For we find Angels of high rank*
forbidding
men to adore them, and com- 'hono- manding them to adore the true God.
Augustine - Exposition on the Psalms - v4
God.
Far Tliou, Lord, art good and gracious.
What is ---- gracious ?
Bearing me until Thou hast made me perfect.
I will speak truly, my brethren, like a man among men, and sprung from men : let each one endure to look into his own
heart without flattery, and without false soothing. For nothing is more foolish than for a man vainly to soothe and seduce himself. Let him attend then and see what things
pass in man's heart : how even prayers are often hindered by
vain thoughts, so that the heart scarcely remains fixed on
God: and it would hold itself so as to be fixed, and some
how flees from itself, and finds no frames in which it can inclose itself, no bars by which it may keep in its flights
and wandering movements, and stand still to be made glad
by its God. Scarcely does one such prayer occur amongst
many. Each one might say that this happened to him, but
that it happened not to others, if we did not find in the holy Scripture David praying in a certain place, and saying,
Since 1 have found my heart, O Lord, so that I might pray* Sam. unto Thee. He said that he had found his heart, as if it 7' 27' were wont to flee from him, and he to follow it like a fugitive, and not be able to catch and to cry to God, For Ps. 38, my heart hath deserted me. Therefore, my brethren, thinking 1? ' over what he saith here, Thou, Lord, art good and gracious, think see what he meaneth by "gracious. " Make
glad the soul of Thy servant, for unto Thee, Lord, have lifted up my soul for Thou art good and gracious
seem to feel that for this reason he calls God gracious, because He bears with those failings of ours, and yet expects prayer from us, in order to make us perfect and when we have given to Him, He receives gratefully, and listens to
and remembers not those many prayers which we pour out unthinkingly, and accepts the one which we can scarcely find. For what man there, my brethren, who, on being addressed by his frieud, when he wishes to answer his address, sees his friend turn away from him and speak to another, who there who would bear this? Or
you appeal to judge, and set him up to hear you, and all at once,
while you are speaking to him, pass from him, and begin to converse with your friend, who would endure this Yet God
if ?
O
a
is
is
it,
I
it
it
O it,
:
I :
: I
1
192 They call not truly upon God, who call in vain.
Psalm endures the hearts of so many persons who pray and think ijixxvi. oj. different things : I am not now speaking of evil things, such are sometimes perverse and at enmity with God; to
think of any thing that is superfluous is an injury to Him with Whom you have begun to speak. Thy prayer is a speech addressed to God : when thou readest, God speaks to thee : when thou prayest, thou speakest to God. What then? Must we despair of mankind, and say that every man is already condemned into whose prayers any wandering thoughts have crept aud interrupted them ? If we say this, my brethren, I know not what hope remains. Therefore because there is some hope before God, because His mercy is great, let us say
unto Him, Make glad the soul of Thy servant: for unto Thee, O Lord, hare Ilifted up my soul. And how have I lifted it up? As I could, as Thou gavest me strength, as I could catch it when"it fled away. " And hast thou forgotten," imagine God to say, that as often as thou didst stand before Me, thou didst think of so many vain and useless things, and didst scarcely pour out unto Me an earnest and steady prayer ? " For Thou,
Lord, art good and gracious: gracious art Thou, enduring me. From infirmity I sink : heal Thou me, and I shall stand : strengthen Thou me, and I shall be strong. But until Thou do this, Thou bearest with me : For Thou, Lord, art good and gracious.
8. And of great mercy.
That is, not only of mercy, but of great mercy: for as our iniquity abounds, so also aboundeth Thy mercy. And of great mercy art Thou unto all that call upon Thee. What
Prov. l, is it then which Scripture saith in many places; They shall
28?
call, and
(yet surely
Thou art
merciful
I will not hear them ?
to all that call upon Thee;) but that some call, yet call not
Ps. 63,4. upon Him, of whom it is said, They have not called upon God. They call, but not on God. Thou callest upon what ever thou lovest: thou callest upon whatever thou callest
unto thyself, whatever thou wishest to come unto thee. Therefore if thou callest upon God for this reason, in order that money may come unto thee, that an inheritance may come unto thee, that worldly rank may come unto thee, thou callest upon those things which thou desirest may come unto thee : but thou makest God the helper of thy desires,
How it is that some prayers are not granted. 193
not the listener to thy needs. God is good, if He gives what Ver. thou wishest. What if thou wishest ill, will He not then be ----- more merciful by not giving? Then, if He gives not, then
is God nothing to thee; and thou sayest, How much I have prayed, how often I have prayed, and have not been heard !
Why, what didst thou ask ? Perhaps that thy enemy might
die. What if he at the same time were praying for thy
death ? He Who created thee, created him also : thou art a
man, he too is a man ; but God is the Judge : He hears
both, and He grants their prayer to neither. Thou art sad, because thou wast not heard when praying against him ;
be glad, because his prayer was not heard against thee.
But thou sayest, I did not ask for this ; I asked not for the
death of my enemy, but for the life of my child; what ill did
I ask ? Thou askedst no ill, as thou didst think. What if
he was taken away, lest wickedness should alter his under- Wind. 4, standing. But he was a sinner, thou sayest, and therefore
1 wished him to live, that he might be corrected. Thou wishedst him to live, that he might become better; what if God knew, that if he lived he would become worse ? How then couldest thou know what was good for him, to die or to live ? If then thou knewest not, return into thy heart, leave it to God to take counsel for thee. What am I to do then, dost thou say? what am I to pray for? What art thou to pray for ? What the Lord has taught thee, what thy heavenly Master has taught thee. Call upon God as God, love God as God : there is nothing better than He is ; long for Him, Him desire. See how he calls on God in another
I willPn. il,*. ask. What is it which he required? That I may dwell in
the house of the Lord all the days of my life. For what
Psalm: One thing have I required of the Lord, this
reason? That I may behold the delightfuluess of the Lord. If then thou wouldest be a lover of God, with thy innermost marrow and wilh pure sighings love Him, desire Him, for Him burn, long for Him, than Whom thou shalt find nothing more pleasant, nothing better, nothing more joyful, nothing more lasting. For what so lasting as that which is ever lasting ? Thou necdest not fear, lest He should ever be lost to thee, Who causes that thou be not lost thyself. If, there fore, thou callest on God as God, be confident thou shalt be
vol. iv. o
J 94 God withholds what we ask, to give our chief desire, Himself.
Psalm heard : thou hast part in that verse ; And of great mercy unto all that call upon Thee.
9. Say not thou then, He did not give me that which 1 Oxf. I prayed for. Return thou into thy conscience1: weigh . heart. ' question spare not. If thou calledst on God truly, be
sure that that which perhaps thou wishedst to have as temporal blessing He gave thee not, for this reason, because was not good for thee. Let your heart, my brethren, be builded up on this, Christian heart, faithful heart begin not, when ye are sad as defrauded of your wants, begin Acts not to be angry against God: for not good to kick against the pricks. Look back to the Scriptures. The devil heard, and not the Apostle what think ye How Matt. are the devils heard They prayed that they might go into the swine, and was allowed them. How was the devil Joh1, heard? He asked for Job, that he might tempt him, and
received permission. How was the Apostle not heard? Cor. Lest should be exalted above measure through the abun- 12 7--9 dance of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn tn the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest should be exalted above measure. For this thing besought the Lord thrice, that might depart from me. And He said
unto me, My grace is sufficient fur thee: for My strength is made perfect in weakness. He heard him whom He ordained to damnation, and did not hear him whom He willed to heal. So sick man asketh many things of the physician; but the physician giveth them not: he heareth not for his desire, that he may hear for his cure.
