Psalm 97
All are again invited to praise the Lord, for the victories of Christ.
1 Sing ye to the Lord a new canticle: because he hath done wonderful things. His right hand hath wrought for him salvation, and. his arm is holy.
2 The Lord hath made known his salvation: he hath revealed his justice in the sight of the gentiles.
3 He hath remembered his mercy and his truth toward the house of Israel. All the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God. ;
A Sing joyfully to God, all the earth; make melody, rejoice and sing.
5 Sing praise to the Lord on the harp, on the harp, and with the voice of a psalm:
6 With long trumpets, and sound of cornet, Make a joyful noise before the Lord our King: ;
7 Let the sea be moved, and the fulness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein.
8 The rivers shall clap their hands, the mountains shall rejoice together
9 At the presence of the Lord; because he cometh to judge the earth. He shall judge the world with justice, and the people with equity.
COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS.
EXPLANATION OF THE PSALM.
1 “ Sing ye to the Lord a new canticle: because he hath done wonder ful things. His right hand hath wrought for him salvation, and his arm 1s holy.”
He invites ali men to praise God for his wonderful works. ‘ Sing ye to the Lord a new canticle,” for there is not only new but great and wonderful matter for it, “because he hath done wonderful things;” for he was wonderfully, and in an unheardof manner, conceived of the Holy Ghost, born of a virgin, committed no sin, justified sinners, made the deaf to hear, and the dumb to speak, nay, even the blind to see, the lame to walk, cured the sick, raised the dead; and, what is the most strange and wonderful of all, shewed bimself alive within three days after he was buried, took bis body up to heaven, sent the Holy Ghost from heaven, and through the agency of poor, humble men, persuaded the prudent and the wise to worship the crucified, to despise the things of the present, and to look forward to the things of the future; and, finally, as St. Augustine says, conquered the world, not by the sword but by the cross. All this may be referred to the Father, who in the Son, and. through the Son, effected all these wonderful things; for the Lord says, ‘* But the Father, who abideth in me, he doth the works.” “ His right hand hath wrought for him salvation, and his arm i; holy.” He explains what those wonderful things are, and instances one of them that comprehends the whole. The wonderful thing God did, consisted in his having saved the world purely by his own power, without associates, without an army, without arms; he alone cast out the prince of this world, and delivered mankind from his power. Such was the object of all the wonderful things enumerated above; and thus, this one thing comprehends all. The expression, “ hath wrought for him salvation,” may apply to the Son, who saved the world by his own power; and to the Father who, through Christ, his right hand, saved it ; but it comes to the same thing ; “and his arm ts holy,” is mere'y a repetition of the foregoing; right hand and arm being nearly synonymous, and they signify virtue and power; but the word “ hozy” is added, for fear we should suppose caraal, not spiritual, streagth is intended ; for Christ did not overcome his enemy by the force of arms or by bodily strength, but by love and patience, by humility and obedience, by the merits of his most holy life, by his most precious blood spilled for love of us, and not by the spear or the sword, and obtained a signal victory over a most powerful enemy. So, says the Apostle, “ He humbled himself, becoming obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.”
2 ** The Lord hath made known his salvation: he
“hath revealed his justice in the sight of the gentiles.”
This verse, too, may be referred to. the Father,
“who made known his salvation;” that is, the _
Saviour he sent; first, through the prophets, then
COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS.
through the Apostles, and through the same “ revealed his justice.” It may also be referred to the Son, who made known the salvation effected by himself, througa himself, and through his Apostles ; for he preached it openly for three entire years and more, and then he sent his Apostles, who announced his Gospel to the entire world. The Lord, therefore, by his own preaching, ‘‘ made his salvation known ;” that is, the salvation he brought on earth to confer on those who would believe in him ; then, ‘in the seght of the gentiles,” through his Apostles, “he hath revealed his justice ;” that is, he made known and revealed to the gentiles that mystery that was hidden from the world; and the mystery is his own justice ; that is, the fulfilment of that promise that was formerly made to the fathers concerning the redempof the human race. This I consider to be the meaning of justice here; for in the following verse it means truth, as we shallsee. However, if any one wishes justice to be understood of the satisfaction Christ had to offer, in the rigour of justice, for the sins of the whole world, Ido not object, whether in reference to the Father, or to the Son. For truly did the Father, through the passion of the Son, and the Son through his own sufferings, ‘* reveal’ how iniquity required to be punished, and how rigorously God’s justice required satisfaction. On this mystery tue Apostle writes as follows to the Ephesians, “ Z’o me, the least of all the saints, is given this grace to preach among the gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ. And to enlighten all men what is the dispensation of the mystery which hath been hidden from eternity in God.”
3.‘ He hath remembered his mercy and his truth toward the house of Israel. All the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God.”
He assigns a reason for God’s having “ made known his salvation,’ and “ revealed his justice.” Because he promised such to the fathers; and though he delayed the fulfilment of his promise for some time, he at length “‘remembered” it; that is, he acted as those do who remember a thing. God cannot forget, but he is figuratively said to remember when he dees a thing after a while, as if he had forgotten it. The expression often occurs in the Scriptures ; thus, “ The Lord remembered Noe;” and, Luke i., “ He hath remembered his mercy.” God the Father, then, “remembered his mercy,” through which he promised a Saviour to the fathers; and God the Son “remembered his: mercy,” that induced him to promise to come as a Saviour; and both remembered “ their truth,” their honour and justice in fulfilling the promise “ toward the house of Isracl;” for the promise was made to them, and not to the gentiles; although God had determined, and often announced it through the prophets, that he would have mercy on the gentiles, too. Hence our Saviour, Mat. xv., says, “ J was not sent but to the sheep that are lost of the house of Israel.” And the Apostle,
Rom. xy., “ For I say that Christ Jesus was mtnister of the circumcision for the truth of God, to confirm the promises made to the fathers; but that the gentiles are to glorify God for his mercy, as tt ts writen. Therefore will I confess to thee, O Lord, ainong the gentiles.”—“All the ends of the earth have scen the salvation of our God.” See the fruit of the preaching of the Apostles! It was not in vain that God made his salvation known through their preaching, for the gentiles heard them, and believed in Christ; and thus, the interior eye of the heart having been purified through faith and grace, ‘ all the ends of the earth,” the whole world, to its remotest boundaries, ‘* have seen the salvation of our God,” or the Saviour sent by him, There is a degree of point in the expression, “ have seen;” it implies actual faith, united with knowledge, that moves the wi!l to love and to desire; for they cannot be said to have seen God’s salvation, who, content with habitual faith, never bestow a thought on the Saviour, and take no trouble whatever in accomplishing the salvation to be had through him. The expression, “ adl the ends of the earth,” is not to be read literally, for it does not mean each and every individual, but a great: many from every nation and people.
4“ Sing joyfully to God, all the earth: make melody, rejoice and sing.”
The giving thanks to God, and exulting and singing in spiritual joy, is a sign of faith. Thus, he that found the treasure “went, and, through joy, sold all he had.” Thus when Philip preached in Samaria, and the iahabitants received the word of God, “ there was great joy in that city ;” and the eunuch, when converted and baptized, ‘went his way re- Jjowcing;” thus also.St. Peter says, ‘ And believing, shall rejoice with an unspeakable and glorified joy.” This joy is now predicted by the prophet, as if he were inviting and exhorting the faithful to it, * Sing joyfully to God, all the earth.” All you faithful, all oyer the world, who have been brought from darkness to ‘ the admirable light,” to the knowledge of the true God and our Saviour Jesus Christ, praise and thank with a loud voice; sing, exult, and play upon musical instruments.
5 ‘ Sing praise to the Lord on the harp, on the harp, and with the voice of a psalm:
6 ‘ With long trumpets, and sound of cornet. Muke a joyful noise before the Lord our King :”
Four instruments are enumerated for those who have seen God by faith, and desire to sce him by sight; they are the harp, the psaltery, long trumpets, and sound of cornet. These were, literally, the instruments most in use among the Jews, and a spiritual signification has been attached to each instrument. They seem to me to represent the cardinal virtues, the harp implying prudence; the psaltery, justice ; the long trumpet, fortitude; and the cornet, tempezance. ‘Tne harp, having various strings, bleads their sounds together, aud produces a sweet
harmony ; and thus prudence unites good works with various circumstances, and produces a perfect work. The psaltery of ten strings represents the decalogue, containing all the precepts of justice. The long trumpet is beaten out and formed by repeated blows of the hammer, until it produces the sweet sounds required ; thus, fortitude, by patiently bearing all trials and tribulations, so draws out and perfects the man of God, that, with holy Job, it is no trouble to him to give out that sweet sound, “ /fwe have received good things at the hand of God, why should we not receive evil 2” Finally, temperance, like a hard horn, from which the cornet was made, rising above and outtopping the flesh—that is, chastizing the body, by fasting and watching, and by bringing it under subjection to the spirit, forms it into a spiritual cornet. Such was the precursor of our Lord, who, with wild honey and locusts for his food, and a garment of camel’s hair with a leathern girdle for his dress, called out, “A voice of one crying in the desert.” Such, too, was the most blessed Paul, who, instructed as he was by long continued temperance, gave out the following sweet sounds, “ But having food and wherewith to be covered, with these we are content ;” and again, “ The meat for the belly, and the belly for the meats; but God shall destroy both it and them.” —And truly, “ piety with sufficiency is great gun.” “ Make a joyful noise before our King.” Be sure to strike up all the aforesaid instruments the moment the great King, who is Lord of all, shall have made his appearance. ,
7 “Let the sea be moved, and the fulness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein.”
As the coming of the Lord. was a blessing to all in general, the prophet calls, not only on the whole earth, but on all its parts, separately, to praise and sing toGod. “ Let the sea be moved,” heaving and swelling with exultation, as if it were animated ; “ and the fulness thereof;” its waters, islands, fishes ; “ the world, and they that dwell therein.” Let them, too, rejoice and exult because the Lord is the Saviour of all men, especially of the faithful.
8 “ The rivers shall clap their hands, the mountains shall rejoice together.”
