13. "For righteousness shall go before him, and he shall direct his steps in the way" (ver. 14): that righteousness, namely, which consists in confession of sins: for this is truth itself. For thou oughtest to be righteous towards thyself, and to punish thyself: for this is the beginning of man's righteousness, that thou shouldest punish thyself, who art evil, and God should make thee good. Therefore since this is the beginning of man's righteousness, this becomes a way for God, that God may come unto thee: there make for Him a way, in confession of sins. Therefore John too, when he was baptizing in the water of repentance, and would have men come to him repenting of their former deeds, spoke thus: "Prepare the way of the Lord, make His paths straight." [3939] Thou didst please thyself in thy sins, O man: let that which thou wast displease thee, that thou mayest be able to become what thou wast not. Prepare the way of the Lord: let that righteousness go before, of confession of sins: He will come and visit thee, for now He hath where to place His steps, He hath whereby He may come to thee. Before thou didst confess thy sins, thou hadst shut up the way of God: there was no way by which He might come unto thee. Confess thy past life, and thou openest a way; and Christ shall come unto thee, and "shall place His steps in the way," that He may guide thee with His own footsteps.
[3914] Lat. LXXXIV. A sermon to the people.
[3915] [He repeats the former comment on this. See pp. 132, 400, supra.--C.]
[3916] Rom. x. 4.
[3917] John xiv. 6.
[3918] Rom. vii. 24, 25.
[3919] Gen. iii. 19.
[3920] 1 Cor. xv. 22.
[3921] 1 Cor. xv. 22.
[3922] John viii. 12.
[3923] [i.e., Thy Joshua, which is inwoven with the idea of salvation everywhere in the Old Testament (see Gen. xlix. 18), till all is fixed in Christ, the true Joshua. Matt. i. 21.--C.]
[3924] 1 John iii. 2.
[3925] 1 John iii. 2.
[3926] Oxf. mss. "Therefore if He has."
[3927] Oxf. mss. deprimente.
[3928] Wisd. ix. 15.
[3929] 1 Cor. xv. 53.
[3930] [This exquisite passage, adopted by Bishop Horne in his precious illustrations of the Psalter, reads in the original as follows: unde amicus non exit, quo inimicus non intrat.--C.]
[3931] 1 Cor. xv. 28.
[3932] Oxf. mss. "near," "nearer."
[3933] Oxf. mss. "near," "nearer."
[3934] Eph. ii. 17.
[3935] Oxf. mss. "who."
[3936] Matt. xv. 24.
[3937] Despexit; one ms. dispexit.
[3938] Gen. iii. 19.
[3939] Matt. iii. 3
Psalm LXXXVI. [3940]
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 members: that the Son of God might become also the Son of man, one God with the Father, one Man with men; so that when we speak to God in prayer for mercy, we do not separate the Son from Him; and when the Body of the Son prays, it separates not its Head from itself: and it is one Saviour of His Body, our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who both prays for us, and prays in us, and is prayed to by us. He prays for us, as our Priest; He prays in us, as our Head; He is prayed to by us, as our God. Let us therefore recognise in Him our words, and His words in us. Nor when anything is said of our Lord Jesus Christ, especially in prophecy, implying a degree of humility below the dignity of God, let us hesitate to ascribe it to Him who did not hesitate to join Himself unto us....He is prayed to in the form of God, in the form of a servant He prayeth; there the Creator, here created; assuming unchanged the creature, that it might be changed, and making us with Himself one Man, Head and Body. Therefore we pray to Him, through Him, in Him; and we speak with Him, and He speaks with us; we speak in Him, He speaks in us the prayer of this Psalm, which is entitled, "A Prayer of David." For our Lord was, according to the flesh, the son of David; but according to His divine nature, the Lord of David, and his Maker....Let no one then, when he hears these words, say, Christ speaketh not; nor again say, I speak not; nay rather, if he own himself to be in the Body of Christ, let him say both, Christ speaks, and I speak. Be thou unwilling to say anything without Him, and He saith nothing without thee....
2. "Bow down Thine ear, O Lord, and hear me" (ver. 1). He speaks in the form of a servant: speak thou, O servant, in the form of thy Lord: "Bow down Thine ear, O Lord." He bows down His ear, if thou dost not lift up thy neck: for unto the humble He draweth near: from him that is exalted He removes afar off, except whom He Himself hath exalted from being humble. God then bows down His ear unto us. For He is above, we below: He in a high place, we in a lowly one, yet not deserted. "For while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. For scarcely for a just man will one die: yet for a good man peradventure one would even dare to die:" [3941] but our Lord died for the wicked. For no merits of ours had gone before, for which the Son of God should die: but the more, because there were no merits, was His mercy great. How sure then, how firm is the promise, by which for the righteous He keepeth His life, who for the wicked gave His own death! "For I am poor and in misery." To the rich then He boweth not down His ear: unto the poor and him that is in misery He boweth down His ear, that is, unto the humble, and him that confesseth, unto him that is in need of mercy: not unto him that is full, who lifteth up himself and boasteth, as if he wanted nothing, and saith, "I thank Thee that I am not as this Publican." For the rich Pharisee boasted of his merits: the poor Publican confessed his sins.
