Migne Reading Room
PL 38 · cols. 332–354
Augustine, Sermo 51 (De concordia evangelistarum Matthaei et Lucae in generationibus Domini)
Sermon LI
SERMO LI. De concordia Evangelistarum Matthaei et Lucae in generationibus Domini.
Sermon 51. On the agreement of the Evangelists Matthew and Luke concerning the generations of the Lord.
CAPUT PRIMUM. — 1. Tractanda quaestio proposita in die natali Christi. Spectaculorum dies. Exspectationem Charitatis vestrae ille impleat, qui excitavit. Etsi enim quae dicenda sunt vobis, non nostra sed Dei esse praesumimus; tamen multo magis nos dicimus, quod humiliter dicit Apostolus: Habemus thesaurum istum in vasis fictilibus, ut eminentia virtutis Dei sit, et non ex nobis (II Cor. IV, 7). Non dubitamus itaque meminisse vos pollicitationis no⟨s⟩trae. In ipso
Chapter One. — 1. The question proposed on Christ's birthday to be treated. A day of public shows. May He Who aroused the expectation of your Charity fulfil it. For although we presume that the things to be said to you are not ours but God's, yet much more do we say what the Apostle humbly says: We have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God, and not from us (2 Cor. 4:7). We do not doubt, therefore, that you remember our promise. In Him
Editors' notes and page, col. 332
Footnotes
(2) ‹anchor: dicit Apostolus› · call in col 332
Codex v., nos dicimus humiliter quod dicit Apostolus.
Codex v. has, "we say humbly what the Apostle says."
(printed under page 172) (*) ‹anchor: SERMO LI› · call in col 332 In Mss. r. v. et in editione Lov. recognitus est.
It has been revised against the manuscripts r. and v. and the Louvain edition.
(printed under page 172)
(a) ‹anchor: SERMO LI› · call in col 332
Alias, de Diversis 63. [the second digit is faint in the scan: 63 or 65]
Formerly, de Diversis 63.
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(b) ‹anchor: generationibus Domini› · call in col 332
Possidius in capite 8 Indiculi recordatur sermonis, « De Generationibus, secundum Matthaeum. »
Possidius, in chapter 8 of his Indiculus, records a sermon "On the Generations, according to Matthew."
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- other: the column opens with the end of the previous work (another unit); not set here: the unit begins at SERMO LI. Foot note 1 on this page is called in Sermo 50 (PL038/sermones_048_050) and is not set here (removed by QA Q1a, 2026-10-12). QA Q1a: the last word of the column is read as ipso (final letter faint on the page); the English of col 333 must read on from "In Him".
promisimus, per quem nunc reddimus. Nam et cum promitteremus, ab ipso petebamus: et cum reddimus, ab ipso accipimus. Meminit autem Charitas vestra nos matutina Natalis Domini distulisse quam solvendam proposuimus quaestionem; quia multi nobiscum, etiam quibus solet esse onerosus sermo Dei, solemnitatem illam diei debitam celebrabant. Nunc vero puto neminem convenisse, nisi qui audire desiderat. Non itaque loquimur cordibus surdis, non fastidientibus animis. Haec autem vestra exspectatio, pro me oratio est. Accessit aliquid; quia et dies Muneris multos hinc ventilavit, pro quorum quidem salute quantum satagimus, tantum fratres ut satagatis hortamur; et pro his qui nondum intenti sunt spectaculis veritatis, sed dediti sunt spectaculis carnis, intenta mente deprecemini Deum. Novi enim, et certe scio esse modo in numero vestro eos qui hodie contempserunt: sed rumpant ea quae consuerunt. Mutantur enim homines, et in melius et in deterius. Quotidianis hujuscemodi experimentis vicissim et laetamur et contristamur; laetamur correctis, contristamur depravatis. Ideoque Dominus non ait salvum futurum esse qui coeperit; sed, Qui perseveraverit, inquit, usque in finem, hic salvus erit (Matth. X, 22).
we promised, through Whom we now pay it. For both when we were promising, we were asking it of Him; and when we pay it, we receive it from Him. Now your Charity remembers that on the morning of the Lord's Nativity we put off the question which we had proposed to resolve, because many were with us, even those to whom the word of God is usually burdensome, celebrating that festival owed to the day. But now I think that no one has assembled except one who desires to hear. So we are not speaking to deaf hearts, nor to disdainful minds. And this expectancy of yours is a prayer on my behalf. Something more has been added: the day of the Show too has winnowed many away from here; for whose salvation, indeed, as much as we are concerned, so much do we exhort you, brethren, to be concerned; and for those who are not yet intent on the spectacles of truth, but are given over to the spectacles of the flesh, beseech God with an intent mind. For I know, and indeed I am certain, that there are now in your number those who today have scorned [the shows]: but let them break off the things to which they have been accustomed. For men change, both for the better and for the worse. By daily experiences of this kind we in turn both rejoice and are saddened; we rejoice over those corrected, we are saddened over those depraved. And therefore the Lord did not say that he who has begun will be saved; but, He who perseveres, He says, to the end, he will be saved (Matt. 10:22).
2. Spectacula Christianorum. Martyrum mortem aliter spectant carnales, aliter spirituales. Quid autem potuit admirabilius nobis concedere Dominus Jesus Christus Filius Dei, qui est et filius hominis, quia et hoc esse dignatus est; quid potuit magnificentius, quam ut non solum spectatores nugacium munerum aggregaret ovili suo, sed etiam nonnullos qui illic spectari solent? Non enim tantum amatores venatorum, sed etiam ipsos venatores venatus est ad salutem: quia et ipse spectatus est. Audi quomodo. Ipse dixit, ipse antequam spectaretur praedixit, et tanquam factum esset quod futurum erat prophetico eloquio praenuntiavit, dicens in Psalmo: Foderunt manus meas et pedes meos, dinumeraverunt omnia ossa mea. Ecce quomodo spectatus est, ut ossa ejus dinumerarentur. Et dicit apertius ipsum spectaculum: Ipsi vero consideraverunt et inspexerunt me (Psal. XXI, 17 et 18.) Spectabatur illudendus, spectabatur ab eis qui non ei saltem faverent in illo spectaculo, sed saevirent: quomodo spectari fecit martyres suos primitus, dicente Apostolo, Spectaculum facti sumus mundo, et Angelis et hominibus (I Cor. IV, 9). Sed duo genera hominum talia spectacula spectant; unum carnalium, alterum spiritualium. Carnales spectant, miseros putantes eos martyres, qui bestiis subjecti sunt, qui capite caesi, qui ignibus concremati, detestantes eos et exhorrentes. Alii vero sicut et sancti Angeli spectant, non attendentes corporum laniatus, sed mirantes fidei integritatem. Magnum spectaculum praebet oculis cordis integer animus, corpore dissipato. Haec vos cum in ecclesia leguntur, libenter spectatis oculis cordis. Si enim nihil spectaretis, nihil audiretis. Videtis ergo quod hodie spectacula non contempsistis, sed elegistis.
2. The spectacles of Christians. The carnal look upon the death of the martyrs in one way, the spiritual in another. But what more wonderful thing could the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, Who is also the son of man, because He deigned to be this too, grant us; what more magnificent thing could He do than to gather into His fold not only the spectators of frivolous shows, but even some of those who are accustomed to be watched there? For He hunted down unto salvation not only the lovers of hunters, but even the hunters themselves: because He Himself too was made a spectacle. Hear how. He Himself said it, He Himself foretold it before He was made a spectacle, and as though what was going to be had already been done, He announced it beforehand in prophetic utterance, saying in the Psalm: They dug My hands and My feet, they numbered all My bones. See how He was made a spectacle, so that His bones were numbered. And He states the spectacle itself more openly: But they themselves considered and looked upon Me (Ps. 21:17–18). He was watched to be mocked, He was watched by those who did not even favour Him in that spectacle, but raged against Him: just as He first caused His martyrs to be watched, as the Apostle says, We have been made a spectacle to the world, both to angels and to men (1 Cor. 4:9). But two kinds of men watch such spectacles; one of the carnal, the other of the spiritual. The carnal watch, thinking those martyrs wretched who were thrown to the beasts, who were beheaded, who were burned up in fires, loathing them and shuddering at them. But others watch as the holy angels also do, not attending to the mangling of bodies, but marvelling at the integrity of faith. A soul whole while the body is torn apart offers a great spectacle to the eyes of the heart. When these things are read in church, you gladly watch them with the eyes of the heart. For if you were watching nothing, you would be hearing nothing. You see, then, that today you have not scorned spectacles, but have chosen them.
Editors' notes and page, col. 333
Footnotes
(1) ‹anchor: not visible in the foot image› · call in col 333
Regius Ms., consueverunt.
The Royal manuscript has "consueverunt" ("they have been accustomed").
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Adsit itaque Deus, dans ut amicis vestris quos doletis hodie ad amphitheatrum cucurrisse, et ad ecclesiam venire noluisse, referatis dulciter vestra spectacula: ut et illis incipiant vilescere illa, quae amando ipsi viluerunt; et ament vobiscum Deum, de quo nemo potest amator erubescere, quia illum amat qui non potest vinci. Ament vobiscum Christum, qui eo ipso quo videbatur victus, vicit orbem terrarum. Vicit enim orbem terrarum sicut videmus, fratres: subjecit omnes potestates, subjugavit reges, non superbo milite, sed irrisa cruce; non saeviens ferro, sed pendens ligno; patiendo corporaliter, faciendo spiritualiter. Illius corpus erigebatur in cruce: ille mentes cruci subdebat. Denique quae gemma pretiosior in diademate, quam crux Christi regnantium in fronte? Hunc vos amando, nunquam erubescitis. Quam multi enim de amphitheatro victi revertuntur, victis eis pro quibus insaniunt? Qui magis vincerentur, si vincerent. Subderentur enim vanae laetitiae, subderentur exsultationi pravae cupiditatis: qui hoc ipso quo illuc currunt, victi sunt. Quam multos enim putatis, fratres, dubitasse hodie, utrum huc irent, an illuc? Et qui in ipsa dubitatione considerantes Christum, ad Ecclesiam cucurrerunt, vicerunt non quemlibet hominem, sed diabolum ipsum, totius mundi pessimum venatorem. Qui autem in illa dubitatione elegerunt potius ad amphitheatrum currere, ab illo utique victi sunt, quem isti vicerunt. Vicerunt autem in illo qui ait: Gaudete, quia ego vici mundum (Joan. XVI, 33). Quia propterea tentari se passus est Imperator, ut doceret militem dimicare.
May God therefore be present, granting that to your friends, whom you grieve to have run off today to the amphitheatre and to have been unwilling to come to church, you may sweetly relate your own spectacles, so that those things may begin to grow cheap for them too, by loving which they themselves have become cheap; and that they may love God with you, of Whom no lover can be ashamed, because he loves Him Who cannot be conquered. Let them love Christ with you, Who by the very thing whereby He seemed conquered conquered the whole world. For He conquered the whole world, as we see, brothers: He subjected all powers, He subjugated kings, not with a proud soldiery but with a derided cross; not raging with the sword but hanging on the wood; suffering bodily, acting spiritually. His body was raised up on the cross; He was subjecting minds to the cross. In short, what gem in a diadem is more precious than the cross of Christ on the forehead of those who reign? Loving Him, you are never ashamed. For how many return from the amphitheatre conquered, when those for whom they rave have been conquered? They would be conquered the more if they were victorious. For they would be made subject to vain joy, they would be made subject to the exultation of depraved desire: they who by the very fact that they run there are conquered. For how many, do you think, brothers, were in doubt today whether to come here or to go there? And those who in that very doubt, considering Christ, ran to the Church conquered not just any man, but the devil himself, the worst hunter of the whole world. But those who in that doubt chose rather to run to the amphitheatre were certainly conquered by him whom these conquered. And they conquered in Him Who says: Rejoice, for I have conquered the world (John 16:33). For the Emperor allowed Himself to be tempted for this reason, that He might teach the soldier to fight.
CAPUT II. — 3. Christus de femina nasci cur voluerit. Per feminam venenum, per feminam salus. Hoc ergo ut faceret Dominus noster Jesus Christus, utique nascendo de femina, filius hominis factus est. At enim si non nasceretur de Maria virgine, quid esset minus? Dicit aliquis: Homo esse voluit: esset homo, non tamen de femina nasceretur: non enim et primum hominem quem fecit, ex femina fecit. Ad hoc vide quid respondeatur. Tu dicis, ad nascendum utquid elegerit feminam? Respondetur tibi: Imo ad nascendum cur fugeret feminam? Puta me non posse ostendere quid elegerit, ut de femina nasceretur: tu ostende quid fugere in femina debuit. Sed aliquando jam dicta sunt, quia utique si fugeret feminae uterum, velut significaret se ex illa contaminari potuisse. Quanto autem erat per substantiam suam immacul⟨a⟩bilior, tanto non debuit formidare uterum carnis, quasi posset inde maculari: sed natus de femina, ostendere nobis debuit magni aliquid sacramenti. Nam revera, fratres, et nos fatemur, quod si vellet Dominus sic fieri homo, ut non ex femina nasceretur, erat utique facile Majestati. Quomodo enim potuit ex femina sine viro; sic posset nec per feminam nasci. Sed hoc nobis ostendit, ut scilicet in nullo sexu de se desperaret humana creatura. Sexus enim humanus marium est et feminarum. Si ergo
Chapter II. — 3. Why Christ willed to be born of a woman. Through a woman poison, through a woman salvation. So it was in order to do this that our Lord Jesus Christ, namely by being born of a woman, became the Son of man. But if He had not been born of the Virgin Mary, what would have been the less? Someone says: He willed to be a man; let Him have been a man, yet not have been born of a woman; for the first man too, whom He made, He did not make from a woman. See what is answered to this. You say, why did He choose a woman for being born? It is answered you: Rather, why should He shun a woman for being born? Suppose that I cannot show why He chose to be born of a woman: you show what He ought to have shunned in a woman. But it has been said already on some occasion that, certainly, if He shunned a woman's womb, He would as it were signify that He could have been defiled by her. But the more incapable of stain He was by His own substance, the less He ought to have feared the womb of flesh, as though He could be stained by it; rather, being born of a woman, He was to show us something of a great sacrament. For indeed, brothers, we too confess that if the Lord wished to become man in such a way that He was not born of a woman, it was certainly easy for His Majesty. For just as He could be born of a woman without a man, so He could also have been born not even through a woman. But this He showed us, namely that the human creature should not despair of itself in either sex. For the human sex consists of males and of females. If therefore
Editors' notes and page, col. 334
Footnotes
(1) ‹anchor: not visible in the foot image› · call in col 334
Lov., Hanc; cujus loco Mss., Hunc.
The Louvain edition has "Hanc"; in its place the manuscripts have "Hunc."
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vir existens, quod utique esse deberet, non nasceretur ex femina; desperarent de se feminae, memores primi peccati sui, quia per feminam deceptus est primus homo; et omnino nullam se spem habere in Christo arbitrarentur. Venit ergo vir sexum praeeligere virilem, et natus ex femina sexum consolari femineum, tanquam alloquens et dicens: Ut noveritis quod non Dei creatura mala est, sed voluptas prava pervertit eam, in principio cum feci hominem, masculum et feminam feci. Non creaturam damno, quam feci. Ecce natus sum vir, ecce natus ex femina. Non ergo creaturam damno, quam feci; sed peccata, quae non feci. Uterque sexus videat honorem suum, et uterque confiteatur iniquitatem suam, et uterque speret salutem. Decipiendo homini propinatum est venenum per feminam: reparando homini propinetur salus per feminam. Compenset femina decepti per se hominis peccatum, generando Christum. Inde et resurgentem Deum priores feminae Apostolis nuntiarunt. Nuntiavit viro suo mortem femina in paradiso: nuntiaverunt et feminae salutem viris in Ecclesia. Resurrectionem Christi Apostoli erant gentibus nuntiaturi: Apostolis feminae nuntiarunt. Nemo ergo calumnietur Christo nato ex femina, de quo sexu Liberator maculari non posset, et quem sexum Creator commendare deberet.
being a man, which He certainly had to be, He were not born of a woman, women would despair of themselves, mindful of their first sin, because the first man was deceived through a woman; and they would think that they had no hope at all in Christ. So He came as a man to choose the male sex for Himself, and, born of a woman, to console the female sex, as if addressing them and saying: That you may know that it is not God's creature that is evil, but that depraved pleasure has perverted it: in the beginning, when I made man, I made [them] male and female. I do not condemn the creature which I made. Behold, I was born a man; behold, I was born of a woman. So I do not condemn the creature which I made, but the sins, which I did not make. Let each sex see its own honour, and let each confess its own iniquity, and let each hope for salvation. To deceive man, poison was served to him through a woman; to restore man, let salvation be served to him through a woman. Let woman make amends for the sin of the man deceived through her, by bearing Christ. Hence it was also women who first announced to the apostles that God had risen. A woman announced death to her husband in paradise; women also announced salvation to men in the Church. The apostles were to announce the resurrection of Christ to the nations; women announced it to the apostles. Let no one therefore cavil at Christ for being born of a woman, a sex by which the Liberator could not be defiled, and a sex which the Creator was bound to commend.
