Psalms 128 commentary

Only those who are truly holy, are truly happy. In vain do we pretend to be of those that fear God, if we do not make conscience of keeping stedfastly to his ways. Blessed is every one that fears the Lord; whether he be high or low, rich or poor in the world. If thou fear him and walk in his ways, all shall be well with thee while thou livest, better when thou diest, best of all in eternity. By the blessing of God, the godly shall get an honest livelihood. Here is a double promise; they shall have something to do, for an idle life is a miserable, uncomfortable life, and shall have health and strength, and power of mind to do it. They shall not be forced to live upon the labours of other people. It is as much a mercy as a duty, with quietness to work and eat our own bread. They and theirs shall enjoy what they get. Such as fear the Lord and walk in his ways, are the only happy persons, whatever their station in life may be. They shall have abundant comfort in their family relations. And they shall have all the good things God has promised, and which they pray for. A good man can have little comfort in seeing his children's children, unless he sees peace upon Israel. Every true believer rejoices in the prosperity of the church. Hereafter we shall see greater things, with the everlasting peace and rest that remain for the Israel of God.

PSALM 128

This Psalm is akin to the preceding, and, so to speak, a kind of appendage to it; for it declares that the divine blessing, to the diffusion of which among the whole human race Solomon testified, is to be seen most conspicuously in the ease of God’s true and sincere servants.

A Song of Degrees.

Psalm 128:1-3

1. Blessed is the man who feareth Jehovah, and walketh in his ways. 2. For when thou shalt eat the labor of thy hands, thou shalt be blessed, and it shall be well with thee. 3. Thy wife shall be as a fruitful vine on the sides of thy house, and thy children as olive plants around thy table. “The tables of the Jews, as we may hence (and from 1 Samuel 16:11) infer, were round: they had sobs (Ezekiel 23:41) placed about them, on which (Genesis 27:19; Judges 10:6; 1 Samuel 2:5, 24, 25; 1 Kings 13:20) they sat, excepting at the Paschal feast.” — Cresswell. In the Illustrated Commentary upon the Bible, the writer on this passage objects to the common reading — Fruitful vine by the sides of thine house. olive-plants round about thy table. “We do not remember,” says he, “to have met with a single instance in the East of vines trained against the walls of a house, or of olives near or about a house. Neither have we read of such instances. The passage doubtless derives its figures from the fertility of the vine, and from the appearance of the olive, or the order in which olive-trees are planted.” He accordingly proposes the following construction — “Thy wife, on the sides (interior apartments) of thy house, shall be as the fruitful vine; and thy children, round about thy table, like olive-plants.”

1 Blessed is the man who feareth Jehovah. In the preceding Psalm it was stated that prosperity in all human affairs, and in the whole course of our life, is to be hoped for exclusively from the grace of God; and now the Prophet admonishes us that those who desire to be partakers of the blessing of God must with sincerity of heart devote themselves wholly to him; for he will never disappoint those who serve him. The first verse contains a summary of the subject-matter of the Psalm; the remaining portion being added only by way of exposition. The maxim “that those are blessed who fear God, especially in the present life,” is so much with variance with the common opinion of men, that very few will give it their assent. Everywhere are to be found fluttering about many Epicureans, similar to Dionysius, who, having once had a favorable wind upon the sea and a prosperous voyage, after having plundered a temple, “Lequel true fois ayant bon vent sur mer, et la navigation prospore apres avoir pille une temple.” — Fr. boasted that the gods favored church robbers. Also the weak are troubled and shaken by the prosperity of evil men, and they next faint under the load of their own miseries. The despisers of God may not indeed enjoy prosperity, and the condition of good men may be tolerable, but still the greater part of men are blind in considering the providence of God, or seem not in any degree to perceive it. The adage, “That it is best not to be born at all, or to die as soon as possible,” has certainly been long since received by the common consent of almost all men. Finally, carnal reason judges either that all mankind without exception are miserable, or that fortune is more favorable to ungodly and wicked men than to the good. To the sentiment that those are blessed who fear the Lord, it has an entire aversion, as I have declared at length on Psalm 37. So much the more requisite then is it to dwell upon the consideration of this truth. Farther, as this blessedness is not apparent to the eye, it is of importance, in order to our being able to apprehend it., first to attend to the definition which will ]be given of it by and bye, and secondly, to know that it depends chiefly upon the protection of God. Although we collect together all the circumstances which seem to contribute to a happy life, surely nothing will be found more desirable than to be kept hidden under the guardianship of God. If this blessing is, in our estimation, to be preferred, as it deserves, to all other good things, whoever is persuaded that the care of God is exercised about the world and human affairs, will at the same time unquestionably acknowledge that what is here laid down is the chief point of happiness.

But before I proceed farther, it is to be noticed that in the second part of the verse there is with good reason added a mark by which the servants of God are distinguished from those who despise him. We see how the most depraved, with no less pride than audacity and mockery, boast of fearing God. The Prophet therefore requires the attestation of the life as to this; for these two things, the fear of God and the keeping of his law, are inseparable; and the root must necessarily produce its corresponding fruit. Farther, we learn from this passage that our life does not meet with the divine approbation, except it be framed according to the divine law. There is unquestionably no religion without the fear of God, and from this fear the Prophet represents our living according to the commandment and ordinance of God as proceeding.

PSALM 128

Psa 128:1-6. The temporal blessings of true piety. The eighth chapter of Zecariah is a virtual commentary on this Psalm. Compare Psa 128:3 with Zec 8:5; and Psa 128:2 with Le 26:16; De 28:33; Zec 8:10; and Psa 128:6

with Zec 8:4.

1. (Compare Psa 1:1).

2. For thou shalt eat--that is, It is a blessing to live on the fruits of one's own industry.

3. by the sides--or, "within" (Psa 48:2).

olive plants--are peculiarly luxuriant (Psa 52:8).

5. In temporal blessings the pious do not forget the richer blessings of God's grace, which they shall ever enjoy.

6. Long life crowns all other temporal favors. As Psa 125:5, this Psalm closes with a prayer for peace, with prosperity for God's people.

Those shalt eat the labor of thine hands - Thou shalt not be exempted from labor. Thou shalt work: But God will bless and prosper that work, and thou and thy family shall eat of it. Ye shall all live on the produce of your own labor, and the hand of violence shall not be permitted to deprive you of it. Thus,

Happy shalt thou be, and it shall be well with thee - Thou shalt have prosperity.

Thy wife shall be as a fruitful vine - Thy children, in every corner and apartment of thy house, shall be the evidences of the fruitfulness of thy wife, as bunches of grapes on every bough of the vine are the proofs of its being in a healthy thriving state. Being about the house sides, or apartments, is spoken of the wife, not the vine; being around the table is spoken of the children, not of the olive-plants. It does not appear that there were any vines planted against the walls of the houses in Jerusalem, nor any olive-trees in pots or tubs in the inside of their houses; as may be found in different parts of Europe.

Thus shall the man be blessed that feareth the Lord - A great price for a small consideration. Fear God, and thou shalt have as much domestic good as may be useful to thee.

The Lord shall bless thee out of Zion - In all thy approaches to him in his house by prayer, by sacrifice, and by offering, thou shalt have his especial blessing. Thou shalt thrive every where, and in all things.

And thou shalt see the good of Jerusalem - Thou shalt see the cause of God flourish in thy lifetime, and his Church in great prosperity.

Yea, thou shalt see thy children's children - Thou shall not die till thou have seen thy family all settled in the world, and those of them who may be married blessed with children.

And peace upon Israel - This is the same conclusion as in Psa 125:1-5; and should be translated, Peace be upon Israel! May God favor his own cause, and bless all his people!

Olive - plants - Numerous, growing and flourishing.

2 For thou shalt eat the labour of thine hands : happy shalt thou be, and it shall be well with thee .

Thy labour shall not be vain and fruitless, and the fruit of thy labours shall not be taken away from thee and possessed by others, as God threatned to the disobedient, Deut. 28. but enjoyed by thy self with comfort and satisfaction.

Both in this world and in the world to come, as even the Chaldee Paraphrast explains these words.

Marginal references: Isai. 3. 10.

3 Thy wife shall be as a fruitful vine by the sides of thine house : thy children like oliveplants round about thy table .

Like the vine for fruitfulness: or, like that sort of vines known by this name for its eminent fruitfulness, as some trees amongst us are for the same reason called the great bearers.

Where the vines are commonly planted for support and other advantages. Which being applied to the wife, may signifie either, 1. the wife's duty to abide at home, Tit. 2. 5. as the harlot is deciphered by her gadding abroad, Prov. 7. 11, 12. or rather, 2. the legitimateness of the children, which are begotten at home by the husband, and not abroad by strangers.

Numerous, growing and flourishing, good both for ornament and manifold uses, as Olive-trees are.

Where they shall sit at meat with thee, for thy comfort and safety.

5 The LORD shall bless thee out of Zion : and thou shalt see the good of Jerusalem , all the days of thy life.

From the Ark in Zion, and with those spiritual and everlasting blessings which are to be had no where but in Zion and from the God who dwelleth in Zion, and with all other mercies which thou shalt ask of God in Zion.

The prosperity of that City to which thou belongest, and which is the onely seat of Gods special presence and of his Worship, whose felicity therefore is very delightful to every good man, and upon whose peace the peace and safety of every member of it depends, as every seaman is concerned in the safety of the ship, in which he is.

6 Yea, thou shalt see thy childrens children, and peace upon Israel .

Not onely upon Ierusalem and the parts adjacent, but upon all the Tribes and people of Israel.

Marginal references: Psal. 125. 5.

The Family Prosperity of the God-Fearing Man

Just as Psa 127:1-5 is appended to Psa 126:1-6 because the fact that Israel was so surprised by the redemption out of exile that they thought they were dreaming, finds its interpretation in the universal truth that God bestows upon him whom He loves, in sleep, that which others are not able to acquire by toiling and moiling the day and night: so Psa 128:1-6 follows Psa 127:1-5 for the same reason as Psa 2:1-12 follows Psa 1:1-6. In both instances they are Psalms placed together, of which one begins with ashrê and one ends with ashrê . In other respects Psa 128:1-6 and Psa 127:1-5 supplement one another. They are related to one another much as the New Testament parables of the treasure in the field and the one pearl are related. That which makes man happy is represented in Psa 127:1-5 as a gift coming as a blessing, and in Psa 128:1-6 as a reward coming as a blessing, that which is briefly indicated in the word שׂכר in Psa 127:3 being here expanded and unfolded. There it appears as a gift of grace in contrast to the God-estranged self-activity of man, here as a fruit of the ora et labora. Ewald considers this and the preceding Psalm to be songs to be sung at table. But they are ill-suited for this purpose; for they contain personal mirrorings instead of petitions, and instead of benedictions of those who are about to partake of the food provided.

Psa 128:1-3

The כּי in Psa 128:2 signifies neither “for” (Aquila, κόπον τῶν ταρσῶν σου ὅτι φάγεσαι), nor “when” (Symmachus, κόπον χειρῶν σου ἐωθίων); it is the directly affirmative כּי, which is sometimes thus placed after other words in a clause (Psa 118:10-12, Gen 18:20; Gen 41:32). The proof in favour of this asseverating כּי is the very usual כּי עתּה in the apodoses of hypothetical protases, or even כּי־אז in Job 11:15, or also only כּי in Isa 7:9, 1Sa 14:39; “surely then;” the transition from the confirmative to the affirmative signification is evident from Psa 128:4 of the Psalm before us. To support one’s self by one’s own labour is a duty which even a Paul did not wish to avoid (Act 20:34), and so it is a great good fortune (טוב לך as in Psa 119:71) to eat the produce of the labour of one’s own hands (lxx , τοὺς καρποὺς τῶν πόνων, or according to an original reading, τοὺς πὸνους τῶν καρπῶν);The fact that the τῶν καρπῶν of the lxx here, as in Pro 31:20, is intended to refer to the hands is noted by Theodoret and also by Didymus (in Rosenmuller): καρποὺς φησὶνῦν ὡς ἀπὸ μέρους τὰς χεῖρας (i.e., per synecdochen partis pro toto), τουτέστι τῶν πρακτικῶν σου δυνάμεων φάγεσαι τοὺς πόνους.

For he who can make himself useful to others and still is also independent of them, he eats the bread of blessing which God gives, which is sweeter than the bread of charity which men give. In close connection with this is the prosperity of a house that is at peace and contented within itself, of an amiable and tranquil and hopeful (rich in hope) family life. “Thy wife (אשׁתּך, found only here, for אשׁתּך) is as a fruit-producing vine.” פּריּה for פּרה, from פּרה = פּרי, with the Jod of the root retained, like בוכיּה, Lam 1:16. The figure of the vine is admirably suited to the wife, who is a shoot or sprig of the husband, and stands in need of the man’s support as the vine needs a stick or the wall of a house (pergula). בּירכּתי ביתך does not belong to the figure, as Kimchi is of opinion, who thinks of a vine starting out of the room and climbing up in the open air outside. What is meant is the angle, corner, or nook (ירכּתי, in relation to things and artificial, equivalent to the natural ירכי), i.e., the background, the privacy of the house, where the housewife, who is not to be seen much out of doors, leads a quiet life, entirely devoted to the happiness of her husband and her family. The children springing from such a nobel vine, planted around the family table, are like olive shoots or cuttings; cf. in Euripides, Medea, 1098: τέκνων ἐν οἴκοις γλυκερὸν βλάστημα, and Herc. Fur. 839: καλλίπαις στέφανος. thus fresh as young layered small olive-trees and thus promising are they.

Psa 128:4-6

Pointing back to this charming picture of family life, the poet goes on to say: behold, for thus = behold, thus is the man actually blessed who fears Jahve. כּי confirms the reality of the matter of fact to which the הנּה points. The promissory future in Psa 128:5 is followed by imperatives which call upon the God-fearing man at once to do that which, in accordance with the promises, stands before him as certain. מציּון as in Psa 134:3; Psa 20:3. בּנים לבניך instead of בּני בניך gives a designed indefiniteness to the first member of the combination. Every blessing the individual enjoys comes from the God of salvation, who has taken up His abode in Zion, and is perfected in participation in the prosperity of the holy city and of the whole church, of which it is the centre. A New Testament song would here open up the prospect of the heavenly Jerusalem. But the character of limitation to this present world that is stamped upon the Old Testament does not admit of this. The promise refers only to a present participation in the well-being of Jerusalem (Zec 8:15) and to long life prolonged in one’s children’s children; and in this sense calls down intercessorily peace upon Israel in all its members, and in all places and all ages.

Blessedness of the Godly.

1 Blessed is every one that feareth the Lord ; that walketh in his ways. 2 For thou shalt eat the labour of thine hands: happy shalt thou be, and it shall be well with thee. 3 Thy wife shall be as a fruitful vine by the sides of thine house: thy children like olive plants round about thy table. 4 Behold, that thus shall the man be blessed that feareth the Lord . 5 The Lord shall bless thee out of Zion: and thou shalt see the good of Jerusalem all the days of thy life. 6 Yea, thou shalt see thy children's children, and peace upon Israel.

