Psalm 81 [MT 82]

This Psalm, like others similarly named, was so entitled either from the name of the man who wrote it, or from the explanation of that same name, so as to refer in meaning to the Synagogue, which Asaph signifies; especially as this is intimated in the first verse. For it begins, "God stood in the synagogue of gods" [Psalm 82:1]. Far however be it from us to understand by these Gods the gods of the Gentiles, or idols, or any creature in heaven or earth except men; for a little after this verse the same Psalm relates and explains what Gods it means in whose synagogue God stood, where it says, "I have said, You are gods, and you are all the children of the Most High: but you shall die like men, and fall like one of the princes." In the synagogue of these children of the Most High, of whom the same Most High said by the mouth of Isaiah, "I have begotten sons and brought them up, but they despised Me," [Isaiah 1:2] stood God. By the synagogue we understand the people of Israel, because synagogue is the word properly used of them, although they were also called the Church. Our congregation, on the contrary, the Apostles never called synagogue, but always Ecclesia; whether for the sake of the distinction, or because there is some difference between a congregation whence the synagogue has its name, and a convocation whence the Church is called Ecclesia: for the word congregation (or flocking together) is used of cattle, and particularly of that kind properly called "flocks," whereas convocation (or calling together) is more of reasonable creatures, such as men are....I think then that it is clear in what synagogue of gods God stood.

All true philosophers worshiped a single God. That is why even Socrates was killed: in his reverence for one God, he forbade sacrifices to Apollo. It is true that Plato argued with him to flee. "May it never happen," answered Socrates, "that I deny a truth I have asserted!" And so Plato did not interfere with his execution: he even blushed for having suggested flight. The worship of God is the dutiful expression of faith. Hence Tullius says that propriety consists in the cult of the gods. It is not fitting that he say "of the gods." The angels are not called gods in Scriptures, lest they be venerated as gods, but men are called gods: God hath stood in the congregation of gods, that is, of men, not of angels. Now, the worship of God consists in praise and sacrifice.

He is said to reign in one sense as the almighty King, both of the willing and the unwilling, but in another as producing in us submission and placing us under his kingship as willingly acknowledging his sovereignty. Of his kingdom, considered in the former sense, there shall be no end. But in the second sense, what end will there be? His taking us as his servants, on our entrance into a state of salvation. For what need is there to work submission in us when we have already submitted? After which he arises to judge the earth and to separate the saved from the lost. After that he is to stand as God in the midst of gods, that is, of the saved, distinguishing and deciding of what honor and of what mansion each is worthy.

God stood in the assembly of the gods. There are many postures. For frequently we sit, sometimes we stand, sometimes we lie down, sometimes we run, sometimes we walk. So too God is described according to the variety of human beings, and his posture is introduced as varied. If we are holy, and are like Moses, it is said to us: 'But you, stand here with me.' For this is what God says to Moses. For Moses was standing upon the rock: therefore God too was standing for him. But if we were holy first, and afterwards sinners, God no longer stands for us, but walks: that is, he who before had stood for us moves from his place. After we have been moved, he too is moved together with us. Finally, Adam too, as long as he was in paradise and kept the law, God stood for him. But after he transgressed, he heard the voice of God walking in paradise. Do you want to know that God was walking for him? What did he say to him? 'Adam, where are you?' He who had not fled from God while he stood, afterwards fled from him as he walked.

We have spoken of the one standing, we have spoken of the one walking: let us speak of the one sitting. Whenever God is introduced as sitting, he is introduced in two ways: either as a king, or as a judge. If as a king, one sees him as Isaiah did: 'I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne high and lifted up.' There he is introduced as a king reigning. But when he is introduced as a judge: 'The thrones were set, and the books were opened.' It is written in Daniel. What is said? The thrones were set, and the books were opened: that is, the Lord about to sit as a judge, and about to read over the works of all. The books which are now folded up shall then be opened. Everything that we do, that we speak, that we think — even for an idle word we are going to render an account: it is written in the books of God. Someone thinks there are books in heaven, where our sins are written. I think the books are our consciences, which shall then be opened, and each one shall see what he has done. 'Nothing is hidden, that shall not be revealed.' Therefore the thrones were set, and the books were opened. How many things are written in my book, and I dare not confess even to my brother nor to my friend. The angels know what I have done, the thrones know, the seraphim know: the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit know.

