Chapter 838324

Ps 83[83]:2–4

Almighty God, the lover of mankind, makes use of us both for the sake of his own goodness, and for our advantage, as St. Augustine says in On Christian Doctrine I. (Augustine, On Christian Doctrine, bk. 1, ch. 31-32 (Corpus Christianorum Series Latina [CCSL] 32; Corpus Scriptorum Ecclesiasticorum Latinorum [CSEL] 80; Patrologia Latina [Migne] 34:32). Hereafter, all subsequent Corpus Christianorum Series Latina, Corpus Scriptorum Ecclesiasticorum Latinorum, and Patrologia Latina citations will be designated with CCSL, CSEL, and PL, respectively.) He makes use of us for his own goodness so that man may glorify him: every one who calls upon my name, I have created him for my glory (Isa 43:3). He likewise makes use of us for our own advantage, in order that he, who desires all men to be saved (1 Tim 2:4), may give salvation to all. At the birth of Our Lord, an angel proclaimed this harmony between God and man, saying, glory to God in the highest, and peace on earth to men of good will (Luke 2:14).

But, although God, who is Almighty, could, of himself alone, have caused man to glorify him and to obtain salvation, he has willed that a certain order should be preserved in this work of salvation. Consequently, he has appointed ministers, by whose labors the twofold end of man’s creation is to be accomplished. These ministers are rightly spoken of as God’s fellow workers (1 Cor 3:9). But envious Satan strives to hinder both the divine glory and the salvation of mankind, and in like manner endeavours to effect his purpose by means of his ministers, whom he incites to persecute the servants of God. The emissaries of Satan show clearly that they are the enemies both of God, whose glory they endeavour to frustrate, and of man, against whose salvation they wage war. More especially do they show themselves hostile to the ministers of God, whom they persecute: they persected us, and displease God, and oppose all men (1 Thess 2:15). On this account, the Psalmist, in the verse which we have quoted (Ps 83:2–4), enumerates three points.

First, he mentions the hatred borne by the ministers of Satan to God: lo, thy enemies made a noise, that is, they who formerly spoke secretly against you do not fear now to oppose you publicly. The Gloss tells us that these words refer to the days of the Antichrist, when the enemies of the Lord, being no longer subdued by fear, will cry out against him aloud. (Peter Lombard, Commentaries on the Psalms and St. Paul, at Ps 83:2 (PL 191:781B).) And, as their clamour will be an unreasoning tumult, it is spoken of as a noise, rather than a voice. They will not, however, manifest their hatred of God by sound only, but also by deeds: those who hate thee have raised their head, namely, the antichrist, as the Gloss says, (Peter Lombard, Commentaries on the Psalms and St. Paul, at Ps 83:2 (PL 191:781B).) and his members, who are heads under his head; and, being governed by him as their head, are able to persecute the saints of God more efficaciously.

Second, the Psalmist points out how the Antichrist and his ministers wage war against the whole human race. Hence he adds, they lay malicious plans against thy people, or, according to another version: they have devised crafty things, that they may deceive them. (Peter Lombard, Commentaries on the Psalms and St. Paul, at Ps 83:3 (PL 191:781C); Augustine, Expositions on the Psalms, at Ps 82:4 (PL 37:1052).) This reading agrees with the words of Isaiah 3:12, O my people, those who call you blessed, the same deceive you. They deceive, as the Gloss adds, with flattering words. (Glossa interlinearis, in Bibliorum Sacrorum cum Glossa ordinaria iam ante quidem a Strabo Fulgensi, collecta: nunc autem novis patrum, cum Graecorum, tum Latinorum expositionibus locupletata cum postilla Nicolai Lyrani (Venice: 1603), vol. 4, p. 55, at Isaiah 3:12.)

Third, David shows how the ministers of Satan persecute the servants of God. For he continues: **they consult together against thy saints. The Gloss says: not against men of moderate virtue, but even against heavenly men. (Peter Lombard, Commentaries on the Psalms and St. Paul, at Ps 82:3 (PL 191:781D).) Hence St. Gregory (Moral. XIII), expounding the words of Job 16:11: men have gaped at me with their mouth, says: the reprobate chiefly persecute those men in the Holy Church whom they judge likely to be of service to many. (St. Pope Gregory the Great, Morals (Exposition on Job), bk. 13, ch. 11, para. 14 (CCSL 143A; PL 75:1024B).) And further on adds, these enemies of God deem themselves to have performed a great deed if they can destroy the life of the preachers of the Gospel. (Gregory the Great, Morals 13.12.15 (CCSL 143A; PL 75:1024D).) Now, they nourish two designs against the saints.

First, they wish to sweep them from the face of the earth: our enemies resolve to destroy us, and extinguish your inheritance (Esth 13:15).

Second, the ministers of Satan desire, if they cannot succeed in slaying the preachers of the Gospel, at least to ruin their good name among men, so that their words way produce no fruit: do not the rich oppress you by might? Do they not blaspheme the good name that is invoked upon you? (Jas 2:6).

Now the Psalmist alludes to the first of these wicked designs in these words: they say, come (for thus, as the Gloss says, these reprobates summon their accomplices (Peter Lombard, Commentaries on the Psalms and St. Paul, at Ps 82:4 (PL 191:781D).)), let us wipe them out (that is, the saints), as a nation, or from the nations. These words the Gloss understands to mean, let us destroy them so that they be not among the nations: that is, let us destroy them from the world. This is the persecution of antichrist. (Peter Lombard, Commentaries on the Psalms and St. Paul, at Ps 82:4 (PL 191:782A).)

