one thing not to fight, and to be in true and lasting peace; another to fight and overcome; another to fight and to be overcome; another not to fight at all, but to be carried away...
6. "Thy mercy, O Lord, is in the heavens, and Thy truth reacheth even unto the clouds " (ver. 5). I know not what Mercy of Him he meaneth, which is in the heavens. For the Mercy of the Lord is also in the earth. Thou hast it written, " The earth is full of the Mercy of the Lord." 8 Of what Mercy then speaketh He, when He saith, " Thy Mercy, O Lord, is in the heavens "? The gifts of God are partly temporal and earthly, partly eternal and heav- enly. Whoso for this vvorshippeth God, that he may receive those temporal and earthly goods, which are open to all, is still as it were like the brutes: he enjoyeth indeed the Mercy of God, but not that which is excepted, which shall not be given, save only to the righteous, to the holy, to the good. What are the gifts which abound to all? " He maketh His sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust." 9 Who hath not this Mercy of God, first that he hath being, that he is dis- tinguished from the brutes, that he is a rational animal, so as to understand God; secondly, that he enjoys this light, this air, rain, fruits, diversity of seasons, and all the earthly comforts, health of body, the affection of friends, the safety of his * i.e., " art subject to it," not " obeyest it." He is not here speak, ing of actual wilful sin, but of motions toward sin to which the man does not consent. _[ Concupiscence, art. ix. Angl. XXXIX. Articles. — C] 88 THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm XXXVI.
family? All these are good, and they are God's gifts...
7. But this man rightly understood what mercy he should pray for from God. "Thy Mercy, O Lord, is in the Heavens; and Thy Truth reacheth even to the clouds." That is, the Mercy which Thou givest to Thy Saints, is Heavenly, not earthly; is Eternal, not temporal. And how couldest Thou declare it unto men? Because "Thy Truth reacheth even unto the clouds." For who could know the Heavenly Mercy of God, unless God should declare it unto men? How did He declare it? By sending His truth even unto the clouds. What are the clouds? The Preachers of the Word of God...Truth reached even to the clouds: there- fore unto us could be declared the Mercy of God, which is in Heaven and not in earth. And truly, Brethren, the clouds are the Preachers of the Word of Truth. When God threateneth through His Preachers, He thunders through the clouds. When God worketh miracles through His Preachers, He lightneth through the clouds, He terrifieth through the clouds, and watereth by the rain. Those Preachers, then, by whom is preached the Gospel of God, are the clouds of God. Let us then hope for Mercy, but for that which is in the Heavens.
8. " Thy Righteousness is like the mountains of God: Thy Judgments are a great deep " (ver. 6). Who are the mountains of God? Those who are called clouds, the same are also the mountains of God. The great Preachers are the mountains of God. And as when the sun riseth, he first clothes the mountains with light, and thence the light descends to the lowest parts of the earth: so our Lord Jesus Christ, when He came, first irradiated the height of the Apostles, first enlightened the mountains, and so His Light descended to the valley of the world. And there- fore saith He in a certain Psalm, " I lifted up mine, eyes unto the mountains, from whence cometh my help." ■ But think not that the moun- tains themselves will give thee help: for they receive what they may give, give not of their own. And if thou remain in the mountains, thy hope will not be strong: but in Him who en- lighteneth the mountains, ought to be thy hope and presumption. Thy help indeed will come to thee through the mountains, because the Scrip- tures are administered to thee through the moun- tains, through the great Preachers of the Truth: but fix not thy hope in them. Hear what He saith next following: " I lifted up mine eyes unto the mountains, from whence cometh my help."
What then? Do the mountains give thee help? No j hear what follows, " My help cometh from the Lord, which made Heaven and earth."1 > p..( ■ Pi. cxxi. a.
Through the mountains cometh help, but not from the mountains. From whom then? " From the Lord, which made Heaven and earth."...
