Expositions on the Book of Psalms 91
91.1 Psalm XCI PL 36, 1171
1. This Psalm is that from which the Devil dared to tempt our Lord Jesus Christ: let us therefore attend to it, that thus armed, we may be enabled to resist the tempter, not presuming in ourselves, but in Him who before us was tempted, that we might not be overcome when tempted. Temptation to Him was not necessary: the temptation of Christ is our learning, but if we listen to His answers to the devil, in order that, when ourselves are tempted, we may answer in like manner, we are then entering through the gate, as ye have heard it read in the Gospel. For what is to enter by the gate? To enter by Christ, who Himself said, “I am the door:” and to enter through Christ, is to imitate His ways.…He urges us to imitate Him in those works which He could not have done had He not been made Man; for how could He endure sufferings, unless He had become a Man? How could He otherwise have died, been crucified, been humbled? Thus then do thou, when thou sufferest the troubles of this world, which the devil, openly by men, or secretly, as in Job’s case, inflicts; be courageous, be of long suffering; “thou shalt dwell under the defence of the Most High,” as this Psalm expresses it: for if thou depart from the help of the Most High, without strength to aid thyself, thou wilt fall.
Attendite ad Psalmum: det nobis Dominus aperire mysteria quae hic continentur; cum propter fastidium animorum eadem diverse varieque tractantur. Nam nullum aliud canticum nos docet Deus, nisi fidei, spei, et charitatis: ut fides nostra firma sit in ipso, quamdiu non illum videmus, credentes in eum quem non videmus, ut gaudeamus cum viderimus, et fidei nostrae succedat species lucis ejus, ubi jam non nobis dicetur, Crede quod non vides; sed, gaude quia vides. Spes etiam nostra incommutabilis sit, et figatur in illo, et non nutet et fluctuet, non agitetur; sicut ipse Deus in quo figitur, non potest agitari. Spes enim modo vocatur; tunc non spes, sed res erit. Tamdiu enim vocatur spes, quamdiu non videtur quod speratur, dicente Apostolo: «Spes autem quae videtur, non est spes: quod enim videt quis, quid sperat? Si autem quod non videmus speramus, per patientiam exspectamus» . Modo ergo patientia necessaria est, quamdiu veniat quod promissum est. Nemo autem patiens est in bonis. Quando exigitur de homine patientia, in malis agit: quando dicitur, Patiens esto, tolera, sustine, molestia est, sub qua te Deus vult esse fortem, tolerantem, longanimem, patientem. Sed numquid decipit qui promisit? Medicus exserit ferrum ad secandum vulnera, et dicit ei quem secturus est, Patiens esto, sustine, tolera: in doloribus exigit patientiam, sed post dolores promittit salutem. Et ille qui tolerat dolores in ferro medici, nisi sibi proponat sanitatem, quam nondum habet, deficit in dolore quem patitur. Multa ergo mala sunt in isto saeculo, intus, foris; prorsus non cessant, abundant scandala: nemo illa sentit, nisi qui graditur viam Dei. Ei dicitur in omnibus divinis paginis, ut toleret praesentia, speret futura, amet quem non videt, ut amplectatur cum viderit. Charitas enim quae tertia nobis adjungitur ad fidem et spem, major est supra fidem et spem : quia fides rerum est quae non videntur; erit autem species cum visae fuerint: et spes rei est quae non tenetur; quae adveniente ipsa re, non erit jam spes, quia tenebimus, non sperabimus: charitas autem non novit nisi crescere magis magisque. Si enim amamus quem non videmus, quomodo amaturi sumus cum viderimus? Desiderium ergo nostrum crescat. Christiani non sumus, nisi propter futurum saeculum: nemo praesentia bona speret, nemo sibi promittat felicitatem mundi, quia christianus est; sed utatur felicitate praesenti, ut potest, quomodo potest, quando potest, quantum potest. Cum adest, consolationi Dei gratias agat: cum deest, justitiae Dei gratias agat. Ubique sit gratus, nusquam ingratus: et Patri consolanti et blandienti gratus sit; et Patri emendanti et flagellanti et disciplinam danti gratus sit; amat enim ille semper, sive blandiatur, sive minetur: et dicat quod audistis in Psalmo, «Bonum est confiteri Domino, et psallere nomini tuo, Altissime.»
91.2 PL 36, 1172
2. For many men are brave, when they are enduring persecution from men, and see them openly rage against themselves: imagining they are then imitating the sufferings of Christ, in case men openly persecute them; but if assailed by the hidden attack of the devil, they believe they are not being crowned by Christ. Never fear when thou dost imitate Christ. For when the devil tempted our Lord, there was no man in the wilderness; he tempted Him secretly; but he was conquered, and conquered too when openly attacking Him. This do thou, if thou wishest to enter by the door, when the enemy secretly assails thee, when he asks for a man that he may do him some hurt by bodily troubles, by fever, by sickness, or any other bodily sufferings, like those of Job. He saw not the devil, yet he acknowledged the power of God. He knew that the devil had no power against him, unless from the Almighty Ruler of all things he received that power: the whole glory he gave to God, power to the devil he gave not.…
[«vers.» 1.] Titulus Psalmi habet, «Psalmus cantici in diem» «sabbati.» Ecce et hodiernus dies sabbati est: hunc in praesenti tempore otio quodam corporaliter languido et fluxo et luxurioso celebrant Judaei. Vacant enim ad nugas; et cum Deus praeceperit sabbatum , illi in his quae Deus prohibet exercent sabbatum. Vacatio nostra a malis operibus, vacatio illorum a bonis operibus est. Melius est enim arare, quam saltare. Illi ab opere bono vacant; ab opere nugatorio non vacant. Nobis sabbatum indicit Deus. Quale? Primo ubi sit videte. Intus est, in corde est sabbatum nostrum. Multi enim vacant membris, et tumultuantur conscientia. Omnis homo malus, sabbatum habere non potest: nusquam enim illi conquiescit conscientia; necesse est in perturbationibus vivat. Cui autem bona est conscientia, tranquillus est; et ipsa tranquillitas sabbatum est cordis. Attendit enim promissorem Dominum; et si laborat in praesenti, extenditur spe futuri, et serenatur omne nubilum tristitiae; sicut dicit Apostolus, «Spe gaudentes» . Ipsum autem gaudium in tranquillitate spei nostrae, sabbatum nostrum est. Hoc commendatur, hoc cantatur in isto psalmo, quomodo sit homo christianus in sabbato cordis sui, id est, in vacatione et tranquillitate et serenitate conscientiae suae non perturbatus. Inde dicit hic, unde solent perturbari homines, et docet te agere sabbatum in corde tuo.
91.3 PL 36, 1172
3. He then who so imitates Christ as to endure all the troubles of this world, with his hopes set upon God, that he falls into no snare, is broken down by no panic fears, he it is “who dwelleth under the defence of the Most High, who shall abide under the protection of God” (ver. 1), in the words with which the Psalm, which you have heard and sung, begins. You will recognise the words, so well known, in which the devil tempted our Lord, when we come to them. “He shall say unto the Lord, Thou art my taker up, and my refuge: my God” (ver. 2). Who speaks thus to the Lord? “He who dwelleth under the defence of the Most High:” not under his own defence. Who is this? He dwelleth under the defence of the Most High, who is not proud, like those who ate, that they might become as Gods, and lost the immortality in which they were made. For they chose to dwell under a defence of their own, not under that of the Most High: thus they listened to the suggestions of the serpent, and despised the precept of God: and discovered at last that what God threatened, not what the devil promised, had come to pass in them.
