15. "Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever" (ver. 6). Because God has "'blessed Thee ' for ever," on account of the " grace poured over Thy lips." Now the throne of the Jewish Kingdom was a temporal one; belonging to those who were under the Law, not to those who were under " grace: " He came to " redeem those who were under the Law," and to place them under " Grace." His " Throne is for ever and ever." Why? for that first throne of the Kingdom was but a temporal one: whence then have we a " throne for ever and ever "? Be- cause it is God's throne. O divine Attribute of Eternity! ' for God could not have a temporal throne. " Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever — a sceptre of direction is the sceptre of Thy Kingdom." "The sceptre of direction" is that which directs mankind: they were before crooked, distorted; they sought to reign for themselves j they loved themselves, loved their own evil deeds: they submitted not their own will to God; but would fain have bent God's will to conformity with their own lusts. For the sinner and the unrighteous man is generally angry with God, because it rains not! 2 and yet would have God not be angry with himself, be- cause he is profligate.3 And it is pretty much for this very reason that men daily sit, to dis- pute against God: " This is what He ought to have done: this He has not well done." Thou forsooth seest what thou doest; He knows not what He does! It is thou that art crooked! His ways are right. When wilt thou make the crooked coincide with the straight? It cannot be made to coincide with it.4 Just as if you were to place a crooked stick on a level pave- ment; it does not join on to it; it does not co- here; it does not fit into the pavement. The pavement is even in every part: but that is crooked; it does not fit into that which is level. The will of God then is " equal," thine own is " crooked: " it is because thou canst not be con- formed unto it, that it seems " crooked " unto thee: rule thou thyself by it; seek not to bend it to thine own will: for thou canst not accom- plish it; that is at all times " straight "! Wouldest thou abide in Him? " Correct thou thyself;" so will the sceptre of Him who rules thee, be unto thee " a rule of direction." Thence is He also called King,' from "ruling." For 1 O trttrnitatit divinitat.
1 Quiafluit. » Sex, a rtgendo.
2 Quia non pluit. * Collineari.
that is no " ruler " that does not correct.6 Hereunto is our King a King of " right ones." » Just as He is a Priest (Sacerdos) by sanctifying us, so is He our King, our Ruler, by '• ruling " us...
16. Thou hast loved righteousness, and hated iniquity" (ver. 7). See there "the rod of di- rection " described. " Thou hast loved right- eousness, and hated iniquity." Draw near to that "rod;" let Christ be thy King: let Him " rule " thee with that rod, not crush thee with it. For that rod is " a rod of iron; " an in- flexible rod.8 " Thou shalt rule them with a rod of iron: and break them in pieces like a potter's vessel." ' Some He rules; others He " breaks in pieces: " He " rules " them that are spiritual: He " breaks in pieces " them that are carnal...Would He so loudly declare that He was about to smite thee, if He wished to smite thee? He is then holding back Hfs hand from the punish- ment of thine offences; but do not thou hold back. Turn thou thyself to the punishment of thine offences: for unpunished offences cannot be: punishment therefore must be executed either by thyself, or by Him: do thou then plead guilty, that He may reprieve thee. Consider an instance in that penitential Psalm: " Hide Thy face from my sins." IO Did he mean " from me "? No: for in another passage he says plainly, " Hide not Thy face from me." " Turn " then " Thy face from my sins." I would have Thee not see my sins. For God's " seeing " is ani- madverting upon. Hence too a Judge is said to " animadvert " " on that which he punishes; i.e. to turn his mind on it, to bend it thereon, even to the punishment of it, inasmuch as he is the Judge. So too is God a Judge. "Turn Thou Thy face from my sins." But thou thy- self, if thou wouldest have God turn " His face " from them, turn not thine own face from them. Observe how he proposes this to God in that very Psalm: " I acknowledge," he says, " my transgression, and my sin is ever before me." '• He would fain have that which he wishes to be ever before his own eyes, not be be- fore God's eyes. Let no one flatter himself with fond hopes of God's mercy. His sceptre is " a sceptre of righteousness." Do we say that God is not merciful? What can exceed His mercy, who shows such forbearance to sinners; who takes no account of the past in all that turn unto Him? So love thou Him for His mercy, as still to wish that He should be truthful. For mercy cannot strip Him of His attribute of justice: nor justice of that of mercy. Meanwhile during 6 Non atttem regit qui non corrigit.
