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.
Augustine - Exposition on the Psalms - v6
With a perfe ct hatred did I
with a perfect hatred? 1 hated in them their iniquities,
I loved Thy creation.
hatred, that neither on account of the vices thou hate the men, nor on account of the men love the vices. For see
This it is to hate with a perfect
what he addeth, They became mine enemies. Not only as God's enemies, but as his own too doth he now describe them. How then will he fulfil in them both his own saying, Have not 1 haled those that haled Thee, Lord, and the Lord's command, Love your enemies? How will he fulfil this, save with that perfect hatred, that he hate in them that they are wicked, and love that they are men ? For in the time even of the Old Testament, when the carnal people was restrained by visible punishments, how did Moses, the servant of God, who
by understanding belonged to the New Testament, how did he hate sinners when he prayed for them, or how did he not hate them when he slew them, save
that he haled them with a perfect hatred? For with such perfection did he hate the iniquity which he punished, as to love the manhood for which he prayed.
29. Since then the Body of Christ is in the end to be severed in body also from the unholy and wicked, but now
To appeal to God, and bear with 217
with the wicked, and separating themselves more and more
from the good and innocent, on the ground of these wicked
ones, so receive in vanity their cities, that many wicked
still remain who follow them not in their separation, but continue intermingled as before, for the good to endure
unto the end, what amongst them doeth the Body of Christ, bringing forth fruit with patience, an hundred, or sixty, or **at"13, thirty-fold ? What doeth the love of Christ among the Cant. 2, daughters, as the lily among thorns? What are her words? 2'
*what her conscience ? what is the appearance of the p>>. king's daughter within? Lo, hear what she saith. Prove ver. 23. me, O God, and know my heart. Do Thou, O God, Thou
prove me, Thou know ; not man, not an heretic, who neither knoweth how to prove, nor can know my heart, whereas
Thou provest, and knowest that I consent not to the deeds
of the wicked, while they think that I can be defiled by the
sins of others; so that, while I in my long wandering do what
I mourn in another Psalm, that is, while I labour for peace among them that hate peace, until I come to that Vision of peace, which is called Jerusalem, which is the mother of us
all, the city eternal in the heavens ; they, contending, and falsely accusing and separating themselves, may receive, not, evidently, in eternity, but in vanity, their cities. Prove
me, then, my God, and know my heart ; search me, and
learn my paths. Why this ? Observe what followeth.
30. And see, saith he, if there be any way of wickednessTM. 24.
in me, and lead me in the way everlasting. Search, he saith, my paths, that is, my counsels and thoughts; and see if there be any way of wickedness in me, either by act or consent; and lead me in the way everlasting. What else saith he, but 'lead me in Christ? ' For who is the way
meanwhile groaneth among them, and since those slain Veu.
-- sinners falsely accusing the good for holding communion --:
'
save He that Iis the Life everlasting? For ever
everlasting,
lasting is He Who said,
the Life. If then thou findest any thing in my way which displeaseth Thine eyes, since my way is mortal, do Thou
lead me in the way everlasting, wherein is no iniquity ; for
even if any man sin, we have an Advocate with the Father, 1 John Jesus Christ the righteous; and He is the propitiation for2'1.
am the Way, and the Truth, and JohnH,
Pa. 12? .
218 the presence of wicked men in the Church.
Psalm our sins; He is the Way everlasting without sin ; He is the CxI" Life everlasting without punishment.
31. These are great mysteries, brethren. How doth the Spirit of God speak with us ? how doth it make us delights in this night? What is this, we ask you, brethren, whence are they sweeter, the darker they are ? He mixeth us our potion after His love, in certain wondrous ways. He maketh His own sayings wondrous, so that while we were speaking what ye already knew, yet forasmuch as it was dug
out of passages which seemed obscure, the knowledge itself seemed to be made new. Did ye not know, brethren, that the wicked are to be tolerated in the Church, and schisms not to be made ? Did ye not already know, that within those nets which hold both good and bad fishes, we must abide even to the shore, nor must the nets be burst, because on the shore the good shall be separated into vessels, and the bad thrown away ? Ye know this already ; but these verses of this Psalm ye did not understand : that which ye did not understand is explained; that which ye knew has been renewed.
Lat. cxxxix.
l Thess. doth not profit, for all have not faith. But faith in the soul
3' a'
is like a good root, which turneth the rain to fruit ; false faith, and devilish error, and evil desire, are the root of all evil, like the root of thorns, turning even the sweet rain into
prickles.
2. What this Psalm containeth, I believe that ye per
ceived when it was being chanted; for therein the Church of Christ, set in the midst of the wicked, complaincth and groaneth, and poureth out prayer to God. For her voice is in every such prophecy the voice of one in need and want,
PSALM CXL.
Sermon to the people, in the pretence of an attembly of Bishops.
