Psalm 146 [MT 147:1-11]

...Behold the Psalm sounds; it is the voice of some one (and that some one are you, if you will), of some one encouraging his soul to praise God, and saying to himself, "Praise the Lord, O my soul" [Psalm 146:1]. For sometimes in the tribulations and temptations of this present life, whether we will or no, our soul is troubled; of which troubling he speaks in another Psalm. But to remove this troubling, he suggests joy; not as yet in reality, but in hope; and says to it when troubled and anxious, sad and sorrowing, "Hope in God, for I will yet confess to Him."...

Exposition on Psalm 146

But who says it, and to whom says he it? What shall we say, brethren? Is it the flesh that says, "Praise thou the Lord, O my soul"? And can the flesh suggest good counsel to the soul? However much the flesh be conquered, and subjected as a servant to us through strength which the Lord imparts, that it serve us entirely as a bond slave, enough for us that it hinder us not....For the body, inasmuch as it is the body, is even beneath the soul; and every soul, however vile, is found more excellent than the most excellent body. And let not this seem to you to be wonderful, that even any vile and sinful soul is better than any great and most surpassing body. It is better, not in deserts, but in nature. The soul indeed is sinful, is stained with certain defilements of lusts; yet gold, though rusted, is better than the most polished lead. Let your mind then run over every part of creation, and you will see that what we are saying is not incredible, that a soul, however blameable, is yet more praiseworthy than a praiseworthy body. There are two things, a soul and a body. The soul I chide, the body I praise: the soul I chide, because it is sinful; the body I praise, because it is sound. Yet it is in its own kind that I praise the soul, and in its own kind that I blame the soul: and so in its own kind I praise the body, or blame it. If you ask me which is better, what I have blamed or what I have praised, wondrous is the answer you will receive....So you speak of the best horse and the worst man: yet you prefer the man you find fault with to the horse you praise. The nature of the soul is more excellent than the nature of the body: it surpasses it by far, it is a thing spiritual, incorporeal, akin to the substance of God. It is somewhat invisible, it rules the body, moves the limbs, guides the senses, prepares thoughts, puts forth actions, takes in images of countless things; who is there, in short, beloved brethren, who may suffice for the praises of the soul? And yet such is the grace given to it, that this man says, "Praise the Lord, O my soul."...It is not the flesh that says it. Let the body be angel-like, still it is inferior to the soul, it cannot give advice to its superior. The flesh when duly obedient is the handmaid of the soul: the soul rules, the body obeys; the soul commands, the body performs; how then can the flesh give this advice to the soul? Is it then perchance the soul herself, who says to herself, and in a manner commands herself, and exhorts and asks herself? For through certain passions in one part of her nature she wavered; but in another part, which they call the reasonable mind, the wisdom whereby she thinks, clinging to God, and now sighing towards Him, she perceives that certain inferior parts of her are troubled by worldly emotions, and by a certain excitement of earthly desires, betake them to outward things, leaving God who is within; so she recalls herself from things outward to inward, from lower to higher, and says, "Praise the Lord, O my soul."...The soul itself gives itself counsel from the light of God by the reasonable mind, whereby it conceives the wisdom fixed in the everlasting nature of its Author. It reads there of somewhat to be feared, to be praised, to be loved, to be longed for, and sought after: as yet it grasps it not, it comprehends it not; it is, as it were, dazzled with brightness; it has not strength to abide there. Therefore it gathers itself, as it were, into a sound state, and says, "Praise the Lord, O my soul."...And then the soul, weighed down, as it were, and unable to stand up as is fitting, answers the mind, "I will praise the Lord in my life" [Psalm 146:2]. What is, "in my life"? Because now I am in my death. Therefore first encourage yourself, and say, "Praise the Lord, O my soul." Your soul answers you, I do praise so far as I can, slightly, poorly, weakly. Wherefore? Because, "while we are in the body, we are absent from the Lord." [2 Corinthians 5:6] ...

