Psalm 84 (Vulgate 83)

This Psalm is entitled, For the winepresses. And, as you observed with me, my beloved, (for I saw that you attended most closely,) nothing is said in its text either of any press, or wine-basket, or vat, or of any of the instruments or the building of a winepress; nothing of this kind did we hear read; so that it is no easy question what is the meaning of this title inscribed upon it,/or the winepresses. For certainly, if after the title it mentioned any thing about such things as I enumerated, carnal persons might have believed that it was a song concerning those visible winepresses; but as it has this title, yet says nothing afterwards of those winepresses which we know so well, I cannot doubt that there are other winepresses, which the Spirit of God intended us to look for and to understand here. Therefore, let us recall to mind what takes place in these visible winepresses, and see how this takes place spiritually in the Church. The grape hangs on the vines, and the olive on its trees, (for it is for these two fruits that presses are usually made ready;) and as long as they hang on their boughs, they seem to enjoy free air; and neither is the grape wine, nor the olive oil, before they are pressed. Thus it is with men whom God predestined before the world to be conformed to the image of His only-begotten Son, Who has been first and especially pressed in29. His Passion, as the great Cluster. Men of this kind, therefore, before they draw near to the service of God, enjoy in the world a kind of delicious liberty, like hanging grapes or olives: but as it is said, My son, when thou drawest near foEcclu?. the service of Ood, stand in judgment and fear, and make2' thy soul ready for temptation: so each, as he draweth near to the service of God, findeth that he is come to the wine-press; he shall undergo tribulation, shall be crushed, shall be pressed, not that he may perish in this world, but that he may flow down into the storehouses of God. He hath the coverings of carnal desires stripped off from him, like grapeskins: for this hath taken place in him in carnal desires, of which the Apostle speaks, Put ye off the old man, and put on the new man. All this is not done but by pressure: therefore the Churches of God of this time are called wine-22* presses.

2. But who are we who are placed in the winepresses? Sons of Core. For this follows: For the winepresses, to the sons of Core. The sons of Core has been explained, sons of the bald: as far as those could explain it to us, who know that language, according to their service due to God: and in this I do not deny that 1 behold a great mystery, and by the help of the Lord, would find it out with you. For all baldness ought not to be mocked, as it is by the sons of wickedness: but if one mock at consecrated baldness, he is torn by demons. For Elisha too was walking, and senseless children called after him, Baldhead, baldhead: and to2'23, accomplish the figure, he turned and prayed the Lord that bears might come out of the wood and devour them. Their infancy was punished by death in this world: they perished as children, who would one day have perished in old age: but fear of the mystery was impressed on men. For Elisha bore the then character of One, whose sons we are, the sons '- of Core, namely, of our Lord Jesus Christ. Now it occurs to my beloved, out of the Gospel, why being bald1 he bore the figure of Christ: ye remember that He was crucified on Calvary. Whether then this be the meaning of Sons of Core, as I have explained from what others tell me; or whether there is any other sacred meaning unknown to us; meantime do ye behold what a fulness of sacred truths we meet with. Sons of Core, sons of Christ, for the Bridegroom speaketh of His sons, when He saith, The children of the Bridegroom cannot fast, while the Bridegroom is with them. These winepresses, then, are presses of Christians.

