"Shall I eat the flesh of bulls, or shall I drink
Psatm L.] ON THE PSALMS. 185 with Him are all things by-gone: things to come in such sort, that there be not withdrawn from Him all things by-gone. With Him are all things by a certain cognition of the ineffable wisdom of God residing in the Word, and the! Word Himself is all things. Is not the beauty of the field in a manner with Him, inasmuch as He is everywhere, and Himself hath said, " Heaven and earth I fill" 2? What with Him is not, of whom it is said, "If I shall have ascenaed into heaven, Thou art there; and if I shall have descended into hell, Thou art present" ?3 With Him is the whole: but it is not so with Him as that He doth suffer any contamination from those things which He hath created, or any want of them. For with thee, perchance, is a pillar near which thou art standing, and when thou art weary, thou leanest against it. Thou needest that which is with thee, God needeth not the field which is with Him. With Him is field, with Him beauty of earth, with Him beauty of heaven, with Him all winged creatures, because He is Himself everywhere. And wherefore are all things near Him? Because even before that all things were, or were created, to Him were known all things.
heard what of us He requireth not, who willeth to enjoin us somewhat. If of such things ye were thinking, now withdraw your thoughts from such things: think not to offer God any such thing. If thou hast a fat bull, kill for the poor: let them eat the flesh of bulls, though they shall not drink the blood of he-goats. Which, when thou shalt have done, He will account it to thee, that hath said, "If I shall be hungry, I will not tell thee:" and He shall say to thee, "I was hungry, and thou gavest Me to eat."7 "Shall I eat the flesh of bulls, or shall I drink the blood of he-goats?"
21. Say then, Lord our God, what dost Thou enjoin thy people, Thy Israel? " Immolate to God the sacrifice of praise" (ver. 14). Let us also say to Him, "In me, O God, are thy vows, which I will render of praise to Thee." I had feared lest Thou mightest enjoin something which would be out of my power, which I was counting to be in my pen, and but now perchance it had been taken away by a thief. What dost Thou enjoin me? 'Immolate to God the sacrifice of praise."" Let me revert to myself, wherein I may find what I may immolate: let me revert to myself; in myself may I find immolation of praise: be Thy altar my conscience. We are without anxiety, we go not into Arabia in quest of frankincense :* not any bags of covetous dealer do we sift: God requireth of us the sacrifice of praise. Zacchzeus had this sacrifice of praise in his patrimony ;? the widow had it in her bag ; '° some poor host or other hath had it in his jar: another neither in patrimony, nor in bag, nor in jar, hath had anything, had it wholly in his heart: salvation was to the house of Zaccheus ; and more this poor widow cast in than those rich men: this man, that doth offer a cup of cold water, shall not lose his reward : but there is even "peace on earth to men of good will." ' "JImmolate to God the sacrifice of praise." O sacrifice gratuitous, by grace given! I have not indeed bought this to offer, but Thou hast given: for not even this should I have had. And this is the immolation of the sacrifice of praise, to render thanks to Him from whom thou hast whatever of good thou hast, and by whose mercy is forgiven thee whatsoever of evil of thine thou hast. '"Immolate to God the sacrifice of praise: and render to the Highest thy prayers." With this odour the Lord is well pleased.'3
19. Who can explain, who expound that which is said to Him in another Psalm, " For my goods Thou needest not" ?4 He hath said that He needeth not from us any necessary thing. "If I shall be hungry, I will not tell thee" (ver.
12). He that keepeth Israel shall neither hunger nor thirst, nor be weary, nor fall asleep.s But, lo! according to thy carnality I speak: because thou wilt suffer hunger when thou hast not eaten, perhaps thou thinkest even God doth hunger that He may eat. Even though He shall be hungry, He telleth not thee: all things are before Him, whence He will He taketh what is needful for Him. 'These words are said to convince little understanding ; not that God hath declared His hunger. Though for our sake this God of gods deigned even to hunger. He came to hunger, and to fill; He came to thirst, and give drink; He came to be clothed with mortality, and to clothe with immortality ; He came poor, to make rich. For He lost not His riches by taking to Him our poverty, for, "In him are all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge hidden." °® "If I shall be hungry, I will not tell thee: For Mine is the whole world, and the fulness thereof." Do not then labour to find what to give Me, without whom I have what I will.
