The Ninth Sunday after Trinity
Augustine on Psalm XLVI
9th Sunday after Trinity Home
GRANT to us Lord we beseech thee, the spirit to think and do always such
things as be rightful; that we, which cannot be without thee, may by thee be able to live according to thy will;
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Source Leonine [440-461] taken in the Gelasian Sacramentary [492-496]. One is reminded of Paul's Epistle to Philemon vs 1:6 "That the communication of thy faith may become effectual by the acknowledging of every good thing which is in you in Christ Jesus." The 1662 Anglican Prayer Book revision read "that we, who cannot do anything that is good, may..." The Collect clearly points to God's grace and the work of the Holy Spirit in aiding us to do good. This theme was made a canon in the ecumenical councils and is part of the Order's vow.
Psalms 46 47 | 44 45, 1 Corinthians x. 1 & St. Luke xvi.
1
Homily of Augustine on Psalm XLVI
1 Corinthians x. 1
BRETHREN, I would not that ye should be ignorant, how that all our fathers were under the cloud, and all passed through the sea; and were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea; and did all eat the same spiritual meat; and did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ. But with many of them God was not well pleased: for they were overthrown in the wilderness. Now these things were our examples, to the intent we should not lust after evil things, as they also lusted. Neither be ye idolaters, as were some of them; as it is written, The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up toplay. Neither let us commit fornication, as some of them committed, and fell in one day three and twenty thousand. Neither let us tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted, and were destroyed of serpents. Neither murmur ye, as some of them also murmured, and were destroyed of the destroyer. Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come. Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall. There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.
St. Luke xvi. 1
JESUS said unto his disciples, There was a certain rich man, which had a steward; and the same was accused unto him that he had wasted his goods. And he called him, and said unto him, How is it that I hear this of thee? give an account of thy stewardship; for thou mayest be no longer steward. Then the steward said within himself, What shall I do? for my lord taketh away from me the steward ship: I cannot dig; to beg I am ashamed. I am resolved what to do, that, when I am put out of the stewardship, they may receive me into their houses. So he called every one of his lord’s debtors unto him, and said unto the first, How much owest thou unto my lord? And he said, An hundred measures of oil And he said unto him, Take thy bill, and sit down quickly, and write fifty. Then said he to another, And how much owest thou? And he said, An hundred measures of wheat. And he said unto him, Take thy bill, and write four score, And the lord commended the unjust steward, because he had done wisely: for the children of this world are in their generation wiser than the children of light. And I say unto you, Make to yourselves friends of the mammon of unrighteousness; that, wh en ye fail, they may receive you into everlasting habitations.
Augustine
Psalm XLVI
1. It is called, "A Psalm, to the end, for the sons of Korah, for
things secret." Secret is it then; but He Himself, who in the place of
Calvary was crucified, ye know, hath rent the veil, [1473] that the
secrets of the temple might be discovered. Furthermore since the Cross
of our Lord was a key, whereby things closed might be opened; let us
trust that He will be with us, that these secrets may be revealed. What
is said, "To the end," always ought to be understood of Christ. For
"Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that
believeth." [1474] But The End He is called, not because He consumeth,
but because He perfecteth. For ended call we the food which is eaten,
and ended the coat which is woven, the former to consumption, the
latter to perfection. Because then we have not where to go farther when
we have come to Christ, Himself is called the end of our course. Nor
ought we to think, that when we have come to Him, we ought to strive
any further to come also to the Father. For this thought Philip also,
when he said to Him, "Lord, show us the Father, and it sufficeth us."
When he said, "It sufficeth us," he sought the end of satisfaction and
perfection. Then said He, "Have I been so long time with you, and hast
thou not known Me, Philip: he that hath seen Me, hath seen the Father."
[1475] In Him then have we the Father, because He is in the Father, and
the Father in Him, and He and His Father are One. [1476]
Let us pray in the words of Augustine.
