Migne Reading Room
PL 38 · cols. 142–148
Augustine, Sermo 21 (De uerbis Psalmi 61)
Sermon XXI
SERMO XXI. De eo quod scriptum est in Psalmo LXIII, 11, Jucundabitur justus in Domino.
SERMON XXI. On that which is written in Psalm 63:11, The just man shall be glad in the Lord.
1. Jucunditas piorum in Deo etiam in hac vita. — Jucundabitur justus in Domino, et sperabit in eo, et gloriabuntur omnes recti corde. Hoc certe voce et ore cantamus. Haec verba Domino dixit et conscientia et lingua christiana, Jucundabitur justus in Domino, non in saeculo. Lux orta est justo, dicit alibi, et rectis corde jucunditas (Psal. XCVI, 11). Quaerens unde jucunditas, hic audis, Jucundabitur justus in Domino. Lux orta est justo, dicit alibi; et alibi, Delectare in Domino, et dabit tibi petitiones cordis tui (Psal. XXXVI, 4). Quid nobis indicitur? quid donatur? quid jubetur? quid datur? Ut jucundemur in Domino. Quis jucundabitur in ea re quam non videt? An forte videmus Dominum? Hoc in promissione detinemus: nunc autem per fidem ambulamus, quamdiu sumus in corpore, peregrinamur a Domino; per fidem, non per speciem (II Cor. V, 6, 7). Tunc ad speciem veniemus, quando implebitur quod item Joannes dicit: Dilectissimi, filii Dei sumus, et nondum apparuit quid erimus: scimus quia cum apparuerit, similes ei erimus, quando eum videbimus sicuti est (I Joan. III, 2). Tunc ergo magna et perfecta jucunditas, et tunc plenum gaudium, ubi jam non spes lactat, sed res nutrit. Tamen etiam nunc, antequam res ipsa veniat nobis, antequam nos ad rem ipsam veniamus, jucundemur in Domino. Neque enim parvam jucunditatem habet spes, cujus postea erit res. Et in istis temporalibus rebus, in jucunditate, non Domini, sed saeculi, nonnulli multa amant, et ad ea quae amant, nondum pervenerunt: et tamen ardor in spe currit, rem nondum tenet. Verbi gratia, amas pecuniam; non amares, si non sperares: amas uxorem, non ductam, sed adhuc ducendam; et forte ducenda amatur, ducta odio habebitur. Quare hoc? Quia talis non apparuit ducta, qualis ab animo pingebatur ducenda. Deus autem non vilescit praesens, amatur absens. Quantumcumque enim sibi humana mens exaggeraverit bonum quod Deus est, minus agit, et valde infra est; et necesse est plus inveniat adeptio, quam formabat cogitatio. Plus ergo amabimus cum viderimus, si potuerimus amare et antequam videremus. Modo ergo in spe amamus. Ideo jucundabitur, inquit, justus in Domino. Et continuo, quia nondum videt, et speravit in eo.
1. The gladness of the godly in God, even in this life. — The just man shall be glad in the Lord, and shall hope in Him, and all the upright of heart shall glory. This, surely, we sing with voice and mouth. These words both the Christian conscience and the Christian tongue have spoken to the Lord: The just man shall be glad in the Lord, not in the world. Light is risen to the just, he says elsewhere, and gladness to the upright of heart (Ps. 96:11). Asking whence gladness [comes], here you hear: The just man shall be glad in the Lord. Light is risen to the just, he says elsewhere; and elsewhere, Delight in the Lord, and He will give you the petitions of your heart (Ps. 36:4). What is enjoined on us? what is bestowed? what is commanded? what is given? That we be glad in the Lord. Who will be glad in a thing which he does not see? Or do we perhaps see the Lord? This we hold in promise: but now we walk by faith; as long as we are in the body, we are pilgrims from the Lord; by faith, not by sight (2 Cor. 5:6, 7). Then shall we come to sight, when that shall be fulfilled which John likewise says: Dearly beloved, we are sons of God, and it has not yet appeared what we shall be: we know that when He shall appear, we shall be like Him, when we shall see Him as He is (1 John 3:2). Then, therefore, [there will be] great and perfect gladness, and then full joy, where hope no longer gives suck, but the reality feeds. Yet even now, before the reality itself comes to us, before we come to the reality itself, let us be glad in the Lord. For hope, whose reality will come afterwards, has no small gladness. Even in these temporal things, in a gladness not of the Lord but of the world, some love many things, and have not yet attained to the things they love: and yet their ardour runs on in hope, though it does not yet hold the thing. For example, you love money; you would not love it, if you did not hope [for it]: you love a wife, not [one already] married, but [one] still to be married; and perhaps she is loved while she is to be married, and will be held in hatred once married. Why so? Because, once married, she did not appear such as the mind was painting her while she was to be married. But God does not grow cheap when present, Who is loved when absent. For however much the human mind may magnify for itself the good that God is, it falls short, and is far beneath Him; and the attaining must needs find more than the thinking was shaping. We shall love more, then, when we have seen, if we have been able to love even before we saw. Now, therefore, we love in hope. Therefore, he says, the just man shall be glad in the Lord. And at once, because he does not yet see, and has hoped in Him.
