EXPLANATORY NOTES AND QUAINT SAYINGS (3)

Verse 11.—“I will teach you the fear of the Lord.” I shall introduce the translation and paraphrase from my old Psalter; and the rather because I believe there is a reference to that very improper and unholy method of teaching youth the system of heathen mythology before they are taught one sound lesson of true divinity, till at last their minds are imbued with heathenism, and the vicious conduct of gods, goddesses, and heroes (here very properly called tyrants), becomes the model of their own; and they are as heathenish without as they are heathenish within.

Trans. “Cummes sones lere me: dred of Lard I sal you lere.”

Par. “Cummes, with trauth and luf: sones, qwam I gette in haly lere: heres me. With eres of hert. I sal lere you, noght the fabyls of poetes; na the storys of tyrauntz; bot the dred of oure Larde, that wyl bring you til the felaghschippe of aungels; and thar in is lyfe.” I need not paraphrase this paraphrase, as it is plain enough.—Adam Clarke.

Verse 11.—“The fear of the Lord.” The Master of Sentences dwells, from this verse, on the four kinds of fear: mundane, servile, initial, filial. Mundane, when we fear to commit sin, simply lest we should lose some worldly advantage or incur some worldly inconvenience. Servile, when we fear to commit sin, simply because of hell torments due to it. Initial, when we fear to commit it lest we should lose the happiness of heaven. Filial, when we fear, only and entirely because we dread to offend that God whom we love with all our hearts. “I will teach.” Whence notice, that this fear is not a thing to be learnt all at once; it needs careful study and a good master. S. Chrysostom compares the Psalmist’s school here with the resort of heathen students to the academy; and S. Ephraem, referring to this passage, calls the fear of God itself the school of the mind. “As if he proclaimed,” says S. Lawrence Justiniani, “I will teach you, not the courses of the stars, not the nature of things, not the secrets of the heavens, but the fear of the Lord. The knowledge of such matters, without fear, puffs up; but the fear of the Lord, without any such knowledge, can save.” “Here,” says Cassiodorus, “is not fear to be feared, but to be loved. Human fear is full of bitterness; divine fear of sweetness: the one drives to slavery, the other allures to liberty; the one dreads the prison of Gehenna, the other opens the kingdom of heaven.”—J. M. Neale.

Verse 11.—“The fear of the Lord.” Let this, therefore, good children, be your principal care and study; for what shall it avail you to be cunning in Tully, Virgil, Homer, and other profane writers, if you be unskilful in God’s book? to have learned Greek and Latin, if you learn not withal the language of Canaan? to have your speech agreeable to the rules of Priscian, of Lily, if your lives and courses be not consonant to the rules and laws of Christianity? to have knowledge of the creatures when you are ignorant of the Creator? to have learned that whereby you may live a while here, and neglect that whereby you may live eternally hereafter? Learn to fear God, to serve God, and then God will bless you; for “He will bless them that fear him, both small and great.” Ps. cxv. 13.—Thomas Gataker’s “David’s Instructor,” 1637.

Verse 12.—It is no great matter to live long, or always, but to live happily. That loyal prayer, “Let the king live” (in every language) imports a prosperous state. When the Psalmist saith, “Who is the man that would see life?” he explaineth himself presently after by “good days.” Vivere among the Latins is sometimes as much as valere, to live is as much as to be well; and upon this account it is that as, on the one hand, the Scripture calls the state of the damned an eternal death, because their life is only a continuance in misery; so on the other hand the state of the blessed is an eternal life, because it is a perpetual abode in felicity.—Nathanael Hardy.

Verse 12.—The benefit of life is not in the length, but in the use of it. He sometimes lives the least that lives the longest.—Seneca.

