Isaiah 64:5

Thou meetest him that rejoiceth and worketh righteousness, [those that] remember thee in thy ways: behold, thou art wroth; for we have sinned: in those is continuance, and we shall be saved.

Ver. 5. Thou meetest him that rejoiceth and worketh righteousness.] That doth thy work diligently and with delight; that being acted by thee, acteth vigorously for thee. Tantum velis, et Deus tibi praeoccurret, saith an ancient, as the prodigal's father met him upon the way. If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good things of the land, Isa 1:21 which that we may be, Nolentem praevenit Deus ut velit, volentem subsequitur ne frustra velit, a God worketh in us both to will and to do of his own good pleasure. Howbeit he expecteth that we should go as far as we can naturally, if ever we look that he should meet us graciously. Though the miller cannot command a wind, yet he will spread his sails, be in the way to have it, if it come.

In those is continuance,] i.e., In those sins of ours; and shall we be saved? Or, In those ways of thine, thy ways of mercy and fidelity, is permanence; therefore we shall be saved, our sins notwithstanding.

a Augustine.