Migne Reading Room
PL 38 · cols. 97–106
Augustine, Sermones 1-18 (Classis I, de Scripturis: de Vetere Testamento)
Sermons XI–XII
evangelicum fecerat; non ipse, sed gratia Dei cum illo. Nam illa meretrix sua non poterat dicere nisi peccata: donum autem fecunditatis ex Deo. Tanto autem amplius diligitur gratia donantis, quanto supplicium debebatur. Et bene de meretrice Dominus ait: Cui plurimum dimittitur, plurimum diligit (Luc. VII, 47). Dicit ergo apostolus Paulus: Factus sum parvulus in medio vestrum, tanquam si nutrix foveat filios suos (I Thess. II, 7). Sed cum ad periculum ventum fuerit, quo parvulus dividatur, cum sibi honorem falsum simulatio vindicat, et scindere parata est unitatem; contemnat mater honorem suum, dum filium videat integrum, vivumque servet; ne forte cum debitum visceribus suis honorem pertinacius vindicat, det locum simulationi per machaeram schismatis infirma membra dividere. Dicat ergo charitas mater, Date illi puerum. Sive occasione, sive veritate Christus annuntietur (Philipp. I, 18). In Moyse charitas clamat, Domine, aut ignosce illis, aut dele me de libro tuo (Exod. XXXII, 31, 32). In Pharisaeis autem simulatio loquitur, Si dimiserimus eum, veniunt Romani, et tollunt nobis gentem et locum (Joan. XI, 48). Non enim veritatem, sed nomen volebant habere justitiae, et honorem debitum justis per fallaciam tenere cupiebant. Tamen regnans in eis simulatio cathedram Moysi sedere permissa est, ut dici posset a Domino, Quae dicunt, facite; sed quae faciunt, facere nolite (Matth. XXIII, 3). Ut honorem falsum habentes, veritate tamen Scripturarum parvulos infirmosque nutrirent. Simulatio enim suum habet scelus, quo novum hominem, quem per gratiam donantis acceperat, pondere suae dormitionis exstinxit: sed lac fidei quod habet, non est ejus. Quia etiam necato parvulo, qui renascentem vitam significat, jam in malis moribus simulatio constituta, retinet tamen in memoria, tanquam in uberibus, verba fidei doctrinamque christianam, quae omnibus ad Ecclesiam venientibus traditur. Ex isto lacte poterat etiam falsa mater verae tamen fidei succum sugenti parvulo infundere. Inde secura est vera mater, cum etiam a simulatoribus in Ecclesia parvulus ejus divinarum Scripturarum catholicae fidei lacte nutritur, cum prohibita divisione unitas salva est, et sententia judicis ultima, qua ultimum Christi judicium figuratur, probata charitas, quae propter salutem parvuli et unitatis firmamentum etiam simulationi honorem cessit, ut amorem tenens complexumque vitalis gratiae, sempiterne piae matris praemio perfruatur.
evangelical [work] he had done; not he himself, but the grace of God with him. For that harlot could call nothing her own except her sins: but the gift of fruitfulness [came] from God. And the grace of the Giver is loved the more abundantly, the greater the punishment that was due. And well does the Lord say concerning the harlot: To whom most is forgiven, she loves most (Luke 7:47). So the apostle Paul says: I became a little one in your midst, as if a nurse were cherishing her own children (1 Thess. 2:7). But when it comes to the danger in which the little one would be divided, when pretence claims for itself a false honour and is ready to tear unity apart, let the mother despise her own honour, so long as she sees her son whole and keeps him alive; lest perhaps, while she too stubbornly claims the honour due to her own womb, she give pretence room to divide the weak limbs with the sword of schism. Let charity the mother therefore say, Give her the child. Whether in pretext or in truth, let Christ be proclaimed (Phil. 1:18). In Moses charity cries out, Lord, either forgive them, or blot me out of Thy book (Exod. 32:31–32). But in the Pharisees pretence speaks: If we let Him go, the Romans come, and they take away from us our nation and our place (John 11:48). For they wished to have not the truth but the name of righteousness, and they desired to hold by deceit the honour due to the righteous. Yet the pretence reigning in them was permitted to sit in the chair of Moses, so that it could be said by the Lord, What they say, do; but what they do, do not do (Matt. 23:3). So that, holding a false honour, they might nevertheless nourish the little and the weak with the truth of the Scriptures. For pretence has its own crime, whereby it smothered under the weight of its own sleep the new man, whom it had received through the grace of the Giver: but the milk of faith which it has is not its own. For even when the little one, who signifies the life that is born again, has been killed, pretence, now settled in evil ways, nevertheless retains in memory, as in the breasts, the words of faith and the Christian teaching which is handed on to all who come to the Church. From this milk even the false mother could pour into the little one that sucks the sap of a faith that is nevertheless true. Hence the true mother is secure, when even by pretenders in the Church her little one is nourished with the milk of the divine Scriptures of the catholic faith, when, division being forbidden, unity is kept safe, and by the final sentence of the judge, by which the last judgement of Christ is figured, charity is approved, which for the sake of the little one's safety and the strengthening of unity yielded the honour even to pretence, so that, holding fast the love and embrace of life-giving grace, she may enjoy for ever the reward of a devoted mother.
SERMO XI. De Elia et vidua Sareptana.
Sermon 11. On Elijah and the widow of Zarephath.
1. Opera pietatis nunc temporis exercenda. Dominus Deus noster nolens aliquem nostrum perire, excolens Ecclesiam suam velut agrum suum, quaerens fructum de arboribus suis, antequam tempus securis adveniat,
1. Works of piety are to be practised at the present time. The Lord our God, not willing that any of us should perish, tilling His Church as His own field, seeking fruit from His trees, before the time of the axe arrives,
Editors' notes and page, col. 97
Footnotes
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concilianda Ecclesiae pace deponere parati, scribunt ad Marcellinum Collationis Carthaginensis cum Donatistis habitae Cognitorem, in Epistola inter Augustinianas 128, n. 3: « An vero ille de coelis in membra humana descendit, ut membra ejus essemus, et nos, ne ipsa ejus membra crudeli divisione lanientur, de cathedris descendere formidamus? etc. Nam qua fronte in futuro saeculo promissum a Christo sperabimus honorem, si christianam in hoc saeculo noster honor impedit unitatem? »
(continued) the winning of the Church's peace, ready to lay it down, write to Marcellinus, the Judge of the Conference of Carthage held with the Donatists, in the Letter numbered 128 among Augustine's, n. 3: "Did He indeed come down from heaven into human members, that we might be His members, and are we afraid to come down from our chairs, lest His very members be torn by a cruel division?" etc. "For with what face shall we hope in the world to come for the honour promised by Christ, if in this world our honour hinders Christian unity?"
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(a) ‹anchor: SERMO XI› · call in col 97
Alias, 18 inter Homilias 50.
Formerly, [no.] 18 among the Fifty Homilies.
(*) ‹anchor: SERMO XI› · call in col 97 Recensitus fuit ad duos cl. duos rm. et ad gr. r. v. Am. Er. Par. Lov.
It has been revised against two [manuscripts] cl., two rm., and against gr., r., v., [and the editions] Am. [Amerbach], Er. [Erasmus], Par. [Paris], Lov. [Louvain].
