the waves rage save only so far as to the shore, where He hath marked their bounds. There is therefore no temptation, that hath not received its measure from the Lord. Let there be therefore temptations, let there be tribulations; thou art perfected, not consumed by them. Consider whether those very temptations be not useful. Hear the Apostle; God is faithful, Who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; bat will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it. He saith not, He will not suffer you to be tempted at all; for if thou wert to refuse temptation, thou wouldest also refuse reformation. Thou art therefore reformed: and if thou art reformed, thou art in His hands Who formed thee. He taketh something from thee: He chasteneth thee in some way, He levelleth somewhat, He cleanseth somewhat in thee: He worketh with certain tools of His own: these are the stumbling-blocks of this world: do thou only be careful not to fall out of thy Maker's hands. No temptation beyond thy strength will approach thee. This God allowed* for thy benefit, whence thou mayest Fear not to come to God, even for sin. 808 profit. Lastly, hear the Apostle himself adding this: But will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it. Perhaps then the sea was a subject of fear to thee? Fear not. For the sea is His, and He made it. Fearest thou stumbling-blocks from the heathen? He made the heathen also Himself; He will not permit them to rage beyond the measure which He knoweth, whence thou mayest profit. Saith not another Psalm, ^//Ps.86,9. nations whom Thou hast made shall come and worship before Thee, O Lord! if all the nations which Thou hast made, it is clear that He also created the nations: therefore, The sea is His, and He made it: and His hands prepared the dry land. Be thou the dry land: thirst for the grace of God: that as a sweet shower it may come upon thee, may find in thee fruit. He alioweth not the waves to cover what He hath sown. And His hands prepared the dry land. Hence also therefore let us shout unto the Lord.

10. Since then these things are thus: since we have expounded so great things pertaining unto the praise of God, return ye to where he commenced: (ver. 6.) O come, let us worship, and fall down to Him; and mourn before the Lord our Maker. Let us rejoice, because He made this and that. He hath enumerated many things, and he now repeateth his exhortation, O come, let us worship, and fall down to Him: let us mourn before the Lord our Maker. Now that I have mentioned the praises of God, be not slothful, and stand not afar in life and habits. O come, let us worship, and fall down to Him. But possibly ye are anxious on account of your sins, which have made you afar from God; let us do as followeth: And mourn before the Lord our Maker. Perhaps thou art burning with the consciousness of a fault; blot out with tears the flame of thy sin: mourn before the Lord: fearlessly mourn before the Lord, Who made thee; for He despise th not the work of His own hands in thee. Think not thou canst be restored by thyself. By thyself thou mayest fall off, thou canst not restore thyself: He Who made thee restoreth thee. Let us mourn before the Lord our Maker: weep before Him, confess unto Him, prevent His face in confession. For who art thou who mournest before Him, and confessest unto 394 God 's people the 'sheep of His hand;' and why 'shorn.' Him, but one whom He created? The thing created hath no slight confidence in Him Who created it, and that in no indifferent fashion, but according to His own image and likeness. O come, let us worship, and fall down to Him; and mourn before the Lord our Maker.

11. Ver. 7. For He is the Lorh our God. But that we may without fear fall down and kneel before Him, what are we? We are the people qf His pasture, and the sheep of His hand. See how elegantly he hath transposed the order of the words, and as it were not given its own attribute to each word; that we may understand these very same to be the sheep, who are also the people. He said not, the sheep of His pasture, and the people of His hand; which might be thought more congruous, since the sheep belong to the pasture; but He said, the people of His pasture. The people are therefore sheep, since he saith, the people of His pasture: the people themselves are sheep. But again, since we have sheep which we buy, not which we create; and he had said above, Let us fall down before our Maker; it is rightly said, the sheep qf His hand. Nd man maketh for himself sheep, he may buy them, they may be given, he may find them, he may collect them, lastly, he may steal them; make them he cannot. But our Lord made us; therefore the people of His pasture, and the sheep of His hand, are the very sheep which He hath deigned by His grace to create unto Himself. He praiseth these sheep also in the Song of Solomon, speaking of some perfect ones as the teeth of His Spouse the Holy Church: Thy teeth are like a Jlock of sheep that are even shorn, which come up from the washing; whereof every one beareth twins, and there is none barren. What meaneth, Thy teeth? These by whom thou speakest: for the teeth of the Church are those through whom she speaketh. Of what sort are thy teeth? Like a flock of sheep that are shorn. Why, that are shorn? Because they have laid aside the burdens of the world. Were not those sheep, of which

I was a little before speaking, shorn, whom the bidding of God had shorn, when He saith, Oo and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor; and thou shalt find treasure in heaven; and come and follow Me? They performed this bidding: shorn they came. And because those who believe in Christ are baptized, what is there said? which come up from the washing; that is, come up from the cleansing. Whereof every one beareth twins. What twins? Those twoMat.22, commandments, wherefrom hang all the Law and the Prophets. We, therefore, are the people of His pasture, and the sheep of His hand.

