Commentarius In LXXV Psalmos [Attributus]

Do not turn your face away from me, nor in your anger turn aside from your servant. Perhaps he turns aside from some in anger, as from certain people who say to him, "Turn your face away from my sins." When he turns his face away from your sins, he does not turn aside from you in anger. So let him turn his face away from your sins, but let him not turn his face away from you. His anger is nothing other than the turning away of his countenance. Be my helper: do not forsake me, and do not despise me, O God my savior. Behold, I am on the way: I have asked of you one thing, free will: I have it. I know the right things I ought to do: but without you I can do nothing. Be therefore my helper, that I may press forward: and do not forsake me, lest I fall: and do not despise me, lest I perish: which you ought to do, because you are my God, who created me, and my savior, who redeemed me. I have no helper besides you.

Since my father and my mother have forsaken me, but the Lord has taken me up. Setting aside those two parents from whose flesh we were born: we have here another father, and another mother, or rather we had them. The father according to the world is the devil, and he was a father to us when we were unbelievers. For the Lord says to unbelievers, "You are from your father the devil." This is the father of all the ungodly, he works in the children of unbelief. The mother is that Babylonian fellowship of all the lost, from the east even to the west.

She has an earthly kingdom; this was our first mother, in whom we were born. We have come to know another father, God, and we have forsaken the devil. We have come to know another mother, the heavenly Jerusalem, which is the holy Church, whose portion sojourns on earth; we have forsaken Babylon. We have been separated from the world and the devil. The Lord has taken us up as a Father, because he created us, because he calls us, because he commands us, because he rules us. He has taken us up as a mother, because he cherishes us, because he nourishes us, because he gives us milk, because he holds us. But let us hear what the one taken up by the Lord should ask:

Set a law for me, O Lord, in your way, and direct me in the straight path because of my enemies. In this place the way of the Lord can be understood as faith, and the straight path as love, of which the Apostle says to his disciples, I show you a still more excellent way, and he began to speak of love. The enemies of the holy Church are those who live according to the flesh, and the heretics, who by living badly and teaching perversely oppress the servants of God. The holy man therefore asks that a law be set for him in the way, and that he be directed by God into the path, so that, instructed by the law, he may believe rightly, and, directed by grace, may walk rightly by loving and by doing. And he does this because of his enemies, who drag those whom they find less instructed or imperfect into error or iniquity, if they can. Concerning these, it is further added:

Do not hand me over into the souls of those who afflict me, for false witnesses have risen up against me, and iniquity has lied to itself. If you hand my flesh over into the hands of those men, do not hand me, that is, my soul, over into their souls, that is, into their wills, so that they may fully satisfy their mind and desire upon me: so that even if they kill the body, they may not kill the soul (Matt. 10). For in order to call me back from you, they have risen up against me, bearing witness to iniquity and falsehood. For many times false witnesses (Matt. 26) have risen up against the saints, asserting that they were transgressors of the law and deceivers. But iniquity has lied to itself (Acts 6), not to the saints: because their lie has been turned to punishment and damnation for themselves, but to glory for the saints. For in this matter it must be noted that good things, by the assault of the wicked, not only do not fail, but are even known to be good more fully. If the teaching of the Church were simple, and no one from outside pressed upon it with the assertions of heretical dogmas, our faith could not appear so clear and so tested. But for this reason the assault of those who contradict besieges catholic teaching, so that our faith may not grow dull through idleness, but be refined by exercises. For this reason, finally, the Apostle also said: For there must also be heresies, so that those who are approved may be made manifest (1 Cor. 11).

Among us, finally, if you take away the virtues of the soul, the devil himself and the hostile powers that struggle against us cannot shine forth without struggle. So too the glory of the faithful cannot shine out unless the reprobation and punishment of the unfaithful commend it. After that circuit and jubilation, after those dangers and labors, placed among the hands of those who afflict him, seething, gasping, laboring, firm and certain, with the Lord receiving, leading, and ruling him, let us hear what he adds:

I believe that I shall see the good things of the Lord in the land of the living. O sweet, immortal, everlasting good things of the Lord! When shall I see you? I believe, he says, that I shall see. For the just man lives by faith (Rom. 1). What is faith? To believe what you do not see. For the things that are seen are temporal; these are the land of the dying. But the things that are not seen are eternal; these are in the land of the living (2 Cor. 4). It is called a land by similitude, on account of its stability. No one perishes there, but it always remains and lives blessedly. But what does the Apostle say? If, however, we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience (Rom. 8). Rightly, therefore, divine Scripture admonishes us, saying:

Wait for the Lord, act manfully, and let your heart be strengthened, and endure the Lord. For through the Prophet it is said: If he should delay, wait for him, for coming he will come (Habakkuk 2). If it is deferred, it is not taken away. Many neglect to wait for the Lord, because his reward is not given in the present but is reserved for the future (Matthew 5). Therefore they grow weary and remain on the way. For this reason you are divinely admonished to act manfully, that is, bravely, and, strengthened in heart, to endure patiently. For it is not enough to do good bravely unless you strive from the strength of the soul also to bear evils with equanimity. Do not be dissolved, lest you be among those to whom it is said, Woe to those who have lost endurance (Sirach 2)! He who has lost endurance has become effeminate, has lost his vigor. Work manfully, endure patiently: so that by living well you may be just, and by suffering you may be perfect. Thus you will see the good things that you believe. Thus you will bring right works to a perfect end.

TITLE OF PSALM XXVII.

A psalm for David himself, that is, for the more excellent member of the Church. The subject is the Church crying out to the Lord, that he may so hear her prayer as not to destroy her with those who work iniquity, but may grant to her according to her merit; and that he may not leave the wicked unpunished. By doing this he intends to persuade every faithful person, by his example, to set his heart on the Lord, so that his flesh may flourish again in him. Or, because it is said "for David himself," it is the voice of the Mediator himself, mighty of hand in the conflict of his passion. But what she seems to pray against her enemies is not a wish of ill will, but a declaration of punishment. She does not desire what she says, but foretells what threatens them. She speaks, then, for herself and for her members as follows:

PSALM XXVII.

To you, Lord, I will cry out, my God, do not be silent toward me; lest at any time you be silent toward me, and I become like those who go down into the pit. With good reason she calls him Lord, to whom every creature is subject, as it is written, All things serve you (Psalm 118). Though he is the God of all by creation, he is properly the Son of God by nature, or especially the God of the Church by grace; to cry out to him is to pray with all desire, with all affection. Do not be silent, she says, toward me, as regards outward instruction. And lest at any time you be silent toward me, as regards inward inspiration. For it is fitting that the merciful God, just as for the salvation of the human race he once spoke in the Prophets, but in these last days in his Son (Hebrews

1.) So too now let him not be silent, but through his vicars, informed by word and grace, let him speak to us unceasingly, instruct us, breathe upon us. And if, he says, you are silent, I shall be like those who go down into the pit. If Christ had been silent, he would have appeared like the rest of mortals. But because God has spoken in him, therefore Peter said to him, You have the words of eternal life (John 6), and, You are the Christ, the Son of the living God (Matt. 16). For faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ (Rom. 10). Again, if he falls silent from the teachers of the Church, his silence is our perdition. Otherwise, by what he says, I will cry out, he indicates that he cries out unceasingly to the Lord throughout the whole time of his obedience. By what he adds, Do not be silent, he indicates the pious affection between God and man: because from the moment man begins to cry out, God hears. The Hebrew truth does not have this, lest you be silent from me; but the Seventy interpreters added it, and not without cause: but by this they give us to understand that he cried out concerning the first and second glorification. The first glorification is before the resurrection, when he was free from every sin, and through him God performed miracles which no one else could perform. The second glorification was in the resurrection, by which his humanity received impassibility and immortality. And if you are silent, removed from me, then I shall be like, that is, similar to those who go down into the pit, that is, into the misery of this world.

For if the man of the Lord were abandoned by the protection of the divine Word united to him, he would surely be found like other men. He says well, "To those going down," because the greatest descent is to depart from God and to incline oneself to the miseries of this world. But ascent is, having left these miseries behind, to hasten toward eternal goods. Therefore he adds:

Hear, O Lord, the voice of my supplication when I pray to you, when I lift up my hands to your holy temple. He sets forth two things for which he ought worthily to be heard, saying, "When," that is, because I pray to you. And because I lift up my hands on the cross, toward the temple, that is, to build the Church, that it may be the holy temple of God. A great merit for being heard was the incarnation and passion of the Redeemer, who became (as the Apostle says) a propitiation for our sins in his blood (1 John 2), by which he might wash us from our sins (Rev 1) and prepare for himself a Church not having spot or wrinkle (Eph 5). Consider also your own head: learn from his example to pray, learn to endure, learn to love. Stretch out your hands toward the temple. Stretch yourself out to good works for the sake of the kingdom of God. Hear and pray what follows:

Do not hand me over together with sinners, and do not destroy me with those who work iniquity. Christ was indeed with sinners, because the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us (John 1), and he was numbered with the wicked (Isaiah 53). Yet he was not handed over together with sinners so as to be a sinner himself, because he committed no sin, nor was deceit found in his mouth (1 Peter 2). He descended into the underworld, where the wicked descend. But he did not perish with those who work iniquity, because although he was killed by the wicked, he nevertheless rose from death, and by dying he redeemed us. And so that death was not destruction but life. Pray also yourself, lest you be handed over together with sinners, lest you be corrupted by the wicked ways of those with whom you live, and lest you perish with those who work iniquity: that is, lest you perish forever with the wicked whose persecution you endure for a time. And they are wicked not only in deed but also in tongue. For it is added, Who speak peace with their neighbor. They said, We know that you have come from God as a teacher (John 11). But there were evil things in their hearts. For they were plotting to seize Jesus by deceit and kill him (Matthew 26). Christ is called the neighbor of the Jews (Matthew 15), both according to the flesh, because he was from their stock, and according to this, that he had come to show them mercy (Romans 1).

According to what is read in the Gospel about the Samaritan, that he is called neighbor to the one who fell among robbers, because he showed him mercy (Luke 10). How many such people are found in the Church of God, who still persecute the body (Rom 12). These are the ones who come in sheep's clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves (Matt 7). And because they are such:

Give them according to their works. And according to the measure of the fault, let there be the repayment of punishment. But someone says, Their works were good, even when they killed Christ, because in this way the human race was redeemed. Therefore it follows: And according to the wickedness of their endeavors. As if he were saying, I do not say that it should be repaid to them according to the benefit that proceeded from their works, but according to the wickedness that they thought they had found for their own advantage. For they did not kill Christ for the reason that the human race might be redeemed, but lest they lose their place and their nation. Wherefore it must be noted that the same action, according to different intentions, is called both good and evil. For the Son whom God the Father handed over, the Jews handed over. There was one action on both sides, but the intention was different. For the Father handed him over for this purpose, that by rising again he might save us. For this purpose the Jews handed him over, and took care that he be condemned to the most shameful death, so that he might utterly perish. Therefore justice or injustice is not in the action, but in the will.

Therefore it follows: According to the works of their hands, give to them; render their recompense to them. What did he wish to designate by "the works of their hands," except the surpassing wickedness that they committed against the death of the Lord? When he adds "hand" after "works," he shows that they applied great zeal and affection to that work. What he says of "hands" is drawn from the craftsman: for he wishes those works to be called the works of his own hands which he has done with zeal. And well is it said, "recompense": because when Christ had done good to them, they repaid him with evil. As if he were plainly saying: Just as they repaid me with evil, so render evil to them in like manner. And deservedly:

Because they did not understand the works of the Lord. Namely, those things which are written mystically in the Law, or those which he afterward worked secretly through his Son: such as that he caused him to be incarnate of the Virgin, that he sent him for our redemption. And "in the works of his hands"—that is, in the manifest works, understand: they did not understand. The Hebrews have: "They did not look upon the works of his hands." What are those? That he was healing the sick, cleansing lepers, raising the dead, and many other miracles which the Father was doing through his Son. Hence the Truth was saying to the Jews: If you do not believe me, believe the works. For the works which I do bear witness concerning me (John 10). But they would be found excusable in hidden things, yet they would not be found so in open things.

Because, therefore, they did not understand his manifest works, so as to perceive the divine things through them, therefore it follows: You will destroy them, spiritually and corporally, as it was in the destruction by Titus and Vespasian. And the Prophet, foreseeing that that destruction would be irreparable, added: And you will not build them up, any further. For in other destructions God had restored them, as in the destructions of Babylon and in the captivity of Egypt. Or even if they had been destroyed spiritually, so that under some leader they were idolaters, through another leader God freed them from idolatry. But from this final spiritual blinding they will not be restored until the end, when their remnant will be saved; but corporally they will never be restored. From this verse he begins to give thanks for his being heard. For he says,

Blessed is the Lord, because he has heard the voice of my supplication. As often as we are heard by the Lord, we ought to bless him. For man has nothing to give to God for such great benefits of his, except blessing and praise. But no one becomes blessed by the gifts of God if he is ungrateful to the giver. For thus the Father of lights, from whom every best gift and every perfect gift comes down, is worshiped by us: namely, by the sacrifice of praise and by acts of thanksgiving.

