ANTIPHONS

Gregorian. Every day * will I give thanks unto Thee, O LORD. [Sacred Heart: The LORD is loving unto every man * and His mercy is over all His works.]

Monastic. First portion: as Gregorian. Second portion: Thy kingdom, * O LORD, is an everlasting kingdom.

Ambrosian. Every day * let us bless the LORD.

Parisian. First portion: One generation shall praise Thy works unto another * and declare Thy power. Second portion: The LORD is faithful in all His words, and holy in all His works. Third portion: The LORD is nigh unto all them that call upon Him faithfully.

Lyons. First portion: as Gregorian. Second portion: The LORD is holy * in all His works.

Mozarabic. The LORD is loving unto every man * and His mercies are over all His works.

Albeit the whole Psalter is intitled סֶפֶר הְּהִלִּים, Sepher Tehillim, or Book of Praises, yet this Psalm is the only one which has the word הְּהִלָּה Tehillah as a heading, and the circumstance has given it a degree of prominence amongst the Rabbins beyond even what its intrinsic dignity would have secured for it. Accordingly, it is said in the Talmud:* “Every one who repeats the Tehillah of David thrice a day may be sure that he is a child of the world to come. And why? Not merely because the Psalm is alphabetical (for that the 119th is, and in an eightfold degree), nor only because it praises GOD’S providence over all creation (for that the Great Hallel does, 136:25), but because it unites both these properties in itself.”

The acrostic is not perfect, as the letter Nun is missing, albeit the LXX. have supplied it with a verse which the Vulgate has adopted,* beginning with the word Faithful, in Hebrew נֶאֱמָן, but it is almost certainly an interpolation.* The Talmud gives a singular reason for the omission of Nun, that it is the letter which begins (with the word נָפְלָה) the fatal verse, “The Virgin of Israel is fallen; she shall no more rise; she is forsaken upon the land, there is none to raise her up.”* Others have supposed that the object of the omission was to group the Psalm into three strophes of seven verses,* the covenant number, (C.) for a mystical purpose. Cassiodorus quaintly remarks that the Psalms in which the alphabetical order is complete are especially fitted for the righteous in the Church Triumphant, but those in which one letter is missing are for the Church Militant here on earth, as still imperfect, and needing to be purified from defect.

1 I will magnify thee, (א) O GOD, my King: and I will praise thy Name for ever and ever.

2 Every day will I give thanks unto thee: (ב) and praise thy Name for ever and ever.

There are many persons who, looking round on the wonders of creation, (H.) are ready to magnify God; but they who recognize Him as directly ruling what He has made, as having a personal relation to themselves, as having the right to govern their conscience and acts, as being the future Judge of their conduct, as being, in short, their King, are much fewer. Still fewer are they who look forward with delight to the thought of constantly praising Him, as well in the world to come as in this world; and who do not fail to give thanks to Him every day, even if weighed down by sorrow, disquieted by fever, oppressed with sickness, or troubled with coldness and dryness. Yet we must begin the song of praise here, if we are to carry it on hereafter, we must practise the melody in the single days (Vulg.) if we are to chant it perfectly in the one perfect and unending day to come. (A.) And Job’s example shows us how even in the midst of the deepest sorrow we can keep this rule, for on the one day when all the terrible blows fell together upon him, we read that he answered, “The LORD gave, and the LORD hath taken away; blessed be the Name of the LORD.”* As the previous Psalm was a prayer for the Incarnation of CHRIST,* so this one is a prophecy of the fulfilment of that prayer, and itself a song of praise and supplication to the Incarnate Word, acknowledged in His Godhead to be the Psalmist’s God and Creator,* and in His glorified, ascended Manhood to be his King and LORD. For magnify, the LXX. and Vulgate have exalt, the extol of A. V., a fitting word to use of Him Who was exalted on the Cross in His Passion, out of the grave in His Resurrection, (Ay.) above all angels in His Ascension, over the hearts of mankind in the spread of the Gospel, and Who will be throned at last as Judge of quick and dead. And in styling Him King,* His constant title in Holy Writ, far more than the bare notion of power is implied. It connotes a kingdom, a state under one law, a people gathered together in unity under a single ruler, and thereby the perfect freedom of all its citizens, because they have no master save CHRIST Himself, they acknowledge no bondage to men or to the elements of this world. And His servant in the opening of the Psalm pledges himself to three distinct acts of homage: to magnify Him, by believing and confessing His absolute supremacy over all created things, and thus His power to abolish the old law given by His servant Moses; to give thanks to, or to bless His Name, by yielding Him not merely submission, but gratitude and love, ascribing all good things to His bounty; and to praise His Name by declaring His glory and power to all who are ignorant of them.

