Psalms 34:8

8. But yet what is to be done? “Without a cause have they hid for me the corruption of their trap.” What meaneth, “Without a cause”? I have done them no evil, I have hurt them not at all. “Vainly have they reviled my soul.” What is, “Vainly”? Speaking falsely, proving nothing. “Let a trap come upon them which they know not of” ( ver. 8 ). A magnificent retribution, nothing more just! They have hidden a trap that I might know not: let a trap come upon them which they know not of. For I know of their trap. But what trap is coming upon them? That which they know not of. Let us hear, lest haply he speak of that. “Let a trap come upon them, which they know not of.” Perhaps that is one which they hid for him, that another which shall come upon themselves. Not so: but what? “The wicked shall be holden with the cords of his own sins.” Thereby are they deceived, whereby they would deceive. …

5. The Jews in their imaginings, and in their agreeing to act unjustly against the Lord, forgot that they were bringing wrath upon themselves. Therefore does the Word lament for them, saying, ‘Why do the people exalt themselves, and the nations imagine vain things?’ For vain indeed was the imagination of the Jews, meditating death against the Life, and devising unreasonable things against the ‘Word of the Father.’ For who that looks upon their dispersion, and the desolation of their city, may not aptly say, ‘Woe unto them, for they have imagined an evil imagination, saying against their own soul, let us bind the righteous man, because he is not pleasing to us.’ And full well is it so, my brethren; for when they erred concerning the Scriptures, they knew not that ‘he who diggeth a pit for his neighbour falleth therein; and he who destroyeth a hedge, a serpent shall bite him.’ And if they …

But our belief is that they undertake this struggle not without effort on their part. For in their conflict they themselves have some sort of anxiety and depression, and especially when they are matched with stronger rivals, i.e., saints and perfect men. Otherwise no contest or struggle, but only a simple deception of men, and one free from anxiety on their part would be assigned to them. And how then would the Apostle’s words stand, where he says: “We wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against world-rulers of this darkness, against spiritual wickedness in heavenly places;” and this too: “So fight I, not as one that beateth the air;” and again: “I have fought a good fight”? For where it is spoken of as a fight, and conflict, and battle, there must be effort and exertion and anxiety on both sides, and equally there must either be in store for …