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cum necesse erit infructuosas arbores amputare, non cessat admonere, ut cum tempus est, et cum Dei adjutorio in nostra potestate consistit, bona opera faciamus. Cum enim transierit tempus bene operandi, non restat nisi recipiendi. Nemo tibi dicturus est post resurrectionem mortuorum in regno Dei, Frange esurienti panem tuum; quia non invenies esurientem. Nemo dicturus est, Vesti nudum, ubi omnium tunica immortalitas erit. Nemo dicturus est, Suscipe peregrinum (Isai. LVIII, 7), ubi omnes in patria sua vivent. Nam modo sumus inde peregrini. Nemo dicet, Visita aegrum, ubi est sanitas sempiterna. Nemo dicet, Sepeli mortuum, ubi mors moritur. Ista omnia pietatis officia in vita aeterna necessaria non erunt, ubi sola pax erit et laetitia sempiterna. In isto autem tempore, ut noverimus quantum nobis commendat Deus opera misericordiae, etiam ipsos sanctos suos egere fecit; ut cum fiunt hic amici de mammona iniquitatis, recipiant et ipsi amicos suos in aeterna tabernacula (Luc. XVI, 9): id est, ut cum servis Dei, qui dum jugiter Deo vacant, aliquoties indigent, illi qui habent mundi divitias, eleemosynam largiuntur, quomodo eos participes faciunt in terrena substantia, sic cum illis partem habere mereantur in vita aeterna.
when it will be necessary to cut down the unfruitful trees, He does not cease to admonish us that, while there is time, and while with God's help it lies within our power, we should do good works. For when the time of working well has passed, there remains only [the time] of receiving. No one is going to say to you after the resurrection of the dead in the kingdom of God, Break your bread for the hungry; because you will not find anyone hungry. No one is going to say, Clothe the naked, where the tunic of all will be immortality. No one is going to say, Take in the stranger (Isa. 58:7), where all will live in their own homeland. For now we are strangers from there. No one will say, Visit the sick, where health is everlasting. No one will say, Bury the dead, where death dies. All these duties of piety will not be necessary in eternal life, where there will be only peace and everlasting joy. But in this time, so that we may know how greatly God commends works of mercy to us, He has caused even His own saints to be in need; so that when friends are made here of the mammon of iniquity, they too may receive their friends into the eternal tabernacles (Luke 16:9): that is, so that, when those who have the riches of the world bestow alms on the servants of God, who, while they continually devote themselves to God, are sometimes in need, then, just as they make them partakers in earthly substance, so they may deserve to have a share with them in eternal life.
2. Elias ad pauperem viduam pascendus cur mittitur. Mandare Deus quomodo intelligitur. Hoc dixi propter lectionem Regnorum, quam primo audivimus. Numquid Deus defecerat pascere servum suum Eliam? Nonne illi, quia deerant homines, alites ministrabant? Nonne illi panem afferebat corvus mane, et ad vesperam carnes? Ostendit ergo Deus quia unde voluerit, et quomodo voluerit, potest pascere servos suos: et tamen ut posset cum religiosa vidua pascere, fec⟨it⟩ eum egere. Egestas animae sanctae in abundantiam versa est animae religiosae. Non poterat Elias de misericordia Dei dare sibi, quod lagunculae dedit? Videtis nempe, et manifestum est, quod aliquando servi Dei ideo non habent, ut probentur qui habent. Et tamen illa vidua nihil habebat: quod illi reliquum erat, finitum fuerat, et cum suis filiis moritura erat. Processit ergo, ut faceret sibi panem, colligere duo ligna: et tunc eam vidit Elias. Tunc eam homo Dei videbat, quando illa duo ligna quaerebat. Mulier illa typum gerebat Ecclesiae: et quia duo ligna crucem faciunt, quaerebat moritura, unde semper esset victura. Adumbrato ergo mysterio, Elias loquitur ad eam quod audivit: narrat illa dispositionem suam, morituram se dicit, cum consummaverit quod remansit. Ubi est ergo quod Dominus dixerat Eliae, Vade in Sarepta Sidoniae; ibi enim mandavi viduae, ut pascat te? Videtis quemadmodum mandat Deus, non in aure, sed in corde.
2. Why Elijah is sent to a poor widow to be fed. How God's commanding is to be understood. I have said this on account of the reading from Kings which we heard first. Had God become unable to feed His servant Elijah? Did not birds minister to him, because men were lacking? Did not a raven bring him bread in the morning, and meat in the evening? God showed, therefore, that from wherever He wills, and in whatever way He wills, He can feed His servants: and yet, so that He might feed him with a religious widow, He made him be in need. The neediness of the holy soul was turned into abundance for the religious soul. Could Elijah not give to himself, from the mercy of God, what he gave to the little jar? You see, surely, and it is plain, that the servants of God sometimes do not have for this reason, that those who have may be tested. And yet that widow had nothing: what was left to her had been used up, and she was about to die with her sons. So she went out, to make bread for herself, to gather two sticks: and then Elijah saw her. The man of God saw her then, when she was looking for two sticks. That woman bore the type of the Church: and because two pieces of wood make a cross, she, about to die, was seeking that whereby she would live for ever. The mystery having thus been foreshadowed, Elijah speaks to her what he had heard: she tells him her situation, she says she will die when she has used up what remained. Where then is what the Lord had said to Elijah, Go into Sarepta of Sidon; for there I have commanded a widow to feed you? You see how God commands, not in the ear, but in the heart.
Editors' notes and page, col. 98
Footnotes
(1) ‹anchor: not visible; the call stands above the part of the column shown› · call in col 98
Mss., cui necesse erit.
The manuscripts: "to whom it will be necessary."
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(2) ‹anchor: in vita aeterna› · call in col 98
Sic aliquot Mss. Alii vero cum editis, ut cum servi Dei pii, dum jugiter Deo vacant, aliquoties indigent, illi..... merebuntur in vita aeterna.
So several manuscripts. But others, with the printed editions: "so that when God's devout servants, while they give themselves continually to God, are at times in want, those ..... will deserve in eternal life."
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Numquid legimus quia missus est aliquis propheta ad illam mulierem, et dictum est ei, Haec dicit Dominus, Venturus est ad te esuriens servus meus, ex eo quod habes ministra illi: inopiam noli timere; ego supplebo quod dederis? Hoc ei dictum non legimus. Nec hoc legimus, quod in somnis ad eam missus fuerit angelus, et praenuntiaverit Eliam esurientem esse venturum, et de illo pascendo aliquis mulierem illam admonuerit. Sed mandat Deus miris modis, qui in cogitationibus loquitur. Dicimus mandasse Deum loquendo in corde, suggerendo quod opus erat, persuadendo quod utile erat rationali animae viduae mulieris. Sic etiam in Prophetis legimus, quod Dominus mandaverit vermi, ut roderet radicem cucurbitae (Jonae IV, 7). Quid est, Mandavit, nisi, Cor praeparavit? Inspiratione itaque Domini, vidua illa mulier cor praeparatum habebat ad obediendum. Talis venerat, talis cum Elia loquebatur. Qui erat in Elia ut praeciperet, ipse erat in vidua ut obediret. Vade, inquit, mihi prius fac de egestate tua; non deficient divitiae tuae. Patrimonium enim viduae, modicum erat farinae et modicum olei: hoc modicum non defecit. Quis habet talem villam? Libenter vidua servum Dei esurientem pascebat, quia patrimonium ejus in clavo pendebat. Quid felicius hac paupertate? Si hic talia recipit, qualia in fine sperabit?
Do we read that some prophet was sent to that woman, and that it was said to her, Thus says the Lord, My servant is coming to you hungry; from what you have, minister to him: do not fear want; I will make up what you give? We do not read that this was said to her. Nor do we read this, that an angel was sent to her in her sleep and foretold that Elijah would come hungry, or that anyone admonished that woman about feeding him. But God, Who speaks in thoughts, commands in wondrous ways. We say that God commanded by speaking in the heart, by suggesting what was needed, by persuading the rational soul of the widow woman of what was useful. So too we read in the Prophets that the Lord commanded a worm to gnaw the root of the gourd (Jonah 4:7). What is "He commanded", except "He prepared the heart"? By the Lord's inspiration, therefore, that widow woman had a heart prepared for obeying. Such as she had come, such she spoke with Elijah. He Who was in Elijah so that he might command was Himself in the widow so that she might obey. Go, he says, first make something for me out of your want; your riches will not fail. For the widow's patrimony was a little flour and a little oil: this little did not fail. Who has such an estate? Willingly the widow fed the hungry servant of God, because her patrimony hung on a nail. What is happier than this poverty? If here she receives such things, what things will she hope for at the end?
