do we read in the Gospel, that this rich man ap- peared in the fire with all-silken and fine-linen coverings? Was he of such sort in hell as he was in feastings at table? When he thirsted and desired a drop, all those things were not there. Therefore man carrieth not with him anything, nor doth the dead take with him that which the burial taketh. For where feeling is, there is the man; where is no feeling, the man is not. There lieth fallen the vessel which contained the man, the house which held the man. The body let us call the house, the spirit let us call the inhab- itant of the house. The spirit is tormented in hell: what doth it profit him, that the body lieth in spices and perfumes, wound in costly linens? just as if the master of the house should be sent into banishment, and thou shouldest garnish the walls of his house. He in banishment is in need, and doth faint with hunger, he scarce findeth to himself one hovel where he may snatch a sleep, and thou sayest, " Happy is he, for his house hath been garnished." Who would not judge that thou wast either jesting or wast mad? Thou dost garnish the body, the spirit is tormented. Give something to the spirit, and ye have given something to the dead man. But what wilt thou give him, when he desired one drop, and received not? For the man scorned to send before him anything. Wherefore scorned? " because this their way is a stum- bling-block to them."2 He minded not any ' OxtMss. "do."
' P«. xlix. 13.
but the present life, he thought not but how he might be buried, wound in costly vestments. His soul was taken from him, as the Lord saith: " Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be taken from thee, and whose shall those things be which thou hast provided?"3 And that is ful- filled which this Psalm saith: " Fear not, though a man be made rich, and though the glory of his house be multiplied: for when he shall die he shall not receive anything, nor shall his glory descend together with him."
7. Let your love observe: " For his soul shall be blessed in his life" (ver. 18). As long as he lived he did well for himself. This all men say, but say falsely. It is a blessing from the mind of the blesser, not from the truth itself. For what sayest thou? Because he ate and drank, because he did what he chose, because he feasted sumptuously, therefore he did well with himself. I say, he did ill for himself. Not I say, but Christ. He did ill for himself. For that rich man, when he feasted sumptuously every day, was supposed to do well with him- self: but when he began to burn in hell, then that which was supposed to be well was found to be ill. For what he had eaten with men above,4 he digested in hell beneath. Unright- eousness I mean, brethren, on which he used to feast. He used to eat costly banquets with the mouth of flesh, with his heart's mouth he used to eat unrighteousness. What he ate with his heart's mouth with men above, this he digested amid those punishments in the places beneath. And verily he had eaten for a time, he digested ill for everlasting. Is then unrighteousness eaten? perhaps some one saith: what is it that he saith? Unrighteousness eaten? It is not I that say: hear the Scripture: "As a sour grape is vexation to the teeth, and smoke to the eyes, so is unrighteousness to them that use it." ' For he that shall have eaten unrighteousness, that is, he that shall have had unrighteousness wil- fully, shall not be able to eat righteousness. For righteousness is bread. Who is bread? "I am the living bread which came down from heaven."6 Himself is the bread of our heart...Is then even righteousness eaten? If it were not eaten, the Lord would not have said, " Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness." 7 Therefore " since his soul shall be blessed in life," in life it " shall " be blessed, in death it shall be tormented...
8. " He shall confess to Thee, when Thou shalt have done him good." Be not of such sort, brethren: see ye how that to this end we say these words, to this end we sing, to this end we treat, to this end toil — do not these things. Your business doth prove you: sometimes in 3 Luke xii. 30. 6 John vi. 51.
s Prov. x. 26.
Psalm L.]
ON THE PSALMS.
177 your business ye hear the truth, and ye blas- pheme. The Church ye blaspheme. Where- fore? Because ye are Christians. " If so it be, I betake myself to Donatus's party: I will be a heathen." ' Wherefore? Because thou hast eaten bread, and the teeth are in pain. When thou sawest the bread itself, thou didst praise; thou beginnest to eat, and the teeth are in pain; that is, when thou wast hearing the Word of God thou didst praise: when it is said to thee, " Do this," thou blasphemest: do not so ill: say this, " The bread is good, but I cannot eat it." But now if thou seest with the eyes, thou praisest: when thou beginnest to close the teeth, thou sayest, " Bad is this bread, and like him that made it." So it cometh to pass that thou confessest to God, when God doeth thee good: and thou liest when thou singest, " I will alway bless God, His praise is ever in my mouth." 2 How alway? If alway gain, alway He is blessed: if sometime there is loss, He is not blessed, but blasphemed. Forsooth thou blessest alway, for- sooth His praise is ever in thy mouth! Thou wilt be such as just now he describeth: " He will confess to Thee, when Thou shalt have done him good."
