Expositions on the Book of Psalms (continued)
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN. [PSALM XLIX.
is far from me."* What saith he then who speaketh to thee? when he hath said, " My mouth shall speak of wisdom," in order that thou mayest know that what is poured forth from the mouth floweth from the bottom of the heart, he hath added, "And the meditation of my heart of understanding."
he is to escape what Adam oweth, he who is born of Adam. But let him consider that he is born of Adam, and hath followed Christ, and ought to pay what Adam oweth, and obtain what Christ hath promised. Therefore, he who feareth death can no wise escape: but he who feareth the damnation which the ungodly shall hear, "Go ye into everlasting fire,"7 hath an escape. Let him not fearthen. For why should he fear? Will the iniquity of his heel compass him? If then he avoid "the iniquity of his heel," and walk in the ways of God, he shall not come to the evil day: the evil day, the last day, shall not be evil to him. . . . Now while they live, let them take heed to themselves, let them put away iniquity from their heel: let them walk in that way, let them walk in the way of which He saith Himself, "I am the way, the truth, and the life: '® and let them not fear in the evil day, for He giveth them safety who became 'The Way." 'Therefore let them avoid the iniquity of their heel. With the heel a man slippeth. Let your Love observe. What was said by God to the Serpent? 'She shall mark thy head, and thou shalt mark her heel." 9 The devil marketh thy heel, in order that when thou slippest he may overthrow thee. He marketh thy heel, do thou mark his head. What is his head? The beginning of an evil suggestion. When he beginneth to suggest evil thoughts, then do thou thrust him away before pleasure ariseth, and consent followeth; and so shalt thou avoid his head, and he shall not grasp thy heel. But wherefore said He this to Eve? Because through the flesh man doth slip. Our flesh is an Eve within us. "He that loveth his wife," he saith, "loveth himself." What meaneth "himself"? He continueth, and _ saith, "For no man ever yet hath hated his own flesh." *° Because then the devil would make us slip through the flesh, just as he made that man Adam to slip, through Eve; Eve is bidden to mark the head of the devil, because the devil marketh her heel." "If then the iniquity of our heel shall compass us, why fear we in the evil day," since being converted to Christ we are able not to do iniquity; and there will be nothing to compass us, and we shall joy and not sorrow in the last day?
5. "I will incline mine ear to the parable, I will show my proposition upon the harp" (ver. 4)... . And why "to a parable"? Because "now we see through a glass darkly,''? as saith the Apostle; "whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord." 3 For our vision is not yet that face to face, where there are no longer parables, where there no longer are riddles and comparisons. Whatever now we understand we behold through riddles. A riddle is a dark parable which it is hard to understand. Howsoever a man may cultivate his heart and apply himself to apprehend mysteries, so long as we see through the corruption of this flesh, we see but in part... . But as He was seen by those who believed, and by those who crucified Him, when He was judged; so will He be seen, when He shall have begun to be judge, both by those whom He shall condemn, and by those whom He shall crown. But that vision of divinity, which He hath promised to them that love Him, when He saith, " He that loveth Me shall be loved of My Father, and he that loveth Me keepeth My commandments, and IT will love him, and will manifest Myself to him :"' 4 this the ungodly shall not see. This manifestation is in a certain way familiar: He keepeth it for His own, He will not show it to the ungodly. Of what sort is the vision itself? Of what sort is Christ? Equal to the Father. Of what sort is Christ? 'In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." 5 For this vision we sigh now, and groan so long as we sojourn here; to this vision we shall be brought home at the last, this vision now we see but darkly. If then we see now darkly, let us "incline our ear to the parable," and then let us "show our proposition upon the harp:"® let us hear what we say, do what we enjoin.
6. And what hath he said? "And wherefore shall I fear in the evil day? The iniquity of my heel shall compass me" (ver. 5). He beginneth something obscurely. Therefore he ought the rather to fear if the iniquity of his heel shall compass him. Nay, for let not man fear, he saith, who hath not power to escape. For example, he who feareth death, what shall he do to escape death? Let him tell me how
7. But who are they whom the "iniquity of their heel shall compass"? 'They who trust in their virtue,' and in the abundance of their riches do glory" (ver. 6). Therefore such sins
7 Matt. xxv. 41. 8 John xiv. 6. 9 Gen. iii. 15. ['' She shall mark," etc. So the Vulgate, but not in the older editions. The Septuagint is conclusive as to the ancient exposition of the Jews, for the xeuter (omépua) had a masculine pronoun (av7és) as nominative to the verb. So Jerome, Dowmznus noster conteret Satanam. It is noteworthy that our author attaches no such force to his reading as Mariolatry demands. — C. ] 10 Eph. vy. 28, 29. 11 (See Hippolytus, A. N. F. vol. v. p. 166. —C.] 12 Or, "might" (wzrtute).
T Isa. xxix. 13. 41. Cor, Xi. 12, 3 2 Cor. v. 6. 4 John xiv. 21. 5 John i. x. 6 | He explains "' the harp" elsewhere as the body, used by the soul ''as the harper useth the harp"; and see p. 139, supra. —C.]