On the Psalms.

 Psalm II.

 A psalm of David, when he fled from the face of Abessalon his son.

 Psalm IV.

 Psalm V.

 Psalm VI.

 Psalm VII.

 Psalm VIII.

 Psalm IX.

 20. And because it is believed that he is to arrive at so great a pitch of empty glory, and he will be permitted to do so great things, both against a

 1. This title does not require a fresh consideration: for the meaning of, “to the end,” has already been sufficiently handled. Let us then look to the

 To the end, for the eighth, a psalm of David.

 Unto the end, a psalm of David.

 To the end, a psalm of David himself.

 A psalm of David himself.

 1. Our King in this Psalm speaks in the character of the human nature He assumed, of whom the royal title at the time of His passion was eminently set

 A prayer of David himself.

 To the end, for the servant of the Lord, David himself.

 To the end, a psalm of David himself.

 To the end, a psalm of David.

 To the end, a psalm of David himself.

 1. “To the end,” for His own resurrection, the Lord Jesus Christ Himself speaketh. For in the morning on the first day of the week was His resurrectio

 A psalm of David himself.

 1. A Psalm of David himself, touching the glorifying and resurrection of the Lord, which took place early in the morning on the first day of the week,

 1. Christ speaks, but in the person of the Church: for what is said has reference rather to the Christian People turned unto God.

 Of David himself.

 1. Christ’s young soldier speaketh, on his coming to the faith. “The Lord is my light, and my salvation: whom shall I fear?” (ver. 1). The Lord will g

 Of David himself.

 A psalm of David himself, of the consummation of the tabernacle.

 1. To the end, a Psalm of the joy of the Resurrection, and the change, the renewing of the body to an immortal state, and not only of the Lord, but al

 1. To the end a Psalm of David Himself, the Mediator strong of hand in persecutions. For the word ecstasy, which is added to the title, signifies a tr

 To David himself for understanding.

 1. “Rejoice in the Lord, O ye righteous:” rejoice, O ye righteous, not in yourselves, for that is not safe but in the Lord. “For praise is comely to

 A psalm of David, when he changed his countenance before Abimelech, and he sent him away, and he departed. [Translation absent until Because there wa

 1. …The title of it causeth us no delay, for it is both brief, and to be understood not difficult, especially to those nursed in the Church of God. Fo

 1. …“The ungodly hath said in himself that he will sin: there is no fear of God before his eyes” (ver. 1). Not of one man, but of a race of ungodly me

 On the first part of the psalm.

 A psalm to David himself, on the remembrance of the Sabbath.

 Psalm XXXIX .

 1. Of all those things which our Lord Jesus Christ has foretold, we know part to have been already accomplished, part we hope will be accomplished her

 To the people, on the Feast of the Martyrs.

 1. We have undertaken the exposition of a Psalm corresponding to your own “longings,” on which we propose to speak to you. For the Psalm itself begins

 1. This Psalm is a short one it satisfies the mental cravings of the hearers, without imposing too severe a trial on the hunger of those fasting. Let

 1. This Psalm is addressed “to the sons of Korah,” as its title shows. Now Korah is equivalent to the word baldness and we find in the Gospel that ou

 1. This Psalm, even as we ourselves have been singing with gladness together with you, we would beg you in like manner to consider with attention toge

 1. It is called, “A Psalm, to the end, for the sons of Korah, for things secret.” Secret is it then but He Himself, who in the place of Calvary was c

 1. The title of the Psalm goeth thus. “To the end: for the sons of Korah: a Psalm of David himself.” These sons of Korah have the title also of some o

 1. The title of this Psalm is, “A song of praise, to the sons of Korah, on the second day of the week.” Concerning this what the Lord deigneth to gran

 Psalm XLIX .

 1. How much availeth the Word of God to us for the correction of our life, both regarding His rewards to be expected, and His punishments to be feared

 1. Neither must this multitude’s throng be defrauded, nor their infirmity burthened. Silence we ask, and quiet, in order that our voice, after yesterd

 1. The title of the Psalm hath: “At the end, understanding of David, when there came Doeg the Edomite and told Saul, David hath come into the house of

 1. Of this Psalm we undertake to treat with you, as far as the Lord supplieth us. A brother biddeth us that we may have the will, and prayeth that we

 1. The title of this Psalm hath fruit in the prolixity thereof, if it be understood: and because the Psalm is short, let us make up our not having to

 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, b

 1. Just as when we are going to enter into any house, we look on the title to see whose it is and to whom it belongeth, lest perchance inopportunely w

 1. We have heard in the Gospel just now, brethren, how loveth us our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, God with the Father, Man with us, out of our own s

 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 c

 The First Part.

 1. David the king was one man, but not one man he figured sometimes to wit he figured the Church of many men consisting, extended even unto the ends

 1. The title of it doth not detain us. For it is “Unto the end, in hymns, to David himself. “In hymns,” to wit in praises. “Unto the end,” to wit unto

 1. The title of it is, “Unto the end, in behalf of Idithun, a Psalm to David himself.” I recollect that already to you hath been explained what Idithu

 1. This psalm hath the title, “For David himself, when he was in the desert of Idumæa.” By the name of Idumæa is understood this world. For Idumæa was

 1. Though chiefly the Lord’s Passion is noticed in this Psalm, neither could the Martyrs have been strong, unless they had beheld Him, that first suff

 1. The voice of holy prophecy must be confessed in the very title of this Psalm. It is inscribed, “Unto the end, a Psalm of David, a song of Jeremiah

 Psalm LXVI .