7 Rectorum.
8 Hac est tota virga. Ah tuta, " This is a safe rod.'
9 Ps. ii. 9. "> Ps. li. 9. 11 Animum adverteri.
11 Pi. li. 3.
Psalm XLV.]
ON THE PSALMS.
I5i the time that He postpones thy punishment, do not thou postpone it.
1 7. " Therefore, God, Thy God, hath anointed Thee." It was for this reason that He anointed thee, that thou mightest love righteousness, and hate iniquity. And observe in what way he ex- presses himself. " Therefore, God, Thy God, hath anointed Thee: " i.e. " God hath anointed Thee, O God." " God " is " anointed " by God. For in the Latin it is thought to be the same case of the noun repeated: in the Greek however there is a most evident distinction; one being the name of the Person addressed; and one His who makes the address, saying, " God hath anointed Thee." " O God, Thy God hath anointed Thee," just as if He were saying, "Therefore hath Thy God, O God, anointed Thee." Take it in that sense, understand it in that sense; that such is the sense is most evident in the Greek. Who then is the God that is "anointed" by God? Let the Jews tell us; these Scriptures are common to us and them. It was God, who was anointed by God: you hear of an " Anointed " one; understand it to mean "Christ." For the name of "Christ" comes from " chrism; " this name by which He is called " Christ " expresses " unction: " nor were kings and prophets anointed in any king- dom, in any other place, save in that kingdom where Christ was prophesied of, where He was anointed, and from whence the Name of Christ was to come. It is found nowhere else at all: in no one nation or kingdom. God, then, was anointed by God; with what oil was He anointed, but a spiritual one? For the visible oil is in the sign, the invisible oil is in the mys- tery; ■ the spiritual oil is within. " God " then was " anointed " for us, and sent unto us; and God Himself was man, in order that He might be " anointed: " but He was man in such a way as to be God still. He was God in such a way as not to disdain to be man. " Very man and very God; " in nothing deceitful, in nothing false, as being everywhere true, everywhere " the Truth " itself. God then is man; and it was for this cause that " God " was " anointed," be- cause God was Man, and became " Christ."
18. This was figured in Jacob's placing a stone at his head, and so sleeping.2 The patriarch Jacob had placed a stone at his head: sleeping with that stone at his head, he saw heaven opened, and a ladder from heaven to earth, and Angels ascending and descending; 3 after this vision he awaked, anointed the stone, and de- parted. In that " stone " he understood Christ; 1 Al. " The visible oil is for a sign of the oil invisible, for it is in a sacrament." [The use of oil in confirmation, designed to teach this, operated to conceal it rather; the material chrism absorbing the spiritual idea. — CI 2 Gen. xxviii. 11-18.
3 [With which he subjoins a reference to John i. 51. — C] for that reason he anointed it. Take notice what it is whereby Christ is preached. What is the meaning of that anointing of a stone, especially in the case of the Patriarchs who worshipped but One God? It was however done as a figurative act: and he departed. For he did not anoint the stone, and come to wor- ship there constantly, and to perform sacrifice there. It was the expression of a mystery; not the commencement of sacrilege. And notice the meaning of "the stone." "The Stone which the builders refused, this is become the head of the corner." 4 Notice here a great mys- tery. The " Stone " is Christ. Peter calls Him "a living Stone, disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God." 5 And the stone is set at "the head," because "Christ is the Head of the man." 6 And " the stone " was anointed, because " Christ" was so called from His being anointed. And in the revelation of Christ, the ladder from earth to heaven is seen, or from heaven to earth, and the Angels ascending and descending. What this means, we shall see more clearly, when we have quoted the testimony from the Lord Himself in the Gospel. You know that Jacob is the same as Israel. For when he wrestled with the Angel, and " prevailed," and had been blest by Him over whom he prevailed, his named was changed, so that he was called " Israel; " just as the people of Israel " pre- vailed " 7 against Christ, so as to crucify Him, and nevertheless was (in those who believed in Christ) blest by Him over whom it prevailed. But many believed not; hence the halting of Jacob. Here we have at once, blessing and halting. Blessing on those who became be- lievers; for we know that afterward many of that people did believe: Halting on the other hand in those who believed not. And because the greater part believed not, and but few be- lieved, therefore that a halting might be pro- duced, He touched " the breadth 8 of his thigh." 9 What is meant by the breadth of the thigh? The great multitude of his descendants."5...
