30. "They shall be mindful of thy name in every generation and generation; therefore shall the peoples confess unto [1467] Thee" (ver. 17). What does it profit then to "confess" indeed and yet to confess out of "the Temple"? What does it profit to pray, and yet not to pray on the Mount? "I cried," says he, "unto the Lord with my voice: and He heard me out of His holy hill." [1468] Out of what "hill"? Out of that of which it is said, "A city set upon a hill cannot be hid." [1469] Of what "hill"? Out of that hill which Daniel saw "grow out of a small stone, and break all the kingdoms of the earth; and cover all the face of the earth." [1470] There let him pray, who hopes to receive: there let him ask, who would have his prayer heard: there let him confess, who wishes to be pardoned. "Therefore shall the peoples confess unto thee for ever, world without end." For in that eternal life it is true indeed there will no longer be the mourning over sins: but yet in the praises of God by that everlasting City which is above, there will not be wanting a perpetual confession of the greatness of that happiness. For to that City itself, to which another Psalm [1471] sings, "Glorious things are spoken of thee, O City of God," to her who is the very Bride of Christ, the very Queen, a "King's daughter, and a King's consort;"...the peoples shall for this very cause confess even to herself; the hearts of all, now enlightened by perfect charity, being laid bare, and made manifest, that she may know the whole of herself most completely, who here is, in many parts of her, unknown to herself....
[1363] Lat. XLIV.
[1364] Some copies have qui for "those (persons) that."
[1365] 1 Cor. ii. 8.
[1366] John xiv. 9.
[1367] Qui fiunt nuptiæ (omitted in some mss.).
[1368] Scholasticis; mss. scolasticis="scholars," or perhaps scoliasticis, "ballad-mongers."--Ben.
[1369] "Songs of the Bridechamber."
[1370] Thalamus. Ps. xix. 5, so Vulgate.
[1371] Matt. xix. 5. [For this point in the theology of the Incarnation, see A.N.F. vol. vii. p. 367, Athanas. Creed, part ii.--C.]
[1372] Eructavit verbum bonum. [See Justin Martyr, vol. i. p. 213, A.N.F., and Cyprian, vol. v. p. 516, A.N.F., and so passim.--C.]
[1373] Nativitatem.
[1374] Conjugium.
[1375] [Confusion comes to the human mind by arguing from humanity up to God. His is the only true generative process; the production of a Son by man is not to be considered in process, but in product only. This product is of one substance with the human (though divided). The undivided substance of the Divine Father is the one substance of the Son, by eternal generation.--C.]
[1376] So all mss. antequam stet, stat consilium, acc. to Ben., which however reads antequam stet in opere, stat in consilio. "That building, before it subsists in construction, subsists in design." On the meaning of Verbum see St. Aug. on John i. 1. St. Ath. on Nic. Def. c. 4, and Disc. i. against Ar. c. 6.
[1377] John i. 3.
[1378] Heb. xi. 3.
[1379] Col. i. 16.
[1380] Ps. lxii. 11.
[1381] Heb. i. 1, 2.
[1382] Heb. i. 3, 4, 5.
[1383] Nec esset in rebus, nisi esset in verbo.
[1384] John i. 3, 4.
[1385] 1 Cor. x. 4.
[1386] John i. 29.
[1387] Rev. v. 5.
[1388] Ps. cxlvii. 15.
[1389] Antiquarios.
[1390] 1 Tim. ii. 5.
[1391] John i. 17.
[1392] Lit. "my works."
[1393] 2 Pet. iii. 4.
[1394] Ps. xcv. 2.
[1395] Matt. x. 34.
[1396] Luke xii. 52.
[1397] Litigat.
[1398] Recipitur. He seems to mean that the Catholic daughter-in-law who receives the word of Christ is sure not to submit to heretical baptism. [On which compare Cyprian's teaching, A.N.F. vol. v. pp. 376-385, etc.--C.]
[1399] Gen. xlix. 10. E.V. "from between his feet."
[1400] "In illâ veluti humilitate seminis esse magnitudinem Nominis." [The promise (Gen. iii. 15) dignified the loins of Isaac (Gen. xvii. 19) as with the Incarnation in its germ. Hence this mysterious form of oath was an oath by the Promised Seed (Gal. iii. 16). St. Paul quotes "the promises" (not one text only), and honours the Septuagint, which gives what he makes so emphatic in Gen. xii. 7, xv. 18, and xxii. 18.--C.]
