Works (CSEL) 14 part 9/28

'Nor,' he says, 'will the Lord condemn him, when he shall be judged. Wait for the Lord and keep His way, and He will exalt you, that you may possess the land by inheritance; when sinners perish, you shall see. I have seen the wicked highly exalted and lifted up above the cedars of Lebanon, and I passed by, and behold, he was not, and I sought him, and his place was not found.' The former things are moral, these are intelligible. What is the mouth of the just which shall meditate wisdom, except that of the inner man? For there are two men in each person, one inner, the other outer. The inner thinks the things of the mind and speaks the things of the mind; the outer the things of the body.

Yet the Lord, in His coming, joined them both and founded the two in one man, that they might not assail one another with diverse motions, but might be mutually allied to each other by the unity of their wills. Therefore 'the mouth of the just shall meditate wisdom.' For now even the outer man himself of the just has been transfused into the discipline of the inner man and, conformed to his nature, exercises his offices, so that the flesh may meditate what belongs to the inner mind. But lest this seem incredible to you, hear Him saying that the Lord Jesus transfigured the body of our lowliness, that it might be made conformable to the body of His glory.

Who would dare to say that the flesh without sin, the flesh assumed from the Virgin, the flesh begotten by the Spirit of God coming upon Mary, which in nothing differed from the disciplines of wisdom, was destitute of the virtues of the inner man and could not pass over into their use — since that which was above man was the fact that by His touch the sick were healed, light was restored to the blind, the dead rose again? Fittingly therefore it is written: 'The mouth of the just shall meditate wisdom,' inasmuch as the whole man is spiritual, not at all earthly. For such as is the earthly, such also are the earthly; and such as is the heavenly, such also are the heavenly. The earthly therefore departed, the heavenly remained.

And therefore the prophet, referring it to the times of redemption, said 'shall meditate,' although one out of many wrote 'meditates,' and it does not jar with the sense, because to the spirit of the prophets future things are as present. Others think 'mouth' is said for 'mind.' Beautifully, moreover, Solomon expounded this for us, saying: 'The narration of the just is always wisdom, but the fool is changed like the moon' — that is, because he is often varied and does not persevere in his own opinion, and as though in darkness seems to shed a light yet not to hold it. Let there therefore always be in our heart and mouth the meditation of wisdom, and let your tongue speak judgment, let the law of your God be in your heart. Therefore Scripture says to you: 'You shall speak of them sitting in the house, walking in the way, lying down, rising up.'

Let us therefore speak of the Lord Jesus, because He Himself is wisdom, He Himself is the Word and the Word of God. For this too is written: 'Open your mouth with the word of God.' He breathes Him forth who resounds His words and meditates His sayings. Let us always speak of Him. When we speak of wisdom, it is He; when we speak of virtue, it is He; when we speak of righteousness, it is He; when we speak of peace, it is He; when we speak of truth and life and redemption, it is He. 'Open your mouth with the word of God,' it is written. You open it, He speaks. Therefore David said: 'I will hear what the Lord will speak in me,' and the Son of God Himself says: 'Open your mouth and I will fill it.' But not all, like Solomon, can receive the perfection of wisdom, not all like Daniel;

to all, nevertheless, according to their capacity, the spirit of wisdom is infused, but to all who are faithful. If you believe, you have the spirit of wisdom. Therefore the wise man says: 'I believed, for which cause I have spoken.' When you have believed, you will receive the grace of speaking. And he who believes is redeemed, and he who prays is redeemed, if he attend devoutly to his prayers and be assiduous in prayer, anticipate the day, frequent the night, run to the morning sun, that he himself may be enlightened by Christ before the earth is by the rising of the sun. And he who sings psalms is redeemed, and he who is pricked with compunction is redeemed. Therefore meditate always, speak the things that are of God, sitting in the house. By 'house' we may understand the Church; we may understand by 'house' the inner one within us, that we may speak within ourselves.

