Psalms 73

Let us come also, if you wish, to the circumcision of lips. I think that he would be "uncircumcised in lips" who has not yet ceased from silly talk, from obscene language, who disparages good people, who slanders his neighbors, who instigates quarrels, who promotes false accusations, who sets brothers against themselves by making false statements, who utters vain words, inept words, profane words, shameless words, filthy words, injurious words, wanton words, blasphemous words, and other words that are unworthy of a Christian. But if anyone curbs his mouth from all these things and "orders his words with judgment," if he restrains verbosity, governs his tongue, keeps his words in due bounds, that person deservedly is said to be circumcised in lips. But also those "who speak iniquity on high and stretch out their tongue against heaven," as the heretics do, are to be called uncircumcised and unclean in their lips. But he is circumcised and clean who always speaks the word of God and brings forward sound doctrine fortified with evangelic and apostolic norms. In this way, therefore, also circumcision of lips is given in the church of God.

If someone speaks like this: "If ever someone is deceived or snatched away in one of these [abysses], is he already lost and has he no longer repentance," I will tell him that a person who has repentance and a true understanding regarding the faith and God's commandments, with a zeal for this, even if he comes close to falling through negligence, yet the Lord will not let him be lost altogether. As it is written, "My feet were on the point of stumbling." He shows him his grace through the scourge of a sickness or a grief or the shame of his offense, so that becoming conscious [of his negligence] he may walk in the middle of the narrow path until he arrives and may not wander a single foot off, because the path is four cubits wide. He who wanders off is like Judas, who after receiving great benevolence from the Lord and seeing great signs—even the resurrection of the dead—"having the purse," was not aware of grace. Because of this he was completely lost through love of money and betrayal. But the good, although as people with free will they may somehow have neglected what is fitting, are still "refined through fire like silver" casting away rust. This is why blessed David says, "I, in the abundance of your mercy, will enter your house." If he says this, how much more we wretches!

And therefore I conferred with my heart and I said to myself, "if I will speak thus, that I have justified my heart in vain," and the voice of God replied to me and said, "Behold the generation of your children, to which I have made distribution." This means: Behold, you find in the Scriptures, O you son of Adam, that I have made distribution to the generation of your children, that wealth may be granted to the wicked simply by chance and not from some merit. Neither are the rewards of virtue the profits of a treasury, just as poverty … is not a punishment for sin. But such things come without distinction, for they roll along on a kind of flow of life that is like a river.

Therefore the holy man says, "For what awaits me in heaven? And besides you what do I desire on earth?" This means: You are my portion, you are abundant to me for all things, I have sought nothing but that I might possess you as my share, I have not made myself subject to any creature in the heavens, as the Gentiles do, and I have desired none of the wealth and enticing pleasures of this world. I have no want, for I have been taken up by you, and there is nothing further for me to seek in the heavenly bodies. Possessing nothing, I possess all things, because I possess Christ, and him the Father on high "has not spared, but he has delivered him for us all; how has he not, then, given us all things with him?" even as the apostle said. For all things are in Christ, through whom are all things and in whom all things hold together. Therefore, possessing all things in him, I seek no other reward, because he is the reward of all. And so, Christ said to him that was made perfect, "Take up your cross and follow me." For one who follows him is not led to perfection by the reward, but by perfection he is made perfect for the reward. For the imitators of Christ are not good by reason of hope but for their love of virtue; for Christ is good by nature, not by reason of a desire for a reward. And, therefore, he suffered because it pleased him to do good, and not because he sought an increase of glory from his passion. Thus one who desires to imitate him does not do what is for his own advantage but what is for the advantage of others. It is not without reason, therefore, that he fails for himself, while for others he grows strong by the increase of virtue.

For this reason David says, as if visited by him," "You have held my right hand, and in your will you have conducted me and have taken me up with glory." This is the text we have received, and it is in accord with the Greek, for the Greek said, ekratēsas tēs cheiros, that is, "you have held the hand," tēs dexias mou, "my right hand." A person receives good guidance when God takes hold of his right hand with his own hand. Such a one can say, "The Lord is at my right hand, that I be not moved." Had Adam chosen to have the Lord at his right hand, he would not have been deceived by the serpent. But because he forgot God's command and fulfilled the will of the serpent, the devil took hold of his hand and made it to reach out to the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, to pluck things that were forbidden. In him, judgment was passed beforehand on all people, and the adversary began to stand by the right hand of every person. From this, there also came that model of the curse against Judas, "And may the devil stand at his right hand." If that curse is severe, that blessing, whereby the bonds of the harsh curse are undone, is very momentous. For that reason the Lord Jesus, who had taken up humanity's cause and condition, set the devil at his right hand, just as we read in the book of Zechariah. And so, where the inheritance of Adam stood, there Christ stood. Like a good athlete, he permitted Satan to stand at his right hand so that he could drive him back, and he said, "Be gone, Satan." Consequently, the adversary was cast down from his place and departed; so that the devil may not stand at your right hand, Christ says, "Come, follow me." Therefore, David foresaw the coming of the Lord, who came down from heaven to free us from the power of the adversary, and he said, "The Lord is at my right hand, that I be not moved." But one who had the devil at his right hand was moved. David was justified, then, in saying this also, "You have held my right hand," that is, so that now I cannot sin, so that I can take my stand in a trusty place, while before I was swaying and my step was unsure. How aptly the apostle said this! For the Lord, seeing that he was troubled, stretched out his right hand and did not allow him to falter but steadied him to walk without fear. And on his deliverance, what else did Peter say but these prophetic lines, "You have held my right hand, and in your will you have conducted me and have taken me up with glory"? What is the right hand but the power of the soul in operation? And if it is guided by the will of the Lord, it desires nothing and is in want of nothing; it demands none of the helps or aids of this world.

Such, then, is the first supposition of true knowledge, that things in the world happen by chance. The second is that "on account of the subterfuges you have placed before them" prodigious success, worldly profits and an abundance of riches. Otherwise, they might plead by way of excuse that they had been less devout by reason of want or of some bitter pain or grief and had been driven to the guilt of robbery and to the desire to plunder under compulsion of poverty. For they were enriched with wealth and exalted with honors, not for tranquility of life or the enjoyment of delight but that complaining might be foreclosed and distress piled up.

Hence we should know that the Holy Spirit has condemned those detestable people who hold such views. For what other people does he specifically condemn except the Arians, who say that the Son of God does not experience periods of time and years? For there isn't anything with which that God is not familiar. If, however, Christ is God and Christ is the highest God, then he is God above all things. Notice how outraged the blessed David was with such people who limit the Son of God's knowledge. He says, "They do not share the troubles common to human beings, and they will not be plagued like other people. They are burdened with their pride; they are clothed in iniquity and impiety. Their iniquity is proportionate with their portliness. They extend into the condition of the heart." Without a doubt he condemns those who believe that divine things must be determined from the "condition of the heart." For God is not subject to [any temporal] condition or order because these are things that are peculiar to human beings and according to succeeding generations. But we know that they do not always occur according to some formal plan but more often happen according to some secret and hidden mystery."They have thought," he says, "and they have spoken wickedly and sinfully against God. They have set their mouth against heaven." And so we see that he condemns those who are responsible for impious blasphemy and who claim for themselves the right to arrange the secrets of heaven according to the manner of human nature.

We have seen that rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen. In this world, he reclined at table and feasted elegantly every day, while the poor man Lazarus would gather what fell from his table. When he was in torments in hell, he could not lean back and rest; but with great difficulty he lifted up only his eyes to Abraham, not his whole body, and asked him to send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and to cool his tongue. Therefore "there was no rest to his death nor strength in his affliction." For scourges have no value after death. And so, while David was in this bodily life, he made himself ready for scourges, so that the Lord might receive him as one that had been chastised. Think again, I ask you, on holy Job. He was covered all over with sores, afflicted in all his limbs and filled with pain over his entire body. He dissolved clods of earth with the corrupt matter and the liquid from his wounds, and since he could not rest in this body, he found death a repose. And so, thinking of his own case, he said, "Death is a repose for a person." He, therefore, was not moved in his affliction, nor did he totter in the morass of his own speech, for "in all those things, he did not sin with his lips," even as Scripture testifies. Rather, he found strength in his affliction, through which he was strengthened in Christ. And thus both Job and David, because they were scourged here, had strength in their afflictions, because "the father scourges the son whom he receives." But those who are not scourged here are not received as sons there. And there "they are not in the toils of people and they shall not be scourged with people," so that they may be scourged forever with the devil.

