Augustine of Hippo

My hope from my youth, "cast me not away in time of old age" [Psalm 71:9]. What is this time of old age? "When my strength shall fail, forsake not me." Here God makes this answer to you, yea indeed let your strength fail, in order that in you mine may abide: in order that you may say with the Apostle, "When I am made weak, then I am mighty." [2 Corinthians 12:10] Fear not, that you be cast away in that weakness, in that old age. But why? Was not your Lord made weak on the Cross? Did not most mighty men and fat bulls before Him, as though a man of no strength, made captive and oppressed, shake the head and say, "If Son of God He is, let Him come down from the Cross"? Has he deserted because He was made weak, who preferred not to come down from the Cross, lest He should seem not to have displayed power, but to have yielded to them reviling? What did He hanging teach you, that would not come down, but patience amid men reviling, but that you should be strong in your God? Perchance too in His person was said, "As it were a monster I have become unto many, and You are a strong Helper." In His person according to His weakness, not according to His power; according to that whereby He had transformed us into Himself, not according to that wherein He had Himself come down. For He became a monster unto many. And perchance the same was the old age of Him; because on account of its oldness it is not improperly called old age, and the Apostle says, "Our old man has been crucified together with Him." [Romans 6:6] If there was there our old man, old age was there; because old, old age. Nevertheless, because a true saying is, "Renewed as an eagle's shall be Your youth;" He rose Himself the third day, promised a resurrection at the end of the world. Already there has gone before the Head, the members are to follow. Why do you fear lest He should forsake you, lest He cast you away for the time of old age, when your strength shall have failed? Yea at that time in you will be the strength of Him, when your strength shall have failed.

Why do I say this? "For mine enemies have spoken against me, and they that were keeping watch for My soul, have taken counsel together [Psalm 71:10]: saying, God has forsaken Him, persecute Him, and seize Him, for there is no one to deliver Him" [Psalm 71:11]. This has been said concerning Christ. For He that with the great power of Divinity, wherein He is equal to the Father, had raised to life dead persons, on a sudden in the hands of enemies became weak, and as if having no power, was seized. When would He have been seized, except they had first said in their heart, "God has forsaken Him?" Whence there was that voice on the Cross, "My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?" So then did God forsake Christ, though "God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself," [2 Corinthians 5:19] though Christ was also God, out of the Jews indeed according to the flesh, "Who is over all things, God blessed for ever," [Romans 9:5] — did God forsake Him? Far be it. But in our old man our voice it was, because our old man was crucified together with Him: [Romans 6:6] and of that same our old man He had taken a Body, because Mary was of Adam. Therefore the very thing which they thought, from the Cross He said, "Why have You forsaken Me?" [Matthew 27:46] Why do these men think Me left alone to their evil? What is, think Me forsaken in their evil? "For if they had known, the Lord of glory they had never crucified. [1 Corinthians 2:8] Persecute and seize Him." More familiarly however, brethren, let us take this of the members of Christ, and acknowledge our own voice in these words: because even He used such words in our person, not in His own power and majesty; but in that which He became for our sakes, not according to that which He was, who has made us.

"O Lord, my God, be not far from me" [Psalm 71:12]. So it is, and the Lord is not far off at all. For, "The Lord is near unto them that have bruised the heart." "My God, unto my help look Thou." "Be they confounded and fail that engage my soul" [Psalm 71:13]. What has he desired? "Be they confounded and fail." Why has he desired it? "That engage my soul"? What is, "That engage my soul"? Engaging as it were unto some quarrel. For they are said to be engaged that are challenged to quarrel. If then so it is, let us beware of men that engage our soul. What is, "That engage our soul"? First provoking us to withstand God, in order that in our evil things God may displease us. For when are you right, so that to you the God of Israel may be good, good to men right in heart? When are you right? Will you hear? When in that good which you do, God is pleasing to you; but in that evil which you suffer God is not displeasing to you. See ye what I have said, brethren, and be ye on your guard against men that engage your souls. For all men that deal with you in order to make you be wearied in sorrows and tribulations, have this aim, namely, that God may be displeasing to you in that which you suffer, and there may go forth from your mouth, "What is this? For what have I done?" Now then have you done nothing of evil, and art you just? He unjust? A sinner I am, you say; I confess, just I call not myself. But what, sinner, have you by any means done so much evil as he with whom it is well? As much as Gaiuseius? I know the evil doings of him, I know the iniquities of him, from which I, though a sinner, am very far; and yet I see him abounding in all good things, and I am suffering so great evil things. I do not then say, O God, "what have I done" to You, because I have done nothing at all of evil; but because I have not done so much as to deserve to suffer these things. Again, art you just, He unjust? Wake up, wretched man, your soul has been engaged! I have not, he says, called myself just. What then do you say? A sinner I am, but I did not commit so great sins, as to deserve to suffer these things. You say not then to God, just I am, and You are unjust: but you say, unjust I am, but You are more unjust. Behold your soul has been engaged, behold now your soul wages war. What? Against whom? Your soul, against God; that which has been made against Him by whom it was made. Even because you are in being to cry out against Him, you are ungrateful. Return, then, to the confession of your sickness, and beg the healing hand of the Physician. Think thou not they are happy who flourish for a time. You are being chastised, they are being spared: perchance for you chastised and amended an inheritance is being kept in reserve....Lastly, see what follows, "Let them put on confusion and shame, that think evil things to me." "Confusion and shame," confusion because of a bad conscience, shame because of modesty. Let this befall them, and they will be good....

