Cornelius a Lapide
Table of Contents
Synopsis of the Chapter
At Corinth there were some given to lust, others to pride and contentions (as is clear from chapter XI, verses 20 and 21), others devoted to other vices, and they made little of Paul's admonitions: he threatens these in order to provoke them to repentance.
Secondly, in verse 3, he admonishes them to consider and revere the grace and power given to him by Christ, and the wondrous works performed by him.
Thirdly, in verse 7, he prays that they do nothing evil, lest he be compelled to exercise his power of punishing upon them.
Fourthly, in verse 11, he exhorts them to perfection, love, peace, and the holy kiss, and greets them.
Vulgate Text: 2 Corinthians 13:1-13
1. Behold, this is the third time I am coming to you. In the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every word stand. 2. I have foretold, and I foretell, as if I were present and now absent, to those who have sinned before, and to all the rest, that if I come again, I will not spare. 3. Do you seek a proof of Christ that speaks in me, who toward you is not weak, but is mighty in you? 4. For although He was crucified through weakness, yet He lives by the power of God. For we also are weak in Him, but we shall live with Him by the power of God in you. 5. Try your own selves if you are in the faith: prove your own selves. Do you not know your own selves, that Christ Jesus is in you? unless perhaps you are reprobates. 6. But I hope that you shall know that we are not reprobates. 7. Now we pray God that you may do no evil, not that we may appear approved, but that you may do what is good, and that we may be as reprobates. 8. For we can do nothing against the truth, but for the truth. 9. For we rejoice that we are weak, and you are strong. This also we pray for, your perfection. 10. Therefore I write these things being absent, that being present I may not deal more severely according to the power which the Lord has given me unto edification, and not unto destruction. 11. For the rest, brethren, rejoice, be perfect, take exhortation, be of one mind, have peace; and the God of peace and of love shall be with you. 12. Salute one another with a holy kiss. All the saints salute you. 13. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the charity of God, and the communication of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen.
Verse 1: Behold, This Third Time I Am Coming to You
1. Behold, this third time (this third occasion) I am coming (I propose to come) to you, — see Canon 32, namely that I may punish you, who shall be convicted by two or three witnesses of having sinned and of not having done penance. So Anselm and Cajetan.
In the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every word stand, — by the words and deposition of two or three witnesses it shall stand, in Greek σταθήσεται, it shall be established, ratified, confirmed: every accusation, every question, every cause and crime: namely that, the crime being as it were sufficiently and abundantly proven and confirmed by two or three witnesses, I may by my sentence condemn, punish and chastise. Some explain this otherwise, namely that the Apostle calls his three comings to Corinth three witnesses. For he seems to refer back to what preceded: "Behold, this third time I am coming to you," as if to say: I am one, but coming to you a third time (first, in person; secondly, by the previous epistle; thirdly, again in person) I shall have the authority as it were of three witnesses. Whence Maldonatus in his manuscript Notes, which are extant in the Roman College, has it thus: But what he adds: "In the mouth of two or three witnesses," he calls the promises witnesses, as if to say: Since I am now promising for the third time, I cannot disappoint your expectation, and, as is commonly said in Spanish: A tres va la venida ["At the third the coming arrives"]. But this is rather flat: the lofty mind of the Apostle looks at something more and more august. Again this seems rather foreign. For the Apostle cites Deuteronomy XIX, 15, where it is said thus: "One witness shall not stand against any man; but in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word shall stand." The plain sense of which passage is this: From the testimony not of one, but of two or three witnesses, in judgment any defendant is either condemned or acquitted.
Note here: Although this law, insofar as it is judicial belonging to the old law, has, along with the rest, now been abolished by Christ: nevertheless, insofar as the law of nature, or rather the law of nations, dictates the same, to that extent it is still in force, and has been received both in Civil and Canon Law. For natural reason has taught all Nations that it is just and fitting that no one should be condemned on the testimony of one witness, but let him be condemned by the testimony of at least two witnesses. For one witness can easily be corrupted, deceived, and deceive; two cannot be so easily. Therefore Paul takes this law here in its plain sense as it sounds, and follows it, as also Christ does in Matthew xviii, 16.
