The Second Sunday before Advent
Augustine on Psalm LXIII
O GOD, whose blessed Son was manifested that he might destroy the works of the devil, and make us the sons of God, and heirs of eternal life; Grant us, we beseech thee, that, having this hope, we may purify ourselves, even as he is pure; that, when he shall appear again with power and great glory, we may be made like unto him in his eternal and glorious kingdom; where with thee, O Father, and thee, O Holy Ghost, he liveth and reigneth ever, one God, world without end. Amen.
This Collect was added in 1662. It clearly points to the Gospel of the day and the Second Coming of Christ
2Sa xv. 23, Psalms 63, 65 | 78 , 1 St. John iii. 1 & St. Matthew xxiv. 23
Homily of Augustine on Psalm LXIII
READINGS
2nd Samuel xv. 23
And all the country wept with a loud voice, and all the people passed over: the king [David] also himself passed over the brook Kidron, and all the people passed over, toward the way of the wilderness. And lo Zadok also, and all the Levites were with him, bearing the ark of the covenant of God: and they set down the ark of God; and Abiathar went up, until all the people had done passing out of the city. And the king said unto Zadok, Carry back the ark of God into the city: if I shall find favour in the eyes of the LORD, he will bring me again, and shew me both it, and his habitation: But if he thus say, I have no delight in thee; behold, here am I, let him do to me as seemeth good unto him. The king said also unto Zadok the priest, Art not thou a seer ? return into the city in peace, and your two sons with you, Ahimaaz thy son, and Jonathan the son of Abiathar. See, I will tarry in the plain of the wilderness, until there come word from you to certify me.1 St. John iii. 1
BEHOLD, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not. Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure. Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law. And ye know that he was manifested to take away our sins; and in him is no sin. Whosoever abideth in him sinneth not: whosoever sinneth hath not seen him, neither known him. Little children, let no man deceive you: he that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous. He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil.St. Matthew xxiv. 23
THEN if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or there; believe it not. For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect. Behold, I have told you before. Wherefore if they shall say unto you, Behold, he is in the desert; go not forth: behold, he is in the secret chambers; believe it not. For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. For wheresoever the carcase is, there will the eagles be gathered together. Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken: and then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.
Scripture from 1928 Book of Common Praye
The Collects of Thomas Cranmer
Expostion of
Psalm LXIII
Augustine
1. This psalm hath the title, “For David himself, when he was in the desert
of Idumæa.” By the name of Idumæa is understood this world. For Idumæa was a
certain nation of men going astray, where idols were worshipped. In no good
sense is put this Idumæa. If not in a good sense it is put, it must be
understood that this life, wherein we suffer so great toils, and wherein to
so great necessities we are made subject, by the name of Idumæa is
signified. [2460] Even here is a desert where there is much thirst, and ye
are to hear the voice of One now thirsting in the desert. But if we
acknowledge ourselves as thirsting, we shall acknowledge ourselves as
drinking also. For he that thirsteth in this world, in the world to come
shall be satisfied, according to the Lord’s saying, “Blessed are they that
hunger and thirst after righteousness, for the same shall be satisfied.”
[2461] Therefore in this world we ought not to love fulness. Here we must
thirst, in another place we shall be filled. But now in order that we may
not faint in this desert, He sprinkleth upon us the dew of His word, and
leaveth us not utterly to dry up, so that there should not be in our case
any seeking of us again, but that we may so thirst as that we may drink. But
in order that we may drink, with somewhat of His Grace we are sprinkled:
nevertheless we thirst. And what saith our soul to God?
