5. What followeth? "Let them be turned away forthwith blushing, that say to me, Well, well " (ver. 3). Two are the kinds of persecutors, revilers and flatterers. The tongue of the flatterer doth more persecute than the hand of the slayer: for this also the Scripture hath called 1 Ps. Ux. 2.
2 Matt. xvi. 33.
a furnace. Truly when the Scripture was speaking of persecution, it said, " Like gold in a furnace it hath proved them" (speaking of Martyrs being slain), "and as the holocaust's victim it hath received them."3 Hear how even the tongue of flatterers is of such sort: " The proving," he saith, " of silver and of gold is fire; but a man is proved by the tongue of men praising him." * That is fire, this also is fire: out of both tho'i oughtest to go forth safe. The censurer hath broken thee, thou hast been broken in the furnace like an earthen vessel. The Word hath moulded thee, and there hath come the trial of tribulation: that which hath been formed, must needs be seasoned; if it hath been well moulded, there hath come the fire to strengthen. Whence He said in the Passion, " Dried up like a potsherd hath been My virtue." s For Passion and the furnace of tribulation had made Him stronger...
6. And what cometh to pass when they are all turned back and blush, whether it be they that seek my soul, or they that think evil things to me, or they that with perverse and feigned benevolence with tongue would soften the stroke which they inflict, when they shall have been themselves turned away and confounded; there shall come to pass what? " Let them exult and be joyous in Thee: " not in me, not in this man or in that man; but in whom they have been made light that were darkness. " Let them exult and be joyous in Thee, all that seek Thee " (ver. 4). One thing it is to seek God, another thing to seek man. " Let them be joyous that seek Thee." They shall not be joyous then that seek themselves,6 whom Thou hast first sought before they sought Thee. Not yet did that sheep seek the Shepherd, it had strayed from the flock, and He went down to it; 7 He sought it, and carried it back upon His shoulders. Will He despise thee, O sheep, seeking Him, who hath first sought thee despising Him and not seeking Him? Now then begin thou to seek Him that first hath sought thee, and hath carried thee back on His shoulders. Do thou that which He speaketh of, " They that are My sheep hear My voice, and follow Me." 8 If then thou seekest Him that first hath sought thee, and hast become a sheep of His, and thou hearest the voice of thy Shepherd, and followest Him; see what He showeth to thee of Himself, what of His Body, in order that as to Himself thou mayest not err, as to the Church thou mayest not err, that no one may say to thee, that is Christ which is not Christ, or that is the Church which is not the Church. For many men have said that Christ had no flesh, and that Christ hath 3 Wisd. iii. 6. * Prov. xxvii. 21.
6 mss. Reg. non te, " aught but Thee." 8 John x. 27.
5 Ps. xxii. 15. 7 Luke xv. 4.
3*4 [Psalm LXX.
not risen in His Body: do not thou follow the voices of them. Hear thou the voice of Himself the Shepherd, that was clothed with flesh, in order that He might seek lost flesh. He hath risen again, and He saith, " Handle ye and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones as ye see Me have." ' He showeth Himself to thee, the voice of Him follow thou. He showeth also the Church, that no one may deceive thee by the name of Church. "It behoved," He saith, " Christ to suffer, and to rise again from the dead the third day, and that there should be preached repentance and remission of sins through all nations, beginning with Jerusalem." 2 Thou hast the voice of Thy Shepherd, do not thou follow the voice of strangers: 3 and a thief thou shalt not fear, if thou shalt have followed the voice of the Shepherd. But how shalt thou follow? If thou shalt neither have said to any man, as if it were by his own merit, Well, well: nor shalt have heard the same with joy, so that thy head be not made fat with the oil of a sinner.4 " Let all them exult and be joyous in Thee, that seek Thee; and let them say" — let them say what, that exult? " Be the Lord alway magnified! " Let all them say this, that exult and seek Thee. What? "Be the Lord alway magnified; yea, they that love Thy salvation." Not only, " Be the Lord magnified; " but also, " alway."...A sinner thou art, be He magnified in order that He may call; thou confessest, be He magnified in order that He may forgive: now thou livest justly, be He magnified in order that He may direct: thou perseverest even unto the end, be He magnified in order that He may glorify. " Be the Lord," then, "alway magnified; yea, they love His saving health." For from Him they have salvation, not from themselves. The saving health of the Lord our God, is the Saviour our Lord Jesus Christ: whosoever loveth the Saviour, confesseth himself to have been made whole; whosoever confesseth himself to have been made whole, confesseth himself to have been sick.s Not their own saving health, as if they could save themselves of themselves: not as it were the saving health of a man, as though by him they could be saved. " Do not," he saith, " confide in princes, and in the sons of men, in whom there is no safety."6 Why so? "Of the Lord is safety, and upon Thy people is Thy blessing." t 7. Behold, " Be the Lord magnified: " wilt thou never, wilt thou nowhere? In Him was something, in me nothing: but if in Him is whatsoever I am, be He, not I. But thou then what? "But I am needy and poor" (ver. 5).
