Augustine on Psalm CIV
Augustine on Psalm LXX
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]
Job xxiv. 1, Ephesians iv. 17 & St. Matthew ix. 1
Psalm LXX
Homily
Let them be confounded and fear that seek my soul"
Psalm LXX
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 LXX
Psalm LXX. [3027]
1. Thanks to the "Corn of wheat," [3028] because He willed to die and
to be multiplied: thanks to the only Son of God, our Lord and Saviour
Jesus Christ, who disdained not to undergo our death, in order that He
might make us worthy of His life. Behold Him that was single until He
went hence; as He said in another Psalm, "Single I am until I go
hence;" [3029] for He was a single corn of wheat in such sort as that
He had in Himself a great fruitfulness of increase; in how many corns
imitating the Passion of Him we exult, when we celebrate the nativities
of the Martyrs! Many therefore members of Him, under one Head our
Saviour Himself, being bound together in the bond of love and peace (as
ye judge it fit that ye know, for ye have often heard), are one man:
and of the same, as of one man, the voice is ofttimes heard, in the
Psalms, and thus one crieth as though it were all, because all in one
are one....
2. There is then in this Psalm the voice of men troubled, and so indeed
of Martyrs amid sufferings in peril, but relying on their own Head. Let
us hear them, and speak with them out of sympathy of heart, though it
be not with similarity of suffering. For they are already crowned, we
are still in peril: not that such sort of persecutions do vex us as
have vexed them, but worse perchance in the midsts of all kinds of so
great scandals. For our own times do more abound in that woe, which the
Lord cried: "Woe to the world because of scandals." [3030] And,
"Because iniquity hath abounded, the love of man shall wax cold."
[3031] For not even that holy Lot at Sodom suffered corporal
persecution from any one, or had it been told him that he should not
dwell there: [3032] the persecution of him were the evil doings of the
Sodomites. Now then that Christ sitteth in Heaven, now that He is
glorified, now that necks of kings are made subject to His yoke, and
their brows placed beneath His sign, now that not any one remaineth to
dare openly to trample upon Christians, still, however, we groan amid
instruments and singers, still those enemies of the Martyrs, because
with words and steel they have no power, with their own wantonness do
persecute them. And O that we were sorrowing for Heathens alone: it
would be some sort of comfort, to wait for those that not yet have been
signed with the Cross of Christ; when they should be signed, and when,
by His authority attached, they should cease to be mad. We see besides
men wearing on their brow the sign of Him, at the same time on that
same brow wearing the shamelessness of wantonness, and on the days and
celebrations of the Martyrs not exulting but insulting. And amid these
things we groan, and this is our persecution, if there is in us the
love which saith, "Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is scandalized,
and I burn not?" [3033] Not any servant of God, then, is without
persecution: and that is a true saying which the Apostle saith, "But
even all men that will to live godly in Christ, shall suffer
persecution." [3034] ...
3. "O God, to my aid make speed" (ver. 1). For need we have for an
everlasting aid in this world. But when have we not? Now however being
in tribulation, let us especially say, "O God, to my aid make speed."
"Let them be confounded and fear that seek my soul." Christ is
speaking: whether Head speak or whether Body speak; He is speaking that
hath said, "Why persecutest thou Me?" [3035] He is speaking that hath
said, "Inasmuch as ye have done it to one of the least of Mine, to Me
ye have done it." [3036] The voice then of this Man is known to be of
the whole man, of Head and of Body: that need not often be mentioned,
because it is known. "Be they confounded," he saith, "and fear that
seek my soul." In another Psalm He saith, "I was looking unto the right
and saw, and there was not one that would know Me: flight hath perished
from Me, and there is not one to seek out My soul." [3037] There of
persecutors He saith, that there was not one to seek out His soul: but
here, "Let them be confounded and fear that seek My soul."...And where
is that which thou hast heard from thy Lord, "Love ye your enemies, do
good to them that hate you, and pray for them that persecute you"?
