that which He commended to thee in the day- time is true. For it is written in a certain pas- sage, " The mercy of the Lord is seasonable ■ in the time of affliction, as clouds of rain in the time of drought." "The Lord hath com- mended His loving-kindness in the day-time, and in the night will He declare it." He does not show that He is thine Helper, unless tribula- tion come, from whence thou must be rescued by Him who promised it to thee "in the day- time." Therefore we are warned to be like " the ant." For just as worldly prosperity is signified by " the day," adversity by the night, so again in another way worldly prosperity is expressed by " the summer," adversity by the winter. And what is it that the ant does? She lays up in summer what will be useful to her in winter. Whilst therefore it is summer, whilst it is well with you, whilst you are in tranquillity, hear the wor-d of the Lord. For how can it be that in the midst of these tempests of the world, you should pass through the whole of that sea, with- out suffering? How could it happen? To what mortal's lot has it fallen? If even it has been the lot of any, that very calm is more to be dreaded. " The Lord hath commended His lov- ing-kindness in the day-time, and in the nighttime will He declare it."..." There is with me prayer unto the God of my life." This I make my b.isiness here; I who am the " hart thirsting and longing for the water-brooks," calling to mind the sweetness of that strain, by which I was led on through the tabernacle even to the house of God; whilst this " corruptible body presseth down the soul," 2 there is yet with me " prayer unto the God of my life." For in order to making supplication unto God, I have not to buy aught from places beyond the sea; or in order that He may hear me, have I to sail to bring from a distance frankincense and perfumes, or have I to bring " calf or ram from the flock." There is " with me prayer to the God of my life." I have within a victim to sacrifice; I have within an incense to place on the altar; I have within a sacrifice wherewith to propitiate my God. " The sacrifice of God is a troubled spirit." What sacrifice of a " troubled spirit " I have within, hear.
r6. "I will say unto God, Thou art my lifter up. Why hast Thou forgotten me? " (ver. 9). For I am suffering here, even as if Thou hadst forgotten me. But Thou art trying me, and I know that Thou dost but put off, not take utterly from me, what Thou hast promised me. But yet, " Why hast Thou forgotten me? " So cried our Head also, as if speaking in our name. " My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken me?"3 I will say unto 1 Ecclus. xxxv. 26. 'ilpaiov «A«os; Vulgate, Speciosa miseri- cord in.
2 Wisd. ix. 15.
3 Matt, xxvii. 46; Ps. xxii. i.
God, " Thou art my lifter up; why hast Thou forgotten me?"
17." Why hast Thou rejected me?"* " Reject- ed " me, that is to say, from that height of the ap- prehension of the unchangeable Truth. " Why hast Thou rejected me?" Why, when already longing for those things, have I been cast down to these, by the weight s and burden of my iniquity? This same voice in another passage said, " I said in my trance " 6 (i.e., in my rapture, when he had seen some great thing or other), " I said in my trance, I am cast out of the sight of Thine eyes." For he compared these things in which he found himself, to those toward which he had been raised; and saw himself cast out far " from the sight of God's eyes," as he speaks even here, " Why hast Thou rejected me? Why go I mourning, while mine enemy troubleth me, while he breaketh my bones? " Even he, my tempter, the devil; while offences are everywhere on the increase, because of the abundance of which " the love of many is waxing cold." 7 When we see the strong members of the Church generally giving way to the causes of offence, does not Christ's body say, " The enemy breaketh my bones "? For it is the strong members that are " the bones; " and sometimes even those that are strong sink under their temp- tations. For whosoever of the body of Christ considers this, does he not exclaim, with the voice of Christ's Body, " Why hast Thou rejected me? Why go I mourning, while mine enemy troubleth me, while he breaketh my bones?"
You may see not my flesh merely, but even my " bones." To see those who were thought to have some stability, giving way under tempta- tions, so that the rest of the weak brethren despair when they see those who are strong succumbing; how great, my brethren, are the dangers!
