The City of God, Volume IIAugustine, of Hippo, Saint
ReligionChristian
The City of God, Volume II
Augustine, of Hippo, Saint
Apologetics -- Early works to 1800; Kingdom of God -- Early works to 1800
In the progress of the city of God through the ages, therefore, David
first reigned in the earthly Jerusalem as a shadow of that which
was to come. Now David was a man skilled in songs, who dearly loved
musical harmony, not with a vulgar delight, but with a believing
disposition, and by it served his God, who is the true God, by the
mystical representation of a great thing. For the rational and
well-ordered concord of diverse sounds in harmonious variety suggests
the compact unity of the well-ordered city. Then almost all his
prophecy is in psalms, of which a hundred and fifty are contained in
what we call the Book of Psalms, of which some will have it those
only were made by David which are inscribed with his name. But there
are also some who think none of them were made by him except those
which are marked "Of David;" but those which have in the title "For
David" have been made by others who assumed his person. Which opinion
is refuted by the voice of the Saviour Himself in the Gospel, when He
says that David himself by the Spirit said Christ was his Lord; for
the 110th Psalm begins thus, "The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit Thou
at my right hand, until I make Thine enemies Thy footstool."[444]
And truly that very psalm, like many more, has in the title, not
"of David," but "for David." But those seem to me to hold the more
credible opinion, who ascribe to him the authorship of all these
hundred and fifty psalms, and think that he prefixed to some of them
the names even of other men, who prefigured something pertinent to
the matter, but chose to have no man's name in the titles of the
rest, just as God inspired him in the management of this variety,
which, although dark, is not meaningless. Neither ought it to move
one not to believe this, that the names of some prophets who lived
long after the times of king David are read in the inscriptions of
certain psalms in that book, and that the things said there seem to
be spoken as it were by them. Nor was the prophetic Spirit unable to
reveal to king David, when he prophesied, even these names of future
prophets, so that he might prophetically sing something which should
suit their persons; just as it was revealed to a certain prophet that
king Josiah should arise and reign after more than three hundred
years, who predicted his future deeds also along with his name.[445]
15. _Whether all the things prophesied in the Psalms concerning
Christ and His Church should be taken up in the text of this work._
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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