Migne Reading Room
PL 38 · cols. 59–74
Augustine, Sermones 1-18 (Classis I, de Scripturis: de Vetere Testamento)
Sermons VI–VII
Jacob Christianos malos significat; ut in ipso Jacob et benedictio sit, et claudicatio. Benedictus est ex parte bene viventium, claudicat ex parte male viventium. Sed adhuc in uno homine est utrumque: erit autem diremptio et discretio postea; quod optat in Psalmo Ecclesia, dicens: Judica me, Deus, et discerne causam meam de gente non sancta (Psal. XLII, 1). Ita sane, quia dicit Evangelium, Si scandalizaverit te pes tuus, abscinde eum et projice abs te. Expedit enim tibi unum pedem habentem intrare in regnum Dei, quam cum duobus pedibus ire in ignem aeternum (Matth. XVIII, 8). Isti ergo mali praescindi habent in fine. Modo clauda est Ecclesia, unum pedem fortiter ponit, alterum invalidum habet. Paganos attendite, fratres. Inveniunt aliquando Christianos bonos, servientes Deo, et admirantur, et adducuntur, et credunt. Aliquando attendunt male viventes, et dicunt: Ecce Christiani! Sed isti male viventes ad latitudinem pertinent femoris Jacob tacti, qui aruit. Tactus autem Domini, manus est Domini corripiens et vivificans. Ideo ex parte benedicitur, et ex parte arescit. Et istos male viventes in Ecclesia ostendit Dominus; quia inde est quod scriptum est in Evangelio, quia cum crevisset herba, apparuerunt zizania: quia cum coeperint homines proficere, tunc incipiunt malos sentire. Haec nota sunt vobis, ex dono Dei efficitur ut cognoscantur. Sed modo toleranda sunt zizania usque ad finem messis, ne forte eradicando zizania, eradicetur simul et triticum (Id. XIII, 26, 29, 30). Veniet autem tempus ut exaudiatur Ecclesia dicens, Judica me, Deus, et discerne causam meam de gente non sancta: cum Dominus venerit in claritate sua cum Angelis sanctis, et colligentur ante eum omnes gentes, et segregabit eos, sicut pastor segregat oves ab haedis: et ponentur justi ad dexteram, haedi autem ad sinistram: et illis dicetur, Venite, benedicti Patris mei, percipite regnum; illis autem, Ite in ignem aeternum, qui praeparatus est diabolo et angelis ejus (Id. XXV, 31-41).
Jacob signifies bad Christians; so that in Jacob himself there is both blessing and limping. He is blessed in respect of those who live well; he limps in respect of those who live badly. But as yet both are in one man: there will, however, be a separation and a distinguishing afterwards; which the Church longs for in the Psalm, saying: Judge me, O God, and distinguish my cause from a nation not holy (Ps. 42:1). So it is indeed, because the Gospel says, If your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off and cast it from you. For it is better for you to enter the kingdom of God having one foot, than to go with two feet into eternal fire (Matt. 18:8). These bad ones, then, are to be cut away at the end. For now the Church is lame: she sets one foot down firmly, the other she has weak. Look at the pagans, brethren. Sometimes they find good Christians, serving God, and they marvel, and are drawn, and believe. Sometimes they look at those who live badly, and say: Behold the Christians! But these who live badly belong to the broad part of Jacob's thigh that was touched, which withered. Now the touch of the Lord is the hand of the Lord correcting and giving life. Therefore in part he is blessed, and in part he withers. And the Lord has shown these who live badly in the Church; for that is the source of what is written in the Gospel, that when the blade had grown, the tares appeared: because when men have begun to make progress, then they begin to perceive the bad. These things are known to you; it comes about by the gift of God that they are recognized. But for now the tares are to be tolerated until the end of the harvest, lest perhaps in rooting up the tares the wheat be rooted up with them (Matt. 13:26, 29–30). But the time will come when the Church will be heard as she says, Judge me, O God, and distinguish my cause from a nation not holy: when the Lord comes in His glory with the holy angels, and all nations shall be gathered before Him, and He will separate them, as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats: and the just will be placed on the right, but the goats on the left: and to the former it will be said, Come, blessed of My Father, receive the kingdom; but to the latter, Go into the eternal fire, which has been prepared for the devil and his angels (Matt. 25:31–41).
SERMO VI. De eo quod apparuit Dominus Moysi in rubo.
Sermon 6. On the Lord's appearing to Moses in the bush.
CAPUT PRIMUM. — 1. Quomodo Deus Moysi apparuit. — Cum sanctae lectiones legerentur, in ea quae scripta sunt in prima lectione, quae nobis recitata est, animo intendimus, et ea quae Dominus suggerit, breviter cum vestra Sanctitate participare curamus: ne carnaliter accipientes divina mysteria, non solum non proficiatis, sed etiam deficiatis. Occurrit enim primo aspectibus nostris ex illa lectione divina, quod Deus apparuit Moysi. Apparere autem per substantiam suam, sicuti est, nonnisi mundis cordibus dignatur. Sic enim scriptum est in Evangelio: Beati mundo corde, quoniam ipsi Deum videbunt (Matth. V, 8). Oculis autem corporalibus sanctorum si quando Deus
Chapter I. — 1. How God appeared to Moses. — While the holy readings were being read, we turned our mind to the things written in the first reading, which was recited to us, and we take care to share briefly with your Holiness what the Lord suggests: lest, receiving the divine mysteries in a carnal way, you not only fail to make progress, but even fall away. For what first meets our gaze from that divine reading is that God appeared to Moses. But to appear through His own substance, as He is, He deigns only to clean hearts. For thus it is written in the Gospel: Blessed are the clean of heart, for they shall see God (Matt. 5:8). But to the bodily eyes of the saints, if ever God
Editors' notes and page, col. 59
Footnotes
(1) ‹anchor: not visible› · call in col 59
Sic Mss. Editi vero, quia aruerunt.
So the manuscripts. The printed editions, however, have quia aruerunt.
(*) ‹anchor: SERMO VI› · call in col 59 Emendatus est ad cl. r. v. Ulim. Par. Lov.
Corrected against cl. r. v. [manuscripts] and Ulim., Par., Lov. [editions].
(printed under page 34)
(a) ‹anchor: SERMO VI› · call in col 59
Alias, de Diversis 17.
Elsewhere, de Diversis 17.
(printed under page 34)
(b) ‹anchor: Moysi in rubo› · call in col 59
Possidius in Indiculo, cap. 8, sermonem hunc videtur indicare isto titulo: « De virga conversa in serpentem, et manu colorata, et aqua in sanguinem. »
Possidius, in the Indiculus, ch. 8, seems to indicate this sermon under this title: "On the rod turned into a serpent, and the hand discoloured, and the water into blood."
(printed under page 34)
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voluit apparere, non per se ipsum, sed per creaturam visibilem atque sensibilem, quantum ista carne sentiri potest, apparuit; vel per vocem sonantem auribus, vel per ignem oculis, vel per angelum in aliqua visibili specie apparentem, sed personam Dei gestantem. Sic intelligimus, fratres, apparuisse Moysi Deum. Non enim majestas illa, quae fecit coelum et terram, et quae regit universum mundum, cui semper inhaerent Angeli contemplando ejus pulchritudinem puris mentibus, oculis mortalibus hominis potuit apparere, nisi assumpta visibili et sensibili creatura, quae ad istos oculos visibiles corporis pertinet: quandoquidem et ipsa Sapientia Dei, per quem facta sunt omnia, humanis oculis non appareret, nisi humanam carnem assumeret.
willed to appear, He appeared not through Himself but through a creature visible and perceptible, so far as He can be perceived by this flesh: either through a voice sounding to the ears, or through fire to the eyes, or through an angel appearing in some visible form yet bearing the person of God. Thus we understand, brethren, that God appeared to Moses. For that majesty which made heaven and earth, and which rules the whole world, to which the Angels always cleave, contemplating its beauty with pure minds, could not appear to the mortal eyes of man unless a visible and perceptible creature had been assumed, one that belongs to these visible eyes of the body; since even the very Wisdom of God, through Whom all things were made, would not appear to human eyes unless He assumed human flesh.
CAPUT II. — 2. Moysi Deus per angelum apparuit. Quomodo ergo Verbum Dei, id est, Filius Dei, ut appareret oculis, carnem assumpsit; sic semper Deus, ut appareret oculis hominum, in aliqua creatura visibili apparere dignatus est. Nam apertissime habes in Actibus Apostolorum, quia angelus apparuit Moysi in rubo (Act. VII, 30). Numquid ista Scriptura vera, et illa falsa est? aut illa vera, et ista falsa est? Sed quid? Si christiani sumus, si bene credimus; ambae sunt verae. Si ergo ambae sunt verae, quomodo hic Deus apparuit, quomodo ibi angelus dicitur apparuisse, nisi quia ille Spiritus, qui in Actibus Apostolorum dixit apparuisse angelum, exposuit hanc lectionem quomodo apparuit Deus? Illa declaratio, expositio est obscuritatis hujus: ne intelligeres Deum per se ipsum apparuisse, illic tibi expositum est quemadmodum apparuerit Deus per creaturam, angelum. Sic quid miraris quia dicitur, cum apparet angelus, Dixit Deus; et vocavit Deus Moysen, et accessit ad locum; et dixit Dominus ad Moysen? Quia non attenditur templum angelus, sed inhabitator angeli. Ipse enim angelus templum Dei erat. Si enim dignatur in homine habitare et loqui, ut quando propheta loquitur, dicatur, Dixit Deus; quanto magis per angelum? Et cum dicitur, Dixit Deus per Isaiam, quid erat Isaias? Nonne homo portans carnem, natus de patre et matre, sicuti omnes nos? Et tamen loquitur, et quid dicimus in eloquiis ipsius? Haec dicit Dominus (Isai. L, 1). Quomodo ergo Deus, si Isaias, nisi quia Deus per Isaiam? Sic et hic loquente angelo dicitur Deus loqui. Quare, nisi quia per angelum Deus?
Chapter II. — 2. God appeared to Moses through an angel. Just as, then, the Word of God, that is, the Son of God, assumed flesh in order to appear to eyes, so God has always, in order to appear to the eyes of men, deigned to appear in some visible creature. For you have it most plainly in the Acts of the Apostles that an angel appeared to Moses in the bush (Acts 7:30). Is this Scripture true and that one false? or that one true and this one false? But what then? If we are Christians, if we believe rightly, both are true. If, then, both are true, how did God appear here, how is an angel said to have appeared there, unless because that Spirit Who in the Acts of the Apostles said that an angel appeared expounded this reading, how God appeared? That declaration is the exposition of this obscurity: lest you should understand that God appeared through Himself, it is expounded to you there how God appeared through a creature, an angel. So why do you wonder that it is said, when an angel appears, God said; and God called Moses, and he approached the place; and the Lord said to Moses? Because attention is paid not to the temple, the angel, but to the indweller of the angel. For the angel himself was the temple of God. For if He deigns to dwell and to speak in a man, so that when a prophet speaks it is said, God said, how much more through an angel? And when it is said, God said through Isaiah, what was Isaiah? Was he not a man bearing flesh, born of a father and a mother, just as we all are? And yet he speaks, and what do we say in his utterances? Thus says the Lord (Isa. 50:1). How then is it God, if it is Isaiah, unless because it is God through Isaiah? So here too, when the angel speaks, God is said to speak. Why, unless because it is God through the angel?
CAPUT III. — 3. Dei apparitio quare in rubo facta. Advertite itaque soluta quaestione etiam istud, in cujus rei signum videtur factum, quod in rubo apparuit: et rubus non comburebatur, non incendebatur: et apparebat tanquam ignis, et non incendebat rubum. Putamus rubum bonum aliquid significare, cum sint spinae? Si enim consumpsisset ignis spinas, significaret quia et verbum Domini quod dictum est Judaeis, consumpsisset peccata illorum, et Lex illa fiairet†
Chapter III. — 3. Why the appearance of God was made in a bush. Now that the question is solved, observe this also: as a sign of what thing it seems to have been done, that He appeared in a bush; and the bush was not burned up, was not set alight; and it appeared like fire, and did not set the bush alight. Do we suppose that the bush signifies something good, when they are thorns? For if the fire had consumed the thorns, it would signify that the word of the Lord which was spoken to the Jews had also consumed their sins, and that that Law
Editors' notes and page, col. 60
Footnotes
(1) ‹anchor: not visible› · call in col 60
Vox, mentibus, quae omissa in editis fuerat, restituitur ex Ms. Colbertino.
The word mentibus, which had been omitted in the printed editions, is restored from the Colbert manuscript.
(printed under page 34)
(2) ‹anchor: ille Spiritus› · call in col 60
Sic Mss. At editi: Si ergo ambae sunt verae, quomodo ibi angelus dicitur apparuisse, nisi quia illa specie? Qui in Actibus, etc.
