[3336] John xix. 11.
[3337] Numb. xxi. 8. Oxf. mss. "and to be healed."
[3338] Oxf. mss. "truly."
[3339] Oxf. mss. "He will come, that hath already come."
[3340] Luke xx. 18; Isa. xxviii. 16.
[3341] Ps. lxxiv. 9.
[3342] In finem.
[3343] Exod. iv. 6.
[3344] Lev. xiii. 25.
[3345] Rom. xi. 25.
[3346] Oxf. mss. "wast unwilling, and wast not."
[3347] John xii. 24.
[3348] Numb. xxi. 9.
[3349] Ps. lxxiv. 9.
[3350] John i. 1.
[3351] Gen. iii. 15.
[3352] Eccles. x. 13.
[3353] Eph. v. 8. [See p. 331, note 3, supra.--C.]
[3354] Exod. xxxii. 19.
[3355] 1 Cor. xii. 27.
[3356] Exod. vii. 12.
[3357] Gal. v. 15.
[3358] [A note of the state of heathenism in our author's time.--C.]
[3359] [A note of the state of heathenism in our author's time.--C.]
[3360] John iv. 14.
[3361] Ps. xxxvi. 8.
[3362] John iv. 14.
[3363] Mark xii. 29.
[3364] Isa. xiv. 13.
[3365] Gen. iii. 22.
[3366] Rom. x. 3.
[3367] Luke xviii. 13.
[3368] John i. 3.
[3369] Ecclus. xxvii. 11.
[3370] Rom. i. 14.
[3371] John ix. 24, 29; John viii. 48.
[3372] Ps. lxxiii. 22.
[3373] Ps. lxxiii. 23.
[3374] Matt. xxvii. 40.
[3375] Luke xviii. 13.
[3376] Or, "Covenant."
[3377] Disposui.
[3378] Jer. xxxi. 31.
[3379] Matt. v. 8.
[3380] Rom. ix. 27.
[3381] Ps. i. 4.
[3382] Ps. lxix. 23.
[3383] Matt. v. 3.
[3384] Isa. lxvi. 2.
[3385] E.V. "Thine own cause."
[3386] [1 Cor. xv. 35.--C.]
[3387] Quod(tempus?). Oxf. mss. quam (legem).
[3388] Oxf. mss. "philosopher." [Hor. Ep. iv. 16; and Cic. De Officiis, iii. 33.--C.]
[3389] Ps. xiv. 1.
[3390] Exhibuit.
Psalm LXXV. [3391]
1. ...The Title of this Psalm thus speaketh: "At the end, [3392] corrupt not." What is, "corrupt not?" That which Thou hast promised, perform. But when? "At the end." To this then let the mind's eye be directed, "unto the end." Let all the things which have occurred in the way be passed over, in order that we may attain to the end. Let proud men exult because of present felicity, let them swell with honours, glitter in gold, overflow with domestics, be encircled with the services of clients: these things pass away, they pass away like a shadow. When that end shall have come, when all who now hope in the Lord are to rejoice, then to them shall come sorrow without end. When the meek shall have received that which the proud deride, then the vapouring of the proud shall be turned into mourning. Then shall there be that voice which we know in the Book of Wisdom: for they shall say at that time when they see the glory of the Saints, who, when they were in humiliation, endured them; who, when they were exalted, consented not--at that time then they shall say, "These are they whom sometime we have had in derision." [3393] Where they also say, "What hath pride profited us, and the boasting of riches hath bestowed upon us what?" All things have passed away like a shadow. Because on things corruptible they relied, their hope shall be corrupted: but our own hope at that time shall be substance. For in order that the promise of God may remain whole and sure and certain towards us, we have said out of a heart [3394] of faith, "at the end corrupt not." Fear not, therefore, lest any mighty man should corrupt the promises of God. He doth not corrupt, because He is truthful; He hath no one more mighty by whom His promise may be corrupted: let us be then sure concerning the promises of God; and let us sing now from the place where the Psalm beginneth.
2. "We will confess to Thee, O Lord, we will confess to Thee, and will invoke Thy name" (ver. 1). Do not invoke, before thou confess: confess, and invoke. For Him whom thou art invoking, unto thyself thou callest. For what is it to invoke, but unto thyself to call? If He is invoked by thee, that is, if He is called to thee, unto whom doth He draw near? To a proud man He draweth not near. High indeed He is, one lifted up attaineth not unto Him. In order that we may reach all exalted objects, we raise ourselves, and if we are not able to reach them, we look for some appliances or ladders, in order that being exalted we may reach exalted objects: contrariwise God is both high, and by the lowly He is reached. It is written, "Nigh is the Lord to them that have bruised the heart." [3395] The bruising of the heart is Godliness, humility. He that bruiseth himself is angry with himself. Let him make himself angry in order that he may make Him merciful; let him make himself judge, in order that he may make Him Advocate. Therefore God doth come when invoked. Unto whom doth He come? To the proud man He cometh not....Take heed therefore what ye do: for if He knoweth, He is not unobservant. [3396] It is better therefore that He be unobservant than known. For what is that same being unobservant, but not knowing? What is, not to know? Not to animadvert. For even as the act of one avenging animadversion is wont to be spoken of. Here one praying that He be unobservant: "Turn away Thy face from my sins." [3397] What then wilt thou do if He shall have turned away His face from thee? A grievous thing it is, and to be feared, lest He forsake thee. Again, if He turn not away His face, He animadverteth. God knoweth this thing, God can do this thing, namely, both turn away face from one sinning, and not turn away from one confessing....Confess therefore and invoke. For by confessing thou purgest the Temple, into which He may come, when invoked. Confess and invoke. May He turn away face from thy sins, not turn away from thee: turn away face from that which thou hast wrought, [3398] not turn away from that which He hath Himself wrought. [3399] For thee, as man, He hath Himself wrought, thy sins thou hast thyself wrought....
