Psalms 129 commentary

The enemies of God's people have very barbarously endeavoured to wear out the saints of the Most High. But the church has been always graciously delivered. Christ has built his church upon a rock. And the Lord has many ways of disabling wicked men from doing the mischief they design against his church. The Lord is righteous in not suffering Israel to be ruined; he has promised to preserve a people to himself.

While God's people shall flourish as the loaded palm-tree, or the green and fruitful olive, their enemies shall wither as the grass upon the house-tops, which in eastern countries are flat, and what grows there never ripens; so it is with the designs of God's enemies. No wise man will pray the Lord to bless these mowers or reapers. And when we remember how Jesus arose and reigns; how his people have been supported, like the burning but unconsumed bush, we shall not fear.

PSALM 129

This Psalm teaches, in the first place, that God subjects his Church to divers troubles and affections, to the end he may the better prove himself her deliverer and defender. The Psalmist, therefore, recalls to the memory of the faithful how sadly God’s people had been persecuted in all ages, and how wonderfully they had been preserved, in order by such examples to fortify their hope in reference to the future. In the second part, under the form of an imprecation, he shows that the divine vengeance is ready to fall upon all the ungodly, who without cause distress the people of God.

A Song of Degrees.

Psalm 129:1-4

1. They have often afflicted me from my youth, let Israel now say: 2. They have often afflicted me from my youth; but they have not prevailed against me. 3. The ploughers have plouched upon my back, and made long their furrows. “Targ. lengthened out their ploughing, i.e., gave us no rest from their slavery, for the longer the furrows the more tedious is the labor of the oxen.” — Bythner. 4. But Jellovah who is righteous, hath cut asunder the cords of the wicked.

1. They have often afflicted me from my youth. This Psalm was probably composed at a time when the Church of God, reduced to a state of extreme distress, or dismayed by some great danger, or oppressed with tyranny, was on the verge of total destruction. This conjecture, I conceive, is supported by the adverb of time, now, which appears to me to be emphatic. It is as if the Prophet; had said, When God’s faithful ones are with difficulty drawing their breath under the burden of temptations, it is a seasonable time for them to reflect on the manner in which he has exercised his people from the beginning, and from age to age. As soon as God has given loose reins to our enemies to do as they please we are distressed with sorrow, and our thoughts are wholly engrossed with the evils which presently harass us. Hence proceeds despair; for we do not remember that the patience of the fathers was subjected to the like trial, and that nothing happens to us which they did not experience. It is then an exercise eminently fitted to comfort true believers to look back to the conflicts of the Church in the days of old, in order thereby to know that she has always labored under the cross, and has been severely afflicted by the unrighteous violence of her enemies. The most probable conjecture which occurs to me at present is, that this Psalm was written after the Jews had returned from the Babylonish captivity, and when, having suffered many grievous and cruel injuries at the hands of their neighbors, they hadn’t length almost fainted under the tyranny of Antiochus Epiphanes. In this dark and troublous state of matters, the Prophet encourages the faithful to fortitude, nor does he address himself to a few of them only, but to the whole body without exception; and in order to their sustaining such fierce assaults, he would have them to oppose to them a hope inspired by the encouraging consideration, that the Church, by patient endurance, has uniformly proved victorious. Almost every word is emphatic. Let Israel now say, that is, let him consider the trials of the Church in ancient times, from which it may be gathered, that the people of God have never been exempted from bearing the cross, and yet that the various afflictions by which they have been tried have always had a happy issue. In speaking of the enemies of Israel simply by the pronoun they, without being more specific, the Psalmist aggravates the greatness of the evil more than if he had expressly named the Assyrians or the Egyptians. By not specifying any particular class of foes, he tacitly intimates that the world is fraught with innumerable bands of enemies, whom Satan easily arms for the destruction of good men, his object being that new wars may arise continually on every side. History certainly bears ample testimony that the people of God had not to deal with a few enemies, but that they were assaulted by almost the whole world; and farther, that they were molested not only by external foes, but also by those of an internal kind, by such as professed to belong to the Church.

The term youth here denotes their first beginnings, Hence it is said in Hosea 11:1 —

“When Israel was a child, then I loved him, and called my son out of Egypt.”

Youth is in like manner ascribed to a people, in Isaiah 47:12, 15; Jeremiah 48:11; and Ezekiel 16:43. and refers not only to the time when God brought the people out of Egypt, but also to the time when he wearied Abraham and the patriarchs during almost their whole life, by keeping them in a condition of painful warfare. If these patriarchs were strangely driven about in the land of Canaan, the lot of their descendants was still worse during the time of their sojourning in Egypt, when they were not only oppressed as slaves, but loaded with every kind of reproach and ignominy. At their departure from that land we know what difficulties they had to encounter. If in tracing their history from that period we find seasons in which some respite was granted them, yet they were not in a state of repose for any length of time, until the reign of David. And although during his reign they appeared to be in a prosperous condition, yet soon after troubles and even. defeats arose, which threatened the people of God with total destruction. In the Babylonish captivity, all hope being well-nigh extinguished, they seemed as if hidden in the grave and undergoing the process of putrefaction. After their return they obtained, with difficulty, some brief intermission to take their breath. They were certainly often put; to the sword, until the race of them was almost wholly destroyed. To prevent it, therefore, from being supposed that they had received only some slight hurt, they are justly said to have been afflicted; as if the Prophet placed them before our eyes as it were half-dead, through the treatment of their enemies, who, seeing them prostrated under their feet, scrupled not to tread upon them. If we come to ourselves, it will be proper to add the horrible persecutions, by which the Church would have been consumed a thousand times, had not God, by hidden and mysterious means, preserved her, raising her as it were from the dead. Unless we have become stupid under our calamities, the distressing circumstances of this unhappy age will compel us to meditate on the same doctrine.

When the Prophet says twice, they have afflicted me, they have afflicted me, the repetition is not superfluous, it being intended to teach us that the people of God had not merely once or twice to enter the conflict, but that their patience had been tried by continual exercises. He had said that they had commenced this conflict from their youth, intimating that they had been inured to it from their first origin, in order to their being accustomed to bear the cross. He now adds, that their being subjected to this rigorous training was not without good reason, inasmuch as God had not ceased, by a continued course, to make use of these calamities for subduing them to himself. If the exercises of the Church, during her state of childhood, were so severe, our effeminacy will be very shameful indeed, if in the present day, when the Church, by the coming of Christ, has reached the age of manhood, we are found wanting in firmness for enduring trials. Matter of consolation is laid down in the last clause, which informs us that the enemies of Israel, after having tried all methods, never succeeded in realizing their wishes, God having always disappointed their hopes, and baffled their attempts.

PSALM 129

Psa 129:1-8. The people of God, often delivered from enemies, are confident of His favor, by their overthrow in the future.

1-2. may Israel now say--or, "oh! let Israel say" (Psa 124:1). Israel's youth was the sojourn in Egypt (Jr 2:2; Ho 2:15).

3-4. The ploughing is a figure of scourging, which most severe physical infliction aptly represents all kinds.

5-6. The ill-rooted roof grass, which withers before it grows up and procures for those gathering it no harvest blessing (Ru 2:4), sets forth the utter uselessness and the rejection of the wicked.

Many a time have they afflicted me - The Israelites had been generally in affliction or captivity from the earliest part of their history, here called their youth. So Hos 2:15 : "She shall sing as in the days of her youth, when she came up out of the land of Egypt." See Jer 2:2, and Eze 16:4, etc.

Yet they have not prevailed - They endeavored to annihilate us as a people; but God still preserves us as his own nation.

The plowers plowed upon my back - It is possible that this mode of expression may signify that the people, during their captivity, were cruelly used by scourging, etc.; or it may be a sort of proverbial mode of expression for the most cruel usage. There really appears here to be a reference to a yoke, as if they had actually been yoked to the plouph, or to some kind of carriages, and been obliged to draw like beasts of burden. In this way St. Jerome understood the passage; and this has the more likelihood, as in the next verse God is represented as cutting them off from these draughts.

The Lord - hath cut asunder the cords of the wicked - The words have been applied to the sufferings of Christ; but I know not on what authority. No such scourging could take place in his case, as would justify the expression: - "The ploughers made long furrows there,

Till all his body was one wound."

It is not likely that he received more than thirty-nine stripes. The last line is an unwarranted assertion.

Let them all be confounded - They shall be confounded. They who hate Zion, the Church of God, hate God himself; and all such must be dealt with as enemies, and be utterly confounded.

As the grass upon the housetops - As in the east the roofs of the houses were flat, seeds of various kinds falling upon them would naturally vegetate, though in an imperfect way; and, because of the want of proper nourishment, would necessarily dry and wither away. If grass, the mower cannot make hay of it; if corn, the reaper cannot make a sheaf of it. Let the Babylonians be like such herbage - good for nothing, and come to nothing.

Withereth afore it groweth up - Before שלק shalak, it is unsheathed; i.e., before it ears, or comes to seed.

Neither do they which go by say - There is a reference here to the salutations which were given and returned by the reapers in the time of the harvest. We find that it was customary, when the master came to them into the field, to say unto the reapers, The Lord be with you! and for them to answer, The Lord bless thee! Rut 2:4. Let their land become desolate, so that no harvest shall ever more appear in it. No interchange of benedictions between owners and reapers. This has literally taken place: Babylon is utterly destroyed; no harvests grow near the place where it stood.

From my youth - From the time that I was a people.

Righteous - Faithful or merciful. The cords - Wherewith the plow was drawn. By these cords he understands all their plots and endeavours.

House - tops - Which there were flat. Which - Having no deep root, never comes to maturity. And so all their designs shall be abortive.

The blessing - Which was an usual salutation given by passengers to reapers: so the meaning is, it never continues 'till the harvest comes.

1 MAny a time have they afflicted me from my youth , may Israel now say.

Mine enemies or oppressors; which is easily understood both from the nature of the thing, and from v. 3. where they are expressed under the name of plowers.

From the time that I was a people, when I was in Egypt and came out of it, which is called the time of Israels youth, Ier. 2. 2. Ezek. 23. 3.

Marginal references: Or, much.; Psal. 124. 1.

3 The plowers plowed upon my back : they made long their furrows .

They have not onely thrown me down and trod me under foot, but have cruelly tormented me, wounded and mangled me, and had no more pity upon me than the plowman hath upon the earth which he cuts up at his pleasure. He saith, upon my back, either because they did literally scourge the Captives upon their backs with such cords as are mentioned v. 4. although we do not read that the Israelitish Captives were thus used by any of their enemies; or by way of allusion to that usage, which made a sort of furrows in their backs upon which they used to lay on their strokes.

They oft repeated their injuries and prolonged my torments.

4 The LORD is righteous : he hath cut asunder the cords of the wicked.

Faithful or merciful, as that word is frequently used.

Wherewith the plow was drawn; by which means they were stopped in their course. So he persists in the same Metaphor of a plough. By these cords he understands all their plots and endeavours.

Marginal references: Psal. 140. 5.

5 Let them all be confounded and turned back that hate Zion.

Forced to retreat with shame and disappointment.

6 Let them be as the grass upon the housetops , which withereth afore it groweth up .

Which there were flat, and therefore more capable of grass, or green corn growing between the stones, than ours are.

Which having no deep root, never comes to maturity. And so all their designs shall be abortive and never come to perfection.

8 Neither do they which go by say, The blessing of the LORD be upon you : we bless you in the name of the LORD.

Which was an usual salutation given by passengers to reapers, as Ruth 2. 4. So the meaning is, It never continues till the harvest comes.

The End of the Oppressors of Zion

Just as Psa 124:1-8 with the words “let Israel say” was followed by Psa 125:1-5 with “peace be upon Israel,” so Psa 128:1-6 with “peace be upon Israel” is followed by Psa 129:1-8 with “let Israel say.” This Psa 129:1-8 has not only the call “let Israel say,” but also the situation of a deliverance that has been experienced (cf. Psa 129:4 with Psa 124:6.), from which point it looks gratefully back and confidently forward into the future, and an Aramaic tinge that is noticeable here and there by the side of all other classical character of form, in common with Psa 124:1-8.

Psa 129:1-2

Israel is gratefully to confess that, however much and sorely it was oppressed, it still has not succumbed. רבּת, together with רבּה, has occurred already in Psa 65:10; Psa 62:3, and it becomes usual in the post-exilic language, Psa 120:6; Psa 123:4, 2Ch 30:18; Syriac rebath. The expression “from my youth” glances back to the time of the Egyptian bondage; for the time of the sojourn in Egypt was the time of Israel’s youth (Hos 2:17, Hos 11:1, Jer 2:2; Eze 23:3). The protasis Psa 129:1 is repeated in an interlinked, chain-like conjunction in order to complete the thought; for Psa 129:2 is the turning-point, where גּם, having reference to the whole negative clause, signifies “also” in the sense of “nevertheless,” ὅμως (synon. בּכל־בּכל), as in Eze 16:28; Ecc 6:7, cf. above, Psa 119:24 : although they oppressed me much and sore, yet have they not overpowered me (the construction is like Num 13:30, and frequently).

Psa 129:3-5

Elsewhere it is said that the enemies have driven over Israel (Psa 66:12), or have gone over its back (Isa 51:23); here the customary figurative language חרשׁ און in Job 4:8 (cf. Hos 10:13) is extended to another figure of hostile dealing: without compassion and without consideration they ill-treated the stretched-forth back of the people who were held in subjection, as though it were arable land, and, without restraining their ferocity and setting a limit to their spoiling of the enslaved people and country, they drew their furrow-strip (מעניתם, according to the Kerî מענותם) long. But מענה does not signify (as Keil on 1Sa 14:14 is of opinion, although explaining the passage more correctly than Thenius) the furrow (= תּלם, גּדוּד), but, like Arab. ma‛nât, a strip of arable land which the ploughman takes in hand at one time, at both ends of which consequently the ploughing team (צמד) always comes to a stand, turns round, and ploughs a new furrow; from ענה, to bend, turn (vid., Wetzstein’s Excursus II p. 861). It is therefore: they drew their furrow-turning long (dative of the object instead of the accusative with Hiph., as e.g., in Isa 29:2, cf. with Piel in Psa 34:4; Psa 116:16, and Kal Psa 69:6, after the Aramaic style, although it is not unhebraic). Righteous is Jahve - this is an universal truth, which has been verified in the present circumstances; - He hath cut asunder the cords of the wicked (עבות as in Psa 2:3; here, however, it is suggested by the metaphor in Psa 129:3, cf. Job 39:10; lxx αὐχένας, i.e., ענוק), with which they held Israel bound. From that which has just been experienced Israel derives the hope that all Zion’s haters (a newly coined name for the enemies of the religion of Israel) will be obliged to retreat with shame and confusion.

Psa 129:6-8

The poet illustrates the fate that overtakes them by means of a picture borrowed from Isaiah and worked up (Psa 37:27): they become like “grass of the housetops,” etc. שׁ is a relative to יבשׁ (quod exarescit), and קדמת, priusquam, is Hebraized after מן־קדמת דּנה in Dan 6:11, or מקּדמת דּנה in Ezr 5:11. שׁלף elsewhere has the signification “to draw forth” of a sword, shoe, or arrow, which is followed by the lxx, Theodotion, and the Quinta: πρὸ τοῦ ἐκσπασθῆναι, before it is plucked. But side by side with the ἐκσπασθῆναι of the lxx we also find the reading exanthee'sai; and in this sense Jerome renders (statim ut) viruerit, Symmachus ἐκκαυλῆσαι (to shoot into a stalk), Aquila ἀνέθαλεν, the Sexta ἐκστερεῶσαι (to attain to full solidity). The Targum paraphrases שׁלף in both senses: to shoot up and to pluck off. The former signification, after which Venema interprets: antequam se evaginet vel evaginetur, i.e., antequam e vaginulis suis se evolvat et succrescat, is also advocated by Parchon, Kimchi, and Aben-Ezra. In the same sense von Ortenberg conjectures שׁחלף. Since the grass of the house-tops or roofs, if one wishes to pull it up, can be pulled up just as well when it is withered as when it is green, and since it is the most natural thing to take חציר as the subject to שׁלף, we decide in favour of the intransitive signification, “to put itself forth, to develope, shoot forth into ear.” The roof-grass withers before it has put forth ears of blossoms, just because it has no deep root, and therefore cannot stand against the heat of the sun.So, too, Geiger in the Deutsche Morgenländische Zeitschrift, xiv. 278f., according to whom Arab. slf (šlf) occurs in Saadia and Abu-Said in the signification “to be in the first maturity, to blossom,” - a sense שׁלף may also have here; cf. the Talmudic שׁלופפי used of unripe dates that are still in blossom.

The poet pursues the figure of the grass of the house-tops still further. The encompassing lap or bosom (κόλπος) is called elsewhere חצן (Isa 49:22; Neh 5:13); here it is חצן, like the Arabic ḥiḍn (diminutive ḥoḍein), of the same root with מחוז, a creek, in Psa 107:30. The enemies of Israel are as grass upon the house-tops, which is not garnered in; their life closes with sure destruction, the germ of which they (without any need for any rooting out) carry within themselves. The observation of Knapp, that any Western poet would have left off with Psa 129:6, is based upon the error that Psa 129:7-8 are an idle embellishment. The greeting addressed to the reapers in Psa 129:8 is taken from life; it is not denied even to heathen reapers. Similarly Boaz (Rth 2:4) greets them with “Jahve be with you,” and receivers the counter-salutation, “Jahve bless thee.” Here it is the passers-by who call out to those who are harvesting: The blessing (בּרכּת) of Jahve happen to you (אליכם,Here and there עליכם is found as an error of the copyist. The Hebrew Psalter, Basel 1547, 12mo, notes it as a various reading. as in the Aaronitish blessing), and (since “we bless you in the name of Jahve” would be a purposeless excess of politeness in the mouth of the same speakers) receive in their turn the counter-salutation: We bless you in the name of Jahve. As a contrast it follows that there is before the righteous a garnering in of that which they have sown amidst the exchange of joyful benedictory greetings.