Make God then thy Physician seek of Him health, and He Himself will be thy health seek not as thou wouldest gain salvation from any other source, but so that He Himself may be salvation unto thee: not so as again to love any other salvation besides Him, but as thou hast written
Ps. 36,3. the Psalm Say unto my soul, am thy salvation. What to thee what He saith unto thee, so that He give Himself unto thee? Wouldest thou that He should give Himself unlo thee? What that which thou wouldest have He wills not that thou shouldest have, that He may give Himself unto thee? He removes hindrances, that he may enter into
thee. Think, brethren, and reflect what good things God
it
:
' 8, 9,
it
if it a
it if
I
:
:
isin
a it,
it
if I
I
2 '
I
is
it
? a
:
it
?
:
a is
it,
God's best gifts are for His own. His healing to be trusted. 1 95
giveth unto sinners: and learn hence what He keepeth for Vsr.
His own servants. To sinners who blaspheme Him every day He giveth the sky and the earth, He giveth springs,
fruits, health, children, wealth, abundance : all these good things none giveth but God. He who giveth such things to sinners, what thinkest thou He keeps for His faithful ones ? Is this to be believed of Him, that He Who giveth such things to the bad, keepeth nothing for the good ? Nay verily He doth keep,not earth, but heaven for them. Too common a thing perhaps I say when I say heaven ; Himself rather, Who made the heaven. Fair is heaven, but fairer is the Maker of heaven. But I see the heavens, Him I see not. Because thou hast eyes to see the heavens: a heart thou hast not yet to see the Maker of heaven : therefore came He from heaven to earth, to cleanse the heart, that He may be seen
Who made heaven and earth. But wait thou with full patience for salvation. By what treatment to cure thee, He knoweth : by what cutting, what burning, He knoweth. Thou hast brought sickness on thyself by sinning: He comes not only to nurse, but also to cut and to burn. Seest thou not how much men suffer under the hands of physicians, when a man promises them an uncertain hope? Thou wilt be cured, says the physician: thou wilt be cured, if I cut. It is a man who speaks, and to a man that he speaks : neither is he sure who speaks, nor he who hears, for he who is speaking to the man hath not made man, and knows not perfectly what is passing in man : yet at the words of a man who knows not what is passing in man, man sooner believeth, submits his limbs, suffers himself to be bound, often without being bound is cut or burned ; and receives perhaps health for a few days, even when just healed not knowing when he may die : perhaps, while being healed, dies; perhaps cannot be healed. But to whom hath God promised any thing, and deceived him ?
10. Ver. 6. Fix my prayer in Thy ears, O Lord. Great earnestness of him who prays! Fix viy prayer in Thine ears, O Lord: that is, let not my prayer go out of Thine ears, fix it then in Thine ears. How did he travail that he might fix his prayer in the ears of God? Let God answer and say to us ; Wouldest thou that I fix thy prayer in My ears? Fix My
o2
-- -- --
IMS Thc present life a ' day of trouble. '
Psalm law in thy heart. Fix my prayer in Thine ears, 0 Lord;
-
and attend to the voice of my prayer.
11. Ver. 7. In the day ofmy trouble
I have cried unto Thee,for Thou hast heard me. The caIuse that Thouheardest
me was, that in the day of my trouble
little before he had said, All the day have I cried, all the day have I been troubled. Let no Christian then say that there is any day in which he is not troubled. By all the day we have understood the whole of time. What then, is there trouble even when it is well with us? Even so, trouble. How is there trouble? Because as long as we are in the body toe
2 Cor.
are absent from the Lord. Let what will abound here, we are not yet in that country whither we are hastening to return, lie to whom foreign travel is sweet, loveth not his country: if
cried unto Thee. A
his country is sweet, travel is bitter; if travel is bitter, all the day there is trouble ? When is there not trouble ? When there is joy in one's country. At Thy right hand are delights for
Ps. 16,
Ps. 27, evermore. 'Thou shIalt fill me with joy,' he saith, 'with Thy
*'
countenance: that
toil and groaning shall pass away : there shall be not prayer
may see the delight the Lord. ' There of
but raise; there Alleluia, there Amen, the voice in concord with Angels; there vision without failing and love without weariness. So long therefore as we are not there, ye see that we are not in that which is good. But do all things abonnd? If all things abound, see if thou art assured that all things perish not. But I have what I had not: more money is come to me which I had not before. Perhaps more fear too
. is come, which thou hadst not before: perhaps thou wast so much the more secure as thou wast the poorer. In fine, be it that thou hast wealth, that thon hast redundance of this world's affluence, that thou hast assurance given thee that all
this shall not perish ; besides this, that God say unto thee, Thou shalt remain for ever in these things, they shall be for ever with thee, but My face thou shalt not see. Let none ask counsel of the flesh : ask ye counsel of the Spirit : let your heart answer you; let hope, faith, charity, which has begun to be in you, answer. If then we were to receive as
surance that we should always be in affluence of worldly goods, and if God were to say to us, My face ye shall not see, would ye rejoice in these goods ? Some one might perhaps choose
None of the gods like unto God. Excuses of idolaters. 197
to rejoice, and say, These things abound unto me, it is well Ver.
:--
Ps. 42,
with me, I ask no more. He hath not yet begun to be a lover of God : he hath not yet begun to sigh like one far from home. Far be far be from us: let them retire, all those seductions: let them retire, those false blandishments: let them
be gone, those words which they say daily unto us, Where
thy God? Let us pour out our soul1 over us, let us confess i'<a? per in tears, let us groan in confession, let us sigh in misery. nos'
Whatever present with us besides our God, we would not have all tilings that He hath given, not Himself Who gave all things. Fix my prayer,
not sweet He gives Lord, in lu the day of my trouble have cried unto Thee, for Thou hast heard uie. 12. Ver. 8. Among the gods there none like unto Thee,
Thy ears, and attend to the voice of my prayer,
O Lord. What did he say Among the gods there none
like unto Thee, O Lard. Let the Pagans make for them
selves what gods they will let them bring workmen in silver
and in gold, furbishers, sculptors let them make gods. What
kind of gods? Having eyes, and seeing not; and the other Ps. 116, things which the Psalm mentions in what follows. But we 6-
do not worship these, he says; we do not worship them, these
are symbols. What then do ye worship Something else
that worse for the gods of the gentiles are devils. What
then Neither, say they, do we worship devils. Ye have Ps. 96, certainly nothing else in your temples, nothing else inspires6- your prophets than devil. But what do ye say? We worship Angels, we have Angels as gods. Ye know not altogelherwhat Angels are. Angels worship the one God, and favour not
men who wish to worship Angels and not God.
