The chastening of a just God hath produced man’s weakness; for there is a kind of strength that is a fault. It was by a kind of strength that man offended so as to require to be corrected by weakness; for it was by pride in himself that he offended in Paradise so as to require to be chastened by humility; therefore have many attained to sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. They would not be strong; in other words, they were afraid to presume of their own merits: they did not “go about to establish their own righteousness”; rather would they “submit themselves to the righteousness of God.”
Behold! You are mortal, and you bear about you a body of flesh that is corrupting away: “And you shall fall like one of the princes. You shall die like human beings” and shall fall like the devil. What good does the remedial discipline of mortality do you ? The devil is proud, as not having a mortal body, as being an angel. But as for you, who have received a mortal body, and to whom even this does no good, so as to humble you by so great weakness, you shall “fall like one of the princes.“ This then is the first grace of God’s gift, to bring us to the confession of our infirmity, that whatever good we can do, whatever ability we have, we may be that in I Cor. Him; that “He that glorieth, may glory in the Lord.” “When I am weak,” saith he, “then am I strong.”
St. Augustine of Hippo
Explanations of the Psalms
- A must-read piece by W. Bradford Wilcox at Public Discourse on What the Obama Revolution Means for Religion in America.
- At GetReligion, E.E. Evans writes on Lent and Textual Abstinence. It might even be more beneficial than what you were giving up!
- View from the other side: The New Scientist features a piece on religion that should be read with a careful eye, essentially advancing the argument that God does not exist, and that religion is the compelled invention of the human mind.
- At Conversant Life, Biola magazine editor Brett McCracken writes on Christian hipsters.
- Joseph Epstein has an interesting review in The Weekly Standard of Malcolm Gladwell and his rules by anecdote.
The City team is hard at work creating the next issue, which will go to press shortly. Expect a preview next week!
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