2. Deo nunc propinquamus humilitate et charitate. Habemus tamen primitias Spiritus, et aliunde fortasse, ei quem diligimus, propinquamus; et quod avide manducaturi et bibituri sumus, nunc, etsi tenuiter, praelambimus atque gustamus. Unde hoc probamus? Neque enim Deus, quem jubemur diligere, in quo jubemur jucundari, aurum est, aut argentum est, aut terra est, aut coelum est, aut lux ista solis
2. We now draw near to God by humility and charity. Yet we have the first-fruits of the Spirit, and perhaps by another way we draw near to Him Whom we love; and what we are going to eat and drink eagerly, we now, though thinly, lick beforehand and taste. Whence do we prove this? For God, Whom we are bidden to love, in Whom we are bidden to be glad, is not gold, or silver, or earth, or heaven, or this light of the sun—
Editors' notes and page, col. 142
Footnotes
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(1) ‹anchor: nonnulli multa amant› · call in col 142
In Flori collectione, Et in istis temporalibus rebus jucunditatem, non Domini, sed saeculi, nonnullam multi amant. In Victorino Ms., nonnulla multi amant.
In Florus's collection: "And in these temporal things many love some gladness, not of the Lord but of the world." In the Victorine manuscript: "many love some things."
(printed under page 77) (*) ‹anchor: SERMO XXI› · call in col 142 Recognitus a nobis in libro v. et Sirm. [reading uncertain: the line is faintly printed]
Revised by us in the book v. [the Victorine manuscript] and Sirm[ond]. [the reading of the line is not certain]
(printed under page 77)
(a) ‹anchor: SERMO XXI› · call in col 142
Alias, 5 ex Sirmondianis.
Formerly, the 5th of the Sirmondian sermons.
(printed under page 77)
est, aut quidquid de coelo fulget, aut quidquid de terra resplendet luce perfusum. Nullum corpus est Deus, spiritus est. Ideo, inquit, qui adorant, in spiritu et veritate oportet adorare (Joan. IV, 22). Non in loco aliquo corporis, quia non est corpus: non tanquam in monte excelso, ut per altitudinem montis putes te propinquare Deo. Excelsus quidem est Dominus, sed humilia respicit; excelsa autem a longe cognoscit (Psal. CXXXVII, 6); humilia non longe. Certe excelsus est, et utique, si excelsa a longe cognoscit, humilia longinquius debet advertere. Si ab excelsis celsitudine sua longinquus est, ut ea a longe cognoscat; quanto magis, ait aliquis, ab humilibus ejus longe celsitudo secessit? Non ita est. Excelsus est enim Deus, et humilia respicit. Quomodo ea respicit? Prope est Dominus omnibus his qui obtriverunt cor (Psal. XXXIII, 19). Noli ergo quaerere montem altum, unde tibi vicinior esse videaris. Si extollis te, longe secedit a te: si humilias te, inclinat se ad te. Publicanus de longe stabat, et ideo Deus illi facilius propinquabat: nec oculos levare audebat ad coelum (Luc. XVIII, 13), et jam secum habebat qui fecerat coelum. Unde ergo jucundamur in Domino, si a nobis tam longe est Dominus? Ut non sit longe, et ut longe sit, tu facis. Ama, et propinquabit: ama, et habitabit. Dominus in proximo est, nihil solliciti fueritis (Philipp. IV, 5 et 6). Vis videre quam si amaveris tecum sit? Deus charitas est (I Joan. IV, 8). Quid longe lateque volitant phantasmata cogitationis tuae, et dicis tibi, Putas quid est Deus? putas qualis est Deus? Quidquid finxeris, non est: quidquid cogitatione comprehenderis, non est. Si enim ipse esset, cogitatione comprehendi non posset. Sed ut aliquid gustu accipias, Deus charitas est. Dicturus es mihi, Putas quid est charitas? Charitas est qua diligimus. Quid diligimus? Ineffabile bonum, bonum beneficum, bonum bonorum omnium creatorem. Ipse te delectet, a quo habes quidquid te delectat. Non peccatum dico: nam peccatum solum ab illo non habes. Excepto peccato, ab illo habes quidquid aliud habes.
—or whatever shines from heaven, or whatever gleams on earth flooded with light. God is no body; He is spirit. Therefore, He says, they that adore must adore in spirit and truth (John 4:22). Not in any bodily place, because He is not a body: not as on a lofty mountain, so that you should think you draw near to God by the height of the mountain. The Lord is indeed lofty, but He regards the lowly; the lofty, however, He knows from afar (Ps. 137:6); the lowly not from afar. Surely He is lofty, and certainly, if He knows lofty things from afar, He must notice lowly things from further off still. If by His loftiness He is far from lofty things, so that He knows them from afar, how much more, someone says, has His loftiness withdrawn far from the lowly? It is not so. For God is lofty, and regards the lowly. How does He regard them? The Lord is near to all those who have bruised their heart (Ps. 33:19). Do not, then, seek a high mountain from which you may seem to yourself to be nearer [to Him]. If you lift yourself up, He withdraws far from you; if you humble yourself, He bends down to you. The publican stood afar off, and therefore God drew near to him the more easily: he did not dare to lift his eyes to heaven (Luke 18:13), and already he had with him Him Who had made heaven. Whence, then, are we glad in the Lord, if the Lord is so far from us? That He be not far, and that He be far, is your doing. Love, and He will draw near; love, and He will dwell [in you]. The Lord is near, be solicitous about nothing (Phil. 4:5–6). Do you wish to see how He is with you if you love? God is charity (1 John 4:8). Why do the phantasms of your thought flit far and wide, and you say to yourself, What, do you think, is God? what kind of thing, do you think, is God? Whatever you have imagined, He is not; whatever you have grasped by thought, He is not. For if it were He, it could not be grasped by thought. But that you may take in something by taste: God is charity. You will say to me, What, do you think, is charity? Charity is that by which we love. What do we love? A good unspeakable, a good beneficent, a good that is the creator of all goods. Let Him delight you, from Whom you have whatever delights you. I do not mean sin: for sin alone you do not have from Him. Sin excepted, from Him you have whatever else you have.