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2. "Our God is a refuge and strength" (ver. 1). There are some refuges
wherein is no strength, whereto when any fleeth, he is more weakened
than strengthened. Thou fleest, for example, to some one greater in the
world, that thou mayest make thyself a powerful friend; this seemeth to
thee a refuge. Yet so great are this world's uncertainties, and so
frequent grow the ruins of the powerful day by day, that when to such
refuge thou art come, thou beginnest to fear more than ever
therein....Our refuge is not such, but our refuge is strength. When
thither we have fled, we shall be firm.
3. "A helper in tribulations, which find us out too much." Tribulations
are many, and in every tribulation unto God must we flee; whether it be
a tribulation in our estate, or in our body's health, or about the
peril of those dearest to us, or any other thing necessary to the
sustaining of this life, refuge ought there to be none at all to a
Christian man, other than his Saviour, other than his God, to whom when
he has fled, he is strong. For he will not in himself be strong, nor
will he to himself be strength, but He will be his strength, who has
become his refuge. But, dearly beloved, among all tribulations of the
human soul is no greater tribulation than the consciousness of sin. For
if there be no wound herein, and that be sound within man which is
called conscience, wherever else he may suffer tribulation, thither
will he flee, and there find God....Ye see, dearly beloved, when trees
are cut down and proved by the carpenters, sometimes in the surface
they seem as though injured and rotten; but the carpenter looks into
the inner marrow as it were of the tree, and if within he find the wood
sound, he promises that it will last in a building; nor will he be very
anxious about the injured surface, when that which is within he
declares sound. Furthermore, to man anything more inward than
conscience is not found; what then profits it, if what is without is
sound, and the marrow of conscience has become rotton? These are close
and vehement overmuch, and as this Psalm saith, too great tribulations;
yet even in these the Lord hath become a helper by forgiving sin. For
the consciences of the ungodly hateth nothing save indulgence; for if
one saith he hath great tribulations, being a confessed debtor to the
treasury, when he beholdeth the narrowness of his estate, and seeth
that he cannot be solvent; if on account of the distrainers every year
hanging over him, he saith that he suffereth great tribulations, and
doth not breathe freely except in hope of indulgence, and that in
things earthly; [1477] how much more the debtor of penalties out of the
abundance of sins: when shall he pay what he owes out of his evil
conscience, when if he pay, he perisheth? For to pay this debt, is to
undergo the penalties. Remaineth then that of His indulgence, we may be
secure, yet so that, indulgence received, we return not again to
contract debts....
4. Now then, such security received, what say they? "Therefore will not
we fear, when the earth shall be confounded" (ver. 2). Just before
anxious, suddenly secure; out of too great tribulations set in great
tranquillity. For in them Christ was sleeping, therefore were they
tossed: Christ awoke (as but now we heard out of the Gospel), He
commanded the winds, and they were still. [1478] Since Christ is in
each man's heart by faith, it is signified to us, that his heart as a
ship in this world's tempest is tossed, who forgetteth his faith: as
though Christ sleeping it is tossed, but Christ awaking cometh
tranquillity. Nay, the Lord Himself, what said He? "Where is your
faith?" [1479] Christ aroused, aroused up faith, that what had been
done in the ship, might be done in their hearts. "A helper in
tribulations, which found us [1480] out too much." He caused that
therein should be great tranquillity.
5. See what tranquillity: "Therefore will not we fear when the earth
shall be confounded, and the mountains shall be carried into the heart
of the sea." Then we shall find not fear. Let us seek mountains
carried, and if we can find, it is manifest that this is our security.
The Lord truly said to His disciples, "If ye have faith as a grain of
mustard seed, ye shall say to this mountain, Be Thou removed, and be
Thou cast into the sea, and it shall be done." [1481] Haply "to this
mountain," He said of Himself; for He is called a Mountain: "It shall
come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the Lord shall be
manifest." [1482] But this Mountain is placed above other mountains;
because the Apostles also are mountains, supporting this Mountain.