19. "God, Thy God, hath anointed Thee." We have been speaking of God, who was " anointed; " i.e. of Christ. The name of Christ could not be more clearly expressed than by His being called " God the Anointed." In the same way in which He was " beautiful before the children of men," so is He here " anointed with the oil of gladness above His fellows." Who then are His " fellows "? The children of men; for that He Himself (as the Son of Man) became partaker of their mortality in order to make them partakers of His Immortality.
7 Luke xxiii. 33.
8 Lat tudinem; but Vulgate, nervum. 9 Gen. xxxii. 25. 10 Multitude generis.
152 THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm XLV.
20. "Out of Thy garments is the smell of myrrh, amber, and cassia" (ver. 8). Out of Thy garments is perceived the smell of fragrant odours. By His garments are meant His Saints, His elect, His whole Church, which he shows forth, as His garment, so to speak; His robe " without spot and wrinkle," ' which on account of its spots He has " washed " in His blood; on account of its " wrinkles " extended on His Cross. Hence the sweet savour which is sig- nified by certain perfumes there mentioned. Hear Paul, that " least of the Apostles " (that " hem of that garment," which the woman with the issue of blood touched, and was healed), hear him saying: " We are a sweet savour of Christ, in every place, both in them that are saved, and in them that perish." 2 He did not say, " We are a sweet savour in them that are saved, and a foul savour in them that are lost: " but, as far as relates to ourselves, " we are a sweet savour both in them that are saved, and in them that perish."...They who loved him were saved by the odour of " sweet savour; " they who envied him, perished by means of that " sweet savour." To them that perished then he was not a foul "savour," but a "sweet savour." For it was for this very reason they the more envied him, the more excellent that grace was which reigned in him: for no man envies him who is unhappy. He then was glo- rious in the preaching of God's Word, and in regulating his life according to the rule of that " rod of direction; " and he was loved by those who loved Christ in him, who followed after and pursued the odour of sweet savour; who loved the friend of the bridegroom: that is to say, by the Bride Herself, who says in the Song of Songs,3 " We will run after the sweet savour of thy perfumes." But the others, the more they beheld him invested with the glory of the preaching of the Gospel, and of an irreproach- able life, were so much the more tortured with envy, and found that sweet savour prove death to them.
31. " Out of thy ivory palaces, whereby kings' daughters have made Thee glad." Choose which- ever you please, " ivory " palaces, or " magnifi- cent," or " royal " palaces, it is out of these that the kings' daughters have made Christ glad. Would you understand the spiritual sense of " ivory palaces "? Understand by them the magnificent houses, and tabernacles of God, the hearts of the Saints; and by these self-same " kings " those who rule their flesh; who bring into subjection to themselves the rebellious com- monalty of human affections, who chastise the body, and reduce it to bondage: for it is from these that the daughters of kings have made Him ' Eph. v. »7.
' Sol. Song i. 3, Lat.
glad. For all the souls that have been born through their preaching and evangelizing are "daughters of kings: " and the Churches, as the daughters of Apostles, are daughters of kings. For He is " King of kings; " they themselves kings, of whom it was said, " Ye shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel."4 They preached the " Word of Truth; " and begat Churches not for themselves, but for Him...Therefore as " raising up seed 5 to their brother," to as many as they begat, they gave the name not of " Paulians " or " Petrians," but of " Christians." Observe whether that sense is not wakefully kept 6 in these verses. For when he said, " out of the ivory palaces, he spake of mansions royal, ample, honourable, peaceful, like the heart of the Saints; he added, " Whereby the kings' daughters have made Thee glad in Thine honour." They are indeed daughters of kings, daughters of thine Apostles, but still " in Thine honour: " for they raised up seed to their brother. Hence Paul, when he saw those whom he had raised up unto his Brother, running after his own name, exclaimed, " Was Paul crucified for you? " '...No; for he says, " Or were ye baptized in the name of Paul?"