Having invited the sea and the earth, he now summons the rivers and the mountains to unite in their expressions of joy, He said, however, “ Let the sea be moved,” in the Hebrew, let it thunder ; whereas to the rivers he says, they shall “ clap their hands,” thereby expressing the difference between the noise of the one and of the other ; and when he calls upon “the mountains to rejoice together,” we can easily understand that the prophet does not ask those inanimate things to speak, to praise, or to sin gy but that he 4s so carried away and inflamed with love for the coming Messias, that he calls upon and wishes all created things to unite with bim, as far as possible, in praising and thanking God.
9 “ At the presence of the Lord j because he cometh
COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS.
to judge the earth. He shall judge the world with justice, and the people with equity.”
“ Because he cometh to yudye the earth” may be referred either to his first or his second coming. If to his first, the meaniug will be, Let all the aforesaid rejoice, “because he cometh to judge the earth,” to rule and govern the earth through most just and wise laws, not only as of old, in the majesty of his invisible divinity, but in visible and corporal appearance, “being made to the likeness of men, and in shape Sound as a man.” —If we refer it to his second coming, the meaning would te, Let all these rejoice, because ‘‘the Lord cometh to judge the earth,” and he will exterminate all the sinners in it, and renew all its elements, ‘ and he will deliver it from the servitude of corruption, under which it now groans and ts in labour.”—-*' He shall judge the world with justice.” The same as the conclusion of Psalm xcv., which see.
PSALM XOVIII.
The reign of the Lord in Sion; that is, of Christ in his Church.
1 The Lord hath reigned, let the people be angry: he that sitteth on the cherubim: let the earth be moved.
2 The Lord %s great in Sion, and high above all people.
3 Let them give praise to thy great name: for it is terrible and holy:
4 And the king’s honour loveth judgment. ‘Thou hast prepared directions: thou hast done judgment and justice in Jacob.
5 Exalt ye the Lord our God, and adore his foot-stool, for it is holy.
6 Moses and Aaron among his priests : and Samuel among them that call upon his name. They called upon the Lord, and he heard them :
7 He spoke to them in the pillar of the cloud. They kept his testimonies, and the commandment which he gave them.
8 Thou didst hear them, O Lord our God: thou wast a merciful God to them, and taking: vengeance on all their inventions.
9 Exalt ye the Lord our God, and adore
at his holy mountain: for the Lord our God is holy.
EXPLANATION OF FHE PSALM,
1 “ The Lord hath reigned, let the people be angry he that sitteth on the Cherubim : let the earth be moved.’
According to the first interpretation, we are given to understand, in this first verse, that the kingdom of God was establishcd in Jerusalem in Davia’s time, notwithstanding the indignation and annoyance of
COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS.
its idolatrous enemies. ‘* The Lord hath reigned.” The Lord, after having expelled the idolatrous Jebusans and Chanaaneans, established his kingdom in Jerusalem. Though David was king, he felt he had his power from God, and owed him his kingdom. ‘* Let the people be angry,” in spite of the pagans and idolaters. ‘‘ He that sitteth on the Cherubim;” the same Lord that sits on the Cherubim, hath _ reigned, no matter how the earth, that is, the idola- ~ ters therein, may be troubled at it. God literally sits on the Cherubim, because he chose the propitiatory for his seat, which was supported by two gilded Cherubim, under which was the Ark, which formed the foot-stool of the Lord. In a spiritual sense, God is said to sit on the Cherubim, because he presides over all the choirs of Angels, or because Cherubim signify fulness of knowledge, in which God excels all created beings. We, too, may become Cherubim, and have God presiding over us, if we can obtain that fulness of knowledge that God requires, the knowledge of his will, the knowledge of his law; and, since “‘love ts the fulfilling of his law,” we will become Cherubim, and have God sitting on us, when we shall have that love, as it is written, “* 7’he soul of the just man ts the seat of wisdom.”—“ Let the earth be moved” is only a repetition of ‘* Let the people be angry;” for the Holy Spirit wished to shew that they wao feel anger towards God are no more than earth, and canno: harm God, who sits in heaven on the Cherubim; nor need we fear, if we, too, become Cherubim, and have God sitting on us. Referring the verse to Christ, the meaning would be, that his kingdom was declared after his resurrection and ascension, for then it began to be preached through the world, and at once the people got angry, and the earth was moved, at their fighting against their Lord for their idols; but, in spite of all their opposition, Christ our Lord reigned, and the idols were destroyed. And though it would appear that the anger of the idolaters had the victory over the bodies of the saints, it was only an apparent victory; for the bodies of the saints will be newly formed by him who conquered death in his own person, and they will live for ever; but the idols, once demolished, will never be put together again.
2 ‘* The Lord is great in Sion, and high above all people.”
In the first exposition, a reason is assigned here for the inutility of the anger of those people against God, who established his kingdom in Sion, and the reason is, because he is “‘ great,” ‘and high above all people;” that is, he excels all in greatness, power, and wisdom, so as to be excelled by no one, According to the second interpretation, it means that Christ, who reigns supreme in the Church, militant as well as triumphant, represented by Sion and Jerusalem, is great and high above all people, so that no body can resist him.
3 ‘+ Let them give praise to thy great name : for tt is terrible and holy :”
The prophet now exhorts the people, instead of being angry with God, to turn to him, and celebrate his name with praise ; for his name “ zs terrible and holy.” His name is said to be terrible and holy, because it is the name of a most powerful and just Judge or King, terrible by reason of his power, just by reason of his holiness.
4“ And the king's honour loveth judgment. Thou hast prepared directions : thou hast done judgment and justice in Jacob.”
A reason assigned for God’s or Christ’s name being terrible and holy. The name of the Lord, who is a most just King, is terrible and holy, because his dignity, his holiness, his authority requires that he should love justice, and that all his judgments should proceed from a pure love of justice, and not from anger, from fear, or from any pressure from without. “Thou hast prepared directions ; thou hast done judgments and justice in Jacob.” To prove that what he said regarding the king’s love for justice was true, he addresses Christ or God, saying, It must be true that you do love justice, for, you have ‘‘ prepared directions ;” wholesome and salutary laws calculated to direct the people and to reform their manners; and, with that, you have shewn your love for justice ; for, * thou hast done judgment and justice in Jacob,” by punishing sin, and rewarding virtue; many examples of which are to be found in the Old and New Testament. For, though God suffers the pious to be afflicted, and the wicked to prosper in this world, he, however, ultimately delivers and crowns the former, and condemns and torments the latter, certainly in the other world, and not unfrequently in this,
5 “ Exalt ye the Lord our God, and adore his footstool, for it is holy.”
From what has been said, the prophet infers that God ought to be adored, and exhorts all to do it diligently. According to the first interpretation, he exhorts them to adore God not only as God, but also in the Ark of the Covenant, which was his foot-stool, for we read in Paralipomenon xxviii., ‘‘ Jn which the Ark of the Lord, and the foot-stool of our God might rest;” and no wonder it should be called the footstool of the Lord, for the propitiatory that was supported by the Cherubim was God’s seat, and the Ark being under that was naturally called his foot-stool. He, therefore, says, ‘‘ Kxalt ye the Lord our God,” by praising and magnifying his majesty with heart and voice. ‘‘ And adore his foot-stool,” by bowing and prostrating yourselves before the Ark of the Covenant, which is his foot-stool; * for it is - holy,” by reason of its relation to God, to whom it is dedicated, and in honour of whom it is adored. Hence, we justly infer that sacred things, such as the images of Christ and of his saints, their relics and altars, sacred vessels, and the like, are, by reason of their relation to God, worthy of a certain degree of reverence and adoration. According to the second interpretation, the prophet exhorts all te adore the
human nature of Christ, that was the foot-stool of the divinity in a much more intimate and noble manner than was the wooden Ark. The latter contained the word of God on tables of stone ; but the Word itself was contained in the other. The one merely contained the tables of the law, as a vessel would hold its contents; while the other was hypostatically united to its contents, the Word; so that Jobn truly expressed it when he said, ‘* The Word was made jlesh.” And we are to adore Christ not only as man, but also under the sacramental species, as has been justly proved by the fathers from this same passage.
6 “ Moses and Aaron among his priests: and Samuel among them that call upon hisname. They called upon the Lord, and he heard them :”
The prophet now proposes a model for our imitation in three celebrated characters, who ‘‘eacalted” God, and ‘‘ adored his foot-stool,”’ and “ invoked his name,” and were, in consequence, heard by him, and got the power of working many miracles through him. He names three of the principal persons who were so remarkable among the Jews. Moses, who
was the leader, and at the same time a high priest ; °
Aaron, who was high priest only ; and Samuel, who was a civil ruler only; for though Samuel is sometimes called a priest by the holy fathers; he in reality was not a priest, he was only a Levite. In the first place, he was not of the family of Aaron, to whom the priesthood was confined, Secondly, when Samuel ministered, he was dressed in a linen ephod, the peculiar dress of the Levites, Thirdly, bis father, Elcana, was only a Levite, and not a priest. Fourthly, David himself evidently distinguishes him from Moses and Aaron, whom he classes among the priests, while he designates Samuel as merely among those that called upon the name of the Lord. “ They called upon the name of the Lord.” He proves that they were friends of God, for they prayed to him for themselves aud for their people, and he heard them as ~ being faithful friends. The Scriptures bear testimony to that, as far as Moses and Aaron are concerned most clearly; as also to Samuel, to whom he addressed himself in the night, and heard Samuel in reply.
7 “ He spoke to them in the pillar of the cloud. They kept his testumonies, and the commandment which he gave them.”
Though he did not speak to Samuel in the pillar of the cloud, he spoke to Moses and Aaron; and thus, the expression applies to the majority of those named. ‘ They kept his testimonies.” The reason why they were so promptly heard, for as the Lord himself says, “ Jf any one love me he will keep my word;” and, therefore, he that wishes God to hear his prayer, must hear God in his commandments, cs They kept his testimonies;” all his commandments which regarded all men; ‘and the commandment which he gave them;? they not only observed the precepts that bind men in general, but the peculiar obligation of governing and directing and teaching
COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS.
the people committed to them ; for princes and rulers are not exempt from the commandments, but they should rather be remarkable for their observance of them, to shew a good example to those they govern.
