Expositions on the Book of Psalms (continued)
416 THE WORKS: OF "ST? AUGUSTIN, [PsaLm LXXXVI, ing to the gift and grace of God. That part of| thy good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things : the creation is above. If then that is above, but this earthly part, where is flesh and blood, where is corruptibleness, where is nativity and mortality, departure and succession, changeableness and inconstancy, where are fears, desires, horrors, uncertain joys, frail hope, perishable existence ; I suppose that all this part cannot be compared with that heaven of which I was just now speaking; if then this part cannot be but now he is at rest, but thou art tormented. And besides this,"' he said, " between us and you there is a great gulf fixed, so that neither can we go to you, nor can any one come from thence tous."7 Therefore between these two hells, perhaps, in one of which the souls of the just have gotten rest, in the other the souls of the ungodly are tormented, one waiting and praying here, placed here in the body of Christ, and praying in the voice of Christ, said that God had delivered his soul from the nethermost hell, because He delivered him from such sins as might have been the means of drawing him down to the torments of the nethermost hell. . . . Some one having a troublesome cause was to be sent to prison: another comes and defends him ; what does he say when he thanks him? Thou hast delivered my soul out of prison. A debtor was to be hanged up:® his debt is paid; he is said to be delivered from being hanged up. They were not in all these evils: but because they were in such due course towards them,? that unless aid had been brought, they would have been in them, they rightly say that they are delivered from thence, whither they were not suffered by their deliverers to be taken. Therefore, brethren, whether it be this or that, consider me to be herein an inquirer into the word of God, not a rash assertor.'° compared with that, the one is above, the other below. And whither do we go after death, unless there is a depth deeper than this depth * in which we are in the flesh and in this mortal state? For "the body is dead," saith the Apostle, '' because of sin." Therefore even here are the dead; that thou mayest not wonder because it is called infernum, if it abounds with the dead. For he saith not, the body is about to die: but, "the body is dead." Even now surely our body hath life: and yet compared with that body which is 'to be like the bodies of Angels, the body of man is found to 'be dead, although still having life. But again, from this zzfernum, that is from this part of Hades, there is another lower, whither the dead go: from whence God would rescue our souls, even sending thither His own Son. For it was on account of these two hells, my brethren, that the Son of God was sent, on all sides setting free. To this hell he was sent by being born, to that by dying. Therefore it is His voice in that Psalm, not according to any man's conjecture, but an Apostle explaining, when he saith, "For Thou wilt not leave my soul in hell.""3 Therefore it is here also either His voice, "Thou hast delivered my soul from the nethermost hell:" or our voice by the Lord Jesus Christ Himself: for on this account He came even unto hell, that we might not remain in hell.
18. "O God, the transgressors of the law have arisen up against me" (ver. 14). Whom calleth he transgressors of the law? Not the Pagans, who have not received the law: for no one transgresseth that which he hath not received ; the Apostle saith clearly, " For where there is no law, there is no prevarication." '* 'Transgressors of the law he calls " prevaricators." Whom then do we understand, brethren? If we take this word from our Lord Himself, the transgressors of the law were the Jews. . . . They did not keep the law, and accused Christ as if He transgressed the law. And we know what the Lord suffered. Thinkest thou His Body suffers no such thing now? How can this be? "If they called the Master of the house Beelzebub, how much more those of his household? The disciple is not above his master, nor the servant above his lord." '? The body also suffereth transgressors of the law, and they rise up against the Body of Christ. Who are the transgressors of the law? Do the Jews perchance dare to rise up against Christ? No: for it is not they that cause us much trouble. For they have not
17. I will mention another opinion also. For perhaps even in hell itself there is some lower part where are thrust the ungodly who have sinned most.4 For whether in hell there were not some places where Abraham was, we cannot define sufficiently. For not yet had the Lord come to hell that He might rescue from thence the souls of all the saints who had gone before, and yet Abraham was there in repose.© And a certain rich man when he was in torments in hell, when he saw Abraham, lifted up his eyes. He could not have seen him by lifting up his eyes, unless the one was above, the other below. And what did Abraham answer unto him, when he said, "send Lazarus." 'My son," he said, "remember that thou in thy lifetime receivedst
7 Luke xvi. 24-26. 8 Suspendendus. The word is used of the preparation for torture, as in the gesta Proconsularia in the case of Felix of Aptungis, Opp. S. Aug t. ix. Appendix, when Ingentius, the forger, was to be threatened with torture, Proconsul dixit, Suspendatur.
