Commentarius In LXXV Psalmos [Attributus]

And there all will cry out—not so much with the voice as with the mind, not so much with the noise of words as with the affection of the heart—in ineffable joy. And their cry will be nothing other than the praise of God. Therefore he adds: For they shall sing a hymn. Whence it is said elsewhere: Blessed are those who dwell in your house, O Lord; they will praise you forever and ever (Ps. 83). Therefore let us begin here to sing a hymn to the Lord our God, so that we may merit to praise him perfectly in the future. For he who does not begin now will not praise him afterward either.

TITLE OF PSALM 65.

In this way the psalm that follows is introduced: Unto the end, a Canticle of a psalm of resurrection. In this psalm a canticle is set before us, for those who rejoice in our resurrection, which God will accomplish for all who tend toward the end—that is, toward Christ (Rom. 8; Phil. 3). This resurrection is the subject matter of this psalm. In the first part he admonishes all nations to praise, proclaim, glorify, and adore with heart, voice, and deed the God who is terrible. In the second part (which begins, Come and see) he commends the works of God as terrible, where he designates the calling of the Gentiles and the rejection of the Jews.

In the third part (which begins, "Bless the Lord, you nations"), he urges the nations to bless their God for the many and great benefits conferred on them: both because he frees souls from death and makes them persevere in good, and because after many temptations and trials he leads them into eternal refreshment, where they may always rejoice, and there may perfectly pay to their God the vows they began here. In the fourth part (where it says, "Come, hear"), he sets himself forth as an example, proclaiming the good things the Lord has done for his soul. And because he cried out to him with mouth and heart without iniquity, therefore God heard him. In which he also exhorts us to do likewise, so that we may deserve to be heard by him and to obtain his mercy. This is the intention and usefulness of this psalm. Hence, in the voice of the primitive Church, or of any perfect person, it is now said:

PSALM 65.

Shout for joy to God, all the earth. That is, you nations converted from all the earth, shout for joy to God with the exultation of the mind. See how the universality of the Church spread throughout the whole world is commended, when it is said, "All the earth." But (from Augustine) what is "Shout for joy"? Burst forth in a voice of joys, if you cannot in words. For a shout of joy is not a word, but only the sound of those rejoicing is rendered, as it were of a heart in labor and giving birth. "Shout for joy," he says, that is, conceive gladness in a voice that cannot be expressed in words. Sing a psalm to his name: give glory to his praise.

To sing psalms means also to take up the instrument called the psaltery, and to make the sound of its strings and playing concord with the voices of the singers. If, then, you jubilate in a way that God may hear, sing psalms also in a way that men may see and hear—but not to your own name. For take care not to practice your righteousness before men in order to be seen by them (Matthew 6). What does he mean by "speak a psalm"? The Gospel explains this for us, where it says: Let your light shine before men (Matthew 5). And what is added here, "Give glory to his praise," is declared more plainly there, when it is added: That seeing your good works, they may glorify your Father who is in heaven (Ibid.). He gives glory to God's praise whose good life is in concord with right preaching. He sings psalms to the name of the Lord when, in the good work he does, he seeks not his own praise but the Lord's. Sing psalms, therefore, to his name, not to your own. You sing psalms, let him be praised. You live well, let him be glorified. He directs our whole intention to the praise of God. He has left us nothing by which we might be praised. God does not want us to glory in ourselves, lest our glory be vain; but he wants us to glory in him, that our glory may be sound. Hence it is also added:

Say to God, How terrible are your works, Lord! Why terrible? Because blindness has come in part upon Israel, so that the fullness of the Gentiles might enter (Rom. 11). Be terrified all the more, then, because you see the natural branches cut off. For the Jews, who came through the Patriarchs, were born of the flesh of Abraham. And what does the Apostle say? But you say, The branches were broken off so that I might be grafted in: Well said. Because of unbelief they were broken off; but you (he says) stand by faith. Do not be proud, but fear. For if God did not spare the natural branches, neither will he spare you (ibid.). Therefore, by considering the branches that were broken off and yourself who were grafted in, do not exalt yourself over the broken branches, but rather: Say to God, How terrible are your works, Lord. Fear him because of his terrible works, and do not be proud, because he called you on high: lest he not spare you, who cut off the natural branches. Their cutting off is shown when it is added: In the multitude of your power, that is, in many powers and miracles. Your enemies will lie to you, that is, the Jews, who are preeminently to be called enemies. And for this they were all the more worthy of reprobation, because amid so many powers and miracles, when they ought to have believed, they remained unbelieving. But they lied, speaking false testimony about Christ: asserting that his body was defiled from the tomb (Matt. 28), denying the resurrection. And it must be noted very carefully that when he said, They will lie, he immediately added, to you, that is, for your benefit.

For the lie of the Jews served to commend your great power. Why do our enemies usually lie? To diminish the power of the one about whom they lie. In your case, he says, the opposite happened. For your power would appear less if they did not lie about you. They lied, and Christ was killed; he rose from the dead, and everywhere he is preached (Mark 15 and 16). His power grew on the earth, and what follows was fulfilled:

Let all the earth adore you, O God, and sing to you: let it sing a psalm to your name. That is, let every kind of human being dwelling on the earth worship you, who are true God, by adoring you. For adoration properly belongs to divine worship, in which faith is also commended. But because the same faith is dead without works (James 2), what follows is rightly added: And let it sing to you, that is, let it do good works to your honor. Let it sing a psalm, that is, let it proclaim good action; and this not to itself, but to your name, that is, to the praise and glory of your name. For then we worship God profitably, when we join to the worship of faith the good work in which God is honored, and draw others, as many as we can, along with us to the service of God by word and example. This he seems to do here, when he immediately adds:

Come and see the works of God. O nations (from Augustine), O farthest peoples, leave behind the Jews who lie. Come, confessing; draw near with the steps of the mind, with the affections of love. Come to the Lord, hasten to the faith, run to the Church. See—that is, believe and understand—the works that the Lord has done, who is Terrible in his counsels over the sons of men. The sons of men (from the same) devised a plan to crucify Christ (John 11). When crucified, he blinded those who crucified him. You devised plans to destroy; he, to blind and to save: to blind the proud, to save the humble. But he blinded the proud themselves for this purpose, that being blinded they might be humbled, being humbled they might confess, having confessed they might be enlightened. Terrible, therefore, in his counsels over the sons of men. And truly terrible. For behold, blindness has come in part upon Israel. Behold, the Jews, from whom Christ was born, are outside. Behold, the nations that were against Judea are inside in Christ. Therefore what did he do by the terror of his counsel? It follows and says:

Who turned the sea into dry land. The sea was the world, bitter with saltness [variant: with falsehood], turbulent with storm, raging with the waves of persecutions. It was a sea, and it was turned into dry land. Now the world thirsts for sweet water, though it was once full of salt. Hence he says elsewhere: My soul is like a land without water before you (Ps. 142). Those very ones who have been turned into dry land, though they were formerly bitter, shall pass through the river on foot. The river is (from Augustine) all the mortality of the world. For in the manner of a river, some things are carried along and pass away, and other things that are about to pass away succeed them. What is born on the earth, and flows away? Everyone who has been born must give way to one who is to be born. Therefore all this order of sliding things is, as it were, a river. If a soul full of desire throws itself into the river, it perishes. How will it pass over the delights of perishing things? Let it believe in Christ, and with him as guide it will pass through the river on foot. What is it to pass on foot? To pass easily. It does not seek a horse to cross over. Pride is not raised up to cross the river. The humble one passes over, and the swift one passes over. This the Lord also did according to the letter, even among the old people: but as the Apostle says, all things happened to them in figure (1 Cor. 10). And it must be noted that he did not say, They shall pass, but, They shall pass through. For to pass through the river on foot is, in this mortality, by living humbly and simply, to hasten toward heavenly things. But to pass through is to end the course of right living by a good death.

Paul too was passing through, when he said: I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will give me on that day (2 Tim 4). Whence now it is fittingly added: There shall he rejoice in him. For here we sit by the rivers of Babylon and weep (Ps 136), and tears are our bread, while it is said daily, Where is thy God? (Ps 41). But there, when the river has now been crossed, mortality swallowed up, and incorruption received, there shall he rejoice in him, that is, in our God (1 Cor 15). Then will be our true and perfect joy, when we shall be like him, and shall see him as he is (1 Jn 3).

Who rules over all: and this in his own strength, that is, his own, forever: which is truly omnipotence, and belongs to God alone. For those who rule in this world rule neither in their own strength, but in God's, nor forever, but for a time. For if our strength were eternal, we should not have fallen into sin, nor have deserved the penalty of death. We therefore, having been made weak, but through him made strong, who rules in his own strength forever, shall be partakers of his strength through him. And that this is done not by our merits but by his mercy is shown when it is added: His eyes look upon the nations. For that the Gentiles believed, the regard of divine mercy accomplished, which, when it is chosen, Judaea is rejected.

Hence he also adds: Those who provoke him shall not be exalted in themselves. The provocation of the Jews was their very unbelief. Their pride, anger too and envy: their conduct was evil, and their words were reproach and blasphemy against Christ and the Church. Because they were lifted up in themselves, they deserved not to be exalted but to be led by the Lord. He seems, as it were, to have cursed when he says, Let them not be exalted. Rather (from Augustine), let them be exalted, but not in themselves; let them be humbled in themselves, exalted in God. For whoever humbles himself shall be exalted, and whoever exalts himself shall be humbled (Luke 18). Having known these works and received such great benefits, he admonishes us to bless God, and says:

Bless the Lord, O nations. Now (from the same) the seed of Abraham has come, in whom all nations shall be blessed (Gen 22). Bless, therefore, him in whom you shall be blessed. For whoever has blessed will himself also be blessed. Nor indeed are we commanded to bless God for this reason, that our blessing might confer anything on God, who has no need of our goods (Ps 13); but we are commanded to bless for this reason, that from the affection of blessing we may deserve the grace of him whom we bless, and thus that blessing itself may be turned back upon us. It belongs also to our religion and the cultivation of faith to bless, proclaim, and praise our God with the whole heart and whole affection. Therefore he still adds: And make the voice of his praise to be heard.

Not only among yourselves praise him, but also make the voice of his praise heard by others and proclaim it. So bless God in yourselves that by preaching you may also announce him to others.

For he it is who has set my soul for life. God has set our souls for life, because he has given life through faith to those redeemed from death. Death is in us, life in God. As the Apostle says to certain believers: You were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord (Eph. 5). But what then is needed, except that we persevere to the end (Matt. 24)? And this he himself has given, of whom he says next: Who has not given my feet to be moved. He who has set my soul for life, he himself directs my feet, lest they totter, lest the affections of good be moved away from the good begun. Why do you say, Because he has not given your feet to be moved? For (he says) we have suffered many things.

For you have proved us, O God, that is, you have shown us proved to ourselves and to others. You have examined us by fire, as silver is examined. Either by material fire, as Lawrence was: or by fire, that is, by whatever tribulation you have not burned us up like hay, but purified us like silver. By applying fire to us (from Augustine), you have not turned us into ashes, but have taken away our filth. The Lord proves his saints, and examines them by the fire of tribulations, that they may be cleansed from all earthly filth and the delight of the flesh. But the pleasures of the flesh greatly fail in adversity. And he explains these examinations one by one, when he adds:

You have brought us into a snare; you have placed tribulations on our back; [verse 12] you have set men over our heads. He calls a snare bonds, prisons, or any temptations whatsoever. But it is not to be understood that God brings anyone into a snare (since he himself is the tempter of evils [James 1]), but he brings them in, as it were, when he permits them to be brought in. Hence in the prayer we say: And lead us not into temptation (Matt. 6), that is, do not permit us to be led in. But whether tribulations are laid upon the backs of the saints, ask Paul. For he will not conceal that five times he received forty lashes less one from the Jews (2 Cor. 11). But men were set over their heads who ruled over them, to such an extent that they could give capital sentences. But all these things (from Augustine) the Church has suffered in various and diverse persecutions. This too it suffers even now, both individually and collectively. For there is no one who can say he is immune from these temptations in this life. Therefore men are also set over our heads. We tolerate those we do not wish to. We sometimes suffer superiors whom we know to be worse. For we were wrongly proud, being erect. Wrongly erect, we have been bent down, so that being bent down we might be rightly raised up. And it is good that we consider ourselves to be sinners, and thus tolerate those set over our heads: so that we too may confess to God that we suffer deservedly. For what do you suffer undeservedly, that he who is just has not done?

You have placed tribulations on our back; you have set men over our heads. God seems to rage when he does these things. Do not fear: he is a father. He never rages so as to destroy. When you live badly, if he spares you, he is the more angry. All these tribulations are the lashes of one who corrects, lest there be the sentence of one who punishes. Hence it is also added:

We have passed through fire and water, and you have brought us out into refreshment. Fire and water are each dangerous in this life. In a sense water seems to extinguish fire, and fire seems to dry up water. These very temptations are what this life abounds in. Fire burns, water corrupts. Both must be feared: both the burning of tribulation and the water of corruption. When circumstances are narrow, and there is something that is called misfortune in this world, it is like fire. When circumstances are prosperous, and worldly abundance flows around us, it is like water. See that the fire does not burn you, that the water does not corrupt you. Be firm against the fire; you must be baked, like a vessel made of clay for the furnace, so that what has been formed may be made firm. A vessel, then, made firm by fire does not fear water. But if a vessel has not been solidified by fire, it will be dissolved by water like mud. So the first turn is fire. Afterwards, with fear taken away, we must beware lest prosperity corrupt us.