2. “God, my God, unto Thee from the light I watch” (ver. 1). What is to
watch? It is, not to sleep. What is to sleep? There is a sleep of the soul;
there is a sleep of the body. Sleep of body we all ought to have: because if
sleep of body is not taken, a man fainteth, the body itself fainteth. For
our frail body cannot long sustain a soul watching and on the stretch on
active works; if for a long time the soul shall have been intent on active
pursuits, the body being frail and earthly holdeth her not, sustaineth her
not for ever in activity, and fainteth and falleth. Therefore God hath
granted sleep to the body, whereby are recruited the members of the body, in
order that they may be able to sustain the soul watching. But of this let us
take heed, namely, that our soul herself sleep not: for evil is the sleep of
the soul. Good is the sleep of the body, whereby is recruited the health of
the body. But the sleep of the soul is to forget her God. Whatsoever soul
shall have forgotten her God, sleepeth. Therefore the Apostle saith to
certain persons that forgot their God, and being as it were in sleep, did
act the follies of the worship of idols—the Apostle, I say, saith to certain
persons, “Rise, thou that sleepest, and rise up from the dead, and Christ
shall enlighten thee.” [2462] Was the Apostle waking up one sleeping in
body? Nay, but he was waking a soul sleeping, inasmuch as he was waking her,
in order that she might be lightened by Christ. Therefore as to these same
watchings saith this man, “God, my God, unto Thee from the light I watch.”
For thou wouldest not watch of thyself, unless there should arise thy Light,
to wake thee from sleep. For Christ lighteneth souls, and maketh them to
watch: but if His light He taketh away, they slumber. For for this cause to
Him there is said in another psalm, “Lighten mine eyes, that I may never
slumber in death.” [2463] …
3. “My soul hath thirsted for Thee” (ver. 2). Behold that desert of Idumæa.
See how here he thirsteth: but see what good thing is here, “Hath thirsted
for Thee.” For there are they that thirst, but not for God. For every one
that willeth anything to be granted to him, is in the heat of longing; the
longing itself is the thirst of the soul. And see ye what [2464] longings
there are in the hearts of men: one longeth for gold, another longeth for
silver, another longeth for possessions, another inheritance, another
abundance of money, another many herds, another a wife, another honours,
another sons. Ye see those longings, how they are in the hearts of men. All
men are inflamed with longing, and scarce is found one to say, “My soul hath
thirsted for Thee.” For men thirst for the world: and perceive not
themselves to be in the desert of Idumæa, where their souls ought to thirst
for God.…
4. Wisdom therefore must be thirsted after, righteousness must be thirsted
after. With it we shall not be satisfied, with it we shall not be filled,
save when this life shall have been ended, and we shall have come to that
which God hath promised. For God hath promised equality with Angels: [2465]
and now the Angels thirst not as we do, they hunger not as we do; but they
have the fulness of truth, of light, of immortal wisdom. Therefore blessed
they are, and out of so great blessedness, because they are in that City,
the Heavenly Jerusalem, afar from whence we now are sojourning in a strange
land, they observe us sojourners, and they pity us, and by the command of
the Lord they help us, in order that to this common country sometime we may
return, and there with them sometime with the Lord’s fountain of truth and
eternity we may be filled. Now therefore let our soul thirst: whence doth
our flesh also thirst, and this in many ways? “In many ways for Thee,” he
saith, “my flesh also.” Because to our flesh also is promised Resurrection.
As to our soul is promised blessedness, so also to our flesh is promised
resurrection.…For if God hath made us that were not, is it a great thing for
Him to make again us that were? Therefore let not this seem to you to be
incredible, because ye see dead men as it were decaying, and passing into
ashes and into dust. Or if any dead man be burned, or if dogs tear him in
pieces, do ye think that from this he will not rise again? All things which
are dismembered, and into a sort of dust do decay, are entire with God. For
into those elements of the world they pass, whence at first they have come,
when we were made: we do not see them; but yet God will bring them forth, He
knoweth whence, because even before we were, He created us from whence He
knew. Such a resurrection of the flesh therefore to us is promised, as that,
although it be the same flesh that now we carry [2466] which is to rise
again, yet it hath not the corruption which now it hath. For now because of
the corruption of frailty, if we eat not, we faint and are hungry; if we
drink not, we faint and are thirsty; if long time we watch, we faint and
sleep; if long time we sleep, we faint, therefore we watch.…Secondly, see
how without any standing is our flesh: for infancy passeth away into
boyhood, and thou seekest infancy, and infancy is not, for now instead of
infancy is boyhood: again this same also passeth into youth, thou seekest
boyhood and findest not: the young man becometh a middle-aged man, thou
seekest the young man and he is not: the middle-aged man becometh an old
man, thou seekest a middle-aged man and findest not: and an old man dieth,
thou seekest an old man and findest not: our age therefore standeth not
still: everywhere is weariness, everywhere faintness, everywhere corruption.
