Was it not He Who called thee when turned away, Who caused that thou
shouldest
be turned unto Him?
Augustine - Exposition on the Psalms - v4
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. Not thus is it with the Lord our God: for He Himself is the Physician, Who cures us that we may see, and He Himself the Light which we become able to see. Let us however run through the whole Psalm, as far as we can, and as the Lord permits, as well as the shortness of time will allow.
2. Its title is, A Psalm for the end, to the sons ofCore. Let us understand no other end than that of which the Apostle speaks: for, Christ is the end of the Law, for justification to
Rom.
I0' ' every one that believeth. Therefore when at the head of the
John . '
title of the Psalm he placed the words, for the end, he directed our heart to Christ. If we fix our gaze on Him, we shall not stray : for He is Himself the Truth unto which we are eager to arrive, and He Himself the Way by which we run. What is, To the sous of Core ? Core is explained as a
Hebrew word meaning in our language bald. To the sons of Core then means, To the sons of the Bald. Who is he who is bald ? Not that wc should mock him, but that we
The predestined future spoken of as past. 167
should mourn before him. For some mocked, and wereTiTlt. destroyed by daemons : as in the Book of Kings the children mocked at bald Elisha, and said after him, Thou bald- 2 Kings head, Thou bald-head, and bears came out of the 2 23
wood,24. and destroyed the children who were wicked enough to mock, for whom their parents had now to mourn. This
event as by a prophecy signified our Lord Jesus Christ here
after to come. For He was mocked as if bald by the Jews deriding Him, when He was crucified on the spot of Calvary. Mat. 27, If we have believed in Him, we are His sons. To us therefore
is that Psalm chanted, which is entitled, To the sons of Core ;
for we are children of the Bridegroom. He, the Bridegroom, Matt. 9, giveth unto his Bride a pledge, His own Blood, and the Holy l6' Spirit, by which He hath enriched us meanwhile in our wanderings : but He yet keepeth for us His hidden riches.
What must that be which He keepeth for us, out of which
He hath given us such an earnest ?
3. Therefore the Prophet singeth to Him of the future, and
useth words as it were of past time : he speaks of things future
as if already done, because with God that which is future has already taken place. Here then the Prophet saw things future
with respect to us, but already past in His providence and most
sure predestination ; as in that Psalm also, where all acknow
ledge Christ to be spoken of, for its recitation sounds even as
if the Gospel were in reading ; They pierced My hands andPs. 22, My feet, they numbered all My bones: they gazed and1 stared upon Me, they divided My garments among them, and
cast lots upon My vesture. Who, when the reader reads this Psalm, would not recognise the Gospel ? And yet the saying in the Psalm is not, they will pierce My hands and My feet ; but they pierced; and not, they will number My bones ; but they numbered; and not, they will divide My garments, but they did divide My garments among them. All these things which the Prophet saw in the future, he mentioned as if past; so here also, (ver. 1. ) Lord, Tliou hast been
favourable unto Thy land; as if He had already done so.
4. Thou hast turned away the captivity of Jacob. His
ancient people of Jacob, the people of Israel, born of Abraham's seed, in the promise to become one day the heir of God. That was indeed a real people, to whom the
168 The carnal Israel afigure of the true.
Psalm Old Testament was given ; but in the Old Testament the lxxxY- New was figured: that was the figure, this the truth ex
In that figure, by a kind of foretelling of the future, there was given to that people a certain land of
in a region where the people of the Jews abode ; where also is the city of Jerusalem, whose name we have all heard of. When this people had received possession of this land, they suffered many troubles from their neighbouring enemies who surrounded them : and when they sinned against their God, they were given into captivity, not for destruction, but for discipline; their Father not condemning, but scourging them. And after being seized on, they were set free, and many times were both made captives, and set
free; and they are now in captivity, and that for a great sin, even because they crucified their Lord. What then are we to understand them to mean by the words, Thou hast turned away the captivity ofJacob? Are we to understand here that other captivity, from which we all desire to be set free? For we all belong to Jacob, if we belong to Abraham's
Bom. 9, seed. For thus speaketh the Apostle; In Isaac shall thy /-8' seed be called: that is, not those who are children of the
flesh, these are the children of God, but the children of promise, these are counted as a seed. If the children of
promise are counted for the seed, the Jews became degene rate by offending God : we, by deserving well of God, are become the children of Abraham, not according to the flesh, but according to faith. For by imitating his faith, we are become his children, whilst they, by degenerating from his faith, deserved to be disinherited. For, that you may know- that they lost their birth from Abraham, when they arrogantly boasted in the hearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, glorying in
John 8, their blood, not in their life, and saying to the Lord, We have Abraham for our father; the Lord saith unto them, as degenerate, If ye are the children of Abraham, do ye the works of Abraham. If they then were on that account not children, because they did not Abraham's works ; we are therefore children, because we do the works of Abraham.
Gen. 16, But what are the works of Abraham which we do? Abraham 3 believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness.
6.
Therefore we all belong to Jacob, imitating Abraham's faith,
pressed.
promise,
God's people freedfrom spiritual captivity. 169
who believed God, and it was counted to him for righteous- Ver.
l' 2'
Rom. 7, according to the inner man : the law of God delights me 22 23
within : but I
against the law of my mind. Now thou hast heard of the
law, thou hast heard of the battle, but thou hast not yet heard
of the captivity ; hear what follows : warring against the
law of my mind, he says, and bringing me into captivity
to the law of sin, which is in my members. We acknow
ledge this captivity, who is there of us who would not
be set free from it ? And how shall he be set free ? This Psalm hath prophesied in song. Thcu hast turned away the captivity ofJacob. To whom did it speak ? To Christ ; for
it said, for the end, for the sons of Core: for He hath turned
away the captivity of Jacob. Hear Paul himself confessing.
When he said that he was dragged captive by the law in his members warring against the law of his mind, he criedI out under that captivity, and said, O wretched man that
who shall deliver me from the body of this death ? He asked 24' 26, who it should be, and straightway it occurred to him, The grace of God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Of this grace of
God the Prophet speaketh to our Lord Jesus Christ, Thou hast turned away the captivity of Jacob. Attend to the captivity
of Jacob, attend, and see that it is this: Tbou hast turned
away our captivity, not by setting us free from the barbarians,
with whom we had not met, but by setting us free from bad works, from our sins, by which Satan held sway over us.
For if any one has been set free from his sins, the prince of sinners hath not whence he may hold sway over him.