Exposition on Psalm 146

May the Lord grant me the ability to say something worthwhile to you about the words of this psalm that we have sung just now. What we said was, “I will praise the Lord all my life, I will play music to my God as long as I live.” The first thing I would do regarding these words is warn you, dear friends, against assuming, when you hear or say “as long as I live I will play music to my God,” that when this life comes to an end that is the end for us of God’s praises. Not at all; we shall praise him then much more, when we are living without end. If we praise him during the exile we are passing through, how, do you think, shall we praise him at the home we are never going to leave? As it is said, read and sung in another psalm, “Blessed are those who dwell in your home; they shall praise you forever and ever.” Where you hear “forever and ever,” there is no end. And living the blessed life in which God is to be perceived without any uncertainty, to be loved without any weariness, to be praised without end, why, yes indeed, that will be what our being alive consists in—seeing, loving, praising God.

Sermon 33A.1

3–4

To these were added the sons of Maximin, with whom he had already shared imperial honors and whose features he had displayed publicly in portraits. Those who previously had boasted that they were related to the tyrant and tried to lord it over others endured the same sufferings and disgrace, for they did not accept correction or understand the precept in the sacred books:Put not your trust in princes, In the sons of men who cannot save. His breath shall depart and he shall return to his earth. In that day all his thoughts shall perish. When the impious were thus removed, the rule that belonged to them was preserved secure and undisputed for Constantine and Licinius alone. They had made it their priority to purge the world of hostility to God, and, acknowledging the blessings he had conferred on them, they showed their love of virtue and of God, their devotion and gratitude to the Deity, through their edict in behalf of the Christians.

Ecclesiastical History 9:11

3–4

A Christian sees this, poor, proletarian, moaning and groaning at his daily drudgery, and perhaps he says to himself, "What's the good of my having become a Christian? Has it made me any better off than that fellow who isn't, than that guy who doesn't believe in Christ, than that so-and-so who blasphemes my God?" That psalm warns him, "Do not put your trust in princes." Why do you take pleasure in the flower of the field? "All flesh is grass," says the prophet. He does not merely say it, he shouts it. The Lord shouts to him: "Shout," he says. And he answers, "What shall I shout? All flesh is grass, and all the honor of the flesh as the flower of the field. The grass has withered, the flower fallen." So has everything perished then? Heaven forbid! "But the word of the Lord abides forever." Why take pleasure in grass? Look, the grass has perished. Do you want to avoid perishing? Hold fast to the Word.So too in this psalm. Perhaps a poor, lowly Christian had his eyes fixed on a pagan, rich and powerful perhaps, had his eyes fixed on the flower of the field, and was perhaps halfway to choosing him for a patron rather than God. The psalm has a word for this person: "Do not put your trust in princes and in the sons of people, in whom there is no help." He immediately replies, "It cannot be speaking of this person, can it? He was very well off. Look how healthy he is. This very day I see him flourishing. It is me, rather, who am constantly and miserably ill." Why are you obsessed with these things as the only means of pleasure and satisfaction? That is not well-being. "His spirit will go out, and he will return to his earth."

Sermon 33A.3

"Put not your trust in princes" [Psalm 146:3]. Brethren, here we receive a mighty task; it is a voice from heaven, from above it sounds to us. For now through some kind of weakness the soul of man, whenever it is in tribulation here, despairs of God, and chooses to rely on man. Let it be said to one when set in some affliction, "There is a great man, by whom you may be set free;" he smiles, he rejoices, he is lifted up. But if it is said to him, "God frees you," he is chilled, so to speak, by despair. The aid of a mortal is promised, and you rejoice, the aid of the Immortal is promised, and are you sad? It is promised you that you shall be freed by one who needs to be freed with you, and you exult, as at some great aid: you are promised that Liberator, who needs none to free Him, and you despair, as though it were but a fable. Woe to such thoughts: they wander far; truly there is sad and great death in them. Approach, begin to long, begin to seek and to know Him by whom you were made. For He will not leave His work, if He be not left by His work.

Exposition on Psalm 146

This startling swiftness with which popular systems turn oppressive is the third fact for which we shall ask our perfect theory of progress to allow. It must always be on the look out for every privilege being abused, for every working right becoming a wrong. In this matter I am entirely on the side of the revolutionists. They are really right to be always suspecting human institutions; they are right not to put their trust in princes nor in any child of man. The chieftain chosen to be the friend of the people becomes the enemy of the people; the newspaper started to tell the truth now exists to prevent the truth being told. Here, I say, I felt that I was really at last on the side of the revolutionary. And then I caught my breath again: for I remembered that I was once again on the side of the orthodox.

