3. These men sometimes are observed of the weak sons of light, and their feet totter, when they have seen evil men in felicity to flourish, and they say to themselves, " Of what profit to me is innocence? What doth it advantage me that I serve God, that I keep His commandments, that I oppress no one, from no one plunder anything, hurt no one, that what I can I bestow? behold, all these things I do, and they flourish, I toil." But why? Wouldest thou also wish to be a Ziphite? They flourish in the world, wither in judgment, and after withering, into fire everlasting shall be cast: wouldest thou also choose this? Art thou ignorant of what He hath promised thee, who to thee hath come, what in Himself here He displayed? If the flower of the Ziphites were to be desired, would not Himself thy Lord also in this world have flourished? Or indeed was there wanting to Him the power to flourish? Nay but here He chose rather amid the Ziphites to hide, and to say to Pontius Pilate, as if to one being himself also a flower of the Ziphites, and in suspicion about His kingdom, " My kingdom is not of this world." * Therefore here He was hidden: and all good men are hidden here, because their good is within, it is concealed, in the heart it is, where is faith, where charity, where hope, where their treasure is. Do these good things appear in the world? Both these good things are hidden, and the reward of these good things is hidden...
4. " O God, in Thy name make me safe, and in Thy virtue judge me" (ver. 1). Let the Church say this, hiding amid the Ziphites. Let the Christian body say this, keeping secret the good of its morals, expecting in secret the reward of its merits, let it say this: " In Thy virtue 5 judge me." Thou hast come, O Christ, humble Thou hast appeared, despised Thou hast been, scourged hast been, crucified hast been, slain hast been; but, on the third day hast risen, 1 Col. iii. 3. * John xviii. 36.
on the fortieth day into Heaven hast ascended: Thou sittest at the right hand of the Father, and no one seeth: Thy Spirit thence Thou hast sent, which men that were worthy have received; fulfilled with Thy love, the praise of that very humility of Thine throughout the world and nations they have preached: Thy name I see to excel among mankind, but nevertheless as weak to us hast Thou been preached. For not even did that Teacher of the Gentiles say, that among us he knew anything, " Save Christ Jesus, and Him crucified;"6 in order that of Him we might choose the reproach, rather than the glory of the flourishing Ziphites. Nevertheless, of Him he saith what? "Although He died of weakness, yet He liveth of the power ' of God." He came then that He might die of weakness, He is to come that He may judge in the power of God: but through the weakness of the Cross His name hath been illustrious. Whosoever shall not have believed upon the name made illustrious through weakness, shall stand in awe at the Judge, when He shall have come in power. But, lest He that once was weak, when He shall have come strong, with that fan send us to the left hand; may He " save us in His name, and judge us in His virtue." For who so rash as to have desired this, as to say to God, for instance " Judge me "? Is it not wont to be said to men for a curse, " God judge thee "? So evidently it is a curse, if He judge thee in His virtue; and shall not have saved thee in His name: but when in name precedent He shall have saved thee, to thy health in virtue consequent He shall judge. Be thou without care: that judgment shall not to thee be punishment, but dividing. For in a'certain Psalm 8 thus is said: " Judge me, O God, and divide my cause from the nation unholy."...
5. "O God, hearken to my prayer, in Thy ears receive the words of my mouth " (ver. 2)...To Thee may my prayer attain, driven forth and darted out from the desire of Thy eternal blessings: to Thy ears I send it forth, aid it that it may reach, lest it fall short in the middle of the way, and fainting as it were it fall down. But even if there result not to me now the good things which I ask, I am secured nevertheless that hereafter they will come. For even in the case of transgressions a certain man is said to have asked of God, and not to have been hearkened to for his good. For privations of this world had inspired him to prayer, and being set in temporal tribulations he had wished that temporal tribulations should pass away, and there should return the flower of grass; and he saith, " My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken me?"' The very voice of Christ it is, but for 6 1 Cor. ii. a. 9 Ps. xx ii. 1.
1 Virtute.
8 Ps. xliii. x.
Psalm LIV.]
His members' sake. "The words," he saith, " of my transgressions I have cried to Thee throughout the day, and Thou hast not hearkened: and by night, and not for the sake of folly to me: " that is, " and by night I have cried, and Thou hast not hearkened; and nevertheless in this very thing that Thou hast not hearkened, it is not for the sake of folly to me that Thou hast not hearkened, but rather for the sake of wisdom that Thou hast not hearkened, that I might perceive what of Thee I ought to ask. For those things I was asking which to my cost perchance I should have received." Thou askest riches, O man; how many have been overset through their riches? Whence knowest thou whether to thee riches may profit? Have not many poor men more safely been in obscurity; having become rich men, so soon as they have begun to blaze forth, they have been a prey to the stronger? How much better they would have lain concealed, how much better they would have been unknown, that have begun to be inquired after not for the sake of what they were, but for the sake of what they had! In these temporal things therefore, brethren, we admonish and exhort you in the Lord, that ye ask not anything as if it were a thing settled, but that which God knoweth to be expedient for you. For what is expedient for you, ye know not at all.
