should be an abounding of iniquity: " And since iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold; but he that shall have persevered unto the end, the same shall be saved." ' But who shall persevere even unto the end, even until in- John xix. 34.
xl. 5, lu. 10; Luke iii. 6.
4 ha.
Luke: 3 John i. 14.
5 Malt. xxiv. 13.
iquity pass over? He that shall have been in the Body of Christ, he that shall have been in the members of Christ, and from the Head shall have learned the patience of persevering. Thou passest away, and behold passed are thy temptations; and thou goest into another life whither have gone holy men, if holy thou hast been. Into another life have gone Martyrs; if Martyr thou shalt have been, thou also goest into another life. Because " thou " hast passed away hence, hath by any means iniquity therefore passed away? There are born other unrighteous men, as there die some unrighteous men. In like manner therefore as some unrighteous men die and others are born: so some just men go, and others are born. Even unto the end of the world neither iniquity will be wanting to oppress, nor righteousness to suffer...
6. "I will cry to God most high" (ver. 2). If most high He is, how heareth He thee crying? Confidence hath been engendered by experience: "to God," he saith, "who had done good to me." If before that I was seeking Him, He did good to me, when I cry shall He not hearken to me? For good to us the Lord God hath done in sending to us our Saviour Jesus Christ, that He might die for our offences, and rise again for our justification.6 For what sort of men hath He willed His Son to die? For ungodly men. But ungodly men were not seeking God, and have been sought of God. For He is Most High in such sort, as that not far from Him is our misery and our groaning: because " near is the Lord to them that have bruised the heart." 7 " God that hath done good to me."
7. " He hath sent from heaven and hath saved me" (ver. 3). Now the Man Himself, now the Flesh Itself, now the Son of God after His partaking of ourselves, of Him it is manifest, how He was saved, and hath sent from heaven the Father and hath saved Him, hath sent from heaven, and hath raised Him again: but in order that ye may know, that also the Lord Himself hath raised again Himself; both truths are written in Scripture, both that the Father hath raised Him again, and that Himself Himself hath raised again. Hear ye how the Father hath raised Him again: the Apostle saith, " He hath been made," he saith, " obedient unto death, even the death of the Cross: wherefore God also hath exalted Him, and hath given Him a name which is above every name."8 Ye have heard of the Father raising again and exalting the Son; hear ye how that He too Himself His flesh hath raised again. Under the figure of a temple He saith to the Jews, " Destroy this Temple, and in three days I will raise it up."' But the Evangelist hath explained to us what it 7 Ps. xxxiv. 18.
» Phil. ii. 8, 9.
Psalm LVII.]
was that He said: "But this," he saith, "He spake of the Temple of His Body." Now therefore out of the person of one praying, out of the person of a man, out of the person of the flesh, He saith, " He hath saved me. He hath given unto reproach those that trampled on me." Them that have trampled on Him, that over Him dead have insulted, that Him as though man have crucified, because God they perceived not, them He hath given unto reproach. See ye whether it has not been so done. The thing we do not believe as yet to come, but fulfilled we acknowledge it. The Jews raged against Christ, they were overbearing against Christ. Where? In the city of Jerusalem. For where they reigned, there they were puffed up, there their necks they lifted up. After the Passion of the Lord thence they were rooted out; and they lost the kingdom, wherein Christ for King they would not acknowledge. In what manner they have been given unto reproach, see ye: dispersed they have been throughout all nations, nowhere having a settlement, nowhere a sure abode. But for this reason still Jews they are, in order that our books they may carry to their confusion. For whenever we wish to show Christ prophesied of, we produce to the heathen these writings. And lest perchance men hard of belief should say that we Christians have composed these books, so that together with the Gospel which we have preached we have forged the Prophet, through whom there might seem to be foretold that which we preach: by this we convince them; namely, that all the very writings wherein Christ hath been prophesied are with the Jews, all these very writings the Jews have. We produce documents from enemies, to confound other enemies. In what sort of reproach therefore are the Jews? A document the Jew carrieth, wherefrom a Christian may believe. Our librarians they have become, just as slaves are wont behind their masters to carry documents, in such sort that these faint in carrying, those profit by reading.1 Unto such a reproach have been given the Jews: and there hath been fulfilled that which so long before hath been foretold, " He hath given unto reproach those that trampled on me." But how great a reproach it is, brethren, that this verse they should read, and themselves being blind should look upon their mirror! For in the same manner the Jews appear in the holy Scripture which they carry, as appeareth the face of a blind man in a mirror: by other men it is seen, by himself not seen.
