3. "Sing unto the Lord, bless His Name: be telling good tidings of His salvation from day to day" (ver. 2). How doth the building increase? "Be telling," he saith, "good tidings of His salvation from day to day." I,et it be preached from day to day; from day to day, he saith, let it be built; let My house, saith God, increase. And as if it were said by the workmen, Where dost Thou command it to be built? Where dost Thou will Thy house to increase? Choose for us some level, spacious spot, if Thou wish an ample house built Thee. Where dost Thou bid us be telling good tidings from day to day? He showeth the place: " Declare His honour unto the heathen: " His honour, not yours. O ye builders, " Declare His honour unto the heathen." Should ye choose to declare your own honour, ye shall fall: if His, ye shall be built up, while ye are building. Therefore they who choose to declare their own honour, have refused to dwell in that house; and therefore they sing not a new song with all the earth.3 For they do not share it with the whole round world; and hence they are not building in the house, but have erected a whited wall. How sternly doth God threaten the whited wall? * There are innumerable testimonies of the Prophets, whence He curseth the whited wall. What is the whited wall, save hypocrisy, that is, pretence? Without it is bright, within it is dirt...A certain person,* speaking of this whited wall, said thus: " as, if in a wall which standeth alone, and is not connected with any other walls, 1 Acts ii. 3 2 Ps. xcvi. 11. Quoted as from this Psalm by Justin Martyr, Apol. i. 41. In Dial, cum Tryph. § 73, he accuses the Jews of expunging the words airit rov £</Aou. [See A. N. F. vol. i. p. 176, note 4, and vol. iii p. 166, note 7. — C.J 3 Donalists. * Ezek. xiii. 10.
5 St. Optatus of Milevis on Don. Schism, b. iii. c. 10, p. 67 (quoted in aubatancc).
you make a door, whoever enters, is out of doors; so in that part which hath refused to sing the new song together with the house, but hath chosen to build a wall, and that a whited one, and not solid, what availeth it that it hath a door? " If thou enterest, thou art found to be without. For because they themselves did not enter by the door, their door also doth not admit them within. For the Lord saith, " 1 am the door: by Me they enter in." 6..." Declare His honour unto the heathen." What is, unto the heathen? Perhaps by nations but a few are meant: and that part which hath raised the whited wall hath still somewhat to say: why are not Getulia, Numidia, Mauritania, Byzacium, nations? Provinces are nations. Let the word of God take the word from hypocrisy, from the whited wall, building up the house over the whole world. It is not enough to say, " Declare His honour unto the heathen; " that thou mayest not think any nations excepted, he addeth, " and His wonders unto all people."
4. " For the Lord is great, and cannot worthily be praised " (ver. 4). What Lord, except Jesus Christ, " is great, and cannot worthily be praised"? Ye know surely that He appeared as a Man: ye know surely that He was conceived in a woman's womb, ye know that He was born from the womb, that He was suckled, that He was carried in arms, circumcised, that a victim was offered for Him, that He grew; lastly, ye know that He was buffeted, spit upon, crowned with thorns, was crucified, died, was pierced with a spear; ye know that He suffered all these things: " He is great, and cannot worthily be praised." Despise not what is little, understand what is great. He became little, because ye were such: let Him be acknowledged great, and in Him ye shall be great...For what can a small tongue say towards the praise of the Great One? By saying, Beyond praise/ he hath spoken, and hath given to imagination what it may conceive: as if saying, What I cannot utter, do thou reflect on; and when thou shalt have reflected, it will not be enough. What no man's thought uttereth, doth any man's tongue utter? "The Lord is great, and cannot worthily be praised." Let Him be praised, and preached: His honour declared, and His house built.
5...For the spot where he wished to build the house, is itself woody, where it was said yesterday, " we found it in the wood." 8 For he was seeking that very house, when he said, " in the wood." And why is that spot woody? Men used to worship images: it is not wonderful that they fed hogs. For that son who left his father, 8 Ps. exx: exxxii. 6. Hence it appears that Ps. exxxii. had been expounded the day before.