Orthodoxy, Ch. VII: The Eternal Revolution

The fundamental fact of our time is the failure of the successful man. Somehow we have so arranged the rules of the game that the winners are worthless for other purposes; they can secure nothing except the prize. The very rich are neither aristocrats nor self-made men; they are accidents--or rather calamities. All revolutionary language is a generation behind the times in talking of their futility. A revolutionist would say (with perfect truth) that coal-owners know next to nothing about coal-mining. But we are past that point. Coal-owners know next to nothing about coal-owning. They do not develop and defend the nature of their own monopoly with any consistent and courageous policy, however wicked, as did the old aristocrats with the monopoly of land. They have not the virtues nor even the vices of tyrants; they have only their powers. It is the same with all the powerful of to-day; it is the same, for instance, with the high-placed and high-paid official. Not only is the judge not judicial, but the arbiter is not even arbitrary. The arbiter decides, not by some gust of justice or injustice in his soul like the old despot dooming men under a tree, but by the permanent climate of the class to which he happens to belong. The ancient wig of the judge is often indistinguishable from the old wig of the flunkey.

To judge about success or failure one must see things very simply; one must see them in masses, as the artist, half closing his eyes against details, sees light and shade. That is the only way in which a just judgment can be formed as to whether any departure or development, such as Islam or the American Republic, has been a benefit upon the whole. Seen close, such great erections always abound in ingenious detail and impressive solidity; it is only by seeing them afar off that one can tell if the Tower leans.

Now if we thus take in the whole tilt or posture of our modern state, we shall simply see this fact: that those classes who have on the whole governed, have on the whole failed. If you go to a factory you will see some very wonderful wheels going round; you will be told that the employer often comes there early in the morning; that he has great organising power; that if he works over the colossal accumulation of wealth he also works over its wise distribution. All this may be true of many employers, and it is practically said of all.

But if we shade our eyes from all this dazzle of detail; if we simply ask what has been the main feature, the upshot, the final fruit of the capitalist system, there is no doubt about the answer. The special and solid result of the reign of the employers has been--unemployment. Unemployment not only increasing, but becoming at last the very pivot upon which the whole process turns.

Or, again, if you visit the villages that depend on one of the great squires, you will hear praises, often just, of the landlord's good sense or good nature; you will hear of whole systems of pensions or of care for the sick, like those of a small and separate nation; you will see much cleanliness, order, and business habits in the offices and accounts of the estate. But if you ask again what has been the upshot, what has been the actual result of the reign of landlords, again the answer is plain. At the end of the reign of landlords men will not live on the land. The practical effect of having landlords is not having tenants. The practical effect of having employers is that men are not employed. The unrest of the populace is therefore more than a murmur against tyranny; it is against a sort of treason. It is the suspicion that even at the top of the tree, even in the seats of the mighty, our very success is unsuccessful.

A Miscellany of Men, The Man on Top (1912)

There are many uses of the word spirit in general in the sacred Scriptures, and a person could easily become confused from ignorance, if he did not know to what sort of spirit the particular text refers. Therefore, we must be sure of the nature of the Holy Spirit according to Scripture. For example Aaron is called Christ (anointed), and David also, and Saul and others are called Christs, yet there is only one true Christ; similarly since the name of spirit has been given to many things, we must determine what in particular is called the Holy Spirit. Many things are called spirits; our soul is called spirit; this wind that is blowing is called spirit; great valor is called spirit; impure action is called spirit; and a hostile devil is called spirit. Take care, therefore, when you hear such things, not to mistake one for another because of the similarity of name. Scripture says of the soul, “When his spirit departs he returns to the earth”; and again of the soul, “Who forms the spirit of a person within him.” It says in the Psalms of the angels, “Who make your angels spirits”;16 it says of the wind: “With a vehement spirit you shall break in pieces the ships of Tharsis”; and “As the trees of the woods are moved with the spirit”;18 and “Fire, hail, snow, ice, spirit of storm.” Our Lord says of his blessed teaching: “The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life,” that is, they are spiritual. The Holy Spirit is not an utterance of the tongue; he is living, granting wise speech, speaking and discoursing himself.

