Deus Misereatur

  (The quotation in the picture is from "The Works of Hannah More: Essays," from the chapter "Errors in Prayer" on page 324) Many, many years ago, I came across this observation from St. Augustine in one of his sermons on the Psalms. He was developing some thoughts regarding Psalm 77:1, where the sacred songwriter states, “ I cry aloud to God, aloud to God, and he will hear me .” Augustine then says that “many men cry unto the Lord for the sake of getting riches and avoiding losses, for the safety of their friends, for the security of their house, for temporal felicity, for secular dignity, lastly, even for mere soundness of body, which is the inheritance of the poor man. For such and such like things many men do cry unto the Lord; scarce one for the sake of the Lord Himself. For an easy thing it is for a man to desire anything of the Lord, and not to desire the Lord Himself ; as if forsooth that which He gives could be sweeter than Himself that gives.” It is an eas...

  Some of you have asked for this passage I quoted last Sunday in the sermon. John Calvin and Jonathan Edwards added their own “Amen” to Augustine’s statement in their day. And it really is a special statement. I have been pondering it since last week. Augustine wrote a letter (Letter No. 118) to Dioscorus, a young Greek scholar. In that dispatch Augustine upholds humility as the condition and foundation for Christian living. He wrote: “To [Christ) ... I wish you to submit with complete devotion, and to construct no other way for yourself of grasping and holding the truth than the way constructed by Him who, as God, saw how faltering were our steps. This way is first humility, second humility, third humility, and however often you should ask me I would say the same, not because there are no other precepts to be explained, but if humility does not precede and accompany and follow every good work we do, and if it is not set before us to look upon, and beside us to lean upon, and ...

  Briefly, James K.A. Smith's "On the Road with Saint Augustine" takes the reader on a journey with Augustine, but also Camus, Heidegger, and a few others. In fact, the table of contents is graphed out like a map with waypoints, where each chapter is a waypoint. The trek takes us through the concept of being on the road, along with other topics such as sex, ambition, mothers, friendship, justice, fathers and more. Through the book's travelogue, one learns more about the author. How he specialized in Augustine for his PhD studies, even attending an Augustinian academy, Villanova University in Pennsylvania. Other details surface, such as his physical travels through Europe, visiting shrines and important locations. And more intimate details come forth about his family of origin and family by marriage. But one also learns more about Augustine, much of which will be familiar to readers of the Confessions . While nuances are brought out that add more color, shading, and de...

O ALMIGHTY God, who alone canst order the unruly wills and affections of sinful men; Grant unto thy people, that they may love the thing which thou commandest, and desire that which thou dost promise; that so, among the sundry and manifold changes of the world, our hearts may surely there be fixed, where true joys are to be found; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen (1662 Book of Common Prayer) As I have pondered this prayer for years, it has drawn my mind to  a similar vein of sentiment found in St. Augustine. For example,  “I longed for honors, money, marriage, and you laughed at me. In these desires I underwent most bitter crosses, but in this you were too gracious to me to allow anything to grow sweet to me which was not yourself. ( . . . ) It does indeed make a difference where a man’s joy comes from” (“Confessions,” VI.6);  and  “Give what you command, and command what you will. ( . . . ) For he loves you too little who loves anything else with you...

If you knew me personally, you would know that underneath this Tigger exterior is a terribly lively Eeyore (apologies to A.A. Milne for stealing his characters). That means that joy is a struggle for me. No, not the surface, happy-go-lucky kind of glad-handing. That seems to come naturally. I mean a joy that is undying, irreversible, indefeasible, and irrefragable. Therefore, years ago, while reading St. Augustine’s “Confessions” I was thrilled by something he said, and have since committed it to memory. It is an anchor that holds me down when northeasters blow a-storming into my life.   “For there is a joy which is not given to the ungodly, but to those who love you for your own sake, whose joy is you yourself. And this is the happy life: to rejoice in you, of you, for you. This is true joy and there is no other” ( Confessions 10.22).   I hand it off to you with the hopes that you will find this same joy.  “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and pea...

The official gathering of God’s people in worship, that peculiar Lord’s Day assembly, is meant to be a place that divides. As Paul declares in 1 Cor. 14, it is the place where believers in Jesus are built up and edified, and unbelievers are convicted as the secrets of their hearts are revealed, and so fall on their faces crying out “God is truly among you.” The children’s First Catechism makes this clear when it answers the question, “Why did Christ appoint these sacraments?“ The answer is counterintuitive: “To distinguish his people from the world, and to comfort and strengthen them.” There are at least three reasons for this. The first is that the Church’s worship is unearthly. It is for those who are already citizens of the city of the living God. The writer of Hebrews says that in our worship, …you (2nd person plural) have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and church of th...

One of my favorite quotations from Augustine makes him sound like a 4th century version of John Piper. But it is rich and has fostored numerous hours of meditative reflection: There is a joy which is not given to the ungodly, but to those who love You for Your own sake, whose joy You Yourself are. And this is the happy life, to rejoice in You, of You, for You. This is true joy and there is no other ( Confessions , Book X. Sec. 22). First, notice that this joy has a very specific source or origin: loving God for His own sake. The implication is clear. There is no real joy from loving God for what one can get out of Him. That's the "ungodly" or pagan approach. Use the gods who use you. But this God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob is unlike any other god in the marketplace. "O LORD, God of Israel, there is no God like you, in heaven above or on earth beneath, keeping covenant and showing steadfast love to your servants who walk before you with all their heart" (1 Ki...