It is here shown that godliness has the promise of the life that now is and of that which is to come.

I. It is here again and again laid down as an undoubted truth that those who are truly holy are truly happy. Those whose blessed state we are here assured of are such as fear the Lord and walk in his ways, such as have a deep reverence of God upon their spirits and evidence it by a regular and constant conformity to his will. Where the fear of God is a commanding principle in the heart the tenour of the conversation will be accordingly; and in vain do we pretend to be of those that fear God if we do not make conscience both of keeping to his ways and not trifling in them or drawing back. Such are blessed (v. 1), and shall be blessed, v. 4. God blesses them, and his pronouncing them blessed makes them so. They are blessed now, they shall be blessed still, and for ever. This blessedness, arising from this blessing, is here secured, 1. To all the saints universally: Blessed is everyone that fears the Lord, whoever he be; in every nation he that fears God and works righteousness is accepted of him, and therefore is blessed whether he be high or low, rich or poor, in the world; if religion rule him, it will protect and enrich him. 2. To such a saint in particular: Thus shall the man be blessed, not only the nation, the church in its public capacity, but the particular person in his private interests. 3. We are encouraged to apply it to ourselves (v. 2): "Happy shalt thou be; thou mayest take the comfort of the promise, and expect the benefit of it, as if it were directed to thee by name, if thou fear God and walk in his ways. Happy shalt thou be, that is, It shall be well with thee; whatever befals thee, good shall be brought out of it; it shall be well with thee while thou livest, better when thou diest, and best of all to eternity." It is asserted (v. 4) with a note commanding attention: Behold, thus shall the man be blessed; behold it by faith in the promise; behold it by observation in the performance of the promise; behold it with assurance that it shall be so, for God is faithful, and with admiration that it should be so, for we merit no favour, no blessing, from him.

II. Particular promises are here made to godly people, which they may depend upon, as far as is for God's glory and their good; and that is enough.

1. That, by the blessing of God, they shall get an honest livelihood and live comfortably upon it. It is not promised that they shall live at ease, without care or pains, but, Thou shalt eat the labour of thy hands. Here is a double promise, (1.) That they shall have something to do (for an idle life is a miserable uncomfortable life) and shall have health, and strength, and capacity of mind to do it, and shall not be forced to be beholden to others for necessary food, and to live, as the disabled poor do, upon the labours of other people. It is as much a mercy as it is a duty with quietness to work and eat our own bread, 2 Thess. 3.12. (2.) That they shall succeed in their employments, and they and theirs shall enjoy what they get; others shall not come and eat the bread out of their mouths, nor shall it be taken from them either by oppressive rulers or invading enemies. God will not blast it and blow upon it (as he did, Hag. 1.9), and his blessing will make a little go a great way. It is very pleasant to enjoy the fruits of our own industry; as the sleep, so the food, of a labouring man is sweet.

2. That they shall have abundance of comfort in their family-relations. As a wife and children are very much a man's care, so, if by the grace of God they are such as they should be, they are very much a man's delight, as much as any creature-comfort. (1.) The wife shall be as a vine by the sides of the house, not only as a spreading vine which serves for an ornament, but as a fruitful vine which is for profit, and with the fruit whereof both God and man are honoured, Judg. ix. 13. The vine is a weak and tender plant, and needs to be supported and cherished, but it is a very valuable plant, and some think (because all the products of it were prohibited to the Nazarites) it was the tree of knowledge itself. The wife's place is the husband's house; there her business lies, and that is her castle. Where is Sarah thy wife? Behold, in the tent; where should she be else? Her place is by the sides of the house, not under-foot to be trampled on, nor yet upon the house-top to domineer (if she be so, she is but as the grass upon the house-top, in the next psalm), but on the side of the house, being a rib out of the side of the man. She shall be a loving wife, as the vine, which cleaves to the house-side, an obedient wife, as the vine, which is pliable, and grows as it is directed. She shall be fruitful as the vine, not only in children, but in the fruits of wisdom, and righteousness, and good management, the branches of which run over the wall (Gen. xlix. 22; Ps. lxxx. 11), like a fruitful vine, not cumbering the ground, nor bringing forth sour grapes, or grapes of Sodom, but good fruit. (2.) The children shall be as olive plants, likely in time to be olive-trees, and, though wild by nature, yet grafted into the good olive, and partaking of its root and fatness, Rom. xi. 17. It is pleasant to parents who have a table spread, though but with ordinary fare, to see their children round about it, to have many children, enough to surround it, and those with them, and not scattered, or the parents forced from them. Job makes it one of the first instances of his former prosperity that his children were about him, Job xxix. 5. Parents love to have their children at table, to keep up the pleasantness of the table-talk, to have them in health, craving food and not physic, to have them like olive-plants, straight and green, sucking in the sap of their good education, and likely in due time to be serviceable.

3. That they shall have those things which God has promised and which they pray for: The Lord shall bless thee out of Zion, where the ark of the covenant was, and where the pious Israelites attended with their devotions. Blessings out of Zion are the best-blessings, which flow, not from common providence, but from special grace, Ps. xx. 2.

4. That they shall live long, to enjoy the comforts of the rising generations: "Thou shalt see thy children's children, as Joseph, Gen. l. 23. Thy family shall be built up and continued, and thou shalt have the pleasure of seeing it." Children's children, if they be good children, are the crown of old men (Prov. xvii. 6), who are apt to be fond of their grandchildren.

5. That they shall see the welfare of God's church, and the land of their nativity, which every man who fears God is no less concerned for than for the prosperity of his own family. "Thou shalt be blessed in Zion's blessing, and wilt think thyself so. Thou shalt see the good of Jerusalem as long as thou shalt live, though thou shouldest live long, and shalt not have thy private comforts allayed and embittered by public troubles." A good man can have little comfort in seeing his children's children, unless withal he see peace upon Israel, and have hopes of transmitting the entail of religion pure and entire to those that shall come after him, for that is the best inheritance.

PSAL. CXXVIII.

A Song of degrees.

O Happy is every one that feareth Iehovah, that walketh in his wayes. When thou shalt eat the labour of thy hands, O happy thou, and good shall it be unto thee. Thy wife shall be as a fruitfull Vine by the sides of thine house, thy sonnes as Olive plants round about thy Table. Lo[illegible: 1 letter] surely thus shall the man be blessed that feareth Iehovah. Blesse thee will Iehovah out of Sion, and see thou the good of Ierusalem, all the dayes of thy life. And see thou thy sonnes sonnes, peace upon Israel.

Annotations. O Happy] or Blessed: as Psal. 1. 1. Vers. 2. When thou] or, For (surely) thou shalt eat. the labour] that is, things got with labour, according to the Law, Gen. 3. 19. and this is of Gods hand, Eccle. 2. 24. the contrary whereof is a curse, Deut. 28. 30, 31, 33. good] profitable, and pleasing, as Deut. 23. 16. The Chaldee explaineth it, Happy thou in this world, and good (shall it be) unto thee in the world to come. Vers. 3. fruitfull] or, fructifying: see also this similitude, Ezek. 19. 10. Gen. 49. 22. Olive plants] alwayes greene, Psal. 52. 10. and legitimate, as the Olive admitteth no other graffe. Vers. 5. will Iehovah] or, prayer-wise (as the Greeke hath it) Iehovah blesse thee. see thou] or, thou shalt see, that is, enjoy: looke the Notes on Psal. 27. 4. and 37. 3. the good] that is, the good things, as the Greeke hath it: see Psal. 65. 5. Vers. 6. thy sonnes sonnes] or, sonnes to (or of) thy sonnes. See this fulfilled in Iob 42. 16. where Iob saw his sonnes, and his sonnes sonnes, even foure generations.

PSAL. CXXVIII.

VErſ. 1 Bleſſed is every one that feareth the Lord] This Pſalm is fitly ſubjoyned to the former, and it is, [non-Latin text not transcribed], a kind of wedding-ſermon, written for the inſtruction and comfort of married couples, and ſhewing that Conjugium humanae eſt divina Academia vitae. And it is to bee obſerved, that here all men are ſpoken to as wedded; becauſe this is the ordinary eſtate of moſt people. See 1 Cor. 7.1, 2. At this day, every Jew is bound to marry about eighteen years of age or before twenty; elſe hee is accounted as one that liveth in ſin; and how the Popiſh clergy, profeſſing continency, have turned all places into ſo many Sodoms, who knoweth not?

And walketh in his wayes] The true reverentiall fear of God will eaſily form the heart to a right obedience. They that fear the Lord will keep his Covenant, Pſal. 103.13. with 18. and therefore was the Law delivered at firſt in that terrible manner.

Verſ. 2 For thou ſhalt eat the labour of thy hands] That is, thou ſhalt reap and receive the ſweet of thy ſweat; whether it bee of the brow, or of the brain, according to the kind of thy calling.Iſa. 57.10. And although thou bee forced to, live by the labour of thine hands (whence mans life is called the life of his hands) yet that ſhall bee no hinderance to thy happineſs, but a furtherance of thine account.

Happy ſhalt thou bee, and O ſhall bee [illegible: 1 word] with thee] The Chaldee thus expoundeth it, Happy thou in this World; and good ſhall it bee unto thee in the World to come.

Verſ. 3 Thy Wife ſhall bee as a fruitfull vine] Full of bunches and cluſters of rich ripe Grapes; ſo ſhee, of Children, and thoſe vertuous; the little-ones hanging on her breaſts, as Grapes on the Vine; the Elder as Olive-plants, ſtraight, green, freſh and flouriſhing, Pſal. 52.9. legitimate alſo; as the Olive admitteth no other graſſ. Indeed the Olive ſet into the Vine yeeldeth both Grapes and Olives; whereby is repreſented the naturall affection that is betwixt the Mother and her Children. The Vine and the Olive are two of the beſt fruits; the one for chearing the heart, the other for clearing the face, Pſal. 104.15. the one for ſweetneſs, the other for fatneſs, Judg. 9.13. both together implying,Simon Bi[illegible: 2 letters]iſ [illegible: 1 letter] [illegible: 1 word]. that a great part of a mans temporal happineſs conſiſteth in having a good Wife and Children. It is ſaid of Sylla, that hee had been happy had hee never been ſo married: And Auguſtus his wiſh was (but all too late) Utinam a[illegible: 1 letter]t caelebs vixiſſem, a[illegible: 1 letter]t orbus periiſſem, Oh that I had either lived ſingle, or dyed childleſs. [illegible: 1 word].

By the ſides of thy houſe] Where Vines are uſually planted, that they may have the benefit of the Sun. The modeſt wife is domiporta, found at home, as Sarah in the Tent; not ſo the Harlot, Prov. 7.12.

Thy Children like Olive-plants] See the Note before on this verſe.

Round about thy Table] Making a moſt delectable incloſure.

Verſ. 4 Behold, that thus ſhall the man bee bleſſed, &c.] Behold, and that thou; q. d. Know it for a truth, and reſt aſſured of the bleſſedneſſe of married couples, whatſoever the Devill and his Agents (ſpeaking baſely of marriage) ſuggeſt to the contrary, ſo bee it they fear the Lord, for that's it that ſweeteneth, and ſanctifieth all eſtates of life whatſoever.

Verſ. 5 The Lord ſhall [illegible: 1 word] thee out of Zion] viz. With ſpirituall benedictions, Epheſ. 1.3. and theſe are far better than all other that Heaven and Earth afford, Pſal. 134.3.

And thou ſhalt ſee the good of Jeruſalem] i. e. The proſperity of the Church; without which all other comforts are to a good ſoul, but as ſo many Ichabods: A good Chriſtian injoyeth them not, but is even ſick at heart of the afflictions of Joſeph. Amos 6.6.

Verſ. 6 Yea thou ſhalt ſee thy Childrens Children] A faithfull man ſhall abound with bleſſings, Prov. 28.20. hee ſhall have all that heart can wiſh, or need require.

And peace upon Iſrael] Procured in part by thy piety and prayers.

Blessed is every one that feareth the Lord. The last Psalm ended with a blessing, —for the word there translated "happy" is the same as that which is here rendered "blessed": thus the two songs are joined by a catch word. There is also in them a close community of subject. The fear of God is the corner stone of all blessedness. We must reverence the ever blessed God before we can be blessed ourselves. Some think that this life is an evil, an infliction, a thing upon which rests a curse; but it is not so; the God fearing man has a present blessing resting upon him. It is not true that it would be to him" something better not to be." He is happy now, for he is the child of the happy God, the ever living Jehovah; and he is even here a joint heir with Jesus Christ, whose heritage is not misery, but joy. This is true of every one of the God fearing, of all conditions, in all ages: each one and every one is blessed. Their blessedness may not always be; seen by carnal reason, but it is always a fact, for God himself declares that it is so; and we know that those whom he blesses are blessed indeed. Let us cultivate that holy filial fear of Jehovah which is the essence of all true religion; —the fear of reverence, of dread to offend, of anxiety to please, and of entire submission and obedience. This fear of the Lord is the fit fountain of holy living: we look in vain for holiness apart from it: none but those who fear the Lord will ever walk in his ways. That walketh in his ways. The religious life, which God declares to be blessed, must be practical as well as emotional. It is idle to talk of fearing the Lord if we act like those who have no care whether there be a God or no, God's ways will be our ways if we have a sincere reverence for him: if the heart is joined unto God, the feet will follow hard after him. A man's heart will be seen in his walk, and the blessing will come where heart and walk are both with God. Note that the first Psalm links the benediction with the walk in a negative way, "Blessed is the man that walketh not", etc.; but here we find it in connection with the positive form of our conversation. To enjoy the divine blessing we must be active, and walk; we must be methodical, and walk in certain ways; and we must be godly, and walk in the Lord's ways. God's ways are blessed ways; they were cast up by the Blessed One, they were trodden by him in whom we are blessed, they are frequented by the blessed, they are provided with means of blessing, they are paved with present blessings, and they lead to eternal blessedness: who would not desire to walk in them?

For thou shalt eat the labour of thine hands. The general doctrine in Ps 128:1 here receives a personal application: note the change to the second person: "thou shalt eat", etc. This is the portion of God's saints, —to work, and to find a reward in so doing. God is the God of labourers. We are not to leave our worldly callings because the Lord has called us by grace: we are not promised a blessing upon romantic idleness or unreasonable dreaming, but upon hard work and honest industry. Though we are in God's hands we are to be supported by our own hands. He will give us daily bread, but it must be made our own by labour. All kinds of labour are here included; for if one toils by the sweat of his brow, and another does so by the sweat of his brain, there is no difference in the blessing; save that it is generally more healthy to work with the body than with the mind only. Without God it would be vain to labour; but when we are labourers together with God a promise is set before us. The promise is that labour shall be fruitful, and that he who performs it shall himself enjoy the recompense of it. It is a grievous ill for a man to slave his life away and receive no fair remuneration for his toil: as a rule, God's servants rise out of such bondage and claim their own, and receive it: at any rate, this verse may encourage them to do so. "The labourer is worthy of his hire." Under the Theocracy the chosen people could see this promise literally fulfilled; but when evil rulers oppressed them their earnings were withheld by churls, and their harvests were snatched away from them by marauders. Had they walked in the fear of the Lord they would never have known such great evils. Some men never enjoy their labour, for they give themselves no time for rest. Eagerness to get takes from them the ability to enjoy. Surely, if it is worth while to labour, it is worth while to eat of that labour. "Happy shalt thou be", or, Oh, thy happinesses. Heaped up happinesses in the plural belong to that man who fears the Lord. He is happy, and he shall be happy in a thousand ways. The context leads us to expect family happiness. Our God is our household God. The Romans had their Lares and Penates, but we have far more than they in the one only living and true God. And it shall be well with thee, or, good for thee. Yes, good is for the good; and it shall be well with those who do well.

