Annotatio CXCIX
”Turn, O my soul, into thy rest.” — Psalm 114:7
Basil, in the commentaries on the Psalms, upon this passage says:1 “Eternal rest is set forth for those who have lawfully striven in this life; which [rest] indeed is rendered not according to the debt and merit of works, but is bestowed, according to the grace of the most magnificent God, on those who have hoped in him.” The Collectanea of Hermann bring forward these words against the merits of holy actions, but violently and perversely, as [they do] the rest. For Basil everywhere proclaims merits,2 but most of all on Psalm 61, where, expounding that sentence of David, “Because thou renderest to every one according to his works,”3 he says: “‘With what measure ye shall have measured, the same shall be measured back to you’:4 thou hast afflicted a brother — expect the [counter]balance; thou hast plundered the goods of inferiors, thou hast calumniated, thou hast lied — expect the retribution of these; for ‘what things each one sows, such also shall he reap.’5 But if anything of good has been done by thee, expect manifold retributions of that also, because he will render to every one according to his works.” Basil, therefore, did not wish to take away the efficacy of merit, but to extol the immense munificence of God — who compensates the individual merits of our works, not keeping an equality of quantity, but, exceeding the measure of the merits, remunerates our labors, above all condignity, with most ample rewards. Thou hast sentences looking hither above, in Annotation 92.