1. Our Lords have bidden me, brethren, and in them the Lord of all, to bring this Psalm to your understanding, so far as God giveth me to. May He help your prayers, that I may say those things which I ought to say, ye to hear, that to all of us the Word of God may be profitable. For all it
Christ the Head, the Church His Body. 219
not yet satisfied, hungering and thirsting after righteousness, Psalm for whom a certain fulness in the end hath been promised, and ^--"j
''
is reserved. Meanwhile, here let it hunger and thirst, groan 6. and knock and seek. Let it not delight in the allurements
of its wandering, let it not think the world its country, from whence Christ came to set it free, for Christ willeth to be our Head, the Head that is of a certain Body. For we cannot speak of a head where there is no body for it to be head to. Accordingly if Christ be a Head, He is also Head of some Body. The Body of that Head is the holy Church, among whose members we are, if we love our Head. Let us hear
then the words of Christ's Body, our own words, that
we be in Christ's Body for whoever not there,
will be among those for whom that Body groaneth. Ac cordingly, either thou wilt be in that Body which groaneth among the wicked or else thou wilt not be in that Body, but wilt be among those wicked ones among whom the Body groaneth, which groaneth amongst the wicked either thou wilt be member of Christ, or an enemy of the Body of Christ. Nor meant that they are all enemies, and ad versaries of the Body of Christ after one manner, neither do they all act after one manner. Chameleon-like he who reigneth in them, and useth them as his vessels. But many are freed from him, and pass over into the Body of Christ, and who they are, and how many there shall hereafter be, He knoweth, Who hath redeemed them, when they knew
not, with His own Blood. But some there are, destined to persevere in their wickedness, belonging not to the Body of Christ, and they assuredly are known to Him, to Whom nothing unknown. Meanwhile, they who are already compacted with His members, not having as yet their resur rection which to come, wherein all groaning endeth, and
praise succeedeth, all tribulation shall die, and there shall be endless exultation not yet having this in possession, yet grasping in hope, they groan with sort of longing, and pray to be freed from wicked men, among whom the good too must live. For to separate them now not safe for every one. Separation will belong to Him, Who knoweth
not to err. What is, 'Who knoweth not to err? ' That He neither transfer the good to the right hand, nor the bad to
a is
;
is
it
;
is
is is
a
it
if
is
it
;
;
is,
220 Christ in His Human Nature called David in the Psalms. Psalm the left. But we in this life find it difficult to know our-
Cxl'
selves ; how much less ought we to pass a hasty sentence on any one. For if to-day we know him to be evil, what he will be to-morrow we know not ; and perhaps he whom we violently hate is our brother, and we know it not. Safe then is it for us to hate in the wicked their wickedness, and to love the work of God's Hand, so that, what God made in him, we love, what man has made in himself, we hale. For God made man himself, man made sin. Love what God made, hate what man hath made : for so shalt thou perse
cute what man hath made, that what God hath made be set free.
3. To the end, a Psalm to David himself. No other end
mayest thou look to, than is laid down for thee by the Apostle
Rom. 1o, himself. For Christ is the end of the law to every one
4'
that believeth. Wherefore when thou hearest the Psalm say, To the end, let hearts be turned to Christ. For the title of the Psalm is, as it were, the herald of the Psalm, seeming to say, ' Lo, He is coming, of Him am I about to speak, of Christ am I about to sing. ' For the words, to
Rom. 1, David himself, I understand not, save of Him, Who was born of the seed of David according to the flesh. Meanwhile on account of the birth the name suiteth. His birth after the flesh was from David, His spiritual parentage above David. And not only before David, but before Abraham ; not only before Abraham, but before Adam too; not only before Adam, but before earth and sky, before all the Angels,
before all powers and virtues, before all things visible and invisible. Because then He was of the seed of David, not after His Godhead, whereby He is the Creator of David, but after the flesh ; therefore He deigned to be called David in prophecy : look to this end, for the Psalm is chanted to David Himself; hear the voice of His Body ; be in His Body. Let the voice which thou hast heard be thine, and pray, and say what followeth.
4. Deliver me, O Lord, from the wicked man. Not from one only, but from the class ; not from the vessels only, but
Mat. 13, called a man in a figure: An enemy came, and sowed tares
ver. l.
from their prince himself, that is, the devil.
Why from man, if he meaneth from the devil ? Because he too is
Wicked men injure their brethren too, 221
among the wheat; and when the servants said to their Veh master, Didst not thou sow good seed, whence then have the ----
tares appeared ? He replied, An enemy hath done this. From that wicked man they pray with all their might to be delivered. For thou wrestlest not against flesh and blood, Eph. but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers12' of the darkness of this world, that is, the rulers of sinners. And this we too were, for we have just heard the words of
the Apostle, Ye were sometime darkness, but now are ye Eph. light in the Lord. Now then being made light, not in our-8* selves, but in the Lord, let us pray not only against dark
ness, that is, against sinners, whom still the devil possesseth,
but also against their prince, the devil himself, who worketh in the children of disobedience. Deliver me from the un righteous man. The same is from the unrighteous man, as
from the wicked man. For he called him wicked because unrighteous, lest perchance thou shouldest think that any unrighteous man could be a good man. For many un righteous men seem to be harmless ; they are not fierce, are not savage, do not persecute nor oppress ; yet are they unrighteous, because, following some other habit, they are luxurious, drunkards, given to pleasure. How doth he harm no one who spareth not himself? he is innocent who harmeth no one, not who harmeth himself. And can he help harming thee, who harmeth himself? Thou answerest, ' How doth he harm me ? He hath not seized on my goods, or attacked
my life ; he feeds himself on his own sensuality, he delights in his own pleasures : but if his pleasures be polluting, it is himself that is polluted ; what hath he to do with me, who an- noyeth me not ? He harmeth thee at all events by example, forasmuch as he liveth with thee, and inviteth thee to what he doeth. Art not thou, when thou seest him prospering in his defilement, attracted by the delight of such deeds ? Even though thou consent not, at all events thou hast found some what to fight against. How then hath he not harmed thee, when thou hast hard work to conquer what he hath made in thy heart? Wicked then is every unrighteous man, who must needs be harmful, whether he be gentle or fierce. Whoever falls in his way, whoever is taken by his snares, will find how harmful is that which he thought harmless.
222 Even by sins which seem only against themselves.
Psalm For, brethren, even thorns prick not with their roots. Pull
cxt"
up thorns from the ground, handle their roots, and see whether thou feelest pain. Yet that in the upgrowth which causeth thee pain, proceeded from that root. Let not then men please you who seem gentle and kind, yet are lovers of carnal pleasure, followers of polluted lusts, let them not please you. Though as yet they seem gentle, they are roots of thorns. For by such deeds they mostly
in sensuality what was their own ; and how do they seek to replenish what they have squandered? Do they spare plunder and devices of fraud ; do they spare to seek out every kind of wickedness? Now thou seest him to be a wretched man, whom erst thou thoughtest gentle. When thou sawest him drunken, he was a good man; now thou seest him a thief, thou fearest him as a robber ; thorns have grown out of those roots. When thou sawest the soft roots of thorns, thou shouldest then have burnt them, if thou couldest, and then would not have grown out of them what now punisheth thee. And so, my brethren, body of Christ,
members of Christ groaning among such wicked men, whomsoever ye find hurrying headlong into evil lusts and deadly pleasures, at once chide, at once punish, at once burn. Let the root be burnt, and there remaineth not whence the thorn may grow up. If ye cannot, be sure that ye will have them as enemies. They may be silent, they may hide their enmity, but they cannot love you. But since they cannot love you, and since they who hate you must needs seek your harm, let not your tongue and heart be slow to say to God, Deliver me, O Lord, from the evil man, free
me from the unrighteous man.