Not only did he hear him in removing evils, but also, "The Lord is my helper," for acting well: "And my protector," lest I be harmed by the weapons of those pursuing me. "And in him my heart has hoped"; that is, my intention has hoped in the resurrection. And therefore, "I have been helped." For this purpose almighty God helps us in good and protects us in evil, that we may place our hope in him. But the more confidently we hope in him, the more abundantly we are helped by him. Hence it comes about that through God's help hope is begotten in us, and then through the merit of hope God's help is increased. "And he has shown in what I have been helped by God." "And my flesh has flourished again." Before, the flesh of Christ had flourished, when it was free from every sin; it flourished again when by rising it received impassibility and immortality. Therefore it follows: "And from my own will I will confess to him." God loves a voluntary confession; but he does not accept forced service. Hence it is written: "The servant does not remain in the house forever; the son remains forever" (2 Cor 9; John 8). The servant is one who serves out of fear; the son is one who obeys out of love. The former is excluded from the heavenly house, because he is a servant. The latter is brought in, because he is a son. Let us therefore confess to the Lord with our whole will, our whole affection, so that as devoted sons we may obtain the inheritance of God. For confession is rightly owed to him of whom it is next said.

The Lord is the strength of his people—that is, of those devoted to himself. The strength of God is in him, because he snatches men from the yoke of the devil and makes them his own. And he is the protector of the salvation of his Christ—that is, of those who are saved through Christ. And here he plainly notes that the mysteries of Christ benefit men unto salvation. And because the Lord is the strength of the people, therefore, O Lord, do what is yours.

Save your people, O Lord—by delivering them from the power of enemies, by directing them to faith. And bless, by giving increase of virtues to the deed itself: to your inheritance; and cover them according to their ways and virtues; and exalt them from virtue to virtue, even unto eternity—that is, until they arrive at eternity.

TITLE OF PSALM XXVIII.

A psalm of David at the completion of the tabernacle. When the ark of the Lord had been sent back by the Philistines and brought back to Jerusalem, when he was forbidden by Nathan the prophet to build a house for the Lord, because he was a man of blood, he made a tabernacle of skins, in which to place the ark of God (2 Kings 6 and 7). When this was completed, he invited many to come to that temple (1 Paralipomenon 17)—not with empty hands, but that they might sacrifice there the victims they had brought. And after this completion he wrote this psalm: not that he was writing about a historical completion, but that through the Holy Spirit he was prophesying to us the future completion of the Church, whose completion was the figure of that tabernacle.

Knowing this, the prophet Esdras entitled the psalm as David having understood it. The title reads as follows: This psalm belongs to David the prophet, who speaks here—the psalm, I say, delivered at the completion of the tabernacle, that is, in contemplation of the consummation of the Church. This we rightly call the tabernacle, because here we serve as in a tabernacle. This is the subject matter of this psalm. The prophet's task, under the person of the Church, is to show how the tabernacle of God has been composed—that is, by what power and by what magnificence, through the sevenfold grace of the Holy Spirit, which is conceived from the voice of the Lord, repeated seven times. And in doing this he intends that those who have been made sons of God through adoption offer to God the sacrifice of a pure mind. He says therefore:

PSALM 28.

Bring to the Lord, you sons of God, bring to the Lord the sons of rams. Bring to the Lord your very selves, whom the Apostles, leaders of the flocks, have begotten through the Gospel, having as it were two horns, the two Testaments. Hence Paul, a spiritual ram, says to his flock: For in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the Gospel (1 Cor 4). And again: My little children, for whom I am again in labor (Gal 4). We bring ourselves to God if we act devoutly in what we hear through wisdom. Give me, he says, your heart, my son (Prov 27). But it is necessary that this offering of the heart also show itself in the completion of action. Hence it is added: Bring to the Lord glory and honor.

Show yourselves such that God may be honored and glorified in you. As it is written: Let your light shine before men, that seeing your good works they may glorify your Father who is in heaven. Bring to the Lord glory to his name. Let it become gloriously known throughout the world. Adore the Lord in his holy court—that is, in your enlarged and sanctified heart. For we owe ourselves to him by whom we were created. To him glory is shown by us in honor, for so many and such great benefits which are recorded for the building up of the spiritual tabernacle, that is, the Church. For it is said:

The voice of the Lord is upon the waters. The voice of the Lord is upon the peoples, who are rightly designated by the waters, since after the manner of waters they run on without ceasing in the flux of mortality. The God of majesty has thundered. God has fearfully preached repentance from the cloud of the flesh. He himself has thundered through himself, who is the God of majesty, of power, and of exalted virtue. Hence it is that in the Canticles the Church says, My soul melted when my beloved spoke. The voice of the Lord has also thundered upon the waters, because in the Jordan the voice of the Father was heard over Christ: This is my beloved Son. He thunders now also upon the waters of baptism, because believers are baptized in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. And because he himself is the one who baptizes, it is rightly added: The Lord is upon many waters.

For it is written, One Lord, one faith, one baptism. Or the Lord is above many waters, that is, the Lord Jesus himself, after he sent forth his voice over the peoples and terrified them, converted them to himself and dwelt in them.

The voice of the Lord in power. As it is that saying, Lazarus, come forth. The voice of the Lord in magnificence. For Jesus did not speak as the Pharisees did, but as one having authority. Whence someone said, Never has a man spoken as this man speaks. So great was the power of this voice of the Lord that it even raised the dead, enlightened the blind, and cleansed the lepers. Or the voice of the Lord was in power and magnificence when he first instructed the Apostles with the power of faith, and through them afterward did great things. Whence it is added:

The voice of the Lord breaking the cedars, and the Lord will break the cedars of Lebanon. What is meant by cedars, except those exalted in pride? And well after the cedars he added, of Lebanon. For Lebanon is interpreted as whiteness. But the voice of the Lord breaks the cedars of Lebanon, because by it even those are crushed who are exalted in honors and riches and in the glory of earthly nobility. Whence the Apostle says: God chose the weak things of the world, that he might confound the strong. But it must be known that the voice of the Lord breaks the cedars in two ways: some, namely, by condemning them, and some by drawing them to himself and utterly humbling them; of which the following is added,

And he will crush them like a calf of Lebanon. And having cut off their proud height, he will lay them low to imitate his own humility, who like a calf was led to the sacrifice through that very nobility of this world. For the kings of the earth stood up, and the princes gathered together against the Lord and against his Christ (Ps. 2). And the beloved one, like the son of unicorns. For he himself, the beloved and only-begotten of the Father, emptied himself of his nobility and became man, like the son of the Jews who, ignorant of the justice of God and proudly boasting as though of their own singular justice.

The voice of the Lord cutting through the flame of fire. That is, dividing the raging anger of his persecutors, so that some said: Surely this is the Christ? while others said, No, but he deceives the people (John 7), and thus he cut through the mad tumult that went before them, so that he might carry some across, and leave others in their malice.

The voice of the Lord shaking the desert. That is, moving the Gentile people to faith, who once were without hope, without God, without a prophet, without a preacher. And the Lord will shake the desert of Kadesh. That is, the Lord will truly cause to be celebrated the holy word of his Scriptures, which was being abandoned by the Jews who did not understand it.

The voice of the Lord preparing the deer, and he will reveal the dense places. The deer designate the Apostles, who, with the Holy Spirit preparing them to run and to proclaim the Gospel, were swift, and who did not fear the deadly poisons of the devil and of the heretics. To these he revealed the dense places, because he opened the Scriptures and made manifest the divine mysteries. Hence Paul says, I heard secret words, which it is not lawful for a man to speak (2 Cor 12). And it is written, He opened their understanding, that they might understand the Scriptures (Lk 24). Then he revealed to them the obscurities of the divine books and the shadows of the mysteries, where they may feed with freedom. And because through these gifts God perfects his Church, it is rightly added: And in his temple all shall speak glory. That is, having been made the temple of God in themselves, they shall speak glory to the Lord, from whom they have received the good things that they have.

The Lord sat as king over the flood. He makes his elect, kept safe in the Church as in the ark, to overcome and despise this world. This world is rightly signified by the flood, because it extinguishes the carnal within itself and repels the spiritual above itself. And because the Lord will always reign in his Church after the flood, it is well added: And the Lord shall sit as king forever. For the saints are the seat of God, and he is their king, defending them from the power of the devil and ruling them spiritually, lest sin reign in their mortal body (Rom. 6). Concerning these things it is further added:

The Lord will give strength to his people, lest they be overcome by enemies and vices. The Lord will bless his people in peace, so that after the storms and whirlwinds of this age they may rest happily in eternity.

TITLE OF PSALM XXIX.

A psalm of a song at the dedication of the house of David. This psalm is of a song, that is, of the exultation held at the dedication, that is, in the contemplation of the dedication of the house of David (2 Sam. 7). The dedication of the house of David is understood as the resurrection of the Savior, in which all the bodies of our life are dedicated. The house of David is built when humanity is assumed. The house of David is built when he is raised from the dead. The house of Christ is humanity. For just as a house becomes famous at its dedication, so Christ became more famous in the resurrection, having assumed impassibility and immortality.

In the first part of the psalm there is a giving of thanks for deliverance; in it he also exhorts the saints to give thanks to God for that deliverance which is theirs, because through it they have been delivered. In the second part, which begins, "But I said in my abundance," the merit is shown, why he was worthy to be delivered. In the third part, which begins, "The Lord heard," he shows how that dedication itself comes about. Near the end he plainly sets forth the resurrection. The subject is Christ; the intention is to exhort men to praise God for his deliverance, which is theirs—which we note where it is said, "Sing to the Lord, his saints." He says therefore:

PSALM XXIX.

I will exalt you, Lord, because you have taken me up. I will magnify your name through many nations, because you have united my humanity to your Word. Nor did you delight—that is, nor did you make my enemies delight—over me. For although they thought themselves to be in the ascension over me, nevertheless that joy has been turned into sorrow. What is said now in the person of the foundation will afterward be said in the person of the whole house. The dedication of the house has already been made in the head, as it were the dedication of the foundation. The house, that is, the Church, is still being built; afterward it will be dedicated. Then will appear the glory of the Christian people, which now lies hidden. Let the enemies rage now; let them exult in the building of the house—they will be confounded in its dedication. For then the just will stand with great constancy against those who afflicted them.

But the penitents will say among themselves, groaning from the anguish of their spirit, "What has pride profited us? And what has the boasting of riches brought us? All those things have passed away like a shadow." And what do they say concerning the righteous? "In what manner were they counted among the sons of God, and their lot is among the saints?" Then will be fulfilled what is now said: "Nor have you delighted my enemies over me."

O Lord my God, I have cried to you. He cried out when he said, "Father, glorify your Son." And you have healed me. For he was weak in part according to the flesh. The Father therefore healed him, because by raising that same flesh immortal and incorruptible he made it whole. Hear the Apostle, see the true healing. "Death," he says, "has been swallowed up in victory. Where is your sting, O death? Where is your contention?" He adds another reason why he ought to exalt the Lord.

"O Lord," he says, "you have brought my soul out of hell." For he despoiled hell, and led the souls of the saints with him into heaven. "You have saved me from those who go down into the pit." That is, you have freed me from the hands of the Jews, who of their own will go down into hell and death and the jaws of the devil. And because his deliverance pertains to the common salvation, he therefore admonishes us, saying:

Sing psalms to the Lord, you his holy ones, and give thanks at the remembrance of his holiness. As if he were saying, you who have been made his holy ones through my deliverance, sing psalms to the Lord: bless him by your works, and give thanks with mouth and heart at his remembrance. For you had forgotten him, but he has not forgotten you (Isaiah 49). And the fact that he has been mindful of you proceeded not from your holiness but from his. And for this also sing psalms, and give thanks.

For there is wrath in his indignation, and life in his will. He first avenged sin upon you, which you have paid off by death, and eternal life, to which you could by no strength of your own return, he gave because he willed it. When (according to Augustine) you hear, "For there is wrath in his indignation," you have in God something to fear. For God is indignant at man, and brings wrath upon him for sin. Again, when you hear, "And life in his will," you have in God something to hope for and to speak of. There justice is commended, here grace. But to wrath and life belongs what he adds: At evening weeping will tarry, and at morning joy. Evening comes when the sun sets. Evening began when the light of wisdom withdrew from the sinning man, when he was condemned to death. For the sun of righteousness had set for him; he did not rejoice in the presence of God. From that point all this mortal life began. From that very evening weeping will have its tarrying, as long as the people of God, amid labors and temptations, awaits the day of the Lord.

