A What humanity of the Master! Where did he descend? God says to a man: "Why do you persecute me?" He imitates his own Father. For he also says to the Hebrew people: "My people, what have I done to you, or how have I wronged you, or how have I troubled you? Answer me" (Mic. 6:3). And his Son says to Saul: "Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?" (Act. 9:4). What then says he? "Who are you, Lord?" He immediately confessed the mastery. Do you see a grateful soul? "Who are you, Lord?" "I am Jesus the Nazarene, whom you persecute." O the wisdom of the Master! Why did he not say, "I am the Son of God, I am the Word in the beginning, I am he who sits at the right hand of the Father, I am he 585 who exists in the form of God, I am he who stretched out the heaven, I am he who established the earth, I am he who spread out the sea, I am he who made the angels, I am he who is everywhere present and fills all things, I am he who was born of the Father before the ages"? Why did he not say those venerable, lofty, and great things, but rather, "I am Jesus the Nazarene, he from the city below"? Because the persecutor was ignorant of him. For if he had known him, he would not have persecuted him. He was ignorant that he had been born of the Father, but that he was from Nazareth, he knew. If, therefore, he had said to him that "I am the Son of God, the Word in the beginning, who made the heaven," he would have been able to say, "Another is that one, and another is he whom I persecute." Do you understand what I have said? If he had said to him those great and lofty things, he would have been able to say: "It is another, it is not this one who was crucified." But in order that he might learn that he was persecuting Him who became flesh, who took the form of a servant, who lived among us, who was crucified, who died, who was buried, who rose again, he from the region below, he says: "I am Jesus the Nazarene, whom you persecute," whom you have seen and recognize, who lived with you. For this reason he immediately confessed the mastery. The Master descended as much as the servant was able to ascend; and for this reason he was shown mercy. "Have mercy on me, O God, according to your great mercy." And the Canaanite woman flees to this harbor: "Have mercy on me; my daughter is severely possessed by a demon" (Matt. 15:22). For where there is mercy, there is no examination; where there is mercy, no court sits; where there is mercy, no accounting is required; where there is mercy, salvation is without examination; where there is mercy, an apology is granted. I seek only to be shown mercy. For what reason do you demand an accounting from me? Once I seek mercy, an uncurious salvation. "Have mercy on me, O God, according to your great mercy." You said "great," tell me how great? I do not know; that it is great, I know; I am not able to measure it, I am not able to comprehend it. I do not know the quantity of the magnitude; the mind does not grasp it, the tongue does not interpret it. I see the fruit of mercy is great. For if it were not very great, few would have been saved. His Son also demonstrates this mercy. For having come, he saved everyone through mercy. "Have mercy on me, O God," the harbor without waves, filled with serenity. Great is the noise of my sins, but great is the security of my Master's philanthropy. He became a man; this is mercy. He came into a virginal womb; this is philanthropy. He became what you are, so that you might become what you were not; this is mercy. And having come, whom did he call immediately? The Magi. After them, whom? A tax collector. After him? A harlot. After her? A thief. After him, whom? A blasphemer. B He called from the start the first-fruits of those who had previously sinned, so that no one after this might despair of his own salvation. Are you impious? Consider the Magi. Are you a tax collector? Consider the tax collector. Are you unclean? Consider the harlot. Are you a murderer? Consider the thief. Are you a lawbreaker? Consider the blasphemer Paul, and after this an apostle; formerly a persecutor, and after this an evangelist; formerly an adulterer, and after this a bridesman; formerly a weed, and after this wheat; formerly a wolf, and after this a shepherd; formerly lead, and after this gold; 586 formerly a pirate and a submarine robber, and after this a pilot; formerly one ravaging the Church, and after this one entrusted with the Church; formerly one cutting down the vines, and after this a planter; formerly one tearing down the temple, and after this a builder. Have you seen excessive malice? Have you seen flourishing virtue? Have you seen the madness of a servant? Have you seen the philanthropy of a Master? Do not say to me, "I am a blasphemer"; do not say to me, "I am a persecutor, I am unclean." You have examples of everyone. Flee to whichever harbor you wish. Do you wish to be in the New [Testament]? Do you wish to be in the Old? In the New is Paul, in the Old is David. Do not say to me excuses, do not say to me hesitation. You have sinned? Repent. Ten thousand times have you sinned? Ten thousand times repent. I am constantly applying these remedies, and I am calming the inflammation. For I know how great is the disgrace of the conscience of those who have sinned; I know how great is the despair. The devil stands by sharpening his sword and saying these words: "At least you have shamed your youth, you have lost your entire life. Formerly you were a fornicator, after this you robbed, you were greedy, you were gluttonous, you blasphemed. What hope is there for your salvation? You are lost. Henceforth, enjoy at least the present life." These are the devil's words, but mine are the opposite. Are you lost? But you can be saved. Have you been a fornicator? But you can live temperately. Have you committed adultery? But you can obtain salvation. Have you fallen? But you can rise. Is your repentance small? But the Master's philanthropy is great. Have I murdered? But repent. Have you been greedy? But be regretful. Have you committed adultery? But desist. Have you been wounded? But be healed. As long as you breathe, on the last day, even if you are lying on that very bed, gasping for breath, about to depart from this theater and this life, then repent. The scarcity of time does not hinder the philanthropy of God. Do not say to me, "How, and in what manner? I am filled with sores, and I am full of wounds; on the last day can I confess?" You can, and you can indeed. Pray, do an act of mercy, leave something to the poor in your will. You are casting it there, and your work remains. And do not bring to me the opinion of the heretics; do not say to me: "How am I saved?" When God is performing the work, do not demand accountings; whenever He heals, do not despair. A doctor stands cutting and applying infinite remedies, and you do not say, "How does he heal?" but you yield to the art. You yield to the art of a fellow servant and you do not be curious; and to the philanthropy of God will you not be yielding? Do not say, "How," but marvel, do not ask; be struck with awe, but glorify. For I also ask you, how was the thief saved? He finished his whole life in murders, in slaughter, in blood; he broke through walls, he plundered wealth; he did not regret, he did not repent while he was on earth. Among men he was condemned, and by God he was crowned. He was not lord of his own life, and he became lord of a kingdom. He lost the things here, and he received the things there. How did he receive them? Tell me. With one word. For what did he say? "Remember me" (Luke 23:42). O strange and paradoxical things! The first-fruits of the calling, the tyranny of sin. Because the affairs of the world were poorly disposed—for some were tyrannized by impiety, and others in Judaism and despair were held by sin—for this reason, therefore, having come...
to the rescue of his own creation, and after these things they crucified Him, their own Master and the Master of all.
The thief, however, did not see these things, yet he was reproached, insulted, and reviled, and yet he was not caused to stumble, but confessed Him to be King. You see that he did not receive mercy simply, but also brought something himself? For no one is saved by mercy alone, but he also brings his own faith. Again, the publican, who was a plunderer and greedy, how did he attain salvation? Christ was passing by, and said to him: "Follow me," and he rose and followed Him. Just as the thief brought the word, so the publican brought the following. Just as for those who are sick and afflicted with incurable diseases, when a physician enters and advises the sick man that there is need of many kinds of ingredients to prepare the remedy, and he says he is unable to provide them because he is poor, and the physician says, "Give me this and that, and I will supply all the rest from my own resources"—even so does God. "Give me confession," He says, "and tears and repentance; and I will bestow the rest upon you out of my benevolence."
5. B And He asks David to perform these things. What, then, did David do? What did David offer? "Have mercy on me," and, "Wash me more thoroughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin." As if he were saying, "Already, indeed, through the prophet Nathan, you have granted me forgiveness, and you have applied to me all sorts of calamities, like cauterizations and incisions; but I have need of washings, as one who has contracted great stench from the sin. Once more, Lord, wash me, that you may wipe away all the filth of sin." What then did David do? What did he offer in return? He committed murder and adultery, but he offered tears and confession and says: "For I acknowledge mine iniquity." It is a contract. God gives, and he who is being saved also gives. God gave mercy; in return, he who received salvation gave confession. What do you provide, David, so that you may receive salvation, so that I may mix the remedy? "For I acknowledge mine iniquity." This is what you provide? Is there any man who does not know his own sin? Indeed there is. For how many are there who sin, and are bold in their spirit? How many are there who plunder, and do not even know that they are plundering? How many are covetous, and do not even perceive it? How many strip widows, and gaze greedily after others? How many oppress orphans, and do not mourn, nor shed tears, nor confess their sins? How then can they attain salvation, since they do not know that they are sinning?
