Psalm 124 (Vulgate 123)

affections of the heart. This we have repeatedly re-! minded you of: and we need not repeat it too often, that there may be room for saying what hath not yet been said. This Psalm, therefore, which ye have now heard sung unto you, is inscribed, A Song of Degrees. This is its title. They sing therefore while ascending: and sometimes as it were one man singeth, sometimes as it were many; because many are one, since Christ is One, and in Christ the members of Christ constitute one with Christ, and the Head of all these members is in heaven. But although the body toileth on earth, it is not cut off from its Head; for the Head looketh down from above, and regardeth the body. For if it did not regard the body, it would not say to the persecuibr Saul, not as yet Paul, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou Mef These things ye know very well, and they are familiar to you. But let not the mention of them disgust those who have not forgotten them, that through their patience they may return to the hearts of those from whom they have escaped; for they are edifying, and worthy of frequent repetition. Whether therefore one or many sing; many men are one man, because it is unity; and Christ, as we have said, is One, and all Christians are members of Christ.

2. What then do they sing? These members of Christ, what do they sing? For they love, and through their love sing, through their longing they sing. Sometimes they sing with tribulation, and sometimes they sing with exultation, when they sing in hope. For our tribulation is in the present world; but our hope is in the next world: and save the hope of a future world console us in the tribulation of the present world, we perish. Our joy therefore, brethren, is not as yet in reality, but in hope; but it is as perfect, as though it were already realized: for we do not fear, when Truth promiseth. For Truth can neither deceive, nor be deceived: it is good for us to cling unto It; It freeth us, but if we have remained in His Word. For we now believe, we shall then see: wheu we believe, it is hope, in this world; when we shall see, it wiH be reality, in a future world. But we shall see face to face: but we shall then see face to face, when our hearts shall have been cleansed: for blessed are the pure in hearty for they shall see Qod. But by what means are hearts purified, save through faith, as Peter saith in the Acts of the Apostles, Purifying their hearts by faith f Now our hearts are purified by faith, in order that they may be capable of enjoying the sight of God, For we walk now by faith, not as yet by sight; even as the Apostle saith, Whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord. And what means, We are absent? For we walk by faith, he faith, not by sight. He therefore who is absent, and who walketh by faith, is not yet in his country, but is still on his way; but he who believeth not, is neither in his country, nor on the way. Let us therefore so walk as if we were on the way; for the King of our country Himself hath made Himself the way. The King of our country, our Ijord Jesus Christ; and there He is the Truth, but here He is the Way. Whither do we go i Unto the Truth. By what path do we go? By faith. Whither do we go? Unto Christ. By what path do we go? Through Christ. For He hath Himself said, / am the Way, and the Truth, and the Life. For He had once said to those that believed on Him, If ye continue in My Word, then are ye My disciples indeed: and ye shall know the Truth, and the Truth shall31' make you free. And ye shall know the Truth, He saith, but, if ye continue in My Word. In what word? As the Apostle saith, The word of faith, which we preach. First therefore is the word of faith; in which word of faith if we8, continue, we shall know the Truth, and the Truth will make us free. Truth is immortal, Truth is immutable: Truth is that Word of which it is said, In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was1* God. And who seetb this, save his heart be purified? How are hearts purified? And the Word was made flesh, and dicelt among us. In that therefore the Word continueth in Itself, it is Truth unto which we are coming, and which maketh us free: but inasmuch as the word of faith is preached, in which the Lord wisheth us to continue, that we may know the truth: it is this: The Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us. Thou believest in Christ born in the flesh, and thou wilt come unto Christ born of God, God with God.

