32. "For the Lord hath hearkened to the poor" (ver. 33). He hath hearkened to the poor, and He would not have hearkened to the poor, unless they were poor. Wilt thou be hearkened to? Poor be thou: let sorrow cry out from thee, and not fastidiousness. "And His fettered ones He hath not despised." Being offended at His servants, He hath put them in fetters: but them crying from the fetters He hath not despised. What are these fetters? Mortality, the corruptibleness of the flesh are the fetters wherewith we have been bound. And would ye know the weight of these fetters? Of them is said, "The body which is corrupted weigheth down the soul." [3025] Whenever men in the world will to be rich, for these fetters they are seeking rags. But let the rags of the fetters suffice: seek so much as is necessary for keeping off want, but when thou seekest superfluities, thou longest to load thy fetters. In such a prison then let the fetters abide even alone. "Sufficient for the day be the evil thereof." [3026] "Let there praise Him heavens and earth, sea and all things creeping in them" (ver. 34). The true riches of this poor man are these, to consider the creation, and to praise the Creator. "Let there praise Him heavens and earth, sea and all things creeping therein." And doth this creation alone praise God, when by considering of it God is praised?
33. Hear thou another thing also: "for God shall save Sion" (ver. 35). He restoreth His Church, the faithful Gentiles He doth incorporate with His Only-Begotten; He beguileth not them that believe in Him of the reward of His promise. "For God shall save Sion; and there shall be builded the cities of Juda." These same are the Churches. Let no one say, when shall it come to pass that there be builded the cities of Juda? O that thou wouldest acknowledge the Edifice, and be a living stone, that thou mightest enter into Her. Even now the cities of Juda are being built. For Juda is interpreted confession. By confession of humility there are being builded the cities of Juda: in order that there may remain without the proud, who blush to confess. "For God shall save Sion." What Sion? Hear in the following words: "and the seed of His servants shall possess Her, and they that love His name shall dwell therein" (ver. 36)....
[2896] Lat. LXVIII.
[2897] Matt. xiii. 31, 33; Luke xiii. 19, 21.
[2898] Gen. ix. 19.
[2899] Matt. viii. 11.
[2900] Isa. liv. 1; Gal. iv. 27.
[2901] Matt. vii. 14.
[2902] Salita victima; most copies have psallit hæc victima.--Ben. [Mark ix. 4.--C.]
[2903] Job vii. 1, LXX.
[2904] Non est græcum nomen.
[2905] John xiii. 1.
[2906] Isa. liii. 2.
[2907] John xxi. 18.
[2908] 2 Cor. v. 1.
[2909] 2 Cor. v. 4.
[2910] Matt. xxvii. 34.
[2911] Gen. ii. 7.
[2912] Habitudinem.
[2913] Job ix. 24.
[2914] Gen. i. 27.
[2915] Gen. iii. 6.
[2916] John i. 3.
[2917] Oxf. mss. "was no substance."
[2918] Dan. iii. [In the Benedicite, after Baruch, in the Apocrypha.--C.]
[2919] Matt. xii. 40.
[2920] John xix. 6.
[2921] Matt. xiv. 25.
[2922] Ps. xxxviii. 14.
[2923] Isa. liii. 7.
[2924] Ps. xxii. 1.
[2925] Matt. xxiii. 13, 15, etc.
[2926] Matt. xviii. 7.
[2927] John vi. 60, vii. 36, xvi. 17, 18.
[2928] Ab.
[2929] 2 Cor. v. 19.
[2930] Matt. xxvi. 14.
[2931] Matt. xxvii. 33.
[2932] 1 Cor. i. 25.
[2933] Rom. viii. 32.
[2934] Gal. ii. 20.
[2935] John xii. 24.
[2936] Or, "for Me."
[2937] Oxf. mss. "ye believe."
[2938] John xiv. 1.
[2939] 1 Pet. ii. 20.
[2940] Matt. x. 33; Luke ix. 26.
[2941] Frontosus.
[2942] John ii. 15.
[2943] Rom. xv. 4.
[2944] John xiv. 9.
[2945] John v. 23.
[2946] John iv. 7.
[2947] John xix. 28.
[2948] Luke xxiii. 34.
[2949] Vetus.
[2950] Amaricantes.
[2951] Ps. lxvi. 7.
[2952] Ps. xxxv., p. 82, note 11, supra.
[2953] Rom. viii. 3.
[2954] Psallebant.
[2955] Ad Te.
[2956] 2 Cor. vi. 2.
[2957] Ps. xxv. 10.
[2958] Ps. lxix. 2.
[2959] Ps. lxix. 2.
[2960] Matt. x. 23.
[2961] Ps. cxxx. 1, 2.
[2962] Prov. xviii. 3.
[2963] Ecclus. xvii. 28.
[2964] Ecclus. xxxv. 20.
[2965] Puero; E.V. "servant."
[2966] Oxf. mss. "in you also."
[2967] 2 Macc. vii.
[2968] Dan. iii. 26.
[2969] Acts i. 9, ii. 41.
[2970] Ps. xxx. 9.