Catechetical Lecture 16:13

"His breath shall go forth, and he shall return to his earth: in that day shall all his thoughts perish" [Psalm 146:4]. Where is swelling? Where is pride? Where is boasting? But perhaps he will have passed to a good place, if indeed he have passed. For I know not whither he who spoke thus has passed. For he spoke in pride; and I know not whither such men pass, save that I look into another Psalm, and see that their passage is an evil one. "I beheld the wicked lifted up above the cedars of Libanus, and I passed by, and, lo, he was not; and I sought him, and his place was not found." The good man, who passed by, and found not the wicked, reached a place where the wicked is not. Wherefore, brethren, let us all listen: brethren, beloved of God, let us all listen; in whatsoever tribulation, in whatsoever longing for the heavenly gift, "let us not trust in princes, nor in sons of men, in whom is no salvation." All this is mortal, fleeting, perishable.

Exposition on Psalm 146

"I am afraid," says the apostle, "that just as the serpent led Eve astray by his cunning, in the same way your minds too may be corrupted from the chastity that is in Christ." Now the minds of these people are corrupted by that sort of conversation, "Let us eat and drink; for tomorrow we die." Those who love these things, who pursue these things, who assume this is the only life there is, who hope for nothing further, who either do not pray to God or pray to him for this life alone, who find any talk of diligence very tedious, will be very downcast when they hear me saying all this. They want to eat and drink, for tomorrow they die. If only they would give genuine thought to the fact that they are going to die tomorrow! Can there be any, after all, so mindless, so perverse, so hostile to their own souls, that they do not reflect, when they are about to die the next day, on how everything they have worked for has come to an end? That, you see, is what is written: "On that day shall all his schemes come to nothing."

Sermon 361:5

It seems quite clear that in most parts of the Old Testament there is little or no belief in a future life; certainly no belief that is of any religious importance. The word translated 'soul' in our version of the Psalms means simply 'life'; the word translated 'hell' means simply 'the land of the dead', the state of all the dead, good and bad alike, Sheol. [...] In many passages this is quite clear, even in our translation, to every attentive reader. The clearest of all is the cry in 89:46: 'O remember how short my time is: why hast thou made all men for nought?' We all come to nothing in the end. Therefore 'every man living is altogether vanity' (39:6). Wise and foolish have the same fate (49:10). Once dead, a man worships God no more; 'Shall the dust give thanks unto thee?' (30:10); 'for in death no man remembereth thee' (6:5). Death is 'the land' where, not only worldly things, but all things, 'are forgotten' (88:12). When a man dies 'all his thoughts perish' (146:3). Every man will 'follow the generation of his fathers, and shall never see light' (49:19): he goes into a darkness which will never end.

Reflections on the Psalms, Chapter 4: Death in the Psalms

5–6

There can be no doubt, of course, that the poor man being God-fearing, while trapped in his temporal miseries, was thinking how this life must end sometime and how eternal rest is to be gained. They both died, but that poor man's thoughts did not perish on that day. You see, it happened that the beggar died and was taken away by the angels to Abraham's bosom. On that day all his thoughts were healed. And because Lazarus translated into English means "Helped"—if you are called Lazarus in Hebrew, you are called "Helped" in English—this psalm has rightly advised us, "Blessed is he whose helper is the God of Jacob." When his spirit goes out and his flesh returns to its earth, his thoughts will not perish, because "his hope is in the Lord his God." This is the lesson learned in the school of Christ the teacher, this is what is hoped for by the heart of the faithful hearer, this is the reward of the only true savior."

Sermon 33A.4

What then must we do, if we are not to hope in sons of men, nor in princes? What must we do? "Blessed is he whose Helper is the God of Jacob" [Psalm 146:5]: not this man or that man; not this angel or that angel; but, "blessed is he whose Helper is the God of Jacob:" for to Jacob also so great an Helper was He, that of Jacob He made him Israel. O mighty help! now he is Israel, "seeing God." While then you are placed here, and a wanderer not yet seeing God, if you have the God of Jacob for your Helper, from Jacob you will become Israel, and will be "seeing God," and all toil and all groans shall come to an end, gnawing cares shall cease, happy praises shall succeed. "Blessed is he whose Helper is the God of Jacob;" of this Jacob. Wherefore is he happy? Meanwhile, while yet groaning in this life, "his hope is in the Lord his God."

