Ps. ii. 1, λαοὶ ἐμε λέτησαν κενά. washed, and eating Thy Bread, O Divine Body, lifted up his supplanting against Thee, CHRIST, and understood not how to cry, Praise the LORD, ye works of His, and magnify Him unto all ages.] I cannot help giving, as the best commentary on this part of the Psalm, the Stichoi of Great Thursday with their Stichera; and I purposely do so in Greek, rather than in a translation, in order to tempt my brethren to study those glorious hymns for themselves, by-where I canun-showing them the beauty of Eastern hymnology. Idiomelon. Σήμερον τὸ κατὰ τοῦ Χριστοῦ πονηρὸν συνήχθη συνέδριον, καὶ κατ ̓ αὐτοῦ κενὰ ἐβουλεύσατο, παραδοῦναι Πιλάτῳ εἰς θάνατον τὸν ἀνεύθυνον. Σήμερον τὴν τῶν χρημάτων ἀγχόνην Ἰούδας ἑαυτῷ περιτίθησι, καὶ στερεῖται κατ ̓ ἄμφω, ζωῆς προσκαίρου, καὶ θείας. Σήμερον Καϊάφας ἄκων προφητεύει· συμφέρει, λέγων, ὑπὲρ τοῦ λαοῦ ἕνα ἀπολέσθαι· ἦλθε γὰρ ὑπὲρ τῶν ἁμαρτιῶν ἡμῶν τοῦ παθεῖν, ἵνα ἡμᾶς ἐλευθερώσῃ ἐκ τῆς δουλείας τοῦ Ἐχθροῦ, ὡς ἀγαθὸς καὶ φιλάνθρωπος. [To-day the wicked council against CHRIST was assembled, and they devised vain things against Him, to deliver up the guiltless One to Pilate for death. To-day Judas puts the halter of money round himself, and is deprived both of this passing life and of that which is divine. To-day Caiaphas is an involuntary prophet, saying, It is expedient that One should die for the people; for He came, in His goodness and lovingkindness, to suffer for our sins, that He might free us from the slavery of the enemy.] Stichos. Ὁ ἐσθίων ἄρτους μου, ἐμεγάλυνεν ἐπ ̓ ἐμὲ τὸν πτερνισμόν. [Stichos. He that eateth of My Bread, hath magnified his supplanting against Me.] Idiomelon. Σήμερον ὁ Ἰούδας τὸ τῆς φιλοπτωχείας κρύπτει προσω πεῖον, καὶ τῆς πλεονεξίας ἀνακαλύπτει τὴν μορφήν· οὐκέτι τῶν πενήτων φροντίζει· οὐκέτι τὸ μύρον πιπράσκει τὸ τῆς ἁμαρτωλοῦ· ἀλλὰ τὸ οὐρά νιον μύρον, καὶ ἐξ αὐτοῦ νοσφίζεται τὰ ἀργύρια. Τρέχει πρὸς Ἰουδαίους, λέγει τοῖς παρανόμοις· Τί μοι θέλετε δοῦναι, κἀγὼ ὑμῖν παραδώσω αὐτόν; *Ω φιλαργυρίας προδότου ! εὔωνον ποιεῖται τὴν πρᾶσιν· πρὸς τὴν γνώμην τῶν ἀγοραζόντων τοῦ πωλουμένου τὴν πραγματείαν ποιεῖται· οὐκ ἀκριβολογεῖται πρὸς τὴν τιμὴν, ἀλλ ̓ ὡς δοῦλον φυγάδα ἀπεμπωλεῖ· ἔθος γὰρ τοῖς κλέπτουσι ῥίπτειν τὰ τίμια· νῦν ἔβαλε τὰ ἅγια τοῖς κυσὶν ὁ μαθήτης· ἡ γὰρ λύσσα τῆς φιλαργυρίας κατὰ τοῦ ἰδίου Δεσπότου μαί νεσθαι ἐποίησεν αὐτόν· ἧς τὴν πεῖραν φύγωμεν, κράζοντες· Μακρόθυμε Κύριε, δόξα σοι. [To-day Judas hides the mask of love for poverty, and reveals the form of covetousness, no longer careth for the needy; no longer sells the sinful woman's ointment, but the heavenly ointment, and puts the silver pieces from him. He runneth 1 Guiltless, because not liable to trial : a very common hymnological sense. to the Jews, he saith to the transgressors, What will ye give me, and I will betray Him unto you? O covetousness of the traitor! he maketh the bargain cheap, he fixeth the value of Him to be sold at the option of the buyers, is not particular about the price, but sells Him off like a runaway slave, for it is the wont of thieves to throw away costly things. Now the disciple hath cast holy things to the dogs; for the frenzy of covetousness caused him to rage against his own Master, and his temptation let us shun, crying, Glory to Thee, longsuffering GOD!] Stichos. Ἐξεπορεύετο ἔξω καὶ ἐλάλει ἐπὶ τὸ αὐτό. [Stichos. He went out, and spoke thereupon.] Idiomelon. Ο τρόπος σου δολιότητος γέμει, παράνομε Ιούδα νοσῶν γὰρ φιλαργυρίαν, ἐκέρδησας μισανθρωπίαν· εἰ γὰρ πλοῦτον ἠγάπας, τὶ τῷ περὶ πτωχείας διδάσκοντι ἐφοίτας; εἰ δὲ καὶ ἐφίλεις, ἵνα τί ἐπωλεῖς τὸν ἀτίμητον, προδιδοὺς εἰς μιαιφονίαν ; Φρίξον, ἥλιε· στέναξον, ἡ γῆ, καὶ κλονουμένη βόησον ̓Ανεξίκακε Κύριε, δόξα σοι. [Transgressor Judas, thy temper is full of craft, for sick with the love of coin, thou gainedst the hate of man, for if thou lovedst wealth, why didst thou attend on Him Who taught poverty? and if thou lovedst it, why didst thou sell the priceless One, betraying Him to murder? Shudder, O sun; groan, O earth, and in agitation cry out, Glory to Thee, forbearing GOD!] in loc. cit. & Origen. Stichos. Λόγον παράνομον κατέθεντο κατ ̓ ἐμοῦ. [Stichos. They devised an unjust word against Me.] However there are not wanting those, who denying that S. Ambros. Judas did eat of our LORD's Body, see in the Bread here merely a metaphor of having been a listener to the words of CHRIST; as do some of those even who agree in the usual belief. Lorinus rather understands, by the eating of the S. John