5. For how did He turn away the captivity of Jacob? See, how that that setting free is spiritual, see how that it is done inwardly. (Ver. 2. ) Thou hast forgiven, he saith, the iniquity
ness. What then is that captivity from which we desire to be set free ? For none of us, I suppose, is now among the barbarians, nor has any armed nation rushed upon us and led us captive. But I am now pointing out another captivity, in which we groan, and from which we desire to be set free. Let the Apostle Paul proceed, let him tell of it : let him be our mirror, let him speak, and let us see ourselves there : for there is no one but may recogInise himself there. That
blessed Apostle then saith : For
delight in the law God of
see another law in my members warring
am, Eom.
7,
170 Covering of sin and turning away of God's wrath.
Psalm of Thy people : Tltou hast covered all their sins. Behold - xv' how He halh turned away their captivity, in that He hath
remitted iniquity : iniquity held them captive; thy iniquity forgiven, thou art freed. Confess therefore that thou art in captivity, that thou mayest be worthy to be freed : for he that knoweth not of his enemy, how can he invoke the liberator ? Thou hast covered all their sins. What is, Thou hast covered ? So as not to see them. How didst Thou not
see them? So as not to take vengeance on them. Thou wast unwilling to see our sins : and therefore sawest Thou them not, because Thou wouldest not see them : Thou hast covered all their sins. (Ver. 3. ) Tliou hast appeased all Thy anger: Thou hast turned Thyselffrom Thy wrathful in dignation.
6. And as these things are said of the future, though the sound of the words is past, it follows: (ver. 4. ) Turn us, 0 God of our salvation. That which he had just related as if it were done, how prayeth he that it may be done, except because he wished to shew that he had spoken as if of the past in prophecy? But that it was not yet done which he had said was done he sheweth by this, that he prayeth that it may be done : Turn us, O God of our salvation, and turn away Thine anger from us. Didst thou not say before,
Thou hast turned away the captivity of Jacob, Thou hast covered all their sins : Thou hast appeased all Thy anger, Thou hast turned Thyselffrom Thy wrathful indignation ? How then now sayest thou, And turn away Thine anger
from us ? The Prophet answereth : These things I speak of as done, because I see them about to be done : but because they are not yet done, I pray that they may come, which 1 have already seen. Turn away Thine angerfrom us.
7. Ver. 5. Be not angry with us for ever. For by the
anger of God we are subject to death, and by the anger of
Gen. 3, God we eat bread on this earth in want, and in the sweat of
1
l Cor. '
our face. This was Adam's sentence when he sinned : and
that Adam was every one of us, for in Adam all die ; the ' sentence passed on him hath taken effect after him on us.
For we were not yet ourselves, but we were in Adam: therefore whatever happened to Adam himself took effect on us also, so that we should die : for we all were in him.
What we have from Adam, what by grace from Christ. 171
For those sins of parents belong not to the children, which Ver. the parents commit after the children are born : for the ------ children being now born belong unto themselves, and the parents belong unto themselves. Therefore those who have
been born, if they keep the evil ways of their parents, must bear also their deserts : but if they have changed themselves, and have not imitated their bad parents, they begin to have a merit of their own, not the merit of their parents. So far as this the sin of thy father hurts thee not, if thou hast changed thyself, even as it would not hurt thy father if he had changed himself. But that which our stock hath received unto its subjection to death, it hath derived from Adam. What hath it so derived ? That frailty of the flesh, this torture of pains, this house of poverty, this chain of death, and snares of temptations ; all these things we carry about
in this flesh; and this is the anger of God, because it is the vengeance of God. But because it was so to be, that we should be regenerated, and by believing should be made
new, and all that mortality was to be removed in our resur rection, and the whole man was to be restored in newness; for 1 Cor. as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive; 16' 22- seeing this the Prophet saith, Be not angry with us for ever,
nor stretch out Thy wrath from one generation to another. The first generation was mortal by Thy wrath : the second generation shall be immortal by Thy mercy.
8. What then? Was this thy own work, O man, that thou deservedst the mercy of God, in that ihou wast con verted unto Him ; and have they who have not been con verted, not found mercy, but wrath ? And what then ? Couldest thou cause that thou shouldest be converted, if thou hadst not been called ?
Was it not He Who called thee when turned away, Who caused that thou shouldest be turned unto Him? Seek not thou to claim even thy con version for thyself, for if He had not called thee when a fugitive, thou couldest not have turned unto Him. There fore the Prophet, ascribing to God the benefit of his con version, prays thus, and says :
Ver. 6. O God, Thou shall turn us again, and make us alice. Not as if we ourselves of our own accord, without Thy mercy, turn unto Thee, and then Thou shalt make us
172 Life and joy not in ourselves but in Christ.
Psalm alive : but, Tliou shall turn us again, and make us alive : lxx*v'so that not only our being made alive is from Thee, but our very conversion that we may be made alive. Thou, O God, shalt turn us again, and make us alive: and Thy people
shall rejoice in Thee. To their own evil they shall rejoice in themselves : to their own good they shall rejoice in Thee. For when they wished to have joy of themselves, they found in themselves woe: but now because God is all our joy, he that will rejoice securely let him rejoice in Him Who cannot perish. For why, my brethren, will ye rejoice in silver? Either thy silver perisheth, or thou : and no one knows which first: yet this is certain, that both shall perish ; which first, is un certain. For neither can man remain here always, nor can silver remain here always : so too gold, so garments, so houses, so money, so broad lands, so, lastly, this light itself. Be not thou willing then to rejoice in these : but rejoice in that light which hath no setting : rejoice in that dawn which
no yesterday precedes, which no to-morrow follows. What
9. Ver. 7. Shew us Thy mercy, O Lord. This is what we 1see ? . 1. have been singing beforehand we have already spoken of the
same. Shew us Thy mercy, O Lord, and grant us Thy salva tion : Thy salvation, that is, Thy Christ. Happy is he unto whom God sheweth His mercy. He it is who cannot in dulge in pride, unto whom God sheweth His mercy. For by shewing him His salvation He persuadeth him that what ever good man has, he hath not but from Him Who is all our good. And when a man has seen that whatever good he has he hath not from himself, but from his God ; he sees that every thing which is praised in him is of the mercy of God, not of his own deserving ; and seeing this, he is not proud j not being proud, he is not lifted up ; not lifting himself up, he falleth not; not falling, he standeth ; standing, he clingeth fast; clinging fast, he abideth; abiding, he enjoyeth, and rejoiceth in the Lord his God. He who made him shall be unto him
/, saith He, am the Light of the world. He
John 8, light is that ?