3. Peccatum ipsum non amatur, sed ipse inordinatus amor creaturae est peccatum. Non ergo, quod dixi, Ipse te delectet, a quo habes quidquid te delectat, peccatum intelligas, et dicas: Ecce delectat me peccatum; numquid a Deo habeo peccatum? Vide primo ne forte non te delectet peccatum, sed aliud te delectet, ubi facias peccatum. Amando ergo creaturam inordinate, contra usum honestum, contra licitum, contra ipsius Creatoris legem et voluntatem amando creaturam peccas. Non ipsum peccatum amas: sed male amando quod amas, illaquearis peccato. Escam in reti appetis, et nesciens peccato vesceris; idemque sic defendis: Si peccatum est multum bibere, quare vinum instituit Dominus? Si peccatum est aurum amare, amator sum auri, non Creatoris: Creator auri Deus est; quare creavit quod
3. Sin itself is not loved, but the disordered love of the creature is itself sin. Do not, then, understand what I said, Let Him delight you, from Whom you have whatever delights you, of sin, and say: Look, sin delights me; do I then have sin from God? See first whether perhaps it is not sin that delights you, but something else delights you, in which you commit sin. By loving the creature in a disordered way, then, against honourable use, against what is lawful, against the law and will of the Creator Himself, by loving the creature you sin. You do not love sin itself: but by loving badly what you love, you are ensnared in sin. You go after the bait in the net, and unawares you feed on sin; and you defend the same thus: If it is sin to drink much, why did the Lord institute wine? If it is sin to love gold, I am a lover of gold, not of the Creator: God is the Creator of gold; why did He create what—
Editors' notes and page, col. 143
Footnotes
(1) ‹anchor: bonum beneficum› · call in col 143
(Ita enim excudi debebat pro, beneficium.) — Victorinus Ms. non habet, bonum beneficium. — Complures editi et ipsi PP. BB. legunt, beneficium; minus bene. M.
(For so it ought to have been printed, instead of "beneficium".) — The Victorine manuscript does not have "bonum beneficium". — Several printed editions, and the Benedictine Fathers themselves, read "beneficium"; less well. M.
(printed under page 78)
amare malum est? Sic caetera quae amas male, in quibus est omnis luxuria, ubi committuntur multa flagitia: attende, inspice, considera, quia omnis creatura Dei bona est, et illic peccatum non est, nisi quia male uteris. Hoc ergo audi, o homo. Dicis, Quare Deus instituit quod me amare prohibet? Non ipse institueret, et non esset quod ego amarem; non institueret creaturam, quam me jubet non amare; et non esset quod amarem, et amando damnarer. Si vocem habere posset ipsa creatura, quam male amas quia nec te amas, responderet tibi: Nolles ut faceret me Deus, ne esset quod amares; nunc ergo vide quam iniquus sis, et in ipsis verbis tuis iniquissimus deprehendaris: velles ut Deus faceret te, qui est super te, et nolles faceret aliud bonum. Quod tibi fecit Deus, bonum est: sed alia sunt magna bona, alia parva bona; alia terrestria bona, alia spiritualia bona, alia temporalia bona: omnia tamen bona, quia bonus fecit bona. Ideo quodam in loco Scripturarum divinarum dicitur, Ordinate in me charitatem (Cant. II, 4). Bonum aliquid te fecit Deus, sub se fecit aliquid inferius et sub te; sub alio es, super aliud es: noli relicto superiore bono, curvare te ad inferius bonum. Rectus esto, ut lauderis: quia laudabuntur omnes recti corde. Unde enim peccas, nisi quia inordinate tractas res quas in usum accepisti? Esto bene utens rebus inferioribus, et eris recte fruens bono superiore.
—it is evil to love? So [too] the other things which you love badly, among which is all luxury, where many shameful deeds are committed: attend, look, consider, that every creature of God is good, and there is no sin there, except that you use it badly. Hear this, then, O man. You say, Why did God institute what He forbids me to love? He should not have instituted it Himself, and then there would not be what I might love; He should not have instituted the creature which He bids me not to love; and then there would not be what I might love, and be damned for loving. If the creature itself which you love badly, because you do not even love yourself, could have a voice, it would answer you: You would not have God make me, lest there should be what you might love; now then see how unjust you are, and how in your very words you are caught out as most unjust: you would have God, Who is above you, make you, and you would not have Him make another good thing. What God made for you is good: but some are great goods, others small goods; some earthly goods, others spiritual goods, others temporal goods: yet all goods, because a good [God] made good things. Therefore in a certain place of the divine Scriptures it is said, Set in order charity in me (Song 2:4). God made you something good; beneath Himself He made something lower, and beneath you; you are under one, you are over another: do not, forsaking the higher good, bend yourself down to the lower good. Be upright, that you may be praised: for all the upright of heart shall be praised. For whence do you sin, except that you handle in a disordered way the things you have received for use? Be one who uses lower things well, and you will be one who rightly enjoys the higher good.
