Psalm 99 (Vulgate 98)

1. Beloved brethren, it ought already to be known to you, as sons of the Church, and well instructed in the school of Christ through all the books of our ancient Fathers, who wrote the words of God and the great things of God, that their wish was to consult for our good, who were to live at this period, believers in Christ; Who, at a seasonable time came unto us, the first time, in humility; at the second, destined to come in exaltation. For at the first time He came to stand before the j udge: He will afterwards come to sit as Judge, that the human race may stand before Him according to its deserts. Many heralds went before Him: as before a mighty Judge, and that Judge as yet to come in humility. Many heralds went before Him, Who was yet to be born of the Virgin Mary, Who was yet to be an Infant, yet to suck milk; many heralds went before Him Who was to be a Child, the Word of God by Whom all things were made, and announced these future times; but they spoke so as to cover their meaning under certain figures of other objects, and that the covering which concealed the truth in the books of the old prophets, might then be removed, when the Truth Itself should arise from the earth. For thus it is said in the pSalms: Truth shall flourish out of 'the earth: andrighteousness hath looked down from heaven. Now, therefore, our whole design is, when we hear a Psalm, a Prophet, or the Law, all of which was written before our Lord Jesus Christ came in the flesh, to see Christ there, to understand Christ there. Attend therefore, beloved, to this Psalm, with me, and let us herein seek Christ; certainly He will appear to those who seek Him, Who at first appeared to those who sought Him not; and He will not desert those who long for Him, Who redeemed those who neglected Him. Behold, the Psalm beginneth concerning Him: of Him it is said:

2. Ver. 1. The Lord is King, be the people angry. For our Lord Jesus Christ began to reign, began to be preached, after He arose from the dead and ascended into heaven, after He Rage of idolaters against the kingdom of Christ. 445 had filled His disciples with the confidence of the Holy Spirit, that they should not fear death, which He had already killed in Himself. Our Lord Christ began then to be preached, that they who wished for salvation might believe in Him; and the peoples who worshipped idols were angry. They who worshipped what they had made were angry, because He by Whom they were made was declared. He announced, in fact, through His disciples, Himself, Who wished them to be converted unto Him by Whom they were made, and to be turned away from those things which they had made themselves. They were angry with their Lord in behalf of their idols, they who even if they were angry with their slave on their idol's account, were to be condemned. For their slave was better than their idol: for God made their slave, the carpenter made their idol. They were so angry in their idol's behalf, that they feared not to be angry with their Lord. But the words, be they angry i are a prediction, not a command; for in a prophecy it is that this is said, The Lord is King, be the people angry. Some good resulteth even from the enraged people: let them be angry, and in their anger let the Martyrs be crowned. What did they do to the preachers of the Word of Truth, those the clouds of God travelling around the world, and raining upon the field of God? What did the angry people unto them, except afflict their flesh with their hands, and cause their spirit to be crowned by the hands of Christ? Nor did even that flesh, which the persecutors had power to kill, so die as to perish for ever: for it will have its season when even itself may arise again: for our Lord hath already shewn the resurrection of the flesh in Himself. For this reason He was willing to receive it from us, that we might not despair of our own. Therefore, brethren, the flesh of those servants, which the worshippers of idols slew, will rise again in its own time: never more will carpenter fashion the idols that Christ broke. Ye heard when Jeremiah was being read before the reading of the Apostle, if ye listened; ye saw therein the times in which we now live. He said, The gods that have not made tJiejer. heavens and the earth, let them perish from the earthy and11' from under the heaven. He said not, The gods that have 446 Destruction of idols. Chrises reign and seat. not made the heavens and earth, let them perish from the 'heaven and from the earth; because they never were in heaven: but what did he say f The gods that have not made heaven and earth, let tlwm perish from the earthy and from under the heaven. As if, while the word earth was repeated, the repetition of the word heaven were wanting, (because they never were in heaven:) he repeateth the earth twice, since it is under heaven. Let them perish from the earth9 and from under the heaven, from their temples. Consider if this be not now taking place; if in a great measure it hath not already happened: for what, or how much, hath remained? The idols remained rather in the hearts of the pagans, than in the niches of the temples.