l Infernum infertus hoc inferno. Lit. "a hell than this hell." 2 Rom. viil. 10. 3 Ps. xvi. ro. 4 So St. Gregory on Job 1. xii. § 14. 5 St. Gregory on Job, 1. xiii. §§ 48, 49. 6 Luke xvi. 22. |
9 Outa talibus meritis agebantur. 10 [ote his caution and great humility. — C.] 11 Rom, iv. 15. 12 Matt. x. 25, 24.
PSALMS. 417
PsatmM LXXXVI] ON THE yet believed: they have not yet owned their salvation. Against the Body of Christ bad Christians rise up, from whom the Body of Christ daily suffereth trouble. All schisms, all heresies, all within who live wickedly and engraft their own character on those who live well, and draw them over to their own side, and with evil communications corrupt good manners ; these persons "transgressing the law rose up against Me."! Let every pious soul speak, let every Christian soul speak. That one which suffers not this, let it not speak. But if it is a Christian soul, it knows that it suffers evils: if it owns in itself its own sufferings, let it own herein its own voice ; but if it is without suffering, let it? also be without the voice ; but that it may not be without suffering, let it walk along the narrow way,3 and begin to live godly in Christ : it must of necessity suffer this persecution. For "all," saith the Apostle, "who will live godly in Christ, suffer persecution." 4
Father, and the lifting up of His hands like an evening sacrifice." §
20. If therefore Thou art " true," "Look upon me, and have mercy upon me: give power unto Thy servant." Because Thou art "true," " give power unto Thy servant" (ver. 16). Let the time of patience pass away, the time of judgment come. How, "give power"? 'The Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son.? He rising again will come even to earth Himself to judge: He will appear terrible who appeared despicable. He will show His power, who showed His patience ; on the Cross was patience; in the judgment will be power. For He will appear as Man judging, but in glory: because "as ye saw Him go," said the Angels, "so He will come." ?° His very form shall come to judgment; therefore the ungodly also shall see Him: for they shall not see the form of God. For blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.'? . . . In the vision of the Father there is also the vision of the Son: and in the vision of the Son there is also the vision of the Father. Therefore He adds a consequence, and says: " Know ye not that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me?" ?? that is, both in Me seen the Father is seen, and in the Father seen the Son too is seen. The vision of the Father and the Son cannot be separated: where nature and substance is not separated, there vision cannot be separated. For that ye may know that the heart ought to be made ready for that place, to see the Divinity of the Father and Son and Holy Spirit, in which though not seen we believe, and by believing cleanse the heart that there may be able to be sight: the Lord Himself saith in another place, " He that hath My commands and keepeth them, he it is that loveth Me: and he that loveth Me shall be loved by My Father: and I will love him, and will manifest Myself unto him." #3 Did they not see Him, with whom He was talking? They both saw Him, and did not see Him? they saw something, they believed something: they saw Man, they believed in God. But in the Judgment they shall see the same Lord Jesus Christ as Man, together with the wicked: after the Judgment, they shall see God, apart from the wicked.
"And the synagogue of the powerful have sought after My soul." The synagogue of the powerful is the congregation of the proud. The synagogue of the powerful rose up against the Head, that is, our Lord Jesus Christ, crying and saying with one mouth, Crucify Him, crucify Him:5 of whom it is said, "The sons of men, their teeth are spears and arrows, and their tongue a sharp sword."°® They did not strike, but cried: by crying they struck, by crying they crucified Him. The will of those who cried was fulfilled, when the Lord was crucified: 'And they did not place Thee before their eyes." How did they not place Him before them? They did not know Him God. They should have spared him as Man: what they saw, according to this they should have walked. Suppose that He was not God, He was man: was He therefore to be slain? Spare Him a man, and own Him God.