[2971] Rom. i. 16.
[2972] Gal. vi. 14.
[2973] Mark ix. 24.
[2974] Luke xxiii. 34.
[2975] John xx. 18; Mark xvi. 9.
[2976] Luke xxiii. 28.
[2977] Matt. xiv. 29.
[2978] Matt. xvi. 22.
[2979] Luke xxiii. 34.
[2980] Matt. xxvii. 34.
[2981] Luke xxii. 19. The Sacrament of the Body of Christ.
[2982] 1 Cor. x. 17.
[2983] Ps. lxvi. 7.
[2984] Matt. xxvii. 34.
[2985] Ps. lv. 15.
[2986] Ps. cxxiv. 1-3.
[2987] Ps. lxix. 24.
[2988] Matt. vi. 21.
[2989] Curvatam, Ben. Most mss. curatam, "cured."
[2990] Luke xiii. 16.
[2991] Ps. cxxxix. 7-9.
[2992] Acts i. 20.
[2993] Ps. lxix. 19.
[2994] John xix. 6.
[2995] Or, "What did it profit Caiaphas to say?" mss.
[2996] John xi. 48.
[2997] Matt. xxiii. 37, 38.
[2998] Matt. xxvii. 5.
[2999] Redemptus, Oxf. mss.; and two in Ben. redimendus, "was to be redeemed." See note at the end of Homilies on St. John.
[3000] Gen. iii. 6.
[3001] Gen. ii. 17.
[3002] Rom. vi. 6.
[3003] Ps. xxii. 1.
[3004] Rom. ix. 14.
[3005] 1 Cor. ii. 8.
[3006] Matt. xxi. 37.
[3007] Ps. lxix. 22.
[3008] 2 Tim. iii. 13.
[3009] Oxf. mss. "into."
[3010] John xix. 22.
[3011] Rom. viii. 29.
[3012] E.V. "worship."
[3013] Rev. xiii. 8.
[3014] Ps. xci. 7.
[3015] Matt. xxv. 33.
[3016] John v. 39.
[3017] Matt. v. 3.
[3018] Ps. xxxi. 22.
[3019] Job i. 21.
[3020] Ps. l. 23.
[3021] Ps. l. 14.
[3022] Matt. v. 6.
[3023] John vi. 33, 51.
[3024] Isa. lv. 3.
[3025] Wisd. ix. 15.
[3026] Matt. vi. 34.
Psalm LXX. [3027]
1. Thanks to the "Corn of wheat," [3028] because He willed to die and to be multiplied: thanks to the only Son of God, our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, who disdained not to undergo our death, in order that He might make us worthy of His life. Behold Him that was single until He went hence; as He said in another Psalm, "Single I am until I go hence;" [3029] for He was a single corn of wheat in such sort as that He had in Himself a great fruitfulness of increase; in how many corns imitating the Passion of Him we exult, when we celebrate the nativities of the Martyrs! Many therefore members of Him, under one Head our Saviour Himself, being bound together in the bond of love and peace (as ye judge it fit that ye know, for ye have often heard), are one man: and of the same, as of one man, the voice is ofttimes heard, in the Psalms, and thus one crieth as though it were all, because all in one are one....
2. There is then in this Psalm the voice of men troubled, and so indeed of Martyrs amid sufferings in peril, but relying on their own Head. Let us hear them, and speak with them out of sympathy of heart, though it be not with similarity of suffering. For they are already crowned, we are still in peril: not that such sort of persecutions do vex us as have vexed them, but worse perchance in the midsts of all kinds of so great scandals. For our own times do more abound in that woe, which the Lord cried: "Woe to the world because of scandals." [3030] And, "Because iniquity hath abounded, the love of man shall wax cold." [3031] For not even that holy Lot at Sodom suffered corporal persecution from any one, or had it been told him that he should not dwell there: [3032] the persecution of him were the evil doings of the Sodomites. Now then that Christ sitteth in Heaven, now that He is glorified, now that necks of kings are made subject to His yoke, and their brows placed beneath His sign, now that not any one remaineth to dare openly to trample upon Christians, still, however, we groan amid instruments and singers, still those enemies of the Martyrs, because with words and steel they have no power, with their own wantonness do persecute them. And O that we were sorrowing for Heathens alone: it would be some sort of comfort, to wait for those that not yet have been signed with the Cross of Christ; when they should be signed, and when, by His authority attached, they should cease to be mad. We see besides men wearing on their brow the sign of Him, at the same time on that same brow wearing the shamelessness of wantonness, and on the days and celebrations of the Martyrs not exulting but insulting. And amid these things we groan, and this is our persecution, if there is in us the love which saith, "Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is scandalized, and I burn not?" [3033] Not any servant of God, then, is without persecution: and that is a true saying which the Apostle saith, "But even all men that will to live godly in Christ, shall suffer persecution." [3034] ...