Domestic Happiness.

1 Many a time have they afflicted me from my youth, may Israel now say: 2 Many a time have they afflicted me from my youth: yet they have not prevailed against me. 3 The plowers plowed upon my back: they made long their furrows. 4 The Lord is righteous: he hath cut asunder the cords of the wicked.

The church of God, in its several ages, is here spoken of, or, rather, here speaks, as one single person, now old and gray-headed, but calling to remembrance the former days, and reflecting upon the times of old. And, upon the review, it is found, 1. That the church has been often greatly distressed by its enemies on earth: Israel may now say, "I am the people that has been oppressed more than any people, that has been as a speckled bird, pecked at by all the birds round about," Jer. xii. 9. It is true, they brought their troubles upon themselves by their sins; it was for them that God punished them; but it was for the peculiarity of their covenant, and the singularities of their religion, that their neighbours hated and persecuted them. "For these many a time have they afflicted me from my youth." Note, God's people have always had many enemies, and the state of the church, from its infancy, has frequently been an afflicted state. Israel's youth was in Egypt, or in the times of the Judges; then they were afflicted, and thenceforward more or less. The gospel-church, ever since it had a being, has been at times afflicted; and it bore this yoke most of all in its youth, witness the ten persecutions which the primitive church groaned under. The ploughers ploughed upon my back, v. 3. We read (Ps. cxxv. 3) of the rod of the wicked upon the lot of the righteous, where we rather expected the plough, to mark it out for themselves; here we read of the plough of the wicked upon the back of the righteous, where we rather expected to find the rod. But the metaphors in these places may be said to be crossed; the sense however of both is the same, and is too plain, that the enemies of God's people have all along used them very barbarously. They tore them, as the husbandman tears the ground with his plough-share, to pull them to pieces and get all they could out of them, and so to wear out the saints of the Most High, as the ground is worn out that has been long tilled, tilled (as we say) quite out of heart. When God permitted them to plough thus he intended it for his people's good, that, their fallow ground being thus broken up, he might sow the seeds of his grace upon them, and reap a harvest of good fruit from them: howbeit, the enemies meant not so, neither did their hearts think so (Isa. x. 7); they made long their furrows, never knew when to have done, aiming at nothing less than the destruction of the church. Many by the furrows they made on the backs of God's people understand the stripes they gave them. The cutters cut upon my back, so they read it. The saints have often had trials of cruel scourgings (probably the captives had) and cruel mockings (for we read of the scourge or lash of the tongue, Heb. xi. 36), and so it was fulfilled in Christ, who gave his back to the smiters, Isa. l. 6. Or it may refer to the desolations they made of the cities of Israel. Zion shall, for your sake, be ploughed as a field, Mic. iii. 12. 2. That the church has been always graciously delivered by her friend in heaven. (1.) The enemies' projects have been defeated. They have afflicted the church, in hopes to ruin it, but they have not gained their point. Many a storm it has weathered; many a shock, and many a brunt, it has borne; and yet it is in being: They have not prevailed against me. One would wonder how this ship has lived at sea, when it has been tossed with tempests, and all the waves and billows have gone over it. Christ has built his church upon a rock, and the gates of hell have not prevailed against it, nor ever shall. (2.) The enemies' power has been broken: God has cut asunder the cords of the wicked, has cut their gears, their traces, and so spoiled their ploughing, has cut their scourges, and so spoiled their lashing, has cut the bands of union by which they were combined together, has cut the bands of captivity in which they held God's people. God has many ways of disabling wicked men to do the mischief they design against his church and shaming their counsels. These words, The Lord is righteous, may refer either to the distresses or to the deliverances of the church. [1.] The Lord is righteous in suffering Israel to be afflicted. This the people of God were always ready to own, that, how unjust soever their enemies were, God was just in all that was brought upon them, Neh. ix. 33. [2.] The Lord is righteous in not suffering Israel to be ruined; for he has promised to preserve it a people to himself, and he will be as good as his word. He is righteous in reckoning with their persecutors, and rendering to them a recompence, 2 Thess. i. 6.

God's Regard to His Church.

5 Let them all be confounded and turned back that hate Zion. 6 Let them be as the grass upon the housetops, which withereth afore it groweth up: 7 Wherewith the mower filleth not his hand; nor he that bindeth sheaves his bosom. 8 Neither do they which go by say, The blessing of the Lord be upon you: we bless you in the name of the Lord .

The psalmist, having triumphed in the defeat of the many designs that had been laid as deep as hell to ruin the church, here concludes his psalm as Deborah did her song, So let all thy enemies perish, O Lord! Judg. v. 31.

I. There are many that hate Zion, that hate Zion's God, his worship, and his worshippers, that have an antipathy to religion and religious people, that seek the ruin of both, and do what they can that God may not have a church in the world.

II. We ought to pray that all their attempts against the church may be frustrated, that in them they may be confounded and turned back with shame, as those that have not been able to bring to pass their enterprise and expectation: Let them all be confounded is as much as, They shall be all confounded. The confusion imprecated and predicted is illustrated by a similitude; while God's people shall flourish as the loaded palm-tree, or the green and fruitful olive, their enemies shall wither as the grass upon the house-top. As men they are not to be feared, for they shall be made as grass, Isa. li. 12. But as they are enemies to Zion they are so certainly marked for ruin that they may be looked upon with as much contempt as the grass on the house-tops, which is little, and short, and sour, and good for nothing. 1. It perishes quickly: It withers before it grows up to any maturity, having no root; and the higher its place is, which perhaps is its pride, the more it is exposed to the scorching heat of the sun, and consequently the sooner does it wither. It withers before it is plucked up, so some read it. The enemies of God's church wither of themselves, and stay not till they are rooted out by the judgments of God. 2. It is of no use to any body; nor are they any thing but the unprofitable burdens of the earth, nor will their attempts against Zion ever ripen or come to any head, nor, whatever they promise themselves, will they get any more by them than the husbandman does by the grass on his house-top. Their harvest will be a heap in the day of grief, Isa. xvii. 11.

III. No wise man will pray God to bless the mowers or reapers, v. 8. Observe, 1. It has been an ancient and laudable custom not only to salute and wish a good day to strangers and travellers, but particularly to pray for the prosperity of harvest-labourers. Thus Boas prayed for his reapers. Ruth ii. 4, The Lord be with you. We must thus acknowledge God's providence, testify our good-will to our neighbours, and commend their industry, and it will be accepted of God as a pious ejaculation if it come from a devout and upright heart. 2. Religious expressions, being sacred things, must never be made use of in light and ludicrous actions. Mowing the grass on the house-top would be a jest, and therefore those that have a reverence for the name of God will not prostitute to it the usual forms of salutation, which savoured of devotion; for holy things must not be jested with. 3. It is a dangerous thing to let the church's enemies have our good wishes in their designs against the church. If we wish them God speed, we are partakers of their evil deeds, 2 John 11. When it is said, None will bless them, and show them respect, more is implied, namely, that all wise and good people will cry out shame on them, and beg of God to defeat them; and woe to those that have the prayers of the saints against them. I cursed his habitation, Job v. 3.

PSAL. CXXIX.

A Song of degrees.

OFten have they afflicted me from my youth, may Israel now say. Often have they afflicted me from my youth, yet have they not prevailed against me. The plowers plowed upon my backe, they made long their furrow. Iehovah just, he hath cut asunder the cord of the wicked. Let them be abashed and turned backe, all that hate Sion. Let them be as the grasse of the house tops, which afore one pulleth it off, is withered. Wherewith he that moweth, filleth not his hand; or he that bindeth sheaves, his bosome. Neither doe they that passe by say, The blessing of Iehovah be upon you, we blesse you in the Name of Iehovah.

Annotations. OFten] or Much, vehemently. from my youth] my first constitution, in Aegypt, Ezek. 23. 3. not prevailed] in Chaldee, they could not doe me evill. Vers. 3. plowers] that plow iniquitie, Iob 4 8. the Greeke saith, sinners. furrow] and furrowes, that is, every of them; (for the Hebrew hath both readings) meaning their injuries, or iniquitie, as the Greeke turneth it. Vers. 4. cord] for cords, or ropes; one put for many: see Psal. 8. 9. by cords, meaning counsels and enterprises, wherewith they drew the plough of their iniquitie, Esai. 5. 18. Vers. 5. Let them] or, They shall be abashed. Vers. 6. pulleth it off] or pulleth out, namely, the hooke to cut it. The Chaldee explaines it, which before it flourisheth, an East wind commeth and bloweth on it, and it withereth. Vers. 7. his bosome] his armes; as Esai. 49. 22. or lap. Vers. 8. we blesse you] the Chaldee addeth, and they answer them not, we blesse you, &c. taking this latter branch to be the harvest mens answer, as in Ruth 2. 4.

PSAL. CXXIX.

VErſ. 1 Many a time] Or, Much, and long.

Have they] i. e. The Perſecutors that deſerve not a name. The rich man is not named (as Lazarus is) becauſe not worthy. They ſhall bee written in the Earth,Luk. 10. Jer. 17.13.

Afflicted mee] i. e. The whole community of Saints; ſpoken of here in the ſingular, for their 1 Unity, 2 Paucity.

From my youth] The firſt that ever dyed, dyed for religion; ſo early came Martyrdome into the World.

May Iſrael now ſay] Who yet are promiſed peace, Pſal. 128.6. but ſo was Joſiah; and yet he dyed in battel, 2 Chron. 34.28. But the very God of peace had ſanctified him throughout, and ſo altered the property of his affliction, that it was ſubſervient to his ſalvation.

Verſ. 2 Many a time, &c.] Anadiploſis ad exaggerationem, q. d. They have done it and done it again, but could never atchieve their deſign, viz. to ſupplant and eradicate mee; which might not bee. Oppugnarunt (non expugn[illegible: 2 letters]unt, however the Vulgar ſo rendreth here.) The Church is invincible. Athens took upon her of old to bee ſo; and Venice late boaſteth the like: but time hath confuted the one, and may ſoon do the other; when the Church ſhall ſtand firm, becauſe founded on a Rock. More truly may it bee ſaid of it, than twas once of Troy, Victa tamen vinces, everſaq, Tr[illegible: 1 letter]ja reſurges: Obruet hoſtiles illa ruina domes.Ovid de [illegible: 1 word].

Verſ. 3 The plowers plowed upon my back] Which was never without ſome Croſs upon it, yea ſome plough paſſing over it. The Church is Gods Husbandry; and hee will bee ſure to plow his ſeverall, what ever becommeth of the wild waſte. She is his threſhing-flore, Iſa. 21.10. and hath but little reſt or reſpite. Enemies are flails to threſh off our husks, files to brighten our graces; ploughs and harrows, without which wee ſhould bear but a very thin crop. Gods people do [non-Latin text not transcribed], ſow the ſeed of prayer in the long furrows which thoſe plowers made on their backs; like as the Jews in their feaſts break their glaſſes, as Jeruſalem was broken.

They made long their furrows] Heb. Furrow; as if there were totum pro [illegible: 1 word] corpus. Here haply the Pſalmiſt alludeth to thoſe exquiſite torments whereunto many of the Martyrs were put, ſulcati fidiculi[illegible: 1 letter].

Verſ. 4 The Lord is righteous] That's a ruled caſe, and muſt bee held for a certain truth, whatever wee are, or our Perſecutors.

Hee hath cut aſunder the cords of the wicked] That is, their harneſs, their ploughtraces (nam continuatur tropus Ruſticus) ſo that the plough is looſe, and the horſes at liberty; all their forces and deſigns are broken.

Verſ. 5 Let them all bee conſounded, &c.] And if thoſe that hate Zion, how much more thoſe that hurt her with their virulent tongues, or violent hands?

Verſ. 6 Let them bee at the graſs, &c.] They are curſed with a witneſs whom the Holy Ghoſt thus curſeth, in ſuch emphaticall manner, in ſuch exquiſite tearms.

Verſ. 7 Wherewith the Mower filleth not his hand] As holding it not worth gathering in. Wicked men are uſeleſs creatures: as Stratonicus in Athenau[illegible: 1 letter] ſaith, that the Hill Hamus was for eight months in the year very cold, and for the other four it was Winter.

Verſ. 8 Neither do they which go by ſay, &c.] As they uſe to do to harveſt men, Ruth 2.3 Joh. Chriſtianity is no enemy to curteſie; yet in ſome caſes, ſaith not, God ſpeed.

Many a time have they afflicted me from my youth, may Israel now say. In her present hour of trial she may remember her former afflictions and speak of them for her comfort, drawing from them the assurance that he who has been with her for so long will not desert her in the end. The song begins abruptly. The poet has been musing, and the fire burns, therefore speaks he with his tongue; he cannot help it, he feels that he must speak, and therefore "may now say" what he has to say. The trials of the church have been repeated again and again, times beyond all count: the same afflictions are fulfilled in us as in our fathers. Jacob of old found his days full of trouble; each Israelite is often harassed; and Israel as a whole has proceeded from tribulation to tribulation. "Many a time", Israel says, because she could not say how many times. She speaks of her assailants as "they", because it would be impossible to write or even to know all their names. They had straitened, harassed, and fought against her from the earliest days of her history —from her youth; and they had continued their assaults right on without ceasing. Persecution is the heirloom of the church, and the ensign of the elect. Israel among the nations was peculiar, and this peculiarity brought against her many restless foes, who could never be easy unless they were warring against the people of God. When in Canaan, at the first, the chosen household was often severely tried; in Egypt it was heavily oppressed; in the wilderness it was fiercely assailed; and in the promised land it was often surrounded by deadly enemies. It was something for the afflicted nation that it survived to say, "Many a time have they afflicted me." The affliction began early —"from my youth"; and it continued late. The earliest years of Israel and of the Church of God are spent in trial. Babes in grace are cradled in opposition. No sooner is the man child born than the dragon is after it. "It is", however, "good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth", and he shall see it to be so when in after days he tells the tale.

Many a time have they afflicted, me from my youth. Israel repeats her statement of her repeated afflictions. The fact was uppermost in her thoughts, and she could not help soliloquizing upon it again and again. These repetitions are after the manner of poetry: thus she makes a sonnet out of her sorrows, music out of her miseries. "Yet they have not prevailed against me." We seem to hear the beat of timbrels and the clash of cymbals here: the foe is derided; his malice has failed. That "yet" breaks in like the blast of trumpets, or the roll of kettledrums. "Cast down, but not destroyed", is the shout of a victor. Israel has wrestled, and has overcome in the struggle. Who wonders? If Israel overcame the angel of the covenant, what man or devil shall vanquish him? The fight was oft renewed and long protracted: the champion severely felt the conflict, and was at times fearful of the issue; but at length he takes breath, and cries, "Yet they have not prevailed against me." "Many a time; " yes, "many a time", the enemy has had his opportunity and his vantage, but not so much as once has he gained the victory.

The plowers plowed up on my back. The scourgers tore the flesh as ploughmen furrow a field. The people were maltreated like a criminal given over to the lictors with their cruel whips; the back of the nation was scored and furrowed by oppression. It is a grand piece of imagery condensed into few words. A writer says the metaphor is muddled, but he is mistaken: there are several figures, like wheel within wheel, but there is no confusion. The afflicted nation was, as it were, lashed by her adversaries so cruelly that each blow left a long red mark, or perhaps a bleeding wound, upon her back and shoulders, comparable to a furrow which tears up the ground from one end of the field to the other. Many a heart has been in like case; smitten and sore wounded by them that use the scourge of the tongue; so smitten that their whole character has been cut up and scored by calumny. The true church has in every age had fellowship with her Lord under his cruel flagellations: his sufferings were s prophecy of what she would be called hereafter to endure, and the foreshadowing has been fulfilled. Zion has in this sense been ploughed as a field. They made long their furrows: —as if delighting in their cruel labour. They missed not an inch, but went from end to end of the field, meaning to make thorough work of their congenial engagement. Those who laid on the scourge did it with a thoroughness which showed how hearty was their hate. Assuredly the enemies of Christ's church never spare pains to inflict the utmost injury: they never do the work of the devil deceitfully, or hold back their hand from blood. They smite so as to plough into the man; they plough the quivering flesh as if it were clods of clay; they plough deep and long with countless furrows; until they leave no portion of the church unfurrowed or unassailed. Ah me! Well did Latimer say that there was no busier ploughman in all the world than the devil: whoever makes short furrows, he does not. Whoever balks and shirks, he is thorough in all that he does. Whoever stops work at sundown, he never does. He and his children plough like practised ploughmen; but they prefer to carry on their pernicious work upon the saints behind their backs, for they are as cowardly as they are cruel.

The LORD is righteous. Whatever men may be, Jehovah remains just, and will therefore keep covenant with his people and deal out justice to their oppressors. Here is the hinge of the condition: this makes the turning point of Israel's distress. The Lord bears with the long furrows of the wicked, but he will surely make them cease from their ploughing before he has done with them. He hath cut asunder the cords of the wicked. The rope which binds the oxen to the plough is cut; the cord which bound the victim is broken; the bond which held the enemies in cruel unity has snapped. As in Ps 124:7 we read, "the snare is broken; we are escaped", so here the breaking of the enemies' instrument of oppression is Israel's release. Sooner or later a righteous God will interpose, and when he does so, his action will be most effectual; he does not unfasten, but cuts asunder, the harness which the ungodly use in their labour of hate. Never has God used a nation to chastise his Israel without destroying that nation when the chastisement has come to a close: he hates those who hurt his people even though lie permits their hate to triumph for a while for his own purpose. If any man would have his harness cut, let him begin to plough one of the Lord's fields with the plough of persecution. The shortest way to ruin is to meddle with a saint: the divine warning is, "He that toucheth you toucheth the apple of his eye."

