[Psalm CXL.
there cunning and craft to hurt; for therefore does it creep.' It hath not even feet, so that its footsteps when it cometh may be heard. In its progress it draweth itself, as it were, gently along, yet not straightly. Thus then do they creep and crawl to hurt, having poison hidden even under a gentle touch. And so it followeth, " the poison of asps is under their lips." Behold, it is " under " their lips, that we may perceive one thing under their lips, another in their lips...
6. " Preserve me, O Lord, from the hand of the sinner, from unrighteous men deliver me " (ver. 4). Here they wear their real colours, they are known; here we have no need to understand, but to act: we have need to pray, not to ask who they are. But how thou shouldest pray against such men, he explaineth in what followeth. For many pray unskilfully against wicked men. " Who have imagined," saith he, " to trip up my steps." Thus far it may be understood carnally. Every one has enemies, who seek to cheat him in trade, to rob him of money, where they are engaged together in business; every one has some neighbour his enemy, who deviseth how to bring mischief upon his family, to injure in some way his property: and surely he deviseth this by deceit, by fraud, by devilish devices he endeavoureth to accomplish this: no one can doubt it. Yet not for these reasons are they to be guarded against, but lest they lay in wait for thee and draw thee to themselves, that is, separate thee from the Body of Christ, and make thee of their body. For as Christ is the Head of the, good, so is the devil their head. What is, "to trip up my steps"? Not as though thou shouldest be deceived in the business thou hast with him, or he cheat thee in a case which thou hast with him in the law courts. He hath " tripped up thy steps," if he have hindered thee in the way of God; so that what thou didst direct aright may stumble, or fall from the way, or fall in the way, or draw back from the way, or stop on the way, or go back to the place from whence it had come. Whatsoever hath done this to thee, hath tripped thee up, hath deceived thee. Against such snares as these pray thou, lest thou lose thy heavenly inheritance, lest thou lose Christ thy Joint-heir, for thou art destined to live for ever with Him, who hath made thee an heir. For thou art made an heir, not by one whom thou art to succeed after his death, but One together with whom thou art to live for ever.
7. " The proud have hidden a trap for me " (ver. 5). He hath briefly described the whole body of the devil, when he saith, " the proud." Hence is it that for the most part they call themselves righteous when they are unrighteous.
" Strfit.
Hence is it that nothing is so grievous to them as to confess their sins. They are men who, being falsely righteous, must needs envy the truly righteous. For none envieth another in that which he wisheth not either to be or to seem...Hence come all allurings and trippings up of others. This the devil first wished, when falling himself he envied man who stood...
8. But those " proud ones have hidden a trap for me; " they have sought to trip up my steps. And what have they done? " And have stretched out cords as traps." What cords? The word is well known in holy Scripture, and elsewhere we find what " cords " signify. For " each one is holden with the cords of his sins," ' saith Scripture. And Esaias saith openly, "Woe to them that draw sin like a long rope." 3 And why is it called a " cord "? Because every sinner who persevereth in his sins, addeth sin to sin; and when he ought by accusing his sins to amend, by defending he doubleth what by confession he might have removed, and often seeketh to fortify himself by other sins, on account of the sins he hath already co.-imitted...But these their sins they " spread " for the righteous, when they persuade them to do the evils which they themselves do. Therefore he said, " they spread cords and traps; " that is, by their sins they desired to overthrow me. And where did they this? "Beside the paths have they laid a stumbling-block for me: " not in the paths," but, " beside the paths." Thy " paths " are the commandments of God. They have " laid stumbling-blocks beside the paths; " do not thou withdraw out of the paths, and thou wilt not rush upon stumbling-blocks. Yet will I not that thou shouldest say, " God should prevent them from laying stumbling-blocks beside my paths, and then they would not lay them." Nay, rather, God permitted them to " lay stumbling-blocks beside thy paths," that thou shouldest not leave the paths.