So the manuscripts. But the printed editions have: Si ergo ambae sunt verae, quomodo ibi angelus dicitur apparuisse, nisi quia illa specie? Qui in Actibus, etc.
(printed under page 34)
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ini⟨q⟩uitates ipsorum. Si enim sic ignis in rubo, quomodo Lex in Judaeis; sic sunt spinae rubi, quomodo peccata Judaeorum: sic ignis hic non cremavit spinas, quomodo Lex non cremavit peccata.
-ed their iniquities. For if the fire is in the bush in the way that the Law is among the Jews, then the thorns of the bush are in the way that the sins of the Jews are: this fire did not burn up the thorns, just as the Law did not burn up the sins.
4. Nomen Dei. Loquitur autem Dominus ad Moysen (jam illa nostis, et non diutius vos tenere debemus, propter angustias temporis): Ego sum qui sum: Misit me qui est. Cum enim quaereret nomen Dei, hoc dictum est: Ego sum qui sum. Haec dices filiis Israel: Qui est, misit me ad vos. Quid est hoc? o Deus, o Domine noster, quid vocaris? Est vocor, dixit, Quid est, Est vocor? Quia maneo in aeternum, quia mutari non possum. Ea enim quae mutantur, non sunt, quia non permanent. Quod enim est, manet. Quod autem mutatur, fuit aliquid, et aliquid erit: non tamen est, quia mutabile est. Ergo incommutabilitas Dei isto vocabulo se dignata est intimare, Ego sum qui sum.
4. The name of God. Now the Lord speaks to Moses (you already know these things, and we ought not to keep you longer, on account of the shortness of time): I am Who am: He Who is has sent me. For when he asked the name of God, this was said: I am Who am. These things you shall say to the children of Israel: He Who is has sent me to you. What is this? O God, O our Lord, what art Thou called? I am called Is, He said. What is "I am called Is"? Because I abide for ever, because I cannot be changed. For the things that are changed are not, because they do not abide. For what is, abides. But what is changed was something, and will be something: yet it is not, because it is changeable. Therefore the unchangeableness of God deigned to make itself known by this word, I am Who am.
CAPUT IV. — 5. Aliud nomen Dei. Quid est ergo, quod postea iterum aliud nomen sibi dixit, cum diceretur: Et dixit Deus ad Moysen: Ego sum Deus Abraham, et Deus Isaac, et Deus Jacob; hoc mihi nomen est in sempiternum? Quomodo illac vocor hoc, quia sum; et ecce hac aliud nomen, Ego sum Deus Abraham, et Deus Isaac, et Deus Jacob? Quia quomodo est Deus incommutabilis, fecit omnia per misericordiam, et dignatus est ipse Filius Dei mutabilem carnem suscipiendo, manens id quod Verbum Dei est, venire et subvenire homini. Induit ergo se carne mortali ille qui est, ut dici posset, Ego sum Deus Abraham, et Deus Isaac, et Deus Jacob (Exod. III, 15).
Chapter IV. — 5. Another name of God. What is it, then, that afterwards He again spoke another name for Himself, when it was said: And God said to Moses: I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob; this is My name for ever? How is it that in that place I am called this, because I am; and behold, in this place another name, I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? Because, just as God is unchangeable, He did all things through mercy, and the Son of God Himself deigned, by taking up changeable flesh, while abiding as that which the Word of God is, to come and to come to the aid of man. He Who is, therefore, clothed Himself with mortal flesh, so that it could be said, I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob (Exod. 3:15).
6. Signa data Moysi. Deinde signa jam attendite, quae signa dedit Moysi, cum diceret, Si mihi dixerit populus, Non te misit Deus: quibus signis ostendam quia misisti me? Dictum est, Projice virgam, quam habes in manu tua: projecitque virgam, et factus est serpens, et exhorruit Moyses. Ait iterum Dominus, Apprehende caudam ejus, apprehendit, et facta est virga sicut erat. Dedit et aliud signum: Mitte manum in sinum: et misit eam. Produc eam: produxit, et facta est alba sicut nix, id est, leprosa. Color enim albus in cute humana vitiosus est. Mitte illam in sinum iterum: misit, et recepit colorem suum. Dedit ei tertium signum: Tolle aquam de flumine, et funde in aequalem locum: tulit et fudit, et conversa est in sanguinem. In his signis audiet te populus: si in primo non exaudierit, in secundo autem et in tertio audiet (Id. IV, 1-9).
6. The signs given to Moses. Next, now attend to the signs, which signs He gave to Moses, when he said, If the people say to me, God has not sent you: by what signs shall I show that Thou hast sent me? It was said, Throw down the rod which you have in your hand: and he threw down the rod, and it became a serpent, and Moses shrank back in horror. The Lord said again, Take hold of its tail; he took hold of it, and it became a rod as it was. He gave another sign too: Put your hand into your bosom: and he put it in. Bring it out: he brought it out, and it became white as snow, that is, leprous. For a white colour in human skin is a defect. Put it into your bosom again: he put it in, and it regained its own colour. He gave him a third sign: Take water from the river, and pour it on a level place: he took it and poured it, and it was turned into blood. By these signs the people will hear you: if they do not heed you at the first, yet at the second and at the third they will hear (ibid. 4:1–9).
CAPUT V. — 7. Quid significet virga: quid serpens. Nos ea quae significant, quantum Deus adjuvat, tendamus edicere. Virga regnum significat; serpens, mortalitatem. A serpente enim homini mors propinata est. Ipsam mortem Dominus dignatus est assumere. Virga ergo veniens in terram, serpentis speciem habuit; quia regnum Dei, quod est Christus Jesus, venit ad terram. Mortalitate indutus est, quam infixit in cruce. Novit autem Sanctitas vestra quia quando populus ille in eremo cervicatus et superbus murmurasset adversus Deum, coepit morderi a serpentibus, et ipsis morsibus cadere. Misericordia sua dedit Deus
Chapter V. — 7. What the rod signifies: what the serpent. Let us, so far as God helps us, endeavour to declare what these things signify. The rod signifies the kingdom; the serpent, mortality. For it was by the serpent that death was served to man as a drink. The Lord deigned to take up death itself. The rod, then, coming to the ground, had the appearance of a serpent; because the kingdom of God, which is Christ Jesus, came to the earth. He was clothed with mortality, which He fastened to the cross. Now Your Holiness knows that when that people in the desert, stiff-necked and proud, had murmured against God, it began to be bitten by serpents, and to fall from those very bites. In His mercy God gave
Editors' notes and page, col. 61
Footnotes
(1) ‹anchor: in tertio audiet› · call in col 61
Mss. in secundo aut in tertio audiet.
The manuscripts have in secundo aut in tertio audiet.
(printed under page 35)
Page
- running head: 61 SERMO VII.
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remedium, quod remedium praesentem quidem sanitatem afferebat, sed futuram sapientiam praedicabat. Ait Moysi: Suspende serpentem aeneum in media eremo in ligno, et dic populo, Quicumque fuerit percussus, serpentem istum intueatur. Et percussi homines intuebantur serpentem, et sanabantur (Num. XXI, 8, 9). Et attestatur Dominus in Evangelio tali signo. Nam cum Nicodemo loqueretur, ait: Sicut Moyses exaltavit serpentem in deserto, ita exaltari oportet Filium hominis; ut omnis qui credit in eum, non pereat, sed habeat vitam aeternam (Joan. III, 14 et 15). Sed hoc est, quicumque percussus fuerit a serpentibus peccatorum, Christum intueatur, et habebit sanitatem in remissionem peccator⟨u⟩m.
remedy, a remedy which brought present health indeed, but proclaimed future wisdom. He says to Moses: Hang up a bronze serpent on wood in the middle of the desert, and say to the people, Whoever has been struck, let him look upon this serpent. And the men who had been struck looked upon the serpent, and were healed (Num. 21:8–9). And the Lord bears witness to this sign in the Gospel. For when He was speaking with Nicodemus, He said: As Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, so that everyone who believes in Him may not perish, but may have eternal life (John 3:14–15). But this is the meaning: whoever has been struck by the serpents of sins, let him look upon Christ, and he will have health unto the remission of sins.
CAPUT VI. — Ergo, fratres, ipsa est mortalitas, quae suscepta est a Domino, quam necesse est habere corpus ejus, cujus est caput homo in coelo. Ita Ecclesia mortalitatem habet, quod vulnus inflictum est per suasionem serpentis. Debemus enim mortem peccato primi hominis: sed per eam ad vitam perveniemus aeternam, per Jesum Christum Dominum nostrum. Sed quando venit ad vitam, et redit ad regnum? In fine saeculi. Nam ideo caudam tenuit, ubi finis est, ut ad pristinum revocaret.
Chapter VI. — Therefore, brothers, this is the mortality which was taken up by the Lord, which His body must necessarily have, whose head is a man in heaven. Thus the Church has mortality, because the wound was inflicted through the persuasion of the serpent. For we owe death to the sin of the first man; but through it we shall arrive at eternal life, through Jesus Christ our Lord. But when does it come to life, and return to the kingdom? At the end of the age. For this is why he took hold of the tail, where the end is, so that he might call it back to its former state.
8. Quid manus et sinus Moysi: quid aqua. Quid illa manus? Certum est quia et illa manus populum ipsum significat. Sinus hominis quid est? Sinus Moysi secretum Dei. Cum esset homo in secreto Dei, incolumis erat, et bono colore. Exiit a secreto Dei, progressus est Adam de paradiso, offenso Deo, et factus est vitiosus. Facta est ergo manus illa alba: sed rediit ad sinum, per sinum Domini nostri Jesu Christi, et recepit colorem. Quid autem illa aqua? Aqua illa significat sapientiam. Saepe enim posita est aqua in similitudinem sapientiae: et dictum est, Fiet in eo fons aquae salientis in vitam aeternam (Joan. IV, 14). Sed aqua illa sapientia, quae in terra sanguis effecta est, non nobis ostendit Verbum carnem factum et habitantem in nobis? Utique ostendit. Omnia ergo futuri populi, signa sunt et mysteria de Domino nostro Jesu Christo. Et si qua alia sunt in veteribus Libris s⟨a⟩cramenta, sive illa intelligamus; sive non intelligamus, quaerentem desiderant, non reprehendentem. Petamus ergo; quaeramus et pulsemus, ut aperiatur nobis. Illis futura praedicta sunt sacramenta: nos praesentia videmus in Ecclesia.
8. What the hand and the bosom of Moses [signify]: what the water. What is that hand? It is certain that that hand too signifies the people itself. What is the bosom of the man? The bosom of Moses is the secret place of God. When man was in the secret place of God, he was unharmed, and of good colour. He went out from the secret place of God, Adam went forth from paradise, God having been offended, and he became diseased. So that hand became white: but it returned to the bosom, through the bosom of our Lord Jesus Christ, and recovered its colour. And what is that water? That water signifies wisdom. For water is often set as a likeness of wisdom: and it was said, There shall be in him a fountain of water springing up into eternal life (John 4:14). But that water, the wisdom which on the earth was made blood, does it not show us the Word made flesh and dwelling in us? It certainly shows it. All things, therefore, of the future people are signs and mysteries concerning our Lord Jesus Christ. And if there are any other sacraments in the old Books, whether we understand them or do not understand them, they desire one who seeks, not one who finds fault. Let us therefore ask; let us seek and knock, that it may be opened to us. To them the sacraments were foretold as future: we see them present in the Church.
SERMO VII. De lectione Exodi, de rubo in quo flamma erat et rubus non comburebatur.
Sermon VII. On the reading from Exodus, concerning the bush in which there was a flame and the bush was not burnt up.
Num. 1. — Quae advertenda de apparitione in rubo.
No. 1. — What is to be noted concerning the appearance in the bush.
Editors' notes and page, col. 62
Footnotes
(1) ‹anchor: ad vitam› · call in col 62
Ms. Colbertinus, sed postea ad vitam.
The Colbert manuscript has sed postea ad vitam.
(printed under page 35)
(2) ‹anchor: futuri populi› · call in col 62
Sic aliquot Mss. At editi, futuri saeculi.
So several manuscripts. But the printed editions have futuri saeculi.
(printed under page 35)
(3) ‹anchor: videmus in Ecclesia› · call in col 62
In Editis additur: Conversi ad Dominum, etc., quod abest a Mss.
In the printed editions there is added Conversi ad Dominum, etc., which is absent from the manuscripts.
(printed under page 35) (*) ‹anchor: SERMO VII› · call in col 62 Castigatus est subsidio r. v. Lov.
Corrected with the help of r. v. [manuscripts] and Lov. [the Louvain edition].
(printed under page 35)
(a) ‹anchor: SERMO VII› · call in col 62
Alias, 6 ex Carthusiae Mss. editus.
Elsewhere, the 6th of those published from the manuscripts of the Charterhouse.
