exalted in their own selves." He seemeth in a manner to have uttered a curse in " Let not them that are bitter be exalted; " yea, be they exalted, but not "in themselves." Let them be humbled in themselves, exalted in Christ. For, " he that humbleth himself shall be exalted; and he that exalteth himself shall be humbled." ' " Let not them that are bitter be exalted in their own selves."
13. "Bless our God, ye nations" (ver. 8). Behold, there have been driven back they that are bitter, reckoning hath been made with them: some have been converted, some have continued proud. Let not them terrify you that grudge the Gentiles Gospel Grace: now hath come the Seed of Abraham, in whom are blessed all nations.' Bless ye Him imwhom ye are blessed, " Bless our God, ye nations: and hear ye the voice of His praise." Praise not yourselves, but praise Him. What is the voice of His praise? That by His Grace we are whatever of good we are. " Who hath set my Soul unto life " (ver. 9). Behold the voice of his praise: " Who hath set my Soul unto life." Therefore in death she was: in death she was, in thyself. Thence it is that ye ought not to have been exalted in yourselves. Therefore in death she was, in thyself: where will it be in life, save in Him that said, " I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life "?3 Just as to certain believers the Apostle saith, "Ye were sometime darkness, but now light in the Lord."4..."And hath not given unto motion my feet." He hath set my Soul unto life, He guideth the feet that they stumble not, be not moved and given unto motion; He maketh us to live, He maketh us to persevere even unto the end, in order that for everlasting we may live...
14. " For thou hast proved us, O God; Thou hast fired us as silver is fired" (ver. 10). Hast not fired us like hay, but like silver: by applying to us fire, Thou hast not turned us into ashes, but Thou hast washed off uncleanness, " Thou hast fired us, as silver is fired." And see in what manner God is wroth against them, whose Soul He hath set unto life. " Thou hast led us into a trap: " not that we might be caught and die, but that we might be tried and delivered from it. "Thou hast laid tribulations upon our back." For having been to ill purpose lifted up, proud we were: having been to ill purpose lifted up, we were bowed down, in order that being bowed down, we should be lifted up for good. "Thou hast laid tribulations on our back:" "Thou hast set men over our heads" (ver. n). All these things the Church hath suffered in sundry and divers persecutions: She hath suffered this in Her individual members, even now doth suffer it. For there is not one, that in this life 1 Matt, xxiii. xa. * John xiv. 6.
could say that he was exempt from these trials. Therefore there are set even men over our heads: we endure those whom we would not, we suffer for our betters those whom we know to be worse. But if sins be wanting, a man is justly superior: but by how much there are more sins, by so much he is inferior. And it is a good thing to consider ourselves to be sinners, and thus endure men set over our heads: in order that we also to God may confess that deservedly we suffer. For why dost thou suffer with indignation that which He doeth who is just? " Thou hast laid tribulations upon our back: Thou hast set men over our heads." God seemeth to be wroth, when He doeth these things: fear not, for a Father He is, He is never so wroth as to destroy. When ill thou livest, if He spareth, He is more angry. In a word, these tribulations are the rods of Him correcting, lest there be a sentence from Him punishing...
15. " We have passed through fire and water." Fire and water are both dangerous in this life. Certainly water seemeth to extinguish fire, and fire seemeth to dry up water. Thus also these are the trials, wherein aboundeth this life. Fire bumeth, water corrupteth: both must be feared, both the burning of tribulation and the water of corruption. Whenever there is adversity, and anything which is called unhappiness in this world, there is as it were fire: whenever there is prosperity, and the world's plenty floweth about one, there is as it were water. See that fire burn thee not, nor water corrupt...Hasten not to the water: through fire pass over to the water, that thou mayest pass over the water also. Therefore also in the mystic rites,' and in catechising and in exorcising,6 there is first used fire. For whence ofttimes do the unclean spirits cry out, " I burn," if that is not fire? But after the fire of Exorcism we come to Baptism: so that from fire to water, from water unto refreshment.
