That [phrase], “Give glory to God,” some think to be a formula for binding men by an oath, as [in] John ch. 9, v. 24. But “I,” says Masius, “as I do not wish to repudiate or refute this utterly, so I cannot altogether approve it, since nothing appears in that narration of John [to show] that the Pharisees wished the blind [man] to speak under oath: [they] who rather, offended by the accused humanity of Christ, were zealous to turn the man away from proclaiming his [Christ’s] divine power, and to lead [him] to ascribe the whole benefit to God alone.” Maldonatus, on that same passage of John (ch. 9, v. 24): “The manner,” he says, “is a way of speaking usual to the Hebrews, by which the accused were wont to be interrogated as though adjured by God with a solemn rite, admonished by these words that they stood before God, and that his majesty was to be revered by them — lest, then, they should lie before him who knew all things well, [and thereby], as though judging him to be ignorant of human affairs (which was a great injury against God), [whereas] they should rather defer this honor to him: that, by the reverence due in confessing, they should show in truth that they believed him to be ignorant of nothing. So, therefore, they said ‘give glory to God’ — just as the Spanish judge says, ‘place thy hand here,’ the cross being held out; and the Frenchman, ‘Raise thy hand,’ as [one] about to swear by God.” And this fits rightly, as much this [passage] as other passages of scripture: John 9:3, Ezra 9:8. But more is to be added. First, generally: Truly, by the confession of sins, glory is given to God — and indeed [glory] so much the greater, the more hidden and greater they [the sins] are. For by that very [act] the sinner in a manner professes that He is all-knowing, since [the things] which lay hidden from all men, and were stored and enclosed in the sole recesses of souls, [the sinner] of his own accord brings forth into the open and lays bare. He professes also that God is merciful — [in] that, by the confession of these [sins], as by a certain humility and by the affliction and trouble of himself, he might hope that something [of pardon] is obtained. He professes the same Lord to be supremely to be revered and feared, while by his command, or cause, and name, those things are said and declared which human fear and shame so hides, veils, wills, and wraps up that [the sinner] would wish them, if it could be, never to be found out by any of mortals. Let us hear St. Augustine in [his] enarration on Psalm 94: “Does not this too,” he says, “pertain to the praise of God, when thou confessest thy sins? Nay, it pertains most of all to the praise of God. Why does it pertain most of all to the praise of God, when thou confessest thy sins? Because the physician is praised so much the more, the more the sick man was despaired of. Confess, therefore, thy sins, the more thou didst despair of thyself on account of thy iniquities. For so much the greater is the praise of the one forgiving, the greater the enormity is of the one confessing [his] sins. Let us not think, then, that we have departed from the praise of the canticle, if we understand here too the confession by which we confess our sins. And this pertains to the praise of the canticle: because when we recognize our sins, we commend the glory of God.” Secondly: [that] Achan gave glory to God in other ways too, in particular — because he professed God [to be] most truthful, whose unknown sin was most truly indicated by lot to all; [that] he himself, among so many thousands, [was] the one [man] most truly convicted of sacrilege; [that] the same [God is] most just, who did not permit the Israelites to be stricken with disaster rashly, nor without cause; [that he is] most worthy of all reverence, whose precepts are all to be most accurately obeyed, and none [of them] to be violated; [that he is] most holy, from whom no things whatsoever dedicated [to him] ought to be turned away by anyone and transferred to [another’s] use; [that he is] most just, who most justly appoints punishments for misdeeds; [that he is] most powerful, whose sentence and punishment no one can escape by any force, art, flight, [or] hiding-place. Thirdly: If [the question] be treated of the confession which is made to priests among Christians, besides the aforesaid ways, glory is given to God also [in these]. First: Because the sacrament is taken [as] instituted by Christ Jesus himself; and by that very [fact] the worship of latria is attributed to Christ the Lord. Secondly: Because for his sake we subject ourselves to men, since they are his priests and ministers — and indeed most humbly, in a most humble matter, most troublesome and most full of blushing. Thirdly: Because the effect redounds to the highest glory of God, while the sinner is absolved from [his] sins, is washed from [his] filth, [and is made] clean and
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pure entirely, and from an enemy [becomes] a friend, from a slave of the Devil a son of God, from one liable to Gehenna an heir of paradise: then he gives thanks to God, praises his mercy and infinite kindness, and by a more amended life displays the divine grace to all, [and] assiduously proclaims God in this and the future life. All these [things] can, though copiously, be shown. But I will conclude with that discourse of the cited St. Augustine, by which he explains those words of Psalm 95: “Confession and beauty [are] in his sight.” “Dost thou love beauty?” he says. “Wilt thou be beautiful? Confess. He did not say ‘beauty and confession,’ but ‘confession and beauty’: thou wast foul, confess, that thou mayest be beautiful. Thou wast a sinner, confess, that thou mayest be just. Thou couldst make thyself foul, thou canst not make thyself comely. But of what sort is our Bridegroom, who loved [thee] foul, that he might make thee beautiful? How, says someone, did he love [her] foul? ‘I came not,’ he says, ‘to call the just, but sinners.’ Whom dost thou call sinners, that they may remain sinners? ‘No,’ he says. And how will they not be sinners? Confession and beauty [are] in his sight. For they confess their sins, they vomit up the evils which they greedily devoured. They do not return to their vomit, like the unclean dog, and there will be confession and beauty.”