(printed under page 35)
(b) ‹anchor: non comburebatur› · call in col 62
Hunc sermonem credimus in Possidii Indiculo, cap. 9, notatum his verbis: « De flamma in rubo, in Exodo, eo quod non comburebatur. » Idemque est cum Tractatu edito in tom. 6, « De eo quod dictum est a Deo ad Moysen, Ego sum qui sum. » Qui Tractatus in Erasmiana quidem (continues)
We believe this sermon to be the one recorded in the Indiculus of Possidius, ch. 9, in these words: "On the flame in the bush, in Exodus, in that it was not burned up." And it is the same as the Treatise published in vol. 6, "On that which was said by God to Moses, I am who am." Which Treatise, in the Erasmian edition indeed (continues)
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Cum divina lectio legeretur, magnum miraculum, quod Moysen famulum Dei intentissimum fecerat, etiam nos corde exspectavimus; quia intenti etiam ipsi facti sumus, quomodo in rubo apparebat ignis, et rubus non cremabatur. Deinde advertimus sacram Scripturam prius dixisse, quod angelus Domini apparuerit Moysi in rubo (Act. VII, 30). Deinde Moyses non jam quasi cum angelo, sed tanquam cum Domino loquebatur. Tertio advertimus, quod cum Moyses nomen Dei quaereret, ut haberet quid diceret filiis Israel, interrogantibus quod nomen Dei esset, qui illum ad eos misisset, respondit: Ego sum qui sum. Neque hoc transeunter, sed repetitione commendans adjecit: Dices itaque filiis Israel: Qui est, misit me ad vos. Postremo jam enuntiato nomine suo, adhuc adjunxit: Haec dices eis: Dominus Deus patrum vestrorum, Deus Abraham, et Deus Isaac, et Deus Jacob misit me ad vos. Et hoc mihi nomen est in aeternum (Exod. III). De his, quod Dominus donat, audite. Magna quidem sunt, tanquam involucra mysteriorum Dei: quae si congruenter et sufficienter conemur evolvere, nec vires, nec tempus sufficient.
When the divine reading was being read, we too awaited in our heart the great miracle which had made Moses, the servant of God, most attentive; for we ourselves too became attentive to how fire appeared in the bush, and the bush was not burned. Then we noticed that holy Scripture first said that the angel of the Lord appeared to Moses in the bush (Acts 7:30). Next, Moses spoke no longer as if with an angel, but as with the Lord. Thirdly we noticed that when Moses asked the name of God, so that he might have something to say to the children of Israel when they asked what the name of the God was who had sent him to them, He answered: I am Who am. Nor [did He say] this in passing, but commending it by repetition He added: Thus you shall say to the children of Israel: He Who is has sent me to you. Lastly, having now announced His name, He further added: This you shall say to them: The Lord God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob has sent me to you. And this is My name for ever (Exod. 3). Hear, concerning these things, what the Lord grants. They are indeed great, like wrappings of the mysteries of God: if we were to try to unfold them fittingly and sufficiently, neither strength nor time would suffice.
2. Rubus flamma inhaerente non crematus quid significat. Quod ergo breviter possumus dicere, non frustra, non inaniter, non sine alicujus significatione secreti, in rubo flamma erat, et rubus non cremabatur. Rubus enim spinarum est quoddam genus: nec in laude aliqua poni potuit, quod peccatori terra produxit. Nam primitus peccanti homini dictum est, Terra spinas et tribulos pariet tibi (Gen. III, 18). Neque idipsum quod rubus non cremabatur, id est flamma non comprehendebatur, bonum aliquid putare debemus. Si enim flamma significat aliquid boni, in qua angelus apparebat, vel Dominus; unde etiam cum venit Spiritus sanctus, visae sunt illis linguae divisae velut ignis (Act. II, 3); comprehendi debemus hoc igne, non autem propter duritiam non cremari. Rubus quem non cremabat, populus qui Deo reluctabatur. Spinosum igitur populum Judaeorum significabat rubus, quo Moyses mittebatur. Et ideo rubus non cremabatur, quia duritia Judaeorum, sicut dixi, legi Dei reluctabatur. Nam si ille populus spinis non significaretur, non ab eo spinis Christus coronaretur (Matth. XXVII, 29).
2. What the bush not burned by the flame clinging to it signifies. What, then, we can say briefly is this: not in vain, not idly, not without the signification of some secret, was there a flame in the bush, and the bush was not burned. For the bramble is a certain kind of thorns: nor could it be placed in any praise, since the earth brought it forth for the sinner. For at the first it was said to sinning man: The earth shall bring forth thorns and thistles for you (Gen. 3:18). Nor ought we to think this very thing, that the bush was not burned, that is, was not seized by the flame, something good. For if the flame, in which the angel appeared, or the Lord, signifies something good (whence also, when the Holy Spirit came, there appeared to them divided tongues as of fire (Acts 2:3)), we ought to be seized by this fire, and not, because of hardness, fail to be burned. The bush which it did not burn [is] the people which struggled against God. The bush, then, signified the thorny people of the Jews, to whom Moses was being sent. And therefore the bush was not burned, because the hardness of the Jews, as I have said, struggled against the law of God. For if that people were not signified by thorns, Christ would not have been crowned with thorns by it (Matt. 27:29).
3. — Qui Moysi loquebatur, Christum fuisse, quorumdam opinio. Quod autem idem ipse, qui loquebatur Moysi, et angelus Domini et Dominus dicitur, magna quaestio est, nec temerarium debet habere affirmatorem, sed cautum inquisitorem. Duae sunt autem sententiae, quae hinc proferri possunt, quarum quaelibet vera sit, ambae secundum fidem sunt. Quod dixi, quaenam earum vera sit; hoc dixi, quidnam eorum senserit qui scripsit. Nam quando nos inquirentes Scripturas sentimus aliquid, quod scriptor forte non sensit; non tamen hoc sentire debemus, quod abhorret a regula
3. — That He Who spoke to Moses was Christ: the opinion of some. But that the very same one who spoke to Moses is called both the angel of the Lord and the Lord is a great question, and ought to have not a rash affirmer but a cautious inquirer. Now there are two opinions which can be put forward on this, and whichever of them be true, both are in accordance with the faith. When I said "which of them is true", I meant this: which of them the one who wrote held. For when we, inquiring into the Scriptures, perceive something which the writer perhaps did not perceive, we nevertheless ought not to hold what is at variance with the re-
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editione incerti auctoris esse praenotatur; at in Ulimm. et Lov., Augustino tribuitur. Hic demum, parum abfuit quin per nos in quinta Sermonum classe reponeretur inter dubios.
(continued) edition it is headed as being by an unknown author; but in Ulimm. and Lov. [the Louvain edition] it is ascribed to Augustine. Here, in the end, it came very near to being placed by us in the fifth class of the Sermons, among the doubtful ones.
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fidei, a regula veritatis. Ergo ambas sententias propono: sit fortassis et tertia, quae me latet. Ex his autem duabus propositis, eligatis quam volueritis Aliqui dicunt ideo et angelum Domini dictum et Dominum, quia Christus erat, de quo aperte propheta dicit quod sit magni consilii Angelus (Isai. IX, 6). Angelus enim officii nomen est, non naturae. Nam angelus graece, qui latine nuntius appellatur. Nuntius ergo actionis nomen est: agendo, id est, aliquid nuntiando, nuntius appellatur. Quis neget Christum nuntiasse nobis regnum coelorum? Deinde angelus, id est nuntius, mittitur ab eo qui per eum aliquid nuntiat. Et quis neget Christum missum? qui toties dicit, Non veni facere voluntatem meam, sed voluntatem ejus qui me misit (Joan. VI, 38); ipse proprie missus. Nam Siloe, illa piscina, interpretatur Missus. Ideo cui oculos luto inunxit, inde lavare faciem jussit (Id. IX, 7). Nullius enim visus aperitur, nisi ejus qui a Christo mundatur. Ergo idem angelus, idem Dominus.
rule of faith, from the rule of truth. So I set out both opinions: perhaps there is also a third, which escapes me. Of these two that I have set out, however, choose whichever you wish. Some say that He was called both angel of the Lord and Lord for this reason, that it was Christ, of Whom the prophet openly says that He is the Angel of great counsel (Isa. 9:6). For "angel" is the name of an office, not of a nature. For "angel" is Greek for what in Latin is called nuntius [messenger]. "Messenger", then, is the name of an action: by acting, that is, by announcing something, one is called a messenger. Who would deny that Christ announced to us the kingdom of heaven? Next, an angel, that is, a messenger, is sent by him who announces something through him. And who would deny that Christ was sent? He Who so often says, I came not to do My own will, but the will of Him Who sent Me (John 6:38); He is in the proper sense the one sent. For Siloe, that pool, is interpreted "Sent". Therefore the man whose eyes He anointed with clay He commanded to wash his face there (John 9:7). For no one's sight is opened except the sight of him who is cleansed by Christ. Therefore the same is angel, the same is Lord.
4. In ea opinione cavendum Arianorum argumentum. Sed hic occurrit aliquid praecavendum. Non enim desunt haeretici qui dicant, Patris et Filii distare et dissonare naturas, et non eos esse unius ejusdemque substantiae. Catholica autem fides credit Patrem et Filium et Spiritum sanctum unum Deum, unius substantiae Trinitatem, inseparabiliter, aequaliter, non commixtione confusam, non distinctione separatam. Illi ergo qui persuadere moliuntur Filium non esse ejusdem substantiae cujus est Pater, argumentantur ex hoc quod Filius visus est patribus: Pater, inquiunt, non est visus; invisibilis autem et visibilis diversa natura est. Et ideo, inquiunt, de Patre dictum est, Quem nemo hominum vidit, nec videre potest (I Tim. VI, 16). Ut ille qui visus est non solum Moysi, sed etiam Abrahae; non solum Abrahae, sed etiam ipsi Adam et caeteris patribus, non Deus Pater, sed Filius potius credatur, ut intelligatur creatura. Catholica non hoc dicit. Sed quid dicit? Deus Pater, Deus Filius; incommutabilis Pater, incommutabilis Filius; aeternus Pater, coaeternus Filius; invisibilis Pater, invisibilis Filius. Nam si dixeris Patrem invisibilem, Filium visibilem; distinxisti, imo vero separasti substantias. Quomodo gratiam invenisti, qui fidem perdidisti? Solvitur ergo ista quaestio sic: Deus Pater et Filius et Spiritus sanctus, natura propria invisibilis est: apparuit autem quando voluit, cui voluit; non ut est, sed ut voluit cui serviunt omnia. Si enim anima tua cum sit invisibilis in corpore tuo, ut appareat profert vocem, et vox in qua apparet anima tua cum loqueris, non est substantia animae tuae; aliud est illa, aliud est vox; et tamen apparet, et in ea re quae ipsa non est: sic et Deus si in igne apparuit, non est ignis; si in fumo apparuit, non est fumus; si in sono apparuit, non est sonus. Non sunt haec Deus, sed indicant Deum. Hoc retento, securi credimus potuisse dici Filium qui apparuit Moysi, et Dominum et angelum Domini.
4. In that opinion the argument of the Arians must be guarded against. But here something occurs that must be guarded against in advance. For there is no lack of heretics who say that the natures of the Father and of the Son differ and are at variance, and that they are not of one and the same substance. But the Catholic faith believes the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit to be one God, a Trinity of one substance, inseparably, equally, not confused by commingling, not separated by distinction. Those, then, who strive to persuade [people] that the Son is not of the same substance as the Father argue from this, that the Son was seen by the fathers: the Father, they say, was not seen; but the invisible and the visible are of different nature. And therefore, they say, it was said of the Father, Whom no man has seen, nor can see (1 Tim. 6:16). So that He Who was seen not only by Moses but also by Abraham, not only by Abraham but also by Adam himself and the other fathers, is to be believed to be not God the Father but rather the Son, so that He may be understood to be a creature. The Catholic [faith] does not say this. But what does it say? God the Father, God the Son; the Father unchangeable, the Son unchangeable; the Father eternal, the Son coeternal; the Father invisible, the Son invisible. For if you say that the Father is invisible and the Son visible, you have distinguished, nay rather you have separated, the substances. How have you found grace, you who have lost the faith? This question, then, is solved thus: God the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit is by His own nature invisible; but He appeared when He willed, to whom He willed; not as He is, but as He willed to Whom all things are subject. For if your soul, although it is invisible in your body, puts forth a voice in order to appear, and the voice in which your soul appears when you speak is not the substance of your soul (the soul is one thing, the voice another), and yet it appears, and that in a thing which it itself is not: so also God, if He appeared in fire, is not fire; if He appeared in smoke, He is not smoke; if He appeared in sound, He is not sound. These things are not God, but they point to God. Holding fast to this, we believe without anxiety that the Son Who appeared to Moses could be called both Lord and angel of the Lord.
5. Aliorum sententia, angelum Moysi apparuisse, non Christum. Qui vero existimant vere eum angelum Domini
5. The opinion of others, that it was an angel that appeared to Moses, not Christ. But those who think that he was truly an angel of the Lo-
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Editi ex Carthusiano Ms. addunt, a regula pietatis.