3 Great is the LORD, (ג) and marvellous, worthy to be praised: there is no end of his greatness.

There are as it were four parts of greatness:* breadth, length, height, and depth, which can be made subject-matter for thought in contemplating GOD, according to that saying of the Apostle, “That ye may be able to comprehend with all Saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height.”* Wherefore the Prophet begins the praise of GOD with His greatness in His divine essence, which in breadth has no bounds, in length is eternal, in height is Most High, in depth is incomprehensible. As King, the breadth of His dominion is such that all things serve Him, from the highest Angel to the least of worms; in length, His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom; in height, He rules with supreme and most absolute power; in depth, He is not only LORD of bodies, but of hearts, and rules the inmost thoughts and affections of all men, and there is nothing so hidden and secret that the sceptre of His kingdom cannot search out. (A.) Worthy to be praised, rather, greatly to be praised, because as there is no end of His power,* there is also no end of fresh cause for praise of the unbounded breadth of His love, unending length of His existence, (G.) immeasurable height of His immoveable power, unfathomable depth of His unsearchable wisdom, and the phrase further implies GOD’S goodness, for He might be great without being bounteous, but here it is declared that He is both.* For no end the Hebrew is no searching-out, teaching us hereby the doctrine of GOD’S uncreated essence, since otherwise, if He were in any respect finite, He might be apprehended at last, and shown to be subject to laws and conditions like all created things.

4 One generation shall praise thy works unto another: (ד) and declare thy power.

It is not one day only which has seen the wide expanse of sky,* and earth, and sea, has looked upon lakes, and rivers, and fountains, on seeds, and plants, and herbs, on the unvarying course of nature, night and day, sun, and moon, and stars, rain, and changes of the seasons; but they were the wonder, and joy, and blessing of past ages as they shall be of ages yet to come; while for more direct and personal interference with mankind, there is the long roll of GOD’S dealings with the Jewish nation, in signs and providence, and the like; of all He wrought for us in the time of the Apostles; while every era feels His hand still, whether stretched out in bounty or in chastisement.

The generation of Abraham’s faithful children,* to whom were intrusted the oracles of GOD, (H.) praises and declares His works and power unto the new generation of the Gentiles, heirs of Abraham’s promises.* The generation of sons of GOD in this present life shall continue their celebration of His praises when they become the new generation of the Resurrection in the life to come, (D. C.) lauding Him for His works of nature, of grace, and of glory, and for that power which has no limits; (A.) since it is little to praise the works and forget Him Who made them, as some do, and that eloquently.

5 As for me, (ה) I will be talking of thy worship: thy glory, thy praise, and wondrous works;

6 So that men shall speak of the might of thy marvellous acts: (ו) and I will also tell of thy greatness.

7 The memorial of thine abundant kindness shall be showed: (ז) and men shall sing of thy righteousness.

The opening of the fifth verse is better rendered by A. V., which is also much nearer to the LXX. and Vulgate (save that they read the whole passage in the third person plural), I will speak of the glorious honour of Thy majesty.* The first praise of the King is His outward splendour, the dazzling pomp of His court, the external tokens of His riches and power; and therefore what is here signified is all that part of GOD’S works which chiefly arouses our admiration and wonder, such, as the sun and stars and the ocean. But the LXX. and Vulgate for majesty read holiness, and the commentators take it for the most part not as direct praise of GOD’S own perfections,* but of the magnificent glory He bestows upon His Saints. The next part of GOD’S wondrous works which is celebrated is that which consists of His mighty and terrible (LXX., Vulg., and A. V.) acts,* which exhibit Him not merely in His splendour,* but in His judiciary and retributive power,* in chastising the wicked.* Such are the Flood, (A.) the destruction of the cities of the plain, the plagues of Egypt, the overthrow of the nations of Canaan, and all similar and subsequent judgments. If they proclaim His everlasting kingdom, they do not pass over in silence His everlasting fire. And in the third place GOD is revealed as being not merely glorious and mighty, but also as being good. Men shall copiously pour out (Heb.) the records of all His abundant sweetness (Vulg.) and loving-kindness evidenced in the creation of nature, (B.) in His fostering care for all His creatures,* but still more in the creation of grace, in the life and death of His most dear SON, in all the spiritual blessings stored up in and dispensed by His Church. They will not be content with treasuring up such memories as these in their own hearts, (A.) but will pour them forth freely as a fountain, that all may quench their thirst by drinking them.