Therefore those who were in sin said, "How has God known? And is there all knowledge in the most High?" Indeed, they suppose that knowledge is not in God, because sinners abound in worldly prosperity. And the Scripture still represents such individuals as saying, "Behold, these are sinners, and abounding in the world they have obtained riches." You find this more clearly portrayed in the Gospel where Simon the Pharisee, seeing that the sinful woman had come into his house and had poured ointment over Christ's feet, said to himself, "This man, were he a prophet, would surely know who and what manner of woman this is who is touching him, for she is a sinner." But God's patience is not prejudicial to truth, while his foreknowledge and providence are proved even more by this very fact, that one who is in sin abounds in worldly prosperity and success. Seeing this, one who is stronger laughs, but one who is incautious is moved and led astray.

"How good is God to Israel, to them that are right in heart!" Growth in moral perfection is evident as a theme from the beginning of the psalm. Indeed, no one can truly proclaim that God is good but one who knows that goodness is not from his own successes and profits but out of the depth of the heavenly mysteries and the height of God's plan. For it is to be weighed not by the appearance of things present but by the advantage of things to come. Consequently, to the just person God is always good. Whether tormented by bodily pain or overwhelmed by bitter punishments, he always says, "If we have received good things from the hand of the Lord, why do we not bear up under those that are evil?" He rejoices that he is being chastised here, so that he may gain consolation for the future; he knows that one who has received good things in this life has his reward. The person who has not struggled or been tried in the combat of various contests will not be able to hope for future rewards.

And the psalmist says, appropriately, "My heart and my flesh have failed, God of my heart." Indeed, abiding things cannot follow unless earthly things have failed. Therefore the flesh falls when fleshly things are put to death. And those who bear about in their flesh the dying of Jesus Christ also fail, for the death of Christ works in them so that every enticement to sin dies. From this it is inferred that the human heart fails when evil thoughts, which proceed from the heart, are put to death. Thus forgetfulness may hide all earthly things, and, for those who are blessed with a clean heart and deserve to see God, there may come the God of their heart that they may draw near to you and not separate themselves. For God, who is near, does not drive back those who draw near to him; he wishes to be for all people a cause of salvation and not of death. Indeed, he rejects no one except one who has decided to remove himself from his sight.

"Therefore their pride has gripped them; they are covered with their iniquity and their wickedness." Iniquity affords a bad covering, and if anyone wishes to hold it over us, we ought to remove it; else he may begin to come into judgment with us. And if anyone tries to carry off our spiritual tunic that we have received, remove the cloak of iniquity and take up the covering of faith and of patience, with which David covered himself in fasting, so that he would not lose the garment of virtue. Fasting is itself a covering. Indeed, unless a sober fasting had served to cover the holy Joseph, he would have been stripped by the wanton adulteress. Had Adam chosen to cover himself with that fasting, he would not have been made naked. But because he tasted of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil contrary to heaven's prohibition and violated the fast imposed on him by taking the food of incontinence, he knew that he was naked. Had he fasted, he would have kept the clothing of faith and would not have beheld himself uncovered. Let us not, therefore, clothe ourselves with iniquity and wickedness; else it may be said about one of us, "He clothed himself in cursing." Adam clothed himself badly; while he searched for coverings of leaves, he received the sentence of a curse. The Jews clothed themselves with a curse, for in regard to them it is written, "Their injustice will go forth as from fat; it has passed into the condition of their heart." For from "fat" is derived "fatty," that is, "rich." For just as a soul that is fed on good things and stuffed with virtues is filled "as with fat and richness," as it is written, so iniquity, which proceeds, as it were, from fat, is not symbolized as thin and poor but as filled with vices. In fact, they did not fall into error by some chance misstep but passed into sacrilege by plan and intent.

Indeed, in what follows, David describes his own experience when he says, "But my feet were almost moved, my steps had well nigh slipped, for I was envious in the case of sinners, when I saw the peace of sinners." He is surely not speaking of bodily feet and bodily steps but of the uprightness of the heart and of the step concerning which he says in another passage, "Let not the foot of pride come to me and let not the hand of sinners move me." And so, we ought always to ask that the Lord may direct the footsteps of our spirits. Else they may fall, slip in a kind of morass of error and be unable to maintain their firm hold. Moreover, the reason for David's fall is that he emulated the peace of sinners. But we ought to emulate what is good, not what is filled with shame, even as the apostle Paul also put it when he said, "to emulate the good is always a good thing."

Therefore, in regard to the latter, David also says, "They have ceased to be and have perished by reason of their iniquity as the dream of one that wakes up." This means: The wicked cease to be, and they disappear as a dream does when one first wakes up from sleep, "because they are in darkness and have walked in darkness";7 not a trace of their good work remains, but they are like those who see a dream. Now one who dreams, dreams at night, whereas night is in darkness. The children of darkness are deprived of the Sun of justice and the splendor of virtue, for they sleep always and do not keep watch, and of them it is appropriately said, "They have slept their sleep and have found nothing." For indeed, when their souls are separated from the body, and they are, as it were, released from the sleep of the body, they will find nothing, they will possess nothing, and they will lose what they thought they possessed. For although the unwise and foolish person may overflow with riches, he will leave his riches to strangers, and the glory of his house will not descend to hell together with him.

"They have set their mouth against heaven, and their tongue has passed over the earth." We learn the meaning of "to set one's mouth against heaven" from the younger of the two brothers, who returned to his father and said, "Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you." But those who think that freedom to sin is given to them by some inevitability of birth are setting their mouth against heaven. Such people usually spare neither heaven nor earth, that they may believe that people's lives are governed by the course of the stars, as it were. They leave nothing to providence, nothing to good character. And would that they also had returned like that one of the two young men—the good Lord would not have denied them a remedy! And yet, even if they do not wish to be healed, the Lord keeps open the option of a return, so that those in Israel who were driven out by the blindness of their own hearts may come back through the fullness of the church. Thus they may spend the days of their lives, not in emptiness but filled with good works and faith, when the Lord has filled them with his spiritual favor. Learn how they may return. "A partial blindness only has befallen Israel, until the full number of the Gentiles should enter and thus all Israel should be saved." But it was fitting that the mystery be fulfilled, that God should shut up all things in unbelief, that is, that he should refute and convict them. (For when two parties contend, if one is the stronger, it is said, "He has shut up the other.")45 And thus, by his mercy, that people indeed went back among the heirs, so that the world might be made subject to God. But they were led astray by the delusion of their late wickedness, so that they would not believe that God had foreknowledge of things hidden. But that they may be redeemed at some time, the Lord has kept open for them the option of future salvation and has said, "Therefore will my people return here." What is "here"? It is "to me, to my equity and justice, to my worship." "And full days will be procured for them." This you will interpret as follows, that the people who have believed are assuredly redeemed. According to this, even though those who have not believed are not redeemed, still the redemption of the people is granted as a special favor of God.

Subsequent events also go to show how the image of such a person is not found but perishes, since his image is not found in the city of the Lord, that Jerusalem which is above. For the Lord has painted us in his image and likeness, even as he teaches us, saying, "Behold, O Jerusalem, I have painted your walls." If we have acted well, that heavenly image continues in us; if anyone acts badly, this image is destroyed in him that is the image of him who came down from heaven, and there is in him the image of the earthly. On this account also the apostle says, "Even as we have borne the image of the one that is earthly, let us bear also the image of the other that is heavenly." Therefore, the images of good continue to shine forth in that city of God. But if anyone has turned aside to graver sins and has not done penance, his image is destroyed or else cast out even as Adam was cast out and excluded from paradise. But whoever has conducted himself in a holy and honorable fashion enters into that city of God15 and brings in his own image so that it may shine in that city of God. "O Lord, in your city you shall reduce their images to nothing," because those who have clothed themselves with the works of darkness cannot shine in the light. Let us adduce an example from the world. See how the images of good rulers continue in cities, whereas the images of tyrants are destroyed.

