The Enarrations, or Expositions, on the Psalms

^9. See how he willed that kings should sing on their way, humbly bearing the Lord, not lifting themselves up against the Lord. For if they lift themselves up, what follows? “For the Lord is high, and has respect unto the lowly”. Do kings then desire that He have respect unto them? Let them be humble. What then? If they lift themselves up to pride, can they escape His eyes? Lest perchance, because you have heard, “He has respect unto the lowly,” thou choose to be proud, and say in your soul, God has respect unto the lowly, He has not respect unto me, I will do what I will. O foolish one! Would you say this, if you knew what you ought to love? Behold, even if God wills not to see you, do you not fear this very thing, that He wills not to see you?...The lofty then, it seems, He has not respect unto, for it is the lowly He respects. “The lofty”— what? “He considers from afar.” What then gains the proud? To be seen from afar, not to escape being seen. And think not that you must needs be safe on that account, for that He sees less clearly, who sees you from afar. For thou indeed see not clearly, what you see from afar; God, although He see you from afar, sees you perfectly, yet is He not with you. This you gain, not that you are less perfectly seen, but that you are not with Him by whom you are seen. But what does the lowly gain? “The Lord is near unto them that are of a contrite heart.” Let the proud then lift himself up as much as he will, certainly God dwells on high, God is in heaven: do you wish that He come near to you? Humble yourself. For the higher will He be above you, the more you lift yourself up.

10. “If I walk in the midst of tribulation, You shall revive me”. True it is: whatsoever tribulation you are in, confess, call on Him; He frees you, He revives you....Love the other life, and you shall see that this life is tribulation, whatever prosperity it shine with, whatever delights it abound and overflow with; since not yet have we that joy most safe and free from all temptation, which God reserves for us in the end, without doubt it is tribulation. Let us understand then what tribulation he means here too, brethren. Not as though he said, “If perchance there shall any tribulation have befallen me, You shall free me therefrom.” But how says he? “If I walk,” etc.; that is, otherwise You will not revive me, unless I walk in the midst of tribulation.

11. “You have stretched forth Your hand over the wrath of mine enemies, and Your right hand has made me safe.” Let mine enemies rage: what can they do? They can take my money, strip, proscribe, banish me; afflict me with grief and tortures; at last, if they be allowed, even kill me: can they do anything more? But over that which mine enemies can do, You have stretched forth Your hand. For mine enemies cannot separate me from You: but You avenge me the more, the more Thou as yet delayest....Yet not to make me despair; for it follows, “and Your right hand has made me safe.”

12. “You, Lord, shall recompense for me”. I recompense not: You shall recompense. Let mine enemies rage their full: You shall recompense what I cannot....“Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves,” says the Apostle, “but rather give place unto wrath; for it is written, Vengeance is Mine, I will repay, says the Lord.” There is here another sense not to be neglected, perhaps even to be preferred. “Lord” Christ, “You shall repay for me.” For I, if I repay, have seized; You have paid what You have not seized. Lord, You shall “repay for me.” Behold Him repaying for us. They came to Him, who exacted tribute: they used to demand as tribute a didrachma, that is, two drachmas for one man; they came to the Lord to pay tribute; or rather, not to Him, but to His disciples, and they said to them, “Does not your Master pay tribute?” They came and told Him. He says unto Peter, “lest we should offend them, go thou to the sea, and cast an hook, and take up the fish that first comes up: and when you have opened his mouth, you shall find a stater: that take, and give for Me and you.” The first that rises from the sea, is the First-begotten from the dead. In His mouth we find two didrachmas, that is, four drachmas: in His mouth we find the four Gospels. By those four drachmas we are free from the claims of this world, by the four Evangelists we remain no longer debtors; for there the debt of all our sins is paid. He then has repaid for us, thanks to His mercy. He owed nothing: He repaid not for Himself: He repaid for us....

13. “Lord, Your mercy is for everlasting.”...Not for a time only do I desire to be freed. “Your mercy is for everlasting,” wherewith You have freed the martyrs, and so hast quickly taken them from this life. “Despise not Thou the works of Your own hands.” I say not, Lord, “despise not the works of my hands:” of my own works I boast not. “I sought,” indeed, “the Lord with my hands in the night season before Him, and have not been deceived;” but yet I praise not the works of my own hands; I fear lest, when You shall look into them, Thou find more sins in them than deserts. Behold in me Your Work, not mine: for mine if You see, You condemn; Yours, if You see, You crown. For whatever good works there be of mine, from You are they to me; and so they are more Yours than mine. Therefore whether in regard that we are men, or in regard that we have been changed and justified from our iniquity, Lord, “despise not Thou the works of Your own hands.”