17. "If I said, My foot hath slipt; Thy mercy, O Lord, held me up" (ver. 18). See how God loveth confession. Thy foot hath slipt, and thou sayest not, my foot hath slipt; but thou sayest thou art firm, when thou art slipping. The moment thou beginnest to slip or waver, confess thou that slip, that thou mayest not bewail thy total fall; that He may help, so that thy soul be not in hell. God loveth confession, loveth humility. Thou hast slipped, as a man; God helpeth thee, nevertheless: yet say, " My foot hath slipt." Why dost thou slip, and yet sayest, I am firm? "When I said, My foot hath slipt, Thy mercy, O Lord, hath held me up." Just as Peter presumed, but not in strength of his own. The Lord was seen to walk upon the sea, trampling on the heads of all the proud in this life. In walking upon the foaming waves, He figured His own course when He trampleth on the heads of the proud. The Church too doth trample upon them: for Peter is the Church Herself. Nevertheless, Peter dared not by himself walk upon the waters; but what said he? " Lord, if it be Thou, bid me come unto Thee on the water." He in His own power, Peter by His order; "bid me," he saith, "come unto Thee." He answered, " Come." For the Church also trampleth on the heads of the proud; but since it is the Church, and hath human weakness, that these words might be fulfilled, " If I said, My » Al. " God is."
2 Matt. xiv. 28.
foot hath slipt," Peter tottered on the sea, and cried out, " Lord, save me! " 3 and so what is here put, " If I said, My foot hath slipt," is put there, " Lord, I perish." And what is here, " Thy mercy, O Lord, hath held me up," is there put, " And immediately Jesus stretched forth His hand, saying, O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt? " * It is wonderful how God proveth men: our very dangers render Him who rescueth us sweeter unto us. For see what followeth: because he said, " If I said, My foot hath slipt, Thy mercy, O Lord, hath held me up." The Lord hath become especially sweet unto him, in rescuing him from danger; and thus speaking of this very sweetness of the Lord, he exclaimeth and saith, " O Lord, in the multitude of the sorrows that I had in my heart, Thy comforts have refreshed niysoul" (ver. 19). Many sorrows, but many consolations: bitter wounds, and sweet remedies.
18. "Wilt Thou have anything to do with the stool of iniquity, who makest sorrow in learning? " (ver. 20). He hath said this, No wicked man sitteth with Thee, nor shalt Thou have anything to do with the stool of iniquity. And he giveth an account whereof he understandeth this, " For Thou makest sorrow in learning." For from this, because Thou hast not spared us, do I understand that Thou hast nothing to do with the stool of iniquity. Thou hast this in the Epistle of the Apostle Peter, and for this reason he hath adduced a testimony from the Scripture: " for the time is come," he saith, " that judgment must begin at the house of God; " that is, the time is come for the judgment of those who belong to the house of God. If sons are scourged, what must the most wicked slaves expect? For which reason he added: " And if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the Gospel of God?"
To which he added this testimony: " For if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and sinner appear?" s How then shall the wicked be with Thee, if Thou dost not even spare Thy faithful, in order that Thou mayest exercise and teach them?6 But as He spareth them not, for this reason, that He may teach them: he saith, " For Thou makest sorrow in learning." " Makest," that is, formest: from whence comes the word figulits (from Jingo), and a potter's vessel is called fictile: not in the meaning of fiction, as a falsehood, but of forming so as to give anything being and some sort of form; as before he said, " He that fabricated (finxit) the eye, shall He not see?"7 Is that, "fabricated the eye" a falsehood? Nay, it is understood He fashioned the eye, made the eye. And is He not a potter when He makes men 3 Matt. xiv. 30. b Prov. xi. 31.
* Matt. xiv. 31. 7 Ps. xciv. 9.
' 1 Py. iv. 17, 18.
[Psalm XCIV.
frail, weak, earthly? Hear the Apostle: " We have this treasure in earthen vessels." "...Behold our Lord Himself, how He showeth Himself a potter.1 Because He had made man of clay, He anointed him with clay, for whom He had not made eyes in the womb. And so when he saith, " Hast Thou anything to do," etc., he saith, out of grief makest learning for us, so that grief itself becomes our instruction. How is sorrow our learning? When He scourgeth thee who died for thee, and who doth not promise bliss in this life, and who cannot deceive, and when He giveth not here what thou seekest. What will He give? when will He give? how much will He give, who giveth not here, who here teacheth, who maketh sorrow in learning? Thy labour is here, and rest is promised thee. Thou takest thought that thou hast toil here: but take thought what sort of rest He promiseth. Canst thou conceive it? If thou couldest, thou wouldest see that thy toil here is nothing toward an equivalent...
