{"collection":"chr","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/chr/ecf/108/1080045.htm","path":"chr/ecf/108/1080045.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/chr/ecf/108/1080045.htm","text":"Psalm XXXVIII. 944\nA psalm to David himself, on the remembrance of the Sabbath.\n1. What doth this recollection of the Sabbath mean? What is this Sabbath? For it is with groaning that he \u201ccalls it to recollection.\u201d You have both heard already when the Psalm was read, and you will now hear it when we shall go over it, how great is his groaning, his mourning, his tears, his misery. But happy he who is wretched after this manner! Whence the Lord also in the Gospel 945 called some who mourn blessed. \u201cHow should he be blessed if he is a mourner? How blessed, if he is miserable?\u201d Nay rather, he would be miserable, if he were not a mourner. Such an one then let us understand here too, calling the Sabbath to remembrance (viz.), some mourner or other: and would that we were ourselves that \u201csome one or other\u201d! For there is here some person sorrowing, groaning, mourning, calling the Sabbath to remembrance. The Sabbath is rest. Doubtless he was in some disquietude, who with groaning was calling the Sabbath to remembrance.\u2026\n2. \u201cO Lord, rebuke me not in Thine indignation; neither chasten me in Thy hot displeasure\u201d (Psa. 38.1). For it will be that some shall be chastened in God\u2019s \u201chot displeasure,\u201d and rebuked in His \u201cindignation.\u201d And haply not all who are \u201crebuked\u201d will be \u201cchastened;\u201d yet are there some that are to be saved in the chastening. 946 So it is to be indeed, because it is called \u201cchastening,\u201d 947 but yet it shall be \u201cso as by fire.\u201d But there are to be some who will be \u201crebuked,\u201d and will not be \u201ccorrected.\u201d For he will at all events \u201crebuke\u201d 948 those to whom He will say, \u201cI was an hungred, and ye gave me no meat.\u201d 949 \u2026 \u201cNeither chasten me in Thy hot displeasure;\u201d so that Thou mayest cleanse me in this life, and make me such, that I may after that stand in no need of the cleansing fire, for those \u201cwho are to be saved, yet so as by fire.\u201d 950 Why? Why, but because they \u201cbuild upon the foundation, wood, stubble, and hay.\u201d Now they should build on it, \u201cgold, silver, and precious stones;\u201d 951 and should have nothing to fear from either fire: not only that which is to consume the ungodly for ever, but also that which is to purge those who are to escape through 952 the fire. For it is said, \u201che himself shall be saved, yet so as by fire.\u201d And because it is said, \u201che shall be saved,\u201d that fire is thought lightly of. For all that, though we should be \u201csaved by fire,\u201d yet will that fire be more grievous than anything that man can suffer in this life whatsoever. 953 \u2026\n3. Now on what ground does this person pray that he may not be \u201crebuked in indignation, nor chastened in hot displeasure\u201d? (He speaks) as if he would say unto God, \u201cSince the things which I already suffer are many in number, I pray Thee let them suffice;\u201d and he begins to enumerate them, by way of satisfying God; offering what he suffers now, that he may not have to suffer worse evils hereafter.\n4. \u201cFor Thine arrows stick fast in me, and Thy hand presseth me sore\u201d (Psa. 38.2). \u201cThere is no soundness in my flesh, from the face of Thine anger\u201d (Psa. 38.3). He has now begun telling these evils, which he is suffering here: and yet even this already was from the wrath of the Lord, because it was of the vengeance of the Lord. \u201cOf what vengeance?\u201d That which He took upon Adam. For think not that punishment was not inflicted upon him, or that God had said to no purpose, \u201cThou shalt surely die;\u201d 954 or that we suffer anything in this life, except from that death which we earned by the original sin.\u2026Whence then do His \u201carrows stick fast in\u201d him? The very punishment, the very vengeance, and haply the pains both of mind and of body, which it is necessary for us to suffer here, these he describes by these self-same \u201carrows.\u201d For of these arrows holy Job also made mention, 955 and said that the arrows of the Lord stuck fast in him, whilst he was labouring under those pains. We are used, however, to call God\u2019s words also arrows; but could he grieve that he should be struck by these? The words of God are arrows, as it were, that inflame love, not pain.\u2026We may then understand the \u201carrows sticking fast,\u201d thus: Thy words are fixed fast in my heart; and by those words themselves is it come to pass, that I \u201ccalled the Sabbath to remembrance:\u201d and that very remembrance of the Sabbath, and the non-possession of it at present, prevents me from rejoicing at present; and causes me to acknowledge that there \u201cis neither health in my very flesh,\u201d neither ought it to be so called when I compare this sort of soundness to that soundness which I am to possess in the p. 104 everlasting rest; where \u201cthis corruptible shall put on incorruption, and this mortal shall put on immortality,\u201d 956 and see that in comparison with that soundness this present kind is but sickness.\n5. \u201cNeither is there any rest in my bones, from the face of my sin.\u201d It is commonly enquired, of what person this is the speech; and some understand it to be Christ\u2019s, on account of some things which are here said of the Passion of Christ; to which we shall shortly come; and which we ourselves shall acknowledge to be spoken of His Passion. But how could He who had no sin, say, \u201cThere is no rest in my bones, from the face of my sin.\u201d\u2026For if we were to say that they are not the words of Christ, those words, \u201cMy God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?\u201d 957 will also not be the words of Christ. For there too you have, \u201cMy God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?\u201d \u201cThe words of mine offences are far from my health.\u201d Just as here you have, \u201cfrom the face of my sins,\u201d so there also you have, \u201cthe words of my offences.