A Commentary on the Psalms from Primitive and Mediaeval Writers, volume 2 (Psalms 39–80) (part 2 of 2)

TITLE: To the Chief Musician; a Psalm or Song of David. Vulgate: To the end; a Psalm of a Song of David.

Argument.ARG. THOMAS. That all the kingdoms of the earth sing to CHRIST alone. The Prophet announces the Advent of CHRIST, and His Assumption into heaven. The Apostolic voice, desiring that the LORD would rise from the dead, and ascend into heaven, and arise in the heart of each one. The Prophet announces the Resurrection of CHRIST, and subsequent glories.

VEN. BEDE. David denotes the LORD, Whom also the End denotes. The Psalm is long, and marked by five pauses, by which we have distinguished its divisions. The whole Psalm speaks through mystic parables; it is full of Gospel Sacraments, and is chiefly shown to be concerning the Ascension of CHRIST. At the beginning of the Psalm the Prophet says what things are to happen to the LORD's enemies, or to the faithful, in the judgment to come; Let God arise, &c. Next, it signifies the mighty gifts which He bestowed on the Jewish people, and then says how He perfected the Church with these. The earth shook, and the heavens dropped at the presence of God. Thirdly, under the form of a mountain it denotes the LORD the SAVIOUR, recites the benefits He has vouchsafed the Church, when He raised it by the gift of His Resurrection. When the Almighty scattered. Fourthly, it declares that the pride of the enemies shall be utterly shaken, and that conversions and martyrdoms will abound from both sexes and the worst of sinners, what time the Advent of the LORD the SAVIOUR shineth on the world. God shall smite the head of His enemies. Fifthly, it says that the LORD should be blessed in the Churches, where the Apostles and CHRIST Himself preached, intreating that He will preserve those gifts which He gave His faithful. It warns, further, that they who tarry in this world as in Egypt and Æthiopia, should come quickly to the LORD. Give thanks unto God the Lord in the congregations. In the sixth clause it counsels all men to sing to CHRIST the LORD, Who hath now disclosed the wonders of His Resurrection; and then endeth the Psalm with praise of the LORD. O sing praises unto the Lord, Who sitteth above the heavens.

SYRIAC PSALTER. Of David, when the kings made them ready to battle against him. Also, a prophecy of the dispensation of CHRIST, and the calling of the Gentiles to the Faith. EUSEBIUS OF CÆSAREA. The Incarnation of CHRIST, and calling of the Gentiles. 8. ATHANASIUS. A Psalm in prayer.

Various Uses.Ambrosian. Monday of Second Week. II. Nocturn.

Antiphons.Gregorian. Ferial. As preceding Psalm. [Whitsunday, (and Lyons.) Establish the thing, O GOD, * which Thou hast wrought in us, from Thy holy temple, which is in Jerusalem. All. All.] Monastic and Lyons. In the congregations * give thanks unto the LORD. Parisian. The LORD * gave the word to the preachers. The GOD of Israel, He shall give power unto His people. Ambrosian. As Psalm lxvi. Mozarabic. First verse of the Psalm. 1 Let GOD arise, and let his enemies be scattered: let them also that hate him flee before him.

That is, let CHRIST arise from death, that by exalting us He may scatter His enemies. Where note, that in the time of Moses, when the Tabernacle and Ark of the LORD were fashioned in the wilderness, at what time soever the Jews were about to fight with their foes, in order that they might triumph over them, the Ark of the LORD was uplifted by the Priests, and then Moses said, "Rise up, LORD, and let Thine enemies be scattered; and let them that hate Thee flee before Thee." Wherein was prefigured, that when CHRIST should rise from the dead, His visible enemies, the Jews, and His invisible ones, the evil spirits, should alike be scattered; the Jews over the face of the earth, the prince of this world cast out of the hearts where he once ruled. Flee before Him. Vulgate, Before His Face. Not as though they could escape to any place where His Presence is not, but flee in terror, though knowing escape impossible. It is the prayer of the Church in times of coldness and backsliding, when the Truth has been crucified afresh, and laid in a tomb with a great stone rolled to its mouth, and when unfaithful priests, bishops, and judges are encouraging falsehood. Then let CHRIST arise in the holiness and constancy of His true saints and penitents, that His enemies may be scattered.

Cold, cold Church, in thy death-sleep lying, Thy Lent is past, thy Passion here, but not thine Easter-day. 2 Like as the smoke vanisheth, so shalt thou drive them away: and like as wax melteth at the fire, so let the ungodly perish at the presence of GOD. Smoke vanisheth in two ways, either by rising up on high, or being consumed by the intensity of flame. So the sinners will vanish, either by their own vanity, unable to accomplish their desire, or will be burnt up in the unending fire of the wrath to come. Wherefore, let their smoky wickedness vanish, either here by penitence, as we pray, or by punishment hereafter, as we foretell. As wax melteth at the fire. Our GOD is a consuming fire, burning up sin. When by the fire of His love He melts the hearts of sinners into penitential tears, they perish, so far as they are sinners, but they live, as redeemed men. And the Carmelite dwells at much length on the properties of wax, as symbolizing certain virtues. It denotes humility, because it is easily melted, and when so melted, instead of sinking, rises up and floats above other liquids. It signifies purity, because light is fed by it, and only the pure in heart can see GOD, Who is Light. It denotes love; for waxed cloth protects all things round which it is wrapped, and so a loving man guards his neighbour from harm. The love is faithful, as a wax seal protects the secrets of a letter. And we may add one point more, which Ayguan omits, that wax signifies docility, as it receives readily, and retains, the image impressed on it by its owner. The verse has a warning in it also. It tells of the terrible vengeance which will fall on the wicked in the Judgment-day, when the LORD appears in His glory.

3 But let the righteous be glad and rejoice before God : let them also be merry and joyful. The Vulgate reads, Let the righteous feast, and it is explained of the Holy Eucharist in the Church Militant, and of everlasting glory in the Church Triumphant. And rejoice before God, because they are His guests, and He hath said, "Eat, O friends; drink, yea, drink abundantly, O beloved;" and they fear not when He comes in to see them, because they know that they have the wedding garment on, and therefore will not be cast out. Rejoicing before God in this life means delighting in those things which please Him, and being glad, in the calmness of a good conscience, of virtuous actions and of His honour. In their Country, the Saints rejoice in the vision of the Divine Essence, for they see Him as He is. 4 O sing unto God, and sing praises unto his Name : magnify him that rideth upon the heavens, as it were upon an horse; praise him in his Name JAH, and rejoice before him.

The second clause of this verse here and in the Authorized Version differs widely from the LXX. and Vulgate, which read, Make a road for Him Who ascendeth above the sunset. That sunset was His own death, over which He rose by His Resurrection. Love's redeeming work is done, Fought the fight, the battle won; Lo! our Sun's eclipse is o'er, Lo! He sets in blood no more. A.y. G. Cant. v. 1. And because He comes also to ascend over the darkness of our hearts, and to lighten it with His rays, we are to make a road for Him, and to "prepare the way of the LORD," by correcting our evil habits. The words are addressed to Angels as well as to men. For the Jewish Holy of holies was towards the west, and the text signifies the rising of the LORD above the place of human worship, to that of heavenly adoration; and the angelic hosts are called on to lift up the everlasting doors, that the King of Glory may come in. The Hebrew , which the Vulgate renders above the sunset, and the English Versions, upon the heavens, (following Isa. xl. 3. Rev. xix. 11. the Targum and Talmud,) is explained by Symmachus, S. Jerome, and by modern critics, to mean in the wilderness; and the whole passage will thus be a parallel to the prophecy, "Make straight in the desert a highway for our God." The words as on a horse are peculiar to the Prayer Book Version, and are not added by any others. They may, however, serve to remind us of the Rider on the white horse, Whose Name is "Faithful and True, and in righteousness He doth judge and make war." Praise Him in His Name JAH, because He is Very God of Very God, and all power is given unto Him in heaven and earth.

5 He is a Father of the fatherless, and defendeth the cause of the widows: even God in his holy habitation. H. G. S. Athanasius. A. The LXX. and Vulgate here prefix, They shall be troubled by the face of Him Who is a FATHER, &c. Because they have oppressed His suppliants. Who, then, are the orphans and widows whom He thus protects? The orphans are those who, born of their father the devil and of worldly desire, are now orphaned by abandoning their evil parents, and seeking a better FATHER, even God, and a tenderer Mother, His Church. The widows are they who, once wedded to sins, now dead, have not yet the WORD for their Bridegroom, but who have come, like Ruth, to Bethlehem to seek for Him. The text has a more literal application, especially true of the early times of the Christian Church, when the sword which the LORD sent on earth cut asunder the ties of so many families, and when children were cast out by parents, and wives by husbands, for clinging to the Nazarene. Even God in His holy habitation. For out of these orphans and widows, that is, persons destitute of partnership in this world's hope, the LORD for Himself doth build a temple, whereof in continuation He saith, The LORD is in His holy place.

6 He is the God that maketh men to be of one mind in an house, and bringeth the prisoners out of captivity: but letteth the runagates continue in scarceness.

C. Ay. Acts iv. 32. For by His inspiration the Prophets, and Evangelists, and Apostles all teach the same great truth, all tend to the one goal, and His will it is that His Church on earth should be at one, undivided by schisms and heresies, as it is written, "The multitude of them that believed were of one heart and one soul." But as human pride and weakness mar that unity here, the words are most truly interpreted of the perfect harmony of heaven, where Or we may take it, Who setteth the lonely in homes, and we shall see a reference to that great Christian family which gives new ties of kindred and affection to the desolate; and, with many Greek Fathers, to that Religious Life, where virgin souls are united. One old Greek reading is very beautiful, men of one belt, which may be taken of the belt of warfare, (militare cingulum,) worn by CHRIST's chosen soldiers, wherewith the loins are girt. The Targum interprets the passage thus: "GOD it is Who maketh one marriage union for a lawful son;" wherein we may read of the mystical union between CHRIST and the Church. And bringeth the prisoners out of captivity. The Vulgate differs slightly: Who hath brought out the prisoners in might. It is spoken first of the deliverance of Israel from Egypt; then of the miracles of JESUS, by healing those whom Satan had bound by disease or by possession; and next of His accomplishment of Zechariah's prophecy, "As for thee also, by the blood of thy Covenant, I have sent forth thy prisoners out of the pit wherein is no water," what time He spoiled hell, and freed the Fathers of the elder Covenant from bondage. Fourthly, it denotes His deliverance of men who are bound and tied with the chains of their sins, and that in might, which before His gift of grace they had not. Wherefore the soul cries to Him:

A. And letteth the runagates continue in scarceness. This is not the meaning of the passage. The Authorized Version, with S. Jerome, rightly translates, The rebellious dwell in a dry land. And it may well be taken of the Israelites who perished in the wilderness during the forty years' wandering, and thence of those members of the visible Church who do not persevere, and therefore attain not to the Land of Promise. But the LXX. and Vulgate read, Likewise they who rebel [exasperate or embitter,] who dwell in sepulchres. That is, observes S. Augustine, every way dead, taken up with dead works. For these men provoke Him to anger by withstanding righteousness; for those fettered men perchance would walk, and are not able, and are praying of GOD that they may be able, and are saying to Him, "O bring Thou me out of my troubles." It appears, then, that CHRIST draws His Church from three sources: from Jews, bound under the Law, whom He looses in His might; rebellious Gentile heathens, who persecute His followers; and those who, like S. Matthew and S. Mary Magdalene, were dead and buried in their sins. These He makes of one mind, to dwell in His house, under the Gospel law of grace.

A. 7 O GOD, when thou wentest forth before the people: when thou wentest through the wilderness, 8 The earth shook, and the heavens dropped at the presence of God : even as Sinai also was moved at the presence of God, who is the God of Israel. A. S. Athanas. Eusebius. Genebrardus. A.

Before the people. Visibly in a pillar of cloud by day, and a pillar of fire by night, during the forty years' journey; visibly too in that Manhood which was a pillar of cloud, veiling from the eyes of man the fiery pillar of hidden Godhead, when He walked in the desert of this world, and when the earth shook at the tidings of His Coming, and at the preaching of His Apostles. The heavens also dropped. They dropped manna for the bodily wants of the people, and holy laws and precepts to be the food of their souls. Regarding the manna, a Jewish legend asserts that its fall was preceded by one dew, and succeeded by another, so that it lay enclosed between the two till sunrise, when the upper veil of dew disappeared, leaving the manna exposed; a shadow, doubtless, of CHRIST, the True Manna, under the forms of bread and wine, so that when the sun of faith arises on the soul, the dew of mere human reason vanishes, and leaves His Presence clear to the believing heart. Even as Sinai also was moved at the Presence of God, Who is the God of Israel. The LXX. and Vulgate more briefly: From the Face of the God of Sinai, from the Face of the God of Israel. And they explain it thus:

The heavens are the Apostles, dropping the gospel dews on the hard earth of sinful and heathen souls, taught by the same God Who gave the Law on Sinai, Who is the King of Israel, and Who gave the Gospel to His disciples; thus showing the perfect conformity between the Old and New Covenants. And as Mount Sinai is chief of its range of hills, so S. Augustine takes it as a type of that Hebrew of the Hebrews, after the Law a Pharisee, who laboured more than they all, after that he, in his journey to Damascus, had seen the Face of the God of Israel, and dropped upon the ground.

9 Thou, O God, sentest a gracious rain upon thine inheritance : and refreshedst it when it was weary. The Targum declares that this means the peace and calm which God sent on Israel when it was faint and affrighted at the terrors which attended the giving of the Law. It is more usually taken of the manna, and the shower of quails. The LXX. and Vulgate read, Thou shalt separate a voluntary rain for Thine inheritance, and it was made weak: but Thou hast perfected it. It is the rain of God's free grace, sent upon His Church, feeble without that grace, but strengthened and made perfect by it. It is also spoken of the free offer of the Gospel to the Gentiles, whom the FATHER hath given to the Son for His inheritance, who were once weak through idolatry and sin, but now have been perfected in faith.

10 Thy congregation shall dwell therein : for thou, O GOD, hast of thy goodness prepared for the poor. The LXX. and Vulgate read, more literally, Thine animals dwell therein. And of this there are many explanations. One ingenious idea is that it means the twelve tribes, distinguished by their standards; as the lion of Judah, the hind of Naphtali, the wolf of Benjamin, and so forth. Another view is, that the living creatures seen by Ezekiel and by S. John, and therefore the Evangelists, are intended. But as the primary reference doubtless is to the flocks and herds, which had pasture secured to them by the seasonable rain in the wilderness, we shall best interpret it of those meek and lowly ones to whom CHRIST's yoke is easy and His burden light, and who are nourished in His Church with the Word of Holy Writ and the Sacrament of the Eucharist, who are truly the "sheep of His pasture," and follow the Shepherd, because they know His voice. For Thou, O God, hast of Thy goodness [Vulg., sweetness] prepared for the poor. And we therefore may say, with the Angelic Doctor, "I approach, as a sick man, to the Physician of Life; unclean, to the fount of mercy; blind, to the light of eternal glory; poor and needy, to the LORD of heaven and earth." He hath prepared for the poor in another sense, nay, gone to prepare a place for them; for He hath said, "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven."

11 The LORD gave the word : great was the company of the preachers. He did indeed give the WORD; for He "so loved the world, that He gave His Only-begotten SON," and spared Him not. Great was the company of the preachers. How great shall never be known until the graves open, and the sea gives up its dead; when the martyrs in the ten great persecutions of the Early Church take their stand with those who died in the middle ages by Danish, Arab, Turkish swords, and with those who, yet later, lay down to rest on the crosses of Japan; and when the confessors of every nation, every rank and age, who published the Gospel by word or by life, will offer their spiritual children before the throne of GOD. But the LXX. and Vulgate read, The Lord shall give the Word to them that preach the Gospel, with great might. It was soon to be fulfilled when He said, "I will give you a mouth and wisdom, which all your adversaries shall not be able to gainsay nor resist." And therefore, after "they were filled with the HOLY GHOST, they spake the Word with boldness." And the great might expresses the miracles which the Apostles were empowered to work as proofs of their Divine mission; while, as S. Gregory the Great observes, the spiritual miracles of overcoming sin, still worked by the Church in our own day, are equally marvellous, though not alike patent to the senses. S. Albert lays stress on the word give, and points out that God's gift should not be sold, but imparted as freely as He has bestowed it. And so the old rime of counsel to priests:

Gratis Eucharistiam plebi ministrate, Gratis et absolvite, gratis baptizate, Vobis gratis cœlitus data gratis date, Salutemque omnium sedulo curate. It is to be noted, however, that the Hebrew is a feminine noun, and the passage ought to run, Great shall be the company of the women, messengers of victory. No longer a single Miriam, Deborah, Huldah, Anna, marking generations far distant from one another, but that great army of Virgin martyrs which, with constancy and valour more than manlike, followed the standard of the King into the thickest battle, and taught the astonished heathen that His strength was made perfect in weakness. Gaude, cœlestis curia, Quæ Virginum tot millia Laureata suscepisti, Et Regi regum junxisti. Cujus ingressæ thalamum Per cruorem purpureum, Ut castitatis lilia Pingunt, serenant omnia. 12 Kings with their armies did flee, and were discomfited: and they of the household divided the spoil.

Kings fled, when Maxentius turned before the troops of Constantine, when Eugenius, the last hope of Paganism, was routed by Theodosius at Aquileia, when Penda and his power fell at Winwidfield by the hands of Oswy, and they of the household, or, more literally, with the A. V., she of the household, she that tarried at home, in prayer and watching, the Church of God, shared the spoils of the victory He had won for her by other hands than her own. The LXX. and Vulgate read quite differently, The King of the powers of the beloved of the beloved, and [gives] to the beauty of the house to divide the spoils. The Greek Fathers explain it in two ways. It may mean that the King of the armies of the beloved people, Who is Himself the Power of that people, gives them the spoils of His enemies. Or, He is Himself the Beloved, as being the Only-begotten of His FATHER, and then the powers or virtues of the Beloved will mean the heavenly graces with which He enables His army on earth to divide the spoils for the purpose of beautifying His house therewith. It is no wonder, says Gerhohus, that the LORD gives the Word with much power. For He is able to do so, Who is King of the virtues of the Beloved, of the Beloved. He is twice called Beloved, just as in the Song of Songs He is twice styled fair by the Bride, who saith, "Behold, thou art fair, my love;

behold, thou art fair. For she is not content to call Him but once fair, but repeats it, either to denote His pre-eminent loveliness, or that His beauty in each of His natures is worthy of all admiration, in one that of His glorious Divinity, in the other that of His glorified humanity. By reason of which double beauty He is now twice called Beloved, or else because the FATHER loves Him according to both natures, and gave Him, already sharing all with Himself eternally, in His Divine nature, to be, in His assumed Manhood, King of all powers, not only earthly, but heavenly. And CHRIST, says another, hath made His house, that is, the Church, beautiful, by dividing to her spoils, stripped from conquered foes. What this is the Gospel adviseth us in the passage where we read, "How can one enter into a strong man's house, and spoil his vessels [Vulg. except he first bind the strong man? CHRIST therefore hath bound the devil with spiritual bonds, and from him so bound He took away his vessels as spoils. These vessels the LORD cleansing by the remission of sins; sanctifying these spoils wrested from the foe laid prostrate and bound; these He hath divided to the beauty of His house: making "some Apostles, some prophets, some pastors, and teachers, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of CHRIST.

And such is the beauty of the house whereto the spoils are divided, that a lover thereof with this fairness being enkindled, crieth out, "LORD, I have loved the beauty of Thy house."

13 Though ye have lien among the pots, yet shall ye be as the wings of a dove: that is covered with silver wings, and her feathers like gold. This difficult verse is otherwise turned by the LXX. and Vulgate. They read: If ye sleep in the midst of the lots (κλῆρων), the wings of a dove are silvered, and the hinder parts of her back are in the paleness (LXX. greenness) of gold. Modern critics, agreeing with the Chaldee Targum, instead of pots or lots, read sheepfolds. The obscurity of the passage has given birth to a great variety of interpretations. S. Augustine says that the lots probably mean the two Testaments, and that sleeping in the midst of them implies resting on their authority. And the reason he gives for this interpretation is, that inheritances are given by testament, and the Greek word for inheritance is κληρονομία, derived from κλῆρος,

Cant. i. 15. A. A. Tibull. Eleg. i. 7. the word of the LXX. in this passage. Another says that the lots are the contemplative and active lives, and that by observing a due medium between these, the beauty of the Church will be raised to the highest point. S. Jerome, agreeing with S. Augustine in the explanation of the lots, differs in his reason. He points out that the Holy Dove appears in both Testaments, silver-winged in the outer letter, golden in the mystical sense. S. Gregory the Great explains sleeping to be quiescence from all evil, the silver wings of the Church to be the clear preaching of the Gospel, while the golden back denotes the prize, yet richer and more glorious than even the promises, which awaits believers. Gerhohus, keeping to the idea of the two Testaments, blended with that of the two great commandments, compares this passage with the description of Solomon's chariot or bed, whose pillars were silver, whose bottom was gold, and whose midst was paved with love, and sees in both a picture of the Church adorned and glorified by the loving deeds of her children. The Carmelite sees here a type of the Mother of GOD, the Undefiled Dove whom the HOLY SPIRIT made His Spouse. Her wings are lowliness and purity, silvered in that she was the Mother of the Incarnate WORD; golden in her perfect and spotless virginity; silver in grace and knowledge; golden, bright and yet pale, in wisdom and patience. Again; the whole passage may mean that no temporary repose, no abasement nor persecution, can stay the upward flight or mar the beauty of GOD's Church. So the heathen poet, uttering more than he knew, sings,

14 When the Almighty scattered kings for their sake : then were they as white as snow in Salmon. The words recall that famous "Alleluia Battle," when the Pictish hosts fled before the shout uplifted by the British army, as it stood upon the hills, clad in the white chrisomrobe of baptism, no unfit type of those armies in heaven, which, on white horses, and clothed in fine linen, white and clean, follow Him Who is called Faithful and True. The Vulgate reading, however, but little different from that of the LXX. is, When the Heavenly One parteth (discernit) Kings over her, they shall be white with snow in Salmon. That is, when GOD distributes His Apostles and their successors over the Church, then the Gentiles who were in Salmon, the mount of shade or darkness, shall be made whiter than snow by remission of sins and faith received in Baptism. S. Augustine, while accepting part of this explanation, differs in his comment on the words in Salmon. He says that shade denotes the grace of GOD, as distinguished from human merit, the shadow of our Beloved which protects

A. us from all carnal heat and from the flame of spiritual sins. As shade comes from light and a body, so grace comes from the WORD, Who is the Light, and from His human Body. And as He shelters His faithful, He is rightly called Salmon. 15 As the hill of Basan, so is God's hill : even an high hill, as the hill of Basan. The LXX. and Vulgate translate Bashan ("fertile") as an adjective, and read, The mountain of God is a fat mountain, a mountain curdled, a fat mountain. What mountain ought we to understand by the mountain of God, a mountain fruitful, a mountain full of curds, but the same LORD CHRIST, of Whom also another Prophet saith, "In the last days, the mountain of the LORD's house shall be established in the top of the mountains?" He is Himself the Mountain full of curds, because of the babes to be fed with grace as though it were with milk, a mountain rich to strengthen and enrich them by the excellence of the gifts. For even the milk itself, of which curd is made, in a wonderful manner signifieth grace, for it floweth out of the overflowing of the mother's bowels, and of a sweet compassion unto babes it is freely poured forth. The Greek Fathers, whom Ayguan follows, interpret the mountain as the Church, and dwell on the word curdled as denoting the firmness of Christian dogma, which does not remain in a state of flux, but forms solid food for the soul. Modern critics translate a mountain of many heights, not having one summit only, and thus, if taken of CHRIST, it implies the perfection of all the Divine attributes in Him ; if of the Church, it expresses the various forms of saintliness, penitential, active, contemplative, and the like.

A. 16 Why hop ye so, ye high hills? this is God's hill, in the which it pleaseth Him to dwell : yea, the LORD will abide in it for ever. It should rather be, Why look ye askance? And it will naturally refer first to the rejection of CHRIST by the chief priests, by Herod, and by Pilate, and then to the contempt poured on the Christian Church by Jews, confident in their own spiritual supremacy, and by Pagans, trusting, if Romans, to their temporal dominion, if Greeks, to their intellectual gifts. But the Vulgate reads, Why do ye imagine curdled hills [to be God's hills?] That is, observes S. Augustine, why should ye compare any of the Saints, however illustrious, to their Master, any hill to that Mountain which is established on the tops of the mountains? Or, again, why should you suppose that there are other mountains of curds, other Churches besides the one Catholic Church, in which the abundance of divine grace can be found? This is God's hill, in the which it pleaseth Him to dwell, yea, the Lord will

Q abide in it for ever. If we take the hill of CHRIST, then we are taught that the FATHER abideth in Him, and that "in Him dwelleth the fulness of the Godhead bodily." If of the Church, we recall CHRIST's promise, "Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world," and the continual presence of the HOLY SPIRIT in the Christian body. 17 The chariots of GOD are twenty thousand, even thousands of angels : and the LORD is among them, as in the holy place of Sinai. S. Athanasius. 2 Kings ii. 12. Ezek. i. Dan. vii. 10. It is taken first of the glorious hosts which surround the Heavenly King, as He sits on the throne, "the chariot of Israel, and the horsemen thereof;" Ezekiel saw the chariot, the four mystic living creatures, advancing on the wheels which the Spirit moved; Daniel counted the horsemen, "Thousand thousands ministered unto Him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before Him."

About His chariot numberless were poured, Cherub and Seraph, Potentates, and Thrones, And Virtues, winged Spirits, and Chariots winged, From the armoury of GOD, where stand of old Myriads.

A. And the chariots of GOD are also His Saints on earth; those who are fastened to the easy yoke of CHRIST, and have Him as their charioteer, guiding them with the reins of faith. Especially it is true of those who preach the Word, and thus carry GOD Himself into the hearts of their converts. Twenty thousand. The LXX. and Vulgate do not express this precisely. They say ten thousand multiplied (μυριοπλασιον, decem millibus multiplex,) and thus there is no exact mystical signification of the number given by the old commentators. The following interpretation, however, is according to the rule of such explanations. Because the number five denotes the five bodily senses; ten, as its double, implies the two sexes, men and women. A thousand is the accepted sign of universality, and therefore the number ten thousand would denote the Catholic Church of mankind. But it has been held by many Fathers that the number of redeemed men will exactly fill up the gaps in the heavenly ranks left by the fall of the rebel Angels, of whose chief, the great dragon, it is written, "His tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth. Ten thousand, then, represents also the number of the fallen Angels, and thus the faithful two-thirds are denoted by twenty thousand, leaving the full total of the Church triumphant thirty thousand, the factor three signifying the mystery of the Holy Trinity; ten the redeemed of both sexes endowed with spiritual bodies;

and a thousand implying the perfection and immortality of the Communion of Saints. The Vulgate, instead of "thousands of Angels," reads, thousands of rejoicing ones, because what they do is done not sorrowfully or on compulsion, but with ready and devout cheerfulness, because, rejoicing in hope, and patient in tribulation, though they be sometimes sorrowful, yet they are always glad in Him Whose chariot they are. And the Lord is among them, as in the holy place of Sinai. That is, the invisible Presence of God in His Church is as real and majestic as the vision on Sinai during the giving of the Law. And this comes out more forcibly in the Vulgate, in Sinai in the holy place, which means, either that God has come from Sinai to Sion, (an interpretation accordant with Heb. xii. 22,) or that Sinai itself has, in a figure, been transferred into the sanctuary.

18 Thou art gone up on high, thou hast led captivity captive, and received gifts for men : yea, even for thine enemies, that the LORD GOD might dwell among them. On high, first on the Cross, and then into Heaven; nay, adds another, to the highest of the seven heavens, that of the Holy Trinity, leaving behind Him the heavens of air, of æther, of fire, of stars, of crystal, and the empyrean itself. Thou hast led captivity captive, overcoming the devil and his angels on the Cross, drawing to Thyself, there uplifted, the nations erewhile bound and chained in their sins, and bringing with Thee, at Thy Resurrection, the Patriarchs and Fathers who waited in Hades. And received gifts for men, the sevenfold gifts of the HOLY SPIRIT, sent down on the Apostles at Pentecost. For Thine enemies. Vulgate, for unbelievers. Because the gifts were not confined to the twelve on whom the fiery tongues came at first, but were poured out on those Jews who had before rejected CHRIST, and even on the Gentiles of the heathen world; and this in order that the Lord God, the HOLY SPIRIT, might dwell among them, and make their bodies His temple. Wherefore, S. Paul, when citing this verse, reads, "He gave gifts to men," showing that all which CHRIST received in the Man, in His human nature, He accepted in order to give it to us, for "of His fulness have all we received, and grace for grace."

S. John i. 16. 19 Praised be the LORD daily : even the GOD who helpeth us, and poureth his benefits upon us. The Vulgate reads in the second clause, The God of our salvation shall make our journey prosperous, that is, observes the Carthusian, He will show us the safe and happy road to eternal life, by enlightening our hearts, and directing our works towards our last end, as He Himself speaks, "I will cause you to walk in My statutes, and ye shall keep My judgments, and do them." For man cannot walk in the right way unless grace be his leader. S. Jerome translates, more exactly, The God of our salvation shall carry us. It comes to the same thing, remarks Cardinal Bellarmine, for he goes on prosperously whom God carries. 20 He is our God, even the God of whom cometh salvation: God is the LORD, by whom we escape death.

A. In this triple ascription of praise is shadowed the mystery of the Holy Trinity. God the FATHER is our God, by eternal right; God the SON is our God Who brought us salvation; God the HOLY GHOST is the LORD and Giver of Life. The Vulgate reads in the last clause, The issues of death are of the Lord, the Lord, that is, of JEHOVAH Adonai. As though he were saying, Why art thou indignant, O lot of humanity, that thou hast the outgoing of death? Even thy LORD's outgoing was no other than that of death. Rather, therefore, be comforted than indignant; patiently, therefore, let us suffer even death, by the example of Him, Who, though by no sin was He debtor to death, and was the LORD, from Whom no one could take away life, but Himself laid it down, yet had Himself the outgoing of death. And the true outgoing of death, that by which we pass from it, and not unto it, is His too, namely, His Resurrection.

21 God shall wound the head of his enemies: and the hairy scalp of such a one as goeth on still in his wickedness. It is spoken, observes S. Athanasius, of the crushing of serpents, and therefore tells of Him Who bruised the serpent's head, and Who also punished that generation of vipers, the Jewish priests and rulers, by bringing on them the destruction of Jerusalem, which, remarks Ayguan, was the hairy scalp, the adorned and fortified head of their kingdom. Again; God wounds the head of His enemies by bringing them to repentance. Once more; some read, God shall wound the head of His enemies which walk upon the hairy scalp in their sins, which is explained of the evil spirits trampling upon men whom they have made their slaves. The hairy scalp has also been explained of subtil questions, as minute and subdivided as hairs, the investigation of which leads often unto sin, or of the little sins themselves to which men give way, as thinking them to have no binding power.

22 The LORD hath said, I will bring my people again, as I did from Basan: mine own will I bring again, as I did sometime from the deep of the sea. The Vulgate reading is, I will turn from Basan, and that of SS. Hilary and Augustine, with the Ambrosian Psalter, I shall be turned from Basan. They explain Basan variously S. Hieron. as meaning confusion, that of this world, from which CHRIST delivered us on the Cross, or the confusion of idolatry and sin; or thirst, from which, as S. Augustine notes, the LORD turns them who hunger and thirst after righteousness. And with this latter interpretation, some take the succeeding words, I will turn into the depths of the sea, that is, I will send the plenteous rain so abundantly on Mine inheritance, as to make a sea of the dry land. It may be also spoken of GOD's mercy to sinners drowning in the depth of their sins, or dissolved into an ocean of penitential tears. The interpretation given by S. Athanasius enables us to use the true meaning of Basan ("fertile,") though he was unaware of it. He takes Basan to be the Cross, that truly fertile Tree of which Venantius Fortunatus sings:

Faithful Cross! above all other, One and only noble Tree! None in foliage, none in blossom, None in fruit thy peers may be: The Hymn and interprets the passage of CHRIST's descent from the Cross down into the depths of hell to spoil it, and lead it captive. S. Hilary, also interpreting it of CHRIST, says that the depth of the sea denotes the sorrows which He bore in His life of Passion, when He brought His people out of the Basan of confusion into the Land of Promise. 23 That thy foot may be dipped in the blood of thine enemies: and that the tongue of thy dogs may be red through the same.

When He trod the winepress alone, and trampled His ghostly foes in His fury, then their blood was sprinkled on His garments. When He loosed the armies of Vespasian and Hadrian against the rebellious nation, His foot was dipped in the blood of His human enemies. And He avenged Himself again, when the Roman Empire, which had so long persecuted the Saints, fell before the barbarian invaders. The LXX. and Vulgate, however, read only That Thy foot may be dipped in blood. And they say Thy foot means the preachers of the Gospel, who became as it were the feet of CHRIST, by carrying Him into all lands, and who, sealing their witness with martyrdom, are dipped in their own blood. That the tongue of Thy dogs may be red through the same. Here too the Vulgate reading is different; it is, That the tongue of Thy dogs from enemies [may be dipped] in the same. They take it of CHRIST's enemies, such as S. Paul, who have become His faithful dogs, to guard the flock they once harassed, and to preach His Name. S. Augustine reminds us of Gideon's three hundred, who lapped like dogs, and who overthrew the army of Midian, and he points out that the letter T, which,

A. A. S. Ambros. in S. Lucam. lib. v. c. 7. in the Greek alphabet, is the symbol of the number three hundred, is also the sign of the Cross. And as CHRIST dipped His foot in the Blood of His own Passion, so all Christians should dip their feet, the goings of their souls, in that same tide, by confession of the LORD's Cross, and by washing away their sins, carrying about in their bodies His dying. Their tongues also, by drinking the Chalice of His most precious Blood, and by open acknowledgment of His redeeming love. 24 It is well seen, O GOD, how thou goest : how thou, my GOD and King, goest in the sanctuary. More exactly, with the A. V. and Vulgate, They have seen Thy goings. They saw them when the Angels brought the glad tidings of great joy at His Nativity, when the Wise Men presented their gifts at the Epiphany, when He passed through the land preaching, and working miracles. They saw His goings along the Way of Sorrows, His elevation on the Cross, His passage to the tomb, His Resurrection, His Ascension into heaven, and they will see His terrible coming again to judgment. Thy goings, my God and King, Who art in the holy place. So the LXX. and Vulgate. And it is David's confession of CHRIST, Who, Very GOD, and King of Israel, is exalted to the FATHER's right hand in heaven. He is also in His holy place on earth, that Church of which He is the Head, where His goings may be seen in the tokens of holiness exhibited by those who follow His steps, as the march of a general may be known even by those who merely watch the advance of the rear-guard.

25 The singers go before, the minstrels follow after : in the midst are the damsels playing with the timbrels. If we take the first half of the verse as it stands in our version, and explain it by the usual rules of mystical interpretation, it will denote the preaching of the Word in the first place, and, following on that, the union of praise and active works in the lives of Christians who hearken to such preaching. But the LXX. and Vulgate read, The princes went before, joined with the minstrels, in the midst of the damsels who play on timbrels. If we take the words of the triumphal Ascension of CHRIST, then the Princes will be the Angels who formed His court, the minstrels the train of ransomed Fathers, saying, "Lift up your heads, O ye gates." The damsels playing on the timbrels are explained to be Saints who have attained the grace of spiritual beauty by mortifying the deeds of the body. For the timbrel or drum is formed of the skin of a dead animal, tightly strained, and then giving out a musical sound when struck, and thus typifies the harmony which comes after the death of carnal sin. The text also ap-

S. Hieron. S. Bernard. Serm. in Cant. 7. Ps. xxiv. 7. plies to the Church on earth, and the Princes then are the Apostles, who went first, joined with those whom they had won to CHRIST, and who praised Him thenceforth by word and action, while the damsels denote the Virgins of the Religious Life, who continually celebrate the praises of GOD. And as Miriam led the songs of the Hebrew maidens at the Red Sea triumph, so the chant of Christian Virgins is led by that other Miriam whom S. Augustine calls "our timbrel-player," whose song of praise still resounds daily throughout the earth, and of whom it is said that in Paradise, Our Lady sings Magnificat With tones surpassing sweet, And all the Virgins bear their part, Sitting about her feet. 26 Give thanks, O Israel, unto GOD the LORD in the congregations : from the ground of the heart.

The A. V. is here to be followed, Bless ye God in the congregations, even the Lord, from the fountains of Israel. He says, in the Churches, notes S. Augustine, lest any should suppose that choral bands of revellers are meant. Rather Churches are intended by the damsels, decked with new graces, playing on timbrels with spiritual tunefulness. And the fountains of Israel are the Apostles, according to that saying, "Whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life." Wherefore also it is written that when Israel camped in Elim, there were in that place, "twelve wells of water." A. 27 There is little Benjamin their ruler, and the princes of Judah their counsel : the princes of Zabulon, and the princes of Nephthali. He who is a Prince of the Apostles, though he calls himself the least, the Israelite of the tribe of Benjamin, is here indicated. The LXX. and Vulgate read, Benjamin the younger in a trance. Younger, because S. Paul was called later than the other Apostles; in a trance, because of that vision which he saw on the journey to Damascus, or the unspeakable things he beheld when caught up to the third heaven. The names of the other tribes occurring in this verse are said by S. Athanasius (with whom S. Augustine agrees) to refer to various Apostles. SS. Peter, Andrew, James, and John being of Zebulun and Naphtali; S. Matthew, and the other Apostles, of the tribe of Judah. S. Jerome reads here, The princes of Judah in their purple, and it is taken of their resisting unto blood,

A. They who nobly died believing : Martyrs purpled in their gore. The Hymn Sponsa CHRISTI. A. Mystically, Benjamin, the Son of God's Right Hand, is their Ruler. Judah, denoting praise, comes next, as confession of God's Name is the truest counsel for Christians; then follows (by seniority) Naphtali, wrestling with God in prayer, wrestling against the world, the flesh, and the devil for victory; and last, Zebulun, dwelling, denotes the final rest of the people of God, when the Bride shall say, "Now will my Husband dwell with me." Princes, says S. Augustine, of confession, of strength, of breadth, princes of faith, of hope, of love. And thus, remarks another, they may be taken of the Apostles, by whom the praise and confession of CHRIST was spread abroad, of the Martyrs who contended for the faith unto torture and death, and of the Doctors who, dwelling in the peaceful days of the Church, kept the flock safe from the assaults of heresy.

28 Thy God hath sent forth strength for thee: stablish the thing, O God, that thou hast wrought in us. 29 For thy temple's sake at Jerusalem: so shall kings bring presents unto thee. Rom. i. 12. The Vulgate reads, Command, O God, Thy might. It is, says Gerhohus, a prayer to the FATHER to send His Might, His Only-begotten, to save us, knowing assuredly that "He that spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?" And we then turn to God the HOLY GHOST, to confirm and stablish what the Son, as commanded by the FATHER, hath wrought in us. Where note, that God confirms His elect in many ways. By endurance of suffering, "The God of all grace, after that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you." He confirms by Apostolic preaching, for the Apostles and their fellows "exhorted the brethren with many words, and confirmed them." He confirms by the Catholic Faith, as S. Paul says, "For I long to see you, that I may impart unto you some spiritual gift, to the end you may be established, that is, that I may be comforted together with you by the mutual faith both of you and me." He confirms, by the operation of the Holy Eucharist, "Wine that maketh glad the heart of man, and bread to strengthen man's heart." By the grace of the HOLY GHOST, "Stablish me with Thy free Spirit." And by true repentance, as the LORD spake to S. Peter, "When thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren." The Carthusian takes the Might of God to be the help of Angels, and if we do so interpret it, we shall take it chiefly of the errand of Gabriel, (the "Strength of God,") to Nazareth.

Pet. Abelard. Hymn. in Annunc. From Thy temple, which is in Jerusalem, is the Vulgate reading, that is, from heaven, send Thy Might, CHRIST, or His Angels, to us. Or, let the waters of salvation pass, as in Ezekiel's vision, from the earthly Jerusalem over the face of the world. So shall kings bring presents unto thee. Temporal kings will do it by becoming nursing fathers of the Church; spiritual rulers by offering spiritual gifts, which must, in order to be acceptable, come first from GOD's temple in Jerusalem, the vision of peace, before they can be presented in His temple of expectation in Sion. And this is most true of the Holy Eucharist, which derives its sacrificial value not from the earthly species of Bread and Wine, but from the heavenly substance of the Body and Blood of CHRIST, sent down by the power of the HOLY GHOST. 30 When the company of the spearmen, and multitude of the mighty are scattered abroad among the beasts of the people, so that they humbly bring pieces of silver : and when he hath scattered the people that delight in war.

The first clause of this difficult verse stands nowhere else as above. The LXX., the Vulgate, and the margin of the A. V. agree with modern criticism in translating it, Rebuke the beasts of the reed. The reference is in the first place to the Egyptian King, typified by the crocodile dwelling in the reedy banks of the Nile, and thence we may apply it, as S. Hilary does, to the evil spirits, to whose chief an Angel said, "The LORD rebuke thee. S. Augustine, playing on the meaning of reed, used as a pen, declares that the beasts of the reed are heretics who pervert the Scriptures by their writings, and "wrest them to their own destruction. Gerhohus gives another reason for accepting this interpretation, namely, that heretics are as a reed shaken by every wind of doctrine. The next clause runs in the LXX. and Vulgate, The assembly of the bulls amongst the cows of the peoples : or, as S. Jerome, the A. V., and modern critics, read, the calves of the peoples. S. Augustine, carrying on his reference to heretics, sees in the bulls a type of the obstinate and determined enemies of the truth : and in the cows the weaker souls which are content to follow their lead. "For of this sort are they which creep into houses, and lead captive silly women laden with sins, led away with divers lusts, ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.

The Carmelite, who sees in the beasts of the reed the persecuting Roman Empire, refers the bulls who mix with the cows to those tempters who endeavoured to make the Christians give up their faith by means of rewards and fair promises rather than by open violence. And Euthymius explains it of the Jewish priests and rulers urging on the multitude at their will. So that they humbly bring pieces of silver ; that is, by way of tribute, submitting themselves to the kingdom of CHRIST. This is the

A. A. most probable meaning of this obscure passage, which has been most variously rendered. The LXX. reads: That they who are tried with silver may not be shut out; and the Vulgate, conversely, That they may shut out those who, &c. S. Augustine's explanation of the words is singularly far-fetched. Those proved with silver are such as have been tested with the sayings of GOD, for "The words of the LORD are pure words, even as the silver, which from the earth is tried, and purified seven times in the fire." May be excluded means, may appear, may stand forth. Whence also in the silver-smith's art, they are called exclusores, who out of a shapeless lump are skilled to mould the form of a vessel. This power of showing the beauty which lies hid in Scripture belongs only to a few, and they are forced to their work by the reed of opposing heretics, the beasts of the reed, the bulls of the people. Others, as S. Hilary, are content with the simpler explanation that the enemies of the faith desire to exclude those who have been purified, like silver, from the dross of earthly vices. S. Jerome translates, who kick against the silver wheels; others, who walk proudly in silver ornaments; others again, who strike silver cymbals; but the true meaning is, as noted above, that of bringing tribute. In the last clause the LXX. and Vulgate read, Scatter the people that desire war. It holds of the Jews, who delighted to war against CHRIST; of His spiritual enemies; of the Romans, pre-eminently the warlike people, at last converted to the faith they had opposed, and becoming its missionaries; and finally, of all oppressors and heretics, who disturb the peace of the Church.

31 Then shall the princes come out of Egypt: the Morians' land shall soon stretch out her hands unto GOD. The Vulgate reads, Ambassadors shall come. They tell a legend, how that Philo of Alexandria, sent on a mission to the Court of the Emperor Caius, met S. Peter in Rome, and learnt from him the Faith, which he then followed in his country, under the guidance of S. Mark, thus fulfilling the prophecy. It needs not, however, to dwell on a mere tradition such as this, for the long array of Christian nobles who came out of Egypt is enough, and more than enough, to bear out the prediction. Martyrs, such as SS. Mark, Anianus, Peter, Leonidas, Plutarch, and Potamianæ; Doctors, as SS. Pantænus, Clement, Athanasius, Cyril; Confessors, as SS. Antony, Pachomius, Hilarion, Pambo, and other Fathers of the Desert, adorn the roll-call of the Saints. The Morians' land, or, as the Vulgate, Æthiopia, stretched out her hands to GOD when the treasurer of Queen Candace took S. Philip up into his chariot, and asked him of Isaiah's prophecy, and thus learnt the Gospel sooner than they of Egypt. And still, even in her degradation, the ancient Church of Æthiopia loves to recall these words. Four times in the pro-anaphoral portion of her Liturgy she prays to CHRIST to "Stretch forth His Hand," to hallow the paten, the chalice, the Communion spoon, and the ark. And, mystically, the ambassadors coming out of Egypt denote the Apostles passing from the bondage of the Synagogue, while Æthiopia tells of those who were black with sin, but now are made white as snow in Salmon.

32 Sing unto GOD, O ye kingdoms of the earth: O sing praises unto the LORD. 33 Who sitteth in the heavens over all from the beginning: lo, he doth send out his voice, yea, and that a mighty voice. The LXX. and Vulgate read, Who hath ascended over the heaven of heaven to the East. That is, to the right hand of His FATHER, for He Who visited us as the Day-spring from on high, hath returned to the throne of His glory. And so S. Ambrose in the great Christmas hymn: A. From GOD the FATHER He proceeds, To GOD the FATHER back He speeds; Proceeds,—as far as very hell, Speeds back,—to light ineffable. The Hymn Veni Redemptor Gentium. Or, as some read, from the East, that is, from the Mount of Olives, on the East of Jerusalem, or from Jerusalem itself. And it may be taken of the far more wide and rapid spread of Christianity towards the West than in the Eastern parts of the world. He shall send out His voice, yea, and that a mighty voice. He that like a lamb before his shearer was dumb, shall send out His voice, and not the voice of weakness, as though to be judged, but the voice of power, as about to be Judge. "Our GOD shall come, and shall not keep silence." And the might of His Voice may be known by its effects, for it will raise the dead.

A. 34 Ascribe ye the power to GOD over Israel: his worship, and strength is in the clouds. Glorify Him, Christian Saints, more than His own people Israel did when He came to them. Glorify Him because of His bounties to Israel, to His chosen Apostles and servants. Or, construing the words in a different order, Over Israel is His magnificence, as He shall be throned in glory above the true Israelites, His faithful disciples. In the clouds. They who did "fly as a cloud," bearing the gracious rain of the Gospel to the dry places of the earth, shall shine above others with the brightness of the sun, and glow with many colours, yea, with the seven splendours of the HOLY GHOST. Ay. D. C. A. G. 35 O GOD, wonderful art thou in thy holy places: even the GOD of Israel; he will give strength and power unto his people; blessed be GOD.

They all take it to be Wonderful in His Saints, wonderful in them before the Law, in Enoch, whom He translated, in Noah, whom He saved in the Ark, in Abraham, whom He called. Wonderful in His people whom He brought out of Egypt: to whom He appeared in terror and majesty on Sinai; in Joshua, at whose bidding the sun and moon stood still; in Elijah, Elisha, and others under the Law. But most wonderful in the time of grace, in His incomprehensible working and abiding in Christians, and especially in the Sacrament of the Altar. He will give strength and power unto His people. In this life He gives strength to resist sin, to endure shame, torture, and death, power to attain to righteousness by grace, to work mighty works, to declare the Gospel fully. He gave strength and power in the fiery tongues of Pentecost, when the Apostles were endued with power from on high. And He will give the power of His Resurrection to us at His Second coming, that this mortal may put on immortality.

A. And therefore: because of all these His wondrous works, blessed be God. Glory be to the FATHER, Who gave the WORD to the company of the preachers; and to the SON, the WORD Who is preached; and to the HOLY GHOST, the Power of Both, given in gifts to men. As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be: world without end. Amen.

Collects.O LORD our Governor, Who, vouchsafing a spiritual banquet to the righteous, makest them joyful in gladness: grant that Thy flock may understand Thy death, and confess Thee, the Victor over death, sitting at the right hand of the FATHER. Who livest. O LORD JESU CHRIST, Who didst ascend over the Heaven of heavens to the East, conquering the West, perfect in Thy-self them whom Thou didst undertake to redeem, that they may be raised on high, that where Thou, the Head, hast gone before, thither Thou mayest draw Thy whole glorified body to receive honour, and leave not in the sunset of the world those whom Thou, in Thy triumph, exaltest towards the everlasting East. (11.) O LORD, Who ascendedst up on high, leading captivity captive, deliver us by the triumph of Thy victory from the captivity of the devil, that whilst Thou givest Thy gifts to men, Thou mayest make men themselves altogether partakers of Thy gifts. (11.)

Mozarabic For the Saints. O LORD GOD of hosts, wonderful in Thy Saints, we earnestly beseech Thee to grant us strength to drive away adversities. Thou Who didst bestow on Thy Saints the honour of attaining to heavenly ways; grant Thy people also power, we pray Thee, at their intercession whom Thou vouchsafest in Thy divine goodness to unite in friendship with Thee. (11.) God vouchsafe to change us from death unto life, from S. Jerome. corruption into incorruption, that made partakers with His Saints, we may rejoice in Him with everlasting gladness. Through. (1.) O LORD, King of virtues, set apart for us of Thine inheritance the gracious rain of compunction, that as we are weak through sins, we may receive from Thee the strength of holy resolve, and advance to that life which is pleasing unto Thee. Through. (1.)

TITLE: To the Chief Musician upon Shoshannim, a Psalm of David. LXX. and Vulgate: To the end, for them who shall be changed, a Psalm of David. Chaldee Targum: For praise; of the Captivity of the Sanhedrim, by the hands of David. Or, To the Supreme, for the Lilies, a Psalm of David.

Argument.ARG. THOMAS. That CHRIST was given bitter gall and sharp vinegar to drink for our salvation. The Voice of CHRIST at the time of the Passion. This Psalm is to be read at the reading of the Prophet Jonah, and at the Gospel of S. John. The Voice of CHRIST to the FATHER, when He was suffering. Of the Passion of CHRIST, and the rejection of the Jews. A prayer for the Church. VEN. BEDE. To the end, every one knows, refers to CHRIST, Who, by the very testimony of the Gospel, is about in this Psalm to narrate His Passion, by which believers shall be changed, putting off the old man, and putting on the new.

Throughout the Psalm CHRIST speaks in the form of a servant. In the first section He intreats that He may be saved by the FATHER, seeing that He is hated by the Jews without a cause. Save Me, O God, &c. In the second He asks, on behalf of His members, that the hope of the faithful trusting in His Resurrection be not baulked, saying that He hath patiently borne whatever the ungodly laid on Him. God, Thou knowest My simpleness, &c. In the third place, He intreats that His prayer may be heard, so that His spotless conversation may be delivered from the mire of this world, saying that the LORD knoweth by what snares of the enemies He is beset, that He may arrive at the issue of His Passion, having overcome the peril. But, Lord, I make My prayer unto Thee. In the fourth place, through the power of His foreknowledge, He declares things to come, which may happen to His enemies. Let their table be made a snare to take themselves withal, &c. Fifthly, in the form of a servant He calls Himself poor, whence He says that He will give thanks to His FATHER'S mercy, encouraging the faithful to trust in the LORD, Who hath delivered His Church from the adversity of this world, and hath provided therein for the eternal happiness of His Saints. When I am poor and in heaviness, Thy help, O God, shall lift Me up.

SYRIAC PSALTER. Of David. Literally, when Sheba son of Bichri sounded with a trumpet, and the people refrained from going after David. And it is said to be a prophecy of CHRIST'S sufferings, and the reprobation of the Jews. EUSEBIUS OF CÆSAREA. The sufferings of CHRIST, and the rejection of the Jews. S. ATHANASIUS. A Psalm in address alone.

Various Uses.Gregorian. Ferial. Thursday. Matins. [Maundy Thursday. I. Nocturn.] Monastic. Ferial. Wednesday. Matins. [Maundy Thursday. I. Nocturn.] Lyons. As Gregorian. Ambrosian. Ferial. Monday of the Second Week. III. Nocturn. [Maundy Thursday. Matins.]

Antiphons.Gregorian. Ferial. O LORD GOD, haste Thee to deliver me. [Maundy Thursday. The zeal of Thine house hath even eaten me, and the rebukes of them that rebuked Thee are fallen upon me.] Monastic. Ferial. Alleluia. [Septuag. Seek ye after GOD, * and your soul shall live. Maundy Thursday. As Gregorian.] Parisian. In Thy sight * are all mine adversaries : my heart hath waited for reproach, and misery. Lyons. Ferial. Seek ye after GOD, * and your soul shall live. [Maundy Thursday. As Gregorian.] Ambrosian. Ferial. Draw nigh unto my soul, and save it. [Maundy Thursday. I am become a stranger unto my brethren, even an alien unto my mother's children.] 1 Save me, O GOD : for the waters are come in, even unto my soul. 2 I stick fast in the deep mire, where no ground is : I am come into deep waters, so that the floods run over me.

This Psalm, observes Cassiodorus, is the fourth of those which speak at length of the LORD'S Passion and Resurrection. And the fact of its being thrice cited in the New Testament in this sense, by the Apostles Peter, John, and Paul, does not permit us to doubt that its primary intention was Messianic prophecy. Save Me, O God. When CHRIST utters these words to His FATHER, He does not pray, as we must, to be delivered from sin, but from the sufferings of body and soul endured in His Passion. The waters are come in. And they may come in three ways: as a river torrent swollen A.

with rains, as in a deep and muddy pool, or as in a storm at sea. The first will denote the Jewish people, lashed into sudden fury by the secret instigations of the priests; the second the still, deadly hypocrisy of the Scribes and Pharisees; the third, the fierce wrath of kings and rulers. Applied to the servants instead of to the Master, these waters denote temptations and persecutions threatening the very life of the Church, or of single members thereof. Even unto my soul. Of the Church, as when a ship has sprung a leak, or been filled by waves, and is sinking; of a man, when the waters have risen to his lips, and threaten suffocation. I stick fast in the deep mire. Yes; for if He had not taken upon Him the nature of man, a creature of clay, He would have been free from danger and pain; but because He had stuck fast therein, joining His Godhead for ever to it, therefore He endured suffering. And He came into the mire in another sense when, laid in the tomb, He gave His Body to the earth. Where no ground is. The Vulgate has it, where there is no substance. And they take it variously. It may be the poverty of CHRIST in His human life, when He stripped Himself of His glory; or it tells us of His death, when His soul was parted for a time from the substance of His Body;

or, again, it may refer to the utter exhaustion of His wounded Form as He hung dying on the Cross. Spoken in the person of sinners, the deep mire most fitly denotes the slough of carnal sin into which men sink ever deeper by mere continuance, without any fresh volition on their own part, where there is no ground, no certain point of stoppage, and no real or lasting pleasure. I am come into deep waters. Like Jonah, He suffered Himself to be cast into the sea, for the salvation of those in His ship, and after three days came forth again, after the floods ran over Him. And He says deep waters, as contrasting with the height from which He descended into them, when He came down from heaven; nay, denoting that He penetrated down to hell itself. This peril of deep waters, wisely observes the Carthusian, may well be that of high rank and office, so that the storm and noise of worldly cares and duties, overwhelm peace of mind, clearness of devotion, and guard over the heart. And when the ship of any human soul is in peril through the waves and storm, if CHRIST be there, the terrified mariner has but to call on Him; if He be not there, then let the waters be baled out with holy fear and confession of sin, lightened with almsgiving, and steadied with the anchor of hope, till He come to save.

A. A. 3 I am weary of crying; my throat is dry: my sight faileth me for waiting so long upon my God. Or, with the LXX. and Vulgate, I have toiled in crying. Not only in the Seven Words from the Cross, but in the A. long and thankless labour of preaching the kingdom of heaven to a gainsaying people; and in the prayer of His Agony, whereof the Apostle says, "Who, in the days of His flesh, when He had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto Him that was able to save Him from death, and was heard in that He feared." My throat is dry. We nowhere read that this prophecy was literally fulfilled, though the Carthusian says that it must have been, from the toil, pain, and loss of blood which CHRIST endured, drying up the natural moisture of His Body; but we may well take it with S. Augustine, and those who follow him, that as the voice of one that is hoarse is scarcely audible or intelligible, so the Voice of CHRIST was unheard and misunderstood by the Jews. Ayguan, comparing that passage of the Apocalypse wherein it is said that a mighty angel "cried with a loud voice, as when a lion roareth," explains this crying as that of the Lion of the tribe of Judah, and dwells at length on the ideas prevalent in his day touching the king of beasts, to find lessons of CHRIST in them. My sight faileth Me for waiting so long upon My God. The Vulgate: While I hope in My God. That is, as we may best take it, My bodily powers are weakened by the near approach of death, while my soul remains steadfast in its trust.

How fast His hands and feet are nailed, His blessed tongue with thirst is tied, His failing eyes are blind with blood, Jesus, our Love, is crucified! A. The LXX. reading, followed in some Latin Psalters, is, from hoping in My God. And this, observes S. Augustine, cannot be spoken by the Head of Himself, but in the person of His members only, of those Apostles whose faith and courage failed. So too the Body toils in crying when lamenting its own sins, when eagerly preaching the Gospel to others, when calling on GOD for pardon, for grace, for illumination, for amendment. And the Church becomes hoarse when her preaching, like her LORD's, is unheeded, or when she is exhausted by toil or suffering; or again, when GOD tires her, by remaining long without giving an answer to her prayers. 4 They that hate me without a cause are more than the hairs of my head: they that are mine enemies, and would destroy me guiltless, are mighty.

Which teaches that the enemies of the Saints are ever more numerous than the Saints themselves, who are, as it were, the hairs adorning the great Head of the Church, Who, like Samson, placed His strength therein, and like Absalom, His beauty. And when these hairs were plucked out and shorn away by the martyrdoms of countless athletes, then the mocking Jews and heathen said, as the children to Elisha, "Go up, thou bald head," and were speedily punished for their sin. Of the latter clause in the verse S. Augustine observes that it is the very voice of martyrs, not in the punishment, but in the cause; for the mere suffering of persecution or death is not in itself praiseworthy, but to endure such things for a good cause. CHRIST's enemies were mighty, for there were united against Him the religious influence wielded by the chief priests, and the civil power in the hands of Herod and Pilate. Mighty, too, are the enemies of the Church,—heathen emperors and persecutors in time past; unbelievers, heretics, schismatics, and false brethren in the present. Mighty are the enemies of our souls; "for we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities and against powers, and against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places."

A. 5 I paid them the things that I never took: GOD, thou knowest my simpleness, and my faults are not hid from thee.

Or, with the Vulgate, that I never robbed. For He paid the penalty of sin by His Death upon the Cross, being Himself without sin. And yet more, whereas the devil's power is the produce of robbery, and Adam's knowledge of good and evil came from robbery too, the power and wisdom of CHRIST are His own by Divine right, for "all power is given unto Him in heaven and earth; so that He, "being in the form of GOD, thought it not robbery to be equal with GOD. And He shares His glory with His members, as it is written, "To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with Me in My throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with My FATHER in His throne. My simpleness. Rather, with the LXX., Vulgate, and A. V., My foolishness. It is the Eternal Wisdom Who speaks. But "the foolishness of GOD is wiser than men. What was so much like foolishness as, when He had it in His power with one word to lay low the persecutors, to suffer Himself to be held, scourged, spit upon, buffeted, to be crowned with thorns, to be nailed to the Tree? It is like foolishness, but this foolish thing excelletch all wise men. And it is true of every Saint who has given up all for CHRIST, of whom the wicked shall one day exclaim, "This was he whom we had some time in derision, and a proverb of reproach:

we fools accounted his life madness, and his end to be without honour: how is he numbered among the children of GOD, and his lot is among the Saints! But the words also are true of sinners, who are wise in their own conceits, with that wisdom which is foolishness with GOD, disobeying His commandments, serving the vices of the body, neglecting the salvation of their souls. My faults are not hid from Thee. It is the Most Holy Who speaks. He speaks as He was judged by man: "This Man is not of GOD, because He keepeth not the Sabbath day; "We know that this Man is

A. 1 Cor. i. 25. A. a sinner;" and again, "Who is this which speaketh blasphemies?" It is spoken of Saints also, who do not attempt to hide their sins from God, but confess them openly with hearty repentance and humility. Of sinners, moreover, because their refusal to confess and amend cannot shelter them from the all-seeing eyes of God. 6 Let not them that trust in thee, O LORD GOD of hosts, be ashamed for my cause: let not those that seek thee be confounded through me, O LORD GOD of Israel. Herein CHRIST prays against that which was the great peril of weak souls in the first days of the Church, the offence of the Cross, the scorn heaped upon those who worshipped the Crucified; to the Jews a stumbling-block, to the Greeks foolishness. The Vulgate, however, reads, them that wait for Thee. And they take it of the Fathers waiting in Hades till CHRIST should come to set them free, on whose behalf He prays that He may rise again from death, that they may not be disappointed of their hope. And as in the first part of the verse He intreats that His people may not fail from weakness within, so, in the latter clause, His petition is that they may not be overcome by revilings and persecutions from without, but that, when they look for Him with prayer and holiness, it may be said to them as to the women at the sepulchre, "Fear not, for I know that ye seek JESUS."