5. Who have imagined unrighteousnesses in their heart.
How so ? because what they dare not utter with their tongue, they keep in their heart. For on account of those he saith it, who for the most part speak good words with their lips. Thou hearest the voice of the righteous, yet is it not the heart of the righteous. Else what profit was it to go on and say, Who have imagined unrighteousnesses in their heart ? From them free me, from them let Thy hand be most powerful to deliver me. For easy is it to avoid open enmities, easy is it to turn aside from an enemy declared
squander
ver. 2.
In their hearts they always hate the good. 223
and manifest, while iniquity is in his lips as well as his Ver.
*'
heart; he is a troublesome enemy, he is secret, he is with difficulty avoided, who beareth good things in his lips, while in his heart he concealeth evil things. Who have imagined unrighteousnesses in their heart : all the day long did they make war. What is, war? They made for me what I was to fight against all the day. For from thence, from such hearts as these, ariseth all that the Christian fighteth against. Be it sedition, be it schism, be it heresy, be it turbulent opposition, it springeth not save from these imaginings which were concealed, and while they spake good words with their lips, all the day long did they make war. Ye hear words of peace, yet making war departeth not from their thoughts. For the words, all the day long, signify without intermission,
throughout the whole time.
6. They have sharpened their tongues like serpents. Ifver. 3.
still thou seekest to make out the man, behold a comparison.
In the serpent above all beasts is there cunning and craft
to hurt; for therefore does it creep1. It hath not even feet,1 ser],it. 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. And these too he openly maketh manifest in another place, where he saith, Who Ps. 28,3. speak peace with their neighbours, but evil is in their hearts.
7. Preserve me, O Lord, from the hand of the sinner, ver. 4.
unrighteous men deliver me. 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
from
And envy them.
Psalm 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.
ver. 5.
Yet not for these reasons are they to be guarded against, but lest they lay in wait for thee and draw thee to them selves, 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. Who have imagined, he saith, to trip up my steps. 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.
8. The proud have hidden a trap for me. 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. 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. One envieth thee because thou art rich; either he wishes to be rich, in that he envieth thee, or else he wishes to be thought rich : another envieth thee because thou art famous or of high birth ; either he longeth to be so himself, or else he desires to be thought so. And so for all things which seem or are thought to be good in this world, what each one wishes to have, wherein he wishes to excel, what he desireth
They should rather imitate them.
to be reported to have, therein doth he envy thee.
who are falsely righteous, wish to seem righteous
are not so; and when they see one truly righteous, they must needs envy him, and make it the object of their dealings with him, to make him love that wherein he glorieth. Hence come all allurings and trippings up of others. This the devil first wished, when falling himself he envied man who stood; and because he himself had lost the kingdom of heaven, he was and is unwilling that man should attain
thither, and this is his object now, to prevent man attaining thither, whence himself was cast down. Since then he is proud himself, and, because proud, therefore also envious, his whole body is a body of those of like character.
But let us pray against him, who cannot be amended, and against those who can, so as to say to the unrighteous man, Why enviest thou the righteous, O unrighteous man ? Is
225
But they Ver. when they -- -- --
it because thou wishest to appear righteous ? Do better at once, so shalt thou more easily be, what thou wishest to seem. Be righteous: so shalt thou love him whom thou didst envy ; for so, what thou now grievest that he is, thou shalt thyself be also, and thou shalt love thyself in him and him in thyself. For if thou enviedst a rich man, it would
not therefore be in thy power to be rich : if thou enviedst some honourable and high-born senator, it would not be in thy power to be high-born and illustrious: if thou enviedst one that was handsome, never wouldest thou thereby make thyself handsome: if thou enviedst one that was brave and strong, thou wouldest not thereby give thyself strength : but
if thou enviest the righteous, the matter is in thy will, be
what thou art grieved that another is. For thou wilt not
have to buy what thou art not thyself, but another is ; it is
to be had for nothing, it is to be had at once. Peace on Luke 2,
14'
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. The Lord made a scourge ofJohn 2,
small cords, and with it drove out from the temple those who were ill employed there, and thereby signified to us
VOL. VI. Q
earth to men ofgood will.
9. But those proud ones hare hidden a trap for me;
226 Envying them, they tempt them to like sins.
Psalm how we were to understand cords; for each one is holden ? rov~S"with M'e cor^li ? f n's sins, saith another Scripture. And
Esaias saith openly, Woe to them that draw sin like a long rope. 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 doubkth what by confession he might have removed, and often seeketh to fortify himself by other sins, on account of the sins he hath already committed. He hath committed adul tery; and, lest he be slain himself, he prepareth to commit murder; he addeth sin to sin. Again; if he happen to have committed murder, now he who feared one crime, feareth
two: and so when he seeth that he feareth now more things than before he feared, he deviseth not how he may lessen what he hath done, but how he may add what he hath not yet done : he seeketh, it may be, some other evil deed. Now he hath three. What will a man devise next? Who will end the cord of sins ? Most rightly is it called a cord, for however it be twisted it is increased, and they are not straight threads, but twisted, that are added. Wickedness is intertwined, and groweth in length, and seeketh not to cut off what it has woven amiss, but to add, to protract, to lengthen, so that in the end it may have wherewith it may
Mat. 22, be bound hand and foot, and be cast into outer darkness. 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 hare 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 per mitted them to lay stumbling-blocks beside thy paths, that thou shouldest not leave the paths. Beside the paths have they laid stumbling-blocks for me.