22. "And call thou upon Me in the day of thy tribulation: and I will draw thee forth, and thou shalt glorify Me" (ver. 15). For thou
20. Why then dost still think of thy flocks? "Shall I eat the flesh of bulls, or shall I drink the blood of he-goats?" (ver. 13). Ye have
7 Matt. xxv 8 (A. N. F. (iedullian) vol ili. p, 67, and (Irenzus) vol. i. p. 484, note 9. —C.
9 Luke xix. 8, TO Mark xii. 42. 1 Matt. x. 42. 12 Luke ii. 14. 13 [A.N, F. vol. vii. p. 553, note 6. —C.]
1 Or, "In (or with) the Word Himself are all things," 2 Mee xxiii, 24. 3 Ps. cxxxix. 8, 'S. XVi. 2. 5 Ps. cxxi. 4. 6 Col. ii. 3.
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN. [PsaLtm L.
For we find pitiful objects upon whom we show pity; and the pitiful case of pitiful objects maketh us compassionate. How much better now would it be with thee in that place, where thou findest no hungry man whom thou mayest feed, where thou findest no stranger whom thou mayest take in, no naked man whom thou mayest cover, no sick man whom thou mayest visit, no litigant whom thou mayest set at one! For all things in that place are most high, are true, are holy, are everlasting. Our bread in that place is righteousness, our drink there is wisdom, our garment there is immortality, our house is everlasting in the heavens, our stedfastness* is immortality: doth sickness come over? Doth weariness weigh down to sleep? No death, no litigation: there peace, quiet, joy, righteousness. No enemy hath entrance, no friend falleth away. What is the quiet there? If we think and observe where we are, and where He that cannot lie hath promised that we are to be, from His very promise we find in what tribulation we are. This tribulation none findeth, but he that shall have sought it. Thou art whole, see if thou art miserable ; for it is easy for him that is sick to find himself miserable: when thou art whole, see if thou art miserable ; that thou art not yet with God. " Tribulation and grief I found, and on the Name of the Lord I called."5 "Immolate," therefore, "' to God the sacrifice of praise." Praise Him promising, praise Him calling, praise Him exhorting, praise Him helping: and understand in what tribulation thou art placed. Call upon (Him), thou shalt be drawn forth, thou shalt glorify, shalt abide.
oughtest not to rely on thy powers, all thy aids are deceitful. 'Upon Me call thou in the day of tribulation: I will draw thee forth, and thou shalt glorify Me." For to this end I have allowed the day of tribulation to come to thee: because perchance if thou wast not troubled, thou wouldest not call on Me: but when thou art troubled, thou callest on Me; when thou callest upon Me, I will draw thee forth ; when I shall draw thee forth, thou shalt glorify Me, that thou mayest no more depart from Me. A certain man had grown dull and cold in fervour of prayer, and said, " Tribulation and grief I found, and on the Name of the Lord I called."* He found tribulation as it were some profitable thing ; he had rotted in the slough of his sins ; now he had continued without feeling, he found tribulation to be a sort of caustic and cutting. "JT found," he saith, "tribulation and grief, and on the Name of the Lord I called." And truly, brethren, tribulations are known to all men. Behold those afflictions that abound in mankind ; one afflicted with loss bewaileth ; another smitten with bereavement mourneth ; another exiled from country grieveth and desireth to return, deeming sojourning intolerable ; another's vineyard is hailed upon, he observeth his labours and all his toil spent in vain. When can a human being not be made sad? An enemy he findeth in a friend. What greater misery in mankind? These things all men do deplore and grieve at, and these are tribulations: in all these they call upon the Lord, and they do rightly. Let them call upon God, He is able either to teach how it must be borne, or to heal it when borne. He knoweth how not to suffer us to be tried above that we are able to bear.? Let us call upon God even in those tribulations: but these tribulations do find us; as in another Psalm is written, " Helper in tribulations which have found us too much :''3 there is a certain tribulation which we ought to find. Let such tribulations find us: there is a certain tribulation which we ought to seek and to find. What is that? The abovenamed felicity in this world, abundance of temporal things: that is not indeed tribulation, these are the solaces of our tribulation. Of what tribulation? Of our sojourning. For the very fact that we are not yet with God, the very fact that we are living amid trials and difficulties, that we cannot be without fear, is tribulation: for there is not that peace which is promised us. He that shall not have found this tribulation in his sojourning, doth not think of going home to his father-land. This is tribulation, brethren. Surely now we do good works, when we deal bread to the hungry, home to the stranger, and the like: tribulation even this is.