\u201d And if Christ is, for all that, without \u201csin,\u201d and without \u201coffences,\u201d we begin to think those words in the Psalm also not to be His. And it is exceedingly harsh and inconsistent that that Psalm should not relate to Christ, where we have His Passion as clearly laid open as if it were being read to us out of the Gospel. For there we have, \u201cThey parted My garments among them, and cast lots upon My vesture.\u201d 958 Why should I mention that the first verse of that Psalm was pronounced by the Lord Himself while hanging on the Cross, with His own mouth, saying, \u201cMy God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?\u201d What did He mean to be inferred from it, but that the whole of that Psalm relates to Him, seeing He Himself, the Head of His Body, pronounced it in His own Person? Now when it goes on to say, \u201cthe words of mine offences,\u201d it is beyond a doubt that they are the words of Christ. Whence then come \u201cthe sins,\u201d but from the Body, which is the Church? Because both the Head and the Body of Christ are speaking. Why do they speak as if one person only? Because \u201cthey twain,\u201d as He hath said, \u201cshall be one flesh.\u201d 959 \u201cThis\u201d (says the Apostle) \u201cis a great mystery; but I speak concerning Christ and the Church.\u201d\u2026For why should He not say, \u201cmy sins,\u201d who said, \u201cI was an hungred, and ye gave Me no meat; I was thirsty, and ye gave Me no drink; I was a stranger, and ye took Me not in. I was sick and in prison, and ye visited Me not.\u201d 960 Assuredly the Lord was not in prison. Why should He not say this, to whom when it was said, \u201cWhen saw we Thee a hungred, and athirst, or in prison; and did not minister unto Thee?\u201d He replied, that He spake thus in the person of His Body. \u201cInasmuch as ye did it not unto one of the least of Mine, ye did it not unto Me.\u201d 961 Why should He not say, \u201cfrom the face of my sins,\u201d who said to Saul, \u201cSaul, Saul, why persecutest thou Me,\u201d 962 who, however, being in Heaven, now suffered from no persecutors? But just as, in that passage, the Head spake for the Body, so here too the Head speaks the words of the Body; whilst you hear at the same time the accents of the Head Itself also. Yet do not either, when you hear the voice of the Body, separate the Head from it; nor the Body, when you hear the voice of the Head: because \u201cthey are no more twain, but one flesh.\u201d 963\n6. \u201cThere is no soundness in my flesh from the face of thine anger.\u201d But perhaps God is unjustly angry with thee, O Adam; unjustly angry with thee, O son of man; because now brought to acknowledge that thy punishment, now that thou art a man that hath been placed in Christ\u2019s Body, thou hast said, \u201cThere is no soundness in my flesh from the face of Thine anger.\u201d Declare the justice of God\u2019s anger: lest thou shouldest seem to be excusing thyself, and accusing Him. Go on to tell whence the \u201canger\u201d of the Lord proceeds. \u201cThere is no soundness in my flesh from the face of Thine anger; neither is there any rest in my bones.\u201d He repeats what he said before, \u201cThere is no soundness in my flesh;\u201d for, \u201cThere is no rest in my bones,\u201d is equivalent to this. He does not however repeat \u201cfrom the face of Thine anger;\u201d but states the cause of the anger of God. \u201cThere is no rest in my bones from the face of my sins.\u201d\n7. \u201cFor mine iniquities have lifted up my head; and are like a heavy burden too heavy for me to bear\u201d (Psa. 38.4). Here too he has placed the cause first, and the effect afterwards. What consequence followed, and from what cause, he has told us. \u201cMine iniquities have lift up mine head.\u201d For no one is proud but the unrighteous man, whose head is lifted up. He is \u201clifted up,\u201d whose \u201chead is lifted up on high\u201d against God. You heard when the lesson of the Book of Ecclesiasticus was read: \u201cThe beginning of pride is when a man departeth from God.\u201d 964 He who was the first to refuse to listen to the Commandment, \u201chis head iniquity lifted up\u201d against God. And because his iniquities have lifted up his head, what hath God done unto him? They are \u201clike a heavy burden, too heavy for me to bear\u201d! It is the part of levity to lift up the head, just as if he who lifts up his head had nothing to carry. Since therefore that which admits of being lifted up is light, it receives a weight by which it may be weighed down. For \u201chis mischief returns upon his own head, and his violent dealing comes p. 105 down upon his own pate.\u201d 965 \u201cThey are like a heavy burden, too heavy for me to bear.\u201d\n8. \u201cMy wounds stink and are corrupt\u201d (Psa. 38.5). Now he who has wounds is not perfectly sound. Add to this, that the wounds \u201cstink and are corrupt.\u201d Wherefore do they \u201cstink\u201d? Because they are \u201ccorrupt:\u201d now in what way this is explained in reference to human life, who doth not understand? Let a man but have his soul\u2019s sense of smelling sound, he perceives how foully sins stink. The contrary to which stink of sin, is that savour of which the Apostle says, \u201cWe are the sweet savour of Christ unto God, in every place, unto them which be saved.\u201d 966 But whence is this, except from hope? Whence is this, but from our \u201ccalling the Sabbath to remembrance\u201d? For it is a different thing that we mourn over in this life, from that which we anticipate in the other. That which we mourn over is stench, that which we reckon upon is fragrance. Were there not therefore such a perfume as that to invite us, we should never call the Sabbath to remembrance. 967 But since, by the Spirit, we have such a perfume, as to say to our Betrothed, \u201cBecause of the savour of Thy good ointments we will run after Thee;\u201d 968 we turn our senses away from our own unsavourinesses, and turning ourselves to Him, we gain some little breathing-time. But indeed, unless our evil deeds also did smell rank in our nostrils, we should never confess with those groans, \u201cMy wounds stink and are corrupt.\u201d And wherefore? \u201cfrom the face of my foolishness.\u201d 969 From the same cause that he said before, \u201cfrom the face of my sins;\u201d from that same cause he now says, \u201cfrom the face of my foolishness.\u201d\n9. \u201cI am troubled, I am bowed down even unto the end\u201d (Psa. 38.6). Wherefore was he \u201cbowed down\u201d? Because he had been \u201clifted up.