The judges sit in Jerusalem, the thrones were set in judgment, the council of judges also sat, and the books were opened. The prophet says: 'And do all things with counsel.' With counsel judge concerning your deeds, with counsel drink wine, with counsel speak, that you may escape sin, lest you fall through much speaking. Sitting, speak with yourself as one who judges. Speak in the way, that you may never be idle. You speak in the way, if you speak in Christ, because Christ is the way. In the way speak to yourself, speak to Christ. Hear how you should speak to Him: 'I will,' he says, 'that men pray in every place, lifting up pure hands without anger and contention.' Speak, O man, lying down, lest the sleep of death creep over you. Hear how you should speak lying down:

'If I shall give sleep to my eyes and slumber to my eyelids, until I find a place for the Lord, a tabernacle for the God of Jacob.' Conquer nature by diligence, shut out the sleep of the body. We cannot form our nature for ourselves, but we can form our diligence. David was a man; he indulged something even to sleep through the night, but he shut out sleep by washing his bed every night and watering his couch with tears. Therefore he was mindful of his Lord always upon his bed and meditated on Him, that he might anticipate the dawn and that Christ might shine upon him in the darkness, saying: 'Rise, you who sleep.' Not in all is this grace, but diligence can be even in the many. Do not therefore wait for Christ to rouse you, but rather rouse Christ.

He rouses Him who thinks of Him while drowsing. If you have roused Him, He too will rouse you from sleep, will raise you from death, saying to you: 'Arise from the dead.' When therefore you rise or rise again, speak of Him, that you may fulfill what you are commanded. Hear how Christ rouses you. Your soul says: 'The voice of my brother knocks at the door,' and Christ says: 'Open to me, my sister, my spouse.' Hear how you rouse Christ. The soul says: 'I have adjured you, daughters of Jerusalem, if you should awaken and rouse up charity.' Charity is Christ. Hear also how you should speak while sleeping: 'I sleep, and my heart watches.' These things in common; now lift up your mind a little higher.

Speak, sitting in the house — in this earthly house of this habitation which is dissolved, in which we sojourn away from the Lord. For placed in this body, while we wish rather to be clothed upon than to be unclothed, we are exiles from Christ and groan grievously. Sitting therefore in this, confess your sins, because you have sat and not stood, and have not said: 'Our feet were standing in the courts of Jerusalem.' Speak rather and do not hide your offenses; speak sitting, that you may hear Him saying: 'Rise up after you have sat, you who eat the bread of sorrow.' Speak in the way, walking — that is, plucking your way along the course of this life.

Here speak, lest there you become mute, as that one became mute who did not first believe Christ's angel, but afterward, when he had believed, received back his voice. Speak while sleeping and resting, buried together with Christ, that you may rise with Him in newness of life. Speak also buried in the tomb, as the souls of the saints spoke, seeking vengeance from the Author of death: 'How long, O Lord, holy and true, do You not judge and avenge our blood?' Speak finally when you rise, as He taught who said: 'I have slept and have rested, and I have risen again, because the Lord will receive me.'

There too, therefore, the mouth of the just shall meditate wisdom, until he himself arrives at the more sublime secrets of the tabernacle, full of heavenly and sacred joyousness and gladness, as Scripture taught us, David saying: 'These things I remembered and poured out my soul over myself, for I shall enter into the place of the wondrous tabernacle, even to the house of God, with the voice of exultation and confession, the sound of one feasting.' Therefore both sitting in this bodily house, and going forth hence and walking in the way, when we are caught up — if we are worthy — to meet Christ, and sleeping, we shall speak. Receive the third anagoge (ἀναγωγή), by which the soul of the just lifts itself up. For there is to be understood a certain spiritual sleep, of which Solomon says:

'For if you sit, you shall sit without fear; if you sleep, you shall rest sweetly; and you shall not fear the terror that comes upon you, nor the assaults of the wicked coming upon you.' You shall rest with sweetness and shall not fear the terror and the coming assaults of the wicked, if your tongue speaks the judgment of God and you always have it before your eyes, so that you leave no place to sin and know that the price of the offense will be paid by the requital of punishment. For He Himself interpreted this in the ninetieth psalm, saying: 'You shall not fear the terror by night, nor the arrow that flies by day, the business that walks in darkness, the assault and the noonday demon. A thousand shall fall at your side and ten thousand at your right hand, but it shall not come near you;

nevertheless with your eyes you shall consider, and you shall see the requital of sinners.' For the just man, when he speaks the judgment of God, or when he himself speaks the things that are just and full of true judgment, speaks not with wrath, not from the affliction of a grieving mind, not from sorrow, not from any passion, but speaks from truth, speaks from equity, so that he does not incline by affection, but weighs what he speaks by a true balance; for he judges what things ought to be said or not brought forth. To which this is similar:

The lips of the wise are bound by understanding, because all that they speak seems to accord with true understanding, and by the prudence of their own sense they discern what they ought to speak or to keep silent, so that they restrain by a certain barrier and bond of the lips those things that must be left unspoken, while in those things which ought to be said the bonds of the lips are loosed. Rightly therefore he premised: the mouth of the just shall meditate wisdom; for long meditation can possess a full judgment, which the just man shall utter in due time, when he shall have seen face to face the things that are perfect; for now we cannot speak true things concerning those things which we do not comprehend. Finally, not even Paul presumed to speak, who, caught up into paradise, heard heavenly secrets, but, wishing not to err in the things he spoke, he says:

