Augustine of Hippo

"Render," he says, "to our neighbours seven times so much into their bosoms" [Psalm 79:13]. Not any evil things he is wishing, but things just he is foretelling and prophesying as to come. But in the number seven, that is, in sevenfold retribution, he would have the completeness of the punishment to be perceived, for with this number fullness is wont to be signified. Whence also there is this saying for the good, "He shall receive in this world seven times as much:" which has been put for all. "As if having nothing, and possessing all things." [2 Corinthians 6:10] Of neighbours he is speaking, because among them dwells the Church even unto the day of severing: for not now is made the corporal separation. "Into their bosoms," he says, as being now in secret, so that the vengeance which is now being executed in secret in this life, hereafter may be known among the nations before our eyes. For when a man is given over to a reprobate mind, in his inward bosom he is receiving what he deserves of future punishments. "Their reproach wherewith they have reproached You, O Lord." This do You render to them sevenfold into their bosoms, that is, in return for this reproach, most fully do You rebuke them in their secret places. For in this they have reproached Your Name, thinking to efface You from the earth in Your servants.

"But we Your people" [Psalm 79:14], must be taken generally of all the race of godly and true Christians. "We," then, whom they thought they had power to destroy, "Your people, and the sheep of your flock:" in order that he that glories may glory in the Lord, [1 Corinthians 1:31] "will confess to You for an age." But some copies have it, "will confess to You for everlasting." Out of a Greek ambiguity this diversity has arisen. For that which the Greek has, εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα, may be interpreted both by "for everlasting," and "for an age;" but according to the context we must understand which is the better interpretation. The sense then of this passage seems to me to show, that we ought to say "for an age," that is, even unto the end of time. But the following verse after the manner of the Scriptures, and especially of the Psalms, is a repetition of the former with the order changed, putting that before which in the former case was after, and that after which in the former case was before. For whereas in the former case there had been said, "we will confess to You," instead of the same herein has been said, "We will proclaim Your praise." And so whereas in the former case there had been said, "for an age," instead of the same herein has been said, "for generation and generation." For this repetition of generation does signify perpetuity: or, as some understand it, it is because there are two generations, an old and a new....But in many places of holy Scriptures we have already made known to you that confession is also put for praise: as in this passage it is, "These words you shall say in confession, 'That the works of the Lord are very good.'" [Sirach 39:33] And especially that which the Saviour Himself says, who had not any sin at all, which by repentance to confess: "I confess to You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them to babes." [Matthew 11:25] I have said this, in order that it may be more clearly perceived how in the expression, "We will proclaim Your praise," the same has been repeated as had been said higher up, "We will confess to You."

“O God of hosts, restore us to our own; smile on us, and we shall find deliverance.” For wherever the soul of a person may turn, unless it turns to you, it clasps sorrow to itself. Even though it clings to things of beauty, if their beauty is outside God and outside the soul, it only clings to sorrow.Yet these things of beauty would not exist at all unless they came from you. Like the sun, they rise and set. At their rise they have their first beginning; they grow until they reach perfection; but, once they have reached it, they grow old and die. Not all reach old age, but all alike must die. When they rise, therefore, they are set on the course of their existence, and the faster they climb toward its zenith, the more they hasten toward the point where they exist no more. This is the law they obey. This is all that you have appointed for them, because they are parts of a whole. Not all the parts exist at once, but some must come as others go, and in this way together they make up the whole of which they are the parts. Our speech follows the same rule, using sounds to signify a meaning. For a sentence is not complete unless each word, once its syllables have been pronounced, gives way to make room for the next. Let my soul praise you for these things, O God, Creator of them all; but the love of them, which we feel, through the senses of the body, must not be like glue to bind my soul to them. For they continue on the course that is set for them and leads to their end, and if the soul loves them and wishes to be with them and finds its rest in them, it is torn by desires that can destroy it. In these things there is no place to rest, because they do not last. They pass away beyond the reach of our senses. Indeed, none of us can lay firm hold of them even when they are with us. For the senses of the body are sluggish, because they are the senses of flesh and blood. They are limited by their own nature. They are sufficient for the purposes for which they were made, but they cannot halt the progress of transient things, which pass from their allotted beginning to their allotted end. All such things are created by your word, which tells them, “Here is your beginning, and here your end.”

