Psalm 35 [MT 36]

The wicked person speaks, and the inner conscience is mangled. Every word he utters is laden with malice and trickery. Who undergoes punishment greater than that which he inflicts on himself, when every word he says is piercing him through and through? The serpent pours out his poison into others; the unjust pours it into himself. Whatever he spills forth, he is spilling into his own self.

The wicked man said, in order to sin for himself. He did not express what he said, and therefore I think it should be understood thus: whatever the wicked man says, it is a sin. For every injustice is a sin, just as where there is a flawed instrument, how can the song not be flawed? The offspring of degenerate material is devoid of color. Therefore, whatever the wicked man speaks, it is iniquity, which is attributed to its author, just as it is a frequent saying that the offspring of a viper first splits its parent. Therefore, he sins against himself. I think nothing is said more sublime in this statement. In those who have claimed wisdom of the world for themselves, I have not read or learned anything like this. It is not surprising, since they have spoken with human intellect, that the Spirit of God, the Spirit of truth, has infused this: that the unjust man sins against himself, generates wounds for himself, and wounds himself. For just as thorns are born in the hands of a drunkard, as Scripture asserts: so also the unjust are born from words, which afflict the speaker. The unjust man speaks, and his inner conscience is wounded; for in every word he speaks, he is not free from deceit. For what punishment is heavier than his own, when he exacts punishment for every word? The serpent infuses poison into others, unjust to itself; for whatever it pours out is poured back upon it. Therefore, the unjust man is useless to others and harmful to himself; but the life of the just is fruitful for others and sweet for themselves. For Solomon says: "My son, if you are wise, you will be wise for yourself and for your neighbors; but if you are wicked, you alone will bear the evil."

Therefore, we observe that justice is born more for the sake of others than for oneself: it expects the common good, not its own; and it considers the good of others as its own advantage. Blessed and illustrious justice, whose good benefits all: it often proceeds from one to many, and reaches everyone. Just is David, who spared his enemy and preferred his innocence over preserving his life; so that he would not seek retribution for the sake of the public, and so that he would not set an example for the prince to desire vengeance in all cases, since he himself took revenge on his assailant. Justus Abel, who considered the firstfruits of his sheep, which the Lord had given him, to be offered to the Lord; and therefore he pleased God more, because he did not delay and demonstrated devotion. But the wicked one could not bear this, a transgressor of justice, a root of iniquity; and therefore he killed his brother, because his offering had been approved by God more than his own. But he who was killed spoke to God in the voice of his blood, while the living one was rejected from the face of the Lord; and even though punishment did not yet come from the Lord, the conscience of his sins tormented him. The wretched man was hiding, trembling and fearing; and since there was still no executioner, his unjust life itself tortured him. He had received a sign, not so that he could enjoy the sweetness of life, but so that death would not take away his torment: so that he would suffer daily by fearing his executioner. Indeed, he had deserved that the executioner be restrained; but without any respite, he himself was his own executioner, he himself was the executioner.

What punishment is greater than fearing that which you cannot avoid, and not being able to escape that which you have feared? Hence, David expresses beautifully the heavy burden of a guilty conscience, saying: "For I acknowledge my iniquity, and my sin is always before me" (Psalm 50:4). For the image of our sin is imposed upon us, and it does not allow its guilty one to be at peace, inflicting a miserable servitude upon him and dragging him into its own chains, so that he may not be able to free himself; for he willingly sold himself, although he was free to not accept the costs of his sins and to preserve the freedom of innocence. So while we pray, sin is poured out: when the senses of the body relax in sleep, sin returns. Our error always comes to us like a wicked tax collector, or like a dishonest moneylender meeting a debtor. Hence the Lord says: Whoever commits sin is the servant of sin (John 8:34). But the righteous person knows how to loosen the bonds of his sins, and does not wait for an accuser, but anticipates by confessing in order to alleviate every offense; so that the adversary may have nothing to accuse. And so Scripture says to you: The righteous at the beginning of his speech is an accuser of himself (Prov. XVIII, 17). For he takes away the voice of the adversary, and with a confession of his own sins, he binds them like teeth sharpened for the prey of accusation. Judas Iscariot said that he would betray him. What did he say: The one I shall kiss, he is: seize him (Matt. XXVI, 48). He said this, and he himself acted with his own mouth unto death. How many do we think there were in him who were torturers, that he himself burdened himself so heavily as the exactor of punishment, and strangled himself with a noose?

The wicked man said that he sins for himself. The righteous man spoke: Behold, I, a sinner, have done evil, and what has this flock done? And all sin was forgiven. Thus the righteous man spoke, and it benefited him. Cain said: Am I my brother's keeper? and he lied to himself. Ananias said that he had brought forth the price of his sold land and he lied to himself, for he could have offered less without deception. Therefore, it says excellently: "And iniquity lies to itself" (Psalm 26:12). It lies to itself beforehand when it lies to its own destruction; it sins against itself when it robs itself of the sweetness of innocence. For what fruit is sweeter than the purity and simplicity of the heart? What food is more enjoyable than that which the mind, well aware of itself, and the conscience of the innocent, feasts upon? But indeed, iniquity weighs down the conscience like a leaden weight, as Scripture testifies (Zechariah 5:7). And rightfully does David say: As a heavy burden are they befallen upon me (Psalm. XXXVII, 5). And Solomon: As a sour grape to the teeth, and smoke to the eyes, so is iniquity to all those who use it (Prov. X, 26). A severe punishment which hinders food, obscures sight; and, what is worse, it casts a dark shadow over the eyes of the inner mind, so that the unjust cannot see what is true. Therefore, he who takes away from himself what is precious, sins against himself.

Therefore the unjust man says that he may sin for himself. But the just man speaks in order to benefit others and himself; the former speaks for destruction, the latter speaks for salvation. But concerning the just and faithful, it is said: With the heart one believes unto justice, but with the mouth confession is made unto salvation (Rom. X, 10). His tongue wounds, but the tongue of the wise heals. Therefore, when David reproached King Saul for persecuting him to death, forgetting the favor and gratitude for saving him so many times, and seeking the life of him who had risked his own life for the king's safety, he said that the fruit of justice would not perish in him, who did not destroy his enemy, handed over to him by the Lord (I Sam. XXIV, 14). Injustice has enriched itself from the unjust, poison has been poured out by serpents, the poison and weapons of injustice have perished.

Therefore, it is written: The unjust says to himself that he may sin. What did he say? I will set my throne above the clouds, and I will be like the Most High (Isaiah 14:14). The words have no effect, but they have sin. It is an empty pomp of boastfulness; but the spirit of pride, being criminal, does not fear to violate the divine majesty with reproach. For if any fear of God were within him, he would not have believed in his deceitful self in the full sight of God, as if God cannot know hidden things, He who is the searcher of souls. God watches over everything; nothing passes Him by, no one deceives Him: to Him all present things are like those which are going to happen, and hidden things are clear. Indeed, if that worldly sun often offers its light to closed dwellings; how much more so the highest, eternal God, who investigates and anticipates the secret interior of the human mind and every counsel of the Angels with His knowledge? What else does the unjust person do, except seek injustice for himself and hatred?

There is no fear of God in the sight of one who sins against himself that he may find his own iniquity and hate it. He praises injustice as the unjust one is praised. He does not wish to understand good actions by which he will be made worthy in the recesses of his own heart. He meditates on evil as he draws near to the way that is not good, and he does not abhor evil.

..."The ungodly hath said in himself that he will sin: there is no fear of God before his eyes" (ver. 1). Not of one man, but of a race of ungodly men he speaketh, who fight against their own selves, by not understanding, that so they may live well; not because they cannot, but because they will not. For it is one thing, when one endeavours to understand some thing, and through infirmity of flesh cannot; as saith the Scripture in a certain place, "For the corruptible body presseth down the soul, and the earthly tabernacle weigheth down the mind that museth upon many things;" but another when the human heart acts mischievously against itself, so that what it could understand, if it had but good will thereto, it understandeth not, not because it is difficult, but because the will is contrary. But so it is when men love their own sins, and hate God's Commandments. For the Word of God is thy adversary, if thou be a friend to thy ungodliness; but if thou art an adversary to thy ungodliness, the Word of God is thy friend, as well as the adversary of thy ungodliness...

Of the cursing Psalms I suppose most of us make our own moral allegories—well aware that these are personal and on a quite different level from the high matters I have been trying to handle. We know the proper object of utter hostility—wickedness, especially our own. Thus in 36, 'My heart showeth me the wickedness of the ungodly,' each can reflect that his own heart is the specimen of that wickedness best known to him. After that, the upward plunge at verse 5 into the mercy high as heaven and the righteousness solid as the mountains takes on even more force and beauty.

There are two types of sinners. One type believes the law, but is not strong enough to fulfill its commands because of the weakness of its flesh.… The other type is brash, beyond hope, blasphemous, for it makes plans for itself to commit sin by its free will. This type of sinner despises all things and it grumbles to itself, confident in the notion that God does not trouble himself with the affairs of mortals.

What then? are we better than they? No, in no wise: for we have before proved both Jews and Gentiles, that they are all under sin; As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one. Their throat is an open sepulchre; with their tongues they have used deceit; the poison of asps is under their lips: Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness: Their feet are swift to shed blood: Destruction and misery are in their ways: And the way of peace have they not known: There is no fear of God before their eyes. [Psalms 36:1] Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God. Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin. But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets; Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference: For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.

The lawbreaker thinks his sinning is [hidden] within—that is, he believes that he is escaping notice in sinning.… Now, it is typical of the person employing deceit to think that schemers escape notice, because they are always under that impression when they use flattering language; after all, unless they expected to escape notice, they would not have persisted in their deceitful pretense.

