Psalm 45 (Vulgate 44)

of ignorance, such as the Apostle would fain have us not be, where he says, Be ye not children in understanding. AncUCor.M, because the Lord had exhorted us to the imitation of children, (when he placed a little one before Him, and said,Mat.i8, " unless one shall be as this child, he shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven,") even in that very passage the cautious Apostle, whilst he would have us not be of the understanding of children, vet on the other hand calls us to the imitation of children. Be not children (says he) in understanding: howbeit in malice be ye children, that in understanding ye may be full-grown l. Let him who delights to imitate the child, delight not in its ignorance, but in its innocence. Now it was from ignorance, that those children insulted that bald-headed Saint of God, and cried after him, Bald-head! Bald-head! It came to pass that they were devoured by wild beasts; and they prefigured those men who with equal childishness of " understanding," made a mock of a certain Bald-headed One, (" bald-headed" as having been crucified in the place of a skull.) These then were possessed by aMat27, sort of wild beasts; i. e. by demons; the devil and his33« angels, who work in the children of disobedience. Such children as these were those who stood before the hallowed22- Cross, and wagged their heads, and said, If He be the £0/1 of God, let Him come down from the Cross. His sons are39, we, in that we are the " children of the Bridegroom;" and it is to us that this Psalm is addressed, whose title has the words, For the sons of Korah, for the things that * shall be changed.

2. Why need I explain what is meant by, for the things that shall be changed f Every one who is himself changed, recognises the meaning of this. Let him who hears this, for the things that shall be changed, consider what was before, and what is now. And first let him see the world itself to be changed, lately worshipping idols, now worshipping God; lately serving things that they themselves made, now serving Him by Whom they themselves were made. Observe at what time the words, " for the things that shall be changed," were said. Already, by this time the Pagans that are left are in dread of the " changed" state of things: and those who will not suffer themselves to be "changed" see the Churches full; the temples deserted; see crowds here, and there solitude! They marvel at the things so changed; let them read that they were foretold; let them lend their ears to Him Who promised it; let them believe Him Who fulfils that promise. But each one of us, brethren, also, undergoes a change from " the old" to " the new man:" from an infidel to a believer: from a thief to a giver of alms: from an adulterer to a man of chastity; from an evil-doer to a doer of good. To us tbeu be sung the words, for the things that shall be changed; and so let the description of Him by Whom they were changed, begin.

3. For it goes on, For the things that shall be changed, to the sons of Korah for understanding; a song for the beloved. For that beloved One was seen by His persecutors, but yet not for" understanding." For had they known Him, they would never have crucified the Lord of Qlory. In order to this " understanding," other eyes were required by Him He said, He that seeth Me, seeth My Father ulso. Let the Psalm then now sound of Him, let us rejoice in the marriage-feast, and we shall be with those of whom the marriage is madeb, who are invited to the marriage; and the very persons invited are the Bride herself. For the Church is u the Bride6;" Christ the Bridegroom. There are commonly spoken by Scholars certain verses to Bridegrooms Brides, called " Epithalamia." Whatever is sung there, is sung in honour of the Bride and Bridegroom. Is there tnen no Bridechamber 1 in that marriage-feast, to which we are nvte(* ' Whence then does another Psalm say, He hath wp His tabernacle in the Sun; and He is even as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber. The nuptial union is that of the Word, and the flesh. The Bridechamber of this union, the Virgin's womb. For the flesh itself was united tQ the Word: whence also it is said, Henceforth they are not twain, but one flesh. The Church was assumed unto Him out of the human race: so that the Flesh itself, being united to the Word, might be the Head of the Church: b Qui fiunt ouptic (omitted in some perhaps ' Scoliasticis/ * Ballad-moaMis.) gere.' Ben.

• « Scholasticis,* Mss. * Scolasticis/ and the rest who believe, members of that Head. For would you see who is come to the marriage? In the beginning wasohn the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. Let the bride rejoice, as being the object of the love of God. When was she beloved by Him? While she was as yet loathsome. For, All, says the Apostle, have sinned, and come short of1 the glory of God. And again, For Chris t?££* died for the ungodly. She was loved, while yet loathsome, that she might not remain loathsome. In truth, however, \tegent. was not in her loathsomeness she was loved; because her loathsomeness itself was not loved: for if it was this that He loved, He would retain this. He did away loathsomeness: He formed beauty! What was she when He came to her, and what has He made her now! Let Him now Himself come in the words of Prophecy; yea, let the Bridegroom Himself now come forth unto us; let us love Him; or rather, let us not love Him, if we find any thing iu Him that is not fair. Lo, He Himself found many things that were loathsome, and has loved us; let us not love Him, if we find any thing that is not fair in Him. For as for the very circumstance that Be assumed flesh, so that it was even said of Him, We beheld Him, and He had no form nor comeliness, if you consider the mercy, through which He became Man, even in that also He is " beautiful but the Prophet was supporting the character of the Jews, when he said, We beheld Him, and He had no form nor comeliness. Why was it so? Because not (viewed) in understanding. But to those who understand the words, And the Word was made Jlesh, His " beauty" is wonderful d. But God forbid that should glory, (said one of the friends of the bridegroom,) save in the Cross qf our Lord Jesus Christ. It is not enough for thee not to be ashamed of it, unless thou makest thy boast of it also. Wherefore then had He no form nor comeliness? Because Christ crucified is both to the Jews aiCor.i, stumbling-block; and to the Greeks foolishness. But where- 23, fore had He comeliness even upon the Cross? Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men; and the weakness exceeding beauty." of God its stronger than men. To us, however, now that we are believers, let the Bridegroom, wheresoever He is, appear beautiful. He is " beautiful" as God, the Word with God; beautiful in the womb of the Virgin, where without losing His Divinity, He assumed the Manhood: Beautiful when born, the Infant Word: for when He was as yet but an Infant, whilst He was hanging at the breast, and was yet borne in arms, the Heavens spoke; the Angels gave forth praises; a Star directed the wise men; He was adored in manger, He that is the food of gentle ones1. He tnen *s " beautiful" in Heaven, beautiful on earth; beautiful in the womb; beautiful in His parents1 hands: beautiful in His miracles; beautiful under the scourge: beautiful when inviting to life; beautiful also when not regarding death: beautiful in " laying down His life;" beautiful in " taking it again:" beautiful on the Cross; beautiful in the Sepulchre; beautiful in Heaven. Listen then to the song unto " understanding;" and let not the weakness of the flesh turn away your eyes from the splendour of His beauty! The highest beauty, the real beauty, is that of righteousness: there where you find Him unrighteous, you will see Him not beautiful. If He is righteous every whit, He is also " beautiful" every whit. Let Him then come to us to be beheld by the eyes of our minds; as He is described by a certain Prophet who is celebrating His praises, Lo! he begins:

4. Ver. 1. Mine heart hath uttered a good word*. Who *8 the speaker? The Father, or the Prophet? For some understand it to be the Person of the Father, which says, Mine heart hath uttered a good word, intimating to us a certain unspeakable generation9. Lest you should haply think something to have been taken uuto Him, out of which God should beget the Son, (just as man takes something to himself out of which he begets children, that is to say, an union of marriage4, without which man cannot beget offSpringj) ie8t then you should think that God stood in need of any uuptial union, to beget " the Son," he says, Mine heart hath uttered a good word. This very day, thine heart, O man, begets a counsel, and requires no wife: by the counsel, so born of thine heart, thou buildest something or other, and before that building subsists, the design subsists3; and that which thou art about to produce, exists already in that by which thou art going to produce it; and thou praisest the fabric that as yet is not existing, not yet in the visible form of a building, but on the projecting of a design: nor does any one else praise thy design, unless either thou shewest it to him, or he sees what thou hast done. If then by the Word all things were made, and the Word is of God, consider the fabric reared by the Word,3, and learn from that building to admire His counsels! What manner of Word is that, by Which heaven and earth wereHeb.il, made; and all the splendor of the heavens; all the fertility of3' the earth; the expanse of the sea; the wide diffusion of air; the brightness of the constellations; the light of sun and moon? These are visible things: rise above these also; think of the Angels, Principalities, Thrones, Dominions, and Powers. All were made by Him. How then were these good things made? Because there was " uttered forth a good Word," by which they were to be made. Hence it is, a good Word. The Word Himself was addressed as Good Master: and the Word Himself made answer, Why askest thou Me of the17'18' Good? There is none good, save One, that is, God. Good Master, was what was said to Him: and He says, Why askest thou Me of the good? adding also, There is none good, save One, that is, God. How then is He Himself good, except that He is God? But not only is He Good, but He is also One God with the Father. For in saying,