\u201d If thou art \u201chumble, thou shalt be exalted;\u201d if thou exaltest thyself, thou shalt be \u201cbowed down;\u201d for God will be at no loss to find a weight wherewith to bow thee down.\u2026Let him groan on these things; that he may receive the other; let him \u201ccall the Sabbath to remembrance,\u201d that he may deserve to arrive at it. For that which the Jews used to celebrate was but a sign. Of what thing was it the sign? Of that which he calls to remembrance, who saith, \u201cI am troubled, and am bowed down even unto the end.\u201d What is meant by even \u201cunto the end\u201d? Even to death.\n\u201cI go mourning all the day long.\u201d \u201cAll day long,\u201d that is, \u201cwithout intermission.\u201d By \u201call the day long,\u201d he means, \u201call my life long.\u201d But from what time hath he known it? From the time that he began to \u201ccall the Sabbath to remembrance.\u201d For so long as he \u201ccalls to remembrance\u201d what he no longer possesses, wouldest thou not have him \u201cgo mourning\u201d? \u201cAll the day long have I gone mourning.\u201d\n10. \u201cFor my soul is filled with illusions, and there is no soundness in my flesh\u201d (Psa. 38.7). Where there is the whole man, there there is soul and flesh both. The \u201csoul is filled with illusions;\u201d the flesh hath \u201cno soundness.\u201d What does there remain that can give joy? Is it not meet that one should \u201cgo mourning\u201d? \u201cAll the day long have I gone mourning.\u201d Let mourning be our portion, until our soul be divested of its illusions; and our body be clothed with soundness. For true soundness is no other than immortality. How great however are the soul\u2019s illusions, were I even to attempt to express, when would the time suffice me? For whose soul is not subject to them? There is a brief particular that I will remind you of, to show how our soul is filled with illusions. The presence of those illusions sometimes scarcely permits us to pray. We know not how to think of material objects without images, and such as we do not wish, rush in upon the mind; and we wish to go from this one to that, and to quit that for another. And sometimes you wish to return to that which you were thinking of before, and to quit that which you are now thinking of; and a fresh one presents itself to you; you wish to call up again what you had forgotten; and it does not occur to you; and another comes instead which you would not have wished for. Where meanwhile was the one that you had forgotten? For why did it afterwards occur to you, when it had ceased to be sought after; whereas, while it was being sought for, innumerable others, which were not desired, presented themselves instead of it? I have stated a fact briefly; I have thrown out a kind of hint or suggestion to you, brethren, taking up which, you may yourselves suggest the rest to yourselves, and discover what it is to mourn over the \u201cillusions\u201d of our \u201csoul.\u201d He hath received therefore the punishment of illusion; he hath forfeited Truth. For just as illusion is the soul\u2019s punishment, so is Truth its reward. But when we were set in the midst of these illusions, the Truth Itself came to us, and found us overwhelmed by illusions, took upon Itself our flesh, or rather took flesh from us; that is, from the human race. He manifested himself to the eyes of the Flesh, that He might \u201cby faith\u201d heal those to whom He was going to reveal the Truth hereafter, that Truth might be manifested to the now healed eye. For He is Himself \u201cthe Truth,\u201d 970 which He promised unto us at that time, when His Flesh was to be seen by the eye, that the foundation might be laid of that Faith, p. 106 of which the Truth was to be the reward. For it was not Himself that Christ showed forth on earth; but it was His Flesh that He showed. For had He showed Himself, the Jews would have seen and known Him; but had they \u201cknown Him, they would never have crucified the Lord of Glory.\u201d 971 But perhaps His disciples saw Him, when they said unto Him, \u201cShow us the Father, and it sufficeth us;\u201d 972 and He, to show that it was not Himself that had been seen by them, added: \u201cHave I been so long with you, and have ye not known Me, Philip? He that seeth Me, seeth the Father also.\u201d 973 If then they saw Christ, wherefore did they yet seek for the Father? For if it were Christ whom they saw, they would have seen the Father also. They did not therefore yet see Christ, who desired that the Father should be shown unto them. To prove that they did not yet see Him, hear that, in another place, He promised it by way of reward, saying, \u201cHe who loveth Me, keepeth My commandments; and whoso loveth Me, shall be loved of My Father; and I will love Him and\u201d (as if it were said to Him, \u201cwhat wilt Thou give unto him, as Thou lovest him?\u201d He saith), \u201cI will manifest Myself unto him.\u201d 974 If then He promises this by way of a reward unto them that love Him, it is manifest that the vision of the Truth, promised to us, is of such a nature, that, when we have seen it, we shall no longer say, \u201cMy soul is filled with illusions.\u201d\n11. \u201cI am become feeble, 975 and am bowed down greatly\u201d (Psa. 38.8). He who calls to mind the transcendent height of the Sabbath, sees how \u201cgreatly\u201d he is himself \u201cbowed down.\u201d For he who cannot conceive what is that height of rest, sees not where he is at present. Therefore another Psalm hath said, \u201cI said in my trance, I am cast out of the sight of Thine eyes.\u201d 976 For his mind being taken up thither, 977 he beheld something sublime; and was not yet entirely there, where what he beheld was; and a kind of flash, as it were, if one may so speak, of the Eternal Light having glanced upon him, when he perceived that he was not yet arrived at this, which he was able after a sort to understand, he saw where he himself was, and how he was cramped and \u201cbowed down\u201d by human infirmities. And he says, \u201cI said in my trance, I am cast out of the sight of Thine eyes.\u201d Such is that certain something which I saw in my trance, that thence I perceive how far off I am, who am not already there. He was already there who said that he was \u201ccaught up into the third Heaven, and there heard unspeakable words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter.\u201d 978 But he was recalled to us, in order that, as requiring to be made perfect, he might first mourn his infirmity, and afterwards be clothed with might. Yet encouraged for the ministration of his office by having seen somewhat of those things, he goes on saying, \u201cI heard unspeakable words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter.\u201d 979 Now then what use is it for you to ask, either of me or of any one, the \u201cthings which it is not lawful for man to utter.\u201d If it was not lawful for him to utter them, to whom is it lawful to hear them? Let us however lament and groan in Confession; let us own where we are; let us \u201ccall the Sabbath to remembrance,\u201d and wait with patience for what He has promised, who hath, in His own Person also, showed forth an example of patience to us. \u201cI am become feeble, and bowed down greatly.\u201d\n12. \u201cI have roared with the groaning of my heart.\u201d 980 You observe the servants of God generally interceding with groaning; and the reason of it is asked, and there is nothing apparent, but the groaning of some servant of God, if indeed it does find its way at all to the ears of a person placed near him. For there is a secret groaning, which is not heard by man: yet if the thought of some strong desire has taken so strong hold of the heart, that the wound of the inner man finds expression in some uttered exclamation, the reason of it is asked; and a man says to himself, \u201cPerhaps this is the cause of his groaning;\u201d and, \u201cPerhaps this or that hath befallen him.\u201d Who can determine, but He in whose Eyes and Ears he groaned? Therefore he says, \u201cI roared with the groaning of mine heart;\u201d because if men ever hear a man\u2019s groanings, they for the most part hear but the groaning of the flesh; they do not hear him who groans \u201cwith the groaning of his heart.\u201d Some one hath carried off his goods; he \u201croareth,\u201d but not \u201cwith the groaning of his heart:\u201d another because he has buried his son, another his wife; another because his vineyard has been injured by a hailstorm; another because his cask has turned sour; another because some one hath stolen his beast; another because he has suffered some loss; another because he fears some man who is his enemy: all these \u201croar\u201d with the \u201cgroaning of the flesh.\u201d The servant of God, however, because he \u201croareth\u201d from the recollection of the Sabbath, where the Kingdom of God is, which flesh and blood shall not possess, says, \u201cI have roared with the groaning of my heart.\u201d\n13. And who observed and noticed the cause of his groaning? \u201cAll my desire is before Thee\u201d (Psa. 38.9). For it is not before men who p. 107 cannot see the heart, but it is before Thee that all my desire is open! Let your desire be before Him; and \u201cthe Father, who seeth in secret, shall reward thee.\u201d 981 For it is thy heart\u2019s desire that is thy prayer; and if thy desire continues uninterrupted, thy prayer continueth also. For not without a meaning did the Apostle say, \u201cPray without ceasing.\u201d 982 Are we to be \u201cwithout ceasing\u201d bending the knee, prostrating the body, or lifting up our hands, that he says, \u201cPray without ceasing\u201d? Or if it is in this sense that we say that we \u201cpray,\u201d this, I believe, we cannot do \u201cwithout ceasing.\u201d There is another inward kind of prayer without ceasing, which is the desire of the heart. Whatever else you are doing, if you do but long for that Sabbath, you do not cease to pray. If you would never cease to pray, never cease to long after it. The continuance of thy longing is the continuance of thy prayer. You will be ceasing to speak, if you cease to long for it. Who are those who have ceased to speak? They of whom it is said, \u201cBecause iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.\u201d 983 The freezing of charity is the silence of the heart; the burning of charity is the cry of the heart. If love continues still you are still lifting up your voice; if you are always lifting up your voice, you are always longing after something; if always longing for something absent, you are calling \u201cthe Sabbath rest to remembrance.\u201d And it is important you should understand too before whom the \u201croaring of thine heart\u201d is open. Now then consider what sort of desires those should be, that are before the eyes of God. Should it be the desire for the death of our enemy? a thing which men flatter themselves they lawfully wish for? For sometimes we pray for what we ought not. Let us consider what they flatter themselves they pray for lawfully! For they pray that some person may die, and his inheritance come to them. But let those too, who pray for the death of their enemies, hear the Lord saying, \u201cPray for your enemies.\u201d 984 Let them not pray for this, that their enemies may die; but rather pray for this, that they may be reclaimed; then will their enemies be dead; for from the time that they are reclaimed, henceforth they will be enemies no longer. \u201cAnd all my desire is before Thee.\u201d What if we suppose that our desire is before Him, and that yet that very \u201cgroaning\u201d is not before Him? How can that be, since our desire itself finds its expression in \u201cgroaning\u201d? Therefore follows, \u201cAnd my groaning is not hid from Thee.\u201d\nFrom Thee indeed it is not hid; but from many men it is hid. The servant of God sometimes seems to be saying in humility, \u201cAnd my groaning is not hid from Thee.\u201d Sometimes also he seems to smile. Is then that longing dead in his heart? If however there is the desire within, there is the \u201cgroaning\u201d also. It does not always find its way to the ears of man; but it never ceases to sound in the ears of God.\n14. \u201cMy heart is troubled\u201d (Psa. 38.10). Wherefore is it troubled? \u201cAnd my courage hath failed me.\u201d Generally something comes upon us on a sudden; the \u201cheart is troubled;\u201d the earth quakes; thunder is sent from Heaven; a formidable attack is made upon us, or a horrible sound heard. Perhaps a lion is seen on the road; the \u201cheart is troubled.\u201d Perhaps robbers lie in wait for us; the \u201cheart is troubled:\u201d we are filled with a panic fear; from every quarter something excites anxiety. Wherefore? Because \u201cmy courage hath failed me.\u201d For what would be feared, did that courage still remain unmoved? Whatever bad tidings were brought, whatever threatened us, whatever sound was heard, whatever were to fall, whatever appeared horrible, would inspire no terror. But whence that trouble? \u201cMy courage faileth me.