'When wilt thou comfort me?' There follows therefore upon the fainting of the soul a failing of the eyes. But as we have treated of the nature of the soul's fainting, let us see what the failing of the eyes is wont to be. Set before yourself, then, in expectation, either the wife of a man traveling abroad, or the father of a son long absent, whom she or he expects at every moment to return: will she not always strain her gaze upon that road by which she thinks he will come? Will not the intent gaze of the eyes fail through the very expectation of beholding him? The Lord bears witness that such longings were in the prophets, when He says: 'Amen I say to you, many prophets and just men desired to see the things which you see, and to hear the things which you hear.' The prophet therefore faints both in soul and in eyes.
But these eyes of the prophet now, although they desired to see the Lord, are nevertheless not the eyes of the body; for they speak and expect, and this beholding and speaking is rather of the mind, not of the body. For they say: 'When?' He knows that the saints resting in the lower world desire this comforting. He knows it, the apostle Peter bearing witness that, when the Lord descended into the lower regions, the exhortation was preached even to those who were in the prison and who had once been unbelieving in the days of Noah. Into these words of God therefore he failed with his speaking eyes, awaiting the Lord announced from the words of God not so much by bodily sight as by the contemplation of soul and mind. Thereafter there follows: 'For I am become like a wineskin in the frost; yet have I not forgotten thy statutes.'
This is a matter of a novel kind, that he should not forget the justifications of God for this reason, that he has become like a wineskin in the frost. And if we measure the thing by the ears alone, the speech of the prophet will be thought empty and ridiculous. But he remembers that a wineskin is used to signify human bodies, the Lord saying in the Gospels: 'No man,' he says, 'putteth new wine into old wineskins.' And it is not doubted that by 'wineskins' he meant bodies grown old in their sins. But through zeal the bodies of the faithful grow cold, and with the heat of the inner nature extinguished, they become cold wineskins, which, though inwardly they grow hot through the nature of the boiling vices, yet outwardly through patience grow stiff as with frost.
Therefore in this coldness of the body we cannot be forgetful of the justifications of God. But whoever grows hot like a full wineskin through the ardor of vices, and does not grow cold through the fear of God and religion, must needs forget God. These things the holy man will not be able to forget, since, after the manner of a wineskin growing stiff in the frost, he is cold on the outside amid the instigation of all inner lusts. Thereafter there follows: 'How many are the days of thy servant? When wilt thou execute judgment for me on them that persecute me?' The prophet is not ignorant that judgment is after the consummation of the age, when he says: 'Therefore the ungodly shall not rise in judgment, nor sinners in the counsel of the just.' Why then does he now pray that judgment be done on those who persecute him?
Not indeed that judgment which he remembers will be in the age of the resurrection, but that he may know himself to be of a few days now according to the bodily life. For thus he says: 'How many are the days of thy servant?' When he says 'how many,' he knows they are not many. And above he had said that he was like a wineskin in the frost. Therefore because he is of few days, he desires that judgment be done by those who persecute him, namely by the devil and his ministers. For there are spiritual powers in the heavenly places. But the devil too must be judged in the age of the resurrection. Being himself therefore of a few days, he desires that this judgment be done, namely that, being made perfectly holy and perfectly pleasing to the Lord, he may crush within himself the devil, may crush the powers opposing and hostile to him and to his faith.
Let him subdue the spiritual wickednesses. He does not yet therefore trust in the firmness of his own nature, though he is already cold like a wineskin, but he prays that through the mercy of God there may be judgment upon his enemies. This power of judgment the Lord gave to His apostles, saying: 'Behold, I have given you power to tread upon serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy.' This voice indeed the prophet did not yet hear while the Lord remained in the body; but he prays that this power be given to him, that such a judgment against those who persecute him may be established for him. For he is tempted on every side.
When through the nature of the body an innate material of vices is present in him, and the devil tries to kindle it with the ardor of lust; when he endures the impious voices of the irreligious; when he suffers the profane disputations of the heathen against God and their raving utterances. Therefore in the following verse he says: 'The wicked have told me of their exercises, but not as thy law.' For how many are there who claim to teach certain rules of human life, when they inflame the pursuits of our soul, which serve God more rightly, toward the ambitions of the world! How many too are there who, falsely pretending to have knowledge of the divine Scriptures, preach perverse doctrines! But the prophet, knowing that the perfect education of human teaching lies in the law of God, says:
'The wicked have told me of their exercises, but not as thy law.' For those who preach these things are wicked. And the voice of God has forbidden the sinner to declare the holy words, because the iniquity of doctrine does not receive the truth. For to the sinner God said: 'Why dost thou declare my justices, and take my covenant in thy mouth? But thou hast hated discipline, and hast cast my words behind thee.' These exercises therefore the prophet does not bear, knowing that nothing is to be equated with the narration of the law. Finally he added: 'All thy judgments are truth: they have persecuted me unjustly, help thou me.' He who persecutes the just man must persecute unjustly, because iniquity is the effect of unjust action.