Do you see the prophet crying out and saying, "For I acknowledge mine iniquity?" Even after God has erased it, I do not consign it to oblivion, nor did I receive a forgetfulness of the sin after it was done; but I am constantly seeing the images of the evils and the transgressions I committed, and at night I dream of them, and during the day I imagine them. "For I acknowledge mine iniquity, and my sin is ever before me." O nobility of soul! For He did not grant a forgetfulness of the sin, but rather he wrote it down so that he might be forgiven. As with a representation, he saw the adultery every day, every day he saw the rot. "And my sin is ever before me." I see it myself, and do you, Lord, see it as I write it down, and do You erase it. See how it comes to pass. If you remember it, God will forget it; if you forget it, God will remember it. For He himself says through the prophet, "And I will not remember your sins, and you shall not remember them either." For if you remember the magnitude of the sin, you will always remember the magnitude of the benefactions. If you remember it, he says, do not forget the grace, and do not remember the sin; but if you do remember, these are the saints—they repented of their transgressions, and remembered their sins. Not as those who have forgotten their sins; if they do anything good, they bring it into the middle. "I did a good deed," David says, "so that your Master may say of it, 'I did...'"
'" A a deed.' But you say, 'I did it,' and you diminish it; if your Master says it, He increases it. How, I ask? You give to a poor man, and if you are asked there, how do you speak? 'I saw a poor man hungry, and I fed him.' How does He speak? He does not just say it thus; but how? *I was hungry, and you fed me* (Matt. 25:35). Leave it to the One who can speak grandly; permit the One who speaks and magnifies to say these things; but as for your sins, you speak of them, that He may blot them out. But are you ashamed to speak because you have sinned? Speak of them daily in your prayer. And what does it matter? Shall I not say them? Speak to your fellow-servant who reproaches you, speak to God who heals them. For if you do not speak, God is not ignorant of them. Does He wish to learn them from you? When you were doing them, He was present; when you were working them, He stood by, He knew. You were doing them, and you were not ashamed. You were not ashamed of the deeds that shame you, and are you ashamed of the words that justify you? Speak here, that you may not have to speak there. Speak, and weep. Your sins are written in a book; your tears are a sponge. Weep, and they are blotted out; weep, and the book is found clean there. A great sponge are the tears for sins; great is the power of tears. Shall I tell you how much tears avail? B What seems to you a great achievement? But attend with precision to what I say. What seems to you a great achievement? You will say, martyrdom; *for greater love than this no one has, that one lay down his soul for his friends* (John 15:13). The greatest achievement of martyrdom is that the martyrs shed blood. For the deeds of the martyrs are manifest. The martyrs shed blood, the sinners shed tears. And that you may learn that tears have equal power, did not the harlot shed blood? Did she not shed a fountain of tears, and blot out her sins? And why do I mention a harlot, an unclean woman? The pillar of the Church, the foundation of faith, the head of the choir of the apostles, Peter, did he not deny Christ once, twice, and thrice? Did he not shed blood? Did he not shed fountains of tears, and weep, and wipe away his sin? *And my lawlessness I know. C* Do you not have a book at home, and do you write your daily account? Have a book in your conscience, and write your daily sins. It is as if one said: When you recline on your bed, and no one disturbs you, before sleep comes, bring the book into the middle and ponder your sins, saying within yourself: "Did I sin today? In word or in deed?" 6. The prophet also counsels this: *Be angry, and do not sin; what you say in your hearts, be pricked in your beds* (Ps. 4:5). By day you have no leisure; there is the fear of rulers, the conversation of companions, the care of business, the thought of child-rearing, the solicitude of a wife, and the concern for the table, and countless things drag you about. But when you come to your bed, to the harbor without waves, and no one disturbs you, speak to your heart and to your soul: "We have spent today, O soul; what good have we wrought, or what evil did we do?" And remember Gehenna, that by fear you may increase the good, and remove the evil. If you are in bed and remember your sins, weep, and you can blot them out in bed. Entreat your God, and thus commit your soul to sleep, testifying to your sins. Render an account to Him, and your God will render an account to you. What is heavy or burdensome about pondering daily sins while in bed? And when you ponder them, hang your mind, scrape it, open it to the fear of Gehenna, apply to it a cutting that carries no pain; make of yourself a fearful tribunal, make your mind lighter, that on the next day you may be more sluggish in committing sins. *Because I know my lawlessness, and my sin is before me continually*. D *Against you only have I sinned, and done the evil before you*. What is this that you say? "I was a king, I was fearing you only. I was a king, I did not fear the one I had wronged. He was my soldier, he could not punish me; but I am concerned for you, lest you require an account of me. Against you only have I sinned, and done the evil before you." [Having enjoyed many and great gifts from you, I returned the gifts with the opposite, daring to do things forbidden by the law. For he does not say this, that I did not wrong Uriah; for he wronged both that man and the wife of that man; but the greatest lawlessness was dared against God himself, who had chosen him and made him king. And well he added, *I did the evil before you*. For this the history also remembers; for it says the deed was done, the evil before the Lord. But from the captive people this having happened, it must be understood thus: *Against you only have I sinned*. Being ungrateful for your gifts, he says, and I have transgressed the laws laid down for you, and having enjoyed many good things, I have become ungrateful regarding these things; but having wronged the Babylonians in nothing, I have been greatly wronged by them. *That you may be justified in your words, and prevail when you are judged*. To himself, he says, I became a cause of evils; but your justice shines forth even so. For when judgement occurs, and those things done to me by you are brought into the middle, and those things dared by me are examined alongside them, you will be declared just and philanthropic; but I will be found lawless and ungrateful. The *That* therefore is not here indicative of cause. For not for this did David himself or the people sin, so that God might be justified; but on the contrary, even the sin having been committed by these, the justice of God is revealed, for He has made provision for him and for them.] *That you may be justified in your words, and prevail when you are judged*. What is it that he says? "I have sinned against you; if there be a tribunal, you prevail; if any one judges, you prevail." How? Because he saw God always wishing to be judged with men... *Hear, O mountains, O foundations of the earth; because there is a judgement for God against his people*; and again, *My people, what have I done to you? Or what have I troubled you with? Or what have I grieved you with? Answer me*; and elsewhere: *Hear, O heaven, and give ear, O earth: for the Lord has spoken: I have begotten and exalted sons; but they have rejected me*; and everywhere he saw God being judged with men; he says to Him, "With you are the victories; *That you may be justified in your words, and prevail when you are judged*. Being a man, a farmer, you made me king; having become king, you made me a prophet. I cast down Goliath...
not by the strength of the body, but by the power of faith. I wore purple. You cast out another and brought me in; you gave me most ample riches. B *Ut justificeris in sermonibus tuis, et vincas cum judicaris.* If you, he says, expose my sins, while I do not, I am condemned. Therefore, I have need of mercy: "For behold, I was conceived in iniquities, and in sins my mother conceived me." Of old, he says, and from the beginning, sin overcame nature, for the transgression of the divine command preceded the conception of Eve. For Adam, after he had transgressed and been cast out of paradise, knew his wife Eve; and she conceived and bore Cain.
The operation of sin is not natural. This, then, is what he wishes to say: Sin, which overcame the authors of our race, made for itself a certain way and path through the succession of the race. But by all these things we are taught that the operation of sin is not natural—for otherwise we would be immune from punishment—but that nature, being shaken by the affects of the soul, is prone to a fall; yet the mind, through the help and aid of labors, obtains the victory. Therefore, he does not here accuse marriage, as some foolishly supposed, interpreting these words in that way: "In iniquities I was conceived"; but he brings into the middle that wickedness committed by the first parents, and says that it became the fountain of these fluxes. For if they had not sinned, he says, they would not have undergone the punishment of death; and if they had not been mortal, they would have been free from corruption; furthermore, to incorruption would have been joined immunity from the perturbations of the soul; while that prevailed, there would have been no place for sin. But after they sinned, they were delivered to corruption; and having become corruptible, they begot such children also; and such offspring are accompanied by lusts, and fears, and pleasures. Against these the reason contends: if it conquers, it is celebrated as if by the voice of a herald; but if it succumbs, it is overwhelmed with ignominy. Symmachus, moreover, instead of *concepit* (iniquities), put *utero gestavit*.