9. " Thy Judgments are like the great abyss." The abyss he calleth the depth of sin, whither every one cometh by despising God; as in a certain place it is said, " God gave them over to their own hearts' lusts, to do the things which are not convenient." 3...Because then they were proud and ungrateful, they were held worthy to be delivered up to the lusts of their own hearts, and became a great abyss, so that they not only sinned, but also worked craftily, lest they should understand their iniquity, and hate it. That is the depth of wickedness, to be unwilling to find it out and to hate it. But how one cometh to that depth, see; " Thy Judgments are the great abyss." As the mountains are by the Righteous- ness of God,4 who through His Grace become great: so also through His Judgments come they unto the depth, who sink lowest. By this then let the mountains delight thee, by this turn away from the abyss, and turn thyself unto that, of which it is said, " My help cometh from the Lord." But whereby? "I have lifted up mine eyes unto the mountains." What meaneth this? I will speak plainly.* In the Church of God thou findest an abyss, thou findest also moun- tains; thou findest there but few good, because (he mountains are few, the abyss broad; that is, thou findest many living ill after the wrath of God, because they have so worked that they are delivered up to the lusts of their own heart; so now they defend their sins and confess them not; but say, Why? What have I done? Such an one did this, and such an one did that. Now will they even defend what the Divine Word reproves. This is the abyss. Therefore in a cer- tain place6 saith the Scripture (hear this abyss), " The sinner when he cometh unto the depth of sin despiseth." See, "Thy Judgments are like the great abyss." But yet not art thou a moun- tain; not yet art thou in the abyss; fly from the abyss, tend towards the mountains; but yet remain not on the mountains. " For thy help cometh from the Lord, which made Heaven and earth."
10. Because he said, Thy Mercy is in the Heavens, that it may be known to be also on earth, he said, " O Lord, Thou savest man and beast,7 as Thy Mercy is multiplied, O God " (ver. 7). Great is Thy Mercy, and manifold is Thy Mercy, O God; and that showest Thou both to man and beast. For from whom is the saving of men? From God. Is not the saving of beasts also from God? For He who made 3 Rom. i. 28.
4AI," The Righteousness of God is like the mountains.'* * Latint. b Prov. xviii. 3.
7 [In Vulgate and Septuagint this is included in verse 6. English Version agrees with the text as here connected. — C] The Psalm XXXVI.]
ON THE PSALMS.
89 man, made also beasts; He who made both, saveth both; but the saving of beasts is tem- poral. But there are who as a great thing ask this of God, which He hath given to beasts. "Thy Mercy, O God, is multiplied," so that not only unto men, but unto beasts also is given the same saving which is given to men, a carnal and temporal saving.
11. Have not men then somewhat reserved with God, which beasts deserve not, and where- unto beasts arrive not? They have evidently. And where is that which they have. " The chil- dren of men put their trust under the shadow of Thy wings." Attend, my Beloved, to this most pleasant sentence: " Thou savest man and beast." First, he spake of " man and beast," then of "the children of men;" as though " men " were one, " the children of men " other. Sometimes in Scripture children of men is said generally of all men, sometimes in some proper manner, with some proper signification, so that not all men are understood; chiefly when there is a distinction. For not without reason is it here put; " O Lord, Thou savest man and beast: but the children of men; " as though setting aside the first, he keepeth separate the children of men. Separate from whom? Not only from beasts, but also from men, who seek from God the saving of beasts, and desire this as a great thing. Who then are the children of men? Those who put their trust under the shadow of His wings. For those men together with beasts rejoice in possession, but the children of men rejoice in hope: those follow after pres- ent goods with beasts, these hope for future goods with Angels...
12. "They shall be satiated1 with the fulness of Thy House" (ver. 8). He promiseth us some great thing. He would speak it, and He speaketh it not. Can He not, or do not we re- ceive it? I dare, my Brethren, to say, even of holy tongues and hearts, by which Truth is declared to us, that it can neither be spoken, which they declared, nor even thought of. For it is a great thing, and ineffable; and even they saw through a glass darkly, as saith the Apostle, " For now we see through a glass darkly; but then face to face." 2 Lo, they who saw through a glass darkly, thus burst forth. What then shall we be, when we shall see face to face? That with which they travailed in heart, and could not with their tongue bring forth, that men might receive it. For what necessity was there that' he should say, " They shall be satiated with the fulness of Thy House"? He sought a word whereby to express from human things what he would say; and because he saw that men drown- 1 [I cannot but change the word " drunken " here for one more decent and equally faithful. But note " sober inebriety," p. 75, supra.— C] 3 x Cor. xiii. 12.