As to the second, it says below: let the name of Israel be remembered no more, meaning by this let their name be held in no esteem by such as consider themselves the true children of Israel, as the Gloss explains. (Peter Lombard, Commentaries on the Psalms and St. Paul, at Ps 82:4 (PL 191:782A).)

In former days, tyrants sought to rid the world of the saints by violence. St. Paul writes that he saw the literal accomplishment of the verse of the Psalm, for thy sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered (Rom 8:36). (The psalm to which St. Paul is referring is Ps 44:22 RSV, not Ps 83 RSV.) But in our day, perverse men aim at this same thing by cunning counsels, devised especially against religious, who can bear fruit readily by word and example, professing perfection. Their persecutors refuse to furnish them with certain necessities of life. Further, they withdraw from them spiritual solace. Again, they impose on them bodily hardship, in the hope that their condition may thus be rendered burdensome and ignominious, and that they may, finally, cease to exist.

First, their enemies endeavour, as far as they can, to deprive religious of the means of study and of becoming learned, in order that they may be unable either to confute the adversaries of the truth, or to draw spiritual consolation from the Scriptures. This was the cunning practiced by the Philistines: the Philistines had taken this precaution lest the Hebrews should make swords or spears (1 Sam 13:19). The Gloss interprets this passage as signifying the prohibition to study. (Glossa interlinearis, at 1 Sam 13:19 (in Glossa ordinaria 2, 393-94).) This mode of persecution was first practiced against the Christians by Julian the Apostate, as we read in ecclesiastical history. (Cf. Eusebius of Caesarea, Historia ecclesiastica, trans. Rufinus of Aquileia, bk. 1, ch. 32 (PL 21:501C); Cassiodorus, Historia ecclesiastica tripartita, bk. 6, ch. 17 (CSEL 71; PL 69:1040D).)

Second, the enemies of religious seek to prevent their consorting with learned men, that through this their life may fall into disrepute: no one can buy or sell unless he has the mark, that is, the name of the beast (Rev 13:17), namely, by consenting to their malice.

Third, these same malicious men seek to hinder religious from preaching and from hearing confessions, by which means they might effect much good to souls: hindering us from speaking to the Gentiles, that they may be saved (1 Thess 2:16).

Fourth, they seek to oblige religious to labor with their hands so that they may become weary of and disgusted with their state of life, and that they may be impeded in the discharge of their spiritual functions. They were anticipated in this device by King Pharaoh, who said: behold, the people of Israel are too many and too mighty for us. Come, let us deal shrewdly with them. And later: therefore, they set taskmasters over them to afflict them with heavy burdens (Exod 1:9–10). According to the Gloss, Pharaoh means the devil, who imposes a heavy yoke of mud and brick, signifying the labor of tilling and muddying the soil. (Glossa ordinaria, in Bibliorum Sacrorum cum Glossa ordinaria iam ante quidem a Strabo Fulgensi, collecta: nunc autem novis patrum, cum Graecorum, tum Latinorum expositionibus locupletata cum postilla Nicolai Lyrani (Venice: 1603), vol. 1, p. 480, at Exod 1:11-13; see also PL 113:186A.)

Fifth, the enemies of religious malign them, and blaspheme against their perfection, namely, the poverty of the mendicant orders. Many will follow their licentiousness, and because of them the way of truth will be reviled (2 Peter 2:2). By the way of truth, the Gloss understands good works. (Glossa interlinearis, at 2 Peter 2:2 (in Glossa ordinaria 6, 1355-6).)

Sixth, as far as they are able, they try to deprive religious of alms, and of all other means of subsistence: (Glossa interlinearis, at 3 John 1:10 (in Glossa ordinaria 6, 1429-30).) and not content with that, that is, as if it did not suffice him to dissuade others from exercising hospitality (according to the Gloss), he refuses himself to welcome the brethren, namely, the indigent, and also stops those who want to welcome them (3 John 1:10), that is, he forbids them to give assistance to those in want.

Seventh, the ministers of Satan endeavour to tarnish the reputation of the Saints; and that not only by word, but by letters, sent to all parts of the world: from the prophets of Jerusalem ungodliness has gone forth into all the land (Jer 23:15). Expounding this text, St. Jerome says: these words are our testimony against those who send forth into the world letters full of lies and deceit and perjury, wherewith to pollute the ears of those who hear them. For it is not enough for the servants of the devil to nourish themselves with their own malice, or to injure those at hand, but they must strive to defame their enemies, and spread their blasphemies against them over the entire globe. (Glossa ordinaria 4, 745, at Jer 23:15, from Jerome, Commentary on Jeremiah, bk. 4, ch. 23, verse 15 (CCSL 74; CSEL 59:280; PL 24:855C).)

In our attempt to check the calumnies of these foul tongues, we shall proceed in the following order.

First, as their malice seems entirely directed against religious, we shall show what the religious life is, and wherein its perfection consists (ch. 1).

Second, we shall demonstrate the worthlessness and folly of the reasons which their enemies adduce against the religious (ch. 2–7).

Third, we shall show that the accusations brought against religious are calumnious (ch. 8–28).