There is none good, save One, that is, God, He did not separate Himself from God, but declared His Oneness with

Him. Mine heart hath utterd a good word. This may have been spoken by God the Father of His Good Word,

Who is our " Good," and the Worker of our good, by means of which " good" alone we ourselves can be in any way

5. It proceeds; / speak of the things which I have made design.' On the meaning of Verbum good. unto the King. Is the Father still speaking? If the Father is still speaking, let us enquire how this also can be understood by us, consistently with the true Catholic Faith, / speak of the things that I have made unto the King. For if it is the Father speaking of His own works to His Son, our " King," what works is the Father to speak of to the Son, seeing that all the Father's works were made by the Son's agency? Or, in the words, J speak of My works unto the King, does the word, / speak, itself signify the generation of the Son? I fear whether this can ever be made intelligible to those slow of comprehension: I will nevertheless say it. Let those who can follow me, do so: lest if it were left unsaid, even those who can follow should not be able. We have read where it is said in another Psalm, God hath spoken once. So often has He spoken by the Prophets, so often by the Apostles, and in these days by His Saints, and does He say, God has spoken once? How can He have spoken but once, except with reference to His Word? But as the Mine heart hath uttered a good Word, was understood by us in the other clause of the generation of the Son, it seems that a kind of repetition is made in the following sentence, so that the Mine heart hath uttered a good Word, which had beeu already said, is repeated in what He is now saying, / speak. For what does " I speak" mean? i I utter a Word.' And whence but from His heart, from His very inmost, does God utter the Word? You yourself do not speak any thing but wh^t you bring forth from your " heart," this word of yours which sounds once and passes away, is brought forth from no other place: and do you wonder that God speaks in this manner? But God's ' speaking' is eternal. You are speaking something at the present moment, because you were silent before: or, look yon, you have not yet brought forth your word; but when you have begun to bring it forth, you as it were 6 break silence;' and bring into being a word, that did not exist before. It was not so God begat the " Word." God's * speaking* is without beginning, and without end: and yet the " Word" He utters is but " One." Let Him utter another, if what He has spoken shall have passed away. But since He by Whom it is uttered abideth, and That which is uttered abideth; and is uttered but once, and has no end, that very ' once* too is said without beginning, and there is no second speaking, because that which is said once, does not pass away. The words, Mine heart hath uttered a good Word, then, are the same thing with, I speak of the things which I have made unto the King. Why then, / speak of the things which I have made? Because in the Word Itself are all the works of God. For whatever God designed to make in the creation already existed in " the Word;" and would not exist in the reality, had it not existed in the Word just as with you the thing would not exist in the building, had it not existed in your design: even as it is said in the Gospel; That which was3o\m\9 made in Him was life. That which was made then was in existence; but it had its existence in the Word: and all the works of God existed there, and yet were not as yet works. " The Word" however already was, and this Word was God, and was with God: and was the Son of God, and One God with the Father. / speak of the things I have made unto the King. Let him hear Him " speaking," who apprehends " the Word:" and let him see together with the Father the Everlasting Word; in Whom exist even those things that are yet to come: in Whom even those things that are past have not passed away. These " works" of God are in the Word, as in the Word, as in the Only-Begotten, as in the " Word of God."

6. What follows then? My tongue is the pen of a writer writing rapidly. What likeness, my brethren, what likeness, I ask, has the " tongue" of God with a transcriber's pen? What resemblance has the rock to Christ? What likeness does the "lamb" bear to our Saviour, or wbatj°n*', "the lion" to the strength of the Only- Begotten? Yet such comparisons have been made; and were they not made, we should not be formed to a certain extent by these visible things to the knowledge of the " Invisible One." So then with this mean simile of the pen; let us not compare it to

His excellent greatness, so let us not reject it with contempt. For I ask, why He compares His tongue to the pen of a writer writing rapidly? But how swiftly soever the transcriber writes, still it is not comparable to that swiftuess of which another Psalm says, His word runneth very ' swiftly. But it appears to me, (if human understanding may presume so far,) that this too may be understood as spoken in the Person of the Father; My tongue is the pen of a writer. Inasmuch as what is spoken by the tongue, sounds once and passes away, what is written, remains; seeing then that God uttereth " a Word," and the Word which is uttered does not sound once and pass away, but is uttered and yet continues, God chose rather to compare this to words written than to sounds. But what He added, saying, of one writing swiftly, stimulates the mind unto understanding. Let it however not slothfully rest here, thinking of transcribers1, or thinking of some kind of quick shorthand writers: if it be this it sees in the passage, it will be resting there. Let it think swiftly what is the meaning of that word swiftly. The swiftly of God is such that nothing exceeds in swiftness. For in writings letter is written after letter; syllable after syllable; word after word: nor do we pass to- the second except when the first is written out* But there nothing can exceed the swiftness, where there are not several words; and yet there is not any thing omitted; since in the One are contained all things.

