1…The title is, Praise, to David himself. Praise to Christ Himself. And since He is called David, who came to us of the seed of David, yet He was our King, ruling us, and bringing us into His kingdom, therefore Praise to David himself is understood to mean, Praise to Christ Himself. Christ according to the flesh is David, because He is the Son of David: but according to His Divine Nature He is the Creator of David, and Lord of David. I will exalt You, my God, my King; and I will bless Your Name for the age, and age upon age. You see that the praise of God is here begun, and this praise is carried on even to the end of the Psalm…Now then begin to praise, if you intend to praise forever. He who will not praise in this transitory age, will be silent when age upon age has come. But lest any one should in any otherwise also understand what he says, I will praise Your Name for the age, and should seek another age, wherein to praise, he says, Every day will I bless You. Praise then and bless the Lord your God every day, that when single days have passed, and there has come one day without end, you may go from praise to praise, as from strength to strength. No day shall pass by, wherein I bless You not. And it is no wonder, if in your day of joy thou bless the Lord. What if perchance some day of sorrow has dawned on you, as is natural in the circumstances of our mortal nature, as there is abundance of offenses, as temptations are multiplied; what, if something sad befall you, a man; will you cease to praise God? Will you cease to bless your Creator? If you cease, you have lied in saying, every day, etc. But if you cease not, although it seem to you to be ill with you in the day of your sorrow, yet in your God it shall be well with you…
-
Great is the Lord, and very much to be praised. How much was he about to say? What terms was he about to seek? How vast a conception has he included in the one word, very much? Imagine what you will, for how can that be imagined, which cannot be contained? He is very much to be praised. And of His Greatness there is no end; therefore said he very much: lest perchance thou begin to wish to praise, and think that you can reach the end of His praises, whose Greatness can have no end. Think not then that He, whose Greatness has no end, can ever be enough praised by you. Is it not then better that as He has no end, so neither should your praise have end? His Greatness is without end; let your praise also be without end…
-
For how great things besides has His boundless Goodness and illimitable Greatness made, which we do not know! When we lift the gaze of our eyes even to the heaven, and then recall it from sun, moon, and stars to the earth, and there is all this space where our sight can wander; beyond the heavens who can extend the eyesight of his mind, not to say of his flesh? So far then as His works are known to us, let us praise Him through His works. Generation and generation shall praise Your works. Every generation shall praise Your works. For perhaps every generation is meant by generation and generation…Did he perchance mean to imply two generations by that repetition? For we are in this generation sons of God, we shall be in another generation sons of the Resurrection. Scripture has called us sons of the Resurrection; the Resurrection itself it has called Regeneration. In the regeneration, it says, when the Son of Man shall be seated in His Majesty. So also in another place; For they shall not marry, nor be given in marriage, for they are the sons of the Resurrection. Therefore generation and generation shall praise Your works…And they shall tell out Your excellence. For neither shall they praise Your works, save in order to tell out Your excellence. Boys at school are set to praise, and all such things are set before them to be praised, as God has wrought: a mortal is set to praise the sun, the sky, the earth; to come to even lesser things, to praise a rose, or a laurel; all these are works of God: they are set, they are undertaken, they are praised: the works are lauded, of the Worker they are silent. I desire in the works to praise the Creator: I love not a thankless praiser. Do you praise what He has made, and art silent of Him who made? In that which you see, what is it that you praise? The form, the usefulness, some virtue, some power in the things. If beauty delight you, what is more beautiful than the Maker? If usefulness be praised, what more useful than He who made all things? If excellence be praised, what more excellent than He by whom all things were made?…
-
They shall speak of the magnificence of the glory of Your Holiness, and shall record Your wondrous deeds. And the excellence of Your fearful works shall they speak of: and Your greatness, they shall relate it. The remembrance of the abundance of Your sweetness they shall pour forth: none but Yours. See whether this man, meditating on Your works, has turned aside from the Worker to the work: see whether he has sunk from Him who made, to the things which He made. Of the things which He has made, he has made a step up to Him, not a descent from Him to them. For if you love these more than Him, you will not have Him. And what profit is it to you to overflow with the works, if the Worker leave you? Truly you should love them; but love Him more, and love them for His sake. For He does not hold out promises, without holding out threats also: if He held out no promises, there would be no encouragement; if He held out no threats, there would be no correction. They that praise You therefore shall speak also of the excellence of Your terrible deeds; the excellence of that work of Your hands which punishes and administers discipline, they shall speak of, they shall not be silent: for they shall not proclaim Your everlasting kingdom, and be silent about Your everlasting fire. For the praise of God, setting you in the way, ought to show you both what you should love, and what you should fear; what you should seek, and what you should shun; what you should choose, and what you should avoid. The time of choice is now, the time of receiving will be hereafter. Let then the excellence of Your terrible things be told. Unlimited as it is, though of Your greatness there is no end, they shall not be silent about it. How shall they recount it, if there is no end of it? They shall recount it when they praise it; and because there is no end of it, so of His praise also there shall be no end.
-
The remembrance of the abundance of Your sweetness they shall pour forth. O happy feasts! What shall they eat, who thus shall pour forth!…So eat, that you may pour forth again; so receive, that you may give. You eat, when you learn, you pour forth again, when you teach, you eat, when you hear, you pour forth again, when you preach, but that you pour forth, which you have first eaten. Finally, that most eager feaster John, to whom the very table of the Lord sufficed not, unless he leaned on the Lord’s breast, and of his inmost heart drank in divine secrets; what did he pour forth? In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God. How is it that it suffices not to say, Your remembrance; or, the remembrance of Your abundance? Because, what avails it if it be abundant, yet not sweet? So also it is annoying if it be sweet but too little.