Expositions on the Book of Psalms 55
55.1 Psalm LV PL 36, 646
1. Of this Psalm the title is: “At the end, in hymns, understanding to David himself.” What the “end” is, we will briefly call to your recollection, because ye have known it. “For the end of the Law is Christ, for righteousness unto every man believing.” Be the attention therefore directed unto the End, directed unto Christ. Wherefore is He called the end? Because whatever we do, to Him we refer it, and when to Him we shall have come home, more to ask we shall not have. For there is an end spoken of which doth consume, there is an end spoken of which doth make perfect. In one sense, for instance, we understand it, when we hear, there is ended the food which was in eating; and in another sense we understand it when we hear, there is ended the vesture which was in weaving: in each case we hear, there is ended; but the food so that it no longer is, the vesture so that it is perfected. Our end therefore ought to be our perfection, our perfection Christ. For in Him we are made perfect, because of Himself the Head, the Members are we. And he hath been spoken of as “the End of the Law,” because without Him no one doth make perfect the Law. When therefore ye hear in the Psalms, “At the end,”—for many Psalms are thus superscribed,—be not your thought upon consuming, but upon consummation.
[vers. 1.] Sicut aliquam domum intraturi, cujus sit et ad quem pertineat in titulo inspicimus, ne forte importune irruamus quo non oportet, neque rursus timiditate revocemur ab eo quo oportet intrare: tanquam ergo si legeremus, Haec praedia illius aut illius; ita in superliminari psalmi hujus habemus inscriptum, In finem, pro populo qui a sanctis longe factus est, ipsi David in tituli inscriptionem, cum tenuerunt eum Allophyli in Geth. Agnoscamus ergo populum qui longe factus est a sanctis in tituli inscriptionem. Pertinet hoc enim ad ipsum David, quem jam nostis intelligere spiritualiter: neque enim commendatur nobis nisi ille de quo dictum est, Finis Legis Christus ad justitiam omni credenti . Ergo, In finem, cum audis, in Christum intende, ne in via remanendo non pervenias ad finem. Quidquid enim est, ubi infra steteris, antequam ad Christum pervenias, nihil tibi aliud divinus sermo dicit, nisi, Accede, nondum est locus ubi securitas sit. Est quidam locus ubi statio fidissima collocatur; est quaedam petra ubi domus secura consurgit, ut non metuat imbrem tempestatis. Flumina enim impegerunt in domum illam, et non cecidit; fundata enim erat supra petram : Petra autem erat Christus . Sub nomine David Christus figuratur; quia de illo dictum est: qui factus est ex semine David secundum carnem .
55.2 PL 36, 646
2. “In hymns:” in praises. For whether we are troubled and are straitened, or whether we rejoice and exult, He is to be praised, who both in tribulations doth instruct, and in gladness doth comfort. For the praise of God from the heart and mouth of a Christian man ought not to depart; not that he may be praising in prosperity, and speaking evil in adversity; but after the manner that this Psalm doth prescribe, “I will speak good of the Lord in every time, alway the praise of Him is in my mouth.” Thou dost rejoice; acknowledge a Father indulging: thou art troubled; acknowledge a Father chastening. Whether He indulge, or whether He chasten, He is instructing one for whom He is preparing an inheritance.
Quis est ergo populus qui longe a sanctis factus est in tituli inscriptionem? Ipse titulus ostendat nobis populum istum. Scriptus est enim quidam titulus in dominica passione, quando Dominus crucifixus est: erat ibi titulus inscriptus, hebraice, graece, et latine, Rex Judaeorum; tribus linguis tanquam tribus testibus titulus approbatus, quia in ore duorum vel trium testium stabit omne verbum . Istum titulum cum legissent Judaei, indignati sunt, et dixerunt ad Pilatum: Noli scribere, Rex Judaeorum; sed quia ipse dixit se regem esse Judaeorum. Ipsum dixisse scribe, dixerunt; non hoc esse quod dixit. Sed quia verum est in alio psalmo, In tituli inscriptionem ne corrumpas , respondit Pilatus, Quod scripsi, scripsi: tanquam dicens, Non corrumpo veritatem, etsi vos diligitis falsitatem. Quia ergo in maledicto isto indignati sunt Judaei, dicentes, Nos non habemus regem nisi solum Caesarem , de tituli offensione longe facti sunt a sanctis. Propinquent sanctis, et agglutinentur sancto qui regem Christum agnoscunt et habere concupiscunt: longe fiant a sanctis qui contradicentes titulo respuerunt regem Deum, et elegerunt regem hominem. Omnis ergo populus humano regno delectatus, respuens in se regnare Dominum, quo regnante ita quisque subjectus est, ut regnet et ipse cupiditatibus suis, omnis ergo populus talis longe est a sanctis. Nolite itaque, fratres, in solis Judaeis hoc advertere. Data sunt quidem in illis quasi primitiva exempla, ut in illo populo eluceret quod omnis homo caveret. Aperte illi regem Christum recusaverunt, et regem Caesarem elegerunt. Est quidem et Caesar rex homo hominibus ad humana, sed alius rex est ad divina; alius rex ad vitam temporalem, alius ad aeternam; alius rex terrenus, alius rex coelestis: rex terrenus sub rege coelesti, rex coelestis super omnia. Non ergo illi quia dixerunt se habere Caesarem regem, peccaverunt; sed quia regem Christum habere noluerunt. Et modo multi Christum regem in coelo sedentem et ubique regnantem habere nolunt: et ipsi sunt qui tribulant nos. Contra tales iste psalmus confirmat nos. Necesse est enim ut tales patiamur usque in finem: quos non pateremur, nisi nobis expediret. Omnis enim tentatio probatio est, et omnis probationis effectus habet fructum suum. Quia homo plerumque etiam sibi ipsi ignotus est: quid ferat, quidve non ferat, ignorat; et aliquando praesumit se ferre quod non potest, et aliquando desperat se posse ferre quod potest: accedit tentatio quasi interrogatio, et invenitur homo a seipso; quia latebat et seipsum, sed artificem non latebat. Proinde Petrus praesumpsit nescio quid quod in illo nondum erat, usque ad mortem se cum Domino Jesu Christo esse perseveraturum: vires suas Petrus ignorabat, sed Dominus noverat. Respondit minus idoneum qui fabricaverat, qui etiam fabricato a se vires idoneas daturus erat, quid nondum dederat, sciebat; ille qui nondum acceperat, nesciebat: accessit tentatio; negavit, flevit, accepit . Cum ergo nesciamus quid petamus tanquam non habentes, et unde gratias agamus tanquam accipientes, opus est semper tentationibus et tribulationibus erudiri in isto saeculo; sed tribulari non possumus, nisi ab eis qui longe fiunt a sanctis. Longinquitatem istam, fratres, intelligite cordis esse, non corporis. Fit enim plerumque ut qui corpore longe peregrinatur a te, conjunctus sit tibi, quia hoc amat quod tu: et fit plerumque ut stans juxta te, conjunctus sit tibi, quia hoc amat quod tu: et fit plerumque ut stans juxta te, ex eo quia diligit mundum, cum tu diligas Deum, longe sit a te.
55.3 PL 36, 648
3. What then is, “Understanding to David himself”? David indeed was, as we know, a holy prophet, king of Israel, son of Jesse: but because out of his seed there came for our salvation after the flesh the Lord Jesus Christ, often under that name He is figured, and David instead of Christ is in a figure set down, because of the origin of the Flesh of the Same. For after some sort He is Son of David, after some sort He is the Lord of David; Son of David after the flesh, Lord of David after the divinity. For if by Him have been made all things, by Him also David himself hath been made, out of whose seed He came to men. Moreover, when the Lord had questioned the Jews, whose Son they affirmed Christ to be, they made answer, “David’s:” where the Lord chides the Jews, when they said that He was the Son of David. He saw that they had stayed at the flesh, and had lost sight of the divinity; and He reproveth them by propounding a question: “How then doth David himself in spirit call Him Lord, ‘The Lord hath said unto my Lord.’…If then He in spirit calleth Him Lord, how is He is Son?” A question He propounded; His being Son He denied not. Ye have heard “Lord;” say ye how He is his “Son:” ye have heard “Son;” say how He is “Lord.” This question the Catholic Faith solveth. How “Lord”? Because “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” How “Son”? Because “The Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us.” Because then David in a figure is Christ, but Christ, as we have often reminded your Love, is both Head and Body; neither ought we to speak of ourselves as alien from Christ, of whom we are members, nor to count ourselves as if we were any other thing: because “The two shall be in one flesh.” “This is a great Sacrament,” saith the Apostle, “but I speak in regard of Christ and the Church.” Because then whole Christ is “Head and Body;” when we hear, “Understanding to David himself,” understand we ourselves also in David. Let the members of Christ understand, and Christ in His members understand, and the members of Christ in Christ understand: because Head and Members are one Christ. The Head was in heaven, and was saying, “Why dost thou persecute Me?” We with Him are in heaven through hope, Himself is with us on earth through love. Therefore “understanding to David himself.” Be we admonished when we hear, and let the Church understand: for there belongeth to us great diligence to understand in what evil we now are, and from what evil we desire to be delivered, remembering the Prayer of the Lord, where at the end we say, “Deliver us from evil.” Therefore amid many tribulations of this world, this Psalm complaineth somewhat of understanding. He lamenteth not with it, who hath not understanding. But furthermore, dearly beloved, we ought to remember, that after the image of God we have been made, and that not in any other part than in the understanding itself. For in many things by beasts we are surpassed: but when a man knoweth himself to have been made after the image of God, therein something in himself he acknowledgeth to be more than hath been given to dumb animals. But on consideration of all those things which a man hath, he findeth himself in this thing peculiarly distinguished from a dumb animal, in that he hath himself an understanding. Whence certain men despising in themselves that peculiar and especial thing which from their Maker they had received, the Maker Himself reproveth, saying, “Do not become like horse and mule, in which there is no understanding.”…
Quid ergo sibi vult, quod ad ipsum titulum adhuc pertinet, quia tenuerunt eum Allophyli in Geth? Geth civitas quaedam erat Allophylorum, id est alienigenarum, utique populi longe a sanctis. Ex eo enim quod alienigenae, non utique appropinquant sanctis, sed longe sunt a sanctis. Omnes qui recusant Christum regem alienigenae fiunt. Quare alienigenae fiunt? Quia et illa vitis quamvis ab illo plantata, amara facta quid audivit? Quare conversa es in amaritudinem, vitis aliena Non dictum est, Vitis mea: quia si mea, dulcis; si amara, non mea; si non mea, utique aliena. Tenuerunt ergo eum Allophyli in Geth. Invenimus quidem, fratres, David ipsum filium Jesse, regem Israel, peregrinatum esse apud Allophylos, cum quaereretur a Saüle ; et fuit in ista civitate et apud regem civitatis hujus: sed ibi retentum esse non legimus. Ergo David nostrum Dominum Jesum Christum natum ex semine illius David, non solum tenuerunt, sed et tenent adhuc Allophyli in Geth. Geth diximus quod civitas sit. Interrogata autem interpretatio hujus nominis, indicat Torcular. Christus secundum quod caput Salvator corporis, ille natus ex virgine crucifixus, qui jam nobis exemplum resurrectionis nostrae in resurrectione suae carnis ostendit, qui sedet ad dexteram Patris, et pro nobis interpellat, est et hic, sed in corpore suo quod est Ecclesia. Corpus conjunctum est capiti suo, caput pro corpore clamat: Saule, Saule, quid me persequeris ? Et corpus in capite suo est secundum Apostolum dicentem: Et simul resuscitavit, et simul sedere fecit in coelestibus . Et nos ibi sedemus, et ipse hic laborat: nos ibi sedemus secundum spem, et ille hic nobiscum est secundum charitatem. Haec compago tanquam unius hominis facit duos in carne una, sponsum et sponsam. Unde et ipse Dominus dicit: Igitur jam non duo, sed una caro . Quomodo ergo hic tenetur in Geth? Tenetur in torculari corpus ejus, id est Ecclesia ejus . Quid est, in torculari? In pressuris. Sed in torculari fructuosa pressura est. Uva in vite pressuram non sentit, integra videtur, sed nihil inde manat: mittitur in torcular, calcatur, premitur; injuria videtur fieri uvae, sed ista injuria sterilis non est; imo si nulla injuria accederet, sterilis remaneret.
