Augustine of Hippo

He turns therefore Himself to them, thirsting for them: "Do not hope in iniquity" [Psalm 62:10]. For my hope is in God. You that will not draw near and pass over, "do not hope in iniquity." For I that have leapt over, my hope is in God; and is there anywise iniquity with God? [Romans 9:14] This thing let us do, that thing let us do, of that thing let us think, thus let us adjust our lyings in wait; "Because of vanity being at one." You thirst: they that think of those things against you are given up by those whom you drink. "Do not hope in vanity." Vain is iniquity, nought is iniquity, mighty is nothing save righteousness. Truth may be hidden for a time, conquered it cannot be. Iniquity may flourish for a time, abide it cannot. "Do not hope upon iniquity: and for robbery be not covetous." You are not rich, and will you rob? What do you find? What do you lose? O losing gains! You find money, you lose righteousness. "For robbery be not covetous."...Therefore, vain sons of men, lying sons of men, neither rob, nor, if there flow riches, set heart upon them: no longer love vanity, and seek lying. For "blessed is the man who has the Lord God for his hope, and who has not had regard unto vanities, and lying follies." You would deceive, you would commit a fraud, what bring ye in order that you may cheat. Deceitful balances. For "lying," he says, "are the sons of men in the balances," in order that they may cheat by bringing forth deceitful balances. By a false balance ye beguile men looking on: know ye not that one is he that weighs, Another He that judges of the weight? He sees not, for whom you weigh, but He sees that weighs you and him. Therefore neither fraud nor robbery covet ye any longer, nor on those things which you have set your hope: I have admonished, have foretold, says this Idithun.

So, then, that you may continue in prayers night and day, until that consolation comes to you, remember that you are desolate, however much you may abound in the good fortune of worldly wealth. The apostle did not attribute this gift to just any widow, but he says, "She that is a widow indeed and desolate has trusted in the Lord and continues in prayers night and day." But, note carefully what follows: "But she that lives in pleasures is dead while she is living," for one lives in the things that he loves, that he chiefly seeks after, by which he believes himself happy. Therefore, what the Scripture says about riches, "If riches abound, do not set your heart on them," I say to you about pleasures: if pleasures abound, do not set your heart on them. Do not rely too strongly on the fact that they are not lacking to you, that they minister to your satisfaction abundantly, that they flow, so to speak, from a plentiful source of earthly happiness. All these things you must inwardly despise and reject; you must seek after no more of them than is needed to support your bodily health. Because of the necessary activities of this life, health is not to be despised until "this mortal shall put on immortality," and that is the true and perfect and unending health that is not refreshed by corruptible pleasure when it fails through earthly weakness but is maintained by heavenly strength and made young by eternal incorruptibility. The apostle says, "Do not make provision for the flesh in its desires," because our care of the flesh must be in view of the exigencies of salvation. "For no one ever hated his own flesh," as he also says. This seems to be the reason why he rebukes Timothy for too great chastisement of the body and advises him to "use a little wine for his stomach's sake and his frequent infirmities."

