Expositions on the Book of Psalms
PsaLM XXXVII] ON THE PSALMS. 97 its Creator, of praising Him, and fixing itself upon Him. All this the wicked man hath "received as well as others ; but by not living well, he fails to repay that which he owes. Thus it is, 'the wicked borroweth, and payeth not again:"' he will not requite Him from whom he hath received ; he will not return thanks ; nay, he will even render evil for good, blasphemies, murmuring against God, indignation. 'Thus it is that he " borrow- 'eth, and payeth not again ; but the righteous show-
Consider Him in what He hath done, He is God ! Consider Him in what He hath suffered, He is Man! Who is that God-Man? Hadst not thou, O man, forsaken God, God would not have been made Man for thee! For that was too little for thee to requite, or for Him to bestow, that He had made thee man; unless He Himself should become Man for thee also. For it is He Himself that hath "ordered our steps;" that we should "delight in His way."
eth mercy, and lendeth" (ver. 21). The one therefore hath nothing ; the other hath. See, on the one side, destitution : see, on the other, wealth. The one receiveth and " payeth not again:"' the "other showeth mercy, and lendeth:"' and he hath more than enough. What if he is poor? Even so he is rich ; do you but look at his riches with the eyes of Religion. For thou lookest at the empty chest ; but dost not look at the conscience, that is full of God. . 11. " For such as shall bless Him! shall inherit the land" (ver. 23), that is,? they shall possess that righteous One: the only One who both is truly righteous, and maketh righteous: who both was poor in this world, and brought great riches to it, wherewith to make those rich whom He found poor. For it is He who hath enriched the hearts of the poor with the Holy Spirit ; and having emptied out their souls by confession of sins, hath filled them with the richness of righteousness: He who was able to enrich the fisherman, who, by forsaking his nets, spurned what he possessed already, but sought to draw up what he possessed not. For "God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty." 3 And it was not by an orator that He gained to Himself the fisherman ; but by the fisherman that He gained to Himself the orator ; by the fisherman that He gained the Senator ; by the fisherman that He gained the Emperor. For 'such as shall bless Him shall inherit the land ;" they shall be fellow-heirs with Him, in that "land of the living," of which it is said in another Psalm, "Thou art my hope, my portion in the land of the'living.""4 14.7.
13. Now if man were to be through the whole of his life in toil, and in sufferings, in pain, in tortures, in prison, in scourgings, in hunger, and in thirst, every day and every hour through the whole length of life, to the period of old age, yet the whole life of man is but a few days. That labour being over, there is to come the Eternal Kingdom; there is to come
' happiness without end ; there is to come equality with the Angels; there is to come Christ's inheritance, and Christ, our "joint Heir,''5 is to come. How great is the labour, for which thou receivest so great a recompense? The Veterans who serve in the wars, and move in the midst of wounds for so many years, enter upon the military service from their youth, and quit it in old age :-and to obtain a few days of repose in their old age, when age itself begins to weigh down those whom the wars do not break down, how great hardships do they endure ; what marches, what frosts, what burning suns ; what privations, what wounds, and what dangers! And while suffering all these things, they fix their thoughts on nothing but those few days of repose in old age, at which they know not whether they will ever arrive. Thus it is, the "steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord, and he delighteth in His way." This is the point with which I commenced. If thou dost "delight in the way" of Christ, and art truly a Christian (for he is a Christian indeed who does not despise the way of Christ, but " delighteth in" following Christ's "way" through His sufferings), do not thou go by any other way than that by which He Himself hath also gone. It appears painful, but it is the very way of safety ; another perhaps is delightful, but it is full of robbers. 'And he delighteth in His way."
12. Observe what follows: "The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord; and he delighteth in His way" (ver. 23). That man may himself "delight in the Lord's way," his steps are ordered by the Lord Himself. For if the Lord did not order the steps of man, so crooked are they naturally, that they would always be going through crooked paths, and by pursuing crooked ways, would be unable to return again. He however came, and called us, and redeemed us, and
14. "Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down; for the Lord upholdeth his. hand"
(ver. 24). See what it is "to delight in" Christ's "way." Should it happen that he suffers some tribulation ; some forfeiture of honour, some affliction, some loss, some contumely, or all those other accidents incident to mankind frequently in this life, he sets the Lord before him, what kind of trials He endured! and, "though he fall he shall not be utterly cast down, for the shed His blood; He hath given this ransom ; He hath done this good, and suffered these evils.
1 FE. V. such as be blessed." 2 Scilicet, Ben. Conj. for szcut. 4 Ps, cxlii. 5. 3 x Cor. i. 27.
5 Rom. viii. 17.