[«vers.» 2.] Primum est, ut tu ipse, si aliquid profecisti, Deo confitearis ex eo quod profecisti, quia munera ipsius sunt, non merita tua. Hinc incipe sabbatum, non tibi tribuendo quasi non acceperis quod accepisti ; neque excusando te ab eo quod facis mali, quia ipsa sunt tua. Perversi enim homines et perturbati, qui non agunt sabbatum, mala sua Deo tribuunt, bona sua sibi. Si quid boni fecerit, Ego feci, dicit: si quid mali fecerit, quaerit quem accuset, ne confiteatur Deo. Et quid est, Quaerit quem accuset? Si non est valde impius, ad manum habet satanam quem accuset: Satanas fecit, dicit, ipse mihi persuasit: quasi satanas habeat potestatem cogendi. Astutiam suadendi habet. Sed si satanas loqueretur, et taceret Deus, haberes unde te excusares: modo aures tuae positae sunt inter monentem Deum, et suggerentem serpentem. Quare huc flectuntur, hinc avertuntur? Non cessat satanas suadere malum; sed nec Deus cessat admonere bonum. Satanas autem non cogit invitum: in tua potestate est consentire, aut non consentire. Si aliquid persuadente satana mali feceris; dimitte satanam, accusa te, ut accusatione tua Dei misericordiam merearis. Expetis illum accusare qui non habet veniam? Te accusa, et accipis indulgentiam. Deinde multi non accusant satanam, sed accusant fatum. Fatum meum me duxit, dicit. Cum dixeris illi, Quare fecisti? quare peccasti? Et ille: Fato meo malo. Ne dicat, Ego feci, jam manus ad Deum tendit; lingua blasphemat. Nondum quidem hoc aperte dicit, sed tamen attende, et vide quia hoc dicit. Quaeris ab illo quid sit fatum; et dicit, Stellae malae. Quaeris ab illo quis fecit stellas, quis ordinavit stellas; non habet quid tibi respondeat, nisi Deus, Restat ergo ut sive per transennam, sive per cannam longam, sive per proximum, Deum accuset; et cum Deus puniat peccata, Deum faciat auctorem peccatorum suorum. Non potest enim fieri ut puniat quod fecit: punit quod facis, ut liberet quod fecit. Aliquando autem, dimissis omnibus, omnino directe eunt in Deum; et quando peccant, dicunt: Deus hoc voluit; si nollet Deus, non peccarem. Ad hoc monet ut non solum non audiatur ut non pecces, sed accusetur quia peccas? Quid ergo nos docet psalmus iste? «Bonum est confiteri Domino.» Quid est, «confiteri Domino?» In utraque re, et in peccato tuo, quia tu fecisti, et in bono facto, confitere Domino, quia ipse fecit. Tunc psalles nomini Dei altissimi: quaerens gloriam Dei, non tuam; nomen ipsius, non tuum. Si enim tu quaeris nomen Dei, quaerit et ipse nomen tuum: si autem tu neglexeris nomen Dei, delet et ipse nomen tuum. Quomodo autem dixi, Quaerit nomen tuum? Quomodo dixit discipulis suis venientibus, posteaquam misit eos evangelizare. Cum fecissent multa miracula, et in nomine Christi daemonia ejecissent, redeuntes dixerunt: «Domine, ecce daemonia nobis subjecta sunt.» Dixerunt quidem, «in nomine tuo;» sed ille vidit in eis quia ipsa glorificatione gaudebant, et extollebant se, et ibant inde in superbiam, quia licuit illis expellere daemonia. Vidit illos quaerere gloriam suam, et ait illis, quaerens ipse, imo conservans nomina eorum apud se: «Nolite gaudere in hoc; gaudete autem quod nomina vestra scripta sunt in coelo» . Ecce ubi habes nomen, si tu nomen Dei non negligas. Psalle ergo nomini Dei, ut fixum sit apud Deum nomen tuum. Psallere autem quid est, fratres? Psalterium organi genus est; chordas habet. Opus nostrum, psalterium nostrum est: quicumque manibus operatur opera bona, psallit Deo; quicumque ore confitetur, cantat Deo. Canta ore, psalle operibus. Ad quam rem?
91.4 PL 36, 1173
4. Thus then do thou say also, “In Him will I trust. For He Himself shall deliver me” (ver. 3), not I myself. Observe whether he teaches anything but this, that all our trust be in God, none in man. Whence shall he deliver thee? “From the snare of the hunter, and from a harsh word.” Deliverance from the hunter’s net is indeed a great blessing: but how is deliverance from a harsh word so? Many have fallen into the hunter’s net through a harsh word. What is it that I say? The devil and his angels spread their snares, as hunters do: and those who walk in Christ tread afar from those snares: for he dares not spread his net in Christ: he sets it on the verge of the way, not in the way. Let then thy way be Christ, and thou shalt not fall into the snares of the devil.…
But what is, “from a harsh word”? The devil has entrapped many by a harsh word: for instance, those who profess Christianity among Pagans suffer insult from the heathen: they blush when they hear reproach, and shrinking out of their path in consequence, fall into the hunter’s snares. And yet what will a harsh word do to you? Nothing. Can the snares with which the enemy entraps you by means of reproaches, do nothing to you? Nets are usually spread for birds at the end of a hedge, and stones are thrown into the hedge: those stones will not harm the birds. When did any one ever hit a bird by throwing a stone into a hedge? But the bird, frightened at the harmless noise, falls into the nets; and thus men who fear the vain reproaches of their calumniators, and who blush at unprovoked insults, fall into the snares of the hunters, and are taken captive by the devil…Just as among the heathen, the Christian who fears their reproaches falls into the snare of the hunter: so among the Christians, those who endeavour to be more diligent and better than the rest, are doomed to bear insults from Christians themselves. What then doth it profit, my brother, if thou occasionally find a city in which there is no heathen? No one there insults a man because he is a Christian, for this reason, that there is no Pagan therein: but there are many Christians who lead a bad life, among whom those who are resolved to live righteously, and to be sober among the drunken, and chaste among the unchaste, and amid the consulters of astrologers sincerely to worship God, and to ask after no such things, and among spectators of frivolous shows will go only to church, suffer from those very Christians reproaches, and harsh words, when they address such a one, “Thou art the mighty, the righteous, thou art Elias, thou art Peter: thou hast come from heaven.” They insult him: whichever way he turns, he hears harsh sayings on each side: and if he fears, and abandons the way of Christ, he falls into the snares of the hunters. But what is it, when he hears such words, not to swerve from the way? On hearing them, what comfort has he, which prevents his heeding them, and enables him to enter by the door? Let him say; What words am I called, who am a servant and a sinner? To my Lord Jesus they said, “Thou hast a devil.” You have just heard the harsh words spoken against our Lord: it was not necessary for our Lord to suffer this, but in doing so He has warned thee against harsh words, lest thou fall into the snares of the hunters.
[«vers. 3.] Ad annuntiandum mane misericordiam tuam, et veritatem tuam per noctem.» Quid sibi vult quia mane annuntianda est misericordia Dei, et per noctem veritas Dei? Mane dicitur, quando nobis bene est: nox dicitur, quando tristitia tribulationis est. Quid ergo dixit breviter? Quando tibi bene est, gaude Deo, quia misericordia ipsius est. Jam tu forte diceres: Si ergo gaudeo Deo, quando mihi bene est, quia misericordia ipsius est; quando in tristitia, in tribulatione sum, quid facio? Misericordia ipsius est, quando mihi bene est; crudelitas ergo ipsius, quando male est? Si laudo misericordiam, quando bene est; reprehendam ergo crudelitatem, quando male est? Non. Sed quando bene est, lauda misericordiam; quando male, lauda veritatem: quia peccata flagellat, non est iniquus. In nocte erat Daniel, quando orabat: erat enim in captivitate Jerusalem, erat in potestate hostium. Tunc multa mala sancti patiebantur: tunc ipse in lacum leonum missus est, tunc tres pueri in ignem praecipitati sunt . Haec patiebatur in captivitate populus Israel: nox erat. Per noctem confitebatur Daniel veritatem Dei; dicebat in oratione, «Peccavimus, impie egimus, iniquitatem fecimus: tibi, Domine, gloria, nobis confusio» . Veritatem Dei annuntiabat per noctem. Quid est, veritatem Dei annuntiare per noctem? Non accusare Deum, quia pateris aliquid mali; sed tribuere illud peccatis tuis, emendationi ipsius: «Ad annuntiandum mane misericordiam ipsius, et veritatem per noctem.» Cum misericordiam annuntias mane, et veritatem per noctem, semper laudas Deum, semper confiteris Deo, et psallis nomini ejus.