Verse 13.—“Keep thy tongue from evil,” etc. Ficinus, after his tracts, De sanitate tuenda, of keeping good health; and another, of recovering health; and a third, of prolonging life; because all will not do, wisely addeth a fourth, of laying hold on eternal life; which cannot be done but by mortifying this earthly member, a loose and lewd tongue. “For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned,” saith the Judge himself. Matt. xii. 37. Compare Gen. xlix. 21 with Deut. xxxiii. 23, and it will appear that good words ingratiate with God and man.—John Trapp.

Verse 13.—“And thy lips from speaking guile.” Perhaps David, in warning us that we speak no guile, reflects upon his own sin in changing his behaviour. They that truly repent of what they have done amiss, will warn others to take heed of doing likewise.—Matthew Henry.

Verse 14.—“Depart from evil,” etc. This denotes that evil is near to men; it keeps close to them, and should be declined and shunned: and it regards all sorts of evil; evil men and their evil company; evil things, evil words and works, and all appearance of evil; and the fear of the Lord shows itself in a hatred of it, and a departure from it. Prov. viii. 13; xvi. 6.—John Gill.

Verse 14.—“Depart from evil.” The other precepts are the duty of works, and they are four, where the precepts of words were but two; because we must be more in works than in words; and they are all affirmative, for it is against the nature of a work to be in the negative; for so working should be no better than idleness: the two former are general, as general as good and evil; that if we meet with anything that is evil, our part is to depart, for there is no demuring upon evil.—Sir Richard Baker.

Verse 14.—“Do good.” Negative goodness is not sufficient to entitle us to heaven. There are some in the world whose religion runs all upon negatives; they are not drunkards, they are not swearers, and for this they do bless themselves. See how the Pharisee vapours (Luke xviii. 11), “God, I thank thee that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers,” etc. Alas! the not being scandalous will no more make a Christian than a cypher will make a sum. We are bid, not only to cease from evil, but to do good. It will be a poor plea at last—Lord, I kept myself from being spotted with gross sin: I did no hurt. But what good is there in thee? It is not enough for the servant of the vineyard that he doth no hurt there, he doth not break the trees, or destroy the hedges; if he doth not work in the vineyard he loseth his pay. It is not enough for us to say at the last day, we have done no hurt, we have lived in no gross sin; but what good have we done in the vineyard? Where is the grace we have gotten? If we cannot show this, we shall lose our pay, and miss of salvation.—Thomas Watson.

Verse 14.—“Seek peace, and pursue it.” Yea, do well, and thou shalt not need to pursue it; peace will find thee without seeking. Augustine says, Fiat justitia, et habebis pacem—Live righteously, and live peaceably. Quietness shall find out righteousness wheresoever he lodgeth. But she abhorreth the house of evil. Peace will not dine where grace hath not first broken her fast. Let us embrace godliness, and “the peace of God, that passeth all understanding, shall preserve our hearts and minds in Jesus Christ.” Phil. iv. 7.—Thomas Adams.

Verse 14.—“Seek peace and pursue it.” The most desirable things are not the easiest to be obtained. What is more lovely to the imagination than the tranquillity of peace? But this great blessing does not voluntarily present itself: it must be sought. Even when sought it often eludes the grasp: it flies away, and must be pursued. 1. The man of a peaceable carriage must be cautious not to give offence when needless, or, when it may innocently be spared. 2. Another part of the peaceable man’s character is, not to take offence; especially in small matters, which are hardly worth a wise man’s notice. 3. If any needless offence has been either given or taken, we must endeavour to put a stop to it as soon as may be. If a difference is already begun, stifle it in the birth, and suffer it not to proceed farther.—Condensed from Dr. Waterland’s Sermon, in J. R. Pitman’s Course of Sermons on the Psalms, 1846.

