4. Let us therefore "give thanks to the God of gods, and the Lord of lords, for His mercy," etc. "Who alone did wonderful things" (ver. 4). As at the last part of every verse, it is written, "For His mercy endureth for ever," so we must understand at the beginning of each, though it be not written, "Give thanks." Which indeed in the Greek is very plain. It would be so in Latin, if our translators had been able to make use of that expression. Which indeed they could have done in this verse, if they had said, "To Him who doeth [5683] wonderful things." For where we have, "who did wonderful things," the Greek has to poiesanti, where we must necessarily understand, "give thanks." And I would they had added the pronoun, and said to Him, "who did," or to Him "who doeth," or to Him "who made sure;" because then one might easily understand, "let us give thanks." For now it is so obscurely rendered, that he who either knows not or cares not to examine a Greek manuscript may think, "who made the heavens, who made sure the earth, who made the luminaries, for His mercy endureth for ever," [5684] has been so said, because He did these things for this reason, "because His mercy endureth for ever:" whereas they, whom He has freed from misery, belong to His Mercy: but not that we should believe that He makes sky, earth, and luminaries, of His Mercy; since they are marks of His Goodness, who created all things very good. [5685] For He created all things, that they might have their being; [5686] but it is the work of His Mercy, to cleanse us from our sins, and deliver us from everlasting misery. And so the Psalm thus addresses us, "Give thanks unto the God of gods, give thanks unto the Lord of lords." Give thanks to Him, "who alone doeth great wonders;" give thanks to Him, "who by His wisdom made the heavens;" give thanks to Him, "who stretched out the earth above the waters;" give thanks to Him, "who alone made great lights." But why we are to praise, he setteth down at the end of all the verses, "for His mercy endureth for ever."
5. But what meaneth, "who alone doeth great wonders"? Is it because many wonderful things He hath done by means of angels and men? Some wonderful things there are which God doeth alone, and these he enumerates, saying, "who by His wisdom made the heavens" (ver. 5), "who stretched out the earth above the waters" (ver. 6), "who alone made great lights" (ver. 7). For this reason did he add "alone" in this verse also, because the other wonders which he is about to tell of, God did by means of man. For having said, "who alone made great lights," he goes on to explain what these are, "the sun to rule the day" (ver. 8), "the moon and stars to govern the night" (ver. 9); then he begins to tell the wonders which He did by means of angels and men: "who smote Egypt with their first-born" (ver. 10), and the rest. The whole creation then God manifestly made, not by means of any creature, but "alone;" and of this creation he hath mentioned certain more eminent parts, that they might make us think on the whole; the heavens we can understand, [5687] and the earth we see. And as there are visible heavens too, by mentioning the lights in them, he has bid us look on the whole body of the heavens as made by Him.
6. However, whether by what he saith, "who made the heavens in understanding," or, as others have rendered it, "in intelligence," he meant to signify, the heavens we can understand, or that He in His understanding or intelligence, that is, in His wisdom made the heavens (as it is elsewhere written, "in wisdom hast Thou made them all" [5688] ), implying thereby the only-begotten Word, may be a question. But if it be so, that we are to understand that "God by His wisdom made the heavens," why saith He this only of the heavens, whereas God made all things by the same wisdom? It is that it needed only to be expressed there, so that in the rest it might be understood without being written. How then could it be "alone," if "in understanding" or "in intelligence" means "by His wisdom," that is, by the only-begotten Word? Is it that, inasmuch as the Trinity is not three Gods, but one God, he states that God made these things alone, because He made not creation by means of any creature?
7. But what is, "who laid out the earth above the waters"? For it is a difficult question, because the earth seemeth to be the heavier, so that it should be believed not so much to be borne on the waters, as to bear the waters. And that we may not seem contentiously to maintain our Scriptures against those who think that they have discovered these matters on sure principles, we have a second interpretation to give, that the earth which is inhabited by men, and contains the living creatures of the earth, is "laid out above the waters" because it stands out above the waters which surround it. For when we speak of a city on the sea being built "above the waters," it is not meant that the sea is under it in the same way as the waters are under the chambers of caverns, or under ships sailing over them; but it is said to be "above" the sea, because it stands up above the sea below it.
8. But if these words further signify something else which more closely concerns us, God "by His wisdom made the heavens," that is, His saints, spiritual men, to whom He has given not only to believe, but also to understand things divine; those who cannot yet attain to this, and only hold their faith firmly, as being beneath the heavens, are figured by the name of earth. And because they abide with unshaken belief upon the baptism they have received, therefore it is said, "He laid out the earth above the waters." Further, since it is written of our Lord Jesus Christ, that "in Him are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge," [5689] and that these two, wisdom and knowledge, differ somewhat from one another is testified by other utterances of Scripture, especially in the words of holy Job, [5690] where both are in a manner defined; not unsuitably then do we understand wisdom to consist in the knowledge and love of That which ever is and abideth unchangeable, which is God. For where he saith, "piety [5691] is wisdom," in Greek is theos?beia, and to express the whole of this in Latin, we may call it worship of God. [5692] But to depart from evil, which he calls knowledge, what else is it but to walk cautiously and heedfully "in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation," [5693] in the night, as it were, of this world, that each one by keeping himself from iniquity may avoid being confounded with the darkness, distinguished by the light of his proper gift....