3. They whom we read sing these verses in joyous exultation; these members of Christ sing with exultation this Psalm. And who exulteth here, save in hope, as I have said? Let this hope of ours be a certain one, and let us sing with exultation. For they who sing are not foreign to us, or the words in this Psalm other than ours. So hear, as if ye were hearing yourselves; so hear, as though in the mirror of Scripture we were observing yourselves. For when thou lookest upon the Scriptures as updG a mirror, thy countenance is gladdened: when in the exultation of hope thou shalt find thyself like to certain members of Christ, which members have sung these words: thou also wilt thyself be among those members, and wilt sing these words. Why therefore do these men sing these words with exultation? Because they have escaped. It is hope, therefore, wherewith they sing. For whilst we are here, and are absent from our home, we have not as yet escaped. Certain members indeed of that body of which we also are, which can sing in truth, have gone before us. And this the holy Martyrs have sung: for they have already escaped, aud are with Christ in joy about to receive at last incorruptible bodies, the very same which were at first corruptible, wherein they have suffered pains; of the same there will be made for them ornaments of righteousness. Therefore whether they in reality, or we in hope, joining our affections with their crowns, and longing for such a life as we have not here, and shall never gain unless we have longed for it here, let us all sing together, and say, If the Lord Himself had not been in us. For they looked back upon certain tribulations which they had suffered, and considered when they were at length safe in the bliss and security of those realms, the path by which they had passed, whither they had come; and, because it was difficult to be set free from thence, unless the hand of the liberator were present, they said in joy, If the Lord Himself had not been in us. Thus they begin to sing: they have not yet said whence they have escaped; so great is their exultation, If the Lord had not been in

4. Now may Israel say, If the Lord Himself had not been in us. Now may Israel say, because it hath escaped; for this Psalm places before our eyes those who have already escaped. Let us place them in our hearts also, now triumphant: and as if we also were there, as it is said above, Our feet stood in the courts of Jerusalem. They were not yet there, but were on the way: but there2, was so much rejoicing while they hastened, such hope of arriving, that, while yet on the way and toiling, they already seemed to themselves to be placed at the journey's end. So let us alsc^set ourselves in that triumph which will be in a future world, when we shall trample on death, which will then have been destroyed, when we shall say, O grave, where is thy victory? O death, where is thy sting t Then united16' with angels, and rejoicing in our King, Who willed first to rise from the dead, although He willed not to be the first to die; for many died before Him, but no man rose again for evermore; let us then, rejoicing with Him, already there in hope and in heart, because we have escaped, reflect on what we have escaped, what offences, what tribulations of the world, what persecutions of all Pagans, what deceits of all heretics, what suggestions of the devil, what struggles of our desires. Who could escape all these trials, save the Lord Himself were on our sidet Now Israel may say, for Israel saith it securely, If the Lord Himself had not been in us. When? When men rose up against us. Man-el not: they have been subdued: for they were men; but the Lord was in us, man was not in us: for men rose up against us. Nevertheless men would crush other men, unless in those men who could not be crushed, there were not man, but the Lord.

5. Therefore, If the Lord Himself had not been in us, when men rose up against us. For what could men do to you, while ye rejoiced, and sang, and securely held everlasting bliss? what could men do to you when they rose against you, if the Lord had not been on your side? what could they do? Perchance they had swallowed us up quick. — Swallowed us up quick: they would not first have slain us, and so have swallowed us up. O inhuman, O cruel men! The Church swalloweth not thus. To Peter it was said, Kill and eat: not, Swallow quick. How then doth Peter, that is, the Church, kill and eat? and how would they who have risen up against us, perchance have swallowed us up quick, if the Lord Himself had not been on our side f Because no man entereth into the body of the Church, save he be slain first. What he was dieth, that he may be what he was not. Otherwise, he who is not slain, and is not eaten by the Church, may be in the visible number of the people: but he cannot be in the number of the people which is known to God, whereof the Apostle saith, The Lord knoweth who are His, save he be eaten; an% eaten he cannot be, save he first be slain. The Pagan cometh, still in him idolatry liveth; he must be grafted among the members of Christ: that he may be engrafted, he must needs be eaten; but he cannot be eaten by the Church, save first he be slain. Let him renounce the world, then is he slain; let him believe in God, then is he eaten. And then would they have swallowed us up quick, if the Lord Himself had not been on our side. For many persecutors at times arose, and now they are not wanting. They rise singly, and sometimes swallow men quick, but men in whom the Lord is not. These are they who are swallowred quick, who know that it is evil, and consent with their tongue. For some persecutors have arisen, and have said unto men, Burn incense: if ye obey not, we slay you. They loved this life: and the sweetness of this life enthralled them. They did not love in a greater degree what God promised them, than what they saw on earth. For they were ordered to believe those things which they saw not yet, but they loved what they saw before them. Holding faster uuto those things which they saw, they shut out the Lord from their hearts; and because the Lord was not in them, were swallowed up quick. What meaneth, were swallowed up quick? By offering incense to idols, when they knew that an idol is nothing. For if they thought an idol was any thing, they would be swallowed up dead: but when they think an idol nothing, and know that all these inventions of the Gentiles are vain, they live; and yet when they do what their persecutors will, they are swallowed up quick. But they are swallowed up quick on this account, that the Lord is not in them. But they in whom the Lord is, are slain and die not. But they who consent and live, are swallowed quick, when swallowed up they die. But they who have suffered, and have not yielded to tribulations, rejoice and say, Now may Israel say, say rejoicing, say securely, If the Lord had not — been in us, when tnen rose up against us, perchance they

