Psalms 38:13

Now the soul of the wise man and Gnostic, as sojourning in the body, conducts itself towards it gravely and respectfully, not with inordinate affections, as about to leave the tabernacle if the time of departure summon. “I am a stranger in the earth, and a sojourner with you,” it is said. And hence Basilides says, that he apprehends that the election are strangers to the world, being supramundane by nature. But this is not the case. For all things are of one God. And no one is a stranger to the world by nature, their essence being one, and God one. But the elect man dwells as a sojourner, knowing all things to be possessed and disposed of; and he makes use of the things which the Pythagoreans make out to be the threefold good things. …

20. “Hear my prayer, O Lord” ( ver. 12 ). Whereof shall I rejoice? Whereof should I groan? I rejoice on account of what is past, I groan longing for these which are not yet come. “Hear my prayer, and give ear unto my cry. Hold not Thy peace at my tears.” For do I now no longer weep, because I have already “passed by,” have “left behind” so great things as these? “Do I not weep much the more?” For, “He that increaseth knowledge, increaseth sorrow.” The more I long for what is not here, do I not so much the more groan for it until it comes? do I not so much the more weep until it comes?…

5. “A sojourner I will be in Thy tabernacle even unto ages” ( ver. 4 ). Ye see how he, of whom we have spoken, is he that crieth. Which of us is a sojourner even unto ages? For a few days here we live, and we pass away: for sojourners here we are, inhabitants in Heaven we shall be. Thou art a sojourner in that place where thou art to hear the voice of the Lord thy God, “Remove.” For from that Home everlasting in the Heavens no one will bid thee to remove. Here therefore a sojourner thou art. Whence also is said in another Psalm, “A sojourner I am with Thee and a stranger, as all my fathers were.” Here therefore sojourners we are; there the Lord shall give to us mansions everlasting: “Many are,” He saith, “the mansions in My Father’s house.” Those mansions not as though to sojourners He will give, but as though to citizens to abide for everlasting. …

See how David became one to be marvelled at, because he looked to his ancestors that were noted for virtue. “For I am a stranger,” saith he, “and a sojourner, as all my fathers were.” For this man, and all that are like him, let pass them that had sinned, and thought of those who had approved themselves.

[4.] The saints were “strangers and sojourners.” How and in what way? And where does Abraham confess himself “a stranger and a sojourner”? Probably indeed he even himself confessed it: but David both confessed “I am a stranger” and what? “As all my fathers were.” ( Ps. xxxix. 12 .) For they who dwell in tents, they who purchase even burial places for money, evidently were in some sense strangers, as they had not even where to bury their dead.

Now that they called themselves “strangers” in this sense is manifest. But supposing that they said they were “strangers” on account of the strange land, why did David also [call himself a stranger]? Was not he a king? Was not he a prophet? Did he not spend his life in his own country? Why then does he say, “I am a stranger and a sojourner”? ( Ps. xxxix. 12 .) How art thou a stranger? “As” (he says) “all my fathers were.” Seest thou that they too were strangers? We have a country, he means, but not really our country. But how art thou thyself a stranger? As to the earth. Therefore they also [were strangers] in respect of the earth: For “as they were,” he says, so also am I; and as he, so they too.

2. Many begin but few persevere to the end. “They which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the crown.” But of us on the other hand it is said: “So run that ye may obtain.” Our master of the games is not grudging; he does not give the palm to one and disgrace another. His wish is that all his athletes may alike win garlands. My soul rejoices, yet the very greatness of my joy makes me feel sad. Like Ruth when I try to speak I burst into tears. Zacchæus, the convert of an hour, is accounted worthy to receive the Saviour as his guest. Martha and Mary make ready a feast and then welcome the Lord to it. A harlot washes His feet with her tears and against His burial anoints His body with the ointment of good works. Simon the leper invites the Master with His disciples and is not refused. …

1. If all the members of my body were to be converted into tongues, and if each of my limbs were to be gifted with a human voice, I could still do no justice to the virtues of the holy and venerable Paula. Noble in family, she was nobler still in holiness; rich formerly in this world’s goods, she is now more distinguished by the poverty that she has embraced for Christ. Of the stock of the Gracchi and descended from the Scipios, the heir and representative of that Paulus whose name she bore, the true and legitimate daughter of that Martia Papyria who was mother to Africanus, she yet preferred Bethlehem to Rome, and left her palace glittering with gold to dwell in a mud cabin. We do not grieve that we have lost this perfect woman; rather we thank God that we have had her, nay that we have her still. …

IX. The Holy Ghost, then, always existed, and exists, and always will exist. He neither had a beginning, nor will He have an end; but He was everlastingly ranged with and numbered with the Father and the Son. For it was not ever fitting that either the Son should be wanting to the Father, or the Spirit to the Son. For then Deity would be shorn of Its Glory in its greatest respect, for It would seem to have arrived at the consummation of perfection as if by an afterthought. …