Sermon 29B
Sermon 29/B
Sermon of the blessed bishop Augustine
on the eve of Pentecost on the verse of the psalm:
Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good, etc..
Confession can be made in two ways.
The divine word exhorts us and says: Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good. Give thanks, it says, to the Lord. And as if you were asking for a reason, it adds: For He is good. Let not the guilty fear the severity of the judge: there is security in confession, goodness in the listener. You linger before a human examiner if you confess; you linger before a divine pre-examiner if you do not confess. When a man hears you, he waits to learn from your confession what kind of case you have. But God judges even when you think about it. Therefore confess, so that you may have God propitious. For you cannot hide if you deny. When God admonishes you to confess, He does not expect your contempt, but your humility. Confession, however, in the holy Scriptures, is usually said and understood in two ways: one is of your punishment, the other of the praise of God. By your punishment, I mean when you repent. For everyone who repents punishes himself, lest he be punished by the Lord. Therefore, since confession is understood in two ways - that is: it is not only the confession of sins but also the praise of God - let us first prove this, and afterwards we will discuss each kind of confession as the Lord will grant.
Concerning confession in praise of God.
The confession of sins is usual and known, nor is there a need to prove it, but to remind. We should rather seek confession in praise of God, as we might prove. For indeed men are so accustomed to calling confession their own sins, that almost always, when the reader's voice is heard: "Confess," immediately chests are struck, and murmuring conscience is admonished. This almost always happens; yet confession of sins is not always said; sometimes indeed it is of praise, as Scripture says in a certain place: Confess to the Lord, and say this in confession: all the works of the Lord are very good. When you hear: Say this in confession: all the works of the Lord are very good, it is evident that this confession is of God's praise, not of your iniquity. For you confess all the works of the Lord good, not your evil. You have something else, similarly without doubt. The Lord Jesus surely had no sin, and yet says in the Gospel: I confess to you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth. Then follows praise: For you have hidden these things from the wise and prudent, and revealed them to babes. Even so, Father, for it seemed good in your sight. This is the confession of one praising God, not accusing himself. Since therefore one who confesses either accuses himself or praises God, consider for a moment what usefulness each confession has.
By accusing sin, we earn pardon.
Anyone who accuses himself of being evil displeases himself. To the extent that he dislikes himself for being evil, he already begins to be good, because being evil displeases him. This is the beginning of the union of our heart with the law of God, so that what He punishes, you also punish, what displeases Him, also displeases you; you already begin to hate sin with God and you begin to hate yourself with Him, so that He begins to love you. For sin cannot go unpunished. You do not want Him to punish it: punish it yourself. For sin cannot be left unpunished. Either you punish it and He frees you, or you let it pass and He punishes it. For why is the publican justified more than the Pharisee, why did he deserve to be spared, if not because he did not spare himself? He cast his eyes to the ground and his heart was raised on high, he struck his breast and cared for his conscience. What more can be said? He descended justified, more than the Pharisee. If you seek the reason, it is because whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.
"Precede judgment and you will find a liberator."
Coming before the judge, be a judge to yourself. Anticipate the judge and you will find the one who frees. What does it mean to "anticipate"? Before he punishes, you punish yourself. Surely you have read: Let us go before His face with confession. Two words seem contrary to each other: acknowledge and forgive. You wish Him to forgive: acknowledge yourself. See what a penitent accuser says in the psalm: Turn away Your face. But from what? He does not say: "From me." For in another place he says: Do not turn Your face away from me. So from what, then, does he say? Turn away Your face from my sins. By what merit does he desire that God turn away His face not from him, but from his sins, so that in not seeing them He may see him? By what merit? Pay attention and imitate. For he says in the same psalm: Because I acknowledge my iniquity. Therefore, you forgive. And my sin, he says, is always before me. He touched upon those who put the sins of others before themselves, and their own sins behind them, the sins of others which they reproach by condemning, their own sins which they defend by bearing.
Let your iniquity displease you.