\u201d Wherefore hath my courage failed me? \u201cThe light of mine eyes also is gone from me.\u201d Thus Adam also could not see \u201cthe light of his eyes.\u201d For the \u201clight of his eyes\u201d was God Himself, whom when he had offended, he fled to the shade, and hid himself among the trees of Paradise. 985 He shrunk in alarm from the face of God: and sought the shelter of the trees; thenceforth among the trees he had no more \u201cthe light of his eyes,\u201d at which he had been wont to rejoice.\u2026\n15. \u201cMy lovers;\u201d why should I henceforth speak of my enemies? \u201cMy lovers and my neighbours drew nigh, and stood over against me\u201d (Psa. 38.11). Understand this that he saith, \u201cStood over against me.\u201d For if they stood over against me, they fell against themselves. \u201cMy lovers and my neighbours drew nigh and stood over against me.\u201d 986 Let us now recognise the words of the Head speaking; now let our Head in His Passion begin to dawn upon us. Yet again when the Head begins to speak, do not sever the Body from it. If the Head would not separate itself from the words of the Body, should the Body dare to separate itself from the sufferings of the Head? Do thou suffer in Christ\u2019s suffering: for Christ, as it were, sinned in thy infirmity. For just now He spoke of thy sins, as if speaking in His own Person, and called them His own.\u2026To those who wished to be near His exaltation, yet thought not of His humility, He answered and said to them, \u201cCan ye drink of the cup that I shall drink of?\u201d 987 Those sufferings of the Lord then are p. 108 our sufferings also: and were each individual to serve God well, to keep faith truly, to render to each their dues, and to conduct himself honestly among men, I should like to see if he does not suffer even that which Christ here details in the account of His Passion. \u201cMy lovers and my neighbours drew nigh, and stood over against me.\u201d\n16. \u201cAnd my neighbours stood afar off.\u201d Who were the \u201cneighbours\u201d that drew nigh, and who were those who stood afar off? The Jews were \u201cneighbours\u201d because \u201cnear kinsmen,\u201d they drew near even when they crucified Him: the Apostles also were His \u201cneighbours;\u201d and they also \u201cstood afar off,\u201d that they might not have to suffer with Him. This may also be understood thus: \u201cMy friends,\u201d that is, those who feigned themselves \u201cMy friends:\u201d for they feigned themselves His friends, when they said, \u201cWe know that Thou teachest the way of God in truth;\u201d 988 when they wished to try Him, whether tribute ought to be paid to C\u00e6sar; when He convinced them out of their own mouth, they wished to seem to be His friends. \u201cBut He needed not that any should testify of man, for He Himself knew what was in man;\u201d 989 so that when they spoke unto Him words of friendship, He answered them, \u201cWhy tempt ye Me, ye hypocrites?\u201d 990 \u201cMy friends and my neighbours\u201d then \u201cdrew near and stood over against me, and my neighbours stood afar off.\u201d You understand what I said. I called those neighbours who \u201cdrew nigh,\u201d and at the same time \u201cstood afar off.\u201d For they \u201cdrew nigh\u201d in the body, but \u201cstood afar off\u201d in their heart. Who were in the body so near to Him as those who lifted Him on the Cross? Who in heart so as those who blasphemed Him? Hear this sort of distance described by the Prophet Isaiah; observe this nearness and distance at one and the same time. \u201cThis people honours Me with their lips:\u201d behold, with their body they draw near; \u201cbut their heart is far from Me.\u201d 991 The same persons are at the same time \u201cnear\u201d and \u201cafar off\u201d also: with their lips they are near, in heart afar off. However, because the Apostles also stood afar off, through fear, we understand it more simply and properly of them; so that we mean by it, that some drew near, and others stood afar off; since even Peter, who had followed more boldly than the rest, was still so far off, that being questioned and alarmed, he thrice denied the Lord, with whom he had promised to \u201cbe ready to die.\u201d Who afterwards that, from being afar off, he might be made to draw nigh, heard after the resurrection the question, \u201cLovest thou Me?\u201d and said, \u201cI love Thee;\u201d 992 and by so saying was brought \u201cnigh,\u201d even as by denying Him, he had become \u201cfar off;\u201d till with the threefold confession of love, he had put away from him his threefold denial. \u201cAnd my neighbours stood afar off.\u201d\n17. \u201cThey also that sought after my soul were preparing violence against me\u201d (Psa. 38.12). It is now plain who \u201csought after His soul;\u201d viz. those who had not His soul, in that they were not in His Body. They who were \u201cseeking after His soul,\u201d were far removed from His soul; but they were \u201cseeking it\u201d to destroy it. For His soul may be \u201csought after\u201d in a right way also. For in another passage 993 He finds fault with some persons, saying, \u201cThere is no man to care for My soul.\u201d He finds fault with some for not seeking after His soul; and again, with others for seeking after it. Who is he that seeketh after His soul in the right way? He who imitates His sufferings. Who are they that sought after His soul in the wrong way? Even those who \u201cprepared violence against Him,\u201d and crucified Him.\n18. He goes on: \u201cThose who sought after My faults had spoken vanity.\u201d What is, \u201csought after My faults\u201d? They sought after many things, and found them not. Perhaps He may have meant this: \u201cThey sought for criminal charges against me.\u201d For they sought for somewhat to say against Him, and \u201cthey found not.\u201d 994 For they were seeking to find evil things to say of \u201cthe Good;\u201d crimes of the Innocent; When would they find such things in Him, who had no sin? But because they had to seek for sins in Him who had no sin, it remained for them to invent that which they could not find. Therefore, \u201cthose who sought after My faults have spoken vanity,\u201d i.e., untruth, \u201cand imagined deceit all the day long;\u201d that is, they meditated treachery without intermission. You know how atrocious false-witness was borne against the Lord, before He suffered. You know how atrocious false-witness was borne against Him, even after His resurrection. For those soldiers who watched His sepulchre of whom Isaiah spake, \u201cI will appoint the wicked for His burial\u201d 995 (for they were wicked men, and would not speak the truth, and being bribed they disseminated a lie), consider what \u201cvanity\u201d they spake. They also were examined, and they said, \u201cWhile we slept, His disciples came and stole Him away.