3. But being placed under pressure, we are crushed for this purpose, that for our love by which we were borne towards those worldly, secular, temporal, unstable, and perishable things, having suffered in them, in this life, torments, and tribulations of pressures, and abundance of temptations, we may begin to seek that rest which is not of this life, nor of this earth; and the Lord becomes, as is written, a refuge for the poor man. What is, for the poor man? For him who is, as it were, destitute, without aid, without help, without any thing on which he may rest, in earth. For to such poor men, God is present. For though men abound in money on earth, they think of what the Apostle saith, Charge them that are rich in this world, that they be not high-minded, nor trust in uncertain riches; and considering how uncertain that is in which they rejoiced before they drew near to the service of God, that is, before they entered into the wine-presses, they see that from their very wealth, they either have the pressure of care, how it is to be managed, how guarded; or if they have a little given way to desire, so as to love it, they are filled more with fear than with enjoyment. For what is so uncertain as a rolling thing? It is not unfitly that money itself is stamped round, because it remains not still. Such men, therefore, though they have something, are yet poor. But those who have none of this wealth, but only desire it, are counted also among rich men who will be rejected; for God takes account not of power, but of will. The poor then are destitute of all this world's substance, for even though it abounds around them, they know how fleeting Impatience condemned in Holy Scripture. 149 it is; and crying unto God, having nothing in this world with which they may delight themselves, and be held down, placed in abundant pressures and temptations, as if in wine-presses, they flow down, having become oil or wine. What are these latter but good desires? For God remains their only object of desire; now they love not earth. For they love Him Who made heaven and earth; they love Him, and are not yet with Him. Their desire is delayed, in order that it may increase; it increases, in order that it may receive. For it is not any little thing that God will give to him who desires, nor does he need to be little exercised to be made fit to receive so great a good: not any thing which He hath made will God give, but Himself Who made all things. Exercise thyself to receive God: that which thou shalt have for ever, desire thou for a long time. In the people of Israel, those were rejected who were hasty: continually in Scripture this temper of haste is blamed. For who are they who make haste! Those who, having turned to God, when they did not find here that rest which they were seeking, and those joys which were promised them, as if fainting by the way and thinking some long time remained before they should have done with this world or with this life, and seeking here some rest, which, if it is enjoyed, is false, they look back, and fall from their purpose: and forget that terrible saying, Remember Lots wife. For why was she made a pillar of salt, if she seasons not men to make them wise1? Therefore??*^ her bad example, if thou take care, becomes good to thee, Remember, he saith, Lots wife: for she looked back, whence she had been set free, to Sodom, and there remained where26, she looked back; herself to remain on that spot, to season others who should pass. Therefore being freed from the Sodom of our past life, let us not look back: for this is to be in haste, not to wait for what God hath promised because it is far off, and to look back to that which is near, whence thou hast been once set free. Of such what saith the Apostle Peter? It has happened to them according to the true proverb: The dog is returned to his vomit. For the consciousness of22, thy sins was weighing on thy breast: receiving pardon thou didst vomit, as it were, and thy breast was relieved: there was made a good conscience instead of a bad conscience: DUt why turnest thou again to thy vomit? If a dog doing thus disgusts thy sight, what art thou in the sight of God?

4. But each oue, beloved brethren, from that point of his journey at which he hath arrived, and which he hath vowed to God, from thence looketh back, when he letteth Him go. For example, he has resolved to keep conjugal chastity; for righteousness begins here; he hath retired from fornication and illicit uncleanness: when he returns to fornication, he hath looked back. Another by the gift of God hath vowed something great, hath resolved not to allow even marriage: he who would not be condemned if he had married a wife, if he hath married after making a vow to God, is condemned; since he does the same as one who had not promised; but one is not condemned, the other is. Why, except because the latter hath looked back? For he had been in front, and the other had not come np to the same point. If a virgin, wno Would not have sinned in marrying, marry after being devoted, she shall be accounted an adulteress of Christ. For she hath looked back from the place which she had reached. If those who choose to leave all worldly hopes and all earthly occupations, and betake them to the society of saints, to that common life where no one calls any thing his own, but all things are common unto them, and they have one soul, and one heart towards God; whoever chooseth to depart from them is not esteemed such as he who had not entered: for the latter hath not yet attained: the former hath looked back. Wherefore, most beloved, as each can, make vows,and perform to the Lord God what each can: let no one look back, no one delight himself with his former interests, no one turn away from that which is before to that which is behind: let him run until he arrive: for we run not with the feet but with the desire. But let no one in this life say that he hath arrived. For who can be so perfect as Paul? Yet he saith, Brethren, I count not myself to have attained: but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forward to those things which are before ', I press forward to the prize of the high calling in Christ Jesus. Thou seest Paul still running, and thinkest thou that thou hast already attained?

5. If therefore thou feelest the passions of this world, even wberji thou art happy, thou understandest now that thou art in the winepress. For do ye think, my brethren, that unhappiness in this life is to be feared, and that happiness is not to be feared? Nay, rather, no unhappiness breaketh him whom no happiness can corrupt. How therefore should that corrupter be shunned and feared, lest she seduce thee by her caresses? Lean not on a staff of reed: for it is written that some lean upon a staff of reed. Trust nothings thyself to it: it is a weak thing to lean upon, it breaketh and slayeth thee. If therefore the world smile upon thee296 with happiness, imagine thyself in the winepress, and say, I found trouble and heaviness, and I did call upon the name of the Lord. He said not, I found trouble, without meaning, of such a kind as was hidden: for some troubles are hidden from some in this world, who think they are happy while they are absent from God. For as long as we are in /Ae^Cor. body, he saith, we are absent from the Lord. If thou wert absent from thy father, thou wouldest be unhappy: art thou absent from the Lord, and happy? There are then some who think it is well with them. But those who understand, that in whatever abundance of wealth and pleasures, though all things obey their beck, though nothing troublesome creep in, nothing adverse terrify, yet that they are in a bad case as long as they are absent from the Lord; with a most keen eye these have found trouble, and grief, and have called on the name of the Lord. Such is he who sings in this Psalm. Who is he? The Body of Christ. Who is that? You, if you will: all we, if we will: all sons of Core, and all one Man, for Christ's Body is one. How is that not one Man which hath one Head? The Head of all of us is Christ; the body of that Head are we all. And we all are in this life in winepresses: if we are wise, we have already come to the winepress. Therefore, being placed in the pressure of temptations, let us utter this word, and send on our longing desire.

