5 Judg. vi. 36-40. 6 So Vulgate. 7 Rom. viii. 31. 33.
s OxC mss. add, " hath taken him up? What Physician? " 9 P». xxvii. 10.
Psalm XLVI.]
ON THE PSALMS.
159 11. "Come and see the works of the Lord" (ver. 8). Now of this taking up, what hath the Lord done? Consider the whole world, come and see. For if thou comest not, thou seest not; if thou seest not, thou believest not; if thou believest not, thou standest afar off: if thou believest thou comest, if thou believest thou seest. For how came we to that mountain? Not on foot? Is it by ship? Is it on the wing? Is it on horses? For all that pertain to space and place, be not concerned, trouble not thyself, He cometh to thee. For out of a small stone He hath grown, and become a great mountain, so that He hath filled all the face of the earth. Why then wouldest thou by land come to Him, who filleth all lands? Lo, He hath already come: watch thou. By growing He waketh even sleepers; if yet there is not in them so deep sleep, as that they be hardened even against the mountain coming; but they hear, " Awake, thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light." ' For it was a great thing for the Jews to see the stone. For the stone was yet small: and small they deservedly despised it, and despising they stumbled, and stumbling they were broken; re- mains that they be ground to powder. For so was it said of the stone, " Whosoever shall fall upon that stone shall be broken; but on whom- soever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder."2 It is one thing to be broken, another to be ground to powder. To be broken is less than to be ground to powder: but none grindeth He coming exalted, save whom He brake lying low. For now before His coming He lay low before the Jews, and they stumbled at Him, and were broken; hereafter shall He come in His Judg- ment, glorious and exalted, great and powerful, not weak to be judged, but strong to judge, and grind to powder those who were broken stum- bling at Him. For " A stone of stumbling and a rock of offence,"3 is He to them that believe not. Therefore, brethren, no wonder if the Jews acknowledged not Him, whom as a small stone lying before their feet they despised. They are to be wondered at, who even now so great a mountain will not acknowledge. The Jews at a small stone by not seeing stumbled; the here- tics stumble at a mountain. For now that stone hath grown, now say we unto them, Lo, now is fulfilled the prophecy of Daniel, " The stone that was small became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth." 4 Wherefore stumble ye at Him, and go not rather up to Him? Who is so blind as to stumble at a mountain? Came He to thee that thou shouldest have whereat to stumble, and not have whereto to go up? " Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of 2 Luke xx. 18.
3 i Pet. ii. 8.
the Lord." 5 Isaiah saith this: " Come ye, and let us go up." What is, " Come ye, and let us go up "? " Come ye," is, Believe ye. " Let us go up," is, Let us profit.6 But they will neither come, nor go up, nor believe, nor profit. They bark against the mountain. Even now by so often stumbling on Him they are broken, and will not go up, choosing always to stumble. Say we to them, " Come ye, and see the works of the Lord: " what " prodigies He hath set forth through the earth." Prodigies are called, be- cause they portend something, those signs of miracles which were done when the world be- lieved. And what thereafter came to pass, and what did they portend?
12. " He maketh wars to cease unto the end of the earth " (ver. 9). This not yet see we ful- filled: yet are there wars, wars among nations for sovereignty; among sects, among Jews, Pagans, Christians, heretics, are wars, frequent wars, some for the truth, some for falsehood contending. Not yet then is this fulfilled, "He maketh wars to cease unto the end of the earth; " but haply it shall be fulfilled. Or is it now also fulfilled? In some it is fulfilled; in the wheat it is fulfilled, in the tares it is not yet fulfilled. What is this then, " He maketh wars to cease unto the end of the earth "? Wars He calleth whereby it is warred against God. But who warreth against God? Ungodliness. And what to God can ungodliness do? Nothing. What doth an earthen vessel dashed against the rock, however vehemently dashed? With so much greater harm to itself it cometh, with how much the greater force it cometh. These wars were great, frequent were they. Against God fought ungodliness, and earthen vessels were dashed in pieces, even men by presuming on themselves, by too much pre- vailing by their own strength. This is that, the shield whereof Job also named concerning one ungodly. " He runneth against God, upon the stiff neck of his shield." ' What is, " upon the stiff neck of his shield "? Presuming too much upon his own protection. Were they such who said, " God is our refuge and strength, a Helper in tribulations which have found us out too much"? or in another Psalm, "For I will not trust in my bow, neither shall my sword save me." 8 When one learneth that in himself he is nothing, and help in himself has none, arms in him are broken in pieces, wars are made to cease. Such wars then destroyed that Voice of the Most High out of His holy clouds, whereby the earth was moved, and the kingdoms were bowed. These wars hath He made to cease unto the end of the earth. " He shall break the bow, and 5 Isa. ii. 3.