For we find Angels of high rank* forbidding men to adore them, and com- 'hono- manding them to adore the true God. But when they say r^'19 Angels, suppose they mean men, since said, have said, io.
Ye are Gods, and all the children the Most Highest. ^' Among the gods there none like unto Thee, Lord.
Whatever man3 thinks to the contrary, that which was made
not like Him Who made it. Except God, whatever else there Jjjj^i
in the universe was made by God. What difference there between Him Who made, and that which was made, who can worthily imagine Therefore this man said, Among the gods there none like unto Thee, Lord: but how much
Quod-
is
it,
O
of it
is ?
is
?
a
is ;
it
is is
?
is :I
aI O
is O if
is 3
: is
'
;
?
is
is
198 God is ineffable. Conversion of nations foretold.
Psalm God is unlike them he said not, because it cannot be said. -- Let your Charity attend: God is ineffable: we more easily
say what He is not than what He is. Thou thinkest of the earth ; this is not God : thou thinkest of the sea ; this is not God: of all things which are in the earth, men and animals; this is not God : of all things which are in the sea, which through the air; this not God: whatever shines the sky, the stars, sun and moon this not God the heaven itself this not God think of the Angels, Virtues, Powers, Archangels, Thrones, Seats, Principalities this not God. What He then could only tell thee, what He not.
Cor. 2, Askest thou what He What the eye hath not seen, nor
''.
the ear heard, nor hath risen up into the heart of man. Why seekest thou that that should rise up to the tongue, which hath not risen up into the heart? Among the gods there none like unto Thee, Lord; there is not one that can do as Thou doest.
13. Ver. 9. All nations that Thou hast made shall come and worship before Thee, Lord. He has announced the Church All nations that Thou hast made. If there any nation which God hath not made, will not worship Him but there no nation which God hath not made; because God made Adam and Eve, the source of all nations, thence all nations sprang. All nations therefore hath God made; all nations, therefore, that Thou hast made shall come and worship before Thee, Lord. When was this said When before Him there worshipped none but few holy men one people of the Hebrews, then this was said and see now what which was said All nations that Thou hast made shall come and worship before Thee, Lord. When these things were spoken, they were not seen, and they were believed now that they are seen, why are they denied All nations that Thou hast made shall come and worship before
Thee, Lord, and shall glorify Thy Name.
14. Ver. 10. For Thou art great, and doing wondrous
things: Thou alone art the great God. Let no man call himself great. Some were to be who would call themselves great against these said, Thou alone art the great
God. For what great thing ascribed to God, when said that He alone the great God Who knows not that
is
is I ?
?
a it is
:
O it : is is : is
;
it is
:
is ;
:
0
is O
O
:
;
is 0
is ?
?
? in is is in is :
it
I
: is
fly
God alone great. His Church universal. 1 99
He is the great God ? But because there were to be some Vrr.
10-
who would call themselves great and make God little, against these it is said, Thou alone art the great God. For what Thou sayest is fulfilled, not what those say who call themselves great. What hath God said by His Spirit? All nations that Thou hast made shall come and worship before Thee, O Lord. VVhat saith he, whoever he is, who calleth himself great?
Far from it: God is not worshipped in all nations: all nations
have perished, Africa alone remains. This thou sayest, who The callest thyself great: another thing He saith Who alone is JTM"- the great God. What saith He, Who alone is the great God?
All nations that Thou hast made shall come and worship before Thee, O Lord. I see what the only great God hath
said : let man be silent, who is falsely great ; great only in appearance, because he disdains to be small. Who disdains
to be small? He who saith this. Whoever will be great
among you, said the Lord, shall be your servant. If thatMat. 20, man had wished to be the servant of his brethren, he would
not have separated them from their mother : but when he wishes to be great, and wishes not to be small, as would be
for his welfare, God, Who resisteth the proud, and giveth grace Jas. 4, to the humble, because He alone is great, fulfilleth all things6' which He predicted, and contradicleth those who blaspheme.
For such persons blaspheme against Christ, who say that the Church has perished from the whole world. and is left only in Africa. If thou wert to say to him, Thou wilt lose thy
villa, he would perhaps scarcely keep from laying his hand
upon thee : and yet he says, that Christ has lost His inhe ritance, redeemed by His own Blood ! See now what a wrong
he does, my brethren. The Scripture says, In a uideproil, nation is the king's honour; but in the domination of the 14, 28- people is the *affliction of a prince. This wrong then thou dost a ron. unto Christ, to say that His people is diminished to that small trvtw- number. Was it for this thou wast born, for this thou callest thyself a Christian, that thou mayest grudge Christ His glory, Whose sign thou sayest that thou bearest on thy forehead, and
hast lost out of thy heart ? In a wide nation is the king's honour : acknowledge thy King : give Him glory, give Him a wide nation. What wide nation shall I give Him, dost thou say? Choose not to give Him from thy own heart, and thou
200 False claims of proud men. Guidance to, and in, God's way. Psalm wilt give aright. Whence am I to give ? thou wilt say. Lo,
lxxxvi.
^ from hence : All nations that Thou hast made shall come and worship before Thee, O Lord. Say this, confess this, and thou hast given a wide nation : for all nations in One are one : this is very oneness. For as there is a Church and Churches, and those are Churches which also are a Church, so that is a nation which was nations: formerly nations, many nations, now one nation. Why one nation ? Because one faith, one hope, one charity, one expectation.
Lastly, why not one nation, if one country ? Our country is heavenly, our country is Jerusalem : whoever is not a citizen of belongs not to that nation: but whoever citizen of
in that one nation of God. And this nation, from the east to the west, from the north and the sea, extended through the four quarters of the whole world. This God saith From the east and west, from the north and the sea, give glory to God. This He foretold, this He fulfilled, Who alone great. Let him therefore who would not be little cease from saying this against Him Who alone great for there cannot be two great, God and Donalus.
15. Ver. 11. Lead me, Lord, in Thy way, and trill walk in Thy truth. Thy way, Thy truth, Thy life, Christ. There fore belongeth the Body to Him, and the Body of Him.
Johnl4,i am the Way, and the Truth, and the Life. Lead me, Lord, in Thy way. In what way And will walk in TJiy truth. It one thing to lead to the way, another to guide in the way. Behold man every where poor, every where in need of help. Those who are beside the way are not Christians, or not yet Catholics: let them be guided to the way: but when they have been brought to the way and made Catholics in Christ, they must be guided by Him in the way itself, lest they fall. Now assuredly they walk in the way. Lead me, Lord, in Thy way surely am now in Thy way, lead me there. And will walk in Thy truth while Thou leadest shall not err: Thou lut mc go, shall err. Pray then that
He let thee not go, but lead thee even to the end. How
doth He lead tliee? By always admonishing, always giving
thee His hand. And the arm of the Lord, to whom
Isa. 63, revealed For in giving His Christ He giveth His hand
in giving His hand, He giveth His Christ. He leadeth to
1?