Exposition on Psalm 146

5–6

Hold most firmly and never doubt that the holy Trinity, the only true God, is the Creator of all things, visible and invisible—concerning which it is said in the psalms, “Happy are those whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the Lord their God who made heaven and earth, the sea and all that is in them.” Concerning this the apostle too says, “For from him and through him and in him are all things. To him be glory forever.”

To Peter on the Faith 4:51

Who is this, "Lord his God"?..."To us there is one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and one Lord Jesus Christ, through whom are all things." [1 Corinthians 8:6] Therefore let Him be your hope, even the Lord your God; in Him let your hope be. His hope too is in the lord his god, who worships Saturn; his hope is in the lord his god, who worships Neptune or Mercury; yea more, I add, who worships his belly, of whom is said, "whose god is their belly." [Philippians 3:19] The one is the god of the one, the other of the other. Who is this "blessed" one? For "his hope is in the Lord his God." But who is He? "Who made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them" [Psalm 146:6]. My brethren, we have a great God; let us bless His holy Name, that He has deigned to make us His possession. As yet you see not God; you can not fully love what as yet you see not. All that you see, He has made. Thou admirest the world; why not the Maker of the world? Thou lookest up to the heavens, and art amazed: you consider the whole earth, and tremblest; when can you contain in your thought the vastness of the sea? Look at the countless number of the stars, look at all the many kind of seeds, all the different sorts of animals, all that swims in the water, creeps on the earth, flies in the sky, hovers in the air; how great are all these, how beautiful, how fair, how amazing! Behold, He who made all these, is your God. Put your hope in Him, that you may be happy. "His hope is in the Lord his God." Observe, my brethren, the mighty God, the good God, who makes all these things....If he mentioned these things only, perhaps you would answer me, "God, who made heaven and earth and sea, is a great God: but does He think of me?" It would be said to you, "He made you." How so? Am I heaven, or am I earth, or am I sea? Surely it is plain; I am neither heaven, nor earth, nor sea: yet I am on earth. At least you grant me this, that you are on earth. Hear then, that God made not only heaven and earth and sea: for He "made heaven and earth and sea, and all that is in them." If then He made all that is in them, He made you also. It is too little to say, you; the sparrow, the locust, the worm, none of these did He not make, and He cares for all. His care refers not to His commandment, for this commandment He gave to man alone....As regards then the tenor of the commandment, "God does not take care for oxen:" [1 Corinthians 9:9] as regards His providential care of the universe, whereby He created all things, and rules the world, "You, Lord, shall save both man and beast." Here perhaps some one may say to me, "God cares not for oxen," comes from the New Testament: "You, Lord, shall save both man and beast," is from the Old Testament. There are some who find fault and say, that these two Testaments agree not with one another....Let us hear the Lord Himself, the Chief and Master of the Apostles: "Consider," says He, "the fowls of the air; they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns, and your heavenly Father feeds them." [Matthew 6:26] Therefore even beside men, these animals are objects of care to God, to be fed, not to receive a law. As far then as regards giving a law, "God cares not for oxen:" as regards creating, feeding, governing, ruling, all things have to do with God. "Are not two sparrows sold for one farthing?" says our Lord Jesus Christ, "and one of them shall not fall to the ground without the will of your Father: how much better are you than they." [Matthew 10:29] Perhaps you say, God counts me not in this great multitude. There follows here a wondrous passage in the Gospel: "the hairs of your head are all numbered." [Matthew 10:30]