"Behold," [the psalmist] says, "people who separate themselves far from you [God] will perish." For every individual either unites or separates himself from your mercy by his deeds. The person who does things he fears will be discovered flees from God, just as the person who is protected by walls or surrounded by darkness thinks he will not be seen by God. On the contrary, he is seen, as it says: "You destroyed everyone who fornicates himself away from you." … And so, whoever does not cling to God but devotes himself to the vain worship of idols separates himself far from the Lord by perverse sacrilege. Whoever is separated from the Lord perishes. Therefore, the saintly person who greatly fears the judgment of God always wants to cling to Christ and to put his hope in him so that he may praise the Lord, to whom belongs honor, glory and infinity from all ages, both now and into all eternity.

Indeed, when we are abandoned by God, we are given over to the devil. When we have been given over to the devil, we are afflicted with countless terrible consequences. Well, then, in order to frighten his hearers the sacred writer said, "He has hardened" and "He has given up." Listen to what he was really saying, when he said that he himself not only does not give us up but does not abandon us, either, unless we wish it: "Have not your iniquities caused a division between me and you?" And again, "They who withdraw from you perish." Furthermore, Hosea declared, "You have forgotten the law of your God; I also will forget you." And he himself said in the Gospels, "How often would I have gathered your children together, but you would not!" Isaiah, also, in another place said, "I came, and there was no one: I called, and there was no one that would hear."

It is good for us to cleave to the Lord, and to put our hope in the Lord God, so that when we have exchanged our present poverty for the kingdom of heaven, we may be able to exclaim, "Whom have I in heaven but you? and there is none upon earth that I desire beside you." Surely if we can find such blessedness in heaven we may well grieve to have sought after poor and passing pleasures here on earth.

A cleric, then, as he serves Christ's church, must first understand what his name means; and then, when he realizes this, must endeavor to be that which he is called. For since the Greek word klēros means "lot," or "inheritance," the clergy are so called either because they are the lot of the Lord, or else because the Lord himself is their lot and portion. Now, he who in his own person is the Lord's portion, or has the Lord for his portion, must so bear himself as to possess the Lord and to be possessed by him. He who possesses the Lord and who says with the prophet, "The Lord is my portion," can hold to nothing beside the Lord. For if he holds to something beside the Lord, the Lord will not be his portion. Suppose, for instance, that he holds to gold or silver, or possessions or inlaid furniture; with such portions as these the Lord will not deign to be his portion. I, if I am the portion of the Lord, and the line of his heritage, receive no portion among the remaining tribes; but, like the priest and the Levite, "I live on the tithe," and serving the altar, am supported by its offerings. "Having food and raiment, I shall be content with these" and as a disciple of the cross shall share its poverty. I beseech you, therefore, and again and yet again admonish you;41 do not look to your military experience for a standard of clerical obligation. Do not seek worldly gain through service to Christ, so that, if you should be better off than when you first became clergy, you will not hear people say to your disgrace, "Their portion shall not profit them." Welcome poor people and strangers to dine with you so that with them Christ may become your guest. Avoid as you would a plague a cleric who engages in business and who rises from poverty to wealth and from obscurity to a high position. For "bad company corrupts good character." You despise gold; he loves it. You avoid wealth; he eagerly pursues it. You love silence, meekness, privacy; he takes delight in talking and insolence, in [town] squares and streets and apothecaries' shops. What unity of feeling can there be where there is so wide a divergence of character?

But because he later recognized, as he says in the same psalm: I strove to understand, and he added: This was an oppressive task to me, why the wicked are happy, this was an oppressive task to me, he says, until I entered the sanctuary of God and understood their final destiny, because to the wicked, happiness is given for a time, but eternal punishment is reserved at the end. When he understood this, he became upright in heart and began to praise God in all things, and in the sufferings of the pious, and in the very happiness of the impious, perceiving that God is a just rewarder at the end, now giving some temporal happiness to whom He reserves eternal unhappiness at the end, and some pious ones undergoing present unhappiness to whom He again reserves eternal happiness; and it is fitting for the fortunes to change, as in the case of that rich man who feasted splendidly every day, and that poor man full of sores lying at the rich man's gate, desiring to be fed with what fell from the rich man's table. But when both had died, the rich man began to be in torment in hell, while the poor man rested in Abraham's bosom. And when it seemed unworthy to the rich man, and he wanted a drop of water from Lazarus' finger to be dropped on him, reciprocally desiring a drop from the finger of him from whose table he had desired a crumb, he heard from Abraham the sentence of the just God: Son, remember that you received good things in your lifetime, and Lazarus bad things; but now he is comforted here and you are in anguish. He, who once did not think God was good because he envied the peace of the sinners, upon entering the sanctuary of God directed his gaze to these final things. And recognizing God's true and just judgment, which indeed operates now but secretly, to be revealed in the end in manifestation, and as if straightening his own crooked heart, brought near as it were by the rule of God's justice by which a tortuous heart would be corrected, he burst forth in this voice and said: How good is God to Israel, to those who are upright in heart! Now I understand the good, because I have become upright in heart. But before, He did not seem good to me, because my feet slipped: For I was envious of the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.

"How have they become a desolation suddenly?" (ver. 19). He is wondering at them, understanding unto the last things. "They have vanished." Truly like smoke, which while it mounteth upward, doth vanish, so they have vanished. How doth he say, "They have vanished"? In the manner of one who understandeth the last things: "they have perished because of their iniquity."

"Because my heart was delighted" (ver. 21). He is saying with what things he is tempted: "because my heart was delighted," he saith, "my reins also were changed." When those temporal things delighted me, my reins were changed. It may also be understood thus: "because my heart was delighted" in God, "my reins also were changed," that is, my lusts were changed, and I became wholly chaste. "My reins were changed." And hear how. "And I was brought unto nothing, and I knew not" (ver. 22). I, the very man, who now say these things of rich men, once longed for such things: therefore "even I was brought to nothing" when my steps were almost overthrown. "And I was brought unto nothing, and I knew not." We must not therefore despair even of them, against whom I was saying such things.

"They have thought and have spoken spitefulness" (ver. 8). But men do speak spitefulness even with fear: but these men how? "Iniquity on high they have spoken." Not only they have spoken iniquity; but even openly, in the hearing of all, proudly; "I will do it;" "I will show you;" "thou shalt know with whom thou hast to do;" "I will not let thee live." Thou mightest have but thought such things, not have given utterance to them! Within the chambers of thought at least the evil desire might have been confined, he might have at least restrained it within his thought. Why? Is he perchance lean? "There shall go forth as if out of fatness the iniquity of them." "Iniquity on high they have spoken."

And he is beginning to think of that same Heavenly felicity, and to reprove himself, because he has been a beast, and has longed for things earthly. "For what have I in Heaven, and from You what have I willed upon earth?" [Psalm 73:25]. By your voice I see that you have understood. He compared with his earthly will the heavenly reward which he is to receive; he saw what was there being reserved for him; and while thinking and burning at the thought of some ineffable thing, which neither eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor into the heart of man has ascended, [1 Corinthians 2:9] he has not said, this or that I have in Heaven, but, "what have I in Heaven?" What is that thing which I have in Heaven? What is it? How great is it? Of what sort is it? "And," since that which I have in heaven does not pass away, "from You what have I willed upon earth?". . You reserve, he says, for me in Heaven riches immortal, even Yourself, and I have willed from You on earth that which even ungodly men have, which even evil men have, which even abandoned men have, money, gold, silver, jewels, households, which even many wicked men have: which even many profligate women have, many profligate men: these things as a great matter I have desired of my God upon earth: though my God reserves Himself for me in Heaven!

"In the labours of men they are not, and with men they shall not be scourged" [Psalm 73:5]. Does not even the devil himself escape scourging with men, for whom nevertheless an eternal punishment is being prepared?

What is, "I knew not"? "As it were a beast I became to You, and I am always with You" [Psalm 73:23]. There is a great difference between this man and others. He became as it were a beast in longing for earthly things, when being brought to nothing he knew not things eternal: but he departed not from his God, because he did not desire these things of demons, of the devil. For this I have already brought to your notice. The voice is from the Synagogue, that is, from that people which served not idols. A beast indeed I became, when desiring from my God things earthly: but I never departed from That my God.