23. But see what followeth, my brethren. For now some one or other, because God had said to him, " Immolate to God the sacrifice of praise," and had enjoined in a manner this tribute, did meditate to himself and said, I will rise daily, I will proceed to Church, I will say one hymn at matins, another at vespers, a third or fourth in my house, daily I do sacrifice the sacrifice of praise, and immolate to my God. Well thou doest indeed, if thou doest this: but take heed, lest now thou be careless, because now thou doest this: and perchance thy tongue bless God, and thy life curse God. O my people, saith to thee the God of gods, the Lord that spake, "calling the earth from the rising of the sun unto the setting," though yet thou art placed amid the tares,° "Immolate the sacrifice of praise to thy God, and render to Him thy prayers: but take heed lest thou live ill, and chant well. Wherefore this? For, "Unto the sinner, saith God, why dost thou tell out My judgments, and takest My Covenant in thy mouth?" (ver. 16). Ye see, brethren, with t Ps, cxvi. 4. 2 1 Cor. x. 13. 3 Ps, xlvi. x. 4 Firmitas (perhaps " health"). 5 Matt. xiii. 25,
Psat L.] ON THE PSALMS. 187 what trembling we say these words. We take the Covenant. of God in our mouth, and we preach to you the instruction and judgment of God. And what saith God to the sinner? "Why dost thou?" Doth He then forbid preachers that be sinners? And where is that, thou shouldest say, I have not committed theft, I have not committed adultery. What if he pleased thee that hath committed? Hast thou not with the very pleasing consented? Hast thou not by approval made thy portion with him that hath committed? For this is, brethren, to consent with a thief, and to make with an adulterer thy portion: for even if thou committest not, and approvest what is committed, thou art an accessory in the deed: for " the sinner is praised in the longings of his soul, and he that doeth iniquity shall be blessed."7 Thou doest not evil things, thou praisest evil-doers. For is this a small evil? "Thou didst make thy portion with adulterers."
" What they say do, but what they do, do not'? Where is that, " Whether in truth or on occasion Christ be preached'??? But these words were said, lest they should fear that hear, from whomsoever it be that they hear: not that they should be without care that speak good words, and do evil deeds. Now therefore, brethren, ye are without care: if ye hear good words ye hear God,3 through whomsoever it be that ye may hear. But God would not dismiss without reproof them that speak: lest with their speaking alone, without care for themselves they should slumber in evil life, and say to themselves, " For God will not consign us to perdition, through whose mouth He has willed that so many good words should be spoken to His people.' Nay, but hear what thou speakest, whoever thou art that speakest: and thou that wilt be heard thyself, first hear thyself; and speak what a certain man doth speak in another Psalm,+ "TI will hear what in me speaketh the Lord God, for He shall speak peace to His people.'"' What am I then, that hear not what in me He speaketh, and will that other hear what through me He speaketh? I will hear first, will hear, and chiefly I will hear what speaketh in me the Lord God, for He shall speak peace to His people. Let me hear, and "chasten my body, and to servitude subject it, lest perchance to others preaching, myself be found a cast-away."5 ' Why dost thou tell out my judgments?' Wherefore to thee what profiteth not thee? He admonisheth him to hear: not to lay down preaching, but to take up obedience. My Covenant in thy mouth?"
