Expositions on the Book of Psalms
Psatm LXXV.] ON THE PSALMS. 351 come, when invoked. Confess and invoke. May He turn away face from thy sins, not turn away from thee: turn away face from that which thou hast wrought,! not turn away from that which He hath Himself wrought.? For thee, as man, He hath Himself wrought, thy sins thou hast thyself wrought. ...
self, He is preaching Himself even in His members now existing, in order that He may guide unto Him others, and they may draw near that were not, and may be united with those members of Him, through which members of Him the Gospel hath been preached ; and there may be made one Body under one Head, in one Spirit, in one Life.
3. But that there is a strengthening of the sense in repetition, by many passages of the Scriptures we are taught. Thence is that which the Lord saith, "Verily, Verily."3 Thence in certain Psalms is, "So be it, So be it."4 To signify the thing, one "So be it" would have been sufficient: to signify confirmation, there hath been added another "Sobe it." . . . Countless passages of such sort there are throughout all the Scriptures. With these it is sufficient that we have commended to your notice a way of speaking which ye may observe in all like cases: now to the substance attend: " We will confess to Thee," he saith, " and we will invoke." I have said why before invocation confession doth precede: because whom thou dost invoke, him thou dost invite. But he willeth not to come when invoked, if thou shalt have been lifted up: lifted up if thou shalt have been, thou wilt not be able to confess. And thou deniest not any things to God that He knoweth not. Therefore thy confession doth not teach Him, but it purgeth thee.
5. And he saith what? "When I shall have received," he saith, " the time,'° I will judge justices" (ver. 2). When shall He judge justices? When He shall have received the time. Not yet is the precise time. 'Thanks to His mercy: He first preacheth justices, and then He judgeth justices. For if He willed to judge before He willed to preach, who would be found that should be delivered: who would meet Him that should be absolved? Now therefore is the time of preaching : "TI will tell," he saith, "all Thy marvellous works." Hear Him telling, hear Him preaching: for if thou shalt have despised Him, "when I shall have received the time," He saith, "I will judge justices." I forgive, He saith, now sins to one confessing, I will not spare hereafter one despising. . . . He hath received a time as Son of Man; He doth govern times as Son of God. Hear how as Son of Man He hath received the time of judging. He saith in the Gospel, "He hath given to Him power to execute judgment, because Son of Man He is." * According to His nature as Son of God, He hath never received power of judging, because He never lacked the power of judging: according to His nature as Son of Man He hath received a time, as of being born, and of suffering, as of dying, and of rising again, and of ascending, so of coming and of judging. In Him His Body also saith these words, for not without them He will judge. For He saith in the Gospel, " Ye shall sit upon twelve thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel." '? Therefore
4. . .. Hear ye now the words of Christ. For these seemed not as it were to be His words,5 " We will confess to Thee, O God, we will confess to Thee, and will invoke Thy name." Now beginneth the discourse in the person of the Head. But whether Head speaketh or whether members speak, Christ speaketh: He speaketh in the person of the Head, He speaketh in the person of the Body. But what hath been said? There shall be two in one flesh. "This is a great Sacrament:" "I," he saith, "speak in Christ and in the Church."7 And He Himself in the Gospel, " Therefore no longer two, but one flesh." *® For in order that ye may know these in a manner to be two persons, and again one by the bond of marriage, as one He speaketh in Isaiah, and saith, "As upon a Bridegroom he hath bound upon me a mitre, and as a Bride he hath clothed me with an ornament."9 A Bridegroom He hath called Himself in the Head, a Bride in the Body. He is speaking therefore as One, let us hear Him, and in Him let us also speak. Let us be the members of Him, in order that this voice may possibly be ours also. "I will tell forth," he saith, "all Thy marvellous things." Christ is preaching Himwhole Christ saith, that is, Head and Body in the Saints, "when I shall have received the time, I will judge justices."
6. But now what? "The earth hath flowed down" (ver. 3). If the earth hath flowed down, whence hath it flowed down except by sins? Therefore also they are called delinquencies. To delinquish is as it were by a kind of liquidity '3 to slip down from the stability of firmness in virtue and righteousness. For it is through desire of lower things that every man sinneth: as he is strengthened by the love of higher things, so he falleth down and as it were melteth away by desire of lower things. This flux of things by the sins of man the merciful forgiver observing, being a merciful forgiver of
Io E. V. "' the congregation." Il John v. 27. 12 Matt. xix. 28. : 13 De liguido gquodam. Al, de loco quodam. (Qu. deliguesce? oh) l Fecistz. 2 Fecit. 3 John i. 51. 4 Ps. Ixxii. 19, Ixxxix. 52. 5 Oxf. mss. '' members." © Gen. ii. 24. 7 Eph. v. 32. 8 Matt. xix, 6. 9 Isa. 1xi. 10.