[1401] Gen. xxiv. 2.
[1402] Ps. lxxxv. 11.
[1403] Isa. liii. 7.
[1404] Luke xxiii. 34.
[1405] Virtutem.
[1406] Malitias.
[1407] Song of Sol. ii. 5.
[1408] In corde, editions not in mss.
[1409] Acts ix. 6.
[1410] O æternitatis divinitas.
[1411] Quia non pluit.
[1412] Quia fluit.
[1413] Collineari.
[1414] Rex, a regendo.
[1415] Non autem regit qui non corrigit.
[1416] Rectorum.
[1417] Hæc est tota virga. Al. tuta, "This is a safe rod."
[1418] Ps. ii. 9.
[1419] Ps. li. 9.
[1420] Animum advertere.
[1421] Ps. li. 3.
[1422] Al. "The visible oil is for a sign of the oil invisible, for it is in a sacrament." [The use of oil in confirmation, designed to teach this, operated to conceal it rather; the material chrism absorbing the spiritual idea.--C.]
[1423] Gen. xxviii. 11-18.
[1424] [With which he subjoins a reference to John i. 51.--C.]
[1425] Ps. cxviii. 22.
[1426] 1 Pet. ii. 4.
[1427] 1 Cor. xi. 3.
[1428] Luke xxiii. 23.
[1429] Latitudinem; but Vulgate, nervum.
[1430] Gen. xxxii. 25.
[1431] Multitudo generis.
[1432] Eph. v. 27.
[1433] 2 Cor. ii. 14, 15.
[1434] Sol. Song i. 3, Lat.
[1435] Matt. xix. 28.
[1436] Oxf. mss. add, "For the Brother's name's sake."
[1437] Vigilat.
[1438] 1 Cor. i. 13.
[1439] Memoriam Petri. [The first basilica of St. Peter, on the Vatican, is attributed to Constantine.--C.]
[1440] Deut. xxv. 6.
[1441] Matt. xxv. 41.
[1442] Matt. xxv. 34.
[1443] [Hence the beauty of a Liturgy is not that it should be in (Latin) one language, but in the many tongues of the many nations, confessing one faith. A.N.F. vol. vii. p. 533.--C.]
[1444] Uniti in membris Christ.
[1445] Al. "and thus a Prophet addresses her, and thus an Apostle addresses her."
[1446] Ps. xviii. 43, 44.
[1447] Ben. "with truth." Oxf. mss. varietate.
[1448] Rom. iv. 5.
[1449] Sol. Song viii. 5. Dealbata; or, Vulgate, deliciis affluens.
[1450] Isa. i. 18.
[1451] [With the Septuagint our author omits et adora cum. The text of the Vulgate here, and that of St. Augustin and of Jerome's Hebraic Psalter, differ widely.--C.]
[1452] Matt. xv. 21-28.
[1453] "They shall worship Him with gifts." [A truly Punic outburst, and full of point for the Carthaginians. A.N.F. vol. iii. p. 3.--C.]
[1454] Or, "and let them be filled." Al. "and they are filled."
[1455] Hos. vi. 6; Matt. ix. 13.
[1456] Matt. xxv. 34, 35.
[1457] Gen. xxviii. 12. See § 18. John i. 51.
[1458] Matt. xxv. 40.
[1459] [Omnis gloria filiæ regis intrinsecus is Jerome's version of the Hebrew; preferable, certainly, to the tame idea of modern critics, that "within" means "(intus domum) within the palaces."--C.]
[1460] Interiora pulcritudinis.
[1461] Proximæ.
[1462] 1 Pet. ii. 4.
[1463] Hæreticæ sanctimoniales.
[1464] Junctura.
[1465] [Not worldly princes, but spiritual chiefs and leaders of the flock.--C.]
[1466] Eph. ii. 20.
[1467] E.V. "praise Thee."
[1468] Ps. iii. 4.
[1469] Matt. v. 14.
[1470] Dan. ii. 34, 35.
[1471] Ps. lxxxvii. 3.
