41. But wherefore dost Thou do this? wherefore dost Thou hide Thy face, that they may be troubled? "Thou shalt take away their breath, and they shall fail." Their breath was their pride; they boast, they attribute things to themselves, they justify themselves. Hide, therefore, Thy face, that they may be troubled: take away their breath, and let them fail; let them cry unto Thee, "Hear me, O Lord, and that soon, for my spirit waxeth faint: hide not Thy face from me." [4766] "Thou shalt take away their breath, and they shall fail, and shall be turned to their dust." The man who repenteth of his sin discovereth himself, that he had not strength of himself; and doth confess unto God, saying, that he is earth and ashes. O proud one, thou art turned to thine own dust, thy breath hath been taken away; no longer dost thou boast thyself, no longer extol thyself, no longer justify thyself; thou seest that thou art made of dust, and when the Lord turneth away His face, thou hast fallen back into thine own dust. Pray, therefore, confess thy dust and thy weakness.
42. And see what followeth: "Thou shalt send forth Thy Spirit, [4767] and they shall be made" (ver. 30). Thou shalt take away their spirit, and send forth Thine own: Thou shalt take away their spirit: they shall have no spirit of their own. Are they then forsaken? "Blessed are the poor in spirit:" [4768] but they are not forsaken. They refused to have a spirit of their own: they shall have the Spirit of God. Such were our Lord's words to the future martyrs: [4769] "It is not ye that speak, but the Spirit of your Father which speaketh in you." Attribute not your courage to yourselves. If it is yours, He saith, and not Mine, it is obstinacy, not courage. "For we are His workmanship," saith the Apostle, "created unto good works." [4770] From His Spirit we have received grace, that we may live unto righteousness: for it is He that justifieth the ungodly. [4771] "Thou shalt take away their spirit, and they shall fail; Thou shalt send forth Thy Spirit, and they shall be made: and Thou shalt renew the face of the earth:" that is, with new men, confessing themselves to have been justified, not righteous of their own power, so that the grace of God is in them. What then? When He hath taken away our spirit, we shall be turned again to our dust, beholding to our edification our weakness, that when we receive His Spirit we may be refreshed. See what followeth: "Be the glory of the Lord for ever" (ver. 31). Not thine, not mine, not his, or his; not for a season, but "for ever." "The Lord shall rejoice in His works." Not in thine, as if they were thine: because if thy works are evil, it is through thy iniquity; if good, it is through the grace of God. "The Lord shall rejoice in His works."
43. "Who looketh on the earth, and maketh it tremble; who toucheth the hills, and they shall smoke" (ver. 32). O earth, thou wast exulting in thy good, to thyself thou didst ascribe thy fulness and opulence; behold, the Lord looketh on thee, and causeth thee to tremble. May He look on thee, and make thee tremble: for the trembling of humility is better than the confidence of pride....For it is God, he saith, which worketh in you. For this reason then with trembling, because God worketh in you. Because He gave, because what thou hast cometh not from thee, thou shalt work with fear and trembling, for if thou fearest not Him, He will take away what He gave. Work, therefore, with trembling. Hear another Psalm: "Serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice unto Him with trembling." [4772] If we must rejoice with trembling, God beholdeth us, there cometh an earthquake; when God looketh upon us, let our hearts tremble; then will God rest there. Hear Him in another passage: "Upon whom shall My Spirit rest? Even on him that is lowly and quiet, and who trembleth at My Word." [4773]
"Who looketh on the earth, and maketh it tremble; who toucheth the hills, and they shall smoke" (ver. 32). The hills were proud, and boastful of themselves, God had not touched them: He toucheth them, and they shall smoke. What meaneth the smoking of the hills? That they pray unto the Lord. Behold great hills, proud hills, vast hills, prayed not to God: they wished themselves to be entreated, and entreated not Him who was above them. For what powerful, arrogant, proud man is there upon the earth, who deigneth humbly to entreat God? I speak of the ungodly, not of the "cedars of Libanus, which the Lord hath planted." Every ungodly man, unhappy soul, knoweth not how to entreat God, while he wisheth himself to be entreated by men. He is a hill; it is needful that God touch him, that he may smoke: when he hath begun to smoke, he will offer prayers unto God, as it were the sacrifice of his heart. He smoketh unto God, he then beateth his breast: he beginneth to weep, for smoke doth elicit tears.