55.4 PL 36, 649
4. “Hear Thou, O God, my entreaty, and despise not my prayer: give heed unto me, and hearken unto me” (ver. 1). Of one earnest, anxious, of one set in tribulation, are these words. He is praying, suffering many things, from evil yearning to be delivered: it remaineth that we hear in what evil he is, and when he beginneth to speak, let us acknowledge there ourselves to be; in order that the tribulation being shared, we may conjoin prayer. “I have been made sad in my exercise, and have been troubled” (ver. 2). Where made sad, where troubled? “In my exercise,” he saith. Of evil men, whom he suffereth, he hath made mention, and the same suffering of evil men he hath called his “exercise.” Think ye not that without profit there are evil men in this world, and that no good God maketh of them. Every evil man either on this account liveth that he may be corrected, or on this account liveth that through him a good man may be exercised. O that therefore they that do now exercise us would be converted, and together with us be exercised! Nevertheless, so long as they are such as to exercise, let us not hate them: because in that wherein any one of them is evil, whether unto the end he is to persevere, we know not; and ofttimes when to thyself thou seemest to have been hating an enemy, thou hast been hating a brother, and knowest not. The devil and his angels in the holy Scriptures have been manifested to us, that for fire everlasting they have been destined. Of them only must amendment be despaired of.…Therefore since this rule of Love for thee is fixed, that imitating the Father thou shouldest love an enemy: for, He saith, “love your enemies:” in this precept how wouldest thou be exercised, if thou hadst no enemy to suffer? Thou seest then that he profiteth thee somewhat: and let God sparing evil men profit thee, so that thou show mercy: because perchance thou too, if thou art a good man, out of an evil man hast been made a good man: and if God spared not evil men, not even thou wouldest be found to return thanks. May He therefore spare others, that hath spared thee also. For it were not right, when thou hadst passed through, to close up the way of godliness.
[vers. 2.] Quicumque ergo sancti pressuram patiuntur ab eis qui longe facti sunt a sanctis, attendant psalmum istum, agnoscant hic se, dicant quod hic dicitur, qui patiuntur quod hic dicitur. Certe qui non patitur, non dicat: Non astringo ad vocem, quem videoextrapassionem.Sedvideatne,cumvultesse longe a passione, longe fiat a sanctis. Cogitet ergo unusquisque de inimico suo; si christianus est, mundus ipsi inimicus est. Privatas ergo inimicitias nemo cogitet, auditurus verba psalmi hujus: sciamus quia non est nobis colluctatio adversus carnem et sanguinem, sed adversus principes et potestates, et spiritualia nequitiae , id est adversus diabolum et angelos ejus; quia et quando patimur homines importunos, ille instigat, ille inflammat, ille tanquam vasa sua movet. Attendamus ergo duos hostes; quem videmus, et quem non videmus: hominem videmus, diabolum non videmus; hominem diligamus, diabolum caveamus; pro homine oremus, contra diabolum oremus, et dicamus Deo: Miserere mei, Domine, quoniam conculcavit me homo. Noli timere, quia conculcavit te homo; vinum habeto, uva factus es ut calceris. Miserere mei, Domine, quoniam conculcavit me homo: tota die bellans tribulavit me omnis qui longe factus est a sanctis. Sed et ipse diabolus quare hic non intelligatur? An forte quia non dictus est homo? Ergo errat Evangelium, quia dixit: Inimicus homo hoc fecit Sed sub quadam figura potest et ille dici homo, non tamen esse homo. Sive ergo ipsum intueretur qui dicebat haec, sive populum et unumquemque longe factum a sanctis, per quales diabolus tribulat populum Dei inhaerentem sanctis, inhaerentem sancto, inhaerentem regi, ad cujus regis titulum indignati illi tanquam repercussi, longe sunt facti; dicat, Miserere mei, Domine, quoniam conculcavit me homo: nec deficiat in ista conculcatione, sciens quem invocet, et quo exemplo fortis effectus sit. Primus botrus in torculari pressus est Christus. Cum ille botrus passione expressus est, manavit illud unde calix inebrians quam praeclarus est ! Dicat ergo et corpus ejus, intuens caput suum: Miserere mei, Domine, quoniam conculcavit me homo: tota die bellans tribulavit me. Tota die, toto tempore. Nemo sibi dicat: Fuerunt tribulationes apud patres nostros, apud nos non sunt. Si putas te non habere tribulationes, nondum coepisti esse christianus. Et ubi est vox Apostoli: Sed et omnes qui volunt in Christo pie vivere, persecutiones patientur Si ergo non pateris ullam pro Christo persecutionem, vide ne nondum coeperis in Christo pie vivere. Cum autem coeperis in Christo pie vivere, ingressus es torcular; praepara te ad pressuras; sed noli esse aridus, ne de pressura nihil exeat.
55.5 PL 36, 649
5. Whence then doth this man pray, set among evil men, with whose enmities he was being exercised? Why saith he, “I have been made sad in my exercise, and have been troubled”? While he is extending his love so as to love enemies, he hath been affected with disgust, being bayed at all around by the enmities of many men, by the frenzy of many and under a sort of human infirmity he hath sunk. He hath seen himself now begin to be pierced through with an evil suggestion of the devil, to bring on hatred against his enemies: wrestling against hatred in order to perfect love herself, in the very fight, and in the wrestling, he hath been troubled. For there is his voice in another Psalm, “Mine eye hath been troubled, because of anger.” And what followeth there? “I have waxen old among all mine enemies.” As if in storm and waves he were beginning to sink, like Peter. For he doth trample the waves of this world, that loveth enemies. Christ on the sea was walking fearless, from whose heart there could not by any means be taken away the love of an enemy, who hanging on the Cross did say, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” Peter too would walk. He as Head, Peter as Body: because, “Upon this rock,” He saith, “I will build My Church.” He was bidden to walk, and he was walking by the Grace of Him bidding, not by his own strength. But when he saw the wind mighty, he feared; and then he began to sink, being troubled in his exercise. By what mighty wind? “By the voice of the enemy, and by the tribulation of the sinner” (ver. 3). Therefore, in the same manner as he cried out on the waves, “Lord, I perish, save me,” a similar voice from this man hath preceded, “Hearken unto me.” Wherefore? For what sufferest thou? Of what dost thou groan? “I have been made sad in my exercise.” To be exercised indeed among evil men Thou hast set me, but too much they have risen up, beyond my powers: calm Thou one troubled, stretch forth a hand to one sinking. “For they have brought down upon me iniquity, and in anger they were shadowing me.” Ye have heard of waves and winds: one as it were humbled they were insulting, and he was praying: on every side against him with the roar of insult they were raging, but he within was calling upon Him whom they did not see.…
[vers. 3, 4.] Conculcaverunt me inimici mei tota die. Illi longe facti a sanctis, ipsi inimici mei. Tota die: jam dictum est. Ab altitudine diei. Quid sibi hoc vult, Ab altitudine diei? Forte altum est ad intellectum. Nec mirum, quia altitudo diei est. Forte enim illi propterea longe facti sunt a sanctis, quia non potuerunt penetrare altitudinem diei, cujus Apostoli duodecim horae fulgentes. Ergo qui tanquam hominem crucifixerunt, in die erraverunt. Quare autem tenebras passi sunt, ut longe fierent a sanctis? Quia in alto lucebat dies, in alto latentem non cognoverunt: si enim cognovissent, nunquam Dominum gloriae crucifixissent . Hac ergo altitudine diei repercussi, et longe facti a sanctis, facti sunt inimici qui tribulent et conculcent tanquam uvam in torculari. Est et alius intellectus: Ab altitudine diei conculcaverunt me inimici mei tota die, hoc est, toto tempore: Ab altitudine diei, hoc est, a superbia temporali. Quando enim conculcant, alti sunt: humiles sunt qui conculcantur, alti sunt qui conculcant. Sed noli timere altitudinem conculcantium; diei altitudo est, temporalis est, non aeterna.
55.6 PL 36, 650
6. But this man being troubled and made sad was praying, his eye being disturbed as it were on account of anger. But the anger of a brother if it shall have been inveterate is then hatred. Anger doth trouble the eye, hatred doth quench it: anger is a straw, hatred is a beam. Sometimes thou hatest and chidest an angry man: in thee is hatred, in him whom thou chidest anger: with reason to thee is said, “Cast out first the beam from thine own eye, and so thou shalt see to cast out the straw from thy brother’s eye.” For that ye may know how much difference there is between anger and hatred: day by day men are angry with their sons, show me them that hate their sons! This man being troubled was praying even when made sad, wrestling against all revilings of all revilers; not in order that he might conquer any one of them by giving back reviling, but that he might not hate any one of them. Hence he prayeth, hence asketh: “From the voice of the enemy and from the tribulation of the sinner.” “My heart hath been troubled in me” (ver. 4). This is the same as elsewhere hath been said, “Mine eye because of anger hath been troubled.” And if eye hath been troubled, what followeth? “And fear of death hath fallen upon me.” Our life is love: if life is love, death is hatred. When a man hath begun to fear lest he should hate him that he was loving, it is death he is fearing; and a sharper death, and a more inward death, whereby soul is killed, not body. Thou didst mind a man raging against thee; what was he to do, against whom thine own Lord had given thee security, saying, “Fear not them that kill the body”? He by raging killeth body, thou by keeping hatred hast killed soul; and he the body of another, thou thine own soul. “Fear,” therefore, “of death hath fallen upon me.”