9. And what remaineth? what remedy amid such ills, in such temptations, such dangers? " I said unto the Lord, Thou art my God " (ver. 6). Loud is the voice of prayer, it exciteth confidence. Is He not the God of the others? Of whom is not He God, who is the true God? Yet is He specially theirs, who enjoy Him, who serve Him, who willingly submit to Him. For the wicked too, though unwillingly, are subject to Him..." Hear with Thine ears the voice of my prayer." He did not say, " Hear with Thine ears my prayer; " but, as though expressing more plainly the affection of his heart, "the voice of my prayer," the life of my prayer, the soul of my prayer, not that which soundeth in my words, but that which giveth life to my words. For all a Prov. v. 22.
3 Isa. v. 1 Psalm CXL.]
other noises without life may be called sounds, but not words. Words belong to those that have souls, to the living. But how many pray to God, yet have neither perception of God, nor right thoughts concerning God! These may have the sound of prayer, the voice they cannot, for there is no life in them. This was the voice of the prayer of one who was alive, forasmuch as he understood that God was his God, saw by Whom he was freed, perceived from whom he was freed.
10. Commending this to the ears of God, let him say, " Lord, Lord." Thou Lord-Lord, that is, most truly Lord, not like unto the lords-men, not like the lords who buy with money-bags, but the Lord who buyeth with His Blood. " Lord, Lord, Thou strength of my health " (ver. 7), that is, who givest strength to my health. What is the meaning of " strength of my health "? He complained of the stumbling-blocks and snares of sinners, of wicked men, vessels of the devil, that barked around him and laid snares around him, of the proud that envy the righteous. But He forthwith added a comfort, " He that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved." This he observed and feared, and, distressed at the abundance of iniquities, turned himself to hope. Verily I shall be saved, if I endure unto the end: but endurance, so as to win salvation, pertaineth unto strength; Thou art " the strength of my salvation; " Thou makest me to endure, that I may attain salvation...Toiling then in this warfare, he looked back to the grace of God; and because already he had begun to be heated and parched, he found, as it were, a shade, whereunder to live. " Thou hast overshadowed my head in the day of battle: " that is, in the heat, lest I be heated, lest I be parched.
11. "Deliver me not over, O Lord, by my own longing to the sinner" (ver. 8). Behold to what end Thy overshadowing shall avail for me, that I suffer not heat from myself. And what could that " sinner " do to me, rage as he would? For wicked men raged against the martyrs, dragged them away, bound them with chains, shut them up in prisons, slew them with the sword, exposed them to wild beasts, consumed them with fire: all this they did; yet did not God deliver them over to the sinners, because they were not delivered over by their own longing. This then pray with all thy might, that God " delivered thee not over by thine own longing to the sinner." For thou by thine own longing givest place to the devil. For lo, the devil hath set before thee gain, invited thee to dishonesty; thou canst not have the gain, unless thou commit the dishonesty: the gain is the bait, dishonesty the snare: do thou so look on the bait, that thou see the snare also; for thou canst not obtain the gain, unless thou commit the dishonesty; and if thou commit the dishonesty, thou wilt be caught...Hence is thine head overshadowed in the day of battle. For longing causeth heat, but the overshadowing of the Lord tempers longing, that we may be able to bridle that whereby we were being hurried away, that we be not so heated as to be drawn to the snare. " They have thought against me; leave me not, lest perchance they be exalted." Thou hast in another place, "They that oppress me will exult if I be moved." ' Such are they, because such is the devil also himself...
12. "The head of their going about, the toil of their own lips shall cover them" (ver. 9). Me, he saith, the shadow of Thy wings shall cover: for, " Thou hast covered me in the day of battle." Them what shall cover? "The head of their going about; " that is, pride. What is, " their going about "? How they go about and stand not, how they go in the circle of error, where is journeying without end. He who goeth in a straight line, beginneth from some point, endeth at some point: he who goeth in a circle, never endeth. That is the toil of the wicked, which is set forth yet more plainly in another Psalm, "The wicked walk in a circle."2 But " the head of their going about " is pride, for pride is the beginning of every sin. But whence is pride " the toil of their own lips "? Every proud man is false, and every false man is a liar. Men toil in speaking falsehood; for truth they could speak with entire facility. For he toileth, who maketh what he saith: he who wisheth to speak the truth, toileth not, for truth herself speaketh without toil...