CAPUT III. — 4. Evangelii fides toto orbe recepta. Sed, inquiunt, quomodo credituri sumus natum ex femina Christum? Respondeam: Ex Evangelio quod praedicatum est et praedicatur universo orbi terrarum. Sed rei jam creditae per omnem terram quaestionem conantur ingerere caeci, excaecare alios affectantes, et non videntes quod videndum est, dum convellere conantur quod credendum est. Respondent enim, et dicunt: Noli nos auctoritate orbis terrarum premere; ipsam Scripturam consideremus. Noli populariter agere: multitudo tibi seducta favet. Primo hic respondeo: Multitudo seducta mihi favet? Haec multitudo, paucitas fuit. Unde crevit haec multitudo quae in istis incrementis tanto ante nuntiata est? Non enim crescere visa est, quae non est praevisa. Non dico, Paucitas erat: unus erat Abraham. Considerate, fratres, unus erat Abraham per totum mundum illo tempore, per totum orbem terrarum inter omnes homines, inter omnes gentes, cui homini dictum est, In semine tuo benedicentur omnes gentes (Gen. XXII, 18). Quod credidit unus de sua singularitate, exhibitum est multis de seminis multitudine. Tunc non videbatur, et credebatur; nunc videtur, et impugnatur: et quod uni tunc dicebatur et ab uno credebatur; nunc oppugnatur a paucis, quando exhibetur in multis. Ille qui discipulos suos fecit piscatores hominum, intra retia sua omne genus auctoritatis inclusit. Si multitudini credendum est; quid copiosius Ecclesia toto orbe diffusa? Si divitibus credendum est; attendant quot divites cepit: si pauperibus credendum est, attendant pauperum millia: si nobilibus; intus est jam pene tota nobilitas: si regibus; videant omnes subditos Christo: si eloquentioribus,
Chapter III. — 4. The faith of the Gospel received throughout the whole world. But, they say, how are we to believe that Christ was born of a woman? I would answer: from the Gospel, which has been preached and is preached to the whole world. But blind men try to raise a question about a thing already believed throughout the whole earth, seeking to blind others, and not seeing what is to be seen, while they try to tear up what is to be believed. For they answer and say: Do not press us with the authority of the whole world; let us consider the Scripture itself. Do not play to the crowd: a deceived multitude favours you. First I answer here: A deceived multitude favours me? This multitude was once a small number. From where has this multitude grown, which was announced so long beforehand in these very increases? For it was not seen to grow without having been foreseen. I do not say, It was a small number: Abraham was one. Consider, brethren: Abraham was one in the whole world at that time, in the whole circle of the earth, among all men, among all nations, the one man to whom it was said, In your seed shall all nations be blessed (Gen. 22:18). What one man believed in his singleness has been displayed to many in the multitude of his seed. Then it was not seen, and it was believed; now it is seen, and it is attacked: and what was then said to one and believed by one is now assailed by a few, when it is displayed in many. He Who made His disciples fishers of men enclosed within His nets every kind of authority. If a multitude is to be believed, what is more abundant than the Church spread throughout the whole world? If the rich are to be believed, let them observe how many rich men it has caught; if the poor are to be believed, let them observe the thousands of the poor; if the nobles, almost the whole nobility is now within; if kings, let them see them all subject to Christ; if the more eloquent,
Editors' notes and page, col. 335
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doctioribus, prudentioribus; intueantur quanti oratores; quanti periti, quanti philosophi hujus mundi ab illis piscatoribus irretiti sint, ut ad salutem de profundo attraherentur; cogitantes eum qui magnum malum animae humanae, id est, superbiam, suae humilitatis exemplo sanare descendens, infirma mundi elegit, ut confunderet fortia; et stulta hujus mundi elegit, ut confunderet sapientes; non qui essent, sed qui esse viderentur: et ignobilia hujus mundi elegit, et ea quae non sunt, ut ea quae sunt evacuaret (I Cor. I, 27).
more learned, more prudent; let them consider how many orators, how many experts, how many philosophers of this world have been caught in the nets of those fishermen, so that they might be drawn up from the deep to salvation; thinking of Him who, coming down to heal by the example of His humility the great evil of the human soul, that is, pride, chose the weak things of the world, to confound the strong; and chose the foolish things of this world, to confound the wise; not those who were [wise], but those who seemed to be: and chose the ignoble things of this world, and the things which are not, that He might bring to nothing the things which are (1 Cor. 1:27).
CAPUT IV. — 5. Dissonantia Evangeliorum nulla esse secure creditur, donec intelligatur. Utilitas secreti. Vela appensa in domo. Quidquid velis dicas, inquiunt, nos deprehendimus ubi legitis natum Christum, dissonare inter se Evangelia, et non posse utrumque verum esse quod dissonat. Cum enim ostendero, inquit, dissonantiam, recte improbo fidem, aut tu qui accipis fidem, ostende concordiam. Quam quaeso dissonantiam demonstrabis? Apertam, inquit, cui nemo potest contradicere. Quam securi auditis, quia fideles estis. Attendite, dilectissimi, et videte quam salubriter Apostolus moneat, dicens: Sicut ergo accepistis Christum Jesum Dominum nostrum, in ipso ambulate, radicati et superaedificati in ipso, et confirmati in fide. Ipsa enim simplici et certa fide, in illo firmiter permanere debemus, ut ipse aperiat fidelibus quod in se absconditum est: quia sicut idem dicit apostolus, In illo sunt omnes thesauri sapientiae et scientiae absconditi (Coloss. II, 6, 7, 3). Quos non propterea abscondit, ut neget, sed ut absconditis excitet desiderium. Haec est utilitas secreti. Honora in eo quod nondum intelligis; et tanto magis honora, quanto plura vela cernis. Quanto enim quisque honoratior est, tanto plura vela pendent in domo ejus. Vela faciunt honorem secreti: sed honorantibus levantur vela. Irridentes autem vela, et a velorum vicinitate pelluntur. Quia ergo transimus ad Christum, aufertur velamen (II Cor. III, 16).
Chapter IV. — 5. That there is no discord among the Gospels is securely believed, until it is understood. The usefulness of what is secret. Veils hung in a house. Say what you will, they say, we find, where you read that Christ was born, that the Gospels are at variance among themselves, and that what is at variance cannot both be true. For when I have shown, he says, the discord, I rightly reject the faith; or else you who accept the faith, show the concord. What discord, pray, will you demonstrate? An open one, he says, which no one can contradict. How untroubled you are as you hear this, because you are faithful. Attend, dearly beloved, and see how wholesomely the Apostle admonishes, saying: As therefore you have received Christ Jesus our Lord, walk in Him, rooted and built up in Him, and confirmed in the faith. For by that simple and certain faith we ought to abide firmly in Him, that He may open to the faithful what is hidden in Him: since, as the same apostle says, In Him are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge (Col. 2:6–7, 3). These He has hidden not in order to deny them, but in order to stir up desire for the hidden things. This is the usefulness of what is secret. Honour it in that which you do not yet understand; and honour it so much the more, the more veils you see. For the more honoured anyone is, the more veils hang in his house. Veils give honour to what is secret: but for those who honour it the veils are lifted. Those who mock the veils, however, are driven away even from the vicinity of the veils. Since therefore we pass over to Christ, the veil is taken away (2 Cor. 3:16).
CAPUT V. — 6. Pia fides Scripturarum. Augustinus ad divinas Scripturas non piam mentem afferens, aliquando decipitur. Proferunt calumnias suas quidam, et dicunt: Matthaeus certe evangelista est? Respondemus, ita, pio ore, corde devoto, in nullo omnino dubitantes: respondemus plane, Evangelista est Matthaeus. Credis ei, inquiunt? Quis non respondeat, Credo? Quomodo de murmure vestro pio insonuit? Ita, fratres, si secure creditis, non est unde erubescatis. Loquor vobis, aliquando deceptus, cum primo puer ad divinas Scripturas ante vellem afferre acumen discutiendi, quam pietatem quaerendi: ego ipse contra me perversis moribus claudebam januam Domini mei: cum pulsare deberem, ut aperiretur; addebam, ut clauderetur. Superbus enim audebam quaerere, quod nisi humilis non potest invenire. Quanto vos beatiores estis modo! quam securi discitis,
Chapter V. — 6. The pious faith of the Scriptures. Augustine, bringing to the divine Scriptures a mind that was not pious, was at one time deceived. Certain people bring forward their slanders, and say: Matthew is certainly an evangelist? We answer, yes, with pious mouth, with devoted heart, doubting in nothing at all: we answer plainly, Matthew is an Evangelist. Do you believe him, they say? Who would not answer, I believe? How it resounded from your pious murmur! Yes, brethren, if you believe securely, there is no reason for you to blush. I speak to you as one once deceived, when as a boy I first wished to bring to the divine Scriptures the sharpness of disputing rather than the piety of seeking: I myself by my perverse ways was shutting against myself the door of my Lord: when I ought to have knocked, that it might be opened, I was adding [my weight], that it might be shut. For in pride I dared to seek what none but the humble can find. How much more blessed you are now! how securely you learn,
Editors' notes and page, col. 336
Footnotes
(1) ‹anchor: si secure creditis› · call in col 336
Mss., si securi creditis. Particula, si, redundare videtur.
The manuscripts have "si securi creditis" ("if you believe, secure"). The particle "si" seems to be superfluous.
(printed under page 174)
(2) ‹anchor: Domini mei: cum› · call in col 336
Mss., quam.
The manuscripts have "quam."
(printed under page 174)
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- other: QA Q1a (2026-10-12): the English of this column was mended at both breaks. Its head no longer repeats the split word that stands whole at the end of col 335; the English of col 335 still ends in a broken word ("if the elo-") and must be completed there to "if the more eloquent," (not written by Q1a: neighbouring column). Its foot now ends on the whole word, as the source does.
quam tuti, quicumque adhuc parvuli estis in nido fidei, et spiritualem escam accipitis! Ego autem miser, cum me ad volandum idoneum putarem, reliqui nidum; et prius cecidi, quam volarem. Sed Dominus misericors me, a transeuntibus ne conculcarer et morerer, levavit, et in nido reposuit. Haec enim me perturbaverunt, quae modo vobis securus in nomine Domini et propono, et expono.
how safe, whoever of you are still little ones in the nest of faith and receive spiritual food! But I, wretched man, when I thought myself fit for flying, left the nest; and I fell before I could fly. But the merciful Lord lifted me up, so that I should not be trampled by passers-by and die, and put me back in the nest. For these are the things that troubled me, which now, free from care, in the name of the Lord I both set before you and explain.
7. Christus quomodo filius Abraham et David. Ut ergo dicere coeperam, ita illi calumniantur: Matthaeus, inquiunt, evangelista est, et creditis ei? Consequenter utique quem fatemur evangelistam, huic necessario credimus. Attendite generationes Christi, quas posuit Matthaeus: Liber generationis Jesu Christi, filii David, filii Abraham. Quomodo filii David, quomodo filii Abraham? Nisi enim per successionem generis, ostendi non potest. Constat quippe cum Dominus nasceretur de virgine Maria, neque Abraham, neque David in rebus humanis fuis⟨s⟩e. Et tu eumdem dicis filium David, eumdemque dicis filium Abraham? Tanquam dicamus Matthaeo, Proba ergo quod dicis. Exspecto enim successionem generis Christi. Abraham, inquit, genuit Isaac, Isaac autem genuit Jacob. Jacob autem genuit Judam, et fratres ejus. Judas autem genuit Phares et Zaram de Thamar. Phares autem genuit Esron. Esron autem genuit Aram. Aram autem genuit Aminadab. Aminadab autem genuit Naasson. Naasson autem genuit Salmon. Salmon autem genuit Booz ex Rahab. Booz autem genuit Obed ex Ruth. Obed autem genuit Jesse. Jesse autem genuit David regem. Jam hinc attendite quemadmodum a David perveniatur ad Christum, qui dictus est filius Abraham et filius David. David autem, inquit, genuit Salomonem ex ea quae fuit Uriae. Salomon autem genuit Roboam. Roboam autem genuit Abiam. Abias autem genuit Asa. Asa autem genuit Josaphat. Josaphat autem genuit Joram. Joram autem genuit Oziam. Ozias autem genuit Joatham. Joatham autem genuit Achaz. Achaz autem genuit Ezechiam. Ezechias autem genuit Manassen. Manasses autem genuit Amon. Amon autem genuit Josiam. Josias autem genuit Jechoniam et fratres ejus, in transmigratione Babylonis. Et post transmigrationem Babylonis, Jechonias genuit Salathiel. Salathiel autem genuit Zorobabel. Zorobabel autem genuit Abiud. Abiud autem genuit Eliachim. Eliachim autem genuit Az⟨o⟩r. Azor autem genuit Sadoc. Sadoc autem genuit Achim. Achim autem genuit Eliud. Eliud autem genuit Eleazar. Eleazar autem genuit Mathan. Mathan autem genuit Jacob. Jacob autem genuit Joseph, virum Mariae: de qua natus est Jesus, qui vocatur Christus. Sic ergo per ordinem successionemque parentum et progenitorum invenitur Christus filius David, filius Abraham.
7. How Christ is the son of Abraham and of David. So, as I had begun to say, this is how they make their false charge: "Matthew," they say, "is an evangelist, and do you believe him?" Consistently, of course, the one whom we acknowledge as an evangelist we necessarily believe. Look at the generations of Christ which Matthew set down: The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham (Matt. 1:1). How the son of David, how the son of Abraham? For unless it is through the succession of descent, it cannot be shown. For it is certain that when the Lord was born of the Virgin Mary, neither Abraham nor David was among living men. And do you call the same one the son of David, and call the same one the son of Abraham? As if we were to say to Matthew: "Prove, then, what you say. For I await the succession of Christ's descent." Abraham, he says, begot Isaac, and Isaac begot Jacob. And Jacob begot Judah and his brothers. And Judah begot Perez and Zerah of Tamar. And Perez begot Hezron. And Hezron begot Ram. And Ram begot Amminadab. And Amminadab begot Nahshon. And Nahshon begot Salmon. And Salmon begot Boaz of Rahab. And Boaz begot Obed of Ruth. And Obed begot Jesse. And Jesse begot David the king. Now from here observe how one comes from David to Christ, Who was called the son of Abraham and the son of David. And David, he says, begot Solomon of her who had been the wife of Uriah. And Solomon begot Rehoboam. And Rehoboam begot Abijah. And Abijah begot Asa. And Asa begot Jehoshaphat. And Jehoshaphat begot Joram. And Joram begot Uzziah. And Uzziah begot Jotham. And Jotham begot Ahaz. And Ahaz begot Hezekiah. And Hezekiah begot Manasseh. And Manasseh begot Amon. And Amon begot Josiah. And Josiah begot Jechoniah and his brothers, at the deportation to Babylon. And after the deportation to Babylon, Jechoniah begot Shealtiel. And Shealtiel begot Zerubbabel. And Zerubbabel begot Abiud. And Abiud begot Eliakim. And Eliakim begot Azor. And Azor begot Zadok. And Zadok begot Achim. And Achim begot Eliud. And Eliud begot Eleazar. And Eleazar begot Matthan. And Matthan begot Jacob. And Jacob begot Joseph, the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, Who is called Christ (Matt. 1:2–16). So, then, through the order and succession of parents and forefathers, Christ is found to be the son of David, the son of Abraham.
8. Generationes ab Abraham usque ad Christum. Cui rei fideliter enarratae, istam calumniam primam movent, quia sequitur idem Matthaeus, et dicit: Omnes generationes ab Abraham usque ad David, generationes quatuordecim: et a David usque ad transmigrationem Babylonis, generationes quatuordecim: et a
8. The generations from Abraham to Christ. Against this matter, faithfully recounted, they raise this first false charge, that the same Matthew goes on and says: All the generations from Abraham to David, fourteen generations; and from David to the deportation to Babylon, fourteen generations; and from
Editors' notes and page, col. 337
Footnotes
(1) ‹anchor: not visible in the foot image› · call in col 337
Sic Regius Ms. At Lov., quam utiliter. [the two quoted words are blurred in the scan]
So the Royal manuscript. But the Louvain edition has "quam utiliter" ("how profitably").
(printed under page 175)
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transmigratione Babylonis usque ad Christum, generationes quatuordecim. Deinde subjecit, ut narraret quomodo natus est Christus de Maria virgine, subjungens, et dicens: Christi autem generatio sic erat. Etenim ordine parentum enumeravit quare dicatur Christus filius David, filius Abraham.
the transmigration of Babylon up to Christ, fourteen generations. Then he added, in order to narrate how Christ was born of the Virgin Mary, continuing and saying: Now the generation of Christ was thus. For by the order of the ancestors he set out why Christ is called son of David, son of Abraham.