3. Bonorum operum merces non isto tempore speranda. Ideo hoc dixi, ut seminationis nostrae mercedem, non isto tempore quo seminamus speremus. Hic enim bonorum operum messem cum labore serimus, sed in futuro fructus illius cum gaudio colligemus; secundum illud quod scriptum est, Euntes ibant et flebant, mittentes semina sua; venientes autem venient cum exsultatione, portantes manipulos suos (Psal. CXXV, 6). Illud enim pro signo factum est, nou pro dono. Nam si vidua illa quod pavit hominem Dei, hic recepit, non est magnum quod seminavit; quia non magnam segetem messuit. Temporale est quod accepit, non deficientem farinam, nec diminutum oleum, quousque daret Deus pluviam super terram (III Reg. XVII). Ac sic tunc magis coepit egere, quando dignatus est Deus pluere: tunc enim laboratura erat, exspectatura agri fructus et collectura. Quando autem non pluebat, victus ejus de facili veniebat. Signum hoc ipsum quod Deus illi ad paucos dies praestiterat, signum erat futurae vitae, ubi merces nostra deficere nescit. Farina nostra Deus erit. Quomodo illa per illos dies non defecerunt, sic ille non deficiet in aeternum. Talem mercedem speremus, quando bona facimus: ne forte aliquis vestrum tentetur tali cogitatione, ut dicat, Pascam aliquem servum Dei esurientem, ut lagena mea non deficiat, et in cupa mea semper vinum inveniam. Noli hoc hic quaerere. Semina securus, messis tua serius veniet, tardius veniet: sed cum venerit, finem non habebit.
3. The reward of good works is not to be hoped for in this time. I said this so that we may not hope for the reward of our sowing in this time in which we sow. For here we sow the harvest of good works with toil, but in the future we shall gather its fruit with joy; according to that which is written, Going they went and wept, casting their seeds; but coming they shall come with exultation, carrying their sheaves (Ps. 125:6). For that was done as a sign, not as a gift. For if that widow received here [the reward] for feeding the man of God, what she sowed is not great; for she did not reap a great crop. What she received is temporal: flour that did not fail and oil that did not diminish, until God should give rain upon the earth (1 Kgs. 17). And so she began to be in greater need at the time when God deigned to send rain: for then she was going to toil, to wait for the fruits of the field and to gather them. But when it was not raining, her food came easily. This very sign which God had granted her for a few days was a sign of the life to come, where our reward knows not how to fail. God will be our flour. As those things did not fail during those days, so He will not fail for ever. Let us hope for such a reward when we do good: lest perhaps any of you be tempted by such a thought as to say, I will feed some hungry servant of God, so that my flask may not fail, and that I may always find wine in my cask. Do not seek this here. Sow without anxiety; your harvest will come later, it will come more slowly: but when it has come, it will have no end.
Editors' notes and page, col. 99
Footnotes
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Editi mendose habebant, viduam. Et paulo infra, in conclavi pendebat. Uterque locus emendatur ad manuscriptos.
The printed editions wrongly had "widow." And a little below: "hung in the chamber." Both places are corrected by the manuscripts.
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(2) ‹anchor: deficiet in aeternum› · call in col 99
Sic in manuscriptis. At in editis, per illos non defecit dies sic ille dies non deficiet in aeternum.
So in the manuscripts. But in the printed editions: "through those days it did not fail, so that day will not fail for ever."
(*) ‹anchor: not visible; the call stands above the part of the column shown, presumably at the sermon's title› · call in col 100 Correctus ope codicum gr. Ulim. Par. Lov.
Corrected with the help of the codices gr., [and of] Ulim., Par. [Paris], Lov. [Louvain].
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SERMO XII. De eo quod scriptum est in Job, cap. 1, 6, Et ecce venerunt Angeli in conspectum Dei, et diabolus in medio eorum, etc., et de eo quod in Evangelio dicitur, Matth. V, 8, Beati qui puro sunt corde. quoniam ipsi Deum videbunt: contra Manichaeos.
Sermon 12. On what is written in Job, ch. 1:6, And behold, the angels came into the sight of God, and the devil in the midst of them, etc., and on what is said in the Gospel, Matt. 5:8, Blessed are those who are of pure heart, for they shall see God: against the Manichaeans.
CAPUT PRIMUM. — 1. Manichaeorum in librum Job calumnia. In divinis et sanctis veteribus Libris fraudulentissima fallacia Manichaeos insidiari, jam vestrae prudentiae, dilectissimi fratres, satis probatum esse confidimus. Offerimus tamen adhuc eorum dolos inspiciendos obtutibus cordis vestri: ut non solum eos, quantum ad vos pertinet, evitetis, sed etiam ut alios infirmos et divinarum lectionum rudes, ut quisque vestrum potest, evitare atque contemnere doceatis. Apud Job scriptum est, inquiunt, Ecce venerunt Angeli in conspectum Dei, et diabolus in medio eorum. Et Deus ait diabolo: Unde venis? Qui respondens dixit: Circuiens totum orbem adveni huc. Hic, inquiunt, demonstratur diabolum non solum vidisse Deum, sed etiam locutum esse cum eo. In Evangelio autem dicit, Beati qui puro sunt corde, quoniam ipsi Deum videbunt; et iterum dicit, Ego sum janua; nemo potest venire ad Patrem, nisi per me (Joan. X, 7, et XIV, 6). Deinde adjungunt ratiocinationem, dicentes: Si igitur hi soli qui sunt puro corde vident Deum, quonam modo sordidissimo et immundissimo corde diabolus potuit videre Deum? aut qualiter per januam, hoc est, per Christum ingreditur? Iterum Apostolus, inquiunt, testatur et confirmat, dicens quod neque Principes, neque Potestates, neque Virtutes Deum cognoverunt.
Chapter I. — 1. The false charge of the Manichaeans against the book of Job. That the Manichaeans lie in wait against the divine and holy ancient Books with a most deceitful fallacy has, we trust, dearest brethren, already been sufficiently proved to your prudence. Yet we still offer their tricks to be examined by the gaze of your heart, so that you may not only avoid them, as far as concerns yourselves, but also teach others who are weak and unskilled in the divine readings, as each of you is able, to avoid and despise them. In Job it is written, they say, Behold, the angels came into the sight of God, and the devil in the midst of them. And God said to the devil: Whence do you come? And he, answering, said: Going round the whole world I have come here. Here, they say, it is shown that the devil not only saw God, but also spoke with Him. But in the Gospel He says, Blessed are those who are of pure heart, for they shall see God; and again He says, I am the door; no one can come to the Father except through Me (John 10:7 and 14:6). Then they add an argument, saying: If, then, only those who are of pure heart see God, in what way could the devil, with a most filthy and most unclean heart, see God? Or how does he enter through the door, that is, through Christ? Again, they say, the Apostle testifies and confirms, saying that neither Principalities, nor Powers, nor Virtues have known God.
