{"collection":"chr","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/chr/ecf/108/1080132.htm","path":"chr/ecf/108/1080132.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/chr/ecf/108/1080132.htm","text":"9. \u201cWherewithal shall a young man correct his way? even by keeping Thy words\u201d (Psa. 119.9). He questioneth himself, and answereth himself. \u201cWherewithal?\u201d So far it is a question: next cometh the answer, \u201ceven by keeping Thy words.\u201d But in this place the keeping of the words of God, must be understood as the obeying His commandments in deed: for they are kept in memory in vain, if they are not kept in life also. But what is meant by \u201cyoung man\u201d here? For he might have said, wherewithal shall any one (homo) correct his way? or, wherewithal shall a man (vir) correct his way? which is usually put by the Scriptures in such a way, that the whole human race is understood.\u2026But in this passage he saith neither any one, nor a man, but, \u201ca young man.\u201d Is then an old man to be despaired of? or doth an old man correct his way by any other means than by ruling himself after God\u2019s word? Or is it perhaps an admonition at what age we ought chiefly to correct our way; according to what is elsewhere written, \u201cMy son, gather instruction from thy youth up: so shalt thou find wisdom till thy gray hairs.\u201d 5138 There is another mode of interpreting it, by recognising in the expression the younger son in the Gospel, 5139 who returned to himself, and said, \u201cI will arise and go to my father.\u201d 5140 Wherewithal did he correct his way, save by ruling himself after the words of God, which he desired as one longing for his father\u2019s bread.\u2026\n10. \u201cWith my whole heart,\u201d he saith, \u201chave I sought thee; O repel me not from Thy commandments\u201d (Psa. 119.10). Behold, he prayeth that he may be aided to keep the words of God, wherewith he had said that the young man corrected his way. For this is the meaning of the words, \u201cO repel me not from Thy commandments:\u201d for what is it to be repelled of God, save not to be aided? For human infirmity is not equal to obeying His righteous and exalted commandments, unless His love doth prevent p. 562 and aid. But those whom He aideth not, these He is justly said to repel.\u2026\n11. \u201cThy words have I hid within my heart, that I may not sin against Thee\u201d (Psa. 119.11). He at once sought the Divine aid, lest the words of God might be hidden without fruit in his heart, unless works of righteousness followed. For after saying this, he added, \u201cBlessed art Thou, O Lord, teach me Thy righteousnesses\u201d (Psa. 119.12). \u201cTeach me,\u201d he saith, as they learn who do them; not as they who merely remember them, that they may have somewhat to speak of. Why then doth he say, \u201cTeach me Thy righteousnesses,\u201d save because he wisheth to learn them by deeds, not by speaking or retaining them in his memory? Since then, as it is read in another Psalm, \u201cHe shall give blessing, who gave the law;\u201d 5141 therefore, \u201cBlessed art Thou, O Lord,\u201d he saith, \u201cO teach me Thy righteousness.\u201d For because I have hidden Thy words in my heart, that I may not sin against Thee, Thou hast given a law; give also the blessing of Thy grace, that by doing right I may learn what Thou by teaching hast commanded.\u2026\n12. \u201cWith my lips have I been telling of all the judgments of Thy mouth\u201d (Psa. 119.13); that is, I have kept silent nothing of Thy judgments, which Thou didst will should become known to me through Thy words, but I have been telling of all of them without exception with my lips. This he seemeth to me to signify, since he saith not, all Thy judgments, but, \u201call the judgments of Thy mouth;\u201d that is, which Thou hast revealed unto me: that by His mouth we may understand His word, which He hath discovered unto us in many revelations of the Saints, and in the two Testaments; all which judgments the Church ceaseth not to declare at all times with her lips.\n13. \u201cI have had as great delight in the way Thy testimonies, as in all manner of riches\u201d (Psa. 119.14). We understand that there is no more speedy, no more sure, no shorter, no higher way of the testimonies of God than Christ, \u201cin whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.\u201d 5142 Thence he saith that he hath had as great delight in this way, as in all riches. Those are the testimonies, by which He deigneth to prove unto us how much He loveth us. 5143 \u2026\n14. \u201cI will talk of Thy commandments, and have respect unto Thy ways\u201d 5144 (Psa. 119.15). And thus the Church doth exercise herself in the commandments of God, by speaking in the copious disputations of the learned against all the enemies of the Christian and Catholic faith; which are fruitful to those who compose them, if nothing but the ways of the Lord is regarded in them; but \u201cAll the ways of the Lord are,\u201d as it is written, \u201cmercy and truth;\u201d 5145 the fulness of which both is found in Christ. Through this sweet exercise is gained also what he subjoineth: \u201cMy meditation shall be in Thy statutes, and I will not forget Thy word\u201d (Psa. 119.16). \u201cMy meditation\u201d shall be therein, that I may not forget them. Thus the blessed man in the first Psalm \u201cshall meditate in the law\u201d of the Lord \u201cday and night.\u201d 5146 \u2026\nLuke xv. 12, etc.\n561:5140 562:5141\nPs. lxxxiv. 6. \u201cThe rain also,\u201d etc.\n562:5142 562:5143\nRom. 5:8, 9, John 14:6, Rom. 8:32.\n562:5144\n[He says: \u201cThe Greek word is, \u2021\u03b4\u03bf\u03bb\u03b5\u03c3\u03c7\u03ae\u03c3\u03c9, which the Latin translators have rendered sometimes by \u2018talking,\u2019 sometimes by \u2018being exercised in:\u2019 and these seem different from one another: but if the exercise of the understanding be understood, with a certain delight in uttering, they are connected with one another, and one thing, in a manner, is made up of both, so that talking is not foreign to this sort of exercise.\u201d\u2014C.]\n562:5145 562:5146","title":"Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Vol. VIII: Expositions on...","type":"page"}