The First Sunday in Advent
Augustine on Psalm VIII
First Advent home
ALMIGHTY God, give us grace that we may cast away the works of darkness, and put upon us the armour of light, now in the time of this mortal life, in which thy Son Jesus Christ came to visit us in great humility; that in the last day, when he shall come again in his glorious majesty to judge both the quick and the dead, we may rise to the life immortal, through him who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Ghost, now and ever. Amen.
This Collect is to be repeated every day, after the other Collects in Advent, until Christmas Day.
Source: Archbishop Thomas Cranmer in 1549 Prayer Book. Based on Romans 13:8-12 and Mathew 21:1-13 which are appointed for this Sunday [Barbee and Zahl]
Isaiah
xxviii. 14, Romans xiii. 8 & St. Matthew xxi.
1
Psalms viii, l | xcvi, xcvii
READINGS
Isaiah xxviii. 14-22
Wherefore hear the word of the LORD, ye scornful men, that rule this people which is in Jerusalem. Because ye have said, We have made a covenant with death, and with hell are we at agreement; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, it shall not come unto us: for we have made lies our refuge, and under falsehood have we hid ourselves: Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation: he that believeth shall not make haste. Judgment also will I lay to the line, and righteousness to the plummet: and the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters shall overflow the hiding place. And your covenant with death shall be disannulled, and your agreement with hell shall not stand; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, then ye shall be trodden down by it. From the time that it goeth forth it shall take you: for morning by morning shall it pass over, by day and by night: and it shall be a vexation only to understand the report. For the bed is shorter than that a man can stretch himself on it: and the covering narrower than that he can wrap himself in it. For the LORD shall rise up as in mount Perazim, he shall be wroth as in the valley of Gibeon, that he may do his work, his strange work; and bring to pass his act, his strange act. Now therefore be ye not mockers, lest your bands be made strong: for I have heard from the Lord GOD of hosts a consumption, even determined upon the whole earth.Psalms Morning | Evening viii L | xcvi xcvii
Romans xiii. 8
OWE no man any thing, but to love one another: for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law. For this, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Thou shalt not covet; and if there be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law. And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed. The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light. Let us walk honestly, as in the day; not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying. But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof.St. Matthew xxi. 1.
WHEN they drew nigh unto Jerusalem, and were come to Bethphage, unto the mount of Olives, then sent Jesus two disciples, saying unto them, Go into the village over against you, and straightway ye shall find an ass tied, and a colt with her: loose them, and bring them unto me. And if any man say ought unto you, ye shall say, The Lord hath need of them; and straightway he will send them. All this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying, Tell ye the daughter of Sion, Behold, thy King cometh unto thee, meek, and sitting upon an ass, and a colt the foal of an ass. And the disciples went, and did as Jesus commanded them, and brought the ass, and the colt, and put on them their clothes, and they set him thereon. And a very great multitude spread their garments in the way; others cut down branches from the trees, and strawed them in the way. And the multitudes that went before, and that followed, cried, saying, Hosanna to the son of David: Blessed is he that cometh in the name 'of the Lord; Hosanna in the highest. And when he was come into Jerusalem, all the city was moved, saying, Who is this? And the multitude said, This is Jesus the prophet of Nazareth of Galilee. And Jesus went into the temple of God, and cast out all them that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the money-changers, and the seats of them that sold doves, and said unto them, It is written, My house shall be called the house of prayer; but ye have made it a den of thieves.The Collects of Thomas Cranmer, Barbee and Zahl
Homily
Augustine
Psalm VIII
4,376 words
To the end, for the wine-presses,
a psalm of David himself.