CAPUT II. — 2. Calumniosa objectio Adimanti ex Apostolo. Principes hujus saeculi. Saeculum peccatores. Diabolus princeps peccati. Calumnia quidem illorum his omnino verbis hucusque proponitur, et revera quaestio est prudenti discutienda christiano. Sed eam calumniam proponentium animus facit, ut similiter imperitos ad sibi credendum a saluberrima Scripturarum auctoritate detorqueant. Sed primo ab istis vellem quaerere, ubi Adimantus apud Apostolum legerit; nam talium calumniarum iste conscriptor est: vellem ergo diceret ubi legerit testantem Apostolum et confirmantem, ut dicit, quod neque Principes, neque Potestates, neque Virtutes Deum cognoverunt; cum Dominus etiam hominum in se credentium dicat Angelos quotidie videre faciem Patris (Matth. XVIII, 10). Nisi forte illud quod Paulus apostolus ait: Sapientiam loquimur inter perfectos, sapientiam autem non hujus saeculi, neque principum hujus saeculi, qui evacuantur: sed loquimur Dei sapientiam in mysterio, quae abscondita est, quam praefinivit Deus ante saecula in gloriam nostram, quam nemo principum hujus
Chapter II. — 2. The slanderous objection of Adimantus drawn from the Apostle. The princes of this world. The world [means] sinners. The devil the prince of sin. Their false charge is indeed set out up to this point entirely in these words, and in truth it is a question to be examined by a prudent Christian. But the intention of those who put forward this false charge brings it about that they likewise turn the unskilled aside from the most wholesome authority of the Scriptures to believing them. But first I should like to ask these men where Adimantus read this in the Apostle; for he is the compiler of such false charges. I should like him, then, to say where he read the Apostle testifying and confirming, as he says, that neither Principalities, nor Powers, nor Virtues have known God, when the Lord says that even the angels of men who believe in Him see the face of the Father daily (Matt. 18:10). Unless perhaps [he means] what the apostle Paul says: We speak wisdom among the perfect, yet a wisdom not of this world, nor of the princes of this world, who are brought to nothing; but we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, which is hidden, which God foreordained before the ages unto our glory, which none of the princes of
Editors' notes and page, col. 100
Footnotes
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Alias, de Diversis 16.
Formerly, [Sermon] 16 de Diversis.
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Sermonem hunc notat Possidius in Indiculo, cap. 2.
Possidius lists this sermon in his Indiculus, ch. 2.
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(c) ‹anchor: iste conscriptor est› · call in col 100
Adimantum Manichaei discipulum confutavit Augustinus peculiari opere, quod opus in lib. 1 Retract., cap. 22, n. 1, recensens ait: « Aliquas sane earumdem quaestionum, » quas ille adversus Legem et Prophetas conscripsit, « popularibus ecclesiasticis Sermonibus solvi. »
Augustine refuted Adimantus, the disciple of Manichaeus, in a work of its own; reviewing that work in book 1 of the Retractations, ch. 22, n. 1, he says: "Some, to be sure, of those same questions," which that man wrote against the Law and the Prophets, "I resolved in sermons to the people in church."
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saeculi cognorit. Si enim cognovissent, nunquam Dominum gloriae crucifixissent (I Cor. II, 6-8)? Si istum locum iste conscribere cogitabat, cur addidit Potestates et Virtutes, quod non ibi dictum est; et detraxit hujus saeculi, quod dictum est? Sed utinam hoc, errore potius, quam malitia fecerit. Verumtamen etiamsi hoc modo dixisset Apostolus, numquid propterea diabolus vocem Dei audire non potuit? Scriptum est enim quod in conspectum Dei venerit: non scriptum est quod Deum ipse conspexerit. Principes enim hujus saeculi aut superbi homines intelliguntur, et vana pompa jactationis elati; aut ipse diabolus et angeli ejus. Nam principem vel magistratum hujus saeculi eum Dominus apertissime appellat (Joan. XII, 31): quia saeculi hujus nomine peccatores intelliguntur, quorum spes nulla est, nisi in hoc saeculo. Sicut enim dicitur mala domus, cum significantur habitatores ejus: sic malum hoc saeculum dicimus, cum eos significamus qui corde hoc saeculum inhabitant, hoc est, quorum conversatio non est in coelis. Nostra enim, dicit Apostolus, conversatio in coelis est (Philipp. III, 20). Diabolo autem serviunt cuncta peccata, qui libero arbitrio princeps voluit esse peccati; propterea princeps hujus saeculi dicitur. Quam regulam intelligentiae moneo cordibus vestris infigatis: adjuvabit per hanc Dominus ad multa Scripturarum discutienda atque solvenda, de quibus illi laqueos nectunt erroris sui.
of this world knew. For had they known, they would never have crucified the Lord of glory (1 Cor. 2:6–8)? If this man intended to write out this passage, why did he add Powers and Virtues, which is not said there, and take away "of this world", which is said? But would that he had done this through error rather than through malice. Nevertheless, even if the Apostle had spoken in this way, could the devil for that reason not hear the voice of God? For it is written that he came into the sight of God; it is not written that he himself beheld God. For by the princes of this world are understood either proud men, puffed up with the vain pomp of boasting, or the devil himself and his angels. For the Lord most plainly calls him the prince or magistrate of this world (John 12:31), because by the name of this world sinners are understood, whose hope is nowhere except in this world. For just as a house is called evil when its inhabitants are meant, so we call this world evil when we mean those who inhabit this world in their heart, that is, those whose way of life is not in heaven. For our way of life, says the Apostle, is in heaven (Phil. 3:20). Now all sins serve the devil, who by free will chose to be the prince of sin; therefore he is called the prince of this world. I urge you to fix this rule of understanding in your hearts: by it the Lord will help you to examine and resolve many things in the Scriptures, out of which those men weave the snares of their error.
CAPUT III. — 3. Quomodo diabolus venerit in conspectum Dei. Cum ergo scriptum non sit quod diabolus viderit Deum, sed tantum quod venerit cum Angelis in conspectum Domini, vocemque ejus audierit; cur isti miseri de visione Dei calumniari Scripturis, et imperitos pervertere student? Quapropter haec eorum propositio brevissima responsione superatur. Quantalibet enim loquacitate perquirant, quomodo viderit diabolus Deum; respondemus, Non vidit diabolus Deum. Dicent: Quomodo ergo cum eo locutus est? Hic vero non a nobis, sed a caecis hominibus convincenda est caecitas cordis ipsorum. Hi enim qui carnalibus oculis caeci sunt, quotidie loqui possunt cum his quos videre non possunt. Quomodo ergo venit, inquiunt, in conspectum ejus? Quomodo caecus in conspectum videntis, quem ipse non conspicit. Et istae quidem similitudines, dilectissimi fratres, ideo dictae sint, ut hominum carnalium refellatur improbitas; ut si fieri potest, hoc modo repulsi, ad discendi mansuetudinem impia corda convertant. Numquid enim Deus continetur loco, quem praesentem habet omnis angelica et humana conscientia, non solum bonorum, sed etiam malorum? Verum hoc interest, quod bonis conscientiis adest ut pater, malis ut judex: quomodo scriptum est, Dominus interrogat justum et impium (Psal. X, 6). Item scriptum est, In cogitationibus impii interrogatio erit (Sap. I, 9). Nec vehementius in auribus corporis Deus, quam in secreto cogitationis interrogat, ubi solus audit, solus auditur. Nonne etiam mali homines,
Chapter III. — 3. How the devil came into the sight of God. Since, then, it is not written that the devil saw God, but only that he came with the angels into the sight of the Lord and heard His voice, why are these wretched men eager to slander the Scriptures about the vision of God and to pervert the unlearned? Therefore this proposition of theirs is overcome by a very brief reply. For however much loquacity they use in inquiring how the devil saw God, we answer: The devil did not see God. They will say: How then did he speak with Him? Here, however, the blindness of their own heart is to be refuted not by us but by blind men. For those who are blind in their bodily eyes can speak every day with those whom they cannot see. How then, they say, did he come into His sight? As a blind man comes into the sight of one who sees, whom he himself does not behold. And these comparisons, dearly beloved brethren, are to be taken as said for this purpose, that the wickedness of carnal men may be refuted; so that, if it can be done, being repelled in this way, they may turn their impious hearts to the meekness of learning. For is God contained in a place, He Whom every conscience, angelic and human, has present, not only of the good but also of the wicked? But there is this difference, that to good consciences He is present as a father, to wicked ones as a judge: as it is written, The Lord questions the just and the impious (Ps. 10:6). Likewise it is written, In the thoughts of the impious there will be questioning (Wis. 1:9). Nor does God question more forcefully in the ears of the body than in the secret place of thought, where He alone hears and alone is heard. Do not even wicked men,
Editors' notes and page, col. 101
Footnotes
(1) ‹anchor: mansuetudinem impia corda› · call in col 101
Sic Germanensis Ms. Editi vero, pia corda.