7 And why? for thy sake have I suffered reproof: shame hath covered my face. For Thy sake. Where note, that all CHRIST's words and works were to the end of increasing the honour of His FATHER in the hearts of men; wherefore He reproved sin, preached holiness, and worked miracles, that they might believe His sayings. And He indeed suffered reproof, for they said of Him, "Behold a man gluttonous and a wine-bibber," and "Thou art a Samaritan, and hast a devil." Shame covered His Face when He was buffeted, and blindfolded, and spit upon, and at last dragged to the most ignominious of deaths. And this is the cry of the Bride also. For His sake the Martyrs contended to the death; for His sake the Confessors bore not only spoiling of their goods, chains, and torture, but what was harder, the reproach of worshipping with foul and sanguinary orgies, rather than reveal to the mockery of the heathen the mystery of the Holy Eucharist; for His sake the Virgins bore to be dragged to dens of infamy, to stand, stripped of their garments, a mark for the insulting and cruel stare of eighty thousand spectators.

8 I am become a stranger unto my brethren: even an alien unto my mother's children. It was bitterly true when the chief of His brethren, the Prince of His Apostles, "began to curse and to swear, saying, I know not this Man of whom ye speak." It was true also on the way to Emmaus, when the eyes of His two disciples were holden, and Cleopas said, "Art Thou only a stranger in Jerusalem?" An alien unto My mother's children. As Joseph's brethren sold him into Egypt, and knew him not when he became ruler of the land, so the children of the Synagogue rejected CHRIST, giving Him over to the Gentiles, and confessed Him not when He became Head of the Church gathered from the heathen. And the Jews did not even admit His Hebrew descent. They said to Him, "Say we not well that Thou art a Samaritan?" They said of Him, "As for this fellow, we know not from whence He is." More literally still, we read, "Neither did His brethren believe in Him."

9 For the zeal of thine house hath even eaten me: and the rebukes of them that rebuked thee are fallen upon me. We have the comment of the Apostles themselves on the first part of this verse; for we read, that when JESUS drove the sellers of oxen, sheep, and doves, and the money-changers out of the temple with a scourge of small cords, then "His disciples remembered that it was written, The zeal of Thine house hath eaten Me up." And therefore it was that He became an alien to His Mother's children, because they would not endure His severity, but rejected Him for interfering with their gains, as did also the Gergesenes, when He suffered the devils to destroy their swine. The latter clause has also an inspired gloss, for S. Paul says, "For even CHRIST pleased not Himself; but, as it is written, The reproaches of them that reproached Thee fell on Me." And that, because whoso knoweth CHRIST knoweth the FATHER also; because whoso insults an ambassador, dishonours also the King from whom he comes: a King, moreover, Who hath said, "They will reverence My Son." There is another sense in which it may be truly said that CHRIST is eaten up with zeal for His FATHER's House. For in His great love for the Church He desires to edify it in all ways, and especially by giving Himself in the Holy Eucharist to be the Food of believers, so that He is therein eaten up. The whole verse may well be applied, as by the Carthusian, to those who have been raised up at different times as reformers of abuses in the Church, and especially in the Religious Life, and who, like S. Gregory VII.,—and in far later days S. Teresa, and the not less holy Mère Angelique of Port Royal,—have been subjected to all manner of hostility and slander in consequence.

10 I wept, and chastened myself with fasting: and that was turned to my reproof. A. The LXX. (in some copies) and Vulgate here read, I covered my soul with fasting. David did so, observes a Saint, that he might clothe it with true abundance; for in this wise we learn that such fasting, as is abstinence from sin, is a garment of the soul. Gluttony, observes another, makes men naked; fastings clothe even the stripped, and that is a good covering which shelters the soul from the tempter. Where note, that it is not spoken of mere bodily or external abstinence, for that does not cover the soul. Our Blessed LORD covered His soul with fasting, when His continual abstinence of forty days caused the devil to doubt if He were Very Man Who could so endure. And He covered His Godhead from men, by abstaining from putting out His strength to punish His enemies, and that for the purpose of giving an example of patience. And He had a yet sorer fast than either of these, —His unappeased hunger and thirst for the salvation of sinners, whom He yet found to reject His offers, and even to deliver Him over to death. And His fasting was turned to His reproof, when it encouraged the devil, seeing Him so destitute of all succour, to tempt Him to vain confidence and idolatry; and when His human enemies cried out, "He saved others, let Him save Himself, if He be CHRIST, the Chosen of GOD."

11 I put on sackcloth also: and they jested upon me. A. That sackcloth was the form of a servant, the Manhood of poverty and suffering, which men scorned and derided. And as sackcloth is the garb of mourning, it tells also of His sorrows Who wept over Jerusalem and at the grave of Lazarus. Beda, following the Vulgate reading, haircloth, observes that goats, of whose hair such texture is made, are the symbol of guilt; and that CHRIST, by taking sinners close to His side, and joining them in one body, does, as it were, clothe Himself with them. And many recount a legend that the seamless coat was of haircloth, and the customary garb of CHRIST. Agellius declares that it was customary to wrap a piece of coarse sackcloth round the loins of those about to be crucified, that they might be fastened more securely, and that this passage is thus a prophecy of the last stage of the Passion. They jested upon Me. LXX. and Vulgate, I became a parable unto them; or better, as A. V., a proverb. Whereupon some take occasion to point out, that as the LORD taught chiefly by parables, so He may be said to have been Himself a parable to His disciples. But the plainer sense, an object of ridicule, is more generally followed.

12 They that sit in the gate speak against me: and the drunkards make songs upon me. The sitters in the gate, according to primeval Eastern usage, are the elders and rulers of the city, and here, as all the commentators agree, it is used of the chief priests. The drunkards are variously explained. Some apply it to those Jews who, having just been quaffing the Paschal wine-cups on the night of Maundy Thursday, hastened from their feast to the house of Annas, to join in reviling CHRIST. Again, it is said by another, following literally the Vulgate, they who drank the wine, to refer to a brutal jest of the soldiers employed at the Crucifixion, swallowing themselves the spiced wine prepared for the sufferers to deaden their sense of pain, and substituting vinegar in its stead. The prophecy was true in another sense at a later day, when not only was the Arian heresy encouraged by the chiefs of the State, but the ribald songs of the heresiarch's own Thalia, directed against the Consubstantial, were trolled in the wine-shops of Alexandria.

13 But, Lord, I make my prayer unto thee: in an acceptable time. 14 Hear me, O God, in the multitude of thy mercy: even in the truth of thy salvation. That acceptable time was when the good seed which had fallen into the ground, and was lying buried, should spring up again in the new life of the Resurrection. Or it may be taken of CHRIST's prayer in His Passion, because in that Passion were three things well pleasing to GOD: first, the absolution of sinners, in CHRIST's Blood, for "to depart from wickedness is a thing pleasing unto the LORD;" secondly, union and love between neighbours, also brought about by the Cross, for "in three things was I beautified—the unity of brethren, the love of neighbours, a man and his wife that agree together;" thirdly, the faith of the devout, which He in His Passion prayed might not fail; for "faith and meekness are His delight." And the Carthusian will not limit it even thus, but declares that the acceptable time, the day of salvation, was the whole period of CHRIST's sojourn upon earth. In the multitude of Thy mercy, whereby Thou hast sent Me into the world to save it, hear Me in the promised truth of Thy salvation, that My Atonement may redeem mankind, and My Resurrection justify all believers, and the sayings of the prophets thus be fulfilled.

15 Take me out of the mire, that I sink not: O let me be delivered from them that hate me, and out of the deep waters. Out of the mire. That is, deliver Me from the ungodly and treacherous Jews, from the sorrows and cares of My weary life, from the corruptibility of My human Body, from the depth of the grave. Out of the deep waters, from the troubles and persecutions which encompass Me. When the sin- A. Ecclus. i. 27. A. ner utters these same words, his prayer is to be delivered from carnal sin and worldly greed within his own soul, and from outward troubles and sufferings which may shake his faith. He saith this, because of the infirmity of His members. Whenever thou art seized by one that urgeth thee to iniquity, thou art in body fixed in the deep clay; but so long as thou consentest not, thou hast not stuck.

16 Let not the water-flood drown me, neither let the deep swallow me up: and let not the pit shut her mouth upon me. A. He had said already in the beginning of the Psalm that the floods run over Him. It hath drowned after the flesh, let it not drown after the spirit. And it is thus throughout a prayer for the Resurrection. Let not the water-flood drown Me, but rather be a wall to Me on each side as I pass over Jordan with the staff of My Cross. Neither let the deep swallow Me up, by My Body lying to moulder in the grave unto corruption; and let not the pit shut her mouth upon Me, to hold Me prisoned in Hades; but open before Me as I return in triumph, leading the ransomed Fathers back with Me to light and glory. The sinner may use these words, too, of a spiritual resurrection from the grave of iniquity, and he will find that, so long as he is willing to confess his guilt, the mouth of the pit will not close over him; but when he attempts to excuse himself, then it shuts.

A. 17 Hear me, O LORD, for thy loving-kindness is comfortable: turn thee unto me according to the multitude of thy mercies. A. The Head herein teaches His members how to pray, namely, that they are to plead with GOD His loving-kindness, and not their own merits; to deal with them according to the multitude of His mercies, not according to that of their sins. And it is the reason given by the prophet Joel, "Turn unto the LORD your GOD, for He is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repenteth Him of the evil." Ayguan, not unwilling to show his learning, cites here various examples from Roman history, as parables of GOD's loving-kindness in CHRIST. The aptest of them is the story of Panopion's slave, who, learning that his master was proscribed, and the soldiers come to find him, changed clothes with him, let him out by a private door, lay down on Panopion's bed, and was stabbed in his place. Who, asks Ayguan, is that proscribed Panopion, but man exiled from Paradise by the sin of our first parents? Who is that faithful and loving slave, but the SON of GOD, Who emptied Himself of His glory, and took on Him the form of a servant? That He might save us from the pains of hell, He changed His garb with us, and was found in fashion as a man, and suffered Himself to be slain for us.

18 And hide not thy face from thy servant, for I am in trouble: O haste thee and hear me. The word in the LXX. and Vulgate may be rendered not only servant, but child. And it thus points at once to Him Who is the Only-begotten of His FATHER, and Who is also pure and meek as a little child. Most truly a servant also, not only by His having taken on Him the nature of man, and being, so far, inferior to the FATHER, but by His perfect obedience. He then, Who only can look on the Face of GOD, before which even the Seraphim must veil theirs, prays that it may not be hidden from Him, Who merits to be heard because of His unstained holiness. And every penitent who has become as a little child in humility may use these words too, for though "GOD resisteth the proud, He giveth grace to the humble."

19 Draw nigh unto my soul, and save it: O deliver me, because of mine enemies. These words form the Versicle and Response prefixed to the Lauds of Passiontide in the Sarum Breviary. It is not for Himself that He asks to be delivered, but for His enemies; for the thief who reviled Him, for the soldier who pierced Him, for the nation that rejected Him, that by His being delivered from the grave, they may be converted and believe in Him. And for those who harden themselves also, that they may be weakened and confounded when they find all their plottings vain. And observe, that whereas the priests were His chief enemies, yet after the day of Pentecost we read that a great company of them became obedient unto the Faith. GOD, however, delivers in two ways: sometimes He delivers the soul alone from the peril of sin, allowing the body to perish, as with the Seven Maccabees and the Christian martyrs—this is hidden deliverance; sometimes He delivers from bodily dangers also, as the three children from the fiery furnace,—and this is open deliverance. And both these deliverances are for the sake of the enemies as well as for that of the faithful, that they may see, like Antiochus, that the constancy of the saints cannot be overcome; that they may worship, like Nebuchadnezzar, the GOD Who can save to the uttermost.

20 Thou hast known my reproof, my shame, and my dishonour: mine adversaries are all in thy sight. My reproof, in the words of insult addressed to Me by the Jews, calling Me a demoniac, a glutton, and a wine-bibber. My shame, outer, indeed, and before men only, not A. A. A. A. of the soul before GOD, in that I have been bound, scourged, condemned, and crucified as a robber. My dishonour, the stripes and spitting. Or, with the Vulgate rendering, My reverence, the mock coronation, and jeering homage of the soldiery. Mine adversaries are all in Thy sight. And unless Thou deliver Me openly, they will not know why I suffer these things, and will neither be confounded nor corrected; though they have increased their sin by committing it before Thee. 21 Thy rebuke hath broken my heart; I am full of heaviness: I looked for some to have pity on me, but there was no man, neither found I any to comfort me.

There is no authority whatsoever for the word Thy in the Prayer Book Version here. It is not in the Hebrew, nor in any other translation, and is quite out of keeping with all the context. In the true reading, that of the A. V., Reproach hath broken My heart, we may well see a reference to that notion, so often upheld by Saints, that the immediate cause of the Redeemer's death was not the Crucifixion, but a heart broken by man's ingratitude; whence it was that the soldiers marvelled at finding Him dead before His fellow-sufferers. And at the least we may take it, with the old Dutch poet, of the spear-wound in His side: The Hymn, O JESU CRISTE, geminde Here. Doe gi ane t-cruce gestorven waert, Quam daer een ridder ongespaert, Die u met enen spere stac Ene wonde, dat u t-herte brac In uwe side, ende ut-en steke Ran bloet ende water als een beke.

A. The Vulgate, however, reads, My heart hath expected rebuke and misery. Not only did that loving Heart foresee and expect its coming sorrows, but longed for them, saying, "With desire I have desired to eat this Passover," although the weakness of our human nature was such as to make the expectation bring on the Agony and Bloody Sweat. The Syriac Psalter here reads, beautifully, if inexactly, Heal the breaking of My heart, and bind it up. And we may take it either as a prayer of CHRIST to His FATHER, intreating for the joy of the Resurrection, or of the sinner seeking refuge with the SAVIOUR. I looked for some one to have pity on Me, but there was no man. The Hebrew, followed by the Vulgate, goes deeper than this, and reads, to be sorrowful with Me. That is, it was not merely pity, but sympathy, for which the SAVIOUR looked in vain. Sorrow there was, and that abundantly, amongst His disciples, but not the closer bond of fellow-feeling. They mourned for His death, whereas their mourning should have been, as His was, for His murderers slaying their Healer. Even His Mother, though the sword of grief passed through her heart, and His Apostles, whose sorrow, because true and praiseworthy, was soon to be turned into joy, did not rise to this height, nor attain to the likeness of His sorrow. Neither found I any to comfort me. By repenting at the sight of My patient suffering, and coming to Me, the Physician, to be healed. Nay, observes another, His very Godhead, because impassible, was no help to His Manhood in the Passion, and did not comfort It nor suffer with It, any more than the sunshine suffers when a piece of wood on which its rays are falling is chopped up.

22 They gave me gall to eat: and when I was thirsty, they gave me vinegar to drink.

The literal fulfilment of this double prediction in the successive acts of the soldiers who, before the Crucifixion, "gave Him vinegar to drink mingled with gall, and when He had tasted thereof, He would not drink; and again when He, upon the Cross, said, "I thirst," "filled a sponge with vinegar, and put it upon hyssop, and put it to His mouth," has been most justly dwelt on by all commentators. But they find spiritual mysteries underlying the letter. In the refusal of the mingled cup first offered, they see His rejection of the double-minded, whose good is corrupted by evil. Such were Judas, whose confession, "I have sinned, in that I have betrayed the innocent blood," though wine, was mingled with the gall of bitterness and despair; and Simon Magus, whose request for the prayers of the Apostles was also uttered in the "gall of bitterness. But in His acceptance of the vinegar offered on the sponge is discerned His welcome to the bitter penitence of a contrite heart, like that of Peter weeping for his fall: where note, that one who drinks from a sponge, does not drain it like a cup, but leaves some of the contents behind. And so CHRIST, in accepting a sinner's penitence, does not drain his heart of it, but takes only so much as He knows to be profitable.

Why it should be said, They gave Me gall to eat, rather than to drink, (seeing that no solid food was offered to the LORD,) is a question which the early commentators discuss at length. They accept, for the most part, the explanation of S. Augustine, who, translating literally, They gave gall into My food, glosses thus: Because already the LORD GOD had taken food, and into it there had been thrown gall. But He Himself had taken pleasant food when He ate the Passover with His disciples: therein He showed the Sacrament of His Body. Unto this Food, so pleasant, so sweet, of the Unity of CHRIST, of which the Apostle makes mention, saying, "For we being many, are one bread, and one body,"—unto this pleasant Food who is there that addeth gall, except the gainsayers of the Gospel, like those persecutors of CHRIST? For the Jews sinned less in crucifying

R Him Who walked on earth, than they that despise Him seated in heaven. That which the Jews did there, in giving above the food which He had already taken that bitter draught to drink, the same do they that by evil living bring scandal upon the Church,—the same do embittered heretics. They give gall after such pleasant meat. 23 Let their table be made a snare to take themselves withal : and let the things that should have been for their wealth be unto them an occasion of falling.

And they note, that as CHRIST's table was made a snare for Him by those who bribed one of them who dipped with Him in the dish at the Paschal Supper, so the horrors of the siege of Jerusalem by Titus were mainly due to the blockade beginning just as the city was thronged for the Passover, so that not only the ordinary population, but crowds of Jews from all parts of the Empire, were taken as in a snare. The words hold good also of the spiritual table of Holy Writ, which proved a snare to the Jews by their misinterpretation of its Messianic prophecies. Where observe further that every chastisement which fell on the Jews corresponded exactly to some one of their outrages against CHRIST. They rebelled against Him, the promised King and Messiah, saying, "We have no King but Cæsar." It was the harsh rule of Cæsar's soldiers which drove them into the rebellion which was their destruction. They betrayed CHRIST at the Passover: it was at the Passover they were besieged. They crucified CHRIST at Paschaltide itself, and gave Him vinegar and gall: they suffered all the tortures of famine themselves, and ate their Passover in bitterness. They blindfolded CHRIST, smote Him, and bade Him prophesy: they were blinded themselves in ignorance, and unable to behold the mysteries of Scripture. They laid the Cross on His shoulders: on their own was laid the yoke of slavery. And as they raged against CHRIST, crying, "Crucify, crucify," so almost every year the people are excited against them, rob and murder them. They cast CHRIST out of the city to crucify Him, and were cast out of their own city themselves, and scattered over the world. We may add, as Josephus says, that such of them as attempted to escape from the city were crucified in such numbers, that room was wanting for the crosses, and crosses for the bodies.

24 Let their eyes be blinded, that they see not : and ever bow thou down their backs. Blinded to the true meaning of Scripture, bowed down Parez writes of Spain towards the close of the fifteenth century, when and where this statement was only too true. under the weight of the Law. And S. Augustine compares the attitude of Jews and Christians towards the truth to the spies carrying the grapes on the pole. The Jews go first, counting themselves to have the pre-eminence, but not seeing the precious freight, and even turning their backs upon it; while the Christian, coming behind, beholds and worships. They who were grace-expectant, they who lived and died in grace, They who saw CHRIST far off, and they who see, though veiled, His Face— Those went before: these follow, they are all one brotherhood, And in the midst the True Vine hangs upon the Holy Rood.

Like the men of Sodom, whom the angels smote with blindness when they endeavoured to break into the house of Lot, the Jews, under the curse, were unable to find CHRIST, Who is the Door. We see the prayer fulfilled in mercy when Saul was blinded on his way to Damascus, and that stiff neck was bowed beneath the yoke of his Conqueror. 25 Pour out thine indignation upon them: and let thy wrathful displeasure take hold of them. 26 Let their habitation be void: and no man to dwell in their tents.

Pour out, not drop by drop, but in a flood of vengeance. And they note the difference between indignation, (ira,) which God always shows against sin, when He corrects the offender with His chastisements, and wrathful displeasure, (furor ira,) which is the punishment dealt out to hardened impenitence. Let their habitation be void. It is taken first by S. Peter of the traitor Judas, in whose person the prophecy was first accomplished, since the field bought with the price of blood was inhabited only by the dead. For a yet wider fulfilment we must look not merely to the utter destruction of Jerusalem, and the raising of Ælia Capitolina on another site, but to the decree of Hadrian, after the suppression of Bar-Cochab's revolt, forbidding all Jews to approach near enough to Jerusalem even to behold its former site from any neighbouring hill. In their tents. Not only so far as they are a community is ruin to fall on them, but even solitary dwellings are to share the fate of the city, that the vengeance may be at once universal and particular. Or the habitation may well refer to the Temple, left void when the mysterious sound of an unseen departing multitude was heard, saying, "Let us go hence." And as the Feast of Tabernacles, when tents or booths were erected by the Jews, was no more to be kept in the Holy City, it is well said that no man should dwell in their tents. Ayguan, interpreting the tents or tabernacles of the souls of the unbelieving Jews, well says, that as the Man was not suffered to dwell therein,

Acts i. 20. Isa. xiii. 21. they were given over to evil spirits of darkness and sin. "Owls shall dwell there, and satyrs shall dance there." 27 For they persecute him whom thou hast smitten: and they talk how they may vex them whom thou hast wounded. A.

What then was their sin, asks S. Augustine, if they did but carry on, as it were, God's work? The Master of the Sentences answers the question well: CHRIST was delivered up by the FATHER, delivered up by Himself, by Judas, and by the Jews. What then is the difference between the cases? It is that the FATHER and SON acted out of love, Judas from treachery, the Jews from hate. And it is truly said, Whom Thou hast smitten, for GOD smote the SAVIOUR first in giving Him a mortal and passible Body, and then by giving Him up as a Sacrifice for us; as it is written, "Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise Him: He hath put Him to grief; and again, "Smite the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered. They talk how they may vex them whom Thou hast wounded. The Hebrew is rather, They talk of the grief of Thy wounded. That is, they gloat over the details of the sufferings of Him Whom they "did esteem stricken, smitten of GOD, and afflicted," and of those inflicted on the martyrs who trod in His steps. But the LXX. and Vulgate have, They added unto the pain of My wounds, (doubtless reading ) instead of ,) and this by blasphemy and the insults of the soldiery in My own Person, and by afflicting the faithful of My Church, so that I suffer in My members also. And note, observes S. Albert, that we may crucify the SAVIOUR afresh in four ways.

First, by afflicting His poor, according to His own saying in S. Peter's vision, "I go to Rome to be crucified again," because "inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these My brethren, ye have done it unto Me. Next, by depriving His ministers of their due assistance. "Ye have robbed [Vulg., ye pierce] Me, even this whole nation. But ye say, Wherein have we robbed [Vulg., do we pierce] Thee? In tithes and offerings. Thirdly, by making light of the Sacrament, "seeing they crucify to themselves the SON of GOD afresh, and put Him to an open shame. Fourthly, by apostatizing from the right way, and especially from the promise, "before whose eyes JESUS CHRIST hath been evidently set forth, crucified among you."

28 Let them fall from one wickedness to another: and not come into thy righteousness. 29 Let them be wiped out of the book of the living: and not be written among the righteous.

From the wickedness of slaying the messengers of the LORD of the vineyard to that of killing His SON; from the wickedness of killing that SON, counting Him a mere man, to that of outraging the SON of GOD. And not come into Thy righteousness, because the only door into that is faith, from which in their perversity they turn away to their sins. Let them be wiped out of the book of the living. Had they ever been written therein? Brethren, we must not so take it as that GOD writeth any one in the Book of Life, and blotteth him out. If a man said, "What I have written, I have written," concerning the title where it had been written "King of the Jews," doth GOD write any one, and blot him out? He foreknoweth, He hath predestined all before the foundation of the world that are to reign with His SON in life everlasting. These He hath written down; these same the Book of Life doth contain. Lastly, in the Apocalypse, what saith the Spirit of GOD, when the Scripture is speaking of Antichrist's oppressions? "All shall worship him whose names are not written in the Book of Life. So then, doubtless, they who are written will not do so. How, then, are these men blotted out of that book wherein they were never written? It hath been said of their hopes, because they thought themselves to be written. Let it be plain even to themselves that they are not therein.

And then to be written among the righteous will mean to be numbered amongst the citizens of the kingdom of heaven. Others refer the verse to temporal chastisements, so that the book of the living means simply the muster-roll of those yet upon earth, out of which death blots each man in his turn; and the number of the righteous such a catalogue of illustrious men as that contained in the Book of Ecclesiasticus. Bellarmine, objecting to S. Augustine's view as merely evading the difficulty of reconciling the blotting out with eternal predestination, and to the merely temporal explanation as involving a contradiction between the members of the verse, explains it of the Book of the people of GOD, wherein His true worshippers are enrolled; once filled with the name of the Jewish nation, but now, on its erasure, containing the Gentiles instead. And he aptly cites Ezekiel's prophecy, "They shall not be in the assembly of My people, neither shall they be written in the writing of the house of Israel."

30 As for me, when I am poor and in heaviness: thy help, O GOD, shall lift me up. Poor, in taking on Himself our human nature, thus emptying Himself of His glory, in heaviness, (or with the LXX. and Vulgate, suffering,) upon the Cross. Shall lift Me up, in the might of My Resurrection, in the glory of My Ascension. And not in My own Person alone, but lifting up with Me the members whose Head I am. A. A. 31 I will praise the Name of God with a song : and magnify it with thanksgiving. 32 This also shall please the LORD : better than a bullock that hath horns and hoofs.

They see in these words the joy of the Resurrection, and the greater pleasure felt by God in the voluntary praise of a rational being, than in the sacrifice of a brute animal, incapable of self-dedication. The Vulgate reading in the latter clause is, A young steer, putting forth its horns and hoofs; that is, not yet fully ready for the yoke of CHRIST, but going on in obedience, and having horns for His violent enemies, and hoofs to tread under those who grovel in earthly desires. Gerhohus dwells at length on this simile, and instances Moses in his early efforts in favour of his countrymen in Egypt; Peter, in his smiting of Malchus; Saul, in his first persecuting zeal; and even our LORD Himself, while yet increasing in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and man, as when He sat in the midst of the doctors, and again, when He purged the temple at the beginning of His ministry. S. Bruno the Carthusian adopts this last view for another reason. In the steer he sees the Victim for the Sacrifice; in the epithet young or new (novellus) he recognises the New Man, the Second Adam. Ayguan, going yet deeper, sees in this sacrifice of thanksgiving, attended with song, and preferable to animal victims, the Oblation of the Gospel, the most Holy Eucharist, dearer to God than all sacrifice besides. And because this is so—

The Hymn, Pange lingua. Tantum ergo Sacramentum Veneremur cernui, Et antiquum documentum Novo cedat ritui; Præstet fides supplementum, Sensuum defectui. 33 The humble shall consider this, and be glad : seek ye after GOD, and your soul shall live. Ay. The humble, that is, in the first place, the Apostles, and then all that are poor in station and lowly in heart since their day; and they will be glad, because the abolition of the old sacrifices, and the acceptance of a spiritual service in their stead, has removed one advantage which the rich had over the poor under the Law. They can seek God directly in the Eucharist, and feeding there on Him, their soul shall live. Wherefore we cry to Him— 34 For the LORD heareth the poor : and despiseth not his prisoners. And as He had pity on the children of Israel, and brought them out of the bondage of Egypt, so He looks on sinners even now, and looses them from the chains of their sins. Those who are willing so to be freed by Him are His prisoners, because they are held captive by the devil against their will. And all Saints who submit themselves to His commandments, keeping them strictly, are, in another sense, His prisoners also. Yet, again, we may take it of all men who are tied down on earth by their bodies. Or it may be fitly taken of the Fathers who waited in Hades for the Coming of CHRIST, whom Zechariah styles by this same title. We may extend the application of the verse, and its connection with the two preceding ones, yet further, and explain it of the Holy Eucharist, as a propitiation for the living and the dead. And so the Missal of Liege :

King of Glory, hear our voices, Grant Thy faithful rest, we pray; We have sinned, and may not bide it, If Thou mark our steps astray; Yet we plead that saving Victim Which for them we bring to-day. The Sequence, De profundis exclamantes, for All Souls. So far, the confession of sin is a prayer to the LORD, Who heareth the poor. Then follows: That which Thou Thyself hast offered To the FATHER, offer we; Let it win for them a blessing, Bless them, JESU, set them free: They are Thine, they wait in patience, Merciful and gracious be. That is, He despiseth not His prisoners. 35 Let heaven and earth praise him : the sea, and all that moveth therein. The heaven, because the ranks of the angelic hierarchies, left incomplete by the fall of the rebels, have been filled up; the earth, because man is ransomed; the sea, because the glad tidings of salvation have spread to the islands afar. Let the heaven of His chief Saints, Apostles, Martyrs, Confessors, praise Him; let the earth of believing Jews, less exalted, do the like; let the sea of Gentiles, coming from the ends of the earth, and compassing the Jews round as a sea, join in the hymn. All creeping things therein, is the Vulgate reading; and they take it of weak and imperfect Christians, who, nevertheless, are encouraged to add their voices to swell the praises of GOD. Let heaven praise CHRIST, for He ascended; let earth praise Him, for He rose again; let the sea praise Him, for He walked upon its surface.

36 For GOD will save Sion, and build the cities of Judah: that men may dwell there, and have it in possession. 37 The posterity also of his servants shall inherit it: and they that love his Name shall dwell therein. It is spoken first of the Church Militant, saved by its Founder, so that the gates of hell cannot prevail against it; and of the various local Churches forming parts of that one, (as the branching chapels of a great cathedral are portions of one harmonious whole,) and fitly styled cities of Judah, as springing out of the Hebrew dispensation. Men shall dwell there, as not being mere sojourners or temporary worshippers, and have it for a possession, enjoying full membership as their very own, instead of the imperfect position allowed to proselytes of Gentile race by the Jews. The posterity of His servants, not necessarily their literal offspring, but those spiritually begotten in the Gospel, and continuing in the same belief and zeal as the first Fathers of the infant Church.

And we may also take the verses of the Church Triumphant, saved by the constant addition of new names to its roll-call, new stones to its buildings. Then the cities of Judah will denote those orders of angels who serve the Lion of the tribe of Judah, whose ranks, thinned by the fall of Lucifer and his hosts, will be filled up with redeemed mortals; and thus the cities shall be built, the waste places repaired, while the eternal tenure of blessedness in heaven is expressed by the words, They shall have it for a possession. Glory be to the FATHER, to Whom the GOD-Man cried, Save Me, O God; and to the SON, JESUS CHRIST, praying for Himself and His members to be saved and delivered from the floods; and to the HOLY GHOST, Who is that love and salvation wherewith GOD shall save Sion, and whereby all that love His Name shall dwell therein.

As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be; world without end. Amen.

Collects.O most merciful LORD, hear us in the truth of Thy salvation, that, delivered from the filth of sin, we may be written in the Book of Life by Thy heavenly finger. Through. (1.) Bestow Thyself, O LORD, as the life of our soul, upon us who seek Thee; hearken to Thy poor, who have nothing because of their own righteousness, but are filled with Thy gift, and are nourished with Thy substance, that they may be defended by Thy grace. Despise not Thy prisoners, whose longings sigh for Thee, whose souls shall be present with Thee, and which ever follow after the desires of Thy Saints. Through. (11.) O LORD GOD of Hosts, let not those who look for Thee to sit in judgment on the doings of men be ashamed for our cause, that the power of Thy Cross may make us workmen of salvation, acceptable unto Thee, and not suffer the court of the heavenly army to sorrow because of our doings. Through Thy mercy. (11.)

O LORD GOD, with Whom our offences are not hidden, Whose eyes behold not only outward things, but with invisible gaze pierce the secrets of the heart; grant us the medicine of penitence as a raiment of sackcloth; grant us open confession for the gain of pardon; grant that our eyes may pour forth floods of tears for our sins; grant that our voice may with sighings intreat a hearing for our prayers. And Thou, O LORD, hearken to our petition, for Thy loving-kindness is comfortable; let not the deep of hell swallow us up, nor our miry deeds overwhelm us; let the multitude of Thy mercies look upon us. Through Thy mercy. (11.) CHRIST our GOD, Sole-Begotten SON of the Unbegotten FATHER, draw nigh unto my soul, and save it, because of Thine enemies, who war against Thy Church; for Thou art our Redemption: and let us, who have waited for Thee in Thy gift, obtain Thee in everlasting glory. Through Thy mercy. (11.)

JESU, our GOD, Who, making a whip of small cords, dravest out those who buy and sell in Thy temple; grant to us in Thy Church not to be taken with the gain of temporal things, nor to dwell within it in filthy conversation; but that the zeal of Thy House may so eat us up, that Thou wouldst make of us examples for the brethren, pleasing unto Thee. Through Thy mercy. O CHRIST, SON of GOD, Whom zeal for GOD'S HOUSE, even Thy FATHER'S Church, eateth up; whilst Thou dost boldly drive from it with a cord those who do unrighteously, loose us from the cord of all our sins, and grant that we may dwell worthily in the midst of Thy House, that we ourselves, made a spiritual house for Thee, may receive from Thee the crown of heavenly laurel. Through Thy mercy. (11.) Remember, O JESU, the wormwood and the gall, which bitter cup Thou wast given to drink for sinners; and therefore let Thy bitterness, we pray Thee, be our everlasting sweetness, so that wherein Thou wast willing to be made bitter for us, therein we may both here and evermore rejoice in blessedness. Through Thy mercy. (11.)

CHRIST our King, Who didst bear reproach for sinners, whilst all the crowd of the unbelievers in the gate, drunken with the wine of malice, spake against Thee; do Thou with Thine unfailing pity both cleanse us from the contagion of our sins, and glorify us by working in us with the might of holy doing, that at the end of our life we may not be ashamed to speak with our enemies in the gate; but, met by Thy holy Angels, may be lifted up in everlasting gladness. Through Thy mercy. (11.) O CHRIST, SON of GOD, Who, in the last issue of Thy Passion, wast given gall and vinegar to drink by the Jews; grant that, by that bitterness which Thou wast given, Thou mayest inebriate us with the draught of Thy bitternesses, and that the bitterness of Thy death may increase the flame of love within us, and the power of Thy Resurrection may set before us the perfect glory of Thy promised Face. Through Thy mercy. (11.)

Wherefore, O LORD, should the creature Thou hast made resist Thee, for which Thou didst bear the reproaches of the mockers, and didst sit alone to be filled with threatenings? We pray, therefore, that Thou wouldst not permit that they, for whom Thou didst bear such wounds of sufferings, should be cast down by the passion of the flesh, or be drowned in the deep of hell. Through Thy mercy. (11.) O GOD, Who didst not suffer the body of Thy most blessed Martyr Clement to be held in the deep mire by any waves of the sea, so that no depth of waters could drown it; deliver us from all our temptations by the intercession of Thy Martyr, who, in Thy Name, overcame the bands of the enemies rising up against him, and, saving us from the deep of wickedness, lift us up in the calm light of dwelling in Thee, that by Thy help we may be free from sin and abound in virtues. Through Thy mercy. (11.)

O GOD, Who didst crown Vincent, conquering marvellously in manifold sufferings, delivering him from all destructive torments, so that his steps, which stuck not fast in the mire of sin, marvellously trampled under foot all his cruel punishment, that he who, treading in soul upon the world, was now next heir of heaven, should not be swallowed up in the deep waters; Grant to us, by the prayer of so great a Martyr, not to be reached by the mire of sin, not to be drowned in the deep whirlpool of despair, but that we may be set before Thee in the day of judgment, adorned with spotless liberty of conscience. Through Thy mercy. (11.) Mozarabic. For the Jews. Pour forth Thy wrath, O LORD, upon mine enemies, that their habitation may remain void, but let them at length understand the place of their fury and unrighteousness, that there may be access unto Thee by conversion in Thy Church for them who have lost the help of the earthly city Jerusalem. Through Thy mercy. (11.)

We pray Thee, O LORD, that Thou wouldst build us, turned from heathendom, in the cities of Judah, and loosing us from the yoke of the devil, love us as Thine own children, that as Thou didst redeem us by the bitter gall, the sharp vinegar, the painful cross, the wounding nails, and the shameful death, Thou wouldst so vouchsafe and keep us in this world by the glory of Thy Resurrection, that Thou mayest make us partakers with the Saints in Thy kingdom. Who livest. O GOD, to Whom every thought is open, and from Whom our sins are not hid, look upon us in the multitude of Thy mercy, and wash away from us the stains which offend Thee, draw nigh unto our soul, and save it from reproof and eternal shame. Through. (1.)

TITLE: To the Chief Musician, A Psalm of David, to bring to remembrance. LXX. and Vulgate: To the end, of David, in remembrance that the LORD saved me. Or: To the Supreme, of David, for the memorial [i.e., the meat-offering.]

Argument.ARG. THOMAS. That CHRIST is the helper and redeemer of believers. The voice of CHRIST set on the Cross. Or the voice of the Church to the LORD in a fast. The voice of martyrs and confessors intreating to be delivered from the dangers of persecutors. The voice of the Church crying in the Advent of the LORD. VEN. BEDE. The end and David, as has been often observed, denote the LORD the SAVIOUR, to whom these words of the faithful are addressed, since the whole Psalm is spoken in the person of the martyrs, in remembrance either of their deliverance or of the future reward. For it was suitable, inasmuch as the LORD had in the previous Psalm set forth His Passion and Resurrection, that the members also should speak after the Head, declaring their sufferings and the glories to follow. The nation of martyrs and confessors, which endured manifold yet happy slaughter, in the first place beseeches the LORD that it may be delivered from the danger of its persecutors, and that He may make their mockings vain, so that, converted, they may be profitably ashamed of their words: Haste thee, O God, to deliver me. In the second part it supplicates, that the assembly of the faithful magnifying the LORD may rejoice, because He vouchsafes to help and deliver His poor and needy. Let all those that seek Thee be joyful and glad in Thee.

SYRIAC PSALTER. Of David. Literally when he sent Joab to take Sheba, who had rebelled. Then also the supplication of the just, and even of CHRIST Himself. EUSEBIUS OF CÆSAREA. The supplication of the just, or even of CHRIST Himself. S. ATHANASIUS. A Psalm in single address. Gregorian. Ferial. Thursday. Matins. [Fridays in Lent. Litany. Maundy Thursday. I. Nocturn.] Monastic. Wednesday. Matins. [Fridays in Lent. Litany. Maundy Thursday. I. Nocturn.] Ambrosian. Monday of Second Week. III. Nocturn. Eastern Church. Saturday. Nocturns. Mesorion of Sexts.

Antiphons.Gregorian. Ferial. O LORD GOD make speed to save me. [Maundy Thursday. Let them be turned back and put to confusion that wish me evil.] Monastic. The same. Lyons. The same. Parisian. Let them be joyful * and glad in Thee, who delight in Thy salvation, O LORD. Ambrosian. As preceding Psalm. 1 Haste thee, O GOD, to deliver me : make haste to help me, O LORD.

This Psalm is, with but very slight variations, merely a repetition of Psalm xl. 16, to the end. But the first verse is noticeable as being more often recited in the Western Church than any other part of the Old Testament. The Versicle and Response, ℣. O God, make speed to save us. ℟. O Lord, make haste to help us, which are prefixed to the offices of all the Canonical Hours, and which are retained in the Anglican Matins and Evensong, are taken from it. On this usage, let us hear the Carthusian : "Great and wonderful is the virtue of the first verse of the present Psalm, wherefore rightly hath our Mother the Church, instructed by the HOLY GHOST, appointed that this verse should be recited at the beginning, or near the beginning, of each of the Hours, so that, protected by the shield of Divine assistance, we may escape all the snares of the enemy, who plots against us more determinedly, and opposes us more wickedly, when we are engaged in beginning divine service. Moreover, our most eminent Father, Cassian, in the first Book of his Collations, beautifully sets forth the praise of the verse, setting down what he heard from the mouth of the holy anchoret, the Abbat Isaac. That we may have, says he, continual remembrance of GOD, this verse is to be set inseparably before the mind, for it receives all the attacks which can be directed against man's nature, and is thoroughly and suitably fitted to all conditions and every assault.

It contains invocation of GOD against peril, the lowliness of devout confession, the vigilance of constant anxiety and fear, thought of frailty, trust in being heard, and in a safeguard ever standing by. As the corresponding verses of the earlier Psalm were passed over in their place, the comments which follow have been drawn from glosses on both, combined as appeared most suitable. The opening words then, spoken in the Person of CHRIST, are primarily a prayer for His own Resurrection, and deliverance from the depth of hell; and then a petition for His mystical Body, the Church, to be preserved from the peril of false brethren and of open enemies. It is the prayer of the members too, penitent, in pain, crying out under the steel of the physician, but yet hoping.

2 Let them be ashamed and confounded that seek after my soul: let them be turned backward and put to confusion that wish me evil.

Observe, says the Carthusian, that these words may be taken either in a good sense or a bad one, for there are two kinds of confusion mentioned in Scripture, according to that saying, "There is a shame that bringeth sin; and there is a shame which is glory and grace. And so it was with Saul, who was ashamed and confounded, and laid low, and then raised up again to preach what he had before persecuted. This confounding is necessary for the salvation of persecutors, that they may fear, instead of boasting and glorying in their cruel deeds. And it also speaks of the woe and terror which God sends on the impenitent, such as the awful death of Maximin Daia and other persecutors, or the more terrible doom of the Last Day. That seek after My soul to destroy it. There is another seeking after the soul of CHRIST, which is that of the Bride, or even of those sinners who pursue the LORD's soul, that they may imitate it, as a robber chases a man to take his cloak to warm himself, but here only the intent of murder is spoken of. Let them be turned backward. That they may follow Me. And so S. Peter, when he attempted to go before JESUS, by counselling Him, was met with the rebuke, "Get thee behind Me, Satan," that he might no longer be his LORD's adversary, but His follower.

All who censure the Christian religion and suggest amendments in it, or who count themselves wiser than the martyrs, do as S. Peter did in his error, and need the same rebuke. And we may take it also of all who would parley or offer to make terms of peace when our true Jehu ("the LORD is He,") newly crowned, is riding to war against the house of Ahab. To each of them is said, when he advances, "What hast thou to do with peace? turn thee behind Me. There is another way in which those who will not turn backward in this wise, must do so at length, at the Judgment, before Him at Whose sight the soldiers fell back in the garden.

B. Ay. G. A. A. A. The Hymn Apparebit repentina. But the Saints turn backward in yet another fashion, as Mary Magdalene turned, saying, "Master," when JESUS called her by name. Who wish me evil. Not only those who seek after my soul with open violence, but those who nourish secret ill-will, are to meet with the same check and punishment. And it is most aptly pointed out that the two clauses mark the successive perils of the Church, first from the open violence of heathen kings and people, seeking the utter abolition of Christianity by the slaughter of its adherents, and then the risk from false teachers and heretics. Heathen kings have been baptized, quaintly observes S. Remigius, but the devil is not baptized. 3 Let them for their reward be soon brought to shame : that cry over me, There, there.

They dwell on the word soon (not, by-the-by, in the Hebrew text,) as showing the greater guilt of the flatterers and mockers, whose punishment is to be speedier than even that of those who seek after the life of CHRIST. For There, there, all the old versions read, Well, well, or, in modern phrase, Bravo. And they take it first of those who hypocritically praised CHRIST, saying, "Master, we know that Thou art true, and teachest the way of GOD in truth," or who openly mocked Him with words of feigned homage, "Hail, King of the Jews." And then it is spoken of those who attribute the good works of the Saints to human merit, and give praise to them for such works, instead of ascribing the fertility of the branches to the Vine, which bears and nourishes them. And so, the tongue of the flatterer harms more than the hand of the persecutor. Or it applies to those enemies of the soul, whether visible or invisible, who encourage a man in sin, by praising him for persevering in it.

A. 4 But let all those that seek thee be joyful and glad in thee : and let all such as delight in thy salvation say alway, The LORD be praised. A. That seek Thee. Not in the first instance, for He sought out the lost sheep Himself, and brought it back, on His shoulders when it knew Him not, but now, knowing His voice, it goes after Him and only with Him can find joy. Be joyful and glad. With outward tokens of rejoicing, but also with the deeper inward gladness of the soul. In Thee. Not in themselves, lest they should fall through trust in their own strength, but, as it is written, "He that glorieth, let him glory in the LORD." Thy salvation. Not alone in the blessedness of heaven, but in Him whose countenance makes heaven blessed, the LORD JESUS, Who is the Salvation which the FATHER hath sent. Say alway, the Lord be praised. The Latin Fathers construe the sentence a little differently. The Lord be magnified alway. Magnified now in the Resurrection and glorifying of CHRIST, magnified from generation to generation unto the end of the world in continually granting pardon to sinners and grace to Saints. Or, if we construe the sentence as in the Prayer Book, we may take it of the perpetual canticle of heaven, and join in the words of the Mozarabic Breviary, "Alleluia in heaven and in earth; in heaven it is perpetuated, on earth it is sung. There it sounds unceasingly; here faithfully. There everlastingly, here sweetly. There happily, here harmoniously. There unspeakably, here earnestly. There, unsyllabled; here in measured strain. There, by the Angels; here, by the people."

5 As for me, I am poor and in misery: haste thee unto me, O GOD.

It is most truly spoken of Him Who had not where to lay His head, Who was a Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. But, it is added in the fortieth Psalm, the Lord careth for me, with the care of a FATHER for His Only-begotten and beloved SON, the care of the Divinity of the WORD for that Manhood which He assumed, the care of the HOLY GHOST for Him on Whom He descended in Jordan. And because it is so, I may cry, sure of being heard, Haste Thee unto me, O God, and raise me up in the joy of the Resurrection. It is the cry of all those who have hearkened to the warning voice of CHRIST, and who no longer say, "I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing," but have learnt that they are "wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked; and who therefore desire to buy of the LORD gold tried in the fire, and white raiment. Many of the Saints have dwelt on these words, spoken in the Person of CHRIST, as teaching the counsel of perfection in voluntary poverty, as a state well-pleasing to GOD. And observe, that all beings save GOD are always needy, because they require His aid, while He alone is "without need," and they are poor besides, when they have not got the things which they require. How true it is of mankind, let a great Saint tell us;

Man is a beggar and poor, for though he once was rich and noble, (enriched by GOD's law, and joined in kinship with Him by the royal image,) yet he was reduced to such want that his poverty passed on to many generations, so that at last, brought up in that poverty, he was named poor. What art thou to do then, poor and needy one? Beg before the gate of GOD, knock, and it shall be opened to thee. And what are the alms? Let the Beatitude answer, "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven."

6 Thou art my helper, and my redeemer: O LORD, make no long tarrying. Helper, in all good works—Redeemer from all evil ones. Make no long tarrying. It is the cry of the individual sinner, Brev. Moz. Dom. i. Quad. A. G. asking for instant help in trouble. It is the cry of the Church in days of persecution and affliction, and yet more, it is the prayer of all who long for the speedy coming of CHRIST, of the Martyrs under the golden Altar in heaven, who cry, "How long, O LORD, how long," and of Confessors on earth uttering the petition, "Thy kingdom come." And the answer is alike for all: The Hymn Heu, heu, mundi vita. Ecce Rex desideratus Et a justis expectatus, Jam festinat exoratus, Ad salvandum præparatus! Apparebit, non tardabit; Veniet et demonstrabit Gloriam quam mercantur Qui pro fide tribulantur. Glory be to the FATHER, Who maketh speed to save me; and to the SON, Who maketh haste to help me; and to the HOLY GHOST, my Helper and Redeemer, for the SPIRIT help-eth our infirmities, and where the SPIRIT of the LORD is, there is liberty.

As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be: world without end. Amen.

Collects.Ludolph. O Everlasting GOD, Whose help is inexhaustible, make haste to help Thy humble servants, that overcoming the reproaches of the ungodly, we may ever be guarded by Thine aid. Through. (1.) Mozarabic. O LORD, make speed to save us, and advance in haste to help us, give us strength to fulfil what we know, and count as perfect that we desire to do, that when by Thy working in us Thou shalt have made us perfect in Thy statutes, Thou mayest count it as Thy praise; by Thy effectual operation let us be exalted in reward; let right work magnify Thee, and Thy repayment lift us up. Through Thy mercy. (11.) Mozarabic. O LORD, make speed to save us; and make haste to help us, for our efforts in good works are of no avail if Thou cease, for Thou, from Whom all goings are directed, art He, through Whom our frailty is strengthened. Through Thy mercy. (11.)

Mozarabic. O GOD, make speed to save us, that we who pant with most hearty desires to share in Thy Passion, may find Thee our helper in our very efforts. Through Thy mercy. (11.) Mozarabic. O GOD, make haste to help us: lest temptation prevail whilst Thou delayest assistance, or despair succeed, whilst Thou keepest back aid. Set Thy succour against both, and grant us, and all Christians, holy prudence, that we, who put all our trust in Thy might, may ever be guarded by Thy Divinity. Through Thy mercy. (11.) He Who was wounded for our transgressions and rose S. Jerome. again for our justification, Himself with His wonted mercy bestow on us help now in our time of trouble, that, rejoicing with His Saints, we may be able to praise and magnify Him. Who liveth. O GOD, Who art the author of man's salvation, make speed to save us from them that seek after our soul, that by Thee their assault may cease from us, and we may evermore praise Thee, our Helper and Protector. Through. (1.)

TITLE: LXX. and Vulgate: A Psalm of David, of the sons of Jonadab, and of the first captives. Without title in the Hebrew.

Argument.ARG. THOMAS. That CHRIST opens our lips to declare the glory of His Name. The Voice of CHRIST to the FATHER. The Voice of CHRIST to the FATHER against the Jews, concerning the Resurrection. The Prophet concerning the Passion and Advent of CHRIST. VEN. BEDE. The Prophet Jeremiah mentions that Jonadab was a priest of GOD, who had commanded his sons not to drink wine, and not to dwell in houses, but in tents, and that they found great favour with the LORD for their obedience in these respects; and they are now put for faithful and devout persons. Whence Jonadab is interpreted The voluntary one of the Lord, who can say, An offering of a free heart will I give Thee. With whom the former captives also shed tears, that is, they who were first made captives and then ransomed, who, made captive by sinning, but ransomed by repenting, say, And Thou broughtest me from the deep of the earth again. A representative person is introduced, who, freed from the captivity of sins, remained firm in the Divine commands, preaching to us the mighty love of CHRIST the LORD, which is always freely bestowed on us, with no previous merits of our own. In the first part of the Psalm this person intreats that he may always be delivered from human iniquities, that he may give thanks unto the LORD. O God, in Thee have I trusted. In the second place, he prays that he may not be deprived in old age of His bounties, by Whose help he was guarded in his youth, Cast me not away in the time of age. Thirdly; numbering His gifts, he promises ever to give thanks. Thy righteousness, O God, is very high, &c.

SYRIAC PSALTER. Composed by David, when Saul warred against the house of David. Also a prophecy of the Passion and Resurrection of CHRIST. EUSEBIUS OF CÆSAREA. CHRIST'S Sufferings and Resurrection. S. ATHANASIUS. A Psalm in solitary address. Gregorian. Thursday. Matins. [Maundy Thursday. I. Nocturn.] Monastic. Wednesday. Matins. [Maundy Thursday. I. Nocturn.] Ambrosian. Monday of Second Week. III. Nocturn.

Antiphons.Gregorian. Ferial. Be Thou my protecting GOD. [Maundy Thursday. O my GOD deliver me out of the hand of the ungodly.] Monastic. Ferial. Thou art my helper and redeemer * O LORD, make no long tarrying. [Maundy Thursday. As Gregorian.] Parisian. O my GOD * deliver me out of the hand of the ungodly, for Thou art my patience. Ambrosian. As Psalm lxix. 1 In thee, O LORD, have I put my trust, let me never be put to confusion: but rid me, and deliver me, in thy righteousness; incline thine ear unto me, and save me. This Psalm of David belongs to the close of his life and reign, and it may be noted that it is, in great part, a cento from previous Psalms, as 22, 25, 31, 35, 38, 40, although the noble passage vv. 14—21 is new. It has been also frequently grouped with the preceding Psalm, and counted as part of it.

They see in it the pilgrimage of the Church from the days of Adam to those of Antichrist, counting the seven ages of man's estate in this wise. From the Fall to the Incarnation are three periods,—infancy, childhood, and youth, typified by exile, the patriarchal dispensation, and the Law. From the first to the second Advent are four stages: early manhood, from the Ascension, through the ten persecutions to the accession of Constantine the Great; the prime of life, through the Arian troubles, till Justinian; middle age, during which the yet unended power of Mohammedanism sprang up; and that eld during which the Church still waits in dread for the coming of Antichrist; and the Psalm contains petitions apt for each of these troubles in turn. In thee, O Lord, have I trusted. Once I trusted in myself, and then I was con-

founded; now I have turned to Thee, and I shall never be confounded again. And that because, as the Apostle tells us, "Hope maketh not ashamed," following therein the saying of another wise man: "Look at the generations of old, and see; did ever any trust in the LORD, and was confounded? Rightly so, since in trusting Him, we are not merely relying on Almighty power, but on infinite love, on purest bounty, on the merit of CHRIST's Passion. Let me never be confounded. That in this world, however I may seem to be brought low and despised, I may feel myself strong in Thee at all times. Or, if we take the Vulgate, confounded eternally, it will be a prayer against condemnation in the doom. In the mouth of CHRIST, the words are but another way of putting what Isaiah prophesied: "I gave My back to the smiters, and My cheeks to them that plucked off the hair; I hid not My face from shame and spitting; for the LORD GOD will help Me, therefore shall I not be confounded; therefore have I set My face like a flint, and I know that I shall not be ashamed. The insults of the soldiers, of Herod, of the Jews, may fall on the Man of Sorrows, but they cannot touch the Eternal WORD, and therefore, observes S. Bruno, Our LORD trusts in the immortality and impassibility of His Godhead, derived from that FATHER in Whom He trusted. Deliver me in Thy righteousness.

When the sinner utters this prayer, he beseeches GOD to deliver him by Him Whom He hath made Judge of all the world, because He is the Justice of GOD, the King Who reigneth in righteousness, and executes judgment and justice in the earth. And our claim on GOD's justice is based on our trust in His promise, which He binds Himself to fulfil, that He may be justified in His sayings. What we say by reason of our sin, CHRIST speaks by reason of His innocence. His claim for deliverance is that in Him His enemies find no fault at all, and therefore justice demands that He should go free. Incline Thine ear unto me, and save me. It is the cry, says Gerhohus, of one lying sick and wounded, unable to rise, and asking the Physician to bend over him to listen to his account of his sufferings, asking the good Samaritan to stoop down and save him, by pouring oil and wine into his wounds.

2 Be thou my strong hold, whereunto I may alway resort: thou hast promised to help me, for thou art my house of defence, and my castle. In the LXX. and Vulgate the first part of this verse reads differently; Be Thou to me for a protecting [LXX. shield-bearing] God, and for a strong place to save me. And we may see in it the prayer of the Church under two circumstances, when she goes out to aggressive battle against error and sin; and again, when she is compelled by pressure from without to act chiefly on the defensive, as in days of persecution. And thus, as the Carmelite observes, because the Martyrs were so fortified by the grace of GOD, that the darts of the persecutors could not pierce their hearts, they are mystically called "fenced cities," as was Jeremiah. Or, if we look at it from another point of view, the Church intreats for her active and her contemplative members, of whom the former are in the open battles; the latter within the strong-

Jer. i. 8. hold of the religious life, which Hugh of S. Cher likens to a fortress, for twelve reasons, thus summed up: Murus, dentales, turris, vigiles, tuba, scuta, Mons, aqua, saxa, cibi, machina, fossa, viri. Thou art my house of defence, and my castle. The first title belongs to GOD as our Protector; the second as our strong place. And the house of defence will then be His help against peril in this world; the castle, or with the Vulgate, refuge, the eternal habitation whither no danger can come. 3 Deliver me, O my GOD, out of the hand of the ungodly: out of the hand of the unrighteous and cruel man. The words are first those of CHRIST, enduring the contradiction of sinners. And note, that two kinds of sinners are set before us. The unrighteous (Vulg. transgressor of the law) evil Jews or Christians, who know GOD's will, but refuse to do it, and the cruel (or unjust) the heathen who sin through comparative ignorance. And as CHRIST thus prays for Himself against Caiaphas and Pilate, so He prays for His Church to be delivered from false brethren and from Pagan oppressors. The Carthusian will have the ungodly to be our ghostly enemy, and yet more, the whole three clauses to apply to the pleading sinner, who makes his prayer to be delivered from himself, his own ungodliness, his own transgressions. And GOD does save, notes Ayguan, triply. From the temptation of the flesh, "The LORD knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptation." From the snares of the devil, "Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness." From the lures of the world, "Who gave Himself for our sins, that He might deliver us from the present evil world."

Col. i. 13. Gal. i. 4. 4 For thou, O LORD GOD, art the thing that I long for: thou art my hope, even from my youth. S. Amb. in iv. cap. 2, ad Corinth. My patience, is the Vulgate reading in the first clause. And they explain it, rather frigidly, the cause of my patience. Let us look deeper, and take it with S. Ambrose. Doubtless CHRIST Himself is slain in the Martyrs, and in them who suffer death, or bonds, or stripes, for the faith, the sufferings are CHRIST's, that His life may be manifest in their body. He then Who endures in them is truly their patience, since it is not their own powers that hold out. From my youth, since I was generated in grace, and not merely from my bodily childhood. And the mediæval writers, looking to the usage of their time, see here the candidate for Christian chivalry, already following his liege lord to battle, armed with faith, hope, and charity, but not yet more than an esquire who has still to win his spurs, and to be trained in the pureness of chastity, the prudence of truth, the obedience of humility. And so the prophet speaks, "It is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth."

5 Through thee have I been holden up ever since I was born : thou art he that took me out of my mother's womb ; my praise shall be always of thee. They see in the first clause here the mystery of predestination, and the Angelic Doctor adds, that the task of guardian Angels is intrusted to them even before the birth of the children whose keepers they are to be. My mother's womb. Literally, says Gerhohus, because of infant baptism, whereby children of but a few days or hours old, are received in the arms of God. Ayguan, pointing to the same rite, explains the words of our Mother the Church, who bears us to God in the Sacraments. And, applied to CHRIST, the words may be taken of His Incarnation, and also bear reference to the pious opinion of the Church that the pains of childbirth took no hold on His Virgin-Mother.

Gaude, sine partu tristi Virgo partum edidisti, Immo gaudens protulisti Prolem mater filia. Conrad v. Gaming. The Hymn Gaude Virgo, dico gaudens. Others again give long lists of Saints, who from early childhood persevered in holiness, as fulfilling this prediction, while Parez and S. Bonaventure explain it of the infancy of the Church in Abel's days. My praise shall be always of Thee. It is more in the Vulgate, My singing, implying not only praise, but rejoicing for victory. And they take it of Church song, as contrasted with heathen or secular ballads. 6 I am become as it were a monster unto many : but my sure trust is in thee.

If we take the Prayer Book Version literally as it stands, we may well think on that graffito scrawled by a Pagan hand, and lately discovered, wherein a Christian is seen worshipping a crucified figure, having a man's body, but an ass's head, a notion once widely spread, and a serious bar to the reception of the Faith by the Empire. But the word hardly notes so much. It is rather, with the Vulgate and A. V., a wonder, yet still referring to the offence of the Cross, to the astonishment with which the world looked on the life and sufferings of CHRIST and His Apostles, regarding even their miracles rather as something to stare at than as proof of a new revelation. And as Isaiah, walking naked and barefoot for three years was "a sign and wonder," so the Apostles, who left all their earthly possessions, and followed CHRIST during the three years of His earthly ministry, and all Christians who spiritually did the like in the three stages of holiness, the purgative, illuminative, and unitive ways, were made, as S. Paul says, "a spectacle unto the world, and angels, and men." But we may take the words in another sense of our LORD, Whose Incarnation, Passion, and Resurrection have made Him indeed a wonder and a glory to His people, as well as even to those Jews and heathens who rejected Him.

7 O let my mouth be filled with thy praise : that I may sing of thy glory and honour all the day long. It is the song of our country, notes the Carmelite, a song ever accompanied with joy. And that joy is threefold, the inner gladness of the heart, the vocal sound of the lips, the tokens of external actions. The words, that I may sing of Thy glory, (from the LXX. and Vulgate,) are not found in the Hebrew, but are none the less dwelt on by the commentators. One, with a quaint literalness of interpretation, explaining the words of the Song of the Church, takes glory to refer to the recitation of the Doxology, honour, or as the Vulgate reads, magnitude, to that of the Magnificat, which seems to accord with the remark of Cassiodorus that all the day long means the whole twenty-four hours, as otherwise Vespers and Nocturns would be shut out. Parez, more happily, takes glory to refer to the Resurrection : honour to the Ascension of CHRIST.