1. He seems to say nothing of wine-presses in the text of the
Psalm of which this is the title. By which it appears, that one and
the same thing is often signified in Scripture by many and various
similitudes. We may then take wine-presses to be Churches, on the
same principle by which we understand also by a threshing-floor the
Church. For whether in the threshing-floor, or in the wine-press,
there is nothing else done but the clearing the produce of its
covering; which is necessary, both for its first growth and
increase, and arrival at the maturity either of the harvest or the
vintage. Of these coverings or supporters then; that is, of chaff,
on the threshing-floor, the corn; and of husks, in the presses, the
wine is stripped: as in the Churches, from the multitude of worldly
men, which is collected together with the good, for whose birth and
adaptating to the divine word that multitude was necessary, this is
effected, that by spiritual love they be separated through the
operation of God's ministers. For now so it is that the good are,
for a time, separated from the bad, not in space, but in affection:
although they have converse together in the Churches, as far as
respects bodily presence. But another time will come, the corn will
be stored up apart in the granaries, and the wine in the cellars.
"The wheat," saith he, "He will lay up in garners; but the chaff He
will burn with fire unquenchable." The same thing may be thus
understood in another similitude: the wine He will lay up in
cellars, but the husks He will cast forth to cattle: so that by the
bellies of the cattle we may be allowed by way of similitude to
understand the pains of hell.
2. There is another interpretation concerning the wine-presses,
yet still keeping to the meaning of Churches. For even the Divine
Word may be understood by the grape: for the Lord even has been
called a Cluster of grapes; which they that were sent before by the
people of Israel brought from the land of promise hanging on a
staff, crucified as it were. Accordingly, when the Divine Word
maketh use of, by the necessity of declaring Himself, the sound of
the voice, whereby to convey Himself to the ears of the hearers; in
the same sound of the voice, as it were in husks, knowledge, like
the wine, is enclosed: and so this grape comes into the ears, as
into the pressing machines of the wine-pressers. For there the
separation is made, that the sound may reach as far as the ear; but
knowledge be received in the memory of those that hear, as it were
in a sort of vat; whence it passes into discipline of the
conversation and habit of mind, as from the vat into the cellar:
where if it do not through negligence grow sour, it will acquire
soundness by age. For it grew sour among the Jews, and this sour
vinegar they gave the Lord to drink. For that wine, which from the
produce of the vine of the New Testament the Lord is to drink with
His saints in the kingdom of His Father, must needs be most sweet
and most sound.
3. "Wine-presses" are also usually taken for martyrdoms, as if
when they who have confessed the name of Christ have been trodden
down by the blows of persecution, their mortal remains as husks
remained on earth, but their souls flowed forth into the rest of a
heavenly habitation. Nor yet by this interpretation do we depart
from the fruitfulness of the Churches. It is sung then, "for the
wine-presses," for the Church's establishment; when our Lord after
His resurrection ascended into heaven. For then He sent the Holy
Ghost: by whom the disciples being fulfilled preached with
confidence the Word of God, that Churches might be collected.
4. Accordingly it is said, "O Lord, our Lord, how admirable is Thy
Name in all the earth!" (ver. 1). I ask, how is His Name wonderful
in all the earth? The answer is, "For Thy glory has been raised
above the heavens." So that the meaning is this, O Lord, who art
our Lord, how do all that inhabit the earth admire Thee! for Thy
glory hath been raised from earthly humiliation above the heavens.
For hence it appeared who Thou wast that descendedst, when it was
by some seen, and by the rest believed, whither it was that Thou
ascendedst.
5. "Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings Thou hast made perfect
praise, because of Thine enemies" (ver. 2). I cannot take babes and
sucklings to be any other than those to whom the Apostle says, "As
unto babes in Christ I have given you milk to drink, not meat." Who
were meant by those who went before the Lord praising Him, of whom
the Lord Himself used this testimony, when He answered the Jews who
bade Him rebuke them, "Have ye not read, out of the mouth of babes
and sucklings Thou hast made perfect praise?" Now with good reason
He says not, Thou hast made, but, "Thou hast made perfect praise."
For there are in the Churches also those who now no more drink
milk, but eat meat: whom the same Apostle points out, saying, "We
speak wisdom among them that are perfect;" but not by those only
are the Churches perfected; for if there were only these, little
consideration would be had of the human race. But consideration is
had, when they too, who are not as yet capable of the knowledge of
things spiritual and eternal, are nourished by the faith of the
temporal history, which for our salvation after the Patriarchs and
Prophets was administered by the most excellent Power and Wisdom of
God, even in the Sacrament of the assumed Manhood, in which there
is salvation for every one that believeth; to the end that moved by
Its authority each one may obey Its precepts, whereby being
purified and "rooted and grounded in love," he may be able to run
with Saints, no more now a child in milk, but a young man in meat,
"to comprehend the breadth, the length, the height, and depth, to
know also the surpassing knowledge of the love of Christ."
