20. "The wind shall go over on it, it shall not be; and the place thereof shall know it no more" (ver. 16). For he is not speaking of grass, but of that for whose sake even the Word became grass. For thou art man, and on thy account the Word became man. "All flesh is grass:" "and the Word was made flesh." [4688] How great then is the hope of the grass, since the Word hath been made flesh? That which abideth for evermore, hath not disdained to assume grass, that the grass might not despair of itself.
21. In thy reflections therefore on thyself, think of thy low estate, think of thy dust: be not lifted up: if thou art anything better, thou wilt be so by His Grace, thou wilt be so by His mercy. For hear what followeth: "but the mercy of the Lord endureth for ever and ever upon them that fear Him" (ver. 17). Ye who fear not Him, will be grass, and in grass, and in torment with the grass: for the flesh shall arise unto the torment. Let those who fear Him rejoice, because His mercy is upon them.
22. "And His righteousness upon children's children" (ver. 18). He speaketh of reward, "upon children's children." How many servants of God are there who have not children, how much less children's children? But He calleth our works our children; the reward of works, our "children's children." "Even upon such as keep His covenant." Let men beware that all may not conceive what is here said to belong to themselves: let them choose, while they have the choice. "And keep in memory His commandments to do them." Thou wast already disposed to flatter thyself, and perhaps to recite to me the Psalter, which I have not by heart, or from memory to say over the whole Law. Clearly thou art better in point of memory than I, better than any righteous man who doth not know the Law word for word: but see that thou keep the commandments. But how shouldest thou keep them? Not by memory, but by life. "Such as keep in memory His commandments:" not, to recite them; but, "to do them." And now perhaps each man's soul is disturbed. Who remembereth all the commandments of God? who remembereth all the writings of God? Lo, I wish not only to hold them in my memory, but also to do them in my works: but who remembereth them all? Fear not: He burdeneth thee not: "on two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets." [4689] ...
23. "The Lord hath prepared His throne in heaven" (ver. 19). Who but Christ hath prepared His throne in heaven? He who descended and ascended, He who died, and rose from the dead, He who lifted up to heaven the manhood He had assumed, hath Himself prepared His throne in heaven. The throne is the seat of the Judge: observe therefore ye who hear, that "He hath prepared His throne in heaven."...The kingdom is the Lord's, and He shall be the Governor among the people. [4690] "And His kingdom shall rule over all."
24. "Bless ye the Lord, ye Angels of His, ye that are mighty in strength: ye that fulfil His word" (ver. 20). By the word of God, then, thou art not righteous, nor faithful, unless when thou dost it. "Ye that are mighty in strength, ye that fulfil His commandment, and hearken unto the voice of His words."
25. "Bless ye the Lord, all ye His hosts: ye servants of His that do His pleasure" (ver. 21). All ye angels, all ye that are mighty in strength: ye that do His word: all ye His hosts, ye servants of His that do His pleasure, do ye, ye bless the Lord. For all they who live wickedly, though their tongues be silent, by their lips do curse the Lord. What doth it profit if thy tongue singeth a hymn, while thy life breatheth sacrilege? By living ill thou hast set many tongues to blasphemy. Thy tongue is given to the hymn, the tongues of those who behold thee, to blasphemy. If then thou dost wish to bless the Lord, do His word, do His will....
26. "Bless ye the Lord, all ye works of His, in all places of His dominion" (ver. 22). Therefore in every place. Let Him not be blessed where He ruleth not: "in all places of His dominion." Let no man perchance say: I cannot praise the Lord in the East, because He hath departed unto the West; or, I cannot praise Him in the West, because He is in the East. "For neither from the east, nor from the west, nor yet from the desert hills. And why? God is the Judge." [4691] He is everywhere, in such wise that everywhere He may be praised: He is in such wise on every side, that we may be joyful in Him on every side: He is in such wise blessed on every side, that on every side we may live well...."In every place of His dominion: bless thou the Lord, O my soul!" The last verse is the same as the first: blessing is at the head of the Psalm, blessing at the end; from blessing we set out, to blessing let us return, in blessing let us reign. [4692]
[4648] Lat. CII. A sermon delivered on a feast of the Martyrs.
