The sick man who
believeth
in this Passion, like him who descended into the troubled water, is healed thereby.
Augustine - Exposition on the Psalms - v4
Thou Who rulest me, Who hast created me.
8. Here then is the nest, here absence from home, here sighing, here crushing, and here pressing, since here is the winepress : but what is it which he longs for ? what that he desires ? whither goeth he ? whither tends our longing ? whither doth it hurry us? Placed here, it meditateth on those things : placed among temptations, placed among pressures,
2' 16-
The House of God the truly blessed place. 1 55 placed in the winepress, sighing after heavenly promises: Vrr.
as if intending to do something there, it dwells beforehand on future joys. (Ver. 4. ) Blessed are those who dwell in Thy house. Wherefore blessed ? What shall they have ? What shall they do? All who are called blessed on earth have something and do something. One man is blessed with so many farms, such a large family, so much gold and silver: he is called blessed by what he has. Blessed is another, he has attained such a rank, the proconsulship, or prefec
ture : he is called blessed in what he does. Either then in having or in doing men are blessed. But how will they be blessed there ? what will they have ? what will they do ? What they will have I have said above : Blessed are they that dwell in Thy house. If thou hast thy own house, thou art poor ; if God's, thou art rich. In thy own house thou wilt fear robbers; of the house of God, He is Himself the wall. Therefore blessed are those who dwell in Thy home.
They possess the heavenly Jerusalem, without constraint, without pressure, without difference and division of bound aries; all have and each have all. Great are those riches. Brother crowdeth not brother: there no want there. Next, what will they do there For among men necessity which
the mother of all employments. have already said, in brief, brethren, run in your mind through any occupations, and see not necessity alone which produces them. Those very eminent arts which seem so powerful in giving help to others, the art of speaking in their defence or of medicine in healing, for these are the most excellent employments in this life; take away litigants, who there for the advocate to help take away wounds and diseases? what there for the physician to cure? And all those employments of ours which are required and done for our daily life, arise from necessity.
To plough, to sow, to clear fallow ground, to sail what which produces all these works, but necessity and want? Take away hunger, thirst, nakedness who has need of all these things These good works also which are enjoined to us; for those which have mentioned are respectable, but belong to all men mean to except w icked deeds, detestable actions, scandalous crimes, homicides, house-breaking, adul teries, for do not count these among human actions;) but
4,
1
if it
;
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is
?
it,
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;
is ;
is it
?
is
I is
is
it is
156 Our good things here are but reliefs of need.
Psalm I mean those which are positively virtuous, even they are l*O"'only produced by necessity, and that a necessity arising
from the frailty of the flesh ; for instance, the injunction, Is. 68,7. ' Break thy bread to the hungry? For whom could you break bread, if there were nobody hungry ? ' Take in the roofless
16C64
poor into thy house. ' What stranger is there to lake in, where all live in their own country ? What sick person to visit, where they enjoy perpetual health ? What litigants to reconcile, where there is everlasting peace ? What dead to bury, where there is eternal life ? None of those honourable actions which are common to all men will then be your employment, nor any of these good works; the young
swallows will then fly out of their nest. What then ? . You have said already what we shall have ; ' Those who dwell in Thy house are blessed. ' Say now what they shall do, for I see not then any need to induce me to action. Even what I am now saying and arguing springs from some need. Will there be any such argument there to teach the ignorant, or
remind the forgetful? Or will the Gospel be read in that country where the Word of God Itself shall be contemplated ? Wherefore let him who in longing aspirations spoke will) our voice, saying what we should have in that country which be sighed for, ' Blessed are they who dwell in Thy house," let him say too what we shall do there. ' They shall be always
praising Thee. ' This shall be our whole duty, an unceasing Hallelujah.
Think not, my brethren, that there will be any weariness there: if ye are not able to endure long here in saying this, it is because? some want draws you away from that enjoyment. If what is not seen gives not so much joy here, if with so much eagerness under the pressure and weakness of the flesh we praise that which we believe, how shall we praise that wl"cn we see^ When death shall be swallowed up in victary, when this mortal shall have put on immortality, and this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, no one will say, ' I have been standing a long time no one will say, ' I have fasted a long time,' ' I have watched a long time. ' For there shall be great endurance, and our immortal bodies
shall be sustained in contemplation of God. And if the * Oxf. M>>s. ' want keeps you not away. '
No weariness in Heaven. Hindrance of the flesh here. 1 57
word which we now dispense to you keeps your weak flesh Ver.
'---
standing so long, what will be the effect of that joy f how
will it change us? For we shall be like Him, since we shall l John see Him as He is. Being made like Him, when shall we ever ' faint? what shall draw us off? Brethren, we shall never be satiated with the praise of God, with the love of God. If
love could fail, praise could fail. But if love be eternal, as
there will there be beauty inexhaustible, fear not lest thou
be not able to praise for ever Him Whom thou shalt be able
to love for ever. Blessed are they who shall dwell in Thy house; for ever and ever they will be praising Thee. For
this life let us sigh.
9. But how shall we come thither? (Ver 5. ) Happy is the
man whose strength is in Thee. He knew where he was,
and that by reason of the frailty of his flesh he could not fly
to that state of blessedness: he thought upon his own burden,
as it is said elsewhere; ' For the corruptible body weighs down Wisd. the soul, and the earthly house depresses the understanding9' 16' which has many thoughts? The Spirit calls upward, the weight of the flesh calls back again downward : between the double effort to raise and to weigh down, a kind of struggle ensues : this struggle goes toward the pressure of the wine
press. Hear how the Apostle describes this same struggle of the winepress, for he was himself afflicted there, there he
shall I arrive thither? /
''
/delighIt? he says, in the law God Rom. jf
of after see another law in my members,22-
was pressed.
the inner man: but
warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. ' Great
23'
is this struggle and hopeless to escape from, ifI
for the help that follows ; ' Miserable man that
shall deliver me from the body of this death ? The grace of
God through Jesus Christ our Lord? And so here in this Psalm he saw those joys, and thought in his mind, ' Blessed are they who dwell in Thy house, O Lord; for ever and ever they will be praising Thee. ' But who shall ascend thither? What shall 1 do with the burden of the flesh ? Blessed are they who dwell in Thy house, they will praise Thee for ever and ever. ' For I delight in the law of God according to the inner man? But what shall I do? how shall I fly? how
see another law in my members
it were not
am : who ib. 24.