I am aware of that, and I am saddened by it. You are disturbed, and—as he who is infallible tells us—you are troubled in vain. Yes, you are storing up treasures. Even though we grant that you are successful in every transaction, even though we say nothing about your losses, even though we make no mention of the great risks and the deaths that accompany every profitable transaction (I do not mean corporeal deaths; I mean the deaths that are occasioned by evil designs—for veracity dies so that profits may increase), yet, you are being inwardly stripped bare so that you may be outwardly adorned. Yes, suppose that we ignore those facts and make no reference to certain other facts; suppose that we disregard your reverses and consider only your successes. In that case, you are storing up treasures, profits are pouring in from all sides, money is flowing into your coffers as if in a fountain, and whenever a need arises it is engulfed by abundance. Nevertheless, have you not heard: "If riches abound, do not set your heart on them"? Yes, you are growing rich; so you are not disturbed unprofitably. Nevertheless, you are disturbed in vain. But you ask me, "Why am I disturbed in vain? See, I am filling my coffers, and my storehouses can hardly contain the treasures I am acquiring. How, then, am I disquieted in vain?" Because you are storing up treasures, and you do not know for whom you are gathering them. Or, if you know it, I beseech you to tell me. I would hear you tell me that. So, if you are not disturbed in vain, tell me for whom you are gathering treasures. "For myself," you reply. Do you dare to say that, although you must die? "For my children," you reply. Do you dare to say that, since they, too, must die? "It is a pious duty for a parent to store up treasures for his children!" Rather, since a person must die, it is a great vanity for him to store up treasures for those who must die. If it is for yourself, why are you gathering treasures that you must leave behind when you die? This is also the case with regard to your children; they are to succeed you, but they are not to abide forever. I refrain from asking, "For what kind of children?" Perhaps debauchery may squander what avarice has amassed. By loose living, someone else squanders what you have amassed by your labors. But I leave this out of account. Perhaps your children will be upright, not dissolute. Perhaps they will preserve what you will have left and increase what you have saved, not dissipate what you have gathered. If your children do this, if in this regard they imitate you, their father, then they are just as vain as you are. What I was saying to you, I say to them. To your son I put this question: "For whom are you gathering?" To him also I say, "You are storing up treasures, and you do not know for whom you are gathering them." For just as you do not know, so neither does he. Even if vanity has remained in him, has truth therefore lost its force for him?

What follows? "Once has God spoken, these two things I have heard, that power is of God [Psalm 62:11], and to You, O Lord, is mercy, for You shall render to each one after his works" [Psalm 62:12]...."Once has God spoken." What do you say, Idithun? If you that had leapt over them art saying, "Once He has spoken;" I turn to another Scripture and it says to me, "In many quarters and in many ways formerly God has spoken to the fathers in the prophets." [Hebrews 1:1] What is, "Once has God spoken"? Is He not the God that in the beginning of mankind spoke to Adam? [Genesis 3:17] Did not the Selfsame speak to Cain, to Noe, to Abraham, to Isaac, to Jacob, to all the Prophets, and to Moses? One man Moses was, and how often to him spoke God? Behold even to one man, not once but ofttimes God has spoken. Secondly, He has spoken to the Son when standing here, "You are My beloved Son." [Matthew 3:17] God has spoken to the Apostles, He has spoken to all the Saints, even though not with voice sounding through the cloud, nevertheless in the heart where He is Himself Teacher. What is therefore, "Once has God spoken"? Much has that man leapt over in order to arrive at that place, where once God has spoken. Behold briefly I have spoken to your Love. Here among men, to men ofttimes, in many ways, in many quarters, through creatures of many forms God has spoken: by Himself once God has spoken, because One Word God has begotten....For it could not be but that God did Himself know that which by the Word He made: [John 1:3] but if that which He made He knew, in Him there was that which was made before it was made. For if in Him was not that which was made before it was made, how knew He that which He made? For you can not say that God made things He knew not. God therefore has known that which He has made. And how knew He before He made, if there cannot be known any but things made? But by things made there cannot be known any but things previously made, by you, to wit, who art a man made in a lower place, and set in a lower place: but before that all these things were made, they were known by Him by whom they were made, and that which He knew He made. Therefore in that Word by which He made all things, before that they were made, were all things; and after they have been made there are all things; but in one way here, in another there, in one way in their own nature wherein they have been made, in another in the art by which they have been made. Who could explain this? We may endeavour: go ye with Idithun, and see.