4. In eos qui creaturam Deo praeponunt. Nunc audi, et discute ipsas agnitiones tuas: et interroga te qui tractas, et res quas tractas. Ecce si in negotio tuo argentum praeponas auro, si plumbum argento, si pulverem plumbo; nonne ab omnibus sociis tuis, si forte negotiator es, dementissimus judicaberis, et ab eorum societate seduceris, dicerisque damnosus, et forte etiam toto capite sanandus? Quid aliud enim dicerent omnes socii tui, cum dixeris: Carius est argentum auro, aut melius est argentum auro? Nonne haec clamabunt: Insane, deciperis; quid pateris, quando praeponis argentum auro? Et nemo tibi dicet: Quid pateris, quando praeponis aurum Deo? Quomodo, inquit, praepono aurum Deo? Si enim per quamdam dementiam praeposuero argentum auro, ideo demens dicor, quia de duabus speciebus, quas ambas video, quas ambas intueor, quas ambas manu contrecto, praepono viliorem cariori: aurum Deo quomodo praepono? aurum video, Deum non video. Nec hinc te excusabis. Quare amas argentum? Quia carum est, quia caro valet. Quare plus aurum? Quia carius est. Argentum carum, aurum carius: Deus ipsa charitas est.
4. Against those who set the creature before God. Now hear, and sift your very judgements: and question yourself, who handle, and the things you handle. See, if in your business you were to set silver before gold, lead before silver, dust before lead, would you not be judged by all your partners, if you happen to be a trader, utterly out of your mind, and be led away from their fellowship, and be called ruinous, and perhaps even in need of treatment in the whole head? For what else would all your partners say, when you had said: Silver is dearer than gold, or silver is better than gold? Will they not cry out this: Madman, you are deceived; what ails you, when you set silver before gold? And no one will say to you: What ails you, when you set gold before God? How, he says, do I set gold before God? For if through some madness I were to set silver before gold, I am called mad for this reason, that of two kinds, both of which I see, both of which I look upon, both of which I handle with my hand, I set the cheaper before the dearer: how do I set gold before God? Gold I see, God I do not see. Nor will you excuse yourself on this ground. Why do you love silver? Because it is dear, because it is worth a dear [price]. Why gold more? Because it is dearer. Silver dear, gold dearer: God is charity itself.
5. Fides ab omnibus, etsi forte non videtur, diligitur. Ecce aliquid dicam muneris Dei, ut citius te convincam, quomodo praeponis aurum Deo; quamvis aurum videas, Deum non videas; et ideo tibi non videaris praeponere, quia velit nemo praeponere rem quam videt ei rei quam non videt. Ecce aliquid dico. Quid tibi videtur? fides argentum est? aurum est? nummus est? pecus est? terra est? coelum est? Nihil
5. Faith is loved by all, even though perhaps it is not seen. Behold, let me tell you something about a gift of God, that I may the sooner convince you how you set gold above God — although you see the gold, while you do not see God; and so you do not seem to yourself to be preferring one to the other, because no one is willing to prefer what he sees to what he does not see. See, I put this to you. What do you think? Is faith silver? Is it gold? Is it a coin? Is it cattle? Is it land? Is it heaven? It is none—
horum est, et tamen aliquid est. Non tantum aliquid est, sed magnum est aliquid. Interim non loquor de fide illa superiore, qua fidelis vocaris, accedens ad mensam Domini tui, respondens ex fide verba fidei: interim hanc submoveo paulisper. De illa fide loquar, quae vulgo etiam fides dicitur: non quam magnam tibi imperat Deus tuus, sed quam tu exigis a servo tuo. Ipsam dico, quia et ipsam imperat tibi Dominus tuus, ne cuiquam fraudem facias, fidem serves in negotio, fidem serves uxori in lecto. Et hanc tibi fidem imperat Deus tuus. Quid est fides ista? Certe eam non vides: si non vides, quare quando tibi frangitur clamas? Clamore tuo convinco quod videas. Dicebas: Quomodo aurum Deo praepono? aurum video, Deum non video. Ecce aurum vides, fidem non vides. An quod verius est, fidem vides; sed quando exigis, vides illam; quando de te exigitur, non vis eam videre? Apertis oculis clamas, Redde fidem quam promisisti: clausis oculis clamas, Nihil tibi promisi. In utroque oculos aperi. Inique, noli fidem, sed ipsam iniquitatem perdere: quod exigis redde.
of these, and yet it is something. It is not merely something, but it is something great. For the moment I am not speaking of that higher faith, by which you are called a believer, approaching the table of your Lord, answering in faith the words of faith; that faith I set aside for a while. I will speak of that faith which is commonly also called faith: not the great faith your God requires of you, but the faith you yourself require of your slave. This very faith I mean, since your Lord requires it of you too — that you defraud no one, that you keep faith in business, that you keep faith to your wife in bed. This faith too your God requires of you. What is this faith? Certainly you do not see it: if you do not see it, why do you cry out when it is broken towards you? By your own outcry I prove that you do see it. You were saying: How do I set gold above God? I see the gold, I do not see God. See, you see the gold, you do not see faith. Or is it truer, rather, that you do see faith; but when you exact it, you see it; when it is exacted of you, you do not wish to see it? With open eyes you cry out, Give back the faith you promised: with closed eyes you cry out, I promised you nothing. Open your eyes on both sides. Unjust one, do not lose the faith, but rather the injustice itself: what you exact, render.