In the preceding Psalm the Psalmist implored the help of God against the persecutions of sinners; here he describes the wickedness of sinners. The title is "Unto the end, of the servant of God." And this is something new, that he says "of the servant of God." That man is a faithful servant who does not claim for himself the goods of his master, and does not turn back his own evils upon the master. For there are some who turn their sins back upon God, saying that they sin by necessity: and they claim their own goods for themselves, saying that they have them by their own power. David does the contrary: and concerning this he does two things. First he makes mention of the evils that are in us from ourselves. Second, of the goods that are in us from God, at "O Lord, in heaven." Concerning the first he does two things. First he sets forth the root of evil. Second he sets forth the progress of evil from that root, at "The words of his mouth." The root of evil is the intention. First therefore the evil intention is proposed. Second, the cause is set forth, at "There is no fear." Third, he proves it, at "Because he has acted deceitfully." As the Philosopher says in Ethics 3, here someone does an unjust thing, and does not act unjustly; someone does it and acts unjustly, but is not unjust: someone does it and acts unjustly, and is unjust. The first is done by one who retains the property of another which he believes to be his own. The second is done by one who commits injustice not from habit but from passion, and when the passion ceases he returns the property of another. The third is done by one who commits injustice from deliberate intention; and therefore he says, "The unjust man has said," that is, he has deliberated with intention "to transgress in himself": because it is in his power to intend to sin, not in the fate of the stars: Sir. 15: "God in the beginning made man, and left him in the hand of his own counsel"; but the unrestrained progress of sinning comes from the fact that the impediment to sin is removed. Now it is said that sin against the Holy Spirit occurs when one sins from certain malice; and this happens when the impediment is removed. This impediment, then, is removed by the fear of the Lord: Prov. 16: "By the fear of the Lord one turns away from evil": Job 15: "As much as is in you, you have emptied out the fear, and taken away prayers," etc. And therefore he says, "There is no fear of God before their eyes." Fear is in the affections; but the cause of fear is in the eyes, from the fact that they do not consider the judgment of God: Dan. 13: "They turned away their eyes, so as not to see heaven."

For it is written: There is no fear of God before his eyes: because he hath dealt deceitfully before him, that he might find his iniquity unto hatred. For what did he find? For every one that asketh, receiveth: and he that seeketh, findeth: and to him that knocketh, it shall be opened. But as commendable is he who finds the good he seeks, so elusive is he who labored to find the evil he sought; for our efforts should be directed towards good things, not towards wickedness and crime. What, then, is it but the utmost folly and madness, to seek hatred, to find injustice by means of greater arts, which no good person has ever sought?

Therefore, let us consider how the wicked seek their own iniquity and hatred. Indeed, Herodias was married to the tetrarch of Philip in a legitimate union, abundant in royal wealth and power. She received Herod, who was traveling to Rome, as if he were her husband's brother, by the right of hospitality and kinship. After making a pact with him, she soon left her husband and exchanged the rights of her partnership. Did she not seek iniquity and hatred by deserting her marriage in order to find adultery? And because Saint John the Baptist consistently rebuked Herod for his unlawful marriage, saying to him: "It is not lawful for you to have her as a wife" (Mark 6:18), as she had left her lawful husband and had come together with her brother-in-law as if by law; the adulteress was moved to the extent that she wanted to kill him. But knowing that she could not easily persuade Herod to kill John, she devised a plan by which she could accomplish this. It was Herod's birthday, which he used to celebrate with excessive luxury, as is the custom for many kings. He adorned his daughter so that she might dance a royal pledge at the king's banquet. And when she pleased Herod, who should have displeased her uncle, she offered to him, that he might ask for whatever reward he wanted for the disgrace of her dancing. She consulted her mother, by whose prompting she demanded the head of John the Baptist. Herod, being overcome because he had bound himself by an oath to give whatever the girl would ask, ordered John to be killed, and his head to be brought. When it was brought, the girl gave it to her mother, and she carried it to her own mother. Therefore, it is true that injustice and hatred are required: since that woman, unable to obtain what she wanted through a simple request, devised a scheme of deceitful fraud.

"For he has wrought deceitfully in His sight" [Psalm 36:2]. In whose sight? In His, whose fear was not before the eyes of him that did work deceitfully. "To find out his iniquity, and hate it." He wrought so as not to find it. For there are men who as it were endeavour to seek out their iniquity, and fear to find it; because if they should find it, it is said to them, Depart from it: this you did before you knew; you did iniquity being in ignorance; God gives pardon: now you have discovered it, forsake it, that to your ignorance pardon may easily be given; and that with a clear face you may say to God, "Remember not the sins of my youth, and of my ignorance." Thus he seeks it, thus he fears lest he find it; for he seeks it deceitfully. When says a man, I knew not that it was sin? When he has seen that it is sin, and ceases to do the sin, which he did only because he was ignorant: such an one in truth would know his sin, to find it out, and hate it. But now many "work deceitfully to find out their iniquity:" they work not from their heart to find it out and hate it. But because in the very search after iniquity, there is deceit, in the finding it there will be defence of it. For when one has found his iniquity, lo now it is manifest to him that it is iniquity. Do it not, you say. And he who wrought deceitfully to find it out, now he has found, hates it not; for what says he? How many do this! Who is there that does it not? And will God destroy them all? Or at least he says this: if God would not these things to be done, would men live who commit the same? Do you see that you worked deceitfully to find out your iniquity? For if not deceitfully but sincerely you had wrought, you would now have found it out, and hated it; now you have found it out, and you defend it; therefore you worked deceitfully, when you sought it.

If he had "the fear of God before his eyes," he would not have employed deceit in the belief that he was escaping our notice (realizing that it was not possible to escape God, everything being known to him, who knows and understands everything clearly). If he really had dread of the Lord, he would have shown much zeal in guarding against sin.

He so distracts himself, he is saying, and banishes the fear of God from his own sight that his lawlessness, which in fact is obvious, is seen and discovered by everyone and thus attracts loathing. He has given himself unswervingly to lawlessness. Now, he adopts this ignorance so willingly that he is not prepared to assess what he has done or loathe his evil exploits.

But the cause is, "because he has acted deceitfully." When someone in the sight of a king does something hateful to the king, it is a sign that he does not fear him; so the sinner, when he commits sin in the presence of God, who sees all things, it is a sign that he does not fear God, because "in his sight," namely of God, "he has acted deceitfully," that is, he has committed deceit: Heb. 4: "All things are naked and open to his eyes." And he says "deceitfully," because he shows one thing outwardly and pretends another: Ps. 5: "The man of blood and deceit the Lord shall abhor": Job 36: "The pretenders and the crafty provoke the wrath of God." And therefore "let his iniquity be found worthy of hatred," that is, let his iniquity be such that God has it in hatred. And this is a sign that God hates such pretenders, because in the Gospels God greatly inveighs against pretenders. Another reading has "in his own sight, that he might see his iniquity and hate it." It happens that someone examines his conscience so as to find his iniquity and hate it. Frequently in this he acts fraudulently, because he does not examine well, but makes light of serious things and makes serious what is light. And therefore he says, "he has acted deceitfully in his own sight," that is, in his conscience; because if he had faithfully hated his iniquity, he would have examined it. Or, according to the same sense, "in his sight," namely of God, that is, in Sacred Scripture, which they do not attend to according to its truth and the Holy Spirit's meaning, but act deceitfully; and this is because "they do not find iniquity."

What shall I say about Judas the traitor, who sought after greed and found sacrilege, saying: What will you give me, and I will hand him over to you (Matt. XXVI, 15)? Not satisfied with looting the spoils of the poor, he reached the fullness of the gravest crimes by committing crimes, mixing the sacraments of charity with wicked acts, when he said: He whom I shall kiss, he is: hold him (Ibid., 48); so that there can be no doubt that what was said about him is true: The words of his mouth are wickedness and deceit. She was giving kisses with her lips, she was pouring poison into their hearts; she was contemplating bitter punishments, she was offering a token of her favor.

Indeed, a prophecy was made about him: He did not want to understand in order to do good; for he did not sin by nature, but by his own will. In the end, he was an Apostle, he heard daily divine commands, he learned the heavenly mystery; he could have understood in order to do good, if he had wanted. He saw the paralytics healed, the blind receive sight, the dead raised; should he not have understood that it was God who could perform such things? But he did not want to understand, because he was a greedy man and, focused on money, he turned away the power of his mind from knowing the divine. For every person who indulges in wickedness does not want to understand the commandments of heaven, lest they be turned away from their vices. See that person fleeing understanding, who says: Darkness covers me, and walls surround me: who knows if the Lord sees (Ecclesiasticus 23:26) ? They do not want to seek and find, that God sees and knows all things; lest they be held back from their wrongdoing. See King Ahab seeking Naboth's vineyard; know his response: Far be it from me to give up the inheritance of my fathers (1 Kings 21:3) . Should he not have understood that he was doing what was right? But he did not want to understand in order to do good and not seek what belongs to others. Should he not have understood that Elijah served God truly, when he saw that by the word of Elijah the heavens were shut for three years and six months; and that by his prayers rain was sent down to water the dry land? But he did not want to understand, lest he condemn their unfaithfulness and follow the faith.

"The words of his mouth are iniquity and deceit: he would not understand, that he might do good" (ver. 3). Ye see that he attributeth that to the will: for there are men who would understand and cannot, and there are men who would not understand, and therefore understand not. "He would not understand, that he might do good."

