CXXXVII. Ps.65,3. 176 The little ones' of Babylon, sins in their infancy. PSALM of divers idols and devils, the unlawful remedies of enchantments and amulets. What shall one yet an infant do, a tender soul, observing what its elders do, save follow that which it seeth them doing. Babylon then has persecuted us when little, but God hath given us when grown up knowledge of ourselves, that we should not follow the errors of our 1 vid. on parents. And this, as I then too mentioned', was foretold Jer. 16, by the Prophet, The nations shall come to thee from the 19. ends of the earth, and shall say, Surely our fathers have inherited lies, vanity which hath not profited them. So speak they, now grown up, who when little were slain by following these vanities, and then coming to life again increase in union with God, and repay Babylon. How shall they repay her? As she hath served us. Let her little ones be choked in turn: yea let her little ones in turn be dashed, and die. What are the little ones of Babylon? Evil desires at their birth. For there are, who have to fight with inveterate lusts. When lust is born, before evil habit giveth it strength against thee, when lust is little, by no means let it gain the strength of evil habit; when it is little, dash it. But thou fearest, lest though dashed it die 1 Cor. not; Dash it against the Rock; and that Rock is Christ. 10, 4. 22. Brethren, let not your instruments of music rest in your work: sing one to another songs of Sion. Readily have ye heard; the more readily do what ye have heard, if ye wish not to be willows of Babylon fed by its streams, and bringing no fruit. But sigh for the everlasting Jerusalem: whither your hope goeth before, let your life follow; there we shall be with Christ. Christ now is our Head; now He ruleth us from above; in that city He will fold us to Himself; we shall be equal to the Angels of God. We should not dare to imagine this of ourselves, did not the Truth promise it. This then desire, brethren, this day and night think on. Howsoever the world shine happily on you, presume not, parley not willingly with your lusts. grown up enemy? let it be slain upon the Rock. little enemy? let it be dashed against the Rock. grown up ones on the Rock, and dash the little ones against the Rock. Let the Rock conquer. Be built upon the Rock, if ye desire not to be swept away either by the Is it a Is it a Slay the Confession twofold, of sin and of praise. 177 9. stream, or the winds, or the rain. If ye wish to be armed VER. against temptations in this world, let longing for the everlasting Jerusalem grow and be strengthened in your hearts. Your captivity will pass away, your happiness will come; the last enemy shall be destroyed, and we shall triumph with our King, without death. PSALM CXXXVIII. SERMON. LAT. CXXXVII. 1. THE title of this Psalm is brief and simple, and need not detain us; since we know whose resemblance David wore, and since in him we recognise ourselves also, for we too are members of that Body. Let us recognise then herein the voice of the Church, and at the same time let us rejoice that we have been thought worthy to be in her, whose voice we have heard chanting. The whole title is, 'To David himself! Let us see then, what is to David himself. 2. I will confess to Thee, O Lord, with my whole heart. ver. 1. The title of the Psalm is wont to tell us what is treated of within it but in this, since the title informs us not of this, but tells us only to Whom it is chanted, the first verse tells us what is treated of in the whole Psalm, I will confess to Thee, O Lord, with my whole heart. This confession then let us hear. But first I remind you, that the term confession in Scripture, when we speak of confession to God, is used in two senses, of sin, and of praise. But confession of sin all know, confession of praise few attend to. So well known is confession of sin, that, wherever in Scripture we hear the words, I will confess to Thee, O Lord, or, we will confess to Thee, forthwith, through habitually understanding in this way, our hands hurry to beating our breast: so entirely are men wont not to understand confession to be of ought, save of sin. But was then our Lord Jesus Christ Himself too a sinner, Who saith in the Gospel', I confess to Thee, Father, confiLord of heaven and earth? He goeth on to say what He 1 teor Tihi, Mat. 11, 25. CXXXVIII caustum 178 God hears the voice of the heart, not of the mouth. PSALM Confesseth, that we might understand His confession to be of praise, not of sin, I confess to Thee, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because Thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes. He praised the Father, He praised God, because He despiseth not the humble, but the proud. And such confession are we now going to hear, of praise of God, of thanksgiving. I will confess to Thee, O Lord, with my whole heart. My whole heart I lay upon the altar of Thy praise, an whole burnt-offering of praise I offer to Thee. A whole burntoffering is a sacrifice where the whole is burnt, for the 1 holo- Greek word o1 meaneth 'whole.' See how he offereth a Lat. spiritual whole burnt-offering, who saith, I will confess to Thee, O Lord, with my whole heart. Let the flame of Thy Love, he saith, set on fire my whole heart, let nought in me be left to myself, nought wherein I may look to myself, but may I wholly burn towards Thee, wholly be on fire towards