Exposition on Psalm 146

"Who keeps truth for ever." What "truth for ever"? What "truth" does He "keep," and wherein does "He keep it for ever"? "Who executes judgment for them that suffer wrong" [Psalm 146:7]. He avenges them that suffer wrong. There comes at once to you the voice of the Apostle: "now therefore there is altogether a fault among you, that you go to law one with another: why do ye not rather suffer wrong?" [1 Corinthians 6:7] He urged you not to suffer annoyance, but to suffer wrong: for not every annoyance is wrong. For whatever you suffer lawfully is not a wrong; lest perchance you should say, I also am among those who have suffered wrong, for I have suffered such a thing in such a place, and such a thing for such a reason. Consider whether you have suffered a wrong. Robbers suffer many things, but they suffer no wrong. Wicked men, evil doers, house-breakers, adulterers, seducers, all these suffer many evils, yet is there no wrong. It is one thing to suffer wrong; it is another to suffer tribulation, or penalty, or annoyance, or punishment. Consider where you are; see what you have done; see why you are suffering; and then you see what you are suffering. Right and wrong are contraries. Right is what is just. For not all that is called right, is right. What if a man lay down for you unjust right? Nor indeed is it to be called right, if it is unjust. That is true right, which is also just. Consider what you have done, not what you are suffering. If you have done right, you are suffering wrong; if you have done wrong, you are suffering right....

Exposition on Psalm 146

7–9

For it is not free will but the Lord who “looses those who are bound.” It is not our strength, but the Lord who “raises those who have fallen.” It is not our diligence in reading, but “the Lord who enlightens the blind” where the Greek says kyrios sophoi typhlous, that is, “the Lord makes wise the blind.” It is not our care, but “the Lord who cares for the stranger.” It is not our courage, but “the Lord who assists (or supports) all those who are down.”

Conference 3:15

7–8

We not only do not hold back, but even encourage, compassion, wisely and divinely set up by the church, that even for such people you should pray to the Lord with us. We also, with tears of sorrow, have pity on the downfall of misled souls. Following the example of the apostle’s compassion, “we are made weak with the weak,” and “we weep with those who weep.” We hope that the mercy of God may be gained with many tears and requisite satisfaction on the part of those who have lapsed. While we live in this body, no one’s rehabilitation is to be despaired of. We should desire the amendment of all, with the Lord helping us, who “raises up those who have been broken down, sets captives free, gives sight to the blind,” to whom is honor and glory “with the Father and with the Holy Spirit” forever and ever. Amen.

Sermon 34:5.2

She owed her recovery to none other than to [God] with the result that people were no less impressed by her unexpected recovery than by her misfortune. They concluded that the tragedy had happened for her glorification through sufferings—the suffering being human, the recovery superhuman. This will provide a lesson for people in the future who exhibit a high degree of faith in the midst of suffering and patience in calamity, but in a still higher degree experience the kindness of God that she received. To God’s beautiful promise to the righteous “though he fall, he shall not be utterly broken,” has been added a more recent one, “though he be utterly broken, he shall speedily be raised up and glorified.” For if her misfortune was unreasonable, her recovery was extraordinary, so that health soon replaced the injury, and the cure became more celebrated than the illness.

On His Sister St. Gorgiana, Oration 8:15

"The Lord looses them that are fettered; the Lord lifts up them that are dashed down; the Lord makes wise them that are blind" [Psalm 146:8]. Perfectly has he by this last sentence explained to us all the preceding ones: lest perchance, when he had said, "the Lord looses them that are fettered," we should refer it to those fettered ones, who for some crime are bound in irons by their masters: and in that he said, "He lifts up them that are dashed down," there should occur to our minds some one stumbling or falling, or thrown from a horse. There is another kind of fall, there are other kinds of fetters, just as there is other darkness and other light. Whereas he said, "He makes the blind wise;" he would not say, He enlightened the blind, lest you should understand this also in reference to the flesh, as the man was enlightened by the Lord, when He anointed his eyes with clay made with spittle, and so healed him: that you might not look for anything of this sort, when He is speaking of spiritual things, he points to a sort of light of wisdom, wherewith the blind are enlightened. Therefore in the same way as the blind are enlightened with the light of wisdom, so are the fettered set free, and those who are dashed down are lifted up. Whereby then have we been fettered? Whereby dashed down? Our body was once an ornament to us: now, we have sinned, and thereby have had fetters put on us. What are our fetters? Our mortality...."The Lord loves the righteous." And who are the "righteous"? How far are they righteous now?