Let them all be confounded and turned back that hate Zion. And so say we right heartily: and in this case vox populi is vex Dei, for so it shall be. If this be an imprecation, let it stand; for our heart says "Amen" to it. It is but justice that those who hate, harass, and hurt the good should be brought to naught. Those who confound right and wrong ought to be confounded, and those who turn back from God ought to be turned back. Loyal subjects wish ill to those who plot against their king.

"Confound their politics,

Frustrate their knavish tricks," is but a proper wish, and contains within it no trace of personal ill will. We desire their welfare as men, their downfall as traitors. Let their conspiracies be confounded, their policies be turned back. How can we wish prosperity to those who would destroy that which is dearest to our hearts? This present age is so flippant that if a man loves the Saviour he is styled a fanatic, and if he hates the powers of evil he is named a bigot. As for ourselves, despite all objectors, we join heartily in this commination; and would revive in our heart the old practice of Ebal and Gerizim, where those were blessed who bless God, and those were cursed who make themselves a curse to the righteous. We have heard men desire a thousand times that the gallows might be the reward of the assassins who murdered two inoffensive men in Dublin, and we could never censure the wish; for justice ought to he rendered to the evil as well as to the good. Besides, the church of God is so useful, so beautiful, so innocent of harm, so fraught with good, that those who do her wrong are wronging all mankind and deserve to be treated as the enemies of the human race. Study a chapter from the "Book of Martyrs", and see if you do not feel inclined to read an imprecatory Psalm over Bishop Bonner and Bloody Mary. It may be that some wretched nineteenth century sentimentalist will blame you: if so, read another over him.

Let them be as the grass upon the housetops, which withereth afore it groweth up. Grass on the housetop is soon up and soon down. It sprouts in the heat, finds enough nutriment to send up a green blade, and then it dies away before it reaches maturity, because it has neither earth nor moisture sufficient for its proper development. Before it grows up it dies; it needs not to be plucked up, for it hastens to decay of itself. Such is and such ought to be the lot of the enemies of God's people. Transient is their prosperity; speedy is their destruction. The height of their position, as it hastens their progress, so it hurries their doom. Had they been lower in station they had perhaps been longer in being. "Soon ripe, soon rotten", is an old proverb. Soon plotting and soon rotting, is a version of the old adage which will suit in this place. We have seen grass on the rustic thatch of our own country cottages which will serve for an illustration almost as well as that which comes up so readily on the flat roofs and domes of eastern habitations. The idea is —they make speed to success, and equal speed to failure. Persecutors are all sound and fury, flash and flame; but they speedily vanish —more speedily than is common to men. Grass in the field withers, but not so speedily as grass on the housetops. Without a mower the tufts of verdure perish from the roofs, and so do opposers pass away by other deaths than fall to the common lot of men; they are gone, and none is the worse. If they are missed at all, their absence is never regretted. Grass on the housetop is a nonentity in the world: the house is not impoverished when the last blade is dried up: and, even so, the opposers of Christ pass away, and none lament them. One of the fathers said of the apostate emperor Julian, "That little cloud will soon be gone"; and so it was. Every sceptical system of philosophy has much the same history; and the like may be said of each heresy. Poor, rootless things, they are and are not: they come and go, even though no one rises against them. Evil carries the seeds of dissolution within itself. So let it be.

Wherewith the mower filleth not his hand; nor he that bindeth sheaves his bosom. When with his sickle the husbandman would cut down the tufts, he found nothing to lay hold upon: the grass promised fairly enough, but there was no fulfilment, there was nothing to cut or to carry, nothing for the hand to grasp, nothing for the lap to gather. Easterners carry their corn in their bosoms, but in this case there was nothing to bear home. Thus do the wicked come to nothing. By God's just appointment they prove a disappointment. Their fire ends in smoke; their verdure turns to vanity; their flourishing is but a form of withering. No one profits by them, least of all are they profitable to themselves. Their aim is bad, their work is worse, their end is worst of all.

Neither do they which go by say, The blessing of the LORD be upon you: we bless you in the name of the LORD. In harvest times men bless each other in the name of the Lord; but there is nothing in the course and conduct of the ungodly man to suggest the giving or receiving of a benediction. Upon a survey of the sinner's life from beginning to end, we feel more inclined to weep than to rejoice, and we feel bound rather to wish him failure than success. We dare not use pious expressions as mere compliments, and hence we dare not wish God speed to evil men lest we be partakers of their evil deeds. When persecutors are worrying the saints, we cannot say, "The blessing of the Lord be upon you." When they slander the godly and oppose the doctrine of the cross, we dare not bless them in the name of the Lord. It would be infamous to compromise the name of the righteous Jehovah by pronouncing his blessing upon unrighteous deeds. See how godly men are roughly ploughed by their adversaries, and yet a harvest comes of it which endures and produces blessing; while the ungodly, though they flourish for a while and enjoy a complete immunity, dwelling, as they think, quite above the reach of harm, are found in a short time to have gone their way and to have left no trace behind. Lord, number me with thy saints. Let me share their grief if I may also partake of their glory. Thus would I make this Psalm my own, and magnify thy name, because thine afflicted ones are not destroyed, and thy persecuted ones are not forsaken.

Whole Psalm. In the "degrees" of Christian virtue the Psalm corresponds to the tenth step, which is patience in adversity. —H. T. Armfield.

Whole Psalm. The following incident in connection with the glorious return of the Vaudois under Henri Arnaud is related in Muston's "Israel of the Alps": —"After these successes the gallant patriots took an oath of fidelity to each other, and celebrated divine service in one of their own churches, for the first time since their banishment. The enthusiasm of the moment was irrepressible; they chanted the seventy-fourth Psalm to the clash of arms; and Henri Arnaud, mounting the pulpit with a sword in one hand and a Bible in the other, preached from the Hundred and twenty-ninth Psalm, and once more declared, in the face of heaven, that he would never resume his pastoral office in patience and peace, until he should witness the restoration of his brethren to their ancient and rightful settlements."

Many a time have they afflicted me from my youth. 1. How old these afflictions are: "From my youth." Aye, from my infancy, birth and conception. 2. There is the frequency and iteration of these afflictions. They were oft and many: "many a time." 3. There is the grievousness of these afflictions, expressed by a comparison. "The plowers plowed upon my back: they made long their furrows." So these were old afflictions —from her youth. They were many a time: more times than can be numbered. And then they were grievous, even like iron ploughs, drawing deep and long furrows on their back. —Alexander Henderson.

Many a time have they afflicted me, etc. God had one Son, and but one Son, without sin; but never any without sorrow. We may be God's children, and yet still under persecution; his Israel, and afflicted from our youth up. We may feel God's hand as a Father upon us when he strikes us as well as when he strokes us. When he strokes us, it is lest we faint under his hand; and when he strikes us, it is that we should know his hand. —Abraham Wright (1611-1690), in "A Practical Commentary upon the Psalms."

They. The persecutors deserve not a name. The rich man is not named (as Lazarus is) because not worthy: Lu 16:1-31 "They shall be written in the earth": Jer 17:13. —John Trapp.

They. In speaking of the enemies of Israel simply by the pronoun "they", without being more specific, the Psalmist aggravates the greatness of the evil more than if he had expressly named the Assyrians or the Egyptians. By not specifying any particular class of foes, he tacitly intimates that the world is filled with innumerable bands of enemies, whom Satan easily arms for the destruction of good men, his object being that new wars may arise continually on every side. History certainly bears ample testimony that the people of God had not to deal with a few enemies, but that they were assaulted by almost the whole world; and further, that they were molested not only by external foes, but also by those of an internal kind, by such as professed to belong to the Church. —John Calvin.

They afflicted me. Why are these afflictions of the righteous? Whence is it that he who has given up his Son to death for them, should deny them earthly blessings? Why is faith a mourner so frequently here below, and with all that heroic firmness in her aspect, and hope of glory in her eye, why needs she to be painted with so deep a sorrow on her countenance, and the trace of continual tears on her check? First, we reply, for her own safety. Place religion out of the reach of sorrow, and soon she would pine and perish. God is said to choose his people in the furnace, because they most often choose him there. It is ever from the cross that the most earnest "My God" proceeds, and never is the cry heard but he speeds forth at its utterance, who once hung there, to support, to comfort, and to save. As it is only in affliction God is sought, so by many it is only in affliction God is known. This, one of the kings of these worshippers of the Temple found. "When Manasseh was brought to affliction, then he knew that the Lord he was God": 2Ch 33:12-13.

But, further, it is only by affliction we ourselves are known. What is the source of that profound and obstinate indifference to divine truth which prevails among men of the world, except the proud conviction that they may dispense with it? It is only when they are crushed as the worm they are made to feel that the dust is their source; only when earthly props are withdrawn will they take hold of that arm of omnipotence which Jesus offers, and which he has offered so long in vain. While men know themselves, they know their sin also in affliction. What is the natural course and experience of the unbelieving of mankind? Transgression, remorse, and then forgetfulness; new transgression, new sorrow, and again forgetfulness. How shall this carelessness be broken? How convince them that they stand in need of a Saviour as the first and deepest want of their being, and that they can only secure deliverance from wrath eternal by a prompt and urgent application to him? By nothing so effectually as by affliction. God's children, who had forgotten him, arise and go to their Father when thus smitten by the scourge of sorrow; and no sooner is the penitent "Father, I have sinned" spoken, than they are clasped in his arms, and safe and happy in his love.

It is, further, by affliction that the world is known to God's children. God's great rival is the world. The lust of the flesh, pleasure; the lust of the eye, desire; the pride of life, the longing to be deemed superior to those about us, —comprise everything man naturally covets. Give us ease, honour, distinction, and all life's good will seem obtained. But what wilt thou do, when he shall judge thee? This is a question fitted to alarm the happiest of the children of prosperity. What so frequently and effectually shows the necessity of piety as the sharp teachings of affliction? They show what moralists and preachers never could, that riches profit not in the day of death, that pleasures most fully enjoyed bring no soothing to the terrors which nearness to eternity presents, and that friends, however affectionate, cannot plead for and save us at the bar of God. "Miserable comforters are they all", and it is for the very purpose of inspiring this conviction, along with a belief that it is Jesus alone who can comfort in the hour of need, that affliction is sent to God's children. —Robert Nisbet.

From my youth. The first that ever died, died for religion; so early came martyrdom into the world. —John Trapp.

Verses 1-2.

1. The visible Church from the beginning of the world is one body, and, as it were, one man, growing up from infancy to riper age; for so speaketh the church here: Many a time have they afflicted me from my youth.

2. The wicked enemies of the church, they also are one body, one adverse army, from the beginning of the world continuing war against the church: "Many a time have they afflicted me from my youth."

3. As the former injuries done to the church are owned by the church, in after ages, as done against the same body, so also the persecution of former enemies is imputed and put upon the score of present persecutors: "Many a time have they afflicted me from my youth, may Israel now say."

4. New experience of persecution, when they call to mind the exercise of the church in former ages, serves much for encouragement and consolation in troubles: "Many a time have they afflicted me from my youth, may Israel mow say."

5. Albeit this hath been the endeavour of the wicked in all ages to destroy the church, yet God hath still preserved her iron age to age: Yet they have not prevailed. —David Dickson.

Verses 1-2. When the prophet says twice, "They have afflicted me", "they have afflicted me", the repetition is not superfluous, it being intended to teach us that the people of God had not merely once or twice to enter the conflict, but that their patience had been tried by continual exercises. —John Calvin.

Many a time, etc. The Christian Church may adopt the language of the Hebrew Church: "Many a time have they afflicted me from my youth: yet they have not prevailed against me." What afflictions were endured by the Christian Church from her youth up! How feeble was that youth! How small the number of the apostles to whom our Lord gave his gospel in charge! How destitute were they of human learning, of worldly influence, of secular power! To effect their destruction, and to frustrate their object —the glory of God and the salvation of men —the dungeon and the mine, the rack and the gibbet, were all successively employed. The ploughmen ploughed their back, and made long their furrows. Their property was confiscated; their persons were imprisoned; their civil rights were taken from them; their heads rolled on the scaffold; their bodies were consumed at the burning pile; they were thrown, amidst the ringing shouts of the multitude, to the wild beasts of the amphitheatre. Despite, however, of every opposition, our holy religion took root and grew upward. Not all the fury of ten persecutions could exterminate it from the earth. The teeth of wild beasts could not grind it to powder; the fire could not burn it; the waters could not drown it; the dungeon could not confine it. Truth is eternal, like the great God from whose bosom it springs, and therefore it cannot be destroyed. And because Christianity is the truth, and no lie, her enemies have never prevailed against her. —M. M'Michael.

Yet they have not prevailed against me. The words are the same as in Ge 32:28. The blessing won by Jacob, when he wrestled with the angel, remained on his descendants. During the long night of the Captivity the faithful had wrestled in faithful prayer; now the morning had appeared, and Israel was raised to a higher stage of privilege. —W. Kay.

Yet they have not prevailed against me. Israel prevailed with God in wrestling with him, and therefore it is that he prevails with men also. If so be that we will wrestle with God for a blessing, and prevail with him, then we need not to fear but we shall wrestle the enemies out of it also. If we be the people of God, and persist in wrestling against his enemies, we need not fear but that we shall be victorious. —Alexander Henderson.

The plowers plowed, etc. There does not seem to be any need to look for an interpretation of this in scourging, or any other bodily infliction of pain; it seems to be "a figurative mode of expressing severe oppression." Roberts informs us that when, in the East, a man is in much trouble through oppressors, he says, "How they plough me and turn me up." —Ingram Cobbin, 1839.

The plowers plowed, etc. The great Husbandman who owns this plough (at least by whose permission this plough goes), is God. Not only is it God who makes your common ploughs to gang, and sends the gospel into a land, but it is God also who disposes and overrules this same plough of persecution. For without his license the plough cannot be yoked; and being yoked, cannot enter to gang till he direct; and he tempers the irons, so that they cannot go one inch deeper than he thinks meet. When he thinks it time to quit work, then presently he cuts their cords, so that they cannot go once about after he thinks it time to quit work. Albeit when they yoke, they resolve to have all the land upside down, yet he will let them plough no more of it than he sees meet. Now for the ploughmen of this plough, they are Satan and the evil angels; they hold the plough, and are goad men to it; and they yoke in the oxen into the plough, and drive them up with their goads. And they have a sort of music also, which they whistle into their ears, to make them go the faster; and that is the allurements and provocations of the world. And for the oxen who draw into this plough, it may be princes when they turn persecutors of the kirk; it may be prelates; it may be politicians in the world: these are the oxen, Satan and the ill spirits inciting them, and stirring them up to go forward in their intended course. Then consider here that the plough and the ploughmen and oxen go about as God thinks meet; but what is it that they are doing in the meantime? Nothing else but preparing the ground for seed, and so the Lord employs them to prepare his people better to receive the seed of his word and of his Spirit. —Alexander Henderson.

—God fails not to sow blessings in the furrows, which the plowers plow upon the back of the church. —Jeremy Taylor, 1613-1667.

The plowers plowed upon my back: they made long their furrows. When the Lord Jesus Christ was in his suffering state, and during his passion, these words here predicted of him were most expressly realized. Whilst he remained in the hands of the Roman soldiers they stript him of his raiment; they bound him with cords to a pillar; they flogged him. This was so performed by them, that they made ridges in his back and sides: they tore skin and flesh, and made him bare even to the bone, so that his body was like a ploughed field; the gashes made in it were like ridges made in a ploughed field; these were on his back. "The plowers plowed upon my back: they made long their furrows." Whilst every part of our Lord's sorrows and sufferings is most minutely set forth in the sacred hymns, Psalms, and songs, contained in what we style the Book of Psalms, yet we shall never comprehend what our most blessed Lord, in every part of his life, and in his passion and death, underwent for us: may the Lord the Spirit imprint this fresh expression used on this subject effectually upon us. Our Lord's words here are very expressive of the violence of his tormentors and their rage against him, and of the wounds and torments they had inflicted on him. What must the feelings of our Lord have been when they made such furrows on his back, that it was all furrowed and welted with such long wounds, that it was more like a ploughed field than anything else. Blessings on him for his grace and patience, it is "with his stripes we are healed." —Samuel Eyles Pierce.

They made long their furrows. The apparent harshness of this figure will disappear if it be considered to refer to severe public scourgings. To those who have been so unhappy as to witness such scourgings this allusion will then appear most expressive. The long wales or wounds which the scourge leaves at each stroke may most aptly be compared either to furrows or (as the original admits) to the ridges between the furrows. The furrows made by the plough in the East are very superficial, and (although straight) are usually carried to a great length, the fields not being enclosed as in this country. —John Kitto, in "The Pictorial Bible."

The LORD is righteous: he hath cut asunder the cords of the wicked; i.e., he has put an end to their domination and tyranny over us. In the Hebrew word which is rendered "cords" there is a reference to the harness with which the oxen were fastened to the plough; and so to the involved machinations and cruelties of the enemy. The Hebrew word properly denotes thick twisted cords;figuratively, intertwined wickedness; Mic 7:8. "The cords of the wicked", therefore, signify their power, dominion, tyranny, wickedness, and violence. These cords God is said "to have cut", so that he should have made an end; and, therefore "to have cut" for ever, so that they should never be reunited. —Hermann Venema.

He hath cut asunder the cords of the wicked. The enemies' power has been broken; God has cut asunder the cords of the wicked, has cut their gears, their traces, and so spoiled their ploughing; has cut their scourges, and so spoiled their lashing; has cut the bands of union, by which they were combined together; he has cut the bands of captivity, in which they held God's people. God has many ways of disabling Wicked men to do the mischief they design against his church, and shaming their counsels. —Matthew Henry.