Ver. 1. How lovely are Thy tabernacles, O Lord qf Hosts. He was in some tabernacles, that is, in winepresses: but he longed for other tabernacles, where is no pressure: in this he sighed for them, from these, he, as it were, flowed down into them by the channel of longing desire.

6. And what follows? (Ver. 2.) My soul longeth and 152 What at present stayeth the longing soul. failelh for the courts of the Lord. It is not enough that it fongefo m^ faileth: for what doth it fail? For the courts of the Lord. The grape when pressed hath failed: but for what? So as to be changed into wine, and to flow into the vat, and into the rest of the store-room, to be kept there in great quiet. Here it is longed for, there it is received: here are sighs, there joy: here prayers, there praises: here groans, there rejoicing. Those things which I mentioned, let no one while here turn from ashamed: let no one be unwilling to suffer. There is danger, lest the grape, while it fears the winepress, should be devoured by birds or by wild beasts. He seems to be in great sadness, when he says, My soul longelh and faileth for the courts of the Lord; for he has not what he longeth for; but is he without joy. What joy? That which the Apostle speaks of: Rejoicing in hope. Then he will one day rejoice in reality: now he doth already in hope. And therefore, those who rejoice in hope, being certain that they shall receive, bear in the winepress all pressures. Therefore, the Apostle himself having said, Bejoicing in hope; as if speaking to those who are still in the winepress, added instantly, patient in tribulation. Patient in tribulation; what follows? Enduring in prayer. Why i enduring?' Because ye suffer delay: ye pray and suffer delay: ye endure the delay: well may it be borne, that that is delayed, which when it hath come is not taken away.

7. Thou hast heard a groan in the winepress, My soul longeth and faileth for the courts of the Lord: hear how it holdeth out, rejoicing in hope: My heart and my flesh have rejoiced in the living God. Here they have rejoiced for that cause. Whence cometh rejoicing, but of hope? Wherefore have they rejoiced? In the living God. What has rejoiced in thee? My heart and my flesh. Why have they rejoiced?

Ver. 3. For, saith he, the sparrow hath found her a house, and the turtledove a nest, where she may lay her young. What is this? He had named two things, and he adds two figures of birds which answer to them: he had said that his heart rejoiced and his flesh, and to these two he made the sparrow and turtle-dove to correspond: the heart as the sparrow, the flesh as the dove. The sparrow hath found herself a home: my heart hath found itself a home. She tries her wings in the virtues of this life, in faith, and hope* and charity, by which she may fly unto her home: and when she shall hare come thither, she shall remain; and now the complaining voice of the sparrow, which is here, shall no longer be there. For it is the very complaining sparrow of whom in another Psalm he saith, Like a sparrow alone on the housetop. From the housetop he flies home. Now let him be on the housetop, treading on his carnal house: he shall have a heavenly house, a perpetual home: that sparrow shall make an end of his complaints. But to the dove he hath given young, that is, to the flesh: the dove hath found a nest, where she may lay her young. The sparrow a home, the dove a nest, and a nest too where she may lay her young. A home is chosen as for ever, a nest is framed for a time: with the heart we think upon God, as if the sparrow flew to her home: with the flesh we do good works. For ye see how many good works are done by the flesh of the saints; for by this we work the things we are commanded to work, by which we are helped in this life. Break thy bread to the hungry, and bring the poor and roofless into thy house; and if thou see one naked, clothe him: and other such things which are commanded us we work only through the flesh. Therefore that sparrow, who thinketh upon his home, parteth not from the dove who seeketh for herself a nest, where she may lay her young: for she throweth them not away in any corner, but hath found herself a nest where she may lay them. We speak, brethren, what ye know: how many seem to do good works without the Church*? how many even Pagans feed the hungry, clothe the naked, receive the stranger, visit the sick, comfort the prisoner? how many do this? The dove seems, as it were, to bring forth young: but finds not herself a nest. How many works may heretics do not in the Church; they place not their young in a nest. They shall be trampled on and crushed: they shall not be kept, shall not be guarded. In the person of this flesh working a woman is spoken of by the Apostle Paul, saying, Adam teas not deceived, but the woman was deceived. For afterwards Adam consented with tne woman: for the woman was deceived by the serpent. And now no evil persuasion can do more than move in thee in the first instance the desire of thy flesh, to which if thy mind afterwards consents, the sparrow too hath fallen; but if the desires of the flesh are conquered, thy limbs are kept to good works, the arms of concupiscence are taken away, and the dove begins to have young. Therefore, what saith the Apostle in that place? But she shall be saved by childbearing. A widow without children, if she continue so, shall she not be happier? Shall she not be saved, because she beareth not sons? Shall not a virgin of God be better? Shall she not be saved, because she hath no sons? or doth she not belong to God? Therefore the woman shall be saved, who is a type of the flesh, by childbearing, that is, if she do good works. But it is not every where that the dove can find a nest for herself where she may lay her young; in the true faith, in the Catholic faith, in the fellowship of the unity of the Church let her bring forth her works. Therefore, when the Apostle was speaking of her, he added, Bat she shall be saved by child-bearing, if she abide in faith, and love, and sanctification, with soberness. By abiding in faith, faith itself is a nest for thy young. For on account of the weakness of the young of thy turtle dove, the Lord deigned to give unto thee whence thou mightest make thyself a nest: for He clothed Himself with flesh, as hay for thy nest, that He might come unto thee. In that faith lay thy young: in that nest work thy works. For what the nests are, what that nest is, follows at once: Thy altars, O Lord of Hosts. Having said, And the dove hath found herself a nest, where she may lay her young; as if thou hadst asked, What nest? Thy altars, O Lord of Hosts, my King and my Qod. What is, My King and my God? Thou Who rulest me, Who hast created me.