CAPUT VI. — Quomodo autem natus sit, et inter homines apparuerit, narrari jam debet; et consequens est ipsa narratio, per quam credimus Dominum nostrum Jesum Christum non solum natum de Deo sempiterno, coaeternum ei qui genuit ante omnia tempora, ante omnem creaturam, per quem facta sunt omnia; sed etiam jam natum de Spiritu sancto ex virgine Maria, quod pariter confitemur. Reminiscimini enim et nostis (Catholicis quippe loquor fratribus meis) hanc esse fidem nostram, hoc nos profiteri et confiteri. Pro ista fide interfecta sunt millia martyrum, toto orbe terrarum.
Chapter VI. — But how He was born and appeared among men must now be narrated; and there follows the narrative itself, through which we believe that our Lord Jesus Christ was not only born of the eternal God, coeternal with Him Who begot Him before all times, before every creature, He through Whom all things were made; but also now born of the Holy Spirit from the Virgin Mary, which we likewise confess. For you remember and know (for I am speaking to my Catholic brethren) that this is our faith, that this is what we profess and confess. For this faith thousands of martyrs have been slain throughout the whole world.
9. Conceptio Christi de Spiritu sancto. Justitia Joseph sincera, non saeva. Hoc enim quod sequitur volunt illi ridere, qui volunt fidem derogare Libris evangelicis: ut nos veluti ostendant temere credidisse quod dicitur: Cum esset desponsata mater ejus Maria Joseph, antequam convenirent, inventa est in utero habens de Spiritu sancto. Joseph autem vir ejus cum esset justus, et nollet eam traducere, voluit eam occulte dimittere. Quia enim de se gravidam non esse sciebat, jam velut consequenter adulteram existimabat. Cum esset justus, sicut Scriptura dicit, et nollet eam traducere, id est divulgare, nam hoc etiam multi codices habent; voluit eam occulte dimittere. Turbatur quidem maritus, sed non saevit justus. Tanta enim justitia tribuitur huic viro, ut nec vellet habere adulteram, nec auderet punire vulgatam. Voluit eam, inquit, occulte dimittere: quia non solum eam punire noluit, sed nec prodere. Attendite sinceram justitiam. Non enim propterea parcere volebat, quod habere cupiebat. Multi enim amore carnali adulteris uxoribus parcunt, volentes eas et adulteras habere, ut eis per carnalem concupiscentiam perfruantur. Hic autem vir justus habere eam non vult: ergo non carnaliter diligit. Et tamen punire non vult: ergo misericorditer parcit. Qualis hic justus est? Nec tenet adulteram, nec propterea parcere videtur, quia libidinose diligeret: et tamen nec punit, nec prodit. Merito plane testis electus est virginitatis uxoris. Qui ergo humana infirmitate turbabatur, divina auctoritate firmatus est.
9. The conception of Christ by the Holy Spirit. The justice of Joseph sincere, not cruel. For what follows those people wish to laugh at who wish to detract from the credibility of the Books of the Gospel, so as to show, as it were, that we have believed rashly what is said: When His mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together, she was found to be with child of the Holy Spirit. But Joseph her husband, since he was just and did not wish to expose her, wished to put her away secretly. For since he knew that she had not become pregnant by him, he now, as if by consequence, judged her an adulteress. Since he was just, as Scripture says, and did not wish to expose her, that is, to make it public, for many manuscripts also have this; he wished to put her away secretly. The husband is indeed troubled, but the just man does not rage. For such justice is ascribed to this man that he neither wished to keep an adulteress nor dared to punish her once made public. He wished, it says, to put her away secretly: because not only did he not wish to punish her, but not even to betray her. Mark this sincere justice. For he did not wish to spare her on this account, that he desired to keep her. For many, out of carnal love, spare adulterous wives, wishing to keep them even as adulteresses, so that they may enjoy them through carnal desire. But this just man does not wish to keep her: therefore he does not love carnally. And yet he does not wish to punish her: therefore he spares mercifully. What sort of just man is this? He neither holds on to an adulteress, nor does he seem to spare her on this account, that he loved her lustfully: and yet he neither punishes nor betrays her. Rightly indeed was he chosen as witness of his wife's virginity. He, then, who was troubled by human weakness was strengthened by divine authority.
CAPUT VII. — 10. Interpretatio nominis Jesu. Sequitur enim, et dicit Evangelista: Haec eo cogitante, ecce angelus Domini in somnis apparuit ei dicens: Joseph, noli timere accipere Mariam conjugem tuam. Quod enim in ea natum est, de Spiritu sancto est. Pariet autem filium, et vocabis nomen ejus Jesum. Quare Jesum? Ipse enim, inquit, salvum faciet populum suum a peccatis eorum (Matth. I, 1-21). Intelligitur ergo Jesum hebraea lingua, latine interpretari Salvatorem, quod ex ipsa nominis expositione advertimus. Tanquam enim quaereretur, quare Jesum?
Chapter VII. — 10. The interpretation of the name Jesus. For it follows, and the Evangelist says: While he was thinking these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in sleep, saying: Joseph, do not be afraid to take Mary your wife. For what has been born in her is of the Holy Spirit. And she will bear a son, and you shall call His name Jesus. Why Jesus? For He, it says, will save His people from their sins (Matt. 1:1–21). It is understood, then, that Jesus in the Hebrew tongue is rendered in Latin as Saviour, which we notice from the very explanation of the name. For as though it were asked, why Jesus?
Editors' notes and page, col. 338
Footnotes
(a) ‹anchor: parcere videtur› · call in col 338
Forte, ne..... videretur.
Perhaps, "ne..... videretur" ("lest he should seem").
(printed under page 175)
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continuo subjecit, rationem vocabuli aperiens, Ipse enim, inquit, salvum faciet populum suum a peccatis eorum. Hoc pie credimus, hoc firmissime retinemus, natum Christum de Spiritu sancto ex virgine Maria.
he immediately added, disclosing the reason for the name, For He, he says, shall save His people from their sins. This we piously believe, this we most firmly hold: that Christ was born of the Holy Spirit from the Virgin Mary.
11. Utilitas haereticorum. Utilitas per Judam proditorem. Illi ergo quid dicunt? Si invenero, inquit, mendacium, totum certe non credis. Inveni, videamus. Numero generationes. Illi enim per calumnias suas ad id nos invitant, et adducunt. Si pie vivamus, si Christum credamus, si non de nido ante tempus cupiamus volare, ad id nos adducunt, ut mysteria cognoscamus. Intendat itaque Sanctitas vestra utilitatem haereticorum; et utilitatem quidem secundum Deum, etiam malis bene utentem. Secundum ipsos vero hoc redditur, quod voluerunt; non hoc quod de ipsis Deus bene facit. Sicut de Juda quantum boni fecit? Passione Domini salvae factae sunt gentes. Sed ut pateretur Dominus, Judas eum tradidit. Deus ergo et gentes liberat passo Filio, et Judam punit pro scelere suo. Sacramenta enim quae illic latent, nemo discuteret, simpliciore contentus fide; et ideo nemo inveniret, quia nemo discuteret, nisi pulsantibus calumniatoribus. Cum enim haeretici calumniantur, parvuli perturbantur: cum perturbantur, inquirunt: inquisitio eorum, quasi percussio est de capite in ubera matris, ut tantum manent, quantum parvulis sat est. Illi turbati quaerunt; qui autem norunt et didicerunt, quia scrutati sunt, et aperuit illis pulsantibus Deus, aperiunt et ipsi turbatis. Et sic fit ut illi sint utiles ad inveniendam veritatem, dum calumniantur ad seducendum in errorem. Negligentius enim veritas quaereretur, si mendaces adversarios non haberet. Oportet enim, inquit, et haereses esse. Et quasi quaereremus causam, subjecit statim, Ut probati manifesti fiant inter vos (I Cor. XI, 19).
11. The usefulness of heretics. Usefulness through Judas the traitor. What then do they say? If I find, he says, a falsehood, you will certainly not believe the whole. I have found one; let us see. I count the generations. For by their slanders they invite us to this, and lead us on to it. If we live piously, if we believe in Christ, if we do not desire to fly from the nest before the time, they lead us on to this: that we come to know the mysteries. Let your Holiness therefore attend to the usefulness of heretics; and indeed a usefulness according to God, Who makes good use even of the wicked. To them, however, is repaid what they willed, not the good that God does by means of them. As with Judas: how much good did He do? By the Passion of the Lord the nations have been saved. But that the Lord might suffer, Judas betrayed Him. God therefore both sets the nations free by the suffering of His Son, and punishes Judas for his crime. For the sacraments which lie hidden there no one would examine, being content with a simpler faith; and so no one would find them, because no one would examine them, were it not that slanderers knock. For when heretics slander, the little ones are disturbed; when they are disturbed, they inquire; their inquiry is like the butting of the head against the mother's breasts, so that as much flows as is enough for the little ones. They, being disturbed, seek; but those who know and have learnt, because they have searched, and God has opened to them when they knocked, open in turn to the disturbed. And so it comes about that they are useful for finding the truth, while they slander in order to lead into error. For the truth would be sought more negligently if it had no lying adversaries. For there must be, he says, heresies also. And as though we were asking the reason, he added at once, That those who are approved may be made manifest among you (1 Cor. 11:19).
CAPUT VIII. — 12. Generationes ter quatuordecim apud Matthaeum inveniuntur, Jechonia bis numerato. Quid ergo illi dicunt? Ecce Matthaeus numerat generationes, et dicit ab Abraham usque ad David esse quatuordecim, et a David usque ad transmigrationem Babylonis quatuordecim, et a transmigratione in Babyloniam usque ad Christum quatuordecim. Duc in se ter quatuordecim, fiunt quadraginta duo. Numerant autem, et inveniunt quadraginta et unam generationem, et movent calumniam, et irridentes insultant. Quid sibi ergo vult, cum dicatur in Evangelio ter esse quatuordecim, tamen omnes numeratae inveniuntur non quadraginta duae, sed quadraginta et una? Sine dubio magnum sacramentum est. Et gaudemus gratias agentes Domino, quia et per occasionem calumniantium invenimus aliquid quod quanto magis tegebatur quaerendum, tanto magis delectet inventum. Sicut enim praelocuti sumus, edimus spectaculum mentium. Ab Abraham igitur usque ad David, quatuordecim sunt. Inde incipit numerus a Salomone: David enim genuit Salomonem. Incipit autem numerus a Salomone, et pervenit ad Jechoniam, qui cum viveret facta est transmigratio in Babyloniam; et sunt aliae quatuordecim generationes, annumerato
Chapter VIII. — 12. The generations are found in Matthew as three times fourteen, Jechoniah being counted twice. What then do they say? See, Matthew counts the generations, and says that from Abraham to David there are fourteen, and from David to the deportation of Babylon fourteen, and from the deportation into Babylon to Christ fourteen. Multiply fourteen by three: they make forty-two. But they count, and find forty-one generations, and raise a slander, and mockingly jeer. What then does it mean, that while it is said in the Gospel that there are three times fourteen, nevertheless all of them when counted are found to be not forty-two but forty-one? Without doubt it is a great sacrament. And we rejoice, giving thanks to the Lord, that even through the occasion given by the slanderers we find something which, the more it was hidden when it was to be sought, the more it delights when found. For, as we said beforehand, we are putting on a spectacle for minds. From Abraham, then, to David there are fourteen. Thence the count begins from Solomon: for David begot Solomon. The count, then, begins from Solomon, and reaches Jechoniah, in whose lifetime the deportation into Babylon took place; and there are another fourteen generations, with
Editors' notes and page, col. 339
Footnotes
(1) ‹anchor: not visible in the foot image› · call in col 339
Mss., quod noluerunt.
The manuscripts have "quod noluerunt" ("which they were unwilling").
(printed under page 176)
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Salomono a capite alterius intervalli, annumerato etiam Jechonia, ad quem clauditur ipse numerus, ut impleantur quatuordecim. Tertium vero intervallum ab ipso Jechonia incipit.
Solomon at the head of the other interval, Jechonias also being counted in, with whom the number itself is closed, so that fourteen may be filled up. But the third interval begins from Jechonias himself.
13. Cur Jechonias bis numeretur. Intendat Sanctitas vestra rem mysticam et dulcem: fateor vobis gustatum cordis mei; unde credo quia cum protulero, et gustaveritis, idipsum renuntiabitis. Intendite ergo. A Jechonia ipso incipiente numero tertii intervalli, usque ad Dominum Jesum Christum fiunt quatuordecim: quia Jechonias ille et finalis superioris intervalli, et initialis sequentis intervalli bis numeratur. Sed dixerit aliquis: Quare Jechonias bis numeratur? Nihil gestum est antea in populo Israel, quod non esset mysterium futurorum. Jechonias quidem non irrationabiliter bis numeratur: quia et si sit terminus inter duos agros, vel lapis, vel discretio aliqua maceriae, et ille qui est ex hac parte, usque ad ipsam maceriam metitur, et ille qui ex altera parte est, ab ipsa iterum sumit exordium metiendi. S⟨e⟩d quare hoc non factum est in prima connexione intervalli, ubi ab Abraham numeramus quatuordecim generationes usque ad David, et alias quatuordecim non repetito David, sed a Salomone incipimus numerare, reddenda causa est, quae magnum continet sacramentum. Intendat Sanctitas vestra. Tunc facta est transmigratio in Babyloniam, quando in locum patris sui defuncti Jechonias rex constitutus est. Ablatum est ei regnum, et alius constitutus est in locum ejus. Sed tamen vivente Jechonia facta est transmigratio ad Gentes. Nulla enim culpa Jechoniae dicitu⟨r⟩, quare sit regno privatus: sed magis illorum peccata inducuntur, qui ei successerunt. Sequitur ergo captivitas, itur in Babyloniam. Non eunt soli mali; sed cum his pergunt etiam sancti. In illa captivitate erat Ezechiel propheta, in illa erat Daniel; ibi erant tres pueri inter flammas nobilitati. Ierunt autem secundum prophetiam Jeremiae prophetae.
13. Why Jechonias is counted twice. Let Your Holiness attend to a thing mystical and sweet: I confess to you what my heart has tasted; whence I believe that when I have brought it forth and you have tasted it, you will report back the very same. Attend, then. With Jechonias himself beginning the count of the third interval, there are fourteen as far as the Lord Jesus Christ: because that Jechonias, being both the last of the preceding interval and the first of the following interval, is counted twice. But someone may say: Why is Jechonias counted twice? Nothing was done formerly among the people of Israel which was not a mystery of things to come. Jechonias indeed is not counted twice without reason: because if there is a boundary between two fields, whether a stone or some dividing wall, both the one who is on this side measures up to the wall itself, and the one who is on the other side takes from it again the starting point of his measuring. But why this was not done at the first junction of an interval, where we count fourteen generations from Abraham to David, and do not repeat David for the other fourteen but begin counting from Solomon, a reason must be given, which contains a great sacrament. Let Your Holiness attend. The transmigration into Babylon took place at the time when Jechonias was established as king in the place of his deceased father. The kingdom was taken from him, and another was established in his place. But nevertheless, while Jechonias was living, the transmigration to the Gentiles took place. For no fault of Jechonias is mentioned as to why he was deprived of the kingdom: rather, the sins of those who succeeded him are brought forward. Captivity therefore follows; they go into Babylon. Not only the wicked go; but with them go the saints also. In that captivity was the prophet Ezekiel, in it was Daniel; there were the three youths made illustrious amid the flames. But they went according to the prophecy of Jeremiah the prophet.
