Homilies on Psalms 15, 31, and 41

But is he king of the carnal Jews upon Sion his holy mountain?

I do not think at all that the kingdom was given by the Father to the Lord upon this earthly mountain which is in Judaea, whose heavenly kingdom the Apostle teaches: just as he also shows that the very city of Jerusalem—not this one which now serves in bondage with her children, but that which is above, our mother the free, the heavenly Jerusalem—is Christ's. So also he is not king of those Jews who are circumcised with circumcision made by hand, but as the Apostle taught, saying: that he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is that circumcision which is in the flesh, but circumcision of the heart, whose praise is not from men but from God; and Jesus is not king of those Jews who glory before men on account of their works, but of those whose glory before God is on account of the hope of his grace. For see the Apostle saying whose glory is before God.

For if, he says, Abraham was justified by works, having glory before men; why does he believe in him who is able to justify the ungodly, and hope for the gratuitous mercy of God? He has glory, but not before God.

Christ therefore is king of those Jews whose glory is not from men but from God.

And indeed this psalm says significantly,

The Lord is the portion of my inheritance.

The lines have fallen to me among the most mighty, for indeed my inheritance is exceedingly great. What then is the inheritance of the Lord, if not that of which it is written: Ask of me, and I will give thee the nations for thine inheritance. But sinners from among the nations believe in him who is able to justify the ungodly. And if their glory is not from men but from God; Christ is also king of those Jews. For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is that circumcision which is openly done in the flesh. But what does he say? Did not very many believe from that circumcision?

It is true that they believed, but they too were brought back to the pattern of the nations, so that they would first confess themselves sinners, and thus deserve mercy, as Paul teaches writing to the Galatians: If thou, he says, being a Jew, livest after the manner of the Gentiles; how dost thou compel the Gentiles to live as do the Jews? We who are Jews by nature, and not sinners of the Gentiles, knowing that no flesh is justified by the law. And so he who wished to be gained in Christ was found a sinner; because Christ came not to call the justified, but sinners. And so even those who believed from the circumcision made by hand believed, humbled to the sinful confession of the nations, so that all might be the inheritance of Christ: not among those who shall be justified by their own works, but among those who are justified through the gratuitous grace of God. And this is the inscription of the title, that he himself is king of the Jews.

And so this psalm recounts of which Jews Christ appears to be king, and what reason it has for the inscription of the title; who is king not of those Jews who are outwardly such, and whose circumcision was open in the flesh, but rather of those Jews who are Jews in secret, whose circumcision is of the heart, whose glory is not from men but from God. Let us then look at the text of the psalm, to see whether it pertains to what we have said.

Keep me, he says, O Lord, for I have hoped in thee.

He who asks for what is owed does not hope: for if something is owed to me, I demand it by right. But if someone bestows something upon me of his own will, not as an offering; from this custom of his, I shall hope for his goodwill. And so he who did not magnify righteousness from works, but introduced the gratuitous grace of God, said, Keep me, O Lord, because I have hoped in thee. I said to the Lord, Thou art my God. For the power of the Lord consists in this, that he does toward his servant what he wills, not what he is obliged to do. But if wages are owed for works; he will repay me what he was obliged to, not what he willed.

For if I have worked, whether he will or not, wages are owed to me, and by this the grace of God is made void, as the Apostle says: For to him that worketh, the reward is reckoned not as grace but as debt; but he who wishes to be saved not by his own works but by the grace of God, as it is fitting for us all to believe; this man, hoping in God, will establish for himself the good that God shall will, not what he shall be obliged to, and on this account he says significantly,

I said to the Lord, Thou art my God.

For the Lord never gives thanks to the servant if he has done what he commanded; but through all these things he will wish his goodwill and grace to be awaited, as the Lord also teaches saying: Which of you having a servant ploughing or feeding cattle? When he is come home, will he say to him, pass and sit down to meat?

But will he not say to him, make ready my supper, and pass and minister to me, and afterwards thou shalt eat.

Doth the lord give thanks to that servant for doing the things he commanded? Amen I say to you, he doth not. So you also, when you shall have done all these things that I command you, say: We are unprofitable servants: we have done that which we were obliged to do. Therefore he who acknowledges that he has God, ought to show such humility of servitude. But this confession is not of works, but of faith. And so the good herald of the New Testament says: I said to my Lord, Thou art my God. And what does he say after this?

Because thou hast no need of my goods,

To the saints who are in the land.

What was so fitting as what he says, that his goods are not necessary to the saints of the earth, nor are the goods of the Lord for the use of those who dwell as saints of the earth? But what are the goods of Christ, what are the goods of the New Testament, if not gratuitous things, if not the remission of sins? These goods are not necessary to the saints of the earth. They that are whole have no need of a physician, but they that are sick. And he properly called those who justify themselves in their own works saints not of heaven but of earth; for their praise is from men, not from God: such the Lord marks as those who justify themselves in the sight of men; who, when they reproached him for dining with publicans, said, I came not to save the righteous, but sinners.

Therefore gratuitous grace and remission of sins is not necessary to the just; but certainly to the just who think themselves just; for the truly just man comes from faith. These saints therefore have no need of the goods of his Son. And so below he says: I will not gather their assemblies of blood. For redemption through my blood is not necessary to such as think themselves to be just.

But why does he say: They themselves have made thy wills wonderful in themselves;

their infirmities have been multiplied: afterwards they made haste?