But what to you? "But my feet were almost moved" [Psalm 73:2]. When were the feet moved, except when the heart was not right? Whence was the heart not right? Hear: "My steps were well near overthrown." What he has meant by "almost," the same he has meant by "well near:" and what he has meant by "my feet were almost moved," the same he has meant by "my steps were overthrown." Almost my feet were moved, almost my steps were overthrown. Moved were the feet: but whence were the feet moved and the steps overthrown? Moved were the feet to going astray, overthrown were the steps to falling: not entirely, but "almost." But what is this? Already I was going to stray, I had not gone: already I was falling, I had not fallen.

It was in this way, you see, that the psalmist whose feet were shaken blamed himself, because he had started to find fault with God and was already on the point of doing so; but he was almost on the point of it; he was not quite there yet. He did not deny that God knew, but he staggered, as if his feet were shaken. What does it mean to stagger? To doubt. When he blamed himself, though, for not having an upright heart, what did he say? "Why were my feet disturbed? Because I was envious, he said, of sinners, seeing the peace of sinners. Because I saw that the wicked were rich, I envied them; and I said I have lost out on justice, and for no reason have I made my heart just, and washed my hands among the innocent. And while I am in doubt, this is how I have begun to understand.""This is how I have begun," he says, "to understand this; there is toil ahead of me." Great toil, to solve this problem. It really is hard labor. All is well with that one, and he is a bad man; all goes badly with this one, and he is a good man; and over them both is God the judge. So the just judge is giving good things to bad people, bad things to good people. "There is toil ahead of me." But for how long is the toil there? "Until I enter into the sanctuary of God and understand about the last things." So if you understand about the last things, you will enjoy the quiet rest of discovery, the toil of inquiry will be over and done with.

Wherefore on this account what do these men, while they are not scourged, while they labour not with men? "Therefore," he saith "there hath holden them pride" (ver. 6). Observe these men, proud, undisciplined; observe the bull, devoted for a victim, suffered to stray at liberty; and to damage whatever he may, even up to the day of his slaughter. Now it is a good thing, brethren, that we should hear in the very words of a prophet of this bull as it were, whereof I have spoken. For thus of him the Scripture doth make mention in another place: he saith that they are, as it were, made ready as for a victim, and that they are spared for an evil liberty. "Therefore," he saith, "there hath holden them pride." What is, "there hath holden them pride"? "They have been clothed about with their iniquity and ungodliness." He hath not said, covered; but, "clothed about," on all sides covered up with their ungodliness. Deservedly miserable, they neither see nor are seen, because they are clothed about; and the inward parts of them are not seen. For whosoever could behold the inward parts of evil men, that are as it were happy for a time, whosoever could see their torturing consciences, whosoever could examine their souls racked with such mighty perturbations of desires and fears, would see them to be miserable even when they are called happy. But because "they are clothed about with their iniquity and ungodliness," they see not; but neither are they seen. The Spirit knew them, that saith these words concerning them: and we ought to examine such men with the same eye as that wherewith we know that we see, if there is taken from our eyes the covering of ungodliness. ...

"Therefore there shall return hither My people" [Psalm 73:10]. Now Asaph himself is returning hither. For he saw these things abound to unrighteous men, he saw them abound to proud men: he is returning to God, and is beginning to inquire and discuss. But when? "When full days shall be found in them." What is "full days"? "But when there came the fullness of time, God sent His Son." [Galatians 4:4] This is the very fullness of time, when He came to teach men that things temporal should be despised, that they should not esteem as a great matter whatever object evil men covet, that they should suffer whatever evil men fear. He became the way, He recalled us to inward thought, admonished us of what should be sought of God. And see from what thought reacting upon itself, and in a manner recalling the waves of its impulse, he does pass over unto choosing true things.

But thou doest what? "But for me to cleave to God is a good thing" (ver. 28). This is whole good. Will ye have more? I grieve at your willing. Brethren, what will ye have more? Than to cleave to God nothing is better, when we shall see Him face to face. But now what? For yet as a stranger I am speaking: "to cleave," he saith, "to God is a good thing:" but now in my sojourning (for not yet hath come the substance), I have "to put in God my hope." So long therefore as thou hast not yet cloven, therein put thy hope. Thou art wavering, cast forward an anchor to the land. Not yet dost thou cleave by presence, cleave fast by hope. "To put in God my hope." And by doing what here wilt thou put in God thy hope? What will be thy business, but to praise Him whom thou lovest, and to make others to be fellow-lovers of Him with thee? Lo, if thou shouldest love a charioteer, wouldest thou not carry along other men to love him with thee? A lover of a charioteer whithersoever he goeth doth speak of him, in order that as well as he others also may love him. For nought are loved abandoned men, and from God is reward required in order that He may be loved? Love thou God for nought, grudge God to no one. ...For what followeth? "In order that I may tell forth all Thy praises in the courts of the daughter of Sion." "In the courts:" for the preaching of God beside the Church is vain. A small thing it is to praise God and to tell forth all His praise. In the courts of the daughter of Sion tell thou forth. Make for unity, do not divide the people; but draw them unto one, and make them one. I have forgotten how long I have been speaking. Now the Psalm being ended, even judging by this closeness, I suppose I have held a long discourse: but it doth not suffice for your zeal; ye are too impetuous. O that with this impetuosity ye would seize upon the kingdom of Heaven.

Why does he not see God? Because he has not Love itself. That he does not see God, is, because he has not love: that he has not love, is, because he loves not his brother. The reason then why he does not see God, is, that he has not Love. For if he have Love, he sees God, for "Love is God:" and that eye is becoming more and more purged by love, to see that Unchangeable Substance, in the presence of which he shall always rejoice, which he shall enjoy to everlasting, when he is joined with the angels. Only, let him run now, that he may at last have gladness in his own country. Let him not love his pilgrimage, not love the way: let all be bitter save Him that calleth us, until we hold Him fast, and say what is said in the Psalm: "Thou hast destroyed all that go a-whoring from Thee" -and who are they that go a-whoring? they that go away and love the world: but what shall thou do? he goes on and says: "but for me it is good to cleave to God." All my good is, to cling unto God, freely. For if thou question him and say, For what dost thou cling to Him? and he should say, That He may give me-Give thee what? It is He that made the heaven, He that made the earth: what shall He give thee? Already thou art cleaving to Him: find something better, and He shall give it thee.

By what order, therefore, we can have true love and true charity, the Lord Himself told us in the Gospel and clearly showed. For He thus said: You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength; and your neighbor as yourself. Therefore, first love God, then love yourself; after this love your neighbor as yourself: for if you do not know how to love yourself, how can you truly love your neighbor? Indeed, some men think they love themselves rightly when they seize other people's goods, when they get drunk, when they serve lust, when they acquire unjust gains through various slanders. Let such as these hear the Scripture saying: He who loves iniquity hates his own soul. If, therefore, by loving iniquity you not only do not love yourself, but also hate yourself, how can you love either God or your neighbor? Therefore, if you wish to keep true charity's order, practice justice, love mercy, flee lust; begin to love not only friends but even enemies according to the Lord's commandment. And when you strive with all your heart to keep these faithfully, you can ascend by these virtues as by certain steps, so that you deserve to love God with all your soul and all your strength. And when you come to this blessed perfection, you will consider all the desires of this world as dung, and with the prophet you will be able to say: But it is good for me to cling to God.

Hear the great testimony. The devil is surely the accuser of the saints: and because he does not contend before such a judge whom he can deceive, he cannot speak false accusations against us. He knows before whom he speaks. Therefore, since he cannot speak falsehoods against us, he seeks true things to speak. That is why he tempts, so that he may have something to say. This, therefore, is our adversary, who envies us the kingdom of heaven, who does not want us to be where he himself has been cast down from: "Does Job fear God for nothing?" Hence we are provoked by the adversary so that we may worship God freely, when he, seeking what to accuse us of, thought he had found something significant because he said: "Does Job fear God for nothing?" Not because he had seen his heart, but because he saw his riches. We must be careful not to love God for a reward. For what, will you love God for a reward? What kind of reward is it that God will give you? Whatever else He gives you, it is less than He Himself. You do not worship freely if you worship to receive something from Him. Worship freely, and you will receive Him: for God keeps Himself for you, to enjoy. And if you love what He made, how great is He who made them? If the world is beautiful, how great is the Creator of the world? Therefore, tear your heart from the love of the creature, so that you may adhere to the Creator, and say what is written in the psalm: "But it is good for me to cling to God."

