Eighth Sermon on Psalm XC: On the Resurrection of the Body, and on the Reasons Why the Just Shall Rejoice at the Sufferings of the Wicked

“ But thou shalt consider with thy eyes, and shalt see the reward of the wicked.”

Sometimes, dearest brethren, my discourses to you would be shorter than they are, if the opportunity for making them were oftener permitted me. I think you must have occasionally noticed this for yourselves: that the sermons are brief in proportion to their frequency. But whenever I am so detained by the malice of the times * that—although much against my will— I have to desist, perhaps for several days together, from the duty of exhorting and consoling you : no one, as it seems to me, ought to wonder if I endeavour to make up for lost time by prolonging my lectures according asthe interval between them has been wider. Let this serve as an apology both for the prolixity of yesterday’s discourse and for the brevity of to-day’s, to which it is also the preface. For I am afraid some of you were dissatisfied with the last sermon as having been too long, and that some may be dissatisfied with the present as too short ; and that some more may be inclined to find fault, not so much with the length of the one or the shortness of the other, as with the succession of short and long. But now to begin.

“ His truth shall compass thee with a shield: thou shalt not be afraid of the terror of the night, of the arrow that flieth in the day, of the business that walketh about in the dark, of invasion, or of the noon-day devil. A thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten thousand at thy right hand: but it shall not come nigh to thee.” I have given you in the preceding discourses the thoughts which Truth has vouchsafed to inspire me with in connection with these verses, explaining how the same Truth shields the faithful soul from temptations during life, and from perils at the hour of death. The Royal Prophet, in another psalm, refers more briefly to these two benefits, saying to the Lord, “‘ By Thee I shall be delivered from temptation, and through my God I shall go over the wall,” because, namely, with God for his Guide, he could walk through life without any fear of stumbling, and should meet with no obstacle at his departure hence. In the first part of this verse, therefore, the Psalmist promises himself a frequent deliverance out of the hands of his enemies, and in the second full and perfect security. As for the verse which comes next in the psalm I am expounding, viz., “ But thou shalt consider with thy eyes and shalt see the reward of the wicked,” I believe these words contain a promise — of no little happiness. ‘‘ A thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten thousand at thy right hand ; but it shall not come nigh to thee. But thou shalt consider with thy eyes, and shalt see the reward of the wicked.” Such is the promise. Let it be so, I pray Thee, O Lord, let it be so. “ Let them be confounded that persecute me, and let not me be confounded ; let them be afraid, and let not me be afraid ” ; yea, and let them fall also, but let me stand fast.

It appears to me, my brethren, that here, in this short verse, the Prophet is manifestly proclaiming the immortality of the soul and confuming our faith in a bodily resurrection. For he clearly intimates that I shall survive to see the downfall of the demons, and shall contemplate with these eyes of flesh their final retribution. For it is not said simply, “‘ Thou shalt consider with eyes,” but, “ Thou shalt consider with thy eyes,” * with those very eyes which now “languish through poverty ” and “ fail whilst I hope in my God.” And in truth, brethren, our eyes do fail us whilst we gaze in hope. ‘‘ For what a man seeth, why doth he hope for?” as the Apostle says ; because “‘hope that is seen is not hope ” at all. Therefore with those same eyes which now thou dost not presume so much as to lift up to heaven, with those same eyes which so often at present overflow with tears and are worn away with multiplied sorrows, it is with those very eyes, I say, “thou shalt consider and shalt see the reward of the wicked.” Think not that new organs of sight shall be given thee ; no, but the former shall be restored. But wherefore do I speak of the eye, which, although the smallest is nevertheless the noblest and most useful of our bodily members? For “ this my hope is laid up in my bosom,” that, according to the promise of Truth Itself, not a single hair of our heads shall perish.