For whatever other words we may say, whatever words the fervor of the suppliant utters at the beginning of his petition to define it or follows up afterward to intensify it, we say nothing that is not found in this prayer of the Lord, if we pray properly and fittingly. But whoever says anything in his prayer that does not accord with this Gospel prayer, even if his prayer is not of the forbidden sort, it is carnal, and I am not sure it ought not to be called forbidden, since those who are born again of the Spirit ought to pray only in a spiritual manner. For instance, he who says, “Be sanctified among all people, as you have been sanctified among us,” and, “May your prophets be found faithful,” what else does he say but “Hallowed be your name”? And he who says, “O God of hosts, convert us and show your face, and we will be saved,” what else does he say but “Your kingdom come”? He who says, “Direct my steps according to your word, and let no iniquity have dominion over me,” what else does he say but “Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven”? He who says, “Give me neither poverty nor riches,” what else does he say but “Give us this day our daily bread”? He who says, “O Lord, remember David and all his meekness,” or “Lord, if I have done this thing, if there be iniquity in my hands, if I have rendered to them that have repaid me evils,” what else does he say but “Forgive us our debts as we also forgive our debtors”? He who says, “Take from me the greediness of the belly and let not the lusts of the flesh take hold of me,” what else does he say but “Lead us not into temptation”? He who says, “Deliver me from my enemies, O God, and defend me from them that rise up against me,” what else does he say but “Deliver us from evil”? And if you were to run over all the words of holy prayers, you would find nothing, according to my way of thinking, that is not contained and included in the Lord’s Prayer. Hence when we pray, it is allowable to say the same things in different words, but it ought not to be allowable to say different things.

What is, "Thou that feedest Israel, hearken, You that conducts Joseph like sheep"? [Psalm 78:1]. He is being invoked to come, He is being expected until He come, He is being yearned for until He come. Therefore may He find "men guiding:" "You that conducts," he says, "Joseph like sheep:" Joseph himself like sheep. Joseph himself are the sheep, and Joseph himself is a sheep. Observe Joseph; for although even the interpretation of his name does aid us much, for it signifies increase; and He came indeed in order that the grain given to death might arise manifold; [John 12:24] that is, that the people of God might be increased...."You that sits upon the Cherubin." Cherubin is the seat of the glory of God, and is interpreted the fullness of knowledge. There God sits in the fullness of knowledge. Though we understand the Cherubin to be the exalted powers and virtues of the heavens: yet, if you will, you will be Cherubin. For if Cherubin is the seat of God, hear what says the Scripture: "The soul of a just man is the seat of wisdom." How, you say, shall I be the fullness of knowledge? Who shall fulfil this? You have the means of fulfilling it: "The fullness of the Law is love." [Romans 13:10] Do not run after many things, and strain yourself. The amplitude of the branches does terrify you: hold by the root, and of the greatness of the tree think not. Be there in you love, and the fullness of knowledge must needs follow. For what does he not know that knows love? Inasmuch as it has been said, "God is love." [1 John 4:8] "Appear." For we went astray because You did not appear. "Before Ephraim and Benjamin and Manasse" [Psalm 80:2]. Appear, I say, before the nation of the Jews, before the people of Israel. For there is Ephraim, there Manasses, there Benjamin. But to the interpretation let us look: Ephraim is fruit-bearing, Benjamin son of right hand, Manasses one forgetful. Appear Thou then before one made fruitful, before a son of the right hand: appear Thou before one forgetful, in order that he may be no longer forgetful, but You may come into his mind that hast delivered him....For weak You were when it was being said, "If Son of God He is, let Him come down from the Cross." [Matthew 27:40] You were seeming to have no power: the persecutor had power over You: and You showed this aforetime, for Jacob too himself prevailed in wrestling, a man with an angel. Would he at any time, except the angel had been willing? And man prevailed, and the angel was conquered: and victorious man holds the angel, and says, "I will not let you go, except you shall have blessed me." [Genesis 32:26] A great sacrament! He both stands conquered, and blesses the conqueror. Conquered, because he willed it; in flesh weak, in majesty strong....Having been crucified of weakness, rise in power: [2 Corinthians 13:4] "Stir up Your power, and come Thou, to save us."

"O Lord God of virtues, how long will You be angry with the prayer of Your servant?" [Psalm 80:4]. Now Your servant. You were angry at the prayer of Your enemy, will You still be angry with the prayer of Your servant? You have converted us, we know You, and will You still be angry with the prayer of Your servant? You will evidently be angry, in fact, as a father correcting, not as a judge condemning. In such manner evidently You will be angry, because it has been written, "My son, drawing near unto the service of God, stand thou in righteousness and in fear, and prepare your soul for temptation." [Sirach 2:1] Think not that now the wrath of God has passed away, because you have been converted. The wrath of God has passed away from you, but only so that it condemn not for everlasting. But He scourges, He spares not: because He scourges every son whom He receives. [Hebrews 12:6] If you refuse to be scourged, why do you desire to be received? He scourges every son whom He receives. He who did not spare even His only Son, scourges every one. But nevertheless, "How long will You be angry with the prayer of Your servant?" No longer your enemy: but, "You will be angry with the prayer of Your servant," how long?