But as in the Sacraments, so it is in the temptations of this world: the straitness of fear draweth near first, in place of fire; afterwards fear being removed, we ought to be afraid lest worldly happiness corrupt. But when the fire hath not made thee burst, and when thou hast not sunk in the water, but hast swum out; through discipline thou passest over to rest, and passing over through fire and water, thou art led forth into a place of refreshment. For of those things whereof the signs are in the Sacraments, there are the very realities in that perfection of life everlasting...But we are not torpid there, but we rest: nor though it be called heat, shall we be hot there, but we shall be fervent in spirit. Observe that same heat in another Psalm: " nor is there any one that hideth himself from the s Sacramentis.
6 Exorcism before Baptism.
Psalm LXVI.]
heat thereof."' What saith also the Apostle? " In spirit fervent." ' Therefore, " we have gone over through fire and water: and Thou hast led us forth into a cool place."
16. Observe how not only concerning a cool place, but neither of that very fire to be desired he hath been silent: " I will enter into Thy House in holocausts " (ver. 13). What is a holocaust? A whole sacrifice burned up, but with fire divine. For a sacrifice is called a holocaust, when the whole is burned. One thing are the parts of sacrifices, another thing a holocaust: when the whole is burned and the whole consumed by fire divine, it is called a holocaust: when a part, a sacrifice. Every holocaust indeed is a sacrifice: but not every sacrifice a holocaust. Holocausts therefore he is promising, the Body of Christ is speaking, the Unity of Christ is speaking, " I will enter into Thy House in holocausts." All that is mine let Thy fire consume, let nothing of mine remain to me, let all be Thine. But this shall be in the Resurrection of just men, " when both this corruptible shall be clad in incorruption, and this mortal shall be clad in immortality: then shall come to pass that which hath been written,' Death is swallowed up in victory.' "3 Victory is, as it were, fire divine: when it swalloweth up our death also, it is a holocaust. There remaineth not anything mortal in the flesh, there remaineth not anything culpable in the spirit: the whole of mortal life shall be consumed, in order that in life everlasting it may be consummated, that from death we may be preserved in life.4 These therefore will be the holocausts. And what shall there be " in the holocausts "?
17. "I will render to Thee my vows, which my lips have distinguished" (ver. 14). What is the distinction in vows? This is the distinction, that thyself thou censure, Him thou praise: perceive thyself to be a creature, Him the Creator: thyself darkness, Him the Enlightener, to whom thou shouldest say, " Thou shalt light my lamp, O Lord my God, Thou shalt enlighten my darkness." 5 For whenever thou shalt have said, O soul, that from thyself thou hast light, thou wilt not distinguish. If thou wilt not dis-, tinguish, thou wilt not render distinct vows. Render distinct vows, confess thyself changeable, Him unchangeable: confess thyself without Him to be nothing, but Himself without thee to be perfect; thyself to need Him, but Him not to need thee. Cry to Him, " I have said to the Lord, My God art Thou, for my good things Thou needest not." 6 Now though God taketh thee to Him for a holocaust, He groweth not, He is not increased, He is not richer, He be- 1 Ps. xix. 6 s Rom. xii. n.
' 1 Cor. xv. 54. 4 Oxf. mss. add, " that from," etc.
' Ps. xviii. 28. b Ps. xvi. 2.
cometh not better furnished: whatsoever He maketh of thee for thy sake, is the better for thee, not for Him that maketh. If thou distinguishes! these things, thou renderest the vows to thy God which thy lips have distinguished.