19. Attend, brethren; it is for sale.3 What I have is for sale, saith God unto thee, buy it. What hath He for sale? I have rest for sale; buy it by thy toil. Attend, that we may be in Christ's name brave Christians: the remainder of the Psalm is but a little, let us not be weary. For how can he be strong in doing, who faileth in hearing? The Lord will help us to expound unto you the remainder. Attend then: God hath, as it were, proclaimed the kingdom of heaven for sale. Thou sayest unto Him, What is its value? The price is toil: if He were to say, its price is gold, it would not suffice to say this only, but thou wouldest seek to know how much gold; for there is a mass of gold, and half an ounce, and a pound, and the like. He said " price," that thou mightest not be at pains to inquire, how long thou shouldest find it. The price of the commodity is toil: how much toil is it? Now seek how much thou shouldest toil for it. Thou art not as yet told how great that toil is doomed to be, or how much toil is required of thee: God saith this unto thee, I show thee how great that rest will be; do thou judge with what measure of toil it should be bought.
20...He promised rest: suffer trouble. He threateneth eternal fire; despise temporal pains: and while Christ doth watch, let thy heart be calmed, that thou also mayest reach the harbour. For He would not fail to prepare a harbour, who provided a vessel. " Hast Thou anything to do with the stool of iniquity, Thou who makest sorrow in learning? " He trieth us with the wicked, and by their persecution He teacheth us. By means of the malice of the wicked the good is scourged, through the slave the son is chastened: * [He imitates the cries of one who sells. Sub hasta. — C] thus is learning taught by sorrow. What God alloweth them power to do, that do wicked men, whom He spareth for a season, do.
2 1. For what followeth? " They will be captious against the soul of the righteous " (ver. 21). Why will they be captious? Because they can find no true ground of accusation. For how were they captious against our Lord? They made up false accusations,4 because they could not find true ones. " And will condemn the innocent blood." Why all this taketh place, he will show in the sequel.
22. "And the Lord is become my refuge" (ver. 22), he saith. Thou wouldest not seek such a refuge, if thou wert not in danger: but thou hast therefore been in danger, that thou mightest seek for it: for He teacheth us by sorrow. He causeth me tribulation from the malice of the wicked: pricked with that tribulation, 1 begin to seek a refuge which I had ceased to seek for in that worldly prosperity. For who, that is always prosperous, and rejoiceth in present hopes, findeth it easy to remember God? Let the hope of this life give way, and the hope of God advance; that thou mayest say, " And the Lord is become my refuge: " may I sorrow for this end that the Lord may become my refuge! " And my God the help of my hope." For as yet the Lord is our hope, since as long as we are here, we are in hope, and not in possession.
But lest we fail in hope, there is near us a provision to encourage us, and to mitigate those very evils which we suffer. For it is not said in vain, " God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able: but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it: " 5 who will so put us into that furnace of tribulation, that the vessel may be hardened, but not broken. " And the Lord is become my refuge: and my God the help of my hope." Why then did He seem to thee to be as it were unjust, in that He spareth the evil? See then how the Psalm is now set right, and be thou set right together with the Psalm: for, for this reason the Psalm contained thy words. What words? " Lord, how long shall the ungodly, how long shall the ungodly triumph?"6 The Psalm just now used thy words: use therefore thyself the Psalm's words in thy turn.
23. " And the Lord shall recompense them according to their works, and after their own malice; the Lord our God shall destroy them " (ver. 23). The words, "after their own malice," are not said without meaning. I am benefited through them: and yet it is said to be their malice, and not their benefits. For assuredly He trieth us, scourgeth us, by means of the wicked. To prepare us for what doth 6 Ps. xciv. 3.
Psalm XCV.]
He scourge us? Confessedly for the kingdom of heaven. " For He scourgeth every son whom He receiveth; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not?" ' and when God doth this, He is teaching us in order to an eternal heritage: and this learning He often giveth us by means of wicked men, through whom He trieth and perfecteth our love, which He doth will to be extended even to our enemies.2...Thus also they who persecuted the Martyrs, by persecuting them on earth, sent them into heaven: knowingly they caused them the loss of the present life, while unconsciously they were bestowing uppn them the gain of a future life: but, nevertheless, unto all who persevered in their wicked hatred of the righteous, will God recompense after their own iniquities, and in their own malice will He destroy them. For as the goodness of the righteous is hurtful unto the wicked, so is the iniquity of the wicked beneficial unto the righteous...
