The time of choice is now, the time of receiving will be hereafter. Let then the excellence of Thy terrible things be told. Unlimited as it is, though " of Thy greatness there is no end," they shall not be silent about it. How shall they recount it, if there is no end of it? They shall recount it when they praise it; and because there is no end of it, so of His praise also there shall be no end.'
5. "The remembrance of the abundance of Thy sweetness they shall pour forth." O happy feasts! What shall they eat, who thus shall "pour forth"!...So eat, that thou mayest pour forth again; so receive, that thou mayest give. Thou eatest, when thou learnest; thou pourest forth again, when thou teachest: thou eatest, when thou hearest; thou pourest forth again, when thou preachest; but that thou pourest forth, which thou hast first eaten. Finally, that most eager feaster John, to whom the very table of the Lord sufficed not, unless he leaned on the Lord's breast, and of his inmost heart drank in divine secrets; what did he pour forth? "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God." 2 How is it that it 1 Pt. Uxxiv. 4.
* John i. 1.
sufficeth not to say, " Thy remembrance; " or, " the remembrance of Thine abundance "? Because, what availeth it if it be abundant, yet not sweet? So also it is annoying if it be sweet but too little.
6...By "pouring forth" this, His preachers " shall exult in His righteousness," not in their own. What then hast Thou done unto us, O Lord, whom we praise, that we should be, that we should praise, that we should "exult in Thy righteousness," that we should " utter forth the remembrance of the abundance of Thy sweetness "? Let us tell it, and, as we tell, let us praise.
7. " Merciful and pitiful is the Lord; long-suffering, and very merciful " (ver. 8). " Sweet is the Lord to all, and His compassions reach into all His works" (ver. 9). Were- He not such as this, there would be no seeking to recover us. Consider thyself: what didst thou deserve, O sinner? Despiser of God, what didst thou deserve? See if aught occur to thee but penalty, if aught occur to thee but punishment. Thou seest then what was due to thee, and what He hath given, who gave gratis. There was given pardon to the sinner; there was given the spirit of justification; there was given charity and love, wherein thou mayest do all good works; and beyond this, He will give thee also life everlasting, and fellowship with the angels: all of His mercy...Hear the Scripture: " I will not the death of a sinner, but rather that he should turn, and live." 3 By these words of God, he is brought back to hope; but there is another snare to be feared, lest through this very hope he sin the more. What then didst thou also say, thou who through hope sinnest yet more? " Whensoever I turn, God will forgive me all; I will do whatsoever I will." Say not then, "To-morrow I will turn, to-morrow I will please God; and all to-day's and yesterday's deeds shall be forgiven me." Thou sayest true: God hath promised pardon to thy conversion; He hath not promised a to-morrow to thy delay.4 8. " Sweet is the Lord to all, and His compassions are over all His works." Why then doth He condemn? why doth He scourge? Are not they whom He condemneth, whom He scourgeth, His works? Plainly they are. And wilt thou know how " His compassions are over all His works"? Thence is that long-suffering, whereby " He maketh His sun to rise on the evil and on the good." ' Are not " His compassions over all His works, who sendeth rain upon the just and upon the unjust "? In His lcngsuffering He waiteth for the sinner, saying, " Turn ye to Me, and I will turn to you." 6 Are 5 Matt. v. 45.
6 Zcch. i. 3.
Psalm CXLV.]
not " His compassions over all His works "? And when He saith, " Go ye into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels," ' this is not His compassion, but His severity. His compassion is given to His works: His severity is not over His works, but over thy works. Lastly, if thou remove thine own evil works, and there remain in thee nought but His work, His compassion will not leave thee: but if thou leavest not thy works, there will be severity over thy works, not over His works.