?
is
:it I
if I
:
is
I
:
I
is
I
0 ?
is I OO
is :
is is a
is
is it, :
it
Prosperity dangerous unless coupled with /ear. 20 1
the way, in leading to His Christ: He leadeth in the way, Ver. by leading in His Christ, and Christ is truth. Lead me, ------ therefore, O Lord, in Thy way, and I will walk in Thy
truth: in Him verily Who said, / am the Way, and the JohnH,
Truth, and the Life. For Thou Who leadest in the way and6- the truth, whither leadest Thou, but unto life ? In Him theD, unto Him Thou leadest. Lead me, O Lord, in Thy way, and Iwill walk in Thy truth.
16. Let my heart he made glad, so that it may fear Thy name. There is then fear in gladness. How can there be gladness, if fear? Is not fear wont to be painful? There will hereafter be gladness without fear, now gladness with fear; for not yet is there perfect security, nor perfect glad ness. If there is no gladness, we faint: if full security, we rejoice wrongly. Therefore may He both sprinkle on us gladness, and strike fear into us, that by the sweetness of gladness He may lead us to the abode of security ; by giving
us fear, may cause us not to rejoice wrongly, and to withdraw
from the way. Therefore saith the Psalm: Serve the Lord Ps. 2,11. in fear, and rejoice unto Him with trembling : so also saith
the Apostle Paul ; Work out your own salvation with fear ami Phil. 2, trembling; for it is God that worketh in you. Whatever 2' I3' prosperity comes then, my brethren, is rather to be feared :
those things which ye think to be prosperous, are rather temptations. An inheritance coraeth, there cometh wealth,
there is an abundant overflow of some happiness : these are temptations : take care that they corrupt you not. Whatever prosperity also there is according to Christ, and the true love
of Christ : if perhaps thou hast gained thy wife, who was of
the party of Donatus : if thy sons have been made believers
who were pagans : if perhaps thou hast gained thy friend
who wished to draw thee away to the theatres, and thou hast drawn him to the church : if some hostile opponent of thine
who was furiously mad against thee, laying aside his fury,
has become gentle, and owned God, and now barks at thee
no more, but cries with thee against wickedness : these things are pleasant. For what do we rejoice for, if we do not rejoice for these things? Or what other are our joys, but i 0xf these ? But because tribulations also abound, and tempt- Mm.
ations, and dissensions, and schisms, and other evils', without suci, evils. '
202 This world a kind of hell, compared with Heaven.
P8ai,m which this world cannot be, until iniquity pass away : let not v'' that rejoicing make us secure, but let our heart be so made glad, as to fear the name of the Lord, lest it be made glad
on one side, be stricken on another. Expect not security in
if ever we wish for it here, it will be the birdlime ' al. ' of of the body ', not the safety of the man. J^et my heart be made
heart. '
journeying:
S(> ^tat moyfear Thy name.
/ will in my whole heart, and
unto Thee, O Lord my God, I will glorify Thy name for ever: for great is Thy mercy toward me, and Thou hast delivered my soul from the nethermost hell. Do not be angry, brethren,
if I do not explain what 1 hare said as though I were certain. For I am a man, and as much as is granted to me concerning the sacred Scriptures, so much I venture to speak : nothing of myself. Hell? I have not yet seen, nor have you: and there will be perhaps another way for us, and not through hell. These things are uncertain. But because Scripture, which cannot be gainsaid, says, Thou hast delivered my soul from the nethermost hell, we understand that there are as it were two hells, an upper one and a lower one : for how can there be a lower hell, unless because there is also an upper? The one would not be called lower, except by comparison with that upper part. It appears then, my brethren, that there is some heavenly abode of Angels : there is there a life of ineffable joys, there immortality and incorruption, there all things abiding according to the gift and grace of God. That part of the creation is above. If then that is above, but this earthly part, where is flesh and blood, where is corruptible- ness, where is nativity and mortality, departure and suc cession, changeableness and inconstancy, where are fears, desires, horrors, uncertain joys, frail hope, perishable ex
I suppose that all this part cannot be compared with that heaven of which I was just now speaking; if then this part cannot be compared with that, the one is above, the other below. And whither do we go after death, unless there is a depth deeper than this depth ? in which we are in the
17. Ver. 12, 13.
confess
istence ;
11t- 'a
thi>>hell. ' ^esn an(* m ln's m? rtal state ? For the body is dead, saith Eom. 8, the Apostle, because ofsin. Therefore even here are the
* Internum : used as oar word place of departed spirits,
"hell" in the Apostles' Creed, for the b infernum inferios hoc inferno.
In Hell, there is a ' nethermost hell. '
203
dead ; that thou mayest not wonder because it is called hell,
if it abounds with the dead. For he saith not, the body is about to die : but, the body is dead. Even now surely our
body hath life : and yet compared with that body which is to
be like the bodies of Angels, the body of man is found to be dead, although still having life. But again, from this hell,
that is from this part of hell, there is another lower, whither
the dead go : from whence God would rescue our souls, even sending thither His own Son. For it was on account of these two hells, my brethren, that the Son of God was sent,
on all sides setting free. To this hell he was sent by being
born, to that by dying. Therefore it is His voice in that Psalm, not according to any man's conjecture, but an Apostle explaining, when he saith, For Thou wilt not leave my soul ps. i6, in hell. Therefore it is here also either His voice, Thou hast10' delivered my soul from the nethermost hell : or our voice by
the Lord Jesus Christ Himself : for on this account He came even unto hell, that we might not remain in bell.
18. I will mention another opinion also. For perhaps even
in hell itself there is some lower part where are thrust the ungodly who have sinned most'. For whether in hell there 'So St. were not some places where Abraham was, we cannot define fTMjob* sufficiently. For not yet had the Lord come to hell that He 1. xii. might rescue from thence the souls of all the saints who had^' gone before*, and yet Abraham was there in repose. And*st.
a certain rich man when he was in torments in hell, when Grej*? JJ
seen him by lifting up his eyes, unless the one was above, the Lukti6 other below. And what did Abraham answer unto him, 22. when he said, Father Abraham, send Lazarus, that he mayib 24-- d/ip the tip of his finger and drop it upon my tongue, for 26'
am tormented in this ? My son, he said, remember flame
that thou in thy lifetime receivedst thy good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things: but now he is at rest, but thou art tormented. And besides this, he said, between us and you there is a great gulffixed, so that neither can we go to you, nor can any one come from thence to us. Therefore between these two hells, perhaps, in one of
which the souls of the just have gotten rest, in the other the souls of the ungodly are tormented, one waiting and praying
Ver. 12' 13'
on Joh, he saw Abraham, lifted up his eyes. He could not have I. xiii. ? .
204 ' Deliverance from Heir may be from going there.
Psalm here, placed here in the body of Christ, and praying in the 'voice of Christ, said that God had delivered his soul from the nethermost hell, because He delivered him from such sins as might have been the means of drawing him down to
1 quia
the torments of the nethermost hell. As if a physician were to see an illness threatening thee perhaps from some labo rious work, and were to say, Spare thyself, treat thyself thus, rest, use this food ; for if thou doest it not thou wilt be sick ;
and thou, if thou doest so and art made well, sayest rightly to the physician, Thou hast set me free from sickness : not sickness in which thou wast, but in which thou wast likely to be. Some one having a troublesome cause was to be sent
to prison : another comes and defends him ; what does he say when he thanks him ? Thou hast delivered ray soul out of prison. A debtor was to be hanged upc: his debt is paid; he is said to be delivered from being hanged up.