3. Therefore, the Lord is King, be the people angry: He Who sitteth between the cherubims: thou dost understand, He is King: let the earth be stirred up. He repeateth, Be the people stirred up. For the word, Lor d, is repeated in the expression, He Who sitteth between the cherubim: the words, is King, he maketh us understand in the next verse: and the words, be the people angry, are here repeated, in the following, Be the earth stirred up. For what are people, but the earth? Let the earth be as angry as it can with Him Who is now sitting in the heavens. For the Lord was both upon the earth, and took upon Himself earth in which to abide when on earth. He clothed Himself with flesh, and chose first to suffer the angry people. That His servants might not fear the anger of the people, He chose first to suffer it Himself: and as the anger of the people against His servants was necessary for them, that they might be cured, and healed from all their sins by means of tribulations; the Physician first drank the bitter cup, that the sick man might not fear to drink it. Therefore, Th4 Lord is King, let the people be angry. Let the people be angry, because by their anger God hath wrought many blessings. They are impatient, and God's servants are cleansed; they are crowned, who are tried. Be the people angry; He Who sitteth between the cherubims. He is King: be the earth stirred up. The Cherubim is the seat of God, as the Scripture sheweth us, a certain exalted heavenly throne, which we see not; but the Word of God knowelh it, knoweth it as His own The Cherubim. Love, the true ( Fulness oj Knowledge' 447 seat: and the Word of God and the Spirit of God hath Itself revealed to the servants of God where God sitteth. Not that God doth sit, as doth man; but thou, if thou dost wish that God sit in thee, if thou wilt be good, shalt be the seat of God; for thus is it written, The soul of the?™** righteous is the seat of wisdom. For a throne is in our language called a seat. For some, conversant with the Hebrew tongue, have interpreted cherubim in the Latin language (for it is a Hebrew term) by the words, fulness of knowledge. Therefore, because God surpasseth all knowledge, He is said to sit above the fulness of knowledge. Let there be therefore in thee fulness of knowledge, and even thou shfilt be the throne of God. But perhaps thou wast about to say, and when shall there be in me fulness of knowledge? And who can attain such a height, that there may be in him fulness of knowledge. Thinkest thou it is the will of God that there be in us that fulness of knowledge, that we may know either how many stars, or grains of wheat, (not to say of sand,) there are, or how many apples hang on a tree? He knoweth all things: for our hairs are numbered before God. But the fulness of knowledge which30. He willed man to know is different from this; the knowledge which He willed thee to have, pertaineth to the law of God. And who can, thou mayest perhaps say unto me, perfectly know the Law, so that he may have within himself the fulness of the knowledge of the Law, and be able to be the seat of God? Be not disturbed; it is briefly told thee what thou hast, if thou dost wish to have the fulness of knowledge, and to become the throne of God: for the Apostle saith, Love is the fulfilling of the Law. WhatKom.i3, followeth then? Thou hast lost the whole of thine excuse. Ask thine heart; see whether it hath love. If there be love there, there is the fulfilment of the Law there also; already God dwelleth in thee, thou hast become the throne of God. Be the people angry; what can the angry people do against him who hath become the throne of God? Thou givest heed unto them who rage against thee: Who is it That sitteth within thee, thou givest not heed. Thou art become a heaven, and fearest thou the earth? For the Scripture saith in another passage, that the Lord our God doth declare, The heaven is My throne. If therefore even thou by having ^e fumess °f knowledge, and by haviug love, hast been made the throne of God, thou hast become a heaven. For this heaven which we look up to with these eyes of ours, is not very precious before God. Holy souls are the heaven of God; the minds of the Angels,' and all the minds of His servants, are the heaven of God. Be the people, therefore, angry. Be the earth stirred up; what can they do, or what can it do, to the throne of God, and to the heaven whereon God is enthroned?

4. Ver. 2. The Lord is great in Sion, and high above all people. Lo, if the words, He Who sitteth above the Cherubims, were obscure to thee, thou wast ignorant what Cherubim is; and perhaps thou didst figure to thyself in mind some heavenly throne, vast, and jewelled, and didst call it Cherubim, fluttering among phantasms in thy carnal sense; and it was said to thee, that fulness of knowledge, not of every knowledge, but of the knowledge of the Law, is profitable for man; and that thou shouldest not despair of this very knowledge of the Law, it is briefly told thee, Love is the fulfilling of the Law. Have, therefore, love unto God, and unto thy neighbour, and thou shalt be a throne of God; thou shalt belong to the Cherubim. But if thou dost not yet understand, hear what followeth: The Lord is great in Sion. He Whom I spoke to thee of as above the Cherubims, is great in Sion. Ask thou now, what is Sion f We know Sion to be the city of God. The city of Jerusalem is called Sion; and is so called according to a certain interpretation, for that Sion signifieth watching, that is, sight and contemplation; for to watch is to look forward to, or gaze upon, or strain the eyes to see. Now every soul is a Sion, if it trieth to see that light which is to be seen. For if it shall have gazed upon a light of its own, it is darkened; if upon His, it is enlightened. But, now that it is clear that Sion is the city of God; what is the city of God, but the Holy Church? For men who love one another, and who love their God Who dwelleth in them, constitute a city unto God. Because a city is held together by some law; their very law is Love; and that very Love is God: for openly is written, God is Love. He therefore who is full of Love, Heathens angry that Christians fast tvhile they sport. 449 is full of God; and many, full of love, constitute a city full of God. That city of God is called Sion; the Church therefore is Sion. In it God is great. Be thou in it, and God shall not be apart from thee. And when God shall be in thee, because thou hast become a citizen of Sion, a member of Sion, belonging to the society of the people of God; God will be high in thee, above all people, above those who are enraged, or above those who hare been enraged. For do ye imagine that they were then enraged, and are not now enraged? They were then enraged; but because they were more numerous, they were enraged openly; now that they have dwindled into a few, they are enraged secretly. In the meantime, their boldness hath been broken; their rage also shall have an end.