 1. Your Love remembereth, that in two Psalms, which have been already treated of, we have stirred up our soul to bless the Lord, and with godly chant

 1. Of this Psalm, the title seemeth not to need operose discussion: for simple and easy it appeareth. For thus it standeth: “For the end, for David hi

 1. We have been born into this world, and added to the people of God, at that period wherein already the herb from a grain of mustard seed hath spread

 1. Thanks to the “Corn of wheat,” because He willed to die and to be multiplied: thanks to the only Son of God, our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, who

 1. In all the holy Scriptures the grace of God that delivereth us commendeth itself to us, in order that it may have us commended. This is sung of in

 1. “For Salomon” indeed this Psalm’s title is fore-noted: but things are spoken of therein which could not apply to that Salomon king of Israel after

 1. This Psalm hath an inscription, that is, a title, “There have failed the hymns of David, the son of Jesse. A Psalm

 1. This Psalm’s Title is, “Of the Understanding of Asaph.” Asaph in Latin is translated congregation, in Greek Synagogue. Let us see what this Synagog

 1. …The Title of this Psalm thus speaketh: “At the end, corrupt not.” What is, “corrupt not?” That which Thou hast promised, perform. But when? “At th

 1. The Jews are wont to glory in this Psalm which we have sung, saying, “Known in Judæa is God, in Israel great is the name of Him:” and to revile the

 1. This Psalm’s lintel is thus inscribed: “Unto the end, for Idithun, a Psalm to Asaph himself.” What “Unto the end” is, ye know. Idithun is interpret

 1. This Psalm doth contain the things which are said to have been done among the old people: but the new and latter people is being admonished, to bew

 1. Over the title of this Psalm, being so short and so simple, I think we need not tarry. But the prophecy which here we read sent before, we know to

 1. …If perchance things obscure demand the office of an interpreter, those things which are evident ought to require of me the office of a reader. The

 1. For a Title this Psalm hath, “Unto the end for the presses, on the fifth of the Sabbath, a Psalm to Asaph himself.” Into one title many mysteries a

 1. This Psalm, like others similarly named, was so entitled either from the name of the man who wrote it, or from the explanation of that same name, s

 1. Of this Psalm the title is, “A song of a Psalm of Asaph.” We have already often said what is the interpretation of Asaph, that is, congregation. Th

 1. This Psalm is entitled, “For the winepresses.” And, as you observed with me, my beloved (for I saw that you attended most closely), nothing is said

 1. …Its title is, “A Psalm for the end, to the sons of Core.” Let us understand no other end than that of which the Apostle speaks: for, “Christ is th

 1. No greater gift could God have given to men than in making His Word, by which He created all things, their Head, and joining them to Him as His mem

 1. The Psalm which has just been sung is short, if we look to the number of its words, but of deep interest in its thoughts. …The subject of song and

 1. The Title of this eighty-seventh Psalm contains a fresh subject for enquiry: the words occurring here, “for Melech to respond,” being nowhere else

 1. Understand, beloved, this Psalm, which I am about to explain, by the grace of God, of our hope in the Lord Jesus Christ, and be of good cheer, beca

 1. This Psalm is entitled, “The prayer of Moses the man of God,” through whom, His man, God gave the law to His people, through whom He freed them fro

 1. This Psalm is that from which the Devil dared to tempt our Lord Jesus Christ: let us therefore attend to it, that thus armed, we may be enabled to

 1. …We are not Christians, except on account of a future life: let no one hope for present blessings, let no one promise himself the happiness of the

 1. …It is entitled, “The Song of praise of David himself, on the day before the Sabbath, when the earth was founded.” Remembering then what God did th

 1. As we listened with much attention, while the Psalm was in reading, so let us listen attentively, while the Lord revealeth the mysteries which He h

 1. I could wish, brethren, that we were rather listening to our father: but even this is a good thing, to obey our father. Since therefore he who deig

 1. My lord and brother Severus still defers the pleasure we shall feel in his discourse, which he oweth us for he acknowledgeth, that he is held a de

 1. …This Psalm is entitled, “A Psalm of David’s, when his land was restored.” Let us refer the whole to Christ, if we wish to keep the road of a right

 1. “O sing unto the Lord a new song” (ver. 1). The new man knoweth this, the old man knoweth it not. The old man is the old life, and the new man the

 1. Beloved brethren, it ought already to be known to you, as sons of the Church, and well instructed in the school of Christ through all the books of

 1. Ye heard the Psalm, brethren, while it was being chanted: it is short, and not obscure: as if I had given you an assurance, that ye should not fear

 1. In this Psalm, we ought to seek in the whole body of it what we find in the first verse: “Mercy and judgment will I sing unto Thee, O Lord” (ver. 1

 1. Behold, one poor man prayeth, and prayeth not in silence. We may therefore hear him, and see who he is: whether it be not perchance He, of whom the