How inscrutable are the judgments of God, and his ways past finding out! But now, freed from the body, perhaps he comprehends the kinds of his unsearchable ways and his judgments, which are many like the deep. Still the form of justice is described and increased, as Scripture says: the law of his God is in his heart, and his steps shall not be supplanted. In the heart of the just is the law of God. What law? Not a written one, but the natural law; for the law is not laid down for the just man, but for the unjust. In his heart is the law, not perfunctorily as upon the lips of the Jews; for with the heart one believes unto justice. He who believes also speaks; but he who speaks does not necessarily believe. Finally the people did not believe, of whom it was said:

This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. If therefore the Gentiles, when they do the things of the law, are themselves a law to themselves, knowing what they ought to follow or to beware of, how much more does the faithful and just man, who lives according to the image and likeness of God, know how to discern things seemly and honorable, and to use a certain lawful rudder of natural wisdom, lest his steps be supplanted like Esau, whom his brother supplanted because of his greed of gullet, so that he fell, and poured out his steps unto death! The more just anyone is, the more the enemy lies in wait for him, and therefore Scripture says: the sinner watches the just man and seeks to destroy him;

but the Lord will not leave him in his hands, nor condemn him when he shall be judged. The sinner therefore, seeing that the just man speaks wisdom in his mouth and meditates it in his heart, that he speaks judgment with his tongue, that he keeps the law of the Lord in his heart, strives to bring upon him the death of sin; but the Lord protects him. And therefore let us not fear the snares of the sinner, since God is for us. If therefore God is for us, who is against us? For this reason God will not forsake his just one, nor condemn him, when he shall have judgment concerning him; for he is a true judge, and therefore justice cannot be endangered. Whence also Aquila said: nor will he condemn him in judging him; Symmachus: nor will he condemn, when the just man is judged.

But because the Seventy men set it down thus: when he shall be judged to him, we think that he looked to this, because it is written: for the Lord himself shall come into judgment. But into what judgment? Hear him saying: against thee only have I sinned and done evil before thee, that thou mayest be justified in thy words and overcome when thou art judged. Therefore the Lord offers himself to be heard, that he may be judged concerning himself, that he may the more prevail. Hear how he offers himself: my people, what have I done to thee, or in what have I grieved thee, or in what have I been troublesome to thee? Answer me. For I led thee out of Egypt and freed thee from the house of bondage; and elsewhere: I am, I am he who blots out thy iniquities, and I will not remember them. But do thou remember, and let us be judged.

Grave is this judgment, when the Lord asks to be judged concerning himself against man. For what wouldst thou answer him who conferred all things upon thee, set thee over all, subjected to thee the Egyptians to whom thou hadst come as a guest, and afterward, when they pursued, drowned them in the sea? He destroyed and overthrew thine enemies; he created and founded thee; he redeemed thee with his own blood; and dost thou deliver thyself up to serve his enemy? He forgave thee all thy sins, and dost thou commit graver ones? He calls thee: coming into judgment, what wilt thou answer him, by whom, unless he forgive thee again, thou hast perished? And therefore the holy David, seeing by this certain moral consideration of God that he is the more burdened, flees the judgment and begs for mercy, saying:

And enter not into judgment with thy servant, for in thy sight shall no living man be justified. He confesses himself placed in darkness like one dead to the world. Carefully he said 'like one dead to the world,' not 'dead.' For they are not dead to the world who die in Christ; but they are dead to the world who set all their life, which they have lived in the world, in ruin and death. And therefore, as if in despair, he flees to a remedy, saying: hear me speedily, O Lord, for my spirit has failed. For such a judgment being set before him as an offering, he failed, in which the truth was to be examined rather than mercy conferred.

Yet so merciful is the Lord that, even though no living man is justified in his sight — for who, however just, is not subject to sin, or whose life is such that it may be judged worthy of the likeness of God? — surely he who is made to the image and likeness of God ought, as God who is without sin, so also he who is to his image, to be without sin. Of what punishment then is he worthy who has lost so great a grace of the Lord's working and the likeness of the divine beauty? But because he is merciful, even though he subjects himself to judgment, yet he judges not the just man, but the unjust. He spares the just as one sinning by the frailty of his condition; he punishes the unjust as one who detests the ingrate.

