trust, and hath not respected vanities, nor lying deceits." 5 To you indeed, O covetous man, to you I seem to be out of my senses, these words appear to you to be " old wives' tales." For you, a man of great judgment, and of great prudence, to be sure, are daily devising methods of acquiring money, by traffic, by agriculture, by eloquence perhaps, by making yourself learned in the law, by warfare, perhaps you even add that of usury. Like a shrewd man as you are, you leave nothing untried, whereby you may 1 i.e., in the high doctrine, p. it4; but some mss. ap. Ben. and ours, Fluctuavi in dispensation* munerum for nummorum) Dominicoritm: " 1 have wavered in the dispensing of the Lord's gifts (or moneys)." A better sense, see p. 115.
pile coin on coin; and may store it up6 more carefully in a place of secrecy. You plunder others; you guard against the plunderer; you are afraid lest you should yourself suffer the wrong, that you yourself do; and even what you do suffer, does not correct you...Examine your own heart, and that prudence of yours, which leads you to deride me, to think me out of my senses for saying these things: and tell me now, " You are heaping up treasures; for whom are you gathering them together? " I see what you would tell me; as if what you would say had not occurred to the person described here; you will say, I am keeping them for my children? This is the voice of parental affection; the excuse of injustice. " I am keeping them " (you say) " for my children." So then you are keeping them for your children, are you? Did not Idithun then know this? Assuredly he did; but he reckoned it one of the things of the " old days," that have waxed old, and therefore he despised it: because he was hastening on to the new " days."...
12. For He, "by whom all things were made," ' hath built " mansions " for all of us: thither He would have that which we have go before us; that we may not lose it 8 on earlh. When, however, you have kept them on earth, tell me for whom you are to " gather them together"? You have children: add one more to their number; and give something to Christ also. " He is disquieted in vain."
13. "And now" (ver. 7). "And now," saith this Idithun, — looking back on a certain "vain" show, and looking up to a certain Truth, standing midway where he has something beyond him, and something also behind him, having below him the place from which he took his spring, having above him that toward which he has stretched forth; — " And now," when I have " over-leaped " some things, when I have trampled many things under foot, when I am no longer captivated by things temporal; even now, I am not perfect, " I have not yet apprehended." 9 " For it is by hope that we are saved; but hope that is seen is not hope; for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for? But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it." '° Therefore he says: "And now what wait I for? Is it not for the Lord?" " He is my expectation, who hath given 6 Text, castigetur. Fourvtss have congregetur.onecollocetHr; three cartigetnr, on which word there is a gloss. Cartigare est in chart A propter memoriam aliquid scribere; usitatius de usurariis dicitur. Nine MSS. cnstigetHr, as Martial, Et cuius laxas area flagellat opes, and the Jurisconsults fiagellare anno/tarn, for "to shut up." — Ben. Fiagellare annonam. however, seems rather to mean to '' drive up the prices," and perhaps area Jlagcllat may be the lid striking the heaped contents, thus affording no par. allel. However, it may be to " keep it from peeping out." Oxf. MSS. cartigetnr.
11 E. V. " And now, Lord, what wait I for," etc.
n6 [Psalm XXXIX.
me all those things, that I might despise them. He will give unto me Himself also, even He who is above all, and " by whom all things were made," ■ and by whom I was made amongst all; even He, the Lord, is my Expectation! You see Idithun, brethren, you see in what way he waiteth for Him! Let no man therefore call himself perfect here; he deceives and imposes upon himself; he is beguiling himself, he cannot have perfection here, and what avails it that he should lose humility?...
" And my substance is ever before Thee." Already advancing, already tending towards Him, and to some extent already beginning to " be," still (he says 2) " my substance is ever before Thee." Now that other substance is also before men. You have gold, silver, slaves, estates, trees, cattle, servants. These things are visible even to men. There is a certain " substance that is ever before Thee."