» Here Oxf. mss. repeat, *' They that love Thy savine health."
He is rich, He abounding, He needing nothing. Behold my light, behold whence I am illumined; for I cry, " Thou shalt illumine my candle, O Lord."8 What then of thee? "But I am needy and poor." I am like an orphan, my soul is like a widow destitute and desolate: help I seek, alway mine infirmity I confess. There have been forgiven me my sins, now I have begun to follow the commandments of God: still, however, I am needy and poor. Why still needy and poor? Because "I see another law in my members fighting against the law of my mind." 9 Why needy and poor? Because, " blessed are they that hunger and thirst after righteousness." '° Still I hunger, still I thirst: my fulness hath been put off, not taken away. " O God, aid Thou me." Most suitably also Lazarus is said to be interpreted, " one aided: " that needy and poor man, that was transported into the bosom of Abraham; " and beareth the type of the Church, which ought alway to confess that she hath need of aid. This is true, this is godly. " I have said to the Lord, My God Thou art." Why? " For my goods Thou needest not." " He needeth not us, we need Him: therefore He is truly Lord.
For thou art not the very true Lord of thy servant: both are men, both needing God. But if thou supposest thy servant to need thee, in order that thou mayest give him bread; thou also needest thy servant, in order that he may aid thy labours. Each one of you doth need the other. Therefore neither of you is truly lord, and neither of you truly servant. Hear thou the true Lord, of whom thou art the true servant: " I have said to the Lord, My God Thou art." Why art Thou Lord? "Because my goods Thou needest not "? But what of thee? "But I am needy and poor." Behold the needy and poor: may God feed, may God alleviate, may God aid: " O God," he saitH, " aid Thou me."
8. " My helper and deliverer art Thou; O Lord, delay not." Thou art the helper and deliverer: I need succour, help Thou; entangled I am, deliver Thou. For no one will deliver from entanglings except Thee. There stand round about us the nooses of divers cares, on this side and on that we are torn as it were with thorns and brambles, we walk a narrow way, perchance we have stuck fast in the brambles: let us say to God, " Thou art my deliverer." He that showed us the narrow way,'J hath taught us to follow it...9. What is, " delay not "? Because many men say, it is a long time till Christ comes. What then: because we say, " delay not," will He come before He hath determined to come?
8 Ps. xviii. 28. 11 Luke xvi. 33.
9 Rom. vii. 23. 12 Ps. xvi. 2.
Psalm LXXI.]