91.5 PL 36, 1174
5. “He shall defend thee between His shoulders, and thou shalt hope under His wings” (ver. 4). He says this, that thy protection may not be to thee from thyself, that thou mayest not imagine that thou canst defend thyself; He will defend thee, to deliver thee from the hunter’s snare, and from an harsh word. The expression, “between His shoulders,” may be understood both in front and behind: for the shoulders are about the head; but in the words, “thou shalt hope under His wings,” it is clear that the protection of the wings of God expanded places thee between His shoulders, so that God’s wings on this side and that have thee in the midst, where thou shalt not fear lest any one hurt thee: only be thou careful never to leave that spot, where no foe dares approach. If the hen defends her chickens beneath her wings; how much more shalt thou be safe beneath the wings of God, even against the devil and his angels, the powers who fly about in mid air like hawks, to carry off the weak young one? For the comparison of the hen to the very Wisdom of God is not without ground; for Christ Himself, our Lord and Saviour, speaks of Himself as likened to a hen; “how often would I have gathered thy children,” etc. That Jerusalem would not: let us be willing.…If you consider other birds, brethren, you will find many that hatch their eggs, and keep their young warm: but none that weakens herself in sympathy with her chickens, as the hen does. We see swallows, sparrows, and storks outside their nests, without being able to decide whether they have young or no: but we know the hen to be a mother by the weakness of her voice, and the loosening of her feathers: she changes altogether from love for her chickens: she weakens herself because they are weak. Thus since we were weak, the Wisdom of God made Itself weak, when the Word was made flesh, and dwelt in us, that we might hope under His wings.
[«vers. 4.] In decachordo psalterio, cum cantico in cithara.» Dechachordum psalterium non modo audistis. Decachordum psalterium significat decem praecepta Legis. Sed cantare in illo opus est, non portare psalterium. Nam et Judaei habent Legem; portant, non psallunt. Qui sunt qui psallunt? Qui operantur. Parum est: qui operantur cum tristitia, nondum psallunt. Qui sunt qui psallunt? Qui cum hilaritate faciunt bene. In psallendo enim hilaritas est. Et quid dicit Apostolus? «Hilarem enim datorem diligit Deus» . Quidquid facis, cum hilaritate fac: bonum tunc et bene facis. Si autem cum tristitia facis, fit de te, non facis; et portas magis psalterium, non cantas. «In psalterio decachordo, cum cantico in cithara:» hoc est, verbo et opere. «Cum cantico,» verbo; «in cithara,» opere. Si verba sola dicis, quasi canticum solum habes, citharam non habes: si operaris, et non loqueris, quasi solam citharam habes. Propter hoc et loquere bene, et fac bene, si vis habere canticum cum cithara.
91.6 PL 36, 1174
6. “His truth shall surround thee with a shield” (ver. 5). What are “the wings,” the same is “the shield:” since there are neither wings nor shield. If either were literally, how could the one be the same as the other? can wings be a shield or a shield wings? But all these expressions, indeed, are figuratively used through likenesses. If Christ were really a Stone, He could not be a Lion; if a Lion, He could not be a Lamb: but He is called both Lion, and Lamb, and Stone, and Calf, and anything else of the sort, metaphorically, because He is neither Stone, nor Lion, nor Lamb, nor Calf, but Jesus Christ, the Saviour of all of us, for these are likenesses, not literal names. “His truth shall be thy shield,” it is said: a shield to assure us that He will not confound those whose trust is in themselves with those who hope in God. One is a sinner, and the other a sinner: but suppose one that presumes upon himself is a despiser, confesses not his sins, and he will say, if my sins displeased God, He would not suffer me to live. But another dared not even raise his eyes, but beat upon his breast, saying, “God be merciful to me a sinner.” Both this was a sinner, and that: but the one mocked, the other mourned: the one was a despiser, the other a confessor, of his sins. But the truth of God, which respects not persons, discerns the penitent from him who denies his sin, the humble from the proud, him who presumes upon himself from him who presumes on God. “Thou shalt not be afraid for any terror by night.”
[«vers. 5.] Quia jucundasti me, Domine, in factura tua, et in operibus manuum tuarum exsultabo.» Videtis quid dicat. Tu me fecisti bene viventem, tu me formasti: si quid forte boni facio, in factura manuum tuarum exsultabo: quomodo dicit Apostolus, «Ipsius enim sumus figmentum, creati in operibus bonis» . Nisi enim te formaret ad opera bona, non nosses nisi opera tua mala. «Qui» enim «loquitur mendacium, de suo loquitur» : hoc Evangelium dicit. Omne peccatum mendacium est. Contra legem enim et contra veritatem quidquid est, mendacium dicitur. Ergo quid ait? «Qui loquitur mendacium, de suo loquitur;» id est, qui peccat, de suo peccat. Attendite sententiam contra. Si enim qui loquitur mendacium, de suo loquitur; restat ut qui loquitur veritatem, de Dei loquatur. Ideo dicitur in alio loco: «Deus solus verax; omnis autem homo mendax» . Non tibi dicitur in hac sententia, Vade, securus mentire, quia homo es: imo vide te hominem, quia mendax es; et ut sis verax, bibe veritatem, ut de Deo ructes, ut sis verax. Quia de tuo illam non potes habere, restat ut inde illam bibas , unde fluit. Quomodo si a luce recesseris, in tenebris es: quomodo lapis non de se fervet, sed vel a sole vel ab igne, si eum calori subtraxeris, frigescit; ibi apparet, quia quod fervebat, non erat ipsius; sed fervebat vel a sole vel ab igne: sic et tu si a Deo recesseris, frigesces; si ad Deum accesseris, fervesces; sicut dicit Apostolus, «Spiritu ferventes» . Item de luce quid dicit? Si ad eum accesseris, in lumine eris; ideo psalmus dicit: «Accedite ad eum, et illuminamini; et vultus vestri non erubescent» . Quia ergo nihil boni potes operari, nisi illuminatus a lumine Dei, et fervefactus a Spiritu Dei; quando videris te bene operantem, confitere Deo, et dic quod ait Apostolus, dic tibi ne extollaris: «Quid enim habes quod non accepisti? Si autem accepisti, quid gloriaris quasi non acceperis» ? Hic ergo confitetur Deo et docet nos bonam confessionem, quia dicit: «Jucundasti me, Domine, in factura tua, et in operibus manuum tuarum exsultabo.»