Sometimes that which ye think to be for you is against you, and that which ye think to be against you is for you. For sick ye are; do not dictate to the physician the medicines he may choose to set beside you. If the teacher of the Gentiles, Paul the Apostle, saith, " For what we should pray for as we ought, we know not," 1 how much more we? Who nevertheless, when he seemed to himself to pray wisely, namely, that from him should be taken away the thorn of the flesh, the angel of Satan, that did buffet him, in order that he might not in the greatness of the revelations be lifted up, heard from the Lord what? Was that done which he wished? Nay,2 in order to that being done which was expedient, he heard from the Lord, I say, what? "Thrice," he saith, "I besought the Lord that He would take it from me; and He said to me, My Grace sufficeth for thee: for virtue in weakness is made perfect." 3 Salve to the wound I have applied; when I applied it I know, when it should be taken away I know. Let not a sick man draw back from the hands of the physician, let him not give advice to the physician. So it is with all these things temporal. There are tribulations; if well thou worshippest God, thou wilt know that He knoweth what is expedient for each man: there are prosperities; take the more heed, lest these same corrupt thy soul, so 1 Rom. viii. 26.
' Nay " not in MSS. 3 2 Cor. xii. 8, 9.
that it withdraw from Him that hath given these things...6. " For aliens have risen up against me " (ver. 3). What "aliens"? Was not David himself a Jew of the tribe of Judah? But the very place Ziph belonged to the tribe of Judah; it was of the Jews. How then "aliens "? Not in city, not in tribe, not in kindred, but in flower.4...But see the Ziphites, see them for a time flourishing. With reason " alien " sons. Thou amid the Ziphites hiding saidst what? " Blessed the people whereof the Lord is its God." Out of this affection this prayer 5 is being sent forth into the ears of the Lord, when it is said, " for aliens have risen up against me."
7. " And mighty men have sought after my soul." For in a new manner, my brethren, they would destroy the race of holy men, and the race of them that abstain from hoping in this world, all they that have hope in this world. Certainly commingled they are, certainly together they live. Very much to one another are opposed these two sorts: the one of those that place no hope but in things secular, and in temporal felicity, and the other of those that do firmly place their hope in the Lord God. And though concordant are these Ziphites, do not much trust to their concord: temptations are wanting; when there shall have come any temptation, so as that a person may be reproved for the flower of the world, I say not to thee he will I quarrel with the Bishop, but not even to the Church Herself will he draw near, lest there fall any part of the grass.6 Wherefore have I said these words, brethren? Because now gladly ye all hear in the name of Christ, and according as ye understand, so ye shout out at the word; ye would not indeed shout at it unless ye understood.7 This your understanding ought to be fruitful. But whether it is fruitful, temptation doth try; lest suddenly when ye are said to be ours, through temptation ye be found aliens, and it be said, " Aliens have risen up against me, and mighty men have sought my soul." Be not that said which followeth, " They have not set forth God before their face." For when will he set God before his face, before whose eyes there is nought but the world? namely, how he may have coin upon coin, how flocks may be increased, how barns may be filled, how it may be said to his soul, "Thou hast many good things, be merry, feast, take thy fill." Doth he set before his face Him, that unto one so boasting and so blooming with the flower of the Ziphites saith, "Fool" (that is, "man not understanding," He seems to bear this text in mind in these 7 They seem to have applauded, or shouted Amen. often when Chrysostom preached. — C.J So, also, [Psalm LIV.
" man unwise "), " this night shall be taken from thee thy soul; all these things which thou hast prepared, whose shall they be? " ' 8. "For behold, God helpeth me" (ver. 4). Even themselves know not themselves, amid whom I am hiding. But if they too were to set God before their face, they would find in what manner God helpeth me. For all holy men are helped by God, but within, where no one seeth. For in like manner as the conscience of ungodly men is a great punishment, so a great joy is the very conscience of godly men. " For our glory this is," saith the Apostle, " the testimony of our conscience." * In this within, not in the flower of the Ziphites without, doth glory that man that now saith, " For behold God helpeth me." Surely though afar off are to be those things which He promiseth, this day have I a sweet and present help; to-day in my heart's joy I find that without cause certain say, " Who doth show to us good things? For there is signed upon us the light of Thy countenance, O Lord, Thou hast put pleasantness into my heart." 3 Not into my vineyard, not into my flock, not into my cask, not into my table, but " into my heart." " For behold God helpeth me." How doth He help thee? " And the Lord is the lifter up of my soul."
9. " Turn away evil things unto mine enemies " (ver. 5). So however green they are, so however they flourish, for the fire they are being4 reserved. " In Thy virtue destroy Thou them." Because to wit they flourish now, because to wit they spring up like grass: s do not thou be a man unwise and foolish, so that by giving thought to these things thou perish for ever and ever. For, "Turn Thou away evil things unto mine enemies." For if thou shalt have place in the body of David Himself, in His virtue He will destroy them. These men flourish in the felicity of the world, perish in the virtue of God. Not in the same manner as they flourish, do they also perish: for they flourish for a time, perish for everlasting: flourish in unreal good things, perish in real torments. " In Thy strength destroy," whom in Thy weakness Thou hast endured.
10. "Voluntarily I will sacrifice to Thee" (ver. 6). Who can even understand this good thing of the heart, at another's speaking thereof, unless in himself he hath tasted it? What is, " Voluntarily I will sacrifice to Thee "?...For what sacrifice here shall I take, brethren? or what worthily shall I offer to the Lord for His mercy? Victims shall I seek from flock of sheep, ram shall I select, for any bull in the herds shall I look out, frankincense indeed from the land of the Sabaeans shall I bring? What * Al. " let them be."
shall I do? What offer; except that whereof He speaketh, " Sacrifice of praise shall honour Me"?6 Wherefore then "voluntarily"? Because truly I love that which I praise. I praise God, and in the self-same praise I rejoice: in the praise of Himself I rejoice, at whom being praised, I blush not. For He is not praised in the same manner as by those who love the theatrical follies is praised either by a charioteer, or a hunter, or actor of any kind, and by their praisers, other praisers are invited, are exhorted, to shout together: and when all have shouted, ofttimes, if their favourite is overcome, they are all put to the blush. Not so is our God-: be He praised with the will, loved with charity: let it be gratuitous (or voluntary) that He is loved and that He is praised. What is "gratuitous"? Himself for the sake of Himself, not for the sake of something else. For if thou praisest God in order that He may give thee something else, no longer freely dost thou love God. Thou wouldest blush, if thy wife for the sake of riches were to love thee, and perchance if poverty should befall thee, should begin to think of adultery. Seeing that therefore thou wouldest be loved by thy partner freely, wilt thou for anything else love God? What reward art thou to receive of God, O covetous man? Not earth for thee, but Himself He keepeth, who made heaven and earth. " Voluntarily I will sacrifice to Thee: " do it not of necessity. For if for the sake of anything else thou praisest God, out of necessity thou praisest...These things also which He hath given, because of the Giver are good things. For He giveth entirely, He giveth these temporal things: and to certain men to their good, to certain men to their harm, after the height and depth of His judgments..."Voluntarily I will sacrifice to Thee." Wherefore " voluntarily "? Because gratis. What is gratis? " And I will confess to Thy name, O Lord, for it is a good thing: " for nothing else, but because a "good thing" it is. Doth he say, " I will confess to Thy name, O Lord," because Thou givest me fruitful manors, because Thou givest me gold and silver, because Thou givest me extended riches, abundant money, most exalted dignity? Nay. But what? " For it is a good thing." Nothing I find better than Thy name.
11. "For out of all tribulation Thou hast delivered me" (ver. 7). For this cause I have perceived how good a thing is Thy name: for if this I were able before tribulations to acknowledge, perchance for me there had been no need of them. But tribulation hath been applied for admonition, admonition hath redounded to Thy praise. For I should not have understood ' Ps. L.3.
Psalm LV.]
where I was, except of my weakness I had been admonished. " Out of all tribulations," therefore, " Thou hast delivered me. And upon mine enemies mine eye hath looked back: " upon those Ziphites " mine eye hath looked back." Yea, their flower I have passed over in loftiness of heart, unto Thee I have come, and thence I have looked back upon them, and have seen that " All flesh is grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass: " ■ as in a certain place is also said, " I have seen the ungodly man to be exalted and raised up like 2 the cedars of Lebanon: I passed by, and, lo! he was not." 3 Wherefore " he was not "? Because thou hast passed by. What is, " because thou hast passed by"? Because not to no purpose hast thou heard " Lift up thy heart; " because not on earth, where thou wouldest have rotted, thou hast remained; because thou hast lifted thy soul to God, and thou hast mounted beyond the cedars of Lebanon, and from that elevation hast observed: and " Lo! he was not; " and thou hast sought him, and there hath not been found place for him. No longer is labour before thee; because thou hast entered into the sanctuary of God, and hast understood for the last things.4 So also here thus he concludeth. " And upon mine enemies mine eye hath looked back." This do ye therefore, brethren, with your souls; lift up your hearts, sharpen the edge of your mind, learn truly to love God, learn to despise the present world, learn voluntarily to sacrifice the offerings of praise; to the end that, mounting beyond the flower of the grass, ye may look back upon your enemies.
PSALM LV.s 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 * Oxf. mss. " above."
* Ps. lxxiii. 16, 17. * Lat. LI V. From a sermon to the people, wherein he is discoursing of enduring evil men, and disputing against the Donatists.
b Rom. x. 4.
■ Isa. xl. 6.
From a sermon to the people 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.
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.
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,8 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 alHhings,9 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.10 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 9 John i. 3. IO Oxf. MSS. add 16 words ending here.
II Matt. xxii. 43-45.
2IO [Psalm LV.
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." 3 " This is a great Sacrament," saith the Apostle, " but I speak in regard of Christ and the Church." 4 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?"5 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." 6 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,7 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." 8...
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: " 9 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. 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." IO As if in storm and waves he were beginning to sink, like