The Apostle treats this passage most fully to the Romans, that the law entered in that sin might abound. Where sin abounded, grace did more abound. For after those who rejected the grace of God were found in the works of the law, the will of God, by which he called them to his grace, was made wonderful to the weak. Whoever therefore wishes to be saved, must wish to be freed by the grace of God. And so the psalm rightly says: They themselves have made thy wills wonderful in themselves; their infirmities have been multiplied: afterwards they made haste. For when the infirmities of those who wished to be justified in works were multiplied, the wills of God which called to the faith of grace were made wonderful.

Their assemblies therefore, he says, I will not gather from my blood

that is, I will not redeem those who do not seek the redemption of my grace. Nor will I be mindful, he says, of their names through my lips. For he who wishes to be saved by his own works does not confess my benefit: and he who shall not have confessed me before men, neither will I confess him before my Father who is in heaven. But since he was not going to gather such as these, it remained for him to show whom he was going to receive into his inheritance. And so he adds in order:

The Lord is the portion of my inheritance and of my cup: thou art he who hast kept my inheritance for me.

For if he rejected those who are justified by works, he certainly preferred to have those whom God saved through grace. And so he says significantly: The Lord is the portion of my inheritance. For when the Lord by his grace shall have saved those whom he gave to him as an inheritance; truly the Lord is the portion of his inheritance. Moreover the Son preserved his duty of obedience, so that he would proclaim his inheritance not sought in his own blood; but would say it was given to him by God from God, so that he might also confess the Lord to be the portion of his cup, that is of his passion.

For if the nations were redeemed from sin by the passion of the Lord, yet the passion of the Lord itself was the will of the Father, as he testifies in the gospel saying (speaking as the man whom he assumed): Father, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not what I will, but what thou wilt. Therefore if you consider the will of the Lord, he himself confessed saying: if it be possible, let this cup pass from me. Whence also the redemption of the nations is to be received not in the will of the Son, but in the will of the Father. For not what I will, he says, but what thou wilt. Therefore this very grace by which the nations were redeemed through his death, the Son assigns not to himself but to the Father. And so he asserts that the Lord is the portion both of his inheritance and of his cup.

The lines, he says, have fallen to me among the most mighty: for indeed my inheritance is very great to me.

For there was an ancient custom that the boundaries of possessions were also measured by a line: and therefore here, when speaking of the portion of his inheritance, the lines, he says, have fallen to me among the most mighty themselves. We receive testimony of this matter from the canticle of Moses, where it is written: When God dispersed the sons of Adam, and set the bounds of the nations according to the number of the angels of God, and the Lord's portion became his people, Jacob the line of his inheritance. And rightly he who had said that God was the portion of his inheritance, said that the lines of his possession had fallen among the most mighty themselves. For what are they if not most mighty, whom the Lord justifies, whom the Lord honours? Who shall accuse the elect of God? God who justifieth? Who shall condemn?

Therefore he who said that his inheritance was to be among such as these, rightly says: The lines have fallen to me among the most mighty. But as for his saying that they fell; let no one take it as though he were saying his inheritance was made worse, because everything that falls becomes worse; but he used the word properly and necessarily. For where someone is chosen not on account of merit, there a certain lot of grace falls, as it were; just as in the assumption of the apostle who was substituted in the place of Judas, it is written that the lot fell upon Matthias. And so because such an inheritance came to him by lot only from the grace of the Lord, he says significantly: The lines have fallen to me among the most mighty: for indeed my inheritance is very great to me. Here the new Adam speaks

I will bless the Lord who made me to understand: for the Son knows nothing except what he has seen and heard from the Father.

And so he blesses him who made him to understand. And truly this understanding is not from man, but from God. For which of men, when two inheritances are set before him, one magnificent and rich in works, the other poor and needy, would choose the one that stands in need of another's mercy? But the Son, taught by the Father, prefers an inheritance among those who hope in God, rather than those who are justified in their own works. Thus he says beautifully: I will bless the Lord who made me to understand: but also as in the night my reins have instructed me. What did his reins instruct him? Namely, he says, they made him understand that it is better to hope in the Lord than to be justified in one's own work.

For did not the Lord's own reins, as it were in the night, instruct him to hope in God? For his soul also was sorrowful even unto death. He learned to hope in God, and this is what he says, that he was instructed to this understanding by his reins as in the night. For the words that follow also show that he is speaking of his own passion, when he adds:

I foresaw the Lord always in my sight, because he is at my right hand that I should not be moved.

Therefore my heart was made glad, and my tongue rejoiced, moreover also my flesh shall dwell in hope: because thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither wilt thou give thy holy one to see corruption. Now the text and order of this passage is clear: but as for his naming the reins, and saying, as in the night they instructed me, lest these things seem too obscure, let us inquire. God is said to be the searcher of reins and heart, in which two places, as it were, the secrets of man are held.

But in the heart is the secret of the soul, while in the reins is the secret of the flesh; which differing natures of the inner and outer man the Apostle also teaches in turn, when he says: I consent to the law according to the inner man; but I see another law in my members fighting against the law of my mind. And in another place: Therefore I myself with the mind serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin. Such a certain dissension our Lord Jesus also reports himself to feel, where he says: The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak: for according to the inner man he consented to the law of the Father, that he should suffer; but according to the outer man, as he himself testifies, he trembled in the flesh.