8. "For behold, you have loved truth." In this way you judge, and some you punish, while others you crown, because you love the truth. And loving the truth, and having the imbecility of our nature in view, grant pardon to those who seek remedies. "The uncertain and hidden things of your wisdom, you have made manifest to me." Omitting the mention of the kingdom, he made mention of prophecy. You exalted me with such honor that you revealed your Son to me, and gave him to be known. I learned that you have a Son who is a sharer of your throne; I learned that he was to become man. I announced to the whole world the Gospels, the cross, the burial, the resurrection, the ascension: I spoke of his descent, and his ascent, and his sitting at [your] right hand. I spoke of the vocation of the Church, the salvation of the nations, the rejection of the Jews, the election of the apostles. "For behold, the uncertain and hidden things of your wisdom you have made manifest to me." You honored me so much, he says, you loved me so much, that you even disclosed to me the greatest mystery, that is, your Son. And where was it revealed to him? Hear from the prophet himself how he narrates his descent from heaven: What is the advent of Christ? "He shall descend like rain upon a fleece" (Ps. LXXI, 6). What is this? Because when the Son of God came, he did not come in such a way as to shake the world, nor did he send forth lightnings and thunders, nor did he approach with bare divinity; for all things would have perished if he had come with bare divinity. And not even the mountains themselves could have borne his advent; for "He looks upon the earth and makes it tremble; he touches the mountains and they smoke" (Ps. CIII, 32). The sun would have been extinguished, the moon darkened, the sea dried up, the earth would have perished, and our nature would have been removed from the midst. Therefore, he put on flesh, and came gently and without noise—with no one, not even the devil himself, much less anyone else, knowing it—and dwelt in the virginal womb. C O new and strange things! The fleece melts, and the womb does not melt! Mountains waste away, and the womb bears God! How should I explain this? How should I declare it? O the madness of the heretics! How did the handmaid bear the Lord? You who inquire into heavenly things, tell me of the lower ones: how was he, who is everywhere present, in the womb, and was not enclosed? For he was in the womb, and he sat on the throne. But how this is, I do not know; I accept it by faith, I do not curiously inquire with my mind. Yet that he would come without noise, bringing no perturbation or tumult. "He shall descend like rain upon a fleece." He did not say, "Upon the earth," but, "Upon a fleece." For rain, when it falls upon the earth, produces a sound; but falling upon wool and a fleece, it emits no noise, for the softness of the wool breaks the force of the falling water.
...that he might come, not disturbing, not bringing tumult, not destroying, not breaking down, "He shall descend like rain upon a fleece." You have told of his descent, which was devoid of all noise; tell also of his betrayal: "He who was eating my bread, has magnified his supplantation against me" (Ps. XL, 10). Tell of the envy of the Jews: "They hated me without a cause" (Ps. XXXIV, 9). Tell of his judgment: "Why did the nations rage, and the peoples meditate vain things? The kings of the earth stood, and the princes assembled in one against the Lord and against his Christ" (Ps. II, 1-2). Tell also of his cross: "They dug my hands and my feet; they numbered all my bones" (Ps. XXI, 17-18). Tell of his food and drink: "They gave for my food gall, and in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink" (Ps. LXVIII, 22). Tell of the ejection of the Jews: "I will not accept from your house calves, nor from your flocks he-goats" (Ps. XLIX, 9). Tell of the vocation of the nations: "All nations, clap your hands; shout unto God with a voice of exultation; for the Lord is high, terrible, a great King over all the earth" (Ps. XLVI, 2-3). Tell of the curses cast upon him by the Jews: "He hoped in the Lord, let him deliver him, let him save him, because he wants him" (Ps. XXI, 8). Tell of his burial: "They laid me in a lower pit" (Ps. LXXXVII, 7). Tell of his resurrection: "Because you will not leave my soul in hell, nor will you give your holy one to see corruption" (Ps. XV, 10). Tell also of his ascension: "God ascended in jubilation, the Lord in the voice of the trumpet" (Ps. XLVI, 6). Tell of his sitting: "The Lord said to my Lord: Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies the footstool of your feet" (Ps. CIX, 1). Tell also of the glory of the Church: "The queen stood at your right hand, in gilded vesture, girt about with variety" (Ps. XLIV, 10). Tell of the choir of virgins: "Virgins shall be brought after her" (Ibid. v. 15). Tell of the election of the apostles: "Instead of your fathers, your sons are born to you" (Ibid. v. 17). Tell of baptism: "He brought me up upon the water of refreshment" (Ps. XXII, 2). Tell also of the mysteries: "You prepared a table in my sight against those who trouble me" (Ibid. v. 5). Tell also of the anointing: "You have fattened my head with oil, and how excellent is your cup that inebriates me!" (Ibid. v. 6). Tell also of the petition of the nations: "Ask of me, and I will give you the nations as your inheritance, and the ends of the earth as your possession" (Ps. II, 8). "For behold, the uncertain and hidden things of your wisdom, you have made manifest to me." I, for my part, he says, who after so many benefits labored under the vice of an ungrateful mind, consider myself worthy of no pardon. For you did not merely place me on the royal throne, but you also indicated to me beforehand those things which were to happen at a long-distant time; and things which were obscure to others, you made conspicuous to me; so that I even handed down to others the incarnation of your only-begotten Son, and his salutary passion and resurrection. All these things, having been previously taught by your holy Spirit, I ask in supplication from you, that I may be made a participant of that grace which I prophesy to others. D
A Therefore I cry out: "Sprinkle me with hyssop, and I shall be cleansed; wash me, and I shall be made whiter than snow." For only the gift of baptism is able to work this cleansing. Therefore he says that he is in need of that grace which was about to be given to all men. For that alone is able to wash me accurately and bestow upon me the whiteness of snow. That hyssop produces no forgiveness of sins is easy to learn from the Mosaic writings. Therefore, hyssop is an enigma referring to other things. For by hyssop in Egypt, applying the blood of the sheep to the doorposts, they escaped the hands of the destroyer. Those things were a type of the saving passions. For here too there is blood, and a saving wood, and salvation provided to those who approach with faith. "You shall make me hear gladness and joy; the bones that were humbled shall rejoice." Fill my ears, he says, with this joy, B promising the perfect cleansing, so that gladness may permeate all the parts of the body, and the bones that were now humbled by austerity may flourish again and take back their own strength. Do not look, he says, upon the lawless acts dared by me, but upon me who lament them, and blot out my lawlessness. What do you want, O prophet? Your sin has been undone, your punishment has disappeared. I am not satisfied with these things; I have a benevolent Master, who gives more than I ask. And what do you want? I was a prophet, and I want to be a prophet again. I seek that boldness of speech, the gift of the Spirit, the great grace. Grace has departed from me, like a dove seeing mud; like a bee, I wish for it to return. "Turn your face from my sins, and blot out all my lawlessness." Tell me what you want clearly. "Create a clean heart in me, O God." C Since I have received the old age of sin, renew me by your benevolence. These things he also promised through Ezekiel the prophet to those held captive in Babylon: "For I will give them," he says, "a new heart and a new spirit." By "spirit" he does not mean the all-holy Spirit, but the impulse of the rational faculty; that is, having disciplined you with this long training, and having taught you what fruits sin produces, I will prepare you to choose virtue. This the blessed David also asked for here: that his injured heart might be renewed and his rational faculty strengthened, so that he might run the straight path. "And renew a right spirit within my inward