the Pharisee; but he became more righteous than the Pharisee, because he accounted himself a wretch. A *These things you have done, and I have kept silence. You supposed wickedness, that I would be like you. I will reprove you, and set your sins before your face* (Ps. XLIX, 21).
11. Do you see an unspeakable love for mankind? Do you see an excess of goodness? Do you see an infinite wealth of longsuffering? For by "silence" he here means longsuffering. You have dared so many things, he says, and I did not go forth, but I endured, and I bore it, giving you room for repentance. But you not only gained nothing from this, but you also slipped into greater wickedness. For you not only did not change, nor were you ashamed, nor did you condemn yourself for what had been done, but you even thought that I, who was longsuffering toward you, B who endured, who kept silence, who bore so much, did so not because of longsuffering and love for mankind, but because I did not wish to correct these things, nor was I displeased at what was happening. *Understand these things, you who forget God* (Ps. XLIX, 22). Which ones? The things mentioned, he says. What is, *Understand*? Consider. For what has been said in shadow, and what stands in need of much investigation? Most of all, the very manner of the teaching introduces a changed way of life. For without saying much about sacrifices, he introduces the evangelical legislation; and furthermore, since they were buried in a great mire of sins, as though wishing to pull them up from some sloughs of wickedness, and to cleanse as it were a film from their eyes, he stirs them to call to mind the things that have taken place, so that, by not delivering them to oblivion, they might not depart empty. For habituation in sins creates great calluses in the soul, renders it senseless, and blinds the sharp-sighted eye of the mind. *Lest he snatch, and there be no one to deliver* (Ps. XLIX, 22). O unspeakable love for mankind! The words are those of an affectionate mother, or rather, of a goodness that infinitely surpasses that affection. For he who has unveiled such a charge, he who has shown such C anger, provides protection. He who said, *I will reprove you, and set your sins before your face*, and brought forth a sentence of condemnation, dissolves the sentence again, not as if abandoning the condemned to punishment, but as consigning them to be corrected by exhortation and counsel, disciplining them by fear, and saying, *Lest he snatch like a lion, and there be no one to deliver*. *A sacrifice of praise shall glorify me, and there is the way, which I will show him, the salvation of God* (Ps. XLIX, 23). Having shown his love for mankind, having exhorted, having counseled, having threatened, having struck fear, having set the punishment before them, and having brought in counsel, he also says the way by which it is possible to correct what has been done, saying: *A sacrifice of praise shall glorify me*. And what he says is this: He will not only stop my anger, and not only will he dissolve the condemnation, but he will also glorify me. Observe the magnitude of the achievement, when God is glorified by it. *And there is the way, which I will show him, the salvation of God*. Do you see an unspeakable reward? Do you see an excess of love for mankind? For he promises to show D the way of God, and the true salvation of God to those who succeed. Let us therefore obey him who promises, and by a right life and a sacrifice of praise let us glorify him. For this is the way that leads to salvation, through this sacrifice; which may we all attain, by the grace and love for mankind of our Lord Jesus Christ, for to him is the glory and the power, now and always, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.
CONCERNING THE ONE HUNDRED AND EIGHTH PSALM
*O God, do not pass over my praise, because the mouth of the sinner and the mouth of the deceitful man have been opened against me* (Ps. CVIII, 1-2). *They spoke against me with a deceitful tongue, and with words of hatred they encompassed me, and fought against me with nothing to cause it* (Ps. CVIII, 3). *Instead of loving me, they maligned me; but I was praying* (Ps. CVIII, 4). *And they set against me evil for good, and hatred for my love* (Ps. CVIII, 5). *Set a sinner over him, and may the devil stand at his right hand* (Ps. CVIII, 6). *When he is judged, let him go forth condemned, and let his prayer become sin* (Ps. CVIII, 7). *Let his days become few, and let another take his office* (Ps. CVIII, 8). *Let his children become orphans, and his wife a widow; let his children be cast out as wanderers, and let them beg, and be cast out of their dwellings* (Ps. CVIII, 9-10). *Let the usurer search out all that he has, and let aliens ransack his labors* (Ps. CVIII, 11).
1. We have need here of great understanding. For the words, according to the literal pronunciation and the cursory hearing, disturb many of those who are not paying attention. For you see that the whole Psalm is filled, and the discourse has passed through our hands in such a way, that it manifests a kind of seething and burning anger in the speaker, which does not stop at the one doing wrong, but extends the punishment to children, and father, and mother, and is not satisfied with one calamity, but joins evils upon evils. For observe how many things he prays for. *Set a sinner over him, and let the devil stand at his right hand*. That is, let him be under wicked men as accusers and conspirators, and let him not prevail over them. This is what *When he is judged, let him go forth condemned* means. And he was not satisfied with this punishment, but with this condemnation he prays for someone else after him to take his honor, saying, *Let another take his office*. And he does not stop here, but he also fills up the only harbor left, considering him unworthy of any love for mankind from God, and saying: *And let his prayer become sin*. And furthermore, he deems him worthy to suffer an untimely death. For, *Let his days*, he says, *become few*. And he does not stop here, although to say these things alone was sufficient, but he adds more, which is a sign of a very incensed soul, not to be satisfied with one or two punishments, but to ask for so many to be brought upon him. And the things that follow are still far more grievous than these. For he prays for orphanhood and widowhood of his…