Observing what a hope of resurrection God promiseth to us, in all those our
manifold faintings we thirst for that incorruption: and so our flesh
manifoldly doth thirst for God.
5. Nevertheless, my brethren, the flesh of a good Christian and a believer
even in this world for God doth thirst: for if the flesh hath need of bread,
if it hath need of water, if it hath need of wine, if it hath need of money,
if this flesh hath need of a beast, from God it ought to seek it, not from
demons and idols and I know not what powers of this world. For there are
certain who when they suffer hunger in this world, leave God and ask Mercury
or ask Jove to give unto them, or her whom they call “Heavenly,” [2467] or
any the like demons: not for God their flesh thirsteth. But they that thirst
for God, [2468] everywhere ought to thirst for Him, both soul and flesh: for
to the soul also God giveth His bread, that is the Word of Truth: and to the
flesh God giveth the things which are necessary, for God hath made both soul
and flesh. For the sake of thy flesh thou askest of demons: hath God made
the soul, and the demons made the flesh? He that hath made the soul, the
Same hath made the flesh also: He that hath made both of them, the Same
feedeth both of them. Let either part of us thirst for God, and after labour
manifold let either simply be filled.
6. But where thirsteth our soul, and our flesh manifoldly, not for any one
but for Thee, O Lord, that is our God? it thirsteth where? “In a land
desert, and without way, and without water.” Of this world we have spoken,
the same is Idumæa, this is the desert of Idumæa, whence the Psalm hath
received its title. “In a land desert.” Too little it is to say “desert,”
where no man dwelleth; it is besides, both “without way, and without
water.” O that the same desert had even a way: O that into this a man
running, even knew where he might thence get forth!…Evil is the desert,
horrible, and to be feared: and nevertheless God hath pitied us, and hath
made for us a way in the desert, Himself our Lord Jesus Christ: [2469] and
hath made for us a consolation in the desert, in sending to us preachers of
His Word: and hath given to us water in the desert, by fulfilling with the
Holy Spirit His preachers, in order that there might be created in them a
well of water springing up unto life everlasting. [2470] And, lo! we have
here all things, but they are not of the desert.…
7. “Thus in a holy thing I have appeared to Thee, that I might see Thy power
and Thy glory” (ver. 3).…Unless a man first thirst in that desert, that is
in the evil wherein he is, he never arriveth at the good, which is God. But
“I have appeared to Thee,” he saith, “in a holy thing.” Now in a holy thing
is there great consolation. “I have appeared to Thee,” is what? In order
that Thou mightest see me: and for this reason Thou hast seen me, in order
that I might see Thee. “I have appeared to Thee, that I might see.” He hath
not said, “I have appeared to Thee, that Thou mightest see:” but, “I have
appeared to Thee, that I might see Thy power and Thy glory.” Whence also the
Apostle, “But now,” he saith, “knowing God, nay, having been known of
God.” [2471] For first ye have appeared to God, in order that to you God
might be able to appear. “That I might see Thy power and Thy glory.” In
truth in that forsaken place, that is, in that desert, if as though from the
desert a man striveth to obtain enough for his sustenance, he will never see
the power of the Lord, and the glory of the Lord, but he will remain to die
of thirst, and will find neither way, nor consolation, nor water, whereby he
may endure in the desert. But when he shall have lifted up himself to God,
so as to say to Him out of all his inward parts, “My soul hath thirsted for
Thee; how manifoldly for Thee also my flesh!” lest perchance even the things
necessary for the flesh of others he ask, and not of God, or else long not
for that resurrection of the flesh, which God hath promised to us: when, I
say, he shall have lifted up himself, he will have no small consolations.