If you recognize that you have received the virtues that you have, and if you return thanks to him from whom you have received them, directing them to his service even in your secular office; if you rouse the people subject to your authority and lead them to worship God, both by the example of your own devout life and by your zeal for their welfare, whether you rule them by love or by fear; if, in working for their greater security, you have no other aim than that they should thus attain to him who will be their happiness—then yours will be true virtues, then they will be increased by the help of him whose bounty lavished them on you, and they will be so perfected as to lead you without fail to that truly happy life that is none other than eternal life. In that life, evil will no longer have to be distinguished from good by the virtue of prudence, because there will be no evil there; adversity will not have to be borne with fortitude, because there will be nothing there but what we love; temperance will not be needed to curb our passions, because there will be no enticements to passion there; nor shall we have to practice justice by helping the poor out of our abundance, for there we shall find no poor and no needy. There will be but one virtue there, and it will be the same as the reward of virtue, which the speaker in the sacred writings mentions as the object of his love: "But it is good for me to stick close to my God." This will constitute the perfect and eternal wisdom, as it will constitute the truly happy life, because to attain it is to attain the eternal and supreme good, and to stick close to God forever is the sum of our good. Let this be called prudence because it will cling most providently to the good that cannot be lost, and fortitude because it will cling most stoutly to the good from which it cannot be parted, and temperance because it will cling most chastely to the good in which there is no corruption, and justice because it will cling most uprightly to the good to which it is deservedly subject.

I will briefly set forth the manner of life according to these virtues, one by one, after I have brought forward, as I promised, passages from the Old Testament parallel to those I have been quoting from the New Testament. For is Paul alone in saying that we should be joined to God so that there should be nothing between to separate us? Does not the prophet say the same most aptly and concisely in the words, "It is good for me to cleave to God?" Does not this one word cleave express all that the apostle says at length about love? And do not the words, It is good, point to the apostle's statement, "All things issue in good to them that love God?" Thus in one clause and in two words the prophet sets forth the power and the fruit of love.

There were philosophers of this age; some believed that there was no happiness unless one lived according to the flesh and placed the good of man in bodily pleasure. These philosophers were called Epicureans, named after a certain Epicurus, their founder and teacher, and others like him. However, there were others, proud as if distancing themselves from the flesh, who placed all their hope of happiness in their soul and placed the highest good in their virtue. The affection of piety recognized the voice of the Psalm in you: you know, you recognize, you have learned how they were mocked in the holy Psalm: "Those who trust in their own strength." Such were the philosophers called Stoics. Those lived according to the flesh, these lived according to the soul, and neither the former nor the latter lived according to God. Therefore, when the Apostle Paul came to the city of the Athenians, where these schools of philosophers flourished with zeal and disputation, as is read in the Acts of the Apostles; where I rejoice that you anticipate our discourse by recognition and reflection, as it is written there: "They conversed with him, certain Epicurean and Stoic philosophers"; they conversed with him, those living according to the flesh, they conversed with him, those living according to the soul, he conversed with them, living according to God. The Epicurean said: "To enjoy the flesh is good for me." The Stoic said: "To enjoy my mind is good for me." The Apostle said: "But for me, to adhere to God is good." The Epicurean said: "Blessed is he whose joy comes from the pleasure of his flesh." The Stoic said: "Rather, blessed is he whose joy comes from the virtue of his soul." The Apostle said: "Blessed is he whose hope is in the name of the Lord." The Epicurean errs: for it is false that a man is blessed whose joy comes from the pleasure of his flesh. The Stoic is also deceived: for it is false, and entirely mendacious, that a man is blessed whose joy comes from the virtue of his soul. Blessed, therefore, is he whose hope is in the name of the Lord. And because they are vain and lie: "And he did not look," he said, "on vanities and false insanities."

To wit, "because of deceitfulness You have set upon them" [Psalm 73:18]. Because deceitful they are, that is fraudulent; because deceitful they are, they suffer deceits. What is this, because fraudulent they are they suffer a fraud? They desire to play a fraud upon mankind in all their naughtinesses, they themselves also suffer a fraud, in choosing earthly good things, and in forsaking the eternal. Therefore, brethren, in their very playing off a fraud they suffer a fraud. In that which but now I said, brethren, "What manner of wit has he who to gain a garment does lose his fidelity?" has he whose garment he has taken suffered a fraud, or he that is smitten with so great a loss? If a garment is more precious than fidelity, the former does suffer the greater loss: but if incomparably good faith does surpass the whole world, the latter shall seem to have sustained the loss of a garment; but to the former is said, "What does it profit a man if he gain the whole world, but suffer the loss of his own soul?" [Matthew 16:26] Therefore what has befallen them? "Because of deceitfulness You have set for them: You threw them down while they were being exalted." He has not said, You threw them down because they were lifted up: not as it were after that they were lifted up You threw them down; but in their very lifting up they were thrown down. For thus to be lifted up is already to fall.

"And I said, therefore without cause I have justified my heart" (ver. 13). In that I serve God, and have not these things; they serve him not, and they abound in these things: "therefore without cause I have justified my heart, and have washed among the innocent my hands." This without cause I have done. Where is the reward of my good life? Where is the wage of my service? I live well and am in need; and the unjust man doth abound. "And I have washed among the innocent my hands."

Indeed, you have there: "Behold, these are the sinners, and they prosper in the world; they have obtained riches. Surely in vain have I justified my heart, and in innocence washed my hands, and been scourged all day long?" I worship God, they blaspheme God. They have happiness, I have calamity. Where is the fairness? Hence the moved feet, hence the nearly slipped steps, hence the near destruction. For see to what danger he came. There he says: "And I said, 'How does God know? Is there knowledge in the Most High?'" See to what danger he came by seeking earthly happiness as a great reward from God.

But why sinners have this, he says briefly: "Because there is no avoidance of their death, and there is a firmament in their scourge" [Psalm 73:4]. Now I have perceived, he says, why they have peace, and flourish on the earth; because of their death there is no avoidance, because death sure and eternal does await them, which neither does avoid them, nor can they avoid it, "because there is no avoidance of their death, and there is a firmament in their scourge." And there is a firmament in their scourge. For their scourge is not temporal, but firm for everlasting. Because of these evil things then which are to be to them eternal, now what?

"And they said, How has God known, and is there knowledge in the Most High?" [Psalm 73:11]. See through what thought they pass. Behold unjust men are happy, God does not care for things human. Does He indeed know what we do? See what things are being said. We are inquiring, brethren, "How has God known," etc. (no longer let Christians say it). For how does it appear to you that God knows not, and that there is no knowledge in the Most High? He replies, "Lo! Themselves they are sinners, and in the world they have gotten abundant riches" [Psalm 73:12]. Both sinners they are, and in the world they have gotten abundant riches. He confessed that he willed not to be a sinner in order that he might have riches. A carnal soul for things visible and earthly would have sold its justice. What sort of justice is that which is retained for the sake of gold, as if gold were a more precious thing than justice herself, or as if when a man denies the deposit of another man's goods, he to whom he denied them should suffer a greater loss, than he that denies them to him. The former does lose a garment, the latter fidelity. "Lo! They are themselves sinners, and in the world they have gotten abundant riches." On this account therefore God knows not, and on this account there is no knowledge in the Most High.

Why, you have it here in so many words: Look, these are sinners, and prospering always; they have become rich. "Is it to no purpose that I set my heart right or washed my hands among the innocent and was scourged every day?" I worship God; they blaspheme God. For them good fortune, for me misfortune. Where is the justice of it? That is why feet were shaken, that is why steps were almost pulled from under, that is why destruction was looming. Yes, just notice please what a dangerous position he had got into. He adds, "And I said, How did God know? Can there be knowledge in the most High?" Notice what a dangerous position he has got into by looking for earthly good fortune from God as though it were of great value.

