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about anything else, but is wholly dependent on God alone, so also he himself with his whole heart confesses, giving thanks to God. And being confident in such boldness of his, and knowing that in the great theater of human life, divine angels and ministers of God are watching over and beholding his progress in God, he renders the fitting worship to God, and says: And before angels I will sing praise to you. I will worship toward your holy temple. He promises to worship toward a holy temple, signifying the Church, or the heavenly Jerusalem, of which the temple on earth was a type; then he gives thanks, having been deemed worthy of the mercy and truth of God. For which Symmachus, concerning your mercy and your truth, says: for having obtained God's mercy, he has been delivered from types and symbols, and has been deemed worthy to worship God in spirit and in truth. Let all the kings of the earth give thanks to you, O Lord. We have often observed that those of the psalms which have neither hymn, nor ode, nor psalm, nor any other as a title, happen to have a character different from these, such as the present one which partakes of prophetic power; for through the preceding words, David, having confessed, says, But not I alone among kings was deemed worthy of this, but very many such will come to be, that is, after the preaching of the Savior; and especially when the 24.40 fullness of the Gentiles comes in, and the second coming of the Savior occurs; for then the great glory of the Lord will be seen; and sometimes future things are indicated imperatively and optatively, according to a certain Hebrew custom. -He prophesies concerning the knowledge of God which is to be spread to all nations; For it will be, he says, when all the kings of the earth will confess to you and will hear all the words of the mouth of God, and that they will sing in the ways of the Lord. And these things have not been fulfilled at any other time than after the evangelical preaching of our Savior. And the ways are the virtues, which lead to the knowledge of God. The Lord is high, and he looks upon the lowly. David, having learned the things spoken by the prophetic spirit in him and through him, is confident that God looks upon the lowly, as one who shields him in his afflictions. If I walk in the midst of trouble, you will preserve me, etc. But Symmachus said more clearly: If I walk through the midst of trouble, you will save me; against the breath of my enemies you will stretch out your hand, and your right hand will save me; the Lord will accomplish for me.

PSALM 138.

O Lord, you have tested me, and you have known me. Since, therefore, the time of our life has certain intervals measured by God, you yourself, he says, have traced out all the time of my life, and the path which I have traveled. Your knowledge has been made wonderful to me. It surpasses, he says, my power, and the knowledge of these things is beyond my comprehension, so that I am not able to discover or to declare them. For whatever I might say, happens to be small and very little of the divine power, the comprehension of which escapes my smallness and nothingness. Your eyes saw my unformed substance. That which has not yet been done by me, he says, you see as already accomplished, and those who have not yet been born, you know as already born. And my innocence and lack of wickedness, and my unexamined state can be understood in two ways; for careful thought ought to be called work; and an unformed soul is one not yet shaped by virtue and knowledge. Men of blood, depart from me. They will take your cities in vain. Having said, But to me your friends, O God, have been greatly honored, he reasonably rejects and drives away the enemies of God