Then morning will come, in which the exultation of the resurrection will be. Then the light will rise for the faithful, which had set for sinners. Therefore also the Lord Jesus rose from the tomb in the morning, so that what he dedicated in the foundation, he might promise to the house. In our Lord (from the same) there was evening, because he was buried: and morning, because he rose on the third day. You too were buried in the evening in paradise, and you rose on the third day. How on the third day? If you consider the age, the first day is before the Law; the second under the Law; the third under Grace. What your head showed in that three-day period, this is shown in you in the three-day period of the age. We must hope and rejoice, but for now we must endure and groan. But he shows himself the opposite of Adam, when he adds:

But I said in my abundance. I shall not be moved forever. He, placed in the paradise of delight (Gen. 2), abounding in all good things, was moved by the persuasion of the serpent (Gen. 3). But Christ, in the abundance of virtues, said, that is, determined, that he would not be moved forever, but would be obedient to the Father even to death (Phil. 2). Nor did he attribute this to his own strength, whence he also adds:

Lord, in your will you have given strength to my beauty. That I am beautiful in righteousness, strong in patience, I do not have this from my own power, but from your will. You have turned your face away from me, and I have become troubled. For the Father is seen to have turned his face away from the Son when he abandoned him in the passion. Whence also the Jews said, If he is the Son of God, let him free him, if he wills. But he became troubled when he said, My soul is sorrowful even unto death. Here the great merit of Christ is set forth, who even when so tested did not withdraw from obedience. You have turned your face away from me, but I have not turned away from you. For it follows:

To you, Lord, I will cry out, and to my Lord I will entreat. I will cry out for obtaining good things, I will entreat for removing evils. For you are my Lord, who rule me, and my God, who created me. Here it is shown to us in our head what we ought to do. If the Lord has turned his face away from us, and has been angry for our sins, we ought at once to be troubled through penitence, and to cry out to his pious ears in supplication, until we obtain forgiveness. But what Christ cried out, he sets forth when he adds:

What profit is there in my blood, while I descend into corruption? What will my shed blood avail me, if I descend into corruption? If my body rots in the tomb? If I do not rise again on the third day? Will the dust confess you, or will it declare your truth? Will the flesh reduced to dust confess you—that is, will it be the cause of confession and praise of you? Or will it declare your truth—that is, will it be the cause why your truth is declared concerning the restoration of the human race, which you are going to accomplish through me? By this cry he indicates that he has been heard, when he immediately adds:

The Lord has heard, and has had mercy on me: the Lord has become my helper. He had mercy on me, lest I perish; he helped me, that I might rise again. Mercy pertains to the remission of sins. Help pertains to progress in good works and virtues. First he has mercy on us without preceding merits, so that, once freed from sin, we may will what is good. Then he helps us, so that we may fulfill the good that we will. That we correct our sins is God's mercy. That we rise again to virtues is God's help. But in what he has been helped, he shows, turning from familiarity to the Father, and saying:

You have turned my lamentation into joy for me. You have changed the lamentation of the passion into the joy of the resurrection: for me, that is, for my benefit and for theirs. You have cut off my sackcloth, and you have surrounded me with gladness. Sackcloth (from Augustine, 2. Enarrat.) is made from goats, that is, from kids. And both goats and kids are counted among sinners. The Lord took from among our number only the sackcloth, but did not assume the merit of the sackcloth, which is sin. Now the sackcloth is mortality. But he cut off the sackcloth, because he destroyed mortality, and moreover he surrounded him with gladness: since the Lord clothed him with the robe of immortality. To this end, moreover, he was surrounded with gladness, so that he might do what follows:

That my glory may sing to you. That is, my resurrection, and my blessedness: And that I may not be pierced, that is, that I may not die. For Christ, rising from the dead, dies no more. Death shall no longer have dominion over him (Rom. 4). What was done in the head will be done in the body. Our glory will sing to God, when we shall be as he is, and we shall see him as he is (1 John 3). For what follows will come to pass: Lord my God, I will confess to you forever. This is my glory, that I may confess to you forever, because nothing is from me, but all things are from you, who are God, all things in all things. Confess therefore now (from the same, Enarrat.

2.), what you have done against the Lord, that is, your sins: and you will confess what God has done for you, by forgiving your sins: so that, confessing to him, you may not be pricked with sin forever.

TITLE OF PSALM 30.

The title of the following psalm is this. Unto the end, a psalm for David himself, Ecstasy. The psalm is ascribed to David himself, the mediator, strong in persecutions, who speaks here not only for himself but also for his martyrs, directing them unto the end. Ecstasy, which has been added in the title, signifies a departure of the mind (according to Augustine): which happens either through fear or through some revelation. But in this psalm the fear is most evident—of the people of God thrown into confusion by the persecution of all the nations, and by the failure of faith throughout the world. But first the mediator himself speaks. Then the people redeemed by his blood gives thanks: finally, the people long disturbed speaks, which pertains to ecstasy. But the person of the prophet himself is interposed twice: Near the end, and unto the end. The subject matter has two opposites: the help of divine mercy and the misery of human frailty. His aim is to admonish men that they neither despair, attending to their own miseries, nor foolishly presume on God's mercy in pride: and thus he clearly directs us unto the end, that is, unto Christ. He says therefore:

PSALM 30.

IN you, Lord, have I hoped; let me not be confounded forever. You see that he fears, but this fear is not without hope. If there is any disturbance in the human heart, divine consolation does not depart. He does not deny that he suffers the mockery of enemies, but such confusion does not endure forever. That confusion is to be utterly dreaded which is eternal. There is a certain temporal and useful confusion: the disturbance of a mind looking back upon its sins, shrinking from them in the looking, correcting them by the shame of horror. Whence the Apostle also says: For what glory had you in those things in which you now blush? This confusion the Christian does not fear; rather, if he does not have it, he will have the eternal one. What is that? Go, you cursed, into eternal fire. And therefore he added next: In your justice free me. For if you attend to my justice, you condemn me. But the justice of God becomes ours also when it is given to us; which is therefore called the justice of God, lest man think that he has justice from himself, and so glory vainly in himself. And because my voice could not ascend to you,

Incline your ear to me; hasten to rescue me. God did this when he sent Christ himself to us. The inclining of the ear is the assuming of humanity. God inclines his ear to us, laying down his mercy upon us. What greater mercy is there than that he should give his Only-begotten to us, not to live with us, but to die for us? But he asks that the mercy once inclined may quickly rise up, when he adds: Hasten to rescue me. As if he were saying: Quickly, make me rise again. For if he had put it off until the common resurrection, the whole hope of believers would have fallen away. Or, according to Augustine, On the Psalms, 2, Hasten is placed here so that we may understand that this whole span, which seems long to us as long as it is rolled out by the world, is but a point. For that is not long which has an end. Times fly past, and what is slow to you is brief in the eyes of God. Be to me a protecting God, lest I be wounded by the weapons of enemies. And a house of refuge, that you may make me safe—that is, a house of security, in which I may rest from these labors, and remain safe forever. If you wish to escape the darts of temptations, the heat of vices, the fury of persecutors, call upon the Lord as your protector. If he protects you, there is none who can strike you. If you wish to be safe and secure, make him your refuge. For no refuge can be so safe for you as your God, of whom it is next said.

For you are my strength and my refuge. Strength, by which I can both resist the adversary and stand firm against attack. A refuge in which I may remain secure. Strength in battle, a refuge after triumph. Strength, by which we conquer; a refuge in which I may rest. And for your name's sake, to be spread abroad and glorified, you will lead me, lest I go astray; and you will nourish me, lest I fail along the way. Or: Christ is led, when he is proclaimed everywhere through the apostles. He is nourished, however, when the little ones are refreshed with the milk of faith and the joy of miracles. O Lord our God, you are our guide, by whose Spirit we make progress on the spiritual journey; and you are the true food, by which we are spiritually nourished. You lead us by your precepts, you feed us with your sacraments. Concerning which it is further added:

You will bring me out of this snare, which they have hidden for me. By "snare" he wishes to be understood the deception which the Jews hid for Christ. Hence it is that they said to him, "Teacher, we know that you are truthful and teach the way of God in truth. Tell us therefore whether it is lawful to give tribute to Caesar or not" (Matthew 22). Behold the snare which they hid. If he had said, "It is lawful," he would have fallen into the snare. For they would have opposed him: "You act against the law, which says, You shall worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve" (Deuteronomy 26). If he had said, "It is not lawful," he would have fallen into another snare. For the Herodians would have said, "You act against the king: you are guilty of death" (Matthew 26).

Or you will lead me out of the snare, that is, from the mountain, which is for this reason called a snare: because through death they thought to hinder his name; which they hid, that is, secretly prepared, from me, whom nothing escapes, who know all secrets. In like manner God snatches his own from the snares of the devil (Heb. 4), that is, from temptations. Therefore I know that you will lead me out. For you are my protector. And he cannot be ensnared who has such a protector. And therefore it follows:

Into your hands I commend my spirit. This was fulfilled when, placed on the cross, he said, Father, into your hands I commend my spirit (Luke 23). Behold how the prophecy and the Gospel agree in the same utterance. Understand, therefore, that the same Christ who speaks in the Gospel also spoke in the psalm. He immediately adds, saying: You have redeemed me, Lord God of truth. The soul of Christ and of others was redeemed through his perfect obedience (Phil. 2). And well does he say, Lord God of truth; for he did not deceive in his promise, but faithfully fulfilled what he promised. And therefore, because you are the God of truth,

You have hated those who observe vanities in vain. Those observe vanities in vain who cling so to earthly things that they forget heavenly things. God hates such people, who hope for the false blessedness of this world. But I have not acted like those who hope in vain and who observe vanity; rather, I have hoped in the Lord, who is not vanity. Therefore I will exult in body and rejoice in spirit in your mercy, which granted me to hope in you. And rightly will I exult:

Because you have regarded my lowliness. That is, you have had mercy on my frailty and my affliction, lest I be overcome by my persecutors. By regarding my lowliness, you have saved my soul from its necessities. That is, from the bodily miseries which the soul suffers in this life because of guilt. Unless you had first humbled yourself, he who would free you from your necessities would not hear you. He was humbled who said, Wretched man that I am, who will deliver me from the body of this death? But hear the continual salvation: The grace of God, he says, through Jesus Christ. Hence follows:

Nor have you shut me in the hands of the enemy. For neither was he held by those who were guarding the tomb (Matt. 28), nor detained by malignant spirits in hell; but rather, You have set my feet in a spacious place. Because the Apostles were preaching not only in Judea, but through all the kingdoms of the world (Rom. 10), to whom it had first been commanded to preach in Judea alone (Matt. 10). Or, you have set my feet, that is, you have firmly placed my afflictions in the spacious place of love. Here he begins to enumerate the miseries of human frailty, saying,

Have mercy on me, God, for I am troubled, and he describes that very trouble when he adds, My eye is troubled in anger, my soul and my belly. That is, my understanding, my will, my memory. Although he was certain of God's promise, who had said, I will glorify (John 12): we do not say that the understanding of Christ, or his will, or his memory, was troubled in such a way that it failed in some manner; but he willed to be troubled spontaneously, so that he might leave an example to others (1 Pet. 2), lest, if they were troubled, they should therefore despair.

For my life has failed in grief. After the wrath of God had been experienced, by which it was said to the first man, You shall die the death (Gen. 2), this mortal life has had many failings of grief. And because his life could have been spent in grief for one day or two days, which would not seem great, therefore he added, And my years in groanings. For the whole span of the present life is labor and groaning for the saints (Job 7). Hence it is also added, My strength has been weakened in poverty. That is, in the consideration of my poverty, because I have nothing of myself. And my bones, that is, my firmness, or the strength of my body, Have been thrown into confusion. When Christ says that he is weak, both in body and in soul (Matt. 25), he shows that all pride is removed, and that no one ought to presume on himself. He then sets forth other miseries, saying:

Above all my enemies I have become a reproach to my neighbors exceedingly, and a terror to my acquaintances. What is meant by acquaintances but the Apostles? What by neighbors exceedingly but those who were already drawing near to faith in him? He is made a reproach and a cause of fear to them when he is suspended on the cross by the Jews. Rightly does he say that he has become a reproach above all his enemies, because he appeared more despised, who was being killed without guilt, than even the wicked themselves, who were being condemned for their own crimes. Hence it is also added: Those who saw me fled outside from me.

For the Apostles saw the Jews seize Christ, and leaving him, they all fled (Matt. 26).

I am given over to oblivion as a dead man from the heart. They forgot me, as though I were dead from their heart. I am made like a lost vessel: for I have heard the reproach of many who dwell round about. A lost and broken vessel is fit for no use. The robbers were like lost vessels, when they were handed over, now useless, to destruction. So too Christ became like a lost vessel, because he was even reckoned among the wicked. But how many reproaches he heard from those standing round about, those who read the account of his passion recognize. While they gathered together against me, they took counsel to take my life. While the wicked Jews (he says) gathered together against me, in that gathering they took counsel for nothing else but to destroy my life. What do these words teach us, if not contempt for the world and for death, if not humility and patience, and that we should have our hope in God? Hence also it is added.

But I have hoped in you. Lord, I said, you are my God; my lots are in your hands. The hope that is in God is right. In whatever else a man has hoped, his hope will be frustrated (Malachi 3). But he who hopes in God, just as God is unchangeable, so his hope cannot be changed. I said to the Lord, I purposed, I vowed, I fixed it in my mind: you are my God. For you do not deceive. You do not fail. And therefore I have hoped in him whom I chose as my God. In your hands, that is, in your power, are my lots. A lot (from Augustine, Enarr. 3) is not something evil, but a thing that, amid human uncertainty, indicates the divine will. For the Apostles also cast lots (Acts 1). God was consulted concerning two disciples, which of them he wished to be an Apostle. And the lot fell upon Matthias (Ibid.). By the name of lot in this place the grace of God is designated, because in a lot there is no election, but the will of God. For where it is said, "This one does it, this one does not," merits are considered. And where merits are considered, there is election, and not a lot. But when God finds no merits of ours, by the lot of his will he saved us, because he willed it, not because we were worthy. This is the lot. By grace you have been saved through faith (says the Apostle), and this not from yourselves (Ephesians 2). Hence it is that Peter says to Simon (Acts

Because you thought the gift of God could be purchased with money, you have no part or lot in this faith—that is, you do not belong to that grace which we all have received freely. And well does he say not “lot” but “lots,” because there are many divisions of graces (1 Cor 12), which the Lord distributes to believers. My lots are in your hands. As if he were saying openly: All my elect are in your power. And therefore:

Deliver me from the hand of my enemies, and from those who persecute me. That is, from the power of those who hate me, and of those who bring evils upon me. Let each one say this concerning his own enemies. For it is good, and we ought to pray, that God deliver us from the hands of our enemies, visible and invisible.