"My mouth shall tell out Your righteousness" [Psalm 71:15]: not mine. From thence I will add to all Your praise: because even that I am righteous, if righteous I am, is Your righteousness in me, not my own: for You justify the ungodly. [Romans 4:5] "All the day long Your salvation." What is, "Your salvation"? Let no one assume to himself, that he saves himself, "Of the Lord is Salvation." Not any one by himself saves himself, "Vain is man's salvation." "All the day long Your Salvation:" at all times. Something of adversity comes, preach the Salvation of the Lord: something of prosperity comes, preach the Salvation of the Lord. Do not preach in prosperity, and hold your peace in adversity: otherwise there will not be that which has been said, "all the day long." For all the day long is day together with its own night. Do we when we say, for example, thirty days have gone by, mention the nights also; do we not under the very term days include the nights also? In Genesis what was said? "The evening was made, and the morning was made, one day." [Genesis 1:5] Therefore a whole day is the day together with its own night: for the night does serve the day, not the day the night. Whatever you do in mortal flesh, ought to serve righteousness: whatever you do by the commandment of God, be it not done for the sake of the advantage of the flesh, lest day serve night. Therefore all the day long speak of the praise of God, to wit, in prosperity and in adversity; in prosperity, as though in the day time; in adversity, as though in the night time: all the day long nevertheless speak of the praise of God, so that you may not have sung to no purpose, "I will bless God at every time, always the praise of Him is in my mouth.". ..

With reason there follows, "I will enter into the power of the Lord:" not my own, but the Lord's. For they gloried in their own power of the letter, therefore grace joined to the letter they knew not....But because "the letter kills, but the Spirit makes alive:" [2 Corinthians 3:6] "I have not known literature, and I will enter into the power of the Lord." Therefore this verse following does strengthen and perfect the sense, so as to fix it in the hearts of men, and not suffer any other interpretation to steal in from any quarter. "O Lord, I will be mindful of Your righteousness alone" [Psalm 71:16]. Ah! "alone." Why has he added "alone," I ask you? It would suffice to say, "I will be mindful of Your righteousness." "alone," he says, entirely: there of my own I think not. "For what have you which you have not received? But if also you have received, why do you glory as if you have not received." [1 Corinthians 4:7] Your righteousness alone does deliver me, what is my own alone is nought but sins. May I not glory then of my own strength, may I not remain in the letter; may I reject "literature," that is, men glorying of the letter, and on their own strength perversely, like men frantic, relying: may I reject such men, may I enter into the power of the Lord, so that when I am weak, then I may be mighty; in order that You in me may be mighty, for, "I will be mindful of Your righteousness alone."