18. "They who trouble me cast me in the teeth." Again that voice! " While they say daily unto me, Where is thy God?" (ver. 10). And it is principally in the temptations of the Church they say this, " Where is thy God? " How much was this cast in the teeth of the Martyrs! Those men so patient and courageous for the name of Christ, how often was it said to them, " Where is your God? " " Let Him deliver you, if He can." For men saw their torments out- wardly; they did not inwardly behold their crowns! " They who trouble me cast me in the teeth, while they say daily unto me, Where is thy God?" And on this account, seeing "my soul is disquieted on account of myself," what else should I say unto it than those words: " Why art thou cast down, O my soul; and why dost thou disquiet me? " (ver. n). And, as * Ut quid me repulisti. Neither in the Vulgate nor in our version.
3 Gravedine.
6 In ecstasi med. Ps. xxxi. 22. E. V. " in my haste."
1 Matt. xxiv. 12.
138 THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm XLIII.
it seems to answer, " Wouldest thou not have me disquiet thee, placed as I am here in so great evils? Wouldest thou have me not disquiet thee, panting as I am after what is good, thirsting and labour- ing as I am for it? " What should I say, but, " Hope thou in God; for I will yet confess unto Him " (ver. n). He states the very words of that confession; he repeats the grounds on which he fortifies his hope. " He is the health of my countenance, and my God."
PSALM XLIII.'
1. This Psalm is a short one; it satisfies the mental cravings of the hearers, without imposing too severe a trial on the hunger of those fasting.2 Let our soul feed upon it; our soul, which he who sings in this Psalm, speaks of as " cast down; " cast down, I suppose, either in consequence of some fast, or rather in consequence of some hunger he was in. For fasting is a voluntary act; being an-hungered is an involuntary thing. That which is an-hungered, is the Church, is the Body of Christ: and that " Man " who is extend- ed throughout the whole world, of which the Head is above, the limbs below: it is His voice which ought by this time to be perfectly known, and perfectly familiar, to us, in all the Psalms; now chanting joyously, now sorrowing; now rejoicing in hope, now signing at its actual state, even as if it were our own. We need not then dwell long on pointing out to you, who is the speaker here: let each one of us be a member of Christ's Body; and he will be speaker here...
2. "Judge me, O Lord, and separate my cause from the ungodly nation " (ver. i). I do not dread Thy judgment, because I know Thy mercy. " Judge me, O God," he cries. Now, meanwhile, in this state of pilgrimage, Thou dost not yet separate my place, because I am to live together with the " tares " even to the time of the " har- vest: " Thou dost not as yet separate my rain from theirs; my light from theirs: " separate my cause." Let a difference be made between him who believes in Thee, and him who believes not in Thee. Our infirmity is the same; but our consciences not the same: our sufferings the same; but our longings not the same. " The desire of the ungodly shall perish," 3 but as to the desire of the righteous, we might well doubt, if He were not "sure" who promised. The object of our desires is He Himself, who prom- iseth: He will give us Himself, because He has already given Himself to us; He will give Himself in His immortality to us then immortal, even ' Lat. XLII.
2 Vrntribni. It is noted that this was an afternoon sermon on a fast-day.
J l'». cxii. 14.
because He gave Himself in His mortality to us when mortal...
3. And since patience is needful in order to endure, until the harvest, a certain distinction without separation,4 if we may so speak (for they are together with us, and therefore not yet separated; the tares however being still tares, and the corn still corn, and therefore they are already distinct); since then a kind of strength s is need- ful, which must be implored of Him who bids us to be strong, and without whose making us strong, we should not be what He bids us to be; of Him who said, " He that endures unto the end shall be saved," 6 lest the soul's powers should be im- paired in consequence of her ascribing any strength to herself, he subjoins immediately, " For Thou, O God, art my strength: why hast Thou cast me off, and why go I mourning, while the enemy harasseth me?" (ver. 2). I go mourning: the enemy is harassing me with daily temptations: inspiring either some unlawful love, or some ungrounded cause of fear; and the soul that fights against both of them, though not taken prisoner by them, yet being in danger from them, is contracted with sorrow, and says unto God, "Why?"