parts." Restore it to me again, and I will speak to you; I seek that friendship, that communion. For what does it matter that I have been released from punishment? For me, punishment is not to converse with you. I love you, and I am frantic. I cannot see your essence, for it is invisible; but I see your works from your love, and I leap for joy. I did not see you, but I saw the heaven, and I leaped, and I said: "The heavens declare the glory of God." I saw the earth, and I said: "The earth is the Lord's, and the fullness thereof." I saw the sea, and I rejoiced, and I said: "This is the sea, the great and wide one." I saw the day and the night, and I cried out to you: "Yours is the day, and yours is the night; you prepared the light and the sun." I saw the mountains, and marvelling I said: "The high mountains are for the hinds." And just as one who loves, even if he does not see the beloved, sees his garment or his shoes, rejoices and leaps, and receives, as it were, some consolation of love; so too I rove over the body of creation, raving and maddened, always saying to you: "As the hind longs for the fountains of waters, so my soul longs for you, O God, the strong, the living; when shall I come and appear before God?" You are King, you have a diadem; what do you want? Let these things go; I seek that beauty, I want prophecy. I despise this power, I have no regard for these leaves of mud, and night, and dream, and grass. D I seek my beauty. When shall it come? I cannot endure the delay, since I have lost this boldness of speech, which sin barrier-walled upon coming. "Create a clean heart in me, O God." And I do not seek a clean heart alone, but also its Dweller. "And renew a right spirit within my inward parts." He well said, "Renew," for the house was built from above. Sin made it old, your grace will renew it. "Cast me not away from your face; and take not your holy Spirit from me." Clearly, therefore, through these words we have learned that he was not stripped of the grace of the holy Spirit. For, as one who had not been stripped, he does not beg to receive it back, but entreats not to be deprived of it, nor to become destitute of divine providence. For here he called providence "face." "Restore to me the gladness of your salvation; and strengthen me with a guiding spirit." He entreated to keep what he had not lost, that is, the grace of the Spirit; but he entreats to receive back what he had thrown away, and this was the joy in God. I enjoyed, he says, every gladness when I had great boldness of speech toward you, Master; but now, stripped of this, I have been deprived of joy. The slavery of pleasure stripped me of my boldness of speech. Therefore I entreat that my mind may recover its former leadership, and recover its authority over the passions. For here again he called the self-mastering reason a "guiding spirit." And what will you give me, O David, if you receive the Spirit? "I will teach the lawless your ways, and the ungodly shall turn back to you." If I receive the Spirit, I will converse with the inhabited world: "All you nations, clap your hands, shout to God with a voice of gladness; for the Lord is most high, terrible, a great King over all the earth." If I receive the Spirit, I say: "Have dominion in the midst of your enemies." If I receive the Spirit, I say: "No man shall give to God an expiation for himself, and the price of the redemption of his soul"; and again I say: "Harden not your hearts, as in the provocation"; and again: "All lawlessness shall stop her mouth." If I receive the Spirit, I say: "Turn away from evil, and do good; seek peace, and pursue it." I will relate your acts of kindness toward me, and I will say: "Come, hear, and I will relate to you, all you who fear God, how much he has done for my soul." "I will teach the lawless your ways, and the ungodly shall turn back to you." And where are the Jewish things? Do you not sacrifice sheep or calves to me? You do not seek these, "for you desired not sacrifice and offering; whole burnt offerings and offerings for sin you did not seek." You said: "I will not receive calves from your house, nor he-goats from your flocks. Sacrifice to God a sacrifice of praise." You do not want these, but you seek the things of your Son; you want the turn from error, and the choice of truth; you want that sacrifice. "Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God, the God of my salvation." Constantly, he pivots to the memory of the murder of Uriah. For this he had already indicated in the preface: "My sin is before me continually." "My tongue shall rejoice in your righteousness." Symmachus interpreted this as follows: "My tongue shall speak of your mercy." For I will not be silent having enjoyed forgiveness, but I will continue praising you, and relating your graces. "O Lord, you shall open my lips, and my mouth shall declare your praise." For sin is accustomed to bind the tongue, and to stop the mouth. The prophet therefore entreats, through forgiveness, to partake of his former boldness of speech, and to stir his tongue to hymnody. "For if you had desired sacrifice, I would have given it; you will not be pleased with whole burnt offerings." These things also harmonize with what was said in the psalm before this. For we heard God saying there: "I will not receive calves from your house." Therefore, hearing the divine voice, he fittingly said, "For if you had desired sacrifice, I would have given it," and the rest. For you, he says, have said that you are not pleased with the sacrifices of irrational animals, on account of which I will offer the sacrifice that pleases you. Since, therefore, I do not want these, what do you give me? I have another sacrifice, which you have pleased to...
B accept; a broken and humbled heart God will not despise. The victim, he says, that is pleasing and delightful to you, our God, is humility. Therefore, with my heart especially humbled and, as it were, attenuated, I will offer a sacrifice pleasing to you. In place of a sacrifice, I will immolate to you the submission of my soul: only dissolve my sin, and bestow upon me the Holy Spirit.
That it is far superior to the Jewish sacrifice, there is no doubt; and this not only now, but even at that time. For those three youths who were in the Babylonian furnace, and changed the flame into dew—youths, I say, and elders, the few and those more powerful than the many, prisoners and stronger than kings; those, I say, who had lost their country but had not lost their faith, the naked and the clothed, the poor and the wealthy, servants who were better than those who were free, who turned the furnace into dew and changed the elements, who extinguished the power and capacity of fire, who though bound by the tyrant were loosened by the fire—did they not use suppliant words to this effect? "We have sinned, we have acted unjustly, we have committed iniquity, departing from you. There is no ruler, nor prophet, nor prince, nor holocaust, nor place for offering firstfruits before you, that we might find mercy: but with a contrite soul and a spirit of humility may we be accepted" (Dan. 3:29, 38). *A sacrifice to God is a broken spirit: a broken and humbled heart God will not despise.*
The Psalm is to be understood regarding the Jews who were captives in Babylon. 20. "Do good, O Lord, in thy good pleasure to Sion, that the walls of Jerusalem may be built up." 21. "Then wilt thou accept a sacrifice of justice, oblation and holocausts: then shall they lay calves upon thy altar." By these words we have learned more clearly that this Psalm is full of prophecy. For to those who were compelled to dwell in Babylon, and who desired to be liberated from servitude, these words are fitting. For those suppliants ask that the city may obtain some mercy, that is, that the walls may be restored and the legal worship may be celebrated. For now, he says, as we dwell in a foreign land, it is not at all permitted to offer those sacrifices which were sanctioned by the law: since it is provided by your law that no one may perform them anywhere else than in that holy city. But if we obtain our return and restore the temple, then finally will we offer to you the legal sacrifices. The latter part of this Psalm also contains another prophecy. For after he had set forth the gifts of the Holy Spirit above, and after he had shown that God is not at all pleased with legal sacrifices, he now asks that a new Sion may arise, and that the heavenly Jerusalem may be founded on earth, and that a new mode of life may be provided as soon as possible, which offers not irrational victims, but a sacrifice of justice.