Furthermore, even if thou hast many works of justice, be not impatient and arrogant, so as to think that the rewards of justice are to be demanded in this world, or to complain that some adversities have unworthily befallen thee. For as long as thou livest, struggle is owed thee, not reward. Wait therefore for the Lord, either as helper or as rewarder, and keep his ways. This is to 'wait': to keep the commands of him whom thou thinkest must be awaited. Even if thou art worn down, even if thou art afflicted, even if thou failest with sickness, yet wait for the Lord; hope will not put thee to shame. The Lord will come and exalt thee, that thou mayest possess the land by inheritance.

It is clear that this land is the higher one, not the earthly one in the valley, but that which belongs to the eternal promise, in which whoever is set is exalted by the Lord. But thou shalt see, when sinners perish. For then will be the reward of the just, when judgment shall have been made concerning the merits of the impious. But sinners do not perish in one manner. They perish for thee beforehand, if thou admire not their power, their riches, if it move thee not when thou hast learned that they abound in honors, in children, in friends. For these are things of the world, and the world lies subject to worldly malice, and the prince of the world favors those who serve him, according to that saying: all these will I give thee, if falling down thou wilt adore me.

Why dost thou seek that these be given thee, when the very impious one who gives them cannot remain longer among them? He too passes away: how can the things he conferred not pass away? Only keep thou a steadfast mind, hold fast justice, let no one move thee, and thou shalt see that the impious one is nothing. Finally hear him saying: I saw the impious highly exalted and lifted up above the cedars of Lebanon, and I passed by, and behold, he was not. I saw him in this world, I saw with the eyes of the body, I saw him even boasting and over-exalting himself in his words, esteeming himself to be something who is nothing. How does he over-exalt himself? I will set, he says, my throne above the clouds, and I will be like the Most High. He exalts himself, that thou mayest see him over-exalted like the cedars of Lebanon.

And these too are tall and stand upon the highest mountain; rightly therefore are they over-exalted, and the impious one is seen over-exalted, who sets himself upon that mountain of which it is written: if you have faith like a grain of mustard seed, you would say to this mountain: be removed and cast into the sea. 'To this demon,' he says, 'by which this man whom you marvel to be healed had been invaded and oppressed. Therefore you have more charity in Christ than power in the devil.' Thou seest the cedar over-exalted on the highest mountain, but by the wind it is broken, by fire it is burned, by age it is dissolved. So is the rich man in the world; he shines indeed with a certain splendor of worldly grace like Lebanon, he leans on the power of the world, he exults in wealth and riches.

He seems to thee to be something, until thou sayest: passing by, I shall see. For as Moses passed beyond material things in soul and mind and saw God, so also thou, if thou pass over from here, lifting the footstep of thy mind to the grace of God, shalt see him to be nothing who in this earth seemed to himself most powerful. Therefore God the Word says to thy soul, says to thy mind: come hither from Lebanon, my spouse, come hither from Lebanon; thou shalt pass over and pass through. If thou pass over worldly things, thou shalt pass through to paradise. Hear the one passing over: remember me, Lord, when thou comest into thy kingdom; hear again the one passing through: amen, amen, I say to thee, today thou shalt be with me in paradise. What is:

behold, he was not? In the beginning, surely, was the Word; and he who sees the Word, who is partaker of the Word, surely he himself also is, because the Word of God always is, and the discourse which is from him is not 'is' and 'is not,' but 'is,' and abides in him who follows God. But he who knows not the Word, is not, because he does not cleave to him who said: I am who am. But he who cleaves to him is one spirit; and where the spirit is, there also is life. Therefore Scripture says to thee concerning God: who quickens the dead and calls the things that are not as the things that are, that is: he calls the Gentiles, who were not, as his own people, who were; for our fathers, who were, were the elect of God. And elsewhere, where it is said:

the Lord knows who are his; he does not know those who are not; and Esther says: give not the rod of thy kingdom to those who are not. Rightly therefore the just man says: and I passed by, and behold, he was not — that is: I saw him over-exalted in the world, before I considered that the world is nothing; but when I had passed over in mind above the world, I saw that he was now not, who before was over-exalted in this world. And thou, if thou art just, pass over from things present to those that are to come, and present things shall pass away from thee. Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away. To the just man, therefore, all things pass away. The impious passes away, he is like vanity, and his days pass away like a shadow.

