375:1
V ers. 20. Peccavi; quid faciam tibi, o custos hominum? 51. Homo per se lapsus, per se non valet surgere. Ecce fatetur malum quod egit, sed bonum quod Deo in recompensationem debeat offerre non invenit, quia ad abluendam culpam quaelibet humanae actionis virtus infirma est, nisi hanc misericordia parcentis foveat, et non justitia recte judicantis premat. Unde recte per Psalmistam dicitur: Melior est misericordia tua super vitam ( Psal. lxii, 40), quia quamlibet vi- deatur innocens, apud districtum tamen judicem nostra nos vita non liberat, si ei reatus sui debitum misericordiae benignitas non relaxat. Vel certe cum dicitur: Quid faciam tibi?
第二十節。「我犯了罪，看守人的主啊，我當向你作甚麼呢？」五十一、人既憑自己跌倒，就不能憑自己起來。看哪，他承認自己所行的惡，卻找不到當獻給神以作補償的善，因為要洗去罪咎，人任何行為的德行都太過軟弱，除非那寬容者的憐憫扶持它，那公義審判者的公義不壓它。故此藉詩人正確地說：「你的慈愛比生命更好」（詩六十三3[原文六十二4]），因為無論人顯得何等無辜，然而在嚴厲的審判者面前，我們的生命並不救我們，若憐憫的恩慈不向它免去其罪咎的債。或確如當說「我當向你作甚麼呢？」時，
Verse 20. 'I have sinned; what shall I do to thee, O keeper of men?' 51. Man, fallen by himself, is not able by himself to rise. Behold he confesses the evil which he did, but the good which he ought to offer to God in recompense he finds not, because to wash away guilt any virtue whatsoever of human action is too weak, unless the mercy of the One who spares cherish it, and the justice of the One who rightly judges press it not. Whence it is rightly said through the Psalmist: 'Thy mercy is better than life' (Ps. lxii, 4), because however innocent one may seem, yet before the strict Judge our life does not free us, if the benignity of mercy does not relax to it the debt of its guilt. Or surely when it is said, 'What shall I do to thee?'
375:2
patenter ostenditur quia haec ipsa bona quae agere praecipimur, non praece- ptori, sed nobis prosunt. Unde rursum per Psalmi- stam dicitur: Quoniam bonorum meorum non indiges ( Psal. xv, 2). Humilitas autem nostrae destitutionis exprimitur cum Deus hominum custos vocatur, quia si ejus nos custodia minime protegit, ante occulti hostis insidias, nostrae sollicitudinis oculus vigilans dormit, Psalmista rursus atlestante, qui ait: Nisi Dominus custodierit civitatem, in vanum vigilant qui custodiunt eam ( Psal. cxxvi, 1, 2). Per nos namque cecidimus, sed nostris resurgere viribus non valemus. Culpa nos d voluntatis propriae semel stravit, sed poena culpae deterius quotidie deprimit.
就明明地顯出，這些吩咐我們去行的美善，並不使那吩咐者得益，乃使我們得益。故此又藉詩人說：「你並不需要我的好處」（詩十六2[原文十五2]）。但當神被稱為看守人的主時，就表達出我們一無所有的謙卑，因為若祂的看守絲毫不保護我們，在那隱密仇敵的埋伏之前，我們自己儆醒的關切之眼也沉睡了；詩人又作證說：「若不是耶和華看守城池，看守的人就枉然儆醒」（詩一二七1、2[原文一二六]）。因為我們藉自己跌倒了，卻不能憑自己的力量再起來。我們自己意志的過失一次使我們仆倒，但那過失的刑罰天天更嚴重地壓低我們。
it is plainly shown that these very goods which we are commanded to do profit not the commander, but us. Whence again it is said through the Psalmist: 'For thou needest not my goods' (Ps. xv, 2). But the humility of our destitution is expressed when God is called the keeper of men, because if His custody protects us not at all, before the ambushes of the hidden foe the watching eye of our own solicitude sleeps, the Psalmist again attesting, who says: 'Unless the Lord keep the city, they watch in vain that keep it' (Ps. cxxvi, 1, 2). For through ourselves we have fallen, but by our own strength we are not able to rise again. The fault of our own will once laid us low, but the punishment of the fault daily depresses us worse.
375:3
Ad amissam recti- tudinem surgere studiorum conatibus nitimur, sed meritorum pondere gravamur. Unde et apte sub- ditur.
我們竭力藉著努力的奮鬥，重新起身回到我們已喪失的正直，卻被自己功過的重擔所壓垮。因此，下文很恰當地接著說。
We strive by the exertions of our endeavours to rise again to the uprightness we have lost, yet we are weighed down by the burden of our deserts. Whence it is fitly added below.