The printed editions, from the Carthusian manuscript, add: "from the rule of piety."
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fuisse, non Christum, sed angelum missum; necesse e⟨s⟩t ut exigatur ab eis ratio, quare dictus sit Dominus. Quomodo enim ab eis qui Christum fuisse dicunt, exigitur quare dictus sit angelus; sic ab eis qui angelum dicunt, exigitur quare dictus sit Dominus. Sed illi qui Christum dicunt fuisse, jam commemoravi, quomodo inde exeant, quare dictus sit angelus, quia propheta aperte dixit Dominum Christum m⟨a⟩gni consilii Angelum. Illi ergo qui dicunt angelum, respondere debent quare appellatus sit Dominus. Respondent et ipsi: Sicut in Scripturis propheta loquitur, et dicitur quia Dominus loquitur; non quia Dominus est propheta, sed quia Dominus est in propheta; sic et cum per angelum dignatur Dominus loqui, quomodo per apostolum, quomodo per prophetam, recte dicitur et angelus propter se ipsum, et Dominus propter habitantem Deum. Certe enim Paulus homo erat, et Christus Deus; et ait tamen ipse Paulus, An vultis experimentum ejus accipere, qui in me loquitur Christus (II Cor. XIII, 3)? Dixit et propheta, Audiam quid loquetur in me Dominus Deus (Psal. LXXXIV, 9). Qui loquitur in homine, loquitur in angelo. Ideo apparuit Moysi angelus Domini, et dixit, Ego sum qui sum. Habitatoris vox est, non templi.
of the Lord was not Christ, but an angel sent; it is necessary that an account be required of them why He was called Lord. For just as of those who say it was Christ it is required why He was called an angel, so of those who say it was an angel it is required why he was called Lord. But as for those who say it was Christ, I have already recalled how they get out of it, why He was called an angel: because the prophet openly called the Lord Christ the Angel of great counsel. Those, then, who say it was an angel ought to answer why he was named Lord. They too reply: Just as in the Scriptures the prophet speaks, and it is said that the Lord speaks, not because the Lord is the prophet, but because the Lord is in the prophet; so also when the Lord deigns to speak through an angel, as through an apostle, as through a prophet, he is rightly called both angel on his own account, and Lord on account of God dwelling [in him]. For certainly Paul was a man, and Christ God; and yet Paul himself says, Do you wish to receive proof of Him Who speaks in me, Christ (2 Cor. 13:3)? The prophet too said, I will hear what the Lord God will speak in me (Ps. 84:9). He Who speaks in a man speaks in an angel. Therefore the angel of the Lord appeared to Moses and said, I am Who I am. It is the voice of the Indweller, not of the temple.
6. Difficultas in ea sententia diluitur. Nam si propterea Christus erat, cum angelus dictus sit, quia unus erat; quid facimus, quando Abrahae tres apparuerunt? quid hic dicimus? Tres apparuerunt, et Abraham tanquam ad unum loquens dixit, Domine. Quid dicimus? quare tres? An ipsa Trinitas erat? Quare ergo Dominus? Quia Trinitas unus Dominus, non sunt tres domini: et Trinitas unus Deus, non tres; una substantia, tres personae. Neque enim Pater Filius est, aut Filius Pater est, aut Spiritus sanctus vel Pater vel Filius est. Sed Pater non est nisi Filii; Filius non est nisi Patris; Spiritus et Patris et Filii. Quamvis in illis tribus aliqui dicunt, quod unus ibi excellebat, quem Dominum appellabat Abraham, quando apparuerat cum duobus, tanquam Christus cum Angelis suis. Sed quid agimus, quia cum duo mitterentur ad Sodomam apparentes fratri Abrahae Lot, et ipse agnoscit in eis divinitatem; et cum duos videat, Dominum appellat (Gen. XVIII, et XIX)? Et ille in tribus Dominum, et in duobus ille Dominum. Ne separemus ergo Trinitatem et faciamus in Sodoma dualitatem, puto quod melius intelligimus, quia patres nostri Dominum in Angelis agnoscebant, habitantem in habitatione intelligebant; non portantibus, sed insidenti gloriam dabant. Quam sententiam confirmat non solum Epistola quae scribitur ad Hebraeos, ubi dicitur, Si enim qui per Angelos dictus est sermo, factus est firmus (Hebr. II, 2 [loquebatur enim de veteri Testamento, commendavit quod ibi Angeli loquebantur; sed Deus in Angelis suis honorabatur, et per Angelos interior habitator audiebatur]); sed etiam in Actibus Apostolorum Stephanus dicit, arguens
6. A difficulty in that view is cleared away. For if it was Christ, when an angel is mentioned, for this reason, that he was one, what do we do when three appeared to Abraham? What do we say here? Three appeared, and Abraham, as though speaking to one, said, Lord. What do we say? Why three? Was it the Trinity itself? Why then Lord? Because the Trinity is one Lord; there are not three lords; and the Trinity is one God, not three; one substance, three persons. For neither is the Father the Son, nor the Son the Father, nor the Holy Spirit either the Father or the Son. But the Father is Father only of the Son; the Son is Son only of the Father; the Spirit is the Spirit of both the Father and the Son. Although some say that among those three one stood out there, whom Abraham called Lord, when He had appeared with two, as Christ with His Angels. But what are we to do, given that when two were sent to Sodom, appearing to Lot, Abraham's kinsman, he too recognizes divinity in them, and though he sees two, he calls them Lord (Gen. 18 and 19)? Both the one called them Lord in three, and the other Lord in two. So, lest we separate the Trinity and make a duality in Sodom, I think we understand better that our fathers recognized the Lord in the Angels, understood the One dwelling in the dwelling; they gave glory not to those who carried Him, but to Him Who sat within. This view is confirmed not only by the Epistle which is written to the Hebrews, where it is said, For if the word that was spoken through Angels was made firm (Heb. 2:2 [for he was speaking of the Old Testament; he commended the fact that there Angels spoke; but God was honoured in His Angels, and through the Angels the inner Indweller was heard]); but also in the Acts of the Apostles Stephen says,
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Editi ex Carthusiano Ms., et dicitur ei, Domine. Et dicit, Ego sum qui sum.
The printed editions, from the Carthusian manuscript: "and it is said to him, Lord. And he says, I am who am."
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Editi ex Carthusiano Ms. addunt, dii.
The printed editions, from the Carthusian manuscript, add: "gods."
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et increpans Judaeos, Dura cervice, et non circumcisi corde et auribus. Dura cervice, spinae non crematae. Vos semper resistitis Spiritui sancto. Ideo rubus non cremabatur, quia flammae Spiritus ab spinis peccatorum resistebatur: Vos semper resistitis Spiritui sancto. Quem prophetarum non occiderunt patres vestri? (Et unde agitur) qui accepistis Legem in edictis Angelorum, et non custodistis (Act. VII, 51-53). Si diceret, Angeli, et non, Angelorum; non deerant illi qui dicerent, Christus est, quia dictus est magni consilii Angelus. Angelus Christus, numquid Angeli Christus? Dicit et apostolus Paulus, quoniam semen Abrahae dispensatum est: Dispositum, inquit, per Angelos in manu Mediatoris (Galat. III, 19).
[ar]guing and rebuking the Jews, 'Stiff-necked, and uncircumcised in heart and ears.' Stiff-necked: thorns not burnt. 'You always resist the Holy Spirit.' That is why the bush was not burnt: because the flame of the Spirit was resisted by the thorns of sins. 'You always resist the Holy Spirit. Which of the prophets did your fathers not kill?' (And this is the point at issue:) 'you who received the Law by the edicts of angels, and have not kept it' (Acts 7:51–53). Had he said 'of an angel', and not 'of angels', there would have been people to say, It is Christ, because He is called the Angel of great counsel. The Angel is Christ; are the angels Christ? The apostle Paul too says that the seed of Abraham was dispensed: 'Ordained,' he says, 'through angels in the hand of a Mediator' (Gal. 3:19).
7. Dei nomen proprium. Jam ergo angelus, et in angelo Dominus, dicebat Moysi quaerenti nomen suum, Ego sum qui sum. Dices filiis Israel: Qui est, misit me ad vos. Esse, nomen est incommutabilitatis. Omnia enim quae mutantur, desinunt esse quod erant, et incipiunt esse quod non erant. Esse verum, esse sincerum, esse germanum, non habet nisi qui non mutatur. Ille habet esse cui dicitur, Mutabis ea et mutabuntur; tu autem idem ipse es (Psal. CI, 27, 28). Quid est, Ego sum qui sum, nisi, Aeternus sum? Quid est, Ego sum qui sum, nisi, Mutari non possum? Nulla creatura, non coelum, non terra, non Angelus, non Virtus, non Sedes, non Dominationes, non Potestates. Cum ergo sit hoc nomen aeternitatis, plus est quod dignatus est habere nomen misericordiae. Ego sum Deus Abraham, et Deus Isaac, et Deus Jacob. Illud in se, hoc ad nos. Si enim hoc solum esse vellet quod est in se, quid essemus nos? Si intellexit, imo quia intellexit Moyses, cum ei diceretur, Ego sum qui sum, Qui est, misit me; multum hoc credidit esse ad homines, multum hoc vidit distare ab hominibus. Qui enim hoc quod est et vere est, digne intellexerit, et qualitercumque lumine veracissimae essentiae, vel strictim, sicut coruscatione afflatus fuerit; longe se videt infra, longe remotissimum, longe dissimillimum: sicut ille ait, Ego dixi in ecstasi mea. Assumpta enim mente vidit nescio quid, quod plus ad illum erat. Hoc erat quod verum erat. Dixi, inquit, in ecstasi mea. Quid? Projectus sum a facie oculorum tuorum (Psal. XXX, 23). Cum ergo ad id quod dicebatur, non ad id quod videbatur, longe se imparem videret Moyses et quasi minus capacem, unde inflammatus ipso desiderio videndi quod est, dicebat Deo cum quo loquebatur, Ostende mihi temetipsum (Exod. XXXIII, 13, 18): quasi ergo ab illa excellentia essentiae longe dissimilis desperaret, erigit desperantem, quoniam vidit timentem: tanquam diceret, Quoniam dixi, Ego sum qui sum, et, Qui est, misit me; intellexisti quid sit esse, et desperasti te capere: erige spem, Ego sum Deus Abraham, Isaac et Jacob; sic sum quod sum, sic sum ipsum esse, sic sum cum ipso esse, ut nolim hominibus deesse. Si
7. God's proper name. So then the angel, and in the angel the Lord, said to Moses when he asked His name, 'I am Who am. You shall say to the children of Israel: He Who is has sent me to you.' 'To be' is the name of unchangeableness. For all things that are changed cease to be what they were, and begin to be what they were not. True being, sincere being, genuine being, none has but He Who is not changed. He has being to Whom it is said, 'Thou shalt change them and they shall be changed; but Thou art the selfsame' (Ps. 101:27–28). What is 'I am Who am', but 'I am eternal'? What is 'I am Who am', but 'I cannot be changed'? No creature [is so]: not heaven, not earth, not Angel, not Virtue, not Throne, not Dominions, not Powers. Since, then, this is the name of eternity, it is a greater thing that He has deigned to have a name of mercy: 'I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.' The former is in Himself, the latter is towards us. For if He wished to be only what He is in Himself, what would we be? If Moses understood, nay, because Moses understood, when it was said to him, 'I am Who am, He Who is has sent me', he believed this to be a great matter for men, he saw this to stand very far from men. For whoever has worthily understood That which is and truly is, and has been breathed upon in whatever way by the light of the most true essence, even briefly, as by a flash, sees himself far below, very far removed, very far unlike: as that man says, 'I said in my ecstasy.' For with his mind caught up he saw something, which was beyond him. This was what was true. 'I said,' he says, 'in my ecstasy.' What? 'I am cast away from the sight of Thy eyes' (Ps. 30:23). Since, then, Moses saw himself far unequal, and as it were less capable, with respect to what was said, not to what was seen, being therefore inflamed by the very desire of seeing That which is, he said to God with Whom he was speaking, 'Show me Thyself' (Exod. 33:13, 18): so, as though he despaired, being far unlike, of that excellence of essence, He raises up the despairing man, because He saw him afraid: as if He said, Because I said, I am Who am, and, He Who is has sent me, you have understood what it is to be, and have despaired of grasping it: lift up your hope, I am the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob; I am what I am in such a way, I am being itself in such a way, I am with being itself in such a way, that I am unwilling to fail men. If
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Editi ex Carthusiano Ms., quia spiritui flammae a spinis, etc.
The printed editions, from the Carthusian manuscript: "because to the spirit of the flame by the thorns," etc.
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Editi ex Carthusiano Ms., dispensatum est a veteri Testamento usque ad novum. Et quomodo dispensatum est? Dispositum, inquit, etc.