I will speak truly, my brethren, like a man among men, and sprung from men : let each one endure to look into his own
heart without flattery, and without false soothing. For nothing is more foolish than for a man vainly to soothe and seduce himself. Let him attend then and see what things
pass in man's heart : how even prayers are often hindered by
vain thoughts, so that the heart scarcely remains fixed on
God: and it would hold itself so as to be fixed, and some
how flees from itself, and finds no frames in which it can inclose itself, no bars by which it may keep in its flights
and wandering movements, and stand still to be made glad
by its God. Scarcely does one such prayer occur amongst
many. Each one might say that this happened to him, but
that it happened not to others, if we did not find in the holy Scripture David praying in a certain place, and saying,
Since 1 have found my heart, O Lord, so that I might pray* Sam. unto Thee. He said that he had found his heart, as if it 7' 27' were wont to flee from him, and he to follow it like a fugitive, and not be able to catch and to cry to God, For Ps. 38, my heart hath deserted me. Therefore, my brethren, thinking 1? ' over what he saith here, Thou, Lord, art good and gracious, think see what he meaneth by "gracious. " Make
glad the soul of Thy servant, for unto Thee, Lord, have lifted up my soul for Thou art good and gracious
seem to feel that for this reason he calls God gracious, because He bears with those failings of ours, and yet expects prayer from us, in order to make us perfect and when we have given to Him, He receives gratefully, and listens to
and remembers not those many prayers which we pour out unthinkingly, and accepts the one which we can scarcely find. For what man there, my brethren, who, on being addressed by his frieud, when he wishes to answer his address, sees his friend turn away from him and speak to another, who there who would bear this? Or
you appeal to judge, and set him up to hear you, and all at once,
while you are speaking to him, pass from him, and begin to converse with your friend, who would endure this Yet God
if ?
O
a
is
is
it,
I
it
it
O it,
:
I :
: I
1
192 They call not truly upon God, who call in vain.
Psalm endures the hearts of so many persons who pray and think ijixxvi. oj. different things : I am not now speaking of evil things, such are sometimes perverse and at enmity with God; to
think of any thing that is superfluous is an injury to Him with Whom you have begun to speak. Thy prayer is a speech addressed to God : when thou readest, God speaks to thee : when thou prayest, thou speakest to God. What then? Must we despair of mankind, and say that every man is already condemned into whose prayers any wandering thoughts have crept aud interrupted them ? If we say this, my brethren, I know not what hope remains. Therefore because there is some hope before God, because His mercy is great, let us say
unto Him, Make glad the soul of Thy servant: for unto Thee, O Lord, hare Ilifted up my soul. And how have I lifted it up? As I could, as Thou gavest me strength, as I could catch it when"it fled away. " And hast thou forgotten," imagine God to say, that as often as thou didst stand before Me, thou didst think of so many vain and useless things, and didst scarcely pour out unto Me an earnest and steady prayer ? " For Thou,
Lord, art good and gracious: gracious art Thou, enduring me. From infirmity I sink : heal Thou me, and I shall stand : strengthen Thou me, and I shall be strong. But until Thou do this, Thou bearest with me : For Thou, Lord, art good and gracious.
8. And of great mercy.
That is, not only of mercy, but of great mercy: for as our iniquity abounds, so also aboundeth Thy mercy. And of great mercy art Thou unto all that call upon Thee. What
Prov. l, is it then which Scripture saith in many places; They shall
28?
call, and
(yet surely
Thou art
merciful
I will not hear them ?
to all that call upon Thee;) but that some call, yet call not
Ps. 63,4. upon Him, of whom it is said, They have not called upon God. They call, but not on God. Thou callest upon what ever thou lovest: thou callest upon whatever thou callest
unto thyself, whatever thou wishest to come unto thee. Therefore if thou callest upon God for this reason, in order that money may come unto thee, that an inheritance may come unto thee, that worldly rank may come unto thee, thou callest upon those things which thou desirest may come unto thee : but thou makest God the helper of thy desires,
How it is that some prayers are not granted. 193
not the listener to thy needs. God is good, if He gives what Ver. thou wishest. What if thou wishest ill, will He not then be ----- more merciful by not giving? Then, if He gives not, then
is God nothing to thee; and thou sayest, How much I have prayed, how often I have prayed, and have not been heard !
Why, what didst thou ask ? Perhaps that thy enemy might
die. What if he at the same time were praying for thy
death ? He Who created thee, created him also : thou art a
man, he too is a man ; but God is the Judge : He hears
both, and He grants their prayer to neither. Thou art sad, because thou wast not heard when praying against him ;
be glad, because his prayer was not heard against thee.
But thou sayest, I did not ask for this ; I asked not for the
death of my enemy, but for the life of my child; what ill did
I ask ? Thou askedst no ill, as thou didst think. What if
he was taken away, lest wickedness should alter his under- Wind. 4, standing. But he was a sinner, thou sayest, and therefore
1 wished him to live, that he might be corrected. Thou wishedst him to live, that he might become better; what if God knew, that if he lived he would become worse ? How then couldest thou know what was good for him, to die or to live ? If then thou knewest not, return into thy heart, leave it to God to take counsel for thee. What am I to do then, dost thou say? what am I to pray for? What art thou to pray for ? What the Lord has taught thee, what thy heavenly Master has taught thee. Call upon God as God, love God as God : there is nothing better than He is ; long for Him, Him desire. See how he calls on God in another
I willPn. il,*. ask. What is it which he required? That I may dwell in
the house of the Lord all the days of my life. For what
Psalm: One thing have I required of the Lord, this
reason? That I may behold the delightfuluess of the Lord. If then thou wouldest be a lover of God, with thy innermost marrow and wilh pure sighings love Him, desire Him, for Him burn, long for Him, than Whom thou shalt find nothing more pleasant, nothing better, nothing more joyful, nothing more lasting. For what so lasting as that which is ever lasting ? Thou necdest not fear, lest He should ever be lost to thee, Who causes that thou be not lost thyself. If, there fore, thou callest on God as God, be confident thou shalt be
vol. iv. o
J 94 God withholds what we ask, to give our chief desire, Himself.
Psalm heard : thou hast part in that verse ; And of great mercy unto all that call upon Thee.
9. Say not thou then, He did not give me that which 1 Oxf. I prayed for. Return thou into thy conscience1: weigh . heart. ' question spare not. If thou calledst on God truly, be
sure that that which perhaps thou wishedst to have as temporal blessing He gave thee not, for this reason, because was not good for thee. Let your heart, my brethren, be builded up on this, Christian heart, faithful heart begin not, when ye are sad as defrauded of your wants, begin Acts not to be angry against God: for not good to kick against the pricks. Look back to the Scriptures. The devil heard, and not the Apostle what think ye How Matt. are the devils heard They prayed that they might go into the swine, and was allowed them. How was the devil Joh1, heard? He asked for Job, that he might tempt him, and
received permission. How was the Apostle not heard? Cor. Lest should be exalted above measure through the abun- 12 7--9 dance of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn tn the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest should be exalted above measure. For this thing besought the Lord thrice, that might depart from me. And He said
unto me, My grace is sufficient fur thee: for My strength is made perfect in weakness. He heard him whom He ordained to damnation, and did not hear him whom He willed to heal. So sick man asketh many things of the physician; but the physician giveth them not: he heareth not for his desire, that he may hear for his cure.