We have said concerning God that for some he stands, for others he walks, for others he sits either as a king or as a judge: but for others he sleeps. If ever he abandons us to temptations — even though we may be holy, nevertheless we are left to temptations, that we may be tested — at that time the Lord sleeps for us. Finally, what does the psalmist too say? 'Arise, why do you sleep, O Lord?' And when the apostles were in the boat, and the boat was being battered by the waves, the Lord was sleeping for them: for this reason the boat was being battered by the waves. Finally, they rouse him, and he awakes, and immediately the storm grows still.

We have spoken of the four postures of God: that for some he stands, for others he walks, for others he sits, for others he seems to sleep, and for others he wakes and rises up. God stood in the assembly of the gods. Because they were gods, therefore God stood for them. In this very assembly of ours God has different postures: for some he stands, for others he sits, for others he walks, for others he sleeps. Although he himself is unchangeable, according to our variety he is changed. See the dignity of man. God stood in the assembly of the gods. He grants us the name, that he may grant also the merit. And in the midst he judges the gods. Like a commander in the midst of the army he judges the gods. He judges the gods. A fearful thing, a thing full of terror. If he judges the gods, what does he do about the sinner? These two little verses the prophet spoke, as it were. But this which follows, How long will you judge iniquity? — God himself speaks to the judges, that is, to the leaders of the people. Specifically these verses which follow are spoken to the judges. If the judges of the world, it is plain: but if the judges of the church, let us understand it of bishops and presbyters. How long will you judge iniquity? He who judges iniquity is a judge of iniquity. He is the judge of iniquity of whom it is said in the Gospel, that he did not fear God, and did not respect man. How long will you judge iniquity? I have given you power over my flock and over the people of God: you ought to be judges, not wolves.

"How long will you judge unrighteously, and accept the persons of the ungodly" [Psalm 82:2]; as in another place, "How long are you heavy in heart?" Until He shall come who is the light of the heart? I have given a law, you have resisted stubbornly: I sent Prophets, you treated them unjustly, or slew them, or connived at those who did so. But if they are not worthy to be even spoken to, who slew the servants of God that were sent to them, you who were silent when these things were doing, that is, you who would imitate as if they were innocent those who then were silent, "how long will you judge unrighteously, and accept the persons of the ungodly?" If the Heir comes even now, is He to be slain? Was He not willing for your sake to become as it were a child under guardians? Did not He for your sake hunger and thirst like one in need? Did He not cry to you, "Learn of Me, for I am meek and lowly of heart"? [Matthew 11:29] Did He not "become poor, when He was rich, that by His poverty we might be made rich"? [2 Corinthians 8:9] "Give sentence," therefore, "for the fatherless and the poor man, justify the humble and needy" [Psalm 82:3]. Not them who for their own sake are rich and proud, but Him who for your sake was humble and poor, believe ye to be righteous: proclaim Him righteous. But they will envy Him, and will not at all spare Him, saying, "This is the Heir, come, let us kill Him, and the inheritance shall be ours." "Deliver," then, "the poor man, and save the needy from the hands of the ungodly" [Psalm 82:4]. This is said that it might be known, that in that nation where Christ was born and put to death, those persons were not guiltless of so great a crime, who being so numerous, that, as the Gospel says, the Jews feared them, and therefore dared not lay hands on Christ, afterwards consented, and permitted Him to be slain by the malicious and envious Jewish rulers: yet if they had so willed, they would still have been feared, so that the hands of the wicked would never have prevailed against Him. For of these it is said elsewhere, "Dumb dogs, they know not how to bark." Of them too is that said, "Lo, how the righteous perishes, and no man lays it to heart." He perished as far as lay in them who would have Him to perish; for how could He perish by dying, who in that way rather was seeking again what had perished? If then they are justly blamed and deservedly rebuked, who by their dissembling suffered such a wicked deed to be committed; how must they be blamed, or rather not only blamed, but how severely must they be condemned, who did this of design and malice?

