Expositions on the Book of Psalms
PsALM XXXVII.] ON THE
PSALMS. gI affection. "Let not the foot of pride come against me: let not the hand of the wicked remove me:"' that is, let not the works of the wicked remove me from Thee, that I should wish to imitate them. But wherefore said he this against pride, "Thereby have fallen all that work iniquity ''?, Because those who now are ungodly, have fallen by pride. Therefore when the Lord would caution His Church, He said, "It shall watch thy head, and thou shall watch ¢ his heel.'"? The serpent watcheth when the foot of pride may come against thee, when thou mayest fall, that he may cast thee down. But watch thou his head: the beginning of all sin is pride.3 "Thereby have fallen all that work iniquity: they are driven out, and are not able to stand." He first, who in the Truth stood not, then, through him, they whom God sent out of Paradise. Whence he, the humble, who said that he was not worthy to unloose His shoe's latchet, is not driven out, but standeth and heareth Him, and rejoiceth greatly because of the Bridegroom's voice ;4 not because of his own, lest the foot of pride come against him, and he be driven out, and be not able to stand... . untaught. For, as a Master, He knew how both to teach us what was good for us, and not to teach us what was injurious. Now thus, according to a certain form of speech, the Son 8 is said not to know what He does not teach: that is, in the same way that we are daily in the habit of speaking, He is said not to know what He causes us not to know.?. . . 2. This it is that disturbs you who are a Christian ; that you see men of bad lives prospering, and surrounded with abundance of things like these ; you see them sound in health, distinguished with proud honours; you see their family unvisited by misfortune; the happiness of their relatives, the obsequious attendance of their dependants, their most commanding influence, their life uninterrupted by any sad event ; you see their characters most profligate, their external resources most affluent ; and your heart says that there is no Divine judgment ; that all things are carried to and fro by accidents, and blown about in disorderly and_ irregular motions. For if God, thou sayest, regarded human affairs, would his iniquity flourish, and my innocence suffer? Every sickness of the soul hath in Scripture its proper remedy. Let him then whose sickness is of that kind that he says in his heart things like these, let him drink this Psalm by way of potion... . 3. "Be not envious because of evil-doers, neither be envious against the workers of iniquity"' (ver. 1). "For they shall soon wither like the grass, and shall fade like the herbs of the meadow" (ver. 2). That which to thee seemeth long, is "soon" in the sight of God. Conform © thou thyself to God ; and it will be "soon" to thee. That which he here calls " orass," that we understand by the "herbs of the meadow." They are some worthless things, occupying the surface only of the ground, they have no depth of root. In the winter then they are green; but when the summer sun shall begin to scorch, they will wither away. For now it is the season of winter. Thy glory doth not as yet appear. But if thy love hath but a deep root, like that of many trees during winter, the frost passes away, the summer (that is, the Day of Judgment) will come ; then will the greenness of the grass wither away. Then will the glory of the trees appear. "For ye" (saith the Apostle) "are dead,"''* even as trees seem to be in winter, as it were dead, as it were withered. What is our hope then, if we are dead? The root is within; where our root is, there is our PSALM XXXVII.5
On the First Part of the Psalm.
1. With terror do they hear of the coming of the last day, who will not be secure by living well: and who fain would live ill, long. But it was for useful purposes that God willed that day to remain unknown ; that the heart may be ever ready to expect that of which it knows it is to come, but knows not when it is to come. Seeing, however, that our Lord Jesus Christ was sent to us to be our " Master,'"'® He said, that "of the day not even the Son of Man knew," 7 because it was not part of His office as our Master that through Him it should become known to us. « For indeed the Father knoweth nothing that the Son knoweth not; since that is the Very Knowledge of the Father Itself, which is His Wisdom ; now His Son, His Word, is " His Wisdom." But because it was not for our good to know that, which however was known to Him who came indeed to teach us, though not to teach us that which it was not good for us to know, He not only, as a Master, taught us something, but also, as a Master, left something
I Lat. observadit. 2 Gen: iii. 15. 3 Ecclus. x. 13. 4 John i. 27, iil. 29. 5 Lat. XXXVI. This is a sermon which was delivered at Carthage, as well as the two following. It should be noticed that in the life of St. Fulgentius, c. 3, we are told that, "' having some time before resolved with himself to renounce the world, he was so roused and moved by St. Augustin's exposition of this Psalm that he determined to make his vow public, and earnestly desired to adopt the religious habit." — Ben ? 6 Magister Magisterio. Master, in sense of teacher or guide; Kaénynrns, in Matt. xxiii. 8, being in the Latin translated "' Magzster," as in English, '' Master." life also, for there our love is fixed. '" And your life is hid with Christ in God." 1! When shall he
8 47. "Son of Man," as below. j ° 9 [Here he enlarges; but our common use of the word " ignore sufficiently explains the use here. We zgvore what it is needless to say. — (cn
10 Sudjunge. 11 Col. iii. 3.
7 Mark xiii. 32.