But when the fire has not crackled over you, and you are not submerged in the water, but have swum out through discipline, passing over to rest, and passing through fire and water, you will be led out into eternal refreshment. "You have led out," he says—that is, "you will lead out"; for he has put the past tense for the future. For the spirit of prophecy knows future things just as it knows past things. Then, when the tribulations have passed, what will happen? There follows:

I will enter into your house, not made by hand—that is, the heavenly one. In holocausts—that is, with all corruptibility consumed. For then a holocaust will be made perfectly, when this corruptible has put on incorruption, and this mortal has put on immortality (1 Cor 15). Then will be fulfilled the saying that is written: Death is swallowed up in victory (Hos 13). Victory is, as it were, a divine fire, when it swallows up our death. Let your fire consume all that is mine. For let nothing remain to me: let all be yours. Such a holocaust the body of Christ—that is (from Aug.), the Church, which speaks here—will offer. A holocaust is called wholly burnt when it all burns and is wholly consumed by divine fire. Nothing mortal will remain in the flesh, nor anything blameworthy in the spirit. In that house:

I will pay my vows to you, which my lips have distinguished. That is, they have chosen me myself before all other things—the vow, namely, that is preferred above all. There is also a distinction in vows, that you may accuse yourself and praise him. Understand yourself to be a creature, him the Creator; yourself darkness, him the illuminator. Whatever we distinguish here with our lips—in promise, or ordination, or vow—when we enter into that house, we will pay it all to the Lord our God. Or, to distinguish vows with the lips is to discern by mind and reason those things that are offered to God. Whence it is written: If you offer rightly, but do not divide rightly, you have sinned (Gen. 4). He who offers a good work to God offers it rightly, but does not divide it rightly if he seeks from it the glory of the world or some profit apart from God. Holy Church, therefore, distinguishes her vows with inner lips, because the vows she offers to God she separates from all human praise and earthly advantage. Nor only have I vowed vows in prosperity, but I have also held confession in adversity. Whence he adds: And my mouth has spoken in my tribulation. For the holy martyrs confessed Christ in torments. We are (they say) servants of Christ; we hold the faith of Christ; we desired to die for Christ. Hence Paul says: With the heart one believes unto righteousness, but with the mouth confession is made unto salvation (Rom. 10). Faith, therefore, must be held with the heart; the truth must be brought forth with the mouth.

Then he shows how he enters into the house of God with burnt offerings; and he himself explains the burnt offerings, saying:

I will offer to you burnt offerings full of marrow, with the incense of rams. What is "full of marrow"? Rich, sweet, full of love and sweetness. I will offer myself to you, a rich sacrifice, with the incense of rams, that is, with all the height and stiffness of pride incensed and consumed; in my marrow will be that I love you. For nothing is more inward than our marrow. The bones are more inward than the flesh, the marrow is more inward than the bones themselves. Therefore whoever worships God on the surface wishes more to please men. But another, feeling differently within, does not offer burnt offerings of marrow. But whose marrow he inspects, him he receives whole. The whole body of Christ speaks this. There is what it offers to God, namely the incense of rams. Rams are the leaders of the Church. Incense is the prayer of the saints. And especially rams adorn themselves for the flocks. And well is prayer understood through incense, because there the heart of the elect is kindled by divine fire. And just as the smoke of incense smells sweetly to men, so the devotion of prayer burns sweetly to God. I will offer to you oxen with goats. We find oxen treading out grain, and they themselves are offered to God. The Apostle said concerning the announcers of the Gospel, that it is to be understood what is written: You shall not muzzle the ox that treads out grain (1 Cor 9; Deut 25). Therefore those great rams, those great oxen. What of those who perhaps are conscious of some sins?

Will they themselves not remain, and not belong to the burnt offering? Therefore, lest they themselves be afraid, he added the goats. Goats by themselves are not saved; joined to the oxen they are accepted. They made friends for themselves from the mammon of iniquity, so that they too might receive them into eternal dwellings (Luke 16). Therefore such goats will not be on the left (Matt 25), since by alms they redeemed their sins (Dan 4). The virtues of the elect can therefore be figured by the oxen, by which the hardness of the mind is plowed, so that it may be made fit to bear spiritual fruits. They therefore offer oxen to God who humbly ascribe the virtues they have to his grace. To offer goats, moreover, is to confess suppliantly to the Lord the unclean and wanton motions of the soul. We offer goats to God when we sacrifice in ourselves all luxury and wantonness. Again, to understand other benefits, he invites the nations, saying:

Come, with the steps of the mind; hear, with the ears of the heart, and I will tell (all you who fear God). If you do not fear God, I will not tell. There is no one to whom it may be told where the fear of God is not. The fear of God will open the ears, so that there may be a way in for what I am about to tell. Namely, how many benefits, besides those which have been spoken, he has done for my soul—if you wish, also for yours. For he gave it, that I might cry out to him, and by crying out exult in my heart, etc. And this is what he says:

To Him I cried with my mouth, and I exalted Him under my tongue. He says that this very thing was done by his soul, that it might cry out to God with its mouth. For formerly the Church from among the Gentiles was adoring stones and crying out to mute idols. Now the image of God has been turned back to its Creator. And he who was saying to a stone, "You are my father," now says to God, "Our Father, who art in heaven." "With my mouth," he says, "I cried out," not with another's mouth. For when they were crying out to stones, they were crying out with another's mouth. When I cried out to God, which He Himself inspired, I cried out to Him with my mouth. But to exult under the tongue is to conceive in the heart joy from the cry of the voice. That is the true cry to God, namely the affection of the heart. I preached it publicly; I confessed it in secret. It is a small thing to exalt God with the tongue, but also under the tongue: so that what you speak with certainty, you may think silently. He cries out exultantly under the tongue whom conscience does not reproach. But whose conscience is sinful, his prayer also is useless. This is clearly declared when it is added:

If I had looked upon iniquity in my heart, the Lord would not hear. Iniquity is, as it were, looked upon in the heart when it pleases the eyes of the mind, when it delights, when reason itself approves and loves it. For we are accustomed to look willingly upon the things we love. But because, as it is written, to the unclean and to sinners nothing is clean, whatever derives from an unclean heart—whether prayer, or preaching, or action—is all reckoned by God unclean and unfruitful. Therefore God will not hear the prayer of one whose mind He sees corrupted by iniquity. Do not, then, look upon that thing in your heart—that is, do not love it within yourself. Whatever pleasant thing it has promised to entice you to sin, whatever sorrowful thing it has threatened to drive you to do evil, it is worthy to be despised, that it may be trampled underfoot; not to be looked upon, that it may be accepted.

Therefore God has heard, and has attended to the voice of my supplication. What does therefore mean? Because I did not look upon iniquity in my heart. Hence the Apostle says: If our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence that whatever we ask, we shall receive. And this is not from our own merits, but from His grace. Therefore he added this:

Blessed be God, who has not removed my prayer and his mercy from me. For thus has this one who speaks attained to the resurrection, where we too now are in hope, and this is our voice. Therefore, as long as we are here, we pray God that he not remove our prayer and his mercy from us—that is, that we may persevere in praying, and that he may persevere in having mercy. Yet many grow faint in praying, and though they were fervent in the newness of their conversion, afterward they become cold and negligently secure. The mind grows sluggish, prayer is interrupted. You sleep, the enemy keeps watch, temptations increase. For this reason the Lord commanded that we ought always to pray and never grow faint (Luke 18). Therefore let us not grow faint in praying, secure in the promise: for if he delays, he does not take away. And with devout affection let us say: Blessed be God, who has not removed my prayer and his mercy from me. When you see that your prayer has not been removed from you, be secure, because his mercy has not been removed from you.

THE TITLE OF PSALM LXVI.

The title of the following psalm is: Unto the end, in hymns a psalm of the song of David. This psalm befits David the prophet, or any faithful person: it is called a psalm because it admonishes to confession. And it is called a song because it set before us the greatest exultation over the illumination of both peoples, namely of the Jews and of the Gentiles, which was to come about through Christ. A psalm, I say, composed in hymns, that is, in the praises of God: or in hymns, that is, among those which are called hymns by way of excellence. For the prophet understood that God is to be praised for the illumination which he was to give to the world: for which we all ought to praise him with the utmost zeal. For this is what the psalm intends to admonish, which directs us unto the end, that is, to Christ. The subject matter is Christ the illuminator. In the first part he prays for illumination. In the second part (which begins, Let us confess to you, O peoples, O God) he exhorts to both confessions, that is, of sin and of praise. And he sets down as the cause God the just judge. In the third part, where he repeats the same verse, he admonishes to the same confession: but for a different reason, namely, because the earth, which was formerly sterile, now at the coming of the Son has given its fruit. And because he saw that all things were good from the mercy of God, before he speaks of the illumination he prays for mercy, saying:

PSALM LXVI.

May God have mercy on us—by forgiving our sins. And may he bless us—that is, multiply us both in number and in virtue—evidently in this order, that he may make his face shine upon us. That is, in the higher part of us, in our mind, may he cause his Son, his Wisdom, to shine—he who is the face and image of the Father. For through the Son the Father is represented, as he himself says: He who sees me sees also the Father (John 14). Then he adds what he had set forth before: And may he have mercy on us. For both are necessary for us, and we read both written: And his mercy shall go before me (Psalm 58); and, His mercy shall follow me (Psalm 12). The first mercy, then, is concerning the remission of sins, the abundance of virtues, the illumination of wisdom. The second mercy is either the good things that God bestows, that he may deign to preserve them now in us. Both are urged by the psalms: that God may bless us, and that we may bless God. When God blesses us, we grow; and when we bless God, we grow. Both profit us. The Lord's blessing in us comes first, and it follows that we also bless the Lord. That is the rain, this is the fruit. May he make his face shine upon us, he says: his light, impressed upon us, has been obscured by us and all but extinguished through sin. So let him take away sin and give light. Let him send forth the ray of his wisdom. Drive away our darkness, that his image may shine in us.

Therefore he turns to intimate speech with God, and says:

That we may know your way upon the earth. Upon what earth? Among all the nations. What way? Your salvation, that is, your Son, by whom we are saved. For he himself said: I am the way, the truth, and the life (John 14). For this end, then, have mercy; for this end, give light, that we may know the way by which we may be able to reach you. Consider how Christ has become the way for us. Let the Gospel say: The Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us (John 1). In that, therefore, God became man, a pledge was given to us that man may be able to become God. And because he made our flesh immortal, he gave us the assurance that mortal flesh can reach immortality. This is the way that God has shown us on earth, by which we may walk to heavenly things. And this is our faith.

Let the peoples therefore confess to you, O God; let all the peoples confess to you. Because they have known your way. Let us now confess our sins; let us confess also your praise. And not one people only, but all peoples, because all are invited to grace. Let them first accuse themselves, first condemn themselves, so that afterwards they may worthily praise you. Why do you fear to confess, O man, who by not confessing cannot remain hidden? You will be numbered among the silent, though you could be set free by confessing. For this end God requires confession, that he may set free the humble. And because that confession leads not to punishment but to joy, it follows and says:

Let the nations be glad and exult. Gladness refers to the soul, exultation to the body. So then, when they are saved in body and soul, let the nations be glad and exult. And he says why: because you judge the peoples in equity, rendering to each according to their merits. And because for this reason he would not be greatly praised (since unless he visited men mercifully even in this life, all would be condemned), he therefore added: And you direct the nations on the earth—that is, that they may walk by living rightly. The nations were distorted; the hand of God came, was stretched out mercifully, directed through justice those whom it found crooked through fault. The nations have been made straight: they walk in faith, rejoicing in their God, doing good works. He therefore repeats the same verse in exhortation, which he set forth above; but he adds another cause.

Let the peoples confess to you, O God: let all the peoples confess to you. Hear the cause: The earth has given its fruit. The earth, which had formerly been cursed and was bringing forth thorns and thistles (in the curse which God spoke to Adam: Cursed is the earth in your work [Gen. 3]), has been made—and according to Augustine—fruitful, giving its fruit, that is, its fitting works. Every earth was full of thorns. The hand of the one who roots them out drew near; the call of his majesty drew near, and mercy: the earth began to confess. Now the earth gives its fruit. For God has done what is added:

May God bless us, our God, may God bless us: and let all the ends of the earth fear him. Also (from the same) and in many ways to be blessed. For blessing is usually and properly understood in multiplication, which is clear in Genesis. For that God made the light and divided it from the darkness, and made the firmament and separated the sea from the dry land—nowhere there is it said: God blessed. It came to those things that were to have the seed of fecundity, and he blessed them, saying to them: Increase and multiply, and fill the waters of the sea; and let the birds multiply upon the earth. Similarly, blessing man, he said: Increase and multiply, and fill the face of the earth (Gen. 1). It is clear, therefore, that in blessing multiplication is understood. And it is to be noted that when God said this a third time, he did not say, They fear them, but him. In this the Trinity is evidently declared, which is threefold in persons and is believed to be one in substance. And let all the ends of the earth fear him, he says. So abundantly in the name of Christ may God bless us, that he may fill the whole face of the earth with his sons, adopted as co-heirs into his kingdom of his only-begotten Son (Gal. 4). Well indeed does he say: And let them fear him, because there is no true security in this world. Blessed is the man who is always fearful (Prov. 28). Man does not know the day, nor the hour, when he may pass (Matt. 2?). He does not know whether he is worthy of hatred or love (Eccles. 9). Let us therefore fear God.

Let us fear his judgment, so that afterward we may be able to be secure.

TITLE OF PSALM 67.