"You have set us for a contradiction to our neighbours" [Psalm 80:6]. Evidently this did come to pass: for out of Asaph were chosen they that should go to the Gentiles and preach Christ, and should have it said to them, "Who is this proclaimer of new demons?" "You have set us for a contradiction to our neighbours." For they were preaching Him who was the subject of the contradiction. Whom did they preach? That after He was dead, Christ rose again. Who would hear this? Who would know this? It is a new thing. But signs did follow, and to an incredible thing miracles gave credibility. He was contradicted, but the contradictor was conquered, and from being a contradictor was made a believer. There, however, was a great flame: there the martyrs fed with the bread of tears, and given to drink in tears, but in measure, not more than they are able to bear; in order that after the measure of tears there should follow a crown of joys. "And our enemies have sneered at us." And where are they that sneered? For a long while it was said, Who are they that worship the Dead One, that adore the Crucified? For a long while so it was said. Where is the nose of them that sneered? Now do not they that censure flee into caves, that they may not be seen?

Conversion itself is from the grace of him to whom it is said, "God of hosts, convert us." Perhaps this must also be understood as done out of the mercy of the heavenly medicine so that people who possessed a proud and wicked will and wanted to establish their own justice might be abandoned for the purpose of being blinded. Perhaps they were blinded for the purpose of stumbling on the stone of stumbling and that their face might be filled with shame. Also, so that humbled they might seek the name of the Lord and not their own justice, by which the proud are puffed up, but God's justice by which the ungodly are justified? For this benefited many of them for their good, who, pricked with remorse over their own wrongdoing, afterwards believed in Christ; and for these he had even prayed himself, saying, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do." And about this ignorance of theirs the apostle, too, said, "I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge." For then he also added this and said, "For, not knowing God's justice and seeking to establish their own, they have not submitted themselves to the justice of God."

"A way You have made in the sight of her, and hast planted the roots of her, and she has filled the land" [Psalm 80:9]. Would she have filled the land, unless a way had been made in the sight of her? What was the way which was made in the sight of her? "I am," He says, "the Way, the Truth, and the Life." [John 14:6] With reason she has filled the land. That has now been said of this vineyard, which has been accomplished at the last. But in the mean time what? "She has covered the mountains with her shadow, and with her branch the cedars of God" [Psalm 80:10]. "You have stretched out her boughs even unto the sea, and even unto the river her shoots" [Psalm 80:11]. This requires the office of an expositor, that of a reader and praiser does not suffice: aid me with attention; for the mention of this vineyard in this Psalm is wont to overcloud with darkness the inattentive....But nevertheless the first Jewish nation was this vine. But the Jewish nation reigned as far as the sea and as far as the river. As far as the sea; it appears in Scripture [Numbers 34:5] that the sea was in the vicinity thereof. And as far as the river Jordan. For on the other side of Jordan some part of the Jews was established, but within Jordan was the whole nation. Therefore, "even unto the sea and even unto the river," is the kingdom of the Jews, the kingdom of Israel: but not "from sea even unto sea, and from the river even unto the ends of the round world;" this is the future perfection of the vineyard, concerning which in this place he has foretold. When, I say, he had foretold to you the perfection, he returns to the beginning, out of which the perfection was made. Of the beginning will you hear? "Even unto the river." Of the end will you hear? "He shall have dominion from sea even unto sea:" that is, "she has filled the earth." Let us look then to the testimony of Asaph, as to what was done to the first vineyard, and what must be expected for the second vineyard, nay to the same vineyard....What then, the vineyard before the sight whereof a way was made, that she should fill the earth, at first was where? "Her shadow covered the mountains." Who are the mountains? The Prophets. Why did her shadow cover them? Because darkly they spoke the things which were foretold as to come. You hear from the Prophets, Keep the Sabbath day, on the eighth day circumcise a child, offer sacrifice of ram, of calf, of he-goat. Be not troubled, her shadow does cover the mountains of God; there will come after the shadow a manifestation. "And her shrubs the cedars of God," that is, she has covered the cedars of God; very lofty, but of God. For the cedars are types of the proud, that must needs be overthrown. The "cedars of Lebanon," the heights of the world, this vineyard did cover in growing, and the mountains of God, all the holy Prophets and Patriarchs.