Quoniam multi qui debellant me, timebunt. Quando timebunt? Cum transierit dies qua alti sunt. Et enim ad tempus alti sunt, finito tempore altitudinis suae timebunt. Ego vero in te sperabo, Domine. Non ait, Ego vero non timebo; sed, Multi qui debellant me, timebunt. Cum venerit ille dies judicii, tunc lamentabuntur se omnes tribus terrae . Cum apparuerit signum Filii hominis in coelo, tunc securi erunt omnes sancti. Illud enim veniet quod sperabant, quod desiderabant, quod ut veniret orabant: illis autem poenitendi locus nullus remanebit, quia eo tempore quo fructuosa posset esse poenitentia, cor obduraverunt adversus monentem Dominum. Numquid et murum erigent adversus judicantem Deum? Pietatem sane hujus agnosce, et, si in eo corpore es, imitare. Cum dixisset, Multi qui debellant me, timebunt; non addidit, Ego vero non timebo; ne suis viribus assignando quod non timet, esset et ipse in altis temporalibus, et per superbiam temporalem non mereretur venire ad requiem sempiternam: potius te fecit intelligere unde non timebit; Ego vero, inquit, in te sperabo, Domine: non dixit praesumptionem suam, sed causam praesumptionis suae. Si enim non timebo, possum et duritia cordis non timere; multi enim nimia superbia nihil timent. Attendat Charitas Vestra: aliud est sanitas corporis, aliud stupor corporis, aliud immortalitas corporis. Sanitas quidem perfecta, immortalitas est; sed dicitur etiam secundum quemdam modum sanitas, quam habemus in hac vita. Quando non infirmatur, unusquisque sanus vocatur; et cum inspexerit medicus, sanum renuntiat; et cum aegrotare quisque coeperit, ipsa sanitas perturbatur; et quando curatur, ad ipsam sanitatem reditur. Tres ergo affectiones quasdam corporis advertite et inspicite: sanitatem, stuporem, immortalitatem. Sanitas aegritudinem non habet; sed tamen quando tangitur et molestatur, dolet. Stupor autem non dolet; amisit sensum doloris, tanto insensibilior, quanto pejor. Rursus immortalitas non dolet; absumpta est enim omnis corruptio, et corruptibile hoc induit incorruptionem, et mortale hoc induit immortalitatem . Nullus ergo dolor in corpore immortali, nullus dolor in corpore stupido. Non se putet stupidus jam immortalem: vicinior est immortalitati sanitas dolentis, quam stupor non sentientis. Invenis ergo hominem superbum typho arrogantissimo, qui sibi persuaserit nihil timere: fortiorem putas illo, qui ait, Foris pugnae, intus timores fortiorem ipso capite nostro Domino Deo nostro, qui dixit, Tristis est anima mea usque ad mortem Non est iste fortior: non te delectet stupor ejus; non immortalitate indutus, sed sensu exutus est. Tu vero habeto animam non sine affectu, reprehensi enim sunt qui sunt sine affectu, et dic de sensu sanitatis: Quis infirmatur, et ego non infirmor? quis scandalizatur, et ego non uror Si ad istum non pertineret scandalum, cujusque infirmi perditio, quasi rigidus et sine dolore videretur melior esse? Absit: stupor esset, non tranquillitas. Plane, fratres, cum venerimus ad eum locum, ad eam sedem, ad eam beatitudinem, ad coelestem patriam, ubi anima nostra impleatur securitate, impleatur quiete et sempiterna felicitate, nullus ibi dolor erit: quia unde dolentur non erit. Multi, inquit, qui debellant me, timebunt. Et ipsi stupidi qui modo nihil timent. timebunt aliquando: Veniet enim tantus terror qui totam duritiam frangat et conterat. Multi qui debellant me, timebunt. Ego vero in te sperabo. Domine.
55.7 PL 36, 651
7. “Fearfulness and trembling have come upon me, and darkness hath covered me” (ver. 5). “And I have said,” “He that hateth his brother, is in darkness until now.” If love is light, hatred is darkness. And what saith to himself one set in that weakness and troubled in that exercise? “Who shall give me wings as to a dove, and I shall fly and shall rest?” (ver. 6). Either for death he was wishing, or for solitude he was longing. So long, he saith, as this is the work with me, as this command is given me, that I should love enemies, the revilings of these men, increasing and shadowing me, do derange mine eye, perturb my sight, penetrate my heart, slay my soul. I could wish to depart, but weak I am, lest by abiding I should add sins to sins: or at least may I be separated for a little space from mankind, lest my wound suffer from frequent blows, in order that when it hath been made whole it may be brought back to the exercise. This is what takes place, brethren, and there ariseth ofttimes in the mind of the servant of God a longing for solitude, for no other reason than because of the multitude of tribulations and scandals, and he saith, “Who shall give me wings?” Doth he find himself without wings, or rather with bound wings? If they are wanting, be they given; if bound, be they loosed; because even he that looseth a bird’s wings, either giveth, or giveth back to it its wings. For it had not as though its own them, wherewith it could not fly. Bound wings make a burden. “Who,” he saith, “shall give me wings as to a dove, and I shall fly and shall rest?” Shall rest, where? I have said there are two senses here: either, as saith the Apostle, “To be dissolved and to be with Christ, for it is by far the best thing.”…Even he that amended cannot be, is thine, either by the fellowship of the human race, or ofttimes by Church Communion; he is within, what wilt thou do? whither wilt go? whither separate thyself, in order that these things thou mayest not suffer? But go to him, speak, exhort, coax, threaten, reprove. I have done all things, whatever powers I had I have expended and have drained, nothing I see have I prevailed; all my labour hath been spent out, sorrow hath remained. How then shall my heart rest from such men, except I say, “Who shall give me wings?” “As to a dove,” however, not as to a raven. A dove seeketh a flying away from troubles, but she loseth not love. For a dove as a type of love is set forth, and in her the plaint is loved. Nothing is so fond of plaints as a dove: day and night she complaineth, as though she were set here where she ought to complain. What then saith this lover? Revilings of men to bear I am unable, they roar, with frenzy are carried away, are inflamed with indignation, in anger they shadow me; to do good to them I am unable; O that I might rest somewhere, being separated from them in body, not in love; lest in me there should be troubled love itself: with my words and my speech no good can I do them, by praying for them perchance I shall do good. These words men say, but ofttimes they are so bound, that to fly they are not able. For perchance they are not bound with any birdlime, but are bound by duty. But if they are bound with care and duty, and to leave it are unable, let them say, “I was wishing to be dissolved and to be with Christ, for it is by far the best thing: to abide in the flesh is necessary because of you.” A dove bound back by affection, not by cupidity, was not able to fly away because of duty to be fulfilled, not because of little merit. Nevertheless a longing in heart must needs be; nor doth any man suffer this longing, but he that hath begun to walk in that narrow way: in order that he may know that there are not wanting to the Church persecutions, even in this time, when a calm is seen in the Church, at least with respect to those persecutions which our Martyrs have suffered. But there are not wanting persecutions, because a true saying is this, “All that will godly to live in Christ, shall suffer persecution.”…
[vers. 5.] In Deo laudabo sermones meos, in Deo speravi: non timebo quid faciat mihi caro. Quare? Quia in Deo sperabo. Quare? Quia in Deo laudabo sermones meos. Si in te laudas sermones tuos, non dico ut non timeas; impossibile est ut non timeas. Sermones enim tuos aut mendaces habebis, ideoque tuos quia mendaces: aut si erunt veraces sermones, et non eos putabis te habere a Deo, sed a te loqui; veraces erunt, sed tu mendax eris: si autem cognoveris nihil te verum in sapientia Dei, in fide veritatis, posse dicere, nisi quod ab illo acce isti, de quo dicitur, Quid enim habes quod non accepisti in Deo laudas sermones tuos, ut in Deo lauderis sermonibus Dei. Etenim si quod in te Dei est, honoratur a te; et tu factus a Deo, honoraberis in Deo: si autem quod in te Dei est, honoraveris tanquam tuum, non Dei; quomodo populus ille longe factus est a sanctis, sic tu longe a sancto. Ergo, In Deo laudabo sermones meos: si in Deo, quare meos? Et in Deo, et meos. In Deo, quia ab ipso: meos, quia accepi. Ipse voluit meos esse qui dedit, amando eum cujus sunt: quia ex illo mihi sunt, mei facti sunt. Unde enim, Panem nostrum quotidianum da nobis hodie ? Quomodo, nostrum? Quomodo, da? Ab illo petendo non eris vacuus, tuum confitendo non eris ingratus. Si enim non dicas tuum, non accepisti: rursus si dicas tuum ita, quasi a te sit quod dicis tuum, amittis quod acceperas, quia ingratus es illi a quo acceperas In Deo ergo laudabo sermones, quia ibi ipse est fons sermonum verorum: meos, quia sitiens accessi et bibi. In Deo laudabo sermones meos, in Deo speravi: non timebo quid faciat mihi caro. Nonne tu eras qui paulo ante dicebas: Miserere mei, Domine, quoniam conculcavit me homo: tota die bellans tribulavit me? Quomodo ergo hic, non timebo quid faciat mihi caro? Quid tibi faciet? Tu ipse paulo ante dixisti, Conculcavit me, tribulavit me: Nihil faciet cum ista faciet? Respexit ad vinum quod manat de calcatura, et respondit: Plane conculcavit, plane tribulavit; sed quid mihi faciet? Uva eram, vinum ero: In Deo speravi, non timebo quid faciat mihi caro.
55.8 PL 36, 652
8. “Behold I have gone afar fleeing, and have abode in the desert” (ver. 7). In what desert? Wherever thou shalt be, there will gather them together other men, the desert with thee they will seek, will attach themselves to thy life, thou canst not thrust back the society of brethren: there are mingled with thee also evil men; still exercise is thy due portion, “Behold I have gone afar, and have abode in the desert.” In what desert? It is perchance in the conscience, whither no man entereth, where no one is with thee, where thou art and God. For if in the desert, in any place, what wilt thou do with men gathering themselves together? For thou wilt not be able to be separated from mankind, so long as among men thou livest.…
[vers. 6.] Tota die verba mea abominabantur. Sic sunt, nostis. Dicite veritatem, praedicate veritatem, annuntiate Christum Paganis, annuntiate Ecclesiam haereticis, annuntiate omnibus salutem: contradicunt, abominantur verba mea. Sed cum verba mea abominantur, quem putamus abominantur, nisi eum in quo laudabo sermones meos? Tota die verba mea abominabantur. Sufficiat saltem, abominentur verba, nihil ultra progrediantur, reprehendant, respuant. Absit. Utquid dicam hoc? Quando verba respuunt, quando verba abominantur, quae verba de fonte veritatis emanant, quid faciant illi per quem verba ipsa dicuntur? Quid, nisi quod sequitur, Adversum me omnia consilia eorum in malum? Si panem ipsum abominantur, vasculo in quo ministratur quomodo pareunt? Adversum me omnia consilia eorum in malum. Si sic et in ipsum Dominum, non dedignetur ergo corpus quod praecessit in capite, ut corpus haereat capiti. Contemptus est Dominus tuus, et tu te honorari vis ab eis qui longe facti sunt a sanctis? Noli tibi arrogare velle quod in illo non praecessit. Non est discipulus major magistro suo, non est servus major domino suo . Si patrem familias Beelzebub vocaverunt, quanto magis domesticos ejus? Adversum me omnia consilia eorum in malum.