Thee, wholly love Thee, as though set on fire by Thee. I will confess to Thee, O Lord, with my whole heart: for Thou hast heard the words of my mouth. What mouth, save my heart? For there have we the voice which God heareth, which ear of man knoweth not at all. They cried aloud indeed who accused Susanna, but lifted not up their eyes to heaven; she was silent, and cried with her heart; wherefore she was thought worthy to be heard, they to be punished. We have then a mouth within, there do we ask, thence do we ask, and if we have prepared a lodging or an house for God, there do we speak, there are we heard. Acts 17, For He is not far from every one of us, for in Him we live, and move, and have our being. Nought maketh thee far off from God, save sin only. Cast down the middle wall of sin, and thou art with Him Whom thou askest. Thou hast heard, saith he, the words of my mouth; I will confess to Thee. 27.28. 3. And before the Angels will I sing unto Thee. Not before men will I sing, but before the Angels. My song is my joy; but my joy in things below is before men, my joy in things above before the Angels. For the wicked Is. 48, knoweth not the joy of the just: There is no joy, saith my 21. God, to the wicked. The wicked rejoiceth in his tavern, 22; 57, 2. the martyr in his chain. In what did that holy Crispina VER. rejoice, whose festival is kept to-day? She rejoiced when she was being seized, when she was being carried before the judge, when she was being put into prison, when she was being brought forth bound, when she was being lifted up on the scaffold', when she was being heard, when she was being 'catasta. condemned: in all these things she rejoiced; and the wretches thought her wretched, when she was rejoicing before the Angels. 27.28. 4. I will worship toward Thy holy Temple. What holy ver. 2. Temple? That where we shall dwell, where we shall worship. For we hasten that we may adore. Our heart is pregnant and cometh to the birth, and seeketh where it may bring forth. What is the place where God is to be worshipped? What world? what building, what abode in heaven and among the stars? We search the holy Scriptures, and find Wisdom saying, I was with Him, I was Prov. 8, she before whom He rejoiced daily. Then she telleth us what 30. are His works, and discloseth to us her own abode. When He established the clouds above, when He set apart His abode above the winds. His abode is His Temple. Whither then shall we go? Are we to go above the clouds to worship? If He is worshipped above the clouds, the birds are better than we. But if by the winds we understand souls, I mean souls described under the name of winds,— (just as Scripture saith in a certain place, He came Ps. 18, flying on the wings of wind, that is, on the virtues of souls; whence also the soul is called the breath of God, a sort of Gen. 4, wind, not that we should understand thereby the wind' which we feel as it propels our body, but that by the title thereof may be signified somewhat invisible, which can neither be seen with the eye, nor inhaled by the smell, nor tasted by the palate, nor handled by the hand; a sort of life, that is, whereby we live, which is called 'soul,')—if we understand these to be meant by winds, there is no reason why we should seek visible wings to fly up with the birds to worship at the Temple of God, but we shall find that God sitteth above us ourselves, if we choose to be faithful to Him. See whether it be not so: the Temple of God is holy, saith the 1 Cor. 3, Apostle, which Temple ye are. But assuredly, as is manifest, 11. 17. CXXXVIII 180 God's dealings, Mercy and Truth. PSALM God dwelleth in the Angels. Therefore when our joy, being in spiritual things, not in earthly, taketh up a song to God, to sing before the Angels, that very assembly of Angels is the Temple of God, we worship toward God's Temple. There is a Church below, there is a Church above also: the Church below, in all the faithful; the Church above, in all the Angels. But the God of Angels came down to the Church below, and Angels ministered to Him on earth, Matt. 4, while He ministered to us; for, I came not, saith He, to be ministered unto, but to minister. What hath He ministered to us, save what to-day also we eat and drink? Since then the Lord of Angels bath ministered to us, let us not despair but that we shall be equal to the Angels. For He that is greater than the Angels came down to man; the Creator of the Angels took man's nature upon Him; the Lord of Angels died for man. Therefore, I will worship toward Thy holy Temple; I mean, not the temple made with hands, but that which Thou hast made for Thyself. 11. Mat. 20, 28. 5. And I will confess to Thy Name in Thy mercy and Thy truth. In these two we confess, for so it is written in Ps. 25, another Psalm also, All the paths of the Lord are mercy In these two do we confess, in Thy mercy and 10. 6. 3. and truth. Thy truth. 6. For Thou hast magnified Thy holy Name over every thing. What sort of thanksgiving is this, brethren? He Gen. 15, hath magnified His holy Name over Abraham; for, Abraham Rom. 4, believed upon God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness. But all other nations offered sacrifice to idols, served devils. Of Abraham was born Isaac; over that house God was magnified; then Jacob; God was magnified, Who said, I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob: then came his twelve sons; |