Among these, groaning, he says: Shine your face upon your servant. For a certain confusion is thought to exist when all are called Christians—both those who live badly and those who live well. All are marked with one character. All approach one altar (Eph 4). They are washed in the same baptism; they utter the same Lord’s prayer; they take part in celebrating the same mysteries. When will they be distinguished? When will the Lord shine his face upon his servants? At the judgment. Then the good will be separated from the evil (Mt 25). Hence it is written: Let the impious be taken away, lest he see the glory of God (Is 26). And therefore he adds: Save me in your mercy—not in my justice.

Lord, let me not be confounded, for I have called upon you. Whoever calls upon the Lord—that is, calls him to himself—with a pure heart, an undivided heart, praying devoutly, living rightly, with voice, heart, and deeds in harmony, shall not be confounded in judgment. But those shall be confounded of whom it is next said: Let the impious be put to shame, and let them be led down into hell—namely the Jews who crucified their Lord, or the gentiles who worshiped idols, or false Christians who neglected to worship the Lord. Then indeed they shall be put to shame, when they hear from the Lord, Amen I say to you, I know you not. And again, Go, you cursed, into eternal fire (Matthew 25). Then shall come to pass what is next said:

Let deceitful lips be made mute, which speak iniquity against the just man in pride and in abuse. For the Jews spoke proudly and abusively—that is, against the use of servants—against the Lord, when they cried out, He is guilty of death, and Crucify him (Matthew 26; Luke 23; Isaiah 52). Daily the wicked cry out against the good, the proud against the humble. Daily they blaspheme, bark, slander, and prattle with malicious and deceitful tongues; but then their lips shall be made mute, when the glory of the saints shall appear, and they shall see torments threatening them. The clamor of their words shall be turned into mourning. For there is weeping and gnashing of teeth (Matthew 8 and 13). And on the contrary, beholding the felicity of the saints, he praised in admiration the sweetness of the heavenly kingdom, saying:

How great is the multitude of your sweetness, O Lord, which you have hidden for those who fear you! It is admirable, it is delightful. It cannot be expressed in words. For what the eye has not seen, nor the ear heard, nor has it entered into the heart of man, you have prepared, O God, for those who love you. But you have hidden it for those who fear you. What does "you have hidden it for them" mean? You have reserved it so that only they may attain to it. For as long as they still fear, they themselves have not yet attained: but they believe that they will attain, and they begin from fear. For nothing is sweeter than the immortality of wisdom: but the beginning of wisdom is the fear of the Lord, which you have hidden for those who fear you: but you have perfected it for those who hope in you, in the sight of the sons of men. That is, you have perfected your sweetness for those who hope in you in the sight of the sons of men. As the Lord says, Whoever denies me before men, I also will deny him before my Father. Therefore if you hope in the Lord, be serious before men: lest perhaps you hide that very hope of yours in your heart, and fear to confess it, when it is cast in your teeth as a crime that you are a Christian. If you wish to walk the way of God, hope in the Lord even in the sight of men—that is, do not be ashamed of your hope. As he lives in your heart, so let him dwell in your mouth: because it was not without cause that Christ willed his sign to be fixed on our forehead, as it were in the seat of shame—lest a Christian be ashamed at the reproach of Christ.

If, therefore, you do this in the sight of men, if you are not ashamed of it before men, if in the sight of the sons of men you deny Christ neither with your mouth nor in your deeds, hope that God's sweetness will be perfected for you. But this sweetness God begins to give to the faithful in this life, yet he perfects it in the next. Concerning these it is further added: You will hide them in the hidden place of your countenance. That is, in the secret of divine contemplation. From the disturbance of men. So that no one may now be able to disturb them. But again, while they sojourn in this world (2 Cor 5), because they endure many contradicting tongues, what do you do for them? It follows and says,

You will protect them in your tabernacle. Namely, in the present Church, in which we serve as soldiers, From the contradiction of tongues. So that the tongues of heretics contradicting the truth may not be able to incorporate them into themselves. Then, for such great benefits, he bursts forth to praise and bless God, saying,

Blessed is the Lord, for he has made his mercy wonderful to me in a fortified city. Hence the Lord is to be blessed and glorified, because he showed his wonderful mercy to me—that is, for the benefit of me and of those who are mine—in a fortified city, that is, in the saints, who are called a city: because many are joined together under one divine Law, and it is fortified because of the many virtues and diverse gifts of the Holy Spirit by which they are fortified. The Lord thus made it wonderful; but I had miseries. Hence he also adds,

But I said in the excess of my mind. I am cast out from the face of your eyes. Excess is spoken of either when a man is caught up to the contemplation of divine things (as Paul says, whether we are beside ourselves in mind, for God [2 Cor. 5]), or when someone goes beyond himself from sorrow and does not remain with himself. So also this man saw himself trembling from some great tribulation, I know not which, as such things are not lacking. Attend to his fearful and trembling heart: and he said, I am cast out from the face of your eyes. If I were in your presence, I would not fear so. If you were attending to me, I would not tremble so. And because I confessed, and because I was humble, because I accused my own heart; because trembling I cried out: therefore you heard the voice of my prayer. And he adds a certain merit of being heard, when he says, When I cried out to you. That is, because I cried out. The cry to the Lord is not with the voice, but with the heart. Many, silent in their lips, cried out with their heart. Many, making noise with their mouth but with a heart turned away, were able to obtain nothing.

If therefore you cry out, cry out within, where God hears. But now let us hear what he exhorts us to:

"Love the Lord, all you his saints." As if he were saying (from Augustine, Enarr. 4), "Believe me. I have had experience; I have had tribulations: I called upon him, and I was not deceived. I hoped in God, and I was not put to shame. He enlightened my thoughts, he strengthened my trembling." Love the Lord, you who do not love the world—that is, all you his saints. "For the Lord will require the truth." Although he may permit it to be trampled upon for a time, yet he himself will require it in his own time. From whom will he require it? From those who have held it against falsehood. But he will require it from them, in order to reward them. He will require it also from those who have proudly neglected it. Of these it is added: "And he will repay"—not sparingly, but abundantly—"those who do arrogance." Who are those who do arrogance, if not those who despise the truth of God? Therefore, lest we be condemned with them, let us hear and do what is added below:

Act manfully. Do not let your hands grow slack in tribulations. And if there is weakness or weariness in the body, let there be in the heart the strength of patience to endure the evils of the world. And this is what he adds: And let your heart be strengthened. But to whom does he say this? Surely not (from Augustine, ibid.) to the lovers of the world? No. But hear to whom: All you who hope in the Lord. The words which you have heard in the psalm, brothers, write in your heart; transform them in yourselves; in them praise the Lord. And if the psalm prays, pray; and if it groans, groan; if it rejoices, rejoice; if it hopes, hope; if it fears, fear. All things which are written here are a mirror for us.

TITLE OF PSALM XXXI.

The understanding of David. This writing set forth by David begets understanding in those who read it. Namely this, that each person understand that no one can be saved except through the remission of sins. The first understanding is that you know yourself to be a sinner. The consequent understanding is that, when you have begun by faith to work well through love, you should not attribute this to your own strength but to the grace of God (Gal. 5). The subject is David the prophet, or any other faithful one, repenting in understanding: who, when he had previously been ignorant of his sins, now acknowledges them. He also sets down his confession; then the commendation of that confession. Afterwards he brings in Christ promising more good things to the penitent of this kind. The intention of that penitent is to admonish us to the understanding of this kind of confession.

And in the first part he shows that he recognizes his sins, when he says:

PSALM XXXI.

Blessed are those whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord has not imputed sin, and in whose spirit there is no guile. There are some penitents whose iniquities have been forgiven through the washing of regeneration, and they are blessed. Again, there are very many who have sinned after baptism, but have returned to confession: and through penitence and amendment their sins, which they committed, have been covered. And they nonetheless are blessed. There is another man, valiant, and therefore one because rare, supported by the virtue of the mind, who has kept himself from every criminal sin, who, when guilt arose through carnal concupiscence, strongly restrained it through the rigor of the spirit; he did not take delight in it, he did not consent. This is the blessed man to whom the Lord has not imputed sin. Hence through the same Psalmist it is said elsewhere, If they have not had dominion over me, then I shall be immaculate (Ps. 18). And the Apostle says, There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus (Rom. 8), who do not walk according to the flesh. And while this holy man does not justify himself in this, but confesses himself a sinner and accuses himself, there is no guile in his spirit. Because this penitent did not do this, he intimates what loss he suffered, when he adds:

Because I kept silent, my bones grew old, while I cried out all day long. What he says seems contradictory: I kept silent while I cried out. But he kept silent about something and cried out about something. He kept silent about confession; I cried out in presumption. As long as we keep our sin hidden, that very sin cries out to the Lord. Hence it is said to Cain by the Lord: Behold, the voice of your brother's blood cries out to me from the earth (Gen. 4). For because when questioned he had denied it, that shedding of blood itself was a cry to the Lord. Because I kept silent, he says, my bones grew old. If he had cried out his sins, his bones would have been renewed—that is, his whole strength would have been robust in the Lord, because in himself he would have been found weak. But as it is, because he wished to be strong in himself, he was made weak; and his bones grew old, and he remained in oldness who refused by confessing to love newness. What is, while I cried out all day long? While I persisted in defending my sin. And because he kept silent, he felt the avenging hand of the Lord, saying:

For day and night, that is, continually, your hand has been heavy upon me. The Lord lays his hand heavily upon the one whom he humbles as he exalts himself (Luke 18). He who refused to be humbled by confessing his lowliness was humbled by the weight of God's hand. And therefore he adds: I was turned in my affliction, that is, in the consideration of my misery. While the spine is pierced—while the conscience is pricked. Through the striking hand of the Lord he felt the weight of the scourge upon him, he felt within himself the compunction of sin. The sense of grief was given to him, and so he who had kept silent about confession found his own weakness. Whence he immediately says:

I made my offense known to you, and I did not hide my injustice. By offense can be understood the sin of thought; by injustice, the sin of deed. Or else offense is when we abandon the commandment of God, but injustice is when we perpetrate in deed the very things that God's precepts forbid. Both of these sins this penitent had previously kept silent about. Whence he also felt the avenging hand of the Lord; and thus, scourged and instructed, he came humbly to confession and amendment. And it was brought about by the loving dispensation of the Lord that what had been the punishment of sin became for him the occasion of virtue. Whence he also says: I said, I will confess my injustice against myself to the Lord: and you forgave the impiety of my sin. See how swift is God's mercy toward the sinner. He resolved that he would pronounce it, and he had already forgiven.

His voice had not yet come into his mouth, but the ear of God was already in his heart. But after he said, I will confess, not without cause he added, against myself. For many proclaim their own impiety, but against the Lord himself: when they are found in sins, they say, God willed this. For if a man says, I did not do it; or, This deed which you charge, is not a sin: he proclaims it neither against himself nor against the Lord. But if he says, I did it—it is altogether a sin, but God willed this, which I did—he proclaims it against the Lord. Many say this. They say also another thing: Fate did it to me, Chance did it to me. And so by a roundabout way they wish to come to accusing God. This penitent therefore removes such occasions in sins, lest he incline his heart to words of malice, and he confesses his own injustice to the Lord against himself. What is against himself? Accusing and rebuking himself, and not another. A swift remission follows such a confession. Therefore he says, And you have forgiven the impiety of my sin. And it is to be noted that he did not say sin, but the impiety of sin. For when we do evil, or speak, or think it, it is indeed a sin. But when we wish to hide that very thing from God, it is now not only a sin, but also the impiety of sin. From these words therefore he shows that from this—that he resolved to confess his sin—God forgave him not only what he did wickedly, but also what he had impiously hidden.

But although God forgives sins from the moment a man repents in his will, nevertheless confession must be made to the ministers of the Church, because unless they confessed, they would be condemned for their disobedience. This was shown in Lazarus, who, after he was brought to life, needed to be loosed.

For this—that is, for the impiety of sin—every holy man will pray to you. Hence he will pray to you, because you have forgiven sins. For if you did not forgive sins, he who would pray to you would not be holy. But he will pray in a timely time. Now is the timely time of praying, of confessing one's sins and of correcting them. For now is the time of grace, the time of mercy, of which the Apostle says, Behold, now is the acceptable time, behold, now is the day of salvation (2 Cor. 6). Now those who wish can draw near to God, if they punish past evils, if they correct their ways, if they live soberly and justly. Afterward there will be a time of judgment, a time of vengeance, when those who now despise drawing near will no longer draw near. This is what he adds: But yet in the flood of many waters, they will not draw near to him. Rightly is the judgment of God designated by the flood, because as formerly in the flood, so in the final judgment sinners will be condemned. But let no one suppose that when the end has suddenly come, as in the days of Noah, a place for confession remains, by which one may draw near to God. Now the Lord is not seen, and yet he is near. But then he will be seen, and he will no longer be near.

Many waves of floods will stir the hearts of the wicked, which those will not experience who now flee to the harbor of divine mercy. This is what that penitent did who said:

You are my refuge from the tribulation that has surrounded me. Great is the tribulation that surrounds us on every side, as the Apostle testifies, who says, "Without are fightings, within are fears" (2 Cor. 7). And in another psalm it is said, "Many are the tribulations of the righteous" (Ps. 33). Indeed, this whole mortal life is a tribulation for the servants of God (Job 7). But from this tribulation, by which man is surrounded in this world, he finds no refuge so safe as God himself. Let others flee to their own strength, to their fortifications, to the defenses of their sins. For me there is no refuge except you, who are also my exaltation. For I rejoice in you. And therefore, "Deliver me from those who surround me"—from enemies and vices. I hear the voice of joy, my exultation. I hear the groan—redeem me. Do you rejoice and groan? Yes, he says. I rejoice in hope, I groan still in reality. For "in hope we have been saved" (Rom. 8)—behold, whence comes joy. But hope that is seen is not hope. "But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience" (Ibid.)—behold the groaning. Therefore he says, "Deliver me.