The apostle too knows this iniquity of persecutions, when he says: 'All that will live godly in Christ shall suffer persecution.' For these are the tribulations of the just. Now Satan attacks, now his ministries assail, now the dissimulation of false brethren creeps in with the craft of persecution to do harm. But the prophet, who remembers that they are the commandments of God, bears with faithful soul the persecution of unjust iniquity. And because he knows that persecution is a proof of faith, he does not pray that it be removed from him, but he asks that he be helped in it, and prays for the aid and help of God, not ignorant of this Gospel saying: 'He that taketh not up his cross and followeth me, is not worthy of me.' Truth therefore is in the precepts of God.
Truth has nothing false, nothing uncertain, nothing imperfect. But persecution aimed at the just man is unjust. For iniquity must needs hate the truth; yet the help of truth is from God. For he remembers that these troubles of the persecutors are grievous, but because they are useful to the just man, he does not think they should be removed. For peace is perilous to faith, and men are prone to be careless when they are secure in their watches. But a man exercised in wars will not quickly be caught by deceits; and there is need of glorious combat that the crown may be awarded. On this account he does not pray that the occasion of striving be taken from him, but that the aid of conquering be granted. And he remembers that he is in no light struggle of temptations. For there follows: 'They had almost made an end of me on the earth; but I forsook not thy commandments.'
The unjust persecutions—those, namely, of which we spoke above, the spiritual powers in the heavenly places—brought the prophet almost to the very end of faith, instigating us toward bodily vices by the enticements of lusts thrust upon us. Therefore the prophet is consummated on the earth, that is, cast down into the vices and sins of the body. For as there is a consummation of good things, so also of evil. But although these most pernicious enemies pressed upon him and persecuted him, he did not forsake the commandments of God; and although weakened by the infirmity of his nature, he remains in the precepts of God—the more gloriously remaining in the commandments of God, the greater the weakness of his nature was. He then concludes after his custom of modesty and hope, saying:
'According to thy mercy quicken me, and I will keep the testimonies of thy mouth.' He prays to be quickened as though not yet living, and he promises that he will keep the testimonies of God's mouth, as though he does not now keep them. But though he lives in the body, he lives a life not of this age; and though he keeps the testimonies of God in the law, yet he promises that he will keep the testimonies of God's mouth—renewed by the precepts of the Gospel, they perfect it by the sanctification of faith alone, abstaining not only from adultery but even from the desire of adultery: through our Lord Jesus Christ, who is both the mouth and the right hand and the power and the wisdom of God, blessed unto the ages of ages. Amen. LAMED. 'For ever, O Lord, thy word abideth in heaven,' and the rest.
It is not fitting for the speech of the prophet to linger among lowly and common things, but always to treat of things lofty and worthy of God, and in such a way that, while it imbues us with the observance of innocence, it may also lift up the humility of our understanding to the comprehension of divine and invisible mysteries. Nor indeed could human weakness of itself advance to heavenly knowledge, unless, God bestowing the gift of knowledge through the teaching of the Spirit, it were instructed unto the recognition even of the unsearchable nature. Willing therefore to make us excellent and to perfect us as worthy of God, and knowing that it is laid up for human hope that it should attain to heavenly glory if it observe discipline, the prophet thus began: 'For ever, O Lord, thy word abideth in heaven.'
He says 'in heaven,' because he knows that on earth, because of falsehood, it does not abide. And how it abides in heaven is discerned as it were by the very faith of contemplation. There is no transgression there, no change, no weakness, no idleness. Let us behold the yearly course of the sun and the monthly return of the moon, and the stations or revolutions or changes of the stars: are they not held within their own bounds and appointed limits and decreed alternations? Nothing there is changed, nothing deferred, nothing neglected; but it abides in the law of its constitution and perseveres in unwearied ministries. But the prophet preserved this reckoning of things that cease and of offices, saying: 'For ever, O Lord, thy word abideth in heaven.'