158 Aids ofgrace. Upward ' steps in the heart?
Psalm warring against the law ofmy mind. He said that he was i-xmv. chappy, and he said, Who shall deliver me from the body of this death, that I may dwell in the house of the Lord, and praise Him for ever and ever? Who shall set me free? The grace of God, through Jesus Christ our Lord. And as in the
1 nut- ceptio
words of the Apostle, that difficulty and that almost inex tricable struggle is alleviated by the addition, The grace of
God through Jesus ChHst our Lord; so here, when he sighed in the ardent longing for the house of God, and those praises of God, and when a kind of despair arose at the feeling of the burden of the body and the weight of the flesh, again he awoke to hope, and said, (vcr. 5. ) Blessed is the man whose
taking up ' is in Thee.
What then does God supply by His grace to him
whom He taketh hold of to lead him on? He goes on to say: * a>>cen-He hath placed steps* in his heart. He makes steps for him by which he may ascend. Where are these steps ? In his heart. Therefore the more thou lovest, the more shalt thou
rise. He hath placed steps in his heart. Who hath done this? He who hath taken hold of him: for, Blessed, says he, is he whose taking up is in Thee, O Lord. Because of him self he cannot rise, it is necessary that Thy grace should raise him. And what does Thy grace i It places steps in his heart. Where does it place steps ? In his heart, (ver. 6. ) in the valley of weeping. So here thou hast for a winepress the valley of weeping, the very pious tears in tribulation are the new wine of those that love. He hath placed steps in his heart. Where then hath He placed them ? In the valley ofweeping. For here He hath placed steps, in the valley of weeping. For here is weeping, where is sowing. They went
Ps. 126, forth weeping, he says, casting their seed. Therefore, by
6-6'
the grace of God may upward steps be placed in thy heart Rise by loving. Hence the Psalm " of degrees" is called. And where hath He placed these steps ? In thy heart, in the valley of weeping. He hath said where He hath placed them, whither hath He set them?
What hath He placed? Steps. Where? Within, In the heart. In what region, in
what place, as it were, of abode ? In the valley of weeping. To ascend whither ? To the place which He hath appointed. What is this, brethren, To the place which He hath ap
Our sinful state is ' the valley of weeping. ' 1 59
pointed. What place would he name, which He hath ap- Ver.
pointed, if it could be named ?
He hath placed steps in his heart, in the valley of weeping.
Dost thou ask, whither ? What will He say to thee ? What \ Cor. eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither hath it entered"1'9' into the heart of man. It is a hill, it is a mountain, it is a land, it is a meadow : by nearly all these names that place
has been called.
who can explain ?
what that place is :
therefore whither he hath appointed us to go, or what place
it is. He knoweth whither, He Who hath appointed the place whither He is leading thee, the ascent to which He
hath placed in thy heart. What ? dost thou fear to ascend,
lest He who leads thee should go wrong? Lo, in the valley
of weeping, He hath placed steps of ascent to the place which He hath appointed. Now we lament; whence pro
ceed our lamentations, but from that place where the steps
of Our ascent are placed ? Whence comes our lamentation,
but from that cause wherefore the Apostle exclaimed that he
was a wretched man, because he saw another law in his Rom. 7, . 23
members, warring against the law in his mind? And whence
does this proceed ? From the penalty of sin. And we thought that we could easily be righteous as it were by our own strength, before we received thIe command ; but when ib. 9.
the command came, sin revived; but
died, saith the Apostle. For a law was given to men, not such as could save them at once, but it was to shew them in what severe sickness they
were lying. Hear the words of the Apostle; For if a law Gal. 3, had been given which coidd give life, verily righteousness*1' 22- should have been by the law; but the Scripture hath shut up
all under sin, that the promise which is offaith in Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe; so that grace
came after the law, and found man not only laid prostrate, but already confessing and saying, Miserable man that lam, who shall deliver me from the body of this death ? And the physician came in due time to the valley of weeping, saying, Surely thou knowest that thou hast fallen ; listen unto Me that thou mayest arise, thou who didst despise Me, so that thou didst fall. Therefore the Law was given, that it might
It hath been said to thee, ------
But what is it in itself, without images
For, Now we see through a glass darkly 1 Cor. then we shall see face to face. Ask not 13' 12'
160 Typical Meaning of the Miracle of Btthesda.
Psii. M convince the sick man of his disease, whereas he seemed to Ix xIV' himself to be whole; that sins might be made manifest, not that they might be taken away. But when sin was made
manifest by the law given, sin was but increased, for it is Rom. 7, both sin, and against the Law; Sin, saith he, taking occasion
s'
by the command, wrought in me all manner ofconcupiscence. What does he mean by taking occasion by the law? Having received the command, men tried as by their own strength to obey it ; conquered by lust, they became guilty of trans gression of this very command also. But what saith the
Rom. 6, Apostle ? Where sin abounded, grace hath much more
20'
abounded ; that is, the disease increased, the medicine be came of more avail. Accordingly, my brethren, did those five porches of Solomon, in the middle of which the pool
John 6, lay, heal the sick at all ? The sick, says the Evangelist, lay in the five porches. In the Gospel we have and read it. Those five porches are the law in the five books of Moses. For this cause the sick were brought forth from their houses that they might lie in the porches. So the law brought the sick men forth, but did not heal them : but by the blessing
of God the water was disturbed, as by an Angel descending into it. At the sight of the water troubled, the one person who was able, descended and was healed. That water surrounded by the five porches, was the people of the Jews shut up in their law. The Lord came and disturbed this people, so that He Himself was slain. For if the Lord had not troubled the Jews by coming down to them, would He have been crucified? So that the troubled water signified the Passion of the Lord, which arose from His troubling the Jewish people.