[4649] 1 Cor. x. 31.
[4650] Ps. cxvi. 12.
[4651] 1 John iii. 16.
[4652] John xv. 13.
[4653] John xii. 25; Matt. x. 39.
[4654] Non tributiones, sed retributiones.
[4655] 1 Tim. i. 13.
[4656] Gen. i. 26, 27.
[4657] Matt. xxii. 21.
[4658] John viii. 44.
[4659] Wisd. ix. 15.
[4660] 1 Cor. xv. 10.
[4661] Matt. xix. 17.
[4662] 1 Cor. x. 4.
[4663] John viii. 7.
[4664] Ps. cxli. 6.
[4665] Oxf. mss. "also to."
[4666] Rom. xii. 20.
[4667] Ecclus. xii. 4, 5, 6.
[4668] Oxf. mss. add, "thou offendest God."
[4669] Oxf. mss. add, "shall receive a righteous man's reward."
[4670] 1 Cor. iv. 1.
[4671] Matt. x. 42.
[4672] Oxf. mss. and 5 ap. Ben. non inultus. "Do this, and thou wilt not without revenge endure those unrighteous on which thou canst not exercise discipline."
[4673] Deut. xxxii. 35.
[4674] John v. 2-4.
[4675] John i. 47.
[4676] Matt. v. 45.
[4677] "To-morrow! To-morrow!"
[4678] Gen. viii. 7.
[4679] Oxf. mss. "correction."
[4680] Gen. iii. 19, 18.
[4681] Oxf. mss. repeat this: "God hath forsaken thee."
[4682] [Referring to the privacy with which the Sacraments were celebrated.--C.]
[4683] Ps. lxxxv. 11.
[4684] They looked toward the west, while they renounced Satan before Baptism, and then turned away to the east. See St. Cyril's Catechetical Lectures, lect. xix. Tr. p. 259.
[4685] Figmentum nostrum.
[4686] 1 Cor. xv. 47.
[4687] Isa. xl. 6-8.
[4688] John i. 14.
[4689] Matt. xxii. 40.
[4690] Ps. xxii. 28.
[4691] Ps. lxxv. 6, 7.
[4692] One Oxf. ms. adds, "Amen."
Psalm CIV. [4693]
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). Where art Thou magnified? "Confession and beauty Thou hast put on." Confess ye, that ye may be beautified, that He may put you on. "Clothed with light as a garment" (ver. 2). Clothed with His Church, because she is made "light" in Him, who before was darkness in herself, as the apostle saith: "Ye were sometime darkness, but now light in the Lord." [4694] "Stretching out the heaven like a skin:" either as easily as thou dost a skin, if it be "as easily," so that thou mayest take it after the letter; or let us understand the authority of the Scriptures, spread out over the whole world, under the name of a skin; because mortality is signified in a skin, [4695] but all the authority of the Divine Scriptures was dispensed unto us through mortal men, whose fame is still spreading abroad now they are dead.
2. "Who covereth with waters the upper parts thereof" (ver. 3). The upper parts of what? Of Heaven. What is Heaven? Figuratively only we said, the Divine Scripture. What are the upper parts of the Divine Scripture? The commandment of love, than which there is none more exalted. [4696] But wherefore is love compared to waters? Because "the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who is given unto us." [4697] Whence is the Spirit Himself water? because "Jesus stood and cried, He that believeth on Me, out of his bosom shall flow rivers of living water." [4698] Whence do we prove that it was said of the Spirit? Let the Evangelist himself declare, who followeth it up, and saith, "But this spake He of the Spirit, which they were to receive, who should believe on Him." "Who walketh above the wings of the winds;" that is, above the virtues of souls. What is the virtue of a soul? Love itself. But how doth He walk above it? Because the love of God toward us is greater than ours toward God.