And so

because the reins contain the secrets of the flesh which was weakened in the time of the passion, he says he was instructed by his reins to understand that he, though he were the Son, should hope in God. The epistle written to the Hebrews likewise holds this view of him. For though he were, it says, the Son of God, he learned obedience from the things which he suffered: and being made perfect, he became to all who obey him the cause of eternal salvation. For thus his reins instructed him, that he might foresee God always at his right hand, that he should not be moved. That is, as to the will, the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak. And he properly said that he was thus instructed by his reins as in the night; he did not say into the night, but as in the night. For his senses were not utterly darkened by fear of death, he who said: Yet not what I will, but what thou wilt.

But yet he was not without a certain perturbation, who confessed weakness and sorrow.

For if David elsewhere says: The fear of death has fallen upon me, fear and trembling have come upon me, and darkness has covered me; rightly this darkness coming from fear of death, which it is fitting was very slight in the Son of God, is called not night, but as night. And so it is said with significance: But also as in the night my reins instructed me. And what did they instruct? Namely what follows below, that he should foresee God always in his sight, because he is at his right hand that he should not be moved.

For this reason, he says, my heart was made glad, and my tongue rejoiced; but also my flesh shall dwell in hope: because thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither wilt thou give thy holy one to see corruption. Thou hast made known to me the ways of life: thou shalt fill me with gladness with thy countenance: delights at thy right hand. Therefore also the joys are at the right hand of God, with which the Son is filled with all things. For he had God at his right hand. I foresaw the Lord, he says, always in my sight; because he is at my right hand. But ascending into heaven, he himself was made to be at the right hand of the Father. At his right hand: let us inquire what is the left of this right hand. The Apostle therefore knows in a certain place of the arms of justice on the right and on the left, namely glory and dishonor.

The right hand I take to be the form of justice; but dishonor and infamy the left.

Yet both are arms of justice. But in order to arrive at the right-hand arms of justice, one must first serve in the left. In this world we must take up dishonor, infamy, weakness, foolishness, and other things like these; that we may arrive at nobility, at glory, at virtue, at wisdom: all of which we shall receive when we have come to that place where Christ sits at the right hand of God. For we are sown in dishonor, that we may rise in glory; we are sown in mortality, that we may rise in eternity. And so our Lord, suffering in the time of the passion the mockeries of scourges and spittings, when he was accused as a blasphemer, when he was reckoned among thieves, placed in such great dishonor and infamy, what was he doing but serving in the left-hand arms of justice?

And so, placed then at the left hand of God, he foresaw him at his right hand, that he should not be moved.

But after he rose and ascended into heaven, arriving at the right hand, at the palm of justice, at glory, at nobility, he is filled with gladness at the countenance of God, and has delights at his right hand. From which the Apostle encourages us with hope, saying: For the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with those future good things which shall be revealed in us. For which reason let us also more willingly glory in our weaknesses, that the power of God may protect us. And now indeed let the Father himself be at our right hand that we be not moved, who will afterwards translate us to his right hand, into the riches of our Lord Jesus Christ: to whom be glory. Amen.

A Psalm of David of understanding marks what prophecy it contains.

The Apostle taught that it announced the New Testament through the calling of the Gentiles. In which faith was to be justified without works, and in which the remission of iniquities and the forgetting of sins was promised to come through the free grace of God: and for this the reason is clear. But it is worthwhile to pursue the entire text of the psalm, in which the feelings of the one singing may be discerned. Who, looking according to the flesh, would see the temptations entering upon faith? For he saw that those were blessed whose righteousness was not reckoned from works. For the law entered that sins might be multiplied: and the law produces wrath: and where there is no law, there is no transgression either. Wherefore not without reason will he be called blessed who has not been under the law, but has been rather under grace.

But what manner of faith is required, the psalmist noted by saying,

Neither was there found guile in his mouth.

I believe he seeks such a man as the Lord praised when Nathanael came to him; such as were not in Israel, whom God had thus rebuked through the prophets: This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. And there is no doubt that this is guile, to have one thing on the lips and another in the heart. And so David rightly says in another psalm: I believed, therefore have I spoken. And the Apostle expounds: that with the heart one believes unto righteousness, but with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. Thus if one believes in the heart what the lips confess, there shall be found no guile in his mouth.

But if one honors God with the lips, while his heart is found far from him, there is guile in his mouth, by which we are properly marked in that time in which we follow the teachings of men and our own counsels, rejecting the commandments of God. For thus it is written: This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. They worship me, following the commandments and teachings of men. So also the Lord in the Gospel calls the teachers of the law hypocrites, passing over the will of God and establishing their own counsels. But every hypocrite is a dissembler and is guileful. And it is assuredly manifest guile to promise faith to God and to trust in human counsels. Men of this sort can neither remit iniquities nor cover sins; because they place their salvation more in the counsels of men than in the help of God.

Then, as it were, the prophet immediately notes his own temptation in the wavering of faith; and as if chastising himself, he warns what others ought to avoid, saying: that when the heavy hand of God had been upon him, that is, persisting in many temptations, he had indeed cried out to God, but had not persevered in crying out: but at last had fallen silent, and from that silence had straightway caused his bones to grow old.

Now what we should understand bones to mean spiritually, we have frequently noted: that just as bones are the support and strength of the body, so also patience is the support and strength of our mind; thus he who, when the hand of God was heavy upon him, could not persevere toward God, but failed and fell silent, rightly says that his bones grew old: that is, that his patience gave way. But all old age brings weakness. And so it is also clear that his patience was weakened. And he properly used the word grew old, that is, returned to the old impatience: for the new man and the new birth has persevering patience; hence the Apostle says: Tribulation works patience, patience probation, probation hope; but hope does not confound, because the love of God is poured out in our hearts.

