Tractates on the Psalms 118.14.1–118.14.20

The life and mind of men remain in error, or rather in the night of ignorance, while, infected by fleshly contagion, they are held in the depth of ignorance by the weight of the nature with which they are mixed. For when will man know by himself the cause and reason of his origin? When will he know what is the fruit of his life, what the condition of his hope, what the way of earning the future? For no one is so mad or so lacking in sense as to think that he was born, when he did not exist, only to not exist again after he was born; since he will surely remember that his being born came from the goodness of God, and that it does not befit his goodness that he should destroy in us this gift of his by which we are born. But the prophet, worthy of the knowledge of heavenly things and placed in the light of knowledge by God's gift and word, follows as guide to living well and innocently him who is the true light and who enlightens every man.

So he directs the ignorance of his nature by a kind of light carried before him, saying: "Your word is a lamp to my feet." He knows that unless he is enlightened by God's word, he cannot bear this darkness of bodies and this night of the world. He knows that everywhere there are stumbling stones, snares of cords, hollows of pits. For as one who goes out at night carries a lamp before him and looks where to set his foot and takes care with the light at every step, so each of us should carry the word of God abiding in him like a lamp before all the progress of his works; for all heavenly teaching is our guide on the journey, which is like a lamp in this night, whenever we do, think, or say anything, so that we may use it in every advance of any action.

The Lord in the gospels commands that this lamp of his precepts not be hidden idle and useless, saying: "For no one lights a lamp and puts it under a bushel." For what use is it if it is covered by a bushel? It spends its use only within what covers it. So he commands it to be placed on a lampstand, that is, in the seat of its office. So let us not hide this teaching and this word of God received within us idle and useless, as under a bushel, but let us offer this light first to ourselves and then from ourselves to all nations. The Lord warned of this too in a following commandment, saying: "Let your loins be girded and your lamps burning." So he commands us to do nothing in the dark, because everyone who acts in sins hates the light and loves darkness. He wants these lamps of ours to be always lit, lest we be left in the night of this world. In the tabernacle of testimony a lamp is lit, and it burns at every time of festival. They do not know what they are doing. But let us, in these testimonies of our tabernacles, that is, of our bodies, always have burning lamps and carry out the festival of our hope by their light.

The apostles too, whom the Lord calls the salt of the earth and the light of the world, he shows by this meaning to be also the lamps of the church, saying: "The lamp of your body is your eye": of the body, that is, of the church, which is one body in Christ, and we are members of one another. For first, to each of us God's word is a lamp; then the apostolic man is a lamp to his whole body, that is, to the church. For not the whole body is foot or eye or hand. So if the eyes, the brightest part of the whole body, and therefore to the other members, are darkness, that is, if they do not burn with the light of the apostles, light itself being set in darkness, how great a night will remain for the whole body? John was the lamp of repentance to both Jews and nations, as the Lord says: "He was a burning and shining lamp, and you were willing to rejoice for an hour in his light." We have, then, the light of teaching: let us rejoice in it, not for an hour but always; not for a time but for ever. Those blessed virgins, useful buyers of oil, alone entered the bridal chamber with the bridegroom in the light of their lamps, while the others, negligent and sleeping, were shut out from entering the chamber.

For every step of our soul, then, let us use the word of God as a lamp, but a lamp always burning, always prepared for its office by our prudence. And the word which is for the feet is itself also the light for the paths. For those walking gently and at home a lamp is needed; but for those entering the paths and the public road a light is rather necessary, lest a robber lie in wait, lest the error of an uncertain way meet them. For one advances by increments from lesser to greater, so that for one to whom the word of God is first a lamp to the feet, that same word becomes a light on the paths. But the lamp for the feet and the light on the paths ought to bring useful progress. And let us see whether the prophet has added something worthy.

For he says: "I have sworn and determined to keep your judgments." He no longer wanders in the night, nor fears to stumble his foot. For every oath is a matter of confirmed knowledge, and the sanctity of swearing is undertaken from knowledge of the truth. So the prophet swears; and he not only swears but also determines, because the bond of an oath is the firmness of what is determined. So, swearing, he determined to keep God's judgments. And it is hard for what is determined to be overturned, and it is best to determine what has been sworn.