24. Let therefore the righteous bear with the ungodly; let the temporal suffering of the righteous bear with the temporal impunity of the wicked; for " the just shall live by faith." 3 For there is no righteousness of man in this life except to live by faith, " which worketh by love." 4 But if he liveth by faith, let him believe both that he will himself inherit rest after his present toil, and that they will suffer eternal torments after their present exultation. And if faith worketh by love, let him love his enemies also, and, as far as in him lies, have the will to profit them; for thus he will prevent their injuring him when they have the will. And whenever perchance they have received power to hurt and tyrannize; let him lift his heart above, where no man hurteth him, well taught and chastened in the law of God, that he may " have patience given him in the days of adversity, until the pit be digged up for the ungodly."...25. This I say, brethren, that ye may profit from what ye have heard, and ruminate within yourselves: permit not yourselves to forget, not only by thinking over again upon these subjects, and discoursing upon them, but also by so living. For a good life which is led after God's commands, is like a pen, because it is heard writing in our hearts. If it were written on wax, it would easily be blotted out: write it in your hearts, in your character, and it shall never be blotted out.
PSALM XCV.s PSALM XCV.s 1. I could wish, brethren, that we were rather listening to our father: but even this is a good 5 Lat. XC1V. A discourse delivered at the bidding ofAurelius bishop of Carthage, or perhaps of Valerius bishop of Hippo, and consequently either before or shortly after St. Augustin was consecrated bishop.
thing, to obey our father. Since therefore he who deigneth to pray for us, hath ordered us, I will speak unto you, beloved, what from the present Psalm Jesus Christ our common Lord shall deign to give us. Now the title of the Psalm is " David's Song of praise." The " Song of praise " signifieth both cheerfulness, in that it is a song; and devotion, for it is praise. For what ought a man to praise more than that which pleaseth him so, that it is impossible that it can displease him? In the praising of God therefore we praise with security. There he who praiseth is safe, where he feareth not lest he be ashamed for the object of his praise. I^et us therefore both praise and sing; that is, let us praise with cheerfulness and joy. But what we are about to praise, this Psalm in the following verses showeth us.
2. " O come, let us sing unto the Lord " (ver. 1). He calleth us to a great banquet of joy, not one of this world, but in the Lord. For if there were not in this life a wicked joy which is to be distinguished from a righteous joy, it would be enough to say, " Come, let us rejoice; " but he has briefly distinguished it. What is it to rejoice aright? To rejoice in the Ixird. Thou shouldest piously joy in the Lord, if thou dost wish safely to trample upon the world. But what is the word, " Come "? Whence doth He call them to come, with whom he wisheth to rejoice in the Lord; except that, while they are afar, they may by coming draw nearer, by drawing nearer they may approach, and by approaching rejoice? But whence are they afar? Can a man be locally distant from Him who is everywhere?...It is not by place, but by being unlike Him, that a man is afar from God. What is to be unlike Him? it meaneth, a bad life, bad habits; for if by good habits we approach God, by bad habits we recede from God...If therefore by unlikeness we recede from God, by likeness we approach unto God. What likeness? That after which we were created, which by sinning we had corrupted in ourselves, which we have received again through the remission of sins, which is renewed in us in the mind within, that it may be engraved a second time as if on coin, that is, the image of our God upon our soul, and that we may return to His treasures...
3. " Let us make a joyful 6 noise unto Gocf, our salvation."...Consider, beloved, those who make a joyful noise in any ordinary songs, as in a sort of competition of worldly joy; and ye see them while reciting the written lines bursting forth with a joy, that the tongue sufficeth not to express the measure of; how they shout, indicating by that utterance the feeling of the mind, 6 Jubilemus.
[Psalm XCV.
which cannot in words express what is conceived in the heart. If they then in earthly joy make a joyful noise; might we not do so from heavenly joy, which truly we cannot express in words?
