25. " Let the table of them be made in their own presence for a trap" (ver. 23). Like the trap which for Me they set, in giving Me such a draught, let such a trap be for them. Why then, " in their own presence "? " Let the table of them be made for a trap," would have been sufficient. They are such as know their iniquity, and in it most obstinately do persevere: in their own presence there is made a trap for them. These are they that, being too destructive, " go down into Hell alive." ' Lastly, of persecutors what hath been said? Except that the Lord were in us, perchance alive they had swallowed us up.2 What is alive? Consenting to them, and knowing that we ought not to consent to them. Therefore in their own presence there is made a trap, and they are not amended. Even though in their own presence there is a trap, let them not fall into it. Behold they know the trap, and thrust out foot, and bow their necks to be caught. How much better were it to turn away from the trap, to acknowledge sin, to condemn error, to be rid of bitterness, to pass over into the Body of Christ, to seek the Lord's glory! But so much prevaileth presumption of mind, that even in their own presence the trap is, and they fall into it. " Let the eyes of them be darkened, that they see not," 3 followeth here: that whereas without benefit they have seen, it may chance to them even not to see.
" L?t the table of them," therefore, " be made in their own presence for a trap." It is not from one wishing, but from one prophesying: not in order that it may come to pass, but because it will come to pass. This we have often remarked, and ye ought to remember it: lest that which the prescient mind saith in the Spirit of God, it should seem with ill will to imprecate...Let it then be done to them, " both for a requital and for a stumbling-block." And is this by any means unjust? It is just. Why? For it is " for a requital." For not anything would happen to them, which was not owed. " For a requital " it is done, " and for a stumbling-block: " for they are themselves a stumbling-block to themselves. " Let the eyes of them be darkened, that they see not, and the back of them alway bow Thou down " (ver. 24). This is a consequence. For they, whose eyes have been darkened that they see not, it followeth, must have their back bowed down. How so? Because when they have ceased to take knowledge of things above, they must ' Pi. lv. 15.
a Ps. cxxiv. 1-3.
3 Ps. lxix. 34.
needs think of things below. He that well heareth, " lift up the heart," a bowed back hath not. For with stature erect he looketh for the hope laid up for him in Heaven; most especially if he send before him his treasure, whither his heart followeth.4 But, on the other hand, they perceive not the hope of future life; already being blinded, they think of things below: and this is to have a bowed back: from which disorder the Lord delivered that woman. For Satan hath bound her eighteen years, and her that was bowed down 5 He raised up: 6 and because on the Sabbath He did it, the Jews were scandalized; suitably were they scandalized at her being raised up, themselves being bowed. " Pour forth upon them Thine anger, and let the indignation of Thine anger overtake them " (ver. 25), are plain words: but nevertheless, in " overtake them " we perceive them as it were fleeing. But whither are they to flee? Into Heaven? Thou art there. Into Hell? Thou art present. Their wings they will not take to fly straight:? " Let the indignation of Thine anger overtake them," let it not permit them to escape.
26. " Let the habitation of them become forsaken " 8 (ver. 26). This is now evident. For in the same manner as He hath mentioned not only a secret deliverance of His, saying, " Give heed to My soul, and redeem her; "9 but also one open after the body, adding, " because of mine enemies deliver me: " so also to these men He foretelleth how there are to be certain secret misfortunes, whereof a little before He was speaking...For the blindness of the Jews was secret vengeance: but the open was what? " Let their habitation become forsaken, and in their tabernacles let there not be any one to inhabit." There hath come to pass this thing in the very city Jerusalem, wherein they thought themselves mighty in crying against the Son of God, " Crucify, Crucify; " lo and in prevailing because they were able to kill Him that raised dead men. How mighty to themselves, how great, they seemed! There followed afterwards the vengeance of the Lord, stormed was the city, utterly conquered the Jews, slain were I know not how many thousands of men. No one of the Jews is permitted to come thither now: where they were able to cry against the Lord, there by the Lord they are not permitted to dwell. They have lost the place of their fury: and O that even now they would know the place of their rest! What profit to them was Caiaphas in saying," " If we shall have let go this man thus, there will come * Matt- vi. 2t.