[Psalm XCVI.
and spent his all on harlots, living as a prodigal, used to feed hogs,1 that is, to worship devils; and by this very superstition of the heathen, all the earth became a wood. But he who buildeth a house, rooteth up the wood; and for this reason it was said, " While the house was being built, after the captivity." 2 For men were held captive under the devil, and served devils; but they were redeemed from captivity. They could sell, hut they could not redeem themselves. The Redeemer came, and gave a price; He poured forth His Blood, and bought the whole world. Ye ask what He bought? Ye see what He hath given; find out then what He bought. The Blood of Christ was the price. What is equal to this? What, but the whole world? What, but all nations? They are very ungrateful for their price, or very proud, who say that the price is so small that it bought the Africans only; or that they are so great, as that it was given for them alone. Let them not then exult, let them not be proud: He gave what He gave for the whole world. He knew what He bought, because He knew at what price He bought it. Thus because we are redeemed, the house is built after the captivity. And who are they who held us in captivity? Because they to whom it is said, " Declare His honour," are the clearers of the wood: that they may root out the wood, free the earth from captivity, and build, and raise up, by declaring the greatness of the Lord's house. How is the wood of devils cleared away, unless He who is above them all be preached? All nations then had devils for their gods: those whom they called gods, were devils, as the Apostle more openly saith, " The things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice unto devils, and not to God." 3 Since therefore they were in captivity, because they sacrificed to devils, and on that account the whole earth had remained woody; He is declared to be great, and above all worldly praise.
6...For when he had said, " He is more to be feared than all gods: " he added, " As for all the gods of the heathen, they are devils."...Because "all the gods of the heathen are devils." And is this all the praise of Him who cannot worthily be praised, that He is above all the gods of the heathen, which are devils? Wait, and hear what followeth: " It is the Lord that made the heavens." Not above all gods only therefore, but above all the heavens which He made, is the Lord. If he were to say, " above all gods, for the gods of the heathen are devils," and if the praise of our Lord stopped here, he had said less than we are accustomed to think of Christ; but when he said, " But it is the Lord that made the heavens; " see what difference there is between the heavens and devils: and what between the heavens and Him who made the heavens; behold how exalted is the Lord. He said not, But the Lord sitteth above the heavens; for perhaps some one else might be imagined to have made them, upon which He was enthroned: but, " It is the Lord that made the heavens." If He made the heavens, He made the Angels also: Himself made the Angels, Himself made the Apostles. The devils yielded to the Apostles: but the Apostles themselves were heavens, who bore the Lord...O heavens, which He made, declare His honour unto the heathen! Let His house be built throughout the earth, let all the earth sing a new song.
7. " Confession and beauty are before Him" (ver. 6). Dost thou love beauty? Wishest thou to be beautiful? Confess! He said not, beauty and confession, but confession and beauty. Thou wast foul; confess, that thou mayest be fair: thou wast a sinner; confess, that thou mayest be righteous. Thou couldest deform thyself: thou canst not make thyself beautiful. But of what sort is our Betrothed, who hath loved one deformed, that he might make her fair? How, saith some one, loved He one deformed? "I came not," said He, " to call the righteous, but sinners."4 Whom callest Thou? sinners, that they may remain sinners? No, saith He. And by what means will they cease to be sinners? " Confession and beauty are before Him." They honour Him by confession of their sins, they vomit the evils which they had greedily devoured; they return not to their vomit, like the unclean dog; i and there will then be confession and beauty: we love beauty; let us first choose confession, that beauty may follow. Again, there is one who loveth power and greatness: he wisheth to be great as the Angels are. There is a certain greatness in the Angels; and such power, that if the Angels exert it to the full, it cannot be withstood. And every man desireth the power of the Angels, but their righteousness every man loveth not. First love righteousness, and power shall follow thee. For what followeth here? " Holiness and greatness are in His sanctification." Thou wast before seeking for greatness: first love righteousness: when thou art righteous, thou shalt also be great. For if thou preposterously dost wish first to be great, thou fallest before thou canst rise: for thou dost not rise, thou art raised up. Thou risest better, if He raise thee who falleth not. For He who falleth not descendeth unto thee: thou hadst fallen: He descendeth, He hath stretched forth His hand unto thee; thou canst not rise by thy own strength, embrace the hand of Him who < Matt. ix. 13.
s 2 Pet. ii. aa.
Psalm XCVI.]
descendeth, that thou mayest be raised up by the Strong One.