13. "Coals of fire shall fall upon them upon earth, and Thou shalt cast them down " (ver. 10). What is, "upon earth"? Here, even in this life, here " coals of fire shall fall upon them." What are, " coals of fire "? We know these coals. Are they different from those of which we are about to speak? For these I see avail for punishment, those that I am about to speak of, for salvation. For we have spoken of certain coals, when man was seeking aid against a treacherous tongue...The examples of the " coals " are added to the wound of the arrows (for I need not fear to say "the wound," when the Spouse herself saith, "I am wounded with love " 3), and then the hay is consumed, and so they are called " devouring coals." The hay is devoured, but the gold is purified, and the man exchanges death for life, and begins to be himself too a burning coal; such a coal as was the Apostle, "who before was a blasphemer and a persecutor and injurious," a coal black and extinguished; but when he had obtained mercy, he was set on fire from heaven, the voice of Christ set him on fire, all the blackness in him 1 Ps. xiii. 4.
* Ps. xii. 8.
3 Cant. ii. 5) LXX.
[Psalm CXLI.
perished, he began to be fervent in spirit, to set others on fire with that wherewith he was set on fire himself...
14. " A man full of words shall not be guided upon earth " ( ver. 11). "A man full of words " loveth lies. For what pleasure hath he, save in speaking? He careth not what he speaketh, so long as he speaks. It cannot be that he will be guided. What then ought the servant of God to do, who is kindled with these " coals," and himself made a coal of salvation, what should he do? He should wish rather to hear than to speak; as it is written, " Let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak." ■ And if it may be so, let him desire this, not to be obliged to speak and talk and teach...I can quickly tell you wherein each one may prove himself, not by never speaking, but by requiring a case where it is his duty to speak; let him be glad to be silent, in will, let him speak to teach, when he must. For when must thou needs speak and teach? When thou meetest with one ignorant, when thou meetest with one unlearned. If it delight thee always to teach, thou wishest always to have some ignorant one to teach..." Evil shall hunt the unrighteous man to destruction." Evils come, and he standeth not; therefore said he, " they shall hunt him to destruction." For many good men, many righteous men evils have befallen, evils have, as it were, found them. Therefore when the evil pursued the good, that is, our martyrs, when they seized them, they " hunted " them, but not " to destruction." For the flesh was pressed down, the spirit was crowned; the spirit was cast out from the body, yet was nought done to the flesh which might hinder it for the future. Let the flesh be burned, scourged, mangled; is it therefore withdrawn from its Creator, because it is given into the hands of its persecutor? Will not He who created it from nothing, re-make it better than it was?
15. "I know that the Lord will maintain the right of the needy" (ver. 12). This "needy" one is not " full of words; " for he that is full of words, wisheth to abound, knoweth not to hunger. He is "needy" of whom it is said, " Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled."2 They groan among the stumbling-blocks of the wicked, they pray to their Head, " to be delivered from the wicked man. " And the cause of the poor." These then are they whose cause the Lord will not neglect; although now they suffer hardships, their glory shall appear, when their Head appeareth. For to such while placed here it is said, " Ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God."' So then we are poor, ■ Jat. i. 19.
• Matt. v. 6.
» Col. iii. 3.
our life is hid; let us cry to Him that is our Bread.*...
16. " But the just shall confess to Thy Name " (ver. 13). Both when Thou shalt plead their cause, and when Thou shalt maintain their right, they " shall confess to Thy Name; " nought shall they attribute to their own merits, all they shall attribute to nought save to Thy mercy...Therefore see what followeth, see wherewith he concludeth. " The upright shall dwell with Thy Countenance." For ill was it with them in their own countenance; well will it be with them with Thy Countenance. For when they loved their own countenance, " In the sweat of their countenance did they eat bread."5 Thy Countenance shall come to them with abundance to satisfy them. Nought more shall they seek, for nought better have they; no more shall they abandon Thee, nor be abandoned by Thee. For after His Resurrection, what was said of the Lord? " Thou shalt fill me with joy with Thy Countenance." 6 Without His Countenance He would not give us joy. For this do we cleanse our countenance, that we may rejoice in His Countenance.7...Because too, " blessed are the poor in heart, for they shall see God; " 8 He gave the Form of Man both to good and evil, the Form of God He preserved for the pure and good, that we may rejoice in Him, and it may be well with us for ever with His Countenance.