\u201d 996 This it is, \u201cto speak vanity.\u201d For if they were sleeping, how could they know what had been done?\n19. He saith then, \u201cBut I as a deaf man heard not\u201d (Psa. 38.13). He who replied not to what He heard, did, as it were, not hear them. \u201cBut I as a deaf man heard not. And I was as p. 109 a dumb man that openeth not his mouth.\u201d And he repeats the same things again.\n\u201cAnd I became as a man that heareth not, and in whose mouth are no reproofs\u201d (Psa. 38.14). As if He had nothing to say unto them, as if He had nothing wherewith to reproach them. Had He not already reproached them for many things? Had He not said many things, and also said, \u201cWoe unto you, Scribes and Pharisees,\u201d 997 and many things besides? Yet when He suffered, He said none of these things; not that He had not what to say, but He waited for them to fulfil all things, and that all the prophecies might be fulfilled of Him, of whom it had been said, \u201cAnd as a sheep before her shearer is dumb, so openeth He not His mouth.\u201d 998 It behoved Him to be silent in His Passion, though not hereafter to be silent in Judgment. For He had come to be judged, then, who was hereafter coming to judge; and who was for this reason to come with great power to judge, that He had been judged in great humility.\n20. \u201cFor in Thee, O Lord, do I hope; Thou wilt hear, O Lord, my God\u201d (Psa. 38.15). As if it were said to Him, \u201cWherefore openedst thou not thy mouth? Wherefore didst Thou not say, \u2018Refrain\u2019? Wherefore didst Thou not rebuke the unrighteous, while hanging on the Cross?\u201d He goes on and says, \u201cFor in Thee, O Lord, do I hope; Thou, O Lord my God, wilt hear.\u201d He warns you what to do, should tribulation haply befall. For you seek to defend yourself, and perhaps your defence is not listened to by any one. Then are you confounded, as if you had lost your cause; because you have none to defend or to bear testimony in your favour. \u201cKeep\u201d but your \u201cinnocence\u201d within, where no one can pervert thy cause. False-witness has prevailed against you before men. Will it then prevail before God, where your cause has to be pleaded? When God shall be Judge, there shall be no other witness than your own conscience. In the presence of a just judge, and of your own conscience, fear nothing but your own cause. If you have not a bad cause, you will have no accuser to dread; no false-witness to confute, nor witness to the truth to look for. Do but bring into court a good conscience, that you may say, \u201cFor in Thee, O Lord, do I hope; Thou, O Lord my God, wilt hear.\u201d\n21. \u201cFor I said, Let not mine enemies ever rejoice over me. And when my feet slip, they magnify themselves against me\u201d (Psa. 38.16). Again He returns to the infirmity of His Body: and again the Head takes heed of Its \u201cfeet.\u201d The Head is not in such a manner in Heaven, as to forsake what It has on earth; He evidently sees and observes us. For sometimes, as is the way of this life, our feet are \u201cturned aside,\u201d and they slip by falling into some sin; there the tongues of the enemy rise up with the bitterest malignity. From this then we discern what they really had in view, even while they kept silence. Then they speak with an unsparing harshness; rejoicing to have discovered what they ought to have grieved for. \u201cAnd I said, Lest at any time my adversaries should rejoice over me.\u201d I said this indeed; and yet it was perhaps for my correction that Thou hast caused them to \u201cmagnify themselves against me, when my feet slipped;\u201d that is to say, when I stumbled, they were elated, and said many things. For pity, not insult, was due from them to the weak; even as the Apostle speaks: \u201cBrethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual restore such an one in the spirit of meekness;\u201d and he combines the reason why: \u201cconsidering thyself also, lest thou also be tempted.\u201d 999 Not such as these were the persons of whom He speaks: \u201cAnd when my feet slipped, they rejoiced greatly against me;\u201d but they were such as those of whom He says elsewhere: \u201cThey that hate me will rejoice if I fall.\u201d\n22. \u201cFor I am prepared for the scourges\u201d (Psa. 38.17). Quite a magnificent expression; as if He were saying, \u201cIt was even for this that I was born; that I might suffer.\u201d For He was not to be born, 1000 but from Adam, to whom the scourge is due. But sinners are in this life sometimes not scourged at all, or are scourged less than their deserts: because the wickedness of their heart is given over as already desperate. Those, however, for whom eternal life is prepared, must needs be scourged in this life: for that sentence is true: \u201cMy son, faint not under the chastening of the Lord, neither be weary when thou art rebuked of Him.\u201d 1001 \u201cFor whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom He receiveth.\u201d 1002 Let not mine enemies therefore insult over me; let \u201cthem not magnify themselves;\u201d and if my Father scourgeth me, \u201cI am prepared for the scourge;\u201d because there is an inheritance in store for me. Thou wilt not submit to the scourge: the inheritance is not bestowed upon thee. For \u201cevery son\u201d must needs be scourged. So true it is that \u201cevery son\u201d is scourged, that He spared not even Him who had no sin. For \u201cI am prepared for the scourges.\u201d\n23. \u201cAnd my sorrow is continually before me.\u201d What \u201csorrow\u201d is that? Perhaps, a sorrow for my scourge. And, in good truth, my brethren, in good truth, let me say unto you, men do mourn for their scourges, not for the causes on account of which they are scourged. Not such was the person here. Listen, my brethren: If p. 110 any person suffers any loss, he is more ready to say, \u201cI did not deserve to suffer it,\u201d than to consider why he suffered it, mourning the loss of money, not mourning over that of righteousness. If thou hast sinned, mourn for the loss of thy inward treasure. Thou hast nothing in thy house, but perhaps thou art still more empty in heart; but if thine heart is full of its Good, even thy God, why dost thou not say, \u201cThe Lord gave, the Lord hath taken away; as it pleased the Lord was it done. Blessed be the Name of the Lord.