Expositions on the Book of Psalms (continued)
666 THE WORKS OF
ST. AUGUSTIN. [PsaLtm CXLVII.
the Church in this present time, are the means whereby "He bindeth up our bruises." For just as, when the limb has become perfectly who " buildeth up Jerusalem," restored the part that had fallen. How restored He the part that had fallen? ... He sent then to our captive estate His Son as a Redeemer. Take with Thee, said He, a bag, bear therein the price of the captives. For He put on Him our mortal flesh, and therein was the Blood, by the shedding of which we were to be redeemed. With that Blood He " gathered the dispersions of Israel." And if He gathered them that before were dispersed, how must we strive that they be gathered who now are dispersed? If the dispersed have been gathered, that in the Hand of the Builder they might be fashioned into the building, how should they be gathered who through disquiet have fallen from the Hand of the Builder? Behold whom we praise ; behold to whom we owe praise all our life long. ; sound, the physician taketh off the bandage ; so in our own city Jerusalem, when we shall have been made equal to the Angels, think ye that we shall receive there, what we have received here? Will it be needful then that the Gospel be read to us, that our faith may abide? or that hands be laid upon us by any Bishop? All these are means of binding up fractures; when we have attained perfect soundness, they will be taken off; but we should never attain it, if they were not bound up.
8. "Who telleth the number of the stars, and calleth them all by their names" (ver. 4). What great matter is it for God to "tell the number of the stars'?! Men even have endeavoured to do this ; whether they haye been able to achieve it, is their concern; they would not however attempt it, did they not think that they should achieve it. Let us leave alone what they can do, and how far they have attained ; for God I think it no great matter to count all the stars. Or doth He perhaps go over the number, lest He should forget it? Is it any great thing for God to number the stars, by whom "the very hairs of your head are numbered" ?? The stars are certain lights in the Church comforting our night ; all—of whom the Apostle saith, " In the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world, holding the Word of life.'3 These stars God counteth ; all who shall reign with Him, all who are to be gathered into the Body of His onlybegotten Son, He hath counted, and still counteth them. Whoso is unworthy, is not even counted. Many too have believed, or rather may, with a kind of shadowy appearance of faith, have attached themselves to His people: yet He knoweth what He counteth, what He winnoweth away. For so great is the height of the Gospel, that it hath come to pass as was said, "I have declared, and have spoken: they are multiplied above number:''4 there are then among the people certain supernumeraries, so to speak. What do I mean by supernumeraries? More than will be there. Within these walls are more than will be in the kingdom of God, in the heavenly Jerusalem; these are above the number. Let each one of you consider whether he shineth in darkness, whether he refuseth to be led astray by the dark iniquity of the world ; if he be not led astray, nor conquered, he will be, as it were, a star, which God already numbereth. " And calling them all by their names," he saith. Herein is our whole reward. We | have certain names with God; that God may
5. How doth He gather? What doeth He in order to gather? " Who healeth the bruised | in heart" (ver. 3). Behold the way in which the dispersions of Israel are gathered, by the healing of the bruised in heart. They who are not of a bruised heart, are not healed. What is to bruise the heart? Let it be known, brethren, let it be done, that ye may be able to be healed. For it is told in many other places of Senptire >"... "the sderifice* of "God Isa troubled spirit, a bruised and contrite heart God will not despise." He healeth then the bruised in heart, for He draweth nigh unto them to heal them; as is said in another place, | "the Lord is nigh unto them who have bruised ' their heart." Who are they that have " bruised their heart" ? The humble. Who are they that have not "bruised their heart"? The proud. The bruised heart shall be healed, the puffed up heart shall be dashed down. For for this purpose perhaps is it dashed down, that being bruised it may be healed. Let not our heart then, brethren, desire to be set upright, before it be upright. It is ill for that to be uplifted which is not first corrected... . 6. What are the means whereby He " bindeth up their bruises'? Just as physicians bind up fractures. For sometimes (observe this, beloved ; it is well known to those who have observed it, or have heard it from physicians), sometimes when limbs are sound, but are crooked and distorted, physicians break them in order to set them straight, and make a new wound, because the soundness which was distorted was amiss. ...
7. What are these means whereby He bindeth? The sacraments of this present life, whereby in the mean time we obtain our comfort: and all the words we speak to you, words which sound and pass away, all that is done in
4 Ps. xl. 5. 2 Matt. x. 30, 3 Philip. ii. 15.
1 Ps, xxxiv. 18,