But he remembers that there is nothing unjust in God's judgments. For if human judgments are truly reckoned judgments which are decreed by the decision of a judge, much less is there any doubt that there is nothing unjust in God's judgments. We lose our children; we think this judgment unjust. Did God unjustly give the devil power over Job's children? We grieve over our losses as though they happened unjustly. Did God without reason let that perfect man alone be in need? We are tormented by pains, and with the complaints of our impatience we rail against God. Was it by an uncertain counsel that he was eaten by worms, running with pus, pierced with sores? Certainly all these things served for the proof of faith and for a glorious reward. Our weakness makes us think that what we suffer is evil. But it is always God's will that we be proved by patience in sufferings; while we, wishing to stay hidden without the proof of faith, condemn the justice of the divine judgment.

But he who above had both sworn and determined to keep the judgments of God's justice must show something worthy of his oath and resolve in observing the judgments. For what he determined on oath to keep is not a light thing. And what it is, the following verse says. For he says: "I have been humbled exceedingly, Lord; give me life according to your word." We must learn what the only-begotten Son of God, taking to himself a body of our nature from the virgin, when he had shown in himself the true and perfect form of man, wanted to be learned from him as an example of teaching. For he says: "Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will refresh you. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble of heart; and you will find rest for your souls." He, perfect and alone and the only one without sin, in whose mouth there was no deceit, wanted this chief example of teaching to be taken from himself, namely of gentleness and humility, through which rest might be found for souls.

He knows that the weakness of our nature is insolent and unable to bear prosperity. Some grow insolent through wealth, not knowing that it was said of the giving of wealth: "For almsgiving hides sin"; and again: "He has scattered, he has given to the poor; his righteousness abides for ever"; and that the Lord himself said to those who had fed the hungry, given drink to the thirsty, taken the stranger into their home, covered the naked with clothing, visited the sick, and comforted the one shut in prison: "Come, blessed of my Father, possess the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world." Others swell with the glory of the world, not knowing that this was the first saying of the heavenly blessings: "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." Noble birth lifts others into disdain, not considering that to those reborn in Christ it was said: "But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy race." The laws of the world are one thing, the gifts of God another. The devil, when he dared to tempt the Lord, boasted that the world was his. But the Lord commands us to die to the world so that we may live to him. With the Lord, contempt of wealth is riches; with the Lord, disdain of earthly honor is the kingdom of heaven; with the Lord, humility of heart is the ornament of a noble and royal birth. This, then, he wanted to be learned from him, which is the greatest of all virtues.

The apostle too, teaching us humility, exhorts us thus: "Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not think it robbery to be equal with God, but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, and was found in fashion as a man. He humbled himself, becoming obedient unto death, even the death of the cross." We have the example of humility from the only-begotten God; but let us see the reward too. "For this reason God exalted him and gave him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that the Lord Jesus is in the glory of God the Father." This was the reward of humility, that the body he had taken should remain in the glory of God the Father, that at his name things in heaven, on earth, and under the earth should bend the knee. For remaining in the form of God, he did not think what he was to be a matter of force or robbery for himself, namely that he was equal to God. For he was in the form of God, and nothing was lacking to him of the glory of him in whose form he remained; but he took the form of a servant through humility and was found in fashion as a man, humbling himself through obedience unto death; and not only unto death, but unto the death of the cross. He himself adorned the heaven at God's command, the world at the Father's bidding, in this appearance of such great beauty; he created the earth and the things in them. But did he for those things deserve to set the man he had taken in the glory of the eternal Father? This is the reward of humility, this the wage of humility: that because, though he was before remaining in the form of God, he was afterwards made in the form of a servant, and remaining in the form of God and made in the form of a servant, he should be known by the confession of things in heaven, on earth, and under the earth to be in the glory of God the Father.