8 “Thou didst hear them, O Lord our God : thou wast amerciful God to them, and taking vengeance on all their inventions.”
When Moses and Aaron invoked you, you heard them in your mercy, and took vengeance on their enemies, and on all their wicked inventions,
9 “ Hxalt ye the Lord our God, and adore at his - holy mountain: for the Lord our God is holy.”
The prophet concludes by a repetition of the fifth verse, it being the essence of the Psalm, and containing the whole object of it. There is a slight difference however, for, in the fifth verse, “‘ adore has foot-stool,” is here, “ adore at his holy mountain ;” and * for it ts holy,” is here, “for the Lerd our God is haly.” According to interpretation No. 1, the meaning is, David exhorts the Jews to adore the Lord on mount Sion where the tabernacle was, and the temple was to be. According to interpretation No. 2, he exhorts Christians to adore God in the Cathclic Church, the holy mountain, the spiritual Sion, and to avoid the conventicles of heretics and schismatics, because the Lord our God is holy, and, in consequence, hates the mountains polluted by the filth of false religions; and, as he is himself holy, so ho wishes to be adored in his holy mountain, the assembly of the faithful. ;
PSALM XCIX. All are invited to rejoice in God the Creator of all.
1 Sing joyfully to God, all the earth: serve ye the Lord with gladness. Come in before his presence with exceeding great joy.
2 Know ye that the Lord he is God: he made us, and not we ourselves. We are his people and the sheep of his pasture. —
3 Go ye into his gates with praise, into his courts with hymns: and give glory to him. Praise ye his name :
4 For the Lord is sweet, his mercy endureth for ever, and his truth to generation and generation.
EXPLANATION OF THE PSALM.
1 ‘Sing joyfully to God, all the earth: serve ye the Lord with gladness. Come in before his presence with exceeding great joy.”
To sing joyfully means, as we have frequently repeated, to praise with a loud and joyful voice, and to serve with gladness means to be obedient through love, and not through fear. “ Sing joyfully to God all the earth.” All you worshippers of the true God, in whatever part of the world you may be cast,
COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS.
praise him. Good and bad are to be found all over the world: in the wheat will be found the cockle, and thorns among the lilies. And as the wicked, when they do not succeed according to their wishes, are always ready to blaspheme and murmur against God, so itis meet that the good throughout the world, whatever may happen them, whether for or against them, should praise and bless him; for, as St. Paul says, “we know that to them that love God all things work together unto good, to such as, according to his purpose, are called to be saints.”—* Serve ye the Lord with gladness.” Serve him by obeying him freely, and not as if you were under coercion— with the joy of freemen, and not with the bitterness of slaves. For, as St. Augustine expresses it, Truth delivered us, but love has made us slaves; and he that is a slave from love is one with pleasure. The principal reason, however, for serving God with pleasure consists in love being the summary of his precepts, and nothing is sweeter than love. Lesides, the service of God is a profitable thing to us, of no profit to him. ‘“* Come in before his presence with exceeding great joy.” We are bound to praise God everywhere, but especially when we enter bis house, “ a house of prayer,” where we see God himself in his sacred things, and he, by a special providence, looks on and hears us, according to 2 Paralip. vii., “ My eyes also shall be open, and my ears attentive to the prayer of him that shall pray in this place.” The prophet, therefore, admonishes them “ to come in before his presence,” into the house of God, where they can specially see him, and he them, and to come “ with exceeding great joy,” in high spirits, so that God may see their ardent desire for him.
2 “ Know ye that the Lord he is God: he made us,
and not we ourselves. We are his people and the sheep of
Nothing tends so much to stir up that devotion suited to the house of God, as an attentive consideration of God’s greatness and his gifts. “* Know ye that the Lord he is God.” Consider, and, after serious consideration, be it known to you, that the God you worship, and to whom ycu come to offer your tribute of prayer and praise, is the true God, than whom nothing greater or better can be imagined. Tohim you owe your whole life and existence ; for ** he made us, and not we ourselves ;” he is the primary source of our being; for though parents beget children, they
get them through God’s will only. How many in the world sigh and long for children, and are still denied them; and, on the other hand, how many would enjoy the married state without the burden of children, and still have children thrust upon them. Most justly, then, did the holy mother of the Machabees say to her sons, “J know not how you were Sormed in my womb, for 1 neither gave you breath, nor soul, nor life; neither did I frame the limbs of every one of you, but the Creator of the. world that Sormed the nativity of man, and that formed out the
origin of all.” —“ We are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.” He now reminds them of another of God’s favours, for which they are bound to thank and praise him, because he not only created us, but he also directs and supports us. “ Weare his people,” directed by God’s special providence ; * and the sheep of his pasture ;” supported by the food of his word,
. that nourishes us as rich pastures support the sheep
that feed on them,
3‘ Go ye into his gates with praise, into his courts with hymns : and give glory to him. Praise ye his name :”
Enter into his house with praise and thanksgiving, acknowledging you owe all to him, and have received eyery thing from him.
4 “* For the Lord is sweet, his mercy endureth for ever, and his truth to generation and generation.”
The prophet now enumerates three of God’s attributes as a further reason for being praised and glorified by all. God’s sweetness, mercy, and veracity, which are so connected that one would seem to be ‘the source of the other. ‘ The Lord is sweet,” and, therefore, inclined to mercy; his mercy causes him to promise pardon, and his veracity causes him to fulfil his promise. “ For the Lord is sweet.” An extraordinary attribute of that omnipotent and tremen- Cous majesty that dwells in light inaccessible, that is terrible above all gods, who taketh away the spirit of the princes, and of whom the Apostle says, “ Tt is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God;’ and -yet, most truly is it said of him, “ The Lord is sweet.” This is not the only passage that says so. It is frequently repeated in the Scriptures, Psalm xxxiii., “ O taste and see that the Lord is sweet ;” and in Pralm lxxxv., “ror thou, O Lord, art sweet, and mild, and plenteous in mercy ;” and, 1 Peter ii., “ Jf yet you have tasted that the Lord is sweet;” and in 2 Cor. i, “ The Father of mercies, and the God of all consolation.” These two apparently contradictory attributes of God are, however, easily reconciled. God is sweet to the upright of heart, to those that fear him; he is rough and terrible to the crooked of heart, and to those that despise him. Hence the prophet, in another Psalm, exclaims, “‘ How good is God to Israel, to them that are of a right heart ;” for what is quite level seems rough to one with a crooked heart, and all those are crooked in heart, who will not conform themselves to the will of God; and hence we read in Psalm cii., “As a father hath compassion on his children, so hath the Lord compassion on them that fear him; his mercy ts from eternity, and unto eternity upon them that fear him; an expression used by the Virgin, in her canticle, when she sang, ‘‘ And his mercy is from generation to generation, to them that fear him.” lf any one, then, will begin to direct his heart, and make it conformable to God’s will, and to fear nothing so much as offending God, he will, at once, begin to taste how sweet God is; and in him will te realised
the conclusion of the Psalm, ‘‘ his mercy endureth for ever, and his truth to generation and generation.”
_ The prophet exhorteth all by his example, to follow mercy and justice.
1 Mercy and judgment I will sing to thee, O Lord: I will sing,
2 And I will understand in the unspotted way, when thou shalt come tome. I walked in the innocence of my heart, in the midst of my house.
3 I did not set before my eyes any unjust:
thing : I hated the workers of iniquities. 4 The perverse heart did not cleave to me: and the malignant, that turned aside from me, I would not know.
5 The man that in private detracted his neighbour, him did I persecute. With him that had a proud eye, and an unsatiable heart, I would not eat. :
6 My eyes were upon the faithful of the earth, to sit with me: the man that walked in the perfect way, he.served me.
7 He that worketh pride shall not dwell in the midst of ny house: he that speaketh
unjust things did not prosper before my eyes. —
8 In the morning I put:to death all the wicked of the land: that I might cut off all the workers of iniquity from the city of the Lord.
EXPLANATION.OF THE PSALM.
1 “* Mercy and judgment Iwill sing to thee, O Lord: 1 will sing,”
This is a sort of preface to the Psalm, in which David gives us to understand that he is about to sing of the mercy and judgment of God, for which he has many reasons; first, that all may understand that his own good works proceed from the mercy of God, and will be crowned hereafter by the judgment of God. Secondly, to admonish princes that nothing pleases God so much as mercy and judgment; and, therefore, that it behoved them to be merciful without being unjust, to be just without being cruel. Thirdly, that all men should hope in God’s mercy, while they dread his judgment; but to hope, without presuming, and to fear, without despairing, He names mercy first, for the present life is that of mercy, the future that of judgment; so that no one need be surprised if, for the present, “he makes his sun to rise upon the good and the bad, and raineth upon the just and the unjust,”
2 “ dnd I will understand in the unspotted way,
COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS.
when thou shalt come to me. I waiked in the innocence of my heart, in the midst of my house.”
I will consider on, reflect, and think upon the perfect and unspotted way, that consists in mercy and judgment; for “ all the ways of the Lord are mercy and truth.” A similar expression occurs in Psalm xl., Blessed is he that understandeth concerning the needy and the poor ;” which means, he considers the misery of the poor with a view of relieving them; thus also, “¢T will understand in the unspotted way’ meaus, b will consider if attentively, with the view of walking in it. That I never will be able to do of myself, by my own strength, but by the help of your grace, “when you shall come to me,” to enlighten, teach, inflame, and move me. ‘‘ J walked in the innocence of my heart, im the midst of my house.’ He now commences relating his mode of life, as worthy of imitation both by his successors and by his subjects; for it is for this purpose that the king sits on an elevated seat, ‘‘thut, like a candle placed on a eandlestick, he may shine unto all.” He first explains his position with himself and with God; next, with others, and in the eyes of his people. ‘* F walked in the innocence of my heart;” 1 led or walked the life of this world, preserving my innocence most completely ; thinking of nothing, seeking nothing, delighting in nothing but what was good; most careful in keeping my heart from being polluted by sinful thoughts or desires; for ] knew the heart to be the source of life and of death. Hence his son Solomon, educated by such a father, afterwards wrote, ‘ With all watchfulness keep thy heart, because life issueth out from it.”—“ In the midst of my house.” Where there was no one to censure me; for many will conduct themselves with great gravity and decorum in the streets or market-place, while they revel in all manner of licentiousness in their houses or their chambers, especially in the chambers of their hearts; while David kept his innocence unstained, © not only in his house, but also in his heart.