5 Cnrziatam, Ben. Most MSS. curatam, " cured."
6 Luke xiii. 16. 7 Ps. exxxix. 7-9. 8 Acts i. ao. 9 Ps. lxix. 19. IO John xix. 6.
" Or, " What did it profit Caiaphas to say? " MSS.
Psalm LXIX.]
the Romans, and take away from us both place and kingdom "? ■ Behold, both they did not let Him go alive, and He liveth: and there have come the Romans, and have taken from them both place and kingdom. But now we heard, when the Gospel was being read, " Jerusalem, Jerusalem, how often would I have gathered together thy sons, as a hen her chickens under her wings, and thou wouldest not? Behold, there is left to you your house forsaken." 2...27. Why so? "For Him whom Thou hast smitten they have themselves persecuted, and upon the pain of my wounds they have added " (ver. 27). How then have they sinned 'if they have persecuted one by God smitten? What sin is ascribed to their mind? Malice. For the thing was done in Christ which was to be. To suffer indeed He had come, and He punished him through whom He suffered. For Judas the traitor was punished, and Christ was crucified: but us He redeemed by His blood, and He punished him in the matter of his price. For he threw down the price of silver, for which by him the Lord had been sold; 3 and he knew not the price wherewith he had himself by the Lord been redeemed.4 This thing was done in the case of Judas. But when we see that there is a sort of measure of requital in all men, and that not any one can be suffered to rage more than he hath received power to do: how have they "added," or what is that smiting of the Lord? Without doubt He is speaking in the person of him from whom He had received a body, from whom He had taken unto Him flesh, that is in the person of mankind, of Adam himself who was smitten with the first death because of his sin.5 Mortal therefore here are men born, as born with their punishment: to this punishment they add, whosoever do persecute men. For now here man would not have had to die, unless God had smitten him. Why then dost thou, O man, rage more than this? Is it little for a man that i some time he is to die? Each one of us there- j fore beareth his punishment: to this punishment | they would add that persecute us. This punishment is the smiting of the Lord. For the Lord smote man with the sentence: " What day ye shall have touched it," He saith, "with death ye shall die." 6 Out of this death He had taken upon Him flesh, and our old man hath been crucified together with Him.' By the voice of that man He hath said these words, " Him whom Thou hast smitten they have themselves persecuted, and upon the pain of My wounds they have added." Upon what pain of wounds? Upon the pain of sins they have themselves added.
4 Redtmptus, Oxf. Mjs.; and two in Ben. redimendus, "was to be redeemed." See note at the end of Homilies on St. John. > Gen. iii. 6. <• Gen. ii. 17. ' Rom. vi. 6.
For sins He hath called His wounds. But do not look to the Head, consider the Body; according to the voice whereof hath been said by the Same in that Psalm, wherein He showed there was His voice, because in the first verse thereof He cried from the Cross, " God, My God, look upon Me, why hast Thou forsaken Me? " 8 There in continuation He saith, " Afar from My safety are the words of Mine offences."...
28. "Lay Thou iniquity upon their iniquity " (ver. 28). What is this? Who would not be afraid? To God is said, " Lay Thou iniquity upon their iniquity." Whence shall God lay iniquity? For hath He iniquity to lay? For we know that to be true which hath been spoken through Paul the Apostle, " What then shall we say? Is there anywise iniquity with God? Far be it." 9 Whence then, " Lay Thou iniquity upon iniquity"? How must we understand this? May the Lord be with us, that we may speak, and because of your weariness may be able to speak briefly. Their iniquity was that they killed a just Man: there was added another, that they crucified the Son of God. Their raging was as though against a man: but " if they had known, the Lord of Glory they had never crucified." '° They with their own iniquity willed to kill as it were a man: there was laid iniquity upon their own iniquity, so that the Son of God they should crucify. Who laid this iniquity upon them? He that said, "Perchance they will reverence My Son," " Him I will send. For they were wont to kill servants sent to them, to demand rent and profit. He sent the Son Himself, in order that Him also they might kill. He laid iniquity upon their own iniquity. And these things did God do in wrath, or rather in just requital? For, " May it be done to them," He saith, " for a requital and for a stumblingblock." I2 They had deserved to be so blinded as not to know the Son of God. And this God did, laying iniquity upon their iniquity; not in wounding, but in not making whole. For in like manner as thou increasest a fever, increasest a disorder, not by adding disorder, but by not relieving: so because they were of such sort as that they merited not to be healed, in their very naughtiness in a manner they advanced; as it is said, " But evil men and wicked doers advance for the worse: " '3 and iniquity is laid upon their own iniquity. " And let them not enter in '4 Thy righteousness." This is a plain thing.
