made of them, if you had not given them? That which on earth would have been lost, has been preserved in heaven. Therefore what we * Mau. xxv. 35. 7 Matt. xxv. 34.
3 Matt. xxv. 37.
IOO [Psalm XXXVII.
are to receive is that which hath been preserved. It is thy desert that hath been preserved, thy desert hath been made thy treasure. For consider what it is that thou art to receive. Receive — " the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world." On the other hand, what shall be their sentence, who would not " lend "? " Go ye into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels." ' And what is the kingdom which we receive called? Consider what follows: " And these shall go into everlasting burning; but the righteous into life eternal." a Make interest for this; purchase this. Give your money on usury to earn this. You have Christ throned in heaven, begging on earth. We have discovered in what way the righteous lendeth. " He is alway merciful, and lendeth."
6. " And his seed is blessed." Here too let not any carnal notion suggest itself. We see many of the sons of the righteous dying of hunger; in what sense then will his seed be blessed? His seed is that which remains of him afterwards; that wherewith he soweth here, and will hereafter reap. For the Apostle says, " Let us not be weary in well-doing; for in due season we shall reap if we faint not. As we have therefore time," he says, " let us do good unto all men." ' This is that " seed " of thine which shall " be blessed." You commit it to the earth, and gather ever so much more; and dost thou lose it in committing it to Christ? See it expressly termed " seed " by the Apostle, when he was speaking of alms. For this he saith; " He which soweth sparingly, shall reap also sparingly; and he which soweth in blessings,4 shall also reap in blessings." 5...
7. Observe therefore what follows, and be not slothful. " Depart from evil, and do good " (ver. 27). Do not think it to be enough for thee to do, if thou dost not strip the man who is already clothed. For in not stripping the man who is already clothed, thou hast indeed " departed from evil: " but do not be barren, and wither. So choose not to strip the man who is clothed already, as to clothe the naked. For this is to " depart from evil, and to do good." And you will say, "What advantage am I to derive from it? " He to whom thou lendest has already assured thee of what He will give thee. He will give thee everlasting life. Give to Him, and fear not! Hear too what follows: " Depart from evil, and do good, and dwell for evermore." And think not when thou givest that no one sees thee, or that God forsakes thee, when haply after thou hast given to the poor, and some loss, » a Cor. ix. 6 or some sorrow for the property thou hast lost, should follow, and thou shouldest say to thyself, " What hath it profited me to have done good works? I believe God doth not love the men who do good." Whence comes that buzz, that subdued murmur among you, except that those expressions are very common? Each one of you at this present moment recognises these expressions, either in his own lips, or on those of his friend. May God destroy them; may He root out the thorns from His field; may He plant " the good seed," and " the tree bearing fruit "! For wherefore art thou afflicted, O man, that thou hast given some things away to the poor, and hast lost certain other things? Seest thou not that it is what thou hast not given, that thou hast lost? Wherefore dost thou not attend to the voice of thy God? Where is thy faith? wherefore is it so fast asleep? Wake it up in thy heart. Consider what the Lord Himself said unto thee, while exhorting thee to good works of this kind: " Provide yourselves bags which wax not old; a treasure in the heavens that faileth not, where no thief approacheth." 6 Call this to mind therefore when you are lamenting over a loss. Wherefore dost thou lament, thou fool of little mind, or rather, of unsound mind? Wherefore didst thou lose it, except that thou didst not lend it to Me? Wherefore didst thou lose it? Who has carried it off? Thou wilt answer, " A thief."
Was it not this, that I forewarned thee of? that thou shouldest not lay it up where the thief could approach? If then he who has lost anything, grieves, let him grieve for this, that he did not lay it up there, whence it could not be lost.
8. " For the Lord loveth judgment, and forsaketh not His Saints" (ver. 28). When the Saints suffer affliction, think not that God doth not judge, or doth not judge righteously. Will He, who warns thee to judge righteously, Himself judge unrighteously? He "loveth judgment, and forsaketh not His Saints." But (think) how » the " life " of the Saints is " hid with Him," in such a manner, that who now suffer trouble on earth, like trees in the wintertime, having no fruit and leaves, when He, like a newly-risen sun, shall have appeared, that which before was living in their root, will show itself forth in fruits. He does then " love judgment, and doth not forsake His Saints."...9. " But the unrighteous shall be punished; the seed of the wicked shall be cut off." Just as the " seed of the " other " shall be blessed," so shall the " seed of the wicked be cut off." For the " seed " of the wicked is the works of the wicked. For again, on the other hand, we 6 Luke xii. 33.
1 Quomodd. — Ben. Qud modd. Qudd modd, " that now,' gives a better sense, or, quo tnodo, " in such sort that."
Psalm XXXVII.]
IOI find the son of the wicked man flourish in the world, and sometimes become righteous, and flourish in Christ. Be careful therefore how thou takest it; that thou mayest remove the covering, and make thy way* to Christ.1 Do not take the text in a carnal sense; for thou wilt be deceived. But " the seed of the wicked " — all the works of the wicked — " will be cut off: " they shall have no fruit. For they are effective indeed for a short time; afterwards they shall seek for them, and shall not find the reward of that which they have wrought. For it is the expression of those who lose what they have wrought, that text which says, " What hath pride profited us, or what good hath riches with our vaunting brought us? All those things are passed away like a shadow." 2 " The seed of the wicked," then, " shall be cut off."
10. "The righteous shall inherit the land" (ver. 29). Here again let not covetousness steal on thee, nor promise thee some great estate; hope not to find there, what you are commanded to despise in this world. That " land " in the text, is a certain " land of the living," the kingdom of the Saints. Whence it is said: " Thou art my hope, my portion in the land of the living." J For if thy life too is the same life as that there spoken of, think what sort of " land " thou art about to inherit. That is " the land of the living; " this the land of those who are about to die: to receive again, when dead, those whom it nourished when living. Such then as is that land, such shall the life itself be also: if the life be for ever, " the land " also is to be thine "for ever." And how is "the land" to be thine " for ever "?
"And they shall dwell therein" (it says) "for ever." It must therefore be another land, where " they are to dwell therein for ever." For of this land (of this earth) it is said, " Heaven and earth shall pass away." 4 11. "The mouth of the righteous speaketh wisdom" (ver. 30). See here is that "bread." Observe with what satisfaction this righteous man feedeth upon it; how he turns wisdom over and over in his mouth. " And his tongue talketh of judgment."
"The law of his God is in his heart" (ver. 31). Lest haply thou shouldest think him to have that on his lips, which he hath not in his heart, lest thou shouldest reckon him among those of whom it is said, " This people honour Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me." s And of what use is this to him?
"And none of his steps shall slide." The " word of God in the heart " frees from the snare; the " word of God in the heart " delivers from the evil way; " the word of God in the » Pi. cxlii. 5.
heart" delivers from "the slippery place."6 He is with thee, Whose word departeth not from thee. Now what evil doth he suffer, whom God keepeth? Thou settest a watchman in thy vineyard, and feelest secure from thieves; and that watchman may sleep, and may himself fall, and may admit a thief. But " He who keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep." " " The law of his God is in his heart, and none of his steps shall slide." Let him therefore live free from fear; let him live free from fear even in the midst of the wicked; free from fear even in the midst of the ungodly. For what evil can the ungodly or unrighteous man do to the righteous? Lo! see what follows.
" The wicked watcheth the righteous, and seeketh to slay him" (ver. 32). For he says, what it was foretold in the book of Wisdom that he should say, " He is grievous unto us, even to behold; for his life is not like other men's." 8 Therefore he "seeks to slay him." What? Doth the Lord, who keepeth him, who dwelleth with him, who departeth not from his lips, from his heart, doth He forsake him? What then becomes of what was said before: " And He forsaketh not His Saints"?9 12. "The wicked therefore watcheth the righteous, and seeketh to slay him. But the Lord will not leave him in his hands" (ver. 33). Wherefore then did He leave the Martyrs in the hands of the ungodly? Wherefore did they do unto them " whatsoever they would "? IO Some they slew with the sword; some they crucified; some they delivered to the beasts; some they burnt by fire; others they led about in chains, till wasted out by a long protracted decay. Assuredly "the Lord forsaketh not His Saints." He will not " leave him in his hands." Lastly, wherefore did He leave His own Son in " the hands of the ungodly"? Here also, if thou wouldest have all the limbs of thy innej" man made strong, remove the covering of the roof, and find thy way to the Lord. Hear what another Scripture, foreseeing our Lord's future suffering at the hands of the ungodly, saith. What saith it? "The earth is given into the hands of the wicked." " What is meant by " earth" being "given into the hands of the ungodly"? The delivering of the flesh into the hands of the persecutors. But God did not leave " His righteous One " " there: from the flesh, which was taken captive, He leads forth the soul unconquered...' "The Lord will not leave him in his hand, nor condemn him when there shall be judgment for him" (ver. 33). Some copies have it, "and when He shall judge him, there shall be judg- 6 Labittd. Lubricus locus. Isidor. 7 Ps. cxxi 4.
• Wisd. ii. 15. 1 Ps. xxxvii. 38. I0 Matt. xvii. i>.
[rsALM xxxvii.
ment for him." " For him," however, means when sentence is passed upon him. For we can express ourselves so as to say to a person, " Judge for me," i.e. " hear my cause." When therefore God shall begin to hear the cause of His righteous servant, since " we must all " be presented " before the tribunal of Christ," and stand before it to receive every one " the things he hath done in this body," ' whether good or evil, when therefore he shall have come to that Judgment, He will not condemn him; though he may seem to be condemned in this present life by man. Even though the Proconsul may have passed sentence on Cyprian,' yet the earthly seat of judgment is one thing, the heavenly tribunal is another. From the inferior tribunal he receives sentence of death; from the superior one a crown, " Nor will He condemn him when there shall be judgment for him."...
13. "Wait on the Lord" (ver. 34). And while I am waiting upon Him, what am I to do? — "and keep His ways." And if I keep them, what am I to receive? " And He shall exalt thee to inherit the land." " What land "? Once more let not any estate suggest itself to your mind: — the land of which it is said, " Come, ye blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world." 3 What of those who have troubled us, in the midst of whom we have groaned, whose scandals we have patiently endured, for whom, while they were raging against us, we have prayed in vain? What will become of them? What follows? " When the wicked are cut off, thou shalt see it."..." I have seen the ungodly lifted up on high, and rising above the cedars of Libanus " (ver. 35). And suppose him to be "lifted up on high; " suppose him to be towering above the " rest; " what follows?
" I passed by, and, lo, he was not! I sought him, and his place could nowhere be found! " (ver. 36). Why was he "no more, and his place nowhere to be found "? Because thou hast " passed by." But if thou art yet carnallyminded, and that earthly prosperity appears to thee to be true happiness, thou hast not yet " passed by " him; thou art either his fellow, or thou art below him; go on, and pass him; and when thou hast made progress, and hast passed by him, thou observest him by the eye of faith; thou seest his end, thou sayest to thyself, " Lo! he who so swelled before, is not! " just as if it were some smoke that thou wert passing near to. For this too was said above in this very Psalm, " They shall consume and fade away as the smoke." 4...1 a Cor. v. 10. » Matt, xxr. 34.
14. "Keep innocency" (ver. 37); keep it even as thou usedst to keep thy purse, when thou wert covetous; even as thou usedst to hold fast that purse, that it might not be snatched from thy grasp by the thief, even so " keep innocency," lest that be snatched from thy grasp by the devil. Be that thy sure inheritance, of which the rich and the poor may both be sure. " Keep innocency." What doth it profit thee to gain gold, and to lose innocence?
" Keep innocency, and take heed unto the thing which is right." Keep thou thine eyes " right," that thou mayest see " the thing which is right; " not perverted, wherewith thou lookest upon the wicked; not distorted, so that God should appear to thee distorted and wrong, in that He favours the wicked, and afflicts the faithful with persecutions. Dost thou not observe how distorted thy vision is? Set right thine eyes, and " behold the thing that is right." What "thing that is right"?. Take no heed of things present. And what wilt thou see?
" For there is a remainder for the man that maketh peace." 5 What is meant by " there is a remainder "? When thou art dead, thou shalt not be dead. This is the meaning of " there is a remainder." He will still have something remaining to him, even after this life, that is to say, that "seed," which "shall be blessed." Whence our Lord saith, " He that believeth on Me, though he die, yet shall he live; " 6 — " seeing there is a remainder for the man that maketh peace."
15. " But the transgressors shall be destroyed in the self-same thing "J (ver. 38). What is meant by, "in the self-same thing"? It means for ever: or all together in one and the same destruction.
"The remainder of the wicked shall be cut off." Now there is " (a remainder) for the man that maketh peace: " they therefore who are not peace-makers 8 are ungodly. For, " Blessed are the peace-makers: for they shall be called the children of God." » 16. " But the salvation of the righteous is of the Lord, and He is their strength in the time of trouble" (ver. 39). "And the Lord shall help them, and deliver them; He shall deliver them from the sinners " IO (ver. 40). At present therefore let the righteous bear with the sinner; let the wheat bear with the tares; let the grain bear with the chaff: for the time of separation will come, and the good seed shall be set apart from that which is to be consumed with fire. " The one will be consigned to the garner, the other to " everlasting burning; " for it was for 3 E. V. " For the end of that man is peace." 6 John xi. 35.
1 In id ifisum. 8 The Donatists. 9 Matt. v. p.
10 St. Augustin omits, " because they trust in Him." Vulgate has, quia speraverunt in to.
11 Matt. xiii. 30.
Psalm XXXVIII.]
this reason that the just and the unjust were at the first together; that the one should lay a stumbling-block, ' that the other should be proved; that afterwards the one should be condemned, the other receive a crown...PSALM XXXVIII.2 A PSALM TO DAVID HIMSELF, ON THE REMEM- BRANCE OF THE SABBATH.
i. What doth this recollection of the Sabbath mean? What is this Sabbath? For it is with groaning that he " calls it to recollection." You have both heard already when the Psalm was read, and you will now hear it when we shall go over it, how great is his groaning, his mourning, his tears, his misery. But happy he who is wretched after this manner! Whence the Lord also in the Gospel 3 called some who mourn blessed. " How should he be blessed if he is a mourner? How blessed, if he is miserable?" Nay rather, he would be miserable, if he were not a mourner. Such an one then let us understand here too, calling the Sabbath to remembrance (viz.), some mourner or other: and would that we were ourselves that " some one or other "! For there is here some person sorrowing, groaning, mourning, calling the Sabbath to remembrance. The Sabbath is rest. Doubtless he was in some disquietude, who with groaning was calling the Sabbath to remembrance...
2. " O Lord, rebuke me not in Thine indignation; neither chasten me in Thy hot displeasure " (ver. 1). For it will be that some shall be chastened in God's " hot displeasure," and rebuked in His " indignation." And haply not all who are " rebuked " will be " chastened; " yet are there some that are to be saved in the chastening.4 So it is to be indeed, because it is called " chastening," 5 but yet it shall be " so as by fire." But there are to be some who will be "rebuked," and will not be "corrected." For he will at all events " rebuke " 6 those to whom He will say, " I was an hungred, and ye gave me no meat." '...'* Neither chasten me in Thy hot displeasure; " so that Thou mayest cleanse me in this life, and make me such, that I may after that stand in no need of the cleansing fire, for those " who are to be saved, yet so as by fire."8 Why? Why, but because they " build upon the foundation, wood, stubble, and hay." Now they should build on it, "gold, silver, and precious stones; " ' and should have nothing to fear from either fire: not only that which is to consume the ungodly for ever, but ■ Most mss. " should stumble." ' Lat. XXXVII.
3 Matt. v. 4.
* Futttri sunt in emendations guidam salvi.
* Emendatio (alluding to emendes in the Latin of v. i). 6 Utiane arguet. 7 Matt. xxv. 42.
also that which is to purge those who are to escape through lo the fire. For it is said, " he himself shall be saved, yet so as by fire." And because it is said, " he shall be saved," that fire is thought lightly of. For all that, though we should be " saved by fire," yet will that fire be more grievous than anything that man can suffer in this life whatsoever."...3. Now on what ground does this person pray that he may not be " rebuked in indignation, nor chastened in hot displeasure "? (He speaks) as if he would say unto God, " Since the things which I already suffer are many in number, I pray Thee let them suffice; " and he begins to enumerate them, by way of satisfying God; offering what he suffers now, that he may not have to suffer worse evils hereafter.
4. " For Thine arrows stick fast in me, and Thy hand presseth me sore " (ver. 2). "There is no soundness in my flesh, from the face of Thine anger" (ver. 3). He has now begun telling these evils, which he is suffering here: and yet even this already was from the wrath of the Lord, because it was of the vengeance of the Lord. " Of what vengeance? " That which He took upon Adam. For think not that punishment was not inflicted upon him, or that God had said to no purpose, "Thou shalt surely die; " I2 or that we suffer anything in this life, except from that death which we earned by the original sin...Whence then do His " arrows stick fast in " him? The very punishment, the very vengeance, and haply the pains both of mind and of body, which it is necessary for us to suffer here, these he describes by these self-same " arrows." For of these arrows holy Job also made mention,'3 and said that the arrows of the Lord stuck fast in him, whilst he was labouring under those pains. We are used, however, to call God's words also arrows; but could he grieve that he should be struck by these? The words of God are arrows, as it were, that inflame love, not pain...Vie may then understand the " arrows sticking fast," thus: Thy words are fixed fast in my heart; and by those words themselves is it come to pass, that I " called the Sabbath to remembrance: " and that very remembrance of the Sabbath, and the non-possession of it at present, prevents me from rejoicing at present; and causes me to acknowledge that there " is neither health in my very flesh," neither ought it to be so called when I compare this sort of soundness to that soundness which I am to possess in the "> Per.
11 [See Augustin's ideas as to a possible meaning of the text I Cor. iii. 11-15 m v°l- "- ln's seriesr p. 474. He there propounds, as a conjecture merely t a purification of some souls in the intermediate slate, which he does not care to reject. It is hot his own theory; he says, " I do not contradict; possibly it is true." He thus proves there was no dogma of any sort of purgatory in his day, and even this theory is entirely inconsistent with the dogma as expounded in the Trent Catechism. — C] 12 Gen. ii. 17. u Job vi. 4.
ic4 [Psalm XXXVIII.
everlasting rest; where " this corruptible shall put on incorruption, and this mortal shall put on immortality," ' and see that in comparison with that seundness this present kind is but sickness. 5. " Neither is there any rest in my bones, from the face of my sin." It is commonly enquired, of what person this is the speech; and some understand it to be Christ's, on account of some things which are here said of the Passion of Christ; to which we shall shortly come; and which we ourselves shall acknowledge to be spoken of His Passion. But how could He who had no sin, say, " There is no rest in my bones, from the face of my sin."...For if we were to say that they are not the words of Christ, those words, " My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me? " ' will also not be the words of Christ. For there too you have, " My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me? " " The words of mine offences are far from my health." Just as here you have, "from the face of my sins," so there also you have, " the words of my offences."