10. And what remaineth ? what remedy amid such ills,
22.
'
Christians should appeal from them to God. 227
'---
in such temptations, such dangers?
77/o? / art my God. 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. The one call upon God, to be crowned by Him ; the other
being under Him, flee from Him, to be condemned by Him. And whither shall the wicked, who will not have the Lord for his God, whither shall he flee from the God of all ? Good is it then for him that he turn to the God of all, and make Him his God, by turning to Him, and being set among such sinners, seducers, Ito God, Whom
why 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 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.
11. 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, 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, among the like of whom
Q2
hypocrites, proud, say by turning to Him he hath made his God,
have said unto the Lord, Thou art my God; hear with Thine ears the voice of my prayer. It is a simple sentence indeed, and easy to understand, yet it is pleasant perhaps to consider
I said unto the Lord, Ver.
2-28 And pray for perseverance ;
Psalm he has to pass his life, while here we live in this our pil- Cxl. grimage. But that such offences should abound the Lord
Mat. 24, foretold, and said, 'Iniquity shall abound; and because
,2-
iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold? 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; for, he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved. He braced himself to endure, and saw that the way was long; and, because to endure is great and difficult, he prayed Him to perfect his endurance, by Whom the command was given him to endure. 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. Lord, Lord, Thou strength of my salvation. And whence cometh my hope that Thou art the strength of my salvation ? Thou hast overshadowed my head in the day of battle. Lo, now as yet I fight. I fight without against those who falsely pretend to be good, 1 fight
see another law in my 23' *? " members, warring against the law of my mind, and bring
Rom. 7, within against mine own lusts ; for, /
ing me into captivity to the lawIof sin which is in my
ver. 8.
members. O wretched man that
me from the body of this death ? I thank God, through Jesus Christ our Lord. 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,
12. Deliver me not over, O Lord, by my own longing to the sinner. 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
am! who shall deliver
lest our desires make us yield. 2-29
own longing. This then pray with all thy might, that God Ver.
-- 9'
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. I say not, thou wilt be caught, because thou wilt be found out. Sometimes thou wilt not be found out, at least by man ; but canst thou escape God ? Thou wilt be caught, and drawn out, and slain. For every one that doeth such things, slayeth himself. There then is the bait, there is also the snare ; bridle thy longing, and thou wilt not be caught by the hook ; but if thy longing for the bait conquer thee, it putteth thy neck into the snare, and the fowler of souls will take thee. Deliver me not by mine own longing to the sinner. 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. ThoIu hast in another place, They that oppress me will exult
if
P<<. 13,4.
be moved. Such are they, because such is the devil also himself. When he has led a man astray, he rejoiceth, he trinmpheth over him ; he himself is exalted, because the other is humbled. And why is he humbled ? Because he was evilly exalted : and he too who trinmpheth over him shall hereafter be humbled. Such are all who rejoice in iniquity ; they seem to themselves for the while to boast, to be proud, to lift up the neck. Let not their exaltation delight thee : they have the bait in their jaws and the hook too. There is that wherein they delight, there that whereby they are caught. Leave Thou me not, lest perchance they be exalted; that is, let them not trinmph over me, let them not rejoice over me.
13. The head of their going about, the toil of their own lips shall cover them. Me, he saith, the shadow of Thy
\ei. 9.
230 Sin ever seeketh, never findeth, its end.
Psalm 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
I1*. 12,9. in another Psalm, The wicked walk in a circle. 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. Of this man then he said to God, ' Me Thine overshadowing shall protect ; them their own lie shall cover ;' and their own lie is the toil of their own lips.
Ps. 7,15. Behold, he hath travailed with unrighteousness, he hath conceived sorrow, and brought forth iniquity. For in every evil work is toil, and every evil work devised hath a lie for its leader. For there is no truth, save in a good work. And forasmuch as all have toil in lying, what crieth the
Mat. 11, Truth ? Come unto Me, all ye that toil and are laden, and I will refresh you. That is the voice that crieth to them Pd. 4, 2. that toil in another Psalm, Ye sons of men, how long will ye be heavy of heart ; why love ye vanity, and seek a lie?
Hear too in another place the toil of lying plainly set forth, Jer. 9,5. They have taught their tongues to speak lies, they have
ver. 10.
wearied themselves to commit iniquity.
14. Coals offire shall fall upon them upon earth, and
Thou shall cast them down. What is, upon earth ? Here, even in this life, here coals offire shall fall upon them, and Thou shall cast them down. What are, coals offire ? 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
Ps. 120, against a treacherous tongue. What shall be given thee, or what shall be added to thee, against the treacherous
The effects of example. 231
tongue? Sharp arrows of the mighty One, with devouring Ver. coals, that is, the word of God transfixing the heart, de- -- stroking the old nature, implanting love, and the patterns
of meu who had died and come to life again, were black,
and became shining. For coals are darkness, so their colour indicateth. But when the flame of love has reached
them, and they have come to life again from the dead, let
them hear from the Apostle, Ye were sometime darkness, Eph. 5, but now are ye light in the Lord. These, brethren, are the
coals we look on, when we are pierced by the arrow of God,
and wish to change our life, but are hindered by the evil tongues of men, such as he was just now complaining of,
which endeavour to lead us astray from the way of truth,
and to lead us in preference into their own errors, and say
to us that even if we promise, we shall not fulfil. Then we. observe these coals: he that was yesterday a drunkard,
to-day is sober; he that was yesterday an adulterer, to-day
is chaste ; he that yesterday seized others' goods, to-day
gives freely of his own. All these are coals offire. 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, / am wounded with love,) and then the hay Cant. 2, is consumed, and so they are called devouring coals. The lXX. 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 perished, he began to be
fervent in spirit, to set others on fire with that wherewith
he was set on fire himself. Are we to understand such
coals offire as this here too, who fall upon those evil men,
and cast them down ? Evidently we are not forbidden to understand it in this way. I see that here shines forth to
us a sentiment not improbable and free from blame. I understand those coals to fall upon these men, that they
may be cast down.
