Augustine on Psalm CXV
Trinity 19 Home
O GOD, forasmuch as without thee we are not able to please thee; Mercifully grant that thy Holy Spirit may in all things direct and rule our hearts; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Source: Sacramentary of Bishop Gelasius of Rome [494]. Cranmer in 1549 reversed the order of mercy and our inability. [Barbee and Zahl] One is reminded again of our Lord's promise send the Comforter to direct us, and of Isaiah 64:6 we are all as an unclean thing... our righteousness is as a filthy rag.... We, of and by ourselves, are not worthy to stand before God - not even to see him, until we are perfected by his grace. For he is "of purer eyes to behold iniquity" [Hab 1:13]
Ezra vi. 1, Ephesians iv. 17 & St. Matthew ix. 1
Psalm cxiv, cxv | cvii
Homily of Augustine on Psalm CXV
but unto Thy Name give the praise"
Ezra vi. 1
Then Darius the king made a decree, and search was made in the house of the rolls, where the treasures were laid up in Babylon. And there was found at Achmetha, in the palace that is in the province of the Medes, a roll, and therein was a record thus written: In the first year of Cyrus the king the same Cyrus the king made a decree concerning the house of God at Jerusalem, Let the house be builded, the place where they offered sacrifices, and let the foundations thereof be strongly laid; the height thereof threescore cubits, and the breadth thereof threescore cubits; With three rows of great stones, and a row of new timber: and let the expenses be given out of the king's house: And also let the golden and silver vessels of the house of God, which Nebuchadnezzar took forth out of the temple which is at Jerusalem, and brought unto Babylon, be restored, and brought again unto the temple which is at Jerusalem, every one to his place, and place them in the house of God. Now therefore, Tatnai, governor beyond the river, Shetharboznai, and your companions the Apharsachites, which are beyond the river, be ye far from thence: Let the work of this house of God alone; let the governor of the Jews and the elders of the Jews build this house of God in his place. Moreover I make a decree what ye shall do to the elders of these Jews for the building of this house of God: that of the king's goods, even of the tribute beyond the river, forthwith expenses be given unto these men, that they be not hindered.
Psalm 115
Ephesians iv. 17
THIS I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that yet henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind, having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart: who being past feeling have given themselves over unto lasciviousness, to work all uncleanness with greediness. But ye have not so learned Christ; if so be that ye have heard him, and have been taught by him, as the truth is in Jesus: that ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts; and be renewed in the spirit of your mind; and that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness. Wherefore putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbour: for we are members one of another. Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath: neither give place to the devil. Let him that stole steal no more: but rather let him labour, working with his hands the thing which is good, that he may have to give to him that needeth. Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers. And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption. Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice: and be ye kind one to another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you.
St. Matthew ix. 1
JESUS entered into a ship, and passed over, and came into his own city. And, behold, they brought to him a man sick of the palsy, lying on a bed: and Jesus, seeing their faith, said unto the sick of the palsy; Son, be of good cheer; thy sins be forgiven thee. And, behold, certain of the scribes said within themselves, This man blasphemeth. And Jesus knowing their thoughts said, Wherefore think ye evil in your hearts? For whether is easier, to say, Thy sins be forgiven thee; or to say, Arise, and walk? But that ye may know that the Son of man hath power on earth to forgive sins, (then saith he to the sick of the palsy,) Arise, take up thy bed, and go unto thine house. And he arose, and departed to his house. But when the multitudes saw it, they marvelled, and glorified God, which had given such power unto men.
Scripture from 1928 Book of Common Prayer and KJV
Barbee and Zahl: The Collects of Thomas Cranmer
Augustine
Psalm CXV
1. "Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but unto Thy Name give the
praise" (ver. 1). For that grace of the water that gushed from the rock
("now that rock was Christ" [5058] ), was not given on the score of
works that had gone before, but of His mercy "that justifieth the
ungodly." [5059] For "Christ died for sinners," [5060] that men might
not seek any glory of their own, but in the Lord's Name.
2. "For Thy loving mercy, and for Thy truth's sake" (ver. 2). Observe
how often these two qualities, loving mercy and truth, are joined
together in the holy Scriptures. For in His loving mercy He called
sinners, and in His truth He judgeth those who when called refused to
come. "That the heathen may not say, Where is now their God?" For at
the last, His loving mercy and truth will shine forth, when "the sign
of the Son of man shall appear in heaven, and then shall all tribes of
the earth cry woe;" [5061] nor shall they then say, "Where is their
God?" when He is no longer preached unto them to be believed in, but
displayed before them to be trembled at.
3. "As for our God, He is in heaven above" (ver. 3). Not in heaven,
where they see the sun and moon, works of God which they adore, but "in
heaven above," which overpasseth all heavenly and earthly bodies. Nor
is our God in heaven in such a sense, as to dread a fall that should
deprive Him of His throne, if heaven were withdrawn from under Him. "In
heaven and earth He hath made whatsoever pleased Him." Nor doth He
stand in need of His own works, as if He had place in them where He
might abide; but endureth in His own eternity, wherein He abideth and
hath done whatsoever pleased Him, both in heaven and earth; for they
did not support Him, as a condition of their being created by Him:
since, unless they had been created, they could not have supported Him.
