{"author":null,"backreferences":[{"context_html":"<p>It was by faith in this mystery, and godliness of life, that\r\npurification was attainable even by the saints of old, whether\r\nbefore the law was given to the Hebrews (for God and the\r\nangels were even then present as instructors), or in the periods\r\nunder the law, although the promises of spiritual things, being\r\npresented in figure, seemed to be carnal, and hence the name\r\nof Old Testament. For it was then the prophets lived, by\r\nwhom, as by angels, the same promise was announced; and\r\namong them was he whose grand and divine sentiment regarding\r\nthe end and supreme good of man I have just now quoted,\r\n\"It is good for me to cleave to God.\"<a id=\"FNanchor_418_418\"></a><a class=\"fnanchor pginternal\" href=\"#Footnote_418_418\">[418]</a> In this psalm the distinction\r\nbetween the Old and New Testaments is distinctly\r\nannounced. For the Psalmist says, that when he saw that\r\nthe carnal and earthly promises were abundantly enjoyed by\r\nthe ungodly, his feet were almost gone, his steps had well-nigh\r\nslipped; and that it seemed to him as if he had served\r\nGod in vain, when he saw that those who despised God increased\r\nin that prosperity which he looked for at God's hand.\r\nHe says, too, that, in investigating this matter with the desire\r\nof understanding why it was so, he had laboured in vain,\r\nuntil he went into the sanctuary of God, and understood the\r\nend of those whom he had erroneously considered happy.\r\nThen he understood that they were cast down by that very\r\nthing, as he says, which they had made their boast, and that\r\nthey had been consumed and perished for their iniquities;\r\nand that that whole fabric of temporal prosperity had become\r\nas a dream when one awaketh, and suddenly finds himself\r\ndestitute of all the joys he had imaged in sleep. And, as\r\nin this earth or earthy city they seemed to themselves to be\r\ngreat, he says, \"O Lord, in Thy city Thou wilt reduce their\r\nimage to nothing.\" He also shows how beneficial it had\r\nbeen for him to seek even earthly blessings only from the\r\none true God, in whose power are all things, for he says, \"As\r\na beast was I before Thee, and I am always with Thee.\" \"As\r\na beast,\" he says, meaning that he was stupid. For I ought\r\nto have sought from Thee such things as the ungodly could<span class=\"pagenum\"><a id=\"Page_417\">[Pg 417]</a></span>\r\nnot enjoy as well as I, and not those things which I saw\r\nthem enjoying in abundance, and hence concluded I was serving\r\nThee in vain, because they who declined to serve Thee\r\nhad what I had not. Nevertheless, \"I am always with Thee,\"\r\nbecause even in my desire for such things I did not pray to\r\nother gods. And consequently he goes on, \"Thou hast holden\r\nme by my right hand, and by Thy counsel Thou hast guided\r\nme, and with glory hast taken me up;\" as if all earthly advantages\r\nwere left-hand blessings, though, when he saw them\r\nenjoyed by the wicked, his feet had almost gone. \"For what,\"\r\nhe says, \"have I in heaven, and what have I desired from\r\nThee upon earth?\" He blames himself, and is justly displeased\r\nwith himself; because, though he had in heaven so\r\nvast a possession (as he afterwards understood), he yet sought\r\nfrom his God on earth a transitory and fleeting happiness,—a\r\nhappiness of mire, we may say. \"My heart and my flesh,\" he\r\nsays, \"fail, O God of my heart.\" Happy failure, from things\r\nbelow to things above! And hence in another psalm he\r\nsays, \"My soul longeth, yea, even faileth, for the courts of the\r\nLord.\"<a id=\"FNanchor_419_419\"></a><a class=\"fnanchor pginternal\" href=\"#Footnote_419_419\">[419]</a> Yet, though he had said of both his heart and his\r\nflesh that they were failing, he did not say, O God of my\r\nheart and my flesh, but, O God of my heart; for by the\r\nheart the flesh is made clean. Therefore, says the Lord,\r\n\"Cleanse that which is within, and the outside shall be clean\r\nalso.\"<a id=\"FNanchor_420_420\"></a><a class=\"fnanchor pginternal\" href=\"#Footnote_420_420\">[420]</a> He then says that God Himself,—not anything\r\nreceived from Him, but Himself,—is his portion. \"The God\r\nof my heart, and my portion for ever.\" Among the various\r\nobjects of human choice, God alone satisfied him. \"For, lo,\"\r\nhe says, \"they that are far from Thee shall perish: Thou destroyest\r\nall them that go a-whoring from Thee,\"—that is, who\r\nprostitute themselves to many gods. And then follows the\r\nverse for which all the rest of the psalm seems to prepare:\r\n\"It is good for me to cleave to God,\"—not to go far off; not\r\nto go a-whoring with a multitude of gods. And then shall\r\nthis union with God be perfected, when all that is to be redeemed\r\nin us has been redeemed. But for the present we\r\nmust, as he goes on to say, \"place our hope in God.\" \"For\r\nthat which is seen,\" says the apostle, \"is not hope. For what<span class=\"pagenum\"><a id=\"Page_418\">[Pg 418]</a></span>\r\na man sees, why does he yet hope for? But if we hope for\r\nthat we see not, then do we with patience wait for it.\"<a id=\"FNanchor_421_421\"></a><a class=\"fnanchor pginternal\" href=\"#Footnote_421_421\">[421]</a>\r\nBeing, then, for the present established in this hope, let us do\r\nwhat the Psalmist further indicates, and become in our measure\r\nangels or messengers of God, declaring His will, and\r\npraising His glory and His grace. For when he had said,\r\n\"To place my hope in God,\" he goes on, \"that I may declare\r\nall Thy praises in the gates of the daughter of Zion.\" This\r\nis the most glorious city of God; this is the city which knows\r\nand worships one God: she is celebrated by the holy angels,\r\nwho invite us to their society, and desire us to become fellow-citizens\r\nwith them in this city; for they do not wish us to\r\nworship them as our gods, but to join them in worshipping\r\ntheir God and ours; nor to sacrifice to them, but, together with\r\nthem, to become a sacrifice to God. Accordingly, whoever\r\nwill lay aside malignant obstinacy, and consider these things,\r\nshall be assured that all these blessed and immortal spirits,\r\nwho do not envy us (for if they envied they were not blessed),\r\nbut rather love us, and desire us to be as blessed as themselves,\r\nlook on us with greater pleasure, and give us greater\r\nassistance, when we join them in worshipping one God,\r\nFather, Son, and Holy Ghost, than if we were to offer to\r\nthemselves sacrifice and worship.</p>","headings":["THE WORKS OF AURELIUS AUGUSTINE,","BOOK TENTH.","ARGUMENT."],"marker_anchor":null,"paragraph_id":"pg45304-paragraph-733"}],"canonical_references":[],"date_end":null,"date_start":null,"deduplication_fingerprint":"84aea66b766f2ebea1aa71c701879d9da613a78c20ca3aa12468d703bba2c977","edition_title":"The City of God, Volume I","edition_translators":["Marcus Dods","George Wilson (Book IV)","J. J. Smith (Books V-VIII)"],"edition_year":1871,"explicit_reference_candidates":[{"book":"MAT","chapter":23,"kind":"unreviewed","source_notation":"Matt. xxiii. 26","verse":26,"verse_end":26}],"headings":[],"id":"pg45304-Footnote_420_420","license_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/policy/license.html","public_import_allowed":false,"record_kind":"original-editor-translator-note","review_required":["work and recension attribution","original-work chronology","Bible reference numbering and citation kind","English edition rights and attribution"],"review_status":"needs_review","rights_evidence":"Provider catalog reports public domain in the USA. Original transcription title leaves state T. & T. Clark, Edinburgh, 1871; printed translator allocation retained. Gutenberg credits Internet Archive/Canadian Libraries without an exact scan identifier. Full provider license preserved with acquired original; republication and per-work metadata remain unreviewed.","source_anchor":"Footnote_420_420","source_ebook":45304,"source_html":"<div class=\"footnote\">\n<p><a id=\"Footnote_420_420\"></a><a class=\"pginternal\" href=\"#FNanchor_420_420\"><span class=\"label\">[420]</span></a> Matt. xxiii. 26.</p></div>","source_sha256":"d89e9a2b80bb59f394f0fb1bf313b39fab162f06af6642166d62c5912c1195f1","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/45304/pg45304-images.html#Footnote_420_420","text_sha256":"62828f72f7d75c3427f8d620d805c47d5d98fa981f566e14f7eb5e6b5fabfb0b","verified":false,"work_id":null}