8. What then? If " confession and beauty are before Him: holiness and greatness in His sanctification " (ver. 7). This we declare, when we are building the house; behold, it is already declared unto the heathen; what ought the heathen to do, to whom those who have cleared away the wood have declared the Lord's honour? He now saith to the heathen themselves, " Ascribe unto the Lord, O ye kindreds of the people: ascribe unto the Lord worship and honour." Ascribe them not unto yourselves: because they also who have declared it unto you, have not declared their own, but His honour. Do ye then " ascribe unto the Lord worship and honour; " and say, " Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us: but unto Thy Name give the praise." ' Put not your trust in man. If each of you is baptized, let him say: He baptizeth me, of whom the friend of the Bridegroom said, " He baptizeth with the Holy Ghost." 2 For when ye say this, ye ascribe unto the Lord worship and honour: " Ascribe unto the Lord worship and honour."
9. Ascribe unto the Lord glory unto His Name" (ver. 8). Not unto the name of man, not unto your own name, but unto His ascribe worship...Confession is a present unto God. O heathen, if ye will enter into His courts, enter not empty. " Bring presents." What presents shall we bring with us? The sacrifice of God is a troubled spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, shalt not Thou despise." 3 Enter with an humble heart into the house of God, and thou hast entered with a present. But if thou art proud, thou enterest empty. For whence wouldest thou be proud, if thou wert not empty? For if thou wast full, thou wouldest not be puffed up. How couldest thou be full? If thou wert to bring a present, which thou shouldest carry to the courts of the Lord. Let us not retain you much longer: let us run over what remaineth. Behold the house increasing: behold the edifice pervade the whole world. Rejoice, because ye have entered into the courts; rejoice, because ye are being built into the temple of God. For those who enter are themselves built up, they themselves are the house of God: He is the inhabitor, for whom the house is built over the whole world, and this " after the captivity." " Bring presents, and come into His courts."
10. "O worship the Lord in His holy court" (ver. 9): in the Catholic Church; this is His holy court. Let no man say, " Lo, here is Christ, or there. For there shall arise false prophets."4 Say this unto them,* "There shall 1 Ps. CXV. I.
. 29. Sec his commentary on the passage, and on < Matt. xxiv. 23, 24. s Donatists.
not be left here one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down." Ye are calling me to the whited wall; I adore my God in His holy court. " Let the whole earth be moved before His face."
n. "Tell it out among the nations, that the Lord reigneth from the wood: 6 and that it is He who hath made the round world so fast that it cannot be moved " (ver. 10). What testimonies of the building of the house of God! The clouds of heaven thunder out throughout the world that God's house is being built; and the frogs cry from the marsh,7 We alone are Christians. What testimonies do I bring forward? That of the Psalter. I bring forward what thou singest as one deaf: open thine ears; thou singest this; thou singest with me, and thou agreest not with me; thy tongue soundeth what mine doth, and yet thine heart disagreeth with mine. Dost thou not sing this? Behold the testimonies of the whole world: " Let the whole earth be moved before His face: " and dost thou say, that thou art not moved? " Tell it out among the heathen, that the Lord hath reigned from the wood." Shall men perchance prevail here, and say they reign by wood, because they reign by means of the clubs of their bandits? 8 Reign by the Cross of Christ, if thou art to reign by wood. For this wood of thine maketh thee wooden: the wood of Christ passeth thee across the sea. Thou hearest the Psalm saying, " He hath set aright the round world, that it cannot be moved; " and thou sayest it hath not only been moved since it was made fast, but hath also decreased. Dost thou speak the truth, and the Psalmist falsehood?
Do the false prophets, when they cry out, " Lo, here is Christ, and there," ' speak truth; and doth this Prophet lie? Brethren, against these most open words ye hear in the corners rumours like these; " such an one was a traditor," and, " such an one was a traditor." IO What dost thou say? Are thy words, or the words of God, to be heard? For, " it is He who hath set aright the round world, that it cannot be moved." I show unto thee the round world built: bring thy present, and come into the courts of the Lord. Thou hast no presents: and on that account thou art not willing to enter. What is this? If God were to appoint unto thee a bull, goat, or ram, for a present, thou wouldest find one to bring: He hath appointed a humble heart, and trjou wilt not enter; for thou findest not this in thyself, because thou art swollen with pride. " He hath set aright the round world, that it cannot be moved: and He shall judge the people right- 7 [i.e. so say the Donatists. — C] 9 Matt. xxiv. 23.
10 Caecilianus and others, by communicating with whom they alleged the universal Church to have fallen.
[Psalm XCVI.
eously." Then shall they mourn, who now refuse to love righteousness.
