Expositions on the Book of Psalms (continued)
Psatm CXX.] ON THE PSALMS. 589 gather them together, love them, it is still sought, and by means of the blood of its Shepherd shed and sprinkled abroad, it is found in all nations.'
salvation. . . . He then, who will ascend, first of all prayeth God against these very tongues : for he saith, "When I was in trouble, I called on the Lord; and He heard me"? (ver. 1). Why did He hear him? That He might now place him at the steps of ascent.
PSALM CXX?
1. The Psalm which we have just heard chanted, and have responded to with our voices, is short, and very profitable. Ye will not long toil in hearing, nor will ye toil fruitlessly in working. For it is, according to the title prefixed to it, ""A song of degrees."3 Degrees are either of ascent or of descent. But degrees, as they are used in this Psalm, are of ascending. . . . There are therefore both those who ascend and those who descend on that ladder. Who are they that ascend? 'They who progress towards the understanding of things spiritual. Who are they that descend? They who, although, as far as men may, they enjoy the comprehension of things spiritual: nevertheless, descend unto the infants, to say to them such things as they can receive, so that, after being nourished with milk, they may become fitted and strong enough to take spiritual meat... . 2. When therefore a man hath commenced thus to order his ascent ; to speak more plainly, when a Christian hath begun to think of spiritual amendment, he beginneth to suffer the tongues of adversaries. Whoever hath not yet suffered from them, hath not yet made progress ; whoever suffereth them not, doth not even endeavour to improve. Doth he wish to know what we mean? Let him at the same time experience what is reported of us. Let him begin to improve, let him begin to wish to ascend, to wish to despise earthly, fragile, temporal objects, to hold worldly happiness for nothing, to think of God alone, not to rejoice in gain, not to pine at losses, to wish even to sell all his substance, and distribute it among the poor, and to follow Christ; let us see how he suffereth the tongues of detractors and of constant opponents, and —a still greater peril — of pretended counsellors, who lead him astray from
3. " Deliver my soul, O Lord, from unrighteous lips, and from a deceitful tongue" (ver.2). What isa deceitfultongue? A treacherous tongue, one that hath the semblance of counsel, and the bane of real mischief. Such are those who say, And wilt thou do this, that nobody doth? Wilt thou be the only Christian? . . . Some deter by dissuasion, others discourage yet more by their praise.
For since such is the life that hath for some time been diffused over the world, so great is the authority of Christ, that not even a pagan ventureth to blame Christ.5 He who cannot be censured is read. They cannot contradict Christ, they cannot contradict the Gospel, Christ cannot be censured ; the deceitful tongue turneth itself to praise as an hindrance. If thou praisest, exhort. Why dost thou discourage with thy praise? ... Thou turnest thyself to another mode of dissuasion, that by false praise thou mayest turn me away from true praise ;° nay, that by praising Christ thou mayest keep me away from Christ, saying, What is this? Behold these men have done this: thou, perhaps, wilt not be able: thou beginnest to ascend, thou fallest. It seemeth to warn thee: it is the serpent, it is the deceitful tongue, it hath poison. Pray against it, if thou wishest to ascend.
4. And thy Lord saith unto thee, " What shall be given thee, or what shall be set before thee, against the deceitful tongue?" (ver. 3). What shall be given thee, that is, as a weapon to oppose to the deceitful tongue, to guard thyself against the deceitful tongue? 'Or what shall be set before thee ?"? He asketh to try thee: for He will answer His own question. For He answers following up his own inquiry, "' even sharp arrows of the Mighty One, with coals that desolate, or that lay waste' (ver.4). They that desolate, or that lay waste (for it is variously written in different copies), are the same, because by laying waste, as ye may observe, they easily lead unto desolation. What are these coals? First, beloved brethren, understand what are arrows. The "sharp arrows of the Mighty One," are the words of God. . . . What then are the " coals that lay waste?" It is not enough to plead with words against a deceitful tongue and unrighteous lips: it is not enough to plead with words; we must plead with examples also. . . . The word coals, then, is used to express the examples of many sinners converted to the Lord. Thou
1 (He adds: '' As far as I have been able, as far as I have been aided by the Lord, I have treated throughout, and expounded, this great Psalm,—a task which more able and learned expositors have performed or will perform better; nevertheless, my services were not to be withheld from it on that account, when my brethren earnestly required it of me, to whom I owed this office. That I have said nothing of the Hebrew alphabet, in which every eight verses are ranged under a particular letter, and the whole Psalm arranged in this manner, let no one wonder, since I found nothing that related especially to this Psalm: for it is not the only one which hath these letters. Let those who cannot find it in the Latin and Greek versions, since it is not adopted there, know that every set of eight verses in the Hebrew copies beginneth with that letter which is prefixed to them; as is indicated to us by those who are acquainted with the Hebrew tongue. This is done with much more care than our writers have shown in their Latin or Punic compositions of Psalms which they style abecedariz. For they do not begin all the verses down to the close of a period, but the first only with the same letter which they prefix to it." It was the counsel of the learned general editor to drop this Psalm entirely. |For the sake of preserving the symmetry of the work, I have retained as much as I could. —C.
J 5 6 [The stratagem of those who glorify Jesus as a man, to deny 5 rene: —C.
2 Lat. CXIX. 3 In Greek it is written ava Baduav. 4 Gen. xxvili. 12.
His true character as Christ. —C.]