29. " Let them be blotted out from the book of the living" (ver. 29). For had they been some time written therein? Brethren, we must not so take it, as that God writeth any one in 8 Ps. xxii. 1. 11 Matt. xxi. 37. '« Oxf. mss. '' into."
9 Rom. ix. 14. " Ps. lxix. 21.
3io [Psalm LXIX.
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.2 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 same Scripture was speaking of the oppressions that should be from Antichrist? " There shall give consent 3 to him all they that have not been written in the book of life." * So then without doubt they will not consent that have been written. How then are these men blotted out from that book wherein they were never written? This hath been said according to their own hope, because they thought of themselves that they were written. What is, " let them be blotted out from the book of life"?
Even to themselves let it be evident, that they were not there. By this method of speaking hath been said in another Psalm, " There shall fall from Thy side a thousand, and tens of thousands from on Thy right hand: " 5 that is, many men shall be offended, even out of that number who thought that they would sit with Thee, even out of that number who thought that they would stand at Thy right hand, being severed from the left-hand goats: 6 not that when any one hath there stood, he shall afterwards fall, or when any one with Him hath sat, he shall be cast away; but that many men were to fall into scandal, who already thought themselves to be there, that is, many that thought that they would sit with Thee, many that hoped that they would stand at the right hand, will themselves fall. So then here also they that hoped as though by the merit of their own righteousness themselves to have been written in the book of God, they to whom is said, " Search the Scriptures, wherein ye think yourselves to have life eternal: " ' when their condemnation shall have been brought even to their own knowledge, shall be effaced from the book of the living, they shall know themselves not to be there. For the verse which followeth, explaineth what hath been said: " And with just men let them not be written." I have said then, " Let them be effaced," according to their hope: but according to Thy justice I say what?
30. " Poor and sorrowful I am " (ver. 30). Why this? Is it that we may acknowledge that through bitterness of soul this poor One doth speak evil? For He hath spoken of many things to happen to them. And as if we were saying to Him, " Why such things? " — " Nay, not so much! " He answereth, " poor and sorrowful I am." They have brought Me to want, unto this sorrow they have set Me down, therefore I say these words. It is not, however, the indignation of one cursing, but the prediction of one prophesying. For He was intending to recommend to us certain things which hereafter He saith of His poverty and His sorrow, in order that we may learn to be poor and sorrowful.
For, " Blessed are the poor, for theirs is the kingdom of Heaven." 8 And, " Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted." This therefore He doth Himself before now show to us: and so, " poor and sorrowful I am." The whole Body of Him saith this. The Body of Christ in this earth is poor and sorrowful. But let Christians be rich. Truly if Christians they are, they are poor; in comparison with the riches celestial for which they hope, all their gold they count for sand. " And the health of Thy countenance, O God, hath taken Me up." Is this poor One anywise forsaken? When dost thou deign to bring near to thy table a poor'man in rags? But again, this poor One the health of the countenance of God hath taken up: in His countenance He hath hidden His need. For of Him hath been said, " Thou shalt hide them in the hiding place of Thy countenance." » But in that countenance what riches there are would ye know? Riches here give thee this advantage, that thou mayest dine on what thou wilt, whenever thou wilt: but those riches, that thou mayest never hunger. " The health of Thy countenance, O God, hath taken Me up." For what purpose? In order that no longer I may be poor, no longer sorrowful? "I will praise the name of the Lord with a song, I will magnify Him in praise" (ver. 31). Now it hath been said, this poor One praiseth the name of the Lord with a song, he magnifieth Him in praise. When would He have ventured to sing, unless He had been refreshed from hunger? "I will magnify Him with praise." O vast riches! What jewels of God's praise hath he brought out of his inward treasures! These are my riches! " The Lord hath given, the Lord hath taken away." '° Then miserable he hath remained? Far be it. See the riches: " As it hath pleased the Lord, so hath been done, be the name of the Lord blessed."
