* Wisd. xii. 25, 26. 6 John xi.; Acts ix 2 Heb. xii. 6.
3. " I will be glad and exult in Thee " (ver. 2). Not any more in this world, not in pleasure of bodily dalliance, not in relish of palate and tongue, not in sweetness of perfumes, not in joyousness of passing sounds, not in the various- ly coloured forms of figure, not in vanities of men's praise, not in wedlock and perishable off- spring, not in superfluity of temporal wealth, not in this world's getting, whether it extend over place and space, or be prolonged in time's suc- cession: but, " I will be glad and exult in Thee," namely, in the hidden things of the Son, where " the light of Thy countenance hath been stamped on us, O Lord: " ' for, " Thou wilt hide them," saith he, " in the hiding place of Thy countenance." 8 He then will be glad and exult in Thee, who tells all Thy marvels. And He will tell all Thy marvels (since it is now spoken of prophetically), "who came not to do His own will, but the will of Him who sent Him." ' 4. For now the Person of the Lord begins to appear speaking in this Psalm. For it follows, " I will sing to Thy Name, O Most High, in turning mine enemy behind." His enemy then, where was he turned back? Was it when it was said to him, " Get thee behind, Satan "? '° For then he who by tempting desired to put himself before, was turned behind, by failing in deceiv- ing Him who was tempted, and by availing nothing against Him. For earthly men are be- hind: but the heavenly man is preferred before, although he came after. For " the first man is of the earth, earthy: the second Man is from heaven, heavenly."" But from this stock he came by whom it was said, " He who cometh after me is preferred before me." I2 And the Apos- tle forgets " those things that are behind, and reaches forth unto those things that are before." '* The enemy, therefore, was turned behind, after that he could not deceive the heavenly Man be- ing tempted; and he turned himself to earthy men, where he can have dominion...For in truth the devil is turned behind, even in the per- secution of the righteous, and he, much more to their advantage, is a persecutor, than if he went before as a leader and a prince. We most sing then to the Name of the Most High in turning the enemy behind: since we ought to choose rather to fly from him as a persecutor, than to follow him as a leader. For we have whither we may fly and hide ourselves in the hidden things of the Son; seeing that " the Lord hath been made a refuge for us." '4 5. "They will be weakened, and perish from Thy face" (ver. 3). Who will be weakened and perish, but the unrighteous and ungodly? " They will be weakened," while they shall avail » Ps. iv. 6. 10 Matt. xvi. 33. " Phil. iii. 13.
34 THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm IX.
nothing; " and they shall perish," because the ungodly will not be; " from the face " of God, that is, from the knowledge of God, as he per- ished who said," But now I live not, but Christ liveth in me." ' But why will the ungodly " be weakened and perish from thy face? " " Because," he saith, " Thou hast made my judgment, and my cause: " that is, the judgment in which I seemed to be judged, Thou hast made mine; and the cause in which men condemned me just and innocent, Thou hast made mine. For such things served1 Him for our deliverance: as sailors too call the wind theirs, which they take advantage of for prosperous sailing.
6. " Thou satest on the throne Who judgest equity" (ver. 4). Whether the Son say this to the Father, who said also, " Thou couldest have no power against Me, except it were given thee from above," 3 referring this very thing, that the Judge of men was judged for men's advantage, to the Father's equity and His own hidden things: or whether man say to God, " Thou sat- est on the throne Who judgest equity," giving the name of God's throne to his soul, so that his body may peradventure be the earth, which is called God's " footstool: " 4 for " God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself:"5 or whether the soul of the Church, perfect now and without spot and wrinkle,6 worthy, that is, of the hidden things of the Son, in that " the King hath brought her into His chamber," 7 say to her spouse, " Thou satest upon the throne Who judgest equity," in that Thou hast risen from the dead, and ascended up into heaven, and sittest at the right hand of the Father: whichsoever, I say, of those opinions, whereunto this verse may be referred, is preferred, it trans- gresses not the rule of faith.
7. " Thou hast rebuked the heathen, and the ungodly hath perished" (ver. 5). We take this to be more suitably said to the Lord Jesus Christ, than said by Him. For who else hath rebuked the heathen, and the ungodly perished, save He, who after that He ascended up into heaven, sent the Holy Ghost, that, filled by Him, the Apostles should preach the word of God with boldness, and freely reprove men's sins? At which rebuke the ungodly perished; because the ungodly was justified and was made godly. " Thou hast effaced their name for the world,8 and for the world's world. The name of the ungodly hath been effaced. For they are not called ungodly who believe in the true God. Now their name is effaced " for the world," that is, as long as the course of the temporal world endures. " And for the world's world." What ■ Gal. ii. 30. 4 Its. Ixvi. 1.