The printed editions, from the Carthusian manuscript: "it was dispensed from the Old Testament down to the New. And how was it dispensed? Ordained, he says," etc.
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quo modo possumus Dominum quaerere et investigare eum qui est, et quidem non longe positum ab unoquoque nostrum: in illo enim vivimus, et movemur, et sumus (Act. XVII, 27, 28): laudemus ergo ineffabiliter ejus essentiam et amemus misericordiam. Amen.
in what way we can seek the Lord and search out Him Who is, and indeed is not set far from each one of us: for in Him we live, and move, and are (Acts 17:27–28): let us therefore praise His essence ineffably and love His mercy. Amen.
SERMONIS VIII, De decem plagis et decem praeceptis, FRAGMENTUM.
Fragment of Sermon VIII, On the ten plagues and the ten commandments.
Alias in Fragmentis 2.
Elsewhere [numbered] 2 among the Fragments.
1. Prius in fundamento posita rerum gestarum firmitate, significantiam debemus inquirere; ne subtracto fundamento, in aere velle aed⟨i⟩ficare videamur. Sed ad plagas decem non pertinet quod primum factum est signi causa, ut virga in serpentem converteretur. Aditus enim ipse erat ad Pharaonem, quo commendabatur Moyses educturus ex Aegypto populum Dei: nondum autem contumaces feriebantur, sed divino signo jam terrebantur. Virga significat regnum Dei: idemque regnum Dei esse utique populum Dei. Serpens autem tempus mortalitatis hujus; mors enim a serpente propinata est. Tanquam ergo cadentes de manu Domini in terram, mortales effecti sunt: unde projecta virga ex manu serpens effecta est. Fecerunt et magi Pharaonis similiter; virgis eorum projectis serpentes facti sunt: sed prius serpens Moysi, id est, virga Moysi devoravit omnes serpentes magorum (Exod. VII, 10-12). Tunc demum cauda comprehensa, identidem virga facta est, et regnum remeavit ad manum. Sunt ergo virg⟨a⟩e magorum populi impiorum victi Christi nomine; cum in ejus corpus transferuntur, tanquam a serpente Moysi devorantur: donec redeat regnum Dei ad manum Dei, sed in fine mortalis saeculi, quod significat cauda serpentis, magnum signum fiat. Audistis quae debeatis desiderare: audite quae debeatis vitare.
1. First, once the firmness of the things done has been laid as a foundation, we ought to inquire into their significance; lest, with the foundation withdrawn, we should seem to wish to build in the air. But what was done first, for the sake of a sign, namely that the rod was turned into a serpent, does not belong to the ten plagues. For it was itself the approach to Pharaoh, by which Moses was commended as the one who would lead the people of God out of Egypt: the obstinate were not yet being struck, but were already being terrified by a divine sign. The rod signifies the kingdom of God; and that same kingdom of God is certainly the people of God. The serpent, however, [signifies] the time of this mortality; for death was handed to us to drink by the serpent. So, as though falling from the hand of the Lord to the earth, they were made mortal: hence the rod, cast from the hand, was made a serpent. Pharaoh's magicians did likewise; when their rods were cast down they became serpents: but first the serpent of Moses, that is, the rod of Moses, devoured all the serpents of the magicians (Exod. 7:10–12). Then at last, when it was grasped by the tail, it became a rod again, and the kingdom returned to the hand. The rods of the magicians, therefore, are the peoples of the ungodly, conquered by the name of Christ; when they are transferred into His body, they are as it were devoured by the serpent of Moses: until the kingdom of God returns to the hand of God, but in the end of the mortal age, which the tail of the serpent signifies, there shall be a great sign. You have heard what you ought to desire: hear what you ought to avoid.
CAPUT PRIMUM. 2.—Primum praeceptum in Lege de colendo uno Deo, Non erunt, inquit, tibi dii alii praeter me (Id. XX, 3). Prima plaga Aegyptiorum, aqua conversa in sanguinem (Id. VII, 20). Compara primum praeceptum primae plagae; Deum unum ex quo sunt omnia, in similitudine intellige aquae, ex qua generantur omnia. Quo autem pertinet sanguis, nisi ad carnem mortalem? Quid est ergo conversio aquae in sanguinem, nisi quia obscuratum est insipiens cor ⟨e⟩orum? Dicentes enim se esse sapientes, stulti facti sunt: et commutaverunt gloriam incorruptibilis Dei in similitudinem imaginis corruptibilis hominis (Rom. I, 21-23). Gloria incorruptibilis Dei sicut
Chapter I. 2.—The first commandment in the Law concerns the worship of the one God: There shall not be, it says, other gods for you besides Me (Exod. 20:3). The first plague of the Egyptians, water turned into blood (Exod. 7:20). Compare the first commandment with the first plague; understand the one God, from Whom are all things, in the likeness of water, from which all things are generated. But to what does blood pertain, if not to mortal flesh? What then is the turning of water into blood, if not that their foolish heart was darkened? For saying that they were wise, they became fools: and they changed the glory of the incorruptible God into the likeness of the image of corruptible man (Rom. 1:21–23). The glory of the incorruptible God, as
Editors' notes and page, col. 67
Footnotes
(*) ‹anchor: SERMONIS VIII› · call in col 67 Sermonis octavi fragmentum emendatum est juvantibus duobus e. et fl. r. v. Ulim. Par. Lov. — R. P. Frangipane, in opere cui titulus: S. Augustini Sermones decem nunc primum editi, Romae an. 1829, pag. 1-11, fragmentum hoc invenit in codice Cassinensi, n. 17. M.
The fragment of the eighth sermon has been corrected with the help of two [manuscripts], e. and fl. r. v., [and of the editions] Ulim., Par. [Paris], Lov. [Louvain]. — The Rev. Father Frangipane, in the work entitled "Ten Sermons of St. Augustine now first published," Rome, in the year 1829, pp. 1-11, found this fragment in a codex of Monte Cassino, no. 17. M[igne].
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(a) ‹anchor: FRAGMENTUM› · call in col 67
Inter Eugypii excerpta, et in Mss. Regio et Victorino repertum. Hujus Tractatus meminit Possidius in Indiculo, cap. 9; et Augustinus ipse, super psalm. 77, n. 27.
Found among the excerpts of Eugippius, and in the Royal and the St. Victor manuscripts. Possidius mentions this Treatise in his Indiculus, ch. 9; and so does Augustine himself, on Psalm 77, n. 27.
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aqua, similitudo imaginis corruptibilis hominis sicut sanguis. Et hoc quidem fit in corde impiorum. Nam Deus incommutabilis manet. Neque enim quia et Apostolus dixit, Commutaverunt, ideo mutatus est Deus.
water, the likeness of the image of corruptible man is like blood. And this indeed happens in the heart of the ungodly. For God remains unchangeable. For it is not because the Apostle too said, They changed, that God has therefore been changed.
CAPUT II.— 3. Secundum praeceptum, Non accipies nomen Domini Dei tui in vanum (Exod. XX, 7). Qui enim accipit nomen Domini Dei sui in vanum, non mundabitur. Nomen Domini Dei nostri Jesu Christi veritas est: ipse enim dixit, Ego sum veritas (Joan XIV, 6). Veritas ergo mundat, vanitas inquinat. Et quoniam qui loquitur veritatem, de Deo loquitur, qui enim loquitur mendacium, de suo loquitur (Id. VIII, 44): veritatem loqui, est rationabiliter loqui; vanitatem autem loqui, est strepere potius, quam loqui: merito, quia secundum praeceptum est dilectio veritatis, cui contraria est dilectio vanitatis; loquitur autem veritas, perstrepit vanitas: huic praecepto secundo contrariam videte secundam plagam. Quae est illa secunda plaga? Ranarum abundantia (Exod. VIII, 6). Habes expressam significatam vanitatem, si attendas ranarum loquacitatem. Vide amatores veritatis, non accipientes in vanum nomen Domini Dei sui, loqui sapientiam inter perfectos (I Cor. II, 6), etiam inter imperfectos. Non quidem loqui quod capere non possunt; non tamen recedere a veritate, et pergere in vanitatem. Quamvis enim imperfecti non capiunt si quid paulo excelsius fuerit disputatum de Verbo Dei Deo apud Deum, per quod facta sunt omnia (Joan. I, 1-3), possintque capere quod inter eos loquitur Paulus tanquam inter parvulos Christi, Jesum Christum, et hunc crucifixum (I Cor. I, 23); non tamen illa est veritas et ista vanitas. Vanitas autem esset, si Christum mortem non implevisse, sed finxisse diceremus; si vulnera illa in phantasmate fuisse, si sanguinem non verum, sed simulatum de vulneribus emanasse; si falsas eum cicatrices, tanquam post falsa vulnera, demonstrasse. Cum vero ista omnia vera dicimus, facta dicimus, certa, expressa, impleta credimus et praedicamus; quamvis de sublimi illius et de incommutabili veritate non loquamur, non tamen imus in vanitatem. Qui autem illa omnia in Christo falsa et simulata dicunt, ranae sunt clamantes in palude: strepitum vocis habere possunt, doctrinam sapientiae insinuare non possunt. Denique in Ecclesia loquuntur haerentes veritati Veritatem per quam facta sunt omnia, Veritatem Verbum carnem factum et habitantem in nobis; Veritatem Christum natum de Deo, unum de uno, unigenitum et coaeternum; Veritatem accepta forma servi natum ex virgine Maria, passum, crucifixum resurgentem, ascendentem: ubique Veritatem, et quam perfecti capiant, et quam parvulus capere potest; Veritatem, et in pane, et in lacte; in pane magnorum, in lacte parvulorum. Idem quippe panis, ut
Chapter II. 3. The second commandment, You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain (Exod. 20:7). For whoever takes the name of the Lord his God in vain will not be cleansed. The name of the Lord our God Jesus Christ is truth: for He Himself said, I am the truth (John 14:6). Truth therefore cleanses, vanity defiles. And since whoever speaks truth speaks of God, for whoever speaks a lie speaks of his own (John 8:44): to speak truth is to speak rationally; but to speak vanity is to make a din rather than to speak: rightly so, because the second commandment is the love of truth, to which the love of vanity is contrary; truth speaks, but vanity makes a racket: see the second plague, contrary to this second commandment. What is that second plague? An abundance of frogs (Exod. 8:6). You have vanity clearly signified, if you attend to the loquacity of frogs. See the lovers of truth, not taking the name of the Lord their God in vain, speaking wisdom among the perfect (1 Cor. 2:6), and even among the imperfect. Not indeed speaking what they cannot grasp; yet not withdrawing from the truth and proceeding into vanity. For although the imperfect do not grasp anything that may have been discussed somewhat more loftily concerning the Word of God, God with God, through Whom all things were made (John 1:1–3), and may grasp what Paul speaks among them as among little ones of Christ, Jesus Christ, and Him crucified (1 Cor. 1:23); yet the one is not truth and the other vanity. It would however be vanity if we said that Christ did not undergo death but feigned it; if we said that those wounds were in appearance only, that blood not real but simulated flowed from the wounds; that He showed false scars, as if after false wounds. But when we say that all these things are true, say that they were done, believe and preach them as certain, manifest, fulfilled; although we are not speaking of His sublime and unchangeable truth, we nevertheless do not go into vanity. But those who say that all those things in Christ were false and simulated are frogs croaking in the marsh: they can have the din of the voice, they cannot instil the teaching of wisdom. Finally, in the Church those who cleave to the truth speak of the Truth through Whom all things were made, the Truth, the Word made flesh and dwelling among us; the Truth, Christ born of God, One from One, only-begotten and co-eternal; the Truth, having taken the form of a servant, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered, crucified, rising, ascending: everywhere the Truth, both what the perfect may grasp and what the little one can grasp; the Truth both in bread and in milk; in the bread of the great, in the milk of the little ones. For the same bread, as
Editors' notes and page, col. 68
Footnotes
(1) ‹anchor: etiam inter imperfectos› · call in col 68
Florus, etiam imperfectis. Duo Mss., etiam imperfectos.
Florus: "even to the imperfect." Two manuscripts: "even the imperfect."
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(2) ‹anchor: parvulus capere potest› · call in col 68
Sic aliquot Mss. At editi omittunt, et quam perfecti capiant; habentque, et quam parvulus capere non potest. Abest particula, non, a Regio codice.
So several manuscripts. But the printed editions omit "and which the perfect may grasp"; and they have "and which a little one cannot grasp." The particle "not" is absent from the Royal codex.