8 Cast me not away in the time of age : forsake me not when my strength faileth me. A. D.C. G. P.

In the time of age. They question in what sense CHRIST, Who never knew eld of body or soul, can use these words of Himself, and they explain them differently. They take it either of the physical and mental exhaustion of the Passion, like in its wasting effects to old age, or, with yet deeper meaning, of His crucifying our old man in His own Person. Again ; it is the prayer of the Church, looking forward to the great apostasy of the latter days, and dreading lest her love, waxing cold, should expose her to yet more terrible losses than she sustained when so many Eastern Communions fell before the advance of Islam, or when the mighty Nestorian Church, once vaster than Greek and Latin together, and ranging from the Yellow Sea to the steppes of Eastern Russia, from Siberia to Ceylon, vanished like a dream before Gengiz-Khan and his successors. It is also the cry of each member of the Church for himself. For, just as we have seen two kinds of youth spoken of above, so there are two kinds of age, decrepitude of body and of soul. The latter exists when the spiritual heat of love waxes cold, and the soul is not renewed by increase of grace, but either grows old in negligence and sin, is bowed down by weary persecutions, or becomes less active in good works. Well may we, with S. Thomas Aquinas, recite this verse with tears of contrition and hope;

well may we, with a holy man of a later day, cry, "O fire ever burning, and never waxing low: behold, I am chill and cold, kindle my veins and my heart, that they may burn with love of Thee. For Thou hast come to send fire upon the earth, and what wilt Thou, save that it be kindled? So praying, He will hear us, and will give us, even in extreme age, strength to say with His Martyr, S. Polycarp, "Eighty and six years have I served Him, and He never did me wrong; how then can I blaspheme my King and my SAVIOUR?"

9 For mine enemies speak against me, and they that lay wait for my soul take their counsel together, saying: God hath forsaken him; persecute him, and take him, for there is none to deliver him. They take it first of the Passion, of that Council of the Pharisees gathered after the raising of Lazarus, and of the mockings suffered by CHRIST upon the Cross, when His cry was, "My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?" and theirs was, "He trusted in God that He would deliver Him, let Him deliver Him now if He will have Him." It is the cry of the Church under the three greatest trials, the Pagan persecutions, the Mohammedan successes, the rise of the sects, which last in especial say, God hath forsaken her, "with our tongue will we prevail; we are they that ought to speak; who is lord over us?"

A. Ay. S. Matt. xxvii. 46, 43. 10 Go not far from me, O God: my God, haste thee to help me. 11 Let them be confounded and perish that are against my soul: let them be covered with shame and dishonour that seek to do me evil. Again; the words are both of CHRIST and of the Church. The LORD asks for His members rather than for Himself, that for the elect's sake the days may be shortened. And note, that whereas type and prophecy both foretold that the SAVIOUR should be three days and three nights in the grave, yet the time was too long for the infant Church to bear, and therefore the FATHER hastened to help the SON, and raised Him up just after the midnight of Easter Eve, Who had given up the ghost at the ninth hour of Good Friday. Thus the confusion will refer to the alarm caused by the signs at the Crucifixion, the darkness, the earthquake, the rending of the rocks, and still more to the dismay on hearing the news that the sepulchre was void, while the perishing denotes the overthrow of the Jewish nation. The Church, fallen on evil days, intreats for help also. And we may note again, as so often before, the warnings against the persecutors, how they were confounded and perished, as Nero, Julian, Valens; how they were put to shame and dishonour, as Valerian, whom the Persian Sapor made his footstool, and as Eugenius, who was the last to raise the standard of ancient Paganism against the Cross. Once more, the words are those of the penitent sinner, to whom God is always near, but who feels that he has been departing from God, and going afar off in his wickedness. And the prayer will then be chiefly directed against ghostly enemies, though also against human tempters.

12 As for me, I will patiently abide alway : and will praise thee more and more. 13 My mouth shall daily speak of thy righteousness and salvation : for I know no end thereof.

Rather, with the A. V., LXX. and Vulgate, I will hope continually, and that not merely when I am afflicted by the devil, with poverty, disease, or lust, but when even the hand of God is heavy against me, I will say with holy Job, "Though He slay me, yet will I trust in Him. And will praise Thee more and more. The LXX. and Vulgate here read, And will add above all Thy praise. How can this be? ask they all. They answer it diversely. Literally, it may tell us how David was the first to set forth the praises of CHRIST'S Incarnation, Resurrection, Ascension, and Kingdom, for the instruction of the people, whereas the Saints who praised God in former times told far less of these mysteries. And the Carthusian sees in it a promise to persevere in the compositions of fresh songs of praise. Or we may reflect how the Synagogue praised God for temporal blessings, while the Church, not forgetting such thanksgiving, lauds Him yet more for spiritual gifts. Yet again; S. Augustine remarks that God's justice deserves all praise, even were He to condemn all mankind, but seeing that He has shown us mercy, we add that praise to the glory of His Name. When I confess that the WORD of God created the heaven and the earth and all that is therein, observes another, I have praised the LORD with perfect devotion. But when I add that He became incarnate for the salvation of men, I have added to His praise.

Once more—and the lesson is a practical one—I will not merely praise Thee in speech and words, but with my works also, because the LORD is praised in this wise too, and therefore the SAVIOUR said, "That they may see your good works, and glorify your FATHER which is in heaven. My mouth shall daily speak of Thy righteousness and salvation. It is the voice of the Bride. The righteousness and salvation is He of whom Paul says that "CHRIST JESUS of GOD is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption; of whom Simeon said, "Mine eyes have seen Thy salvation. Daily. The LXX. and Vulgate read, All

A. 1 Cor. i. 30. the day. That is, adds Ayguan, both in the day of prosperity and the night of sorrow. Or with the Gloss, All the day means the day with the night, because night serves day, not day night. The night is our flesh, and the day is righteousness, and whatever is done in the flesh is of the night, while deeds of righteousness belong to the day. And there is yet another meaning, that of the everlasting praise of CHRIST in the land where is no darkness at all. Dies sine vesperâ, nocte non sepultus, Quem non sol per aëra sed divini vultûs Illustrat serenitas. The Hymn, Redeundo per gyrum.

I know no end thereof. More exactly, with the A. V., I know not the numbers. The word (closely connected as it is with a book or writing) has been rendered by some copies of the LXX. and by the Vulgate similarly, I know not letters. And they take it first of CHRIST, concerning Whom the Jews said, "How knoweth this man letters, having never learned? answering the question by saying that He indeed knew not the letter that killeth, but the Spirit that giveth life. And again they say that the letter means the old Law, which they compare to the staff of Elisha, sent by the hand of a servant to recover the dead child, but vainly, so that Elisha needed to come and lay himself down on the child, that is, our true Elisha ("God of salvation") needed to humble Himself and become as a servant, nay, as one dead, to do what Moses failed to accomplish. Or again, the Five Books of Moses are the porches of Bethesda, where men lie waiting and sick. It needed the Angel of the Covenant to come down into the water of the Jewish nation that the sick might be healed. And then they take it of the Church, or of single Christians, saying the like of that which the LORD had said. For there are three kinds of letters, those which puff up, those which make man a servant, and those which make him a son.

They are the secular learning of philosophers, the Jewish law, and the New Testament, the last of which only is needful for the soul to know. The Carthusian adds that the words may be a confession of the utter ignorance of man contrasted with the infinite wisdom of GOD, or that it may be used of inspired Saints like SS. Peter and John, of whom it was said, truly in one sense, that "they were unlearned and ignorant men. S. Augustine, who probably had the reading πραγματείας instead of γραμματείας before him, gives a various translation, negotiationes, tradings, and dwells on the spiritual dangers which attend on all commerce; and Cassiodorus follows him, limiting his censure carefully to avarice and fraud. The various reading is said by another to apply to the Church of the last days, resisting the wiles of Antichrist, who will bring to bear all worldly learning, and even a bare literal rendering of Holy Writ, to aid his cause. And Hugh

A. A. of S. Victor, taking both readings, sums up the matter by saying that whoso reads the Scripture for mere curiosity and not for edification, knows indeed its letter and its tradings, but has not the true weight granted to the man who studies it for the savour of godliness. 14 I will go forth in the strength of the LORD GOD : and will make mention of thy righteousness only.

The LXX. and Vulgate, for go forth read enter in, and more correctly, as the first sense is that of proceeding to the temple to praise GOD because of His mighty deeds. Euthymius connects the words with those of the preceding verse. I know not letters, that is, observes he, the Scribes lay down a rule in their writings that all Jews must enter the temple of Jerusalem thrice a year, but I will go for a better reason, the strength of the LORD. Ayguan, more deeply says, I will go from the mere letter of the Old Testament into its spiritual meaning, the power of CHRIST. I will not look, adds Gerhohus, to the mere outward rite of even the Gospel Sacraments, but will enter further into them to find there the saving might of JESUS, Who gives me faith, endurance, and power to fulfil His commands, a triple cord to draw me and bind me to Him. And will make mention of Thy righteousness only. Not of my own, but ascribing all that is good in me, all virtue, and all grace, to Thee; all evil, defective, or sinful, to myself, saying with the Apostle, "By the grace of GOD, I am what I am;" and again, "If a man think himself to be something when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself." Since, as the same Apostle says, such persons "being ignorant of GOD's righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of GOD." And he says only, because when the soul has left human weakness behind, and entered into the spiritual power of GOD, it will think no more of the flesh, but will ponder on GOD alone.

15 Thou, O GOD, hast taught me from my youth up until now : therefore will I tell of thy wondrous works. 16 Forsake me not, O GOD, in mine old age, when I am gray-headed : until I have showed thy strength unto this generation, and thy power to all them that are yet for to come.

Here, as so often, the words may apply to CHRIST or to the Church. Thou hast taught Me, is the LORD's address to His FATHER, even according to that saying, "My doctrine is not Mine, but His that sent Me. And again, "As My FATHER hath taught Me, I speak these things. From my youth up, because the human soul of CHRIST "increased in wisdom and stature, and in favour with GOD and man. It is also the voice of the Church. Thou hast taught me; referring all her gifts to Him as her Teacher, Who said, "Neither be ye called masters, for one is your Master, even CHRIST. And that from the youth of the Church, from the time when the Apostles drew their lessons from His lips during His three years' ministry, when He opened the Scriptures to them after His Resurrection, when He sent the HOLY GHOST on them at Pentecost. Therefore will I tell of Thy wondrous works. How Thou rulest me, how Thou hast set me in the way of salvation, how Thou makest me to live whom Thou hast wonderfully quickened in soul. For what greater marvel is there than to quicken those dead in soul? A quickened body lives even when its quickener is absent, as Lazarus did in the corporal absence of CHRIST, because the life of the body is in the soul. But the quickened soul cannot live thus without GOD, Who is its life.

This then is wondrous grace, which can quicken the dead, and abide with us afterwards, that we die not. Wondrous too are those works whereof the Church tells, the Incarnation of the WORD, the Passion and Resurrection of CHRIST, and that GOD so loved us that He gave His Only-begotten SON unto death for us. Forsake me not, O God, in mine old age, when I am gray-headed. They take it of the coming of Antichrist in the last times, when the faith of the Church has become weak, and from Augustine in the fifth century to Parez in the fifteenth, each accounts his own days as near the end, and finds all the marks of decrepitude in the belief and lives of Christians, all the signs of growing strength and insolence in the powers of evil. Until I have showed Thy strength unto this generation, and Thy power unto all that are yet for to come. The LXX. and Vulgate translate, Until I declare Thine arm to every generation that is to come, and couple the word power with the next verse. Thine arm is the Incarnate WORD, and the phrase until notes that the preaching of Him will not be carried beyond this life, because the vision of GOD in the life to come will supply all spiritual knowledge to the Saints, and there will thus be no preaching in heaven; nor yet in hell, because the time for conversion has gone by.

To every generation, as against the teaching of certain heretics, that the Church was to endure for a time, as the Jewish dispensation did, and then be supplanted by a more perfect revelation.

17 Thy righteousness, O GOD, is very high : and great things are they that thou hast done; O GOD, who is like unto thee?

The LXX. and Vulgate couple the first words with the preceding, so that the clause runs [I will declare] Thy power Ay. and righteousness, O God, unto the highest, great things which R. Thou hast done. That is, I will declare the power of Thy Cd. justifying grace from its first beginnings in the soul up to its B. highest achievement in turning sinners into perfect Saints; A. or again, I will tell of Thy marvels, not only to Thy humbler C. creature, man, but I will call on Thy highest works, the Thrones, Dominations, and Princedoms of the heavenly host A. to join in the praise which is Thy due. Higher yet, observes C. Cassiodorus, even to that right hand of the FATHER where the Man of Sorrows is throned. Again; God's power is shown A. in His setting man free, His righteousness in causing His Son L. to die for us. His power gives man strength to do good works, His righteousness justifies man. His power is seen in the valiant endurance of the Martyrs, His righteousness in the A. holy lives of the Confessors. O God, who is like unto Thee? Gen. iii. 5. It is the cry of Adam, after he had sinned by tasting of the fruit, whereof the serpent told him, "In the day that ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil," and had thereby lost the likeness which he had before, as being made in the image and Ikeness of God. And none can answer it, save the Second A. Adam, because He is the "brightness of God's glory, and the express image of His Person;" and He can change our Heb i. 3. vile body, making it like to His glorious Body, and so "we 1 S. John know that when He shall appear, we shall be like Him, for iii. 2. we shall see Him as He is."

18 O what great troubles and adversities hast thou showed me! and yet didst thou turn and refresh me: yea, and broughtest me from the deep of the earth again. D. C. All the bitter sorrows of My Passion, the Agony, the Betrayal, the mocking, scourging, crucifixion, the yet sharper pangs of man's sin and thanklessness. And refresh me. The LXX., Vulgate, and A. V. more truly, revive Me, raising Me from the grave, where I lay in the deep of the earth. And we may take it next, with S. Augustine and all who follow him, of the wretchedness of mankind after the Fall, and the bounty of God in lifting it up from the depth of sin by the message of salvation, and giving it new life in CHRIST. And observe, says Cassiodorus, that there are seven ways in which God gives us remission of our sins. Firstly, in baptism; secondly, by martyrdom; thirdly, by almsgiving; fourthly, by our forgiveness to our debtors; fifthly, by our conversion of our brethren; sixthly, by abundant charity; seventhly, by penance. Again; it is the voice of the Church, thanking God for all her early sufferings and persecutions, when the blood of the Martyrs was the seed of the faithful, and the Gentiles, attracted by their valiant constancy, were turned by God, and brought to life, and out of the abyss of earthly sin.

We may see too a literal meaning here which seems to have escaped the commentators, that is, the public recognition of Christian worship after the edict of Constantine, when the Church emerged from the deep of the catacombs into the light of day. Lastly; it is the grateful acknowledgment of every elect soul which GOD has brought through great tribulation into the kingdom of grace. And so Ezekiel says, "O My people, I will open your graves, and cause you to come up out of your graves, and bring you into the land of Israel." 19 Thou hast brought me to great honour : and comforted me on every side.

Again it is the voice of CHRIST, speaking of His own Resurrection, Ascension, and of His deliverance from all the liability to suffering which had belonged to His humanity. And this is brought out strongly by the Vulgate reading, Thou hast multiplied Thy magnificence upon me. Multiplied, observes another, because CHRIST, Who is the magnificence of GOD, was multiplied, not in person, but in nature, by His Incarnation, where GOD was made Man, and thus was built up of Godhead, body, and soul. It is the voice of the Church, raised to high dignity of grace, and to the earthly honour of having kings and queens at her feet, and stored with all the gifts of the Comforter. And, lastly, it is the thanksgiving of sinners whom GOD has first scourged with fatherly chastisement, and then made kings and priests, clothing them with the garment of salvation, and comforted, as He is the GOD of Consolation, in all their trouble. For comforted on every side, the Vulgate reads, Thou hast turned and comforted me. Turned, because by CHRIST's Incarnation the sternness of the law was turned into the loving tenderness of the Gospel, so that He whom we called LORD in fear, we now call in love, "FATHER of mercies, and the GOD of all comfort, who comforteth us in all our tribulation."

2 Cor. i. 3. 20 Therefore will I praise thee and thy faithfulness, O GOD, playing upon an instrument of music : unto thee will I sing upon the harp, O thou Holy One of Israel.

On an instrument of music, LXX. and Vulgate, On the vessels of psalm, which most of them take, as does the A. V., to be the psaltery. And S. Augustine points out that the chief difference between the psaltery and harp is that the former has the hollow sounding-board placed above the strings, and the latter has it below. And because the Spirit is from above, flesh from the earth; there seemeth to be signified by the psaltery the Spirit, by the harp the flesh. And men who are appointed to sing GOD's praises with psalmody may be aptly called vessels of psalm; in particular the clergy, Hugo Card. some of whom are vessels to honour, and some to dishonour. Arnobius. Yet again, our bodies, within which the truth dwells, are its C. vessels, and the Psalms themselves are vessels holding the truth, as a pure and fragrant wine. Truth, in three ways, of Hugo Card. life, of righteousness, and of doctrine. O Thou Holy One of Israel. Because all nations will become a part of the true P. Israel when the fulness of the Gentiles is gathered in. Note too, that this is the only Psalm of David's writing which contains this title of GOD, and as it is the very last of his songs, it looks forward in this wise to the universal kingdom of CHRIST, as the sea into which all the streams flowing from the vessels of song shall one day empty themselves. That is G. a poor house, says Gerhohus, where there are vessels for oil and wine, and nought to put in them, but what is the wretchedness of a house which has not even vessels fit to hold them!

21 My lips will be fain when I sing unto thee: and so will my soul whom thou hast delivered. They all agree in seeing here the union of bodily and spiritual praise of GOD, the harmony of will and deed, of heart and life, when the body is subdued to the spirit, and obeys its rule with gladness. It is the idea which has been expressed by a poet of our own day: Let knowledge grow from more to more, But more of reverence in us dwell, That mind and soul, according well, May make one music as before, But vaster. Gal. v. 17. Not here, however, where "the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh," can this harmony be perfectly free from discord. We must look forward to the time of which the next verse tells us. 22 My tongue also shall talk of thy righteousness all the day long: for they are confounded and brought unto shame that seek to do me evil.

In the Land of beauty there will be no false notes to mar the sweet song of praise, because— S. Pet. Dam. Fleshly wars they know no longer, since with blemish stained is The Hymn, none, Ad perennis For the spiritual body and the soul at last are one; vita fontem. Dwell they now in peace eternal, with all stumbling they have done. D. C. All the day long. The unending day of eternity, during which the song of the redeemed shall ever ascend before the throne of GOD, when the ghostly enemies of our souls have G. been brought to everlasting shame. Pectora plausibus atque canoribus ora parabit, Cum sua crimina, lapsaque pristina stans memorabit, Quo fuit amplior error, iniquior actio mentis, Laus erit amplior, hymnus et altior, hanc abolentis. And therefore: Glory be to the FATHER, from Whom cometh soberness; and to the SON, of Whom is righteousness; and to the HOLY GHOST, Whose is loving-kindness.

As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be: world without end. Amen.

Collects.Incomprehensible Ruler of the throne on high, Who sufferest not them that trust in Thee to be condemned to everlasting confusion, fill our lips, we beseech Thee, with Thy praise, and ever inspire us with thoughts of holy things. Through. (1.) Deliver us, O our GOD, out of the hand of the ungodly, Who didst vouchsafe to bear for us the pain of the Cross, that Thou only mayest be our patience, Who for us didst endure the grave. Through Thy mercy. (11.) Let our tongue, O LORD, be talking of Thy righteousness, that Thy praise may proceed from our lips all the day long, that inasmuch as the glory of Thy Passion hath been set forth by us, so we may now and ever without end praise Thee in that righteousness whereby we live through faith. Through Thy mercy. (11.) We beseech Thee, O Crucified LORD, to be our house of defence and our castle, that delivering us from the hand of the enemy, Thou mayest place us in a stronghold, to receive our crown. Through Thy mercy. (11.)

O GOD of might, Who, though Thou wast GOD, didst willingly suffer Thyself to be seized at the time of Thy Passion, when they took their counsel against Thee, saying, "Let Him deliver Him, if He will have Him;" forsake us not in our trouble, and go not far from us, that Thou only mayest look on us and help us, Who on Thy Cross triumphest over the powers of this world. Through Thy mercy. (11.) O JESU, SON of GOD, Whom the multitude of Thine enemies vainly persecuted, and drove from themselves the bounty of Thy loving-kindness while taking counsel together against Thee to seize Thee, and sought to take Thy life from Thee, a willing victim, Whom they knew not to be the author of life; Grant that we may with holy devotion in good works follow after Thee, Whom they pursued with ill will, so that wherein Thine enemies shall for ever mourn, therein we may have everlasting joy. Through Thy mercy. (11.)

Let our lips be firm in Thee, O LORD, with the tidings of truth, that they never be loosed in the vain speech of error, and may ever speak Thy glory and never cry aloud in the unseemly disputes of quarrelling, that our soul which Thou hast redeemed, may, when praising the triumph of Thy Martyr and Forerunner, John Baptist, obtain Thy favour through his intercession. Through Thy mercy. (11.) We beseech Thee, O LORD, that our human mouth being filled with Thy praise, we may ever think in our hearts of that which we offer Thee with acceptable voices. Through. (1.) O GOD, unspeakable mercy, go not far from us, make haste to help us, and forsake us not in our old age when we are gray-headed, quicken us, and comfort us in Thy love, and grant that we may ever worthily sing the majesty of Thy glory. Through. (1.)

TITLE: A Psalm for [or of] Solomon. LXX. and Vulgate: For Solomon; a Psalm of David. Chaldee Targum: By the hand of Solomon, uttered prophetically.

Argument.ARG. THOMAS. That CHRIST, having brought the slanderer low, is to be adored by all kings of the earth. The Voice of the Church concerning CHRIST. The Voice of the Church concerning CHRIST to the FATHER. VEN. BEDE. Solomon is interpreted Peaceful, signifying CHRIST the LORD, of Whom it is said, Of His dominion and peace there shall be no end. Throughout the Psalm the Prophet speaks, foretelling the Advent of CHRIST. In the first part he addresses the FATHER, asking for the SON judgment to judge the nations, which thing, however, he knew to be predestined before the world. Give the King Thy judgments, O God. In the second place, he declares that the children of the poor shall be saved in the judgment of the LORD, and the pride of the devil be humbled; and also explains in parables the child-bearing of the Virgin. He shall keep the simple folk by their right. Thirdly, he narrates the blessings which are to come when CHRIST the LORD is born of the HOLY GHOST and the Virgin Mary. In His time shall the righteous flourish. Fourthly, he says He is to be worshipped by all kings, because He hath redeemed mankind from the power of the devil. All kings shall fall down before Him. In the fifth place he declares that CHRIST, made visible to human eyes, hath been the defence of believers, and without doubt the profit of the righteous. He shall live, and unto Him shall be given of the gold of Arabia. Sixthly, he affirms that praise is to be given by the assent of the whole world to the everlasting LORD. His Name shall remain under the sun. In the seventh place, he offers, with purest devotion, a hymn to CHRIST. Blessed be the Lord God, even the God of Israel: which only doeth wondrous things.

SYRIAC PSALTER. Of David, when he made Solomon king, and a prophecy of the Coming of CHRIST and the calling of the Gentiles. EUSEBIUS OF CÆSAREA. A prophecy of the kingdom of CHRIST and the calling of the Gentiles. S. ATHANASIUS. A psalm of prophecy. Hortatory to endurance.

Various Uses.Gregorian. Ferial. Thursday. Matins. [Christmas-day. II. Nocturn. Epiphany. II. Nocturn. Maundy Thursday. II. Nocturn. Trinity Sunday. II. Nocturn.] Monastic. Ferial. Wednesday. Matins. [Christmas-day. I. Nocturn. Epiphany. I. Nocturn. Maundy Thursday. II. Nocturn. Trinity Sunday. II. Nocturn.] Ambrosian. Tuesday of Second Week. I. Nocturn.

Antiphons.Gregorian. Ferial. As preceding Psalm. [Christmas-Day. In the days of the LORD shall arise abundance of peace,* and He shall have dominion. Epiphany. The kings of Tharsis and of the isles shall give presents. Maundy Thursday. The LORD hath delivered the poor from the mighty, and the needy also, and him that hath no helper. Trinity Sunday. Deliver us, save us, quicken us, O Blessed Trinity.] Monastic. Ferial. Truly GOD is loving unto Israel. [Christmas, Epiphany, and Maundy Thursday, as Gregorian. Trinity Sunday. Therefore the FATHER, the WORD, and the Comforter is one Substance, O Blessed Trinity.] Parisian. I have not set before Mine eyes an unjust king.* Whoso privily slandereth his neighbour, him will I destroy. Ambrosian. Spare, O LORD, the simple and needy. Mozarabic. The mountains also shall bring peace: and the little hills righteousness unto the people. This Psalm, one of the most conspicuously Messianic canticles of Scripture, is of disputed authorship. The majority of ancient commentators ascribe it to David, and often attribute it to the occasion of Solomon's coronation. The greater number of later critics assign it to Solomon himself. But it is agreed on both sides that the Psalm contains many prophecies which never found their fulfilment in Solomon, and that it must refer to another and greater than he, that Prince of Peace, of Whom the wise king was but a type.

1 Give the king thy judgments, O GOD: and thy righteousness unto the king's son. The Psalmist, observes S. Augustine, does but foreshow that saying of the LORD in the Gospel, "The FATHER judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the SON." And note that CHRIST is styled both King, and King's Son. He is King, in that He is Very GOD from all eternity; He is the King's SON, in that His Godhead is derived from the FATHER, Whose Only-begotten He is. And He is the King's Son in another sense, in that by His Manhood He is of the house and lineage of David. The two members of A. A. the verse are, according to some commentators, only the same idea, restated for the sake of emphasis and variety, as in Ps. ii. 4, and Ps. xix. 1. Rather let us say, with Gerhohus, that it is a prayer to Him Who sometimes suffers unrighteous men to bear rule, and Who permits a Pilate to condemn the innocent, that He will make His Son judge in equity, and with righteous judgment. That He should do so was typified by the names of those who set the crown on Solomon's head—Zadok, the "righteous," and Nathan, "the giver,"—telling us of that righteousness which is not of the works of the Law, but of faith, given freely through grace from above.

2 Then shall he judge thy people according unto right : and defend the poor.

G. The Bible Version is here more in accord with the LXX. and Vulgate, and it runs, He shall judge Thy people with righteousness, and Thy poor with judgment. Thy people, he says, Thy poor, as he has already said Thy judgment and Thy righteousness, that he may dwell on the perfect harmony of will, the co-equal majesty of the Son with the FATHER, even as He Himself hath said, "All Mine are Thine, and Thine are Mine." They have been His from all eternity as God; they are to be given to Him anew as Man. And whereas the Psalmist expresses CHRIST's jurisdiction in two ways, so there is a double judgment, that of separation, whereby He parts the lowly from the proud; His people from aliens, even in this world; and that of doom, finally determining the lot of each according to his works. Thy poor. That is, the poor in spirit, who are blessed; for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. The world and the devil have their poor too—the miser, the arrogant, the thief, the covetous, poor against his will. Thy poor. And we may take it of all Christians, but especially of the Apostles, who left all to follow CHRIST, and who shall sit on thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. Thus Thy people and Thy poor will in truth mean the same Church Militant, but distinguished into the general body of the faithful people, and those voluntary poor who follow counsels of perfection. Wisely they, knowing how Holy Scripture again and again dwells on their blessedness, and on the danger of riches. Wherefore S. Peter Chrysologus says very well: "In heaven the first harvest is that of the hungry, the first payments in heaven are to the poor, the dole of the needy is the first entry in the daily books of God." Yet another interpretation explains the people of the Jewish, the poor of the Gentile Church.

3 The mountains also shall bring peace : and the little hills righteousness unto the people. C. By the mountains, observes Cassiodorus, are denoted the Apostles and Prophets, who preach the gospel of peace, that is, of CHRIST, the Prince of Peace, to the nations; and the hills denote the lesser saints, who have not attained the same heights of Divine grace, but who yet declare righteousness, by announcing the precepts of the LORD to the earth. Others interpret the mountains of the Angels, who brought, at the Nativity, the tidings of peace on earth, to men of good will; and explain the hills of earthly teachers. Or, with Theodoret, we may take the mountains to denote the religious who withdrew from the world to such shelters. Yet, again, the mountains denote the authorities of the Church, to whom is committed the ministry of reconciliation, to establish peace between GOD and man; while the hills are the flock, who are bound to show righteousness by holy obedience to the Divine commands. And thus it will be the especial duty of the rulers, who have charge of peace, to prevent all schisms in the Church, that it may be One; and that of the hearers to be zealous in good works of righteousness, that it may be Holy. And these two things cannot be parted in CHRIST's kingdom, for it is written, "Righteousness and peace have kissed each other."

A. 4 He shall keep the simple folk by their right; defend the children of the poor, and punish the wrong-doer. Rather, with A. V., LXX., and Vulgate, He shall judge the poor of the people. The greater number of the commentators take this as little more than a restatement of the second verse, and they explain the words the poor of the people as denoting all truly humble Christians. And they carry on this interpretation to the next clause. For, observes S. Augustine, the poor and the children of the poor mean the same persons, just as the same city is called Sion, and the daughter of Sion. Gerhohus, more happily, applies the varying language to the altered state of the Church. GOD, he says, protects and defends His people now, as He did in the days of the Apostles, His true poor. We, their spiritual children, are inferior to them in all saintliness; but He does not therefore cast us out. JESUS took His chosen, perfect disciples unto a high mountain apart, and there disclosed to them the deepest mysteries of grace; but He did not the less descend into the plain, to give there His instruction to the people. Euthymius, on the other hand, explains the poor of the people to be those Jews who, clinging to the letter of the Law, rejected the rich Gospel message, and were judged accordingly. But the children of those poor, whom GOD defends (or, as the Vulgate, will save,) are such as have sought the Christian fold, and gained therein wealth, which their fathers, poor in faith and piety, and in the knowledge of GOD, never enjoyed. And punish the wrong-doer. The LXX. and Vulgate read,

A. A. And humble the slanderer. They agree, for the most part, in explaining it of the devil, whom CHRIST humbled once when He made him fall as lightning from heaven; yet again, when He overcame him in the Temptation; most gloriously when, by His Resurrection, He bore from him the keys of death and hell. He will humble him again in the Judgment, by acquitting the saints from his accusations, and casting him down for ever. But the words have a further application, which comes out more fully in the A. V., And shall break in pieces the oppressor. Every tyrant, every persecutor of the righteous, every tempter of the Church, shall partake of the punishment of Antichrist, according to that saying, "He shall smite the earth with the rod of His mouth, and with the breath of His lips shall He slay the wicked." B. C. Isa. xi. 4.

5 They shall fear thee as long as the sun and moon endureth : from one generation to another. It cannot be spoken of Solomon, remarks R. Kimchi, but must refer to the Messiah. How it refers to Him we may see in divers ways. The version before us, which is also that of S. Jerome and of the A. V., tells us of CHRIST as worshipped in the Church on earth, where "the fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom." But it looks also forward to the manner in which He shall be served in heaven, when sun and moon have passed away, because "there is no fear in love," and His saints will then know the "perfect love which casteth out fear." S. Peter Damiani sings: S. Pet. Dam. The Hymn, Ad perennis vitæ fontem. There nor waxing moon, nor waning; Sun, nor stars in courses bright; For the Lamb to that glad City Is the everlasting light: There the daylight shines for ever, And unknown are time and night.

The LXX. and Vulgate, however, read somewhat differently: And He shall abide with the sun, and before the moon. Where note, observes the Carmelite, that in CHRIST there is a twofold nature, Divine and human. He is simply eternal in that He is GOD; He is relatively eternal as Man. Moreover, the sun denotes all time, the moon all temporal things. And accordingly the sense is, He shall abide with the sun: that is, He shall abide, according to His Manhood, so long as He will; to wit, in the Church by the Sacrament of His Body, as it is written, "I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. This He says to confute those who allege that the Church or the Christian religion will ever cease to be. As respects His Godhead, it says before the moon. By the moon, which never abides in the same phase, we understand all creation, which is changeful. If then CHRIST abide before the moon, it follows that He abides before all creation, and thus is eternal, "JESUS CHRIST, the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever. Again, by the sun we may understand GOD the FATHER, because He, as the Sun, hath glory coeval with Himself; and so too has the SOX, Who is the "brightness of His glory, and the express image of His Person," and therefore abides with the sun, because He is coeternal with the FATHER as touching His Godhead.

He also abides before the moon, by which we understand the Church, which shall pass through phases from mortal generations to the immortal one. And as He stands in sight of His Church, guarding it, so He abides before the moon. Once more, the words imply that the Church, tried by the prosperity of day and the adversity of night, will never be deserted by her LORD, Whose glory is her sun, Whose mild and pure life on earth is her moon. In that our Solomon dwelt among us in mortal and passible flesh, amidst many sorrows, He hath shown us the ways of patience, that we should "not be afraid for any terror by night, nor for the thing that walketh in darkness. And His Transfiguration on the Mount, when His Face shone as the sun, or rather His glory on the exalted throne of the FATHER'S Majesty, makes this world's show and pomp mean in our eyes in the day of prosperity, that we be not hurt by "the arrow that flieth by day, nor for the sickness that destroyeth in the noon-day," so long as the bright and gladsome vision of faith and hope is present to our sight.

Heb. i. 3. 6 He shall come down like the rain into a fleece of wool : even as the drops that water the earth. The earliest commentators, as Tertullian and Lactantius, explain these words of the silence and secrecy of the Advent. It is spoken, observes S. Augustine, of CHRIST'S First Coming. For as Gideon laid a fleece on the ground, which alone received the dew, whilst the ground remained dry, so Israel was that fleece, alone bedewed in the midst of a parched world; as He said, "I am not sent, but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel;" and again, speaking to His disciples, "Go not into the way of the Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans enter ye not: but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel." And as the sign was reversed, when the ground was wet and the fleece dry, so here is added, even as the drops that water the earth, because the Jewish people remains dry of the grace of CHRIST, and the whole round world throughout all nations is being rained on by clouds full of Christian grace. So too Ruffinus, more tersely: "CHRIST is the rain, Judea the fleece, the multitude of the nations the earth." With him agree some others also. But the majority of commentators explain the words of the mystery of CHRIST'S Incarnation. "What is so silent and noiseless," asks S. Ambrose, "as rain pouring on a fleece

A. S. Ambros. Hom. 13 in Nativ. Dom. Pet. Lomb. in loc. Adam. Victorin. The Hymn, Splendor Patris.

of wool? It strikes no ears with sound, it sprinkles nobody with spray; but, unnoticed by man, it draws into its whole substance all the rain which is diffused through its many parts. It knows not any severance, because of the firm passage, permitting, as it does, many passages through its softness; and that which seemed closed by reason of its density is open because of its tenuity. Rightly, I say, is Mary compared to a fleece, who conceived the LORD in such wise as to drink Him in with all her body, and yet suffer no rending of that body; but showed herself soft in obedience, firm in holiness. Rightly, I say, is Mary compared to a fleece, since from her fruit the garments of salvation are woven for the peoples. Mary is truly a fleece, since from her soft bosom the Lamb came forth, Who Himself wearing His Mother's wool, that is, the flesh, covers the wounds of all nations with soft fleece. For the wound of every sin is bandaged with CHRIST's wool, is fomented with CHRIST's Blood; and, that it may recover health, is covered with CHRIST's raiment. And S. Bernard speaks in similar language of this mystery. He came therein, observes Ayguan, not in His mighty power, but in the gentleness of deep humility, as was foretold: "Behold, thy King cometh unto thee, lowly.

Noting which, the Psalmist says, He shall come down like the rain into a fleece—that is, gently and imperceptibly He will come down into the Virgin, because He shall come with all lowliness and meekness. And the simile is apt, as the Gloss notes; for as wool is not hurt by receiving or yielding water, so in the glorious Virgin Mary virginity abode inviolate before, during, and after her childbearing. So too S. Peter Chrysologus: The fleece, though it is of the body, yet knows not the body's passions; and so, when there is virginity in the flesh, it knows not the sins of the flesh. Wherefore that heavenly rain came with gentle descent into the virgin fleece, and the whole tide of Godhead hid itself in the thirsty fleece of our flesh, till, wrung out upon the Cross, it poured forth in the rain of salvation over all the lands. And thus the Western Church, in the Antiphons for Lauds of the Circumcision and First Vespers of the Purification includes this, which Sarum carries through the year as a Memorial: "When Thou wast born of a Virgin ineffably, then were the Scriptures fulfilled; as the dew upon the fleece didst Thou descend to save mankind, we praise Thee, O our God. So, too, in many a hymn, as thus:

Frondem, florem, nucem sicca Virga profert, et pudica Virgo Dei Filium. Fert coelestem vellus rorem, Creatura Creatorem, Creaturæ pretium. Ric. Hamp. And as the rain on the fleece stains not, but purifies, violates not, but beautifies, so CHRIST, born of the Virgin, left her brighter, fairer, more perfect than before. There is, however, another interpretation of the word ☩, here, and in all the old versions, translated fleece. It literally means, "that which is shorn or clipped;" and the A. V., with most later critics, explains it, mown grass. It is then, remarks Cardinal de Vio, spoken of the Second Advent, when CHRIST comes after the hope and bud of this life has been cut down by the scythe of death, that He may cause it to spring up again in the aftermath of the Resurrection. And whereas most other commentators follow S. Augustine in explaining the drops that water the earth of the spread of the Gospel amongst the nations, Cajetan takes this also of the renewal of the earth after the Judgment. Parez is another exception. He explains the ground wetted when the fleece was dry, of the Church, empurpled with the Blood drained from CHRIST's Body on the Cross.

Cajetanus, in loc. 7 In his time shall the righteous flourish: yea, and abundance of peace, so long as the moon endureth. The LXX. and Vulgate read as the first clause, In His days shall righteousness arise. It is, says Ayguan, a prophecy of that first true preaching of perfect righteousness, when He spoke the Sermon on the Mount to His disciples. It is more, according to Gerhohus—even the righteousness which is of faith, whereby the righteous lives, and is reconciled to GOD. And abundance of peace. Not of temporal peace, for He hath not come to send it on earth, but a sword. It is the peace of GOD which passeth all understanding, peace between GOD and man, between spirit and flesh, between the Church Triumphant of Angels and the spirits of just men made perfect in the LORD, and the Church Militant in its sojourn amongst mortals. And of this peace the Easter hymn sings:

Triumphat ille splendide, Qui dignus amplitudine Soli polique patriam Unam facit rempublicam. S. Fulbert. The Hymn, Chorus novae Hierusalem. "Rightly is it called abundance of peace," exclaims Gilbert of Hoyland, "which is given without measure. How should it not be abundant which did away the offence, and heaped up the former grace? The first man in Paradise had peace, so that he could not be led away against his will; but he had no strength to will his return. He had grace that he need not go out; he had it not to come back at a wish. But now is peace more plenteous in the grace of CHRIST, which is freely offered after repeated transgressions, and rejects not, but recalls the penitents. Well is it named abundance Serm. in Cantic. 16. of peace, which no wrong-doing can exhaust, which is ever more ready for pardon than for vengeance." And therefore the first greeting He gave His disciples as He returned in triumph and glory from death was, "Peace be unto you;" denoting that, after He had laid the enemies of mankind low, had overcome death and harrowed hell, peace was the wage of His toils, the fruit of His Passion, the trophy of His Cross, the common gain of all. So an unknown poet sings:

Virgam pacis CHRISTOS portat, Qui nos regit et confortat Manu sapientiæ; Qui per virgam creat pacem, Frangens virgam contumacem Per virgam justitiæ. Pax concordat malos bonis, Per quam regnum Salomonis Eleganter floruit; De caminis Babylonis Tres Hebræos cum coronis Liberos eripuit. A. Hom. in loc. So long as the moon endureth. More exactly, as in the margin of A. V., till there be no moon, with which agree the LXX. and Vulgate, till the moon be taken away. The moon is interpreted of the Church, which has no light save from the Sun of Righteousness, and is subject to incessant change and vicissitude here below. When the earthly Church shall vanish in the full light of the reappearing Sun, then GOD shall be all in all. The Roman Psalter, S. Ambrose, Cassiodorus, and others read, till the moon be lifted up. That is, observes S. Augustine, till the Church be exalted, through the glory of the Resurrection, to reign with Him, the Firstborn from the dead, Who went before her in this glory, to sit at the right hand of the FATHER. Then she who is now "fair as the moon" shall be "clear as the sun." S. Chrysostom, somewhat differently, explains it to mean till the preaching of the Church be ended; the Church which is crescent in the good, waning in the bad, but which at last shall be full in the saints, when the number of the predestined is filled up. There remains one very singular interpretation: the moon, as ruling the night, is explained by Procopius of Satan, the prince of the darkness of this world, whose light is cold and deceptive. And he notes that CHRIST suffered on the fourteenth day of the moon, when her brightness begins to wane, and is near to disappearing.

8 His dominion shall be also from the one sea to the other: and from the flood unto the world's end. The literal sense is from the Red Sea to the Mediterranean, from the Euphrates to the Desert, denoting the wide scope of Solomon's rule. It is next taken by all the commentators to denote the spread of CHRIST's kingdom on earth. Then they come to the mystical sense. And first, from one sea to the other is explained of CHRIST's coming forth from the hallowed womb of the Virgin Mary, who is the sea of glass, like unto crystal for purity and clearness, before the throne of GOD, a sea into which all the rivers of grace empty themselves. Thence He comes to all penitent hearts, which are seas of bitter tears. And so Lope de Vega: Ya, JESUS, mi corazon No sabe mas de llorar, Que le ha convertido en mar El mar de vuestra pasion.

This gives us another and finer idea for the first sea than that of Ayguan, while agreeing with him as to the second. Yet a third grouping may be found, by explaining the words of our LORD's double sovereignty over earth and heaven; from the troublesome waves of this world, whereon His disciples are tossed in the ship of the Church, to that haven where in the ocean of Thy love We lose ourselves in heaven above. And from the flood unto the world's end. They take the flood to be the River Jordan, where CHRIST's ministry and preaching of the Gospel began, thence to spread over the whole earth. And it further denotes CHRIST's especial rule over the baptized, whose spiritual life begins with the cleansing flood, and perseveres to the end of the world, because He is with them always till then. A. 9 They that dwell in the wilderness shall kneel before him: his enemies shall lick the dust.

The LXX., Vulgate, and Æthiopic Psalters read, The Ethiopians shall fall down before Him. The Ethiopians, says one, as clothed in coarse leathern garments, denote sinners laden with iniquity. Or, as another suggests, those who are dark and black with sin. Others take it with equal literalness of the Queen of Sheba coming to Solomon, and of the conversion of Queen Candace at the preaching of her eunuch, followed by that of the king and a great part of the nation through the labours of S. Matthew. There is yet another explanation: the Ethiopians are said to be the devils, made subject to CHRIST by His victory on the Cross. His enemies shall lick the dust. S. Clement of Alexandria aptly cites here the curse pronounced upon the serpent which deceived Eve, and warns his readers against imitating the crafty being who, as he grovels, seeks to bruise the heel of the just. Not dissimilar is the explanation that the words G. denote the low and earthly desires and aims of the ungodly. A. S. Augustine will have it to refer to heretics, loving mere human teachers, who are but dust, and not willing to hear the divine wisdom of the Church. It may, however, remarks Ay. Ayguan, be taken in a good sense also, that they who at first resisted CHRIST, shall at last become His true servants; as Isa. lx. 14. it is written, "The sons also of them that afflicted Thee shall come bending before Thee, and all they that despised Thee shall bow themselves down at the soles of Thy feet." Yet again, several take it of the Jews, literally because of the ex-Hugo Card. tremity of the famine in the siege under Titus, when they Lyranus. were forced to devour all manner of filth; and allegorically Z. by reason of their mere earthly wisdom. Euthymius, with a quaint exactness, interprets it of converts kissing the floors of churches, after the Eastern fashion.

10 The kings of Tharsis and of the isles shall give presents: the kings of Arabia and Saba shall bring gifts. A. The words denote the universality of CHRIST's Kingdom. And the first fulfilment of the prophecy must be sought in the adoration of the Magi, whose triple offering of gold, frankincense, and myrrh denotes the Godhead, Kingship, and Manhood of CHRIST. So Adam of S. Victor: The Sequence Virgo, Mater Salvatoris. Tria dona reges ferunt: Stella duce regem quærunt, Per quam semper certi erunt De superno lumine, Auro regem venerantes, Thure Deum designantes, Myrrhâ mortem memorantes, Sacro docti flamine. And as Arabia and Saba denote the far Eastern regions, so Tarshish and the isles point to the West, if we identify Tarshish with the Spanish Tartessus, as the isles most probably refer to the Archipelago. What rich treasures Spain and Saba (if Saba be Africa) shall bring to the feet of their King let Prudentius tell us:

Orbe de magno caput excitata, Obviam CHRISTO properanter ibit Civitas quæque, pretiosa portans Dona canistris. Afra Carthago tua promet ossa, Ore facundo Cypriane doctor: Corduba Acisclum dabit et Zoellum Tresque coronas. Tu tribus gemmis diadema pulchrum Offeres CHRISTO, genetrix piorum Tarraco, intexit cui Fructuosus Sutile vinclum. And with this presentation of sacred relics agrees that remark of S. Augustine, that the kings are said to lead gifts, that is, to bring living victims, following them readily, to be offered to CHRIST. Cassiodorus, followed by many others, finds a mystical sense in the word Tharsis, which he interprets contemplation, and its kings will then be contemplative Saints; while the kings of the isles are those engaged in active life, surrounded by the sea of worldly cares, but rising above it firmly. He carries on the allegory to Arabia and Saba, which, as the lands of spices and perfumes, denote the temptations of the flesh; and their kings are the Saints who subdue them.

11 All kings shall fall down before him: all nations shall do him service. We see not yet this prophecy fulfilled on earth, but in the Apocalyptic vision it has come to pass already in heaven. Kings shall fall down before Him, for it is written, "The four and twenty elders fall down before Him that sat on the throne, and worship Him that liveth for ever and ever, and cast their crowns before the throne." All nations do Him service; for again it is written, "I beheld, and lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands; and cried with a loud voice, saying, Salvation to our God which sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb." But the LXX. and Vulgate read, All kings of the earth. And we may take it literally of the subjection of the Roman Empire to the Faith by the conversion of Constantine, or of the royalty of Christians drawn into the Catholic Church from all nations, and now made kings by ruling over their passions and desires, and serving CHRIST with body, mind, and will.

12 For he shall deliver the poor when he crieth: the needy also, and him that hath no helper. 13 He shall be favourable to the simple and needy: and shall preserve the souls of the poor. The LXX. and Vulgate read, He shall deliver the poor from the mighty one. Thus it tells of Him that spoiled the strong man armed who kept the souls of men as his goods in the palace of this world. And him that hath no helper. For neither angel nor righteous man, neither law nor free-will, could help mankind, but only the Lion of the tribe of Judah. No helper. For man, like him who went down from Jeru- This is S. Jerome's notion. seems to be "stony ground," But the true meaning of from "to be hard." A. salem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, hath fallen from Paradise into the power of Satan, who hath stripped and wounded him, leaving him half dead. Neither Priest nor Levite, no help from the old Law, availed him, till the Great Physician came that way, poured oil and wine into his wounds, and placed him in the Church to recover. And because CHRIST is a skilful Physician, it is said that He is favourable (He spares, Vulg.) the simple and needy, but He does not spare their sins. He makes war on the disease, He cuts away the proud flesh, but He preserves the souls of the poor from their triple danger—slavery to the devil, pollution by sin, liability to punishment. And therefore, as the Master of the Sentences points out, CHRIST's mercy and justice appear in His double gift of grace, in that He spares first, instead of avenging Himself; then preserves the souls of His poor, blotting out past sins, bestowing grace to guard against relapses, remitting the penalty due.

14 He shall deliver their souls from falsehood and wrong: and dear shall their blood be in his sight. A. A. From falsehood, because He saves them from him who is the "father of lies," and from the worship of false gods, turning them "from these vanities unto the living God." From wrong, because He hath "broken the rod of the oppressor." But the LXX. and Vulgate read, He shall redeem their souls from usury and from iniquity. What are these usuries but sins, which are also called debts? They seem to be called usury, because the punishments are more grievous than the sins. For instance: a homicide slays only the body of a man, but can in no wise hurt his soul; while his own soul and body perish together in hell. Again, eternal punishment is called usury, because it so far surpasses any pleasure or advantage which sin can give us here, just as heavy compound interest soon exceeds the principal of a debt. From iniquity is added because God is not content with remitting punishment, but desires that sinners should turn from their wickedness and live, He bestows grace upon them, whereby justified, they may become holy, and not merely escape hell, but be fitted for heaven. But S. Chrysostom reminds us that, while God exacts no usury for our sins, He will, according to the parable of the ten pounds, demand usury for the divine gifts He has bestowed on us. And dear shall their blood be in His sight. It is spoken of His martyrs, whom He delivered from the falsehood of heathenism, from the violent wrong of persecution; and of whom it is said in another Psalm, "Right dear in the sight of the

Apparently because the rived from , which, however, LXX. supposed τόκοι to be demeans "fraud." LORD is the death of His Saints." Wherefore the Paris Ps. cxvi. 13. Breviary: Quem lictor insanus sitit, Quem cæcus effundit furor, Amor sacerdos prodigum Christo cruorem consecrat. Santol. Victorin. The Hymn, Fortes cadendo Martyres. Et ille, mixtus sanguini Quem fudit in ligno Deus, Fundentibus placabilem Orare non cessat Deum. The LXX. and Vulgate, however, for blood read name. So then their name is honourable in His sight, for it is His own. They have left behind them the Pagan names they once bore, derived from Gentile superstition, or from their own defects and misdeeds; and now they are called Christians, the sons of the Eternal FATHER. And therefore GOD foretold His will to the unbelieving Jews, "Ye shall leave your name for a curse unto My chosen; for the LORD GOD shall slay thee, and call His servants by another name, that he who blesseth himself in the earth shall bless himself in the GOD of Truth." There is another reading: His Name shall be honourable in their sight. How honourable, how precious, let the hymn tell us:

A. Nomen dulee, nomen gratum, nomen ineffabile, Dulcis JESUS appellatum, nomen delectabile, Laxat pœnas et reatum, nomen est amabile. The Hymn, Gloriosi Salvatoris. Hoc est nomen adorandum, nomen summæ gloriæ, Nomen semper meditandum in valle miseriæ, Nomen digne venerandum supernorum curiæ. 15 He shall live, and unto him shall be given of the gold of Arabia: prayer shall be made ever unto him, and daily shall he be praised. He shall live. And first let us take it of Him of Whom they said, "Let us lay wait for blood, let us lurk privily for the innocent without cause;" and again, "Let us condemn Him with a shameful death." To Him alone can those words of Eastern reverence be addressed with truth, "O King, live for ever!" for He only can say, "I am He that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death." And next, it is spoken of Him as He lives in His Saints, according to that saying of the Apostle, "I am crucified with CHRIST; nevertheless I live, yet not I, but CHRIST liveth in me." And with this nearly agrees that other interpretation, that He shall live in the hearts of His poor. And unto Him shall be given of the gold of Arabia. Literally we may take it, with Cassiodorus, of the gifts brought by the Eastern wise men; mystically

Prov. i. 11. Rev. i. 18.

A. with S. Augustine, and most of those who follow him, of the intellectual wisdom of the Gentiles laid at the feet of CHRIST, as when Justin and Cyprian, Gregory Thaumaturgus, and Augustine himself devoted their powers to His service. Z. Euthymius explains it of the Arab converts whom he supposes S. Paul to have made during his three years' sojourn in their country. Prayer shall be made ever unto Him. This, though true in fact, is not the meaning of the passage. The A. V. reads, Prayer also shall be made for him continually. The LXX. and Vulgate are nearly the same, concerning Him; the Ambrosian Psalter, as A. V., for Him. It is said, observes Euthymius, of the Prophets, who desired to see His day. It is said of Christians, remarks S. Augustine, who utter daily the petition, "Thy kingdom come." A. They who are of Him, (de ipso, Vulg.,) notes the Carmelite, even members of His Body, ever make their prayer to Him. They pray (de ipso) in His own words, says another, when they recite the Our FATHER. They shall pray (de ipso) in His strength, having none of their own. If it be further asked how we can be said to pray for CHRIST, we may answer with S. Augustine and S. Remigius, that we pray for His Body the Church, that it may be filled up with His elect; or, with a later commentator, that we may fitly, when desiring the spread of His kingdom, cry, with the children in the temple, "Hosanna to the Son of David." And daily shall He be praised. The LXX. and Vulgate read, All the day. Either way it denotes the perpetual worship paid to Him in earth and heaven, all the day of our toil here, before "the night cometh when no man can work;" all the endless day of heaven, which hath no night. All the day. So a poet of our own:

The night becomes as day When from the heart we say, May JESUS CHRIST be praised. In heaven's eternal bliss The loveliest strain is this, May JESUS CHRIST be praised. To GOD the WORD on high The hosts of Angels cry, May JESUS CHRIST be praised. Be this while life is mine My canticle divine, May JESUS CHRIST be praised. Be this the eternal song Through all the ages on, May JESUS CHRIST be praised. 16 There shall be an heap of corn in the earth, high upon the hills: his fruit shall shake like Libanus, and shall be green in the city like grass upon the earth.

There has been much doubt as to the precise meaning of the first clause in this verse. The word here translated heap, occurs nowhere else, and a variety of renderings have been suggested. The A. V. reads handful. The LXX. στήριγμα, the Vulgate, similarly, firmamentum (both omitting the word corn) the Syriac Psalter multitude. Gesenius, somewhat alike, diffusion or abundance, with which Olshausen and Hupfeld agree. Delitzsch explains it a level surface, i.e., either a threshing-floor, or an artificial terrace for cultivation. The Chaldee Targum paraphrases -as substance-making bread. And S. Jerome turns it a memorial of corn. According to the LXX. and Vulgate reading, the words of the Psalmist are but another form of the prophecy of Isaiah and Micah. "It shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the LORD's house shall be established in the tops of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it. CHRIST the LORD is the firmament, or strong foundation of those Prophets and Apostles who are called mountains, and yet He is also lifted up over them. "We read," observes Gerhohus, "that there was made 'a firmament in the midst of the waters,' when as yet 'the earth was without form and void.' We see the heaven adorned with stars, a beauteous and wondrous work, performed by the WORD, not yet Incarnate. But a far more wonderful and awful thing is that the WORD should become Flesh, and be a firmament on the earth, hitherto void and formless.

There shall be a firmament upon the earth, for man did eat angels' food, and this bread which strengthens man's heart shall be a firmament upon the earth, as much fairer than that heavenly firmament as He hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than it. For He Who called that ethereal heaven the firmament because by firm division it parted the waters from the waters, He, setting a firmament on earth, 'hath given Him a Name which is above every name' and hath bestowed on Him power and judgment to divide the waters from the waters: His people from them who are not His people. For the 'waters are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues.'" There shall be a firmament upon the earth, remarks another, because they who rest on Him shall be firm and steadfast in faith and charity, even amongst the cares and troubles of this life. Another, (though unauthoritative) reading in some Latin Psalters, however, frumentum instead of firmamentum, has brought back several of the expositors to the word corn, which is the prominent one in the Hebrew text. And they all take it then of the Holy Eucharist. A cloud of Rabbinical tradition hovers round the passage, and helps to frame it that we may see it

G. Gen. i. 6. in this aspect. Besides the rendering of the Targum given above, the following may be cited. In the Midrash Cohe-leth, a comment on Ecclesiastes, it is said that as Moses caused manna to come down from heaven, so Messiah shall be a cake of corn upon the earth. Rabbi Jonathan in his Targum reads, There shall be a sacrifice of bread upon the earth, on the head of the mountains of the Church. And this is further explained in the Sepher-Kibucim to the effect that in the days of Messiah there shall be a cake of corn lifted in sacrifice over the heads of the priests in the temple. Herein, most naturally, the commentators see the Elevation of the Host, that primeval rite of the Divine Liturgy wherein He Who is the substantiating Bread, the Memorial Sacrifice, the Corn of mighty men, is uplifted in oblation to the FA-THER, Himself the Victim and Himself the Priest. Wherefore Hildebert of Tours:

Sub cruce, sub verbo natura novatur, et aram Panis honorificat carne, cruore calix. Presbyter idcirco, cum verba venitur ad illa, In quibus altari gratia tanta datur, Tollit utrumque, notans quod sit communibus escis Altior, et quiddam majus utrumque gerat. Again, we may find a more literal fulfilment of the prophecy in the events of the Gospel history, wherein He Who is the Bread of Life is seen so often "like a young hart upon the mountains." In the temple on Moriah, in the place of His first preaching, in the scene of many an hour of prayer, in the Transfiguration, the Crucifixion, the Ascension, again and again His feet are beautiful on the mountains. Thrice for us the Word Incarnate high on holy hills was set, Once on Tabor, once on Calvary, and again on Olivet; Once to shine, and once to suffer, and once more, as King of kings, With a merry noise ascending, borne by cherubs on their wings.

If, however, we explain the words of His husbandry, the Church, we shall still not lose our grasp of mystical interpretation. The heap or handful of corn will then denote the Christian body, the "city set on a hill that cannot be hid. High upon the hills, either because raised on the "foundation of the Apostles and Prophets," those mountains of God's house, or because of its own prominence in the world. Again, if we take the interpretation a floor or level spot covered with corn; this may denote one of two things. The corn, even after being parted from tares, has yet to be separated from its own husk and chaff on God's lofty threshing-floor, and the words will thus denote the purifying of His people through afflictions in this world, and through the cleansing of purgatory in the intermediate state. Once more, Delitzsch's interpretation, a terrace planted with corn, gives a very beautiful meaning. Till the Gospel came, only the plains and lower slopes of the life of holiness were cultivated. The higher ground soared rugged and barren far above, showing, indeed, peaks kissed by the first sunbeams, but difficult of ascent, and almost untrodden by man's foot. Terrace after terrace now rises up the mountain side, and earth, borne slowly and laboriously from below, covers the bare rock, until the whole height is sealed, and the golden corn waves on the very summits of the spiritual life, to wit, the practice of those counsels of perfection which were once deemed too hard for men to follow.

His fruit shall shake like Libanus. That is, the waving of the cornfield which the LORD hath blessed, shall be like that of the cedar-forest of Lebanon bending before the wind. And in this prophecy we may see shadowed the height to which the Gospel rises above the Law. For the stateliest forest-king known to the Hebrews is here compared to the single ear of corn, undistinguishable by human eyes from any other in the harvest. So even the humble and hidden Christian Saints of GOD in daily acts of holiness rise higher than the very mightiest seers of the elder dispensation, because the Church is exalted above the Synagogue. And with this agrees the Æthiopic Psalter: His fruit shall be loftier than the cedar. The LXX. and Vulgate read a little differently: His fruit shall be lifted up above Lebanon. Lebanon, observes S. Augustine, we are wont to take as this world's dignity, for Lebanon is a mountain bearing tall trees, and the name itself is interpreted 'whiteness.' What wonder is it then, if the fruit of CHRIST be exalted over every splendid position of this world, since the lovers of that fruit despise all worldly dignities? But if we take the words in a good sense, because of the "cedars of Libanus which He hath planted; what other fruit can be understood, as being exalted over this Libanus, save that whereof the Apostle speaketh when about to speak of charity, "and yet show I unto you a more excellent way?

For this is put in the front place of divine gifts, in that passage where he saith, "But the fruit of the Spirit is love. Again; it may be taken of the effects of the Passion of CHRIST, lifting up His Saints above all the glory and temptations of the world. Or if we continue to take it of the Holy Eucharist, the words denote its pre-eminence over all other means of grace given by GOD to His Church. Euthymius sees here a reference to the idol-worship anciently practised in Lebanon, and the victory of the Gospel over it and all other idolatry. And shall be green in the city like grass upon the earth. The LXX. and Vulgate have: They shall flourish out of the city like grass (or hay Vulg. of the earth. From the Church, GOD's city, notes S. Augustine, and as grass beareth fruit, like wheat, which is called grass in Holy Scripture. There are two cities, adds Gerhohus, of either of which these words may be spoken, Jerusalem

A. A. Gen. i. 11. T and Babylon. If we take it of the former, God's city, then S. Augustine's explanation holds, if of the latter, the city of the world and the devil, it warns us that all flesh is grass, and that all the goodliness of that city is as the flower of the field. So they who seek an abiding city here shall quickly perish in the judgment, for as soon as the sun ariseth, straightway the grass shall be dried up. It is of this world we must understand the words, aptly remarks Cassiodorus, because it is written, out of the city, not in the city, that CHRIST's fruit will flourish. They will rise out of the earthly state in which they are planted into the bright sun and pure air of His presence. And they are compared to grass, because of its freshness and beauty, not with any thought of its brief life, because theirs is immortal. The Carthusian, laying stress also on the words out of the city, draws a very different corollary from them. They are spoken, says he, of those who having approached to the Communion of CHRIST's Body in the Eucharist, return from church strengthened and refreshed, and flourishing in grace. S. Antony of Padua, also referring to the Holy Eucharist, explains the text of the Angels winging their flight down from the heavenly city to gaze on the mysteries of the altar. Lastly; the city is taken to mean, as so often, the earthly Jerusalem, whence the Gospel began, so that the preachers who went forth from it flourished, while those who remained behind perished quickly as the grass of the field.