44. "I will sing unto the Lord in my life" (ver. 33). What will sing? Everything that is willing. Let us sing unto the Lord in our life. Our life at present is only hope; our life will be eternity hereafter: the life of mortal life, is the hope of an everlasting life. "I will praise my God while I have my being." Since I am in Him for ever and ever, while I have my being, I will praise my God. Let us not imagine that, when we have commenced praising God in that state, we shall have any other work: our whole life will be for the praises of God. If we become weary of Him whom we praise, we may also become weary of praising. If He is ever loved, He is ever praised by us.
45. "Let my discourse be pleasing to Him: my joy shall be in the Lord" (ver. 34). What is the discourse of man unto God, save the confession of sins? Confess unto God what thou art, and thou hast discoursed with Him. Discourse unto Him, do good works, and discourse. "Wash you, make you clean," saith Isaiah. [4774] What is it to discourse unto God? Unfold thyself to him who knoweth thee, that He may unfold Himself to thee who knowest not Him. Behold, it is thy discourse that pleaseth the Lord; the offering of thy humility, the tribulation of thy heart, the holocaust of thy life, this pleaseth God. But what is pleasing to thyself? "My joy shall be in the Lord." This is that discoursing which I meant between God and thyself: show thyself to Him who knoweth thee, and He showeth Himself unto thee who knowest not him. Pleasing unto Him is thy confession: sweet unto thee is His grace. He hath spoken Himself unto thee. How? By the Word. What Word? Christ....
46. "Let the sinners be consumed out of the earth" (ver. 35). He seemeth angry! O holy soul, which here doth sing and groan! Would that our soul were with that very soul! Would that it were coupled with it, associated, conjoined with it! It shall behold also His loving-kindness when he is angry. For who but he who is filled with charity, understandeth this? Thou tremblest, because he curseth. And who doth curse? A saint. Without doubt he is listened to. But it is said unto the saints, "Bless, and curse not." [4775] What is then the sense of the words, "Let the sinners be consumed out of the earth"? Let them utterly be consumed; let their spirit be taken away, that He may send forth His own Spirit, and they may be restored. "And the ungodly, so that they be no more." In what that they be no more, save as wicked men? Let them therefore be justified, that they may no longer be ungodly. The Psalmist saw this, and was filled with joy, and repeateth the first verse of the Psalm: "Bless thou the Lord, O my soul." Let our soul bless the Lord, brethren, since He hath deigned to give unto us both understanding and the power of language, and unto you attention and earnestness in hearing. Let each, as he can recall to mind what he hath heard, by mutual conversation stir up the food ye have received, ruminate on what ye have heard, let it not descend in you into the bowels of forgetfulness. Let the treasure to be desired [4776] rest upon your lips. These matters have been sought out and discovered with great labour, with great labour have they been announced and discoursed of; may our toil be fruitful unto you, and may our soul bless the Lord.
[4693] Lat. CIII. At Carthage, in his old age.
[4694] Eph. v. 8.
[4695] [Job xix. 26.--C.]
[4696] Mark xii. 31.
[4697] Rom. v. 5.
[4698] John vii. 37, 38.
[4699] 1 Cor. iii. 11.
[4700] John i. 3.
[4701] Heb. i. 3.
[4702] Donatists.
[4703] Ps. civ. 2.
[4704] Ps. lxix. 1.
[4705] Oxf. mss. "shall stand."
[4706] Oxf. mss. "shall stand."
[4707] Prov. xxi. 1.
[4708] Meatus, Ben. All the mss. metus, "a certain fear," which may be the true reading.
[4709] Malacia.
[4710] 1 Cor. xv. 10.