[3038] Behold thou sufferest persecution, and cursest them from whom
thou sufferest: how dost thou imitate the Passions of thy Lord that
have gone before, hanging on the cross and saying, "Father, forgive
them, for they know not what they do." [3039] To persons saying such
things the Martyr replieth and saith, thou hast set before me the Lord,
saying, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do:"
understand thou my voice also, in order that it may be thine too: for
what have I said concerning mine enemies? "Let them be confounded and
fear." Already such vengeance hath been taken on the enemies of the
Martyrs. That Saul that persecuted Stephen, he was confounded and
feared. He was breathing out slaughters, [3040] he was seeking some to
drag and slay: a voice having been heard from above, "Saul, Saul, why
persecutest thou Me," [3041] he was confounded and laid low, and he was
raised up to obedience, that had been inflamed unto persecuting. This
then the Martyrs desire for their enemies, "Let them be confounded and
fear." For so long as they are not confounded and fear, they must needs
defend their actions: glorious they think themselves, because they
hold, because they bind, because they scourge, because they kill,
because they dance, because they insult, and because of all these
doings they be some time confounded and fear. [3042] For if they be
confounded, they will also be converted: because converted they cannot
be, unless they shall have been confounded and shall have feared. Let
us then wish these things to our enemies, let us wish them without
fear. Behold I have said, and let me have said it with you, may all
that still dance and sing and insult the Martyrs "be confounded and
fear:" at last within these walls confounded may they beat their
breasts!
4. "Let them be turned away backward and blush that think evil things
to me" (ver. 2). At first there was the assault of them persecuting,
now there hath remained the malice of them thinking. In fact, there are
in the Church distinct seasons of persecutions following one another.
[3043] There was made an assault on the Church when kings were
persecuting: and because kings had been foretold as to persecute and as
to believe, when one had been fulfilled the other was to follow. There
came to pass also that which was consequent; kings believed, peace was
given to the Church, the Church began to be set in the highest place of
dignity, even on this earth, even in this life: but there is not
wanting the roar of persecutors, they have turned their assaults into
thoughts. In these thoughts, as in a bottomless pit, the devil hath
been bound, [3044] he roareth and breaketh not forth. For it hath been
said concerning these times of the Church, "The sinner shall see, and
shall be angry." [3045] And shall do what? That which he did at first?
Drag, bind, smite? He doeth not this. What then? "With his teeth he
shall gnash, and shall pine away." And with these men the Martyr is, as
it were, angry, and yet for these men the Martyr prayeth. For in like
manner as he hath wished well to those men concerning whom he hath
said, "Let them be confounded and fear that seek my soul:" [3046] so
also now, "Let them be turned backward, and blush, that think evil
things to me." Wherefore? In order that they may not go before, but
follow. For he that censureth the Christian religion, and on his own
system willeth to live, willeth as it were to go before Christ, as
though He indeed had erred and had been weak and infirm, because He
either willed to suffer or could suffer in the hands of the Jews; but
that he is a clever man for guarding against all these things; in
shunning death, even in basely lying to escape death, and slaying his
soul that he may live in body, he thinketh himself a man of singular
and prudent measures. He goeth before in censuring Christ, in a manner
he outstrippeth Christ: let him believe in Christ, and follow Christ.
For that which had been desired but now for persecutors thinking evil
things, the same the Lord Himself said to Peter. Now in a certain place
Peter willed to go before the Lord....A little before, "Blessed art
thou, Simon Bar-jona, for flesh and blood hath not revealed it to thee,
but My Father which is in Heaven:" now in a moment, "Go back behind Me,
Satan." [3047] What is, "Go back behind Me"? Follow Me. Thou willest to
go before Me, thou willest to give Me counsel, it is better that thou
follow My counsel: this is, "go back," go back behind Me. He is
silencing one outstripping, in order that he may go backward; and He is
calling him Satan, because he willeth to go before the Lord. A little
before, "blessed;" now, "Satan." Whence a little before, "blessed"?