17 His Name shall endure for ever; his Name shall remain under the sun among the posterities: which shall be blessed through him; and all the heathen shall praise him. A very beautiful meaning of the second clause in this verse is lost as well in the Bible version as in this one, nor does it appear in LXX., Vulgate, or Syriac. For His Name shall remain, we shall read, (having regard to the word ) His Name shall burgeon, shall put forth fresh shoots. And we shall thus find a reference to the perpetual vitality of the Gospel, the way in which it continually renews its youth and vigour when men deem it most effete, and also to the incessant additions of Christian names to the roll-call of God's army, made in the Sacrament of Baptism. The LXX. and Vulgate read, His Name abideth before the sun. Before the sun, because the sun is the measure of time, and the Eternal WORD is before all time. Before the sun, because CHRIST existed before the angels, who are compared to the sun, were created. And there is a Rabbinical saying that there were seven things existing before the world was made, of which one was the Name of Messiah. With this agrees the Targum,

The Keri reading here is . A. Before the sun His Name was prepared. The reading of the margin in the A. V. is: His Name shall be as a son to continue his father's name for ever, which is nearly that of R. Kimchi. Others take it: His Name shall be the Son. Either way it speaks of Him Who came down to reveal His FATHER unto us, Who is that Holy Thing born of the Virgin Mary, and "called the SON of GOD." Among the posterities which shall be blessed through Him. The LXX. and Vulgate, somewhat differently: In Him shall all the tribes of the earth be blessed. It is the renewal of the promise made to Abraham. "In thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed," on which we have the inspired comment of the Apostle, "Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is CHRIST." They explain also all the tribes of the earth of all elect souls, according to their varying merits, because it is written, "In My FATHER's house are many mansions."

S. Luke i. 35. Ye know the many mansions For many a glorious name, And divers retributions, That divers merits claim; For midst the constellations That deck our earthly sky, This star than that is brighter,— And so it is on high. 18 Blessed be the LORD GOD, even the GOD of Israel: which only doeth wondrous things; 19 And blessed be the Name of his Majesty for ever: and all the earth shall be filled with his Majesty. Amen, Amen. The triple utterance of the Divine Name, found in the Hebrew, but not in the LXX. and Vulgate, denotes, remarks S. Jerome, the mystery of the Holy Trinity. Observe, that in the four last verses of this Psalm four reasons are given why worship and praise are due to CHRIST. First, because of His Eternity, for His Name endureth before the sun; secondly, because of His infinite goodness and mercy, for all nations are to be blessed and redeemed through Him; thirdly, by reason of His omnipotence, for He only doeth wondrous things; fourthly, because of His supreme Majesty. Which only doeth wondrous things. For He alone does them by His own might, whether He work of Himself or through agents, which is true of no one else, since none worketh them without Him. And though He saith: "The FATHER that dwelleth in Me, He doeth the works;" yet without Him, Who is the hand, arm, might, and wisdom of the FATHER, the FATHER doeth nought, nor yet the SPIRIT of the FATHER, Who is His SPIRIT Ay. S. John i. 3. Isa. xxvi. 12. D. C. S. John xiv. 12. Tert. in Marc. 9. L.

S. Greg. Naz. Orat. 3. Isa. xi. 9. Cd. S. Bern. Serm. in Isa. 2.

too, because the operation of the Most High Trinity is undivided. Thus He only doeth wondrous things, yet He is not alone, for it is Man, assumed into the WORD, of one essence with the FATHER and the HOLY GHOST, Who worketh in the might and power, or majesty of the whole Trinity. And so it is written, "All things were made by Him; and again, "LORD, Thou also hast wrought all our works in us. And therefore He says of His Saints, "He that believeth on Me, the works that I do shall he do also. For ever. It can be no prophecy for Solomon, observes Tertullian, since he fell into idolatry, and lost that glory he had in GOD beforetime. It can only be of Him Who is the Name of GOD's Majesty, the Eternal SON. And all the earth shall be filled with His Majesty. And that in divers ways, as first by the Incarnation, whereby His Infinite Majesty is united to all human nature, for man is called by the Fathers the "second world. Secondly, by the preaching of the Gospel, for "the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea. Thirdly, by the glory of the Resurrection. So S. Bernard: "All the earth, I say, shall be filled with the Majesty of the LORD, when it shall be clad in the glory of the Resurrection. Why then murmurest thou still, O hapless flesh? why resistest thou still, and strivest against the Spirit?

If He humble thee, if He scourge thee, if He bring thee into bondage, it is for thy sake, doubtless, in thy generation, not less than for His own. Amen. Amen. Rabbi Jehudah the Holy said, "He that said Amen in this world, is worthy to say it in the world to come. David, therefore, utters Amen twice in this Psalm, to show that one Amen belongs to this world, the other to that which is to come. He who saith Amen devoutly, is greater than he who uttereth the prayers, for the prayers are but the letter, and the Amen is the seal. The scribe writeth the letters, the Prince alone seals them. Amen, (Be it so, Vulg. now, particularly, Amen then, universally. Amen now, for we need it as comfort in our journey. Amen then will befit the full joy of our heavenly country. Let us then all say Amen, Amen, with eager longing to behold the King Solomon, not only with that crown of thorns wherewith His mother crowned Him, denoting thereby the Church formed of sinners and set upon CHRIST as a crown, but also with that diadem wherewith His FATHER crowned Him, because of His death and passion, with honour and glory, setting Him on the throne of everlasting brightness. From which throne we pray that He may rule all that is not yet under Him, that the whole earth may be filled with His Majesty.

And therefore: Glory be to the FATHER, the King Eternal, Who giveth His judgment unto the King His SON; glory be to the SON, the true King Solomon, Who maketh peace in all His kingdom; glory be to the HOLY GHOST, Who is the Peace of all them who fight for Solomon, and serve Him here below, and Who will be yet more fully the peace of them that reign with Him in heaven. As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be: world without end. Amen.

Collects.Almighty God, we pray Thee, calling on Thy Name, blessed before all worlds, that, humbling the slanderer, Thou wouldst vouchsafe to bestow peace and righteousness upon Thy people. Through. (1.) O LORD, by the indulgence of Thy bounty, let us receive peace and righteousness, and alway possess them through Thine aid, that our slanderers may be brought low, and we may praise Thy blessed Name for evermore. (1.) O LORD, be favourable unto the poor, and heal the souls of the needy, that we, who trust not in our own strength, and hopefully intreat Thy mercy, may, through poverty of spirit, obtain the fulness of heavenly blessing. (11.) Let the mountains, enlightened with the earliest ray of faith, bring peace unto Thy people, that the righteousness of the hills may come down from the height of the Saints, and small and great together attain the summit of perfect deserving. (11.)

O GOD, SON of GOD, Whose Name abideth for ever, and Who, making Thyself known as only GOD and LORD, camest, through the mystery of the Incarnation Thou tookest on Thee, to be a King, to redeem the world; grant us such warmth in this mystery of love, that we may escape the snare of the deceiver, so that, as we proclaim with loud voice the joys of Thine Advent, we may exult in our salvation when Thou, our Judge, comest to judgment. (11.) O LORD, to Whom the kings and the isles bring gifts, Who with Thine unconquered power, and through Thy heavenly pity, camest to save the poor from the mighty, and frail mankind from the sway of the ancient enemy; seeing that we are far from Thee, and in need of Thy mercies, that we are subject to his unrighteousness, tied and bound with the chains of our sins, let Thy lovingkindness deliver us now from his service, restore us to Thee, and keep us safely to abide with Thee, that we, who confess ourselves redeemed by Thy mercy, may hereafter glory in the gifts attained by Thy bounty. (11.)

TITLE: A Psalm of Asaph. LXX. and Vulgate: The praises of David, son of Jesse, are ended. A Psalm of Asaph.

Argument.ARG. THOMAS. That CHRIST repays evil to the ungodly for their craft. The voice of the Prophet to GOD touching the Jews. The voice of CHRIST to the FATHER touching the Jews. Or, the voice of the Apostles touching the present judgment or the future one, to the FATHER. Compline prayers. For greater works.

VEN. BEDE. Whereas in the former titles David only appears in the inscription; here he has added Son of Jesse, doubtless that we may understand that David who was Solomon's father. Therefore the temporal Praises offered to the LORD under the Law by animal sacrifices and musical instrumentation, are ended and changed; because now the Catholic Church accomplishes her sacred psalmody in the immolation of the Body and Blood of CHRIST. The Synagogue did indeed worship the LORD, but had fallen into most evil thoughts through seeing the ungodly flourish. In its person Asaph himself speaks in this Psalm, who in his name contains the meaning Synagogue; for he is about to speak many things of the Gentile people and of those who have received the Law of the LORD, which are uttered profitably for our correction, lest we be defiled with such thoughts. Otherwise: That The Praises of David, son of Jesse, are ended, belongs to the close of Psalm LXXI. (lxxii.); and Psalm, which follows, is the beginning of the next one. Asaph, as we have said, speaks throughout the Psalm in type of the Synagogue. In the first part he declares that he was jealous of this world's happiness, beholding the peace of sinners, marvelling why such prosperity fell to the lot of GOD'S enemies and heathens, that they seemed to stretch forth their mouth unto the heaven: Truly God is loving unto Israel!

In the second part, he says that his people would return to wholesome counsel, and be ashamed of the wickedness of their former thought, till it should attain to understand and behold the last end of the ungodly: Therefore His people return hither, (A. V. and so on. Thirdly; he witnesseth that evil shall befall the ungodly because of their deceits, because they shall be seen to cause scandals to holy men by their happiness; yet he declares that by GOD'S goodness he hath been delivered from these evils: Truly because of their deceits. (Vulg. Fourthly; he states how, by GOD'S mercy, he attained perfect understanding: Whom have I in heaven but Thee! and there is none upon earth that I desire in comparison of Thee.

SYRIAC PSALTER. Composed by Asaph the recorder, on the death of Absalom. Moreover, a confession of human weakness, and of the prosperity of the ungodly, and the longsuffering of GOD. EUSEBIUS OF CÆSAREA. A prophecy of the kingdom and long-suffering of GOD. A confession of human weakness at the prosperity of the ungodly, and of GOD'S longsuffering. S. ATHANASIUS. A Psalm in narration. collector, from συνυγωνεῖν, to gather together. Ambrosian. Tuesday of Second Week. I. Nocturn.

Antiphons.Gregorian. Thou hast redeemed the rod of Thine inheritance. [Maundy Thursday. They have pondered, and spoken wickedness they have spoken unrighteousness in the high place.] Parisian. In Thy will * Thou hast guided me, O LORD, and hast received me with glory. Ambrosian. As preceding Psalm. Monastic. As preceding. [Maundy Thursday. As Gregorian.] Mozarabic. First verse of the Psalm.

As the patristic and mediæval commentators on this, the first Psalm of the third book of the Psalter, agree in attaching to it the words which properly form the colophon of the preceding Psalm, The prayers of David, the son of Jesse, are ended; it will be more convenient to take them here than in the critical order. And first let us hear S. Augustine: "What means, There have failed the hymns of David, son of Jesse? Hymns are praises of GOD accompanied with singing; hymns are songs containing the praise of GOD. If there be praise, and not of GOD, it is no hymn; if there be praise, and GOD's praise, and it be not sung, it is no hymn. It must needs then, if it be a hymn, have these three things, praise, that of GOD, and singing. What is then, there have failed the hymns? The praises which are sung unto GOD have failed. He seemeth to tell of a painful and, so to speak, deplorable thing. For he that singeth praise, not only praiseth, but also praiseth with gladness; he that singeth praise, not only singeth, but also loveth Him of whom he singeth. In praise, there is the utterance of one giving thanks; in singing, the affection of one loving. He saith then, The hymns of David have failed, and he hath added, the son of Jesse.

For David was King of Israel, son of Jesse, at a certain time of the Old Testament, at which time the New Testament was therein hidden, like fruit in a root. For if thou seek fruit in a root, thou wilt not find it, and yet thou findest no fruit in the branches, save that which hath issued from the root. In like manner CHRIST Himself, yet to be born after the flesh, was hidden in the root, that is, in the seed of the Patriarchs, to be revealed at the set time, as it is written, 'There shall come forth a rod from the stem of Jesse.' In the time of the Old Testament the promises of GOD to that carnal people were earthly and temporal. All that course of temporal promises was a figure and prophecy of things to come. Accordingly, when that kingdom where David, son of Jesse, reigned, was failing, the carnal people were praising GOD only for things which were passing away, and therefore the hymns of David—not the SON of GOD, but the

A. son of Jesse, failed." With this view, which is also that cited in Beda's argument drawn from Cassiodorus, the great body of the commentators agree, and thus we may pass to the Psalm itself. 1 Truly GOD is loving unto Israel : even unto such as are of a clean heart. G. "Israel," observes Gerhohus, following in the track of S. Augustine, "is the man who seeth GOD, or the Prince with GOD, who, having clear and pure eyes, rejoices in gazing on the eternal light of truth, righteousness, wisdom, and goodness, for that light which is torture to diseased eyes, is pleasant to pure and healthy ones. Wherefore he adds, unto such as are of a clean heart, because they, with gladness of the inner man delighting in the law of the LORD, recognize the goodness of GOD even in those things, which the evil, judging all, censure as done unjustly and out of due order." And so it is written, "With the clean thou shalt be clean : and with the froward thou shalt learn frowardness." Not that GOD changes, but that we do, and we see Him as we are.

2 Nevertheless, my feet were almost gone : my treadings had well-nigh slipt. D. C. My feet, that is, my affections, or else my intellect and will, whereby I should attain towards GOD in contemplation and love. My treadings, the acts resulting from my will, and leading me out of the path of righteousness. Well-nigh, because GOD's grace was sufficient for me to rise again when I stumbled, that I might go on my way once more. And so S. John Climacus : The prize, the prize secure ! The athlete nearly fell : Bare all he could endure, And bare not always well : But he may smile at troubles gone, Who sets the victor-garland on ! B. Slipt. The LXX. and Vulgate have poured out. As fluid spilt on the ground from a vessel, notes S. Bruno, which is wasted and comes to nothing, so are our acts without the grace of perseverance.

3 And why ? I was grieved at the wicked : I do also see the ungodly in such prosperity.

Z. I was grieved. The A. V., more truly, I was envious. And so the LXX., ἑξήλωσα, and the Vulgate, zelavi. We may take it, observes Euthymius, of that anger and indignation, which, starting from a good reason, proceeds to attack something unreasonably. It was no true and good zeal, adds Corderius, but rather that which Ezekiel calls the "image of jealousy," whereby the holiest minds are often tempted, but which is pardonable, because it does not prove a man guilty, nor make him so, as neither the will nor the reason assent to it. Wherefore David says only, My feet were almost gone. He adds the cause of his jealousy, the prosperity of the ungodly. The LXX. and Vulgate, more close to the Hebrew, read the peace of sinners. What peace? Earthly peace, changeful peace, peace not of grace, but of doom. They cannot be in peace, for it is written, "There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked. But there is an inward peace, that calmness of mind whereof it is said, "Peace I leave with you. And there is outward peace, security in sin and in worldly vanity, of which it is written. "Their houses are peace from fear. This is that miserable peace of which is said, "I came not to send peace, but a sword. This peace causes manifold troubling within, as Cassiodorus observes, for it is ever contending with conscience, is quarrelling within, and having no exterior foe, wars with itself. And observe, that sinners have three sorts of peace:

the peace of impure association, which is that of carnal sinners; the peace of brotherhood in slander, which is that of worldly accomplices; the peace of slothful impunity; which belongs to negligent bishops. Of the first, Rome was an example, giving itself up to vice and luxury after peace came by the overthrow of Carthage. The second, that of men who plot together for evil to resist the good, of which the alliance of Herod and Pilate was a type. And so we may see that there is closer connection between barren thorns than between fruitful trees, as there is readier union between the bad for gangs and disputes, than amongst the good for good ends. So too Judas made peace with the Jews to betray CHRIST. Thirdly comes slothful peace. This is nothing but negligence in correction. For when a Bishop sees that an offence ought to be punished, yet takes no notice, and does not punish, then his dependents call him peaceable. So too when God sometimes does not punish the wicked, they say that they are at peace with God. And it is of this peace that the Psalmist speaks here. But let them take heed that it is written, "When they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them. Not till the SAVIOUR came was the good war begun, that such an evil peace should be broken.

4 For they are in no peril of death; but are lusty and strong. This rendering is incorrect, and without authority. The A. V. is the true one. There are no bands in their death, i.e., they die easily, and without bodily pain. So it is in the version of Aquila, οὐκ εἰσὶ δυσπάθειαι τῷ θανάτῳ αὐτῶν. Compare that other saying concerning the wicked, "They spend their days in wealth, and in a moment go down to the grave."

D. C. We may take it of many of those who persecuted the Martyrs, of their long lives and quiet deaths amidst all household tendance and alleviation, compared with the fiery passage of their victims. In this wise also some of the commentators explain the Vulgate reading, There is no regard (respectus) to their death. That is, they feel no pain or alarm, they abound in wealth, and can obtain every resource of medicine and other help in their sickness. Or, as others take it, they never think about death, nor prepare for their latter end. There is, however, a yet more terrible interpretation of the words. The mercy of God regards them not as they hasten to death, since it is of such that the saying is, "Let the dead bury their dead. The LXX. reading, ἀνάγνεσις, is very obscure, and probably corrupt. It is diversely explained. Some, as Theodore of Mopsuestia and Hesychius, take it, There is no refusal of death on their part, for they have no idea of its peril to them. And with this agrees a reading declinatio, found in the Roman and Gallican Psalters, and similarly explained by some. The more general view, however, is that of S. Augustine, that there is no avoidance of death for them, They may keep it at bay by all measures, and may drive it from their thoughts, but it is inevitable. The Arabic Psalter reads, There is no rest in their death, (like the reading of S.

Ambrose, reclinatio,) words which have an awful significance when compared with those of our LORD, "The rich man died, and was buried; and in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments. But are lusty and strong. The LXX. and Vulgate here are very unlike this version: There is a strengthening in their scourge (καὶ στερίωμα ἐν μάστινι αὐτῶν, et firmamentum in plagâ eorum. There is a firmament in their scourge, because their scourge is not temporal, but firm for everlasting. Their wounds, observes another, which have gangrened in their peace and prosperity, need to be cut away with vigorous surgery. But there is no firmament in their plague. Their sin is old and deep, but the knife has not gone far enough to reach the depths of the sore. The Carmelite, continuing to explain the words of the false security of the wicked, interprets it, There is no endurance in their plague, their earthly sufferings are short, and easily cured. Or, with the Carthusian, we may take it to mean that the wicked do not become firm and steadfast by accepting God's chastisements as warnings to repentance, a sense in which he has been anticipated by Theodore of Mopsuestia.

5 They come in no misfortune like other folk: neither are they plagued like other men.

This verse also is read differently by the LXX. and Vulgate. They run: In the labours of men they are not, and they shall not be scourged with men. S. Augustine's comment on these words is brief and pregnant: "Doth not the devil himself, for whom an eternal punishment is prepared, escape scourging with men? They are not punished for their correction and profit, they have no share in the toils and labours of the righteous, they have no part in the lot of Lazarus and Paul. Toils of their own they have, doubtless, seeking this world's riches, seizing them when found, guarding them carefully when seized. In toils such as these the righteous have no share, for they love not passing things, and therefore labour not in such heavy cares. So too the evil are not in the labours of the righteous, for they care not for celestial things, and do not subdue the flesh for the sake of such things. They keep no vigils, they offer no pure devotions, they regard not fitting discipline, they reject fasts, they do not remember that "whom the LORD loveth He chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom He receiveth. And that too, remembering that man is born to labour, and does not answer the end of his being if he shun it. Labour he must, and suffer too, but if he shrink from that which is appointed, heavier toils await him. "I hold," adds S. Bernard in another place, "that the words apply best to the clergy of our time.

Every class of men has some labour and some pleasure. But note the cleverness of these, and marvel how with modern ingenuity they make a division, taking everything that is pleasant, shunning and refusing all that is troublesome. Like knights, they keep up great households, costly furniture, caparisons, hawks, dice, and the like, and borrow from women all their show and effeminacy. But they take excellent care to avoid the heavy corslet, the sleepless nights in camp, the doubtful issues of battle. They have none of woman's modesty, discipline, and whatever else of toil belongs to that sex. Husbandmen sweat, and vine-dressers prune and dig; the clergy are sunk in sloth all the time. When the time of fruit comes round, they require new barns and have their cellars filled. Would that it were not more than the toilers have, or that it were shared with them. And he goes on to draw a similar contrast with merchants and others who labour to get their living. All men, he concludes, will reject such drones, who will have all the profit and none of the trouble. They are not in the labour of men. Whither can they go, save to the place of unending dread?

6 And this is the cause that they are so holden with pride : and overwhelmed with cruelty. More literally, pride is their collar, violence covers them as a garment. They are like a bull intended for sacrifice, notes S. Augustine, untamed, undisciplined, allowed to feed and wanton at their pleasure, only because slaughter awaits them. They are not merely proud, adds Gerhohus, sinful as that is, but they are the captive slaves of pride. They are not merely guilty of iniquity, but are so covered with it as a cloak of A. double folds, that they can neither see nor be seen. Their eyes are not opened, like those of our first parents, to see their nakedness, and to be ashamed, their prosperity hides their inner misery from the eyes of others. That garment of iniquity is bad itself, and comes from a bad loom, remarks S. Albert: It gives no real covering nor warmth, as it is written, "They weave the spider's web, their webs shall not become garments, neither shall they cover themselves with their works." It is doomed to destruction, for "He will destroy in this mountain the face of the covering cast over all people." It is no easy thing to get rid of it, adds Gilbert of Hoyland, for the habit of sin becomes a very skin, so that to remove it is not to strip, but to flay. And another aptly compares it to the tunica molesta, the garment smeared with pitch in which Nero caused his victims to be clad, because, like it, the flames are its destiny.

7 Their eyes swell with fatness: and they do even what they lust. Abundance of temporal prosperity has, as it were, closed up their eyes and darkened their understanding, so that they can no longer see God's will, but hurry after their own enjoyment. Lorinus aptly cites the heathen poet: Nam corpus onustum Hesternis vitiis animum quoque prægravat ipsum, Atque affigit humo divinæ particulam auræ. The Vulgate reads: Their iniquity hath come forth as though from fat. That is, inexcusably, because without the pressure of need. A beggar steals, but his hunger palliates his sin, but when a rich man plunders the goods of others, there is no excuse for him. The good deeds of the self-indulgent grow slowly and scantily out of a barren soil; the crop of their vices grows fast and rank from the rich ground, with no help from spades or harrows, and destined to be fatal to the owner. They have passed over unto the desire of their heart. Away from God's will to their own, as one Father observes. They have gone from the true faith to idolatry or to avarice, as another remarks. They have passed the limits of our common humanity, more pointedly says a third: and count themselves as of different clay from ordinary mortals. They have gone from sin to sin, from one vice unto another, till they fulfil all their desires, is the explanation of a fourth.

8 They corrupt other, and speak of wicked blasphemy: their talking is against the most High. The words at once suggest the Chief Priests, bribing Judas with the thirty pieces of silver, giving money to the guard at the sepulchre, and saying of Him Whose throne is for ever and ever, "He hath a devil and is mad." But this is not the true meaning of the passage, nor yet the Vulgate reading. The A. V. is closer to the original, but not exact. The translation ought to run: They scoff, they speak proudly of oppression, they talk from a high place. And the Jewish commentators cite the examples of Pharaoh, Sennacherib, and Nebuchadnezzar as instances in point. The Christian may add those of Diocletian and Maximian, when they erected the pillar to commemorate the annihilation of the Nazarene creed. But the Vulgate reads: They have meditated and spoken wickedness, they have spoken unrighteousness in the lofty place, (or with the LXX. to the height.) The words, as Gerhohus observes, rise to a climax. It was sin enough to have admitted the evil thoughts, it was yet worse to give them utterance, and the guilt is completed by the publicity and boastfulness of speech. "They declare their sin as Sodom, they hide it not."

9 For they stretch forth their mouth unto the heaven : and their tongue goeth through the world. "The sheep," quaintly comments an unknown writer, "bleats with its head downwards, but the wolf lifts his head in the air, turning it to the sky, and so howls. Thus he who according to God's will utters the voice of lowliness and confession, is a sheep, while he who howls against the truth of God with shameful blasphemy, is a wolf." The Yorkshire hermit puts it tersely: "They think and speak, in their pride and deceit, high things of themselves, as though with the authority of heaven, and yet all their thoughts and language aim only at wandering after the acquisition and enjoyment of earthly gain." Cardinal Hugo boldly applies the words in a good sense to the priesthood: They stretch forth their mouth unto the heaven, in prayer to God; their tongue goeth through the world, in preaching to sinners. Another, returning to the sterner interpretation, explains it, that the wicked spare neither God nor man in their reviling. And, finally, Euthymius quaintly takes it of astrologers uttering foolish predictions.

10 Therefore fall the people unto them : and thereout suck they no small advantage.

The words, so read, tell of the temporal success of the ungodly, drawing away the multitude for their own private interest, not for any general good, as Absalom first "stole the hearts of the men of Israel," and then made himself king: and as, in a later day, Jesus who is called Barabbas, after he had made insurrection, was delivered from death by the voices of the people instead of Jesus Who is called CHRIST. But the reading is incorrect, and varies widely from Hebrew, LXX., Vulgate, and A. V. The rendering of the last is, Therefore His people return hither, and waters of A. Gal. iv. 4. G. S. Alb. Mag. Ay. S. Ambrose. G. Gen. xxv. 8; xxxv. 29; 1 Chron. xxiii. 1; Job xiii. 17; S. Luke i. 57; II. 6. Ps. iv. 25. Isa. xxxviii. 10, Vulg. Cd. Wisd. iv. 8, 13. L. Campensis. Genebrardus. Pineda. a full cup are wrung out to them; a version practically accepted, with minute variations, by later critics. The LXX. and Vulgate have, Therefore my people shall return [be converted, Vulg. hither, and full days shall be found amongst them. That is, "when the fulness of the time was come, GOD sent forth His SON," to teach men to despise temporal things, to be the Way, to recall us to inward thought, to convert us to Himself. Hither, because it is in this life our conversion must take place, where our FATHER chasteneth us as sons;

whereas they who continue in sin shall not be scourged with men, but shall go thither where the evil spirits dwell. Or, hither, to the same estimate as mine of the prosperity of the wicked, learning to count it vain and unprofitable. They will do more than ponder on the instability of worldly gain, for they will turn to meditating on the sweetness of adversity to the Saints, as being the path which has led them through temptations to the love of GOD. Full days. Truly is it said full, for the life of Saints hath fulness, but the days of the evil are empty. And in Holy Writ fulness of days is always taken in a good sense, as in speaking of the death of holy men, and of the births of the Fore-runner and of Him of Whom he prophesied. On the other hand, empty or half days are of evil import, as it is written, "The bloodthirsty and deceitful men shall not live out half their days; and again, "In the half of my days I shall go to the gates of hell. Thus, as we call that a "long day" in which we have accomplished, by steady labour, the work of two or three days, so length or fulness of true life is not to be computed by years and days, but by good works done for the love of GOD; whereas a life of many years spent in sin and idleness is short and empty, and leads to the gates of hell.

Wherefore the Wise Man says, "For honourable age is not that which standeth in length of time, nor that is measured by number of years. But wisdom is the grey hair unto men, and an unspotted life is old age. . . . He, being made perfect in a short time, fulfilled a long time. The later commentators, however, take the whole passage in a bad sense, and interpret it of the falling away of GOD's people to the sinners, and partaking of their abundance. The waters of a full cup wrung out are diversely explained. One takes it of the cup of bitterness which the prosperity of the wicked is to the just. Another, yet more strongly, sees here the tears which are thus forced from righteous eyes. A third finds a reference to high living and copious drinking. And we may, perhaps, taking this last view, dwell on the word wrung, as denoting the suffering of the many poor from which the luxury of the few rich is derived. The cup of the wealthy noble may have been filled by rackrenting his tenants, that of the yet richer trader by overworking or underpaying his operatives; the costly dress of the delicate lady may be paid for with the life of the seamstress.

Half ignorant, they turned an easy wheel, That set sharp racks at work, to pinch and peel. 11 Tush, say they, how should GOD perceive it: is there knowledge in the most High? The commentators agree in taking these words as uttered by GOD's people in their perplexity at the prosperity of the wicked, not by the wicked as the reason of their evil deeds. So in that most pathetic "Cry of the Children" we read: "'Our FATHER!' If He heard us, He would surely (For they call Him good and mild) Answer, smiling down the steep world very purely, 'Come and rest with Me, My child.' 'But no!' say the children, weeping faster, 'He is speechless as a stone; And they tell us, of His image is the master Who commands us to work on. Go to!' say the children; 'up in heaven, Dark, wheel-like, turning clouds are all we find. Do not mock us; grief has made us unbelieving— We look up for GOD, but tears have made us blind.' Do you hear the children weeping and disproving, O my brothers, what ye preach? For GOD's possible is taught by His world's loving— And the children doubt of each."

12 Lo, these are the ungodly, these prosper in the world, and these have riches in possession: and I said, Then have I cleansed my heart in vain, and washed my hands in innocency. 13 All the day long have I been punished: and chastened every morning.

The enigma is well explained by S. Gregory the Great, commenting on the very similar language of Job: "How much such things are to be contemned, the righteous man considers, which Almighty GOD bestows, even on the froward. For if they were of primary importance, the Creator would by no means give them to His enemies; whence the righteous thinks it unworthy of him to crave after those advantages which he sees abounding for the evil, but turns his mind to the acquisition of heavenly things, which cannot be common to him and to the reprobate. But he who has not yet learnt this truth argues at first as the Psalmist, complaining that he not only suffers passively by missing the wealth which others win, but actively, by enduring direct persecution. It was the argument applied again and again to the confessors in Pagan days, never with such fatal effect as in the persecution of Decius. Cleansed my heart, by G. keeping it free from evil thoughts, or by confessing my sins. R. The Vulgate reading is justified my heart, whence Lorinus L. takes occasion to point out men's co-operation with GOD in Beda. the work of their own salvation. Washed my hands. As B. the heart refers to thoughts, so the hands imply actions, which need to be kept pure also. They note, however, that the words lay no claim to perfect sinlessness. They represent the steady desire, not the complete innocence of the S. Ambrose. Psalmist, observes S. Ambrose. And another points out Hugo Card.

that they denote no more than freedom from grosser sins. Lesser sins of desire or act, resembling the soiling of the S. Greg. feet, are not denied. All the day long. In this world, because the righteous is shaken by adversity throughout all his Mag. Mor. life, or at least a great part of it. Every morning. The iv. 6. punishment has come early and swiftly. For when the elect Ay. fall into sin, GOD delays not their chastisement, but in His 2 Macc. vi. great mercy inflicts it soon. And so it is written: "It is a 13.. token of His great goodness, when wicked doers are not suffered any long time, but forthwith punished. And observe, that chastisement sometimes precedes sin, because 2 Cor. xii. 7. GOD sometimes sends scourges, that sin may be shunned. So the Apostle said: "Lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations, there was given me a thorn in the flesh. Sometimes it accompanies Ps. lxxviii. sin: "While the meat was yet in their mouths, the heavy

31. wrath of GOD came upon them." Sometimes it follows on the sin, as was the case when the Jewish people was led into captivity. 14 Yea, and I had almost said even as they: but lo, then I should have condemned the generation of thy children. G. More exactly, with A. V. and Vulgate, If I say, I will S. Albertus speak thus: that is, that GOD does not know, that there is Magnus. not knowledge in the Most High; and hold with the wicked, that "it is vain to serve GOD: and what profit is it that we have kept His ordinance?" then I slander all the Saints of Mal. iii. 14. old, the Patriarchs and Prophets who have passed through Ay. tribulation for the love of GOD, by denying the truth of their teaching, the wisdom of their acts. 15 Then thought I to understand this: but it was too hard for me,

16 Until I went into the sanctuary of GOD: then understood I the end of these men. C. It is the first step in knowledge, when we begin to think that we know less than we supposed. At first Asaph persuaded himself that GOD took no care of human affairs; now he begins to doubt this hasty conclusion, and applies himself to the task of inquiry,—a most difficult one for the toiler, to learn contempt of riches, to praise the wise providence of God. And so is added, This labour is before me. Yes, before me, standing like a wall in my way; but "with the help of my God I shall leap over the wall." And though it be labour before me, yet it is no labour in God's sight. So, then, as He only opens, and none can shut, shuts, and none can open, that Sanctuary where all that now is dark shall be clearly seen, I add, Until I go into the sanctuary of God. That is, as Hugh of S. Cher tells us, until I, Adam's descendant, turn from that unprofitable knowledge of good and evil acquired by sin, to meditate on the Passion of Jesus, to know nothing save Him crucified. In Him are hidden all the treasures of the wisdom and knowledge of God, and we may enter into that Sanctuary by being incorporated amongst His members, being quickened and illuminated by His Spirit, may enter, in conforming to His sufferings, into His wounded Side, and there learn all we need to know. Well may we cry with the old poet—

A. O pleasant spot! O place of rest! Come harbour me, a weary guest, That in the world no ease have found! Or, in a sense lower than this, and than this only, we may take it of entrance into the hidden places of Holy Writ by pious contemplation. The Greek Fathers mostly interpret it in the far inferior sense of the return of the Jews to the Holy City from the Captivity, and would teach thereby that it was not in vain that they had at last turned from idolatry. S. Athanasius, however, explains it of the Day of Judgment, when the secrets of all hearts shall be revealed, and every man shall be rewarded according to his works. And some of the later commentators will have it that the Church is intended, whose children learn a wisdom superior to that of this world. However we may take it, the words of the most Scriptural of commentators will profit us. The first step into this sanctuary is lowly confession of sin: "O go your way into His gates with confession." Then we advance further by baptismal purity: "I went on in my innocence." We come up to the sanctuary itself in communion: "I will go unto the Altar of God." Then into His very presence by contemplation, even while here: "Come before His Presence with a song." And at last, when the glory is won, we go into the very innermost shrine: "Enter thou into the joy of thy Lord." And again: "They that were ready went in with Him to the marriage." The end of these men. Their last things, says a variant of the LXX., as does the Vulgate. And we know what the last things are for all men—death, judgment, heaven, hell.

17 Namely, how thou dost set them in slippery places, and castest them down, and destroyest them.

Dionysius à Rykel, commenting on the similar language in Jeremiah, "Thy friends have set thee on, and have prevailed against thee: thy feet are sunk in the mire, [slippery places, Vulg.,] and they are turned away back," expounds it thus: "They have led thee on to ruin and tottering. And it may be explained morally of all those who, made ductile by the flattery, promises, or instigation of others, oppose themselves to righteousness, fall and perish, because they plunge into the mire of the vilest iniquity, and set their affections in a slippery place, that is, in shifting and earthly things, not in the supreme and unchangeable good. But the Vulgate reads, Truly, because of deceits Thou hast set for them, to which the Complutensian LXX. adds evils, to fill up the sense; while S. Augustine repeats the word deceits. Because they are crafty and deceitful, and thereby harm their neighbours, not only does eternal death await them, but Thou hast set for them the gnawings of conscience, to afflict them even in this life. Thou hast set for them a speedy end, observes another, a bound which they cannot pass; a death sudden to man's eyes, but coming only when their iniquities are full. And castest them down, and destroyest them. The Vulgate reading is, Thou didst cast them down when they were being lifted up. Not because they were lifted up, nor after they were lifted up, but in the very act itself, since such exaltation is itself a fall.

They are as a wheel whose revolutions bring one part down just as the other rises; and as their temporal prosperity is lifted up, so their hopes for the world to come sink into the pit of desolation. And that because of their pride, as it is written, "Though thou exalt thyself as the eagle, and though thou set thy nest amongst the stars, thence will I bring thee down, saith the LORD. And so He dealt with Nebuchadnezzar, driving him from the intercourse of men; with Holofernes, slaying him by the hand of a woman; with Antiochus Epiphanes, hurling him from his chariot, to die of a loathsome disease; with Herod, giving him to be food for worms.

A. Obad. i. 18 O how suddenly do they consume: perish, and come to a fearful end! 19 Yea, even like as a dream when one awaketh: so shalt thou make their image to vanish out of the city. G. Lam. i. 1. Consume. The LXX. and Vulgate have, Are made a desolation, (ἐρήμωσυ.) And the words are spoken in wonder, not as a question. So the Prophet speaks, "How doth the city sit solitary, that was full of people!" They are desolate, stripped by death of all that pomp and service which once awaited them. "Where," cries the Eastern Church in her Burial Office, "where are the world's affections, where the vain dreams of passing delights, where gold and silver, where the crowd and noise of attendants? All are dust, all ashes, all but a shadow that fleeteth away." Come to a fearful end. Not that which causes fear in others, but rather, as the A. V. runs, they are utterly consumed with terrors. For "it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God." And so S. Peter Damiani, in his awful hymn, the Dies Irae of individual life, cries out—

O what terror in thy forethought, Ending scene of mortal life! Heart is sickened, reins are loosened, Thrills each nerve with terror rife, When the anxious heart depicteth All the anguish of the strife! The Hymn Gravi me terrors pulsus.

The LXX. and Vulgate, less strikingly, read, They have perished, by reason of their iniquity. And yet even these few words are so terrible, that we may well leave them, as S. Augustine does, to be their own comment. "Except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish. Like as a dream when one awaketh. That is, as they diversely take it, either the wicked themselves shall vanish as completely as a dream, or all their prosperity shall disappear, as do the night visions of a beggar who fancies himself a king. And note, that there is another arousing from sleep, far unlike to this, of which it is said, "When I awake up after Thy likeness, I shall be satisfied with it. So shall Thou make their image to vanish out of the city. They who brought to nothing the image of God in their earthly city, shall have their image brought to nothing in His city. And it is true whether we take it of them who slew Him, Who is the Image of God, once in Sion, or of those evil Christians who, in the spiritual Sion, "crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put Him to an open shame. They take this image of theirs to be temporal glory, which, as well as earthly enjoyment of all kinds, cannot pass beyond this world. Then they who have degraded their human nature, and turned God's image into that of a lion, by yielding to anger; into that of a swine, by coarse indulgence;

into that of an ass, by sloth and obstinacy; shall vanish out of the City; for it is written, "There shall in no wise enter into it anything that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie; but they which are written in the Lamb's Book of Life. And for these happy ones the words hold good likewise, though in a blessed sense; for, leaving their old sins, and walking in newness of life, they shall become conformed to the Image of God, because, being made like unto CHRIST, they are the adopted children of the FATHER. "For whom He did foreknow, He also did predestinate to be conformed to the image

A. of His Son, that He might be the first-born among many brethren." And as metal, melted in the fire, loses its former shape, and is interpenetrated with the fire itself, so we, delivered from our pilgrimage here, and brought to Jerusalem which is free, shall be filled with the heat and glow of that Divine Love, which is a consuming fire, burning up all our rust and dross, and leaving only pure gold, perfected by the Son, Who is the fire, splendour, and glory of the FATHER, with Whom He is Consubstantial. And therefore he who loved Him best says, "Now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be; but we know that, when He shall appear, we shall be like Him; for we shall see Him as He is." Hildeb. Ven. The Hymn, Extra portum. Non est ibi corruptela, Non defectus, non querela; Non minuti, non deformes, Omnes CHRISTO sunt conformes.

The Bible Version, however, with most modern critics, instead of out of the city, translates when Thou awakest, (sc. to judgment,) reading instead of . 20 Thus my heart was grieved : and it went even through my reins. The LXX. and Vulgate differ here from the English Version, and from one another. The former usually reads, My heart was delighted, which also appears in the Roman Psalter, and is adopted by SS. Ambrose and Augustine. The common Vulgate rendering, and that of some Greek texts, however, is was inflamed, and they agree in rendering the last clause, My reins were changed. When I delighted in God, explains the Doctor of Grace, my lusts were changed, and I became wholly chaste. Those who read inflamed, take it in various ways. With spiritual joy, says one. With the love of God, others maintain. With heavenly wisdom, observes S. Bruno. With holy zeal for righteousness, as his spiritual descendant and others take it. However we may explain the words, the cry of S. Augustine will suit all. "What fire is this that so warmeth my heart? What light is this that so enlighteneth my soul? O Fire, that always burnest, and never goest out, kindle me! O Light, which ever shinest and art never darkened, illumine me! O that I had my heat from thee, most holy Fire! How sweetly dost thou burn! how secretly dost thou shine! how desirably dost thou inflame me!" And as the disciple can only follow afar off in the Master's steps, S. Jerome wisely tells us to find here the longing of CHRIST to do His FATHER's will. There are not wanting some who tell us to take the words of the ungodly, rather than of Saints, and to understand the inflaming of envy and

A. S. Ambrose. Arnobius. Ay. B. G. D. C. S. August. Solil. 34. jealousy through a desire of worldly prosperity, and then the reins are changed from steadfastness to vacillation. 21 So foolish was I, and ignorant : even as it were a beast before thee. The Vulgate reads, in the first clause, And I was brought to nothing, and knew not. Brought to nothing, so long as I was envious; because, while I have not charity, which envieth not, I am nothing : ignorant, because I knew not my sin. Brought to nothing, as being tried by adversity, to bring me to the love of GOD, till I knew not; till I confessed my ignorance, and counted myself as nought. Brought to nothing, by having the old man wholly stripped off, that I might no longer glory in earthly things, and be ignorant of my wants and guiltiness. As a beast before Thee. The quasi Jerome, continuing to explain the whole passage of CHRIST, Who made Himself nothing for us, and submitted, though the Eternal Wisdom, to take on Him human imperfection, reminds us that He bore the load of our sins, as though He were a beast of burden. And there are some who take the words accordingly in a good sense, of all who are ready to bear whatever GOD lays on them, obediently and without complaint, moving in the harness of His precepts, and advancing steadily on the road at His signal. Others, however, interpret them of the sinner continuing in his animal desires, and letting evil passions ride upon him at their pleasure, so that he is counted in GOD's sight "like to horse and mule, which have no understanding."

22 Nevertheless, I am alway by thee : for thou hast holden me by my right hand. If we continue, with the quasi Jerome, to take the words of our dear LORD, we shall understand them of His continued Presence in heaven in the midst of His pilgrimage on earth, His throne at the Right Hand of the FATHER, even while He was hanging on the Cross of Calvary; of His being upheld in His descent into hell, His Resurrection, and Ascension. Cassiodorus takes it of the human nature of CHRIST, supported and uplifted by His Godhead. S. Athanasius sees here the doctrine of His Consubstantial nature; and Arnobius, still taking it of CHRIST, tells us how He took dead mankind by the right hand, as He did Jairus' daughter, and lifted it up to glory. Gerhohus, most singularly, explains it that the right hand is CHRIST's Godhead, the left hand His Manhood, and that the FATHER held the right hand bound by the duty of filial obedience, that it might not put forth its power to defend the left in all its bitter troubles. The Carmelite, adopting the common mystical explanation of the right hand, explains the passage of GOD's delaying the re-

G. 1 Cor. xlii. 2, 4. Ay. Ric. Hamp. Pseudo-Hieron. Lu. Ay. S. Greg. Mag. Mor. x. 15. C. Hesychius. S. Albertus Magnus. Ps. xxxii. 10. ward of good works, prosperity, in this life; so that, instead of bidding His Saints stretch forth their right hands to receive the prize, He holds back these hands for the present, and leads us by them instead of filling them. Wherefore it follows: 23 Thou shalt guide me with thy counsel: and after that receive me with glory. As the Angel of GOD's Presence was sent before Israel, to keep it in the way, and to bring it into the place which He had prepared, so now the Spirit of Counsel, dwelling in the Church, leads the pilgrims of JESUS on to the Land of Promise. Consolator piorum, inspirator bonorum, consiliator mœstorum, Purificator errorum, eruditor ignotorum, declarator perplexorum, Debilem erigens, devium colligens, errantem corrigens, Sustines labantem, promoves conantem, perficis amantem; Perfectum educis de lacu fœcis et miseriæ, Deducis per semitam pacis et lætitiae, Inducis sub nube in aulam sapientiae.

Dirigens rectum, formans affectum, firmans provectum, Et ad portas Paradisi coronans dilectum. G. The Vulgate reading is, Thou hast led me in Thy will. Me, Who am ever with Thee, Consubstantial, Co-eternal, Thou hast led down from heaven into the Virgin's womb, from the womb into the world, from the world into hell, from hell back into the world, and from the world hast received Me with glory into heaven, there to reign with Thee henceforth in My glorified Manhood, as I reigned with Thee from all eternity in the everlasting glory of My Godhead. It is true of the servants too, as well as of the Master. "What is in Thy will? Not in my merits. Hear the Apostle, who was at first a beast longing for earthly things, and living according to the Old Testament: 'I was before a blasphemer, and a persecutor, and injurious; but I obtained mercy.' What means, in Thy will? 'By the grace of GOD, I am what I am.' And hast received Me with glory. To what glory He was received, and in what glory, what man can explain, or who can say? Let us wait for it, since it will appear in the Resurrection." "Thanks be to Thee, O LORD," exclaims Gerhohus, "Who, bridling me with curb and rein, hast made me, from being a dull and untamed beast, so docile, that I am ever before Thee; since Thou hast held my right hand, even my good works, which belong to the right, as evil ones do to the sinister hand. Thou heldest me by my right hand, lest I should sink altogether, as I began to do when walking to Thee upon the sea, where my footing would have been perilous, hadst Thou not held my right hand, and led me to

A. 1 Tim. i. 13. 1 Cor. xv. 10. a haven of safety, and from the haven to that firm shore, where peril is never henceforth to be feared. This I foretell by the Spirit of truth. Thou shalt guide me with Thy counsel, and after that receive me with glory. The counsel of God is a desirable bower for those fleeing from this vast and open sea. Virginity, voluntary poverty, and holy obedience in all things and through all things, which our fathers practised, and other like rules of the higher life, are the haven for those who fly from the billowy storms of the world, and early reach the shore of eternal steadfastness, where is glory everlasting." And note, observes the Carmelite, that God receives the righteous in more ways than one. He receives them, preserving their innocence by His grace: "As for me, Thou upholdest [hast received, Vulg.] me in mine integrity, and settest me before Thy face for ever." He receives penitents by restorative grace: "Return again unto Me, saith the LORD, [and I will receive thee," Vulg.] He receives to crowning glory those who bear tribulation; as it is written, "LORD JESUS, receive my spirit."

Ps. xli. 12, A. V. 24 Whom have I in heaven but thee: and there is none upon earth that I desire in comparison of thee. "In having nothing," says a Saint of old, "I have all things, because I have CHRIST. Having, therefore, all things in Him, I seek no other prize, for He is the universal prize Himself." So, too, our own poet, treading in the steps of S. Augustine: S. Chrysost. Hom. v. in Rom. Serm. in S. Joan. xix. CHRIST is a path, if any be misled; He is a robe, if any naked be; If any chance to hunger, He is Bread; If any be a bondman, He is free; If any be but weak, how strong is He! To dead men life He is, to sick men, health; To blind men, sight; and to the needy, wealth; A pleasure without loss; a treasure without stealth.

None else in heaven; for "He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens, that He might fill all things." None upon earth to be desired in comparison; for He is "fairer than the children of men," "the chiefest among ten thousand." Well then does S. Anselm exclaim, "O how good and sweet art Thou, LORD JESU, to the soul which seeks Thee! JESU, Redeemer of the captives, SAVIOUR of the lost, Hope of the exiles, Strength of the toiling, Ease of the unquiet spirit, sweet Consolation and pleasant Coolness of the tearful soul running after Thee in sweat, Crown of the victors, sole Reward and Gladness of the heavenly citizens, most abundant Fountain of all grace, glorious offspring of GOD most High, Thyself most High GOD, let all things which are in heaven above, and in the earth beneath, bless Thee; for Thou art great, and holy is Thy Name."

Far lower than this, the true meaning of the Hebrew, is the Vulgate: What have I in heaven, or what have I desired of Thee on earth? And they take it, for the most part, of the contrast between the glory which awaits the victor, and the poor earthly things which are all the sinner has yet asked God to grant. What? That is, how great, how priceless is that reward prepared for me in heaven, if I love God, for He will give Himself to them that love Him. This, O God, Thou hast prepared for them that love Thee, and I, in my folly, have desired somewhat else instead of Thee. A miserable barter! mire for gold, earth for heaven, a short-lived creature for the Creator Himself! What have I in heaven? That great What cannot be set down in words: it may be gained, it cannot be priced.

25 My flesh and my heart faileth: but God is the strength of my heart, and my portion for ever. My flesh faileth, because chastened with penance, to weaken it from doing evil. My heart faileth to pursue its former vain and idle thoughts. Others, remembering that it is written, "Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love Him," interpret the words of the overpowering might of the thought of heavenly glory. So the Cluniac: Urbs Sion aurea, Patria lactea, cive decora, Omne cor obruis, omnibus obstruis et cor et ora. Nescio, nescio, quæ jubilatio, lux tibi qualis, Quam socialia gaudia, gloria quam specialis. Laude studens ea tollere, mens mea victa fatiscit, O bona gloria, vincor; in omnia laus tua vicit. But God is the strength of my heart, and my portion for ever. "Thee, not Thine," as two great Saints have said. The Carmelite here gives a quaint illustration, borrowed from the sport of falconry, at its height in his day. We see, he observes, when a bird of race takes flight from its master's hand, and seizes the enemy, it expects to get the heart as its prey. So CHRIST, that noble Bird, Who flew from the FATHER'S hand into the Virgin's womb, to the world, to the Cross, and who seized mankind as His prey out of hell, demands man's heart as His share. Wherefore the Psalm taketh thought for this, and saith, "Pour out your hearts before Him." And He speaks Himself to each of us: "My son, give Me thine heart." "Thou art the God of my heart," cries S. Albert, heaping up all loving epithets, "Who art Salvation, Praise, Glory, Brightness, Prince, Light, Joy,

Ps. lxii. 8. Prov. xxiii. 26. . Albert us Sagnus. Prize, Bridegroom, Rejoicing, Truth, Love, Sweetness, Reward, and Life." If He is to have our hearts, we too ask to be close to His. So the Bride: "Set me as a seal upon Thine heart;" and we, like her, may say, Cor meum tibi dedo, JESU dulcissime! En cor pro corde cedo, JESU suavissime! Tu sola corda expetis, Tu sola corda diligis, Ah amem te, ut amas me, JESU suavissime! S. Augustine aptly points out that whereas both flesh and heart are said in one clause of the verse to fail, yet in the second member GOD is said to be the GOD of our heart alone, and that because the heart, when purified, cleanses all the body. And if my heart be like His, seeing that GOD holds all His blessedness without need of heaven or earth, so I can enjoy mine without any earthly thing, or heavenly thing. He, because He eternally holds His felicity entirely in Himself; I, because I shall eternally hold all mine in Him, for God is my portion for ever.

Vieyra, Serm. on David's Sling. 26 For lo, they that forsake thee shall perish: thou hast destroyed all them that commit fornication against thee. Observe, with Hugh of S. Cher, it is not said "those whom GOD forsakes," but they that forsake Him. S. Chrysostom compares sinners who rebel against GOD's chastisements to froward children who run away from the school where their parents have placed them, to avoid tasks or stripes, and who thus expose themselves to worse perils amongst strangers—hunger, sickness, and hard service. It is sin that puts us away, as it is written, "Your iniquities have separated between you and your GOD;" and again, "The LORD is far from the wicked." Not because of His will, but of theirs; for "they say unto GOD, Depart from us; for we desire not the knowledge of Thy ways." The Vulgate is, They that put themselves far from Thee, as did the Prodigal by going from his father into a far country. "What is further," asks S. Ambrose, "than to depart from oneself; to be separated by habits, not by countries; to be divided by desires, not by lands; and to have a divorce between one's actions, as though the tide of worldly luxury flowed between? He who divides himself from CHRIST is an exile from his country, a citizen of the world." The same Saint takes the words before us as spoken of those who shun partaking of the Holy Eucharist. "Of this Bread it is written, All they who go far from Thee shall perish. If thou goest from It, thou shalt perish; if thou drawest near to It, thou shalt live. This is the Bread of Life. He that eateth Life, cannot die." Fornication. It

Job xxi. 14. Theophylact. Expos. in S. Luc. xv. 13. Comm. in Ps. cxix. U is idolatry, say most of the commentators, citing the many texts of Scripture which bear out this sense. The Carthusian, following S. Thomas Aquinas, takes it in a wider sense. There is, he says, a spiritual fornication, whereby a soul, marked with the image of the Most High Trinity, and which ought to be the daughter of God and the spouse of CHRIST, becomes unfaithful to her God, leaning on, delighting in, and enjoying creatures rather than the Creator. 27 But it is good for me to hold me fast by God, to put my trust in the LORD God : and to speak of all thy works in the gates of the daughter of Sion.

To hold me fast. We cannot hold fast to Him directly, but we may be joined to Him by some means. There are three bonds by which, and by which alone, all things are fastened to one another, and by which we may be united to Him. They are cords, nails of wood or metal, and glue. The first binds strongly and hardly, the second more strongly and hardly, the third gently and firmly. A man is bound with a cord to his SAVIOUR, if, when sorely tried by temptation, he sets before him the insight into what is honourable, and the memory of the promise; and he for the time holds himself by this cord, lest his resolution should be utterly broken. But hard and unpleasant as that bond is, it is precarious, and cannot last long. For the cords decay, and we forget, or break, the bond of shame. Another is fastened by the nails of the LORD's majesty, as the fear of God binds him who fears not the looks of men, but the thought of hell torments; and it is not sin, but desire, which he fears. Yet he is more sternly and strongly impressed than the former, seeing that he does not lose his resolution, whereas the other wavers in it. A third is cemented with glue, that is, with love, who, holding fast to God, as bound sweetly and surely to Him, is one spirit with Him.

That last union, however, cannot be perfected here, and therefore the truest holding fast to God will be seeing Him face to face. That we may do so, it is good for us to put our trust in Him. "For Thou, O LORD," exclaims one of His great Saints, "art my hope, whatever I have to refuse, whatever to endure, whatever to desire. Thou, O LORD, art my hope; this is for me the one cause of the promises, the whole reason of my expectation. Let another set forth his merit, let him boast of his abstinence, his bearing the burden and heat of the day; let him say that he fasts twice in the week; let him glory that he is not as other men are. But it is good for me to hold me fast by God, to put my trust in the Lord God. There follows then: And to speak of all Thy works in the gates of the daughter of Sion. The reading of the old Latin Psalters and of S. Augustine is Thy praises, that of the Vulgate Thy preachings. All point to the same Gospel which

S. Bernard. Serm. in Cant. preaches CHRIST and His works, and shows forth His praise. The last clause, in the gates, &c., is not in the Hebrew, and seems to have been interpolated from Psalm ix. 14. They agree in explaining it, as does S. Augustine, that GOD, to be praised rightly, must be praised in the unity of the Church militant here in earth, the Sion of expectation and watching, whence we pass to Jerusalem, which is free. And the gates, notes our English hermit-saint, are faith, hope, and charity. The daughter only as yet, soon the City which is above, the Mother of us all. A. Glory be to the FATHER, the GOD of Israel, Who is loving unto such as are of a clean heart; glory be to GOD the SON, Whose right hand the FATHER hath holden, Whom He hath guided in His will, and received with glory; glory be to the HOLY GHOST, Who is that Will of the FATHER, whereby He led His SON, willingly obedient in His Manhood, for the salvation of mankind.

As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be: world without end. Amen.

Collects.O LORD, make us ever hold fast by Thee, and fix in Thee and all the might of our hope, that we may tell of Thy praises in the everlasting gates. Through. (1.) O LORD, it is good to hold fast by Thee; it is hurtful to withdraw from Thee; to be far from Thee is destruction; to be joined to Thee fulness of life. Grant, therefore, that we who put our trust in Thee, may attain the perfect blessedness of life, and sing Thy praises in the gates of the daughter of Sion, as we are passing into Thy kingdom. Amen. Through. (11.) It is good for us, O LORD, to hold fast by Thee; but do Thou so heap up the desire of good in us, that the hope which joins us unto Thee may not waver through any stumbling of faith, but abide in the firmness of love. Amen. Through. (11.)

O LORD GOD of Israel, we beseech Thee, we intreat Thee, that Thou wouldst not refuse us sinners, because of our conversation, Thy goodness, which Thou bestowest freely on them that are true of heart, that Thou mayest make them who are their own slaves rebel by that same grace whereby Thou rulest the lowly; and that the same goodness wherewith Thou ever crownest the righteous, may continually interpose for us; that Thou mayest spare us sinners, that, rejoicing in the goodness wherein the Saints are glad, they may delight in being restored by it to Thee from their wanderings; and that sincere confession may make them to hold fast by Thee, whom worldly lures have drawn from Thee through the contagion of divers things, and that with humble Mozarabic. For the lapsed. Mozarabic. For the Jews. devotion of soul they may pay their vows unto Thee, crying together in Thy praise. Amen. Through. (11.)

O LORD, the sinners spake against Thee in the high place, when with loud voices they uttered the hidden pride of their hearts. Let them, then, who are fain to stretch forth their mouth unto the heaven against Thee, return to earth, to be dashed down by repentance, that, humbly acknowledging with us that Thou art the Son of God, they may not be high-minded, but ever submit to Thy precepts. Amen. Through. (11.) O GOD of our heart, GOD our portion for ever, let not our heart and flesh fail. With Thee to strengthen us in good works, make us ever hold fast by Thee, and put our trust in Thee, our LORD GOD, till, with Thee going as our Leader before us, we enter into Thy heavenly sanctuary, Who, Trine and One GOD, livest and reignest for ever and ever. Amen. CHRIST the LORD, not looking unto our merits, but granting freely His pardon, bring us into the fellowship of His elect. Amen.

TITLE: Maschil of Asaph. LXX. and Vulgate: Of understanding, for Asaph.

Argument.ARG. THOMAS. That CHRIST created all the elements which we see. The Voice of CHRIST touching the Jews. The Voice of CHRIST, or of the Church, to the FATHER. Of teaching, and of Judgment. VEN. BEDE. Understanding is prefixed in the title for this reason: because a two-fold captivity follows, one spiritual, the other carnal; one which led into Babylon when the Temple was destroyed, the other which subdued by faith, when the confusion of errors was overthrown. Jerome believes this Psalm to have been sung against the Chaldees; Cassiodorus, against the Romans; Arnobius against the Philistines, when, after the slaughter of Hophni and Phinehas, the Ark of GOD was taken. The Synagogue speaks throughout the Psalm. In the first place, it laments the reason why they were delivered to the Gentiles, so that the boldness of her foes profaned the LORD'S Sanctuary, stating that the impenitent heart of certain Jews had provoked GOD'S chastisement; yet it prophesies that some of them shall be converted at the end of the world. O God, wherefore hast Thou cast us off unto the end! In the second part it says that the superstitions and iniquities of men were destroyed by the coming of CHRIST, counting up the divers great works He hath done, amongst which it beseeches Him to help the erring Jews. For God is my King of old. Thirdly; it asks, that mindful of His promise, He may deliver the seed of Abraham from destruction, and that the pride of the enemies, who extol themselves vainly, may go up before Him. Deliver not the soul that confesseth Thee to the beasts.

SYRIAC PSALTER. Of Asaph, when David saw the Angel destroying the people, and wept, and said, Upon me and mine offspring, and not on these guiltless sheep. Moreover, a prophecy of the siege of the city Jerusalem forty years after the Ascension, by Vespasian the aged, and Titus his son, who slew tens of thousands of Jews, and destroyed Jerusalem; thence, unto the present day, Jews are despised. EUSEBIUS OF CÆSAREA. A Proclamation of the final siege of Jerusalem under Vespasian and Titus. S. ATHANASIUS. A Psalm in solitary address. A Psalm of thanksgiving.

Various Uses.Ambrosian. Tuesday of Second Week. I. Nocturn. Monastic. Thursday. I. Nocturn. [Maundy Thursday. II. Nocturn.]

Antiphons.Gregorian. As preceding Psalm. [Maundy Thursday. Arise, O LORD, and judge my cause.] Parisian. The poor * and needy shall give praise unto Thy Name, O LORD. Ambrosian. As Psalm lxxii. Monastic. As Gregorian. [Maundy Thursday. As Gregorian.] Mozarabic. Remember Thy congregation, O LORD * which Thou hast created from the beginning. There has been much discussion, ever since the time of Theodoret, as to the date and occasion of this Psalm. The views are practically four: (1) that it refers to some of the earlier spoilings of Jerusalem by Egyptians or Chaldeans, in the time of Rehoboam or of Ahaz; (2) that it speaks of the destruction of the first Temple by Nebuchadnezzar; (3) that it is Maccabean, and refers to the cruelties of Antiochus Epiphanes,—a view adopted by most modern critics; or (4) that it is simply prophetic of the final overthrow under the Romans. The last view is universally given up now. The objection to the second is, that the Psalm does not speak of the utter destruction of the Temple (as Psalm lxxix. does) but only of its spoiling and profanation. The third opinion is difficult to reconcile either with the history of the Canon, or with the language in verse 10, which implies a recent cessation of prophecy. But the order of Prophets had died out two centuries before the date of Antiochus Epiphanes, and we may therefore most probably adopt the second conjecture. The name of Asaph does not help to fix the date, as it appears certain that it was attached to Psalms of his descendants and successors in the office of choirmaster.