[4711] Ps. cxlvii. 12, 13.
[4712] See on Ps. lxxxv. 10 and on Ps. cxlvii. on ver. 13.--Ben.
[4713] [This beautiful expression may be found in divers places in these expositions: e.g. on Ps. xlix. ver 15 (p. 186, supra), where it is of slightly different sense; also on Ps. lxxxv. ver. 9, (p. 407, supra), and, infra, on Ps. cxlviii. 13. The Latin is felicitous though varied: Unde amicus non exit, quo inimicus non intrat. I love the familiar English: "Where no enemy ever enters, and whence no friend departs."--C.]
[4714] [I suppose many Christians have said, "Shall I no more recall my Bible, and be refreshed by the recollection of these songs of our pilgrimage?" I could not think of heaven as a place where the Holy Scriptures should be forgotten. The author's idea comforts me.--C.]
[4715] John i. 1.
[4716] Ps. lxxxiv. 7.
[4717] Illos.
[4718] Gal. i. 9.
[4719] 1 Cor. x. 4.
[4720] 1 Cor. i. 31.
[4721] Rom. iv. 4, 5.
[4722] 1 Cor. ix. 9.
[4723] Luke x. 7, 8.
[4724] 1 Cor. ix. 11.
[4725] Provincialis. See this series, vol. vii. p. 440, note 3.
[4726] 1 Cor. ix. 7, 15.
[4727] 2 Cor. iv. 7.
[4728] John vi. 41.
[4729] Ps. xxiii. 5.
[4730] 1 Cor. xii. 7.
[4731] Ps. xxii. 28.
[4732] Matt. v. 6.
[4733] John xiv. 6.
[4734] John vi. 51.
[4735] John xv. 5.
[4736] Ps. xxix. 5.
[4737] Matt. xix. 21.
[4738] Matt. iv. 18, 21.
[4739] Matt. xix. 27.
[4740] Ps. xviii. 33.
[4741] Ps. ix. 9.
[4742] Ps. xi. 2.
[4743] Wisd. v. 6.
[4744] [What would our author have said to the teaching of the Trent Catechism on image-worship? See A.N.F. vol. iii. p. 76.--C.]
[4745] 1 Cor. x. 4.
[4746] Isa. liii. 7.
[4747] Rev. v. 5.
[4748] John x. 11, 7.
[4749] 1 Cor. x. 4.
[4750] Circumstantia sui exponuntur. [He adds, "If thou hast heard the first letter in the word Deus, and thinkest it must always belong to it alone, thou wilt blot it out in the word Diabolus. For the word Deus beginneth with the same letter as the word Diabolus: and nothing is so far apart, as God from the devil. Consider how utterly ignorant of things both human and divine he must be, who shall say of the letter D, it ought not to be used in the beginning of the word devil; and when thou hast asked the reason, replieth, I read that letter in the name of God. Such a man is laughed at: for he is not worthy of an argument. Do not then so childishly interpret these divine things, as if any of you were to think, from my having said above that the beasts of the forest signifies the Gentiles, while I now say that they signify devils and the angels of disobedience, that I am contradicting what I said before. For they are only figures, and wherever they occur, are explained by the context they have."--C.]
[4751] Luke xxii. 31, 32.
[4752] Matt. xxvi. 70, 74.
[4753] Eph. ii. 2.
[4754] 2 Cor. v. 17, 18.
[4755] Eph. iv. 22-24.
[4756] 2 Cor. v. 17.
[4757] Ps. cxlvii. 13.
[4758] Some mss. add, "On the cross let us sail;" but this may be a gloss.
[4759] Matt. viii. 24-26.
[4760] Rom. xiii. 1.
[4761] Oxf. mss. add, "Thou admirest the dwellings of the dead where he is cast down."
[4762] Gen. iii. 14, 19.
[4763] Col. iii. 2.
[4764] Isa. liii. 1.
[4765] 1 Cor. iv. 7.
[4766] Ps. cxliii. 7.
[4767] Or, "breath."
[4768] Matt. v. 3.