Verse 2: I Have Foretold, and I Foretell, as Though Present
2. I have foretold, and I foretell, as when present (understand, so) and now being absent — as if to say: As I foretold when present, so now being absent I foretell. For the Hebrews often suppress the kaph of similitude — this can be seen in the Proverbs, often in individual verses. The Greek adds the word δεύτερον, again, and the Greeks render it thus: I foretell as when present, again now being absent I write — as if to say: The same thing which I foretold before when present, I now again absent as though present, with equal authority indeed and threatening as if I were present, foretell and write.
Verse 3: Do You Seek a Proof of Him Who Speaks in Me?
3. Do you seek proof of Him who speaks in me, — as if to say: Do you wish to disregard my precepts, that you may experience whether I dare and am able to punish the disobedient through the power given to me by Christ? Thus a teacher says to a rebellious pupil: Do you wish to try out my arm, my rods? Who is not weak in you, — He shows Himself not weak but powerful, namely when in you He has powerfully wrought so many wonders through me, and most recently has punished the fornicator by my excommunication and handed him over to Satan as to a torturer to be tormented; for it is this power of punishing and authority of vindicating that he most especially intends to signify and show.
Verse 4: He Was Crucified Through Weakness, Yet Lives by the Power of God
4. For although He was crucified (Christ) through weakness (of humanity and flesh), yet He lives (that is, He nevertheless lives and has risen) by the power of God, — by the might of His divinity.
For we too are weak in Him. — "In Him," that is, with Him and for Him, namely Christ; we are made weak, that is, we suffer and are afflicted. Note: This second "for" does not signify cause, but similitude, and is equivalent to "thus": for it relates to and is assimilated with the prior "for." It is a Hebraism: for the Hebrews express similitude through a copulative conjunction, or any other one, especially if it is doubled: because doubling signifies similitude in both, as כמני כמוך camoni camocha, "as I, as thou," that is, I am like thee, or similar to thee.
But we shall live with Him by the power (ἐκ δυνάμεως, by the might) of God in you. — That is, through Him and with Him we shall show life and vigor, namely the power of Christ of which he already spoke, the force, that is, and spirit of the Gospel, and specifically the power to punish the contumacious, in you. So Theophylact. Anselm and Theodoret interpret differently — as if to say: We shall rise with you through God's power to a blessed and eternal life. But the prior sense is more in keeping with the Apostle's mind, both because the Greek is εἰς ὑμᾶς, which though it may be rendered "in you" (for the Apostle often takes εἰς for ἐν), yet properly signifies "unto you" — namely, life and my vigor, that is, the power of Christ already mentioned, and His vindication, I shall exercise; and because he intends to demonstrate and inculcate not the resurrection, but this Apostolic power and energy of his, both in teaching and persuading, both in working so many signs and miracles, and in avenging and punishing the rebellious — as if to say: Just as Christ in Himself, though weak, yet powerfully rose to a blessed and immortal life, so likewise in us also, and through us Apostles, though weak, He nevertheless powerfully works and will continue henceforth to work wondrous mighty deeds, conversions, miracles, punishments, and vindications.
Verse 5: Prove Yourselves Whether You Are in the Faith
5. Prove yourselves whether you are in the faith. — This is a sharp rebuke, as if to say: O Corinthians, you appear, infatuated by the pseudo-apostles, not to have the faith and to be unbelievers; therefore prove yourselves, and test whether it is so, whether you believe or not. For if you retain the faith and persevere in it, you will believe, indeed you will see — as he has said before and will say after — that Christ is powerful in you, that He works powerfully through me so many miracles, the conversion of so many men, and so great a vindication of the unbelieving and disobedient; you will see Christ speaking through me, and that I live and flourish in you, because I have converted you to the faith and made you sharers so abundantly of all God's gifts. As if to say: If you believe Christ and the Gospel, you will also believe me, since I am the minister of Christ and the Gospel; and just as by miracles and other signs I prove and confirm the truth of the Gospel, so by the same I consequently demonstrate that I am a true Apostle of Christ and a teacher of the truth.
Theophylact and Gagneius interpret differently, as if to say: "Test," that is, make trial of yourselves, whether you are not powerful through Christ dwelling in you, so far indeed as to work miracles through Him: for in the primitive Church even believing laymen worked miracles. They therefore understand here the faith of miracles, joined with the gift of prophecy and tongues: which faith is a sign of Christ dwelling in that assembly of the faithful in which it flourishes.