Diapsalma. The response of God. I will give you understanding: that you may always know yourself, and always rejoice in God in hope, until you arrive at that fatherland where there will be not hope but reality. And I will instruct you: with the arms of righteousness, with knowledge, with good morals and virtues; and in this way of the virtues, along which you will walk, I will fix my eyes upon you. The Lord fixes his eyes upon us in our way when he mercifully attends to our progress along the way of the virtues. And he keeps us perseveringly on that same journey. For it would not be enough to give understanding and to form us by living well, unless he also made us to remain in these things. After this understanding and his protection, he turns to the proud who defend their sins, and shows us what understanding is.

Do not become like the horse and the mule, which have no understanding. The horse signifies the proud and the lustful; the mule, however, the slothful and the unfruitful. Such are the men of this age: they prance about in elation, they serve carnal pleasures, they produce no fruit for the soul. And while they gape only at earthly things, living bestially like the horse and the mule, they have no understanding of heavenly things. How such people are to be handled follows: and he says, With bit and bridle constrain their jaws, who do not draw near to you.

They must be restrained by the hard chains of discipline, and their boastful mouths checked by frequent blows; for they live wickedly and untamed, and while they flee, they run to death. It is no wonder if, once the bridle is applied, the lash follows. Hence it is added:

Many are the scourges of the sinner. He wished to be an untamed animal (from Augustine, ibid.): it is tamed by bridle and lash. And would that it might be thoroughly tamed. For it is to be feared that by resisting too much the God who rules over it, it may deserve to be abandoned and to go off into its own wandering license; so that it may be said of it, His iniquity shall come forth as if from fat (Ps. 72), as of those whose sins are now unpunished. Therefore when it is scourged, let it be corrected and tamed; for he too said that he had been thus tamed. He had called himself a horse and a mule, because he was silent. But by what was he tamed? By scourges, turned to hardship while the thorn was being driven in. Whether you call them scourges or goads, God tames the beast on which he sits; for it is expedient for the beast that it be ridden and tamed by the lash, so that it may obtain God's mercy. Hence it is also added: But mercy shall surround him that hopes in the Lord. Him whom tribulation first surrounds, mercy afterward surrounds; for he will give mercy who, on account of our sins, willed that we be justly afflicted. Therefore, by way of admonition, he adds:

Rejoice in the Lord, and exult, you just. Rejoice in heart, exult in body—not in yourselves, not in the world: not lovers of the world, not sinners, but the just. And glory, all you who are upright of heart. It is no great thing to glory in joys. The one upright of heart glories even in tribulation (Phil. 4). See the upright heart. "Knowing," he says, "that tribulation produces patience, patience produces proven character, and proven character produces hope. But hope does not put to shame, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us" (Rom. 5). Therefore, if we are just, if we have an upright heart, let us rejoice in heart in the Lord; let us exult in body; let us glory in tribulation.

TITLE OF PSALM XXXII.

Unto the end, a psalm of David. This psalm belongs to David the prophet. Its subject is the praise of God—whether his benefits or his power. It admonishes us to the praise of God by setting forth the reasons why we ought to praise him. And this is its intent. In the second part it shows that those are blessed who have praised God. And so it begins:

PSALM 32.

Rejoice in the Lord, you just. The unjust rejoice in the world. When the world ends, the rejoicing of the unjust ends. Since the Lord remains, the rejoicing of the just will remain. And I say well that the just should rejoice in the Lord, because praise befits the upright. But praise is not comely in the mouth of a sinner. Who are the upright (from Augustine, Enarrationes 2)? Those who direct their heart according to the will of God, and if human frailty disturbs them, divine equity consoles them. The just are those who serve through faith and good works. The upright are those who are neither puffed up in prosperity nor broken in adversity, and in both they give thanks to the same Lord. Righteousness, then, is in faith and action; uprightness is in the will. Those who are such are fit to praise God and to rejoice in him. The psalm admonishes such people when it adds:

Give praise to the Lord on the lyre; sing to him on the psaltery of ten strings. The lyre sounds from the lower part; the psaltery from the upper. We have life from this earth as from the lower part; there is earthly prosperity and earthly adversity, and in both God must be praised. What is earthly prosperity? When (from the same, ibid.) we are healthy according to the flesh, when fruits come forth abundantly, when all things by which we live abound—whoever does not praise God for these things is ungrateful. Adversities, however, are in pains, in illnesses, in pressures, in the loss of possessions, in tribulations.

Therefore confess to the Lord on the lyre, whether some earthly thing abounds for you or fails: give thanks to him who gave, or took away (Job 1); for he who gave has not been taken from you, even though what he gave has been taken from you. So pluck the strings in your heart (from the same passage), and say as on the lower lyre: The Lord gave, the Lord took away; as it pleased the Lord, so it was done (Job 1). Blessed be the name of the Lord. But now, when you consider the higher gifts of God: what commandments he has conferred on you, with what heavenly teaching he has imbued you, what he has given you from above out of that fount of truth beyond others, turn also and sing to God on the psaltery, on the psaltery of ten strings. For the commandments of the Law are ten. In the ten commandments of the Law you have the psaltery. The matter is complete: you have there love of God in three, and love of neighbor in seven. And surely you know, since the Lord says, that on these two commandments the whole Law hangs, and the Prophets (Matt 22). God says to you from above: Because the Lord your God is one God. You have one string. Do not take the name of the Lord your God in vain: you have another string. Observe the sabbath day, not carnally, not with Jewish delights, who abuse leisure for wickedness. It would be better for them to dig all day than to dance all day. But think of rest in your God, who does all things. Abstain from servile work. For everyone who commits sin is a slave (John

and would that it were the love of man, and not of sin. These three things pertain to the love of God: his unity, truth, and will, which you should consider. For there is a certain will in God, where is the true sabbath, the true rest. Hence it is said, Delight in the Lord, and he will give you the petitions of your heart (Ps. 36). For who delights as he does, who makes all things that delight? In these three is the love of God; in the other seven is the love of neighbor. Do not do to another what you do not wish to suffer (Tob. 4); honor father and mother (Luke 6), because you wish to be honored by your children. Do not commit adultery (Exod. 20), because you do not wish your wife to commit adultery after you. Do not kill, because you do not wish to be killed. Do not steal, because you do not wish to suffer theft. Do not bear false witness, because you hate one who bears false witness against you. Do not covet your neighbor's wife, because you do not wish your own to be coveted by another. Do not covet your neighbor's property, because if anyone covets what is yours, it displeases you. Turn your tongue also upon yourself, when the one who harms you displeases you. All these are the commandments of God: given by the gift of Wisdom, they sound from on high. Touch the psaltery, fulfill the law which your God did not come to destroy but to fulfill (Matt. 5). For you will fulfill by love what you could not by fear. For he who does not do evil through fear would rather do it if it were permitted. And so, even if the opportunity is not given, the will is held guilty.

Thinking these things with a right heart: Confess to the Lord on the lyre; on the psaltery of ten strings sing psalms to him.

Sing to him a new song. Put off the oldness. For a new song does not belong to old men. They do not learn it except men renewed by grace from oldness, and already belonging to the new testament, which is the kingdom of heaven. To him all our love sighs. A new man, new grace, a new life is commended to us. To act concerning these things, to praise the Lord in these things, to sing a new song in the newness of the spirit. Sing psalms to him well with a cry. He sings psalms well who lives well. But this very good life of ours ought to have a certain spiritual cry in the ears of God, so that whatever we do by living well, we do with whole affection, whole faith, whole devotion, to the praise of God, as far as we are able. And thence he adds the reason, when he says:

Because the word of the Lord is right, and all his works are in faithfulness. The Lord's word is right, because it teaches what is right, commands what is right, proclaims what is right, promises what is right. It is not twisted toward any falsehood, not toward any vanity; it does not turn aside to the right or to the left, but leads us by a straight path, by the king's highway, to the heavenly homeland. Nor is God right only in his word, but he has also shown himself faithful in his works, rendering to man what he promised. Let us hold fast to the most faithful debtor, because we hold fast to the most merciful promiser. Every gift in which we rejoice is from him (2 Tim 2). All his works are in faithfulness. They all instruct us, they all send us upward.

He loves mercy and judgment. He does not say this because he does not himself love other things, but because he himself acts rather according to these. According to mercy, when he forgives sins. According to judgment, when he repays good and evil according to the quality of their merits. The time of mercy is now; the time of judgment will be afterward. Now he calls the estranged, he forgives the converted their sins. He is patient with sinners until they are converted. The judgment is to come. There will be repentance even then, but already fruitless. Love mercy and judgment. For it is written, Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy (Matt 5). Whoever loves mercy shows mercy. But whoever shows mercy will obtain mercy.

Again, it is written concerning judgment: Can he who does not love judgment be healed (Job 34)? He loves judgment who carefully examines his own ways, and entering the secret chamber of his heart, weighs what the Lord grants to him and what he himself owes to the Lord God. Hence the same Psalmist says elsewhere: The honor of the king loves judgment (Ps 98): that is, he who already honors God by faith should carefully judge what he owes him in action. And Solomon says: The thoughts of the just are judgments (Prov 12). For each just man, by thinking within himself and fearing, considers how strictly God will one day strike, how long he patiently waits. He fears in those things which he remembers he has done. He punishes by weeping what he understands he has perpetrated. He hates himself as he recognizes he has been. And the man he now is persecutes the man he once was, and a strife arises in the soul that gives birth to peace with God. And he does this so that the judge whom he fears he may find merciful. Concerning this it is also added: The earth is full of the mercy of the Lord. What of the heavens? They do not need mercy, where there is no misery. In the earth the misery of man abounds; the mercy of God superabounds. Does it follow, then, that the heavens, because they do not need mercy, do not need the Lord? All things need the Lord, both misery and happiness. Without him the miserable man is not raised up; without him the happy man is not lifted up. Therefore, lest perhaps you should ask about the heavens, he adds:

By the word of the Lord the heavens were established, and by the spirit of his mouth all their power. They did not receive their firmness from themselves, nor did the heavens themselves provide their own firmness. Hear the one work of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. For when God the Father establishes the heavens through the Word, his Son, and strengthens them through the Spirit, it is manifestly shown that the Father, the Son, and the Spirit work as one. But here too we understand other heavens established by divine power, that is, the apostles, of whom it is written, The heavens declare the glory of God. These men almighty God made heavens out of weak human beings, instructed them by the Word, confirmed them by the Spirit, and sent them through all the earth; and he commanded that his mercy, that is, the forgiveness of sins, be preached. They were filled with the Spirit of the mouth of God to such a degree that it was said to them: For it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father who speaks in you. At that time the sea was raging, that is, the world, with the mighty waves of persecutors, which now remains confined within its own boundaries. Hence it is added:

Gathering the waters of the sea as in a wineskin. For the salt water of the sea—that is, the unbelieving and bitter people who remain among Christians—no longer dares to rage. But it gnaws with a hidden murmur; the saltiness shut within the mortal skin seethes. Hence it is said elsewhere: The sinner will see and be angry, he will gnash with his teeth and melt away (Ps. 111). For the mortal skin covers the bitter thought. For, fearing for their own skin, they hold within what they do not dare to let out. For the bitterness is the same, but those who then raged openly now do so secretly. Let us consider, then, that God does not now lack a means by which to bring forth what may correct us, when it is needful for us. Therefore it follows: Laying up the deeps in treasures. By treasures he wishes the secret of God to be understood; by the deeps, the reprobate. He knows the hearts of all. He knows what he brings forth for a time, whence he brings it forth, how much power he grants to the wicked against the good—both to judge the wicked and to instruct the good. Let what follows, then, be done:

Let all the earth fear the Lord. You do not know whence your father may bring forth what is needed to scourge you; for indeed, for your discipline he has the treasures of the abyss, by which he will train you for the treasures of heaven. Therefore return to fear, you who were already going toward security. And lest a man turn aside to fear anything else besides God, he strengthens us in the fear of God when he adds: From him let all the inhabitants of the world be moved. Let all be moved by him. Let them not fear another besides him. The serpent rages, raves, and lies in wait; man hates; the devil attacks: fear him. For every creature is under him whom you are commanded to fear. Hence he also adds:

For he himself spoke and they were made; he himself commanded and they were created. He made all things, all things follow his command. He spoke—that is, he willed—and all things were made from formless matter. But from formless matter, through his command, every creature received its own forms. He who made all things by his word and created by his command: when he commands, they are moved; when he commands, they rest. And the malice of men can have the desire to harm, but it does not have its own power unless he grants it. For there is no power except from God. Therefore he adds:

The Lord frustrates the plans of the nations—the plans of those who thought to destroy the Church and to build up idols and temples of gods. But he rejects the thoughts of the peoples, that is, of the Jews, who because of the law in which they ought to have lived were not undeservedly called a people. Their thoughts were about preserving the nation and the place. And he rejects the plans of the princes, that is, of the demons, and of kings, and of leaders, and of priests, whose plan indeed was to kill Jesus. But in this it was frustrated, because the one whom they killed they could not hold in death. For there is no wisdom, no prudence, no counsel against the Lord.

