Expositions on the Book of Psalms
THE* WORKS" OF ST, AUGUSTIN. [Psatm LXXXIV.
see the truth. If this verse had been in their heart, would they not cast away honours, and run to the valley of weeping, and hence find in their heart the way of ascent, and hence go from virtues to virtue, placing their hope in Christ, not in some man or another? A good word is this, a word to rejoice in, a word to be chosen. He himself chose to be cast away in the house of the Lord; but He who invited him to the feast, when he chose a lower place calleth him to a higher one, and saith unto him, "Go up higher."4 Yet he chose not but to be in the house of the Lord,in any part of it, so that he were not outside the threshold.
virtue." What virtue? That of contemplation. What is contemplation? "The God of Gods shall appear in Sion." The God of Gods, Christ of the Christians. ... When all is finished, that mortality makes necessary, He shall appear to the pure in heart, as He is, "God with God," The Word with the Father, "by which all things were made."
12. And again, from the thought of those joys he returns to his own sighs. He sees what has come before in hope, and where he is in reality. . . . Therefore returning to the groans proper to this place, he saith, "O Lord God of virtues, hear my prayer: hearken, O God of Jacob" (ver. 8): for Jacob himself also Thou hast made Israel out of Jacob. For God appeared unto him, and he was called Israel,? seeing God. Hear me therefore, O God of Jacob, and make. me Israel. When shall I become Israel? When the God of Gods shall appear in Sion.
16. Wherefore did he choose? . . . "Because God loveth mercy and truth" (ver.12). The Lord loveth mercy, by which He first came to my help: He loveth truth, so as to give to him that believeth what He has promised.5 Hear in the case of the Apostle Paul, His mercy and truth, Paul who was first Saul the persecutor. He needed mercy, and he has said that it was shown towards him: "I who was before a blasphemer, and a persecutor, and injurious: but I obtained mercy, that in me Christ Jesus might show forth all longsuffering towards those who'shall believe in Him unto life eternal." ® So that, when Paul received pardon of such great crimes, no one should despair of any sins whatever being forgiven him. Lo! Thou hast Mercy... . Lo, we see that Paul holdeth Him a debtor, having received mercy, demanding truth. The Lord, he says, shall give back in that day. What shall He give thee back, but that which He oweth thee? How oweth He unto thee? What hast thou given Him? "Who hath first given unto Him, and it shall be restored to him again."5 The Lord Himself hath made Himself a debtor, not by receiving, but by promising: it is not said unto Him, Restore what Thou hast received: but, Restore what Thou hast promised. He hath shown mercy unto me, he saith, that He might make me innocent : for before I was a blasphemer and injurious: but by His grace I have been made innocent. But He who first showed mercy, can He deny His debt? "He loveth mercy and truth. He will give grace and glory." What grace, but that of which the same one said: " By the grace of God Iam what lam" ?7 What glory, but that of which he said, "There is laid up. for me a crown of glory'? ®
13. "Behold, O God our defender. And look on the face of Thy Christ" (ver. 9). For when doth God not look upon the face of His Christ? What is this, "Look on the face of Thy Christ'? By the face we are known: What is it then, Look on the face of Thy Christ? Cause Thy Christ to become known to all. Look on the face of Thy Christ: let Christ become known to all, that we may be able to go from strength to strength, that grace may abound, since sin hath abounded.
14. "For one day in Thy courts is' better than a thousand"' (ver. 10). Those courts they were for which he sighed, for which he fainted. "My soul longeth and faileth for the courts of the Lord :"'? one day there is better than a thousand days. Men long for thousands of days, and wish to live here long: let them despise these thousands of days, let them long for one day, which has neither rising nor setting: one day, an everlasting day, to which no yesterday yields, which no to-morrow presses. Let this one day be longed for by us. What have we to do with a thousand days? We go from the thousand days to one day ; let us hasten to that one day,3 as we go from strength to strength.
15. "I have chosen to be cast away in the house of the Lord, rather than to dwell in the tents of sinners" (ver. 11). For he found the valley of weeping, he found humility by which he might rise: he knoweth that if he would raise himself he shall fall, if he humble himself he shall be exalted: he hath chosen to be cast away, that he may be raised up. How many beside this tabernacle of the Lord's winepress, that is beside the Catholic Church, wishing to be lifted up, and loving their honours, refuse to
17. Therefore "the Lord will not withhold good from those who walk in innocence"' (ver. 12). Why then, O men, are ye unwilling to keep innocence, except in order that ye may have good things? ... Thou seest wealth in the hands of robbers, of the impious, the wicked,
I Gen. xxxii. 28. 2 Ps, Ixxxiv. 2. 3 Oxf. mss. add, "let us hasten," etc.
5 Rom. xi. 29. 6 x Tim. i, 13, 16. 8 2 Tim, iv. 8. 4 Luke xiv. ro. 7 x Cor. xv. 10.