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περὶ ἄλλο τι, ἀλλ' ὅλως ἀνηρτημένος μόνου τοῦ Θεοῦ, οὕτως καὶ αὐτὸς ἐν ὅλῃ καρδίᾳ ἐξομολογεῖται εὐχαριστῶν τῷ Θεῷ. Θαρσῶν δὲ τῇ τοιαύτῃ αὐτοῦ παῤῥησίᾳ, καὶ εἰδὼς, ὅτι ἐν μεγάλῳ θεάτρῳ τῷ τῶν ἀνθρώπων βίῳ, θείων ἀγγέλων καὶ λειτουργῶν Θεοῦ ἐφορώντων, καὶ θεωμένων τὰς ἐν Θεῷ προκοπὰς αὐτοῦ, τὴν προσήκουσαν ἀποδίδωσι τῷ Θεῷ λατρείαν, καί φησιν· Καὶ ἐναντίον ἀγγέλων ψαλῶ σοι. Προσκυνήσω πρὸς τὸν ναὸν ἅγιόν σου. Προσκυνεῖν ἐπαγγέλλεται πρὸς ναὸν ἅγιον, τὴν Ἐκκλησίαν δηλῶν, ἢ τὴν ἐπουράνιον Ἱερουσαλὴμ, ἧς τύπος ὁ ἐπὶ γῆς ὑπῆρχε ναός· εἶτα χάριν ὁμολογεῖ καταξιωθεὶς ἐλέου καὶ ἀληθείας Θεοῦ. Ἀνθ' οὗ ὁ Σύμμαχος, περὶ τοῦ ἐλέους σου καὶ τῆς ἀληθείας σου, λέγει· τυχὼν γὰρ ἐλέου Θεοῦ, τύπων καὶ συμβόλων ἀπήλλακται, ἐν πνεύματι δὲ καὶ ἀληθείᾳ λατρεύειν Θεῷ κατηξίωται. Ἐξομολογησάσθωσάν σοι, Κύριε, πάντες οἱ βασιλεῖς τῆς γῆς. Πολλάκις παρετηρήσαμεν, ὅτι τῶν ψαλμῶν οἱ μήτε ὕμνον, μήτε ᾠδὴν, μήτε ψαλμὸν, ἤ τι ἕτερον ἔχοντες προγραφὴν, ἄλλου παρὰ ταῦτα τυγχάνουσι χαρακτῆρος, ὁποῖος ὁ παρὼν προφητικῆς μετέχων δυνάμεως· διὰ γὰρ τῶν προλαβόντων ἐξομολογησάμενος ὁ ∆αυῒδ, Ἀλλ' οὐκ ἐγὼ, φησὶ, ἐν βασιλεῦσι μόνος τούτου κατηξιώθην, πλεῖστοι δὲ τοιοῦτοι γενήσονται, δηλαδὴ μετὰ τὸ κήρυγμα τοῦ Σωτῆρος· καὶ μάλιστα ὅτε τὸ 24.40 πλήρωμα τῶν ἐθνῶν εἰσέλθῃ, καὶ ἡ δευτέρα τοῦ Σωτῆρος γένηται παρουσία· τότε γὰρ ὀφθήσεται μεγάλη τοῦ Κυρίου ἡ δόξα· προστακτικῶς δὲ καὶ εὐκτικῶς ἔσθ' ὅτε τὰ μέλλοντα δηλοῦται, κατά τινα τῶν Ἑβραίων συνήθειαν. -Προφητεύει περὶ τῆς μελλούσης ἐξαπλοῦσθαι εἰς πάντα ἔθνη τοῦ Θεοῦ γνώσεως· Ἔσται γὰρ, φησὶν, ὅτε πάντες οἱ βασιλεῖς τῆς γῆς ἐξομολογήσονταί σοι καὶ ἀκούσονται πάντα τὰ ῥήματα τοῦ στόματος Θεοῦ, καὶ ὅτι ᾄσονται ἐν ταῖς ὁδοῖς Κυρίου. Ταῦτα δὲ οὐκ ἄλλοτε ἢ μετὰ τὸ εὐαγγελικὸν κήρυγμα τοῦ Σωτῆρος ἡμῶν τέλους τετύχηκεν. Ὁδοὶ δέ εἰσιν αἱ ἀρεταὶ, αἱ φέρουσαι ἐπὶ τὴν γνῶσιν τοῦ Θεοῦ. Ὑψηλὸς Κύριος, καὶ τὰ ταπεινὰ ἐφορᾷ. Τὰ ὑπὸ τοῦ προφητικοῦ πνεύματος ἐν αὐτῷ καὶ δι' αὐτοῦ λαληθέντα μαθὼν ὁ ∆αυῒδ, θαῤῥεῖ ὡς ἐφορῶντος τὰ ταπεινὰ τοῦ Θεοῦ, ὡς ἐν ταῖς θλίψεσιν αὐτῷ συνασπιζομένου. Ἐὰν πορευθῶ ἐν μέσῳ θλίψεως, ζήσῃς με, κ.τ.λ. Σαφέστερον δὲ ὁ Σύμμαχος ἔφη· Ἐὰν πορευθῶ διὰ μέσης θλίψεως, περισώσεις με· κατὰ τῆς ἀναπνοῆς τῶν ἐχθρῶν μου ἐκτενεῖς χεῖρά σου, καὶ σώσει με ἡ δεξιά σου· Κύριος ἐπιτελέσει ὑπὲρ ἐμοῦ.

ΨΑΛΜΟΣ ΡΛΗʹ.

Κύριε, ἐδοκίμασάς με, καὶ ἔγνως με. Ἐπεὶ τοίνυν καὶ ὁ χρόνος τῆς ἡμετέρας

ζωῆς ἔχει τινὰ διαστήματα μεμετρημένα παρὰ Θεῷ, πάντα μου τῆς ζωῆς τὸν χρόνον, φησὶ, καὶ τὴν ὁδὸν ἣν διῆλθον αὐτὸς ἐξιχνίασας. Ἐθαυμαστώθη ἡ γνῶσίς σου ἐξ ἐμοῦ. Ἐπιβαίνει, φησὶ, τὴν ἐμὴν δύναμιν, καὶ ἐπέκεινά ἐστιν τῆς ἐμῆς καταλήψεως ἡ τούτων γνῶσις, ὡς μὴ δύνασθαί με ἐξευρεῖν μηδὲ ἐξειπεῖν αὐτά. Ὅσα γὰρ ἂν εἴπω, μικρὰ καὶ ἐλάχιστα τυγχάνει τῆς θεϊκῆς δυνάμεως, ἧς κατάληψις τὴν ἐμὴν σμικρότητα καὶ οὐθενίαν διαφεύγει. Ἀκατέργαστόν μου εἶδον οἱ ὀφθαλμοί σου. Τὸ μήπω πραχθέν μοι, φησὶν, ὡς ἤδη τελεσθὲν καθορᾷς, καὶ τοὺς τέως μὴ τεχθέντας, ὡς ἤδη τεχθέντας ἐπίστασαι. ∆ύναται δὲ νοεῖσθαι διχῶς τὸ ἄκακον καὶ ἀπόνηρον, καὶ ἀνεξέταστόν μου· ἔργον γὰρ ἡ περίνοια λέγεσθαι ὀφείλει· ἀκατέργαστος δέ ἐστι ψυχὴ ἡ μήπω δι' ἀρετῆς μορφωθεῖσα καὶ γνώσεως. Ἄνδρες αἱμάτων, ἐκκλίνατε ἀπ' ἐμοῦ. Λήψονται εἰς ματαιότητα τὰς πόλεις σου. Εἰπὼν, Ἐμοὶ δὲ λίαν ἐτιμήθησαν οἱ φίλοι σου, ὁ Θεὸς, εἰκότως τοὺς ἐχθροὺς τοῦ Θεοῦ παραιτεῖται καὶ ἀπελαύνει