4. " Let us prevent His face by confession" (ver. 2). Confession hath a double meaning in Scripture. There is a confession of him who praiseth, there is that of him who groaneth. The confession of praise pertaineth to the honour of Him who is praised: the confession of groaning to the repentance of him who confesseth. For men confess when they praise God: they confess when they accuse themselves; and the tongue hath no more worthy use. Truly, I believe these to be the very vows, of which he speaketh in another Psalm: " I will pay Thee my vows, which I distinguished with my lips." ' Nothing is more elevated than that distinguishing, nothing is so necessary both to understand and to do. How then dost thou distinguish the vows which thou payest unto God? By praising Him, by accusing thyself; because it is His mercy, to forgive us our sins. For if He chose to deal with us after our deserts, He would find cause only to condemn. " O come," he said therefore, that we may at last go back from our sins, and that He may not cast up with us our accounts for the past; but that as it were a new account may be commenced, all the bonds of our debts having been burnt...The more therefore thou despairedst of thyself on account of thy iniquities, do thou confess thy sins; for so much greater is the praise of Him who forgiveth, as is the fulness of the penitent's confession more abundant. Let us not therefore imagine that we have receded from the song of praise, in understanding here that confession by which we acknowledge our transgressions: this is even a part of the song of praise; for when we confess our sins, we praise the glory of God.
5. " And make a joyful2 noise unto Him with Psalms." We have already said what it is " to make a joyful noise: " the word is repeated, that it may be confirmed by the act: the very repetition is an exhortation. For we have not forgotten, so as to wish to be again admonished, what was said above, that we should make a joyful noise: but usually in passages of strong feeling a well-known word is repeated, not to make it more familiar, but that the very repetition may strengthen the impression made: for it is repeated that we may understand the feeling of the speaker...Hear now: " For the Lord is a great God, and a great Kin^ above all gods " (ver. 3). " For the Lord will noi cast off His people." 3 Praise be unto Him, and shouts of joy be unto Him! What people shall He not cast off? we have no right to make our own explanation here: » P». xcir. 14. In the Sept. these nine words are added.
for the Apostle hath prescribed this unto us, he hath explained whereof it is said. For this was the Jewish people, the people where were the prophets, the people where were the patriarchs, the people begotten according to the flesh from the seed of Abraham; the people in which all the mysteries which promised our Saviour preceded us; the people among whom was instituted the temple, the anointing, the Priest for a figure, that when all these shadows were past, the Light itself might come; this therefore was the people of God; to it were the prophets sent, in it those who were sent were born; to it were delivered and entrusted the revelations of God. What then? is the whole of that people condemned? far be it. It is called the good olive-tree by the Apostle, for it commenced with the patriarchs...This then is the tree itself: though some of its boughs have been broken, yet all have not. For if all the boughs were broken, whence is Pete/? whence John? whence Thomas? whence Matthew? whence Andrew? whence are all those Apostles? whence that very Apostle Paul who was speaking to us but now, and by his own fruit bearing witness to the good olive? Were not all these of that peo -pie? Whence also those five hundred brethren to whom our Lord appeared after His resurrection?4 Whence were so many thousands at the words of Peter (when the Apostles, filled with the Holy Spirit, spoke with the tongues of all nations5) converted with such zeal for the honour of God and their own accusation, that they who first shed the Lord's blood in their rage, learnt how to drink it now that they believed? And all these five thousand were so converted that they sold their own property, and laid the price of it at the Apostles' feet.6 That which one rich man did not do, when he heard from the Lord's mouth, and sorrowfully departed from Him,7 this so many thousands of those men by whose hands Christ had been crucified, did on a sudden. In proportion as the wound was deeper in their own hearts, with the greater eagerness did they seek for a physician. Since therefore all these were from thence, the Psalm saith of them, " For the Lord will not cast off His people."...
6. What doth the Psalm add? In His hand are all the corners of the earth " (ver. 4): we recognise the corner stone: the corner stone is Christ. There cannot be a corner, unless it hath united in itself two walls: they come from different sides to one corner, but they are not opposed to each other in the corner. The circumcision cometh from one side. the uncircumcision from the other; in Christ both peoples have met together: because He hath become the stone, of which it is written, " The stone * t Cor. xv. 6.
5 Acts it. 4.
6 Acts iv. 4, ii. 44.
Psalm XCV.]
which the builders rejected, hath become the head of the corner." '...7. " For the sea is His and He made it " (ver. 5 ). For the sea is this world, but God made also the sea: nor can the waves rage save only so far as to the shore, where He hath marked theii bounds. There is therefore no temptation, that hath not received its measure..." And His hands prepared the dry land." Be thou the dry land: thirst for the grace of God: that as a sweet shower it may come upon thee, may find in thee fruit. He alloweth not the waves to cover what He hath sown. " And His hands prepared the dry land." Hence also therefore let us shout unto the Lord.