Therefore, because in the new man the love of God is poured out in the heart through the Holy Spirit who cries: Abba, Father; rightly his patience is persevering, so that he can say: Who shall separate me from the love of God? Tribulation, or distress, or nakedness, or hunger, or the sword? But he who failed in crying out and hoping in God, declares that his bones grew old; which means, they returned to the old impatience, the love of the new birth failing, which never despairs of the Father.

What then does he teach?

That this is our sure promise: that if iniquity or the working of sin, even if the hand of the Lord has been made heavy upon us and has burdened us with many temptations, our cry to God ought not to fail. What if we fall silent? That we return to old thoughts, seeking remedy in our own counsels, applying cares and anxieties, and through our own wisdom forsaking the hope which is from God, which is more firm than all our thoughts. And noting this as it were in temptation, the prophet sings,

Because I was silent, all my bones grew old; when I had cried out all day and night; thy hand was heavy upon me. And what does he say at last? I was turned to misery, while a thorn was fixed in me.

He therefore plainly signifies that from this fault of having ceased, when temptations came upon him, to cry out to God and to hope, and silence and taciturnity having followed, he took upon himself in his thoughts the cares and anxieties of his life, and thereby was turned to misery, forsaking, that is, the hope of God's help: and he says significantly that a thorn was fixed in him. For in the Gospel the Lord teaches that thorns are the cares and anxieties of sustenance, by which the word is choked: or the thorn which the prophet here says was fixed in him, that is, the care and anxiety of life, from the time when he fell silent and ceased to cry out to God, through which he confesses that he was turned to misery. And because these worldly cares and anxieties frequently creep into our minds even when we are not attending to them, he says: Make known to me my sin.

And he separated, distinguishing iniquity from sin; because iniquity can by no means be unknown.

The meaning of this word is more aptly expressed in Greek. For they call it anomian, by which is signified the time in which the world lived without law, when it did not yet know God in its Gentile life. But all who are converted to the Lord must confess that the life of the former time was damnable. Yet truly, because we define the name of sin as that in which one enters into the cares and anxieties and thoughts of sustenance, which are very many and various, and whose images very frequently present themselves even to unwilling good men—who could discern these in his own observance? And so the prophet rightly seeks help from God concerning this, saying,

Make my sin known to me, O Lord.

And we find manifestly that the name of sin has been held from the beginning of the world, if we distinguish the very transgression of the first-formed man.

But it would take long to pursue this; yet the senses distinguishing between sin and iniquity are made manifest also to those who pursue them.

For concerning sin he asks that it be made known to him; but concerning iniquity he says that he has not concealed it from himself. For the former, because it was not without the man's knowledge, had remaining in it the medicine of humility, that he should declare it and confess it to the Lord. But sin, whose variety could creep upon even one who was ignorant, whose multitude could deceive and lie hidden—he prayed that it might be made known to him. He persisted, moreover, in the significance of the word; and because he was separating iniquity from sin, he said: I, he says, will renounce against myself my iniquity, O Lord. So here also it is not my sin I will declare, O Lord, but my iniquity. For he could not declare sin, the knowledge of which he was seeking from the Lord.

But the iniquity which he held in his conscience—this, he says, I will declare against myself before the Lord.

For iniquity has no other medicine than confession to God. For we do what we do in ignorance, which the Lord makes known when conversion has brought about the knowledge of it, and repentance must necessarily follow. Thus after this iniquity, if he shall have confessed it before the Lord and declared it against himself—that is, having made himself his own accuser—he will redeem the impiety of his heart. And here with prudent reasoning he says: I said: I will declare against myself my iniquity, O Lord; and thou hast forgiven the impiety of my heart. For he who does not confess his iniquity to the Lord receives pride against the Lord, and thus acquires impiety. For he does not acknowledge the Lord as the father of all creation. On the contrary, the prophet calls humble the one who will confess, and thereby deprecates the charge of impiety; which is certainly the opposite of the proud.

For this reason, he says, the humble and just man will pray to thee in a right time. There is therefore a time when it is not right for the just man to approach the Lord. The prophet himself teaches this in what follows, saying,

Verily in the flood of many waters they shall not draw near to him.

Therefore in the flood of many waters it is not a right time for the just man to draw near to the Lord; for it is not the part of a just man to give boldness to his soul, as the law also says: Thou shalt not give boldness to thy soul.

But if someone, deep and most high in mysteries, should seek the Lord, should search out all his judgments, and should perhaps think himself able to sustain all his fruits, this man will not be just, nor will he profitably attempt to draw near in the flood of many waters and seek the Lord; since in the exaltation of his wisdom he will have attempted to knock at the hidden depths thereof. So also the apostle Paul: And lest, he says, I should be exalted by the multitude of revelations, there was given to my flesh a thorn, an angel of Satan to buffet me: for which thing I besought the Lord thrice: and it was said to me: My grace is sufficient for thee: for power is made perfect in weakness.

And so here also the prophet, having said that the just and humble will not draw near to the Lord in the flood of many waters, himself shows at what time the Lord is rather to be sought by him,

Thou art, he says, my refuge from the tribulation that surrounds me.

Here therefore he also glories more in weaknesses, that the power of God may protect him, as Paul says: Therefore I will most gladly glory in my weaknesses, that the power of Christ may protect me. And finally he added: My exultation, deliver me from those who surround me. He calls the Lord his exultation: because let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, nor the strong man in his strength; but in this let every one glory, that he has known and fears the Lord. My exultation therefore, deliver me from those who surround me.