Next follows the title of the following psalm: Unto the end, a psalm of a song of David. This psalm, which is designated as one of song and of the greatest exultation, is attributed to David the prophet, who here speaks to one who attends unto the end, that is, unto Christ, or who considers those things which were to come in the end of times. This psalm is therefore one of song, because it sets before us that whereby we are to exult, since it represents the mystery of our restoration. For this psalm is filled with the sacraments of the Gospel. For it speaks of the passion, where it is said: Of the Lord, of the Lord are the issues of death. Of the resurrection, where it is said: Let God arise. Of the ascension, where it is said: Thou hast ascended on high. Of the sending of the Holy Spirit, where it is said: Confirm, O God, this which thou hast wrought in us. Of the incarnation, where it is said: Command, O God, thy virtue. All these things ought to be songs and exultation for us. The subject is Christ exalted, and exalting the Church. The intention is to admonish us toward the exaltation of Christ, that we may sing to Christ and exalt him. This intention is indeed noted in the psalm in many places; the prophet invites all the future sons of the Church, that, attending to the benefits which will be bestowed upon them through the passion and resurrection of Christ, etc., they may not receive the grace of God in vain (2 Cor 6), lest they be ungrateful.

But they should celebrate as much as possible, in word and deed, the grace that has been given to them through these mysteries, and in that same grace (as is added near the end of the psalm: *Sing to God, you kingdoms of the earth*) let them exult in the Lord with every kind of joy. And it must be noted that, as has often been said, in order to express his own feeling more fully in the prophetic manner, he speaks at the beginning of the psalm under the figure of one who wishes; yet according to the sense of an declarative utterance, he begins thus.

PSALM 67.

Let God arise, and let his enemies be scattered. Now (according to Augustine) it has been done. Christ has risen, and his enemies have been scattered through all the nations. The Jews were defeated in that very place where they exercised their hostility, and from there were dispersed through all lands. And now they hate, but they fear; and by that very fear they do what follows: And let those who hate him flee from his face. For fear is a flight of the mind. For by bodily flight, where do they flee from his face, who is present everywhere? Whither shall I go (he says) from your spirit? And whither shall I flee from your face (Ps. 138)? Therefore they flee in mind, not in body: by fearing rather than by hiding. Nor from that face which they do not see, but from that which they are compelled to see. For his face is the name given to his presence through his Church. Let them therefore flee from his face. Let them fear the presence of his saints and faithful ones. Or let them flee from his face, as it is written: Let the wicked be taken away, lest he see the glory of God (Isa. 26). Concerning whom it is further added:

As smoke fails, let them fail. For they lifted themselves up (as Augustine says) from the fires of their hatreds to a peak of pride, and setting their mouth against heaven and crying out, Crucify, crucify him (John 19), they swelled up as if victorious; but soon, defeated, they vanished away. Now it is characteristic of the proud that they fail like smoke. For just as smoke comes forth from fire, so their exaltation comes forth from the heat of desire. And just as smoke, the more it ascends, the more it vanishes away, so the proud, the more he is exalted in his elation, the more he fails from the truth. Further, he also heightens their punishment when he adds: As wax melts before the fire, so let sinners perish before the face of the Lord. Although perhaps in this place he has signified those (as the same author says) whose hardness is dissolved by tears of impenitence, yet something else can also be understood, namely that he threatens the future judgment. For because in this world, like smoke, they have failed by exalting themselves, there will come upon them at the end extreme damnation, so that from the face of God, that is, from his presence, they may perish forever, when he himself shall have been presented in his brightness, as fire for the punishment of the wicked and light for the good. For sinners shall perish—not that they may utterly fail from substance, but just as wax melts before the fire, so shall they be dissolved in conscience by the terror of the strict judge. After he has shown what happens to the wicked from the exaltation of Christ, he accordingly makes known what comes to the good from the same, saying:

And let the righteous feast, that is, be refreshed by God himself, who will be all in all (Eph. 1). And let them exult in the sight of God. For this exultation will not be any empty boasting as before men, but in the sight of him who without error sees what he has given. Or the righteous will exult in the sight of God, because they will see him face to face (1 Cor. 1). Hence it is still rightly added: And let them delight in gladness. Then indeed will gladness be delightful, when all fear and anxiety have been shut out, when eternal security and secure eternity will endure. Then (from Augustine) he turns to those to whom he has given such hope. And here he addresses and exhorts those living:

Sing to God, sing a psalm to his name. He admonishes that what is said be fulfilled in deed. Some have distinguished between a canticle and a psalm, so that since a canticle is brought forth by the mouth, while a psalm is sung with a visible instrument, that is, the psaltery, by the canticle may be signified the understanding of the mind, but by the psalm the works of the body. Thus, then, some have distinguished them, so that Sing to God is understood as what the mind does within itself, which is known to God but not seen by men. But good works, since they are to be seen by men so that they may glorify our Father who is in heaven (Matt. 6), are rightly spoken of as: Sing a psalm to his name, that is, to his renown, so that he may be named praiseworthily. He sings to God who lives to God.

Sing to his name, you who work for his glory. Thus sing to God, thus psalm to God—that is, by living thus, by working thus. And also make a way for him—that is, by preaching him, open the hearts of your hearers. He—that is, the very one for whom you ought to prepare the way—ascended above the setting. He conquered death, as he says through his prophet: O death, I will be your death (Hos. 13; 1 Cor. 15; Heb. 2). Make a way for Christ, so that through the beautiful feet of those who evangelize, the hearts of believers may be open to him. For he himself ascended above the setting, when by rising again he conquered the fall of the body. They also make a way for Christ who cleanse their hearts from wicked thoughts and adorn them with faith and good morals and virtues. When this has been done, the house of the modest breast suddenly becomes the temple of God. And you ought to make a way for him, because the Lord is his name. This name, which is Lord, belongs to him especially, because he himself rules by himself, and no one can rule except through him. And because the good work and the preaching of God ought to be done even with eagerness, it is rightly added: Exult in his sight. For while you make a way for him, while you prepare the places by which he may come and possess the nations, you will suffer much sorrow in the sight of men. But you—not only do not fail, but even exult, not in the sight of men, but in the sight of God: rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation (Rom. 12).

But those who now disturb you will afterward be disturbed before his face. For they are going to hear in judgment: Go into eternal fire (Matthew 25). They will be disturbed before his face. Whose face?

The Father of orphans and the judge of widows. Before the face of the just and true God, who disturbs the wicked as severe power, and gathers widows and orphans as a loving father. Blessed are the orphans and widows who have such a Father and Judge. These, moreover, are those orphans and widows for whom the devil is a dead father and husband. They are the ones who say: For my father and my mother have forsaken me, but the Lord has taken me up (Psalm 26). Concerning these orphans and widows—that is, those destitute of the fellowship of worldly hope—the Lord builds for himself a temple, of which he next says: God in his holy place. He shows this place more clearly when he adds:

God, who makes men to dwell of one mind in a house—that is, of one will according to faith and charity in one Church. These are they of whom it is read: They had one heart and one soul (Acts 4). They are indeed of one mind whose purpose is not changed in different directions. In such as these God is, as in his holy place. For just as in a great man's house the master of it does not rest in just any place, but certainly in some more private and more honored place, so God does not dwell in all, but only in those who are of one mind, who live with one accord and in concord.

Nor should they attribute this to their own strength, because it is not they who do it, but God does it through them, who makes those of one mind to dwell in a house; whose grace is still more commended when it is added: Who brings out the bound in strength. For the ancient enemy held the human race bound, which the Lord freed by his own strength. Both the Patriarchs and the Prophets were held bound in hell, whom he brought out with him by great power. Peter was bound, whom he brought out from Herod's prison (Acts 12). He also loosened the heavy bonds of sins by which they were hindered from walking in the way of the commandments. Likewise those who provoke him, that is, he brings out others so strongly and powerfully, who by resisting justice provoke God to wrath. Who dwell in the tombs, that is, consent to the pleasures of the flesh: which flesh is the tomb of the soul, because there, consenting to the flesh, it rots, as flesh does in a tomb. Those (from Augustine) perhaps are bound in chains and wish to walk but cannot; and they pray to God that they may be able; and they say to him: Deliver me from my necessities (Psalm 24). Heard by him, they give thanks, saying: You have broken my bonds (Psalm 115). But those who provoke him, who dwell in the tombs, are in that state which Scripture signifies elsewhere, saying: From the dead, as from one who is not, confession perishes (Sirach 17). Hence also that: When a sinner comes into the depth of evils, he despises (Proverbs 18).

For it is one thing to desire justice, another to fight against it; one thing to wish to be freed from evil, another to defend one's evils rather than confess them. Yet Christ's grace leads both kinds forth in strength. In what strength, if not that they strive against sin even to the shedding of blood? For from both kinds are made fit those for whom his holy place is established. Those set free, those raised up. And this which is now fulfilled spiritually was first shown figuratively. How? It follows and says:

God, when you went forth in the sight of your people, by a column of cloud by day, and by the brightness of fire by night. When you passed through the desert. Leading your people through the desert.

The earth was moved. For Mount Sinai seemed to be moved. And indeed the heavens distilled manna. At the face of the God of Sinai, that is, of God dwelling on that mountain. At the face of the God of Israel, that is, of God whose people Israel was. You who then read of such great miracles, will also do what is added:

You will set apart a voluntary rain, O God, for your inheritance, and it was weakened. But you have perfected it. But now let us see the secrets of the mysteries, with the Lord revealing them. His going forth is understood when he appears in his works. But he appears not to all, but to those who know how to look upon his works. For I am not now speaking of those works which are visible to all, that is, heaven, earth, the sea, and all things that are in them. But of the works by which he leads out the bound in strength; likewise those who provoke, who dwell in tombs; and he makes them of one manner in the house. Thus he will go forth before his people, that is, before those who understand this grace of his. Finally it follows: When you passed through the desert, the earth was moved. The desert was the nations, which did not know God. It was a desert where no law had been given by God himself, where no prophets had lived who foretold that the Lord would come. When therefore you passed through the desert, when you were preached among the nations, the earth was moved: earthly men were stirred up to faith. But from where was it moved? For indeed the heavens distilled from the face of the God of Sinai. For indeed, so that the earth might be moved to faith, when the Gospel passed through the desert of the nations, the heavens distilled from the face of God. These are the heavens of which it is sung in another psalm: The heavens declare the glory of God. For of these, a little later there it is said: There are no speeches nor words whose voices are not heard.

But the heavens did not distill of themselves, but from the face of the God of Sinai, that is, of God dwelling there, just as he dwells on Mount Sinai. These are the mountains of which it is said: I have lifted up my eyes to the mountains (Ps. 120). And again: You who enlighten marvelously from the eternal mountains (Ps. 75). And he himself is the God of Israel, that is, of the people that sees God. And just as the heavens distilled manna (Exod. 16), so you, O God, will set apart a voluntary rain, that is, a free grace, for your inheritance, that is, you will give it separately to your Church. The voluntary rain is rightly understood as the grace of God, because it is given freely, with no merits preceding. For if it is by grace (from Augustine), it is no longer from works; otherwise grace is no longer grace (Rom. 11). This voluntary rain has begotten us by the word of truth. This rain God has set apart for his inheritance. And it was weakened. For it recognized that it is nothing of itself, that it is not by its own strength, but that what it is must be attributed to the grace of God. It recognized what was said: In my infirmities I will glory (2 Cor. 12). And again: Do not be high-minded, but fear (Rom. 11). Itself was weakened. But you have perfected it, because power is perfected in weakness (2 Cor. 12). It was weakened in itself, so that it might be perfected in you.

Your animals will dwell in it. In this inheritance the animals dwell, because among the holy Church the meek and gentle—to whom the yoke of God is sweet and his burden light (Matthew 11)—persevere in living humbly. Or the animals of God can be understood as the teachers and prelates of the Church, who dwell in this inheritance and bear the burdens of others upon themselves by compassion. There they are nourished by the sacred Scriptures as by spiritual hay, and are imbued from the heavenly fountain and the Holy Spirit. And well, when he said "animals," he added "your," that is, subject to you, not free for themselves. And this rain you have prepared in your sweetness for the poor, O God. You have bestowed your grace on the humble, not from their own merits, but from the sole sweetness of your love. Because you have loved the poor, therefore you have enriched them with your grace. And aptly he said, "in your sweetness." For what (from Augustine) is sweeter than love? But the work of grace is not accomplished from fear of punishment, but from love of justice. Then he shows the preparations that God made for his poor. For he says:

The Lord will give the word to those who preach the gospel with great power. I, he says, will give you a mouth and wisdom, which all your adversaries will not be able to resist (Luke 21). And again: Open your mouth, and I will fill it (Psalm 80). These are the foods that God lavishes on his animals in his inheritance. How much sweetness they have, one of these animals intimates when he says: How sweet to my throat are your words, beyond honey to my mouth (Psalm 118). To those who preach the gospel, he says, with great power, that is, with great constancy. For they can be killed, but they cannot be bent. Hear the power of those who preach the gospel. Who, he says, will separate us from the love of Christ? Tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or the sword? We know that neither death, nor life, nor any creature will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus (Romans 8). Because the Lord will give the word to those who preach the gospel.