Here, therefore, I ask you to attend: for I desire to make you all teachers, all monks: not that you should be without wives, but that you should exhibit a specimen of piety, and bear, as it were, a certain fiery countenance. What is it, then, that is being sought? This indeed: he confessed, he asked, he besought, he supplicated, he shed tears, he requested a clean heart, he pledged his faith. The question rests in this: whether he obtained what he desired. I am affected with great pleasure by this contention. A ship-master is not so delighted when he sees waves being stirred up from behind and propelling the ship further, while the wind rises from the stern, as I am when I behold this sea, I rejoice and exult. For I see not only waves stirred up, but a multitude overflowing and moved. I see, I say, you being tossed and stifled, and yet not shrinking back; I see you suffering violence, and yet not shrinking back; you being oppressed, and yet buoying up your soul. For your eagerness to hear excites cheerfulness in me. The question, therefore, rests in this: He prayed, he asked, he besought, he supplicated, he put aside his punishment, he was raised up from punishment: it is now asked whether C he returned to his former confidence, whether he received the grace of the Holy Spirit, whether he obtained what he asked for—that is, a clean heart and a right spirit—or whether, finally, such repentance had the power to lead him back to his former nobility. Attend diligently. This is the fiftieth Psalm. Of what kind? The Psalm, I say, about sin, about confession, about petition. After this he wrote the sixtieth, the seventieth, the eightieth, the ninetieth, the hundredth. Therefore, let no one say: "What then, if he wrote psalms? He did not write these by the instinct of the Holy Spirit; for he did not receive the Holy Spirit; rather, he wrote the following psalms by mere human wit and prudence: for he was devoid of the Holy Spirit. For the sin was indeed remitted to him: but the Holy Spirit was not given to him." For although he asked for Him, we find nowhere any response by which it is established that He was given to him. Attend, I pray. He wrote the fiftieth, the sixtieth, the seventieth, the eightieth, the hundredth. He also wrote another Psalm after the hundredth, and after many other Psalms he says: "The Lord said to my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand, until I make thy enemies thy footstool" (Ps. 109:1–2). We find, therefore, that this Psalm, which was spoken after the committed sin, was spoken in the Holy Spirit. Whence is this clear? Christ indicated it. For after He had performed all things—had put a curb on the sea, had cleansed lepers, had turned demons to flight, had finished [his work], had braced the limbs of the paralytic—a voice descended from heaven: "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye him" (Matth. 17:5); the Lord gave testimony to himself, the deeds themselves cried out, the Spirit came upon Him in the form of a dove, John testified to him: "Behold the Lamb of God, behold who taketh away the sin of the world" (John 1:29): then finally, when He was about to ascend to the cross, having called them all, He says to them: "What think you of Christ?" (Matth. 22:42). "I did not ask you at the beginning, I did not call you as witnesses at the beginning, because I had not yet provided you with the proof of my divinity. But after all the elements demonstrated my divinity, after the Father, after my concord with Him, after my doctrine led you all as if by the hand, after you have not now even any shadow of contradiction, 'What think you of Christ? Whose son is he?'" (Ibid.). Those wicked and impudent men answer, "David's," clearly denying his divinity and not wishing to profess that He was the Son of God. What then does He himself [say]? "How therefore does David in the Spirit call me Lord, saying" (Ibid. v. 43–44): "The Lord said to my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand, until I make thy enemies thy footstool"? But if David had the Spirit, the sin was surely dissolved; but if the sin was dissolved, he had also received his petition. For David says: "Create a clean heart in me, O God, and renew a right spirit within my bowels." Do you see how he returned again to his former dignity? Again he became a prophet, again he discourses about Christ, again he received his confidence, and sin brought no stain upon him. Have you seen what great power repentance has? What do I say? The man was powerful both living and dead. For once barbarians came and surrounded the city with a siege. Ezechias, a just man, was asking and beseeching God, saying: "Have mercy on me, O Lord, and spare this city" (Isai. 37:20). The prophet Isaias came to him: lest he should think his own justice had been heard, although a thousand years had now passed since the death of David, what does he say? "I will protect thee and this city for my own sake, and for the sake of David my servant" (Ibid. v. 35). David was dead, and his confidence lives, and he who had departed from the living brought aid to the living. O just man, who even after death fought for the defense of the walls! Here, I think, having sufficiently explained the question, I will make an end of speaking, in Christ Jesus our Lord, to whom be glory and empire, for ever and ever. Amen. D
MONITION
Savile and Fronto Ducaeus rightly held the following homily to be spurious. It possesses nothing that savors of Chrysostom. The style is entirely foreign to his manner of speaking. Yet, upon frequent reading of it, I seemed to myself to be reading Eusebius of Caesarea; for this reason, I consulted his Commentary on the Psalms and discovered that this homily—if indeed it can truly be called a homily—is nothing other than the Commentary of Eusebius on this Psalm, and indeed almost always word for word, with only a few things added here and there.
ON PSALM LI
A 4. *To the end, for understanding, to David, when Doeg the Edomite came and told Saul and said to him: David is come into the house of Abimelech.* B Why dost thou glory in malice, thou that art mighty? All the day hath thy tongue devised injustice; as a sharpened razor, thou hast wrought deceit. Thou hast loved malice more than goodness; and iniquity rather than to speak righteousness. Thou hast loved all the words of ruin, O deceitful tongue.
1. The fifty-first Psalm was spoken by David C when he changed his countenance before Abimelech, and he let him go, and he departed (Ps. 33:1). And this one follows it according to the history. For the Book of Kings says: *And there was one of the servants of Saul there on that day* (1 Kings 21:7). It signifies the time when David came into the house of Abimelech and ate the loaves of proposition, having taken them from the high priest, when he also changed his countenance before Abimelech, and he let him go, and he departed. For at that very time, it says, there was there one of the servants of Saul, Doeg the Syrian, grazing the mules of Saul, who afterwards came to Saul and said: I have seen the son of Jesse coming to Nob to Abimelech the son of Achitob the priest. And he asked of him by God, and gave him provisions; and the sword of Goliath the Philistine he gave him. And the king sent to call Abimelech the priest, and all the sons of his father, the priests of the Lord who were in Nob, and they all came to the king; when also, at the command of Saul, that same Doeg D slew the priests of the Lord, three hundred and five men bearing the ephod; and he smote Nob, the city of the priests, with the edge of the sword, from man to woman, from infant to suckling, and calf, and ass, and sheep with the edge of the sword.
Having learned that David had done these things in this manner, he brings forth the words set before us, which contain neither ode, nor hymn, nor psalm, nor anything of the sort. For how was it possible for him to sing odes and psalms upon the calamity of such priests? Wherefore nothing of the sort is inscribed; but only *To the end*, it is said, and *For understanding*, since the final words are indicative of good things, in which he says: *But I, as a fruitful olive tree in the house of God, have hoped in the mercy of God for ever and ever* (v. 10). And the understanding of the words set forth here stands in need of that which is from God.
When he was with Abimelech and had departed from the priestly food, having changed his taste—or, according to the interpretation of others, his manner—he sent up blessings and thanksgivings to God, saying: *I will bless the Lord at all times, his praise shall be always in my mouth*, and what follows. But now, when he knew of the action of the devil Doeg, and how he slew so many priests by using a diabolical work, he composes the words set before us to him, saying: *Why dost thou glory in malice, thou that art mighty? All the day hath thy tongue... thy tongue hath devised injustice.*
The things handled here were spoken long before the times of the history of the fiftieth Psalm. For while Saul was still living, and even before David reigned, these things had both been done and said; but many long years later, after the death of Saul, and towards the end of his own reign, David makes the confession in the fiftieth, which he placed first because of the sequence with the forty-ninth Psalm, as has been demonstrated.
But the twenty [Psalms] ascribed to David from the fifty-first to the seventieth have received their subject matter from another beginning. They seem therefore to have been spoken while Saul was still living, before David reigned. For this one in hand was spoken while Saul was still living: *When Doeg the Edomite came and told Saul that David had come into the house of Abimelech.* But also the fifty-third, *When the Ziphites came and said to Saul: Behold, is not David hidden with us?* was so spoken. And the fifty-fifth, *when the Philistines held him in Geth*, is so inscribed. And this time itself was before the reign of David, while Saul was still living in the body. And the fifty-sixth is inscribed: *To David, when he fled from the face of Saul into the cave.* Likewise also the fifty-eighth. When, he says, Saul sent and I watched his house to slay him. Yet the fifty-ninth, even if it were spoken after the death of Saul, when David was already reigning, is nevertheless itself prior to the affair concerning Uriah; which is indeed signified by the inscription, which reveals the time, saying: *When he burned Mesopotamia of Syria, and Syria of Sobal, and Joab returned and smote the valley of salt, twelve thousand.* These things precede in time the confession in the fiftieth Psalm. Moreover, the sixty-second Psalm was spoken by David, *When he was in the wilderness of Judea*, while Saul was still living. And observe how almost the greater part of the second section of the Book of Psalms of David, with the exception of the fiftieth, has contained those things spoken by him long ago before the times of the affair concerning Uriah. The first part [of] the same book, from the first up to the fortieth, had the opposite order. For that section contained the things after the confession of the fiftieth. The third Psalm, therefore, was spoken by David, *When he fled from the face of Absalom his son*; and he fled from his son after the story of Uriah.
A
The seventh also, when it was spoken concerning the words of Cush the son of Jemini, looked indeed to the same times. For Cush, who was a chief friend to David, was with Absalom (2 Reg. 15. 32). Furthermore, it has been demonstrated that the seventeenth Psalm was spoken at the end of David’s life. But also the thirty-seventh, which is inscribed, *For remembrance*, having the same sentiment as the sixth, begins with the same words, saying: *O Lord, rebuke me not in thy fury, nor chastise me in thy wrath*; and proceeding forward, it utters the same confession as that which is held in the fiftieth, both in other words, and especially when it says, *For my iniquities have gone over my head; my wounds have stunk and are corrupt because of my foolishness* (v. 5, 6). And you yourself also, by gathering it together, will find that most of those things which are contained in the first part of the Psalms were said after the history of Uriah; and on the contrary, that those things which follow the fiftieth Psalm precede that deed against Uriah in time.