9. " Let all Thy works, O Lord, confess to Thee, and let Thy saints bless Thee " (ver 10). How so? Is not the earth His work? Are not the trees His work? Cattle, beasts, fish, fowl, are not they His works? Plainly they too are. And how shall these too confess to Him? I see indeed in the angels that His works confess to Him, for the angels are His works: and men are His works; and when men confess to Him, His works confess to Him; but have trees and stones the voice of confession? Yes, verily; " let all " His " works confess to " Him. What sayest thou? even the earth and the trees?...But there ariseth the same question in regard of praise, as in regard of confession. For if earth and all things devoid of sensation therefore cannot confess, because they have no voice to confess with; neither will they be able to praise, because they have no voice to proclaim with. But do not those Three Children enumerate all things, as they walked amid the harmless flames, who had leisure not only not to fear, but even to praise God? They say to all things, heavenly and earthly, " Bless ye the Lord, praise Him, and magnify Him for ever."2 Behold how they praise. Let none think that the dumb stone or dumb animal hath reason wherewith to comprehend God. They who have thought this, have erred far from the truth. God hath ordered everything, and made everything: to some He hath given sense and understanding and immortality, as to the angels; to some He hath given sense and understanding with mortality, as to man; to some He hath given bodily sense, yet gave them not understanding, or immortality, as to cattle: to some He hath given neither sense, nor understanding, nor immortality, as to herbs, trees, stones: yet even these cannot be wanting in their kind, and by certain degrees He hath ordered His creation, from earth up to heaven, from visible to invisible, from mortal to immortal. This framework of creation, this most perfectly ordered beauty, ascending from lowest to highest, descending from highest to lowest, never broken, but tempered together of things unlike, all praiseth God. Wherefore then doth all praise God? Because when thou considerest 1 Matt. xxv. 41.
3 Song of Three Children, 29, etc it, and seest its beauty, thou in it praisest God. The beauty of the earth is a kind of voice of the dumb earth...And this which thou hast found in it, is the very voice of its confession, that thou praise the Creator. When thou hast thought on the universal beauty of this world, doth not its very beauty as it were with one voice answer thee, " I made not myself, God made me "?
10. For when Thy saints bless Thee, what say they? " They shall tell the glory of Thy kingdom, and talk of Thy Power" (ver. u). How powerful is God, who hath made the earth! how powerful is God, who hath filled the earth with good things! how powerful is God, who hath given to the animals each its own life! how powerful is God, who hath given different seeds to the womb of the earth, that they might make to spring up such various shoots, such beautiful trees! how powerful, how great is God! Do thou ask, creation answereth, and by its answer, as by the confession of the creature, thou, O saint of God, blessest God, and " talkest of His power."
11. "That they may make known to the sons of men Thy power, and the glory of the greatness of the beauty of Thy kingdom " (ver 12). Thy saints then commend " the glory of the greatness of the beauty of Thy kingdom," the glory of the greatness of its beauty. There is a certain " greatness of the beauty of Thy kingdom: " that is, Thy kingdom hath beauty, and great beauty. Since whatever hath beauty, hath beauty from Thee, how great beauty hath Thy whole kingdom! Let not the kingdom frighten us: it hath beauty also, wherewith to delight us. For what is that beauty, which the saints shall hereafter enjoy, to whom it shall be said, " Come, ye blessed of My Father, enjoy the kingdom "? 3 Whence shall they come? whither shall they come? Behold, brethren, and, if ye can, as far as ye can, think of the beauty of that kingdom which is to come; whence our prayer saith, "Thy kingdom come." For that kingdom we desire may come, that kingdom the saints proclaim to be coming. Observe this world: it is beautiful. How beautiful are earth, sea, air, heavens, stars. Do not all these frighten him who considereth them? Is not the beauty of them so conspicuous, that it seemeth as though nothing more beautiful could be found? And here, in this beauty, in this fairness almost unspeakable, here worm and mice and all creeping things of the earth live with thee, they live with thee in all this beauty. How great is the beauty of that kingdom where none but angels live with Thee! There is a greatness of a certain beauty; let it be loved before it is seen, that when it is seen, it may be retained.