3. "Who maketh spirits His angels, and flaming fire His ministers" (ver. 4): that is, those who are already spirits, who are spiritual, not carnal, He maketh His Angels, by sending them to preach His gospel. "And flaming fire His ministers." For unless the minister that preacheth be on fire, he enflameth not him to whom he preacheth.
4. "He hath founded the earth upon its firmness" (ver. 5). He hath founded the Church upon the firmness of the Church. What is the firmness of the Church, but the foundation of the Church. What is the foundation of the Church, but that of which the Apostle saith, "Other foundation can no man lay but that is laid, which is Christ Jesus." [4699] And therefore, grounded on such a foundation, what hath she deserved to hear? "It shall not be bowed forever and ever." "He founded the earth on its firmness." That is, He hath founded the Church upon Christ the foundation. The Church will totter if the foundation totter; but when shall Christ totter, before whose coming unto us, and taking flesh on Him, "all things were made by Him, and without Him was not anything made;" [4700] who holdeth all things by His Majesty, [4701] and us by His goodness? Since Christ faileth not, "she shall not be bowed for ever and ever." Where are they [4702] who say that the Church hath perished from the world, when she cannot even be bowed....
5. "The deep, like a garment, is its clothing" (ver. 6). Whose? Is it perchance God's? But he had already said of His clothing, "Clothed with light as with a garment." [4703] I hear of God clothed in light, and that light, if we will, are we. What is, if we will? if we are no longer darkness. Therefore if God is clothed with light, whose clothing, again, is the deep? For an immense mass of waters is called the deep. All water, all the moist nature, and the substance everywhere shed abroad through the seas, and rivers, and hidden caves, is all together called by one name, the Deep. Therefore we understand the earth, of which he said, "He hath founded the earth." Of it I believe he said, "The deep, like a garment is its clothing." For the water is as it were the clothing of the earth, surrounding it and covering it....
6. "Above the mountains the waters shall stand:" that is, the clothing of the earth, which is the deep, so increased, that the waters stood even above the mountains. We read of this taking place in the deluge....The Prophet minding to foretell future things, not to relate the past, therefore said it, because he would have it understood that the Church should be in a deluge of persecutions. For there was a time when the floods of persecutors had covered God's earth, God's Church, and had so covered it, that not even those great ones appeared, who are the mountains. For when they fled everywhere, how did they but cease to appear? And perchance of those waters is that saying, "Save me, O God, for the waters are come in even unto my soul." [4704] Especially the waters which make the sea, stormy, unfruitful. For whatsoever earth the sea-water may have covered, it will not rather make it fruitful than bring it to barrenness. For there were also mountains beneath the waters, because above the mountains waters stood. [4705] ...Why were the Apostles hidden by flight? Because "above the mountains the waters stood." [4706] The power of the waters was great, but how long? Hear what followeth.
7. "From Thy rebuke they shall fly" (ver. 7). And this was done, brethren; from God's rebuke the waters did fly; that is, they went back from pressing on the mountains. Now the mountains themselves stand forth, Peter and Paul: how do they tower! They who before were pressed down by persecutors, now are venerated by emperors. For the waters are fled from the rebuke of God; because "the heart of kings is in the hand of God, He hath bent it whither He would;" [4707] He commanded peace to be given by them to the Christians; the authority of the Apostles sprang up and towered high....The waters fled from the rebuke of God. "From the voice of Thy thunder they shall be afraid." Now who is there that would not be afraid, from the voice of God through the Apostles, the voice of God through the Scriptures, through His clouds? The sea is quieted, the waters have been made afraid, the mountains have been laid bare, the emperor hath given the order. But who would have given the order, unless God had thundered? Because God willed, they commanded, and it was done. Therefore let no one of men arrogate anything to himself.