Therefore, in whatsoever He Himself dwelleth, He, so to speak,
containeth this as in need of Himself, He is not contained by this as
if He needed it. Or it may be thus understood: "In heaven and in earth
He hath done whatsoever pleased Him," whether among the higher or the
lower orders of His people, He hath made His grace His free gift, that
no man may boast in the merits of his own works....
4. "Their idols," he saith, "are silver and gold, even the work of
men's hands" (ver. 4). That is, although we cannot display our God to
your carnal eyes, whom ye ought to recognise through his works; yet be
not seduced by your vain pretences, because ye can point with the
finger to, the objects of your worship. For it were much worthier for
you not to have what to point to, than that your hearts' blindness
should be displayed in what is exhibited to these eyes by you: for what
do ye exhibit, save gold and silver? They have indeed both bronze, and
wood, and earthenware idols, and of different materials of this
description; but the Holy Spirit preferred mentioning the more precious
material, because when every man hath blushed for that which he sets
more by, he is much more easily turned away from the worship of meaner
objects. For it is said in another passage of Scripture concerning the
worshippers of images, "Saying to a stock, Thou art my father; and to a
stone, Thou hast brought me forth." [5062] But lest that man who
speaketh thus not to a stone or stock, but to gold and silver, seem
wiser to himself; let him look this way, let him turn hitherwards the
ear of his heart: "The idols of the Gentiles are gold and silver."
Nothing mean and contemptible is here mentioned: and indeed to that
mind which is not earth, both gold and silver is earth, but more
beautiful and brilliant, more solid and firm. Employ not then the hands
of men, to create a false Deity out of that metal which a true God hath
created; nay, a false man, whom thou mayest worship for a true God....
5. "For they have mouths, and speak not: eyes have they, and see not"
(ver. 5). "They have ears, and hear not: noses have they, and smell
not" (ver. 6). "They have hands, and handle not; feet have they, and
walk not; neither cry they through their throat" (ver. 7). Even their
artist therefore surpasseth them, since he had the faculty of moulding
them by the motion and functions of his limbs: though thou wouldest be
ashamed to worship that artist. Even thou surpassest them, though thou
hast not made these things, since thou doest what they cannot do. Even
a beast doth excel them; for unto this it is added, "neither cry they
through their throat." For after he had said above, "they have mouths,
and speak not;" what need was there, after he had enumerated the limbs
from head to feet, to repeat what he had said of their crying through
their throat; unless, I suppose, because we perceive that what he
mentioned of the other members, was common to men and beasts? For they
see, and hear, and smell, and walk, and some, apes for instance, handle
with hands. But what he had said of the mouth, is peculiar to men:
since beasts do not speak. But that no one might refer what hath been
said to the works of human members alone, and prefer men only to the
gods of the heathen; after all this he added these words, "neither cry
they through their throat:" which again is common to men and
cattle....How much better then do mice and serpents, and other animals
of like sort, judge of the idols of the heathen, so to speak, for they
regard not the human figure in them when they see not the human life.
For this reason they usually build nests in them, and unless they are
deterred by human movements, they seek for themselves no safer
habitations. A man then moveth himself, that he may frighten away a
living beast from his own god; and yet worshippeth that god who cannot
move himself, as if he were powerful, from whom he drove away one
better than the object of his worship....Even the dead surpasseth a
deity who neither liveth nor hath lived....
6. But they seem to themselves to have a purer religion, who say, I
neither worship an idol, nor a devil; but in the bodily image I behold
an emblem [5063] of that which I am bound to worship....They presume to
reply, that they worship not the bodies themselves, but the deities
which preside over the government of them. One sentence of the Apostle,
therefore, testifieth to their punishment and condemnation; "Who," he
saith, "have changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and
served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever."
[5064] For in the former part of this sentence he condemned idols; in
the latter, the account they give of their idols: for by designating
images wrought by an artificer by the names of the works of God's
creation, they change the truth of God into a lie; while, by
considering these works themselves as deities, and worshipping them as
such, they serve the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for
ever....