31. " And it shall please God: " that I shall praise Him, shall please: " above a new calf, bearing horns and hoofs." More grateful to Him shall be the sacrifice of praise than the sacrifice of a calf. " The sacrifice of praise shall glorify me. " " " Immolate to God the sacrifice of praise." ™ So then His praise going forth from my mouth shall please God more than a great 10 Job i. 31.
Psalm LXX ] 3" victim led up to His altar...Therefore above this calf my praising shall please Thee, such as hereafter will be, after poverty and sorrow, in the eternal society of Angels, where neither adversary there shall be in battle to be tossed, nor sluggard from earth to be stirred up. " Let the needy see and rejoice" (ver. 32). Let them believe, and in hope be glad. Let them be more needy, in order that they may deserve to be filled: lest while they belch out pride's satiety, there be denied them the bread whereon they may healthily live. " Seek the Lord," ye needy, hunger ye and thirst; ' for He is Himself the living bread that came down from Heaven.2 " Seek ye the Lord, and your soul shall live." Ye seek bread, that your flesh may live: the Lord seek ye, that your soul may live.3 32. " For the Lord hath hearkened to the poor " (ver. 33). He hath hearkened to the poor, and He would not have hearkened to the poor, unless they were poor. Wilt thou be hearkened to? Poor be thou: let sorrow cry out from thee, and not fastidiousness. " And His fettered ones He hath not despised." Being offended at His servants, He hath put them in fetters: but them crying from the fetters He hath not despised. What are these fetters? Mortality, the corruptibleness of the flesh are the fetters wherewith we have been bound. And would ye know the weight of these fetters? Of them is said, "The body which is corrupted weigheth down the soul." 4 Whenever men in the world will to be rich, for these fetters they are seeking rags. But let the rags of the fetters suffice: seek so much as is necessary for keeping off want, but when thou seekest superfluities, thou longest to load thy fetters. In such a prison then let the fetters abide even alone. " Sufficient for the day be the evil thereof." 5 " Let there praise Him heavens and earth, sea and all things creeping in them " (ver. 34). The true riches of this poor man are these, to consider the creation, and to praise the Creator. " Let there praise Him heavens and earth, sea and all things creeping therein." And doth this creation alone praise God, when by considering of it God is praised?
33. Hear thou another thing also: " for God shall save Sion" (ver. 35). He restoreth His Church, the faithful Gentiles He doth incorporate with His Only-Begotten; He beguileth not them that believe in Him of the reward of His promise. " For God shall save Sion; and there shall be builded the cities of Juda." These same are the Churches. Let no one say, when shall it come to pass that there be builded the cities of Juda? 0 that thou wouldest acknowledge the Edifice, and be a living stone, that thou mightest enter into Her. Even now the cities of Juda 1 Matt. v. 6.
* WiKl. IX. 15.
3 Isa. Iv. 3.
are being built. For Juda is interpreted confession. By confession of humility there are being builded the cities of Juda: in order that there may remain without the proud, who blush to confess. " For God shall save Sion." What Sion? Hear in the following words: " and the seed of His servants shall possess Her, and they that love His name shall dwell therein " (ver.
36) PSALM LXX.6 36) PSALM LXX.6 1. Thanks to the " Corn of wheat,"7 because He willed to die and to be multiplied: thanks to the only Son of God, our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, who disdained not to undergo our death, in order that He might make us worthy of His life. Behold Him that was single until He went hence; as He said in another Psalm, " Single I am until I go hence; " 8 for He was a single corn of wheat in such sort as that He had in Himself a great fruitfulness of increase; in how many corns imitating the Passion of Him we exult, when we celebrate the nativities of the Martyrs! Many therefore members of Him, under one Head our Saviour Himself, being bound together in the bond of love and peace (as ye judge it fit that ye know, for ye have often heard), are one man: and of the same, as of one man, the voice is ofttimes heard, in the Psalms, and thus one crieth as though it were all, because all in one are one...
