13. "Deep calleth to deep with the voice of Thy water-spouts." I, who tremble all over, when my soul was disquieted on account of myself, feared greatly on account of Thy "judgments."...Are those judgments slight ones? They are great ones, severe, hard to bear; but would they were all. "Deep calls to deep with the voice of Thy water-spouts," in that Thou threatenest, Thou sayest, that there is another condemnation in store even after those sufferings. "Deep calls on deep with the voice of Thy water-spouts." "Whither then shall I go from Thy presence? And whither shall I flee from Thy Spirit?" seeing that deep calls to deep, and after those sufferings severer ones are to be dreaded.
14. "All Thy overhangings [1266] and Thy waves are come upon me." The "waves" in what I already feel, the "overhangings" in that Thou denouncest. All my sufferings are Thy waves; all Thy denouncements of judgments are Thy "overhangings." In the "waves" that deep "calleth;" in the "overhangings" is the other "deep" which it "calls to." In this that I suffer are all Thy waves; in the severer punishment that Thou threatenest, all Thy "overhangings" are come unto me. For He who threatens does not let His judgments fall upon us, but keeps them suspended over us. [1267] But inasmuch as Thou sittest at liberty, I have thus spoken unto my soul. "Hope in God: for I will confess unto Him. My God is the saving health of my countenance." The more numerous my sufferings, the sweeter will be Thy mercy.
15. Therefore follows: "The Lord will commend His loving-kindness in the day-time; and in the night-time will He declare it" [1268] (ver. 8). In tribulation no man has leisure to hear: attend, when it is well with you; hear, when it is well with you; learn, when you are in tranquillity, the discipline of wisdom, and store up the word of God as you do food. For in tribulation every one must be profited by what he heard in the time of security. For in prosperity God "commends to thee His mercy," in case thou serve Him faithfully, for He frees thee from tribulation; but it is "in the night" only that He "declares" His mercy to thee, which He "commended" to thee by day. When tribulation shall actually come, He will not leave thee destitute of His help; He will show thee that which He commended to thee in the daytime is true. For it is written in a certain passage, "The mercy of the Lord is seasonable [1269] in the time of affliction, as clouds of rain in the time of drought." "The Lord hath commended His loving-kindness in the day-time, and in the night will He declare it." He does not show that He is thine Helper, unless tribulation come, from whence thou must be rescued by Him who promised it to thee "in the day-time." Therefore we are warned to be like "the ant." For just as worldly prosperity is signified by "the day," adversity by the night, so again in another way worldly prosperity is expressed by "the summer," adversity by the winter. And what is it that the ant does? She lays up in summer what will be useful to her in winter. Whilst therefore it is summer, whilst it is well with you, whilst you are in tranquillity, hear the word of the Lord. For how can it be that in the midst of these tempests of the world, you should pass through the whole of that sea, without suffering? How could it happen? To what mortal's lot has it fallen? If even it has been the lot of any, that very calm is more to be dreaded. "The Lord hath commended His loving-kindness in the day-time, and in the night-time will He declare it."..."There is with me prayer unto the God of my life." This I make my business here; I who am the "hart thirsting and longing for the water-brooks," calling to mind the sweetness of that strain, by which I was led on through the tabernacle even to the house of God; whilst this "corruptible body presseth down the soul," [1270] there is yet with me "prayer unto the God of my life." For in order to making supplication unto God, I have not to buy aught from places beyond the sea; or in order that He may hear me, have I to sail to bring from a distance frankincense and perfumes, or have I to bring "calf or ram from the flock." There is "with me prayer to the God of my life." I have within a victim to sacrifice; I have within an incense to place on the altar; I have within a sacrifice wherewith to propitiate my God. "The sacrifice of God is a troubled spirit." What sacrifice of a "troubled spirit" I have within, hear.
16. "I will say unto God, Thou art my lifter up. Why hast Thou forgotten me?" (ver. 9). For I am suffering here, even as if Thou hadst forgotten me. But Thou art trying me, and I know that Thou dost but put off, not take utterly from me, what Thou hast promised me. But yet, "Why hast Thou forgotten me?" So cried our Head also, as if speaking in our name. "My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken me?" [1271] I will say unto God, "Thou art my lifter up; why hast Thou forgotten me?"