So the Saint-Germain manuscript. But the printed editions: "devout hearts."
(printed under page 55)
(2) ‹anchor: auribus corporis Deus› · call in col 101
Editi, Deus est. Redundat, est, nec habetur in Ms. Germanensi.
The printed editions: "God is." The "is" is superfluous, and is not found in the Saint-Germain manuscript.
(printed under page 55)
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si quando verum loquuntur et non eis creditur, jurant et dicunt, Testis est Deus, et verissime dicunt? Ubi, quaeso, testis est? In lingua, an in corde? in sono vocis, an in silentio conscientiae? Unde autem plerumque stomachantur, quia sibi non creditur, cum verum se dicere noverint, nisi quia cor suum nobis aperire non possunt, ubi testis est Deus?
if ever they speak the truth and are not believed, swear and say, God is witness, and they speak most truly? Where, I ask, is He witness? In the tongue, or in the heart? In the sound of the voice, or in the silence of the conscience? Why, then, are they for the most part indignant that they are not believed, when they know that they are speaking the truth, except that they cannot open to us their heart, where God is witness?
CAPUT IV. — 4. Variis modis loquitur nobis Deus. Multi autem modi sunt, quibus nobiscum loquitur Deus. Loquitur aliquando per aliquod instrumentum, sicut per cod⟨i⟩cem divinarum Scripturarum: loquitur per aliquod elementum mundi, sicut per stellam Magis locutus est (Matth. II, 2). Quid est enim locutio, nisi significatio voluntatis? Loquitur per sortem, sicut de Matthia in locum Judae ordinando locutus est (Act. I, 26): loquitur per animam humanam, sicut per prophetam: loquitur per angelum, sicut Patriarcharum et Prophetarum et Apostolorum quibusdam locutum esse accipimus: loquitur per aliquam vocalem sonantemque creaturam, sicut de coelo voces factas, cum oculis nullus videretur, legimus et tenemus. Ipsi denique homini, non extrinsecus per aures ejus aut oculos, sed intus in animo non uno modo Deus loquitur: sed aut in somnis, sicut Laban Syro, ne Jacob servum ejus in aliquo laederet (Gen. XXXI, 24), et Pharaoni de septem annis opulentis totidemque sterilibus demonstratum est (Id. XLI, 1-32); aut spiritu hominis assumpto, quam Graeci ecstasim vocant, sicut oranti Petro vas plenum similitudinibus crediturarum Gentium visum est submissum esse de coelo; aut in ipsa mente, cum quisque majestatem vel voluntatem intelligit, sicut ipse Petrus ex illa ipsa visione, quid se agere vellet Dominus, apud se ipsum cogitando cognovit. Non enim hoc quisquam potest, nisi apud se intus sonante quodam tacito clamore veritatis agnoscere. Loquitur etiam Deus in bonorum malorumque conscientia. Nam et approbare quod bene facit, et improbare quod peccat, nemo recte potest, nisi ad eadem illa in silentio cordis vel laudante vel clamante voce veritatis. Veritas autem Deus est: quae cum tam multis modis loquatur hominibus et bonis et malis (quanquam non omnes, quibus tot modis loquitur, possint quoque ejus substantiam naturamque conspicere), quis hominum potest conjiciendo aut cogitando colligere, quot et quibus modis eadem veritas loquatur Angelis, sive bonis, qui ejus ineffabili specie et pulchritudine per mirabilem charitatem contemplando perfruuntur; sive malis, qui depravati per superbiam suam, et ab ipsa veritate in inferioribus ordinati, possunt quibusdam latentibus modis vocem ejus audire, quamvis faciem videre non digni sint?
Chapter IV. — 4. God speaks to us in various ways. There are, moreover, many ways in which God speaks with us. He speaks sometimes through some instrument, as through the book of the divine Scriptures; He speaks through some element of the world, as He spoke to the Magi through the star (Matt. 2:2). For what is speech but the signifying of the will? He speaks through the lot, as He spoke concerning Matthias, who was to be ordained in the place of Judas (Acts 1:26); He speaks through a human soul, as through a prophet; He speaks through an angel, as we accept that He spoke to certain of the Patriarchs and Prophets and Apostles; He speaks through some vocal and sounding creature, as we read and hold that voices came from heaven when no one was seen with the eyes. To man himself, finally, God speaks not outwardly through his ears or eyes but inwardly in the mind, and not in one way only: but either in dreams, as to Laban the Syrian, that he should not harm His servant Jacob in anything (Gen. 31:24), and as it was shown to Pharaoh concerning the seven years of plenty and as many barren ones (ibid. 41:1–32); or when the spirit of a man is taken up, which the Greeks call ecstasy, as to Peter while he was praying a vessel full of likenesses of the Gentiles who were to believe was seen let down from heaven; or in the mind itself, when someone understands the majesty or the will [of God], as Peter himself, from that very vision, came to know by reflecting within himself what the Lord wished him to do. For no one can recognize this except by a certain silent cry of truth sounding inwardly within him. God speaks also in the conscience of the good and of the wicked. For no one can rightly approve what he does well, or disapprove where he sins, except by reference to that same voice of truth, either praising or crying out in the silence of the heart. Truth, moreover, is God: and since He speaks in so many ways to men both good and wicked (although not all to whom He speaks in so many ways are able also to behold His substance and nature), who among men can gather, by conjecturing or by thinking, how many are the ways, and what they are, in which that same Truth speaks to the Angels, whether to the good, who by contemplating enjoy to the full His ineffable beauty and loveliness through a wondrous charity; or to the wicked, who, depraved through their pride and set by Truth Himself in lower places, are able in certain hidden ways to hear His voice, although they are not worthy to see His face?
CAPUT V. — 5. Diabolus potuit audire vocem Dei. Quapropter, dilectissimi fratres, fideles Dei, et Catholicae matris germanissimi filii, nemo vos decipiat venenatis cibis, etiamsi adhuc estis lacte nutriendi: perseveranter nunc ambulate per fidem veritatis; ut
Chapter V. — 5. The devil was able to hear the voice of God. Therefore, most beloved brethren, faithful ones of God and most true-born sons of the Catholic mother, let no one deceive you with poisoned foods, even if you still need to be nourished with milk: walk now perseveringly through the faith of truth, so that
Editors' notes and page, col. 102
Footnotes
(a) ‹anchor: clamante voce veritatis› · call in col 102
Morel legit: nisi ab eadem illa in silentio cordis vel laudante vel damnante voce veritatis. Vide Element. Critic., pag. 100. M.
Morel reads: "unless by that same voice of truth, in the silence of the heart, either praising or condemning." See the Elements of Criticism, p. 100. M[igne].
(printed under page 55)
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certo et opportuno tempore ad speciem veritatis ejusdem venire possitis. Sicut enim Apostolus dicit, hic manentes corpore, peregrinamur a Domino; per fidem enim ambulamus, non per speciem (II Cor. V, 6, 7). Ad speciem autem visionis Patris, fides christiana perducit. Unde Dominus dicit: Nemo venit ad Patrem, nisi per me (Joan. XIV, 6). Sine causa ergo isti quaerunt, quomodo diabolus ad Deum potuit venire per Christum. Diabolus enim ad illam contemplationis beatitudinem non potest pervenire, quo eos qui puro sunt corde fides christiana perducit. Nec ideo tamen diabolus vocem Dei loquentis audire non potuit; sicut multi homines etiam qui non crediderunt Christo, potuerunt vocem audire de coelo dicentis Dei, Et clarificavi et clarificabo: cum Dominus dixisset, Pater, clarifica Filium tuum (Id. XII, 28, 27).
at a fixed and fitting time you may come to the sight of that same truth. For as the Apostle says, while abiding here in the body, we are away from the Lord; for we walk by faith, not by sight (2 Cor. 5:6–7). But it is to the sight of the vision of the Father that Christian faith leads. Hence the Lord says: No one comes to the Father except through Me (John 14:6). These people therefore ask to no purpose how the devil could come to God through Christ. For the devil cannot attain to that blessedness of contemplation to which Christian faith leads those who are pure in heart. Yet the devil was not on that account unable to hear the voice of God speaking; just as many men, even those who did not believe in Christ, were able to hear the voice of God saying from heaven, I have both glorified and will glorify, when the Lord had said, Father, glorify Thy Son (ibid. 12:28, 27).