8. …But ye have heard but now when the Gospel was being read in what terms
He hath notified His Majesty: “I and My Father are One.” [2472] Behold how
great a Majesty and how great an Equality with the Father hath come down to
the flesh because of our infirmity. Behold how greatly beloved we have been,
before that we loved God. If before that we loved God, so much by Him we
were beloved, as that His Son, Equal with Himself, He made a Man for our
sake, what doth He reserve for us now loving Him? Therefore many men think
it to be a very small thing that the Son of God hath appeared on earth;
because they are not in the Holy One, to them hath not appeared the power of
the Same and the glory of the Same: that is, not yet have they a heart made
holy, whence they may perceive the eminence of that virtue, and may render
thanks to God, nor that to which for their own sakes so great an One came,
unto what a nativity, unto what a Passion, they are not able to see, His
glory and His power. [2473]
9. “For better is Thy mercy than [2474] lives.” Many are the lives of men,
but one life God promiseth: and He giveth not this to us as if for our
merits but for His mercy.…For what is so just a thing as that a sinner
should be punished? Though a just thing it be that a sinner should be
punished, it hath belonged to the mercy of Him not to punish a sinner but to
justify him, and of a sinner to make a just man, and of an ungodly man to
make a godly man. Therefore “His mercy is better than lives.” What lives?
Those which for themselves men have chosen. One hath chosen for himself a
life of business, another a country life, another a life of usury, another a
military life; one this, another that. Divers are the lives, but “better is
Thy” life “than” our “lives.”…“My lips shall praise Thee.” My lips would not
praise Thee, unless before me were to go Thy mercy. By Thy gift Thee I
praise, through Thy mercy Thee I praise. For I should not be able to praise
God, unless He gave me to be able to praise Him.
10. “So I will speak good of Thee in my life, and in Thy name I will lift up
my hands” (ver. 5). Now in my life which to me Thou hast given, not in that
which I have chosen after the world with the rest among many lives, but that
which Thou hast given to me through Thy mercy, that I should praise Thee.
“So I will speak good of Thee in my life.” What is “so”? That to Thy mercy I
may ascribe my life wherein Thee I praise, not to my merits. “And in Thy
name I will lift up my hands.” Lift up therefore hands in prayer. Our Lord
hath lifted up for us His hands on the Cross, and stretched out were His
hands for us, and therefore were His hands stretched out on the Cross, in
order that our hands might be stretched out unto good works: because His
Cross hath brought us mercy. Behold, He hath lifted up hands, and hath
offered for us Himself a Sacrifice to God, and through that Sacrifice have
been effaced all our sins. Let us also lift up our hands to God in prayer:
and our hands being lifted up to God shall not be confounded, if they be
exercised in good works. For what doth he that lifteth up hands? Whence hath
it been commanded that with hands lifted up we should pray to God? For the
Apostle saith, “Lifting up pure hands without anger and dissension.” [2475]
It is in order that when thou liftest up hands to God, there may come into
thy mind thy works. For whereas those hands are lifted up that thou mayest
obtain that which thou wilt, those same hands thou thinkest in good works to
exercise, that they may not blush to be lifted up to God. “In thy name I
will lift up my hands.” Those are our prayers in this Idumæa, in this
desert, in the land without water and without way, where for us Christ is
the Way, [2476] but not the way of this earth.
11. …Already our fathers are dead, but God liveth: here we could not always
have fathers, but there we shall alway have one living Father, when we have
our father-land.…What sort of country is that? But thou lovest here riches.
God Himself shall be to thee thy riches. But thou lovest a good fountain.
What is more passing clear than that wisdom? What more bright? Whatsoever is
an object of love here, in place of all thou shalt have Him that hath made
all things, “as though with marrow and fatness my soul should be filled: and
lips of exultation shall praise Thy name.” In this desert, in Thy name I
will lift up my hands: let my soul be filled as though with marrow and
fatness, “and my lips with exultation shall praise Thy name.” For now is
prayer, so long as there is thirst: when thirst shall have passed away,
there passeth away praying and there succeedeth praising. “And lips of
exultation shall praise Thy name.”
12. “If I have remembered Thee upon my bed, in the dawnings I did meditate
on thee (ver. 7): because Thou hast become my helper” (ver. 8). His “bed” he
calleth his rest. When any one is at rest, let him be mindful of God; when
any one is at rest, let him not by rest be dissolved, and forget God: if
mindful he is of God when he is at rest, in his actions on God he doth
meditate. For the dawn he hath called actions, because every man at dawn
beginneth to do something. What therefore hath he said? If therefore I was
not mindful on my bed, in the dawn also I did not meditate on Thee. Can he
that thinketh not of God when he is at leisure, in his actions think of God?