8. Thou wast inquiring perhaps when he said, " He hath sent from heaven and hath saved me." What hath He sent from heaven?
Whom hath He sent from heaven? An Angel hath He sent, to save Christ, and through a servant is the Lord saved? For all Angels are creatures 2 serving Christ. For obedience there might have been sent Angels, for service they might have been sent, not for succour: as is written, "Angels ministered unto Him,"3 not like men merciful to one indigent, but like subjects to One Omnipotent. What therefore " hath He sent from heaven, and hath saved me "? Now we hear in another verse what from heaven He hath sent. " He hath sent from heaven His mercy and His truth."4 For what purpose? "And hath drawn out my soul from the midst of the lions' whelps." 5 " Hath sent," he saith, " from heaven His mercy and His truth: " and Christ Himself saith, " I am Truth." There was sent therefore Truth, that it should draw out my soul hence from the midst of the lions' whelps: there was sent mercy. Christ Himself we find to be both mercy and truth; mercy in suffering with us, and truth in requiting us...Who are the lions' whelps? That lesser6 people, unto evil deceived, unto evil led away by the chiefs of the Jews: so that these are lions, those lions' whelps. All roared, all slew. For we are to hear even here the slaying of these very men, presently in the following verses of this Psalm.
9. " And hath drawn out," he saith, " my soul from the midst of the lions' whelps" (ver. 4). Why sayest thou, "And hath drawn out my soul "? For what hadst thou suffered, that thy soul should be drawn out? "I have slept troubled." Christ hath intimated His death...10. Whence "troubled "? Whotroubling? Let us see in what manner he brandeth an evil conscience upon the Jews, wishing to excuse themselves of the slaying of the Lord. For to this end, as the Gospel speaketh, to the judge they delivered Him, that they might not themselves seem to have killed Him...Let us question Him, and say, since Thou hast slept troubled, who have persecuted Thee? who have slain Thee? was it perchance Pilate, who to soldiers gave Thee, on the Tree to be hanged, with nails to be pierced? Hear who they were, " Sons of men" (ver. 5). Of them He speaketh, whom for persecutors He suffered. But how did they slay, that steel bare not? They that sword drew not, that made no assault upon Him to slay; whence slew they? " Their teeth are arms and arrows, and their tongue a sharp sword." Do not consider the unarmed hands, but the mouth armed: from thence the sword proceeded, wherewith Christ was to be slain: in like manner also as from the mouth of Christ, that wherewith the Jews were to be slain. For He hath a sword twice whetted: 7 and rising again He hath smit- 3 Matt. iv. 1 6 Minutus.
[Psalm LVII.
ten them, and hath severed from them those whom He would make His faithful people. They an evil sword, He a good sword: they evil arrows, He good arrows. For He hath Himself also arrows good, words good, whence He pierceth the faithful heart, in order that He may be loved. Therefore of one kind are their arrows, and of another kind their sword. " Sons of men, their teeth are arms and arrows, and their tongue a sharp sabre." Tongue of sons of men is a sharp sabre, and their teeth arms and arrows. When therefore did they smite, save when they clamoured, " Crucify, crucify "? ' ii. And what have they done to Thee, O Lord? Let the Prophet here exult! For above, all those verses the Lord was speaking: a Prophet indeed, but in the person of the Lord, because in the Prophet is the Lord..." Be exalted," he saith, " above the Heavens, O God " Man on the Cross, and above the Heavens, God. Let them continue on the earth raging, Thou in Heaven be judging. Where are they that were raging? where are their teeth, the arms and arrows? Have not "the stripes of them been made the arrows of infants "? For in another place a Psalm 2 this saith, desiring to prove them vainly to have raged, and vainly unto frenzies to have been driven headlong: for nothing they were able to do to Christ when for the time crucified, and afterwards when He was rising again, and in Heaven was sitting. How do infants make to themselves arrows? Of reeds?3 But what arrows? or what powers? or what bows? or what wound? "Be Thou exalted above the Heavens, O God, and above all the earth Thy glory " (ver. 6). Wherefore exalted above the Heavens, O God? Brethren, God exalted above the Heavens we see not, but we believe: but above all the earth His glory to be not only we believe, but also see. But what kind of madness heretics are afflicted with, I pray you observe. They being cut off from the bond of the Church of Christ, and to a part holding, the whole losing, will not communicate with the whole earth, where is spread abroad the glory of Christ.4 But we Catholics are in all the earth, because with all the world we communicate, wherever the Glory of Christ is spread abroad. s For we see that which then was sung, now fulfilled. There hath been exalted above the Heavens our God, and above all the earth the Glory of the Same. O heretical insanity! That which thou seest not thou believest with me, that which thou seest thou deniest: thou believest with me in Christ exalted above the Heavens, a thing 1 Matt, xxvii. 23; John xix. 6.