Verse 15.—“His ears are open unto their cry.” The word “open” is not in the original, but the meaning is that the ear of God is propense, and in a leaning kind of posture, towards the cries of the righteous; the word may here be taken emphatically, as many times in Scripture it is, for some worthy, choice, and excellent strain of righteousness. Those who are worthy and righteous indeed, the ear of God, I say, is propense, and leans and hangs towards them and their prayers, according to that of Cant. ii. 14, “Let me hear thy voice, for sweet is thy voice.” There is a kind of naturalness and pleasantness between the ear of God and the prayers and petitions, and cries of such a righteous man. John xv. 7.—John Goodwin.

Verse 15.—“His ears are open unto their cry.” Hebrew, “Are to their cry,” or as St. Peter hath it, “His ears are into their prayers” (1 Peter iii. 12); to show that though their prayers are so faint and feeble that they cannot enter into the ears of the Lord of Hosts, yet that he will bow down and incline his ears unto, nay, into their prayers, their breathings. Lam. iii. 56.—John Trapp.

Verses 15-17.—“The eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous, and his ears are open unto their cry.” Strangers may howl, and we take little notice what they ail—it is a venture whether we relieve them or no; but if our children cry, being in great distress, we hasten to their help. Our relation to God may well strengthen our hope that our desires shall be heard. He that can cry, Abba, Father, may be confident of the success of his suit, and that God wilt deal with him as a son.—George Swinnock.

Verse 18.—“The Lord is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart.” God is nigh unto them (with reverence be it spoken), God takes so much complacency in the company of such, that he cannot endure to have them far from him; he must have them always nigh to him, always under his eyes; as for these “broken” ones, he will be sure not to leave them long, nor to go far from them, but will be ready at hand to set their bones, to bind up their wounds to keep them from festering. It may be he may put them to much pain before he brings the cure to perfection, but it is to prevent future aches. He is a foolish cruel chirurgeon, who, for fear of putting his patient to some pain, never searcheth the wound, but skins it over presently; and a wise man will not think him unmerciful that puts him to exquisite pain, so he make a thorough cure of it. Thus God doth by his patients sometimes, when the nature of their distemper calls for it. But, however, he will be sure not to be out of the way when they want him most. It is possible they may look upon themselves as forgotten by God, they may not know their Physician when he is by them, and they may take their Friend for an enemy; they may think God far off when he is near; but when their eyes are opened and their distemper is pretty well worn off, they will, with shame and thankfulness, acknowledge their error; nay, they do from their souls confess, that they do not deserve the least look of kindness from God, but to be counted strangers and enemies; but God will let them know that he loves to act like himself, that is, like a God of love, mercy, and goodness; and that they are the persons that he hath set his heart upon; he will have them in his bosom, never leave them nor forsake them; and though these contrite ones many times look upon themselves as lost, yet God will save them, and they shall sing a song of thankfulness amongst his delivered ones.—James Janeway.

Verse 18.—“The Lord is nigh unto them,” etc. Consider the ADVANTAGES of this broken heart; as I. A broken heart is acceptable and well pleasing to God, “A broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.” Psalm li. 17. II. It makes up many defects in your service and duties, “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit.” Psalm li. 17. III. It makes the soul a fit receptacle for God to dwell in, “For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is holy; I dwell in the high and holy place with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble and to revive the heart of the contrite ones.” Isaiah lvii. 15. IV. It brings God near to men, “The Lord is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart, and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit.” Psalm xxxiv. 18. And V. It lays you open to Christ’s sweet healing, “I will bind up that which was broken, and will strengthen that which was sick.” Ezek. xxxiv. 16. And, oh, who would not be broken that they may find Christ’s soft hand healing them, and find the proof of that sweet word, “For I will restore health unto thee, and I will heal thee of thy wounds, saith the Lord.” Jer. xxx. 17. Yea, VI. It puts you in the right road to heaven, where all your wounds and bruises will be cured; for there is a tree (Rev. xxii. 2) the leaves whereof are for the healing of the nations; there is no complaining there of wounds or bruises, but all are perfectly healed.—John Spalding, in “Synaxis Sacra, or a Collection of Sermons,” etc., 1703.