"God, my God, unto You from the light I watch" [Psalm 63:1]. What is to watch? It is, not to sleep. What is to sleep? There is a sleep of the soul; there is a sleep of the body. Sleep of body we all ought to have: because if sleep of body is not taken, a man faints, the body itself faints. For our frail body cannot long sustain a soul watching and on the stretch on active works; if for a long time the soul shall have been intent on active pursuits, the body being frail and earthly holds her not, sustains her not for ever in activity, and faints and falls. Therefore God has granted sleep to the body, whereby are recruited the members of the body, in order that they may be able to sustain the soul watching. But of this let us take heed, namely, that our soul herself sleep not: for evil is the sleep of the soul. Good is the sleep of the body, whereby is recruited the health of the body. But the sleep of the soul is to forget her God. Whatsoever soul shall have forgotten her God, sleeps. Therefore the Apostle says to certain persons that forgot their God, and being as it were in sleep, did act the follies of the worship of idols— the Apostle, I say, says to certain persons, "Rise, you that sleepest, and rise up from the dead, and Christ shall enlighten you." [Ephesians 5:14] Was the Apostle waking up one sleeping in body? Nay, but he was waking a soul sleeping, inasmuch as he was waking her, in order that she might be lightened by Christ. Therefore as to these same watchings says this man, "God, my God, unto You from the light I watch." For you would not watch of yourself, unless there should arise your Light, to wake you from sleep. For Christ lightens souls, and makes them to watch: but if His light He takes away, they slumber. For for this cause to Him there is said in another psalm, "Lighten my eyes, that I may never slumber in death.". ..

"Thus in a holy thing I have appeared to You, that I might see Your power and Your glory" [Psalm 63:3]....Unless a man first thirst in that desert, that is in the evil wherein he is, he never arrives at the good, which is God. But "I have appeared to You," he says, "in a holy thing." Now in a holy thing is there great consolation. "I have appeared to You," is what? In order that You might see me: and for this reason You have seen me, in order that I might see You. "I have appeared to You, that I might see." He has not said, "I have appeared to You, that You might see:" but, "I have appeared to You, that I might see Your power and Your glory." Whence also the Apostle, "But now," he says, "knowing God, nay, having been known of God." [Galatians 4:9] For first you have appeared to God, in order that to you God might be able to appear. "That I might see Your power and Your glory." In truth in that forsaken place, that is, in that desert, if as though from the desert a man strives to obtain enough for his sustenance, he will never see the power of the Lord, and the glory of the Lord, but he will remain to die of thirst, and will find neither way, nor consolation, nor water, whereby he may endure in the desert. But when he shall have lifted up himself to God, so as to say to Him out of all his inward parts, "My soul has thirsted for You; how manifoldly for You also my flesh!" lest perchance even the things necessary for the flesh of others he ask, and not of God, or else long not for that resurrection of the flesh, which God has promised to us: when, I say, he shall have lifted up himself, he will have no small consolations.

"So I will speak good of You in my life, and in Your name I will lift up my hands" [Psalm 63:5]. Now in my life which to me You have given, not in that which I have chosen after the world with the rest among many lives, but that which You have given to me through Your mercy, that I should praise You. "So I will speak good of You in my life." What is "so"? That to Your mercy I may ascribe my life wherein You I praise, not to my merits. "And in Your name I will lift up my hands." Lift up therefore hands in prayer. Our Lord has lifted up for us His hands on the Cross, and stretched out were His hands for us, and therefore were His hands stretched out on the Cross, in order that our hands might be stretched out unto good works: because His Cross has brought us mercy. Behold, He has lifted up hands, and has offered for us Himself a Sacrifice to God, and through that Sacrifice have been effaced all our sins. Let us also lift up our hands to God in prayer: and our hands being lifted up to God shall not be confounded, if they be exercised in good works. For what does he that lifts up hands? Whence has it been commanded that with hands lifted up we should pray to God? For the Apostle says, "Lifting up pure hands without anger and dissension." [1 Timothy 2:8] It is in order that when you lift up hands to God, there may come into your mind your works. For whereas those hands are lifted up that you may obtain that which you will, those same hands you think in good works to exercise, that they may not blush to be lifted up to God. "In your name I will lift up my hands." Those are our prayers in this Idumæa, in this desert, in the land without water and without way, where for us Christ is the Way, [John 14:6] but not the way of this earth.