6 Oxf. mss. add, M come, and let us go up, believe, and let us profit."
7 Job xv, a6. 8 Ps. xliv. 6.
i6o THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm XLVII.
dash in pieces the arms, and burn the shield with fire." Bow, arms, shield, fire.1 The bow is plots; arms, public warfare; shields, vain pre- suming of self-protection: the fire wherewith they are burned, is that whereof the Lord said, " I am come to send fire on the earth;"' of which fire saith the Psalm, "There is nothing hid from the heat thereof." J This fire burning, no arms of ungodliness shall remain in us, needs must all be broken, dashed in pieces, burned. Remain thou unharmed, not having any help of thine own; and the more weak thou art, having no arms thine own, the more He taketh thee up, of whom it is said, " The God of Jacob is our taker up."...But when God taketh us up, doth He send us away unarmed? He arm- eth us, but with other arms, arms Evangelical, arms of truth, continence, salvation, faith, hope, charity. These arms shall we have, but not of ourselves: but the arms which of ourselves we had, are burnt up: yet if by that fire of the Holy Spirit we are kindled, whereof it is said, " He shall burn the shields with fire; " thee, who didst wish to be powerful in thyself, hath God made weak, that He may make thee strong in Him, because in thyself thou wast made weak. 13. What then followeth? "Be still." To what purpose? "And see that I am God" (ver. 10). That is, Not ye, but I am God. I created, I create anew; I formed, I form anew; I made, I make anew. If thou couldest not make thyself, how canst thou make thyself anew? This seeth not the contentious tumult of man's soul; to which contentious tumult is it said, " Be still." That is, restrain your souls from contra- diction. Do not argue, and, as it were, arm against God. Else yet live thy arms, not yet burned up with fire. But if they are burned, " Be still; " because ye have not wherewith to fight. But if ye be still in yourselves, and from Me seek all, who before presumed on yourselves, then shall ye " see that I am God." " I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth." Just before I said, by the name of earth is signified the nation of the Jews, by the name of sea the other nations. The mountains were carried into the heart of the sea; the nations are troubled, the kingdoms are bowed; the Most High gave His Voice, and the earth was moved. "The Ix>rd of Hosts is with us, the God of Jacob is our taker up" (ver. n). Miracles are done among the heathen, full filled is the faith of the heathen; burned are the arms of human presumption. Still are they, in tran- quillity of heart, to acknowledge God the Author of all their gifts. And after this glorifying, doth He yet desert the people of the Jews? of which saith the Apostle, " I say unto you, lest ye should 1 Oxf. MSB.
» Ps. xix. 6.
' with fire.'
2 Luke xii. 49.
be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened unto Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in." 4 That is, until the mountains be carried hither, the clouds rain here, the Lord here bows the kingdoms with His thunder, " until the fulness of the Gentiles become in." And what thereafter? "And so all Israel shall be saved." Therefore, here too observing the same order, " I will be exalted " (saith He) " among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth; " that is, both in the sea, and in the earth, that now might all say what followeth: " the God of Jacob is our taker up."
