Expositions on the Book of Psalms (continued)
626 THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN. [PsaLM CXXXV.
now, thou house of Jacob, come ye, let us walk in the light of the Lord."+ 'This is a small matter ; but what follows? 'For He hath put away His people, the house of Israel." The house of Jacob is the house of Israel ; for he who is Jacob, the same is Israel. . . . Therefore God had judged His people, by separating the evil and the good ; that is to say, " He shall be called upon among His servants." By whom? By the Gentiles. For how vast are the nations who have come in by faith. How many farms and desert places now come in to us? They come thence no one can tell how numerously ; they would believe. We say to them, What will ye? 'They answer, To know the glory of God. Believe, my brethren, that we wonder and rejoice at such a claim of these rustic people. They come I know not whither, roused up by I know not whom. How shall I say, I know not by whom? I know indeed by whom, because He says, "No one cometh to Me, save whom the Father draweth."' 5 They come suddenly from the woods, the desert, the most distant and lofty mountains, to the Church ; and many of them, nay, near all hold this language, so that we see of a truth that God teacheth them within.© The prophecy of Scripture is fulfilled, when it says, " And they shall all be taught of God." 7 We say to them, What do ye long for? And they answer, To see the glory of God.' "For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God." They believe, they are sanctified, they will to have clergy ordained for them. Is it not fulfilled, "and He will be called upon among His servants'?
what has been done to the wicked, take heed lest it be done to thee. . . . But when the good man sees what the wicked has suffered, let him cleanse himself from all iniquity, lest he fall into a like punishment, a like chastisement. Then ye have thoroughly understood these things. What did God then? He drove out the wicked, "And he gave their land for an inheritance, even an inheritance to Israel His servant" (ver. 12).
10. Then follows the loud cry of His praise. "Thy Name, O Lord, is for ever and ever"'
(ver. 13), after all these things which Thou hast done. For what do I see that Thou hast done? I behold Thy creation which Thou hast made in heaven, I behold this lower part, where we dwell, and here I see Thy gifts of clouds, and winds, and rain. I regard Thy people; Thou leddest them from the house of bondage, and didst signs and wonders upon their enemies. Thou punishedst those who caused them trouble, Thou dravest the wicked from their land, Thou killedst their kings, Thou gavest their land to Thy people: I have seen all these things, and filled with joy have said, " Lord, Thy Name is for ever and everlGi ps 11. All these things then did God overthrow, in the body at that time, when our fathers were led out of the land of Egypt, in the spirit now. Nor does His Hand cease until the end. Therefore deem not that these mighty deeds of
God were then finished and have ceased. "Thy Name, O Lord," he says, "is for ever.""! That is, Thy loving-kindness ceaseth not, Thy hand ceaseth not for ever from doing these things, which then Thou didst afore declare in a figure.
13. Lastly, after all that arrangement and dispensation, the Spirit of God turns itself to reproaching and ridiculing those idols, which are now ridiculed by their very worshippers. ' The idols of the Gentiles are silver and gold" (ver.
" But they are written for our admonition, on whom the end of the ages is come."? One generation and another generation ; the generation by which we are made the faithful, and are born again by baptism ; the generation by which we shall rise again from the dead, and shall live with the Angels for ever. Thy Memorial, O Lord, is above this generation, and above that; for neither doth He now forget to call us, nor then will He forget to crown us.
15). As God made all these things, who made whatever He would in heaven and earth, what can anything that man maketh be, but an object of ridicule, not adoration? Was He perchance about to speak of "the idols of the Gentiles," that we might despise them all? was He about to speak of the idols of the heathen, stones and wood, plaster and pottery? I say not these, they are mean materials. I speak of that which they specially love, that which they specially honour. "The idols of the Gentiles are silver and gold, the work of men's hands." Surely it is gold, surely it is silver: because silver glitters, and gold glitters, have they therefore eyes, or do they see? . .. But as these things are senseless, why make ye men of silver and gold to be gods? See ye not that the gods which ye make see not?
12. " The Lord hath judged His people, and will be called upon among His servants" (ver.
14). Already hath He judged the people. Save the final judgment, the people of the Jews is judged. What is "judged"? The just are taken away, the unjust are left. But if I lie, or am thought to lie, because I have said, it is already judged, hear the Lord saying, "I have come for judgment into this world, that they who see not may see, and they who see may be made blind." 3 The proud are made blind, the lowly are enlightened. Therefore, "He hath judged His people.'"' Isaiah spake the judgment. "And
4 Isa. il. 5. 5 John vi. 44. 6 [These rustzcs are the pagan? living in hamlets; he thus notes | the Ba) of Paganism in cies a
Isa. liv. 13. 8 John vi. "45 9 Rom, iii. 23.
I Ps. Cxxxv. 13. 21 Cor. x, 11, 3 John ix. 39.