But perhaps the reason why it is especially promised us that we shall see with our eyes is this, because here the possessive pronoun, where (as here) it is already implied in the context, expresses some degree of emphasis.— (Translator.)

below it seems to be the sovereign desire of the human soul to see good things. Hence the Psalmist says, “I believe to see the good things of the Lord in the land of the living.” That is, he desires to have the upper windows of his body opened wide to the light of God, longing to walk by sight rather than by faith. “ Faith (as you know) cometh by hearing,” not from sight. According to St. Paul, it is ““ the substance of the things to be hoped for, the evidence of the things that appear not.” Consequently, in faith, just as in hope, the eye fails us, and it is the ear alone that can profit us. “‘ The Lord God hath opened my ear,” says the Prophet Isaias. But the day will come when He shall also open our eyes. The time will come when no longer shall it be said to the soul, ‘‘ Hearken, O daughter, and see, and incline thine ear ” ; but rather, “ Lift up thine eyes and behold.” Behold what? Surely the treasures of joy and exultation which the Lord God shall plentifully pour out upon her. What? Not alone those good things, which although they cannot beseen in this life, can at least be heard of and believed; but also those whereof the Apostle says, “‘ eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither hath it entered into the heart of man (to conceive) what things God hath prepared for them that love Him.” For at the resurrection, the eye shall be able to take in more than the ear, or even the mind takes in at present. It is, as I think, on account of the soul’s most ardent desire to see what she already has heard of and believes, that another illustrious herald of the future resurrection has also made particular reference to the eyes: “ I shall beclothed again with my skin,” says holy Job, “and in my flesh I shall see my God; Whom I myself shall see and my eyes shall behold, and not another ; this my hope is laid up in my bosom.”

Perhaps, however, there is in these words of the Patriarch, “ and my eyes shall behold,” as also in those of the Psalmist, “ Thou shalt consider with thy eyes,” a special significance, which requires to be examined more attentively. Do you suppose, my brethren, that the eyes with which I now see are truly mine? No, evidently they are not. Once, indeed, they appeared to be mine, because they also, as you know, belonged to the portion of the paternal inheritance which I, the younger son, received of my Father and so badly administered. For I soon wasted and squandered it all. The law of sin occupied my members, and death freely entered in through my windows, because I had now become the slave of sin and death. Yea, I was truly a miserable slave, not to a human master, but to foul and disgusting swine. For I did not even serve in the condition of a hired labourer, but absolutely as a thrall. How indeed can it bethought that I received wages, since even food was denied me, and such food as was worse than the hunger? For when I would fain have filled myself “with the husks the swine did eat, no man gave unto ” me; so that although I lived with the swine, I was not allowed to feast with the swine. Moreover, how could that eye have been truly mine which “hath wasted my soul?” ? Thus, I was in a manner compelled at last to return His gift to the Giver, in order that He might recover from the usurping tyrant what I had proved unable to defend.