with a perfect hatred? 1 hated in them their iniquities,
I loved Thy creation.
hatred, that neither on account of the vices thou hate the men, nor on account of the men love the vices. For see
This it is to hate with a perfect
what he addeth, They became mine enemies. Not only as God's enemies, but as his own too doth he now describe them. How then will he fulfil in them both his own saying, Have not 1 haled those that haled Thee, Lord, and the Lord's command, Love your enemies? How will he fulfil this, save with that perfect hatred, that he hate in them that they are wicked, and love that they are men ? For in the time even of the Old Testament, when the carnal people was restrained by visible punishments, how did Moses, the servant of God, who
by understanding belonged to the New Testament, how did he hate sinners when he prayed for them, or how did he not hate them when he slew them, save
that he haled them with a perfect hatred? For with such perfection did he hate the iniquity which he punished, as to love the manhood for which he prayed.
29. Since then the Body of Christ is in the end to be severed in body also from the unholy and wicked, but now
To appeal to God, and bear with 217
with the wicked, and separating themselves more and more
from the good and innocent, on the ground of these wicked
ones, so receive in vanity their cities, that many wicked
still remain who follow them not in their separation, but continue intermingled as before, for the good to endure
unto the end, what amongst them doeth the Body of Christ, bringing forth fruit with patience, an hundred, or sixty, or **at"13, thirty-fold ? What doeth the love of Christ among the Cant. 2, daughters, as the lily among thorns? What are her words? 2'
*what her conscience ? what is the appearance of the p>>. king's daughter within? Lo, hear what she saith. Prove ver. 23. me, O God, and know my heart. Do Thou, O God, Thou
prove me, Thou know ; not man, not an heretic, who neither knoweth how to prove, nor can know my heart, whereas
Thou provest, and knowest that I consent not to the deeds
of the wicked, while they think that I can be defiled by the
sins of others; so that, while I in my long wandering do what
I mourn in another Psalm, that is, while I labour for peace among them that hate peace, until I come to that Vision of peace, which is called Jerusalem, which is the mother of us
all, the city eternal in the heavens ; they, contending, and falsely accusing and separating themselves, may receive, not, evidently, in eternity, but in vanity, their cities. Prove
me, then, my God, and know my heart ; search me, and
learn my paths. Why this ? Observe what followeth.
30. And see, saith he, if there be any way of wickednessTM. 24.
in me, and lead me in the way everlasting. Search, he saith, my paths, that is, my counsels and thoughts; and see if there be any way of wickedness in me, either by act or consent; and lead me in the way everlasting. What else saith he, but 'lead me in Christ? ' For who is the way
meanwhile groaneth among them, and since those slain Veu.
-- sinners falsely accusing the good for holding communion --:
'
save He that Iis the Life everlasting? For ever
everlasting,
lasting is He Who said,
the Life. If then thou findest any thing in my way which displeaseth Thine eyes, since my way is mortal, do Thou
lead me in the way everlasting, wherein is no iniquity ; for
even if any man sin, we have an Advocate with the Father, 1 John Jesus Christ the righteous; and He is the propitiation for2'1.
am the Way, and the Truth, and JohnH,
Pa. 12? .
218 the presence of wicked men in the Church.
Psalm our sins; He is the Way everlasting without sin ; He is the CxI" Life everlasting without punishment.
31. These are great mysteries, brethren. How doth the Spirit of God speak with us ? how doth it make us delights in this night? What is this, we ask you, brethren, whence are they sweeter, the darker they are ? He mixeth us our potion after His love, in certain wondrous ways. He maketh His own sayings wondrous, so that while we were speaking what ye already knew, yet forasmuch as it was dug
out of passages which seemed obscure, the knowledge itself seemed to be made new. Did ye not know, brethren, that the wicked are to be tolerated in the Church, and schisms not to be made ? Did ye not already know, that within those nets which hold both good and bad fishes, we must abide even to the shore, nor must the nets be burst, because on the shore the good shall be separated into vessels, and the bad thrown away ? Ye know this already ; but these verses of this Psalm ye did not understand : that which ye did not understand is explained; that which ye knew has been renewed.
Lat. cxxxix.
l Thess. doth not profit, for all have not faith. But faith in the soul
3' a'
is like a good root, which turneth the rain to fruit ; false faith, and devilish error, and evil desire, are the root of all evil, like the root of thorns, turning even the sweet rain into
prickles.
2. What this Psalm containeth, I believe that ye per
ceived when it was being chanted; for therein the Church of Christ, set in the midst of the wicked, complaincth and groaneth, and poureth out prayer to God. For her voice is in every such prophecy the voice of one in need and want,
PSALM CXL.
Sermon to the people, in the pretence of an attembly of Bishops.