The sick man who believeth in this Passion, like him who descended into the troubled water, is healed thereby. He whom the Law could not heal, that is, while he
lay in the porches, is healed by grace, by faith in the Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ. One is healed, for those healed are one. What then does He say here ? He hath placed steps of ascent in his heart, in the valley of weeping, to the place which He hath appointed. Now we will rejoice in that place.
11. Ver. 8. But why in the valley of weeping? What is this valley of weeping, from whence we shall come into that
The Church proceeds 'from virtue to virtue. ' 161
place ofjoy? He shall give blessing, saith he, Who gave the Ver. law. He afflicted us by the law, pressed us under the law, ------ shewed unto us the winepress, we saw the pressure, we were conscious of the tribulation of the flesh, we groaned with the rebellion of sin against our mind, we cried out, ' Miserable
man that I am:' we groaned under the law; what remains but that He who gave the law should give His blessing ? Grace shall come after the law, grace itself is the blessing. And what has that grace and blessing given unto us?
They shall go from virtue to virtue. For here by grace many
virtues are given. For to one is given by the Spirit the word l Cor. of wisdom, to another the word of knowledge according I2' 8- to the same Spirit, to another faith, to another the gift of healing, to another different kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues, to another prophecy. Many virtues,
but necessary for this life; and from these virtues we go on
to a virtue. To what virtue ? To Christ the Virtue of l Cor.
God and the Wisdom of God. He giveth different virtues in ' 24, this place, Who for all the virtues which are necessary and useful in this valley of weeping shall give one virtue, Himself.
For in Scripture and in many writers four virtues are described useful for life : prudence, by which we discern between good
and evil ; justice, by which we give each person his due, owing no man any thing, but loving all men: temperance, by which we restrain lusts ; fortitude, by which we bear all troubles. These virtues are now by the grace of God given unto us in the valley of weeping : from these virtues we mount unto that other virtue. And what will that be, but the virtue of the contemplation of God alone ? There this our prudence will be unnecessary where no evils will meet us which we shall have to avoid. But what think we, my brethren? There will be no justice, such as here: for there will be no need with any man to which we shall owe relief. There will be no such temperance, where will be no lust to be restrained. No such fortitude as here, where there will be no evils to be borne. Therefore from these virtues of action here we shall pass to that virtue of contemplation, by which we shall see
I will be near Thee in the morning, pa. I will behold Thee. And hear how from these virtues
God: as it is written,
and
of present action we shall pass to that contemplation. It
vol. iv. M
6,
3.
'
162 Manifestation of( The God of Gods' the Christian hope. Psalm follows in that place : Theij shall qo from virtue to virtue.
8'
see God. The God of Gods shall appear in Sion.
12. And again, from the thought of those joys he returns to his own sighs. He sees what has come before in hope, and
where he is in reality. Then shall the God of Gods appear in Sion: this is why we shall rejoice: Him we shall praise for ever and ever. But as yet it is but the time of prayer, the time of deprecation : and if of rejoicing a little, yet still
in hope : we are on our journey, we are in the valley of weeping. Therefore returning to the groans proper to this place, he saith, (ver. 8. ) 0 Lord God of virtues, hear my
.
What virtue? That of contemplation. What is contem
lxxxIV. _
plation ? The God of Gods shall appear in Sion. The God Ps. 82,6. of Gods, Christ of the Christians. How is this? / said, Ye
are Gods, and ye are all the children of the Most High. John 1, For He gave unto them power to become the sons of God, He in whom we believed, that fair Bridegroom, who on
account of our uncomeliness appeared here without come ls. 63,2. liness : for we saw Him, he saith, and He had no form nor
beauty. When all is fmished, that mortality makes necessary, He shall appear to the pure in heart, as He is, " God with God," The Word with the Father, " by Which all things
Matt. 6, were made :" for, blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall
prayer : hearken, O God of Jacob : for Jacob himself also ticn. 32,Thou hast made Israel out of Jacob. For God appeared
Ps. 36,7.
unto him, and he was called Israel, seeing God. Hear me therefore, O God of Jacob, and make me Israel. When shall I become Israel ? When the God of Gods shall appear in Sion.
13. Ver. 9. Behold,0 God our defender. ' Under theshadow of Thy wings they shall hope :' therefore, Behold, O God our defender. And look on the face of Thy Christ. For when doth God not look upon the face of His Christ ? What is this, Look on the face of Thy Christ? By the face we are known. What is it then, Look on the face of Thy Christ ? Cause Thy Christ to become known to all. Look on the face of Tby Christ: let Christ become known to all, that we may be able to go from strength to strength, that grace may abound, since sin hath abounded.
14. Ver. 10. For one day in Thy courts is better than a
Earthly honours to be given up for a place in God's House. 163
thousand. Those courts they were for which he sighed, for Ver. which he fainted. My soul longeth and faileth for
courts of the Lord : one day there is better than a thou
sand days. Men long for thousands of days, and wish to
live here long : let them despise these thousands of days,
let them long for one day, which has neither rising nor setting : one day, an everlasting day, to which no yesterday yields, which no to-morrow presses. Let this one day be longed for by us. What have we to do with a thousand days ?
We go from the thousand days to one day ; let us hasten to
that one day1, as we go from strength lo strength. 'Oxf.
1 5. Ver. 11. / have chosen to be cast away in the house of'the <kt'*^
/
Lord, rather than to dwell in the tents of sinners. For he hasten,' . . . &0.
found the valley of weeping, he found humility by which he might rise : he knoweth that if he would raise himself he shall fall, if he humble himself he shall be exalted : he hath chosen to be cast away, that he may be raised up. How many beside this tabernacle of the Lord's winepress, that is beside the Catholic Church, wishing to be lifted up, and loving their honours, refuse to see the truth. If this verse had been in
have chosen to be cast aicay in the house the Lord, rather than to dwell in the tents ofsinners, would they not cast away honours, and rnn to the valley of weeping, and hence find in their heart the way of ascent, and hence go from virtues to virtue, placing their hope in Christ, not in
their heart,
of
some man or another? A good word is this, a word to
/ have chosen to be cast away in the house of the Lord, rather than to dwell in the tents of
rejoice in, a word to be chosen :
sinners. He himself chose to be cast away in the house
of the Lord ; but He who invited him to the feast, when he chose a lower place calleth him to a higher one, and saith unto him, Go up higher. Yet he chose not but to be in Lake
the house of the Lord, in any part of so that he were not outside the threshold.