3 Cnnntr. * Against the Donatists.
S f This comes bonre with terrible import to that portion of the Church which has made itself the whole Church with a novel creed, and broken communion with the Easterns. — C] which we see not; and deniest His Glory over all the earth, a thing which we see.
12...Let your Love see the Lord speaking to us, and exhorting us by His example: " A trap 5 they have prepared for My feet, and have bowed down My Soul" (ver. 7). They wished to bring It down as if from Heaven, and to the lower places to weigh It down: " They have bowed My Soul: they have digged before My face a pit and themselves have fallen into it." Me have they hurt, or themselves? Behold He hath been exalted above the Heavens, God, and behold above all the earth the Glory of the Same: the kingdom of Christ we see, where is the kingdom of the Jews? Since therefore they did that which to have done they ought not, there hath been done in their case that which to have suffered they ought: themselves have dug a ditch, and themselves have fallen into it. For their persecuting Christ, to Christ did no hurt, but to themselves did hurt. And do not suppose, brethren, that themselves alone hath this befallen. Every one that prepareth a pit for his brother, it must needs be that himself fall into it...
13. But the patience of good men with preparation of heart accepteth the will of God: and glorieth in tribulations, saying that which followeth: " Prepared is my heart, O God, I will sing and play " (ver. 8). What hath he done to me? He hath prepared a pit, my heart is prepared. He hath prepared pit to deceive, shall I not prepare heart to suffer? He hath prepared pit to oppress, shall I not prepare heart to endure? Therefore he shall fall into it, but I will sing and play. Hear the heart prepared in an Apostle, because he hath imitated his Lord: " We glory," he saith, " in tribulations: because tribulation worketh patience: patience probation, probation hope, but hope maketh not ashamed: because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts through the Holy Spirit, which hath been given to us." 7 He was in oppressions, in chains, in prisons, in stripes, in hunger and thirst, in cold and nakedness,8 in every wasting of toils and pains, and he was saying, "We glory in tribulations." Whence, but that prepared was his heart? Therefore he was singing and playing.
14. " Rise up, my glory" (ver. 9). He that had fled from the face of Saul into a cavern, saith, " Rise up, my glory: " glorified be Jesus after His Passion. " Rise up, psaltery and harp." He calleth upon what to rise? Two organs I see: but Body of Christ one I see, one flesh hath risen again, and two organs have risen. The one organ then is the psaltery, the other the harp. Organs 9 is the word used for 6 Muscipulanu. 9 Organa.
1 Rom. v. 3.
8 3 Cor. xi. 37.
Psalm LVIII.]
all instruments of musicians. Not only is that called an organ, which is great, and blown into with bellows; ' but whatsoever is adapted to playing and is corporeal, whereof for an instrument the player maketh use, is said to be an organ. But distinguished from one another are these organs.2...What therefore do these two organs figure to us? For Christ the Lord our God is waking up His psaltery and His harp; and He saith, " I will rise up at the dawn." I suppose that here ye now perceive the Lord rising. We have read thereof in the Gospel: 3 see the hour of the Resurrection. How long through shadows was Christ being sought? He hath shone, be He acknowledged; " at the dawn" He rose again. But what is psaltery? what is harp? Through His flesh two kinds of deeds the Lord hath wrought, miracles and sufferings: miracles from above have been, sufferings from below have been. But those miracles which He did were divine; but through Body He did them, through flesh He did them. The flesh therefore working things divine, is the psaltery: the flesh suffering things human is the harp. Let the psaltery sound, let the blind be enlightened, let the deaf hear, let the paralytics be braced to strength, the lame walk, the sick rise up, the dead rise again; this is the sound of the Psaltery. Let there sound also the harp, let Him hunger, thirst, sleep, be held, scourged, derided, crucified, buried. When therefore thou seest in that Flesh certain things to have sounded from above, certain things from the lower part, one flesh hath risen again, and in one flesh we acknowledge both psaltery and harp. And these two kinds of things done have fulfilled the Gospel, and it is preached in the nations: for both the miracles and the sufferings of the Lord are preached.