3 Matt. xxv. 34.
66o [Psalm CXLV.
ia. "Thy kingdom." What kingdom mean I? "a kingdom of all ages." For the kingdom of this age too hath its own beauty, but there is not in it that greatness of beauty, such as in the " kingdom of all ages." " And Thy dominion is in every generation and generation" (ver. 13). This is the repetition we noticed, signifying either every generation, or the generation which will be after this generation. " Faithful is the Lord in His words, and holy in all His works." ' " Faithful is the Lord in His words: " for what hath He promised that He hath not given? " Faithful is the Lord in His words." Hereto there are certain things which He hath promised, and hath not given; but let Him be believed from the things which He hath given. We might well believe Him, if He only spake: He willed not that we should believe Him speaking, but that we should have His Scriptures in our hands:...as though a kind of bond of God's, which all who pass by might read, and might keep to the path of its promise. And how great things hath He already paid in accordance with that bond! Do men hesitate to believe Him concerning the Resurrection of the dead and the Life to come, which alone now remaineth to be paid, when, if He come to reckon with the unbelievers, the unbelievers must blush? If God say to thee, "Thou hast My bond: I have promised judgment, the separation of good and bad, everlasting life for the faithful, and wilt thou not believe? There in My bond read all that I have promised, reckon with me: verily even by counting up what I have paid, thou canst believe that I shall pay what still I owe. In that bond thou hast My only-begotten Son promised, " Whom I spared not, but gave Him up for you all: " ' reckon this then among what is paid. Read the bond: I promised therein that I would give by My Son the earnest of the Holy Spirit: reckon that as paid. I promised therein the blood and the crowns of the glorious Martyrs; let the White Mass3 remind you that My debt has been paid...He setteth before the eyes of all His payment of His debts: some He hath paid in the time of our ancestors, which we saw not: some He hath paid in our times, which they saw not; throughout all generations He hath paid what was written. And what remaineth? Do men not believe Him, when He hath paid all this? What remaineth? Behold thou hast reckoned: all this He hath 1 This verse is not contained in the English version.
2 Ron., viii. 3a.
* This sermon appears from this to have been preached in the Basilica of the " White Mass." The Roman Martyrology, Aug. *4, has, " at Carthage, of the 300 holy martyrs, who, in the reign of Valerius and Gallienus, first suffered manifold torments, and at last were thrown into a burning lime-pit, and won a glorious crown of martyrdom. Hence they had the name of 'The White Mass.'" There was a Basilica in memory of them at Utica. Serm. 306 of St. Aug. is on their festival. See also Prud. Ptristefk. 13; Kuinart, PP. '99. 5>8paid: is He become unfaithful for the few things which remain? God forbid! Wherefore? Because " the Lord is faithful in His words, and holy in all His works."
13. " The Lord strengtheneth all that are falling" (ver. 14). But who are "all that are falling "? All indeed fall in a general sense, but he meaneth those who fall in a particular way. For many fall from Him, many also fall from their own imaginations. If they had evil imaginations, they fall from them, and " God strengthened all that are falling." They who lose anything in this world, yet are holy, are as it were dishonoured in this world, from rich become poor, from honoured of low estate, yet are they God's saints; they are, as it were, falling. But " God strengtheneth." For " the just falleth seven times, and riseth again; but the wicked shall be weakened in evils." 4 When evils befall the wicked, they are weakened thereby; when evils befall the righteous, " the Lord strengtheneth all that are falling."..." And lifteth up all those that have been cast down: " all, that is, who belong to him; for " God resisteth the proud." 5 14. "The eyes of all hope upon Thee, and Thou givest them food in due season " (ver. 15). Just as when thou refreshest a sick man in due season, when he ought to receive, then Thou givest, and what he ought to receive, that Thou givest. Sometimes then men long, and he giveth not: he who tendeth, knoweth the time to give. Wherefore say I this, brethren? Lest any one be faint, if perchance he hath not been heard, when making some righteous request of God. For when he maketh any unrighteous request, he is heard to his punishment: but when making some righteous request of God, if perchance he have not been heard, let him not be down-hearted, let him not faint, let his eyes wait for the food, which He giveth in due season. When He giveth not, He therefore giveth not, lest that which He giveth do harm.6..."Thou givest them meat in due season."