16. Wherefore did he choose rather to be cast away
in the house of the Lord, than to dwell in the tents of
19,
the ungodly? (Ver. 12. ) Because God loveth mercy Rom. l1, and truth. The Lord loveth mercy, by which He first36' came to my help He loveth truth, so as to give to
him that believeth what He has promised. Hear in the
M
2
:
it,
'
J 64 God, having given Mercy, owes reward by Promise.
Psat. m case of the Apostle Paul, His mercy and truth, Paul who -----was first Saul the persecutor. He needed mercy, and he
/
16 'a blasphemer, and a persecutor, and injurious: but
l Tim. has said that it was shewn towards him :
who was before I
1' 13
obtained mercy, that in me Christ Jesus might shew forth all longsuffering towards those who shall believe in Him unto life eternal. So that, when Paul received pardon of such great crimes, no one should despair of any sins whatever being forgiven him. Lo ! Thou hast Mercy. God was then unwilling to put His Truth in action, so as to punish the sinner. For if the sinner were punished, would it not be truth ? or would he dare to say, I ought not to be puuished, when he could not say, I have not sinned ? And if he did say, I have not sinned : to whom would he say it ? Whom would he deceive ? Therefore the Lord first exerted mercy towards him: after mercy, truth. Hear him how he de- mands truth afterwards. First he said,
1 Cor. '
'I
mercy,
/ obtained
who was before a blasphemer, and a persecutor, and inju
rious : but by the grace ofGod Iam what /
am. Afterwards
2 Tim. He saith, when he was drawing near his passiI on,
have have kept the faith : henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of
4, 8- fought a good fight, I
have my course, finished
righteousness. He who giveth mercy, keepeth truth. How doth He keep truth ? Which the Lord, Who is a righteous Judge, shall repay me at that day. He freely gave him pardon, He shall render him a crown : He is a free giver of pardon, a debtor of a crown. How a debtor ? hath He received any thing ? To whom doth God owe any thing ? Lo, we see that Paul holdeth Him a debtor, having received mercy, demanding truth. The Lord, he says, shall give me back in that day. What shall He give thee back, but that which He oweth thee? How
Rom. oweth He unto thee? What hast thou given Him ? Who hath i1, 36. j^rst g{ven uni0 Him, and it shall be restored to him again.
The Lord Himself hath made Himself a debtor, not by receiv ing, but by promising: it is not said unto Him, Restore what Thou hast received : but, Restore what Thou hast promised. He hath shewn mercy unto me, he saith, that He might make me innocent : for before I was a blasphemer and injurious : but by His grace I have been made innocent. But He who first
shewed mercy, can He deny His debt? He loveth mercy and
The real good is what God gives the innocent. 165 truth. He will give grace and glory. What grace, but that Veil
12'
s'TM-
I
up for me a crown of glory?
17- Ver. 12. Therefore the Lordwill not withhold goodfrom
those who walk in innocence. Why then, men, are ye unwilling to keep innocence, except in order that ye may have good things Such an one will not keep innocence, in order not to restore that which committed to his trust: he would have gold, and loseth innocence. What doth he gain? what doth he lose? He hath the gain of gold, he hath suffered the loss of innocence. 'But shall keep innocence,' hesaith,
shall be poor. ' Is not innocence itself no slight wealth If thou hast chest full of gold, shalt thou be rich thou hast heart full of innocence, shalt thou be poor? But behold thou longest for good things, though thou be at present in poverty, in tribulation, in the valley of weeping, in pressure, in temptations, keep innocence. For there shall be hereafter that good for thee for which thou longest rest, eternity, immortality, freedom from suffering shall be here after: these are the good things which God keepeth for His righteous ones. For the good things which thou now longest
for, as of great worth, for which thou art willing to be guilty and not guiltless, listen while tell thee who have them, who abound in them. Thou seest wealth in the hands of robbers, of the impious, the wicked, the base in the hands of scandalous and criminal men thou seest wealth God
of which the same oue said ; By the grace of God
/ am? What glory, but that of which he said, There is laid\f,,
am what
them these things on account of their fellowship in
the human race, for the abundant overflowing of His goodness:
Who also maketh His sun to rise upon the good and the Matt. evil, and causeth to rain upon the righteous and upon 4o- sinners. Giveth He so much to the wicked, and keepeth nothing for thee? He keepeth something: be at ease, He Who
had mercy on thee, when thou wast impious, doth He desert
thee when thou hast become pious He Who gave to the sinner the free gift of His Son's death, what keepeth He for
the saved through that death Therefore be at ease. Hold
Him a debtor, for thou hast believed in Him promising.
The Lord will withhold no good thing from those who walk in
innocence. What then remains for us here, in the winepress,
giveth
?
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166 Christ our Healer and our Light. ' Sons of Core. '
Psalm Jn affliction, in hardship, in our present dangerous life ? What "kxxlv- remains for us, that we may arrive thither ? 0 Lord God of
virtues, blessed is the man that putteth his hope in Thee.
psalm lxxxv.
A Sermon to the People.
W E have prayed to the Lord our God to shew us His mercy, and to grant us His salvation. This was spoken in prophecy, when first these Psalms were uttered and written : but as regards the present time, the Lord now sheweth His
to the nations, and hath granted unto them His salvation. He indeed hath shewn it : but many refuse to be made whole, and to see what He sheweth. But because He Himself healeth the eyes of the heart so that they see Him ; therefore having said, Shew us Thy mercy, as if many blind
persons would answer, How shall wc see when He sheweth ? ? salif he added, And grant us Thy salvation '. For by granting
Lat. fcxxxIV.
mercy
tore
His salvation, He healeth in us that by which we may be able to see what He sheweth : not as a physician takes care to shew this light to those whose eyes he has cured, when the light which he is to shew is one thing, the physician who
heals the eyes to which he shews it another, and not the light itself.
