The Sunday called Septuagesima
the third Sunday before Lent
Augustine on Psalm VIII
Septuagesima Home
O LORD, we beseech thee favourably to hear the prayers of thy people; that we which are justly punished for our offences, may be mercifully delivered by thy goodness, for the glory of thy Name; through Jesus Christ our Saviour, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Ghost ever, one God, world without end. Amen.
Source: Sacramentary of Bishop Gregory of Rome [600 AD]. The collect shows the great stress that Gregory knew from all sorts of calamities and threats - often perceived directly as a result of the sin of the nation. Note the penitent tone of the collect in this somber season. This pre-Lenten season of three Sundays was instituted in about 700. Septuagesima is the pre-Lent Sunday approximately 70 days before Easter.
Joshua i:1 Psalms 8, 148 | 104; 1 Corinthians ix. 24 & St. Matthew xx. 1
Is it not lawful for me to do what will with mine own?
READINGS
Joshua i. 1
Now after the death of Moses the servant of the LORD it came to
pass, that the LORD spake unto Joshua the son of Nun, Moses' minister,
saying, Moses my servant is dead; now therefore arise, go over
this Jordan, thou, and all this people, unto the land which I do give
to them, even to the children of Israel.
Every place that the sole of your foot shall tread upon, that have
I given unto you, as I said unto Moses.
From the wilderness and this Lebanon even unto the great river,
the river Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites, and unto the great
sea toward the going down of the sun, shall be your coast.
There shall not any man be able to stand before thee all the days
of thy life: as I was with Moses, so I will be with thee: I will not
fail thee, nor forsake thee.
Be strong and of a good courage: for unto this people shalt thou
divide for an inheritance the land, which I sware unto their fathers
to give them. Only be thou strong and very courageous, that thou mayest observe to do according to all the law, which Moses my servant commanded thee:
turn not from it to the right hand or to the left, that thou mayest
prosper withersoever thou goest.
This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou
shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do
according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy
way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success.
Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage; be not
afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the LORD thy God is with thee
whithersoever thou goest.
Psalms for Morning and Evening 8, 148 | 104
1 Corinthians ix. 24
KNOW ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize? So run, that ye may obtain. And every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible. I therefore so run, not as uncertainly; so fight I, not as one that beateth the air: but I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection; lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway.
St. Matthew xx. 1
THE kingdom of heaven is like unto a man that is an householder, which went out early in the morning to hire labourers into his vineyard. And when he had agreed with the labourers for a penny a day, he sent them into his vineyard. And he went out about the third hour, and saw others standing idle in the market-place, and said unto them; Go ye also into the vineyard, and whatsoever is right I will give you. And they went their way. Again he went out about the sixth and ninth hour, and did likewise. And about the eleventh hour he went out, and found others standing idle, and saith unto them, Why stand ye here all the day idle? They say unto him, Because no man hath hired us. He saith unto them, Go ye also into the vineyard; and whatsoever is right, that shall ye receive. So when even was come, the lord of the vineyard saith unto his steward, Call the labourers, and give them their hire, beginning from the last unto the first. And when they came that were hired about the eleventh hour, they received every man a penny. But when the first came, they supposed that they should have received more; and they likewise received every man a penny. And when they had received it, they murmured against the goodman of the house, saying, These last have wrought but one hour, and thou hast made them equal unto us, which have borne the burden and heat of the day. But he answered one of them, and said, Friend, I do thee no wrong: didst not thou agree with me for a penny? Take that thine is, and go thy way: I will give unto this last, even as unto thee. Is it not lawful for me to do what will with mine own? Is thine eye evil, because I am good? So the last shall be first, and the first last: for many be called, but few chosen.