8. Here then is the nest, here absence from home, here sighing, here crushing, and here pressing, since here is the winepress: but what is it which he longs for? what that he desires? whither goeth he? whither tends our longing? whither doth it hurry us? Placed here, it meditateth on those things: placed among temptations, placed among pressures, The House of God the truly blessed place. 155 placed in the winepress, sighing after heavenly promises: as if intending to do something there, it dwells beforehand on future joys. (Ver. 4.) Blessed are those who dwell in Thy house. Wherefore blessed? What shall they have? What shall they do? All who are called blessed on earth have something and do something. One man is blessed with so many farms, such a large family, so much gold and silver: he is called blessed by what he has. Blessed is another, he has attained such a rank, the proconsulship, or prefecture: he is called blessed in what he does. Either then in having or in doing men are blessed. But how will they be blessed there? what will they have? what will they do? What they will have I have said above: Blessed are they that dwell in Thy house. If thou hast thy own house, thou art poor; if God's, thou art rich. In thy own house thou wilt fear robbers; of the house of God, He is Himself the wall. Therefore blessed are those who dwell in Thy house. They possess the heavenly Jerusalem, without constraint, without pressure, without difference and division of bound-aries; all have it, and each have all. Great are those riches. Brother crowdeth not brother: there is no want there. Next, what will they do there? For among men it is necessity which is the mother of all employments. I have already said, in brief, brethren, run in your mind through any occupations, and see if it is not necessity alone which produces them. Those very eminent arts which seem so powerful in giving help to others, the art of speaking in their defence or of medicine in healing, for these are the most excellent employments in this life; take away litigants, who is there for the advocate to help? take away wounds and diseases? what is there for the physician to cure? And all those employments of ours which are required and done for our daily life, arise from necessity. To plough, to sow, to clear fallow ground, to sail; what is it which produces all these works, but necessity and want? Take away hunger, thirst, nakedness; who has need of all these things? These good works also which are enjoined to us; for those which I have mentioned are respectable, but belong to all men; (I mean to except wicked deeds, detestable actions, scandalous crimes, homicides, house-breaking, adulteries, for 1 do not count these among human actions;) but I mean those which are positively virtuous, even they are only produced by necessity, and that a necessity arising from the frailty of the flesh; for instance, the injunction, c Break thy bread to the hungry? For whom could you break bread, if there were nobody hungry? c Take in the roofless poor into thy house? What stranger is there to take in, where all live in their own country? What sick person to visit, where they enjoy perpetual health? What litigants to reconcile, where there is everlasting peace? What dead to bury, where there is eternal life? None of those honourable actions which are common to all men will then be your employment, nor any of these good works; the young swallows will then fly out of their nest. What then? You have said already what we shall have; * Those who dwell in Thy house are blessed? Say now what they shall do, for I see not then any need to induce me to action. Even what I am now saying and arguing springs from some need. Will there be any such argument there to teach the ignorant, or remind the forgetful? Or will the Gospel be read in that country where the Word of God Itself shall be contemplated? Wherefore let him who in longing aspirations spoke with our voice, saying what we should have in that country which he sighed for, ' Blessed are they who dwell in Thy house,' let him say too what we shall do there. ( They shall be always praising Thee? This shall be our whole duty, an unceasing Hallelujah.