8. Here then is the nest, here absence from home, here sighing, here crushing, and here pressing, since here is the winepress : but what is it which he longs for ? what that he desires ? whither goeth he ? whither tends our longing ? whither doth it hurry us? Placed here, it meditateth on those things : placed among temptations, placed among pressures,
2' 16-
The House of God the truly blessed place. 1 55 placed in the winepress, sighing after heavenly promises: Vrr.
as if intending to do something there, it dwells beforehand on future joys. (Ver. 4. ) Blessed are those who dwell in Thy house. Wherefore blessed ? What shall they have ? What shall they do? All who are called blessed on earth have something and do something. One man is blessed with so many farms, such a large family, so much gold and silver: he is called blessed by what he has. Blessed is another, he has attained such a rank, the proconsulship, or prefec
ture : he is called blessed in what he does. Either then in having or in doing men are blessed. But how will they be blessed there ? what will they have ? what will they do ? What they will have I have said above : Blessed are they that dwell in Thy house. If thou hast thy own house, thou art poor ; if God's, thou art rich. In thy own house thou wilt fear robbers; of the house of God, He is Himself the wall. Therefore blessed are those who dwell in Thy home.
They possess the heavenly Jerusalem, without constraint, without pressure, without difference and division of bound aries; all have and each have all. Great are those riches. Brother crowdeth not brother: there no want there. Next, what will they do there For among men necessity which
the mother of all employments. have already said, in brief, brethren, run in your mind through any occupations, and see not necessity alone which produces them. Those very eminent arts which seem so powerful in giving help to others, the art of speaking in their defence or of medicine in healing, for these are the most excellent employments in this life; take away litigants, who there for the advocate to help take away wounds and diseases? what there for the physician to cure? And all those employments of ours which are required and done for our daily life, arise from necessity.
To plough, to sow, to clear fallow ground, to sail what which produces all these works, but necessity and want? Take away hunger, thirst, nakedness who has need of all these things These good works also which are enjoined to us; for those which have mentioned are respectable, but belong to all men mean to except w icked deeds, detestable actions, scandalous crimes, homicides, house-breaking, adul teries, for do not count these among human actions;) but
4,
1
if it
;
(I I
is
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it,
?
;
is ;
is it
?
is
I is
is
it is
156 Our good things here are but reliefs of need.
Psalm I mean those which are positively virtuous, even they are l*O"'only produced by necessity, and that a necessity arising
from the frailty of the flesh ; for instance, the injunction, Is. 68,7. ' Break thy bread to the hungry? For whom could you break bread, if there were nobody hungry ? ' Take in the roofless
16C64
poor into thy house. ' What stranger is there to lake in, where all live in their own country ? What sick person to visit, where they enjoy perpetual health ? What litigants to reconcile, where there is everlasting peace ? What dead to bury, where there is eternal life ? None of those honourable actions which are common to all men will then be your employment, nor any of these good works; the young
swallows will then fly out of their nest. What then ? . You have said already what we shall have ; ' Those who dwell in Thy house are blessed. ' Say now what they shall do, for I see not then any need to induce me to action. Even what I am now saying and arguing springs from some need. Will there be any such argument there to teach the ignorant, or
remind the forgetful? Or will the Gospel be read in that country where the Word of God Itself shall be contemplated ? Wherefore let him who in longing aspirations spoke will) our voice, saying what we should have in that country which be sighed for, ' Blessed are they who dwell in Thy house," let him say too what we shall do there. ' They shall be always
praising Thee. ' This shall be our whole duty, an unceasing Hallelujah.
Think not, my brethren, that there will be any weariness there: if ye are not able to endure long here in saying this, it is because? some want draws you away from that enjoyment. If what is not seen gives not so much joy here, if with so much eagerness under the pressure and weakness of the flesh we praise that which we believe, how shall we praise that wl"cn we see^ When death shall be swallowed up in victary, when this mortal shall have put on immortality, and this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, no one will say, ' I have been standing a long time no one will say, ' I have fasted a long time,' ' I have watched a long time. ' For there shall be great endurance, and our immortal bodies
shall be sustained in contemplation of God. And if the * Oxf. M>>s. ' want keeps you not away. '
No weariness in Heaven. Hindrance of the flesh here. 1 57
word which we now dispense to you keeps your weak flesh Ver.
'---
standing so long, what will be the effect of that joy f how
will it change us? For we shall be like Him, since we shall l John see Him as He is. Being made like Him, when shall we ever ' faint? what shall draw us off? Brethren, we shall never be satiated with the praise of God, with the love of God. If
love could fail, praise could fail. But if love be eternal, as
there will there be beauty inexhaustible, fear not lest thou
be not able to praise for ever Him Whom thou shalt be able
to love for ever. Blessed are they who shall dwell in Thy house; for ever and ever they will be praising Thee. For
this life let us sigh.
9. But how shall we come thither? (Ver 5. ) Happy is the
man whose strength is in Thee. He knew where he was,
and that by reason of the frailty of his flesh he could not fly
to that state of blessedness: he thought upon his own burden,
as it is said elsewhere; ' For the corruptible body weighs down Wisd. the soul, and the earthly house depresses the understanding9' 16' which has many thoughts? The Spirit calls upward, the weight of the flesh calls back again downward : between the double effort to raise and to weigh down, a kind of struggle ensues : this struggle goes toward the pressure of the wine
press. Hear how the Apostle describes this same struggle of the winepress, for he was himself afflicted there, there he
shall I arrive thither? /
''
/delighIt? he says, in the law God Rom. jf
of after see another law in my members,22-
was pressed.
the inner man: but
warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. ' Great
23'
is this struggle and hopeless to escape from, ifI
for the help that follows ; ' Miserable man that
shall deliver me from the body of this death ? The grace of
God through Jesus Christ our Lord? And so here in this Psalm he saw those joys, and thought in his mind, ' Blessed are they who dwell in Thy house, O Lord; for ever and ever they will be praising Thee. ' But who shall ascend thither? What shall 1 do with the burden of the flesh ? Blessed are they who dwell in Thy house, they will praise Thee for ever and ever. ' For I delight in the law of God according to the inner man? But what shall I do? how shall I fly? how
see another law in my members
it were not
am : who ib. 24.
