Expositions on the Book of Psalms (continued)
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[PsALM CXXXV. this Psalm exhorteth us. For it says, " Praise the name of the Lord" (ver. 1). And it forthwith appends the reason, why it is just to praise the name of the Lord. " Praise the Lord, ye servants."" What more just? what more worthy ? what more thankful? ... For if He teaches His own servants who have deserved well of Him, the preachers of His Word, the rulers of His Church, the worshippers of His name, the obeyers of His command, that in their own conscience they should possess the sweetness of their life, lest they be corrupted by the praise or disheartened by the reproach of men ; how much the more is He above all, the unchangeable One, who teacheth these things, neither the greater if follow in the body. Do not hear, " Lift up your hearts," with a deaf ear. Keep thy heart lifted up, and no one will straiten thee in heaven.
PSALM CXXXIV.'
1. "Behold, now, bless ye the Lord, all ye servants of the Lord" (ver. 1), "who stand in the house of the Lord, in the courts of the house of our God" (ver. 2). Why has he added, "in the courts"? Courts mean the wider spaces of a house. He who stands in the courts is' not straitened, is not confined, in some fashion is enlarged. Remain in this enlargement, and thou canst love thy enemy, because thou lovest not things in which an enemy could straiten thee. How canst thou be understood to stand in the courts? Stand in charity, and thou standest in the courts. Breadth les in charity, straitness in hatred. thou praisest, or the less if thou reproachest.
. .. For ye will do nothing out of place, by And if ye were to be for ever only servants, ye ought to praise the Lord; how much more ought ye servants to praise the Lord, that ye may hereafter gain the privilege of sons?
| praising your Lord, as servants.
2. " Lift up your hands by night in the sanctuary, and bless the Lord" (ver. 2). It is easy to bless by day. What is "by day"? In prosperity. For night is a sad thing, day a cheerful. When it is well with thee, thou dost bless the Lord. Thy son was sick, and he is made whole, thou dost bless the Lord. Thy son was sick, perchance thou hast sought an astrologer, a soothsayer, perchance a curse against the Lord has come, not from thy tongue, but from thy} deeds, from thy deeds and thy life. Boast not, because thou blessest with thy tongue, if thou cursest with thy life. Wherefore bless ye the Lord. When? By night. When did Job bless? ; When it was a sad night. All was taken away which he possessed ; the children for whom his goods were stored were taken away. How sad was his night! Let us however see whether he blesseth not in the night. "The Lord gave, the Lord hath taken away ; it is as the Lord willed ; blessed be the name of the Lord."? And black was the night... . 3. "The Lord out of Zion bless thee, who made heaven and earth" (ver. 3). He exhorts many to bless, and Himself blesseth one, because He maketh one out of many, since "it is good and pleasant for brethren to dwell together in one." 3 It is a plural number, brethren, and yet singular, to dwell together in one. Let none of you say, It cometh not to me. Knowest thou of whom he speaks, "the Lord bless thee out of Zion." He blessed one. Be one,* and the blessing cometh to thee.
2. ... Therefore, '"Ye who stand in the house of the Lord, in the courts of the house of our God, praise the Lord" (ver. 2). Be thankful ; ye were without, and ye stand within. Since then ye stand, is it a small thing for you to think where He should be praised, who raised you when you were cast down, and caused you to stand in His house, to know Him, and to praise Him? Is it a small boon, that we stand 'in the house of the Lord? .. . If one thinks of this, and is not unthankful, he will utterly despise himself in comparison with the love of his Lord, who hath done so great things for him. And since he hath nothing wherewith to repay God for so great benefits, what remains for him but to give Him thanks, not to repay Him? It belongs to the very act of thanksgiving, to " receive the cup of the Lord, and to call upon His name."® For what can the servant repay the Lord for all that He hath given him?7
3. What reason shall I give why you should praise Him? "Because the Lord is good" (ver. 3). Briefly in one word is here explained the praise of the Lord our God. "The Lord is good ;"' good, not in the same manner as the things which He here made are good. For God made all things very good ;® not only good, but also very good. He made the sky and earth, and all things which are in them good, and He made them very good. If He made all these things good, of what sort is He who made them? ...
PSALM CXXXV.5
4. How far can we speak of His goodness ? Who can conceive in his heart, or apprehend how good the Lord is? Let us however return to ourselves, and in us recognise Him, and praise
1. Very pleasant ought it be to us, and we should rejoice because it is pleasant, to which
T Lat. CXXXIII. 2 Job i. 2x, 3 Ps. cxxxili. 1. 4 Unum, 5 Lat. CXX XIV. A discourse to the people.
