Augustine of Hippo

See how he willed that kings should sing on their way, humbly bearing the Lord, not lifting themselves up against the Lord. For if they lift themselves up, what follows? "For the Lord is high, and has respect unto the lowly" [Psalm 138:6]. Do kings then desire that He have respect unto them? Let them be humble. What then? If they lift themselves up to pride, can they escape His eyes? Lest perchance, because you have heard, "He has respect unto the lowly," thou choose to be proud, and say in your soul, God has respect unto the lowly, He has not respect unto me, I will do what I will. O foolish one! Would you say this, if you knew what you ought to love? Behold, even if God wills not to see you, do you not fear this very thing, that He wills not to see you?...The lofty then, it seems, He has not respect unto, for it is the lowly He respects. "The lofty"— what? "He considers from afar." What then gains the proud? To be seen from afar, not to escape being seen. And think not that you must needs be safe on that account, for that He sees less clearly, who sees you from afar. For thou indeed see not clearly, what you see from afar; God, although He see you from afar, sees you perfectly, yet is He not with you. This you gain, not that you are less perfectly seen, but that you are not with Him by whom you are seen. But what does the lowly gain? "The Lord is near unto them that are of a contrite heart." Let the proud then lift himself up as much as he will, certainly God dwells on high, God is in heaven: do you wish that He come near to you? Humble yourself. For the higher will He be above you, the more you lift yourself up.

"You, Lord, shall recompense for me" [Psalm 138:8]. I recompense not: You shall recompense. Let mine enemies rage their full: You shall recompense what I cannot...."Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves," says the Apostle, "but rather give place unto wrath; for it is written, Vengeance is Mine, I will repay, says the Lord." [Romans 12:19] There is here another sense not to be neglected, perhaps even to be preferred. "Lord" Christ, "You shall repay for me." For I, if I repay, have seized; You have paid what You have not seized. Lord, You shall "repay for me." Behold Him repaying for us. They came to Him, who exacted tribute: [Matthew 17:24-26] they used to demand as tribute a didrachma, that is, two drachmas for one man; they came to the Lord to pay tribute; or rather, not to Him, but to His disciples, and they said to them, "Does not your Master pay tribute?" They came and told Him. He says unto Peter, "lest we should offend them, go thou to the sea, and cast an hook, and take up the fish that first comes up: and when you have opened his mouth, you shall find a stater: that take, and give for Me and you." The first that rises from the sea, is the First-begotten from the dead. In His mouth we find two didrachmas, that is, four drachmas: in His mouth we find the four Gospels. By those four drachmas we are free from the claims of this world, by the four Evangelists we remain no longer debtors; for there the debt of all our sins is paid. He then has repaid for us, thanks to His mercy. He owed nothing: He repaid not for Himself: He repaid for us....

"You have understood my thoughts from afar; You have tracked out my path and my limit" [Psalm 139:3]; "and all my ways You have seen beforehand" [Psalm 139:4]. What is, "from afar"? While I am yet in my pilgrimage, before I reach that, my true country, You have known my thoughts....The younger son went into a far country. After his toil and suffering and tribulation and want, he thought on his father, and desired to return, and said, "I will arise, and go to my father." "I will arise," said he, for before he had sat. Here then you may recognise him saying, "You have known my down-sitting and up-rising." I sat, in want; I arose, in longing for Your Bread. "You have understood my thoughts from afar." For far indeed had I gone; but where is not He whom I had left? Wherefore the Lord says in the Gospel, that his father met him as he was coming. Truly; for "he had understood his thoughts from afar." "My path," he says; what, but a bad path, the path he had walked to leave his father?...What is, "my path"? That by which I have gone. What is, "my limit"? That whereunto I have reached. "You have tracked out my path and my limit." That limit of mine, far distant as it was, was not far from Your eyes. Far had I gone, and yet You were there. "And all my ways You have seen beforehand." He said not, "hast seen," but, "hast seen beforehand." Before I went by them, before I walked in them, You saw them beforehand; and You permitted me in toil to go my own ways, that, if I desired not to toil, I might return into Your ways. "For there is no deceit in my tongue." What meant he by this? Lo, I confess to You, I have walked in my own way, I have become far from You, I have departed from You, with whom it was well with me, and to my good it was ill with me without You....