Thirdly, others explain it thus: Test yourselves whether you have the faith which works through charity, that is, whether you are in Christ's charity and friendship. But the first sense is the genuine one, and is more connected at once with what precedes and what follows, as has already been said.
Note the Apostle's words: "Prove yourselves whether you are in the faith: examine yourselves." For from these it is plain that the faithful do not know with certainty, much less ought or are able to believe, that they have faith, and consequently are not certain of their righteousness.
You will say: He adds: "Do you not know that Christ is in you?"
I reply: The sense is not: "Because Christ is in you," that is, in your hearts, or in your faith justifying you, or in you, namely as individuals; but in you, namely all together — that is, in your Church. For they saw so many miracles in their Church, so many graces and gifts conferred, that they did not doubt Christ was in it and was operating, as if to say: You individual Corinthians, then, must cleave wholly to this Church and to Christ by faith, and consequently to me also as His herald and vicar, and reverence me as such. So Theophylact.
Hence it is plain, secondly, that the object of faith is not this — that I am righteous — but that Christ Jesus is in us, that is, in our Church, and that He works powerfully in it through Paul and the Apostles, and consequently that we are the true Church of Christ, and that Paul and the Apostles, and their followers, are the true teachers.
You will say: Augustine, in book III On the Trinity, chapter 1, and St. Thomas here, say that we have certain knowledge that we have faith. I reply: We know with certainty that we believe and cleave to Christ, but whether we do this by divine or by human faith, whether so seriously, firmly, divinely, and in such manner as is needful for righteousness and salvation — this we do not know, but only conjecture.
Unless perhaps you are reprobate. — "Reprobate," that is, unworthy. "A reprobate," says Anselm, "is one who either is ignorant of or has deserted the uprightness of faith and good repute which he received in baptism." Hence Theophylact: He silently, says he, hints that the Corinthians were corrupted in life and morals, as if to say: For this reason you do not recognize Christ to be in you, because you are unworthy and of corrupt morals; for corrupt morals are the beginning and cause of apostasy and heresy. Thus did lust and pride strip Luther, Calvin, Bucer, Ochinus, and all those first Innovators — whether priests or monks — of the Catholic faith and the Roman Church, depose them from their orders, and drive them into sacrilegious marriages, apostasies, and heresies.
Secondly and better, as will appear in verse 7, "reprobate" means rejected, cast off, and so vile, inglorious, abject, contemned. As if to say: From the signs of grace and the miracles which Christ powerfully works in you, you recognize that Christ is in you, unless perhaps you have fallen back and relapsed, having been rejected and reprobated by Christ, deprived of His faith, grace, light, and knowledge, thrust back and driven into the former darkness of ignorance or unbelief, and thus have become vile and abject. Hence I have said: "If you are in the faith, examine yourselves" — examine, that is, whether your faith is upright and sincere; for if it is upright, you will recognize that Christ is in you. For if you do not recognize this, it is a sign that your faith is reprobate, vitiated, corrupted, and that you have fallen out, rejected and reprobated from the faith of Christ, and are no longer faithful but unfaithful.
Verse 6: I Hope You Shall Know That We Are Not Reprobate
6. And I hope you will know that we are not reprobate, — reprobated, rejected by Christ, deprived of grace, efficacy, and power, and therefore vile and inglorious; for you see the contrary, namely Christ powerfully working through me, converting the Gentiles, punishing the rebellious, approving all that I do, cooperating with me, and giving in all things a happy outcome, so that He renders me conspicuous and glorious to all Achaia, indeed to the whole world.
Verse 7: We Pray God That You May Do No Evil
7. But we pray God that you may do no evil. — Hence St. Augustine, Against the Pelagians, teaches that not only is grace required that we do good works, but God's grace is also required that we do no evil — namely, that we resist temptations, or be preserved from them, and escape unharmed the allurements of the world and the flesh. For to overcome graver temptations by the powers of nature alone, and without God's grace, is impossible.