91.7 PL 36, 1175
7. “Nor for the arrow that flieth by day, for the matter that walketh in darkness, nor for the ruin and the devil that is in the noonday” (ver. 6). These two clauses above correspond to the two below; “Thou shalt not fear” for “the terror by night, from the arrow that flieth by day:” both because of “the terror by night,” from “the matter that walketh in darkness:” and because of “the arrow that flieth by day,” from “the ruin of the devil of the noon-day.” What ought to be feared by night, and what by day? When any man sins in ignorance, he sins, as it were, by night: when he sins in full knowledge, by day. The two former sins then are the lighter: the second are much heavier; but this is obscure, and will repay your attention, if, by God’s blessing, I can explain it so that you may understand it. He calls the light temptation, which the ignorant yield to, “terror by night:” the light temptation, which assails men who well know, “the arrow that flieth by day.” What are light temptations? Those which do not press upon us so urgently, as to overcome us, but may pass by quickly if declined. Suppose these, again, heavy ones. If the persecutor threatens, and frightens the ignorant grievously, I mean those whose faith is as yet unstable, and know not that they are Christians that they may hope for a life to come; as soon as they are alarmed with temporal ills, they imagine that Christ has forsaken them, and that they are Christians to no purpose; they are not aware that they are Christians for this reason, that they may conquer the present, and hope for the future: the matter that walketh in darkness has found and seized them. But some there are who know that they are called to a future hope; that what God has promised is not of this life, or this earth; that all these temptations must be endured, that we may receive what God hath promised us for evermore; all this they know: when however the persecutor urges them more strenuously, and plies them with threats, penalties, tortures, at length they yield, and although they are well aware of their sin, yet they fall as it were by day.
Quid agimus de illis qui male vivunt, et florent? Hinc enim perturbatum animum habet qui perdit sabbatum: videt se in bonis operibus quotidie versantem, et laborantem in angustia rerum, forte in inopia rei familiaris, forte in fame et siti et nuditate, forte se in carcere bona facientem, et illum a quo in carcerem missus est et mala facientem et exsultantem; et subintrat cor pessima cogitatio adversus Deum, et dicit: Deus, quare tibi servio? quare obedio verbis tuis? Non rapui aliena, non furtum feci, non hominem occidi, non cujusquam rem concupivi, non falsum testimonium adversus aliquem dixi, non patri vel matri injuriam feci, non ad idola inclinatus sum, non accepi nomen Domini Dei in vanum: servavi me a peccato. Enumerat decem chordas, id est, decem praecepta Legis , et interrogat se secundum singula, et videt se non peccasse, nec in uno; et contristatur quia talia mala patitur. Et illi qui, non dico, aliquas chordas tangunt, sed nec tangunt ipsum psalterium, et nihil boni operantur, consulunt idola: et forte tunc videntur christiani, quando nihil mali patitur domus eorum; quando autem aliqua ibi tribulatio est, currunt ad pythonem, aut sortilegum, aut mathematicum. Dicitur illi nomen Christi; subsannat, torquet os. Dicitur illi: Fidelis, consulis mathematicum? Et ille: Recede a me: ipse mihi prodidit res meas; nam perdidissem, et in planctu remansissem. Homo bone, nonne signas te signo crucis Christi? Et lex omnia ista prohibet. Gaudes quia res tuas invenisti; non es tristis quia tu peristi? Quanto melius tunica tua periret quam anima tua? Subsannat in his omnibus; contumeliosus est parentibus, odit inimicum, insectatur usque ad mortem, furatur ubi occasionem invenerit, a falso testimonio non cessat, insidiatur matrimonio alieno, concupiscit rem proximi sui: facit haec omnia, et floret in divitiis, in honoribus, in excellentia mundi hujus. Videt eum ille miser bene operans, et mala patiens; perturbatur et dicit: Deus, puto, mali tibi placent, et bonos odisti, amas eos qui faciunt iniquitatem. Si commotus fuerit, et illi cogitationi consenserit, perdet sabbatum de corde: jam incipit ad psalterium hoc non attendere; deviavit inde, sine causa cantat, «Bonum est confiteri Domino, et psallere nomini tuo, Altissime.» Jam perdito sabbato ab interiore homine et exclusa quiete cordis, et bona cogitatione repulsa, incipit jam imitari illum quem videt in malis florentem; et convertit se et ipse ad facienda mala. Deus autem patiens est, quia aeternus est, et novit diem judicii sui, ubi omnia examinat.
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8. But why does he say, “at noon-day”? The persecution is very hot; and thus the noon signifies the excessive heat.…The demon that is “in the noon-day,” represents the heat of a furious persecution: for these are our Lord’s words, “The sun was up; and because they had no root, they withered away:” and when explaining it, He applies it to those who are offended when persecution ariseth, “Because they have not root in themselves.” We are therefore right in understanding by the demon that destroyeth in the noon-day, a violent persecution. Listen, beloved, while I describe the persecution, from which the Lord hath rescued His Church. At first, when the emperors and kings of the world imagined that they could extirpate from the earth the Christian name by persecution, they proclaimed, that any one who confessed himself a Christian, should be smitten. He who did not choose to be smitten, denied that he was a Christian, knowing the sin he was committing: the arrow that flieth by day reached him. But whoever regarded not the present life, but had a sure trust in a future one, avoided the arrow, by confessing himself a Christian; smitten in the flesh, he was liberated in the spirit: resting with God, he began peacefully to await the redemption of his body in the resurrection of the dead: he escaped from that temptation, from the arrow that flieth by day. “Whoever professes himself a Christian, let him be beheaded;” was as the arrow that flieth by day. The “devil that is in the noon-day” was not yet abroad, burning with a terrible persecution, and afflicting with great heat even the strong. For hear what followed; when the enemy saw that many were hastening to martyrdom, and that the number of fresh converts increased in proportion to that of the sufferers, they said among themselves, We shall annihilate the human race, so many thousands are there who believe in His Name; if we kill all of them, there will hardly be a survivor on earth. The sun then began to blaze, and to glow with a terrible heat. Their first edict had been, Whoever shall confess himself a Christian, let him be smitten. Their second edict was, Whoever shall have confessed himself a Christian, let him be tortured, and tortured even until he deny himself a Christian.…Many therefore who denied not, failed amid the tortures; for they were tortured until they denied. But to those who persevered in professing Christ, what could the sword do, by killing the body at one stroke, and sending the soul to God? This was the result of protracted tortures also: yet who could be found able to resist such cruel and continued torments? Many failed: those, I believe, who presumed upon themselves, who dwelt not under the defence of the Most High, and under the shadow of the God of Heaven; who said not to the Lord, “Thou art my lifter up:” who trusted not beneath the shadow of His wings, but reposed much confidence in their own strength. They are thrown down by God, to show them that it is He that protects them, He overrules their temptations, He allows so much only to befall them, as each person can sustain.