" The daughters of kings have made Thee glad in Thine honour." Keep, hold fast this " in Thine honour." This is meant by having " a wed- ding garment; " seeking His honour, His glory. Understand moreover by" kings' daughters " the cities, which were founded by kings, and have received the faith: and out of the ivory palaces (palaces rich, the proud, the lifted up). " Kings' daughters have made Thee glad in Thine honour; " in that they sought not the honour of their founders, but have sought Thine honour. Show me at Rome a temple of Romulus held in so great honour as I can show you the Monu- ment of Peter.8 In Peter, who is honoured but He who died for us? For we are followers of Christ, not followers of Peter. And even if we were born from the brother of Him that is dead, yet are we named after the name of Him who is dead.' We were begotten by the one, but be- gotten to the other. Behold, Rome, Carthage, and several other cities are the daughters of kings, and yet have they " made glad the King in His honour: " and all these make up one single Queen.
22. What a nuptial song! Behold in the midst of songs full of rejoicing, comes forth the Bride herself. For the Bridegroom was coming. It was He who was being described: it was on Him all our attention was fixed.
* Matt. xix. 28.
5 Oxf. mss. add, " for the Brother's name's sake."
8 Memoriam Petri. [The first basilica of St. Peter, on the Vatican, is attributed to Constantine. — C] 5 Deut xxv. 36.
Psalm XLV.]
ON THE PSALMS.
153 " Upon Thy right hand did stand the Queen " (ver. 9). She which stands on the left is no Queen. For there will be one standing on " the left " also, to whom it will be said, " Go into everlasting fire." ' But she shall stand on the right hand, to whom it will be said, " Come, ye blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom pre- pared for you from the foundation of the world."2 On Thy right hand did stand the Queen, " in a vesture of gold, clothed about with divers col- ours." What is the vesture of this Queen? It is one both precious, and also of divers colours: it is the mysteries of doctrine in all the various tongues: one African, one Syrian, one Greek, one Hebrew, one this, and one that; it is these languages that produce the divers colours of this vesture.3 But just as all the divers colours of the vesture blend together in the one vesture, so do all the languages in one and the same faith. In that vesture, let there be diversity, let there be no rent. See we have " understood " the divers colours of the diversity of tongues; and the ves- ture to refer to unity: but in that diversity itself, what is meant by the "gold"? Wisdom itself. Let there be any diversity of tongues you please, but there is but one "gold " that is preached of: not a different gold, but a different form of that gold. For it is the same Wisdom, the same doc- trine and discipline that every language preaches. In the languages there is diversity; gold in the thoughts.
23. The Prophet addresses this Queen (for he delights in singing to her), and moreover each one of us, provided, however, we know where we are, and endeavour to belong to that body, and do belong to it in faith and hope, being united in the membership of Christ.4 For it is us whom he addresses, saying, " Hearken, O daughter, and behold " (ver. 10), as being one of the " Fathers" (for they are " daughters of kings "), although it be a Prophet, or although it be an Apostle 5 that is addressing her; addressing her, as a daughter, for we are accustomed to speak in this way, " Our fathers the Prophets, our fathers the Apostles; " if we address them as " fathers," they may ad- dress us as children: and it is one father's voice addressing one daughter. " Hearken, O daughter, and see." " Hear " first; afterward " see." For they came to us with the Gospel; and that has been preached to us, which as yet we do not see, and which on hearing of it we believed, which by believing it, we shall come to see: even as the Bridegroom Himself speaks in the Prophet, " A people whom I have not known served me. In the hearing of me with the ear it obeyed 1 Matt. xxv. 41. * Matt. xxv. 34.
3_ [Hence the beauty of a Liturgy is not that it should be in (Latin)-one language, but in the many tongues of the many nations, confessing one faith. A. N. F. vol. vii. p. 533. — C.J * Uniti in tnembris Christ.
5 Al. " and thus a Prophet addresses her, and thus an Apostle addresses her."
me." 5 What is meant by on " hearing of me with the ear "? That they did not " see." The Jews saw Him, and crucified Him; the Gentiles saw Him not, and believed. Let the Queen who comes from the Gentiles come in " the vesture of gold, clothed with divers colours; " 7 let her come from among the Gentiles clad in all languages, in the unity of Wisdom: let it be said unto her, " Hearken, O daughter, and see." If thou wilt not hear, thou shalt not " see."...