12. "Let the heavens rejoice, and let the earth be glad" (ver. n). Let the heavens, which declare the glory of God, rejoice; let the heavens rejoice, which the Lord made; let the earth be glad, which the heavens rain upon. For the heavens are the preachers, the earth the listeners. " Let the sea be stirred up, and the fulness thereof." What sea? The world. The sea hath been stirred up, and the fulness thereof: the whole world was roused up against the Church, while it was being extended and built over all the earth. Concerning this stirring up, ye have heard in the Gospel, " They shall deliver you up to councils."' "The sea was stirred up: but how should the sea ever conquer Him who made it?
13. "The plains shall be joyful, and all things that are in them" (ver. 12). All the meek, all the gentle, all the righteous, are the " plains " of God. " Then shall all the trees of the woods rejoice." The trees of the woods are the heathen. Why do they rejoice? Because they were cut off from the wild olive, and engraffed into the good olive.2 " Then shall all the trees of the woods rejoice: " because huge cedars and cypresses have been cut down, and undecaying timbers have been bought for the building of the house. They were trees of the woods; but before they were sent to the building: they were trees of the woods, but before they produced the olive.
14. " Before the face of the Lord. For He cometh, for He cometh to judge the world " (ver. 13). He came at first, and will come again. He first came in His Church in clouds. What are the clouds which bore Him? The Apostles who preached, respecting whom ye have heard, when the Epistle was being read: " We are ambassadors," he saith, " for Christ: we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God."3 These are the clouds in whom He cometh, excepting His last Advent, when He will come to judge the quick and the dead. He came first in the clouds. This was His first voice which sounded forth in the Gospel: " From this time shall they see the Son of Man coming in the clouds." 4 What is, " from this time "? Will not the Lord come in later times, when all the tribes of the earth shall mourn? He first came in His own preachers, and filled the whole round world. Let us not resist His first coming, that we may not tremble at His second. " But woe to them that are with child, and that give suck in those days! " 5 Ye have heard but now in the Gospel: " Take ye heed, for ye know not at what hour He cometh." 6 1 Mark xiii. 9. * Mark xiii. 26.
2 Rom. xi. 17. 5 Mark xiii. 17.
This is said figuratively. Who are those with child, and who give suck? Those who are with child, are the souls whose hope is in the world: but those who have gained what they hoped for, are meant by " they who give suck." For example: one wisheth to buy a country seat; he is with child, for his object is not gained as yet, the womb swelleth in hope: he buyeth it; he hath brought forth, he now giveth suck to what he hath bought. " Woe to them that are with child, and that give suck in those days! " Woe to those who put their hope in the world; woe to them that cling to those things which they brought forth through hope in the world. What then should the Christian do? He should use, not serve, the world.? What is this? Those that have as those that have not...He who is without carefulness, waiteth without fear for his Lord's coming. For what sort of love is it of Christ, to fear lest He come? Brethren, are we not ashamed? We love Him, and yet we fear lest He come. Are we sure that we love Him? or do we love our sins more? Therefore let us hate our sins for their own sake, and love Him who will come to punish our sins. He will come, whether we like or not: for because He cometh not just now, it is no reason that He will not come at all. He will come, and when thou knowest not; and if He shall find thee ready, thy ignorance is no hurt to thee. " Then shall all the trees of the wood rejoice before the Lord; for He cometh: " at His first coming.
And what afterwards? " For He cometh to judge the earth. And all the trees of the woods shall rejoice." He came first: and later to judge the earth: He shall find those rejoicing who believed in His first coming, " for He cometh."
15. " For with righteousness shall He judge the world: " not a part of it, for He bought not a part: He will judge the whole, for it was the whole of which He paid the price. Ye have heard the Gospel, where it saith, that when He cometh, " He shall gather together His elect from the four winds."8 He gathereth all His elect from the four winds: therefore from the whole world. For Adam9 himself (this I had said before) signifieth in Greek the whole world; for there are four letters, A, D, A, and M. But as the Greeks speak, the four quarters of the world have these initial letters, 'Arai-oAr), they call the East; AvVis, the West; "ApKTos, the North; Mto-r^/Jpia, the South: thou hast the word Adam. Adam therefore hath been scattered over the whole world. He was in one place, and fell, and as in a manner broken small,'0 he filled the whole world: but the mercy of God 9 Vid. Tract. 9 in Johan. note 14, and Tract, to, note 12. — Ben.