14. " Deliver me from all my transgressions " (ver. 8). ' I have " over-leaped " a great deal of ground, a very great deat of ground already; but, " If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the Truth is not in us." J I have " over-leaped " a great deal: but still do I " beat my breast," and say, " Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors."4 Thou therefore art " my expectation! " my " End." For " Christ is the end of the Law unto righteousness, unto every man that believeth." 5 From all mine offences: " not only from those, that I may not relapse into those which I have already " overleaped; " but from all, without exception, of those on account of which I now beat my breast, and say, " Forgive us our debts." " Deliver me from all mine offences: " me being thus minded, and holding fast what the Apostle said, " As many of us as be perfect, let us be thus minded."6 For at the time that he said that he was not " already perfect," he then immediately goes on and says, " As many of us as be perfect, let us be thus minded."...Art thou then, O Apostle, not perfect, and are we perfect? But hath it escaped you, that he did just now call himself " perfect "? For he does not say, " As many of you as are perfect, be ye thus minded; " but " As many of us as be perfect, let us be thus minded; " after having said a little before, " Not that I have already attained; either am already perfect." In no other way then can you be perfect in this life, than by knowing that you cannot be perfect in this life. This then will be your perfection, so to have " over-leaped " some things, as to have still some point to which you are hastening on: so as to have something remaining, to which you will have to leap on, when everything else has been passed by. It is such faith as this that is secure: for whoever thinks that he has already attained, is " exalting himself," so as to be "abased" hereafter.7...15. "Thou hast made me the reproach of the foolish." Thou hast so willed it, that J should live among those, and preach the Truth among those, who love vanity; and I cannot but be a laughing-stock to them. " For we have been made a spectacle unto this world, and unto angels, and unto men: " 8 to angels who praise, to men who censure, us; or rather to angels, some of whom praise, some of whom are censuring us: and to men also, some of whom are praising, and some censuring us...Both the one and the other are arms to us: the one " on the right hand," the other " on the left: " arms however they are both of them; both of these kinds of arms, both those " on the right hand," and those " on the left; " both those who praise, and those who censure; both those who pay us honour, and those who heap dishonour upon us; with both these kinds I contend against the devil; with both of these I smite him; I defeat him with prosperity, if I be not corrupted by it; by adversity, if I am not broken in spirit by it.
16. "I became dumb;9 and I opened not my mouth" (ver. 9). But it was to guard against " the foolish man," that " I became dumb, and opened not my mouth." For to whom should I tell what is going on within me? " For I will hear what the Lord God will speak in me; '° for He will speak peace unto His people." " But " There is no peace," saith the Lord, " to the wicked." ■* " I was dumb, and opened not my mouth; because it is Thou that madest me." Was this the reason that thou openedst not thy mouth, "because God made thee"? That is strange; for did not God make thy mouth, that thou shouldest speak? "He that planted the ear, doth He not hear? He that formed the eye, doth He not see?"13 God hath given thee a mouth to speak with; and dost thou say, " I was dumb, and opened not my mouth, because Thou madest me "? Or does the clause, " Because Thou madest me," belong to the verse that follows? " Remove Thy stroke away from me" (ver. 10). Because it is "Thou that hast made me," let it not be Thy pleasure to destroy me utterly; scourge, so that I may be made better, not so that I faint; beat me, so that I may be'4 beaten out to a greater length and breadth, not so that I may be ground to powder. " By the heaviness of Thy hand I fainted in in corrections." That is, I " fainted " while Thou wast correcting me. And what is meant by "correcting" me? except what follows.
10 Auguslin and Vulgate, qnid loquatur in me.
11 Ps. Ixxxv. 8. I2 Isa. xlviii. 2a. M Ps. xciv. 9. x* Ut /roducar, non ui commiHttar.
Psalm XXXIX.]