PSALM CXLI.'
PSALM CXLI.'
1...The Psalm which we have just sung is in many parts somewhat obscure. When by the help of the Lord what has been said shall begin to be expounded and explained, ye will see that ye are hearing things which ye knew already. But for this cause are they said in manifold ways, that variety of expression may remove all weariness of the truth...2. " Lord, I have cried unto Thee, hear Thou me" (ver. 1). This we all can say. This not I alone say: whole Christ saith it. But it is said rather in the name of the Body: for He too, when He was here and bore our flesh, prayed; and when He prayed, drops of blood streamed down from His whole Body. So is it written in the Gospel: " Jesus prayed earnestly, and His sweat was as it were great drops of blood.",0 What is this flowing of sweat from His whole Body, but the suffering of martyrs from the whole Church? " Listen unto the voice of my prayer, while I cry unto Thee." Thou thoughtest the business of crying already finished, when thou saidst, '• I have cried unto Thee." Thou hast cried; yet think not thyself « John vi. 51. 5 Gen. iii. 19. 6 Ps. xvi. la.
9 Lat. CXL. Sermon to the people. I0 Luke xxii..
Psalm CXLI.]
safe. If tribulation be finished, crying is finished: but if tribulation remain for the Church, for the Body of Christ, even to the end of the world, let it not only say, " I have cried unto Thee," but also, " Listen unto the voice of my prayer."
3. " Let my prayer be set forth in Thy sight as incense, and the lifting up of my hands an evening sacrifice " (ver. 2). That this is wont to be understood of the Head Himself, every Christian acknowledged. For when the day was now sinking towards evening, the Lord upon the Cross " laid down His life to take it again," ' did not lose it against His will. Still we too are figured there. For what of Him hung upon the tree, save what He took of us? And how can it be that the Father should leave and abandon His only begotten Son, especially when He is one God with Him? Yet, fixing our weakness upon the Cross, where, as the Apostle saith, " our old man is crucified with Him,"2 He cried out in the voice of that our " old man," " Why hast Thou forsaken Me?"3 That then is the " evening sacrifice," the Passion of the Lord, the Cross of the Lord, the offering of a salutary Victim, the whole burnt-offering acceptable to God. That " evening sacrifice " produced, in His Resurrection, a morning offering. Prayer then, purely directed from a faithful heart, riseth like incense from a hallowed altar. Nought is more delightful than the odour of the Lord: such odour let all have who believe.
4..." Set, O Lord, a watch before my mouth, and a door of restraint around my lips " (ver. 3). He said not a barrier of restraint, but " a door of restraint." A door is opened as well as shut. If then it be a " door," let it be both opened and shut; opened, to confession of sin; closed, to excusing sin. So will it be a " door of restraint," not of ruin. For what doth this "door of restraint" profit us? What doth Christ pray in the name of His Body? "That Thou turn not aside My heart to wicked words " (ver. 4). What is, " My heart"? The heart of My Church; the heart, that is, of My Body...5. But when thine heart hath not been turned aside, O member of Christ, when thy heart hath not been turned aside " to wicked words, to making excuses in sins, with men that work in iniquity," thou shalt also not unite with their elect. For this followeth, " And I will not unite with their elect." Who are "their elect"? Those who justify themselves. Who are their elect? Those "who trust in themselves that they are righteous, and despise others," as the Pharisee said in the temple, " Lord, I thank Thee that I am not as other men are." 4 Who are their elect? "This Man, if He were a 1 John x. 17.