55.9 PL 36, 652
9. “I was looking for him that should save me from weakness of mind and tempest” (ver. 8). Sea there is, tempest there is: nothing for thee remaineth but to cry out, “Lord, I perish.” Let Him stretch forth hand, who doth the waves tread fearlessly, let Him relieve thy dread, let Him confirm in Himself thy security, let Him speak to thee within, and say to thee, “Give heed to Me, what I have borne:” an evil brother perchance thou art suffering, or an enemy without art suffering; which of these have I not suffered? There roared without Jews, within a disciple was betraying. There rageth therefore tempest, but He doth save men from weakness of mind, and tempest. Perchance thy ship is being troubled, because He in thee is sleeping. The sea was raging, the bark wherein the disciples were sailing was being tossed; but Christ was sleeping: at length it was seen by them that among them was sleeping the Ruler and Creator of winds; they drew near and awoke Christ; He commanded the winds, and there was a great calm. With reason then perchance thy heart is troubled, because thou hast forgotten Him on whom thou hast believed: beyond endurance thou art suffering, because it hath not come into thy mind what for thee Christ hath borne. If unto thy mind cometh not Christ, He sleepeth: awake Christ, recall faith. For then in thee Christ is sleeping, if thou hast forgotten the sufferings of Christ: then in thee Christ is watching, if thou hast remembered the sufferings of Christ. But when with full heart thou shalt have considered what He hath suffered, wilt not thou too with equanimity endure? and perchance rejoicing, because thou hast been found in some likeness of the sufferings of thy King. When therefore on these things thinking thou hast begun to be comforted and to rejoice, He hath arisen, He hath commanded the winds; therefore there is a great calm. “I was looking for Him that should save me from weakness of mind and tempest.”
[vers. 7.] Incolent, et abscondent. Incolere peregrinari est. Incolae dicuntur qui habitant in patria non sua. Omnis homo in hac vita peregrinus est: in qua vita videtis quia carne circumtegimur, per quam carnem cor videri non potest. Ideo Apostolus dicit: Nolite ante tempus quidquam judicare, quoadusque veniat Dominus, et illuminabit abscondita tenebrarum, et manifestabit cogitationes cordis, et tunc laus erit unicuique a Deo . Antequam hoc fiat, in hac peregrinatione carnalis vitae quisque cor suum portat, et omne cor omni cordi clausum est. Proinde isti quorum consilia adversus hunc in malum, incolent, et abscondent; quia in ista peregrinatione sunt et carnem portant, dolum tegunt in corde, quidquid mali cogitant abscondunt. Quare? Quia adhuc peregrina est vita ista. Abscondant; apparebit quod abscondunt, et ipsi non abscondentur. Est et in hoc abscondito alius intellectus, qui fortasse magis placebit. Etenim ex iis qui longe facti sunt a sanctis, subintrant quidam ficti, et pejores tribulationes faciunt corpori Christi, quia non tanquam penitus alieni devitantur. Ab ipsis pericula graviora commemorans Apostolus, cum enumeraret multas passiones suas, et diceret, Periculis fluminum, periculis latronum, periculis ex genere, periculis ex gentibus, periculis in civitate, periculis in deserto, periculis in mari: Periculis, inquit, in falsis fratribus . Hi nimis periculosi sunt, de quibus dicitur in alio psalmo: Et ingrediebantur ut viderent . Ingrediebantur ut viderent, et nemo dicit: Non intres ut videas. Intrat etenim tanquam tuus, non cavetur ut alienus. Isti ergo incolent, et abscondent. Quia sic intrant in domum magnam, non ibi perseveraturi; ideo incolent. Tales enim peccatores servos volens intelligi Dominus, secundum illum intellectum evangelicum, quo omnis qui facit peccatum servus est peccati, ait: Servus non manet in domo in aeternum, filius autem manet in aeternum . Qui intrat ut filius, non incolet, quia perseverabit usque in finem : qui intrat ut servus, subdolus, peccator, ad oculum attendens; quaerens quid rapiat, quaerens quid accuset aut quid vituperet, incolere intrat, non inhabitare et perseverare. Nec istos tamen timeamus, fratres: In Deo speravi, non timebo quid faciat mihi caro. Etsi incolunt, etsi intrant, etsi fingunt, etsi abscondunt, caro sunt: tu in Domino spera, nihil tibi faciet caro. Sed infert tribulationem, infert conculcationem. Accedit vinum, quia uva premitur. Tribulatio tua infructuosa non erit: alter videt te, imitaturte; quia et tu ut disceres talem ferre, caput tuum contemplatus es, botrum illum primum, ad quem intravit homo ut videret, incoluit, et abscondit traditor Judas. Omnes ergo ficto animo intrantes, incolentes et abscondentes noli timere. Pater ipsorum Judas cum Domino tuo fuit, et ille quidem noverat eum: quanquam Judas traditor incolebat et abscondebat, tamen cor ipsius Domino rerum patebat; sciens ille elegit unum, unde tibi solatium faceret nescituro quos devites. Poterat enim ille non eligere Judam, quia noverat Judam; ait quippe discipulis: Nonne ego vos duodecim elegi, et unus ex vobis diabolus est Ergo et diabolus electus est? Aut si electus non est, quomodo duodecim elegit, et non potius undecim? Electus et ille est, sed ad aliud. Electi undecim ad opus probationis, electus unus ad opus tentationis. Unde possit tibi exemplum dare nescituro quos devites malos, quos caveas falsos et fictos, incolentes et abscondentes, nisi ut dicat tibi: Ecce ego mecum habui unum ipsorum? praecessit exemplum, toleravi, perferre volui quod sciebam, ut tibi nescienti praeberem solatium. Quod mihi fecit, noc faciet et tibi: ut multum possit, ut multum saeviat, accusaturus est, falsa crimina dicturus est. Ut praevaleant falsitates, numquid in te praevalebunt, et in me non praevaluerunt? In me certe praevaluerunt, sed coelum mihi non abstulerunt. Caro ipsius jam sepulta, falsos testes pertulit: parum fuit eos perpeti in judicio, perpessus est in sepulcro. Acceperunt pecuniam ut mentirentur, dixerunt: Cum dormiremus, venerunt discipuli ejus, et abstulerunt eum . Tales autem caeci erant Judaei, ut crederent dicto omnino incredibili: crediderunt testibus dormientibus! Aut falsum erat quod dormierunt, et mendacibus credere non debuerunt: aut verum erat quod dormierunt, et quod factum est nescierunt. Incolent, et abscondent. Incolant, et abscondant: quid facturi? In Deo speravi, non timebo quid faciat mihi caro.
55.10 PL 36, 654
10. “Sink, O Lord, and divide the tongues of them” (ver. 9). He is referring to men troubling him and shadowing him, and he hath wished this thing not of anger, brethren. They that have wickedly lifted up themselves, for them it is expedient that they be sunk. They that have wickedly conspired, it is expedient for them that their tongues should be divided: to good let them consent, and let their tongues agree together. But if to one purpose there were a whispering against me, he saith, all mine enemies, let them lose their “one purpose” in evil, divided be the tongues of them, let them not with themselves agree together. “Sink, O Lord, and divide the tongues of them.” Wherefore “sink”? Because themselves they have lifted up. Wherefore “divide”? Because for an evil thing they have united. Recollect that tower of proud men made after the deluge: what said the proud men? Lest we perish in a deluge, let us make a lofty tower. In pride they were thinking themselves to be fortified, they builded up a lofty tower, and the Lord divided the tongues of them. Then they began not to understand one another; hence arose the beginning of many tongues. For before, one tongue there was: but one tongue for men agreeing was good, one tongue for humble men was good: but when that gathering together did into a union of pride fall headlong, God spared them; even though He divided the tongues, lest by understanding one another they should make a destructive unity. Through proud men, divided were the tongues; through humble Apostles, united were the tongues. Spirit of pride dispersed tongues, Spirit Holy united tongues. For when the Holy Spirit came upon the disciples, with the tongues of all men they spake, by all men they were understood: tongues dispersed, into one were united. Therefore if still they rage and are Gentiles, it is expedient for them divided to have their tongues. They would have one tongue; let them come to the Church; because even among the diversity of tongues of flesh, one is the tongue in faith of heart.
Ipsi calcaneum meum observabunt. Etenim sic incolent et abscondent, ut observent ubi homo labitur. Intenti sunt ad calcaneum, quando fiat lapsus, ut pedem teneant ad ruinam, aut pedem supponant ad offensionem, certe ut inveniant quod accusent. Et quis ita ambulet ut nusquam labatur? Certe quod cito fit vel in lingua. Etenim scriptum est: Si quis in lingua non offendit, hic perfectus est vir . Quis tandem se audeat dicere aut putare perfectum? Ergo necesse est ut aliquis labatur in lingua. Illi autem qui incolent et abscondent, aucupantur verba omnia, quaerentes alicubi laqueos et nodosas facere calumnias, quibus prius ipsi implicantur quam quos implicare contendunt; ut prius ipsi capiantur et pereant, quam alios capiant ut perdant. Etenim recurrit homo in cor suum, et inde recurrit ad Deum, et novit dicere: In Deo laudabo sermones meos. Quidquid bonum dixi, quidquid verum dixi, Dei dixi, et de Deo dixi: quidquid forte aliud dixi quod dicere non debui, homo dixi, sed sub Deo dixi. Qui confirmat ambulantem, minatur erranti, ignoscit agnoscenti, revocat linguam, revocat lapsum. Justus enim septies cadet et resurget, impii vero infirmabuntur in malis . Non ergo timeat unusquisque nostrum callidos insectatores, aucupes verborum, dinumeratores pene syllabarum, et praevaricatores praeceptorum. Quid in te arguat, attendit; ut credat per te Christo, non attendit. Attende in sermones ejus quem reprehendis, ne forte te aliquid salubriter doceat. Et quid me, inquit, salubriter poterit docere, qui sic lapsus est in verbo? Hoc ipsum te forte salubriter docet, ne sis auceps verborum, sed collector praeceptorum. Ipsi calcaneum meum observabunt.