CAPUT VI. — 6. In conspectum Dei venisse diabolum, quid sit. Quod autem scriptum est, diabolum veni⟨s⟩se in conspectum Dei; non ideo scriptum est, quia quis⟨q⟩uam potest aliquando conspectum Dei fugere, cujus oculis cuncta subjecta sunt, et cui cordis cujuslibet profunditas patet: sed quia in secreto creaturae acta sunt, quae Scriptura narravit, propterea scriptum est, Et ecce venerunt Angeli in conspectum Dei; quamvis a conspectu Dei nunquam recedant. Quocumque enim mittuntur, ibi quoque praesto est conspectus Dei. Sed illic proprie conspectus Dei dicitur, quo humanus non potest penetrare conspectus; sicut sunt secreta conscientiae. Propterea cum redarguimus mentientem, non eum dicimus in conspectu Dei locutum; quia non hoc locutus est, quod in animo ejus conspicit Deus, quo conspectum dirigere non potest homo. Quia ergo haec tam latenter gesta sunt, ut indicari hominibus per Scripturas sanctas, nisi Sancto Spiritu revelante, non possent, in conspectum Dei ve⟨n⟩tum esse, atque ibi gesta esse narra⟨n⟩tur.
Chapter VI. — 6. What it means that the devil came into the sight of God. Now as to its being written that the devil came into the sight of God: it is not written so because anyone can at any time escape the sight of God, to Whose eyes all things are subject and to Whom the depth of every heart lies open; but because the things which Scripture has narrated were done in the hidden places of creation, therefore it is written, And behold, the angels came into the sight of God, although they never withdraw from the sight of God. For wherever they are sent, there too the sight of God is present. But that is properly called the sight of God into which human sight cannot penetrate, such as are the secrets of conscience. Therefore, when we refute a man who is lying, we do not say that he spoke in the sight of God, because he did not speak that which God beholds in his mind, whither man cannot direct his sight. Since, then, these things were done so hiddenly that they could not be made known to men through the holy Scriptures except by the revelation of the Holy Spirit, they are narrated as having come into the sight of God and as having been done there.
CA⟨P⟩UT VII. — 7. Quomodo diabolus fuit in medio Angelorum. Quod autem diabolus in medio Angelorum fuit, si bonos Angelos intelligis, sic in medio eorum intellige diabolum, sicut reus in medio apparitorum judici audiendus assistit. Non enim Scriptura declarat quales illi Angeli fuerint. Si autem in medio angelorum malorum, quid mirum est, principem ac ducem turba ministrorum suorum esse circumdatum? Si autem in conspectum Dei quod dictum est, sic accipias, ut illi in conspectum Dei veniant, qui non solum conspiciuntur ab eo, sed etiam conspiciunt eum; sic intelligendum est i⟨n⟩ medio eorum fuisse diabolum, ut tamen Deum, quem ipsi videbant, ille non viderit; ut etiam per aliquem sanctorum Angelor⟨um⟩ Deus diabolo sit locutus. Nec tamen in libro scriptum est, nisi Dixit Deus. Sicut etiam in negotiis publicis, quanquam pleraque per praeconem judex loquatur, judicis tamen nomen, cum Gesta scribuntur, non etiam praeconis inseritur. Sicut autem aliquis homo visione prophetica indignus, potest tamen in medio Prophetarum stare, ut tantum audiat quod per eos dicit Dominus, nec tamen videat quod illi vident: sic potuit et diabolus esse in medio sanctorum Angelorum
Chapter VII. — 7. How the devil was in the midst of the angels. Now as to the devil having been in the midst of the angels: if you understand good angels, then understand the devil to be in their midst as a defendant stands in the midst of the officers of the court to be heard by the judge. For Scripture does not declare what kind of angels those were. But if [he was] in the midst of evil angels, what wonder is it that a prince and leader should be surrounded by a crowd of his ministers? But if you take what is said, into the sight of God, in such a way that those come into the sight of God who are not only seen by Him but also see Him, then it must be understood that the devil was in their midst in such a way that he nevertheless did not see God, Whom they themselves saw; so that God even spoke to the devil through one of the holy angels. And yet nothing is written in the book except God said. Just as in public business too, although the judge says most things through a herald, yet when the records are written, the name of the judge is entered, not that of the herald as well. And just as some man unworthy of prophetic vision can nevertheless stand in the midst of the prophets, so as only to hear what the Lord says through them, yet not to see what they see: so the devil too could be in the midst of the holy ange-
Editors' notes and page, col. 103
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- other: column begins mid-sentence (certo); last word Angelo- split at column break; damaged type supplied: veni⟨s⟩se, quis⟨q⟩uam, ve⟨n⟩tum (ink blot), narra⟨n⟩tur, CA⟨P⟩UT (prints like CAFUT, likely broken P rather than misprint), i⟨n⟩ (prints like ir), Angelor⟨um⟩ (blot); coelo printed with œ; quaerunt etc. printed with æ
Deum videntium, per quos audiret vocem Dei, quem videre ipse non pos⟨s⟩et.
of those who see God, through whom he might hear the voice of God, Whom he himself could not see.
CAPUT VIII. — 8. Manichaei ex ipsa eorum doctrina refutati. Et machinamenta quidem Manichaeorum, quantum ad hanc quaestionem pertinet, multis modis soluta esse perspicitis, ut non jam putetis, charissimi fra⟨t⟩res, vere diabolum sic loc⟨u⟩tum esse cum Deo, ut etiam faciem veritatis, quam pura corda conspiciunt, videre potuerit; aut ad illam contemplationem beatitudinis venerit, quo nemo nisi per Dominum Jesum Christum venire permittitur. Sed tamen multum admiror hominum istorum impudentiam, qui de visione substantiae divinae calumniari nobis volunt, et id quod scriptum non est de Scripturis nostris mentiuntur, quod Deum diabolus vider⟨i⟩t; et tantam hinc invidiam conflare conantur, ut quisquis exhorruerit, et indignum esse judicaverit ut diabolus viderit Deum, penitus a divinarum Scripturarum auctoritate, suspiciosa ignorantia non intelligens quod scriptum est, avertatur: cum ipsi Dominum nostrum Jesum Christum Deum esse non negent, et sine ⟨a⟩ssumptione humani corporis cum hominibus apparuisse confingant.
Chapter VIII. — 8. The Manichaeans refuted from their own doctrine. And indeed you perceive that the contrivances of the Manichaeans, so far as this question is concerned, have been undone in many ways, so that you no longer think, dearest brethren, that the devil truly spoke with God in such a way that he was able to see even the face of truth, which pure hearts behold; or that he came to that contemplation of blessedness whither no one is permitted to come except through the Lord Jesus Christ. But yet I greatly wonder at the impudence of these men, who wish to slander us concerning the vision of the divine substance, and falsely ascribe to our Scriptures that which is not written, that the devil saw God; and from this they try to stir up such great odium that whoever has shuddered at it, and has judged it unworthy that the devil should have seen God, may, through a suspicious ignorance not understanding what is written, be turned away utterly from the authority of the divine Scriptures: although they themselves do not deny that our Lord Jesus Christ is God, and they invent the tale that He appeared among men without the assumption of a human body.
