Psalm LXXV
What then shall we do now? “Let us come before His face,” ἐν ἐξομολογήσει , come before in confession: He shall come gentle whom thou hadst made angry. “Neither from the deserts of the mountains, for God is Judge:” not from the East, not from the West, not from the deserts of the mountains. Wherefore? “For God is Judge.” If in any place He were, He would not be God: but because God is Judge, not man, do not expect Him out of places. His place thou wilt be, if thou art good, if after having confessed thou shalt have invoked Him.
9. “One He humbleth, and another He exalteth” (ver. 7). Whom humbleth, whom exalteth this Judge? Observe these two men in the temple, and ye see whom He humbleth and whom He exalteth. “They went up into the Temple to pray,” He saith, “the one a Pharisee, and the other a Publican.”…“Verily I say unto you, that Publican went down justified more than that Pharisee: for every one that exalteth himself shall be humbled; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.” Thus hath been explained a verse of this Psalm. God the Judge doth what? “One He humbleth, and another He exalteth:” He humbleth the proud, He exalteth the humble.
10. “For the cup in the hand of the Lord of pure wine is full of mixed” (ver. 8). Justly so. “And He hath poured out of this upon this man; nevertheless, the dreg thereof hath not been emptied; there shall drink all the sinners of earth.” Let us be somewhat recruited; there is here some obscurity.…The first question that meeteth us is this, “of pure wine it is full of mixed.” How “of pure,” if “of mixed”? But when he saith, “the cup in the hand of the Lord” (to men instructed in the Church of Christ I am speaking), ye ought not indeed to paint in your heart God as it were circumscribed with a human form, lest, though the temples are shut up, ye forge images in your hearts. This cup therefore doth signify something. We will find out this. But “in the hand of the Lord,” is, in the power of the Lord. For the hand of God is spoken of for the power of God. For even in reference to men ofttimes is said, in hand he hath it: that is, in his power he hath it, when he chooseth he doth it. “Of pure wine it is full of mixed.” In continuation he hath himself explained: “He hath inclined,” he saith, “from this unto this man; nevertheless the dreg thereof hath not been emptied.” Behold how it was full of mixed wine. Let it not therefore terrify you that it is both pure and mixed: pure because of the genuineness thereof, mixed because of the dreg. What then in that place is the wine, and what the dreg? And what is, “He hath inclined from this unto this man,” in such sort that the dreg thereof was not emptied?
11. Call ye to mind from whence he came to this: “one He humbleth, and another He exalteth.” That which was figured to us in the Gospel through two men, a Pharisee and a Publican, this let us, taking in a wider sense, understand of two peoples, of Jews and of Gentiles: the people of the Jews that Pharisee was, the people of the Gentiles that Publican.…As those by being proud have withdrawn, so these by confessing have drawn near. The cup therefore full of pure wine in the hand of the Lord, as far as the Lord giveth me to understand, …the cup of pure wine full of the mixed, seemeth to me to be the Law, which was given to the Jews, and all that Scripture of the Old Testament, as it is called; there are the weights of all manner of sentences. For therein the New Testament lieth concealed, as though in the dreg of corporal Sacraments. The circumcision of the flesh is a thing of great mystery, and there is understood from thence the circumcision of the heart. The Temple of Jerusalem is a thing of great mystery, and there is understood from it the Body of the Lord. The land of promise is understood to be the Kingdom of Heaven. The sacrifice of victims and of beasts hath a great mystery: but in all those kinds of sacrifices is understood that one Sacrifice and only victim of the Cross, the Lord, instead of all which sacrifices we have one; because even those figured these, that is, with those these were figured.
That people received the Law, they received commandments just and good. What is so just as, thou shalt not kill, thou shalt not commit adultery, thou shalt not steal, thou shalt not speak false testimony, honour thy father and mother, thou shalt not covet the property of thy neighbour, one God thou shalt adore, and Him alone thou shalt serve, all these things belong to the wine. But those things carnal have as it were sunk down in order that they might remain with them, and there might be poured forth from thence all the spiritual understanding. But “the cup in the hand of the Lord,” that is, in the power of the Lord: “of pure wine,” that is, of the mere Law: “is full of mixed,” that is, is together with the dreg of corporal Sacraments. And because the one He humbleth, the proud Jew, and the other He exalteth, the confessing Gentile; “He hath inclined from this unto this,” that is, from the Jewish people unto the Gentile people. Hath inclined what? The Law. There hath distilled from thence a spiritual sense.
“Nevertheless, the dreg thereof hath not been emptied,” for all the carnal Sacraments have remained with the Jews.
“There shall drink all the sinners of the earth.” Who shall drink? “All the sinners of the earth.” Who are the sinners of the earth? The Jews were indeed sinners, but proud: again, the Gentiles were sinners, but humble. All sinners shall drink, but see, who the dreg, who the wine. For those by drinking the dreg have come to nought: these by drinking the wine have been justified.
I would dare to speak of them even as inebriated, and I shall not fear: and O that all ye were thus inebriated. Call to mind, “Thy cup inebriating, how passing beautiful!” But why? Do ye think, my brethren, that all those who by confessing Christ even willed to die, were sober? So drunk they were, that they knew not their friends. All their kindred, who strove to divert them from the hope of Heavenly rewards by earthly allurements, were not acknowledged, were not heard by them drunken. Were they not drunken, whose heart had been changed? Were they not drunken, whose mind had been alienated from this world? “There shall drink,” he saith, “all the sinners of the earth.” But who shall drink the wine? Sinners shall drink, but in order that they may not remain sinners; in order that they may be justified, in order that they may not be punished.
12. “But I,” for all drink, but separately I, that is, Christ with His Body, “for ever will rejoice, I will Psalm to the God of Jacob” (ver. 9): in that promise to be at the end, whereof is said, “corrupt not.” “And all the horns of sinners I will break, and there shall be exalted the horns of the Just” (ver. 10). This is, the one He humbleth, the other He exalteth. Sinners would not have their horns to be broken, which without doubt will be broken at the end. Thou wilt not have Him then break them, do thou to-day break them. For thou hast heard above, do not despise it: “I have said to unjust men, Do not unjustly, and to the delinquents, Do not exalt the horn.” When thou hast heard, do not exalt the horn, thou hast despised and hast exalted the horn: thou shalt come to the end, where there shall come to pass, “All the horns of sinners I will break, and there shall be exalted the horns of the Just.” The horns of sinners are the dignities of proud men: the horns of the Just are the gifts of Christ. For by horns exultations are understood. Thou hatest on earth earthly exultation, in order that thou mayest have the heavenly. Thou lovest the earthly, He doth not admit thee to the Heavenly: and unto confusion will belong thy horn which is broken, just as unto glory it will belong, if thy horn is exalted. Now therefore there is time for making choice, then there will not be. Thou wilt not say, I will be let go and will make choice. For there have preceded the words, “I have said to the unjust.” If I have not said, make ready an excuse, make ready a defence: but if I have said, seize first upon confession, lest thou come unto damnation; for then confession will be too late, and there will be no defence.