PSALM XLVII.s 1. The title of the Psalm goeth thus. "To the end: for the sons of Korah: a Psalm of David himself." These sons of Korah have the title also of some other Psalms, and indicate a sweet mystery, insinuate a great Sacrament: wherein let us willingly understand ourselves, and let us acknowledge in the title us who hear, and read, and as in a glass set before us behold who we are. The sons of Korah, who are they?5...Haply the sons of the Bridegroom. For the Bridegroom was crucified in the place of Calvary. Recollect the Gospel,7 where they cru- cified the Lord, and ye will find Him crucified in the place of Calvary. Furthermore, they who deride His Cross, by devils, as by beasts, are devoured. For this also a certain Scripture sig- nified. When God's Prophet Elisha was going up, children called after him mocking, " Go up thou bald head, Go up thou bald head: " but he, not so much in cruelty as in mystery, made those children to be devoured by bears out of the wood.8 If those children had not been de- voured, would they have lived even till now? Or could they not, being born mortal, have been taken off by a fever? But so in them had no mystery been shown, whereby posterity might be put in fear. Let none then mock the Cross of Christ. The Jews were possessed by devils, and devoured; for in the place of Calvary, crucifying Christ, and lifting on the Cross, they said as it were with childish sense, not understanding what they said, " Go up, thou bald head." For what is, " Go up "? " Crucify Him, Crucify Him." » For childhood is set before us to imitate humil- ity, and childhood is set before us to beware of foolishness. To imitate humility, childhood was set before us by the Lord, when He called chil- dren to Him,'° and because they were kept from Him, He said, " Suffer them to come unto Me, for of such is the Kingdom of Heaven." " The < Rom. xi. 25. 5 Lat. XLVI.
Psalm XI,VII.]
ON THE PSALMS.
161 example of childhood is set before us to beware of foolishness by the Apostle, " Brethren, be not children in understanding: " and again he pro- poseth it to imitate, " Howbeit in malice be ye children, that in understanding ye may be men." ' " For the sons of Korah " the Psalm is sung; for Christians then is it sung. Let us hear it as sons of the Bridegroom, whom senseless children cru- cified in the place of Calvary. For they earned to be devoured by beasts; we to be crowned by Angels. For we acknowledge the humility of our Lord, and of it are not ashamed. We are not ashamed of Him called in mystery " the bald " ( Calvus), from the place of Calvary. For on the very Cross whereon He was insulted, He permitted not our forehead to be bald; for with His own Cross He marked it. Finally, that ye may know that these things are said to us, see what is said.
2. "O clap your hands, all ye nations" (ver. i). Were the people of the Jews all the nations? No, but blindness in part is happened to Israel, that senseless children might cry, " Calve," " Calve; " and so the Lord might be crucified in the place of Calvary, that by His Blood shed He might redeem the Gentiles, and that might be fulfilled which saith the Apostle, " Blindness in part is happened unto Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in." 2 Let them insult, then, the vain, and foolish, and senseless, and say, "Calve," "Calve;" but ye redeemed by His Blood which was shed in the place of Calvary, say, " O clap your hands, all ye nations; " because to you hath come down the Grace of God. " O clap your hands." What is "O clap"? Rejoice. But wherefore with the hands? Because with good works. Do not rejoice with the mouth while idle with the hands. If ye rejoice, " clap your hands." The hands of the nations let Him see, who joys hath deigned to give them. What is, the hands of the nations? The acts of them doing good works. " O clap your hands, all ye nations: shout unto God with the voice of triumph." Both with voice and with hands. If with the voice only it is not well, because the hands are slow; if only with the hands it is not well, be- cause the tongue is mute. Agree together must the hands and tongue. Let this confess, these work. " Shout unto God with the voice of triumph."
3. " For the Lord Most High is terrible " (ver. 2). The Most High in descending made like one ludicrous, by ascending into Heaven is made terrible. " A great King over all the earth." Not only over the Jews; for over them also He is King. For of them also the Apostles believed, and of them many thousands of men sold their 1 1 Cor. xiv. 20.
3 Rom. xi. 35.
goods, and laid the price at the Apostles' feet,3 and in them was fulfilled what in the title of the Cross was written, " The King of the Jews." * For He is King also of the Jews. But " of the Jews " is little.5 " O clap your hands, all ye nations: for God is the King of all the earth." For it sufficeth not Him to have under Him one nation: therefore such great price gave He out of His side, as to buy the whole world.
