Augustine in His Own Words
ody of pure jubilation. This is the sound of pure joy. It signals the heart bringing to birth what cannot be spoken. And to whom does that jubilation rightly ascend, if not to God, who is ineffable? Truly God is ineffable. You cannot give voice to Him in words. And if you cannot give voice to Him in words— and you ought not stay silent—what else can you do but break into jubilation? In this way the heart rejoices without words, and the boundless expanse of rapture is not bound in by set syllables. "Sing beautifully to Him in jubilation" (Ps 32:3).76
76. En. Ps. 32.2.8 (CCL 38:253–54); my trans. This analogy of workers singing during harvest is applied in en. Ps. 99.4 (CCL 39:1394) in reference to the joy that comes from contemplating God within the glories of creation.