7. Lo! now then that Word, so uttered, Eternal, the Co-eternal Offspring of the Eternal, will come as " the Bridegroom;w (ver. 2.) Fairer than the children of men. " Than the children of men.'7 I ask, why not than the Angels also? Why did he say, than the children of men, except because He was Man? Lest you should think the Man Christ to be any ordinary man, he says, Fairer than the children of men. Even though Himself 4 Man/ He is fairer than the children of men; though among the children of men, " fairer than the children of men: though of the children of men, fairer than the, children of men. Grace is shed abroad on Thy lips. ' The Law was given by Moses. Grace and Truth came by Jesus Christ? Grace is shed abroad on Thy lips. Was it through my deserts that I was helped; because / delight in the Law qf God after the inner man? But, there is another law in my members warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law qf sin9 which is in my members. O wretched man that 1 am! Who shall deliver me from the body of this death? The grace of God1, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Grace is shed abroad on Thy lips. He came unto us with the word of grace, with the kiss of grace, What is there more sweet than that grace? To what purport is that grace? Blessed are they, whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered. If He were to come as a severe Judge, and not to bring that " grace/1 which is " shed abroad on His lips/9 who could have auy hope of salvation? Who could help fearing for himself what was the sinner's due? He, coming with " grace," did not exact what was due, but paid that which He did not owe. For was not the forfeit of " death" due from the sinner? Or was there any thing but punishment "due" to you, being a sinner? He has remitted thy debt, and He has paid that which He did not owe. Marvellous "grace!" Wherefore grace? Because it is given gratis, freely. For this reason it is in your power to acknowledge the free gift8, not to recompense it. He sought to find what reward to render, andUS^re-said, What shall I render unto the Lord for all His benefits*^™^ towards me? And he seemed to have found something, /12.& will take the cup qf salvation, and call on the name of the Lord. Is this the recompense that thou renderest? that thou " takest the cup of salvation, and callest upon the name of the Lord?" Who gave thee that very cup of salvation? He continued the acknowledgment of the free grace, for as to the rendering a recompense for it, he was at a loss. Find something to give unto God, that thou hast not received from Him: and thou wilt have rendered a return for that free grace. But beware, lest whilst thou seekest something that thou didst not receive from God, to render unto Him, thou find it indeed; but only thine own sin! This it is true thou didst not receive from Him, but thou oughtest not to give lo Him either. This the Jews gave unto Him, yAeyMatt.s, rewarded Him evil for good; they received rain from Him, and they rendered unto Him not fruit; but the thorns of suffering. Whatsoever good thing then in thyself thou wouldest offer unto God, thou findest thyself to have received from Him only. There is the grace that is " shed abroad on His lips;" He made thee; made thee of His free grace: for there was nothing for Him to reward, before He had made thee. Thou wert lost: He sought thee, and having found thee, restored thee. He did not impute to thee the past. He promised thee the future. Verily, grace is shed abroad on Thy lips! Therefore God hath blessed Tliee for ever. A difficulty is started how this, therefore God hath blessed Thee for ever, can be understood to be still spoken by God the Father. It seems that it may with more propriety be understood of the person of the Prophet. And sudden and perfectly abrupt changes of person are found in the sacred writings: indeed the divine pages, if any one takes notice, are full of them. Deliver my soul, O Lord, from lying lips, and from a deceitful tongue. And immediately follows, What shall be given unto thee, or what shall be added unto thee against the false ' tongue. There is a different person in this verse from that in the former: in the one, that of a person asking, in the other, of one bringing, succour. Sharp arrows of the migh ty One, with consuming coals of fire. There is one person that says, " What shall be given or added unto thee," and in what follows another is introduced, Woe is me that my sojourn is remote1. So frequent a change of persons in a few verses is a hint for our understanding; He does not point out the place where the change is made: we are not told, ' God spake this, and man lnjs j» but it is from the words themselves we are made to understand what relates to man, what to God. Now it was man that said, My heart hath uttered a good word. It was a man that said it; it was the writer of the Psalm that said; but he said it speaking in the person of God. He begins to speak in his own person also. Therefore God hath blessed Thee for ever. For God hath said, Grace ut shed abroad on Thy lips, addressing Him, Whom He had made fair before the children of men; even the Man Whom the Eternal had begotten before all things; God, co-eternal with Himself. The Prophet then is filled with a certain unspeakable joy; and considering what God the Father hath revealed of His Son to man, that he could also speak those former words in the Persou of God, says, therefore hath God blessed Thee for ever. Wherefore? On account of that grace. For to what does that grace tend? To the u kingdom of heaven.'' For the First Testament had promised the earth; and the reward, or the promise, to those under the Law was different from that under Grace: " the land of Canaan" to Jews under the Law, " the kingdom of heaven" to Christians under Grace. That kingdom, then, that belonged to those under the Law, that land, has passed away. The kingdom of heaven, that belongs to those under Grace, does not pass away. God hath blessed thee, not for a time, but for ever.

8. There have not been wanting those, who preferred understanding all the preceding passage also of the Prophet's own person; and would have even this verse, Mine heart hath uttered forth a good word> understood as spoken by the Prophet, supposed to be uttering a hymn. (For whoever utters a hymn to God, his heart is, as it were, " uttering forth a good word," just as his heart who blasphemes God, is uttering forth an evil word.) So that even by what follows, / speak of the things which I have made 1 unto the King, be meant to express that man's chief work was but to praise God. To Him it belongs to satisfy thee, by His beauty; to thee to praise Him with thanksgiving. If thy 44 works" be not the praise of God, thou art beginning to love thine own self; thou wilt belong to the number of those of whom the Apostle says, Men shall be lovers of their* own selves. Be dissatisfied with thyself; find satisfaction in Him Who made thee: in that thou art dissatisfied with that in thine own self, which thou thyself hast made. Be then thy " work" the praise of God; let thine heart utter forth a good word. Tell then of thy works unto the King, for it is the King Himself that hath made thee to tell of them; and He it is Who gave thee what thou mightest offer to Him. Render to Him of His own; be not willing, 'having received the share of thine inheritance, to * go afarLokeis, off, and riotously squander it on harlots; and feed the swine.' Remember this passage of the Gospel. But to us also apply the words, He was dead, and is alive again; was lost, and is

9. My tongue is the pen qf a writer writing quickly. There have been persons who have understood the Prophet to have been describing in this manner what he was writing; and therefore to have compared his tongue to the pen of a writer writing quickly: but that he chose to express himself in the words writing quickly, to signify, that he was writing of things which were to come " quickly that writing quickly should be understood to be equivalent to " writing things that are quick;" i. e. writing things that would not long tarry. For God did not tarry long to manifest Christ. How quickly is that perceived to have rolled by, which is acknowledged to be already past! Call to mind the generations before thee; thou wilt find that the making of Adam is but a thing of yesterday. So do we read that all things have gone on from the very beginning: they were therefore done quickly. The day of Judgment also will be here quickly. Do thou anticipate its " quick" coming. It is to come " quickly do thou become converted yet more " quickly." The Judge's face will appear: but observe thou what the Prophet says, Let us come before (let us ' prevent1) His face with confession. Grace is shed abroad on thy lips: therefore God hath blessed thee for ever.

10. Ver. 3. Gird Thy sword upon Thy thigh, O most Mighty. What is meant by Thy sword, but Thy word? It was by that sword He scattered His enemies; by that sword He divided the son from the father, " the daughter from the mother, the daughter-in-law from the mother-iuWe read these words in the Gospel, / came not to sen(i peace, bat a sword. And, in one house shall Jive be divided against each other; three against two, and two against three; i. e. " the father against the son, the daughter against the mother, the daughter-in-law against the mother-in-law." By what " sword," but that which Christ brought, was this division wrought? And indeed, my brethren, we see this exemplified daily. Some young man is minded to give himself up to God's service; his father is opposed to it; they are " divided against each other:" the one promises an earthly inheritance, the other loves an heavenly; the one promises one thing, the other prefers another. The father should not think himself wronged: God alone is preferred to him. And yet he is at strife 1 with the son, who would fain give himself to God's service. But the spiritual sword is mightier to separate them, than the ties of carnal nature to bind them together. This happens also in the case of a mother against her daughter; still more also in that of a daughter-in-law against a mother-in-law. For sometimes — in one house mother-in-law and daughter-in-law are found orthodox and heretical respectively. And where that sword is forcibly felt h, we do not dread the repetition of Baptism. Could daughter be divided against mother; and could not daughter-in-law be divided against mother-in-law?

11. This takes place also with mankind in general, that " son is divided against father." For we were once children genere of the devil. It was said to us, when we were as yet Un-humano believers, Ye are of your father, the devil. He was not our John father by begetting us; but we became his children by44, becoming like him. Now you see the son divided against the father. That " sword" has come; he renounces the devil; he finds another father and another mother. The former, by proposing himself for our imitation, begat us unto perdition; the two parents we have found gender unto life everlasting. " The son (then) is divided against the father." "The daughter is divided against the mother:" the laity, which came from Judaism to belief, is divided against the Synagogue. The daughter-in-law also is divided against the mother -in- law; the laity, which came from among the Gentiles, is expressed by the daughter-in-law, because Christ, the Bridegroom, is the Son of the Synagogue. For from whence, according to the flesh, was the Son of God born? From that Synagogue. Kven He, Who forsook His Father and mother, and clave unto His wife, that they twain might24' be one flesh; according to no mere conjecture of ours, but to the attestation of the Apostle, saying, This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the Church. For in a32* certain sense, He did forsake the Father; He did not indeed " forsake" Him entirely, as it were, unto actual separation from Him, but unto the assumption of human flesh. In what way did He " forsake" Him? In that, when He was in the form of God, He thought it not robbery1 to be equal with

Ood; but emptied Himself of His glory, taking upon Him the form of a servant. In what way did He " forsake His mother" also? In forsaking the Jewish nation; that Synagogue that would still cleave to the old types. To a figurative expression of this belongs that He said, Who is My mother, or who are My brethren? For He was within, teaching; they were standing without. Consider if it is not so now with the Jews. Christ is teaching within the Church: they still stand without. What then is "the mother-in-law?" The mother of the Bridegroom. The mother of the Bridegroom, our Lord Jesus Christ, is the Synagogue. Her daughter-in-law, then, is the Church, which, coming from the Gentiles, did not consent to carnal circumcision, and is divided against her mother-in-law. Oird on Thy sword. It was of the mighty power of that " sword" we were speaking, when we said this.