"And I have been scourged all the day long" [Psalm 73:14]. From me the scourges of God do not depart. I serve well, and I am scourged; he serves not, and is honoured. He has proposed to himself a great question. The soul is disturbed, the soul does pass over things which are to pass away unto despising things earthly and to desiring things eternal. There is a passage of the soul herself in this thought; where she does toss in a sort of tempest she will reach the harbour. And it is with her as it is with sick persons, who are less violently sick, when recovery is far off: when recovery is at hand they are in higher fever; physicians call it the "critical accession" through which they pass to health: greater fever is there, but leading to health: greater heat, but recovery is at hand. So also is this man enfevered. For these are dangerous words, brethren, offensive, and almost blasphemous, "How has God known?" This is why I say, "and almost;" He has not said, God has not known: he has not said, there is no knowledge in the Most High: but as if inquiring, hesitating, doubting. This is the same as he said a little before, "My steps were almost overthrown." He does not affirm it, but the very doubt is dangerous. Through danger he is passing to health. Hear now the health: "Therefore in vain I have justified my heart, and have washed among the innocent my hands: and I have been scourged all the day long, and my chastening was in the morning." Chastening is correction. He that is being chastened is being corrected. What is, "in the morning"? It is not deferred. That of the ungodly is being deferred, mine is not deferred: the former is too late or is not at all; mine is in the morning.

Why, you have it here in so many words: Look, these are sinners, and prospering always; they have become rich. "Is it to no purpose that I set my heart right or washed my hands among the innocent and was scourged every day?" I worship God; they blaspheme God. For them good fortune, for me misfortune. Where is the justice of it? That is why feet were shaken, that is why steps were almost pulled from under, that is why destruction was looming. Yes, just notice please what a dangerous position he had got into. He adds, "And I said, How did God know? Can there be knowledge in the most High?" Notice what a dangerous position he has got into by looking for earthly good fortune from God as though it were of great value.

"How good is the God of Israel!" But to whom? "To men right in heart" (ver. 1). To men perverse what? Perverse He seemeth. So also in another Psalm He saith: "With a holy man holy Thou shalt be, and with the innocent man innocent Thou shalt be, and with the perverse man perverse Thou shalt be." What is, perverse Thou shalt be with the perverse man? Perverse the perverse man shall think Thee. Not that by any means God is made perverse. Far be it: what He is, He is. But in like manner as the sun appeareth mild to one having clear, sound, healthy, strong eyes, but against weak eyes doth dart hard spears, so to say; the former looking at it it doth invigorate, the latter it doth torture, though not being itself changed, but the man being changed: so when thou shalt have begun to be perverse, and to thee God shall seem to be perverse, thou art changed, not He. That therefore to thee will be punishment which to good men is joy. He calling to mind this thing, saith, "How good is the God of Israel to men right in heart!"

But why even this? "For I was jealous," he says, "in the case of sinners, looking on the peace of sinners" [Psalm 73:3]. I observed sinners, I saw them to have peace. What peace? Temporal, transient, falling, and earthly: but yet such as I also was desiring of God. I saw them that served not God to have that which I desired in order that I might serve God: and my feet were moved and my steps were almost overthrown.

It was in this way, you see, that the psalmist whose feet were shaken blamed himself, because he had started to find fault with God and was already on the point of doing so; but he was almost on the point of it; he was not quite there yet. He did not deny that God knew, but he staggered, as if his feet were shaken. What does it mean to stagger? To doubt. When he blamed himself, though, for not having an upright heart, what did he say? "Why were my feet disturbed? Because I was envious, he said, of sinners, seeing the peace of sinners. Because I saw that the wicked were rich, I envied them; and I said I have lost out on justice, and for no reason have I made my heart just, and washed my hands among the innocent. And while I am in doubt, this is how I have begun to understand.""This is how I have begun," he says, "to understand this; there is toil ahead of me." Great toil, to solve this problem. It really is hard labor. All is well with that one, and he is a bad man; all goes badly with this one, and he is a good man; and over them both is God the judge. So the just judge is giving good things to bad people, bad things to good people. "There is toil ahead of me." But for how long is the toil there? "Until I enter into the sanctuary of God and understand about the last things." So if you understand about the last things, you will enjoy the quiet rest of discovery, the toil of inquiry will be over and done with.

"My heart and my flesh has failed, O God of my heart" [Psalm 73:26]. This then for me in Heaven has been reserved, "God of my heart, and my portion is my God." What is it, brethren? Let us find out our riches, let mankind choose their parts. Let us see men torn with diversity of desires: let some choose war-service, some advocacy, some various and sundry offices of teaching, some merchandise, some farming, let them take their portions in human affairs: let the people of God cry, "my portion is my God." Not for a time "my portion;" but "my portion is my God for everlasting." Even if I always have gold, what have I? Even if I did not always have God, how great a good should I have? To this is added, that He promises Himself to me, and He promises that I shall have this for everlasting. So great a thing I have, and never have it not. Great felicity: "my portion is God!" How long? "For everlasting." For behold and see after what sort He has loved him; He has made his heart chaste: "God of my heart, and my portion is God for everlasting." His heart has become chaste, for nought now God is loved, from Him is not sought any other reward. He that does seek any other reward from God, and therefore is willing to serve God, more precious does make that which he wills to receive, than Him from whom he wills to receive. What then, is there no reward belonging to God? None except Himself. The reward belonging to God, is God Himself. This he loves, this he esteems; if any other thing he shall have loved, the love will not be chaste. You are receding from the Fire immortal, you will grow cold, will be corrupted. Do not recede. Recede not, it will be your corruption, it will be your fornication. Now he is returning, now he is repenting, now he is choosing repentance, now he is saying, "my portion is God." And after what sort is he delighted with that Same, whom he has chosen for his portion.

"If I said, I shall declare thus; behold, the generation of Your sons I have reprobated" [Psalm 73:15]: that is, I will teach thus. How will you teach? That there is no knowledge in the Most High, that God does not know? Will you propound this opinion, that without cause men live justly who do live justly; that a just man has lost his service, because God does more show favour to evil men, or else He does care for no one? Will you tell this, declare this? He does restrain himself by an authority repressing him. What authority? A man wishes some time to break out in this sentiment: but he is recalled by the Scriptures directing us always to live well, saying, that God does care for things human, that He makes a distinction between a godly man and an ungodly man. Therefore this man also wishing to put forth this sentiment, does recollect himself. And what says he? "I have reprobated the generation of Your sons." If I shall declare thus, the generation of just men I shall reprobate. As also some copies have it, "Behold, the generation of your sons with which I have been in concert:" that is, with which consisting of Your sons I have been in concert; that is, with which I have agreed, to which I have been conformed: I have been out of time with all, if so I teach. For he does sing in concert who gives the tune together; but he that gives not the tune together does not sing in concert. Am I to say something different from that which Abraham said, from that which Isaac said, from that which Jacob said, from that which the Prophets said? For all they said that God does care for things human, am I to say that He cares not? Is there greater wisdom in me than in them? Greater understanding in me than in them? A most wholesome authority has called back his thought from ungodliness.

"Behold, they that put themselves afar from Thee shall perish" (ver. 27). He therefore departed from God, but not far: for "I have become as it were a beast," he saith, and "I am alway with Thee." But they have departed afar, because not only things earthly they have desired, but have sought them from demons and the Devil. "They that put themselves afar from Thee shall perish." And what is it, to become afar from God? "Thou hast destroyed every man that committeth fornication away from Thee." To this fornication is opposed chaste love. What is chaste love? Now the soul doth love her Bridegroom: what doth she require of Him, from Her Bridegroom whom she loveth? Perchance in like manner as women choose for themselves men either as sons-in-law or as bridegrooms: she perchance chooseth riches, and loveth his gold, and estates, and silver and cattle and horses, and household, and the like. Far be it. He doth love Him alone, for nought he doth love Him: because in Him he hath all things, for "by Him were made all things."