Therefore followeth, "In the last days the Mountain of the Lord shall
be manifest, established in the top of the mountains." Therefore
passeth It the tops of all mountains, and on the top of all mountains
is It placed; because the mountains are preaching The Mountain. But the
sea signifieth this world, in comparison of which sea, like earth
seemed the nation of the Jews. For it was not covered over with the
bitterness of idolatry, but, like dry land, was surrounded with the
bitterness of the Gentiles as with sea. It was to be, that the earth be
confounded, that is, that nation of the Jews; and that the mountains be
carried into the heart of the sea, that is, first that great Mountain
established in the top of the mountains. For He deserted the nation of
the Jews, and came among the Gentiles. He was carried from the earth
into the sea. Who carrying Him? The Apostles, to whom He had said, "If
ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say to this
mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea, and it shall
be done:" that is, through your most faithful preaching it shall come
to pass, that this mountain, that is, I Myself, be preached among the
Gentiles, be glorified among the Gentiles, be acknowledged among the
Gentiles, and that be fulfilled which was predicted of Me, "A people
whom I have not known shall serve Me." [1483] ...
6. "The waters thereof roared, and were troubled" (ver. 3): when the
Gospel was preached, "What is this? He seemeth to be a setter forth of
strange gods:" [1484] this the Athenians; but the Ephesians, with what
tumult would they have slain the Apostles, when in the theatre, for
their goddess Diana, they made such an uproar, as to be shouting,
"Great is Diana of the Ephesians!" [1485] Amidst which waves and
roaring of the sea, feared not they who to that refuge had fled. Nay,
the Apostle Paul would enter in to the theatre, and was kept back by
the disciples, because it was necessary that he should still abide in
the flesh for their sakes. But yet, "the waters thereof roared, and
were troubled: the mountains shook at the mightiness thereof." Whose
might? The sea's? or rather God's, of whom was said, "refuge and
strength, a helper in tribulations, which have found us out too much?"
For shaken were the mountains, that is, the powers of this world. For
one thing are the mountains of God, another the mountains of the world:
the mountains of the world, they whose head is the devil, the mountains
of God, they whose Head is Christ. But by these mountains were shaken
those mountains. Then gave they their voices against Christians, when
the mountains were shaken, the waters roaring; for the mountains were
shaken, and there was made a great earthquake, with quaking of the sea.
But against whom this? Against the City founded upon a rock. The waters
roar, the mountains shake, the Gospel being preached. What then, the
City of God? Hear what followeth.
7. "The streams of the river make glad the City of God" (ver. 4). When
the mountains shake, when the sea rages, God deserteth not His City, by
the streams of the river. What are these streams of the river? That
overflowing of the Holy Spirit, of which the Lord said, "If any man
thirst, let him come unto Me, and drink. He that believeth on Me, out
of his bosom [1486] shall flow rivers of living water." [1487] These
rivers then flowed out of the bosom [1488] of Paul, Peter, John, the
other Apostles, the other faithful Evangelists. Since these rivers
flowed from one river, many "streams of the river make glad the City of
God." For that ye might know this to be said of the Holy Spirit, in the
same Gospel next said the Evangelist, "But this spake He of the Spirit,
which they that were to believe on Him should receive. For the Holy
Ghost was not yet given, because that Jesus was not yet glorified."
[1489] Jesus being glorified after His Resurrection, glorified after
His Ascension, on the day of Pentecost came the Holy Spirit, and filled
the believers, [1490] who spake with tongues, and began to preach the
Gospel to the Gentiles. Hence was the City of God made glad, while the
sea was troubled by the roaring of its waters, while the mountains were
confounded, asking what they should do, how drive out the new doctrine,
how root out the race of Christians from the earth. Against whom?