17. " Thou with rebukes hast chastened man for iniquity; Thou hast made my life to consume away like a spider" (ver. 11). There is much that is discerned by this Idithun; by every one who discerns as he does; who overleaps as he does. For he says, that he has fainted in God's corrections; and would fain have the stroke removed away from him, " because it is He who made him." Let Him renew me, who also made me; let Him who created me, create me anew. But yet, Brethren, do we suppose that there was no cause for his fainting, so that he wishes to be " renewed," to be " created anew "? It is " for iniquity," saith he, " that Thou hast chastened man." All this, my having fainted, my being weak, my " crying out of the deep," all of this is because of " iniquity; " and in this Thou hast not condemned, but hast " chastened " me. " Thou hast chastened man for sin." Hear this more plainly from another Psalm: " It is good for me that Thou hast afflicted me, that I might learn Thy righteousness." ' I have been "afflicted," and at the same time "it is good for me; " it is at once a punishment, and an act of favour. What hath He in store for us after punishment is over, who inflicts punishment itself by way of favour? For He it is of whom it was said, " I was brought low, and He made me whole: " and, " It is good for me that Thou hast afflicted me, that I might learn Thy righteousness."2 "Thou chastenest man for iniquity." And that which is written, " Thou formest my grief in teaching me," • could only be said unto God by one who was " leaping beyond " his fellows; " Thou formest my grief in teaching me;" Thou makest, that is to say, a lesson for me out of my sorrow. It is Thou that formest that very grief itself; Thou dost not leave it unformed, but formest it; and that grief, that has been inflicted by Thee, when formed, will be a lesson unto me, that I may be set free by Thee. For the word finges is used in the sense of " forming," as it were moulding, my grief; not in the sense of" feigning " it j in the same way that fingit is applied to the artist, in the same sense \haxfiguius is derived homfingere. Thou therefore " hast chastened man for iniquity." I see myself in afflictions; I see myself under punishment; and I see no unrighteousness in Thee. If I therefore am under punishment, and if there is no unrighteousness with Thee, it remains that Thou must have been " chastening man for iniquity."
18. And by what means hast Thou "chastened" him? Tell us, O Idithun, the manner of thy chastening; tell us in what way thou hast been " chastened." " And Thou hast made my 1 Ps. cxix. 71. Justificntiones. 2 Ps. cxvi. 6, cxix. 71. s Ps. xliv. 20. Qui fingis dolorem in praecepto (Vulgate, labortm); E. V. " v/Wich/rameiA mischief by a law" life consume like a spider." This is the chastening! What consumes away sooner than the spider? I speak of the creature itself; though what can be more liable to " consume away " than the spider's webs? Observe too how liable to decay is the creature itself. Do but set your finger lightly upon it, and it is a ruin: there is nothing at all more easily destroyed. To such a state hast Thou brought my life, by chastening me " because of iniquity." When chastening makes us weak, there is a kind of strength that would be a fault...It was by a kind of strength that man offended, so as to require to be corrected by weakness: for it was by a certain " pride " that he offended; so as to require to be chastened by humility. All proud persons call themselves strong men. Therefore have many " come from the East and the West," and have attained "to sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of Heaven." 4 Wherefore was it that they so attained? Because they would not be strong. What is meant by " would not be strong "? They were afraid to presume of their own merits. They did not "go about to establish their own righteousness," that they might " submit themselves to the righteousness of God." 5...Behold! you are mortal; and you bear about you a body of flesh that is corrupting away: " And ye shall fall like one of the princes. Ye shall die like men," 6 and shall fall like the devil » What good does the remedial discipline of mortality do you? The devil is proud, as not having a mortal body, as being an angel. But as for you, who have received a mortal body, and to whom even this does no good, so as to humble you by so great weakness, you shall " fall like one of the princes." This then is the first grace of God's gift, to bring us to the confession of our infirmity, that whatever good we can do, whatever ability we have, we may be that in Him; that " He that glorieth, may glory in the Lord." 8 " When I am weak," saith he, " then am I strong." 9 19. " But surely every man living disquieteth himself in vain." He returns to what he mentioned a little before. Although he be improving here, yet for all that, " every man living disquieteth himself in vain; " forasmuch as he lives in a state of uncertainty. For who has any assurance even of his own goodness? " He is disquieted in vain." Let him " cast upon the Lord the burden" '° of his care; let him cast upon Him whatever causes him anxiety. " Let Him sustain thee; " let Him keep thee. For on this earth what is there that is certain, except death?
7 [Dan. x. 13. "Princes" understood of angels. Then, Isa. xiv. la. So Shaks.: " He falls like Lucifer," etc. — C] n8 [Psalm XXXIX.
n8 [Psalm XXXIX.