3 Ps. xxii. 1; Matt, xxvii. 46.
* Rom. vi. 6.
* Luke xv iii. zx.
prophet, would know what manner of woman this is that touched His feet." 5 Here thou recognisest the words of that other Pharisee, who invited our Lord to his house; when the woman of that city, who was a sinner, came and approached His Feet...For even this woman herself, " if her heart had turned aside to wicked words," would not have lacked wherewith to defend her sins. Do not women daily, her equals in defilement, but not her equals in confession, harlots, adulteresses, doers of shameful deeds, defend their sins? If they have not been seen, they deny them: if they have been caught and convicted, or have done their deeds openly, they defend them. And how easy is their defence, how ready, yet how headlong; how common, yet how blasphemous! " Had God not willed it, I had not done it: God willed it: fortune willed it: fate willed it."...These are the defences of " the elect " of this world. But let the members of Christ, the Body of Christ, say, let Christ say in the name of His Body, " Turn not Thou aside, My Heart, to wicked words," etc., "and I will not unite with their elect."...
6. " With men that work wickedness." What wickedness? Let me mention some sinful wickedness of theirs. Let me tell you one open sinful wickedness, which they acknowledge. They say, it is better for a man to be an usurer than a husbandman. Thou askest the reason, and they assign one...He vexeth the members of Christ, who cleanseth the earth with a furrow: he vexeth the members of Christ, who pulleth grass from the earth: he vexeth the members of Christ, who plucketh an apple from a tree. To avoid committing their imaginary murders in the farm, he committeth real murders in usury. He dealeth no bread to the needy. See whether there can be greater unrighteousness than this righteousness.6 He dealeth not bread to the hungry. Thou askest, wherefore? Lest the beggar receive the life which is in the bread, which they call a member of God, the substance of God, and bind it in flesh. What then do ye? why do ye eat? Have ye not flesh? Yes; but we, they say, forasmuch as we are enlightened by faith in Manes,7 by our prayers and our Psalms, forasmuch as we are elect, we cleanse thereby that bread, and transmit it into the treasurehouse of the heavens. Such are the elect, that they are not to be saved by God, but saviours of God. And this is Christ, they say, crucified in the whole universe. I received in the Gospel Christ a Saviour, but ye are in your books the saviours of Christ. Plainly ye are blasphemers of Christ, and therefore not to be saved by 3 Luke vii. 39. 6 i.t. as they consider it.
[Psalm CXLI.
Christ. Therefore lest a crumb be given to the hungry, and in the crumb a member of Christ suffer, is the hungry to die of hunger? False mercy to a crumb causeth true murder of a man. But who are their elect? " Turn not thou aside, my heart, to wicked words, and I will not unite with their elect."
7. "The righteous One shall amend me in mercy, and convict me " (ver. 5). Behold the sinner confessing. He desireth to be amended in mercy, rather than praised deceitfully..." Shall convict me," but " in mercy: " shall convict, yet hateth not: yea, shall all the more convict, because He hateth not. And why doth he therefore give thanks? Because, " rebuke a wise man, and he will love thee." ■ "The righteous One shall amend me." Because He persecuteth thee? God forbid. He requireth rather amending himself, who amendeth in hate. Wherefore then doth He amend? " In mercy. And shall convict me." Wherein? " In mercy. For the oil of a sinner shall not enrich my head." My head shall not grow by flattery. Undue praise is flattery: undue praise of a flatterer is " the oil of a sinner." Therefore men too, when they have mocked any one with false praise, say, " I have anointed his head." Love then to be " convicted by the righteous One in mercy; " love not to be praised by a sinner in mockery. Have oil in yourselves, and ye shall not seek the " oil of a sinner."2...