158 Aids ofgrace. Upward ' steps in the heart?
Psalm warring against the law ofmy mind. He said that he was i-xmv. chappy, and he said, Who shall deliver me from the body of this death, that I may dwell in the house of the Lord, and praise Him for ever and ever? Who shall set me free? The grace of God, through Jesus Christ our Lord. And as in the
1 nut- ceptio
words of the Apostle, that difficulty and that almost inex tricable struggle is alleviated by the addition, The grace of
God through Jesus ChHst our Lord; so here, when he sighed in the ardent longing for the house of God, and those praises of God, and when a kind of despair arose at the feeling of the burden of the body and the weight of the flesh, again he awoke to hope, and said, (vcr. 5. ) Blessed is the man whose
taking up ' is in Thee.
What then does God supply by His grace to him
whom He taketh hold of to lead him on? He goes on to say: * a>>cen-He hath placed steps* in his heart. He makes steps for him by which he may ascend. Where are these steps ? In his heart. Therefore the more thou lovest, the more shalt thou
rise. He hath placed steps in his heart. Who hath done this? He who hath taken hold of him: for, Blessed, says he, is he whose taking up is in Thee, O Lord. Because of him self he cannot rise, it is necessary that Thy grace should raise him. And what does Thy grace i It places steps in his heart. Where does it place steps ? In his heart, (ver. 6. ) in the valley of weeping. So here thou hast for a winepress the valley of weeping, the very pious tears in tribulation are the new wine of those that love. He hath placed steps in his heart. Where then hath He placed them ? In the valley ofweeping. For here He hath placed steps, in the valley of weeping. For here is weeping, where is sowing. They went
Ps. 126, forth weeping, he says, casting their seed. Therefore, by
6-6'
the grace of God may upward steps be placed in thy heart Rise by loving. Hence the Psalm " of degrees" is called. And where hath He placed these steps ? In thy heart, in the valley of weeping. He hath said where He hath placed them, whither hath He set them?
What hath He placed? Steps. Where? Within, In the heart. In what region, in
what place, as it were, of abode ? In the valley of weeping. To ascend whither ? To the place which He hath appointed. What is this, brethren, To the place which He hath ap
Our sinful state is ' the valley of weeping. ' 1 59
pointed. What place would he name, which He hath ap- Ver.
pointed, if it could be named ?
He hath placed steps in his heart, in the valley of weeping.
Dost thou ask, whither ? What will He say to thee ? What \ Cor. eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither hath it entered"1'9' into the heart of man. It is a hill, it is a mountain, it is a land, it is a meadow : by nearly all these names that place
has been called.
who can explain ?
what that place is :
therefore whither he hath appointed us to go, or what place
it is. He knoweth whither, He Who hath appointed the place whither He is leading thee, the ascent to which He
hath placed in thy heart. What ? dost thou fear to ascend,
lest He who leads thee should go wrong? Lo, in the valley
of weeping, He hath placed steps of ascent to the place which He hath appointed. Now we lament; whence pro
ceed our lamentations, but from that place where the steps
of Our ascent are placed ? Whence comes our lamentation,
but from that cause wherefore the Apostle exclaimed that he
was a wretched man, because he saw another law in his Rom. 7, . 23
members, warring against the law in his mind? And whence
does this proceed ? From the penalty of sin. And we thought that we could easily be righteous as it were by our own strength, before we received thIe command ; but when ib. 9.
the command came, sin revived; but
died, saith the Apostle. For a law was given to men, not such as could save them at once, but it was to shew them in what severe sickness they
were lying. Hear the words of the Apostle; For if a law Gal. 3, had been given which coidd give life, verily righteousness*1' 22- should have been by the law; but the Scripture hath shut up
all under sin, that the promise which is offaith in Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe; so that grace
came after the law, and found man not only laid prostrate, but already confessing and saying, Miserable man that lam, who shall deliver me from the body of this death ? And the physician came in due time to the valley of weeping, saying, Surely thou knowest that thou hast fallen ; listen unto Me that thou mayest arise, thou who didst despise Me, so that thou didst fall. Therefore the Law was given, that it might
It hath been said to thee, ------
But what is it in itself, without images
For, Now we see through a glass darkly 1 Cor. then we shall see face to face. Ask not 13' 12'
160 Typical Meaning of the Miracle of Btthesda.
Psii. M convince the sick man of his disease, whereas he seemed to Ix xIV' himself to be whole; that sins might be made manifest, not that they might be taken away. But when sin was made
manifest by the law given, sin was but increased, for it is Rom. 7, both sin, and against the Law; Sin, saith he, taking occasion
s'
by the command, wrought in me all manner ofconcupiscence. What does he mean by taking occasion by the law? Having received the command, men tried as by their own strength to obey it ; conquered by lust, they became guilty of trans gression of this very command also. But what saith the
Rom. 6, Apostle ? Where sin abounded, grace hath much more
20'
abounded ; that is, the disease increased, the medicine be came of more avail. Accordingly, my brethren, did those five porches of Solomon, in the middle of which the pool
John 6, lay, heal the sick at all ? The sick, says the Evangelist, lay in the five porches. In the Gospel we have and read it. Those five porches are the law in the five books of Moses. For this cause the sick were brought forth from their houses that they might lie in the porches. So the law brought the sick men forth, but did not heal them : but by the blessing
of God the water was disturbed, as by an Angel descending into it. At the sight of the water troubled, the one person who was able, descended and was healed. That water surrounded by the five porches, was the people of the Jews shut up in their law. The Lord came and disturbed this people, so that He Himself was slain. For if the Lord had not troubled the Jews by coming down to them, would He have been crucified? So that the troubled water signified the Passion of the Lord, which arose from His troubling the Jewish people.
The sick man who believeth in this Passion, like him who descended into the troubled water, is healed thereby. He whom the Law could not heal, that is, while he
lay in the porches, is healed by grace, by faith in the Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ. One is healed, for those healed are one. What then does He say here ? He hath placed steps of ascent in his heart, in the valley of weeping, to the place which He hath appointed. Now we will rejoice in that place.