7 Song of Sol. i. 4. • Or ' unto the age." strcitlntii. The meaning of " age," as in it expression " world without end," is the primary one in Latin.
is " the world's world," but that whose image and shadow, as it were, this world possesses? For the change of seasons succeeding one an- other, whilst the moon is on the wane, and again on the increase, whilst the sun each year returns to his quarter, whilst spring, or summer, or autumn, or winter passes away only to return, is in some sort an imitation of eternity. But this world's world is that which abides in immutable eternity. As a verse in the mind, and a verse in the voice 1 the former is understood, the lat- ter heard; and the former fashions the latter; and hence the former works in art and abides, the latter sounds in the air and passes away. So the fashion of this changeable world is de- fined by that world unchangeable which is called the world's world. And hence the one abides in the art, that is, in the Wisdom and Power of God: but the other is made to pass in the gov- ernance of creation. If after all it be not a repetition, so that after it was said " for the world," lest it should be understood of this world that passeth away, it were added " for the world's world." For in the Greek copies it is thus, cis tov alCoi'a, Kal ets tov aiuiva tov aluivoi. Which the Latins have for the most rendered, not, " for the world, and for the world's world; " ' but, " for ever, and for the world's world," '° that in the words " for the world's world," the words " for ever," should be explained. "The name," then, " of the ungodly Thou hast effaced for ever," for from henceforth the ungodly shall never be. And if their name be not prolonged unto this world, much less unto the world's world. " 8. " The swords of the enemy have failed at the end" (ver. 6). Not enemies in the plural, but this enemy in the singular. Now what enemy's swords have failed but the devil's? Now these are understood to be divers erroneous opinions, whereby as with swords he destroys souls. In overcoming these swords, and in bring- ing them to failure, that sword is employed, of which it is said in the seventh Psalm, " If ye be not converted, He will brandish His sword."12 And peradventure this is the end, against which the swords of the enemy fail; since up to it they are of some avail. Now it worketh secretly, but in the last judgment it will be brandished openly. By it the cities are destroyed. For so it follows, " The swords of the enemy have failed at the end: and Thou hast destroyed the cities." Cities indeed wherein the devil rules, where crafty and deceitful counsels hold, as it were, the place of a court, on which supremacy attend as officers and ministers the services of all the members, 9 hi strati it in et in stn alum sttculi. [African Psalter, probably. -C] 10 In aternum et in sacnlum sercnii. [So the Vulgate. — C] 11 [Jerome reads: In sempiternum et jngiter. — C.J 12 Ps. vii. J2, Psalm IX] ON THE PSALMS.
35 the eyes for curiosity, the ears for lasciviousness, or for whatsoever else is gladly listened to that bears on evil, the hands for rapine or any other violence or pollution soever, and all the other members after this manner serving the tyrannical supremacy, that is, perverse counsels. Of this city the commonalty, as it were, are all soft affec- tions and disturbing emotions of the mind, stir- ring up daily seditions in a man. So then where a king, where a court, where ministers, where commonalty are found, there is a city. Now again would such things be in bad cities, unless they were first in individual men, who are, as it were, the elements and seeds of cities. These cities He destroys, when on the prince being shut out thence, of whom it was said, " The prince of this world " has been "cast out," ' these kingdoms are wasted by the word of truth, evil counsels are laid to sleep, vile affections tamed, the ministries of the members and senses taken captive, and transferred to the service of right- eousness and good works: that as the Apostle says, " Sin should no more reign in " our " mortal body,"2 and so forth. Then is the soul at peace, and the man is disposed to receive rest and blessedness. " Their memorial has perished with uproar: " with the uproar, that is, of the ungodly. But it is said, " with uproar," either because when ungodliness is overturned, there is uproar made: for none passeth to the high- est place, where there is the deepest silence, but he who with much uproar shall first have warred with his own vices: or " with uproar," is said, that the memory of the ungodly should perish in the perishing even of the very uproar, in which ungodliness riots.