 1. …“Bless the Lord, O my soul! and all that is within me, His holy Name” (ver. 1). I suppose that he speaketh not of what is within the body I do no

 1. …“Bless the Lord, O my soul.” Let the soul of us all, made one in Christ, say this. “O Lord my God, Thou art magnified exceedingly!” (ver. 1). Wher

 1. This Psalm is the first of those to which is prefixed the word Allelujah the meaning of which word, or rather two words, is, Praise the Lord. For

 1. This Psalm also hath the title Allelujah prefixed to it: and this twice. But some say, that one Allelujah belongeth to the end of the former Psalm,

 1. This Psalm commendeth unto us the mercies of God, proved in ourselves, and is therefore the sweeter to the experienced. And it is a wonder if it ca

 1. I have not thought that the CVIII th Psalm required an exposition since I have already expounded it in the LVII th th th th th th th[4899] d th th

 1. Every one who faithfully readeth the Acts of the Apostles, acknowledgeth that this Psalm containeth a prophecy of Christ for it evidently appearet

 1. …This Psalm is one of those promises, surely and openly prophesying our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ so that we are utterly unable to doubt that

 Psalm CXI .

 1. I believe, brethren, that ye remarked and committed to memory the title of this Psalm. “The conversion,” he saith, “of Haggai and Zechariah.” These

 1. …When ye hear sung in the Psalms, “Praise the Lord, ye children” (ver. 1) imagine not that that exhortation pertaineth not unto you, because havin

 1. The river Jordan, when they were entering across it into the land of promise, when touched by the feet of the priests who bore the Ark, stood still

 1. “Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but unto Thy Name give the praise” (ver. 1). For that grace of the water that gushed from the rock (“now that ro

 1. “I have loved, since the Lord will hear the voice of my prayer” (ver. 1). Let the soul that is sojourning in absence from the Lord sing thus, let t

 1. “O praise the Lord, all ye heathen: praise Him, all ye nations” (ver. 1). These are the courts of the Lord’s house, this all His people, this the t

 1. …We are taught in this Psalm, when we chaunt Allelujah, which meaneth, Praise the Lord, that we should, when we hear the words, “Confess unto the L

 Aleph.

 1. The Psalm which we have just heard chanted, and have responded to with our voices, is short, and very profitable. Ye will not long toil in hearing,

 1. …Let them “lift up their eyes to the hills whence cometh their help” (ver. 1). What meaneth, The hills have been lightened? The San of righteousnes

 1. As impure love inflames the mind, and summons the soul destined to perish to lust for earthly things, and to follow what is perishable, and precipi

 1. …Let this singer ascend and let this man sing from the heart of each of you, and let each of you be this man, for when each of you saith this, sin

 1. Ye already well know, dearest brethren, that a “Song of Degrees,” is a song of our ascent: and that this ascent is not effected by the feet of the

 1. This Psalm, belonging to the number of the Songs of Degrees, teacheth us, while we ascend and raise our minds unto the Lord our God in loving chari

 1. …How man had come into captivity, let us ask the Apostle Paul.…For he saith: “For we know that the Law is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under si

 1. Among all the Songs entitled the Song of degrees, this Psalm hath a further addition in the title, that it is “Solomon’s.” For thus it is entitled,

 Psalm CXXVIII .

 1. The Psalm which we have sung is short: but as it is written in the Gospel of Zacchæus that he was “little of stature,” but mighty in works as it i

 1. “Out of the deep have I called unto Thee, O Lord: Lord, hear my voice” (ver. 1). Jonas cried from the deep from the whale’s belly. He was not only

 1. In this Psalm, the humility of one that is a servant of God and faithful is commended unto us, by whose voice it is sung which is the whole body o

 1. It was right indeed, most beloved, that we should rather hear our Brother, my colleague, when present before all of us. And just now he refused not

 1. This is a short Psalm, but one well known and quoted. “Behold, how good and how pleasant is it, that brethren should dwell together in unity” (ver.

 1. “Behold, now, bless ye the Lord, all ye servants of the Lord” (ver. 1), “who stand in the house of the Lord, in the courts of the house of our God”

 1. Very pleasant ought it be to us, and we should rejoice because it is pleasant, to which this Psalm exhorteth us. For it says, “Praise the name of t

 1. “Give thanks unto the Lord, for He is good, for His mercy endureth for ever” (ver. 1). This Psalm contains the praise of God, and all its verses fi

 1. …But to-day we have sung, “By the waters of Babylon we sat down and wept, when we remembered Sion” (ver. 1).…

 1. The title of this Psalm is brief and simple, and need not detain us since we know whose resemblance David wore, and since in him we recognise ours

 1. …Our Lord Jesus Christ speaketh in the Prophets, sometimes in His own Name, sometimes in ours, because He maketh Himself one with us as it is said

 1. Our Lords have bidden me, brethren, and in them the Lord of all, to bring this Psalm to your understanding, so far as God giveth me to. May He help

 1. …The Psalm which we have just sung is in many parts somewhat obscure. When by the help of the Lord what has been said shall begin to be expounded a

 1. …“With my voice have I cried unto the Lord” (ver. 1). It were enough to say, “with voice:” not for nothing perhaps has “my” been added. For many cr