And shall sing of Thy righteousness. Here is the sum, that all these dealings of the LORD, whether terrible or of abundant kindness, are in no case the result of arbitrary caprice, but are ordered by perfect justice, the inflexible uprightness of the perfectly wise and holy Judge. (A.) It is of GOD’S righteousness, not of their own, that the Saints will sing, rejoicing in that free grace of His which has saved them, and of which they have been made to drink that they might know it. And it is to be observed that GOD Himself, in revealing His attributes to Israel by the words of Moses, declares them in the order of this Psalm; putting first His majesty, then His might, and thirdly His abundant kindness, while righteousness binds all together: “For the LORD your GOD is GOD of gods, and LORD of lords, a great GOD, a mighty and a terrible, which regardeth not persons, nor taketh reward: He doth execute the judgment of the fatherless and widow, and loveth the stranger, in giving him food and raiment.”* And that this perfect righteousness of His proves the especial rejoicing of His Saints, we learn from the words of that great Song of Moses and the Lamb, which is the Canticle of the Church Triumphant, until such time as the New Song shall begin: “And I saw as it were a sea of glass mingled with fire: and them that had gotten the victory over the beast, and over his image, and over his mark, and over the number of his name, stand on the sea of glass, having the harps of GOD. And they sing the song of Moses the servant of GOD, and the song of the Lamb, saying, Great and marvellous are Thy works, LORD GOD Almighty; just and true are Thy ways, Thou King of Saints. Who shall not fear Thee, O LORD, and glorify Thy Name? for Thou only art holy: for all nations shall come and worship before Thee; for Thy judgments are made manifest.”* These nine reasons for praising GOD, (C.) His works, power, glorious honour, majesty, wondrous works, might of terrible acts, greatness, abundant kindness, and righteousness, are the cataracts of heavenly eloquence, the fountains of celestial words, the bounteous breasts of praise, which give the refreshment of loving thanks to mankind and unending blessedness to the angels; and in their triply threefold number shadow the unceasing worship paid to the adorable Trinity.

8 The LORD is gracious, (ח) and merciful: long-suffering, and of great goodness.

That the LORD is gracious, (C.) is an attribute of His nature, that He is merciful, which is the energizing of His graciousness, is the cause of salvation to our frailty. He is gracious in creation, because He is not urged thereto by any benefit conferred on Him by others, but does it of His own love. He is merciful, when by His loving-kindness He builds up again that which was falling, lifting by grace what was ruined by sin. (A.) And as there are many of those to whom He has offered pardon who have not availed themselves of the terms of amnesty, and accepted His mercy, He is long-suffering, waiting for them to come back to Him, Who desires not the death of a sinner,* but rather that he should be converted and live. And of great goodness, or rather, mercy. He is calling thee now, He waits for thee now, He urges thee to be doing, and thou lingerest. Great is His mercy, wherefore He hath made the end of thy life uncertain, that thou mayest not know when thou shalt pass hence, and daily hoping, mayest be at last converted. This is great mercy, for had He appointed a foreknown day of death for all, security would have bred abundant sin. And He therefore gave a hope of pardon to avert the sin of despair. Those who are too confident, go on in sin, because they look to GOD’S mercy, and forget His justice; those who are too fearful, go on in sin, because they remember GOD’S justice, forgetting His mercy, and knowing that rigid justice must doom them. To such as act thus He gives Scriptures which tell of His love and mercy; while to those who are over-confident He saith: “Concerning propitiation, be not without fear to add sin unto sin; and say not, His mercy is great; He will be pacified for the multitude of my sins: for mercy and wrath come from Him, and His indignation resteth upon His enemies. Make no tarrying to turn to the LORD, and put not off from day to day; for suddenly shall the wrath of the LORD come forth, and in thy security shalt thou be destroyed, and perish in the day of vengeance.”* And if you will not hear this His warning by the mouth of a wise man under the old law,* hearken to the Apostle: (B.) “Despisest thou the riches of His goodness and forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of GOD leadeth thee to repentance? But after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasurest up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of GOD; Who will render to every man according to his deeds.”* Say not, (A.) therefore, I will be converted to-morrow; to-morrow I will begin to please GOD, and all my sins of yesterday and to-day will be forgiven. You say truly; but bear in mind that GOD has not promised you a to-morrow for your conversion, and that is the reason why He has left you ignorant of the end of your life.