What meaneth this prayer, "delay not"? May not Thy coming seem to me to be too long delayed. For to thee it seemeth a long time, to God it seemeth not long, to whom a thousand years are one day, or the three hours of a watch.' But if thou shalt not have had endurance, late for thee it will be: and when to thee it shall be late, thou wilt be diverted from, Him, and' wilt be like unto those that were wearied in the desert, and hastened to ask of God the pleasant things which He was reserving for them in the Land; and when there were not given on their journey the pleasant things, whereby perchance they would have been corrupted, they murmured against God, and went back in heart unto Egypt: 2 to that place whence in body they had been severed, in heart they went back. Do not thou, then, so, do not so: fear the word of the Lord, saying, " Remember Lot's wife." 3 She too being on the way, but now delivered from the Sodomites, looked back; in the place where she looked back, there she remained: she became a statue of salt, in order to season thee. For to thee she hath been given for an example, in order that thou mayest have sense, mayest not stop infatuated on the way. Observe her stopping and pass on: observe her looking back, and do thou be reaching forth unto the things before, as Paul was.4 What is it, not to look back. " Of the things behind forgetful," he saith. Therefore thou followest, being called to the heavenly reward, whereof hereafter thou wilt glory. For the same Apostle saith, " There remaineth for me a crown of righteousness, which in that day the Lord, the just Judge, shall render to me." 5 PSALM LXXI.6 1. In all the holy Scriptures the grace of God that delivereth us commendeth itself to us, in order that it may have us commended. This is sung of in this Psalm, whereof we have undertaken to speak...This grace the Apostle commendeth: by this he got to have the Jews for enemies, boasting of the letter of the law and of their own justice. This then commending in the lesson which hath been read, he saith thus: " For I am the least of the Apostles, that am not worthy to be called an Apostle, because I persecuted the Church of God." 7 " But therefore mercy," he saith, " I obtained, because ignorant I did it in unbelief." 8 Then a little afterwards, " Faithful the saying is, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am first." ° Acts vii. 39.
Were there before him not any sinners? What then, was he the first then? Yea, going before all men not in time, but in evil disposition. " But therefore," he saith, " mercy I obtained," in order that in me Christ Jesus might show all long-suffering, for the imitation of those that shall believe in Him unto life eternal: that is, every sinner and unjust man, already despairing of himself, already having the mind of a gladiator,'0 so as to do whatsoever he willeth, because he must needs be condemned, may yet observe the Apostle Paul, to whom so great cruelty and so very evil a disposition was forgiven by God; and by not despairing of himself may he be turned unto God. This grace God doth commend to us in this Psalm also...
2. The title then of this Psalm is, as usual, a title intimating on the threshold what is being done in the house: " To David himself for the sons of Jonadab, and for those that were first led captive." Jonadab (he is commended to us in the prophecy of Jeremiah) was a certain man, who had enjoined his sons not to drink wine, and not to dwell in houses, but in tents. But the commandment of the father the sons kept and observed, and by this earned a blessing from the Lord." Now the Lord had not commanded this, but their own father. But they so received it as though it were a commandment from the Lord their God; for even though the Lord had not commanded that they should drink no wine and should dwell in tents; yet the Lord had commanded that sons should obey their father.
In this case alone a son ought not to obey his father, if his father should have commanded anything contrary to the Lord his God. For indeed the father ought not to be angry, when God is preferred before him. But when a father doth command that which is not contrary to God; he must be heard as God is: because to obey one's father God hath enjoined. God then blessed the sons of Jonadab because of their obedience, and thrust them in the teeth of His disobedient people, reproaching them, because while the sons of Jonadab were obedient to their father, they obeyed not their God. But while Jeremiah was treating of these topics, he had this object in regard to the people of Israel, that they should prepare themselves to be led for captivity into Babylon, and should not hope for any other thing, but that they were to be captives. The title then of this Psalm seemeth from thence to have taken its hue, so that when he had said, " Of the sons of Jonadab; " he added, " and of them that were first led captive: " not that the sons of Jonadab were led captive, but because to them that were to be led captive there were 10 Gladiatioriitm animnm: i.e., of utter desperation, since a gladiator would expect to perish in one tight if not in another.