6. Fides in servo honoratur. Servum tuum manumittendum manu ducis in Ecclesiam. Fit silentium, libellus tuus recitatur, aut fit desiderii tui prosecutio. Dicis te servum manumittere, quod tibi in omnibus servaverit fidem. Hoc diligis, hoc honoras, hoc donas praemio libertatis: quidquid potes, facis; facis liberum, quia non potes facere sempiternum. Deus tuus clamat ad te, et in servo tuo convincit te: dicit tibi in corde tuo, Duxisti servum tuum de domo tua ad domum meam; vis eum de domo mea liberum revocare in domum tuam: tu quare male servis in domo mea? Das illi quod potes; promitto tibi quod possum: tu facis liberum servantem tibi fidem; ego te facio sempiternum, si servaveris mihi fidem. Quid adhuc argumentaris contra me in animo tuo? Redde Domino tuo, quod laudas in servo tuo. An forte tibi tantum arrogas, ut te dignum putes, qui servum fidelem habeas, quem dicis, Comparavi; et ego non sum dignus, qui servum fidelem habeam, quem creavi? Haec tibi loquitur Dominus tuus intus, ubi non audit, nisi tu; et ipse tibi loquitur, qui vera loquitur. Quid enim hac locutione verius? Noli obsurdescere. Ecce fidem amas in servo tuo; certe non vides fidem: quare illam amas in altero, et totum quod dixi in altero, et in servo quem pecunia comparasti, non tamen quem creasti? Gemina necessitudine tecum agit Dominus tuus. Et creavit te, et comparavit te. Antequam esses, inquit tibi, feci te; cum ex te sub peccato venumdatus esses, redemi te. Ut manumittas servum tuum, frangis tabulas ejus: Deus non
6. Faith is honoured in a slave. You lead your slave, who is to be freed, by the hand into the church. Silence falls, your document is read out, or a statement of your wish is made. You say you are freeing your slave because he has kept faith with you in everything. This you love, this you honour, this you reward with the gift of freedom: whatever you can, you do; you make him free, since you cannot make him eternal. Your God cries out to you, and in your own slave convicts you: He says to you in your heart, You led your slave from your house into my house; you wish to call him back free from my house into your house: why, then, do you serve badly in my house? You give him what you can; I promise you what I can: you make free the one who keeps faith with you; I make you eternal, if you keep faith with me. Why do you still argue against me in your mind? Give back to your Lord what you praise in your own slave. Or perhaps you claim so much for yourself that you think yourself worthy to have a faithful slave, of whom you say, I bought him; and am I not worthy to have a faithful slave, whom I created? This your Lord says to you within, where no one hears but you; and He Himself speaks to you, Who speaks the truth. For what is truer than this utterance? Do not turn a deaf ear. See, you love faith in your slave; yet you certainly do not see the faith: why, then, do you love it in another, and all that I have said about another, even in a slave whom you bought with money, though you did not create him? By a twofold bond your Lord deals with you. He both created you and bought you. Before you existed, He says to you, I made you; when you had been sold under sin by your own doing, I redeemed you. To free your slave, you break his tablets: God does not
Editors' notes and page, col. 145
Footnotes
(a) ‹anchor: ducis in Ecclesiam› · call in col 145
Manumissiones ut in ecclesia coram episcopo facere liceret, Constantini magni beneficio indultum est, ut alias observavimus ad Ennodium, apud quem inter opuscula exstat libellus, seu petitorium Agapiti nomine compositum: in quo Gerontium ille servum suum libertate donari postulans ab episcopo, desiderii sui causas persequitur, quae cum Augustini verbis mirifice consentiunt. SIRMOND. in hunc locum.
That manumissions might be performed in church before the bishop was granted by the favour of Constantine the Great, as we have observed elsewhere on Ennodius, among whose minor works there survives a petition, or request, composed in the name of Agapitus: in it, asking of the bishop that his slave Gerontius be given his freedom, he sets out the reasons for his desire, which agree wonderfully with Augustine's words. SIRMOND on this passage.
(printed under page 79)
(b) ‹anchor: tabulas ejus› · call in col 145
Frangebantur in manumissione servorum tabulae quibus emptio illorum et servitus continebatur. Augustinus, epist. 50 (nunc 185, n. 15) de Donatistis: « Pessimorum, » inquit, « servorum, ut liberi abscederent, tabulae frangebantur. » SIRMOND.
In the manumission of slaves the tablets which recorded their purchase and their servitude were broken. Augustine, letter 50 (now 185, n. 15), on the Donatists: "The tablets of the very worst slaves," he says, "were broken, so that they might go off free." SIRMOND.
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frangit tabulas tuas. Tabulae tuae Evangelium sunt, ubi est sanguis, quo comparatus es: manent, quotidie recitantur, admoneris conditionis tuae, commemoratur tibi pretium tuum.
tear up yours. Your bond is the Gospel, where the blood is, by which you were bought: it remains, it is read daily, you are reminded of your condition, your price is called to your memory.