Not that we may appear approved (δόκιμοι, upright, approved, distinguished, renowned — as if to say: I do not labor for my reputation and power, that my deeds may be approved by you, and I may prove and show you my virtue and authority; especially I do not seek to be observed, approved, celebrated for the efficacy of punishing those who offend among you — I care not a whit for honor; this one thing I care for) that you may do what is good, and that we may be as reprobate. — "That": in Greek it is not ἵνα, but ὡς, that is "as if," "as though," "like" — as if to say: But that we may be and be esteemed as it were reprobate. Reprobate, that is, unworthy, says Gagneius. Secondly and genuinely, reprobate, in Greek ἀδόκιμοι, means rejected, cast off, deprived of power, inglorious, may we be reputed ignoble — as those who have no power of punishing and vindicating, since we cannot show it upon you if you are obedient and do what is good, which is our sole desire. Hence it is clear that "reprobate" here is not opposed to "predestined," nor even to "pious" and "holy," but to "approved," "esteemed," "honored." So Theophylact, Anselm, and others. "I was held," says Theophylact, "reprobate, that is, weak, abject, lacking power: as one who finds no place for punishing you, since you are now either good and upright, or penitent and amended."
Likewise "reprobate" is taken for vile and abject in 1 Samuel xv, 9, and is opposed to the chosen, the beautiful, and the precious, when it is said: "Saul and the people spared Agag, and the best of the flocks of sheep and oxen, the garments and the rams, and everything that was beautiful, etc.; but whatever was vile and reprobate, this they destroyed." And in Psalm cxvii, 22: "The stone," he says, "which the builders rejected has become the head of the corner," that is, Christ — whom the Scribes and the Jews esteemed as a vile, rude, unpolished, and unsuitable stone, and rejected from their building, that is, from their Synagogue. Yet this same one God makes in His house, that is, in the Christian Church, the cornerstone, the chief and capital stone.
Verse 8: We Can Do Nothing Against the Truth, but for the Truth
8. For we can do nothing against the truth, but for the truth. — Note: Truth here is understood not of the mouth or mind, but of life or righteousness; truth here therefore is equity and justice, or the duty of a Christian man, that he do good, as he said in the preceding verse. As if to say: We cannot do anything against righteousness, against those living justly and in a Christian manner, against those doing what is good, namely so as to show upon them our power of punishing; but for the truth, that is for equity, righteousness, honesty, we can do anything, namely punish those who violate it, and praise and reward those who pursue it.
Secondly, Theophylact: "We cannot," namely, to pass sentence against the truth, so that we should punish one who does not truly deserve to be punished, because he works what is good. But we can and ought to pass sentence for the truth, that we may chastise the one who is guilty and truly deserves chastisement. This sense follows from the prior one, and is plainer and easier.
Others explain it thus, as if to say: Just as we cannot, namely, dissimulate if you should do anything against the truth, that is against equity and duty; so, if you act according to the truth, that is, duty, we cannot punish, because we can do nothing against the truth, but all our power for the truth lies in defending and doing the equity already spoken of.
Verse 9: We Rejoice When We Are Weak; This We Pray, Your Consummation
9. For we rejoice when we are weak. — As if to say: I rejoice if I be held weak and abject, as one who cannot show the power of vindicating against you, since you are powerful in grace and virtues and free from fault. So Theodoret, Theophylact, Anselm.
Note: The innocent are called and are powerful, because there is nothing they need fear — neither Apostle, nor demon, nor angel, nor death, nor hell, nor anything in the world. For "quoniam" the Greek is ὅταν, that is "when"; or, as Ambrose reads, "why?" — when we are weak, but you are powerful. For he does not assert that he is weak and they powerful; rather he speaks conditionally: I rejoice if it be so, or when matters stand thus, I rejoice.
And this we pray for (namely) your consummation. — In Greek κατάρτισιν, that is, perfection, that you may be perfect and consummated in every grace and virtue. So Theophylact.
Verse 10: That Being Present I May Not Act More Harshly
10. That being present I may not act more harshly. — Ἵνα μὴ ἀποτόμως χρήσωμαι, lest I conduct myself rigidly, precisely, severely; for χρᾶσθαι signifies not only "to use," but also "to behave" or "to administer affairs," as καλῶς χρᾶσθαι φίλοις, to behave honestly toward friends.