17. "Why hast Thou rejected me?" [1272] "Rejected" me, that is to say, from that height of the apprehension of the unchangeable Truth. "Why hast Thou rejected me?" Why, when already longing for those things, have I been cast down to these, by the weight [1273] and burden of my iniquity? This same voice in another passage said, "I said in my trance" [1274] (i.e., in my rapture, when he had seen some great thing or other), "I said in my trance, I am cast out of the sight of Thine eyes." For he compared these things in which he found himself, to those toward which he had been raised; and saw himself cast out far "from the sight of God's eyes," as he speaks even here, "Why hast Thou rejected me? Why go I mourning, while mine enemy troubleth me, while he breaketh my bones?" Even he, my tempter, the devil; while offences are everywhere on the increase, because of the abundance of which "the love of many is waxing cold." [1275] When we see the strong members of the Church generally giving way to the causes of offence, does not Christ's body say, "The enemy breaketh my bones"? For it is the strong members that are "the bones;" and sometimes even those that are strong sink under their temptations. For whosoever of the body of Christ considers this, does he not exclaim, with the voice of Christ's Body, "Why hast Thou rejected me? Why go I mourning, while mine enemy troubleth me, while he breaketh my bones?"
You may see not my flesh merely, but even my "bones." To see those who were thought to have some stability, giving way under temptations, so that the rest of the weak brethren despair when they see those who are strong succumbing; how great, my brethren, are the dangers!
18. "They who trouble me cast me in the teeth." Again that voice! "While they say daily unto me, Where is thy God?" (ver. 10). And it is principally in the temptations of the Church they say this, "Where is thy God?" How much was this cast in the teeth of the Martyrs! Those men so patient and courageous for the name of Christ, how often was it said to them, "Where is your God?" "Let Him deliver you, if He can." For men saw their torments outwardly; they did not inwardly behold their crowns! "They who trouble me cast me in the teeth, while they say daily unto me, Where is thy God?" And on this account, seeing "my soul is disquieted on account of myself," what else should I say unto it than those words:
"Why art thou cast down, O my soul; and why dost thou disquiet me?" (ver. 11). And, as it seems to answer, "Wouldest thou not have me disquiet thee, placed as I am here in so great evils? Wouldest thou have me not disquiet thee, panting as I am after what is good, thirsting and labouring as I am for it?" What should I say, but,
"Hope thou in God; for I will yet confess unto Him" (ver. 11). He states the very words of that confession; he repeats the grounds on which he fortifies his hope. "He is the health of my countenance, and my God."
[1221] Lat. XLI.
[1222] Col. i. 24.
[1223] Ps. xxxiv. 8.
[1224] [See Bingham, b. x. cap. 2. Catechised in Lent, to be baptized at Easter. See the treatise on Faith and Works.--C.]
[1225] Solenniter.
[1226] Et veracem et solennem.
[1227] Later Psalms had been treated before.
[1228] Matt. ix. 15. Filii sponsi, Lat.
[1229] [See p. 67, supra.--C.]
[1230] Gal. vi. 2.
[1231] Citius Deo, tardum desiderio.
[1232] Ps. xxvii. 4.
[1233] Differor.
[1234] Super me; Vulgate, in me. Compare Aristotle, Eth. ix. 9: nooumen hoti nooumen; to d' aisth?nesthai e noein, hoti aisthanometha e nooumen, [esti to aisth?nesthai e noein] hoti esmen; to gar einai en to aisth?nesthai e noein, k. t. l. "By the exercise of the powers of sensation and of thought, we become conscious of the exercise of those powers of sensation and of thought, and thereby conscious of our own being, for being is implied in the exercise of the powers of thought and sensation."
[1235] Rom. i. 20.
[1236] Excitat.
[1237] Ducit...perducit.
[1238] Rom. vi. 12, 13.
[1239] Ps. lxxiii. 16, 17.
[1240] Symphoniacos.
[1241] Luxuria. Most mss. lætitia, "the mirth."