But he that is mindful of Him when he is at rest, on the Same doth meditate
when he is doing, lest in action he should come short. Therefore he hath
added what? “Because Thou has become my helper.” For unless God aid our good
works, they cannot be accomplished by us. And worthy things we ought to
work: that is, as though in the light, since by Christ showing the way we
work. Whosoever worketh evil things, in the night he worketh, not in the
dawn; according to the Apostle, saying, “They that are drunken, in the night
are drunken; and they that sleep, in the night do sleep; let us that are of
the day, be sober.” [2477] He exhorteth us that after the day we should walk
honestly: “As in the day, honestly let us walk.” [2478] And again, “Ye,” he
saith, “are sons of light, and sons of day; we are not of night nor of
darkness.” [2479] Who are sons of night, and sons of darkness? They that
work all evil things. To such a degree they are sons of night, that they
fear lest the things which they work should be seen.…No one therefore in the
dawn worketh, except him that in Christ worketh. But he that while at
leisure is mindful of Christ, on the Same doth meditate in all his actions,
and He is a helper to him in a good work, lest through his weakness he fail.
“And in the covering of Thy wings I will exult.” I am cheerful in good
works, because over me is the covering of Thy wings. If thou protect me not,
forasmuch as I am a chicken, the kite will seize me. For our Lord Himself
saith in a certain place to that Jerusalem, a certain city, where He was
crucified: “Jerusalem,” He saith, “Jerusalem, how often I have willed to
gather thy sons, as though a hen her chickens, and thou wouldest not.”
[2480] Little ones we are: therefore may God protect us under the shadow of
His wings. What when we shall have grown greater? A good thing it is for us
that even then He should protect us, so that under Him the greater, alway we
be chickens. For alway He is greater, however much we may have grown. Let no
one say, let Him protect me while I am a little one: as if sometime he would
attain to such magnitude, as should be self-sufficient. Without the
protection of God, nought thou art. Alway by Him let us desire to be
protected: then alway in Him we shall have power to be great, if alway under
Him little we be. “And in the covering of Thy wings I will exult.”
13. “My soul hath been glued on behind Thee” (ver. 9). See ye one longing,
see ye one thirsting, see ye how he cleaveth to God. Let there spring up in
you this affection. If already it is sprouting, let it be rained upon and
grow: let it come to such strength, that ye also may say from the whole
heart, “My soul hath been glued on behind Thee.” Where is that same glue?
The glue itself is love. Have thou love, wherewith as with glue thy soul may
be glued on behind God. Not with God, but behind God; that He may go before,
thou mayest follow. For he that shall have willed to go before God, by his
own counsel would live, and will not follow the commandments of God. Because
of this even Peter was rebuked, when he willed to give counsel to Christ,
who was going to suffer for us.…“Far be it from Thee, O Lord, be Thou
merciful to Thyself.” And the Lord, “Go back behind Me, Satan: for thou
savourest not the things which are of God, but the things which are of
men.” [2481] Wherefore, the things which are of men? Because to go before Me
thou desirest, go back behind Me, in order that thou mayest follow me: so
that now following Christ he might say, “My soul hath been glued on behind
Thee.” With reason he addeth, “Me Thy right hand hath taken up.” This Christ
hath said in us: that is in the Man [2482] which He was bearing for us,
which He was offering for us, He hath said this. The Church also said this
in Christ, she saith it in her Head: for she too hath suffered here great
persecutions, and by her individual members even now she suffereth.…
14. “But themselves in vain have sought my soul. They shall go unto the
lower places of the earth” (ver. 9). Earth they were unwilling to lose, when
they crucified Christ: into the lower places of the earth they have gone.
What are the lower places of the earth? Earthly lusts. Better it is to walk
upon earth, than by lust to go under earth. For every one that in prejudice
of his salvation desireth earthly things, is under the earth: because earth
he hath put before him, earth upon himself he hath put, and himself beneath
he hath laid. They therefore fearing to lose earth, said what of the Lord
Jesus Christ, when they saw great multitudes go after Him, forasmuch as He
was doing wonderful things? “If we shall have let Him go alive, there will
come the Romans, and will take away from us both place and nation.” [2483]
They feared to lose earth, and they went under the earth: there befell them
even what they feared. For they willed to kill Christ, that they might not
lose earth; and earth they therefore lost, because Christ they slew. For
when Christ had been slain, because the Lord Himself had said to them, “The
kingdom shall be taken from you, and shall be given up to a nation doing
righteousness:” [2484] there followed them great calamities of persecutions:
there conquered them Roman emperors, and kings of the nations: they were
shut out from that very place where they crucified Christ, and now that
place is full of Christian praisers: it hath no Jew, it hath been cleared of
the enemies of Christ, it hath been fulfilled with the praisers of Christ.