 1. …The title of the Psalm is, “To David himself, when his son was pursuing him.” We know from the Books of Kings that this happened:…but we must reco

 1. The title of this Psalm is brief in number of words, but heavy in the weight of its mysteries. “To David himself against Goliath.” This battle was

 1. …The title is, “Praise, to David himself.” Praise to Christ Himself. And since He is called David, who came to us of the seed of David, yet He was

 1. …Behold the Psalm soundeth it is the voice of some one (and that some one are ye, if ye will), of some one encouraging his soul to praise God, and

 1. It is said to us, “Praise the Lord” (ver. 1). This is said to all nations, not to us alone. And these words, sounded forth through separate places

 1. The subject of our meditation in this present life should be the praises of God for the everlasting exaltation of our life hereafter will be the p

 1. Let us praise the Lord both in voice, and in understanding, and in good works and, as this Psalm exhorteth, let us sing unto Him a new song. It be

 1. Although the arrangement of the Psalms, which seems to me to contain the secret of a mighty mystery, hath not yet been revealed unto me, yet, by th

Psalm CXXXIX.5712    Lat. CXXXVIII. Sermon to the people. [The author says: “We had prepared us a short Psalm, and had desired the reader to chant it; but he, through confusion at the time, as it seems, has substituted another for it. We have chosen to follow the will of God in the reader’s mistake, rather than our own will by keeping our purpose.”—C.]

1. …Our Lord Jesus Christ speaketh in the Prophets, sometimes in His own Name, sometimes in ours, because He maketh Himself one with us; as it is said, “they twain shall be one flesh.” Wherefore also the Lord saith in the Gospel, speaking of marriage, “therefore they are no more twain, but one flesh.” One flesh, because of our mortality He took flesh; not one divinity, for He is the Creator, we the creature. Whatsoever then our Lord speaketh in the person of the Flesh He took upon Him, belongeth both to that Head which hath already ascended into heaven, and to those members which still toil in their earthly wandering. Let us hear then our Lord Jesus Christ speaking in prophecy. For the Psalms were sung long before the Lord was born of Mary, yet not before He was Lord: for from everlasting He was the Creator of all things, but in time He was born of His creature. Let us believe that Godhead, and, so far as we can, understand Him to be equal to the Father. But that Godhead equal to the Father was made partaker of our mortal nature, not of His own store, but of ours; that we too might be made partakers of His Divine Nature, not of our store, but of His.

2. “Lord, Thou hast tried me, and known me” (ver. 1). Let the Lord Jesus Christ Himself say this; let Him too say, “Lord,” to the Father. For His Father is not His Lord, save because He hath deigned to be born according to the flesh. He is Father of the God, Lord of the Man. Wouldest thou know to whom He is Father? To the coequal Son. The Apostle saith, “Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God.”5713    Philip. ii. 6, 7. To this “Form” God is Father, the “Form” equal to Himself, the only-begotten Son, begotten of His Substance. But forasmuch as for our sakes, that we might be re-made, and made partakers of His Divine Nature, being renewed unto life eternal, He was made partaker of our mortal nature, what saith the Apostle of Him? He saith, “yet He emptied Himself, and took upon Him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men, and was found in fashion as a man.” He was in the Form of God, equal to the Father; He took upon Him the form of a servant, so as therein to be less than the Father.…

3. “Thou hast known My down-sitting and Mine up-rising” (ver. 2). What here is “down-sitting,” what “up-rising”? He who sitteth, humbleth himself. The Lord then “sat” in His Passion, “up-rose” in His Resurrection. “Thou,” he saith, hast known this; that is, Thou hast willed, Thou hast approved; according to Thy will was it done. But if thou choosest to take the words of the Head in the person of the Body: man sitteth when he humbleth himself in penitence, he riseth up when his sins are forgiven, and he is lifted up to the hope of everlasting life. Lift not up yourselves, unless ye have first been humbled. For many wish to rise before they have sat down, they wish to appear righteous, before they have confessed that they are sinners.…

4. “Thou hast understood my thoughts from afar; Thou hast tracked out my path and my limit” (ver. 3); “and all my ways Thou hast seen beforehand” (ver. 4). What is, “from afar”? While I am yet in my pilgrimage, before I reach that, my true country, Thou hast known my thoughts.…The younger son went into a far country. After his toil and suffering and tribulation and want, he thought on his father, and desired to return, and said, “I will arise, and go to my father.” “I will arise,” said he, for before he had sat. Here then thou mayest recognise him saying, “Thou hast known my down-sitting and up-rising.” I sat, in want; I arose, in longing for Thy Bread. “Thou hast understood my thoughts from afar.” For far indeed had I gone; but where is not He whom I had left? Wherefore the Lord saith in the Gospel, that his father met him as he was coming. Truly; for “he had understood his thoughts from afar.” “My path,” he saith; what, but a bad path, the path he had walked to leave his father?…What is, “my path”? that by which I have gone. What is, “my limit”? that whereunto I have reached. “Thou hast tracked out my path and my limit.” That limit of mine, far distant as it was, was not far from Thine eyes. Far had I gone, and yet Thou wast there. “And all my ways Thou hast seen beforehand.” He said not, “hast seen,” but, “hast seen beforehand.” Before I went by them, before I walked in them, Thou didst see them beforehand; and Thou didst permit me in toil to go my own ways, that, if I desired not to toil, I might return into Thy ways. “For there is no deceit in my tongue.” 5714    Ps. cxxxix. 4. What meant he by this? Lo, I confess to Thee, I have walked in my own way, I am become far from Thee, I have departed from Thee, with whom it was well with me, and to my good it was ill with me without Thee.…