Make God then thy Physician seek of Him health, and He Himself will be thy health seek not as thou wouldest gain salvation from any other source, but so that He Himself may be salvation unto thee: not so as again to love any other salvation besides Him, but as thou hast written
Ps. 36,3. the Psalm Say unto my soul, am thy salvation. What to thee what He saith unto thee, so that He give Himself unto thee? Wouldest thou that He should give Himself unlo thee? What that which thou wouldest have He wills not that thou shouldest have, that He may give Himself unto thee? He removes hindrances, that he may enter into
thee. Think, brethren, and reflect what good things God
it
:
' 8, 9,
it
if it a
it if
I
:
:
isin
a it,
it
if I
I
2 '
I
is
it
? a
:
it
?
:
a is
it,
God's best gifts are for His own. His healing to be trusted. 1 95
giveth unto sinners: and learn hence what He keepeth for Vsr.
His own servants. To sinners who blaspheme Him every day He giveth the sky and the earth, He giveth springs,
fruits, health, children, wealth, abundance : all these good things none giveth but God. He who giveth such things to sinners, what thinkest thou He keeps for His faithful ones ? Is this to be believed of Him, that He Who giveth such things to the bad, keepeth nothing for the good ? Nay verily He doth keep,not earth, but heaven for them. Too common a thing perhaps I say when I say heaven ; Himself rather, Who made the heaven. Fair is heaven, but fairer is the Maker of heaven. But I see the heavens, Him I see not. Because thou hast eyes to see the heavens: a heart thou hast not yet to see the Maker of heaven : therefore came He from heaven to earth, to cleanse the heart, that He may be seen
Who made heaven and earth. But wait thou with full patience for salvation. By what treatment to cure thee, He knoweth : by what cutting, what burning, He knoweth. Thou hast brought sickness on thyself by sinning: He comes not only to nurse, but also to cut and to burn. Seest thou not how much men suffer under the hands of physicians, when a man promises them an uncertain hope? Thou wilt be cured, says the physician: thou wilt be cured, if I cut. It is a man who speaks, and to a man that he speaks : neither is he sure who speaks, nor he who hears, for he who is speaking to the man hath not made man, and knows not perfectly what is passing in man : yet at the words of a man who knows not what is passing in man, man sooner believeth, submits his limbs, suffers himself to be bound, often without being bound is cut or burned ; and receives perhaps health for a few days, even when just healed not knowing when he may die : perhaps, while being healed, dies; perhaps cannot be healed. But to whom hath God promised any thing, and deceived him ?
10. Ver. 6. Fix my prayer in Thy ears, O Lord. Great earnestness of him who prays! Fix viy prayer in Thine ears, O Lord: that is, let not my prayer go out of Thine ears, fix it then in Thine ears. How did he travail that he might fix his prayer in the ears of God? Let God answer and say to us ; Wouldest thou that I fix thy prayer in My ears? Fix My
o2
-- -- --
IMS Thc present life a ' day of trouble. '
Psalm law in thy heart. Fix my prayer in Thine ears, 0 Lord;
-
and attend to the voice of my prayer.
11. Ver. 7. In the day ofmy trouble
I have cried unto Thee,for Thou hast heard me. The caIuse that Thouheardest
me was, that in the day of my trouble
little before he had said, All the day have I cried, all the day have I been troubled. Let no Christian then say that there is any day in which he is not troubled. By all the day we have understood the whole of time. What then, is there trouble even when it is well with us? Even so, trouble. How is there trouble? Because as long as we are in the body toe
2 Cor.
are absent from the Lord. Let what will abound here, we are not yet in that country whither we are hastening to return, lie to whom foreign travel is sweet, loveth not his country: if
cried unto Thee. A
his country is sweet, travel is bitter; if travel is bitter, all the day there is trouble ? When is there not trouble ? When there is joy in one's country. At Thy right hand are delights for
Ps. 16,
Ps. 27, evermore. 'Thou shIalt fill me with joy,' he saith, 'with Thy
*'
countenance: that
toil and groaning shall pass away : there shall be not prayer
may see the delight the Lord. ' There of
but raise; there Alleluia, there Amen, the voice in concord with Angels; there vision without failing and love without weariness. So long therefore as we are not there, ye see that we are not in that which is good. But do all things abonnd? If all things abound, see if thou art assured that all things perish not. But I have what I had not: more money is come to me which I had not before. Perhaps more fear too
. is come, which thou hadst not before: perhaps thou wast so much the more secure as thou wast the poorer. In fine, be it that thou hast wealth, that thon hast redundance of this world's affluence, that thou hast assurance given thee that all
this shall not perish ; besides this, that God say unto thee, Thou shalt remain for ever in these things, they shall be for ever with thee, but My face thou shalt not see. Let none ask counsel of the flesh : ask ye counsel of the Spirit : let your heart answer you; let hope, faith, charity, which has begun to be in you, answer. If then we were to receive as
surance that we should always be in affluence of worldly goods, and if God were to say to us, My face ye shall not see, would ye rejoice in these goods ? Some one might perhaps choose
None of the gods like unto God. Excuses of idolaters. 197
to rejoice, and say, These things abound unto me, it is well Ver.
:--
Ps. 42,
with me, I ask no more. He hath not yet begun to be a lover of God : he hath not yet begun to sigh like one far from home. Far be far be from us: let them retire, all those seductions: let them retire, those false blandishments: let them
be gone, those words which they say daily unto us, Where
thy God? Let us pour out our soul1 over us, let us confess i'<a? per in tears, let us groan in confession, let us sigh in misery. nos'
Whatever present with us besides our God, we would not have all tilings that He hath given, not Himself Who gave all things. Fix my prayer,
not sweet He gives Lord, in lu the day of my trouble have cried unto Thee, for Thou hast heard uie. 12. Ver. 8. Among the gods there none like unto Thee,
Thy ears, and attend to the voice of my prayer,
O Lord. What did he say Among the gods there none
like unto Thee, O Lard. Let the Pagans make for them
selves what gods they will let them bring workmen in silver
and in gold, furbishers, sculptors let them make gods. What
kind of gods? Having eyes, and seeing not; and the other Ps. 116, things which the Psalm mentions in what follows. But we 6-
do not worship these, he says; we do not worship them, these
are symbols. What then do ye worship Something else
that worse for the gods of the gentiles are devils. What
then Neither, say they, do we worship devils. Ye have Ps. 96, certainly nothing else in your temples, nothing else inspires6- your prophets than devil. But what do ye say? We worship Angels, we have Angels as gods. Ye know not altogelherwhat Angels are. Angels worship the one God, and favour not
men who wish to worship Angels and not God.
For we find Angels of high rank* forbidding men to adore them, and com- 'hono- manding them to adore the true God. But when they say r^'19 Angels, suppose they mean men, since said, have said, io.