7. Fides Deo debita a servis emptis ipsius sanguine. Si tibi servus tuus, quem manumittis, fidem non exhiberet, nec se manumissione tua dignum fidem servando faceret, et eum in aliquibus in domo tua fraudibus invenires, quid clamares? Male serve, fidem mihi non servas? Nescis quia emi te? nescis quia sanguinem meum pro te numeravi? Clamas quantum potes, et coelum invidiosis pulsas vocibus: Sanguinem meum pro te dedi, male serve. Et omnes qui audiunt: Verum dicit. Si tibi auderet respondere sic invehenti et clamanti ipse servus tuus, non erubesceres si tibi dicat: Quem, rogo te, sanguinem pro me dedisti? quando me emisti, nec saltem te phlebotomasti. Sed sanguinem tuum pecuniam tuam vocas. Tantum amas pecuniam tuam, ut eam appelles sanguinem tuum. De voce tua te convincit Dominus tuus. Vocas pecuniam tuam sanguinem tuum, et ideo exigis a servo tuo empto fidem, quia pro eo dedisti, non utique sanguinem, sed nummum, vel aurum: ego quid dederim, recolis. Tabulas tuas lege, si non recolis; lege pro te mortem Salvatoris, lanceam percussoris, pretium Redemptoris. Potest et homo vivens vena, ut dixi, percussa dare sanguinem suum, et tamen vivere: plus est quod tibi dicit Dominus tuus: non de me vivente sanguis expressus est, sanguine meo te emi; addo, Morte mea te emi. Quid habes quod dicas? Redde fidem Domino tuo, quam exigis a servo tuo. Vides aurum, vides et fidem: non exigeres, si non videres; non laudares, si non videres; non libertate donares, si non videres: sed aurum oculis carnis vides, fidem oculis cordis vides. Quanto meliores sunt cordis, tanto melius est quod vides oculis cordis. Tu autem huic fidei, quam tibi imperat Dominus tuus, praeponis aurum, et commendatum non reddis, et dicis, Nihil mihi dedisti: aut ei cui non commendasti, dicis, Redde quod tibi commendavi. Non das quod accepisti, repetis quod non dedisti. Ecce acquire, sic tolle, et exaggera tibi lutum. Quid premis, dicendo, Da, quod non commendasti; negando quod commendatum accepisti? Tolle, collige lucra damnosa: ecce arcam implesti, multum aurum acquisisti; arcam cordis discute, fidem perdidisti.
7. Faith owed to God by slaves bought with His own blood. If your slave, whom you free, showed you no faith, and did not, by keeping faith, make himself worthy of your act of freeing him, and you found him guilty of some fraud in your house, what would you cry out? Wicked slave, you keep no faith with me? Do you not know that I bought you? Do you not know that I paid my own blood for you? You cry out as loud as you can, and beat the sky with reproachful cries: I gave my blood for you, wicked slave. And all who hear say: He speaks the truth. If your own slave dared to answer you, as you rail and cry out thus, would you not blush if he said to you: What blood, I ask you, did you give for me? When you bought me, you did not even bleed yourself. But you call your money your blood. You love your money so much that you call it your blood. Your Lord convicts you out of your own words. You call your money your blood, and therefore you exact faith from the slave you bought, because you gave for him — not blood, to be sure, but coin, or gold: what I gave, you remember well. Read your own bond, if you do not remember; read, on your behalf, the death of the Saviour, the lance of the one who pierced Him, the price paid by the Redeemer. A living man, too, can, as I said, with a vein struck, give his own blood, and still live: your Lord says something greater than this to you — it was not while I lived that the blood was pressed from me; with my blood I bought you; more, with my death I bought you. What have you to say? Give back to your Lord the faith you exact from your slave. You see gold, and you see faith too: you would not exact it, if you did not see it; you would not praise it, if you did not see it; you would not grant freedom for it, if you did not see it: but gold you see with the eyes of the flesh, faith you see with the eyes of the heart. As the eyes of the heart are the better, so much the better is what you see with the eyes of the heart. Yet to this faith, which your Lord requires of you, you prefer gold, and you do not return what was entrusted to you, and you say, You gave me nothing: or to one to whom you entrusted nothing, you say, Give back what I entrusted to you. You do not give back what you received, you demand back what you did not give. See, acquire, take in this way, and heap up mud for yourself. Why do you press him, saying, Give what you did not entrust, while denying what you received in trust? Take, gather your ruinous gains: see, you have filled your chest, you have gained much gold; search the chest of your heart — you have lost your faith.
8. Jucunditas in Deo, et in aeternis bonis quae dedit. Rectus corde qui laudat flagellum patris. — Redi ergo, si sensisti aliquid, si erubuisti, si quod pravum et curvum fuerat correxisti: redi, delectare in Domino, jucundare in Domino. Jucundare in iis quae jussit Dominus, ut jucunderis in Domino. Jucundare in fide, jucundare in spe, jucundare in charitate, jucundare in misericordia, jucundare in hospitalitate, jucundare
8. Joy in God, and in the eternal goods He has given. The upright in heart praises the scourge of a father. — Return, then, if you have felt something, if you have blushed, if you have corrected what was crooked and bent: return, take delight in the Lord, rejoice in the Lord. Rejoice in the things which the Lord has commanded, that you may rejoice in the Lord. Rejoice in faith, rejoice in hope, rejoice in charity, rejoice in mercy, rejoice in hospitality, rejoice
Editors' notes and page, col. 146
Footnotes
(1) ‹anchor: Quid premis› · call in col 146
Sic Victorinum exemplar. At editi, et exaggera tibi lutum, quod premis.
So the Victorine copy. But the printed editions: "and heap up for yourself the mud that you press down."
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(2) ‹anchor: quae jussit› · call in col 146
Victorinum exemplar, quae fecit.
The Victorine copy: "which He has made."