4. " He hath subdued the people under us, and the nations under our feet " (ver. 3). Which subdued, and to whom? Who are they that speak? Haply Jews? Surely, if Apostles; surely, if Saints. For under these God hath subdued the people and the nations, that to-day are they honoured among the nations, who by their own citizens earned to be slain: as their Lord was slain by His citizens, arid is honoured among the nations; was crucified by His own, is adored by aliens, but those by a price made His own. For therefore bought He us, that aliens from Him we might not be. Thinkest thou then these are the words of Apostles, " He hath subdued the people under us, and the nations under our feet "? I know not. Strange that Apostles should speak so proudly, as to rejoice that the nations were put under their feet, that is, Christians under the feet of Apostles. For they rejoice that we are with them under the feet of Him who died for us. For under Paul's feet ran they, who would be of Paul, to whom He said, " Was Paul cruci- fied for you?"6 What then here, what are we to understand? " He hath subdued the people under us, and the nations under our feet." All pertaining to Christ's inheritance are among " all the nations," and all not pertaining to Christ's inheritance are among " all the nations: " and ye see so exalted in Christ's Name is Christ's Church, that all not yet believing in Christ lie under the feet of Christians. For what numbers now run to the Church; not yet being Christians, they ask aid of the Church;' to be succoured by us temporally they are willing, though eter- nally to reign with us as yet they are unwilling. When all seek aid of the Church, even they who are not yet in the Church, hath He not " sub- dued the people under us, and the nations under our feet"?
5. " He hath chosen an inheritance for us, the excellency 8 of Jacob, whom He loved " (ver. 4). A certain beauty of Jacob He hath chosen for our inheritance. Esau and Jacob were two brothers; in their mother's womb both struggled, and by this struggle their mother's bowels were shaken; and while they two were yet therein, the younger was elected and preferred to the 6 1 Cor. i. 13.
8 SpccitiH.
l62 THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[fSALM XLVII.
elder, and it was said, "Two peoples are in thy womb, and the elder shall serve the younger." ' Among all nations is the elder, among all nations the younger; but the younger is in good Chris- tians, elect, godly, faithful; the elder in the proud, unworthy, sinful, stubborn, defending rather than confessing their sins: as was also the very people of the Jews, " being ignorant of God's righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness." 2 But for that it is said, " The elder shall serve the younger; " it is manifest that under the godly are subdued the ungodly, under the humble are subdued the proud. Esau was born first, and Jacob was born last; but he who was last born, was preferred to the first-born, who through gluttony lost his birthright. So thou hast it written,3 He longed for the pottage, and his brother said to him, If thou wilt that I give it thee, give me thy birth- right. He loved more that which carnally he desired, than that which spiritually by being born first he had earned: 4 and he laid aside his birth- right, that he might eat lentils. But lentils we find to be the food of the Egyptians, for there it abounds in Egypt. Whence is so magnified the lentil of Alexandria, that it comes even to our country, as if here grew no lentil. Therefore by desiring Egyptian food he lost his birthright. So also the people of the Jews, of whom it is said, " in their hearts they turned back again into Egypt." s They desired in a manner the lentil, and lost their birthright.
6. " God is gone up with jubilation " (ver. 5). Even He our God, the Lord Christ, is gone up with jubilation; " the Lord with the sound of a trumpet." " Is gone up: " whither, save where we know? Whither the Jews followed Him not, even with their eyes. For exalted on the Cross they mocked Him, ascending into Heaven they did not see Him. " God hath gone up with ju- bilation." What is jubilation, but admiration of joy which cannot be expressed in words? As the disciples in joy admired, seeing Him go into Heaven, whom they had mourned dead; truly for the joy, words sufficed not: remained to ju- bilate what none could express. There was also the voice of the trumpet, the voice of Angels. For it is said, " Lift up thy voice like a trumpet." Angels preached the ascension of the Lord: they saw the Disciples, their Lord ascending, tarrying, admiring, confounded, nothing speaking, but in heart jubilant: and now was the sound of the trumpet in the clear voice of the Angels, " Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into Heaven? this is Jesus."6 As if they knew not that it was the same Jesus. Had they not just before seen Him before them? Had they not heard Him speaking with them? Nay, they not 1 Gen. xxv. 23. * Merucrat.
only saw the figure of Him present, but handled also His limbs. Of themselves then knew they not, that it was the same Jesus? But they being by very admiration, from joy of jubilation, as it were transported in mind, the Angels said, "that same is Jesus." As though they said, If ye be- lieve Him, this is that same Jesus, whom cruci- fied, your feet stumbled, whom dead and buried, ye thought your hope lost. Lo, this is the same Jesus. He hath gone up before you, " He shall so come in like manner as ye have seen Him go into Heaven." His Body is removed indeed from your eyes, but God is not separated from your hearts: see Him going up, believe on Him absent, hope for Him coming; but yet through His secret Mercy, feel Him present. For He who ascended into Heaven that He might be removed from your eyes, promised unto you, saying, " Lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world." I Justly then the Apostle so addressed us, " The Lord is at hand; be care- ful for nothing."8 Christ sitteth above the Heavens; the Heavens are far off, He who there sitteth is near...