1 O GOD, wherefore art thou absent from us so long: why is thy wrath so hot against the sheep of thy pasture?

It is no murmuring or rebellion that prompts this question, nothing but a deep sense of desolation, and of inability to C. fathom God's hidden purpose. Absent from us. It is far G. more. That would be painful enough, but the A. V. more truly reads, Wherefore hast Thou cast us off! and the Vulgate, Ut quid repulisti nos, is nearly the same. Yet the Rom. xi. 2. Apostle tells us that "God hath not cast away His people which He foreknew. It is in truth we who have gone from Him, for as the soul never quits the body till the body fails Ay. it, so God never leaves those who are willing to abide by Him. G. So long. Not for a brief time of trial and chastisement, as in former days, followed by the advent of a deliverer, Gideon, Ay. Samson, Samuel, David, but utterly, or, with the Vulgate, to the end, sparing neither age, nor sex, nor holy place, and de-P. laying help till the end of the world. Whether we take it in its first sense, of the Jewish people, harassed by Assyrian or D. C. Roman foes, or of the Christian Church, beset by heretics, Schismatics, unbelievers, and false brethren; or again, of each soul which thinks itself bereft of God's help, we may A. find the answer in the question. To the end. He drives us Rom. x. 4. to Him Who is the "end of the law for righteousness to them which believe," even to His SON JESUS CHRIST.

O blessed casting off, which leads us to take refuge in those everlasting B. arms of infinite mercy! The sheep of Thy pasture. It is spoken of the Jews, whom He led as sheep by the hands of Moses and Aaron in the pastures of the Law, but far more deeply and truly of them who follow the Good Shepherd, and are nourished with His pasture, His own precious Body Ric. Hamand Blood. pol.

2 O think upon thy congregation : whom thou hast purchased, and redeemed of old. 3 Think upon the tribe of thine inheritance : and mount Sion, wherein thou hast dwelt.

Ay. Thy congregation, or, with the LXX. Thy synagogue, not merely as the specific name of the Jewish Church, but as showing how God began the work of deliverance, by gathering together in Rameses the people previously scattered throughout the land of Egypt. Whom Thou hast purchased. Or, with LXX. and Vulgate, possessed. He Who is LORD of all, is more especially said to possess those who have freely bound themselves to obey Him. The word redeemed, which follows here in the Prayer Book version, properly belongs to the first clause of the next verse. Of old. Or, as the Vulgate, from the beginning. It cannot be the voice of the A. Gentiles, notes S. Augustine, but must refer to the seed of Abraham, the people of Israel, born of the Patriarchs, whose G. seed we are, in faith though not in flesh. The great German commentator goes further back, and reminds us of the distinction put ages before Abraham's day between the descendants of Cain and the righteous progeny of Seth. O think upon the tribe of Thine inheritance. Here we should read, with the Vulgate, Remember the rod of Thine inheritance, which Thou hast redeemed. S. Augustine reminds us of that rod of Moses, wherewith the miracles of the Exodus were wrought. It thus comes to typify the Jewish people, whom God used as His rod to scourge the seven nations of Canaan.

And they add, aptly enough, that so long as that rod was in the hand of Moses, so long as the Hebrew people obeyed the Law and the Prophets, the rod was straight, and waited for the promise of CHRIST. But when it left the hand of Moses, it became a serpent, from which Moses himself fled. And then, in a deeper and lovelier sense, the rod of God's inheritance is "the Man Whose Name is the Branch," the "Rod out of the stem of Jesse," Whom also "He hath appointed heir of all things. He is the rod of Moses, because He is the sceptre of Israel, and yet more, because He is the brazen serpent lifted up in the wilderness, that those bitten by the fiery serpents might look on Him and live.

A. G Zech. vi. 12. Isa. xi. 1. Heb. i. 2. Gen. xlix. 10. Numb. xxiv. 17. Porque Para sanar las dolencias Del que mordido del aspid, Al pecador se semeja, No siendo él el pecador, Convendrá que lo parezca. And even as Moses fled from his rod, when it took the serpent form, so when the "beautiful Rod" was lifted up to draw all men unto Him, His disciples forsook Him and fled. Again; because the words denote the Head, they include the members, and tell of that Church which God chose to be His inheritance, the rod which has budded and brought forth leaves, flowers, and fruit, while those of the twelve tribes remain barren. And with this sense the dearest meaning of the words which follow agrees: Which Thou hast redeemed with Thy most precious Blood. Redeemed from the spiritual Egypt, from worldly conversation, from sin and darkness, from many an error, from all its sins, and from the pains of hell. He has not redeemed it as one may buy the possession of some place or thing he has never seen, for there follows: And Mount Sion, wherein Thou hast dwelt. The primary meaning is of that Temple where the uncreated Word dwelt in the Shechinah between the Cherubim, and next of that whole city where He, when Incarnate, went in and out before all the people, and then more fully of that Church Militant of "expectation," wherein He condescends to tabernacle sacramentally. There He is indeed lifted on the tree of life in the midst of the garden, that rood to which we look for all our help. There too, as He gives His inner grace to each hungering and fainting soul, He is the Rod dipped in honey wherewith Jonathan, when he put it to his mouth, found his eyes enlightened.

4 Lift up thy feet, that thou mayest utterly destroy every enemy: which hath done evil in thy sanctuary. A.

Taking the words in this wise, we shall see Him invoked Who hath said of Himself: "I have trodden the wine-press alone; and of the people there was none with Me: for I will tread them in Mine anger, and trample them in My fury," and will remember how He sent His chastisements on all those nations whom He permitted to scourge Jerusalem for her sins, and last and most terribly on the Jews themselves, who did evil in His sanctuary, when the chief priests and Pharisees gathered a council against Him. But the A. V. gives the true sense: Lift up Thy feet unto the perpetual desolations, that is, Come down, and behold the utter destruction which the enemy hath wrought in Thy holy place. Not so the LXX., Vulgate, and the Æthiopic. They read, Lift up Thine hands upon their insolences unto the end. That is, Put forth Thy might to punish. Their insolences, as well those of the heathen who have wasted Thy holy places, as of the people of Israel, whose sins have deserved such judgments. So say they all, most strangely passing over the deeper meaning of the words, which tell us how He did deal with the pride of His enemies, nailing it to His Cross, when He stretched out His hands thereupon all the day unto a disobedient and gainsaying people. Yes, and unto the end, for He said, "It is finished.

The Syriac Psalter reads in this place, Lift up Thy servants above them who are raised over us in might, foreshadowing the conquest of the Empire by the Cross. And this is the meaning which S. Augustine, though following a reading scarcely differing from the Vulgate, attaches to the passage. "Whose pride? he asks; "Theirs by whom Jerusalem was overthrown, the Kings of the Gentiles. Well was His hand lifted up on their pride at the end, for they too have now known CHRIST. Now on the brows of monarchs the sign of the Cross is more precious than the jewels of a crown. What mischief the enemy hath wrought in Thy holy place. They take it variously of the successive profanations of the Temple, by Nebuchadnezzar, Antiochus, and Titus, and thence transfer the reference to the Christian Church, vexed first by heathen persecutors and then by Arian and other heretics. Lastly; it is explained tropologically of every friend of this world, who is therefore GOD's enemy, defiling with sin the heart which He had made His sanctuary by the waters of Baptism.

5 Thine adversaries roar in the midst of thy congregations: and set up their banners for tokens.

This is the true rendering of this difficult verse, and R. Kimchi aptly compares its first clause with the words of Jeremiah: "The LORD hath cast off His altar, He hath abhorred His sanctuary, He hath given up into the hand of the enemy the walls of her palaces; they have made a noise in the house of the LORD, as in the day of a solemn feast. And the obvious meaning is to contrast the tumult of a profane soldiery, heard in the sacred shrine, with the voice of priestly chant and supplication, which alone befits it. Again and again it has been true of times of suffering in the Church, when Roman soldiers rushed in on the worshippers in the catacombs, when Syrianus invaded the church of S. Theonas at Alexandria, to seize S. Athanasius; worst of all, at that terrible Whitsuntide of 1453, when the armies of the false prophet burst into S. Sophia. But the LXX. and Vulgate, with the Syriac and Æthiopic, read, They which hate Thee have boasted in the midst of Thy festival. They remind us that it was in the midst of the Passover that Jerusalem was compassed with the armies of Titus, a fit punishment for the city which at that same time had crucified its King. S. Albert the Great applies the words to careless and indevout clerics, who, when the restraint of Lent is over, jest and revel in the midst of the Paschal Festival, betwixt Mass and Vespers.

They have not only boasted, but have set up their banners for tokens. The LXX. and Vulgate, with little difference of wording, read, have set their signs as signs. The Jewish commentators explain this to mean that the Eastern conquerors of Jerusalem, seeing the event correspond with their divinations and oracles, asserted the truth of those signs given to Nebuchadnezzar when "he consulted with images, he looked in the liver, [and] at his right hand was the divination for Jerusalem. Others take it of the erection of idols in the place of the holy symbols, but most agree in seeing here the military standards, bearing the images of various animals on their tops, and planted by the invaders in the courts of the temple. And with this accords S. Jerome's translation: They have set up their ensigns for a trophy. The Carthusian does not fail to remind us of the Arian processions with music and banners, and of that which was nearer to his own time, the military show of the Bohemian fanatics under the terrible John Ziska, that blind leader of the blind. They are not slow to mark how, on the other hand, the Christian warriors can in their turn, set up their banners, those royal banners of their King—for tokens. And they quote the well-known words of Tertullian:

"At every advance and movement, at all goings out and comings in, when dressing and putting on the shoes, when washing, at meals, on lighting of lamps, at bed-time, on sitting down, whatever act of our lives we are engaged in, we mark our forehead with the sign of the Cross."

A. 6 He that hewed timber afore out of the thick trees: was known to bring it to an excellent work. 7 But now they break down all the carved work thereof: with axes and hammers. As we read these words, the first meaning suggested is the contrast between the skilful labour of the Sidonian timberers whom Solomon employed to hew the cedars of Lebanon for his excellent work, and the mere savage destructiveness of the heathen enemy. But this is certainly not the sense of the passage, nor is the A. V. nearer to it. The words imply that the strokes of the invaders fell thick and fast, like those of a woodman hewing down a stately tree. And so the Chaldee Targum runs: He bruises it with a hammer, like a man who lifts up his hand on the thickness of trees, that he may cut it down with axes. But the reading of the LXX. and Vulgate is at once utterly unlike either of these, obscure, and corrupt. In the first place, instead of being a new member of the Psalm, it belongs to the preceding verse, and runs thus: And they have not known, as at the going forth over the top (LXX.

Gillebert. Serm. xiv. in Cantic.

Δι εις τὴν ἔξοδον (al. εἴσοδον) ὀπεράνω. Vulg. Sicut in exitu super summum. They have not known that it was GOD's work, not their own, when they set up their banners at the going forth of the gates of the conquered city, and over the top of her towers and fortifications, nay, of the very temple itself. A holy writer explains this whole passage of the harsh judgments of distrustful and censorious men. They have set up their signs, and have not known: they set up what they do not find, they set up what they afterwards explain in a bad sense. He says, their signs; for it is themselves they set up for a sign, when they measure others by the rule of their own faultiness. He says, signs as meaning only signs, and not truth, signs not of certainty, but of suspicion. And they know not. Then follows: As in a copse of wood they have cut down with axes her doors there together, with hatchet and mattock they have cast her down. The first words recall those sayings, "Now is the ax laid unto the root of the trees, therefore every tree which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire; and "If GOD spared not the natural branches, take heed lest He spare not thee. As in a copse of wood, as recklessly as a wood-cutter, or, by hewing down the doors, leaving the entrance into the city as undefended and open to every step as the paths of a forest.

The reference to the doors, ornate and costly as they were, and overlaid with plates of gold, implies the destruction of the remainder, while there together (ἐπιτοκυτὸ, in idipsum) shows the deliberate hostility and combined attack of the enemy. With hatchet and mattock. The Latin Fathers dwell on the completeness of the destruction denoted by these words, saying, that the former tool is used to cut down large masses of timber, and the latter for

Reading doors, instead of carved work. further and more minute subdivision. The Greeks, with the same general meaning, refer the first instrument to hewing down wood; the second to defacing stone. There is an unusual vein of literalism in all the commentators in dealing with this whole passage; and little is to be drawn from any save the Carmelite, who bids us note, that by the doors of the city we may understand the approaches to the heavenly kingdom. There are three such: the upper, the inner, and the outer. The first is opened by the free bounty of GOD. "He opened the doors of heaven—He rained down manna also upon them for to eat." The second is opened by preparation of the soul; "Behold, I stand at the door, and knock; if any man hear My voice, and open the door, I will come in to him." The third is opened by the condemnation of the proud; "I will loose the loins of kings, to open before him the two-leaved gates." But the first of these gates, that is, the heavenly one, is done away by thanklessness for the divine gifts, so that it is no longer open for the ungrateful, as it is written, "And Ahaz gathered together the vessels of the house of GOD, and cut in pieces the vessels of the house of GOD, and shut up the doors of the house of the LORD." Wherefore it is now said of the ungrateful, They have cut down her doors, and that with hatchet and mattock. By the hatchet, which hews great logs, understand thanklessness for spiritual gifts, but by the mattock, which cuts in small pieces, understand thanklessness for corporal benefits, which are small in comparison with spiritual ones.

8 They have set fire upon thy holy places: and have defiled the dwelling-place of thy Name, even unto the ground. Unto the ground, or, as the Vulgate reads, Thy sanctuary on the earth. And they delight in pointing out to us, those old commentators, that we have a sanctuary in heaven, which no evil can defile or draw near. They tell us, too, that GOD has three earthly tabernacles: His Virgin Mother, the Church, and every faithful soul; that the first is insulted by heretics, who deny her perpetual virginity; the second by sinners, who prefer to dwell in the tents of ungodliness to abiding humbly in the House of GOD; the third by those who deny the Resurrection and the Life everlasting. There is another sanctuary of GOD yet more holy than these, which was defiled with spitting and insult, which was smitten with hammers, which was cast to the ground, even the LORD JESUS Himself. And S. Albert reminds us that there is no pollution so deep as that of sin, so that prelates and priests, who ought to be GOD's sanctuaries, are defiled unto the ground when they pass from the contemplation of divine things down to mere earthly passions and desires.

9 Yea, they said in their hearts, Let us make havock of them altogether : thus have they burnt up all the houses of God in the land. The LXX. and Vulgate read this verse very differently : The kindred of them said together in their heart, Come, and let us make all the feasts of God to cease from the land. The first question they ask here is, Who are they who said this in their hearts? Is it to be taken of the invading heathen, or of the Jews? And the answer they give, for the most part, is the latter. Parez aptly states the reason, by referring to the arguments of the apostate Jews in the Maccabean era, who urged that the superior prosperity and cultivation of the Greeks was a sufficient ground for adopting Pagan customs, and abandoning the Law of Moses. Others, however, see herein the policy of the invaders, who, unable to discover the object of Jewish worship, and seeing their own deities despised, determined to destroy every trace of the Hebrew religion, as being at the root of the national resistance. The houses of God. This rendering is in accord with that of Symmachus, which is synagogues, but the LXX. and Vulgate reading, festivals, which is also that of the Syriac and Æthiopic, appears to represent better the meaning of (assemblies) which nowhere else in the Bible (unless perhaps in Lam. ii. 6,) denotes a building. And we are taught by it of the perpetual striving of the world to break in upon the Sabbath rest of the Church, a rest never unquiet, never unbroken, till we reach that Land where the true Sabbath remaineth to the people of God. So Adam of S. Victor :

A. C. Pet. Lomb. P. B. The Sequence, Supernæ Matris gaudia. The world, the flesh, and Satan's rage, Their differing wars against us wage; And when their phantom hosts come on, The Sabbath of the heart is gone. This triple league, with fierce dislike, At holy festivals would strike; And set the battle in array To drive their peace from earth away. The word which the English takes as the Kal future from he did violence, is explained in the Chaldee Targum by their sons (as from sobolescere.) Hence the variant. It is probable that the great majority of educated people who read vv. 5—9 of this Psalm, instinctively apply them to iconoclasm, and have in mind the ruined abbeys of Great Britain and the defaced shrines of many foreign lands. Yet there is almost total silence on this subject in the commentators, early or late. Cassiodorus, who lived when the memory of Attila and Genseric was still fresh, Remigius, the contemporary of the worst inroads of the Northmen, the Greek Office for Orthodoxy Sunday, composed against the deS. Albert remarks that our ghostly enemies strive to abolish all the festivals of our souls, the Nativity of Baptism, or of penitence, the Resurrection from earthly things to seek things on high, the Ascension from one grade of holiness to another, the Pentecost of spiritual illumination and burning love of God.

10 We see not our tokens, there is not one prophet more : no, not one is there among us, that understandeth any more.

These words may be taken in various ways. In their most obvious sense, they are a lamentation on the part of the Jews that their case appears utterly helpless, that they have no celestial aid, no inspired teaching, and then this is a piteous cry for relief, such as had been granted by Divine miraculous interposition many times before. The tokens or signs will then denote such chastisements as those which fell on Pharaoh, Sennacherib, and Heliodorus. Again; the signs may refer to the symbolical Hebrew ritual of priesthood and sacrifice, the type of better things to come, but now itself vanished before the appearance of those better things. Or the words may denote unbelief, not sorrow, and be uttered by apostate Jews as a reason for ceasing their accustomed worship. God had ceased to favour them, and had begun to show preference for the Gentiles, and therefore it was better to adopt Pagan usages. Some do not fail to point out, moreover, that the Jews did see, but did not understand, the tokens which God sent by His Son, that there was no need of a Prophet after He of whom the seers spoke had come. And the failure of the Temple miracles, acknowledged by the Rabbins, is set down by them to the time of Simeon the Just, who is said to be he that uttered the Nunc dimittis.

The Greek Fathers point out that the chief aggravation of the final overthrow of Jerusalem, is that no series of prophets, such as comforted the exiles of the Babylonian captivity, has been granted to the Jews. S. Albert reminds us that we, of the modern Church, may truly say, We see not our tokens, the poverty, the stern self-denial, the humility of the early Christians. Nor miracles, nor prophecies either, such as were vouchsafed to our fathers, adds the Carthusian, wherefore our chiefest need is patience with steadfast faith, and we must say, as did the Maccabees, "We are ready to die, rather than to transgress the laws of our fathers," remembering that it is added in the same place, "The king of the world shall raise

stroyers of icons, and even the Jesuit Lorinus, who lived during much of the Thirty Years' War, have not a word on the subject. A brief allusion in Corderius, a fuller one in a Lutheran commentator, directed against Carol- stadt, and a lament of De Muis over Orleans cathedral, are all I have found. Even the great controversialist Bellarmine himself is silent; and I will follow his example. us up, who have died for His laws, into everlasting life." There are yet other signs more important still which we lack, the Tau, or Cross, and the marks of the LORD JESUS, and therefore we have no true prophet to declare by word and deed the vileness of this world, the loveliness of that to come, so that we have reason to fear that GOD will not know us any more (LXX. and Vulgate,) but will say to us in the Doom, Verily, I say unto you, I know you not."

11 O GOD, how long shall the adversary do this dishonour : how long shall the enemy blaspheme thy Name, for ever? The cry goes up because the faithful and the unbelieving alike suffer in the persecution ; the grain is beaten as well as the chaff, and so long as the righteous suffer, GOD'S Name is blasphemed by His enemies, who declare that He has either not the power or not the will to deliver His people ; and, moreover, it is written, "He that heareth you heareth Me ; and he that despiseth you, despiseth Me ; and he that despiseth Me, despiseth Him that sent Me." How long then, for ever? Yes, answers Gerhohus, not so far as the grain is concerned, but as far as the chaff. 12 Why withdrawest thou thy hand : why pluckest thou not thy right hand out of thy bosom to consume the enemy?

A. G. Rupert. Exod. iv. 7. The last words of the verse as here read are not in the Hebrew, the A. V., nor in any of the old Versions. Nor does the negative occur. The true meaning is that of the A. V. : Pluck Thy right hand out of Thy bosom. But the LXX. and Vulgate read the latter clause thus : And Thy right hand out of the midst of Thy bosom unto the end. Many Latin Fathers see in these words the rejection of the Jewish people, who, till their final sin, were GOD'S right hand. And they remind us how the hand of Moses, when he took it out of his bosom, became leprous as snow, and did not become clean till he had put it in again. So the Jewish Synagogue, when it refused and slew its King, plucked its hand out of the bosom of GOD, and became outcast and leprous. Accordingly, the prayer goes up to GOD to put that polluted hand back into the bosom of His love, and to make it clean once more, washed in the Blood of CHRIST. The Greek Fathers understand the passage differently : The bosom, they say, is the treasure of GOD'S bounty, the right hand the operation of His Providence, whereby He distributes His gifts, and it is then a prayer to Him to open His hand and fill all things living with plenteousness. Another interpretation, which has found favour with the Jews, is, Why pluckest Thou not the enemies out of Thy sanctuary, that holy land which they pollute with their presence?

13 For God is my King of old : the help that is done upon earth he doeth it himself. Here is the triumphal answer to all the complaint in the earlier part of the Psalm. While I am crying as if forsaken, God, my King before the worlds, hath wrought salvation in the midst of the earth. While we Jews are sleeping, and looking for signs in the night, the Gentiles are awake, and rejoicing in that salvation. CHRIST is my King, not merely since He appeared on earth, but from everlasting, because He is consubstantial with the FATHER, and is begotten by Him before the worlds. In the midst of the earth. They take it in three ways. By His Incarnation in the womb of the Blessed Virgin. So the hymn : A. Tota descendit deitas In templum tui pectoris, De terra tui corporis Nobis est orta veritas, Et æterna divinitas Incepit esse temporis.

Guido v. Baroches. The Hymn, Laudes canamus Virginis. By His Passion at Jerusalem, once believed to be the very centre of the world. Thus we read : Golgotha locus est, capitis Calvaria quondam, Lingua paterna prior sic illum nomine dixit, Hic medium terræ est, hic est victoria signum. By His descent into hell, to deliver the captives there. Only s. Bernard. once, warns S. Bernard, was that visitation made. It can never be again. In hell there is no more offering for sin, for it was CHRIST's soul, not His Blood, which descended thither. His Blood hath watered the dry earth, and made it glad, and established peace between it and heaven; and therefore it is here we must be reconciled to God. 14 Thou didst divide the sea through thy power : thou brakest the heads of the dragons in the waters. 15 Thou smotest the heads of Leviathan in pieces : and gavest him to be meat for the people in the wilderness.

The primary reference is, of course, to the passage of the Red Sea, and the overthrow of the Egyptian power; typified here, as in other places, by the crocodile or Leviathan. But the reading of the LXX. and Vulgate in the first clause of verse 14 is a little different. It runs, Thou hast strengthened the sea in thy power, and implies, no doubt, the miracle whereby "the waters were a wall unto them on their right hand and on their left." S. Augustine explains it mystically that the Jews were the dry land; and the Gentiles, in the bitterness of unbelief, the sea. Now that sea has been confined by God's power, and the pride of demons, the heads of the dragons, whereby the Gentiles were once possessed, He hath now broken in the waters of Baptism. Another Saint, of a much later age, interprets the heads of the dragons as sins, broken in the waters of penitential tears. S. Gregory, amplifying the first part of S. Augustine's explanation, teaches that the sea denotes this present world, wherein men's hearts are tossed on the billows of care, of pride, and of adversity. But now those seas are stablished by God's power; for, since the Incarnation of the LORD, the hearts of those of this world, once at discord, now believe in concord, and Peter walks upon the waters, since CHRIST is preached, and the people hear in meekness. Others, while interpreting the waters as those of Baptism, dwell on the word strengthened as denoting the certainty of that Sacrament, whoever and whatever the minister of it may be, provided the true matter and form be used. The properties of the dragons, by which they become fit emblems of evil spirits, are thus summed up by Cardinal Hugo:

Joel i. 6. A.

Thou smotest the heads of Leviathan in pieces. Here, for Leviathan, the LXX. and Vulgate read the dragon, that is, the chief of all evil spirits, the beginning of sin; and these words denote the fulfilment of the prophecy, that the Seed of the woman should bruise the serpent's head. And gavest him to be meat for the people in the wilderness. The Talmudists have interpreted this text with a literalism more extravagant than any allegory. According to them, Leviathan is a huge sea-serpent, which encompasses the earth, (exactly like the Eddaic Jormungandr,) and strives to swallow the sun. At the last day, it, and Behemoth, and the huge bird Barjuchna, are to be killed, and served up as a banquet for the children of Israel. The interpretation at other hands is widely different. With some, the people of the wilderness mean the Hebrews, who are said to have spoiled the corpses of the Egyptian warriors as they lay upon the shore. Others, and most modern critics, explain it of birds and beasts of prey, comparing texts where the word people is applied to the lower animals. The LXX., Vulgate, and Æthiopie, however, read, to the peoples of the Æthiopians. The literal interpretation, that the loss of the Egyptian army made the nation an easy prey to the neighbouring powers, may be briefly mentioned. The mystical explanations are full. The Æthiopians are they who were once black and defiled with sin; who "were sometimes darkness, but now light in the LORD.

And Leviathan has been given them for meat, because GOD has given power over the devil into the hands of His faithful, and especially to the martyrs, so that they should not only devour him up, but by drawing away his members from him by conversion, actually incorporate them into the body of the Church, which thus grows by feeding on Leviathan. This mystery was foreshadowed under the Law by Moses grinding the golden calf into powder, and compelling the children of Israel to swallow it; and again under the Gospel, when S. Peter in his vision was told to "kill and eat. And in this wise Aaron's rod hath swallowed up those of the magicians.

16 Thou broughtest out fountains and waters out of the hard rocks : thou driedst up mighty waters. The words out of the hard rocks are not in the Hebrew, nor in any of the other versions; but they represent accurately enough the meaning of the verb , which implies splitting or rending something hard. The commentators dwell for a little on the events of Horeb, Kadesh, and Jordan, and on the contrasted exhibition of Almighty power, softening that which is hard, and solidifying that which is fluid; and then turn to the hidden sense. Fountains and torrents are both produced by GOD in men's hearts. The fountain is the "well of water springing up into everlasting life," the Word of GOD in holy and steadfast souls; while the torrent, impetuous in winter, but dry in summer, denotes those who are eager in words and preaching, but who lack perseverance and sanctity. Thou driedst up mighty waters. Or, as the LXX. and Vulgate, the waters of Ethan. And they take it diversely of the power of the devil, of idolatry, and of Gentile philosophy and learning, all subdued and dried up before the advance of the hosts of the LORD.

17 The day is thine, and the night is thine : thou hast prepared the light and the sun. 18 Thou hast set all the borders of the earth : thou hast made summer and winter. They pass at once from the natural to the spiritual creation, and tell us how GOD rules alike over the spiritual, who are the day, and the carnal, who are the night, over the unwise and imperfect Christians, who are but the dawn of light, and over those perfected in the wisdom and faith of CHRIST, who are like the sun. Another reading, instead of light or dawn, is moon, which Cassiodorus follows, and reminds us of that saying of the Wise Man, "A fool changeth as the A. A. A. A. , firmness, strength, from , to be constant. moon." Thou hast set all the borders of the earth, by appointing Apostles and Prelates, as boundaries, to mark the limits of our obligations, lest we should transgress. Or, set all the borders of the earth, by giving each man his special talent to use for the service of GOD. Summer and winter. The first tells of those who are ardent and zealous in faith, from whom Confessors and Martyrs come. Winter, or with the LXX. and Vulgate, spring, denotes those of a colder and less devotional temperament, who are yet servants of GOD. And others contrast here the active and contemplative lives, giving the higher place to the latter. The Carthusian has yet another explanation. The sun is the glorified Manhood of CHRIST, the dawn His Virgin Mother, of whom is written, "Who is she that looketh forth as the morning?" the borders of the earth are GOD's elect in this world; spring, with its leafy promise, denotes the merit of good works; summer, with its fruits, the everlasting reward awaiting them.

19 Remember this, O LORD, how the enemy hath rebuked : and how the foolish people hath blasphemed thy Name. The word how is not in the Hebrew, nor in the old versions; and the verse thus seems made up of two separate members. They ask, accordingly, What is this which GOD is called on to remember? The Roman Psalter, the Æthiopie, Arabic, and some recensions of the LXX. add the words Thy creation or creature, and it is explained by some to mean the Jewish nation; while others, as the Greek Fathers, refer it to the congregation spoken of in a former verse. Again, it is taken of the works of GOD's power or bounty, which He is asked to remember; that is, to exhibit once more in the time of need. And lastly, there are some who explain it in the same sense as the Prayer Book Version. The latter clauses are taken first of the heathen raging against the worship of the GOD of Israel, and then of the Jewish people itself, become the enemy of its King, and blaspheming His Name with slander and reproaches.

20 O deliver not the soul of thy turtle-dove unto the multitude of the enemies : and forget not the congregation of the poor for ever. Here we have the cry of the afflicted Church; of her whom her Bridegroom calls, "My sister, My love, My dove, My undefiled," imploring to be delivered from all her foes, ghostly and earthly. She is His sister, as has well been said, because she is of His Blood; His love, because reconciled by His death; His dove, because dowered with the HOLY GHOST; His undefiled, as washed in the Sacrament of Baptism. It is rightly said, the soul of Thy turtle-dove. For GOD gives no promise that He will not give the body of His Church, or of His individual Saints, up to those who can kill, or, at least, sorely hurt it; but the soul is His darling, and He will rescue it. So we read in the passion of a Virgin Martyr:

Eager for peace, she breathed the fire, And so she went to rest: Forth from her lips, most pure and white, There sprang a snowy dove, And shooting on its heavenward flight, It sought the realms above; So swift, so pure, so innocent, It was Eulalia's soul that went To seek its native firmament, The dwelling-place of Love. Yet, again, as the Dove implies the HOLY GHOST Himself, this may well be a prayer that we "quench not the SPIRIT" by those works of the flesh which lust against Him, and are at enmity with Him. But this, the preferable sense of the Hebrew, is lost in the old versions, and they read in the first clause, Deliver not to the beasts the souls which confess Thee. Lorinus mentions that this text was twisted by various Gnostic heretics, as Manichæans and Albigenses, to imply the transmigration of human souls into the forms of brutes. The majority of commentators here follow S. Augustine, and interpret the passage as a prayer to be delivered from the evil spirits. Forget not the congregation of the poor for ever. They take it diversely of the poor in spirit, trodden down in this world, but looking humbly to GOD in hope; and of the Jewish nation, poor indeed, as having rejected the true riches, but not utterly cast away from its FATHER'S love. As a prayer for the departing Christian soul, fleeing away as a dove to be at rest, this verse forms the Versicle and Response after the Psalms of the Third Nocturn of the Office for the Dead.

A. 21 Look upon the covenant: for all the earth is full of darkness, and cruel habitations. Have regard, not to the Old Covenant or Testament, but to the New; not to the promise of the earthly Canaan, but to the gift of salvation in the kingdom of heaven. The second clause should run, as in the A. V., The dark places of the earth are full of the habitations of cruelty. The mystical reference will then be to the secret machinations of the devil and his ministers, ghostly or human, to destroy the souls which CHRIST came to save; and He is implored, therefore, by the Blood of His Covenant, to "send forth His prisoners out of the pit where is no water:" truly a dark place of the earth, where afflicted souls are cruelly tortured. But the LXX. and Vulgate read, They that are darkened have been A.

Rom. i. 21. filled with the houses of the iniquities of the earth. They are darkened, because, "when they knew GOD, they glorified Him not as GOD, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened." Darkened, moreover, with earthly desires and possessions, while their houses of iniquity are those foolish hearts, given up to sin, wherein their thoughts ever dwell. Euthymius refers the whole passage more especially to the Jews, whom he calls the dark ones of the earth, now filled, nay, more than filled, with their own iniquity. 22 O let not the simple go away ashamed: but let the poor and needy give praise unto thy Name. A. They take it differently, of those who are humble and poor, knowing themselves to be such, and make their prayer to GOD, as devout Christians; and of those who do not know themselves to be in utter poverty, as the Jews. It is thus a prayer for the fuller acceptance of the former, and for the conversion of the latter. Let us see how glorious is that poverty, exclaims Cassiodorus, how happy is that neediness to be accounted, which even in silence praises the LORD, and celebrates Him with the might of its patience. If the proud man make music, he is silent; but the poor and needy praise the LORD, even when they seem to be still. O priceless good! if we ponder it within. The poor is GOD's, the rich belongs to this world; the one is the possession of the Everlasting King, the other that of passing time.

23 Arise, O GOD, maintain thine own cause: remember how the foolish man blasphemeth thee daily. 24 Forget not the voice of thine enemies: the presumption of them that hate thee increaseth ever more and more. They read, some of them, my cause; others, our cause: it is all one. The cause of GOD is that of every soul which trusts in Him, that of the whole company of the faithful. Arise, and come in the flesh to help us; or, arise, not merely sitting on Thy throne in heaven, but lifting Thyself up in might, to help Thy people. So the hymn, Adam. Victorin. The Sequence, Heri mundus exultavit. En a dextris DEI stantem JESUM pro te dimieantem, Stephane, considera.

The foolish man. The Greeks, with singular baldness, take this to mean Titus, or any boastful Roman soldier, exulting in the victory of his gods. The Latins, more deeply, take it of the unbelieving Jewish people, here represented as one person. Thine enemies. There are several variants here. Thy suppliants is the Gallican reading; them that pray to Thee, the Italic, the Illyrian, and S. Augustine; the Roman and Cassiodorus, them that seek Thee, which is retained in the introit of the Roman Missal for the thirteenth Sunday after Pentecost. Of them that hate Thee. Here the Schoolmen raise the question, How can God, Who is the Supreme Good, and altogether lovely, be the object of hate? And they answer that He cannot be so in His Essence; but that certain results of His justice and holiness, taking the form of prohibition, prevention, and punishment of sin, are hateful to evil-doers, and that He is said, in this secondary sense, to be hated. Increaseeth. The Vulgate reads, ascendeth. That is, goeth up unto Thee, into Thine ears, that Thou mayest note and punish it; or ascendeth up higher and higher, that it may be cast down more terribly in the Doom. With this last meaning we may compare those terrible words of the Apocalypse, "And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever; and they have no rest day or night who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name."

Glory be to the FATHER, Who hath given His judgment to the Son; glory be to the Son, Who hath judged the city of Jerusalem, and Who will yet judge the whole Church; glory be to the HOLY GHOST, Who in His just judgment shall protect those poor in spirit, of whom it is said, The poor and needy shall give praise unto Thy Name. As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be: world without end. Amen.

Collects.O GOD, Creator of all the elements, King Everlasting before the worlds, remember Thy flock which Thou hast redeemed by the shedding of Thine own Blood, and graciously hear the voices of all them that seek Thee, O SAVIOUR of the world. Who livest. Remember, O LORD, Thy congregation, which Thou hast created from the beginning; and forget not Thy Church, which Thou hast predestined in CHRIST from all time; and, mindful of Thy mercy, look upon Thy Covenant, and ever embrace us with Thy promised freedom. Through Thy mercy. (11.) O LORD, deliver not into the hands of the persecutors the souls of the peoples which confess Thee; that Thou, Who didst endure the slanders of false witnesses, mayest be glorified by the voices of the redeemed which worship Thee. Through Thy mercy. (11.) Remember, O LORD, Thy congregation, which Thou hast created from the beginning, and which Thou hast wondrously Mozarabic. For Catechumens.

and mercifully redeemed at the price of Thy Blood, and chosen it as Thy possession from out of the nations. Deliver, then, the rod of Thine inheritance from the attacks of the supplanter, and so rule it in this present world by justifying, that it may inherit in the world to come; and that it which prays, as divinely taught, for Thy kingdom to come, may, after pardon freely given, attain by hereditary succession, to the same Thy kingdom. Through Thy mercy. (11.) Forget not, O LORD, the voice of them that seek Thee, and the pride of them that hate Thee, ascending for evermore; that these, who by formal registration are received into the bosom of Mother Church, may attain to the grace of Holy Baptism; that, inasmuch as they desire such things, the Sacrament of washing enjoined amongst us may not be denied them, and that they may, with us, possess everlasting gladness. Through Thy mercy. (11.)

O CHRIST, our GOD and King before the worlds, Who at the end of the world hast wrought salvation in the redemption of Thy Church, which Thou hast possessed from the beginning through predestination, look upon the covenant confirmed in Thy Blood, by making the same Thy Church to abide in devotion, and to stand evermore in safety. Who livest.

TITLE: To the Chief Musician, Al-taschith, [or Destroy not.] A Psalm or Song of Asaph. LXX. and Vulgate: To the end, Destroy not, a Psalm of a Song of Asaph. Chaldee Targum: For the Praises, what time David said, Destroy not Thy people. A Hymn and Song by the hand of Asaph.

Argument.ARG. THOMAS. That CHRIST, for the redemption of man, drank the Cup of the Passion. The Voice of CHRIST touching judgment to come. VEN. BEDE. Asaph, as we have often said, is interpreted Synagogue; to wit, that which believed, not that which remained obstinate; for we read that many thousands of the Jews confessed after the LORD'S Resurrection, whom this Asaph now warns that they should not destroy their faith, that is, in the LORD their SA-VIOUR, unto the end. At the outset the faithful Jews profess themselves about to speak of all His wondrous works. In the second part, CHRIST the King Himself speaks, promising to judge according to right when the time of the General Resurrection hath come; and, moreover, warns them that none should presume in aught against the Divine commands, lest eternal punishment should torture him. When I receive the time, (Vulg.,) I shall judge according unto right.

EUSEBIUS OF CÆSAREA. A discourse of the Divinity of CHRIST, and a warning of the judicial tribunal of GOD. S. ATHANASIUS. A Psalm in thanksgiving.

Various Uses.Gregorian. Thursday. Matins. [Maundy Thursday. III. Nocturn. Common of Apostles. III. Nocturn.] Ambrosian. Tuesday of Second Week. I. Nocturn. Monastic. Thursday. I. Nocturn. [Maundy Thursday. III. Nocturn. Common of Apostles. II. Nocturn.]

Antiphons.Gregorian. Ferial. And we shall call * upon Thy Name, O LORD. [Maundy Thursday. I said unto the unrighteous, Speak not unrighteousness against GOD. Common of Apostles. The horns of the righteous shall be exalted. Alleluia.] Parisian. Unto Thee, O GOD, * will we give thanks, and will call upon Thy Name : we will tell of Thy wondrous works. Ambrosian. As Psalm lxxii. Monastic. Ferial. As Psalm lxxiii. [Maundy Thursday. As Gregorian. Common of Apostles. As Gregorian.] Mozarabic. First verse of the Psalm. 1 Unto thee, O God, do we give thanks: yea, unto thee do we give thanks. 2 Thy Name also is so nigh: and that do thy wondrous works declare. The Vulgate reads these two verses as one, and translates the whole, We will confess to Thee, O God, we will confess to Thee. We will invoke Thy Name, and tell of Thy wondrous works. Do not invoke before thou confess. Confess first, and then invoke. For thou art calling Him to thee Whom thou invokest. To whom, then, doth He draw near? Not to a proud man. It is written, "The LORD is nigh unto them that are of a contrite heart." And the words We will confess are repeated, to show that we do not repent of having done so once. It is written in another Psalm, "Confess to the LORD, for He is good." Why, then, do ye fear to confess? Fear to confess to a human judge, lest he punish thee after confession; fear not to do so to GOD, but make Him by confession merciful, Whom thou canst not make ignorant by denial. We will confess to Thee, O God, and now, being safe, we will invoke Thy Name. We have emptied our heart by confession; come to us in our lowliness. And the sense is, besides, strengthened by repetition; as when the LORD

A. S. John i. 51, saith, "Verily, verily, I say unto you;" or when in the Psalms we read, "Amen, Amen;" or when Pharaoh's dream was doubled. There are, says the Carmelite, three kinds of confession: that of the tribunals, condemning the guilty; that of penitence, cleansing sin; that of praise, giving thanks. The first has no place here, and thus we will confess is said twice; first of repentance, and then of giving glory to GOD after absolution: wherefore is added, we will invoke Thy Name. For if any one invoke that Name indevoutly, he would seem to call for judgment, not for pardon. But the English Version is the true one, Thy Name is nigh. How can that be nigh, which is Most Highest, and "above every name?" Because the Psalmist is looking forward to the Incarnation, when only it can be truly said to Israel, "The WORD is very nigh thee, in thy mouth, and in thy heart."

JESUS decus angelicum, In aure dulce canticum, In ore mel mirificum, In corde nectar cœlicum. In mouth and heart alike, that does His wondrous work declare, even the great Sacrament of His Love, whereof is written, "O taste and see how gracious the LORD is!" But the Vulgate reading is, We will tell of Thy wondrous works. That is, when we ourselves have come near to Thee in confession and lowliness, then, and not till then, we can go forth as preachers of Thy Word. Not till then; for we are warned in another Psalm, "Unto the ungodly said GOD, Why dost thou preach My laws, and takest My Covenant in thy mouth?" and again, "Praise is not seemly in the mouth of a sinner, for it was not sent him of the LORD." Thy works, not our own; for we preach not ourselves, nor seek our own glory, but that of Thy Name; and so let our good works be seen, that men may glorify, not us, but Thee. Thy wondrous works—Thine Incarnation, Nativity, Passion, Death, Resurrection, and Ascension, which Thou hast wrought for man's salvation. And this not only to gladden our own hearts, but to warn and alarm sinners; because there follows:

3 When I receive the congregation: I shall judge according unto right. Rev. xx. 12. It is no longer the voice of the Psalmist, but of CHRIST, telling us of judgment to come. When the mighty congregation, "the dead, small and great, stand before GOD," then shall He, Who was Himself judged unrighteously, judge righteous judgment, and reward every man according to his works. The Vulgate, instead of congregation, reads time, the set time appointed by the FATHER. It is the same word , which in Ps. lxxiv. 9 is translated in the Prayer Book houses, and in the Vulgate festivals. Its true meaning is, "a fixed time of assembly," and hence it is often taken for the assembly itself. There is an evident reference here to the previous Psalm, implying that, whereas the ungodly have made God's festival times to cease, He will requite them when His time of vengeance is at hand. Again, it is spoken of the Incarnation, when He, Who is before all time, began, as Man, to be in time, and subject to its laws. "O the marvel!" exclaims the Holy Eastern Church, "God amongst men, the Incomprehensible in the womb, the Timeless One in time!" Then indeed did He judge according unto right, as it was foretold: "A bruised reed shall He not break, and the smoking flax shall He not quench: He shall bring forth judgment unto truth."

A. Menæa, March 25. 4 The earth is weak, and all the inhabiters thereof: I bear up the pillars of it.

Is weak. Better with the A. V., is dissolved, nearly the same as the Vulgate, liquefacta. The earth. All the human race, sunk in sin, as S. Augustine will have it; the Jewish Church, melting and sliding down as a glacier from the Mount of the Law, as another takes it. In a good sense we may take the earth of the Church, once frozen hard in coldness, but now softened by the south wind breathing upon it, to make it the LORD'S garden, that it may bear fruits and flowers for Him. Then we may explain dissolved as meaning melted by the fire of GOD'S love, so that all the inhabiters of the Church glide away from this world's affections, and flow into the Heart of CHRIST. I bear up the pillars of it. More precisely, I have poised, or, with the Vulgate, I have strengthened. The pillars are the Apostles, and all other elect, whom, once weak, CHRIST hath strengthened by His Resurrection, strengthened in love, strengthened by the seven gifts of the HOLY GHOST; whence it is written, "Wisdom hath builded her house, she hath hewn out her seven pillars." And on these pillars a copious rain of allegory is poured. "The Saints," observes one of themselves, "are fitly compared to pillars. For a pillar is tall, wherein is longsuffering; it is slender, denoting humility; it is level, without projecting, implying poverty; it is round, signifying eternity, which they desire." We should be strong as a pillar, in faith, remarks another; as straight, in equity; as erect, in intention; as lofty, in contemplation; as ready to bear up others, by words of comfort, by intercession of prayer, by example of action. And the Carmelite tells us that the seven columns are fear, piety, knowledge, fortitude, counsel, understanding, and wisdom, which he compares to pillars of cloud, gold, silver, iron, smoke, marble, and peace, supporting his similes by Scriptural references.

A. Ric. Victor. in Cant. 3. 5 I said unto the fools, Deal not so madly : and to the ungodly, Set not up your horn. 6 Set not up your horn on high : and speak not with a stiff neck. I said, speaking Myself in Paradise before the Fall, and since by My Prophets and Apostles through the HOLY GHOST, unto the fools, (Vulg., the unrighteous,) but they would neither hear while they stood, so as not to fall, nor yet when fallen, so as to rise again. Set not up your horn, by continuance in sin, resisting GOD. On high, not merely sinning, but boasting of the sin, or, at any rate, excusing it. And speak not with a stiff neck. So the Hebrew and Syriac; but the LXX. and Vulgate read, And speak not unrighteousness against God, which is, in fact, a gloss, rather than the text.

A. 7 For promotion cometh neither from the east, nor from the west : nor yet from the south. The word , here rightly translated promotion, or elevation, coming in the Hebrew at the close of the verse, is translated by the LXX. and Vulgate as hills, and joined with , rendered in the Prayer Book and A. V. as south, less exactly than in the margin of the latter, which reads desert. The whole verse runs thus, then, in the Vulgate: For neither from the east, nor from the west, nor from the desert hills; i. e., the chain of mountains lying to the south of Palestine. Almost the oldest gloss on this passage is that of Rabbi Ezra, followed by Euthymius, that it is a protest against the falsehoods of astrology and demonology, and a vindication of GOD's Providence as the sole Power which disposes of our destiny. Others, more happily, see here a prophecy of the Catholic Church, not to be bounded, like the Jewish, by limits of country or race. Again, taking it with reference to the Judgment, mentioned just before, it may well point out the impossibility of escaping in any direction from the hand of GOD. Of the sinner who strives to do so, we may well say with the heathen poet:

A. There is no place, says S. Augustine, whither thou mayest flee from GOD angry, save to GOD reconciled. Flee to Him. Again, they take the east of the elect, on whom the Sun of Righteousness arises in His glory; the west, of the evil, in whom His rays are quenched; and the desert hills of evil spirits, mountains, in their obstinate pride, desert, in being unvisited by the grace of God. And we may also take the desert hills of those preachers who, set on high in the Church, are unfruitful in their lives. Gerhohus, in his burning zeal against the simoniacs of his day, turns the text against them, and compares them to those mountains of Gilboa, cursed by withholding of rain and dew, because there the shield of the mighty was vilely cast away. All these, good and bad alike, must stand at the tribunal of CHRIST.

8 And why? God is the Judge: he putteth down one, and setteth up another. He putteth down one, as He did the Pharisee, who exalted himself, and was showing the Physician his whole members, not his wounds. He lifteth up another, who humbleth himself as did the Publican. He putteth down the Jew, and lifteth up the Gentile. Very aptly another heathen bard may here be cited: 9 For in the hand of the LORD there is a cup, and the wine is red: it is full mixed, and he poureth out of the same. 10 As for the dregs thereof, all the ungodly of the earth shall drink them, and suck them out. The Cup in the hand of the LORD is understood in the first place of His Law in Holy Scripture, full of good wine, which maketh glad the heart of man. The wine is red. These words we may well take in their deepest meaning, when the mysteries hidden in that Cup were poured forth in the blood-shedding of the Passion.

Cuspis arundinea Cum coronâ spineâ Sacra membra forat, Fundatori vinca Vina dat sanguinea, Naturaque plorat, Dum JESUS laborat. But this is not the Hebrew, which is, The wine foams, nor yet the LXX. and Vulgate reading, Full of pure wine, (LXX. οἴνου ἀκράτου, Vulg. vini meri) with mixture. This pure wine, continues S. Albert, is the spiritual meaning of Holy Writ, which God hath inclined from this [vessel] into that, (Vulg.,) G. Ric. Hamp. Ay. G. 2 Sam. i. 20. A. S. Luke xviii. 10. Ay. The Hymn Plange Sion filta.

to wit, taken from the Jews, and given to the Gentiles, as it is written, "The kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof. This spiritual sense is full of mixture, because the Old and New Testament are joined in the teaching of the Christian Church; unlike the Jews, who have only the Old, and the Manicheans, who admit but the New. As for the dregs thereof. The LXX. and Vulgate read here, The dregs thereof truly are not exhausted. That is, the mere carnal sense has not been poured out for the Church, but is left behind in the bottom of the cup, for sinners who refuse the good wine. And this holds especially of the Jews, clinging to mere typical and shadowy sacraments, while rejecting the substance. Again, the cup is explained of the judgments of God. Euthymius says that we must understand two cups here, one of pure wine, of the unmingled wrath of God; the other full of mixture, wherein the water of mercy tempers the draught. Both are in the hands of God, and He pours from one into the other, according as His judgments are to be lighter or heavier. But the dregs are never mingled. They are kept in their full strength for the finally impenitent.

Again, the mixed cup may well refer to the Last Judgment, with its mingled retribution of lifting up and casting down for the elect and the reprobate, to the former of whom it will be pure wine, sweet, though terrible, but to the latter dregs never to be emptied. Vieyra, in one of his noblest sermons, explains the cup of the terrors of hell. All sinners of the earth must drink of this cup; yet those who fear hell, not slavishly, nor because of its pains, but because God is blasphemed there, will drink only the pure and clear part of the cup; while those who dread the punishment, although loving the sin, must swallow the dregs. The Carthusian, after citing some of the previous explanations, gives yet another, following Hugh of S. Cher. He takes the pure wine of the unmingled gladness of the Saints in their country; the mixture, of their blended sorrow and comfort in their journey here, where they are scourged by the rod of God, even when supported by His staff. And, returning to that former explanation of the Passion, Vieyra, in another sermon, reminds us that the cup was pure wine, because of the perfect holiness of CHRIST; and it was full of mixture from our sins, which He took on Himself.

11 But I will talk of the God of Jacob: and praise him for ever. The Vulgate differs a little: But I will announce for evermore: I will sing unto the God of Jacob. They take the Probably reading , shall be found, instead of , shall suck out. first clause diversely, as meaning, I will continue to warn men of God's judgments, or else, I will declare the doctrine of CHRIST. And sing unto the God of Jacob, to the God of the supplanter, who wrestles against his sins till he overthrows them. Yes, and to the God of the younger son, Who gave him the inheritance which the elder brother despised. 12 All the horns of the ungodly also will I break: and the horns of the righteous shall be exalted.

They take it first, as is natural, of the pride and obstinacy of sinners, but pass on to more hidden meanings. Thus we are told that there were ten horns of the Jewish dispensation, to wit, the Patriarchs, Prophets, Judges, Kings, Priests, Levites, the Law, the Temple, Jerusalem, and the Messiah, all taken from them, and made over to the Gentile Church at the Coming of CHRIST. Again, the horns of the ungodly are the soul, body, wealth, power, knowledge, pleasure, and worldly wisdom of sinners, all of them vain to resist God. The horns of the righteous shall be exalted. Because, "in the midst of the throne, and of the four beasts, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God sent forth into all the earth." He Who is highly exalted is the "horn of salvation for us in the house of His servant David." Or, we may take the horns of the righteous to be faith, exalted to open vision; hope, to comprehension; charity, to full fruition. Again, the Carmelite understands the words of humility, typified by the bending of a beast's horns towards the earth; of gentleness and mercy, from the horns of oil wherewith kings were anointed; and of purity, because the horn, though derived, like the bone, from the flesh, is, unlike the bone, uncovered by flesh, and thus denotes those who while in the body live as though out of it. And we may find yet another explanation in the four corners or horns of the Cross, which, S. Bernard tells us, are patience, continence, prudence, and lowliness, all of them once lifted up on Calvary in the person of CHRIST, all to be lifted up to eternal glory in the persons of His Saints.

And therefore: Glory be to the FATHER, to Whom we say, Unto Thee, O God, do we give thanks; and to the SON, Who saith, When I receive the congregation, I shall judge according unto right, and all the horns of the ungodly will I break; and to the HOLY GHOST, by Whose gift the horns of the righteous shall be exalted for evermore. As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be: world without end. Amen. S. Luke i. 69. O Good Shepherd, Who, for the ransom of Thy mortal sheep, hast drunk the cup of the Passion; we humbly call upon Thy Name, that, stablishing us upon the pillars of wisdom, Thou wouldst strengthen us with the hallowing of Thy sevenfold SPIRIT. Through. O LORD, look mercifully on us who confess to Thee, that as the fear of punishment makes us contrite, so the love of pardon and the fulness of remission may gladden us. Through Thy mercy. (11.)

Unto Thee, O LORD, will we confess, yea, unto Thee will we confess our sins and offences, which are better known to Thee than disclosed by our acknowledgment. We therefore call upon Thy Name, that Thou mayest pardon our open misdeeds against Thee, and not be swift to execute vengeance upon our secret sins; but that, as Thou art appeased by the confession of the lowly, Thou mayest grant us remission of all our offences. Through Thy mercy. (11.) We confess to Thee, O GOD, we confess to Thee, with hearty repentance. Be gracious unto our sins, that, granting us pardon, Thou mayest make us worthy to call upon Thy holy Name, that we may, in thanksgiving for our salvation, sing to Thee, O GOD of Jacob, for evermore. (1.)

TITLE. To the Chief Musician on Neginoth. A Psalm or Song of Asaph. LXX. and Vulgate: To the end, in the praises, A Psalm of Asaph, a Song to the Assyrians. Chaldee Targum: For praising with praise, a Psalm and Song by the hand of Asaph. Arabic Psalter: A Song of Asaph for the Beloved. Or: To the Supreme, on the stringed instruments, a Psalm of Asaph, a Song.

Argument.ARG. THOMAS. That CHRIST was published by the preaching of the Apostles, not in Judea alone, but also in all the ends of the earth. The Voice of the Church to CHRIST. The Voice of the Church to CHRIST, or the Voice of the Prophets concerning the Nativity of CHRIST. Through the fast. VEN. BEDE. The Assyrians are interpreted the directing, since, taught by the rules of faith, they strive to walk in the right ways. These Asaph addresses, singing GOD'S praises with wonderful variety. Some copies have A song against the Assyrians, where it is understood that this psalm is sung against the devil, under the person of Sennacherib, King of the Assyrians, for against him the GOD of Israel was made known in Jewry, in CHRIST reconciling the world to Himself. Asaph in the first part addresses the directing, that is, the faithful Jews, stating where GOD'S Name is best made known by the declaration of His might. In Jewry is God known. In the second part, he tells the wondrous things which He hath wrought, Thou shining wondrously, (Vulg.) Thirdly, he warns all the devout that they should not cease to bring presents to GOD, Who ought to be feared, Who purifies the spirit of princes with His wholesome amendment. For the thought of man shall confess unto Thee, (Vulg.) And these sections are divided by Diapsalms.

SYRIAC PSALTER. Of Asaph, when Rabbath of the children of Ammon was wasted. Further, it denotes the vengeance of CHRIST'S judgment against the ungodly. S. ATHANASIUS. A Psalm of glorying in the LORD.

Various Uses.Gregorian. Thursday. Matins. [Maundy Thursday. III. Nocturn. Transfiguration. II. Nocturn.] Ambrosian. Tuesday of Second Week. I. Nocturn.

Antiphons.Gregorian. As preceding Psalm. [Maundy Thursday. The earth trembled and was still, when GOD arose to judgment. Transfiguration: Thou shining wondrously from the everlasting hills, all the foolish of heart were troubled. Parisian. As preceding Psalm. Monastic. In Israel * His Name is great. [Maundy Thursday. As Gregorian.] Ambrosian. As Psalm lxxii. Mozarabic. Thou shining wondrously * from the everlasting hills. 1 In Jewry is GOD known: his Name is great in Israel. 2 At Salem is his tabernacle: and his dwelling in Sion. The first words of this Psalm, observes S. Augustine, form a favourite boast of the Jews, as denoting not only that God is known in Judea, but that He is unknown elsewhere. And the boast is true, only not in their sense. For it holds good only of the spiritual Judah, not of that which is merely in circumcision and in the letter. For the very name of Jew is derived from the royal house of Judah, and when the Jewish people rebelled against the Son of David, and declared, "We

A. have no king but Cæsar," the sceptre and the knowledge of God passed from them to another people. It is, then, of the Christian Church we must understand the words, where God the Son is known with that knowledge which comes not of flesh and blood, but is revealed by our Heavenly FATHER. God is known, then, in His Apostles and Martyrs, known in His Confessors, known in all true Christians. For them who deny God by word or deed, though God may be known to them, yet He is not known in them. His Name is great in Israel. Israel, continues S. Augustine, is "he that sees God;" wherefore we cannot take it of those who took Him to be only a Man, when He walked in the flesh amongst them, and so slew Him, but must apply to those who see Him with the eye of faith. He is a true Israelite, adds Gerhohus, who wrestles with God, ever saying to Him, "I will not let Thee go, except Thou bless me." And this wrestling must be that of prayers and tears, struggling against the law of sin in our members, till we win the victory through assisting grace.

A. The Christian Church is called Judah first, say they, because Judah means "confession," and thus denotes the acknowledgment of sin, and the commencement of the active life; and then Israel, as seeing God, because purified from sin, and therefore rising to the contemplative life of meditation and praise. At Salem is His tabernacle, and His dwelling in Sion. All the old versions, as well as the two English ones, have missed one especial force of this passage. There is no direct reference in words to any human habitation, but to the lair of the Lion of Judah. The word does not only mean his tabernacle, but his covert, and is so translated in another place, "He hath forsaken his covert, as the lion;" and the vaguer word which succeeds may well be translated by "den," or some equivalent phrase. The LXX. and Vulgate, reading, truly enough, His place was in peace, have yet lost sight of two noteworthy points: first, the parallel between Salem and Sion, answering to that of the previous verse, Judah and Israel; and next, that the word Salem instead of Jerusalem occurs but twice elsewhere in all

Holy Writ—once where Melchizedek is named as its king, and again when the Apostle is referring to that history. We are brought thus at once to the contemplation of that Lion of His people, Who is also the High Priest for ever after the order of Melchisedek, King of Salem, Prince of Peace. His

leafy covert is indeed only in Salem, the Land of Peace, where in His garden He eats His pleasant fruits, and feedeth among the lilies; but yet He dwells in Sion, the place of expectation, by His Sacramental Presence with His Church on earth. Gerhohus (as well as S. Bruno) has dwelt on this contrasted meaning, and, translating His shade (umbraculum) is in Salem, tells us of that shadow of the Most Highest which hovers over the peaceful soul, that it may rest there. Then he quotes as a parallel passage the words, "The LORD, Whose fire is in Zion, and His furnace in Jerusalem; that is, as he explains it, the full vision of peace will be a furnace of perfect love, admitting no check, no waning; but as to the fire of our love in the earthly Sion, it is well with us if it be not actually quenched, but can be kept alive day by day, according to that precept of the Law, "The fire upon the altar shall be burning in it; it shall not be put out; and the priest shall burn wood on it every morning. His place is in peace. And that it may be with us, we must be at war with the world, with the devil, and with ourselves. So, warring externally and internally, we shall yet be at peace with GOD, in that peace which passeth all understanding;

which begins with confession, and with abandonment of that quarrel of ours against Him which lasts so long as we seek to please ourselves. And His dwelling in Sion. Because He abides with those who look for Him, and dwells in their hearts. They add a touching explanation of this verse, taking it of CHRIST'S burial at Jerusalem. He was persecuted from the cradle to the grave, and there only was the malice of His enemies baffled; so that He was left in peace in Sion, in that new tomb of Joseph of Arimathea, where His rest was glorious.

A. 3 There brake he the arrows of the bow : the shield, the sword, and the battle. There. He had four resting-places, in each of which He destroyed some weapon of the enemy. In the Virgin's womb He cast down pride; in the manger, riches; in the Cross, the power of the prince of this world; in the grave, death. There, in that perfect peace where He now dwells, where there is no more sound of strife. A. Summe pacatis, Semper feriatis In thronis vera Requies est mea. The Hymn, In urbe meii. The arrows of the bow. The Vulgate has the powers of the bow; Cassiodorus, the horns. All fall short of the Hebrew, which is, the lightnings of the bow, a metaphor derived either from the swiftness of the arrow, or from the flashing of its point in flight. The literal sense of the whole passage appears to refer to the overthrow of Sennacherib's army, and it is most significant to read in the old Greek historian how that monarch's forces were routed by mice devouring by night their quivers, their bow-strings, and their shield-straps, leaving them defenceless and weaponless.

Mystically, there are many explanations given. The horns of the bow, comments Cassiodorus, denote the malice C. of the proud, whereby they inflict wounds and hurt on others: the shield implies evil plottings and combinations, the sword open and violent wrong-doing, the battle all that makes against God's peace. Again, the arrows of the bow, striking from a distance, signify craft; as it is written, "They bend their tongues like their bow, for lies." The shield is excuse or defence of sin; the sword, evil suggestions, piercing even to the heart; and war, the struggle against holiness, which will end when men submit to be taught by the Saints, and to be subject to God. Wherefore is written, "Neither shall they learn war any more." Once more: the arrows denote sudden pleasure in an unexpected sin, often slaying the soul; the shield a perverse will, arming itself to defend its vices; the sword is sinful act; the battle, the habit of evil-doing.

4 Thou art of more honour and might: than the hills of the robbers. This rendering, as well as that of the A. V., is incorrect. The true meaning of the passage is, Thou art shining mightily from the mountains of prey. It is still the Lion of Judah, leaping with a terrible bound from the mountains upon His enemies, and returning to His lair with His booty. The LXX. and Vulgate are nearer: they read, Thou art enlightening wondrously from the everlasting mountains. And they take it first of Him Who is the Light of the world, shining in it wondrously by the preaching of His mountains, the Apostles, whence the rays descend to the lowlier valleys of mankind. S. Gregory the Great carries us back further, and sets before us in long array the holy lives of the Fathers of the elder dispensation, receding from our view like a great mountain chain. Or it may be taken of the Angels whom God has appointed as ministering spirits, and especially those whom He sends as guardians to each human soul. And, finally, some take the everlasting hills to denote the heavens, whence God shines by His sending gladness and succour to darkened souls on earth.