I will understand and be joined to thee in this way in which thou wilt walk: I will fix my eyes upon thee.

There follows the precept which is commanded: After the Lord thy God thou shalt walk. And this is the faithful man—not to choose a way for himself, but to follow the way which the Lord shows, to consider right what he has commanded. And so he says: I will fix my eyes upon thee; that is, so that they may see no other path than what the Lord directs: which he says more plainly in another psalm: As the eyes of a handmaid are upon the hands of her mistress, so are our eyes unto the Lord our God; that is, not that we ourselves are directed to look toward the truth; but that the Lord turns our eyes, in whose hands they ought to be; and because it is in his power where he opens our sight and where he closes it.

But if anyone does not come willingly to this refuge of God, let us learn how the prophet chastises such a one, to what he compares him, what he forbids. Be not, he says,

Like the horse and the mule, which have no understanding.

For man obeys the word and hearkens to the voice. But those of whom it can be said: I sought and there was no man, I called and there was none who hearkened—such are the horse and the mule: they must be compelled by bit and bridle to go where they are unwilling. For this reason the just man demands that their stiff neck and stiff jaws be softened by torment and violence. And the prophet kindly does not wish those to be left to their own hardness, whoever do not draw near to the Lord of their own will: but rather he demands that by whatever punishments they be dragged along, provided they be saved.

And so he says: With bit and bridle guide the jaws of those who do not draw near to thee.

Many are the scourges of the sinner.

For by these the Lord fashions salvation for sinners: for by inflicting blows and tribulations he instructs the pride of sinners, that it may grow accustomed to fear. But the one who hopes in the Lord shall be surrounded by mercy. For he who hopes in the help of God need not be led by bit or bridle, nor rebuked by the scourge that he may draw near. And so mercy is near to him. Wherefore, as the prophet says,

Be glad in the Lord, and rejoice, ye just, and be joyful, all ye upright of heart.

Through Jesus Christ our Lord, to whom is glory for ever and ever. Amen.

I think that the discipline of exposition to be generally observed in all psalms is this: that the title be first examined, and that the whole psalm be fitted to it. For no one is so foolish that, having promised to speak of the cedar, he describes the oak: much less would the Spirit of God, whom we believe to have spoken through the prophet, have noted one thing in the title and said another in the song of the psalm, as in the present case David sang those things which were to be understood as an instruction for the sons of Core: for such is the superscription of the psalm. Now we read that the synagogue of Core in the time of Moses murmured against the ordinance of God, so that they strove to usurp and seize for themselves the chief ministry of the priesthood which Aaron and his sons had received according to the will of God.

This vice of covetousness the Apostle notes and warns against, rebuking it in a manner: So I say to you through the grace that has been given to me, to all of you, not to be wise beyond what you ought to be wise; but let each of you be wise according to the measure of faith that the Lord has imparted: For as in one body we have many members, but all the members do not have the same functions; so we, being many, are one body in Christ, and each one members of one another, having different gifts. Therefore to one is given ministry, to another prophecy, to another power, to another the word of doctrine. But if anyone, wishing to be wise beyond measure, goes beyond the measure of the Lord's distribution, he is found in the folly of Core, and will be called spiritually a son of Core: and for such as these this psalm which he teaches will be sung as an instruction.

As the hart desires the fountains of waters, so my soul desires the living God.

For I think it is not without reason that fountains of waters are mentioned, when it would have been more natural to say, as the hart desires the waters; but he preferred to name the fountains of waters, that is, the origin and source of the waters; knowing, evidently, through spiritual wisdom—which alone knows the roots of trees and the natures of beasts—that even this mute animal desires not any waters that are near, but the very fountains of the waters, seeking the purer and cleaner sources of the streams. By this example he wishes to admonish us that we too should desire the Lord himself, the fountain of life and wisdom, who is the head of all things. For there is one fountain from which many divisions of spiritual waters are made—such as healings, prophecies, kinds of tongues, ministries, the word of knowledge, the word of doctrine.

But neither are the modes of those nearer things to be sought in such a way that through rivalry and contention and discord we neglect the desires of the fountain itself. For we neglect him whenever we are unwilling to preserve the measure of his distribution and ordering in peace and charity. Thus all who are found in this pride, fashioned in the likeness of the sons of Core, will be admonished by this psalm to understand rather toward what they ought to direct their desire, as the just man says: As the hart desires the fountains of waters, so my soul desires the living God.

When shall I come and appear before the face of God?

My tears have been my bread day and night, while it is said to me daily, Where is thy God? But from this very question, when shall I come and appear, it is shown to us that it is not something to be obtained in the near term; and unless our tears are bread to us day and night, we shall by no means arrive at the face of the Lord.

And the understanding of the sons of Core ought to follow the order of doctrine, so that it may know that it is through many tribulations and vexations and hardships that one arrives at the house of God, lest it be exalted in its pride, knowing that power is more proved in weaknesses, and lest it seize dignity for itself, because the Apostle says: Have this mind in you which was also in Christ Jesus: who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God; but humbled himself, taking the form of a servant, and found in habit as a man. He emptied himself even unto death, and the death of the cross; on which, when he was fastened to it, he heard these reproaches: Where is thy God? When they said to him in mockery: Let him come and deliver him.