Who saith unto thee, 1 am the Light ofthe world, calls thee to Himself. When He calls thee, He converts thee : when he converts thee, He healeth thee : when He hath healed thee, thou shalt see thy Converter, unto Whom it is said, And Thy people shall rejoice in Thee.
He is given us now as Man, we hope to see Him as God. 173
a delight : and his delight no one spoileth, no one inter- Ve*. nipteth, no one takelh away. What powerful man will ------
threaten to take it aw ay ? what bad neighbour, what robber,
what plotter taketh
take from thee all what thou hast in the body, he taketh not
away Him Whom thou hast in thy heart. This is that mercy
which I pray may God shew unto us. Shew us Thy mercy,
O Lord, and grant us Thy salvation : grant unto us Thy Christ, for in Him is Thy mercy. Let us too say unto
Him, Grant unto us Thy Christ. Already indeed He hath
given unto us His Christ: yet still let us say unto Him, Grant unto us Thy Christ, for still we say unto Him, Give us Matt. 6, this day our daily bread. And who is our bread, but He11- Himself Who said, / am the living bread which came down John 6,
from heaven. Let us say unto Him, Give unto us Thy41- Christ. He hath indeed already given unto us Christ, but as Man ; Him Whom He hath given unto us as Man, He will give unto us as God. To men He gave Man: such He gave
to men as men could receive ; for as God no man could receive Christ. He became Man unto men, He reserved
Himself as God for gods '. Have I spoken arrogantly? Arro- 1 diis. gantly indeed, if He had not Himself said, / said, Ye areps. 82, gods, and ye are all the children of the Highest. We are Jonnl0 renewed even unto adoption, so as to be made sons of God. 34. Already indeed we are so, but by faith ; we are so in hope,
we are not yet such in reality. For by hope we are saved, Bom- 8, as saith the Apostle. But hope that is seen is not hope: for
what a man seeth, how doth he hope for? But if we hope
away God from thee ?
Though he can
for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it. What do we with patience wait for, except to see what we believe ? For now we believe what we see not: by abiding in that which believing we see not, we shall deserve to see that which we believe.
Therefore, what saith John in his Epistle ? Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth i John
not yet appear what we shall be. Who would not rejoice, if ' suddenly while he was wandering abroad, ignorant of his descent, suffering want, and in a state of misery and toil, it were announced, Thou art the son of a senator:
thy father enjoys an ample patrimony on your family estate ; I bid thee return to thy father : how would he rejoice, if this were
174 The Beatific Vision is of the Son as well as the Father.
Psalm said to him by some one whose promise he could trust ? One lxxxV- whom we can trust, an Apostle of Christ, hath come and said to us, What is the reason that ye despair of yourselves ? why do ye afflict yourselves, and wear yourselves down with grief;
why do ye choose, following your own desires, to suffer grief in want of those other joys ? Ye have a father, ye have a country, ye have an inheritance. Who is that father ?
1 John Beloved, we are the sons of God. Wherefore then see we 3'2- not yet our Father? Because it hath not yet appeared what we shall be. We are that now, but in hope : for what we
shall be hath not yet appeared. And what shall we be?
We know, saith he, that when He shall appear, we shall be
like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. But hath he said this
of the Father, and not of the Son our Lord Jesus Christ ? and
shall we then be blessed in seeing the Father, not the Son ?
JohnU, Hear Christ Himself: He that hath seen Me hath seen the
H'
Father. For when the One God is seen, the Trinity is seen, the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Hear more expressly that the vision of the Son Himself shall give unto us blessedness, and that there is no difference between the vision of Him and the vision of the Father. He Himself
John 14, saith in the Gospel: He that loeeth Me keepeth My com-
I will love him, and will him. He spoke unto them, and said,
2l-
Act>> 16, it was said of the Lord, Purifying their hearts by faith: Matt. 6, and the Lord said, Blessed are the pure in heart, for they
*?
Mss.
mauds, and
manifest
Myself unlo
I will
unto him. Wherefore? was it not the same Person Who
was speaking ? but flesh could see flesh ; the heart did not yet the Deity. For this cause did flesh see flesh, that by faith the heart might be cleansed that it might see God. For
shall see God. Therefore He 1 promised us to shew Himself unto us. Think, my brethren, what His beauty is. All tnose beautiful things which ye sep, which ye love, He
fore"6
He has' made. If these are beautiful, what is He Himself? If these
are great, how great is He ? Therefore from these things which we love here, let us the more long for Him: and despising these things, let us love Him : that by that very love we may by faith purify our hearts, and His vision, when it cometh, may find our heart purified. The light which shall be shewn unto us ought to find us whole: this is the work
manifest
Myself
God's voice ofpeace. The conflict of this Life. 175
of faith now. This is what we have spoken here: And grant Ver- ms Thy salvation : grant us Thy Christ, that we may know ----'-- Thy Christ, see Thy Christ ; not as the Jews saw Him and crucified Him, but as the Angels see Him, and rejoice.
10. Ver. 8, 9. Iwillhearken what the Lord God shall speak
in me. The Prophet spoke : God spoke within in him, and
the world made a noise without. Therefore, retiring for a little
from the noise of the world, and turning himself back upon himself, and from himself upon Him Whose voice he heard within ; sealing up his ears, as it were, against the tumultuous disquietude of this life, and against the soul weighed down by
the corruptible body, and against the imagination, that through
the earthly tabernacle pressing down1, thinketh on many'Oxf. things, he saith,I will hearken what the Lord God speaketh}^^. in me; and he heard, what? For He shall speak peace ^. njje-g unto His people. The voice of Christ, then, the voice of 16. God, is peace: it calleth unto peace. Ho! it saith, who
soever are not yet in peace, love ye peace : for what can ye
find better from Me than peace ? What is peace ? Where
there is no war. What is this, where there is no war ? Where there is no contradiction, where there is no resistance, nothing to oppose. Consider if we are yet there: consider if
there is not now a conflict with the devil, if all the saints and
faithful ones wrestle not with the prince of daemons. And how do they wrestle with him whom they see not ? They wrestle with their own desires, by which he suggests unto them sins : and by not consenting to what he suggests, though they are not conquered, yet they fight. Therefore there is not yet peace where there is fighting. Or give me a man who suffers no temptation in his flesh, so that he can say to me, that he now has peace. Perhaps indeed he suffers no temptations to unlawful pleasures, yet he suffers the mere suggestions: either something is suggested to him which he refuses, or he is pleased with something which he must keep under. But, lo ! nothing unlawful now gives him pleasure ; yet he has to struggle daily against hunger and thirst; for what just man is not exposed to this? Hunger then and thirst fight against us, the weariness of the flesh fights against us, enjoyment of sleep fights against us, oppression fights. We would watch, and we fall asleep:
176 No perfect rest or peace, but in the City of God.
Psalm we would fast, and we hunger and thirst: we would stand, lxxxV. and we fail from fatigue : we wish to sit, yet if we do even this long, we become tired. Whatever we provide for our
refreshment, there again we find weariness. Art thou hungry ? one asks thee : thou answerest, I am. He places food before thee for thy refreshment ; continue thou to use it, for thou hadst need of it; yet in continuing that which thou needest for refreshment, therein findest thou weariness. By long sitting thou wast tired ; thou risest and refreshest thyself by walking ; continue that relief, and by much walk ing thou art wearied ; again thou wouldest sit down. Find me any thing by which thou art refreshed, wherein if thou continue thou dost not again become weary. What peace then is that which men hare here, opposed by so many troubles, desires, wants, wearinesses ? This is no true, no
iCor. 16, perfect peace. What will be perfect peace? This corruptible 53 55. must pUf on incorTUpH0ny and this mortal must put on im
mortality; then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. 0 death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy struggle? For where there is as yet mortality, how can there be full peace ? It is from death that weariness cometh, which we find in all our pleasures. From death it is, since we carry a mortal body : which indeed the Apostle calls dead, even before its separation
Rom. 8, from the soul: The body, saith he, is dead because of tin. For if thou persevere in that by which thou art refreshed, thou wilt even die. Persevere in eating much ; this itself will kill thee : persevere in fasting much, by this thou wilt die : sit continually, being resolved not to rise up, by this thou wilt die : be always walking so as never to take rest, by this thou wilt die; watch continually, taking no sleep, by this thou wilt die; sleep continually, never watching, thus loo thou wilt die. When therefore death shall be swallowed up in victory, these things shall no longer be: there will be full and eternal peace. We shall be in a City, of which, brethren, when I speak I find it hard to leave off, especially when offences wax common. Who would not long for that City whence no friend goeth out, whither no enemy entereth, where is no tempter, no seditious person, no one dividing God's people, no one
The peace of God. None truly fear Him in vain. 177
wearying the Church in the service of the devil ; since the Ver. prince himself of all such is cast into eternal fire, and wilh
him those who consent unto him, and who have no will to
retire from him ? There shall be peace made pure in the
sons of God, all loving one another, seeing one another full
of God, since God shall be all in all. We shall have God 1 Cor.
as our common object of vision, God as our common
pos- 19, 28- session, God as our common peace. For whatever there is
which He now giveth unto us, He Himself shall be unto us
instead of His gifts; this will be full and perfect
This He speaketh unto His people : this it was which he
would hearken unto who said,
Lord God will say unto me : for He shall speak peace unto His people, and to His saints, and unto those who turn their hearts unto Him. Lo, my brethren, do ye wish that unto you should belong that peace which God uttereth ? Turn your heart unto Him: not unto me, or unto that one, or unto any man. For whatever man would turn unto himself the hearts of men, he falleth with them. Which is better, that thou fall with him unto whom thou turnest thyself, or that ihou stand with Him with Whom thou turnest thyself? Our
joy, our peace, our rest, the end of all troubles, is none but God : blessed are they that turn their hearts unto Him.
1 1. Ver. 9. Nevertheless, His salvation is nigh them that fear Him. There were some even then who feared Him in the Jewish people. Every where throughout the earth idols were worshipped: devils were feared, not God: in that nation God was feared. But why was He feared ? In the Old Testament He was feared, lest He should give them up to lest He should take away their land from them, lest He should destroy their vines with hail, lest He should make their wives barren, lest He should take away their
children from them. For these carnal promises of God captivated their minds, which as yet were of small growth, and for these things God was feared : but He was near unto them who even for these things feared Him. The Pagan prayed for land to the devil : the Jew prayed for land to God: it was the same thing which they prayed for, but not the same to whom they prayed. The latter, though seeking what the Pagan sought, yet was distinguished from the
VOL. IV. N
captivity,
/ will hearken what the
peace.
178 Nearness to God. Glory in the Land of Israel.
Psalm Pagan ; for He sought it of Him Who had made all *-"xv- things. And God, Who was far 1 from the Gentiles, was 'Oxf. near1 unto them : yet He had regard even to those who were
'near,' afar off, and to those who were near, as the Apostle said: eTT' ^n(* ^e came (ind preached peace to you who were afar off, 17. ' and to them that were near. Whom did He mean by those >>Oxf. near? The Jews, because they* worshipped one God.
Whom by those who were afar off? The Gentiles, because they had left Him by Whom they were made, and worshipped things which themselves had made. For it is not in space that any one is far from God, but in affections. Thou lovest God, thou art near unto Him. Thou hatest God, thou art far off. Thou art standing in the same place, both while thou art near and far off. This it was, my brethren, which the Prophet had regard to : although he saw the mercy of God extending over all, yet he saw something especial and peculiar shewn toward the Jews, and he saith, Nevertheless, Iwill hearken what the Lord God shall say unto me : for He shall speak peace unto His people ; and His people shall be, not Judaea only, but it shall be gathered together out of all nations : For he shall speak peace unto His Saints, and to those who turn their hearts unto Him, and to all who shall turn their hearts unto Him from the whole world. Never theless, His salvation shall be nigh them that fear Him, that glory may dwell in our land: that is, in that land in which the Prophet was born, greater glory shall dwell, because
Christ began to be preached from thence. Thence were the Apostles, and thither first they were sent ; from thence were the Prophets, there first was the Temple, there sacrifice was made to God, there were the Patriarchs, there He Himself came of the seed of Abraham, there Christ was manifested, there Christ appeared ; for from thence was the Virgin Mary
who bore Christ. There He walked with His feet, there He worked miracles. Thirdly, He ascribed so great honour to that nation, that when a certain Canaanitish woman inter
Him, I for the He rupted praying healing of her daughter,
Mat. 16, said unto her, of am not sent but unto the lost sheep the
24, house of Israel. Seeing this, the Prophet saith, Neverthe less, His salvation is nigh them that fear Him, that glory may dwell in our land.