Against the streams of the river making glad the City of God. For
thereby showed He of what river He spake; that He signified the Holy
Spirit, by "the streams of the river make glad the City of God." And
what follows? "The Most High hath sanctified His tabernacle:" since
then there followeth the mention of Sanctification, it is manifest that
these streams of the river are to be understood of the Holy Spirit, by
whom is sanctified every godly soul believing in Christ, that it may be
made a citizen of the City of God.
8. "God is in the midst of her: she shall not be moved" (ver. 5). Let
the sea rage, the mountains shake; "God is in the midst of her: she
shall not be moved." What is, "in the midst of her"? That God stands in
any one place, and they surround Him who believe in Him? Then is God
circumscribed by place; and broad that which surroundeth, narrow that
which is surrounded? God forbid. No such thing imagine of God, who is
contained in no place, whose seat is the conscience of the godly: and
so is God's seat in the hearts of men, that if man fall from God, God
in Himself abideth, not falleth like one not finding where to be. For
rather doth He lift up thee, that thou mayest be in Him, than so lean
upon thee, as if thou withdraw thyself, to fall. Himself if He
withdraw, fall wilt thou: thyself if thou withdraw, fall will not He.
What then is, "God is in the midst of her"? It signifieth that God is
equal to all, and accepteth not persons. For as that which is in the
middle has equal distances to all the boundaries, so God is said to be
in the middle, because He consulteth equally for all. "God is in the
midst of her: she shall not be moved." Wherefore shall she not be
moved? Because God is in the midst of her. He is "the Helper in
tribulations that have found us out too much. God shall help her with
His Countenance." What is, "with His Countenance"? With manifestation
of Himself. How manifests God Himself, so as that we see His
Countenance? I have already told you; ye have learned God's Presence;
we have learned it through His works. When from Him we receive any help
so that we cannot at all doubt that it was granted to us by the Lord,
then God's Countenance is with us.
9. "The heathen are troubled" (ver. 6). And how troubled? why troubled?
To cast down the City of God, in the midst whereof is God? To overthrow
the tabernacle sanctified, which God helpeth with His Countenance? No:
with a wholesome trouble are the heathen now troubled. For what
followeth? "And the kingdoms are bowed." Bowed, saith He, are the
kingdoms; not now erected that they may rage, but bowed that they may
adore. When were the kingdoms bowed? When that came to pass which was
predicted in another Psalm, "All kings shall fall down before Him, all
nations shall serve Him." [1491] What cause made the kingdoms to bow?
Hear the cause. "The Most High gave His Voice, and the earth was
moved." The fanatics [1492] of idolatry, like frogs in the marshes,
clamoured, the more tumultuously, the more sordidly, in filth and mire.
And what is the brawling of frogs to the thunder of the clouds? For out
of them "the Most High gave His Voice, and the earth was moved:" He
thundered out of His clouds. And what are His clouds? His Apostles, His
preachers, by whom He thundered in precepts, lightened in miracles. The
same are clouds who are also mountains: mountains for their height and
firmness, clouds for their rain and fruitfulness. For these clouds
watered the earth, of which it was said, "The Most High gave His Voice,
and the earth was moved." For it is of those clouds that He threateneth
a certain barren vineyard, whence the mountains were carried into the
heart of the sea; "I will command," saith He, "the clouds that they
rain no rain upon it." [1493] This was fulfilled in that which I have
mentioned, when the mountains were carried into the heart of the sea;
when it was said, "It was necessary that the word of God should have
been spoken first to you; but seeing ye put it from you, we turn to the
Gentiles;" [1494] then was fulfilled, "I will command the clouds that
they rain no rain upon it." The nation of the Jews hath just so
remained as a fleece dry upon the ground. For this, ye know, happened
in a certain miracle, the ground was dry, the fleece only was wet, yet
rain in the fleece appeared not. [1495] So also the mystery of the New
Testament appeared not in the nation of the Jews. What there was the
fleece, is here the veil. For in the fleece was veiled the mystery. But
on the ground, in all the nations open lieth Christ's Gospel; the rain
is manifest, the Grace of Christ is bare, for it is not covered with a
veil. But that the rain might come out of it, the fleece was pressed.