The King of virtues of the beloved, of the beloved—that is, God the Father, who is the King of virtues. These are the virtues of the beloved, of the beloved—that is, of his Son. For when someone is called "beloved" without qualification, the only-begotten Son is understood by antonomasia. But in saying "of the beloved, of the beloved," he repeats the very name in place of a pronoun, as if to say "of his beloved." Such a manner of speaking is frequently found in divine Scripture, as in that passage: Moses did as the Lord commanded Moses (Exod. 25)—that is, himself. Or it can be read thus: You say "of the beloved of virtues." Of which beloved? Entirely, he says, and above all things, and always beloved. Of whom the Father himself said: This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Of this beloved, indeed, are all virtues (Matt. 3 and 17; Luke 3). And he himself is the power and wisdom of God (1 Cor. 1). And whoever is strong is strong through Christ. But because the Son has nothing of himself except from the Father (John 8:13 and 16), rightly is God the Father called King of the virtues of his beloved Son. To whom the beloved himself says: All my things are yours (Luke 15). And again: I do nothing of myself; my Father works until now, and I work (John 6). Since therefore he had said, "The Lord will give the word to those who preach the gospel with great power," because that power itself is ruled by him and serves him by whom it is given, he says, "The Lord himself is the King of the virtues of the beloved," and then follows: "And to the beauty of the house, to divide the spoils." As if (according to Augustine) it were said: of the beloved Christ also, by dividing the spoils.

For Christ made a beautiful house—that is, the Church—by dividing spoils for it, just as a body is beautiful through the distribution of its members. Now spoils are said to be what is taken from conquered enemies. What this means, the Gospel warns us, where we read: When a strong armed man guards his courtyard, those things which he possesses are in peace. But if one stronger than he comes upon him and overcomes him, he will take away all his armor in which he trusted, and will distribute his spoils (Luke 11). The strong armed man is the devil, who possessed this world. But Christ, stronger than he, coming upon him conquered him: he took away his armor, he distributed the spoils. These vessels the Lord cleanses by the remission of sins. These spoils, which he sanctifies, having snatched them from the enemy when he was cast down and bound, he divided for the beauty of his house, establishing some as apostles, some as prophets, some as pastors and teachers, for the work of ministry, for the building up of the body of Christ (Eph. 4). For just as the body is one and has many members, but all the members of the body, though they are many, are one body, so also is Christ (Rom. 12). Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all mighty works? Do all have gifts of healings? Do all speak with tongues? Do all interpret? But all these things one and the same Spirit works, dividing to each one as he wills (1 Cor. 12).

This is the beauty of the house, for which spoils are divided: so that its lover, kindled by this beauty, may exclaim: Lord, I have loved the beauty of your house (Ps. 25). Now in what follows, he addresses himself to the very members from which the beauty of the house is made, speaking to them and saying:

If you sleep among the midst of the lots. O you, who as spoils of the beauty of the house are divided, if you sleep—that is, if, removed from the din of the world, you rest between the two Testaments, so that by holding them as common, you may obey both—namely, so that you understand that what was said figuratively in the first is spiritually fulfilled in the second—you shall be. The wings of the dove are silvered over. That is, the ornament and exaltation of the Church. For just as a dove is raised up by its wings, so the Church is exalted to heavenly things by your preachings. Holy Church is rightly called a dove, because she has no gall of bitterness, and because she is strong in the virtue of simplicity, of which it is said elsewhere: My dove is one (Song 6). But she is silvered over, because she has been instructed by divine utterances. For the utterances of the Lord are said in another place to be silver tried by fire, purified seven times from the earth (Ps. 12). If, then, by these lots the two Testaments are signified, what else are we admonished, except that we should know those Testaments to agree with each other, not to conflict, and that we should rest in understanding them?

and let us be a sign and proof of their concord, since we know that the one has said nothing against the other, and with peaceful admiration we are shown as if in the sleep of ecstasy. By lots, therefore, we understand the divine Scripture, because "cleros" in Greek is translated "sors" (lot) in Latin. But we have the divine Scripture by no human judgment, but by lot alone, that is, by God's election alone. Here another sense occurs (from Augustine), perhaps to be preferred: that by "cleros" we much more plausibly understand the inheritances themselves; so that, since the inheritance of the Old Testament is earthly happiness, but the inheritance of the New Testament is heavenly immortality, "to sleep in the midst of the lots" means not to seek the former ardently and still to await the latter patiently. For those who serve God for this reason, or rather are unwilling to serve him—while they seek happiness in this life, sleep is taken away from them and they do not sleep. For, agitated by burning desires, they are driven into shameful acts and crimes, and they do not rest at all, desiring to acquire, or fearing to lose. But "he who hears me," says Wisdom, "shall dwell in hope, and shall rest without fear from all vanity." This is (as it seems to me) to sleep among the midst of the lots, that is, to dwell among the midst of the inheritances, not yet in reality but in the hope of the heavenly inheritance, and to be at rest from the desire of earthly happiness.

But when that which we hope for has come, we no longer rest between two inheritances, but we shall reign in the new and true inheritance, of which the old was a shadow. And because the Apostles had slept so well, the Church now flies as if on wings for them, and is exalted in praises. While others also, by their example, sleep in this way, wings are added, by which she may be sublimely proclaimed even to the end of the world; And the hinder parts of his back shall be in the paleness of gold, that is, in the brightness of wisdom. By this brightness we understand charity. For the heat of divine wisdom is charity. But why from the back, and not from the breast? Is it because there are, as it were, the rays of the wings? But charity bears all things (1 Cor. 13). And it is written (from Augustine): Bear one another's burdens, and so you will fulfill the law of Christ (Gal. 6). Or otherwise: What are these wings themselves, but the two commandments of charity, on which the whole law depends, and the prophets (Matt. 22)? What is the light burden itself, but charity itself, which is fulfilled in these two commandments? For whatever is difficult in a commandment is light to one who loves. Nor is it for any other reason that the saying is rightly understood, My yoke is light (Matt. 11), except that he gives the Holy Spirit, through whom charity is given in our hearts (Rom. 5): so that by loving freely, we may cast off what, through fearing, the one who does it does slavishly.

Therefore the hinder parts, His back, are in the paleness of gold, because whatever the Church bears, whatever she endures, she does wholly in love, wholly in wisdom, wholly in gladness. She is simple in heart, bright in word, illustrious in deed. As long as she does this, He appoints a time, saying:

While the heavenly one discerns kings over her. That is, as long as the Son of God ordains and establishes the saints and prelates, who rightly rule both themselves and others over her, namely the dove. Who is this heavenly one, unless He who ascended above all the heavens, that He might fill all things (Eph. 4)? And what else is it to discern kings over her, but to prepare them for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ (1 Cor. 12)? They are also called kings (from Augustine) as ruling, and over what more than the lusts of the flesh? that sin may not reign in their mortal body, to obey its desires; and that they may not present their members as weapons of unrighteousness to sin, but present themselves to God as alive from the dead, and their members as weapons of righteousness to God (Rom. 6). For thus they will first be kings, separated from the aliens, because they do not bear the yoke with unbelievers. Then, separated among themselves in concord with their own gifts; but that they may be separated, they shall be made white as snow in Selmon. They shall receive forgiveness of sins from Him who says: If your sins be as scarlet, they shall be made white as snow (Isa. 1). Well then does He say: In Selmon, which is interpreted as shadow, that is, in Christ.

Now it is evident that a shadow consists of light and a body. That true light, which was the Word in the beginning with God (John 1), became, as it were, a shadow for us. The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us. That is, man was added to God as a body is added to light, and the shadow of his protection covered those who believe in him. Therefore those are made white as snow in Zalmon who, through the grace that is in Christ, are cleansed from the stains of sins. I call it Zalmon,

the mountain of God, a fat mountain. For Christ is preeminently called the mountain of God the Father, through the eminence of his Deity. So fat is he that in him all the fullness of the Godhead dwelt bodily (Colossians 2). Nor was he fat only in himself, but he also made others fat from himself. Hence it is added: a curdled mountain, according to those whom he nourishes with milk; a fat mountain, according to the greater ones, whom he refreshes through the richer sweetness of his wisdom. For even the very milk from which cheese is made signifies grace in a wondrous way. It flows, you see, from the abundance of the mother's humors, and by delightful mercy it is poured out freely to little ones. And because some doubted concerning Christ, and believed that certain saints were equal to him in grace, he refutes them for their error when he adds:

Why do you suppose the mountains to be gathered together? For other saints also have been called mountains of God. Nor were there lacking those who said he was John the Baptist, others Elijah, others Jeremiah, or one of the prophets (Matthew 16). To check their error, he indicates yet another excellence, by which he proves that this holy mountain differs from the other holy mountains. He says therefore: The mountain in which it has pleased God to dwell in him—it pleased God the Father to dwell in this mountain, which is prepared on the summit of the mountains, to which he says: You are my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased (Matthew 3 and 17; Luke 3). Nor does God dwell in him by a particular grace, as in the other saints, or only for a time. And this he proves when he adds: For the Lord will dwell in the end. That is, in perfection of dwelling. To such an extent does he dwell in him that he cannot dwell more fully—namely, in unity of person and equality of power. Not that (from Augustine) he does not dwell in others, but because in others he dwells through him. For in him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead: not in shadow, as in the temple made by Solomon, but bodily (Colossians 2) and solidly and truly, since God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself (2 Corinthians 5). Or he says, The Lord will dwell in the end, for this will be better manifested in the end, when he shall appear in his majesty (Matthew 25) and equality.

Or the Lord Jesus Christ will dwell in his saints, leading them to the end, that is, to himself. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes (Rom 10). After he has shown the height of Christ, he accordingly suggests what benefit for his Church comes from it. As if it were said: Behold, the great and incomparable mountain, the Lord Jesus—what will become of those who were thought to be mountains gathered together?

The chariots of God, he says, they will be. And lest they be thought few, he adds: multiplied by ten thousands, thousands of those rejoicing. For who is the charioteer? The Lord, he says, is in them. Where? In Sinai, in the holy place. Therefore he signified by this name the immense multitude of saints and of the faithful, who are made, in a certain manner, the chariots of God to carry God, setting down a definite number in place of an infinite one. By dwelling in them and guiding them like a good charioteer, he leads them to the end, as his own chariot, as it were to some appointed place. But in that it is said to be multiplied by ten thousands, the perfection of doctrine is commended: because ten signifies doctrine on account of the Decalogue; a thousand, because it is a perfect number, designates perfection. Therefore the chariot of God exists multiplied by ten thousands: because the number of the saints lives in a manifold and perfect manner according to the ten precepts of the law. Wonderfully, moreover, when he had said, Thousands of those rejoicing, he immediately added: The Lord is in them. Let us not wonder that they rejoice: for the Lord is in them. Therefore even if they are as it were sorrowful, yet always rejoicing (2 Cor).

6.) Nor yet in that end itself, to which they have not yet come, but they are rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation (Rom 12). For the Lord is in them in Sinai in the holy one, that is, in the commandment. For Sinai is interpreted as commandment. And he calls them Apostles: Because the law is indeed holy, and the commandment good and holy (Rom 7), but what would the commandment profit, unless the Lord were there? Of whom it is said: For it is God who works in you both to will and to work for good pleasure (Phil 1). And so the Lord is in them, in the commandment, helping them to do the commandment. How is he in them? For the love of God has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us (Rom 5): and this is the love by which the commandment is fulfilled, and therefore thousands rejoice. How was this done? He turned them to himself, who made them, and he shows us how it was done, saying:

You ascended on high, that is, into heaven by rising again. You led captivity captive. That is, the human race, which the devil had taken captive through sin, you have redeemed. You received gifts in men: as it is said elsewhere: and I will give you the Gentiles as your inheritance, and the ends of the earth as your possession (Ps 2). By the Lord our God our captivity has been captured, that it might become freedom. Hence it was said to Peter: From now on you will be catching men (Luke 5). We have therefore been captured, because we were subjected; sent under that light yoke, freed from sin, whose servants we were (Rom 6), and made servants of righteousness, of which we had been free.

Hence he himself is in them, who gave gifts to men, and received gifts in men; and therefore in this captivity, in this course, under this yoke there are not thousands lamenting, but thousands rejoicing. For the Lord is in them in Sinai, in the holy one. And truly they were a captivity, whom you received: for even the unbelieving, that the Lord God may dwell in them. The unbelieving themselves are the captivity. For by not believing they were possessed by the devil, who works in the children of unbelief (Eph 4). In which also you (he says) were once, when you lived in them (Eph 5). Faith freed them from there, so that now, as believers, they are inhabited by God, made the house of God and the chariot of God, of thousands rejoicing. Hence he who sang these things, foreseeing them in the spirit, himself also filled with joy, belched forth a hymn, saying:

Blessed be the Lord day by day. That is, continually even to the end. And because he saw that chariot being led forever, he continues and says: He will make our way prosperous, God of our salvations. For all things work together for good to those who are called saints according to his purpose (Rom 8): and he does not permit them to be tempted beyond what they can bear, but also makes a way out of temptation (2 Cor 10). For this reason he is rightly called the God of salvations, because he directs our way to salvation, and makes it prosperous to such an extent that he brings us to pass from this world to the Father, and that may come to be which the Lord himself said: I will that where I am, they also may be with me (Jn 17).

Who is this God? He continues and says:

Our God, a God who saves. Grace is greatly commended (from Augustine). For who would be saved unless he himself healed? But so that the thought might be met—why then do we die, if by his grace we have been made safe?—he immediately added: and the Lord's, the Lord's are the outcomes of death. As if he were saying: Why are you indignant, human condition, that you have an outcome of death? Even your Lord's outcome was none other than death. Console yourself rather than complain. Let us therefore bear even death itself patiently, by the example of him who, though he owed death by no sin, and was the Lord from whom no one takes the soul, but he himself lays it down of himself, even his own outcome was death. But although he died humbly, nevertheless he will condemn the proud. And this is what he adds:

Nevertheless God will shatter the heads of his enemies. To shatter heads is to humble proud minds. According to what is written: Everyone who exalts himself will be humbled (Matthew 23; Luke 17). He will shatter even the crown of the hair, that is, the elation of thought, of those who walk in their own sins: that is, of those who persevere in sins. The heads of the enemies have also been shattered, that is, the dominions and empire of the unbelieving, and it is shattered daily: so that the whole world may be subjected to the one head, Christ. Or by heads can be understood capital sins, that is, criminal sins. By the crown of the hair, however, small and venial sins can be signified.

