Psalm CXV.5052    Lat. CXIII.

1. “Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but unto Thy Name give the praise” (ver. 1). For that grace of the water that gushed from the rock (“now that rock was Christ”5053    1 Cor. x. 4.), was not given on the score of works that had gone before, but of His mercy “that justifieth the ungodly.”5054    Rom. iv. 5. For “Christ died for sinners,”5055    Rom. v. 6. [In Sept. and Vulg. this Psalm is joined with Ps. cxiv.—C.] that men might not seek any glory of their own, but in the Lord’s Name.

2. “For Thy loving mercy, and for Thy truth’s sake” (ver. 2). Observe how often these two qualities, loving mercy and truth, are joined together in the holy Scriptures. For in His loving mercy He called sinners, and in His truth He judgeth those who when called refused to come. “That the heathen may not say, Where is now their God?” For at the last, His loving mercy and truth will shine forth, when “the sign of the Son of man shall appear in heaven, and then shall all tribes of the earth cry woe;” 5056    Matt. xxiv. 30. nor shall they then say, “Where is their God?” when He is no longer preached unto them to be believed in, but displayed before them to be trembled at.

3. “As for our God, He is in heaven above” (ver. 3). Not in heaven, where they see the sun and moon, works of God which they adore, but “in heaven above,” which overpasseth all heavenly and earthly bodies. Nor is our God in heaven in such a sense, as to dread a fall that should deprive Him of His throne, if heaven were withdrawn from under Him. “In heaven and earth He hath made whatsoever pleased Him.” Nor doth He stand in need of His own works, as if He had place in them where He might abide; but endureth in His own eternity, wherein He abideth and hath done whatsoever pleased Him, both in heaven and earth; for they did not support Him, as a condition of their being created by Him: since, unless they had been created, they could not have supported Him. Therefore, in whatsoever He Himself dwelleth, He, so to speak, containeth this as in need of Himself, He is not contained by this as if He needed it. Or it may be thus understood: “In heaven and in earth He hath done whatsoever pleased Him,” whether among the higher or the lower orders of His people, He hath made His grace His free gift, that no man may boast in the merits of his own works.…

4. “Their idols,” he saith, “are silver and gold, even the work of men’s hands” (ver. 4). That is, although we cannot display our God to your carnal eyes, whom ye ought to recognise through his works; yet be not seduced by your vain pretences, because ye can point with the finger to, the objects of your worship. For it were much worthier for you not to have what to point to, than that your hearts’ blindness should be displayed in what is exhibited to these eyes by you: for what do ye exhibit, save gold and silver? They have indeed both bronze, and wood, and earthenware idols, and of different materials of this description; but the Holy Spirit preferred mentioning the more precious material, because when every man hath blushed for that which he sets more by, he is much more easily turned away from the worship of meaner objects. For it is said in another passage of Scripture concerning the worshippers of images, “Saying to a stock, Thou art my father; and to a stone, Thou hast brought me forth.”5057    Jer. ii. 27. But lest that man who speaketh thus not to a stone or stock, but to gold and silver, seem wiser to himself; let him look this way, let him turn hitherwards the ear of his heart: “The idols of the Gentiles are gold and silver.” Nothing mean and contemptible is here mentioned: and indeed to that mind which is not earth, both gold and silver is earth, but more beautiful and brilliant, more solid and firm. Employ not then the hands of men, to create a false Deity out of that metal which a true God hath created; nay, a false man, whom thou mayest worship for a true God.…

5. “For they have mouths, and speak not: eyes have they, and see not” (ver. 5). “They have ears, and hear not: noses have they, and smell not” (ver. 6). “They have hands, and handle not; feet have they, and walk not; neither cry they through their throat” (ver. 7). Even their artist therefore surpasseth them, since he had the faculty of moulding them by the motion and functions of his limbs: though thou wouldest be ashamed to worship that artist. Even thou surpassest them, though thou hast not made these things, since thou doest what they cannot do. Even a beast doth excel them; for unto this it is added, “neither cry they through their throat.” For after he had said above, “they have mouths, and speak not;” what need was there, after he had enumerated the limbs from head to feet, to repeat what he had said of their crying through their throat; unless, I suppose, because we perceive that what he mentioned of the other members, was common to men and beasts? For they see, and hear, and smell, and walk, and some, apes for instance, handle with hands. But what he had said of the mouth, is peculiar to men: since beasts do not speak. But that no one might refer what hath been said to the works of human members alone, and prefer men only to the gods of the heathen; after all this he added these words, “neither cry they through their throat:” which again is common to men and cattle.…How much better then do mice and serpents, and other animals of like sort, judge of the idols of the heathen, so to speak, for they regard not the human figure in them when they see not the human life. For this reason they usually build nests in them, and unless they are deterred by human movements, they seek for themselves no safer habitations. A man then moveth himself, that he may frighten away a living beast from his own god; and yet worshippeth that god who cannot move himself, as if he were powerful, from whom he drove away one better than the object of his worship.…Even the dead surpasseth a deity who neither liveth nor hath lived.…

6. But they seem to themselves to have a purer religion, who say, I neither worship an idol, nor a devil; but in the bodily image I behold an emblem5058    [The pretext of all image-worship.—C.] of that which I am bound to worship.…They presume to reply, that they worship not the bodies themselves, but the deities which preside over the government of them. One sentence of the Apostle, therefore, testifieth to their punishment and condemnation; “Who,” he saith, “have changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever.”5059    Rom. i. 25. For in the former part of this sentence he condemned idols; in the latter, the account they give of their idols: for by designating images wrought by an artificer by the names of the works of God’s creation, they change the truth of God into a lie; while, by considering these works themselves as deities, and worshipping them as such, they serve the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever.…

7. But, it will be said, we also have very many instruments and vessels made of materials or metal of this description for the purpose of celebrating the Sacraments, which being consecrated by these ministrations are called holy, in honour of Him who is thus worshipped for our salvation: and what indeed are these very instruments or vessels, but the work of men’s hands? But have they mouth, and yet speak not? have they eyes, and see not? do we pray unto them, because through them we pray to God? This is the chief cause of this insane profanity, that the figure resembling the living person, which induces men to worship it, hath more influence in the minds of these miserable persons, than the evident fact that it is not living, so that it ought to be despised by the living.5060    [Compare the gross misstatements and bad reasoning of the Trent Catechism. A.N.F. vol. iii. p. 76.—C.]

8. The result that ensueth is that described in the next verse: “They that make them are like unto them, and so are all such as put their trust in them” (ver. 8). Let them therefore see with open eyes, and worship with shut and dead understandings, idols that neither see nor live. “But the house of Israel hath hoped in the Lord” (ver. 9). “For hope that is seen is not hope; for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for? But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it.”5061    Rom. viii. 24, 25. But that this patience may endure to the end, “He is their help