Ye are Gods, and all the children the Most Highest. ^' Among the gods there none like unto Thee, Lord.
Whatever man3 thinks to the contrary, that which was made
not like Him Who made it. Except God, whatever else there Jjjj^i
in the universe was made by God. What difference there between Him Who made, and that which was made, who can worthily imagine Therefore this man said, Among the gods there none like unto Thee, Lord: but how much
Quod-
is
it,
O
of it
is ?
is
?
a
is ;
it
is is
?
is :I
aI O
is O if
is 3
: is
'
;
?
is
is
198 God is ineffable. Conversion of nations foretold.
Psalm God is unlike them he said not, because it cannot be said. -- Let your Charity attend: God is ineffable: we more easily
say what He is not than what He is. Thou thinkest of the earth ; this is not God : thou thinkest of the sea ; this is not God: of all things which are in the earth, men and animals; this is not God : of all things which are in the sea, which through the air; this not God: whatever shines the sky, the stars, sun and moon this not God the heaven itself this not God think of the Angels, Virtues, Powers, Archangels, Thrones, Seats, Principalities this not God. What He then could only tell thee, what He not.
Cor. 2, Askest thou what He What the eye hath not seen, nor
''.
the ear heard, nor hath risen up into the heart of man. Why seekest thou that that should rise up to the tongue, which hath not risen up into the heart? Among the gods there none like unto Thee, Lord; there is not one that can do as Thou doest.
13. Ver. 9. All nations that Thou hast made shall come and worship before Thee, Lord. He has announced the Church All nations that Thou hast made. If there any nation which God hath not made, will not worship Him but there no nation which God hath not made; because God made Adam and Eve, the source of all nations, thence all nations sprang. All nations therefore hath God made; all nations, therefore, that Thou hast made shall come and worship before Thee, Lord. When was this said When before Him there worshipped none but few holy men one people of the Hebrews, then this was said and see now what which was said All nations that Thou hast made shall come and worship before Thee, Lord. When these things were spoken, they were not seen, and they were believed now that they are seen, why are they denied All nations that Thou hast made shall come and worship before
Thee, Lord, and shall glorify Thy Name.
14. Ver. 10. For Thou art great, and doing wondrous
things: Thou alone art the great God. Let no man call himself great. Some were to be who would call themselves great against these said, Thou alone art the great
God. For what great thing ascribed to God, when said that He alone the great God Who knows not that
is
is I ?
?
a it is
:
O it : is is : is
;
it is
:
is ;
:
0
is O
O
:
;
is 0
is ?
?
? in is is in is :
it
I
: is
fly
God alone great. His Church universal. 1 99
He is the great God ? But because there were to be some Vrr.
10-
who would call themselves great and make God little, against these it is said, Thou alone art the great God. For what Thou sayest is fulfilled, not what those say who call themselves great. What hath God said by His Spirit? All nations that Thou hast made shall come and worship before Thee, O Lord. VVhat saith he, whoever he is, who calleth himself great?
Far from it: God is not worshipped in all nations: all nations
have perished, Africa alone remains. This thou sayest, who The callest thyself great: another thing He saith Who alone is JTM"- the great God. What saith He, Who alone is the great God?
All nations that Thou hast made shall come and worship before Thee, O Lord. I see what the only great God hath
said : let man be silent, who is falsely great ; great only in appearance, because he disdains to be small. Who disdains
to be small? He who saith this. Whoever will be great
among you, said the Lord, shall be your servant. If thatMat. 20, man had wished to be the servant of his brethren, he would
not have separated them from their mother : but when he wishes to be great, and wishes not to be small, as would be
for his welfare, God, Who resisteth the proud, and giveth grace Jas. 4, to the humble, because He alone is great, fulfilleth all things6' which He predicted, and contradicleth those who blaspheme.
For such persons blaspheme against Christ, who say that the Church has perished from the whole world. and is left only in Africa. If thou wert to say to him, Thou wilt lose thy
villa, he would perhaps scarcely keep from laying his hand
upon thee : and yet he says, that Christ has lost His inhe ritance, redeemed by His own Blood ! See now what a wrong
he does, my brethren. The Scripture says, In a uideproil, nation is the king's honour; but in the domination of the 14, 28- people is the *affliction of a prince. This wrong then thou dost a ron. unto Christ, to say that His people is diminished to that small trvtw- number. Was it for this thou wast born, for this thou callest thyself a Christian, that thou mayest grudge Christ His glory, Whose sign thou sayest that thou bearest on thy forehead, and
hast lost out of thy heart ? In a wide nation is the king's honour : acknowledge thy King : give Him glory, give Him a wide nation. What wide nation shall I give Him, dost thou say? Choose not to give Him from thy own heart, and thou
200 False claims of proud men. Guidance to, and in, God's way. Psalm wilt give aright. Whence am I to give ? thou wilt say. Lo,
lxxxvi.
^ from hence : All nations that Thou hast made shall come and worship before Thee, O Lord. Say this, confess this, and thou hast given a wide nation : for all nations in One are one : this is very oneness. For as there is a Church and Churches, and those are Churches which also are a Church, so that is a nation which was nations: formerly nations, many nations, now one nation. Why one nation ? Because one faith, one hope, one charity, one expectation.
Lastly, why not one nation, if one country ? Our country is heavenly, our country is Jerusalem : whoever is not a citizen of belongs not to that nation: but whoever citizen of
in that one nation of God. And this nation, from the east to the west, from the north and the sea, extended through the four quarters of the whole world. This God saith From the east and west, from the north and the sea, give glory to God. This He foretold, this He fulfilled, Who alone great. Let him therefore who would not be little cease from saying this against Him Who alone great for there cannot be two great, God and Donalus.
15. Ver. 11. Lead me, Lord, in Thy way, and trill walk in Thy truth. Thy way, Thy truth, Thy life, Christ. There fore belongeth the Body to Him, and the Body of Him.
Johnl4,i am the Way, and the Truth, and the Life. Lead me, Lord, in Thy way. In what way And will walk in TJiy truth. It one thing to lead to the way, another to guide in the way. Behold man every where poor, every where in need of help. Those who are beside the way are not Christians, or not yet Catholics: let them be guided to the way: but when they have been brought to the way and made Catholics in Christ, they must be guided by Him in the way itself, lest they fall. Now assuredly they walk in the way. Lead me, Lord, in Thy way surely am now in Thy way, lead me there. And will walk in Thy truth while Thou leadest shall not err: Thou lut mc go, shall err. Pray then that
He let thee not go, but lead thee even to the end. How
doth He lead tliee? By always admonishing, always giving
thee His hand. And the arm of the Lord, to whom
Isa. 63, revealed For in giving His Christ He giveth His hand
in giving His hand, He giveth His Christ. He leadeth to
1?
?
is
:it I
if I
:
is
I
:
I
is
I
0 ?
is I OO
is :
is is a
is
is it, :
it
Prosperity dangerous unless coupled with /ear. 20 1
the way, in leading to His Christ: He leadeth in the way, Ver. by leading in His Christ, and Christ is truth. Lead me, ------ therefore, O Lord, in Thy way, and I will walk in Thy
truth: in Him verily Who said, / am the Way, and the JohnH,
Truth, and the Life. For Thou Who leadest in the way and6- the truth, whither leadest Thou, but unto life ? In Him theD, unto Him Thou leadest. Lead me, O Lord, in Thy way, and Iwill walk in Thy truth.
