Psalms 72:27

3. But let these things which were done by Stephen be passed by for the present, lest, while we remember his audacity and pride, we bring a more lasting sadness on ourselves from the things that he has wickedly done. And knowing, concerning you, that you have settled this matter, concerning which there is now a question, according to the rule of truth and the wisdom of Christ; we have exulted with great joy, and have given God thanks that we have found in brethren placed at such a distance such a unanimity of faith and truth with us. …

2. Let the restless and the unjust depart and flee from Thee. Thou both seest them and distinguishest the shadows. And lo! all things with them are fair, yet are they themselves foul. And how have they injured Thee? Or in what have they disgraced Thy government, which is just and perfect from heaven even to the lowest parts of the earth. For whither fled they when they fled from Thy presence? Or where dost Thou not find them? But they fled that they might not see Thee seeing them, and blinded might stumble against Thee; since Thou forsakest nothing that Thou hast made, that the unjust might stumble against Thee, and justly be hurt, withdrawing themselves from Thy gentleness, and stumbling against Thine uprightness, and falling upon their own roughness. …

The union, then, of male and female for the purpose of procreation is the natural good of marriage. But he makes a bad use of this good who uses it bestially, so that his intention is on the gratification of lust, instead of the desire of offspring. Nevertheless, in sundry animals unendowed with reason, as, for instance, in most birds, there is both preserved a certain kind of confederation of pairs, and a social combination of skill in nest-building; and their mutual division of the periods for cherishing their eggs and their alternation in the labor of feeding their young, give them the appearance of so acting, when they mate, as to be intent rather on securing the continuance of their kind than on gratifying lust. Of these two, the one is the likeness of man in a brute; the other, the likeness of the brute in man. …

10. “If any man say, I love God.” What God? wherefore love we? “Because He first loved us,” and gave us to love. He loved us ungodly, to make us godly; loved us unrighteous, to make us righteous; loved us sick, to make us whole. Ask each several man; let him tell thee if he love God. He cries out, he confesses: I love , God knoweth. There is another question to be asked. “If any man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar.” By what provest thou that he is a liar? Hear. “For he that loveth not his brother whom he seeth, how can he love God whom he seeth not?” What then? does he that loves a brother, love God also? He must of necessity love God, must of necessity love Him that is Love itself. Can one love his brother, and not love Love? Of necessity he must love Love. What then? because he loves Love, does it follow that he loves God? Certainly it does follow. …

25. “Behold, they that put themselves afar from Thee shall perish” ( ver. 27 ). He therefore departed from God, but not far: for “I have become as it were a beast,” he saith, and “I am alway with Thee.” But they have departed afar, because not only things earthly they have desired, but have sought them from demons and the Devil. “They that put themselves afar from Thee shall perish.” And what is it, to become afar from God? “Thou hast destroyed every man that committeth fornication away from Thee.” To this fornication is opposed chaste love. …

3. “Seek the Lord, and be strengthened” ( ver. 4 ). This is very literally construed from the Greek, though it may seem not a Latin word: whence other copies have, “be ye confirmed;” others, “be ye corroborated.”…While these words, then, “Come unto Him, and be enlightened,” apply to seeing; those in the text relate to doing: “Seek the Lord, and be strengthened.”…But what meaneth, “Seek His face evermore”? I know indeed that to cling unto God is good for me; but if He is always being sought, when is He found? Did he mean by “evermore,” the whole of the life we live here, whence we become conscious that we ought thus to seek, since even when found He is still to be sought? To wit, faith hath already found Him, but hope still seeketh Him. …

See how even from men’s common notions he proves the whole of his proposition. His meaning is this: “I have preached Christ, I have delivered unto you the foundation. Take heed how you build thereon, lest haply it be in vainglory, lest haply so as to draw away the disciples unto men.” Let us not then give heed unto the heresies. “For other foundation can no man lay than that which is laid.” Upon this then let us build, and as a foundation let us cleave to it, as a branch to a vine; and let there be no interval between us and Christ. For if there be any interval, immediately we perish. For the branch by its adherence draws in the fatness, and the building stands because it is cemented together. Since, if it stand apart it perishes, having nothing whereon to support itself. Let us not then merely keep hold of Christ, but let us be cemented to Him, for if we stand apart, we perish. …

So that we are liable for a vast debt, and no one grieves, no one weeps, no one groans, all having returned to their former state. For as before the appearance of Christ we fled from God, so now also. For we can flee from God, not in place, for He is everywhere; and hear the Prophet, when he says, “Whither shall I go from Thy Spirit, or whither shall I flee from Thy presence”? ( Ps. cxxxix. 7 .) How then can we flee from God? Even as we can become distant from God, even as we can be removed afar off. “They that are far from Thee,” it says, “shall perish.” ( Ps. lxxiii. 27 .) And again, “Have not your iniquities separated between Me and you?” ( Isa. lix. 2 .) How then comes this removal, how comes this separation? In purpose and soul: for it cannot be in place. For how could one fly from Him who is everywhere present? The sinner then flies. …

More then than all other things together, let us attend seriously to this. “I have loved,” saith he,“ those that love thy law.” ( Ps. cxix. 165 , not exact.) This man then let us too emulate, and such let us love. And that the young may further be taught chastity, let them hear the Prophet, saying, “My loins are filled with illusions” ( Ps. xxxviii. 7 , Sept.); and again let them hear him saying, “Thou wilt utterly destroy every one that goeth a whoring from Thee.” ( Ps. lxxiii. 27 , Sept.) And, that one ought to restrain the belly, let them hear again, “And slew,” he saith, “the more part of them while the meat was yet in their mouths.” ( Ps. lxxviii. 30 , Sept.) And that they ought to be above bribes, “If riches become abundant, set [not] your heart upon them” ( Ps. lxii. 10 .); and that they ought to keep glory in subjection, “Nor shall his glory descend together after him.” ( Ps. …

Here again is another question, but it is not so if we rightly consider it. For as the sun dazzles the eyes of the weak, not by reason of its proper nature, so it is with those who give not heed to the words of God. Thus, in the case of Pharaoh, He is said to have hardened his heart, and so it is with those who are at all contentious against the words of God. This is a peculiar mode of speech in Scripture, as also the, “He gave them over unto a reprobate mind” ( Rom. i. 28 ), and the, “He divided them to the nations,” that is, allowed, permitted them to go. For the writer doth not here introduce God as Himself working these things, but showeth that they took place through the wickedness of others. For, when we are abandoned by God, we are given up to the devil, and when so given up, we suffer ten thousand dreadful things. …