They loved cursing, and they had what they loved. They counted their King, Who should have been their blessing, a Samaritan, and He became a stranger, and an alien unto them. They saw and hated both Him and His Father.' The evil that they had indulged, the malice that they had cherished, closed round them and entered into them; it was within them, like the bitter water of jealousy, 'that causeth the curse; it penetrated their inmost soul, like the marrow within their bones. It was over them and round them, like their inner and their outer raiment; it was close round their heart, like the girdle with which they were girded. They had made evil their element, and blasphemy their habit, until that most woeful of all words went forth against them, from the lips of Him Who could not lie: Wherefore I say unto you, all manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men, but the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven unto men. And whosoever speaketh a word against the Son of Man, it shall be forgiven him; but whosoever speaketh against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world, neither in the world to come.' 20. But deal Thou with me, O Lord God, according unto Thy Name : for sweet is Thy mercy. 21. O deliver me, for I am helpless and poor and my heart is wounded within me. 22. I go hence like the shadow that de : parteth and am driven away as the grasshopper. 23. My knees are weak through fasting : my flesh is dried up for want of fatness. LXX. My flesh is changed for the anointing. 24. I became also a reproach unto them: they that looked upon me shaked their heads. He Yet the malice and the spite of man changed not the Saviour's purpose of eternal mercy. gave Himself up to His Father's will amid all the hindrances of mortal hatefulness and neglect. His prayer was, 'Now is My soul troubled; and what shall I say? Father, save Me from this hour: but for this cause came I unto this hour.' His holy soul was wounded to its inmost depths by the wickedness of Israel and by the treachery of Judas: at the Last Supper, when He sat with His disciples for the last time on earth, 'He was troubled in spirit, and testified, and said, Verily, verily, I say unto you, that one of you shall betray Me.' Yea, He was betrayed and He was crucified, Who left the bosom of God to become as we are, and to dwell with us, creatures short-lived and vanishing like the shadow at sun-set,-helpless as the locust driven before the strong west wind,-feeble and uncertain in our aspirings to heaven, like the grasshopper that, from its brief leap upwards, falls quickly back to the earth again. He fasted for us, not only in the forty days of the temptation, but through all His life, and yet was He mocked by us, when they who passed by His cross railed on Him, wagging their heads, and saying, Ah, Thou that destroyest the temple and buildest it in three days, save Thyself, and come down from the cross.' 25. Help me, O Lord my God: O save me according to Thy mercy; 26. And they shall know, how that this is Thy hand and that Thou, Lord, hast done it. : 27. Though they curse, yet bless Thou : and let them be confounded that rise up against me; but let Thy servant rejoice. 28. Let mine adversaries be clothed with shame and let them cover themselves with their own confusion, as with a cloke. 'Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, they took, and by wicked hands crucified and slew:' and yet He, trusting in His Father's love, and doing His Father's will, prayed for them, His murderers-returning blessing for cursing and said, even as their nails pierced through His flesh, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.' He looked forward, from amid the blasphemous crowd of His most unrighteous judges and accusers, to that day when all evil shall be confounded with immortal shame, and be doomed to everlasting contempt, and patience and goodness shall eternally be glorified. When He shall come with clouds; and every eye shall see Him, and they also who pierced Him: and all 29. As for me, I will give great thanks unto the Lord with my mouth and praise Him among the multitude: 30. For He shall stand at the right hand of the poor to save his soul from unrighteous judges. Therefore in all reviling and ingratitude, in all evil return for love, and in all persecution for truth and righteousness' sake, must the followers of the Crucified trust in Him, confess Him, and praise Him. They who are evil-intreated are made like their Master: 'if they have called the Master of the house Beelzebub, how much more shall they call them of His household.' But He who was mocked and spitefully intreated will not leave those who suffer for His cause. He will be with them, to help and to save them, as He was with St. Stephen in the unjust Sanhedrim. Even as Satan stood at the right hand of Judas, and standeth at the right hand of all the ungodly, the covetous, and the malicious, so does Christ stand at the right hand of each one of His afflicted servants, to comfort him in his poverty, and to lead him into glory. He Who said unto Israel of old, "Woe unto you, Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell?' said also to His own, Blessed be ye poor; for yours is the kingdom of God.' This Psalm was written by David, doubtless during his sufferings from the causeless cruelty of Saul and the wanton malice of those who calumniated him. But we are expressly told by St. Peter, that "the Holy Ghost spake it by the mouth of David concerning Judas," (Acts i. 16). It has been also applied by the fathers and earlier commentators to the Church of Judah, which made itself an accomplice in the sin of Judas; and they have considered it as a denunciation of righteous vengeance, proceeding from the mouth of Christ, in the season of His passion, against the wickedness, and hypocrisy, and blood-guiltiness of His betrayers and murderers. (Compare carefully, St. Matt. xxiii. throughout, and also the fearful denunciations in Deut. xxviii. 15—68.) Its awful words may, however, be extended beyond this, and be considered not only as a prophecy of the retribution which should overtake some particular sinners and hypocrites, but as a plain-spoken declaration of that most just doom which the righteous providence of God is ever working out for all those who take pleasure in wrong and falsehood. It warns us that our God is severe as well as good, (Rom. xi. 22); and that He has determined that it shall not be with the wicked as with the righteous, (Gen. xviii. 25.) Seen in this light, the warnings of this terrible Psalm must have brought unspeakable support to those seven thousand who bowed not the knee to Baal under the impious tyranny of Ahab and Jezebel, and to the captive Jews under Belshazzar, as well as to all who have suffered from the oppression and tyranny of the wilfully wicked. This is the only Psalm in which the spirit of evil is mentioned by name. (Compare verse 5 with Job 1 and Zech. iii. 1.) Morning Prayer. FOR CHRISTMAS-DAY. PSALM CX. Dixit Dominus. 1. THE Lord said unto my Lord Sit Thou on My right hand, until I make Thine enemies Thy footstool. |