9. " And the Lord abideth for ever" (ver. 7). " Wherefore " then " have the heathen raged, and the people imagined vain things against the Lord, and against His anointed: " 3 for " the Lord abideth for ever. He hath prepared His seat in judgment, and He shall judge the world in equity." He prepared His seat when He was judged. For by that patience Man purchased heaven, and God in Man profited believers. And this is the Son's hidden judgment. But seeing He is also to come openly and in the sight of all to judge the quick and the dead, He hath prepared His seat in the hidden judgment: and He shall also openly "judge the world in equity: " that is, He shall distribute gifts pro- portioned to desert, setting the sheep on His right hand, and the goats on His left.4 " He shall judge the people with justice "(ver. 8). This is the same as was said above, " He shall judge the world in equity." Not as men judge who see not the heart, by whom very often worse men are acquitted than are condemned: but " in 1 John xii. 31. * Matt. xxv. 33.
3 Rom. vi. 12.
3 Ps.
equity " and " with justice " shall the Lord judge, " conscience bearing witness, and thoughts ac- cusing, or else excusing." 5 10. "And the Lord hath become a refuge to the poor" (ver. 9). Whatsoever be the persecutions of that enemy, who hath been turned behind, what harm shall he do to them whose refuge the Lord hath become? But this will be, if in this world, in which that one has an office of power, they shall choose to be poor, by loving nothing which either here leaves a man while he lives and loves, or is left by him when he dies. For to such a poor man hath the Lord become a refuge, " an Helper in due season, in tribulation." Lo, He maketh poor, for " He scourgeth every son whom He receiveth." 6 For what " an Helper in due season " is, he explained by adding " in tribulation." For the soul is not turned to God, save when it is turned away from this world: nor is it more seasonably turned away from this world, except toils and pains be min- gled with its trifling and hurtful and destructive pleasures.
n. " And let them who know Thy Name, hope in Thee " (ver. 10), when they shall have ceased hoping in wealth, and in the other en- ticements of this world. For the soul indeed that seeketh where to fix her hope, when she is torn away from this world, the knowledge of God's Name seasonably receives. For the mere Name of God hath now been published every- where: but the knowledge of the name is, when He is known whose name it is. For the name is not a name for its own sake, but for that which it signifies. Now it has been said, " The Lord is His Name." 7 Wherefore whoso willingly submits himself to God as His servant, hath known this name. " And let them who know Thy Name hope in Thee " (ver. 10), Again, the Lord saith to Moses, " I am That I am; and Thou shalt say to the children of Israel, I AM, hath sent me." 8 " Let them " then " who know Thy Name, hope in Thee; " that they may not hope in those things which flow by in time's quick revolution, having nothing but " will be " and " has been." For what in them is future, when it arrives, straightway becomes the past; it is awaited with eagerness, it is lost with pain. But in the nature of God nothing will be, as if it were not yet; or hath been, as if it were no longer: but there is only that which is, and this is eternity. Let them cease then to hope in and love things temporal, and let them apply themselves to hope eternal, who know His name who said, " I am That I am; " and of whom it was said, " I AM hath sent me." 8 " For Thou hast not forsaken them that seek Thee, O Lord." Whoso seek Him, seek no more things transient 5 Rom. ii. 15. 8 Ex. iii. 14.
<■ Heb. xii. 6.
7 Jcr. xxxiii. a.
36 THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm IX.
and perishable; " For no man can serve two masters." ' 12. " Sing to the Lord, who dwelleth in Sion" (ver. n), is said to them, whom the Lord for- sakes not as they seek Him. He dwelleth in Sion, which is interpreted watching, and which beareth the likeness of the Church that now is; as Jerusalem beareth the likeness of the Church that is to come, that is, the city of Saints already enjoying life angelical; for Jerusalem is by in- terpretation the vision of peace.1 Now watching goes before vision, as this Church goes before that one which is promised, the city immortal and eternal. But in time it goes before, not in dignity: because more honourable is that whither we are striving to arrive, than what we practise, that we may attain to arrive; now we practise watching, that we may arrive at vision. But again this same Church which now is, unless the Lord inhabit her, the most earnest watching might run into any sort of error. And to this Church it was said, " For the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are: " J again, " that Christ may dwell in the inner man in your hearts by faith." * It is enjoined us then, that we sing to the Lord who dwelleth in Sion, that with one accord we praise the Lord, the Inhabitant of the Church. " Show forth His wonders among the heathen." It has both been done, and will not cease to be done.