26. "Thy mouth hath abounded in malice, and thy tongue hath embraced deceit"' (ver. 19). Of the malevolence and deceit, brethren, of certain men he speaketh, who by adulation, though they know what they hear to be evil, yet lest they offend those from whom they hear, not only by not reproving but by holding their peace do consent.' 'Too little is it, that they do not say, Thou nast done evil: but they even say, Thou hast done even well: and they know it to be evil: but their mouth aboundeth in malice, and their tongue embraceth deceit. Deceit is a sort of guile in words, of uttering one thing, thinking another. He saith not, thy tongue hath committed deceit or perpetrated deceit, but in order to point out to thee a kind of pleasure taken in the very evil doing, He hath said, " Hath embraced." It is too little that thou doest it, thou art delighted too; thou praisest openly, thou laughest to thyself. Thou dost push to destruction a man heedlessly putting forth his faults, and knowing not whether they be faults: thou that knowest it to be a fault, sayest not, " Whither art thou rushing?" If thou wert to see him heedlessly walk in the dark, where thou knewest a well to be, and wert to hold thy peace, of what sort wouldest thou be? wouldest thou not be set down for an enemy of his life?9 And yet if he were to fall into a well, not in soul?® but in body he would die. He doth fall headlong into his vices, he doth expose before thee his evil doings: thou knowest them to be evil, and praisest and laughest to thyself. Oh that at length he were to be turned to God at whom thou laughest, and whom thou wouldest not reprove, and that he were to say, " Let them be confounded that say to me, Well, well." ™
" But thou, why dost thou take |
24. " But thou hatest instruction" (ver. 17). Thou hatest discipline. When I spare, thou singest and praisest: when I chasten, thou murmurest: as though, when I spare, I am thy God: and, when I chasten, I am not thy God. "JT rebuke and chasten those whom I love.' ® " But thou hatest instruction: and hast thrown My sayings behind thee." The words that are said through thee, thou throwest behind thee. "And thou hast thrown My sayings behind thee: "' to a place where they may not be seen by thee, but may load thee. ' And thou hast thrown My sayings behind thee."
27. "Sitting against thy brother thou didst detract"? (ver. 20). And this "sitting"? doth belong to that whereof he hath spoken above in,
25. "If thou sawest a thief, thou didst consent unto him, and with adulterers thou didst make thy portion" (ver. 18). Lest perchance
VPS Kor 3< 8 Mss. Bodl, and Ex Coll. 'lest they offend those from whom they hear, not only by reproof but by silence, think it not enough that they do not say."
I Matt. xxiii. 3. 2 Philip, i. 18. 3 Al. " They are of God." 5 x Cor. ix. 27. 6 Rev. iii. 19. 4 Ps, ixxxv. 8,
9 Anime. 10 Animd. IF Ps. xl. 15.
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN. [Psatm L.
But there were some as it were learned and spiritual men who detracted from Paul. " His letters indeed, say they, are weighty and powerful; but the presence of his body weak, and speech contemptible :" 7 he saith himself in his Epistle, that certain his detractors had said these words. They were sitting, and were detracting against their brother, and against that their mother's son, to be fed with milk, they were laying a stumbling-block. "And against thy mother's son thou didst lay a stumbling-block."
"hath embraced." For he that doeth anything while standing or passing along, doth it not with pleasure: but if he for this purpose sitteth, how much leisure doth he seek out to do it! 'That very evil detraction thou wast making with diligence, thou wast making sitting ; thou wouldest thereon be wholly engaged ; thou wast embracing thy evil, thou wast kissing thy craftiness. " And against thy mother's son thou didst lay a stumbling-block." Who is "mother's son"? Is it not brother? He would repeat then the same that he had said above, "thy brother."