12. Ver. 8. Therefore, T o-day if ye will hear His voice. O my people, the people of God! God addresses His people: not only the people of His which He shall not cast off, but also all His people. For He speaketh in the corner-stone to each wall: that is, prophecy speaketh in Christ, both to the people of the Jews, and the people of the Gentiles. To-day if ye will hear His voice, harden not your hearts. For sometime ye heard His voice through Moses, and hardened your hearts. He then, when you hardened your hearts, spoke through a herald; He now speaketh by Himself, let your hearts soften. He who used to send heralds before Him, hath now deigned to come Himself; He here speaketh by His own mouth, He Who used to speak by the mouths of the Prophets. To-day, therefore, if ye will hear His voice, harden not your hearts.

13. Ver. 9. Why hath he said, Harden not your hearts? Because ye remember what your fathers used to do. Harden not your hearts, as in the provocation, and in the day cf temptation in the wilderness. Ye surely remember, brethren, that that people tempted God, received chastening, and was governed in the desert as it were by an excellent rider, with the curb of laws, the curb of commandments; and was not forsaken by God even when unsubdued, not only in His present blessings, but in the rod of correction that never ceased. Therefore harden not your hearts, as in the provocation, in the day of temptation in the desert— -where your fathers — proved me. Let such be no more your fathers: imitate them not. They were your fathers, but if ye do not imitate them, they shall not be your fathers: yet as ye were born of them, they were your fathers. And if the heathen who came from the ends of the earth, in the words of Jeremias, The Gentiles shall come unto Thee from the ends of the earth, and shall say, Surely our forefathers Jtave inherited lies, vanity, and things wherein there is no profit: Lif the heathen forsook their idols, to come to the God of Israel; ought Israel whom their own God led from Egypt through the Red Sea, wherein He overwhelmed their pursuing foes. whom He led out into the wilderness, fed with manna, never took His rod from correcting them, never deprived them of the blessings of His mercy; ought they to desert their own God, when the heathen have come unto Him? When your fathers tempted Me, proved Me, and saw My works. For forty years they saw My works, for forty years they provoked Me: before them I repeatedly wrought miracles by the hand of Moses, and yet they more and more hardened their hearts.

14. Ver. 10. Forty years long was I very near unto this generation. What doth very near mean? I made Myself present in signs and good works: not on one day, not on two; but forty years long was I very near unto this generation, and said, It is a people that do always err in their hearts; for they have not known My ways. The forty years have the same meaning as the word always. For that number forty indicates the fulness of ages, as if the ages were perfected in this number. Hence our Lord fasted forty days, forty days He was tempted in the desert, and °rty ^ays ^e was wtn disciples after His resurrection. On the first forty days He shewed us temptation, on the latter forty days consolation: since beyond doubt when we are tempted we are consoled. For His body, that is, the Church, must needs suffer temptations in this world: but that Comforter, Who said, Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world, is not wanting. And I said, It is a people that do always err in their hearts. For this was I with them forty years, to shew such a race of men, which alway provoketh Me, even unto the end of the world: because by those forty years He meant to signify the whole of this world's duration.

15. Ver. 4. What then? In their stead shall there not be others to enter into God's rest? Those whom God's mercy displeased are rejected, they who resisted God with a hardened heart; they being rejected, hath God lost His people? It will not then be true, that Ood is able out of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham. Therefore, I said. It is a people that do alway err in their hearts, and they have not known My ways; unto whom I sware in My wrath, that they should not enter into My rest: this is an awful threat. We began with exulting joy: but this Psalm hath ended with great fear: Unto whom I sware in My wrath, that they should not enter into My rest. It is a great thing for God to speak: how much greater for Him to swear? Thou shouldest fear a man when he sweareth, lest he do somewhat on account of his oath against his will: how much more shouldest thou fear God, when He sweareth, seeing He can swear nought rashly? He chose the act of swearing for a confirmation. And by whom doth God swear? By Himself: for He hath no greater by whom to swear. ByHeb. Himself He con firm eth His promises: by Himself He con-13, firmeth His threats. Let no man say in his heart, His promise is true; His threat is false: as His promise is true, so is His threat sure. Thou oughtest to be equally assured of rest, of happiness, of eternity, of immortality, if thou hast executed His commandments; as of destruction, of the burning of eternal fire, of damnation with the devil, if thou hast despised His commandments. He therefore swore unto them in His anger, that they should not enter into His rest: and yet some must enter into His rest; for it will not be given to none. They therefore being reprobate, we shall6, enter: for although some of the boughs have been broken for their want of resemblance and infidelity, we shall be19,20, engrafted on account of our faith and humility. Let us therefore enter into His rest. But by what means did they who entered enter, those who were chosen, who resisted not with an hardened heart? Because it is true, that God will not cast off His people.