ing themselves in drunkenness receive indeed wine without measure, but lose their senses, he saw what to say; for when shall have been re- ceived that ineffable joy, then shall be lost in a manner the human soul, it shall become Divine, and be satiated with the fulness of God's House. Wherefore also in another Psalm it is said, " Thy cup inebriating, how excellent is it! " ' With this cup were the Martyrs satiated when going to their passion, they knew not their own. What so inebriated as not to know a wife weeping, not children, not parents? They knew them not, they thought not that they were before their eyes. Wonder not: they were inebriated. Wherewith were they so? Lo, they had re- ceived a cup wherewith they were satiated. Wherefore he also gives thanks to God, saying, " What shall I render unto the Lord for all His benefits towards me? I will take the cup of Salvation, and call upon the Name of the Lord." * Therefore, Brethren of men," let us be " children, and let us trust under the shadow of His wings, and be satiated with the fulness of His House. As I could, I have spoken; and as far as I can, I see; and how far I see, I cannot speak.5 " And of the torrent of Thy Pleasure shalt Thou give them to drink." A torrent we call water coming with a flood. There will be a flood of God's Mercy to overflow and inebriate those who now put their trust under the shadow of His wings. What is that Pleasure? As it were a torrent inebriating the thirsty. Let him then who thirsts now, lay up hope: whoso thirsts now, let him have hope; when inebriated, he shall have possession: before he have possession, let him thirst in hope. " Blessed are they which do hunger aud thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled."6 13. With what fountain then wilt thou be overflowed, and whence runneth such a torrent of His Pleasure? " For with Thee," saith he, " is the fountain of Life." What is the fountain of Life, but Christ? He came to thee in the flesh, that He might bedew thy thirsty lips: He will satisfy thee trusting, who bedewed thee thirsting. " For with Thee is the fountain of Life; in Thy Light shall we see light " (ver. 9). Here a fountain is one thing, light another: there not so. For that which is the Fountain, the same is also Light: and whatever thou wilt thou callest It, for It is not what thou callest It: for thou canst not find a fit name: for It re- maineth not in one name. If thou shouldest say, that It is Light only, it would be said to thee, Then without cause am I told to hunger 5 [To spiritualize inebriation seems a difficult task; but as in heraldry we introduce the boar and the serpent for other qualities than their filth and their venom, so here the suggestion is explained by a reference to Acts ii. 13-18 and Eph. v. 18, 19. — C] * Matt. v. 6.
90 THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm XXXVI.
and thirst, for who is there that eateth light? It is said to me plainly, directly, " Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God." ' If It is Light, my eyes must I prepare. Prepare also lips; for That which is Light is also a Fountain: a Fountain, because It satisfieth the thirsty: Light, because It enlighteneth the blind. Here sometimes, light is in one place, a fountain in another. For sometimes fountains run even in darkness; and sometimes in the desert thou sufferest the sun, findest no fountain: here then can these two be separated: there thou shalt not be wearied, for there is a Fountain; there thou shalt not be darkened, for there is Light.
14. " Show forth Thy Mercy unto them that know Thee; Thy Righteousness to them that are of a right heart " (ver. 10). As I have said, Those are of a right heart who follow in this life the Will of God. The will of God is some- times that thou shouldest be whole, sometimes that thou shouldest be sick. If when thou art whole God's Will be sweet, and when thou art sick God's Will be bitter; thou art not of a right heart. Wherefore? Because thou wilt not make right thy will according to God's Will, but wilt bend God's Will to thine. That is right, but thou art crooked: thy will must be made right to That, not That made crooked to thee; and thou wilt have a right heart. It is well with thee in this world; be God blessed, who com- forteth thee: it goeth hardly with thee in this world; be God blessed, because He 2 chasteneth and proveth thee; and so wilt thou be of a right heart, saying, " I will bless the Lord at all times: His Praise shall be ever in my mouth." 3 15. " Let not the foot of pride come against me" (ver. n). But now he said, The children of men shall put their trust under the shadow of Thy wings: they shall be satiated with the ful- ness of Thy House. When one hath begun to be plentifully overflowed with that Fountain, let him take heed lest he grow proud. For the same was not wanting to Adam, the first man: but the foot of pride came against him, and the hand of the sinner removed him, that is, the proud hand of the devil. As he who seduced him, said of himself, " I will sit in the sides of the north;" 4 so he persuaded him, by saying, " Taste, and ye shall be as gods." * By pride then have we so fallen as to arrive at this mor- tality. And because pride had wounded us, humility maketh us whole. God came humbly, that from such great wound of pride He might heal man. He came, for " The Word was made Flesh, and dwelt among us."6 He was taken by the Jews; He was reviled of them. Ye heard when the Gospel was read, what they said, ■ Matt. v. 6, 8.
* Iia. xiv. 13.
* John i. 34.
« Al. " Who." s Gen. iii. 5.