6. When their fury was enraged upon us. Ye are aware, brethren, that in one of the former Psalms, at the very commencement of the Songs of Degrees, one, who was beginniug4b ascend, sought aid against a deceitful tongue; and said, Deliver my soul, O Lord, from lying lips, and aP*» deceitful tongue. For when a man first beginnetb to ascend, and to make progress, in the very outset of his ascent, he suflereth deceitful tongues, flattering to bis ruin, flattering in their evil persuasions. What art thou doing? Why dost thou this? What? Canst thou not live otherwise? Caust not thou serve God without doing this? Thou then art the only one who wishest to be what others are not! and if thou findest some who are with thee iu thy deeds, what saith that flattering and deceitful tongue? Behold, they have succeeded: perhaps thou wilt fail. Thou art attempting, thou wilt fail: and it would have been better not to have begun, than to have begun and to have failed. The deceitful tongue still flattereth. If thou hast persevered, the deceitful and flattering tongue is overcome, it beginneth to rage openly; and the tongue which flattered that it might seduce, threatens that it may terrify. But if the Lord be within thee, and thou ha*t uot abandoned Christ in thy heart; as thou didst overcome the deceitf ul tongue through the sharp arrows and the hot burning coals, that is, through the word of God, whereby thy heart was transfixed, and through the examples of the righteous who have been quickened from the dead, have been made righteous from sinners, as coals revive after death: as therefore thou didst couquer them by arrows and hot burning coals, when they were deceitfully flattering and seduciug by flattery; thus thou wilt conquer these who now wrathfully threaten, because they have failed to seduce by flattery. They were overcome when they flattered, let them be overcome also when they threaten. They are overcome: but how, save the Lord Himself had been in us? It is clear that thou hast not conquered, but that He hath conquered Who is in thee. Dost thou bear within thee such a had swallowed us up quick. general, and art thou overcome? Is not He whom thou ^e sa^> I have overcome the world? Did He not by His death before thee overcome the devil, since He was evermore above every creature, because the Word is God with God? Why did He conquer, save that He might shew thee how to fight with the devil? Yet although thou art now taught, save He be in thee Who conquered for thee first, thou art overcome. If the Lord Himself h$d not been in us, when men rose up against us, they had swallowed us up quick; when their fury was enraged upon us. They are now in anger, they now openly rage: perchance the water had drowned us. By water he meaneth ungodly nations: and we shall see what sort of water in the following verses. Whoever had consented unto them, water would have overwhelmed him. For he would die by the death of the Egyptians, he would not pass through after the example of the Israelites. For ye know, brethren, that the people of Israel passed through the water, by which Egyptians were overwhelmed. T7ie water, he saith, had drowned us.

7. But what sort of water is this? It is a torrent, it flows with violence, but it will pass by. For by torrents are meant rivers which swell with sudden showers: they have a powerful current; whoever attempts to ford them is carried away, but he in whom the Lord is not; while he in whom the Lord is, his soul passeth over the torrent. The torrent still floweth, but the soul of the Martyrs halh already passed over. Still while this world runneth on in alternate births and deaths, the torrent lasteth: hence come persecutions, from this torrent. Hence He, our Head, first drinketh, of Whom it is said in the Psalms, He shall drink of the torrent in the way. From the torrent, that stream which signifieth a persecuting people, He drank Who said to His disciples, Are ye able to drink of the cup that I shall drink of? He drinketh of the torrent by the way. What means, He drinketh by the way? He drank as He passed, He stayed not there. He drank by the way, for it is said of Him, He stood not in the way of sinners. He drank as He And what is said in consequence? Therefore shall lift up His head. He slwXl drink, he saith, of the torrent by the way: therefore shall He lift up His head. For our Head is already exalted* because He drank of the torrent by the way; for our Lord hath suffered. If therefore our Head hath been already raised up, why doth the body fear the torrent? Without doubt, because the Head hath been raised, the body also will say hereafter, Our soul hath passed over the torrent. Perhaps our soul hath passed over the %>ater without substance. Behold, what sort of water he was speaking of, The water perchance had overwhelmed us. But what is the water without substance? What meaueth, without substance?