7. "Sing praises to our God, sing praises" (ver. 6). YVhom as Man mocked they, who from God were alienated. " Sing praises to our God." For He is not Man only, but God. Man of the seed of David,9 God the Lord of David, of the Jews having flesh. " Whose " (saith the Apostle) "are the fathers, of whom as concerning the flesh Christ came." '° Of the Jews then is Christ, but according to the flesh. But who is this Christ who is of the Jews according to the flesh? " Who is over all, God blessed for ever." God before the flesh, God in the flesh, God with the flesh. Nor only God before the flesh, but God before the earth whence flesh was made; nor only God before the earth whereof flesh was made, but even God before the Heaven which was first made; God before the day which was first made; God before Angels; the same Christ is God: for " In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." " 8. " For God is the King of all the earth " (ver. 7). What? And before was He not God of all the earth? Is He not God of both heaven and earth, since by Him surely were all things made? Who can say that He is not his God? But not all men acknowledged Him their God; and where He was acknowledged, there only, so to say, He was God. " In Judah is God known." " Not yet was it said to the sons of Korah, " O clap your hands, all ye nations." For that God known in Judah, is King of all the earth: now by all He is acknowledged, for that is fulfilled which Isaiah saith, " He is thy God who hath 7 Matt, xxviii. ao. 10 Rom. ix. }.
TSALM XLVII.]
ON THE PSALMS.
163 delivered thee, the God of the whole earth shall He be called." ' " Sing ye praises with under- standing." He teacheth us and warneth us to sing praises with understanding, not to seek the sound of the ear, but the light of the heart. The Gentiles, whence ye were called that ye might be Christians, adored gods made with hands, and sang praises to them, but not with understanding. If they had sung with under- standing, they had not adored stones. When a man sensible sang to a stone insensible, did he sing with understanding? But now, brethren, we see not with our eyes Whom we adore, and yet correctly 2 we adore.3 Much more is God commended to us, that with our eyes we see Him not. If with our eyes we saw Him, haply we might despise. For even Christ seen, the Jews despised; unseen, the Gentiles adored.
9. " God shall reign over all nations " (ver. 8). Who reigned over one nation, " shall reign " (saith He) " over all nations." When this was said, God reigned over one nation. It was a prophecy, the thing was not yet shown. Thanks be to God, we now see fulfilled what before was prophesied. A written promise God sent unto us before the time, the time fulfilled He hath repaid us. "God shall reign over all nations," is a promise. " God sitteth upon His Holy Seat." What then was promised to come, now being fulfilled, is acknowledged and held. " God sitteth upon His Holy Seat." What is His Holy Seat? Haply saith one, The Heavens, and he understandeth well. For Christ hath gone up,4 as we know, with the Body, wherein He was crucified, and sitteth at the right hand of the Father; thence we expect Him to come to judge the quick and the dead.s " God sitteth upon His Holy Seat." The Heavens are His Holy Seat. Wilt thou also be His Seat? think not that thou canst not be; prepare for Him a place in thy heart. He cometh, and willingly sitteth. The same Christ is surely " the Power of God, and the Wisdom of God: " 6 and what saith the Scripture of Wisdom Herself? The soul of the righteous is the seat of Wisdom.7 If then the soul of the righteous is the seat ot Wisdom, be thy soul righteous, and thou shalt be a royal seat of Wisdom. And truly, breth- ren, all men who live well, who act well, con- verse in godly charity, doth not God sit in them, and Himself command? Thy soul obeyeth God sitting in it, and itself commandeth the mem- bers. For thy soul commandeth thy members, that so may move the foot, the hand, the eye, the ear, and itself commandeth the members as