'who. '
Peace may not be had apart from Righteousness. 179
12.
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. Not thus is it with the Lord our God: for He Himself is the Physician, Who cures us that we may see, and He Himself the Light which we become able to see. Let us however run through the whole Psalm, as far as we can, and as the Lord permits, as well as the shortness of time will allow.
2. Its title is, A Psalm for the end, to the sons ofCore. Let us understand no other end than that of which the Apostle speaks: for, Christ is the end of the Law, for justification to
Rom.
I0' ' every one that believeth. Therefore when at the head of the
John . '
title of the Psalm he placed the words, for the end, he directed our heart to Christ. If we fix our gaze on Him, we shall not stray : for He is Himself the Truth unto which we are eager to arrive, and He Himself the Way by which we run. What is, To the sous of Core ? Core is explained as a
Hebrew word meaning in our language bald. To the sons of Core then means, To the sons of the Bald. Who is he who is bald ? Not that wc should mock him, but that we
The predestined future spoken of as past. 167
should mourn before him. For some mocked, and wereTiTlt. destroyed by daemons : as in the Book of Kings the children mocked at bald Elisha, and said after him, Thou bald- 2 Kings head, Thou bald-head, and bears came out of the 2 23
wood,24. and destroyed the children who were wicked enough to mock, for whom their parents had now to mourn. This
event as by a prophecy signified our Lord Jesus Christ here
after to come. For He was mocked as if bald by the Jews deriding Him, when He was crucified on the spot of Calvary. Mat. 27, If we have believed in Him, we are His sons. To us therefore
is that Psalm chanted, which is entitled, To the sons of Core ;
for we are children of the Bridegroom. He, the Bridegroom, Matt. 9, giveth unto his Bride a pledge, His own Blood, and the Holy l6' Spirit, by which He hath enriched us meanwhile in our wanderings : but He yet keepeth for us His hidden riches.
What must that be which He keepeth for us, out of which
He hath given us such an earnest ?
3. Therefore the Prophet singeth to Him of the future, and
useth words as it were of past time : he speaks of things future
as if already done, because with God that which is future has already taken place. Here then the Prophet saw things future
with respect to us, but already past in His providence and most
sure predestination ; as in that Psalm also, where all acknow
ledge Christ to be spoken of, for its recitation sounds even as
if the Gospel were in reading ; They pierced My hands andPs. 22, My feet, they numbered all My bones: they gazed and1 stared upon Me, they divided My garments among them, and
cast lots upon My vesture. Who, when the reader reads this Psalm, would not recognise the Gospel ? And yet the saying in the Psalm is not, they will pierce My hands and My feet ; but they pierced; and not, they will number My bones ; but they numbered; and not, they will divide My garments, but they did divide My garments among them. All these things which the Prophet saw in the future, he mentioned as if past; so here also, (ver. 1. ) Lord, Tliou hast been
favourable unto Thy land; as if He had already done so.
4. Thou hast turned away the captivity of Jacob. His
ancient people of Jacob, the people of Israel, born of Abraham's seed, in the promise to become one day the heir of God. That was indeed a real people, to whom the
168 The carnal Israel afigure of the true.
Psalm Old Testament was given ; but in the Old Testament the lxxxY- New was figured: that was the figure, this the truth ex
In that figure, by a kind of foretelling of the future, there was given to that people a certain land of
in a region where the people of the Jews abode ; where also is the city of Jerusalem, whose name we have all heard of. When this people had received possession of this land, they suffered many troubles from their neighbouring enemies who surrounded them : and when they sinned against their God, they were given into captivity, not for destruction, but for discipline; their Father not condemning, but scourging them. And after being seized on, they were set free, and many times were both made captives, and set
free; and they are now in captivity, and that for a great sin, even because they crucified their Lord. What then are we to understand them to mean by the words, Thou hast turned away the captivity ofJacob? Are we to understand here that other captivity, from which we all desire to be set free? For we all belong to Jacob, if we belong to Abraham's
Bom. 9, seed. For thus speaketh the Apostle; In Isaac shall thy /-8' seed be called: that is, not those who are children of the
flesh, these are the children of God, but the children of promise, these are counted as a seed. If the children of
promise are counted for the seed, the Jews became degene rate by offending God : we, by deserving well of God, are become the children of Abraham, not according to the flesh, but according to faith. For by imitating his faith, we are become his children, whilst they, by degenerating from his faith, deserved to be disinherited. For, that you may know- that they lost their birth from Abraham, when they arrogantly boasted in the hearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, glorying in
John 8, their blood, not in their life, and saying to the Lord, We have Abraham for our father; the Lord saith unto them, as degenerate, If ye are the children of Abraham, do ye the works of Abraham. If they then were on that account not children, because they did not Abraham's works ; we are therefore children, because we do the works of Abraham.
Gen. 16, But what are the works of Abraham which we do? Abraham 3 believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness.
6.
Therefore we all belong to Jacob, imitating Abraham's faith,
pressed.
promise,
God's people freedfrom spiritual captivity. 169
who believed God, and it was counted to him for righteous- Ver.
l' 2'
Rom. 7, according to the inner man : the law of God delights me 22 23
within : but I
against the law of my mind. Now thou hast heard of the
law, thou hast heard of the battle, but thou hast not yet heard
of the captivity ; hear what follows : warring against the
law of my mind, he says, and bringing me into captivity
to the law of sin, which is in my members. We acknow
ledge this captivity, who is there of us who would not
be set free from it ? And how shall he be set free ? This Psalm hath prophesied in song. Thcu hast turned away the captivity ofJacob. To whom did it speak ? To Christ ; for
it said, for the end, for the sons of Core: for He hath turned
away the captivity of Jacob. Hear Paul himself confessing.
When he said that he was dragged captive by the law in his members warring against the law of his mind, he criedI out under that captivity, and said, O wretched man that
who shall deliver me from the body of this death ? He asked 24' 26, who it should be, and straightway it occurred to him, The grace of God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Of this grace of
God the Prophet speaketh to our Lord Jesus Christ, Thou hast turned away the captivity of Jacob. Attend to the captivity
of Jacob, attend, and see that it is this: Tbou hast turned
away our captivity, not by setting us free from the barbarians,
with whom we had not met, but by setting us free from bad works, from our sins, by which Satan held sway over us.
For if any one has been set free from his sins, the prince of sinners hath not whence he may hold sway over him.