8. In the first place, what meaneth, Perchance our soul hath passed over? The Latin interpreters have thus rendered as far as they were able the Greek word iqa. For thus the Greek copies have it; i$a: and as it is an expression of doubt, it is rendered by an expression of doubt, the word perchance (fortasse); but this is not the exact sense. We may express this Greek word by one not so Latin in its use, but adapted to your comprehension. The Punic word, tar, I mean not that which signifieth a wood, but the expression of doubt*, is the Greek ifa. This the Latins may or usually do express by Putas: as in this instance, Dost thou think (putas) I have escaped this? If we say, Perchance I have escaped, ye see that it hath not this meaning: but the word, Tbinkest thou, is commonly used: but not in Latin in this sense. Although I may use it, when expounding to you; for I often use words that are not Latin, that ye may understand. But in Scripture this could not be used, because it was not Latin; and as Latin failed, that was used for it which had not this meaning. Understand however the meaning to be this: Thinkest thou our soul hath passed over the water without substance? and why do they say, Thinkest thou? Because the greatness of the danger maketh it hardly credible that he bath escaped. They have endured a great death: they have been in great dangers; they have been so much oppressed, that they almost gave consent while alive, and were all but swallowed up alive: now therefore that they have escaped, now that they are secure, but still remember the danger, the great danger, say, Thinkest thou our soul hath passed over the water tcithout substance?

9. What is the water without substance, save the water of sins without substance? For sins have not substance: they have destitution, not substance; they have want, not substance. In that water without substance, the younger son lost the whole of his substance. For ye know that the younger son went into a far country, and said* unto his fatherj Q(ve me the portion of substance that falleth to me. What meanest thou? It is better preserved in thy father's hands: it is thine: thy wish is to waste it; thou wishest to go afar. Give it me, he saith; give it me. He gave it him. Setting out into a distant country, where he lived riotously with harlots, he lost the whole of his substance: he remained in want, he fed swine; in his destitution he called to mind his father's wealth. Had not destitution driven him, he would not have desired that fulness. Let therefore all consider their sins, let them see if their sins have substance. For what hath the sinner provoked God? If thou seest not thy sin before thou committest it, consider it even when thou hast committed it. The sweetness of this life sweeteneth thy mouth for a time; it will afterwards be turned into great bitterness. Behold, thou hast sinned, and hast made gain: what is thy having made gain? That thou mightest make gain, thou hast offended God; that thou mightest increase thy money, tby good faith hath been lessened, and thy gold hath increased. What hast thou lost, and what hast thou acquired? What thou hast acquired, is called gold; what thou hast lost, is called good faith: compare good faith with gold; if good faith were saleable in the market, it would have its price. Dost thou think of thy gains, thinkest thou not of thy losses? Thou rejoicest in thy coffer: mournest thou not for thy heart? There is abundance of I know not what in thy Coffer; but see what hath been lessened in thy heart. When thou hast opened thy coffer, thou wilt find shillings which were not there before: it is well, that thou rejoicest that there is there what was not there. Consider the coffer of thy heart; there was good faith there, and there is not. If thou rejoicest in the gain, why mournest thou not over the loss? Thou hast lost more than tbou bast gained. Dost thou wish to see what thou hast lost. Not even by a shipwreck could it have been taken from thee. For men sometimes lose all things in the sea, they go out of it destitute. Many were shipwrecked with Paul: the lovers of this world suffered shipwreck, and all of them went forth destitute; they both lost what they had out of doors, and found the house of their heart empty: but Paul caffied in bis heart the patrimony of his faith; it could not be taken away by any waves, nor by any tempests; he went forth destitute, and he went forth rich. Such riches we ought to seek. But, thou repliest, I see them not. Foolish soul, thou seest them not with the eyes of thy flesh; have an eye of thy heart, and thou seest them. But thou seest not faith. Wherefore seest thou it in another? Why cricst thou out when good faith is broken with thee, if thou seest it not? Suppose any one break faith with thee: thou criest out. Thou wisbest therefore good faith to be shewn towards thyself: when it is demanded of thee to shew it, then dost thou not see it? Mourn that thou bast not towards another, what thou complainest that another hath lost towards thee, and consider that the sin thou committest is without substance. For what is acquired by sin, seemeth to be substance. But this also is not acquired. For he who knoweth how to use gold, hath gold: but he that knoweth not how to use gold, hath uot the gold, but is held by it; he is not the possessor of it, but is possessed by it. Be ye the masters of your gold, not the slaves of gold: for God both made gold, and Himself also made thee over gold; gold He made for thy aid, thee He made in His own image. See what is above thee, and thou tramplest on what is below thee. What then hast thou acquired? Dost thou wish to see how the water is without substance? Take away with thee to the world below what thou hast acquired: what wilt thou do? Thou hast acquired gold: thou hast lost thy faith: after a few days thou leavest this life; thou canst not take away with thee the gold thou hast acquired by the loss of tby good faith; thy heart, destitute of faith, goeth forth into punishment — thy heart, which if full of faith, would go forth unto a crown. Behold, what thou hast done is nothing: and thou bast offended God for nothing. The water which hath overwhelmed thee is without substance. For the sake of what hath the sinner provoked God? Such as transgress without a cause shall be put to confusion. For no man transgresseth save without a cause: but no man thinketh of it.