16. Let my heart he made glad, so that it may fear Thy name. There is then fear in gladness. How can there be gladness, if fear? Is not fear wont to be painful? There will hereafter be gladness without fear, now gladness with fear; for not yet is there perfect security, nor perfect glad ness. If there is no gladness, we faint: if full security, we rejoice wrongly. Therefore may He both sprinkle on us gladness, and strike fear into us, that by the sweetness of gladness He may lead us to the abode of security ; by giving
us fear, may cause us not to rejoice wrongly, and to withdraw
from the way. Therefore saith the Psalm: Serve the Lord Ps. 2,11. in fear, and rejoice unto Him with trembling : so also saith
the Apostle Paul ; Work out your own salvation with fear ami Phil. 2, trembling; for it is God that worketh in you. Whatever 2' I3' prosperity comes then, my brethren, is rather to be feared :
those things which ye think to be prosperous, are rather temptations. An inheritance coraeth, there cometh wealth,
there is an abundant overflow of some happiness : these are temptations : take care that they corrupt you not. Whatever prosperity also there is according to Christ, and the true love
of Christ : if perhaps thou hast gained thy wife, who was of
the party of Donatus : if thy sons have been made believers
who were pagans : if perhaps thou hast gained thy friend
who wished to draw thee away to the theatres, and thou hast drawn him to the church : if some hostile opponent of thine
who was furiously mad against thee, laying aside his fury,
has become gentle, and owned God, and now barks at thee
no more, but cries with thee against wickedness : these things are pleasant. For what do we rejoice for, if we do not rejoice for these things? Or what other are our joys, but i 0xf these ? But because tribulations also abound, and tempt- Mm.
ations, and dissensions, and schisms, and other evils', without suci, evils. '
202 This world a kind of hell, compared with Heaven.
P8ai,m which this world cannot be, until iniquity pass away : let not v'' that rejoicing make us secure, but let our heart be so made glad, as to fear the name of the Lord, lest it be made glad
on one side, be stricken on another. Expect not security in
if ever we wish for it here, it will be the birdlime ' al. ' of of the body ', not the safety of the man. J^et my heart be made
heart. '
journeying:
S(> ^tat moyfear Thy name.
/ will in my whole heart, and
unto Thee, O Lord my God, I will glorify Thy name for ever: for great is Thy mercy toward me, and Thou hast delivered my soul from the nethermost hell. Do not be angry, brethren,
if I do not explain what 1 hare said as though I were certain. For I am a man, and as much as is granted to me concerning the sacred Scriptures, so much I venture to speak : nothing of myself. Hell? I have not yet seen, nor have you: and there will be perhaps another way for us, and not through hell. These things are uncertain. But because Scripture, which cannot be gainsaid, says, Thou hast delivered my soul from the nethermost hell, we understand that there are as it were two hells, an upper one and a lower one : for how can there be a lower hell, unless because there is also an upper? The one would not be called lower, except by comparison with that upper part. It appears then, my brethren, that there is some heavenly abode of Angels : there is there a life of ineffable joys, there immortality and incorruption, there all things abiding according to the gift and grace of God. That part of the creation is above. If then that is above, but this earthly part, where is flesh and blood, where is corruptible- ness, where is nativity and mortality, departure and suc cession, changeableness and inconstancy, where are fears, desires, horrors, uncertain joys, frail hope, perishable ex
I suppose that all this part cannot be compared with that heaven of which I was just now speaking; if then this part cannot be compared with that, the one is above, the other below. And whither do we go after death, unless there is a depth deeper than this depth ? in which we are in the
17. Ver. 12, 13.
confess
istence ;
11t- 'a
thi>>hell. ' ^esn an(* m ln's m? rtal state ? For the body is dead, saith Eom. 8, the Apostle, because ofsin. Therefore even here are the
* Internum : used as oar word place of departed spirits,
"hell" in the Apostles' Creed, for the b infernum inferios hoc inferno.
In Hell, there is a ' nethermost hell. '
203
dead ; that thou mayest not wonder because it is called hell,
if it abounds with the dead. For he saith not, the body is about to die : but, the body is dead. Even now surely our
body hath life : and yet compared with that body which is to
be like the bodies of Angels, the body of man is found to be dead, although still having life. But again, from this hell,
that is from this part of hell, there is another lower, whither
the dead go : from whence God would rescue our souls, even sending thither His own Son. For it was on account of these two hells, my brethren, that the Son of God was sent,
on all sides setting free. To this hell he was sent by being
born, to that by dying. Therefore it is His voice in that Psalm, not according to any man's conjecture, but an Apostle explaining, when he saith, For Thou wilt not leave my soul ps. i6, in hell. Therefore it is here also either His voice, Thou hast10' delivered my soul from the nethermost hell : or our voice by
the Lord Jesus Christ Himself : for on this account He came even unto hell, that we might not remain in bell.
18. I will mention another opinion also. For perhaps even
in hell itself there is some lower part where are thrust the ungodly who have sinned most'. For whether in hell there 'So St. were not some places where Abraham was, we cannot define fTMjob* sufficiently. For not yet had the Lord come to hell that He 1. xii. might rescue from thence the souls of all the saints who had^' gone before*, and yet Abraham was there in repose. And*st.
a certain rich man when he was in torments in hell, when Grej*? JJ
seen him by lifting up his eyes, unless the one was above, the Lukti6 other below. And what did Abraham answer unto him, 22. when he said, Father Abraham, send Lazarus, that he mayib 24-- d/ip the tip of his finger and drop it upon my tongue, for 26'
am tormented in this ? My son, he said, remember flame
that thou in thy lifetime receivedst thy good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things: but now he is at rest, but thou art tormented. And besides this, he said, between us and you there is a great gulffixed, so that neither can we go to you, nor can any one come from thence to us. Therefore between these two hells, perhaps, in one of
which the souls of the just have gotten rest, in the other the souls of the ungodly are tormented, one waiting and praying
Ver. 12' 13'
on Joh, he saw Abraham, lifted up his eyes. He could not have I. xiii. ? .
204 ' Deliverance from Heir may be from going there.
Psalm here, placed here in the body of Christ, and praying in the 'voice of Christ, said that God had delivered his soul from the nethermost hell, because He delivered him from such sins as might have been the means of drawing him down to
1 quia
the torments of the nethermost hell. As if a physician were to see an illness threatening thee perhaps from some labo rious work, and were to say, Spare thyself, treat thyself thus, rest, use this food ; for if thou doest it not thou wilt be sick ;
and thou, if thou doest so and art made well, sayest rightly to the physician, Thou hast set me free from sickness : not sickness in which thou wast, but in which thou wast likely to be. Some one having a troublesome cause was to be sent
to prison : another comes and defends him ; what does he say when he thanks him ? Thou hast delivered ray soul out of prison. A debtor was to be hanged upc: his debt is paid; he is said to be delivered from being hanged up.