Let her then ask of Him, and hear "Why?" For she is in the Psalm enquiring the cause of her dejection; saying, " Why hast Thou cast me off? and why go I mourning?" Let her hear from Isaiah; let the lesson which has just been read, suggest itself to her. " The spirit shall go forth from me, and every breath have I made. For iniquity have I a little afflicted him; I hid my face from him, and he departed from me sorrowful in the ways of his heart." 7 Why then didst thou ask, " Why hast Thou cast me off, and why go I mourning?" Thou hast hearH, it was " for iniquity." " Iniquity " is the cause of thy mourning; let " Righteousness " be the cause of thy rejoicing! Thou wouldest sin; and yet thou wouldest fain not suffer; so that it was too little for thee to be thyself unrighteous, without also wishing Him to be unrighteous, in that thou wouldest fain not be punished by Him. Consider a speech of a better kind in another Psalm. " It is good for me that Thou hast humbled me, that I might learn Thy righteous- nesses."8 By being lifted up, I had learned my own iniquities; let me by being " humbled," learn " Thy righteousnesses." " Why go I mourning, while the enemy harasses me?" Thou cornplainest of the enemy. It is true he does harass thee; but it was thou didst "give place"9 to him. And even now there is a course open to thee; choose the course of prudence; admit thy King, shut the tyrant out.
4 Q'tandam indiscretam discretionem.
* Fortitudine. 6 Matt. xxiv. 31.
• Ps. cxix. 71. 9 Eph. iv. 37.
Psalm XLIII.]
ON THE PSALMS.
139 4. But in order that she may do this, hear what she says, what she supplicates, what she prays for. Pray thou for what thou hearest; pray for it when thou hearest it; let these words be the voice of us all: " O send out Thy Light and Thy Truth. They have led me, and brought me on unto Thy holy hill, and into Thy Taber- nacles " (ver. 3). For that very ''Light" and " Truth " are indeed two in name; the reality expressed is but One. For what else is the "Light" of God, except the "Truth" of God? Or what else is the " Truth " of God, except the " Light " of God? And the on,e Person of Christ is both of these. " I am the Light of the world: he that believeth on Me, shall not walk in darkness." " I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life." ' He is Himself" the Light: " He is Him- self " the Truth." Let Him come then and rescue us, and " separate at once our cause from the ungodly nation; let Him deliver us from the deceitful and unjust man," let him separate the wheat from the tares, for at the time of harvest He will Himself send His Angels, that they may " gather out of His kingdom all things that offend," 2 and cast them into flaming fire, while they gather together the corn into the garner. He will send out His " Light," and His " Truth; " for that they have already " brought us and led us to His holy hill, and into His Tabernacles." We possess the " earnest;"'we hope for the prize. " His holy Hill " is His holy Church. It is that mountain which, ac- cording to Daniel's vision, * grew from a very small " stone," till it crushed the kingdoms of the earth; and grew to such a size, that it " filled the face of the earth." This is the " hill," from which he tells us that his prayer was heard, who says, " I cried unto the Lord with my voice, and He heard me out of His holy hill." 5 Let no one of those that are without that mountain, hope to be heard unto eternal life. For many are heard in their prayers for many things. Let them not congratulate themselves6 on being heard; the devils were heard in their prayer, that they might be sent into the swine. Let us desire to be heard unto eternal life, by reason of our longing, through which we say, " Send out Thy Light and Thy Truth." » That is a " Light " which requires the eye of the heart. For " Blessed " (He saith) " are the pure in heart, for they shall see God." 8 We are now on His Hill, that is, in His Church, and in His Tabernacle. The " tabernacle " is for persons sojourning; the house, for those dwelling in one community.9 The tabernacle is also for those who are both from home, and also in a state of warfare. When 1 John viii. 12, xiv. 6. 2 Matt. xiii. a 3 Pignut. 4 Pan. ii. 35. 5 Ps. iii. 4.
thou hearest of a tabernacle, form a notion of a war; guard against an enemy. But what shall the house be? " Blessed are they that dwell in Thine house: they will be alway praising Thee." '° 5. Now then that we have been led on even to " the Tabernacle," and are placed on " His holy Hill," what hope do we carry with us?
" Then will I go in unto the Altar of God " (ver. 4). For there is a certain invisible Altar on high, which the unrighteous man approaches not. To that Altar he alone draws nigh, who draws nigh to this one without cause to fear. There he shall find his Life, who in this one " separates his cause." "And I will go in unto the Altar of God." From His holy Hill, and from His Tabernacle, from His Holy Church, I will go in unto the Altar of God on High. What manner of Sacrifice is there? He himself who goeth in is taken for a burnt-offering. " I will go in unto the Altar of God." What is the mean- ing of what he says, " The Altar of my God "?