He hath cut asunder the cords of the wicked. He repeateth the same praise of God in delivering his church from oppression of the enemy, under the similitude of cutting the cords of the plough, which tilleth up another man's field. Whence learn, 1. The enemies of the church do no more regard her than they do the earth under their feet, and do seek to make their own advantage of her, as usurpers use to do in possessing and labouring of another man's field. "The plowers plowed upon my back." 2. The Lord useth to suffer his enemies to break up the fallow ground of his people's proud and stiff hearts with the plough of persecution, and to draw deep and long furrows on them: "They made long their furrows." 3. What the enemies do against the church the Lord maketh use of for maturing the church, which is his field, albeit they intend no good to God's church, yet they serve in God's wisdom to prepare the Lord's people for receiving the seed of God's word; for the similitude speaketh of their tilling of the church, but nothing of their sowing, for that is reserved for the Lord himself, who is owner of the field. 4. When the wicked have performed so much of God's husbandry as he thinketh good to suffer them, then he stoppeth their design, and looseth their plough. "He Hath cut asunder the cords of the wicked." —David Dickson.

If any one be desirous to accept these words, Let them be confounded and turned backward, as they sound, he will devoutly explain the imprecation: that is to say, it may be an imprecation of good confusion, which leads to repentance, and of turning to God from sin: thus Bellarmine. There is a confounding by bringing grace, glory, and turning from the evil way. Thus some enemies and persecutors of the Christians have been holily confounded and turned to the faith of Christ; as St. Paul, who full of wrath and slaughter was going to Damascus that he might afflict the believers, but was graciously confounded on the road. —Thomas Le Blanc.

Let them all be confounded. Mr. Emerson told a convention of rationalists once, in this city, that the morality of the New Testament is scientific and perfect. But the morality of the New Testament is that of the Old. "Yes", you say; "but what of the imprecatory Psalms", A renowned professor, who, as Germany thinks, has done more for New England theology than any man since Jonathan Edwards, was once walking in this city with a clergyman of a radical faith, who objected to the doctrine that the Bible is inspired, and did so on the ground of the imprecatory Psalms. The replies of the usual kind were made; and it was presumed that David expressed the Divine purpose in praying that his enemies might be destroyed, and that he gave utterance only to the natural righteous indignation of conscience against unspeakable iniquity. But the doubter would not be satisfied. The two came at last to a newspaper bulletin, on which the words were written, —"Baltimore to be shelled at twelve o'clock." "I am glad of it", said the radical preacher; "I am glad of it." "And so am I", said his companion, "but I hardly dare say so, for fear you should say that I am uttering an imprecatory Psalm." —Joseph Cook, in Boston Monday Lectures. "Transcendentalism."

And turned back; from pursuing their designs and accomplishing them; as the Assyrian monarch was, who had a hook put into his nose, and a bridle in his lips, and was turned back by the way he came: Isa 37:29. —John Gill.

All those who hate Zion. Note that he does not say, All who hate me;but "all who hate Zion." Thus the saints are not led to this from the desire of revenge, but from zeal for the people of God, so that they pray for the confusion and repression of the ungodly. —Wolfgang Musculus.

Let them be as the grass upon the housetops. They are rightly compared to grass on the housetops; for more contemptuously the Holy Ghost could not speak of them. For this grass is such, that it soon withereth away before the sickle be put into it. Yea, no man thinketh it worthy to be cut down, no man regardeth it, every man suffereth it to brag for a while, and to show itself unto men from the housetops as though it were something when it is nothing. So the wicked persecutors in the world, which are taken to be mighty and terrible according to the outward show, are of all men most contemptible. For Christians do not once think of plucking them up or cutting them down; they persecute them not, they revenge not their own injuries, but suffer them to increase, to brag and glory as much as they list. For they know that they cannot abide the violence of a vehement wind. Yea, though all things be in quietness, yet as grass upon the housetops, by little and little, withereth away through the heat of the sun, so tyrannies upon small occasions do perish and soon vanish away. The faithful, therefore, in suffering do prevail, and overcome; but the wicked in doing are overthrown, and miserably perish, as all the histories of all times and ages do plainly witness. —Martin Luther.

Like grass upon the housetops. The flat roofs of the Eastern houses "are plastered with a composition of mortar, tar, ashes, and sand", in the crevices of which grass often springs. The houses of the poor in the country were formed of a plaster of mud and straw, where the grass would grow still more freely: as all the images are taken from country life, it is doubtless to country dwellings that the poet refers. —J. J. Stewart Perowne.

Like grass upon the housetops. The enemies of Zion may have an elevated position in the nation, they may seem to promise growth, but having no root in themselves, like the hearers on the stony ground, give no promise of fruit. Their profession dies away and leaves no benefit to the church, as it claims no blessing from others. —William Wilson (1783-1873), in "The Book of Psalms, with an Exposition."

Grass upon the housetops. In the morning the master of the house laid in a stock of earth, which was carried up, and spread evenly on the top of the house, which is flat. The whole roof is thus formed of mere earth, laid on and rolled hard and flat. On the top of every house is a large stone roller, for the purpose of hardening and flattening this layer of rude soil, so that the rain may not penetrate; but upon this surface, as may be supposed, grass and weeds grow freely, but never come to maturity. It is to such grass the Psalmist alludes as useless and bad. —William Jowett, in "Christian Researches in Syria and the Holy Land", 1825.

The mower filleth not his hand, etc. The grain was rather pulled than cut, and as each handful was taken the reaper gave it a flourishing swing up into his bosom. —Mrs. Finn, in "Home in the Holy Land", 1866.

He that bindeth sheaves his bosom. A practice prevails in hot climates of sending out persons into the woods and other wild places to collect the grass, which would otherwise be wasted; and it is no uncommon tiling in the evening to see groups of grass cutters in the market, waiting to dispose of their bundles or sheaves, which are often so large that one is disposed to wonder how they could have been conveyed from the woods upon one man's shoulders. —Maria Calcott, in "A Scripture Herbal," 1842.

Affliction as it comes to saints from men of the world.

1. Reason for it —enmity of the serpent's seed.

2. Modes of its display —persecution, ridicule, slander, disdain, etc.

3. Comfort under it. So persecuted they the prophets: so the Master. It is their nature. They cannot kill the soul. It is but for a time, etc.

Verses 1-2.

1. How far persecution for righteousness' sake may go. a) It may be great: "afflicted", "afflicted." b) It may be frequent: "Many a time." c) It may be early: "From my youth."

2. How far it cannot go. a) It may seem to prevail. b) It may prevail in some degree. c) It cannot ultimately prevail. d) It shall cause that to which it is opposed increasingly to prevail. —G. R.

Verses 1-4. Israel persecuted but not forsaken. Persecution.

1. Whence it came: "they."

2. How it came: "Many a time", "from my youth", severely: "afflicted", "ploughed."

3. Why it came. Human and Satanic hatred, and Divine permission.

4. What came of it: "not prevailed" —to destroy, to drive to despair, to lead to sin. God's righteousness manifested in upholding his people, baffling their foes, etc.

Verses 1-4. The enemies of God's church.

1. Their violence: "The plowers plowed", etc.

2. Their persistency: "Many a time...from my youth."

3. Their failure: "Yet they have not prevailed."

4. Their great opponent: "The Lord...hath cut asunder." —J. F.

1. Literally fulfilled. a) In Christ. Mt 27:26 20:19 Mr 15:15 Lu 18:33 Joh 19:1. b) In his followers. Mt 10:17 Ac 16:23 2Co 6:5 2Co 11:23-24 Heb 11:36. And frequently in subsequent persecutions.

2. Figuratively. In secret calumnies both in Christ and his followers. —G. R.

Israel's song of triumph.

1. The Lord is righteous in permitting these afflictions to come upon his people.

2. He is righteous in keeping his promise of deliverance to his people.

3. He is righteous in visiting the enemies of his people with judgment. —W. H. J. P.

1. An inexcusable hatred described: "hate Zion", God's church and cause. For, a) Her people are righteous. b) Her faith is a gospel. c) Her mission is peace. d) Her very existence is the world's preservation.

2. An inveterate sinfulness indicated: "Them that hate Zion." For, whatever moral virtues they may boast of, they must be, a) Enemies to the human race. b) In defiant opposition to God. c) Perversely blind, as Saul, or radically vile. d) Devil like.

3. An instinctive feeling of a good man expressed: "Let them all be", etc. Prompted by, a) His love to God. b) Love to man. c) Love to righteousness. Hence, its existence is in itself a pledge that the righteous God will respect and comply with it. —J. F.

Verses 5-8.

1. The characters described. a) They do not love Zion. They say not, "Lord, I have loved the habitation of thine house", etc. b) They hate Zion —both its King and its subjects.

2. Their prosperity: "As the grass", etc.

3. Their end. a) Shame: "Let them be confounded." b) Loss: "Turned back." c) Disappointment. No mowing; no reaping. d) Dishonour. Unblessed by others as well as in themselves. —G. R.

Verses 6-9. The wicked flourishing and perishing.

1. Eminent in position.

2. Envied in prosperity.

3. Evanescent in duration.

4. Empty as to solidity.

5. Excepted from blessing.

The .129. Psalme. They haue often times afflicted, &c.

This Psalme consisteth of two partes. The argument of the Psalme. In the former he giueth thankes to God for the defence and continuall deliuerance of the people of God. In the later part he maketh his prayer against the aduersaries, & in praying he prophecieth withal. Both these serue for our instruction, and also conteyne an exhortation to patience vnder the crosse, which perteyneth not to one age or tyme, but as the continuall history of the Church doth shew, to all times and to the whole life of man. Moreouer we doe here comprehend both Churches, of the Iewes and of the Gentiles, as Paule also in a maner ioyneth them both togither when he sayth: First to the Iewe and then to the Grecian. For as touching the Church or people of the Iewes, it appeareth by the histories that they were placed in the middes of their enemies, as a goodly rose in the middest of thornes. On the southside the Ismaelites, the Arabians & other cruell people vexed them. On the west part the Egyptians, the Ethiopians, the Troglodites and other like. On the North side the Philistines, the Assyrians, &c. So the Church after the destruction of the Synagoge, is compassed euery way with enemies, and Christ, according to the Psalme, reigneth in the middes of his enemies. Thus were they often times and many wayes afflicted. But herewithall God shewed this miracle, that when they were so afflicted, he alwayes deliuered them. And thus was the kingdom of Israel a miraculous kingdom, in that the Lord when he would correct and chastise them, suffered the Philistines, Edomites, Moabites, Assyrians and Babylonians to haue victory ouer them. Againe, when they seemed to be vtterly oppressed, they victoriously preuailed against their enemies. So continued this kingdom in despite of the cruel nations round about it, and of Satan him selfe: as is to bee seene in the bookes of the Kinges and also of the Chronicles. Now, because this people had both threatnings and promises set before them as touching their afflictions & deliuerance, this was vnto them a great consolation euen when they were afflicted & spoyled, that they knew that all these things came to passe not by the wil or power of their enemies, and much lesse by their righteousnes or desertes, but onely by the will of God thus punishing and chastising his people, yea threatning and forewarning them by the Prophetes that he would so punish the disobedient. This is no small consolation, that in thy affliction and calamitie thou mayst be able to say: this is ye scourge of God thus correcting me and visiting my sinnes: It is not the wrath of God or the merite and deseruing of my aduersary.

These thinges must we apply vnto our selues also, to the ende that when we be oppressed, we may comfort our selues that we are not oppressed by ye power of death, sinne, hell, or any creature, but by the will of God our creator, afflicting vs and punishing our sinnes & ingratitude, and yet so that he leaueth vnto vs this fatherly promise, the he will not forsake vs. And such a figure of ye whole kingdome of Christ is set forth in the Apocalyps. For how much doth is speake of euill angells, of cruel beasts & such other plagues of the Church which should enter into the Church & the kingdom of Christ, God so permitting. Notwithstanding consolation followeth afflictions and calamities, and though the Church be neuer so sore afflicted, yet shal it continue and endure, & at the length shall ouercome and victoriously triumph.

But this Psalme agreeth especially vnto our time, wherein the Church hath bene most greuously afflicted both vnder the Turks and also vnder the Romish Bishops, yea and as it were vtterly abolished: So that if ye wey the matter well, it may appeare that the condition of the Iewes in Babylon was better then the state of the Church vnder Antichrist: where the true vse of the Sacraments was taken away, the benefit of Christ darkned, faith extinguished, no true seruice of God vsed, no true good workes exercised: generally all thinges which perteyne to true religion were cleane abolished or most miserably deformed and defaced. Wherfore, like as the Iewes in Babylon were put from the sight & vse of the temple, the sacrifices, the ceremonies & all politike gouernment: so the Church vnder Antichrist had no true ministery, no true seruice of God, not her owne kingdom and gouernment, but was constrayned to obserue and keepe the babylonicall and hethenish rites and ceremonies of the Papistes. Thus was the wrath, and thus haue bene the punishments of God in a maner all one in the Church of the Iewes and the Gentiles.

Wherefore it is most necessary that we lay hold vpon this consolation, that, as the Psalme sayth, we are afflicted, we are cast downe, we are troden vnder foote, but we are not ouercome. For the Church shall stand and remaine inuincible, notwithstanding that through great incredulitie and incredible infirmitie the victorye therof is hidden & can not be seene. As it was vnder the Pope, where all Scholes and all Churches taught nothing else but the blasphemous doctrine of the Romish bishops and doting dreames of the Monks. This was the very same thing that the psalme 73. complayneth of, where it sayth: VVe see not our signes, and yet God had euen then his Church, although it was very litle, obscure, & miserably deformed. Before the kingdome of the Romish Antichrist what a swarme of heretikes sprang vp? Of whem also the Church was sore vexed and afflicted, euen as the Iewes were afflicted of the nations which dwelled nere vnto them. And like as the captiuitie followed that affliction of the Iewes, so the kingdom of the Romish Bishops was that captiuitie which f[illegible: 1 letter]llowed the outragious furie of the heretikes, & out of the which also haue flowed all the euills, and plagues which haue bene euer since in the Church, as out of a foule sinke and filthy pudle. But nowe by the great mercie of God the captiuitie beginneth to be turned, the temple is repaired, and the true seruice of God restored.

This Psalme, after my iudgement, speaketh generally of all such troubles and afflictions of the Church, as haue bene at all times & in all ages: As first that the kingdom of the Iewes when they were yet vnder good Kinges, was mightely assailed, but yet not vtterly ouercome: And that the people afterwards were spoyled of the Assyrians and Babylonians and carried away captiue, but not cleane forsaken. For they were againe deliuered out of captiuitie, and in their owne land enioyed the promise concerning Christ. Thus speaketh ye Psalme first of the Iewish Church. Afterwards it comprehendeth as a prophecy, the state and condition of the Church of the Gentiles: to witte, that God would preserue and defend it against all heretikes, against all the rage and fury of the world, against the kingdom of the Romish Antichrist, & moreouer against al the tentations of sinne which vexe and oppresse the conscience. Thus must we apply this Psalme to all times and ages of the Church, to all chaunges and alterations, all daungers of the world, the flesh, sinne, the lawe, death, and the gates of hell. For the world assaileth it with power & wisedome: the deuil with desperation and dubitation: heretikes with errors in faith and religion, and the conscience with sinnes. In all these perills we say: Blessed be the Lord God, who suffereth vs not to be tēpted aboue that we are able to beare. In deede we must be tempted and tried, but in the tentation he will giue an outscape: besides this, that he giueth vs strength also to beare the tentation vntill the time of deliuerance come. This benefite Dauid here setteth forth, and sheweth vnto vs the state of his people, to the ende we may thereby learne this comfort, that like as he preserued that people, euen so wil he also preserue vs. For we haue one and the same God, the same spirit, the same word, the same promises, & briefly all things else, whatsoeuer. Wherefore we may say and sing with Dauid.

Verse. 1. They haue often tymes afflicted me from my youth, may Israel now say:

Verse. 2. They haue often tymes afflicted me from my youth, but they could not preuayle against me.

He nameth no certein enemie, to the ende he may comprehend all. Where he sayth: From my youth, he vnderstandeth all the time from their primitiue Church (as we call it) vntill Israel beganne first to be ye people of God. For albeit we euer praise those thinges which are most auncient and of greatest antiquitie (as the primitiue Church is in deede worthy to be praysed) yet God regardeth not this difference. For in all times and euen in the last ages of the Church he gaue notable Prophets to the people of Israell: as before the captiuitie Esay, of all other the most excellent: after the captiuitie Aggaeus, Zachary and others. In the meane time betwene Moises and these, were Helias, Heliseus, &c. So we see that the primitiue Church was more pure from heretikes and wicked opinions. But yet notwithstanding there were some notable Prophets and other excellent men euen in the later times. And when ye roote of Iesse seemed now to be withered, yet God reised vp Anna, Symeon, Zachary & Elisabeth. For God preserueth his Church though it be neuer so much assailed and oppressed, according to his promise. Onely let vs open our eyes that we may see from whence this commeth.

And here we may not looke to those things which the world especially estemeth and magnifieth, but we must behold the Church as it is afflicted, oppressed, & full of calamitie. For this is the true face of the Church of God, that it is weake, enuironed with all deadly engines, and compassed with all the furies of the deuill, the world, the flesh▪ sinne and death. These thinges he that will not behold, but flieth and abhorreth them, shall neuer finde out the true Church in deede. For that is not the true picture and image of the Church which the painters see forth, which paynt her as a goodly virgin, as a citie well armed, adorned and bewtified. In deede that is a true picture, but not according to the eies of the flesh. But spirituall eyes doe see this great bewty, that Christ is her husband, & begot her vnto him self by the holy Ghost, bewtified her & made her glorious with his owne blood, with his merites and with his righteousnes. Of all these thinges the flesh can see nothing, can iudge nothing, but seeth rather the contrary, how she is subiect to most bitter hatred, malice, vexations & torments. Wherefore if it would paint her out in such sort as he seeth and beholdeth her, then must it paint and set her forth as a deformed and a poore maiden, sitting in a daungerous wood or desart in the middest of cruell and hungry lyo[illegible: 1 letter]s, beares, wolues, swine & venimous serpents: also in the middes of outragious & furyous men, attempting with sword, fire and water to destroy her, and to roote her out from the face of the earth: Cap. 12. As there is in the Apocalyps set forth a goodly picture (then ye which there is nothing more excellent in that booke) that the church as a desolate woman, flyeth from the old serpent or dragon persecuting her & her child. Wherfore these words which Dauid here vseth, may very wel be applied to her: Many times haue mine enemies afflicted me, many times haue they vexed me.