"What cheering words are these!

Their sweetness who can tell?

In time, and to eternal days, 'Tis with the righteous well."

If we fear God we may dismiss all other fear. In walking in God's ways we shall be under his protection, provision, and approval; danger and destruction shall be far from us: all things shall work our good. In God's view it would not be a blessed thing for us to live without exertion, nor to eat the unearned bread of dependence: the happiest state on earth is one in which we have something to do, strength to do it with, and a fair return for what we have done. This, with the divine blessing, is all that we ought to desire, and it is sufficient for any man who fears the Lord and abhors covetousness. Having food and raiment, let us be there with content.

Thy wife. To reach the full of earthly felicity a man must not be alone. A helpmeet was needed in Paradise, and assuredly she is not less necessary out of it. He that findeth a wife findeth a good thing. It is not every man that feareth the Lord who has a wife; but if he has, she shall share in his blessedness and increase it. Shall be as a fruitful vine. To complete domestic bliss children are sent. They come as the lawful fruit of marriage, even as clusters appear upon the vine. For the grapes the vine was planted; for children was the wife provided. It is generally well with any creature when it fulfils its purpose, and it is so far well with married people when the great design of their union is brought about. They must not look upon fruitfulness as a burden, but as a blessing. Good wives are also fruitful in kindness, thrift, helpfulness, and affection: if they bear no children, they are by no means barren if they yield us the wine of consolation and the clusters of comfort. Truly blessed is the man whose wife is fruitful in those good works which are suitable to her near and dear position. By the sides of thine house. She keeps to the house: she is a home bird. Some imagine that she is like a vine which is nailed up to the house wall; but they have no such custom in Palestine, neither is it pleasant to think of a wife as growing up by a wall, and as bound to the very bricks and mortar of her husband's dwelling. No, she is a fruitful vine, and a faithful housekeeper; if you wish to find her, she is within the house: she is to be found both inside and outside the home, but her chief usefulness is in the inner side of the dwelling, which she adorns. Eastern houses usually have an open square in the centre, and the various rooms are ranged around the sides, —there shall the wife be found, busy in one room or another, as the hour of the day demands. She keeps at home, and so keeps the home. It is her husband's house, and she is her husband's; us the text puts it —"thy wife", and "thy house"; but by her loving care her husband is made so happy that he is glad to own her as an equal proprietor with himself, for he is hers, and the house is hers too. Thy children like olive plants round about thy table. Hundreds of times have I seen the young olive plants springing up around the parent stem, and it has always made mc think of this verse. The Psalmist never intended to suggest the idea of olive plants round a table, but of young people springing up around their parents, even as olive plants surround the fine, well rooted tree. The figure is very striking, and would be sure to present itself to the mind of every observer in the olive country. How beautiful to see the gnarled olive, still bearing abundant fruit, surrounded with a little band of sturdy successors, any one of which would be able to take its place should the central olive be blown down, or removed in any other way. The notion of a table in a bower may suit a cockney in a tea garden, but would never occur to an oriental poet; it is not the olive plants, but the children, that are round about the table. Moreover, note that it is not olive branches, but plants, —a very different thing. Our children gather around our table to be fed, and this involves expenses: how much better is this than to see them pining upon beds of sickness, unable to come for their meals! What a blessing to have sufficient to put upon the table! Let us for this benefit praise the bounty of the Lord. The wife is busy all over the house, but the youngsters are busiest at meal times; and if the blessing of the Lord rest upon the family, no sight can be more delightful. Here we have the vine and the olive blended —joy from the fruitful wife, and solid comfort from the growing family; these are the choicest products earth can yield: our families are gardens of the Lord. It may help us to value the privileges of our home if we consider where we should be if they were withdrawn. What if the dear partner of our life were removed from the sides of our house to the recesses of the sepulchre? What is the trouble of children compared with the sorrow of their loss? Think, dear father, what would be your grief if you had to cry with Job, "Oh that I were as in months past, as in the days when God preserved me; when my children were about me."

Behold, that thus shall the man be blessed that feareth the LORD. Mark this. Put a Nota Bene against it, for it is worthy of observation. It is not to be inferred that all blessed men are married, and are fathers; but that this is the way in which the Lord favours godly people who are placed in domestic life. He makes their relationships happy and profitable. In this fashion does Jehovah bless God fearing households, for he is the God of all the families of Israel. We have seen this blessing scores of times, and we have never ceased to admire in domestic peace the sweetest of human felicity. Family blessedness comes from the Lord, and is a part of his plan for the preservation of a godly race, and for the maintenance of his worship in the land. To the Lord alone we must look for it. The possession of riches will not ensure it; the choice of a healthy and beautiful bride will not ensure it; the birth of numerous comely children will not ensure it: there must be the blessing of God, the influence of piety, the result of holy living.

The Loud shall bless thee out of Zion. A spiritual blessing shall be received by the gracious man, and this shall crown all his temporal mercies. He is one among the many who make up God's inheritance; his tent is part and parcel of the encampment around the tabernacle; and therefore, when the benediction is pronounced at the centre it shall radiate to him ill his place. The blessing of the house of God shall be upon his house. The priestly benediction which is recorded in Nu 6:24-26, runs thus: "The Lord bless thee, and keep thee: the Lord make his face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee: the Lord lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace." This is it which shall come upon the head of the God fearing man. Zion was the centre of blessing, and to it the people looked when they sought for mercy: from the altar of sacrifice, from the mercy seat, from the Shekinah light, yea, from Jehovah himself, the blessing shall come to each one of his holy people. And thou shalt see the good of Jerusalem all the days of thy life. He shall have a patriot's joy as well as a patriarch's peace. God shall give him to see his country prosper, and its metropolitan city flourish. When tent mercies are followed by temple mercies, and these are attended by national mercies, —the man, the worshipper, the patriot is trebly favoured of the Lord. This favour is to be permanent throughout the good man's life, and that life is to be a long one, for he is to see his sons' sons. Many a time does true religion bring such blessings to men; and when these good things are denied them, they have a greater reward as a compensation.

Yea, thou shalt see thy children's children. This is a great pleasure. Men live their young lives over again in their grandchildren. Does not Solomon say that "children's children are the crown of old men?" So they are. The good man is glad that a pious stock is likely to be continued; he rejoices in the belief that other homes as happy as his own will be built up wherein altars to the glory of God shall smoke with the morning and evening sacrifice. This promise implies long life, and that life rendered happy by its being continued in our offspring. It is one token of the immortality of man that he derives joy from extending his life in the lives of his descendants. And peace upon Israel. With this sweet word Psalm 126 was closed. It is a favourite formula. Let God's own heritage be at peace, and we are all glad of it. We count it our own prosperity for the chosen of the Lord to find rest and quiet. Jacob was sorely tossed about; his life knew little of peace; but yet the Lord delivered him out of all his tribulations, and brought him to a place of rest in Goshen for a while, and afterwards to sleep with his fathers in the cave of Machpelah. His glorious Seed was grievously afflicted and at last crucified; but he has risen to eternal peace, and in his peace we dwell. Israel's spiritual descendants still share his chequered conditions, but there remains a rest for them also, and they shall have peace from the God of peace. Israel was a praying petitioner in the days of his wrestling, but he became a prevailing prince, and therein his soul found peace. Yes, all around it is true —"Peace upon Israel! Peace upon Israel."

Whole Psalm. Psalm 128 follows Psalm 127 for the same reason as Psalm 2 follows Psalm 1. In both instances they are Psalms placed together, of which one begins with ashre (happy, very happy), and the other ends with ashre. In other respects Psalm 128 and 127 supplement one another. They are related to one another much as the New Testament parables of the treasure in the field and the one pearl are related. That which makes man happy is represented in Psalm 127 as a gift coming as a blessing, and in Psalm 128 as a reward coming as a blessing, that which is briefly indicated in the word rks, saka, reward, in Ps 127:3 being here expanded and unfolded. There it appears as a gift of grace in contrast to the God estranged self activity of man; here as a fruit of the ora et labora. —Franz Delitzsch.

Whole Psalm. It is to be observed, that here all men are spoken to as wedded; because this is the ordinary estate of most people. See 1Co 7:1-2. At this day every Jew is bound to marry at about eighteen years of age, or before twenty; else he is accounted as one that liveth in sin. —John Trapp.

Whole Psalm. This Psalm is an epiyalamio logos, written for the commendation, instruction, and consolation of those who are either already married or are about to enter on that kind of life. It enumerates, therefore, at the commencement, as is usual in songs of this kind, all those things which are regarded as burdens in the married life, such as the labours in seeking to provide for the whole family; the spouse, and that marriage bond, which, as it were, binds a man and seems to make him a slave, just as that character says in the comedy, "I have taken a wife; I have sold my liberty:" lastly, the education of the children, which certainly is most laborious, and requires the largest expenditure. To lighten the burden of all these things, there is added to each a blessing, or a promise, so that they might appear slight. And at the close, it subjoins in general, a spiritual promise, which easily makes light of all the labours and disquiets of the married life; even if they should be the very heaviest. The blessing comes from Zion or the Church: for there is nothing so burdensome and difficult, but what it can be easily borne by those who are the members of the true Church, and know the sources of true consolation. —D. H. Mollerus.

Blessed is every one that feareth the LORD, etc. Here we have the living fountain of the blessing which rests upon the conjugal and domestic state. When worldly prudence attempts to choose a wife and form a household, it can apply its hand only to so much of the work as has its seat upon earth, and is visible to the eye of sense. It builds, so to speak, the first and the second story, adds cornice and pediment, and the fabric presents a fair appearances but it has no foundation. Whenever you see the household of a married pair continuing to defy every storm, you may be sure that it rests upon a sure foundation, lying beyond the reach of human sense, and that that foundation is the fear of the Lord. To the fear of the Lord, therefore, the holy Psalmist has wisely given a place in front of this beautiful Psalm, which celebrates the blessing that descends upon conjugal and domestic life. —Augustus F. Tholuck, in "Hours of Christian Devotion," 1870.

Blessed is every one that feareth the LORD. There is a fear of the Lord which hath terror in it and not blessedness. The apprehension with which a warring rebel regards his triumphant and offended sovereign, or the feelings of a fraudulent bankrupt towards a stern creditor, or, a conscience stricken criminal to a righteous judge, are frequently types of men's feelings in regard to God. This evidently cannot be the fear which the "blessed" of this Psalm feel. Nor can theirs, on the other hand, be the tormenting fear of self reproach. Their fear is that which the believed revelations given of him in his Word produce. It is the fear which a child feels towards an honoured parent, —a fear to offend: it is that which they who have been rescued from destruction feel to the benefactor who nobly and at the vastest sacrifice interposed for their safety, —a fear to act unworthily of his kindness: it is that which fills the breast of a pardoned and grateful rebel in the presence of a venerated sovereign at whose throne he is permitted to stand in honour, —a fear lest he should ever forget his goodness, and give him cause to regret it. Such is the fear of the Christian now: a fear which reverence for majesty, gratitude for mercies, dread of displeasure, desire of approval, and longing for the fellowship of heaven, inspire; the fear of angels and the blessed Son; the fear not of sorrow but of love, which shrinks with instinctive recoil from doing aught that would tend to grieve, or from denying aught that would tend to honour. Religion is the grand and the only wisdom; and since the beginning, the middle, and the end of it, is the fear of the Lord, blessed is every man that is swayed by it. —Robert Nisbet, in "The Songs of the Temple Pilgrims", 1863.

Blessed is every one that feareth the Lord. Let us take a little of the character of the blessed man. Who is it that is undaunted? "The man that feareth God." Fear sounds rather contrary to blessedness; hath an air of misery; but add whom. He that "feareth the Lord"; that touch turns it into gold. He that so fears, fears rot: he shall not be afraid; all petty fears are swallowed up in this great fear; and this great fear is as sweet and pleasing as little fears are anxious and vexing. Secure of other things, he can say —"If my God be pleased, no matter who is displeased: no matter who despise me, if he account me his. Though all forsake me, though my dearest friends grow estranged, if he reject me not, that is my only fear; and for that I am not perplexed, I know he will not." A believer hath no fear but of the displeasure of heaven, the anger of God to fall upon him; he accounts that only terrible; but yet he doth not fear it; doth not apprehend it will fall on him, is better persuaded of the goodness of God. So this fear is still joined with trust: —"Behold the eye of the Lord is upon them that fear him, upon them that hope in his mercy": Ps 33:18. —Robert Leighton, 1611-1684.

Blessed is every one, etc. There is a stress on all ("every one"), teaching that no disparity of sex or condition, of rank or wealth, affects the degree of happiness granted by God to every one of his true servants in their several stations. It is to be observed, further, that whenever the fear of the Lord is mentioned in Holy Writ, it is never set by itself, as though sufficient for the consummation of our faith, but always has something added or prefixed, by which to estimate its due proportion of perfection, according as it is stated by Solomon in Pr 2:3-5. —J. M. Neale and R. F. Littledale; in "A Commentary on the Psalms from Primitive and Medieval Writers," 1860.

Blessed is every one, etc. It is a precious promise, but perhaps thou art tempted to say in thy heart, not meant for every one. Wilt thou answer against the Lord? Hear him speak in the song. He says, "every one." "Blessed is every one that feareth the LORD." None are excluded but those who will not walk in his ways. —Edward Jewett Robinson.

Blessed, etc. The, adage, "That it is best not to be born at all, or to die as soon as possible", has certainly been long since received by the common consent of almost all men. Carnal reason judges either that all mankind without exception are miserable, or that fortune is more favourable to ungodly and wicked men than to the good. To the sentiment that those are blessed who fear the Lord, it has an entire aversion. So much the more requisite, then, is it to dwell upon the consideration of this truth. Farther, as this blessedness is not apparent to the eye, it is of importance, in order to our being able to apprehend it, first to attend to the definition which will be given of it by and bye; and secondly, to know that it depends chiefly upon tim protection of God. Although we collect together all the circumstances which seem to contribute to a happy life, surely nothing will be found more desirable than to be kept hidden under the guardianship of God. If this blessing is, in our estimation, to be preferred, as it deserves, to all other good things, whoever is persuaded that the care of God is exercised about the world and human affairs, will at the same time unquestionably acknowledge that what is here laid down is the chief point of happiness. —John Calvin.