6. "Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings Thou hast made perfect
praise, because of Thine enemies." By enemies to this dispensation,
which has been wrought through Jesus Christ and Him crucified, we
ought generally to understand all who forbid belief in things
unknown, and promise certain knowledge: as all heretics do, and
they who in the superstition of the Gentiles are called
philosophers. Not that the promise of knowledge is to be blamed;
but because they deem the most healthful and necessary step of
faith is to be neglected, by which we must needs ascend to
something certain, which nothing but that which is eternal can be.
Hence it appears that they do not possess even this knowledge,
which in contempt of faith they promise; seeing that they know not
so useful and necessary a step thereof. "Out of the mouth," then
"of babes and sucklings Thou hast made perfect praise," Thou, our
Lord, declaring first by the Apostle, "Except ye believe, ye shall
not understand;" and saying by His own mouth, "Blessed are they
that have not seen, and shall believe." "Because of the enemies:"
against whom too that is said, "I confess to Thee, O Lord of heaven
and earth, because Thou hast hid these things from the wise, and
revealed them unto babes." "From the wise," he saith, not the
really wise, but those who deem themselves such. "That Thou mayest
destroy the enemy and the defender." Whom but the heretic? For he
is both an enemy and a defender, who when he would assault the
Christian faith, seems to defend it. Although the philosophers too
of this world may be well taken as the enemies and defenders:
forasmuch as the Son of God is the Power and Wisdom of God by which
every one is enlightened who is made wise by the truth: of which
they profess themselves to be lovers, whence too their name of
philosophers; and therefore they seem to defend it, while they are
its enemies, since they cease not to recommend noxious
superstitions, that the elements of this world should be worshipped
and revered.
7. "For I shall see Thy heavens, the works of Thy fingers" (ver.
3). We read that the law was written with the finger of God, and
given through Moses, His holy servant: by which finger of God many
understand the Holy Ghost. Wherefore if, by the fingers of God, we
are right in understanding these same ministers filled with the
Holy Ghost, by reason of this same Spirit which worketh in them,
since by them all holy Scripture has been completed for us; we
understand consistently with this, that, in this place, the books
of both Testaments are called "the heavens." Now it is said too of
Moses himself, by the magicians of king Pharaoh, when they were
conquered by him, "This is the finger of God." And what is written,
"The heavens shall be rolled up as a book." Although it be said of
this aethereal heaven, yet naturally, according to the same image,
the heavens of books are named by allegory. "For I shall see," he
says, "the heavens, the works of Thy fingers:" that is, I shall
discern and understand the Scriptures, which Thou, by the operation
of the Holy Ghost, hast written by Thy ministers.
8. Accordingly the heavens named above also may be interpreted as
the same books, where he says, "For Thy glory hath been raised
above the heavens:" so that the complete meaning should be this,
"For Thy glory hath been raised above the heavens;" for Thy glory
hath exceeded the declarations of all the Scriptures: "Out of the
mouth of babes and sucklings Thou hast made perfect praise," that
they should begin by belief in the Scriptures, who would arrive at
the knowledge of Thy glory: which hath been raised above the
Scriptures, in that it passeth by and transcends the announcements
of all words and languages. Therefore hath God lowered the
Scriptures even to the capacity of babes and sucklings, as it is
sung in another Psalm, "And He lowered the heaven, and came down:"
and this did He because of the enemies, who through pride of
talkativeness, being enemies of the cross of Christ, even when they
do speak some truth, still cannot profit babes and sucklings. So is
the enemy and defender destroyed, who, whether he seem to defend
wisdom, or even the name of Christ, still, from the step of this
faith, assaults that truth, which he so readily makes promise of.