And if Christ is, for all that, without "sin," and without "offences," we begin to think those words in the Psalm also not to be His. And it is exceedingly harsh and inconsistent that that Psalm should not relate to Christ, where we have His Passion as clearly laid open as if it were being read to us out of the Gospel. For there we have, "They parted My garments among them, and cast lots upon My vesture." 3 Why should I mention that the first verse of that Psalm was pronounced by the Lord Himself while hanging on the Cross, with His own mouth, saying, "My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?" What did He mean to be inferred from it, but that the whole of that Psalm relates to Him, seeing He Himself, the Head of His Body, pronounced it in His own Person? Now when it goes on to say, " the words of mine offences," it is beyond a doubt that they are the words of Christ. Whence then come " the sins," but from the Body, which is the Church? Because both the Head and the Body of Christ are speaking.
Why do they speak as if one person only? Because " they twain," as He hath said, " shall be one flesh." * " This " (says the Apostle) " is a great mystery; but I speak concerning Christ and the Church."...For why should He not say, " my sins," who said, " I was an hungred, and ye gave Me no meat; I was thirsty, and ye gave Me no drink; I was a stranger, and ye took Me not in. I was sick and in prison, and ye visited Me not." ' Assuredly the Lord was not in prison. Why should He not say this, to whom when it was said, " When saw we Thee a hungred, and athirst, or in prison; and did not minister unto Thee? " He replied, that He spake thus 1 1 Cor. xv. 53.
4 Gen. ii. 34.
' Ps. xxii. 1. J Pi. xxii. 18.
in the person of His Body. " Inasmuch as ye did it not unto one of the least of Mine, ye did it not unto Me." 6 Why should He not say, " from the face of my sins," who said to Saul, " Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou Me," 7 who, however, being in Heaven, now suffered from no persecutors? But just as, in that passage, the Head spake for the Body, so here too the Head speaks the words of the Body; whilst you hear at the same time the accents of the Head Itself also. Yet do not either, when you hear the voice of the Body, separate the Head from it; nor the Body, when you hear the voice of the Head: because " they are no more twain, but one flesh." 8 6. "There is no soundness in my flesh from the face of thine anger." But perhaps God is unjustly angry with thee, O Adam; unjustly angry with thee, O son of man; because now brought to acknowledge that thy punishment, now that thou art a man that hath been placed in Christ's Body, thou hast said, " There is no soundness in my flesh from the face of Thine anger." Declare the justice of God's anger: lest thou shouldest seem to be excusing thyself, and accusing Him. Go on to tell whence the " anger " of the Lord proceeds. "There is no soundness in my flesh from the face of Thine anger; neither is there any rest in my bones." He repeats what he said before, " There is no soundness in my flesh; " for, "There is no rest in my bones," is equivalent to this. He does not however repeat " from the face of Thine anger; " but states the cause of the anger of God. "There is no rest in my bones from the face of my sins."
7. "For mine iniquities have lifted up my head; and are like a heavy burden too heavy for me to bear" (ver. 4). Here too he has placed the cause first, and the effect afterwards. What consequence followed, and from what cause, he has told us. "Mine iniquities have lift up mine head." For no one is proud but the unrighteous man, whose head is lifted up. He is "lifted up," whose " head is lifted up on high " against God. You heard when the lesson of the Book of Ecclesiasticus was read: "The beginning of pride is when a man departeth from God."' He who was the first to refuse to listen to the Commandment, "his head iniquity lifted up" against God. And because his iniquities have lifted up his head, what hath God done unto him? They are "like a heavy burden, too heavy for me to bear "! It is the part of levity to lift up the head, just as if he who lifts up his head had nothing to carry. Since therefore that which admits of being lifted up is light, it receives a weight by which it may be weighed down. For "his mischief returns upon his own head, and his violent dealing comes 9 Ecclus. x. is. [Note "as a Lesson:" part of Divine Service. — C.J Psalm XXXVIII.]
ic5 down upon his own pate." ' " They are like a heavy burden, too heavy for me to bear."