That feareth the LORD; that walketh in his ways. The fear of the Lord is the internal principle; but unless there be a corresponding expression in the outward life, what reason is there to suppose that it has any existence at all? Observe also, that there is no walking in the ways of the Lord, until his fear be established in the heart. There can be no genuine morality apart from the fear of God. How can a man obey God while his affections are alienated from him? —N. M'Michael.

That walketh in, his ways. God makes blessed those that walk in his ways, because he himself walks with them. This is said concerning David, and it is explained how that companionship blessed him, 2Sa 5:10: "And David went on, and grew great, and the Lord God of hosts was with him": where the "and" may be taken as the causal particle "because." That God does indeed join himself to those who walk in his ways as companion and leader we have in 2Ch 17:3-4: "And the Lord was with Jehoshaphat, because he walked in the first ways of his father David, and sought not unto Baalim; but sought to the Lord God of his father." —Thomas Le Blanc.

For thou shalt eat the labour of thine hands, etc. There is a fourfold literal sense here: Thou shalt live by honest, peaceful labour, not by rapine and violence on that produced by the toil of others, nor yet indolently and luxuriously; thou shalt "eat", and not penuriously stint thyself and others; thy crops shall not be blighted, but shall bring forth abundantly; and no enemy shall destroy or carry off thy harvest. And these two latter interpretations accord best with the converse punishments threatened to the disobedient by Moses. "Thou shalt eat the labour of thine hands". But he who hates labour does not eat of it, nor can he say, "My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work": Joh 4:34. On the other hand, he to whom such labour is a delight, does not merely look forward in hope to the future fruits or rewards of labour, but even here and now finds sustenance and pleasure in toiling for God; so that it is "well" with him in the world, even amidst all its cares and troubles, and he "shall be happy" in that which is to come, whence sorrow is banished for ever, as it is written in the gospel: "Blessed is he that shall eat bread in the kingdom of God": Lu 14:15. —Neale and Littledale.

Thou shalt eat the labour of thine hands, etc. This must they learn also which are married, that they must labour. For the law of nature requireth that the husband should sustain and nourish his wife and his children. For after that man and wife do know that they ought to fear God their Creator, who not only made them, but gave his blessing also unto his creature; this secondly must they know, that something they must do that they consume not their days in ease and idleness. Hesiod, the poet, giveth his counsel, that first thou shouldest get thee a house, then a wife, and also an ox to till the ground...For albeit that our diligence, care, and travail is not able to maintain our family, yet God useth such as a means by the which he will bless us. —Martin Luther.

Thou shalt eat the labour of thine hands. Men have dreamed fascinating dreams of removing the disabilities and limitations of the world and the evils of life, without sorrow. Poets have pictured earthly paradises, where life would be one long festival,

"Summer isles of Eden lying in dark purple spheres of sea."

But vain are all such dreams and longings. They are of human, not of Divine origin, and spring from a root of selfishness and not of holiness. They cannot be realized in a fallen world, full of sorrow because full of sin. All blessings in man's economy are got from pains. Happiness is the flower that grows from a thorn of sorrow transformed by man's cultivation. The beautiful myth which placed the golden apples of the Hesperides in a garden guarded by dragons, is an allegory illustrative of the great human fact that not till we have slain the dragons of selfishness and sloth can we obtain any of the golden successes of life. Supposing it were possible that we could obtain the objects of our desire without any toil or trouble, we should not enjoy them. To benefit us really, they must be the growths of our own self denial and labour. And this is the great lesson which the miracles of our Lord, wrought in the manner in which they were, unfolded. They teach us that, in both temporal and spiritual things, we should not so throw ourselves upon the providence or grace of God as to neglect the part we have ourselves to act, —that God crowns every honest and faithful effort of man with success: "Blessed is every one that feareth the LORD; that walketh in his ways. For thou shalt eat the labour of thine hands: happy shalt thou be, and it shall be well with thee." —Hugh Macmillan, in "The Ministry of Nature," 1871.

(first clause).

Labour, the symbol of man's punishment;

Labour, the secret of man's happiness. —James Montgomery, 1771-1854.

Happy shalt thou be. Oh trust in the Lord for happiness as well as for help! All the springs of happiness are in him. Trust "in him who giveth us all things richly to enjoy"; who, of his own rich and free mercy, holds them out to us, as in his own hand, that, receiving them as his gifts, and as pledges of his love, we may enjoy all that we possess. It is his love gives a relish to all we taste, puts life and sweetness into all; while every creature leads us up to the great Creator, and all earth is a scale to heaven. He transfuses the joys that are at his own right hand into all that he bestows on his thankful children, who, having fellowship with the Father and his Son Jesus Christ, enjoy him in all and above all. —John Wesley, 1703-1791.

Happy shalt thou be. Mr. Disraeli puts these remarkable words into the mouth of one of his characters: —"Youth is a blunder; manhood a struggle; old age a regret." A sad and Cheerless view of life's progress that! It may be true, in measure, of a life separated from godliness; it certainly is not true of a life allied with godliness. Let there be "life and godliness", and then youth is not a blunder, but a wise purpose and a glowing hope; manhood is not a struggle only, but a conquest and a joy; old age is not a regret, but a rich memory and a glorious prospect. —R. P. Macmaster, in "The Baptist Magazine," 1878.

Thy wife shall be as a fruitful vine, etc. The comparison would perhaps be brought out more clearly by arranging the verse as follows:

"Thy wife shall be in the inner part of thy house

Like a fruitful vine;

Thy children round about thy table

Like the shoots of the olive."

In the inner part, literally, "the sides of thy house", as in Am 6:10, i.e., the women's apartments, as marking the proper sphere of the wife engaged in her domestic duties, and also to some extent her seclusion, though this was far less amongst the Jews than amongst other Orientals. The "vine" is an emblem chiefly of fruitfulness, but perhaps also of dependence, as needing support; the "olive", of vigorous, healthy, joyous life. The same figure is employed by Euripides, Herc. Fur., 839. Med. 109S. —J. J. Stewart Perowne.

Thy wife shall be as a fruitful vine, etc. We do not remember to have met with a single instance, in the East, of vines trained against the walls of a house, or of olives near or about a house. Neither have we read of such instances. The passage doubtless derives its figures from the fertility of the vine, and from the appearance of the olive, or the order in which olive trees are planted. The construction would then be: "Thy wife, in the sides (interior apartments) of thy house, shall be as the fruitful vine, and thy children round about thy table, like olive plants." —John Kitto (1504-1854), in "The Pictorial Bible."

Thy wife shall be as a fruitful vine by the sides of thine house. The wife is likened not to thorns or briers, nor even to oaks or to other fruits and trees, but to the vine; and also to a vine neither in a vineyard nor in a garden, but set by the walls of the house; also not barren, but fertile and fruit bearing. This admonishes husbands as well as wives of their duties. For as the walls support the vine, and defend it against the force of winds and tempests, so ought husbands, as far as is in their power, to defend their wives by their godly conversation and wholesome teachings and institutions against the pestilential wind of the old serpent; also against the injuries of evil disposed men. "He that loveth his wife loveth himself. For no man ever yet hated his own flesh; but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Lord the Church": Eph 5:28-29. Further, the vine is exceedingly fragile wood, and not meet for any work, Eze 15:4. Husbands, therefore, should remember that they ought to behave towards their wives patiently and prudently, as with the weaker vessel; not keeping in mind the fragility of the wood, but the abundance and sweetness of the fruit. If husbands observe this, that will happen to them which Scripture says concerning the peaceful time of Solomon, "And Judah and Israel dwelt safely, every man under his vine and under his fig tree": 1Ki 4:25. Such was the married life of Abraham with Sarah, Isaac with Rebecca, Jacob with, Leah and Rachel. —Solomon Gesner.

A fruitful vine by the sides of thine house. It does not say on the sides of the house, but by the sides. The passage probably refers to the trellissed, bowers which often lead up to the houses, and are covered with vines, the grapes, hanging over head. Sitting in these bowers is sitting under our own vines: Mic 4:4. I have seen in Constantinople grapes hanging over the people's heads in the principal streets, the vines being trained from one side of the street to the other. —John Gadsby, in "My Wanderings," 1860.

By the sides of thine house. Not on the roof, nor on the floor; the one is too high, she is no ruler; the other too low, she is no slave: but in the sides, an equal place between both. —Thomas Adams.

By the sides of thine house. The house is her proper place, for she is "the beauty of the house"; there her business lies, there she is safe. The ancients painting them with a snail under their feet, and the Egyptians denying their women shoes, and the Scythians burning the bride's chariot axle tree at her door, when she was brought to her husband's house, and the angel's asking Abraham where Sarah was (though he knew well enough), that it might be observed, she was "in the tent", do all intimate, that, by the law of nature, and by the rules of religion, the wife ought to keep at home, unless urgent necessity do call her abroad. —Richard Steele ( —1692), in "The Morning Exercises."

As it is visible that the good man's sons being "like olive plants round about his table", means not that they should be like the olive plants which grew round his table, it being, I presume, a thought in Bishop Patrick that will not be defended, that the Psalmist refers to a table spread in an arbour composed of young olive trees, for we find no such arbours in the Levant, nor is the tree very proper for such a purpose; so in like manner the first clause must signify, thy wife shall be in the sides, or private apartments, of thy house, fruitful as a thriving vine: the place here mentioned (the sides of the house) referring to the wife, not to the vine; as the other (the table) refers to the children, not to the olives. Nor is this a new thought, it is a remark that Musculus and other interpreters have made. The Hebrew word, translated sides, is very well known to signify the more private apartments of a house, as they have also remarked; and he that reads Dr. Shaw's description of an Eastern house, must immediately see the propriety of calling the private apartments its sides. Such a house consists of a square court, which the doctor observes, is called the midst of the house: and private apartments round it, which may as properly be called its sides in consequence: into this middle of the house, or this quadrangle, company, he tells us, are sometimes received, in which other authors tell us their wives remain concealed at such times. —Thomas Harmer, 1719-1788.

Thy children like olive plants, etc. Follow me into the grove, and I will show you what may have suggested the comparison. Here we have hit upon a beautiful illustration. This aged and decayed tree is surrounded, as you see, by several young and thrifty shoots, which spring from the root of the venerable parent. They seem to uphold, protect, and embrace it, we may even fancy that they now bear that load of fruit which would otherwise be demanded of the feeble parent. Thus do good and affectionate children gather round the table of the righteous. Each contributes something to the common wealth and welfare of the whole —a beautiful sight, with which may God refresh the eyes of every friend of mine. —W. M. Thomson.

Man by nature, uninfluenced by grace, is "a wild olive tree"; and the object of most parents is merely to cultivate this wild olive tree. What anxiety is there about accomplishments which, how attractive soever, are but the dying blossoms of this wild olive tree! —Richard Cecil, 1748-1810.

Although the world is carried away by irregular desires after various objects, between which it is perpetually fluctuating in its choice, God gives us in this Psalm a description of what lie considers to be a blessing beyond all riches, and therefore we ought to hold it in high estimation. If a man has a wife of amiable manners as the companion of his life, let him set no less value upon this blessing than Solomon did, who, in Pr 19:14, affirms that it is God alone who gives a good wife. In like manner, if a man be a father of a numerous offspring, let him receive that goodly boon with a thankful heart. —John Calvin.

Before the fall Paradise was man's home; since the fall home has been his Paradise. —Augustus William Hare (1792-1834), and Julius Charles Hare (1795-1855), in "Guesses at Truth."

As Haman caused it to be proclaimed (Es 6:9), "Thus shall it be done to the man whom the king delighteth to honour"; so here, Behold, that thus shall the man be blessed that feareth the Lord. He shall be blessed in his wife, and blessed in his children; so blessed in both that the Psalmist calls all to behold it, as a rare, beautiful, yea, wonderful sight: "Behold, thus shall the man be blessed." And yet the man fearing God shall be blessed more than thus: his blessing shall come in the best way (Ps 128:5): "The Lord shall bless thee out of Zion"; his temporal mercies shall come in a spiritual way, yea, he shall have spiritual blessings: "He shall bless thee out of Zion"; and he shall have blessings beyond his own walls: "Thou shalt see the good of Jerusalem all the days of thy life. Yea, thou shalt see thy children's children, and peace upon Israel." Sometimes a good man can take no content in his family mercies because of the church's afflictions; he "prefers Jerusalem above his chief joy" (Ps 137:6), and while that is mourning he cannot but be sorrowing, though his own house be full of joy. Sometimes a man's own family is so afflicted, and his house so full of sorrow, that he cannot but mourn, even when Jerusalem rejoiceth and Zion is glad. But when a good man looks home to his own house and sees good there; when also he looks abroad to Jerusalem and sees good there too, how full is his joy! how complete is his blessedness! and, "Behold, thus the man is blessed that feareth the Lord." —Joseph Caryl.

Behold, that thus shall the man be blessed, etc. It is asserted with a note commanding attention: behold it by faith in the promise; behold it by observation in the performance of the promise; behold it with assurance that it shall be so, for God is faithful; and with admiration that it should be so; for we merit no favour, no blessing from him. —Matthew Henry.

Thou shalt see the good of Jerusalem, etc. What is added concerning "the good of Jerusalem" is to be regarded as enjoining upon the godly the duty not only of seeking their own individual welfare, or of being devoted to their own peculiar interests; but rather of having it as their chief desire to see the Church of God in a flourishing condition. It would be a very unreasonable thing for each member to desire what may be profitable for itself, while in the meantime the body was neglected. From our extreme proneness to err in this respect, the prophet, with good reason, recommends solicitude about the public welfare; and lie mingles together domestic blessings and the common benefits of the church in such a way as to show us that they are things joined together, and which it is unlawful to put asunder. —John Calvin.

Lord, let thy blessing so accompany my endeavours in their offspring, that all my sons may be Benaiahs, the Lord's building, and then they will all be Abners, their father's light; and that all my daughters may be Bethins, the Lord's daughters, and then they will all be Abigails, their father's joy. —George Swinnock.

Religion is as favourable for long life as for happiness. She promotes long life by destroying those evils, the tendency of which is to limit the duration of human existence. War sweeps millions into a premature grace. Men live longer in Christian than in heathen countries. They live longer in Protestant than in Roman Catholic countries. The direct effect of true religion is to increase the period of human life. "Length of days is in her right hand." —N. M' Michael.

Connecting this with the next Psalm we find the following in a famous Scotch divine: —"Peace upon Israel." The great blessing of peace, which the Lord bath promised to his people even in this life, (for where the Lord gives mercy to any, he gives them peace also, peace and grace are inseparably joined together), this peace, I say, does not consist in this, that the people of God shall have no enemies; no, for there is an immortal and endless enmity against them. Neither does their peace consist in this, that their enemies shall not assault them; neither does it consist in this, that their enemies shall not molest or afflict them. We do but deceive ourselves if so be that we imagine, so long as we are in this our pilgrimage, and in our warfare here, if we promise to ourselves a peace of this kind; for while we live in this world, we shall still have enemies, and these enemies shall assault us, and persecute and afflict us." —Alexander Henderson.

The universality of the blessedness of God fearing men. Circumstances, personal or relative, cannot alter the blessing; nor age, nor public opinion, nor even their own sense of unworthiness.