Next he sets forth the progress from the root. And first he sets forth the sins of the mouth. Second, of the heart and of action. A man commits sin by the mouth in two ways: either through open malice, when he lies openly; and this is what he says: "The words of his mouth are iniquity": Job 6: "You shall not find iniquity in my mouth." Or through hidden fraud; and this is "deceit": Jer. 9: "Their tongue is a wounding arrow; it has spoken deceit." In the heart one sins in two ways: by contempt for the good, and by the pursuit of evil. It happens that someone sins through weakness, and someone through ignorance. But when the ignorance is affected, then it is a grave sin: Job 21: "We do not want the knowledge of your ways." And therefore he says, "He was unwilling to understand so as to do good"; hence he was willing to understand curious things, but not so as to act well: Jer. 4: "They are wise to do evil; but to do good they have no knowledge."

Moreover, he meditated wickedness in his bed, where he should have sought the truth. For in our beds, we should remorse our sins, not commit them by our very actions, as the Prophet says: "What you utter in your hearts, and in your beds you are remorseful."

Moreover, he meditated wickedness in his bed, where he should have sought the truth. For in our beds, we should remorse our sins, not commit them by our very actions, as the Prophet says: "What you utter in your hearts, and in your beds you are remorseful" (Psalm IV, 5).

He stood, he said, on a path that was not good: but he did not have hatred for wickedness. For it is not without reason that he contemplates injustice, who stands on the path of error and loves wickedness, which he ought to hate. He said more, he stood; as if he had long been in the way of wickedness, by a long-standing station. For blessed is the one who has not stood on the path of sinners, not the one who does not cease to stand on it. And therefore, the first precepts are those of the holy prophet David, to flee from impiety, not to stand in sin, to meditate on the Law; so that you may understand what is good and distinguish between what is just and unjust. Therefore, in all things, the root of procreation must be observed, so that it is not contaminated with useless juice from the beginning, and the vices of the mind are much more serious than those of the branches. Therefore, above all else, we must be careful that the use of malice does not grow in human ingenuity, and that every generation degenerates; for a bad tree produces bad fruit. For if we often do what we do not want, and cannot avoid what we hate; and we do what we hate, either from the pleasure of wickedness or by the stealth of sin: how can we avoid what we love? We are constrained and unwilling; how can we not be held voluntary? Paul scarcely extricates himself from daily errors by struggling in debate, so that, having been freed from the chains of captivity, he might be preserved by the grace of Christ; and do you think that by assisting in sins you can attain the rewards of heavenly promises? The crown is sought through struggle, not through resistance; it is obtained through endeavor, not through opposition. Moreover, the support of divine mercy should be sought for those who strive, so that the crown of righteousness may be bestowed on them according to the merits of their labors.

"He hath meditated iniquity on his bed." What said He, "On his bed?" (ver. 4). "The ungodly hath said in himself, that he will sin:" what above he said, in himself, that here he said, "On his bed." Our bed is our heart: there we suffer the tossing of an evil conscience; and there we rest when our conscience is good. Whoso loveth the bed of his heart, let him do some good therein. There is our bed, where the Lord Jesus Christ commands us to pray. "Enter into thy chamber, and shut thy door." What is, "Shut thy door?" Expect not from God such things as are without, but such as are within; "and thy Father which seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly." Who is he that shutteth not the door? He who asketh much from God such things, and in such wise directeth all his prayers, that he may receive the goods that are of this world. Thy door is open, the multitude seeth when thou prayest. What is it to shut thy door? To ask that of God, which God alone knoweth how He giveth. What is that for which thou prayest, when thou hast shut the door? What "eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, or hath entered into the heart of man." And haply it hath not entered into thy very bed, that is, into thy heart. But God knoweth what He will give: but when shall it be? When the Lord shall be revealed, when the Judge shall appear. ...

"He hath set himself in every way that is not good." What is, "he hath set himself"? He hath sinned perseveringly. Whence also of a certain pious and good man it is said, "He hath not stood in the way of sinners." As this "hath not stood," so that "hath set himself." "But wickedness hath he not hated." There is the end, there the fruit: if a man cannot but have wickedness, let him at least hate it. For when thou hatest it, it scarcely occurs to thee to do any wickedness. For sin is in our mortal body, but what saith the Apostle? "Let not sin reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof." When beginneth it not to be therein? When that shall be fulfilled in us which he saith, "When this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality." Before this come to pass, there is a delighting in sin in the body, but greater is the delighting and the pleasure in the Word of Wisdom, in the Commandment of God. Overcome sin and the lust thereof. Sin and iniquity do thou hate, that thou mayest join thyself to God, who hateth it as well as thou. Now being joined in mind unto the Law of God, in mind thou servest the Law of God. And if in the flesh thou therefore servest the law of sin, because there are in thee certain carnal delightings, then will there be none when thou shalt no longer fight. It is one thing not to fight, and to be in true and lasting peace; another to fight and overcome; another to fight and to be overcome; another not to fight at all, but to be carried away. ...

He did not pass through this world's life like those who are confident that they have left it behind but have still remained in it and have become stuck in it.

Likewise, sometimes a man commits sin from a pursuit of malice; hence he says, "He has meditated iniquity on his bed," that is, in his heart. Or "on his bed," that is, when he is in secret: Prov. 24: "The thought of a fool is sin and abomination." "He has set himself." Here he sets forth what is committed in action. And first he sets forth the cooperation in evil. Second, the failure to prevent evil. As to the first he says, "He has set himself upon every way that is not good," that is, he lives and gives support to every evil way, or evil action: Ps. 2: "The kings of the earth took their stand." As to the second he says, "But he has not hated malice": Ps. 51: "You have loved malice above goodness, iniquity," etc. Job 20: "When evil is sweet in his mouth, he hides it under his tongue."

Therefore, mercy must be sought from heaven, and the truth of God must be gathered from the oracles of the prophets, who, like clouds, cover the mysteries of divine knowledge. For God has placed darkness as His hiding place; so that you may first receive the rain of mystical fertility, and then, infused with heavenly dew, recognize the brightness of revealed light, so that you may say: From His fullness we have received.

(Verses 5, 6.) Finally, let us consider what follows. 'O Lord,' he says, 'in heaven is your mercy, and your faithfulness reaches to the clouds. Your righteousness is like the mountains of God; your judgments are like the deep abyss.' Did not Paul follow this passage to say: 'Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?' But thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord (Rom. 7:24-25). For when the human mind is troubled and we are weary from the difficulties and hardships of our struggles, we must seek the help of the Lord. Therefore, turning to the Lord, he invokes and implores Him to assist those who are laboring. Therefore, mercy must be sought from heaven, and the truth of God must be gathered from the oracles of the prophets, who, like clouds, cover the mysteries of divine knowledge. For God has placed darkness as His hiding place; so that you may first receive the rain of mystical fertility, and then, infused with heavenly dew, recognize the brightness of revealed light, so that you may say: From His fullness we have received (John 1:16). For who can easily comprehend the secrets of God, whose justice is like the mountains of God, or (as the Eagle has said) like strong mountains; because the precepts are full of strong virtue. Therefore, the Apostle, seeing that what he heard was sublime, says: O the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How incomprehensible are His judgments, and His ways unsearchable! For who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been His counselor (Romans 11:23-24)? Therefore, he compared the height of wealth to the height of mountains. Listen to which mountains. For the Son of God Himself is a great mountain (Isaiah 40:9); and therefore, ascend this mountain that proclaims the good news to Zion, so that you may be rooted and planted in Christ. The mountain is like the wisdom of God, the mountain is like righteousness, the mountain is like the knowledge of God, the mountain is like sanctification, the mountain is like redemption, the mountain is like resurrection. The Scriptures have shown us these mountains, which say: In Him you are in Christ Jesus, who has become wisdom for us from God, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption (I Cor. I, 30). And also because the Son of God became an angel to the angels, and a prophet to the prophets; whose judgments are like an abyss. Listen to this good news: One abyss calls upon another abyss in the voice of your waterfalls (Psal. XLI, 8); that is, the scripture of the Old Testament calls upon the arrangement of the New Testament for the completion of sanctification and the fullness of grace, with a certain sound and an overflow of spiritual abundance.

"Thy mercy, O Lord, is in the heavens, and Thy truth reacheth even unto the clouds" (ver. 5). I know not what Mercy of Him he meaneth, which is in the heavens. For the Mercy of the Lord is also in the earth. Thou hast it written, "The earth is full of the Mercy of the Lord." Of what Mercy then speaketh He, when He saith, "Thy Mercy, O Lord, is in the heavens"? The gifts of God are partly temporal and earthly, partly eternal and heavenly. Whoso for this worshippeth God, that he may receive those temporal and earthly goods, which are open to all, is still as it were like the brutes: he enjoyeth indeed the Mercy of God, but not that which is excepted, which shall not be given, save only to the righteous, to the holy, to the good. What are the gifts which abound to all? "He maketh His sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust." Who hath not this Mercy of God, first that he hath being, that he is distinguished from the brutes, that he is a rational animal, so as to understand God; secondly, that he enjoys this light, this air, rain, fruits, diversity of seasons, and all the earthly comforts, health of body, the affection of friends, the safety of his family? All these are good, and they are God's gifts. ...