13. Oird Tliy sword upon Thee, i. e. Thy word, about Thy thigh, O most Mighty; i e. having Thy sword girt about Thy thigh. What does he mean to express by the " thigh?" The flesh. Whence those words, A prince shall not depart from Judah; and a lawgiver from his thighskf Did not Abraham himself, (to whom was promised the seed in which " all the nations of the earth were to be blessed,") when be sent his servant to seek and to bring home a wife for bis son, being by faith fully persuaded, that in that (so to speak) contemptible seed was contained the great Name 1; that is, that the Son of God was to come of the seed of Abraham, out of all the children of men;) did not he, I say, cause his servant to swear unto him in this manner, saying, Put thy hand under my thigh, and so swear; as if he had said, " Put thy hand on the altar, or on the Gospel, or on the Prophet, or on any holy thing." Put (he says) thy hand under my thigh; having full confidence, not ashamed of it as unseemly, but understanding therein a truth. Oird, therefore, thy sword about Thee, about Thy thigh, most Mighty. Most Mighty even about Thy thigh; because the weakness of God is stronger than men.

14. With Thy beauty and Thy glory. Take to Thee that righteousness, in which Thou art at all times beautiful and glorious. E. V. from between hit feet.

Ver. 4. And speed on, and proceed prosperously, and reign. Do we not see it so? Is it not already come to pass? He has " sped on; has proceeded prosperously, and He reigns;" all nations are subdued unto Him. What a thing was it to see that " in the Spirit," of which same thing it is now in our power to experience in the reality! At the time when these words were said, Christ did not yet " reign" thus; had not yet sped on, nor " proceeded prosperously." They were then being preached, they have now been fulfilled: in many things we have God's promise fulfilled already; in some few we have to claim its fulfilment yet. Speed on, and proceed prosperously, and reign.

15. Because of truth, meekness, and righteousness. Truth was restored unto us, when the Truth sprung out of the earth: and Righteousness looked out from heaven. Christ was presented to the expectation of mankind, that in Abraham's Seed " all nations should be blessed." The Gospel has been preached. It is the Truth. What is meant by meekness f The Martyrs have suffered; and the kingdom of God has made much progress, from thence, and advanced throughout all nations; because the Martyrs suffered, and neither "fell away," nor yet offered resistance; confessing every thing, concealing nothing; prepared for every thing, shrinking from nothing. Marvellous meekness! This did the Body of Christ, by its Head it learned. He was first led as a sheep to the slaughter, and as a lamb before his shearer is dumb, even so opened not His mouth; meek to that degree, that while hanging on the Cross, He said, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. Why because of righteousness? He will come also to judge, and34, to render to every man according to his works. He spake the truth; He patiently endured unrighteousness: He is to bring righteousness hereafter.

And Thy right hand shall lead Thee on marvellously. We shall be guided on by His right hand: He by His own. For He is God, we mortal men. He was led on by His own right hand; i. e. by His own power. For the power which the Father hath, He hath also; the Father's immortality He hath also: He hath the Father's Divinity, the Father's Eternity, the Father's Power Marvellously will His right hand lead Him on, performing the works of God; undergoing human sufferings, overthrowing the evil wills 1 of men by His own goodness. Even now, He is being led on even to places where as yet He is not; and it is His own right hand that is leading Him on. For that is leading Him thither which He has Himself bestowed upon His Saints. Thy right hand shall lead Thee on marvellously.

Ver. 5. Thine arrows are sharp, are most powerful; words that pierce the heart, that kindle love. Whence in ^e ^on& °^ Songs ft IS said, I am wounded with love. For she speaks of being " wounded with love;" that is, of being in love, of being inflamed with passion, of sighing for the Bridegroom, from Whom she received the arrow of the Word. Thine arrows are sharp, are most powerful; both piercing, and effective; sharp, most powerful.

The peoples shall fall under Thee. Who have " fallen?" They who were " wounded" have also " fallen." We see the nations subdued unto Christ; we do not see them " fall." He explains where they " fall," viz. in the heart. It was there they lifted themselves up against Christ, there they fall down before Christ. Saul was a blasphemer of Christ: he was then lifted up, he prays to Christ, " he is fallen," he is prostrate before Him: the enemy of Christ is slain, that the disciple ef Christ may live! By an arrow launched from heaven, Saul, (not as yet Paul, but still Saul,) still lifted up, still not yet prostrate, is wounded in the heart: he received the arrow, he fell " in heart." For though he fell prostrate on his face, was not there that he fell down in heart8: but it was there where he said aloud, Lord,what dost Thou bid me do? But just now thou wert going to bind the Christians, and to bring them to punishment: and now thou sayest unto Christ, What dost Thou bid me do? O arrow sharp and most mighty, by whose stroke Saul fell, so as to become Paul. As it was with him, so was it also with " the peoples;" consider the nations, observe their subjection unto Christ. The peoples (then) shall fall under TJiee in the heart of the King's enemies; that is, in the heart of Thine enemies. For it is Him that he calls King, Him that he recognises as King. The peoples shall fall under Thee in the heart of the King's enemies.

They were " enemies" before; they have been stricken by thine arrows: they have fallen before Thee. Out of enemies they have been made friends: the enemies are dead, the friends survive. This is the meaning of, for those which shall be changed. We are seeking to understand each single word, and each separate verse; yet so far only are we to seek for their " understanding," as to leave no one to doubt that they are spoken of Christ The peoples shall fall under Thee, in the heart of the King's enemies.

17. Ver. 6. Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever. Because God has " blessed Thee for ever," on account of the grace poured over Thy lips. Now the throne of the Jewish Kingdom was a temporal one; belonging to those who were under the Law, not to those who were under u grace He came to " redeem those who were under the Law," and to place them under i Grace.' His Throne is for ever and ever. Why? for that first throne of the Kingdom was but a temporal one: whence then have we a throne for ever and ever? Because it is God's throne. Thy throne, O Ood, is for ever and ever. O divine Attribute of Eternity1! for God could not have a temporal throne. Thy throne, O Ood, is for ever and ever — a sceptre of direction is the**** sceptre of Thy Kingdom.

" The sceptre of direction" is that which directs mankind: they were before crooked, distorted; they sought to reign for themselves: they loved themselves, loved their own evil deeds: they submitted not their own will to God; but would fain have bent God's will to conformity with their own lusts. For the sinner and the unrighteous man is generally angry with God, because it rains not5! and yet would bavetquja God not be angTy with himself, because he is profligate3. And it is pretty much for tins very reason that men daily sit, to dispute against God: " This is what He ought to havefluit done: this He has not well done." Thou forsooth seest what thou doest; He knows not what He does! It is thou that art crooked! His ways are right. When wilt thou make the crooked coincide with the straight? It cannot be made to coincide with it4. Just as if you were to place a crooked stick on a level pavement; it does not join on to it; it does not cohere; it does not fit into the pavement. The pavement is even in every part: but that is crooked; it does not fit into that which is level. The will of God then is equal, thine own is " crooked:" it is because thou ca08t not ^e conformed unto it, that it seems "crooked" unto thee: rule thou thyself by it; seek not to bend it to thine own will: for thou canst not accomplish it; that is at all times ' straight!' Wouldest thou abide in Him? " Correct thou thyself;" so will the sceptre of Him Who rules thee, be unto thee " a rule of direction." Thence is He also called Bang1, from ruling. For that is no " ruler" that does conrect\ Hereunto is our King a King of * right ones*.* Just as He is a Priest (Sacerdos) by sanctifying us, so is He our King, our Ruler, by c ruling' us. But what says He elsewhere? With the holy Thou wilt be holy, and with the upright man Thou wilt shew Thyself upright. With the pure Thou wilt shew Thyself pure, and with the fro ward Thou wilt shew Thyself /toward: not that God's ways are crooked; but that they whose ways are crooked, think His ways crooked. Does goodness please thee? God is Good. Does it displease thee? He is to thee as if unrighteous. Unto thee, God is crooked: this is the effect of thine own crookedness: for His righteousness remaineth for ever. Hear in another Psalm: How good is Ood unto Israel, unto such as are right in heart.