Consider:

1. The union of a right fear with a right walk.

(a) There is a wrong fear, because slavish; this never can lead to genuine obedience, which must be willingly and cheerfully rendered.

(b) But the fear of reverence and filial love will surely turn the feet to God's ways, keep them steadfast therein, and wing them with speed.

2. The blessedness of him in whom they are united.

(a) It is blessedness of life; for that is prospered.

(b) It is blessedness of domestic happiness; for where the head of a family is holy, the family is the home of peace.

(c) It is the blessedness of a holy influence in every sphere of his activity.

(d) It is deep felt heart blessedness in walking with God.

(e) And all is but a prelude to the everlasting blessedness of heaven. —J. F.

The blessedness of the righteous are first generalized, then particularized. Here they are divided into three particulars.

1. The fruit of past labours.

2. Present enjoyment.

3. Future welfare: "It shall be well with thee." Well in time; well in death; well at the last judgment; well forever. —G. R.

1. Labour a blessing to him who fears God.

2. The fruits of labour the result of God's blessing.

3. The enjoyment of the fruits of labour a further blessing from God. —W. H. J. P.

(first clause). Success in life.

1. Its source —God's blessing.

2. Its channels —our own labour.

3. The measure in which it is promised —as much as we can eat. More is above the promise.

4. The enjoyment. We are permitted to eat or enjoy our labour.

(second clause). Godly happiness.

1. Follows upon God's blessing.

2. Grows out of character: "feareth the Lord."

3. Follows labour: see preceding sentence.

4. It is supported by wellbeing: see following sentence.

(last clause).

1. It shall be well with thee while thou livest.

2. It shall be better with thee when thou diest.

3. It shall be best of all with thee in eternity. —Adapted from Matthew Henry.

The blessing of children.

1. They are round our table —expense, anxiety, responsibility, pleasure.

2. They are like olive plants —strong, planted in order, coming on to succeed us, fruitful for God —as the olive provided oil for the lamp.

A complete family picture. Here are the husband, the wife, the children, the house, the rooms in the side, the table. We should ask a blessing upon each, bless God for each, and use each in a blessed manner.

Domestic happiness the peculiar blessing of piety. Show how it produces and maintains it.

The blessing out of Zion. See Nu 6:24-26.

Two priceless mercies.

1. The house of God a blessing to our house. It is connected with our own salvation, edification, consolation, etc. It is our hope for the conversion of our children and servants, etc. It is the place of their education, and for the formation of helpful friendship, etc.

2. Our house a blessing to God's house. Personal interest in the church, hospitality, generosity, service, etc. Children aiding holy work. Wife useful, etc.

Old age blessed when

1. Life has been spent in the fear of God.

2. When it is surrounded to its close by human affection.

3. When it maintains its interest in the cause of God. —W. H. J. P.

(last clause). Church peace —its excellence, its enemies, its friends, its fruits.

The 128. Psalme. Blessed is euery one, &c.

In the former Psalme the Prophet intreated of both kindes of life, The argument of the Psalme. that is, both of policie and housholde gouernment. The same thing in a manner he doth also in this Psalme, but yet after an other sort. For albeit in this Psalme he ioyneth houshold gouernment or matrimony with polycie and politike gouernment, and wisheth the blessing of God and peace vnto them both, yet hath he here a more respect to housholde gouernment, because it is, as it were the fountaine and beginning of politike gouernment. For the children which we bring vp and instructe at home the posteritie will afterwardes make gouerners of the common weale. For of houses are made cities, of cities shires, of shires a common weale or kingdome. Housholde gouernment therefore is called the fountaine of policie & politike gouernment. For where housholdes and familyes are not maintained, there can be no Citie, no common weale, no kingdome. Wherefore to this Psalme we will giue this title, that it is an holy hymme, or a song in the praise of matrimony, whereby the Prophets comforteth such as liue in that holye state, wishing vnto them and promising all felicitie and blessinges of God. These things may afterwarde be also applyed vnto polytike gouernment. For as God blesseth matrimony because it is the ordinance of God and a kinde of life which highly pleaseth God, euen so is the Magistrate also ordayned of God and hath a certaine promise of the blessing of God.

And here appeareth the wisedome of the holy Ghost, which hideth from vs those thinges that in this kind of life are greuous or odious, and speaketh onely of those which are most meete to perswade and are good thinges in deede. The world doth the contrarie. For it is not onely ignoraunt of the good things which are in matrimony, but also if it see any such, it estemeth them as nothing because of the troubles which presently it feeleth. No maruel is it therefore, that when wicked men speake of this kind of life, they speake after an other sort & with other words, then the holy ghost is wont to speake. For they follow the sense and iudgement of the flesh onely, and see nothing else either in ciuill gouernment or in matrimony and housholde affaires, but those things which seeme to be painfull, hard, and full of trouble: And not onely so doe, but those thinges also which in these kindes of life are diuine and heauenly in deede, they doe not perceiue, because of those small troubles and discommodities which touch the flesh. And hereof come these sayings: There is no citie without a burde[illegible: 1 letter], that is, without a woman. A wife is a necessary euill. To bury a wife, is better then to marry her. If we could be without women, we shoulde be without great troubles: And such other like sayinges tending to the dispraise and reproch of women.

The cause why men doe thus peruersely iudge, is this, that the flesh is to poysoned with originall sinne, that it can not be content to beare the punishmentes of sinne. It seeketh after such thinges as are sweete and pleasaunt: but troubles and trauells it can not beare. Wherefore either it flieth altogither from matrimony and all ciuill affaires, as the Epicures and bellygods doe, or else abuseth the same to his owne lust and pleasure. So blind is it through originall sinne with the desire of pleasures▪ glory and riches. Necessary it was therefore to apply some medicine vnto our corrupt nature, and somewhat to represse and to bridle the wanton fleshe with those troubles which are both in matrimony and in ciuill affaires.

Wherefore, when we reade these praises of matrimony in the holy Scripture, and compare them with the iudgement of man, we shall see the one to be clene contrary to the other. We must say therefore that these thinges are true according to the spirite, but according to the flesh they are not true. So where he sayth afterwards of the godly married man: Thou shalt be blessed & it shall be well with thee, the flesh thinketh the contrary, and iudgeth the married person to be most miserable and most vnhappy, because he is constrayned to get his liuing with great labour and trauell. For the world knoweth not the thinges that pertaine to the holye Ghost, and the good things and great blessinges of God that are in matrimony, it seeth not, but resteth onely in the creature, and seeth not God creating, gouerning and blessing the creature.

Contrariwise ye holy Ghost loketh to ye creator, & magnifieth the blessing of God, although it be ouerwhelmed with neuer so many afflictions and tentations. And for the troubles and discommodities that are incidēt to these kinds of life, either he couereth them, or else he maketh them lesse then they be. And this the world can not doe. The wisest men therefore (as in histories we may see) did refuse to beare office in the common weale, or to deale in publike affaires. The same thing commeth to passe also in matrimony. For yong men will hardly suffer this yoke to be layd vpon them, as the olde man sayth of them in the Poet. They (sayth he) which are in loue (he meaneth vnchast loue and fleshly lust) can not abide to heare of mariage. They wil not forsake their filthy pleasures to liue chastly in holy matrimony. And if there be any which thorough vehement loue are brought vnder this yoke, when they see no such successe thereof as they looked for, but that some troubles or other doe follow, which they being blinded with loue could not foresee, then they complaine, then they repent yt euer they brought them selues into such bondage: hereupon it followeth that the husband will rather beare with all wickednes in an harlot & a strumpet, then with any litle fault in his owne wife: as also the wife, except she be very godly, will sooner winke at the wickednes of an adulterer, then at the small offences of her owne husband. For nature can not beare these yokes, if men be not well instructed by the word, and lightned by the holy Ghost, and so looke vnto the creator, who hath ordeyned both families and common weales, & will haue them to be gouerned and guided by this miserable and frayle flesh. They that haue not this knowledge, are soone prouoked to impatiencie when they see that all thinges haue not such successe as they would.

Wherefore euen such as are godly minded, must be taught, exhorted and stirred vp, to behold some thing aboue & beyonde these troubles, reiecting the iudgement of the wise men of this world, and to looke to the true and inestimable good thinges which God hath hidden in these kindes of life. Then shall they more easily beare their troubles, and shew their obedience vnto God when he sendeth diuerse tentations. And to this ende we will enterprete this Psalme, this mariage song, that we may behold those spirituall good things which God hath hidden in matrimony, & esteme the same accordingly, to the end that we be not like to this world, which seeth the works of God, and yet doth not vnderstand them, and heareth the blessing and sweete promises of God and doth not beleue them.

Verse. 1. Blessed are all they which feare the Lord and walke in his wayes.

First of all here is to be noted, that the Prophet doth not by and by enter i[illegible: 1 letter]ts the promises of God concerning matrimony, as though they were giuen onely in respect of matrimony: but he beginneth with the first table, & calleth him blessed that feareth the Lord. And this he doth, to shew that the world doth not vnderstād what it is to marry a wife and to liue in the state of Christian matrimony. Wherefore if any troubles come, it can not beare them patiently, and therefore it is not blessed, but rather miserable and vnhappy. But he that feareth the Lord, whether he be called to any gouernment in the common weale, or marry a wife, is blessed, what successe so euer follow thereof.

For it may be that euen they also which feare the Lord, shall haue no good successe in matrimony, but shall be coupled eyther with wicked, or with froward and disobedient wiues, or else they shall be otherwise shaken with one tentation or other, as with the vntimely death of a good wife, or with vntractable and degenerate children, or with barennes & lacke of fruite. Here, if a man be godly and fearing God, he shall soone ouercome these troubles & tentations. For thus will he thinke with him selfe: I haue mette with such a wife as is vnto me many wayes a great crosse and vexation: with whom no man else could quietly liue one day. But this gift God hath giuen me, that I should know and acknowledge him to be both my creator and father, and to learne patiently to endure & abide his good will and pleasure, &c. with this gift are ouercome, not onely all the troubles and miseries of matrimony, but all calamities besides what so euer.

The Prophet therfore beginneth this holy hymne, or this mariage song after this maner: If thou wilt be happy and blessed, & hast a mind to liue in the state of matrimony, this shalt thou finde, that the Lord will giue vnto thee a wife, house, and children, with other commodities. But aboue all things see that thou feare God, and in the name of God begin this kind of life. This is a profitable doctrine, which here ye holy Ghost setteth forth euen at the beginning, to the ende that he which can not liue a single life, should begin his matrimony with the first commaundement, and calling vpon God for his help & succour, should come forth into the presence of God, and say: Lord, thou sayest vnto me in thy word, that thou art and wilt be my Lord and my God. Thou hast made me a man, or thou hast made me a woman. This is thine owne creation, and this is thine owne worke. I did not so make my selfe, neyther was I so made by fortune or chaūce. Giue good successe therfore vnto thy creature, & graunt that I may be a happy husbande, or that I may be a happy wife, &c. that so we may beginne in the feare of God, that we be not secure & careles, or presuming of our owne strength, nor rashly enter into this kind of life, like sauage & brutish people, and such as neither know nor feare God: but may call vpon him who hath created vs to this kind of life. Then shall all thinges come luckely to passe, then shall they haue good successe.

The holy Ghost beginneth his holy hymne after an other maner then other Poetes doe. For he exhorteth vs that we shoulde first of al call vppon God, and conceiue in our harts a sure trust of his mercy. For God will not turne his eare from thee if thou call him thy creator, but will againe acknowledge thee to be his creature, and will not deny this to be his worke, that thou art a man, or that thou art a woman. But presumption he abhorreth, and will not haue thee to beginne this kinde of life trusting in thine owne policie, but rather that thou shouldest suspecte the same, knowing that God will not prosper thy doings and policies, except thou aske counsell of him. Therefore sayth hee, Blessed is the man that feareth the Lord. For we haue dayly examples before our eyes, that at the beginning there is often times vehement and feruent loue betweene man and wife, whiche afterwarde is easily quenched, so that either they liue miserably and vnquietly togither, or else the one forsaketh the other. Some times they are so drowned in wealth and pleasure, that they liue all togither without the feare of God: And this is a farre greater misery. But worthely doe these miseryes and calamities fal vppon them. For why doe they not ioyne withall the feare of God?

Here thou muste learne therefore to liue in the feare of God, who hath created thee that thou shouldest be a husbande, or that thou shouldest be a wife, and he will also gouerne, blesse and prosper thy mariage. But if thou wilt not acknowledge him to be thy gouerner, but wilt rule thy wife and thy family after thine owne fantasie, without inuocation and prayer vnto God, it will followe that either thou shalt ouerthrow all togither, or shalt be so blinded with continuall successe, that thou shalt fall yet into farre greater euils. God wil be feared and serued: that is, he will haue vs to confesse and acknowledge that what so euer we take in hande, can not prosper or haue any good successe without his helpe and assistaunce.

It is very profitable and necessary, with all diligence to teach this doctrine to those which are yet young, that they may know it and follow it. The cause is this, for that matrimony remayneth in the world and in the flesh, that is to say, euen in the middest of Deuils. The husband, as touching the fleshe, soone lotheth or hateth the wife or the wife her husband. What is the cause hereof? Euen this is the cause, for that matrimony consisteth in the fleshe, which is wholy corrupt & poysoned with sinne. This (the flesh I meane) Satan inflameth with hatred and euery light offence, or else with ielousie. Wherefore if thou looke not vnto the wil of God, thy matrimony can neuer be vnto thee either stable or comfortable.

Wherefore youth must be well enstructed as touching matrimony, that when any man shall marry a wife, he may liue with her in the fauour and blessing of God, and say: Lord, this is thy gift, that I am a man. This wife also is thy gift. We are in the worlde and this fraile flesh, and in the middest of deuils the disturbers of matrimoniall loue. Giue vnto vs therefore thy blessing, that albeit some offences doe rise betwene vs, yet thy blessing and the reuerent consideration of thy giftes, wherewith thou hast endued vs in this our matrimony, may vanquish and ouercome the same, &c. This is the cause why he beginneth this verse with the feare of God, that he may take from vs all presumption, lest we shoulde thinke that we shall haue and enioy all thinges as we our selues haue imagined. For so shal it not be: or if it so come to passe, it shal not be without a greater mischiefe, euen the reiecting of the word and knowledge of God. The meanes to escape this, is to feare God and to trust in him, and so in the name of God with humble prayer to begin matrimony, committing the successe wholy vnto God.

In the Papacie they most wickedly defaced this holy institution, For they called it the secular state, and marryed folkes were taught to recite in their priuate confession among other sinnes, the company betwene man and wife. Amongst the blind popish Sophisters and schoolemen there was a disputation as touching veniall and mortall sinne in carnall copulation (as contemptuously this carnall Spiritualtie calleth it betwene man and wife. But these were both vaine and wicked disputations. And hereof Augustine semeth to haue giuen an occasion when he saith, speaking of veniall sinne, that it is like to the sinne of married folkes, for the which (saith he) men doe pray: Forgiue vs our trespasses. True it is in deede that this companing of man and wife togither ought to be moderate, to suppresse the feruencie of fleshly desire: And like as a measure ought to be kept in meats and drinkes, so godly married folks ought not to yeelde to much vnto the flesh. For this burning desire and foule lust wherewith the flesh is enflamed, commeth of sinne. Therefore for the punishment of this lust, is annexed withall the bitter wormewood of many cares and troubles which men haue for liuing, for children, for the gouerning of priuate and publike affaires, besides the offences of their familyes, their neighbours, &c. All these thinges are cast vppon the flesh as salt to season the wantonnes of the same: For whose infirmity God by matrimony would prouide, but not encrease the desire and lust thereof.