\u201d 1003 Whence then was it that He was grieving? Was it for the \u201cscourging\u201d wherewith He was scourged? God forbid. \u201cAnd my sorrow\u201d (says He) \u201cis continually before me.\u201d And as if we were to say, \u201cWhat sorrow? whence comes that sorrow?\u201d he says: \u201cFor I declare mine iniquity; and I will have a care for my sin\u201d (Psa. 38.18). See here the reason for the sorrow! It is not a sorrow occasioned by the scourge; not one for the remedy, not for the wound. For the scourge is a remedy against sins. Hear, brethren; We are Christians, and yet if any one\u2019s son dies, he mourns for him but does not mourn for him if he sins. It is then, when he sees him sinning, that he ought to make mourning for him, to lament over him. It is then he should restrain him, and give him a rule to live by; should impose a discipline upon him: or if he has done so, and the other has not taken heed, then was the time when he ought to have been mourned over; then he was more fatally dead whilst living in luxury, than when, by death, he brought his luxury to its close: at that time, when he was doing such things in thine house, he was not only \u201cdead, but he stank also.\u201d 1004 These things were worthy to be lamented, the others were such as might well be endured; those, I say, were tolerable, these worthy to be mourned over. They were to be mourned over in the same way that you have heard this person mourn over them: \u201cFor I declare mine iniquity. I will have a care for my sin.\u201d Be not free from anxiety when you have confessed your sin, as if always able to confess thy sin, and to commit it again. Do thou \u201cdeclare thine iniquity in such a manner, as to have a care for thy sin.\u201d What is meant by \u201chaving a care of thy sin\u201d? To have a care of thy wound. If you were to say, \u201cI will have a care of my wound,\u201d what would be meant by it, but I will do my endeavour to have it healed. For this is \u201cto have a care for one\u2019s sin,\u201d to be ever struggling, ever endeavouring, ever exerting one\u2019s self, earnestly and zealously, to heal one\u2019s wound. Behold! thou art from day to day mourning over thy sins; but perhaps thy tears indeed flow, but thy hands are unemployed. Do alms, redeem 1005 thy sins, let the poor rejoice of thy bounty, that thou also mayest rejoice of the Grace of God. He is in want; so art thou in want also: he is in want at thy hands; so art thou also in want at God\u2019s hand. Dost thou despise one who needs thy aid; and shall God not despise thee when thou needest His? Do thou therefore supply the needs of him who is in want of thine aid; that God may supply thy needs within. 1006 This is the meaning of, \u201cI will have a care for my sin.\u201d I will do all that ought to be done, to blot out and to heal my sin. \u201cAnd I will have a care for my sin.\u201d\n24. \u201cBut mine enemies live\u201d (Psa. 38.19). They are well off: they rejoice in worldly prosperity, while I am suffering, and \u201croaring with the groaning of my heart.\u201d In what way do His enemies \u201clive,\u201d in that He hath said of them already, that they have \u201cspoken vanity\u201d? Hear in another Psalm also: \u201cWhose sons are as young plants; firmly rooted.\u201d But above He had said, \u201cWhose mouth speaketh vanity. Their daughters polished after the similitude of a temple: their garners full bursting forth more and more; their cattle fat, their sheep fruitful, multiplying in their streets; no hedge falling into ruin; no cry in their streets.\u201d 1007 \u201cMine enemies\u201d then \u201clive.\u201d This is their life; this life they praise; this they set their hearts upon: this they hold fast to their own ruin. For what follows? They pronounce \u201cthe people that is in such a case\u201d blessed. But what sayest thou, who \u201chast a care for thy sin\u201d? What sayest thou, who \u201cconfessest thine iniquity\u201d? He says, \u201cBlessed is the people whose God is the Lord.\u201d 1008\n\u201cBut mine enemies live, and are strengthened against me, and they that hate me wrongfully are multiplied.\u201d What is \u201chate me wrongfully\u201d? They hate me, who wish their good, whereas were they simply requiting evil for evil, they would not be righteous; were they not to requite with good the good done to them, they would be ungrateful: they, however, who \u201chate wrongfully,\u201d actually return evil for good. Such were the Jews; Christ came unto them with good things; they requited Him evil for good. Beware, brethren, of this evil; it soon steals 1009 upon us. Let no one of you think himself to be far removed from the danger, because we said, \u201cSuch were the Jews.\u201d Should a brother, wishing your good, rebuke you, and you hate him, you are like them. And observe, how easily, how soon it is produced; and avoid an evil so great, a sin so easily committed.\n25. \u201cThey also that render evil for good, were speaking evil of me, because I have pursued the thing that is just\u201d (Psa. 38.20). Therep. 111 fore was it that I was requited evil for good. What is meant by \u201cpursued after the thing that is just\u201d? Not forsaken it. That you might not always understand persecutio in a bad sense, He means by persecutus pursued after, thoroughly followed. \u201cBecause I have followed the thing that is just.\u201d Hear also our Head crying with a lamentable voice in His Passion: \u201cAnd they cast Me forth, Thy Darling, even as a dead man in abomination.\u201d 1010 Was it not enough that He was \u201cdead\u201d? wherefore \u201cin abomination\u201d also? Because He was crucified. For this death of the Cross was a great abomination in their eyes, as they did not perceive that it was spoken in prophecy, \u201cCursed is every one that hangeth on a tree.