18. "And my mouth hath spoken in my tribulation." How sweet ofttimes is tribulation, how necessary! In that case what hath the mouth of the same spoken in his tribulation? " Holocausts marrowed I will offer to Thee " (ver. 15). What is "marrowed"? Within may I keep Thy love, it shall not be on the surface, in my marrow it shall be that I love Thee. For there is nothing more inward than our marrow: the bones are more inward than the flesh, the marrow is more inward than those same bones. Whosoever therefore on the surface loveth God, desireth rather to please men, but having some other affection within, he offereth not holocausts of marrow: but into whosesoever marrow He looketh, him He receiveth whole. " With incense and rams." The rams are the rulers of the Church: the whole Body of Christ is speaking: this is the thing which he offereth to God. Incense 7 is what? Prayer. " With incense and rams." For especially the rams do pray for the flocks. " I will offer to Thee oxen with he-goats." Oxen we find treading out corn, and the same are offered to God. The Apostle hath said, that of the preachers of the Gospel must be understood that which hath been written, " Of the ox treading out corn the mouth thou shalt not muzzle. Doth God care for oxen?" 8 Therefore great are those rams, great the oxen. What of the rest, that perchance are conscious of certain sins, that perchance in the very road have slipped, and, having been wounded, by penitence are being healed? Shall they too continue, and to the holocausts shall they not belong? Let them not fear, he hath added hegoats also. " I will offer to Thee oxen with he-goats." By the very yoking are saved the he-goats; of themselves they have no strength, being yoked to bulls they are accepted. For they have made friends of the mammon of iniquity, that the same may receive them into everlasting tabernacles.9 Therefore those hegoats shall not be on the left, because they have made to themselves friends of the mammon of iniquity. But what he-goats shall be on the left? They to whom shall be said, " I hungred, and ye gave me not to eat: " '° not they that have redeemed their sins by almsdeeds.
19. " Come ye, hear, and I will tell, all ye that fear God " (ver. 16). Let us come, let us hear, what he is going to tell, " Come ye, hear, and I will tell." But to whom, " Come ye, and hear "?
10 Matt. xxv. 42.
28o 1PSAI.M LXVI.
" All ye that fear God." If God ye fear not, I will not tell. It is not possible that it be told to any where the fear of God is not. Let the fear of God open the ears, that there may be something to enter in, and a way whereby may enter in that which I am going to tell. But what is he going to tell? " How great things He hath done to my soul." Behold, he would tell: but what is he going to tell? Is it perchance how widely the earth is spread, how much the sky is extended, and how many are the stars, and what are the changes of sun and of moon? This creation fulfilleth its course: but they have very curiously sought it out, the Creator thereof have not known.' This thing hear, this thing receive, " O ye that fear God, how great things He hath done to my soul: " if ye will, to yours also. " How great things He hath done to my soul." " To Him with my mouth I have cried " (ver. 17). "And this very thing, he saith, hath been done to his soul; that to Him with his mouth he should cry, hath been done, he saith, to his soul. Behold, brethren, Gentiles we were, even if not in ourselves, in our parents. And what saith the Apostle? " Ye know, when Gentiles ye were, to idols without speech how ye went up, being led." 2 Let the Church now say, " how great things He hath done to my soul." " To Him with my mouth I have cried." I a man to a stone was crying, to a deaf stock I was crying, to idols deaf and dumb I was speak-' ing: now the image of God hath been turned to the Creator thereof. I that was " saying to a stock, My father thou art; and to a stone, Thou hast begotten me: " 3 now say, " Our Father, which art in Heaven." 4..." To Him with my mouth I have cried, and I have exalted Him under my tongue." See how in secret He would be uncorrupt that offereth marrowed holocausts. This do ye, brethren, this imitate, so that ye may say, " Come ye, see how great things He hath done to my soul." For all those things of which he telleth, by His Grace are done in our soul. See the other things of which he speaketh.
20. " If I have beheld iniquity in my heart, may not the Lord hearken" (ver. 18). Consider now, brethren, how easily, how daily men blushing for fear of men do censure iniquities; He hath done ill, He haih done basely, a villain the fellow is: this perchance for man's sake he saith. See whether thou beholdest no iniquity in thy heart, whether perchance that which thou censurest in another, thou art meditating to do, and therefore against him dost exclaim, not because he hath done it, but because he hath been found out. Return to thyself, within be to thyself a judge. Behold in thy hid chamber, in the very inmost recess of the heart, > Wild. xiii. 1. ' Jer. ii. 37.
where thou and He that seeth are alone, there let iniquity be displeasing to thee, in order that thou mayest be pleasing to God. Do not regard it, that is, do not love it, but rather despise it, that is, contemn it, and turn away from it. Whatever pleasing thing it hath promised to allure thee to sin; whatever grievous thing it hath threatened, to drive thee on to evil doing; all is nought, all passeth away: it is worthy to be despised, in order that it may be trampled upon; not to be eyed lest it be accepted.5...