Whereby too he is convicted of not possessing it; since by
assaulting the step thereof, namely faith, he knows not how one
should mount up thereto. Hence then is the rash and blind promiser
of truth, who is the enemy and defender, destroyed, when the
heavens, the works of God's fingers, are seen, that is, when the
Scriptures, brought down even to the slowness of babes, are
understood; and by means of the lowness of the faith of the
history, which was transacted in time, they raise them, well
nurtured and strengthened, unto the grand height of the
understanding of things eternal, up to those things which they
establish. For these heavens, that is, these books, are the works
of God's fingers; for by the operation of the Holy Ghost in the
Saints they were completed. For they that have regarded their own
glory rather than man's salvation, have spoken without the Holy
Ghost, in whom are the bowels of the mercy of God.
9. "For I shall see the heavens, the works of Thy fingers, the
moon and the stars, which Thou hast ordained." The moon and stars
are ordained in the heavens; since both the Church universal, to
signify which the moon is often put, and Churches in the several
places particularly, which I imagine to be intimated by the name of
stars, are established in the same Scriptures, which we believe to
be expressed by the word heavens. But why the moon justly signifies
the Church, will be more seasonably considered in another Psalm,
where it is said, "The sinners have bent their bow, that they may
shoot in the obscure moon the upright in heart."
10. "What is man, that Thou art mindful of him? or the son of man,
that Thou visitest him?" (ver. 4). It may be asked, what
distinction there is between man and son of man. For if there were
none, it would not be expressed thus, "man, or son of man,"
disjunctively. For if it were written thus, "What is man, that Thou
art mindful of him, and son of man, that Thou visitest him?" it
might appear to be a repetition of the word "man." But now when the
expression is, "man or son of-man," a distinction is more clearly
intimated. This is certainly to be remembered, that every son of
man is a man; although every man cannot be taken to be a son of
man. Adam, for instance, was a man, but not a son of man. Wherefore
we may from hence consider and distinguish what is the difference
in this place between man and son of man; namely, that they who
bear the image of the earthy man, who is not a son of man, should
be signified by the name of men; but that they who bear the image
of the heavenly Man, should be rather called sons of men; for the
former again is called the old man and the latter the new; but the
new is born of the old, since spiritual regeneration is begun by a
change of an earthy, and worldly life; and therefore the latter is
called son of man. "Man" then in this place is earthy, but "son of
man" heavenly; and the former is far removed from God, but the
latter present with God; and therefore is He mindful of the former,
as in far distance from Him; but the latter He visiteth, with whom
being present He enlighteneth him with His countenance. For
"salvation is far from sinners;" and, "The light of Thy countenance
hath been stamped upon us, O Lord." So in another Psalm he saith,
that men in conjunction with beasts are made whole together with
these beasts, not by any present inward illumination, but by the
multiplication of the mercy of God, whereby His goodness reacheth
even to the lowest things; for the wholeness of carnal men is
carnal, as of the beasts; but separating the sons of men from those
whom being men he joined with cattle, he proclaims that they are
made blessed, after a far more exalted method, by the enlightening
of the truth itself, and by a certain inundation of the fountain of
life. For he speaketh thus: "Men and beasts Thou wilt make whole, O
Lord, as Thy mercy hath been multiplied, O God. But the sons of men
shall put their trust in the covering of Thy wings. They shall be
inebriated with the richness of Thine house, and of the torrent of
Thy pleasures Thou shalt make them drink. For with Thee is the
fountain of life, and in Thy light shall we see light. Extend Thy
mercy to them that know Thee." Through the multiplication of mercy
then He is mindful of man, as of beasts; for that multiplied mercy
reacheth even to them that are afar off; but He visiteth the son of
man, over whom, placed under the covering of His wings, He
extendeth mercy, and in His light giveth light, and maketh him
drink of His pleasures, and inebriateth him with the richness of
His house, to forget the sorrows and the wanderings of his former
conversation. This son of man, that is, the new man, the repentance
of the old man begets with pain and tears. He, though new, is
nevertheless called yet carnal, whilst he is fed with milk; "I
would not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal,"
says the Apostle. And to show that they were already regenerate, he
says, "As unto babes in Christ, I have given you milk to drink, not
meat." And when he relapses, as often happens, to the old life, he
hears in reproof that he is a man; "Are ye not men," he says, "and
walk as men?"
