Here we have just been singing We will confess^[1] to you, O God, we will confess and call on your name. What does confessing to God mean but humbling oneself before God, not arrogating to oneself any merits? For we have been saved by his grace, as the apostle says, not by works, lest anyone should exalt himself; for it is by his grace that we have been saved.^[2] You see, there was not any preexistent good life that he could look down at from up above and admire and love and say, Come on, let us go down and help these people, because they are leading good lives. He was displeased with our lives, he was displeased with everything we were making of ourselves, but he was not displeased with what he had made in us. So he will condemn what we have made, and what he has made he will save. He will condemn the evil deeds of men and women and save the men and women themselves.

So he gave us the way of humility. If we keep to it we shall confess to the Lord, and not without reason shall we sing, We will confess to you, O God, we will confess and call on your name. It is rather shameless to call on his name if you do not confess to him. First confess, in order to prepare a dwelling place for the one you are calling on, that is to say calling in. After all, your heart is full of wickedness. But confession sweeps out the uncleanness you are cluttered up with inside and cleans the house into which the one you are calling in is coming. But anyone who calls him in before confessing is deliberately insulting him by asking him in. If you would not dare invite some holy person into your house unless you had first cleaned it out, in case something should offend his eyes, will you have the nerve to call in the name of God into your heart full of wickedness, unless you have first swept out all the iniquity inside by confession?

We will confess to you, O God; we will confess to you and call upon your name; I will tell all your miracles. In this one verse the rule of holy devotion is explained in an orderly manner, for that Jewish people which would believe in Christ the Lord, whom the title admonishes, Do not destroy forever, breaks forth in voice and promises most devoutedly its confession. To confess (as we have often said) is to profess something in a conversation with many people. For even if one person is said to confess, he or she is understood to be allied with others who have already preceded in the faith or who will follow them. Next is the phrase, We will confess to you. The repetition itself attests to the solidity of the promise, which is never put forth in a transitory manner, but rather only when the firmness of the mind is being indicated, as in such phrases as My heart is prepared, O God, my heart is prepared^[1] and phrases similar to them. The word to you was said so that the worship of other gods might be denied because it is the true devotion that rightly reveres the Creator alone. And let us look carefully at the fact that to confess even once to an earthly judge often produces death, but frequent confession to God does not produce any danger, but salvation. The words are arranged in a beautiful order. He first says that he confesses, that is, he mourns his sins; afterwards he says that he calls upon the name of the Lord. For it is appropriate that we first purge our hearts by confession and in this way ought to call upon the name of the Lord to receive help. For to whom will he come other than to those whom he recognizes to be his own? But if he will call on him without feeling, he will appear to be demanding judgment upon himself, not forgiveness. Therefore, such things ought to be be stated in advance so that we may be able to call upon divine mercy with confidence.

If you say that,^[1] you will not be singing to no purpose, I said, Lord, have mercy on me; heal my soul, for I have sinned against you.^[2] If God is blamed for the evil that you do and you take credit for the good, then you are speaking wickedly against God. Listen to what the psalm has to say on this point: Do not lift your horn on high or speak wickedly against God. The iniquity you were speaking against God is this, that you were wishing to attribute everything good to yourself and everything bad to him. By lifting up the horn of pride, you were speaking wickedly against God. With humility you speak justly. And what is the equity you speak with humility? I said, Lord, have mercy on me; heal my soul, for I have sinned against you.^[3]

Thus, after the psalm had said, Do not lift your horn on high or speak iniquity against God, it went on immediately. Since neither from the east nor the west, nor from the mountain deserts; since God is judge he humbles this one and that one he exalts.^[1] He sees two people, that is, two kinds of people. So which two people does he see? One full of pride, the other confessing; one speaking justly, the other speaking unjustly. Who is speaking justly? The one who says I have sinned. And who is speaking unjustly? The one who says It is not I who sinned, it is my luck that sinned, my fate that sinned. So when you see two people, one speaking equity, the other iniquity, one humble, the other proud, do not be surprised that it goes on to say, Since God is judge, he humbles this one and that one he exalts.

, The cup of the Lord is at any rate filled with mixed wine.^[1] Although it is constantly drunk, nonetheless it is never fully drained. But when he says mixed wine, he is pointing to the New and Old Testaments, which make a salvific drink for souls when both are mixed. The Jews drink wine only, but not mixed wine, because they do not want to receive the health of the New Testament. The Manichaeans^[2] also do not drink mixed wine because they partly accept the New Testament but spit out the sacraments of the old law in rash boldness. He added, And he tips it from this to this. This absolutely refers to the two peoples, namely the Jews and the Gentiles, because he took the cup from the mouth of the Jews who did not believe and tipped it for the Gentiles nations to drink instead. It is a blessed and secure refreshment to receive the cup of salvation from him, who always knows how to offer beneficial things. This manner of speaking is peculiar to sacred Scripture, since it is scarcely able to be found in secular writings (or at least as I think).