Think not, my brethren, that there will be any weariness there: if ye are not able to endure long here in saying this, it is because* some want draws you away from that enjoyment. If what is not seen gives not so much joy here, if with so much eagerness under the pressure and weakness of the flesh we praise that which we believe, how shall we praise that w^*cn we see * When death shall be swallowed up in victory, when this mortal shall have put on immortality, and this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, no one will say, ( I have been standing a long time;' no one will say, * I have fasted a long time,' ' I have watched a long time.' For there shall be great endurance, and our immortal bodies shall be sustained in contemplation of God. And if the

No weariness in Heaven. Hindrance of the flesh here. 157 word which we now dispense to you keeps your weak flesh standing so long, what will be the effect of that joy? how will it change us? For we shall be like Him, since we shall see Him as He is. Being made like Him, when shall we ever faint? what shall draw us off? Brethren, we shall never be satiated with the praise of God, with the love of God. If love could fail, praise could fail. But if love be eternal, as there will there be beauty inexhaustible, fear not lest thou be not able to praise for ever Him Whom thou shalt be able to love for ever. Blessed are they who shall dwell in Tfiy house; for ever and ever they will he praising Thee. For this life let us sigh.

9. But how shall we come thither? (Ver 5.) Happy is the man whose strength is in Thee. He knew where he was, and that by reason of the frailty of his flesh he could not fly to that state of blessedness: he thought upon his own burden, as it is said elsewhere; ' For the corruptible body weighs down the soul, and the earthly house depresses the understanding^* which has many thoughts.'* The Spirit calls upward, the weight of the flesh calls back again downward: between the double effort to raise and to weigh down, a kind of struggle ensues: this struggle goes toward the pressure of the wine-press. Hear how the Apostle describes this same struggle of the winepress, for he was himself afflicted there, there he was pressed. ' / delight,' he says, c in the law of God after the inner man: but I see another law in my members,22'23' warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members' Great is this struggle and hopeless to escape from, if it were not for the help that follows; c Miserable man that I am: who shall deliver me from the body of this death f The grace of God through Jesus Christ our Lord' And so here in this Psalm he saw those joys, and thought in his mind, ' Blessed are they who dwell in Tliy house, 0 Lord; for ever and ever they will be praising 'Thee' But who shall ascend thither? What shall I do with the burden of the flesh? Blessed are they who dwell in Thy house, they will praise Thee for ever and ever. 6 For I delight in the law of God according to the inner man.' But what shall I do? how shall I fly? how shall I arrive thither? / see another law in my members 158 Aids of grace* Upward c steps in the heart? warring against the law of my mind. He said that he was unhappy, and he said, Who shall deliver me from the body of this death, that I may dwell in the house of the Lord, and praise Him for ever and ever? Who shall set me free? The grace of God, through Jesus Christ our Lord. And as in the words of the Apostle, that difficulty and that almost inextricable struggle is alleviated by the addition, The grace of God through Jesus Christ our Lord; so here, when he sighed in the ardent longing for the house of God, and those praises of God, and when a kind of despair arose at the feeling of the burden of the body and the weight of the flesh, again he awoke to hope, and said, (ver. 5.) Blessed is the man whose taking upx is in Thee. What then does God supply by His grace to him whom He taketh hold of to lead him on? He goes on to say: hath placed steps2 in his heart. He makes steps for him by which he may ascend. Where are these steps? In his heart. Therefore the more thou lovest, the more shalt thou rise. He hath placed steps in his heart. Who hath done this? He who hath taken hold of him: for, Blessed, says he, is he whose taking up is in Thee, 0 Lord. Because of himself he cannot rise, it is necessary that Thy grace should raise him. And what does Thy grace t It places steps in his heart. Where does it place steps? In his heart, (ver. 6.) in the valley of weeping. So here thou hast for a winepress the valley of weeping, the very pious tears in tribulation are the new wine of those that love. He hath placed steps in his heart. Where then hath He placed them? In the valley of weeping. For here He hath placed steps, in the valley of weeping. For here is weeping, where is sowing. They went forth weeping, he says, casting their seed. Therefore, by the grace of God may upward steps be placed