"Because You have become my helper." For unless God aid our good works, they cannot be accomplished by us. And worthy things we ought to work: that is, as though in the light, since by Christ showing the way we work. Whosoever works evil things, in the night he works, not in the dawn; according to the Apostle, saying, "They that are drunken, in the night are drunken; and they that sleep, in the night do sleep; let us that are of the day, be sober." [1 Thessalonians 5:7-8] He exhorts us that after the day we should walk honestly: "As in the day, honestly let us walk." [Romans 13:13] And again, "You," he says, "are sons of light, and sons of day; we are not of night nor of darkness." [1 Thessalonians 5:5] Who are sons of night, and sons of darkness? They that work all evil things. To such a degree they are sons of night, that they fear lest the things which they work should be seen....No one therefore in the dawn works, except him that in Christ works. But he that while at leisure is mindful of Christ, on the Same does meditate in all his actions, and He is a helper to him in a good work, lest through his weakness he fail. "And in the covering of Your wings I will exult." I am cheerful in good works, because over me is the covering of Your wings. If you protect me not, forasmuch as I am a chicken, the kite will seize me. For our Lord Himself says in a certain place to that Jerusalem, a certain city, where He was crucified: "Jerusalem," He says, "Jerusalem, how often I have willed to gather your sons, as though a hen her chickens, and you would not." [Matthew 23:37] Little ones we are: therefore may God protect us under the shadow of His wings. What when we shall have grown greater? A good thing it is for us that even then He should protect us, so that under Him the greater, always we be chickens. For always He is greater, however much we may have grown. Let no one say, let Him protect me while I am a little one: as if sometime he would attain to such magnitude, as should be self-sufficient. Without the protection of God, nought you are. Alway by Him let us desire to be protected: then always in Him we shall have power to be great, if always under Him little we be. "And in the covering of Your wings I will exult."

"But themselves in vain have sought my soul. They shall go unto the lower places of the earth" [Psalm 63:9]. Earth they were unwilling to lose, when they crucified Christ: into the lower places of the earth they have gone. What are the lower places of the earth? Earthly lusts. Better it is to walk upon earth, than by lust to go under earth. For every one that in prejudice of his salvation desires earthly things, is under the earth: because earth he has put before him, earth upon himself he has put, and himself beneath he has laid. They therefore fearing to lose earth, said what of the Lord Jesus Christ, when they saw great multitudes go after Him, forasmuch as He was doing wonderful things? "If we shall have let Him go alive, there will come the Romans, and will take away from us both place and nation." [John 11:48] They feared to lose earth, and they went under the earth: there befell them even what they feared. For they willed to kill Christ, that they might not lose earth; and earth they therefore lost, because Christ they slew. For when Christ had been slain, because the Lord Himself had said to them, "The kingdom shall be taken from you, and shall be given up to a nation doing righteousness:" [Matthew 21:43] there followed them great calamities of persecutions: there conquered them Roman emperors, and kings of the nations: they were shut out from that very place where they crucified Christ, and now that place is full of Christian praisers: it has no Jew, it has been cleared of the enemies of Christ, it has been fulfilled with the praisers of Christ. Behold, they have lost at the hands of the Romans the place, because Christ they slew, who to this end slew, that they might not lose the place at the hands of the Romans. Therefore, "They shall enter into the lower places of the earth."

Say we, therefore, ourselves also: "Hearken, O God, to my prayer, while I am troubled; from fear of the enemy deliver my soul" [Psalm 64:1]. Enemies have raged against the Martyrs: for what was that voice of Christ's Body praying? For this it was praying, to be delivered from enemies, and that enemies might not have power to slay them. Were they not therefore hearkened to, because they were slain; and has God forsaken His servants of a contrite heart, and despised men hoping in Him? Far be it. For "who has called upon God, and has been forsaken; who has hoped in Him, and has been deserted by Him?" [Sirach 2:10] They were hearkened to therefore, and they were slain; and yet from enemies they were delivered. Others being afraid gave consent, and lived, and yet the same by enemies were swallowed up. The slain were delivered, the living were swallowed up. Thence is also that voice of thanksgiving, "Perchance alive they would have swallowed us up.". ..Therefore for this prays the voice of the Martyrs, "From fear of the enemy deliver my soul:" not so that the enemy may not slay me, but that I may not fear an enemy slaying. For that to be fulfilled in the Psalm the servant prays, which but now in the Gospel the Lord was commanding. What but now was the Lord commanding? "Fear not them that kill the body, but the soul are not able to kill; but Him rather fear ye, that has power to kill both body and soul in the hell of fire." [Matthew 10:28] And He repeated, "Yea, I say unto you, fear Him." [Luke 12:5] Who are they that kill the body? Enemies. What was the Lord commanding? That they should not be feared. Be prayer offered, therefore, that He may grant what He has commanded. "From fear of the enemy deliver my soul." Deliver me from fear of the enemy, and make me submit to the fear of You. I would not fear him that kills the body, but I would fear Him that has power to kill both body and soul in the hell of fire. For not from fear would I be free: but from fear of the enemy being free, under fear of the Lord a servant.

