Expositions on the Book of Psalms
548 THE WORKS OF
STs AUGUSTIN: [Psatm CXIII.
PSALM. CXIII.9 in the Lord" (ver. 7). Such as the words which he will hear addressed to those on the left hand, "Depart into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels." ' He therefore who seeketh here not his own things, but those of Jesus Christ,? most patiently endureth sufferings, waiteth for the promises with faith. Nor is he broken down by any temptations: " His heart is established, and will not shrink, until he see beyond his enemies " (ver. 8). His enemies wished to see good things here, and when invisible blessings were promised them, used to say, " Who will show us any good?"'3 Let our heart therefore be established, and shrink not, until we see beyond our enemies. For they wish to see good things of men in the land of the dying ; we trust to see the good things of the Lord in the land of the living.4 i . When ye hear sung in the Psalms, re Praise the Lord, ye children" (ver. 1); imagine not that that exhortation pertaineth not unto you, because having already passed the youth of the body, ye are either blooming in the prime of manhood, or growing gray with the honours of old age: for unto all of you the Apostle saith, "Brethren, be not children in understanding ; howbeit, in malice be ye children, but in understanding be men." '® What malice in particular, save pride? For it is pride that, presuming in false greatness, suffereth not man to walk along the narrow path, and to enter by the narrow gate ; but the child easily entereth through the narrow >}entrance; and thus no man, save as a child, entereth into the kingdom of heaven. " Praise the Name of the Lord." . . . Let Him therefore be alway proclaimed: ' Blessed be the Name of the Lord, from this time forth for evermore "
6. But it is a great thing to have the heart established, and not to be moved, while they rejoice who love what they see, and mock at him who hopeth for what he seeth not; " what the Lord hath prepared for them that love Him." 5 How great is the value of this which is not seen, and it is bought for so much as each man is able to give for it. On this account he also " dispersed abroad, and gave tothe poor" (ver. 9): he saw not, yet he kept buying ; but He was storing up the treasure in heaven, who deigned to hunger and thirst in the poor on earth. It is no wonder then if "his righteousness remaineth for ever:"' He who created the ages being his guardian. ' His horn," whose humility was scorned by the proud, " shall be exalted with honour."
(ver.2). Let Him be proclaimed everywhere : " From the rising up of the sun unto the going down. of the same, praise ye the Name of the
Lord "7 (wet. 3).
2. If any of the holy children who praise the Name of the Lord were to ask of me and say to me, " for evermore'' I understand to mean unto all eternity: but why " from this," and why is not the Name of the Lord blessed before this, and before all ages? I will answer the infant, who asketh not in contumacy. Unto you it is said, masters and children, unto you it is said,
"' Praise the Name of the Lord; blessed be the Name of the Lord: " let the Name of the Lord be blessed, " from this," that is, from the moment ye speak these words. For ye begin to praise, but praise ye without end. . . . Or, since in this passage he seemeth to signify rather humility than childhood, the contrary of which is the vain and false greatness of pride; and for this reason none but children praise the Lord, since the proud know not how to praise Him; let your old age be childlike, and your childhood like old age ; that is, that neither may your wisdom be with pride, nor your humility without wisdom, that ye may " praise the Lord from this
7. "The ungodly shall see it, and he shall be angered "' (ver. 10) : this is that late and fruitless repentance. For with whom rather than himself is he "angered," when he shall say, " Our pride, what hath it profited us? the boastfulness of our riches, what hath it given us?' ® seeing the horn of him exalted with honour, who
dispersed abroad, and gave to the poor." "He shall gnash with his teeth, and consume away: " for "there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth." For he will no more bring forth leaves and bloom, as would happen if he had repented in season: but he will then repent, when " the desire of the ungodly shall perish," no consolation succeeding. "The desire of the ungodly shall perish," when "all things shall pass away like a shadow," 7 when the flower shall fall down on the withering of the grass. " But the word of the Lord that endureth for ever," 8 as it is mocked by the vanity of the falsely happy, so will laugh at the perdition of the same when truly miserable.
for evermore." Wherever the Church of Christ is diffused in her childlike saints, " Praise ye the Name of the Lord ;" that is, "from the rising up of the sun unto the going down of the same."
3. "The Lord is high above all heathen" (ver. 4). The heathen are men: what wonder if the Lord be above all men? 'They see with their eyes those whom they worship high above themselves to shine in heaven, the sun and moon and stars, creatures which they serve while they
1 Matt. xxv. 34, 41. 2 Philip. ii. 21. 3 Ps. iv. 6. 4 Ps. xxvii. 13. 5 x Cor. ii. 9. 6 Wisd. v. 8. 7 Wisd. v. 8, 9. 8 Isa. xl. 8
9 Lat. CXII. A discourse to the people. 10 x Cor. xiv. 20; Matt. xviii. 3.