21. " Therefore God hath hearkened to me" (ver. 19). Because I have not beheld iniquity in my heart. " And He hath listened to the voice of my prayer." " Blessed be my God, that hath not thrust away my supplication and His mercy from me " (ver. 20). Gather the sense from that place, where he saith, " Come ye, hear, and I will tell you, all ye that fear God, how great things He hath done to my soul: " 6 he hath both said the words which ye have heard, and at the end thus he hath concluded: " Blessed be my God, that hath not thrust away my supplication and His mercy from me." For thus there arriveth at the Resurrection he that speaketh, where already we also are by hope: yea both it is we ourselves, and this voice is ours. So long therefore as here we are, this let us ask of God, that He thrust not from us- our supplication, and His mercy, that is, that we pray continually, and He continually pity. For many become feeble in praying, and in the newness of their own conversion pray fervently, afterwards feebly, afterwards coldly, afterwards negligently: as if they have become secure. The foe watcheth: thou sleepest. The Lord Himself hath given commandment in the Gospel, how " it behoveth men always to pray and not to faint." 7 And he giveth a comparison from that unjust judge, who neither feared God, nor regarded man, whom that widow daily importuned to hear her; and he yielded for weariness, that was not influenced by pity: and the naughty judge saith to himself, " Though neither God I fear, nor men I regard, even because of the weariness which this widow daily putteth upon me, I will hear her cause, and will avenge her." And the Lord saith, " If a naughty judge hath done this, shall not your Father avenge His chosen, that to Him do cry day and night?
Yea, I say unto you, He shall make judgment of them speedily." Therefore let us not faint in prayer. Though He putteth off what He is going to grant, He putteth it not away: being secure of His promise, let us not faint in praying, and this is by His goodness. Therefore he hath said, " Blessed is my God, that hath not thrust away my supplication and His mercy from me."
5 Here followeth in the Oxf. ed. a part in brackets, " which is omitted in some good mss. — Ben."
* Pi. lxvi. 16. 7 Luke xviii. i, etc.
tsalm lxvil] When thou hast seen thy supplication " not thrust away from thee," be secure, that His mercy hath not been thrust away from thee.
PSALM LXVII.1 1. Your Love remembereth, that in two Psalms,2 which have been already treated of, we have stirred up our soul to bless the Lord, and with godly chant have said, " Bless thou, O my soul, the Lord." If therefore we have stirred up our soul in those Psalms to bless the Lord, in this Psalm is well said, " May God have pity on us, and bless us" (ver. 1). Let our soul bless the Lord, and let God bless us. When God blesseth us, we grow, and when we bless the Lord, we grow, to us both are profitable. He is not increased by our blessing, nor is He lessened by our cursing. He that curseth the Lord, is himself lessened: he that blesseth the Lord, is himself increased. First, there is in us the blessing of the Lord, and the consequence is that we also bless the Lord. That is the rain, this the fruit. Therefore there is rendered as it were fruit to God the Husbandman, raining upon and tilling us. Let us chant these words with no barren devotion, with no empty voice, but with true heart. For most evidently God the Father hath been called a Husbandman.^ The'Apostle saith, " God's husbandry ye are, God's building ye are."'* In things visible of this world, the vine is not a building, and a building is not a vineyard: but we are the vineyard of the Lord, because He tilleth us for fruit; the building of God we are, since He who tilleth us, dwelleth in us. And what saith the same Apostle? "I have planted, Apollos hath watered, but the increase God hath given. Therefore neither he that planteth is anything, nor he that watereth, but He that giveth the increase, even God." s He it is therefore that giveth the increase. Are those perchance the husbandmen? For a husbandman he is called that planteth, that watereth: but the Apostle hath said, " I have planted, Apollos hath watered." Do we enquire whence himself hath done this? The Apostle maketh answer, " Yet not I, but the Grace of God with me."6 Therefore whithersoever thou turn thee, whether through Angels, thou wilt find God thy Husbandman; whether through Prophets, the Same is thy Husbandman; whether through Apostles, the very Same acknowledge to be thy Husbandman. What then of us? Perchance we are the labourers of that Husbandman, and this too with powers imparted by Himself, and by Grace granted by Himself...
1 Lat. LXVI.
Sermon to the Commonalty.
' John xv. 1. 4, Cor. iii. 9.