Why David did not follow the order of time
Why then, as the series of times demanded, were those who are first in time not placed first, and likewise the later ones later, but rather the former—which were spoken while Saul was still living—were placed in the second part of the Psalms, and on the contrary, those which are later in time were placed in the first part? In my opinion, they were placed in this order for this reason: that one might not be carried from better things to worse. For there are very few. *Unto the end, destroy not* (Ps. 56. 1, and 71. 1). Wherefore, the sadder things were placed first, that the more joyful things might be reserved for the second place, the worse things being, as it were, covered and extinguished, owing to the more joyful things that follow thereafter. B It is likely, however, that David wished to cover his subsequent sin by those things which were done by him previously. And it may also be said that, because of his singular piety, he placed the confessions first, since *the just man is his own accuser in the beginning of his discourse* (Prov. 18. 17). But these things concerning the order of the Psalms and the reason for it having been brought forward by me, it is now time that we proceed to explain the voices of the fifty-first Psalm. C
He committed these words to letters, therefore, after he found out what Doeg the Syrian had designed through those calumnies which he had stirred up against him. Therefore, he directs his speech as it were toward him, saying: *Why boastest thou in malice, O thou that art mighty?* He who is weak and feeble and small in vice, with good morals abounding in him, is, as it were, weaker in vice, and is affected with shame when he sins; and, being agitated by the goads of conscience, he may perhaps repent and, through confession and sincere penance, devise remedies for his vice. But he who is mighty in wickedness prides himself in it and boasts, as if glorying in some distinguished and excellent deed. And to me, the present discourse seems to describe manners contrary to those who were commemorated in the fiftieth Psalm. For in that one, he who had once fallen into sin was led by repentance and macerated himself, confessing his own crime and pursuing his own evils with mourning; but this one, as being mighty in wickedness, does not even heed external reproofs, but rather, as if he were practicing virtue, he is pleased with his vice, and boasts—so affected that he has wiped away all shame regarding those things which his conscience objects to him. D Then also, *all the day hath thy tongue devised injustice*. Or, as Symmachus translates, *Each day*. But also he carries the thoughts of wickedness on his tongue, not hiding them in the inner storehouses of the soul, but exposing them to all who hear. Whence it was also said, *Thy tongue hath devised injustice*. Of this kind are they who, without any fear and without any covering of words, speak shameful things, or rashly utter impious words, or use various lies and perjuries, or finally openly bring forth calumnies against others. Such also was Doeg, as one who had constructed so many calumnies against David and Abimelech. And indeed, he who is mighty in wickedness carries impious thoughts on his tongue, whereas he who is inferior in vice, although he may have thoughts that are by no means pure, yet he hides them and, as much as he is able, endeavors to extinguish and destroy them within himself. And furthermore, he who is mighty in wickedness, *like a sharp razor, hath wrought deceit*, as one who might lead into fraud with very soft words him to whom snares are being prepared, while secretly setting his mind upon his destruction. This also Doeg the Syrian was doing, as one who was indeed present then in the city of the priests, when David had betaken himself to Abimelech, but craftily observed those things which were being done; and he said nothing openly then, nay, perhaps he even feigned friendship toward David and the priests, but afterwards showed who he was, and vomited forth the fraud which he was hiding in himself like a poison. The same man, moreover, with two things proposed, namely injustice and probity, when he ought to have chosen the more excellent, valued injustice more; and when he could have been in probity, he embraced injustice instead. For he was acting unjustly when he calumniated the priest and commemorated those things which had by no means been done. For that he had consulted God for David’s sake was false. For Scripture witnessed nothing of this kind. Yet it was permitted to him to speak justice also, by instructing Saul that the priest did not have the least knowledge of the cause for which David was withdrawing, but rather that he took him in kindly as a friend of the king, and for the sake of the honor of him who had sent him for some royal business. Nor indeed was he giving him provisions; for there were no loaves at hand for him, with which David could be provided as if with some ration. For the priest answered David this also in these words: *There are no common loaves here, but only the loaves of proposition* (1 Reg. 21. 4). And he, in his piety and necessity, goes beyond that which was decreed by the laws, sharing the loaves of proposition with him as if with a good and holy man. He would surely have spoken justice if he had wished; but he, using false calumnies, *loved injustice more than to speak equity*. And furthermore, *he hath loved all the words of ruin, a deceitful tongue*. For he perpetrated all things which looked to the snares and to the slaughter of the priest as well as of all the others who were affected with death with him. Wherefore, *the words of ruin* are called the speeches of Doeg. For he submerged the entire city of the priests through his words, as if into the deep. But these things, indeed, not Doeg alone, but also anyone who is mighty in iniquity will have perpetrated, freely abusing the power of vice. But what punishment follows him from the divine judgment is shown next in these words: *7. Therefore will God destroy thee for ever, he will pluck thee out, and remove thee from thy tabernacle, and thy root out of the land of the living. Diapsalma. 8. The just shall see and fear, and shall laugh at him and say: Behold the man that made not God his helper, but trusted in the multitude of his riches, and prevailed in his vanity*.
The calumniator destroys not only bodies but also souls. Just as the herald of truth provides the cause of salvation to numberless men by his speech, in the same way he also, who is mighty in iniquity, brings death and ruin to many by the same power of speech, uttering words of ruin and abusing the sword of speech for the destruction of men; and especially when, through his calumnies, he destroys not only bodies but even souls themselves, namely, by casting them down into false and impious opinions through his fraudulent tongue. Whence it was said in a certain place: *The sons of men, whose teeth are weapons and arrows, and their tongue a sharp sword* (Ps. 56. 5). These, indeed, are to be guarded against with greater zeal and diligence than those who act wickedly in inflicting calamities. Of whose number, obviously, was Doeg, when, using false speech and calumny, he slaughtered the priests of God. But what punishment will follow him from heaven, the present discourse teaches, speaking as if to him who is mighty in iniquity: *Therefore will God destroy thee for ever*. Since he has loved wickedness, for that reason, God will first destroy him from his pride and his great exaltation, and instead of an exalted one, will make him humble, so that he may no longer boast in wickedness; then, *he will remove thee from thy tabernacle, and thy root out of the land of the living*. According to Symmachus,
you will be humbled, he says, and be plucked from your tent, and will be rooted out from the land of the living forever; so that the just, seeing, may fear and laugh at him, saying: Behold the man who did not set God as his strength, but trusted in the abundance of his wealth, and strengthened himself in his calamity. These things are said as against Doeg, who was a Syrian by birth but conversed in the midst of Israel, and perhaps even came alongside the multitude into the city of God, pretending to be godly. It is said also against everyone who is powerful in wickedness, using his tongue instead of a sword for the destruction of souls; whom, as a bitter and harmful root, the Cultivator of souls will pluck out, even if he should appear for a short while to be planted in the tent of God and in His Church. B Once such a person is pruned and cast far from the tent of the saints, he will lie as a pitiful spectacle for the benefit and discipline of those who see him, who, contemplating the sharp judgment of God against such a one with their eyes, will be in agony and will take care not to fall into the same. Then, bringing to mind the former arrogance of the one powerful in wickedness, his height and his pride, and seeing also the humiliation and destruction that afterward overtook him, they will deem him worthy of laughter, beholding from what point he has fallen into what kind of evils; they will accept God’s judgment, confessing it to be just. 4. Then they will also trace the causes for which the impious one has suffered these things, justifying the judgment of God. For it is necessary not to be high-minded regarding wealth, nor to be puffed up by the vanity of the present life, but to set God alone as one's hope and helper, and to rely upon this hope; but he, having abandoned the good hope of his own salvation and having suspended his hopes upon vain wealth, has obtained nothing more than to be mocked for his vain and foolish arrogance. *I, however, like a fruit-bearing olive tree in the house of God, have hoped in the mercy of God forever and unto the age of ages. I will confess to Thee forever, because Thou hast made it, and I will wait upon Thy name, for it is good before Thy saints.* We have learned through what has been said what kind of end the one C powerful in wickedness will meet. But I, says David, having been instructed in these things by the Holy Spirit, will never be puffed up by an abundance of passing wealth, nor by the vanity of mortal life (for *vanity of vanities, all is vanity*), but rather, fleeing the way of the one powerful in wickedness, I will not sharpen my own tongue and my words for the destruction of others, but for the benefit of souls; I will be like a *fruit-bearing olive tree*, for the salvation of such ones. And regarding my other deeds, I would thus become flourishing and fruit-bearing, so that my soul might be compared to an evergreen and fruit-bearing plant, planted in the house of God. Therefore I say, *I, however, like a fruit-bearing olive tree in the house of God.