In these things, whoever walks about delighting in them in such a way that he does not cease correcting himself while he lives—God himself, after death not diminished in deity, will shatter and destroy him by the visitation of his strict judgment. Therefore we understand thoughts as hairs, because just as hairs cling to the head, so thoughts cling to the mind. Good thoughts, moreover, adorn the mind; evil ones defile it. Some he will shatter, some he will convert to himself: so that he makes some martyrs, but others preachers. And to confirm this he introduces the Lord speaking thus:

The Lord said, that is, he firmly determined: From Basan I will convert into the depth of the sea. Basan is interpreted as confusion. And from the confusion of sin (from Augustine) comes conversion to God. Hence it is that the Publican did not even dare to lift his eyes to heaven. Thus considering himself, he was confounded, but he went down justified (Luke 18). Likewise Basan is interpreted as dryness. Such was the soul that said: My soul is like a land without water before you (Psalm 42). And blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied (Matthew 5). Then what is the depth of the sea, if not the deep malice of the sinner? Whence it is written: When the sinner has come into the depth of evils, he despises (Proverbs 18). The sinner is converted into the depth of the sea when, with the Lord impelling him, he is thrust back into his own conscience, so that he may reconsider the evils he has done and bewail them in repentance.

Hence it is that by a certain penitent it is said to God: I will reconsider for you my years in the bitterness of my soul (Isa. 38). For then is there true conversion, when that which before had been sweet sin becomes bitter to the soul. God therefore converts to the depths, to deliver each one, those who were the most desperate sinners. How perfect this conversion is, he intimates when he adds:

That your foot may be dipped in blood. Each one is proclaimed while walking about, when he announces the word of God, he performs the office of a foot in the members of Christ. Whence it is written: How beautiful are the feet of those who announce peace, who announce good things (Isa. 52). Such a foot was Paul when he said: I am ready not only to be bound, but even to die for the name of Jesus (Acts 21). The foot of God, therefore, is dipped in blood when the preacher of Christ is honored with martyrdom for the Evangelical faith. Then he adds: The tongue of your dogs from the enemies, from himself. Those very ones (from Augustine) who were to strive even unto blood, he also calls dogs: not detestable, but praiseworthy: keeping faith with their Lord, and barking against enemies for his house. For he did not say merely of dogs, but of your dogs: nor were their teeth, but their tongue praised. Whom the prophet foretold would come from enemies, namely through that conversion of which he was speaking above.

Therefore the merciful God has made his enemies his friends: so that those who were blasphemers might afterward become preachers, and those who persecuted Christ might then die for Christ (1 Tim. 1). And as if it were asked, whence came so great a good to them? The answer immediately follows: From him, that is, from God. For when could they have done this of themselves? For even when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through his death (Rom. 5). Hence it is also added:

They have seen your goings, O God. How you entered into this world, by what path you came incarnate, how you took on human nature, how you were slain, how you were exalted and glorified. They saw, they believed, and as far as they could they followed those same goings by imitating them. Whose goings? Not an angel's, not a patriarch's, not a prophet's, not any just man's: but the goings of my God. Because you assume flesh for my benefit, you who are God, begotten of the Father of my King. You who will be my King in your humanity. That is, your goings are not to be despised, because you will be God and man, restoring men and ruling them. Of whom it is rightly added: Who is in the holy place. For God does not dwell in a body subject to sins (Wis. 1), but in him whose conscience is holy and pure.

To introduce these entrances. The princes have gone before, that is, the first preachers, the Apostles, to whom the principality over the Church was given. Therefore they went before the rest, as princes and teachers; and not alone, but joined with those who sing psalms. From their good works, as from visible instruments, God would be glorified. These princes, as ministers and overseers, will be in the midst of the young women, that is, of the Churches, which were still new, like the primitive Church. Of these I speak, the timbrel-players, that is, those whose flesh is mortified, praising God. For timbrels (from Augustine) are made from dried and stretched hide. For all these good things, O faithful, bless God in the churches, where there is a place of blessing. Because those who are outside the Church cannot worthily praise God. Bless God, I say, the Lord, who created and rules us. Bless him (I say) from the fountains, that is, on account of the fountains: on account of the holy Apostles, who refresh you with spiritual teaching. The fountains, I say, of Israel. That is, proceeding from Judea. For from there (from Augustine) he first chose those whom he would make fountains. For from there the Apostles were chosen, and these first heard: Whoever drinks of this water that I shall give shall never thirst: but it shall become in him a spring of water leaping up unto eternal life (John 4).

There is Benjamin, the youngest, in ecstasy of mind. There too is Paul, the last of the Apostles, who says: For I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin (Rom. 11). He was made in ecstasy of mind when he was caught up even to the third heaven and heard ineffable words, which it is not lawful for a man to speak. Whether, he says, in the body or out of the body, I do not know, God knows (2 Cor. 12). And whence does he allow the princes who have gone before? It follows, and he says: The princes of Judah, their leaders, the princes of Zabulon, the princes of Nephthali. These are indeed Hebrew names, of which Judah is said to be interpreted as confession; Zabulon, a dwelling place of strength; Nephthali, my enlargement. All these insinuate to us the most true princes of the Churches, worthy of leadership, worthy of imitation, worthy of honors: for the Martyrs hold their place in the Churches and excel in the summit of holy dignity. Now in martyrdom the first thing is confession; and for its sake, whatever may happen, the strength of endurance is next assumed. Then after all things have been endured, when the straits are ended, enlargement follows in the rewards. It can also be understood thus: since the Apostle especially commends these three, faith, hope, and charity (1 Cor. 13), let confession be in faith, strength in hope, enlargement in charity. For it is a matter of faith that with the heart one believes unto justice, but with the mouth confession is made unto salvation (Rom. 10).

In the sufferings of tribulations, then, he is present in these things: but hope is strong. For if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience (Rom. 8). But the diffusion of love in the heart provides breadth. For perfect love casts out fear (Rom. 5). And that fear has torment through the narrow straits of the soul. The princes of Judah, therefore, are the leaders of those who bless the Lord in the Churches. The princes of Zebulun, the princes of Naphtali. Princes of confession, of fortitude, of breadth: princes of faith, of hope, of love. With so many princes joined to you.

Command, O God; give charge to your little one, your Son, through whom you work virtuously. For he himself is the commander of princes: he himself is your virtue and wisdom (Hebr. 1), through whom you do whatever you do. Your command is your will. Command your virtue: let your will be fulfilled: let your power be declared. Confirm, O God, this which you have worked in us. Command the Word, that it be done. Command through the Word. Confirm through the Holy Spirit. Command by speaking: confirm by helping. Order what you will, do what you order. And if you have done so, what follows will come to pass:

From your temple in Jerusalem, which is our free mother. And she herself is your holy temple. From this temple of yours, kings will offer gifts to you—namely, themselves, or the sacrifices of praise. Or, as has been said, command from your temple in Jerusalem. For there the preaching of the Apostles began. Hence, when the Lord commanded the Apostles to preach the Gospel to every creature (Matt. 28; Mark 16), he said: "Beginning from Jerusalem" (Luke 24). Another prophet had foreseen this long before, when he said: "From Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem" (Isa. 2). But foreseeing that there would be heretics in the Church of God, he added:

Rebuke the wild beasts of the reed. Heretics are not undeservedly called wild beasts, because they themselves tear apart souls, the simple, just as wild beasts do sheep. And they are rightly called "of the reed," because they are of a shifting and unstable word. The Apostle Peter calls them unlearned and unstable (2 Pet. 3), and says that they twist the Scriptures to their own destruction. And because they are of a hard and untamed neck, not subject to the peaceful and gentle yoke of discipline, impatient of the plow and of teaching, they are therefore also designated by the name of bulls, when it is added: The congregation of bulls among the cows of the peoples. For they do not seduce all peoples, among whom they are heavy and stable. Hence it is written: In the grave people I will praise you (Ps. 34).

But among these peoples are gathered those whom they find like cows—that is, simple and wanton souls, which easily follow by listening. And this gathering is made for this purpose: to shut out those who are approved as silver. For the heretical teachers have this intention, to separate from the ears of the souls they strive to seduce those who are approved as silver—that is, instructed in the divine eloquence. Hence the Apostle says: It is necessary that heresies come, so that those who are approved may be made manifest (1 Cor 11). Concerning these heretics, that they may not prevail, he petitions, saying: Scatter the nations that desire wars. For they do not strive for correction, but for contention. And by contradicting the truth, they strive to bring discord to the catholic faith. Therefore let those rather be scattered, if they refuse to be corrected, who seek to scatter the flock of Christ. But he called them "nations," not because of the generations of families, but because of the generations of sects, where a series of succession confirms the error. And truly you will scatter them. Because:

Envoys will come from Egypt; Ethiopia will hasten her gift to God. By these envoys—from the same source—you will scatter the heretics. By the name of Egypt, or of Ethiopia, he signified the faith of all nations, by a part for the whole. He calls envoys the preachers of reconciliation. Whence Paul says, For Christ, we act as envoys (2 Cor. 5), as though God were exhorting through us; we beseech you for Christ, be reconciled to God. Therefore—from the same source—it was mystically prophesied in this way that preachers of Christian peace would come not only from the Israelites alone, from whom the Apostles were chosen, but also from the other nations. Ethiopia too—that is, the soul—will hasten her hand, that is, will precede his vengeance, by believing in God, so that her sins may be forgiven, lest remaining a sinner she be punished. Or because, so that good works may follow, faith precedes; and there are no good works except those that follow preceding faith: nothing else seems to be said. Ethiopia will hasten her hand to God, unless Ethiopia believes in God. For thus she will precede her hand, that is, her works. Whose hand—whose? Ethiopia's own? This is not ambiguous in Greek, because there "her" is most plainly put in the feminine gender. Let it be said therefore: Ethiopia will hasten her hand to God, that is, by believing in God she will precede her works. For I reckon (says the Apostle) that a man is justified by faith, without the works of the law (Rom.

3.) Hence now, as though all things had run their course, which we already see to be fulfilled, the prophet urges us to the praise of Christ, and then proclaims his future coming, saying:

Kingdoms of the earth, that is, men of every kind from the earth, sing to God with voice and heart: make melody to the Lord with good works. He does not invite one kingdom only, nor one nation only, to the praise of God. For the merciful God wishes no one to perish, but that all should come to the knowledge of his name (1 Tim. 2). Whence he also adds: Make melody to God. And as if it were asked, Who is this God? he continues and says:

Who ascends above the heaven of heavens to the East. He repeats this to stir us up to praise God, and to commend how great is he who is praised. Hence the Apostle says: He it is who ascended above all the heavens (Eph. 4). In that he added "to the East," he also expressed the very place, since it is in the eastern regions that he rose again and from whence he ascended. And since from there he will come to judge the living and the dead, he shows what follows: Behold, he will give his voice, a voice of power. He who was without a voice, like a lamb before its shearer (Isa. 53)—behold, he will give his voice. Not a voice of weakness, as one to be judged, but a voice of power, as one who will judge. For God will not be hidden as before, but God will come openly, our God, and he will not be silent. And therefore:

Give glory to God above Israel. That is, show by voice and heart that God is glorious, above those who are spiritual Israel. Of whom it can truly be said: Behold a true Israelite, in whom there is no guile (John 1). Then shall his magnificence be, and his power in the clouds. When you shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds with great power and majesty, and the powers of heaven shall be moved (Matt. 24; Luke 12).

God is wonderful in his saints—that is, he shall be. When he shall judge the world through his Holy One, when the righteous shall shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father (Matt. 13), when God himself shall be all in all (Eph. 1). And well is it added: The God of Israel. Because then that very name shall be most truly and most fully fulfilled—Israel, which is interpreted as "seeing God"—since we shall see him as he is (1 John 3). And not any other, but He himself shall give power: which he first showed in his own flesh, namely immortality and impassibility. And he shall give strength: because death, the enemy, shall be destroyed (Hos. 13). To his people, that is, to those serving him even to the end. Or he shall give his people power as regards the soul, making it divine and blessed. And he shall give strength as regards the body, making it incorrupt (1 Cor. 15) and eternal. Therefore, for such great benefits of his, blessed be God, etc.

TITLE OF THE SIXTY-EIGHTH PSALM.

The following psalm is entitled in this way: Unto the end, for those who shall be changed, a psalm of David. This psalm belongs to the David who is signified, that is, to Christ, who speaks here. And it directs us unto the end, that is, unto himself. A psalm, I say, composed for the exhorting of those who shall be changed—from unbelief to faith, from oldness to newness, from corruption to incorruption. The subject matter of the psalm is Christ suffering, according to the frailty of human nature. And he sets forth his passion through many portions of the psalm, up to its consummation. Hence he also says: They gave me gall for my food, etc. The intention of Christ is, in this work, to invite us to his patience. But concerning his passion, as is the prophetic custom, he begins by speaking in prayer, and to ask manifestly in all things for the Father's aid: so that he may teach us by his example to pray in tribulations, and especially in those in which it is most necessary. He says therefore:

PSALM 68.

