Restore unto me the joy of your salvation; and uphold me with your free spirit.
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Augustine of Hippo
AD 430
17. "Give back to me the exultation of Thy salvation" (ver. 12). "Give back" what I had; what by sinning I had lost: to wit, of Thy Christ. For who without Him can be made whole? Because even before that He was Son of Mary, "In the beginning He was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God;" and so, by the holy fathers a future dispensation of flesh taken upon Him, was looked for; as is believed by us to have been done. Times are changed, not faith. "And with Principal Spirit confirm me." Some have here understood the Trinity in God, Itself God; the dispensation of Flesh being excepted therefrom: since it is written, "God is a Spirit." For that which is not body, and yet is, seemeth to exist in such sort as that it is spirit. Therefore some understand here the Trinity spoken of: "In upright Spirit," the Son; in "Holy Spirit," Holy Ghost; in "Principal Spirit," Father. It is not any heretical opinion, therefore, whether this be so, or whether "upright Spirit" He would ha...
Salvation, or thy salutary joy, (Berthier) "the joy of thy Jesus "(St. Jerome) for whom he prays, (St. Augustine) knowing that He will save his people from their sins, and that there is salvation in no other name. (Haydock)
Perfect. Literally, "principal. "Septuagint, "conducting "such a spirit as may suit one who is to command. (Haydock)
This may denote sound reason, (4 Machabees; Philo Nobil) which keeps the passions under, (St. Chrysostom; Job xxx. 15.) or God himself, to whose Spirit all others should be subservient. Rance often inculcated to his Monks, the importance of having this principal spirit, which includes every virtue, particularly of liberality, as the Hebrew nediba, implies. (Berthier)
"Thy free Spirit. "(Protestants)
How earnestly should we endeavour to be disentangled from all the chains of our passions! (Haydock)
David might also fear, lest he had forfeited the throne, like Saul, whom the Spirit left, 1 Kings x. 9., and xvi. 14. Kings affected to be styled liber...