8 “I did not set before my eyes any unjust thing: E hated the workers of iniquities.”
What he said of the innocence of his heart he now says of his eyes and of his hands. ‘J did not set before my eyes any unjust thing ;” I turned away the eyes of my mind as well as of my body from all injustice, whether in deciding between my subjects or in the distribution of honours and promotions, or in bargains and contracts; and furthermore, from all sinful objects, illicit sports, impure revels, and from all manner of objects that could possibly defile the soul. “ I hated the workers of iniquity.” I not only turned away my eyes from forbidden objects, and did no manner of iniquity, but I even hated all those guilty of it; and thus, got a thorough detestation of iniquity itself.
4 “ The perverse heart did not cleave to me: and the
maha, that turned aside from me, I would not chow.”
COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS.
After telling his position in regard of himself, he now tells us how he stood in regard of others; and such was his position that the wicked would not even dare to approach him. Great must be the virtue of any one, when others have such an opinion of his sanctity, that the wicked shrink from even appearing in his presence. Such should all priaces and prelates be, who are set up by God to give good example to others. ‘‘ Zhe perverse heart did not cleave to me.” The ill-disposed avoided me, ‘‘ and the malignant, that hath turned aside from me, I would not know.” When the wicked would cut and fly from me, I took no trouble about them, and sought not their acquaintance.
5 “ The man that in private detracted his neighbour, him did I persecute. With him that had a proud eye, and an unsatiable heart, [ would not eat.”
Another royal virtue, in which mercy and judg-
ment are most conspicuous, is now touched upon. For kings have power to punish the wicked ; and many, more through hatred of their neighbour than from a love of justice, bring charges against those they wish to injure, and seek to oppress them by falsehood aud calumny; and King David, in his wisdom and justice, most severely punished such unjust complain- .ants, and thus exercised his mercy on the unjustly accused, and his justice on the false accusers, ‘* The man that in private detracted his newghbour,” when any one falsely accused his innocent neighbour, and in private would take from him his character with me, I not only gave no ear to him, but I punished him severely.. “* Him did I persecute.” —“ With him that had a proud eye and unsatiable heart I would not eat.” David had a thorough hatred not only of detractors, but of the proud and the avaricious, and justly. For no greater misfortune can befal a people than to have the king’s ministers proud or avavicious, They abuse their power in satisfying their avarice, to the great injury of those under them. The meaning, then, is, I never admitted to my table, or used the slightest familiarity with him “that had a proud eye,” one who by his looks and his bearing betrayed his pride: “ and an unsatiable heart,” to whose avarice and cupidity there were no bounds. That the king’s principal ministers were accustomed to sit at the same table with him may be seen in 1 Kings xx., where David, who was then general, and even Abner, who was a subaltern officer, sat at table with Saul the king.
6 ‘‘ My eyes were upon the faithful of the earth, to sit with me: the man that walked im the perfect way, he served me.”
Having shut out detractors, the proud, and the avaricious from his friendship and from his service, David now adds that he was wont to select the taithful and the upright, two qualities absolutely necessary in good ministers, to be faithful to their master, and upright in every thing that regarded their own and their neighbour’s salvation. It often happens
that ministers are kept in the employment of their sovereigns, and are much regarded by them by reason of their being so faithful to them, no matter how depraved and abandoned they may be in other respects, or how much harm they may be doing to themselves and to others through their bad example : but holy David’s ministers should be not only faithful to him, but unstained and unblemished, and like himself in every respect. He, therefore, says, “ My eyes were upon the faithful of the earth.” I looked about and sought for the faithful; or I looked with an eye of favour on those whom I knew to be faithful, and selected them ; ‘to sit with me,” at my table, as so many friends and companions. “ Zhe man that walked with me wn the perfect way, he served me.” And furthermore, if there was any other subject or citizen however unknown to or unacquainted with me, provided he bore a good character, and led an irreproachable life, he was adopted as my prime minister.
7 “* He that worketh pride shall not dwell in the midst of my house: he that speaketh unjust things did not prosper before my eyes.”
Having expressed his horror of those who displayed their arrogance by the pride of their eyes, he now declares his disgust with those whose actions savoured of pride; that is, with those who proudly oppressed their neighbour. And as he previously reprehended those who secretly detracted their neighbour, he now censures and excludes from his company all those who have recourse to lies, in order to deceive any manner of people. ‘ He that worketh pride,” whose actions savour of pride, who proudly insults or oppresses others, “shall not dweil in the midst of my house,” shall not be reckoned among my friends or domestics. “ He that speaketh unjust things,” lies, by which he deceives others in business transactions, or in any thing else, ‘did not prosper before my eyes;” did not please me, and, therefore, got no grace from me to make him prosper.
8 “ In the morning I put to death all the wicked of the land: that I might cut off all the workers of iniquity Jrom the city of the Lord.”
He concludes the Psalm by shewing the amount of his zeal in purging the city of the Lord, therein dealing mercifully with the good, who had been hitherto crushed and oppressed by the wicked ; and inflicting condign punishment from the latter for their oppressions. ‘‘ Jn the morning,” speedily, quickly, before vice could have taken root; ‘‘ Z put to death all the wicked in the land,” all those who deserved death, and whose life could not be spared without danger to the innocent. And that was done by me in order “that I might cut off all the workers of iniquity,” to restore peace and tranquillity to the inhabitants of God’s holy city, by weeding out all the disturbers therein. All the Psalm, though spoken by David in his own person, is more applicable to Christ, especially this last verse ; for David did all in him lay to
banish all bad members from the city of the Lord, but he did not succeed, and never could succeed therein; but Christ, in the morning of the world to come, will really and truly cut off and scatter all the workers of iniquity, and thenceforward the holy city of the heavenly Jerusalem will be what its name implies, a vision of peace.
PSALM CTI. A prayer for one in affliction : the fifth penttential psalm.
1 Hear, O Lord, my prayer: and let my cry come to thee. -
2 Turn not away thy face from me: in the day when Iam in trouble, incline thy ear to me. In what day soever I shall call upon thee, hear me speedily.
3 For my days are vanished like smoke: and my bones are grown dry like fuel for the fire,
4 I am smitten as grass, and my heart is withered: because I forgot to eat my bread.
5 Through the voice of my groaning, my bone hath cleaved to my flesh.
6 Iam become like to a pelican of the wilderness: J am like a night-raven in the house.
7 [have watched, and am become as a sparrow, all alone on the house-top.
8 All the day long my enemies reproached me: and they that praised me did swear against me.
9 For I did eat ashes like bread, and mingled my drink with weeping.
10 Because of thy anger and indignation: for haying lifted me up thou hast thrown me down.
11 My days have declined like a shadow, and I am withered like grass,
12 But thou, O Lord, endurest for ever; and thy memorial to all generations,
13 Thou shalt arise, and have mercy on Sion: for it is time to have mercy on it; for the time is come,
14 For the stones thereof have pleased thy servants; and they shall have pity on the earth thereof.
15 And the gentiles shall fear thy name,O Lord, and all the kings of the earth thy glory.
16 For the Lord hath built up Sion: and he shall be seen in his glory.
- He hath had regard to the prayer of the humble: and he hath not despised their petition.
18 Let these things be written unto an-
COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS.
other generation: and the people that shall be created shall praise the Lord:
19 Because he hath looked forth from his high sanctuary: from heaven the Lord hath looked upon the earth:
20 That he might hear the groans of them that are in fetters: that he might release the children of the slain :
21 That they may declare the name of the Lord in Sion: and his praise in Jerusalem.
22 When the people assemble together, and kings to serve the Lord,
23 He answered him in the way of his strength: Declare unto me the fewness of my days.
24 Call me not away in the midst of my days: thy years are unto generation and generation.
25 In the beginning, O Lord, thou fountledst the earth: and the heavens are the works of thy hands.
26 They shall perish, but thou remainest: and all of them shall grow old like a garment:. and as a vesture thou shalt change them, and they shall be changed.
27 But thou art always the self-same, and thy years shall not fail.
28 The children of thy servants shall continue: and their seed shall be directed for ever.
EXPLANATION OF THE PSALM.
1 “ Hear, O Lord, my prayer: and let my ery come to thee.”
This verse is used daily by the Church ag a preparation to any other petitions she may need to put: up to the Creator; for, she learned from the prophet that we should ask for an audience from God before we put any petition in particular before him; not that God, as if he were otherwise engaged, needs being roused or having his attention called, but because we need that God should give us the spirit of prayer ; nay, even it is “ the Spirdt himself that asketh Sor us with unspeakable groanings,” Rom. viii. “Hear, O Lord, my prayer; that is, make me so pray that I may be worthy of being heard. And, to express his delight, he repeats it by saying, ‘‘ and let my cry come to thee.” Make me pray in such a manner that my prayer may be the earnest cry of my heart ; so full of fire and devotion, that, though sent up from the lowest depth, it may not falter on the way, but ultimately reach you sitting on your lofty throne. Many things prevent our prayers from penetrating the clouds, such as want of faith, of confidence, of humility, desire, and the like; and he, therefore, asks for the grace of praying well, that is, in a manner likely to obtain what we want.
COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS.
2“ Turn not away thy face from me : in the day when Lam in trouble, incline thy ear to me. In what day soever I shall call upon thee, hear me speedily.”