The synagogue of Core is therefore taught, as I said, through how many tribulations and tears one draws near to the house: which tears the prophet beautifully says were to him as bread

that is, as food of eternal life; and it follows in order that in what comes next he should say:

These things I remembered, and I poured out my soul within me, because I shall pass over into the place of the wonderful tabernacle, even to the house of God.

And indeed I think something must be said here beforehand about the significance of the word, what poured out means. He says he poured himself out because he was about to pass over into the place of the tabernacle even to the house of God. Now the good things of the spirit are the passing over to the house of God. To pour out the soul, therefore, is the work of good hope: but what do we know of its common meaning? Because whatever is poured out is cast away and perishes, and is not so safe as when it is retained in a vessel. For to pour out is to pour forth outside what you had enclosed somewhere.

Thus he who said, I poured out my soul, is to be understood as having said nothing other than: I cast it away and lost it and held it of no account.

How then did he cast away and lose

because he was about to pass to the place of the wonderful tabernacle even unto the house of God? Unless perhaps the commandment of God makes this plain, who says to his disciples: Whosoever shall save his soul shall lose it; and whosoever shall lose it shall save it. And indeed he kept the order: for when he had spoken beforehand of tribulations, because his tears had become his bread day and night, while it is said to him daily, Where is your God? These things, he says, I remembered, and I poured out my soul within me: in which he is to be understood as having said nothing other than I cast away and lost and held it of no account. How then did he cast his soul away to God?

For the just man knows that as often as tribulations and persecutions and reproaches come upon him for the name of God, his soul must be lost and cast away and held of no account, that it may be saved in the day of the Lord; and therefore here too he shows significantly that he did not pour out his soul because he had despaired of the hope of the life to come; but that he poured out his soul because he was about to pass to the place of the wonderful tabernacle even unto the house of God. Taught therefore by this psalm, as often as the enemy persecutes and reproaches us with the name of the Lord, let us pour out our souls to him, ready to lose them, that we may save them: not pouring them out as though we despair of confidence in God's help; but because we are certain that they will be restored to us, and that we shall pass to the place of the wonderful tabernacle even unto the house of God.

But whatever this place of the wonderful tabernacle may be, in which there will be a passage even unto the house of God, let us now begin to inquire here.

In the ancient books we find a tabernacle made by Moses for the God of Israel, in which the ark of the covenant was kept, and in this all the mysteries were celebrated, and those who first offered sacrifices there appeared before the face of God; until through Solomon the house of God was built, and the ark passed from the tabernacle of skins into the temple built of stones: but that tabernacle which had been in the desert, and those skins which covered the roofs of the temple before, were wonderful in their ministry. Finally in the Song of Songs the bride praises her beginnings thus: I am black and comely, O daughters of Jerusalem, like the tabernacle of Cedar, like the skins of Solomon.

And in another psalm, although David longed for the courts of the Lord, he yet praises also his tabernacles, saying: How wonderful, O Lord, my soul longs for the courts of the Lord.

For the tabernacle of God is indeed wonderful; but the house of God is more to be longed for. Finally David himself, when the kingdom of Israel was already at peace, and the ark of God was dwelling in Shiloh beneath the coverings of the tabernacle, longed to build a house for God. But what did the prophet say to him? You shall not build me a house: it is not for all to build the house of God. And so, as if ascending to greater heights, we must make our passage in the place of the tabernacle, that we may arrive even unto the house of God.

And we are admonished by the example of Jerusalem, that the house of the Lord is not built until the enemy and sin are overcome: but yet we remain in the tabernacle so long as the desert is being crossed, and entry is made into the land of Jordan, the beginning of the promised inheritance, and every Canaanite enemy is subdued.

Now the difference between the dignity of the tabernacle and the house is this: in the tabernacle one does not dwell always; but in the house always, as David signifies in the ascents, saying: For the Lord has chosen Sion, he has desired it for his habitation: this is my rest for ever and ever. But in the tabernacle there is no rest: for it must be moved in time of war, in which also the cloud which signified the presence of God would withdraw from it: which likeness is rightly compared to us, so long as we sojourn in this body, that in this equanimity we may overcome all its vices, so that no living or vigorous enemy may be left.

For God will visit us even in the tabernacle, and in time of quiet: but where a battle with vices has broken out, our tabernacle must be packed up and made ready for the expedition of war; nor can it be spread out or take delight in the rest of God at the time when the assault of vices occurs: and God will indeed go before you in battle, so that if you walk after him, you may easily conquer your enemies, but he cannot dwell in you at that time. And so although you conquer, although you overcome the vices of the flesh, yet from the very conflict you defile your hands in your own blood. Nor will you be fit at this time to build the house of the Lord, just as David is rejected who had wrought in blood.

But he builds the house of the Lord who enters into rest, who is disturbed by no vices, for whom every enemy is extinguished, who can say: But to me the world is crucified and I to the world; in whom all old things have passed away, all things are made new, such as the kingdom of Solomon is referred to as a figure of us. But if in the course of this life no one so perfect is found, who, clean from every assault of sin, can arrive at the house of God: I shall yet be able to say thus, that I will pass to the place of the tabernacle even unto the house of God: that is, in this present life, so that as long as I am in this world, I may pass to the place of the tabernacle; since indeed a daily battle against flesh and blood, against spiritual wickedness, must be waged.

But when the habitation of this tabernacle shall have been dissolved, as the Apostle says, and we receive a house not made with hands, but eternal in the heavens; when the body of our humility shall have been transfigured into the likeness of the body of the Son of God: then shall I arrive at the house of God, at which time he will be able to dwell in me for ever; and I shall rightly sing, that I will pass to the place of the wonderful tabernacle even unto the house of God.