9 The LORD is loving unto every man: (ט) and his mercy is over all his works.

He is loving unto every man, (A.) “for He maketh His sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust,”* and offers pardon and salvation to all mankind,* Jew and Gentile alike. And His mercy is over all His works. They explain these words in different ways. The Rabbinical interpretation, (H.) which S. Hilary follows, is that mercy is the chief and highest of all GOD’S attributes.* “The attribute of GOD’S mercy,” comments a Rabbi, “is greater than that of His vengeance,* in the proportion of one to five hundred. For in the attribute of mercy He keepeth ‘mercy for thousands,’ but in the quality of justice, He visits iniquity unto the fourth generation.”* Secondly, there is the more obvious explanation that GOD’S mercy extends to everything that He has made. And hereupon arises the question, Why then does He threaten damnation, why do we hear the decree of everlasting punishment? (A.) And they answer that His mercy is over all His own works, which are good without exception, but that He has not promised mercy to the evil works of the devil or man. His sternness is not for His works, but for thine. If thou take away thine evil works, and there remain in thee only His work, His mercy will not let thee go; but if thou wilt not leave hold of thy works, His sternness will be against thy works, not against His own. “For Thou lovest all the things that are, and abhorrest nothing which Thou hast made; for never wouldst Thou have made anything, if Thou hadst hated it. And how could anything have endured, if it had not been Thy will? or been preserved, if not called by Thee? But Thou sparest all; for they are Thine, O LORD, Thou lover of souls.”* Lastly, it is taken of that merciful grace of perseverance, which He adds over and above the works of grace, the virtues with which He endows any of His Saints. (R.) The Rabbins, besides the gloss already cited, urge from this verse the duty of kindness towards the lower animals, and avoidance of all wanton and unnecessary destruction of their lives,* all that goes beyond the claims of self-preservation, either in the matter of food or of removing what is hurtful to men.* And there is a legend of R. Jehudah the Holy that he quoted this verse to his servant as a reason for leaving some weasels unmolested in the cellars of his house.

10 All thy works praise thee, O LORD: (י) and thy saints give thanks unto thee.

All GOD’S works, even those which are irrational, (A.) and even lifeless, praise Him, (C.) by fulfilling their part in the order of nature, and through their beauty and harmony causing rational beings to glorify their Maker. All praise Him without exception, because, whereas every artist is tried by his works, and reaps praise or blame, (B.) no fault can be found in the skill and perfection with which GOD achieves all that He does, from greatest to least. (H.) This praise comes to Him from all His works so far as He is GOD; but the higher service of blessing and thanksgiving comes from them who know and obey Him personally as their King,* and who have a deeper reason than His other works for celebrating His praise, because they know not only His creative power,* but His loving-kindness in grace and salvation; (Ay.) and therefore the title befits more particularly the holy men of the New Testament, (Z.) and especially such as are hallowed and dedicated solemnly to the service of GOD.