And you accept the persons of sinners: judge for the needy and the orphan, do justice to the lowly and the poor: rescue the poor and the needy, and the rest. When a case comes to you, you do not consider the cause, you do not consider the judgment, but the persons of those who have the cases. For instance, if a poor man comes having a just case, and a rich man comes having a bad case: you look at the persons, not the case. This so far according to one interpretation. But there is also another, more sacred interpretation. In the theaters one man frequently is accustomed to have different persons. Now he enters into a woman, now into a man, now into a king; and he who had come forward as a king, again comes forward as a slave. I have given the example, so that from the carnal we may be able to come to the spiritual. We too take on different persons. For when I grow angry, I take on the person of a lion: when I seize the goods of others, I take on the person of a wolf: but when I am cruel and kill, I take on the person of a cruel man. But just as those who are sinners have different persons in their sins: so on the contrary those who are holy, they too have different persons, but in the good. When I give alms, I have as it were the person of a merciful man: but when I judge well, I have the person of a good judge: but when I suffer wrong and am humble, I have the person of a humble man. Unhappy is he who has many persons in evil: happy is he who has different persons in the good.

To all of them, verily, what follows is most fitly suited: "They did not know nor understand, they walk on in darkness." "For if even they had known, they would never have crucified the Lord of glory:" and those others, if they had known, would never have consented to ask that Barabbas should be freed, and Christ should be crucified. But as the above-mentioned blindness happened in part unto Israel until the fulness of the Gentiles should come in, this blindness of that People having caused the crucifixion of Christ, "all the foundations of the earth shall be moved." So have they been moved, and shall they be moved, until the predestined fulness of the Gentiles shall come in. For at the actual death of the Lord the earth was moved, and the rocks rent. And if we understand by the foundations of the earth those who are rich in the abundance of earthly possessions, it was truly foretold that they should be moved, either by wondering that lowliness, poverty, death, should be so loved and honoured in Christ, when it is to their mind great misery; or even in that themselves should love and follow it, and set at nought the vain happiness of this world. So are all the foundations of the earth moved, while they partly admire, and partly are even altered. For as without absurdity we call foundations of heaven those on whom the kingdom of heaven is built up in the persons of saints and faithful; whose first foundation is Christ Himself, born of the Virgin, of whom the Apostle says, "Other foundation can no man lay than that which is laid, which is Christ Jesus;" next the Apostles and Prophets themselves, by whose authority the heavenly place is chosen, that by obeying them we may be builded together with them; whence he says to the Ephesians, "Ye are built upon the foundation of Apostles and Prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the chief corner stone." ...But the kingdom of earthly happiness is pride, to oppose which came the lowliness of Christ, rebuking those whom He wished by lowliness to make the children of the Most High, and blaming them...

Where sacred Scripture is lacking, it is necessary that the earth, that is, the Church, be shaken: "They neither knew nor understood, they walk in darkness; all the foundations of the earth shall be moved." Arius, who wished to take away the foundation of the Trinity; Nestorius, who wished to destroy the unity of person; and Eutyches, who wished to confuse the natures in Christ: these men shook the foundations of the Church.

They knew not, neither did they understand, they walk in darkness. Who? The bad judges. Those whom I was calling gods, by their own vice have been called bad judges. They knew me not, neither did they understand my judgment: they walk in darkness. Because they forsook the light, therefore they walk in darkness. I said, you are the light of this world: and you turned aside from the light, and became darkness. Because, then, they have done this, let us see what follows.

All the foundations of the earth shall be shaken. See what kind of recompense the evil princes have: because of bad judges the foundations of the earth are shaken. This so far we have said first according to the letter, that the shaking of the whole world comes because of bad judges. But let us say it also in another way. All the foundations of the earth shall be shaken. I will overturn the bad judges, who have set their foundations on earth, and not in heaven: who ought to have Christ as their foundation, whom the architect Paul laid, but they were unwilling, and set their foundations on earth.

And again that darkness is brought upon men by their evil deeds, we learn from John himself, when he says in his epistle, "If we say that we have fellowship with Him and walk in darkness, we lie and do not the truth," and again, "He that saith he is in the light, and hateth his brother, is in darkness even until now," and again, "He that hateth his brother is in darkness, and walketh in darkness, and knoweth not whither he goeth, because darkness hath blinded his eyes." Walking in darkness signifies evil conduct, and to hate one's brother, is not that to fall away from that which is properly called knowledge? But he also who is ignorant of divine things walks in darkness, just because of that ignorance; as David says, "They knew not, they understood not, they walk in darkness."