[1242] Non enim aliquid ibi celebratur et transit.
[1243] 2 Cor. v. 6.
[1244] Wisd. ix. 15.
[1245] Compare Wordsworth's Excursion, "Despondency Corrected," p. 120:-- "Tis a thing impossible to frame Conceptions equal to the soul's desires, And the most difficult of tasks to keep Heights which the soul is competent to gain. Man is of dust; ethereal hopes are his, Which, when they should sustain themselves aloft, Want due consistence; like a pillar of smoke That with majestic energy from earth Rises, but having reach'd the thinner air Melts and dissolves, and is no longer seen." Compare also p. 122:-- "Alas! the endowment of immortal power Is match'd unequally with custom, time, And domineering faculties of sense In all...in most with superadded foes," etc.
[1246] Intelligibilis, answering to the Greek noetou.
[1247] Matt. xviii. 7.
[1248] ...Inter scandala Respexit ergo ad se.
[1249] Per transitum.
[1250] Rom. viii. 24, 25.
[1251] E.V. "I shall yet give Him thanks for the help of His countenance."
[1252] Utcunque intellecta cognoscit.
[1253] Rom. viii. 23.
[1254] Ps. lxxxiv. 4.
[1255] E.V. "within."
[1256] 1 Cor. x. 12.
[1257] Exaltatus perfrui merebitur.
[1258] Cataractarum.
[1259] Ita in his laboribus sudare.
[1260] In the title of the Psalm.
[1261] Ps. xxxvi. 6, 7.
[1262] "Quid intus gerat, quid possit."
[1263] Ps. lxiv. 6, 7.
[1264] Wisd. i. 16.
[1265] Abyssum invocat.
[1266] Suspensiones; Vulgate, excelsa; E.V. "billows."
[1267] Non premit sed suspendit. Perhaps his idea is rather, "suspends us over the abyss."
[1268] E.V. "In the night-time His song shall be with me."
[1269] Ecclus. xxxv. 26. Oraion ?leos; Vulgate, Speciosa misericordia.
[1270] Wisd. ix. 15.
[1271] Matt. xxvii. 46; Ps. xxii. 1.
[1272] Ut quid me repulisti. Neither in the Vulgate nor in our version.
[1273] Gravedine.
[1274] In ecstasi meá. Ps. xxxi. 22. E.V. "in my haste."
[1275] Matt. xxiv. 12.
Psalm XLIII. [1276]
1. This Psalm is a short one; it satisfies the mental cravings of the hearers, without imposing too severe a trial on the hunger of those fasting. [1277] Let our soul feed upon it; our soul, which he who sings in this Psalm, speaks of as "cast down;" cast down, I suppose, either in consequence of some fist, or rather in consequence of some hunger he was in. For fasting is a voluntary act; being an-hungered is an involuntary thing. That which is an-hungered, is the Church, is the Body of Christ: and that "Man" who is extended throughout the whole world, of which the Head is above, the limbs below: it is His voice which ought by this time to be perfectly known, and perfectly familiar, to us, in all the Psalms; now chanting joyously, now sorrowing; now rejoicing in hope, now sighing at its actual state, even as if it were our own. We need not then dwell long on pointing out to you, who is the speaker here: let each one of us be a member of Christ's Body; and he will be speaker here....
2. "Judge me, O Lord, and separate my cause from the ungodly nation" (ver. 1). I do not dread Thy judgment, because I know Thy mercy. "Judge me, O God," he cries. Now, meanwhile, in this state of pilgrimage, Thou dost not yet separate my place, because I am to live together with the "tares" even to the time of the "harvest:" Thou dost not as yet separate my rain from theirs; my light from theirs: "separate my cause." Let a difference be made between him who believes in Thee, and him who believes not in Thee. Our infirmity is the same; but our consciences not the same: our sufferings the same; but our longings not the same. "The desire of the ungodly shall perish," [1278] but as to the desire of the righteous, we might well doubt, if He were not "sure" who promised. The object of our desires is He Himself, who promiseth: He will give us Himself, because He has already given Himself to us; He will give Himself in His immortality to us then immortal, even because He gave Himself in His mortality to us when mortal....