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lac fiat, per carnem trajicitur. Qui autem huic veritati contradicunt, et in sua vanitate decepti decipiunt, ranae sunt taedium inferentes auribus, non cibum mentibus. Audi denique homines rationabiliter loquentes: Non sunt loquelae neque sermones, quorum non audiantur voces eorum: sed voces non inanes; quia in omnem terram exiit sonus eorum, et in fines orbis terrae verba eorum (Psal. XVIII, 45). Si autem et ranas vis e contrario intelligere, illum versum Psalmi recole: Vana locuti sunt unusquisque ad proximum suum (Psal. XI, 3).
become milk, it is passed through the flesh. But those who contradict this truth, and, deceived in their own vanity, deceive others, are frogs, bringing weariness to the ears, not food to the minds. Hear, then, men speaking with reason: There are no speeches nor words whose voices are not heard: but voices that are not empty; because their sound has gone out into all the earth, and their words to the ends of the world (Ps. 18:4–5). But if you want to understand the frogs by way of contrast as well, recall that verse of the Psalm: They have spoken vain things, every one to his neighbour (Ps. 11:3).
CAPUT III. — 4. Tertium praeceptum, Memento diem sabbati sanctificare eum (Exod. XX, 8). In tertio isto praecepto insinuatur quaedam vacationis indictio, quae est cordis tranquillitas ac mentis, quam facit bona conscientia. Ibi sanctificatio, quia ibi Spiritus Dei. Denique videte vacationem, hoc est, quietem. Super qu⟨e⟩m, inquit, requiescet Spiritus meus? Super humilem et quietum et trementem verba mea (Isai. LXVI, 2). Inquieti ergo resiliunt ab Spiritu sancto, rixarum amatores; calumniarum seminatores, contentionis quam veritatis cupidiores, inquietudine sua non ad se admittunt quietem sabbati spiritualem. Contra istorum inquietudinem dicitur, tanquam ut sabbatum habeant in corde sanctificationem Spiritus Dei: Esto, inquit, mansuetus ad audiendum verbum, ut intelligas (Eccli. V, 13). Quid intellecturus sum? Deum dicentem, Cessa ab inquietudine tua, non sit tumultus quidam in corde tuo, per corruptionem volitantibus phantasmatibus et compungentibus te: non sit. Ita enim Deum intellecturus es dicentem tibi, Vacate, et videte quoniam ego sum Deus (Psal. XLV, 11). Tu per inquietudinem vacare non vis, contentionum tuarum corruptione caecatus, exigis videre quod non p⟨o⟩tes. Attende enim et contrariam tertiam plagam huic praecepto tertio. Sciniphes natae sunt in terra Aegypti de limo (Exod. VIII, 17): muscae quaedam sunt minutissimae, inquietiss⟨i⟩mae, inordinate volitantes, in oculos irruentes, non permittentes hominem quiescere, dum abiguntur et irruunt, dum abactae rursus redeunt; sicut omnino vana phantasmata cordis contentiosorum. Tenete praeceptum, cavete plagam.
Chapter III. — 4. The third commandment: Remember the sabbath day, to sanctify it (Exod. 20:8). In this third commandment there is suggested a certain proclamation of rest, which is tranquillity of heart and of mind, which a good conscience produces. There is sanctification, because there is the Spirit of God. See, then, rest, that is, quiet. Upon whom, He says, shall My Spirit rest? Upon the humble and the quiet and the one who trembles at My words (Isa. 66:2). The restless, therefore, recoil from the Holy Spirit; lovers of quarrels, sowers of calumnies, more eager for contention than for truth, by their restlessness they do not admit to themselves the spiritual quiet of the sabbath. Against the restlessness of such people it is said, as if so that they may have in their heart the sabbath, the sanctification of the Spirit of God: Be meek, He says, to hear the word, that you may understand (Sir. 5:13). What am I to understand? God saying: Cease from your restlessness, let there be no tumult in your heart, with phantasms flitting about through corruption and pricking you: let there be none. For thus you will understand God saying to you: Be still, and see that I am God (Ps. 45:11). You, through restlessness, are unwilling to be still; blinded by the corruption of your contentions, you demand to see what you cannot. Consider, then, also the third plague, contrary to this third commandment. Gnats were born in the land of Egypt from the mud (Exod. 8:17): they are certain very tiny flies, very restless, flying about without order, rushing into the eyes, not allowing a man to rest; while they are driven off they rush back, when chased away they return again; just like the utterly vain phantasms of the heart of the contentious. Keep the commandment, beware the plague.
CAPUT IV. — 5. Quartum praeceptum est, Honora patrem tuum, et matrem tuam (Id. XX, 12). Huic contraria quarta Aegyptiorum plaga κυνομυῖα est (Id. VIII, 24). Quid est κυνομυῖα? Canina musca: graecum vocabulum est. Caninum est parentes non agnoscere. Nihil tam caninum, quam cum illi qui genuerunt, non agnoscuntur. Merito ergo et catuli canum caeci nascuntur.
Chapter IV. — 5. The fourth commandment is: Honour your father and your mother (ibid. 20:12). Contrary to this is the fourth plague of the Egyptians, the kynomyia (ibid. 8:24). What is kynomyia? The dog-fly: it is a Greek word. It is doglike not to acknowledge one's parents. Nothing is so doglike as when those who begot one are not acknowledged. Rightly, therefore, are the puppies of dogs also born blind.
CAPUT V. — 6. Quintum praeceptum est, Non moechaberis (Id. XX, 14). Quinta plaga est mors in pecora Aegyptiorum (Id. IX, 6). Comparemus: da hominem moechari meditantem, conjugio non contentum suo: appetitum quemdam carnis in se domare non vult, qui est nobis pecoribusque communis.
Chapter V. — 6. The fifth commandment is: You shall not commit adultery (ibid. 20:14). The fifth plague is death among the cattle of the Egyptians (ibid. 9:6). Let us compare: take a man who is planning to commit adultery, not content with his own marriage: he is unwilling to tame in himself a certain appetite of the flesh, which is, to us and to cattle, com-
Editors' notes and page, col. 69
Footnotes
(1) ‹anchor: da hominem› · call in col 69
Unus Ms., ad hominem. Idemque codex in margine habet: « Vel, da hominem. »
One manuscript: "to a man." And the same codex has in the margin: "Or, take a man."
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Etenim concumbere et generare, etiam pecorum est; ratiocinari, intelligere, humanum est. Ideo ratio quae praesidet in mente, motus inferiores carnis, tanquam regnans et dominans frenare debet, non immoderate et illicite pa⟨s⟩sim vageque laxare. Ideoque ipsis pecoribus natura datum est, instituente Creatore, ut non moveantur ad feminas et ad concubitum, ni⟨s⟩i certis temporibus: neque enim ratione se cohibet alio tempore pecus, sed omnino ipso motu frigescento torpescit. Homo autem ideo semper moveri potest, quia et refrenare motum potest. Tibi dominationem rationis Creator dedit; tibi praecepta continentiae, tanquam in bestias inferiores lora, concessit. Tenes tu quod pecus non potest; et ideo speras tu quod pecus non potest. Laboras aliquantum in continendo, non laborat pecus: sed gaudebis semper in aeternitate ad quam non pervenit pecus. Si opus fatigat, merces consoletur: et ipsa enim patientia est interiorem motum frenare, et quod habes commune cum pecore, non tanquam pecus in omnia laxare. Quod si contempseris te, et in te imaginem Dei in qua fecit te, neglexeris, victus cupiditate insinuatarum rerum, tanquam amisso homine eris pecus; non quasi conversus in naturam pecoris, sed in hominis forma habens similitudinem pecoris, qui non audis dicentem, Nolite esse sicut equus et mulus, non habentes intellectum (Psal. XXXI, 9). Sed forte eligis tibi esse pecus, et libera vagari libidine, nulla lege appetitum carnis ad continentiam refrenando. Attende plagam: si pecus esse non times, saltem mori time.
For indeed to lie together and to beget belongs even to cattle; to reason and to understand belongs to man. Therefore reason, which presides in the mind, ought to rein in the lower motions of the flesh, as ruling and having dominion, not to let them loose immoderately and unlawfully, here and there and at random. And for this reason it has been given by nature to the cattle themselves, the Creator so ordaining, that they are not moved towards females and towards copulation except at certain times: for the beast does not restrain itself by reason at another time, but grows wholly torpid, the motion itself growing cold. But man can be moved at all times for this reason, that he can also restrain the motion. The Creator gave you the dominion of reason; He granted you the precepts of continence, as reins upon lower beasts. You have what the beast cannot have; and therefore you hope for what the beast cannot hope for. You labour somewhat in restraining yourself, the beast does not labour: but you will rejoice for ever in an eternity to which the beast does not attain. If the work wearies you, let the reward console you: for this too is patience, to rein in the interior motion, and not, like a beast, to let loose in all things that which you have in common with the beast. But if you despise yourself, and neglect in yourself the image of God in which He made you, overcome by desire for the things suggested to you, you will be a beast, as though the man had been lost; not as though changed into the nature of a beast, but having in the form of a man the likeness of a beast, you who do not hear Him saying, Be not like the horse and the mule, which have no understanding (Ps. 31:9). But perhaps you choose to be a beast, and to roam with unbridled lust, by no law restraining the appetite of the flesh to continence. Heed the plague: if you do not fear to be a beast, at least fear to die.
CAPUT VI. — 7. Sextum praeceptum, Non occides (Exodi XX, 13). Sexta plaga, pustulae in corpore et vesicae bullientes et scaturientes, et incendia vulnerum ex favilla fornacis (Id. IX, 10). Tales sunt animae homicidales; ardent ira, quia per iram homicidii fraternitas deperiit. Ardent homines ira, ardent et gratia: sed alius est fervor sanitatis, alius fervor ulceris. Ardentes papul⟨ae⟩ per totum concepta homicidia scatent, et sanum non est: fervet, sed non de Spiritu Dei. Nam et qui vult subvenire, fervet; et qui vult occidere, fervet: ille praecepto, iste morbo; ille bonis operibus, iste saniosis ulceribus. Si possemus videre animas homicidarum, plus plangeremus, qua⟨m⟩ putrescentia corpora ulceratorum.
Chapter VI. — 7. The sixth commandment, You shall not kill (Exod. 20:13). The sixth plague, pustules on the body and blisters bubbling and swarming, and burning wounds from the ashes of the furnace (Exod. 9:10). Such are murderous souls; they burn with anger, because through the anger of murder brotherhood has perished. Men burn with anger, they burn also with grace: but the heat of health is one thing, the heat of an ulcer another. Burning pimples, murders conceived throughout the whole, teem, and it is not sound: it is fervent, but not from the Spirit of God. For both he who wishes to help is fervent, and he who wishes to kill is fervent: the one by the commandment, the other by disease; the one with good works, the other with festering ulcers. If we could see the souls of murderers, we would lament more than over the putrefying bodies of the ulcerous.
CAPUT VII. — 8. Sequitur, Non furaberis (Id. XX, 15), praeceptum septimum: et plaga septima, grando in fructibus (Id. IX, 23, 25). Quod contra praeceptum subducis, de coelo perdis. Nemo enim habet injustum lucrum sine justo damno. Verbi gratia, qui furatur, acquirit vestem; sed coelesti judicio amittit fidem. Ubi lucrum, ibi damnum; visibiliter lucrum, invisibiliter damnum: lucrum de sua caecitate, damnum de Domini nube. Neque enim aliquid sine providentia, charissimi. Aut vere putatis, ea quae patiuntur homines, dormiente Deo pati? Passim videntur fieri haec, nubes colligi, imbres infundi, grandinem jaci, tonitruis
Chapter VII. — 8. There follows, You shall not steal (Exod. 20:15), the seventh commandment: and the seventh plague, hail upon the fruits (Exod. 9:23, 25). What you take away against the commandment, you lose from heaven. For no one has unjust gain without just loss. For example, he who steals acquires a garment; but by heavenly judgement he loses faith. Where there is gain, there is loss; visibly gain, invisibly loss: gain from one's own blindness, loss from the Lord's cloud. For nothing is without providence, dearly beloved. Or do you really think that the things which men suffer, they suffer while God is asleep? These things are seen to happen everywhere, clouds to gather, showers to pour down, hail to be cast, thun-
Editors' notes and page, col. 70
Footnotes
(1) ‹anchor: not visible; the call stands above the part of the column shown› · call in col 70
Sic duo Mss. At editi, contempseris te in te, et imaginem Dei.
So two manuscripts. But the printed editions: "you have despised yourself in yourself, and the image of God."
(printed under page 39)
(2) ‹anchor: saltem mori time› · call in col 70
Editi: Si pecus es, non times; saltem mori times.
The printed editions: "If you are a beast, you do not fear; at least you fear to die." [The last word is faint in the scan: "times" or "time", "at least fear to die."]
(printed under page 39)
(3) ‹anchor: Aut vere putatis› · call in col 70
Editi: aut evenire putatis.
The printed editions: "or do you think that they come about."