But this affliction seemeth rather to be an vtter destruction, if we follow the iudgement of the flesh: As if the enemies did so preuaile and ouercome, that the Church were vtterly oppressed and vanquished for euer: As we all find by our owne experience in our conflicts which priuately we suffer in our harts, when Satan terrifieth & confoundeth our consciences. For then are reysed vp such terrors, that no man can otherwise iudge but that the victory is Satans, oppressing vs with heauy & bitter cogitations, with tentations, vexations and anguish of spirit, & spoyling vs (as to the flesh it seemeth) of all the sweete consolations which by the merite of Christ and the word are offred vnto vs. According to this sence we may well say: Often times haue they afflicted mee. For this seemeth to be, not onely an affliction, but an vtter desolation & destruction. As we priuatly feele this euery one in our owne hartes and consciences: so the whole body of the church in all times doth confesse that it is vehemently assailed with strong and mighty armies of most deadly enemies of all nations, and oppugned with ye engines of all tentations & tribulations, euen from her youth, that is, from the time that, when the people were deliuered out of Egypt, they began to be knowne from other nations, and to be the people of God.

But here the church and the children of God comfort and reyse vp them selues agayne, hauing good experience that in all these calamities God shewed forth his power, and not onely remitted their sinne, but also turned away the punishment thereof, so that still there remayned a Church, and the practises of their enemies were brought to naught. Wherefore the Prophet here, not onely repeteth the daunger and calamitie of the Church, but with great ioy he addeth withall an exhortation, that euery member of this body should praise the mercy and goodnes of the Lorde, and say: They could not preuaile against me. This is a singular consolation, not only for the whole Church of God, but also for euery one of vs perticularly, against the proud bragges of our enemies, and the great hope which they haue conceiued, that they shall preuaile against vs. Heretikes and sectaries doe glory that they shall haue the victory. The Pope vaunting of his owne strength & the power of Princes, cryeth out: we shall ouercome. Satan ioyneth with them both and reyseth vp such troubles, that it seemeth doubtfull to whom the victory will fall. This oppresseth, not onely euery man priuatly with great heauines and sorrow, but also the whole Church. As we by experience did proue in the assembly gathered at August, where it seemed that our enemies should vtterly haue swallowed vs vp. But did not we there find these wordes to be full of consolation? They could not preuaile. This cōsolation we must hold fast euen when we are killed, as by the examples of the primitiue Church we are taught. For the Church is as it were watered with the blood of the faithful, that the greater encrease may come thereof. Now, like as these words of the Prophet are rightly applyed to that persecution which is done with the sword, so must they be applyed also to the assaults of heretikes and Sectaries: For it is their propertie to boast and bragge of the victory, & alwayes to triumph before the victory. But how so euer our aduersaries triumph & glory, let vs endeuour to hold fast the word, and what so euer we doe, let vs apply it wholy to the amplifying of the kingdom of Christ and his word. If then (as needes it must be) assaultes and battells doe follow, yet let vs sing with Dauid: They could not preuaile. For albeit they kill vs, yet neither the Pope, nor any other heretiks, nor the Turke, nor Satan him self shall euer be able to quench the word: Neither yet shall they preuaile against vs if we stedfastly abide in the word. In deede this will we graunt vnto Satan, that he is stronger then we, and vexeth vs many wayes. For many are the troubles of ye iust, but God will deliuer them out of all. And why? Because it is the word of God which they professe & teach: and moreouer it is Gods owne cause which they defend. Wherfore although the Pope attempt and practise neuer so much mischief, and goe about to styrre vppe the whole world against vs: although false brethren which walke not in true & sound doctrine, continually vexe vs, although Satan him selfe neuer cease to reyse vp the gates of hell agaynst vs, yet will we sing with Dauid euen to the ende: They coulde not preuaile, yea and that onely because of the word.

Verse. 3. The plowers plowed vppon my backe & they made long furrowes.

See what vnlike and almost contrary thinges he ioyneth here together. Before he cōforted the faythfull, that the enemies should neuer be able to doe any thing against the Church, because it is inuincible and can not be ouercome: and here he complayneth that they plow vpon the backe of the Church, & make such furrowes, as seeme to be of an infinite length. This is an offence therefore which vehemently troubleth the godly, that God suffereth Satan and the world so long to rage, so long to vexe & afflict the Church, that he giueth successe vnto their wicked counsells and attempts: that he suffereth the vngodly euen then to prosper, when they are most worthy to be punished with all maner of tormentes, and vtterly consumed. On the other side, the godly, the more they pray and the more they hope, the lesse seemeth their prayer and their hope to take effect: Euery day are they more and more afflicted: euery day there is lesse & lesse hope left. Wherfore this similitude is well applied vnto them in that they are compared to a grownd which is continually plowed: wherin such furrowes are drawen as seme to haue no end: as though there were no god which either seeth their calamity, or the impietie and outragious cruelty of the enemies of the word. He signifieth therefore that they haue neede of continuall patience, not for a day or two, but all the dayes of their life. So that they which haue the worde must assuredly purpose and determine, neuer to departe from God, although they should suffer the same afflictions a thowsand yeres together. How mauy haue we seene in these our dayes which haue fallen away (yea and such also as sometime did stand,) when the fruite of the word was hindred through persecution, like as the Sunne dryeth vp and withereth the corne that is sowen in a stony ground?

Wherefore we must learne that the patience of the faithful, as it is in this verse described, is such as is ready to offer their backs vnto the plowers, and to suffer not for a day nor for a yeare, but for the time of their whole life. For he compareth afflictions to the long plowing in the backe of the faithfull: Like as our Sauiour Christ also signifieth when he saith: He that continueth to the ende, shall be saued. For to beginne is not enough. And that patience which hath her boundes and limites prescribed, may be found euen among the Gentiles. But the patience of Christians is perpetuall, that is to say, such a patience as seemeth to be infinite and without ende, for the ende thereof doth not appeare. Like as on the other side, the ende of their consolation appeareth not: So that those thinges which seeme to be moste contrary, are here ioyned togither, that is to say, the length and the long continuance of the furrowes in the back of the faithfull, and the victory of the faithfull singing of those which driue the plow: They could not preuaile.

Moreouer this great and long continuance of the furrowes in the backe of the faithfull includeth suche an offence as no carnall wisedom is able to ouercome: namely yt the wicked doe not onely prosper, but their felicitie also continueth long, so yt it semeth to be as a reward of their tyranny, their persecution & malice against ye church. For if God would suffer their tyranny but for a litle time, & spedely reward thē according to their deserts, we should al then say that God is mindful of his children, & angry with the wicked. But now, since impietie and wickednes flourisheth many yeres togither, and the wicked stil continue and encrease in great felicitie, without punishment, the same is verified of them which Diogenes said of Harpalus, that they seme to giue a liuely testimony against the gods. Yea the godly are so vehemently tempted through this long continuance & fall so farre, that they thincke God hath no regard of them. Wherfore we must so arme our selues with Christian patience, that albeit we feele the tedious & long continuance of these furrowes, we be not therfore offended, but when one tentation is ouercome, we must prepare our selues to an other. For our backes must be alwayes ready to beare the long continuance of these sorrowes.

This is the first part of the Psalme, in the which he confesseth the diuine miracles and miraculous power of God, whereby he preserueth his children not only against ye world, but also against sinne, death and the deuill, and praiseth God for that he giueth victory to those that are ouercome, and putteth those to flight which doe ouercome. This ioyful ende and this successe he willeth vs to looke and waite for, and exhorteth vs to patience. Now he turneth him selfe to prayer, and not onely prayeth, but also promiseth to the enemies of the Gospel, that although they obstinatly continue in afflicting the faithful without checke or punishment, yet shall their ruine & ouerthrow be such, that they shall neuer rise againe: as experience doth shewe. For I pray you, what kingdom from the beginning of the world hath alwaies continued and prospered? The places and spaces of the earth doe remaine void and desolate & the kingdoms are gone as though they had neuer bene. Againe, the crueltie & tyranny of the kingdomes of the world was neuer so great, that it was able to oppresse the church. For the Church stil continueth & shall continue to the ende of the world, as followeth.

Verse. 4. The righteous Lord hath cut the cordes of the wicked.

These wordes are so full of consolation, that to the children of God in their calamities and afflictions, nothing can be more comfortable. For they knowe that no munitions, no furniture of war can be so strong. Firste of all therefore, wey and consider why he calleth the Lord Righteous, and you shall see that he so doeth, because that, when a man considereth according to the iudgement of the fleshe, the thinges which are here done, and how God gouerneth and ruleth the same, it seemeth no otherwise but that he is vnrighteous and vniust in supporting the tyranny of the wicked with great riches, power, dignitie, &c. When reason seeth this, it can iudge nothing else, but that, if there be a God, he is vniust. For first of all thus doth reason gather: If there be a God, he is able to resist the wicked, and vtterly to destroy them. For to be a God is to be almighty. Againe, thus carnall reason argueth. If there be a God, he must needes knowe those thinges which are done in the world. For it can not be said of God, that he is ignorant of any thing. Now, what else followeth heereof, but that if God knowe these thinges to be cruelly and vniustly done, and is able to resist them, he ought also to be no lesse willing to doe the same. For if we thinke that he wil not doe that whiche he knoweth and is able to doe, it must follow that he is not good, but euil: not iust, but vniust. Nowe lay these thinges togither. If God haue power, wisedom and goodnes in him: if he be able to helpe: if he knowe how and also be willing to help, why are all these things done and gouerned in the world in such sort, that the wicked haue power, riches and dignitie, as a rewarde of their impietie? and contrariwise the godly for their pietie and godlines are many wayes and most cruelly afflicted? All these thinges are a liuely testimony against God, as before we said of Diogenes. This argument of Epicurus and such like atheistes, is to the flesh inuincible. Wherefore reason beeing altogither blinded and wrapped in these snares, inclyneth to this opinion, that there is no God, or else that he regardeth not the affaires of men.

Of this offence and stumbling blocke the holy Ghost warneth vs when he attributeth this name vnto God, that he is righteous, whom vnrighteousnes and impietie pleaseth not. Therefore although he suffer the wicked to flourish for a time, yet at the last he cutteth their cordes, that is, he destroyeth both their power and them, according to that saying: Thou art not a God that loueth wickednes. Psal. 6. Wherefore let Christians learne to iudge, not by that which presently they fele, but by that which the word of God promiseth and shall assuredly come to passe: to witte, that the wicked when they haue long plowed vppon the backs of the faithfull and many wayes afflicted them, shal perish at the length. For God is iust, and his iustice wil not suffer the righteous to be oppressed.

Verse. 5. Let them that hate Sion bee confounded and turned back.

This (as before I haue said) is a prayer. But ye know that in euery prayer there is a promise included, which promise this word Righteous doth expresse in the former verse with a singular vehemencie, to the ende we shoulde not murmur, or blaspheme God, as though he were not mindfull of vs, or had no regard of vs. Now, where he saith: Let them be confounded & turned backe, it is an exposition of that which he saide before, that their cordes should be cut, that is to say, their kingdoms, their power, their riches, their lawes, and finally their whole politike body and common weale should be brought to nought: as it befell to Babylon, Niniuie, Ierusalem, Athens, Corinth, Thebe, Rome, and briefly to all kingdoms and common weales which did not submit them selues vnto the Gospell. For when they proudly stretched out their neckes and set them selues against Christ their Ring, and by their power sought to oppresse him, they were destroyed. In like maner must we also pray, and certainely looke for the executiō of Gods vengeance vpon those which at this day haue set them selues against the Gospell: as the Pope and his Bishoppes, with all their faction, and with all the Kings and Princes of the earth which maintaine and defende their impietie: for at the last they shall be confounded. But the Gospell and the worde of the Lord shal endure for euer. For the name of Christ shal neuer be oppressed, but being faithfully called vpon, shall alwaies be ready to help the afflicted, and shall cut the cordes now of this wicked man, and now of that.

Thus the holy Ghost comforteth vs sundry wayes. For when we haue learned that Satan is such a spirite as neuer ceaseth to tempt and to vexe vs (so that when he can not ouercome vs by the greatnes and the multitude of tentations, he goeth about to doe it by the tediousnes and long continuance therof) he would haue vs to comfort our selues herewith, that albeit these tentations continue long, yet notwithstanding they shall haue an ende. And since we are forwarned both of the continuance and of the ende thereof, it is the more easie for vs to beare them. Here is to be noted also that he sheweth to whom he wisheth euill, namely to those which hate Sion. And that hatred which they bare against Sion, was an hatred against God. For in that Satan hateth the Church, he doth it not onely in respect of men, but because he hateth God him selfe whom the church prayseth and magnifieth. Moreouer, Sion was a place which God had chosen vnto him self. Like as therfore God had chosen that place to shew his great loue towards it: so had Satan chosen the same to shewe his malice against it, and with all his power to vexe it. In like maner not onely Satan, but also the malignant Church of the Pope doth persecute vs, not because we are euil in the sight of the world. For this they could wel suffer, yea & would be glad if they might heare that we are whoremongers & murtherers as they are. But the true cause why they so deadly hate and persecute vs is this, for that it greeueth them that we in their eyes are innocent as touching the second table, and also obedient to the first, wherein we are commaunded to honour, serue and prayse the Lord, to feare him, to trust in his mercie, &c.

Verse. 6. Let them be as the grasse on the toppes of the houses, which withereth afore it commeth forth.

This is a goodly Psalme for the sundry, excellent, and most apte similitudes conteyned therein, whereby the holy Ghost painteth out those great maiesties & principalities of the world, which fight against the gospel. A litle before he compared them to plowers drawing out furrowes of a maruelous length. To whom he so compareth them, not in this respect, as though it were graunted vnto them so long to abuse their power, wealth and riches, but in respect of the great tediousnes, griefe, and anguish of those which suffer the plowers, the furrowes, the wounds, and treading vnder foote. For vnto them it seemeth a tedious, a long, and as it were an infinite plowing. Wherefore they desire to be deliuered, and neuer so litle tarrying, through this tediousnes and anguish of hart, seemeth to them intolerable. Against this wearines and this tediousnes therefore he comforteth the faithfull with this similitude of grasse in the toppe of the house. As if he sayd: Why seemeth the time so long and so tedious vnto thee? Why doest thou not learne to vnderstand what these plowers thy aduersaries be? Diddest thou neuer see grasse growing in the toppes of houses? Who did euer complaine that that grasse flourished so long? who euer went about to plucke it vp? As though it were not wont of it selfe to wither and vanish away. Learne therefore that the very same is the state and condition of thine aduersaries. He setteth ye similitude of the grasse in the house topp, against ye similitude of the plowers. Thus with one similitude he fighteth against an other. But if a man could effectually beleue that this similitude was made and here set downe by the holy Ghost & close vp the same fully in his heart, he should feare neither y• Turke nor the Pope, with all his cruel Prelats, nor the tyranny of Princes, but should contemne them all, and as litle regard them as the grasse on the toppes of the houses.

But behold the outward shew of this grasse. If any child should see it, he would esteme it to be better then any barley (for to barley it is most like) since it groweth not as other thinges doe vpon the earth, but in an higher and more notable place, & lodeth the topps of the houses. But take a man that knoweth these thinges, and he will say it is nothing else but a goodly shewe & resemblance without any fruite. Thus hath the holy Ghost chosen this similitude to teach vs, not to wish that tyrannes may be like grasse, but to knowe that they are in deede most like vnto grasse on the house toppes, which withereth away before the haruest time come, or any man goe about to cut it downe. Senacherib who besieged Ierusalem, did flie ouer kingdoms, oppressed & trode downe all things vnder his feete: therefore he could not be counted of Ezechia and others like vnto grasse, and yet before he achieued that he went about, he was compelled, not without great feare and also much slaughter of his souldiers, to reise his siege, and he him selfe also most miserably perished. So Pharao seemed mightely to growe and encrease, not vpon the earth, but in the ayre & vppon the house toppes: but the miserable Iewes were oppressed and troden vnder foote like myre in the streetes. This is a resemblāce of grasse, not withering, but freshly flourishing. But how quickly did it wither and vanish to nothing? For when Pharao did verely thinke to oppresse them, he was suddenly oppressed him selfe and perished in the waters.

Such an image of tyrannes and tyranny the holy Ghost paynteth out vnto vs in this place. Why then shouldest thou feare? Why shouldest thou tremble? Why shouldest thou despayre, as though thou haddest neuer seene most flourishing grasse within few dayes to wither away of it owne accord, or diddest not know the nature of it to be such as can not long continue? Athanasius when Iulianus the Emperour did many wayes afflict both him & the whole Church, & fought, not onely with crueltie, but also with craft and subteltie against the faithfull, in so much that others, as it were in a terrible tempest, were vtterly discouraged and past all hope of deliuerance, sayd that this persecution of Iulian was not a tempest but a litle cloude. In deede this heart was full of fayth which could beleue, that Iulianus was like, not to a terrible and a violent tempest, not to a mighty black cloud wrapping all things in darknes, but vnto a very litle cloude which the Sunne doth quickly consume. In like maner must we also extenuate and diminish the power of our aduersaries, & set at naught all their proude bragges and all their crueltie: not in respect of our owne strength, but because they are of them selues nothing else but a buble in the water, grasse on the house toppes, and a very shadow rather then men: besides this, that they prouoke God also against them selues whose fury and cruelty compared vnto his power, is a thing more vaine then grasse on the house toppes or a bubble in the water: for it is nothing else but a bare and a naked shew, which semeth to be something when in deede it is nothing. So are all the attempts of the aduersaryes full of threatnings, but in the ende they come to nothing.