[«vers.» 6.] Hoc nos docens quid ait? «Quam magnificata sunt opera tua, Domine! Nimis profundae factae sunt cogitationes tuae.» Revera, fratres mei, nullum mare tam profundum est quam est ista cogitatio Dei, ut mali floreant, et boni laborent: nihil tam profundum, nihil tam altum; ibi naufragat omnis infidelis, in isto alto, in isto profundo. Vis transire profundum hoc? A ligno Christi noli resilire; non mergeris: tene te ad Christum. Quid est quod dico, tene te ad Christum? Ideo voluit ipse in terra laborare. Audistis, cum propheta legeretur, non avertisse eum scapulas a flagellis, non avertisse eum faciem a sputis hominum, non avertisse maxillam a psalmis eorum : quare omnia ista pati voluit, nisi ut consoletur patientes? Et poterat et ipse in fine rescuscitare carnem suam; sed tu qui non videras, non esset quod sperares: non distulit resurrectionem suam, ne tu adhuc dubitares. Eo ergo fine patere et tolera tribulationes in mundo, quem attendisti in Christo; et non te moveant qui faciunt mala, et in isto saeculo florent. «Nimis profundae factae sunt cogitationes Dei.» Ubi est cogitatio Dei? Ad praesens habenas laxat; sed postea astringet. Noli gaudere ad piscem qui in esca sua exsultat; nondum traxit hamum piscator: nam jam ille hamum habet in faucibus. Et quod tibi videtur longum, breve est: omnia ista cito transeunt. Quid est longa vita hominis ad aeternitatem Dei? Vis esse longanimis? Vide aeternitatem Dei. Nam attendis ad dies tuos paucos, et diebus tuis paucis vis impleri omnia. Quae omnia? Ut damnentur omnes impii, et coronentur omnes boni. Istis diebus tuis vis haec impleri? Implet illa Deus tempore suo. Quid tu taedium pateris et facis? Aeternus est; tardat, longanimis est: tu autem dicis, Ideo ego non sum longanimis, quia temporalis sum. Sed in potestate habes: junge cor tuum aeternitati Dei, et cum illo aeternus eris. Quid enim dictum est de temporanbus? «Omnis caro fenum, et omnis claritas carnis ut flos feni: fenum aruit, et flos decidit» . Omnia ergo arescunt et decidunt; non verbum illud: «Verbum» enim «Domini manet in aeternum.» Transit fenum, transit claritas feni; sed habes quo te teneas: «Verbum Domini manet in aeternum.» Dic ergo illi: «Nimis profundae factae sunt cogitationes tuae.» Tenuisti lignum, transis per istam profunditatem. Vides ibi aliquid? intelligis ibi aliquid? Intelligo, dicis: Si fam christianus es, et bene eruditus, dicis: Deus judicio suo reservat omnia. Boni laborant, quia flagellantur ut filii: mali exsultant, quia damnantur ut alieni. Duos filios habet homo; alterum castigat, alterum dimittit: facit unus male, et non corripitur a patre; alter mox ut se moverit, colaphis caeditur, flagellatur. Unde ille dimittitur, ille caeditur, nisi quia huic caeso haereditas servatur, ille autem dimissus exhaeredatus est? Videt eum non habere spem, et dimittit eum ut faciat quod vult. Puer autem qui flagellatur, si cor non habuerit, et imprudens fuerit et stultus, gratulatur fratri suo qui non vapulat; et gemit de se, et dicit in corde suo: Tanta mala facit frater meus, quidquid vult facit contra praecepta patris mei, et nemo illi facit verbum durum; ego, mox ut me movero, caedor. Stultus est, imprudens est; attendit quid patitur, non attendit quid illi servatur.
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9. Many then fell before the demon of the noon-day. Would ye know how many? He goes on, and says, “A thousand shall fall beside thee, and ten thousand at thy right hand; but it shall not come nigh thee” (ver. 7). To whom, brethren, but to Christ Jesus, is this said?…For the members, the body, and the head, are not separate from one another: the body and the head are the Church and her Saviour. How then is it said, “A thousand shall fall beside thee, and ten thousand by thy right hand”? Because they shall fall before the devil, that destroyeth at noon. It is a terrible thing, my brethren, to fall from beside Christ, from His right hand but how shall they fall from beside Him? Why the one beside Him, the other at His right hand? Why a thousand beside Him, ten thousand at His right hand? Why a thousand beside Him? Because a thousand are fewer than the ten thousand who shall fall at His right hand. Who these are will soon be clear in Christ’s name; for to some He promised that they should judge with Him, namely, to the Apostles, who left all things, and followed Him.…Those judges then are the heads of the Church, the perfect. To such He said, “If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor.” What means the expression, “if thou wilt be perfect”? it means, if thou wilt judge with Me, and not be judged.…Many such at that period, who had distributed their all to the poor, and already promised themselves a seat beside Christ in judgment of the nations, failed amid their torments under the blazing fire of persecution, as before the demon of the noon-day, and denied Christ. These are they who have fallen “beside” Him: when about to sit with Christ for the judgment of the world, they fell.
[«vers.» 7, 8.] Ideo cum dixisset, «Nimis profundae factae sunt cogitationes tuae;» subjecit statim, «Vir imprudens non cognoscet, et stultus non intelliget ea.» Quae sunt quae non intelliget stultus, et quae non cognoscet imprudens? «Cum exoriuntur peccatores sicut fenum.» Quid est, «sicut fenum?» Virent cum hiems est; sed arescent aestate. Attendis florem feni. Quid citius transit? Quid lucidius? quid viridius? Non te delectet viriditas ipsius, sed time ariditatem ipsius. Audisti «peccatores sicut fenum,» audi et justos: «Quoniam ecce». Interim videte peccatores; sicut fenum florent, bene: sed qui sunt qui non cognoscunt? Stulti et imprudentes. «Cum exoriuntur peccatores sicut fenum, et prospexerint omnes qui operantur iniquitatem.» Omnes qui in corde suo non recta sentiunt de Deo, prospexerunt peccatores exorientes sicut fenum, id est, florentes ad tempus. Quare illos prospiciunt? «Ut intereant in saeculum saeculi.» Attendunt enim florem ipsorum temporalem, imitantur illos, et volentes cum illis florere ad tempus, intereunt in aeternum: hoc est, «Ut intereant in saeculum saeculi.»
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10. I will now explain who are they who fall on the right hand of Christ.…And because many have fallen from that hope of being judges, but yet many, many more from that of being on His right hand, the Psalmist thus addresses Christ, “A thousand shall fall beside Thee, and ten thousand at Thy right hand.” And since there shall be many, who regarded not all these things, with whom, as it were with His own limbs, Christ is one, he adds, “But it shall not come nigh Thee.” Were these words addressed to the Head alone? Surely not; surely neither (doth it come nigh) to Paul, nor Peter, nor all the Apostles, nor all the Martyrs, who failed not in their torments. What then do the words, “it shall not come nigh,” mean? Why were they thus tortured? The torture came nigh the flesh, but it did not reach the region of faith. Their faith then was far beyond the reach of the terrors threatened by their torturers. Let them torture, terror will not come nigh; let them torture, but they will mock the torture, putting their trust in Him who conquered before them, that the rest might conquer. And who conquer, except they who trust not in themselves?…Who will not fear? He who trusts not in himself, but in Christ. But those who trust in themselves, although they even hope to judge at the side of Christ, although they hoped they should be at His right hand, as if He said to them, “Come, ye blessed of My Father,” etc.; yet the devil that is at noon overtook them, the raging heat of persecution, terrifying with violence; and many fell from the hope of the seat of judgment, of whom it is said, “A thousand shall fall beside thee;” many too fell from the hope of reward for their duties, of whom it was said, “And ten thousand at thy right hand.” But this downfall and devil that is at noon-day “shall not come nigh thee,” that is, the Head and the body; for the Lord knows who are His.