Consider more carefully, dearest brethren, and ponder well by whose power or by what power you have escaped the intolerable yoke of the spiritual Pharao, so that “ you no longer yield your members as instruments of iniquity unto sin,” and sin no longer “ reigns in your mortal body.” It certainly was not by your own. No, “the Right Hand of the Lord hath wrought strength.” It has been His doing, to Whom alone nothing is impossible. Do not say, then, “ our mighty hand, and not the Lord, hath done all these things,” but make the true and salutary acknowledgment that all is due to the grace of God. And let no one doubt that he must be constantly on his guard, lest, whilst still the days are evil and there is no security for man, he should ever presume to entertain the thought of demanding back his ‘‘ portion of substance ” from the keeping of so kind and provident a Trustee, and of resuming a perilous, or rather a pernicious freedom of administration. If the Father is jealous, it is of our interests He is jealous. Neither is it out of envy, but according to His loving providence, that He commands us to leave the whole inheritance in His own care ; for He knows well that we should lose it. But when we shall have arrived at that great and holy city whose borders ‘‘ He hath laid out in peace,” where no hostile incursions need be dreaded, then, my brethren, not only will He restore us to ourselves, but He will give us Himself in addition. In the meantime, let us turn away from our own wills, and let us never be so rash as to usurp dominion over the members we have consecrated to God, knowing that it is a very grave sin of sacrilege to use what has been solemnly devoted to piety for the purposes of vanity, curiosity, pleasure, or for any other such ungodly ends. “ Know you not,” says the Apostle, “that your members are the temple of the Holy Ghost, Who is in you, Whom you have from God, and you are not your own?” Again he says, “ The body is not for fornication.” Then for what isit? Thinkest thou, my brother, that it is for thee ? Let it be so, by all means, let thy body be at thine own free disposal, provided, however, that thou canst, by thine own strength, either deliver it from the yoke of passion, or at least preserve it after it has been delivered. But if thou canst not do this, nay, rather because thou canst not do this, St. Paul tells thee that thy ‘‘ body is not for fornication,’ nor for thee, but for the Lord’’; and that it should now « serve justice unto sanctification,’ lest it become again the slave of corruption and its “last state be worse than the first.” “I speak a human thing,” says the same Apostle in another place, ““ because of the infirmity of your flesh. For as you have yielded your members to serve uncleanness and iniquity unto iniquity, so now yield your members to serve justice unto sanctification.” But, as he tells us himself in this very passage, it is only on account of our present weakness that he gives us this injunction. For when that which “is sown in weakness shall rise in power,” there shall then be no need of serving. Why should we have any doubt that God will restore us to ourselves there where liberty can be enjoyed with security, and security can dispense with precaution? Why should we not believe that, since the great Father of the family will then place the faithful servant over all His goods, much more He will give him back his liberty ? Therefore “thou shalt (then) consider with thy eyes and shalt see the reward of the wicked,” provided that thou dost sincerely and practically acknowledge that those eyes belong to God during the present life rather than to thee. For even apart altogether from the inviolable obligation of thy vow (whereof I have been speaking) by which, renouncing thine own will, thou hast consecrated to the service of God that body thou couldst not of thyself deliver from the slavery of sin: independently, I say, of that engagement, how canst thou consider as thine own those members in which the opposing law of sin still dwells at least, even if it does not reign ; and in which thy second enemy, the penalty of sin, not only dwells but even has the upper hand and rules with unchallenged sway? Dost thou regard as thine own that body which “is dead because of sin,” or as belonging to the soul which it “ weigheth down ” unceasingly ? But if anyone wishes to call it his own, there seems to be only one sense in which he can truly do so: that is to say, he may call it his own burden or his own prison. Otherwise, how, for instance, canst thou call the eyes wherewith thou seest thine own, during this life at any rate, since, whether thou willest or not, they are so often overpowered by sleep, dimmed by smoke, injured by dust, clouded by noxious humours, tortured by sharp pain, and finally extinguished by the death of the body ? But hereafter they shall indeed be thine, when none of these things shall exist any longer to trouble them. Then, at last,“ thou shalt consider with thy eyes,” and use them according to thy pleasure, with equal freedom and security. For then thou shalt have no need to say, ‘“‘ Turn away my eyes that they may not behold vanity,” because they shall contemplate Truth in all its purity. Much less needest thou fear lest death should enter in through thy windows, for death itself shall then, at last, have been destroyed. Perhaps, however, thou art afraid that thy eyes shall bedazzled by such an excess of light, where each of the just shall shine as the sun? Good reason in truth shouldst thou have for this fear, were not thy eyes, with thy other bodily members, destined to share in the glory of the resurrection.