11 They show the glory of thy kingdom: (כ) and talk of thy power,

12 That thy power, thy glory, (ל) and mightiness of thy kingdom: might be known unto men.

The glory of a kingdom is the power of a kingdom.* Power consists first in duration:* GOD’S “dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away,”* whereas of earthly realms it is written, “Because of unrighteous dealings, injuries, and riches got by deceit, the kingdom is translated from one people to another.”* Next, in extent and number of subjects, “All peoples, nations, and languages, should serve Him;”* but earthly sovereigns rule over narrow provinces and few subjects, for “the Most High divided to the nations their inheritance, when He separated the sons of Adam;”* in peaceful tranquillity, “My people shall dwell in a peaceable habitation, and in sure dwellings, and in quiet resting-places;”* whereas in this world’s states, “there reigned in all men without exception blood, manslaughter, theft and dissimulation, corruption, unfaithfulness, tumults, perjury, disquieting of good men.”* Moreover, earthly kings rule over their subjects in such wise that they are in fact servants to them, since they cannot do without them, and they are not rich enough to dispense with taxes and tribute, and nevertheless are usually laden with debt, whereas GOD is LORD of all, needing no help, and abounds in resources without lack, in that He can produce all things out of nothing in a moment of time. And mortal kings, despite their rank, are weighed down with cares, which have sometimes led them to abdicate, whereas GOD cannot be touched with disquiet, but rules in perfect calm and security. (Ay.) And when CHRIST came to set up the kingdom of GOD on earth, all existence showed His glory. GOD the FATHER did so by the Transfiguration, “for our LORD JESUS CHRIST received from GOD the FATHER honour and glory, when there came such a voice to Him from the excellent glory, This is My Beloved SON, in Whom I am well pleased.”* Secondly, Angels, who had been the superiors of man before the Incarnation, proclaimed CHRIST’S glory, announcing His coming, heralding His Nativity,* ministering to Him in the wilderness. Inanimate nature gave Him glory too, a star foretold His advent, the sun was darkened at His crucifixion, and the earth quaked, the winds and waves were lulled at His bidding, the waters formed a path for Him to walk on. And thus His Apostles and other great Saints, who “beheld His glory, the glory as of the Only-begotten of the FATHER,”* snowed that glory, “for the Life was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness, and show unto you that eternal Life which was with the FATHER, and was manifested unto us. That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us, and truly our fellowship is with the FATHER and with His SON JESUS CHRIST.”* And talk of His power, exhibiting it by their miracles, preaching Thee, not themselves, thereby, that Thou and Thy kingdom might be known unto men. (C.) And accordingly, when Peter and John healed the lame man at the Beautiful Gate of the Temple, they said to the wondering multitude, “Ye men of Israel, why marvel ye at this? or why look ye so earnestly on us, as though by our own power or holiness we had made this man to walk? The GOD of Abraham and of Isaac, and of Jacob, the GOD of our fathers, hath glorified His SON JESUS.”*

13 Thy kingdom is an everlasting kingdom: (מ) and thy dominion endureth throughout all ages.

It is the same proclamation as that made by the Archangel to the Virgin at Nazareth, (Ay.) “The LORD GOD shall give Him the throne of His father David; and He shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever, and of His kingdom there shall be no end.”* Throughout all ages.* Rather, all generations. Over angels and men, over Jew and Gentile, from the first to the last righteous man upon earth with reward, (R.) from the first to the last sinner upon earth for punishment; from the generation of this world, from the Jacob of the Church Militant,* to the generation of the world to come, the Israel of the Church Triumphant.

[The LORD is faithful in all his words: (נ) and holy in all his works.]

Here is the verse supplied by LXX. and adopted by Syriac, (A.) Æthiopic, and Vulgate. They take it, following S. Augustine, of the certainty of future reward and punishment, as declared by the same Voice and in the same way as many things which came to pass after being foretold; the Passion and Resurrection of CHRIST, the gift of the HOLY GHOST, the victories of the martyrs, the conversion of the Gentiles, the chastisement and exile of the Jews, for “Heaven and earth shall pass away, but My words shall not pass away.”* The latter clause of this verse is borrowed from verse 17.

14 The LORD upholdeth all such as fall: (ס) and lifteth up all those that are down.

It is noteworthy how the Psalmist proceeds to exhibit the mightiness of GOD’S kingdom not by its power “to break in pieces and bruise”* like the iron legs of the statue in Nebuchadnezzar’s vision, but by the King’s readiness to aid the weak. Even a heathen could see that this was the noblest use of power:

Regia (crede mihi) res est succurrere lapsis.*

Believe me,

It is a kingly thing to help the fallen.

He upholdeth those that are falling—note the present tense—aiding them by the gift of timely repentance and wisdom before they fall away altogether; (H.) and those that are down, (more exactly, bowed down) who are self-humbled, or have been spiritually prostrated less by their own will than by inexperience, (A.) or sudden and overwhelming temptation, or who have been bowed down by worldly misfortunes, suffering either for their own purification and advancement, like holy Job, or as confessors for the Faith, He lifts up again by restoration as He did Peter. (G.) And thus He taught by one of His miracles of healing: “And He was teaching in one of the synagogues on the sabbath. And, behold, there was a woman which had a spirit of infirmity eighteen years, and was bowed together, and could in no wise lift up herself. And when JESUS saw her, He called her to Him, and said unto her, Woman, thou art loosed from thine infirmity. And He laid His hands on her: and immediately she was made straight,1 and glorified GOD.”* The Good Shepherd lifts,* by remission of sin, (Ay.) the weary, fallen, exhausted sheep on His shoulders, and upholds it there as He carries it home; and not one only, but all, who do not reject His help, however grievously they may have sinned. And all those that are down in the grave He will raise up, that He may bear His sheep far away then into His safe fold for ever.