9. " He shall enter even unto the generations of his fathers " (ver. 19): that is, he shall imi- tate his fathers. For the unrighteous, that now are, have brothers, have fathers. Unrighteous men of old, are the fathers of the present; and they that are now unrighteous, are the fathers of unrighteous posterity: just as the fathers of the righteous, the righteous of old, are the fathers of the righteous that now are; and they that now are, are the fathers of them that are to be. The Holy Spirit hath willed to show that righteousness is not evil when men murmur against her: but these men have their father from the beginning, even to the generation of their fathers. Two men Adam begat, and in one was unrighteousness, in one was righteousness: unrighteousness in Cain, righteousness in Abel.3 Unrighteousness seemed to prevail over right- eousness, because Cain unrighteous slew Abel righteous 4 in the night. Is it so in the morning? Nay, " but the righteous shall reign over them in the morning." 5 The morning shall come, and it shall be seen where Abel is, and where Cain. So all men who are after Cain, and so all who are after Abel, even unto the end of the world. " He shall enter even unto the generations of his fathers: even to eternity he shall not see light." Because even when he was here, he was in darkness, taking pleasure in false goods, and not loving real goods: even so he shall go hence 1 Those who became Donatists declared themselves not yet Christians, in order to be rebaptized.
into hell: from the darkness of his dreams the darkness of torments shall receive him. There- fore, " even to eternity he shall not see light."
But wherefore this? What he hath written in the middle of the Psalm,6 the same also he hath writ at the end: " Man, though he was in honour, understood not, was compared to the beasts without sense, and was made like to them" (ver. 20). But ye, brethren, consider that ye be men made after the image and like- ness of God. The image 7 of God is within, is not in the body; is not in these ears which ye see, and eyes, and nostrils, and palate, and hands, and feet; but is made nevertheless: 8 wherein is the intellect, wherein is the mind, wherein the power of discovering truth, wherein is faith, wherein is your hope, wherein your charity, there God hath His Image: there at least ye perceive and see that these things pass away; for so he hath said in another Psalm, " Though man walketh in an image, yet he is disquieted in vain: he heapeth up treasures, and knoweth not for whom he shall gather them." 9 Be not disquieted, for of whatsoever kind these things be, they are transitory, if ye are men who being in honour understand. For if being men in honour ye understand not, ye are compared to the beasts without sense, and are made like to them.
PSALM L.-° PSALM L.-° 1. How much availeth the Word of God to us for the correction of our life, both regarding His rewards to be expected, and His punish- ments to be feared, let each one measure " in himself; and let him put his conscience without deceit before His eyes, and not flatter himself in a danger so great: for ye see that even our Lord God Himself doth flatter no one: though He comforteth us by promising His blessings, and by strengthening our hope; yet them that live ill and despise His word He assuredly spareth not. Let each one examine himself, while it is time, and let him see where he is, and either persevere in good, or be changed from evil. For as he saith in this Psalm, not any man what- ever nor any angel whatever, but, " The Lord, the God of gods, hath spoken " (ver. 1). But in speaking, He hath done what? " He hath called the earth from the rising of the sun unto the going down." He that " hath called the world from the rising of the sun unto the going down," is Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, " the Word made Flesh," 12 in order that He might dwell in us. Our Lord Jesus Christ then 9 Ps. xxxix. 6.
10 Lat. XLIX. From a sermon to the people.
1 78 THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm L, is the " God of gods; " because by Himself were all things made, and without Himself was nothing made. The Word of God, if He is God, is truly the God of gods; but whether He be God the Gospel answereth, " In the begin- ning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." ' And if all things were made by Himself, as He saith in the sequel, then if any were made gods, by Himself were they made. For the one God was not made, and He is Himself alone truly God. But Himself the only God, Father and Son and Holy Ghost, is one God.
2. But then who are those gods, or where are they, of whom God is the true God? Another Psalm saith, " God hath stood in the synagogue of gods, but in the midst He judgeth gods." 2 As yet we know not whether perchance any gods be congregated in heaven, and in their congre- gation, for this is " in the synagogue," God hath stood to judge. See in the same Psalm those to whom he saith, " I have said, Ye are gods, and children of the Highest all; but ye shall die like men, and fall like one of the princes." 3 It is evident then, that He hath called men gods, that are deified of His Grace, not born of His Substance. For He doth justify, who is just through His own self, and not of another; and He doth deify who is God through Himself, not by the partaking of another. But He that justifieth doth Himself deify, in that by justify- ing He doth make sons of God. " For He hath given them power to become the sons of God." * If we have been made sons of God, we have also been made gods: but this is the effect of Grace adopting, not of nature generating. For the only Son of God, God, and one God with the Father, Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, was in the beginning the Word, and the Word with God, the Word God. The rest that are made gods, are made by His own Grace, are not born of His Substance, that they should be the same as He, but that by favour they should come to Him, and be fellow-heirs with Christ. For so great is the love in Him the Heir, that He hath willed to have fellow-heirs. What covetous man would will this, to have fellow- heirs? But even one that is found so to will, will share with them the inheritance, the sharer having less himself, than if he had possessed alone: but the inheritance wherein we are fel- low-heirs of Christ, is not lessened by multitude of possessors, nor is it made narrower by the number of fellow-heirs: but is as great for many as it is for few, as great for individuals as for all. "See," saith the Apostle, "what love God hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called, and be, the sons of God."' And in 'J ohn i. i. ohn i. is.