* Ps- xxxiv. 1.
and to Whom they said, " Thou hast a devil: " ' and He said not, Ye have a devil, for ye are still in your sins, and the devil possesseth your hearts. He said not this, which if He had said, He had said truly: but it was not meet that He should say it, lest He should seem not to preach Truth, but to retort evil speaking. He let go what He heard as though He heard it not. For a Physi- cian was He, and to cure the madman had He come. As a Physician careth not what he may hear from the madman; but how the madman may recover and become sane; nor even if he receive a blow from the madman, careth he; but while he to him giveth new wounds, he cureth his old fever: so also the Lord came to the sick man, to the madman came He, that whatever He might hear, whatever He might suffer, He should despise; by this very thing teaching us humility, that being taught by humil- ity, we might be healed from pride: from which he here prayeth to be delivered, saying, " Let not the foot of pride come against me; neither let the hand of the sinner remove me." For if the foot of pride come, the hand of the sinner removeth. What is the hand of the sinner? The working of him that adviseth ill. Hast thou become proud? Quickly he corrupteth thee who adviseth ill. Humbly fix thyself in God, and care not much what is said to thee. Hence is that which is elsewhere spoken, " From my secret sins cleanse Thou me; and from others' sins also keep Thy servant." 8 What is, " From my secret sins "? " Let not the foot of pride come against me." What is, " From other men's sins also keep Thy servant "? " Let not the hand of the wicked remove me." Keep that which is within, and thou shalt not fear from without.
16. But wherefore so greatly fearest thou this? Because it is said, " Thereby have fallen all that work iniquity" (ver. 12); so that they have come into that abyss of which it is said, " Thy judgments are like the great abyss: " so that they have come even to that deep wherein sin- ners who despise have fallen. " Have fallen." Whereby did they first fall? By the foot of pride. Hear the foot of pride. " When they knew God, they glorified Him not as God." Therefore came against them the foot of pride, whereby they came into the depth. "God gave them over to their own hearts' lusts, to do those things which are not convenient." ' The root of sin, and the head of sin feared he who said, " Let not the foot of pride come against me." Wherefore said he, " the foot "? Because by walking proudly man deserted God, and departed from Him. His foot, called he his 7 John viii. 48. [This was then the Gospel for the day, or one of the Lessons.
8 Ps. xix. 12, 13.
9 Rom. i. 21-24.
Psalm XXXVII.]
ON THE PSALMS.
91 affection. "Let not the foot of pride come against me: let not the hand of the wicked remove me: " that is, let not the works of the wicked remove me from Thee, that I should wish to imitate them. But wherefore said he this against pride, " Thereby have fallen all that work iniquity "? Because those who now are ungodly, have fallen by pride. Therefore when the Lord would caution His Church, He said, " It shall watch thy head, and thou shall watch ■ his heel." * The serpent watcheth when the foot of pride may come against thee, when thou mayest fall, that he may cast thee down. But watch thou his head: the beginning of all sin is pride.3 " Thereby have fallen all that work iniquity: they are driven out, and are not able to stand." He first, who in the Truth stood not, then, through him, they whom God sent out of Para- dise. Whence he, the humble, who said that he was not worthy to unloose His shoe's latchet, is not driven out, but standeth and heareth Him, and rejoiceth greatly because of the Bride- groom's voice; 4 not because of his own, lest the foot of pride come against him, and he be driven out, and be not able to stand...
PSALM XXXVII.s On the First Part of the Psalm.
i. With terror do they hear of the coming of the last day, who will not be secure by living well: and who fain would live ill, long. But it was for useful purposes that God willed that day to remain unknown; that the heart may be ever ready to expect that of which it knows it is to come, but knows not when it is to come. See- ing, however, that our Lord Jesus Christ was sent to us to be our " Master," 6 He said, that "of the day not even the Son of Man knew," 1 because it was not part of His office as our Mas- ter that through Him it should become known to us. • For indeed the Father knoweth nothing that the Son knoweth not; since that is the Very Knowledge of the Father Itself, which is His Wisdom; now His Son, His Word, is " His Wisdom." But because it was not for our good to know that, which however was known to Him who came indeed to teach us, though not to teach us that which it was not good for us to know, He not only, as a Master, taught us something, but also, as a Master, left something 5 Lat. XXXVI. This is a sermon which was delivered at Car- thage, as well as the two following. It should be noticed that in the life of St. Fulgentius, c. 3, we are told that, " having some time before resolved with himself to renounce the world, he was so roused and moved by St. Augustin's exposition of this Psalm that he deter- mined to make his vow public, and earnestly desired to adopt the religious habit." — Ben ° Magister Magisterio. Master, in sense of teacher or guide; Ka0iTy>7Ti)«, in Matt, xxiii 8, being in the Latin translated " Magis- ter," as in English, " Master."