15. Therefore there hath risen psaltery and harp in the dawn, and he confesseth to the Lord; and saith what? "I will confess to Thee among the peoples, O Lord, and will play to Thee among the nations: for magnified even unto the Heavens hath been Thy mercy, and even unto the clouds Thy truth" (ver. 10). Heavens above clouds, and clouds below heavens: and nevertheless to this nearest heaven belong clouds. But sometimes clouds rest upon the mountains, even so far in the nearest air are they rolled. But a Heaven above there is, the habitations of Angels, Thrones, Dominions, Principalities, Powers. This therefore may perchance seem to be what should have been said: " Unto the Heavens Thy truth, and even unto the clouds 1 [Of which see a primitive example in Parker's Glossary of Architecture (vol. i. p 264), Oxford, 1845. The use of organs in churches is very modern. The Greeks exclude them still. St. Thomas Aquinas testifies their non-use in the Latin churches in the thirteenth century. — C] Thy mercy." For in Heaven Angels praise God, seeing the very form of truth, without any darkness of vision, without any admixture of unreality: they see, love, praise, are not wearied. There is truth: but here in our own misery surely there is mercy. For to a miserable one rrtust be rendered mercy. For there is no need of mercy above, where is no miserable one. I have said this because that it seemeth as though it might have been more fittingly said, " Magnified even unto the Heavens hath been Thy truth, and even unto the clouds Thy mercy." For " clouds " we understand to be preachers of truth, men bearing that flesh in a manner dark, whence God both gleameth in miracles, and thundereth in precepts.4...Glory to our Lord, and to the Mercy of the Same, and to the Truth of the Same, because neither hath He forsaken by mercy to make us blessed through His Grace, nor defrauded us of truth: because first Truth veiled in flesh came to us and healed through His flesh the interior eye of our heart, in order that hereafter face to face we may be able to see It.5 Giving therefore to Him thanks, let us say with the same Psalm the last verses, which sometime since too I have said, " Be Thou exalted above the Heavens, O God, and above all the earth Thy glory " (ver. 1 1 ). For this to Him the Prophet said so many years before; this now we see; this therefore let us also say.
PSALM LVIII.6 PSALM LVIII.6 1. The words which we have sung must be rather hearkened to by us, than proclaimed. For to all men as it were in an assemblage of mankind, the Truth crieth, " If truly indeed justice ye speak, judge right things, ye sons of men" (ver. i). For to what unjust man is it not an easy thing to speak justice? or what man if questioned about justice, when he haih not a cause, would not easily answer what is just? Inasmuch as the hand of our Maker in our very hearts hath written this truth, "That which to thyself thou wouldest not have done, do not thou to another." 7 Of this truth, even before that the Law was given, no one was suffered to be ignorant, in order that there might be some rule whereby might be judged even those to whom Law had not been given.8 But lest men should complain that something had been wanting for them, there hath been written also in tables that 6 Lat. LVII. Sermon to the Commonalty, wherein everywhere he confuteth the Donatists.
7 Tob. iv. 15.
8 [Matt. vii. 12. The quotation from the father of Tobias shows this maxim, negative in its form, and reflecting the Mosaic law, which " made nothing perfect." It was probably Noahic, and was therefore known to Gentilism, as e.g. to Confucius. The glory ol " the Golden Rule" is not merely that it gives a positive form to this law: Christ made it the energetic and characteristic principle of His Church towards humanity, and of all Christians towards all men. — C] [Psalm LVIII.
which in their hearts they read not. For it was not that they had it not written, but read it they would not. There hath been set before their eyes that which in their conscience to see they would be compelled; and as if from without the voice of God were brought to them, to his own inward parts hath man been thus driven, the Scripture saying, " For in the thoughts of the ungodly man there will be questioning." ' Where questioning is, there is law. But because men, desiring those things which are without, even from themselves have become exiles, there hath been given also a written law: not because in hearts it had not been written, but because thou wast a deserter from thy heart, thou art seized by Him that is everywhere, and to thyself within art called back. Therefore the written law, what crieth it, to those that have deserted the law written in their hearts?2 " Return ye transgressors to the heart." 3 For who hath taught thee, that thou wouldest have no other man draw near thy wife? Who hath taught thee, that thou wouldest not have a theft committed upon thee? Who hath taught thee, that thou wouldest not suffer wrong, and whatever other thing either universally or particularly might be spoken of? For many things there are, of which severally if questioned men with loud voice would answer, that they would not suffer. Come, if thou art not willing to suffer these things, art thou by any means the only man? dost thou not live in the fellowship of mankind? He that together with thee hath been made, is thy fellow; and all men have been made after the image of God,4 unless with earthly covetings they efface that which He hath formed.
That which therefore to thyself thou wilt not have to be done, do not thou to another. For thou judgest that there is evil in that, which to suffer thou art not willing: and this thing thou art constrained to know by an inward law; that in thy very heart is written. Thou wast doing somewhat, and there was a cry raised in thy hands: how art thou constrained to return to thy heart when this thing thou sufferest in the hands of others? Is theft a good thing? No! I ask, is adultery a good thing? All cry, No I Is man-slaying a good thing? All cry, that they abhor it. Is coveting the property of a neighbour a good thing? No! is the voice of all men. Or if yet thou confessest not, there draweth near one that coveteth thy property: be pleased to answer what thou wilt have. All men therefore, when of these things questioned, cry that these things are not good. Again, of doing kindnesses, not only of not hurting, but also of conferring and distributing, any hungry soul is questioned thus: " thou sufferest hunger, another man hath bread, and there is abundance with him beyond • Wild. i. 9.
* Gen. i. a6.
* Rom. ii. 15.
> Iu. xlvi. 8.
sufficiency, he knoweth thee to want, he giveth not: it displeaseth thee when hungering, let it displease thee when full also, when of another's hungering thou shalt have known. A stranger wanting shelter cometh into thy country, he is not taken in: he then crieth that inhuman is that city, at once among barbarians he might have found a home. He feeleth the injustice because he suffereth; thou perchance feelest not, but it is meet that thou imagine thyself also a stranger; and that thou see in what manner he will have displeased thee, who shall not have given that, which thou in thy country wilt not give to a stranger." I ask all men. True are these things? True. Just are these things? Just. But hear ye the Psalm. " If truly therefore justice ye speak, judge right things, ye sons of men." Be it not a justice of lips, but also of deeds. For if thou actest otherwise than thou speakest, good things thou speakest, and ill thou judgest...
2. But now to the present case let us come, if ye please. For the voice is that sweet voice, so well known to the ears of the Church, the voice of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the voice of His Body, the voice of the Church toiling, sojourning upon earth, living amid the perils of men speaking evil and of men flattering. Thou wilt not fear a threatener, if thou lovest not a flatterer. He therefore, of whom this is the voice, hath observed and hath seen, that all men speak justice. For what man doth dare not to speak it, lest he be called unjust? When, therefore, as though he were hearing the voices of all men, and were observing the lips of all men, he cried out to them, " If truly indeed justice ye speak," — if not falsely justice ye speak, if not one thing on lips doth sound, whilst another thing is concealed in hearts, — "judge right things, ye sons of men." Hear out of the Gospel His own voice, the very same as is in this Psalm: " Hypocrites," saith the Lord to the Pharisees, " how are ye able good things to speak, when ye are evil men?" " Either make the tree good, and the fruit thereof good: or make the tree evil, and the fruit thereof evil." s Why wilt thou whiten thee, wall of mud? I know thy inward parts, I am not deceived by thy covering: I know what thou holdest forth, I know what thou coverest. " For there was no need for Him, that any one to Him should bear testimony of man: for He knew Himself what was in man." 6 For He knew what was in man, who had made man, and who had been made Man, in order that He might seek man...
3. But now ye do what? Why these things to you do I speak? " Because in heart iniquities ye work on earth " (ver. 2). Iniquities per- 6 John ii. 25.
Psalm LVIII.]
chance in heart alone? Hear what followeth: both their heart hands do follow, and their heart hands do serve, the thing is thought of, and it is done; or else it is not done, not because we would not, but because we could not, Whatever THOU WILLEST AND CANST NOT, FOR DONE GOD doth count it. " For in heart Iniquities ye work on earth." What next? " Iniquities your hands knit together." What is, " knit together "? From sin, sin, and to sin, sin, because of sin. What is this? A theft a man hath committed, a sin it is: he hath been seen, he seeketh to slay him by whom he hath been seen: there hath been knit together sin with sin: God hath permitted him in His hidden judgment to slay that man whom he hath willed to slay: he perceiveth that the thing is known, he seeketh to slay a second also; he hath knit together a third sin: while these things he is planning, perchance that he may not be found out, or that he may not be convicted of having done it, he consulted! an astrologer; there is added a fourth sin: the astrologer answereth perchance with some hard and evil responses, he runneth to a soothsayer, that expiation may be made; the soothsayer maketh answer that he is not able to expiate: a magician is sought. And who could enumerate those sins which are knit together with sins? " Iniquities your hands do knit together." So long as thou knittest together, thou bindest sin upon sin. Loose thyself from sins. But I am not able, thou sayest. Cry to Him.