15 The eyes of all wait upon thee, O LORD: (ע) and thou givest them their meat in due season.

16 Thou openest thine hand: (פ) and fillest all things living with plenteousness.

These verses,* in use for many centuries in the Western Church as part of the Blessing of the Table before meals,* serve here as a further mark of contrast between the kingdom of heaven and earthly realms.* This world’s monarchs are fed at their subjects’ cost,* the King of Heaven is the feeder of the whole creation, the source of universal life and sustenance, from the seraphim to the amœba. And it may be remarked that the heathen philosopher in whose life and death some have noted points of contact with those of CHRIST,* named sustenance at the public expense for himself as the fitting sentence to be passed on him; whereas CHRIST spreads the table at His own cost, and bids His disciples thereto, saying, “Eat, O friends; drink, yea, drink abundantly, O beloved.”*

The eyes of all wait on Thee.* The metaphor seems taken from the wistful look of a hungry dog towards its master, silently beseeching him for food; as though even irrational creatures, albeit not knowing by what hand they are fed, were unconsciously gazing up to GOD, Who gives them their meat in due season, that is, giving each kind of food at its regular time of maturity; or giving each kind of animal the sort of food which suits it best; or sending them forth to procure their food at different times, some by day and some by night;* or lastly, at the time when they need it. Thou openest Thine hand, not giving tardily or stintedly, but with lavish bounty, whence it is added fillest, not drawing back that hand till abundance has been given, and that of the best, for the Hebrew is, as in A. V. Thou satisfiest the desire of every living thing. They take the verses also in the higher sense of spiritual sustenance,* when the eyes of the soul, unsatisfied with earth, turn to GOD, and He gives then spiritual meat in due season, milk for babes, meat for strong men, teaching to all in this life, which is the due season of instruction, seeing that the Saints in heaven will need no more teaching, for they drink in continual draughts of wisdom from the Beatific Vision of GOD.* Thou openest Thine hand, Thou, O FATHER, by disclosing Thy SON, Thy Right Hand, in His Incarnation,* openest that Hand to bless mankind, and Thou, O loving JESU, that it may not close till all Thy bountiful gifts are poured forth, Thou hast caused Thy hand to be nailed firmly to the Cross, and fillest all living things, every animal (Vulg.) with blessing, all those who cheerfully bear Thy yoke, all the sheep of Thy pasture, all those still carnal and not yet spiritual, Thou omittest none; but, as a wise Physician, (Ay.) (א) givest only what and when is good for the patient’s welfare, in due season.

17 The LORD is righteous in all his ways: צ and holy in all his works.

He is righteous when He wounds and when He cures; (A.) and His Saints, in the time of their suffering, have always acknowledged this, and made it the ground of their petitions. His ways are His will, (C.) His methods, His principles of action, always unswervingly right, never biassed nor capricious. And then He is holy in His love, His patience, His bounty; and His works are the manifestation of His righteous will. From human frailty we are obliged to speak of them as if ways and works were different properties in Him, but will and deed, plan and execution, (L.) are the same with GOD. And in this perfect justice and tenderness of His rule lies another distinction between Him and earthly kings.

18 The LORD is nigh unto all them that call upon him: (ק) yea, all such as call upon him faithfully.

It is a special virtue in kings to be accessible,* to set as few barriers between themselves and their subjects as may be, and to be ready to receive their petitions. And thus Cicero, writing a letter of counsel to his brother,* when he had assumed, as Proprætor, the government of Asia Minor, “Let access to thee be extremely easy, let thine ears be open to every one’s complaints, let no one’s poverty or friendlessness be shut out, not merely from public audiences and from the court of justice, but even from thy house and bedchamber.” And this is the peculiar glory of GOD as a hearer of prayer, that there is no need of a pilgrimage to reach Him, for “in every nation he that feareth Him, and worketh righteousness, is accepted with Him.”* But they must call upon Him faithfully, not with mere formal and mechanical recitation, still less with hasty and inattentive gabble of unconsidered prayers; but with reverence and earnestness; asking Him not merely for earthly blessings, for health and food, for clothing and shelter, for wife and children, friends and wealth; (A.) but for something more and higher, for immortality, for holiness, for Himself. To all who ask in this wise He is near, standing like a physician to help, yet in His help oftentimes delaying that which the patient desires, and inflicting that from which he shrinks in fear and pain. And above all, if we desire GOD to be near us, we must call on Him in Truth, in Him by Whom GOD came not merely near to us, but to be one with us,* even JESUS CHRIST our LORD. And then we may most truly exclaim, “What nation is there so great, that hath GOD so nigh unto them, as the LORD our GOD is in all things that we call upon Him for?”*