Save me, O God. And he states the reason: For the waters have entered, that is, the Jewish people, like waters, with noise and violence have lifted themselves up, and by bringing evils all the more, they have come even to my soul, to take it away. They entered like waters to the soul, when the senseless crowds prevailed even to the point of killing Christ (John 19). But could they have done this, unless it had been permitted by him? Therefore, why does he cry out as if he were suffering something against his will, except that in his head he prefigures his members? For he suffered because he willed it. The martyrs suffered, even if they were unwilling. Hence it was said to Peter: Another will gird you and lead you where you do not wish (John 21). For although we pass from evil to good, that passage itself is somewhat bitter, and has the gall that the Jews gave to the Lord in his passion. It also has something to be endured, by which those who gave him vinegar to drink are shown. Hence, therefore, that we may be delivered, let us cry out: lest perhaps in pressures we consent to iniquity, and be truly and irreparably swallowed up. Finally, how greatly their malice raged against Christ, he himself intimates, when he adds:

I am fixed in the mire of the deep, and there is no substance. Earthly men, while they desire vain things and wish to draw others to agree with them, are mire; among them are some most wicked and desperate. These are not only mire but also of the deep. Such were those in whom our Lord was fixed, that is, stuck fast, so that he might be held and killed by them. Therefore the Son of God came to the mire of the deep, and there was no substance in which he was fixed, because he was fixed in their iniquity. We have vices from ourselves and from our own will, and vile things are not substance. The Lord was fixed in these when he suffered persecution—not in the substance of men, which was made through him, but in the vice of the Jews, which was made through them. Nor was I fixed in such a way that I could not have guarded against it, for I offered myself willingly. And this is it: I came into the depth of the sea, and the storm drowned me—by which he means that they are called the sea because of the bitterness of life, and the depth because of their elation. Therefore Christ came, not by any compulsion but by his own free will, among proud and bitter men; and their seditious commotion, like a violent storm, drowned and extinguished him. And in this he shows that they are without excuse, when he adds:

I have labored crying out; my throat has become hoarse. What does Christ cry out? "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees" (Matthew 23). "Woe to the world because of scandals" (Matthew 18). Daily also he was teaching in the temple and the synagogues (Luke 19); but because he bore little fruit among them, for this reason he labored. Hence it is that through the Prophet he says: "I have labored in bearing" (Isaiah 1). Therefore his throat is also said to be hoarse, not as regards himself, but as regards those by whom he was not understood, not believed. So great, moreover, was his persecution that not only did these not believe, but those who had already believed doubted. And this is what he adds: My eyes have failed, while I hope in my God. For while he perseveres in the passion, and hastening toward his Lord, he hopes that he may rise from the dead: his eyes failed, because even the Apostles themselves (who stood out like lamps in the body) doubted. And lest those who were persecuting him should seem to be few, it is added:

They have been multiplied beyond the hairs of my head, those who hate me without cause. As if he were plainly saying: They have grown beyond number, who hated me without cause. To hate one who harms you is in some way human. Hence the Lord in the law, speaking as it were to carnal people and condescending to their weakness, commanded them to love friends and permitted them to hate enemies (Leviticus 19). But to hold in hatred one who does no harm is not only not human, but even diabolical. Hatred of an enemy seems, as it were, natural, yet it comes about from the corruption of nature. But hatred of an innocent man is against nature. There is therefore a great difference between hatred and hatred. For one thing is what weakness produces; another is what malice alone instigates. In this the Jews blazed forth so greatly that in their hatred of Christ they exceeded both number and nature and measure. Their malice is further exaggerated when it is added: Those who persecute me, my enemies, have been strengthened unjustly. First they were multiplied who hate me without cause, that is, without reason. And then these were strengthened and emboldened, so that the hatred they had conceived in their heart they might also fulfill in deed by persecuting. And this they did likewise unjustly, because evidently they found no cause for which they ought to persecute me or become my enemies. But amid such great malice of theirs, our Lord makes known to us his innocence, when he adds: What I did not steal, then I was paying back. For who stole? Adam. And what did he steal? The forbidden apple.

Taste," he says, "and you will be like gods" (Gen. 3). They wished to seize divinity, and they lost happiness. They usurped for themselves what was not their own, and this is the robbery. Therefore they were handed over to the exactor, the devil, so that they might pay the penalty of death for sin. But Christ took nothing by robbery, because he did not sin; and yet he paid the debt of sin, that is, death. He came to death like any man, but not by the same way as any man. For all others come to death through guilt, but he alone came to death through righteousness. Both, therefore, paid death, because it is the debt of sin—Adam and Christ. But because Adam sinned, his death was the punishment of sin. Because Christ did not sin, however, his death was made for sin. But the world did not understand this fruit of Christ's death; therefore it reckoned it as foolishness (Heb. 9 and 10). "We preach," says the Apostle, "Jesus Christ, and him crucified, to the Jews indeed a stumbling block, but to the Gentiles foolishness" (1 Cor. 1). But what the world did not know, God knew. And this is what he says:

God, you know my foolishness. The benefit of my suffering, which is reckoned as foolishness by some, has been provided, approved, and ordered by you, God the Creator. You know what they did not know. For if they had known, they would never have crucified the Lord of glory (1 Cor. 2). And what is so like foolishness as that, when he had it in his power to lay low his persecutors with a single word, he should allow himself to be seized, scourged, spat upon, struck, crowned with thorns, and fastened to the wood? But what is foolish in God and weak, this is wiser and stronger than men (1 Cor. 1). For from the very thing by which God was humbled and suffered, man was raised up and healed. In like manner. And my offenses, that is, the works that have been reckoned as offenses (as is that saying: This man is not from God, who does not keep the sabbath [John 9], and other things of this kind) have not been hidden from you. What they thought to be foolishness, that I should suffer: and offenses, that I might heal the sick: this you knew to be wisdom and virtue. And it must be noted that from these words we are instructed that in all things we do, we should always attend more to the will of God than to that of men. And let our action be that which God approves, even if man does not approve. Hence it is that Paul admonishes us to be most foolish before men, so that before God we may deserve to be wise (1 Cor. 1). Or his offenses have not been hidden, because his members do not cease daily to confess their sins.

And because it was going to happen that Christians would be reproached as if for foolishness, because they believed in a man who died and was crucified, he pleads for them, saying:

Let them not be ashamed in me who wait for you, Lord: Lord of hosts. For many, hearing of the ignominy of the cross of Christ, were ashamed, and withdrew from the faith and hope which they had begun to have in God. For this reason Paul, to strengthen the minds of the weak, declares that he is not ashamed of the Gospel of God. For he was so far from being ashamed that, though bound and in chains, he rejoiced all the more (Rom. 1 and 5; Eph. 3 and 1). Let them not be ashamed, then, in a humble and crucified man, who wait for God and the Lord of hosts: because he who appeared despised in the flesh will appear mighty and glorious in his divinity (Phil. 2). Therefore it is further added: Let them not be confounded over me who seek you, God of Israel. Over me, put to death, let them not be confounded in mind, nor let them be ashamed in countenance, who wait for you to come: and besides, by living well and loving, they do not cease to seek. And this ought to defend them from confusion and shame, because you who sent me, and willed that I be humbled, are the Lord of hosts and the God of Israel, that is, the same Lord and God of angels and of men. For by the name of hosts he designated the angels. But by Israel he figured those who see God spiritually through faith and love. And he shows another reason why they ought not to be ashamed, when he adds:

Because for your sake I endured reproach: confusion has covered my face. Reproach is what the enemy casts in one's teeth. What he says, I endured, would not be great, unless he added, for your sake. For if you endure because you have sinned, you endure for your own sake, not for God's. But what glory is it (as Peter says) if, when you sin and are punished, you suffer it? If, however, you endure because you have kept God's commandment, your reward remains for you forever: because you have endured reproaches for God's sake. Therefore, since Christ in his passion heard many reproaches and, keeping silent, bore all things for God's sake, he appeared as one truly shamefaced in countenance. They took the virtue of meekness as a sign of confusion. He has said what he would endure for God's sake. Now he shows from whom he endured it.

I have become, he says, a stranger to my brothers, and a foreigner to the sons of my mother. Although he seems to repeat the same thing with similar words, nevertheless "foreigner" sounds like something more than "stranger." For we call a man a stranger when he is not of the household, or not known by face, even if he is from the same land. But a man from another country we are accustomed to call a foreigner. Christ had been a stranger to his brothers, because he appeared unlike his carnal relatives in life and conduct. He was also a foreigner, according to what he says: My kingdom is not of this world. We can also understand the Apostles by "brothers," and by "the sons of his mother," the sons of the synagogue.

He was therefore a stranger to his brothers, since he was no longer believed by the Apostles themselves. He was a stranger to Peter, when Peter had begun to affirm and swear that he did not know the man. He was also a sojourner to the sons of the synagogue, whence they also said: But this man, we do not know where he is from. Why did these things happen to him?

Because zeal for your house has consumed me. He was consumed by zeal for God, that is, he was burning within, when he cast the sellers and buyers out of the temple, and poured out the money of the money-changers. No sacrifice is so great to almighty God as zeal for souls. There the fire of God is kindled, there the clean mind is consumed by the ardor of holy zeal. Hence it is that the Holy Spirit appeared in a dove and in fire: because those whom he has filled, he makes both simple and burning. And because of this zeal, the reproaches of those who reproach you have fallen upon me. For because he was correcting them, from that very fact they were more indignant and plotted death against him. But they could not bring greater reproaches against God than by denying Christ his Son. For no one has reproached Christ except by reproaching God. And no one honors the Father except the one who also honors the Son. But those reproaches fell upon Christ, when those who were reproaching killed him. Yet amid these things the pious Lord commends his meekness when he adds:

And I covered my soul with fasting. The fasting of Christ has already been commended spiritually in another psalm [34]. His fasting was when all who believed in him failed. And his thirst was when he said to the woman: I thirst, give me to drink (John 4). For he was thirsting for her faith; and from the cross, when he said, I thirst (John 19), he was seeking their faith. Finally he refused the gall that they offered him (ibid.). He chose rather to fast than to receive bitterness. For those who are bitter do not enter into his body. And in this fasting I covered, that is, I humbled my soul. Humility was Christ's covering. For because he was humbled, he was not recognized. And this very thing became a reproach to him. For the more humble he was, the more contemptible he was held among the reprobate.

And I put my garment as sackcloth. I opposed my flesh to them, in which they might rage. (I hid my divinity. Sinners are clothed in sackcloth as penitents.) And in a certain manner it became a garment of sin, because by sin he condemned sin in the flesh (Rom 8). Not that the flesh of Christ was sinful, but because it had the likeness of sinful flesh. And from this also I became to them a byword. A byword (from Augustine) is said to be when a likeness is given concerning someone, when a curse is pronounced upon him. Thus may that man (for example) perish, just as that one did. This is the byword, that is, the comparison and likeness of the accursed:

Those who sat in the gate spoke against me. That is, in public. Where there is idleness, there is talkativeness. Publicly they spoke about me. Publicly they opposed me. Before everyone they slandered me, and those who drank wine sang against me. Even the sinners themselves mocked me. Attend, O man, to what God endured for your sake. Attend in your head to the rule of discipline, the form of virtue. Learn (he says) from me, for I am gentle and humble of heart, and you will find rest for your souls (Matt. 11). Amid so many scandals and reproaches, amid so many persecutions and tribulations, what were you doing, most gentle Jesus?

I direct my prayer to you, O God. They mocked, he prayed (Luke 23). They assailed, he loved. Not returning (he says) evil for evil, or curse for curse, but on the contrary blessing (Rom. 12; 1 Thess. 5). For this is the perfection of love: to love enemies and to pray for them (Matt. 5). When you are cursed and have nothing you can do; when reproaches are hurled at you and you are unable to correct them, nothing remains for you but to pray. This is the rule for the righteous, that they conquer by praying. And because now is the time for praying and appeasing God (Eccl. 3), therefore he adds: The time of God's good pleasure. Behold, says the Prophet, now is the acceptable time; behold, now is the day of salvation (Isa. 49; 2 Cor. 6). For the fullness of time has come, in which God sent his Son on earth, in which he is well pleased (Galat.

and through whom he gave his grace to the human race. Whence he also says: In the multitude of your mercies hear me, in the truth of your salvation. For if there were not a multitude of your mercy, what would we do about the multitude of our iniquity? Therefore, because I have directed my prayer to you, O God: because it is the time to fulfill your good pleasure, that through me the man whom you formed be redeemed: for this reason hear me, not in the merits of men, but in the multitude of your mercy, and also in the truth of your salvation: so that through this you may appear truthful, namely by giving the salvation which you promised. Two things are placed here, truth and mercy: in which he asks to be heard: in which also are all the ways of the Lord (Ps. 24). Mercy, by forgiving sins. Truth, by rendering what was promised. But now let us hear in what he wishes to be heard:

Deliver me from the mire, lest I be stuck fast. Hence he asks to be freed, where he was previously fixed fast. And whom he takes as the mire, he explains, when he adds: Free me from those who hate me, and from the depths of the waters. Reprobrate men are both mire, while they love the earth: and a depth of waters, while in the whirlpool of carnal pleasures they are dissolved. Therefore, he had clung fast in the flesh (from Augustine), but he had not clung fast in the spirit. He says this from the weakness of his members. When perhaps you are seized by him who presses you toward iniquity, your body indeed is held: according to the body, you are fixed fast in the depth of the abyss. But as long as you do not consent, you have not clung fast.