1g. "And Thou, Lord God, art One who hast compassion and merciful, longsuffering, and very pitiful, and true" (ver. 15). Wherefore longsuffering and very pitiful, and One who hast compassion? Because hanging on the Cross He said: ' Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do."7/ Whom prayeth He to? for whom doth He pray? Who prayeth? Where prayeth He? The Son prays to the Father, crucified for the ungodly, in the midst of very insults, not of words but of death inflicted, hanging on the Cross; as if for this He had His hands stretched out, that thus He might pray for them, that His " prayer might be directed like incense in the sight of the
21. " And save the Son of Thine handmaid." The Lord is the Son of the handmaid. Of what handmaid? Her who when He was announced as about to be born of her, answered and said, " Behold the handmaid of the Lord: be it unto me according to Thy word."'+ He saved the Son of His handmaid, and His own Son: His own Son, in the Form of God;'5 the Son of
2 Oxf mss. "it must needs." 1 1 Cor. xv. 33. 4 2 Tim. iii. 12. 5 John xix. 6. 3 Matt. vii. 14. 6 Ps. lvii. 4. 7 Luke xxiii. 34.
8 Ps. cxli. 2. Il Matt. v. 8. 14 Luke i. 38.
LOVActs tn rts 13 John xiv. 21. 9 John v. 22. 12 John xiv. 10. 1S Philip. i. 6.
418 [Psatm LXXXVI. THE WORKS).OF ST.) AUGUSTIN,
His handmaid in the form of a servant. Of the handmaid of God, therefore, the Lord was born in the form of a servant; and He said, "Save the Son of Thine handmaid." And He was saved from death, as ye know, His flesh, which was dead, being raised again. . . . And each several Christian placed in the Body of Christ may say, "Save the Son of Thine handmaid." Perhaps he cannot say, "Give power unto Thy servant:'' because it was He, the Son, who received power. Yet wherefore saith He not this also? Was it not said to servants, "Ye shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel"? ' and the servants say, '' Know ye not that we shall judge Angels?'"? Each one therefore of the saints receiveth also power, and each several saint is the son of His handmaid. What if he is born of a pagan mother, and has become a Christian? How can the son of a pagan be the son of His handmaid: He is indeed the son of a pagan mother after the flesh, but the son of the Church after the Spirit.
those things of which ye are now ashamed?" 7 Ye see that there is even now a wholesome shame while there is a place of penitence: but then one which will be late, useless, fruitless... .
23. "For Thou, Lord, hast holpen me, and comforted me." 'Hast holpen me," in struggle; "and comforted me," in sorrow. For no one seeketh comfort, but he who is in misery. Would ye not be consoled? Say that ye are happy, and ye hear, " My people" (now ye answer, and I hear a murmur, as of persons who remember the Scriptures. May God, who hath written this in your hearts, confirm it in your deeds. Ye see, brethren, that those who say unto you, Ye are happy, seduce you), "O My people, they that call you happy cause you to err, and disturb the way of your feet." 9 So also from the Epistle of the Apostle James: "Be afflicted, and mourn: let your laughter be turned to mourning." 1° Ye see what ye have heard read: when would such things be said unto us in the land of security? This surely is the land of offences, and temptations, and of all evils, that we may groan here, and deserve to rejoice there ; here to be troubled, and there to be comforted, and to say, " For Thou hast delivered mine eyes from tears, my feet from falling: I will please the Lord in the land of the living." '' This is the land of the dead. The land of the dead passeth, the land of the living cometh. In the land of the dead is labour, grief, fear, tribulation, temptation, groaning, sighing: here are false happy ones, true unhappy, because happiness is false, misery is true. But he that owneth himself to be in true misery, will also be in true happiness : and yet now because thou art miserable, hear the Lord saying, "' Blessed are they that mourn." O blessed they that mourn! Nothing is so akin to misery as mourning: nothing so remote and contrary to misery as blessedness : Thou speakest of those who mourn, and Thou callest them blessed! Understand, He saith, what I say: I call those who mourn blessed. Wherefore blessed? In hope. Wherefore mourning? In act. For they mourn in this death, in these tribulations, in their wandering: and because they own themselves to be in this misery, and mourn, they are blessed. Wherefore do they mourn? The blessed Cyprian was put to sorrow in his passion: now he is comforted with his crown ; now though comforted, he was sad. For our Lord Jesus Christ still intercedeth for us: all the Martyrs who are with Him intercede for us. Their intercessions pass not away, except when our mourning is passed away: but when our mourning shall have passed away, we all with