Then what? "Wherefore have You thrown down her enclosure?" [Psalm 80:12]. Now ye see the overthrow of that nation of the Jews: already out of another Psalm you have heard, "with axe and hammer they have thrown her down." When could this have been done, except her enclosure had been thrown down. What is her enclosure? Her defence. For she bore herself proudly against her planter. The servants that were sent to her and demanded a recompense, the husbandmen they scourged, beat, slew: there came also the Only Son, they said, "This is the Heir; come, let us kill Him, and our own the inheritance will be:" they killed Him, and out of the vineyard they cast Him forth. When cast forth, He did more perfectly possess the place whence He was cast forth. For thus He threatens her through Isaiah, "I will throw down her enclosure." Wherefore? "For I looked that she should bring forth grapes, but she brought forth thorns." [Isaiah 5:2] I looked for fruit from thence, and I found sin. Why then do you ask, O Asaph, "Why have You thrown down her enclosure?" For do you not know why? I looked that she should do judgment, and she did iniquity. Must not her enclosure needs be thrown down? And there came the Gentiles when the enclosure was thrown down, the vineyard was assailed, and the kingdom of the Jews effaced. This at first he is lamenting, but not without hope. For of directing the heart he is now speaking, that is, for the "Assyrians," for "men directing," the Psalm is. "Wherefore have You thrown down her enclosure: and there pluck off her grapes all men passing along the way." What is "men passing along the way?" Men having dominion for a time.

But with what profit is this? "O God of virtues turn Thou nevertheless" [Psalm 80:14]. Although these things have been done, "Turn Thou nevertheless." "Look from heaven and see, and visit this vineyard." "And perfect Thou her whom Your right hand has planted" [Psalm 80:15]. No other plant Thou, but this make Thou perfect. For she is the very seed of Abraham, she is the very seed in whom all nations shall be blessed: [Genesis 22:18] there is the root where is borne the graffed wild olive. "Perfect Thou this vineyard which Your right hand has planted." But wherein does He perfect? "And upon the Son of man, whom You have strengthened to Yourself." What can be more evident? Why do ye still expect, that we should still explain to you in discourse, and should we not rather cry out with you in admiration, "Perfect Thou this vineyard which Your right hand has planted, and upon the Son of man" perfect her? What Son of man? Him "whom You have strengthened to Yourself." A mighty stronghold: build as much as you are able. "For other foundation no one is able to lay, except that which is laid, which is Christ Jesus." [1 Corinthians 3:11]

Psalm 79 [LXX] is similarly titled "For the things that shall be changed." In this psalm, among other things, is written, "look down from heaven and see; visit this vineyard and perfect what your right hand has planted and on the son of man whom you have confirmed for yourself." This is the vineyard of which it is said, "You have brought a vineyard out of Egypt." Christ did not plant another; by his coming he changed that one into a better vineyard. Accordingly, we find in the Gospel: "He will utterly destroy those evil men, and will let out the vineyard to other vine dressers." The Gospel does not say, "He will uproot and will plant another," but "this same vineyard he will let out to other vine dressers." The city of God and congregation of the children of promise must be filled with the same community of saints by the death and succession of mortal beings and at the end of the world will receive its due immortality in all people. This same thought is expressed differently by means of the fruitful olive tree in another psalm, which says, "But I as a fruitful olive tree in the house of God, have hoped in the mercy of God forever, yea, for ever and ever." It was not because the unbelievers and the proud had been broken away and the branches were on that account unfruitful and the wild olive of the Gentiles was ingrafted that the root of the patriarchs and prophets died. Isaiah says, "For if your people, O Israel, shall be as the sand of the sea, a remnant of them shall be saved," but through him about whom the psalm says, "and on the son of man whom you have confirmed for yourself," and about whom is reiterated, "Let your hand be on the man of your right hand: and on the son of man whom you have confirmed for yourself. And we depart not from you." Through this Son of man, Christ Jesus, and from his remnant, that is, the apostles and the many others from among the Israelites who have believed in Christ as God, and with the increasing number of Gentiles, the holy vineyard is being completed. Thus, in the passing of the old rites and in the institution of the new, the title of the psalm, "For the things that shall be changed," is fulfilled.