in thy heart. Rise by loving. Hence the Psalm " of degrees" is called. And where hath He placed these steps? In thy heart, in the valley of weeping. He hath said where He hath placed them, whither hath He set them? What hath He placed? Steps. Where? Within, In the heart. In what region, in what place, as it were, of abode? In the valley of weeping. To ascend whither? To the place which He hath appointed. What is this, brethren, To the place which He hath appointed. What place would he name, which He hath appointed, if it could be named? It hath been said to thee, He hath placed steps in his heart, in the valley of weeping. Dost thou ask, whither? What will He say to thee? What eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither hath it entered*'9' into the heart of man. It is a hill, it is a mountain, it is a land, it is a meadow: by nearly all these names that place has been called. But what is it in itself, without images who can explain? For, Now we see through a glass darkly what that place is: then we shall see face to face. Ask not therefore whither he hath appointed us to go, or what place it is. He knoweth whither, He Who hath appointed the place whither He is leading thee, the ascent to which He hath placed in thy heart. What? dost thou fear to ascend, lest He who leads thee should go wrong? Lo, in the valley of weeping, He hath placed steps of ascent to the place which He hath appointed. Now we lament; whence proceed our lamentations, but from that place where the steps of our ascent are placed? Whence comes our lamentation, but from that cause wherefore the Apostle exclaimed that he was a wretched man, because he saw another law in his members, warring against the law in his mind? And whence23* does this proceed? From the penalty of sin. And we thought that we could easily be righteous as it were by our own strength, before we received the command; but when the command came, sin revived; but I died, saith the Apostle. For a law was given to men, not such as could save them at once, but it was to shew them in what severe sickness they were lying. Hear the words of the Apostle; For if a law had been given which could give life, verily righteousness*1' should have been by the law; but the Scripture hath shut up all under sin, that the promise which is of faith in Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe; so that grace came after the law, and found man not only laid prostrate, but already confessing and saying, Miserable man that lam, who shall deliver me from the body of this death f And the physician came in due time to the valley of weeping, saying, Surely thou knowest that thou hast fallen; listen unto Me that thou mayest arise, thou who didst despise Me, so that thou didst fall. Therefore the Law was given, that it might convince the sick man of his disease, whereas he seemed to himself to be whole; that sins might be made manifest, not that they might be taken away. But when sin was made manifest by the law given, sin was but increased, for it is both sin, and against the Law; Sin, saith he, taking occasion by the command, wrought in me all manner of concupiscence. What does he mean by taking occasion by the law? Having received the command, men tried as by their own strength to obey it; conquered by lust, they became guilty of transgression of this very command also. But what saith the Apostle? Where sin abounded, grace hath much more abounded; that is, the disease increased, the medicine be-came of more avail. Accordingly, my brethren, did those five porches of Solomon, in the middle of which the pool lay, heal the sick at all? The sick, says the Evangelist, lay in the five porches. In the Gospel we have and read it. Those five porches are the law in the five books of Moses. For this cause the sick wTere brought forth from their houses that they might lie in the porches. So the law brought the sick men forth, but did not heal them: but by the blessing of God the water was disturbed, as by an Angel descending into it. At the sight of the w ater troubled, the one person who was able, descended and was healed. That water surrounded by the five porches, was the people of the Jews shut up in their law. The Lord came and disturbed this people, so that He Himself was slain. For if the Lord had not troubled the Jews by coming down to them, would He have been crucified? So that the troubled water signified the Passion of the Lord, which arose from His troubling the Jewish people. The sick man who believe th in this Passion, like him who descended into the troubled water, is healed thereby. He whom the Law could not heal, that is, while he lay in the porches, is healed by grace, by faith in the Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ. One is healed, for those healed are one. What then does He say here? He hath placed steps of ascent in his heart, in the valley of weeping, to the place which He hath appointed. Now we will rejoice in that place.