18. Ver. 6, 7. A rod of direction is the rod of Jliy kingdom. TJiou hast loved righteousness, and hated iniquity. See there " the rod of direction" described. Thou hast loved righteousness, and hated iniquity. Draw near to that rod; let Christ be thy King: let Him " rule" thee with that rod, not crush thee with it. For that rod is a rod of iron; an inflexible rod. Thou shall rule them with a rod of iron: and break them in pieces like a potter's vessel. Some He rules; others He " breaks in pieces:" He i rules' them that are spiritual: He breaks in pieces them that are carnal. Draw near then to that rod; what fearest thou in it? This is the whole of that rodb; Thou hast loved righteousness, and hated iniquity. What dost thou fear? But perhaps thou wert thyself unrighteous: for thou hearest of thy King that He haleth iniquity, and thou fearest. Thou hast what to do. What is it that He hates? " Iniquity." Is it thee? But there is iniquity in thee. God hates it, do thou hate it too; that the same thing may be hated by you both. For so wilt thou be the friend of God, if thou hate what He hates. So wilt thou also love what He loves. Be displeased with thine own unrighteousness: take delight in that which He created. For thou art an unrighteous man. I apply to thee two words; the two words, " man," and " unrighteous," out of these two names one expresses thy nature, the other thy fault: the one God made for thee; the other is thiue own work: love what God made: hate that which thou thyself hast made, in that He Himself hates it also. See how thou art already beginning to become united to Him, now that thou hatest what He hates. He will hereafter punish sin, for the rod of His kingdom is a rod of direction. ' But let Him not punish sin.' Nay, He cannot but (punish ite.) Sin is to be punished; if it were not what must be punished, it would not be sin. Anticipate Him: thou wouldest have Him not punish it; do thou punish it. For it is for this very reason that He still spares thee, still reprieves thee: still withholds His hand; still bends His bow; that is, His threatenings. Would He so loudly declare that He was about to smite thee, if He wished to smite thee? He is then holding back His hand from the punishment of thine offences; but do not thou hold back. Turn thou thyself to the punishment of thine offences: for unpunished offences cannot be: punishment therefore must be executed either by thyself, or by Him: do thou then plead guilty, that He may reprieve thee. Consider an instance in that penitential Psalm; Hide Tfty face from my sins. Did be mean " from me?" No: for in another passage he says plainly, Hide not Thy face from me. Turn then Thy face from my sins. 1 would have Thee not see my sins. For God's ' seeing1 is animadverting upon. Hence too a Judge is said to ' animadvert' (animum advertere) on that which he punishes; i. e. to turn his mind on it, to bend it thereon, even to the punishment of it, inasmuch as he is the Judge. So too is God a Judge, Turn Thou Thy face from my sins. But thou thyself, if thou wouldest have God turn * His face' from them, turn not thine own face from them. Observe how he proposes this to God in that very Psalm; / acknowledge, he says, my transgression, and my sin is ever before me. He would fain have that, which he wishes to be ever before his own eyes, not be before God's eyes. A rod of direction is the rod of Thy kingdom. Let no one flatter himself with fond hopes of God's mercy. His sceptre is a sceptre of righteousness. Do we say that God is not merciful? What can exceed His mercy, Who shews such forbearance to sinners; Who takes no account of the past in all that turn unto Him? So love thou Him for His mercy, as still to wish that He should be truthful. For mercy cannot strip Him of His attribute of justice: nor justice of that of mercy. Meanwhile during the time that He postpones thy punishment, do not thou postpone it: for a sceptre of righteousness is the sceptre of His kingdom.

19. Thou hast loved righteousness and hated iniquity: therefore, God, Thy God, hath anointed Thee. It was for this reason that He anointed thee, that thou mightest love righteousness, and hate iniquity. And observe in what way he expresses himself. Therefore, God, Thy God, hath anointed Thee: i.e. * God hath anointed Thee, OGod.' * God* is ' anointed9 by God. For in the Latin it is thought to be the same case of the noun repeated: in the Greek however there is a most evident distinction; one being the name of the Person addressed; and one His, who makes the address, saying, " God hath anointed Thee." " O God, Thy God hath anointed Thee," just as if He were saying, Therefore hath Thy God, O God, anointed Thee. Take it in that sense, understand it in that sense; that such is the sense is most evident in the Greek. Who then is the God that is ' anointed' by God? Let the Jews tell us; these Scriptures are common to us and them. It was God, Who was anointed by God: you hear of an Anointed one; understand it to mean " Christ." For the name of * Christ' comes from chrism; this name by which He is called " Christ" expresses "unction:" nor were kings and prophets anointed in any kingdom, in any other place, save in that kingdom where Christ was prophesied of, where He was anointed, and from whence the Name of Christ was to come. It is found no where else at all: in no one nation or kingdom. God, then, was anointed by God; with what oil was He anointed, but a spiritual one? For the visible oil is in the sign, the invisible oil is in the mystery*; the spiritual oil is within. " God" then was " anointed" for us, and sent unto us; and God Himself was man, in order that He might be " anointed:" but He was man, in such a way as to be God still. He was God in such a way as not to disdain to be man. " Very man and very God;" in nothing deceitful, in nothing false, as being every where true, every where the Truth itself. God then is man; and it was for this cause that " God" was anointed, because God was Man, and became " Christ."