[«vers. 9, 10.] Tu autem Altissimus in aeternum es, Domine.» Expectans desuper ex aeternitate tua quando transeat tempus iniquorum, et veniat tempus justorum. «Quoniam ecce.» Intendite, fratres. Jam et ipse qui loquitur (loquitur enim ex persona nostra, loquitur ex persona corporis Christi: Christus enim loquitur in corpore suo, id est, in Ecclesia sua), jam junxit se aeternitati Dei: sicut vobis paulo ante dicebam, longanimis est Deus et patiens, omnia ista quae videt mala a malis fieri tolerat. Quare? Quia aeternus est, et videt quid illis servet. Vis et tu esse longanimis et patiens? Junge te aeternitati Dei; cum illo exspecta illa quae infra te sunt: cum enim adhaeserit cor tuum Altissimo, infra te erunt omnia mortalia; et dic quod sequitur, «Quoniam ecce inimici tui peribunt.» Qui modo florent, postea peribunt. Qui sunt inimici Dei? Fratres, forte illos solos putatis inimicos Dei qui blasphemant? Sunt quidem et ipsi, et atroces isti qui nec lingua nec cogitationibus malis parcunt injuriis Dei. Et quid faciunt Deo excelso, aeterno? Si pugno in columnam ferias, tu laederis: et putas quia blasphemia Deum percutiens non tu disrumperis? nam nihil facis Deo. Sed inimici Dei aperte blasphematores sunt, et quotidie occulti inveniuntur. Cavete tales inimicitias Dei. Quosdam enim occultos inimicos Dei Scriptura aperit; ut quia non illos potes nosse corde tuo, noveris illos in Scriptura Dei, et caveas inveniri cum illis. Aperte dicit Jacobus in Epistola sua: «Nescitis quia amicus hujus mundi, inimicus Dei constituitur» ? Audisti. Non vis esse inimicus Dei? Noli esse amicus hujus mundi: nam si amicus fueris hujus mundi, inimicus eris Deo. Quomodo enim non potest fieri adultera conjux, nisi inimica sit viro suo: sic anima adultera amore rerum saecularium, non potest nisi inimica esse Deo. Timet, sed non amat: poenam timet, non justitia delectatur. Ergo inimici Dei omnes amatores mundi, omnes inquisitores nugarum, omnes consultores sortilegorum, mathematicorum, pythonum. Intrent ecclesias, non intrent ecclesias; inimici Dei sunt. Ad tempus possunt florere sicut fenum; peribunt autem, cum ille inspicere coeperit, et judicium suum in omnem carnem adduxerit. Junge te Scripturae Dei, et dic illud cum isto psalmo: «Quoniam ecce inimici tui peribunt.» Non ibi inveniaris, ubi peribunt. «Et dispergentur omnes qui operantur iniquitatem.»
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11. “Nevertheless, with thine eyes shalt thou behold, and see the reward of the ungodly” (ver. 8). What is this? Why “nevertheless”? Because the wicked were allowed to tyrannize over Thy servants, and to persecute them. Will they then have been allowed to persecute Thy servants with impunity? Not with impunity, for although Thou hast permitted them, and Thine own have thence received a brighter crown, “nevertheless,” etc. For the evil which they willed, not the good they unconsciously were the agents of, will be recompensed them. All that is wanting is the eye of faith, by which we may see that they are raised for a time only, while they shall mourn for evermore; and to those into whose hands is given temporal power over the servants of God, it shall be said, “Depart into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels.” But if every man have but eyes in the sense in which it is said, “With thine eyes shalt thou behold,” it is no unimportant thing to look upon the wicked flourishing in this life, and to have an eye to him, to consider what will become of him in the end, if he fail to reform his ways: for those who now would thunder upon others, will afterwards feel the thunderbolt themselves.
[«vers.» 11.] Quid tu qui laboras modo, si inimici Dei peribunt, et dispergentur omnes qui operantur iniquitatem? tu qui inter ista scandala, inter iniquitates humanas gemis, qui tribularis in carne, sed gaudes in corde, quid tu? quae tibi spes, o corpus Christi? O Christe, qui in coelis sedes ad dexteram Patris, sed pedibus tuis et membris tuis laboras in terra, et dicis, «Saule, Saule, quid me persequeris» ? tu quam spem habebis, si inimici Dei peribunt, et dispergentur omnes qui operantur iniquitatem? quid tibi erit? «Et exaltabitur sicut unicornis cornu meum.» Quare dixit, «sicut unicornis?» Aliquando unicornis significat superbiam, aliquando unicornis exaltationem unitatis significat: quia unitas exaltatur, omnes haereses cum inimicis Dei peribunt. «Et exaltabitur sicut unicornis cornu meum.» Et quando erit? «Et senectus mea in misericordia pingui.» Quid dixit, «senectus mea?» Novissima mea. Quomodo in aetatibus nostris novissima senectus est; sic totum hoc quod modo patitur corpus Christi in laboribus, in aerumnis, in vigiliis, in fame, in siti, in scandalis, in iniquitatibus, in pressuris, juventus ipsius est: senectus ipsius, id est, novissima ipsius in laetitia erunt. Et intendat Charitas vestra, quia dixit senectutem, ne putetis et mortem: homo enim in carne ideo senescit, ut moriatur. Senecta Ecclesiae candida erit recte factis, morte autem non corrumpetur. Quod est caput senis, hoc erunt opera nostra. Videtis quemadmodum canescat caput, et inalbescat, quantumcumque senectus accedit. Qui bene senescit ordine suo, quaeris illi aliquando in capite capillum nigrum, et non invenis: sic cum fuerit vita nostra talis, ut quaeratur nigritudo peccatorum, et non inveniatur; senecta ista juvenilis est, senecta ista viridis est, semper virebit. Audistis de feno peccatorum, audite de senecta justorum: «Senectus in mea misericordia pingui.»
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12. “For Thou, Lord, art my hope” (ver. 9). He has now come to the power Which rescues him from falling by the “downfall and the devil of the noon-day.” “For Thou, Lord, art my hope: Thou hast set Thy house of defence very high.” What do the words “very high” mean? For many make their house of defence in God a mere refuge from temporal persecution; but the defence of God is on high, and very secret, whither thou mayest fly from the wrath to come. Within “Thou hast set thine house of defence very high. There shall no evil happen unto Thee: neither shall any plague come nigh Thy dwelling” (ver. 10).
[«vers. 12.] Et respexit oculus meus in inimicis meis». Quos dicit inimicos suos? Omnes qui operantur iniquitatem. Noli attendere quia amicus tuus est iniquus: incurrat negotium, et ibi illum probas. Incipis venire contra iniquitatem ipsius, et ibi videbis, quia quando tibi blandiebatur, inimicus erat; sed nondum pulsaveras, non ut institueretur in corde quod non erat, sed ut erumperet quod erat. «Et respexit oculus meus in inimicis meis; et in eis qui insurgunt in me malignantibus, audiet auris mea.» Quando? In senecta. Quid est, in senecta? In novissimo. Et quid audiet auris nostra? Stantes ad dexteram audiemus quod dicetur eis qui sunt ad sinistram: «Ite in ignem aeternum, qui paratus est diabolo et angelis ejus» . Ab isto auditu malo justus non timebit. Scitis quia dictum est in quodam psalmo: «In memoria aeterna erit justus; ab auditu malo non timebit» . Quo auditu malo? Ite in ignem aeternum, qui paratus est diabolo et angelis ejus. Et in eis qui insurgunt in me malignantibus, audiet auris mea.»
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13. The Holy City is not the Church of this country only, but of the whole world as well: not that of this age only, but from Abel himself down to those who shall to the end be born and believe in Christ, the whole assembly of the Saints, belonging to one city; which city is Christ’s body, of which Christ is the Head. There, too, dwell the Angels, who are our fellow-citizens: we toil, because we are as yet pilgrims: while they within that city are awaiting our arrival. Letters have reached us too from that city, apart from which we are wandering: those letters are the Scriptures, which exhort us to live well. Why do I speak of letters only? The King himself descended, and became a path to us in our wanderings: that walking in Him, we may neither stray, nor faint nor fall among robbers, nor be caught in the snares that are set near our path. This character, then, we recognise in the whole Person of Christ, together with the Church.…He Himself is our Head, He is God, co-equal with the Father, the Word of God, by whom all things were made: but God to create, Man to renew; God to make, Man to restore. Looking upon Him, then, let us hear the Psalm. Listen, beloved. This is the teaching and doctrine of this school, which may enable you to understand, not this Psalm only, but many, if ye keep in mind this rule. Sometimes a Psalm, and all prophecy as well, in speaking of Christ, praises the Head alone, and sometimes from the Head goes to the Body, that is, the Church, and without apparently changing the Person spoken of: because the Head is not separate from the Body, and both are spoken of as one…
[«vers.» 13.] Transit fenum, transit flos peccatorum: quid de justis? «Justus ut palma florebit.» Illi exoriuntur sicut fenum; «justus ut palma florebit.» In palma altitudinem significavit. Forte et hoc significavit in palma, quia in novissimis suis pulchra est; ut initium ejus a terra ducas, finem ipsius in cacumine, ubi habet totam pulchritudinem: aspera radix videtur in terra, pulchra coma sub coelo est. Erit ergo et tua pulchritudo in fine. Radix tua fixa sit: sed sursum versus habemus radicem nostram. Radix enim nostra Christus est, qui ascendit in coelum. Humiliatus exaltabitur. «Velut cedrus in Libano, multiplicabitur.» Videte quas arbores dixit: «Justus ut palma florebit; velut cedrus in Libano, multiplicabitur.» Numquid cum sol exierit, arescit palma? numquid arescit cedrus? Cum autem sol candens aliquando fuerit, arescit fenum. Veniet ergo judicium, ut arescant peccatores, et virescant fideles. «Velut cedrus in Libano, multiplicabitur.»