xiii. bread, the dipping of the morsel in the dish; which, by the 26. general consent of the Fathers, was not the Holy Eucharist. So again the great Carmelite expositor. But yet I must think that the more beautiful explanation, which understands My Bread, of the Blessed Eucharist: My Bread most truly, as not only Mine, but Myself. Verbum Caro panem verum Verbo carnem efficit. [Word made flesh, by word He maketh 1 Notice the extreme beauty of this Stichos. It is, of course, simply the LXX. reading of ver. 6 of the Psalm: yet how ad mirably the ἐξεπορεύετο ἔξω οι Ay. Genebrardus. originally 66 Others see in the man of my peace a plain reference to Absalom, whose name is, by interpretation, the peace of the This sense is father. And there is yet another sense in which it is very Richard of beautifully taken; namely, as the complaint of the new S. Victor's: nature against the old Adam: in fact as a mystical amnesty it is given in the struggle which S. Paul describes in Romans vii. The briefly by S. Bonaven- flesh is the one familiar friend of the spirit; the friend in tura, and whom it trusted too much, and great wait indeed does the expanded at great one lay against the other. For the flesh lusteth against the length in spirit, and the spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary one to the other; so that ye cannot do the things that ye would." One remark yet remains to be made with reference to the Vulgate close of the verse: hath magnified his supplantation against me. Other sins may indeed to a certain extent be the betrayal of CHRIST: but the profanation of the Blessed Eucharist in a most emphatic and most enormous degree; this indeed is not to betray only, but to magnify our betrayal. a very pious sermon by Philip de la Greve: yet quotes Ri neither chard. Gal. v. 17. JAy. 10 But be thou merciful unto me, O LORD: raise thou me up again, and I shall reward them. "Hitherto," says the great Carmelite, "the Psalm hath spoken of the Passion of CHRIST, it now goes on to tell of His Resurrection. And this Psalm is divided into four clauses. In the first, He prayed that He may be raised: raise Thou Me up again. Next, He expresseth His certain assurance of being heard: By this I know.' Thirdly, He showeth that He hath been heard: Mine enemy doth not triumph.' And finally, from all that has gone before, He resteth to praise: 'Blessed be the LORD GOD of Israel.' Raise Thou Me up. Here is an example of a prayer offered for that which we have a promise of, whether we pray or not, like "Thy kingdom come." But yet it was a belief of some of the Fathers, and of more mediæval writers, that whereas, when the prophecy was made, how the S. Matt. xii. Son of Man should be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth, it was intended to be taken in its fullest and most natural sense, according to which our dear LORD could not have risen till three in the afternoon of the Monday, yet in the mercy of the FATHER, and in compliance with the prayer of the SoN, the time was shortened, as much as it could be, while the words of prediction remained sure.1 Vieyra, ix. 274. 40. 1 With respect to the expres sion three days, the writer accidentally met with an anecdote which may be worth repeating. It is contained in a letter from Howard the philanthropist to a Dr. Stennett, an Anabaptist. After mentioning the capital punishment of a fraudulent trades man, and the sentence that his body was to remain exposed three days in a street in Constantinople, he continues: "It being very hot weather, August, I said it was impossible to remain three days in the street. Yes, it did,' said my informant; for our three days may be only five or A. S. Luke And I shall reward them. How? How, but by giving them a crown of gold for a Crown of Thorns; by bestowing on them the manna of His quickening Body for the gall which they presented to Him that He might eat; by refreshing s. Hierothem with the River of Water of Life instead of the vinegar nym. that they held to His dying lips: by writing their names in the Book of Life, whereas His was only written by them as the title of His accusation on the Cross. How, but by fulfilling His own prayer, "FATHER, forgive them ?" when the xxiii. 