But the counsel of the Lord endures forever. From where, if not from us, whom he foreknew and predestined? Who takes away the predestination of the Son of God before the foundation of the world? He saw us, he made us, he cleansed us; he sent to us, he redeemed us. This counsel of his endures forever. The thoughts of his heart are in generation and generation—that is, his dispositions, which are for this reason called of the heart because they are ordered rationally, are extended into every generation. Hence it is also added:

Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord. Who, upon hearing this, would not lift himself up? Men love blessedness, and therefore men are perverse, because they wish to be evil, but they do not wish to be wretched. And since individual misery is the companion of malice, these perverse men not only wish to be evil and do not wish to be wretched—which cannot happen—but they wish to be evil precisely so that they may not be wretched. Someone commits theft. You ask why. Because of hunger, because of need. So, in order not to be wretched, he is evil. And therefore he is more wretched, because he is evil. Always, then, men wish to be blessed, whether they live evilly or live well. But they will not be blessed except those who have been righteous. Ask, therefore, what you have, so that you may be blessed. But it cannot happen that something worse than you makes you better. Receive, then, faithful counsel. Do you wish to be better than yourself? Seek what is better than yourself, and from that you will be made better than yourself. What you seek is in the soul. For you wish to be blessed; seek in your soul what is better. For since there are two things, soul and body, and of these two that which is called the soul is the better, your body can be made better through the better, because the body is subject to the soul. So when your soul has been righteous, your body too will afterward be immortal. Even through the illumination of the soul the body merits incorruption, so that the restoration of the lower may come about through the better.

If, then, the good of your body is your soul, since it is better than your body, when you seek your good, seek that which is better than your soul. But what is your soul? Attend: in your soul is the image of God. The mind of man received it, and by inclining itself to sin it discolored it. The Reformer himself came to it, who was formerly its Former. The very Word came, as we have heard from the Apostle: Be reformed in the newness of your mind (Rom 12). Now therefore it remains that you seek what is better than your soul. What will it be, I beseech you, except your God? You find nothing else better than your soul, because when your nature has been perfected, it will be made equal to the angels (Mt 22). Now there is nothing above it except the Creator. Raise yourself up to him. Do not say, It is too much for me (Mt 6). Perhaps it is more too much for you to have gold than to have the Lord. If you wish gold, perhaps you will not have it; when you wish God, you will have him. For even before you wished, he came to you; and when you were of an adverse will, he called you (Prov 1); and so that you might be converted, he terrified you; and when, terrified, you confessed, he consoled you. He who provides all things for you, he who made you to be, who gives to those who are with you, even to the wicked, the sun, rain, fruits, and health—he keeps something for you that he gives only to you. But what is it that he keeps for you, except himself? Cupidity sounds forth, iniquity says: Blessed is he whose is that villa, whose is that thorn-bush, whose is that field.

Restrain desire; listen to the truth. Blessed is the nation whose Lord is its God. What is this? Is not the Lord God the Lord of all things, who made and rules all things? Of all things indeed, but more especially ours, who live from him as from God our Father; let him himself be our Lord God; let him himself rule us who created us, that we may be his blessed nation, his blessed possession; and let what follows pertain to us: Blessed is the people whom he chose as his inheritance for himself. But he commends his mercy, by which he looked upon this blessed nation, when he adds:

The Lord looked down from heaven, he saw all the sons of men. He first said that the nation is blessed whose possession and inheritance the Lord God is. And to show that the same Lord is likewise its possession and inheritance, he added, The people whom he chose as his inheritance for himself. And so in a wondrous and delightful way each both possesses and is possessed by the other, as heir and inheritance, possessor and possession. Now he says that the same Lord from heaven, as from a lofty place—whether from the height of his divinity or from the loftiness of his mercy—saw all the sons of men placed below and very far removed from himself. He saw, I say, and mercifully attended. He saw, because he had mercy on them. Hence we often, when asking for mercy, say to a man, Look upon me. There is, then, a certain seeing of the merciful heart, not the seeing of one who punishes.

In this way the Lord deigned to look upon all the sons of men who belong to the Son of Man.

Concerning His prepared dwelling place. Which He prepared for Himself: that is, concerning the Apostles, concerning the preachers of the truth, concerning the angels whom He sent to us. He has looked upon all who dwell on the earth. As strangers in a strange place, whence elsewhere the blessed inheritance groans and says: Woe is me, that my sojourning has been prolonged; I have dwelt with the inhabitants of Cedar; my soul has sojourned long (Ps. 119).

He who formed their hearts one by one. Because to one is given the word of wisdom, to another the word of knowledge, to another kinds of tongues, to others other and diverse gifts of graces, which the one and same Spirit works in them (1 Cor. 12). Who understands all their works. That is, He sees more secretly and inwardly. He has said this more expressively than if He had said, He sees all their works. For God not only sees all the works that we do, but also understands and subtly attends to with what will, with what intention we do them. Two men give to the poor (from Aug., Enarr. 3): one seeks a heavenly reward for himself, the other human praise. You see one thing in the two; God understands two. And as He understands, so He judges and discerns. Whence it sometimes happens that in one and the same work He condemns one and rewards another.

And because he had said above, Blessed is the people whom he chose for his inheritance, lest he seem to have chosen the rich and powerful and not the poor, he therefore adds:

The king is not saved by much strength, and the giant shall not be saved in the multitude of his strength. The kings of the earth, the proud giants, and the powerful who trust in themselves and in their own strength shall not be saved. Who is more powerful than a king? Who is stronger than a giant? Since, then, these are not saved by their own power and strength, let no one seek salvation except through the mercy of God.

The horse is deceitful for salvation; but in the abundance of his strength he shall not be saved. The horse, that is, human prosperity, which lifts a man up as a horse does its rider, is deceitful for salvation: it seems indeed to promise it, but it cannot give it. When in any honor you walk proudly, the higher you go, the more you falsely believe yourself not only loftier but also safer. For do you not know how it may cast you down? The more sublimely you were borne, the more grievously you are dashed. Nor do I say that only the small prosperity of this world is deceitful: but even however great it can be, it is deceitful. And this is what he says: In the abundance of his strength, that is, in the abundant strength of goods and riches, no man shall be saved. From where, then, shall I be saved? Do not seek long. Do not seek far.

Behold, the eyes of the Lord are upon those who fear him. Behold—that is, salvation is plainly set forth. He did not say, the eyes of the Lord are upon kings, upon nobles, upon the rich, but upon those who fear him. For God does not show partiality to a person (Matthew 22; Acts 10); he does not regard riches or honors, but mercifully looks only upon those who fear him and hope in him. And therefore he adds, And upon those who hope in his mercy. You understand, the eyes of the Lord are there. For what purpose?

That he may rescue their souls from eternal death. For God promises us eternal life (from the same, ibid.), and yet he does not abandon us in this pilgrimage. For it continues: And that he may nourish them in famine. The time of famine is now; the time of plenty will come afterward. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied (Matthew 4). In the meantime the Lord nourishes us in this desert by his sacraments, his word, and his grace, lest we faint on the way. But then there will be full refreshment, when that is fulfilled which is said elsewhere: I shall be satisfied when your glory appears (Psalm 16). What in the meantime ought we to do and profess? It follows, and he says:

Our soul has waited for the Lord. As long as there is famine, as long as there is pilgrimage, our soul will be patient in the Lord. To such as these the Lord will say, You are those who have remained with me in temptations (Luke 22). Against this it is written: Woe to those who have lost endurance (Eccles. 2). And how are you thought to wait for the Lord (Phil. 3), O holy soul? It follows, and it says: Because he is our helper and protector. He helps in battle, he protects from the heat. He helps in good times, he protects in adversity. With what reward had you borne it?

Because our heart shall rejoice in him: and in his holy name we have hoped. For it is not in ourselves, where without him there is great want, but in him that our heart shall rejoice. And therefore we shall so hope for those who are to come to him, because while we were absent he sent his name to us through faith. Hope here, that you may rejoice there. Hunger and thirst here, that you may feast there. He has set before us what we should love, in whom and of whom alone we should presume. He has filled us with the joy of hope (Rom. 15).

After these things a brief and wholesome prayer is made: Let your mercy, O Lord, be upon us, as we have hoped in you. For already we have placed our hope in you; already we venerate your holy name, in which we hope, and we call upon it over us. Therefore, just as we have hoped in you, so may we feel your mercy upon us.

THE TITLE OF THE THIRTY-THIRD PSALM.

A psalm of David, when he changed his countenance before Achimelech, and he sent him away, and he departed. In this way he changed it. For he played the drum, he feigned madness, he struck himself with his own hands, and his saliva ran down over his beard, and he did this at the gate of the city of David, because the Allophylists were seeking to destroy him. Achis, seeing these things, who was the king of Geth, said, Why have you brought this madman in to me? David played the drum—that is, Christ was dying on the cross; he feigned madness, when in his merciful affection he humbled himself; he carried himself with his own hands, when he said, This is my body. And his saliva ran down over his beard—that is, his words, when he said, Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man, and the rest. Were these things seen as childish by them? Who are Achis (which is interpreted, How is it? or, What is this?) but the bearded—that is, men, manly things.

The true David, in the presence of Achimelech—that is, in the presence of his father's kingdom, that is, among the people of the Jews—changed his countenance, that is, the manner of the former sacrifice (that is, according to Aaron), and departed from it and went to the Gentiles, where he established the priesthood according to the order of Melchizedek. The subject matter is the change of the priesthood according to the order of Melchizedek, which is noted where he says, Magnify the Lord with me. The commendation is where he says, For the Lord is sweet. The prophet admonishes in this psalm that each one fear God, since there is no want to those who fear him; stirring up all good people to filial fear, when he says: Come, children, hear me. And doing this, he intends to beget love in them, where he says: The Lord keeps all their bones; not one of them shall be broken; deterring them from sinning, by saying that the death of sinners is the worst.

PSALM XXXIII

I will bless the Lord at all times; his praise shall always be in my mouth. Christ said this; let the Christian say it too, because he is in the body of Christ. At all times, he says, that is, in prosperity and adversity, I will bless and praise the Lord. When prosperity follows, the good and the wicked alike praise and bless God. If adversity comes, the wicked indeed murmur, but the good bless. Hence it is that blessed Job, having lost his possessions and been bereaved of his children, said, The Lord gave, the Lord took away; blessed be the name of the Lord (Job 1). But because there are some who wish to be praised for their own good, he guards against this fault when he adds:

In the Lord my soul shall be praised. It shall not be praised in itself, not in the wisdom of the world, not in loftiness of words (1 Cor 2), but in the Lord, from whom it received both virtue and power. And because holy men desire to share their good things with others, he immediately adds: Let the meek hear and rejoice. Well does he not say the irascible, but the meek. For when the unmeek hear, they do not rejoice but are angry. And these are they (according to Augustine, Enar. 2) who say, "We would not have made ourselves asses; the Lord wants to have gentle beasts of burden." For the horse and the mule, of which we spoke a little before, sometimes require the neck and by their ferocity throw off their rider. They are tamed by bridles, by the bit, by the whip, until they learn to carry their master. But you, before your mouth is bruised by the bridle, be meek and carry the Lord. Do not let yourself be praised, but let him be praised who sits upon you. But now let us hear what he admonishes us.

Magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt his name together. Whoever is in the body of Christ ought to strive for this: that when he magnifies the Lord, he draws others with him to magnify God. We magnify the Lord when we proclaim him great, wonderful, and ineffable; to exalt his name is to make known, through all the nations, as far as we are able, that he is high and eternal. But what is "together"? In unity, in concord—as the first preachers did, who had one heart and one soul. Then he tells of his good things, and whence they came to him, when he adds:

I sought the Lord, and he heard me, and delivered me from all my troubles. Beyond all things, setting aside temporal things, or with my whole heart and all my strength, I sought God, and he heard me, so that I might find him. But those who seek the Lord are in many ways troubled in this world. For all who wish to live piously in Christ suffer persecution. Yet this is our consolation, that afterward they are rescued from all tribulations. When? When death is swallowed up in victory, and this mortal thing has put on immortality. Then this lover, who does not wish to embrace alone what he loves, exhorts us and says:

Draw near to him, and be enlightened, and your faces shall not be confounded. We draw near to God by our endeavors and spiritual exercises: by reading, meditating, praying, loving. We are enlightened through understanding, through grace, through teaching, through life. And those who have been enlightened are not confounded, that is, they are not ashamed of their sins; or they are not ashamed of the reproaches and insults heaped upon them. Hence Paul is not ashamed of the gospel (Rom 1). Hence the Apostles are not confounded but rather glory, because they were counted worthy to suffer insult for the name of Jesus (Acts 1). But he sets before us as an example that poor man, when he adds:

This poor man cried out, and the Lord heard him: and from all his tribulations he saved him. Who is this? Noteworthy, lovable, imitable, and perhaps it is Christ himself: who, though he was rich above all, became so poor for our sake (2 Cor 8). He cried out in the form of a servant (Phil 2), and the Lord Father heard him. This poor man became obedient even to death on a cross (Ibid.). For this reason God exalted him, and gave him the name that is above every name (Ibid.). Behold how the Lord heard him: but he is delivered from all tribulations, because Christ, rising from the dead, dies no more; death shall no longer have dominion over him (Rom 6). Through this poor man the way is shown to you by which you may return to the fatherland. He became poor so that you may not fear, but rather love, poverty.