At first these men are being described. "There shall go forth as if out of fat their iniquity" (ver. 7). ...A poor beggar committeth a theft; out of leanness hath gone forth the iniquity: but when a rich man aboundeth in so many things, why doth he plunder the things of others? Of the former the iniquity out of leanness, of the other out of fatness, hath gone forth. Therefore to the lean man when thou sayest, Why hast thou done this? Humbly afflicted and abject he replieth, Need hath compelled me. Why hast thou not feared God? Want was urgent. Say to a rich man, Why doest thou these things, and fearest not God?-supposing thee to be great enough to be able to say it-see if he even deigneth to hear; see if even against thyself there will not go forth iniquity out of his fatness. For now they declare war with their teachers and reprovers, and become enemies of them that speak the truth, having been long accustomed to be coaxed with the words of flatterers, being of tender ear, of unsound heart. Who would say to a rich man, Thou hast ill done in robbing other men's goods? Or perchance if any man shall have dared to speak, and he is such a man as he could not withstand, what doth he reply? All that he saith is in contempt of God. Why? Because he is proud. Why? Because he is fat. Why? Because he is devoted for a victim. "They have passed over unto purpose of heart." Here within they have passed over. What is, "they have passed over"? They have crossed over the way. What is, "they have passed over"? They have exceeded the bounds of mankind, men like the rest they think not themselves. They have passed over, I say, the bounds of mankind. When thou sayest to such a man, Thy brother this beggar is; when thou sayest to such a man, Thy brother this poor man is; the same parents ye have had, Adam and Eve: do not heed thy haughtiness, do not heed the vapour unto which thou hast been elevated; although an establishment waiteth about thee, although countless gold and silver, although a marbled house doth contain thee, although fretted ceilings cover thee, thou and the poor man together have for covering that roof of the universe, the sky; but thou art different from the poor man in things not thine own, added to thee from without: thyself see in them, not them in thee. Observe thyself, how thou art in relation to the poor man; thyself, not that which thou hast. For why dost thou despise thy brother? In the bowels of your mothers ye were both naked. Forsooth, even when ye shall have departed this life, and these bodies shall have rotted, when the soul hath been breathed forth, let the bones of the rich and poor man be distinguished! I am speaking of the equality of condition, of that very lot of mankind, wherein all men are born: for both here doth a man become rich, and a poor man will not alway be here: and as a rich man doth not come rich, so neither doth he depart rich; the very same is the entrance of both, and like is the departure. I add, that perchance ye will change conditions. Now everywhere the Gospel is being preached: observe a certain poor man full of sores, who was lying before the gate of a rich man and was desiring to be filled with crumbs, which used to fall from the table of the rich man; observe also that likeness of thine who was clothed with purple and fine linen, and fared sumptuously every day. It chanced, I say, for that poor man to die, and to be borne by the Angels into the bosom of Abraham: but the other died and was buried; for the other's burial perchance no one cared. ...Brethren, how great was the toil of the poor man! Of how long duration were the luxuries of the rich man! But the condition which they have received in exchange is everlasting. ...Deservedly too late he will say, "Send Lazarus," "let him tell even my brethren;" since to himself there is not granted the fruit of repentance. For it is not that repentance is not given, but everlasting will be the repentance, and no salvation after repentance. Therefore these men "have passed over unto purpose of heart."

And hear how. "And I was brought unto nothing, and I knew not" [Psalm 73:22]. I, the very man, who now say these things of rich men, once longed for such things: therefore "even I was brought to nothing" when my steps were almost overthrown. "And I was brought unto nothing, and I knew not." We must not therefore despair even of them, against whom I was saying such things.

And what followeth? That he might not reprobate, he did what? "And I undertook to know" (ver. 16). May God be with him in order that he may know. Meanwhile, brethren, from a great fall he is being withheld, when he doth not presume that he already knoweth, but hath undertaken to know that which he knew not. For but now he was willing to appear as if knowing, and to declare that God hath no care of things human. For this hath come to be a most naughty and ungodly doctrine of unrighteous men. Know, brethren, that many men dispute and say that God careth not for things human, that by chances all things are ruled, or that our wills have been made subject to the stars, that each one is not dealt with according to his deserts, but by the necessity of his stars,-an evil doctrine, an impious doctrine. Unto these thoughts was going that man whose feet were almost moved, and whose steps were all but overthrown, into this error he was going; but because he was not in tune with the generation of the sons of God, he undertook to know, and condemned the knowledge wherein with God's just men he agreed not. And what he saith let us hear; how that he undertook to know, and was helped, and learned something, and declared it to us. "And I undertook," he saith, "to know." "In this labour is before me." Truly a great labour; to know in what manner both God doth care for things human, and it is well with evil men, and good men labour. Great is the importance of the question; therefore, "and this labour is before me." As it were there is standing in my face a sort of wall, but thou hast the voice of a Psalm, "In my God I shall pass over the wall."

...And he hath done this; for he saith how long labour is before him; "until I enter into the sanctuary of God, and understand upon the last things" (ver. 17). A great thing it is, brethren: now for a long time I labour, he saith, and before my face I see a sort of insuperable labour, to know in what manner both God is just, and doth care for things human, and is not unjust because men sinning and doing wicked actions have happiness on this earth; but the godly and men serving God are wasted ofttimes in trials and in labours; a great difficulty it is to know this, but only "until I enter into the Sanctuary of God." For in the Sanctuary what is presented to thee, in order that thou mayest solve this question? "And I understand," he saith, "upon the last things:" not present things. I, he saith, from the Sanctuary of God stretch out mine eye unto the end, I pass over present things. All that which is called the human race, all that mass of mortality is to come to the balance, is to come to the scale, thereon will be weighed the works of men. All things now a cloud doth enfold: but to God are known the merits of each severally. "And I understand," he saith, "upon the last things:" but not of myself; for before me there is labour. Whence "may I understand upon the last things"? Let me enter into the Sanctuary of God. In that place then he understood also the reason why these men now are happy.

"They have set against Heaven their mouth, and their tongue hath passed over above the earth" (ver. 9). For this, "hath passed over above the earth" is, they pass over all earthly things? What is it to pass over all earthly things? He doth not think of himself as a man that can die suddenly, when he is speaking; he doth menace as if he were alway to live: his thought doth transcend earthly frailty, he knoweth not with what sort of vessel he is enwrapped; he knoweth not what hath been written in another place concerning such men: "His spirit shall go forth, and he shall return unto his earth, in that day shall perish all his thoughts." But these men not thinking of their last day, speak pride, and unto Heaven they set their mouth, they transcend the earth. If a robber were not to think of his last day, that is, the last day of his trial, when sent to prison, nothing would be more monstrous than he: and yet he might escape. Whither dost thou flee to escape death? Certain will that day be. What is the long time which thou hast to live? How much is the long time which hath an end, even if it were a long time? To this there is added that it is nought: and the very thing which is called long time is not a long time, and is uncertain. Why doth he not think of this? Because he hath set against Heaven his mouth, and his tongue hath passed over above the earth. "And full days shall be found in them."

"Like as the dream of one rising up" [Psalm 73:20]. How have they vanished? As vanishes the dream of one rising up. Fancy a man in sleep to have seen himself find treasures; he is a rich man, but only until he awakes. "Like as the dream of one rising up:" so they have vanished, like the dream of one awaking. It is sought then and it is not: there is nothing in the hands, nothing in the bed. A poor man he went to sleep, a rich man in sleep he became: had he not awoke, he were a rich man: he woke up, he found the care which he had lost while sleeping. And these men shall find the misery which they had prepared for themselves. When they shall have awoke from this life, that thing does pass away which was grasped as if in sleep. "Like as the dream of one rising up." And that there might not be said, "What then? A small thing does their glory seem to you, a small thing does their state seem to you, small things seem to you inscriptions, images, statues, distinctions, troops of clients?" "O Lord," he says, "in Your city their image You shall bring to nothing."...He has taken away the pride of rich men, he gives counsel. As if they were saying, We are rich men, thou dost forbid us to be proud, dost prohibit us from boasting of the parade of our riches: what then are we to do with these riches? Is it come to this, that there is nothing which they may do therewith? "Be they rich," he says, "in good works; let them readily distribute, communicate." [1 Timothy 6:18] And what does this profit? "Let them treasure unto themselves a good foundation for the future, that they may lay hold of true life." [1 Timothy 6:19] Where ought they to lay up treasure for themselves? In that place whereunto he set his eye, when entering into the Sanctuary of God. Let there shudder all our rich brethren, abounding in money, gold, silver, household, honours, let them shudder at that which but now has been said, "You shall bring to nothing their image." Are they not worthy to suffer these things, to wit that God bring to nothing their image in His city, because also they have themselves brought to nothing the image of God in their earthly city?

"And they said, How has God known, and is there knowledge in the Most High?" [Psalm 73:11]. See through what thought they pass. Behold unjust men are happy, God does not care for things human. Does He indeed know what we do? See what things are being said. We are inquiring, brethren, "How has God known," etc. (no longer let Christians say it). For how does it appear to you that God knows not, and that there is no knowledge in the Most High? He replies, "Lo! Themselves they are sinners, and in the world they have gotten abundant riches" [Psalm 73:12]. Both sinners they are, and in the world they have gotten abundant riches. He confessed that he willed not to be a sinner in order that he might have riches. A carnal soul for things visible and earthly would have sold its justice. What sort of justice is that which is retained for the sake of gold, as if gold were a more precious thing than justice herself, or as if when a man denies the deposit of another man's goods, he to whom he denied them should suffer a greater loss, than he that denies them to him. The former does lose a garment, the latter fidelity. "Lo! They are themselves sinners, and in the world they have gotten abundant riches." On this account therefore God knows not, and on this account there is no knowledge in the Most High.