This is the wisedome of Christians, to diminish the power of the aduersaryes, & contrariwise to amplifie the word & the mighty protection of the Lord. The deuill, sinne, death and other spiritual tentations are greate: but a Christian can make a distinction of greatnes. For greatnes is vnderstand two maner of wayes. The one is according to ye eye, which the eye iudgeth after the outward shew: the other is according to the trueth, which the truth iudgeth after ye word. The greatnes therfore of sinne, death, wicked kings Princes and Bishops is that which is according to the eye onely: For God which saith: Be of good comfort: I haue ouercome the world: Also, Feare not those which can kill the body, but are not able to kill the soule, the same God alone (I say) is the very true greatnes, to the which if you compare Satan and al the fury of the whole world, what are they else but a bubble? what are they else but grasse? but light strawe and stubble? But when they are considered with out God, then doe they terrifie with a false fearefull shew and seeme to be great in deede.

Wherefore Christians must iudge, not according to their opinion, but according to the truth. For an opinion is that which reason bringeth forth besides the word: but truth is grounded vpon ye word, which iudgeth the fury & the crueltie of the world raging against the faithful to be like vnto grasse vpon the house [illegible: 1 letter]ops. This iudgement that the enemies are like grasse and therfore shall perish, he calleth a promise. This promise being setled and surely fixed in the minde, confirmeth the godly against the great power (as to reason it seemeth) of ye world & Satan. Like as on the other side, where the word is not, yt mind deceiued through a terrible shew of truth & the iudgement of reason, is oppressed with terror. These things must not so be takē as though we did vtterly condemne ye power of Princes & of ye world, which we count to be ye creature of God, but their presumption & the abuse of their power is it that we condemne, because they fight therewith against God and his church. Let them be Princes on the earth: Let them vse their power and authoritie in the world, but when they will needes make warre in heauen, and with their power go about to inuade and oppresse the word, this is horrible, this is execrable and damnable. And who so compareth them to bubbles, to grasse, to stubble, yea and to nothing, he saith truely, he iudgeth rightly. For why doe they fight against God? Thinke they that we knowe not what God is? and what man is? what the creature is, and what the Creator is?

Wherefore they are rightly compared to grasse on the house toppes: for more contemptuosly the holy Ghost could not speake of them. For this grasse is such, that it soone withereth away before the sickle be put vnto it. Yea, no man thinketh it worthy to be cut downe, no man regardeth it, euery man suffereth it to bragge for a while, and to shew it selfe vnto men from the house toppes as though it were somewhat when it is nothing. So the wicked persecutors in the worlde, which are taken to be mightie and terrible according to the outward shew, are of all men most contemptible. For Christians doe not once thinke of plucking them vp or cutting them downe: they persecute them not, they reuenge not their owne iniuries, but suffer them to encrease, to bragge and glory as much as they list: For they know that they can not abide the violence of a vehement wind. Yea though all thinges be in quietnes, yet as grasse on the house toppes by litle and litle withereth away through the heate of the Sunne, so tyrannes vpon small occasions doe perish and soone vanish away. The faithfull therefore in suffering doe preuaile and ouercome: but the wicked in doing, are ouerthrowne and miserably perish, as all the historyes of all times and ages doe plainly witnesse.

Verse. 7. VVhereof the mower filleth not his hand, neither the glainer his lap.

Here the holy Ghoste maketh a comparison betweene grasse which yeeldeth no fruite, and true corne which is fruitefull, that thereby he may the better commend vnto vs the former similitude and withdraw our mindes from the false dreade and terror which that vaine and counterfet shewe bringeth. Fruitefull corne (sayth he) is such, that he which moweth it shall fill his hand, and he that gathereth the sheaues shall haue plenty to carry into his barne. Here ye see, is a truth, and not a vaine shewe. But grasse on the house toppes maketh a shew of that which is not true, because it is fruiteles. So the Pope and his Prelates, with other tyrannes and persecutors haue a resemblance and a counterfet shewe that they are the Church. They hold and enioy dignities, Prebendes benefices, as grasse hath his stalke and [illegible: 1 letter]are, but in deede they are none of the Church, like as grasse is no corne: for it withereth away before it can bring forth fruite.

For this is the chiefest argument wherwith they fight against vs, that for this glorious shew whereof I spake, they vsurpe and chalenge to them selues the title of the Church. But we are commaunded to take heed that we be not deceiued by outward shewes. Yea and we are admonished also that such shewes are often times occasions of great calamities. Beware (saith our Sauiour Christ) of false prophets which come to you in sheepes clothing. Also: by their fruites ye shall know them. Wheras then they chalenge vnto them selues the name of the church, & for a goodly shew (which the grasse also that groweth on the house toppes hath as well as they), will be counted good corne: this will not we graunt them. For if they be good corne, let them fill the hand of the mower, but this doe they not. They are vnprofitable grasse, yea worse then grasse. For in that filthines of their wicked lustes & fleshly pleasures wherewith they are horribly polluted, & that crueltie which they exercise against the true Church, they reteine not so much as the outward shew which they pretend. Wherefore, since there is nothing to be founde in our aduersaries but a naked and an hypocritical shew, and the same also miserably and many wayes deformed and defaced, since (I say) there is nothing else in them but meere hypocrisie, we iudge & denounce them not to be the Church of Christ, but of Satan. Wherefore they are prepared as chaffe and stubble to the fire, although vnder a shewe and colour of the Church, they afflict and persecute vs neuer so much.

Verse. 8. Neither they which goe by, say: we blesse you in the name of the Lord.

This also commendeth and setteth forth vnto vs the similitude of the grasse. For true corne hath this commēdation, that it is the blessing of God. They therefore which see it growe, doe wish that God would blesse and prosper it. This (sayth Dauid) shall not be sayd of that grasse, that is to say, of the tyrannes and the aduersaries of the Church, but rather they shall be cursed of all men, yea the malediction both of God and man shall be heaped vpon them: Like as it hath also hapned to the Church of Rome, which before our doctrine and preaching most gloriously flo[illegible: 1 letter]rished. But nowe that the Gospel hath plucked away her visour, and sheweth that she is without fruite, all her cursed hypocrisie is bewrayed and her memory is perished from among the godly. Thus the Prophet comforteth the faithfull, and sheweth that the wicked, what glorious bragge and pretence so euer they make, are in deede nothing, and because God blesseth them not, they shall inherite nothing but malediction, and shal be confounded, like as Iudas, the Phariseis, Cherinthus, Arius, and Pelagius, though they seemed to flourish, most miserably perished, with all their glory.

Wherfore let vs, whose doctrine by the grace of God is sound and agreable with the holy Scripture, remember this similitude, that when we must suffer hatred, sclaunder, reproches and all maner of iniuries for the Gospels sake, we be not afrayde, but may learne hereby to iudge the Pope, the Bishops and wicked Princes with their tormentors and executioners of their crueltie, to be nothing else but grasse on the house toppes, which seemeth to be somewhat when in deede it is nothing, and therefore it is without all blessing. To such it shall be sayd with the rich glutton in hell: Sonne remember that thou in thy life time receauedst thy pleasures. Luke. 16. For if we consider the whole history of the church euen from the beginning of the world, we shal see that God hath alwayes so wrought by his secret counsell, that as grasse on the house toppes withereth away before the haruest come: so tyrannes are suddenly cut of and neuer come to their fall time. Wherefore let vs constantly abide and endure with patience in all afflictions, vntill the ende doe shew that it was nothing but grasse, and suddenly withered when it was most like to encrease and flourish. The wicked do enioy all good things for the Churches sake, like as the grasse on the house toppes hath the benefite of the rayne and of the Sunne as well as the corne in the fieldes. But as they shall not liue halfe their dayes, and as they shall see their owne counsells and deuises to be but vayne & withont successe, so shall they be as a perpetuall shame among men: in so much that no man shall wish any good vnto them: As at this day the memorie of Iudas, Pilate, the wicked Iewes Dioclesianus, Maximinus and other tyranns is without honour, yea most execrable and odious vnto all men. This consolation is set forth by the holy Ghost by these grosse similitudes & examples, that we may conceaue in our mindes some shadow or resemblance of Gods workes, since we can not rightly iudge and esteeme the thinges them selues according to the trueth, but we iudge the enemies and persecutors of the Church by their goodly shew and outward appearance, to be good wheate, because they prosper and flourish so long vpon the earth. Wherefore we must rest wholy in the worde, which with such simlitudes paynteth out these thinges, and we must withdraw our senses from all outward sightes and shewes, and iudge no otherwise of the aduersaries of the worde, then of most vile grasse that groweth on the house toppes and is contemned of all men. For so sayth the spirite and fayth: but our senses say otherwise.

In like maner must we doe also in spirituall tentations, when our conscience accuseth vs & giueth testimony against vs, as well in the agony and daunger of death, as in other conflictes. Here if we follow that which appeareth to reason and our owne senses to be true, it shall seeme vnto vs that our enemies are inuincible and almightie, and that there is no remedy, but we must needes be ouercome and vtterly perish. The sight & feeling of this greatnes perteyneth to the eyes and to the senses onely, and ryseth of the iudgement of reason, and not of the trueth. But when we looke to the true greatnes which the word setteth forth vnto vs, we are cō strayned to say that death, sinne, Satan, and the very gates of hell are in deede nothing else but grasse on the house tops, but stubble, but a very bubble swimming vpon the water, which with the least occasion breakith and vanisheth away. So must these thinges be amplified and set against all kindes of tentations, whether they be persecutors of the word, as the world and wicked Princes, or else sinne, death and Satan. Al which we must learne to extenuate and lesson as much as we can, because Christ liueth and we haue his word. The consolation is able to swallow vp all terrors, and maketh vs able to say, that all these thinges are in very deede but one nothing. But when we consider these thinges without the worde and Christ in respect of our selues and of our owne strength, then are they in deede, not grasse, but suche high and mighty mounteynes as can not be passed ouer. Wherefore, when we fight against our enemies, we must fight, not as men consisting of body and soule, but as Christians baptised in the name of Christ, hauing the gift of the spirite and the word. Now therfore, when the deuill, death, hell it selfe, the world and cruell Princes are compared to a Christian, they are but grasse vpon the house toppes, or if any thing can be saye to be more vile and contemptible. For he hath the word which is almighty, and moreouer he hath Christ him selfe. Christians therefore are inuincible, yea euen then when they are ouercome & troden vnder foote. [illegible: 1 letter]. Cor. 12.9. For the power of Christ is made perfect through weakenes. Thus did the holy Prophets and Martyrs comfort them selues against the world and the kingdom of Satan, and therfore they did so valiantly suffer all kindes of afflictions, being perswaded, not that the grasse, which withereth away of it selfe without mans endeuour, but the word of God should haue the victory. For true it is that Basilius writeth when he comforteth the people of Alexandria against the sury of Arius, that through the persecutions of the enemies, the Church doth more and more encrease and multiply. Which thing we also haue proued, and God graunt that we and our posteritie may stil so doe.

The Commentary of Dr. Martin Luther, upon the CXXIX Pſalm.

THis Pſalm conſiſteth of two parts.The Argument of the Pſalm. In the former he giveth thanks to God for the defence and continual deliverance of the People of God. In the latter part he maketh his Prayer againſt the Adverſaries, and in praying he propheſieth withal. Both theſe ſerve for our inſtruction, and alſo contain an Exhortation to patience under the Croſs, which pertaineth not to one age or time, but as the continual Hiſtory of the Church doth ſhew, to all times, and to the whole life of man. Moreover we do here comprehend both Churches, of the Jews, and of the Gentiles, as Paul alſo in a manner joyneth them both together, when he ſaith, Firſt to the Jew, and then to the Grecian. For as touching the Church or People of the Jews, it appeareth by the Hiſtories, that they were placed in the midſt of their Enemies, as a goodly Roſe in the midſt of Thornes. On the Eaſt ſide, the Iſmaelites, the Arabians, and other cruel People vexed them. On the South part, the Egyptians, the Ethiopians, the Troglodites, the Philiſtines, and other like. On the North ſide, the Aſſyrians, &c. So the Church after the deſtruction of the Synagogue, is compaſſed every way with Enemies, and Chriſt, according to the Pſalm, reigneth in the midſt of his Enemies. Thus were they oftentimes and many ways afflicted. But herewithal God ſhewed this miracle, that when they were ſo afflicted, he always delivered them. And thus was the Kingdom of Iſrael a miraculous Kingdom, in that the Lord when he would correct and chaſtiſe them, ſuffered the Philiſtines, Edomites, Moabites, Aſſyrians and Babylonians to have victory over them. Again, when they ſeemed to be utterly oppreſſed, they victoriouſly prevailed againſt their Enemies. So continued this Kingdom in deſpite of the cruel Nations round about it, and of Satan himſelf: as is to be ſeen in the Books of the Kings and alſo of the Chronicles. Now, becauſe this People had both threatnings and promiſes ſet before them, as touching their afflictions and deliverance, this was unto them a great Conſolation, even when they were afflicted and ſpoiled, that they knew that all theſe things came to paſs not by the Will or Power of their Enemies, and much-leſs by their Righteouſneſs or Deſerts, but only by the Will of God thus puniſhing and chaſtiſing his People, yea threatning and forewarning them by the Prophets, that he would ſo puniſh the diſobedient. This is no ſmall Conſolation, that in thy Affliction and Calamity thou mayeſt be able to ſay; This is the ſcourge of God, thus correcting me, and viſiting my Sins; It is not the Wrath of God, or the merit and deſerving of my Adverſary.

Theſe things muſt we apply unto our ſelves alſo, to the end that when we be oppreſſed, we may comfort our ſelves that we are not oppreſſed by the power of Death, Sin, Hell, or any creature, but by the will of God our Creator, afflicting us and puniſhing our Sins and ingratitude; and yet ſo, that he leaveth unto us this fatherly promiſe, that he will not forſake us. And ſuch a figure of the whole Kingdom of Chriſt is ſet forth in the Apocalyps. For how much doth it ſpeak of evil Angels, of cruel beaſts, and ſuch other Plagues of the Church, which ſhould enter into the Church and the Kingdom of Chriſt, God ſo permitting? Notwithſtanding Conſolation followeth afflictions and calamities, and though the Church be never ſo ſore afflicted, yet ſhall it continue and endure, and at the length ſhall overcome and victoriouſly triumph.

But this Pſalm agreeth eſpecially unto our time, wherein the Church hath been moſt grievouſly afflicted both under the Turks and alſo under the Romiſh biſhops, yea and as it were utterly aboliſhed: So that if ye weigh the matter well, it may appear that the Condition of the Jews in Babylon was better then the ſtate of the Church under Antichriſt; where the true uſe of the Sacraments was taken away, the benefit of Chriſt darkned, faith extinguiſhed, no true ſervice of God uſed, no true good works exerciſed; gnerally, all things which pertain to true Religion were clean aboliſhed, or moſt miſerably deformed and defaced. Wherefore, like as the Jews in Babylon were put from the ſight and uſe of the Temple, the Sacrifices, the Ceremonies, and all politick Government: ſo the Church under Antichriſt had no true miniſtry, no true ſervice of God, not her own Kingdom and Government, but was conſtrained to obſerve and keep the Heatheniſh Rites and Ceremonies of the Papiſts. Thus was the Wrath, and thus have been the Puniſhments of God in a manner all one, in the Church of the Jews and the Gentiles.

Wherefore it is moſt neceſſary that we lay hold upon this Conſolation, that, as the Pſalm ſaith, We are afflicted, we are caſt down, we are troden under foot, but we are not overcome. For the Church ſhall ſtand and remain invincible, notwithſtanding that through great incredulity and incredible infirmity, the victory thereof is hidden and cannot be ſeen. As it was under the Pope, where all Schools and all Churches taught nothing elſe but the blaſphemous Doctrine of the Romiſh Biſhops, and doting Dreams of the Monks. This was the very ſame thing that the Pſalm 73. complaineth of, where it ſaith, We ſee not our ſignes: and yet God had even then his Church, although it was very little, obſcure, and miſerably deformed. Before the Kingdom of the Romiſh Antichriſt, what a ſwarw of Hereticks ſprang up? Of whom alſo the Church was ſore vexed and afflicted, even as the Jews were afflicted of the Nations which dwelled near unto them. And like as the Captivity followed that affliction of the Jews, ſo the Kingdom of the Romiſh Biſhops was that Captivity which followed the out ragious fury of the Hereticks, and out of the which alſo have flowed all the evils, and plagues which have been ever ſince in the Church, as out of a foul ſink, and filthy puddle. But now by the great mercy of God the Captivity begineth to be turned, the Temple is repaired, and the true Service of God reſtored.