But this man rightly understood what mercy he should pray for from God. "Thy Mercy, O Lord, is in the Heavens; and Thy Truth reacheth even to the clouds." That is, the Mercy which Thou givest to Thy Saints, is Heavenly, not earthly; is Eternal, not temporal. And how couldest Thou declare it unto men? Because "Thy Truth reacheth even unto the clouds." What are the clouds? The Preachers of the Word of God. ...Truth reached even to the clouds: therefore unto us could be declared the Mercy of God, which is in Heaven and not in earth. And truly, Brethren, the clouds are the Preachers of the Word of Truth. When God threateneth through His Preachers, He thunders through the clouds. When God worketh miracles through His Preachers, He lightneth through the clouds, He terrifieth through the clouds, and watereth by the rain. Those Preachers, then, by whom is preached the Gospel of God, are the clouds of God. Let us then hope for Mercy, but for that which is in the Heavens.

But in another sense the same doctrine which empties Nature of her divinity also makes her an index, a symbol, a manifestation, of the Divine. I must recall two passages quoted in an earlier chapter. One is that from Psalm 19 where the searching and cleansing sun becomes an image of the searching and cleansing Law. The other is from 36: "Thy mercy, O Lord, reacheth unto the heavens, and thy faithfulness unto the clouds. Thy righteousness standeth like the strong mountains, thy judgements are like the great deep" (36:5, 6). It is surely just because the natural objects are no longer taken to be themselves Divine that they can now be magnificent symbols of Divinity. There is little point in comparing a Sun-god with the Sun or Neptune with the great deep; there is much in comparing the Law with the Sun or saying that God's judgements are an abyss and a mystery like the sea.

Mercy abides in heaven, but it is reached by the exercise of it on earth.

"O Lord." Here he shows what he has received from God. And first he enumerates the goods themselves. Second he asks that they be given to him, at "Extend." Concerning the first he does two things. First he proposes the cause of the goods he has received from God. Second he enumerates the goods themselves, at "Men and beasts." And first he sets forth the commendation of the cause. Second he proposes the profundity of the effects, at "Your judgments." Whatever God does in us is either from justice, or from mercy, or from truth. From justice, when he renders according to merits. From truth, when he renders what he has promised. From mercy, when he exceeds merits and promises. Let us prove these three. The justice of God is lofty, because no one merits so much that God does not give back more. The truth is loftier, because God promises and pays what we never merited, such as the incarnation and other things pertaining to the mystery of redemption. But mercy is the loftiest: because the things we cannot even conceive, he bestows: 1 Cor. 2: "Eye has not seen," etc. And therefore he compares justice to mountains, truth to clouds, which are higher, and mercy to the heavens, which are above all. He says: "O Lord, in heaven is your mercy," which is the cause of all my goods, "is in heaven": Ps. 144: "His mercies are above all things," etc. Is. 63: "I will remember the mercies of the Lord." "And your truth reaches to the clouds. Your justice is like the mountains of God." All these things are said according to their effects, because according to their essence they are the same. Mystically, by these three are understood the just, because in the just themselves are found justice, truth, and mercy. The just are signified by the heaven because of retribution and charity: Mt. 5: "Your reward is great in heaven." Likewise, in them mercy shines forth most greatly, because they are entirely freed from every tribulation. We, however, are still in calamities. By the clouds are understood the teachers: Is. 5: "I will command my clouds not to rain upon it." And in them the truth which they make manifest shines forth. By the mountains are understood holy men. And what follows from all these? That "these judgments are a great abyss," that is, incomprehensible: Rom. 11: "How incomprehensible are his judgments," etc.

You will save people and animals, O Lord; for you have multiplied your mercy, O God. What are people and animals? Some are rational, others irrational. Rational beings are subject to judgment, while irrational beings receive mercy. Some are ruled, others are nurtured.

The truth is Christ, whose justice is just like the mountains of God, whose judgments are an abyss, who saves people and beasts by his advent, that is, both Jews and Gentiles. For people who, being without hope, standing in the sin of Adam, hope in the protection of his wings, that is, in the expanse of his hands fixed on the cross.

"Thy Righteousness is like the mountains of God: Thy Judgments are a great deep" (ver. 6). Who are the mountains of God? Those who are called clouds, the same are also the mountains of God. The great Preachers are the mountains of God. And as when the sun riseth, he first clothes the mountains with light, and thence the light descends to the lowest parts of the earth: so our Lord Jesus Christ, when He came, first irradiated the height of the Apostles, first enlightened the mountains, and so His Light descended to the valley of the world. And therefore saith He in a certain Psalm, "I lifted up mine eyes unto the mountains, from whence cometh my help." But think not that the mountains themselves will give thee help: for they receive what they may give, give not of their own. And if thou remain in the mountains, thy hope will not be strong: but in Him who enlighteneth the mountains, ought to be thy hope and presumption. Thy help indeed will come to thee through the mountains, because the Scriptures are administered to thee through the mountains, through the great Preachers of the Truth: but fix not thy hope in them. Hear what He saith next following: "I lifted up mine eyes unto the mountains, from whence cometh my help." What then? Do the mountains give thee help? No; hear what follows, "My help cometh from the Lord, which made Heaven and earth." Through the mountains cometh help, but not from the mountains. From whom then? "From the Lord, which made Heaven and earth." ...

"Thy Judgments are like the great abyss." The abyss he calleth the depth of sin, whither every one cometh by despising God; as in a certain place it is said, "God gave them over to their own hearts' lusts, to do the things which are not convenient." ...Because then they were proud and ungrateful, they were held worthy to be delivered up to the lusts of their own hearts, and became a great abyss, so that they not only sinned, but also worked craftily, lest they should understand their iniquity, and hate it. That is the depth of wickedness, to be unwilling to find it out and to hate it. But how one cometh to that depth, see; "Thy Judgments are the great abyss." As the mountains are by the Righteousness of God, who through His Grace become great: so also through His Judgments come they unto the depth, who sink lowest. By this then let the mountains delight thee, by this turn away from the abyss, and turn thyself unto that, of which it is said, "My help cometh from the Lord." But whereby? "I have lifted up mine eyes unto the mountains." What meaneth this? I will speak plainly. In the Church of God thou findest an abyss, thou findest also mountains; thou findest there but few good, because the mountains are few, the abyss broad; that is, thou findest many living ill after the wrath of God, because they have so worked that they are delivered up to the lusts of their own heart; so now they defend their sins and confess them not; but say, Why? What have I done? Such an one did this, and such an one did that. Now will they even defend what the Divine Word reproves. This is the abyss. Therefore in a certain place saith the Scripture (hear this abyss), "The sinner when he cometh unto the depth of sin despiseth." See, "Thy Judgments are like the great abyss." But yet not art thou a mountain; not yet art thou in the abyss; fly from the abyss, tend towards the mountains; but yet remain not on the mountains. "For thy help cometh from the Lord, which made Heaven and earth."

They know that the Lord (not merely obedience to the Lord) is 'righteous' and commands 'righteousness' because He loves it. He enjoins what is good because it is good, because He is good. Hence His laws have emeth 'truth', intrinsic validity, rock-bottom reality, being rooted in His own nature, and are therefore as solid as that Nature which He has created. But the Psalmists themselves can say it best; 'thy righteousness standeth like the strong mountains; thy judgements are like the great deep' (36:6). Their delight in the Law is a delight in having touched firmness; like the pedestrian's delight in feeling the hard road beneath his feet after a false short cut has long entangled him in muddy fields.

An abyss is a depth of water that we can neither measure nor peer all the way into. Who could discern what lies within the deep ocean, or who could comprehend its broad-ranging spaces? So also we are neither able to embrace God's judgments with our mind, nor are we able to define them through some action of reason.

Human beings, being ignorant of the judgments of God, which are "a great abyss," are accustomed to complain against God and to say, Why do unjust people and unjust robbers and impious and wicked ones suffer nothing adverse in this life but everything yields prosperity to them, honors, riches, power, health, and the health and strength of the body even serves them. On the contrary, innumerable tribulations come on the innocent and pious worshipers of God; they live rejected, humble, contemptible, under the blows of the powerful. Sometimes even more severe diseases dominate them in their body. But as I said, the ignorant complain about what order there is in the divine judgments. For however much more severely they want those to be punished whose power and iniquities they lament, there is that much greater necessity that the penalties be differed, that if they are not differed, … it is certain that they will be eternal and last forever. On the contrary, therefore, if they wanted good things to be given to the just and innocent in the present age, the good things themselves would also be temporal and would have to come to a quick end; but the more they are deferred into the future, by so much the more will they be perpetual and not know an end.

His decisions and decrees, which he applies in judging and examining human beings, are immeasurable, like the deep. Thus, it is impossible to find out why he allows righteous people often to suffer at the hands of the unrighteous, as I find happening in my own case. While the fact that his care and providence for us is wonderful is clear from his never allowing our sufferings to be unbearable, I am unable to discover precisely why he does not leave us in perfect peace but permits us for a time to be pursued unjustly by them. Hence, "your judgments" strike me as more inaccessible than any "deep."

While those people turn their hand to such things as though no one were watching, you, Lord, possess immeasurable mercy, incalculable truth and righteousness comparable to the highest mountains. Now, your truth comes to human beings through the inspired authors as though through some clouds, regaling them with saving rain. "Your judgments are like the great deep": possessing such wonderful truth and righteousness, why you show long-suffering I do not know; your judgments resemble the impenetrable depths. That is to say, just as the bottom of the sea is beyond human vision, so an understanding of your judgments is beyond our grasp.