22. "Show me a sign for good" (ver. 17). What sign, but that of the Resurrection? The Lord says: "This wicked and provoking generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given it, but the sign of the Prophet Jonah." 3 Therefore in our Head a sign has been shown already for good; each one of us also may say, " Show me a sign for good:"' because at the last trumpet, at the coming of the Lord, both " the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed." + This will be a sign for good. "That they who hate me may sce it, and be ashamed." In the judgment they shall be ashamed unto their destruction, who will not now be ashamed unto their healing. Now therefore let them be ashamed: let them accuse their own ways, let them keep the good way: because none of us liveth without being ashamed, unless he first be ashamed and live anew. Now God grants them the approach of a healthy shame, if they despise not the medicine of confession: but if they will not now be ashamed, then they shall be ashamed, when " their iniquities shall convince them to their face."'5 How shall they be ashamed? When they shall say, "These are they whom we had sometimes in derision, and a parable of reproach. We fools counted their life madness: how are they numbered among the children of God! What hath pride profited us?"® Then shall they say this: let them say it now, and they say it to their health. For let each one turn humbly to God, and now say, What hath my pride profited me? and hear from the Apostle, " For what glory had ye in
7 Rom. vi. 21. 8 [A striking note of the manner of ancient congregations. — C.] 9 Isa. ili. 12, Lat. and E. V. margin. 10 Jas. iv. 9. II Ps, cxvi. 8, 9. 12 Matt. v. 4.
I Matt. xix. 28. 3 Matt. xil. 39 5 Wisd. iv. 20, deducent eos. 6 Wisd. v. 3-s. 8.
PSALMS. 419
Psatm LXXXVII] ON THE one voice, in one people, in one country, shall receive comfort, thousands of thousands joined with Angels playing upon harps, with choirs of heavenly powers living in one city. Who mourneth there? Who there sigheth? Who there toileth? Who there needeth? Who dieth there? Who there showeth mercy? Who breaketh bread to the hungry there, where all are satisfied with the bread of righteousness? No one saith unto thee, Receive a stranger; there no one will be a stranger to thee: all live in their own country. No one saith unto thee, Set at one thy friends disputing ; in everlasting peace they enjoy the Face of God. No one saith unto thee, Visit the sick; health and immortality abide for ever. No one saith unto thee, Bury the dead; all shall be in everlasting life. Works of mercy stop, because misery is found not. And what shall we do there? Shall we perhaps sleep? If now we fight against ourselves, although we carry about a house of sleep, this flesh of ours, and keep watch with these lights, and this solemn feast gives us a mind to watch ; what wakefulness shall that day give unto us! 'Therefore we shall be awake, we shall not sleep. What shall we do?! There will be no works of mercy, because there will be no misery. Perhaps there will be these necessary works which there are here now, of sowing, ploughing, cooking, grinding, weaving? None of these, for there will be no want. Thus there will be no works of mercy, because misery is past away: where there is no want nor misery, there will be neither works of necessity nor of mercy. What will be there? What business shall we have? What action? Will there be no action, because there is rest? Shall we sit there, and be torpid, and do nothing? If our love grow cold, our action will grow cold. How then will that love resting in the face of God, for whom