"O God, You have taught me from my youth" [Psalm 71:17]. What have you taught me? That of Your righteousness alone I ought to be mindful. For reviewing my past life, I see what was owing to me, and what I have received instead of that which was owing to me. There was owing punishment, there has been paid grace: there was owing hell, there has been given life eternal. "O God, You have taught me from my youth." From the very beginning of my faith, wherewith You have renewed me, You taught me that nothing had preceded in me, whence I might say that there was owing to me what You have given. For who is turned to God save from iniquity? Who is redeemed save from captivity? But who can say that unjust was his captivity, when he forsook his Captain and fell off to the deserter? God is for our Captain, the devil a deserter: the Captain gave a commandment, the deserter suggested guile: where were your ears between precept and deceit? Was the devil better than God? Better he that revolted than He that made you? You believed what the devil promised, and found what God threatened. Now then out of captivity being delivered, still however in hope, not yet in substance, walking by faith, not yet by sight, "O God," he says, "You have taught me from my youth." From the time that I have been turned to You, renewed by You who had been made by You, re-created who had been created, re-formed who had been formed: from the time that I have been converted, I have learned that no merits of mine have preceded, but that Your grace has come to me gratis, in order that I might be mindful of Your righteousness alone.

"Your power and Your righteousness" [Psalm 71:19]. That is, that I may tell forth to every generation that is yet to come, Your arm. And what has Your arm effected? This then let me tell forth, that same grace to every generation succeeding: let me say to every man that is to be born, nothing you are by yourself, on God call thou, your own are sins, merits are God's: punishment to you is owing, and when reward shall have come, His own gifts He will crown, not your merits. Let me say to every generation that is to come, out of captivity you have come, unto Adam you belonged. Let me say this to every generation that is to come, that there is no strength of mine, no righteousness of mine; but "Your strength and Your righteousness, O God, even unto the most high mighty works which You have made." "Your power and Your righteousness," as far as what? Even unto flesh and blood? Nay, "even unto the most high mighty works which You have made." For the high places are the heavens, in the high places are the Angels, Thrones, Dominions, Principalities, Powers: to You they owe it that they are; to You they owe it that they live, to You they owe it that righteously they live, to You they owe it that blessedly they live. "Your power and Your righteousness," as far as what? "Even unto the most high mighty works which You have made." Think not that man alone belongs to the grace of God. What was Angel before he was made? What is Angel, if He forsake him who has created? Therefore "Your power and Your justice even unto the most high mighty works which You have made."

But this was discipline; admonition, not desertion. Lastly, giving thanks, he says what? "And being turned You have made me alive, and from the bottomless places of the earth again You have brought me back." But when before? What is this "again"? You have fallen from a high place, O man, disobedient slave, O thou proud against your Lord, you have fallen. There hast come to pass in you, "every one that exalts himself shall be humbled:" may there come to pass in you, "every one that humbles himself shall be exalted." [Luke 14:11] Return thou from the deep. I return, he says, I return, I acknowledge; "O God, who is like You? How great troubles have You shown to me, many and evil! And being turned You have made me alive, and from the bottomless places of the earth again You have brought me back." "We perceive," I hear. You have brought us back from the bottomless places of the earth, hast brought us back from the depth and drowning of sin. But why "again"? When had it already been done? Let us go on, if perchance the latter parts of the Psalm itself do not explain to us the thing which here we do not yet perceive, namely, why he has said "again." Therefore let us hear: "How great troubles You have shown to me, many and evil! And being turned You have made me alive, and from the bottomless places of the earth again You have brought me back." What then? "You have multiplied Your righteousness, and being turned You have comforted me, and from the bottomless places of the earth again You have brought me back" [Psalm 71:21]. Behold a second "again"! If we labour to unravel this "again" when written once, who will be able to unravel it when doubled? Now "again" itself is a redoubling, and once more there is written "again." May He be with us from whom is grace, may there be with us the arm also which we are telling forth to every generation that is to come: may He be with us Himself, and as with the key of His Cross open to us the mystery that is locked up. For it was not to no purpose that when He was crucified the veil of the temple was rent in the midst, but to show that through His Passion the secret things of all mysteries were opened. [Matthew 27:51] May He then Himself be with men passing over unto Him, be the veil taken away: [2 Corinthians 3:16] may our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ tell us why such a voice of the Prophet has been sent before, "You have shown to me troubles many and evil: and being turned You have made me alive, and from the bottomless places of the earth again You have brought me back." Behold this is the first "again" which has been written. Let us see what this is, and we shall see why there is a second "again."

