Expositions on the Book of Psalms (continued)
Psatm XC.] ON THE PSALMS. 445 and thirst now,' while, walking in faith, they are absent from the Lord. Hence are the words, "In Thy presence is fulness of joy: 3 and, " Early in the morning they shall stand by, and shall look up :''4 and as other translators have said it, "We shall be satisfied with Thy mercy in the morning ;"' then they shall be satisfied. As he says elsewhere, "I shall be satisfied, when Thy glory shall be revealed." 5 So it is said, " Lord, show us the Father, and it sufficeth us:" and our Lord Himself answereth, " I will manifest Myself to Zion ;''® and until this promise is fulfilled, no blessing satisfies us, or ought to do so, lest our longings should be arrested in their course, when they ought to be increased until they gain their objects. 'And we rejoiced and were glad all the days of our life.'"" Those days are days without end: they all exist together: it is thus they satisfy us: for they give not way to days succeeding: since there is nothing there which exists not yet because it has not reached us, or ceases to exist because it has passed ; all are together: because there is one day only, which remains and passes not away: this is eternity itself. 'These are the days respecting which it is written, "What man is he that lusteth to live, and would fain see good days?''? 'These days in another passage are styled years: where unto God it is said, "' But Thou art the same, and Thy years shall not fail: ''® for these are not years that are accounted for nothing, or days that perish like a shadow: but they are days which have a real existence, the number of which he who thus spoke, '" Lord, let me know mine end "' (that is, after reaching what term I shall remain unchanged, and have no further blessing to crave), "and the number of my days, what it is'' (what 7s, not what is not): prayed to know. He distinguishes them from the days of this life, of which he speaks as follows, "' Behold, Thou hast made my days as it were a span long,''? which are not, because they stand not, remain not, but change in quick succession : nor is there a single hour in them in which our being is not such, but that one part of it has already passed, another is about to come, and none remains as it is. But those years and days, in which we too shall never fail, but evermore be refreshed, will never fail. Let our souls long earnestly for those days, let them thirst ardently for them, that there we may be filled, be satisfied, and say what we now say in anticipation, ' We have been satisfied," etc. "We have been comforted again now, after the time that Thou hast brought us low, and for the years wherein we have seen evil" (ver. 15). and upon Thy works" (ver. 16). For Thy servants themselves are Thy works, not only inasmuch as they are men, but as Thy servants, that is, obedient to Thy commands. For we are His workmanship, created not merely in Adam, but in Christ Jesus, unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them : '° " for it is God which worketh in us both to will and to do of His good pleasure." " And direct their sons:" that they may be right in heart, for to such God is bountiful ; for " God 1s bountiful to Israel, to those that are right in heart.' ta. 17. " And let the brightness of the Lord our God be upon us"' (ver. 17) ; whence the words, "'O Lord, the light of Thy countenance is marked upon us." '? And, " Make Thou straight the works of our hands upon us :" that we may do them not for hope of earthly reward: for then they are not straight, but crooked. In many copies the Psalm goes thus far, but in some there is found an additional verse at the end, as follows, "'And make straight the work of ourhands." To these words the learned have prefixed a star, called an asterisk, to show that they are found in the Hebrew, or in some other Greek translations, but not in the Septuagint. The meaning of this verse, if we are to expound it, appears to me this, that all our good works are one work of love: for love is the fulfilling of the Law.'3 For as in the former verse he had said, " And the works of our hands make 'Thou straight upon us," here he says "work," not works, as if anxious to show, in the last verse, that all our works are one, that is, are directed with a view to one work. For then are works righteous, when they are directed to this one end: "for the end of the commandment is charity out of a pure heart, and of a good conscience, and of faith unfeigned."'4 'There is therefore one work, in which are all, " faith which worketh by love: " '5 whence our Lord's words in the Gospel, "This is the work of God, that ye believe in Him whom He hath sent." '© Since, therefore, in this Psalm, both old and new life, life both mortal and everlasting, years that are counted for nought, and years that have the fulness of loving-kindness and of true joy, that is, the penalty of the first and the reign of the Second Man, are marked so very clearly ; I imagine, that the name of Moses, the man of God, became the title of the Psalm, that pious and right-minded readers of the Scriptures might gain an intimation that the Mosaic laws, in which God appears to promise only, or nearly only, earthly rewards for good works, without doubt contains under a veil some such hopes as this Psalm displays. But when any one has passed over to Christ, the
16. But now in days that are as yet evil, let us speak as follows. ' Look upon Thy servants, It Philip. ii. 13. 14 1 Tim. i. 5.
12 Ps iv. 6 Io Eph. ii. 10.
3 Ps. xvi. 11. 6 John xiv. 8, 21. 9 Ps. xxxix. 4, 5.
I Matt. v. 8, 6.
15 Gal. v. 6. 13 Rom. xili. 10. 16 John vi. 29. sel ELS es 7 Ps. xxxiv. 12.