“Thou shalt consider with thy eyes, and shalt see the reward of the wicked.” That, my brethren, will no doubt be a bitter torment for the damned, the crown and consummation of all their evils. For we may suppose that it would be some consolation to them if, in their sufferings, they could escape the knowledge, or at least avoid the gaze of those whom in life they had maliciously persecuted. But, it may be asked, if our contemplation of their misery adds so materially to their punishment, what is its necessity to us, or what its use? What addition can it make to our happiness ? For surely there can be nothing more impious, more inhuman, more abominable, than the wish to feast one’s eyes on the torments of another, no matter how inimical, no matter how depraved, and to take pleasure in the contemplation of his anguish ? Nevertheless, just as “the wicked shall see and shall be angry, he shall gnash his teeth and pine away ” (for the blessed shall becalled up to heaven before the reprobate are cast down into the dungeons of everlasting fire, in order that the latter may be more fiercely tormented by the sight of the glory they have lost): so “ the just shall see and shall rejoice,” beholding the misery from which they have escaped. Consequently, in that terrible and final separation, on the one hand, the sight of the sheep shall fill the goats with most bitter jealousy ; and on the other, the elect shall discover in the doom of the reprobate the most powerful motives for thanksgiving and praise. For, plainly, the thanksgiving of the just would not be so magnificent, unless, along with the inconceivable happiness which they enjoy, they also beheld “the reward of the wicked,” from a participation in which (as they faithfully and gratefully remember) it is only the pure mercy of the Redeemer that has saved them. Neither would the wicked be consumed with such envious rage, if they did not see the just ascending before their eyes to the kingdom of unutterable bliss, whilst they groan to hear themselves condemned to the stench, the horror, and the everlasting fires of the infernal pit, and to all the long agonies of a death that is immortal. ‘‘ There,” says the Saviour, “shall beweeping and gnashing of teeth ” : weeping, because of the fire that shall never be extinguished ; gnashing of teeth, because of the worm that dieth not ; weeping from profitless grief; gnashing of teeth from impotent fury: weeping from an excess of suffering ; gnashing of teeth from the violence of wasting envy, and the obstinancy of unrepented malice. To this end, therefore, “thou shalt see the reward of the wicked,” in order that thou mayest lose even the power to show thyself ungrateful to thy Redeemer, by the sight of the awful danger out of which He has delivered thee. Yet this is not the only benefit the just shall derive from seeing the reward of the wicked. The same sight shall give them at last perfect security. For they shall no longer have cause to fear anything from the malice either of wicked men or of apostate angels, after beholding them falling, a thousand at their side, and ten thousand at their right hand, and not alone falling, but falling into hell. Do you think, brethren, that they can beany sooner delivered from all apprehension, from all suspicion of that old serpent, “‘ more subtle than any of the beasts of the earth,” particularly when they remember how he seduced the first woman in paradise—do you think there can be perfect security for the just until they see him, now with his whole body, thrust down into the avenging flames, and separated from them by an impassably wide abyss ? There is yet another benefit which shall accrue to thee from the contemplation of the “reward of the wicked.” It is this, that thine own dignity and glory will appear ali the greater in thine eyes from the contrast with the ignominy and ugliness of the reprobate. For contrary qualities when juxtaposed appear each to receive an access of intensity. Thus if I place side by side a black object and a white object, the former will seem to have become blacker than before, and the latter whiter. But I will offer you a more reliable testimony to this from the Psalmist : ‘‘ The just shall rejoice,” he says, “‘ when he shall see the revenge.” And wherefore ? Because “he shall wash his hands in the blood of the sinner.” Manifestly, then, he shall not stain but rather cleanse his hands in the sinner’s blood; so that what defiles the one purifies the other, and that which makes the one more loathsome renders the other more beautiful. Of the three reasons I have assigned why the just shall rejoice in the punishment of the wicked, there is none, I believe, which can appear repellent to our human instincts, even in our mortal condition. Yet it is not from any of these motives that Divine Wisdom will laugh at the sinner’s destruction, as most certainly He will. For He Who cannot lie has plainly predicted this, saying, ‘‘ Because I called and you refused; I stretched out My hand, and there was none that regarded .. . I also will laugh in your destruction, and will mock when that shall come to you which you feared, when sudden calamity shall fall on you, and destruction, as a tempest, shall be at hand.” Now, what can there be pleasing to Wisdom in the ruin of the unwise, except His own most just disposition and most righteous ordinance? And evidently that which shall give pleasure to Wisdom, shall also of necessity please each of the wise. Therefore, think it not strange that it is promised thee, ‘‘ Thou shalt consider with thy eyes, and shalt see the reward of the wicked,” since thou shalt even laugh at their destruction. Not that, from a certain monstrous cruelty, thou shalt find pleasure in contemplating the mere torments of the damned ; but because the beautiful order established by divine providence will produce an inexpressible delight in him who has zeal for justice and the love of equity. For, where, under the light of uncreated Truth, thou shalt clearly and perfectly behold everything arranged in the most admirable order, his own place assigned to everyone, or rather everyone assigned to his own place, how canst thou help feeling a complacency in all things, and magnifying in all things the great Disposer of all? Very appropriately, therefore, did the Apostle Peter say of the “son of perdition ” that he went to “his own place,” because he “burst asunder in the midst ” in the air, a confederate of the aerial powers, as if heaven had refused to receive and earth to support the betrayer of Him Who, as being true God and true man, had come down from heaven to “ work salvation in the midst of the earth.”