3. Yet do not take what I have said, my brethren, in such a way, as if God does not hear those who have gold and silver, and a household, and farms, if they happen to be born to this estate, or hold such a rank in the world: only let them remember the Apostle's words: "Charge those who are rich in this world, that they be not highminded." [3943] For those that are not highminded are poor in God, and to the poor and needy and those in want He inclines His ear. For they know that their hope is not in gold and silver, nor in those things in which for a time they seem to abound. It is enough that riches ruin them not; it is enough that they do them no harm: for good they can do them none. What certainly profiteth is a work of mercy, done by a rich or by a poor man: by a rich man, with will and deed; by a poor man, with will alone. When therefore he is such an one as despiseth in himself everything which is wont to swell men with pride, he is one of God's poor: He inclines unto him His ear, for He knows that his heart is contrite....Was it really for the merit of his poverty that the poor man was carried away by Angels, [3944] or was it for the sin of his riches that the rich man was sent away to be tormented? In that poor man is signified the honour which is paid to humility, in that rich man the condemnation which awaits pride. I will prove shortly that it was not riches but pride which was tormented in that rich man. It is certain that the poor man was carried into the bosom of Abraham: of Abraham himself Scripture saith that he had here very much gold and silver, and was rich on the earth. [3945] If every one that is rich is hurried away to be tormented, how could Abraham have gone before that poor man, so as to be ready to receive him when carried to his bosom? But Abraham in his riches was poor, humble, reverencing all commands, and obeying them. So true was it that he counted all those riches for nothing, that on God's command he was ready to sacrifice his son, [3946] for whom he was keeping his riches. Learn therefore ye to be poor and needy, whether ye have anything in this world, or whether ye have not....
4. "Preserve Thou My Soul, for I am holy" (ver. 2). I know not whether any one could say this, "I am holy," but He who was in the world without sin: He by whom all sins were not committed but remitted. [3947] We own it to be His voice saying, "Preserve Thou My Soul, for I am holy;" of course in that form of a servant which He had assumed. For in that was flesh, in that, was also a Soul. For He was not, as some [3948] have said, only Flesh and the Word: but Flesh and Soul also, and the Word, and all this, One Son of God, One Christ, One Saviour; in the form of God equal to the Father, in the form of a servant the Head of the Church. When therefore I hear, "for I am holy," I recognise His voice: yet do I exclude my own? Surely He speaks inseparably from His body when He speaks thus. Shall I then dare to say, "For I am holy"? If holy as making holy, and as needing none to sanctify, I should be proud and false: but if holy as made holy, as it is written, "Be ye holy, for I am holy," [3949] then the body of Christ may venture, and that one Man "crying from the end of the earth," [3950] may venture with his Head, and under his Head, to say, "For I am holy." For he hath received the grace of holiness, the grace of Baptism, and of remission of sins. [3951] ...Say unto thy God, I am holy, for Thou hast sanctified me: because I received, not because I had: because Thou gavest, not because I deserved. For on another side thou art beginning to do an injury to our Lord Jesus Christ Himself. For if all Christians who are faithful and have been baptized in Him have put Him on, as the Apostle saith, "As many as are baptized in Christ have put on Christ:" [3952] if they have been made members of His body, and say that they are not holy, they do injury to their Head, of whom they are members, and yet not holy. Look thou where thou art and from thy Head assume dignity. For thou wert in darkness, "but now light in the Lord." [3953] "Ye were sometime darkness," he saith: but did ye remain darkness? Was it for this the Enlightener came, that ye might still remain darkness, or that in Him ye might become light? Therefore, every Christian by himself, therefore also the whole body of Christ, may say, it may cry everywhere, while it suffers tribulations, various temptations and offences, it may say, "Preserve Thou my soul, for I am holy: my God, save Thy servant, that putteth his trust in Thee." See thou, that holy man is not proud, since he putteth his trust in God.
5. "Be merciful unto me, O Lord, for I have cried unto Thee all day" (ver. 3). Not "one day:" understand "all day" to mean continually: from the time that the body of Christ groans being in afflictions, until the end of the world, when afflictions pass away, that man groaneth and calleth upon God: and each one of us after his measure hath his part in that cry in the whole body. Thou hast cried in thy days, and thy days have passed away: another hath come after thee, and cried in his days: and thou here, he there, another elsewhere: the body of Christ crieth all the day, its members departing and succeeding one another. One Man it is that reaches to the end of the world: the same members of Christ cry, and some members already rest in Him, some still cry, some when we shall be at rest will cry, and after them others will cry. It is the whole body of Christ whose voice He hears, saying, "Unto Thee have I cried all the day." Our Head on the right hand of the Father intercedes for us: some members He recovereth, others He scourgeth, others He cleanseth, others He comforteth, others He is creating, others calling, others recalling, others correcting, others restoring.