Psalm XLVI. [1472]
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 crucified, ye know, hath rent the veil, [1473] that the secrets of the temple might be discovered. Furthermore since the Cross of our Lord was a key, whereby things closed might be opened; let us trust that He will be with us, that these secrets may be revealed. What is said, "To the end," always ought to be understood of Christ. For "Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth." [1474] But The End He is called, not because He consumeth, but because He perfecteth. For ended call we the food which is eaten, and ended the coat which is woven, the former to consumption, the latter to perfection. Because then we have not where to go farther when we have come to Christ, Himself is called the end of our course. Nor ought we to think, that when we have come to Him, we ought to strive any further to come also to the Father. For this thought Philip also, when he said to Him, "Lord, show us the Father, and it sufficeth us." When he said, "It sufficeth us," he sought the end of satisfaction and perfection. Then said He, "Have I been so long time with you, and hast thou not known Me, Philip: he that hath seen Me, hath seen the Father." [1475] In Him then have we the Father, because He is in the Father, and the Father in Him, and He and His Father are One. [1476]
2. "Our God is a refuge and strength" (ver. 1). There are some refuges wherein is no strength, whereto when any fleeth, he is more weakened than strengthened. Thou fleest, for example, to some one greater in the world, that thou mayest make thyself a powerful friend; this seemeth to thee a refuge. Yet so great are this world's uncertainties, and so frequent grow the ruins of the powerful day by day, that when to such refuge thou art come, thou beginnest to fear more than ever therein....Our refuge is not such, but our refuge is strength. When thither we have fled, we shall be firm.
3. "A helper in tribulations, which find us out too much." Tribulations are many, and in every tribulation unto God must we flee; whether it be a tribulation in our estate, or in our body's health, or about the peril of those dearest to us, or any other thing necessary to the sustaining of this life, refuge ought there to be none at all to a Christian man, other than his Saviour, other than his God, to whom when he has fled, he is strong. For he will not in himself be strong, nor will he to himself be strength, but He will be his strength, who has become his refuge. But, dearly beloved, among all tribulations of the human soul is no greater tribulation than the consciousness of sin. For if there be no wound herein, and that be sound within man which is called conscience, wherever else he may suffer tribulation, thither will he flee, and there find God....Ye see, dearly beloved, when trees are cut down and proved by the carpenters, sometimes in the surface they seem as though injured and rotten; but the carpenter looks into the inner marrow as it were of the tree, and if within he find the wood sound, he promises that it will last in a building; nor will he be very anxious about the injured surface, when that which is within he declares sound. Furthermore, to man anything more inward than conscience is not found; what then profits it, if what is without is sound, and the marrow of conscience has become rotton? These are close and vehement overmuch, and as this Psalm saith, too great tribulations; yet even in these the Lord hath become a helper by forgiving sin. For the consciences of the ungodly hateth nothing save indulgence; for if one saith he hath great tribulations, being a confessed debtor to the treasury, when he beholdeth the narrowness of his estate, and seeth that he cannot be solvent; if on account of the distrainers every year hanging over him, he saith that he suffereth great tribulations, and doth not breathe freely except in hope of indulgence, and that in things earthly; [1477] how much more the debtor of penalties out of the abundance of sins: when shall he pay what he owes out of his evil conscience, when if he pay, he perisheth? For to pay this debt, is to undergo the penalties. Remaineth then that of His indulgence, we may be secure, yet so that, indulgence received, we return not again to contract debts....
4. Now then, such security received, what say they? "Therefore will not we fear, when the earth shall be confounded" (ver. 2). Just before anxious, suddenly secure; out of too great tribulations set in great tranquillity. For in them Christ was sleeping, therefore were they tossed: Christ awoke (as but now we heard out of the Gospel), He commanded the winds, and they were still. [1478] Since Christ is in each man's heart by faith, it is signified to us, that his heart as a ship in this world's tempest is tossed, who forgetteth his faith: as though Christ sleeping it is tossed, but Christ awaking cometh tranquillity. Nay, the Lord Himself, what said He? "Where is your faith?" [1479] Christ aroused, aroused up faith, that what had been done in the ship, might be done in their hearts. "A helper in tribulations, which found us [1480] out too much." He caused that therein should be great tranquillity.