we now long, for whom we sigh, how will it inflame us, when we shall have come to Him? He for whom while as yet we see Him not, we so sigh, how will He enlighten us, when we shall have come to Him? How will He change us? What will He make of us? What then shall we do, brethren? Let the Psalm tell us: " Blessed are they who dwell in Thy house." Why? "They shall praise Thee for ever and ever." ? This will be our employment, praise of God. Thou lovest and praisest. Thou wilt cease to praise, if thou cease to love. But thou wilt not cease to love, because He whom thou seest ?s such an One as offends thee not by any weariness: He both satisfies thee, and satisfies thee not. What I say is wonderful. If I say that He satisfies thee, I am afraid lest as though satisfied thou shouldest wish to depart, as from a dinner or from a supper. What then do I say? doth He not satisfy thee? I am afraid again, that if I say, He doth not satisfy thee, thou shouldest seem to be in want: and shouldest be as it were empty, and there should be in thee some void which ought to be filled. What then shall I say, except what can be said, but can hardly be thought? He both satisfies thee, and satisfies thee not: for I find both in Scripture. For while He said, "Blessed are the hungry, for they shall be filled ;"'3 it is again said of Wisdom, "Those who eat Thee shall hunger again, and those who drink shall thirst again." 4 Nay, but He did not say "again," but he said, "still:" for '" shall thirst again" is as if once having been filled he departed and digested, and returned to drink. So it is, "Those who eat Thee shall still hunger : ' thus when they eat they hunger: and those who drink Thee, even thus when drinking, thirst. What is it, to thirst in drinking? Never to grow weary. If then there shall be that ineffable and eternal sweetness, what doth He now seek of us, brethren, but faith unfeigned, firm hope, pure charity? and man may walk in the way which the Lord hath given, may bear troubles, and receive consolations.
PSALM LXXXVII5
1. The Psalm which has just been sung is short, if we look to the number of its words, but of deep interest in its thoughts.® . . . The subject of song and praise in that Psalm is a city, whose citizens are we, as far as we are Christians : whence we are absent, as long as we are mortal: whither we are tending: through whose approaches, undiscoverable among the brakes and thorns that entangle them, the Sovereign of the city made Himself a path? for us to reach it. Walking thus in Christ, and pilgrims till we arrive, and sighing as we long for a certain ineffable repose that dwells within that city, a repose of which it is promised, that "the eye of man hath never seen"' such, "nor ear heard, nor hath it entered into his heart to conceive ;" let us chant the song af a longing heart: for he who truly longs, thus sings within his soul, though his tongue be silent: he who does not, however he may resound in human ears, is voiceless to God. See what ardent lovers of that city were they by whom these words were composed, by whom they have been handed down to us; with how deep a feeling were they sung by those! A feeling that the love of that city created in them: that love the Spirit of God inspired ; " the love
3 Matt. v. 6. 4 Ecclus. xxiv. 21. 5 Lat. LXXXVI. A discourse to the people, perhaps at Carthage, delivered the day after that on the preceding Psalm. See § 8. 6 [For his discourse he pleads the command of a brother. —C.] Perhaps Aurelius, bishop of Carthage. — Bex.
7 Se fecit viam.
1 (See Ps. Ixxxiv. p. 402, supra.—C.] 2 Ps, Ixxxiv, 4.
420 THE WORKS (OF "ST? AUGUSTIN. [Psatm LXXXVII.
not belong to the Jewish people, he addresses them thus: "Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints, and of the household of God, and are built upon the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets.''3 Thou seest the structure of so great a city: yet whereon does all that edifice repose, where does it rest, that it may never fall? 'Jesus Christ Himself," he saith, " being the head corner stone."
of God," he saith, "shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost, which is given unto us." Fervent with this Spirit then, let us listen to what is said of that city.