This Pſalm after my judgement, ſpeaketh generally of all ſuch troubles and afflictions of the Church, as have been at all times and in all ages; As firſt, that the Kingdom of the Jews when they were yet under good Kings, was mightily aſſailed, but yet not utterly overcome; And that the people afterwards were ſpoyled of the Aſſyrians and Babylonians, and carried away Captive, but not clean forſaken. For they were again delivered out of Captivity, and in their own land enjoyed the promiſe concerning Chriſt. Thus ſpeaketh the Pſalm firſt of the Jewiſh Church. Afterwards it comprehendeth as a Prophecy, the State and Condition of the Church of the Gentiles; to wit, that God would preſerve and defend it againſt all Hereticks, againſt all the rage and fury of the World, againſt the Kingdom of the Romiſh Antichriſt, and moreover againſt all the tentations of Sin, which vex and oppreſs the Conſcience. Thus muſt we apply this Pſalm to all times and ages of the Church, to all changes and alterations, all dangers of the World, the Fleſh, Sin, the Law, Death, and the Gates of Hell. For the World aſſaileth it with power and wiſdom; the Devil, with deſperation and dubitation; Hereticks with errors in Faith and Religion, and the Conſcience with Sins. In all theſe Perils we ſay, Bleſſed be the Lord God, who ſuffereth us not to be tempted above that we are able to bear. Indeed we muſt be tempted and tryed, but in the Tentation he will give an outſcape; beſides this, that he giveth us ſtrength alſo to bear the Tentation until the time of deliverance come. This benefit David here ſetteth forth, and ſheweth unto us the ſtate of his people, to the end we may thereby learn this Comfort, that like as he preſerved that People, even ſo will he alſo preſerve us. For we have one and the ſame God, the ſame Spirit, the ſame Word, the ſame Promiſes, and briefly all things elſe whatſoever. Wherefore we may ſay and ſing with David;

Verſe 1. They have oftentimes afflicted me from my youth, may Iſrael now ſay: Verſe 2. They have oftentimes afflicted me from my youth, but they could not prevail againſt me. He nameth no certain Enemy, to the end he may comprehend all. Where he ſaith, from my youth, he underſtandeth all the time from their primitive Church (as we call it) until Iſrael began firſt to be the People of God. For albeit we ever praiſe thoſe things which are moſt ancient and of greateſt antiquity (as the primitive Church is indeed worthy to be praiſed) yet God regardeth not this difference. For in all times, and even in the laſt ages of the Church he gave notable Prophets, to the people of Iſrael; as before the Captivity, Iſaiah of all other the moſt excellent; after the Captivity, Aggaus, Zachary and others. In the mean time between Moyſes and theſe, were Helias, Helizeus, &c. So we ſee that the Primitive Church was more pure from Hereticks and wicked Opinions. But yet notwithſtanding there were ſome notable Prophets and other excellent men even in the latter times. And when the root of Jeſſe ſeemed now to be withered, yet God raiſed up Anna, Simeon, Zachary and Elizabeth. For God preſerveth his Church though it be never ſo much aſſailed and oppreſſed, according to his promiſe. Only let us open our eyes that we may ſee from whence this cometh. And here we may not look to thoſe things which the World eſpecially eſteemeth and magnifieth, but we muſt behold the Church as it is afflicted, oppreſſed, and full of Calamity. For this is the true face of the Church of God, that it is weak, environed with all deadly Engines, and compaſſed with all the furies of the Devil, the World, the Fleſh, Sin and Death. Theſe things he that will not behold, but flyeth and abhorreth them, ſhall never find out the true Church indeed. For that is not the the true picture and image of the Church which the Painters ſet forth, which paint her as a goodly Virgin, as a City well armed, adorned and beautified. Indeed that is a true picture, but not according to the Eyes of the Fleſh. But ſpiritual Eyes do ſee this great Beauty, that Chriſt is her Husband, and begot her unto himſelf by the Holy Ghoſt, beautified her and made her glorious with his own blood, with his merits and with his righteouſneſs. Of all theſe things the fleſh can ſee nothing, can judge nothing, but ſeeth rather the contrary, how ſhe is ſubject to moſt bitter hatred, malice, vexations and torments. Wherefore if it would paint her out in ſuch ſort as he ſeeth and beholdeth her, then muſt it paint and ſet her forth as a deformed and poor maiden, ſitting in a dangerous Wood or Deſac, in the midſt of cruel and hungry Lyons, Bears, Wolve, Swine, and Venemous Serpents: alſo in the midſt of outragious and furious men, attempting with Sword, Fire and Water to deſtroy her, and to root her out from the face of the Earth. As there is in the Apocalyps ſet forth a goodly Picture,Chap. 12. (then the which there is nothing more excellent in that book) that the Church as a deſolate woman, flyeth from the old Serpent or Dragon perſecuting her and her Child. Wherefore theſe words which David here uſeth, may very well be applied to her: Many times have mine Enemies afflicted me, many times have they vexed me. But this affliction ſeemeth rather to be an utter Deſtruction, if we follow the judgment of the fleſh; As if the Enemies did ſo prevail and overcome, that the Church were utterly oppreſſed and vanquiſhed for ever: As we all find by our own Experience in our Conflicts which privately we ſuffer in our Hearts, when Satan terrifieth and confoundeth our Conſciences. For then are raiſed up ſuch terrors, that no man can otherwiſe judge but that the victory is Satans, oppreſſing us with heavy and bitter Cogitations, with Tentations, Vexation, and Anguiſh of Spirit, and ſpoyling us (as to the fleſh it ſeemeth) of all the ſweet Conſolations which by the merit of Chriſt and the Word are offered unto us. According to this ſence we may well ſay, Oftentimes have they afflicted me. For this ſeemeth to be not only an affliction, but an utter Deſolation and Deſtruction. As we privately feel this every one in our own Hearts and Conſciences; ſo the whole body of the Church in all times doth confeſs, that it is vehemently aſſailed with ſtrong and mighty Armies of moſt deadly Enemies of all Nations, and oppugned with the Engines of all Tentations and Tribulations, even from her youth, that is, from the time that when the People were delivered out of Egypt, they began to be known from other Nations, and to be the people of God. But here the Church and the Children of God comfort and raiſe up themſelves again, having good Experience that in all theſe Calamities God ſhewed forth his Power, and not only remitted their Sin, but alſo turned away the puniſhment thereof, ſo that ſtill they remained a Church, and the practices of their Enemies were brought to nought. Wherefore the Prophet here, not only repeateth the danger and calamity of the Church, but with great joy he addeth withal an Exhortation, that every member of this body ſhould praiſe the mercy and goodneſs of the Lord, and ſay. They could not prevail againſt me. This is a ſingular Conſolation, not only for the whole Church of God, but alſo for every one of us particularly, againſt the proud brags of our Enemies, and the great hope which they have conceived, that they ſhall prevail againſt us. Hereticks and Sectaries do glory that they ſhall have the Victory. The Pope vaunting of his own ſtrength, and the power of Princes, cryeth out; We ſhall overcome. Satan joyneth with them both, and raiſeth up ſuch troubles, that it ſeemeth doubtful to whom the victory will fall. This oppreſſeth, not only every man privately, with great heavineſs and ſorrow, but alſo the whole Church. As we by Experience did prove in the Aſſembly gathered at Auguſta, where it ſeemed that our Enemies ſhould utterly have ſwallowed us up. But did not we there find theſe words to be full of Conſolation? They could not prevail. This Conſolation we muſt hold faſt even when we are killed, as by the Examples of the primitive Church we are taught. For the Church is as it were watered with the blood of the faithful, that the greater inccreaſe may come thereof. Now, like as theſe words of the Prophet are rightly applyed to that perſecution which is done with the ſword, ſo muſt they be applyed alſo to the aſſaults of Hereticks and Enthuſiaſts For it is their property to boaſt and brag of the Conqueſt, and always to triumph before the victory. But how ſoever our adverſaries triumph and glory, let us endeavour to hold faſt the word, and whatſoever we do, let us apply it wholly to the amplyfying of the Kingdom of Chriſt and his word. If then (as needs it muſt be) aſſaults and battels do follow, yet let us ſing with David, They could not prevail. For albeit they kill us, yet neither the Pope, nor any other hereticks, nor the Turk, nor Satan himſelf, ſhall ever be able to quench the Word: Neither yet ſhall they prevail againſt us if we ſtedfaſtly abide in the Word. Indeed this will we grant unto Satan, that he is ſtronger than we, and vexeth us many wayes. For many are the troubles of the juſt, but God will deliver them out of all. And why? Becauſe it is the word of God which they profeſs and teach; and moreover it is Gods own cauſe which they defend. Wherefore although the Pope attempt and practiſe never ſo much miſchief, and go about to ſtir up the whole world againſt us; although falſe brethren which walk not in true and ſound doctrine, continually vex us, although Satan himſelf never ceaſe to raiſe up the gates of hell againſt us, yet will we ſing with David even to the end, They could not prevail; yea and that only becauſe of the word.

Verſe 3. The Plowers plowed upon my back, and they made long furrows. See what unlike and almoſt contrary things he joyneth here together. Before he comforted the faithfull, that the enemies ſhould never be able to do any thing againſt the Church, becauſe it is invincible and cannot be overcome: and here he complayneth that they plow upon the backs of the Church, and make ſuch furrow, as ſeem to be of an infinite length. This is an offence therefore which vehemently troubleth the godly, that God ſuffereth Satan and the world ſo long to rage, ſo long to vex and afflict the Church, that he giveth ſucceſs unto their wicked counſels and attempts; that he ſuffereth the ungodly even then to proſper when they are moſt worthy to be puniſhed with all manner of torments, and utterly conſumed. On the othe other ſide, the godly, the more they pray, and the more they hope, the leſs ſeemeth their prayer and their hope to take effect: Every day are they more and more afflicted: every day there is leſs and leſs hope left. Wherefore this ſimilitude is well applied unto them in that they are compar'd to a ground which is continually plowed; wherein ſuch furrows are drawn as ſeem to have no end; as though there were no God which either ſeeth their calamity, or the impiety and outragious cruelty of the enemies of the word. He ſignifieth therefore that they have need of continual patience, not for a day or two, but all the days of their life. So that they which have the word, muſt aſſuredly purpoſe and determine, never to depart from God, although they ſhould ſuffer the ſame afflictions a thouſand years together. How many have we ſeen in theſe our days which have fallen away, (yea and ſuch alſo as ſometime did ſtand) when the fruit of the word was hindred through Perſecution, like as the Sun dryeth up and withereth the Corn that is ſown in a ſtony ground? Wherefore we muſt learn that the patience of the faithful, as it is in this verſe deſcribed, is ſuch as is ready to offer their backs unto the Plowers, and to ſuffer not for a day nor for a year, but for the time of their whole life. For he compareth afflictions to the long plowing on the back of the faithful: Like as our Saviour Chriſt alſo ſignifieth, when he ſaith, He that continueth to the end ſhall be ſaved. For to begin is not enough. And that patience which hath her bounds and limits preſcribed, may be found even among the Gentiles. But the patience of Chriſtians is perpetual, that is to ſay, ſuch a patience as ſeemeth to be infinite and without end; for the end thereof doth not appear. Like as on the other ſide, the end of their conſolation appeareth not. So that thoſe things which ſeem to be moſt contrary, are here joyned together; that is to ſay, the length and the long continuance of the furrows on the back of the faithful, and the victory of the faithful, ſinging of thoſe which drive the Plow, They could not prevail. Morever, this great and long continuance of the furrows on the back of the faithful, includeth ſuch an offence as no carnal wiſdom is able to overcome; namely that the wicked do not only proſper, but their felicity alſo continueth long, ſo that it ſeemeth to be as a reward of their Tyranny, their perſecution and malice againſt the Church. For if God would ſuffer their tyranny but for a little time, and ſpeedily reward them according to their deſerts, we ſhould all then ſay that God is mindful of his children, and angry with the wicked. But now, ſince impiety and Wickedneſs flouriſheth many years together, and the wicked ſtill continue and increaſe in great felicity, without puniſhment, the ſame is verified of them which Diogenes ſaid of Harpalus, That they ſeem to give a lively teſtimony againſt the Gods. Yea the godly are ſo vehemently tempted thro' this long continuance, and fall ſo far, that they think God hath no regard of them. Wherefore we muſt ſo arm our ſelves with Chriſtian patience, that albeit we feel the tedious and long continuance of theſe furrows, we be not therefore offended, but when one tentation is overcome, we muſt prepare our ſelves to another. For our backs muſt be always ready to bear the long continuance of theſe furrows. This is the firſt part of the Pſalm, in the which he confeſſeth the divine miracles and miraculous power of God, whereby he preſerveth his children not onely againſt the world, but alſo againſt Sin, Death and the Devil, and praiſeth God for that he giveth victory to thoſe that are overcome, and putteth thoſe to flight which do overcome. This joyful end and this ſucceſs he willeth us to look and wait for, and exhorteth us to patience. Now he turneth himſelf to prayer, and not only prayeth but alſo promiſeth to the enemies of the Goſpel, that although they obſtinately continue in afflicting the faithful without check or puniſhment, yet ſhall their ruine and overthrow be ſuch, that they ſhall never riſe again; as experience doth ſhew. For I pray you, what Kingdom from the beginning of the world hath always continued and proſpered? The places and ſpaces of the earth do remain void and deſolate, and the Kingdoms are gone as though they had never been. Again, the cruelty and tyranny of the Kingdoms of the world was never ſo great, that it was able to oppreſs the Church. For the Church ſtill continueth and ſhall continue to the end of the vvorld, as follvveth.

Verſe 4. The Righteous Lord hath cut the cords of the wicked. Theſe words are ſo full of conſolation, that to the children of God in their calamities and afflictions, nothing can be more comfortable. For they know that no munitions, no furniture of war can be ſo ſtrong. Firſt of all therefore, weigh and conſider why he calleth the Lord Righteous, and ye ſhall ſee that he ſo doth, becauſe that, when a man conſidereth according to the judgment of the fleſh, the things which are here done, and how God governeth and ruleth the ſame, it ſeemeth no otherwiſe but that he is unrighteous and unjuſt in ſupporting the tyranny of the wicked with great riches, power, dignity, &c. When reaſon ſeeth this, it can judg nothing elſe, but that if there be a God, he is unjuſt. For firſt of all thus doth reaſon gather: If there be a God, he is able to reſiſt the wicked, and utterly to deſtroy them. For to be a God is to be Almighty. Again, thus carnal reaſon argueth: If there be a God, he muſt needs know thoſe things which are done in the world; for it cannot be ſaid of God, that he is ignorant of any thing. Now what elſe followeth hereof, but that if God know theſe things to be cruelly and unjuſtly done, and he is able to reſiſt them, he ought alſo to be no leſs willing to do the ſame. For if we think that he will not do that which he knoweth and is able to do, it muſt follow that he is not good, but evil; not juſt, but unjuſt. Now lay theſe things together. If God have power, wiſdom and goodneſs in him; if he be able to help; if he know how, and alſo be willing to help; why are all theſe things done and governed in the world in ſuch ſort, that the wicked have power, riches & dignity, as a reward of their impiety? and contrariwiſe the godly for their piety and godlineſs are many ways and moſt cruelly afflicted? All theſe things are a lively teſtimony againſt God, as before we ſaid of Diogenes. This argument of Epicurus and ſuch like Atheiſts, is to the fleſh invincible. Wherefore reaſon being altogether blinded and wrapped in theſe ſnares, inclineth to this opinion, That there is no God, or elſe that he regardeth not the affairs of men. Of this offence and ſtumbling block the holy Ghoſt warneth us, when he attributeth this name unto God, that he is righteous, whom unrighteouſneſs and impiety pleaſeth not. Therefore although he ſuffer the wicked to flouriſh for a time, yet at the laſt he cutteth their cords, that is, he deſtroyeth both their power and them, according to that ſaying,Pſal. 5. Thou art not a God that loveth wickedneſs. Wherefore let Chriſtians learn to judge, not by that which preſently they feel, but by that which the Word of God promiſeth, and ſhall aſſuredly come to paſs; to wit, That the wicked, when they have long plowed upon the backs of the faithful, and many ways afflicted them, ſhall periſh at the length. For God is juſt, and his juſtice will not ſuffer the righteous to be oppreſſed.

Verſe 5. Let them that hate Sion be confounded and turned back. This (as before I have ſaid) is a Prayer. But ye know that in every Prayer there is a Promiſe included, which Promiſe this word Righteous doth expreſs in the former verſe with a ſingular vehemency, to the end we ſhould not murmur, or blaſpheme God, as though he were not mindful of us, or had not regard of us. Now, where he ſaith, Let them be confounded and turned back; it is an expoſition of that which he ſaid before, that their cords ſhould be cut, that is to ſay, their Kingdoms, their Power, their Riches, their Laws, and finally their whole politick body and common weal ſhould be brought to nought: as it befell to Babylon, Ninive, Jeruſalem, Athens, Corinth, Thebes, Rome, and briefly to all theſe Kingdoms and Common-weales, which did not ſubmit themſelves to the Goſpel. For when they proudly ſtretched out their necks and ſet themſelves againſt Chriſt their King, and by their power ſought to oppreſs him, they were deſtroyed. In like manner muſt we alſo pray, and certainly look for the execution of Gods vengeance upon thoſe which at this day have ſet themſelves againſt the Goſpel; as the Pope and his Biſhops, with all their faction, and with all the Kings and Princes of the earth which maintain and defend their impiety; for at the laſt they ſhall be confounded. But the Goſpel and the Word of the Lord ſhall endure for ever. For the name of Chriſt ſhall never be oppreſſed, but being faithfully called upon, ſhall always be ready to help the afflicted, and ſhall cut the cords now of the wicked man, and now of that. Thus the Holy Ghoſt comforteth us ſundry ways. For when we have learned that Satan is ſuch a Spirit as never ceaſeth to tempt and to vex us, (ſo that when he cannot overcome us by the greatneſs and multitude of tentations, he goeth about to do it by the tediouſneſs and long continuance thereof) he would have us to comfort our ſelves herewith, that albeit theſe tentations continue long, yet notwithſtanding they ſhall have an end. And ſince we are forewarned both of the continuance & of the end thereof, it is the more eaſy for as to bear them. Here is to be noted alſo that he ſheweth to whom he wiſheth evil, namely to thoſe which hate Sion. And that hatred which they bare againſt Sion, was an hatred againſt God. For in that Satan hateth the Church, he doth it not only in reſpect of men, but becauſe he hateth God himſelf, whom the Church praiſeth and magnifieth. Moreover, Sion was a place which God had choſen unto himſelf. Like as therefore God had choſen that place to ſhew his great love towards it; ſo had Satan choſen the ſame to ſhew his malice againſt it, and with all his power to vex it. In like manner, not only Satan, but alſo the malignant Church of the Pope, doth perſecute us; not becauſe we are evil in the ſight of the World; for this they could well ſuffer, yea and would be glad if they might hear that we are Whoremongers and Murtherers as they are: But the true cauſe why they ſo deadly hate and perſecute us, is this, for that it grieveth them, that we in their eyes are innocent as touching the ſecond table, and alſo obedient to the firſt; wherein we are commanded to honour, ſerve, and praiſe the Lord; to fear him, and truſt in his Mercy, &c.