But lest you should think the soul alone redeemed, wherein now you have heard one "again," "but still," he says; why still? "but still my tongue also:" therefore now the tongue of the body: "all day long shall meditate of Your righteousness" [Psalm 71:24]: that is, in eternity without end. But when shall this be? Hereafter at the end of the world, at the resurrection of the body and the changing into the Angelic state. Whence is it proved that this is spoken of the end, "but still my tongue also all day long shall meditate of Your righteousness"? "When they shall have been confounded and shall have blushed, that seek evil things for me." When shall they be confounded, when shall they blush, save at the end of the world? For in two ways they shall be confounded, either when they shall believe in Christ, or when Christ shall have come. For so long as the Church is here, so long as grain groans amid chaff, so long as wheat groans amid tares, so long as vessels of mercy groan amid vessels of wrath made for dishonour, so long as lily groans amid thorns, there will not be wanting enemies to say, "When shall he die, and his name perish?" "Behold there shall come the time when Christians shall be ended and shall be no more: as they began at a set time, so even unto a particular time they shall be." But while they are saying these things and without end are dying, and while the Church is continuing preaching the Arm of the Lord to every generation that is to come; there shall come Himself also at last in His glory, there shall rise again all the dead, each with his cause: there shall be severed good men to the right hand, but evil men to the left, and they shall be confounded that did insult, they shall blush that did mock: and so my tongue after resurrection shall meditate of Your righteousness, all day long of Your praise, "when they shall have been confounded and shall have blushed, that seek evil things for me."

Next there follows, "To judge Your people in justice, and Your poor in judgment" [Psalm 72:2]. For what purpose the royal Father gave to the royal Son His judgment and His justice is sufficiently shown when he says, "To judge Your people in justice;" that is, for the purpose of judging Your people. Such an idiom is found in Salomon: "The Proverbs of Salomon, son of David, to know wisdom and discipline:" [Proverbs 1:1] that is, the Proverbs of Salomon, for the purpose of knowing wisdom and discipline. So, "Your judgment give Thou, to judge Your people:" that is, "Your judgment" give Thou for the purpose of judging Your people. But that which he says before in, "Your people," the same he says afterwards in, "Your poor:" and that which he says before in, "in justice;" the same afterward in, "in judgment:" according to that manner of repetition. Whereby indeed he shows, that the people of God ought to be poor, that is, not proud, but humble. For, "blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of Heaven." [Matthew 5:3] In which poverty even blessed Job was poor even before he had lost those great earthly riches. Which thing for this reason I thought should be mentioned, because there are certain persons who are more ready to distribute all their goods to the poor, than themselves to become the poor of God. For they are puffed up with boasting wherein they think their living well should be ascribed to themselves, not to the grace of God: and therefore now they do not even live well, however great the good works which they seem to do....

"Let the mountains bear peace to the people, and the hills justice" [Psalm 72:3]. The mountains are the greater, the hills the less. These are without doubt those which another Psalm has, "little with great." For those mountains did exult like rams, and those hills like lambs of the sheep, at the departure of Israel out of Egypt, that is, at the deliverance of the people of God from this world's servitude. Those then that are eminent in the Church for passing sanctity, are the mountains, who are meet to teach other men also, [2 Timothy 2:2] by so speaking as that they may be faithfully taught, by so living as that they may imitate them to their profit: but the hills are they that follow the excellence of the former by their own obedience. Why then "the mountains peace: and the hills justice"? Would there perchance have been no difference, even if it had been said thus, Let the mountains bear justice to the people and the hills peace? For to both justice, and to both peace is necessary: and it may be that under another name justice herself may have been called peace. For this is true peace, not such as unjust men make among them. Or rather with a distinction not to be overlooked must that be understood which he says, "the mountains peace, and the hills justice"? For men excelling in the Church ought to counsel for peace with watchful care; lest for the sake of their own distinctions by acting proudly they make schisms and dissever the bond of union. But let the hills so follow them by imitation and obedience, that they prefer Christ to them: lest being led astray by the empty authority of evil mountains (for they seem to excel), they tear themselves away from the Unity of Christ....

