Incline not my heart to any evil thing, to practice wicked works with men that work iniquity: and let me not eat of their delicacies.
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Augustine of Hippo
AD 430
4. ..."Set, O Lord, a watch before my mouth, and a door of restraint around my lips" (ver. 3). He said not a barrier of restraint, but "a door of restraint." A door is opened as well as shut. If then it be a "door," let it be both opened and shut; opened, to confession of sin; closed, to excusing sin. So will it be a "door of restraint," not of ruin. For what doth this "door of restraint" profit us? What doth Christ pray in the name of His Body? "That Thou turn not aside My heart to wicked words" (ver. 4). What is, "My heart"? The heart of My Church; the heart, that is, of My Body. ...
5. But when thine heart hath not been turned aside, O member of Christ, when thy heart hath not been turned aside "to wicked words, to making excuses in sins, with men that work in iniquity," thou shalt also not unite with their elect. For this followeth, "And I will not unite with their elect." Who are "their elect"? Those who justify themselves. Who are their elect? Those "who trust in themselves th...
Sins. Such excuses are always vain. (St. Jerome)
God does not incline any to sin, as the Manichee elect pretended. (St. Augustine)
The pride of the human heart would throw the blame of sin on any but itself. (Haydock)
Sometimes, fate, predestination, are charged with it. Our first parents excused themselves; but David candidly confessed his sins, and was presently pardoned. (Berthier)
Choicest. Hebrew also, "I will not eat of their most delicious meats. "I will have no society with libertines, (Berthier) nor with those who teach false doctrine, 2 John 10., and Titus iii. 10.