Verse 11: Be Perfect, Exhort, Be of One Mind, Have Peace
11. Be perfect. — Καταρτίζεσθε signifies this: to mend and refit a torn garment. He notes the vices, dissolute morals, and especially the sloth of the Corinthians, as if to say: Be made whole again, be entire, correct your former vices, restrain the licentiousness of life, mend the broken friendship, union, and concord, that you may have nothing to correct and over which I should have to exercise my power. Again καταρτίζεσθε signifies: be aptly fitted to one another mutually, and to your Head, just as in the body the limbs and members fit and join aptly both to the head and to the other members. See the comments on 1 Corinthians xii, 16.
Exhort one another, — mutually to better things, in Greek παρακαλεῖσθε, which Vatablus renders "have consolation," namely in mutual concord and friendship.
Be of the same mind, — agree in judgments and wills, be of one mind and concord.
Have peace, and the God of peace (the author, giver, and rewarder, who is well pleased in peace, so as it were to preside over peace) will be with you. — Hence Anselm (according to Eadmer in his Life) used to say that those who in this life, with equity preserved, conform themselves to the will of others and cultivate peace, merit this from God: that God after this life accommodates Himself to their will and cultivates peace and friendship with them. On the contrary, those who in their will disagree from others, in like manner after this life find no one to agree with their will. For this is the just sentence of divine justice: "With what measure you have measured, it shall be measured to you again." In rewarding other virtues and punishing other vices, God acts in the same manner.
Verse 12: Salute One Another With a Holy Kiss
12. Salute one another with a holy kiss. — It is asked, what kind of kiss is this? Note: The Gentiles, when meeting one another, greeted each other with a kiss in token of friendship, as Xenophon attests in book I of the Cyropaedia and Herodotus in Clio; Suetonius records that Tiberius vainly attempted to forbid this. The same custom was among the Hebrews, as is plain from the kiss of Amasa and Joab, 2 Samuel xx, 9. Likewise from the kiss with which Judas, as if according to custom kissing Christ, betrayed Him. But it was even more solemn among the first Christians: both at other times and especially in the sacred assemblies before the sacred synaxis, they greeted one another with a kiss or friendly embrace, saying: "Peace be with you." This was for those about to communicate, a symbol of reconciliation and of every injury remitted, and of pure charity, as Cyril teaches in catechesis 5 mystagogica. Hence also Tertullian, in his book On Prayer, calls the kiss the symbol of prayer.
Chrysostom gives a mystical reason here, because through our mouth the Body of Christ enters; we therefore kiss it, just as we kiss the doors through which we enter the church (where note: of old Christians kissed the doors of churches, out of reverence for the holy place). See him on how we should keep this mouth from base things and dedicate it to the praises of God. This kiss is even now used by Canons in certain Churches before the sacred synaxis. But because of old fraud crept in, when men, although separated in place from the women, still by stealth crept in to kiss them, hence in place of the kiss of the mouth there succeeded the kiss of the pax tablet, as they call it.
Therefore "with a kiss" that is "holy" — that is, not Gentile, not carnal, not feigned, but Christian, religious, chaste, sincere. So St. Chrysostom and St. Augustine, Sermon 83 On Various Topics. See Baronius, the year of Christ 45.
The author of the book On Friendship, which is in tom. IV of the works of St. Augustine, notes that a kiss is honestly given for four causes. First, as a sign of reconciliation, when enemies return to mutual favor and friendship. Second, as a sign of peace, as is done in the sacrifice of the Mass. Third, as a sign of joy and as it were of renewed love, as when a friend greets with a kiss a friend returning from abroad after long absence. Fourth, as a sign of Catholic communion, as when a guest is received and welcomed with a kiss. But in these matters one must consider and follow what the custom of each region and the condition of the people allows, and one must take care lest this kiss creep too far and degenerate into the sensual and carnal.
Verse 13: The Grace, the Charity, and the Communication of the Trinity
13. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the charity of God, and the communication of the Holy Spirit be with you all. — Chrysostom, Ambrose, and Theodoret note that here the consubstantial Most Holy Trinity, ὁμοούσιον, is signified — namely, that They are of the same nature, power, and operation, especially in the work of our redemption and salvation, of which the Apostle here properly treats. "Of the Trinity," says Ambrose, "this is the union and unity of power, which is the perfection of all salvation; for God's love sent us the Savior Jesus, by whose grace we are saved; and that we may possess this grace of salvation, the communication of the Holy Spirit brings it to pass."