11 Jer. xxxv. 6, etc.
3i6 [Psalm LXXI.
opposed the sons of Jonadab, because they were obedient to their father: in order that they might understand that they had been made captive, because they were not obedient to God. It is added also that Jonadab is interpreted, " the Lord's spontaneous one." What is this, the Lord's spontaneous one? Serving God freely with the will. What is, the Lord's spontaneous one? " In me are, O God, Thy vows, which I will render of praise to Thee." ■ What is, the Lord's spontaneous one? "Voluntarily I will sacrifice to Thee." 2 For if the Apostolic teaching admonisheth a slave to serve a human master, not as though of necessity, but of good will, and by freely serving make himself in heart free; how much more must God be served with whole and full and free will, who seeth thy very will?...The first man made us captive, the second man hath delivered us from captivity. " For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all shall be made alive." But in Adam they die through the flesh's nativity, in Christ they are delivered through the heart's faith. It was not in thy power not to be born of Adam: it is in thy power to believe in Christ. Howsoever much then thou shalt have willed to belong to the first man, unto captivity thou wilt belong. And what is, shalt have willed to belong? or what is, shalt belong? Already thou belongest: cry out, " Who shall deliver me from the body of this death? " 3 Let us hear then this man crying out this.
3. " O God, in Thee I have hoped, O Lord, I shall not be confounded for everlasting " (ver. 1). Already I have been confounded, but not for everlasting. For how is he not confounded, to whom is said, " What fruit had ye in these things wherein ye now blush? " 4 What then shall be done, that we may not be confounded for everlasting? "Draw near unto Him, and be ye enlightened, and your faces shall not blush." s Confounded ye are in Adam, withdraw from Adam, draw near unto Christ, and then ye shall not be confounded. " In Thee I have hoped, O Lord, I shall not be confounded for everlasting." If in myself I am now5 confounded, in Thee I shall not be confounded for everlasting.
4. " In Thine own righteousness deliver me, and save me " (ver. 2). Not in mine own, but in Thine own: for if in mine own, I shall be one of those whereof he saith, " Being ignorant of God's righteousness, and their own righteousness willing to establish, to the righteousness of God they were not made subject." ' Therefore, " in Thine own righteousness," not in mine. For mine is what? Iniquity hath gone before. And when I shall be righteous, Thine own righteousness it will be: for by righteousness 1 Ps. lvi. It. * Rom. vi. 21. 7 Rom. x. 3.
' Ps. Hv. 6. i Ps. xxxiv. 5.
I Rom. vii. 24. 6 Oxf. MSS. nunc.
given to me by Thee I shall be righteous; and it shall be so mine, as that it be Thine, that is, given to me by Thee. For I believe on Him that justified! an ungodly man, so that my faith is counted for righteousness.8 Even so then the righteousness shall be mine, not however as though mine own, not as though by mine own self given to myself: as they thought who through the letter made their boast, and rejected grace...It is a small thing then that thou acknowledge the good thing which is in thee to be from God, unless also on that account thou exalt not thyself above him that hath not yet, who perchance when he shall have received, will outstrip thee. For when Saul was a stoner of Stephen,9 how many were the Christians of whom he was persecutor! Nevertheless, when he was converted, all that had gone before he surpassed. Therefore say thou to God that which thou hearest in the Psalm, " In Thee I have hoped, O Lord, I shall not be confounded for everlasting: in Thine own righteousness," not in mine, " deliver me, and save me." " Incline unto me Thine ear." This also is a confession of humility. He that saith, " Incline unto me," is confessing that he is lying like a sick man laid at the feet of the Physician standing. Lastly, observe that it is a sick man that is speaking: " Incline unto me Thine ear, and save me."
5. "Be Thou unto me for a protecting God " (ver. 3). Let not the darts of the enemy reach unto me: for I am not able to protect myself. And a small thing is " protecting: " he hath added, " and for a walled place, that Thou mayest save me." " For a walled place " be Thou to me, be Thou my walled place...Behold, God Himself hath become the place of thy fleeing unto, who at first was the fearful object of thy fleeing from. " For a walled place," he saith, be Thou to me, " that Thou mayest save me." I shall not be safe except in Thee: except Thou shalt have been my rest, my sickness shall not be able to be made whole. Lift me from the earth; upon Thee I will lie, in order that I may rise unto a walled place. What can be better walled-? When unto that place thou shalt have fled for refuge, tell me what adversaries thou wilt dread? Who will lie in wait, and come at thee? A certain man is said from the summit of a mountain to have cried out, when an Emperor was passing by, " I speak not,0 of thee: " the other is said to have looked back and to have said, " Nor I of thee." He had despised an Emperor with glittering arms, with mighty army. From whence? From a strong place. If he was secure on a high spot of earth, how secure art thou on Him by whom heaven • Rom. iv. 5.