If you consent, you have become stuck fast. Therefore let your prayer be there, so that since your body is already held, your soul may not be held. Whence there is still added:

Let not the tempest of waters drown me. He drowned according to the flesh. Let it not drown according to the soul. Nor let the deep swallow me up, that is, nor let iniquity envelop me. Nor let the pit shut its mouth over me. For then the pit shuts its mouth over a man, that is, the depth of iniquity, when he not only lies sunk in sins, but also loses the approach of confession. Whence it is written: When the sinner has come into the depth of evils, he despises. But when a man says, I am a sinner, the depth of the pit is also illuminated by some light. Then he gives the reason why he ought to be heard, when he adds:

Hear me, O God, for your mercy is kind. That mercy which is naturally in you is full of benevolence and grace. Nor do I ask to be heard according to that alone, but also according to the multitude of your mercies, which you showed to the fathers of old: as to Noah in the flood, as to Daniel in the pit, and to many others. Because of your mercy and your compassions hear me, and look upon me. Of these, one is naturally in you, the others in the showing forth of benefits. Look, I say,

And do not, as if angry, turn your face away from your servant, that is, from your little one. He says this to commend him. For God is a lover of such as these. "Suffer," he says, "the little children to come to me, for of such is the kingdom of heaven" (Mark 10). Our Lord is called a child because of his purity, his simplicity, his innocence. He wishes us also to be such as these. Whence he also says: "Unless you are converted and become like this little child, you shall not enter the kingdom of heaven" (Matthew 18). He gives also another reason, saying: "Because I am in tribulation, quickly hear me." Let your mercy move you; let my misery move you. Tribulation presses hard. For this reason it is needful that your consolation come quickly. Quickly, therefore, hear me. Whenever the Lord permits or brings it about that we are in some tribulation, even then he is merciful. For he does not withdraw nourishment, but he stirs up desire. Now, therefore, there is no further reason for you to delay. My tribulation has reached its fixed measure of calamity. Let your mercy come to do the work of goodness. I have said, do not turn away your face, but rather

Attend to my soul and deliver it—that is, look carefully within, and inspect what virtue of gentleness is in my soul, what purity of intention—so that this may be the merit of my deliverance. And not only for my sake, but also for the sake of my enemies, deliver me. For it would be utterly unworthy if they should rejoice over my suffering as though they were victors. Or, for the salvation of my enemies, deliver me, so that when they have seen my deliverance and glorification, they may be converted from their error and be saved. And you ought to deliver me: for you know how many things I have endured out of love for you.

20. You know my reproach—that is, how shameful were the words they brought against me. And my confusion, which they imputed to me. And my reverence, how ignominiously they treated me. To blush at the charge of a false crime is not a crime. Or even if it is a crime, it is not the crime of him against whom it is charged. But nevertheless the weakness of the human mind is often ashamed even when a false charge is made: not because it has been charged, but because it has been believed. All these things are in the body of the Lord. You see me afflicted, and you see also those who afflict me.

In your sight are all those who afflict me. They afflict; I am afflicted. Between the two you are the inspector and judge (Matt. 16). Attend to the injustice in them, the innocence in me, and repay each according to his merits. And lest he seem to be afflicted as one who did not foresee and was ignorant, he immediately added: My heart has awaited reproach and misery. My heart has awaited—that is, my will foresaw reproach in words, misery in deeds. For unless he himself had foreseen and willed this, he would certainly not have been born, not have suffered, not have died. But whose misery did the Lord foresee? Surely of those very men who afflict and crucify. In them is misery, in him is mercy. Hence also, hanging on the cross, he said: Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do (Luke 23). Let all, therefore, who afflict others be afraid, since they are in the sight of God, whose vengeance they cannot escape. And those who bring evils upon others remain miserable. For those who suffer for righteousness' sake are blessed (Matt. 5). You have told us, devout Lord, what you suffered outwardly; make manifest also what anxiety you had within. And I waited (he says) for one who would grieve with me, and there was none; and for one who would console, and I found none. What is this? Were not the Apostles grieved at the Lord's death? Does not Mary sit at the tomb and weep? Does not the Lord himself say to the two disciples on the road: What is this that you are discussing with one another as you walk, and are sad (Luke

But they were grieved over the death of the flesh. The Lord alone, however, was grieved over the death of the soul—namely, because all remained in unbelief. Therefore he did not say, "One who would grieve," but "I waited for one who would grieve together with me," that is, I expected it, and there was none. For many grieved carnally; but no one grieved spiritually, except he alone. And it would have been a great consolation to him if he had found some who believed in him. Because he did not find them, he groans as if complaining. Hence he further adds:

And they gave me gall for food, and in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink. They gave me no other food or drink but vinegar mixed with gall. And this was a figure. The Lord thirsted for their salvation, and they gave him bitterness and oldness to drink. Gall and vinegar (from Augustine) are still offered to Christ by those who, by living badly, bring scandal upon the Church. For the Jews sinned less in crucifying one walking on the earth than those who despise one seated in heaven. They offered gall to drink; the Lord tasted it and would not drink (Mark 15). If we did not endure them, we would not taste it at all. But because it is necessary to endure them, it is necessary to taste them. Yet because such people cannot be in the members of Christ, they can be tasted but cannot be received into the body. And because they gave bad food, they were justly punished in their food. Hence it is further added:

Let their table become a snare before them. He calls their table the sacred Scripture, which God had prepared for them for the refreshment of their souls. This table became a snare for them, because from their own law they are caught by the Christians and convicted of error. Why "before them"? For there are those who understand their own iniquity, and yet persevere in it most stubbornly: they both know the snare and submit their necks to be held. Let it become also a recompense to them, that they may receive like a mule for their evils, and that those who sinned through the law may be punished through the law. Let it become also a stumbling block. For what greater stumbling block could be made for the Jews than that they, blinded by malice, afterward crucified their God and Savior, whom the law and the prophets foretold? Hence Paul says: We preach Christ crucified, to the Jews indeed a stumbling block (1 Cor 1). But this that he says, "Let it become," he says not by wishing but by prophesying: not that it may become, but because it will become. Nor can it be otherwise than that these things happen to such people. When we hear such things said by the Spirit of God to be going to happen to the wicked, let us understand them in them for this purpose, that we may avoid such things. Malice, I say, blinded them: and therefore he adds:

Let their eyes be darkened that they may not see. For if they had known, they would never have crucified the Lord of glory (1 Cor 2). The first sin is pride (Sir 10). The first punishment of sin is darkness of heart. Because they were proud, they were made blind. Hence there follows at once: And bend down their back always. For this always follows: that if the eye of the mind is deprived of the light from above, the soul is immediately inclined to desire the things that are behind. And this is to have a bent back, to bow the state of the mind to lower things. Another punishment follows.

Pour out your wrath upon them: and let the fury of your wrath overtake them. Wrath is poured out when the vengeance of almighty God is exercised upon them in manifold ways. The fury of God's wrath is the visitation of future vengeance. Thus it pertains to present striking, while fury pertains to future damnation. Therefore fury, because there is no remedy there, no mercy there. Let it overtake, he says, them, as fugitives. For there will no longer be any place of escape, when eternal torment has swallowed them up. And yet no commotion of wrath or fury is to be supposed in God; but by human usage he is said to be angry or furious when the guilt of sins is struck by him so sharply and severely. Hence it is further added:

Let their dwelling place be made desolate, and let there be none to dwell in their tents. He calls the dwelling place the city of Jerusalem itself, in which they dwelt together. But the tents designate the individual houses of each, where they were able to cry out against the Lord. There (as Augustine says) they are not permitted by the Lord to dwell. All those places are both full of men and empty of Jews. Why this?

Because they persecuted the one whom you struck, and they added to the pain of my wounds. We have been struck by God, because we have sinned; and our sins are the wounds. The pain of the wounds is the affliction against sin. The striking is mortality and corruption. The Son of God himself took up this striking, although he did not sin. Truly (says the Prophet) he himself bore our sicknesses, and he himself carried our sorrows (Isaiah 53). But the Jews added, because the one whom God the Father had wounded with the blows of mortality and corruption, they moreover killed. Mortal men here, when they are born, are born into punishment, and this punishment is the striking of the Lord. And to this punishment they add, whoever have persecuted others. And because they themselves added pain upon pain, see the open justice that follows.

Add, he says, iniquity upon their iniquity. So that, as it is said elsewhere: Let him who does harm still do harm, and let him who is in filth still be filthy (Rev 22). And so let them not enter into your righteousness. For guilt stirs up guilt, and when one is not corrected, another is generated from it. And the more charity grows cold, the more iniquity abounds. Or, upon the iniquity of the fathers, set the iniquity of the sons, so that their iniquity may be extended from generation to generation, as they themselves said: His blood be upon us and upon our sons (Mt 27). But what he said, Add, must not be taken to mean that God places or adds iniquity in anyone, but that he does this, as it were, when he permits it to happen. For he does not destroy the human mind by warring against it, but by withdrawing; because, once it is abandoned, it is sufficient for its own destruction. Hence Solomon says: Consider the works of God, that no one can correct him whom he has despised (Eccl 7). Therefore there is still added:

Let them be blotted out of the book of the living. By the name "book" the predestination of God is understood: for just as what is written in a book remains fixed, so whatever is predestined by God is unchangeable. How then does he say "Let them be blotted out," if those who are written cannot be blotted out? But this was said according to the hope of those who thought themselves written there. What (from Augustine) is "Let them be blotted out of the book of life"? Let it be evident even to them that they are not there. Those who hoped that they were written in the book of God, as if by the merit of their own righteousness—to whom it is said: Search the Scriptures, in which you think you have eternal life (John 5)—when their condemnation has been brought even to their own knowledge, they will be blotted out of the book of life, that is, they will recognize that they are not there. I said "Let them be blotted out," according to their hope. What according to your equity? And let them not be written with the just. He confirms at the end of the verse what was set forth at the beginning. We have heard what we must beware of in the wicked; let us now hear what is to be imitated in Christ. Those men were such, and so they perished. You, gracious Lord, what do you say concerning yourself?

I am poor and sorrowful: your salvation, O God, has taken me up. From the example of our Lord let us learn to be poor and sorrowful. For blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. And blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted (Matt. 5). This he first showed to us in himself, and therefore he says, I am. His whole body says this. The body of Christ on this earth is poor and sorrowful. But let Christians be rich—yet if they are truly Christians, they are poor. For in comparison with the heavenly riches they hope for, whatever they have here they count as nothing. Nor are such poor ones forsaken, since the salvation of God has taken them up. To what end? That they may no longer be poor and sorrowful, but rather rejoicing and blessed, and may do what follows:

I will praise the name of God with a song. That is, with gladness; and exulting within myself, I will magnify him in praise. These are my riches: that with joy and gladness I never cease to praise and magnify my God.

And that praise will be pleasing to God, above every sacrifice of the law. And he shows this in part, when he adds: Above the new calf producing horns and hooves. For such a calf was sought in sacrifice, one that was both new and yet so large that it put forth horns and had strong hooves. And this was done for its signification. He who is well instructed and rich for the praise of God ought to have horns, with which to scatter the adversary, and hooves, with which to stir up the earth: new, on account of the new life. Perhaps some heretic contradicts; let him be scattered by the horns of the New and Old Testament. Another savors earthly things; let him be stirred up by the hooves of discretion and the strength of virtue. Above this calf my praise will be pleasing to you, in that eternity where the saints will praise you perfectly, without any contradiction.

Let the poor see, and rejoice. Let them believe these things, and rejoice in hope: and let them be all the more poor, that they may deserve to be enriched. And he turns himself to admonish them, saying: Seek God, and your soul shall live. God is the life of the soul. Do you seek bread, that your flesh may live? Seek God, and your soul shall live. How do you prove this?

Because the Lord has heard the poor. Nor has he heard any but the poor. If you wish to be heard, be poor. Do not presume on yourself, nor seek anything besides your God. If you are a sinner, do not for that reason despair. And his bound ones, in their sins, through which they seemed to be rejected by God, he did not despise. God does not despise those bound ones who are his own, that is, who seek him through penitence and satisfaction.

Wherefore let the heavens and the earth praise him, and the sea, and all the creeping things in them. Let man, a rational creature, praise God, and through man let every creature praise him: since the very species and materials of things are a cause for man, that he himself may praise his author and Savior. Why should they praise?

Because God will make Zion safe, that is, the Church beholding God, now through faith, then contemplating through sight (1 Cor. 13). And the cities of Judah will be built up, that is, souls confessing their own sins. The beginning of good things is the confession of sins. And the just man in the beginning is his own accuser (Prov. 18). First, then, men ought to confess their evils, and be changed for the better in their conduct: and so they will be built up in the city of God, whence the psalm is entitled for those, namely, who will be changed. And they will dwell there, that is, in that blessed city, in that lofty Zion. And not for an hour, but they will acquire it by inheritance. That they may possess it forever: and not one single generation of the just, but through all successions.

And his servants' seed, that is, the imitators of faith, shall possess it. And because faith is not strong without love (James 2), he immediately added: And those who love his name shall dwell in it. These serve God not from fear but from love. These are the seed, and these shall dwell in it as in their own inheritance. No one shall inherit there except through love. God is love. And whoever remains in love remains in God, and God in him (1 John 4). This is the end, this is the inheritance.

TITLE OF THE SIXTY-NINTH PSALM.

There follows the title in another psalm, Unto the end. A psalm of David, for a remembrance that the Lord saved me. Unto the end, that is, this psalm sends us to Christ, which is attributed to David, that is, to the same Christ, or to any just man placed in tribulation, for a remembrance, that is, for the consideration of remembrance, because (he says) the Lord saved me. For mindful of salvation and also of the benefits which God conferred on the world (as has been shown in another psalm), he securely asks to be delivered, although he is pressed by many evils. There is therefore in this psalm the voice of those in tribulation who are in peril amid their sufferings, but who trust in their head. These are the subject matter of the psalm. In the first part I ask of God my deliverance, then the conversion of my persecutors. In the second they exult in the Lord and magnify him.