2. There is then in this Psalm the voice of men troubled, and so indeed of Martyrs amid sufferings in peril, but relying on their own Head. Let us hear them, and speak with them out of sympathy of heart, though it be not with similarity of suffering. For they are already crowned, we are still in peril: not that such sort of persecutions do vex us as have vexed them, but worse perchance in the midsts of all kinds of so great scandals. For our own times do more abound in that woe, which the Lord cried: " Woe to the world because of scandals." ' And, " Because iniquity hath abounded, the love of man shall wax cold." '° For not even that holy Lot at Sodom suffered corporal persecution from any one, or had it been told him that he should not dwell there:" the persecution of him were the evil doings of the Sodomites. Now then that Christ sitteth-in Heaven, now that He is glorified, now that necks of kings are made subject to His yoke, and their brows placed beneath His sign, now that not any one remaineth to dare openly to trample upon Christians, still, however, we groan amid instruments and singers, still those enemies of the Martyrs, because with words and * Lat. LXIX. Sermon preached at the celebration of the Martyrs.
J Preface. John xii. 34.
8 Ps. cxli. 10, LXX.; and Vulgate nearly.
9 Matt, xviii. 7. I0 Matt. xxiv. is. n Gen. xix. 19.
[Psalm LXX steel they have no power, with their own wantonness do persecute them. And O that we were sorrowing for Heathens alone: it would be some sort of comfort, to wait for those that not yet have been signed with the Cross of Christ; when they should be signed, and when, by His authority attached, they should cease to be mad. We see besides men wearing on their brow the sign of Him, at the same time on that same brow wearing the shamelessness of wantonness, and on the days and celebrations of the Martyrs not exulting but insulting. And amid these things we groan, and this is our persecution, if there is in us the love which saith, " Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is scandalized, and I burn not? " ' Not any servant of God, then, is without persecution: and that is a true saying which the Apostle saith, " But even all men that will to live godly in Christ, shall suffer persecution." 2...3. "O God, to my aid make speed" (ver. 1). For need we have for an everlasting aid in this world. But when have we not? Now however being in tribulation, let us especially say, " O God, to my aid make speed." " Let them be confounded and fear that seek my soul." Christ is speaking: whether Head speak or whether Body speak; He is speaking that hath said, "Why persecutest thou Me?"3 He is speaking that hath said, " Inasmuch as ye have done it to one of the least of Mine, to Me ye have done it." 4 The voice then of this Man is known to be of the whole man, of Head and of Body: that need not often be mentioned, because it is known. " Be they confounded," he saith, " and fear that seek my soul." In another Psalm He saith, " I was looking unto the right and saw, and there was not one that would know Me: flight hath perished from Me, and there is not one to seek out My soul.-" ' There of persecutors He saith, that there was not one to seek out His soul: but here, " Let them be confounded and fear that seek My soul."...And where is that which thou hast heard from thy Lord, " Love ye your enemies, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them that persecute you "?6 Behold thou sufferest persecution, and cursest them from whom thou sufferest: how dost thou imitate the Passions of thy Lord that have gone before, hanging on the cross and saying, " Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do."7 To persons saying such things the Martyr replieth and saith, thou hast set before me the Lord, saying, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do: " understand thou my voice also, in order that it may be thine too: for what have I said concerning mine enemies? " Let them be confounded and 1 3 Cor. xi. so. * Matt. xxv. 40. 7 Luke xxiii. 34.