15. "Thou openest Thine Hand, and fillest every living thing with blessing" (ver. 16). Though sometimes Thou givest not, yet " in due season " Thou givest: Thou delayest, not deniest, and that in due season." " Righteous is the Lord in all His ways, and holy in all His works " (ver. 17). Both when He smiteth and when He healeth, He is righteous, and in Him unrighteousness is not. Finally, all His saints, when set in the midst of tribulation, have first praised His righteousness, and so sought His blessings. They first have said, " What Thou doest is righteous." So did Daniel ask, and other holy men: " Righteous are Thy judgments: rightly have we * Prov. xxiv. 16. ' Jas. iv. 6.
6 a Cor. xii. 7.
Psalm CXLVI.]
66 1 suffered: deservedly have we suffered." They laid not unrighteousness to God, they laid not to Him injustice and folly. First they praised Him scourging, and so they felt Him feeding.
16. "The Lord is nigh unto all that call upon Him " (ver. 18). Where then is that, " Then shall they call upon Me, and 1 will not hear them "? ' See then what follows: " all who call upon Him in truth." For many call upon Him, but not in truth. They seek something else from Him, but seek not Himself. Why lovest thou God? "Because He hath made me whole." That is clear: it was He that made thee so. For from none else cometh health, save Him. " Because He gave me," saith another, " a rich wife, whereas I before had nothing, and one that obeyeth me." This too He gave: thou sayest true. " He gave me," saith another, " sons many and good, He gave me a household, He gave me all good things." Dost thou love Him for this?...Therefore if God is good, who hath given thee what thou hast, how much more blessed wilt thou be when He hath given thee Himself! Thou hast desired all these things of Him: I beseech thee desire of Him Himself also. For these things are not truly sweeter than He is, nor in any way are they to be compared to Him. He then who preferreth God Himself to all the things which he has received, whereat he rejoiceth, to the things he has received, he " calleth upon God in truth."...
1 7. " He will perform the will of them that fear Him" (ver. 19). He will perform it, He will perform it: though He perform it not at once, yet He will perform it. Certainly if therefore thou fearest.God, that thou mayest do His will, behold even He in a manner ministereth to thee; He doeth thy will. " And He shall hear their prayer, and save them." Thou seest that for this purpose the Physician hears, that He may save. When? Hear the Apostle telling thee. " For we are saved in hope: but hope which is seen is not hope: but if what we see not we hope for, then do we with patience wait for it: 2 " the salvation," that is, which Peter calleth " ready to be revealed in the last time." 1 18. " The Lord guardeth all that love Him, and all sinners He will destroy" (ver. 20). Thou seest that there is severity with Him, with whom is so great sweetness. He will save all that hope in Him, all the faithful, all that fear Him, all that call upon Him in truth: " and all sinners He will destroy." What " all sinners," save those who persevere in sin; who dare to blame God, not themselves; who daily argue against God; who despair of pardon for their sins, and from this very despair heap up their sins; or who perversely promise themselves 1 Prov. i. 38.
3 Rom. viii. 34.
' 1 Pet. i. 5.
pardon, and through this very promise depart not from their sins and impiety? The time will come for all these to be separated, and for the two divisions to be made of them, one on the right hand, the other on the left; and for the righteous to receive the everlasting Kingdom, the wicked to go into everlasting fire. Since this is so, and we have heard the blessing of the Lord, the works of the Lord, the wondrous things of the Lord, the mercies of the Lord, the severity of the Lord, His Providence over all His works, the confession of all His works; observe how He concludeth in His praise, " My mouth shall speak the praise of the Lord, and let all flesh bless His holy Name for ever and ever " (ver. 21).
PSALM CXLVI.* 1...Behold the Psalm soundeth; it is the voice of some one (and that some one are ye, if ye will), of some one encouraging his soul to praise God, and saying to himself, " Praise the Lord, O my soul" (ver. 1). For sometimes in the tribulations and temptations of this present life, whether we will or no, our soul is troubled; of which troubling he speaketh in another Psalm.s But to remove this troubling, he suggested joy j not as yet in reality, but in hope; and saith to it when troubled and anxious, sad and sorrowing, " Hope in God, for I will yet confess to Him."...