10. Men go: they hear that common proverb; and the proverbs of God slumber in them. What proverb? " Better in hand than in hope*." Unhappy man, what has^thou in hand? Thou sayest, " Better in hand." Hold it so as not to lose it, and then say, "Better in hand." But if thou holdest it not, why dost thou not hold fast that which thou canst not lose? What then hast thou in hand? Gold. Keep it in hand, therefore: if thou hast it in hand, let it not be taken away without thy consent. But if through gold also thou art carried where thou wishest not, and if a more powerful robber seeketh thee, because he findeth thee a less powerful robber; if a stronger eagle pursue thee, because thou hast carried off a hare before him: the lesser was thy prey, thou wilt be a prey unto the greater. Men see not these things in human affairs: by so much avarice are they blinded. It is wonderful, my brethren; they who consider them, shudder at them. The more powerful seeketh the less powerful, and seeketh to oppress him, not on any other account, save that he hath what he may take away from him; he seeth him suffer trouble from himself, on no other ground, save because he hath somewhat; and the man heapeth upon himself that, for the sake of which the other suffereth trouble. He did not reflect, while he was persecuting the other; and he was fleeing, he was being tortured", he was fearing, he was seeking where to hide himself; whence should he suffer those evils, save because he had somewhat? Even in him learn what to avoid: that the property which thus distressed him, under thy persecutions, lest it should be taken from him by thee, may also thus torture thee under another's persecution. Thou remarkest that he is fat: if thou pursuest him because he is fat, fear to grow fat thyself, lest another hunt thee. And all these things are done in vanity: seek the end; darkness meets thee: seek wherefore; nothing is found.

11. Ver. 6. Let therefore those who say, My soul hath * 4 Malo quod teneo, quam quod spero.' God delivers those in whom he dwells from the snare. 588 pasted over the water without substance, rejoice, and be glad in the Lord; and let them receive back their substance. They have lost it by living riotously; but hath the Father become poor? Let them return, and they shall find there the riches which in their distant sojourn they wasted with harlots; let them escape the water without substance, and say, Bleged be the l*rd, Who hath not given us over for a prey unto their teeth. For the hunters were following, and had placed a bait in their trap. What bait? The sweetness of this life, so that each man for the sake of the sweetness of this life may thrust his head into iniquity, and be caught in the trap. Not they, in whom the Lord was, they who gay, If the Lord Himself had not been in us; they have not been taken in the trap. Let the Lord be in thee, and thou wilt not bo taken in the trap; cry, Blessed be the Lord, Who hath not given us over for a prey unto their teeth.