3 P». lxxxii. 6, 7.
another place, " Dearly beloved, we are the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be." We are therefore in hope, not yet in substance. " But we know," he saith, " that when He shall have appeared, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is." 6 The Only Son is like Him by birth, we like by see- ing. For we are not like in such sort as He, who is the same as He is by whom He was be- gotten: for we are like, not equal: He, because equal, is therefore like. We have heard who are the gods that being made are justified, because they are called the sons of God: and who are the gods that are not Gods, to whom the God of gods is terrible? For another Psalm saith, " He is terrible over all gods." 7 And as if thou shouldest enquire, what gods? He saith, "For all the gods of the nations are devils." To the gods of the nations, to the devils, terrible: to the gods made by Himself, to sons, lovely. Furthermore, I find both of them confessing the Majesty of God, both the devils confessed Christ, and the faithful confessed Christ. " Thou art Christ, the Son of the living God," 8 said Peter. " We know who Thou art, Thou art the Son of God," 9 said the devils. A like confession I hear, but like love I find not; nay even here love, there fear. To whom therefore He is lovely, the same are sons; to whom He is terrible, are not sons; to whom He is lovely, the same He hath made gods; those to whom He is terrible He doth prove not to be gods. For these are made gods, those are re- puted gods: these Truth maketh gods, those error doth so account.
3. " The God," therefore, " of gods, the Lord hath spoken"10 (ver. 1). Hath spoken many ways. By Angels He hath Himself spoken, by Prophets He hath Himself spoken, by His own mouth He hath Himself spoken, by His faithful He doth Himself speak, by our lowliness, when we say anything true, He doth Himself speak. See then, by speaking diversely, many ways, by many vessels, by many instruments, yet He doth Himself sound everywhere, by touching, mould- ing, inspiring: see what He hath done. For " He hath spoken, and hath called the world." What world? Africa, perhaps! for the sake of those that say, the Church of Christ is the por- tion of Donatus. Africa indeed alone He hath not called, but even Africa He hath not severed. For He that "hath called the world from the rising of the sun unto the going down," leaving out no parts that He hath not called, in His calling hath found Africa. Let it rejoice there- fore in unity, not pride itself in division. We say well, that the voice of the God of gods hath come even into Africa, hath not stayed in Africa.
Psalm L.]
ON THE PSALMS.
179 For " He hath called the world from the rising of the sun unto the going down." There is no place where may lurk, the conspiracies of here- tics, they have no place wherein they may hide themselves under the shadow of falsehood; for " there is none that can hide himself from the heat thereof." ' He that hath called the world, hath called even the whole world: He that hath called the world, hath called as much as He hath formed. Why do false christs and false prophets rise up against me? why is it that they strive to ensnare me with captious words, saying, " Lo! here is Christ, Lo! He is there! "2 I hear not them that point out portions: the God of gods hath pointed out the whole: " He" that " hath called the world from the rising of the sun unto the going down," hath redeemed the whole; but hath condemned them that lay false claim to3 portions.
4. But we have heard the world called from the rising of the sun unto the going down: whence doth He begin to call, who hath called? This thing also hear ye: " Out of Sion is the semblance of His beauty" (ver. 2). Evident- ly the Psalm doth agree with the Gospel, which saith, " Throughout all nations* beginning at Jerusalem." 4 Hear, " Throughout all nations: " He hath called the world from the rising of the sun unto the going down." Hear, " Beginning at Jerusalem: " " Out of Sion is the semblance of His beauty." Therefore, " He hath called the world from the rising of the sun unto the going down," agreeth with the words of the Lord, who saith, " It behoved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day; and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His Name throughout all nations." 5 For all nations are from the rising of the sun unto the going down. But that, " Out of Sion is the semblance of His beauty," that thence beginneth the beauty of His Gospel, that thence He began to be preached, being " beautiful in form beyond the sons of men," 5 agreeth with the words of the Lord, who saith, " Beginning at Jerusalem." New things are in tune with old, old things with new: the two Seraphim say to one another, " Holy, holy, holy, Lord God of Sabaoth." 1 The two Testaments are both in tune, and the two Testaments have one voice: let the voice of the Testaments in tune be heard, not that of pretenders disinherited. This thing then hath the God of gods done, " He hath called the world from the rising of the sun unto the going down, His semblance going before out of Sion." For in that place were His disciples,8 who received the Holy Ghost sent from heaven on the fiftieth day after 1 Ps xix. 6. * Luke xxiv. 47. 7 Isa. vi. 3.
