And now because I know for certain that you will reign, etc. This is the voice of the penitent people of the Jews, seeking the path of salvation from Christ whom they acknowledged. And now because I know for certain that you are He of whom it is said, "His government will be multiplied, and there will be no end of peace" (Isa. IX), having in your dominion that kingdom in which the pure in heart will see God without any end to their blessedness, confirm, I pray, the faith which you have granted by the largess of your sacraments, and augment that same faith in me with your heavenly gifts, so that, having received the pledge of the Spirit, I may have confidence that the offspring of my works, born from my heart, will be saved from eternal destruction after the dissolution of the body. Nor take away my name from the house of the heavenly habitation, which you have deigned to give to my fathers, who awaited you faithfully and lovingly through the law to come. But as for some of the Jews who poured forth these and similar words of confession, the Lord justly granted their petition, and imbued with the sacraments of the Gospel, He made them faithful from among the catechumens and the competent.
[AD 735] Bede on 1 Samuel 24:20