Scripture from 1928 Book of Common Praye
The Collects of Thomas Cranmer
Augustine
Psalm VIII
To the end, for the wine-presses, a psalm of David himself. [277]
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." [278] 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. [279] 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. [280] 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, [281] 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." [282] 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?" [283] 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;" [284] 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." [285]
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, [286]
and promise certain knowledge: [287] 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;" [288] and saying by His own mouth, "Blessed are they that
have not seen, and shall believe." [289] "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." [290] "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? [291] 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. [292] 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." [293] And what is written, "The heavens shall be rolled up as a
book." [294] 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:" [295] 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, [296] 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. [297] 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. [298] 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." [299]
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, [300] should be rather called sons of men;
for the former again is called the old man [301] 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; [302] 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;" [303] and, "The light of Thy countenance hath
been stamped upon us, O Lord." [304] 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." [305] 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?" [306]
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." [307] 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. [308] 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
[309] 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? [310] For if we
take the one lost sheep to be the human soul in Adam, since Eve even
was made out of his side, [311] 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." [312] 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. [313]
13. "Yea moreover," saith he, "the beasts of the field." [314] 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: [315] 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:" [316] and
in a field is Abel slain. [317] 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" [318] ) 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." [319] 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?" [320] 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." [321] 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:" [322] by vain boasting,
where, when stationed on a mountain, all the kingdoms of this earth are
shown Him, and promised if He would worship: [323] 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. [324]
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." [325] 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
Notes:
__________________________________________________________________
See on Ps. lxxxiv. [The octave of Ps. i., and understood by the
Fathers of the ascension of Christ. It was probably sung at the Jewish
Feast of Tabernacles.--C.]
[278] Luke iii. 17.
[279] Numb. xiii. 23.
[280] John xix. 29.
[281] Matt. xxvi. 29.
[282] 1 Cor. iii. 1, 2.
[283] Matt. xxi. 16.
[284] 1 Cor. ii. 6.
[285] Eph. iii. 17-19.
[286] 1 Cor. ii. 6-10.
[287] See "On Profit of Believing."
[288] Isa. vi. 9; Acts xiii. 27-41.
[289] John xx. 29.
[290] Matt. xi. 25.
[291] See on Ps. cii., and St. Greg. on Job, Intr. S: 15.
[292] Exod. xxxi. 18, xxxiv. 28; Deut. ix. 10. [The "arm of the Lord"
is understood by the Fathers of the Son; so also the "right hand of the
Lord." The "finger" (proceeding from head and hand) is understood of
the Holy Spirit. So the Latin hymn, "Dextrae Dei tu Digitus."--C.]
[293] Exod. viii. 19.
[294] Isa. xxxiv. 4. See Rev. vi. 14.
[295] Ps. xviii. 9.
[296] Al. step of faith.
[297] Oxford mss. "and establish them in it," for "up," etc.
[298] [Here is intimated Augustin's idea of the Catholic Church, in
which individual national churches hold their own autonomies.--C.]
[299] Ps. xi. 2.
[300] 1 Cor. xv. 49.
[301] Oxford mss. "called man, and the old man."
[302] Eph. iv. 22, 24.
[303] Ps. cxix. 155.
[304] Ps. iv. 6.
[305] Ps. xxxvi. 6-10.
[306] 1 Cor. iii. 1, 2, 3.
[307] 1 Cor. xv. 27.
[308] Heb. ii. 8.
[309] Primates.
[310] Matt. xviii. 12; Luke xv. 4.
[311] Gen. ii. 21, 22.
[312] 1 Cor. ix. 9; 1 Tim. v. 18.
[313] [See p. 27, and p. 30, note 1, supra.--C.]
[314] Campi.
[315] See on title. Matt. iii. 12, xiii. 47; Gen. vii. 8.
[316] Matt. vii. 13.
[317] Gen. iv. 8.
[318] Ps. xxxvi. 6.
[319] Ps. lxxiii. 9.
[320] Ps. xii. 4.
[321] 1 John ii. 15, 16.
[322] Matt. iv. 3.
[323] Matt. iv. 8, 9.
[324] Matt. iv. 6.
[325] Luke iv. 13.
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