Now this passage of mine will be in the voice of exultation and confession, the sound of one feasting.

Nor is it any wonder if the shadow of future good things bore the image of this joy, whether when David, transferring the ark of God from the tabernacle of Shiloh, was entering into Jerusalem with a choir and timbrels keeping a feast day, or when Solomon, having built the temple, brought in all the ministry with great exultation of those singing and psalming to God. Nor is it any wonder, I say, that when each one of us shall exchange this tabernacle of his body for that house not made with hands, but eternal in the heavens, his passage will be in the voice of exultation and confession, the sound of one feasting.

Whoever then has received this hope, has rightly rebuked the sadness of his soul by saying,

Why, O soul, are you sad, and why do you trouble me?

Hope in God, for I will confess to him, the salvation of my countenance and my God. And see whether this does not accord with the understanding which we have followed, that in time of persecution and reproach of the name of God the just man may console his soul with hope of this kind. Why are you sad, O soul, and why do you trouble me? Hope in God, for I will confess to him.

But since it cannot be that one who casts his soul away unto death is not troubled with some sadness, since even the Lord of all virtues himself, the very prince of faith, the very Son of God, who before he came to the time of the cross spoke with confidence so as to say: No one takes my soul from me, I have power to lay down my soul and to take it up again; yet the same, in the hour immediately before death, said: My soul is troubled even unto death; and, Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me, and in his last cry: My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? So also this psalm, showing in order the image of persecution, how great conflicts and tribulations the just man must endure, through which his faith must be tried and proved; therefore says,

My God, my soul is troubled within me.

For who is there whose soul is not troubled in the time of those who persecute the name of God?

For besides that necessity of human frailty, besides bodily trembling, there is a certain peculiar perturbation of faith, when the persecutors of the name of God seem to increase and to prevail, and God neither avenges his servants nor comes to the aid of their tribulations, nor stretches out his mighty right hand against their enemies. And therefore, because no one in such a time retains the sense of God's judgments, that exclamation of the Lord is beautiful: My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? By which he shows that he does not understand the reason why he has been forsaken. And if that master of wisdom and expounder of the Father, the Son, is so troubled as to ask the Father why he had forsaken him; what will the rest do, however just they may be, when the heights of God's judgments come upon them? Nevertheless the psalm teaches what we ought to hold fast and do alone in these perturbations.

For every just man, when he is tempted, when he is afflicted, when he is distressed, when he comes into perturbation of soul, even if he does not understand why these things befall him, ought nevertheless not to abandon faith, nor to condemn the belief which the prophet taught by saying: Therefore I will be mindful of you, O Lord, from the land of Jordan and Hermon, from the little mountain. For because my soul is troubled within me, therefore, he says, I will be mindful of you from the land of Jordan and Hermon. For in the land of Jordan he signifies the entry of the promised inheritance to the people of Israel. And since we, comparing spiritual things with spiritual, reckon the entry of the inheritance to be faith for us. For this is the door of our promises. And so where the Prophet wished to commend the beginning of our faith, there he named the land of Jordan and the mountain of Hermon.

So also in the Song of Songs where the first calling of the Church took place: Come, he says, from Lebanon, O bride; come from Lebanon, O bride; come from Lebanon: passing you shall pass, and you shall pass from the beginning of faith, from the head of Hermon. Nor let anyone be troubled that in this place Sanir is also named, since the mountain Sanir is the same as Hermon, which history through Moses in Deuteronomy teaches to have been situated in the land of Jordan. And we received, he says, at that time the land from the hands of the two kings of the Amorites, who were beside Jordan, from the torrent even unto Hermon Sanir. The Amorite called it Sanir. The head of Hermon therefore, which is in the land of Jordan, is called the beginning of faith.

Therefore there also John the first forerunner is first heard, and Christ is first shown to John: there the Lord is filled with the Holy Spirit, there the testimony of the Father's voice is given: This is my Son in whom I am well pleased. There advancing the beginnings of virtues, there the beginnings of signs by which the Son of God is believed to have wrought.

Rightly therefore is the head of Hermon called the beginning of faith: whence we ought to be mindful of our God the salvation of our countenance, as often as our soul is troubled in temptations.

For the beginning of faith is the simple first belief, by which we enter as a way into the faith of God through Jesus Christ. But wisdom is sought among the perfect: what the varieties of God's judgments are, what the heights of his thoughts. So even if in the time of persecutions, in the perturbation of impending death, wisdom has failed, yet let the beginning of faith not be abandoned: but let us at least with that simple and bare belief be mindful of God, knowing that the enemy has no power over us except so far as he is permitted. Yet let us not abuse the boast of the foolish woman, by which it was said: Where are the works of the justice of God? Job, what did the fear of the Lord profit?

But as often as this thought comes into this perturbation, it will be right, according to the teaching of this psalm, to say: My God, my soul is troubled; therefore I will be mindful of you from the land of Jordan and Hermon from the little mountain. Therefore he also significantly adds to mount Hermon the appellation of little: for the beginning of faith is a small mountain, and one to which there are many ascents even unto the kingdom of heaven through reproaches, through injuries, through tribulations, through the death of the cross; to believe in God is the first ascent: as often therefore as on that most bitter summit of the cross my soul shall be troubled from the beginning of faith, from the little mountain; I will be mindful, O Lord, of you who are the salvation of my countenance.