2. But who saith it, and to whom saith he it? What shall we say, brethren? Is it the flesh that saith, " Praise thou the Lord, O my soul "? And can the flesh suggest good counsel to the soul? However much the flesh be conquered, and subjected as a servant to us through strength which the Lord imparteth, that it serve us entirely as a bond slave, enough for us that it hinder us not...For the body, inasmuch as it is the body, is even beneath the soul; and every soul, however vile, is found more excellent than the most excellent body. And let not this seem to you to be wonderful, that even any vile and sinful soul is better than any great and most surpassing body. It is better, not in deserts, but in nature. The soul indeed is sinful, is stained with certain defilements of lusts; yet gold, though rusted, is better than the most polished lead. Let your mind then run over every part of creation, and ye will see that what we are saying is not incredible, that a soul, however blameable, is yet more praiseworthy than a praiseworthy body. There are two things, a soul and a body. The soul I chide, the body I praise: the soul I chide, because it is sinful; the body I praise, because it is sound. Yet it is in its own kind that I praise the soul, and in its own kind 4 Lat. CXLV. Sermon to the people. J Pa. xlii. 14, 15.
[Psalm CXLVI.
that I blame the soul: and so in its own kind I praise the body, or blame it. If you ask me which is better, what I have blamed or what I have praised, wondrous is the answer thou wilt receive...So you speak of the best horse and the worst man: yet thou preferrest the man thou findest fault with to the horse thou praisest.
...The nature of the soul is more excellent than the nature of the body: it surpasseth it by far, it is a thing spiritual, incorporeal, akin to the substance of God. It is somewhat invisible, it ruleth the body, moveth the limbs, guideth the senses, prepareth thoughts, putteth forth actions, taketli in images of countless things; who is there, in short, beloved brethren, who may suffice for the praises of the soul? And yet such is the grace given to it, that this man saith, " Praise the Lord, O my soul."...It is not the flesh that saith it. Let the body be angellike, still it is inferior to the soul, it cannot give advice to its superior. The flesh when duly obedient is the handmaid of the soul: the soul rules, the body obeys; the soul commands, the body performs; how then can the flesh give this advice to the soul? Is it then perchance the soul herself, who saith to herself, and in a manner commandeth herself, and exhorteth and asketh herself? For through certain passions in one part of her nature she wavered: but in another part, which they call the reasonable mind, the wisdom whereby she thinks, clinging to God, and now sighing towards Him, she perceives that certain inferior parts of her are troubled by worldly emotions, and by a certain excitement of earthly desires, betake them to outward things, leaving God who is within; so she recalleth herself from things outward to inward, from lower to higher, and says, " Praise the Lord, O my soul."...The soul itself giveth itself counsel from the light of God by the reasonable mind, whereby it conceiveth the wisdom fixed in the everlasting nature of its Author. It readeth there of somewhat to be feared, to be praised, to be loved, to be longed for, and sought after: as yet it graspeth it not, it comprehendeth it not; it is, as it were, dazzled with brightness; it has not strength to abide there. Therefore it gathers itself, as it were, into a sound state, and saith, " Praise the Lord, O my soul."...And then the soul, weighed down, as it were, and unable to stand up as is fitting, answereth the mind, " I will praise the Lord in my life " (ver. 2). What is, " in my life "? Because now 1 am in my death. Therefore first encourage thyself, and say, " Praise the Lord, O my soul." Thy soul answereth thee, I do praise so far as I can, slightly, poorly, weakly. Wherefore? Because, " while we are in the body, we are absent from the Lord." '...
1 3 Cor. v. 6.
3. "In my life." Now what has it? It might answer thee, " My death." Whence, " My death"? because I am absent from the Lord. For if to cling to Him is life, to depart from Him is death. But what comforteth thee? Hope. Now thou livest in hope: in hope praise, in hope sing. Thy death is from the sadness of this life, thou livest in hope of a future life. And how wilt thou praise thy Lord? "I will sing unto my God, as long as I have my being." VVhat sort of praise is this, " I will sing unto my God as long as I have being"? Behold, my brethren, what sort of being this will be; where there will be everlasting praise, there will be also everlasting being. Behold, now thou hast being: dost thou sing unto God as long as thou hast being? Behold, thou wast singing, and hast turned thyself away to some business, thou singest no longer, yet thou hast being: thou hast being, yet thou singest not. It may be also thy desire turneth thee to somewhat; not only dost thou not sing, but thou even offendest His ears, yet thou hast being. What praise will that be, when thou praisest as long as thou hast being? But what meaneth, " as long as I have being "? Will there be any time when he will not be? Nay, rather, that " long " will be everlasting, and therefore it will be truly " long." For whatever hath end in time, however prolonged it is, is yet not "long."...