3. But that there is a strengthening of the sense in repetition, by many passages of the Scriptures we are taught. Thence is that which the Lord saith, "Verily, Verily." [3400] Thence in certain Psalms is, "So be it, So be it." [3401] To signify the thing, one "So be it" would have been sufficient: to signify confirmation, there hath been added another "So be it."...Countless passages of such sort there are throughout all the Scriptures. With these it is sufficient that we have commended to your notice a way of speaking which ye may observe in all like cases: now to the substance attend: "We will confess to Thee," he saith, "and we will invoke." I have said why before invocation confession doth precede: because whom thou dost invoke, him thou dost invite. But he willeth not to come when invoked, if thou shalt have been lifted up: lifted up if thou shalt have been, thou wilt not be able to confess. And thou deniest not any things to God that He knoweth not. Therefore thy confession doth not teach Him, but it purgeth thee.
4. ...Hear ye now the words of Christ. For these seemed not as it were to be His words, [3402] "We will confess to Thee, O God, we will confess to Thee, and will invoke Thy name." Now beginneth the discourse in the person of the Head. But whether Head speaketh or whether members speak, Christ speaketh: He speaketh in the person of the Head, He speaketh in the person of the Body. But what hath been said? There shall be two in one flesh. [3403] "This is a great Sacrament:" "I," he saith, "speak in Christ and in the Church." [3404] And He Himself in the Gospel, "Therefore no longer two, but one flesh." [3405] For in order that ye may know these in a manner to be two persons, and again one by the bond of marriage, as one He speaketh in Isaiah, and saith, "As upon a Bridegroom he hath bound upon me a mitre, and as a Bride he hath clothed me with an ornament." [3406] A Bridegroom He hath called Himself in the Head, a Bride in the Body. He is speaking therefore as One, let us hear Him, and in Him let us also speak. Let us be the members of Him, in order that this voice may possibly be ours also. "I will tell forth," he saith, "all Thy marvellous things." Christ is preaching Himself, He is preaching Himself even in His members now existing, in order that He may guide unto Him others, and they may draw near that were not, and may be united with those members of Him, through which members of Him the Gospel hath been preached; and there may be made one Body under one Head, in one Spirit, in one Life.
5. And he saith what? "When I shall have received," he saith, "the time, [3407] I will judge justices" (ver. 2). When shall He judge justices? When He shall have received the time. Not yet is the precise time. Thanks to His mercy: He first preacheth justices, and then He judgeth justices. For if He willed to judge before He willed to preach, who would be found that should be delivered: who would meet Him that should be absolved? Now therefore is the time of preaching: "I will tell," he saith, "all Thy marvellous works." Hear Him telling, hear Him preaching: for if thou shalt have despised Him, "when I shall have received the time," He saith, "I will judge justices." I forgive, He saith, now sins to one confessing, I will not spare hereafter one despising....He hath received a time as Son of Man; He doth govern times as Son of God. Hear how as Son of Man He hath received the time of judging. He saith in the Gospel, "He hath given to Him power to execute judgment, because Son of Man He is." [3408] According to His nature as Son of God, He hath never received power of judging, because He never lacked the power of judging: according to His nature as Son of Man He hath received a time, as of being born, and of suffering, as of dying, and of rising again, and of ascending, so of coming and of judging. In Him His Body also saith these words, for not without them He will judge. For He saith in the Gospel, "Ye shall sit upon twelve thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel." [3409] Therefore whole Christ saith, that is, Head and Body in the Saints, "when I shall have received the time, I will judge justices."
6. But now what? "The earth hath flowed down" (ver. 3). If the earth hath flowed down, whence hath it flowed down except by sins? Therefore also they are called delinquencies. To delinquish is as it were by a kind of liquidity [3410] to slip down from the stability of firmness in virtue and righteousness. For it is through desire of lower things that every man sinneth: as he is strengthened by the love of higher things, so he falleth down and as it were melteth away by desire of lower things. This flux of things by the sins of man the merciful forgiver observing, being a merciful forgiver of sins, not yet an exactor of punishments, He observeth and saith: The earth herself indeed hath flowed down by them that dwell in her. That which followeth is an exposition, not an addition. As though thou wert saying, in what manner hath the earth flowed down? Have the foundations been withdrawn, and hath anything therein been swallowed up in a sort of gulf? What I mean by earth is all they that dwell therein. I have found, he saith, the earth sinful. And I have done what? "I have strengthened the pillars thereof." What are the pillars which He hath strengthened? Pillars He hath called the Apostles. So the Apostle Paul concerning his fellow-Apostles saith, "who seemed to be pillars." [3411] And what would those pillars have been, except by Him they had been strengthened? For on occasion of a sort of earthquake even these very pillars rocked: at the Passion of the Lord all the Apostles despaired. Therefore those pillars which rocked at the Passion of the Lord, by the Resurrection were strengthened. The Beginning of the building hath cried out through the pillars thereof, and in all those pillars the Architect Himself hath cried out. For the Apostle Paul was one pillar of them when he said, "Would ye receive a proof of Him that speaketh in me--Christ?" [3412] Therefore, "I," he saith, "have strengthened the pillars thereof:" I have risen again, I have shown that death is not to be feared, I have shown to them that fear, that not even the body itself doth perish in the dying. There terrified them wounds, there strengthened them scars. The Lord Jesus could have risen again without any scar: for what great matter were it for that power, to restore the frame of the body to such perfect soundness, as that no trace at all of past wound should appear? He had power whence He might make it whole even without scar: but He willed to have that whereby He might strengthen the rocking pillars.