10. Ver. 8. But why in the valley of weeping? What is this valley of weeping, from whence we shall come into that place of joy? He shall give blessing, saith he, Who gave the law. He afflicted us by the law, pressed us under the law, shewed unto us the winepress, we saw the pressure, we were conscious of the tribulation of the flesh, we groaned with the rebellion of sin against our mind, we cried out, ' Miserable man that I am:' we groaned under the law; what remains but that He who gave the law should give His blessing? Grace shall come after the law, grace itself is the blessing. And what has that grace and blessing given unto us? They shall go from virtue to virtue. For here by grace many virtues are given. For to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom, to another the word of knowledge according to the same Spirit, to another faith, to another the gift of healing, to another different kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues, to another prophecy. Many virtues, but necessary for this life; and from these virtues we go on to a virtue. To what virtue? To Christ the Virtue of God and the Wisdom of God. He giveth different virtues in this place, Who for all the virtues which are necessary and useful in this valley of weeping shall give one virtue, Himself. For in Scripture and in many writers four virtues are described useful for life: prudence, by which we discern between good and evil; justice, by which we give each person his due, owing no man any thing,but loving all men: temperance, by which we restrain lusts; fortitude, by which we bear all troubles. These virtues are now by the grace of God given unto us in the valley of weeping: from these virtues we mount unto that other virtue. And what will that be, but the virtue of the contemplation of God alone? There this our prudence will be unnecessary where no evils will meet us which we shall have to avoid. But what think we, my brethren? There will be no justice, such as here: for there will be no need with any man to which we shall owe relief. There will be no such temperance, where' will be no lust to be restrained. No such fortitude as here, where there will be no evils to be borne. Therefore from these virtues of action here we shall pass to that virtue of contemplation, by which we shall see God: as it is written, / will be near Thee in the morning, and I will behold Thee. And hear how from these virtues of present action we shall pass to that contemplation. It 162 Manifestation ofi The God of Gods' the Christian hope. follows in that place: They shall qo from virtue to virtue. What virtue? That of contemplation. What is contemplation? The God of Gods shall appear in Sion. The God of Gods, Christ of the Christians. How is this? / said, Ye are Gods, and ye are all the children of the Most High. For He gave unto them power to become the sons of God, He in whom we believed, that fair Bridegroom, who on account of our uncomeliness appeared here without corneliness: for we saw Him, he saith, and He had no form nor beauty. When all is finished, that mortality makes necessary, He shall appear to the pure in heart, as He is, " God with God," The Word with the Father, "by Which all things were made:" for, blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. The God of Gods shall appear in Sion.

11. And again, from the thought of those joys he returns to his own sighs. He sees what has come before in hope, and where he is in reality. Then shall the God of Gods appear in Sion: this is why we shall rejoice: Him we shall praise for ever and ever. But as yet it is but the time of prayer, the time of deprecation: and if of rejoicing a little, yet still in hope: we are on our journey, we are in the valley of weeping. Therefore returning to the groans proper to this place, he saith, (ver. 8.) O Lord God of virtues, hear my prayer: hearken, 0 God of Jacob: for Jacob himself also hast made Israel out of Jacob. For God appeared unto him, and he was called Israel, seeing God. Hear me therefore, O God of Jacob, and make me Israel. When shall I become Israel? When the God of Gods shall appear in Sion.

12. Ver. 9. Behold, O God our defender. c Under the shadow of Thy wings they shall hope:' therefore, Behold^ O God our defender. And look on the face of Thy Christ. For when doth God not look upon the face of His Christ? What is this, Look on the face of Thy Christ? By the face we are known. What is it then, Look on the face of Thy Christ? Cause Thy Christ to become known to all. Look on the face of Thy Christ: let Christ become known to all, that we may be able 'to go from strength to strength, that grace may abound, since sin hath abounded.

13. Ver. 10. For one day in Tliy courts is better than a thousand* Those courts they were for which he sighed, for which he fainted. My soul longeth and faileth for the courts of the Lord: one day there is better than a thousand days. Men long for thousands of days, and wish to live here long: let them despise these thousands of days, let them long for one day, which has neither rising nor setting: one day, an everlasting day, to which no yesterday yields, which no to-morrow presses. Let this one day be longed for by us. What have we to do with a thousand days? We go from the thousand days to one day; let us hasten to that one day1, as we go from strength lo strength.

14. Ver. 11.7 have chosen to he cast away in the house of the Lord, rather than to dwell in the tents of sinners. For he^teD/ found the valley of weeping, he found humility by which he might rise: he knoweth that if he would raise himself he shall fall, if he humble himself he shall be exalted: he hath chosen to be cast away, that he may be raised up. How many beside this tabernacle of the Lord's winepress, that is beside the Catholic Church, wishing to be lifted up, and loving their honours, refuse to see the truth. If this verse had been in their heart, L have chosen to be cast away in the house of the Lord) rather than to dwell in the tents of sinners, would they not cast away honours, and run to the valley of weeping, and hence find in their heart the way of ascent, and hence go from virtues to virtue, placing their hope in Christ, not in some man or another? A good word is this, a word to rejoice in, a word to be chosen: / have chosen to be cast away in the house of the Lord, rather than to dwell in the tents of sinners. He himself chose to be cast away in the house of the Lord; but He who invited him to the feast, when he chose a lower place calleth him to a higher one, and saith unto him, Go up higher* Yet he chose not but to be in the house of the Lord, in any part of it, so that he were not outside the threshold.