5. “Behold Thou, Lord, hast known all my last doings, and the ancient ones” (ver. 5). Thou hast known my latest doings, when I fed swine; Thou hast known my ancient doings, when I asked of Thee my portion of goods. Ancient doings were the beginnings to me of latest ills: ancient sin, when we fell; latest punishment, when we came into this toilsome and dangerous mortality. And would that this may be “latest” to us; it will be, if now we will to return. For there is another “latest” for certain wicked ones, to whom it shall be said, “Go ye into everlasting fire.”5715    Matt. xxv. 41.…“Thou hast fashioned me, and hast laid Thine hand upon me.” “Fashioned me,” where? In this mortality; now, to the toils whereunto we all are born. For none is born, but God has fashioned him in his mother’s womb; nor is there any creature, whereof God is not the Fashioner. But “Thou hast fashioned me” in this toil, “and laid Thine hand upon me,” Thine avenging hand, putting down the proud. For thus healthfully hath He cast down the proud, that He may lift him up humble.

6. “Thy skill hath displayed itself wonderfully in me: it hath waxed mighty: I shall not be able to attain unto it” (ver. 6). Listen now and hear somewhat, which is obscure indeed, yet bringeth no small pleasure in the understanding thereon. Moses, the holy servant of God, with whom God spake by a cloud, for, speaking after human fashion, He must needs speak to His servant through some work of His hands which He assumed,…longed and desired to see the true appearance of God, and said to God, who was conversing with him, “If now I have found grace in Thy sight, show me Thyself.” 5716    Exod. xxxiii. 13. When this he desired vehemently, and would extort from God in that sort of friendly familiarity, if we may so speak, wherewith God deigned to treat him, that he might see His Glory and His Face, in such wise as we can speak of God’s Face, He said unto him, “Thou canst not see My Face; for no one hath seen My Face, and lived;”5717    Exod. xxxiii. 20. but I will place thee in a clift of the rock, and will pass by, and will set My hand upon thee; and when I have passed by, thou shalt see My back parts. And from these words there ariseth another enigma, that is, an obscure figure of the truth. “When I have passed by,” saith God, “thou shalt see My back parts;” as though He hath on one side His face, on another His back. Far be it from us to have any such thoughts of that Majesty! For whoso hath such thoughts of God, what advantageth it him that the temples are closed? He is building an idol in his own heart. In these words then are mighty mysteries.…They who raged against the Lord, whom they saw, now seek counsel how they may be saved; and it is said to them, “Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the Name of Jesus Christ, and your sins shall be forgiven you.”5718    Acts ii. 38. Behold, they saw the back parts of Him, whose face they could not see. For His Hand was upon their eyes, not for ever, but while He passed by. After He had passed He took away His Hand from their eyes. When the hand was taken from their eyes, they say to the disciples, “What shall we do?” At first they are fierce, afterwards loving; at first angry, afterwards fearful; at first hard, then pleasant; at first blind, then enlightened.…

7. Behold thou findest that the runaway in a far country cannot escape His eyes, from whom he fleeth. And whither can he go now, whose “limit is tracked out”? Behold, what saith he? “Whither shall I go from Thy Spirit?” (ver. 7). Who can in the world flee from that Spirit, with whom the world is filled?5719    Wisd. i. 7. “And whither shall I flee from Thy Face?” He seeketh a place whither to flee from the wrath of God. What place will shelter God’s runaway? Men who shelter runaways, ask them from whom they have fled; and when they find any one a slave of some master less powerful than themselves, him they shelter as it were without any fear, saying in their hearts, “he hath not a master by whom he can be tracked out.” But when they are told of a powerful master, they either shelter not, or they shelter with great fear, because even a powerful man can be deceived. Where is God not? Who can deceive God? Whom doth not God see? From whom doth not God demand His runaway? Whither then shall that runaway go from the Face of God? He turneth him hither and thither, as though seeking a spot to flee to.

8. “If I go up,” saith he, “to heaven, Thou art there: if I go down to Hades, Thou art present” (ver. 8). At length, miserable runaway, thou hast learnt, that by no means canst thou make thyself far from Him, from whom thou hast wished to remove far away. Behold, He is everywhere; thou, whither wilt thou go? He hath found counsel, and that inspired by Him, who now deigneth to recall him.…If by sinning I go down to the depths of wickednesses, and spurn to confess, saying, “Who seeth me” (for “in Hades who shall confess to Thee?”5720    Ps. vi. 5.) there also Thou art present, to punish. Whither then shall I go that I may flee from Thy presence, that is, not find Thee angry? This plan he found: So will I flee, saith he, from Thy Face, so will I flee from Thy Spirit; from Thy avenging Spirit, Thy avenging Face thus will I flee. How? “If I take again my wings right forward, and abide in the utmost parts of the sea” (ver. 9). So can I flee from Thy Face. If he will flee to the utmost part of the sea from the Face of God, will not He from whom he fleeth be there?…For what are “the utmost parts of the sea,” but the end of the world? Thither let us now flee in hope and longing, with the wings of twofold love; let us have no rest, save in “the utmost parts of the sea.” For if elsewhere we wish for rest, we shall be hurled headlong into the sea. Let us fly even to the ends of the sea, let us bear ourselves aloft on the wings of twofold love; meanwhile let us flee to God in hope, and in faithful hope let us meditate on that “end of the sea.”