20. This was figured in Jacob's placing a stone at hisGen.28, head, and so sleeping. The patriarch Jacob had placed an~18, stone at his head: sleeping with that stone at his head, he saw heaven opened, and a ladder from heaven to earth, and Angels ascending and descending; after this vision he awaked, anointed the stone, and departed. In that stone he understood Christ; for that reason he anointed it. Take notice what it is whereby Christ is preached. What is the meaning of that anointing of a stone, especially in the case of the Patriarchs who worshipped but One God? It was however done as a figurative act: and he departed. For he did not anoint the stone, and come to worship there constantly, and to perform sacrifice there. It was the expression of a mystery; not the commencement of sacrilege. And notice the meaning of "the stone." The Stone which the builders refused, this is become the head of the corner.7'29 Notice here a great mystery. The Stone is Christ. Peter calls Him a living Stone, disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God. And the stone is set at " the head," because Christ is the Head of the man. And " the stone" was anointed, because "Christ" was so called from His being anointed. And in the revelation of Christ, the ladder from earth to heaven is seen, or from heaven to earth, and the Angels ascending and descending. What this means, we shall see more clearly, when we have quoted the testimony from the Lord Himself in the Gospel. You know that Jacob is the same as Israel. For when he wrestled with the Angel, and "prevailed," and had been blest by Him 0Ver ^nom be prevailed, his name was changed, so that he was called c< Israel just as the people of Israel prevailed against Christ, so as to crucify Him, and nevertheless was (in those who believed in Christ) blest by Him over Whom it prevailed. But many believed not; hence the halting of Jacob. Here we have at once, blessing and halting. Blessing on those who became believers; for we know that afterwards many of that people did believe: Halting on the other hand in those who believed not. And because the greater part believed not, and but few believed, therefore that a halting might be produced, He touched the breadth1 of his thigh. What is meaut by the breadth of the thigh? The great multitude of his descendants. Notice then that u ladder." Our Lord says in the Gospel, (when He beheld Nathanael,) Behold an Israelite indeed, in wh°m ** no ffuik' For so is it said of Jacob himself, And Jacob was without guile, dwelling in an house. The Lord recalling this to mind, and seeing Nathanael a man of that people and nation to be a man without guile, Behold (He ' says) an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile. It was on account of Jacob that He called him * an Israelite without guile.' And that Nathanael says, Whence knowest Thou me? And the Lord said, When thou wert under the fig -tret I saw thee: i. e. when thou wert among that people, placed under the Law, which sheltered that People with its carnal shadows, / saw thee there. What is meant by ' I saw thee there?' I took compassion upon thee there. He however remembering that he had been literally also under a fig-tree, wondering, (as he believed himself to have been seen by no one, when he was there,) confesses and says, Thou art the Son of God, Thou art the King of Israel. Who is it that says this? He who had been told that he was an ' Israelite indeed, and that in him there was no guile and the Lord said, Because I said unto thee, I saw thee under the fig-tree, hast thou believed? Thou shalt see greater things than these. He is speaking with Jacob, with * Israel;1 with him who placed the stone at his head. Thou shalt see greater things than these. What * greater things?' Inasmuch as, « Christ* is now the Head of the man. Verily, verily, I say unto you, Ye shall see Heaven opened, and the Angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man. May " the Angels" of God " ascend and descend" by that ladder; may that be realized in the Church! The " Angels of God** are those who preach1 His Truth: let them " ascend," and see it written, In the beginning was the Word, and Mj0hni, Word was with God, and the Word was God. Let them " descend," and see it written, that the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us. Let them "ascend" in order to elevate the great ones2: let them "descend," in order to nourish the little ones. Behold Paul " ascending Whether we be beside ourselves, it is to God; behold him descending; Or whether we be sober, it is for your cause. Behold him ascending; We speak wisdom among them that are perfect behold him descending; / have fed you with milk, and not with meat. This is realized in the Church: " the Angels ofjjj" God" do ascend and descend on the Son of Man: for the Son of Man is at once above, unto Whom they ascend in heart, that is to say, His Head; and the Son of Man is below, that is to say, His Body. The "members" are here: the " head" is above: we ascend to the head, we descend to the members. Christ is there, Christ is here too. For were He there only, and not here, how should we account for that speech, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou Me? For in Heaven who could have given Him annoyance? None, not4, the Jews, nor Saul, nor the devil His tempter, no one could give Him annoyance there: but it was as it is with the frame of the human body, the foot being trodden upon, the tongue crieth out.

21. Thou hast loved righteousness and hated iniquity, therefore, God, TJty God, hath anointed Thee. We have been speaking of God, Who was "anointed;" i. e. of Christ. The name of Christ could not be more clearly expressed, than by His being called God the Anointed. In the same way in which He was beautiful before the children of men, so is He here anointed with the oil of gladness above His fellows. Who then are His fellows? The children of men • for that He Himself (as the Son of Man) became partaker of their mortality in order to make them partakers of His Immortality.

22. Ver. 8. Out of Thy garments is the smell of myrrh, amber, and cassia. Out of Thy garments is perceived the smell of fragrant odours. By His garments are meant His Saints, His elect, His whole Church, which He shews forth, as His garment, so to speak; His robe without spot and wrinkle, which on account of its spots He has washed in His blood; on account of its " wrinkles" extended on His Cross. Hence the sweet savour which is signified by certain perfumes there mentioned* Hear Paul, that least of the Apostles, that hem of that garment, which the woman with the issue of blood touched, and was healed, hear him saying; We are a sweet savour of Christ, in every place, both in them that are saved, and in them that perish. He did not say, 'We are a sweet savour in them that are saved, and a foul savour in them that are lost:9 but, as far as relates to ourselves, 4 we are a sweet savour both in them that are saved, and in them that perish.9 That a man should be saved by 8 a sweet savour,' is not improbable or incredible; but that a man should perish through a sweet savour, how is it to be accounted for? It is a thing of great force; it is a great truth: and it is so, even if it cannot be comprehended. For that you may understand that it is hard to be comprehended, he immediately added; And who is sufficient for these things *t Who can understand that men perish by a sweet savour? Something however I would say on this, brethren. Behold when Paul himself was preaching the Gospel, many loved him, as the preacher of the Gospel; many envied him. They who loved him were saved by the odour of" sweet savour;" they who envied him, perished by means of that " sweet savour." To them that perished then he was not a foul " savour," but a " sweet savour." For it was for this very reason they the more envied him, the more excellent that grace was which reigned in him: for no man envies him who is unhappy. He then was glorious in the preaching of God's Word, and in regulating his life according to the rule of that rod of direction; and he was loved by those who loved Christ in him, who followed after and pursued the odour of sweet savour; who loved the friend of the Bridegroom: that is to say, by the Bride Herself, who says *n ^e Song of Songs, We will run after the sweet savour of thy perfumes. But the others, the more they beheld him invested with the glory of the preaching of the Gospel, and of an irreproachable life, were so much the more tortured with envy, and found that sweet savour prove death to them.

23. Ver. 8. Out of Thy garments is the smell of myrrh* amber, and cassia; out of thy ivory palaces, whereby kings' daughters have made Thee glad. Choose which ever you please, " ivory" palaces, or " magnificent," or " royal" palaces, it is out of these that the kings1 daughters have made Christ glad. Would you understand the spiritual sense of " ivory palaces?" Understand by them the magnificent houses, and tabernacles of God, the hearts of the Saints; and by these self-same "kings" those who rule their flesh; who bring into subjection to themselves the rebellious commonalty of human affections, who chastise the body, and reduce it to bondage: for it is from these that the daughters of kings have made Him glad. For all the souls that have been born through their preaching and evangelizing are c daughters of kings:1 and the Churches, as the daughters of Apostles, are daughters of kings. For He is " King of kings;" they themselves kings, of whom it was said, " Ye shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel." They preached the " Word of Truth;" and begat Churches not for themselves, but for Him. With this mystery is connected what is written in the Law. " If a man's brother die, let his brother take his wife, and raise up seed to his brother." 1 Let his brother25'5,6, take his wife, and raise up seed to his brother.' Christ said, Say unto my brethren. In the Psalms He said, J will declare Thy name unto my brethren. Christ died, rosejohn20, again, ascended, became " absent in the body." His brethren have taken His wife, to beget children, by the preaching of the Gospel, (not by themselves, but by the Gospel), for their Brother's name's sake. For in Christ Jesus, through the Gospel*, (saitb he,) have J begotten you. Therefore as4' " raising up seed * to their brother," to as many as they begat, they gave the name not of 6 Paulians' or * Petrians,' but of " Christians." Observe whether that sense is not wakefully kept1 in these verses. For when he said, " out of1 the ivory palaces, he spake of mansions royal, ample, honourable, peaceful, like the heart of the Saints; he added, Whereby the kings' daughters have made Thee glad in Thine honour. They are indeed daughters of kings, daughters of thine Apostles, but still in Thine honour: for they raised up seed to their brother. Hence Paul, when he saw those whom he had raised up unto his Brother, running after his 0wn name, exclaimed, Was Paul crucified for you? For what saith the Law: Let the son which is born bear the name of him that is deadh. Let him be born to him that is dead, be called by the name of him that is dead. This precept of the Law Paul retains; those who wished to be called by his name he checks, saying, Was Paul crucified for you? Look at Him Who is dead? Was Paul crucified for you? What then? When thou didst beget them, haply thou didst bestow thine own name upon them. No; for he says, Or trere ye baptized in the name of Paul? The daughters of kings have made Thee glad in Thine honour. Keep, hold fast this * in Thine honour' This is meant by having a wedding garment; seeking His honour, His glory. Understand moreover by kings' daughters the cities, which were founded by kings, and have received the faith: and out of the ivory palaces, (palaces rich, the proud, the lifted up.) Kings' daughters have made Thee glad in Thine honour; in that they sought not the honour of their founders, but have sought Thine honour. Shew me at Rome a temple of Romulus, held in so great honour, as I can shew you the Monument of Peter1. In Peter, who is honoured, but He Who died for us? For we are followers of Christ, not followers of Peter. And even if we were born from the brother of Him that is dead, yet are we named after the name of Him Who is dead. We were begotten by the one, but begotten to the other. Behold, Rome, Carthage, and several other cities are the daughters of kings, and yet have they made glad the King in His honour: and all these make up one single Queen.