This doctrine then must first be taught (for else can not matrimony be happy, comfortable and pleasing God) that such as enter into the state of matrimony should feare God, that is to say, they should cast away the presumption of their owne deuises and policies, and giue them selues to humble prayer, desiring of God a good, a chast, and obedient wife, and also good successe in other thinges, and that if any thing happen contrary to their expectation, they may take it in good part that their hope is deceaued and their policie disapoynted.

And here the Prophet doth not onely require that whiche is commaunded in the first precept, to witt, that they should giue vnto God his due worship, that is, they should feare God and trust in his goodnes and mercy, (for this is the seruice which we owe vnto God) but he addeth moreouer: Blessed is the man that walketh in his wayes, that is to say, which doth the workes also of the first table, which yeeldeth obedience vnto his parentes and to the Magistrate, which committeth no murther, which doth nothing that may be hurtfull vnto others, which defileth not him selfe with harlots and whoredome, but marrieth a wife to this ende that he may liue chastly and auoyd such wickednes. The Papistes were wont to sing and yet doe sing this Psalme, but they vnderstande it not. For they follow Hierome, which vnlearnedly and very vngodly thus reasoneth against matrimony. If married folkes be blessed (saith he) it followeth that Isaac before he was forty yeres olde, & likewise other holy men whiche had no wiues, were not blessed with this maner of blessednes. But we know that ye psalme speaketh not of those which are priuileged, A priuilege as touching continencie and to whom it is giuen. as Ieremy had a commaundement that he should not marry. Iohn Baptist for a singular purpose abstained from mariage: as our Sauiour Christ also did. Let them which haue this gift saile on with their owne winde and keepe the course appoynted vnto them of God. But let vs which haue not this gifte, & are without this priuilege of these excellent men, learne this verse: that is, in the feare of the Lorde let them marry and so walke in the wayes of the Lord. And let them know that they may so liue in this kind of life, that both they may feare the Lord and walke in his wayes, contrary to the vaine perswasion and deuilish doctrine of the Pope and the whole Papacye, Chast matrimony can not stād with the vnchast and filthy religion of the Papistes. which dreame that matrimony is such a kinde of life as is eyther cleane contrary to religion, or not agreeable to the same.

Verse. 2. Thou shalt eate the labour of thy hands, thou shalt be blessed, and it shall be well with thee.

This must they learne also which are married, that they must labour. For the law of nature requireth, that the husband should sustaine and nourish his wife and his children. For after that man and wife doe know that they ought to feare God their creator, who not onely made them, but gaue his blessing also vnto his creature, this secondly must they know, that some thing they muste doe that they consume not their dayes in ease and idlenes. Hesiodus the Poet giueth this counsel, that first thou shouldest get thee a house, then a wife, and also an oxe to till thy ground. First he would haue thee to prouide an habitation where thou mayest dwell with thy wife and children: then a wife, but yet so that thou be not without an oxe also to plowe the ground: that is, thou must haue some thing wherewith thou mayest maynteyne and succour thee and thyne. For albeit that our diligence, care and trauell is not able to mainteyne our family, yet God vseth the same as a meane by the which he will blesse vs. So neither to the husband man the sowing of his seede, nor to the preacher his trauell in preaching the word is sufficient to mainteyne his liuing: yet God by these or rather with these, giueth vnto them wherewith they may liue.

Wherefore the Prophet would haue all married folkes to liue in the sweate of their faces, and to be exercised with labour, that they may tame the flesh and mortifie the lustes thereof. For they that liue in idlenes, walke in the wayes, not of the Lord, but of the deuill. For neither are they, neyther liue they in the ordinance of God: for God hath ordeyned labour. And here behold the wisedom of the holy Ghost. Labour is one of the discommodities of matrimony. But howe wel here doth the holy Ghost hide this discommoditie, when first he sheweth that labour is commaunded of God, and afterwardes promiseth that although it seeme to be neuer so hard and so greeuous a thing, yet by it God will blesse vs. This is in deed to mingle wormewood with suger: like as also Iesus Sirach adorneth labour with this commendation, that he sayth, it was ordeyned of God, and he hath also a pleasure therein. Great neede haue we of this admonition because of our corrupt nature. For most true it is that the nature of all men, as the Poet sayth, is prone and ready to fall from labour to filthy lust and fleshly libertie.

This holy hymne therfore teacheth the husband wt his spouse, that in their matrimony they should feare God and put their trust in him, and not in their riches, their wisedom and policie. Moreouer he forewarneth them what discommoditie they should finde in matrimony, namely that they must worke and liue with the labor of their owne handes. Nowe, where there is a lust remayning in the flesh which ioyneth man and wife togither, yet is not this the principall knot. For such occasions and such troubles may follow whereby this knotte may soone be loosed. But these are the true knots of matrimony, to know that euen this labour of thy handes and care for thy family are an acceptable sacrifice vnto God: that the wife, when she giueth the breast vnto her infant: the husband when he laboureth vntill he sweate, and tyereth his body with labour to succour him and his, doth such seruice vnto God, as farre passeth all the seruice, and all the worshippings of the Pope and his religious rout. For marke I pray you what the Prophet sayth: Thou shalt be blessed and it shall be well with thee.

This consolation therefore is very necessary against this offence, and this peruerse iudgement of the world, to the ende that they which are married may know, that God hath ordeyned this kind of life, and that in it they should labour and sweate, and beare the malediction of originall sinne, which malediction began in paradise, and is layed vppon vs all: and moreouer, that they should know, that the holy Ghost pronounceth them blessed which are diligent in their calling, and labour cheerefully. These things are suche, as are able to encourage the godly to beare willingly all troubles and miseries what so euer. For what canst thou desire more? First thou hearest that God will so blesse thy labours that thereby he will giue thee a liuing and all things necessary for this life. Moreouer, thou hearest that he hath a pleasure in thy labour and approneth the same, yea and accounteth it for a most acceptable sacrifice. For it is not labour alone, but a worke of obedience and of thy vocation. These thinges the wicked know not, & therefore either they seeke ease and rest, or else if they must needes labour, they are very impatient: For they doe not see with the eyes of the spirite, but iudge all togither according to the eyes of the flesh: which eyes can see nothing but troubles and miseries. But the spirite reyseth vp and comforteth the godly with this comfort, that God will both blesse them by the meanes of their labour (for if he giue any thing to those which are idle and slothfull, he giueth it but to their destruction) and that this sweate & this trauell pleaseth God highly. Here are two great commodities for one discommoditie, which the flesh seeth onely, and no more.

But here we must note that this is not called labour only when the body is exercised and weeried, but the care and trouble of the mind is also a labour. For the Prophet vseth here such a word as signifieth not onely that labour which is done with the hande, but also the discommodities, the sorrowes and vexations wich in our labour and with our labour we doe susteyne. Such troubles in families and housholdes doe chaunce very often. Many tymes it commeth to passe that when the husband doth his duetie carefully and diligently, his wife is vnquiet and ful of strife, his children fal sicke, his seruaunts are not onely negligent, but also deceitful and vnfaithful. These thinges we call not labours, but sorowes and vexations: and yet notwithstanding the Prophet comprehendeth both vnder the name of labour. So that whether we seeme to bee afflicted either in doing or in suffering, that is, either in bodily labour or vexation of the mind, all this shoulde we patiently endure, & think that God hath not giuen vs this life that we should spende it in ease, in idlenes and vaine pleasures. For this cause he sayth to the woman: I will multiply thy sorrowes whiles thou art with child, and in sorrow shalt thou bring forth children. For great are the sorrowes and the troubles of a woman euen before her trauell also. And in her trauell how neare death is she? Likewise he saith vnto the man: Cursed is the earth for thy sake. In sorrowe shalt thou eate of it all the dayes of thy life. Here thou seest that this labour and this sorrowe is appoynted to endure, not for a day, or a yeare, but for all the time of thy life. Here will some man say: If it be so, it is better to be vnmarried & to liue in whoredom. Proue, and see whether thou canst bring thy selfe out of these troubles. Nay, in so doing thou shalt more miserably entangle thy self therein, and heape more horrible calamities vppon thine owne heade. For by this meanes thou shalt procure vnto thy selfe the wrath of God and an euill conscience, and thyne owne hart shall condemne both thee and thy deuilish life. For whilest thou followest the pleasures of the flesh, thou shalt fall into the bitternes of the spirit, and what that is, thou shalt feele when the time commeth. For one droppe, as you would say, of an euil conscience swalloweth vp a whole sea of worldly ioyes and pleasures. How wilt thou then do when through thy wicked life thou shalt be compelled to suffer the torment and vexation of conscience not for one day, but for many yeares? On the other side, where as a merry and a quiet conscience is, being wel perswaded of the fauour and blessing of God, there is also euerlasting ioy, which doth so swallowe vppe those droppes of worldly sorrowes and troubles, as the heate of the Sunne consumeth morning dewe.

Is it not then a greate madnes so to feare and to shunne those small droppes & litle sparkes of labour, when thou seest that God hath seasoned and sweetned them with moste sweete and pleasaunt sugar, in that he saith here to all those that laboure and suffer the discommodities and troubles of matrimony: Thou art blessed & it shall be wel with thee: That is, where as thou art placed in this kind of life, wheras thou labourest and art many wayes troubled, tempted and afflicted, and sufferest nowe this trouble nowe that, this doth not onely please me, but to thee also it is very profitable, that by this meanes the flesh may be mortified and originall sinne suppressed, and thou in matrimony (as in a schole) maist learne this heauenly wisedome, namely, to abyde and endure the will of God patiently, and mayest haue thereby a thousand occasions to declare the patience and loue, which out of matrimony and in the single life thou could neuer haue. They that so liue in matrimony, when they are moste miserable, are, euen then most happy and blessed. Contrariwise they that doe not so liue, are moste miserable. For they suffer the labours & troubles which this life can not be without in such sort that they ioyne sorowe to sorowe & one calamitie to an other. Hereof riseth strife and variance betwene the husband and the wife. Hereof it commeth that the one so abhorreth the other, that they will not goe, talke, eate or drink togither. This is a deuilish life. Wherefore this exhortation must be diligently learned and exercised, that through patience we may endure and ouercome all labours, sorowes, and vexations, beeing contented with this benefite, that we knowe this kinde of life to be acceptable vnto the Lord, and that in it and by it he will blesse vs. Thus with a merry and a cherefull conscience we shall ouercome all troubles and tentations whatsoeuer.

Verse. 3. Thy wife shall be as the fruitefull vine on the sides of thy house, & thy children like the oliue plantes round about thy table.

We haue hearde two singular commendations of holy matrimony where the husband & the wife doe liue togither in the feare of the Lord & walke in his wayes, namely that this life is acceptable vnto God and that he will blesse the same. Therefore we are here exhorted and encouraged patiently to endure the cares and troubles which God hath allotted to this kind of life, to the ende that whiles we are beaten downe, humbled and kepte vnder by these troubles, the corruption of the fleshe may be mortified and the infirmitie of nature may be healed. For where as the idle bellied Monks taught men to sequestre them selues from all labours and trauells, and from all worldly busines, and to seeke a solitary life where they might liue in all ease and quietnes: the Prophet here teacheth that this pleaseth not God. But this is it that pleaseth God, that we should be tossed with troubles and shaken with tentations, knowing that God hath appoynted vs here to suffer labours, sorrowes and vexations both Actiue or passiue, that is, which either come vnto vs by labour & trauel, or which we suffer inwardly or outwardly by anye meanes. actiue and passiue, which matrimony bringeth with it. He sayth not that we must liue in idlenes and eate the labour of other mens handes: as the Popes holy Sainctes, those Epicures and delicate Martyrs doe.

Moreouer, I somewhat touched before, that Hierome and some other also after him, did dispute as touching this Psalme, why Dauid commendeth the life of a godly man to be so happy if he haue a wife, since that in the holy Scripture there are so many holy men which liued a single life, as peraduenture Helias and Helizeus did, with other like: albeit of these men he can not thus certeynly affirme, but Ieremy he may. To this I aunswere, that the Prophet here meaneth nothing els but to enstruct the godly as touching this kind of life instituted of God, and goeth not about to compell all men to marry, but teacheth those which are married, or entend to marry, to know and vnderstand what they haue when they haue wiues: so that both the single life and also matrimony may haue their libertie.

The meaning therfore of the Prophet here is nothing else, but to commend and set forth the gift of God, and not to compell any man to marry. For one and the same spirite hath distributed his gifts, to some after one maner, and to some after an other. We are all in one body, and we are all bewtified with one and the same spirite, Matth. 9. but not after one maner. Let them therefore to whome it is giuen to That is, to liue chast without matrimony. receaue this, abyde still in their single life, and let them glory in the Lorde. On the other side let those that are not so strong, but knowe and feele their infirmitie, that they can not liue both chast and out of matrimony, let these (I say) consider more their owne infirmitie, then the discommodities and troubles that belong vnto matrimony: and let them knowe that they haue an excellent remedy created of God for their infirmitie, and therefore the Scripture calleth the woman a helper vnto the man. Wherefore, although we be vnlike in giftes, yet let euery one of vs serue God in our gift and calling, shewe our selues in all godlines to be the true and faythfull familie of that great and heauenly housholder. This is then (as I sayde) the purpose of the holy Ghost, to extoll and magnifie this gift of matrimony (since it is so despised in the world, and the true prayses thereof are so hid and darkned, partly by the corruption of the flesh, which can feele nothing but present troubles, and partly by the suggestions of the Deuill and sclaunders of the world): and yet so notwithstanding that other giftes lose not their commendation. Let widowes, let virgins abide in their calling. The holy Ghost here speaketh nothing of our virgins, but of matrimony onely, to the ende that they which liue in that state, should knowe and acknowledge their gift.

Now whereas Hierome, both vngodly and without all iudgement obiecteth, that Abraham, Isaac, and other Patriarkes married wiues when they were of great yeares, and liued many yeres also in matrimony without children, and therefore were not blessed according to this Psalme, I deny the consequence. For Abraham, Isaac, & others were blessed euen before they married wiues or had any children: Like as also widowes and virgines which do beleue & are baptised, are blessed. And as touching the Psalme, it speaketh of the gift onely, & compelleth none thereunto, but adorneth & bewtifieth it with this singular commendation, because it is so miserably defaced and contemned in the world. The Pope and his Cleargie doe pretend that they eschewe mariage for the loue of chastity.1. Timoth. 4. But that is false. We must beleue S. Paule rather, who foretold that they should contemne matrimony, being ledde with the spirit of error and not with the loue of chastitie, especially seeing they haue made a lawe whereby they forbid matrimony. Therefore they speake a lye through hypocrisie when they say that the loue of chastitie is the cause why they abhorre matrimony. For neither are they chast, neither can they be chast, as their abominable life and wicked practises do declare. But this doe they that they may liue in ease and securitie, and be free from all the cares and troubles of matrimony: And againe, that through hypocrisie they may winne vnto them selues an opinion of great holines amongst the people, and be reuerenced in the worlde as spectacles and very Angells rather then men, and so be counted worthy to eate the labour of other mens hands. This is the holy, that is to say, the execrable chastitie of our Papists, Munkes, Frears, Priestes and Nunnes.