16..Wherefore did he choose rather to be cast away in the house of the Lord, than to dwell in the tents of the ungodly? # (Ver. 12.) Because God lovelh mercy and truth. The Lord loveth mercy, by which He first36' <iame to my help: He loveth truth, so as to give to him that believeth what He has promised. Hear in the J 64 God, having given Mercy, owes reward by Promise. case of the Apostle Paul, His mercy and truth, Paul who:was first Saul the persecutor. He needed mercy, and he has said that it was shewn towards him: I who was before 'a blasphemer, and a persecutor, and injurious: but I obtained mercy, that in me Christ Jesus might shew forth all longsuffering towards those who shall believe in Him unto life eternal. So that, when Paul received pardon of such great crimes, no one should despair of any sins whatever being forgiven him. Lo! Thou hast Mercy. God was then unwilling to put His Truth in action, so as to punish the sinner. For if the sinner were punished, would it not be truth? or would he dare to say, I ought not to be punished, when he could not say, I have not sinned? And if he did say, I have not sinned: to whom would he say it? Whom would he deceive? Therefore the Lord first exerted mercy towards him: after mercy, truth. Hear him how he demands truth afterwards. First he said, I obtained mercy, who was before a blasphemer, and a persecutor, and inju+ rious: but by the grace of God I am what I am. Afterwards He saith, when he was drawing near his passion, I have fought a g0od fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness. He who giveth mercy, keepeth truth. How doth He keep truth? Which the Lord, Who is a righteous Judge, shall repay me at that day. He freely gave him pardon, He shall render him a crown: He is a free giver of pardon, a debtor of a crown. How a debtor? hath He received any thing? To whom doth God owe any thing? Lo, we see that Paul holdeth Him a debtor, having received mercy, demanding truth. The Lord, he says, shall give me back in that day. What shall He give thee back, but that which He oweth thee? How oweth He unto thee? What hast thou given Him? Who hath first given unto Him, and it shall be restored to him again. The Lord Himself hath made Himself a debtor, not by receiving, but by promising: it is not said unto Him, Restore what Thou hast received: but, Restore what Thou hast promised. He hath shewn mercy unto me, he saith, that He might make me innocent: for before I was a blasphemer and injurious: but by His grace I have been made innocent. But He who first shewed mercy, can He deny His debt? He loveth mercy and The real good is what God gives the innocent. 165 truth. He will give grace and glory. What grace, but that of which the same one said; By the grace of God I am what I am? What glory, but that of which he said, There is laidm, up for me a crown of glory?

17. Ver. 12. Therefore the Lord will not withhold good from those who walk in innocence. Why then, O men, are ye unwilling to keep innocence, except in order that ye may have good things? Such an one will not keep innocence, in order not to restore that which is committed to his trust; he would have gold, and loseth innocence. What doth he gain? what doth he lose? He hath the gain of gold, he hath suffered the loss of innocence. i But if I shall keep innocence,' he saith, * I shall be poor.' Is not innocence itself no slight wealth? If thou hast a chest full of gold, shalt thou be rich; if thou hast a heart full of innocence, shalt thou be poor? But behold: if thou longest for good things, though thou be at present in poverty, in tribulation, in the valley of weeping, in pressure, in temptations, keep innocence. For there shall be hereafter that good for thee for which thou longest: rest, eternity, immortality, freedom from suffering shall be here-* after: these are the good things which God keepeth for His righteous ones. For the good things which thou now longest for, as of great worth, for which thou art willing to be guilty and not guiltless, listen while I tell thee who have them, who abound in them. Thou seest wealth in the hands of robbers, of the impious, the wicked, the base; in the hands of scandalous and criminal men thou seest wealth: God giveth them these things on account of their fellowship in the human race, for the abundant overflowing of His goodness: Who also maketh His sun to rise upon the good and the evil, and causeth it to rain upon the righteous and upon sinners. Giveth He so much to the wicked, and keepeth nothing for thee? He keepeth something: be at ease, He Who had mercy on thee, when thou wast impious, doth He desert thee when thou hast become pious? He Who gave to the sinner the free gift of His Son's death, what keepeth He for the saved through that death? Therefore be at ease. Hold Him a debtor, for thou hast believed in Him promising. The Lord will withhold no good thing from those who walk in innocence. What then remains for us here, in the winepress, Christ our Healer and our Light ' Sons of Core? affliction, in hardship, in our present dangerous life? What for us, that we may arrive thither? O Lord God of blessed is the man that putteth his hope in Thee.