Psalm CXLV
6. …By “pouring forth” this, His preachers “shall exult in His righteousness” not in their own. What then hast Thou done unto us, O Lord, whom we praise, that we should be, that we should praise, that we should “exult in Thy righteousness,” that we should “utter forth the remembrance of the abundance of Thy sweetness”? Let us tell it, and, as we tell, let us praise.
7. “Merciful and pitiful is the Lord; long-suffering, and very merciful” (ver. 8). “Sweet is the Lord to all, and His compassions reach into all His works” (ver. 9). Were He not such as this, there would be no seeking to recover us. Consider thyself: what didst thou deserve, O sinner? Despiser of God, what didst thou deserve? See if aught occur to thee but penalty, if aught occur to thee but punishment. Thou seest then what was due to thee, and what He hath given, who gave gratis. There was given pardon to the sinner; there was given the spirit of justification; there was given charity and love, wherein thou mayest do all good works; and beyond this, He will give thee also life everlasting, and fellowship with the angels: all of His mercy.…Hear the Scripture: “I will not the death of a sinner, but rather that he should turn, and live.” By these words of God, he is brought back to hope; but there is another snare to be feared, lest through this very hope he sin the more. What then didst thou also say, thou who through hope sinnest yet more? “Whensoever I turn, God will forgive me all; I will do whatsoever I will.” Say not then, “To-morrow I will turn, to-morrow I will please God; and all to-day’s and yesterday’s deeds shall be forgiven me.” Thou sayest true: God hath promised pardon to thy conversion; He hath not promised a to-morrow to thy delay.
8. “Sweet is the Lord to all, and His compassions are over all His works.” Why then doth He condemn? why doth He scourge? Are not they whom He condemneth, whom He scourgeth, His works? Plainly they are. And wilt thou know how “His compassions are over all His works”? Thence is that long-suffering, whereby “He maketh His sun to rise on the evil and on the good.” Are not “His compassions over all His works, who sendeth rain upon the just and upon the unjust”? In His long-suffering He waiteth for the sinner, saying, “Turn ye to Me, and I will turn to you.” Are not “His compassions over all His works”? And when He saith, “Go ye into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels,” this is not His compassion, but His severity. His compassion is given to His works: His severity is not over His works, but over thy works. Lastly, if thou remove thine own evil works, and there remain in thee nought but His work, His compassion will not leave thee: but if thou leavest not thy works, there will be severity over thy works, not over His works.
9. “Let all Thy works, O Lord, confess to Thee, and let Thy saints bless Thee” (ver. 10). How so? Is not the earth His work? Are not the trees His work? Cattle, beasts, fish, fowl, are not they His works? Plainly they too are. And how shall these too confess to Him? I see indeed in the angels that His works confess to Him, for the angels are His works: and men are His works; and when men confess to Him, His works confess to Him; but have trees and stones the voice of confession? Yes, verily; “let all” His “works confess to” Him. What sayest thou? even the earth and the trees?…But there ariseth the same question in regard of praise, as in regard of confession. For if earth and all things devoid of sensation therefore cannot confess, because they have no voice to confess with; neither will they be able to praise, because they have no voice to proclaim with. But do not those Three Children enumerate all things, as they walked amid the harmless flames, who had leisure not only not to fear, but even to praise God? They say to all things, heavenly and earthly, “Bless ye the Lord, praise Him and magnify Him for ever.” Behold how they praise. Let none think that the dumb stone or dumb animal hath reason wherewith to comprehend God. They who have thought this, have erred far from the truth. God hath ordered everything, and made everything: to some He hath given sense and understanding and immortality, as to the angels; to some He hath given sense and understanding with mortality, as to man; to some He hath given bodily sense, yet gave them not understanding, or immortality, as to cattle: to some He hath given neither sense, nor understanding, nor immortality, as to herbs, trees, stones: yet even these cannot be wanting in their kind, and by certain degrees He hath ordered His creation, from earth up to heaven, from visible to invisible, from mortal to immortal. This framework of creation, this most perfectly ordered beauty, ascending from lowest to highest, descending from highest to lowest, never broken, but tempered together of things unlike, all praiseth God. Wherefore then doth all praise God? Because when thou considerest it, and seest its beauty, thou in it praisest God. The beauty of the earth is a kind of voice of the dumb earth.…And this which thou hast found in it, is the very voice of its confession, that thou praise the Creator.
When thou hast thought on the universal beauty of this world, doth not its very beauty as it were with one voice answer thee, “I made not myself, God made me”?
10. For when Thy saints bless Thee, what say they? “They shall tell the glory of Thy kingdom, and talk of Thy Power” (ver. 11). How powerful is God, who hath made the earth! how powerful is God, who hath filled the earth with good things! how powerful is God, who hath given to the animals each its own life! how powerful is God, who hath given different seeds to the womb of the earth, that they might make to spring up such various shoots, such beautiful trees! how powerful, how great is God! Do thou ask, creation answereth, and by its answer, as by the confession of the creature, thou, O saint of God, blessest God, and “talkest of His power.”
11. “That they may make known to the sons of men Thy power, and the glory of the greatness of the beauty of Thy kingdom” (ver. 12). Thy saints then commend “the glory of the greatness of the beauty of Thy kingdom,” the glory of the greatness of its beauty. There is a certain “greatness of the beauty of Thy kingdom:” that is, Thy kingdom hath beauty, and great beauty. Since whatever hath beauty, hath beauty from Thee, how great beauty hath Thy whole kingdom! Let not the kingdom frighten us: it hath beauty also, wherewith to delight us. For what is that beauty, which the saints shall hereafter enjoy, to whom it shall be said, “Come, ye blessed of My Father, enjoy the kingdom”? Whence shall they come? whither shall they come? Behold, brethren, and, if ye can, as far as ye can, think of the beauty of that kingdom which is to come; whence our prayer saith, “Thy kingdom come.” For that kingdom we desire may come, that kingdom the saints proclaim to be coming. Observe this world: it is beautiful. How beautiful are earth, sea, air, heavens, stars. Do not all these frighten him who considereth them? Is not the beauty of them so conspicuous, that it seemeth as though nothing more beautiful could be found? And here, in this beauty, in this fairness almost unspeakable, here worm and mice and all creeping things of the earth live with thee, they live with thee in all this beauty. How great is the beauty of that kingdom where none but angels live with Thee! There is a greatness of a certain beauty; let it be loved before it is seen, that when it is seen, it may be retained.