"Men." Above the Psalmist commended the justice, truth, and mercy of God, and his judgments, from which goods come to us; here he enumerates those goods: and concerning this he does two things. First he commemorates the goods that he commonly bestows upon every creature. Second, the proper goods that he confers upon the rational creature, at "But the children of men." Concerning the first he does two things. First he commemorates the things that commonly come from God. Second he rises to admiration of the divine mercy, at "How you have multiplied." I say, therefore, that your mercy is great, and from it "you save men and beasts," that is, rational and irrational creatures. Or by "men" are understood the just, and by "beasts" the sinners themselves, who are saved by God with temporal salvation: Mt. 5: "He sends rain upon the just and the unjust": Ps. 48: "Man, when he was in honor, did not understand," etc. And this common salvation consists in two things: namely, in the health of the body: Sir. 30: "There is no wealth above the wealth of bodily health": and in the provision of necessities: 2 Kgs. 6: "Save me, O king." Who said: "The Lord does not save you. How can I save you? From the threshing floor or from the winepress?"

But the sons of men will hope in the protection of your wings; that is, not the generation of vipers, but the sons of men who live in the image and likeness of God.

Because he said, Your Mercy is in the Heavens, that it may be known to be also on earth, he said, "O Lord, You save man and beast, as Your Mercy is multiplied, O God" [Psalm 36:7]. Great is Your Mercy, and manifold is Your Mercy, O God; and that showest Thou both to man and beast. For from whom is the saving of men? From God. Is not the saving of beasts also from God? For He who made man, made also beasts; He who made both, saves both; but the saving of beasts is temporal. But there are who as a great thing ask this of God, which He has given to beasts. "Your Mercy, O God, is multiplied," so that not only unto men, but unto beasts also is given the same saving which is given to men, a carnal and temporal saving.

But people will hope in the shadow of your wings; that is, they have you as helper and protector, and they will be illuminated and spiritually refreshed by Christ—the true light and spring of life [who is] with you.

Next he marvels at the divine mercy, at "How you have multiplied." Namely, how greatly you have multiplied your mercy, namely that you save not only men but also beasts. Or that you care not only for the just but also for sinners, as to the temporal goods which you multiply in them. Jerome has "How precious," etc. For the mercy of God is great, in that he saves all: great also, because he gives to each one more than he merited: Ps. 85: "Your mercy is great upon me."

"But the children." Here he sets forth the spiritual goods, which are three: confidence, spiritual nourishment, and intelligible knowledge: and these correspond to the grades of beings. Of beings, some merely exist; some exist and live; some in addition to this also understand; and among beings the rational creature participates in a certain eternity, because the rational soul does not perish. And therefore he says, "The children of men," that is, the children of God, of Christ: or by "the children of men" are understood generally all men. "They shall hope under the covering of your wings." And he speaks metaphorically. A hen protects her chicks with her wings lest they be killed; so God himself with spiritual protection protects the rational creature lest it fail, especially in the soul: Mt. 23: "How often I wanted to gather your children," etc. Is. 49: "Under the covering of his hand he protected me." Or "under the covering," that is, under spiritual protection. And so the two wings are the teaching of the New and the Old Testament.

Therefore, the good drunkenness is that of a healing cup. But there is another drunkenness from an overflow of Scriptures. And there is another drunkenness through the infusion of the Holy Spirit. Indeed, those who spoke in different languages in the Acts of the Apostles, seemed to be full of new wine to those who were listening. Therefore, the house is the Church; abundance of the house, overflow of grace; a torrent of pleasure, the Holy Spirit.

They will be intoxicated with the abundance of your house, and you will give them to drink from the torrent of your pleasure. They are not placed in pastures, but in banquets: for some are in the place of pastures, others in the privilege of sacraments. For the imperfect, there is the juice of milk; for the perfect, there is the table of refreshment, of which it is said: You have prepared a table before me (Psalm 23:5); in which there is living bread, that is, the Word of God; in which there is the oil of sanctification, with which the head of the just is anointed, and the inner sense is fortified, so that the oil of the sinner may be abolished; in which there is also a cup that intoxicates, how splendid, or how powerful! The Greek word κράτιστον can mean powerful, strong, or mighty; strong, in that it washes away vices and eliminates them. Therefore, the good drunkenness is that of a healing cup. But there is another drunkenness from an overflow of Scriptures. And there is another drunkenness through the infusion of the Holy Spirit. Indeed, those who spoke in different languages in the Acts of the Apostles (Acts 2:13), seemed to be full of new wine to those who were listening. Therefore, the house is the Church; abundance of the house, overflow of grace; a torrent of pleasure, the Holy Spirit.

And let not the name or manner of a torrent offend you, because sometimes it may be drier or more meager, so that its streams may cease. Our own stream has ceased, the spiritual stream of floodwaters has ceased at times among the people of the Jews. What shall I say? The stream has ceased; when the sea shall have ceased, as today's reading has taught us, with the Lord saying: Behold, with my rebuke I will make the sea desolate, and I will make their rivers a wilderness, and their fish shall dry up, so that the Jews, due to the dryness of their perfidy, cannot swim. Therefore, the torrent ceased because of the sacrileges of the Synagogue; for that people was dry in faith, barren in works, captive to sins. For what would flow to those who do not drink, but defile the sacred channels, when they kill the very source itself? The good torrent, which ceased for them, so that it might abound for us, and turn away the thirst of human desire, like a torrent in the south wind. Therefore, Scripture also says: Arise, north wind, and come, south wind (Song of Songs 4:16), which is accustomed to blow upon the little trees of paradise.

We have spoken of the meaning and even of the expression, why has he said "torrent of pleasure" instead of "rivers of pleasure," as if from the torrent; unless it is because he wanted to express the greed of the drinkers, as if they wanted to drink the very torrent if they could? Perhaps this is the torrent of pleasure that we read about in Genesis (Gen. II, 10), the fountain that waters paradise and is divided into four rivers that surround the whole land. For from this source flow spiritual virtues: prudence, temperance, fortitude, justice. A good fountain of grace and splendor, of the same nature, whose river is spoken of in the following passage: The streams of the river make glad the city of God (Psalm 46:5).

"They shall be satiated with the fulness of Thy House" (ver. 8). He promiseth us some great thing. He would speak it, and He speaketh it not. Can He not, or do not we receive it? I dare, my Brethren, to say, even of holy tongues and hearts, by which Truth is declared to us, that it can neither be spoken, which they declared, nor even thought of. For it is a great thing, and ineffable; and even they saw through a glass darkly, as saith the Apostle, "For now we see through a glass darkly; but then face to face." Lo, they who saw through a glass darkly, thus burst forth. What then shall we be, when we shall see face to face? That with which they travailed in heart, and could not with their tongue bring forth, that men might receive it. For what necessity was there that he should say, "They shall be satiated with the fulness of Thy House"? He sought a word whereby to express from human things what he would say; and because he saw that men drowning themselves in drunkenness receive indeed wine without measure, but lose their senses, he saw what to say; for when shall have been received that ineffable joy, then shall be lost in a manner the human soul, it shall become Divine, and be satiated with the fulness of God's House. Wherefore also in another Psalm it is said, "Thy cup inebriating, how excellent is it!" With this cup were the Martyrs satiated when going to their passion, they knew not their own. What so inebriated as not to know a wife weeping, not children, not parents? They knew them not, they thought not that they were before their eyes. Wonder not: they were inebriated. Wherewith were they so? Lo, they had received a cup wherewith they were satiated. Wherefore he also gives thanks to God, saying, "What shall I render unto the Lord for all His benefits towards me? I will take the cup of Salvation, and call upon the Name of the Lord." Therefore, Brethren of men, let us be children and let us trust under the shadow of His wings and be satiated with the fulness of His House. As I could, I have spoken; and as far as I can I see; and how far I see, I cannot speak. "And of the torrent of Thy Pleasure shalt Thou give them to drink." A torrent we call water coming with a flood. There will be a flood of God's Mercy to overflow and inebriate those who now put their trust under the shadow of His wings. What is that Pleasure? As it were a torrent inebriating the thirsty. Let him then who thirsts now, lay up hope: whoso thirsts now, let him have hope; when inebriated, he shall have possession: before he have possession, let him thirst in hope. "Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled."

"They will become inebriated," an expression that usually describes the corrupt habit of people who become inundated with too much wine and become sluggish by this affliction of their mind, is here directed to the situation of good people. So this heavenly inebriation blocks the remembrance of worldly matters and causes fleshly things to depart from the mind, just like the intoxication of wine separates our actions from our senses.… What an incredibly praiseworthy inebriation! This intoxication we must pursue in all our prayers as the source of moderation and for the soundness of mind that is acquired through it. This inebriation does not produce tipsiness, confusion, delirium or blackouts. But the healthier the soul becomes, the more it is filled with drunkenness. So let us consume this drink eagerly, not with our physical lips, but with the purest disposition of the heart. From this drink one does not receive temporal happiness, but rather the joys of eternal life.

The word for drunkenness, dearly beloved, is not always used in sacred Scripture for that failing only, but also for satiety.… Listen, after all, to David's words: "They will become intoxicated from the richness of your house," that is, they will be filled. [By contrast], those who give themselves up to drunkenness never have their fill; the more wine they imbibe, the more they burn with thirst, and indulgence proves to be a constant fueling of their thirst; by the time all that remains of the pleasure has disappeared, the thirst proves to be unquenchable and leads the victims of drunkenness to the very precipice.