55.11 PL 36, 654
11. “For I have seen iniquity and contradiction in the city.” With reason this man was seeking the desert, for he saw iniquity and contradiction in the city. There is a certain city turbulent: the same it was that was building a tower, the same was confounded and called Babylon, the same through innumerable nations dispersed: thence is gathered the Church into the desert of a good conscience. For he saw contradiction in the city. “Christ cometh.”—“What Christ?” thou contradictest.—“Son of God.”—“And hath God a Son?” thou contradictest.—“He was born of a virgin, suffered, rose again.”—“And whence is it possible for this to be done?” thou contradictest.—Give heed at least to the glory of the Cross itself. Now on the brow of kings that Cross hath been fixed, over which enemies insulted. The effect hath proved the virtue. It hath subdued the world, not with steel, but with wood. The wood of the Cross deserving of insults hath seemed to enemies, and before the wood itself standing they were wagging the head, and saying, “If Son of God He is, let Him come down from the Cross.” He was stretching forth His hands to a people unbelieving and contradicting. For if just he is that of faith liveth, unjust he is that hath not faith. By that which here he saith “iniquity,” I understand unbelief. The Lord therefore was seeing in the city iniquity and contradiction, and was stretching forth His hands to a people unbelieving and contradicting: and nevertheless waiting for these same, He was saying, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” Even now indeed there rage the remnant of that city, even now they contradict. From the brows of all men now He is stretching forth hands to the remnant unbelieving and contradicting.
Sicut sustinuit anima mea. Hoc dico quod sustinui. Loquebatur expertus: Sicut sustinuit anima mea. Incolent et abscondent. Omnes sustineat anima mea; foris latrantes, intus occultantes sustineat. Forinsecus veniens, quasi fluvius venit tentatio: in petra te inveniat, impingat, non dejiciat; fundata est domus supra petram . Intus est, incolet et abscondet: ut palea tibi vicinetur, intret tritura boum, intret tribula tentationum; tu purgaris, illa comminuitur.
55.12 PL 36, 654
12. “Day and night there will compass it upon the walls thereof iniquity, and labour.” “Upon the walls thereof;” upon the fortifications thereof, holding as it were the heads thereof, the noble men thereof. If that noble man were a Christian, not one would remain a pagan! Oft-times men say, “no one would remain a pagan, if he were a Christian.” Ofttimes men say, “If he too were made a Christian, who would remain a pagan?” Because therefore not yet they are made Christians, as if walls they are of that city unbelieving and contradicting. How long shall these walls stand? Not always shall they stand. The Ark is going around the walls of Jericho: there shall come a time at the seventh going round of the Ark, when all the walls of the city unbelieving and contradicting shall fall. Until it come to pass, this man is being troubled in his exercise; and enduring the remains of men contradicting, he would choose wings for flying away, would choose the rest of the desert. Yea let him continue amid men contradicting, let him endure menaces, drink revilings, and look for Him that will save him from weakness of mind and tempest: let him look upon the Head, the pattern for his life, let him be made calm in hope, even if he is troubled in fact. “Day and night there will compass it upon the walls thereof iniquity; and labour in the midst thereof and injustice.” And for this reason labour is there, because iniquity is there: because injustice is there, therefore also labour is there. But let them hear him stretching forth hands. “Come unto Me, all ye that labour.” Ye cry, ye contradict, ye revile: He on the contrary, “Come unto Me, all ye that labour,” in your pride, and ye shall rest in My humility. “Learn of Me,” He saith, “for meek I am and humble in heart, and ye shall find rest unto your souls.” For whence do they labour, but because they are not meek and humble in heart? God humble was made, let man blush to be proud.
[vers. 8.] Sicut sustinuit mea, pro nihilo salvos facies eos. Docuit et pro ipsis orare. Nempe incolent et abscondent, nempe dolosi, nempe simulatores atque insidiatores sunt: tu ora pro eis, et noli dicere, Numquid et talem hominem Deus correcturus est, tam malum, tam perversum? Noli desperare: quem roges attende, non pro quo roges. Magnitudinem morbi vides, potentiam medici non vides? Incolent et abscondent: sicut sustinuit anima mea. Sustine, ora: et quid fit? Pro nihilo salvos facies eos. Sic illos salvos facies, ut nihil tibi sit, id est, ut nullus labor tibi sit. Hominibus desperati sunt, sed tu verbo curas: non laborabis in curando, quamvis nos stupeamus inspiciendo. Est alius sensus in hoc versu, Pro nihilo salvos facies eos: nullis eorum meritis praecedentibus salvos facies eos. Qui prius fui blasphemus, inquit, et persecutor et injuriosus . Accipiebat litteras a sacerdotibus, ut ubicumque inveniret Christianos, alligaret et adduceret . Utique ut alligaret et adduceret, primo incolebat, et abscondebat. Nulla ergo hujus bona merita praecesserant, imo talia praecesserant de quibus damnaretur; nihil boni attulit, et salvus factus est. Pro nihilo salvos facies eos. Non ad te afferent hircos, arietes, tauros, non dona et aromata afferent in templo tuo, non aliquid de conscientia bona libaminis superfundunt; totum in illis asperum, totum tetrum, totum detestandum: et cum illi ad te nihil afferant unde salventur, Pro nihilo salvos facies eos, id est gratis data gratia tua. Quid ille latro attulerat ad crucem? De fauce in judicium, de judicio in lignum, de ligno in paradisum . Credidit, propter quod locutus est . Sed et ipsam fidem quis donavit, nisi qui juxta pependit? Pro nihilo salvos facies eos.
55.13 PL 36, 655
13. “There hath not failed from the streets thereof usury and deceit” (ver. 11). Usury and deceit are not hidden at least, because they are evil things, but in public they rage. For he that in his house doth any evil thing, however for his evil thing doth blush: “In the streets thereof usury and deceit.” Money-lending even hath a profession, Money-lending also is called a science; a corporation is spoken of, a corporation as if necessary to the state, and of its profession it payeth revenue; so entirely indeed in the streets is that which should have been hidden. There is also another usury worse, when thou forgivest not that which to thee is owed; and the eye is disturbed in that verse of the prayer, “Forgive us our debts—as we too forgive our debtors.” For what there wilt thou do, when thou art going to pray, and coming to that same verse? An insulting word thou hast heard: thou wouldest exact the punishment of condemnation. Do but consent to exact just so much as thou hast given, thou usurer of injuries! With the fist thou hast been smitten, slaying thou seekest. Evil usury! How wilt thou go to prayer? If thou shalt have left praying, which way wilt thou come round unto the Lord? Behold thou wilt say: “Our Father which art in heaven, hallowed be Thy Name, Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, as in heaven so on earth.” Thou wilt say, “Our daily bread give us to-day.” Thou wilt come to, “Forgive us our debts, as we also forgive our debtors.” Even in that evil city let there abound these usuries; let them not enter the walls where the breast is smitten! What wilt thou do? because there thou and that verse are in the midst? Petitions for thee hath a heavenly Lawyer composed. He that knew what used there to be done, said to thee, “Otherwise thou shalt not obtain.” “Verily, verily, I say unto you, that if ye shall have forgiven men sins, they shall be forgiven you; but if ye shall not have forgiven sins unto men, neither will your Father forgive you.” Who saith this? He that knoweth what there is being done, in the place whereat thou art standing to make request. See how Himself hath willed to be thy Advocate; Himself thy Counsellor, Himself the Assessor of the Father, Himself thy Judge hath said, “Otherwise thou shalt not receive.” What wilt thou do? Thou wilt not receive, unless thou shalt speak; wilt not receive if falsely thou shalt speak. Therefore either thou must do and speak, or else what thou askest thou wilt not earn; because they that this do not do, are in the midst of those evil usuries. Be they engaged therein, that yet do idols either adore or desire: do not thou, O people of God, do not thou, O people of Christ, do not thou the Body of Him the Head! Give heed to the bond of thy peace, give heed to the promise of thy life. For what doth it profit thee, that thou exactest for injuries which thou hast endured? doth vengeance refresh thee? Therefore, over the evil of another shalt thou rejoice? Thou hast suffered evil; pardon thou; be not ye two.…
In ira populos deduces. Irasceris et deducis, saevis et salvas, terres et vocas. Quid est enim, In ira populos deduces? Imples tribulationibus omnia, ut in tribulationibus positi homines recurrant ad te, ne deliciis et securitate perversa seducantur. A te ira videtur, sed paterna. Irascitur pater filio contemptori praeceptorum suorum: iratus ei eum colaphizat, caedit, aurem vellit, manu trahit, ad scholam ducit. In ira populos deduces. Quam multi ingressi sunt, quam multi impleverunt domum Domini, in ira ejus deducti, id est tribulationibus territi, et fide impleti! Ad hoc enim exagitat tribulatio, ut exinaniat vas quod plenum est nequitia, ut impleatur gratia. In ira populos deduces.
55.14 PL 36, 655
14. “For if an enemy had upbraided me” (ver. 12). And indeed above he was “troubled in his exercise” by the voice of the enemy and by the tribulation of the sinner, perhaps being placed in that city, that proud city that was building a tower, which was “sunk,” that divided might be the tongues: give heed to his inward groaning because of perils from false brethren. “For if an enemy had upbraided me, I would have undergone it assuredly, and if he that did hate me had over me spoken great words,” that is, through pride had on me trampled, did magnify himself above me, did threaten me all in his power: “I would hide myself assuredly from him.” From him that is abroad, thou wouldest hide thyself where? Amid those that are within. But now see whether anything else remaineth, but that thou seek solitude. “But thou,” he saith, “man of one mind, my guide and my friend” (ver. 13). Perchance sometimes good counsel thou hast given, perchance sometimes thou hast gone before me, and some wholesome advice thou hast given me: in the Church of God together we have been. “But thou,…that together with me didst take sweet morsels” (ver. 14). What are the sweet morsels? Not all they that are present know: but let them not be soured that do know, in order that they may be able to say to them that as yet know not: “Taste ye and see, how sweet is the Lord.” “In the House of God we have walked with consent.” Whence then dissension? Thou that wast within, hast become one without. He hath walked with me in the House of God with consent: another house hath he set up against the House of God. Wherefore hath that been forsaken, wherein we have walked with consent? wherefore hath that been deserted, wherein together we did take sweet morsels?