The same apostle too, lest the very grace of the divine gifts should make some insolent, says: "To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for profit." For in saying "for profit" he taught that it must be used humbly, lest confidence in spiritual gifts should make anyone insolent, and the grace of God become idle through the vice of insolence. And from his own person he shows that he obtained even this grace from God, that he should not be lifted into any swelling through confidence in the many graces in him, saying: "And because of the greatness of the revelations a thorn in the flesh was given me, an angel to buffet me, lest I be exalted." Even that chosen vessel and teacher of the nations feared this, lest he grow proud beyond the nature of human weakness through confidence in the spiritual gifts in him. Scripture praises King Hezekiah because he did what was right and good in the sight of God, but the praise could not remain to the end. For it is written in the second book of Chronicles: "And Hezekiah fell from the height of his heart." When he had raised his heart on high, when he had lifted himself into pride through confidence in praise, he lost the grace of his past deeds through the crime of pride.

So the prophet, determining by oath to keep God's just judgments, took up this as his first work, to become humble, and not only humble but exceedingly humble, teaching by this addition the modesty of complete humility in himself. And there were many causes in him for pride. His noble descent from Judah gave causes, and in him first the power of royal blessing began. For the family of royal power remained for some time from David's line, from which according to the flesh the eternal King came forth. He was also most wise, as he says: "And you have made known to me the hidden things of wisdom." He deserved also to be a prophet, as it is said: "I will open my mouth in parables; I will utter things hidden from the foundation of the world." He also abounded in the riches of human wealth. For he himself says: "Behold, from my poverty I have gathered so many thousand talents of gold, and others of silver, and of bronze and iron without number." Here noble birth, here a king's power, confidence in wisdom, here the merit of a prophet, here abundance of resources: yet they did not raise him into pride nor lift him into any swelling of disdain. So he asks safely, saying: "Give me life according to your word," that is, that as one not yet living he may deserve the life of eternity according to God's word, because the modesty of humility kept him within discipline and teaching.

Then follows: "Make the freewill offerings of my mouth well-pleasing, Lord, and teach me your judgments." The prophet worthily keeps the oath of his resolve. For first he was made exceedingly humble; next he now prays that the freewill offerings of his mouth may be well-pleasing. He is no longer content to be held by the prescriptions of the law nor only to be subject to necessity. The law had commanded evil to be repaid for evil. This David, when he had often caught and shut in Saul, who was persecuting him with all the forces of his rule, not only did not kill him but even let him go with honor, saying: "I will not lay my hand upon him, for he is the Lord's anointed." When he learned that he had been killed in battle, he wept and avenged him. His son Absalom too seizes the kingdom, gathers an army, pursues his father in parricidal war. But David says to the soldiers: "Spare the young man." The necessity of resistance was laid on him as king; but piety and goodness were present to spare, as a prophet. And when he was dead he wept for him with a father's grief. For these things are not of the law; and to obey them is a duty of freedom rather than of necessity.

The apostle has this distinction of freewill things and things of the law: "Concerning virgins I have no command of the Lord, but I give counsel." Or when he praises the glory and continence of widowhood, he does not forbid the right to marry, but proclaims the merit of celibacy. He instructs beyond the law and exhorts beyond the precept, putting freewill things before things of the law. And again he says: "Do we not have the right to eat and drink? Do we not have the right to take women around with us, as the other apostles and the brothers of the Lord and Cephas? Or do I and Barnabas alone not have the right not to work? But we do not use this right." A right lies in what is permitted, when the law, sparing our weakness, does not burden us with heavy things. But the profession of the will is an increase of faith for him, when in the things in which the law is moderate toward us we restrain ourselves by the zeal of devotion.

These freewill things, then, the prophet prays may be pleasing to God, because those which are done by the prescription of the law are carried out by the very necessity of his service. And he always keeps the reason for his prayer. For after he prayed that the freewill offerings of his mouth might be well-pleasing, he added: "And teach me your judgments." He carries out the judgments of the law and, as far as he can, practises them in deeds and works; but he does not yet understand them. For he knows that the law is spiritual. And he hastens to know what is contained under the form of present works; for one must ask to be taught the things one does not know.