5 The proud are robbed, they have slept their sleep: and all the men whose hands were mighty have found nothing. P. The mystical reference at once suggested by these words is to the Resurrection of CHRIST, when the proud Roman legionaries who watched at the sepulchre were spoiled, and the chief priests and scribes, those men whose hands were mighty to do evil, found nothing but the empty tomb: for He Whom they guarded was even then shining wondrously in the glory of His risen Body. But though this sense may fairly be got out of the Hebrew, which is, more exactly, as A. G. S. Greg. Mag. Mor. xxvii. 10. Didymus. D. C. Z.

in the A. V., The stouthearted are spoiled; they have slept their sleep, and none of the men of might have found their hands, (still referring to the nocturnal overthrow and disarming of Sennacherib's host,) it is not to be drawn from the LXX. and Vulgate, which read, All the foolish in heart were troubled: they have slept their sleep, and all the men of wealth have found nothing in their hands. They were troubled at the preaching of the Gospel, with its warnings of temperance, righteousness, and judgment to come; troubled as the Athenians were when Paul preached on Mars' Hill; but they continued to sleep in the pleasures of this life, wherein only they took delight; and when the waking came for them, the vain show of their wealth vanished, they found nothing in their hands, because they had put nothing into the hands of CHRIST, had not given alms to the poor, nor laid up treasure in heaven like Zaccheus the Publican. They have slept their sleep, even when waking; for, sleeping or waking, in all their life they sought their own gain, and glory, and pleasure, not the things of JESUS CHRIST. The Saints sleep their sleep too, slumbering to sin and to the world, as it is written, "I sleep, but my heart waketh." Men of wealth. Wealth which is gathered here, and left here; which we, therefore, call a dream, not an inheritance. Wealth which we sum up in the old distich:

Somnus, bulla, vitrum, glacies, flos, fabula, fœnum, Umbra, cinis, punctum, vox, sōnus, aura, nihil. A. 6 At thy rebuke, O GOD of Jacob: both the chariot and horse are fallen. The A. V., agreeing with the version of S. Jerome, completes the sentence with the words, into a dead sleep. The other old versions read, They who mounted on horses have slept. The primary reference is to the death-sleep of Sennacherib's warriors: For the Angel of Death spread his wings on the blast, And breathed in the face of the foe as he passed; And the eyes of the sleepers waxed deadly and chill, And their hearts but once heaved, and for ever grew still. And there lay the steed with his nostril all wide, But through it there rolled not the breath of his pride; And the foam of his gasping lay white on the turf, And cold as the spray of the rock-beating surf.

And there lay the rider distorted and pale, With the dew on his brow and the rust on his mail; And the tents were all silent, the banners alone, The lances unlifted, the trumpet unblown. Who are they that mount on horses? They who will not be humble. It is no sin to ride, but it is a sin to be stiff-necked A. Adam. Victorin. The Sequence, Herimundus exultavit.

against GOD, and to count oneself as honourable. Because thou art rich, thou hast mounted; GOD rebukes, and thou sleepest. Terrible is the wrath of that rebuker, yea, terrible is His wrath. Mark the awful truth. Rebuke involves sound, and sound is wont to rouse men. But such is the weight of GOD's rebuke, that the Psalmist says, At Thy rebuke, O God of Jacob, they who mounted on horses have slept. Behold what Pharaoh's sleep was, when he mounted. For his heart watched not, but was hardened at rebuke. Hardness of heart is sleep. I pray you, brethren, consider how they sleep who still refuse to condemn their old life, and wake to the new, when the Gospel, and Amen, and Alleluia are sounding through the whole world. GOD's Scripture was once in Jewry; now it is chanted through the whole world. In that one nation it was said that there is One GOD, Who made all things to be adored and worshipped. Now where is He unnamed? CHRIST hath risen. He Who was mocked on the Cross hath now set that very Cross whereon He was mocked on the brows of kings, and yet men sleep. GOD's wrath, my brethren, is great. Better for us who have heard Him Who saith, "Awake, thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and CHRIST shall give thee light." The spiritual Assyrians, under their king Antichrist, riding on the black horses of lying and the pale ones of envy, shall be cast into the deep sleep of the second death at the last day. But there are other riders who go out under that Captain, Whose Name is "Faithful and True," on the white steeds of chastity and the red ones of Martyrdom; who, when vexed by scorn and torture in this world, yet have their rest in Him; "for so He giveth His beloved sleep."

In CHRISTO sic obdormivit, Qui CHRISTO sic obedivit, Et cum CHRISTO semper vivit, Martyrum primitiæ. 7 Thou, even thou art to be feared : and who may stand in thy sight when thou art angry? S. Greg. Mag. Mor. in Job ix. The answer at first is, No one. For those sinners who, as S. Stephen said, "do always resist the HOLY GHOST," can make no effectual struggle against Him. But His Saints do stand in His sight when He is angry. So Moses stood, pleading for sinful Israel; so Aaron stood, with his censer between the living and the dead; so Phinehas, when in his zeal he executed judgment with his spear; so David, when he offered himself to the destroying angel; so Elijah, when he called down the rain. But they do it not in their own strength. He supplies the weapons against Himself, by His merciful grace infused into their souls. When Thou art angry. The words have a special meaning, explained by the following verses:

8 Thou didst cause thy judgment to be heard from heaven : the earth trembled, and was still, 9 When God arose to judgment : and to help all the meek upon earth. They take it, for the most part, of the Last Day. To be heard from heaven, by the trumpet of the Archangel, sounding to the doom. The earth, all earthly and unholy souls, must then indeed tremble, and, utterly put to silence, unable to plead, must be still, when God the Son in His Majesty shall arise to judgment. There is no comment on these words so deep as the awful stanzas of Thomas of Celano: The Sequence, Dies Irae.

There are other ways also of looking at the passage, besides that literal one which sees here some fresh detail of the Assyrian overthrow. They remind us how, when the Judge ascended the tribunal of the Cross, and spoke His decision in the words, "It is finished," there was the stillness of the three hours' darkness, the trembling of the great earthquake, when the rocks were rent, and many bodies of the Saints arose. They tell us, too, of the time when He arose, yet more gloriously, from the tomb; "and behold, there was a great earthquake, for the Angel of the LORD descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door, and sat upon it." And observe the reason given for the LORD's so arising to judgment, whether we take it of the Passion, the Resurrection, or the Last Day. It is not to show His power, not for the sake of vengeance, but to help all the meek upon earth, because the especial office of CHRIST is to be the Redeemer of mankind, whence also He is called JESUS. When He appears again, "Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth." Lorinus aptly cites lines meant for a very different monarch:

And he stops there. Better had he carried on the quotation: 10 The fierceness of man shall turn to thy praise: and the fierceness of them shalt thou refrain.

The latter clause of the verse is rather, with the remainder of wrath Thou shalt gird Thyself. And the whole meaning of the verse is then that the display of God's might humbles His enemies, till they are compelled to praise Him, and that He binds all their power, so that they can only move at His will. It is the history of S. Paul's conversion, and of many a sinner since, turned from fierceness and wrath, to be CHRIST's true servant, bound closely to Him for ever. But the LXX. and Vulgate read, For the thought of man shall confess to Thee, and the remainder of [his] thought shall keep festival unto Thee. The interpretation, however, is not dissimilar, as many will have it that the words refer to God's enemies, first led to confession of His Name and their sins, and then devoting themselves to His service and glory. Many, however, especially of the Greek Fathers, explain it of the Last Judgment, when every secret thought of man's heart must be disclosed to the Judge. The show and pomp of that Great Day make it a festival, and the remainder of our thoughts are here specified, because all will then come out, even those suggestions and temptations of the evil one which had no effect, but were cast aside. S. Bernard, following up a hint of S.

Augustine, takes it of David, and then of any preacher of righteousness, giving out from his stores of learning all that the people can take in to make them confess God, and turning all his other acquirements, which are too abstruse for them, to his own use, that he may rejoice and praise the LORD. And, to omit many other explanations of this most difficult passage, we may end with Vieyra's quaint comment: that the thought refers to the conscious mental acts of waking life, the remainder of thought to the visions of gladness which God sometimes grants to His chosen servants in their sleep.

11 Promise unto the LORD your God, and keep it, all ye that are round about him: bring presents unto him that ought to be feared. The Vulgate begins this verse with the word Vow. And the Latin Fathers take it accordingly of all the solemn religious engagements into which Christians enter, as the Baptismal vow, and the marriage bond, of chastity, poverty, obedience, almsgiving, and the like, distinguishing them into two classes, those necessary for all, and those profitable for some. And they dwell at length on the obligation of such promises. The matter is tersely stated by one who acted up A. Serm. 62 in Cant. A. Arnobius. to the vows he had made: "To vow, is matter of choice, to keep the vow, matter of necessity." All ye that are round about Him. Not Pagans nor heretics, observes Cassiodorus, but only those who have the right to be round about His Altar when they bring presents unto Him. All holy men are round about Him, says the Greek monk, "for where two or three are gathered together in My Name, there am I in the midst of them." The Carmelite adds that we must here include the Angels also, who stand "round about the throne," and that the truest present we can bring is that of which the Apostle tells us, "I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of GOD, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto GOD, which is your reasonable service."

12 He shall refrain the spirit of princes: and is wonderful among the kings of the earth. For shall refrain, the Vulgate reads takes away. They explain it first of GOD's dealings with rulers like Pharaoh, Sennacherib, and Nebuchadnezzar, and indeed any who are proud in heart, and presume to set their wills against Him. Or, in a good sense, He refrains and checks the spirit of His princes, those saintly men whom He makes captains in His army, He is wonderful or terrible amongst those kings of the earth who have conquered their own earthly bodies and keep them in subjection for His dear sake. To them indeed those words of another Psalm apply, "Be wise now therefore, O ye kings; be learned, ye that are judges of the earth," because in His Saints, kings to be crowned with gold in their Master's kingdom, judges to be His co-assessors on the throne of heaven, He is wonderful and terrible too: for "if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear?"

A. Glory be to the FATHER, known in the carnal Jewry; glory be to the SON, known in the spiritual Jewry, Whose Name is great in Israel; glory be to the HOLY GHOST, Who is that Light wherewith Thou, O GOD, shinest wondrously from the everlasting hills. As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be: world without end. Amen.

Collects.Grant, O awful GOD, effectual working to the thoughts which confess Thee, that we, enlightened from the everlasting Ludolph. hills, may, while we look for the glory of Thy Resurrection, be free from shame in the Judgment to come. Who livest. To Thee, O GOD the FATHER, the thought of Thine Onlybegotten maketh confession; while His Manhood, by lowly obedience, brings back to Thee that which Adam lost through pride. Therefore vouchsafe to bruise our hearts, that by Thy training we may keep this solemn season fitly unto Thee. Amen. Through. (11.) O CHRIST, SON of GOD, Whose dwelling is mighty in Sion, turn our hearts unto Thee, that set on its watch-tower, we may in faith confess that Thou wast beaten, scourged, and condemned to death for us; that Thou, Who in time didst suffer for the ungodly, mayest be praised throughout eternity by the faithful. Amen. Through. (11.)

O GOD, the Searcher of deeds and hearts, to Whom every thought of man maketh confession, strengthen the weakness of our minds by the might of Thy blessing, that we may think such things as be just and holy, and by a good life pay our faithful vows to Thee, our LORD GOD. Through.

TITLE: To the Chief Musician, to Jeduthun, A Psalm of Asaph. LXX. and Vulgate: To the end, for Idithun, A Psalm of Asaph. Chaldee Targum: For praise, by the hand of Jeduthun, a Psalm of Asaph.

Argument.ARG. THOMAS. That CHRIST alone worketh great marvels. The Voice of CHRIST to the FATHER. VEN. BEDE. Asaph denotes the congregation of the good. Idithun, the leaper over secular things; the end, that of them who advance in CHRIST. All this Psalm is sung by the faithful congregation which, leaping over the sins of this world with glorious steps, comes to that end; nought like which can be found. But it should be known that in the Hebrew it is By Jeduthun, not For Jeduthun, that it may signify that the Psalm, was not sung for him, but by him, and that which follows, A Psalm of Asaph, is not found in the true copies. This Asaph, whom we have said to be the leaper over sins, in the first statement of the Psalm testifies that he cried unto the LORD, and that he was taught by his troubles. I cried unto the Lord with my voice. In the second place, he counts up the thoughts which throb in hearts labouring in this world. Thou holdest mine eyes waking. In the third part he alleges that by the Divine goodness he was changed to a better tone of thought, so as to ponder steadfastly on the works and power of GOD, by constant attention to which things it is known that he profited. And I said. Fourthly; he proceeds to tell how divine wonders were wrought among the people by the LORD the SAVIOUR. The waters saw Thee, O God.

SYRIAC PSALTER. Of Asaph, concerning the longsuffering and wonders of GOD, and how David overcame the LORD'S enemies.

Various Uses.Ambrosian. Tuesday of Second Week. II. Nocturn.

Antiphons.Gregorian. Thou art the GOD * that doest wonders. [Maundy Thursday. In the day of my trouble I sought the LORD with my hands.] Monastic. The same. Parisian. What is man, O LORD, that Thou art mindful of him; or the son of man, that Thou visitest him? Ambrosian. I remembered GOD * and was glad. Lyons. Be merciful * to our sins, O LORD. Mozarabic. In the time of my trouble I sought the LORD * with my hands by night before Him, and I was not deceived. 1 I will cry unto GOD with my voice: even unto GOD will I cry with my voice, and he shall hearken unto me.

It matters little whether we read the verse thus, or, with the Vulgate, in the past tense throughout. Either way it represents to us the sure hope of a faithful soul in the promises of GOD. With my voice. And they note the stress on my voice. They who pray must do it for themselves, must do it with the articulate, intelligent voice of a man, not with the inarticulate sound of a beast, must direct their petition to GOD Himself. And hence it is laid down by all Canonists that a cleric or religious who is bound to the recitation of certain offices does not satisfy his obligation by being merely present while another is reciting them, without taking any more direct share himself, nor yet by silently reading the service, nor even by hasty and muttered recitation. He must cry to GOD with his voice, for "with the mouth confession is made unto salvation." Hence the words are repeated in the verse, because in all true prayer there is first a silent cry of the heart, which later finds utterance in sound. So it is written that "the LORD said to Moses, Wherefore criest thou unto Me?" though Moses had spoken no word. Who is the I that cried? It is spoken, they answer, of the mystical Adam, the type of mankind, crying from the creation till David, from David to CHRIST, and always to the Lord, as asking nothing save Himself, that He should be our God and Master. And He heard me. How?

The Hymn Te Christe Patris Fi-lium. In fine namque sæculi Constituit incarnari Suum natum unicum Lumen de lumine verum. Qui hominem redimeret Et paradiso redderet, Unde est ejectus A serpente quum deceptus. 2 In the time of my trouble I sought the LORD: my sore ran, and ceased not in the night season; my soul refused comfort. Ay. That time of trouble is the whole of our earthly life, but C. the Saints, instead of wasting it in vain complaints and angry murmurs, turn at once to God from their sorrows, and cast their burden on Him. The Vulgate has the day of trouble. Ay. And they point out how it is the day, as being the time for work, and because sorrow clears and enlightens the soul. S. Alb. Mag. My sore ran. This is certainly not the meaning of the passage. The Hebrew literally is: My hand was poured out: a metaphor denoting the act of stretching out. The LXX. and Vulgate therefore give the sense, though not in its fulness, by reading, I sought the Lord with my hands before Him in the night, as it were groping eagerly for Him in the dark. S. S. Hieron. Jerome and Symmachus agree in reading my hand was Orig. Hexap. stretched out. It is the action of prayer that is implied, but they add that good works also are here signified, and es-D. C. pecially those of almsgiving. And they remind us how the doubting Apostle stretched out his hands to CHRIST when he Sp. cxxi. 13. was yet in the night of unbelief, and, touching Him, said, A. "My LORD and my GOD." In the night season. We call S. John xx. this life night, to distinguish it from the brightness of the

28. heavenly day. It is night till the day shines in the glorious Ay. coming of our LORD JESUS CHRIST. Would you see that it is A. night? If we had not a lantern here, we should have been in darkness. For Peter saith: "We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light shining in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts." 2 S. Pet. i. 19. Hugo, Pia Desid. i. 1. Et dixi tam sæpe, Nitesce, nitesce, meus Sol! Sol mihi tam longos obtenebrare dies. Exorere, exorere, et medios saltem exere vultus, Vel scintilla tui sola sat esse potest? Quin etiam tanti si luminis abnuis usum, Sufficiet radios expetiisse tuos. Ceased not. The LXX. and Vulgate read, And I was not deceived. By whom? By GOD, they reply for the most part, "for He is faithful that promised," and He answered my prayer. By any snare or deceit of the devil, trying to distract my attention from prayer, is the wise comment of one Saint. My soul refused comfort. That is, earthly comfort, for he estranges himself from the kingdom of heaven who seeks comfort here. And that because, as S. Bernard observes, heavenly consolation is fastidious, and will not be granted to those who accept any other. And therefore, Gerhohus is at some pains to dwell here on fasting as an element of the spiritual life, and the fit preparation for all the great Christian festivals.

Gl. in loc. 3 When I am in heaviness, I will think upon God: when my heart is vexed, I will complain. This rendering does not agree either with the Hebrew or the Vulgate. The literal sense is: I will think upon God, and will groan, I will ponder, and my spirit fainteth. The Vulgate reads: I remembered the Lord, and was glad: I was exercised, [sc. in prayer] and my spirit failed. Having turned from all earthly comfort, finding no help there, I fixed my thoughts on God only, and found true pleasure there. The LXX. reading, for I was exercised, is ἡδολέσχησα, which in classical Greek, is used in a bad sense, I prated. And so S. Augustine translates it garrivi. The spiritual joy of God's presence has been too much for the newly-converted sinner, he speaks too fluently and eagerly of holy things, and thus exhausts his feelings, so that his spirit faints. Others, keeping to the truer sense of meditation, explain this fainting of the spirit to denote the utter failure of man's powers to penetrate the deep things of God. Or it may be taken of the sudden collapse of the soul when it turns even for an instant from the contemplation of divine things to indulge any earthly thought. And so, one writing on the Song of Songs cites this passage, adding, "Does not the Bride seem to tell thee this, when she draws her Beloved to the secret chamber? 'I held Him, and would not let Him go, until I had brought Him into my mother's house.' She knew that she could not keep her Beloved abroad, either surely or wholly. And how hard it is for one that loves to halve the mind between CHRIST and the world! How hard it is, I say, to admit alien cares to the privileges of love, and to trouble the heavenly secret with worldly strife."

A. Gilb. de Hoyl. Serm. xi. in Cant. Cant. iii. 4. 4 Thou holdest mine eyes waking: I am so feeble, that I cannot speak. This verse also differs from the Vulgate, which is, Mine eyes have prevented the watches, I was troubled and spake not. Others may be content with taking their single turn of duty, I know the peril too well, and must myself see every A. guard relieved, "at even, or at midnight, or at the cock-crowing, or in the morning." And that is the best watch which is joined with fasting, as it is written, "Watching for riches consumeth the flesh." There is another reading here. Mine enemies have prevented the watches, warning us of the ceaseless vigilance of our spiritual foes. I was troubled at the thought of my sins, and spake not, for very shame in the presence of GOD, even to pray, far less to excuse myself, or to lay the blame on others, or, again, to seek for any human consoler.

5 I have considered the days of old : and the years that are past. G. The days of old, say they, refer to the time gone by in this world from Adam's fall, during which all things become old and frail, and the years that are past, or, as the Vulgate reads, the eternal years, to the unchangeable life for which man was created, where youth is perennial, and to that other awful existence, which is not life, but death for evermore. D. C. The literal sense, referring to the history of GOD's dealings with His people, as profitable for study, because showing that He ever helped His Saints, is adopted by the Greek Fathers. Z. But best and dearest of all is that interpretation which leads us to see here the contemplation of Him Who is the Ancient L. of Days, Whose years shall not fail. My GOD! how wonderful Thou art, Thy Majesty how bright, How beautiful Thy Mercy-seat In depths of burning light!

How dread are Thine eternal years, O everlasting LORD! By prostrate spirits, day and night, Incessantly adored! How beautiful, how beautiful, The sight of Thee must be, Thine endless wisdom, boundless power, And awful purity! 6 I call to remembrance my song : and in the night I commune with mine own heart, and search out my spirits.

L. They take the song literally, as denoting some psalm which Asaph had once composed, and now recalled for his own consolation. It would be better to explain it of meditation on Him of whom it is written, "The LORD is my strength and song." The word is entirely omitted by the LXX. and Vulgate, which read merely I remembered, construed with the previous verse, and then, I meditated in the night with my heart, and pondered. Where, note, that the meditations of righteous and unrighteous men differ in this, that the unrighteous think of all the good they have done, and forget the evil, whereas the righteous remember and weep over their past sins, and do not think of the good works they have done, but of those which remain for them to do. And they observe how the verse marks the thoroughness of this meditation. It is in the night, with no disturbance or distraction, with my heart, not with any companion, nor yet with the powers of the head alone. And pondered, denoting that time was taken over the task. Then, after all this self-examination, comes the practical result. I hoed out my spirit (ἕσκαλλον) i.e., its weeds, say the LXX. I swept out my spirit (scopebam) as with a broom, as the Vulgate takes it. And that broom, say they, is sincere confession of sin. That is the sweeping of the house which must precede its garnishing. Cardinal Hugo points out the resemblance between a broom and confession in the following lines, after urging that the passage relates only to venial sins, like the dust of the pavement, not to such deeper ones as have to be dug out of the soul:—

De virgis pannis, loca plana, noti vice verrit, Dum purgat, fœdat, pellit pulices, et arachnem, Scopa juvatur aquis, sonat, ferit, et lavat aras. But all this is insufficient to content the soul which longs for the coming of CHRIST, whether it be looking forward, like Asaph, to His manifestation in the flesh, or desiring His closer union with itself, as all that love Him do. And thus there follows: 7 Will the Lord absent himself for ever: and will he be no more intreated? 8 Is his mercy clean gone for ever: and is his promise come utterly to an end for evermore? 9 Hath God forgotten to be gracious: and will he shut up his loving-kindness in displeasure?

Will the Lord absent Himself? For absent, the A.V. more correctly reads with the Vulgate, cast off. That is, observes the Gloss, let man go, when man has cast himself off by his sins. Or, reject the prayers of the penitent, by refusing him the grace necessary to draw him back. And if He do it for a time, will He also do it for ever? He has done it for a time, in that He said, "Dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return. He does it for a time still, in that He does not give us such a measure of grace as that we cannot fall. But He will not cast off for ever, because the time comes when He will be intreated, or, as the Vulgate reads, He will yet add to be more pleased. That will be, continues the CarG. melite, in our country, when He will so stablish us that we can fall no more. That is already, more deeply says the Abbat of Reichensperg, for He Who in His just wrath cast off Adam for disobedience, hath recalled us to life by the obedience of one Man, and promising that He would be appeased by one of the seed of Abraham He fulfilled His pledge when He said, "This is My Beloved Son, in Whom I am well pleased. S. Matt. iii. 17. Is His mercy clean gone for ever? That mercy is the Incarnation, promised by the voice of the Prophets, but still unrevealed when the Psalmist spake.

This is the promise, or, as the Syriac reads, the Word, which cannot fail. The Vulgate omits this phrase, and instead of evermore, reads G. with the A. V. thus: from generation to generation. The Mother of God will answer the question so put: "His mercy S. Luke i. 50. is on them that fear Him from generation to generation," L. upon the elder Hebrew son and the younger Gentile one alike. L. Forgotten. The word teaches us that God has begun to be gracious, so that our prayer is not that He should now first B. show Himself thus, but that He should carry on and complete His mercy, not shutting up its riches from mankind in His displeasure at the guilt of original sin. They answer Hugo Vict. S. Bonaventura. readily that God's mercy is greater than His anger, that He sends four blessings to counteract the three evils which befall man. Two outward troubles come on man, loss of goods or sickness of body. One inner sorrow, the worm of conscience, is added to them. But God's four consolations surpass them, quiet enjoyment of temporal blessings, health of body, peace of conscience, and the sweetness of everlasting joy, so that He gives more in His graciousness than in His displeasure.

10 And I said, It is mine own infirmity: but I will remember the years of the right hand of the most Highest. O true medicine for the weakness of doubt! How better can we learn that it is only our own infirmity which makes us question the perfect love of God towards us, than by remembering the long and sorrowful three-and-thirty years which He, Who is the Right Hand of the Most Highest, spent in the form of a servant, that He might seek and save that which was lost? Not descending but for a moment, like His angelic messengers, but abiding Himself in His patience to help our infirmity. The Hymn, Apparuit benignitas. He sent no Angel to our race, Of higher or of lower place, But wore the robe of human frame, And He Himself to this world came. Nor willed He only to appear; His pleasure was to tarry here; And God and Man with us would be The space of thirty years and three.

But this meaning, beautiful as it is, cannot be extracted from the Hebrew, nor from the old Versions. The passage is of extreme difficulty, and stands thus, literally, according to one reading: It is my suffering, the changing of the right hand of the Most High: and according to another, the years of the right hand of the Most High. The former is the sense adopted by the Targum and by the Syriac Psalter, and the intention there is to say, "It is for my sin, and in order to convert me, that the Hand of God is changed from working great marvels to deliver me from my enemies, as of old, to the chastisement of my offence. If the word be taken to mean years, instead of change, the intention will be nearly the same, as the passage will then run, "My sorrow comes from meditating on the years of God's right hand, those years of old when He helped Israel whom He now chastises. The LXX. and Vulgate read thus: And I said, Now have I begun, this is the change of the right hand of the Most High. He says, I have begun my course towards God, and this is the changing of His right hand, because He has begun to change me, and to bring me into a secure place, where no enemy need be feared.

I have begun to understand that which was too deep for me before, how God's mercy is greater than His anger, and that by the changing of the Eternal Word, the Right Hand of the Most Highest, into the likeness of sinful man, and yet more, His changing me by washing me from my sins. Now, indeed, I have begun for the first time to live a spiritual life, to understand wisely, to know truly, going on the way of perfection, and beginning as it were afresh each day: changed from darkness to light, from sin to holiness, from carnal and animal to spiritual things, by the loving help and merciful presence of the Most High God.

11 I will remember the works of the LORD : and call to mind thy wonders of old time. 12 I will think also of all thy works : and my talking shall be of thy doings. They take it of all God's works, of seeing His goodness and beauty in the whole creation, and then, more particularly, of His dealings with the Patriarchs and the children of Israel. The Carmelite limits it yet further, explaining it chiefly of those signs which were types of the Incarnation, as the burning bush, Aaron's rod, and Gideon's fleece, and then of the wondrous mysteries of grace disclosed in the Passion and Death of the Redeemer. 13 Thy way, O God, is holy : who is so great a God as our God? The Prayer Book version weakens the first clause, which the A. V. renders better, Thy way is in the sanctuary. Of

A. this way we have already spoken under Ps. lxviii. 24. We may refer it further to the visions of the Revelation, showing the Lamb of GOD at one time close to the golden altar before the throne, and at another in the mystic procession on Mount Sion, followed by the white-robed Virgin escort. That is His way, as He moves, Priest at once and Victim, in the ritual of heaven. Tibull. 2. i. 15. A. But the interpretation of the present passage by the Fathers is somewhat different. They take it. Thy way is in the Holy One, in Him Who said, "I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life: no man cometh unto the FATHER but by Me." Then, His way will be in every holy soul which is conformed to CHRIST, which goes in the paths of righteousness opened by His example. CHRIST the Man is the Way, CHRIST the GOD is our Country. CHRIST is the Way in His lowliness, the Country in His Divinity. The Way, by which we come; the Country, to which we go. Who is so great a God, in all nobleness, wisdom, beauty, majesty, blessedness, holiness, sweetness, as our God, Who is Three in Persons, One in substance? None, most surely, for GOD, Most High and Blessed, excels all else incomparably, infinitely. "To whom then will ye liken Me, or shall I be equal? saith the Holy One."

Alfa e Omega, principio, mezzo, e fine, Altissimo creator di ciascuno, Amore immenso, le due divine Persone leghi tu, trino sol uno; A te, per te, gloria senza fine, O infinito sommo ben comuno Da tutti gloriosi triunfanti E dagli eletti quaggiù militanti. Bontà eterna, bontà infinita, Bontà increata, o bontà perfetta, Bellezza somma, bellezza inaudita, Bellezza immensa, a la qual suggetta, Ogni bellezza e bontà finita, Solo in te si ripos' e diletta, Bontà superna, bellezza divina, A te, per te, gloria senza fina. 14 Thou art the GOD that doeth wonders: and hast declared thy power among the people. Wonders in the land of Egypt, by overcoming Pharaoh, as it is written, "For this cause have I raised thee up, for to show in thee My power; and that My Name may be declared throughout all the earth:" greater wonders under the Gospel by restoring sight to the blind, hearing to the deaf, health to the sick; and marvels yet stranger than these wrought on men's souls, making the drunken sober, idolaters believing, plunderers charitable to the poor. And all this by His power, to wit, "CHRIST the power of GOD, and the wisdom of GOD," preached and declared amongst the people which are called, Jews and Greeks alike. And to all lowly hearers since, who are not of the great ones, but are of the people, and among them, yet are none the less capable of receiving the Word.

1 Cor. i. 24. 15 Thou hast mightily delivered thy people : even the sons of Jacob and Joseph. The A. V. more correctly reads, as does the Vulgate, Thou hast with Thine arm redeemed Thy people. That arm is the Only-begotten SON, the "Arm of the LORD revealed" to all the faithful, the arm stretched out once over Egypt to destroy, stretched out later upon the Cross to save. And it is well said, the sons of Jacob and Joseph, teaching us that He saved two peoples, distinct, though sprung from the same stock. Jacob denotes the believing children of Israel, Joseph the Gentile Church, hated, rejected, sold into bondage by its elder brethren, humbled, imprisoned, and then exalted and throned, a fitting type of Him Who is the Head of that Church, Who, suffering again in His Martyrs, is crowned anew in their victory. And they take it mystically also, of the active Saints who wrestle with GOD, and of the contemplative ones, who see visions of Him, both of whom He redeems.

A. 16 The waters saw thee, O GOD, the waters saw thee, and were afraid : the depths also were troubled. These words, applying in the first instance to the parting of the Red Sea, have been referred since to the mysteries of which that was a type. Thus they occur in the Baptismal Offices of the Church of Edessa, as drawn up by the great Mar Jacob, and in those of the Maronite Use. S. Augustine tells us, as is his wont, that the waters mean the nations of the earth, citing the Apocalypse in proof, and adds that the depths that are troubled are the consciences of sinners moved to confession. Others explain the depths to be the rulers and chief priests, Herod, Pilate, and Annas, Caiaphas, and the like, who were troubled at the preaching of CHRIST, and then carry on the reference to the Gentile monarchs who received the Faith. And whereas the waters are mentioned first, they do not forget to remind us that fishermen were the earliest believers in CHRIST. S. Ambrose tells us that the waters which see GOD and fear Him are the good qualities of the soul, which are calmed, not disturbed, by knowledge of the Word; but that the depths which are troubled, denote

Assem. Cod. Liturg. i. 247; ii, 349. A. Rev. xvii. 15. Y the evil qualities, which see Him not, and therefore have no rest, according to that saying, "The wicked are like the troubled sea, when it cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt. There is no peace, saith my GOD, to the wicked." 17 The clouds poured out water, the air thundered : and thine arrows went abroad. A. If we take the clouds here, as so often, to denote the Apostles, then the water will denote the gracious rain of the Gospel, poured out by them over all the earth; and the second clause will also tell of the boldness of their preaching who are called sons of thunder. And so the Paris Breviary, in the Common of Apostles: Santol. Vict. The Hymn Supreme quales Arbiter. Totum per orbem nuntii, Nubes velut, citi volant : Verbo graves, Verbo DEO, Tonant, coruscant, perpluunt.

A. The arrows will then denote the words of the Evangelists, which went abroad over the world. The LXX. and Vulgate read here pass through. That is, the Gospel message does not stop short in the ears, but pierces the heart. The first clause of this verse reads thus in the LXX. and Vulgate, The multitude of the sound of waters. It is, says S. Augustine, the mingled noise of confessions, hymns, and prayers going up unceasingly from the Church. It is the multitude of the nations themselves, converted to CHRIST, adds the Carmelite. S. Bruno of Asti, connecting the words with the previous verse, singularly explains it of CHRIST's Passion, saying, that when the depths, that is, the chief priests, had been troubled, they stirred up the multitude, so that the cry went up, as of the sound of many waters, "Crucify Him, crucify Him." But the other interpretation accords better with that verse of the Revelation: "And I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of mighty thunderings, saying, Alleluia, for the LORD GOD omnipotent reigneth."

18 The voice of thy thunder was heard round about : the lightnings shone upon the ground; the earth was moved, and shook withal. The first clause of this verse is of great difficulty, and the Prayer Book rendering differs from all the other versions except that of Hesychius, who reads ἐν κύκλῳ. The A. V. reads in heaven instead of round about; the LXX., Syriac, and Vulgate translate, in the wheel. The Æthiopic rendering is in the chariots. The Hebrew is , which means a sphere, wheel, or anything that revolves. It is explained by Gesenius and Delitzsch of the whirlwind, and by Hupfeld of the rolling wheels of God's chariot, herein agreeing with the Carthusian, and with the Æthiopic Psalter, though the reference may rather be to the overthrow of Pharaoh's chariots. The interpretation heaven, as the sphere we behold, is that of Origen, as also of R. Ezra and R. Kimchi. S. Augustine, ridiculing the notion of a chariot in the sky, explains the wheel to be the round world, through which the Gospel was sent. Olympiodorus takes it of human life in general. S. Albert, citing that verse, "O my God, make them like unto a wheel," explains the words of the terrors of God's judgments amongst the multitude of the wicked. I am not sure that Parez is not the happiest in his explanation, referring, as he does, to the vision of Ezekiel, and reminding us of the Gospel chariot, borne by the four holy Evangelists.

A. Ezek. i. 15, 26. Hi sunt enim, CHRISTE, Quadrigae tuae, salvatio Quadrifidâ cruce, Quam rotae dant evangelicae. The Sequence Regnum tuum. Viam fac equis tuis In luto multo Nostri pectoris. Ut subvecti Hoc in curru Maris de tumultu, Portum perpetuae Contingamus patriae. Thy lightnings. They explain it diversely, of the Apostles, of the miracles of CHRIST, of the mingled promises and threats of the Gospel, and of the rays of the Sun of Righteousness, visible to the world. The earth was moved. They take it first of the Jewish nation, occupied with the thought of a mere earthly deliverer, and then extend it to the stir and alarm of the whole Gentile world, beginning with Herod, and spreading over the Roman empire, at the advent of the new King. And it is also explained of each man's body, trembling at the terrors of judgment to come. And shook withal. So that the idols fell from their altars, and were destroyed, like the Egyptians in the Red Sea.

A. 19 Thy way is in the sea, and thy paths in the great waters : and thy footsteps are not known. Let us hear Prudentius, singing of Him Who trod the lake of Galilee in human form, as He trod the Red Sea ages before invisibly : The Hymn De puer plectrum. Cath. ix. 49. Ambulat per stagna ponti, summa calcat fluctuum, Mobilis liquor profundi pendulam præstat viam, Nec fatiscit unda sanctis pressa sub vestigiis. "And as Thou didst walk visibly upon the sea," exclaims Gerhohus, "and gavest unto Peter the Apostle to do the like, so now Thou walkest invisibly, and makest Thy ministers also to walk upon the troubled hearts of the nations, which yield themselves to Thee, to be trodden by Thy feet, beautiful with the preparation of the Gospel, that the footsteps of Truth may be stamped on them in the ways of Thy commandments, and the paths of Thy counsels." It is in the sea of bitter penitential tears, that His way to man's heart lies; it is in the mighty waters of deep affliction and troubles that He comes to the trembling soul, because He went through the floods of sorrow Himself, and thus knows our need, according to that which is written: "When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee." Thy footsteps are not known. Because, wisely says Ludolph, the lowly wisdom of CHRIST is hidden from the wise and prudent of this world. And that especially is the case of them to whom He first came, and who received Him not.

20 Thou leddest thy people like sheep: by the hand of Moses and Aaron. Origen. Comm. in Num. 27. They remind us how both Moses and Aaron were types of CHRIST, our Lawgiver and High Priest, Who is alone the Good Shepherd, and they dwell, as is their wont, on the supposed meaning of the names, taking Moses to be "Lifted up," and Aaron to be the "Mount of Strength." The true interpretations, telling us of Him Who was "drawn out" of the grave, Who was the "Shining Light" to lighten the Gentiles, bring us to the same thought. On the whole verse there is no better comment than Origen's. "The hand of Moses alone is not enough to draw out of Egypt. Aaron's hand is needed also. Moses denotes knowledge of the Law, Aaron familiarity with sacrifices and oblations to GOD. We need then, when going out of Egypt, not only to have knowledge of the Law and the Faith, but also the fruit of works pleasing to GOD. For if, departing from Egypt, and converted to GOD, I cast away pride, then I have sacrificed a bullock to GOD by the hands of Aaron: if I overcome wantonness and uncleanness, I will believe that I have offered a goat to the LORD by Aaron's hands: if I conquer lust, a calf; if foolishness, then I shall appear to have sacrificed a sheep. When these sins of the soul are being purged, the hand of Aaron works in us; and the hand of Moses is with us, when we are enlightened by the Law to understand these things, and therefore each hand is necessary for them that come out of Egypt, that not only perfect faith and knowledge may be found in them, but perfect acts and deeds too."

And so: Glory be to the FATHER, the Most Highest; and to the SON, the Right Hand of the Most Highest; and to the HOLY GHOST, the Gladness wherewith I thought upon GOD, and was glad. As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be: world without end. Amen.

Collects.O GOD incomprehensible, Who doest great wonders, Who changedst the waters, which once stood still in Thy sight, at later time into wine, we humbly beseech Thee to hear the voice of our crying, to bestow on us such remembrance that we may never forget Thee. Who livest. O LORD, hear the prayer which we pour forth in the time of our trouble, attend to our desire when we stretch out our hands in the night, hasten, as the best of Comforters, to our souls, and be our Redeemer by Thy pardoning grace: and as Thou didst purchase us by Thy voluntary Passion, so deliver us by Thine unconquered power from the snare of the hunter. (11.) Almighty and wonderful GOD, Who alone doest great marvels, and Who reignest for ever, forget us not, nor let us be lowered to the utterance of human praise, but grant us to be glad in thinking on Thee, in Whom is our fullest glorying. (11.)

We pray Thee, O LORD, cast us not away from favour with Thee, but grant us yet time to win Thy mercy, that the Right Hand which punished our sins may be our everlasting remedy in our contrition. (11.) O merciful GOD, of unspeakable lovingkindness to thousands, take not away from us Thy mercy for evermore in wrath at our sins, forget not to have pity on us, but by Thy compassion vouchsafe us to be counted worthy of everlasting salvation. Through. (1.)

TITLE: Maschil of Asaph. LXX. and Vulgate: Of understanding, for Asaph. Chaldee Targum: The understanding of the HOLY GHOST, by the hand of Asaph. Arabic Psalter: Of Asaph, an address to the people.

Argument.ARG. THOMAS. That CHRIST feeds His people with the spiritual food of manna. The Voice of the Prophet to the Jews. The Voice of CHRIST touching the impiety of the Jews, and of Christians, eating the LORD'S Flesh, murmuring against Him. The Voice of CHRIST touching the Jews, when GOD showed them many wonders by Moses, and they believed him not.

VEN. BEDE. Asaph, as we have said before, is to be explained as the synagogue, that is, gathering together, but as Understanding is prefixed, he shows that the faithful synagogue is here meant. In the first part of the Psalm only two verses are ascribed to the person of the LORD, to increase respect for the utterances whose opening the King Himself hath appointed. Hear My law, O My people. In the second part Asaph speaks more fully, charging the Jews with ingratitude for the LORD'S bounties, and with despising His commands through their wicked heart. Which we have heard and known. Thirdly, he sums up the gifts which GOD bestowed on Israel, who, nevertheless, ceased not to murmur. Marvellous things did He in the sight of our forefathers. Fourthly, he tells what punishment came upon them, and how the sentence was mitigated by the LORD'S mercy: When the Lord heard this He was wroth. Fifthly, they were punished for their murmurings, but they returned again to entreat the LORD, acknowledging His wondrous works. While the meat was yet in their mouths. In the sixth place, they spake again deceitfully and followed their wonted errors, yet the mercy of GOD destroyed them not as they deserved. They did but flatter Him with their mouth. Seventhly, he tells how they provoked the LORD in the wilderness, though Egypt had been afflicted for their sakes. Many a time did they provoke Him in the wilderness. Eighthly, the sin of Jewish obstinacy is joined to the narrative of the LORD'S bounties. But as for His own people, He led them forth like sheep. Ninthly, a terrible vengeance follows, so that He forsook the tabernacle in Silo, and delivered His people into captivity, and afterwards chose the Mount Sion, and David for king, of whose seed CHRIST, the Physician of salvation, should come. When God heard this, He was wroth.

SYRIAC PSALTER. Of Asaph. He implies in it that they ought to keep GOD'S commandments, and not be as their forefathers. EUSEBIUS OF CÆSARÆA. A plain statement of CHRIST to the Church concerning the transgression of the former people.

Various Uses.Monastic. The same. Ambrosian. Tuesday of Second Week. II. Nocturn.

Antiphons.Gregorian: As preceding. Parisian. First portion: The children which were yet unborn; to the intent that when they came up, they might teach their children the same; that they might put their trust in GOD. Second portion: He took away His people like sheep, and brought them out in hope. Monastic. Incline * your ear to the words of My mouth. Ambrosian. As preceding Psalm. Lyons. First portion: As Monastic. Second portion: He chose the tribe of Judah, even the hill of Sion, which He loved. Mozarabic. Incline your ear to the words of My mouth, * My people, hear My law. This long Psalm is unquestionably a religious protest from the Temple of Jerusalem against the schism of the Northern kingdom headed by the powerful tribe of Ephraim, at some period after the reign of Solomon. There are two occasions which seem to fit in with its language more than any others, to either of which it may be ascribed. The first is the outbreak of war between Abijah and Jeroboam I., and perhaps just after the great battle in which the latter was defeated. (2 Chron. xiii.) The second is the proclamation of Hezekiah, summoning all Israel and Judah to keep the Passover together at Jerusalem for the first time since the revolt from Rehoboam. (2 Chron. xxx.) The former of these opinions is that preferred by most critics; but the mention of Asaph in the title does not interfere with either view, as the name undoubtedly denotes a family, and not a single person.

1 Hear my law, O my people : incline your ears unto the words of my mouth. They begin by asking who is the speaker here. And the answers vary. Some, of whom the greatest are S. Augustine, Cassiodorus, and Dionysius the Carthusian, take it of the FATHER; S. Athanasius, S. Jerome, and Beda, with several others, of CHRIST; S. Bruno of the Church, the mystical synagogue; and others of Asaph himself, or David. My people, whom I have made Mine own by separating thee from the nations, and by delivering thee from Pharaoh's power. Hear My law, not only that given on Sinai, especially the ten moral precepts, but the higher law (of which the earlier dispensation was but a figure) given after your rescue from the darkness of the spiritual Egypt by the offering of the true Paschal Lamb. Hear, ye on whom I have not laid the burden of the old Law, but to whom I have given a new law, written not on tables of stone, but on the tables of your hearts by My finger, in giving you the HOLY GHOST, to teach you all truth and to declare to you things to come. Incline your ears in faith to the words of My mouth, not going back, because they are hard to be understood, but saying with the Apostle, "LORD, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life."

2 I will open my mouth in a parable : I will declare hard sentences of old;

We have an inspired commentary on these words in that chapter of the Gospels which itself contains seven parables. "All these things spake JESUS unto the multitude in parables; and without a parable spake He not unto them : that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Prophet, saying, I will open My mouth in parables; I will utter things which have been kept secret from the foundation of the world." The passage is thus fatal to the bare literal interpretation of Holy Writ, as it teaches us that all the events recorded therein have a deeper mystical intent underlying the narrative, a truth on which S. Paul dwells more than once. I will open My mouth. This form of speech occurs but rarely in Scripture, and always marks some important utterance to follow. Thus begins the account of Job's words: "Then Job opened his mouth." It is spoken again of CHRIST's Sermon on the Mount, of S. Philip's instruction to the eunuch, and of S. Peter's recognition of the Gentiles. Hard sentences of old. The Gospel gloss receives a supercommentary from the Apostle, exhaustive of the meaning: "The preaching of JESUS CHRIST, according to the revelation of the mystery, which was kept secret since the world began, but now is made manifest, and by the Scriptures of the Prophets, according to the commandment of the everlasting GOD, made known to all nations for the obedience of the faith." Of old. The Vulgate reads from the beginning. Where note that CHRIST is the beginning and the end; because the beginning is infinite, so must be the end. Wherefore, He is ever beginning, whether He begin or end. He ever beginneth, for He can lack no perfection, and therefore cometh to no defect, and He is thus perfect, because He is the Alpha and Omega.

3 Which we have heard and known : and such as our fathers have told us ; 4 That we should not hide them from the children of the generations to come : but to show the honour of the LORD, his mighty and wonderful works that he hath done. C. S. Albertus Magnus. 1 S. John i. 1. A. We have heard from the Prophets of the Old Testament, we have known by the revelation of CHRIST the WORD, as it is written, "That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the WORD of Life." Our fathers have told us. According to the Commandment in the Law, which bade them explain to their sons the testimonies, statutes, and judgments which the LORD enjoined them. That we should not hide them. The Vulgate reads, They have not been hidden from their sons in the other generation. They explain it, their sons by succession of teaching, not of race, the spiritual generation of the Christian Church. Another generation, notes S. Augustine, because regenerate. The honour of the Lord (where the Vulgate reads praises) denotes, according to S. Albert, the increase and preservation of the children of Israel, and belongs to GOD's attribute of goodness. The mighty works refer to the deliverance from Egypt, and belong to His power. The wonderful works to the miraculous feeding, expressive of His wisdom.

5 He made a covenant with Jacob, and gave Israel a law : which he commanded our forefathers to teach their children ; 6 That their posterity might know it : and the children which were yet unborn ; 7 To the intent that when they came up : they might show their children the same ; He made a covenant. The LXX. and Vulgate, a little more forcibly, He raised up a covenant, or testimony. The earlier commentators agree in seeing here a reference to the Ark of the Covenant or testimony, which was the visible witness to the Law, which had been witnessed before by Angels. Gerhohus, in a beautiful passage too long to extract, tells us that all the early Hebrew story, from the visions of Bethel and Peniel, was only the testimony borne by halting Jacob to the coming Lawgiver; and when He, the true Israel, the Prince with God, appeared, then mere testimony ceased, and the Law went forth from Sion, written with His finger on the hearts of His Apostles and elect. When they came up, out of their sins, to be born anew in the laver of baptism, then they were to be taught fully the mysteries of God theretofore hidden from them. These are they of whom the Apostle speaks: "My little children, of whom I travail in birth again, until CHRIST be formed in you."

8 That they might put their trust in God : and not to forget the works of God, but to keep his commandments ; 9 And not to be as their forefathers, a faithless and stubborn generation : a generation that set not their heart aright, and whose spirit cleaveth not steadfastly unto God ; Cardinal Hugo tells us that the three theological virtues are summed up in the former of these verses. Hope is expressly named; Faith keeps God's doings in remembrance; Love seeks to obey Him for His own sake. The union and growth of these virtues in the soul is, then, the end proposed by the whole teaching of this psalm. They note the epithets of the ninth verse, and point out that all unbelievers against knowledge are included under them; Jews, being faithless and stubborn; heretics, choosing error, that set not their heart aright; and bad Christians, whose spirit cleaveth not steadfastly unto God.

A. Hesychius. 10 Like as the children of Ephraim : who being harnessed, and carrying bows, turned themselves back in the day of battle. A.

The Targum here mentions a Jewish legend that the Ephraimites sallied out of Egypt thirty years before the Exodus, and after a severe defeat from the first enemies they encountered, returned to their bondage. Other literalist interpretations take the words of the pressure put on Aaron to make the golden calf; of the defeat by the Amalekites, at Hormah; of the slaughter of Ephraim's sons by the Gittites; and of the more fatal rout by the Philistines, when the Ark was taken, so that the Israelites, in that sense, kept not the covenant of the LORD; and of the alliance of Ephraim and Syria against Jerusalem, in the days of Ahaz. The mystical explanations are not less various. The Doctor of Grace tells us that the words are spoken of them who live by works, and not by faith, that the bows denote outward acts and that shooting with the bow, and then turning back in the battle, implies heeding and purposing in the day of hearing, and deserting in the day of temptation. S. Gregory the Great explains the passage of Doctors of the Church, whom Ephraim, "fruitfulness," denotes, shooting their arrows of rebuke with the elastic cord of the New Testament from the stiff bow of the Old, but often shrinking from the toil of resolute struggle against the sins and vices of the day. Again, as Ephraim was set above his elder brother, Manasseh, so the Jewish people was chosen in preference to the Gentile nations, but fell away in its time of probation, despite the arrows of boastful promise to keep the statutes of the LORD. Or we may take it of the rich of this world, abounding in temporal fruitfulness, uttering crafty words of feigned religion, but turning back, and getting behind Satan, in the day of battle, that is, in the very first approach of a struggle against sin, being too cowardly to await the actual conflict.

11 They kept not the covenant of GOD : and would not walk in his law; 12 But forgat what he had done : and the wonderful works that he had showed for them. They kept not the covenant as they had promised, saying, "Speak thou unto us all that the LORD our GOD shall speak unto thee, and we will hear it, and do it." And would not walk in His law, by making progress and persevering therein. It is not their actions that are here blamed, but their will, since even when they did so walk, it was not heartily. Wherefore they are said not to have done it, because they did it not of good will and love, for there are men who do right, but would cease doing so if they dared. Fear, not love; necessity, not will; the fear of punishment, not the desire of righteousness, compels them. Thus they go on from falling away and turning back, which may be mere weakness, into forgetting what God has done, which is black ingratitude and sin, especially as the works were wonderful and for them. So when CHRIST came, not to destroy the Law, but to fulfil it, by making its moral precepts more stringent, the Jews hated Him, forgat all His wondrous works of healing and mercy, would not walk in His law, and slew Him.

13 Marvellous things did he in the sight of our forefathers, in the land of Egypt : even in the field of Zoan.

Our forefathers. They raise the question here why the forefathers, but just blamed for unbelief, should be cited here as authorities. The Targum explains it of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to which S. Augustine objects that they were dead before the miracles in Egypt were wrought, though they may have been still present in spirit; and he prefers to understand it of Moses and Aaron. In the land of Egypt. That is, as they for the most part agree, in the spiritual darkness of this world, of which Egypt is a common type in the Bible. In the field of Zoan. The name in the LXX. and Vulgate here is Tanis, a mere linguistic corruption. The word means "low country," and the expositors, understanding it as "lowly command," allegorize it freely. S. Augustine takes it of the lesson of humility given us in the dark world, that we may be exalted in the world to come. Cassiodorus points the remark by citing the words of CHRIST, "Take My yoke upon you, and learn of Me; for I am meek and lowly of heart, and ye shall find rest for your souls. And this law He gave to our fathers His first disciples, when He wrought His miracles in their sight. He who is the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, is the LORD of Apostles, Martyrs, Confessors, of whom they were the types. Apostles, because as He told Abraham to go forth from his own country, so He sent His Apostles throughout the world, wherefore S.

Peter said, "Lo, we have left all, and followed Thee. Martyrs, because they devoted themselves freely to death as His Sacrifice, like Isaac. Confessors, because Leah and Rachel, Jacob's two wives, denote the active and the contemplative life. S. Albert explains Tanis or Zoan of the Blessed Virgin, compared to a plain or field, because it is healthy, smooth, wide, and fruitful, while she was sinless, gentle, loving, the Mother of the Divine Food; and that field Zoan, the "lowly command," because she said, "Be it unto me according to thy word; and again, "He hath regarded the lowliness of His handmaiden."

A. A. S. Luke i. 14 He divided the sea, and let them go through : he made the waters to stand on an heap. A. He not only brought the children of Israel through the G. Red Sea, but brought His spiritual Israel through the waters of Baptism, reddened with His own Blood, making the flowing and ebbing tides of carnal desire stand still. On a heap, Ay. The LXX. and Vulgate read, As in a leathern bottle, because on the one hand these desires are swollen, and on the other, they are so restrained by GOD's grace as to be unable to flow out and drown the soul. 15 In the day-time also he led them with a cloud : and all the night through with a light of fire.

A. The cloud is the Incarnation of CHRIST, whereby He led G. His people, during the day-time of the world, visible to them in the lowliness of His Flesh. But in the night, when no Heb. xii. 29. man can work, that terrible night of the Judgment, He will C. appear as "a consuming fire" in the awful might of His Godhead. Or, the cloud of the day-time is the shadowy type of the earlier dispensation, the fire of the night, the revelation of the antitype, CHRIST Himself, in the evening of the world. Ay. Again, the cloud may denote the Sacramental veils under which He is now hidden, the fire, the open vision yet to come. S. Albertus Once more, the cloud typified Him of Whom it is written, Magnus. "Thou hast been a shadow from the heat," and Who, that Isa. xxv. 4. He might bestow that shadow, was willing to be planted as a Cant. ii. 3. tree in this world, so that the Bride cries: "I sat down under D. C. His shadow with great delight." And then the first words tell us of the cool refreshment of His divine grace; and the latter, speaking of the Light of Light, express the glory of wisdom, the enlightenment of the inner man by CHRIST in all trouble and distress, seeing that He is ever near the afflicted. S. Cyril of Alexandria inverts one of the foregoing explanations, saying that CHRIST led the Jews in the darkness by fire, that is, by a law of threatenings and punishment, but that He leads Christians in the light by the watery clouds of Baptism.

16 He clave the hard rocks in the wilderness : and gave them drink thereof, as it had been out of the great depth. 17 He brought waters out of the stony rock : so that it gushed out like the rivers. G. "Wherever they went," observes Gerhohus, "He brought waters for them out of the Rock, which followed them. Not that the rock moved from its place, but the water which flowed therefrom followed them. And one has expressed this wondrous mystery very well in verse, saying: Bis silicem virgâ Dux perculit atque Propheta, Ictio bina Ducis sunt duo ligna Crucis, Fons est de petrâ populo datus absque metretâ, Larga salus homini corpore de Domini.

For the smitten Rock is CHRIST crucified, from Whose right side flowed pure and living water, of which whoso drinks, it shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life. This we say of the SPIRIT, Whom they that believe in Him receive. And this SPIRIT was certainly typified in that visible water which flowed from the right side of the Temple, to wit, of CHRIST's Body. For CHRIST had as it were two sides: the left, according to time, of His weakness and mortality; the right, according to time, of His glorified Humanity. From the left side water did not issue, so long as JESUS was not yet glorified; but His right side poured out water for the salvation of His people, because He, crowned with the glory and honour of the Resurrection, on the very day of His Resurrection and glory breathed on the Apostles, saying, 'Receive ye the HOLY GHOST: whosesoever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them; and whosesoever sins ye retain, they are retained.' Also, when crowned with the diadem of the Ascension, He poured forth the water of the HOLY GHOST in such abundance that the Apostles and Disciples, drinking thereof, were accounted drunken, and said to be full of new wine. In the wilderness. In Judea, forsaken of GOD for its sins, as one will have it; on the Cross, where He was desolate and unfriended, as the Carthusian more touchingly explains it.

But the majority keep to the usual allegory of the world, as opposed to the Land of Promise. He brought waters out of the stony rock. Smiting our hard hearts with His Cross, He caused floods of penitential tears to burst forth. So runs that ancient Western collect: "Almighty and most merciful GOD, Who broughtest a well of living water out of the rock for Thy thirsting people; bring forth tears of compunction from our hard hearts, that we may lament our sins, and of Thy pity, obtain pardon thereof. Like the rivers:

Prestad me, fuentes e rios, Vuestras eternas corrientes, Aunque en estas cinco fuentes Las hallan los ojos mios. 18 Yet for all this they sinned more against him: and provoked the most Highest in the wilderness. Their additional sin, observes S. Augustine, was unbelief, wherefore it is said that they provoked GOD in drought, because, though their bodies drank of the water from the A. LXX. ἐν ἀνόβῳ, Vulg. in inaquoso. rock, their minds remained parched and dry of all spiritual grace. And as even Moses failed in belief at this time and place, saying, "Must we fetch you water out of this rock?" so the Scribes and Pharisees, smiting the true Rock with the two beams of the Cross, believed not that living water would flow out. The punishment of Moses and Aaron for their sin was exclusion from the Promised Land; "unto whom I sware in My wrath: that they should not enter into My rest," and the punishment of the unbelieving Jews is exclusion from the Paradise of God. And they too provoke God in the dry place who through hardness of heart refuse to weep for their sins.

19 They tempted God in their hearts: and required meat for their lust. Note, observes Remigius, that the tempting consisted in asking with their lips for that which they thought beyond God's power to give them, and thus the Psalmist condemns all untrustful prayer. One medieval commentator applies this text to monks seeking mitigation of their fasts and rules of diet from their superiors, without adequate cause. The Carthusian, more deeply, extends it to all Christians who neglect the SAVIOUR's counsel: "Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness;" and, "Take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed?" but are anxiously disquieted about mere temporal things. They remind us, as to tempting, that the act is ascribed to God, to man, and to the devil, and in all cases it implies making trial of the person tempted. It is never taken in a good sense when man is said to tempt God, by making unnecessary trial of His power, goodness, or wisdom, it is never in a bad sense when God is said to tempt man, it may be good or bad when one man tempts another, and it is always evil when the devil tempts man.

20 They spake against God also, saying: Shall God prepare a table in the wilderness? 21 He smote the stony rock indeed, that the water gushed out, and the streams flowed withal: but can he give bread also, or provide flesh for his people?

Gerhohus acutely remarks that the form their unbelief took was ascribing the miracle of the water to natural causes. They admitted the fact, but denied its true character, and now demanded a test from Moses; and he thus pierces more deeply into the nature of their sin than those who see here a denial of God's omnipotence. The words have been also most aptly applied to those unbelievers who said, "How can this Man give us His Flesh to eat?" and then to the heretics of a later day, acknowledging one Baptism for the remission of sins, but denying the Real Presence in the Holy Eucharist. Another acute criticism of Gerhohus deserves citation. He observes that two objections have been brought against the order of events in this Psalm; first, that the literal manna preceded the striking of the rock; and next, that the institution of the Holy Eucharist preceded the issue of water from CHRIST's side. He replies that the Prophet has done it rightly, because the Passion, whose power and virtue underlie the Sacrament, and give it efficacy, began before the Last Supper, because the Betrayal had taken place, and the horror of the Agony was drawing near; and Christians now must be baptized into the Passion and Death of CHRIST before they can approach to feed on His Flesh and Blood at the Holy Altar, the Table which He has prepared for His people in the wilderness of this world. Yet another interpretation may be added, taking the words of those who disbelieve in the full remission of sins. They allow that GOD can touch a hard heart, and dissolve it into tears of remorse; they doubt His power to strengthen the penitent in perseverance, and to feed his soul with divine grace unto the end.

22 When the Lord heard this, he was wroth: so the fire was kindled in Jacob, and there came up heavy displeasure against Israel. 23 Because they believed not in God: and put not their trust in his help. For He was wroth, the Vulgate reads He delayed. And they explain it that in His longsuffering He deferred the punishment deserved, nay, even heard their petition. And this longsuffering of the LORD is most plainly evident, observes the Carthusian, under the New Law. Heathen philosophers knew somewhat of GOD's majesty; Jews knew His righteousness, but only Christians know His patience. So the fire was kindled in Jacob. They take it literally of the burning at Taberah when the people complained, and then of avenging wrath in general. But Remigius and Richard of Hampole agree in seeing here the fire of appetite kindled in the hearts of the murmurers by their own act, on account of which displeasure came up, so as to reach the very chief of the people. The English hermit continues his explanation by pointing out that when Jacob (that is, all Christians bound to wrestle against sin,) is kindled with earthly passion, then wrath ascends upon Israel, on those priests and prelates whose duty it is to warn and correct by precept and example. In His help. The A. V. more correctly, agreeing with the LXX. and Vulgate, In His salvation: and thus the words tell us of that day when the firebrand of the Roman soldier caught the golden window of the Temple, and the doom of Israel was accomplished because it believed not in God's Salvation, the Crucified Son of David. Cardinal Hugo explains this whole passage, like the previous verses, as referring to the impugners of the Holy Eucharist; and the Carthusian takes it of all sinful Christians, unrepentant even when the Church has been scourged by infidels, heretics, and tyrants, for their sins.