13. " For requiring their blood He hath re- membered" (ver. 12). As if they, who were sent to preach the Gospel, should make answer to that injunction which has been mentioned, " Show forth His wonders among the heathen," and should say, "O Lord, who hath believed our report? " 5 and again, " For Thy sake we are killed all the day long; " 6 the Psalmist suitably goes on to say, That Christians not without great reward of eternity will die in persecution, " for requiring their blood He hath remembered." But why did he choose to say, "their blood"? Was it, as if one of imperfect knowledge and less faith should ask, How will they " show them forth," seeing that the infidelity of the heathen will rage against them; and he should be answered, " For requiring their blood He hath remembered," that is, the last judgment will come, in which both the glory of the slain and the punishment of the slayers shall be made manifest? But let no one suppose "He hath remembered " to be so used, as though forget- fulness can attach to God; but since the judg- ment will be after a long interval, it is used in accordance with the feeling of weak men, who think God hath forgotten, because He doth not act so speedily as they wish. To such is said * Man. vi. 14.
* Man. vi. 14.
* x Cor. iii. 17 * Pi. xliv. aa.
' See more fully on P«. li. 18 (Lat. 1. ao). 4 Eph. iii. 17. SIia.U.1, what follows also, " He hath not forgotten the cry of the poor: " that is, He hath not, as you suppose, forgotten. As if they should on hear- ing, " He hath remembered," say, Then He had forgotten; No, " He hath not forgotten," says the Psalmist, " the cry of the poor."
14. But I ask, what is that cry of the poor, which God forgetteth not? Is it that cry, the words whereof are these, " Pity me, O Lord, see my humiliation at the hands of my enemies"? (ver. 13). Why then did he not say, Pity " us " 0 Lord, see our humiliation at the hands of " our " enemies, as if many poor were crying; but as if one, Pity " me," O Lord? Is it because One intercedeth for the Saints, "who" first " for our sakes became poor, though He was rich; " ' and it is He who saith, " Who exaltest me from the gates of death (ver. 14), that I may declare all Thy praises in the gates of the daughter of Sion "? For man is exalted in Him, not that Man only which He beareth, which is the Head of the Church; but which- soever one of us also is among the other mem- bers, and is exalted from all depraved desires; which are the gates of death, for that through them is the road to death. But the joy in the fruition is at once death itself, when one gains what he hath in abandoned wilfulness coveted: for " coveting is the root of all evil: " 8 and there- fore is the gate of death, for " the widow that liveth in pleasures is dead." 9 At which pleas- ures we arrive through desires as it were through the gates of death. But all highest purposes are the gates of the daughter of Sion, through which we come to the vision of peace in the Holy Church...Or haply are the gates of death the bodily senses and eyes, which were opened when the man tasted of the forbidden tree,10...and are the gates of the daughter of Sion the sacraments and beginnings of faith, which are opened to them that knock, that they may arrive at the hidden things of the Son?...
15. Then follows, "I will exult for Thy sal- vation: " that is, with blessedness shall I be holden by Thy salvation, which is our Lord Jesus Christ, the Power and Wisdom of God. There- fore says the Church, which is here in affliction and is saved by hope, as long as the hidden judg- ment of the Son is, in hope she says, " I will exult for Thy salvation: " for now she is worn down either by the roar of violence around her, or by the errors of the heathen. " The heathen are fixed in the corruption, which they made " (ver. 15). Consider ye how punishment is reserved for the sinner, out of his own works; and how they that have wished to persecute the Church, have been fixed in that corruption, which they thought to inflict. For they were desiring to 8 z Tim. vi. xo.
9 1 Tim. v. 6.
Psalm X] ON THE PSALMS.
37 kill the body, whilst they themselves were dying in soul. " In that snare which they hid, has their foot been taken." The hidden snare is crafty devising. The foot of the soul is well understood to be its love: which, when depraved, is called coveting or lust; but when upright, love or charity...And the Apostle says, "That being rooted and grounded in love, ye may be able to take in." l The foot then of sinners, that is, their love, is taken in the snare, which they hide: for when delight shall have followed on to deceitful dealing, when God shall have delivered them over to the lust of their heart; that delight at once binds them, that they dare not tear away their love thence and apply it to profitable objects; for when they shall make the attempt, they will be pained in heart, as if desir- ing to free their foot from a fetter: and giving way under this pain they refuse to withdraw from pernicious delights. " In the snare " then " which they have hid," that is, in deceitful coun- sel, " their foot hath been taken," that is, their love, which through deceit attains to that vain joy whereby pain is purchased.