8. " O come, let us worship, and fall down to Him; and mourn before the Lord our Maker " (ver. 6)...Perhaps thou art burning with the consciousness of a fault; blot out with tears the flame of thy sin: mourn before the Lord: fearlessly mourn before the Lord, who made thee; for He despiseth not the work of His own hands in thee. Think not thou canst be restored by thyself. By thyself thou mayest fall off, thou canst not restore thyself: He who made thee restoreth thee. " Let us mourn before the Lord our Maker: " weep before Him, confess unto Him, prevent His face in confession. For who art thou who mournest before Him, and confessest unto Him, but one whom He created? The thing created hath no slight confidence in Him who created it, and that in no indifferent fashion, but according to His own image and likeness.
9. "For He is the Lord our God" (ver. 7). But that we may without fear fall down and kneel before Him, what are we? "We are the people of His pasture, and the sheep of His hand." See how elegantly he hath transposed the order of the words, and as it were not given its own attribute to each word; that we may understand these very same to be the sheep, who are also the people. He said not, the sheep of His pasture, and the people of His hand; which might be thought more congruous, since the sheep belong to the pasture; but He said, " the people of His pasture." The people are therefore sheep, since he saith, " the people of His pasture: " the people themselves are sheep...He praiseth these sheep also in the Song of Solomon, speaking of some perfect ones as the teeth of His Spouse the Holy Church: "Thy teeth are like a flock of sheep that are even shorn, which come up from the washing; whereof every one beareth twins, and there is none barren."2 What meaneth, " Thy teeth "? These by whom thou speakest: for the teeth of the Church are those through whom she speaketh.
Ps cxviit. 22.
2 Song of Sol. iv. a, vi. 5.
Of what sort are thy teeth? " Like a flock of sheep that are shorn." Why, " that are shorn "? Because they have laid aside the burdens of the world. Were not those sheep, of which I was a little before speaking, shorn, whom the bidding of God had shorn, when He saith, " Go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor; and thou shalt find treasure in heaven: and come and follow Me "?3 They performed this bidding: shorn they came. And because those who believe in Christ are baptized, what is there said? " which come up from the washing; " that is, come up from the cleansing. " Whereof every one beareth twins." What twins? Those two commandments, wherefrom hang all the Law and the Prophets.4 10. Therefore, "To-day if ye will hear His voice, harden not your hearts " (ver. 8). O my people, the people of God! God addresses His people: not only the people of His which He shall not cast off, but also all His people. For He speaketh in the corner stone 5 to each wall: that is, prophecy speaketh in Christ, both to the people of the Jews, and the people of the Gentiles. For some time ye heard His voice through Moses, and hardened your hearts. He then, when you hardened your hearts, spoke through a herald; He now speaketh by Himself, let your hearts soften. He who used to send heralds before Him, hath now deigned to come Himself; He here speaketh by His own mouth, He who used to speak by the mouths of the Prophets.
ii. "As in the provocation, and in the day of temptation in the wilderness, where your fathers proved Me" (ver. 9). Let such be no more your fathers: imitate them not. They were your fathers, but if ye do not imitate them, they shall not be your fathers: yet as ye were born of them, they were your fathers. And if the heathen who came from the ends of the earth, in the words of Jeremias, "The Gentiles shall come unto Thee from the ends of the earth, and shall say, Surely our forefathers have inherited lies, vanity, and things wherein there is no profit: " 6 if the heathen forsook their idols, to come to the God of Israel; ought Israel whom their own God led from Egypt through the Red Sea,7 wherein He overwhelmed their pursuing foes; whom He led out into the wilderness, -fed with manna,8 never took His rod from correcting them, never deprived them of the blessings of His mercy; ought they to desert their own God, when the heathen have come unto Him? " When your fathers tempted Me, proved Me, and saw My works..•..
12. " Forty years long was I very near unto this generation, and said, It is a people that do 3 Matt. xix. 21. 6 Jer. xvi. 19.
5 Eph. ii. 20.
8 Exod. xvi. 13-3^ 47Q [Psalm XCVI.
always err in their hearts; for they have not known My ways" (ver. 10). The forty years have the same meaning as the word " always." For that number forty indicates the fulness of ages, as if the ages were perfected in this number. Hence our Lord fasted forty days, forty days He was tempted in the desert,1 and forty days He was with His disciples after His resurrection.2 On the first forty days He showed us temptation, on the latter forty days consolation: since beyond doubt when we are tempted we are consoled. For His body, that is, the Church, must needs suffer temptations in this world: but that Comforter, who said, " Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world," 3 is not wanting. For this was I with them forty years, to show such a race of men, which alway provoketh Me, even unto the end of the world: because by those forty years He meant to signify the whole of this world's duration.