Not only do present things pass away for the just man, but even when he has set his mind upon things that are to come, those things already pass over to him as present. See how present things have passed away for the just man. Surely in the times of David the prophet the synagogue existed, the Church of the Gentiles did not exist, and yet he speaks to things future as though present: bless our God, ye Gentiles; then above he says: God ascended in jubilation. He passed over the coming times of perfidy, not by age but by mind, and celebrated the resurrection of the Lord — future many an age after — with the pious devotion of faith, saying: sing praise to our God, sing praise; sing praise to our King, sing praise. As though he were present at the very sacraments of the nuptial union of Christ and the Church, so he leaps for joy and rejoices.

He expressed also the cause of the celebration, saying: the Lord has reigned over all the earth. Therefore if we pass over, those things also which are future seem to us to have passed by; just as, if in sailing thou pass the land, thou seest it also to pass by and, as it were, to depart from thee. Often sailors, especially in a tempest, flee the land, and yet, when the sailors flee it, it rather seems to flee from the sailors. And thou, if thou flee this world, it too will flee thee; if thou pass this land by, it too passes thee by. And thou sailest in this sea and art tossed in this world: flee the land, it has rocks, it has stones, as it is written: cast the stones out of the way.

If thou hasten through this airy deep to the harbor of divine delight, thou shalt see that all these things have passed by for thee. For what does it matter whether they have passed by, or thou judgest them to have passed by? There is also another impious one who seems exalted and lifted up above the cedars of Lebanon, and, if thou pass by, he will not be, nor wilt thou find his place. Behold for me the Jewish scribe rendering the series of the old Scriptures, but not following it; thou hearest that he renders them with his lips, thou marvelest at him as learned. Thou askest what he understands; he answers according to the letter, he runs through the history. He seems to thee over-exalted and lifted up, if thou consider the letter. Pass over to the spiritual understanding, because the law is spiritual; thou seest him to be nothing, then thou sayest:

I saw the impious over-exalted, and I passed by, and behold, he was not; and I sought him, and his place was not found. I sought him where he ought to have been, where life is; I found him not, he was not there where life was, because he was dead, and therefore neither was his place found. For what is the place of a dead man who was not, nor ever had been? For he who was in the letter was not; for the letter kills, but the spirit gives life. I sought him therefore that I might find him; he did not offer himself to be found — that is: I wished to convert him, he refused to offer himself to me to be converted. I did the things proper to one who seeks; he fled the things which ought to have belonged to one returning. Finally, the soul that wishes to be converted seeks the Word, and when it has found it, says:

I held him fast and will not let him go — that is, the Son of God, the Word of God. But the unjust one, who would not be healed, I sought him and found him not; and therefore do not imitate him. Keep innocence and behold equity. He who keeps innocence sees equity, since he who is pure sees God, whose rod is straight and whose justice is straight, that he may turn away from those who have declined to the pursuits of depravity. Good is the innocence that sees God. Finally others have rendered it: keep perfection; for he is perfect who knows not malice nor is acquainted with guile. Therefore, he says, keep perfection, because there are remnants for the man of peace. The remnants are said to be of the man dead in body, of his spoils.

Therefore they are called remnants, because after the death of a man they seem to remain over; for there remain over the things which are kept for the resurrection. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. Therefore rather are the remnants for a man the hope of resurrection, and the faith of conversion, and the grace of love, since the impious rise not in judgment, but the life of the just is known to God and is approved by the judgment of the Lord. To this passage that text beautifully agrees: the remnants according to the election of grace have been made safe. But the unjust shall perish together; the remnants of the impious shall perish. The remnants of the just are virtues; the remnants of the impious are wickedness and perfidy and sin. These shall be blotted out, that they be not.

But the salvation of the just is from the Lord, not from the world, not from any element; heaven and earth shall pass away. I commit not my salvation to heaven, because it too passes away; for of the many heavens it is said: they shall perish, but thou remainest. To God alone I commit it, who remains, who can forgive sins, that he may be my protector in the time of tribulation, and help me, and free me, and rescue me from sinners at the time of his judgment, and make me safe, since I have hoped in him. In him alone have I hoped; for he wishes us not to serve both him and another. He who serves him alone is set free, since to him is praise, glory, and perpetuity, from the ages, both now and always, and unto all ages of ages. Amen. EXPLANATION OF PSALM 37.

Concerning penitence I wrote two booklets some time ago, and I think I must write again. First, because it is useful even daily to pray for pardon of offenses; then, because in those two booklets the exhortation to penitence, or its profit, was treated, if it be carried out, whereas now it must be set forth in what manner penitence ought to be done; for it profits nothing to do it, unless it be done as it ought. In this matter holy David has set before us a teaching to be followed, who therefore seems to me to have tasted sin, that he might teach how sin could be abolished. For whence did medicine take its beginning, except from a wound?