Prudentius

In his own words on Psalms

• Psalms 8:6

  From his Providence, humanity has received All that he grasps with imperious hand: All that the sky and the earth and the sea Yields from the air and the waves and the fields, This he subjects to me, me to himself.

  HYMNS FOR EVERY DAY 3:36-40

• Psalms 24:7

  Learn what our temple is, if you would know; It is one that no artisan has built, A structure not of riven fir or pine, Nor reared with blocks of quarried marble fair. Its massive weight no columns high support Beneath the arches of a gilded vault. By God's Word it was formed, not by his voice, But by the everlasting Word, the Word made flesh. This temple is eternal, without end, This you attacked with scourge and cross and gall. This temple was destroyed by bitter pains. Its form was fragile from the Mother's womb, But when brief death the Mother's part dissolved, The Father's might restored it in three days. You have beheld my saving temple rise On high, surrounded by an angel throng. The everlasting gates uphold its roof; Through lofty towers the glorious stairs arise, And at the top appears a shining path.

  THE DIVINITY OF CHRIST 518-36

• Psalms 44:1

  The majesty that with the Father dwelled, His spirit and thought, the way of his designs, Which made not by his hand or spoken word, Breathed from the Father's heart, declared his will.

  THE DIVINITY OF CHRIST 90-93

• Psalms 119:105

  Behold a stone is set for us, a stumbling block, Against which vanity may strike, A sign unto the faithful, scandal to the lax, The one it fells, the other guides. The blind one feels his way with slow uncertain step And runs into what'er he meets. The lamp of faith alone must shine before our feet, That footsteps may unswerving be. The foe assails and carries off the wanderers Who in the darkness go astray, A demon who devours the wheat speeds on the way For pilgrims passing to and fro, A thief who tampers with the fertile fields of Christ By sowing in them barren oats. A demon who devours the wheat spread on the way For pilgrims passing to and fro, A thief who tampers with the fertile fields of Christ By sowing in them barren oats.

  THE DIVINITY OF CHRIST 33-46

• Psalms 135:7

  The sky above, the earth and ocean's mightydepths, The orbs presiding over day and over night, The winds and tempests, lightnings, showers of rain and clouds, The polar stars, the star of evening, heat and snow, The fountains, hoarfrosts, precious veins of ore and streams, One in their might one both the Father and the Son, And that one splendor generated by one light With all the Godhead's plenitude of brightness shone. In God one undivided being operates, And by one power was created all that is, The rugged cliffs and level plains and mountain dells, Wild beasts, the fowl of air and reptiles, all that swim, The beasts of burden, cattle, oxen, mammoth brutes, The flowers and shrubs, the vines, the herbs and woodland groves, All plants that shed their fragrance, plants that food supply.

  BOOK OF THE MARTYRS' CROWNS 10:325-35

• Psalms 148:1-2

  Sing his praises heights of heaven, all you angels sing his praise, Let the mighty hosts of heaven sing in joyous praise of God; Let no tongue of humanity be silent, let all voices join the hymn.

  HYMNS FOR EVERY DAY 22-24