3 3 Tim. iii. ta. > Ps. cxlii. 4.
fear." Already such vengeance hath been taken on the enemies of the Martyrs. That Saul that persecuted Stephen, he was confounded and feared. He was breathipg out slaughters,8 he was seeking some to drag and slay: a voice having been heard from above, " Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou Me," 3 he was confounded and laid low, and he was raised up to obedience, that had been inflamed unto persecuting. This then the Martyrs desire for their enemies, " Let them be confounded and fear." For so long as they are not confounded and fear, they must needs defend their actions: glorious they think themselves, because they hold, because they bind, because they scourge, because they kill, because they dance, because they insult, and because of all these doings they be some time confounded and fear.° For if they be confounded, they will also be converted: because converted they cannot be, unless they shall have been confounded and shall have feared. Let us then wish these things to our enemies, let us wish them without fear. Behold I have said, and let me have said it with you, may all that still dance and sing and insult the Martyrs " be confounded and fear: " at last within these walls confounded may they beat their breasts!
4. " Let them be turned away backward and blush that think evil things to me" (ver. 2). At first there was the assault of them persecuting, now there hath remained the malice of them thinking. In fact, there are in the Church distinct seasons of persecutions following one another.10 There was made an assault on the Church when kings were persecuting: and because kings had been foretold as to persecute and as to believe, when one had been fulfilled the other was to follow. There came to pass also that which was consequent; kings believed, peace was given to the Church, the Church began to be set in the highest place of dignity, even on this earth, even in this life: but there is not wdnting the roar of persecutors, they have turned their assaults into thoughts. In these thoughts, as in a bottomless pit, the devil hath been bound," he roareth and breaketh not forth. For it hath been said concerning these times of the Church, "The sinner shall see, and shall be angry."'2 And shall do what? That which he did at first? Drag, bind, smite? He doeth not this. What then? " With his teeth he shall gnash, and shall pine away." And with these men the Martyr is, as it were, angry, and yet for these men the Martyr prayeth. For in like manner as he hath wished well to those men 8 Acts vii. 5°., ix. 1.
9 Oxf. mss. " and no more defend their doings."
10 The reading sequert mentioned in Ben. is probably a mistake for segue, which is found at Oxford. Or it is, " follow them in their succession."
» Vide Rev. xx. 3. " Ps. cxii.:o.
Psalm LXX.]
3'3 concerning whom he hath said, " Let them be confounded and fear that seek ray soul: " ' so also now, " Let them be turned backward, and blush, that think evil things to me." Wherefore? In order that they may not go before, but follow. For he that censureth the Christian religion, and on his own system willeth to live, willeth as it were to go before Christ, as though He indeed had erred and had been weak and infirm, because He either willed to suffer or could suffer in the hands of the Jews; but that he is a clever man for guarding against all these things; in shunning death, even in basely lying to escape death, and slaying his soul that he may live in body, he thinketh himself a man of singular and prudent measures. He goeth before in censuring Christ, in a manner he outstrippeth Christ: let him believe in Christ, and follow Christ. For that which had been desired but now for persecutors thinking evil things, the same the Lord Himself said to Peter. Now in a certain place Peter willed to go before the Lord...A little before, " Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-Jona, for flesh and blood hath not revealed it to thee, but My Father which is in Heaven: " now in a moment, " Go back behind Me, Satan." 2 What is, " Go back behind Me "? Follow Me. Thou wiliest to go before Me, thou wiliest to give Me counsel, it is better that thou follow My counsel: this is, " go back," go back behind Me. He is silencing one outstripping, in order that he may go backward; and He is calling him Satan, because he willeth to go before the Lord. A little before, " blessed; " now, " Satan." Whence a little before, " blessed "? Because, " to thee," He saith, " flesh and blood hath not revealed it, but My Father which is in Heaven." Whence now, "Satan"? Because " thou savourest not," He saith, " the things which are of God, but the things which are of men." Let us then that would duly celebrate the nativities of the Martyrs, long for the imitation of the Martyrs; let us not wish to go before the Martyrs, and think ourselves to be of better understanding than they, because we shun sufferings in behalf of righteousness and faith which they shunned not. Therefore be they that think evil things, and in wantonness feed their hearts, " turned backward and blush." Let them hear from the Apostle afterwards saying, " But what fruit had ye some time in those things at which ye now blush? "