* Or, according to Symmachus, *I, however, like a flourishing olive tree in the house of God.* For he was not leaning away from the house of God, but was planted within it, as in the husbandry of God, and enjoying the streams of the fountain in the house of God, I became fruit-bearing and flourishing, according to the example of the olive plant, which is reckoned among the evergreen things. Observe, however, that David, saying these things, was not even in Jerusalem, which the children of the Jews supposed to be the house of God; for it had not [yet] been built, nor was he even in the tent constructed by Moses, which was still in existence among the Jews at that time; for while fleeing Saul, he was spending his time among others. Nevertheless, he did not fail to know that he was planted in the house of God, considering the godly commonwealth to be the house of God. And because he was fruit-bearing, and not barren, nor bearing bitter fruits, but sweet and full of much love for mankind, he was reasonably compared to the olive plant, which signifies the love for mankind of the example toward his neighbors and toward all. As one abounding in such good things, he consequently adds: *He hoped in the mercy of God forever and unto the age of ages.* For he showed the end of the one powerful in wickedness to be rooting out and disappearance for him; for the Wise Cultivator of all to pluck out the root that produced bitter fruits. But he, *like a fruit-bearing olive tree in the house of God*, has hoped in the mercy of God forever and unto the age of ages, procuring immortality and eternal life from the good hope, from which he will never fell. For *hope*, according to the Apostle, *does not disappoint*. D Then, having sketched out for himself good hopes as regarding good things, he attaches the cause to the Giver of all good things: *I will confess to Thee forever, because Thou hast made it.* For not I, he says, made myself like a fruit-bearing olive tree, but Thou didst make it. For from Thee is the grace. Wherefore I will never cease giving thanks to Thee and confessing to Thee; and having once hoped in the mercy of God, I will wait upon His name. For with the good hope lying underneath, there is need for patience for us. Therefore, *I will wait upon Thy name*, he says, *for it is good before Thy saints*, or, according to Symmachus: *For Thy name is good before Thy saints.* Knowing, therefore, that it is good, and productive of good things, not for those powerful in wickedness, nor for the outcasts of the living, but for Thy saints, I reasonably *wait upon Thy name*, being hopeful of never falling away from Thy mercy. Thus, therefore, I have hoped in Him forever and unto the age of ages, by the grace and love for mankind of Christ our God who manages all things for what is profitable, to whom is the glory with the Father and the Holy Spirit, now and always, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.
BY THE SAME AUTHOR: ORATION ON THE TEXT: VOW, AND RENDER UNTO THE LORD OUR GOD
The teachers of this world lead their children to the knowledge of letters; whereas the teachers of the Church instruct their disciples unto the perfection of good works. And it is possible, beloved, to learn accurately from the things recently made known to us in the Psalm the common and most reliable truth of what was said. For what did the prophet of the Spirit, the great-writer David, say now? *Vow, and render...*
to the Lord our God.* A Just as blessed Judith, when the Babylonian Holofernes with his army was besieging Jerusalem and had diverted all the city’s aqueducts, while the Hebrews—consumed by thirst—were already prepared to surrender themselves and their city to him who had imposed such necessity upon them, went out; as that blessed woman, endowed with manly judgment and faithful intent, was preventing the surrender of the city, and while preparing herself to engage in battle with so great an army, and to avenge her own people, and to save the city, having faith in God and bracing her body’s strength to undertake war against the enemies, said to the priests and to all the faithful people: *Vow, and render to the Lord our God.*
Having gone out of the city at the arrival of evening with one serving maid, having taken with her food to a certain measure, supported by faith (for she did not wish to use the food of the Gentiles, being a Judean and prohibited by the law), B and approaching Holofernes as if she were a deserter, in clean clothing and with womanly adornment, she made the foreigner captive to the desire for her; yet she kept herself inviolate, for she was not defiled because of her continence. For at night, while the army was sleeping and Holofernes was overwhelmed and buried by the abundance of wine, having confidently taken his two-edged sword, she cut off his head, with God evidently strengthening the young woman's right hand. On that very night in which she performed this valiant deed, she returned as victor into the city, and by hanging his head from the wall, she displayed him in triumph to all the foreigners—so much so that on the following day, when these saw their army commander killed by a single woman, they fled, struck with great fear and trembling from the face of the Hebrews, and that which is written was fulfilled: *How shall one pursue a thousand, and two put to flight ten thousand* (Deut. 32:30)? C For it is discovered that the most valiant Samson alone put to flight a thousand men, but the most valiant Judith with her serving maid routed myriads of foreigners. Do you see how great a good it is to vow, and to render to the Lord our God?
Hezekiah the king, being a faithful man and relying on faith more than on arms and exercises, overcame his enemies beyond expectation. Surely when Sennacherib with a huge number of barbarians was breaking in, besieging Jerusalem, and heaping insults upon God and those who believed in Him, and when Sennacherib himself had sent insults written against God and against him, Hezekiah took the scroll and, having read it in the sight of God, prayed and rendered to the Lord our God; from whence he was immediately delivered from the impending danger, so suddenly and miraculously did he obtain God's aid. For one angel of the heavens in the night, descending with a sword, slew one hundred and eighty-five thousand of the foreigners, with no one among them able to withstand the onset of his right hand, so that the nations of the foreigners might learn that one should not sharpen a blasphemous tongue against God. Such a good thing it is, beloved, to vow and render to the Lord our God. D David the most wise, when under King Saul of Israel the foreigners had moved their army against the Israelite race and had sent forward a single man challenging them to single combat, a giant in body, in judgment of mind exceeding a giant, speaking great things and promising great things—this was Goliath by name, whose stature the Hebrews, seeing, were held back by much fear and dread, avoiding the conflict of battle; yet when the sagacious David knew that the mass of body and the array of arms and horses are of no value for victory (for *The king is not saved by much strength, and the giant will not be saved by the multitude of his courage: a horse is a cheat for salvation; and in the abundance of his strength he shall not be saved* [Ps. 32:16]), having taken five stones, a symbol of the Pentateuch given to them by God, that little, younger one—who was held in contempt by his own and by the foreigners—with one cast of a stone striking him in the forehead, brought the proud giant down prone. And it is, beloved, worthy of inquiry why Goliath, when struck in the forehead, did not fall backward, but fell upon his face. Certainly it is manifest that the matter is to be understood by us in this way: that an angel indeed stood behind the enemy of God and threw him down prone upon his face. Thus it is good to pray and render to our God.
Moses the blessed, when he led them out from Egypt, came to the currents of the Red Sea, with the Egyptians forcefully rushing upon them in great numbers, and the Hebrews being unable to resist in battle nor to procure their own safety by flight: for before them was the very wide sea which prevented flight, and behind them was the dark host of the Egyptians bringing dread with their swords. And as much as the Hebrews had been glad when thinking on the things done before, so much were they seized with terror seeing Pharaoh and the Egyptians, and they were agitated by anxieties just as the sea is agitated when strong winds blow in, A so that in the magnitude of their fear they even dared to say to Moses: "Do you see to what an end things have been brought, and how fear has occupied our minds? For they are already threatening that we are to be food for the birds, knowing that we have been reduced to the extreme and our affairs are completely desperate. Why do you hesitate, Moses? It would have been better for us to die in Egypt than to have come out here and see our infants, our wives, and ourselves given as food and prey to the birds and the wild beasts of the earth." For in these things especially does Pharaoh believe and is full of sorrow, [alt-version omitted] and as if he held authority and power in his hands, he boasts and speaks audaciously against God Himself. Then what does Moses say to them? "Do not fear, do not be afraid: *Vow and render to the Lord our God* (Exodus 14:13), and you shall see the help of God brought to you. The Lord will fight for us, but you shall hold your peace." When such a prayer was sent forth to God, immediately the humid sea was turned into dry land, and prepared a free passage for them. And it was possible to see, beloved, a wondrous spectacle: that sea which once foamed and roared, now split; and there stood a watery wall, blue, dark-hued, firm, fortifying Israel on both sides. And for as long did the water swell suspended, as long as Israel, like some man walking quietly and at a slow pace, was in the breadth of the sea. And they indeed were walking through as if upon a grassy meadow; but their enemies the Egyptians were drowned in the sea like lead. So good it is to pray and render to the Lord our God.