5. For how did He turn away the captivity of Jacob? See, how that that setting free is spiritual, see how that it is done inwardly. (Ver. 2. ) Thou hast forgiven, he saith, the iniquity
ness. What then is that captivity from which we desire to be set free ? For none of us, I suppose, is now among the barbarians, nor has any armed nation rushed upon us and led us captive. But I am now pointing out another captivity, in which we groan, and from which we desire to be set free. Let the Apostle Paul proceed, let him tell of it : let him be our mirror, let him speak, and let us see ourselves there : for there is no one but may recogInise himself there. That
blessed Apostle then saith : For
delight in the law God of
see another law in my members warring
am, Eom.
7,
170 Covering of sin and turning away of God's wrath.
Psalm of Thy people : Tltou hast covered all their sins. Behold - xv' how He halh turned away their captivity, in that He hath
remitted iniquity : iniquity held them captive; thy iniquity forgiven, thou art freed. Confess therefore that thou art in captivity, that thou mayest be worthy to be freed : for he that knoweth not of his enemy, how can he invoke the liberator ? Thou hast covered all their sins. What is, Thou hast covered ? So as not to see them. How didst Thou not
see them? So as not to take vengeance on them. Thou wast unwilling to see our sins : and therefore sawest Thou them not, because Thou wouldest not see them : Thou hast covered all their sins. (Ver. 3. ) Tliou hast appeased all Thy anger: Thou hast turned Thyselffrom Thy wrathful in dignation.
6. And as these things are said of the future, though the sound of the words is past, it follows: (ver. 4. ) Turn us, 0 God of our salvation. That which he had just related as if it were done, how prayeth he that it may be done, except because he wished to shew that he had spoken as if of the past in prophecy? But that it was not yet done which he had said was done he sheweth by this, that he prayeth that it may be done : Turn us, O God of our salvation, and turn away Thine anger from us. Didst thou not say before,
Thou hast turned away the captivity of Jacob, Thou hast covered all their sins : Thou hast appeased all Thy anger, Thou hast turned Thyselffrom Thy wrathful indignation ? How then now sayest thou, And turn away Thine anger
from us ? The Prophet answereth : These things I speak of as done, because I see them about to be done : but because they are not yet done, I pray that they may come, which 1 have already seen. Turn away Thine angerfrom us.
7. Ver. 5. Be not angry with us for ever. For by the
anger of God we are subject to death, and by the anger of
Gen. 3, God we eat bread on this earth in want, and in the sweat of
1
l Cor. '
our face. This was Adam's sentence when he sinned : and
that Adam was every one of us, for in Adam all die ; the ' sentence passed on him hath taken effect after him on us.
For we were not yet ourselves, but we were in Adam: therefore whatever happened to Adam himself took effect on us also, so that we should die : for we all were in him.
What we have from Adam, what by grace from Christ. 171
For those sins of parents belong not to the children, which Ver. the parents commit after the children are born : for the ------ children being now born belong unto themselves, and the parents belong unto themselves. Therefore those who have
been born, if they keep the evil ways of their parents, must bear also their deserts : but if they have changed themselves, and have not imitated their bad parents, they begin to have a merit of their own, not the merit of their parents. So far as this the sin of thy father hurts thee not, if thou hast changed thyself, even as it would not hurt thy father if he had changed himself. But that which our stock hath received unto its subjection to death, it hath derived from Adam. What hath it so derived ? That frailty of the flesh, this torture of pains, this house of poverty, this chain of death, and snares of temptations ; all these things we carry about
in this flesh; and this is the anger of God, because it is the vengeance of God. But because it was so to be, that we should be regenerated, and by believing should be made
new, and all that mortality was to be removed in our resur rection, and the whole man was to be restored in newness; for 1 Cor. as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive; 16' 22- seeing this the Prophet saith, Be not angry with us for ever,
nor stretch out Thy wrath from one generation to another. The first generation was mortal by Thy wrath : the second generation shall be immortal by Thy mercy.
8. What then? Was this thy own work, O man, that thou deservedst the mercy of God, in that ihou wast con verted unto Him ; and have they who have not been con verted, not found mercy, but wrath ? And what then ? Couldest thou cause that thou shouldest be converted, if thou hadst not been called ?
Was it not He Who called thee when turned away, Who caused that thou shouldest be turned unto Him? Seek not thou to claim even thy con version for thyself, for if He had not called thee when a fugitive, thou couldest not have turned unto Him. There fore the Prophet, ascribing to God the benefit of his con version, prays thus, and says :
Ver. 6. O God, Thou shall turn us again, and make us alice. Not as if we ourselves of our own accord, without Thy mercy, turn unto Thee, and then Thou shalt make us
172 Life and joy not in ourselves but in Christ.
Psalm alive : but, Tliou shall turn us again, and make us alive : lxx*v'so that not only our being made alive is from Thee, but our very conversion that we may be made alive. Thou, O God, shalt turn us again, and make us alive: and Thy people
shall rejoice in Thee. To their own evil they shall rejoice in themselves : to their own good they shall rejoice in Thee. For when they wished to have joy of themselves, they found in themselves woe: but now because God is all our joy, he that will rejoice securely let him rejoice in Him Who cannot perish. For why, my brethren, will ye rejoice in silver? Either thy silver perisheth, or thou : and no one knows which first: yet this is certain, that both shall perish ; which first, is un certain. For neither can man remain here always, nor can silver remain here always : so too gold, so garments, so houses, so money, so broad lands, so, lastly, this light itself. Be not thou willing then to rejoice in these : but rejoice in that light which hath no setting : rejoice in that dawn which
no yesterday precedes, which no to-morrow follows. What
9. Ver. 7. Shew us Thy mercy, O Lord. This is what we 1see ? . 1. have been singing beforehand we have already spoken of the
same. Shew us Thy mercy, O Lord, and grant us Thy salva tion : Thy salvation, that is, Thy Christ. Happy is he unto whom God sheweth His mercy. He it is who cannot in dulge in pride, unto whom God sheweth His mercy. For by shewing him His salvation He persuadeth him that what ever good man has, he hath not but from Him Who is all our good. And when a man has seen that whatever good he has he hath not from himself, but from his God ; he sees that every thing which is praised in him is of the mercy of God, not of his own deserving ; and seeing this, he is not proud j not being proud, he is not lifted up ; not lifting himself up, he falleth not; not falling, he standeth ; standing, he clingeth fast; clinging fast, he abideth; abiding, he enjoyeth, and rejoiceth in the Lord his God. He who made him shall be unto him
/, saith He, am the Light of the world. He
John 8, light is that ?