7. But, it will be said, we also have very many instruments and vessels
made of materials or metal of this description for the purpose of
celebrating the Sacraments, which being consecrated by these
ministrations are called holy, in honour of Him who is thus worshipped
for our salvation: and what indeed are these very instruments or
vessels, but the work of men's hands? But have they mouth, and yet
speak not? have they eyes, and see not? do we pray unto them, because
through them we pray to God? This is the chief cause of this insane
profanity, that the figure resembling the living person, which induces
men to worship it, hath more influence in the minds of these miserable
persons, than the evident fact that it is not living, so that it ought
to be despised by the living. [5065]
8. The result that ensueth is that described in the next verse: "They
that make them are like unto them, and so are all such as put their
trust in them" (ver. 8). Let them therefore see with open eyes, and
worship with shut and dead understandings, idols that neither see nor
live. "But the house of Israel hath hoped in the Lord" (ver. 9). "For
hope that is seen is not hope; for what a man seeth, why doth he yet
hope for? But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience
wait for it." [5066] But that this patience may endure to the end, "He
is their helper and defender." Do perhaps spiritual persons (by whom
carnal minds are built up in "the spirit of meekness," [5067] because
they pray as higher for lower minds) already see, and is that already
to them reality which to the lower is hope? It is not so. For even "the
house of Aaron hath hope in the Lord" (ver. 10). Therefore, that they
also may stretch forward perseveringly towards those things which are
before them, and may run perseveringly, until they may apprehend that
for which they are apprehended, [5068] and may know even as they are
known, [5069] "He is their helper and defender." For both "fear the
Lord, and have hoped in the Lord: He is their helper and defender"
(ver. 11).
9. For we do not by our deservings prevent the mercy of God; but, "The
Lord hath been mindful of us, and hath blessed us. He hath blessed the
house of Israel, He hath blessed the house of Aaron" (ver. 12). But in
blessing both of these, "He hath blessed all that fear the Lord" (ver.
13). Dost thou ask, who are meant by both of these? He answereth, "both
small and great." That is, the house of Israel with the house of Aaron,
those who among that nation believed in Jesus the Saviour....For in the
character of those who out of that nation believed, it is said, "Except
the Lord of Sabaoth had left us a seed, we had been as Sodoma, and been
made like unto Gomorrha." [5070] Seed, because when it has been
scattered over the earth, it multiplied.
10. For the great ones, of the house of Aaron, have said, "May the Lord
increase you more and more, you and your children" (ver. 14). And thus
it hath happened. For children that have been raised even from the
stones have flocked unto Abraham: [5071] sheep which were not of this
fold, have flocked unto him, that there might be one flock, and one
shepherd; [5072] the faith of all nations was added, and the number
grew, not only of wise priests, but of obedient peoples; the Lord
increasing not only their fathers more and more, who in Christ might
show the way to the rest who should imitate them, but also their
children, who should follow their fathers' pious footsteps.
11. Therefore the Prophet saith unto these great and small, the
mountains and the little hills, the rams and the young sheep, what
followeth: "Ye are the blessed of the Lord, who made heaven and earth"
(ver. 15). As if he should say, Ye are the blessed of the Lord, who
made the heaven in the great, earth in the small: not this visible
heaven, studded with luminaries which are objects to these eyes. For
"The heaven of heavens is the Lord's" (ver. 16); who hath elevated the
minds of some saints to such a height, that they became teachable by no
man, but by God Himself; in comparison of which heaven, whatever is
discerned with carnal eyes is to be called earth; which "He hath given
to the children of men;" that when it is contemplated, whether in that
region which illumineth above, as that which is called heaven, or in
that which is illumined beneath, which is properly called earth (since
in comparison with that which is called heaven of heaven, the whole, as
we have said, is earth;) the whole therefore of this earth He hath
given to the children of men, that by the consideration of it, as far
as they can, they may conceive of the Creator, whom with their yet weak
hearts they cannot see without that aid to their conception.
12. ...But nevertheless since they derive the truth and richness of
wisdom, not from man nor through man, but through God Himself, they
have received little ones who shall be heaven, that they may know that
they are heaven of heaven; as yet however earth, unto which they say,
"I have planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase." [5073]
For to those very sons of men whom He made heaven, He who knoweth how
to provide for the earth through heaven, hath given earth upon which
they work. May they therefore abide, heaven and earth, in their God,
who made them, and let them live from Him, confessing unto Him, and
praising Him; for if they choose to live from themselves, they shall
die, as it is written, "From the dead, as though he were not,
confession ceaseth." [5074] But, "The dead praise not Thee, O Lord,
neither all they that go down into silence" (ver. 17). For the
Scripture in another passage proclaimeth, "The sinner, when he cometh
into the abyss of wickednesses, scorneth." [5075] "But we, who live,
will praise the Lord, from this time forth for evermore" (ver. 18).
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
[5058] 1 Cor. x. 4.
[5059] Rom. iv. 5.
[5060] Rom. v. 6. [In Sept. and Vulg. this Psalm is joined with Ps.
cxiv.--C.]
[5061] Matt. xxiv. 30.
[5062] Jer. ii. 27.
[5063] [The pretext of all image-worship.--C.]
[5064] Rom. i. 25.
[5065] [Compare the gross misstatements and bad reasoning of the Trent
Catechism. A.N.F. vol. iii. p. 76.--C.]
[5066] Rom. viii. 24, 25.
[5067] Gal. vi. 1.
[5068] Philip. iii. 12-14.
[5069] 1 Cor. xiii. 12.
[5070] Rom. ix. 29.
[5071] Matt. iii. 9.
[5072] John x. 1-16, 28, 29.
[5073] 1 Cor. iii. 6.
[5074] Ecclus. xvii. 26.
[5075] Prov. xviii. 3, LXX.
Finis