"He shall judge the poor of the people, and shall save the sons of the poor" [Psalm 72:4]. The poor and the sons of the poor seem to me to be the very same, as the same city is Sion and the daughter of Sion. But if it is to be understood with a distinction, the poor we take to be the mountains, but the sons of the poor the hills: for instance, Prophets and Apostles, the poor, but the sons of them, that is, those that profit under their authority, the sons of the poor. But that which has been said above, "shall judge;" and afterwards, "shall save;" is as it were a sort of exposition in what manner He shall judge. For to this end He shall judge, that He may save, that is, may sever from those that are to be destroyed and condemned, those to whom He gives "salvation ready to be revealed at the" last time. [1 Peter 1:5] For by such men to Him is said, "Destroy not with ungodly men my soul:" and, "Judge me, O God, and sever my cause from the nation unholy." We must observe also that he says not, He shall judge the poor people, but, "the poor of the people." For above when he had said, "to judge Your people in justice and Your poor in judgment," the same he called the people of God as His poor, that is, only the good and those that belong to the right hand side. But because in this world those for the right and those for the left feed together, who, like lambs and goats at the last are to be put asunder; [Matthew 25:32] the whole, as it is mingled together, he has called by the name of the People. And because even here he puts judgment in a good sense, that is, for the purpose of saving: therefore he says, "He shall judge the poor of the people," that is, shall sever for salvation those that are poor among the people. "And He shall humble the false-accuser." No false-accuser can be more suitably recognised here than the devil. False accusation is his business. "Does Job worship God gratis?" [Job 1:9] But the Lord Jesus does humble him, by His grace aiding His own, in order that they may worship God gratis, that is, may take delight in the Lord. He humbled him also thus; because when in Him the devil, that is, the prince of this world, had found nothing, [John 14:30] he slew Him by the false accusations of the Jews, whom the false-accuser made use of as his vessels, working in the sons of unbelief. [Ephesians 2:2] ...

"And He shall endure to the sun," or, "shall endure with the sun" [Psalm 72:5]. For thus some of our writers have thought would be more exactly translated that which in the Greek is συμπαραμενεῖ . But if in Latin it could have been expressed in one word, it must have been expressed by compermanebit: however, because in Latin the word cannot be expressed, in order that the sense at least might be translated, it has been expressed by, "He shall endure with the sun." For He shall co-endure to the sun is nothing else but, "He shall endure with the sun." But what great matter is it for Him to endure with the sun, through whom all things were made, and without whom nothing was made, [John 1:3] save that this prophecy has been sent before for the sake of those who think that the religion of the Christian name up to a particular time in this world will live, and afterwards will be no more? "He shall endure" therefore "with the sun," so long as the sun rises and sets, that is, so long as these times revolve, there shall not be wanting the Church of God, that is, Christ's body on earth. But that which he adds, "and before the moon, generations of generations:" he might have expressed by, and before the sun, that is, both with the sun and before the sun: which would have been understood by both with times and before times. That then which goes before time is eternal: and that is truly to be held eternal which by no time is changed, as, "in the beginning was the Word." [John 1:1] But by the moon he has chosen rather to intimate the waxings and wanings of things mortal. Lastly, when he had said, "before the moon," wishing in a manner to explain for what purpose he inserted the moon, "generations," he says, "of generations." As though he were saying, before the moon, that is, before the generations of generations which pass away in the departure and succession of things mortal, like the lunar wanings and waxings. And thus what is better to be understood by His enduring before the moon, than that He takes precedence of all mortal things by immortality? Which also as follows may not impertinently be taken, that whereas now, having humbled the false-accuser, He sits at the right hand of the Father, this is to endure with the sun. For the brightness of the eternal glory is understood to be the Son: [Hebrews 1:3] as though the Sun were the Father, and the Brightness of Him His Son. But as these things may be spoken of the invisible Substance of the Creator, not as of that visible creation wherein are bodies celestial, of which bright bodies the sun has the pre-eminence, from which this similitude has been drawn: just as they are drawn even from things earthly, to wit, stone, lion, lamb, man having two sons, and the like: therefore having humbled the false-accuser, He endures with the sun: because having vanquished the devil by the Resurrection, He sits at the right hand of the Father, [Mark 16:19] where He dies no more, and death no longer over Him shall have dominion. [Romans 6:9] This too is before the moon, as though the First-born from the dead were going before the Church, which is passing on in the departure and succession of mortals. These are "the generations of generations." Or perchance it is because generations are those whereby we are begotten mortally; but generations of generations those whereby we are begotten again immortally. And such is the Church which He went before, in order that He might endure before the moon, being the First-born of the dead. To be sure, that which is in the Greek γενεας γενεῶν, some have interpreted, not "generations," but, "of a generation of generations:" because γενεας is of ambiguous case in Greek, and whether it be the genitive singular της γενε