Who saith unto thee, 1 am the Light ofthe world, calls thee to Himself. When He calls thee, He converts thee : when he converts thee, He healeth thee : when He hath healed thee, thou shalt see thy Converter, unto Whom it is said, And Thy people shall rejoice in Thee.
He is given us now as Man, we hope to see Him as God. 173
a delight : and his delight no one spoileth, no one inter- Ve*. nipteth, no one takelh away. What powerful man will ------
threaten to take it aw ay ? what bad neighbour, what robber,
what plotter taketh
take from thee all what thou hast in the body, he taketh not
away Him Whom thou hast in thy heart. This is that mercy
which I pray may God shew unto us. Shew us Thy mercy,
O Lord, and grant us Thy salvation : grant unto us Thy Christ, for in Him is Thy mercy. Let us too say unto
Him, Grant unto us Thy Christ. Already indeed He hath
given unto us His Christ: yet still let us say unto Him, Grant unto us Thy Christ, for still we say unto Him, Give us Matt. 6, this day our daily bread. And who is our bread, but He11- Himself Who said, / am the living bread which came down John 6,
from heaven. Let us say unto Him, Give unto us Thy41- Christ. He hath indeed already given unto us Christ, but as Man ; Him Whom He hath given unto us as Man, He will give unto us as God. To men He gave Man: such He gave
to men as men could receive ; for as God no man could receive Christ. He became Man unto men, He reserved
Himself as God for gods '. Have I spoken arrogantly? Arro- 1 diis. gantly indeed, if He had not Himself said, / said, Ye areps. 82, gods, and ye are all the children of the Highest. We are Jonnl0 renewed even unto adoption, so as to be made sons of God. 34. Already indeed we are so, but by faith ; we are so in hope,
we are not yet such in reality. For by hope we are saved, Bom- 8, as saith the Apostle. But hope that is seen is not hope: for
what a man seeth, how doth he hope for? But if we hope
away God from thee ?
Though he can
for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it. What do we with patience wait for, except to see what we believe ? For now we believe what we see not: by abiding in that which believing we see not, we shall deserve to see that which we believe.
Therefore, what saith John in his Epistle ? Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth i John
not yet appear what we shall be. Who would not rejoice, if ' suddenly while he was wandering abroad, ignorant of his descent, suffering want, and in a state of misery and toil, it were announced, Thou art the son of a senator:
thy father enjoys an ample patrimony on your family estate ; I bid thee return to thy father : how would he rejoice, if this were
174 The Beatific Vision is of the Son as well as the Father.
Psalm said to him by some one whose promise he could trust ? One lxxxV- whom we can trust, an Apostle of Christ, hath come and said to us, What is the reason that ye despair of yourselves ? why do ye afflict yourselves, and wear yourselves down with grief;
why do ye choose, following your own desires, to suffer grief in want of those other joys ? Ye have a father, ye have a country, ye have an inheritance. Who is that father ?
1 John Beloved, we are the sons of God. Wherefore then see we 3'2- not yet our Father? Because it hath not yet appeared what we shall be. We are that now, but in hope : for what we
shall be hath not yet appeared. And what shall we be?
We know, saith he, that when He shall appear, we shall be
like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. But hath he said this
of the Father, and not of the Son our Lord Jesus Christ ? and
shall we then be blessed in seeing the Father, not the Son ?
JohnU, Hear Christ Himself: He that hath seen Me hath seen the
H'
Father. For when the One God is seen, the Trinity is seen, the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Hear more expressly that the vision of the Son Himself shall give unto us blessedness, and that there is no difference between the vision of Him and the vision of the Father. He Himself
John 14, saith in the Gospel: He that loeeth Me keepeth My com-
I will love him, and will him. He spoke unto them, and said,
2l-
Act>> 16, it was said of the Lord, Purifying their hearts by faith: Matt. 6, and the Lord said, Blessed are the pure in heart, for they
*?
Mss.
mauds, and
manifest
Myself unlo
I will
unto him. Wherefore? was it not the same Person Who
was speaking ? but flesh could see flesh ; the heart did not yet the Deity. For this cause did flesh see flesh, that by faith the heart might be cleansed that it might see God. For
shall see God. Therefore He 1 promised us to shew Himself unto us. Think, my brethren, what His beauty is. All tnose beautiful things which ye sep, which ye love, He
fore"6
He has' made. If these are beautiful, what is He Himself? If these
are great, how great is He ? Therefore from these things which we love here, let us the more long for Him: and despising these things, let us love Him : that by that very love we may by faith purify our hearts, and His vision, when it cometh, may find our heart purified. The light which shall be shewn unto us ought to find us whole: this is the work
manifest
Myself
God's voice ofpeace. The conflict of this Life. 175
of faith now. This is what we have spoken here: And grant Ver- ms Thy salvation : grant us Thy Christ, that we may know ----'-- Thy Christ, see Thy Christ ; not as the Jews saw Him and crucified Him, but as the Angels see Him, and rejoice.
10. Ver. 8, 9. Iwillhearken what the Lord God shall speak
in me. The Prophet spoke : God spoke within in him, and
the world made a noise without. Therefore, retiring for a little
from the noise of the world, and turning himself back upon himself, and from himself upon Him Whose voice he heard within ; sealing up his ears, as it were, against the tumultuous disquietude of this life, and against the soul weighed down by
the corruptible body, and against the imagination, that through
the earthly tabernacle pressing down1, thinketh on many'Oxf. things, he saith,I will hearken what the Lord God speaketh}^^. in me; and he heard, what? For He shall speak peace ^. njje-g unto His people. The voice of Christ, then, the voice of 16. God, is peace: it calleth unto peace. Ho! it saith, who
soever are not yet in peace, love ye peace : for what can ye
find better from Me than peace ? What is peace ? Where
there is no war. What is this, where there is no war ? Where there is no contradiction, where there is no resistance, nothing to oppose. Consider if we are yet there: consider if
there is not now a conflict with the devil, if all the saints and
faithful ones wrestle not with the prince of daemons. And how do they wrestle with him whom they see not ? They wrestle with their own desires, by which he suggests unto them sins : and by not consenting to what he suggests, though they are not conquered, yet they fight. Therefore there is not yet peace where there is fighting. Or give me a man who suffers no temptation in his flesh, so that he can say to me, that he now has peace. Perhaps indeed he suffers no temptations to unlawful pleasures, yet he suffers the mere suggestions: either something is suggested to him which he refuses, or he is pleased with something which he must keep under. But, lo ! nothing unlawful now gives him pleasure ; yet he has to struggle daily against hunger and thirst; for what just man is not exposed to this? Hunger then and thirst fight against us, the weariness of the flesh fights against us, enjoyment of sleep fights against us, oppression fights. We would watch, and we fall asleep:
176 No perfect rest or peace, but in the City of God.
Psalm we would fast, and we hunger and thirst: we would stand, lxxxV. and we fail from fatigue : we wish to sit, yet if we do even this long, we become tired. Whatever we provide for our
refreshment, there again we find weariness. Art thou hungry ? one asks thee : thou answerest, I am. He places food before thee for thy refreshment ; continue thou to use it, for thou hadst need of it; yet in continuing that which thou needest for refreshment, therein findest thou weariness. By long sitting thou wast tired ; thou risest and refreshest thyself by walking ; continue that relief, and by much walk ing thou art wearied ; again thou wouldest sit down. Find me any thing by which thou art refreshed, wherein if thou continue thou dost not again become weary. What peace then is that which men hare here, opposed by so many troubles, desires, wants, wearinesses ? This is no true, no
iCor. 16, perfect peace. What will be perfect peace? This corruptible 53 55. must pUf on incorTUpH0ny and this mortal must put on im
mortality; then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. 0 death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy struggle? For where there is as yet mortality, how can there be full peace ? It is from death that weariness cometh, which we find in all our pleasures. From death it is, since we carry a mortal body : which indeed the Apostle calls dead, even before its separation
Rom. 8, from the soul: The body, saith he, is dead because of tin. For if thou persevere in that by which thou art refreshed, thou wilt even die. Persevere in eating much ; this itself will kill thee : persevere in fasting much, by this thou wilt die : sit continually, being resolved not to rise up, by this thou wilt die : be always walking so as never to take rest, by this thou wilt die; watch continually, taking no sleep, by this thou wilt die; sleep continually, never watching, thus loo thou wilt die. When therefore death shall be swallowed up in victory, these things shall no longer be: there will be full and eternal peace. We shall be in a City, of which, brethren, when I speak I find it hard to leave off, especially when offences wax common. Who would not long for that City whence no friend goeth out, whither no enemy entereth, where is no tempter, no seditious person, no one dividing God's people, no one
The peace of God. None truly fear Him in vain. 177
wearying the Church in the service of the devil ; since the Ver. prince himself of all such is cast into eternal fire, and wilh
him those who consent unto him, and who have no will to
retire from him ? There shall be peace made pure in the
sons of God, all loving one another, seeing one another full
of God, since God shall be all in all. We shall have God 1 Cor.
as our common object of vision, God as our common
pos- 19, 28- session, God as our common peace. For whatever there is
which He now giveth unto us, He Himself shall be unto us
instead of His gifts; this will be full and perfect
This He speaketh unto His people : this it was which he
would hearken unto who said,
Lord God will say unto me : for He shall speak peace unto His people, and to His saints, and unto those who turn their hearts unto Him. Lo, my brethren, do ye wish that unto you should belong that peace which God uttereth ? Turn your heart unto Him: not unto me, or unto that one, or unto any man. For whatever man would turn unto himself the hearts of men, he falleth with them. Which is better, that thou fall with him unto whom thou turnest thyself, or that ihou stand with Him with Whom thou turnest thyself? Our
joy, our peace, our rest, the end of all troubles, is none but God : blessed are they that turn their hearts unto Him.
1 1. Ver. 9. Nevertheless, His salvation is nigh them that fear Him. There were some even then who feared Him in the Jewish people. Every where throughout the earth idols were worshipped: devils were feared, not God: in that nation God was feared. But why was He feared ? In the Old Testament He was feared, lest He should give them up to lest He should take away their land from them, lest He should destroy their vines with hail, lest He should make their wives barren, lest He should take away their
children from them. For these carnal promises of God captivated their minds, which as yet were of small growth, and for these things God was feared : but He was near unto them who even for these things feared Him. The Pagan prayed for land to the devil : the Jew prayed for land to God: it was the same thing which they prayed for, but not the same to whom they prayed. The latter, though seeking what the Pagan sought, yet was distinguished from the
VOL. IV. N
captivity,
/ will hearken what the
peace.
178 Nearness to God. Glory in the Land of Israel.
Psalm Pagan ; for He sought it of Him Who had made all *-"xv- things. And God, Who was far 1 from the Gentiles, was 'Oxf. near1 unto them : yet He had regard even to those who were
'near,' afar off, and to those who were near, as the Apostle said: eTT' ^n(* ^e came (ind preached peace to you who were afar off, 17. ' and to them that were near. Whom did He mean by those >>Oxf. near? The Jews, because they* worshipped one God.
Whom by those who were afar off? The Gentiles, because they had left Him by Whom they were made, and worshipped things which themselves had made. For it is not in space that any one is far from God, but in affections. Thou lovest God, thou art near unto Him. Thou hatest God, thou art far off. Thou art standing in the same place, both while thou art near and far off. This it was, my brethren, which the Prophet had regard to : although he saw the mercy of God extending over all, yet he saw something especial and peculiar shewn toward the Jews, and he saith, Nevertheless, Iwill hearken what the Lord God shall say unto me : for He shall speak peace unto His people ; and His people shall be, not Judaea only, but it shall be gathered together out of all nations : For he shall speak peace unto His Saints, and to those who turn their hearts unto Him, and to all who shall turn their hearts unto Him from the whole world. Never theless, His salvation shall be nigh them that fear Him, that glory may dwell in our land: that is, in that land in which the Prophet was born, greater glory shall dwell, because
Christ began to be preached from thence. Thence were the Apostles, and thither first they were sent ; from thence were the Prophets, there first was the Temple, there sacrifice was made to God, there were the Patriarchs, there He Himself came of the seed of Abraham, there Christ was manifested, there Christ appeared ; for from thence was the Virgin Mary
who bore Christ. There He walked with His feet, there He worked miracles. Thirdly, He ascribed so great honour to that nation, that when a certain Canaanitish woman inter
Him, I for the He rupted praying healing of her daughter,
Mat. 16, said unto her, of am not sent but unto the lost sheep the
24, house of Israel. Seeing this, the Prophet saith, Neverthe less, His salvation is nigh them that fear Him, that glory may dwell in our land.
'who. '
Peace may not be had apart from Righteousness. 179
12.