This is the primary and principal petition of a poor man in trouble, or of a repentant sinner; for “No man can correct whom God hath despised ;” and as God’s regarding us is both the first grace and the fountain of grace, he, at the very outset, asks God to look on him, saying, “ Zurn not away thy face from me,” however foul and filthy I may be; and if your own image, by reason of my having so befouled it, will not induce you to look upon me, let your mercy prevail upon you, for the fouler Iam, the more wretched and miserable I am, and unless you look upon me, I will never be brought to look upon you, but daily wallowing deeper and deeper in my sins, I must, of necessity, be always getting more filthy and more foul. Any one that speaks in such manner begins to be already looked upon by God, but, as it were, with only half his anger laid aside, and still averting his face; however, having got any glimpse of God’s light and countenance, he crys out, “ Zurn not away thy face from me;’ cast me not away from thy face; finish what you have begun, by turning yourself to me, that I may be perfectly and completely turned to thee. “In the day when I am in trouble, incline thy ear to me.” This is a second petition, but a consequence of the first; for, the moment God begins to look upon any one, that moment man begins to see his own filth and nakedness, and, through it, his real poverty. He then begins to be troubled and afflicted, and to recur to the supreme Physician, who is rich in mercy; for he knows that God never despises an afilicted spirit and a contrite heart. He, therefore, says, with confidence, “* In the day when Iam in trouble, incline thy ear to me;” whenever, through the influence of your grace, I shall feel troubled for my sins, and, in consequence, cry to you, hear me kindly, I pray you; and he repeats it, ** In whatsoever day I shall call upon thee, hear me speedily;” whenever I shall be in trouble, and call upon you, my all-powerful Physician, hear me, and that quickly, for fear a delay may lose yow the one you seek to heal,
3 ‘* For my days are vanished like smoke: and my bones are grown dry like fuel for the fire.”
He assigns a reason for having said, “ hear me quickly,” and the reason is, that man’s life draws to a close with the greatest rapidity ; and if the wounds inflicted by sin be not cured at once, there is a chance of their never being cured. “ Hor my days are vanished like smoke.” The time I have spent in this world has passed away like a body of smoke, that seems large and bulky on its first ascending, but immediately gets thinner and evaporates altogether; and thus, too, will the remainder of me; my bones, the pillars, as it were, of my whole body, “ they are grown dry,” and thus weakened and verging to ruin.
4 “*T am smitten as grass, and my heart is withered: because I forgot to eat my bread.”
He continues deploring his past state, and says, “I am smitten as grass.” The sun so shone on me in my prosperity that I am stricken down like so much withered grass; ‘‘ and my heart ts withered ;” for I have been so overwhelmed by the cares of the world that “I forgot to eat my bread;” the bread of heavenly truth, which, strictly speaking, is our bread, and not shared in by the brutes ; for the food of the body is not, strictly speaking, our food. Nothing can be truer; and itis a reflection that should be always before those who are well to do in the world; for, if they dwell under the shadow of God’s wings, or constantly bedew themselves with the showers of his grace, they must, of necessity, ‘be smitten as grass ;” and their heart, that so sickens at the food of heaven, must become quite ‘“‘ withered.” “ Take heed to yourselves lest, perhaps, your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and the cares of this ife;” for such people always forget to eat the true bread, and become dried up of all the grace of devotion.
5 “ Through the voice of my groaning, my bone hath cleaved to my flesh.”
He now tells how sorry he is for his past life, and shews fruit worthy of penance; for as his flesh formerly revelled in luxuries, and his heart withered by reason of his having forgotten his daily spiritual food, so now, on the contrary, ‘‘ through the voice of his groaning,” from his constant lamentations, his flesh neglects its daily food; and thus, ‘ my bone hath cleaved to my flesh ;” that is, to the skin, being all wasted and worn—an evident approval of fasting and penance, being both the signs and the fruit of true penance.
6 ** Lam become like to a pelican of the wilderness : I am like a night-raven in the house.
7 “ I have watched, and am become as a sparrow, all alone on the house-top.”
To tears and fasting he unites solitude and watching, the marks of true penance. For if one will not- seriously withdraw himself awhile from the world, and, in serious watchings, call up the number and the greatness of his sins, it is hardly possible to deplore them sufficiently. He compares the penitent to three birds; the pelican, living exclusively in the desert ; the night-raven or the owl], an inhabitant of old dismantled houses; and the sparrow, dwelling on, rather than in, houses. For, as St. Jerome remarks, the houses in Palestine were built with flat. and not pointed roofs like ours, on which the pecple were wont to enjoy themselves, tosun themselves, and frequently to have their meals there. Hence, in Mat. x., we have “* Preach ye upon the house-tops;” that is, standing on such flat house-tops; and in Acts x., we read of St. Peter, that ‘* He went up to the higher parts of the house to pray.” These three birds represent three classes of penitents. Some repair als
together to the desert, such as Mary Magdalen, Mary of Egypt, Paul the first hermit, Anthony, Hilarion, and many others, who can say with the prophet, Psalm v., “So I have gone afar off, flying away ; and I abode in the wilderness ;” and as the pelican wages constant war on noxious animals, especially on serpents, so the Anchorets constantly combat with the demons, and live, as it were, on the victories acquired over them. Others do penance in the cities and towns, cooped up in narrow cells and cloisters, and, separated from the world, come out like the owl in the night, and spend the most of it in chanting the divine praises in hymns and sacred music. Finally, others, encumbered with families, or public duties, who cannot retire from the world, still, like the solitary sparrow on the house-top, manage to rise above the world and its cares. These are they who, while they ave in the world, are not of the world ; being slaves neither to the wealth, nor the honours, nor the cares of the world. They make such things slaves to them ; they master, they dispose of, and they dispense them, and they do not suffer themselves to be entangled or ensnared by them; so that their minds can revel freely in solitude here, and thus, enjoy heaven hereafter. ‘To such persons it belongs to watch and preach from the house-tops, to watch their own temptations and dangers, and to preach both by word and by example to those over whom they may be placed. those in high rank to observe the greatest humility, for those who have the wealth of the world to content themselves with moderate food and elothing, that thereby they may be the better able to help those in want; for those who are prone to concupiscence, to chastise their body, and bring it under subjection, by fasting and spare living ; and finally,
to serve our neighbours from love, to compassionate *
their sufferings, and to bear with their annoyances and scandals.
8 “ All the day long my enemies reproached me: and they that praised me did swear against me.”
They who seriously turn to penance are always objects of hatred to those sinners who choose to remain in their sins. ‘‘ He is grievous unto us even to behold; for his life is not like other men’s, and his ways are very different,” Wisdom ii.; and, though that was said of the just man, it applies to the penitent sinner, seeking to be reconciled also. He, therefore, says, “ All the day long my enemies reproached me.” All those who previously, by reason of our union in wickedaess, had been my friends, when they saw me become another man, turned out most bitter enemies, and upbraided and reproached me with my conversion, as if I were doing a foolish act; “and they who praised me” as a brave and boon companion, for the wicked are praised for their bad acts, afterwards “ did swear against me,” conspired to injure me.
9 “ For I did eat ashes like bread, and mingled my drink with weeping.”
No penance can be more valuable than for.
COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS.
He tells why his enemies reproached him: it was because “J eat ashes like bread, and mingled my drink with weeping;” that is to say, they thought it the height of madness for me to adopt so severe a rule of life of my own accord. ‘The eating of ashes like bread means that the bread he ate was coarse, and rudely baked, being baked in the ashes, which clung to it; such bread being in use with those doing penance. ‘And mingled my drink with weeping,” wept while I remembered how often I had offended God.
10 “Because of thy anger and indignation : for having lifted me up thow hast thrown me down.”
See why the true pevitent chooses to begrime himself with ashes and quench his thirst with his tears! He does not do so for want of reason, or because he cannot help it through his poverty, but because he has the Divine anger before his mind, and by such humiliations and signs of true repentance he hopes to satisfy him in some degree. He so punished himself because he saw God’s anger aud indignation were lighted up against him for the sins he had committed; and that he saw, because “having lifted me up thou hast thrown me down.” Having, through your grace, raised me to the highest dignity by your friendship and adoption, you afterwards, by reason of my own sins, degraded me from the rank of a friend and a child to that of an enemy or a rebellious fugitive slave. For fear sinners may imagine that the loss they suffer by the commission of sin is a trifling one, the Scripture makes use of a word, translated “ thou hast cast me down,” that signifies complete demolition. It alludes to a vessel thrown on the ground from a high place, and thereby shivered into a thousand atoms, along with losing its high position. And so with the sinner, who, blinded by the desires of the flesh, does not see the injury done to him, yet truly loses his all when both body and soul are consigned to hell by him who cannot be resisted.
11 “My days have declined like a shadow, and I am withered like grass.”
Our own mortality is a part and a sign of the aforesaid demolition ; for, when our first parent was placed in so glorious a position that he might have lived for ever, by reason of his sin he * was thrown down,” with all his posterity, and the effect of that was, “‘that his days declined like a shadow, and he became withered as grass.” The prophet, then, speaking in the person of the penitent, says, I am “thrown down” by youin your anger. Not only by reason of my own sins, but by reason of the old fall, that is common to us all; “my days have declined like a shadow,” quietly, insensibly, but steadily, until at sunset it disappears and passes into the shadow of night. “And I am withered like grass.” ], who was created to flourish like the palm for ever, am now prostrate and withered, like the grass that dries up immediately,
COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS.
12 * But thou, O Lord, endurest for ever; and thy memorial to all generations.”
This is the second part of the Psalm, in which the prophet, in the person of a poor penitent, after having recounted his wretchedness, now conceives a hope of reconciliation ; and, inspired by the Holy Ghost, predicts the future restoration and renovation of the Church through Christ, as the Apostle explains in the first chaper of the Hebrews. The Apostle, wishing in that chapter to prove the divinity of Christ, first quotes the words in Psalm xliv., ‘* Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever;” then those of Psalm xcev., ‘ Adore him all you his Angels ;” and lastly, the words of this present Psalm, saying, ‘* Thou, O Lord, in the beginning hast founded the earth;” which words are addressed to the same person as those words before us, ‘‘ But thou, O Lord, endurest for ever.” If the former, then, be addressed to the Son, so are the latter. They who say these words apply to God directly, and to Christ indirectly as the Son of God, do not meet the objection; for in that case the Apostle, instead of proving Christ to be God, would be only taking for granted he was God. The meaning of the passage, then, is: I, indeed, have withered away like grass, but thou, O Lord, the Messias we expect, remainest for ever; our memory passes away like a sound, but your memorial—that is, your memory— will pass from generation to generation, because, in the succession of ages, there shall be always those to hand down your wonderful doings.