9. Now listen who may bring us thither. The very same One whose face in wrath we wish to flee from. For what followeth? “Even thither shall Thy hand conduct me, and Thy right hand lead me” (ver. 10). This let us meditate on, beloved brethren, let this be our hope, this our consolation. Let us take again through love the wings we lost through lust. For lust was the lime of our wings, it clashed us down from the freedom of our sky, that is, the free breezes of the Spirit of God. Thence dashed down we lost our wings, and were, so to speak, imprisoned in the power of the fowler; thence “He” redeemed us with His Blood, whom we fled from to be caught. He maketh us wings of His commandments; we raise them aloft now free from lime.…Needs then must we have wings, and needs must He conduct us, for He is our Helper. We have free-will; but even with that free-will what can we do, unless He help us who commandeth us?

10. And considering the length of the way, what said he to himself? “And I said, Peradventure the darkness shall overwhelm me” (ver. 11). Lo, now I have believed in Christ, now am I wafted aloft on the wings of twofold love.…Regarding the length of the way, I said to myself, “And the night was light in my delight.” The night was made to me light, because in the night I despaired of being able to cross so great a sea, to surmount so long a journey, to reach the utmost parts by persevering to the end. Thanks to Him who sought me when a runaway, who smote my back with strokes of the scourge, who by calling me recalled me from destruction, who made my night light. For it is night so long as we are passing through this life. How was the night made light? Because Christ came down into the night.…

11. “For darkness shall not be darkened by Thee” (ver. 12). Do not thou then darken thy darkness; God darkeneth it not, but enlighteneth it yet more; for to Him is said in another Psalm, “Thou, Lord, shalt light my candle: my God shall enlighten my darkness.”5721    Ps. xviii. 28. But who are they who “darken their darkness,” which God darkeneth not? Evil men, perverse men; when they sin, verily they are darkness; when they confess not their sins which they have committed but go on to defend them, they “darken their darkness.” Wherefore now if thou hast sinned thou art in darkness, but by confessing thy darkness thou shalt obtain to have thy darkness lightened; by defending thy darkness, thou shalt “darken thy darkness.” And where wilt thou escape from double darkness, who wast in difficulty in single darkness?…Let us not “darken our darkness” by defending our sins, and “the night shall be light in our delight.”

12. “And night shall be lightened as the day.” “Night, as the day.” “Day” to us is worldly prosperity, night adversity in this world: but, if we learn that it is by the desert of our sins that we suffer adversities, and our Father’s scourges are sweet to us, that the Judge’s sentence may not be bitter to us, so shall we find the darkness of this night to be, as it were, the light of this night.…But when Christ our Lord has come, and has dwelt in the soul by faith, and promised other light, and inspired and given patience, and warned a man not to delight in prosperity or to be crushed by adversity, the man, being faithful, begins to treat this world with indifference; not to be lifted up when prosperity befalls him, nor crushed when adversity, but in all things to praise God, not only when he aboundeth, but also when he loseth; not only when he is in health, but also when he is sick.5722    Ps. xxxiv. 1.…“As is His darkness, so is also His light.” His darkness overwhelms me not, because His light lifts me not up.

13. “For Thou, O Lord, hast possessed my reins” (ver. 13). The Possessor is within; He occupieth not only the heart, but also the reins; not only the thoughts, but also the delights: He then possesseth that whence I should feel delight at any light in this world: He occupieth my reins: I know not delight, save from the inward light of His Wisdom. What then? Dost thou not delight that thy affairs are very prosperous, times fortunate to thee? dost thou not delight in honour, in riches, in thy family? “I do not,” saith he. Wherefore? Because “Thou hast possessed my reins, O Lord; Thou hast taken me up from my mother’s womb.” While I was in my mother’s womb, I did not regard with indifference the darkness of that night and the light of that night.…Now, having been taken up from the womb of that our mother, we look on them with indifference, and say, “As is His darkness, so is also His light.” Neither doth earthly prosperity make us happy, nor earthly adversity wretched. We must maintain righteousness, love faith, hope in God, love God, love our neighbours also. After these toils we shall have unfailing light, day without setting. Fleeting is all the light and darkness of this night.

14. “I will confess to Thee, O Lord, for terribly hast Thou been made wonderful: wondrous are Thy works, and my soul knoweth it right well” (ver. 14). Aforetime “Thy knowledge was made wonderful from me, it had waxed great, nor could I attain unto it.” From me then “it had waxed great.” Whence doth “my soul” now “know right well,” save because the “night is light in my delight?” save because Thy grace hath come unto me, and enlightened my darkness? save because Thou hast possessed my reins? save because Thou hast taken me up from my mother’s womb?