They that after this maner absteyne from matrimony, are very Antichristes, according to the saying of Daniel, who foresheweth that this is a most euident marke of Antichrist, that he shall not care for the desire of women. The same place doth the ordinary glose also apply vnto Antichrist with these wordes, that he shal make a great shewe of chastitie, to the ende he may the more easily deceaue. We also adde this cause moreouer, that they make this glorious pretence of chastity and holines, because they would liue in ease and idlenes, & eschewe the cares and troubles that matrimony bringeth with it: which are meete & necessary for a godly man, if it please God to lay them vpon him.

Thus ye see that matrimony is a good, an holy and a profitable kind of life, & is worthy of the commendation which this Psalme here giueth vnto it▪ although the flesh and the world can not praise it because of the incommodities and troubles which it bringeth with it, but highly extolleth the single life. This is not to follow the word of God, but the iudgement of the flesh, which commendeth giftes and maketh a difference of them according to his own fantasie, and thinketh to serue God more truely and purely in the single life, then in matrimony: as Hierome doth in his pestilent bookes which he writeth against Iouinian: who sheweth him selfe to haue more learning and iudgement in his litle finger then Hierome hath in all his body. For he ought not to haue praysed virginitie with the reproch and disprayse of matrimony: but thus should he rather haue sayd: that as they which are virgins should serue God in their gift and calling, so matrimony is not to be condemned, but praysed as a kind of life ordeyned of God, euen then, when nature was yet sounde and vncorrupt, and not yet infected with any sinne. But Hierome hath neyther so much godlines nor iudgement but peruersly bursteth out into these wordes:1. Cor 7. It is good for a man so to be: therefore to haue a wife it is euill. But to be a virgine, and to be married, although they bee diuerse giftes, yet is God as well pleased with the one as with the other. For where as they obiect these wordes as touching matrimony: Such shall haue trouble in the flesh, this do we also confesse. Notwithstanding matrimony is not the cause hereof, but sinne, which they also haue that are not married. Gen. 3.

Thus much I thought good to say as touching the grosse error & prophane opinion of Hierome, trifling, and by foolish allegories with his companion Origen, imagining spirituall fathers and spirituall children: whereby they haue giuen occasion vnto the Pope to make him selfe the bridegrome or the husband of the church, and so one error hath brought forth an other. But I would rather wish that this bridegrome were hanged vppon a tree with Iudas and buried in hell, then that by this meanes he should spoile Christ of his name. For Christ Iesus alone is the husband of the Church. All the Sainctes of God besides, are but the frendes of the bridegrome, as Iohn the Baptist calleth himselfe. The Church is the spouse or the wife, the children are the faithfull which dayly come vnto the marriage. These also are made the spouse, for they become partakers of the good things and the blessinges of the bridegrome, and they obteyne the righteousnes of Christ and of his merites. If the Pope be good, then is he in the number of these, and not the bridegrome, not the husband, but the spouse, and is partaker of the benefites and the blessinges of the bridegrome: But if he be euill, he is the bridegrome of Satan and the friend of Iudas.

This is then the summe and effect of our aunswere, that this Psalme compelleth none to marry, as though it were necessarie that al should liue in matrimony: For it is not against these words of Christ: Matth. 9.12. he that is able to receiue this, let him receiue it. But this is his onely drift and purpose to set foorth and commend matrimony, contrary to the corrupt iudgement of the flesh, and the pestilent examples of the world, which doe altogither fight against this kind of life, because of the troubles and incommodities which are incident thereunto. These troubles they that flie & will not feele, & therefore abhorre matrimony, defile them selues with whordom and al vncleannes, and so do much hurt by their deuilish and damnable example. Against these viperous tongues & examples full of offence, this Psalme armeth vs. The world calleth the wife a necessary euill. But Peter vpon certeyne consideration, and yet without reproch, calleth her a weake vessell. But marke what the holy Ghost sayth in this place: marke how he bewtifieth and commēdeth the wife, whiles he compareth her to a fruitefull vine, and the children which she bringeth forth to oliue plants. Tell me if in any monuments there are to be found such two excellent similitudes as these are? yea if there be the like to be seene in all the Scriptures? For he taketh two of the most excellent trees that are to be found vpon the earth, the vine and the oliue, of the which are gathered two notable and precious licours, & to these he compareth the wife and the children her fruite, before the world most contemptible things. The wife, if you consider her condition, is farre inferior vnto the man in those thinges which pertaine either to the body or to the minde, specially as touching ye affaires which are done by the man and can not be done by the woman. But the holy Ghost considereth the gift, and through the greatnes and excellency of the gifte he couereth what incommoditie so euer is in the womankinde, and shadoweth the same with most excellent and goodly similitudes.

Now, that we may see somwhat the causes why the holy Ghost so greatly commendeth the woman kinde, let vs imagine that we are all vnmaryed: for the worlde detesteth mariage, but specially they that are vnmarried: Yea let vs presuppose that in the worlde there is neither man nor woman, but such a one as is neither of them both, that by this meanes singlenes of life may be imagined to be the more perfect. What shall become I pray you, of such a happy world, pure chastitie and singlenes of life? how shall mankind continue? Shall not the whole world within twenty yeares be like vnto a desert and a wilde wildernes? what vse shall there be then of Golde and siluer? Yea what vse shall there be of the Sunne, the Moone and all things else that growe vpon the earth▪ if, mankind suddenly decaying, matrimony by this meanes should be abolished and singlenes of life onely aduaunced? Yea, where shall the ministery of the word become? What fruite shall there be of the benefite of Christe? Why doost thou then so praise the single life, that therby thou shouldest diminish the dignitie and excellent fruite of matrimony? Nay, praise them both according to their worthynes, and especially mark here how the holy Ghost teacheth thee to beholde and to consider of thy wife: that is to say, not as weake flesh, which doth the common offices and duties of nature (with reuerence and shamefastnes be it spoken, for so I am compelled to speake because of the blasphemous contemners of the creature of God). For why doost thou not likewise euen in the vine also? Why doest thou not contemne it for the dunge that is layed to the roote thereof? Nay rather, hast thou not a more regard of the licour which by this meanes is gotten out of the vine? Likewise in the Oliue the roughnes of the rinde offendeth no man, or that the roote thereof must be dressed, and as it were, fatned with doung. For we haue all a principall regarde vnto the fruite. What madnes then is this, that men in smaller matters can chose the best thinges, and for a greater commoditie winke at those which are euill, and will not doe the same in the woman which is the good creature of God? As though the woman also did not see some lothsome thinges (for so these nice and delicate hypocrites doe tearme them) to be reprehended likewise in their husbandes.

In a childe we can discerne betwene the child and his order, his scabbes, his diseases, or any like thinge. For who reiecteth his child because he hath defiled him selfe? yea who forsaketh him because he is scabbed and scurny, or infected with the pestilence or any other contagious disease? Is not his ordure and vncleannes washed away? Is not he carefully tended and tendred in his sicknes that he may recouer his health againe? Thus we shadow and couer the faults and deformities of nature, with the greatnes and excellencie of that good thing whiche we knowe to consist in the health and welfare of our children. Here who would not detest him which should say that the child should be cast away because he defileth him selfe, or because of his desease, be it neuer so greate? As these holy hypocrites doe moste spitefully reprehend those duties of matrimonye which the man sheweth towardes his wife, What? shall we not thinke her to be the creature of God, and partaker of the benefite of Christ? Besides this, that she is giuen vnto vs to this ende, that she may be an help vnto vs. Wherefore they are diuilish words which the wicked doe vse against the lawfull company and duties that are betweene man and wife, because they will seeme to be holy and great louers of chastitie, and worthely to contemne these thinges. If such men were worthy to be fathers, they should vnderstand how litle it would offend a good or naturall father euen to kisse his scabbed and sick childe, to handle and to heale his sores. For if infantes should be caste away eyther because of their diseases or scabbednes, I praye you Syr, where should you and I nowe haue beene? Wherefore the worlde is sharply to be rebuked which euen in the best thinges considereth the faults, but esteemeth not the vertues. And where as it cannot lacke the vse of these vertues, and hath them dayly euen, as it were, in his handes, yet is it so blinde that it can not see them. But this commeth of originall sinne, to be starke blind euen in the most excellent creatures of God, and not to vnderstand what good thinges and great blessings are offered vnto vs in and by them, but rather to be offended with such small faults or incommodities which in comparison thereof are in a maner nothing to be regarded.

Wherefore we must here doe as Cicero sayth he was wont to doe in pleading of causes: to wit, that if there were any euil therein, that he passed ouer with silence: but if there were any good thing, that he vrged, that he amplified, therin he was wholy occupied. For who will haue the lesse regard of his owne body because he hath a sore in his breast, or in his longs, or some other malady in any other part of his body? Yea haue we not therefore a greater care & regard of our bodies? Looke vpon our Courtiers, who when they haue well pampred them selues and carry their bellies full of dyrt and dunge, walke in their silkes and other sumptuous apparel, decked with gold and other goodly ornaments, and smelling as though their bodye were nothing else but a precious balme, and yet doe they not once thinke how full of filthines they are. Thus we hide our faultes and deformities most diligently, & that which is honest or appeareth so to be, we set forth and magnifie to the vttermost. But nowe, why doe we not the like in matrimony? why doe we not couer the faultes and commend the vertues thereof? Nay, we doe cleane contrary: So blinded we are with originall sinne that in the best and most holy thinges we pick out that onely which we may reprehend. In like maner we doe also in the word of God, and in all things that perteyne to the kingdom of God. For whereas he giueth vnto vs the vse of the sunne, plenty of vittells, a whole body, &c. these blessings no man considereth, no man giueth thankes for them. But if God begin to viset vs with the pestilence, if we be pinched a litle with dearth & scarsitie of vittells, or but one of our teeth doe ake, by and by we are so vexed that the anguish therof either hideth or vtterly taketh away from vs the remembrance of all Gods benefites. Thus goeth it with the world and with our owne reason, that we are more moued with one euill (as we esteme it) then with a thousand good thinges besides.

But the holy Ghost taketh a contrary way. For he couereth the faultes, and that which is good he setteth forth with worthy prayses. Wherefore he so paynteth out the wife, that he commaundeth thee to consider of her as of a vine planted in thy house and giuen to thee of God, whose fruites are diuine plantes, much more pleasaunt and more excellent then the oliue tree. For albeit they degenerate and grow out of kind, and become euill plantes, yet can it not be denyed but that they are the gift of God: and that must we acknowledge. Nowe let them (as I haue sayd) which haue the gift of chastitie, be without this vine, and let them delite in their other vine and other fruites. But we are nowe in the prayse of this kind of vine. Here the wife is as the fruitefull vine, and the children as the oliue plantes. For so the holy Ghost teacheth vs, and the matter it selfe testifieth the same, although the holy Ghost did not thus teach vs at all. For the very Gentiles did highly commend naturall affections, loue and kindnes of one towardes an other. This doe also the ballets which are vsed amongest vs Germanes testifie, whereby the faithfull and louing affection betwene man and wife is set forth with singular prayses, and that this life hath nothing more ioyfull and excellent then is a faithfull wife and louing to her husband. The same also doe all wise and godly men confesse: not for the pleasure of the flesh, which is greater in whoredom, fornication and other vncleannes. For thereby vncleane lust is enflamed, but in matrimony it is quenched. And the greatest pleasure that a man can haue is this, when his wife is of a kind and a louing heart towardes him. This is an excellent gift, and highly to be estemed, and singularly commended in women. Whereof these swine are vtterly ignorant, which thinke the wife to be nothing else but a swinish puddle of filthy pleasures. Nay she is an excellent instrument planted of God in thy house, that therein she may be as a fruitefull vine. For this cause husbandes ought to loue their wiues and children, yea more then their owne liues.

Wherefore, these high commendations of matrimony are here set against the venemous tongues both of Satan and of wicked men, wherewith they do so maliciously sclaunder this kind of life: Also against the corrupt & peruerse iudgement of the flesh, whereby we are prouoked either to a lothing & contemning of this kind of life, or else to impaciencie, when our eyes are blinded in discerning and iudging the benefites and commodities thereof, and are still in beholding of the faults, the incommodities or troubles that belong to the same. Thus the wiser sort euen emongst the Gentils would not doe. For they did se that there is a naturall affection in the man and the wife towards their children, and a mutuall loue & faithfulnes betwene them selues, & both these things they praysed and set forth with greate commendation. So God by the smal number of the wiser sort euen emong the Gentiles did ouercome the multitude of these viperous tongues which are so venimous & spitefull against this kind of life. How much more then ought we to defend matrimony, (we I say) whom the holy Ghost moueth & stirreth vp so to do by these excellent similituds: wherby he sheweth that God is so delited with the life of married folkes, that not onely he giueth his blessing for the sustentation of this life, but also the blessing of the belly and of the brestes, as Moises calleth it. This, no doubt would not God doe, if he hated such as are maryed. For he said vnto Adam: All that groweth vppon the earth shall be vnto thee for foode and sustenance. After the floode also he gaue vnto man the vse of cleane beasts. Yea he giueth vnto matrimony what treasures and riches so euer are in the worlde, and what so euer in nature is conteyned. All these are liuely testimonies that God approueth, lyketh and loueth this kinde of life, although the holy Scriptures should speake nothing thereof at all. Moreouer, who seeth not that the propagation of man and woman kind is ordained of God? Let vs therefore be mindful of these similitudes & therewith arme our selues against the wicked & peruerse iudgement of reason, against the deuil & venimous tongues, which magnifie and ertoll vanitie and abhominable filthynes, and these inestimable giftes they most wickedly dispraise and despise.

Verse. 4. Lo, thus shal the man be blessed that feareth the Lord.