But were they not in the desert to experience a shortage of water and bread? For how were they not to suffer from a lack of bread and water in the desert, where there is no field, no vineyard, no tree, no grass, no seed, no harvest? But holy prayer opened the heavens to them so that it might give manna, and the air so that it might provide meat, and the rock so that from the precipice it might supply water channels. For they had the ministry of these three elements: heaven, air, and rock. For the heaven sent down upon them water of the color of snow, and the air produced for them the fat quail without toil. The day would fail me if I wished to narrate the victories brought back by the fathers, the prophets, and the kings, and the good outcomes obtained—beyond expectation—in illnesses, dangers, and other most grievous matters through prayer. Such a great thing, indeed, is it to pray and render to the Lord our God. If any of you should find himself in some business deemed desperate by men, or is pressed by necessity or danger, let him remember this Scripture: let him pray and render to the Lord our God, and he will find the vivifying and blessed end of the good doctrine. If, however, anyone wishes, beloved, to accept this verse of Scripture in another way and to say that to "vow" is the same as to "promise," thus also the discourse will be useful. For we often find in Scripture "to vow" used for "to promise"; as Wisdom says: *It is better not to vow than after vows not to render* (Eccle. 5:4); that is, it is better not to promise God than not to stand by one's promises. Therefore it commands: "And you shall not lie concerning a word in the time of your prayer." Have you vowed that if you receive your daughter or son snatched from a grave illness and healthy, you will consecrate them to God?
ADMONITION TO THE HOMILY ON THE TURTLEDOVE
This homily of the Greeks is indeed a spurious work, and is found in ancient manuscripts as belonging to an ancient author. For the Latin interpretation of it is found in old manuscripts; but as we have learned by experience, the Latin works of Chrysostom are in no way authentic, and are moreover spurious and of no value. We have corrected that version in many places.
"It is better that you should not make a vow, than that having made a vow you should not pay it"—that is: it is better not to promise God anything, than to promise and then lie. Therefore, it commands: "And do not lie to your word in the time of your prayer." Did you vow that your daughter or your son should be restored from a severe illness and be dedicated to God? Do not lie to your word in the time of your prayer. B But as the blessed Anna, being barren before, prayed that if she should bear a child she would dedicate him to God, and having done this she became an heir of eternal blessing; and her son Samuel was reckoned as the first and chosen among the prophets, and was so honored by God that he was ranked after Moses and Aaron: for "Moses and Aaron were among his priests, and Samuel among those who call upon his name" (Ps. 98:6). First, it is good to vow—that is, to make a promise—and then to fulfill it quickly with a joyful and good disposition. For "God loves a cheerful giver" (2 Cor. 9:7). C Thus Abel pleased God, because he brought his gifts to God with a joyful and good disposition; but Cain displeased God, because he did not offer his gifts to God with a joyful heart, but as if from sorrow and necessity, being grieved at his brother’s good reputation. And having stirred up the spark of envy in his heart, he burned with the desire for murder, whereas he ought to have imitated his brother's God-loving mind, so as to receive an equal reward from the Lord as his brother did. But now, neither regarding his own kin and blood, nor considering that God was watching his lawless deed, he lured the young man into the field with deceitful words, and destroyed the beautiful work of God with murder. D He was the first to commit fratricide, the first to stain the earth with blood, the first to open the gates of death. For death had not yet tasted a human, had not Cain through envy birthed murder. For what did Abel's life harm you, Cain? Or what did his death profit you? Or did it not rather harm you? For behold, you finished your life with an unstable mind and trembling.
3. O envy, brother of hypocrisy, creator of deceit, sower of murder, serpentine seed, death-breathing flower. What is more foul than envy? Nothing. And what birthed death? Nothing else but envy, as Scripture testifies to me saying that "God did not make death, nor does he delight in the destruction of the living; but by the envy of the devil, death entered the world" (Wis. 1:13; 2:24). It seems to me, beloved, that envy is an invention of the dragon; and it is impossible for anyone to have envy unless the serpent draws near to someone secretly, and having vomited the poison from his own heart, casts the envy into the heart of the one receiving it. For thus the envious man ends up in the same rank and power as the serpent. Have you seen the envious man? Have you seen the serpent? He speaks to you of his own affairs as a friend, B and learns yours from you as an enemy. The serpent approaches Eve as a friend, bewitching her with sweet words but trapping her with bitter thoughts; carrying honey on his lips, hiding a sword in his heart, inclining his head elsewhere, and wagging his tail elsewhere. Cain approaches Abel as a friend; he speaks peaceably but contemplates hostile things; deceit was borne upon his lips, and envy was shadowed in his heart. The envious man approaches you; he speaks to you of his own affairs, and with deceitful words and lukewarm laughter talking with you, he makes your face joyful and opens your mind, so that he may empty out the hidden treasure of your thoughts. C He learns your mysteries by speaking, and offers your secrets to everyone. And if you flatter him, he no longer endures it, he no longer laughs, he no longer relaxes his face with a smile, but he stands sternly accusing, and stays motionless until he sees your disgrace; and then he will laugh. If anything is spoken against you at a banquet, he opens his ears. Well done. If anything is spoken in your favor, he injects other words and obscures the mind of the listeners, so that what is said about you does not bring you glory even when you are absent. What is more wicked than the envious man? Nothing. Among what beasts shall such a man be ranked? If you compare him to a lion or a leopard, D you will find the wicked in the envious. For every animal loves its own likeness; but the envious man hates his brother, and kills him. The ravens fed Elijah on the mountain, and the brothers of Joseph, selling him through envy, ate. The serpent deceived Eve through envy, and Cain murdered Abel through envy. The sea monster played host to Jonah in the sea, but Saul pursued David through envy. The lions respected Daniel, but the Jews crucified Christ through envy. Asps are tamed by being flattered, but the envious are more inflamed when they are treated well. But so that we might not seem, beloved, to be trifling too much and going outside of what was just read, let us return to the matter at hand. Pray also, you who are envied, that you may not suffer anything incurable from those who envy you, nor fall into the same disease. For "he who thinks he stands, let him take heed lest he fall" (1 Cor. 10:12). Pray also, you who envy, that having vomited out the dragon, you may receive the heavenly bread in the pure witness of your conscience. Pray and pay your vows to the Lord our God. Great is the power of prayer, beloved, making impossible things possible for men. Moses prayed, and he dried the sea, and led the Hebrews through as if through a grassy field. Joshua the son of Nun prayed, and blocked the Jordan’s currents, and what is written was fulfilled: "What is it to you, O sea, that you fled, and you, O Jordan, that you turned back?" (Ps. 113:5). Elijah the charioteer prayed, and he bridled the rain-bearing clouds, and again opened them through prayer. The same Elijah prayed, and gave the poor woman flour and oil measured out every day. His disciple Elisha prayed, and the Shunammite, being barren before, bore a child beyond hope. Daniel prayed, and overthrew Bel, and killed the dragon, and led the lions to take reverence for heaven. The three children prayed in the furnace, and the bubbling flame of the furnace was quenched. Hezekiah prayed, and having healed his own illness he undid death, and received fifteen years of life. Jonah prayed, and tamed the sea monster, and taught it to host him for three days, so that it might be shown that for the saints, hospitality is found even in the depths of the sea. The most pious Tobias, being blind, prayed, and received light from the hand of an angel. Sarah, the daughter of Raguel, prayed in Ecbatana, and put the man-killing demon to flight. Silas and Paul prayed while in prison, and the earth shook, the doors of the prison were opened, the iron chains of the bonds fell off, and all who were guilty of bonds were shown to be free. Peter prayed, and raised Tabitha from the dead. The same Peter prayed in Rome, and brought Simon down from the air as he was flying, and no longer allowed him to mock the Romans. Prayer raises the dead, puts demons to flight, heals illnesses, dissolves deaths. O prayer, dispenser of life, treasure of health, hope-bearing flower! Pray, therefore, you also, beloved, and pay your vows to the Lord our God; for to him belongs all glory, for ever and ever. Amen.