Seeing that in all prayer we have to conciliate the goodwill of him to whom we pray, then to say what we pray for; goodwill is usually conciliated by our offering praise to him to whom the prayer is directed, and this is usually put in the beginning of the prayer: and in this particular our Lord has bidden us say nothing else but "Our Father who art in heaven." For many things are said in praise of God, which, being scattered variously and widely over all the Holy Scriptures, every one will be able to consider when he reads them: yet nowhere is there found a precept for the people of Israel, that they should say "Our Father," or that they should pray to God as a Father; but as Lord He was made known to them, as being yet servants, i.e. still living according to the flesh. I say this, however, inasmuch as they received the commands of the law, which they were ordered to observe: for the prophets often show that this same Lord of ours might have been their Father also, if they had not strayed from His commandments: as, for instance, we have that statement, "I have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against me;" and that other, "I have said, Ye are gods; and all of you are children of the Most High;" and this again, "If then I be a Father, where is mine honour? and if I be a Master, where is my fear?" and very many other statements, where the Jews are accused of showing by their sin that they did not wish to become sons: those things being left out of account which are said in prophecy of a future Christian people, that they would have God as a Father, according to that gospel statement, "To them gave He power to become the sons of God." The Apostle Paul, again, says, "The heir, as long as he is a child, differeth nothing from a servant;" and mentions that we have received the Spirit of adoption, "whereby we cry, Abba, Father."

But the kingdom of earthly happiness is pride, to oppose which came the lowliness of Christ, rebuking those whom He wished by lowliness to make the children of the Most High, and blaming them: "I said, You are gods, you are all the children of the Most High" [Psalm 82:6]. "But you shall die like men, and fall like one of the princes" [Psalm 82:7]. Whether to those He said this, "I said, You are gods," and to those particularly who are unpredestined to eternal life; and to the other, "But you shall die like men," etc., "and shall fall like one of the princes," in this way also distinguishing the gods; or whether He blames all together, in order to distinguish the obedient and those who received correction, "I said, You are gods, and you are all the children of the Most High:" that is, to all of you I promised celestial happiness, "but you," through the infirmity of your flesh, "shall die like men," and through haughtiness of soul, "like one of the princes," that is, the devil, shall not be exalted, but "shall fall." As if He said: Though the days of your life are so few, that you speedily die like men, this avails not to your correction: but like the devil, whose days are many in this world, because he dies not in the flesh, you are lifted up so that you fall. For by devilish pride it came to pass that the perverse and blind rulers of the Jews envied the glory of Christ: by this will it came to pass, and still does, that the lowliness of Christ crucified unto death is lightly esteemed in the eyes of them who love the excellence of this world.

If honor and riches: God shall set His good and faithful servants over many things, indeed sons of God and gods they shall be called and shall be, and where His Son shall be, there shall they be also, heirs indeed of God, and co-heirs with Christ.

He said (in the Bible) that we were 'gods' and He is going to make good His words. If we let Him—for we can prevent Him, if we choose—He will make the feeblest and filthiest of us into a god or goddess, a dazzling, radiant, immortal creature, pulsating all through with such energy and joy and wisdom and love as we cannot now imagine, a bright stainless mirror which reflects back to God perfectly (though, of course, on a smaller scale) His own boundless power and delight and goodness. The process will be long and in parts very painful, but that is what we are in for. Nothing less. He meant what He said.

Look, I ask you, and see with how great a dignity Jesus favors you. You were called a catechumen, which means one into whom something is drummed from without. You heard of some hope, but you did not know what. You heard mysteries without understanding anything. You heard Scriptures without plumbing their depth. It is not drummed in, any more, but whispered. For the indwelling Spirit is fashioning your mind into mansions for God. When you hear, in the future, Scriptures concerning mysteries, you will understand things you knew nothing of. And do not esteem as if a trifle what you are receiving. Being but a wretched person, you are recipient of a divine title. For listen to Paul, "God is faithful," or to another text in Scripture, "God is faithful and just." It was as foreseeing that a divine title would come to be applied to human beings that the psalmist, speaking in the person of God, said, "I have said, you are gods and are all the children of the most High." But see that when the title is faithful, the purpose is not faithless. You have entered the contest; run your course steadfastly. No other chance like this will come your way. If it was your wedding day ahead of you, would you not make light of all else, in preparing the banquet? When, then, you are going to consecrate your soul to the heavenly Bridegroom, will you not leave your physical concerns to chance, so that you may take a firm hold on the things of the spirit?