24., What a nuptial song! Behold in the midst of songs full of rejoicing, comes forth the Bride herself. For the Bridegroom was coming. It was He Who was being described: it was on Him all our attention was fixed.

Ver. 9. Upon 77ty right hand did stand the Queen. She which stands on the left is no Queen. For there will be one standing on the left also, to whom it will be said, Go into everlasting fire. But she shall stand on the right hand, to41, whom it will be said, Come, ye blessed of My Father, inherit ib. the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. On Thy right hand did stand the Queen, in a vesture of gold, clothed about with divers colours. What is the vesture of this Queen? It is one both precious, and also of divers colours: it is the mysteries of doctrine in all the various tongues: one African, one Syrian, one Greek, one Hebrew, one this, and one that; it is these languages that produce the divers colours of this vesture. But just as all the divers colours of the vesture blend together in the one vesture, so do all the languages in one and the same faith. In that vesture, let there be diversity, let there be no rent. See we have u understood" the divers colours of the diversity of tongues; and the vesture to refer to unity: but in that diversity itself, what is meant by the ' gold?' Wisdom itself. Let there be any diversity of tongues you please, but there is but one " gold" that is preached of: not a different gold, but a different form of that gold. For it is the same Wisdom, the same doctrine and discipline that every language preaches. In the languages there is diversity; gold in the thoughts.

25. The Prophet addresses this Queen, (for he delights in singing to her,) and moreover each one of us, provided, however, we know where we are, and endeavour to belong to that body, and do belong to it in faith and hope, being united in the membership of Christ11. For it is us whom he addresses, saying, Hearken, t O daughter, and behold, as being one of the Fathers, (for they are daughters of kings,) although it be a Prophet, or although it be an Apostle 1 that is addressing her; addressing her, as a daughter, for we are accustomed to speak in this way, Our fathers the Prophets, our fathers the Apostles; if we address them as " fathers,'* they may address us as children: and it is one father's voice addressing one daughter. Hearken, O daughter, and see. Hear first; afterward see. For they came to us with the Gospel; and that has been preached to us, which as yet we do not see, and which on hearing of it we believed, which by believing it, we shall come to see: even as the Bridegroom Himself speaks in the Prophet, A people whom I have not known served me. In the hearing of me with the ear it obeyed me. What is meant by on hearing of me with the ear? That they did not see. The Jews saw Him, and crucified Him; the Gentiles saw Him not, and believed. Let the Queen who comes from the Gentiles come in " the vesture of gold, clothed with divers colours";" let her come from among the Gentiles clad in all languages, in the unity of Wisdom: let it be said unto her, Hearken, O daughter, and see. If thou wilt not hear, thou shall not " see." Hear that thou mayest * purify the heart by faith,' as the Apostle speaks in the Acts of the Apostles; purifying their hearts by faith. For it is to this end we hearken to that we are to believe, before we " see" it, that by believing we may " purify the heart," whereby we may be able to " see." " Hear," that thou mayest believe; purify the heart by faith. * And when I have purified the heart, what shall I see? Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see Ood.

Ver. 10. Hearken, O daughter, and see: and incline thine ear. It is not enough to " hearken;" hearken with humility: bow down thine ear. Forget also thine own people, and thy house. There was a certain ' people,' and a certain house of thy father, in which thou wast born, the people of Babylon, having the devil for thy king, Whencesoever the Gentiles came, they came from their father the devil; but they have renounced their sonship to the devil. " Forget also thine own people, and thy father's house." He, in making thee a sinner, begat thee loathsome: the Other, in that He justifies the ungodly, begetteth thee again in beauty. Forget thine own people, and thy father's house.

26 Ver. 11. For the King hath greatly desired thy beauty. What " beauty" is that, save that which is His own work? Greatly desired the beauty — Of whom? Of her the sinner, the unrighteous, the ungodly, such as she was with her father, the devil, and among her own people, No, hut ber's of whom it is said, Who is this that cometh *y made white1? She was not white then at the first, but was made white afterwards. For though your sins shall be wSongs, scarletf I will make them white as snow. The king fowf^^ greatly desired thy beauty. What King is this? For He w/o(Vuig" the Lord thy Ood. Now consider whether thou oughtestfg^^ not to forego that thy father, and thy own people, and toh.1,18. come to this King, Who is thy God? Thy God is " thy King," thy u King" is also thy Bridegroom. Thou weddest to thy King, Who is thy God: being endowed by Him, being adorned by Him; redeemed by Him, and healed by Him. Whatever thou hast, wherewith to be pleasing to Him, thou hast from Him.

27. Ver. 12. And the daughters of Tyre shall worship Him with gifts. It is that self-same King, Who is thy God, that the daughters of Tyre shall worship with gifts. The daughters of Tyre are the daughters of the Gentiles; the part standing for the whole. Tyre, a city bordering on this country, where the prophecy was delivered, typified the nations that were to believe in Christ. Thence came that Canaanitish woman, who was at first called a dog; for that ye may know that she was from thence, the Gospel speaks thus. He departed into the parts of Tyre and Sidon, and behold a woman of Canaan came out of the same coasts,21" with all the rest that is related there. She who at first, at the house of her " father" and among her" own people," was but a dog, who by coming to, and crying after that " King," was made beautiful by believing in Him, what did she obtain to hear? ( O woman, great is thy faith? The King has greatly desired thy beauty. And the daughters of Tyre shall worship with gifts n. With what gifts? Even so would this King be approached, and would have His treasuries filled: and it is He Himself Who has given us that wherewith they may be filled, and may be filled 0 by you. Let them come (He says) and worship Him with gifts. What is meant by with gifts. Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth destroy; and where thieves break through and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in Heaven, where neither thief nor moth spoileth. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. Come with «• gifts:" Oive alms, and all things are clean unto you. Come with gifts to Him that saith, I will have mercy rather than sacrifice. To that Temple, that existed aforetime as a shadow of that which was to come, they used to come with bulls, and rams, and goats, with every different kind of animal for sacrifice: that with that blood one thing should be done, and another be typified by it. Now that very blood, which all these things used to figure, hath come: the King Himself hath come, and He Himself would have your gifts. What gifts? Alms. For He Himself will judge hereafter, and will Himself hereafter account " gifts" to certain persons. Come, (He says,) ye blessed of My Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. Why? I was an hungred, and ye gave Me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave Me drink: naked, and ye clothed Me: a stranger, and ye took Me in: sick and in prison, and ye visited Me. These are the gifts with which the daughters of Tyre worship the King; for when they said, When saw we Thee? He who is at once above and below, (whence those ascending and descending are sP°^en °Q sa*d, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of Mine, ye have done it unto Me.