7 Mark xiii. 32.
untaught. For, as a Master, He knew how both to teach us what was good for us, and not to teach us what was injurious. Now thus, according to a certain form of speech, the Son 8 is said not to know what He does not teach: that is, in the same way that we are daily in the habit of speaking, He is said not to know what He causes us not to know.9...
2. This it is that disturbs you who are a Christian; that you see men of bad lives pros- pering, and surrounded with abundance of things like these; you see them sound in health, dis- tinguished with proud honours; you see their family unvisited by misfortune; the happiness of their relatives, the obsequious attendance of their dependants, their most commanding in- fluence, their life uninterrupted by any sad event; you see their characters most profligate, their external resources most affluent; and your heart says that there is no Divine judgment; that all things are carried to and fro by accidents, and blown about in disorderly and irregular motions. For if God, thou sayest, regarded human affairs, would his iniquity flourish, and my innocence suffer? Every sickness of the soul hath in Scripture its proper remedy. Let him then whose sickness is of that kind that he says in his heart things like these, let him drink this Psalm by way of potion...
3. " Be not envious because of evil-doers, neither be envious against the workers of in- iquity" (ver. 1). "For they shall soon wither like the grass, and shall fade like the herbs of the meadow" (ver. 2). That which to thee seemeth long, is " soon " in the sight of God. Conform IO thou thyself to God; and it will be " soon " to thee. That which he here calls "grass," that we understand by the "herbs of the meadow." They are some worthless things, occupying the surface only of the ground, they have no depth of root. In the winter then they are green; but when the summer sun shall begin to scorch, they will wither away. For now it is the season of winter. Thy glory doth not as yet appear. But if thy love hath but a deep root, like that of many trees during winter, the frost passes away, the summer (that is, the Day of Judgment) will come; then will the green- ness of the grass wither away. Then will the glory of the trees appear. " For ye " (saith the Apostle) "are dead,"" even as trees seem to be in winter, as it were dead, as it were withered. What is our hope then, if we are dead? The root is within; where our root is, there is our life also, for there our love is fixed. " And your life is hid with Christ in God." " When shall he 8 Al. ** Son of Man," as below.
9 [Here he enlarges; but our common use of the word '* ignore " sufficiently explains the use here. We ignore what it is needless to say. — C] 10 Subjunge. ll Col. iii. 3.
92 THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm XXXVII.
wither who is thus rooted? But when will our spring be? When our summer? When will the honour of foliage clothe us around, and the fulness of fruit make us rich? When shall this come to pass? Hear what follows: " When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with Him in glory." And what then shall we do now? " Be not envious because of the evil-doers, neither be envious against the workers of iniquity. For they shall soon wither like the grass, and fade like the herb of the meadow."
4. What shouldest thou do then? " Trust in the Lord " (ver. 3). For they too trust, but not " in the Lord." Their hope is perishable. Their hope is short-lived, frail, fleeting, transitory, baseless. " Trust thou in the Lord." " Be- hold," thou sayest, " I do trust; what am I to do?"
" And do good." Do not do that evil which thou beholdest in those men, who are prosperous in wickedness. " Do good, and dwell in the land." Lest haply thou shouldest be doing good without " dwelling in the land." For it is the Church that is the Lord's land. It is her whom He, the Father, the tiller of it, waters and cultivates. For there are many that, as it were, do good works, but yet, in that they do not " dwell in the land," they do not belong to the husbandman. Therefore do thou thy good, not outside of the land, but do thou " dwell in the land." And what shall I have?
" And thou shalt be fed in its riches." What are the riches of that land? Her riches are her Lord! Her riches are her God! He it is to whom it is said, "The Lord is the portion of mine inheritance, and of my cup." ' In a late discourse we suggested to you, dearly beloved, that God is our possession,2 and that we are at the same time God's possession. Hear how that He is Himself the riches of that land.
"Delight thyself in the Lord" (ver. 4). As if thou hadst put the question, and hadst said, "Show me the riches of that land, in which thou biddest me dwell, he says, " Delight thyself in the Lord."
5. "And He shall give thee the desires of thine heart." Understand in their proper sig- nification,3 " the desires of thine heart." Dis- tinguish the " desires of thine heart " from the desires of thy flesh; distinguish as much as thou canst. It is not without a meaning that it is said in a certain Psalm, " God is " (the strength) "of mine heart." For there it says in what follows: " And God is my portion for ever." For instance: One labours under bodily blind- 1 P*. xvt. 5.
' See Di«c. a (omitted) on Pa. 33, delivered at Carthage in the Church ot St. Cyprian. J Signantrr accipt.