2. 'Her foundations are upon the holy hills" (ver. 1). The Psalm had as yet said nothing of the city: it begins thus, and says, " Her foundations are upon the holy hills."" Whose? There can be no doubt that foundations, especially among the hills, belong to some city. Thus filled with the Holy Spirit, and with many thoughts of love and longing for that city, as if after long internal meditation, that citizen bursts out, " Her foundations are upon the holy hills ;"' as if he had already said something concerning it. And how could he have said nothing on a subject, respecting which in his heart he had never been silent? For how could "her foundations " have been written, of which nothing had been said before? But, as I said, after long and silent travailing in contemplation of that city in his mind, crying to God, he bursts out into the ears of men thus: " Her foundations are upon the holy hills." And, supposing persons who heard to enquire of what city he spoke he adds, "the Lord loveth the gates of Sion." Behold, then, a city whose foundations are upon the holy hills, a city called Sion, whose gates the Lord loveth, as he adds, "above all the dwellings of Jacob." But what doth this mean, "her foundations on the holy hills"? What are the holy hills upon which this city is built? Another citizen tells us this more explicitly, the Apostle Paul: of this was the Prophet a citizen, of this the Apostle citizen: and they spoke to exhort the other citizens. But how are these, I mean the Prophets and Apostles, citizens? Perhaps in this sense; that they are themselves the hills, upon which are the foundations of this city, whose gates the Lord loveth. Let then another citizen state this clearly, that I may not seem to guess. Speaking to the Gentiles, and telling them, how they were returning, and being, as it were, framed together into the holy structure, " built," he says, " upon the foundations of the Apostles and Prophets :" and because neither the Apostles nor Prophets, upon whom the foundations of that city rest, could stand by their own power, he adds, " Jesus Christ Himself being the head corner stone."? That the Gentiles, therefore, might not think they had no relation to Sion: for Sion was a certain city of this world, which bore a typical resemblance as a shadow to that Sion of which he presently speaketh, that Heavenly Jerusalem, of which the Apostle saith, "' which is the mother of us all;"'? they might not be said to bear no relation to Sion, on the ground that they did
3... - But that ye may know that Christ is at once the earliest and the highest foundation, the Apostle saith, "Other foundation can no man lay than is laid, which is Christ Jesus.''4 How, then, are the Prophets and Apostles foundations, and yet Christ so, than whom nothing can be higher? How, think you, save that as He is openly styled, Saint of saints, so figuratively Foundation of foundations? Thus if thou art thinking of mysteries, Christ is the Saint of saints: if of a subject flock, the Shepherd of shepherds: if of a structure, the Pillar of pillars. In material edifices, the same stone cannot be above and below: if at the bottom, it cannot be at the top: and wce versd: for almost all bodies are liable to limitations in space: nor can they be everywhere or for ever ; but as the Godhead is in every place, from every place symbols may be taken for It; and not being any of these things in external properties, It can be everything in figure. Is Christ a door, in the same sense as the doors we see made by carpenters? Surely not; and yet He said, "I am the door."' Ora shepherd, in the same capacity as those who guard sheep? though He said, "I am the Shepherd." Both these names occur in the same passage: in the Gospel, He said, that the shepherd enters by the door: the words are, "I am the good Shepherd ;" and in the same passage, "I am the door:''5 and who is the shepherd who enters by the door? "I am the good Shepherd:" and what is the door by which Thou, Good Shepherd, enterest? How then art Thou all things? In the sense in which everything is through Me. To explain: when Paul enters by the door, does not Christ? Wherefore? Not because Paul is Christ: but since Christ is in Paul: and Paul acts through Christ. The Apostle says, '' Do ye seek a proof of Christ speaking in me?"?® When His saints and faithful disciples enter by the door, does not Christ enter by the door? How are we to prove this? Since Saul, not yet called Paul, was persecuting those very saints, when He called to him from Heaven, "Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou Me?"7 Himself then is the foundation, and corner stone: rising from the bottom: if indeed
4 x Cor. iii. rz. 5 John x. 11, 9. 6 2 Cor. xiii. 3. 9 3 7 Acts ix. 4.
2 Gal. iv. 26. 1 Eph. ii. 20. 3 Eph. ii, 19, 20.
Psatm LXXXVIL] ON THE
PSALMS. 421 from the bottom: for the base of this foundation is the highest exaltation of the building: and as the support of bodily fabrics rests upon the ground, that of spiritual structures reposes on high. Were we building up ourselves upon the earth, we should lay our foundation on the lowest level: but since our edifice is a heavenly one, to Heaven our Foundation has gone before us: so that our Saviour, the corner stone, the Apostles, and mighty Prophets, the hills that bear the fabric of the city, constitute a sort of living structure. This building now cries from your hearts; that you may be built up into its fabric, the hand of God, as of an artificer, worketh even through my tongue. Nor was it without a meaning that Noah's ark was made of "square beams,''! which were typical of the form of the Church. For what is it to be made square? Listen to the resemblance of the squared stone: like qualities should the Christian have: for in all his trials he never falls: though pushed, and, as it were, turned over, he falls not: and thus too, whichever way a square stone is turned, it stands erect... In earthly cities, one thing is the structure of buildings: another thing are the citizens that dwell therein: that city is builded of its own inmates, who are themselves the blocks that form the city, for the very stones are living: "Ye also,"' says the Apostle, ''as living stones, are built up a spiritual house,? words that are addressed to ourselves. Let us then pursue the contemplation of that city.