Likewise those who live here below are nourished with a special nourishment. And first he sets forth the nourishment itself. Second he sets forth its cause, at "With you." Spiritual nourishment consists in two things: namely, in the gifts of God and in his sweetness. As to the first he says, "They shall be inebriated with the richness of your house." The house is the Church: 1 Tim. 3: "That you may know how one ought to conduct oneself in the house of God." And this house, which is now on earth, will one day be transferred to the heavens: Ps. 121: "We shall go into the house of the Lord with joy." In both there is a richness of the gifts of God; but in this Church it is imperfect, whereas in the other there is a most perfect abundance of all goods, and with this spiritual men are satisfied: Ps. 64: "We shall be filled with the goods of your house." And what is more, they are inebriated, insofar as desires are filled beyond every measure of merit: for inebriation is a certain excess: Is. 64: "What eye has not seen," etc. Song 5: "Be inebriated, most beloved." And those who are inebriated are not in themselves but outside themselves. So those who are filled with spiritual gifts, their entire attention is directed toward God: Phil. 3: "Our conversation is in heaven." And they shall be nourished not only by gifts but also by the love of God: Job 22: "Then you shall abound in delights over the Almighty, and you shall lift up your face to God." And therefore as to the second he says, "And you shall give them to drink from the torrent of your delight." This is the love of the Holy Spirit, which makes an impetus in the soul like a torrent: Is. 59: "Like a violent river which the spirit of the Lord drives." And it is called "of delight" because it produces pleasure and sweetness in the soul: Wis. 12: "O how good and sweet is your spirit, O Lord, within us." And with this drink the good are given to drink: 1 Cor. 10: "They all drank the same spiritual drink." Or "the torrent of your delight," namely of God, which is called a torrent: Prov. 18: "An overflowing torrent, a fountain of wisdom": because his will is so efficacious that it cannot be resisted, just as a torrent cannot: Rom. 9: "Who resists his will?"

But the coming of the Lord and Savior was prophesied, who, when He was about to come into the world, said: "I and the Father are one"; that is, we are one light, just as we are one name. Through the unity of light and name, we are both one; indeed, the Trinity is one in the unity of substance, but with the distinction of each person. The Trinity signifies the distinction of persons, the unity signifies the power. It can also be said of the Father: "For with you is the fountain of life," that is, in you from whom life proceeded, there was the Word, and He always was, because He was with you. All things were made through him, and in him was life, and he has shown himself to us, so that the hearts of men may be illuminated with the knowledge of your majesty.

(Verses 9, 10.) Therefore, He fittingly substitutes: 'For with you is the fountain of life: and in your light we shall see light.' Extend your mercy to those who know you, and your righteousness to those who are upright in heart. Indeed, after the remembrance of heavenly benefits, gratitude is rightly ascribed to our Lord Jesus Christ, who, as the life-giving fountain of eternity, descended to earth to water the dryness of our hearts. The same is the brightness of the glory of God the Father, and the image of his substance; and therefore in his true light, which enlightens every man that comes into this world, we shall see, he says, the Father; because God is light. It is also rightly said: In your light we shall see light; according to that: He who sees me, sees also my Father (John 14:9). Therefore, with you, O Source of life, we shall see the Father present. For just as you, being the Word of God, were with the Father in the beginning: so the Father is always with you, who are in him. For indeed in Him is present that which is. But the coming of the Lord and Savior was prophesied, who, when He was about to come into the world, said: 'I and the Father are one' (John 10:30); that is, we are one light, just as we are one name. Through the unity of light and name, we are both one; indeed, the Trinity is one in the unity of substance, but with the distinction of each person. The Trinity signifies the distinction of persons, the unity signifies the power. It can also be said of the Father: 'For with you is the fountain of life,' that is, in you from whom life proceeded, there was the Word, and He always was, because He was with you. All things were made through him, and in him was life, and he has shown himself to us, so that the hearts of men may be illuminated with the knowledge of your majesty.

Therefore, extend your mercy to those who know you. The prerogative is claimed so that those who have the merit of your knowledge may deserve mercy. Finally, we see the pursuit of knowledge supported even among the lowest of people, as the Lord says: I will remember Rahab and Babylon among those who know me (Psalm 86:4); that is, I will remember that prostitute Rahab and that state of confusion among those who know me, or among themselves; because that prostitute acknowledged me, whom the people did not acknowledge. Among those, therefore, who wrote to me, Rahab will be remembered, so that she may obtain a worthy reward of faith. Hence, in the Gospel we hear this saying: 'The prostitutes and the tax collectors will precede you into the kingdom of heaven' (Matt. 21:31). But because we are weak in carrying out [good works], although devoted to believing [in God], may you, extend your mercy to those who believe in you, so that our deeds may correspond to both devotion and faith; and may the weakness of this body not abandon the zeal of our mind, but rather may we glory in the very temptations and weaknesses in which the Apostle gloried, saying: 'I will most gladly glory in my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me' (1 Cor. 12:9).

The bishops [at the Council of Nicea], having detected the Arians' deceitfulness in this matter, collected from Scripture those passages that say of Christ that he is the glory, the fountain, the stream and the express image of the person; and they quoted the following words: "In your light we shall see light"; and likewise, "I and the Father are one." They, then, with still greater clearness, briefly declared that the Son is of one substance [homoousios] with the Father; for this, indeed, is the signification of the passages that have been quoted.

Accordingly, what the soul supplies to the body, and what God supplies to the soul, are of a different kind: the soul quickens and is quickened. It quickens while dead, even if itself is not quickened. But when the word comes, and is poured into the hearers, and they not only hear, but are made obedient, the soul rises from its death to its life—that is, from unrighteousness, from folly, from ungodliness, to its God, who is to it wisdom, righteousness, light. Let it rise to Him, and be enlightened by Him. "Come near," saith he, "to Him." And what shall we have? "And be enlightened." If, therefore, by "coming to" ye are enlightened, and by "departing from" ye become darkened, your light was not in yourselves, but in your God. Come to Him that ye may rise again: if ye depart from Him, ye shall die. If by coming to Him ye live, and by departing from Him ye die, your life was not in yourselves. For the same is your life which is your light. "Because with Thee is the fountain of life, and in Thy light we shall see light."

With what fountain then will you be overflowed, and whence runs such a torrent of His Pleasure? "For with You," says he, "is the fountain of Life." What is the fountain of Life, but Christ? He came to you in the flesh, that He might bedew your thirsty lips: He will satisfy you trusting, who bedewed you thirsting. "For with You is the fountain of Life; in Your Light shall we see light" [Psalm 36:9]. Here a fountain is one thing, light another: there not so. For that which is the Fountain, the same is also Light: and whatever you will you call It, for It is not what you call It: for you can not find a fit name: for It remains not in one name. If you should say, that It is Light only, it would be said to you, Then without cause am I told to hunger and thirst, for who is there that eats light? It is said to me plainly, directly, "Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God." [Matthew 5:6, 8] If It is Light, my eyes must I prepare. Prepare also lips; for That which is Light is also a Fountain: a Fountain, because It satisfies the thirsty: Light, because It enlightens the blind. Here sometimes, light is in one place, a fountain in another. For sometimes fountains run even in darkness; and sometimes in the desert you suffer the sun, findest no fountain: here then can these two be separated: there you shall not be wearied, for there is a Fountain; there you shall not be darkened, for there is Light.

Christ … is man and God. He prays as man and gives what he prays for as God. Now what you have to grasp is that he assigns everything to the Father for the simple reason that the Father is not from him, but he is from the Father. He gives everything to the fount from which he is derived. But he too is the fount born of the Father; he is himself the "fountain of life." So the Father as fount begot the fountain; fountain indeed begot fountain; but begetting fountain and begotten fountain are one fountain. Just as God begetting and God begotten, namely, the Son born of the Father, are one God. The Father is not the Son, the Son is not the Father; the Father is not from the Son, the Son is from the Father; but still Father and Son are one thing … because of their inseparable divinity.

I was standing today in the dark toolshed. The sun was shining outside and through the crack at the top of the door there came a sunbeam. From where I stood that beam of light, with the specks of dust floating in it, was the most striking thing in the place. Everything else was almost pitch-black. I was seeing the beam, not seeing things by it.

Then I moved, so that the beam fell on my eyes. Instantly the whole previous picture vanished. I saw no toolshed, and (above all) no beam. Instead I saw, framed in the irregular cranny at the top of the door, green leaves moving on the branches of a tree outside and beyond that, 90 odd million miles away, the sun. Looking along the beam, and looking at the beam are very different experiences.

It is a good fountain that cools us after the heat of this life and with its flood tempers the aridity of our heart.

In human usage, light and fountains are quite distinct, or rather, in opposition to one another, since a fountain snuffs out the light of flames. But with God, these two images find a unity even though whatever you might say about him is both true and also ultimately inadequate. We say that God is Light, because "he enlightens every person who comes into the world"; he is a Fountain, because he satisfies the hungry and empty.… This verse properly says about the Savior, "in your light we will see light"; namely, the light of the Father and of the Holy Spirit, since through the Son's preaching the entire Trinity was revealed to us.

Since the fount is life and life is Christ, the fount is Christ.… By meditating on what is made we will see Christ, and in understanding Christ, we will see God.

And now we have both seen and proclaim concisely and simply the doctrine of God the Trinity, comprehending out of light [the Father], light [the Son], in light [the Spirit].

The Light of the Father is Christ. In Christ we will see the light of the Holy Spirit in the light of the Father.

What other light of God can we speak of, in which a person sees light, except God's spiritual power, which when it lightens a person causes him either to see clearly the truth of all things or to know God, who is called the truth? Such then is the meaning of the saying, "In your light shall we see light"; that is, in your word and your wisdom, which is your Son, in him shall we see you, the Father.

