6 Matt. vi. 12. 5 Gal. v. 17. 9 x
Psatm CXIX.] ON THE PSALMS. 573 come from the mercy of God; nevertheless, in is found the boldness of one who trusteth in his own free will against grace. While he saith there, "so shall I not be confounded:"' he saith here, "that I be not ashamed.' The heart then of the members and the body of Christ is made unspotted, through the grace of God, by means of the very Head of that Body, that is, through Jesus Christ our Lord, by the " laver of regeneration," + wherein all our past sins have been blotted out ; through the aid of the Spirit, whereby we lust against the flesh, that we be not overcome in our fight ;$ through the efficacy of the Lord's Prayer, wherein we say, "' Forgive us our trespasses."° Thus regeneration having been given to us, our conflict having been aided, prayer having been poured forth, our heart is made unspotted, so that we be not ashamed.
this stormy and troublesome life they are the consolations of the miserable, not the joys of the blessed.
77. But since those things are destined to happen after and through these, he next saith, "O let Thy loving mercies come upon me, and I shall live" (ver. 77). For then indeed I shall truly live, when I shall not be able to fear lest I die. This is styled life absolutely and without any addition ; nor is any life save that which is everlasting and blessed understood, as though it alone were to be called life, compared with which that which we now lead ought rather to be called death than life: according to those words in the Gospel, "If thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments." ! ; 78. He then goeth on as follows: "Let the proud be confounded, for they have unrighteously practised iniquity against me: but I will be occupied in Thy commandments" (ver. 78). Behold, what he saith, the meditation of the law of God, or rather, his meditation the law of God.
Caph.
81. "My soul hath failed for Thy salvation: and I have hoped because of Thy word" (ver. 8r). Itis not every failing that should be supposed to be blameable or deserving punishment : there is also a failing that is laudable or desirable.
79. "Let such as fear Thee," he saith, " and have known Thy testimonies, be turned unto me ''? (ver. 79). But who is he who saith this? For no mortal will venture to say this, or if he say it, should be listened to. Indeed, it is He who above also hath interposed His own words, saying, "I am a partaker with all them that fear Thee." Because He was made sharer in our mortal state, that we might also become partakers in His Divine Nature, we became sharers in One unto life, He a sharer in many unto death. He it is unto whom they that fear God turn, and who know the testimonies of God, so long before predicted of Him through the Prophets, a little before displayed in His presence through miracles.
. . . For it is said of a good failing: " My soul hath a desire and failing to enter into the courts of the Lord." ® Soalso here he saith not, faileth away from Thy salvation, but " faileth for Thy salvation," that is, towards Thy salvation. This losing ground is therefore good: for it doth indicate a longing after good; not as yet indeed gained, but most eagerly and earnestly desired. But who saith this, save the chosen generation, the royal priesthood, the holy nation, the peculiar people,? longing for Christ from the origin of the human race even unto the end of this world, in the persons of those who, each in his 'own time, have lived, are living, or are to live here?
. . . The first seasons of the Church, therefore, had Saints, before the Virgin's delivery, who desired the advent of His Incarnation: but these times, since He hath ascended into heaven, have Saints who desire His manifestation to judge the quick and the dead. . . . "And I have hoped because of Thy word: " that is, of Thy promise ; a hope which causeth us to await with patience that which is not seen by those who believe. Here also the Greek hath the word éry Ameoa, which some of our translators have preferred rendering by, " hoped-more ;" since beyond doubt it will be greater than can be described.
80. "O let my heart," he saith, " be unspotted in Thy righteousnesses, that I be not ashamed"
(ver. 80). He returneth to the words of His body, that is, His holy people, and now prayeth that his heart may be made unspotted, that is, the heart of His members; "in the righteousnesses of God," not in their own strength: for He hath prayed for this, not presumed upon it. In the words he hath added, "that I be not ashamed," there is a resemblance to some of the earlier verses of this Psalm.3 Whereas there, in the words, "O that," he signifieth a wish, he hath here expressed himself in the more open words of one praying: "O let my heart be sound:" so that in neither of these two sentences, each of which is one and the same, there
82. " Mine eyes," he saith, "have failed for Thy word, saying, O when wilt Thou comfort me?" (ver. 82). Behold that praiseworthy and blessed failing, in the eyes again, but his inner eyes, not arising from infirmity of mind, but from the strength of his longing for the promise of God: for this he saith, "for Thy
I Matt. xix. 17. 2 [He says: "'In some copies, both Greek and Latin, we have found convertantur mtht, which I consider to mean just the same as if it were, ad me." —C.]
6 Matt. vi. 12. 5 Gal. v. 17. 9 x/Petsitiig: 4 Tit. iii, 5. : 8 Ps, Ixxxiv. 2. 7 Luke vi. 37, 38.
3 See vers. 5, 6.