"Your skill has displayed itself wonderfully in me: it has waxed mighty: I shall not be able to attain unto it" [Psalm 139:6]. Listen now and hear somewhat, which is obscure indeed, yet brings no small pleasure in the understanding thereon. Moses, the holy servant of God, with whom God spoke by a cloud, for, speaking after human fashion, He must needs speak to His servant through some work of His hands which He assumed,...longed and desired to see the true appearance of God, and said to God, who was conversing with him, "If now I have found grace in Your sight, show me Yourself." [Exodus 33:13] When this he desired vehemently, and would extort from God in that sort of friendly familiarity, if we may so speak, wherewith God deigned to treat him, that he might see His Glory and His Face, in such wise as we can speak of God's Face, He said unto him, "You can not see My Face; for no one has seen My Face, and lived;" [Exodus 33:20] but I will place you in a cleft of the rock, and will pass by, and will set My hand upon you; and when I have passed by, you shall see My back parts. And from these words there arises another enigma, that is, an obscure figure of the truth. "When I have passed by," says God, "you shall see My back parts;" as though He has on one side His face, on another His back. Far be it from us to have any such thoughts of that Majesty! For whoso has such thoughts of God, what advantages it him that the temples are closed? He is building an idol in his own heart. In these words then are mighty mysteries....They who raged against the Lord, whom they saw, now seek counsel how they may be saved; and it is said to them, "Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the Name of Jesus Christ, and your sins shall be forgiven you." [Acts 2:38] Behold, they saw the back parts of Him, whose face they could not see. For His Hand was upon their eyes, not for ever, but while He passed by. After He had passed He took away His Hand from their eyes. When the hand was taken from their eyes, they say to the disciples, "What shall we do?" At first they are fierce, afterwards loving; at first angry, afterwards fearful; at first hard, then pleasant; at first blind, then enlightened....

"For if our heart should have a bad opinion [of us]," that is, should accuse us within, because we do not do with that intention with which it ought to be done, "God is greater than our heart and knows all things." You conceal your heart from people; conceal it from God if you can. How will you conceal it from him to whom it was said by a certain sinner, "Where shall I go from your spirit, and from your face where shall I flee?" He was asking where he might flee to escape the judgment of God and did not find [an answer]. For where is God not? "If I ascend into heaven," he says, "you are there. If I descend into hell, you are present." Where will you go? Where will you flee? Do you wish to listen to advice? If you wish to flee from him, flee to him! Flee to him by confessing, not by hiding from him. For you cannot hide, but you can confess. Say to him, "You are my refuge," and let love be nurtured in you, which alone leads to life. Let your conscience bear testimony to you because it is of God. If it is of God, do not wish to boast of it before people because neither the praises of people lift you into heaven nor do their censurings put you down from there. Let him who gives the crown see; let him be witness by whom as Judge you are crowned. God is greater than our heart and knows all things.

"For Thou, O Lord, hast possessed my reins" [Psalm 139:13]. The Possessor is within; He occupies not only the heart, but also the reins; not only the thoughts, but also the delights: He then possesses that whence I should feel delight at any light in this world: He occupies my reins: I know not delight, save from the inward light of His Wisdom. What then? Do you not delight that your affairs are very prosperous, times fortunate to you? Do you not delight in honour, in riches, in your family? "I do not," says he. Wherefore? Because "You have possessed my reins, O Lord; You have taken me up from my mother's womb." While I was in my mother's womb, I did not regard with indifference the darkness of that night and the light of that night....Now, having been taken up from the womb of that our mother, we look on them with indifference, and say, "As is His darkness, so is also His light." Neither does earthly prosperity make us happy, nor earthly adversity wretched. We must maintain righteousness, love faith, hope in God, love God, love our neighbours also. After these toils we shall have unfailing light, day without setting. Fleeting is all the light and darkness of this night.