Without the light of the Scriptures we are unable to see God, who is Light, or his justice, which is filled with light. The effort involved in reading the Scriptures is thus greatly beneficial to us, all the more so since it causes us to become illumined in prayer. For anyone whose soul, after having labored in reading and been purified by spiritual meditation, is fervent with love for God will pray in a luminous manner when he turns to prayer.… His mind has labored in mediating on divine providence and so is filled with joy. In his soul he carries the model for virtue that he has received from training through the agency of the Spirit; he has depicted before his eyes, as though in a picture, the lovely beauty of the saints' way of life: wrapped up in reading about these things, he will exult over them and become fervent in spirit, so that the words of his Office and the incense of his prayer become illumined and pure, seeking that they flow out from the pure spring of his heart.

You flood us with life, abundantly supplying us with it from the great number and variety of what is given us by you for sustenance and life.… Without light we can see nothing that exists, for when we are deprived of light and plunged into darkness, we have no recognition of what is at hand; whereas when light is available, we see and discern by recognition. So for discerning other things we need light, whereas light itself requires nothing else any longer for our being able to see; instead, with the aid of light itself we succeed in seeing everything through light and discern everything, including even light itself.… His meaning was to present the utter generosity and abundance of God's gift—thus his mention of these two things in particular: the light (he made clear that from it he provided us both with existence itself and with sustenance) and enjoyment of the light, through which he conveyed the pleasure of life.

Here he clearly reveals to us the mystery of the holy Trinity: he called the Only-begotten Word of God a "fountain of life." This is the name, too, remember, God personally gave himself through the prophet Jeremiah: "They have forsaken me, a fountain of living water, taken their leave and dug for themselves cracked cisterns incapable of holding water." So he says this fountain is in the presence of the Father, according to the following Gospel teaching: "I in the Father and the Father in me." "In your light we shall see light": Illumined by the all-holy Spirit we shall perceive the rays of your Only-begotten; Scripture says, "No one can say Jesus is Lord except by the Holy Spirit," and "God revealed to us through his Spirit." We have consequently come to a precise knowledge of the three persons in the one divinity through the inspired words.

The matter of such nourishment is that they are joined to the fountain: and just as those who would hold their mouth to a fountain of wine would become inebriated, so those who hold their mouth, that is, their desire, to the fountain of life and sweetness, become inebriated: 1 Cor. 11: "But another is drunk." And so they are inebriated, because "with you is the fountain of life." If this is referred to Christ, the sense is: "With you," etc., that is, you are the fountain of life. But if it is referred to the Father, the sense is: "With you is the fountain of life," that is, your Word, which gives life to all things. It is with you. Jn. 1: "The Word was with God": Jer. 2: "They have forsaken me, the fountain of living water," etc. He who is truly the fountain of life, that is, of spiritual goods, by which all things are given life. The second is intelligible knowledge, which men, that is, rational creatures, participate in. Therefore he says:

"And in your light." There are two privileges of the rational creature. One is that the rational creature sees in the light of God, and because other animals do not see in the light of God, he therefore says "in your light." This is not understood of light created by God, because in that sense it would be understood as that which is said in Gen. 1: "Let there be light." But "in your light," namely that by which you shine, which is the likeness of your substance. This light is not shared by brute animals; but the rational creature first participates in it through natural knowledge: for the natural reason of man is nothing other than the radiance of the divine brightness in the soul: on account of which brightness man is made in the image of God: Ps. 4: "The light of your countenance, O Lord, is signed upon us." The second is the light of grace: Eph. 5: "Rise, you who sleep," etc. The third is the light of glory: Is. 60: "Arise, be illuminated, O Jerusalem, for your light has come," etc. Or "in your light," that is, in Christ, who is light from light: and thus he is the light that is true God. Christ is therefore light insofar as he proceeds from the Father: he is the fountain of life insofar as he is the principle of the life-giving Spirit. The other privilege is that only the rational creature sees this light: hence he says, "We shall see light." This light is either created truth, that is, Christ insofar as he is man; or it is uncreated truth, by which we know certain truths. For spiritual light is truth: because just as through light something is known insofar as it is luminous, so it is known insofar as it is true. Brute animals indeed know certain truths, for instance, this thing is sweet: but they do not know the truth of the proposition "this is true": because this consists in the adequation of the intellect to the thing, which brute animals cannot achieve. Therefore brutes do not have created light. Similarly, nor uncreated light, because only man was made to see God through faith and through hope: and just as we now see through faith in the light, so we shall see him in his essence when we are in the fatherland.

"Show forth Thy Mercy unto them that know Thee; Thy Righteousness to them that are of a right heart" (ver. 10). As I have said, Those are of a right heart who follow in this life the Will of God. The will of God is sometimes that thou shouldest be whole, sometimes that thou shouldest be sick. If when thou art whole God's Will be sweet, and when thou art sick God's Will be bitter; thou art not of a right heart. Wherefore? Because thou wilt not make right thy will according to God's Will, but wilt bend God's Will to thine. That is right, but thou art crooked: thy will must be made right to That, not That made crooked to thee; and thou wilt have a right heart. It is well with thee in this world; be God blessed, who comforteth thee: it goeth hardly with thee in this world; be God blessed, because He chasteneth and proveth thee; and so wilt thou be of a right heart, saying, "I will bless the Lord at all times: His Praise shall be ever in my mouth."

He does not, indeed, extend His mercy to them because they know Him, but that they may know Him; nor is it because they are upright in heart, but that they may become so, that He extends to them His righteousness, whereby He justifies the ungodly. This meditation does not elevate with pride: this sin arises when any man has too much confidence in himself, and makes himself the chief end of living. Impelled by this vain feeling, he departs from that fountain of life, from the draughts of which alone is imbibed the holiness which is itself the good life, and from that unchanging light, by sharing in which the reasonable soul is in a certain sense inflamed, and becomes itself a created and reflected luminary...

They were formed by you so as to be able, if they wished, both to know you and to hope in you, and to enjoy the good things stemming from this.

"Extend your mercy." Here he turns to prayer, and asks for the mercy of God. And first he asks his petition regarding others. Second, regarding himself, at "Let not the foot of pride come to me." He asks two things, corresponding to two kinds of people who dwell in the house of the Lord: for some know God through faith; some who are also justified cling to him. Those who do not know God are not in his house; but those who have faith can be subject to sin, and therefore he asks mercy for them. Hence he says: O Lord, to those who know you, through faith, namely -- and he calls this knowledge "science" because of firm adherence -- to these "extend," that is, expand, extend to them your mercy by having mercy on their sins: Is. 27: "It is not a wise people": Jer. 9: "Let him who glories, glory in this, to know and understand me." But to those who are "upright of heart," that is, who have a right heart and are confirmed to you through charity, "extend to them," that is, expand, "your justice," that is, the crown which they have merited; because these already merit the crown: 2 Tim. 4: "For the rest, there is laid up for me a crown of justice," etc. And therefore he asks just things for them.

"Let not the foot of pride come to me", that is, let me not fall into pride. Finally, elsewhere he remembers himself, saying: "If I have not walked in greatness." Here he prayed, there he fulfilled: he would not have fulfilled, if he had not prayed. Pride must be avoided, for it even trips one up in prosperity. Finally, Adam fell more heavily in paradise than if he had fallen on earth. To fall from great heights is a precipice: to slip on level ground, it is called a stumble. Therefore, the foot of the proud errs, because it does not hold the head; for the eyes of the wise are in his head. It is not surprising, therefore, if the foot slips where the eye is not held. Let the eye go before, so that the foot may follow. For how would a traveler walk in darkness? The foot quickly stumbles in the night, if, as it were, the eye of the world, the moon, does not show the way. And you are in the night of the world, let the Church show you the way; let the sun of justice illuminate you from above, so that you may not fear falling.

And because he had spoken of pride, he added: And let not the hand of sinners move me. For just as the limbs are of Christ, so the limbs are of the devil. Let not the hand of sinners move me, that is, let not their actions, which sin, move me from the station of justice. For often, when we see sinners abound in prosperous successes, we waver in our feelings, and as it were, we are torn away from the root of virtue by a kind of hand of sin. Therefore, we must be careful that the hand of the enemy does not uproot those whom the divine hand has planted in the house of God.

(Verses 11, 12.) Therefore he added most beautifully, 'Let not the foot of pride come unto me, and let not the hand of sinners move me. There have they fallen, all that work iniquity. They are cast out, and could not stand.' Some above understand the torrent of your pleasures to be strength in temptations; as it is of martyrs, in whom it was pleasing unto God to exhibit to themselves the sweetness of a pleasant and acceptable contest. For if winters are taken symbolically for temptations, as the Lord admonishes us to pray that our flight be not in the winter, nor on the Sabbath, that is, either in temptation or in idleness; in winter however the torrent swells and becomes full and enlarges itself, and doubtless the torrent may be understood as representing a more severe temptation, such as is in persecutions. And therefore, he is rightly called a glowing furnace of pleasure, because where sin of persecution overflows, so does the grace of confession.

See the virtue of prophetic distinction. Firstly, he exposed the unjust person who either in his heart or in his speech says that he sins for himself or sins against himself; for the Greek codex has ἐν ἑαυτῷ, which means 'in himself,' but not all [codices have this reading]. And perhaps for this reason, because the fool in his heart said that there is no God (Psalm 14:1). Lest perhaps the unjust person say within himself and sin within himself, although openly denying God is the mark of a madman; however, many people claim injustice as praise. For indeed, to seize, to harm even those who have not injured, and to deceive many is considered glorious for themselves. Therefore, first he exposed the life of the unjust, then joined the sacrament of divine knowledge; so that fearing God, we may avoid iniquity and injustice. He added a prayer, that he may deign to free his just ones from the company of the unjust; that in those who are in the world with a pure heart, divine justice may be extended, as a pious overseer; so that the invasion of sins might not creep upon us as enemies, and catch us sleeping. Therefore, we must be vigilant and always fortify the Lord's camp; for the enemy and adversary come at night, when the senses are held captive by sleep and the body is nourished by food. Let us pray that the justice of God may prevail in us, making us stronger in our weakness, so that each of us may say: When I am weak, then I am strong (II Cor. XII, 10).

