Expositions on the Book of Psalms (continued)
Psatm CXL] ON THE PSALMS. 641 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 s2parated into vessels, and the bad thrown away? Ye know this already ; but these verses cf this Psalm ye did not understand: that which ye did not understand is explained; that which ye knew has been renewed.
lest perchance thou shouldest think that any unrighteous man could be a good man. For many unrighteous 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. . . . 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. For, brethren, even thorns prick not with their roots. Pull 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 carrfal pleasure, followers of polluted lusts, let them not please you. Though as yet they seem gentle, they are roots of thorns. . . . 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 unrighteous man."
PSALM. CXL."
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 doth not profit, for "all have not faith? <3.
2. What this Psalm containeth, I believe that ye perceived when it was being chanted ;' for therein the Church of Christ, set in the midst of the wicked, complaineth and groaneth, and poureth out prayer to God. For her voice is in every such prophecy the voice of one in need and want, not yet satisfied, "'hungering and thirsting after righteousness," 3 for whom a certain fulness in the end hath been promised, and isiveserved. | S-4 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 himself. For "Christ is the end." 4 . . . 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.
5. 'Who have imagined unrighteousnesses in their heart" (ver. 2). . . . 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 and manifest, while iniquity is in his lips as well as his 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. "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
4. "Deliver me, O Lord, from the wicked man" (ver. 1). Not from one only, but from the class; not from the vessels only, but from their prince himself, that is, the devil. Why "from man," if he meaneth from the devil? Because he too is called a man in a figure.5. . Now then being made light, not in ourselves, but in the Lord,® let us pray not only against darkness, 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 unrighteous man." The same as "from the wicked man." For he called him wicked because unrighteous, 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. "They have sharpened their tongues like serpents" (ver. 3). If
1 Lat. CKX XIX. Sermon to the people, in the presence of an assembly of bishops.
still thou seekest to make out the man, behold a comparison. In the serpent above all beasts is
2 x Thess. ili, 2. 5 Matt. xiii, 24-28. 3 Matt. v. 6. 4 Rom. x. 4. © Eph, v. 8.