He suffered, so that you too may suffer. He cried out, so that you too may cry out. He was delivered, so that you too may hope to be delivered. And he holds out great security to you when he adds: The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him, and he will deliver them. Only fear God, and be secure. For that poor man, who is called the angel of great counsel (Isa. 9), encamps around those who fear him, guarding and defending them on every side, so that the enemy may not be able to break in at any point.

But he wishes to speak openly of that sacrament itself, by which he is handled in his own hands, when he adds: Taste and see that the Lord is sweet. He shows you that sound madness and sober drunkenness of that David, who in a figure was showing I know not what, when those wretched men said before king Achis. How is it (Ps. 110)? Thus the Lord said: Unless one eats my flesh and drinks my blood, he will not have life in himself (John 6). And those in whom Achis reigned (1 Kings 21), that is, error and ignorance, said: How can this man give us his flesh to eat (John 6)? If you do not know, taste; and see how sweet the Lord is. He tastes who loves; he sees who understands. But if he does not understand, Achis is king; David has changed his face and has withdrawn from you, and has sent you away, and has gone. And therefore, Blessed is the man who hopes in him. Not in man, not in the world, not in himself, but in God.

But on the other hand, the one who does not hope in God is wretched. And lest, after they had tasted, they should feel secure, he immediately adds:

Fear the Lord, all you his saints. To fear God is to humble oneself before him, and by fearing to beware lest in what we do—whether in thought, or in word, or in deed—we offend him. Those who do this are saints. And as if someone should ask, What does it profit to fear the Lord? there follows: For there is no want to those who fear him. And he proves this when he adds:

The rich have lacked and hungered; but those who seek the Lord shall not be diminished in any good. It might seem to you rather that those should hunger who, despising the world, have been made poor and would seek the Lord; but that those should not be diminished in goods who abound in earthly riches. But do not regard men according to their resources, but according to the virtues of their souls. These lovers of the world, who appear rich outwardly, suffer no small want within their mind. But those who seek God within themselves, and desire nothing outside God, are not diminished in any good—indeed they are filled with the highest good, which is God. They are filled with faith, hope, and love. They are filled with holy conduct and virtues, which are the true riches that drive poverty from the soul. And therefore he admonishes us, saying:

Come, children, hear me; I will teach you the fear of the Lord. It builds us up greatly that he says, Come, as if he were saying: You who are at leisure, or who are intent on earthly vanities, who labor and are burdened, leave behind those things that hinder you and come to me. But hear with the ears of the heart. Obey as sons; with a father's affection I will teach you the fear of the Lord. And fittingly he says, the fear. For it is itself the first step of spiritual teaching and heavenly wisdom, as it is written: The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Whoever comes to the service of God ought to have this as his first pursuit, that he learn how he ought to fear God. But first we must note with what great skill the holy man employs this art of teaching. For first he strives to win the goodwill of his hearers. And he sets before them what delights them more to hear, saying:

Who is the man who wishes life? I do not speak of life after misery, but who is he who loves to see good days? Therefore he holds out what all desire, so that he may thus kindle them to do the things he commands. If you wish life, wish for eternal life. If you love good days, love eternal ones. This is true life: to live in God. Always there are evil days in the world; always good days in God. Therefore, if you wish life and good days, hear and do.

Restrain your tongue from evil. Do not speak evil openly. And let your lips not speak deceit. So that you may bring forth good words with your mouth, and hide evil in your heart—as those do who speak peace with their neighbor, but evils are in their hearts. He commands the tongue, before the other members, to be restrained from sin, because this is the more untamable member in the whole body, of which it is written, In the hands of the tongue are life and death (Prov. 18). Of which also the Apostle says, The tongue is a restless evil, full of deadly poison (James 3). Therefore, because it kills the soul if it is not bridled, because we slip more frequently in the tongue, deservedly the holy man commands the tongue first to be held back, which he saw to prevail greatly in the body for sinning. Then he adds universally:

Decline from evil. And because this is not sufficient, he immediately adds: And do good. Again, because these two could not suffice for perfect righteousness, he at once added: Seek peace and pursue it. To leave evil is for beginners. To do good is for the advancing. In these two precepts righteousness consists. But the end of perfect righteousness is to be so peaceable within oneself that the flesh agrees with the soul, and the soul with God, so that it can no longer be moved from this quiet by any adversity. Or by the name of peace we can understand the Lord Christ, who is true peace, who made both one (Eph. 2).

We ought to seek him with our whole heart and whole affection, whom assuredly we follow if we imitate him by living perfectly. But he commends God's mercy upon us when he adds:

The eyes of the Lord are upon the just. That is, the gaze of divine mercy is upon those who live justly. And if they ask for anything: His ears, that is, his clemency and power, are ready to hear their prayers. He sees those who work and labor. He hears those who groan and pray. So then live in such a way that you may be worthy to appear before the eyes of God. Pray in such a way that your prayers may reach all the way to his ears. But perhaps some wicked person will say: I sin securely, because God does not see me. Hear what follows.

But the face of the Lord is upon those who do evil: for what purpose? To destroy their memory from the earth. By the face understand the terror of God's severity. For to the good he is gentle and favorable, but to the wicked he is terrible and strict. And just as the just will be in eternal memory (Ps. 111), so the wicked will be taken away from eternal memory. Then their memory will be destroyed, when none of the saints will be moved over them with any pious affection. Hence Abraham said: A great chasm has been fixed between us and you (Luke 16). But he proves what the ears of the Lord are for the prayers of the just, when he adds:

The righteous cried out, and the Lord heard them, and he delivered them from all their tribulations. The three young men cried out in the furnace (Daniel 3). Daniel cried out in the pit (Daniel 4). The children of Israel cried out in captivity (Exodus 3). Christ cried out on the cross (Hebrews 5). The apostles cried out in persecution, the martyrs in death, the confessors and virgins in faith. How many, then, cried out and were heard by the Lord, whether in body or in spirit, and were delivered from all their tribulations. Strengthened, therefore, by the examples of so many saints, let us cry out to the Lord with all humility and contrition of heart, that we too may be heard and delivered from tribulation. For it follows:

The Lord is near to those who are troubled in heart, and he will save the humble in spirit. The hearts of the saints are troubled in this world in four ways: either by the grief of penitence, or by the anxiety of the present life, or by longing for the heavenly homeland, or by fear of future punishment. It is ours, then, to crush the heart; it is the Lord's, through his mercy and grace, to draw near to the crushed heart, that he may enlighten, strengthen, and confirm it. Hence, where the heart is crushed, humility is born. For virtue proceeds from the work. From contrition of heart we feel the divine presence. From humility of spirit we already attain salvation itself. Where the work is, there is grace; where virtue is, there is already health. A great mystery. God is above all things.

You lift yourself up, and you do not touch him; you humble yourself, and he himself descends to you. But it is the proper mark of the righteous to be afflicted in this world. Hence it is also added:

Many are the tribulations of the righteous. But in these, consolation follows, when he immediately adds: And out of all these the Lord will deliver them. Let Christians not therefore be righteous, let them not therefore hear the word of God, in order to suppose that they will not be afflicted by tribulations. God did not promise this. Rather, if they are unrighteous, they have fewer tribulations; if righteous, many. But after few or no tribulations, those others come to everlasting tribulation, from which they are never rescued. But these, after many tribulations, will come to everlasting peace, where they will never suffer anything evil. But in the meantime

The Lord keeps all their bones: not one of them will be crushed. The bones are the firm foundations of the faithful. And just as the flesh is sustained by bones, so the soul is sustained by virtues. The Lord therefore keeps all their bones, so that not one of them is crushed: because he so preserves the virtues of his saints that none of them fails in temptation. And well does he not say, Not one of them will be broken, but he says, will not be crushed: because the virtue of the saints is sometimes indeed broken in temptation, but is not crushed, that is, does not perish entirely: because it remains whole in intention. And from the very point where, when tempted, they fall for a moment, from there, once aroused, they rise again more strongly to virtue. But let us hear what he adds concerning the reprobate:

The death of sinners is the worst. But since there are many kinds of sins, and it is difficult, or perhaps impossible, not to be a sinner in this life, he immediately added of what kind of sins the death is the worst: And those who hate the just man shall be condemned. Whom do we mean by the just man, if not him who justifies the wicked? Whom by the just man (from the same source, in the same place), if not our Lord Jesus Christ, who is also the propitiation for our sins (Rom. 4)? Those, therefore, who hate him have the worst death, because they die in their sins (John 8), since they are not reconciled to God through him. The death, whether the worst or the best, is to be understood according to the soul, not according to the body, for condemned sinners.

Again he speaks of the just: The Lord will redeem the souls of his servants. For all were servants of sin. The blood of Christ was poured out, and at so great a price they were redeemed. Consider, then, who redeemed you, and from whom, or at what price, he saved you in redeeming you. God your Creator himself redeemed you; he himself poured out his blood for you. He saved you from the devil himself and from sin. Having therefore become the servant of so great a Lord, strive to serve him in holiness and righteousness (Luke 1). But a great question arises when it is added: And all who hope in him shall not be condemned. For what does the Apostle say? If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves (1 John 1). And again: We all offend in many things (James 3).

But Paul solves this question for us, where he says: But if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me (Rom. 7). If therefore those who hope in God sin through the concupiscence of the flesh (Gal. 5), it is no longer they themselves who do it, but sin that dwells in them. For in that they hope in God, they are no longer in the flesh but in the spirit (1 John 2). But if the flesh lusts (Rom. 7), those who are in the spirit do not consent, and therefore they do not sin.

THE TITLE OF THE THIRTY-FOURTH PSALM.

The title of the following Psalm is, A Psalm to this David. This Psalm is attributed to David, that is, to Christ, who speaks here. What he says, To this, can be taken either for distinction or for excellence: to this one, that is, to the notable one, not a carnal king, but the King of kings, the Lord. David is interpreted as strong of hand, or desirable. For in this he is strong of hand, because he conquered our death. In this he is desirable, because he promised eternal life. For what is stronger than this hand, which touched the coffin and the dead man rose again? What is stronger than this hand, which conquered the world, not armed with iron but pierced with wood? And what is more desirable than he whom the martyrs, not seeing, wished to die, so that they might merit to come to him? Therefore let our heart sing a psalm to him, to him, and let our tongue sing what is worthy of him. He intends to admonish us to endure suffering, that we may bear adversities if we wish to have glorious rewards.

The subject matter is the passion and the resurrection. He treats it as follows: in the first part he sets down a prayer; in the second he recounts the passion together with the exultation of the resurrection; in the third part, what that passion and resurrection accomplish, saying:

PSALM XXXIV.

Judge, O Lord, those who harm me; fight against those who attack me. Those who harm and attack us are our visible and invisible enemies (Col. 1). Judge, he says, and fight against. As if he were plainly saying: discern and destroy. How?

Take hold of arms and shield, and rise up to help me. It is a great spectacle (from Augustine, ibid.) to see God armed on your behalf. But his arms, with which he strikes the enemies, if we have advanced well, will be we ourselves. For just as we have it from him that we are armed, so he himself is armed from us. The shield is his good will; as it is said elsewhere, O Lord, you have crowned us with the shield of your good will. Or the shield is our faith, by which we are protected so as not to be struck by the enemy's fiery darts. But what are we, now the arms of God—however splendid, however sharp, however gleaming with the light of wisdom—what can we do unless God takes hold of us and fights on our behalf? However excellent the arms, they lie idle if they have no warrior. Let God therefore take hold of us; and when we are in his hand, let him use us as he wills. Rise up, he says, to help me, that is, become known, appear, be felt, help us to fight.

Pour out the spear, and shut the way against those who persecute me. It is as if he said: Multiply vengeance, and let the approach be closed to those who wish to destroy my name. Or by the spear he designates any faithful soul. Let the righteous abound, and the spear is poured out. But it is closed against him who has nothing crooked to say against the saints. And because it is their voice, there is no salvation for him in his God (Ps. 3): Say to my soul, I am your salvation. Say it, and it will be done. I will seek no other salvation besides my God. And if a man comes to my aid, if an angel, if any other creature, through that creature God comes to my aid. For all things are subject to him, and therefore it is not they, but he, who is my salvation. Then he begins to pray for his enemies; but here it is prophecy. And the things that are said in the figure of wishing are explained with a prophetic mind. Let that be done, and let that be done, is nothing other than this: and it will come to pass. So then hear the prophecy:

Let them be confounded and reverenced who seek my soul. It is as if he said: They will be confounded and reverenced, for it has been done. Many have been confounded to their salvation, many have reverenced and, turning away from the persecution of Christ, have passed over to the fellowship of his members with devoted piety; and this would not happen unless they were confounded and reverenced. Let them be turned backward and confounded who think evil against me. Let them not go before, but follow. Let them not give counsel, but receive it. For Peter wished to go before the Lord, when he said: Far be it from you, Lord; be favorable to yourself; let this not happen. But what does the Lord say? Go back behind me, Satan. By going before, you are Satan; by following, you will be a disciple. So also with these. Let them be turned backward and confounded for their sins; let them blush unto repentance; and when they have begun to follow behind, they will no longer think evil against me, but will desire good things. He wished these things well for them. But because there are two kinds of those who are confounded—for either they are confounded for this, that they may be converted to Christ, or they are confounded for this, that they may be condemned by Christ—what he said concerning the converted, he adds concerning the reprobate:

Let them become like dust before the face of the wind, and the angel of the Lord driving them on. The wind is temptation, the dust is the wicked. When temptation comes, the dust is swept away, and it neither stands nor resists. Such people the angel drives on when the invisible enemy brings them under his power; concerning whom he further adds:

Let their way become darkness and slippery ground, and let the angel of the Lord pursue them. Who would not shudder at a dark path, who would not beware of a slippery path? In darkness and on slippery ground, where do you plant your foot? These are two evils of great punishment for the human race, which proceed from the temptation of the angel driving them on. By the way, action is signified. By darkness, blindness of heart. By slippery ground, the downfall of works. When the reprobate, tempted and confounded, are driven on by the evil angel, the first thing is that they are darkened by the blindness of the mind, and then they slip away onto the slippery ground of evils. Nor can they now be converted, because the tempting angel pursues them, so that he may drive them from evil to worse, until they fall into the pit of iniquity and are plunged into the depth of despair and death. But from where do such great evils come? By what merit? He continues and says:

For without cause they have hidden their snare for my destruction. That is, they have prepared hidden deceits for my destruction. And this without cause, because I have done no evil, nor have I harmed them. In vain they have reproached my soul. For they have spoken many insults against the Lord. But this in vain: because they speak falsely and prove nothing. But how did they hide a snare for him, who saw the hearts of those who hid it? But he was so among them like one who did not know, as though he were being deceived, while they were deceived in him, in the very thing in which they thought he was being deceived. But this was done as an example of our patience, for whom it was necessary that we live among the wicked: and that we tolerate the wicked, whether knowing or not knowing. But what happened to this people of the reprobate? It follows and says:

Let the snare come upon him which he does not know. Magnificent retribution, nothing more just. They hid a snare, and from that very thing they are deceived, not knowing it, from which they wished to deceive. From that very thing harm is done to them, from which they attempted to do harm. For it follows: And let the capture which he hid apprehend him. As if someone should prepare a cup of poison for someone, and forgetful drink it. And as if he should dig a pit, so that his enemy might fall into it: and he, forgetful of what he had dug, walking along that path, falls into it first. So everyone who harms another harms himself before another: rightly therefore it is added, And let him fall into the snare itself. Not into another, but into itself.