5. For do ye imagine, brethren, that they whose instruments re-echoed yesterday, are not angry with our fastings? But let us not be angry with them, but let us fast for them. For the Lord our God Who sitteth in us hath said, He hath Himself commanded us to pray for our enemies, to pray for them that persecute us: and as the Church doth this, the44* persecutors are almost extinct. For she was heard when she did this, and she is still heard when she doth it: they prevailed to their evil, they have been brought to an end to their good. But do ye wish to know how they were brought to an end? They were eaten up by the Church: Thou seekest them in themselves, and findest them not; seek for them in her who hath eaten them up, and they are discovered in her entrails. For by passing over to the Church, they have become Christians; persecutors bare disappeared, preachers have increased. Therefore throughout their festal days, since we see those of them who have been left behind, still frenzied in their wicked and perverse pleasures, we pray God in their behalf, that they who hear the instrument of music with delight, may with greater delight listen to the voice of God. For it cannot be, that while that which soundeth without reason delighteth the ear, the word of God also should be unable to delight the heart. But we pray for them for this, reason, when we fast on their holidays, that they may become a spectacle unto themselves. For when they shall have seen themselves, 450 Special fasts at the games, Christ's Name once little. they will displease themselves; but they do not displease themselves, because they do not heed themselves. The drunken man doth not offend himself, but he offendeth the sober man. Shew me a man who is at last happy in God, liveth gravely, sigheth for that everlasting peace which God hath promised him; and see that when he hath seen a man dancing to an instrument, he is more grieved for his madness, than for a man who is in a frenzy from a fever. If then we know their evils, considering that we also have been freed from those very evils, let us grieve for them; and if we grieve for them, let us pray for them; and that we may be heard, let us fast for them. For we do not keep our own fasts in their holidays. Different are the fasts which we celebrate through the days of the approaching Passover, through different seasons which are fixed for us in Christ: but through their holidays we fast for this reason, that when they are rejoicing, we may groan for them. For by their joy they excite our grief, and cause us to remember how wretched they are as yet. But since we see many freed thence, where we also have been, we ought not to despair even of them. And if they are still enraged, let us pray; and if still a particle of earth that hath remained behind be stirred up against us, let us continue in lamentation for them, that to them also God may grant understanding, and that with us they may hear those words, in which we are at this moment rejoicing: The Lord is great in Sion: and high above all people*

6. Ver. 3, 4. Let them confess unto Thy Name, which is great. All these very people, over whom Thou art great in Sion, Let them confess unto Thy Name, which is great. Thy Name was little when they were enraged: it hath become great; let them now confess. In what sense do we say, that the Name of Christ was little, before it was spread abroad to so great an extent? Because His report is meant by His Name. His Name was small; already it hath become great. What nation is there that hath not heard of the Name of Christ? Therefore let now the people confess unto Thy Name, which is great, who before were enraged with Thy little Name: Let them confess unto Thy Name, which is great. Wherefore shall they confess? Because it is wonderful and holy. Thy very Name is His Name now Wonderful, Mercy and Judgment. 451 wonderful and holy. He is so preached as crucified, so preached as humbled, so preached as judged, that He may come exalted, that He may come living, that He may come to judge in power. He spare th at present the people who blaspheme Him, because the longsufferittg of God leadeth to repentance. For He Who now spareth, will not always spare: nor will He, Who is now being preached that He may be feared, fail to come to judge. He will come, my brethren, He will come: let us fear Him, and let us live so that we may be found on His right hand. For He will come, andMat.25, will judge, so as to place some on the left hand, some on the31""33* right. And He doth not act in an uucertain manner, so as to err perchance betwixt men, so that he who should be set on the right hand, be set on the left; or that he who ought to stand on the left, by a mistake of God should stand on the right: He cannot err, so as to place the evil where He ought to set the good; nor to place the good, where He should have set the evil. Jf He cannot err, we err, if we fear not; but if we have feared in this life, we shall not then have what to fear for. For Thy Name is wonderful and holy. The King's honour loveth judgment. Let the people therefore so fear Him as to reform themselves: let them not, as in great presumption on His mercy, set themselves at liberty, and live evilly; for while He loveth mercy, He loveth also judgment. What is mercy? His preaching to thee truth at present, His crying unto thee now to be converted. Is it little mercy that thou hast lived in evil deeds, and He did not carry thee off when thou wast in thy sins, that He might forgive thy sins when thou didst believe? is that a slight act of mercy? Dost thou imagine that such mercy will for ever last, so that He will punish no man? Think not so! His Name is wonderful and holy; and the King's power loveth judgment. For judgment is unjust, and absolutely is not judgment, unless each man's deserts are recompensed, according as each man hath done in his body, whether it be good or bad: And the King's honour loveth5'10' judgmeut. Let us therefore fear, let us therefore work righteousness, let us therefore do equity.