1. Our Lords have bidden me, brethren, and in them the Lord of all, to bring this Psalm to your understanding, so far as God giveth me to. May He help your prayers, that I may say those things which I ought to say, ye to hear, that to all of us the Word of God may be profitable. For all it
Christ the Head, the Church His Body. 219
not yet satisfied, hungering and thirsting after righteousness, Psalm for whom a certain fulness in the end hath been promised, and ^--"j
''
is reserved. Meanwhile, here let it hunger and thirst, groan 6. and knock and seek. Let it not delight in the allurements
of its wandering, let it not think the world its country, from whence Christ came to set it free, for Christ willeth to be our Head, the Head that is of a certain Body. For we cannot speak of a head where there is no body for it to be head to. Accordingly if Christ be a Head, He is also Head of some Body. The Body of that Head is the holy Church, among whose members we are, if we love our Head. Let us hear
then the words of Christ's Body, our own words, that
we be in Christ's Body for whoever not there,
will be among those for whom that Body groaneth. Ac cordingly, either thou wilt be in that Body which groaneth among the wicked or else thou wilt not be in that Body, but wilt be among those wicked ones among whom the Body groaneth, which groaneth amongst the wicked either thou wilt be member of Christ, or an enemy of the Body of Christ. Nor meant that they are all enemies, and ad versaries of the Body of Christ after one manner, neither do they all act after one manner. Chameleon-like he who reigneth in them, and useth them as his vessels. But many are freed from him, and pass over into the Body of Christ, and who they are, and how many there shall hereafter be, He knoweth, Who hath redeemed them, when they knew
not, with His own Blood. But some there are, destined to persevere in their wickedness, belonging not to the Body of Christ, and they assuredly are known to Him, to Whom nothing unknown. Meanwhile, they who are already compacted with His members, not having as yet their resur rection which to come, wherein all groaning endeth, and
praise succeedeth, all tribulation shall die, and there shall be endless exultation not yet having this in possession, yet grasping in hope, they groan with sort of longing, and pray to be freed from wicked men, among whom the good too must live. For to separate them now not safe for every one. Separation will belong to Him, Who knoweth
not to err. What is, 'Who knoweth not to err? ' That He neither transfer the good to the right hand, nor the bad to
a is
;
is
it
;
is
is is
a
it
if
is
it
;
;
is,
220 Christ in His Human Nature called David in the Psalms. Psalm the left. But we in this life find it difficult to know our-
Cxl'
selves ; how much less ought we to pass a hasty sentence on any one. For if to-day we know him to be evil, what he will be to-morrow we know not ; and perhaps he whom we violently hate is our brother, and we know it not. Safe then is it for us to hate in the wicked their wickedness, and to love the work of God's Hand, so that, what God made in him, we love, what man has made in himself, we hale. For God made man himself, man made sin. Love what God made, hate what man hath made : for so shalt thou perse
cute what man hath made, that what God hath made be set free.
3. To the end, a Psalm to David himself. No other end
mayest thou look to, than is laid down for thee by the Apostle
Rom. 1o, himself. For Christ is the end of the law to every one
4'
that believeth. Wherefore when thou hearest the Psalm say, To the end, let hearts be turned to Christ. For the title of the Psalm is, as it were, the herald of the Psalm, seeming to say, ' Lo, He is coming, of Him am I about to speak, of Christ am I about to sing. ' For the words, to
Rom. 1, David himself, I understand not, save of Him, Who was born of the seed of David according to the flesh. Meanwhile on account of the birth the name suiteth. His birth after the flesh was from David, His spiritual parentage above David. And not only before David, but before Abraham ; not only before Abraham, but before Adam too; not only before Adam, but before earth and sky, before all the Angels,
before all powers and virtues, before all things visible and invisible. Because then He was of the seed of David, not after His Godhead, whereby He is the Creator of David, but after the flesh ; therefore He deigned to be called David in prophecy : look to this end, for the Psalm is chanted to David Himself; hear the voice of His Body ; be in His Body. Let the voice which thou hast heard be thine, and pray, and say what followeth.
4. Deliver me, O Lord, from the wicked man. Not from one only, but from the class ; not from the vessels only, but
Mat. 13, called a man in a figure: An enemy came, and sowed tares
ver. l.
from their prince himself, that is, the devil.
Why from man, if he meaneth from the devil ? Because he too is
Wicked men injure their brethren too, 221
among the wheat; and when the servants said to their Veh master, Didst not thou sow good seed, whence then have the ----
tares appeared ? He replied, An enemy hath done this. From that wicked man they pray with all their might to be delivered. For thou wrestlest not against flesh and blood, Eph. but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers12' of the darkness of this world, that is, the rulers of sinners. And this we too were, for we have just heard the words of
the Apostle, Ye were sometime darkness, but now are ye Eph. light in the Lord. Now then being made light, not in our-8* selves, but in the Lord, let us pray not only against dark
ness, that is, against sinners, whom still the devil possesseth,
but also against their prince, the devil himself, who worketh in the children of disobedience. Deliver me from the un righteous man. The same is from the unrighteous man, as
from the wicked man. For he called him wicked because unrighteous, lest perchance thou shouldest think that any unrighteous man could be a good man. For many un righteous men seem to be harmless ; they are not fierce, are not savage, do not persecute nor oppress ; yet are they unrighteous, because, following some other habit, they are luxurious, drunkards, given to pleasure. How doth he harm no one who spareth not himself? he is innocent who harmeth no one, not who harmeth himself. And can he help harming thee, who harmeth himself? Thou answerest, ' How doth he harm me ? He hath not seized on my goods, or attacked
my life ; he feeds himself on his own sensuality, he delights in his own pleasures : but if his pleasures be polluting, it is himself that is polluted ; what hath he to do with me, who an- noyeth me not ? He harmeth thee at all events by example, forasmuch as he liveth with thee, and inviteth thee to what he doeth. Art not thou, when thou seest him prospering in his defilement, attracted by the delight of such deeds ? Even though thou consent not, at all events thou hast found some what to fight against. How then hath he not harmed thee, when thou hast hard work to conquer what he hath made in thy heart? Wicked then is every unrighteous man, who must needs be harmful, whether he be gentle or fierce. Whoever falls in his way, whoever is taken by his snares, will find how harmful is that which he thought harmless.
222 Even by sins which seem only against themselves.
Psalm For, brethren, even thorns prick not with their roots. Pull
cxt"
up thorns from the ground, handle their roots, and see whether thou feelest pain. Yet that in the upgrowth which causeth thee pain, proceeded from that root. Let not then men please you who seem gentle and kind, yet are lovers of carnal pleasure, followers of polluted lusts, let them not please you. Though as yet they seem gentle, they are roots of thorns. For by such deeds they mostly
in sensuality what was their own ; and how do they seek to replenish what they have squandered? Do they spare plunder and devices of fraud ; do they spare to seek out every kind of wickedness? Now thou seest him to be a wretched man, whom erst thou thoughtest gentle. When thou sawest him drunken, he was a good man; now thou seest him a thief, thou fearest him as a robber ; thorns have grown out of those roots. When thou sawest the soft roots of thorns, thou shouldest then have burnt them, if thou couldest, and then would not have grown out of them what now punisheth thee. And so, my brethren, body of Christ,
members of Christ groaning among such wicked men, whomsoever ye find hurrying headlong into evil lusts and deadly pleasures, at once chide, at once punish, at once burn. Let the root be burnt, and there remaineth not whence the thorn may grow up. If ye cannot, be sure that ye will have them as enemies. They may be silent, they may hide their enmity, but they cannot love you. But since they cannot love you, and since they who hate you must needs seek your harm, let not your tongue and heart be slow to say to God, Deliver me, O Lord, from the evil man, free
me from the unrighteous man.