CAPUT IX. — 14. Transitus Evangelii ad Gentes figuratus in transmigratione Babylonis. Mementote Jechoniam sine ulla culpa improbatum, inde destitisse regnare, et fecisse transitum ad Gentes, cum transmigratum est in Babyloniam: et attendite praemonstratam imaginem rerum futurarum in Domino Jesu Christo. Noluerunt enim Judaei sibi regnare Dominum nostrum Jesum Christum, in quo nullam culpam invenerunt. Reprobatus est in se, reprobatus etiam in servis suis; et transitum est in Gentes, tanquam in Babyloniam. Hoc enim et Jeremias prophetabat, jubere Dominum ut irent in Babyloniam. Et quicumque alii Prophetae dicebant populo ut non irent in Babyloniam, Jeremias pseudoprophetas arguebat. Qui Scripturas legunt, recordentur nobiscum: qui non legunt, credant nobis. Minabatur ergo Jeremias ex persona Domini eis qui nolebant ire in Babyloniam: eis autem qui irent, promittebat ibi quietem, et quamdam felicitatem in novellandis vineis et plantandis hortis et ubertate fructuum (Jerem. XXVII). Quomodo ergo jam non in figura, sed in veritate populus Israel transit
Chapter IX. — 14. The passage of the Gospel to the Gentiles prefigured in the transmigration of Babylon. Remember that Jechonias, rejected without any fault, thereupon ceased to reign and made the passage to the Gentiles, when the transmigration into Babylon took place: and observe the image of things to come shown beforehand in the Lord Jesus Christ. For the Jews would not have our Lord Jesus Christ reign over them, in Whom they found no fault. He was rejected in Himself, rejected also in His servants; and the passage was made to the Gentiles, as into Babylon. For this too Jeremiah prophesied, that the Lord commanded them to go into Babylon. And whatever other prophets told the people not to go into Babylon, Jeremiah rebuked as false prophets. Let those who read the Scriptures recall it with us; let those who do not read them believe us. Jeremiah therefore threatened, in the person of the Lord, those who would not go into Babylon: but to those who would go he promised rest there, and a certain happiness in planting new vineyards and setting out gardens and in abundance of fruits (Jer. 27). How then, no longer in figure but in truth, does the people of Israel pass over
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in Babyloniam? Unde erant Apostoli? Nonne de gente Judaeorum? Unde ipse Paulus? Nam et ego, inquit, Israelita sum, ex semine Abrahae, ex tribu Benjamin (Rom. XI, 1). Crediderunt ergo in Dominum multi de Judaeis. Inde electi sunt Apostoli: inde erant plus quam quingenti fratres, qui Dominum post resurrectionem videre meruerunt (I Cor. XV, 6): inde erant centum viginti in domo, quando Spiritus sanctus advenit (Act. I, 15, et II, 1-4). Quid autem dicit Apostolus in Actibus Apostolorum, cum respuerent verbum veritatis Judaei? Ad vos, inquit, missi eramus; sed quoniam respuistis verbum Dei, ecce convertimus nos ad Gentes (Act. XIII, 46). Facta est ergo transmigratio in Babyloniam secundum spiritualem dispensationem temporis Incarnationis Domini, quae tunc praesignata est tempore Jeremiae. Sed quid dicit Jeremias transmigrantibus de his Babyloniis? Quia in pace ipsorum erit, inquit, pax vestra (Jerem. XXIX, 7). Cum ergo transmigraret etiam per Christum et Apostolos Israel in Babyloniam, hoc est Evangelium veniret ad Gentes, quid dicit Apostolus quasi ex voce tunc Jeremiae? Obsecro ergo primum omnium fieri deprecationes, orationes, interpellationes, gratiarum actiones pro omnibus hominibus, pro regibus et his qui in sublimitate sunt constituti; ut quietam et tranquillam vitam agamus, cum omni pietate et castitate (I Tim. II, 1 et 2). Nondum erant reges christiani, et orabat pro eis. Orans ergo Israel in Babylonia, exauditus est. Exauditae sunt voces Ecclesiae, facti sunt christiani: et videtis impleri quod figuraliter dictum est, In eorum pace, erit pax vestra. Acceperunt enim pacem Christi, et destiterunt persequi Christianos; ut jam in securitate pacis aedificarentur ecclesiae, et plantarentur populi in agricultura Dei, et fructificarent omnes gentes fide, spe et charitate quae est in Christo.
into Babylon? Where did the Apostles come from? Was it not from the nation of the Jews? Where did Paul himself come from? For I too, he says, am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin (Rom. 11:1). Many of the Jews, then, believed in the Lord. From there the Apostles were chosen: from there were the more than five hundred brethren who were found worthy to see the Lord after the resurrection (1 Cor. 15:6): from there were the hundred and twenty in the house when the Holy Spirit came (Acts 1:15, and 2:1–4). But what does the Apostle say in the Acts of the Apostles, when the Jews were rejecting the word of truth? To you, he says, we had been sent; but since you have rejected the word of God, behold, we turn to the Gentiles (Acts 13:46). So the transmigration into Babylon took place according to the spiritual dispensation of the time of the Lord's Incarnation, which was then foreshadowed in the time of Jeremiah. But what does Jeremiah say to those migrating, concerning these Babylonians? For in their peace, he says, shall be your peace (Jer. 29:7). When, therefore, Israel also migrated through Christ and the Apostles into Babylon, that is, when the Gospel came to the Gentiles, what does the Apostle say, as if with the voice of Jeremiah of that time? I beseech therefore, first of all, that supplications, prayers, intercessions and thanksgivings be made for all men, for kings and for those who are set in high station; that we may lead a quiet and tranquil life, with all piety and chastity (1 Tim. 2:1–2). There were not yet Christian kings, and he was praying for them. So Israel, praying in Babylon, was heard. The voices of the Church were heard, they became Christians: and you see fulfilled what was said figuratively, In their peace shall be your peace. For they received the peace of Christ, and ceased to persecute Christians; so that now, in the security of peace, churches might be built, and peoples planted in God's husbandry, and all nations bear fruit in faith, hope and charity which is in Christ.
15. Christus inter Judaeos et Gentes lapis angularis in Jechonia adumbratus. Facta est transmigratio in Babyloniam tunc per Jechoniam, qui non est permissus regnare in Judaeorum gente, typo Christi, quem Judaei sibi regnare noluerunt. Transitum fecit Israel ad Gentes, id est praedicatores Evangelii transierunt ad populos Gentium. Quid ergo miraris quod bis numeratur Jechonias? Etenim si Christi figuram gerebat a Judaeis transeuntis ad Gentes; attende quid est Christus inter Judaeos et Gentes. Nonne ipse est ille lapis angularis? Attende in angulo terminum parietis unius, et initium parietis alterius. Usque ad ipsum lapidem metiris unum parietem, et ab ipso alterum. Bis ergo numeratur lapis angularis, qui connectit utrumque parietem. Jechonias ergo gestans figuram Domini, tanquam lapis angularis typum praeferebat. Et sicut Jechonias regnare non est permissus Judaeis, sed itum est in Babyloniam; sic Christus lapis quem reprobaverunt aedificantes, factus est in caput ang⟨u⟩li (Psal. CXVII, 22), ut Evangelium perveniret ad Gentes. Noli ergo dubitare bis numerare caput anguli, et occurrit tibi numerus scriptus; atque ita quatuordecim sunt, et quatuordecim, et quatuordecim: et non sunt tamen quadraginta duae generationes, sed quadraginta et una.
15. Christ, the corner-stone between Jews and Gentiles, foreshadowed in Jechonias. The transmigration into Babylon took place at that time through Jechonias, who was not permitted to reign in the nation of the Jews, as a type of Christ, Whom the Jews did not want to reign over them. Israel made a crossing to the Gentiles, that is, the preachers of the Gospel crossed over to the peoples of the Gentiles. Why then do you wonder that Jechonias is counted twice? For if he bore the figure of Christ crossing over from the Jews to the Gentiles, consider what Christ is between the Jews and the Gentiles. Is He not that corner-stone? Consider at the corner the end of one wall and the beginning of the other. Up to that very stone you measure the one wall, and from it the other. The corner-stone, then, which joins both walls, is counted twice. Jechonias, therefore, bearing the figure of the Lord, displayed a type, as a corner-stone. And just as Jechonias was not permitted to reign over the Jews, but the going was into Babylon; so Christ, the stone which the builders rejected, has become the head of the corner (Ps. 117:22), so that the Gospel might reach the Gentiles. Do not hesitate, then, to count the head of the corner twice, and the written number comes out for you; and thus there are fourteen, and fourteen, and fourteen: and yet there are not forty-two generations, but forty-one.
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Quia sicut ordo lapidum cum per lineam rectam dirigitur, omnes singillatim numerantur; cum autem detorquetur ordo, ut angulum faciat, illum lapidem inde torquetur, oportet bis numerari; quia et ad illum ordinem pertinet, qui usque ad ipsum finitur, et ad illum qui ab ipso incipit: sic ordo generationum quamdiu in illo populo mansit, in bis septeno, id est, intervallo non fecit angulum; cum autem detortus ordo est, ut transmigraretur in Babyloniam, velut a Jechonia quidam factus est angulus; ut eum in typo illius venerandi lapidis angularis bis numerare oporteret.
For just as with a row of stones, when it is directed along a straight line, all are counted one by one; but when the row is turned aside so as to make a corner, the stone from which it is turned has to be counted twice, because it belongs both to that row which ends at it and to that which begins from it: so the order of generations, as long as it remained in that people, made no corner within the twice seven, that is, the interval; but when the order was turned aside, so that [the people] was carried away into Babylon, a kind of corner was made, as it were, at Jechonias; so that it was fitting to count him twice, as a type of that venerable cornerstone.
CAPUT X. — 16. Cur genealogia Christi deducitur per Joseph. Joseph verus maritus Mariae. Altera illorum calumniatio est. Per Joseph, inquiunt, generationes Christi, et non per Mariam numerantur. Attendat paulisper Sanctitas vestra. Non, inquiunt, per Joseph debuit. Quare non debuit per Joseph? Numquid non erat maritus Mariae Joseph? Non, inquiunt. Quis hoc dicit? Scriptura enim dicit angelica auctoritate quod maritus erat. Noli timere, inquit, accipere Mariam conjugem tuam. Quod enim in illa natum est, de Spiritu sancto est. Ei quoque jubetur ut puero nomen imponat, quamvis non de semine suo nato. Pariet, inquit, filium, et vocabis nomen ejus Jesum. Sed hoc intendit Scriptura, quod non sit natus de semine Joseph, cum sollicito unde esset illa gravis utero, dicitur, De Spiritu sancto est. Et tamen paterna ei non aufertur auctoritas; cum jubetur puero nomen imponere. Denique et ipsa virgo Maria bene sibi conscia quod non ex ejus complexu et concubitu conceperit Christum, tamen eum patrem Christi dicit.
Chapter X. — 16. Why the genealogy of Christ is traced through Joseph. Joseph the true husband of Mary. Their other false charge is this. Through Joseph, they say, the generations of Christ are counted, and not through Mary. Let Your Holiness attend for a little while. It ought not, they say, [to have been traced] through Joseph. Why ought it not through Joseph? Was not Joseph the husband of Mary? No, they say. Who says this? For Scripture says, on the authority of an angel, that he was her husband. Do not fear, it says, to take Mary as your wife. For what has been born in her is of the Holy Spirit. He is also commanded to give the boy a name, although He was not born of his seed. She will bear, it says, a son, and you shall call His name Jesus. But Scripture lays stress on this, that He was not born of the seed of Joseph, when it is said to him, anxious as to how she came to be heavy with child, It is of the Holy Spirit. And yet a father's authority is not taken from him, since he is commanded to give the boy a name. Finally, even the virgin Mary herself, well aware that she had not conceived Christ from his embrace and intercourse, nevertheless calls him the father of Christ.
17. Joseph pater Christi a Maria dictus, quomodo. Christus non se negat filium Joseph. Attendite quemadmodum. Cum esset duodecim annorum Dominus Jesus Christus secundum hominem, qui secundum Deum est ante tempora et sine tempore, remansit ab eis in templo, et disputabat cum senioribus, et admirabantur super doctrina ejus. Illi autem redeuntes de Jerosolymis quaesierunt illum in comitatu suo, inter eos scilicet qui secum ambulabant; et non eum invenientes, turbati redierunt Jerosolymam, eumque disputantem in templo cum senioribus invenerunt, cum esset, ut dixi, annorum duodecim. Sed quid mirum? Verbum Dei nunquam tacet: sed non semper auditur. Invenitur ergo in templo, et dicit ei mater ejus: Quid nobis fecisti sic? Pater tuus et ego dolentes quaerebamus te. Et ille: Non sciebatis quia oporte⟨t⟩ me in his esse quae Patris mei sunt (Luc. II, 42-49)? Hoc propterea dixit, quia Filius Dei erat in templo Dei. Templum enim illud non erat Joseph, sed Dei. Ecce, inquit aliquis, non se concessit esse filium Joseph. Attendite aliquanto patientius, fratres, propter angustias temporis, ut sermoni sufficia⟨n⟩t. Cum dixisset Maria, Pater tuus et ego dolentes quaerebamus te; ille respondit, Non sciebatis quia in his oportet me esse quae Patris mei sunt? Non enim sic se volebat esse filium illorum, ut non intelligeretur Filius Dei. Filius enim Dei, semper Filius Dei, creans illos ipsos. Filius autem hominis ex tempore, natus de virgine sine semine
17. Joseph called the father of Christ by Mary, and in what way. Christ does not deny that He is the son of Joseph. Attend to how this is. When the Lord Jesus Christ was twelve years old according to the man, He Who according to God is before times and without time, He stayed behind them in the temple, and was disputing with the elders, and they marvelled at His teaching. But they, returning from Jerusalem, looked for Him in their company, that is, among those who were travelling with them; and not finding Him, they returned troubled to Jerusalem, and found Him disputing in the temple with the elders, when He was, as I said, twelve years old. But what wonder? The Word of God is never silent, but He is not always heard. He is found, then, in the temple, and His mother says to Him: Why hast Thou done thus to us? Thy father and I were seeking Thee in sorrow. And He: Did you not know that I must be in those things which are My Father's? (Luke 2:42–49) He said this because the Son of God was in the temple of God. For that temple was not Joseph's, but God's. See, someone says, He did not grant that He was the son of Joseph. Listen a little more patiently, brethren, because of the shortness of time, so that it may suffice for the sermon. When Mary had said, Thy father and I were seeking Thee in sorrow, He answered, Did you not know that I must be in those things which are My Father's? For He did not wish to be their son in such a way that He should not be understood to be the Son of God. For the Son of God, always the Son of God, is the creator of those very people. But the Son of man, from time, born of a virgin without the seed
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maritali, parentem tamen habebat utrumque. Unde hoc probamus? Jam dixit Maria, Pater tuus et ego dolentes quaerebamus te.
of a husband, yet He had both parents. How do we prove this? Mary has already said, Thy father and I were seeking Thee in sorrow.
CAPUT XI. — 18. Mariae modestia et humilitas imitanda feminis. Maria virgo et mulier dicta. Symbolum fid⟨e⟩i. Primo non est praetermittenda, fratres, maxime propter disciplinam feminarum, sororum nostrarum, tam sancta modestia virginis Mariae. Christum pepererat, angelus ad eam venerat, et dixerat ei, Ecce concipies in utero, et paries filium, et vocabis nomen ejus Jesum. Hic erit magnus, et Filius Altissimi vocabitur (Luc. I, 31, 32). Meruerat parere Filium Altissimi, et erat humillima: nec se marito, nec in ordine nominis praeferebat, ut diceret, Ego et pater tuus; sed, Pater tuus, inquit, et ego. Non attendit sui uteri dignitatem: sed attendit ordinem conjugalem. Non enim humilis Christus matrem suam superbire docuisset. Pater tuus et ego dolentes quaerebamus te. Pater tuus, inquit, et ego: quia caput mulieris vir (Ephes. V, 23). Quanto minus debent superbire caeterae feminae? Nam et ipsa Maria mulier dicta est, non corrupta virginitate, sed appellatione propria gentis suae. Dixit enim de Domino Jesu Christo et Apostolus, Factum ex muliere (Galat. IV, 4): non tamen interrupit ordinem et textum fidei nostrae, qua confitemur natum de Spiritu sancto, et virgine Maria. Illa enim virgo concepit, virgo peperit, virgo permansit. Sed mulieres omnes feminas illi appellaverunt, proprietate linguae hebraeae. Audi evidentissimum exemplum. Prima femina, quam fecit Deus sumptam de latere viri, antequam cum viro concumberet, quod posteaquam de paradiso exierunt scribitur factum, tamen mulier jam vocabatur, dicente Scriptura, Formavit eam in mulierem (Gen. II, 22).
Chapter XI. — 18. The modesty and humility of Mary to be imitated by women. Mary called both virgin and woman. The Creed. First, brethren, especially for the instruction of women, our sisters, so holy a modesty of the Virgin Mary must not be passed over. She had borne Christ, the angel had come to her and had said to her, Behold, you shall conceive in the womb, and you shall bear a son, and you shall call His name Jesus. He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Most High (Luke 1:31–32). She had been found worthy to bear the Son of the Most High, and she was most humble: she did not put herself before her husband, not even in the order of naming, so as to say, I and Thy father; but, Thy father, she says, and I. She did not look to the dignity of her own womb, but looked to the conjugal order. For the humble Christ would not have taught His mother to be proud. Thy father and I were seeking Thee in sorrow. Thy father, she says, and I: because the head of the woman is the man (Eph. 5:23). How much less ought other women to be proud? For Mary herself too was called woman, not because her virginity was corrupted, but by a usage proper to her nation. For the Apostle too said of the Lord Jesus Christ, Made of a woman (Gal. 4:4): yet he did not break the order and fabric of our faith, by which we confess [Him] born of the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary. For she conceived as a virgin, gave birth as a virgin, remained a virgin. But they called all females women, by a property of the Hebrew language. Hear a most evident example. The first female, whom God made, taken from the side of the man, before she lay with the man, which is written to have happened after they had gone out of paradise, was nevertheless already called woman, as Scripture says, He formed her into a woman (Gen. 2:22).
19. Christus patrem Joseph non negat. Obedientia pueri Jesu imitanda pueris. Quod ergo respondet Dominus Jesus Christus, Oportebat me esse in his quae Patris mei sunt; non sic indicat Patrem Deum, ut neget patrem Joseph. Unde hoc probamus? secundum Scripturam, quae sic ait: Et dixit ad illos: Non sciebatis quia in his quae Patris mei sunt oportet me esse. Illi autem non intellexerunt quid illis locutus est. Et cum descendisset cum illis, venit Nazareth, et erat subditus illis (Luc. II, 49-51). Non dixit, Erat subditus matri; aut, erat subd⟨i⟩tus ei: sed, erat, inquit, subditus illis. Quibus subditus erat? Nonne parentibus? Ambo parentes erant, quibus ille subditus erat, ea dignatione qua filius hominis erat.