Behold, they have lost at the hands of the Romans the place, because Christ
they slew, who to this end slew, that they might not lose the place at the
hands of the Romans. Therefore, “They shall enter into the lower places of
the earth.”
15. “They shall be delivered unto the hands of the sword” (ver. 10). In
truth, thus it hath visibly befallen them, they have been taken by storm by
enemies breaking in. “Portions of foxes they shall be.” Foxes he calleth the
kings of the world, that then were when Judæa was conquered. Hear in order
that ye may know and perceive, that those he calleth foxes. Herod the king
the Lord Himself hath called a fox. “Go ye,” He saith, “and tell that
fox.” [2485] See and observe, my brethren: Christ as King they would not
have, and portions of foxes they have been made. For when Pilate the deputy
governor in Judæa slew Christ at the voices of the Jews, he said to the same
Jews, “Your King shall I crucify?” [2486] Because He was called King of the
Jews, and He was the true King. And they rejecting Christ said, “We have no
king but Cæsar.” They rejected a Lamb, chose a fox: deservedly portions of
foxes they were made.
16. “The King in truth,” [2487] is so written, because they chose a fox, a
King in truth they would not have. “The King in truth:” that is, the true
King, to whom the title was inscribed, when He suffered. For Pilate set this
title inscribed over His Head, “The King of the Jews,” in the Hebrew, Greek,
and Latin tongues: in order that all they that should pass by might read of
the glory of the King, and the infamy of the Jews themselves, who, rejecting
the true King, chose the fox Cæsar. “The King in truth shall rejoice in
God.” They have been made portions of foxes.…“Stopped up is the mouth of men
speaking unjust things.” No one dareth now openly to speak against Christ,
now all men fear Christ. “For stopped up is the mouth of men speaking unjust
things.” When in weakness the Lamb was, even foxes were bold against the
Lamb. There conquered the Lion of the tribe of Judah, [2488] and the foxes
were silenced.
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
Notes:
Sermon to the Commonalty.
[2460] 1 Sam. xxi. 7. See on “the Edomite,” p. 199.
[2461] Matt. v. 6.
[2462] Eph. v. 14.
[2463] Ps. xiii. 3.
[2464] Quanta.
[2465] Luke xx. 36.
[2466] [The same as to identity (i.e., of continuity), not the same as to
material. But see Tertullian, vol. iii. 562.—C.]
[2467] Ed. Ben. refers to Tertullian, Apol. xxiii., where Virgo Cœlestis is
represented as “promising rain,” and St. Augustin, De Civ. Dei, ii. 4, where
the same goddess is mentioned as worshipped together with Berecynthia, the
mother of the gods. [An intimation of the lingerings of heathenism, now
Paganism, the religion of Rustics. But how easily this Virgo Cœlestis became
a new idolatry among Christians is here illustrated. Compare Coleridge’s
paraphrase of Schiller, “The fair humanities of old religion,” etc.—C.]
[2468] Oxf. mss. Deo.
[2469] John xiv. 6.
[2470] John iv. 14.
[2471] Gal. iv. 9.
[2472] John x. 30.
[2473] The construction here seems imperfect.
[2474] Lat. “above.”
[2475] 1 Tim. ii. 8.
[2476] John xiv. 6.
[2477] 1 Thess. v. 7, 8.
[2478] Rom. xiii. 13.
[2479] 1 Thess. v. 5.
[2480] Matt. xxiii. 37.
[2481] Matt. xvi. 22, 23.
[2482] He does not mean by this phrase to attribute a twofold personality to
our Lord, as appears from his Retractations on Ps. i. 1.
[2483] John xi. 48.
[2484] Matt. xxi. 43.
[2485] Luke xiii. 32.
[2486] John xix. 15.
[2487] Rex vero.
[2488] Rev. v. 5.
Finis
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