12. Ver. 7. Our soul is escaped, even as a bird out of the snare of the fowlers. Because the Lord was in the soul itself, therefore halh that aoul escaped, even as a bird out of the snare of the fowler. Why like a bird f Because it had fallen heedlcRsly, like a bird; and it could say afterwards, God will forgive me. Unstable bird, rather set thy feet firm upon the rock: go not into the trap. Thou wilt be taken, consumed, crushed. Let the Lord be in thee, and He will deliver thee from greater threats, from the snare of the fowlers. As if thou wert to see a bird about to fall into a snare, thou makest a greater noise that it may fly away from the net; so also, when perhaps some even of the Martyrs were stretching out their neck after the enjoyment of this life, the Lord, Who was in them, made the noise of hell, and the bird was delivered from the snare of the fowlers: Our soul hath escaped even as a bird from the snare of the fowlers. What then? Will that snare last for ever? The snare was the sweetness of this life: they were not entangled in the snare, and were slain; by their slaughter the net was broken; no longer did the sweetness of this life remain, that they might again be entangled by it, but it was crushed. Was the bird also crushed? Far be it! for it was not in the snare: The snare is broken, and we are delivered.

13. Ver. 8. Let them cry out, then, since they are delivered; let them fly unto God, let them triumph in God, because they are delivered: since the Lord was in them, that they might not be caught by the snare. Why was the snare broken, and we delivered? Dost thou wish to know why? Our help standeth in the Name of the Lord, Who hath made heaven and earth. For if this wer^not our help, the snare would not indeed remain for ever; but when the bird was once taken, it would be crushed. For this life will pass away; and they who shall have been taken in by its pleasures, and through these pleasures have offended God, will pass away with this life. For the snare will be broken; be ye assured of this: all the sweetness of this present life will no longer exist, when the lot assigned to it halh been fulfilled; but we must not be enthralled by it, so that when the net is broken, thou mayest then rejoice and say, Tlte snare is broken, and we are delivered. But lest thou think that thou canst do this of thy own strength, consider whose work thy deliverance is, (for if tbou art proud, thou fallest into the snare,) and say, Our help standeth in the Name of the Lord, Who hath made heaven and' earth.

14. The Psalm hath been treated of, and, as far as the Lord hath deigned to aid me, as I hope, expounded. Ye well know that to-morrow a discourse is due unto you, beloved; be present, and aid me with your prayers. For ye should remember our promise; nor would I say what I was designing to treat of, save that I wished aid from the devotion of your faith, and of your prayers. For ye remember that I promised you I would treat of this text in the Gospel, The Law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. For heretics, the Manicheans especially, are wont to censure the Law, and to declare that God gave it not. This passage must be expounded, so that it may be perceived both that God gave the Law, and that the Law was given by Moses; so that it could not save, owing to a certain reason. The Law saved not, in order that the Captain Himself, the Giver of the Law, might be longed for, to give pardon to sinners; and that the Law might be given through Moses, but that grace and truth might come through Jesus Christ. 1 wished to make you attend to this. The Ix>rd'ft mercy will be with us, not from our deservings, but perhaps according to the merits of your longing: nor from our faculties, but from the plenteousness of His gifts: that a subject sufficiently ueedful for men placed in the new covenant may be so treated, that the enemy may find no lurking place at all, wherein he may hide himself to deceive

15. Ver. 1,2. This Psalm, belonging to the number of the Songs of Degrees, (of which title we have already said much in other Psalms, and wish not to repeat it, lest we rather weary than instruct you,) teacheth us, while we ascend and raise our minds unto the Lord our God in loving charity and piety, not to fix our gaze upon men who are prosperous in this world, with a happiness that is false and unstable, and altogether seductive; where they cherish nothing save pride, and their heart freezeth up against God, and is made hard against the shower of His grace, so that it beareth not fruit. For presuming that all things abound to them, which appear needful, and more than what is needful, for this life, they are lifted up; and while they are men through their iniquity beneath all men, through their pride they consider themselves above all men. Would that they would think themselves even as other men. But by sometimes looking upon and too much heeding these, even those who worship God, waver and bow their heads, as if their reward, for the sake of which they worship God, hath perished, when they see themselves in toils, in want, in trouble, in sickness, in pain, in any exigency, and see others blessed with health of body, abounding in temporal things, rejoicing in the security of their property, flourishing in splendid honours, though they not only worship not God, but are enemies also unto all men; when they look upon those men, they waver, and say unto themselves what is openly written in a certain Psalm, How should God perceive it? Is there