10 Quodammoao comminutus.
Psalm XCVIL] gathered, together the fragments from every side, and forged ' them by the fire of love, and made one what was broken. That Artist knew how to do this; let no one despair: it is indeed a great thing, but reflect who that Artist was. He who made, restored: He who formed, re-formed. What are righteousness and truth? He will gather together His elect with Him to the judgment, but the rest He will separate one from another; for He will place some on the right, others on the left hand. But what is more just, what more true, than that they shall not expect mercy from their Judge, who have refused to act mercifully, before their Judge come? But those who chose to act with mercy, with mercy shall be judged...PSALM XCVII.'
PSALM XCVII.'
i...This Psalm is entitled, " A Psalm of David's, when his land was restored." Let us refer the whole to Christ, if we wish to keep the road of a right understanding: let us not depart from the corner stone,3 lest our understanding suffer a fall: in Him let that become fixed, which wavered with unstable motion; let that rest upon Him, which before was waving to and fro in uncertainty. Whatever doubt a man hath in his mind when he heareth the Scriptures of God, let him not depart from Christ; when Christ hath been re.eiled to him in the words, let him then be assured that he hath understood; but before he arriveth at the understanding of Christ, let him not presume that he hath understood. " For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth." 4 What doth this mean, and how are these words understood in Christ, " When his land was restored "?...2. The earth restored is the resurrection of the flesh; for after His resurrection, all those things which are sung of in the Psalm were done. Let us then hear a Psalm full of joy on the restoration of the Earth. Let the Lord our God excite in us a hope and a pleasure worthy of so great a thing; may He rule our discourse, that it be fit for your hearts, that whatever joy our heart doth feel in such sights, He may bring on to our tongue, and thence conduct it into your ears, then to your heart, thence to your actions.
3..."The Lord is King, let the earth be glad: yea, let the multitude of the isles be joyous" (ver. 1). It is so indeed, because the word of God hath been preached not in the continent alone, but also in those isles which lie in raid sea: even these are full of Christians, full of the servants of God. For the sea doth not retard Him who made it. Where ships can approach, cannot the words of God? The isles are. filled.
1 Cotijlavit. 3 Eph ii. 20.
A discourse to the people.
But figuratively the isles may be taken for all the Churches. Why isles? Because the waves of all temptations roar around them. But as an isle may be beaten by the waves which on every side dash around it, yet cannot be broken, and rather itself doth break the advancing waves, than by them is broken: so also the Churches of God, springing up throughout the world, have suffered the persecutions of the ungodly, who roar around them on every side; and behold the isles stand fixed, and at last the sea is calmed.
4. " Clouds and darkness are round about Him: righteousness and judgment are the direction of His seat " (ver. 2 )...The Lord Himself saith: " For judgment I am come into this world; that they which see not might see, and that they which see might be made blind." ' They who seem unto themselves to see, who think themselves wise, who think healing not needful for them, that they may be made blind, may not understand. And that " they which see not may see; " that they who confess their blindness may obtain to be enlightened. Let there be therefore " clouds and darkness round about Him," for those who have not understood Him: for those who confess and humble themselves, " righteousness and judgment are the direction of His seat." He called those who believe in Him His seat: for from them hath He made Himself a seat, since in them Wisdom sitteth; for the Son of God is the Wisdom of God. But we have heard from another passage of Scripture a strong confirmation of this interpretation. " The soul of the righteous is the seat of Wisdom." 6 Because then they who have believed in Him have been made righteous: justified by faith, they have become His own seat: He sitteth in them, judging from them, and guiding them...
5. "There shall go a fire before Him, and burn up His enemies on every side " (ver. 3). We remember having read in the Gospel, He shall say, " Depart into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels." 7 I do not think it is said of that fire. Why do I not? Because he speaketh of some fire, which shall go before Him, before He cometh to judgment. For it is said, that the fire goeth before Him, and burnetii up His enemies on every side, that is, throughout the whole world. That fire will burn after His advent: this, on the contrary, will go before Him. What fire then is this? ■*.. Behold, we have understood the fire that goeth before Him, that is to be understood of a kind of temporal punishment of the unbelieving and ungodly: let us understand the fire, if possible, of the salvation of the redeemed also; for thus we had proposed. The Lord Himself saith: [Psalm XCVII.