We find the name of God in the holy Scriptures, as many as now come to mind, spoken of in four ways. For God is spoken of according to the truth of [his divine] nature, that the holy Trinity is one, true and unchangeable God, who says, "See now that I, even I, am he; there is no God besides me." And concerning whom David says, "For who is God except the Lord? And who is a rock besides our God?" This is the one and only God who alone is God by nature. From this one true God, certain ones, in order that they might be gods, did not have the name by nature but received it by the gift of grace. Concerning such gods, it was Moses to whom that one true God said, "See, I have made you like God to Pharaoh." Of such people are also those to whom it is said, "I said, 'You are gods, children of the most High, all of you.' " Therefore, these gods received that grace to be gods so that they might become the children of God. The Evangelist says that "to those who did accept him, he gave power to become the children of God, to those who believe in his name, who were born, not by natural generation, or by human choice or by a man's decision, but of God." Likewise, to them it is said, "I said, 'You are gods, children of the most High, all of you.' "

I said: you are gods, and all of you sons of the Most High. Let Eunomius hear, let Arius hear, who say that the Son of God is a son in the same way as we are. That we are gods, we are so not by nature, but by grace. 'For as many as received him, he gave them power to become sons of God.' Therefore I made man, that out of men gods might be made. I said: you are gods, and all of you sons of the Most High. See how great the dignity is: we are called both gods and sons. I made you gods, just as I made Moses a god of Pharaoh: that after you have been gods, you may be made worthy to be sons of God. Consider the divine Scripture. 'There is no respect of persons with God.' He did not say: I said: you are gods, the kings and the princes, but all: to whom equally I have given a body and a soul and a spirit, equally I have bestowed both deity and adoption. We are all born equally, both emperors and the poor: equally we also die. For our condition is equal.

Then the Jews took up stones again to stone him. Jesus answered them, Many good works have I showed you from my Father; for which of those works do ye stone me? The Jews answered him, saying, For a good work we stone thee not; but for blasphemy; and because that thou, being a man, makest thyself God. Jesus answered them, Is it not written in your law, I said, Ye are gods? [Psalms 82:6] If he called them gods, unto whom the word of God came, and the scripture cannot be broken; Say ye of him, whom the Father hath sanctified, and sent into the world, Thou blasphemest; because I said, I am the Son of God? If I do not the works of my Father, believe me not. But if I do, though ye believe not me, believe the works: that ye may know, and believe, that the Father is in me, and I in him. Therefore they sought again to take him: but he escaped out of their hand

So then, it all depends upon the use. Why do I say, an angel? the man can become God, and a child of God. For we read, "I have said, Ye are gods, and all of you are children of the Most High." And what is greater, the power to become both God and angel and child of God is put into his own hands. Yea, so it is, man can be the maker of an angel.

Hence the Lord too said to the angels who did not keep their princedom: "I said: you are gods, and all sons of the Most High. But you shall die as men, and shall fall like one of the princes"—imitating, that is, the devil, who was made prince of all unto ruin. Hence it is established that transgression, not nature, made those accursed. To you, therefore, O people of Israel, who are "the portion of God", who have been made "the cord of his inheritance", he says: "there shall be for you no other gods besides me", because truly the "one God" is God and truly the "one Lord" is Lord. But upon the rest, who were created by him, he conferred that name not by nature, but by grace.

"I have said you are gods and all of you children of the most High, but you shall die like man." This he says to them that did not accept the gift of adoption but dishonor the incarnation of the pure generation of the Word of God, deprive humankind of ascent to God and are ungrateful to the Word of God who for their sakes was made flesh. For this cause was the Word made human, that humanity receiving the Word and accepting the adoption should be made God's children.