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14. What then, my brethren, what is said of our Head? “For Thou, Lord, art my hope,” etc. Of this we have spoken, “for He hath given His angels charge over Thee, to keep Thee in all Thy ways” (ver. 11). You heard these words but now, when the Gospel was being read; attend therefore. Our Lord, after He was baptized, fasted. Why was He baptized? That we might not scorn to be baptized. For when John said to our Lord, “Comest Thou to me to be baptized? I ought to be baptized by Thee;” and our Lord replied, “Suffer it to be so now, for thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness;” He wished to fulfil all humility, so that He should be washed, who had no defilement.…Our Lord, then, was baptized, and after baptism He was tempted; He fasted forty days, a number which has, as I have often mentioned, a deep meaning. All things cannot be explained at once, lest needful time be too much taken up. After forty days He was an hungred. He could have fasted without ever feeling hunger; but then how could He be tempted? or had He not overcome the tempter, how couldest thou learn to struggle with him? He was hungry; and then the tempter said, “If Thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread.” Was it a great thing for our Lord Jesus Christ to make bread out of stones, when He satisfied so many thousands with five loaves? He made bread out of nothing. For whence came that quantity of food, which could satisfy so many thousands? The sources of that bread are in the Lord’s hands. This is nothing wonderful; for He Himself made out of five loaves bread enough for so many thousands, who also every day out of a few seeds raises up on earth immense harvests. These are the miracles of our Lord: but from their constant operation they are disregarded. What then, my brethren, was it impossible for the Lord to create bread out of stones? He made men even out of stones, in the words of John the Baptist himself, “God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham.” Why then did He not so? That he might teach thee how to answer the tempter, so that if thou wast reduced to any straits and the tempter suggested, if thou wast a Christian and belongedst to Christ, would He desert thee now?…Listen to our Lord: “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.” Dost thou think the word of God bread? If the Word of God, through which all things were made, was not bread, He would not say, “I am the bread which came down from heaven.” Thou hast therefore learnt to answer the tempter, when pressed with hunger.
[«vers. 14-16.] Plantati in domo Domini, in atriis» «domus Dei nostri florebunt, Adhuc multiplicabuntur in senecta uberi: et tranquilli erunt, ut annuntient.» Hoc est sabbatum quod vobis paulo ante commendavi, unde habet titulum Psalmus. «Tranquilli erunt, ut annuntient.» Quare tranquilli annuntiant? Non illos movet fenum peccatorum: cedrus et palma nec in tempestatibus curvantur. Ergo tranquilli sint, ut annuntient: et vere, quia modo annuntiandum est et subsannantibus hominibus. O miseri homines amatores mundi! annuntiant vobis qui plantati sunt in domo Domini; qui confitentur Domino in cantico et cithara, in verbo et opere, annuntiant vobis, et dicunt vobis: Nolite seduci felicitate iniquorum, nolite attendere florem feni; nolite attendere ad tempus beatos, in aeternum miseros. Nec ista beatitudo quae modo foris videtur, vera est; nec in corde beati sunt, quia torquentur mala conscientia. Tu autem tranquillus esto, sperans de promissis Domini Dei tui. Quid enim annuntiabis in tranquillitate? «Quoniam rectus Dominus Deus, et non est iniquitas in eo.» Attendite, fratres, si plantati estis in domo Domini, si vultis florere sicut palma, et multiplicari sicut cedrus, Libani, et non arescere sicut fenum sole candente; sicut hi qui videntur florere sole absente. Si ergo non vultis esse fenum, sed palma et cedrus, quid annuntiabitis? «Quoniam rectus Dominus Deus, et non est iniquitas in illo.» Quomodo non est iniquitas? Tanta mala facit; sanus est, filios habet, plenam domum, abundat gloria, exaltatur honoribus, de inimicis vindicatur, et omnia mala committit: alius innocens sui negotii, non rapiens aliena, non contra quemquam faciens, laborat in vinculis, in carceribus, in inopia aestuat et suspirat. Quomodo «non est iniquitas in eo?» Esto tranquillus, et intelliges; nam perturbaris, et in cubiculo tuo obscuras tibi lucem. Radiare tibi vult aeternus Deus; noli tibi facere nubilum de perturbatione. Esto tranquillus in te, et vide quid tibi dicam. Quia Deus aeternus est, quia modo parcit malis, adducens illos ad poenitentiam; flagellat bonos, erudiens illos ad regnum coelorum; «non est iniquitas in eo:» noli timere. Ecce ego flagellatus sum tantum, manifestum est, confiteor, peccavi - non enim dico me justum. Hoc enim dicunt plerique. Quando est forte quisquam in aliqua miseria, in doloribus, intras consolari illum: et ille, Peccavi, fateor, sunt peccata mea, agnosco illa; sed numquid tanta peccavi, quanta ille? Ego novi quanta fecit ille, ego novi quanta commisit: peccata mea sunt, fateor illa Deo, sed minora sunt quam illius; et ecce ille nihil mali patitur. Noli turbari, tranquillus esto, ut scias «quoniam rectus Dominus, et non est iniquitas in eo.» Quid, si te propterea flagellat modo, quia non tibi servat ignem sempiternum? Quid, si illum propterea dimittit modo, quia auditurus est, «Ite in ignem aeternum?» Sed quando? Cum tu positus fueris ad dexteram, tunc dicetur positis ad sinistram: «Ite in ignem aeternum, qui paratus est diabolo et angelis ejus.» Non te ergo ista moveant: tranquillus esto, sabbatiza, et annuntia «quoniam rectus Dominus Deus, et non est iniquitas in eo.»
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15. What if he tempt thee in these words: If thou wast a Christian, thou wouldest do miracles, as many Christians have done? Thou, deceived by a wicked suggestion, wouldest tempt the Lord thy God, so as to say to Him, If I am a Christian, and am before Thine eyes, and Thou dost account me at all in the number of Thine own, let me also do something like the many works which Thy Saints have done. Thou hast tempted God, as if thou wert not a Christian, unless thou didst this. Many who desired such things have fallen. For that Simon the sorcerer desired such gifts of the Apostles, when he wished to buy the Holy Spirit for money. He loved the power of working miracles, but loved not the imitation of humility.…What then, if he tempt thee thus, “work miracles”? that thou mayest not tempt God, what shouldest thou answer? What our Lord answered. The devil said to Him, “Cast Thyself down; for it is written, He shall give His Angels charge concerning Thee,” etc. If Thou shalt cast Thyself down, Angels shall receive Thee. And it might indeed, my brethren, happen, if our Lord had cast Himself down, the attending Angels would receive our Lord’s flesh; but what does He say to him? “It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.” Thou thinkest Me a man. For the devil came to Him with this view, that he might try whether He were the Son of God. He saw His Flesh; but His might appeared in His works: the Angels had borne witness. He saw that He was mortal, so that he might tempt Him, that by Christ’s temptation the Christian might be taught. What then is written? “Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.” Let us not then tempt the Lord, so as to say, If we belong to Thee, let us work a miracle.