The prophet, according to the resolve of his oath, gave himself wholly to God. He was humbled, the freewill offerings of his mouth are pleasing; now his soul is always in God's hands and he does not forget God's law, saying: "My soul is always in your hands, and I have not forgotten your law." All that he lives, he lives to God. All his sense and spirit is in God; no time is admitted in which there could be forgetfulness of the law. In all his works and thoughts God is thought of. The law is in his memory; the soul of the living man is always in God's hands.

He knows how useful this is to him, he knows how necessary it is to place himself in God's hands by his deeds and works and through memory of the law. For he says: "They laid a snare for me, and I have not strayed from your commandments." He knows that in this forest of the world many snares are stretched and many traps prepared. Our speech, thought, and work always have snares lying near, when at times a cause for anger arises, a feeling of grief, a need to complain, an occasion of evil desire. These snares the devil and his angels, transgressors from the beginning and sinners from the start, always stretch out. But one whose soul is in God's hands and who is never forgetful of God's law, though snares are cast around him on every side, does not stray from the precepts. For always thinking of God, he flies away from them, so that he is like a sparrow set free from the snare of the fowlers. And the Lord himself says through the prophet: "He will set me free from the snare of the hunters and from a troubling word."

For nets are not unjustly spread for birds. You have been trained in heavenly knowledge, O man; what have you to do with earthly works and deeds? You have been made a bird; why do you not stay in your element? For they are called birds of the sky; so it is not unjust that they are snared when they are in the possession of an earthly dwelling. You have died to the world; what have you to do with the things of the world? Why do you complain that you are caught in the world? Why do you complain of the injury of the snare in a region not your own? Say rather, and use yourself the voice of one who says: "Who will give me wings like a dove? And I will fly and be at rest." It is the nature of birds that they do not rest when they fly; but you, now made a dove, rest by flying, that is, by carrying yourself up by the flight of a faithful soul from earthly snares into the heavenly seat and knowledge.

Then follows: "I have inherited your testimonies for ever, because they are the joy of my heart." An heir, according to human custom, obtains everything of the one whose heir he is. But the prophet disdains human inheritances: he has inherited God's testimonies. It is pleasing to him if he himself becomes God's witness, because it is the joy of his heart if he testifies of God amid the wars of persecution. So we remember that the apostles rejoiced in these testimonies when, going out from the council of the persecutors, they had been judged worthy of insults for the name of God. So his testimonies were the joy of their heart. But the prophet, like the apostles, though amid many persecutions he holds God's testimonies, that is, the testimony about him, with joy of heart as an inheritance, yet also has as an acquired inheritance those testimonies of God which were spoken before witnesses. Moses gave the law before the witnesses heaven and earth; Isaiah rebuked before the witnesses heaven and earth; the apostle, as a gospel preacher, used still loftier testimonies, saying: "I charge you before God and Christ Jesus and his angels." So the testimonies written before these, and witnessed before these, and witnessed in these, he takes possession of as heir of a new patrimony: not in part, but whole. For the right of inheritance is in its entirety. Even if according to human succession an inheritance is divided among several, yet the inheritance itself, in the name of the heir, is entire.

And lest what is often said by many should have any authority of reason, when they assert that it is God's own gift that anyone is occupied in the things and works of God, excusing their unbelief on the ground that they remain unbelieving because God's will toward them is lacking: there is indeed a gift from God for remaining in faith, but the origin of beginning is from us. And our will must have this as its own from itself, that it wills; God will give increase to the one who begins, because our weakness does not attain completion by itself; yet the attaining of completion comes from the beginning of the will. "I have inclined my heart to do your justifications for ever, for the reward." He himself inclines his heart, and from the sins of human nature toward the works of God. The nature and origin of the flesh held him back, but will and religion incline his heart from the fault of origin, in which it remained, to works. And he inclines it at every time of life: not within some limit of space, but in every age of his life. He inclines it for the reward, sure, that is, that these things are reserved for the merits of faith and that his reward is in those things which eye has not seen nor ear heard nor has entered the heart of man, which God has prepared for those who love him in Christ Jesus, to whom be glory now and always for ever and ever. Amen.