Consider the whole sum of all the good or the ill of this life, either those belonging to righteousness, or those belonging to unrighteousness; what is there that is certain here, except death? Have you been advancing in goodness? You know what you are to-day; what you will be to-morrow, you know not! Are you a sinner? you know what you are to-day; what you will be to-morrow, you know not! You hope for wealth; it is uncertain whether it will fall to your lot. You hope to have a wife; it is uncertain whether you will obtain one, or what sort of one you will obtain. You hope for sons: it is uncertain whether they will be born to you. Are they born? it is uncertain whether they will live: if they live, it is uncertain whether they will grow up in virtue, or whether they will fall away. Whichever way you turn, all is uncertain, death alone is certain. Art thou poor? It is uncertain whether thou wilt grow rich. Art thou unlearned? It is uncertain whether thou wilt become learned. Art thou in feeble health, it is uncertain whether thou wilt regain thy strength. Art thou born? It is certain that thou wilt die: and in this certainty of death itself, the day of thy death is uncertain. Amidst these uncertainties, where death alone is certain, while even of that the hour is uncertain, and while it alone is studiously guarded against, though at the same time it is in no way to be escaped, " every man living disquieteth himself in vain."...
20. "Hear my prayer, O Lord" (ver. 12). Whereof shall I rejoice? Whereof should I groan? I rejoice on account of what is past, I groan longing for these which are not yet come. " Hear my prayer, and give ear unto my cry. Hold not Thy peace at my tears." For do I now no longer weep, because I have already " passed by," have " left behind " so great things as these? "Do I not weep much the more?" For, " He that increaseth knowledge, increaseth sorrow." ' The more I long for what is not here, do I not so much the more groan for it until it comes? do I not so much the more weep until it comes?...21. " For I am a sojourner with Thee." But with whom am I a "sojourner"? When I was with the devil, I was a " sojourner; " but then I had a bad host and entertainer; now, however, I am with Thee; but lama" sojourner " still. What is meant by a sojourner? I am a "sojourner " in the place from which I am to remove; not in the place where I am to dwell for ever. The place where I am to abide for ever, should be rather called my home. In the place from which I am to remove I am a " sojourner; " but yet it is with my God that I am > Ecclei. i. 18.
a sojourner, with whom I am hereafter to abide, when I have reached my home. But what home is that to which you are to remove from this estate of a sojourner? Recognise that home, of which the Apostle speaks, " We have an habitation of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the Heavens." 2 If this house is eternal in the Heavens, when we have come to it, we shall not be sojourners any more. For how should you be a sojourner in an eternal home? But here, where the Master of the house is some day to say to you, " Remove," while you yourself know not when He will say it, be thou in readiness. And by longing for your eternal home, you will be keeping yourself in readiness for it. And be not angry with Him, because He gives thee notice to remove, when He Himself pleases. For He made no covenant with thee, nor did He bind Himself by any engagement; nor didst thou enter upon the tenancy of this house on a certain stipulation for a definite term: thou art to quit, when it is its Master's pleasure. For therefore is it that you now dwell there free of charge. " For I am a sojourner with Thee, and a stranger." Therefore it is there is my country: it is there is my home. " I am a sojourner with Thee, and a stranger." Here too is understood " with Thee." For many are strangers with the devil: but they who have already believed and are faithful, are, it is true, " strangers " as yet, because they have not yet come to that country and to that home: but still they are strangers with God. For so long as we are in the body, we are strangers from the Lord, and we desire, whether we are strangers, or abiding here, " we may be accepted with Him."3 I am a "sojourner with Thee; and a stranger, as all my fathers were." If then I am as all my fathers were, shall I say that I will not remove, when they have removed? Am I to lodge here on other terms, than those on which they lodged here also?...
22. "Grant me some remission, that I may be refreshed before I go hence" (ver. 13). Consider well, Idithun, consider what knots those are which thou wouldest have " loosed " unto thee, that thou mightest be " refreshed before thou goest hence." For thou hast certain fever-heats from which thou wouldest fain be refreshed, and thou sayest, " that I may be refreshed," and " grant me a remission." What should He remit, or loosen unto thee, save that difficulty under which, and in consequence of which, thou sayest, " Forgive us our debts. Grant me a remission before I go hence, and be no more." Set me free from my sins, " before I go hence," that I may not go hence with my 2 2 Cor. v. x.
3 a Cor. v. 9.