13 ‘* Thou shalt arise, and have mercy on Sion: for at is time to have mercy on it; for the time is come.”
The reason why “‘thy memorial shall be propagated to all generations” is, because you will not forget dealing mercifully with your people; but ‘thou shalt arise” as if from along sleep, ‘* and have mercy on Sion,” wilt come in mercy and save us; for in spirit I see “the t2me ts come to have mercy on it;” that is, it is nigh, just at hand, nay, even has already come; for, with the eye of a prophet, I see the future as if it were really present. This is the time of which the Apostle speaks when he says, ‘‘ But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent his Son,” of whom Isaias says, “ In an acceptable time Ihave heard thee, and in the day of salvation I have helped thee;” in explaining which St. Paul, 2 Cor. vi., says, ‘* Behold, now ts the acceptable time ; behold, now is the day of salvation.”
14 “ For the stones thereof have pleased thy servants : and they shall have pity on the earth thereof.”
The prophet foresaw and foretold the renovation of the holy Sion, from the fact of foreseeing God’s servants, his holy Apostles, who hitherto had been devoted to fishing and such humble pursuits, now, after having been instructed by Christ, and filled with the Holy Ghost, inflamed with the most ardent desire of establishing the Church, and having abandoned all the cares of this world, devoting them-
selves to that one object alone. ‘ Wor the stones thereof,” the building of the new Jerusalem, the collecting and placing the living stones together that were to be built upon the foundation already laid, “ nleased thy servants,” those whom you chose and predestined for the purpose; ‘and they shall have pity on the earth thereof,” they will foster and cherish the land of the new Jerusalem, as the mother clings to the child in her womb (for such is the force of the Hebrew), as in Isaias, ‘* Can a woman Sorget her infant so as not to have pity on the son of her womb ?” By stones are meant in this verse the steady and the perfect, while the earth represents - the weak and the infirm, of whom the Apostle says, “ Him that is weak in faith take unto you;” and again, ‘* Now, we that are stronger ought to bear the infirmities of the weak ;” and again, “ Who is weak, and I am not weak.”
15 ‘‘ And the gentiies shall fear thy name, O Lord, and all the kings of the earth thy glory.”
When the new Sion shall be in progress of building, the gentiles will be converted, and “ shall fear’ with a holy fear and pious veneration, “‘ thy name, O Lord,” Jesus Christ; “and all the kings of the earth” will also be converted, and will fear “thy glory,” that is, thy majesty, as King of kings and Lord of lords of the earth, sitting at the right hand of the Father, until all your enemies shall be put under the foot-stool of your feet ; and afterwards as the Judge that will come to judge the living and the dead, and render to every one according to his works.
16 “ For the Lord hath built up Sion: and he shall be seen in his glory.”
See why all nations and all their kings shall fear Christ’s glory! ‘ For the Lord hath built up Sion” in the present day, having established his Church in spite of all kings and nations, and “ the gates of hell will not prevail against wt;” “and he shall be seen in his glory,” in the time to come, when he shall come with ail his Angels, in the clouds of heaven, with great power to judge the world. When he began to build up Sion he was seen in his lowliness. “ We have seen him, and there was no sightliness, that we should be desirous of him;” but when he shall come to pass judgment, then “ he shall be seen in his glory.”
17 ‘ He hath had regard to the prayer of the humble : and he hath not despised their petition.”
This verse alludes to the prayers of the holy martyrs, who in Apocalypse vi., say, ‘‘ How long, O Lord, dost thou not judge and revenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?’ The Son of God, then, will be seen in his glory, for he hath ‘‘ had regard to the prayer” of all the martyrs, and all his other pious servants ; “ and he hath not despised their petitions;” anc, therefore, he will come to judge, and to avenge their blood on those who are still in this world.
18 “ Let these things be written unto another generation : and the people that shall be created shall praise the Lord:”
For fear the Jews may suppose that this prophecy applied to themselves, and take it as in reference to the termination of the captivity of Babylon, and the building of Jerusalem, the Holy Ghost was pleased to remind them distinctly, as St. Peter afterwards clearly explains in his first Epistle, chap. i., “ The prophets who prophesied of the grace to come in you;” and further on, “ Zo whom it was revealed, that not to themselves but to you they ministered those things which are now declared to you by those who have preached the Gospel to you.” The Holy Ghost, then, speaking through David, says, ‘* Let these things be written unto another generation.” These things will be understood hereafter, ‘‘ and the people that shall be created,” the people then in existence, “ shall praise the Lord,” by reason of seeing all those things accomplished.
19 “ Because he hath looked forth from his high sanctuary : from heaven the Lord hath looked upon the earth :”
The reason why the people of the New Tes‘ament will praise the Lord is, because God has deigned to look down from his holy place on high on this vale of our wretchedness ; and that, not with an uninterested or indifferent eye, but with a view to let himself down, to be seen on earth, and to converse with men,
20 “* That he might hear the groans of them that are in Setters: that he might revease the children of the slain :”
God Almighty so humbled himself to have an opportunity “that he might hear the groans of them that are in fetters,” imposed upon them by the prince of darkness, and held in captivity by him ; and that he might, on hearing their groans, release them and send them away infreedom. That was accomplished, as the Lord himself testifies, by his own coming, as we read in Luke iv. By those “ that are in fetters,” we are to understand those who are slaves to concupiscence, mastered and fettered by their own passions. ‘‘ The children of the slain,” ave the old children of Adam and Eve, who were slain by the craft of the serpent, for, as we read in Wisdom ii., “ By the envy of the devil, death came into the world;” and the Lord himself, speaking of the devil, says, John vili., “ He was a murderer from the beginning, and he abode not in the truth.”
21 “That they may declare the name of the Lord in Sion, and his praise in Jerusalem.” j
The Lord came to break the bonds of those that were in fetters, and to rescue them from the power of darkness, ‘‘ that they may declare the name of the Lord in Sion ;” that is, that by their conversion to the true and living God, they may glorify the name of the Lord in the Ciurch, which is the spiritual Sion; which he repeats when he says, “ and his praise in Jerusalem,” praising and thanking God,
COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS.
and blessing him for the great favour of calling them to the Catholic Church, which is the new Jerusalem, as St. Peter explains ia his first Epistle, “ Dut you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a purchased people; that you may declare his virtues, who hath called you out of darkness into his admirable light.” .
22 “* When the people assemble together, and kings to serve the Lord,”
He now tells when those who have been delivered from the powers of darkness ought to praise the name of the Lord. ‘ When the people assemble together.” When the various nations all over the world, who hitherto had been worship sing various and different false gods, ‘ shall assemble together,” and be formed into one body, and there shall be one spirit, one God, one faith, one baptism; nay more, when, through charity, there shall be one heart and one soul; when not only the people, but those who are placed over them, shall come together in the one body of the Church, that they, too, may serve God.
23 “* He answered him in the way of his strength: Declare unto me the fewness of my days.” —
This is a most obscure passage, and the most probable interpretation of it is that which makes it an answer of the prophet to him who commanded hin to write those things to aaother generation, The prophet “ answers in the way of his strength;” that is, when he was in the flower of his youth, in robust health: ‘* Declare unto me the fewness of my days.” Make me understand and seriously persuade myself, that my days are numbered, and short is the term of my life, for fear I may be deceived. by calculating, from the preseat vigour of my youth, on a long and hale old age, and be hurried off when I least expect it, unforeseenly and unprepared; and thus fail in being numbered among that people that will be created to praise thee for ever in the heavenly Jerusalem.
24 * Call me not away inthe midst of my days: thy years are unto generation and generation.”
The first half of this verse refers to the preceding ; the last half to the following verse. Having said, “* Declare unto me the fewness of my days,” he adds another prayer, saying, “Call me not away in the midst of my days.” Do not cut my course short by hurrying me off on a sudden, whea | may be quite unprepared, and the call most unexpected. “ Zhy years are unto generation and generation.” A reason why God should allow man to live as long as may be necessary to meet a holy and happy ceath. In other words, your years, O Lord, are everlasting, from generation to generation, without end; and it is, therefore, only meet that the creature formed to your image should be favoured with a life long enough to secure an everlasting life,
25 “In the beginning, O Lord, thou foundedst the earth: and the heavens are the works of thy hands.”
COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS.
26 “ They shall perish, but thou remainest: and all of them shall grow old like a garment: and as a vesture thou shalt change them, and they shall be changed.
27 ‘ But thou art always the self-same, and thy years shall not fail.”
He proves that God alone is eternal, from the fact of his being alone immutable, a proof from first principles. And he proves God to be immutable, from the fact of his having brought the heavens from nonexistence into existence, and will again bring them back to their original non-existence, while he always remains the same, without any change; and what he says of the heavens applies to all creation, of which the heavens form the noblest part. “ Zn the beginning, O Lord, thou foundedst the earth ;” you, O Lord, existed in the beginning, before the earth, an inferior part of the world, and you laid its foundations, wthout any pre-existing matter whereon to lay them. “And the heavens are the work of thy hands.” You made not only the earth, but even the heavens, the most excellent part of the world, without any help, from Angels or any one else, but with your own hands, by your own power and wisdom; and thus brought the whole world from nonexistence into existence. ‘ They (the heavens) shall perish, but thow remainest.” Even though the heavens should grow old, should change and perish, you will always remain the same, as we read in Mat. v., Tull heaven and earth shail pass, one jot or tittle shall not pass from the law, till all be fulfilled ;” which is explained in Luke xvi., ** It is easter for heaven and earth to pass, than for one tittle of the law to fail.” . Another explanation of this seutence makes it absolutely apply to what he names. For the heavens will perish, will grow old, will be subject to changes, as regards the motion of the heavenly bodies, the influence of heat, the production of inferior bodies; the earth, too, will perish as regards the production of herbs and animals, and the world will be consumed as regards the figure and shape it now has; for the Apostle writes, ‘ Mor the Sigure of this world passeth away ;” and again, ‘ For the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.” | Here he gives the name of temporal to every thing we see, because the very elements, and the heavens, as we see them, will have an end. We see the earth clothed with trees, full of cattle, ornamented with buildings ; the rivers now placidly rolling along, now swollen and muddy; the sky now clouded, now serene; the stars in perpetual motion ; all of which are temporal, and sure to come to an end; for, as St. Peter writes, “* We look for new heavens and a new earth, according to his promise.” — And all of them shall grow old hike a garment.” All the heavens, as regards their shape and form, shall be consumed. ‘“ And as a vesture thou shalt change them, and they shall be changed;” you will remove the external clothing the heavens now have, and put a new one on them, as if you took off a man’s old clothes, an] dressed him in a new suit.