Finally they commend their poverty and neediness, and after the example of the others they show that they have been helped by God and set free. They also intend to exhort everyone to turn to God and to make them secure concerning the eternal good, even if they are pressed by evils, and in these not to despair, but to invoke the help of God who tests them. Let us listen to them, and let each one of us say with heartfelt affection what follows.

PSALM 69.

O God, attend to my help. O Lord, hasten to help me. You who are God and my Lord, my creator and governor, attend mercifully to my help: help speedily. First look upon the pressing necessity; then hasten the consolation of aid. When he says, Attend to my help, he shows that he himself does something through free will, and he asks for divine aid to cooperate. This verse is to be spoken against all adversities and temptations. Both when we are troubled and when we labor, we always have need of divine help. Then he prays also for his persecutors, when he adds:

Let them be confounded for their sins, and let them be reverent, that is, let them fear you as judge—those who seek my soul, that is, to destroy it. This utterance belongs properly to the martyrs, who were sought out for this very purpose, that they might be killed. And when they pray for their enemies, they instill in us the perfection of charity. Love (says the Lord) your enemies. Do good to those who hate you: and pray for those who persecute and slander you (Mark 5). Therefore there is still added:

Let them be turned backward and be ashamed, who wish me evil. First there was (according to Augustine) the onslaught of the persecutors: now the malevolence of those who plot remains. There are times in the Church distinguished by persecution. The onslaught against the Church occurred when kings and princes persecuted her. They believed: peace was given to the Church, but the roaring of the persecutors is not absent: yet they have turned their onslaughts into thought. It was said concerning these times of the Church: The sinner shall see and be angry, he shall gnash with his teeth and pine away (Ps 111). For these the martyr prays, just as also for those, that they may be turned backward, that is, that they may believe in Christ and follow him. Let them also be ashamed of the sins they have committed. For the sinner and penitent, the more reverence he shows from the remembrance of his offense, the more abundant grace he merits from the Lord. Did not the Publican prefer this, who did not even dare to lift his eyes to heaven?

Therefore he is justified more by the Lord's judgment than that Pharisee, whom presumption disfigured (Luke 18). Let them be turned away at once, blushing, who say to me, Euge, Euge—that is, Well done, well done. Likewise let those be turned away, blushing for their evils, who flatter me. And this at once, so that their conversion not be delayed. For guilt is easily corrected which is quickly corrected. By these three verses three kinds of persecutors are commended, that is, evildoers, the malevolent, and flatterers: of whom the first acts by deed, the second by thought, the third by speech. In these three ways the body of Christ is afflicted. For the reprobate do not cease to inflict on the good the evils they can. And when they cannot do the evil they wish, they do not cease to dwell on it in thought. And when they are unable or do not dare to harm openly, they do what they can—by giving, by drawing. These are they who say, Euge, euge: who, as many as they can, seduce with false praises. Nevertheless the Church prays for these, that they may be converted, and that what follows may come to pass:

Let them exult according to the body, and rejoice according to the soul, not glorying in themselves but in you, from whom they have the power to rejoice and exult—all who seek you. For others have no power to rejoice or exult in you. And let them say always, Let the Lord be magnified. Are you a sinner (as Augustine says)? Let him be magnified, that he may call you. Do you confess? Let him be magnified, that he may forgive. Do you already live righteously? Let him be magnified, that he may rule you. Do you persevere to the end? Let him be magnified, that he may glorify you. Always, therefore, let the Lord be magnified. Let the righteous say this; let those who seek him say this. Whoever does not say this does not seek him. Let those say this who love your salvation—that is, your Son. For from him is their salvation, not from themselves. Nor can those worthily praise God the Father who love God the Son, through whom they have been saved. I will say, The Lord is magnificent, who saved us so powerfully. But let each one say of himself what follows:

But I am needy, begging for my salvation, or for that of others; and I am poor—that is, insufficient in myself to seek it. Yet I do not therefore despair, for God helps me, so that I may possess the salvation I desire. This, then, is how it befits us to praise God: that when we magnify him as we are able, we judge ourselves weak and useless. For he is abundant, we are needy; he is rich, we are poor. When we recognize these things, and distrusting ourselves put our confidence in him alone, then God helps us as poor and needy. Hence, turning to him whose help he has, he adds a familiar address: You are my helper in good things, and my deliverer from evils—and no other. And this alone remains for me to ask: Lord, do not delay; but do what you are going to do, leading me into your glory. And here he openly indicates that he is mindful of God's benefits, as the title prefixed it. Let us also implore the help, the deliverance, and the glory of our Lord God; and with our whole heart let us say to him, Lord, do not delay.

The title of the seventieth psalm.

The psalm that follows is entitled in this way: Unto the end, a psalm of David, of the sons of Jonadab, and of the first captives. This title touches on history—how the sons of Jonadab were led into Babylon in the first captivity (Jeremiah 35). Their father Jonadab commanded them not to drink wine and to dwell in tents. Jonadab, which is interpreted as "voluntary," prefigured the Lord Christ, who commanded his own followers and imitators not to drink wine (Luke 21)—that is, not to cling to earthly pleasure—and to dwell in tents, that is, to be accustomed to live in the warfare of the Lord. Christ was the voluntary one of the Lord, who became obedient to God the Father even unto death (Philippians 2). The title is thus expounded: this psalm is attributed to David himself, that is, to Christ, because Christ speaks in this psalm. A psalm, I say, of the sons of Jonadab, that is, of the imitators of Christ, because he acts for their benefit; and of the first captives, because now the sons of Christ—who were formerly sons of Adam—have been led captive by the devil. For it was not first that which is spiritual, as the Apostle says, but that which is natural (1 Corinthians 15). For we were natural in Adam, living in the flesh; but in Christ we are spiritual, that is, living in the spirit. The subject matter is every righteous man who hopes in the Lord. And many benefits of God are described concerning the one who hopes in him.

In the first part he asks to be delivered from evils, so that he may be able to praise God. In the second part (which begins, Cast me not off in the time of old age) he asks that, just as God offered him his benefits in his youth, so he may do in his old age, where the greatest work is. In the third part (which begins, What great things hast thou done, O God, who is like unto thee?) he gives thanks for the benefits conferred. Our true Jonadab invites us, his sons, to conformity with himself, that we drink no wine and dwell in tents, as was explained above. And that, just as he himself was exalted through the humility of his obedience (Phil. 2), we may deserve to be exalted through the footsteps of his humility. And this is the intent. Throughout the whole psalm, moreover, the grace of God is commended. He says therefore:

PSALM 70.

In thee, O Lord, have I hoped; and if I am now confounded—or rather, let me not be confounded forever. By withdrawing from God, a man falls into sin and is confounded. By drawing near to the Lord, he corrects himself, and is not confounded forever. And lest he be able to be confounded, he asks, saying:

In your justice free me, and rescue me. There are two things that reduce us to slavery: sin, namely, and the punishment of sin. Hence he now asks to be freed from sin through justice, and to be rescued from the punishment of sin, by passing from death to glory. And well does he say, In your justice, that is, the justice given by you. For it is God who by his grace works justice in man, without merits. For he himself gives his faith, which is reckoned to us as justice (Rom. 4); and when grace works, it makes man free, who had been a slave through sin (John 8). And because my merits would not be worthy to reach your height, therefore, Incline your ear to me, that is, condescend to me through your clemency, and save me. And this (from Augustine) is the confession of humility. For he who says Incline to me confesses that he lies low, like a sick man lying prostrate before a physician who stands. Save me, he says. How?

Be to me a protecting God. Let not the arrows of the enemy reach me. For I cannot protect myself. And it is not enough that he be a protector, so he added: And a fortified place, that you may save me. And this will be in the other life. For there we shall be in security, where no enemy will be able to assail us. First, then, it is necessary that here we be protected by God, where there is war; so that afterward there may be a fortified place in which we may be saved, where there is eternal rest. For what is more fortified than when you have fled to that place? What adversaries shall we fear there? And therefore you must save me, since I have no strength except from you. And this is what he adds: For you are my firmament and my refuge. From you and through you I am firm; and if ever I have been weakened in myself, I will flee for refuge to you. The grace of Christ makes you firm and immovable against all the blasts of the enemy. But there is still human frailty; there is still the first captivity; there is the law in the members, fighting against the law of the mind (Rom. 7). And still the body, which is corrupted, weighs down the soul (Wis. 9). Therefore, however firm you may be by the grace of God, nevertheless there is still fear because of the corruption of the flesh. Therefore you are the firmament, that I may be firm in this world against temptations. But if they are many and trouble me, you are my refuge. And because above he said Rescue me, now, having specified from what things, he adds:

My God, rescue me from the hand of the sinner, that is, from the power of the devil, who is specifically to be called the sinner, since he is himself the persuader of every sin. And you can rescue me, because you are God. And you also ought to, because by grace you have deigned to become mine. And not only rescue me from the hand of the invisible enemy, but also from the hand of the one who acts against the law and of the wicked man. Here (from Augustine) is noted every kind of sinner: namely, either the transgressor of the law, if he has received the law; or one who is merely wicked without the law, if he has not received the law. The Apostle speaks of both kinds, saying: Those who have sinned without the law will perish without the law; and those who have sinned in the law will be judged by the law (Rom. 2). Between the two the body of Christ groans, and by both it is afflicted. Nor does it avenge itself, but patiently endures, and it was: whence there is still added:

For you are my patience, God, my God, my hope from my youth. Therefore you ought to rescue me, because you are the cause and the fruit of my patience. For your sake I am grievously afflicted; for your sake I suffer calmly. Nor only my patience, but also my hope, that is, my certainty. Well, however, after patience he placed hope, because from the virtue of patience the certainty of hope is generated. Hence Paul says: Tribulation produces patience, patience produces proof, proof produces hope; but hope does not confound (Rom. 5). The graver things we endure here for God's sake, the greater the rewards we hope for from the Lord in the future.

I call him my hope from my youth, that is, from the time of my crookedness. For he does not say "youth" with regard to age, but with regard to the strength of the soul. From my youth I began to hope in you, from the time when you armed me against the devil, so that, fortified by faith, hope, and charity and the other spiritual weapons, I might fight against adversaries both visible and invisible. Nor only from my youth, but also.

In you I have been strengthened from the womb: from my mother's belly you are my protector. By "womb" he means that nurturing of the Church by which a person is instructed when he begins to believe, and is first formed spiritually in that womb, so that afterward he may be brought forth into the light of true knowledge. And you are also my protector from the womb of my mother, the Church, that is, from the time when I was reborn from baptism. All this is a commendation of divine grace, which works in us both to will and to work for good purpose (Philippians 2). It is right, therefore, that he be praised for the benefits of his grace; hence it is also rightly added now: In you is my song always. That is, at all times, both in prosperity and in adversity, I will praise you. For this reason.

I have become as a prodigy to many. For many lovers of the world think me mad and monstrous, when they see me praising and seeking the invisible things which they themselves despise, and avoiding by contempt the visible things which they themselves seek. And you, against all reproaches, have become my strong helper. For you supply spiritual strength to despise the insults of men.

Therefore let my mouth be filled with praise: before I existed, because you made me; when I existed, because you saved me; when I had sinned, because you forgave me; when I had turned back, because you helped me; when I had persevered, because you crowned me. So truly let my mouth be filled with praise, that I may sing your glory, your greatness all the day long. That by exulting I may proclaim how glorious you are, and how great. And this all the day long, that is, without ceasing: both in prosperity, by which you console, and in adversity, by which you correct, since you are my hope from my youth. And as in youth you do not forsake, so

Do not cast me off in the time of old age. And what he means by old age he sets forth, saying: When my strength fails, do not forsake me. He calls the failing of strength old age, just as above he designated strength by the name of youth. As if he were saying: Do not cast me away from you; do not permit me to sin from weakness. But if through frailty it happens that I sin, do not forsake me utterly, so that, failing in strength, I may not persevere in sin. God cast off Peter when he permitted him to sin, but did not forsake him, because he made him repent (Luke 22). This verse cannot be read in the person of Christ, so as to ask the Father not to abandon him in the time of his passion, when his strength seemed to have failed in miracles. And there is need (he says) that you not forsake me.

Because my enemies have said to me, and those who were guarding my soul. Not that they might imitate it, but that they might destroy it. They took counsel together. That is, into one will of harming. Saying, God has forsaken him. Whence is that in the Gospel: This man is not from God; and, He has a demon (John 9 and 10).

Therefore pursue and seize him. And you can safely be silent. Because there is no one who can rescue him. This was said concerning Christ. For he who by the power of his divinity raised the dead was suddenly made weak in the hands of his enemies, and was seized as though he could do nothing. But when would he have been apprehended, unless they had first said in their heart, God has forsaken him? Against which he prays, saying:

O God, do not be far from me: my God, look to my help. So it comes about. God the Father has not been far from his Son, but is always coeternal with him. Nor is he far even from those who are troubled in heart, but is near. He is near to hear. He is near to look upon with mercy. He is near to give aid. The eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous; but the face of the Lord is upon those who do evil. Nevertheless he prays for such people, when he adds:

Let those who slander my soul be confounded and fail. This he brings about for them, that they may recognize their own sins; hence let those be confounded and fail in themselves who presumed evil things about him. Let them be covered with much confusion within and with shame without, who seek evil against me.