Then he also prays specifically for himself, that he may teach us how we should pray to the Lord: 'Let not the foot of pride come to me', that is, let me not fall into pride. Finally, elsewhere he remembers himself, saying: 'If I have not walked in greatness' (Psalm 130:1). Here he prayed, there he fulfilled: he would not have fulfilled, if he had not prayed. Pride must be avoided, for it even trips one up in prosperity. Finally, Adam fell more heavily in paradise than if he had fallen on earth. To fall from great heights is a precipice: to slip on level ground, it is called a stumble. Therefore, the foot of the proud errs, because it does not hold the head; for the eyes of the wise are in his head. It is not surprising, therefore, if the foot slips where the eye is not held. Let the eye go before, so that the foot may follow. For how would a traveler walk in darkness? The foot quickly stumbles in the night, if, as it were, the eye of the world, the moon, does not show the way. And you are in the night of the world, let the Church show you the way; let the sun of justice illuminate you from above, so that you may not fear falling.

And because he had spoken of pride, he added: And let not the hand of sinners move me. For just as the limbs are of Christ, so the limbs are of the devil. Let not the hand of sinners move me, that is, let not their actions, which sin, move me from the station of justice. For often, when we see sinners abound in prosperous successes, we waver in our feelings, and as it were, we are torn away from the root of virtue by a kind of hand of sin. Therefore, we must be careful that the hand of the enemy does not uproot those whom the divine hand has planted in the house of God. This is beautifully said by one who is beaten by persecutors. However, those who are moved from their root, which they had already clung to in Christ, fall.

Then he added: There they have fallen, those who work iniquity. What is this 'there'? Is it where pride is, where the hands of sinners are? Is it where they stood, where they were planted; did they fall there? Is it nearby, or in the immediate vicinity, as if in the very moment, in the very place? And it seems ambiguous. But elsewhere we are taught what is there, where it is said: There are pains like those of a woman in labor (Psalm 47:8). A good pain is the one that brings forth faith, by which Christ is formed and born in the Church. And elsewhere it says: I will remember Rahab and Babylon as those who know me. Indeed, foreigners, as well as Tyre and the people of Ethiopia, were there (Psalm 86:4); that is, where they knew me, where the foundations are in holy movements, there are also foreigners; because they also believed that they should believe in me. They fell there, where they should have stood firm; for in paradise Adam fell, and Christ came to ruin, and to resurrection, so that the ruin would be for the wicked: but the resurrection for the righteous and faithful.

Finally, they were expelled; because unjust men could not stand in a holy place. Therefore, the Apostle said: And you, who stand, be careful not to fall (I Cor. X, 12). And surely he said this to the one who stood not with the body, but with faith. We can also understand in the future, there, as it is written: there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth (Matt. XIII, 14); and: Naked I shall go there (Job. I, 21). What a brief conclusion at the end! 'I am not,' he says, 'proud, so that I may sin; I may not sin, so that I may not be moved, so that I may not fall; I may not fall, so that I may not be expelled, as Adam was expelled from paradise; because in him the first step of pride could not stand.' Pride cannot stand; and if it falls, it does not know how to rise again. And therefore, beautifully, he spoke in the previous passages about the proud: Some trust in chariots, and some in horses; but we will trust in the name of our God and be magnified (Psalm XIX, 8); for this is stable, that is unfaithful. And he adds: They have been bound and have fallen; but we have risen and stood upright (Ibid. 9). And it is written in the book of the prophet Micah: Do not rejoice over me, my enemy, because I have fallen; but I will rise (Micah VII, 8). For we have fallen in this world, but in Christ we have risen: to whom be honor, glory, power, eternity both now and forever, and to all ages. Amen.

"Let not the foot of pride come against me" [Psalm 36:11]. But now he said, The children of men shall put their trust under the shadow of Your wings: they shall be satiated with the fullness of Your House. When one has begun to be plentifully overflowed with that Fountain, let him take heed lest he grow proud. For the same was not wanting to Adam, the first man: but the foot of pride came against him, and the hand of the sinner removed him, that is, the proud hand of the devil. As he who seduced him, said of himself, "I will sit in the sides of the north;" [Isaiah 14:13] so he persuaded him, by saying, "Taste, and you shall be as gods." [Genesis 3:5] By pride then have we so fallen as to arrive at this mortality. And because pride had wounded us, humility makes us whole. God came humbly, that from such great wound of pride He might heal man. He came, for "The Word was made Flesh, and dwelt among us." [John 1:34] He was taken by the Jews; He was reviled of them. You heard when the Gospel was read, what they said, and to Whom they said, "You have a devil:" and He said not, You have a devil, for you are still in your sins, and the devil possesses your hearts. He said not this, which if He had said, He had said truly: but it was not meet that He should say it, lest He should seem not to preach Truth, but to retort evil speaking. He let go what He heard as though He heard it not. For a Physician was He, and to cure the madman had He come. As a Physician cares not what he may hear from the madman; but how the madman may recover and become sane; nor even if he receive a blow from the madman, cares he; but while he to him gives new wounds, he cures his old fever: so also the Lord came to the sick man, to the madman came He, that whatever He might hear, whatever He might suffer, He should despise; by this very thing teaching us humility, that being taught by humility, we might be healed from pride: from which he here prays to be delivered, saying, "Let not the foot of pride come against me; neither let the hand of the sinner remove me." For if the foot of pride come, the hand of the sinner removes. What is the hand of the sinner? The working of him that advises ill. Have you become proud? Quickly he corrupts you who advises ill. Humbly fix yourself in God, and care not much what is said to you. Hence is that which is elsewhere spoken, "From my secret sins cleanse Thou me; and from others' sins also keep Your servant." What is, "From my secret sins"? "Let not the foot of pride come against me." What is, "From other men's sins also keep Your servant"? "Let not the hand of the wicked remove me." Keep that which is within, and you shall not fear from without.

Advance on the road to sublimity by the footstep of humility. He himself exalts those who follow him humbly, who was not ashamed to descend to the fallen.

Pride is an unsound vehicle, and one who gets into it is quickly thrown. The humble person always stands firm, and the foot of pride will never trip him.

For himself he asks two things. First he asks to be preserved from sin, and this by removing two causes of sin. One is interior: and this is pride, which is the beginning of all sin; hence he says, "Let not the foot of pride come to me," that is, let the desire to be proud be removed from me: Sir. 23: "Do not give me the haughtiness of the eyes." The other cause is exterior, when someone is incited by another to sin: Ps. 18: "And from aliens spare your servant." And therefore he says, "Let not the hand of the sinner move me," that is, let not inducements and promises and flattery lead me to sin.

But wherefore so greatly fearest thou this? Because it is said, "Thereby have fallen all that work iniquity" (ver. 12); so that they have come into that abyss of which it is said, "Thy judgments are like the great abyss:" so that they have come even to that deep wherein sinners who despise have fallen. "Have fallen." Whereby did they first fall? By the foot of pride. Hear the foot of pride. "When they knew God, they glorified Him not as God." Therefore came against them the foot of pride, whereby they came into the depth. "God gave them over to their own hearts' lusts, to do those things which are not convenient." The root of sin, and the head of sin feared he who said, "Let not the foot of pride come against me." Wherefore said he, "the foot"? Because by walking proudly man deserted God, and departed from Him. His foot, called he his affection. "Let not the foot of pride come against me: let not the hand of the wicked remove me:" that is, let not the works of the wicked remove me from Thee, that I should wish to imitate them. But wherefore said he this against pride, "Thereby have fallen all that work iniquity"? Because those who now are ungodly, have fallen by pride. Therefore when the Lord would caution His Church, He said, "It shall watch thy head, and thou shall watch his heel." The serpent watcheth when the foot of pride may come against thee, when thou mayest fall, that he may cast thee down. But watch thou his head: the beginning of all sin is pride. "Thereby have fallen all that work iniquity: they are driven out, and are not able to stand." He first, who in the Truth stood not, then, through him, they whom God sent out of Paradise. Whence he, the humble, who said that he was not worthy to unloose His shoe's latchet, is not driven out, but standeth and heareth Him, and rejoiceth greatly because of the Bridegroom's voice; not because of his own, lest the foot of pride come against him, and he be driven out, and be not able to stand...

"There they have fallen." Here the reason for the petition is set forth: and it is twofold. First, because from this foot there is a fall: just as when someone falls because of a bad foot: and therefore he says, "There," that is, in the foot of pride. "They have fallen." Behold, the beginning of all sin is pride, Sir. 10. For man sins from this, that he is not contained under the rule of the divine law. But from pride comes arrogance: 1 Cor. 10: "He who thinks he stands," that is, through pride, "let him take heed lest he fall." And he says "who work," not "who have worked," because someone sometimes sins from weakness or ignorance, and such a one does not persist; but he who sins from pride persists: because Prov. 2: "They rejoice when they have done evil, and exult in the worst things." Likewise, the other cause is the impulse of another; hence he says, "They were driven out," that is, they were pushed while they vainly exalted themselves, just as Lucifer was driven from heaven, and man through pride was driven from Paradise. "Nor could they stand": Job 18: "He shall be driven from light into darkness," etc. But humility makes one stand: Ps. 121: "Our feet were standing," etc.