My father peradventure will feel me, and I shall seem to him as a deceiver; and I shall bring a curse upon me, and not a blessing.
Ver. 12. My father peradventure will feel me.] Our heavenly Father will certainly feel us, and better feel us; and we shall feel him too, in his fatherly corrections, before he bless us. Suffer we must, or ere we reign: no coming to the crown, but by the cross. Christ himself was "perfected by sufferings"; Hebrews 2:10 ; Heb 5:9 and we must be "conformed to his image". Rom 8:29 When Ignatius came to the wild beasts, Now, saith he, I begin to be a Christian. Qui non eat Crucianus, non est Christianus, saith Luther, on the 29th of Genesis: and in another place, I have no stronger argument, saith he, against the Pope's kingdom, than this, that he reigneth without the cross.
And I shall seem to him as a deceiver.] So shall all complimenting hypocrites to God, that pretend his service to their wicked or worldly ends and aims. They think, belike, to deceive him; a but therein they are fairly deceived, for he searcheth the hearts; and bring a curse, instead of a blessing, upon themselves and their posterity. "The hypocrite in heart heaps up wrath". Job 36:13 Nemo enim magis; ram meretur, saith a father, b quam amicum simulans inimicus. Where shall we read of a hypocrite received to mercy?
a Sapiens nummularius Deus est: nummum fictum non recipiet. - Bern,
b Bern.