19. Christ does not deny Joseph as father. The obedience of the boy Jesus to be imitated by boys. As to what the Lord Jesus Christ then answers, It behoved Me to be in the things that are My Father's: He does not so point to God as Father as to deny Joseph as father. How do we prove this? From the Scripture, which says thus: And He said to them: Did you not know that I must be in the things that are My Father's? But they did not understand what He had spoken to them. And when He had gone down with them, He came to Nazareth, and was subject to them (Luke 2:49–51). It did not say, He was subject to His mother; or, He was subject to her: but, He was, it says, subject to them. To whom was He subject? Was it not to His parents? Both were parents, to whom He was subject, by that condescension by which He was the son of man.
CAPUT XII. — Jamdudum pr⟨ae⟩cepta feminae accipiebant: nunc pueri accipiant, ut obsequantur parentibus, eisque sint subditi. Christo mundus subditus, Christus parentibus subditus.
Chapter XII. — A while ago women were receiving precepts: now let boys receive them, that they may obey their parents and be subject to them. The world is subject to Christ, Christ subject to His parents.
20. Christus et filius et Dominus David. Videtis ergo, fratres, quod non ita dixerit, Oportet me in his quae Patris mei sunt esse, ut intelligeremus quasi dictum, Vos non estis parentes mei. Sed parentes illi temporaliter, Pater ille sempiterne. Parentes illi filii hominis, Pater ille Verbi et Sapientiae suae, Pater Virtutis suae, per quam cuncta formavit. Si per illam
20. Christ both son and Lord of David. You see therefore, brethren, that He did not say, I must be in the things that are My Father's, in such a way that we should understand it as if it were said, You are not My parents. But they are His parents in time, He is His Father eternally. They are parents of the son of man, He is Father of His Word and Wisdom, Father of His Power, through which He formed all things. If through that
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formantur universa, quae attingit a fine usque ad finem fortiter et disponit omnia suaviter (Sap. VIII, 1), per Filium Dei et illi formati sunt, quibus idem ipse postea filius hominis subderetur. Et Apostolus dicit eum filium David: Qui factus est ei, inquit, ex semine David, secundum carnem (Rom. I, 3). Sed tamen ipse Dominus quaestionem proponit Judaeis, quam in his ipsis verbis solvit Apostolus. Cum enim diceret, Qui factus est ei ex semine David; ad hoc addidit, secundum carnem, ut intelligeretur secundum divinitatem non esse filius David, sed Filius Dei, Dominus David. Nam et alio loco sic dicit Apostolus, cum commendaret stirpem Judaeorum: Quorum patres, inquit, ex quibus Christus secundum carnem, qui est super omnia Deus benedictus in saecula (Id. IX, 5). Quod secundum carnem, inde filius David: quod autem super omnia Deus benedictus in saecula, inde Dominus David. Dominus ergo Judaeis hoc dicit: Cujus esse filium dicitis Christum? Responderunt: David. Hoc enim noverant, quod facile capiebant ex praedicatione Prophetarum. Et vere ipse erat ex semine David, sed secundum carnem per virginem Mariam desponsatam Joseph. Cum ergo responderent Christum filium esse David, ait illis Jesus: Quomodo ergo David in spiritu vocat eum Dominum, dicens, Dixit Dominus Domino meo, Sede a dextris meis, quousque ponam inimicos tuos sub pedibus tuis? Si ergo David in spiritu vocat eum Dominum, quomodo filius ejus est? Et non potuerunt respondere Judaei (Matth. XXII, 42-46). Sic habemus in Evangelio. Non se negavit filium esse David; ut nescirent Dominum esse David. Etenim tenebant in Christo quod factus est ex tempore: non in eo intelligebant quod est in aeternitate. Quapropter docere illos volens divinitatem suam, quaestionem fecit de humanitate sua: tanquam diceret, Scitis Christum esse filium David; respondete mihi quomodo sit et Dominus David. Sed ne illi dicerent, Non est Dominus David, ipsum David testem interposuit. Et quid dicit? Verum utique dicit. Nam et illud habes in Psalmis ad David dicentem, De fructu ventris tui ponam super sedem tuam (Psal. CXXXI, 11). Ecce filius David. Quomodo et Dominus David, qui filius David? Dixit, inquit, Dominus Domino meo, Sede ad dexteram meam (Psal. (CIX, 1). Miramini David filium suum Dominum habere, cum videatis Mariam suum Dominum peperisse? Dominus David, quia Deus; Dominus David, quia omnium: filius autem David, quia filius hominis. Idem Dominus, idem filius: Dominus David, qui cum in forma Dei esset, non rapinam arbitratus est esse aequalis Deo: filius autem David, quia semetipsum exinanivit, formam servi accipiens (Philipp. II, 6, 7).
all things are formed, which reaches from end to end mightily and disposes all things sweetly (Wis. 8:1), through the Son of God those too were formed to whom that same One was afterwards to be made subject as Son of Man. And the Apostle calls Him the son of David: Who was made to Him, he says, of the seed of David, according to the flesh (Rom. 1:3). But nevertheless the Lord Himself puts a question to the Jews which the Apostle solves in these very words. For when he said, Who was made to Him of the seed of David, he added to this, according to the flesh, so that it might be understood that according to the divinity He is not the son of David, but the Son of God, the Lord of David. For in another place too the Apostle speaks thus, when he was commending the stock of the Jews: Whose are the fathers, he says, of whom is Christ according to the flesh, Who is over all things God blessed for ever (Rom. 9:5). In that He is according to the flesh, thence He is son of David; but in that He is over all things God blessed for ever, thence He is Lord of David. The Lord therefore says this to the Jews: Whose son do you say that Christ is? They answered: David's. For this they knew, because they grasped it easily from the preaching of the Prophets. And truly He was of the seed of David, but according to the flesh, through the virgin Mary, betrothed to Joseph. When therefore they answered that Christ was the son of David, Jesus said to them: How then does David in the spirit call Him Lord, saying, The Lord said to my Lord, Sit at My right hand, until I put Thine enemies under Thy feet? If then David in the spirit calls Him Lord, how is He his son? And the Jews could not answer (Matt. 22:42–46). So we have it in the Gospel. He did not deny that He was the son of David, so that they should not know that He was the Lord of David. For they held in Christ that which He was made in time; they did not understand in Him that which He is in eternity. Wherefore, wishing to teach them His divinity, He raised a question about His humanity: as if He were saying, You know that Christ is the son of David; answer Me how He is also the Lord of David. But lest they should say, He is not the Lord of David, He brought in David himself as witness. And what does he say? He certainly says what is true. For you have this too in the Psalms, spoken to David: Of the fruit of your womb I will set upon your throne (Ps. 131:11). Behold the son of David. How is He also the Lord of David, Who is the son of David? The Lord, he says, said to my Lord, Sit at My right hand (Ps. 109:1). Do you wonder that David has his son as his Lord, when you see that Mary gave birth to her Lord? Lord of David, because God; Lord of David, because Lord of all; but son of David, because Son of Man. The same is Lord, the same is son: Lord of David, Who, though He was in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal to God; but son of David, because He emptied Himself, taking the form of a servant (Phil. 2:6–7).
CAPUT XIII.—21. Conjugium facit, non commixtio carnalis, sed charitas conjugalis. Conjugati abstinentes ex consensu. Non itaque propterea non fuit pater Joseph, quia cum matre Domini non concubuit; quasi uxorem libido faciat, et non charitas conjugalis. Intendat Sanctitas vestra. Dicturus erat post aliquantum
Chapter XIII.—21. What makes a marriage is not carnal intercourse but conjugal charity. Married people abstaining by consent. It is not, therefore, for this reason that Joseph was not a father, because he did not lie with the mother of the Lord; as if lust made a wife, and not conjugal charity. Let Your Holiness attend. He was about to say after some
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Footnotes
(1) ‹anchor: Et quid dicit› · call in col 344
Codex v., Et qui dicit. [the first quoted word is blurred in the scan]
Codex v. has, "Et qui dicit" ("And he who says").
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temporis, Apostolus Christi in Ecclesia, Reliquum est ut qui habent uxores, tanquam non habentes sint (I Cor. VII, 29). Et multos novimus fratres nostros fructificantes in gratia, in nomine Christi ex consensu ab invicem continere concupiscentiam carnis, non autem continere ab invicem charitatem conjugalem. Quanto illa reprimitur, tanto ista fortius confirmatur. Nonne sunt conjuges qui sic vivunt, non quaerentes ab invicem fructum carnis, non exigentes ab invicem debitum concupiscentiae corporalis? Et tamen illa subjecta est viro, quia sic decet; et tanto subjectior, quanto castior: et ille uxorem diligit vere, ut scriptum est, in honore et sanctificatione (I Thess. IV, 4), tanquam cohaeredem gratiae, sicut Christus, inquit, dilexit Ecclesiam (Ephes. V, 25). Ergo si copula est, si conjugium est, si non ideo non est conjugium, quia non fit illud quod etiam in non conjuge fieri potest, sed illicite potest: utinam possent omnes; sed multi non possunt. Non ergo ideo disjungant eos qui possunt, et propterea negent esse vel illum maritum, vel illam uxorem, quia non sibi carnaliter miscentur, sed cordibus connectuntur.
time, the Apostle of Christ in the Church, It remains that those who have wives be as though not having [them] (1 Cor. 7:29). And we know many of our brothers bearing fruit in grace, who in the name of Christ by mutual consent restrain carnal desire towards each other, but do not restrain conjugal charity towards each other. The more the former is held in check, the more strongly the latter is confirmed. Are there not spouses who live thus, not seeking from each other the fruit of the flesh, not exacting from each other the debt of bodily desire? And yet she is subject to her husband, because it is fitting so; and the more chaste she is, the more subject she is: and he truly loves his wife, as it is written, in honour and sanctification (1 Thess. 4:4), as a co-heir of grace, as Christ, he says, loved the Church (Eph. 5:25). Therefore if there is a union, if there is a marriage, if it is not therefore no marriage because that is not done which can be done even with one who is not a spouse, but can be done unlawfully: would that all could [live so]; but many cannot. Let them not, then, on that account separate those who can, and for that reason deny that he is a husband or she a wife, because they are not joined to each other carnally, but are bound together in their hearts.
22. Carnalis commixtio nonnisi procreationis causa. Tabulae matrimoniales. Adulterium unde. Veniale peccatum quando in usu matrimonii. Hinc intelligite, fratres mei, quid senserit Scriptura de illis parentibus nostris, qui sic erant conjugati, ut solam prolem de conjugibus quaererent. Tam caste enim habebant illi, qui pro tempore et pro more gentis suae etiam plures habebant, ut non accederent ad carnalem commixtionem, nisi procreationis causa, vere habentes eas in honore. Caeterum qui uxoris carnem amplius appetit, quam praescribit limes ille, liberorum procreandorum causa, contra ipsas tabulas facit, quibus eam duxit uxorem. Recitantur tabulae, et recitantur in conspectu omnium attestantium, et recitatur, Liberorum procreandorum causa; et vocantur tabulae matrimoniales. Nisi ad hoc dentur, ad hoc accipiantur uxores, quis sana fronte dat filiam suam libidini alienae? Sed ut non erubescant parentes, cum dant, recitantur tabulae; ut sint soceri, non lenones. Quid ergo de tabulis recitatur? Liberorum procreandorum causa. Tergitur frons patris atque serenatur, audita voce tabularum. Videamus frontem viri accipientis uxorem. Erubescat et maritus aliter accipere, si erubescit pater aliter dare. Sed si non possunt (aliquando jam ista diximus), exigant debitum; non progrediantur ultra debitores suos. Et femina et vir infirmitatem suam in se consolentur. Non eat ille ad alteram, et illa ad alterum: unde appellatum est adulterium, quasi ad alterum. Et si egrediuntur metas matrimonialis pacti, non egrediantur metas conjugalis tori. Numquid hoc non est peccatum, amplius quam liberorum procreandorum necessitas cogit, exigere a conjuge debitum? Est quidem peccatum, sed veniale. Apostolus dicit, Hoc autem dico secundum veniam: cum inde loqueretur, Nolite, inquit, fraudare invicem, nisi ex consensu ad tempus, ut vacetis orationi; et iterum ad idipsum estote, ne vos tentet Satanas, propter intemperantiam
22. Carnal intercourse only for the sake of procreation. The marriage tablets. Whence [the word] adultery. When there is venial sin in the use of marriage. From this understand, my brothers, what Scripture thought of those forefathers of ours, who were so married that they sought from their wives offspring alone. For they held [their wives] so chastely, those men who, according to the time and the custom of their people, even had several, that they did not come to carnal intercourse except for the sake of procreation, truly holding them in honour. But whoever desires his wife's flesh more than that limit prescribes, for the sake of begetting children, acts against the very tablets by which he took her as wife. The tablets are read out, and they are read out in the sight of all the witnesses, and it is read out, For the sake of begetting children; and they are called the marriage tablets. Unless wives were given for this, received for this, who with an untroubled brow would give his daughter to another man's lust? But so that the parents may not blush when they give her, the tablets are read out; so that they may be fathers-in-law, not procurers. What then is read out from the tablets? For the sake of begetting children. The father's brow is wiped and made serene on hearing the words of the tablets. Let us look at the brow of the man receiving a wife. Let the husband too blush to receive her otherwise, if the father blushes to give her otherwise. But if they cannot [abstain] (we have said these things before now), let them exact the debt; let them not go beyond their debtors. Let both woman and man console their weakness within themselves. Let him not go to another woman, nor her to another man: whence it is called adultery, as it were "to another". And if they go beyond the bounds of the marriage contract, let them not go beyond the bounds of the conjugal bed. Is it not a sin to exact the debt from one's spouse beyond what the need of begetting children compels? It is indeed a sin, but a venial one. The Apostle says, But this I say by way of indulgence: when he had been speaking of this, Do not defraud one another, he says, except by consent for a time, that you may give yourselves to prayer; and come together again, lest Satan tempt you because of your intemperance.
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vestram. Quid est hoc? Ne ultra vires aliquid vobis imponatis; ne continendo a vobis invicem, in adulteria corruatis. Ne vos tentet Satanas, propter intemperantiam vestram. Et ne forte quod permittebat jubere videretur (aliud est enim jubere virtuti, aliud permittere infirmitati), statim subjunxit, Hoc autem dico secundum veniam, non secundum imperium. Nam vellem omnes homines esse si⟨c⟩ut me ipsum (I Cor. VII, 5-7). Tanquam diceret: Non impero ut faciatis; sed ignosco si feceritis.
What is this? That you should not lay anything on yourselves beyond your strength; that by abstaining from one another you should not fall into adulteries. Lest Satan tempt you because of your intemperance. And lest he should perhaps seem to command what he was permitting (for it is one thing to give a command to virtue, another to grant a permission to weakness), he at once added: But this I say by way of indulgence, not by way of command. For I would that all men were as I myself am (1 Cor. 7:5–7). As if he were saying: I do not command you to do it; but I pardon you if you do it.
CAPUT XIV. — 23. Duobus susten⟨t⟩aculis constat genus humanum. Ergo, fratres mei, intendite. Qui liberorum procreandorum causa habent uxores magni viri, quales fuisse Patres legimus, et multis documentis invenimus, clamantibus omnino sine dubitatione paginis sanctis: si qui ergo viri propter creationem tantummodo liberorum uxores habent, si eis posset praestari ut haberent filios sine concubitu; nonne ineffabili gaudio tantum beneficium amplecterentur? nonne cum ingenti laetitia susciperent? Duo sunt enim opera carnalia, quibus constat genus humanum: in quae duo opera prudentes et sancti ex officio descendunt; imprudentes autem in ea per cupiditatem ruunt. Aliud est enim ad aliquid officio descendere, aliud in aliquid per cupiditatem cadere. Quae sunt ista, quibus constat genus humanum? In nobis ipsis primum est, quod pertinet ad sumenda alimenta (quae utique non possunt sine aliqua per carnem delectatione sumi), manducare et bibere: si non feceris, morieris. Hoc ergo uno sustentaculo stat genus humanum, pro modo naturae suae, manducandi et bibendi. Sed per hoc sustentaculum sustentantur homines quod ad se ipsos attinet: successioni autem non consulunt manducando et bibendo; sed uxores ducendo. Sic enim constat genus humanum, primo ut vivant homines: sed quia diligentia quantalibet corpori adhibita non possunt utique semper vivere; consequens provisio est, ut nascentes succedant morientibus. Quia ita est genus humanum, sicut scriptum est, quomodo folia in arbore: sed in arbore olea, vel lauro, vel aliqua hujusmodi, quae nunquam sine coma est; sed tamen non eadem semper habet folia. Nam quomodo scriptum est, alia generat, et alia dejicit (Eccli. XIV, 18-19): quia ea quae suboriuntur, succedunt ruentibus aliis. Semper enim dejicit folia, semper foliis vestita est. Sic et genus humanum quotidie morientium detrimenta non sentit, per supplementa nascentium: et sic pro modo suo stat universa species generis humani; et sicut folia in arbore semper videntur, ita plena hominibus terra conspicitur. Si autem morerentur tantum, et non nascerentur; velut arbores quaedam omnibus foliis, ita terra omnibus hominibus nudaretur.