24 So he commanded the clouds above : and opened the doors of heaven. This, observes Cassiodorus, is one of the parables and hard sentences of the Psalm, and denotes the command given to the clouds, His preachers, to declare, through the Holy Scriptures, which are the doors of heaven, the advent of the SAVIOUR, Who comes to be received as the Manna of our souls, in the mystery of Communion. They take the clouds also of the Angels, employed as messengers of the Incarnation, as when S. Gabriel came to Nazareth, and the heavenly host appeared to the shepherds of Bethlehem, and the doors of heaven are then explained as the mouth of the Apostles, opened to preach Wisdom, or, more literally, as denoting the everlasting doors lifted up to allow the egress of the angelic herald. And Rupert beautifully explains these doors of the body and soul of the Virgin Mother of God. The LORD opened her soul to receive His command in faith, and her womb that His Only-begotten might come forth :

Rupert. in S. Matt. i. Venantius Fortunatus. The Hymn O gloriosa femina. Tu Regis alti janua Et porta lucis fulgida; Vitam datam per Virginem Gentes redemptæ plaudite! 25 He rained down manna also upon them for to eat : and gave them bread from heaven. 26 So man did eat angels' food : for he sent them meat enough. The Greek Fathers remind us that the literal manna is said by CHRIST not to have come from heaven, when the Jews quoted this very text: "Verily, verily, I say unto you, Moses gave you not that bread from heaven, but My FATHER giveth you the true bread from heaven," and that manna is called Angels' food, not because the Angels eat of it, but because they ministered it. And the Chaldee Targum, paraphrasing thus, "food which came down from the dwelling-place of Angels," partly supports this teaching. The Latin Fathers, however, seasonably remind us that CHRIST, the true Manna, is rightly called Angels' food, because the heavenly powers derive their life and vigour from contemplating Him in open vision. So S. Peter Damiani:

Where the Sacred Body lieth, eagle souls together speed, There the Saints and there the Angels find refreshment in their need, And the sons of earth and heaven on that One Bread ever feed. The Hymn Ad perennis vitæ fontem.

How CHRIST is fitly compared to Manna, we may read in the eloquent words of the Carmelite. "As the manna came down like dew or rain, so CHRIST descended upon earth into the Virgin like the rain into a fleece of wool. As the manna was like coriander seed, a fragrant herb, so CHRIST was the fruit of the Blessed Virgin, a sweet and fruitful plant, as she herself rightly speaks, 'As the vine brought I forth pleasant savour.' It is said to have been white, because of His purity, which He ever retained, for 'He did no sin, neither was guile found in His mouth.' It is said to have been beaten in a mortar, because of the pains which He endured. Its taste was like honey, because of His spiritual sweetness. And it is particularly stated that the children of Israel gathered it every day except on the Sabbath. Where note, that the six days wherein it was gathered denote our toilsome life in this world, and by the Sabbath we understand that blessed life which is free from labour. So long as we live in this world, then, we need this spiritual food of CHRIST's Body. Therefore It is daily sacrificed in the Church, and is received for the support of devout believers. Wherefore It is that daily bread for which we daily ask, saying, 'Give us this day our daily bread.' But in the life of blessedness, there will be no need of this Sacrament, because we shall see Him as He is.

Therefore it is said, that the manna was not gathered on the Sabbath, but that a double portion was gathered on the sixth day, to signify that this food, given to the righteous at their end, not merely increases their merit, but leads them to the kingdom. And it seems wonderful that all meted the same measure, so that he who gathered much had no more, and he who gathered little, no less; which figured that in the Sacrament whole CHRIST is contained in the whole, and the whole in each part, so that he who receives an entire Host, receives just as much as he who takes a part, and conversely. It is said to have been collected to the amount of an omer, which is a measure of three pints, to denote that we have to take account of three things in that Sacrament, to wit, the Body, Soul, and Divinity, which are united. And observe, that the children of Israel said, when they saw that food, Man hu, which is, being interpreted, What is this? For if we ponder on what this Sacrament contains, we shall find many wonders, surpassing all natural thought. To set down here all that Saints of old have loved to say on this great mystery, in hymn, and liturgy, and comment, would be impossible. Enough, if we cite a very few. Thus, in accordance with that belief expressed by so many Saints, that the Angels throng round the Altar

A. when the Holy Sacrifice is being offered, we have the Prayer of the Cherubic Hymn from the ancient Church of Jerusalem: King of Kings, yet born of Mary, as of old on earth He stood, LORD of Lords, in human vesture,—in the Body and the Blood,— He will give to all the faithful His own self for heavenly food. Rank on rank the host of heaven spreads its vanguard on the way, As the Light of Light descendeth from the realms of endless day, That the powers of hell may vanish as the darkness clears away. At His feet the six-winged Seraph, Cherubim with sleepless eye, Veil their faces to the Presence, as with ceaseless voice they cry, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, LORD Most High! They tell us, too, of the purity and holiness, like that of Angels, which befits those who would receive that Food, even Him Who feedeth among the lilies. "Hadst thou the purity of Angels, and the holiness of S. John the Baptist," says one whose golden words have strengthened countless devout souls, "thou wouldest not be worthy to receive or handle this Sacrament. For it is due to no human merits that man may hallow and touch the Sacrament of CHRIST, and take the Bread of Angels for his food." The word which all the old Versions agree in rendering Angels is, more literally, mighty ones. Fitly is that meat called "the food of mighty men" which strengthened so many athletes in the arena of martyrdom, which gave women and children the valour of heroes, so that of their last struggle they might say,

O that Bread! that Bread of Angels! O that Corn of mighty men! Never, never had we tasted Of its mightiness as then! He sent them meat enough. The LXX. agreeing with modern critics, translate by ἐπιστεισμόν, food for the journey, a fitting name for the mystic food, whether as the cake baken on the coals of bitter suffering, in the strength of which Elijah went through the wilderness forty days and forty nights unto the mount of GOD, typifying the pilgrimage of all Christian souls, or as the viaticum in that yet more awful journey when the soul goes forth alone. The Vulgate reads cibaria, in the plural, and Rupert reminds us, that though CHRIST be the One Bread, yet as He gives Himself freely like the rain, in all lands and nations and countless churches, we may well say foods, multiplied as He is unspeakably to be the nourishment of His people.

Enough, for all, and that to the end of the world. 27 He caused the east wind to blow under heaven: and through his power he brought in the south-west wind. In the first clause S. Jerome's version reads, He took away the east wind, that is, made it cease to blow, in order that the westerly wind from the Red Sea might bring over the quails from Africa. And it is explained mystically of God sometimes punishing man by taking from him the wholesome but painful wind of discipline, and giving him the softer but dangerous airs of temporal prosperity. Another interpretation sees here the rejection of the Jewish people, and the bringing in the Gentiles in their room. The Vulgate reading, transtulit, is explained by the Carthusian to denote the sending forth preachers, whom the winds typify, through the world; the south wind (Vulg. Auster) denoting the most saintly and lofty teachers of the Gospel, and the south-west wind a lower and less mystical class. Cardinal Hugo, keeping still the Eucharistic Sacrifice in view, understands here the breath of the HOLY SPIRIT effecting the consecration, and the attendant ranks of angels which accompany the rite.

28 He rained flesh upon them as thick as dust: and feathered fowls like as the sand of the sea. Flesh, in that He taught them the doctrine of the Incarnate WORD; and that like dust, either because He was light in arising, because of His holiness, and free from all the waters of sin, or because He was humbled even to the dust for our sakes. Feathered fowls. Cardinal Hugo explains it of the Angels who bore the soul of CHRIST from heaven to earth at the Incarnation. Gerhohus takes it of the winged words of doctrine, clean or unclean, according as they are Catholic or heretical. Ayguan, interpreting the flesh as bodily troubles, takes the fowls to be spiritual consolations, arising up from those very troubles, and bearing our souls upwards towards GOD. Another will have it that both clauses denote earthly pleasures: the flesh which brings us to the dust; the frivolous enjoyment, which, uplifting us for a brief moment, brings at last to barrenness and bitterness, denoted by the sand of the sea. Once more, the feathered fowls have been explained in a good sense, as contemplative Saints, friends of GOD, whom He rains upon the Church to be the pastors of souls.

29 He let it fall among their tents : even round about their habitation. Their tents, implying the general diffusion of the gift throughout the host of Israel; their habitation, showing that each person in the camp had his own private share. Thus it tells us of the Flesh of CHRIST given to the Churches at large, and also to be the food of individual Christians. Their tents, again, as so often, denoting the militant Saints of active life; their habitation the stiller retreat of the contemplative, both filled alike with the bounty of GOD. 30 So they did eat, and were well filled; for he gave them their own desire : they were not disappointed of their lust. They remind us that in the eagerness of the Jews for earthly food, and the full contentment of their longing, we may see the Christian desire for spiritual delights, and especially for Communion with CHRIST in His own Sacrament. He gives them Himself, the Desire of all nations; He does not disappoint them, for He is more than they can imagine or hope.

31 But while the meat was yet in their mouths, the heavy wrath of GOD came upon them, and slew the wealthiest of them : yea, and smote down the chosen men that were in Israel. Not in the mouths of the elect, but of them who eat unworthily, into whom Satan enters, as he did into the traitor Judas, and of whom the Apostle says, "Whosoever shall eat this bread or drink this cup of the LORD unworthily, shall be guilty of the Body and Blood of the LORD." And slew the wealthiest of them. The A. V. more exactly reads, as does the Vulgate, the fattest of them. That is, continues the Carthusian, He slays spiritually them who receive CHRIST carnally, by taking from them charity and grace. For, as the Apostle says, "He that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the LORD'S Body." And smote down (Vulg., hindered) the chosen men that were in Israel. He excluded those who seemed to be eminent in the Church from entering the heavenly kingdom, because of unworthy communion; for the word chosen does not always in Holy Writ imply election to everlasting life. The slaying applies sometimes even to temporal chastisements, since the Apostle adds to the previous sayings, "For this cause many are weak and sickly amongst you, and many sleep."

32 But for all this they sinned yet more : and believed not his wondrous works. 33 Therefore their days did he consume in vanity: and their years in trouble.

They refer the words in the first place to the evil report brought back by the spies, and to the consequent reluctance of the Israelites to attempt the conquest of Canaan; followed as it was by the punishment of the forced wandering in the desert, till all the adults save Caleb and Joshua were consumed in vanity, that is, cut off in the vain and endless toil of the wilderness; thus losing, as Parez adds, the hope revealed to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, of being buried in the land where Messiah should make His grave, that they might share in His Resurrection; a hope which induced Joseph to command the removal of his bones from Egypt. In trouble. The LXX., Syriac, and Vulgate read with speed. And they explain it of the sudden judgments which fell on them, as in the matter of Korah, and of the fiery serpents, Exactly like this was the unbelief of the Jews in the time of CHRIST, refusing to believe, though they saw so many signs and wonders wrought by Him. Wherefore it is said, "But though He had done so many miracles before them, yet they believed not on Him: that the saying of Esaias the Prophet might be fulfilled, which he spake, LORD, who hath believed our report? and to whom hath the arm of the LORD been revealed?" They preferred to go back into the Egypt of the carnal and ceremonial law, and their doom is to perish in the spiritual wilderness, finding no entrance into the rest of the people of GOD. Vanity and speed are rightly conjoined here, remarks Euthymius, because all who live easy and frivolous lives find the years pass swiftly by them; while those who labour intently in the paths of virtue find their time long by reason of their toil.

34 When he slew them, they sought him: and turned them early, and inquired after GOD. "GOD," observes Lactantius, rebuking the heathen, "passes away most readily from men's recollection, just when they ought to give honour to Divine mercy, as enjoying His bounties. But if any heavy trouble come upon them—if the terrors of war resound—if deadly pestilence brood over them—if long drought deny sustenance to the corn—if wild storms or hail come upon them—they have recourse to GOD; they ask His aid; GOD is besought to help. . . . They never remember GOD save when they are in distress; but when fear is over and perils are gone, then they hurry eagerly to the temples of the gods. To these they make libations and sacrifices, and offer crowns. But GOD, Whom they besought in their need, they do not thank by so much as a word." Here, too, a false repentance is set before us. They sought Him, not for the sake of eternal life, but fearing to end the

So R. Ezra. Ay. A. vapour too soon. It was not they whom He slew that sought Him, but those who feared to be slain in like manner. But the Scripture speaks thus because they were one people, and it is spoken as of one body. Early, like hirelings obliged to come at a fixed hour, but not like men ready to endure the burden and heat of the day, far less to persevere until the evening, like that true labourer of GOD of whom it is written, "Man goeth forth to his work, and to his labour, until the evening." And inquired after God. The Vulgate reads, came unto Him. How may this be? asks Gerhohus. Is He, Who is everywhere, to be approached on foot, in chariots or on horses, in ships, or any like means? Nay, only by the movements of the heart can we come to GOD or depart from Him.

35 And they remembered that GOD was their strength : and that the high GOD was their Redeemer. It would not be said here, tersely remarks a Saint, that they remembered, if they had not first forgotten. Their strength, or, as LXX. and Vulgate, their helper, against Amalek, their redeemer from Pharaoh. Where note that the title Redeemer is here given to the FATHER, as it is also in another place to the SON, "If the SON therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed;" and in a third passage to the HOLY GHOST, "for the law of the SPIRIT of life in CHRIST JESUS hath made me free from the law of sin and death;" wherefore the attributes of power and redemption are common to the Holy Trinity. Moreover, the SON is our Helper, by co-operating with our good works, as He was our Redeemer on the Cross.

36 Nevertheless, they did but flatter him with their mouth : and dissembled with him in their tongue. 37 For their heart was not whole with him : neither continued they steadfast in his covenant. The old Versions, yet more forcibly, read, They loved Him in their mouth. This false love, offered to Him before Whom all the secrets of the heart are bare, endured till the time of CHRIST. Wherefore He Himself saith, "Ye hypocrites, well did Esaias prophesy of you, saying, This people draweth nigh unto Me with their mouth, and honoureth Me with their lips; but their heart is far from Me." Isaiah foresaw, comments S. Hrabanus, the deceits wherewith the Jews should craftily war against the Gospel, and he speaks in the person of the LORD. For they honoured CHRIST with their lips when they said, "Master, we know that Thou art true, and teachest the way of GOD in truth;" but their heart was far from Him, when they "sent forth spies, which should feign themselves just men, that they might take hold of His words."

And if we take the passage to refer to false Christians, especially to the traitor Apostle, we may dwell on the reading of the Illyrian Psalter, They kissed Him with their lips. Their heart was not right, remarks Gerhohus, precisely because it was not with Him. And they were not steadfast in His covenant, because they failed to keep the precepts of the Law, even under the terrible sanctions of the blessings and curses. Nor were they faithful in the inheritance of the New Testament, faith in which, though veiled, was found amongst the elect even then; and now that it is revealed, it is not found in many of the called. A German commentator sums up this verse with a quaint old Teutonic saw: A. 38 But he was so merciful, that he forgave their misdeeds: and destroyed them not. 39 Yea, many a time turned he his wrath away: and would not suffer his whole displeasure to arise.

GOD is merciful to both good and bad, "for He maketh His sun to rise upon the evil and the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust;" and this as regards temporal blessings. But this is the mercy of His left hand, not of His right; temporal, not spiritual; since it is common to good and bad. In this wise GOD was merciful to that nation, in that He did not root it out from the earth, as it deserved. The spiritual mercy, that of His right hand, whereby sins are remitted and eternal blessings are conferred, is quite other. That He did not bestow on that evil generation, for the greater part of them perished in the wilderness, for murmuring and rebelling against GOD. Therefore, when it is said that He forgave their misdeeds, it is not to be understood of their evil fathers, but of the children who succeeded them, such as David, Hezekiah, Josiah, and Daniel, and other righteous men, to whose misdeeds GOD was merciful when they sinned, as clearly appears in the case of David. And destroyed them not. It is well said, many a time. Once He spared them at the intreaty of Moses, after the sin of the Golden Calf; a second time at Taberah; thirdly, when Aaron stood with his censer between the living and the dead; fourthly, by means of the brazen serpent; fifthly, by suffering

Those who are interested in such details may like to know that the Jews count this thirty- seventh verse to be the middle one of the Psalter. G. the younger generation to enter Canaan. And even when B. the sins continued, He reserved the root of the tree whose R. branches He lopped, from which shot forth the Apostles and the first company of believers, not suffering His whole displeasure to arise. Even still He holds to His pledge, keeping a remnant of the Jews undestroyed, that they may turn at the last to CHRIST. A. The Doctor of Grace warns us that this text has been abused by those who, desirous of continuing in sin, exalt God's mercy at the expense of His justice. But, rejoins he, if, to speak in their own words, God will perhaps not destroy even bad men, He will certainly not destroy good men. Why then do we not rather choose that wherein there is no doubt? For they that lie to Him in their tongue, while their heart holds somewhat else, think and wish even God to be a liar, when He threatens them with everlasting punishment. But as they do not deceive Him with their lie, so He does not deceive them with His truth.

40 For he considered that they were but flesh: and that they were even a wind that passeth away, and cometh not again. A. Two things are set before us here: God's clemency, for He considered; and man's wretchedness. The latter is twofold. He is but flesh, and therefore liable to sin. He is a spirit that passeth away from God and holiness, and has no power to come again; as it is written, "None that go unto her return again, neither take they hold of the paths of life." No power of himself, doubtless, adds S. Augustine, but he can be called back by grace. And that fitly; for man, who fell at another's tempting, may well be restored by another's help. But he who fell by his own pride may rise again, if he can, with no helper; but because he cannot, he may be styled as truly as man is (nay, more truly) a spirit that passeth away, and cometh not again, even as the Truth said unto him, "Get thee hence, Satan." It was not said to him, as in the Song of Songs to the faithful soul, the Bride of God, "Return, return, O Shulamite; return, return, that we may look upon thee." And the words are also a terse definition of death, telling us how the spirit passeth away from this world, and cometh not again, but leaves the flesh here behind.

And what's a life? a weary pilgrimage, Whose glory in one day doth fill thy stage With childhood, manhood, and decrepit age. And what's a life? the flourishing array Of the proud summer meadow, which to-day Wears her green blush, and is to-morrow hay. And what's a life? a blast sustained with clothing, Maintained with food, retained with vile self-loathing, Then, weary of itself, again to nothing. 41 Many a time did they provoke him in the wilderness : and grieved him in the desert. Already, when they were but in the second year of their wanderings, God complained that they had tempted Him "ten times;" and it may thence be gathered how often they did so during the eight and thirty years which followed. The ten occasions were—(1) Murmuring at the three days' thirst, after the passage of the Red Sea; (2) Complaining for lack of food; (3) The second demand for water, at Rephidim; (4) The Golden Calf; (5) The demand for flesh-meat; (6) The attempt to return into Egypt after the report of the spies; (7) The mutiny after the death of Korah; (8) The complaint because of the judgment of the mutineers; (9) The third demand for water, at Kadesh; (10) The revolt at Mount Hor, punished with fiery serpents. The place where they committed their sin was an aggravation of it, because it was precisely in the wilderness, with no human help near, that they ought to have felt most dependence on and trust in God. The words hold true still of all who are far from the spiritual Church, wandering in the wilderness of their sins, in the dry place unwatered by the streams of grace.

42 They turned back, and tempted God : and moved the Holy One in Israel. Turned. Whence and whither? From good to evil. Moved. The LXX. and Vulgate read exasperated. But the A. V. reads limited, that is, set bounds to His omnipotence. The Hebrew is , the Hiphil of , which is properly "to mark with a Thau," the sign of the Cross. Hence the Targum explains the passage signed Him with a sign, which Delitzsch adopts in the sense of casting a stigma on Him. Most of the old Versions and of modern critics agree with the Vulgate, taking in the sense of the Syriac 102; but Gerhohus, keeping to the hint given by the Chaldee, boldly paraphrases, They crucified the Holy One in Israel; and thus limited Him, the Omnipresent, to the narrow bounds of the Rood. 43 They thought not of his hand : and of the day when he delivered them from the hand of the enemy. 44 How he had wrought his miracles in Egypt : and his wonders in the field of Zoan.

Z Lu. So, too, bad Christians have thought not of His hand, nailed for them on the Cross, that day when He delivered them, after having wrought His miracles in the darkness of this world, of which Egypt is the type, and shown His wonders in Zoan, the "low estate" of His humble Manhood, the "lowliness" of His Maiden Mother, the mean origin of His princes, the Apostles. Hereupon there follows a list of plagues sent on the Egyptians, agreeing in number with those recorded in Exodus, but differing in details and order. The three omissions are the lice, the boils, and the darkness; the additions are the caterpillar or "blight," (Vulg. ærugo,) the frost, and the hot thunderbolts—a special agent of destruction, and not a mere accompaniment of the storms. Lorinus applies here the canon of S. Jerome, that when in Holy Writ the topic is the praise of God, the historical order is frequently departed from, and a rhetorical one adopted instead, inverting the sequence of events. The actual order of the ten plagues may be recalled by Cardinal Hugo's mnemonic verses:

Sanguis, rana, cyniph, muscæ, pecus, ulcera, grando, Bruchus, caligo, mors, invaluere necando. 45 He turned their waters into blood: so that they might not drink of the rivers.

The especial appropriateness of the plagues which fell on the Egyptians to the circumstances and the religion of the country, has often been dwelt on. Their mystical import has not been less discussed. The first plague, of blood, is thus interpreted as the punishment for breach of the first Commandment, denoting, as it does, the change of men's thoughts from pure and lofty ideas of God to carnal and animal ones, leading to debased idolatry. Again, it is taken as the token of Divine anger for the decree enjoining the drowning of the Hebrew infants. Rupert combines these two ideas, explaining the passage of idolatrous persecutors, who shed the blood of the Saints, and whose punishment is to be blood-drinking, not for one or two days, but a whole week, that is, through eternity. Cardinal Hugo takes it in two ways: first, of those who give themselves up to flesh and blood, so that all things turn into condemnation for them; and secondly, of the tasteless water of the old Law, changed into the Blood of the New Covenant, ruddy from the veins of CHRIST. Once more, another mediæval writer speaks thus: "There is a conversion of water into blood, but that is confined to the Egyptians. There is another conversion of water into wine, but that is at a marriage. And there is a third conversion, of wine into blood, but that is in the LORD's Supper.

The first conversion, of water into blood, is said to mean that the water of deadly wisdom, the wisdom of this world, the prudence of the flesh, turns into blood; that is, into death for them who walk according to the flesh. For the prudence of the flesh is death, and the wisdom of the flesh is at enmity with God. The Prophet, censuring men of this stamp, saith, 'What hast thou to do in the way of Egypt, to drink muddy water? or what hast thou to do in the way of Assyria, to drink the waters of the river?' For all earthly wisdom, whereof the Egyptians (the friends of this world, God's enemies) drink, is hateful to God. Therefore the water of Egypt is that which is turned into blood, because its blood is on them who drink it. The second change is of water into wine, and this seems to denote conversion, to wit, of fear into the love of righteousness. This change takes place at a marriage, because the Church is betrothed to God in faith and righteousness, that righteousness which is of faith in JESUS CHRIST. The third change, of wine into blood, is when righteousness so delights the soul, that one is ready to contend for it unto blood and death; and this is the perfection of righteousness."

What is this silent might, Making our darkness light, New wine our waters, heavenly Blood our wine? CHRIST, with His Mother dear, And all His Saints, is here, And where they dwell is Heaven, and what they touch, divine. 46 He sent lice among them, and devoured them up: and frogs to destroy them. The A. V. here, instead of lice, reads divers sorts of flies, which represents a reading suggested by S. Jerome in the LXX., κοινόμνιαν, instead of the usual one, κυνόμνιαν, or dog-fly. The Hebrew word is , a mixture; and the very ancient tradition mentioned in the Book of Wisdom, and accepted by Josephus, R. Jonathan, R. Aben Ezra, and R. Ishaki, alleges the plague to have been not of flies, but of wild beasts. Gesenius, however, giving the sense of to suck to the radical , follows Bochart in accepting the LXX. interpretation, which is also that of the Roman, Gallican, Arabic, and Illyrian Psalters. S. Isidore, holding this view, urges that the fly, as a restless insect, was the fit punishment for restless and unquiet minds; and the Carmelite adds, that the dog-fly aptly denotes the animal passions and pursuits of the Egyptians. So far back as Origen's time the text was applied in this sense against the Cynics. S. Augustine notes the fact that dogs are born blind, so that they cannot see their parents; and Rupert, therefore, takes this, the fourth plague, as punishment for breach of the fourth Commandment, (according to the Latin reckoning.) which extends, the Gloss tells us, to those who despise the prelates of the Church.

Hispal. in Origenes in A. Rupert. in Vulgate. The A. V. reads, river, from , to be black, denoting the turbidity of the Nile, "waters of Sihor," i.e. the black Frogs denote talkative vanity, especially, as some will have it, the idle fables of heathen poetry and philosophy; and thus the peril of sins of the tongue is pointed out, in particular those committed by heretics in their resistance to the Gospel, by the word destroy. S. Gregory Nyssen, however, takes the frogs, as denizens of the mud, to denote persons of voluptuous and self-indulgent life, whom the very waters do not cleanse. Ayguan expands this idea, taking the frogs to mean the three chief sins of the modern world, pride, luxury, and avarice. The frog dwells in foul and muddy waters, which denote luxury. Next, the belly of the frog is far larger than any other part of its body, and keeps close to the ground; thus signifying those who are greedy of earthly riches. Thirdly, the frog advances by leaps; and this is a type of those who attempt to lift themselves to high position by a sudden bound, unwilling to pass by the true mean of the middle space, whereby honour is won. Wherefore of these three sins it is said, "I saw three unclean spirits like frogs come out of the mouth of the dragon."

47 He gave their fruit unto the caterpillar : and their labour unto the grasshopper. A. Rupert in Exod. The LXX. reads ἑρυσίβη, or blight, with which the Vulgate ærugo agrees. Aquila and S. Jerome have bruchus, and the probable meaning of is the wingless locust, or the larva of the locust. The blight, says a Saint, is hidden sin, and particularly the sin of self-sufficiency, which kills the soul when it seems to be healthiest. The grasshopper, or rather the locust, observes S. Augustine, is malice hurting with the mouth, that is, with false witness. And Rupert, taking the same view, teaches that it especially denotes the false witness of heretics, saying, that as the locusts were carried into Egypt, not by their own flight, but by a wind, so those who quote Scripture against the truth are not borne, as they suppose, on the wings of knowledge, but by the wind of spiritual pride, to the subversion of their hearers, and their own destruction. And others refer the term chiefly to envious detractors.

48 He destroyed their vines with hailstones : and their mulberry-trees with the frost.

"By this plague is shown," says the Carmelite, "how God alarms the life of the evil by the words of His preachers, and calls them back to grace. Wherefore Gregory saith, By hail or snow, cold and hard, we understand the hearts of the evil. But since Almighty God chooses His Saints from such, and knows well how many elect He possesses who are as yet exposed amidst the life of the evil, He fittingly describes Himself as having His treasures in snow and hail. These elect He brings out at His command, and by heavenly grace makes them white with the purity of righteousness. Saul was hail and snow at first by his cold insensibility; but he was made to be snow and hail against the breasts of his adversaries, by the whiteness of his righteousness and by the smiting of his vigorous speech. O what a treasure God had then in snow and hail, when the LORD saw him, His secretly elect, living in the life of evil! O what hail was that He took in His hand to smite full many a breast of the adversaries, hail wherewith He laid low so many hearts that resisted Him! Let no man, then, be uplifted because of his own works, nor despair of them whom he sees to be still cold, because he does not see the treasures in the snow and hail. The LORD destroys vines with hailstones when He strikes at carnal pleasures with the wise sayings of preachers. Others, following S.

Augustine, take the verse in a bad sense, of the sins of violence and coldness. So the tyrannical and rapacious, while oppressing others, slay their own souls, and destroy their own former good works with the frost of hatred and ill-will, which is iciness of the soul. The Vulgate for vines reads vineyards, and then we may take the vineyard to be the Church, and the mulberry-trees its Priests; for they should bear fruit, at first white in purity of life; then red, in fervour of charity; and lastly black, in mortification of the flesh. Of these it is written, "To the end they might provoke the elephants to fight, they showed them the blood of grapes and mulberries. Frost, arising from the waters, is the love of riches, which is fatal to the priesthood; and hail denotes their quarrels and dissensions.

49 He smote their cattle also with hailstones: and their flocks with hot thunderbolts. "By the death of beasts," remarks S. Augustine, "was typified, so far as I can judge, the loss of chastity. For concupiscence, whereby offspring ariseth, we have in common with beasts. To have this, therefore, tamed and ordered, is the virtue of chastity." By the death of irrational cattle, consequently, the fate of those is denoted who live like beasts, not restraining their unlawful passions with the bridle of continence. Their flocks. The LXX. and Vulgate read, their possession. And this possession, say they, is the orderly condition of the mind or soul, which is wasted with fire, (Vulg.) when delivered over to the flames of passion or luxury. S. Augustine, noting that this plague is not specified in Exodus, suggests that it denotes fierce anger, which may lead even to homicide. 50 He cast upon them the furiousness of his wrath, anger, displeasure, and trouble: and sent evil angels among them.

A. A. A. A. S. Augustine comments at much length on this passage, touching the punitive ministry of good and evil angels, pointing out that both have great sway over the powers of nature, and that evil spirits are sometimes permitted by GOD to exhibit this influence of theirs. They may tempt also, as in the cases of Job and Ahab; and may, as well as good angels, be employed as the executioners of GOD's wrath. And he decides that evil angels were the instruments of the slaughter of the beasts and the first-born in Egypt, and also of the hardening of the Egyptian hearts, inasmuch as they were suffered to suggest sin to those whom GOD had forsaken because of their unbelief. But when GOD punishes the righteous with temporal penalties, He does it by the hands of His good angels. The Greek Fathers, however, say that the angels are here called evil, not by reason of their nature, but merely as bringing evils on the heads of sinners.

51 He made a way to his indignation, and spared not their soul from death: but gave their life over to the pestilence; 52 And smote all the first-born in Egypt: the most principal and mightiest in the dwellings of Ham. Origen. A. S. Hieron. S. Prosper. Rupert. in Exod.

The words He made a way denote that there could have been no approach made even to punish sinners, unless they were first deprived of the protection of GOD, so that the enemy had power to hurt them. And that way was GOD's hidden justice, whereby He might have chastised the Egyptians for the sin of their will; but He made that way broad and conspicuous, by permitting them to commit sins of act, drawing down fearful vengeance. Wherefore it is said that He spared not their souls from death, because He allowed those souls to sink into the death of sin even before He smote their bodies, giving their life over to the pestilence. The LXX. and Vulgate read this clause, And shut up their cattle in death. Literally, by the hail and murrain; spiritually, by slaying their virtues of meekness and obedience, and by eternal condemnation of their carnal desires and works. And smote all the first-born in Egypt. They refer it to a mightier overthrow than that in the Book of Exodus—to the victory of the Incarnate SAVIOUR over the devil and his angels, and over the false teachers who are their allies. And He has made us partakers of this victory by causing us also to renounce the devil, his pomps, and his angels. That, too, adds Rupert, by slaying original sin, the parent of so many offences, after the immolation of the true Paschal Lamb.

They point out also that the words denote the spiritual chastisement of unfaithful Christians, when GOD deprives them of His grace. For the first-born mean those things which claim the highest love and reverence, such as the two great commandments of love of God and love of one's neighbour, or as faith and righteousness. Faith when formed is, as it were, the first-born of the soul, and God slays it when men persist in abiding in Egypt, the darkness of this world. The Carmelite is even more mystical in his view. Taking this plague as vengeance for breach of the tenth commandment, he says that they who covet, wish to be the heirs of those whose goods they desire, and therefore wish them to have no other heirs, no first-born. This is, in its degree, a sin like the slaughter of the Hebrew children: and God punishes it by slaying faith, the first-born of spiritual works, in the souls of the covetous. The most principal and the mightiest in the dwellings of Ham. The LXX. and Vulgate read, The first-fruits of all their labour in the tabernacles of Ham. There is a contest between the commentators as to whether these words refer to children, to the fruits of the earth, or to the first-born of cattle. There is more agreement as to the mystical signification, which is, that God slays the fervour of charity and the principal virtues in souls which persist in dwelling amongst the ungodly.

53 But as for his own people, he led them forth like sheep: and carried them in the wilderness like a flock. 54 He brought them out safely, that they should not fear: and overwhelmed their enemies with the sea. He led them forth. The LXX. and Vulgate, more emphatically, He took them away. That is, away from the jaws of the lion and the wolf, from the power of the devil, from worldly conversation, from evil companionship, as He saith by Hosea, "I will ransom them from the power of the grave, I will redeem them from death." And He hath elsewhere spoken of the elect, "Ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world." This the SAVIOUR doth whenever He pours the grace of conversion into man. There is a wild Jewish legend that a sheep appeared of a sudden to the people of the Exodus, spoke with human voice, and pointed out the way; and that these words of the Psalmist refer to that event, true enough in a higher sense. Ayguan's gloss, that they recall the sacrifice of the Paschal lamb, which opened the road from Egypt, may be mentioned, but will hardly be adopted. And carried them. The A. V., better, guided them, as the Good Shepherd, in the wilderness, of this world's exile, whereof the forty years' wandering was a type, like a flock, because of the unity of that Church which He founded, and that flock one of sheep, because the sheep, by their inoffensiveness, their patience, their silence, and their usefulness to man, aptly A. Rom.viii. 24.

The Sequence, Hic est dies celebrandus. signify devout and faithful souls, which their Shepherd feeds with the priceless food of His own precious Body and Blood. Safely. The LXX. and Vulgate read, In hope. Rightly, for hope is the chariot whereon GOD brings His elect to Himself across the wilderness of penitence, as Joseph sent for Jacob. The hope of the Israelites was the Land of Promise, ours is the better Country. We are being led home in hope, "for by hope we are saved." That they should not fear. It is written in the Book of Exodus, that when Pharaoh pursued the children of Israel, "they were sore afraid." R. Kimchi answers that their fear lasted but a moment, and was calmed by the words of Moses, "Fear ye not; stand still, and see the salvation of the LORD." Ayguan's reply is, that there are two kinds of fear: one which causes abandonment of a plan, and the other which is less effective; and that only this slighter fear affected the Israelites. And then it is taken of the constancy of Martyrs and Confessors in resisting suffering, losses, and temptations, because of the hope within them.

Fides spe corroborata, Caritate radicata, Fulget in martyribus, Corda Deo præparata, Passione sociata, Præstant sacris legibus. And overwhelmed their enemies with the sea, by destroying our ghostly foes, and blotting out our sins in the cleansing waters of Baptism. 55 And brought them within the borders of his sanctuary: even to his mountain which he purchased with his right hand. The borders. So the Hebrew and S. Jerome. But the LXX. and Vulgate read, The mountain of His sanctification, not improbably from the copyists of the former confounding bpos and bpos. The words imply first the entrance into Canaan generally, and then the special conquest of Jerusalem itself. And the mountainous character of Palestine, especially on its Lebanon border, enables some of the commentators, though following the Vulgate text, to give this true explanation. Others apply the first clause to Jerusalem, whose "foundation is upon the holy hills," and the latter to Mount Sion, or Moriah, whereon the Temple stood. The mystical interpretation presents no difficulty. The Church into which GOD leads His elect is mountainous, because He hallows them by confession, praise, contemplation, and employment about heavenly things. The arrival at the borders denotes the life of less perfect Christians, the ascent of the mountain the victory of the Saints, of whom is written, "LORD, who shall dwell in Thy tabernacle, and who shall rest upon Thy holy hill?" And this mountain He purchased with His right hand, when He stretched that hand out to be nailed upon the Cross. Wherefore He says of this especial glory vouchsafed to His dearest ones, "Moreover, I have given to thee one portion above thy brethren, which I took out of the hand of the Amorite with My sword and with My bow."

56 He cast out the heathen also before them: caused their land to be divided among them for an heritage, and made the tribes of Israel to dwell in their tents. Here, as so often, they dwell on the seven Canaanitish nations as typical of the seven deadly sins, assigning them, however, somewhat variously; and show how every penitent soul is like Mary Magdalene, out of whom CHRIST cast seven devils. Less mystical, though not less true, is the gloss of Cassiodorus, that the words tell us of the disappearance of barbarous Pagan customs before the civilizing advance of the Gospel, whereby, as another points out, Christians now dwell in lands formerly occupied by idolaters. Caused their land to be divided. This clause is more fully expressed by the LXX. and Vulgate, He divided by lot to them in the line of distribution. Cassiodorus, agreeing herein with a suggestion of the Pseudo-Dionysius, that lot sometimes means a splendour or appointment of the SPIRIT, takes these words to denote the various degrees of gift, reward, and beatitude in the kingdom of heaven.

In domo PATRIS By lot, because it is not of man's judgment, but by the election of GOD; by lot, because it is a free gift of the SPIRIT, and not of man's purchasing, and in the line of distribution, that the exact limits of each virtue may be marked out, so that frugality may not narrow itself into covetousness, nor liberality expand into waste. Or, again, the line may denote the varying amount of grace and power given to each believer, "according to the measure of the gift of CHRIST." Once more, the passage has been explained of the partition of the mission-field of the world amongst the Apostles, an event formerly celebrated in the Western Church by a special festival. And made the tribes of Israel to dwell in their tents. S. Augustine, who explains the heathen to be A. evil spirits, takes these words to mean the exaltation of ransomed men to the thrones left vacant by the fall of the rebel angels; while others are content with seeing here, as in the earlier clause, the victory of Christianity over Paganism. And it is also taken of heavenly virtues dwelling in souls once the habitation of evil thoughts, because "where sin abounded, grace did much more abound."

57 So they tempted, and displeased the most high God: and kept not his testimonies; 58 But turned their backs, and fell away like their forefathers: starting aside like a broken bow. 59 For they grieved him with their hill-altars: and provoked him to displeasure with their images. A.

There are six distinct sins here enumerated. Deceit, in tempting God; infidelity, in displeasing Him; omission of duty, in keeping not His testimonies; apostasy, in falling away; breach of promised vows, in likeness to a broken bow; idolatry, in the hill-altars and images. They all agree that the broken bow refers to faultiness of will, as the bow is the intention, of which the practical issue is the arrow. The A. V. reading, a deceitful bow, is the true rendering; and the meaning is therefore that of feebleness and laxity in spiritual things, when there is no real elasticity in the soul, sufficient to project a prayer or a good work as far as the mark, and therefore failing in the time of need. Euthymius, dwelling on the LXX. word στρεβλάν, crooked or twisted, explains it of a will which is not straight and honest, and which therefore cannot send the arrow in the right line, though it may do so with sufficient force. The Latin Fathers, for the most part reading a perverse bow, explain it of a weapon turned against its owner, rather than against his enemies. And it is thus taken especially of evil-living preachers, whose denunciations of sin recoil on their own heads. So it is written, "They return, but not to the Most High: they are like a deceitful bow." And the hill-altars imply spiritual pride, which gives not God the glory, but exalts human merit; while the images are any objects of love and admiration which are not given us by God, but framed by ourselves in our hearts, even if not endued with bodily form.

60 When God heard this, he was wroth: and took sore displeasure at Israel. 61 So that he forsook the tabernacle in Silo: even the tent that he had pitched among men.

He heard it, as He heard the voice of Abel's blood crying out, as He heard the voices of Sodom and Gomorrah. For sins cry out before God, and disclose their authors. And took sore displeasure at Israel. The LXX. and Vulgate, even more forcibly, And brought Israel exceedingly to nothing. Literally, in the first instance, by the successive overthrows and bondage He permitted them to endure; and later, spiritually, by the transfer of their privileges to the Gentiles. He forsook the tabernacle in Silo, when the Ark was captured in the days of Eli, and the tabernacle left empty. The Ark never returned to Shiloh again, and thus the vengeance which fell on that guilty city is cited as a warning to Jerusalem: "Go ye now to My place which was in Shiloh, where I set My Name at the first, and see what I did to it for the wickedness of My people Israel. Mystically, they take it first of the rejection of the whole Jewish nation; then of the Christian Church, when punished for its sins; and finally of our bodies, which are the temples of the HOLY GHOST, forsaken by GOD when He leaves the soul, in displeasure at a carnal life. Wherefore is added, Even the tent that He had pitched amongst men. It is not said, observes Gerhohus, that He dwelt in walls, but in men. For GOD, Who is a Spirit, dwells not in habitations made with hands, but in rational spirits; for which reason, they who worship Him must worship in spirit.

But He chooses to have temples or tabernacles made with hands, wherein He may be served by men, whose minds He inhabits by faith working through love. And if this faith and love be quenched in men, He cares little for the mere walls of temples, however beautiful and costly. Thus He abandons heretics, who break away from the unity of the Church, in whose bodies and souls He had once dwelt through faith. Wherefore, adds another commentator, it is needful to bear in mind that saying, "Trust ye not in lying words, saying, The temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD, are these. There remains one mystical sense, yet more profound, which is strangely omitted by all the commentators. It is the reference to Him of Whom the dying patriarch spake by the name of Shiloh, Who was sent forth from the FATHER when "the WORD was made flesh, and tabernacled among us. Because of our sins, which He bore in His own Body on the tree, He was forsaken in His last trial by His FATHER, so that He cried, "Eloi, Eloi, lama sabach-thani? Then, far more truly than when the Ark was taken, or the Temple spoiled, was that fulfilled which follows:

62 He delivered their power into captivity: and their beauty into the enemy's hand. Into captivity, in the garden, and in the grave; into the enemy's hand, when Judas betrayed, and Pilate condemned, and death seized Him; their Power, because "the Arm of the LORD;" their Beauty, because He is "fairer than the children of men." They take the passage otherwise, and va- A. A. G. S. Alb. Mag. Ay. Hugo Card. 1 Sam. iv. 2. S. Greg. Mag. Cur. Past. 4. D. C. Hugo Card. S. Alb. Mag. R. riously. Some explain it of the Ark, the power in which the Jews trusted for victory, the beauty which they had adorned with cost and skill. Others understand here the bravest and goodliest of the youth, slain in the battle with the Philistines at Aphek; and again in the slaughter and captivity of a far later age, under Titus and Hadrian. Mystically, it is interpreted of those who, by boasting of their own good works, suffer the enemy to rule over their souls, and thus deliver up that holiness which was their power and beauty into his hands. Or it may denote the soldiers of the Church, especially bishops and priests, giving their bodies, which are their power, up to sin, while their souls, their true beauty, also become the slaves of their ghostly foes. Our power and beauty, observes another, are our baptism and other divine graces, which we lose when we think we can be saved by faith alone, without good works as its fruit.

63 He gave his people over also unto the sword : and was wroth with his inheritance.

Ay. 1 Sam. xiii. 19. Judg. v. 8. 1 Sam. xiii. 22. Ay. S. Greg. Mag. Mor. vi. 16. Job xx. 25, Vulg. D. C. The LXX. and Vulgate read, yet more strongly, He shut up His people in the sword. And they point out how complete was this chastisement; for not only was there a terrible slaughter at the time, but "there was no smith found throughout all the land of Israel: for the Philistines said, Lest the Hebrews make them swords or spears: but all the Israelites went down to the Philistines, to sharpen every man his share, and his coulter, and his axe, and his mattock. An earlier book tells us how vigilantly this mode of repression was carried out. "Was there a shield or spear seen among forty thousand in Israel? Nor was it less strict later; for "there was neither sword nor spear found in the hand of any of the people that were with Saul and Jonathan; but with Saul and with Jonathan his son was there found. Mystically, adds the Carmelite, God shuts up His people with the sword whenever He suffers any to be overcome by the temptation of the devil. For the sword denotes evil counsel. But note, that this cannot be without our own consent. Wherefore Gregory shows in that saying in Job, "The sword drawn, and coming out of the sheath," the devil lays his snares for the righteous, but while he is plotting evil in his thoughts, the sword is in its sheath;

and while he is carrying out his wicked scheme, then the sword is being drawn from the sheath, because the evil deed discloses the hidden thought. And observe that it says, "drawn and coming out of the sheath; drawn by the seducer, but coming forth by our own will. The Carthusian, writing when the recovery of the Holy Sepulchre was still a lingering hope of Western chivalry and religion, takes the passage to denote the slaughter of Christians in the Holy Land by the Saracens, permitted for their sins, because God was wroth with His inheritance.

64 The fire consumed their young men: and their maidens were not given to marriage. 65 Their priests were slain with the sword: and there were no widows to make lamentation.

They take the fire mystically of carnal passions, working more fatal results than the sword and brands of the Philistines. Given to marriage. This, though a paraphrase, is the most probable meaning of the Hebrew , were praised, to wit, in the bridal songs. The LXX. and Vulgate, however, refer it to the funeral ode, and translate, were not lamented. And they explain it that sin had grown to such a height, that there was no compassion felt for those who had forfeited their purity, but rather admiration for such as showed most openly their want of it. Others, more literally, refer the words to the number and frequency of the slaughters, which left neither time for solemn rites, nor persons to perform them. Philip de la Grève explains the young men to mean constancy of mind, and the maidens purity, which are most abundant when the soul is guarded with devout prayer, and is kept apart from bodily pleasures, which two conditions are typified by the priests and the widows of the latter verse. But when prayer and continence disappear, then constancy and purity fail also. Their priests were slain with the sword. The words refer first to the death of Hophni and Phinehas, and then, mystically, to all clerks and religious persons who fail either in soundness of doctrine or holiness of life. They are slain with the sword of God's Word, proceeding out of their own mouths as they preach. And there were no widows to make lamentation.

Literally, the text refers to the death of Phinehas' wife in childbirth. Widows and maidens are taken of Religious women. The Vulgate reads, were not lamented. Gerhohus, very boldly, explains it that devout persons, in times of great spiritual coldness, are slow to lament over the loss of mere physical purity on the part even of Religious, because there is a possibility of such a terrible fall rousing them to true repentance and zeal; while, if they possess that one merit, and no other, they may trust in it to their destruction, and be counted amongst the foolish virgins, who took no oil in their lamps. The Carthusian, conversely, takes these latter words to mean that coldness had spread so widely, that no one was found to weep for those living in carnal sin, of whom the Apostle says, "She that liveth in pleasure is dead while she liveth."

66 So the LORD awaked as one out of sleep: and like a giant refreshed with wine. First, and most truly, it is spoken of that LORD Who Ay. D. C. A. C. Serm. clxix. in Psalt. awaked—what time His priests of the elder Law had spiritually died by their sin against Him—out of His sleep of three days in the grave, refreshed with the strong wine of the Cup of His Passion, which He had drunk to the very dregs. Giant He, as the noble old hymn calls Him: S. Ambrose, The Hymn, Veni Redemptor gentium. G. He awaked, then, at the cry of Samuel and His other faithful servants lamenting that the Ark was carried captive into idol temples. He awakes in anger still when His priests, through neglect of godly discipline, give His Sacred Body, the Ark of the New Covenant, to unworthy communicants, the shrine of whose hearts is full of earthly idols.

67 He smote his enemies in the hinder parts: and put them to a perpetual shame. A. Ric. Hamp. S. Luke ix. 62. Literally, the text refers us to the diseases which He sent on the Philistines so long as they retained the Ark. Mystically, the Fathers of Nicæa explain it of the evil powers, behind whom the LORD came in the might of His Resurrection, and gave them over to everlasting reproach. He still smiles His enemies in the hinder parts when they look back on things behind, and that after putting their hands to the plough, either by giving them up to their sins in the latter part of their life here, and suffering all those little suggestions of the evil spirits, which are like mice, to devour them, or by final condemnation in the end of the world, which is, in fearful truth, perpetual shame. Ayguan discusses at much length, and with illustrations borrowed from his classical lore, the three motives which cause men to smite—corrective love, hostile anger, and judicial punishment, of which the first and third alone can be predicated of GOD.

68 He refused the tabernacle of Joseph: and chose not the tribe of Ephraim; 69 But chose the tribe of Judah: even the hill of Sion which he loved. A.

He does not say that He refused the tabernacle of Reuben, nor the others of Judah's elders; for it might be replied that they deserved such rejection, as they were rebuked by their dying father for their sins. Nor does He speak of rejecting Benjamin, whence a king had already sprung; but those are named who seemed to excel in merit. For Joseph fed his father and brethren in Egypt, and after being wickedly sold, was justly exalted, because of his piety, chastity, and wisdom; and Ephraim was preferred before his elder brother by his grandfather Jacob's blessing: and yet GOD refused the tabernacle of Joseph, (for Shiloh lay in the territory of Ephraim,) and chose not the tribe of Ephraim. We learn herein the rejection of the whole Jewish people, which looked for mere earthly rewards, and the election of the Gentiles in their stead; not because of merit, but of grace. And as Joseph denotes increase, and Ephraim means fruitfulness, so these words teach us that God does not choose the powerful and wealthy of this world, as it is written, "For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble. He chooses Judah, which means praise, or as the old commentators take it, confession, denoting those sinners who acknowledge their own weakness, and give Him the glory. So Peter attained to the blessing of Judah, when he confessed CHRIST.

As to the one was said, "Judah, thou art he whom thy brethren shall praise," so to the other was spoken, "I have prayed for thee that thy faith fail not, and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren. Of Judah was said, "Judah is a lion's whelp; he stooped down, he couched as a lion. And to Peter was signified by what death he should glorify God, that is, girt by another, and with hands extended on the Cross, dying as CHRIST the Lion, and Lion's whelp died, to whom Peter was made like in death. But one thing which is said of Judah far surpasses the person of Peter, "Thy father's children shall bow down before thee," which saying pertains especially to CHRIST, the only Man to be worshipped amongst men. The name Judah befits not Peter only, who confessed the Rock, but all God's elect, who believe with the heart unto righteousness, and make confession with the mouth unto salvation. So the LORD chooses the tribe of Judah out of the mass of the ungodly. The more obvious references, to the Davidic descent of CHRIST, and to the chief manifestations of His miracles in Jerusalem, are not forgotten by the expositors. The Carmelite mentions a Hebrew legend to account for the preference of Judah, that when Moses began the passage of the Red Sea, the Israelites all hung back in fear, till Amminadab, Prince of the house of Judah, set them the example of boldly entering the waters.

Mount Sion, "expectation," is the Church Militant which He loved, as it is written by the Apostle, "CHRIST also loved the Church, and gave Himself for it, that He might sanctify and cleanse it."

70 And there he built his temple on high: and laid the foundation of it like the ground which he hath made continually. The LXX. and Vulgate read, He built His holy thing as of a unicorn upon the earth, which He founded for evermore. The words as of a unicorn denote that Christians uplift the strong horn of their faith to the One God, the Undivided 1 Reading unicorns, instead of high places. 1 Cor. i. 26. S. Luke i. 35. G.

Trinity. Holy thing (ἀγίασμα, sanctificium,) they take diversely. First of that "holy thing" born from the earth of Virgin flesh, but set up above the heavens for evermore. Then it is taken of the Body of the Head, of that Church, the Sanctuary of God stablished on the earth in the hearts of the faithful and bound together in the unity of the SPIRIT, so as to have "One LORD, one faith, one baptism." They dwell also on some of the supposed characteristics of the unicorn, such as his solitary habits, and repulse of all other beasts from his den, which they explain of the law forbidding a stranger to minister in the Temple, and of Solomon's peaceful rule over the neighbouring peoples. The love of the unicorn for chastity, so that he can be captured only as he sleeps in the lap of a virgin, is a myth of which another commentator here avails himself; and a third sees in the strength of the single horn the firm union of faith and charity, based on belief and worship of One God, and growing up towards heaven. The Æthiopic Psalter, nearly agreeing with modern critics in reading, He built His tabernacle in heaven on high and founded it on the earth for evermore, gives a far truer and deeper meaning than these quaint fancies. For that Sanctuary which is alike in heaven above and on earth beneath, is the Only-begotten Son, God and Man at once, and that for evermore, because of the indissoluble hypostatic union of the Two Natures in His Person.

71 He chose David also his servant: and took him away from the sheep-folds. Though the words are spoken of CHRIST, yet He is called here servant, and not Son. And that because the nature which was taken of David was not that Substance which is co-eternal with the FATHER, but the "form of a servant." And took Him away from the sheep-folds, exalting Him to the throne of glory, after He had fulfilled His office, as the Good Shepherd upon earth. Or, as others will have it, taking Him from the Jewish nation, the "few sheep in the wilderness," lost ones of the house of Israel, to whom He was first sent, and giving Him the wider and more glorious rule over the Gentile Church. 72 As he was following the ewes great with young ones he took him: that he might feed Jacob his people, and Israel his inheritance.

Great with young, because CHRIST did not ascend until His Church began to be fruitful in faith and good works; great with young, even under the Jewish Law, for many zealous and just ones were found in it ready to bear fruit, of whom three thousand on one day and five thousand on another, shorn of their fleeces by abandoning their old habits and possessions, came up from the waters of Baptism at the call of Peter. That He might feed Jacob His people, militant here on earth, and Israel His inheritance, the Church Triumphant in heaven, looking ever on His Face. Others see in Jacob a type of the Jewish Church, in Israel of the Christian; and yet another interpretation is that Jacob is the faithful, but yet imperfect Christian, engaged in wrestling with his sins and overthrowing them, while Israel is he who has attained to the peaceful contemplation of God. The Carmelite, eagerly searching out every point that may suggest his LORD, tells us that there are eight marks of a good shepherd. He must have bread in a wallet, a dog in a string, a staff with a rod, a horn and a pipe. The bread is the Word of God. The wallet is remembrance of that Word. The dog signifies zeal, which the shepherd should have for the LORD's house, that he may drive wolves thence with the holy barkings of sound preaching and unwearied prayer. The string which leads the dog, is moderation and discretion in zeal.

The staff is comfortable exhortation, to support the weak, and console them lest they fall in time of trouble. The rod is lawful power, to correct the restless. The horn, by whose alarming sound warriors are roused to battle, is the awful threat of hell, at which CHRIST's soldiers gird themselves with the spirit of might to war against soft sins. The pipe, with its sweet notes, denotes the pleasantness of everlasting bliss, which the faithful Shepherd sweetly and oft-times chants in the ears of His flock. It is thus that God chose David to feed Jacob His servant.

73 So he fed them with a faithful and true heart: and ruled them prudently with all his power. The A. V., nearer at once to the Hebrew and to the Vulgate, reads, So He fed them according to the integrity of His heart; and guided them by the skilfulness of His hands. Truly in the innocency of His heart, for in Him was no spot of sin, He fed them with the WORD, even with Himself, and in the skilfulness of His hands, because He wrought in wisdom all the works whereby He taught His people what to choose and what to shun. Or, more touchingly, when He, in His dying hour, like His ancestor, "guiding His hands wittingly," suffered them to be nailed upon the Cross, it was that He might guide us, according to that lovely reading, in the glory of His hands. Thus He leads His people from passive innocency of heart, which He gives them by purifying their souls, on by skilfulness of hands in every good work, till He brings them into the eternal pastures:

Bone Pastor, Panis vere, JESU nostri miserere, Tu nos pasce, nos tuere, Tu nos bona fac videre In terra viventium: A. Arnob us. The Sequence Tu qui cuneta scis et vales, Qui nos pascis hic mortales, Tuos ibi commensales Coheredes et sodales, Fac sanctorum civium! Glory be to the FATHER of David; glory be to the SON, Who is David; glory be to the HOLY GHOST, Who is the abundance of the pastures of David the Shepherd. As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be: world without end. Amen.

Collects.Almighty GOD, most bountiful provider, refresh us with the food of spiritual manna; that guided by the skilfulness of Thine hands, we may glory at Thy right hand in the mountain Thou hast purchased. Through. (1.) Almighty, Incomprehensible, and Merciful LORD, Who destroyest not sinners so often as they grieve Thee by their offences, set mercy before Thy wrath; and as often as we provoke Thee to smite, so often let Thy loving-kindness cause Thee to forgive. Feed us, then, with the Bread of Angels; that receiving its might, we may overcome the wily craft of the evil one, and through Thine aid enter through the open gates of heaven into the number of its citizens. (11.) O LORD Most High, be Thou our Helper, that by the abundance of Thy might, we may be filled with comfortable strength, and by the overflowing bounties of Thy grace, may be enriched with the gifts of freedom. (11.)

O GOD, Who givest the Bread of Heaven to the sons of men; and feedest an earthly being with the fatness of Angels, grant us the abundant corn of Thy Word, and refresh us with that spiritual food wherewith Thou didst nourish our fathers in the wilderness. (11.) O LORD, we who set our hope in Thee, forget not Thy works, for Thou art wonderful in Thy Saints with righteousness and mercy, and terrible amongst the ungodly, in that Thou bestowest seasonable remedies upon the righteous, and repayest the wicked the chastisements due to them. We therefore beseech Thee, most merciful GOD, that Thou wouldest enlighten with the light of Thy commandments them whom Thou savest from their cruel enemies, removing from them the waves of temptations, showing to them a path of safety, and refreshing them in this world's wilderness with the Body of Thy CHRIST as their heavenly Bread. (11.)

O GOD, Who hast pity upon all, and ceasest not to receive with fatherly kindness them who return unto Thee; remember, we beseech Thee, that we are but flesh; and be ready to turn Thy wrath away, nor kindle all that wrath against us, but soften it, and vouchsafe us Thine unfailing grace. Through. (1.) CHRIST the LORD, Who was elected for our redemption S. Jerome. by the FATHER'S counsel; taking flesh from the flock of mortals, feeding the Christian people, whether it be the Supplanter of its sins, or with the soul the Beholder of GOD; in the goodness of His heart vouchsafe to feed His Church, abiding in His will, and set it in the heavenly Jerusalem. To Him be glory with the eternal FATHER, and the HOLY GHOST, for ever and ever. Amen.

TITLE: A Psalm of Asaph. Chaldee Targum: A Song by the hands of Asaph, of the destruction of the House of the Sanctuary. He spake it by the spirit of prophecy.

Argument.ARG. THOMAS. That CHRIST avenges the blood of the slain, shed for the glory of His Name. The Voice of the Martyrs, concerning their own bloodshedding. The Voice of the Apostles, for any trouble, or of the Martyrs for bloodshedding. The Voice of the Apostles after the Passion of CHRIST. The Voice of the Martyrs for their own bloodshedding for the Name of the LORD JESUS CHRIST. A penitent soul makes prayer to GOD against its most evil neighbours, the devils. In any trouble. VEN. BEDE. This Psalm, like the seventy-third [lxxiv.] is full of lamentation. It weeps over times to come as though past, and beseeches CHRIST, of His dear loving-kindness, to help the people sorely afflicted because of the hardness of its heart. Asaph, under the figure of the faithful people, speaks throughout the Psalm: relating in the first part, what sufferings the Jewish people bore at Jerusalem in the days of Antiochus, as the Book of Maccabees records. O God, the heathen are come in. Secondly; he prays the LORD to pour out His indignation on the mighty enemies, and to be graciously merciful to the sins of His servants. Lord, how long wilt Thou be angry? Thirdly; in the spirit of prophecy, he demands vengeance on them, not through desire for their destruction, but in eagerness for their correction. O let the vengeance.

ARNOBIUS. The seventy-eighth Psalm [lxxix.] following the close of its predecessor, pours out lamentation and prayer together unto GOD. While its historical sense details the past slaughter by Philistines, it relates in prophecy that yet to come from Nebuchadnezzar. SYRIAC PSALTER. Spoken by Asaph, of the destruction of Jerusalem. EUSEBIUS OF CÆSAREA. A prophecy of those things which befell the Jews through Antiochus. The history is in the Maccabees. S. ATHANASIUS. A Psalm in solitary address. Monastic. The same. Ambrosian. Tuesday of Second Week. II. Nocturn.

Antiphons.Gregorian. Be merciful * unto our sins, O LORD. Monastic. For Thy Name's sake * be merciful unto our sins, O LORD. Parisian. Thou forgavest * the wickedness of my sin; for this shall every one that is godly make his prayer unto Thee. Lyons. As Gregorian. Ambrosian. As Psalm lxxvii. Mozarabie. Have mercy upon us, and that soon.

The date and occasion of this Psalm are much disputed by modern critics, who are divided as to the particular destruction of Jerusalem referred to, some holding it to be the Chaldee inroad, and others the spoiling of the Temple by Antiochus Epiphanes. From at least the time of Cassiodorus the parallelisms between Psalm lxxiv. and this one have been the subject of notice and comment, but the present Psalm depicts a still worse condition of things than the earlier one. A few clues may be obtained to guide us. Thus verse 4 is borrowed directly from verse 14 of the earlier Korhite Psalm xliv. On the other hand, verses 6 and 7 are borrowed in turn by Jeremiah, x. 25, just as he borrows in the preceding verse from the Penitential Psalms. This composition, therefore, must date before the final Captivity and after Psalm xliv. and it is certainly not a Maccabee Psalm, because it is actually quoted as part of Scripture in 1 Macc. vii. 17, a distinction which would not have been accorded while it was still a new poem. Further, verse 6 seems to imply invasion by confederate nations, or by an army recruited from various peoples, which will not hold of the Seleucid forces. It has been ingeniously suggested that the defilement of the Temple and the slaughter of the Saints refer to the idolatrous and tyrannical reign of Manasseh, but it seems very difficult to reconcile this view with the language implying the destruction of the holy city. It is possible that the true date lies between the dethronement of Jehoiakim and the last capture of Jerusalem.

1 O GOD, the heathen are come into thine inheritance: thy holy temple have they defiled, and made Jerusalem an heap of stones.