28. "These things hast thou done, and I held my tongue" (ver. 21). Therefore the Lord our God shall come, and shall not keep. silence. Now, " These things hast thou done, and I held my tongue." What is, "I held my tongue''? From vengeance I have desisted, my severity I have deferred, patience to thee I have prolonged, thy repentance I have long looked for... . "Thou hast imagined iniquity, that I shall be like unto thee ;" Thou hast ® imagined that I shall be like unto thee, while thou wilt not be like unto Me. For, "Be ye," he saith, " perfect, even as your Father, which is in the heavens, who maketh His sun to rise on the good and evil." 9 Him thou wouldest not copy, who giveth good things even to evil men, insomuch that sitting thou dost detract even from good men. "T will reprove thee," when "God manifest shall come, our God, and shall not keep silence," "T will reprove thee." And what to thee shall I do in reproving thee? what to thee shall I do? Now thyself thou seest not, I will make thee see thyself. Because if thou shouldest see thyself, and shouldest displease thyself, thou wouldest please Me: but because not seeing thyself thou hast pleased thyself, thou wilt displease both Me and thyself; Me when thou shalt be judged ; thyself when thou shalt burn. But what to thee shall I do? He saith. "I will set thee before thy face." For why wouldest thou escape thyself? At thy back thou art to thyself, thou seest not thyself: I make thee see thyself: what behind thy back thou hast put, before thy face will I put; thou shalt see thy uncleanness, not that thou mayest amend, but that thou mayest blush. . 29. But, "understand these things, ye that forget God" (ver.. 22). See how He crieth, and keepeth not silence, spareth'? not. Thou hadst forgotten the Lord," didst not think of thy evil life. Perceive how thou hast forgotten the Lord. "Lest at length He seize like a lion, and there be none to deliver." What is "like a lion"? Like a brave one, like a mighty one, like him whom none can withstand. To this he made reference when he said, " Lion." For it is used
Hath he intimated that any distinction must be perceived by us? Evidently, brethren, I think a distinction must be made. Brother against brother doth detract, for example's sake, as though 'for instance one strong, and now a doctor and scholar of some weight, doth detract from his brother, one perchance that is teaching well and walking well: but another is weak, against him he layeth a stumbling-block by detracting from the former. For when the good are detracted from by those that seem to be of some weight and to be learned, the weak fall upon the stumbling-block, who as yet know not how to judge. Therefore this weak one is called "mother's son," not yet father's, still needing milk, and hanging on the breast. He is borne as yet in the bosom of his mother the Church, he is not strong enough to draw near to the solid food of his Father's table, but from the mother's breast he draweth sustenance, unskilled in judging, inasmuch as yet he is animal and carnal. "For the spiritual man judgeth all things," + but "the animal man perceiveth not those things which are of the Spirit of God ; for they are foolishness to him." ? To such men saith the Apostle, "I could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, as to babes in Christ I gave you milk to drink, not meat; for ye were not able, but not even now are ye able."'3. A mother I have been to you: as is said in another place, "I became a babe among you, even as a nurse cherishing her own children." + Nota nurse nursing children of others, but a nurse cherishing her own children. For there are mothers who when they have borne give to nurses: they that have borne cherish not their children, because they have given them to be nursed ;5 but those that cherish, cherish not their own, but those of others: but he himself had borne, he was himself cherishing, to no nurse did commit what he had borne; for he had said, "Of whom I travail again until Christ be formed in you."® He did cherish them, and gave milk.
t x Cor. ii. 15. 2 x Cor. ii. 14. 3 x Cor. iii. 1, 2. x 1 Thess. ii. 7 $ [See Jer. Taylor's remarkable sermon on "' The Nursing of Children by their Mothers, after the Example of the Blessed Virgin," vol. i. 38, Bungay ed. of Heber's edition. —C.]
8 Oxf. ms. rep. '' Thou hast," etc. 245-5 £ 10 Some mss. '' When He spareth."
al. iv. 19.