Chapter XIV. — 23. The human race subsists by two supports. Therefore, my brothers, pay attention. Those who have wives for the sake of begetting children are great men, such as we read the Fathers to have been, and as we find from many proofs, the sacred pages proclaiming it altogether without doubt: if, then, any men have wives solely for the sake of producing children, if it could be granted to them to have sons without intercourse, would they not embrace so great a benefit with unspeakable joy? would they not receive it with immense gladness? For there are two works of the flesh by which the human race subsists: into these two works the prudent and the holy descend out of duty; but the imprudent rush into them through desire. For it is one thing to descend to something out of duty, another to fall into something through desire. What are these things by which the human race subsists? In ourselves the first is that which pertains to taking nourishment (which certainly cannot be taken without some delight through the flesh), eating and drinking: if you do not do it, you will die. By this one support, then, of eating and drinking, the human race stands, according to the measure of its nature. But by this support men are sustained as far as concerns themselves: they do not, however, provide for succession by eating and drinking, but by taking wives. For thus the human race subsists: first, that men may live; but since, however much care is applied to the body, they certainly cannot live for ever, the consequent provision is that those being born should succeed those dying. For the human race is, as it is written, like leaves on a tree: but on a tree such as the olive, or the laurel, or some other of this kind, which is never without foliage; and yet it does not always have the same leaves. For, as it is written, it produces some and casts down others (Sir. 14:18–19): because those which spring up succeed others as they fall. For it is always casting down leaves, and always clothed with leaves. So too the human race does not feel the daily losses of those who die, through the supplies of those who are born: and thus the whole species of the human race stands after its own manner; and just as leaves are always seen on the tree, so the earth is seen full of men. But if they only died, and were not born, then, like certain trees stripped of all their leaves, so the earth would be stripped of all its men.
24. Ad vitae necessaria alii libidine, alii ratione ducuntur. Cum ergo sic subsistat genus humanum, ut necessaria sint duo sustentacula, de quibus satis dictum est; ad utrumque sapiens et prudens et fidelis officio descendit, non libidine cadit. Ad manducandum et bibendum quam multi voraciter irruunt, ibi ponentes totam vitam, quasi ipsam causam vivendi? Nam
24. To the necessities of life some are led by lust, others by reason. Since, then, the human race so subsists that two supports are necessary, about which enough has been said, to both the wise and prudent and faithful man descends out of duty; he does not fall into them through lust. How many rush greedily upon eating and drinking, placing their whole life there, as though it were the very reason for living? For
Editors' notes and page, col. 346
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cum ideo manducent, ut vivant; ideo se putant vivere, ut manducent. Istos omnis sapiens reprehendit, et maxime divina Scriptura, edaces, ebriosos, helluones, quorum Deus venter est (Philipp. III, 19). Illos ad mensam non ducit, nisi concupiscentia carnis, non indigentia refectionis. Itaque isti cadunt in escam et potum. Illi autem qui descendunt ex officio vivendi, non ideo vivunt, ut comedant; sed ideo comedunt, ut vivant. Itaque istis prudentibus et temperantibus si offerretur ut sine cibo et potu viverent; quanto gaudio amplecterentur hoc beneficium, ut quo cadere non consueverunt, nec descendere cogerentur; sed semper suspenderentur in Domino, non deponeret eorum intentiones necessitas fulciendarum corporis ruinarum? Quomodo putatis Eliam sanctum accepisse, quando accepit calicem aquae et collyridam panis, ut satis ei esset in alimentum quadraginta dierum (III Reg. XIX, 6-8)? Cum magna utique laetitia: quia propter officium vitae, non propter servitutem concupiscentiae, manducabat et bibebat. Tenta hoc praestare, si possis, homini qui beatitudinem totam et felicitatem in epulis, tanquam pecus in praesepi, constituit. Odit beneficium tuum, repellit a se, poenam putat. Sic et in illo officio conjugali, libidinosi homines uxores non propter aliud quaerunt: et ideo vix tandem ipsis uxoribus contenti sunt. Atque utinam si auferre non possunt aut nolunt libidinem, non ultra eam progredi sinant, quam praescribit debitum uxorium, etiam quod infirmitati conceditur. Sed plane tali homini si diceres, Quare ducis uxorem? responderet tibi fortasse verecundatus, Propter filios. Si quis ei diceret, cui sine ulla dubitatione crederet, Potens est dare tibi, et omnino dabit tibi Deus filios, etiam non operanti opus illud cum uxore: ibi certe concluderetur atque fateretur quod non propter filios quaerebat uxorem. Confiteatur ergo infirmitatem: accipiat quod officio se accipere praetendebat.
since they eat for this reason, that they may live; they think they live for this reason, that they may eat. Every wise man reproves these, and above all divine Scripture: gluttons, drunkards, squanderers, whose god is their belly (Phil. 3:19). Nothing leads them to the table but the concupiscence of the flesh, not the need of refreshment. And so these fall upon food and drink. But those who descend from the duty of living do not live for this reason, that they may eat; but they eat for this reason, that they may live. And so, if it were offered to these prudent and temperate men that they should live without food and drink, with what joy would they embrace this benefit, so that they would not be compelled even to descend to that to which they were not accustomed to fall, but would always be held aloft in the Lord, and the necessity of propping up the ruins of the body would not bring down their attention? How do you think holy Elijah received it, when he received a cup of water and a cake of bread, so that it was enough for him as nourishment for forty days (1 Kgs. 19:6–8)? With great joy, certainly: because he ate and drank for the duty of life, not for the slavery of concupiscence. Try to grant this, if you can, to a man who has placed all his happiness and felicity in feasts, like a beast at the manger. He hates your benefit, drives it from him, regards it as a punishment. So also in that conjugal duty, lustful men seek wives for nothing else: and therefore they are scarcely at last content even with their wives. And would that, if they cannot or will not take away lust, they did not let it go beyond what the marital debt prescribes, even that which is granted to weakness. But plainly, if you said to such a man, Why do you take a wife? he would perhaps answer you, made ashamed, For the sake of children. If someone whom he would believe without any doubt said to him, God is able to give you children, and will certainly give you children, even if you do not perform that work with your wife: there surely he would be cornered and would confess that it was not for the sake of children that he sought a wife. Let him confess, then, his weakness: let him receive what he pretended to receive out of duty.
CAPUT XV. — 25. Patribus concessum habere multas uxores ad hoc tantum ut filios procrearent. Sic illi priores sancti, homines Dei, filios quaerebant, filios suscipere volebant. Ad hoc unum jungebantur feminis; ad hoc feminis miscebantur, ut filios procrearent. Ideo illis permissum est ut plures haberent. Nam si libido immoderata placeret Deo, sic permittere⟨t⟩ur illo tempore, ut una femina haberet plures viros, quomodo unus vir plures feminas. Quare omnes feminae castae non habebant amplius uno viro, vir autem plures feminas: nisi quia plures habere feminas unum virum, pertinet ad prolis numerositatem; una autem femina non quo plures habuerit viros, plures poterit parere filios? Quapropter, fratres, si Patres nostri non ob aliud quam ad liberos procreandos jungebantur et miscebantur feminis; magnum illis esset gaudium, si praeter opus illud carnale possent habere filios, propter quos habendos ad illud non libidine ruebant, sed officio descendebant. Propter hoc Joseph
Chapter XV. — 25. To the Fathers it was granted to have many wives only for this, that they might beget children. Thus those earlier saints, men of God, sought children, wished to receive children. For this one thing they were joined to women; for this they had intercourse with women, that they might beget children. Therefore it was permitted to them to have several. For if immoderate lust pleased God, it would have been permitted at that time that one woman should have several husbands, just as one man [had] several women. Why then did all chaste women not have more than one husband, while a man had several women, unless because for one man to have several women pertains to the abundance of offspring, whereas one woman will not be able to bear more children by having had more husbands? Wherefore, brethren, if our Fathers were joined to women and had intercourse with them for no other reason than to beget children, it would have been a great joy to them if, apart from that carnal work, they could have children, for the sake of having whom they did not rush to it by lust, but descended to it out of duty. For this reason Joseph
Editors' notes and page, col. 347
Footnotes
(1) ‹anchor: not visible in the foot image› · call in col 347
Apud Lov. omissa fuerat negatio, quae restituitur hic ex Mss.
In the Louvain edition the negative had been left out; it is restored here from the manuscripts.
(printed under page 180)
(2) ‹anchor: accipere praetendebat› · call in col 347
Ita in Mss. At in Lov., officiose accipere praetendebat.
So in the manuscripts. But in the Louvain edition, "officiose accipere praetendebat" ("he was pretending to take dutifully").
(printed under page 180)
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non erat pater, quia sine concupiscentia carnis susceperat filium? Absit ut hoc sentiat castitas Christiana, quod nec Judaica sentiebat. Diligite uxores vestras, sed caste diligite. Usque ad eum modum carnale opus expetite, ut filios procreetis. Et quia non aliter potestis habere filios, ad illud cum dolore descendite. Poena est enim illius Adam, de quo exorti sumus. Non extollamur de poena nostra. Poena est illius qui meruit mortaliter gignere; quia peccato mortalis effectus est. Ipsam poenam non subtraxit Deus; ut meminisset homo unde revocatur, et quo vocatur; et quaereret illum amplexum, ubi nulla potest esse corruptio.
was not a father, because he had received a son without the concupiscence of the flesh? Far be it that Christian chastity should think this, which not even Jewish chastity thought. Love your wives, but love them chastely. Seek the carnal act only up to that measure, that you may procreate children. And since you cannot have children in any other way, go down to it with sorrow. For it is the punishment of that Adam from whom we have sprung. Let us not be lifted up over our punishment. It is the punishment of him who deserved to beget mortally, because through sin he was made mortal. God did not take away this very punishment, so that man might remember whence he is called back and whither he is called, and might seek that embrace where there can be no corruption.
26. Dignitas virginalis coepit a matre Domini. Joseph quomodo vere pater Christi. Adoptio filiorum. Filii naturales et filii conjugales. In illo ergo populo quia oportebat fieri abundantem propagationem usque ad Christum, per numerositatem plebis in qua praefigurarentur omnia quae praefiguranda erant Ecclesiae documenta, habebant officium ducendarum uxorum per quas populus cresceret, in quo populo praesignaretur Ecclesia.
26. The dignity of virginity began with the mother of the Lord. How Joseph is truly the father of Christ. The adoption of sons. Natural sons and sons of wedlock. In that people, then, since there had to be an abundant propagation right up to Christ, through a great number of the people in whom all the teachings of the Church that were to be prefigured might be prefigured, they had the duty of taking wives, through whom the people might increase, in which people the Church was to be foreshadowed.
CAPUT XVI. — At ubi natus est ipse Rex omnium gentium, coepit dignitas virginalis a Matre Domini, quae et filium habere meruit, et corrumpi non meruit. Sicut ergo erat illud conjugium, et sine ulla corruptione conjugium: sic quod caste uxor peperit, cur non caste maritus acciperet? Sicut enim caste conjux illa, sic ille caste maritus: et sicut illa caste mater, sic ille caste pater. Qui ergo dicit, Non debuit dici pater, quia non sic genuerat filium; libidinem quaerit in procreandis filiis, non charitatis affectum. Melius ille, quod alius carne implere desiderat, animo implebat. Nam et qui adoptant filios, castius eos corde gignunt, quos carne non possunt. Videte, fratres, videte jura adoptionis, quomodo fit homo filius cujus semine natus non est; ut plus in eo juris habeat voluntas adoptantis, quam natura gignentis. Ita ergo non solum debuit esse pater Joseph, sed maxime debuit. Nam et de feminis quae uxores non sunt, generant homines filios, et dicuntur filii naturales; et praeponuntur eis filii conjugales. Quantum pertinet ad opus carnis, aequaliter nati sunt: unde isti praeponuntur, nisi quia castior est uxoris charitas, de qua liberi procreantur? Non illic attenditur commixtio carnis, quae in utraque femina par est. Ubi vincit uxor, nisi affectu fidei, affectu conjugii, affectu sincerioris castiorisque charitatis? Si ergo posset de uxore quisquam sine concubitu suscipere filios, non tanto debuit laetius, quanto est illa castior, quam diligit amplius?
Chapter XVI. — But when the King of all nations Himself was born, the dignity of virginity began with the Mother of the Lord, who was found worthy both to have a son and not to be corrupted. Just as, then, that was a marriage, and a marriage without any corruption, so why should the husband not chastely receive what the wife chastely bore? For just as she was a chaste wife, so he was a chaste husband; and just as she was a chaste mother, so he was a chaste father. Whoever, then, says, "He ought not to have been called father, because he had not begotten a son in that way," seeks lust in the procreating of children, not the affection of charity. He fulfilled better in spirit what another desires to fulfil in the flesh. For those too who adopt sons beget more chastely in the heart those whom they cannot beget in the flesh. See, brethren, see the rights of adoption, how a man becomes the son of one from whose seed he was not born, so that the will of the one adopting has more right over him than the nature of the one begetting. Thus, then, Joseph not only ought to have been father, but ought most of all. For men also beget sons from women who are not their wives, and these are called natural sons; and sons of wedlock are set before them. As far as the work of the flesh is concerned, they are born equally: why then are the latter set before them, unless because the charity of a wife, from whom children are procreated, is more chaste? There no regard is paid to the mingling of the flesh, which is equal in either woman. Wherein does the wife prevail, except by the affection of faith, the affection of wedlock, the affection of a more sincere and more chaste charity? If, then, anyone could receive sons from his wife without intercourse, ought he not to do so all the more gladly, the more chaste she is whom he loves the more?
CAPUT XVII. — 27. Duo patres Joseph ad conciliandos Matthaeum et Lucam recte admittuntur. Hinc jam etiam illud videte posse fieri ut unus homo non solum duos filios habeat, sed et duos patres. Nominata enim adoptione, occurrat cogitationibus vestris posse fieri. Dicitur enim, Duos filios potest habere homo, duos autem patres non potest. Imo invenitur posse habere etiam duos patres; si unus semine genuit, alius dilectione adoptavit. Si ergo possunt uni homini esse duo patres, potuit et Joseph duos patres habere, ab altero generari, ab altero adoptari. Quod si potuit,
Chapter XVII. — 27. Two fathers of Joseph are rightly admitted in order to reconcile Matthew and Luke. Hence now see that this too can happen, that one man has not only two sons but also two fathers. For once adoption has been named, let it occur to your thoughts that it can happen. For it is said, "A man can have two sons, but he cannot have two fathers." On the contrary, it is found that he can have even two fathers, if one begot him by seed and another adopted him by love. If, then, one man can have two fathers, Joseph too could have two fathers, be begotten by the one and adopted by the other. And if he could,
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quid calumniantur illi, qui dicunt alias generationes secutum esse Matthaeum, alias Lucam? Et revera invenimus, quod alias secutus est ille, alias ille. Nam Matthaeus Jacob patrem dixit Joseph: Lucas autem Heli. Et potest quidem videri unus homo, cujus filius erat Joseph, habuisse duo nomina. Sed quod avos et proavos et alios superius progeneratores diversos enumerant, inque ipso numero plures alius, alius pauciores; manifeste ostenditur habuisse duos patres Joseph. Jam remota quaestionis calumnia, quia fieri posse manifesta ratio demonstravit, alium patrem esse qui genuit, alium qui adoptavit; duobus patribus constitutis, non est mirum si avi et proavi et caeteri parentes sursum versus a diversis patribus diversi numerentur.
why do they make false charges, those who say that Matthew followed some generations and Luke others? And indeed we find that the one followed some, the other others. For Matthew said that Jacob was the father of Joseph, but Luke Heli. And it can indeed seem that one man, whose son Joseph was, had two names. But since they enumerate different grandfathers and great-grandfathers and other forebears higher up, and in that very count one gives more, the other fewer, it is plainly shown that Joseph had two fathers. Now that the slander of the question has been removed, since clear reasoning has demonstrated that it can happen that one father is he who begot and another he who adopted, once two fathers have been established it is no wonder if the grandfathers and great-grandfathers and the other forebears going upwards are counted differently from different fathers.