5. Who have imagined unrighteousnesses in their heart.
How so ? because what they dare not utter with their tongue, they keep in their heart. For on account of those he saith it, who for the most part speak good words with their lips. Thou hearest the voice of the righteous, yet is it not the heart of the righteous. Else what profit was it to go on and say, Who have imagined unrighteousnesses in their heart ? From them free me, from them let Thy hand be most powerful to deliver me. For easy is it to avoid open enmities, easy is it to turn aside from an enemy declared
squander
ver. 2.
In their hearts they always hate the good. 223
and manifest, while iniquity is in his lips as well as his Ver.
*'
heart; he is a troublesome enemy, he is secret, he is with difficulty avoided, who beareth good things in his lips, while in his heart he concealeth evil things. Who have imagined unrighteousnesses in their heart : all the day long did they make war. What is, war? They made for me what I was to fight against all the day. For from thence, from such hearts as these, ariseth all that the Christian fighteth against. Be it sedition, be it schism, be it heresy, be it turbulent opposition, it springeth not save from these imaginings which were concealed, and while they spake good words with their lips, all the day long did they make war. Ye hear words of peace, yet making war departeth not from their thoughts. For the words, all the day long, signify without intermission,
throughout the whole time.
6. They have sharpened their tongues like serpents. Ifver. 3.
still thou seekest to make out the man, behold a comparison.
In the serpent above all beasts is there cunning and craft
to hurt; for therefore does it creep1. It hath not even feet,1 ser],it. 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. And these too he openly maketh manifest in another place, where he saith, Who Ps. 28,3. speak peace with their neighbours, but evil is in their hearts.
7. Preserve me, O Lord, from the hand of the sinner, ver. 4.
unrighteous men deliver me. 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
from
And envy them.
Psalm 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.
ver. 5.
Yet not for these reasons are they to be guarded against, but lest they lay in wait for thee and draw thee to them selves, 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. Who have imagined, he saith, to trip up my steps. 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.
8. The proud have hidden a trap for me. 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. 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. One envieth thee because thou art rich; either he wishes to be rich, in that he envieth thee, or else he wishes to be thought rich : another envieth thee because thou art famous or of high birth ; either he longeth to be so himself, or else he desires to be thought so. And so for all things which seem or are thought to be good in this world, what each one wishes to have, wherein he wishes to excel, what he desireth
They should rather imitate them.
to be reported to have, therein doth he envy thee.
who are falsely righteous, wish to seem righteous
are not so; and when they see one truly righteous, they must needs envy him, and make it the object of their dealings with him, to make him love that wherein he glorieth. Hence come all allurings and trippings up of others. This the devil first wished, when falling himself he envied man who stood; and because he himself had lost the kingdom of heaven, he was and is unwilling that man should attain
thither, and this is his object now, to prevent man attaining thither, whence himself was cast down. Since then he is proud himself, and, because proud, therefore also envious, his whole body is a body of those of like character.
But let us pray against him, who cannot be amended, and against those who can, so as to say to the unrighteous man, Why enviest thou the righteous, O unrighteous man ? Is
225
But they Ver. when they -- -- --
it because thou wishest to appear righteous ? Do better at once, so shalt thou more easily be, what thou wishest to seem. Be righteous: so shalt thou love him whom thou didst envy ; for so, what thou now grievest that he is, thou shalt thyself be also, and thou shalt love thyself in him and him in thyself. For if thou enviedst a rich man, it would
not therefore be in thy power to be rich : if thou enviedst some honourable and high-born senator, it would not be in thy power to be high-born and illustrious: if thou enviedst one that was handsome, never wouldest thou thereby make thyself handsome: if thou enviedst one that was brave and strong, thou wouldest not thereby give thyself strength : but
if thou enviest the righteous, the matter is in thy will, be
what thou art grieved that another is. For thou wilt not
have to buy what thou art not thyself, but another is ; it is
to be had for nothing, it is to be had at once. Peace on Luke 2,
14'
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. The Lord made a scourge ofJohn 2,
small cords, and with it drove out from the temple those who were ill employed there, and thereby signified to us
VOL. VI. Q
earth to men ofgood will.
9. But those proud ones hare hidden a trap for me;
226 Envying them, they tempt them to like sins.
Psalm how we were to understand cords; for each one is holden ? rov~S"with M'e cor^li ? f n's sins, saith another Scripture. And
Esaias saith openly, Woe to them that draw sin like a long rope. 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 doubkth what by confession he might have removed, and often seeketh to fortify himself by other sins, on account of the sins he hath already committed. He hath committed adul tery; and, lest he be slain himself, he prepareth to commit murder; he addeth sin to sin. Again; if he happen to have committed murder, now he who feared one crime, feareth
two: and so when he seeth that he feareth now more things than before he feared, he deviseth not how he may lessen what he hath done, but how he may add what he hath not yet done : he seeketh, it may be, some other evil deed. Now he hath three. What will a man devise next? Who will end the cord of sins ? Most rightly is it called a cord, for however it be twisted it is increased, and they are not straight threads, but twisted, that are added. Wickedness is intertwined, and groweth in length, and seeketh not to cut off what it has woven amiss, but to add, to protract, to lengthen, so that in the end it may have wherewith it may
Mat. 22, be bound hand and foot, and be cast into outer darkness. 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 hare 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 per mitted them to lay stumbling-blocks beside thy paths, that thou shouldest not leave the paths. Beside the paths have they laid stumbling-blocks for me.