28. The daughters of Tyre shall worship Him with gifts. And who the daughters of Tyre are, and how they are to worship Him with gifts, he would explain more clearly, saying, The rich among the people shall entreat thy face. These daughters of Tyre, who worship with gifts, are the rich among the people, whom that " friend of the Bridegroom" addresses: Charge them that are rich in this world that they be not high-minded, nor trust in uncertain riches, but in the Living God, Who giveth us richly all things to enjoy, that they be rich in good works; ready to distribute, willing to communicate. Let them worship with gifts; but they are not losing what they give; they are in full security, placing them where they will always be able to find them. That they lay up in store for themselves a good foundation against the time to come, that they may lay hold on the true1 Life. It is by worshipping with gifts, they will entreat Thy face. For it is to the Church they flock together, and there give their alms. That they may not come to be without, (i. e. that themselves may not come to stand without b,) let them give their alms in the Church. For so will the face of this Bride and Queen be favourable to those who do them. Therefore it was that those who sold their property, came with presents to entreat the face of this Queen; and ' laid what they brought at the Apostles' feet.' Warm then was love in the Church: " the face of the Queen" was then the Church; the face of the Queen was the reverence of " the daughters of Tyre," of the rich that worshipped with presents; The rich among the people shall entreat Thy face. Both they who shall entreat that face, and He whose face they will entreat, are all collectively but one Bride, but one Queen, mother and children belonging all together unto Christ, belonging unto their Head.

29. But inasmuch as these works, and these alms may be done with a view to vain glory among men, therefore the Lord says, Take heed that ye do not your righteousness before men, to be seen of them. But how they ought nevertheless to be done publicly in the " face of the Bride," He expresses, saying, Let your works so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father Which is in Heaven: not that ye should seek your own glory in the good works which ye do in public, but that ye may seek the glory of God. * And who (says some one) knows whether I seek God's glory, or my own? I am seen to give to the poor; but from what motive I give, who sees?9 Let that One Who sees thee suffice thee: He sees thee, Who will reward thee*. He loveth inwardly Who seeth inwardly: He loveth inwardly, let Him be also loved inwardly, Who is the Author of that inward beauty itself. Be not delighted with the outward eyes, so to speak, that thou art seen, that thou art praised, observe what follows here.

Ver. 13. J 11 the glory of her, the King's daughter, is from within. Not only is her robe, outwardly, of gold, and of them not standing without.)' divers colours; but He Who loved her beauty, knew her to beautiful within. What are those inward charms1? Those of conscience. It is there Christ sees; it is there Christ loves her: it is there He addresses her, there punishes, there crowns. Let then thine alms be done in secret; for all the glory of her, the King's daughter, is from within.

With fringes of gold, clothed with divers colours. Her beauty is from within; yet in the * fringes of gold1 is the diversity of languages; the beauty of doctrine. What do these avail, if there be not that beauty ' from within.'

30. The virgins shall be brought unto the King after her. It has been fulfilled indeed. The Church has believed; the Church has been formed throughout all nations. And to what a degree do virgins now seek to find favour in the eyes of that King! Whence are they moved to do so? Even because the Church preceded them. The virgins shall be brought unto the King after her. Her near kinswomen* shall be brought unto Thee. For they that are brought unto Him are not strangers, but her "near kinswomen," that belong to her* And because he had said, unto the King, he says, turning the discourse to Him, her near kinswomen shall be brought unto Thee.

31. Ver. 15. With gladness and rejoicing shall they be brought, and shall be led into the Temple of the King. The " Temple of the King" is the Church itself: it is the Church itself that enters into the Temple of the King. Whereof is that Temple constructed? Of the men who enter the Temple? Who but God's "faithful" ones are its "faring stones?" They shall be led into the Temple of the King. For there are virgins without the Temple of the King, the nuns among the heretics3: they are virgins, it is true; but what W*U that pro6t them, unless they be led into the " Temple of King?" The " Temple of the King" is in unity: the " Temple of the King" is not ruinous, is not rent asunder, is not divided. The cement 4 of those living stones is " charity."

32. They shall be led into the Temple of the King. Ver. 16. Instead of thy fathers, children are born to thee. Nothing can be more manifest. Now consider the "Temple of the King" itself, for it is on its behalf he speaks, on account of the unity of the body that is spread throughout all the world: for those very persons, who have chosen to be virgins, cannot find favour with the King, unless they be led into the Temple of the King. Instead of thy fathers, are thy children born to thee. It was the Apostles begat thee: they were sent: they were the preachers: they are the fathers. But was it possible for them to be with us in the body for ever? Although one of them said, I desire to depart, and to be with Christ, which is far better: to abide in the flesh is necessary far your sokes. It is true he said this, but how long was it possible for him to remain here? Could it be till this present time, could it be to all futurity? Is the Church then left desolate by their departure? God forbid. Instead of thy fathers, children have been born to thee. What is that? Instead of thy fathers, children have been barn to thee? The Apostles were sent to thee as " fathers," instead of the Apostles sons have been born to thee: there have been appointed Bishops. For in the present day, whence do the Bishops, throughout all the world, derive their origin? The Church itself calls them fathers; the Church itself brought them forth, and placed them on the thrones of " the fathers." Think not thyself abandoned then, because thou seest not Peter, nor seest Paul: seest not those through whom thou wert born. Out of thine own offspring has a body of " fathers" been raised up to thee. Instead of thy fathers, have children been born to thee. Thou shalt make them princes over all the earth. Observe how widely diffused is the " Temple of the King," that the virgins that are not led to the Temple of the King, may know that they have nothing to do with that marriage. Instead of thy fathers, have thy children been born to thee: thou shalt make them princes over all the earth. This is the Uuiversal Church: her children have been made princes over all the earth: her children have been appointed instead of the fathers. Let those who are cut off own the truth of this, let them come to the One Body: let them be led into the Temple of the King. God hath established His Temple every where: hath laid every where the foundations of the Prophets and Apostles. The Church has brought forth sons; has made them instead of her fathers to be princes over all the earth.

33. Ver. 17. They shall be mindful of thy name in every generation and generation; therefore shall the peoples confess unto1 Thee. What does it profit then to " confess" indeed, and yet to confess out of " the Temple?" What does it profit to pray, and yet not to pray on the Mount? i" cried, says he, unto the Lord with my voice: and He heard me out of His holy hill. Out of what " hill r" Out of that of which it is said, A city set upon a hill cannot be hid. Of what " hill?" ^ut °* tnat which Daniel saw * grow out of a small stone, and break all the kingdoms of the earth; and cover all the face of the earth.' There let him pray, who hopes to receive: there let him ask, who would have his prayer heard: there let him confess, who wishes to be pardoned. Therefore shall the peoples confess unto thee for ever, world without end. For in that eternal life it is true indeed there will no longer be the mourning over sins: but yet in the praises of God by that everlasting City which is above, there will not be wanting a perpetual confession of the greatness of that happiness. For to that City itself, to which another Psalm sings, Glorious things are spoken of thee, O City of God, to her who is the very Bride of Christ, the very Queen, a " King's daughter, and a King's consort inasmuch as its princes are mindful of her name in every generation and generation, (i. e. so long as this age, which takes many generations to complete it, is passing by,) taking in her behalf a charitable care, that being redeemed from this world, she may reign with God everlastingly; the peoples shall for this very cause confess even to herself; the hearts of all, now enlightened by perfect charity, being laid bare, and made manifest, that she may know the whole of herself most completely, who here is, in many parts of her, unknown to herself. Whence we are admonished by the Apostle to judge nothing before the time; until the Lord come, and bring to light the hidden things of darkness; and make manifest the counsels of the heart; and every man have praise of God. For the Holy City itself will be, as it were, " confessing" to herself, when her several peoples, of which she consists, shall be confessing everlastingly unto the City herself: so that in no single part shall she be concealed from herself, there being no person within her of whom any part is hid.