Because, "to thee," He saith, "flesh and blood hath not revealed it,
but My Father which is in Heaven." Whence now, "Satan"? Because "thou
savourest not," He saith, "the things which are of God, but the things
which are of men." Let us then that would duly celebrate the nativities
of the Martyrs, long for the imitation of the Martyrs; let us not wish
to go before the Martyrs, and think ourselves to be of better
understanding than they, because we shun sufferings in behalf of
righteousness and faith which they shunned not. Therefore be they that
think evil things, and in wantonness feed their hearts, "turned
backward and blush." Let them hear from the Apostle afterwards saying,
"But what fruit had ye some time in those things at which ye now
blush?"
5. What followeth? "Let them be turned away forthwith blushing, that
say to me, Well, well" (ver. 3). Two are the kinds of persecutors,
revilers and flatterers. The tongue of the flatterer doth more
persecute than the hand of the slayer: for this also the Scripture hath
called a furnace. Truly when the Scripture was speaking of persecution,
it said, "Like gold in a furnace it hath proved them" (speaking of
Martyrs being slain), "and as the holocaust's victim it hath received
them." [3048] Hear how even the tongue of flatterers is of such sort:
"The proving," he saith, "of silver and of gold is fire; but a man is
proved by the tongue of men praising him." [3049] That is fire, this
also is fire: out of both thou oughtest to go forth safe. The censurer
hath broken thee, thou hast been broken in the furnace like an earthen
vessel. The Word hath moulded thee, and there hath come the trial of
tribulation: that which hath been formed, must needs be seasoned; if it
hath been well moulded, there hath come the fire to strengthen. Whence
He said in the Passion, "Dried up like a potsherd hath been My virtue."
[3050] For Passion and the furnace of tribulation had made Him
stronger....
6. And what cometh to pass when they are all turned back and blush,
whether it be they that seek my soul, or they that think evil things to
me, or they that with perverse and feigned benevolence with tongue
would soften the stroke which they inflict, when they shall have been
themselves turned away and confounded; there shall come to pass what?
"Let them exult and be joyous in Thee:" not in me, not in this man or
in that man; but in whom they have been made light that were darkness.
"Let them exult and be joyous in Thee, all that seek Thee" (ver. 4).
One thing it is to seek God, another thing to seek man. "Let them be
joyous that seek Thee." They shall not be joyous then that seek
themselves, [3051] whom Thou hast first sought before they sought Thee.
Not yet did that sheep seek the Shepherd, it had strayed from the
flock, and He went down to it; [3052] He sought it, and carried it back
upon His shoulders. Will He despise thee, O sheep, seeking Him, who
hath first sought thee despising Him and not seeking Him? Now then
begin thou to seek Him that first hath sought thee, and hath carried
thee back on His shoulders. Do thou that which He speaketh of, "They
that are My sheep hear My voice, and follow Me." [3053] If then thou
seekest Him that first hath sought thee, and hast become a sheep of
His, and thou hearest the voice of thy Shepherd, and followest Him; see
what He showeth to thee of Himself, what of His Body, in order that as
to Himself thou mayest not err, as to the Church thou mayest not err,
that no one may say to thee, that is Christ which is not Christ, or
that is the Church which is not the Church. For many men have said that
Christ had no flesh, and that Christ hath not risen in His Body: do not
thou follow the voices of them. Hear thou the voice of Himself the
Shepherd, that was clothed with flesh, in order that He might seek lost
flesh. He hath risen again, and He saith, "Handle ye and see; for a
spirit hath not flesh and bones as ye see Me have." [3054] He showeth
Himself to thee, the voice of Him follow thou. He showeth also the
Church, that no one may deceive thee by the name of Church. "It
behoved," He saith, "Christ to suffer, and to rise again from the dead
the third day, and that there should be preached repentance and
remission of sins through all nations, beginning with Jerusalem."