[vers. 9.] Deus, vitam meam enuntiavi tibi. Ut vivam enim tu fecisti, et ad hoc enuntio vitam meam tibi. Itane vero Deus ignorabat quod dederat? Quid est, quod illi enuntias? Docere vis Deum? Absit. Ergo quid ait, Enuntiavi tibi? An forte, Quia tibi prodest quod enuntiavi vitam meam? Et quid prodest Deo? Lucris Dei prodest. Enuntiavi Deo vitam meam, quia vivere me fecit Deus. Quomodo enuntiavit vitam suam Paulus apostolus, dicens, Qui prius fui blasphemus et persecutor et injuriosus! Enuntiet vitam suam: Sed misericordiam consecutus sum . Enuntiavit vitam suam, non sibi, sed illi: quia sic enuntiavit ut illi crederetur; non ad lucra sua, sed ad lucra illius. Quid enim ait ipse Paulus? Ideo Christus mortuus est et resurrexit, ut qui vivit jam non sibi vivat, sed ei qui pro omnibus mortuus est . Si ergo vivis, et non a te vivis, quia ut viveres ille praestitit, enuntia vitam tuam, non tibi, sed illi; non tua quaerens, non tibi vivens, sed ei qui pro omnibus mortuus est. Etenim de quibusdam reprobis quid ait idem Apostolus? Omnes enim sua quaerunt, non quae Jesu Christi . Si propterea enuntias vitam tuam ut tibi prosit, et aliis non prosit, tibi illam enuntias, non Deo: si autem sic enuntias vitam tuam, ut alios etiam invites ad accipiendam vitam quam et tu accepisti, enuntias vitam tuam illi a quo accepisti, et habebis mercedem ampliorem, quia et ex eo quod accepisti non ingratus exstitisti. Deus, vitam meam enuntiavi tibi. Posuisti lacrymas meas in conspectu tuo. Exaudisti me deprecantem te. Sicut et in repromissione tua. Quia sic promiseras, hoc egisti. Dixisti te exauditurum flentem: credidi, flevi, exauditus sum; inveni te misericordem in repromittendo, veracem in reddendo. Sicut et in repromissione tua.
55.15 PL 36, 656
15. “Let there come death upon them, and let them go down unto Hell living” (ver. 15). How hath he cited and hath made us call to mind that first beginning of schism, when in that first people of the Jews certain proud men separated themselves, and would without have sacrificed? A new death upon them came: the earth opened herself, and swallowed them up alive. “Let there come,” he saith, “death upon them, and let them go down into Hell living.” What is “living”? knowing that they are perishing, and yet perishing. Hear of living men perishing and being swallowed up in a gulf of the earth, that is, being swallowed up in the voraciousness of earthly desires. Thou sayest to a man, What aileth thee, brother? Brethren we are, one God we invoke, in one Christ we believe, one Gospel we hear, one Psalm we sing, one Amen we respond, one Hallelujah we sound, one Easter we celebrate: why art thou without and I am within? Ofttimes one straitened, and perceiving how true are the charges which are made, saith, May God requite our ancestors! Therefore alive he perisheth. In the next place thou continuest and thus givest warning. At least let the evil of separation stand alone, why dost thou adjoin thereto that of rebaptism? Acknowledge in me what thou hast; and if thou hatest me, spare thou Christ in me. And this evil thing doth frequently and very greatly displease them.…Because they themselves have the Scriptures in their hands, and know well by daily reading how the Church Catholic through the whole world is so spread, that in a word all contradiction is void; and that there cannot be found any support for their schism they know well: therefore unto the lower places living they go down, because the evil which they do, they know evil to be. But the former a fire of divine indignation consumed. For being inflamed with desire of strife, from their evil leaders they would not depart. There came upon fire a fire, upon the heat of dissension the heat of consuming. “For naughtiness is in their lodgings, in the midst of them.” “In their lodgings,” wherein they tarry and pass away. For here they are not alway to be: and nevertheless in defence of a temporal animosity they are fighting so fiercely. “In their lodgings is iniquity; in the midst of them is iniquity:” no part of them is so near the middle of them as their heart.
[vers. 10.] Convertantur inimici mei retrorsum. Hoc ipsis prodest, non male illis optat: etenim praecedere volunt, ideo corrigi nolunt. Mones inimicum tuum ut bene vivat, ut se corrigat: ille contemnit, ille respuit verbum tuum: Ecce qui me monet, ecce a quo auditurus sum praecepta quibus vivam! Praecedere te vult, et praecedendo non corrigitur. Non attendit quia verba tua non sunt tua; non attendit quia vitam tuam Deo enuntias, non tibi. Praecedendo ergo non corrigitur: bonum est illi ut convertatur retrorsum, et quem praecedere volebat sequatur. Dominus de passione sua futura discipulis loquebatur, exhorruit Petrus, et ait, Absit, Domine, non fiet istud: qui paulo ante dixerat, Tu es Christus Filius Dei vivi, confessus Deum, timuit eum mori quasi hominem. Dominus autem qui sic venerat ut pateretur, neque enim aliter salvi esse possemus, nisi ejus sanguine redimeremur, paulo ante confessionem Petri laudaverat, et dixerat: Quia non tibi caro et sanguis revelavit hoc, sed Pater meus qui in coelis est. Propterea tu es Petrus, et super istam petram aedificabo Ecclesiam meam, et portae inferorum non vincent eam; et tibi dabo claves regni coelorum. Videte quemadmodum prosecutus est confessionem veram, piam, plenam fiduciae, quia dixit, Tu es Christus Filius Dei vivi. Continuo autem ubi coepit loqui Dominus de passione sua, timuit ille ne periret moriendo, cum ipsi nos periremus nisi ille moreretur; et ait, Absit, Domine, non fiet istud. Et Dominus illi, cui paulo ante dixerat, Beatus es, et super hanc petram aedificabo Ecclesiam meam, Redi, inquit, retro satanas, scandalum mihi es: Quare ergo satanas, qui paulo ante beatus et petra? Non enim sapis quae mei sunt, ait, sed quae sunt hominis . Paulo ante quae Dei: quia non revelavit tibi caro et sanguis, sed Pater meus qui in coelis est. Quando in Deo laudabat sermonem, non satanas, sed Petrus a petra: quando autem a se, et ex humana infirmitate, amore hominis carnali, quod impedimento esset saluti ipsius et caeterorum, satanas dictus est. Quare? Quia praecedere Dominum volebat, et Duci coelesti terrenum dare consilium. Absit, Domine, non fiet istud. Dicis, Absit; et dicis, Domine: utique si Dominus est, potestate facit; si magister est, novit quid faciat, novit quid doceat. Tu autem vis ducere ducem, docere magistrum, jubere Domino, optare Deo: multum praecedis, redi retro. Numquid non et istis inimicis hoc proderat? Convertantur inimici mei retrorsum: sed non remaneant retrorsum. Ideo convertantur retrorsum, ne praecedant; sed ut sequantur, non ut remaneant. Convertantur inimici mei retrorsum.
55.16 PL 36, 657
16. “Therefore to the Lord I have cried out” (ver. 16). The Body of Christ and the oneness of Christ in anguish, in weariness, in uneasiness, in the tribulation of its exercise, that One Man, Oneness in One Body set, when He was wearying His soul in crying out from the ends of the earth; saith, “From the ends of the earth to Thee I have cried out, when My heart was being vexed.” Himself one, but a oneness that One! and Himself one, not in one place one, but from the ends of the earth is crying as one. How from the ends of the earth should there cry one, except there were one? “I to the Lord have cried out.” Rightly do thou cry out to the Lord, cry not to Donatus: lest for thee he be instead of the Lord a lord, that under the Lord would not be a fellow-servant.
In quacumque die invocavero te, ecce scivi quoniam Deus meus es tu. Magna scientia! Non ait, Scivi quia Deus es; sed, quia Deus meus es tu. Tuus est enim, cum tibi subvenit; tuus est, cum tu ab illo alienus non es. Unde dicitur: Beatus populus, cujus est Dominus Deus ipsius. Quare, cujus est? cujus enim non est? Omnium quidem Deus est: sed eorum Deus proprie dicitur, qui eum diligunt, qui eum tenent, qui illum possident, qui illum colunt; tanquam de domo ipsius, magna sunt familia ejus, redempti magno sanguine unici Filii. Quantum dedit nobis Deus, ut ipsius essemus et ipse sit noster! At vero alienigenae longe facti a sanctis, filii alieni sunt. Videte quid de illis dicatur in alio psalmo: Domine, libera me, ait, de manu filiorum alienorum, quorum os locutum est vanitatem, et dextera eorum dextera iniquitatis. Et vide altitudinem ipsorum, sed altitudinem diei, id est superbiam temporalem. Quorum filii eorum, inquit, sicut novellae constabilitae, filiae eorum ornatae ut similitudo templi. Felicitatem describit praesentis saeculi, in qua errantes homines et eam pro magno habentes, felicitatem veram sempiternamque non quaerunt. Inde ergo isti filii alieni, non filii Dei: Quorum filii eorum, inquit, sicut novellae constabilitae, filiae eorum ornatae sicut similitudo templi: cellaria eorum plena, eructantia ex hoc in hoc: boves eorum crassi, oves eorum fecundae, multiplicantes in exitibus suis: non est ruina maceriae neque transitus, neque clamor in plateis eorum. Et quid sequitur? Beatum dixerunt populum cui haec sunt. Sed qui dixerunt? Filii alieni, quorum os locutum est vanitatem. Tu quid dicis? Beatus populus, cujus est Dominus Deus ipsius . Tulit omnia de medio caetera quae dat Deus, et dedit ipsum Deum. Omnia quippe illa, fratres, quae commemorarunt filii alieni, Deus dat; sed et alienis dat, sed et malis dat, sed et blasphemis dat, qui solem suum oriri facit super bonos et malos, et pluit super justos et injustos (Matth. V, 45). Aliquando ista bonis dat, aliquando non dat; et malis aliquando dat, aliquando non dat: bonis tamen servat seipsum, malis autem ignem sempiternum. Est ergo malum quod non dat bonis, et est bonum quod non dat malis: sunt quaedam media, et bona et mala, quae dat et bonis et malis.
55.17 PL 36, 658
17. “In evening, in morning, at noon-day I will recount and will tell forth, and He shall hearken to my voice” (ver. 18). Do thou proclaim glad tidings, keep not secret that which thou hast received, “in evening” of things gone by, “in morning” of things to be, at “noonday” of things ever to be. Therefore, to that which he saith “in evening” belongeth that which he recounteth: to that which he saith, “in morning,” belongeth that which he telleth forth: to that which he saith “at noon-day,” belongeth that wherein his voice is hearkened to. For the end is at noon-day; that is to say, whence there is no going down unto setting. For at noon-day there is light full high, the splendour of wisdom, the fervour of love. “In evening and in morning and at noon-day.” “In evening,” the Lord on the Cross; “in morning,” in Resurrection; “at noon-day,” in Ascension. I will recount in evening the patience of Him dying, I will tell forth in morning the life of Him rising, I will pray that He hearken at noon-day sitting at the right hand of the Father. He shall hearken to my voice, That intercedeth for us. How great is the security of this man. How great the consolation, how great the refuge “from weakness of mind and tempest,” against evil men, against ungodly men both without and within, and in the case of those that are without though they had been within.