15. “My bone is not hid from Thee, which Thou hast made in secret” (ver. 15). “His bone,” he saith. What the people call ossum, is in Latin called os. This is the word in the Greek.5723    Gr. ὀστοῦν. For we might think the word os is here the one which makes in the plural ora, not os (short), which makes ossa. He saith then, I have a certain bone (ossum) in secret. For this word let us prefer to use; better is it that scholars find fault with us, than that the people understand us not. “There is then,” saith he, “a certain bone of mine, within, hidden; Thou hast made within a bone for me in secret, yet is it not hidden from Thee. In secret hast Thou made it, but hast Thou therefore hidden it from Thyself? This my bone made by Thee in secret men see not, men know not: Thou knowest, who hast made. What “bone” then meaneth he, brethren? Let us seek it, it is “in secret.” But because as Christians we are speaking in the Name of the Lord to Christians, now we find what bone is of this kind. It is a sort of inward strength; for strength and fortitude are understood to be in the bones. There is then a sort of inward strength of the soul, wherein it is not broken. Whatever tortures, whatever tribulations, whatever adversities rage around, that which God hath made strong in secret in us, cannot be broken, yieldeth not. For by God is made a certain strength of patience, of which is said in another Psalm, “But my soul shall be subjected to God, for of Him is my patience.”5724    Ps. lxii. 5.…Wherein dost thou glory? “In tribulations, knowing that tribulation worketh patience.”5725    Rom. iv. 5. See how that strength is fashioned within in his heart: “because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.” So is fashioned and made strong that hidden bone, that it maketh us even to glory in tribulations. But to men we seem wretched, because that which we have within is hidden from them. “And my substance is in the lower parts of the earth.” Behold, in flesh is my substance, yet have I a bone within, which Thou hast fashioned, such as to cause me never to yield to any persecutions of this lower region, where still my substance is. For what great matter is it, if an Angel be brave? This is a great matter, if flesh is brave. And whence is flesh brave, whence is an earthen vessel brave, save because in it is made a bone in secret?

16. …“Thine eyes did see Mine imperfect one, and in Thy book shall all be written” (ver. 16), not only the perfect, but also the imperfect. Let not the imperfect fear, only let them advance. Nor yet, because I have said, “let them not fear,” let them love their imperfection, and remain there, where they are found. Let them advance, as far as in them lieth. Daily let them add, daily let them approach; yet let them not fall back from the Body of the Lord: that, compacted in one Body and among these members, they may be counted worthy to have that said of them. “By day shall they wander, and none among them.” “The Day” was yet on earth, even our Lord Jesus Christ. Whence He said, “Walk while ye have the day.”5726    John xii. 35. But “by day shall” His imperfect ones “wander.” They too thought that our Lord Jesus Christ was only man, that He had not within Him the hidden Godhead, that He was not secretly God, but that He was that only which was seen: this they too thought.…But what is, “In the day they shall wander”? Shall they perish? Where then is, “In Thy book shall all be written”? When then did they “wander in the day”? When they understood not the Lord set upon earth. And what followeth? “But to me Thy friends are made very honourable, O God” (ver. 17); those very ones, who “wandered in the day, and none was in them,” became Thy friends, and were made very honourable to me. That bone was made in them in secret after the resurrection of the Lord, and they suffered for His Name, at whose death they had been amazed. “Mightily strengthened were their chieftainships.” They became Apostles, they became leaders of the Church, they became rams leading their flocks, “mightily strengthened.”

17. “I will number them, and they shall be multiplied above the sand” (ver. 18). By means of them, who “wandered in the day,” lo! there has been born all this great multitude, which now is like the sand innumerable, save by God. For He said, “they shall be multiplied above the sand,” and yet He had said, “I will number them.” The very same who are numbered, “shall be multiplied above the sand.” For by Him is the sand numbered, by whom “the very hairs of our head are numbered.”5727    Matt. x. 30. “I have risen, and yet am I with Thee.” Already have I suffered, saith He, already have I been buried; lo! I have risen, and not yet do they understand that I am with them. “Yet am I with Thee,” that is, not yet with them, for not yet do they recognise Me. For thus do we read in the Gospel, that after the resurrection of oar Lord Jesus Christ, when He appeared to them, they did not at once know Him. There is another meaning also: “I have risen, and yet am I with Thee,” as though He would signify this present time, wherein He is as yet hidden at the right hand of the Father, before He is revealed in the brightness, wherein He shall come to judge the quick and the dead.