"You have protected me from the gathering together of malignants, and from the multitude of men working iniquity" [Psalm 64:2]. Now upon Himself our Head let us look. Like things many Martyrs have suffered: but nothing does shine out so brightly as the Head of Martyrs; in Him rather let us behold what they have gone through. Protected He was from the multitude of malignants, God protecting Himself, the Son Himself and the Manhood which He was carrying protecting His flesh: because Son of Man He is, and Son of God He is; Son of God because of the form of God, Son of Man because of the form of a servant: having in His power to lay down His life: and to take it again. [John 10:18] To Him what could enemies do? They killed body, soul they killed not. Observe. Too little therefore it were for the Lord to exhort the Martyrs with word, unless He had enforced it by example. You know what a gathering together there was of malignant Jews, and what a multitude there was of men working iniquity. What iniquity? That wherewith they willed to kill the Lord Jesus Christ. "So many good works," He says, "I have shown to you, for which of these will you to kill Me?" [John 10:32] He endured all their infirm, He healed all their sick, He preached the Kingdom of Heaven, He held not His peace at their vices, so that these same should have been displeasing to them, rather than the Physician by whom they were being made whole: for all these His remedies being ungrateful, like men delirious in high fever raving at the physician, they devised the plan of destroying Him that had come to heal them; as though therein they would prove whether He were indeed a man, that could die, or were somewhat above men, and would not suffer Himself to die. The word of these same men we perceive in the wisdom of Solomon: "with death most vile," say they, "let us condemn Him; let us question Him, for there will be regard in the discourses of Him; for if truly Son of God He is, let Him deliver Him." Let us see therefore what was done.

"They have bended the bow, a bitter thing, in order that they may shoot in secret One unspotted" [Psalm 64:4]. The bow he calls lyings in wait. For he that with sword fights hand to hand, openly fights: he that shoots an arrow deceives, in order to strike. For the arrow smites, before it is foreseen to come to wound. But whom could the lyings in wait of the human heart escape? Would they escape our Lord Jesus Christ, who had no need that any one should bear witness to Him of man? "For Himself knew what was in man," [John 2:25] as the Evangelist testifies. Nevertheless, let us hear them, and look upon them in their doings as if the Lord knew not what they devise. The expression he used, "They have bended the bow," is the same as, "in secret:" as if they were deceiving by lyings in wait. For you know by what artifices they did this, how with money they bribed a disciple that clave to Him, in order that He might be betrayed to them, [Matthew 26:14-15] how they procured false witnesses; with what lyings in wait and artifices they wrought, "in order that they might shoot in secret One unspotted." Great iniquity! Behold from a secret place there comes an arrow, which strikes One unspotted, who had not even so much of spot as could be pierced with an arrow. A Lamb indeed He is unspotted, wholly unspotted, always unspotted; not one from whom spots have been removed but that has contracted not any spots. For He has made many unspotted by forgiving sins, being Himself unspotted by not having sins. "Suddenly they shall shoot Him, and shall not fear." O heart hardened, to wish to kill a Man that did raise the dead! "Suddenly:" that is, insidiously, as if unexpectedly, as if not foreseen. For the Lord was like to one knowing not, being among men knowing not what He knew not and what He knew: yea, knowing not that there was nothing that He knew not, and that He knew all things, and to this end had come in order that they might do that which they thought they did by their own power.