Why, you have it here in so many words: Look, these are sinners, and prospering always; they have become rich. "Is it to no purpose that I set my heart right or washed my hands among the innocent and was scourged every day?" I worship God; they blaspheme God. For them good fortune, for me misfortune. Where is the justice of it? That is why feet were shaken, that is why steps were almost pulled from under, that is why destruction was looming. Yes, just notice please what a dangerous position he had got into. He adds, "And I said, How did God know? Can there be knowledge in the most High?" Notice what a dangerous position he has got into by looking for earthly good fortune from God as though it were of great value.

Although the hearts of all the faithful do not doubt that divine providence is never absent in any part of the world or at any time or that success in temporal affairs does not rest on the power of the stars (which is no power) but it acknowledges that all things are disposed according to the most just and most kind decision of the King on High, as it is written: "All the paths of the Lord are mercy and truth." Still, since some things do not happen according to our desires, and since the cause of the wicked is often favored over that of the righteous in the mistakes of human justice, it is a fact very near to us and well known that these things trouble even great souls and drive them to some complaint of an unlawful matter. Even David, most renowned of prophets, confessed himself distressed by these diversities to the point of danger and said, "My feet were almost stumbling, my steps were all but slipping, because I was envious of the arrogant, seeing the prosperity of the sinners."

"Because I am like a beast before Thee in all innocence, comfort me with Thy counsel, and lead me after Thy glory." For I have never understood the distinguishing attributes of Thy government, because while I sought to know why Thou didst desire one thing, Thy will willed something else; and because I was confounded by the varieties of Thy deeds I ran and took refuge in simplicity. And I became before Thee a beast which knoweth not anything, that Thy will alone might govern me, and Thy knowledge lead me in the path of life, and that Thou mightest give me Thy wise care in everything which was necessary for spiritual and bodily life.

And again David saith, "I have not enquired what is in heaven with Thee, or what is Thy will upon earth." For I have never understood the distinguishing attributes of Thy government, because while I sought to know why Thou didst desire one thing, Thy will willed something else; and because I was confounded by the varieties of Thy deeds I ran and took refuge in simplicity. And I became before Thee a beast which knoweth not anything, that Thy will alone might govern me, and Thy knowledge lead me in the path of life.

And again when David sheweth concerning the purity of his thoughts he likeneth them unto hands, and their freedom from iniquity he compareth unto the washing of the hands, saying, "I have washed my hands in innocency," that is to say, I have cleansed and purified my thoughts, and I have remembered Thy altar, O Lord. And again he saith, "I by myself have purified my heart, and washed my hands in innocency."

David sheweth in a psalm that the grace of God aboundeth specially with the pure in heart, saying, "God is good to Israel, even to the pure in heart;" now he uniteth purity of heart with the sight of God, for the name Israel is interpreted "He hath seen God". And whosoever is simple and pure in heart is able to see God.

And again that same prophet testifieth concerning the simplicity of his soul, and how he was with God, saying, "I was innocent and ignorant, and I was like a beast before Thee;" and he was brought down to such ignorance like the beast with man, which by reason of its irrational and indiscriminating nature is unable to judge one of his deeds or actions; even thus was the knowledge of David in respect of God. For as the beast is governed by man, so also did David place himself to be led by the will of God, that he might not judge His will in any form.

Therefore, the human being began to sin in the matter by which he departed from God. For it is written that "the beginning of human pride is to forsake the Lord." And in another place, "Indeed those who are far from you will perish; you put an end to those who are false to you." Therefore, they who are far from God and are false to him indeed perish by sinning through their evil will that is not from God. God will destroy them by his just judgments as is proper to God. For God would not destroy them by his judgment, unless they had perished through their iniquities. For it is written, "How they are destroyed in a moment, swept away utterly by terrors."

Perhaps someone may say, Why did God cause Pharaoh to be hardened by sparing him, and why did he remove his scourges? At this point I reply with assurance: God removed his scourges so often because by the immense number of his sins Pharaoh did not merit to be rebuked as a son for the amendment of his life, but like an enemy he was allowed to become hardened. Such great sins of his had preceded, and he had despised God so often with wicked boldness, that in him was fulfilled what the Holy Spirit said concerning such people: "They are free from the burdens of mortals and are not afflicted like the rest of humanity. So pride adorns them as a necklace; as a robe violence clothes them. Out of their crassness comes iniquity." Behold how a person is hardened if he does not deserve to be chastised by our Lord for his correction. Moreover, what is written concerning those whom God's mercy does not allow to become hardened? "God scourges every son whom he receives";28 furthermore, "Those whom I love I rebuke and chastise"; and again, "For whom God loves he reproves." Concerning this hardening the prophet also exclaims to the Lord in the person of the people: "Why do you harden our hearts so that we do not fear you?" Surely, this is nothing else than: You have abandoned our heart, that we should not be converted to you.

What is so finite and limited as a fulfilling [of the law]? Therefore, whatever you do, do it for the love of Christ, and let the intention or end of all your actions look to him. Do nothing for the sake of human praise, but everything for love of God and the desire for eternal life. Then you will see the end of all perfection, and when you have reached it you will wish for nothing more. When the psalm is read and you hear, "Unto the end, a psalm of David," do not understand it except as Christ, for the apostle says, "Christ is the consummation of the law for the achievement of justice." If you come to anything else, pass beyond it until you reach the end. What is the end? "But for me, to be near God is my good." Have you adhered to God? You have finished your journey and will remain in your true country.

Abbot Pimenius asked Abbot Nesteron, who was sitting in the monastery, "Where did you acquire this virtue, brother, that, whenever a quarrel arises in the monastery, you neither speak nor interfere as mediator?" Though he was unwilling to speak, he was compelled by the old man and said, "Forgive me, father, for in the beginning when I entered here I said to my thought: 'Lo, you and this donkey are alike. Just as it gets beaten without speaking and gets thrashed without returning an answer, so you must be also, for the psalm says, "I am become as a beast of burden before you: and I am always with you." ' "

Abbot Pimenius asked Abbot Nesteron, who was sitting in the monastery, "Where did you acquire this virtue, brother, that, whenever a quarrel arises in the monastery, you neither speak nor interfere as mediator?" Though he was unwilling to speak, he was compelled by the old man and said, "Forgive me, father, for in the beginning when I entered here I said to my thought: 'Lo, you and this donkey are alike. Just as it gets beaten without speaking and gets thrashed without returning an answer, so you must be also, for the psalm says, "I am become as a beast of burden before you: and I am always with you." ' "

But, if there are any who say that sins are only superficially put away in baptism, what can be more against the faith than such preaching, whereby they would fain undo the very sacrament of faith, wherein principally the soul is bound to the mystery of heavenly cleanness, that, being completely absolved from all sins, it may cleave to Him alone of Whom the Prophet says, "But it is good for me to cleave to God"? For certainly the passage of the Red Sea was a figure of holy baptism, in which the enemies behind died, but others were found in front in the wilderness. And so to all who are bathed in holy baptism all their past sins are remitted, since their sins die behind them even as did the Egyptian enemies. But in the wilderness we find other enemies, since, while we live in this life, before reaching the country of promise, many temptations harass us, and hasten to bar our way as we are wending to the land of the living. Whosoever says, then, that sins are not entirely put away in baptism, let him say that the Egyptians did not really die in the Red Sea. But, if he acknowledges that the Egyptians really died, he must needs acknowledge that sins die entirely in baptism, since surely the truth avails more in our absolution than the shadow of the truth. In the Gospel the Lord says, "He that is washed needeth not to wash, but is clean every whit." If, therefore, sins are not entirely put away in baptism, how is he that is washed clean every whit? For he cannot be said to be clean every whit, if he has any sin remaining. But no one can resist the voice of the Truth, "He that is washed is clean every whit." Nothing, then, of the contagion of sin remains to him whom He Himself who redeemed him declares to be clean every whit.