For deep calls unto deep in the voice of your cataracts, that is the waves of God's temptation, by which the earth shall suffer: for who knows the heights of his thoughts and judgments? The sense of the Lord is a flood, whose greatness the just man, wishing to show, since he was speaking of his tribulations, says: Deep,

Calls unto deep, in the voice of his cataracts.

All thy heights and thy waves have passed over me.

He gives the reason why his soul was troubled: for the deep calleth unto the deep at the voice of thy waterspouts. We have already spoken beforehand of what we thought the deep to be; yet we have also rendered an account of what the prophet himself says on this very matter: Thy judgments, O Lord, are a great deep: for there is a great depth in the heights of the judgments of God, as though judgments should so frequently follow upon judgments in our regard—what flesh may emerge, what flesh may endure? Behold the Apostle, though he was treating the matter in peace, yet fixing his gaze upon the mystery of God, cries out in perturbation: O the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out! This depth, therefore, of the heart of God is rightly called an abyss, whose depth no one knows: for there are many heights where there is no end.

And rightly here does the deep call unto the deep at the voice of thy waterspouts.

Let us set forth certain kinds of abysses, that the treatment may be made clearer. Behold the Son of God coming in many signs and mighty works, healing the various infirmities of many, and he is accused of performing cures. Who has ever been ill spoken of for doing good? And the Father permits so impious an insult to his own Son: behold one abyss. The judgments of God are set in motion, false witnesses are brought together as though against a blasphemer and irreligious man, when he alone was the true witness of God: and the impious give testimony and prevail in their cause: behold a second abyss following upon the first.

He is buffeted, scourged, arrayed in a garb of mockery, the enemy exults and mocks, all manner of impiety passes over upon the Son of God at length: behold now a third abyss is called upon, the Lord of glory is condemned to the cross, he is reckoned among thieves and the impious. See how great are the judgments that abyss follows upon abyss, so that it may rightly be said by him: All thy heights and thy waves have passed over me.

And here I think enough has been said.

But lest anyone should inquire and suppose that we have passed over the matter by design, let us briefly return to what it means when he says: At the voice of thy waterspouts the deep calleth unto the deep. These visible waterspouts of waters have their own voices, because the outpourings of rivers must needs make sound and noise. And whenever rivers rise to their outflow from an infinite lake of pools or from the bursting forth of springs, whose depth can in no way fail or be exhausted; it is well said of these: the deep calleth unto the deep at the voice of the waterspouts. But we ought to remember of what abysses the prophet speaks, of which we have also spoken beforehand. And so we ought also to know the waterspouts of these: but all the outpourings of the judgments of God we find to have resounded through the voices of the prophets, which I consider to be here called waterspouts.

The deep calleth unto the deep at the voice of the waterspouts.

After the preaching of the prophets the judgments of God followed, and as it were called themselves into that voice which had gone before, that they might follow it. The voice of a waterspout was: Let us oppress the just man, because he is unprofitable to us, and contrary to our doings, and he nameth himself the Son of God. Another voice of a waterspout is: As a sheep he was led to the slaughter, and as a lamb before its shearer he opened not his mouth. There is also another voice: They pierced my hands and my feet, they numbered all my bones. There is also that voice: They divided my garments among them, and upon my vesture they cast lots: and in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink. And what need is there now to recount all the voices of the waterspouts, when the books of the prophets are full of the insults and passion of the Lord?

Since therefore the truth of the events accomplished followed upon all the prophecies, the deep called unto the deep in this voice of the waterspouts, so that the effects might, namely, fulfil the sounds thereof. Therefore, because the prophet was speaking of such abysses, he fittingly adds, saying:

In the daytime the Lord hath commanded his mercy, and in the night he hath made it manifest: with me is my prayer to the God of my life: I will say to God, thou art my support, why hast thou forgotten me? He gives instruction and consolation to all the just, that if, overwhelmed by many waves of temptations, they suffer a disturbance of sense, which darkness of the eyes is called night; they may remember that the powerful mercy of God is always made manifest in this night, unless it be a time that calls for mercy. But when we have come into danger, and disturbance arising from despair of life has made a certain night in our heart, then if we shall be able to say: With me is my prayer to my God: I will say, thou art my support, why hast thou forsaken me?

This therefore is to be held fast in the night; and when the other senses are disturbed, yet this ought not to fail, that we cry out to the Lord: why hast thou forsaken me? Concerning which saying we have treated before: because even if we do not understand the cause of God's judgments as to why he leaves us in certain temptations; yet we ought not to fail, but rather to implore mercy from him.

Why, he says, do I go mourning, while the enemy afflicteth me,

breaketh my bones?

This prayer therefore shall always be with the just man even in the night. But as to what he says: He breaketh my bones: this is not to be understood as meaning that death is near at hand; but because in this tribulation his patience was being broken, which is the support and strength of our mind, as bones are of the body: he called patience bones, which is broken by continual tribulations: while he breaketh, he says, my bones, they who afflicted me reproached me, saying daily: Where is thy God? But although the just man feels this heavy hand, yet what must needs be done, and what remedy is to be obtained in persecutions, he teaches, saying,

Why art thou sad, O my soul, and why dost thou trouble me?

Hope in God, for I will still give praise to him, the salvation of my countenance and my God.

With this example set before us, if any vexation, if any pressure, if any reproach of the name of God shall come upon us, if our soul shall be sad, if it shall be troubled, let us say: Hope in God, for I will give praise to him, under the protection of Jesus Christ our Lord, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.