Hetherto we haue hearde those excellent commendations of matrimony which the holy Ghost setteth foorth, to confirme and comfort such as are appoynted to this kinde of life, that they might patiently suffer the incommodities, the troubles and tentations of matrimony, and not followe the iudgement of the worlde, which like vnto the mule and the asse followeth the fence of the fleshe and is ouercome with these troubles and tentations. The good giftes of God it vnderstandeth not, but some tymes it detesteth and abhorreth them. For ye shall finde many to whom it semeth a great misery to haue many childrē, as though matrimony were ordayned for beastly pleasures onely, and not to this end rather, that we might doe acceptable seruice both to God and man, in nourishing and bringing vp of children. These men are ignorāt of that which is most comfortable in matrimony. For what is to be compared vnto the loue of parentes towards their children? especially since here thou seest that children are the greatest portion of Gods blessing. But here againe we haue nede of faith. For the world taketh it not for a blessing when a man getteth his liuing by labour & trauel, suffereth the troubles and vexations of his wife, his children, his seruaunts and such like, whereof in matrimony there are many. These thinges, I say, the world estemeth not as blessinges, but abhorreth them as maledictions, But the holy Ghost, to confirme the mindes of the godly cōmendeth and setteth forth all that he hath hitherto said, by this sweete and comfortable name, and calleth them blessinges, to the ende he may stirre vs vp to know God and his giftes rightly, lest that in the middes of his benefits and blessings we should fall to a lothing thereof, as the world is wont to doe, which regardeth not those things which it hath & presently enioyeth, but desireth the things which it hath not. Wherefore this vehement kinde of speech is diligently to be noted, in that he calleth this life blessed and happy, which to the iudgement of reason is miserable and full of calamitie, when he saith: Loe thus shall the man be blessed, &c. What canst thou desire more? In that thou hast a wife and children, and liuest with the labour of thy handes, it is in deede the blessing of God. Wherfore thou hast not onely great cause not to be offended but also to giue God thankes for his great blessings.

But how few are there to be found which doe beleue this? And if any doe beleue it, yet through infirmitie they are led away from this faith, and forgetting the blessing, they become vnpatient, as if they were in the middest of Gods malediction. It is therefore to be wished that this saying of the holy Ghost, as a singular consolation, might be alwayes before the eyes and in the eares of the godly. For how shall we finde a more manifest argument that the life of such as are married pleaseth God thē this, that their whole life is nothing else but a blessing? In deede it so commeth to passe often times that they are vexed wt the sinne of impatiency through the offences of their familye, their children, and some times their neighbours. But what then? All things cannot be so pure and so perfect in this our infirmitie, but that oftentimes we shall feele either some excesse or some lack both within the house and without. But this sinne of impatiencie the dayly prayer of the godly doth quench & ouercome. And thus must the godly comfort them selues that they are placed among Gods blessings, and liue a life blessed of God. This faith the greater and stronger it is, the more ioy it bringeth. For albeit some troubles doe happen, & we some times also are ouertaken with sinnes, yet is the worde of God omnipotent. Wherefore in all tentations the victory is theirs which stick faithfully thereunto.

These wordes therefore muste be receiued as the oracles of God, and this kinde of life we must adorne with due praise and honour, since that God doth so richly poure out his blessing vpon it. This must we not onely knowe, that we may set it forth and commend it to others, but all of vs which liue in this kind of calling, must commend and apply the same also vnto our selues, that whether pouertie, diseases, vexations & troubles of our familie or any other like tentations doe oppresse vs, we may endure the same with patience, resting vpon this most plentifull consolation, that the holy Ghoste calleth this state a blessed kinde of life: And this they finde, this they know, and this they doe which feare God and serue him truely as he sayth: So shall the man be blessed that feareth the Lord. For the true seruice of God is to feare God, to trust in God, and to haue thy whole affiance fixed in him. Upon these godly motions of the mind afterwards followeth obedience in our vocation and other thinges which are commaunded of God. For all these thinges the feare of God doth comprehend. They that feare not God, vnderstand nothing hereof, neither doeth the holy ghost here speake any thing of them.

Verse. 5. The Lord out of Sion blesse thee, that thou maiest see the wealth of Ierusalem all the dayes of thy life.

Now, after these high commendations of matrimony, the holy ghoste addeth an excellent prayer, wherein he desireth that God would blesse more & more this kind of life, and that, for such married persons he would giue peace and tranquilitie to the common weale. Nowe all such prayers haue a promise included, that all things shall come to passe as they doe pray. Moreouer, where he addeth: The Lord out of Sion, &c. he doth it because the worship of God was at that time in Sion. Therfore, not onely in hart they looked towards that place (as before we haue declared), but they turned their faces also that way when they prayed, because God had promised that he would there dwell, and there would receaue the prayers and sacryfices of the people. Hereof come these sayinges, To pray before the Lord: To offer before the Lorde: To appeare before the Lord, that is to say, in the tabernacle, wherin was the Arke and the mercy seate, to the which God had bounde him self that he would there be found. Wherefore they called this place the fortitude, the kingdom, the Maiestie, the glory, the bewty and the rest of the Lorde, as in the Psalmes and the rest of the Prophets is to be seene.

After the comming of Christ and the publishing of the Gospel, this place had an ende. Wherefore we say not now, God blesse thee out of Sion, or out of his holy temple, but: through Christ our Lord. For he is our true mercieseat, whereof the mercieseate of the olde Testament was but a shadowe or a figure. For in Christ dwelleth the godhead corporally. Therefore when we pray vnto God, we desire to be heard in the name of Christe and for Christes sake, like as by the example of the olde primatiue Churche, publike prayers are all finished with this clause: Through Christ our Lord. But hereof somewhat we haue saide before: notwithstanding these thinges can not be spoken of enough. For this is true Christian knowledge and wisedome, that our cogitations shoulde not be wandring and scattered, but gathered to one obiect, that is to say, vnto Christ, For like as in the olde Testament the people was gathered togither vnto the Arke or tabernacle, and was not suffered to sacrifice in Dan, Bethel, Gilgal and other places, whiche the wicked Idolaters did choose vnto them selues, so now to come vnto the Lorde, there is no way to be sought by inuocation of Sainetes or any other kind of worship or workes, but by Christ and in Christe alone, according to that saying: VVhatsoeuer ye shall aske the father in my name, he will giue it you. For God will no where else be founde or worshipped, no not in Heauen, but onely in this one person which was borne of the virgine Mary, that is, in Christe Iesu. He is the true mercieseate and the certaine throne of the Godhead where the godhead dwelleth and is founde corporally as these sentences of the Gospell doe teach: No man commeth vnto the father but by me: I am the way, the trueth and the life. Whoso haue not this obiect, their mindes doe wander in infinite errours and opinions, as in the example of the religious rable of Munkes, Frears and such like it appeareth. One order chooseth Frances, an other Dominicke, an other Benedict, and others likewise finde out diuerse other for their Patrones, by whose rule, as a certaine and vnfallible way, they might come vnto life. And what did all these? Examine their heart, and they will all say with one concent that they sought God. Nowe, they thought God to be such a one in Heauen, that if they were couered with a Munkes cowle, if they abstayned from fleshe, if they lyued without wiues, if they touched no money, &c. then God would heare them and be mercifull vnto them. Thus forsaking the true and onely way which is Christe, they wandered euery man after his owne way: no otherwise then did the Iewes, who when they had one certaine way sette before them whereby they might finde God, namely, if they would goe into the Tabernacle and there worship God, there offer sacrifice vnto him: they forsooke the onely and true way, and ranne to woodes, valleyes, riuers, &c. Thus, whilest they thought to pacifie and please God, they more greeuously offended him: as in the Prophetes we may plainely see in diuerse places, where God saith, that he detested the wayes which they did choose vnto them selues, and that he would not be founde of them. For why did they not keepe the true and infallible way so plainly set forth and taught by the word of God?

This haue I spoken to the end we may reade with knowledge that which the Prophet saith here: The Lorde out of Sion. For he is constrained to make mention of this place for the auoyding of Idolatrie. For God did reueale vnto them, that in this only place he would be worshipped. Wherfore vnder the veile and shadowe of the promise, they worshipped Christ also who was included in the promise. But now that Sion is destroyed and gone, the treasure is opened, that is to say, Christ, who then was hidde in the promise, as vnder a veile. Wherefore let vs remember that all such places must be applyed vnto Christe: Like as also we are taught by experience that in tentations there is no consolation whereby afflicted mindes may be comforted and reysed vp, no not in God, but that onely which is in Christ. For it is not onely perilous, but also horrible to thinke of God without Christ. For besides that Satan is then able most easily to oppresse vs with the brightnes of Gods Maiestie, there is also great daunger euen in this, that God will not so be comprehended or found. We must therefore rest and dwell in this only obiect in the which God sheweth vnto vs his will, euen Christ. But they which seeke any thing without Christ, in their tentations shall feele by their owne perill how daungerous a thing that is.

But you will say, howe doth God now blesse out of Sion any more? Euen so, that thou shalt see the wealth or prosperitie of Ierusalem, that is to say, God for the loue he beareth to godly married persons and such as feare God, wil giue politi[illegible: 1 letter]e peace, which is a thing most necessary, not onely that they may be able the better to prouide for their liuing, but also and especially to bring vp their children honestly and in the feare of God. And this was the cause why cities were first builded, that men ioyning their strēgth & power to gither, might be able to defend them and theirs from the force and crueltie of others. Afterwards, when there was not ayde and helpe enough in one citie, many ioyned their powers togither. So common weales and kingdoms were first begunne, to stablish and mainteyne peace, which married persons haue neede of. Nowe that nature did thus vnite and ioyne these thinges togither and taught men so to do, reason it selfe doth see and perceaue. But the true cause the holy Ghost here setteth forth: to witte, that these thinges come of the blessing which the Lord giueth to married persons, but specially to the godly, who ought to knowe and acknowledge that the first blessing is to feare God: the next is to haue wife and children: the third, to enioy politike peace and quietnes. What wouldest thou haue more? Wherefore for thy vine and oliue plantes which thou hast in thy house, thou shalt see that the Lord giueth Kings, Princes, lawes and whatsoeuer is necessary for the defence and preseruation of the common weale and peace.

And here we are admonished that since Kinges, Princes and Magistrates are ordeyned for the benefite of married persons and families, they ought likewise to yeld obedience vnto them, and whatsoeuer else they haue neede of, whiles they watch for the preseruation of peace. For they are the ministers of God, as Paule calleth them, giuen of God for this purpose, that we may enioy his blessinges in peace. Which peace how great a benefite it is, the common prouerbe of the Germanes witnesseth, which sayth, that a man which hath two kine, should giue the one that he may quietly enioy the other. For what auayleth it thee if thou haue thy house full of riches and are not able to defend the same against theeues and robbers? Seeing therefore that this is done by the Magistrate, yea seeing that iudgement and lawes doe restore that to the owner which is vniustly taken away, good cause there is why honour and obedience is to be giuen to the Magistrate, as the minister of Gods blessings which he bestoweth to the married persons. For this third blessing of matrimony is here recited of Dauid, that they may see the wealth and welfare of Ierusalem, that is to say, that they may see Ierusalem flourish, first by true religion and sounde doctrine, and secondly by godly Magistrates. For these are the benefites and blessinges, not onely of one house, but of all Ierusalem. Thus the holy Ghoste commendeth vnto vs the giftes of God in a goodly order. The firste is the feare of God. This feare comprehendeth the thinges which are conteined in the first table. Nowe, for the feare of God, afterwardes God giueth house and famylye. Thirdly for houses and familyes well ordered, and gouerned in the feare of God, followeth also the thirde blessing, that is to say, a happy common weale.

Wherefore let vs learne to vnderstande rightly the benefites which we receaue by godly Magistrates, and for them let vs be thankful. Againe let vs learne that this gift of God, to haue good Magistrats, is giuen vnto those and for those maryed persons and those familyes which feare God. Which gift the wicked also doe enioy, but yet no otherwise then swine doe their draffe and swill, without any thankes giuing vnto God, or thankful remembrance of this or any other of Gods giftes. For as the destruction of Sodome was differred because of Loth, so oftentimes for a fewe godly familyes or a godly Prince, God blesseth the whole common weale.

Verse. 6. That thou mayst see thy childrens children and peace vpon Israel.

It is giuen to many to haue children in matrimony, and to many it is not. Therefore we sayd before, that this is a commendation and not a promise perteining to euery man perticularly, but generally vnto matrimony & to the kinde of life it self. So vnto some it is giuen to see the children and nephewes of their children. To some againe matrimony is all togither barren and fruiteles. For these things the Lord distributeth to euery one as is most expedient for them. Notwithstanding, the godly married persons must pray vnto God for them, and most commonly also they doe enioy them. And maruelous is that naturall affection and loue especially in olde men which they beare vnto their childrens children: for they loue them more tenderly then their owne. Wherefore, for as much as this Psalme tendeth to the setting forth and bewtifying of matrimony, and wisheth all felicitie to the married persons, the holy ghost addeth this moreouer concerning their long and fruitfull posteritie, as a singular comfort, because he would omit none of those good blessings whiche are giuen of God to suche as are marryed, though not to all, yet to the most parte. Nowe, although we sayde before that all such prayers haue a promise included in them, yet notwithstanding this is the maner of corporall promises, that God giueth them so as is most profitable and expedient for euery man. Wherefore we must apply the promise which is included in this prayer, to the kind of life it selfe, and not to euery married person, namely, that such as liue in godly matrimony and feare God, shall encrease and multiply vnto a fruiteful and a great posteritie, and that for their sake the blessing shall flowe vnto all the people: as he addeth in this clause: peace vpon Israell, that is to say, all wealth and prosperitie I wish vnto Israell for thy sake.

Thus the Psalme commendeth and defendeth matrimony against those spitefull sclanders and reproches of the world, which can not iudge but according to the sense and feeling of the fleshe. Wherefore, as it is offended with the troubles and burthens of matrimony: so is it offended also with those things which happen in ciuill gouernment, when it must obey lawes, pay tribute to the Prince, or be are any other like burthen. For it would so liue that what soeuer is best or most pleasant in matrimonye, that onely it would enioy without all griefe or molestation. As, we may see, there be many whiche marry wiues, because they imagine that there is nothing in matrimony but mere loue, amorous delites, and fleshly pleasures. In like maner how many shal ye find, which through an inordinate loue and desire of glory, seeke to rule and be in authoritie? But afterwardes, when in matrimony they must suffer troubles and vexations, and in politike gouernment, enuy, hatred, cursed speaking, and sclaunders, they cry out that they were deceiued and become impatient. Yea, it can not otherwise be but that these things must so come to passe. For that which is the best and most excellent in both kindes of life, the blessing of the Lord I meane, they nothing esteme. Wherfore we must haue a speciall regard vnto the blessing: and we must haue also the word of God before our eyes, to the ende that when all other thinges are full of daungers, full of troubles, miseries and vexations, we may rest and repose our selues vpon the good will and pleasure of our God.

Likewise in the Church, are not all thinges, I pray you, full of troubles, vexations, and wofull calamities in so great a multitude of prophane & godles people? Notwithstanding all these things, when we looke to the will of God, are easily borne and ouercome. So let vs also in matrimony consider first the word of God: then the gift which the Lord bestoweth vppon vs when he giueth wife and children: and thirdly Gods blessing and peace in the politike state and common weale. For these giftes thus acknowledged, let vs afterwards giue thankes vnto God. So shal God be prouoked to bestow a greater blessing vpon vs: whereas if these thinges be not done, we shall prouoke him to take from vs those giftes which we haue. So great Empires, kingdoms, cities & common weales might longer prosper and flourish then they do. But because they be vnthankfull vnto God and contemne his word, they come to ruine and miserably perish. Let vs therefore learne to be thankfull, and the blessing of God shall abound in vs.