"Things burned with fire, and dug up, by the rebuke of Your countenance shall perish" [Psalm 80:16]. What are the things burned with fire and dug up which shall perish from the rebuke of His countenance? Let us see and perceive what are the things burned with fire and dug up. Christ has rebuked what? Sins: by the rebuke of His countenance sins have perished. Why then are sins burned with fire and dug up? Of all sins, two things are the cause in man, desire and fear. Think, examine, question your hearts, sift your consciences, see whether there can be sins, except they be either of desire, or of fear. There is set before you a reward to induce you to sin, that is, a thing which delights you; you do it, because you desire it. But perchance you will not be allured by bribes; you are terrified with menaces, thou do it because you fear. A man would bribe you, for example, to bear false witness. Countless cases there are, but I am setting before you the plainer cases, whereby ye may imagine the rest. Have you hearkened unto God, and have you said in your heart, "What does it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, but of his own soul suffer loss?" [Matthew 16:26] I am not allured by a bribe to lose my soul to gain money. He turns himself to stir up fear within you, he who was not able to corrupt you with a bribe, begins to threaten loss, banishment, massacres, perchance, and death. Therein now, if desire prevailed not, perchance fear will prevail to make you sin....What had evil fear done? It had dug up, as it were. For love does inflame, fear does humble: therefore, sins of evil love, with fire were lighted: sins of evil fear were dug up. On the one hand, evil fear does humble, and good love does light; but in different ways respectively. For even the husbandman interceding for the tree, that it should not be cut down, says, "I will dig about it, and will apply a basket of dung." [Luke 13:8] The dug trench does signify the godly humility of one fearing, and the basket of dung the profitable squalid state of one repenting. But concerning the fire of good love the Lord says, "Fire I have come to send into the world." [Luke 12:49] With which fire may the fervent in spirit burn, and they too that are inflamed with the love of God and their neighbour. And thus, as all good works are wrought by good fear and good love, so by evil fear and evil love all sins are committed. Therefore, "Things set alight with fire and dug up," to wit, all sins, "by the rebuke of Your countenance shall perish."

"Let Your hand be upon the Man of Your right hand, and upon the Son of Man whom You have strengthened Yourself" [Psalm 80:17]. "And we depart not from You....You will quicken us, and Your Name we will invoke" [Psalm 80:18]. You shall be sweet to us, "You will quicken us." For aforetime we did love earth, not You: but You have mortified our members which are upon the earth. [Colossians 3:5] For the Old Testament, having earthly promises, seems to exhort that God should not be loved for nought, but that He should be loved because He gives something on earth. What do you love, so as not to love God? Tell me. Love, if you can, anything which He has not made. Look round upon the whole creation, see whether in any place you are held with the birdlime of desire, and hindered from loving the Creator, except it be by that very thing which He has Himself created, whom you despise. But why do you love those things, except because they are beautiful? Can they be as beautiful as He by whom they were made? You admire these things, because you see not Him: but through those things which you admire, love Him whom you see not. Examine the creation; if of itself it is, stay therein: but if it is of Him, for no other reason is it prejudicial to a lover, than because it is preferred to the Creator. Why have I said this? With reference to this verse, brethren. Dead, I say, were they that did worship God that it might be well with them after the flesh: "For to be wise after the flesh is death:" [Romans 8:6] and dead are they that do not worship God gratis, that is, because of Himself He is good, not because He gives such and such good things, which He gives even to men not good. Money will you have of God? Even a robber has it. Wife, abundance of children, soundness of body, the world's dignity, observe how many evil men have. Is this all for the sake of which thou dost worship Him? Your feet will totter, you will suppose yourself to worship without cause, when you see those things to be with them who do not worship Him. All these things, I say, He gives even to evil men, Himself alone He reserves for good men. "You will quicken us;" for dead we were, when to earthly things we did cleave; dead we were, when of the earthly man we did bear the image. "You will quicken us;" You will renew us, the life of the inward man You will give us. "And Your Name we will invoke;" that is, You we will love. You to us will be the sweet forgiver of our sins, You will be the entire reward of the justified. "O Lord God of virtues, convert us, and show Your face, and we shall be whole" [Psalm 80:20].

This grace he has placed in him "in whom we have obtained our lot, being predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things." And accordingly, just as he likewise brings it about that we should approach him, he brings it about that we not depart from him. For this reason it was said to him by the prophet, "Let your hand be on the man of your right hand, and on the son of man whom you have confirmed for yourself, and we depart not from you." This man is certainly not the first Adam, in whom we departed from God, but the second Adam, on whom is placed the hand of God, that we not depart from him. For Christ is complete, with all his members, because of the church, which is his body and his fullness. So when the hand of God is on him, that we not depart from God, then the work of God (for this is what is meant by his hand) reaches indeed to us. For in Christ "we have obtained our lot, being predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things." Therefore it is by God's hand, not our own, that we depart not from God. This is his hand, I say, who declared, "I will put fear of me into their hearts, that they may not revolt from me."