9 Acts vii. 59.
10 Or, " I care not."
Psalm LXXI.]
and earth were made? I, if for myself I shall have chosen another place, shall not be able to be safe. Choose thou indeed, O man, if thou shalt have found one, a place better walled. There is not then a place whither to flee from Him, except we flee to Him. If thou wilt escape Him angry, flee to Him appeased. " For my firmament and my refuge Thou art." " My firmament" is what? Through Thee I am firm, and by Thee I am firm. " For my firmament and my refuge Thou art: " in order that I may be made firm by Thee, in whatever respects I shall have been made infirm in myself, I will flee for refuge unto Thee. For firm the grace of Christ maketh thee, and immovable against all temptations of the enemy. But there is there too human frailness, there is there still the first captivity, there is there too the law in the members fighting against the law of the mind, and willing to lead captive in the law of sin: ■ still the body which is corrupt presseth down the soul.2 Howsoever firm thou be by the grace of God, so long as thou still bearest an earthly vessel, wherein the treasure of God is, something must be dreaded even from that same vessel of clay.3 Therefore " my firmament Thou art," in order that I may be firm in this world against all temptations. But if many they are, and they trouble me: " my refuge Thou art."
For I will confess mine infirmity, to the end that I may be timid like a " hare," because I am full of thorns like a " hedgehog." And as in another Psalm is said, " The rock is a refuge for the hedgehogs and the hares: " * but the Rock was Christ. s 6. " O God, deliver me from the hand of the sinner" (ver. 4). Generally, sinners, among whom is toiling he that is now to be delivered from captivity: he that now crieth, " Unhappy man I, who shall deliver me from the body of this death? The grace of God through Jesus Christ our Lord." 6 Within is a foe, that law in the members; there are without also enemies: unto what cryest thou? Unto Him, to whom hath been cried, " From my secret sins cleanse me, O Lord, and from strange sins spare Thy servant."7...But these sinners are of two kinds: there are some that have received Law, there are others that have not received: all the heathen have not received Law, all Jews and Christians have received Law. Therefore the general term is sinner; either a transgressor of the Law, if he hath received Law; or only unjust without Law, if he hath not received the Law. Of both kinds speaketh the Apostle, and saith, " They that without Law have sinned, without Law shall perish, and they that in the Law 1 Rom. vii. 23. * Ps. civ. 18. 7 Ps. xix. 12.
have sinned, by the Law shall be judged." 8 But thou that amid both kinds dost groan, say to God that which thou hearest in the Psalm, " My God, deliver me from the hand of the sinner." Of what sinner? " From the hand of him that transgresseth the Law, and of the unjust man." He that transgresseth the Law is indeed also unjust; for not unjust he is not, that transgresseth the Law: but every one that transgresseth the Law is unjust, not every unjust man doth transgress the Law. For, " Where there is not a Law," saith the Apostle, " neither is there transgression." 9 They then that have not received Law, may be called unjust, transgressors they cannot be called. Both are judged after their deservings. But I that from captivity will to be delivered through Thy grace, cry to Thee, " Deliver me from the hand of the sinner." What is, from the hand of him? From the power of him, that while he is raging, he lead me not unto consenting with him; that while he lieth in wait, he persuade not to iniquity. " From the hand of the sinnerand of the unjust man."...7. Lastly, there followeth the reason why I say this: "for Thou art my patience" (ver. 5).