" Unto God, who makes glad my youth." Youth signifies newness: just as if he said, " Unto God, who makes glad my newness." It is He who makes glad my newness, who hath filled my old estate" with mourning. For now "I go mourning " in oldness, then shall " I stand," ex- ulting in newness!
" Yea, upon the harp will I praise Thee, O God my God." What is the meaning of " prais- ing on the harp," and praising on the psaltery? For he does not always do so with the harp, nor always with the psaltery. These two instruments of the musicians have each a distinct meaning of their own, worthy of our consideration and notice. They are both borne in the hands, and played by the touch; and they stand for certain bodily works of ours. Both are good, if one knows how to play the psaltery,12 or to play the harp.'3 But since the psaltery is that instrument which has the shell '4 (i.e. that drum, that hollow piece of wood, by straining on which '5 the chords re- sound) on the upper part of it, whereas the harp has that same concave sounding-board on the lower part, there is to be a distinction made be- tween our works, when they are " upon the harp," when " on the psaltery: " both however are ac- ceptable to God, and grateful to His ear. When we do anything according to God's Command- ments, obeying His commands and hearkening to Him, that we may fulfil His injunctions, when we are active and not passive, it is the psaltery that is playing. For so also do the Angels: for they have nothing to suffer. But when we suffer anything of tribulation, of trials, of offences on this earth (as we suffer only from the inferior part of ourselves; i.e. from the fact that we are mor- tal, that we owe somewhat of tribulation to our 10 Ps. Ixxxiv. 4. 13 Citkarizare.
>2 Psallere.
*3 Cut injiitcntes.
140 THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm XLIV.
original cause,' and also from the fact of our suf- fering much from those who are not " above "); this is " the harp." For there rises a sweet strain from that part of us which is " below: " we " suf- fer," and we strike the psaltery,2 or shall I rather say we sing and we strike the harp...
6. And again, in order that he may draw the sound from that sounding-board below, he ad- dresses his soul: he says, " Why art thou sorrow- ful, O my soul, and why dost thou disquiet me? " (ver. 5). I am in tribulations, in weariness,3 in mourning, " Why dost thou disquiet me, O my soul? " Who is the speaker, to whom is he speaking? That it is the soul to which he is speaking, everybody knows: for it is obvious: the appeal is addressed to it directly: " Why art thou sorrowful, O my soul, and why dost thou disquiet me? " The question is as to the speaker. It is not the flesh addressing the soul, surely, since the flesh cannot speak without the soul. For it is more appropriate for the soul to address the flesh, than for the flesh to address the soul...We perceive then that we have a certain part, in which is " the image of God; " viz. the mind and reason.4 It was that same mind that prayed for "God's Light" and " God's Truth." It is the same mind by which we apprehend 5 right and wrong: it is by the same that we discern truth from falsehood. It is this same that we call "understanding;" which "understanding," in- deed, is wanting to the brutes. And this " un- derstanding " whoever neglects in himself, and holds it in less account than the other parts of his nature, and casts it off, just as if he had it not, is addressed in the Psalm, " Be ye not as the horse and the mule, which have no understand- ing." 6 It is our " understanding " then that is addressing our soul. The latter is withered away from tribulations, worn out in anguish/ made " sorrowful " in temptations, fainting in toils. The mind, catching a glimpse of Truth above, would fain rouse her spirits, and she says, "Why art thou sorrowful, O my soul?"...
7. These expressions, brethren, are safe ones: but yet be watchful in good works. Touch " the psaltery," by obeying the Commandments; touch the harp, by patiently enduring your suf- ferings. You have heard from Isaiah, " Break thy bread to the hungry; " 8 think not that fast- ing by itself is sufficient. Fasting chasteneth thine own self: it does not refresh others. Thy distress will profit thee, if thou affordest comfort9 to others. See, thou hast denied thyself; to « Prima nostra causa. He seems to mean our original from Adam.
« PsalUmul. i At. "anguishes."