13...We began with exulting joy: but this Psalm hath ended with great fear: " Unto whom I sware in My wrath, that they should not enter into My rest" (ver. 11). It is a great thing for God to speak: how much greater for Him to swear? Thou shouldest fear a man when he sweareth, lest he do somewhat on account of his oath against his will: how much more shouldest thou fear God, when He sweareth, seeing He can swear nought rashly? He chose the act of swearing for a confirmation. And by whom doth God swear? By Himself: for He hath no greater by whom to swear.4 By Himself He confirmeth His promises: by Himself He confirmeth His threats. Let no man say in his heart, His promise is true; His threat is false: as His promise is true, so is His threat sure. Thou oughtest to be equally assured of rest, of happiness, of eternity, of immortality, if thou hast executed His commandments; as of destruction, of the burning of eternal fire, of damnation with the devil, if thou hast despised His commandments...PSALM XCVI.'
1. My lord and brother Severus 6 still defers the pleasure we shall feel in his discourse, which he oweth us; for he acknowledgeth, that he is held a debtor. For all the Churches through which he hath passed, by his tongue the I^ord hath gladdened: much more therefore ought that Church to be rejoiced, out of which the Lord hath propagated his preaching among the rest. But what shall we do, but obey his will? I said, I Lit. XCV. Delivered perhaps in the year 405, when the Donatists prevailed through the violence of the Circumceltiones.
* Buhop of Milevis, mentioned in the discourse of a preceding day on Pi. exxxii. — Bin.
however, brethren, that he deferred, not that he defrauded us. Therefore let us keep him as a debtor bound, and release him not until he hath paid. Attend therefore, beloved: as far as the Lord alloweth, let us say somewhat of this Psalm, which indeed you already know; for the fresh mention of truth is sweet. Possibly when its title was pronounced, some heard it with wonder. For the Psalm is inscribed: " When the house was being built after the Captivity." This title having been prefixed, ye were perhaps expecting in the text of the Psalm to hear what stones were hewn from the mountains, what masses were drawn to the spot, what foundations were laid, what beams were placed on high, what columns raised. Its song is of nothing of this kind...It is no such house that is in building; for behold where it is built, not in one spot, not in any particular region. For thus he beginneth: — 2. " O sing unto the Lord a new song; sing unto the Lord, all the earth"' (ver. i). If all the earth singeth a new song, it is thus building while it singeth: the very act of singing is building: but only, if it singeth not the old song. The lust of the flesh singeth the old song: the love of God singeth the new...Hear why it is a new song: the Lord saith, " A new commandment I give unto you, that ye love one another." 8 The whole earth then singeth a new song: there the house of God is built. All the earth is the house of God. If all the earth is the house of God,' he who clingeth not to all the earth, is a ruin, not a house; that old ruin whose shadow that ancient temple represented. For there what was old was destroyed, that what was new might be built up...The Apostle bindeth us together into this very structure, and fasteneth us when bound together in that unity, saying, " Forbearing one another in love; endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace." IO Where there is this unity of Spirit, there is one stone; but one stone formed out of many. How one formed out of many? By forbearing one another in love. Therefore the house of the Lord our God is in building; it is this that is being wrought, for this are these words, for this these readings, for this the preaching of the Gospel over the whole world; as yet it is in building. This house hath increased greatly, and filled many nations: nevertheless, it hath not yet prevailed through all nations: by its increase it hath held many, and will prevail over all: and it is gainsaid by those who boast of their being of its household, and who say, it hath already lost ground. It still increaseth, still all those nations which have not yet believed are destined to believe; that no man may say, 7 1 Chron. xvi. 23, etc 9 Donatists.
TSALM XCVI.]
47i will that tongue believe? will the barbarians believe? what is the meaning of the Holy Spirit having appeared in the fiery tongues,' except that there is no tongue so hard that it cannot be softened by that fire? For we know that many barbarous nations have already believed in Christ: Christ already possesseth regions where the Roman empire hath never yet reached; what is as yet closed to those who fight with the sword, is not closed to Him who fighteth with wood. For " the Lord hath reigned from the wood."2 Who is it who fighteth with wood? Christ. With His cross He hath vanquished kings, and fixed upon their forehead, when vanquished, that very cross; and they glory in it, for in it is their salvation. This is the work which is being wrought, thus the house increaseth, thus it is building: and that ye may know, hear the following verses of the Psalm: see them labouring upon, and constructing the house. " O sing unto the Lord all the earth."