[3055] Thou hast the voice of Thy Shepherd, do not thou follow the
voice of strangers: [3056] and a thief thou shalt not fear, if thou
shalt have followed the voice of the Shepherd. But how shalt thou
follow? If thou shalt neither have said to any man, as if it were by
his own merit, Well, well: nor shalt have heard the same with joy, so
that thy head be not made fat with the oil of a sinner. [3057] "Let all
them exult and be joyous in Thee, that seek Thee; and let them
say"--let them say what, that exult? "Be the Lord alway magnified!" Let
all them say this, that exult and seek Thee. What? "Be the Lord alway
magnified; yea, they that love Thy salvation." Not only, "Be the Lord
magnified;" but also, "alway."...A sinner thou art, be He magnified in
order that He may call; thou confessest, be He magnified in order that
He may forgive: now thou livest justly, be He magnified in order that
He may direct: thou perseverest even unto the end, be He magnified in
order that He may glorify. "Be the Lord," then, "alway magnified; yea,
they love His saving health." For from Him they have salvation, not
from themselves. The saving health of the Lord our God, is the Saviour
our Lord Jesus Christ: whosoever loveth the Saviour, confesseth himself
to have been made whole; whosoever confesseth himself to have been made
whole, confesseth himself to have been sick. [3058] Not their own
saving health, as if they could save themselves of themselves: not as
it were the saving health of a man, as though by him they could be
saved. "Do not," he saith, "confide in princes, and in the sons of men,
in whom there is no safety." [3059] Why so? "Of the Lord is safety, and
upon Thy people is Thy blessing." [3060]
7. Behold, "Be the Lord magnified:" wilt thou never, wilt thou nowhere?
In Him was something, in me nothing: but if in Him is whatsoever I am,
be He, not I. But thou then what? "But I am needy and poor" (ver. 5).
He is rich, He abounding, He needing nothing. Behold my light, behold
whence I am illumined; for I cry, "Thou shalt illumine my candle, O
Lord." [3061] What then of thee? "But I am needy and poor." I am like
an orphan, my soul is like a widow destitute and desolate: help I seek,
alway mine infirmity I confess. There have been forgiven me my sins,
now I have begun to follow the commandments of God: still, however, I
am needy and poor. Why still needy and poor? Because "I see another law
in my members fighting against the law of my mind." [3062] Why needy
and poor? Because, "blessed are they that hunger and thirst after
righteousness." [3063] Still I hunger, still I thirst: my fulness hath
been put off, not taken away. "O God, aid Thou me." Most suitably also
Lazarus is said to be interpreted, "one aided:" that needy and poor
man, that was transported into the bosom of Abraham; [3064] and beareth
the type of the Church, which ought alway to confess that she hath need
of aid. This is true, this is godly. "I have said to the Lord, My God
Thou art." Why? "For my goods Thou needest not." [3065] He needeth not
us, we need Him: therefore He is truly Lord. For thou art not the very
true Lord of thy servant: both are men, both needing God. But if thou
supposest thy servant to need thee, in order that thou mayest give him
bread; thou also needest thy servant, in order that he may aid thy
labours. Each one of you doth need the other. Therefore neither of you
is truly lord, and neither of you truly servant. Hear thou the true
Lord, of whom thou art the true servant: "I have said to the Lord, My
God Thou art." Why art Thou Lord? "Because my goods Thou needest not"?
But what of thee? "But I am needy and poor." Behold the needy and poor:
may God feed, may God alleviate, may God aid: "O God," he saith, "aid
Thou me."
8. "My helper and deliverer art Thou; O Lord, delay not." Thou art the
helper and deliverer: I need succour, help Thou; entangled I am,
deliver Thou. For no one will deliver from entanglings except Thee.