Accordingly, ‘‘ thou shalt consider with thy eyes and shalt see the reward of the wicked.” And this spectacle shall enhance thy happiness ; firstly, by showing thee what thou hast escaped ; secondly, by confirming thee in absolute security ; thirdly, by the contrast with thine own blissful state; fourthly, by satisfying thy burning zeal for justice.* For then it will be no longer the time for showing mercy, but for exercising justice ; nor shall any compassion be felt for the impious then or ever after, since there shall be no longer any hope of their amendment. We shall have then laid aside that softness of our human infirmity which, during the present life, charity uses for the salvation of souls, gathering together in the ample folds of its wide-stretching net good fish and bad, that is to say, both the pleasant and the painful emotions of the mind. But this only happens whilst the net is in the sea. For as soon as it is drawn ashore shall be verified what is written, “they chose out the good, but the bad they cast forth.” By this is meant that after the present life, charity shall indeed still “rejoice with them that rejoice,” but certainly it can no more “weep with them that weep.” Otherwise how shall we judge this world (according to the Saviour’s promise) unless forgetting that affection of tender sympathy, we are “‘ brought into the cellar of wine’’? t} Hence the Psalmist says, “ I will enter into the powers of the Lord : O Lord, I will be mindful of Thy justice alone.” Even in this life a human judge is not permitted to make allowance for the poverty of the culprit, or to show compassion for him. All such feelings of sympathy have perforce to be suppressed, no matter what tł That is to say, we shall be filled with holy zeal, of which wine is the symbol. See Sermon XLIX. on the Canticle of Canticles.—(Translator.)

the effort may cost us, and the sentence must be pronounced in accordance with the requirements of strict justice. How much more, then, shall that be fulfilled which is written, ‘‘ Their judges, joined to the Rock, have been swallowed up,” there where no repugnance of mind shall be felt, no disrelish for duty experienced? Then indeed the judges shall be swallowed up altogether in a fiery zeal for justice, and shall imitate the solidity of the Rock (Christ) to Whom they are joined. “‘ Joined to the Rock” they truly are, since they “have left all things and followed ” Him alone. For this is what the Rock Himself said in reply to Peter’s question as to how He would reward His disciples, ‘‘ I say to you, that you who have followed Me, in the regeneration, when the Son of Man shall sit on the seat of His Majesty, you also shall sit on twelve seats, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.” And the same is predicted by the Prophet Isaias where he announces that “ The Lord will come to judgment with the ancients of His people.” Does it seem to you, my brethren, that anything soft or flexible shall be found in the judges when thus “joined to the Rock’? “He who is joined to the Lord,” says the Apostle, “is one spirit,” to which I will add, he who is joined to the Rock is one stone with Him. It is for this union with the Rock the Psalmist yearns whenhe cries out, “‘ It is good for me to adhere to my God.” In this way, therefore, “their judges, joined to the Rock, have been swallowed up.” Oh, what a grace of sweet familiarity! What an eminence of honour! What a precious ground of confidence! What a singular motive for perfect security !

But can there be conceived anything so terrible, anything so full of anxiety and killing agitation, as to stand for judgment before that awful tribunal and to await the still uncertain sentence from a Judge of such rigorous justice? St. Paul tells us that “ it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the Living God.” O my brethren, let us judge ourselves now in this life. Let us strive by an anticipated judgment to escape that dreadful suspense and uncertainty. God will not judge what has been judged already. And just as “some men’s sins are manifest, going before to judgment,” so too is it with the piety of other men. And therefore also, just as the former, without awaiting the Judge’s sentence, are drawn down into hell by the sheer weight of their own crimes: so the latter, with perfect liberty of spirit, unhesitatingly ascend the thrones prepared for them. Oh, how happy is the poverty of those who leave all voluntarily, in order to follow Thee, Lord Jesus! Happy and blessed it surely is, since it can render us so secure, yea, and so glorious amid the ruins of a crashing world, at that terror-inspiring scrutiny of merits, before that array of impartial judges !

But let us now hear what answer the faithful and loving soul makes to promises so magnificent, lest perhaps she should show herself either diffident or possessed of a confidence that is not expedient. She says, therefore: “ Because Thou, O Lord, art my hope.” What answer could be more modest or more pious? Nor could she receive any more fitting rejoinder than the words which immediately follow : “‘ Thou hast made the Most High thy refuge.”

But I have to ask your forgiveness, brethren. For I think I have to-day also somewhat exceeded the bounds of my promised brevity.

I; (e)