Certain Latin interpreters have rendered this with an ambiguous and less proper meaning. For what stands in their version as 'unto the age' we have translated as 'eternal, O Lord.' And it can be so taken that what is eternal is understood to end with no limit. But 'the age' (saeculum), which in Greek is aion, is contained within the span of a defined time. For he does not say 'unto the ages' nor 'unto eternity,' but 'unto the age thy word abideth.' He knows that after this age heaven and earth pass away, the Lord saying: 'Amen I say to you, heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.' He remembers also that this age shall pass away, that there may be a new heaven and a new earth. Therefore he says: 'For ever, O Lord, thy word abideth in heaven':
because after this age, when heaven passes away, this word, established in the creatures, awaits the revelation of the sons of God, and it is not necessary that it remain. But it is not therefore the case that the word of God is not also at times on earth, although he proclaims that it abides only in the prophet. For there is none of us who does not at times feel the gift of spiritual grace, who does not sometimes have within himself the word of God, when he is sober, when he is tranquil, when he is continent, when he is benevolent, when he is merciful; for when we are in these states, the word of God abides in us, when we serve His commandments of good things.
But when the movements of turbulent affections creep in, when the care of money steals upon us, when the fever of base lust is kindled, when a violent impulse is stirred, when drunkenness is craved, then the word of God no longer abides in us. But it abides in those who, according to the apostle, having put off the old man with his sins, put on the new; who, having died together with Christ and been buried together, have now risen unto newness and are set in the heavenly places; who, having left behind the image of the earthly, bear the image of the heavenly; for in these, as in heaven, the word of God abides, in whom this word is not offended by anger, drunkenness, hatred, unbelief, wantonness.
For even if it sometimes abides, yet it does not bear these insults of its cohabitation, so as always to remain within. If the aforementioned vices shall always be in us, it will not even deem worthy the polluted dwellings of our bodies. But it is present and near to each one, as it is said: for the word of God stands at the door and knocks at the door of our soul and says: 'Behold, I stand before the door and knock; if anyone open the door to me, I will come in to him.' It wills therefore always to enter; but it is shut out by us, lest it enter. For through these vices of the body we bar the entrance to our soul. And if these were to lie open, all cleansed, it would forthwith enter after the manner of the sun, which is prevented from entering when the shutters of the window are closed, but when they are open is wholly let in.
It is indeed always ready to give light, but the house itself shuts out the light from itself by its barred entrances. For the word of God is the sun of justice standing near to each one, that it may enter, and it does not delay to pour in its light when it finds the entrances. This word of God therefore abides in the heavens through the unwearied ministry of the heavenly bodies. By which example it is to be believed that the word of God abides also in the saints, who are heavenly according to the image. 'Thy truth.' This twofold understanding of our sense, by which we suppose that the word of God abides as in heaven so also in holy men, is confirmed by this verse which follows. For he does not say 'unto generation of generation' or 'from generations of generations,' but 'unto generation and generation is thy truth.'
He commemorates each generation with a single signification. There are therefore two generations in two peoples, of which one is that of the law and the prophets, the other is that of the Gospels and the apostles. The truth of God therefore abides in these two generations alone. But when the former generation held within itself the truth of God, no other then had it. For there were many generations of nations and peoples. And now, when this same generation has proved unworthy for the truth of God to be in it, this same truth of God, apart from that generation which believed the Gospels, no other generation has. But there follows: 'Thou hast founded the earth, and it abideth.' It befitted the order that after heaven the earth should next be named:
but this which is in the middle, that is, 'unto generation and generation is thy truth,' I suppose has intervened for this cause: that that twofold understanding concerning heaven, in which the word of God abides, might be confirmed. Now therefore, as it were, the whole order is preserved, since after heaven, in which the word of God abides, the founded earth shall remain. And indeed this too may perhaps be understood to be said of this earth, which, founded, remains, which according to Solomon God founded through wisdom. For, although it is set over the nature of the waters and floats spread out over an unstable element, yet it has been so founded by the wisdom and power and Spirit of God that it remains. But to me the prophetic speech seems to have spoken also of the earth of the human body, that it be so founded as to remain.
that in it, as in heaven, the word of God may abide. For heaven shall pass away; and how shall this earth, being founded, remain? Unless perhaps, being founded, it shall remain only in this age, that is, according to the constitution of this age it too shall remain. But if it is to remain forever—by which word it is signified that it shall remain in perpetuity—then it must be believed that the earth founded and to remain is that of those generations, for which, on account of the truth of God abiding in them, the heavenly glory of these now earthly bodies is being prepared. And this can be more fully understood thus in the following verse. For he says: 'By thy ordinance the day continueth, for all things serve thee.' This day which now is does not continue, being cut off by the intervention of night.