L. O God. The abruptness of this opening is, R. Kimchi remarks, a pathetic appeal. How can it be, seeing Thou art GOD and Judge, that Thou sufferest the heathen to waste Thine inheritance? We may not apply this as a prophecy of the final destruction of the city and temple by Titus and Hadrian, because the Jewish nation, by rejecting CHRIST, had ceased to be any longer GOD's inheritance. The words must therefore be taken of an earlier time, and of those faithful ones who were the true heritage of the LORD, as were the Apostles later. But S. Bonaventure takes them, deeply and beautifully, of the Person of CHRIST, outraged and crucified by Gentile soldiers. An heap of stones. So the Hebrew and S. Jerome. The LXX. and Vulgate read a fruit shed, ὀπωροφυλάκιον, pomorum custodiam, that is, either a place for temporary storage, or the hut erected by the gardener to shelter himself during the harvest, and abandoned when that immediate occasion ended. So the Prophet, "And the daughter of Sion is left as a cottage in a vineyard, as a lodge in a garden of cucumbers. They take it mystically of the inroad of evil thoughts and passions on the soul, making it which should be GOD's temple, a polluted thing, and deserted by the living principle of faith, or even by GOD Himself.

Again, it may be explained of those who discredit the Church by their secular lives, who show no result of baptismal grace, who care only for temporal, not for spiritual things, who, to imitate the quaint language of a Saint, "study in the market, not in Mark, delight in scrip, not in Scripture. It is especially true of worldly prelates and priests, who come into God's inheritance, the Church, without being called or drawn by Him, and who abandon it as soon as they have made gain by it, just as the gardener or vintager leaves his hut after harvest. Others again, applying it to times of persecution, interpret the defiling as forced apostasy; the fruitshed as the Church, falling into decay when the Martyrs, the rich fruits once stored there, are carried into GOD's garners.

Isa. i. 8. A. 2 The dead bodies of thy servants have they given to be meat unto the fowls of the air: and the flesh of thy saints unto the beasts of the land. Once more they point out that the words cannot refer to the conquest of Titus, because the Christians escaped safely from Jerusalem during a lull in the siege. They prefer to dwell on the sufferings of the Martyrs in the ten great persecutions, noting that the poor vengeance of the heathen not only could not touch the soul, but that the Resurrection makes even their attempts against the body vain. No fitter comment can be made on this sense of these two verses, than the words of S. Basil the Great, describing the results of Diocletian's edict. "The private houses of Christians A. "Student in marcâ, non in Marco, gaudent in librâ, non in libro."

At this point the Golden Commentary of Gerhohus ceases. That portion of his great work which he completed first, by no means equal to the latter, begins with Psalm cxix. His place in this book will, for the present, be occupied, not filled, by Honorius of Autun. were laid waste, the goods of the innocent were plundered, the bodies of faithful and virtuous persons were rent by the hands of executioners; matrons were dragged through the streets . . . . Besides all this, the houses of prayer were desolated by profane hands; the most holy altars were overthrown; nor was there any oblation, any incense, any place for offering the Sacrifice left. Deep sorrow, like a spreading mist, reigned everywhere." Mystically, they take the words as showing that our bodies may be, and are, exposed to the power of evil spirits, or human tyrants and slanderers, typified by fowls and beasts, but that our souls are not given into their power. Or, taking the Saints to mean all baptized Christians, their dead bodies will denote those of them who have allowed their souls to become dead in sin, and who are thus given over to the "powers of the air," and their flesh will signify carnal passions and appetites, which end in becoming the prey of the devouring lion.

3 Their blood have they shed like water on every side of Jerusalem : and there was no man to bury them. A. They try here to give some guess at the number of Christian Martyrs who resisted unto blood in the early days of the Church, and find only the rough calculation that the various Martyrologies, specifying only the more eminent cases, commemorate an average of five hundred Martyrs for each day of the year, whence they suggest the vast number of those not so mentioned. Like water, that is, abundantly and wantonly, on every side of Jerusalem, that is, since Jerusalem denotes the Church, throughout the whole world. It holds of those who shed their own blood, that is, their spiritual life, by publishing their open and reckless sin committed in the Church. And there was no man to bury them. It may be taken of that height of disorder in the Church, when wickedness, instead of being buried in the grave of repentance, of confession, of restraint, or of a cairn of good works heaped over it so as to hide its evil savour, is openly preached and encouraged. The properties of a grave are thus summed up to enforce this sense :

There was no man to bury them, by hiding them from death with the example of life. Observe that in these two verses there is an apparent violation of the normal law of mystical language, whereby in Holy Scripture Jerusalem usually denotes the Church triumphant, and Sion the Church militant. They may, however, be very readily explained in accordance with that law. The words, on every side of Jerusalem, imply that the slaughter did not reach the inner city, but only its suburbs and outworks; and the expression made Jerusalem an heap of stones will then denote the manner in which the great immigration of Martyrs thronged the City above, for the heap of stones will signify that Gilead, or "mound of witness," whereof is written, "Gilead is mine." 4 We are become an open shame to our enemies: a very scorn and derision unto them that are round about us.

It is the cry of the Martyrs, whether in Pagan, Arian, Vandal, or Saracen days, and yet not altogether a cry of sorrow, but of rejoicing in sharing in the Passion of Him Who was mocked, spit on, buffeted, blindfolded, and blasphemously reviled. Yet again, it is the confession of guilt on the part of unworthy prelates and clergy, who have caused unbelievers and even many of the well-disposed laity to condemn the Church on their account. 5 LORD, how long wilt thou be angry: shall thy jealousy burn like fire for ever? The anger and jealousy of GOD are not emotions of GOD; as some charge against those Scriptures which they understand not; but by the name of anger is to be understood the avenging of iniquity; under the name of jealousy, the exaction of chastity, that the soul may not despise the law of her LORD, and perish by departing in fornication from the LORD. Like fire. For GOD's anger and jealousy do burn like fire till the gold, that is, perfect holiness, be purified, and the wood be reduced to ashes. Note too, that GOD's anger may be aroused by any sin, but His jealousy, as well as that of His servants, is usually spoken of in Scripture as directed against spiritual adultery, that is, idolatry. Thus Moses says, "They provoked Him to jealousy with strange gods." And Phinehas, slaying Zimri and Cozbi, is said to be "zealous for his GOD;" and Elijah complains, "I have been very jealous for the LORD GOD of Hosts."

A. 6 Pour out thine indignation upon the heathen that have not known thee: and upon the kingdoms that have not called upon thy Name. 7 For they have devoured Jacob: and laid waste his dwelling-place. It is a prophecy, not a wish. S. Augustine queries how this passage can be reconciled with the words of the Gospel, A. It will be seen, on reference to Vol. I. p. 401, that I have ventured to differ from the opi- nion of this passage expressed by Dr. Neale.—R. F. L. A. Eheu! terra inelyta, terra vere bons, Sola digna perfrui floridâ coronâ! Terra cui dederat DEUS tanta dona, Eheu! quantum impia te nunc cingit zona! Eheu! eheu! DOMINE, gloria justorum, Angelorum bonitas, salus peccatorum! Ecce canes comedunt panes filiorum, Velut aqua funditur sanguis nunc sanctorum! Flete, omnes populi, flete, et non parum! Graves luctus facite, planctum et amarum! Flumina effundite, undas lacrymarum! Sic ruinam plangite urbium sanctarum.

8 O remember not our old sins, but have mercy upon us, and that soon: for we are come to great misery. A. Old sins: whether those of our fathers, entailing evils on their descendants, or those of original sin, committed before baptism, and remitted therein, but partially resumed, or else post-baptismal sins, repented of, and left behind. Soon. How soon, let the A. V. tell us, herein agreeing with the Vulgate: Let Thy tender mercies speedily prevent us; let Thy grace anticipate our fall, and not merely lift us up from it; let Thy mercy anticipate Thy judgment, that we be not condemned at the last. We are come to great misery. The LXX. and Vulgate read, We have become exceeding poor, having lost the gold of purity and the silver of a good conscience, and being destitute of all good works. Where note, that he is poor, who has none of this world's goods; he is very poor, who has not himself; he is exceeding poor, who not only has not himself, but is in another's power. "O how great is the might of this verse and of the two which follow! Their power outstrips all human understanding; the tongue fails in uttering their praise; but how good it is to confess our own poverty, and thus to cry ceaselessly in the LORD's Prayer, 'Give us this day our daily bread.' Wonderful is the might of prayer in these verses, and most wholesome is it to use these holy words, with loving soul, with steadfast attention, with hearty zest, for it were easier for heaven and earth to perish, than for such a prayer to be in vain!"

9 Help us, O GOD of our salvation, for the glory of thy Name: O deliver us, and be merciful unto our sins, for thy Name's sake. Help us. While the Psalmist would have us to be helped, he is neither ungrateful to grace, nor doth he take away free-will. For he that is helped, does something for his own part, wherefore S. Chrysostom saith, that grace is the help of human weakness. Help is not given to sleepers, but to them that bestir themselves. So when S. Antony warred against evil spirits, and was sore wounded in the conflict, he recognized with gladness, as a sunbeam shone down on him and put the demons to flight, that CHRIST had come to him, and he said, "Where wast Thou, O good JESU: where wast Thou?" And a voice came to him, saying, "Antony, I was here; I was watching thy conflict. Now that thou hast not ceased battling manfully, I will ever help thee." Whence it is said, "The SPIRIT helpeth our infirmities." He does not say "our negligence." O God of our salvation, for the glory of Thy Name, which is JESUS, the SAVIOUR, not for any merits of our own, deliver us.

A. S. Chrysost. in S. Matt. JESU, salva me, Salvator, Esto meus liberator De mortis voragine, JESU, laudem tibi dico, Nomen tuum benedico, Manum mihi porrige. Be merciful to our sins. As pardon was asked in a former verse for old sins, so here the remission of those which we continue to commit is asked from the LORD. Do more than pardon, grant that the sufferings which we deserve, but which, as Christians, we bear for Thy Name's sake, may not cause us to fall away into the sins of the ungodly around us, but help to purge us, and fit to praise Thy holy Name with honour and thanksgiving. 10 Wherefore do the heathen say: Where is now their GOD? A A 11 O let the vengeance of thy servants' blood that is shed : be openly showed upon the heathen in our sight. A.

The order of the clauses of the eleventh verse in the LXX. and Vulgate is the reverse of this, and the Vulgate adds one of them to the tenth, thus: Where is now their God? and be it known in the nations, &c. That is, not merely that they should deny either God's power to save, or His knowledge of the distress of His people, but that this blasphemy, confined at first to a few, should spread abroad amongst the unbelieving nations around, as did the mockery of those who reviled Him when He hung upon the Cross. The vengeance of Thy servants' blood. There is a double comment on these words in the New Testament, the cry of the souls of the Martyrs under the Altar in heaven: "How long, O LORD, holy and true, dost Thou not avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?" and the promise given by their King Himself: "Shall not GOD avenge His own elect, which cry day and night unto Him, though He bear long with them? I tell you, that He will avenge them speedily." S. Augustine dwells at much length on this prayer, and shows that it is an intreaty in true charity for the correction of the wicked in this life, that they may be saved at last, (seeing that their sin must be punished somehow and some time,) rather than have it deferred to the world to come, and therefore it is said, in our sight.

12 O let the sorrowful sighing of the prisoners come before thee : according to the greatness of thy power, preserve thou those that are appointed to die. A. Pet. Lomb. Phil. i. 23. A.

Prisoners, either in the bonds of the flesh, which they only feel heavy who "desire to depart and to be with CHRIST," or in the bonds of GOD's commandments, which, fitly worn, become ornaments, as it is written, "Put thy feet into her fetters, and thy neck into her chain," because, as is said further, "then shall her fetters be a strong defence for thee, and her chains a robe of glory. Or prisoners in the bonds of charity and brotherly love, who are constrained to make perpetual intercession on behalf of sinners, as Moses did for guilty Israel, and who thus bind the LORD Himself. Or, yet again, prisoners under the bondage of the old Law, not yet admitted into "the glorious liberty of the children of GOD. Lastly; they take it of literal chains, wherewith the heathen bound the Martyrs and Confessors of CHRIST. And with this they take those that are appointed to die. The Hebrew literally is, the sons of death, and the LXX. and Vulgate turn the words, acquire for Thy possession the sons of the slaughtered, which is, that in accordance with the prayer of the Apostles and Martyrs, whose spiritual children we are, their bloodshedding might not be fruitless, but enrich the field of the Church with a rich harvest. And so it has been a proverb for sixteen hundred years, "The blood of the Martyrs is the seed of the Church.

Another reminds us that when God delivers us from any great peril of death, bodily or spiritual, He thereby purchases us as His especial property, and we are more than ever bound to His service. They are to be acquired or preserved by the greatness of God's power, or, as the Hebrew and the versions generally, of His Arm, that is, of His Only-begotten Son, that Arm which is most potent to deliver, most ample to embrace, most tenacious to hold; of which it is written, "He shall gather the lambs with His arm, and carry them in His bosom, and shall gently lead those that are with young."

13 And for the blasphemy wherewith our neighbours have blasphemed thee : reward thou them, O LORD, sevenfold into their bosom. Sevenfold, as doing it perfectly, into their bosoms, as doing it secretly. They take it, for the most part, of severe chastisements at God's hand, in vengeance on the seven deadly sins, marked by seven deprivations of grace in this world, and seven woes in the world to come. Far deeper and lovelier is the gloss of Cassiodorus, followed by many others, that it is a prayer for the conversion of sinners by sending into their hearts the sevenfold gifts of the HOLY GHOST; the first effect of which will be to cover them with confusion, so that they shall hide their faces in the bosom of God, and there reproach themselves seven times as much as they once did the Name of God. A. 14 So we, that are thy people, and sheep of thy pasture, shall give thee thanks for ever : and will alway be showing forth thy praise from generation to generation.

Cardinal Hugo, according to his wont, sums up in mnemonic verse the mystical properties of pasture : They remind us that the Jewish people were the first sheep of God's pasture in this world, and that as sheep assemble together in summer, and part in winter, so the Jews were ready to give thanks to God in prosperity, but in time of affliction they always fell away. But of His own elect, He, the Good Shepherd, Who has given Himself to be their Food, saith, "I will seek out My sheep, and will bring them to their own land, and feed them upon the mountains of Israel by the rivers, and in all the inhabited places of the A A 2 country. I will feed them in a good pasture, and upon the high mountains of Israel shall their fold be: there shall they lie in a good fold." How good that fold is, let us hear one tell us whose soul thirsted to be there:

S. Pet. Dam. The Hymn, Ad perennis vitæ fontem. Winters snowing, summers glowing, never thither pain may bring, Everlasting roses blowing make an everlasting spring, Lily blanching, crocus blushing, and the balsam perfuming. Pasture groweth, flowret bloweth, honey drops from combs of bees, Liquid odours, fragrant spices, shed their perfume on the breeze, Never-falling fruits are hanging from the ever-leafy trees. Theod. Mopsuest. C. From generation to generation. From the generation of circumcision to that of baptism, from the generation of nature to that of grace, from the generation of this world to that of heaven, we shall praise Thy Name in the most blessed psalmody of the world to come, which the choir of Saints shall chant unceasingly, not to teach others, for none there will be untaught, but that, offering honour where it is due, they may be fed with the very sweetness of their own song. And so once more the holy Bishop of Ostia:

S. Pet. Dam. ubi sup. In new harmonies unceasing they with voice melodious sing, While their listening ears are gladdened with the harps' exultant ring, And, for He hath made them victors, praises chant they to their King. Glory be to the FATHER, the GOD of our Salvation; and to the SON, the Greatness of His Arm; and to the HOLY GHOST, Who giveth His sevenfold grace into our bosom. As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be: world without end. Amen.

Collects.Ludolph. Prevent us, O LORD, with Thy mercy, before the jealousy of Thine anger be kindled, that helped by the prayers of the Blessed, whose blood was shed for Thy sake, we may obtain Thy mercy and remission of our sins. Through. (1.) Mozarabic. Be merciful to our sins, O LORD, and, for the glory of Thy Name, refresh us with perfect freedom. Let us not become a rebuke unto the heathen whilst we are oppressed with the record of our sins. Wash away, then, the source of our offences, that Thou punish us not with severe chastisement, and let the sighing of the prisoners enter in unto Thee, that Thy bountiful grace may come manifestly unto us from Thy hid treasures. Through. (11.) Mozarabic. O LORD, let Thy mercy speedily prevent us, for there is neither comforting hope, nor trust in merit, nor helpful assistance to support us; but the guilt and trouble of our life, the conscience of our sins, or the vengeance on our offences rebukes us in our unrest. Deliver us for the glory of Thy Name, and be merciful unto our sins for Thy Name's sake, that when Thou hast done both for Thyself, and hast looked on Thy people with Thy wonted loving-kindness, we may give Thee glory for our deliverance, and obtain propitiation through Thy Name. Through. (11.)

O LORD Most High, be Thou our Helper; and make haste with speed to deliver Thy people, that by Thine abundant power we may be filled with mighty help, and be enriched with gifts from the bounty of Thine abundant grace, that our tongue may not become slow through falsehood when we profess love to Thee with our mouth, but let that profession of our mouth denote purity of mind, and let Thy praise ever sound on our lips from the organ of the heart. Through. (11.) Remember not, O LORD, our old sins, nor let original guilt bring sorrow on us, whom a second birth in CHRIST regenerates. Let Thy mercy, therefore, O LORD, take hold upon us; for the Creator of man is born in man, and man is assumed into GOD, Who is to be glorified. Through. (11.) We beseech Thee, O LORD, mercifully to hear our prayers, and for Thy praiseworthy and glorious Name's sake, remember not our old sins, that, by Thy help, delivered from all our offences, we may ever watch unto the works of righteousness. Through. (1.)

TITLE. To the Chief Musician upon Shoshannim-Eduth. A Psalm of Asaph. LXX. and Vulgate: To the end, for them who shall be changed, a Testimony of Asaph, a Psalm, [because of the Assyrian, LXX.] Or: To the Supreme, for the Lilies, a Testimony of Asaph, a Psalm.

Argument.ARG. THOMAS. That CHRIST, sitting upon the Cherubim, extends and protects the Vineyard of the Church. The Voice of the Priests of GOD for the Church and CHRIST. The Voice of the Apostles to the FATHER concerning CHRIST and the Church. Then, the Voice of the Priests of GOD concerning the Church and CHRIST. The Voice of the Prophets concerning the Advent of CHRIST, and the extension of the Vineyard, that is, the Church. VEN. BEDE. As the first words of the title are already explained, it remains for us to inquire what the Testimony of Asaph means. This Asaph, aforetime fearful and disquieted, who in the previous Psalm made prayer for the offences of the synagogue, is now filled with such confidence, that, changed for the better, he gives testimony of his change. For he speaks of the first Advent of the SAVIOUR, Who brought back corrupted man to the gifts of salvation, and stablished with the root of His power the vine which He brought out of Egypt. This is what he means by saying, A testimony for them who shall be changed.

This Asaph, of whom the title sings as changed, in the first section, prays for the Coming of the LORD: Hear, O Thou Shepherd of Israel. Secondly, he testifies how that Vine, which is the Church, is spread over the whole world. Thou hast brought a vine out of Egypt. Thirdly, He prays Him to visit His Church, under the parable of a Vine, with the bounty of His Incarnation, and beseeches that he may cling to the LORD. Turn Thee again, O God of hosts, &c. CHALDEE TARGUM. For Praise, for the ordinary sitting Judges, who apply themselves to the testimony of the Law. EUSEBIUS OF CÆSARÆA. A prophecy of the siege by the Assyrians, and a prayer for the appearance of CHRIST.

Various Uses.Ambrosian. Tuesday of Second Week. III. Nocturn.

Antiphons.Gregorian. As preceding Psalm. Monastic. Exult unto GOD, * our Helper. Parisian. Thy testimonies, * O LORD, are very sure. Ambrosian. As preceding Psalm. Mozarabic. First verse of the Psalm. The most satisfactory explanation amongst the many which have been given as to the date and occasion of this Psalm, is that which represents it as composed after the captivity of the Northern Kingdom of Israel, and before that of the Kingdom of Judah. It will thus be a prayer for use in the Temple of Jerusalem for the release of the ten tribes from bondage, for their reunion under the sceptre of the House of David, and for the restoration of the limits reached by the Jewish monarchy in the time of Solomon. The mystical parallel thus afforded is abundantly clear. 1 Hear, O thou Shepherd of Israel, thou that leadest Joseph like a sheep: show thyself also, thou that sittest upon the cherubims.

Shepherd of Israel. So the LXX., Syriac, and S. Jerome. The Vulgate, less happily, reads, Thou who rulest Israel. He is the Shepherd of His people, because He pitches their tents as in a green pasture, and feeds them by the waters of comfort; because He is their leader, and champion against S. Greg. Naz. Or. 4 de Filio.

wild beasts; because He turns back those which are going astray, recovers the lost sheep, binds up the broken, protects the whole, and gathers them into the heavenly fold. He is Shepherd of Israel, as King of the Jews, ruling His people in many ways, as a monarch does his realm, as a pilot steers his ship, as a general marshals a battle, as a father governs his household, as a teacher directs his pupils, as a guide conducts the blind, as a shepherd leads his sheep, as an abbat rules a cloister, as the soul sways the body, as reason does the heart, as a priest governs his church, or a bishop his diocese. He rules and feeds Joseph also, the "increase" of the Gentiles, bringing him into the one fold with Israel, and leading him on from strength to strength. And as He led the patriarch Joseph like a sheep in his innocence, simplicity, purity, meekness, and patience, from prison to a throne; so He led CHRIST, the antitype of Joseph, the Lamb of GOD, from the grave to His own right hand in glory. He leads still all pure and patient souls by the same path to His own fold. And not only the pure; for here we may see that hundredth sheep which the Good Shepherd brings back on His shoulders to rejoin the ninety and nine. Our Pastor goes before His flock, for He is the guide into all truth, and He leads the way to Paradise and Heaven. He goes behind His flock, lest the weary one should halt, or be separated from its companions. And so it is written, "Thy Righteousness shall go before thee: the glory of the LORD shall be thy rereward."

Show Thyself. By Thine Advent and Thine Incarnation, showing not Thy majesty alone, but Thy lowliness. That sittest upon the Cherubims. "Cherubim is the seat of the glory of GOD, and is interpreted 'the fulness of knowledge.' There GOD sitteth in the fulness of knowledge. Though we understand the Cherubim to be the exalted powers and virtues of heavens; yet, if thou desirest, thou wilt be cherubim. For if cherubim be the seat of GOD, the soul of a righteous man is the seat of wisdom. How shall I, thou sayest, be the fulness of knowledge? Who shall fulfil this? Thou hast the means of doing so; 'Love is the fulfilling of the Law.' Run not after many things, nor strain thyself. The spreading size of the branches alarms thee: hold by the Root, and reck not of the greatness of the tree. Let Love be in thee, and the fulness of knowledge must needs follow. For 'GOD is Love.'" The primary reference is to the cloud hovering over the Ark in the journey in the wilderness, and later to the Shechinah in the Holy of holies in the Temple. And of this passage we have an exceedingly early mystical application to the Four Gospels. S. Irenæus writes: "The WORD, the Framer of all things, Who sitteth upon the Cherubim, and containeth all things, He Who was manifested to men, has given us the Gospel under four aspects, but bound together by one Spirit. As also David says, when praying

S. Chrysost. Hom. 58 in S. Joan. Isa. lviii. 8. A. S. Irenæus, Adv. Hæres. 3, xi. 8. for His manifestation, Thou that sittest upon the cherubims, show Thyself. For 'the first living creature was like a lion,' typifying His effectual working, His leadership, and royal power; 'the second was like a calf,' signifying sacrificial and priestly order; but 'the third had, as it were, the face as of a man,' a clear description of His Advent as a human being; 'the fourth like a flying eagle,' denoting the gift of the SPIRIT hovering with His wings over the Church." Adam. Victorin. The Sequence, Jucundare, plebs fidelis. Ecce forma bestialis, Quam scriptura prophetalis Notat, sed materialis Hæc est impositio. Currunt rotis, volant alis, Visus sensus spiritalis; Rota, gressus est æqualis, Als, contemplatio. Quatuor describunt isti Quadriformes actus CHRISTI; Et figurant, ut audisti, Quisque suâ formulâ. Natus Homo declaratur, Vitulus sacrificatur, Leo mortem deprædatur, Et ascendit Aquila.

And taking the Ark, as they so often do, to represent her who was the shrine of Godhead, the Greek Fathers delight in describing the Holy Child lying on her bosom as on a throne, borne up by angels. Till then, He was sitting upon the Angels, and, in respect of us men, He was, as it were, sleeping and lying down. Then, He arose in His power, and stood up to help us in the battle. 2 Before Ephraim, Benjamin, and Manasses : stir up thy strength, and come, and help us.

These three tribes were marshalled together on the west side of the Tabernacle, and therefore nearest to the Holy of holies. This circumstance, and the meaning of their names, have given rise to a copious stream of mystical interpretation. And first they take all three as types of CHRIST, the "fruitful" Tree, which, buried first in the earth, shot up to the highest heavens; the "SON of the Right Hand" of the Almighty FATHER; the "forgetting" One, Who pardoned the sins committed against Himself, and prayed upon the Cross for His murderers. Again, they interpret Ephraim of the laity, who ought to be fruitful in good works, as they are rich in worldly goods; Benjamin, of the clergy, who should be valiant, and do battle for the Church, caring nothing for the heritage of the left hand, mere temporal prosperity; and Manasseh, of Religious, who leave behind and forget worldly matters, "reaching forth unto those things which are before. The Carthusian, not dissimilarly, takes the first to mean those who bring forth worthy fruits of repentance, the second to be the workers of righteousness, the third those who forget the world. They remind us that Benjamin was the tribe whence S. Paul, the teacher of the Gentiles, sprang, and that it thus denotes the missionary Jewish Church; that Ephraim, the younger and more fruitful child of Joseph, signifies the Gentiles, later called, but more numerous than the Hebrew believers;

and that Manasseh, meaning "forgetfulness," and dwelling half in Bashan and half in Canaan, is the Jewish nation, forgetting CHRIST, but having a remnant which will not abide in unbelief, but will enter into the promises. Ayguan begins here, but does not finish, a long allegory on the marshalling of the twelve tribes, comparing them to twelve virtues encamped round the tabernacle of the Christian's body: on the east, its new birth; on the south, its time of wealth; on the north, its season of adversity; and on the west, its setting or death. He does not reach the west; but we may readily fill the blank by noting what he says of the others. The dying Christian, then, should have "fruitfulness," because his Master has come looking for harvest; he should have trust in his SAVIOUR, for it is written, "Thou hast holden me by my right hand; he should forget the things now lying behind him, reaching forth unto those things which are before. Stir up Thy strength, for Thou wast weak when they said, "If He be the SON of GOD, let Him come down from the Cross. Thou didst seem to have no strength, the persecutor had power over Thee; and Thou didst show this of old, for Jacob himself prevailed in wrestling, a man with an Angel. Could he ever have done so, had not the Angel been willing? And man prevailed, and the Angel was conquered; and victorious man holdeth the Angel, and saith, "I will not let Thee go, except Thou bless me.

A great mystery! He both standeth conquered, and blesseth the conqueror. Conquered, because He willed it; weak in flesh, strong in majesty. Stir up, therefore, Thy strength. How long dost Thou seem weak? Having been "crucified through weakness," arise in power, and come. No longer send, as before, by the hand of Thy Prophets, but come, in Thine own Person, by the mighty power of Thine Incarnation. And help us. The A. V. and Vulgate, more truly, save us. First, by delivering us from error; then, by gathering us into unity; finally, by rescuing us from misery. And save us from the guilt of original sin, from mortal and venial offences, and from the power of the evil one.

A. A A 3 3 Turn us, again, O God : show the light of thy countenance, and we shall be whole. A. Zech. i. 3. Heb. i. 3. A. Turn us, as the Targum explains it, back from our captivity to our country, or, with other Rabbinical authorities, revive us from our faintness, bringing us to ourselves again. Either way it holds good of sinners, turning away first from God, and then by His grace, not by their own power, turned back, converted to Him in penitence, because He first turns to us. Wherefore He saith, "Turn ye unto Me, saith the LORD of Hosts, and I will turn unto you, saith the LORD of Hosts." And again it is written, "And the LORD turned, and looked upon Peter. And Peter remembered the Word of the LORD." Show the light of Thy Countenance. It is a prayer to the FATHER to make His SON, "the brightness of His glory, and the express Image of His Person," manifest in the flesh by His Incarnation; it is a prayer to the SON, Whose radiance was hid under the cloud of flesh, to show His light by arising from the grave, and by ascending into heaven. And we shall be saved, (A. V. and Vulg.,) as they are, who, on the point of perishing in the icy chill of winter, see and feel the bright and genial rays of the sun. Turn us, then, by pouring Thy grace upon us; show us the light of Thy Countenance, by illumining us inwardly with wisdom; and save us, by granting us perseverance in the right way. Show us the light of Thy Countenance after this life in our Country, and we shall be whole from all pain and sorrow; for "in the light of the King's Countenance is life."

4 O LORD God of hosts : how long wilt thou be angry with thy people that prayeth? A.

How long? Let Him answer Himself: "I will not contend for ever, neither will I be always wroth: for the spirit should fail before Me, and the souls which I have made." Thy people. The LXX., Syriac, and Vulgate read, Thy servant. And they contrast the might ascribed to God by the invocation in this verse with this lowliness of His suppliant Prophet, speaking in the name of the people, and fitly calling on the LORD of good angels to save Him from evil ones, on the LORD of armies to deliver from the enemy's hand. S. Augustine appears to have read here, Thou wast angry at the prayer of Thine enemy; wilt Thou still be angry at the prayer of Thy servant? Till we turned from our wickedness, we were Thine enemies, and our very prayer was turned into sin; but now that Thou hast converted us, we know Thee, and wilt Thou still be angry with the prayer of Thy servant? Thou wilt, most plainly, but as a Father correcting, not as a Judge condemning. Thus Thou wilt clearly be angry, because it is written, "My son, if thou come to serve the LORD, prepare thy soul for temptation." Think not that God's wrath hath now passed away, because thou art converted. It hath passed away, but only so as not to condemn for ever. But He scourgeth, He spareth not; because He "scourgeth every son whom He receiveth." If thou refusest to be scourged, why dost thou desire to be received? He scourgeth every son whom He receiveth. He scourgeth every one, Who did not spare even His Only Son. But how long? Hear Him again: "For a small moment have I forsaken thee; but with great mercies will I gather thee. In a little wrath I hid My Face from thee for a moment; but with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee, saith the Lord thy Redeemer."

5 Thou feedest them with the bread of tears : and givest them plenteousness of tears to drink. The LXX. and Vulgate read, Thou wilt feed us with the bread of tears, and give us drink of tears in measure. Again we ask, How long? And there is an answer, "Thus saith the King: Put this fellow in the prison, and feed him with bread of affliction, and with water of affliction, until I come again in peace." Till CHRIST comes in peace to the soul, it must mourn in bondage; till CHRIST comes again to the children of the bride-chamber, they must fast and weep in penitence for their sins. The bread of tears is a life of sorrows, and GOD feeds us therewith when He teaches us, not destroys us, with affliction; for these tears are for our amendment and perfection, not for our destruction. With meat and drink of this kind the sinful woman fed her LORD, when He sat in the house of the Pharisee; for CHRIST hungers after the groans of sinners, and thirsts for their tears, so that Mary, not Simon, truly banqueted Him. So He fed S. Peter daily, when the crowing of the cock reminded the Prince of the Apostles of his denial. And as the Most Holy Eucharist is a memorial of His Death, Who strove for us here with strong crying and tears, It, as uniting us to His Passion, is the Bread and Water of tears. Cry we then to Him:

33 in Evang. S. Pet. Chrysol. Serm. in Ut a morte nos secundâ torin. The In measure, however, it is that He gives us tears to drink, according to the degree of our sinfulness; and yet mercifully even so, "for GOD is faithful, Who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able, but will with the A. temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it." In measure, for observe that there were six times appointed for this feeding of men. First, of rebuke, as when it was said to our first parents, "In the day that thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die." Secondly, of chastisement, when mankind was reduced to eight souls in the Ark. Thirdly, of sacrifice, when circumcision was given to Abraham for a sign. Fourthly, of prohibition, when GOD gave the Law. Fifthly, of declaration, when the Prophets announced the Advent of CHRIST, bringing His reward with Him. Sixthly, of reconciliation, when He came in the flesh. And He says bread, because it is made up of three things: flour, which is good works, whereof is written, "Labour not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life;" water, denoting tears of repentance, of which is said, "Pour out thine heart like water before the face of the LORD;" and fire, which is of love, and of which CHRIST has spoken, "I am come to send fire upon the earth; and what will I, if it be already kindled?" This alone consolidates and unites the flour and the water into nourishment of the soul.

6 Thou hast made us a very strife unto our neighbours: and our enemies laugh us to scorn. A. Strife. The LXX. and Vulgate read, contradiction, or gainsaying. This plainly came to pass; for out of Asaph were chosen they that should go to the Gentiles, and preach CHRIST, and should have it said of them, Who is this "setter forth of strange gods?" For a contradiction; for they were preaching Him Who was the subject of the contradiction. What did they preach? That CHRIST, after He was dead, rose again. Who would acknowledge this? It was a new thing. But signs followed, and miracles gave credibility to an incredible thing. He was contradicted, but the gainsayer was overcome, and from a contradictor became a believer. Our neighbours are the Jews, the "gainsaying people;" but we are further exposed to the heathen, our enemies, who laugh us to scorn as worshipping a crucified malefactor. Even still, our neighbours, heretical Christians, near the Church, but not of it, contradict; and unbelievers, whether Jews or Pagans, scorn the Catholic Faith.

7 Turn us again, thou GOD of hosts: show the light of thy countenance, and we shall be whole. In the former invocation, CHRIST was besought to come in the flesh, in human weakness; wherefore He is there called GOD simply. Now, He is besought to come in the might of His Resurrection to eternal life, and is therefore given the title of power, God of Hosts. 8 Thou hast brought a vine out of Egypt : thou hast cast out the heathen, and planted it.

First, let us take it of the True Vine Himself, of Whom it was written in mystery, "Out of Egypt have I called My Son. And so it has been explained by some Rabbis. Next, of the branches collectively, springing from that one Root, and forming the Christian Church. They delight in heaping up similes to show the fitness of this parable. A Saint, writing in the days of martyrdom, allegorizes thus, with a copiousness of mystical allusion very rare at so early a date: "There is first of all a trench to receive the plant; that is the sacramental font of Baptism. Next, there is a pole to support the tendrils, denoting the Cross. The vines are trained up on terraces, signifying the steep ascent of the heavenly way and life. They are bound with cords, which are the answers and vows made when the questions of renunciation of the world are put at the font. The too luxuriant branches are pruned away with a knife, typifying the work of the HOLY SPIRIT in purging our sins. As the vine, so pruned, weeps happily, so from the baptized man more happily stream rills of heavenly wisdom. When the buds of the vine burst open, and fruit follows the leaves, this denotes the Christian, guarded and nourished alike by obedience to those holy precepts whence comes the fruit of everlasting life.

The vine climbs to the top of its pole, and so the Christian, who gives all his goods to the poor, and carries his cross, thus fulfilling all righteousness, follows CHRIST with more alacrity. Tempests, heat, and rain bring the vine to maturity; trial and persecution lead the Christian to his crown. In the time of harvest rough hands pluck off the grapes, and bear them to the wine-press, to be trodden under foot by the vintagers, as martyrs are dragged to the place of execution, and slain with insult and cruelty. And as the grape-juice is squeezed out between two boards, with all the weight of the press; so, at the Last Judgment, vengeance for the blood of the martyrs will be exacted, according to the two tables of the Law, to the last farthing from their persecutors. S. Ambrose, dwelling on the same topic, tells us that the Vine of the Church is planted with the root of faith, pruned by humility, hedged about with heavenly precepts and angel guards; that a tower in the vineyard is built up of Apostles, Prophets, and Doctors; that the earth is dug round about the vine, that the care of worldly things may lie less heavily on it; and that the orderly rows signify the equality of rich and poor, gentle and simple, in the Church.

Cardinal Hugo reminds us that the wood of the vine, once cut away from its root, is good only for burning; that the tree needs severe treatment to be fruitful; that it is the only source of true wine; that it grows lush and rank in rich soil, but then produces weak and poor wine; that it flourishes best on lofty and rocky ground; that it must needs be exposed to the sun, and be propped up with stakes and poles. And he applies all this to each Christian soul, with sufficiently obvious reference. Of this vineyard, whereof is written, "The vineyard of the LORD of Hosts is the House of Israel, and the men of Judah His pleasant plant," the eventful history is now set before us. GOD brought it out of Egypt, away from the darkness of sin, unto the light of grace. He cast out the heathen, those seven deadly sins which beset the soul, the evil lusts and passions of the unconverted, before it, and planted it, rooted and grounded in love, that it might not creep on the earth, but rise up, twining round the cedars of GOD, the Prophets and Apostles, with the tendrils of charity.

9 Thou madest room for it : and when it had taken root, it filled the land. A.

More exactly, with the A. V., Thou preparedst room before it, by clearing away the stones of the vineyard and driving the heathen back. The LXX., Thou madest a way before it, may be taken in this sense, but the Vulgate reads, Thou wast leader of the journey in the sight of it, seeming rather to refer to the pillar of cloud and fire, which went before the Hebrew camp. S. Augustine, following a reading similar to the LXX., comments: What was the way which was made in the sight of it? "I am," He said, "the Way, the Truth, and the Life. So it was in the fulness of time, but first He gave His people the Law, that they might walk therein, as it is written, "This is the way, walk ye therein. In the sight of it. The Vine cannot flourish except it see the Husbandman, and receive from Him the rain of instruction, that it may bear fruit abundantly. The soul must not only be led by CHRIST through this present life to the better country, but must keep Him ever in view by contemplation, if it would follow Him closely. And when it had taken root. The older Versions agree with the A. V. in referring the action still directly to GOD. Thou plantedst its roots, is their reading. In one sense all the princes of the house of Israel, the heads of tribes, were roots of the Vine, as the progenitors of the Jewish Church.

In a deeper manner, the Lawgivers and Prophets of the earlier Covenant, the Apostles and Doctors of the New Testament, are roots of the Church grounded in love. Nay, faith, hope, and charity, are the very roots of the life of the soul, without which it can never be fruitful. Most truly of all, you may take the words of Him Who is the Root of Jesse, and yet a Branch growing out of that root, going down in His humility to death and hell, ascending in His glory to the highest heaven, truly that "Plant of renown"

que, quantum vertice ad auras Æthereas, tantum radice in tartara tendit. It filled the land. First, with its shoots, as is written, Le Blanc. "It grew, and became a spreading vine of low stature." Ezek. xvii. 6. Secondly, with its grapes, which are perfumed, "As the vine brought I forth pleasant savour," large, abundant, and com- 17. mon to all parts of the world. And this last because, as one Father says: "The earth is the LORD's, everywhere GOD the FATHER is served, everywhere CHRIST is worshipped: this is our vintage;" and as another speaks, "The banners of the Cross shine throughout the world." So that Vine began to fill the land, when three thousand received the Word on one day, and when "Samaria had received the Word of GOD," and the prophecy entered on its completion, "The earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea."

10 The hills were covered with the shadow of it : and the boughs thereof were like the goodly cedar-trees. "Who are the hills? The Prophets. Why did its shadow cover them? Because they spake darkly the things foretold as yet to come. Thou hearest from the Prophets, Keep the Sabbath day, on the eighth day circumcise a child, offer sacrifice of a ram, a calf, a he-goat. Be not troubled; its shadow covers the hills of GOD; after the shadow there will come a manifestation." Again, taking the hills, as often, to imply the proud and mighty, they explain the words of the conquest of mountainous Palestine, of the fall of Sihon and Og, of the sons of Anak, and of all the tribes whom David subdued, and over whom Solomon ruled peacefully. And, most truly of all, taking the hills to denote the heights of Christian love and contemplation, they are said to be under the shadow of that Vine whereof the Bride speaks, "I sat down under His shadow with great delight, and His fruit was sweet to my taste:" sweet indeed, as the Holy Eastern Church sings of S. Longinus :

A. Looking on the fruitful Vine As upon the Tree it hung, Streaming life's and pardon's wine, With thy heart's lips thou hast clung Closely, Saint, to drink thy fill Of that joy which knows no ill. Menæa, Oct. The boughs thereof were like the goodly cedar-trees. The S. Alb. Mag. Targum adds here, "Behold the mighty teachers, who are likened to the stateliest cedars." And then we shall understand the words to denote the equality or superiority in spiritual things of the humblest Christian to the mightiest Saints of the elder Covenant. "Verily, I say unto you, Among them that are born of women there hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist: notwithstanding, he that is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he." The LXX. and Vulgate read here, The boughs thereof [covered] the cedars of God. That is, observes Cassiodorus, the Church is the home and shelter of the Martyrs whom she hath reared in her bosom. Or, as another will have it, she has brought the kings and rulers of the earth, lofty and proud though they were, under her sway.

11 She stretched out her branches unto the sea: and her boughs unto the river. The literal reference is to the furthest limits attained by the Jewish monarchy, when, under Solomon, it extended from the Mediterranean to the Euphrates. Mystically, they explain the branches to be the Jewish members of the Church; the boughs, Gentile proselytes. The sea, in like manner, they take to be the heathen world, barren, unresting, and sinful, to which the branches were stretched out, when the True Vine sent His Apostles to preach the Gospel. And as they for the most part suppose the river to be the Jordan, they interpret this clause of the Jewish people, to which only the lesser position (boughs as compared with branches) was destined under the new dispensation. Once more, they explain the sea to denote tears of repentance, and the river the cleansing waters of Baptism. Besides those tropological interpretations, verses 8-11 have also been explained of the external history of the Christian Church, brought out of heathen darkness and bondage, victorious over Paganism, filling the whole Roman Empire, subjugating kings and sages, rearing Saints equal to the greatest of the Prophets, spreading from the Eastern to the Western Sea, to the Nile and to the Ganges.

12 Why hast thou then broken down her hedge: that all they that go by pluck off her grapes. Why? We are not left in doubt as to the reason, for God has answered the question Himself: "Wherefore, when I looked that it should bring forth grapes, brought it forth wild grapes? And now, go to; I will tell you what I will do to My vineyard: I will take away the hedge thereof, and it shall be eaten up; and break down the wall thereof, and it shall be trodden down." What the hedge is which He has thus destroyed, they vary in explaining. The Hebrew is plural, fences, whence they remind us that there are many such. First and best, they take this hedge to be the Presence of God Himself. "Far be it from us to dread any peril for this vineyard, which the ever-wakeful guard of the LORD of Salvation hath fenced with the wall of eternal life against all the lures of worldly iniquity, and hath stretched out her branches unto the sea." Next, it denotes

Le Blanc. S. Ambros. in S. Luc. Lib. ix. 30. S. Greg. Nyss. Hom. vii. in Cant. the Angel guard: Thirdly, the Saints: then, GOD's commandments and the virtues which spring from keeping them, especially obedience. Or it may be taken of Holy Scripture. After this, prayer, according to that saying of a Saint: "Prayer is the wall of the Church, which cannot be breached, an unshaken bulwark, terrible to evil spirits, but safe and sheltering to the holy." Lastly, prelates, doctors, and preachers are the wall of the congregation. "When the tower falls," observes Cardinal Hugo, "it is not for its own ruin alone, but for that of the whole city. For if the tower be taken or razed, the entire city is easily stormed. So when the assembly of the Doctors falls into sin, the city of the Church lies exposed and defenceless before its enemies." They dwell on the Vulgate word maceria, which denotes a dry stone wall, built without mortar, and thus easily pulled down, and draw thence the inference that no barrier of prayer, of good works, or the like, can stand firmly, unless cemented with the Blood of CHRIST. S. Bonaventura, looking at the word from a somewhat different point of view, says that there is no maceria whatever except CHRIST, and that this name is given to Him Who is the chief corner-stone, as Begotten by GOD only, and in no human manner.

Non ex virili semine, Sed mystico spiramine, Verbum DEI factum est caro Fructusque ventris floruit. Hugo Card. in Cant. iv. S. Ambros. The Hymn, Veni Redemptor Gentium. All they that go by. The A.V. more fully, with LXX. and Vulgate, All they that pass by the way. Those who pass by the Way are the heathen and unbelievers, who serve idols of their own framing, and neglect the worship of CHRIST. Or it may be taken of heretics, who, after they have pulled down the wall of Holy Scripture by their false interpretation of it, lay waste the Church. Pluck off her grapes. They note that this phrase shows that unfaithful labourers in the vineyard, hypocrites, and false Christians are intended. They do not destroy the vine, but turn it to their own profit alone, seeking fruit for themselves, and not for GOD. 13 The wild boar out of the wood doth root it up: and the wild beasts of the field devour it.

The destroyer is called a wild boar, not only to denote his savage fury, but also his unclean Gentilism, an abomination, like the flesh of swine, to the Jews. He comes out of the wood, because the Gentiles, uncultured by the Divine Husbandman, are thus contrasted with the sedulously tended vineyard of Israel. But when they at length believed, what was said? "Then shall all the trees of the wood rejoice before the LORD." They dispute about the literal applica- A.

tion. S. Jerome, followed by many others, interprets the passage of the Roman devastation under Vespasian and Titus. But though the boar was once included amongst the military ensigns of the Romans, it was laid aside in the time of Marius. If we are to see a reference to the Romans here at all, we should therefore apply the words to Hadrian, whose crowning insult to the Jews was carving a boar's head over the chief gate of Ælia Capitolina, that they might shrink from so much as entering it. The Carthusian aptly points out that a far earlier date must be assigned, because the Jewish nation, after the rejection of CHRIST, had no further claim to the title of GOD's vine. The Carmelite, while mentioning the view of S. Jerome, ingeniously suggests that Nebuchadnezzar is meant, and called the boar of the wood, because he was driven from men, and had his dwelling with the beasts of the field. Others, again, take it of Antiochus Epiphanes. But in truth, the most satisfactory explanation is that which sees here the captivity of the northern kingdom under Shalmaneser, not only from the express mention of tribes (Ephraim, Benjamin, and Manasses) which formed part of it, but because of the absence of any hint of the profanation and destruction of the Temple, such as occurs in Psalm lxxiv., and certain to be here repeated if any sack of Jerusalem were referred to. The wild beasts of the field. The reading of the LXX. and Vulgate is, The singular wild beast.

They who refer this Psalm to the Roman conquest say here, that Vespasian, because of his strength and his foul and sordid life, is styled the wild boar; and that Titus, who devoured what his father had merely uprooted, is the singular beast. The Carthusian, basing his objection on the apostasy of the Jews, declares that the latter epithet is merely emphatic and iterative of the former, and must refer to some much earlier oppressor. Mystically, the truest reference is that of Arnobius, who sees here the slaying of CHRIST, the True Vine, by the combination of Roman soldiers and Jewish Priests; so that the FATHER might truly say of Him, "It is My SON's coat; an evil beast hath devoured Him. Next, they take the words of the Church, vexed by the devil, typified by the boar, as the emblem of brutal passions, and by Antichrist, the singular beast. The Chaldee Targum reads, instead of the latter phrase, The cock of the woods shall feed on it, wherein they note the fierceness, pride, and boastfulness of the bird, as fit emblems of the sin which drove Lucifer, Adam, and Nebuchadnezzar from their high estate.

Only a small part of Benjamin adhered to the house of David. The majority of the tribe, and all its greatest cities, Ramah, Bethel, and Jericho, be- longed to the northern kingdom. Note also, that only one tribe is promised to the Davidic family in the prophecy of Ahijah. 1 Kings xi. 32, 36. Quasi rex in capite gallus coronatur; In pede calcaribus, ut miles, armatur; Quanto plus fit senior pennis desauratur; In nocte dum concinat leo perturbatur. The Rhythm, Multi sunt presbyteri. More specifically, they refer the boar to Mohammed, uprooting the Eastern Church in so many places, and threatening even the West till comparatively recent times. Or, going back to earlier times, they remind us of the slaughter of the martyrs, the living wall of the Church Militant, and the consequent devastation wrought by tyrants like Valerian and Diocletian. And another commentator sees in the singular beast the type of a king, nominally Catholic, oppressing and plundering the Church. One lesson of comfort, however, underlies the sorrow of these verses. The wild beast cannot make its way in so long as the wall stands; the wall will stand so long as we are desirous that it should. Then we are safe, as the heathen poet sings, under the protection of an ever-wakeful Guard, Who tells us:

Ipse seram vites, pangamque ex ordine colles, Quos carpent nullæ, me vigilante, feræ. 14 Turn thee again, thou GOD of Hosts, look down from heaven: behold, and visit this vine; Here is set forth the perfect state of the Church after the Advent of CHRIST. And it is divided into six parts, in accordance with which the Psalmist utters six prophecies. First; that the Church shall be reconciled to GOD. Secondly; that it shall be founded on CHRIST. Thirdly; that the Synagogue shall come to an end. Fourthly; that the SON of GOD shall be Incarnate. Fifthly; that faith shall be confirmed. Sixthly; that the Church shall be made blessed. Turn Thee. Observe that GOD is said in Holy Writ to turn in many ways. First; by converting sinners, as when He turned and looked on Peter. Secondly; by delivering the afflicted, as it is written, "O what great troubles and adversities hast Thou showed me! and yet didst Thou turn and refresh me, yea, and broughtest me from the deep of the earth again." Thirdly; by raising up the dead, first the souls from the death of sin, and then their bodies from the death of nature, of which turning is said, "I am my Beloved's, and His desire [Vulg. turning] is toward me." And also, "Wilt thou not turn again, and quicken us, O LORD?" Fourthly; by comforting the sorrowful. "O LORD, I will praise Thee: though

When we bear in mind how often the epithet "boar" was given in contempt to Germans in the middle age, and how Erasmus has in set terms applied it to Luther; and note how this gloss of Hugo de S. Cher fits in with the character of Henry VIII.; we may well see here a type of the calamity which befell the Church of England in the disastrous sixteenth century. B. Honorius. Ric. Hamp. Ay. S. Albertus Magnus. S. Bern. S. Albertus Magnus. 1 Kings xxi. 2. A. A. 1 Cor. iii. 11. Ay.

Thou wast angry with me, Thine anger is turned away, and Thou comfortedst me." Lastly; by punishing the obstinate, for then "the sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood." Look down, that is, call us to repentance and grace, because "a King that sitteth on the throne of judgment scattereth away all evil with his eyes." From heaven, that is, in the Person of the Mediator CHRIST JESUS, behold, that it may see and know Thee, and then learn to see and know its own sins, and visit, in Thine own Person, as the great Physician coming to a patient, this vine. And note, that to a wise man, his own life, his own mind, his own conscience, is a vineyard. In this vineyard the LORD planted every good seed, but the devil turns it into a garden of potherbs. "Ahab spake unto Naboth, saying, Give me thy vineyard, that I may have it for a garden of herbs." He makes the soul a garden of herbs, when he plants there the wisdom of the world, the flesh, and the devil, herbs which will quickly wither. Some are only too ready to yield over this vineyard to the devil, so that it is turned into a desert. "I went by the vineyard of the man void of understanding; and, lo, it was all grown over with thorns, and nettles had covered the face thereof, and the stone wall thereof was broken down."

15 And the place of the vineyard that thy right hand hath planted : and the branch that thou madest so strong for thyself. The word , here and in A. V. translated vineyard, (as also by the Syriac Psalter) is taken by the LXX., Vulgate, and all the chief modern critics, as a verb in the imperative. The first reads κατάρτιααι, the second perfice, the remainder protect or shelter this vine. Perfect, then, O LORD, this vine. Plant not any other, but make this one perfect. For she is the very seed of Abraham, she is the very seed in whom all nations shall be blessed; there is the root whereon the grafted wild olive is borne. The branch. The Hebrew is , and the old versions are agreed in translating it more literally, the Son of man, wherein they are confirmed by the Targum, which reads here, "Messiah the King." The metaphor, however, comes to the same thing, for He is spoken of Who is the "rod out of the stem of Jesse, the branch out of his roots." He thus grows out of that very vine which His own right hand had planted, as He grows Himself, the Tree of Life, in the midst of His garden the Church, which He hath planted in faith and love. Whom Thou madest so strong for Thyself. A mighty stronghold, build as you may, "for other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is JESUS CHRIST." And because He came to fulfil, expand, and glorify the Law, not to destroy it, the Psalmist calls on Him to perfect His vine, on Him Whom the FATHER hath made so strong by the hypostatic union of God-head and Manhood, so that "the Branch of the LORD" is "beauty and glory."

16 It is burnt with fire, and cut down : and they shall perish at the rebuke of thy countenance.

Let us take it still of the Only-begotten, and we shall see His Passion shadowed here, the burning with fire in the wood for the burnt-offering of Abraham, the cutting down in the knife which he lifted against Isaac. And as GOD the FATHER sware by Himself for this thing to stablish Isaac, that in him all the nations of the earth should be blessed, so we beseech Him now to remember His oath, for the sake of the One Sacrifice, consumed with the fire of Divine love, cut down by the hands of sinners, that we may never go back from Him. So taking it, they who pierced Him, when they look on Him again, shall perish at the rebuke of His countenance. But the Vulgate reading, from its ambiguity, has led to a different interpretation: Things burnt with fire and dug up shall perish at the rebuke of Thy countenance. The most general gloss on these words is, that sins are denoted, some kindled by ardent desire, others dug by grovelling fear. These perish and disappear in the souls of penitents, who bow before the rebuke of God's countenance, that is, at the preaching of the Gospel of CHRIST, whether they be open sins of passion, hot and conspicuous as fire, or hidden sins of fear, lying, as it were, in a trench. Again, it is explained of the fall of the Jewish dispensation. Things burnt with fire, the holocausts of the Temple, things dug up, the ashes and offal flung into pits and trenches, perished and ceased after CHRIST, the Countenance of GOD, appeared to the world. Yet again, you may take it of the spiritual temple, burnt and dug up by ghostly foes. The digging can be countermined by the might of the five wounds wherewith CHRIST's Sacred Body was dug; the fire may be quenched with the water from His pierced side.

A. Pet. Lomb. 17 Let thy hand be upon the man of thy right hand : and upon the son of man, whom thou madest so strong for thine own self. And surely His hand was on that Man, so that He might say, with holy Job, in His Passion: "Have pity upon me, have pity upon me, O ye my friends; for the hand of GOD hath touched me. Why do ye persecute me as GOD, and are lating this literally, appears as though the neuter plural throughout : Incensa igne et suffossa, ab increpatione vultus tui peribunt. not satisfied with my flesh?" In that Passion He was at first Benoni, the Child of mourning, "a Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief," but the hand of the LORD was still on Him to strengthen Him, like Elijah, to run His course, so that by His Resurrection and Ascension, He became Benjamin, the Son of the Right Hand of God. Ayguan prefers to see here the Incarnation, rather than the Passion, of CHRIST, and sees the miraculous nature of that mystery implied in the phrase the hand of God. He was confirmed by His FATHER when, at His Baptism in Jordan there was heard, "a voice from heaven, saying, This is My beloved Son, in Whom I am well-pleased." He is the Man of God's right hand for three reasons. First; He is inseparably united with the FATHER. Next; He has perfect fruition of Him, as is written, "At Thy right hand there is pleasure for evermore." Lastly; He is seated on the FATHER's right, for "the LORD said unto my LORD, Sit Thou on My right hand," where His Protomartyr beheld Him in the glory of God.

18 And so will not we go back from thee : O let us live, and we shall call upon thy Name. A. We will not go back, but when others do so because He utters some hard saying which they cannot hear, we shall say with S. Peter, "LORD, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life." We, strengthened by the HOLY GHOST, will not fall away from Thee, but will abide as did Thine Apostles, for "neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in JESUS CHRIST our LORD." O let us live. The LXX. and Vulgate take it in the future, Thou shalt quicken us, in the regenerating waters of baptism, wherein our sins are remitted. Thou shalt quicken us, by lifting us from love of earthly things, wherein we were dead, and love of Thee, by conversion, turning our faces to Thine, wherein is the light of life; by giving us the true Bread from heaven; with the life of grace here, and that of glory hereafter; with Thyself, Who art alone the Life of all things. And we shall call upon Thy Name. Cassiodorus explains it of the daily recitation of the Our FATHER by all Christians, but the majority take it of that Name which is dearest of all to the Saints of God, the Name which is ever on their lips, the Name of their Brother, their Teacher, their King, their Ransom, their Reward. O most beloved Name, let us call on Thee with the passionate cry of Thy servant in days long past:

JESU, JESU, JESU, JESU, cortese, JESU, JESU, JESU, JESU, amore, JESU, JESU, JESU, d' amor m' accese; JESU, JESU, si m' ha furato 'l cuore, JESU, JESU, JESU, mi fa le spese, JESU, JESU, sie l mio salvatore, JESU, JESU, JESU, desideroso, JESU, JESU, sie l mio riposo. 19 Turn us again, O LORD GOD of hosts: show the light of thy countenance, and we shall be whole. The triple repetition of this verse denotes the mystery of the Most Holy Trinity. It sums up all Christian prayer, for it asks first for conversion, next for the light of GOD's countenance, which is His loving-kindness, and then for salvation. It is triply uttered for another reason, that as the first cry was for the Nativity of CHRIST, and the second for His Passion and Resurrection, so the third is for His Second Advent to Judgment. Let Him come, that we may see the King in His beauty. "For what is so good, so lovely, so sweet, so fair, so healthful, so pleasant, and so noble, as to look on the Face of GOD? O beauteous Face, O boundless loveliness, O measureless bliss! Blessed then are the pure in heart, S. Matt. v. S. for they shall see GOD."

B. A. Glory be to the FATHER, the LORD GOD of Hosts; and to the SON, the Shepherd of Israel, the Man of His right hand; and to the HOLY GHOST, the Sevenfold Light of the Countenance of GOD. As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be: world without end. Amen.

Collects.Visit, O LORD, this Vine, which Thou hast brought out of the Egypt of troubles with Thy strong right hand; that quickened by the light of Thy countenance, it may be glad with the plenteousness of good fruits in Thee. Through. (1.) Almighty GOD, Who hast sent Thine Only-begotten SON, and hast revealed Him as Creator of all things, look upon this Vine, which Thy right hand hath planted, prune away the thorns from it, bring forth its branches in might, and give them the fruit of truth. (2.) O GOD, Who hast rooted up the thorns of superstition, and set plants in Thy Church with the deep root of faith, hearken to the prayer of Thy servants; look down from heaven, behold, and visit this Vine, and grant that it, which received increase in the bud by Thy planting, may receive fruit in abundance by Thy watering. Through. (11.)

Hear, O LORD, Who rulest Israel, Thou Who leadest Joseph like a sheep, apply the guidance of a shepherd and the help of a protector, turn us, and show Thy countenance, and we shall be whole, Thou Who, though Most High, beholdest the lowly, and mercifully hearest the prayer of them which call on Thee. Through Thy mercy. (11.) Come, O LORD most merciful, come; and vouchsafe freedom to the oppressed; stir up Thy strength, and possess the people Thou hast gained, direct that vine which Thou hast planted by the Man of Thy right hand; and hear, as our Advocate, the Son of Man Whom Thou madest so strong for Thyself, that the bread of tears may have measure in its scourges, and the drink of our compunction may not reduce in strength, but nourish our souls. Through Thy mercy. (11.) O LORD of Hosts, receive in mercy, not in anger, the prayers of Thy servants, and vouchsafe to show us how we ought to pray; strengthen them with eternal food whom the bread of tears troubles, and let our eyes shed rivers of tears with such piteous weeping, that they may turn the abundance of Thy mercies upon the sins we have committed, so that we who tremble in dust at the coming of our Redeemer, may look, when He comes, on His glorious countenance in the most peaceful aspect. (11.)

Come and deliver us, O LORD GOD of hosts; turn us, and show us Thy countenance, and we shall be whole, that we, purified by Thy gift of worthy repentance, may stand by Thee at Thy judgment. (11.) Stir up Thy strength, O LORD GOD, and come to deliver us, that we, who are overborne by the whirlwinds of temptation may be uplifted by Thy mighty help. Let not the legions of the enemies prevail against us who are sheltered by Thy majesty, but evermore grant us assistance, and inflict punishment on our foes. (11.) Mozarabic. For unbelievers. Hear, Thou Who rulest Israel, Who leadest Joseph like a sheep, stir up Thy strength, and save them for whom Thou camest to be born on earth. Thou Who hast vouchsafed to gain the multitude of the Gentiles by stretching forth to them the worship of faith, deliver by the swift act of Thy lovingkindness the souls of unbelievers from the pit of false doctrine, and bring them to Thyself to please Thee and trust in Thee. Through. (11.)

Turn us, O LORD GOD of hosts, show us Thy countenance, and we shall be whole; Him Who is Thine Image, Him Who is Thy Face, Who is the Light of Thy countenance, in Whom Thou dwellest, and Who dwelleth in Thee, that He may vouchsafe to glide into our cleansed souls, show us Himself as the SAVIOUR of the world, and save us by His sacred glance. To Him be glory and power with Thee and the HOLY GHOST, now and for ages of ages. Amen. O GOD, the FATHER of might, graciously vouchsafe to be the Leader in the right way before the people, redeemed with the Blood of Thy SON, that, planted by Thee with the strong root of Christian profession, it may fill the Land of Eternal promise. Through the same. (2.)