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terram concuti, coruscatione terreri; passim putantur fieri, et quasi ad divinam providentiam non pertinere. Contra tales cogitationes vigilat ille psalmus: Laudate Dominum de terra (cum laudes dictae essent de coelo), dracones et omnes abyssi, ignis, grando, nix, glacies, spiritus tempestatis, quae faciunt verbum ejus (Psal. CXLVIII, 7 et 8). Ergo qui suo malo desiderio forinsecus furantur, justo Dei judicio intrinsecus grandinantur. O si possent inspicere agrum cordis sui, profecto lugerent, dum ibi non invenirent quod in os mentis mitterent; etsi in furto suo invenirent quod in aviditatem ventris mitterent, major fames esset hominis interioris, major fames, et periculosior plaga, et gravior mors. Multi mortui ambulant, et multi facinorosi de vanis divitiis exsultant. Denique servum Dei Scriptura intus locupletem dicit: Absconditus, inquit, cordis vestri homo, qui est ante Deum dives (I Petr. III, 4)? Non ante homines dives, sed ante Deum dives; et ubi Deus videt, ibi dives. Quid ergo tibi prodest, si ubi homo non videt, furaris; et ubi Deus videt, grandinaris?
thunders, the earth to be shaken, men to be terrified by lightning: these are thought to happen at random, and as it were not to pertain to divine providence. Against such thoughts that psalm keeps watch: Praise the Lord from the earth (since praises had been spoken from heaven), dragons and all deeps, fire, hail, snow, ice, wind of storm, which perform His word (Ps. 148:7–8). Therefore those who by their evil desire steal outwardly are, by the just judgement of God, hailed upon inwardly. O if they could look into the field of their heart, they would surely mourn, since they would find nothing there to put into the mouth of the mind; even if in their theft they found something to put into the greed of the belly, greater would be the hunger of the inner man, greater the hunger, and more dangerous the plague, and more grievous the death. Many dead men walk about, and many criminals exult over vain riches. Finally, Scripture calls the servant of God rich within: The hidden man of your heart, it says, who is rich before God (1 Pet. 3:4)? Not rich before men, but rich before God; and where God sees, there he is rich. What then does it profit you if, where man does not see, you steal, and where God sees, you are hailed upon?
CAPUT VIII. — 9. Octavum praeceptum, Falsum testimonium non dices (Exod. XX, 16). Octava plaga, locusta (Id. X, 13), animal dente noxium. Quid autem vult falsus testis, nisi nocere mordendo, et consumere mentiendo? Denique admonens homines Dei Apostolus, ne se falsis criminationibus appetant: Si mordetis, inquit, et comeditis invicem, videte ne ab invicem consumamini (Galat. V, 15).
Chapter VIII. — 9. The eighth commandment: You shall not bear false witness (Exod. 20:16). The eighth plague: the locust (ibid. 10:13), an animal harmful with its tooth. For what does a false witness want, except to harm by biting and to consume by lying? Finally the Apostle, admonishing men of God not to assail one another with false accusations: If you bite, he says, and devour one another, see that you are not consumed by one another (Gal. 5:15).
CAPUT IX. — 10. Nonum praeceptum, Non concupisces uxorem proximi tui (Exod. XX, 17). Nona plaga, densae tenebrae (Id. X, 22). Etenim est quaedam moechia, contra quam supra praeceptum est, etiam in non appetenda castitate uxoris alienae. Moechus est enim qui non it ad uxorem alienam, tantum quia non contentus est sua. Jam vero non solum post suam peccare, sed etiam alienam attentare, vere densae sunt tenebrae. Nihil enim sic dolet in corde patientis; et qui hoc facit alteri, nihil sic volet pati. Ad alienam paratior est omnis homo: hoc autem nescio utrumne est qui tolerabiliter ferat. O densas tenebras ista facientium, talia concupiscentium! Vere excaecantur furore horribili. Furor enim indomitus est, conculcare viri uxorem.
Chapter IX. — 10. The ninth commandment: You shall not covet your neighbour's wife (Exod. 20:17). The ninth plague: thick darkness (ibid. 10:22). For there is a certain adultery, against which there is a commandment above, also in not seeking after the chastity of another man's wife. For he is an adulterer who does not go to another man's wife, only because he is not content with his own. But now, not only to sin beyond one's own, but also to make an attempt on another's, truly that is thick darkness. For nothing so pains the heart of the one who suffers it; and he who does this to another would be willing to suffer nothing so little. Every man is readier towards another's wife; but this I do not know whether there is anyone who would bear with patience. O the thick darkness of those who do such things, who covet such things! Truly they are blinded by a horrible frenzy. For it is an untamed frenzy to trample upon a husband's wife.
CAPUT X. — 11. Decimum praeceptum, Non concupisces ullam rem proximi tui; non pecus, non possessionem, non subjugium, non aliquid omnino proximi tui concupisces (Exod. XX, 17). Huic malo plaga contraria est decima, mors primogenitorum (Id. XII, 29). In qua plaga cum comparationem quamdam quaero, nihil mihi interim occurrit: fortassis occurrat melius diligentiusque inquirentibus: nisi qui omnes res quas habet haeredibus servat, reprehenditur. Hic autem clamat, qui rem proximi concupiscit, et qui furto aufert, et qui furatur aliquid proximi, non potest nisi
Chapter X. — 11. The tenth commandment: You shall not covet any thing of your neighbour's; not his cattle, not his possession, not his beast of burden, you shall not covet anything at all of your neighbour's (Exod. 20:17). Opposed to this evil is the tenth plague, the death of the first-born (ibid. 12:29). When I seek some comparison in this plague, nothing occurs to me for the present; perhaps something may occur to those who inquire better and more diligently: unless it be that he who keeps all the things that he has for his heirs is reproved. Here, however, it cries out that he who covets his neighbour's thing, and he who takes it away by theft, and he who steals something of his neighbour's, cannot but
Editors' notes and page, col. 71
Footnotes
(1) ‹anchor: castitate uxoris alienae› · call in col 71
Regius Ms., etiam mente non appetendam castitatem, etc.
The Royal manuscript: "that chastity is not to be assailed even in the mind," etc.
(printed under page 40)
(2) ‹anchor: indomitus est, conculcare› · call in col 71
Duo Mss., commaculare.
Two manuscripts: "to defile."
(printed under page 40)
(3) ‹anchor: non subjugium› · call in col 71
Ulim., subigium. Lov., subjugum. Melius Par. et Mss., subjugium.
Ulim.: "subigium" [the middle letters of this word are faint in the scan]. Lov. [Louvain]: "subjugum." Better, Par. [Paris] and the manuscripts: "subjugium" [beast of burden].
(printed under page 40)
(a) ‹anchor: not visible; no call (a) can be seen in the parts of the columns shown (perhaps at "nihil sic volet pati", col 71)› · note at foot of col 72
Forte, volens.
Perhaps: "willing."
(printed under page 40)
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rem proximi furari. Sed de furto superius jam praeceptum est; ubi intelligas et rapinam. Non enim de furto praeciperet, et de rapina taceret Scriptura, nisi te intelligere voluisset, quia si poenale est clanculo auferre, multo majoris poenae est violenter eripere. Auferre ergo nolenti sive occulte, sive palam, habet praeceptum suum. Concupiscere autem rem proximi, quod notat Deus in corde, etiamsi justam ibi successionem quaeras, non licet. Denique qui volunt res alienas tanquam juste possidere, haeredes se quaerunt fieri a morientibus. Quid enim tam justum videtur, quam rem sibi derelictam possidere, habere jure communi? Quid apud te facit homo? Dimissum est mihi: haereditate consecutus sum; testamentum lego. Nihil videtur justius ista voce avaritiae. Tu laudas quasi jure possidentem: Deus damnat injuste concupiscentem. Vide qualis es, qui optas te ab aliquo haeredem fieri. Non vis ut habeat haeredes. In haeredibus autem nihil charius primogenito. Proinde in primogenitis tuis punieris, qui concupiscendo res alienas, id quod tibi jure non debebatur, quasi juris umbra perquiris. Et facile est quidem, fratres, corporaliter amittere primogenitos. Moriuntur enim homines, sive ante parentes suos, sive post parentes suos, morituri moriuntur: illud molestum est, ne per hanc occultam et injustam concupiscentiam primogenita cordis tui perdas. Primogenitus enim in nobis imaginem habet gratiae Dei, novus natus, prior natus, inter omnes tanquam natos cordis nostri primogenita fides est. Nemo enim bene operatur, nisi fides praecesserit. Omnia opera tua bona filii tui sunt spirituales, sed inter hos tibi primogenita est fides. Quisquis rem alienam occulte concupiscis, interius fidem perdis. Eris enim primo sine dubio simulator, obsequens non charitate, sed fraude; veluti amans eum a quo te cupis fieri haeredem, amando eum mori quaeris, et ut in re ejus te videas possessorem, illi invides successorem.
to steal a neighbour's property. But concerning theft a commandment has already been given above, in which you are to understand robbery as well. For Scripture would not give a commandment about theft and keep silent about robbery, unless it had wished you to understand that, if it is punishable to take something away secretly, it deserves much greater punishment to seize it by violence. Taking from someone unwilling, then, whether secretly or openly, has its own commandment. But to covet a neighbour's property, which God marks in the heart, is not lawful, even if you seek a just succession to it. Finally, those who wish to possess other people's property as if justly seek to be made heirs by the dying. For what seems so just as to possess property left to oneself, to hold it by common law? "What is that man doing at your house?" "It was bequeathed to me; I obtained it by inheritance; I read out the will." Nothing seems more just than this voice of avarice. You praise him as possessing by right: God condemns him as coveting unjustly. See what sort of person you are, you who wish to be made someone's heir. You do not want him to have heirs. And among heirs nothing is dearer than the firstborn. Therefore you will be punished in your firstborn, you who, by coveting other people's property, seek, as if under a shadow of right, that which was not owed to you by right. And indeed, brothers, it is an easy thing to lose one's firstborn bodily. For men die, whether before their parents or after their parents; being mortal, they die: this is the grievous thing, lest through this hidden and unjust covetousness you lose the firstborn of your heart. For the firstborn in us bears the image of the grace of God, the newly born, the first born; among all the children, as it were, of our heart, faith is the firstborn. For no one works well unless faith has gone before. All your good works are your spiritual sons, but among them faith is your firstborn. Whoever you are who secretly covet another's property, you lose faith within. For first, without doubt, you will be a dissembler, paying deference not from charity but from fraud; as if loving the man by whom you desire to be made heir, in loving him you seek his death, and, that you may see yourself possessor of his property, you begrudge him a successor.
CAPUT XI. — 12. Eia, fratres, decursis decem praeceptis et decem plagis, comparantes contemptores praeceptorum contumaciae Aegyptiorum, cautos vos fecimus, ut habeatis securi res vestras in praeceptis Dei; res vestras, inquam, res vestras interioris arcae vestrae, interioris thesauri vestri; res vestras, quas vobis nec fur, nec latro, nec vicinus potens possit auferre; ubi nec tinea, nec rubigo metuenda est: cum quibus dives exit et naufragus. Sic enim eritis populus Dei inter iniquos Aegyptios, illis haec in corde patientibus, vobis autem incolumibus in ipsis interioribus hominibus vestris, donec educatur populus de Aegypto quodam exodo suo; quod et fit: nam illud semel factum est, hoc non cessat fieri.
Chapter XI. — 12. Come then, brothers: having run through the ten commandments and the ten plagues, and comparing those who despise the commandments with the stubbornness of the Egyptians, we have made you wary, so that you may hold your possessions secure in the commandments of God; your possessions, I say, the possessions of your inner coffer, of your inner treasury; your possessions, which neither thief, nor robber, nor powerful neighbour can take away from you; where neither moth nor rust is to be feared; with which even the shipwrecked man comes away rich. For thus you will be the people of God among the wicked Egyptians, while they suffer these things in the heart, and you remain unharmed in your very inner selves, until the people is led out of Egypt by a certain exodus of its own; and this is happening: for that was done once, this does not cease to be done.
13. Sanctificatio nulla divina et vera est, nisi ab Spiritu sancto. Non enim frustra dictus est proprie Spiritus sanctus; cum sit et Pater sanctus et Filius sanctus, nomen tamen proprium hoc Spiritus accepit, ut tertia in Trinitate persona Spiritus sanctus diceretur. Ipse requiescit super humilem ⟨et⟩ quietum
13. There is no sanctification that is divine and true except from the Holy Spirit. For not without reason is He properly called the Holy Spirit; for although the Father is holy and the Son is holy, yet the Spirit received this as His proper name, so that the third Person in the Trinity should be called the Holy Spirit. He Himself rests upon the humble and quiet
Editors' notes and page, col. 72
Footnotes
(1) ‹anchor: juris umbra› · call in col 72
Sic duo Mss. At editi, umbram.
So two manuscripts. But the printed editions: "shadow."
(printed under page 40)
(a) ‹anchor: nolenti› · call in col 72
Forte, volens.
Perhaps: "willing."