10. And what remaineth ? what remedy amid such ills,
22.
'
Christians should appeal from them to God. 227
'---
in such temptations, such dangers?
77/o? / art my God. 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. The one call upon God, to be crowned by Him ; the other
being under Him, flee from Him, to be condemned by Him. And whither shall the wicked, who will not have the Lord for his God, whither shall he flee from the God of all ? Good is it then for him that he turn to the God of all, and make Him his God, by turning to Him, and being set among such sinners, seducers, Ito God, Whom
why 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 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.
11. 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, 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, among the like of whom
Q2
hypocrites, proud, say by turning to Him he hath made his God,
have said unto the Lord, Thou art my God; hear with Thine ears the voice of my prayer. It is a simple sentence indeed, and easy to understand, yet it is pleasant perhaps to consider
I said unto the Lord, Ver.
2-28 And pray for perseverance ;
Psalm he has to pass his life, while here we live in this our pil- Cxl. grimage. But that such offences should abound the Lord
Mat. 24, foretold, and said, 'Iniquity shall abound; and because
,2-
iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold? 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; for, he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved. He braced himself to endure, and saw that the way was long; and, because to endure is great and difficult, he prayed Him to perfect his endurance, by Whom the command was given him to endure. 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. Lord, Lord, Thou strength of my salvation. And whence cometh my hope that Thou art the strength of my salvation ? Thou hast overshadowed my head in the day of battle. Lo, now as yet I fight. I fight without against those who falsely pretend to be good, 1 fight
see another law in my 23' *? " members, warring against the law of my mind, and bring
Rom. 7, within against mine own lusts ; for, /
ing me into captivity to the lawIof sin which is in my
ver. 8.
members. O wretched man that
me from the body of this death ? I thank God, through Jesus Christ our Lord. 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,
12. Deliver me not over, O Lord, by my own longing to the sinner. 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
am! who shall deliver
lest our desires make us yield. 2-29
own longing. This then pray with all thy might, that God Ver.
-- 9'
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. I say not, thou wilt be caught, because thou wilt be found out. Sometimes thou wilt not be found out, at least by man ; but canst thou escape God ? Thou wilt be caught, and drawn out, and slain. For every one that doeth such things, slayeth himself. There then is the bait, there is also the snare ; bridle thy longing, and thou wilt not be caught by the hook ; but if thy longing for the bait conquer thee, it putteth thy neck into the snare, and the fowler of souls will take thee. Deliver me not by mine own longing to the sinner. 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. ThoIu hast in another place, They that oppress me will exult
if
P<<. 13,4.
be moved. Such are they, because such is the devil also himself. When he has led a man astray, he rejoiceth, he trinmpheth over him ; he himself is exalted, because the other is humbled. And why is he humbled ? Because he was evilly exalted : and he too who trinmpheth over him shall hereafter be humbled. Such are all who rejoice in iniquity ; they seem to themselves for the while to boast, to be proud, to lift up the neck. Let not their exaltation delight thee : they have the bait in their jaws and the hook too. There is that wherein they delight, there that whereby they are caught. Leave Thou me not, lest perchance they be exalted; that is, let them not trinmph over me, let them not rejoice over me.
13. The head of their going about, the toil of their own lips shall cover them. Me, he saith, the shadow of Thy
\ei. 9.
230 Sin ever seeketh, never findeth, its end.
Psalm 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
I1*. 12,9. in another Psalm, The wicked walk in a circle. 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. Of this man then he said to God, ' Me Thine overshadowing shall protect ; them their own lie shall cover ;' and their own lie is the toil of their own lips.
Ps. 7,15. Behold, he hath travailed with unrighteousness, he hath conceived sorrow, and brought forth iniquity. For in every evil work is toil, and every evil work devised hath a lie for its leader. For there is no truth, save in a good work. And forasmuch as all have toil in lying, what crieth the
Mat. 11, Truth ? Come unto Me, all ye that toil and are laden, and I will refresh you. That is the voice that crieth to them Pd. 4, 2. that toil in another Psalm, Ye sons of men, how long will ye be heavy of heart ; why love ye vanity, and seek a lie?
Hear too in another place the toil of lying plainly set forth, Jer. 9,5. They have taught their tongues to speak lies, they have
ver. 10.
wearied themselves to commit iniquity.
14. Coals offire shall fall upon them upon earth, and
Thou shall cast them down. What is, upon earth ? Here, even in this life, here coals offire shall fall upon them, and Thou shall cast them down. What are, coals offire ? 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
Ps. 120, against a treacherous tongue. What shall be given thee, or what shall be added to thee, against the treacherous
The effects of example. 231
tongue? Sharp arrows of the mighty One, with devouring Ver. coals, that is, the word of God transfixing the heart, de- -- stroking the old nature, implanting love, and the patterns
of meu who had died and come to life again, were black,
and became shining. For coals are darkness, so their colour indicateth. But when the flame of love has reached
them, and they have come to life again from the dead, let
them hear from the Apostle, Ye were sometime darkness, Eph. 5, but now are ye light in the Lord. These, brethren, are the
coals we look on, when we are pierced by the arrow of God,
and wish to change our life, but are hindered by the evil tongues of men, such as he was just now complaining of,
which endeavour to lead us astray from the way of truth,
and to lead us in preference into their own errors, and say
to us that even if we promise, we shall not fulfil. Then we. observe these coals: he that was yesterday a drunkard,
to-day is sober; he that was yesterday an adulterer, to-day
is chaste ; he that yesterday seized others' goods, to-day
gives freely of his own. All these are coals offire. 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, / am wounded with love,) and then the hay Cant. 2, is consumed, and so they are called devouring coals. The lXX. 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 perished, he began to be
fervent in spirit, to set others on fire with that wherewith
he was set on fire himself. Are we to understand such
coals offire as this here too, who fall upon those evil men,
and cast them down ? Evidently we are not forbidden to understand it in this way. I see that here shines forth to
us a sentiment not improbable and free from blame. I understand those coals to fall upon these men, that they
may be cast down.