Or if he had spoken of the times of this present day, it would have befitted that mention also be made of night, which persists by the ordinance of God equally as the day. But because day is light and every holy man is the light of this world, therefore the day of this light is believed, not ambiguously, to continue by the ordinance of God and to be about to continue, because all things serve God. For now not all things serve God. Do sinners too serve God? Do those too serve who are still to be put under the footstool of the Lord's feet? For David said: 'The Lord said to my Lord: Sit thou at my right hand, until I make thy enemies the footstool of thy feet.' And according to the apostle: 'He must reign, until he put his enemies under his feet.'
Then therefore the day, that is, the light of the saints, shall abide, when all things serve God. And these things indeed have been recounted by us according to prophetic and apostolic doctrine, so that, although in the present sayings the time of future good things is understood to be signified—in which there shall be both a new heaven and a new earth, and the glory of the bodies to be transformed, and, the nights of earthly vices abolished, the day of our light for our hope and expectation—yet also all the creations of this world too bear witness to the magnificence of God by the immutable constitution of their offices, since all things have been so firmly established, founded, and set in place, that they persevere in the perpetual courses of times constituted from the beginning, in which they shall abide.
But the prophet asks that he himself may continue like the day, and he already remembers that he is the servant of his Lord, saying: 'Unless thy law had been my meditation, perhaps then I should have perished in my humiliation.' We have frequently pointed out that 'humiliation' signifies this: when the soul is subjected to temptations and, left to weakness, is made humble. The law therefore is his meditation; and unless it had been his meditation, perhaps he would have perished in his humiliation. Meditation on the law of God, therefore, is not to be abandoned when we are troubled and afflicted, but when we are troubled with the various infirmities of the body, when we are harassed amid the wars of persecutions, the meditation of the law ought to be constant in us. For though fires may burn unto the destruction of faith,
though scourges also tear us unto the peril of our salvation, and bodies redeemed by God are afflicted even to the eliciting of a confession of impiety, yet we ought to remember the prophetic saying, that we may be partakers with him. Let us too, patient and conquering, say: 'Unless thy law had been my meditation, perhaps then I should have perished in my humiliation.' And the prophet remembers the blessedness of this meditation already at the beginning of the psalms, saying: 'Blessed is the man who hath not walked in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stood in the way of sinners, nor sat in the chair of pestilence. But his will was in the law of the Lord, and on his law will he meditate day and night.'
And truly blessed shall he be, whosoever shall meditate on the law of God, by which meditation he shall be preserved even in the very humiliation of tribulations. Thereafter there follows: 'I will never forget thy justifications, for by them thou hast quickened me.' The prophet knows, according to the apostle, that the end of the law is Christ, in whom the observance of the justifications is established; he knows too that the law is in those who are to believe, he knows that the just man lives by faith in it, he knows that the law is spiritual, he knows that he who has done the things which are in the law shall live by them, and therefore he says: 'I will never forget thy justifications, for by them thou hast quickened me': so that, although the Gospel faith is to be preached now that the works of the law are ended, yet the justifications of the law...
...which is a beginning to it, he should not be forgetful, because the justification of the law is of the justification and of faith. But constantly, since no forgetfulness of the justifications of God can steal upon him, he professed that which follows, saying: 'I am thine, save me; for I have sought out thy justifications.' The voice of this profession does not befit all, and rare is he who dares to say that he is God's. He indeed will dare who said: 'To me to live is Christ, and to die is gain,' and: 'I live, now not I, but Christ liveth in me.' And those who shall be like unto this faith will not shamelessly confess that they are God's. This is the voice of a soul always intent upon God; this is the work of one immovable, of fasting, of almsgiving.
For how shall he profess himself to be God's who is hot with lust, prone to anger, anxious for avarice, thirsting for drunkenness, empty for the glory of the world? Such a one will rather be of these things, not of God. For in whom these vices of the passions abound, how shall he not be of those things to which he will be a slave? Many are the gods of the nations; but to Paul there is one God, from whom are all things, and one Lord of ours, Jesus, through whom are all things. Constantly therefore the prophet, whom alone he serves, confesses that he is His own; and because he is His own, he prays that he may be saved. And he is His own by this, that he seeks out His justifications.