18. And then He telleth what meanwhile, during this whole time when He already has risen, and remaineth still with the Father, He suffereth by the intermixture of sinners in His Body, the Church, and by the separation of heretics. “If Thou, O God, shalt slay the sinners (since Thou shalt say in Thy thought, Depart from Me, ye men of blood), they shall receive in vanity their cities” (ver. 19, 20). The words seem to be connected in this order; “If Thou, O God, shall slay the sinners, they shall receive in vanity their cities.” Thus are sinners slain, because, “having their understandings darkened, they are alienated from the life of God.”5728    Eph. iv. 18. For on account of elation they lose confession, and so they are slain, and in them is fulfilled what Scripture saith, “Confession perisheth from the dead, as from one that is not.”5729    Ecclus. xvii. 28. And so “they receive in vanity their cities,” that is, their vain peoples, who follow their vanity; when, puffed up by the name of righteousness, they5730    Donatists. persuade men to burst the bond of unity, and blindly and ignorantly follow them, as being more righteous.…But now the Body of Christ, the Church, saith, Why do the proud speak falsely against me, as though I were stained by other men’s sins, and so, by separating themselves, “receive in vanity their cities”? “Have not I hated those who hated Thee, Lord?” (ver. 21). Why do those who are worse themselves require of me to separate myself in body as well as spirit from the wicked, so as to root up the wheat, together with the tares, before the time of harvest, that before the time of winnowing I lose my power of enduring the chaff; that before all the different sorts of fishes are brought to the end of the world, as to the shore, to be separated, I tear the nets of peace and unity? Are the sacraments which I receive, those of evil men? Do I; by consent, communicate in their life and deeds?…But where is, “Love your enemies”? Is it because He said “yours,” not “God’s”? “Do good to them that hate you.”5731    Matt. v. 44. He saith not, “who hate God.” So he followeth the pattern, and saith, “Have not I hated those who hated Thee; Lord?” He saith not, “Who have hated me.” “And at Thine enemies did I waste away.” “Thine,” he said, not “mine.” But those who hate us and are enemies unto us, only because we serve Him, what else do they but hate Him, and are His enemies. Ought we then to love such enemies as these? Or do not they suffer persecution for God’s sake, to whom it is said, “Pray for them that persecute you”? Observe then what followeth. “With a perfect hatred did I hate them” (ver. 22). What is, “with a perfect hatred”? I hated in them their iniquities, I loved Thy creation. This it is to hate with a perfect hatred, that neither on account of the vices thou hate the men, nor on account of the men love the vices. For see what he addeth, “They became mine enemies.” Not only as God’s enemies, but as his own too doth he now describe them. How then will he fulfil in them both his own saying, “Have not I hated those that hated Thee, Lord,” and the Lord’s command, “Love your enemies”? How will he fulfil this, save with that “perfect hatred,” that he hate in them that they are wicked, and love that they are men? For in the time even of the Old Testament, when the carnal people was restrained by visible punishments, how did Moses, the servant of God, who by understanding belonged to the New Testament, how did he hate sinners when he prayed for them, or how did he not hate them when he slew them, save that he “hated them with a perfect hatred”? For with such perfection did he hate the iniquity which he punished, as to love the manhood for which he prayed.

19. Since then the Body of Christ is in the end to be severed in body also from the unholy and wicked, but now meanwhile groaneth among them, what doeth the “love of Christ among the daughters, as the lily among thorns”?5732    Cant. ii. 2. What are her words? what her conscience? what is the “appearance of the king’s daughter within”?5733    Ps. xlv. 13. Lo, hear what she saith. “Prove me, O God, and know my heart” (ver. 23). Do Thou, O God, Thou prove me, Thou know; not man, not an heretic, who neither knoweth how to prove, nor can know my heart, whereas Thou provest, and knowest that I consent not to the deeds of the wicked, while they think that I can be defiled by the sins of others; so that, while I in my long wandering do what I mourn in another Psalm, that is, while I “labour for peace among them that hate peace,”5734    Ps. cxx. 7. until I come to that Vision of peace, which is called Jerusalem, “which is the mother of us all,” the city “eternal in the heavens;” they, contending, and falsely accusing and separating themselves, may “receive,” not, evidently, in eternity, but “in vanity, their cities.” Why this? Observe what followeth.

20. “And see,” saith he, “if there be any way of wickedness in me, and lead me in the way everlasting” (ver. 24). “Search,” he saith, “my paths,” that is, my counsels and thoughts. What else saith he, but “lead me in Christ”? For who is “the way everlasting,” save He that is the life everlasting? For everlasting is He who said, “I am the Way, and the Truth, and the Life.”5735    John xiv. 6. If then thou findest anything in my way which displeaseth Thine eyes, since my way is mortal, do Thou “lead me in the way everlasting,” wherein is no iniquity; for even “if any man sin, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous; and He is the propitiation for our sins;”5736    1 John ii. 1, 2. He is “the Way everlasting” without sin; He is the Life everlasting without punishment.

21. These are great mysteries, brethren. How doth the Spirit of God speak with us? how doth it make us delights in this night? What is this, we ask you, brethren, whence are they sweeter, the darker they are? He mixeth us our potion after His love, in certain wondrous ways. He maketh His own sayings wondrous, so that while we were speaking what ye already knew, yet forasmuch as it was dug out of passages which seemed obscure, the knowledge itself seemed to be made new. Did ye not know, brethren, that the wicked are to be tolerated in the Church, and schisms not to be made? Did ye not already know, that within those nets which hold both good and bad fishes, we must abide even to the shore, nor must the nets be burst, because on the shore the good shall be separated into vessels, and the bad thrown away? Ye know this already; but these verses of this Psalm ye did not understand; that which ye did not understand is explained; that which ye knew has been renewed.