4. " Put not your trust in princes " (ver. 3). Brethren, here we receive a mighty task; it is a voice from heaven, from above it soundeth to us. For now through some kind of weakness the soul of man, whensoever it is in tribulation here, despaireth ofGod, and chooseth to rely on man. Let it be said to one when set in some affliction, " There is a great man, by whom thou mayest be set free; " he smileth, he rejoiceth, he is lifted up. But if it is said to him, " God freeth thee," he is chilled, so to speak, by despair. The aid of a mortal is promised, and thou rejoicest; the aid of the Immortal is promised, and art thou sad? It is promised thee that thou shalt be freed by one who needeth to be freed with thee, and thou exultest, as at some great aid: thou art promised that Liberator, who needeth none to free Him, and thou despairest, as though it were but a fable. Woe to such thoughts: they wander far; truly there is sad and great death in them. Approach, begin to long, begin to seek and to know Him by whom thou wast made. For He will not leave His work, if He be not left by His work.
5..." His breath shall go forth, and he shall return to his earth: in that day shall all his thoughts perish" (ver. 4). Where is swelling? where is pride? where is boasting? But perhaps he will have passed to a good place, if indeed he have passed. For I know not whither he who Psalm CXLVI.]
Psalm CXLVI.]
spake thus hath passed. For he spake in pride; and I know not whither such men pass, save that I look into another Psalm, and see that their passage is an evil one. " I beheld the wicked lifted up above the cedars of Libanus, and I passed by, and, lo, he was not; and I sought him, and his place was not found." ' The good man, who passed by, and found not the wicked, reached a place where the wicked is not. Wherefore, brethren, let us all listen: brethren, beloved of God, let us all listen; in whatsoever tribulation, in whatsoever longing for the heavenly gift, " let us not trust in princes, nor in sons of men, in whom is no salvation." All this is mortal, fleeting, perishable.
What then must we do, if we are not to hope in sons of men, nor in princes? What must we do? " Blessed is he whose Helper is the God of Jacob " (ver. 5): not this man or that man; not this angel or that angel; but, " blessed is he whose Helper is the God of Jacob: " for to Jacob also so great an Helper was He, that of Jacob He made him Israel. O mighty help! now he is Israel, " seeing God." While then thou art placed here, and a wanderer not yet seeing God, if thou hast the God of Jacob for thy Helper, from Jacob thou wilt become Israel, and wilt be " seeing God," and all toil and all groans shall come to an end, gnawing cares shall cease, happy praises shall succeed. " Blessed is he whose Helper is the God of Jacob; " of this Jacob. Wherefore is he happy? Meanwhile, while yet groaning in this life, " his hope is in the Lord his God."...Who is this, "Lord his God"?..."To us there is one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and one Lord Jesus Christ, through whom are all things." 2 Therefore let Him be thy hope, even the Lord thy God; in Him let thy hope be. His hope too is in the lord his god, who worshipped! Saturn; his hope is in the lord his god, who worshippeth Neptune or Mercury; yea more, I add, who worshippeth his belly, of whom is said, " whose god is their belly." 3 The one is the god of the one, the other of the other. Who is this "blessed" one? for- "his hope is in the Lord his God." But who is He? " Who made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them " (ver. 6). My brethren, we have a great God; let us bless His holy Name, that He hath deigned to make us His possession. As yet thou seest not God; thou canst not fully love what as yet thou seest not. All that thou seest, He hath made. Thou admirest the world; why not the Maker of the world? Thou lookest up to the heavens, and art amazed: thou considerest the whole earth, and tremblest; when canst thou contain in thy thought the vastness