Where note first: When he says "the charity of God," namely of the Father, the name "God" is appropriated to the Father, because the Father is the first principle in the deity, and the fount and origin of the other persons in the Most Holy Trinity.
Note secondly: He aptly attributes charity to the Father, grace to the Son, communication to the Holy Spirit: because from the Father and from the Father's charity began the beginning of our redemption — the Father, I say, who "so loved the world that He gave His only-begotten Son" for us unto death. Through the Son comes grace, inasmuch as it is He who, by His death, redeemed us — who deserved nothing, indeed who deserved evil — and merited every grace. But the distribution, communication, and participation of grace and the gifts of grace are wrought through the Holy Spirit. Hence St. Anselm explains it thus: "The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ," by which sins are freely forgiven and salvation is bestowed; "and the charity of God" the Father, by which He gave the Son for us; "and the communication of the Holy Spirit," who in both matters, that is in the aforesaid grace and charity, communicated with Christ and God, working in common and equally with Them human salvation — "be with you all," greater and lesser. Amen. Thus he.
Note thirdly: "Communication" can be taken both passively and actively. Passively, communication is the same as participation, as if to say: That the Holy Spirit may be communicated to you, that you may participate in His grace and gifts, indeed that you may be transformed as it were into the Holy Spirit — not in essence, but by participation in the Holy Spirit, says Theophylact. Secondly, actively, as if to say: May the Holy Spirit, who communicates with the Father and the Son in essence, so also in charity, power, and operation, communicate to you and infuse in common with Them His grace, charity, and the gifts connected with them: especially that, with dissensions and contentions removed (of which he treated at the end of the preceding chapter, and often elsewhere in this and the preceding epistle), you may be joined in common union and charity, as the Holy Spirit is κοινωνία, that is, as it were the common and social union of the Father and the Son, and consequently of all the faithful who communicate and participate in the same Holy Spirit, and in Him and His charity are bound together and united. Therefore he wishes them communication, which may take away the Corinthians' schisms; for κοινωνία is mutual communion, society, partnership, conjunction, commerce.
Note fourthly: "Grace, charity, communication" can be taken both as created and as uncreated. Uncreated grace and charity is the benevolence and love of the Father and the Son, by which They love us: thus we are said to find grace, that is, benevolence and favor, in the eyes of God. So in Titus 2:11: "The grace of our Savior God has appeared," namely when out of His love for us He deigned to assume our flesh on our behalf. Similarly, the uncreated communication of the Holy Spirit is the communion and society which the Holy Spirit has with the Father and the Son; or rather, it is that very participation in the divinity and in all divine goods which the Father and the Son communicate to the Holy Spirit together with the essence, and which the Holy Spirit then communicates to us. Created grace is that which is infused into us and makes us pleasing to God; created charity is that by which we love God; created communication of the Holy Spirit is the participation in His gifts communicated to us.
Taking these words, then, first of the uncreated grace, charity, and communication of the Holy Spirit, this is the sense, as if to say: May the grace, that is the benevolence of Christ, and the charity by which the Father loves you, and the communication, that is, that common love and divine society and participation of the Holy Spirit, by which He communicates and participates with the Father and the Son in all divine goods, which He then communicates to us — may it be and remain with you, that He may communicate to you and continue to communicate the same love and society, and all divine goods.
Secondly, if you take it of the created grace, charity, and communication of the Holy Spirit, which flow from the uncreated, the sense will be equally apt: may the grace which Christ, and the charity which the Father, and the gifts which the Holy Spirit communicates to you, always be and remain with you: and especially that social love, or mutual and fraternal affection, which is most plain, most pleasing to God, and to you, O Corinthians, the most necessary communication of the Holy Spirit. Similarly the charity of God is taken in both ways in Romans 5:5, when he says: "The charity of God is poured forth in our hearts."
Closing Benediction
Grant us Thy unceasing grace, O Jesus Christ, our Redeemer; Thy unceasing charity, O Father, our Creator and Glorifier; Thy unceasing communication, O Holy Spirit, our Justifier; that in time and ETERNITY we may love and glorify Thee God the Father, Thee God the Son, Thee God the Holy Spirit, O one Deity, O divine TRINITY, O threefold ETERNITY. "For what have I in heaven, and besides Thee what have I desired upon earth? God of my heart, and my portion God forever."