\u201d 1011 For He did not Himself bring death; but He found it here, propagated from the curse of the first man; and this same death of ours, which had originated in sin, He had taken upon Himself, and hung on the Tree. Lest therefore some persons should think (as some of the Heretics think), that our Lord Jesus Christ had only a false body of flesh; and that the death by which He made satisfaction on the Cross was not a real death, the Prophet notices this, and says, \u201cCursed is every one that hangeth on a tree.\u201d He shows then that the Son of God died a true death, the death which was due to mortal flesh: lest if He were not \u201caccursed,\u201d you should think that He had not truly died. But since that death was not an illusion, but had descended from that original stock, which had been derived from the curse, when He said, \u201cYe shall surely die:\u201d 1012 and since a true death assuredly extended even to Him, that a true life might extend itself to us, the curse of death also did extend to Him, that the blessing of life might extend even unto us. \u201cAnd they cast Me forth, Thy Darling, even as a dead man in abomination.\u201d\n26. \u201cForsake me not, O Lord; O my God, depart not from me\u201d (Psa. 38.21). Let us speak in Him, let us speak through Him (for He Himself intercedeth for us), and let us say, \u201cForsake me not, O Lord my God.\u201d And yet He had said, \u201cMy God! My God! why hast Thou forsaken Me?\u201d 1013 and He now says, \u201cO My God, depart not from Me.\u201d If He does not forsake the body, did He forsake the Head? Whose words then are these but the First Man\u2019s? To show then that He carried about Him a true body of flesh derived from him, He says, \u201cMy God, My God why hast Thou forsaken Me?\u201d God had not forsaken Him. If He does not forsake Thee, who believest in Him, could the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, One God, forsake Christ? But He had transferred to Himself the person of the First Man. We know by the words of an Apostle, that \u201cour old man is crucified with Him.\u201d 1014 We should not, however, be divested of our old nature, had He not been crucified \u201cin weakness.\u201d For it was to this end that He came that we may be renewed in Him, because it is by aspiration after Him, and by following the example of His suffering, that we are renewed. Therefore that was the cry of infirmity; that cry, I mean, in which it was said, \u201cWhy hast Thou forsaken Me?\u201d Thence was it said in that passage above, \u201cthe words of mine offences.\u201d As if He were saying, These words are transferred to My Person from that of the sinner.\n27. \u201cDepart not from me. Make haste to help me, Lord of my salvation\u201d (Psa. 38.22). This is that very \u201csalvation,\u201d Brethren, concerning which, as the Apostle Peter saith, \u201cProphets have enquired diligently,\u201d 1015 and though they have enquired diligently, yet have not found it. But they searched into it, and foretold of it; while we have come and have found what they sought for. And see, we ourselves too have not as yet received it; and after us shall others also be born, and shall find, what they also shall not receive, and shall pass away, that we may, all of us together, receive the \u201cpenny of salvation in the end of the day,\u201d with the Prophets, the Patriarchs, and the Apostles. For you know that the hired servants, or labourers, were taken into the vineyard at different times; yet did they all receive their wages on an equal footing. 1016 Apostles, then, and Prophets, and Martyrs, and ourselves also, and those who will follow us to the end of the world, it is in the End itself that we are to receive everlasting salvation; that beholding the face of God, and contemplating His Glory, we may praise Him for ever, free from imperfection, free from any punishment of iniquity, free from every perversion of sin: praising Him; and no longer longing after Him, but now clinging to Him for whom we used to long to the very end, and in whom we did rejoice, in hope. For we shall be in that City, where God is our Bliss, God is our Light, God is our Bread, God is our Life; whatever good thing of ours there is, at being absent from which we now grieve, we shall find in Him. In Him will be that \u201crest,\u201d which when we \u201ccall to remembrance\u201d now, we cannot choose but grieve. For that is the \u201cSabbath\u201d which we \u201ccall to remembrance;\u201d in the recollection of which, so great things have been said already; and so great things ought to be said by us also, and ought never to cease being said by us, not with our lips indeed, but in our heart: for therefore do our lips cease to speak, that we may cry out with our hearts. 1017\nFuturi sunt in emendatione quidam salvi.\n103:947\nEmendatio (alluding to emendes in the Latin of v. 1.).\n103:948 103:949 103:950 103:951 103:952 103:953\n[See Augustin\u2019s ideas as to a possible meaning of the text 1 Cor. iii. 11-15 in vol. ii. this series, p. 474. He there propounds, as a conjecture merely, a purification of some souls in the intermediate state, which he does not care to reject. It is not his own theory; he says, I do not contradict; possibly it is true.\u201d He thus proves there was no dogma of any sort of purgatory in his day, and even this theory is entirely inconsistent with the dogma as expounded in the Trent Catechism.\u2014C.]\n103:954 103:955 104:956 104:957 104:958 104:959 104:960 104:961 104:962 104:963 104:964\nEcclesiasticus 10.12. [Note \u201cas a Lesson:\u201d part of Divine Service.\u2014C.]\n105:965 105:966 105:967\n[Isa. lviii. 13.\u2014C.]\n105:968 105:969 105:970 106:971 106:972 106:973 106:974 106:975\nSt. Augustin, infirmatus; E.V. \u201ctroubled;\u201d Prayer Book, \u201cfeeble;\u201d Vulgate, afflictus.\n106:976 106:977 106:978\n2 Cor. 12:2, 4.\n106:979 106:980\nRugiebam a gemitu cordis mei. E.V. \u201cby reason of the disquietness.\u201d\n107:981 107:982 107:983 107:984 107:985 107:986\nE.V. \u201cand my friends stand aloof.\u201d\n107:987 108:988 108:989 108:990 108:991 108:992 108:993 108:994 108:995\nIsa. liii. 9. St. Augustin, Ponam malos pro sepultur\u00e2 ejus. Vulgate, Dabit impios, etc.\n108:996 109:997 109:998 109:999 109:1000 109:1001 109:1002 110:1003 110:1004 110:1005 110:1006\nAl. \u201cfill thine inward parts.\u201d\n110:1007 110:1008 110:1009 111:1010\nA few mss. of LXX. note this to be added here.\n111:1011 111:1012 111:1013 111:1014 111:1015 111:1016 111:1017\n[Heb. iv. 9. The Sabbath that \u201cremaineth\u201d is the only Sabbath our author sees in this Psalm.\u2014C.]","title":"Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Vol. VIII: Expositions on...","type":"page"}