(printed under page 79)
in castitate. Haec omnia bona sunt, thesauri interioris hominis; gemmae, non arcae tuae, sed conscientiae tuae. His ama dives esse, quas divitias nec naufragio possis amittere; unde si nudus exieris, plenus eris. Sic enim exis et rectus corde, ut lauderis, non reprehendens Dominum tuum, si quid tibi acciderit in hoc saeculo, et laudans flagellum Patris, cujus exspectas haereditatem. Fuge sub manu emendantis. Non te avertas a disciplina, quia ille qui emendat te, errare non potest. Novit quid tecum faciat qui te fecit. An forte tam imperitum putas artificem tuum, ut sciret facere te, et obliviscatur quid tecum faciat? Antequam esses, de te cogitavit: nam nisi de te cogitasset, nunquam esses. Ergo de te cogitavit antequam esses, ut esses; et jam te existentem, manentem, viventem, sibi servientem contemnet, teque despiciet? Despexit, inquis: jam oravi, non me audivit. Quid, si hoc petebas, quod malo tuo accepisses, si accepisses? Ploravi ante illum, et non mihi dedit. O puer insensate, in quo plorasti? Ut acciperes felicitatem carnalem, felicitatem temporalem, felicitatem terrenam. Quid, si ista felicitas, quam exoptabas et petebas, et pro qua plorabas, praecipitaret te? Jamdudum loquebar de servo tuo, nunc similitudinem accipe de filio tuo. Plorat ante te filius tuus parvus, ut eum leves in equum tuum: numquid audis? numquid exaudis? Durus es, an potius misericors? Quid est, dic mihi, quo consilio facis? Certe hoc consilium est charitatis, quis dubitet? Cui grandi servas totam domum, parvulum plorantem non levas in equum. Omnia quae habes, et domum et quidquid in domo, et agrum et quidquid in agro, illi servas; et tamen in equum non levas parvulum plorantem. Ploret quantum vult, tota die ploret; non exaudis, et misericordia non exaudis, et si exaudires, crudelis esses. Vide ergo, cogita hoc tibi faciat Dominus tuus, quando petis incongrua, et non accipis. Forte enim te inopia erudiet, copia corrumpet. Quaeris tu copiam corruptionis, cum necessaria fortasse sit inopia eruditionis. Dimitte Deo tuo, qui scit quid det tibi, quid tollat tibi. Nam si det tibi quod male petis, forte iratus dat. Audi exempla de Lege. Israelitas concupiscentes concupiscentias ventris et gutturis, exaudivit iratus (Exodi XVI): Paulum dicentem, Tolle a me stimulum carnis, non exaudivit propitius (II Cor. XII, 7-9).
in chastity. All these are goods, the treasures of the inner man; jewels, not of your strongbox, but of your conscience. Love to be rich in these — riches you cannot lose even by shipwreck — so that if you come out naked, you will be full. For thus you go out upright in heart, so as to be praised, not finding fault with your Lord if something befalls you in this world, but praising the scourge of the Father, Whose inheritance you await. Flee under the hand of the one Who corrects you. Do not turn away from discipline, for He Who corrects you cannot err. He Who made you knows what to do with you. Or do you perhaps think your maker so unskilled that He knew how to make you, yet forgets what to do with you? Before you existed, He thought of you: for unless He had thought of you, you would never have existed. He thought of you, then, before you existed, that you might exist; and now that you exist, remain, live, and serve Him, will He despise you, and look down on you? He despised me, you say: I have already prayed, He has not heard me. What if you were asking for something which, had you received it, you would have received to your own harm? I wept before Him, and He did not give it to me. O senseless child, for what did you weep? That you might receive carnal happiness, temporal happiness, earthly happiness. What if that very happiness which you longed for and asked for, and for which you wept, would have brought you to ruin? I was speaking a while ago of your slave; now take a likeness from your son. Your little son weeps before you, that you might lift him onto your horse: do you hear him? Do you grant his prayer? Are you hard, or rather merciful? What is it, tell me, by what plan do you act? Surely this plan is one of love, who would doubt it? For him, when he is grown, you are keeping the whole house; the weeping little one you do not lift onto the horse. All that you have — the house and whatever is in the house, the field and whatever is in the field — you keep for him; and yet you do not lift the weeping little one onto the horse. Let him weep as much as he wants, let him weep all day; you do not grant it, and it is out of mercy that you do not grant it, and if you granted it you would be cruel. See, then, consider [whether] your Lord is doing this to you, when you ask for unfitting things, and do not receive them. For perhaps want will instruct you, while abundance will corrupt you. You seek an abundance that corrupts, when perhaps a want that instructs is what is needed. Leave it to your God, Who knows what to give you, what to take from you. For if He gives you what you wrongly ask, perhaps He gives it in anger. Hear examples from the Law. The Israelites, lusting after the lusts of the belly and the throat, He heard in anger (Exod. 16): Paul saying, Take from me the thorn of the flesh, in mercy He did not hear (2 Cor. 12:7–9).