But you shall die like men. You see, then, that he who is a man dies. For God does not die. And Adam, as long as he kept the commandment and was a god, did not die. But after he tasted of the forbidden tree, immediately he died. Finally God says to him: 'On whatever day you taste, you shall die the death.' It has it better in the Hebrew: 'But you shall die like Adam.' Just as he was cast out of paradise, so we too have been cast out. And you shall fall like one of the princes. Since he had said 'all of you sons of the Most High'; one cannot be a son of the Most High, unless he too be most high. I said that you should all be most high, as I am most high. But you shall fall like one of the princes. Since we were most high, therefore we are said to have fallen. Where are they who say that the devil was made a devil? Where are they who say that an evil nature was created by God? According to the Hebrew two things are said here. But you shall die like Adam: just as your father was unwilling to hear the commandment of the Lord, and fell, so you too shall die. Therefore that was said concerning Adam. But this which follows, And you shall fall like one of the princes: who is this one of the princes, who fell? If you should wish to say Adam, it was already said in the earlier verses, But you shall die like Adam. And at the same time see the significance of the word. But you shall die like Adam. Since Adam died, we too die. But the devil, who was a prince, and fell, did not die. For angelic dignity cannot receive death, but only ruin. Therefore he said, you shall fall like one of the princes. 'How is Lucifer fallen, who rose in the morning?' Behold, both here he fell, and there he fell. He fell for this reason, because he always dwelt among the heavenly things. This is he to whom it is said in Ezekiel: 'You are the unsealing of the likeness.' See what he says, the unsealing of the likeness. He did not say, You are the seal of the likeness: but, the unsealing of the likeness. God had sealed you, and had made you like himself: but you afterwards unsealed yourself. After the likeness and image of God you too were formed. Finally it is said in that same prophecy: 'In the midst of the cherubim you were nourished, among the stones of jasper and carbuncle you were in the paradise of God. And you fell,' he says, 'and were wounded from the mountain of the Lord.' This prince of Tyre: now prince of Tyre from the time when he fell: since Tyre in the Hebrew tongue is called sor, that is tribulation. Therefore this prince too, who at first was in heaven, has now been made prince of Tyre, that is, of the tribulation of this world. You shall fall like one of the princes. When he says 'like one,' he shows that there are others also. Read the Apocalypse of John: when the dragon fell from heaven, he drew with him a third part of the stars.

This Judas, then, to whom it was said through the prophet: "But you, a man of one mind with me, my guide and my acquaintance," fell, though he had been one of those whom Christ took up for the leadership of the Christian people. And see how that which is written, "But you shall die like men, and you shall fall like one of the princes," is referred now to that prince who fell "like lightning from heaven," now to Judas, who, chosen to the princedom of the apostolate and, as it were, established in heaven, and himself, as it were, set beforehand like lightning, fell, going into the ruin of betrayal (against the one chief of the priests, who had been made "forever" a "priest according to the order of Melchizedek") to many chief priests and adversaries of the one high priest, that he might sell for a price him who willed to redeem the whole world from the curse of the law and of all sin, and to redeem us "not with corruptible" money, "but with his own precious blood."

And therefore that this vice may be cured, in the person of the Prophet himself it is said, "Arise, O God, and judge the earth" [Psalm 82:8]; for the earth swelled high when it crucified You: rise from the dead, and judge the earth. "For You shall destroy among all nations." What, but the earth? That is, destroying those who savour of earthly things, or destroying the feeling itself of earthly lust and pride in believers; or separating those who do not believe, as earth to be trodden under foot and to perish. Thus by His members, whose conversation is in heaven, He judges the earth, and destroys it among all nations. But I must not omit to remark, that some copies have, "for You shall inherit among all nations." This too may be understood agreeably to the sense, nor does anything prevent both meanings existing at once. His inheritance takes place by love, which in that He cultivates by His commands and gracious mercy, He destroys earthly desires.

Often were the righteous given into the hands of the wicked, not that the latter might be honored but that the former might be tested; and though the wicked come, as it is written, to an awful death, nevertheless for the present the godly are a laughing stock, while the goodness of God and the great treasuries of what is in store for each of them hereafter are concealed. Then indeed word and deed and thought will be weighed in the just balances of God, as he arises to judge the earth, gathering together counsel and works and revealing what he had kept sealed up. Of this let the words and sufferings of Job convince you, who was a truthful, blameless, just, God-fearing man, with all those other qualities that are testified of him, and yet he was struck with such a succession of remarkable visitations, at the hands of him who begged for power over him, that, although many have often suffered in the whole course of time, and some have, as is probable, been grievously afflicted, yet none can be compared with him in misfortunes.