11. Therefore was the son of man first visited in the person of
the very Lord Man, born of the Virgin Mary. Of whom, by reason of
the very weakness of the flesh, which the Wisdom of God vouchsafed
to bear, and the humiliation of the Passion, it is justly said,
"Thou hast lowered Him a little lower than the Angels" (ver. 5).
But that glorifying is added, in which He rose and ascended up into
heaven; "With glory," he says, "and with honour hast Thou crowned
Him; and hast set Him over the works of Thine hands" (ver. 6).
Since even Angels are the works of God's hands, even over Angels we
understand the Only-begotten Son to have been set; whom we hear and
believe, by the humiliation of the carnal generation and passion,
to have been lowered a little lower than the Angels.
12. "Thou hast put," he says, "all things in subjection under His
feet." When he says, "all things," he excepts nothing. And that he
might not be allowed to understand it otherwise, the Apostle
enjoins it to be believed thus, when he says, "He being excepted
which put all things under Him." And to the Hebrews he uses this
very testimony from this Psalm, when he would have it to be
understood that all things are in such sort put under our Lord
Jesus Christ, as that nothing should be excepted. And yet he does
not seem, as it were, to subjoin any great thing, when he says,
"All sheep and oxen, yea, moreover, the beasts of the field, birds
of the air, and the fish of the sea, which walk through the paths
of the sea" (ver. 7). For, leaving the heavenly excellencies and
powers, and all the hosts of Angels, leaving even man himself, he
seems to have put under Him the beasts merely; unless by sheep and
oxen we understand holy souls, either yielding the fruit of
innocence, or even working that the earth may bear fruit, that is,
that earthly men may be regenerated unto spiritual richness. By
these holy souls then we ought to understand not those of men only,
but of all Angels too, if we would gather from hence that all
things are put under our Lord Jesus Christ. For there will be no
creature that will not be put under Him, under whom the pre-eminent
spirits, that I may so speak, are put. But whence shall we prove
that sheep can be interpreted even, not of men, but of the blessed
spirits of the angelical creatures on high? May we from the Lord's
saying that He had left ninety and nine sheep in the mountains,
that is, in the higher regions, and had come down for one? For if
we take the one lost sheep to be the human soul in Adam, since Eve
even was made out of his side, for the spiritual handling and
consideration of all which things this is not the time, it remains
that, by the ninety and nine left in the mountains, spirits not
human, but angelical, should be meant. For as regards the oxen,
this sentence is easily despatched; since men themselves are for no
other reason called oxen, but because by preaching the Gospel of
the word of God they imitate Angels, as where it is said, "Thou
shalt not muzzle the ox that treadeth out the corn." How much more
easily then do we take the Angels themselves, the messengers of
truth, to be oxen, when Evangelists by the participation of their
title are called oxen? "Thou hast put under" therefore, he says,
"all sheep and oxen," that is, all the holy spiritual creation; in
which we include that of holy men, who are in the Church, in those
wine-presses to wit, which are intimated under the other similitude
of the moon and stars.