8. Thou sayest to me, What am I doing? I am beset with flatterers; they cease not to besiege me; they praise in me what I would not, that praise in me what I hold in little esteem; what I hold dear they blame in me; flatterers, treacherous, deceivers. For instance, " Gaiuseius 3 is a great man, great, learned, wise; but why is he a Christian? For great is his learning, great his reading, great his wisdom." If great is his wisdom, approve of his being a Christian; if great his learning, learnedly hath he chosen. In fine, what thou revilest, that pleaseth him whom thou praisest. But what? That praise sweeteneth not: it is " the oil of a sinner." Yet ceaseth he not to speak so. Let him not therewith " fatten thy head; " that is, rejoice not in such things; agree not to such things; consent not to such things; rejoice not in such things; and then, if he have applied to thee the oil of flattery, yet hath thy head remained as it was, it has not been puffed up, it hath not swollen..." For still shall My word be well-pleasing to 1 Prov. ix. 8. a Malt. xxv. 4, etc.
* This is probably taken from Teruillian, Apol. c. 3: " What when the generality run upon an hatred of this name with eyes so closed, that, in bearing favourable testimony to any one, they mingle with it the reproach of the name. ' A good man Cais Seitit, only he is a Christian.' So another, ' I marvel that that wise man Lucius Titius hath suddenly become a Christian.' No one reflected whether Caius be not therefore good and Lucius wise, because a Christian, or therefore a Christian because wise and good." [See A. N. F. vol. iii. p. •0. — C.]
them." Wait awhile: now they revile Me, saith Christ. In the early times of the Christians, the Christians were blamed on all sides. Wait as yet; and " My word shall be well-pleasing to them." The time shall come when they shall conquer thousands of men, who shall beat their breasts, and say, " Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors." Even now, how many remain who blush to beat their breasts? Let them then blame us: let us bear it. Let them blame; let them hate, accuse, detract; " still shall My word be well-pleasing to them; " the time shall come when My word shall please them...O wordy defence of iniquity! Verily now whole nations say this, and the thunder of nations beating their breasts ceaseth not. Rightly do the clouds thunder, wherein now God dwelleth. Where is now that wordiness, where that boasting, " I am righteous; nought of ill have I done "? Verily, when thou hast contemplated in Holy Scripture the law of righteousness, how far soever thou hast advanced, thou shalt find thyself a sinner.-...What sort of man am I now speaking of, brethren? I speak of him who worshippeth. God alone, who confesseth Christ, who knoweth the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost to be one God; who committeth not fornication against Him; who worshippeth not devils; who seeketh him not aid from the devil; who holdeth the Catholic Church; whom no one complaineth of as cheating; under whose oppression no weak neighbour groaneth; who assaileth not another's wife; who is content with his own, or even without his own, in such wise as is lawful, and as Apostolical discipline permitteth, with consent of both,4 or when she is not yet married. Even he who is such as this, is yet overtaken in such things as I have mentioned. For all these daily sins then what is our hope, save to say with humble heart in the Lord's Prayer, while we defend not our sins, but confess them, " Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors; " 5 and to " have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous," that He may be " the propitiation for our sins"?6 See what followeth: "their judges have been swallowed up beside the Rock " (ver. 6). What is, "swallowed up beside the Rock? That Rock was Christ.? They have been swallowed up beside the Rock." " Beside," that is, compared, as judges, as mighty, powerful, learned: they are called " their judges," as judging about morals, and laying down their opinions. This Aristotle said. Set him beside the Rock, and he is swallowed up. Who is Aristotle? let him hear, " Christ hath said," and he trembleth among the dead. This Pythagoras said, that Plato said. Set them beside the Rock, compare their authority to the authority Psalm CXLI].
of the Gospel, compare the proud to the Crucified. Say we to them, " Ye have written your words in the hearts of the proud; He hath planted His Cross in the hearts' of kings: finally, He died, and rose again; ye are dead, and I will not ask how ye rise again." So " their judges have been swallowed up beside " that " Rock." So long do their words seem somewhat, till they are compared with the Rock. Therefore if any of them be found to have said what Christ too hath said, we congratulate him, but we follow him not. But he came before Christ. If any man speak what is true, is he therefore before the Truth itself? Regard Christ, 0 man, not when He came to thee, but when He made thee. The sick man too might say, " But I took to my bed before the physician came to me." Why, for that very reason has He come last, because thou first has sickened.