Up to this point God has spoken to men, and again the prophet speaks. Arise, O God, judge the earth. Arise, because our boat is battered by the waves. Arise, O God, judge the earth: since the bad judges do not judge, but overturn your law, and tear your flocks. Do you arise, who are the true judge. Because, then, the bad judges have died like Adam, and have fallen like one of the princes: therefore do you arise, do you judge, do you save your creature. But the hireling, when he sees the wolf, flees, and leaves the sheep: he cannot grieve for another's as one grieves for father and mother. Let us say it also in another way. Arise, you who suffered for us, who died for us: arise, and save us. Let us say it also in another way. You who came humble and despised, come as a judge, and vindicate us. Arise, O God, judge the earth. See the significance and the properties of the words. He did not say, Judge heaven, but the earth. Therefore the earth is judged, not heaven. If, then, the earth is judged, and not heaven, then in heaven sins are not committed. But if sins were committed in heaven, he would say: Arise, O God, judge the earth and heaven. See the mercy of the prophet. He did not say, Slay the earth: but judge, judge and save. He did not say, Judge through angels, judge through your ministers. For they, if they judge, cannot show mercy, because they are executors of your sentence. But you, if you judge, can yourself show mercy. Arise, O God, judge the earth. An emperor can change his sentence, a prefect cannot. Therefore we entreat you as judge, not despising, but praying. For men and angels in comparison with you are cruel: you alone are the most gentle judge. Do you want to know that God is merciful, and every man is cruel? While the master of the house was sleeping, an enemy man oversowed tares. The servants want to pull them up, and the master of the house says: 'Let be, allow them to grow, lest while you pull up the tares, you uproot the wheat also together with them.'

For you shall inherit among all the nations. Therefore we entreat you as judge, because you have had mercy on all the nations. Why did he not say, You shall possess all the nations, but, You shall inherit? Wherever an inheritance is set, there death has gone before. Therefore we are called heirs and coheirs. He said heirs of Christ, because he died for us; coheirs, because he is going to reign with us. You shall inherit. For you sent your servants (let us return to the apostles), one to the circumcision, another to the nations. As long as you had sent Moses, as long as Isaiah, as long as Jeremiah, as long as the other prophets, God was known in Judea, in Israel his name was great. In a small land the knowledge of God's name was carried. You sent Peter, Peter the fisherman, who had left even his net, who from his work had a callused hand. You did not send an orator, you did not send a philosopher: you sent a rustic man, a fisherman. This fisherman, this rustic, went from Jerusalem to Rome: and the rustic captured Rome, which the eloquent could not capture. Again the apostle Paul went, from Jerusalem he preached as far as Illyricum, and preached where the Gospel had not been preached, lest he lay a building upon another's foundation. Then he says that he would go from the city of Rome to Spain. See Paul the persecutor, who in Judea had been a persecutor, preaching among the nations. Where are they who proclaim Alexander the Great, the Macedonian commander, that in a short span he conquered so many nations? He had an army, he had also huge crowds: and he could not do any such thing, but only some small thing. But this Paul, once a persecutor, who said 'Though unskilled in speech, yet not in knowledge,' who makes solecisms in speaking, carries the cross of Christ, and as though triumphing captures all. He subdued the whole world from the ocean as far as the Red Sea.

Someone may say: They did all this for the sake of gain. For this is what Porphyry says: Rustic and poor men, since they had nothing, worked certain signs by magic arts. But it is not a great thing to work signs. For the magicians in Egypt too worked signs against Moses. Apollonius worked them too, Apuleius worked them too: and they worked countless signs. I grant you, Porphyry, they worked signs by magic arts, that they might receive riches from the rich little women whom they had led astray: for this is what you say. Why did they die? why were they crucified? Others too worked signs by magic arts: but they did not die for a dead man, for a crucified man. These know that the man is dead, and they die without cause. Happy, then, is our victory, which was consecrated in the blood of the apostles. Our faith is not proven except through their blood. Let us therefore bless God, to whom is glory forever and ever. Amen.