11. Ver. 8. But why in the valley of weeping? What is this valley of weeping, from whence we shall come into that
The Church proceeds 'from virtue to virtue. ' 161
place ofjoy? He shall give blessing, saith he, Who gave the Ver. law. He afflicted us by the law, pressed us under the law, ------ shewed unto us the winepress, we saw the pressure, we were conscious of the tribulation of the flesh, we groaned with the rebellion of sin against our mind, we cried out, ' Miserable
man that I am:' we groaned under the law; what remains but that He who gave the law should give His blessing ? Grace shall come after the law, grace itself is the blessing. And what has that grace and blessing given unto us?
They shall go from virtue to virtue. For here by grace many
virtues are given. For to one is given by the Spirit the word l Cor. of wisdom, to another the word of knowledge according I2' 8- to the same Spirit, to another faith, to another the gift of healing, to another different kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues, to another prophecy. Many virtues,
but necessary for this life; and from these virtues we go on
to a virtue. To what virtue ? To Christ the Virtue of l Cor.
God and the Wisdom of God. He giveth different virtues in ' 24, this place, Who for all the virtues which are necessary and useful in this valley of weeping shall give one virtue, Himself.
For in Scripture and in many writers four virtues are described useful for life : prudence, by which we discern between good
and evil ; justice, by which we give each person his due, owing no man any thing, but loving all men: temperance, by which we restrain lusts ; fortitude, by which we bear all troubles. These virtues are now by the grace of God given unto us in the valley of weeping : from these virtues we mount unto that other virtue. And what will that be, but the virtue of the contemplation of God alone ? There this our prudence will be unnecessary where no evils will meet us which we shall have to avoid. But what think we, my brethren? There will be no justice, such as here: for there will be no need with any man to which we shall owe relief. There will be no such temperance, where will be no lust to be restrained. No such fortitude as here, where there will be no evils to be borne. Therefore from these virtues of action here we shall pass to that virtue of contemplation, by which we shall see
I will be near Thee in the morning, pa. I will behold Thee. And hear how from these virtues
God: as it is written,
and
of present action we shall pass to that contemplation. It
vol. iv. M
6,
3.
'
162 Manifestation of( The God of Gods' the Christian hope. Psalm follows in that place : Theij shall qo from virtue to virtue.
8'
see God. The God of Gods shall appear in Sion.
12. And again, from the thought of those joys he returns to his own sighs. He sees what has come before in hope, and
where he is in reality. Then shall the God of Gods appear in Sion: this is why we shall rejoice: Him we shall praise for ever and ever. But as yet it is but the time of prayer, the time of deprecation : and if of rejoicing a little, yet still
in hope : we are on our journey, we are in the valley of weeping. Therefore returning to the groans proper to this place, he saith, (ver. 8. ) 0 Lord God of virtues, hear my
.
What virtue? That of contemplation. What is contem
lxxxIV. _
plation ? The God of Gods shall appear in Sion. The God Ps. 82,6. of Gods, Christ of the Christians. How is this? / said, Ye
are Gods, and ye are all the children of the Most High. John 1, For He gave unto them power to become the sons of God, He in whom we believed, that fair Bridegroom, who on
account of our uncomeliness appeared here without come ls. 63,2. liness : for we saw Him, he saith, and He had no form nor
beauty. When all is fmished, that mortality makes necessary, He shall appear to the pure in heart, as He is, " God with God," The Word with the Father, " by Which all things
Matt. 6, were made :" for, blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall
prayer : hearken, O God of Jacob : for Jacob himself also ticn. 32,Thou hast made Israel out of Jacob. For God appeared
Ps. 36,7.
unto him, and he was called Israel, seeing God. Hear me therefore, O God of Jacob, and make me Israel. When shall I become Israel ? When the God of Gods shall appear in Sion.
13. Ver. 9. Behold,0 God our defender. ' Under theshadow of Thy wings they shall hope :' therefore, Behold, O God our defender. And look on the face of Thy Christ. For when doth God not look upon the face of His Christ ? What is this, Look on the face of Thy Christ? By the face we are known. What is it then, Look on the face of Thy Christ ? Cause Thy Christ to become known to all. Look on the face of Tby Christ: let Christ become known to all, that we may be able to go from strength to strength, that grace may abound, since sin hath abounded.
14. Ver. 10. For one day in Thy courts is better than a
Earthly honours to be given up for a place in God's House. 163
thousand. Those courts they were for which he sighed, for Ver. which he fainted. My soul longeth and faileth for
courts of the Lord : one day there is better than a thou
sand days. Men long for thousands of days, and wish to
live here long : let them despise these thousands of days,
let them long for one day, which has neither rising nor setting : one day, an everlasting day, to which no yesterday yields, which no to-morrow presses. Let this one day be longed for by us. What have we to do with a thousand days ?
We go from the thousand days to one day ; let us hasten to
that one day1, as we go from strength lo strength. 'Oxf.
1 5. Ver. 11. / have chosen to be cast away in the house of'the <kt'*^
/
Lord, rather than to dwell in the tents of sinners. For he hasten,' . . . &0.
found the valley of weeping, he found humility by which he might rise : he knoweth that if he would raise himself he shall fall, if he humble himself he shall be exalted : he hath chosen to be cast away, that he may be raised up. How many beside this tabernacle of the Lord's winepress, that is beside the Catholic Church, wishing to be lifted up, and loving their honours, refuse to see the truth. If this verse had been in
have chosen to be cast aicay in the house the Lord, rather than to dwell in the tents ofsinners, would they not cast away honours, and rnn to the valley of weeping, and hence find in their heart the way of ascent, and hence go from virtues to virtue, placing their hope in Christ, not in
their heart,
of
some man or another? A good word is this, a word to
/ have chosen to be cast away in the house of the Lord, rather than to dwell in the tents of
rejoice in, a word to be chosen :
sinners. He himself chose to be cast away in the house
of the Lord ; but He who invited him to the feast, when he chose a lower place calleth him to a higher one, and saith unto him, Go up higher. Yet he chose not but to be in Lake
the house of the Lord, in any part of so that he were not outside the threshold.