Now if He is patience rightly, He is that also which followeth, " O Lord, my hope from my youth." My patience, because my hope: or rather my hope, because my patience. " Tribulation," saith the Apostle, " worketh patience, patience probation, but probation hope, but hope confoundeth not." IO With reason in Thee I have hoped, O Lord, I shall not be confounded for everlasting. " O Lord, my hope from my youth." From thy youth is God thy hope? Is He not also from thy boyhood, and from thine infancy? Certainly, saith he. For see what followeth, that thou mayest not think that I have said this, " my hope from my youth," as if God noways profited mine infancy or my boyhood; hear what followeth: " In Thee I have been strengthened from the womb." Hear yet: " From the belly of my mother Thou art my Protector" (ver. 6). Why then, "from my youth," except it was the period from which I began to hope in Thee? For before in Thee I was not hoping, though Thou wast my Protector, that didst lead me safe unto the time, when I learned to hope in Thee. But from my youth I began in Thee to hope, from the time when Thou didst arm me against the Devil, so that in the girding of Thy host being armed with Thy faith, love, hope, and the rest of Thy gifts, I waged conflict against Thine invisible enemies, and heard from the Apostle, " There is not for us a wrestling against flesh and blood, but against principalities, and powers," etc." There a young man it is that doth fight against these 8 Rom. ii. 12. 11 Eph. v. la.
9 Rom. iv. 15.
10 Rom. v. 3-5.
3i« [Psalm LXXI.
things: but though he be a young man, he falleth, unless He be the hope of Him to whom he crieth, " O Lord, my hope from my youth." " In Thee is my singing alway." Is it only from the time when I began to hope in Thee until now? Nay, but "alway." What is, "alway"? Not only in the time of faith, but also in the time of sight. For now, " So long as we are in the body we are absent from the Lord: for by faith we walk, not by sight: " ■ there will be a time when we shall see that which being not seen we believe: but when that hath been seen which we believe, we shall rejoice: but when that hath been seen which they believed not, ungodly men shall be confounded. Then will come the substance whereof there is now the hope. But, " Hope which is seen is not hope. But if that which we see not we hope for, through patience we wait for it." 2 Now then thou groanest, now unto a place of refuge thou runnest, in order that thou mayest be saved; now being in infirmity thou entreatest the Physician: what, when thou shalt have received perfect soundness also, what when thou shalt have been made " equal to the Angels of God," 3 wilt thou then perchance forget that grace, whereby thou hast been delivered? Far be it.
8. " As it were a monster I have become unto many" (ver. 7). Here in time of hope, in time of groaning, in time of humiliation, in time of sorrow, in time of infirmity, in time of the voice from the fetters — here then what? "As it were a monster I have become unto many." Why, " As it were a monster "? Why do they insult me that think me a monster? Because I believe that which I see not. For they being happy in those things which they see, exult in drink, in wantonness, in chamberings, in covetousness, in riches, in robberies, in secular dignities, in the whitening of a mud wall, in these things they exult: but I walk in a different way, contemning those things which are present, and fearing even the prosperous things of the world, and secure in no other thing but the promises of God. And they, " Let us eat and drink, for to-morrow we die." 4 What sayest thou? Repeat it: " let us eat," he saith, " and drink." Come now, what hast thou said afterwards? " for to-morrow we die." Thou hast terrified, not led me astray. Certainly by the very thing which thou hast said afterwards, thou hast stricken me with fear to consent with thee. " For to-morrow we die," thou hast said: and there hath preceded, " Let us eat and drink." For when thou hadst said, " Let us eat and drink; " thou didst add, " for to-morrow we die." Hear the other side from me, " Yea let us fast and pray, ' for to-morrow we die.' " I keeping this way, strait and narrow, 2 Rom. viii. 34.
3 Matt. xxii. 30.
" as it were a monster have become unto many: but Thou art a strong helper." Be Thou with me, O Lord Jesus, to say to me, faint not in the narrow way, I first have gone along it, I am the way itself,* I lead, in Myself I lead, unto Myself I lead home. Therefore though " a monster I have become unto many; ' ' nevertheless I will not fear, for " Thou art a strong Helper."
9. " Let my mouth be fulfilled with praise, that with hymn I may tell of Thy glory, all the day long Thy magnificence" (ver. 8). What is " all the day long "? Without intermission. In prosperity, because Thou dost comfort: in adversity, because Thou dost correct: before I was in being, because Thou didst make; when I was in being, because Thou didst give health: when I had sinned, because Thou didst forgive; when I was converted, because Thou didst help; when I had persevered, because Thou didst crown.