{"collection":"chr","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/chr/ecf/108/1080144.htm","path":"chr/ecf/108/1080144.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/chr/ecf/108/1080144.htm","text":"105. \u201cThy word is a lantern unto my feet, and a light unto my paths\u201d (Psa. 119.105). The word \u201clantern\u201d appears in the word \u201clight;\u201d \u201cmy feet\u201d are also repeated in \u201cmy paths.\u201d What then meaneth \u201cThy Word\u201d? 5283 Is it He who was in the beginning God with God, that is, the Word by whom all things were made? It is not thus. For that Word is a light, but is not a lantern. For a lantern is a creature, not a creator; and it is lighted by participation of an unchangeable light.\u2026For no creature, howsoever rational and intellectual, is lighted by itself, but is lighted by participation of eternal Truth: although sometimes day is spoken of, not meaning the Lord, but that \u201cday which the Lord hath made,\u201d 5284 and on account of which it is said, \u201cCome unto Him, and be lightened.\u201d 5285 On account of which participation, inasmuch as the Mediator Himself became Man, He is styled lantern in the Apocalypse. 5286 But this sense is a solitary one; for it cannot be divinely spoken of any of the saints, nor in any wise lawfully said of any, \u201cThe Word was made flesh,\u201d 5287 save of the \u201cone Mediator between God and men.\u201d 5288 Since therefore the only-begotten Word, coequal with the Father, is styled a light; and man when enlightened by the Word is also called a light, who is styled also a lantern, as John, as the Apostles; and since no man of these is the Word, and that Word by whom they were enlightened is not a lanp. 578 tern; what is this word, which is thus called a light and a lantern at the same time, save we understand the word which was sent unto the Prophets, or which was preached through the Apostles; not Christ the Word, but the word of Christ, of which it is written, \u201cFaith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God\u201d? 5289 For the Apostle Peter also, comparing the prophetical word to a lantern, saith, \u201cwhereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a lantern, that shineth in a dark place.\u201d 5290 What, therefore, he here saith, \u201cThy word\u201d is the word which is contained in all the holy Scriptures.\n106. \u201cI have sworn, and am stedfastly purposed to keep Thy righteous judgments\u201d (Psa. 119.106): as one who walked aright in the light of that lantern, and kept to straight paths. For he calleth what he hath determined by a sacrament, an oath; because the mind ought to be so fixed in keeping the righteous judgments of God, that its determination should be in the place of an oath. Now the righteous judgments of God are kept by faith; when, under the righteous judgment of God, neither any good work is believed to be fruitless, nor any sin unpunished; but, because the body of Christ hath suffered many most grievous evils for this faith, he saith, \u201cI was humbled above measure\u201d (Psa. 119.107). He doth not say, I have humbled myself, so that we must needs understand that humiliation which is commanded; but he saith, \u201cI was humbled above-measure;\u201d that is, suffered a very heavy persecution, because he swore and was steadfastly purposed to keep the righteous judgments of God. And, lest in such trouble faith herself might faint he addeth, \u201cQuicken me, O Lord, according to Thy word:\u201d that is, according to Thy promise. For the word of the promises of God is a lantern to the feet, and a light to the paths. Thus also above, in the humiliation of persecution, he prayed that God would quicken him. 5291 \u2026\n107. \u201cMake the freewill offerings of my mouth well pleasing, O Lord\u201d (Psa. 119.108): that is, let them please Thee; do not reject, but approve them. By the freewill offerings of the mouth are well understood the sacrifices of praise, offered up in the confession of love, not from the fear of necessity; whence it is said, \u201ca freewill offering will I offer Thee.\u201d 5292 But what doth he add? \u201cand teach me Thy judgments\u201d? Had he not himself said above, \u201cFrom Thy judgments I have not swerved\u201d? How could he have done thus, if he knew them not? Moreover, if he knew them, in what sense doth he here say, \u201cand teach me Thy judgments\u201d? Is it as in a former passage, \u201cThou hast dealt in sweetness with Thy servant:\u201d presently after which we find, \u201cteach me sweetness\u201d? This passage we explained as the words of one who was gaining in grace, and praying that he might receive in addition to what he had received.\n108. \u201cMy soul is alway in Thy hand\u201d (Psa. 119.109). Some copies read, \u201cin my hand:\u201d but most, \u201cin Thy hand;\u201d and this latter is indeed easy. For \u201cthe souls of the righteous are in God\u2019s hand: 5293 in whose hand are both we and our words.\u201d 5294 \u201cAnd I do not forget Thy law:\u201d as if his memory were aided to remember God\u2019s law by the hands of Him in whose hands is his soul. But how the words, \u201cMy soul is in my hands,\u201d can be understood, I know not. For these are the words of the righteous, not of the ungodly; of one who is returning to the Father, not departing from the Father. 5295 \u2026Is it perhaps said, \u201cMy soul is in my hands,\u201d in this sense, as if he offered it to God to be quickened? Whence in another passage it is said, \u201cUnto Thee, O Lord, have I lifted up my soul.\u201d 5296 Since here too he had said above, \u201cQuicken Thou me.\u201d\n109. \u201cThe ungodly,\u201d he saith, \u201chave laid a snare for me: but yet I swerved not from Thy commandments\u201d (Psa. 119.110). Whence this, unless because his soul is in the hands of God, or in his own hands is offered to God to be quickened?\n110. \u201cThy testimonies have I gained in heritage for ever\u201d (Psa. 119.111). Some wishing to express in one word what is put in one word in the Greek, have translated it hereditavi. Which although it might be Latin, yet would rather signify one who gave an inheritance than one who received it, hereditavi being like ditavi. Better, therefore, the whole sense is conveyed in two words, whether we say, \u201cI have possessed in heritage,\u201d or, \u201cI have gotten in heritage:\u201d not gotten heritage, but \u201cgotten in heritage.\u201d If it be asked, what he gained in heritage, he replieth, \u201cThy testimonies.\u201d What doth he wish to be understood, save that he might become a witness of God, and confess His testimonies, that is, that he might become a Martyr of God, and might declare His testimonies, as the Martyrs do, was a gift bestowed upon him by the Father, of whom he is heir?\u2026But even their wish was prepared by the Lord. For this reason he saith he hath gained them in heritage, and this \u201cfor ever;\u201d because they have not in them the temporal glory of men who seek vain things, but the eternal glory of those who suffer for a short season, and who reign without end. Whence the next words, \u201cBecause they are the very joy of my heart:\u201d although the affliction of the body, yet the very joy of the heart.\n111. He then addeth: \u201cI have applied my heart to fulfil Thy righteousness for ever, for my p. 579 reward\u201d (Psa. 119.112). He who saith, \u201cI have applied my heart,\u201d had before said, \u201cIncline my heart unto Thy testimonies:\u201d 5297 so that we may understand that it is at once a divine gift, and an act of free will. But are we to fulfil the righteousnesses of God for ever? Those works which we perform in regard to the need of our neighbours, cannot be everlasting, any more than their need; but if we do not do them from love, there is no righteousness; if we do them from love, that love is everlasting, and an everlasting reward is in store for it.\nLuke 15:12, 24.\n578:5296 579:5297","title":"Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Vol. VIII: Expositions on...","type":"page"}