16. Wherefore did he choose rather to be cast away
in the house of the Lord, than to dwell in the tents of
19,
the ungodly? (Ver. 12. ) Because God loveth mercy Rom. l1, and truth. The Lord loveth mercy, by which He first36' came to my help He loveth truth, so as to give to
him that believeth what He has promised. Hear in the
M
2
:
it,
'
J 64 God, having given Mercy, owes reward by Promise.
Psat. m case of the Apostle Paul, His mercy and truth, Paul who -----was first Saul the persecutor. He needed mercy, and he
/
16 'a blasphemer, and a persecutor, and injurious: but
l Tim. has said that it was shewn towards him :
who was before I
1' 13
obtained mercy, that in me Christ Jesus might shew forth all longsuffering towards those who shall believe in Him unto life eternal. So that, when Paul received pardon of such great crimes, no one should despair of any sins whatever being forgiven him. Lo ! Thou hast Mercy. God was then unwilling to put His Truth in action, so as to punish the sinner. For if the sinner were punished, would it not be truth ? or would he dare to say, I ought not to be puuished, when he could not say, I have not sinned ? And if he did say, I have not sinned : to whom would he say it ? Whom would he deceive ? Therefore the Lord first exerted mercy towards him: after mercy, truth. Hear him how he de- mands truth afterwards. First he said,
1 Cor. '
'I
mercy,
/ obtained
who was before a blasphemer, and a persecutor, and inju
rious : but by the grace ofGod Iam what /
am. Afterwards
2 Tim. He saith, when he was drawing near his passiI on,
have have kept the faith : henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of
4, 8- fought a good fight, I
have my course, finished
righteousness. He who giveth mercy, keepeth truth. How doth He keep truth ? Which the Lord, Who is a righteous Judge, shall repay me at that day. He freely gave him pardon, He shall render him a crown : He is a free giver of pardon, a debtor of a crown. How a debtor ? hath He received any thing ? To whom doth God owe any thing ? Lo, we see that Paul holdeth Him a debtor, having received mercy, demanding truth. The Lord, he says, shall give me back in that day. What shall He give thee back, but that which He oweth thee? How
Rom. oweth He unto thee? What hast thou given Him ? Who hath i1, 36. j^rst g{ven uni0 Him, and it shall be restored to him again.
The Lord Himself hath made Himself a debtor, not by receiv ing, but by promising: it is not said unto Him, Restore what Thou hast received : but, Restore what Thou hast promised. He hath shewn mercy unto me, he saith, that He might make me innocent : for before I was a blasphemer and injurious : but by His grace I have been made innocent. But He who first
shewed mercy, can He deny His debt? He loveth mercy and
The real good is what God gives the innocent. 165 truth. He will give grace and glory. What grace, but that Veil
12'
s'TM-
I
up for me a crown of glory?
17- Ver. 12. Therefore the Lordwill not withhold goodfrom
those who walk in innocence. Why then, men, are ye unwilling to keep innocence, except in order that ye may have good things Such an one will not keep innocence, in order not to restore that which committed to his trust: he would have gold, and loseth innocence. What doth he gain? what doth he lose? He hath the gain of gold, he hath suffered the loss of innocence. 'But shall keep innocence,' hesaith,
shall be poor. ' Is not innocence itself no slight wealth If thou hast chest full of gold, shalt thou be rich thou hast heart full of innocence, shalt thou be poor? But behold thou longest for good things, though thou be at present in poverty, in tribulation, in the valley of weeping, in pressure, in temptations, keep innocence. For there shall be hereafter that good for thee for which thou longest rest, eternity, immortality, freedom from suffering shall be here after: these are the good things which God keepeth for His righteous ones. For the good things which thou now longest
for, as of great worth, for which thou art willing to be guilty and not guiltless, listen while tell thee who have them, who abound in them. Thou seest wealth in the hands of robbers, of the impious, the wicked, the base in the hands of scandalous and criminal men thou seest wealth God
of which the same oue said ; By the grace of God
/ am? What glory, but that of which he said, There is laid\f,,
am what
them these things on account of their fellowship in
the human race, for the abundant overflowing of His goodness:
Who also maketh His sun to rise upon the good and the Matt. evil, and causeth to rain upon the righteous and upon 4o- sinners. Giveth He so much to the wicked, and keepeth nothing for thee? He keepeth something: be at ease, He Who
had mercy on thee, when thou wast impious, doth He desert
thee when thou hast become pious He Who gave to the sinner the free gift of His Son's death, what keepeth He for
the saved through that death Therefore be at ease. Hold
Him a debtor, for thou hast believed in Him promising.
The Lord will withhold no good thing from those who walk in
innocence. What then remains for us here, in the winepress,
giveth
?
if
?
it
6,
4
i(j.
:
:
if
?
;
O
I
a :
if
a
;
I'
is I
?
166 Christ our Healer and our Light. ' Sons of Core. '
Psalm Jn affliction, in hardship, in our present dangerous life ? What "kxxlv- remains for us, that we may arrive thither ? 0 Lord God of
virtues, blessed is the man that putteth his hope in Thee.
psalm lxxxv.
A Sermon to the People.
W E have prayed to the Lord our God to shew us His mercy, and to grant us His salvation. This was spoken in prophecy, when first these Psalms were uttered and written : but as regards the present time, the Lord now sheweth His
to the nations, and hath granted unto them His salvation. He indeed hath shewn it : but many refuse to be made whole, and to see what He sheweth. But because He Himself healeth the eyes of the heart so that they see Him ; therefore having said, Shew us Thy mercy, as if many blind
persons would answer, How shall wc see when He sheweth ? ? salif he added, And grant us Thy salvation '. For by granting
Lat. fcxxxIV.
mercy
tore
His salvation, He healeth in us that by which we may be able to see what He sheweth : not as a physician takes care to shew this light to those whose eyes he has cured, when the light which he is to shew is one thing, the physician who
heals the eyes to which he shews it another, and not the light itself.