Psalm XL.]
sins. Remit them unto me, that I may be set at rest in my conscience, that it may be disburthened of its feverish anxiety, the anxiety with which " I am sorry for my sin. Grant me a remission, that I may be refreshed " (before everything else), " before I go hence, and be no more." For if thou grantest me not a " remission, that I may be refreshed," I shall " go and be no more." " Before I go " thither, where if I go, I shall thenceforth " be no more. Grant me a remission, that I may be refreshed." A question has suggested itself, how he will be no more...What is meant then by "shall be no more," unless Idithun is alluding to what is true " being," and what is not true " being." For he was beholding with the mind, with which he could do so, with the "mind's eye," by which he was able to behold it, that end, which he had desired to have shown unto him, saying, " Lord, make me to know mine end." He was beholding " the number of his. days, which truly is; " and he observed that all that is below, in comparison of that true being, has no true being.
For those things are permanent; these are subject to change; mortal, and frail, and the eternal suffering, though full of corruption, is for this very reason not to be ended, that it may ever be being ended without end. He alluded therefore to that realm of bliss, to the happy country, to the happy home, where the Saints are partakers of eternal Life, and of Truth unchangeable; and he feared to " go " where that is not, where there is no true being; longing to be there, where " Being " in the highest sense is! It is on account of this contrast then, while standing midway between them, he says, " Grant me a remission, that I may be refreshed before I go hence and be no more." For if Thou "grantest me not a remission" of my sins, I shall go from Thee unto all eternity! And from whom shall I go to all eternity? From Him who said, I am HE that Am: from Him who said, "Say unto the children of Israel, I Am hath sent me unto you." ■ He then who goes from Him, in the contrary direction, goes to non-existence...
PSALM XL.J 1. Of all those things which our Lord Jesus Christ has foretold, we know part to have been already accomplished, part we hope will be accomplished hereafter. All of them, however, will be fulfilled, because He is " the Truth " who speaks them, and requires of us to be as " faithful," as He Himself speaks them faithfully...2. Let us say then what this Psalm says. "I waited patiently for the Lord " (ver. 1). I waited patiently for the promise of no mere ' Ex.
' Lat. XXXIX.
mortal who can both deceive and be himself deceived: I waited for the consolation of no mere mortal, who may be consumed by sorrow of his own, before he gives me comfort. Should a brother mortal attempt to comfort me, when he himself is in sorrow likewise? Let us mcurn in company; let us weep together, let us " wait patiently " together, let us join our prayers together also. Whom did I wait for but for the Lord? The Lord, who though He puts off the ftifilment of His promises, yet never recalls them? He will make it good; assuredly He will make it good, because He has made many of His promises good already: and of God's truth we ought to have no fears, even if as yet He had made none of them good. Lo! let us henceforth think thus, " He has promised us everything; He has not as yet given us possession of anything; He is a sponsible Proiniser; a faithful Paymaster: do you but show yourself a dutiful exactor of what is promised; and if you be " weak," if you be one of the little ones, claim the promise of His mercy. Do you not see tender' lambs striking their dams' teats with their heads, in order that they may get their fill of milk?..." And He took heed unto me, and heard my cry." He took heed to it, and He heard it. See thou hast not waited in vain. His eyes are over thee. His ears turned towards thee. For, " the eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous, and His ears are open unto their cry." * What then? Did He not see thee, when thou usedst to do evil and to blaspheme Him? What then becomes of what is said in that very Psalm, "The face of the Lord is upon them that" do evil "? 5 But for what end? " That He may cut off the remembrance of them from the earth." Therefore, even when thou wert wicked, He " took heed of thee; " but He " took no heed to thee." 6 So then to him who " waited patiently for the Lord," it was not enough to say, " He took heed of me, He says, " He took heed to me; " that is, He took heed by comforting me, that He might do me good. What was it that He took heed to? "and He heard my cry." 3. And what hath He accomplished for thee? What hath He done for thee? " He brought me up also out of a horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings" (ver. 2). He hath given us great blessings already: and still He is our debtor; but let him who hath this part of the debt repaid already, believe that the rest will be also, seeing that he ought to have believed even before he received anything. Our Lord has employed facts themselves to persuade us, that He is a faithful promiser, a liberal giver. What then 3 Al. "very small." * Ps. xxxiv. 15.
* Ps. xxxiv. 16. E. V. " against." Lat. Vulgate, super.
6 Attendebat te; sed tton attendebat tibi.
[Psalm XL.