9. "Who brought out Israel from the midst of them" (ver. 11). He brought out also His saints and faithful ones from the midst of the wicked. "With a mighty Hand and stretched-out Arm" (ver. 12). What more powerful, what more out-stretched, than that of which is said "To whom is the Arm of the Lord revealed?" [5694] "Who divided the Red Sea in two parts" (ver. 13). He divided also in such wise, that the same baptism should be to some unto life, to others unto death. "And brought out Israel through the midst of it" (ver. 14). So too He brings out His renewed people through the laver of regeneration. "And overthrew Pharaoh and his power in the Red Sea" (ver. 15). He quickly destroyeth both the sin of His people and the guilt thereof by baptism. "Who led His people through the wilderness" (ver. 16). Us too He leadeth through the drought and barrenness of this world, that we perish not therein. "Who smote great kings" (ver. 17), "and slew famous kings" (ver. 18). From us too He smites and slays the deadly powers of the devil. "Sehon king of the Amorites" (ver. 19), an "useless shoot," or "fiery temptation," for so is Sehon interpreted: the king of "them who cause bitterness," for such is the meaning of Amorites. "And Og, the king of Basan" (ver. 20). The "heaper-together," such is the meaning of Og, and, king of "confusion," which Basan signifies. For what else doth the devil heap together but confusion? "And gave away their land for an heritage" (ver. 21), "even an heritage unto Israel His servant" (ver. 22). For He giveth them, whom once the devil owned, for an heritage to the seed of Abraham, that is, Christ. "Who remembered us in our low estate" (ver. 23), "and redeemed us from our enemies" (ver. 24) by the Blood of His only-begotten Son. "Who giveth food to all flesh" (ver. 25), that is, to the whole race of mankind, not Israelites only, but Gentiles too; and of this Food is said, "My Flesh is meat indeed." "Give thanks unto the God of Heaven" (ver. 26). "Give thanks unto the Lord of lords" (ver. 27). For what he here says, "the God of Heaven," I suppose that he meant to express in other words what He had before said, "the God of gods." For what there he subjoined, he has here also repeated. "Give thanks unto the Lord of lords." "But to us there is but one God," etc., "and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by Him;" [5695] to whom we confess that "His mercy endureth for ever."
[5670] Lat. CXXXV.
[5671] [He says: "I remember, in the hundred and sixth Psalm, which begins in the same way, because the manuscript which I read had not for ever,' but, for ages' (in sæculum), His mercy,' that I enquired what we had better understand. For, in the Greek language, it is written, eis ton aiona, which may be interpreted, for ages' and (in æternum) for ever.' But it would be tedious to renew the enquiries I made as best I could in that place. But in this Psalm the same manuscript has not for ages,' which most have, but, for ever His mercy.'"--C.]
[5672] Matt. xxv. 46.
[5673] [He adds: "The expression, for He is good,' in the Greek is ?gathos; not as in the hundred and sixth Psalm, for there "He is good,' in Greek is chrestos. And so some have expounded the former, Since He is sweet.' For ?gathos is not good anyhow, but good most excellently."--C.]
[5674] Ps. lxxxii. 1, vi. 7.
[5675] John x. 34.
[5676] Ps. lxxxii. 2.
[5677] Ps. xcvi. 4 seq.
[5678] Simulacrum; heidolon.
[5679] 1 Cor. viii. 4.
[5680] 1 Cor. x. 20.
[5681] [The Roman dogma makes a verbal distinction as to worship of angels and saints, to meet the case as our author puts it here. But the vulgar cannot so distinguish; and everywhere, practically, this latria is offered. See Pius IX., the bull Ineffabilis.--C.]
[5682] 1 Cor. viii. 5, 6.
[5683] Facienti mirabilia.
[5684] Ps. cxxxvi. 5.
[5685] Gen. i. 31.
[5686] Wisd. i. 14.
[5687] Intelligibiles coelos.
[5688] Ps. civ. 24.
[5689] Col. ii. 3.
[5690] [Job xxviii. 28.--C.]
[5691] Pietas, Vulg.
[5692] Dei cultus.
[5693] Philip. ii. 15.
[5694] Isa. liii. 1.
[5695] 1 Cor. viii. 5, 6.
Psalm CXXXVII. [5696]
1. ...But to-day we have sung, "By the waters of Babylon we sat down and wept, when we remembered Sion" (ver. 1)....
2. Observe "the waters of Babylon." "The waters of Babylon" are all things which here are loved, and pass away. One man, for example, loveth to practise husbandry, to grow rich thereby, to employ his mind therein, thence to gain pleasure: let him observe the issue, and see that what he hath loved is not a foundation of Jerusalem, but a stream of Babylon. Another saith, It is a grand thing to be a soldier: all husbandmen fear those who are soldiers....
3. But then other citizens of the holy Jerusalem, understanding their captivity, mark how the natural wishes and the various lusts of men hurry and drag them hither and thither, and drive them into the sea; they see this, and they throw not themselves into the waters of Babylon, but "sit down and weep," either for those who are being carried away by them, or themselves whose deserts have placed them in Babylon, but sitting, that is, humbling themselves. O holy Sion, where all stands firm and nothing flows! Who hath thrown us headlong into this? Why have we left thy Founder and thy society? Behold, placed where all things are flowing and gliding away, scarce one, if he can grasp the tree, shall be snatched from the stream and escape. Humbling ourselves then in our captivity, let us "sit by the waters of Babylon," let us not dare to plunge ourselves in those streams, nor to be proud and lifted up in the evil and sadness of our captivity, but let us sit, and so weep. Let us sit "by" the waters, not beneath the waters, of Babylon; such be our humility, that it overwhelm us not. Sit "by" the waters, not "in" the waters, not "under" the waters; but yet sit, in humble fashion, talk not as thou wouldest in Jerusalem....