Exposition on Psalm 146

For as long as your blessed husband was with you, you enjoyed honor and care and zealous attention. In fact you enjoyed such as you might expect to enjoy from a husband; but, since God took him to himself, [God] has taken his place with you. And this is not my saying but that of the blessed prophet David, for he says, “He will take up the fatherless and the widow,” and elsewhere he calls him “father of the fatherless and judge of the widow.” Thus in many passages you will see that he is earnestly concerned about the cause of this class of people.

Letter to a Young Widow 1

Just as you have; "the Lord, guards proselytes" [Psalm 146:9]. "Proselytes" are strangers. Every Church of the Gentiles is a stranger. For it comes in to the Fathers, not sprung of their flesh, but their daughter by imitating them. Yet the Lord, not any man, guards them. "The orphan and widow He will take up." Let none think that He takes up the orphan for his inheritance, or the widow for any business of hers. True, God does help them; and in all the duties of the human race, he does a good work, who takes care of an orphan, who abandons not a widow: but in a certain way we are all orphans, not because our Father is dead, but because He is absent.

Exposition on Psalm 146

But what excuse for despondency will we have left if we take to heart God's own promises and the hopes of Christians: the resurrection, I mean, eternal life, continuance in the kingdom, and all that "eye has not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of people, the things that God has prepared for them that love him"? Does not the apostle say emphatically, "I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that you sorrow not even as others which have no hope"? I have known many people who even without hope have got the better of their grief by the strength of reason alone, and it would indeed be extraordinary if they who are supported by such a hope should prove weaker than they who have no hope at all. Let us then, I implore you, look at the end as a long journey. When he went on a journey, we used indeed to be sorry, but we waited for his return. Now let the separation sadden us indeed in some degree, for I am not exhorting what is contrary to human nature, but do not let us wail as over a corpse; let us rather congratulate him on his setting forth and his departure hence, because he is now free from a world of uncertainties and fears no further change of soul or body or of corporeal conditions. The strife now ended, he waits for his reward. Do not grieve too much for orphans and widows. We have a greater Guardian whose law it is that all should take good care of orphans and widows and about whom the divine David says, "The Lord relieves the fatherless and widow, but the way of the wicked he turns upside down." Only let us put the rudders of our lives in his hands, and we shall meet with an unfailing providence. His guardianship will be surer than can be that of any man, for his are the words "Can a woman forget her sucking child that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? Yet will I not forget you." He is nearer to us than father and mother for he is our Maker and Creator. It is not marriage that makes fathers, but fathers are made fathers at his will.

Letter 14

"And the way of sinners He shall root out." What is, "the way of sinners"? To mock at these things which we say. Who is an orphan, who a widow? What kingdom of heaven, what punishment of hell is there? These are fables of the Christians. To what I see, to that will I live: "let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die." [1 Corinthians 15:32] Beware lest such men persuade you of anything: let them not enter through your ears into your heart; let them find thorns in your ears: let him, who seeks to enter thus, go away pierced: for "evil communications corrupt good manners." [1 Corinthians 15:33] But here perhaps you will say, "Wherefore then are they prosperous? Behold, they worship not God, and commit every kind of evil daily: yet they abound in those things, through want of which I toil." Be not envious against sinners. What they receive, you see, what is in store for them, do you not see?...Will you not believe even the Lord your God, who says, "Broad and spacious is the way that leads to destruction, and many there be that walk by it"? [Matthew 7:13] This "way the Lord will root out." And, when "the way of sinners" has been "rooted out," what remains for us? "Come, you blessed of My father, enjoy the Kingdom;" [Matthew 25:34] "The Lord shall reign for ever" [Psalm 146:10]. "O Sion, your God" shall reign for ever; surely your God will not reign without you. "For generation and generation." He has said it twice, because he could not say it for ever. And think not that eternity is bounded by finite words. The word eternity consists of four syllables; in itself it is without end. It could not be commended to you, save thus, "for generation and generation." Too little has he said: if he spoke it all day long, it were too narrow: if he spoke it all his life, must he not at length hold his peace? Love eternity: without end shall you reign, if Christ be your End, with whom you shall reign for ever and ever. Amen.

Exposition on Psalm 146