For from the very source where he desires to deceive another, he first deceives himself. And it can happen that his malice does no harm to another; but it cannot happen that it does no harm to himself. But as for me, what?

My soul shall be exalted in the Lord. As if in him from whom it heard, I am your salvation: as if not seeking other riches from outside. As if not seeking to overflow with pleasures and earthly goods: but truly loving freely. Not wishing to receive from him what delights, but proposing him alone to itself, in whom it may delight. For what is better than God? And he shall delight in his salvation, that is, in his own, through whom we have been saved (Luke 2): through whom we have access to God (Eph. 2), so that exulting in him, we may believe with the heart unto righteousness, and confess with the mouth unto salvation (Rom. 10). Hence it is also added:

All my bones shall say, Lord, who is like you? Bones in the body of the Lord are said to be all the righteous, firm, strong in heart, yielding to no persecutions and temptations so as to consent to evil. And how can they yield to no temptations, except when they believe God to be almighty, inestimable, able to deliver them from every tribulation? Hence they also say, Lord, who is like you? Delivering the needy from the hand of the stronger: the destitute and the poor from those who plunder him. For the devil was stronger to hold you, because he conquered you and plundered you, to whom you consented. But what did the strong hand do?

He bound the strong man, by pouring out the spear and to shut him in: and from his hand, that is, from his power, he plucked out the helpless, the poor in spirit, the needy one who had no helper. For who is your helper, except that one to whom you say, The Lord is my helper and my redeemer? If you wish to presume on your own strength, you will fall from the very source of your presumption; if on another's, he wishes to dominate, not to help. Therefore that one must be sought, who both redeemed and sets free. But let us hear what he adds in his own person:

Unjust witnesses rising up asked me things I did not know. Unjust witnesses rose up, when with an unjust mind they spoke false testimony against him. But what is it that he did not know, who saw the hearts and deceits of the unjust? He did not know sin, not as though by not judging, but by not committing it. There are sayings of this kind even in daily speech. When you say of someone, He does not know how to do evil, because he does not do evil. What is foreign to the deed is foreign to the conscience. What is foreign to the conscience is foreign to the knowledge: and it is said, He did not know. Christ did not know how to blaspheme, and on this account he was questioned by the persecutors: concerning whom it follows.

They repaid me evil for good: the barrenness of my soul. I brought fruitfulness; they repaid barrenness. I brought life; they brought death. I brought honor; they brought insults. I brought medicine; they brought wounds. And in all these things which they repaid, it was certainly barrenness.

But when they were troublesome to me, I was clothed in sackcloth. We do not find according to the letter that the Lord Jesus wore sackcloth. It must therefore be understood that the Lord called sackcloth, by way of similitude, the mortality of his flesh. Why sackcloth? Because of the likeness of the flesh of sin. For the Apostle says, God sent his Son in the likeness of the flesh of sin, so that by sin he might condemn sin in the flesh (Rom. 8): that is, he clothed his Son in sackcloth, so that from the sackcloth he might condemn the kids; not because there was sin in the Lord, but the likeness of the flesh of sin: because death comes only from sin, and that flesh was certainly mortal. When therefore they were troublesome to him, he was clothed in sackcloth, that is, he was hidden in the flesh. He did not avenge himself, he did not show himself. Hence the Apostle admonishes us, saying, Do not defend yourselves, beloved: but give place to wrath (Rom. 12). Therefore he adds, I humbled my soul in fasting. We do not read according to the letter that the Lord fasted in his passion: but spiritually Christ hungers for our good works. And because he found nothing good in those who were crucifying him, therefore he was fasting.

For they repaid the barrenness of his soul. For what kind of fasting was his, who scarcely found one thief to taste on the cross? And the Apostles fled from him (Luke 23; Matthew 26). But there is no greater or better business in tribulation than to withdraw from that noise which is outside, and to go into the inner secrets of the mind, and there to pray to the Lord, lest we be overcome in temptation. Then also that those who persecute us may be converted to the health of righteousness. Therefore it is added:

And my prayer shall be turned back into my bosom. By the sign we recognize the secret. In the secret of the heart we ought to pray, where God sees, where God hears. Whence it is said in the Gospel, But you, when you pray, enter into your chamber, and the rest (Matthew 6). And in this we are well admonished. But in Christ the Lord we ought to understand something more. I understand that he had the Father in his bosom. For God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself (1 Corinthians 5). In himself, therefore, he had him whom he might entreat, because he himself had said, I am in the Father, and the Father is in me (John 10 and 14). With what affection, moreover, he loved those for whom he prayed (John 17), he shows when he adds:

As though a neighbor, as though our brother, so I was well-pleasing: as one mourning and sorrowful, so I humbled myself. Some say these things because one case is put for another: as if he were saying, "as concerning a neighbor and a brother." Therefore Christ was well-pleasing to God the Father concerning his persecutors, as concerning his brothers and neighbors: for he loved them as his neighbors and brothers (John 15). And no one has greater love than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends (Ibid.). And because they were unwilling to submit to him, he humbled himself as one mourning in body and sorrowful in soul. By the Lord's example, therefore, we are admonished not only to love those whom we tolerate, but also, being sorrowful over their wicked deeds, to weep for them. I thus humbled myself for them; but what of them? It follows and says:

And they rejoiced against me. Concerning those things which were adverse and contrary to me. And they came together into one counsel and the same will, that they might betray and seize me by deceit (Matthew 26). Gathered together, that is, multiplied and united, are the scourges upon me, and I knew it not. For I did not know a fault in myself for which I ought to have been scourged. They were scattered and not compunct. For according to the inner man they were destroyed and divided from the bond of charity. Or they were scattered when they saw the earthquake and the signs (Matthew 28). They were not compunct unto repentance in this. Hence he designates the great hardness and wickedness of their heart.

They tested me. For they said, "If he is the Son of God, let him now come down from the cross, and we will believe him" (Matt. 28). They mocked me with mockery. Because after he said "They mocked," he also added "with mockery," he clearly implies that that mocking was not from a hasty word, but from zeal and from deliberate intent of mind. They gnashed on me with their teeth with bestial ferocity, that is, with their biting. From these words, therefore, he shows us how great a humility, how great a charity, how great a patience our pious Redeemer had toward such wicked, such perverse, such treacherous men. For in this matter we must know that this was the cause for which our head suffered: namely, that he might give an example of patience to his body (1 Pet. 2). For the Lord suffered willingly, not by necessity. His voluntary passion is our necessary consolation: so that when perhaps we suffer such things, we may look upon our head, and, admonished by his example, learn that we too suffer with him. For if we suffer with him, we shall be glorified together (Rom. 8). They themselves acted thus against me; but you,

Lord, when will you look upon me? When will you mercifully attend to me and make it so that you rescue me from their power? Restore my soul from their malice, my only one from the lions. As if to say: my soul, which is unique, is free from sin. For no other soul is without sin. This soul, I say, snatched from the malignant people and freed from the lions—that is, from the princes and priests—restore from suffering, so that you may make it returned to the body, immortal and incorruptible together with the body itself. What will you do, O holy soul, after you have risen?

I will confess to you in the great church; in the grave people I will praise you. Confession is indeed made in every multitude, but God is not praised in all. For in that great Church spread throughout the whole circle of the earth, there is chaff and there is grain. The chaff flies away, the grain remains (Matt. 3). Therefore in the grave people, whom the wind of temptation does not carry away, God is praised in these. For in the chaff he is always blasphemed. And therefore I will praise you:

Let those who oppose me unjustly not rejoice over me, who hate me without cause and signal with their eyes. They would indeed have rejoiced if Christ had not risen; but because he has risen, their joy has been turned into mourning. He says well, "because they opposed him unjustly"—that is, not from love but from hatred, not with zeal to correct but with the will to harm. "They hated me without cause," that is, without fault, without merit. Those who signal with their eyes are the hypocrites, the pretenders, who declare with their face what they do not carry in their heart. Of these he immediately adds:

"Because they spoke peaceably to me." For they said, "Good teacher, we know that you are truthful and do not regard the person of a man." These and similar peaceable words are spoken under the guise of flattery. And speaking terrors in anger, they plotted deceit. In anger they spoke, fearing that they would lose the land and the nation. But for this reason, with a wrathful mind, they spoke such things, so that they might seize Jesus by deceit and kill him. Such was their thought.

And they opened their mouth wide against me—openly blaspheming. And they cried out, "Crucify, crucify." They said, "Euge, euge"—that is, "Well done, well done" (Matt. 26–27)—a mocking insult. Our eyes have seen. We have seen what sort he was, and at last we have recognized him: Where are the powers he used to perform? Why does he who saved others not save himself? But the Lord was patient. On the cross he had not lost his power, but was demonstrating his patience. For what great thing would it have been for him to come down from the cross, who was able afterward to rise from the tomb? But he would have seemed to yield to those mocking him. And this had to be, so that by rising he might show himself to his own and not to them, because his resurrection signified a new life; and a new life is known to friends, not to enemies.

You have seen, Lord, their insults and reproaches. You have known their wickedness and my innocence. And therefore, Do not be silent. But bring forth judgment. You who are not silent in command, do not be silent in judgment. Lord, do not depart from me. Although he is secure that God will not depart from him (for there is one person in two natures, Man and the Word), yet, because he knows that he has nothing of himself from his humanity, he prays so as to give others an example of praying, who ought to attribute nothing at all to their own humanity. I say, do not depart, but rather,

Arise, helping me: and attend to my judgment. That is, consider what sort of judgment has been made concerning me. And lest it be thought that judgment ought to be attended to according to the penalty, therefore he adds: My God, and my Lord, into my cause. As if he were saying, You who are my creator and my redeemer, attend not to the penalty, but to my cause. Not in that which the thief has in common with me, but in that which belongs to the blessed who suffer persecution for the sake of righteousness. For this cause is distinct. For the penalty is alike for the good and the evil. And so it is not the penalty that makes a martyr, but the cause. And therefore he adds:

Judge me according to my righteousness, O Lord my God. Because you are just, discern me who have been unjustly judged: and do what is just, that is, according to righteousness, to judge according to the cause, not to give the sentence of judgment according to the penalty.

And let them not rejoice over me. Let them not say in their hearts, Well done, well done, O our soul: nor let them say, We have devoured him. That is, we have utterly destroyed him. Which indeed they were unable to do, when they heard that he had risen again. These things too he prays, not as one doubting concerning himself, but that he may set before us an example of praying. For such men also, that they may be converted, he entreats: when it is added:

Let them be ashamed and reverent together, who rejoice at my misfortunes. As if he were saying, Let them repent and honor me, who rejoiced at my passion. This is also why the loving Lord admonishes us in his Gospel, saying, If you love those who love you only, what reward will you have? Do not even the publicans do this? But love your enemies. Do good to those who hate you. And pray for those who persecute and slander you, that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven (Matt. 5). Hence it is still added by the voice of our head, Let them be clothed with confusion and reverence, who speak malicious things against me. That is, let those also be turned in like manner, blushing for their own evils and showing reverence to me, who, if not in deed, yet in word sinned against me. Therefore he said, Let them be clothed, so that through repentance the former evils might be covered. On the contrary,

Let them exult and rejoice, who desire my justice. Exultation pertains to both body and soul; gladness only to the mind. Therefore to exult and rejoice is to be filled with joy outwardly and inwardly. Those who desire to turn aside from evil and do good (Ps. 33), these are the ones who desire the justice of God. And it must be noted that he did not say, Those who do, but, those who desire. For many do works of justice, but not from the will. Yet no one does good unwillingly, even if the thing he does is good. For though the action seems good, the will is nevertheless held guilty.