shalt be a judge? Where will be thy throne? Our Lord spoke of twelve thrones for the twelve Apostles: one, Judas, fell, and his place being supplied by Matthias, the number of twelve thrones was made up :° first, then, discover room for thy judgment-seat ; then threaten that thou wilt judge. Let us, therefore, reflect upon the meaning of the twelve thrones. The expression is typical of a sort of universality, as the Church was destined to prevail throughout the whole world: whence this edifice is styled a building together into Christ: and because judges come from all quarters, the twelve thrones are spoken of, just as the twelve gates, from the entering in from all sides into that city. Not only therefore have those twelve, and the Apostle Paul, a claim to the twelve thrones, but, from the universal signification, all who are to sit in judgment: in the same manner as all who enter the city, enter by one or the other of the twelve gates. There are four quarters of the globe: East, West, North, and South: and they are constantly alluded to in the Scriptures. From all those .|four winds; our Lord declares in the Gospel that He will call his sheep "from the four winds ;''7 therefore from all those four winds is the Church called. And how called? On every side it is called in the Trinity: no otherwise is it called than by Baptism in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost: four then being thrice taken, twelve are found. Knock, therefore, with all your hearts at these gates: and let Christ cry within you: "Open me the gates of righteousness." ® For He went before us the Head: He follows Himself in His Boy hr6 5. "Very excellent things are said of thee, thou city of God" (ver. 3). He was, as it were, contemplating that city of Jerusalem on earth: for consider what city he alludes to, of which certain very excellent things are spoken. Now the earthly city has been destroyed: after suffering the enemy's rage, it fell to the earth ; it is no longer what it was: it exhibited the emblem, and the shadow hath passed away. Whence then are "very excellent things spoken of thee, thou city of God''? Listen whence: "JT will think upon Rahab and Babylon, with them that know Me" (ver. 4). In that city, the Prophet, in the person of God, says, "I will think upon Rahab and Babylon." Rahab belongs not to the Jewish people ; 9 Babylon belongs not to the Jewish people ; as is clear from the next verse: "For the Philistines 7° also, and Tyre, with the Ethiopians, were there." Deservedly then, " very excellent things are spoken of thee, thou city of God:" for not only is the Jewish nation, born of the flesh of Abraham,
4. "The Lord loveth the gates of Sion more than all the dwellings of Jacob" (ver. 2). I have made the foregoing remarks, that ye may not imagine the gates are one thing, the foundations another.. Why are the Apostles and Prophets foundations? Because their authority is the support of our weakness. Why are they gates? because through them we enter the kingdom of God: for they proclaim it to us: and while we enter by their means, we enter also through Christ, Himself being the Gate. And twelve gates of Jerusalem are spoken of,3 and the one gate is Christ, and the twelve gates are Christ: for Christ dwells in the twelve gates, hence was twelve the number of the Apostles. There is a deep mystery in this number of twelve: "Ye shall sit," says our Saviour, "on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel." ¢ If there are twelve thrones there, there will be no room for the judgment-seat of Paul, the thirteenth Apostle, though he says that he shall judge not men only, but even Angels ; which, but the fallen Angels? "" Know ye not, that we shall judge Angels,"5 he writes. The world would answer, Why dost thou boast that thou
7 Mark xiii. 27. 8 Ps, cxviii. 19. 6 Acts i. 15-26. ao 10 Alrenigena, add\épviror 9 Josh. ii.r, vi. 25.
I Gen. vi. 14, LXX. 3 Rev. xxi. 12, 2 x Pet. ii. 5. 4 Matt. xix, 28. 5 x Cor. vi. 3.