When it is said
The prayer that closes Augustine’s book begins by confessing faith in the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit and asking for strength to keep seeking God. These lines come later in it. After them Augustine looks ahead to the day we come to God, when all these words will cease and we will praise Him without end.
It is not an Orthodox service prayer. A Latin book of psalms and prayers for daily needs, printed among the works of Alcuin, copies the whole prayer. Anyone can pray it when thoughts will not be still.
Where it comes from
Author known
The end of a long book
Augustine had been bishop of Hippo for about four years when he began On the Trinity around AD 400. He worked on it for many years. A quotation in its last book shows he was still writing in AD 417 or later. He ended the whole work with a prayer to God.
Too many words
Just before these lines Augustine remembers the proverb that warns against too many words, because sin is never far from them (Proverbs 10:19). He wishes he spoke only to preach God’s word and to praise Him. Then he turns to the words he could not stop, the ones running on inside him.
The Scripture in it
The LORD knows the thoughts of man, that they are futile.
Bible text: Berean Standard Bible, public domain.
In Latin
Libera me, Deus meus, a multiloquio quod patior intus in anima mea,
misera in conspectu tuo, et confugiente ad misericordiam tuam.
Non enim cogitationibus taceo, etiam tacens vocibus.
Et si quidem non cogitarem nisi quod placeret tibi,
non utique rogarem ut me ab hoc multiloquio liberares.
Sed multae sunt cogitationes meae, tales quales nosti,
cogitationes hominum, quoniam vanae sunt.
Dona mihi non eis consentire,
et si quando me delectant, eas nihilominus improbare,
nec in eis velut dormitando immorari.
Nec in tantum valeant apud me, ut aliquid in opera mea procedat ex illis;
sed ab eis mea saltem sit tuta sententia, tuta conscientia, te tuente.
From On the Trinity (De Trinitate), Book 15, from the closing prayer, as printed by Augustinus.it.