For by pressure they from themselves excluded Christ, and the Lord now
from His clouds raineth on the ground, the fleece hath remained dry.
But of them then "the Most High gave His Voice," out of those clouds;
by which Voice the kingdoms were bowed and worshipped.
10. "The Lord of Hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our taker up"
(ver. 7). Not any man, not any power, not, in short, Angel, or any
creature either earthly or heavenly, but "the Lord of Hosts is with us;
the God of Jacob is our taker up." He who sent Angels, came after
Angels, came that Angels might serve Him, came that men He might make
equal to Angels. Mighty Grace! If God be for us, who can be against us?
"The Lord of Hosts is with us." What Lord of Hosts is with us? "If" (I
say) "God be for us, who can be against us? He that spared not His own
Son, but delivered Him up for us all; how hath He not with Him also
freely given [1496] us all things." [1497] Therefore be we secure, in
tranquillity of heart nourish we a good conscience with the Bread of
the Lord. "The Lord of Hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our taker
up." However great be thy infirmity, see who taketh thee up. One is
sick, a physician is called to him. His own taken-up, the Physician
calleth the sick man. Who hath taken him up? Even He. A great hope of
salvation; a great Physician hath taken him up. What Physician? [1498]
Every Physician save He is man: every Physician who cometh to a sick
man, another day can be made sick, beside Him. "The God of Jacob is our
taker up." Make thyself altogether as a little child, such as are taken
up by their parents. For those not taken up, are exposed; those taken
up are nursed. Thinkest thou God hath so taken thee up, as when an
infant thy mother took thee up? Not so, but to eternity. For thy voice
is in that Psalm, "My father and my mother forsake me, but the Lord
hath taken me up." [1499]
11. "Come and see the works of the Lord" (ver. 8). Now of this taking
up, what hath the Lord done? Consider the whole world, come and see.
For if thou comest not, thou seest not; if thou seest not, thou
believest not; if thou believest not, thou standest afar off: if thou
believest thou comest, if thou believest thou seest. For how came we to
that mountain? Not on foot? Is it by ship? Is it on the wing? Is it on
horses? For all that pertain to space and place, be not concerned,
trouble not thyself, He cometh to thee. For out of a small stone He
hath grown, and become a great mountain, so that He hath filled all the
face of the earth. Why then wouldest thou by land come to Him, who
filleth all lands? Lo, He hath already come: watch thou. By growing He
waketh even sleepers; if yet there is not in them so deep sleep, as
that they be hardened even against the mountain coming; but they hear,
"Awake, thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall
give thee light." [1500] For it was a great thing for the Jews to see
the stone. For the stone was yet small: and small they deservedly
despised it, and despising they stumbled, and stumbling they were
broken; remains that they be ground to powder. For so was it said of
the stone, "Whosoever shall fall upon that stone shall be broken; but
on whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder." [1501] It is
one thing to be broken, another to be ground to powder. To be broken is
less than to be ground to powder: but none grindeth He coming exalted,
save whom He brake lying low. For now before His coming He lay low
before the Jews, and they stumbled at Him, and were broken; hereafter
shall He come in His Judgment, glorious and exalted, great and
powerful, not weak to be judged, but strong to judge, and grind to
powder those who were broken stumbling at Him. For "A stone of
stumbling and a rock of offence," [1502] is He to them that believe
not. Therefore, brethren, no wonder if the Jews acknowledged not Him,
whom as a small stone lying before their feet they despised. They are
to be wondered at, who even now so great a mountain will not
acknowledge. The Jews at a small stone by not seeing stumbled; the
heretics stumble at a mountain. For now that stone hath grown, now say
we unto them, Lo, now is fulfilled the prophecy of Daniel, "The stone
that was small became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth."