" And incline thine ear." It is not enough to " hearken; " hearken with humility: bow down thine ear. " Forget also thine own people, and thy father's house." There was a certain " people," and a certain house of thy father, in which thou wast born, the people of Babylon, having the devil for thy king. Whencesoever the Gentiles came, they came from their father the devil; but they have renounced their sonship to the devil. " Forget also thine own people, and thy father's house." He, in making thee a sinner, begat thee loathsome: the Other, in that " He justifies the ungodly," 8 begetteth thee again in beauty.
24. " For the King hath greatly desired thy beauty " (ver. 1 1 ). What " beauty " is that, save that which is His own work? " Greatly desired the beauty" — Of whom? Of her the sinner, the unrighteous, the ungodly, such as she was with her " father," the devil, and among her own "people"? No, but hers of whom it is said, " Who is this that cometh up made white? " 9 She was not white then at the first, but was "made" white afterwards. For " though your sins shall be as scarlet, I will make them white as snow." IO "The king has greatly desired thy beauty." What King is this? " For He is the Lord thy God." " Now consider whether thou oughtest not to forego that thy father, and thy own people, and to come to this King, who is thy God? Thy God is " thy King," thy " King " is also thy Bridegroom. Thou weddest to thy King, who is thy God: being endowed by Him, being adorned by Him; redeemed by Him, and healed by Him. Whatever thou hast, wherewith to be pleasing to Him, thou hast from Him.
25. "And the daughters of Tyre shall wor- ship Him with gifts" (ver. 12). It is that self- same " King, who is thy God," that the daugh- ters of Tyre shall worship with gifts. The daughters of Tyre are the daughters of the Gen- tiles; the part standing for the whole. Tyre, a city bordering on this country, where the proph- ecy was delivered, typified the nations that were to believe in Christ. Thence came that 7 Ben. " with truth." Oxf. mss. varietate. 8 Rom. iv. 5.
9 Sol. Song viii. 5. Dealbata; or, Vulgate, deliciis ajftuens.
10 Isa. i. 18.
" [With the Septuagint our author omits et adora cum. The text of the Vulgate here, and that of St. Augustin and of Jerome's Hebraic Psalter, differ widely. — C.J 154 THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm XLV.
Canaanitish woman, who was at first called " a dog; " for that ye may know that she was from thence, the Gospel speaks thus. " He departed into the parts of Tyre and Sidon, and behold a woman of Canaan came out of the same coasts," with all the rest that is related there. She who at first, at the house of her " father," and among her "own people," was but "a dog," who by coming to, and crying after that " King," was made beautiful by believing in Him, what did she obtain to hear? " O woman, great is thy faith."' "The King has greatly desired thy beauty. And the daughters of Tyre shall wor- ship with gifts."2 With what gifts? Even so would this King be approached, and would have His treasuries filled: and it is He Himself who has given us that wherewith they may be filled, and may be filled 3 by you. Let them come (He says) and "worship Him with gifts." What is meant by " with gifts "?..." Give alms, and all things are clean unto you." Come with gifts to Him that saith, " I will have mercy rather than sacrifice." 4 To that Temple that ex- isted aforetime as a shadow of that which was to come, they used to come with bulls, and rams, and goats, with every different kind of animal for sacrifice: that with that blood one thing should be done, and another be typified by it. Now that very blood, which all these things used to figure, hath come: the King Himself hath come, and He Himself would have your "gifts." What gifts? Alms. For He Himself will judge hereafter, and will Himself hereafter account " gifts " to certain persons. " Come" (He says), " ye blessed of My Father." Why? " I was an hungred, and ye gave Me meat," 5 etc. These are the gifts with which the daughters of Tyre worship the King; for when they said, " When saw we Thee? " He who is at once above and below (whence those " ascending " and " de- scending" are spoken of6), said, "Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of Mine, ye have done it unto Me." 7 26..."The rich among the people shall entreat Thy face." Both they who shall entreat that face, and He whose face they will entreat, are all collectively but one Bride, but one Queen, mother and children belonging all together unto Christ, belonging unto their Head...27. " All the glory of her, the King's daughter, is from within " (ver. 13). Not only is her robe, outwardly, "of gold, and of divers colours;" but He who loved her beauty, knew her to be [A truly Punic out- 1 Matt. xv. 21-38.
2 "They shall worship Him with gifts, burst, and full of point lor the Carthaginians.1 A. W. F. Tol. iii. p. 3— C] ' Or, " and let them be rilled." A I. " and they are filled."
* Hos. vi. 6: Matt, ix 13.