7. But who doth equity? Who executeth righteousness? The sinner, the ungodly, the perverse man, the man who is 452 God alone can cure sin, and impart righteousness. turned aside from the light of truth? What ought a man to To turn himself unto God only, that He may work that righteousness in Him, which he cannot form for himself, though he can deform it. A man is capable of wounding himself; is he capable of curing himself? He is sick, when he doth wish, he riseth not when it is his wish. If he will, let him live intemperately in cold or heat; he is sick on that day when he shall will to be sick: when by intemperate living his sickness hath commenced, let him rise when he will; let him who hath lain down when he willed, rise, if he can, when he willeth. His intemperance was needful for him to lie down sick: but to rise, he findeth his Creator's healing needful. Thus then, in order that a man may sin, he sufficeth to himself: to his being justified, he is not self-sufficient, unless he be justified by Him, who alone is Just. In order then that men may surrender themselves to be formed to righteousness, after this Psalm had alarmed the people, and had said, Let them confess unto Thy Name, which is great, wonderful, and holy. The King^s potter loveth judgment: as if the trembling people were seeking how they should live righteously, since they cannot have righteousness in themselves, it recommendeth to them one who will form their righteousness, and saith as followeth: Thou hast prepared equity; Thou hast wrought judgment and righteousness in Jacob. For we too ought to have judgment, we ought to have righteousness; but He worketh in us judgment and righteousness, Who created us in whom He might work them. How ought we too to have judgment and righteousness? Thou hast judgment, when thou dost distinguish evil from good: and righteousness when thou followest the good, and turnest aside from the evil. By distinguishing them, thou hast judgment; by doing, thou hast righteousness. Eschew evil, he saith, and do good; seek peace, and ensue it. Thou shouldest first have judgment, then righteousness. What judgment? That thou niayest first judge what is evil, and what is good. And what righteousness? That thou mayest shun evil, and do good. But this thou wilt not gain from thyself; see what he hath said, Thou hast wrought judgment and righteousness in Jacob.

8. Ver. 5. O magnify the Lord our God. Magnify Him Christ's Flesh the s FootstooV before which we bow. 458 truly, magnify Him well. Let us praise Him, let us magnify Him Who hath wrought the very righteousness which we have; Who wrought it in us, Himself. For Who but He Who justified us, wrought righteousness in us? For of Christ it is said, Who justifieth the ungodly. We then are the ungodly, He the Justifier, since He Himself wrought in us that very5, righteousness by which we are to please Him, that He may place us on the right hand, and not on the left: that He may say unto those placed on the right hand, Come, ye blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; and that He may not place us on the left, among those unto whom He will say, Depart into everlasting fire, that is prepared for the devil and his angels. He Who will crown in us not our own deserts, but His own gifts, how greatly ought He to be magnified! O magnify the Lord our Qodf

9. And fall down before1 His footstool: for He is holy. What are we to fall down before? His footstool. What is^p. under the feet is called a footstool, in Greek, uW8iov, in424 Latin, Scabellum, or, Suppedaneum. But consider, brethren, what he commandeth us to fall down before. In another passage of the Scriptures it is said, The heaven is My throne, and the earth is My footstool. Doth he then bid us worship the earth, since in another passage it is said, that it is God's footstool? How then shall we worship the earth, when the Scripture saith openly, Thou shalt worship the Lord Mypeut.6, God? Yet here it saith, fall down before His footstool:13' and, explaining to us what His footstool is, it saith, The earth is My footstool. I am in doubt; I fear to worship the earth, lest He who made the heaven and the earth condemn me; again, I fear not to worship the footstool of my Lord, because the Psalm biddeth me, fall down before His footstool. I ask, what is His footstool? and the Scripture telleth me, the earth is My footstool. In hesitation I turn unto Christ, since I am herein seeking Himself: and I discover how the earth may be worshipped without impiety*, how His footstool may be worshipped without impiety. For He took upon Him earth from earth; because flesh is from earth, and He received flesh from the flesh of Mary. And because He walked here in very flesh, and gave that very flesh to us to eat for our salvation; and no one eateth that flesh, unless he hath first worshipped: we have found out in what sense such a footstool of our Lord's may be worshipped, and not only that we sin not in worshipping it, but that we sin in not worshipping. But doth the flesh give life? Our Lord Himself, when He was speaking in praise of this same earth, said, is the Spirit that quickeneth, the flesh prqfiteth nothing. Therefore when thou bowest thyself down prostrate before the ' earth,' look not as if unto earth, but unto that Holy One Whose footstool it is that thou dost worship; for thou dost worship it on His account: wherefore he hath added here also, fall down before His footstool, for He is holy. Who is holy? He in whose honour thou dost worship His footstool. And when thou worshippest Him, see that thou do not in thy thought remain in the flesh, and be not quickened by the Spirit; for, He saith, it is the Spirit that quickeneth: the flesh profiteth nothing. But when our Lord praised it, He was speaking of His own flesh, and He had said, Except a man eat My fleshy he shall have no life in him. Some disciples of His, about seventy b, were offended, and said, This is an hard saying, who can hear it? And they went back, and walked no more with Him. It seemed unto them hard that He said, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of Man, ye have no life in you: they received it foolishly, they thought of it carnally, and imagined that the Lord would cut off parts from His body, and give unto them; and they said, This is a hard saying. It was they who were hard, not the saying; for unless they had been hard, and not meek, they would have said unto themselves, He saith not this without reason, but there must be some latent mystery herein. They would have remained with Him, softened, not hard: and would have learnt that from Him which they who remained, when the others departed, learnt. For when twelve disciples had remained with Him, on their departure, these remaining followers suggested to Him, as if in grief for the death b Septuaginta ferme. It is difficult they can hardly be supposed identical of the former, that they were offended by His words, and turned back. But He instructed them, and saith unto them, It is the Spirit that quickeneth, but the jlesh profiteth^^ nothing; the words that I have spoken unto you, they are spirit, and they are life. Understand spiritually what I have said; ye are not to eat this body which ye see; nor to drink that blood which they who will crucify Me shall pour forth. I have commended unto you a certaiu mystery; spiritually understood, it will quicken. Although it is needful that this be visibly celebrated, yet it must be spiritually understood. O magnify the Lord our God, and fall down before His footstool, for He is holy.

10. Ver. 6 — 8. Moses and Aaron among His priests, and Samuel among such as call upon His Name: these called upon the Lord, and He heard them. He spake unto them out of the cloudy pillar. Those men of old, Moses and Aaron and Samuel, servants of God, were great among the men of old. Ye know that Moses led forth, in the strength of God, the people of Israel from Egypt, through the Red Sea, and guided them in the wilderness; and all those who cheerfully listen to those Scriptures in the Church, or read them at home, or have learnt them in any way, know how great miracles God wrought at that season by the hand of Moses; Aaron was his brother, whom he ordained priest also. And there indeed there seenieth to be no priest besides Aaron. For in those Scriptures Aaron is openly styled the priest of God: of Moses it is not there stated that he was a priest. But if he was not this, what was he? Could he be any thing greater than a priest? This Psalm declareth that he also was himself a priest: Moses and Aaron among His priests. They therefore were the Lord's priests. Samuel is read of later iu the Cook of Kings: this Samuel is in David's times; for he anointed the holy David. Samuel from his infancy grew up in the temple. His mother was barren: anxious to have a son, she prayed with deep groaning unto the Lord, and entreating that God might give her a son, she shewed that she did not wish to have one carnally, and that son she gave unto* Him, who willed that he should be. For she vowed him to the Lord God, saying, " If there be born unto me a man child, then shall he serve in Thy Temple all the days of his life and thus she did. Holy Samuel after his birth, during his suckling, remained with his mother; presently, when she had weaned him, she gave him up to the Temple, that there he might grow, there be strengthened in spirit, there serve God: he became a great priest, a holy priest at that season. He mentioneth these: and by these desireth us to understand all the saints. Yet why hath he here named those? Because we said that we ought here to understand Christ. Attend, holy brethren. He said above, O magnify the Lord our God: and fall down before His footstool, for He is holy: praising some one, that is, our Lord Jesus Christ; Whose footstool is to be worshipped, because He assumed flesh, in which He was to appear before the human race; and wishing to shew unto us that the ancient Fathers also had preached of Him, because our Lord Jesus Christ is Himself the True Priest, he mentioned these, because God spake unto them out of the cloudy pillar. What meaneth, out of the cloudy pillar? He was speaking figuratively. For if He spoke in some cloud, those obscure words predicted some one unknown, yet to be manifest. This unknown one is no longer unknown; for He is known by us, our Lord Jesus Christ. Moses and Aaron among His priests: and Samuel among such as call upon His Name: these called upon the Lord, and He heard them. He spake unto them out of the cloudy pillar. He Who first spoke out of the cloudy pillar, hath in Person spoken unto us in His footstool; that is, on earth, when He had assumed the flesh, for which reason we worship His footstool, for He is holy. He Himself used to speak out of the cloud, which was not then understood: He hath spoken in His own footstool, and the words of His cloud have been understood. He spake unto them out of the cloudy pillar.

1 1. Let us attend, therefore, brethren: see whom and of what sort he hath termed holy. They kept His testimonies, and the law that He gave them. They kept it certainly, attend ye. They kept His testimonies, and the law that He gave them. This he saith, and it cannot be denied. Had they nothing of sin? How so? Since they kept His testimonies, and the law that He gave them. See of what sort He would have us to be formed, that we may not presume in our righteousness as perfect. Behold, Moses and Aaron among His priests, and Samuel among those that call upon His Name, unto whom He spake out of the cloudy pillar, so openly did He hear them who kept His testimonies, and the law that He gave them. Thou heardest them, he saith, O Lord our God: Thou wast forgiving to them, O God. God is not said to be forgiving toward any thing but sins: when He pardoneth sins, then He forgiveth. And what had He in them to punish, so that He was forgiving in pardoning them? He was forgiving in pardoning their sins, He was also forgiving in punishing them. For what followeth? TJiou wast forgiving toward them, O God, and punishedst all their own affections. Even in punishing them Thou wast forgiving toward them: for not in remitting, but also in punishing their sins, hast Thou been forgiving. Consider, my brethren, what he hath taught us here: attend. God is angry with him, whom, when he sinneth, He scourge th not: for unto him to whom He is truly forgiving, He not only remitteth sins, that they may not injure him in a future life; but also chasteneth him, that he delight not in continual sin.

12. Come, my brethren; if we ask how these were punished, the Lord will aid me to tell you. Let us consider these three persons, Moses, Aaron, and Samuel: and how they were punished, since he said, Thou hast punished all their own affections: meaning those affections of theirs, which the Lord knew in their hearts, which men knew not. For they were living in the midst of the people of God, without complaint from man. But what do we say? That perhaps the early life of Moses was sinful; for he fled from Egypt, after slaying a man. The early life of Aaron also was such as would displease God; for he allowed a maddened and infatuated people to make an idol to worship; and an idol was made for God's people to worship. What sin did Samuel, who was given up when an infant to the temple? He passed all his life amid the holy sacraments of God: from childhood the servant of God. Nothing was ever said of Samuel, nothing by men. Perhaps God knew of somewhat there to chasten; since even what seemeth perfect unto men, unto that Perfection is still imperfect. Artists shew many of their works to the unskilful; and when the unskilful have pronounced them perfect, the artists polish them still further, as they know what is still wanting to them, so that men wonder at things they had imagined already perfect having received so much additional polish. This happeneth in buildings, and in paintings, and in embroidery, and almost in every species of art. At first they judge it to be already in a manner perfect, so that their eyes desire nothing further: but the judgment of the inexperienced eye is one, and that of the rule of art another. Thus also these Saints were living before the eyes of God, as if faultless, as if perfect, as if Angels: but He Who punished all their own affections, knew what was wanting in them. But He punished them not in anger, but in mercy: He punished them that He might perfect what He had begun, not to condemn what He had cast away. God therefore punished all their affections. How did He punish Samuel? where is this punishment? This I say, that Christians, who have already known Christ, to whom He came in His footstool, whom He loved so, for whom He shed His blood, may know how those are beaten, who have made such progress. We seek punishment in Moses; he hath almost none: except that at the last God saith unto him, Get thee up into this mountain, and die. He said to ^e a^ec* man' ^e kac^ a^rea(iy passed through the seasons of life: was he never to die? what sort of punishment was that? Did He shew His punishment in the words, Thou shalt not go up into the land of promise, where the people were about to go? Moses represented certain persons in a type. For was it a great punishment for one who entered into the kingdom of heaven, not to reach that land which was promised for a season, that it might display the shadow, and then pass away? Did not many faithless men enter that land? did they not when living in that land do many evil deeds, and offend God? Did they not follow idolatry in that very land? Was it a great thing not to have given that land to Moses? But He intended Moses to typify those who were under the Law, since the Law was given through Moses: and He sheweth that those who chose to be under the Law, and chose not to be under grace, could not enter into the land of promise. Therefore, what was said unto Moses was a type, not a punishment. What punishment is death to an old man? What punishment was it, not to enter into that land, into which unworthy men entered? But what is said of Aaron? He also died an old man: his sons succeeded him in the priesthood: his son afterwards ruled in the priesthood: how did He punish Aaron also? Samuel also died a holy old man, leaving his sons as ^*sj8gam successors. I seek for the punishment inflicted upon them, and according to men I find it not: but according to what 1 know the servants of God suffer every day, they were day by day punished. Read ye, and see the punishments, and ye also who are advanced bear the punishments. Every day they suffered from the obstinate people, every day they suffered from the ungodly livers; and were compelled to live among those whose lives they daily censured. This was their punishment. He unto whom it is small hath not advanced far; for the ungodliness of others tormenteth thee in proportion as thou hast departed far from thine own. For when thou art become wheat, that is, good blade from good seed, a son of the kingdom, when thou hast begun to yield fruit, then tares will appear unto thee: for when the blade teas sprung up, and brought forth fruity then appeared26^29' the tares also. When the tares have begun to appear, thou wilt see thyself among the wicked. Thou mayest wish to separate thyself from the wicked, and to separate all the wicked from the Church; our Lord's injunction will answer thee, Let both grow together unto the harvest, lest while ye gather up the tares, ye root up also the wheat with them. According to our Lord's words, it will be needful to spare the tares; according to the condition of a servant, it will be needful to live among the tares: thou canst not separate them, thou must endure them. See what wounds thou sufferest in heart, when with thy body whole thou livest among the wicked. Whoever of you shall advance far will prove this, whoever of you have already advanced far have proved it. These things therefore must be endured; and perhaps this pertaineth unto it: That servant which knoweth His Lord's will, and doth not worthily, s/iall be beaten with many stripes. In many cases the more the will of God becometh known to us, the doth our guilt become known to us; and the more He becometh known unto us, the more do we weep and groan. For we see how just what God demandeth of us is: and in what an imperfect state we lie; and what is said, happeneth in us; He that increaseth knowledge, increaseth sorrow. Lo, let love abound in thee, thou wilt grieve more for the sinner. The more love there be in thee, the more will he whom thou bearest with torment thee: he will not torment thee with anger against him, but with grief for him.

13. Consider what the Apostle Paul suffered: consider who he was, and what he suffered: Besides those things, he saith, which are without, (for he had spoken of many things which he suffered, and he now beginneth to speak of things within, besides those things which were without, which he suffered from the evil persecutors of Christ,) that which cometh upon me daily, the care of all the Churches. Consider how like a father's, how like a mother's care, was his; see how he was beaten, that all his affections might be punished; we will mention those affections of his, which God punished. Who is weak, he saith, and I am not weak? fpfo 0jfended y and I burn not? The greater his love, the greater were his wounds from the sins of others. He indeed had received a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan, to buffet him. Behold in what way God was forgiving unto him, punishing all his affections. What are the affections, in which God thus punished him? He declared them himself: Lest, saith he, / should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations, there was given lo me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan, to buffet me. He was so far perfect, that even yet there was ground for fear, lest he should be exalted above measure: for God would not apply a cure where was no wound. And he prayed that it might be taken away; in his sickness he prayed that the cure might be removed: For this thing I besought the Lord thrice, he saith, that it might depart from me. That is, the thorn of the flesh by which he was buffeted, perhaps some bodily pain: I besought the Lord thrice, he saith: and He said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for My strength is made God is good in smiting. What is His Holy Hill? 461 perfect in weakness. I know whom I heal: let not him that is sick give Me counsel. Like a biting plaister, it stingeth thee, but it healeth thee. He asketh the physician to take away the plaister, and he taketh it not away, unless when that upon which he hath laid it shall be healed. Strength* is made perfect in weakness. Therefore, brethren, let not12' any of us who are advanced in Christ imagine that we shall be without the scourge; since, advance as far as we may, He knoweth our sins; oftentimes too He sheweth them unto us, and even we see our sins. And when we have begun to live among such men, so that men no longer see in us matter for blame; yet He Who knoweth all ' things blameth us still, and punisheth all our affections, because He is forgiving unto us. For were He not to punish us, but to forsake us, we are lost. Thou wast forgiving to them, O God, and punishedst all their own affections.

14. Ver. 9. O magnify the Lord our God! Again we magnify Him. He Who is merciful even when He striketh, how is He to be praised, how is He to be magnified? Canst thou shew this unto thy son, and cannot God r For thou art not good when thou dost caress thy son, and evil when thou strikest him. Both when thou dost caress him thou art a father, and when thou strikest him, thou art his father: thou dost caress him, that he may not faint; thou strikest him, that he may not perish., O magnify the Lord our God, and worship Him vpon His holy hill: for the Lord our God is holy. As he said above, O magnify theyeub. Lord our God, and fall down before His footstool: now we have understood what it is to worship His footstool: thus also but now after he had magnified the Lord our God, that no man might magnify Him apart from His hill, he hath also praised His hill. ^What is His hill? We read elsewhere concerning this hill, that a stone was cut from the hill without hands, and shattered all the kingdoms of the earth, and the stone itself increased. This is the vision of Daniel which I am relating. This stone which was cut from the hill without hands increased, and became, he saith, a great mountain, and filled the whole face of the earth. Let us worship on that34'36, great mountain, if we desire to be heard. Heretics do not worship on that mountain, because it hath filled the whole 462 The stone hewn without hands. Kingdoms of devils broken. earth; they have stuck fast on part of it, and have lost the whole. If they acknowledge the Catholic Church, they will worship on this hill with us. For we already see how that stone that was cut from the mountain without hands hath increased, and how great tracts of earth it hath prevailed over, and unto what nations it hath extended. What is the mountain whence the stone was hewn without hands? The Jewish kingdom, in the first place; since they worshipped one God. Thence was hewn the stone, our Lord Jesus Christ. He Himself is styled, the stone which the builders r€jec(ed; the same hath become the head of the comer. This stone hewn without hauds from the hill, broke all the kingdoms of the earth: we see all the kingdoms of the world shattered by that stone. What were the kingdoms of the earth? The kingdoms of idols, and kingdoms of devils, were broken. Saturn reigned among many men; where is his kingdom? Mercury reigned over many men; where is his kingdom? It is broken: those over whom he reigned, have been reduced into the kingdom of Christ. How great was the kingdom of Ccelestisc at Carthage! where is now her kingdom? That stone, that was hewn without hands from the hill, hath broken all the kingdoms of the earth. What meaneth, hewn from the hill without hands? Born of the Jewish nation without work of man. For all who are born, are born of the work of marriage: He Who was born of a virgin, was born without hands; for by hands is signified the work of man: where human hands never reached, where there was no conjugal embrace, yet there was conception. That stone then was born of the mountain without hands: it increased, and by its increase broke all the kingdoms of the earth. It hath become a great mountain, and hath filled the whole face of the earth. This is the Catholic Church, in whose communion rejoice that ye are. But they who are not in her communion, since they worship and praise God apart from this same mountain, are not heard unto eternal life; although they may be heard unto certain temporal things. Let them not flatter themselves, because God heareth them in some things: for He heareth Pagans also in some things. Do not the Pagans Exposition a shower from God. Literal helps spiritual. 463 cry unto God, and it raineth? Wherefore? Because He maketh His sun to rise over the good and the bad, and sendeth rain upon the just and the unjust. Boast not therefore, Pagan, that when thou criest unto God, God46, sendeth rain, for He sendeth rain upon the just and the unjust. He hath heard thee in temporal things: He heareth thee not in things eternal, unless thou hast worshipped in His holy hill. Worship Him upon His holy hill: for the Lord our Qod is holy.

15. Let this suffice you, beloved, concerning the Psalm; as far as the Lord hath granted, we have spoken. And whatever we speak in the name of God, since it is God Who speaketh in us, is the shower of God: consider what sort of earth ye are. For when rain cometh upon the earth, if it be good soil, it produceth good fruit; if it be bad soil, it beareth thorns: yet the rain is sweet, both over the fruits, and over the thorns. He who when he hath heard these words hath become worse, and produced thorns from the rain, let him expect the fire, let him not accuse the rain: but he who hath become better, and hath produced fruits from a good soil, let him expect the barn, and praise the rain. But what are the clouds, or what is the rain, but the mercy of God, Who doth all things concerning those whom He loveth, and unto whom He hath granted that He may be loved bv them.