Psalms 87:6

The Lord will tell in the writing of the peoples and of the princes, of these who have been in her. He did not say, who are in her; but, who have been in her. The Lord will tell. And how will he tell? not by word, but by writing. In whose writing? in that of the peoples. That is not enough, but he also says, of the princes. And of which princes? who are in her? He did not say this; but, who have been in her. See, then, how holy Scripture is full of sacraments. We read the apostle Paul, we read Peter, and we read him saying 'Do you seek a proof of Christ who speaks in me?' And what Paul speaks, Christ speaks. 'For whoever receives you, receives me.' Therefore our Lord and Savior tells us and speaks in the writings of his princes. The Lord will tell in the writing of the peoples, in the holy Scriptures: which Scripture is read to all peoples, that is, so that all may understand. What he says is this. So the apostles wrote, so the Lord himself spoke in his gospels, not so that few might understand, but that all. Plato wrote in writing: but he did not write among the peoples, but among the few. For scarcely three men understand him. But these, that is the princes of the Church and the princes of Christ, did not write for the few, but for the whole people. And of the princes, that is, of the apostles and of the gospels. Of these who have been in her. See what he says, Who have been, not who are: so that, apart from the apostles, whatever else is said afterward may be cut off, may have no authority thereafter. Therefore, however holy someone may be after the apostles, however eloquent he may be, he has no authority: because the Lord tells in the writing of the peoples and of the princes, of these who have been in her.

As though it were said, How do ye know this? All of us have sung these Psalms: and Christ, Man for our sake, God before us, sings within us all. But is this much to say, "before us," of Him who was before heaven and earth and time? He then, born for our sakes a man, in that city, also founded her when He was the Most High. Yet how are we assured of this? "The Lord shall rehearse it when He writes up the people" [Psalm 87:6], as the following verse has it. "The Lord shall declare, when He writes up the people, and their princes." What princes? "Those who were born in her;" those princes who, born within her walls, became therein princes: for before they could become princes in her, God chose the despised things of the world to confound the strong. Was the fisherman, the publican, a prince? They were indeed princes: but because they became such in her. Princes of what kind were they? Princes come from Babylon, believing monarchs of this world, came to the city of Rome, as to the head of Babylon: they went not to the temple of the Emperor, but to the tomb of the Fisherman. Whence indeed did they rank as princes? "God chose the weak things of the world to confound the strong, and the foolish things He has chosen, and things which are not as though they were, that things which are may be brought to nought." [1 Corinthians 1:26-27] This He does who "from the ground raises the helpless, and from the dunghill exalts the poor." For what purpose? "That He may set him with the princes, even with the princes of His people." This is a mighty deed, a deep source of pleasure and exultation. Orators came later into that city, but they could never have done so, had not fishermen preceded them. These things are glorious indeed, but where could they take place, but in that city of God, of whom very excellent things are spoken?