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16. Let us return to the words of the Psalm. “They shall bear Thee in their hands, lest at any time Thou hurt Thy foot against a stone” (ver. 12). Christ was raised up in the hands of Angels, when He was taken up into heaven: not that, if Angels had not sustained Him, He would have fallen: but because they were attending on their King. Say not, Those who sustained Him are better than He who was sustained. Are then cattle better than men, because they sustain the weakness of men? And we ought not to speak thus either; for if the cattle withdraw their support, their riders fall. But how ought we to speak of it? For it is said even of God, “Heaven is My throne.” Because then heaven supports Him, and God sits thereon, is therefore heaven the better? Thus also in this Psalm we may understand it of the service of the Angels: it does not pertain to any infirmity in our Lord, but to the honour they pay, and to their service.…What the finger of God is, the Gospel explaineth to us; for the finger of God is the Holy Ghost. How do we prove this? Our Lord, when answering those who accused Him of casting out devils in the name of Beelzebub, saith, “If I cast out devils by the Spirit of God;” and another Evangelist, in relating the same saying, saith, “If I with the finger of God cast out devils.” What therefore is in one stated clearly, is darkly expressed in another. Thou didst not know what was the finger of God, but another Evangelist explains it by terming it the Spirit of God. The Law then written by the finger of God was given on the fiftieth day after the slaughter of the lamb, and the Holy Ghost descended on the fiftieth day after the Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ. The Lamb was slain, the Passover was celebrated, the fifty days were completed, and the Law was given. But that Law was to cause fear, not love: but that fear might be changed into love, He who was truly righteous was slain: of whom that lamb whom the Jews were slaying was the type. He arose from the dead: and from the day of our Lord’s Passover, as from that of the slaying of the Paschal lamb, fifty days are counted; and the Holy Ghost descended, now in the fulness of love, not in the punishment of fear. Why have I said this? For this then our Lord arose, and was glorified, that He might send His Holy Spirit. And I said long ago that this was so, because His head is in heaven, His feet on earth. If His head is in heaven, His feet on earth; what means our Lord’s feet on earth? Our Lord’s saints on earth. Who are our Lord’s feet? The Apostles sent throughout the whole world. Who are our Lord’s feet? All the Evangelists, in whom our Lord travelleth over all nations.…We need not therefore wonder that our Lord was raised up to heaven by the hands of Angels, that His foot might not dash against a stone: lest those who on earth toiled in His body, while they were travelling over the whole world might become guilty of the Law, He took from them fear, and filled them with love. Through fear Peter thrice denied Him, for he had not yet received the Holy Ghost: afterwards, when he had received the Holy Spirit, he began to preach with confidence.…Our Lord so dealt with him, as if He said, thrice thou hast denied Me through fear: thrice confess Me through love. With that love and that charity He filled His disciples. Why? Because He hath set His house of defence very high: because when glorified He sent the Holy Ghost, He released the faithful from the guilt of the Law, that His feet might not dash against a stone.
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17. “Thou shalt go upon the asp and the basilisk; the lion and the dragon shalt thou tread under thy feet” (ver. 13). Ye know who the serpent is, and how the Church treadeth upon him, as she is not conquered, because she is on her guard against his cunning. And after what manner he is a lion and a dragon, I believe you know also, beloved. The lion openly rages, the dragon lies secretly in covert: the devil hath each of these forces and powers. When the Martyrs were being slain, it was the raging lion: when heretics are plotting, it is the dragon creeping beneath us. Thou hast conquered the lion; conquer also the dragon: the lion hath not crushed thee, let not the dragon deceive thee.…A few women in the Church have bodily virginity: but the virginity of the heart all the faithful have. In the very matter of faith he feared that the heart’s virginity would be corrupted by the devil: and those who have lost it, are uselessly virgins in their bodies. What does a woman who is corrupt in heart preserve in her body? Thus a Catholic married woman is before a virgin heretic. For the first is not indeed a virgin in her body, but the second has become married in her heart; and married not unto God as her husband, but unto the dragon. But what shall the Church do? The basilisk is the king of serpents, as the devil is the king of wicked spirits.
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18. These are the words of God to the Church. “Because he hath set his love in me, therefore will I deliver him” (ver. 14). Not only therefore the Head, which now sits in heaven, because He hath set His house of defence very high, to which no evil shall happen, neither shall any plague come nigh His dwelling; but we also who are toiling on earth, and are still living in temptations, whose steps are feared for, lest they fall into snares, may hear the voice of the Lord our God consoling us, and saying to us, “Because he hath set his love upon me, therefore will I deliver him: I will set him up, because he hath known my name.”
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19. “He shall call upon me, and I will hear him: yea, I am with him in trouble” (ver. 15). Fear not when thou art in trouble, as if the Lord were not with thee. Let faith be with thee, and God is with thee in thy trouble. There are waves on the sea, and thou art tossed in thy bark, because Christ sleepeth. Christ slept in the ship, while the men were perishing. If thy faith sleep in thy heart, Christ is as it were sleeping in thy ship: because Christ dwelleth in thee through faith, when thou beginnest to be tossed, awake Christ sleeping: rouse up thy faith, and thou shalt be assured that He deserts thee not. But thou thinkest thou art forsaken, because He rescueth thee not when thou thyself dost wish. He delivered the Three Children from the fire? Did He, who did this, desert the Maccabees? God forbid! He delivered both of these: the first bodily, that the faithless might be confounded; the last spiritually, that the faithful might imitate them. “I will deliver him, and bring him to honour.”
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20. “With length of days will I satisfy him” (ver. 16). What is length of days? Eternal life. Brethren, imagine not that length of days is spoken of in the same sense as days are said to be long in summer, short in winter. Hath he such days to give us? That length is one that hath no end, eternal life, that is promised us in long days. And truly, since this sufficeth, with reason he saith, “will I satisfy him.” What is long in time, if it hath an end, satisfieth us not: for that reason it should not be even called long. And if we are covetous, we ought to be covetous of eternal life: long for such a life, as hath no end. Lo, a line in which our covetousness may be extended. Dost thou wish money without limit? Long for eternal life without limit. Dost thou wish that thy possession may have no end? Seek for eternal life. “I will show him my salvation.” Nor is this, my brethren, to be briefly passed over. “I will show him my salvation:” He means, I will show him Christ Himself. Why? Was He not seen on earth? What great thing hath He to show us? But He did not appear such as we shall see Him. He appeared in that shape in which those who saw Him crucified Him: behold, those who saw Him, crucified Him: we have not seen Him, yet we have believed. They had eyes, have not we? yea, we too have the eyes of the heart: but, as yet we see through faith, not by sight. When will it be sight? When shall we, as the Apostle saith, see Him “face to face”? which God promiseth us as the high reward of all our toils. Whatever thou toilest in, thou toilest for this purpose, that thou mayest see Him. Some great thing it is we are to see, since all our reward is seeing; and our Lord Jesus Christ is that very great sight. He who appeared humble, will Himself appear great, and will rejoice us, as He is even now seen of His Angels.…Let us love and imitate Him: let us run after his ointments, as is said in the Song of Solomon: “Because of the savour of thy good ointments, we will run after thee.” For He came, and gave forth a savour that filled the world. Whence was that fragrance? From heaven. Follow then towards heaven, if thou do not answer falsely when it is said, “Lift up your hearts,” lift up your thoughts, your love, your hope: that it may not rot upon the earth.…“For wherever thy treasure is, there will be thy heart also.”