Therefore, the Lord, because those who put their sins behind them and do not wish to see them, and dissemble to avoid acknowledging them, threatens the sinner, saying: "You did these things, and I was silent." What does "I was silent" mean? I did not avenge, I did not punish, I did not send you to hell. You did and you lived, and did again, because you mocked My leniency. You suspected iniquity, thinking I would be like you, that is, you thought I was like you, as if iniquity pleased Me as it does you. See then how much it benefits you if your iniquity displeases you. Hence you begin to be like God, lest you perversely desire God to be like you. Consider how you are perverted: God made you in His likeness, and you want to bring God to your likeness. Therefore, you did, and I was silent, this means I did not avenge. You suspected iniquity, thinking I would be like you. All the wicked, unjust, lost, blasphemous, and criminal say this: "Indeed, if the things we do displeased God, we would not live." What is: "if these things displeased God, we would not live"? Do you say this? Therefore, these things please God. You suspected iniquity: these things do not please God, God will not be like you. Rather correct yourself, and you will be like God. But you refuse, you put yourself behind yourself; you do not do what is written: "My sin is always before me," but you put yourself behind yourself. Listen to what follows: "I will reprove you and set you before your face." What you do not want, He says, I will do: I put you before you, I punish you from yourself. Therefore, do it, so that He does not; put yourself before you and say securely: "For I acknowledge my iniquity, and my sin is always against me; it is not before You, because it is before me; turn Your face away, from what I do not turn away; forgive what I acknowledge." Therefore, do not fear that you will die, confess so that you will not die.
On the confession of praise.
Behold now the confession of praise: because in the confession of sin you displeased yourself, in the confession of praise you will please God. Let what you did in yourself displease you, let the one who made you please you. For sin is your work, you are God's work. God hates your work in His work. Therefore, turn to Him, confess to Him, and by accusing yourself and praising Him, then you will be righteous. For perverse men do the opposite: they praise themselves and accuse God. See and, if you recognize it in yourself, amend it, because, even if you are not now what I am going to say, you have been at some time. This is the habit of perverse men. Blasphemous, when they do something good, they want to praise themselves; when they do something bad, they want to accuse God. "Ungrateful," says the puffed-up and arrogant spirit, "ungrateful, I granted you this and that, and I conferred these and those things upon you." There, with cheeks almost bursting, it resounds: "I, I!" On the contrary, if a sin is discovered, if theft, if adultery, if anything of this kind, when you begin to be rebuked in the presence of the leader, you say: "My bad fate," or if you do not name fate: "If God did not want it, would I have done it?" Whether you accuse God directly, or indirectly through fate—for in fate you blame the stars: but the stars are God's works—in any way, you want to blame God, defend yourself. Correct it, and what you raised up, let it be down; what you made down, lift up. You sinned: accuse yourself. You did well: praise God.
"You will be corrected by confessing your sins and praising God."
In your sin, speak the words of the Psalm: "I said: Lord, have mercy on me; heal my soul, for I have sinned against You." Here say: "I." Where you say: "I have sinned against You," there say: "I." Why do you remove yourself from there, where God will find no one but you? Pay attention and learn. "I," he says, "said: Lord, I have sinned against You. I said.” Remember that it was I who said, not fate, not fortune, not you, not even the devil himself, because had I not willed it, I would not have consented. For it is not good to accuse the devil and excuse oneself. For God has commanded forgiveness for those who confess. You did not do it: you are not forgiven because you did nothing. You ask for forgiveness: confess your guilt, so that you do not find punishment. The devil himself, however, wants you to be angry with him; when he is accused, he rejoices entirely, provided that he removes your confession. So when you sin, say: "I"; but when you do good, say what the Apostle says: "It is not I who live, but the grace of God with me." You will be corrected by confessing your sins and praising God: your bad works, His good works. And you will confess to the Lord because He is good; and to confess to Him is not, as in this transitory life, to be pitied temporarily, for His mercy is everlasting. Turned to the Lord, etc.