Nos ergo Deum amemus, fratres, pure et caste. Non est castum cor, si Deum ad mercedem colit. Quid ergo? mercedem de Dei cultu non habebimus? Habebimus plane, sed ipsum Deum quem colimus. Ipse nobis merces erit, quia videbimus eum sicuti est . Attende quia mercedem consequeris. Amatoribus suis Dominus noster Jesus Christus quid dicit? Qui diligit me, mandata mea custodit; et qui diligit me, diligetur a Patre meo, et ego diligam eum. Quid illi ergo dabis? Et ostendam meipsum illi . Si non amas, parum est: si amas, si suspiras, si gratis colis eum a quo gratis emptus es, non enim eum promerueras ut te redimeret, si consideratis in te beneficiis ejus suspiras, et inquietum habes cor desiderio ejus; noli extra eum aliquid ab eo quaerere, ipse tibi sufficit. Quantumlibet sis avarus, sufficit tibi Deus. Etenim avaritia terram quaerebat possidere totam, adde et coelum: plus est qui fecit coelum et terram. Dicam, fratres: in istis humanis conjugiis considerate cor castum quale sit ad Deum. Certe humana conjugia sunt: non diligit uxorem suam, qui propter dotem illam diligit; non maritum caste diligit, quae propterea diligit, quia aliquid donavit, aut quia multum donavit. Et dives maritus, et pauper factus maritus est. Quam multi proscripti, a castis uxoribus amplius dilecti sunt? Probata sunt multa casta conjugia calamitatibus maritorum: ne aliud amare quam maritum putarentur, non solum non deseruerunt, sed amplius obsecutae sunt. Si ergo maritus carnalis gratis diligitur, si caste diligitur; et uxor carnalis gratis diligitur, si caste diligitur: Deus quomodo diligendus est, verus et verax animae maritus ad prolem sempiternae vitae fecundans, et steriles nos non esse permittens? Illum ergo sic diligamus, ut aliud praeter ipsum non diligatur; et fit in nobis quod diximus, quod cantavimus, quia et hic vox nostra est: In quacumque die invocavero te, ecce scivi quoniam Deus meus es tu. Hoc est invocare Deum, gratis invocare. Proinde de quibusdam quid dictum est? Dominum non invocaverunt. Quasi Dominum sibi invocare videbantur; et petebant eum de haereditatibus, de amplianda pecunia, de prolonganda vita ista, de caeteris temporalibus rebus: et quid de illis Scriptura? Dominum non invocaverunt. Ideo quid sequitur? Ibi timuerunt timore, ubi non erat timor . Quid est, ubi non erat timor? Ne illis subtraheretur pecunia, ne aliquid in domo eorum minus fieret; postremo ne minus annorum haberent in hac vita, quam sibi sperabant: verum ibi trepidaverunt timore, ubi non erat timor. Quales fuerunt illi Judaei: Si dimiserimus eum vivere, venient Romani, et auferent a nobis et locum et gentem . Ibi timuerunt timore ubi non erat timor. Ecce scivi, quoniam Deus meus es tu. Magnae divitiae cordis, magnum lumen oculi interioris, magna fiducia securitatis! Ecce scivi quoniam Deus meus es tu.
55.18 PL 36, 659
18. Therefore, my Brethren, those that in the very congregation of these walls ye see to be rebellious men, proud, seeking their own, lifted up; not having a zeal for God that is chaste, sound, quiet, but ascribing to themselves much; ready for dissension, but not finding opportunity; are the very chaff of the Lord’s floor. From hence these few men the wind of pride hath dislodged: the whole floor will not fly, save when He at the last shall winnow. But what shall we do, save with this man sing, with this man pray, with this man mourn and say securely, “He shall redeem in peace my soul” (ver. 18). Against them that love not peace: “in peace He shall redeem my soul.” “Because with those that hated peace I was peace-making.” “He shall redeem in peace my soul, from those that draw near to me.” For from those that are afar from me, it is an easy case: not so soon doth he deceive me that saith, Come, pray to an idol: he is very far from me. Art thou a Christian? A Christian, he saith. Out of a neighbouring place he is my adversary, he is at hand. “He shall redeem in peace my soul, from those that draw near to me: for in many things they were with me.” Wherefore have I said, “draw near to me”? Because “in many things they were with me.” In this verse two propositions occur. “In many things they were with me.” Baptism we had both of us, in that they were with me: the Gospel we both read, they were in that with me: the festivals of martyrs we celebrated, they were there with me: Easter’s solemnity we attended, they were there with me. But not entirely with me: in schism not with me, in heresy not with me. In many things with me, in few things not with me. But in these few things wherein not with me, there is no profit to them of the many things wherein they were with me. For see, brethren, how many things hath recounted the Apostle Paul: one thing, he hath said, if it shall have been wanting, in vain are those things. “If with the tongues of men and of angels I shall speak,” he saith, “if I have all prophecy, and all faith, and all knowledge; if mountains I shall remove, if I shall bestow all my goods upon the poor, if I shall deliver my body even so that it be burned.” How many things he hath enumerated! To all these many things let there be wanting one thing, charity; the former in number are more, the latter in weight is greater. Therefore in all Sacraments they are with me, in one charity not with me: “In many things they were with me.” Again, by a different expression: “For in many things they were with me.” They that themselves have separated from me, with me they were, not in few things, but in many things. For throughout the whole world few are the grains, many are the chaffs. Therefore he saith what? In chaff with me they were, in wheat with me they were not. And the chaff is nearly related to the wheat, from one seed it goeth forth, in one field is rooted, with one rain is nourished, the same reaper it suffereth, the same threshing sustaineth, the same winnowing awaiteth, but not into one barn entereth.
[vers. 11.] In Deo laudabo verbum, in Domino laudabo sermonem: in Deo speravi, non timebo quid faciat mihi homo. Jam ipse est sensus qui superius est repetitus.
55.19 PL 36, 659
19. “God will hear me, and He shall humble them That is before ages” (ver. 19). For they rely on some leader or other of theirs that hath begun but yesterday. “He shall humble them That is before ages.” For even if with reference to time Christ is of Mary the Virgin, nevertheless before ages: “In the beginning He is the Word and the Word with God, and the Word God.” “He shall humble them That is before ages. For to them is no changing:” of them I “speak to whom is no changing.” He knew of some to persevere, and in the perseverance of their own wickedness to die. For we see them, and to them is no changing: they that die in that same perverseness, in that same schism, to them is no changing. God shall humble them, shall humble them in damnation, because they are exalted in dissension. To them is no changing, because they are not changed for the better, but for the worse: neither while they are here, nor in the resurrection. For all we shall rise again, but not all shall be changed. Wherefore? Because “’To them is no changing: and they have not feared God.”…
[vers. 12.] In me sunt, Deus, vota tua, quae reddam laudis tibi. Vovete, et reddite Domino Deo vestro . Quid voveatis, quid reddatis? An forte animalia illa quae offerebantur ad aras aliquando? Nihil tale offeras: in te est quod voveas et reddas. De cordis arca profer laudis incensum, de cellario bonae conscientiae profer sacrificium fidei. Quidquid profers, accende charitate. In te sint vota, quae reddas laudis Deo. Cujus laudis? Quid enim tibi praestitit? Quoniam eruisti animam meam de morte. Ipsa est illa vita quam enuntiat illi: Deus, vitam meam enuntiavi tibi. Quid enim eram? Mortuus. Per meipsum eram mortuus: per te quid sum? Vivus. Ideo in me sunt, Deus, vota tua, quae reddam laudis tibi. En amo Deum meum; nemo hunc mihi eripit: quod illi dem nemo mihi eripit, quia in corde inclusum est. Merito dicitur in illa superiore fiducia, Quid faciat mihi homo? Saeviat homo, permittatur saevire, permittatur efficere quod conatur: quid est ablaturus? Aurum, argentum, pecora, servos, ancillas, fundos, domos; auferat omnia: numquid aufert vota quae in me sunt, quae reddam laudis Deo? Permissus est tentare tentator sanctum virum Job: uno puncto temporis abstulit omnia, quidquid facultatum habuerat ademit, abstulit haereditatem, interfecit haeredes; neque hoc paulatim, sed catervatim, uno ictu, uno impetu, ut omnia subito nuntiarentur. Ablatis omnibus solus remansit Job; sed in illo erant vota laudis quae redderet Deo, in illo plane erant: arcam sancti pectoris sui fur diabolus non invaserat, plenus erat unde sacrificaret. Audi quae habebat, audi quae protulit: Dominus dedit, Dominus abstulit; sicut Domino placuit, ita factum est: sit nomen Domino benedictum . O divitiae interiores, quo fur non accedit! Ipse dederat Deus unde accipiebat; ipse ditaverat, unde illi offerebat quod amabat. Laudem a te quaerit Deus, confessionem tuam quaerit Deus. Sed de agro tuo aliquid daturus es? Ipse pluit ut haberes. De arca daturus es aliquid? Ipse instituit quod datarus es. Quid datarus es quod ab illo non accepisti? Quid enim habes quod non accepisti ? De corde dabis? Ipse dedit fidem, spem et charitatem: hoc prolaturus, hoc sacrificaturus es. Sed plane omnia illa caetera potest tibi auferre inimicus invito, hoc auferre non potest nisi volenti. Illa perdet et invitus; et volens habere aurum, perdet aurum, et volens habere domum, perdet domum: fidem nemo perdet nisi qui spreverit.
