Augustine of Hippo

"O magnify the Lord our God!" [Psalm 99:9]. Again we magnify Him. He who is merciful even when He strikes, how is He to be praised, how is He to be magnified? Can you show this unto your son, and cannot God? For you are not good when thou dost caress your son, and evil when you strike him. Both when thou dost caress him you are a father, and when you strike him, you are his father: thou dost caress him, that he may not faint; you strike him, that he may not perish. "O magnify the Lord our God, and worship Him upon His holy hill: for the Lord our God is holy." As he said above, "O magnify the Lord our God and fall down before His footstool:" now we have understood what it is to worship His footstool: thus also but now after he had magnified the Lord our God, that no man might magnify Him apart from His hill, he has also praised His hill. What is His hill? We read elsewhere concerning this hill, that a stone was cut from the hill without hands, and shattered all the kingdoms of the earth, and the stone itself increased. This is the vision of Daniel which I am relating. This stone which was cut from the hill without hands increased, and "became," he says, "a great mountain, and filled the whole face of the earth." [Daniel 2:34-35] Let us worship on that great mountain, if we desire to be heard. Heretics do not worship on that mountain, because it has filled the whole earth; they have stuck fast on part of it, and have lost the whole. If they acknowledge the Catholic Church, they will worship on this hill with us. For we already see how that stone that was cut from the mountain without hands has increased, and how great tracts of earth it has prevailed over, and unto what nations it has extended. What is the mountain whence the stone was hewn without hands? The Jewish kingdom, in the first place; since they worshipped one God. Thence was hewn the stone, our Lord Jesus Christ....That stone then was born of the mountain without hands: it increased, and by its increase broke all the kingdoms of the earth. It has become a great mountain, and has filled the whole face of the earth. This is the Catholic Church, in whose communion rejoice that you are. But they who are not in her communion, since they worship and praise God apart from this same mountain, are not heard unto eternal life; although they may be heard unto certain temporal things. Let them not flatter themselves, because God hears them in some things: for He hears Pagans also in some things. Do not the Pagans cry unto God, and it rains? Wherefore? Because He makes His sun to rise over the good and the bad, and sends rain upon the just and the unjust. [Matthew 5:45] Boast not therefore, Pagan, that when you cry unto God, God sends rain, for He sends rain upon the just and the unjust. He has heard you in temporal things: He hears you not in things eternal, unless you have worshipped in His holy hill. "Worship Him upon His holy hill: for the Lord our God is holy."...

"Jubilate," therefore, "unto the Lord, all you lands" [Psalm 100:1]. This Psalm gives this exhortation to us, that we jubilate unto the Lord. Nor does it, as it were, exhort one particular corner of the earth, or one habitation or congregation of men; but since it is aware that it has sown blessings on every side, on every side it does exact jubilance. Does all the earth at this moment hear my voice? And yet the whole earth has heard this voice. All the earth is already jubilant in the Lord; and what is not as yet jubilant, will be so. For blessing, extending on every side, when the Church was commencing to spread from Jerusalem throughout all nations, [Luke 24:47] everywhere overturns ungodliness, and everywhere builds up piety: the good are mingled with the wicked throughout all lands. Every land is full of the discontented murmurs of the wicked, and of the jubilance of the good. What then is it, "to jubilate"? For the title of the present Psalm especially makes us give good heed to this word, for it is entitled, "A Psalm of confession." What means, to jubilate with confession? It is the sentiment thus expressed in another Psalm: "Blessed is the people that understands jubilance." Surely that which being understood makes blessed is something great. May therefore the Lord our God, who makes men blessed, grant me to understand what to say, and grant you to understand what ye hear: "Blessed is the people that understands jubilance." Let us therefore run unto this blessing, let us understand jubilance, let us not pour it forth without understanding. Of what use is it to be jubilant and obey this Psalm, when it says, "Jubilate unto the Lord, all you lands," and not to understand what jubilance is, so that our voice only may be jubilant, our heart not so? For the understanding is the utterance of the heart.

"Enter into His gates with confession" [Psalm 100:3]. At the gates is the beginning: begin with confession. Thence is the Psalm entitled, "A Psalm of Confession:" there be joyful. Confess that you were not made by yourselves, praise Him by whom you were made. Let your good come from Him, in departing from whom you have caused your evil. "Enter into His gates with confession." Let the flock enter into the gates: let it not remain outside, a prey for wolves. And how is it to enter? "With confession." Let the gate, that is, the commencement for you, be confession. Whence it is said in another Psalm, "Begin unto the Lord with confession." What he there calls "Begin," here he calls "Gates." "Enter into His gates in confession." What? And when we have entered, shall we not still confess? Always confess Him: you have always what to confess for. It is hard in this life for a man to be so far changed, that no cause for censure be discoverable in him: you must needs blame yourself, lest He who shall condemn blame you. Therefore even when you have entered His courts, then also confess. When will there be no longer confession of sins? In that rest, in that likeness to the Angels. But consider what I have said: there will there be no confession of sins. I said not, there will be no confession: for there will be confession of praise. You will ever confess, that He is God, thou a creature; that He is your Protector, yourself protected. In Him you shall be as it were hid. "Go into His courts with hymns; and confess unto Him." Confess in the gates; and when you have entered the courts, confess with hymns. Hymn are praises. Blame yourself, when you are entering; when you have entered, praise Him. "Open me the gates of righteousness," he says in another Psalm, "that I may go into them, and confess unto the Lord." Did he say, when I have entered, I will no longer confess? Even after his entrance, he will confess. For what sins did our Lord Jesus Christ confess, when He said, "I confess unto You, O Father"? [Matthew 11:25] He confessed in praising Him, not in accusing Himself. "Speak good of His Name."