34. preaching of the Rock of the Church brought in three, and Z. then five, thousand to the True Rock. And notice how in this our LORD speaks both as GOD and as Man: raise Thou S. Cyril. Me up; so He prays as Man: and I shall reward them; so Hieros. He promises as GOD. This verse is one of the causes why the present Psalm forms a part of the Office for the Dead. Durandus. Raise Thou Me up again, exclaims the corpse from which the spirit has gone forth, that we are now about to sow in dishonour, in weakness, in corruption; and I shall reward them : I shall have my revenge over those enemies who, during my sojourn upon earth, sought to make me the instrument of pollution and hindrance to the soul, by becoming in turn its great assistance, its everlasting helpmeet, in the unceasing service of GOD. 11 By this I know thou favourest me that mine enemy doth not triumph against me. 12 And when I am in my health, thou upholdest me and shalt set me before thy face for ever. Ay. Grêve. In the literal sense, probably, the meaning is, that the success given to the stratagem of Hushai, and the period thus put to the immediate hopes of Absalom, were sufficient to show the ultimate success of the enterprise; for no Saint ever seems so thoroughly, as David, to have trusted for the future because he had been blessed for the past: "Because Philip de la Thou hast been my helper, therefore under the shadow of Thy p. xiii. 8. wings will I rejoice." And thou, too, poor trembling Christian, ready to give up all for lost, because thou art not always successful, ready to say, "I shall not see the LORD, even the Isa. xxxviii. LORD, in the Land of the Living," because He sometimes 1. seems to shut His eyes from thee,—what are the triumphs of the enemy over thee? Are they more frequent than in times past? When he obtains for a while the victory, dost thou arm more quickly from the defeat? When thou hast truly fallen, art thou more grieved for the sin? Then say it with confidence, say it with truth, say it whatever may six-and-twenty hours. If one another day.""-Ivimey's Hist. The Hymn Jerusalem luminosa. Isa. xxxiii. 24. S. John iv. 6. Ps. cx. 1. Cd. appear on the other side: By this I know Thou favourest me : that mine enemy doth not triumph against me. And when I am in my health. As the hymn says: O how glorious and resplendent, And where is it we can only truly say, when I am in my health, but in that city, whose inhabitant, as Isaiah speaks, "shall not say, I am sick?" Thou upholdest me. Upholdest me that I can never more fall into sin which first brought pain and sickness into the world: upholdest me, or otherwise how should I ever support the glorious Beatific vision which is promised in the next clause, and shalt set me before Thy face for ever? Or we may take it of that dear LORD, Who after His death, arose again to life, never more to suffer pain or weariness, as when He "being weary with His journey sat upon the well," or slept through the storm on the Lake of Gennesaret, when His disciples took Him even as He was into the ship, but now in the same Body has ascended into heaven: Thou upholdest Me, and shalt set Me before Thy face for ever: when the FATHER said unto Him, "Sit Thou on My right hand, until I make 1 Cor. xv. 26. Thine enemies Thy footstool;" and "The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death." But then also we may take this, if in a lower, still in a comforting sense. When I am in my health. Why my health? Because He speaks of the health, vigour, actual keeping of God's commandments, into which every Christian is put by Baptism: MY health, because Thou gavest it to me; but still even so, even then, taking it at its best, when I am in My health; it is not by my own power, I have no strength to hold firm my position, much less to advance on in it; When I am in my health, THOU UPHOLDEST ME. It teaches us the same thing as that other Psalm, "Blessed be the LORD my strength. subdueth my people that is under me.' And again they take it in a nobler sense. When I am in my health; that is, when I shall have overcome all Mine enemies, when I shall have passed through all My tribulation, when the crooked shall have been made straight, and the rough places plain, then Thou upholdest Me: that is, Thou hearest My petition. "And I knew that Thou hearest Me always." And therefore here we have a prophecy, and an invaluable prediction it is, of the everlasting Priesthood of CHRIST. And the Vulgate answers such a meaning still more strikingly. But Me hast Thou Heb. vii. 33. upheld because of Mine enemies. And what can we add, O innocent, O gentle, O immaculate Lamb of save the dying speech of the poor thief? Ps. cxliv. 2. S. Chrysost. S. John xi. 41. L. Euseb. in S. Luke xxiii. 41. Who God, to this, "We indeed |