13. "Yea moreover," saith he, "the beasts of the field." The
addition of "moreover" is by no means idle. First, because by
beasts of the plain may be understood both sheep and oxen: so that,
if goats are the beasts of rocky and mountainous regions, sheep may
be well taken to be the beasts of the field. Accordingly had it
been written even thus, "all sheep and oxen and beasts of the
field;" it might be reasonably asked what beasts of the plain
meant, since even sheep and oxen could be taken as such. But the
addition of "moreover" besides, obliges us, beyond question, to
recognise some difference or another. But under this word,
"moreover," not only "beasts of the field," but also "birds of the
air, and fish of the sea, which walk through the paths of the sea"
(ver. 8), are to be taken in. What is then this distinction? Call
to mind the "wine-presses," holding husks and wine; and the
threshing-floor, containing chaff and corn; and the nets, in which
were enclosed good fish and bad; and the ark of Noah, in which were
both unclean and clean animals: and you will see that the Churches
for a while, now in this time, unto the last time of judgment,
contain not only sheep and oxen, that is, holy laymen and holy
ministers, but "moreover beasts of the field, birds of the air, and
birds of the sea, that walk through the paths of the sea." For the
beasts of the field were very fitly understood, as men rejoicing in
the pleasure of the flesh where they mount up to nothing high,
nothing laborious. For the field is also "the broad way, that
leadeth to destruction:" and in a field is Abel slain. Wherefore
there is cause to fear, lest one coming down from the mountains of
God's righteousness ("for thy righteousness," he says, "is as the
mountains of God" making choice of the broad and easy paths of
carnal pleasure, be slain by the devil. See now too "the birds of
heaven," the proud, of whom it is said, "They have set their mouth
against the heaven." See how they are carried on high by the wind,
"who say, We will magnify our tongue, our lips are our own, who is
our Lord?" Behold too the fish of the sea, that is, the curious;
who walk through the paths of the sea, that is, search in the deep
after the temporal things of this world: which, like paths in the
sea, vanish and perish, as quickly as the water comes together
again after it has given room, in their passage, to ships, or to
whatsoever walketh or swimmeth. For he said not merely, who walk
the paths of the sea; but "walk through," he said; showing the very
determined earnestness of those who seek after vain and fleeting
things. Now these three kinds of vice, namely, the pleasure of the
flesh, and pride, and curiosity, include all sins. And they appear
to me to be enumerated by the Apostle John, when he says, "Love not
the world; for all that is in the world is the lust of the flesh,
and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life." For through the
eyes especially prevails curiosity. To what the rest indeed belong
is clear. And that temptation of the Lord Man was threefold: by
food, that is, by the lust of the flesh, where it is suggested,
"command these stones that they be made bread:" by vain boasting,
where, when stationed on a mountain, all the kingdoms of this earth
are shown Him, and promised if He would worship: by curiosity,
where, from the pinnacle of the temple, He is advised to cast
Himself down, for the sake of trying whether He would be borne up
by Angels. And accordingly after that the enemy could prevail with
Him by none of these temptations, this is said of him, "When the
devil had ended all his temptation." With a reference then to the
meaning of the wine-presses, not only the wine, but the husks too
are put under His feet; to wit, not only sheep and oxen, that is,
the holy souls of believers, either in the laity, or in the
ministry; but moreover both beasts of pleasure, and birds of pride,
and fish of curiosity. All which classes of sinners we see mingled
now in the Churches with the good and holy. May He work then in His
Churches, and separate the wine from the husks: let us give heed,
that we be wine, and sheep or oxen; not husks, or beasts of the
field, or birds of heaven, or fish of the sea, which walk through
the paths of the sea. Not that these names can be understood and
explained in this way only, but the explanation of them must be
according to the place where they are found. For elsewhere they
have other meanings. And this rule must be kept to in every
allegory, that what is expressed by the similitude should be
considered agreeably to the meaning of the particular place: for
this is the manner of the Lord's and the Apostles' teaching. Let us
repeat then the last verse, which is also put at the beginning of
the Psalm, and let us praise God, saying, "O Lord our Lord, how
wonderful is Thy name in all the earth!" For fitly, after the
matter of the discourse, is the return made to the heading, whither
all that discourse must be referred.
Let us pray in the words of Augustine.
Turn we to the Lord God, the Father Almighty, and with pure
hearts offer to him, so far as our meanness can, great and true
thanks, with all our hearts praying his exceeding kindness, that of
his good pleasure he would deign to hear our prayers, that by his
Power he would drive out the enemy from our deeds and thoughts,
that he would increase our faith, guide our understandings, give us
spiritual thoughts, and lead us to his bliss, through Jesus Christ
his Son our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with him, in the Unity of
the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
[A prayer which he was wont to use after his
Sermons and Lectures.]
NPNF (V1-08) St. Augustine
Finis
HOME