While the reprobate angels and people continue in eternal punishment, the saints will have fuller knowledge of the good conferred on them by grace. Then, through the very facts themselves they will gain a clearer understanding of what is written in the psalm: "Mercy and judgment I will sing to you, O Lord," for it is only through unmerited mercy that anyone is freed and only through deserved judgment that anyone is condemned. Then will be clear what now is dark: When one of two children is through his mercy chosen by God for himself, while the other through his judgment is to be abandoned (the one chosen knowing what would have been his due through judgment had not mercy come to his aid), why the one rather than the other is chosen, when the condition of the two was the same? Or again, why miracles were not worked in the presence of some people who, had they been worked, would have done penance, while miracles were worked in the presence of those who were not going to believe anyway? For this is the Lord's very clear statement: "Woe to you, Korazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if in Tyre and Sidon had been worked the miracles that have been worked in you, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes." And surely there was no injustice in God's not willing that they be saved, though they could have been saved if he had so willed it.

Obviously, it is just that those who have pardoned should receive pardon and that it should be given to those who give. It is natural that there should be in God both mercy for him that judges and judgment for him that shows mercy. That is why we say to him, "Mercy and judgment I will sing to you, O Lord." Whoever, presuming on his own justice, expects judgment with mercy as if he were secure provokes the most just anger, of which the psalmist said in fear, "Enter not into judgment with your servant." Therefore, God says to his perverse people, "Why will you contend with me in judgment?" For when "the just king shall sit on his throne, who will boast that he has a chaste heart, or who will boast that he is pure of sin?" What hope is there, then, unless "mercy exalts itself above judgment," but only toward those who have shown mercy by saying sincerely, "Forgive us as we forgive" and by giving without protest? "For God loves a cheerful giver." Finally, in order to comfort those in whom the former sentence had roused extreme fear, James in the sequence to that passage speaks of the works of mercy, when he points out how even daily sins, without which there is no living in this world, are expiated by daily remedies. Without these, the person who becomes guilty of all by offending in one point and by offending in many—"because in many things we all offend"—would drag with him to the judgment seat of the great judge a mighty load of guilt, gathered up bit by bit, and would not find the mercy that he had not shown. By forgiving and giving, he deserves to have his debts forgiven and the promised reward given to him.

In this Psalm, we ought to seek in the whole body of it what we find in the first verse: "Mercy and judgment will I sing unto You, O Lord" [Psalm 101:1]. Let no man flatter himself that he will never be punished through God's mercy; for there is judgment also; and let no man who has been changed for the better dread the Lord's judgment, seeing that mercy goes before it. For when men judge, sometimes overcome by mercy, they act against justice; and mercy, but not justice, seems to be in them: while sometimes, when they wish to enforce a rigid judgment, they lose mercy. But God neither loses the severity of judgment in the bounty of mercy, nor in judging with severity loses the bounty of mercy. Suppose we distinguish these two, mercy and judgment, by time; for possibly, they are not placed in this order without a meaning, so that he said not "judgment and mercy," but "mercy and judgment:" so that if we distinguish them by succession in time, perhaps we find that the present is the season for mercy, the future for judgment. How is it that the season of mercy comes first? Consider first how it is with God, that you also may imitate the Father, in so far as He shall permit you...."He makes His sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust." Behold mercy. When you see the just and the unjust behold the same sun, enjoy the same light, drink from the same founts, satisfied with the same rain, blessed with the same fruits of the earth, inhale this air in the same way, possess equally the world's goods; think not that God is unjust, who gives these things equally to the just and the unjust. It is the season of mercy, not as yet of judgment. For unless God spared at first through mercy, He would not find those whom He could crown through judgment. There is therefore a season for mercy, when the long-suffering of God calls sinners to repentance.

