Psalms 43:6

To the sons, then, who come to Him, the Father gives the calf, and it is slain and eaten. But those who do not come to Him He pursues and disinherits, and is found to be a most powerful bull. Here, by reason of His size and prowess, it is said of Him, “His glory is as that of an unicorn.” And the prophet Habakkuk sees Him bearing horns, and celebrates His defensive attitude, “horns in His hands.” Wherefore the sign shows His power and authority, horns that pierce on both sides, or rather, on all sides, and through everything. And those who eat are so strengthened, and retain such strength from the life-giving food in them, that they themselves are stronger than their enemies, and are all but armed with the horns of a bull; as it is said, “In thee shall we butt our enemies.”

2. “The day before that on which we were to fight, I saw in a vision that Pomponius the deacon came hither to the gate of the prison, and knocked vehemently. I went out to him, and opened the gate for him; and he was clothed in a richly ornamented white robe, and he had on manifold calliculæ. And he said to me, ‘Perpetua, we are waiting for you; come!’ And he held his hand to me, and we began to go through rough and winding places. Scarcely at length had we arrived breathless at the amphitheatre, when he led me into the middle of the arena, and said to me, ‘Do not fear, I am here with you, and I am labouring with you;’ and he departed. And I gazed upon an immense assembly in astonishment. And because I knew that I was given to the wild beasts, I marvelled that the wild beasts were not let loose upon me. …

5. But perhaps it is only what is past that has been described to us: but nothing of the kind is to be hoped for by us for the future. Nay indeed, it is still to be hoped for. “Through Thee will we winnow away our enemies” ( ver. 5 ). Our fathers then have declared to us a work that Thou didst “in their days, and in the days of old,” that Thy hand destroyed the Gentiles: that Thou “didst cast out the peoples; and didst plant them.” Such was the past; but what is to be hereafter? “Through Thee we shall winnow away our enemies.” A time will come, when all the enemies of Christians will be winnowed away like chaff, be blown like dust, and be cast off from the earth.…Thus much of the future. “I will not trust in my bow,” even as our fathers did not in “their sword. Neither shall my sword help me” ( ver. 6 ).

Lastly , the Author of our salvation teaches us what we ought not merely to think, but also to acknowledge in everything that we do. “I can,” He says, “of mine own self do nothing, but the Father which abideth in me, He doeth the works.” He says, speaking in the human nature which He had taken, that He could do nothing of Himself; and shall we, who are dust and ashes, think that we have no need of God’s help in what pertains to our salvation? And so let us learn in everything, as we feel our own weakness, and at the same time His help, to declare with the saints, “I was overturned that I might fall, but the Lord supported me. The Lord is my strength and my praise: and He is become my salvation.” And “Unless the Lord had helped me, my soul had almost dwelt in hell. If I said, My foot is moved: Thy mercy, O Lord, assisted me. …