19 He will fulfil the desire of them that fear him: (ר) he also will hear their cry, and will help them.

Here is the next quality of our King,* that He does not merely admit His subjects freely to audience of Him, but is bountiful in granting all their just and reasonable petitions, neither repelling them with sternness nor putting them off with fair words, but being at pains to fulfil their desire. That is,* of them that fear Him, not with servile dread, but with filial awe, and who are content to do His will, and whose will He will therefore do. (Ay.) It is said He will fulfil, not He does fulfil, because it is in due season only that He hears the prayers of the righteous, and that fulfilment of their desire He often keeps for the life to come, but that unfailingly. And for that reason the verse ends with the words, And shall save them (A. V., Vulg.) because everlasting salvation is the goal and end of the cry of the Saints to GOD.

20 The LORD preserveth all them that love him: (ש) but scattereth abroad all the ungodly.

Aristotle teaches, (Ay.) observes the great Carmelite expositor, that the steward of a household ought to be competent to acquire wealth, increase it,* and keep it when acquired, since acquisition without keeping is profitless. Now CHRIST is the steward of the Householder of the heavenly City, for He hath made Him LORD of His house, and ruler over all His goods. He earned us for His Heavenly FATHER with great toils, because He purchased us with His own Blood. And now He keeps, or preserveth all them that love Him, here by grace, wherefore He saith, “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me: and I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of My hand. My FATHER, which gave them Me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of My FATHER’S hand.”* And in the world to come, by the “blessed necessity of sinlessness.” And this is the final part of a King’s public duty,* that he keep his loyal subjects from all harm, securing their lives and property from danger, in due return for their devotion to him. But as this cannot be done without the operation of punitive justice, since the bad must needs be coerced, if the innocent are to be at peace; (Z.) it is added, but scattereth abroad all the ungodly,* exiling them from his dominions. And this CHRIST will do when He utters His sentence on the finally impenitent, “Depart, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels.”*

21 My mouth shall speak the praise of the Lord: (ת) and let all flesh give thanks unto his holy Name for ever and ever.

The Psalm which began in praise ends with it also; but it closes with a promise too; and in pledging our mouth to the praise of GOD, we are also pledging it against reviling our neighbour.* Let our mouth speak the praises of the LORD, and let all harsh language depart from it. We may speak of praiseworthy things which we know of in our brethren. But let the sins of others find other witnesses than ourselves, for we shall have enough to do in blaming our own faults. And similarly, (D. C.) let all scurrilous, hurtful, unprofitable and vain talk be banished from mouths hallowed to such a service as GOD’S. “Therewith bless we GOD, even the FATHER; and therewith curse we men, which are made after the similitude of GOD. Out of the same mouth proceedeth blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not so to be. Doth a fountain send forth at the same place sweet water and bitter? Can the fig tree, my brethren, bear olive berries? either a vine, figs? so can no fountain both yield salt water and fresh.”* And let all flesh,* all mankind, of every sex and nation, give thanks unto His Holy Name, JESUS, because He hath been revealed by His Incarnation, according to the prayer of the previous Psalm, (G.) and the saying of the Prophet has been fulfilled, “All flesh shall see the salvation of GOD;”* a prophecy capable of yet further and more blessed fulfilment, when all who have fleshly, not stony hearts shall be saved, when “a great company which no man can number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, shall stand before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, with palms in their hands,”* beholding Him and giving thanks unto His Holy Name for ever and ever.

Wherefore:

Glory be to the FATHER, Who is holy in all His works; glory be to the SON, the Hand of the FATHER, which He openeth, to fill all things living with blessing; glory be to the HOLY GHOST, the blessing wherewith they are filled.

As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be: world without end. Amen.