The Enarrations, or Expositions, on the Psalms

8....“God is very greatly to be feared in the counsel of the righteous, and to be had in dread of all them that are round about Him”. God is everywhere; who therefore are round about Him, who is everywhere? For if He has some round about Him, He is represented as finite on every side. Moreover, if it is truly said to God and of God, “of His greatness there is no end;” who remain, who are round about Him, except because He who is everywhere, chose to be born of the flesh on one spot, to dwell among one nation, in one place to be crucified, from one spot to rise again and ascend into Heaven. Where He did this, the Gentiles are round about Him. If He remained where He did these things, He would not be “great, and be had in dread of all them that are round about Him;” but since He preached when there in such a manner as to send preachers of His own name through all nations over the whole world; by working miracles among His servants, He has become “great, and to be had in dread of all them that are round about Him.”

9. “O Lord God of Hosts, who is like You? Your truth, most mighty Lord, is on every side”. Great is Your power: You have made Heaven and earth, and all things that in them are: but greater still is your loving-kindness, which has shown forth Your truth to all around You. For if You had been preached only on the spot where You deigned to be born, to suffer, to rise again, to ascend; the truth of that promise of God would have been fulfilled, to confirm the promises made unto the fathers: but the promise, “that the Gentiles may glorify God for His mercy,” would not have been fulfilled, had not that truth been explained, and diffused to those around You from the spot where You deigned to appear. On that spot You thundered out of Your own cloud: but to scatter rain upon the Gentiles round about, You have sent other clouds. Truly in Your power have You fulfilled what You have said, “Hereafter shall you see the Son of Man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of Heaven.”

10....For you have heard, like men accustomed to the watering of the clouds of God, “Your truth” then “is in the circuit of You.” But when without persecutions, when without opposition, since it is said, that “He was born for a sign which shall be spoken against”? Since then that nation, where You deigned to be born, and to dwell, was as a land separated from the waves of the heathen, so that it appeared dry and ready for watering with rain, while the rest of the nations were as a sea in the bitterness of their sterility; what do Your preachers who scatter Your truth in circuit of You, when the waves of that sea rage furiously? “Thou rulest the power of the sea”. For what was the result of the sea raging thus, but the day which we are now keeping holy? It slew Martyrs, scattered seeds of blood, the harvest of the Church sprang up. Safely then let the clouds go forth: let them diffuse Your truth in circuit of You, let them not fear the savage waves. “Thou rulest the power of the sea.” The sea swells, buffets, and roars: but “God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted beyond what you are able:” and so, “Thou stillest the waves thereof when they rise.”