(printed under page 40)
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(Isai. LXVI, 2), tanquam in sabbato suo. Ad hoc septenarius numerus etiam sancto Spiritui deputatur, hoc Scripturae nostrae satis indicant. Viderint meliora meliores, et majora majores; et de isto septenario numero subtilius aliquid et divinius aliquid dicant et explicent: ego tamen, quod in praesenti sat est, illud video, illud vos ad videndum commemoro, septenariam istam rationem inveniri proprie sa⟨n⟩cto Spiritui deputatam; quia septimo die sonat sanctificatio. Et u⟨n⟩de probamus sancto Spiritui deputari septenariam numeri rationem? Dicit Isaias Spiritum Dei venire super fidelem, super christianum, super Christi membrum, sapientiae et intellectus, consilii et fortitudinis, scientiae et pietatis, Spiritum timoris Dei (Id. XI, 2, 3). Si secuti estis, septem res percucurri, tanquam descendentem ad nos Spiritum Dei a sapientia usque ad timorem, ut nos ascendamus a timore ad sapientiam: Initium sapientiae timor Dei (Prov. I, 7). Ita ergo septenarius Spiritus et unus Spiritus, septenaria operatione unus. An aliquid evidentius vultis? Pentecosten diem festum Scriptura sancta de septimanis factum commemorat. Habetis in scriptura Tobiae, ubi evidenter dicitur istum diem factum de septimanis (Tob. II, 1, secund. LXX). Septies enim septem, quadragi⟨n⟩ta novem in summa redeunt. Sed tanquam ut redeatur ad caput: Spiritu enim sancto ad unitatem colligimur, non ab unitate dispergimur: ideo ad quadraginta novem additur unum unitatis, et fiunt quinquaginta. Non ergo jam sine causa quinquagesimo die post ascensionem Domini venit Spiritus sanctus. Resurrexit Dominus, ascendit ab inferis, nondum in coelum: ab illa resurrectione, ab illa ab inferis assumptione numerantur quinquaginta dies, et venit Spiritus sanctus, in quinquagenario numero tanquam natalem sibi apud nos faciens. Quadraginta enim diebus hic conversatus est Dominus cum discipulis suis, quadragesimo die ascendit in coelum, et peractis ibi decem diebus, tanquam decimo praeceptorum signo, venit Spiritus sanctus; quia nemo implet legem nisi per gratiam Spiritus sancti. Itaque, fratres, manifestum est septenarium istum numerum ad Spiritum sanctum pertinere. Quisquis autem non cohaeret unitati Christi, et oblatrat adversus unitatem Christi, intelligendus est non habere Spiritum sanctum. Contentiones enim et dissensiones non faciunt nisi animales, de quibus Apostolus dicit, Animalis autem homo non percipit quae sunt Spiritus Dei (I Cor. II, 14). Deinde scriptum est et in Epistola Judae apostoli, Hi sunt qui segregant semetipsos: reprehendens loquebatur: Hi sunt qui segregant semetipsos, animales, Spiritum non habentes (Judae I, 19). Quid manifestius? quid evidentius? Merito veniant, etsi eadem credentes quae nos, tamen accepturi Spiritum sanctum, quem habere non possunt, quamdiu sunt hostes unitatis. Illos autem
(Isa. 66:2), as in His sabbath. Moreover, that the number seven is also assigned to the Holy Spirit, our Scriptures indicate this sufficiently. Let the better see better things, and the greater greater things; and let them say and explain something more subtle and something more divine about this number seven: I, however, as is enough for the present, see this, and remind you to see this, that this sevenfold principle is found to be assigned properly to the Holy Spirit; because on the seventh day sanctification sounds forth. And from where do we prove that the sevenfold principle of number is assigned to the Holy Spirit? Isaiah says that the Spirit of God comes upon the faithful man, upon the Christian, upon a member of Christ, [the Spirit] of wisdom and understanding, of counsel and fortitude, of knowledge and piety, the Spirit of the fear of God (Isa. 11:2–3). If you have followed, I have run through seven things, as though the Spirit of God were descending to us from wisdom down to fear, so that we may ascend from fear to wisdom: The beginning of wisdom is the fear of God (Prov. 1:7). Thus, therefore, the Spirit is sevenfold and the Spirit is one, one in a sevenfold operation. Do you want something more evident? Holy Scripture records that the feast day of Pentecost was made out of weeks. You have it in the scripture of Tobit, where it is plainly said that this day was made out of weeks (Tob. 2:1, according to the LXX). For seven times seven come to forty-nine in sum. But, as if to return to the head: for by the Holy Spirit we are gathered into unity, not scattered from unity: therefore to forty-nine is added the one of unity, and they make fifty. It is not, then, without cause that the Holy Spirit came on the fiftieth day after the ascension of the Lord. The Lord rose again, He ascended from the underworld, not yet into heaven: from that resurrection, from that taking up from the underworld, fifty days are counted, and the Holy Spirit came, as it were making His birthday among us in the number fifty. For forty days the Lord lived here with His disciples, on the fortieth day He ascended into heaven, and when ten days had been completed there, as by the tenth sign of the commandments, the Holy Spirit came; because no one fulfils the law except through the grace of the Holy Spirit. Therefore, brothers, it is manifest that this number seven pertains to the Holy Spirit. But whoever does not cleave to the unity of Christ, and barks against the unity of Christ, is to be understood not to have the Holy Spirit. For contentions and dissensions are made only by animal men, of whom the Apostle says, But the animal man does not perceive the things that are of the Spirit of God (1 Cor. 2:14). Then it is written also in the Epistle of Jude the apostle, These are they who separate themselves: he was speaking in reproof: These are they who separate themselves, animal men, not having the Spirit (Jude 1:19). What is more manifest? What is more evident? Rightly let them come, even if they believe the same things as we do, yet in order to receive the Holy Spirit, Whom they cannot have so long as they are enemies of unity. But those
Editors' notes and page, col. 73
Footnotes
(1) ‹anchor: die post ascensionem› · call in col 73
Duo Mss., post resurrectionem. Alii cum editis, post ascensionem. Non male, sicuti ex his postea verbis patet, nondum in coelum, ab illa resurrectione, ab illa ab inferis; quae quidem verba in prius editis omissa, restituuntur hic ex manuscriptis.
Two manuscripts: "after the resurrection." Others, with the printed editions: "after the ascension." Not badly, as is plain from the words that follow, "not yet into heaven; from that resurrection, from that [taking up] from the lower regions"; which words, omitted in the earlier editions, are restored here from the manuscripts.
(printed under page 41)
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comparat Apostolus magis Pharaonis (Habentes, inquit, formam pietatis, sed virtutem ejus abnegantes) (II Timoth. III, 5), qui in signo tertio def⟨e⟩cerunt.
-tem the Apostle compares to the magicians of Pharaoh (Having, he says, the form of godliness, but denying its power) (2 Tim. 3:5), who failed at the third sign.
14. Jam videte quare in tertio signo defecerunt. Mementote eos qui adversantur unitati, non habere Spiritum sanctum. Tria vero illa praecepta prima in Decalogo ad Dei dilectionem pertinere intelliguntur, ut septem caetera intelligantur ad dilectionem proximi pertinere; ut duabus tabulis Legis et decem praeceptis, duo illa tanquam summaria praecepta teneantur: Diliges Dominum Deum tuum ex toto corde tuo, et ex tota anima tua, et ex tota virtute tua; et diliges proximum tuum tanquam te ipsum: in his duobus praeceptis tota Lex pendet et Prophetae (Matth. XXII, 37-40). Referamus ergo tria prima praecepta ad dilectionem Dei. Quae tria prima? Primum, Non erunt tibi dii alii praeter me: cui contraria plaga est, aqua conversa in sanguinem, propter quod summum principium Creatoris ad similationem humanae car⟨n⟩is adductum. Secundum praeceptum, Ne accipias nomen Domini Dei tui in vanum, pertinet, quantum arbitror, ad regnum Dei, quod est Filius Dei. Unus enim Deus et unus Dominus noster Jesus Christus per quem omnia. Contra verbum, ranae: videte contra verbum ranas, contra rationem strepitum, contra veritatem vanitatem. Tertium praeceptum de sabbato, pertinens ad Spiritum sanctum propter sanctificationem, quae prima in sabbato sonuit, quod vobis paulo ante vehementer, quantum potuimus, commendavimus. Huic praecepto contraria inquietudo in muscis de corruptione nascentibus, in oculos irruentibus. Ideo in hoc tertio signo defecerunt, qui unitatis inimici Spiritum sanctum non habuerunt: facit enim hoc Spiritus sanctus poena. Aliud enim facit gratia, aliud poena: aliud enim facit implendo, aliud deserendo. Denique ut jam evidenter ipsis confitentibus Pharaonis magis agnoscere valeamus, quomodo appellatus est in Evangelio Spiritus Dei, videamus, quod nomen accepit. Objicientes Domino convicium Judaei, cum dixissent, Hic non ejicit daemonia, nisi in Beelzebub principe daemoniorum; respondit ille, Si ego in Spiritu Dei ejicio daemonia, certe supervenit in vos regnum D⟨e⟩i (Id. XII, 24, 28): quod alius evangelista sic enarrat, Si ego in digito Dei ejicio daemonia (Luc. XI, 20). Quod alius evangelista dixit, Spiritus Dei; alius dixit, digitus Dei. Ergo digitus Dei, Spiritus Dei. Ideo Lex data scripta digito Dei, quae Lex data est in monte Sina quinquagesimo die post occisionem ovis celebrato Pascha a populo Judaeorum. Implentur quinquaginta dies post occisionem ovis, et datur Lex scripta digito Dei: implentur quinquaginta dies post occisionem Christi, et venit Spiritus sanctus. Gratias Domino, occultanti providenter, aperienti suaviter. Jam videte hoc etiam, fratres, Pharaonis magos evidentissime confiteri. Deficientes in tertio signo dixerunt, Digitus Dei est hic, etc. (Exod. VIII, 19).
14. Now see why they failed at the third sign. Remember that those who oppose unity do not have the Holy Spirit. Now those first three precepts in the Decalogue are understood to pertain to the love of God, so that the other seven are understood to pertain to the love of neighbour; so that in the two tables of the Law and the ten precepts those two precepts are held as a summary, as it were: You shall love the Lord your God from your whole heart, and from your whole soul, and from your whole strength; and you shall love your neighbour as yourself: on these two precepts hang the whole Law and the Prophets (Matt. 22:37–40). Let us therefore refer the first three precepts to the love of God. Which are the first three? The first, You shall have no other gods besides Me: the plague contrary to it is water turned into blood, because the supreme principle of the Creator has been brought down to a likening of human flesh. The second precept, You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, pertains, as far as I judge, to the kingdom of God, which is the Son of God. For there is one God and one Lord, our Jesus Christ, through Whom are all things. Against the Word, frogs: see, against the Word frogs, against reason noise, against truth vanity. The third precept, concerning the sabbath, pertains to the Holy Spirit on account of sanctification, which first sounded on the sabbath, which we commended to you a little earlier as emphatically as we could. Contrary to this precept is the restlessness in the flies born of corruption, rushing into the eyes. Therefore at this third sign they failed, who as enemies of unity did not have the Holy Spirit: for the Holy Spirit does this as a punishment. For grace does one thing, punishment another: for He does one thing by filling, another by forsaking. Finally, so that we may now recognize it plainly with the magicians of Pharaoh themselves confessing it, let us see how the Spirit of God was named in the Gospel, what name He received. When the Jews, casting a reproach at the Lord, had said, This man does not cast out demons except by Beelzebub the prince of demons, He answered, If I cast out demons by the Spirit of God, surely the kingdom of God has come upon you (Matt. 12:24, 28): which another evangelist relates thus, If I cast out demons by the finger of God (Luke 11:20). What one evangelist called the Spirit of God, another called the finger of God. Therefore the finger of God is the Spirit of God. That is why the Law was given written by the finger of God, which Law was given on Mount Sinai on the fiftieth day after the slaying of the sheep, when the Passover had been celebrated by the people of the Jews. Fifty days are completed after the slaying of the sheep, and the Law written by the finger of God is given: fifty days are completed after the slaying of Christ, and the Holy Spirit comes. Thanks be to the Lord, Who conceals providently and reveals sweetly. Now see this too, brothers: the magicians of Pharaoh confess it most plainly. Failing at the third sign, they said, The finger of God is here, etc. (Exod. 8:19).
Editors' notes and page, col. 74
Footnotes
(1) ‹anchor: not visible; the call stands above the part of the column shown› · call in col 74
Duo Mss., propter summum; praetermisso, quod.
Two manuscripts: "on account of the highest," with "quod" left out.
(printed under page 41)
(2) ‹anchor: not visible; the call stands above the part of the column shown› · call in col 74
Editi, ad simulationem. At Mss. aliquot, ad similationem. Et quidam habent, ad similitudinem.
The printed editions: "ad simulationem" [for a pretence]. But several manuscripts: "ad similationem." And some have: "ad similitudinem" [for a likeness].
(printed under page 41)
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