CAPUT IX. — 9. Manichaei Christum diabolo visum non negant. Angeli per verum corpus assumptum apparent. — Quando ergo diabolus tentare ausus est Do⟨m⟩inum (Matth. IV, 1-11), cum eum videret, quid videbat? Si corpus ejus videbat, habebat ergo Dominus corpus, quod nolunt perditi confiteri. Si autem corpus non habebat, ipsa divina substantia diaboli oculis subjacebat: quam non vident, nisi qui puro sunt corde, sicut ex Evangelio nobis ipsi commemorant. O importuna caecitas haereticorum! Cur Scripturas nostras, quod Deum diabolus viderit, mendaciter arguis; et negando corpus Christi, divinam ejus sub⟨s⟩tantiam diaboli oculis publicare velle convinceris? An forte, sicut dicere solent, ita non habebat corpus humanum, ut se tamen quasi habere monstraret? Quis ergo verius et rectius sentit, insani, qui credit Deum locutum esse cum diabolo, an qui credit Deum non solum cum diabolo locutum, sed etiam diabolo esse mentitum? Quosdam enim angelos humanis oculis apparuisse, Scriptura commemorat: sed utique potestati eorum corpoream creaturam ita Dominus subdidit, ut illis eam pro voluntate coaptaret. Unde et illi, quamvis non nati ex femina, verum tamen corpus habuerunt, quod ex qualibet specie in quamlibet speciem pro sui ministerii atque officii ratione converterent; ex vera tamen in veram. Non enim et ipse Dominus cum aquam convertit in vinum, aut aquam falsam, aut vinum falsum fuisse possumus dicere.
Chapter IX. — 9. The Manichaeans do not deny that Christ was seen by the devil. Angels appear through a true body assumed. — When, then, the devil dared to tempt the Lord (Matt. 4:1–11), when he saw Him, what was he seeing? If he was seeing His body, then the Lord had a body, which these lost men refuse to confess. But if He did not have a body, the divine substance itself lay open to the devil's eyes: which none see except those who are pure of heart, as they themselves remind us from the Gospel. O troublesome blindness of the heretics! Why do you falsely accuse our Scriptures of saying that the devil saw God; and, by denying the body of Christ, are convicted of wishing to expose His divine substance to the devil's eyes? Or perhaps, as they are wont to say, He did not have a human body, yet in such a way as to show Himself as if He had one? Who then, you madmen, judges more truly and more rightly: he who believes that God spoke with the devil, or he who believes that God not only spoke with the devil but also lied to the devil? For Scripture records that certain angels appeared to human eyes: but surely the Lord so subjected bodily creation to their power that He might adapt it to them according to their will. Hence they too, although not born of a woman, nevertheless had a true body, which they could change from any form into any form according to the requirements of their ministry and office; yet from a true one into a true one. For neither, when the Lord Himself turned water into wine, can we say that the water was false or the wine false.
CAPUT X. — 10. Christus diabolo quomodo apparebat. — Omne itaque corpus, cujus est natura et ordo mutabilis, ad nutum omnipotentissimi Conditoris, in quascumque species fuerit commutatum, a veritate tamen in suo genere non recedit: quoniam quacumque varietate mutetur, et corpus tamen et verum
Chapter X. — 10. How Christ appeared to the devil. — Every body, therefore, whose nature and order are mutable, into whatever forms it has been changed at the nod of the most omnipotent Creator, nevertheless does not depart from truth in its own kind: since by whatever variation it is changed, it is nevertheless both a body and a true
Editors' notes and page, col. 104
Footnotes
(1) ‹anchor: ut illis eam› · call in col 104
Forte, ea... coaptaretur.
Perhaps, ea... coaptaretur ["that by it … it might be fitted"].
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corpus esse non desinit. Sed cum isti omnem naturam corpoream, non ab omnipotente conditore Deo, sed a tenebrarum gente, nescio qua, esse confingant; quaerimus ab eis, Dominus noster Jesus Christus unde corpus assumpserit. Si enim nullum corpus eum assumpsisse dicunt, quid erat illud quod humanis atque corporeis oculis apparebat? Aut enim mendacium phantasmatis erat, quod exsecrabile est credere: aut si ipsam divinam substantiam suam nulla corporis assumptione humanis oculis eum demonstrasse contendunt, et hanc etiam diabolus vidit; ubi est quod in ista quaestione calumniosa voce proclamant, Beati qui puro sunt corde quoniam ipsi Deum videbunt? Quod si forte dicunt, divinam et propriam substantiam Domini non talem esse apud Patrem, qualem se in terris voluit nullo assumpto corpore ostendere; quid aliud etiam, nisi locis et temporibus esse mutabilem, miseri crediderunt? Non enim legere volunt, aut intelligere facile possunt quod per prophetam dicitur, Mutabis ea, et mutabuntur; tu autem idem ipse es, et anni tui non deficient (Psal. CI, 27, 28): et quod in divinae Sapientiae litteris de ipsa Sapientia scriptum est, In se ipsa manens, innovat omnia (Sap. VII, 27).
does not cease to be a body. But since these men make out that all bodily nature is not from God the almighty Creator, but from some race of darkness or other, we ask them whence our Lord Jesus Christ took a body. For if they say that He took no body, what was that which appeared to human and bodily eyes? For either it was the deceit of a phantasm, which it is abominable to believe; or, if they contend that He showed His own divine substance to human eyes by taking no body at all, then the devil too saw it; where then is what they proclaim with slanderous voice in this question, Blessed are they who are of pure heart, for they shall see God? But if perhaps they say that the divine and proper substance of the Lord is not such with the Father as He willed to show Himself on earth without taking any body, what else have the wretches believed but that it is changeable in places and times? For they will not read, or cannot easily understand, what is said by the prophet, Thou shalt change them, and they shall be changed; but Thou art the selfsame, and Thy years shall not fail (Ps. 101:27–28); and what is written in the writings of divine Wisdom concerning Wisdom herself, Remaining in herself, she renews all things (Wis. 7:27).
CAPUT XI. — 11. Urgentur Manichaei, quod sol quem Deum putant, a malis videatur. Secundum illorum autem sensum, si quis eis dicat, Quid ergo miramini, si et Deus mutavit speciem divinitatis suae, ut posset eum qui corde sordidissimo est diabolus, intueri, sicut de Christo Deo vobis videtur? quid responsuri sint nescio. Quia et nunquam dicere ausi sunt, Patrem et Filium nisi unius esse substantiae: et si alterius esse substantiae Filium dicerent, posset eis responderi, Unde igitur scitis, utrum cum Patre an cum Filio locutum esse diabolum, vetus illa Scriptura commemorat? Deinde quaerimus, Solem istum videt diabolus, an non videt? Si videt, quomodo ergo sol Deus est, quem diabolus videt? Si non videt, mali tamen eum homines vident; quomodo ergo Deus est quem vident qui non puro sunt corde? Aut si ut videri posset, etiam ipse mutatus est, et non hoc est quod videtur; quid si ergo vos aliud ostenditis, et aliud estis, ut imitari etiam solem, non tantum adorare possitis? Et tamen si eos interroges, utrum commutabilis aut incommutabilis sit divina substantia, non possunt nisi incommutabilem dicere, non ducti ratione, sed pudore confusi. Restat ergo ut cogantur fateri, Dominum nostrum Jesum Christum aliunde assumpsisse corpus, ut humanis oculis appareret. Quod si fatentur, quaero unde assumpserit. Si de hoc mundo dicunt, quaero ipsius mundi unde sit corpus. Continuo mihi, De tenebrarum gente, respondent. O mira dementia! Cur ergo, miseri, in corpore Salvatoris timetis uterum virginis, et gentem daemonum non timetis?
