The Enarrations, or Expositions, on the Psalms

^8. What then? If “confession and beauty are before Him: holiness and greatness in His sanctification”. This we declare, when we are building the house; behold, it is already declared unto the heathen; what ought the heathen to do, to whom those who have cleared away the wood have declared the Lord's honour? He now says to the heathen themselves, “Ascribe unto the Lord, O you kindreds of the people: ascribe unto the Lord worship and honour.” Ascribe them not unto yourselves: because they also who have declared it unto you, have not declared their own, but His honour. Do ye then “ascribe unto the Lord worship and honour;” and say, “Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us: but unto Your Name give the praise.” Put not your trust in man. If each of you is baptized, let him say: He baptizes me, of whom the friend of the Bridegroom said, “He baptizes with the Holy Ghost.” For when you say this, you ascribe unto the Lord worship and honour: “Ascribe unto the Lord worship and honour.”

9. “Ascribe unto the Lord glory unto His Name”. Not unto the name of man, not unto your own name, but unto His ascribe worship....Confession is a present unto God. O heathen, if you will enter into His courts, enter not empty. “Bring presents.” What presents shall we bring with us? The sacrifice of God is a troubled spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, “O God, shall not Thou despise.” Enter with an humble heart into the house of God, and you have entered with a present. But if you are proud, you enter empty. For whence would you be proud, if you were not empty? For if you were full, you would not be puffed up. How couldest thou be full? If you were to bring a present, which you should carry to the courts of the Lord. Let us not retain you much longer: let us run over what remains. Behold the house increasing: behold the edifice pervade the whole world. Rejoice, because you have entered into the courts; rejoice, because you are being built into the temple of God. For those who enter are themselves built up, they themselves are the house of God: He is the inhabitor, for whom the house is built over the whole world, and this “after the captivity.” “Bring presents, and come into His courts.”

10. “O worship the Lord in His holy court”: in the Catholic Church; this is His holy court. Let no man say, “Lo, here is Christ, or there. For there shall arise false prophets.” Say this unto them, “There shall not be left here one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down.” You are calling me to the whited wall; I adore my God in His holy court. “Let the whole earth be moved before His face.”

11. “Tell it out among the nations, that the Lord reigns from the wood: and that it is He who has made the round world so fast that it cannot be moved”. What testimonies of the building of the house of God! The clouds of heaven thunder out throughout the world that God's house is being built; and the frogs cry from the marsh, We alone are Christians. What testimonies do I bring forward? That of the Psalter. I bring forward what you sing as one deaf: open your ears; you sing this; you sing with me, and you agree not with me; your tongue sounds what mine does, and yet your heart disagrees with mine. Do you not sing this? Behold the testimonies of the whole world: “Let the whole earth be moved before His face:” and do you say, that you are not moved? “Tell it out among the heathen, that the Lord has reigned from the wood.” Shall men perchance prevail here, and say they reign by wood, because they reign by means of the clubs of their bandits? Reign by the Cross of Christ, if you are to reign by wood. For this wood of yours makes you wooden: the wood of Christ passes you across the sea. You hear the Psalm saying, “He has set aright the round world, that it cannot be moved;” and you say it has not only been moved since it was made fast, but has also decreased. Do you speak the truth, and the Psalmist falsehood? Do the false prophets, when they cry out, “Lo, here is Christ, and there,” speak truth; and does this Prophet lie? Brethren, against these most open words ye hear in the corners rumours like these; “such an one was a traditor,” and, “such an one was a traditor.” What do you say? Are your words, or the words of God, to be heard? For, “it is He who has set aright the round world, that it cannot be moved.” I show unto you the round world built: bring your present, and come into the courts of the Lord. You have no presents: and on that account you are not willing to enter. What is this? If God were to appoint unto you a bull, goat, or ram, for a present, you would find one to bring: He has appointed a humble heart, and you will not enter; for you find not this in yourself, because you are swollen with pride. “He has set aright the round world, that it cannot be moved: and He shall judge the people righteously.” Then shall they mourn, who now refuse to love righteousness.

12. “Let the heavens rejoice, and let the earth be glad”. Let the heavens, which declare the glory of God, rejoice; let the heavens rejoice, which the Lord made; let the earth be glad, which the heavens rain upon. For the heavens are the preachers, the earth the listeners. “Let the sea be stirred up, and the fullness thereof.” What sea? The world. The sea has been stirred up, and the fullness thereof: the whole world was roused up against the Church, while it was being extended and built over all the earth. Concerning this stirring up, you have heard in the Gospel, “They shall deliver you up to councils.” The sea was stirred up: but how should the sea ever conquer Him who made it?

13. “The plains shall be joyful, and all things that are in them”. All the meek, all the gentle, all the righteous, are the “plains” of God. “Then shall all the trees of the woods rejoice.” The trees of the woods are the heathen. Why do they rejoice? Because they were cut off from the wild olive, and engraffed into the good olive. “Then shall all the trees of the woods rejoice:” because huge cedars and cypresses have been cut down, and undecaying timbers have been bought for the building of the house. They were trees of the woods; but before they were sent to the building: they were trees of the woods, but before they produced the olive.