Expositions on the Book of Psalms (continued)
PsALM XCI.] ON THE PSALMS. 449 shall not come nigh thee" (ver. 7). To whom, brethren, but to Christ Jesus, is this said? .. . For the members, the body, and the head, are not separate from one another : the body and the head are the Church and her Saviour. How then is it said, " A thousand shall fall beside thee, and ten thousand by thy right hand'? Because they shall fall before the devil, that destroyeth at noon. It is a terrible thing, my brethren, to fall from beside Christ, from His right hand ; but how shall they fall from beside Him? Why the one beside Him, the other at His right hand? Why a thousand beside Him, ten thousand at Hisright hand? Why a thousand beside Him? Because a thousand are fewer than the ten thousand who shall fall at His right hand. Who these are will soon be clear in Christ's name; for to some He promised that they should judge with Him, namely, to the Apostles, who left all things, and followed Him... . Those judges then are the heads of the Church, the perfect. To such He said, "If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor."* What means the expression, " if thou wilt be perfect''? it means, if thou wilt judge with Me, and not be judged. . . . Many such at that period, who had distributed their all to the poor, and already promised themselves a seat beside Christ in judgment of the nations, failed amid their torments under the blazing fire of persecution, as before the demon of the noonday, and denied Christ. These are they who have fallen 'beside'? Him: when about to sit with Christ for the judgment of the world, they fell.
who trust not in themselves? . . . Who will not fear? He who trusts not in himself, but in Christ. But those who trust in themselves, although they even hope to judge at the side of Christ, although they hoped they should be at His right hand, as if He said to them, '" Come, ye blessed of My Father," etc.; yet the devil that is at noon overtook them, the raging heat of persecution, terrifying with violence; and many fell from the hope of the seat of judgment, of whom it is said, '' A thousand shall fall beside thee ;"' many too fell from the hope of reward for their duties,? of whom it was said, '' And ten thousand at thy right hand." But this downfall and devil that is at noon-day "shall not come nigh thee," that is, the Head and the body ; for the Lord knows who are His.3
11. '" Nevertheless, with thine eyes shalt thou behold, and see the reward of the ungodly"
(ver. 8). What is this? Why " nevertheless "? Because the wicked were allowed to tyrannize over Thy servants, and to persecute them. Will they then have been allowed to persecute Thy servants with impunity? Not with impunity, for although Thou hast permitted them, and Thine own have thence received a brighter crown, " nevertheless," etc. For the evil which they willed, not the good they unconsciously were the agents of, will be recompensed them. All that is wanting is the eye of faith, by which we may see that they are raised for a time only, while they shall mourn for evermore; and to those into whose hands is given temporal power over the servants of God, it shall be said, " Depart into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels." * But if every man have but eyes in the sense in which it is said, " With thine eyes shalt thou behold," it is no unimportant thing to look upon the wicked flourishing in this life, and to have an eye to him, to consider what will become of him in the end, if he fail to reform his ways: for those who now would thunder upon others, will afterwards feel the thunderbolt themselves.
10. I will now explain who are they who fall on the right hand of Christ. . . . And because many have fallen from that hope of being judges, but yet many, many more from that of being on His right hand, the Psalmist thus addresses Christ, " A thousand shall fall beside Thee, and ten thousand at Thy right hand." And since there shall be many, who regarded not all these things, with whom, as it were with His own limbs, Christ is one, he adds, " But it shall not come nigh Thee." Were these words addressed to the Head alone? Surely not; surely neither (doth it come nigh) to Paul, nor Peter, nor all the Apostles, nor all the Martyrs, who failed not in their torments. What then do the words, " it shall not come nigh," mean? Why were they thus tortured? The torture came nigh the flesh, but it did not reach the region of faith. Their faith then was far beyond the reach of the terrors threatened by their torturers. Let them torture, terror will not come nigh; let them torture, but they will mock the torture, putting their trust in Him who conquered before them, that the rest might conquer. .And who conquer, except they
12. "For Thou, Lord, art my hope" (ver. 9). He has now come to the power which rescues him from falling by the " downfall and the devil of the noon-day." " For Thou, Lord, art my hope: Thou hast set Thy house of defence very high." What do the words "very high" mean? For many make their house of defence in God a mere refuge from temporal persecution ; but the defence of God is on high, and very secret, whither thou mayest fly from the wrath to come. Within "Thou hast set thine house of defence very high. There shall no evil happen unto Thee: neither shall any plague come nigh Thy dwelling"' (ver. 10).
2 Obsequiorum. 3 2 Tim. ii. 19. 4 Matt. xxv. 41.
I Matt. xix 21.