Verſe 6. Let them be as the graſs on the tops of the houſes, which withereth afore it cometh forth. This is a goodly Pſalm, for the ſundry, excellent, and moſt apt ſimilitudes contained therein, whereby the Holy Ghoſt painteth out thoſe great Majeſties and Principalities of the World, which fight againſt the the Goſpel. A little before he compared them to plowers drawing out furrows of a marvellous length; to whom he ſo compareth them, not in this reſpect, as though it were granted unto them ſo long to abuſe their power, wealth; and riches; but in reſpect of the great Tediouſneſs, Grief, and anguiſh of thoſe which ſuffer the Plowers, the Furrows, the Wounds, and treading under foot; for unto them it ſeemeth a tedious, a long, and as it were an infinite Plowing. Wherefore they deſire to be delivered, and never ſo little tarrying (through this tediouſneſs and anguiſh of heart) ſeemeth to them intollerable. Againſt this Wearineſs and thi, Tediouſneſs therefore, he comforteth the faithful with this ſimilitude, of graſs in the top of the houſe. As if he ſaid, Why ſeemeth the time ſo long, and tedious unto thee? Why doſt thou not learn to underſtand what theſe Plowers thy Adverſaries be? Didſt thou never ſee graſs growing on the tops of houſes? Who did ever complain that the graſs flouriſhed ſo long? who ever went about to pluck it up? As though it were not wont of it ſelf to wither and vaniſh away. Learn therefore that the very ſame is the ſtate and condition of thine Adverſaries. Thus with one ſimilitude he ſighteth againſt another.He ſetteth the ſimilitude of the graſs in the houſe top, againſt the ſimilitude of the Plowers. But if a man could effectually believe that this ſimilitude was made and here ſet down by the Holy Ghoſt, and cloſe up the ſame fully in his heart; he ſhould fear neither the Turk dor the Pope, with all his cruel Prelates, nor the Tyranny of Princes, but ſhould contemn them all, and as little regard them as the graſs on the tops of the houſes. But behold the outward ſhew of this graſs. If any child ſhould ſee it, he would eſteem it to be better then any Barley, (for to Barley it is moſt like) ſince it groweth not as other things do upon the Earth, but in an higher and more notable place, and loadeth the tops of the houſes. But take a man that knoweth theſe things, and he will ſay it is nothing elſe but a goodly ſhew and reſemblance without any fruit. Thus hath the Holy Ghoſt choſen this ſimilitude to teach us, not to wiſh the Tyrants may be like graſs, but to know that they are indeed moſt like unto graſs on the houſe tops, which withereth away before the harveſt time come, or any man go about to cut it down. Senacherib who beſieged Jeruſalem, did flie over Kingdoms, oppreſſed and trod down all things under his feet: therefore he could not be counted of Ezechia & others like unto graſs; and yet before he atchieved what he went about, he was compelled, not without great fear, and alſo much ſlaughter of [illegible: 1 page] [illegible: 1 page] his ſouldiers, to raiſe his ſiege, and he himſelf moſt miſerably periſhed. So Pharoah ſeemed mightily to grow and increaſe, not upon the earth, but in the air and upon the houſe tops; but the miſerable Jews were oppreſſed and trodden under foot like mire in the ſtreets. This is a reſemblance of graſs, not withering but freſhly flouriſhing. But how quickly did it wither and vaniſh to nothing? For when Pharoah did verily think to oppreſs them, he was ſuddenly oppreſſed himſelf and periſhed in the waters. Such an image of Tyrants and Tyranny the Holy Ghoſt painteth out unto us in this place. Why then ſhouldeſt thou fear? Why ſhouldeſt thou tremble? Why ſhouldeſt thou deſpair, as though thou hadſt never ſeen moſt flouriſhing graſs within few days to wither away of its own accord, or didſt not know the nature of it to be ſuch as cannot long continue? Athanaſius (when Julianus the Emperour did many wayes afflict both him and the whole Church, and fought, not only with cruelty, but alſo with craft and ſubtilty againſt the faithful, inſomuch that others, as it were in a terrible tempeſt, were utterly diſcouraged and paſt all hope of deliverance) ſaid that this Perſecution of Julian was not a tempeſt but a little cloud. Indeed his heart was full of faith which could believe, that Julianus was like, not to a terrible and a violent tempeſt, not to a mighty black cloud wrapping all things in darkneſs, but unto a very little cloud, which the Sun doth quickly conſume. In like manner muſt we alſo extenuate and diminiſh the power of our adverſaries, and ſet at nought all their proud brags, and all their cruelty; not in reſpect of our own ſtrength, but becauſe they are of themſelves nothing elſe but a bubble in the water, graſs on the houſe tops, and a very ſhadow rather then men; beſides this, that they provoke God alſo againſt themſelves; whoſe fury & cruelty compared unto his power, is a thing more vain than graſs on the houſe tops, or a bubble in the water; for it is nothing but a bare and a naked ſhew, which ſeemeth to be ſomething, when indeed it is nothing. So are all the attempts of the adverſaries; full of threatnings, but in the end they come to nothing. This is the wiſdom of Chriſtians, to diminiſh the power of the adverſaries, and contrariwiſe to amplifie the Word and the mighty protection of the Lord. The Devil, Sin, Death, and other ſpiritual tentations are great; but a Chriſtian can make a diſtinction of greatneſs. For greatneſs is underſtood two manner of ways: The one is according to the eye, which the eye judgeth after the outward ſhew; the other is according to the truth, which the truth judgeth after the Word. The greatneſs therefore of Sin, Death, wicked Kings, Princes, and Biſhops, is that which is according to the eye only: For God which ſaith, Be of good comfort, I have overcome the World: Alſo, Fear not thoſe which can kill the Body, but are not able to kill the Soul, the ſame God alone (I ſay) is the very true greatneſs, to which if you compare Satan, and all the fury of the whole World, what are they elſe but a bubble? what are they elſe but graſs? but light ſtraw and ſtubble? But when they are conſidered without God, then do they terrify with a falſe fearful ſhew, and ſeem to be great indeed. Wherefore Chriſtians muſt judge, not according to their opinion, but according to the truth. For an opinion is that which Reaſon bringeth forth beſides the Word; but Truth is grounded upon the Word, which judgeth the fury and the cruelty of the World raging againſt the faithful, to be like unto graſs on the houſe tops. This promiſe being ſetled and ſurely fixed in the mind,This Judgment, that the enemies are like graſs, and therefore ſhall periſh, he calleth a promiſe. confirmeth the godly againſt the great power (as to reaſon it ſeemeth) of the World and Satan. Like as on the other ſide, where the word is not, the mind deceived thro' a terrible ſhew of Truth, and the judgment of Reaſon, is oppreſſed with terror. Theſe things muſt not ſo be taken, as tho' we did utterly condemn the power of Princes, and of the World, which we count to be the creature of God; but their preſumption, and the abuſe of their power is it that we condemn, becauſe they fight therewith againſt God and his Church. Let them be Princes on the earth; Let them uſe their Power and Authority in the World, but when they will needs make War in Heaven, and with their Power go about to invade and oppreſs the word, this is horrible, this is execrable and damnable. And who ſo compareth them to bubbles, to graſs, to ſtubble, yea and to nothing, he ſaith truly, he judgeth rightly. For why do they fight againſt God? Think they that we know not what God is? and what man is? what the Creature is, and what the Creator is? Wherefore they are rightly compared to graſs on the houſe tops; for more contemptuouſly the Holy Ghoſt could not ſpeak of them. For this graſs is ſuch, that it ſoon withereth away before the ſickle be put unto it. Yea, no man thinketh it worthy to be cut down, no man regardeth it, every man ſuffereth it to brag for a while, and to ſhew it ſelf unto men from the houſe tops as though it were ſomewhat when it is nothing. So the wicked Perſecutors in the World, which are taken to be mighty and terrible according to the outward ſhew, are of all men moſt contemptible. For Chriſtians do not once think of plucking them up, or cutting them down; they perſecute them not, they revenge not their own injuries, but ſuffer them to increaſe, to brag and glory as much as they liſt; For they know that they cannot abide the violence of a vehement Wind. Yea though all things be in quietneſs, yet as graſs on the houſe tops, by little and little withereth away through the heat of the Sun, ſo Tyrants upon ſmall occaſions do periſh and ſoon vaniſh away. The faithful therefore in ſuffering do prevail and overcome; but the wicked in doing, are overthrown and miſerably periſh, as all the Hiſtories of all times and ages do plainly witneſs.

Verſe 7. Whereof the Mower filleth not his hand, neither the Gleaner his Lap. Here the Holy Ghoſt maketh a compariſon between Graſs which yieldeth no fruit, and true corn which is fruitful; that thereby he may the better commend unto us the former ſimilitude, and withdraw our minds from the falſe dread and terror which that vain and counterfeit ſhew bringeth. Fruitful corn (ſaith he) is ſuch, that he which moweth it ſhall fill his hand, and he that gathereth the ſheaves ſhall have plenty to carry into his barn. Here ye ſee, is a truth, and not a vain ſhew. But graſs on the houſe tops maketh a ſhew of that which is not true, becauſe it is fruitleſs. So the Pope and his Prelates, with other Tyrants and Perſecutors, have a reſemblance and a counterfeit ſhew that they are the Church. They hold and enjoy Dignities, Prebends, Benefices, as graſs hath his ſtalk and ear; but indeed they are none of the Chrrch, like as graſs is no Corn: for it withereth away before it can bring forth fruit. For this is the chiefeſt argument wherewith they fight againſt us, that for this glorious ſhew whereof I ſpeak, they uſurp and challenge to themſelves the title of the Church. But we are commanded to take heed that we be not deceived by outward ſhews. Yea and we are admoniſhed alſo that ſuch ſhews are oftentimes occaſions of great calamities. Beware (ſaith our Saviour Chriſt) of Falſe Prophets, which come to you in Sheeps-cloathing. Alſo By their fruits ye ſhall know them. Whereas then they challenge unto themſelves the name of the Church, and for a goodly ſhew (which the graſs alſo that groweth on the houſe tops hath as well as they,) will be counted good Corn: this will not we grant them. For if they be good Corn, let them fill the hand of the Mower, but this they do not. They are unprofitable Graſs, yea worſe then graſs. For in that filthineſs of their wicked luſts and fleſhly pleaſures wherewith they are horribly polluted, and that cruelty which they exerciſe againſt the true Church, they retain not ſo much as the outward ſhew which they pretend. Wherefore, ſince there is nothing to be found in our adverſaries but a naked and an hypocritical ſhew, and the ſame alſo miſerably and many ways deformed and defaced; ſince (I ſay) there is nothing elſe in them but meer hypocriſy, we judge and denounce them not to be the Church of Chriſt, but of Satan. Wherefore they are prepared as chaff and ſtubble to the fire, although under a ſhevv and colour of the Church, they afflict and Perſecute us never ſo much.

Verſe 8. Neither they which go by ſay, We bleſs you in the name of the Lord. This alſo commendeth and ſetteth forth unto us the ſimilitude of the graſs. For true Corn hath this commendation, that it is the bleſſing of God. They therefore vvhich ſee it grovv, vviſh that God vvould bleſs and proſper it. This (ſaith David) ſhall not be ſaid of that graſs; that is to ſay, of the Tyrants and the adverſaries of the Church, but rather they ſhall be curſed of all men, yea the malediction both of God and man ſhall be heaped upon them: Like as it hath alſo hapned to the Church of Rome, which before our doctrine and preaching moſt gloriouſly flouriſhed. But now that the Goſpel hath plucked away her viſour, and ſheweth that ſhe is not without fruit, all her curſed hypocriſy is bewrayed, and her memory is periſh'd from among the godly. Thus the Prophet comforteth the faithful, and ſheweth that the wicked (what glorious brag and pretence ſoever they make) are indeed nothing, and becauſe God bleſſeth them not, they ſhall inherit nothing but malediction, and ſhall be confounded, like as Judas; the Phariſees, Corinthus, A[illegible: 1 letter]ius, and Pelagius, though they ſeemed to ſlouriſh, moſt miſerably periſhed with all their glory. Wherefore let us, whoſe doctrine by the grace of God is ſound and agreeable with the holy Scripture, remember this ſimilitude, that when we muſt ſuffer hatred, ſlander, reproaches and all manner of injuries for the Goſpels ſake, we are not afraid but may learn hereby to judge the Pope, the Biſhops, the wicked Princes, with the tormentors and executioners of their cruelty, to be nothing elſe but graſs on the houſe tops, which ſeemeth to be ſomewhat, when indeed it is nothing, and therefore it is without all bleſſing. To ſuch it ſhall be ſaid with the rich glutton in hell,Luke 16. Son remember that thou in thy life time receivedſt thy pleaſures. For if we conſider the whole hiſtory of the Church even from the beginning of the world, we ſhall ſee that God hath always ſo wrought by his ſecret counſel, that as graſs on the houſe tops withereth away before the harveſt come: ſo Tyrants are ſuddenly cut off and never come to their full time. Wherefore let us conſtantly abide and endure with patience in all afflictions, until the end do ſhew that it was nothing but graſs, and ſuddenly withered when it was moſt like to increaſe and flouriſh. The wicked do enjoy all good things for the Churches ſake, like as the graſs on the houſe tops hath the benefit of the rain and of the Sun as well as the Corn in the fields. But as they ſhall not live half their days, and as they ſhall ſee their own counſels and devices to be but vain and without ſucceſs, ſo ſhall they be as a perpetual ſhame among men: inſomuch that no man ſhall wiſh any good unto them: As at this day the memory of Judas, Pilate, the wicked Jews Diocleſianus, Maximinus and other Tyrants, is without honour, yea moſt execrable and odious unto all men. This conſolation is ſet forth by the holy Ghoſt by theſe groſs ſimilitudes and examples, that we may conceive in our minds ſome ſhadow or reſemblance of Gods Works, ſince we cannot rightly judge and eſteem the things themſelves according to the truth, but we judge the enemies and Perſecutors of the Church by their goodly ſhew and outvvard appearance, to be good Wheat, becauſe they proſper and flouriſh ſo long upon the earth. Wherefore vve muſt reſt vvholly in the Word, which with ſuch ſimilitudes painteth out theſe things; and we muſt with draw our ſenſes from all outward ſights and ſhews, and judge no otherwiſe of the adverſaries of the word, then of moſt vile graſs that groweth on the houſe tops, and is contemned of all men. For ſo ſaith the Spirit of faith: tho' our ſenſes ſay otherwiſe. In like manner muſt we do alſo in ſpiritual tentations; when our conſcience accuſeth us and giveth teſtimony againſt us, as well in the agony and danger of death, as in other conflicts. Here if we follow that which appeareth to reaſon and our own ſenſes to be true, it ſhall ſeem unto us that our enemies are invincible and almighty, and that there is no remedy, but we muſt needs be overcome and utterly periſh. The ſight and feeling of this greatneſs pertaineth to the eyes and to the ſenſes onely, and riſeth of the judgment of reaſon, and not of the truth. But when we look to the true greatneſs which the word ſetteth forth unto us, we are conſtrained to ſay, that Death, Sin, Satan, and the very gates of hell are indeed nothing elſe but graſs on the houſe tops, but ſtubble, but a very bubble ſwimming upon the water, vvhich vvith the leaſt occaſion breaketh and vaniſheth avvay. So muſt theſe things be amplified and ſet againſt all kinds of tentations, vvhether they be Perſecutors of the Word, as the vvorld and vvicked Princes, or elſe Sin, Death and Satan. All vvhich vve muſt learn to extenuate and leſſen as much as vve can, becauſe Chriſt liveth and vve have his vvord. This conſolation is able to ſvvallovv up all terrors, and maketh us able to ſay, that all theſe things are in very deed but one thing. But vvhen vve conſider theſe things vvithout the Word and Chriſt, in reſpect of our ſelves, and of our ovvn ſtrength, then are they indeed, not graſs, but ſuch high and mighty mountains as cannot be paſſed over. Where fore vvhen vve fight againſt our enemies, vve muſt fight, not as men conſiſting of Body and Soul, but as Chriſtians baptized in the name of Chriſt, having the gift of the Spirit and the Word. Novv therefore, vvhen the Devil, Death, Hell it ſelf, the World and Cruel Princes, are compared to a Chriſtian, they are but graſs upon the houſe tops, or if any thing can be ſaid to be more vile and contemptible. For he hath the Word, vvhich is almighty, and moreover he hath Chriſt himſelf. Chriſtians therefore are invincible,2 Cor. 12.9. yea even then when they are overcome and troden under foot. For the Power of Chriſt is made perfect through weakneſs. Thus did the holy Prophets and Martyrs comfort themſelves againſt the World and the Kingdom of Satan, and therefore they did ſo valiantly ſuffer all kinds of afflictions, being perſvvaded, not that the graſs, vvhich vvithereth avvay of it ſclf, vvithout mans endeavour, but the Word of God ſhould have the victory. For true it is that Baſilius vvriteth vvhen he comforteth the people of Alexandria againſt the fury of Arius, that through the Perſecutions of the Enemies, the Church doth more and more increaſe and multiply. Which thing vve alſo have proved, and God grant that yve and our Poſterity may ſtill ſo do.