The Enarrations, or Expositions, on the Psalms

^6. Therefore “the Lord does strengthen the righteous.” In what way does He strengthen them? “The Lord knows the ways of the spotless ones”. When they suffer ills, they are believed to be walking ill ways by those who are ignorant, by those who have not knowledge to discern “the ways of the spotless ones.” He who “knows those ways,” knows by what way to lead His own, “them that are gentle,” in the right way. Whence in another Psalm he said, “The meek shall He guide in judgment; them that are gentle will He teach His way.” How, think you, was that beggar, who lay covered with sores before the rich man's door, spurned by the passers by! How did they, probably, close their nostrils and spit at him! The Lord, however, knew how to reserve Paradise for him. How did they, on the other hand, desire for themselves the life of him who was “clad in purple and fine linen, and fared sumptuously every day!” But the Lord, who foresaw that man's “day coming,” knew the torments, the torments without end, that were in store for him. Therefore “The Lord knows the ways of the upright.”

7. “And their inheritance shall be for ever”. This we hold by faith. Does the Lord too know it by faith? The Lord knows those things with as clear a manifestation, as we cannot speak of even when we shall be made equal to the Angels. For the things that shall be manifest to us, shall not be equally manifest to us as they are now to Him, who is incapable of change. Yet even of us ourselves what is said? “Beloved, now are we the sons of God: and it does not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when He shall appear, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.” There is therefore surely some blissful vision reserved for us; and if it can be now in some measure conceived, “darkly and through a glass,” yet cannot we in any way express in language the ravishing beauty of that bliss, which God reserves for them that fear Him, which He consummates in those that hope in Him. It is for that destination that our hearts are being disciplined in all the troubles and trials of this life. Wonder not that it is in trouble that you are disciplined for it. It is for something glorious that you are being disciplined. Whence comes that speech of the now strengthened righteous man: “The sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared to the glory which shall be revealed in us”? What is that promised glory to be, but to be made equal to the Angels and to see God? How great a benefit does he bestow on the blind man, who makes his eyes sound so as to be able to see the light of this life....What reward then shall we give unto that Physician who restores soundness to our inward eyes, to enable them to see a certain eternal Light, which is Himself?...

8. “They shall not be ashamed in the evil time”. In the day of trouble, in the day of distress, they shall not be “ashamed,” as he is ashamed whose hope deceives him. Who is the man that is “ashamed”? He who says, “I have not found that which I was in hopes of.” Nor undeservedly either; for you hoped it from yourself or from man, your friend. But “cursed is he that puts his trust in man.” You are ashamed, because your hope has deceived you; your hope that was set on a lie. For “every man is a liar.” But if you dost place your hopes on your God, you are not made “ashamed.” For He in whom you have put your trust, cannot be deceived. Whence also the man whom we mentioned just above, the now “strengthened” righteous man, when fallen on an evil time, on the day of tribulation, what says he to show that he was not “ashamed”? “We glory in tribulation; knowing that tribulation works patience, and patience experience, and experience hope; but hope makes not ashamed.” Whence is it that hope “makes not ashamed”? Because it is placed on God. Therefore follows immediately, “Because the love of God is spread in our hearts by the Holy Spirit, which is given unto us.” The Holy Spirit has been given to us already: how should He deceive us, of whom we possess such an “earnest” already? “They shall not be ashamed in the evil time, and in the days of famine they shall be satisfied.”...

9. “For the wicked shall perish. But the enemies of the Lord, when they shall begin to glory, and to be lifted up, immediately shall consume away utterly, even as the smoke”. Recognise from the comparison itself the thing which he intimates. Smoke, breaking forth from the place where fire has been, rises up on high, and by the very act of rising up, it swells into a large volume: but the larger that volume is, the more unsubstantial does it become; for from that very largeness of volume, which has no foundation or consistency, but is merely loose, shifting and evanescent, it passes into air, and dissolves; so that you perceive its very largeness to have been fatal to it. For the higher it ascends, the farther it is extended, the wider the circumference which it spreads itself over, the thinner, and the more rare and wasting and evanescent does it become. “But the enemies of the Lord, when they shall begin to glory, and to be lifted up, immediately shall consume away utterly even as the smoke.” Of such as these was it said, “As Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses, so do these also resist the Truth; men of corrupt minds, reprobate concerning the faith.” But how is it that they resist the Truth, except by the vain inflation of their swelling pride, while they raise themselves up on high, as if great and righteous persons, though on the point of passing away into empty air? But what says he of them? As if speaking of smoke, he says, “They shall proceed no farther, for their folly shall be manifest unto all men, even as theirs also was.”...

10. “The wicked borrows, and pays not again”. He receives, and will not repay. What is it he will not repay? Thanksgiving. For what is it that God would have of you, what does He require of you, except that He may do you good? And how great are the benefits which the sinner has received, and which he will not repay! He has received the gift of being; he has received the gift of being a man; and of a being highly distinguished above the brutes; he has received the form of a body, and the distinction of the senses in the body, eyes for seeing, ears for hearing, the nostrils for smelling, the palate for tasting, the hands for touching, and the feet for walking; and even the very health and soundness of the body. But up to this point we have these things in common even with the brute; he has received yet more than this; a mind capable of understanding, capable of Truth, capable of distinguishing right from wrong; capable of seeking after, of longing for, its Creator, of praising Him, and fixing itself upon Him. All this the wicked man has received as well as others; but by not living well, he fails to repay that which he owes. Thus it is, “the wicked borrows, and pays not again:” he will not requite Him from whom he has received; he will not return thanks; nay, he will even render evil for good, blasphemies, murmuring against God, indignation. Thus it is that he “borrows, and pays not again; but the righteous shows mercy, and lends”. The one therefore has nothing; the other has. See, on the one side, destitution: see, on the other, wealth. The one receives and “pays not again:” the “other shows mercy, and lends:” and he has 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 you look at the empty chest; but dost not look at the conscience, that is full of God....