Chapter XI. — 11. The Manichaeans are pressed on the point that the sun, which they consider God, is seen by the wicked. But according to their way of thinking, if someone should say to them, Why then do you wonder if God too changed the form of His divinity, so that the devil, who is of a most filthy heart, could behold Him, as seems to you concerning Christ God? I do not know what they would answer. For they have also never dared to say that the Father and the Son are of anything but one substance; and if they said that the Son is of another substance, it could be answered them, Whence then do you know whether that old Scripture records that the devil spoke with the Father or with the Son? Next we ask, Does the devil see this sun, or does he not see it? If he sees it, how then is the sun God, whom the devil sees? If he does not see it, yet wicked men see it; how then is that God which those see who are not of pure heart? Or if, so that it could be seen, it too was changed, and that which is seen is not what it is, what then if you show one thing and are another, so that you may not only worship the sun but also imitate it? And yet if you ask them whether the divine substance is changeable or unchangeable, they can only say unchangeable, led not by reason but confounded by shame. It remains, then, that they are forced to confess that our Lord Jesus Christ took a body from elsewhere, so as to appear to human eyes. But if they confess this, I ask whence He took it. If they say from this world, I ask whence is the body of the world itself. At once they answer me, From the race of darkness. O wondrous madness! Why then, wretches, do you fear the virgin's womb in the body of the Saviour, and do not fear the race of demons?
CAPUT XII. — 12. Christus cur ex femina natus. Filius Dei non est mutatus per incarnationem. Nos quidem universam naturam corporis ab omnipotente conditore Deo esse profitemur: et propterea undecumque
Chapter XII. — 12. Why Christ was born of a woman. The Son of God was not changed through the incarnation. We indeed profess that the whole nature of body is from God the almighty Creator; and therefore from wherever-
Editors' notes and page, col. 105
Footnotes
(1) ‹anchor: non ducti ratione› · call in col 105
Ms Germanensis, non ratione docti.
The Saint-Germain manuscript: non ratione docti ["not taught by reason"].
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Dom⟨i⟩nus noster assumeret corpus, de sua creatura utique assumeret: sed ex femina maluit humilis, qui ad liberandam perditam creaturam venerat, quae per feminam lapsa est. Unde utrumque sexum volens in spem renovationis et reparationis adducere, virilem in quo nasceretur; femineum per quem nasceretur, elegit. Vos autem qui exhorrescitis casta virginis viscera, eligite, obsecro, unde Dominus corpus assumeret. Dicitis omne corpus gentis tenebrarum esse substantiam. Eligite ergo, ut dixi, unde corpus Filius Dei deberet assumere. An perdidistis respondendi lucem, quia tenebrae vobis quocumque oculos converteritis, occurrunt? Sed caro mortalis, inquiunt, videtur immundior. Recitate eis Apostolum; Omnia munda mundis: et recitate in eos Apostolum, Immundis autem et infidelibus, nihil est mundum; sed polluta sunt eorum et mens et conscientia (Tit. I, 15). Si autem non dicunt, Immundior; sed, Infirmior: consentimus plane; et ideo Christus est nostra firmitas, quia eum nostra non mutavit infirmitas. Hic agnosco prophetae illam vocem, Mutabis ea, et mutabuntur; tu autem idem ipse es, et anni tui non deficient. Non solum enim non eum mutavit in deterius infirmitas carnis, sed ab eo in melius ipsa mutata est. Sol iste corporeus, quem corpus non esse arbitrantur (usque adeo nec quid sit corpus, intelligunt, qui de spiritualibus disputationibus se fallaciter jactant): sol ergo iste corporeus, tantum quia coeleste corpus est, illuminat terram, nec ab ea ipse obscuratur; siccat aquam, nec inde humectatur; solvit glaciem, nec inde frigescit; durat limum, nec inde mollescit. Et Dominus noster Jesus Christus Verbum Patris, per quod facta sunt omnia virtus et sapientia Dei, ubique praesens, ubique secretus, ubique totus, nusquam inclusus, pertendens a fine usque ad finem fortiter, et disponens omnia suaviter, timent infelices, ne non potuerit sic hominem assumere, ut vivificaret mortalia, nec ab eis mortificaretur; sanctificaret carnem, nec inde pollueretur; dissolveret mortem, nec inde ligaretur; mutaret in se hominem, nec in hominem mutaretur? Aliud ex alio disputare, propter quorumdam titubationem, et periculosam infirmitatem fidei, compulsi sumus. Quod autem attinet ad propositam quaestionem, quanquam illa Scriptura (de qua insidiari quam illuminari maluerant) Deum a diabolo visum esse non probet; videant tamen ipsi quomodo gens tenebrarum divinam substantiam videre potuerit, quando ante pugnam, qua bonum et malum dicunt esse commixtum, nullum adhuc corpus divina substantia, ut ab hoste suo videri posset, assumpserat. Ex quo cognoscant, frustra se catholicae fidei firmamenta velle subvertere, cum suas fabulas ruinosas qualibuscumque responsionum destinis fulciri non possint.
-ever our Lord might take a body, He would certainly take it from His own creation: but, being humble, He preferred [to take it] from a woman, He Who had come to set free the lost creation, which fell through a woman. Therefore, wishing to bring both sexes into the hope of renewal and restoration, He chose the male, in which He would be born, and the female, through whom He would be born. But you who shudder at the chaste womb of a virgin, choose, I beg you, whence the Lord should take a body. You say that every body is the substance of the race of darkness. Choose then, as I said, whence the Son of God ought to have taken a body. Or have you lost the light for answering, because darkness meets you wherever you turn your eyes? But mortal flesh, they say, seems more unclean. Recite to them the Apostle: All things are clean to the clean; and recite against them the Apostle: But to the unclean and unbelieving nothing is clean; but both their mind and their conscience are polluted (Titus 1:15). But if they say, not 'more unclean', but 'weaker': we plainly agree; and for that reason Christ is our strength, because our weakness did not change Him. Here I recognize that saying of the prophet: Thou wilt change them, and they will be changed; but Thou art the selfsame, and Thy years will not fail. For not only did the weakness of the flesh not change Him for the worse, but it was itself changed by Him for the better. This bodily sun, which they think is not a body (so far do they fail to understand even what a body is, who deceitfully boast of their spiritual disputations): this bodily sun, then, merely because it is a heavenly body, illuminates the earth, and is not itself darkened by it; it dries water, and is not moistened by it; it melts ice, and does not grow cold from it; it hardens mud, and does not grow soft from it. And our Lord Jesus Christ, the Word of the Father, through Whom all things were made, the power and wisdom of God, everywhere present, everywhere hidden, everywhere whole, nowhere enclosed, reaching from end to end mightily, and ordering all things sweetly: do the unhappy men fear that He could not so take up a man as to give life to mortal things and not be put to death by them; to sanctify flesh and not be polluted by it; to dissolve death and not be bound by it; to change man into Himself and not be changed into man? We have been compelled to argue one thing out of another, on account of the faltering of certain people and the dangerous weakness of their faith. But as regards the question put forward, although that Scripture (against which they had preferred to lay snares rather than be enlightened by it) does not prove that God was seen by the devil, let them nevertheless see for themselves how the race of darkness could have seen the divine substance, when before the battle, by which they say good and evil were mixed together, the divine substance had not yet taken up any body, so that it could be seen by its enemy. From this let them recognize that in vain do they wish to overturn the foundations of the catholic faith, since their tottering fables cannot be propped up by the props of any answers whatsoever.
Editors' notes and page, col. 106
Footnotes
(1) ‹anchor: not visible› · call in col 106
Editi, feminam maluit humilem. At Ms. Germanensis, ex femina maluit humilis; moxque prosequitur, qui perituram liberandam venerat, quae per feminam lapsa est.
The printed editions: feminam maluit humilem ["he preferred a lowly woman"]. But the Saint-Germain manuscript: ex femina maluit humilis ["he, being lowly, preferred (to be born) of a woman"]; and it presently continues, qui perituram liberandam venerat, quae per feminam lapsa est ["who had come to free her that was about to perish, who had fallen through a woman"].
(printed under page 57)
(2) ‹anchor: qualibuscumque responsionum destinis› · call in col 106
Editi, disputationibus. Melius Ms. Germanensis, destinis. Vox fulcrum significans, quale extrinsecus fabricae apponi solet. Vide Appendicis sermonem 1, n. 2.
The printed editions: disputationibus ["by disputations"]. Better the Saint-Germain manuscript: destinis ["by props"]. A word signifying a support, such as is commonly set against a building from outside. See sermon 1 of the Appendix, n. 2.
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