9. Delectatio piorum in Deo amissis terrenis rebus. Ideo delectare in Domino, jucundare in Domino, non in saeculo. In Domino enim jucundabatur ille, qui cum perdidisset totam jucunditatem saeculi, remansit ei Dominus, in quo jucundaretur: remansit ei in ira simplex, perfecta et immutabilis jucunditas cordis ejus. Quae habebat possidebat, non possidebatur; a Domino autem possidebatur: illa calcabat, ex illo pendebat: ille illis subtractis quae calcabat, haesit
9. The delight of the devout in God when earthly things are lost. Therefore take delight in the Lord, rejoice in the Lord, not in the world. For that man rejoiced in the Lord who, when he had lost all the delight of the world, still had the Lord left to him, in Whom to rejoice: there remained to him in wrath a simple, perfect and unchangeable joy of his heart. What he had, he possessed, but was not possessed by it; by the Lord, however, he was possessed: those things he trod underfoot, on Him he depended: he, when those things he trod underfoot were taken away, clung
Editors' notes and page, col. 147
Footnotes
(1) ‹anchor: levas in equum› · call in col 147
Sirm., per nullum ploratum levas in equum. Emendavimus auxilio codicis V.
Sirmond: "for no amount of crying do you lift him onto the horse." We have emended with the help of codex V.
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(a) ‹anchor: cogita hoc› · call in col 147
Forte, cogita an hoc.
Perhaps: "consider whether this."
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(b) ‹anchor: simplex› · call in col 147
Morel, Element. Critic. pagg. 131, 132, suspicatur forte legendum, remansit ei mira, simplex. Nobis potior videtur hactenus usurpata lectio. M.
Morel, Éléments de critique, pp. 131, 132, suspects that the reading should perhaps be "there remained to him a wonderful, simple". To us the reading in use until now seems preferable. M.
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in illo in quo pendebat. Ecce enim quid sit in Domino jucundari. Dominus dedit, Dominus, vide jucunditatem, Dominus abstulit: numquid se abstulit? Quod dedit abstulit; qui dedit, se obtulit; jucundatur in Domino. Ergo, Dominus dedit, Dominus abstulit; sicut Domino placuit, ita factum est: sit nomen Domini benedictum (Job I, 21). Quare displiceat servo id quod placuit Domino? Aurum, inquit, perdidi, familiam perdidi, pecora perdidi, quidquid habui perdidi: a quo habeo, non perdidi. Perdidi quod dederat; eum non perdidi, cujus ipse sum. Delectatio mea ipse, divitiae meae ipse. Sed quare? Quia non perversus, non capite deorsum, non neglexit eum qui supra se est, et dilexit ea quae infra se. Ipsa est enim perversitas male utendi creatura.
to Him on Whom he depended. See, then, what it is to rejoice in the Lord. The Lord gave, the Lord — see the joy — the Lord has taken away: did He take away Himself? What He gave He took away; He Who gave, offered Himself; he rejoices in the Lord. Therefore, The Lord gave, the Lord has taken away; as it pleased the Lord, so it has been done: blessed be the name of the Lord (Job 1:21). Why should it displease the servant, what pleased the Lord? Gold, he says, I have lost, household I have lost, cattle I have lost, whatever I had I have lost: Him from Whom I have it, I have not lost. I have lost what He had given; Him Whose I am, I have not lost. He Himself is my delight, He Himself my riches. But why? Because he was not perverse, not head-downward, did not neglect Him Who is above him, and did not love the things that are beneath him. For that is itself the perversity of using a creature wrongly.
10. Usus auri quis malus, quis bonus. Quid accusas qui dedit aurum, qui recte accusaris male amando aurum? Habe aurum, dicit tibi Deus, dedi tibi, bene utere. Ornari vis auro; orna potius aurum: honorem vis, decus vis ab auro; decus praesta auro, ne sis dedecus auri. Aurum habet scortator, fornicator, luxuriator: edit pompaticos ludos, insana munera donat histrionibus; esurientibus pauperibus non donat: non est decus auri. Nonne qui recte attendit hoc, dicit, Doleo aurum quod in illum incurrit; o si ego illud haberem! Et tu aurum si haberes: modo enim dicis, Doleo aurum quod in istum incurrit; o si ego illud haberem! quid faceres? Peregrinos susciperem, inopes pascerem, nudos vestirem, captivos redimerem. Bona loqueris antequam habeas: vide loquaris quando habueris. Si sis talis, erit aurum in tuo ornatu. Si vero sic uteris auro, quia plus diligis eum qui creavit aurum, eris rectus, superiora plus diligens, inferioribus recte utens; et delectaberis in Domino, justus in Domino jucundaberis. Non erit in te accusatio Creatoris, sed erit gratiarum actio Redemptoris.
10. What use of gold is bad, what is good. Why do you accuse Him Who gave the gold, when you yourself are rightly accused of loving gold wrongly? Have gold, God says to you, I have given it to you, use it well. You wish to be adorned with gold; adorn the gold instead: you wish for honour, you wish for glory from gold; give glory to gold, lest you be a disgrace to gold. The fornicator has gold, the debauchee, the man of luxury: he puts on lavish shows, gives insane gifts to actors; to the hungry poor he gives nothing: this is no glory to gold. Does not the one who rightly considers this say, I am sorry the gold fell to that man; if only I had it! And you, if you had the gold — for this is just what you say now — I am sorry the gold fell to this man; if only I had it! — what would you do? I would take in strangers, feed the needy, clothe the naked, ransom captives. You speak well before you have it: see that you speak the same once you have it. If you are such a one, the gold will be an ornament to you. But if you use gold in this way, because you love more Him Who created the gold, you will be upright, loving the higher things more, using the lower rightly; and you will delight in the Lord, and, being just, you will rejoice in the Lord. There will be in you no accusing of the Creator, but there will be thanksgiving to the Redeemer.
Editors' notes and page, col. 148
Footnotes
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