While others seek the glory of the world, others fields, houses, money, he seeks out the justices of God and glories that he is God's. But there is a huge hatred of the irreligious against pious and religious men of this kind. And the prophet knows that he who professes himself to be God's is hateful either to men of the world or to the devil and his ministers. This too he teaches in the following verse, in which he says: 'The sinners waited for me to destroy me: I understood.' The devil or his ministers have this battle, to take away all the glory of the faithful man and not to allow him to be of the portion of God, but to take him up into the fellowship of their own damnation. Therefore there is a long and prolonged battle waged against the faith of the prophet.
But he, mindful of the commandments of God and understanding His testimonies, stood firm and remained. Nor did he otherwise elude the hope of those who awaited his perdition than by understanding that in the testimonies of God there was teaching for him. But it is arduous and difficult to understand the testimonies of God, and the understanding of them proceeds beyond the science of present knowledge. Concerning the testimonies we have already treated in the exordium of the psalm. For through these present testimonies of the law is granted the knowledge of the eternal testimonies. Finally the following speech demonstrates this very thing: 'I have seen an end of all consummation.' We have frequently pointed out that satisfaction cannot be given from the Latin translation.
For the force of this saying is different when uttered from the Greek; for it stands thus: [Greek phrase]. That which among the Greeks is so named is beyond the end of established things, nor is it contained by anything as an ending, but transcends every limit under an indefinite signification. But what is written among us as 'consummation' is thought to be contained, as to that which is treated of, by that end which is signified. But the prophet, who understands neither bodily nor earthly testimonies of the law, beholds according to the Greek signification beyond every consummation. He knows that there is a consummation of the times of the law, when after the fullness of times God is to be beheld in the body; but he sees beyond this consummation; for he beholds even the time of hope. But of this too indeed the consummation is not unknown to him;
for beyond it he extends his eyes. For he sees even the consummation of the resurrection; and he knows too that there is an established order of the transformation, the apostle saying: 'But every one in his own order,' and again: 'All indeed shall rise, but not all shall be changed.' He knows too the days of the reign of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which we shall be advanced into the kingdom of God the Father and transferred into those unsearchable judgments of God. He knows too that there is a time of judgment. And this he was permitted to know from the amplitude of the commandments of God, because the divine speech has diffused itself into the teaching of knowledge. For he says: 'Thy commandment is exceeding broad.'
It is plainly broad, both because it extends the recognition of human ignorance without limit, and because there are many things in which one may obey and be pleasing to the precepts of God according to the divisions and gifts of grace. For not all things are expected from all men, nor can everyone fulfil everything unto the height of pleasing God. One man pleases by fasting, another earns merit by simplicity of faith, another redeems his vices by almsgiving, another perfects himself by charity; even as to one the power of healings is granted, to another the knowledge of prophecy is imparted, to another firmness of faith is given, and to another wisdom and knowledge are bestowed. Broad, therefore, is the commandment of God, and it is diffused into every kind of our hope, so that it is not difficult, if only the will be present.
to obey the precept of God, since it is broad and diffused unto pleasing Him by the variety of religion. Nor merely broad, but exceedingly broad: the infinity of its breadth being shown by this very addition. Amen. MEM. How I have loved Thy law, O Lord! all the day long it is my meditation. Useful and necessary for us is this work of the prophet, whereby we are taught unto the perfect knowledge and obedience of God. He instructs us in two things most fitting to us: that we should both come to know God, who has been unknown, and that we should obey His commandments according to His decree.
For the prophet, throughout the whole body of this psalm, forms the man perfect in the law, the prophets, and the gospels, whether in his own person or in that of another whom he would instruct, one who has the confidence to proclaim of himself these things which are true. And it is worthy to observe with what care of words, with what completeness of understanding, the prophet confirms us in each several kind of his sayings. For he says in the verse of the thirteenth letter: How I have loved Thy law, O Lord! all the day long it is my meditation. It would surely have been ready to say: How I have kept Thy law! But because it is a greater merit to do a thing out of love rather than out of fear, therefore he says thus. For the obedience of love differs far from the duty of fear;
and the working of necessity does not have the grace of the will. For those things do not suffice of themselves unto the consummation of perfect obedience which, although they fulfil their work, yet, because they are compelled, deservedly lack fulness of grace. The prophet therefore wills that his work be of love rather than of terror, and that his obedience be undertaken out of charity, not out of dread. Many fast while they fear to be rebuked by us. Many offer something for the use of the needy while they dread that their irreligious and useless greed be reproached. Many come to church while they blush to be reproved for their absence and negligence. But not all of them love that which they do. In love, therefore, there can be no falling of necessity, since no one is unwilling toward that which he loves.