3 Calumniantes. 6 Ps. xlv. 2.
His resurrection. Thence the Gospel, thence the preaching, thence the whole world filled, and that in the Grace of Faith.
5. For when the Lord Himself had come, because He came to suffer, He came hidden: and though He was strong in Himself, He ap- peared in the flesh weak. For He must needs appear in order that He might not be perceived; be despised, in order that He might be slain. There was semblance of glory in divinity, but it lay concealed in flesh. " For if they had known, they would never have crucified the Lord of glory."9 So then He walked hidden among the Jews, among His enemies, doing marvels, suffer- ing ills, until He was hanged on the tree, and the Jews seeing Him hanging both despised Him the more, and before the Cross wagging their heads they said, " If He be the Son of God, let Him come down from the Cross." IO Hidden then was the God of gods, and He gave forth words more out of compassion for us than out of His own majesty. For whence, unless as- sumed from us, were those words, " My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken me?" " But when hath the Father forsaken the Son, or the Son the Father? Are not Father and Son one God? Whence then, " My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me," save that in the Flesh of infirmity there was acknowledged the voice of a sinner? For as He took upon Him the likeness of the flesh of sin,'2 why should He not take upon Him the voice of sin? Hidden then was the God of gods, both when He walked among men, and when He hungered, and when He thirsted, and when fatigued He sat, and when with wearied body He slept, and when taken, and when scourged, and when standing before the judge, and when He made answer to him in his pride, " Thou couldest have no power against Me, except it had been given thee from above; " '3 and while led as a victim " before His shearer He opened not His mouth," '4 and while crucified, and while buried, He was always hidden God of gods. What took place after He rose again? The disciples marvelled, and at first believed not, until they touched and han- dled. '5 But flesh had risen, because flesh had been dead: Divinity which could not die, even still lay hid in the flesh of Him rising. Form could be seen, limbs held, scars handled: the Word by whom all things were made, who doth see? who doth hold? who doth handle? And yet " the Word was made flesh, and dwelled among us." l6 And Thomas, that was holding Man, understood God as he was able. For when he had handled the scars, he cried out, 9 1 Cor. 11 Ps. xxii Matt, xxvii. 46. ike xxiv. 37-40.
13 John xix. 1 " Lu i8o THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm L.
" My Lord, and my God." Yet the Lord was showing that form, and that flesh, which they had seen upon the Cross, which had been laid in the sepulchre. He stayed with them forty days...But what was said to Thomas han- dling? " Because thou hast seen, thou hast believed; blessed are they that see not, and believe." ' We are foretold. That world called from the rising of the sun unto the going down seeth not, and believeth. Hidden then is the God of gods, both to those among whom He walked, and to those by whom He was crucified, and to those before whose eyes He rose, and to us who believe on Him in heaven sitting, whom we have not seen on earth walking. But even if we were to see, should we not see that which the Jews saw and crucified? It is more, that not seeing we believe Christ to be God, than that they seeing deemed Him only to be man. They in a word by thinking evil slew, we by believing well are made alive.
6. What then, brethren? This God of gods, both then hidden, and now hidden, shall He ever be hidden? Evidently not: hear what fol- loweth: " God shall come manifest " (ver. 3). He that came hidden, shall come manifest. Hidden He came to be judged, manifest He shall come to judge: hidden He came that He might stand before a judge, manifest He shall come that He may be judge even of judges: " He shall come manifest, and shall not be silent." But why? Is He now silent? And whence are all the words that we say? whence those precepts? whence those warnings? whence that trumpet of terror? He is not silent, and is silent: is not silent from warning, is silent from avenging: is not silent from precept, is silent from judgment. For He suffereth sin- ners daily doing evil things, not caring for God, not in their conscience, not in heaven, not in earth: all these things escape Him not, and universally He doth admonish all; and when- ever He chastiseth any on earth, it is admoni- tion, not yet condemnation. He is silent then from judgment, He is hidden in heaven, as yet He intercedeth for us: He is long-suffering to sinners, not putting forth His wrath, but awaiting penitence. He saith in another place: " I have held my peace, shall I always hold my peace? " * When then He shall not hold His peace, "God shall come manifest." What God? " Our God." And the God Himself, who is our God: for he is not God, who is not our God. For the gods of the nations are devils: the God of Chris- tians is very God. Himself shall come, but " manifest," not still to be mocked, not still to be buffeted and scourged: He shall come, but " manifest," not still to be smitten with a reed 1 John xx. ao.
3 Isa. xlii. 14.
upon the head, not still to be crucified, slain, buried: for all these things God being hidden hath willed to suffer. " He shall come mani- fest, and shall not be silent."