“ But thou art always the self-same, and thy years shall not fail.” No length of years will make any impression on you. Gol can suffer no change, for changes are made with a view to further acquisitions, which does not apply to God, he being most pure, most perfect, nay, even infinitely perfect, and, therefore, can acquire nothing when he wants nothing.
28 ‘‘ The children of thy servants shall continue : and their seed shall be directed for ever.”
Having discussed the eternity of God, the destruction and renovation of the world, he now predicts that God’s servants and children, and the children of his servants for ever, would be sharers in his eternity in that world so renovated ; not that there would be a propagation of children in that world, but that all the faithful servants of God, with all their posterity, who may share in their piety, will certainly arrive at that happy rest; and such was the promise formerly made to Abraham, “ And I will establish my covenant between me and thee, and between thy seed after thee in their generations, by a perpetual covenant.” The servants of God here represent the patriarchs; their sons represent the Apostles; and their sons again represent all other Christians. ‘* The children of thy servants shall continue.” The Apostles, with their parents the patriarchs, shall continue in thy kingdom, that renewed heaven, that heavenly Jerusalem; “and their seed shall be directed for ever ;” and it will not be confined to them, bat those also begotten by them through the Gospel, if they persevere in faith and love, ‘‘ shall be directed for ever;” will remain to all eternity upright and steady in all prosperity.
PSALM CII. Thanksgiving to God for his mercies.
1 Bless the Lord, O my soul: and let all that is within me bless his holy name.
2 Bless the Lord, O my soul: and never forget all he hath done for thee.
3 Who forgiveth all thy iniquities: who healeth ali thy diseases:
4 Who redeemeth thy life from destruetion: who crowneth thee with mercy and compassion :
5 Who satisfieth thy desire with good things: thy youth shall be renewed like the eagle’ S.
6 The Lord docth mercies, and judgment for all that suffer wrong.
7 He hath made his ways known to Moses; his wills to the children of Israel.
8 The Lord is compassionate and merciful; long suffering and plenteous in mercy.
9 He will not always be angry: nor will he threaten for ever.
10 He hath not dealt with us according to our’sins; nor rewarded us according to our iniquities.
11 For according to the height of the heaven above the earth; he hath strengthened his mercy toward them that fear him.
12 As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our iniquities from us.
13 As a father hath compassion on his children, so hath the Lord compassion on them that fear him: :
14 For he knoweth our frame. membereth that we are dust:
15 Man’s days are as grass, as the flower of the field so shall he flourish.
16 For the spirit shall passin him, and he shall not: be: and he shall know his place no more.
17 But the mercy of the Lord is from eternity and unto eternity upon them that fear him: and his justice unto children’s children,
18 To such as keep his covenant, and are mindful of his commandments to do them.
19 The Lord hath prepared his throne in heaven: and his kingdom shall rule over all.
20 Bless the Lord, all ye his Angels: you that are mighty in strength, and execute his word, hearkening to the voice of his orders.
21 Bless the Lord, all ye his hosts: you ministers of his that do his will.
22 Bless the Lord, all his works: in every place of his dominion, O my soul, bless thou
the Lord.
He re-
EXPLANATION OF THE PSALM.
1 “ Bless the Lord, O my soul: and let all that is within me bless his holy name.”
David, piously believing himself to be one of the elect, stirs himself up, in the person of all the elect, to bless the Lord, ‘* Bless the Lord, O my soul;” reflect on his favours, and praise him who conferred them on you; you, my soul, who through God’s gift have not only deserved to get such favours, but also to acknowledge them. And let not you alone, my soul, praise the Lord, but, ‘ det all that is within me” be turned into so many tongues, “to bless the Lord.” St. Augustine considers the second part of this verse to be a mere repetition, or perhaps, an explanation of the first part; as much as to say, let all my thoughts and affections, the very deepest within me, bless his holy name. That may be very true; but there is nothing to prevent our applying the words, “ all that is within me,” to all that is in man, and enclosed in this vutward skin of ours; in the same sense as we have, in Psalm Ixxxiii., “ My heart and Jlesh have
COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS.
rejoiced in the living God;” and in Psalm xxxiv., “All my bones shall say, Lord, who is like to thee 2” Jnanimate and senseless things contribute to God’s praise, just as a piece of work does to its maker ; or through the affections of our soul, that should wish all creation, if it were possible, should know and praise God.
2 ‘* Bless the Lord, O my soul, and never forget all he hath done for thee.”
He repeats the expression, to shew the intensity of his affection, as also from-a consciousness of human infirmity, that is very apt to cool in matters that do not come under cognizance of the senses, especially such as God, ‘‘ who dwelleth in light inaccessible ;” and he, therefore, adds, ‘‘ and never forget all he hath done for thee;” meaning all his gifts, which are not simply gifts, but gifts (to use the expression) on the double. A great gift is his not exacting from us the punishment our daily sins deserve ; and a double gift is the bestowal of so many favours on us for all our wickedness. He that can recount the sins of mankind, by which we daily offend God, can form a remote idea of the extent of God’s love for us in daily conferring so many fayours on us; “for he is kind to the unthankful and to the evil,” Luke vi.
3 “Who forgiveth all thy iniquities: who healeth all thy diseases :”
He now proceeds to enumerate God’s favours, beginning in order from the first to the last. The first is remission of sin, through which he makes us just, from being sinners; friends, from enemies ; children, from slaves; “who forgiveth all thy iniquities,” pardoning them gratuitously, however innumerable they may be; and not only that, but “ who healeth all thy diseases,” to cut off the root of sin; “ for covetousness is the root of all evils,” 2 Tim. vi.; or, as St. John expresses it, “the concupiscence of the flesh, the concupiscence of the eyes, and the pride of hfe.” This weakness or infirmity, attached to man by the fall of our first parent, is, to a certain extent, cured and relieved by God in this world ; but the complete cure will be effected in the world to come only. Every one, then, should ask himself if he feels a diminution in his own infirmity— if he bears the touch of the heavenly physician patiently ; for they who refuse the physician’s preseriptions, and suffer the language of concupiscence to rest in them, cannot apply those words, “who healeth all thy diseases,” to themselves; and they who are not in a position to do that cannot possibly expect the following gifts of God.
4 “* Who redeemeth thy life Srom destruction: who crowneth thee with mercy and compassion :”
From the gifts of grace he passes to those of glory. ‘“ Who redeemeth thy life from destruction,” who, through the redemption that is in Christ, delivers you from eternal death, and transfers you into
COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS.
his own kingdom, crowning you with a crownof glory, “ with mercy and compassion.” Because, in order to merit that crown of glory, mercy had to go before you, justifying you gratuitously, and compassion had to direct and protect you on the way ; for otherwise you would not have persevered in the grace so conferred on you.
5 ‘‘Who satisfieth thy desire with good things: youth shall be renewed lke the eagle’s.”
He tells us here what that crown of glory contains. Two things, the satisfaction of all our desires and the immortality of our bodies, or, in other words, perfect happiness, as regards body and soul ; for the soul ceases to desire, and the heart to hunger, once it gets possession of the supreme happiness, which is so comprehensive of every thing good that it has nothing further to seek or desire. To this glorious resurrection will be added a thorough renovation of the body itself, a happy and never-decaying youth. This renovation is compared to that of the eagle, not that the eagle can possibly be supposed to renew its youth for ever, but because it in some degree represents the resurrection of the just, by reason of its soaring so high, its acuteness of ken, and its length of life, correspondent to the happiness of the just, who will soar above the heavens, will behold light inaccessible, and behold it for ever. How the eagle is renewed is quite uncertain; St. Jerome says that they frequently get new wings, and are thus renewed; St. Augustine says it alludes to the renewal of their beaks, that grow so hooked by age that they cannot take up their food, until they rub it and grind it against a stone, and by thus wearing it away form themselves a new one.
6 '* The Lord doeth mercies, and judgment for all that suffer wrong.”
Having told us of all the blessings in store for the just, he now tells us that God’s mercy is the source of them alJ, and that for fear any one should be mad enough to attribute to himself what belongs to God, and lose, through his pride, what he should have received in all humility. ‘ Zhe Lord doeth mercies.” It is the Lord himself who behaves kindly to us, pours down his favours on us, liberally sharing every blessing he has with us, and also in his goodness delivering us from every trouble, and from the hands ofthe unjust; and one of his peculiar mercies ie that he shews ‘judgment to all that suffer wrong,” for he delivers those that suffer it, and ns those that inflict ‘it.
7 ‘+ He hath made his ways known to Moses; his wills to the children of Israel.”
A proof of what he said in the preceding verse; for God made his ways, which are mercy and truth, according to the Psalm, ‘All the ways of the Lord are mercy and truth,” known to Moses his special servant; for he gaye him a most holy law, through which he made known his will, not only to Moses but to all the people of Israel ; the essence of which
thy
was, that as well as he himself was merciful and just, we should be so too ; and the very fact of God’s so deigning to instruct us was a great mercy. He also “ made his way known to Moses,” when in his mercy he delivered the people from the captivity of Pharao, and slew him and his army in his justice ; and thus gave a clear proof of his mercy and his justice.