[1503] Wherefore stumble ye at Him, and go not rather up to Him? Who is
so blind as to stumble at a mountain? Came He to thee that thou
shouldest have whereat to stumble, and not have whereto to go up? "Come
ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord." [1504] Isaiah saith
this: "Come ye, and let us go up." What is, "Come ye, and let us go
up"? "Come ye," is, Believe ye. "Let us go up," is, Let us profit.
[1505] But they will neither come, nor go up, nor believe, nor profit.
They bark against the mountain. Even now by so often stumbling on Him
they are broken, and will not go up, choosing always to stumble. Say we
to them, "Come ye, and see the works of the Lord:" what "prodigies He
hath set forth through the earth." Prodigies are called, because they
portend something, those signs of miracles which were done when the
world believed. And what thereafter came to pass, and what did they
portend?
12. "He maketh wars to cease unto the end of the earth" (ver. 9). This
not yet see we fulfilled: yet are there wars, wars among nations for
sovereignty; among sects, among Jews, Pagans, Christians, heretics, are
wars, frequent wars, some for the truth, some for falsehood contending.
Not yet then is this fulfilled, "He maketh wars to cease unto the end
of the earth;" but haply it shall be fulfilled. Or is it now also
fulfilled? In some it is fulfilled; in the wheat it is fulfilled, in
the tares it is not yet fulfilled. What is this then, "He maketh wars
to cease unto the end of the earth"? Wars He calleth whereby it is
warred against God. But who warreth against God? Ungodliness. And what
to God can ungodliness do? Nothing. What doth an earthen vessel dashed
against the rock, however vehemently dashed? With so much greater harm
to itself it cometh, with how much the greater force it cometh. These
wars were great, frequent were they. Against God fought ungodliness,
and earthen vessels were dashed in pieces, even men by presuming on
themselves, by too much prevailing by their own strength. This is that,
the shield whereof Job also named concerning one ungodly. "He runneth
against God, upon the stiff neck of his shield." [1506] What is, "upon
the stiff neck of his shield"? Presuming too much upon his own
protection. Were they such who said, "God is our refuge and strength, a
Helper in tribulations which have found us out too much"? or in another
Psalm, "For I will not trust in my bow, neither shall my sword save
me." [1507] When one learneth that in himself he is nothing, and help
in himself has none, arms in him are broken in pieces, wars are made to
cease. Such wars then destroyed that Voice of the Most High out of His
holy clouds, whereby the earth was moved, and the kingdoms were bowed.
These wars hath He made to cease unto the end of the earth. "He shall
break the bow, and dash in pieces the arms, and burn the shield with
fire." Bow, arms, shield, fire. [1508] The bow is plots; arms, public
warfare; shields, vain presuming of self-protection: the fire wherewith
they are burned, is that whereof the Lord said, "I am come to send fire
on the earth;" [1509] of which fire saith the Psalm, "There is nothing
hid from the heat thereof." [1510] This fire burning, no arms of
ungodliness shall remain in us, needs must all be broken, dashed in
pieces, burned. Remain thou unharmed, not having any help of thine own;
and the more weak thou art, having no arms thine own, the more He
taketh thee up, of whom it is said, "The God of Jacob is our taker
up."...But when God taketh us up, doth He send us away unarmed? He
armeth us, but with other arms, arms Evangelical, arms of truth,
continence, salvation, faith, hope, charity. These arms shall we have,
but not of ourselves: but the arms which of ourselves we had, are burnt
up: yet if by that fire of the Holy Spirit we are kindled, whereof it
is said, "He shall burn the shields with fire;" thee, who didst wish to
be powerful in thyself, hath God made weak, that He may make thee
strong in Him, because in thyself thou wast made weak.