* T. Aquin. Prolog ad. I. II. Per imarmem Dei signincatur (sicut Damascen. dicu), intcllcctualc, rt arbitrio liberutn; et per se fijtestativnm.
* Cafimus. 6 ps. xxxii. 9. 7 Some Mss. lavguoribus. 8 Isa. lviii. 7. 9 Latitudinetn.
whom wilt thou give that of which thou hast deprived thyself? Where wilt thou bestow what thou hast denied thyself? How many poor may be filled '° by the breakfast " we '2 have this day given up? Fast in such a way that thou mayest rejoice, that thou hast breakfasted, while another has been eating; fast on account of thy prayers, that thou mayest be heard in them. For He says in that passage, " Whilst thou art yet speak- ing I will say, Here I am," '3 provided thou wilt with cheerful mind " break thy bread to the hungry." For generally this is done by men reluctantly and with murmurs, to rid themselves of the wearisome importunity of the beggar, not to refresh the bowels of him that is needy. But it is " a cheerful giver " that " God loves." '4 If thou givest thy bread reluctantly, thou hast lost both the bread, and the merit of the action. Do it then from the heart: that He " who seeth in secret," 's may say, " whilst thou art yet speaking. Here I am." How speedily are the prayers of those received, who work righteous- ness! And this is man's righteousness in this life, fasting, alms, and prayer. Wouldest thou have thy prayer fly upward to God? Make for it those two wings of alms and fasting. Such may God's "Light" and God's "Truth" find us, that He may find us without cause for fear, when He comes to free us from death, who has already come to undergo death for us. Amen.
PSALM XLIV.16 1. This Psalm is addressed " to the sons of Korah," as its title shows. Now Korah is equivalent to the word baldness; '7 and we find in the Gospel that our Lord Jesus Christ was crucified in " the place of a skull.",8 It is clear then that this Psalm is sung to the " sons of His ' Passion.' " Now we have on this point a most certain and most evident testimony from the Apostle Paul; because that at the time when the Church was suffering under the persecutions of the Gentiles, he quoted from hence a verse, to insert by way of consolation, and encourage- ment to patience. For that which he inserted in his Epistle, is said here: " For Thy sake are we killed all the day long; we are counted as sheep for the slaughter." "> Let us then hear in this Psalm the voice of the Martyrs; and see how good is the cause which the voice of the Martyrs pleads, saying, "For Thy sake," etc...2. The title then is not simply "To the sons of Korah," but, "For understanding, to the sons of Korah." This is the case also with that Psalm, the first verse of which the Lord Himself 10 Saginare. n Prandinm. I2 Al. "you."
*J Isa. lviii. 9 and lxv. 24. n a Cor. ix. 7.
" Malt. vi. 6. '<■ Lat. XLHI. « Calvitiiim.
18 Matt, xxvii. 33. Calvaria. x9 Rom. viii. 36.
Psalm XLIV.]
ON THE PSALMS.
141 uttered on the Cross: " My God, My God, look upon Me; why hast Thou forsaken Me? " ■ For " transferring us in a figure " 2 to what He was saying, and to His own Body (for we are also "His Body," and He is our "Head"), He uttered from the Cross not His own cry, but ours. For God never "forsook " Him: nor did He Himself ever depart from the Father; but it was in behalf of us that He spake this: " My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken Me?" For there follows, " Far from My health are the words of My offences: " and it shows in whose person He said this; for sin could not be found in Him...
3. " O God, we have heard with our ears; our fathers have told us the work that Thou didst in their days, and in the days of old " (ver. 1). Wondering wherefore, in these days, He has seemingly forsaken those whom it was His will to exercise in sufferings, they recall the past events which they have heard of from their fathers; as if they said, It is not of these things that we suffer, that our fathers told us! For in that other Psalm also, He said this, " Our fa- thers trusted in Thee; they trusted, and Thou didst deliver them. But I am a worm and no man; a reproach of men, and the outcast of the people." 3 They trusted, and Thou didst deliver them; have I then hoped, and hast Thou forsaken me? And have I believed upon Thee in vain? And is it in vain that my name has been written in Thy Book,4 and Thy name has been inscribed on me? What our fathers told us was this: