{"collection":"chr","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/chr/ecf/108/1080098.htm","path":"chr/ecf/108/1080098.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/chr/ecf/108/1080098.htm","text":"Psalm LXXXVII. 4029\n1. The Psalm which has just been sung is short, if we look to the number of its words, but of deep interest in its thoughts. 4030 \u2026The subject of song and praise in that Psalm is a city, whose citizens are we, as far as we are Christians: whence we are absent, as long as we are mortal: whither we are tending: through whose approaches, undiscoverable among the brakes and thorns that entangle them, the Sovereign of the city made Himself a path 4031 for us to reach it. Walking thus in Christ, and pilgrims till we arrive, and sighing as we long for a certain ineffable repose that dwells within that city, a repose of which it is promised, that \u201cthe eye of man hath never seen\u201d such, \u201cnor ear heard, nor hath it entered into his heart to conceive;\u201d let us chant the song of a longing heart: for he who truly longs, thus sings within his soul, though his tongue be silent: he who does not, however he may resound in human ears, is voiceless to God. See what ardent lovers of that city were they by whom these words were composed, by whom they have been handed down to us; with how deep a feeling were they sung by those! A feeling that the love of that city created in them: that love the Spirit of God inspired; \u201cthe love p. 420 of God,\u201d he saith, \u201cshed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost, which is given unto us.\u201d Fervent with this Spirit then, let us listen to what is said of that city.\n2. \u201cHer foundations are upon the holy hills\u201d (Psa. 87.1). The Psalm had as yet said nothing of the city: it begins thus, and says, \u201cHer foundations are upon the holy hills.\u201d Whose? There can be no doubt that foundations, especially among the hills, belong to some city. Thus filled with the Holy Spirit, and with many thoughts of love and longing for that city, as if after long internal meditation, that citizen bursts out, \u201cHer foundations are upon the holy hills;\u201d as if he had already said something concerning it. And how could he have said nothing on a subject, respecting which in his heart he had never been silent? For how could \u201cher foundations\u201d have been written, of which nothing had been said before? But, as I said, after long and silent travailing in contemplation of that city in his mind, crying to God, he bursts out into the ears of men thus: \u201cHer foundations are upon the holy hills.\u201d And, supposing persons who heard to enquire of what city he spoke he adds, \u201cthe Lord loveth the gates of Sion.\u201d Behold, then, a city whose foundations are upon the holy hills, a city called Sion, whose gates the Lord loveth, as he adds, \u201cabove all the dwellings of Jacob.\u201d But what doth this mean, \u201cher foundations on the holy hills\u201d? What are the holy hills upon which this city is built? Another citizen tells us this more explicitly, the Apostle Paul: of this was the Prophet a citizen, of this the Apostle citizen: and they spoke to exhort the other citizens. But how are these, I mean the Prophets and Apostles, citizens? Perhaps in this sense; that they are themselves the hills, upon which are the foundations of this city, whose gates the Lord loveth. Let then another citizen state this clearly, that I may not seem to guess. Speaking to the Gentiles, and telling them how they were returning, and being, as it were, framed together into the holy structure, \u201cbuilt,\u201d he says, \u201cupon the foundations of the Apostles and Prophets:\u201d and because neither the Apostles nor Prophets, upon whom the foundations of that city rest, could stand by their own power, he adds, \u201cJesus Christ Himself being the head comer stone.\u201d 4032 That the Gentiles, therefore, might not think they had no relation to Sion: for Sion was a certain city of this world, which bore a typical resemblance as a shadow to that Sion of which he presently speaketh, that Heavenly Jerusalem, of which the Apostle saith, \u201cwhich is the mother of us all;\u201d 4033 they might not be said to bear no relation to Sion, on the ground that they did not belong to the Jewish people, he addresses them thus: \u201cNow therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints, and of the household of God, and are built upon the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets.\u201d 4034 Thou seest the structure of so great a city: yet whereon does all that edifice repose, where does it rest, that it may never fall? \u201cJesus Christ Himself,\u201d he saith, \u201cbeing the head corner stone.\u201d\n3. \u2026But that ye may know that Christ is at once the earliest and the highest foundation, the Apostle saith, \u201cOther foundation can no man lay than is laid, which is Christ Jesus.\u201d 4035 How, then, are the Prophets and Apostles foundations, and yet Christ so, than whom nothing can be higher? How, think you, save that as He is openly styled, Saint of saints, so figuratively Foundation of foundations? Thus if thou art thinking of mysteries, Christ is the Saint of saints: if of a subject flock, the Shepherd of shepherds: if of a structure, the Pillar of pillars. In material edifices, the same stone cannot be above and below: if at the bottom, it cannot be at the top: and vice versa: for almost all bodies are liable to limitations in space: nor can they be everywhere or for ever; but as the Godhead is in every place, from every place symbols may be taken for It; and not being any of these things in external properties, It can be everything in figure. Is Christ a door, in the same sense as the doors we see made by carpenters? Surely not; and yet He said, \u201cI am the door.\u201d Or a shepherd, in the same capacity as those who guard sheep? though He said, \u201cI am the Shepherd.\u201d Both these names occur in the same passage: in the Gospel, He said, that the shepherd enters by the door: the words are, \u201cI am the good Shepherd;\u201d and in the same passage, \u201cI am the door:\u201d 4036 and who is the shepherd who enters by the door? \u201cI am the good Shepherd:\u201d and what is the door by which Thou, Good Shepherd, enterest? How then art Thou all things? In the sense in which everything is through Me. To explain: when Paul enters by the door, does not Christ? Wherefore? Not because Paul is Christ: but since Christ is in Paul: and Paul acts through Christ. The Apostle says, \u201cDo ye seek a proof of Christ speaking in me?\u201d 4037 When His saints and faithful disciples enter by the door, does not Christ enter by the door? How are we to prove this? Since Saul, not yet called Paul, was persecuting those very saints, when He called to him from Heaven, \u201cSaul, Saul, why persecutest thou Me?\u201d 4038 Himself then is the foundation, and corner stone: rising from the bottom: if indeed p. 421 from the bottom: for the base of this foundation is the highest exaltation of the building: and as the support of bodily fabrics rests upon the ground, that of spiritual structures reposes on high. Were we building up ourselves upon the earth, we should lay our foundation on the lowest level: but since our edifice is a heavenly one, to Heaven our Foundation has gone before us: so that our Saviour, the corner stone, the Apostles, and mighty Prophets, the hills that bear the fabric of the city, constitute a sort of living structure. This building now cries from your hearts; that you may be built up into its fabric, the hand of God, as of an artificer, worketh even through my tongue. Nor was it without a meaning that Noah\u2019s ark was made of \u201csquare beams,\u201d 4039 which were typical of the form of the Church. For what is it to be made square? Listen to the resemblance of the squared stone: like qualities should the Christian have: for in all his trials he never falls: though pushed, and, as it were, turned over, he falls not: and thus too, whichever way a square stone is turned, it stands erect.\u2026In earthly cities, one thing is the structure of buildings: another thing are the citizens that dwell therein: that city is builded of its own inmates, who are themselves the blocks that form the city, for the very stones are living: \u201cYe also,\u201d says the Apostle, \u201cas living stones, are built up a spiritual house,\u201d 4040 words that are addressed to ourselves. Let us then pursue the contemplation of that city.\n4. \u201cThe Lord loveth the gates of Sion more than all the dwellings of Jacob\u201d (Psa. 87.2). I have made the foregoing remarks, that ye may not imagine the gates are one thing, the foundations another. Why are the Apostles and Prophets foundations? Because their authority is the support of our weakness. Why are they gates? because through them we enter the kingdom of God: for they proclaim it to us: and while we enter by their means, we enter also through Christ, Himself being the Gate. And twelve gates of Jerusalem are spoken of, 4041 and the one gate is Christ, and the twelve gates are Christ for Christ dwells in the twelve gates, hence was twelve the number of the Apostles. There is a deep mystery in this number of twelve: \u201cYe shall sit,\u201d says our Saviour, \u201con twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.\u201d 4042 If there are twelve thrones there, there will be no room for the judgment-seat of Paul, the thirteenth Apostle, though he says that he shall judge not men only, but even Angels; which, but the fallen Angels? \u201cKnow ye not, that we shall judge Angels,\u201d 4043 he writes. The world would answer, Why dost thou boast that thou shalt be a judge? Where will be thy throne? Our Lord spoke of twelve thrones for the twelve Apostles: one, Judas, fell, and his place being supplied by Matthias, the number of twelve thrones was made up: 4044 first, then, discover room for thy judgment-seat; then threaten that thou wilt judge. Let us, therefore, reflect upon the meaning of the twelve thrones. The expression is typical of a sort of universality, as the Church was destined to prevail throughout the whole world: whence this edifice is styled a building together into Christ: and because judges come from all quarters, the twelve thrones are spoken of, just as the twelve gates, from the entering in from all sides into that city. Not only therefore have those twelve, and the Apostle Paul, a claim to the twelve thrones, but, from the universal signification, all who are to sit in judgment: in the same manner as all who enter the city, enter by one or the other of the twelve gates. There are four quarters of the globe: East, West, North, and South: and they are constantly alluded to in the Scriptures. From all those four winds; our Lord declares in the Gospel that He will call his sheep \u201cfrom the four winds;\u201d 4045 therefore from all those four winds is the Church called. And how called? On every side it is called in the Trinity: no otherwise is it called than by Baptism in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost: four then being thrice taken, twelve are found. Knock, therefore, with all your hearts at these gates: and let Christ cry within you: \u201cOpen me the gates of righteousness.\u201d 4046 For He went before us the Head: He follows Himself in His Body.\u2026\n5. \u201cVery excellent things are said of thee, thou city of God\u201d (Psa. 87.3). He was, as it were, contemplating that city of Jerusalem on earth: for consider what city he alludes to, of which certain very excellent things are spoken. Now the earthly city has been destroyed: after suffering the enemy\u2019s rage, it fell to the earth; it is no longer what it was: it exhibited the emblem, and the shadow hath passed away. Whence then are \u201cvery excellent things spoken of thee, thou city of God\u201d? Listen whence: \u201cI will think upon Rahab and Babylon, with them that know Me\u201d (Psa. 87.4). In that city, the Prophet, in the person of God, says, \u201cI will think upon Rahab and Babylon.\u201d Rahab belongs not to the Jewish people; 4047 Babylon belongs not to the Jewish people; as is clear from the next verse: \u201cFor the Philistines 4048 also, and Tyre, with the Ethiopians, were there.\u201d Deservedly then, \u201cvery excellent things are spoken of thee, thou city of God:\u201d for not only is the Jewish nation, born of the flesh of Abraham, p. 422 included therein, but all nations also, some of which are named that all may be understood. \u201cI will think,\u201d he says, \u201cupon Rahab:\u201d who is that harlot? That harlot in Jericho, who received the spies and conducted them out of the city by a different road: who trusted beforehand in the promise, who feared God, who was told to hang out of the window a line of scarlet thread, that is, to bear upon her forehead the sign of the blood of Christ. She was saved there, and thus represented the Church of the Gentiles: whence our Lord said to the haughty Pharisees, \u201cVerily I say unto you, that the publicans and the harlots go into the kingdom of God before you.\u201d 4049 They go before, because they do violence: they push their way by faith, and to faith a way is made, nor can any resist, since they who are violent take it by force. For it is written, \u201cThe kingdom of Heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force.\u201d 4050 Such was the conduct of the robber, more courageous on the cross than in the place of ambush. 4051 \u201cI will think upon Rahab and Babylon.\u201d By Babylon is meant the city of this world: as there is one holy city, Jerusalem; one unholy, Babylon: all the unholy belong to Babylon, even as all the holy to Jerusalem. But he slideth 4052 from Babylon to Jerusalem. How, but by Him who justifieth the ungodly: Jerusalem is the city of the saints; Babylon of the wicked: but He cometh who justifieth the ungodly: since it is said, \u201cI will think\u201d not only \u201cupon Rahab,\u201d but \u201cupon Babylon,\u201d but with whom? \u201cwith them that know Me.\u201d\u2026\n6. Listen now to a deep mystery. Rahab is there through Him, through whom also is Babylon, now no longer Babylon, but beginning to be Jerusalem. The daughter is divided against her mother, and will be among the members of that queen to whom is said, \u201cForget thine own people, and thy father\u2019s house, so shall the king have pleasure in thy beauty.\u201d 4053 For how could Babylon aspire to Jerusalem? How could Rahab reach those foundations? How could the Philistines, or Tyre, or the people of the Ethiopians? Listen to this verse, \u201cSion, my mother, a man shall say.\u201d 4054 There is then a man who saith this: through whom all those I have mentioned make their approach. Who is this man? It tells if we hear, if we understand. It follows, as if a question had been raised, through whose aid Rahab, Babylon, the Philistines, Tyre, and the Morians, gained an entrance. Behold, through whom they come; \u201cSion, my mother, a man shall say; and a man was born in her, and Himself the Most High hath founded her\u201d (Psa. 87.5). What, my brethren, can be clearer? Truly, because \u201cvery excellent things are spoken of thee, thou city of God.\u201d Lo, \u201cSion, O mother, a man shall say.\u201d What man? \u201cHe who was born in her.\u201d 4055 It is then the man who was born in her, and He Himself hath founded her. Yet how can He be born in the city which He Himself founded? It had already been founded, that therein He might be born. Understand it thus, if thou canst: \u201cMother Sion, he shall say;\u201d but it is \u201ca man\u201d that \u201cshall say, Mother Sion; yea, a man was born in her:\u201d and yet \u201che hath founded her\u201d (not a man, but), \u201cthe Most High.\u201d As He created a mother of whom He would be born, so He founded a city in which He would be born. What hope is ours, brethren! On our behalf the Most High, who founded the city, addresses that city as a mother: and \u201cHe was born in her, and the Most High hath founded her.\u201d\n7. As though it were said, How do ye know this? All of us have sung these Psalms: and Christ, Man for our sake, God before us, sings within us all. But is this much to say, \u201cbefore us,\u201d of Him who was before heaven and earth and time? He then, born for our sakes a man, in that city, also founded her when He was the Most High. Yet how are we assured of this? \u201cThe Lord shall rehearse it when He writeth up the people\u201d (Psa. 87.6), as the following verse has it. \u201cThe Lord shall declare, when He writeth up the people, and their princes.\u201d What princes? 4056 \u201cThose who were born in her;\u201d those princes who, born within her walls, became therein princes: for before they could become princes in her, God chose the despised things of the world to confound the strong. Was the fisherman, the publican, a prince? They were indeed princes: but because they became such in her. Princes of what kind were they? Princes come from Babylon, believing monarchs of this world, came to the city of Rome, as to the head of Babylon: they went not to the temple of the Emperor, but to the tomb of the Fisherman. Whence indeed did they rank as princes? \u201cGod chose the weak things of the world to confound the strong, and the foolish things He hath chosen, and things which are not as though they were, that things which are may be brought to nought.\u201d 4057 This He doth who \u201cfrom the ground raises the helpless, and from the dunghill exalts the poor.\u201d 4058 For what purpose? \u201cThat He may set him with the princes, even with the princes of His people.\u201d 4059 This is a mighty deed, a deep source of pleasure and exultation. Orators came later into that city, but they could p. 423 never have done so, had not fishermen preceded them. These things are glorious indeed, but where could they take place, but in that city of God, of whom very excellent things are spoken?\n8. So thus, after drawing together and mingling every source of joyous exultation, how doth he conclude? \u201cThe dwelling as of all that shall be made joyous is in Thee\u201d (Psa. 87.7). As if all made joyous, all rejoicing, shall dwell in that city. Amid our journeyings here we suffer bruises: our last home shall be the home of joy alone. Toil and groans shall perish: prayers pass away, hymns of praise succeed. There shall be the dwelling of the happy; no longer shall there be the groans of those that long, but the gladness of those who enjoy. For He will be present for whom we sigh: we shall be like Him, as we shall see Him as He is: 4060 there it will be our whole task to praise and enjoy the presence of God: and what beyond shall we ask for, when He alone satisfies us, by whom all things were made? We shall dwell and be dwelt in; and shall be subject to Him, that God may be all in all. 4061 \u201cBlessed,\u201d then, \u201care they that dwell in Thy house.\u201d How blessed? Blessed in their gold, and silver, their numerous slaves, and multiplied offspring? \u201cBlessed are they that dwell in Thy house: for ever and ever they will be praising Thee.