CAPUT XVIII. — 28. Adoptio in sacris Litteris. Antiquorum cum ancillis concubitus quomodo sine adulterio. Nec vobis videatur jus adoptionis a Scripturis nostris alienum, et quasi in consuetudine humanarum legum animadversum, illi auctoritati divinorum Librorum non posse congruere. Antiqua enim res est, et in ipsis eloquiis ecclesiasticis usitata, ut non sola origo seminis generet filium, sed et gratia voluntatis. Nam et mulieres de semine virorum suorum ex ancillis natos, si ipsae non pepererant, filios adoptabant; quin etiam ut eis gignerentur, maritis imperabant: sicut Sara (Gen. XVI, 1-4), sicut Rachel, sicut Lia (Id. XXX, 1-9). In quo officio viri adulterium non committebant, quia uxoribus in ea re, quae ad conjugale debitum pertinet, obediebant; secundum id quod dicit Apostolus, Mulier non habet potestatem corporis sui, sed vir: similiter et vir non habet potestatem corporis sui, sed mulier (I Cor. VII, 4). Moyses etiam natus ex Hebraea matre, et expositus, a filia Pharaonis est adoptatus (Exod. II). Non erant quidem ipsae juris formulae quae sunt modo: sed arbitrium voluntatis pro norma legis habebatur; sicut et alio loco dicit Apostolus, Quia gentes legem non habentes, naturaliter quae legis sunt faciunt (Rom. II, 14). Si autem feminis licebat eos filios facere, quos non ipsae pepererant; cur non et viris, quos non ipsi genuerant ex semine carnali, sed ex dilectione adoptandi? Nam et ipsum Jacob patriarcham tantorum filiorum patrem, legimus tamen sibi filios fecisse nepotes suos, filios Joseph, ita dicentem: Isti duo mihi erunt, et accipient terram cum fratribus suis; quos alios genueris tibi sint (Gen. XLVIII, 5, 6). Nisi forte quis dixerit ipsum adoptionis verbum, non inveniri in Scripturis sanctis. Quasi vero quidquam interest quo vocabulo appelletur, cum res ipsa sit, ut habeat filium mulier, quem carne non peperit; aut aliquem vir, quem carne non genuit. Et me quidem non repugnante non vocet adoptatum Joseph, dummodo concedat eum filium esse potuisse etiam ejus de cujus carne non erat natus. Quanquam Paulus apostolus etiam adoptionis nomen assidue commemoret, et in magno sacramento. Nam cum Dominum nostrum Jesum Christum unicum Dei Filium Scriptura testetur, fratres et cohaeredes quos habere dignatus est, adoptione quadam divinae gratiae fieri dicit. Cum autem venit, inquit, plenitudo temporis,
Chapter XVIII. — 28. Adoption in the sacred Scriptures. How the intercourse of the ancients with maidservants was without adultery. Nor should it seem to you that the right of adoption is foreign to our Scriptures and, as though it were something noticed in the custom of human laws, cannot accord with that authority of the divine Books. For it is an ancient thing, and one in use in the ecclesiastical writings themselves, that not only the origin of seed begets a son, but also the favour of the will. For women too, if they themselves had not given birth, adopted as sons those born of maidservants from the seed of their own husbands; indeed they even commanded their husbands that such sons be begotten for them: as Sarah did (Gen. 16:1–4), as Rachel, as Leah (Gen. 30:1–9). In this duty the men did not commit adultery, because they were obeying their wives in that matter which pertains to the conjugal debt; according to what the Apostle says, The woman does not have power over her own body, but the man: likewise the man too does not have power over his own body, but the woman (1 Cor. 7:4). Moses also, born of a Hebrew mother and exposed, was adopted by Pharaoh's daughter (Exod. 2). There were not indeed the same legal formulas that there are now: but the decision of the will was held as the rule of law; as the Apostle also says in another place, That the Gentiles who do not have the law do by nature the things that are of the law (Rom. 2:14). But if it was permitted to women to make those their sons whom they themselves had not borne, why not also to men, [to make sons of those] whom they themselves had begotten not from carnal seed but from the love of adopting? For we read that even the patriarch Jacob himself, father of so many sons, nevertheless made his grandsons, the sons of Joseph, his own sons, saying thus: These two shall be mine, and they shall receive land with their brothers; those others whom you beget, let them be yours (Gen. 48:5–6). Unless perhaps someone should say that the very word adoption is not found in the holy Scriptures. As if indeed it made any difference by what word it is called, when the thing itself is there, that a woman has a son whom she did not bear in the flesh, or a man has someone whom he did not beget in the flesh. And indeed, without objection from me, let him not call Joseph adopted, provided that he grants that he could have been the son even of one from whose flesh he was not born. Although the apostle Paul too mentions the name of adoption constantly, and in a great mystery. For although Scripture testifies that our Lord Jesus Christ is the only Son of God, he says that those whom He deigned to have as brothers and co-heirs are made so by a certain adoption of divine grace. But when there came, he says, the fullness of time,
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misit Deus Filium suum factum ex muliere, factum sub Lege; ut eos qui sub lege erant redimeret, ut adoptionem filiorum reciperemus (Galat. IV, 4 et 5). Et alio loco: In nobismetipsis, inquit, ingemiscimus, adoptionem exspectantes, redemptionem corporis nostri (Rom. VIII, 23). Rursus et de Judaeis cum diceret: Optabam ego ipse anathema esse a Christo pro fratribus meis, cognatis secundum carnem, qui sunt Israelitae: quorum est, inquit, adoptio, et gloria, et Testamentum, et Legis constitutio; quorum patres, et ex quibus Christus secundum carnem, qui est super omnia Deus benedictus in saecula (Id. IX, 3-5). Ubi ostendit vetustum apud Judaeos fuisse vel nomen adoptionis, vel ipsam rem; sicut Testamentum et Legis constitutio, quae simul commemorat.
God sent His Son, made of a woman, made under the Law, that He might redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons (Gal. 4:4–5). And in another place: Within our very selves, he says, we groan, awaiting the adoption, the redemption of our body (Rom. 8:23). And again, when he was speaking of the Jews: I myself wished to be anathema from Christ for my brothers, my kinsmen according to the flesh, who are Israelites: whose is, he says, the adoption, and the glory, and the Testament, and the giving of the Law; whose are the fathers, and of whom is Christ according to the flesh, Who is God over all, blessed for ever (Rom. 9:3–5). Here he shows that among the Jews either the name of adoption or the thing itself was of long standing, just as were the Testament and the giving of the Law, which he mentions together with it.
CAPUT XIX. — 29. Filii proprio quodam modo apud Judaeos. Generationes Domini varie ab Evangelistis sine mendacio numeratae. Huc accedit, quia erat alius modus proprius Judaeorum, quo fieret aliquis filius ejus de quo non esset carnaliter natus. Propinqui enim propinquorum suorum sine liberis defunctorum ducebant uxores, ut semen defuncti suscitarent (Deut. XXV, 5, 6; Matth. XXII, 24). Ita ille qui nascebatur, et illius erat filius de quo nascebatur, et illius in cujus successione nascebatur. Haec dicta sunt, ne quisquam existimans fieri non posse, ut recte unius hominis duo patres commemorentur, quemlibet Evangelistarum qui generationes Domini narraverunt, sacrilega calumnia quasi de mendacio criminandum putet: praesertim cum ipsis eorum verbis nos videamus admonitos. Matthaeus quippe, qui eum patrem commemorare intelligitur, a quo genitus est Joseph, ita generationes enumerat, Ille genuit illum, ut ad hoc pervenire possit quod ait in fine, Jacob genuit Joseph. Lucas vero, quia non proprie dicitur genitus, qui vel adoptione efficitur filius, vel in successione mortui ex illa quae uxor ejus fuit nascitur, non dixit, Heli genuit Joseph; aut, Joseph quem genuit Heli: sed, qui fuit, inquit, filius Heli (Luc. III, 23); sive adoptando, sive à propinquo genitus in mortui successione nascendo.
Chapter XIX. — 29. Sons in a certain manner peculiar to the Jews. The generations of the Lord numbered differently by the Evangelists without falsehood. To this is added the fact that there was another manner peculiar to the Jews, by which someone might become the son of one from whom he had not been born according to the flesh. For near kinsmen used to marry the wives of their kinsmen who had died without children, in order to raise up seed for the deceased (Deut. 25:5–6; Matt. 22:24). Thus he who was born was both the son of him from whom he was born and the son of him in whose succession he was born. These things have been said so that no one, supposing that it cannot be that two fathers of one man are rightly mentioned, should think that either of the Evangelists who have narrated the generations of the Lord is to be charged, with sacrilegious calumny, as though with falsehood: especially since we see ourselves admonished by their very words. For Matthew, who is understood to be mentioning the father by whom Joseph was begotten, enumerates the generations thus, This one begot that one, so that he may arrive at what he says at the end, Jacob begot Joseph. But Luke, since one who becomes a son either by adoption, or by being born in the succession of a dead man from her who was his wife, is not properly said to be begotten, did not say, Heli begot Joseph; or, Joseph, whom Heli begot: but, who was, he says, the son of Heli (Luke 3:23); whether by adoption, or, as one begotten by a kinsman, by being born in the succession of a dead man.
CAPUT XX. — 30. Quare per Joseph numerantur, non per Mariam. Jam vero illud quia movere non debet, quare per Joseph, et non per Mariam generationes numerentur, satis dictum est: quia sicut illa sine carnali concupiscentia mater, sic ille sine carnali commixtione pater. Per illum ergo descendant, et per illum ascendant generationes. Nec eum propterea separemus, quia defuit carnalis concupiscentia. Major puritas confirmet paternitatem: ne ipsa sancta Maria nos reprehendat. Illa enim nomen suum praeponere noluit marito suo; sed dixit, Pater tuus et ego dolentes quaerebamus te (Luc. II, 48). Non ergo faciant perversi murmuratores, quod conjux casta non fecit. Numeremus ergo per Joseph: quia sicut caste maritus, sic caste pater est. Sed praeponamus virum feminae ordine naturae et legis Dei. Nam si remoto illo illam constituamus; dicit ille, et recte dicit,
Chapter XX. — 30. Why they are numbered through Joseph, not through Mary. Now as to that question, which ought not to trouble [us], why the generations are numbered through Joseph and not through Mary, enough has been said: that just as she was a mother without carnal concupiscence, so he was a father without carnal intercourse. Through him, therefore, let the generations descend, and through him let them ascend. Nor let us separate him on that account, because carnal concupiscence was absent. Let the greater purity confirm the paternity, lest holy Mary herself reprove us. For she was unwilling to set her own name before her husband; but she said, Thy father and I were seeking Thee in sorrow (Luke 2:48). Let not perverse murmurers, then, do what the chaste wife did not do. Let us number, therefore, through Joseph: because, just as he is chastely a husband, so is he chastely a father. But let us place the man before the woman, by the order of nature and of the law of God. For if, setting him aside, we put her in his place, he says, and rightly says,
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(1) ‹anchor: illam constituamus› · call in col 350
Mss., Nam si remoto illo jam constituamus. [the word read as "jam" is blurred in the scan; possibly "eam"]
The manuscripts have, "Nam si remoto illo jam constituamus" ("For if, with him set aside, we now set up").
(printed under page 181)
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Quare me separastis? Quare non per me generationes vel ascendunt, vel descendunt? An dicitur ei, Quia non tu genuisti opere carnis tuae? Sed respondebit, Numquid et illa opere carnis suae peperit? Quod Spiritus sanctus operatus est, utrisque operatus est. Cum esset, inquit, homo justus. Justus ergo vir, justa femina. Spiritus sanctus in amborum justitia requiescens, ambobus filium dedit. Sed in eo sexu quem parere decebat, operatus est hoc, quod etiam marito nasceretur. Itaque ambobus dicit angelus ut puero nomen imponant; ubi parentum declaratur auctoritas. Nam et Zacharias cum adhuc mutus esset, filio nato mater nomen imponebat. Et cum illi qui aderant innuerent patri quid eum vellet vocari, acceptis pugillaribus hoc scripsit, quod illa jam dixerat (Id. I, 60-63). Dicitur et Mariae, Ecce concipies filium, et vocabis nomen ejus Jesum (Ibid., 31): dicitur etiam ad Joseph, Joseph fili David, ne metueris accipere Mariam conjugem tuam Quod enim in ea natum est, de Spiritu sancto est. Pariet autem filium, et vocabis nomen ejus Jesum: hic salvabit populum suum a peccatis eorum (Matth. I, 20, 21). Dicitur etiam, Et peperit ei filium (Luc. II, 7): ubi omnino pater non carne, sed charitate firmatur. Sic ergo pater sicuti est. Cautissime enim Evangelistae et prudentissime per illum numerant, sive Matthaeus descendens ab Abraham usque ad Christum, sive Lucas ascendens a Christo per Abraham usque ad Deum. Ille descendens numerat, ille ascendens, ambo per Joseph. Quare? Quia pater. Quare pater? Quia tanto firmius pater, quanto castius pater. Aliter quidem putabatur esse pater Domini nostri Jesu Christi, scilicet sicut caeteri patres carne generantes, non solo spirituali affectu liberos suscipientes. Nam dixit et Lucas, Qui putabatur esse pater Jesu (Id. III, 23). Quare putabatur? Quia humana putatio et existimatio illuc ferebatur, quod solet ab hominibus fieri. Non ergo de semine Joseph Dominus, quamvis hoc putaretur: et tamen pietati et charitati Joseph natus est de Maria virgine filius, idemque Filius Dei.
Why have you separated me? Why do the generations not ascend or descend through me? Is it said to him, Because you did not beget by the work of your flesh? But he will answer, Did she then give birth by the work of her flesh? What the Holy Spirit worked, He worked for both. Being, it says, a just man. A just man therefore, a just woman. The Holy Spirit, resting in the justice of both, gave a son to both. But in that sex to which it belonged to give birth, He worked this, that He should be born also to the husband. And so the angel tells both to impose a name on the child; in which the authority of the parents is declared. For Zachary too, while he was still mute, when the son was born, the mother was imposing a name. And when those who were present made signs to the father as to what he wished him to be called, taking tablets he wrote this, what she had already said (Luke 1:60–63). It is said also to Mary, Behold, you shall conceive a son, and you shall call His name Jesus (ibid. 31): it is said also to Joseph, Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary your wife. For what is born in her is of the Holy Spirit. And she will bear a son, and you shall call His name Jesus: He will save His people from their sins (Matt. 1:20–21). It is said also, And she bore him a son (Luke 2:7): where the father is established altogether not by the flesh, but by charity. So then he is a father, just as he is. For most cautiously and most prudently do the Evangelists reckon through him, whether Matthew descending from Abraham down to Christ, or Luke ascending from Christ through Abraham up to God. The one reckons descending, the other ascending, both through Joseph. Why? Because he is the father. Why the father? Because he is the more firmly a father, the more chastely a father. He was indeed thought to be the father of our Lord Jesus Christ in another way, namely like other fathers who beget in the flesh, not only receiving children with a spiritual affection. For Luke too said, Who was thought to be the father of Jesus (Luke 3:23). Why was he thought so? Because human supposing and opinion tended thither, to what is usually done by men. The Lord therefore was not of the seed of Joseph, although this was thought: and yet to the piety and charity of Joseph a son was born of the Virgin Mary, and the same the Son of God.
CAPUT XXI.—31. Cur Matthaeus descendens numerat, Lucas vero ascendens. Sed quare ille descendens numerat, quare iste ascendens? Quod, quaeso, intente, quantum Dominus adjuverit, audiatis, jam securo animo, et ab omni molestia calumniarum nodosarum libero. Matthaeus descendit per generationes, ut significet descendentem Dominum nostrum Jesum Christum ad portanda nostra peccata, ut in semine Abraham benedicerentur omnes gentes. Propterea non incipit ab Adam: totum enim genus humanum ab illo. Neque a Noe: quia et ab ipsa familia post diluvium omne genus humanum exortum est. Neque ad prophetiae adimpletionem poterat pertinere homo Christus Jesus ex Adam, ex quo sunt omnes homines; aut ex Noe, ex quo rursus omnes homines: sed ex Abraham, qui tunc electus est in cujus semine benedicerentur omnes gentes, cum jam gentibus plena erat terra. Ascendit autem Lucas, non incipiens ab ipso nati Domini exordio generationes enumerare
Chapter XXI.—31. Why Matthew reckons descending, but Luke ascending. But why does the one reckon descending, the other ascending? This, I pray, hear attentively, as far as the Lord shall have helped, with a mind now secure and free from all the trouble of knotty cavils. Matthew descends through the generations, to signify our Lord Jesus Christ descending to bear our sins, so that in the seed of Abraham all nations should be blessed. Therefore he does not begin from Adam: for the whole human race is from him. Nor from Noah: because from that very family too, after the flood, the whole human race arose. Nor could the man Christ Jesus pertain to the fulfilment of prophecy as being from Adam, from whom are all men; or from Noah, from whom again are all men: but from Abraham, who was then chosen, in whose seed all nations should be blessed, when the earth was already full of nations. But Luke ascends, not beginning to enumerate the generations from the very beginning of the Lord's birth
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- other: QA Q1a (2026-10-12): the head of this column's English no longer carries the tail of the word split at the break. The English of col 350 still ends short ("... he says, and rightly") and must be completed there to "... he says, and rightly says," (not written by Q1a: neighbouring column).
sed ab eo loco, ubi eum narrat a Joanne baptizatum. Sicut autem in Domini incarnatione suscipiuntur ab eo generis humani portanda peccata, sic in Baptismi consecratione purganda. Itaque ille descendentem significans ad peccata portanda, generationes descendens enumerat: iste autem ascendens, significans purgationem peccatorum, non utique suorum, sed nostrorum, ascendens generationes enumerat. Sed ille descendit per Salomonem, in cujus matre peccavit David: iste ascendit per Nathan, alterum filium ejusdem David, per quem a peccato purgatus est. Legimus enim quod Nathan ad eum missus est, ut eum redargueret, et per poenitentiam sanaretur (II Reg. XII). Occurrerunt ambo sibi in David; ille descendens, iste ascendens: et inde usque ad Abraham, vel ab Abraham usque ad David in nulla generatione diversi sunt. Ita Christus et filius David, et filius Abraham, transit ad Deum. Ad Deum quippe nos oportet in Baptismo renovatos a peccatorum abolitione reduci.
but from the point where he relates that He was baptized by John. For just as in the Lord's incarnation the sins of the human race, which were to be borne, are taken up by Him, so in the consecration of Baptism [they are taken up] to be purged. Therefore the one, signifying Him as descending to bear sins, enumerates the generations descending; but this one, ascending, signifying the purging of sins, not indeed His own but ours, enumerates the generations ascending. But the one descends through Solomon, in whose mother David sinned; this one ascends through Nathan, another son of the same David, through whom he was purged of sin. For we read that Nathan was sent to him to rebuke him, and so that he might be healed through penance (2 Sam. 12). The two met each other in David, the one descending, this one ascending; and from there as far as Abraham, or from Abraham as far as David, they differ in no generation. Thus Christ, both son of David and son of Abraham, passes over to God. For it behoves us, renewed in Baptism, to be led back to God by the abolition of sins.