3. "O God, to my aid make speed" (ver. 1). For need we have for an everlasting aid in this world. But when have we not? Now however being in tribulation, let us especially say, "O God, to my aid make speed." "Let them be confounded and fear that seek my soul." Christ is speaking: whether Head speak or whether Body speak; He is speaking that hath said, "Why persecutest thou Me?" [3035] He is speaking that hath said, "Inasmuch as ye have done it to one of the least of Mine, to Me ye have done it." [3036] The voice then of this Man is known to be of the whole man, of Head and of Body: that need not often be mentioned, because it is known. "Be they confounded," he saith, "and fear that seek my soul." In another Psalm He saith, "I was looking unto the right and saw, and there was not one that would know Me: flight hath perished from Me, and there is not one to seek out My soul." [3037] There of persecutors He saith, that there was not one to seek out His soul: but here, "Let them be confounded and fear that seek My soul."...And where is that which thou hast heard from thy Lord, "Love ye your enemies, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them that persecute you"? [3038] Behold thou sufferest persecution, and cursest them from whom thou sufferest: how dost thou imitate the Passions of thy Lord that have gone before, hanging on the cross and saying, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do." [3039] To persons saying such things the Martyr replieth and saith, thou hast set before me the Lord, saying, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do:" understand thou my voice also, in order that it may be thine too: for what have I said concerning mine enemies? "Let them be confounded and fear." Already such vengeance hath been taken on the enemies of the Martyrs. That Saul that persecuted Stephen, he was confounded and feared. He was breathing out slaughters, [3040] he was seeking some to drag and slay: a voice having been heard from above, "Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou Me," [3041] he was confounded and laid low, and he was raised up to obedience, that had been inflamed unto persecuting. This then the Martyrs desire for their enemies, "Let them be confounded and fear." For so long as they are not confounded and fear, they must needs defend their actions: glorious they think themselves, because they hold, because they bind, because they scourge, because they kill, because they dance, because they insult, and because of all these doings they be some time confounded and fear. [3042] For if they be confounded, they will also be converted: because converted they cannot be, unless they shall have been confounded and shall have feared. Let us then wish these things to our enemies, let us wish them without fear. Behold I have said, and let me have said it with you, may all that still dance and sing and insult the Martyrs "be confounded and fear:" at last within these walls confounded may they beat their breasts!
4. "Let them be turned away backward and blush that think evil things to me" (ver. 2). At first there was the assault of them persecuting, now there hath remained the malice of them thinking. In fact, there are in the Church distinct seasons of persecutions following one another. [3043] There was made an assault on the Church when kings were persecuting: and because kings had been foretold as to persecute and as to believe, when one had been fulfilled the other was to follow. There came to pass also that which was consequent; kings believed, peace was given to the Church, the Church began to be set in the highest place of dignity, even on this earth, even in this life: but there is not wanting the roar of persecutors, they have turned their assaults into thoughts. In these thoughts, as in a bottomless pit, the devil hath been bound, [3044] he roareth and breaketh not forth. For it hath been said concerning these times of the Church, "The sinner shall see, and shall be angry." [3045] And shall do what? That which he did at first? Drag, bind, smite? He doeth not this. What then? "With his teeth he shall gnash, and shall pine away." And with these men the Martyr is, as it were, angry, and yet for these men the Martyr prayeth. For in like manner as he hath wished well to those men concerning whom he hath said, "Let them be confounded and fear that seek my soul:" [3046] so also now, "Let them be turned backward, and blush, that think evil things to me." Wherefore? In order that they may not go before, but follow. For he that censureth the Christian religion, and on his own system willeth to live, willeth as it were to go before Christ, as though He indeed had erred and had been weak and infirm, because He either willed to suffer or could suffer in the hands of the Jews; but that he is a clever man for guarding against all these things; in shunning death, even in basely lying to escape death, and slaying his soul that he may live in body, he thinketh himself a man of singular and prudent measures. He goeth before in censuring Christ, in a manner he outstrippeth Christ: let him believe in Christ, and follow Christ. For that which had been desired but now for persecutors thinking evil things, the same the Lord Himself said to Peter. Now in a certain place Peter willed to go before the Lord....A little before, "Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-jona, for flesh and blood hath not revealed it to thee, but My Father which is in Heaven:" now in a moment, "Go back behind Me, Satan." [3047] What is, "Go back behind Me"? Follow Me. Thou willest to go before Me, thou willest to give Me counsel, it is better that thou follow My counsel: this is, "go back," go back behind Me. He is silencing one outstripping, in order that he may go backward; and He is calling him Satan, because he willeth to go before the Lord. A little before, "blessed;" now, "Satan." Whence a little before, "blessed"? Because, "to thee," He saith, "flesh and blood hath not revealed it, but My Father which is in Heaven." Whence now, "Satan"? Because "thou savourest not," He saith, "the things which are of God, but the things which are of men." Let us then that would duly celebrate the nativities of the Martyrs, long for the imitation of the Martyrs; let us not wish to go before the Martyrs, and think ourselves to be of better understanding than they, because we shun sufferings in behalf of righteousness and faith which they shunned not. Therefore be they that think evil things, and in wantonness feed their hearts, "turned backward and blush." Let them hear from the Apostle afterwards saying, "But what fruit had ye some time in those things at which ye now blush?"