"I will sing to the harp, and will have understanding, in the spotless way. When You shall come unto me" [Psalm 101:2]. Except in the spotless way, you can neither sing to the harp, nor understand. If you dost wish to understand, sing in the spotless way, that is, work with cheerfulness before your God. What is the spotless way? Hear what follows: "I walked in innocence, in the midst of my house." This spotless way begins from innocence, and it ends also in innocence. Why seek many words? Be innocent: and you have perfected righteousness....But who is innocent? He who while he hurts not another, injures not himself. For he who hurts himself, is not innocent. Some one says: Lo, I have not robbed any one, I have not oppressed any one: I will live happily on my own substance, the fruits of my virtuous toil; I wish to have fine banquets, I wish to spend as much as pleases me, to drink with those whom I like as much as I please; whom have I robbed, whom have I oppressed, who has complained of me? He seems innocent. But if he corrupt himself, if he overthrow the temple of God within himself, why hope that he will act with mercy toward others, and spare the wretched? Can that man be merciful to others, who unto himself is cruel? The whole of righteousness, therefore, is reduced to the one word, innocence. But the lover of iniquity, hates his own soul. When he loved iniquity, he fancied he was injuring others. But consider whether he was injuring others: "He who loves iniquity," he says, "hates his own soul." He therefore who wishes to injure another, first injures himself; nor does he walk, since there is no room. For all wickedness suffers from narrowness: innocence alone is broad enough to walk in. "I walked in the innocence of my heart, in the midst of my house." By the middle of his house, he either signifies the Church herself; for Christ walks in her: or his own heart; for our inner house is our heart: as he has explained in the above words, "in the innocence of my heart." What is the innocence of the heart? The middle of his house? Whoever has a bad house in this, is driven out of doors. For whoever is oppressed within his heart by a bad conscience, just as any man in consequence of the overflow of a waterspout or of smoke goes out of his house, suffers not himself to dwell therein; so he who has not a quiet heart, cannot happily dwell in his heart. Such men go out of themselves in the bent of their mind, and delight themselves with things without, that affect the body; they seek repose in trifles, in spectacles, in luxuries, in all evils. Wherefore do they wish themselves well without? Because it is not well with them within, so that they may rejoice in a good conscience....

"When the wicked man departed from me, I knew him not" [Psalm 101:4]. I approved him not, I praised him not, he pleased me not. For we find the word "to know" occasionally used in Scripture, in the sense of "to be pleased." For what is hidden from God, brethren? Does He know the just, and does He not know the unjust? What do you think of, that He does not know? I say not, what do you think; but what will you ever think, that He will not have seen beforehand? God knows all things, then; and yet in the end, that is in judgment after mercy, He says of some persons: "I will profess unto them, I never knew you; depart from Me, you workers of iniquity." [Matthew 7:23] Was there any one He did not know? But what means, "I never knew you"? I acknowledge you not in My rule. For I know the rule of My righteousness: ye agree not with it, you have turned aside from it, you are crooked. Therefore He said here also: "When the wicked man departed from Me, I knew him not."...Therefore, "when the wicked man departed from me," that is, when the wicked man was unlike me, and was unwilling to imitate my paths, was unwilling in his wickedness to live as I had proposed myself for his imitation; "I knew him not." What means, "I knew him not"? Not that I was ignorant of him, but that I did not approve him.

If it were always praiseworthy to suffer persecution, it would have been enough for the Lord to say, "Blessed are they that suffer persecution," without adding "for justice sake." Similarly, if it were always blameworthy to persecute, it would not be written in the sacred Books: "The one that in private speaks ill of his neighbor, him did I persecute." Sometimes, then, the one who suffers persecution is unjust, and the one who persecutes is just. It is clear that the bad have always persecuted the good and the good have persecuted the bad; the former to do harm unjustly, the latter to bring about amendment by punishment; the one without limits, the other within bounds; those as slaves of passion, these out of love. The one who kills does not mind how he butchers his victim, but the one who cures watches carefully how he cuts; he has health as his aim, the other destruction. Impious people killed the prophets; the prophets also killed impious people. The Jews scourged Christ, and Christ scourged the Jews. The apostles were delivered up by people to the civil rulers, and the apostles delivered up people to the power of Satan. In all these cases, what else is to be noted except to ask which of them served the cause of truth, which that of sin; which one wished to injure, which one wished to convert?

"Whoso privily slandered his neighbour, him I persecuted" [Psalm 101:5]. Behold the righteous persecutor, not of the man, but of the sin. "With the proud eye, and the insatiable heart, I did not feed." What means, "I did not feed with"? I did not eat in common with such. Attend, beloved; since you are about to hear something wonderful. If he did not feed with this man, he did not eat with him; for to feed is to eat; how is it then that we find our Lord Himself eating with the proud? It was not only with those publicans and sinners, for they were humble: for they acknowledged their weakness, and asked for the physician. We find that He ate with the proud Pharisees themselves. A certain proud man had invited Him: it was the same who was displeased because a sinning woman, one of ill repute in the city, approached the feet of our Lord....That Pharisee was proud: the Lord ate with him; what is it therefore that he says? "With such an one I did not eat." How does He enjoin unto us what He has not done Himself? He exhorts us to imitate Himself: we see that He ate with the proud; how does He forbid us to eat with the proud? We indeed, brethren, for the sake of reproof, abstain from communion with our brethren, and do not eat with them, that they may be reformed? We rather eat with strangers, with Pagans, than with those who hold with us, if we have seen that they live wickedly, that they may be ashamed, and amend; as the Apostle says, "And if any man obey not our word by this Epistle, note that man, and have no company with him, that he may be ashamed. Yet count him not as an enemy, but admonish him as a brother." [2 Thessalonians 3:14] For the sake of healing others we usually do this; but nevertheless we often eat with many strangers and ungodly men.