Expositions on the Book of Psalms (continued)
Psaitm XXXV_J ON THE PSALMS. 83 had It not been mortal, It had not died ; had It | remained, had He not refreshed them that He not died, It had not risen again; had It not risen again, It had not showed us an example of eternal life. So then death, which is caused by sin, is called sin; as we say the Greek tongue, the Latin tongue, meaning not the very member of flesh, but that which is done by the member of flesh. For the tongue in our members is one among others, as the eyes, nose, ears, and the rest: but the Greek tongue is Greek words, not that the tongue is words, but that words are by the tongue. . . . So then the sin of the Lord is that which was caused by sin; because He assumed flesh, of the same lump which had deserved death by sin. For to speak more briefly, Mary who was of Adam died for sin,* Adam died for sin, and the Flesh of the Lord which was of Mary died to put away sin. With this sackcloth the Lord clothed Himself, and therefore was He not known, because He lay hid under sackcloth. "When they," saith He, " troubled Me, I clothed Myself with sackcloth:" that is, they raged, I lay hid. For had He not willed to lie hid, neither could He have died, since in one moment of time one drop only of His Power, if indeed it is to be called a drop, He put forth, when they wished to seize Him, and at His one question, "Whom seek ye?" they all went back and fell to the ground. Such power could He not have might feed on them. For He refreshed them, He comforted them, He confirmed them, and into His Own Body converted them. In this manner then was our Lord also in fasting,
16. "And My prayer shall return into Mine Own Bosom." In the bosom of this verse is plainly a great depth, and may the Lord grant that it be fathomable by us. For in the " bosom"' asecret is understood. And we ourselves, Brethren, are here well admonished to pray within our own bosom, where God seeth, where God heareth, where no human eye penetrateth, where none seeth but He who succoureth; where Susanna prayed, and her voice, though it was not heard by men, yet by God was heard.°.. . We read also that in the mount Jesus prayed alone,? we read that He passed the night in prayer,' even at the time of His Passion. What then? "And My prayer shall return into Mine Own Bosom." I know not what better to understand concerning the Lord: take meanwhile what now occurs ;*° perhaps something better will occur hereafter, either to me or to some better: " My prayer shall return into Mine Own Bosom:" this I understand to be said, because in His Own Bosom He had the Father. '" For God was in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself." * In Himself He had Him to whom He prayed. He was not far from Him, for Himself had said, "I am in the Father, and the Father in Me." '?_ But because prayer rather belongeth to very Man (for according as Christ is the Word, He prayeth not, but heareth prayer; and seeketh not to be succoured for Himself, but with the Father succoureth all) : what is, " My prayer shall return into Mine Own Bosom," but in Me My Manhood invoketh in Me My Godhead.
_ humbled in passion, if He had not lain hid under sackcloth.
15. Again, if we have understood the sackcloth, how understand we the fasting? Wished Christ to eat, when He sought fruit on the tree,3 and if He had found, would He have eaten? Wished Christ to drink, when He said to the woman of Samaria, " Give Me to drink" ?4 when He said on the Cross, " I thirst''?5 For what hungered, for what thirsted Christ, but our good works? Because in them that crucified and persecuted Him He had found no good works, He fasted ; for they rewarded barrenness to His soul. For what a fast was His, who found barely one thief, whom on the Cross He might taste! For the Apostles had fled, and had hidden themselves in the multitude. And even Peter, who even to the death of his Lord had promised to persevere, had now thrice denied Him, had now wept, and still lay hid in the multitude, still feared lest He should be known. Lastly, having seen Him dead, all of them despaired of their own safety ; and despairing He found them, after His resurrection, and when He spake with them, found them grieving and mourning, no longer hoping anything. ... In great fasting had the Lord
17. "As a Neighbour, as our Brother, so I pleased Him: as one mourning and sorrowful, so I humbled myself" (ver. 14). Now looketh He back to His Own Body: let us now look to this. When we rejoice in prayer, when our mind is calmed, not by the world's prosperity, but by the light of Truth: (who perceiveth this light, knoweth what I say, and he seeth and acknowledgeth what is said, "As a Neighbour, as our Brother, so I pleased Him") : even then our soul pleaseth God, not placed afar off, for, "Tn Him," saith one, "we live and move and have our being," *3 but as a Brother, as a Neighbour, as a Friend. But if it be not such that it can so rejoice, so shine, so approach, so cleave unto Him, and seeth itself far off thence, then let it do what followeth, "As one mourning and
1 [ All, without one exception, were dead in sins." See (City of God, took ux. cap. 6) vol ii. p. 425, supra. Mary is not excepted by any of the Fathers; and the Latin Fathers, the last of whom is St, Bernard, unanimously ascribe to Christ the only immacu-
6 Susanna i. 35, 447 Matt. xiv. 23. 2 Luke vi.1z. 9 Matt. xxvi. 36; Mark xiv. 35; Luke xxii. 41. 10 [A significant hint of the improvised character of many of the saint's expositions. — conception. — C.] k ; 2 John xviii. 4, 6. 4 Mark xi. 13. 4 John iv. z 5 John xix. 22. [On assimilation, compare p. 86, n. 2.— ot
Il 2 Cor. v. 19. 13 Acts xvii. 28. 12 John xiv. 10.