" I am come to send fire on the earth: " ' " fire " in the same way as a " sword; " as in another passage He saith, that He was not come to send peace, but a sword, upon earth.2 The sword to divide, the fire to burn: but each salutary: for the sword of His own word hath in salutary wise separated us from evil habits. For He brought a sword, and separated every believer either from his father who believed not in Christ, or from his mother in like manner unbelieving: or at least, if we were born of Christian parents, from his ancestors. For no man among us had not either a grandsire, or great grandsire, or some ancestry among the heathen, and in that unbelief which is accursed before God. We are separated from that which we were before; but the sword which separateth, but slayeth not, hath cut between us. In the same way the fire also: " I am come to send fire upon the earth." Believers in Him were set on fire, they received the flame of love: and for this reason when the Holy Spirit itself had been sent to the Apostles, It thus appeared: " cloven tongues, like as of fire." J Burning with this fire they set out on their march through the world, to burn and set on fire His enemies on every side. What enemies of His? They who forsaking the God who made them, adored the idols they had made...
6. " His lightnings gave shine unto the world " (ver. 4). This is great joy. Do we not see? is it not clear? His lightnings have shined unto the whole world: His enemies have been set on fire, and burnt. All that gainsaid hath been burnt, and " His lightnings have given shine unto the world." How have they shone? That the world might at length believe. Whence were the lightnings? From the clouds. What are the clouds of God? The preachers of the truth. But thou seest a cloud, misty and dark in the sky, and it hath I know not what hidden within it. If there be lightning from the cloud, a brightness shineth forth: from that which thou didst despise, hath burst forth that which thou mayest dread. Our Lord Jesus Christ therefore sent His Apostles, as His preachers, like clouds: they were seen as men, and were despised; as clouds appear, and are despised, until what thou wonderest at gleameth from them. For they were in the first place men encumbered with flesh, weak; then, men of low station, unlearned, ignoble: but there was within what could lighten forth; there was in them what could flash abroad. Peter a fisherman approached, prayed, and the dead arose.4 His human form was a cloud, the splendour of the miracle was the lightning. So in their words, so in their deeds, when they do things to be 1 Luke xii. 49. 4 Acta ix. 40.
* Matt. x. 34.
3 Acts ii. 3.
wondered at, and utter words to be wondered at, " His lightnings gave shine unto the world; the earth saw it, and was afraid." Is it not true? Doth not the whole Christian world at length exclaim, Amen, afraid at the lightnings which burst forth from those clouds?
7. " The hills melted like wax at the presence of the Lord" (ver. 5). Who are the hills? The proud. Every high thing raising itself against God, at the deeds of Christ and of the Christians, trembled, yielded, and when I say, what hath been already said, "melted," a better word cannot be found. " The hills melted like wax at the presence of the Lord." Where is the elevation of powers? where the hardness of the unbelieving? The Lord was a fire unto them, they melted at His presence like wax; so long hard, until that fire was applied. Every height hath been levelled; it dareth not now blaspheme Christ: and though the Pagan believeth not in Him, he blasphemeth Him not; though not as yet become a living stone, yet the hard hill hath been subdued. " At the presence of the Lord of the whole earth: " not of the Jews only, but of the Gentiles also, as the Apostle saith; for He is not the God of the Jews alone, but of the Gentiles also.5 He is therefore the Lord of the whole earth, the Lord Jesus Christ born in Judaea, but not born for Judaea alone, because before He was born He created all men; and He who created, also new created, all men.
8. "The heavens have declared His righteousness: and all the people have seen His glory" (ver. 6). What heavens have declared? "The heavens declare the glory of God."6 Who are the heavens? Those who have become His seat; for as God sitteth in the heavens, so doth He sit in the Apostles, so doth He sit in the preachers of the Gospel. Even thou, if thou vvjlt, shalt be a heaven. Dost thou wish to be so? Purge from thy heart the earth. If thou hast not earthly lusts, and hast not in vain uttered the response, that thou hast " lifted up thy heart," thou shalt be a heaven.7 " If ye be risen with Christ," saith the Apostle to believers, "set your affection on things above, not on things of the earth." 8 Thou hast begun to set thine affection upon things above, not on things upon earth; hast thou not become a heaven? Thou carriest flesh, and in thy heart thou art already a heaven; for thy conversation will be in heaven.9 Being such, thou also declarest Christ; for who of the faithful declareth not Christ?...Therefore the whole Church preacheth Christ, and the heavens declare His righteousness; for all the faithful, whose care it is to gain unto God those who have not yet * Rom. iii. 29. 6 Ps. xix. i.
7 [See on this, Digtium, etc., p. 332, note 1, supra. — C] Psalm XCVII.]