13. What then followeth? "Be still." To what purpose? "And see that I
am God" (ver. 10). That is, Not ye, but I am God. I created, I create
anew; I formed, I form anew; I made, I make anew. If thou couldest not
make thyself, how canst thou make thyself anew? This seeth not the
contentious tumult of man's soul; to which contentious tumult is it
said, "Be still." That is, restrain your souls from contradiction. Do
not argue, and, as it were, arm against God. Else yet live thy arms,
not yet burned up with fire. But if they are burned, "Be still;"
because ye have not wherewith to fight. But if ye be still in
yourselves, and from Me seek all, who before presumed on yourselves,
then shall ye "see that I am God." "I will be exalted among the
heathen, I will be exalted in the earth." Just before I said, by the
name of earth is signified the nation of the Jews, by the name of sea
the other nations. The mountains were carried into the heart of the
sea; the nations are troubled, the kingdoms are bowed; the Most High
gave His Voice, and the earth was moved. "The Lord of Hosts is with us,
the God of Jacob is our taker up" (ver. 11). Miracles are done among
the heathen, full filled is the faith of the heathen; burned are the
arms of human presumption. Still are they, in tranquillity of heart, to
acknowledge God the Author of all their gifts. And after this
glorifying, doth He yet desert the people of the Jews? of which saith
the Apostle, "I say unto you, lest ye should be wise in your own
conceits; that blindness in part is happened unto Israel, until the
fulness of the Gentiles be come in." [1511] That is, until the
mountains be carried hither, the clouds rain here, the Lord here bows
the kingdoms with His thunder, "until the fulness of the Gentiles be
come in." And what thereafter? "And so all Israel shall be saved."
Therefore, here too observing the same order, "I will be exalted"
(saith He) "among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth;" that
is, both in the sea, and in the earth, that now might all say what
followeth: "the God of Jacob is our taker up."
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:
[1472] Lat. XLV. [In his exordium the Saint recurs to his favourite
idea as follows: "Korah is interpreted `Baldness,' and that our Lord,
since in the `place of the Bald skull' [Matt. xxvii. 33] He was
crucified, hath drawn unto Him many; like that corn of wheat, which
except it die, should abide alone; and that those who are drawn unto
Him are called sons of Korah [John xii. 24, 32]. Thus much in the
mystery. There were indeed some sons of Korah at the time when this was
first sung [1 Chron. xxvi. 1], but to us ought the Spirit to give life,
not the letter to be a veil" [2 Cor. iii. 6.]--C.]
[1473] Matt. xxvii. 51.
[1474] Rom. x. 4.
[1475] John xiv. 8, 9.
[1476] John x. 30, 38.
[1477] Many mss. "of earthly princes."
[1478] Matt. viii. 24-26.
[1479] Luke viii. 25.
[1480] Al. "them."
[1481] Matt. xvii. 20, xxi. 21.
[1482] Isa. ii. 2.
[1483] Ps. xviii. 43.
[1484] Acts xvii. 18.
[1485] Acts xix. 34.
[1486] ["Belly," English version. But I have not hesitated to
substitute a word more literal in fact, which relieves the text of a
ludicrous profanation.--C.]
[1487] John vii. 37, 38.
[1488] ["Belly," English version. But I have not hesitated to
substitute a word more literal in fact, which relieves the text of a
ludicrous profanation.--C.]
[1489] John vii. 39.
[1490] Acts ii. 1, 2.
[1491] Ps. lxxii. 11.
[1492] Arreptitii.
[1493] Isa. v. 6.
[1494] Acts xiii. 46.
[1495] Judg. vi. 36-40.
[1496] So Vulgate.
[1497] Rom. viii. 31, 32.
[1498] Oxf. mss. add, "hath taken him up? What Physician?"
[1499] Ps. xxvii. 10.
[1500] Eph. v. 14.
[1501] Luke xx. 18.
[1502] 1 Pet. ii. 8.
[1503] Dan. ii. 35.
[1504] Isa. ii. 3.
[1505] Oxf. mss. add, "come, and let us go up, believe, and let us
profit."
[1506] Job xv. 26.
[1507] Ps. xliv. 6.
[1508] Oxf. mss. "with fire."
[1509] Luke xii. 49.
[1510] Ps. xix. 6.
[1511] Rom. xi. 25.
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