6 I Cor. xv. 10.
2. " Lighten His countenance upon us." Thou wast perchance going to enquire, what is " bless us "? In many ways men would have themselves to be blessed of God: one would have himself to be blessed, so that he may have a house full of the necessary things of this life; another desireth himself to be blessed, so that he may obtain soundness of body without flaw; another would have himself to be blessed, if perchance he is sick, so that he may acquire soundness; another longing for sons, and perchance being sorrowful because none are born, would have himself to be blessed so that he may have posterity. And who could number the divers wishes of men desiring themselves to be blessed of the Lord God? But which of us would say, that it was no blessing of God, if either husbandry should bring him fruit, or if any man's house should abound in plenty of things temporal, or if the very bodily health be either so maintained that it be not lost, or, if lost, be regained?...
3. " Every soul that is blessed is simple," i not cleaving to things earthly nor with glued wings grovelling, but beaming with the brightness of virtues, on the twin wings of twin love doth spring into the free air; and seeth how from her is withdrawn that whereon she was treading, not that whereon she was resting, and she saith securely, " The Lord hath given, the Lord hath taken away; as it hath pleased the Lord, so hath been done: be the name of the Lord blessed."...But let not perchance any weak man say, when shall I be of so great virtue, as was holy Job? The mightiness of the tree thou wonderest at, because but now thou hast been born: this great tree, whereat thou wonderest, under the branches and shade whereof thou coolest thyself, hath been a switch. But dost thou fear lest there be taken away from thee these things, when such thou shalt have become? Observe that they are taken away from evil men also. Why therefore dost thou delay conversion? That which thou fearest when good to lose, perchance if evil thou wilt lose still. If being good thou shalt have lost them, there is by thee the Comforter that hath taken them away: the coffer is emptied of gold; the heart is full of faith: without, poor thou art, but within, rich thou art: thy riches with thee thou earnest, which thou wouldest not lose, even if naked from shipwreck thou shouldest escape. Why doth not the loss, that perchance, if evil, thou wilt lose, find thee good; forasmuch as thou seest evil men also suffer loss? But with greater loss they are stricken: empty is the house, more empty the conscience is. Whatsoever evil man shall have lost these things, hath nothing to hold by without, hath nothing ' Prov. xi. 35, LXX.
[Psalm LXVII.
within whereon he may rest. He fleeth when he hath suffered loss from the place where before the eyes of men with the display of riches he used to vaunt himself; now in the eyes of men to vaunt himself he is not able: to himself within he returneth not, because he hath nothing. He hath not imitated the ant, he hath not gathered to himself grains, while it was summer.1 What have I meant by, while it was summer? While he had quietude of life, while he had this world's prosperity, when he had leisure, when happy he was being called by all men, his summer it was. He should have imitated the ant, he should have heard the Word of God, he should have gathered together grains, and he should have stored them within. There had come the trial of tribulation, there had come upon him a winter of numbness, tempest of fear, the cold of sorrow, whether it were loss, or any danger to his safety, or any bereavement of his family; or any dishonour and humiliation; it was winter; the ant falleth back upon that which in summer she hath gathered together; and within in her secret store, where no man seeth, she is recruited by her summer toils.
When for herself she was gathering together these stores in summer, all men saw her: when on these she feedeth in winter, no one seeth. What is this? See the ant of God, he riseth day by day, he hasteneth to the Church of God, he prayeth, he heareth lection, he chanteth hymn, he digesteth that which he hath heard, with himself2 he thinketh thereon, he storeth within grains gathered from the threshing-floor. They that providently hear those very things which even now are being spoken of, do thus, and by all men are seen to go forth to the Church, go back from Church, to hear sermon, to hear lection, to choose a book, open and read it: all these things are seen, when they are done. That ant is treading his path, carrying and storing up in the sight of men seeing him. There cometh winter sometime, for to whom cometh it not? There chanceth loss, there chanceth bereavement: other men pity him perchance as being miserable, who know not what the ant hath within to eat, and they say, miserable he whom this hath befallen, or what spirits, dost thou think, hath he whom this hath befallen? how afflicted is he? He measureth by himself, hath compassion according to his own strength; and thus he is deceived: because the measure wherewith he measureth