\u201d 4062 Blessed in that sole labour 4063 which is rest! Let this then be the one and only object of our desire, my brethren, when we shall have reached this pass. Let, us prepare ourselves to rejoice in God: to praise Him. The good works which conduct us thither, will not be needed there. I described, as far as I could, only yesterday, 4064 our condition there: works of charity there will be none, where there will be no misery: thou shalt not find one in want, one naked, no one will meet you tormented with thirst, there will be no stranger, no sick to visit, no dead to bury, no disputants to set at peace. What then wilt thou find to do? Shall we plant new vines, plough, traffic, make voyages, to support the necessities of the body? Deep quiet shall be there; all toilsome work, that necessity demands, will cease: the necessity being dead, its works will perish too. What then will be our state? As far as possible, the tongue of a man thus told us. \u201cAs it were, the dwelling of all who shall be made perfect is in Thee.\u201d 4065 Why does he say, \u201cas it were\u201d? Because there shall be such joy there as we know not here. Many pleasures do I behold here, and many rejoice in this world, some in one thing, others in another; but there is nothing to compare with that delight, but it shall be \u201cas it were\u201d being made joyful. For if I say joyfulness, men at once think of such joyfulness as men use to have in wine, in feasting, in avarice, and in the world\u2019s distinctions. For men are elated by these things, and mad with a kind of joy: but \u201cthere is no joy, saith the Lord, unto the wicked.\u201d 4066 There is a sort of joyfulness which the ear of man hath not heard, nor his eye seen, nor hath it entered into his heart to conceive. 4067 \u201cAs it were, the dwelling of all who shall be made joyful is in Thee.\u201d Let us prepare for other delights: for a kind of shadow is what we find here, not the reality: that we may not expect to enjoy such things there as here we delight in: otherwise our self-denial will be avarice. Some persons, when invited to a rich banquet, where there are many and costly dishes yet to come on, abstain from breaking their fast: if you ask the reason, they tell you that they are fasting: which is indeed a great work, a Christian work. Yet be not hasty in praising them: examine their motives: it is their belly, not religion, that they are consulting. That their appetite may not be palled by ordinary dishes, they abstain till more delicate food is set before them. This fast then is for the gullet\u2019s sake. Fasting is undoubtedly important: it fights against the belly and the palate; but sometimes it fights for them. Thus, my brethren, if ye imagine that we shall find any such pleasures in that country to which the heavenly trumpet urges us on, and on that account abstain from present enjoyments, that ye may receive the like more plentifully there, ye imitate those I have described, who fast only for greater feasting, and abstain only for greater indulgence. Do not ye like this: prepare yourselves for a certain ineffable delight: cleanse your hearts from all earthly and secular affections. We shall see something, the sight of which will make us blessed: and that alone will suffice for us. What then? Shall we not eat? Yes: we shall eat: but that shall be our food, which will ever refresh, and never fail. \u201cIn Thee is the dwelling of all who shall be, as it were, made joyful.\u201d He has already told us how we shall be made joyful. \u201cBlessed are they that dwell in thy house: for ever and ever they will be praising Thee.\u201d 4068 Let us praise the Lord as far as we are able, but with mingled lamentations: for while we praise we long for Him, and as yet have Him not. When we have, all our sorrows will be taken from us, and nothing will remain but praise, unmixed and everlasting. Now let us pray. 4069\nLat. LXXXVI. A discourse to the people, perhaps at Carthage, delivered the day after that on the preceding Psalm. See \u00a7 8.\n419:4030\n[For his discourse he pleads the command of a brother.\u2014C.] Perhaps Aurelius, bishop of Carthage.\u2014Ben.\n419:4031 420:4032 420:4033 420:4034 420:4035 420:4036\nJohn 10:11, 9.\n420:4037 420:4038 421:4039\nGen. vi. 14, LXX.\n421:4040 421:4041 421:4042 421:4043 421:4044 421:4045 421:4046 421:4047 421:4048 422:4049 422:4050 422:4051 422:4052\nDilabitur, which would seem to mean the writer; al. derivatur, \u201cthere is a drawing off,\u201d i.e. of citizens.\n422:4053 422:4054\nSt. Augustin, Tertullian, and others read \u03bc\u03ae\u03c4\u03b7\u03c1 \u03a3\u03af\u03c9\u03bd, for the reading of the LXX., \u03bc\u03ae\u03c4\u03b9.\n422:4055\nOr, \u201cHe who was made man in her,\u201d Qui homo factus est in ea.\n422:4056\nEt Principes is added in the text, but it has no equivalent in our version.\n422:4057 422:4058 422:4059 423:4060 423:4061 423:4062 423:4063 423:4064\nOn the former Psalm, p. 419, supra.\n423:4065\nTanquam jucundatorum omnium habitatio in te.\n423:4066 423:4067 423:4068 423:4069\nConversi ad Dominum. See p. 395, note 4, supra.","title":"Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Vol. VIII: Expositions on...","type":"page"}