55.20 PL 36, 660
20. “He stretcheth forth His hand in requiting” (ver. 20). “They have polluted His Testament.” Read the testament which they have polluted: “In thy seed shall be blessed all nations.” Thou against these words of the Testator sayest what? The Africa of holy Donatus hath alone deserved this grace, in him hath remained the Church of Christ. Say at least the Church of Donatus. Wherefore addest thou, of Christ? Of whom it is said, “In thy seed shall be blessed all nations.” After Donatus wilt thou go? Set aside Christ, and then secede. See therefore what followeth: “They have polluted His Testament.” What Testament? To Abraham have been spoken the promises, and to his seed. The Apostle saith, “Nevertheless, a man’s testament confirmed no one maketh void, or super-addeth to: to Abraham have been spoken the promises, and to his seed. He saith not, And to seeds, as if in many; but as if in one, And to thy Seed, which is Christ.” In this Christ, therefore, what Testament hath been promised? “In thy seed shall be blessed all nations.” Thou that hast given up the unity of all nations, and in a part hast remained, hast polluted His Testament.…
[vers.13.] In me sunt, Deus, vota tua, quae reddam laudis tibi: quia eruisti animam meam de morte, oculos meos a lacrymis, et pedes meos de lapsu; ut placeam corum Deo in lumine viventium. Merito non placet filiis alienis longe factis a sanctis, quia non habent lumen viventium, unde videant quod Deo placet. Lumen viventium est lumen immortalium, lumen sanctorum. Qui non est in tenebris, placet in lumine viventium. Attenditur homo et ea quae ipsius sunt, nemo scit qualis est: Deus videt qualis est. Aliquando et ipsum diabolum latet; nisi tentet, non invenit sicut de isto viro quem modo commemoravi. Noverat eum Deus, et ei testimonium perhibebat: diabolus eum non noverat, et ideo dixerat, Numquid Job gratis colit Deum Videte quo provocat inimicus: ibi perfectio est. Videtequid objicit inimicus. Videbat hominem Deo servientem, in omnibus obsequentem, omnia bene operantem; et quia dives erat et felicissima domus, hoc objicit quia ideo colit Deum, quoniam dedit illi haec omnia: Numquid Job gratis colit Deum? Hoc enim erat verum lumen, hoc lumen viventium, ut gratis coleret Deum. Deus videbat in corde servi sui cultum suum gratuitum. Placebat enim illud cor in conspectu Domini, in lumine viventium: diabolum latebat, quia in tenebris erat. Admisit Deus tentatorem, non ut ipse nosset quod noverat, sed ut nobis noscendum et imitandum praeberet. Numquid enim si tentator non admitteretur, videremus nos ipsi in Job quod deberemus et vellemus imitari? Admissus est tentator, abstulit omnia, remansit ille solus a facultatibus, solus a familia, solus a filiis, plenus Deo. Uxor sane relicta erat. Misericordem putatis diabolum, qui ei reliquit uxorem? Noverat per quam deceperat Adam. Suam reliquerat adjutricem, non mariti consolatricem. Ille ergo plenus Deo, in quo vota erant quae redderet laudis, ut ostenderet quia gratis Deum colebat, non ideo quia tanta acceperat; et amissis omnibus talis est, quia illum qui dederat omnia non amisit: Dominus dedit, inquit, Dominus abstulit; sicut Domino placuit, ita factum est: sit nomen Domini benedictum. Vulnere etiam percussus a capite usque ad pedes, integer tamen intus, respondit tentatrici, de lumine viventium, de lumine cordis sui: Locuta es tanquam una ex insipientibus mulieribus , id est, tanquam ea quae non habet lumen viventium. Lumen enim viventium sapientia, et tenebrae insipientium stultitia est. Locuta es tanquam una ex insipientibus mulieribus: carnem meam vides, lumen cordis mei non vides. Poterat enim illa tunc virum amplius amare, si pulchritudinem interiorem nosset, et inspiceret ubi ille pulcher erat coram oculis Dei: quia in illo erant vota, quae redderet laudis Deo. Quomodo illud patrimonium non invaserat inimicus! Quam integrum erat quod possidebat, et propter quod amplius possidendum sperabat iturus a virtutibus in virtutem! Ergo, fratres, ad hoc nobis valeant haec omnia, ut Deum gratis diligamus, in illo speremus semper, nec hominem, nec diabolum timeamus. Nec ille, nec iste facit aliquid, nisi quando permittitur: permitti ad nihilum potest, nisi quod nobis prodest. Toleremus malos, simus boni, quia et nos fuimus mali. Pro nihilo salvos faciet Deus omnes, de quibus desperare audemus. Ergo de nemine desperemus, pro omnibus quos patimur oremus, a Deo nunquam recedamus. Patrimonium nostrum ipse sit, spes nostra ipse sit, salus nostra ipse sit. Ipse hic consolator, ibi munerator, ubique vivificator et vitae dator; non alterius vitae, sed illius de qua dictum est, Ego sum via et veritas et vita : ut et hic in lumine fidei, et ibi in lumine speciei, tanquam in lumine viventium, in conspectu Domini placeamus.
55.21 PL 36, 646
21. “And His heart hath drawn near” (ver. 22). Of whom do we understand it, except of Him, by the anger of whom they have been divided? How “hath his heart drawn near”? In such sort, that we may understand His will. For by heretics hath been vindicated the Catholic Church, and by those that think evil have been proved those that think well. For many things lay hid in the Scriptures: and when heretics had been cut off, with questions they troubled the Church of God: then those things were opened which lay hid, and the will of God was understood. Thence is said in another Psalm, “In order that they might be excluded that have been proved with silver.” For let them be excluded, He hath said, let them come forth, let them appear. Whence even in silver-working men are called “excluders,” that is, pressers out of form from the sort of confusion of the lump. Therefore many men that could understand and expound the Scriptures very excellently, were hidden among the people of God: but they did not declare the solution of difficult questions, when no reviler again urged them. For was the Trinity perfectly treated of before the Arians snarled thereat? Was repentance perfectly treated of before the Novatians opposed? So not perfectly of Baptism was it treated, before rebaptizers removed outside contradicted; nor of the very oneness of Christ were the doctrines clearly stated which have been stated, save after that this separation began to press upon the weak: in order that they that knew how to treat of and solve these questions (lest the weak should perish vexed with the questions of the ungodly), by their discourses and disputations should bring out unto open day the dark things of the Law.…This obscure sense see in what manner the Apostle bringeth out into light; “It is needful,” he saith, “that also heresies there be, in order that men proved may be made manifest among you.” What is “men proved”? Proved with silver, proved with the word. What is “may be made manifest”? May be brought out. Wherefore this? Because of heretics. So therefore these also “have been divided because of the anger of His countenance, and His heart hath drawn near.”
55.22 PL 36, 646
22. “His discourses have been softened above oil, and themselves are darts” (ver. 21). For certain things in the Scriptures were seeming hard, while they were obscure; when explained, they have been softened. For even the first heresy in the disciples of Christ, as it were from the hardness of His discourse arose. For when He said, “Except a man shall have eaten My flesh and shall have drunk My blood, he shall not have life in himself:” they, not understanding, said to one another, “Hard is this discourse, who can hear it?” Saying that, “Hard is this discourse,” they separated from Him: He remained with the others, the twelve. When they had intimated to Him, that by His discourse they had been scandalized, “Will ye also,” He saith, “choose to go?” Then Peter: “Thou hast the Word of life eternal: to whom shall we go?” Attend, we beseech you, and ye little ones learn godliness. Did Peter by any means at that time understand the secret of that discourse of the Lord? Not yet he understood: but that good were the words which he understood not, godly he believed. Therefore if hard is a discourse, and not yet is understood, be it hard to an ungodly man, but to thee be it by godliness softened: for whenever it is solved, it both will become for thee oil, and even unto the bones it will penetrate.
55.23 PL 36, 646
23. Furthermore, just as Peter, after their having been scandalized by the hardness, as they thought, of the discourse of the Lord, even then said, “to whom shall we go?” so he hath added, “Cast upon the Lord thy care, and He shall Himself nourish thee up” (ver. 22). A little one thou art, not yet thou understandest the secret things of words: perchance from thee the bread is hidden, and as yet with milk thou must be fed: be not angry with the breasts: they will make thee fit for the table, for which now little fitted thou art. Behold by the division of heretics many hard things have been softened: His discourses that were hard have been softened above oil, and they are themselves darts. They have armed men preaching the Gospel: and the very discourses are aimed at the breast of every one that heareth, by men instant in season and out of season: by those discourses, by those words, as though by arrows, hearts of men unto the love of peace are smitten. Hard they were, and soft they have been made. Being softened they have not lost their virtue, but into darts have been converted.…Upon the Lord cast thyself. Behold thou wilt cast thyself upon the Lord, let no one put himself in the place of the Lord. “Cast upon the Lord thy care.”…
55.24 PL 36, 646
24. But to the others what? “But Thou, O God, shall bring them down unto the pit of corruption” (ver. 23). The pit of corruption is the darkness of sinking under. When blind leadeth blind, they both fall into a ditch. God bringeth them down into the pit of corruption, not because He is the author of their own guilt, but because He is Himself the judge of their iniquities. “For God hath delivered them unto the desires of their heart.” For they have loved darkness, and not light; they have loved blindness, and not seeing. For behold the Lord Jesus hath shone out to the whole world, let them sing in unity with the whole world: “For there is not one that can hide himself from the heat of Him.” But they passing over from the whole to a part, from the body to a wound, from life to a limb cut off, shall meet with what, but going into the pit of corruption?
55.25 PL 36, 646
25. “Men of bloods and of deceitfulness.” Men of bloods, because of slayings he calleth them: and O that they were corporal and not spiritual slayings. For blood from the flesh going forth, is seen and shuddered at: who seeth the blood of the heart in a man rebaptized? Those deaths require other eyes. Although even about these visible deaths Circumcelliones armed everywhere remain not quiet. And if we think of these visible deaths, there are men of bloods. Give heed to the armed man, whether he is a man of peace and not of blood. If at least a club only he were to carry, well; but he carrieth a sling, carrieth an axe, carrieth stones, carrieth lances; and carrying these weapons, wherever they may they scour, for the blood of innocent men they thirst. Therefore even with regard to these visible deaths there are men of bloods. But even of them let us say, O that such deaths alone they perpetrated, and souls they slew not. These that are men of bloods and of deceit, let them not suppose that we thus wrongly understand men of bloods, of them that kill souls: they themselves of their Maximianists have so understood it. For when they condemned them, in the very sentence of their Council they have set down these words: “Swift are the feet of them to shed the blood” (of the proclaimers), “tribulation and calamity are in the ways of them, and the way of peace they have not known.” This of the Maximianists they have said. But I ask of them, when have the Maximianists shed the body’s blood; not because they too would not shed, if there were so great a multitude as could shed, but because of the fear in their minority rather they have suffered somewhat from others, than have themselves at any time done any such thing. Therefore I question the Donatist and say: In thy Council thou hast set down of the Maximianists, “Swift are the feet of them to shed blood.” Show me one of whom the Maximianists have hurt so much as a finger! What other thing to me is he to answer, than that which I say? They that have separated themselves from unity, and who slay souls by leading astray, spiritually, not carnally, do shed blood. Very well thou hast expounded, but in thy exposition acknowledge their own deeds. “Men of bloods and of deceitfulness.” In guile is deceitfulness, in dissimulation, in seduction. What therefore of those very men that have been divided because of the anger of His countenance? They are themselves men of bloods and of deceit.
55.26 PL 36, 646
26. But of them he saith what? “They shall not halve their days.” What is, “They shall not halve their days”? They shall not make progress as much as they think: within the time which they expect, they shall perish. For he is that partridge, whereof hath been said, “In the half of his days they shall leave him, and in his last days he shall be an unwise one.” They make progress, but for a time. For what saith the Apostle? “But evil men and seducers shall make progress for the worse, themselves erring, and other men into error driving.” But “a blind man leading a blind man, together into a ditch they fall.” Deservedly they fall “into the pit of corruption.” What therefore saith he? They shall make progress for the worse: not however for long. For a little before he hath said, “But further they shall not make progress:” that is, “shall not halve their days.” Let the Apostle proceed and tell wherefore: “For the madness of them shall be manifest to all men, as also was that of the others.” “But I in Thee will hope, O Lord.” But deservedly they shall not halve their days, because in man they have hoped. But I from days temporal have reached unto day eternal. Wherefore? Because in Thee I have hoped, O Lord.