8 “ The Lord is compassionate and merciful; long suffering and plenteous in mercy.”
These epithets, so applied by that Scripture that cannot deceive us to the Almighty, should prove a great source of consolation to all pious souls. He is called ‘ compassionate,” which, in Hebrew, signifies the tender and the intimate love a pareat feels for its own children; “ merciful,” which in the same language implies a giver of all grace and favours, which is a consequence of the paternal love one feels for their children. And such was the case with God. Having taken delight in bis elect from eternity, and having foreseen and predestined them to be agreeable to the image of his Son, he, at the fitting time, poured down innumerable blessings on them, both of nature and of grace. He is also styled “ long-suffering’—patient, tolerant, not easily provoked; for God bears with our infirmity and our imperfections in this our journey to our country as a parent, especially a mother, would beer with the folly and trifling, the insults and the ingratitude of the infancy and the childhood of those who call her mother. Who can enumerate the distractions that seize on us while we are speaking to God in prayer ? Who can form a proper estimate of our unsteadiness, our various desires, concupiscences, ingratitude, lapses, and crimes? And yet God, in his goodness, bears with us, for which we should most constantly and feartiully thank him, Finally, he is “* plenteous im mercy,” which seems to have reference to that great and unspeakable mercy, through which God will raise us to a level with the Angels, and to his own likeness, which will happen when we shall see him as he is, Those four epithets, then, include all God’s favours from first to last. The first is the grace of predestination, or the eternal love of God; then follow the gifts of justification and the remission of various sins; to which, finally, is added a crown of glory,
9 “ He will not always be angry: nor will he threaten for ever.”
He now explains in detail the epithets he applied to God in the preceding verse, First, the tender affection God has for those that fear him. “ He will not always be angry.’ God, to be sure, is sometimes angry with his elect, when they fall into” sin, and he will scourge them for it, but he will not be long without being reconciled to them. The affection of the parent remains in that very heart that prompts him to scourge them, which he repeats when he says, “* Vor will he threaten for ever.” He
will not always threaten in his anger, but will in due time administer his sweet consolations, This is not to be quoted in favour of the heresy that would make hell’s pains to be but temporary, because there is question here solely of the elect.
10 “ He hath not dealt with us according to our sins ; nor rewarded us according to our iniquities.”
He comes now to the second epithet, and says that God, in his infinite mercy, instead of visiting us with the punishment we deserved for our sins, overwhelmed us with gifts we did not deserve. For what did the sinner and the unjust deserve but death? ‘ For the wages of sin is death.” Now God not only withheld such wages from us, but he even gave us the life of grace, promised us eternal life, and meanwhile furnished us with a liberal supply of all necessaries in this our pilgrimage.
11 “ For according to the height of the heaven above the earth; he hath strengthened his mercy toward them that fear hin.
12 “ As far as the east is Srom the west, so far hath he removed our iniquities from us.’
These verses also apply to the second epithet, (merciful,) for the prophet proves that God did not deal with the elect according to their sins; for “ he strengthened his mercy,” in pouring down all manner of grace on them, and removing all manner of harm from them. He compares his mercy to the distance between the earth and the sky, the far east and far west, to shew how boundless it is; and, therefore, that the remission of sin and the infusion of grace is real and substantial, cand not imputative, as some heretics will have it.
13 “As a father hath compassion on his children, so hath the Lord compassion on them that fear him :”
The prophet enters into the third appellation (long suffering) in this and the two following verses, making use of a happy comparison. No people are more patient or “dong suffering” than parents, in bearing with the follies and frivolities of their younger children. Paternal or maternal love brings them to labour ‘severely and incessantly for them, and to bear up against their ingratitude and even their violence in a most extraordinary manner. Such is the meaning of God’s merey to “them that fear him,” in regarding their daily transgressions not as so many offences against himself, but as so many filial wanderings,
14 ‘ For he knoweth our frame. He remembereth that ee Maw d th I
an’s days are as grass, as the flower of the field so shail he flue “ish. cee e uy
16 “ Mor the spirit shall pass in him, and he shall not be: and he shall know his place no more.”
God’s great mercy arises from the fact of his knowing of what we are composed, of earth, of flesh that is corruptible and exposed to all mancier of cqncupiscences, and that we are, therefore, a pitiable set indeed, “Ze remembereth that we are dust ;”
COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS,
composed of and formed from it, and, therefore, from our frailty, deserving of all merey and compassion; and, when he did * remember,” it does not imply that he ever forgot it, (for that he could not,) but that he sometimes acted as if he had forgotten it. In further elucidation of our frailty, he draws another comparison, ‘‘ Men's days are as grass;” most brief, as brief as those of the grass that never remains an entire year on the ground ; for if grows up in the spring, and in the following summer is cut down and gathered up; and as the grass is not in flower even all that time, but flowers in the morning, and withers in the evening; so it is with man, who lives for a short time, and is still a shorter time in the flower of his youth when he withers into old age. “ For the spirit shall pass in him, and he shall not be;” that is, the spirit of life, or his corporeal life, will not be permanent in him, will be always transient, and never remain in the same state; for it will be always changing ; from infancy to childhood ; from childhood to puberty; from puberty to youth ; from youth to manhood; from manhood to old age ; from old age to death. “And he shall know his place no more;” he will not retura to the place from whence he set out, and will never again see the age he has passed, Tn this respect a great difference exists between things corruptible and things incorruptible, celestial and terrestrial bodies ; for the sun, moon, and stars rise in the morning, and set in the west in the evening, but return again in the morning to the spot from whence they set out, without appearing to have undergone the slightest change ; but the terrestrial, or the things of this earth, perform their course, undergo various changes therein, and never return to the starting point, but grow old and decay. By the spirit here we are not to understand the soul of man, which is immortal, and will return to the body it inhabited on the last day, but the spirit of life, or corporeal existence.
17 “* But the mercy of the Lord is from eternity and unto eternity upon them that fear him: and his justice unto children’s children,”
We now come to the fourth epithet in verse viii., “and plenteous in mere Ys ’ which applies to the gift of glorification, which is the last and the greatest. “¢ Lhe merey of the Lord,” then, which, in the beginning, seg Gee by predestination to those that fear him, “is from eternity” with them in their glory ; and nie God will be * plenteous in mercy,” whether we consider the number, the greatness, or the duration of his favours. Where is the man, then, that will seriously reflect on himself, and on the Lord of the universe, who does not want us, having resolved in"his mercy, to take pity on a handful of dust, to raise it to a level with the Angels, and to attach it to himself, the supreme good, in the enjoyment of the most perfect happiness for all eternity? We certainly should not forget such mercy for even one moment, and we should return thanks for it for ever. * Ane
his justice unto children's children, to stich as keep his covenant.” This isa sort of appendix to God’s mercy, in regard of those that fear him. The prophet adds, that they who fear God will not only be exalted aud protected by the eternal mercy of God, but that the same mercy will be extended to their posterity, if they follow in the pious steps of their parents and ancestors. ‘‘And his justice;” his veracity and fidelity, by virtue of which he always carries out what he promises, will be observed towards the “children’s children, to such as keep his covenant ;” who observe the covenant entered into by God, that they should be his people, and he their God; ‘and are mindful of his commandments ;” not only to turn them in their mind and to think on them, but also ‘to do them.”
18 “ To such as keep his covenant, and are mindful of his commandments to do them.
19 “ The Lord hath prepared his throne in heaven : and his kingdom shall rule over all.”
He now proves that God is able to carry out all he promised to those that fear him, and to their children’s children, because he is the supreme Judge of all; and therefore, ‘‘ he prepared his throne in heaven, his judgment seat, on an elevated spot, in the highest heaven, whence he can see everything and judge everything ; and for fear we should suspect him to be a judge delegated by another, he adds, “and his kingdom shall reign over all;” that is, he sits in heaven, not as a judge appointed by a king, but as a Judge supreme, a King over all kings, for his kingdom, that is, his power as a king, extends to all created things.
20 ‘ Bless the Lord, all ye his Angels : you that are mighty in strength, and execute his word, hearkening to the voice of his orders.”
In the end of the Psalm the prophet, finding himself quite unable to return adequate thanks to God for all his fayours, invites other creatures to bless him and give him praise; and he first invites the Angels, as being creatures of the highest order ; and, therefore, most suited to praise God. We are less suited by reason of our weakness and frailty, and by reason of our frequent lapses into sin, and “ prazse is not seemly in the mouth of a sinner ;” while the Angels are always untiring, endowed with great vigour, are always obedient to God, and thus, never fall into sin, but are agreeable and fair in the sight of God. ‘ Bless the Lord, all ye his Angels ;” all you his Angels who surround him, and thus have a more thorough knowledge and conception of his greatness, praise our commmon Lord; and let it not be confined to one or two, but let the whole of you, however innumerable you may be, unite in his praise. “* You that are mighty in strength; you that have been endowed with super-cxcellent strength, in order to execute allGod’s commands, who have, therefore, nothing to fear, and can be prevented by nobody from praising God. . ‘‘ And execute his word;” carry out his commands to the letter; “ hearkening to the voice of
his orders,” and thus proving themselyés most faithful and diligent servants.
21 “ Bless the Lord, all ye his hosts: you ministers of his that do his will.”
For fear we should suppose that the invitation addvessed to the Angels included those only in the lower grade, he now summonses “ail his hosts,” every one of them, Archangels, principalities, dominions, and the other superior orders, who all are God’s servants, and carefully and diligently carry out his behests.
22 “ Bless the Lord, all his works : in every place of his dominion, O my soul, bless thou the Lord.”
Having invited men and the Angels, who, from their knowledge of God, know best how to do it, to praise God, he now summons all created things, however mute and insensible, to praise their Maker in their own way. And for fear any exception should be made, or that it may be thought the prophet did not include all created things, whether in sky, earth, or sea, he says, “im every place of his dominion;” that is to say, bless him, all ye his works, every one of you, wherever you may be; for he made all things, governs all things, is with them every where, filling, bearing, preserving, moving every thing. And yon, my soul, who have thus invited them, bless you the Lord at all times, and let his praise be for ever in thy mouth,
oo
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