6 Ps, cxvi. 13. 7 Ps. cxvi. 12. 8 Gen. i. 31.
PsaALM CXXXV.] ON THE PSALMS. 625 in all its deep places"' (ver. 6). Who can comprehend these things? Who can enumerate the works of the Lord in the heaven and earth, in the sea, and in all deep places? Yet if we cannot comprehend them all, we should believe and hold them without question, because whatever creature is in heaven, whatever is in earth, whatever is in the sea and in all deep places, has the Maker in His works, because we are not fit to contemplate Him Himself. And in hope that we may be able to contemplate Him, when our heart hath been purified by faith, that hereafter it may rejoice in the Truth; now as He cannot be seen by us, let us look at His works, that we may not live without praising Him. So I? have said, '' Praise the Lord, for He is good; sing praises unto His Name, for He is sweet. He is Mediator, and thereupon is sweet. What is sweeter than angels' food? How can God not be sweet, since man ate angels' food? For men and angels live not on different meat. That is truth, that is wisdom, that is the goodness of God, but thou canst not enjoy it in like. .| been made by the Lord... . 8. " Raising the clouds from the ends of the earth" (ver. 7). We see these works of God in His creation. For the clouds come from the ends of the earth to the midst thereof, and rain ; thou scannest not whence they arise. Hence the prophet signifies this, from "the ends of the earth," whether it be from the bottom, or from the circumference of the ends of the earth, whencesoever He wills He raises the clouds, only from the earth. 'He hath made lightnings into rain." For lightnings without rain would frighten thee, and bestow nothing on thee. " He maketh lightnings unto rain." It lhghtens, and thou tremblest ; it rains, thou rejoicest. "He hath made lightnings unto rain." He who terrified thee, Himself causest that thou shouldest rejoice. 'Who bringeth the winds out of His treasures," their causes are hidden, thou knowest not whence they come. When the wind blows, thou feelest 1t; why it blows, or from what treasure of His wisdom it 1s brought forth, thou knowest not ;3 yet thou owest to God the worship of faith, for it would not blow unless He had bidden who made it, unless He had brought it forth who created it. wise with the angels. . That man might eat angels' food, the Creator of the angels was made man.? If ye taste, sing praises; if ye have tasted how sweet the Lord is, sing praises; if that which ye have tasted has a good savour, praise it; who is so unthankful to cook or purveyor, as not to return thanks by praising what he tastes, if he be pleased by any food. If we are not silent on such occasions, shall we be silent concerning Him, who has given us all things? . . Ba FOr the Lord hath chosen Jacob to Himself, Israel for His own possession" (ver. 4). Let not Jacob therefore extol himself, let him not boast himself, or ascribe it to his own merits. He was known before, predestinated before, elected before, not elected for his own merits, but found out, and gifted with life by the grace of God. So with all the Gentiles; for how did the wildolive deserve, that it should be grafted in, from the bitterness of its berries, the barrenness of its wildness? It was the wood of the wilderness, not of the Lord's field, and yet He of His mercy grafted the wild-olive into the (true) olive. But up to this time the wild-olive was not ee in. g. We see therefore these things in that work of His; we praise, we marvel at, we bless God ; let us see what He has done among men for His people. 'Who smote the first-born of Egypt" (ver. 8). But withal those divine doings are told which thou mightest love, those are not told which thou mightest fear. Attend, and see that also when He is angry, He doeth what He willeth. "From man even unto beast. He sent signs and wonders into the midst of thee, O Egypt!" (ver. 9). Ye know, ye have read what the hand of the Lord did by Moses in Ome " Because," says he, "I know that the Lord is 'great, and our God is above all gods" (ver. 5). If we should say to him, we ask thee, explain to us His greatness ; would he not perchance answer us, He whom I see is not so very great, if He be able to be expounded by me. Let him then return to His works, and tell us. Let him hold in his conscience the greatness of God, which he has seen, which he has committed to our faith, whither he could not lead our eyes, and enumerate some of the things which the Lord hath done here; that unto us, who cannot see His greatness as he can, He may become sweet through the works of His which we can comprehend. ...
Egypt, to crush and cast down the proud Egyptians, "on Pharaoh and on all his servants.' Little did He in Egypt: what did He after His people was led out thence? '' Who smote many nations" (ver. 10), who possessed that land, which God willed to give His people. "And slew mighty kings, Sehon king of the Amorites, and Og the king of Bashan, and all the kingdoms of Canaan" (ver. 11). All these things which the Psalm records simply, do we read likewise in others of the Lord's books, and there the hand of the Lord is great. When thou seest
7. " All whatsoever the Lord willed, He made in the heaven, and 'in the earth, in the sea, and 3 John iii. 8.
1 * He hath said," Oxf. mss. 2 Ps. Ixxviii. 25.