»6. "The Lord is known executing judg- ments" (ver. 16). These are God's judgments. Not from that tranquillity of His blessedness, nor from the secret places of wisdom, wherein blessed souls are received, is the sword, or fire, or wild beast, or any such thing brought forth, whereby sinners may be tormented: but how are they tormented, and how does the Lord do judgment? "In the works," he says, "of his own hands hath the sinner been caught."
17. Here is interposed, "The song of the diapsalma " (ver. 16): as it were the hidden joy, as far as we can imagine, of the separation which is now made, not in place, but in the af- fections of the heart, between sinners and the righteous, as of the corn from the chaff, as yet on the floor. And then follows, " Let the sin- ners be turned into hell" (ver. 17): that is, let them be given into their own hands, when they are spared, and let them be ensnared in deadly delight. "All the nations that forget God." Because " when they did not think good to re- tain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind." * 18. " For there shall not be forgetfulness of the poor man to the end " (ver. 18); who now seems to be in forgetfulness, when sinners are thought to flourish in this world's happiness, and the righteous to be in travail: but " the pa- tience," saith He, " of the poor shall not perish for ever." Wherefore there is need of patience now to bear with the evil, who are already sep- arated in will, till they be also separated at the last judgment.
1 Eph. iii. 17, 18.
• Rom. i. 28.
19. "Arise, O Lord, let not man prevail" (ver. 19). The future judgment is prayed for: but before it come, " Let the heathen," saith he, " be 'judged in Thy sight: " that is, in secret; which is called in God's sight, with the knowl- edge of a few holy and righteous ones. " Place a lawgiver over them, O Lord." (ver. 20). He seems to me to point out Antichrist: of whom the Apostle says, " When the man of sin shall be revealed." J " Let the heathen know that they are men." That they who will be set free by the Son of God, and belong to the Son of Man, and be sons of men, that is, new men, may serve man, that is, the old man the sin- ner, " for that they are men."
20. And because it is believed that he is to arrive at so great a pitch of empty glory, and he will be permitted to do so great things, both against all men and against the Saints of God, that then some weak ones shall indeed think that God cares not for human affairs, the Psalm- ist interposing a diapsalma, adds as it were the voice of men groaning and asking why judgment is deferred.4 PSALM X.s PSALM X.s " Why, O Lord," saith he, " hast Thou with- drawn afar off?" (ver. 1). Then he who thus inquired, as if all on a sudden he understood, or as if he asked, though he knew, that he might teach, adds, " Thou despisest in due seasons, in tribulations: " that is, Thou despisest season- ably, and causest tribulations to inflame men's minds with longing for Thy coming. For that fountain of life is sweeter to them that have much thirst. Therefore he hints the reason of the delay, saying, " Whilst the ungodly vaunteth himself, the poor man is inflamed" (ver. 2). Wondrous it is and true with what earnestness of good hope the little ones are inflamed unto an upright living by comparison with sinners. In which mystery it comes to pass, that even her- esies are permitted to exist; not that heretics themselves wish this, but because Divine Provi- dence worketh this result from their sins, which both maketh and ordaineth the light; but order- eth only the darkness, that by comparison there- with the light may be more pleasant, as by comparison with heretics the discovery of truth is more sweet. For so, by this comparison, the approved, who are known to God, are made manifest among men.
1. "They are taken in their thoughts, which they think: " that is, their evil thoughts become chains to them. But how become they chains?
» a Thess. ii. 3.
* [For light on this interpretation, see Neale, Commentary, p. 160.— C] 3 The two Psalms are combined in the Vulgate. But here the verses begin again, treating this as " Ps. x. secundum Hebraos." [And so our English version. — C] 38 THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Psalm X.
" For the sinner is praised," saith he, " in the desires of his soul" (ver. 3). The tongues of flatterers bind souls in sin. For there is pleas- ure in doing those things, in which not only is no reprover feared, but even an approver heard. " And he that does unrighteous deeds is blessed." Hence " are they taken in their thoughts, which they think."
2. " The sinner hath angered the Lord " (ver. 4). Let no one congratulate the man that prospers in his way, to whose sins no avenger is nigh, and an approver is by. This is the greater anger of the Lord. For the sinner hath angered the Lord, that he should suffer these things, that is, should not suffer the scourging of correction. " The sinner hath angered the Lord: according to the multitude of His anger He will not search it out." Great is His anger, when He searcheth not out, when He as it were forgetteth and marketh not sin, and by fraud and wickedness man attains to riches and honours: which will especially be the case in that Antichrist, who will seem to man blessed to that degree, that he will even be thought God.' But how great this anger of God is, we are taught by what follows.