CAPUT XXII. — 32. De quadragenario numero in generationibus Domini. Quadragenarii numeri significatus. In generationibus sane quas enumerat Matthaeus, quadragenarius numerus eminet. Habent enim istum morem divinae Scripturae, ut quod excesserit certos articulos numerorum aliquando non computent. Sic etiam quadringenti anni dicuntur post quos egressus est populus Israel ex Aegypto (Gen. XV, 13, et Act. VII, 6); cum sint quadringenti triginta. Sic et una generatio quae quadragenarium numerum excedit, non aufert huic numero principatum. Hic autem numerus vitam significat, qua in hac terra laboratur, quamdiu peregrinamur a Domino, in qua necessaria est dispensatio temporaliter praedicandae veritatis. Denarius enim numerus, quo significatur perfectio beatitudinis, quater multiplicatus, propter tempus quadripartitum, et mundum quadripartitum, quadragenarium numerum facit. Propterea quadraginta diebus jejunatum est, et a Moyse (Deut. IX, 9), et ab Elia (III Reg. XIX, 8), et ab ipso Mediatore Domino nostro Jesu Christo (Matth. IV, 2): quia in hoc tempore necessaria est a corporalibus illecebris continentia. Quadraginta quoque annos in eremo populus peregrinatus est (Num. XXXII, 13): quadraginta diebus diluvium factum est (Gen. VII, 4). Quadraginta dies post resurrectionem Dominus cum discipulis conversatus est, persuadens eis resuscitati corporis veritatem (Act. I, 3): ubi significavit in hac vita, qua peregrinamur a Domino, quod numerus quadragenarius, sicut dictum est, mystice insinuat necessariam nobis memoriam Dominici Corporis, quam in Ecclesia facimus, donec veniat (I Cor. XI, 26). Ad hanc ergo vitam quoniam descendit Dominus noster, et Verbum caro factum est, ut traderetur propter delicta nostra, et resurgeret propter justificationem nostram (Rom. IV, 25); quadragenarium numerum Matthaeus secutus est: ut
Chapter XXII. — 32. On the number forty in the generations of the Lord. The significance of the number forty. In the generations which Matthew enumerates, the number forty indeed stands out. For the divine Scriptures have this custom, that they sometimes do not count what exceeds certain fixed points of numbers. Thus also four hundred years are spoken of, after which the people of Israel went out of Egypt (Gen. 15:13, and Acts 7:6), though they are four hundred and thirty. So too one generation which exceeds the number forty does not take away the primacy from this number. Now this number signifies the life in which there is toil on this earth, so long as we are pilgrims away from the Lord, in which the dispensation of the truth to be preached in time is necessary. For the number ten, by which the perfection of beatitude is signified, multiplied four times, on account of time divided into four parts and the world divided into four parts, makes the number forty. For this reason a fast of forty days was kept both by Moses (Deut. 9:9) and by Elijah (1 Kgs. 19:8) and by the Mediator Himself, our Lord Jesus Christ (Matt. 4:2): because in this time continence from bodily enticements is necessary. Forty years also the people wandered as pilgrims in the desert (Num. 32:13); for forty days the flood took place (Gen. 7:4). For forty days after the resurrection the Lord conversed with the disciples, persuading them of the reality of the risen body (Acts 1:3); whereby He signified that in this life, in which we are pilgrims away from the Lord, the number forty, as has been said, mystically suggests the remembrance of the Lord's Body, necessary for us, which we make in the Church until He comes (1 Cor. 11:26). Since, therefore, our Lord descended to this life, and the Word was made flesh, that He might be delivered up for our offences and rise again for our justification (Rom. 4:25), Matthew followed the number forty, so that
Editors' notes and page, col. 352
Footnotes
(a) ‹anchor: not visible in the foot image› · call in col 352
Verius, per cujus nominis prophetam. Quia non idem homo, sed alter fuit ejusdem nominis, ex Retract. lib. 2, cap. 16.
More truly, "through the prophet of that name." For he was not the same man, but another of the same name, according to the Retractations, book 2, chapter 16.
(printed under page 182)
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una generatio quae ibi excedit quadragenarium numerum, vel non impediat, sicuti triginta illi anni non impediunt quadringentorum perfectionem; vel hoc etiam ipsa significet, quia ipse Dominus quo juncto fiunt quadraginta unum, ita descendit ad hanc vitam p⟨o⟩rtaturus peccata nostra, ut tamen ab hac vita, pr⟨i⟩a et singulari excellentia, qua ita homo est ut etiam Deus sit, inveniatur exceptus. De hoc enim solo dicitur, quod de nullo homine sancto, quantalibet sapientia justitiaque perfecto, dici potuit aut poterit: Verbum caro factum est (Joan. I, 14).
one generation which there exceeds the number forty either does not hinder, just as those thirty years do not hinder the perfection of the four hundred; or else it signifies this very thing, that the Lord Himself, by whose addition they become forty-one, descended to this life to bear our sins in such a way that nevertheless, by His own proper and singular excellence, whereby He is man in such a way as also to be God, He is found to be set apart from this life. For of Him alone is said what could not be said, nor ever will be able to be said, of any holy man, however perfect in wisdom and righteousness: The Word was made flesh (John 1:14).
CAPUT XXIII. — 33. Cur generationes septuaginta septem numerat Lucas. Lucas autem qui ex baptismo Domini per generationes ascendit, septuagenarium et septimum numerum complet, incipiens ab ipso Domino nostro Jesu Christo per Joseph ascendere, et perveniens ad Deum per Adam: id est, quia in hoc numero abolitio significatur omnium peccatorum, quae fit in Baptismo, non quia ipsi Domino erat quod in baptismo dimitteretur; sed quia sua hu⟨m⟩ilitate quid nobis esset utile commendavit. Et quamvis esset illud baptismum Joannis; in eo tamen sensibiliter apparuit Trinitas Patris et Filii et Spiritus sancti, qua consecratus est ipsius Christi baptismus, quo baptizandi erant futuri Christiani: Pater, in voce quae facta est de coelo; Filius, in ipso homine Mediatore; Spiritus sanctus, in columba (Matth. III, 16, 17).
Chapter XXIII. — 33. Why Luke numbers seventy-seven generations. Luke, however, who ascends through the generations from the baptism of the Lord, completes the number seventy-seven, beginning to ascend from our Lord Jesus Christ Himself through Joseph, and arriving at God through Adam: that is, because in this number is signified the abolition of all sins, which takes place in Baptism; not because there was anything in the Lord Himself to be remitted in baptism, but because by His humility He commended what would be profitable to us. And although that was the baptism of John, yet in it the Trinity of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit appeared perceptibly, by which the baptism of Christ Himself was consecrated, with which future Christians were to be baptized: the Father, in the voice which came from heaven; the Son, in the very man the Mediator; the Holy Spirit, in the dove (Matt. 3:16–17).
34. Numeri septuaginta septem significatus. Quare autem septuagenarius et septimus numerus omnia peccata contineat quae dimittuntur in Baptismo, haec probabilis ratio videtur occurrere; quia denarius numerus perfectionem habet justitiae et beatitudinis, cum septenaria creatura Creatoris inhaeret Trinitati: unde etiam decalogus Legis in decem praeceptis consecratus est. Transgressio autem denarii undenario numero significatur: et intelligitur peccatum esse transgressio, cum aliquid amplius homo appetens, justitiae regulam excedit. Unde et avaritiam radicem omnium malorum dicit Apostolus (I Tim. VI, 10). Et animae a Deo fornicanti, ex ejusdem Domini persona dicitur: Sperabas si a me discessisses, aliquid amplius te habituram. Quia ergo transgressionem, id est peccatum ad se ipsum refert qui peccat, quia privato quodam suo laetari vult; unde reprehenduntur etiam qui sua quaerant, non quae Jesu Christi (Philipp. II, 21), et laudatur charitas non quaerens quae sua sunt (I Cor. XIII, 5): propterea ipse undenarius numerus quo significatur transgressio, non decies multiplicatur, sed septies, et fiunt septuaginta septem. Non enim ad Conditoris Trinitatem, sed ad ipsam creaturam, id est, ad ipsum hominem pertinet transgressio, quam creaturam septenarius numerus ostendit. Tria propter animum, ubi est quaedam imago Trinitatis Creatoris; ibi enim homo ad imaginem Dei factus est: et quatuor propter corpus. Notissima enim sunt quatuor primordia quibus corpus constat. Et cui nota non sunt, potest facile advertere ipsum corpus mundi, in quo corpus nostrum per loca movetur, quatu⟨o⟩r habere quasi principales partes, q⟨u⟩as etiam
34. The meaning of the number seventy-seven. Now as to why the number seventy-seven should contain all the sins which are remitted in Baptism, this probable reason seems to present itself: that the number ten holds the perfection of righteousness and blessedness, when the sevenfold creature cleaves to the Trinity of the Creator; whence also the Decalogue of the Law was consecrated in ten commandments. But the transgression of ten is signified by the number eleven; and sin is understood to be transgression when a man, craving something more, oversteps the rule of righteousness. Hence also the Apostle calls avarice the root of all evils (1 Tim. 6:10). And to the soul that commits fornication away from God it is said in the person of the same Lord: You hoped that if you departed from Me you would have something more. Since, then, he who sins refers transgression, that is, sin, to himself, because he wishes to rejoice in some private good of his own (whence those also are rebuked who seek their own things, not the things of Jesus Christ (Phil. 2:21), and charity is praised which seeks not its own (1 Cor. 13:5)), for this reason the number eleven itself, by which transgression is signified, is multiplied not ten times but seven times, and they become seventy-seven. For transgression pertains not to the Trinity of the Maker, but to the creature itself, that is, to man himself, which creature the number seven indicates. Three on account of the mind, where there is a certain image of the Trinity of the Creator; for there man was made to the image of God: and four on account of the body. For very well known are the four elements of which the body consists. And he to whom they are not known can easily observe that the very body of the world, in which our body moves from place to place, has, as it were, four principal parts, which also
Editors' notes and page, col. 353
Page
- running head: 353 SERMO LII.
- marginal letters: (none)
- old-edition numerals: (none)
Scriptura divina assidue commemorat, Orientem et Occidentem, Meridianum et Aquilonem.
the divine Scripture constantly mentions: East and West, South and North.
CAPUT XXIV. — Et quoniam peccata vel animo fiu⟨n⟩t, sicut in sola voluntate; vel etiam operibus corporis, jam visibiliter: propterea Amos propheta assidue commemorat Deum minantem ac dicentem, In tribus et quatuor impietatibus non aversabor (Amos I et II), id est, non dissimulabo. Tribus, propter animi; quatuor, propter corporis naturam: quibus duobus homo constat.
Chapter XXIV. — And since sins are committed either in the mind, as in the will alone, or also by works of the body, now visibly, therefore the prophet Amos constantly mentions God threatening and saying, For three and four impieties I will not turn away (Amos 1 and 2), that is, I will not overlook them. Three, on account of the nature of the soul; four, on account of that of the body: of which two man consists.
35. Scripturae quomodo legendae. Itaque undecim septies, sicut dictum est, transgressio justitiae relata ad hominem peccatorem facit numerum septuaginta septem; quo peccata omnia contineri significantur, quae per Baptismum dimittuntur. Unde Lucas per septuaginta septem generationes ascendit ad Deum; ostendens reconciliari hominem Deo per abolitionem omnium peccatorum. Inde ipse Dominus Petro interroganti quoties fratri debeat ignoscere: Dico tibi, inquit, non septies, sed usque septuagies septies (Matth. XVIII, 22). Et si quid aliud de his secretis et thesauris mysteriorum Dei, a diligentioribus et dignioribus erui potest. Nos tamen pro nostro captu, quantum adjuvit et quantum dedit Dominus, pro angustia quoque temporis, quae potuimus, diximus. Si quis vestrum amplius capit, ad illum pulset, a quo et nos quod capere, quod dicere possumus, sumimus. Illud ante omnia retinete, ut Scripturis sanctis nondum intellectis non perturbemini; intelligentes autem non inflemini: sed et quod non intelligitis, cum honore differatis; et quod intelligitis, cum charitate teneatis.
35. How the Scriptures are to be read. Thus eleven times seven, as has been said, the transgression of righteousness referred to sinful man, makes the number seventy-seven; by which all sins are signified to be contained, which are remitted through Baptism. Hence Luke ascends to God through seventy-seven generations, showing that man is reconciled to God through the abolition of all sins. Hence the Lord Himself, to Peter asking how often he ought to forgive his brother, says: I say to you, not seven times, but up to seventy-seven times (Matt. 18:22). And if anything else can be drawn out from these secrets and treasures of the mysteries of God, it can be drawn out by those more diligent and more worthy. We, however, according to our capacity, as far as the Lord has helped and as far as He has given, and in view also of the shortness of the time, have said what we could. If any of you grasps more, let him knock at Him from Whom we too receive whatever we are able to grasp and whatever we are able to say. Above all hold fast to this: that you be not disturbed by the holy Scriptures when not yet understood, and that when you understand them you be not puffed up; but that what you do not understand you defer with honour, and what you understand you hold with charity.
Editors' notes and page, col. 354
Footnotes
(*) ‹anchor: SERMO LII› · call in col 354 (Sermo 52) Castigatus est ad tres bn. ad quatuor cl. ad a. cb. f. fl. fs. g. lr. m. pr. rm. vd. Am. Er. Par. Lov.
It has been corrected against three bn. manuscripts, four cl., and against a. cb. f. fl. fs. g. lr. m. pr. rm. vd., and the editions of Amerbach, Erasmus, Paris and Louvain.
(printed under page 183)
(a) ‹anchor: SERMO LII› · call in col 354 (Sermo 52)
Alias, 63 de Verbis Domini.
Formerly, 63 de Verbis Domini.
(printed under page 183)
(b) ‹anchor: de Trinitate› · call in col 354 (Sermo 52)
Citatur a Floro ad Galat. IV, titulo sermonis « De Trinitate. » Plerisque autem Mss. inscribitur, « De una Trinitate trinaque unitate; » eaque inscriptio ante Hincmari aetatem obtinebat, ut Hincmarus ipse fateri coactus est, libro de non una Trinitate, pag. 453. Hic obiter observare juvat Hincmarum eumdem in eodem libro totam fere paginam 544 tresque subsequentes implere excerpti[s] sermonis quem vocat Augustini « de Unitate Patris et Filii et Spiritus sancti contra Arianos; » qui tamen inter Augustinianos modo non comparet. [blurred in the scan: "non una Trinitate", the page numbers 453 and 544, and the ending of "excerpti(s)"]
It is cited by Florus on Galatians 4 under the sermon title "On the Trinity." In most manuscripts, however, it is headed "On the one Trinity and the threefold unity"; and that heading was in use before Hincmar's time, as Hincmar himself was forced to admit, in his book de non una Trinitate, page 453. Here it is worth observing in passing that the same Hincmar, in the same book, fills almost the whole of page 544 and the three following with excerpts of a sermon which he calls Augustine's "On the Unity of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, against the Arians"; which, however, is not now to be found among Augustine's.
(printed under page 183)
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- other: QA Q1b, UNSURE: in CAPUT XXIV, line 1, the part sets "fiu⟨n⟩t"; on the page the fourth letter looks like a p ("fiupt"), a wrong or damaged sort. Not listed here before; the part is left as it stands for the settle step to rule on (as printed, or marked)
- other: QA Q1b, UNSURE: the three foot notes above (*, a, b) are all called in the title of SERMO LII, which belongs to PL038/sermones_052_058, and none is called in Sermo LI; under the unit's boundary rule they would be set in that unit, not here. Left in place, text checked against the foot images, for the settle step to rule on