There stand round about us the nooses of divers cares, on this side and
on that we are torn as it were with thorns and brambles, we walk a
narrow way, perchance we have stuck fast in the brambles: let us say to
God, "Thou art my deliverer." He that showed us the narrow way, [3066]
hath taught us to follow it....
9. What is, "delay not"? Because many men say, it is a long time till
Christ comes. What then: because we say, "delay not," will He come
before He hath determined to come? What meaneth this prayer, "delay
not"? May not Thy coming seem to me to be too long delayed. For to thee
it seemeth a long time, to God it seemeth not long, to whom a thousand
years are one day, or the three hours of a watch. [3067] But if thou
shalt not have had endurance, late for thee it will be: and when to
thee it shall be late, thou wilt be diverted from Him, and wilt be like
unto those that were wearied in the desert, and hastened to ask of God
the pleasant things which He was reserving for them in the Land; and
when there were not given on their journey the pleasant things, whereby
perchance they would have been corrupted, they murmured against God,
and went back in heart unto Egypt: [3068] to that place whence in body
they had been severed, in heart they went back. Do not thou, then, so,
do not so: fear the word of the Lord, saying, "Remember Lot's wife."
[3069] She too being on the way, but now delivered from the Sodomites,
looked back; in the place where she looked back, there she remained:
she became a statue of salt, in order to season thee. For to thee she
hath been given for an example, in order that thou mayest have sense,
mayest not stop infatuated on the way. Observe her stopping and pass
on: observe her looking back, and do thou be reaching forth unto the
things before, as Paul was. [3070] What is it, not to look back. "Of
the things behind forgetful," he saith. Therefore thou followest, being
called to the heavenly reward, whereof hereafter thou wilt glory. For
the same Apostle saith, "There remaineth for me a crown of
righteousness, which in that day the Lord, the just Judge, shall render
to me." [3071]
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:
[3027] Lat. LXIX. Sermon preached at the celebration of the Martyrs.
[3028] Preface. John xii. 24.
[3029] Ps. cxli. 10, LXX.; and Vulgate nearly.
[3030] Matt. xviii. 7.
[3031] Matt. xxiv. 12.
[3032] Gen. xix. 19.
[3033] 2 Cor. xi. 29.
[3034] 2 Tim. iii. 12.
[3035] Acts ix. 4.
[3036] Matt. xxv. 40.
[3037] Ps. cxlii. 4.
[3038] Matt. v. 44.
[3039] Luke xxiii. 34.
[3040] Acts vii. 58, ix. 1.
[3041] Acts ix. 4.
[3042] Oxf. mss. "and no more defend their doings."
[3043] The reading sequere mentioned in Ben. is probably a mistake for
seque, which is found at Oxford. Or it is, "follow them in their
succession."
[3044] Vide Rev. xx. 3.
[3045] Ps. cxii. 10.
[3046] Ps. lxx. 2.
[3047] Matt. xvi. 23.
[3048] Wisd. iii. 6.
[3049] Prov. xxvii. 21.
[3050] Ps. xxii. 15.
[3051] mss. Reg. non te, "aught but Thee."
[3052] Luke xv. 4.
[3053] John x. 27.
[3054] Luke xxiv. 39.
[3055] Luke xxiv. 46, 47.
[3056] John x. 5.
[3057] Ps. cxli. 5.
[3058] Here Oxf. mss. repeat, "They that love Thy saving health."
[3059] Ps. cxlvi. 3.
[3060] Ps. iii. 8.
[3061] Ps. xviii. 28.
[3062] Rom. vii. 23.
[3063] Matt. v. 6.
[3064] Luke xvi. 23.
[3065] Ps. xvi. 2.
[3066] Matt. vii. 14.
[3067] Ps. xc. 4.
[3068] Exod. xvi. 2; Acts vii. 39.
[3069] Luke xvii. 32.
[3070] Philip. iii. 13.
[3071] 2 Tim. iv. 8.
Finis