Augustine, Sermones 26-33 (Classis I, de Scripturis: de Psalmis)

are blamed. Briefly has the praise of the Lord your God been told to you: He is good.

Chapter IV. If you too are good, praise that from which you are good; if you are bad, praise that from which you may be good. For if you are good, you are good from Him; if you are bad, you are bad from yourself. Flee yourself, and come to Him Who made you: for by fleeing yourself, you follow yourself; and by following yourself, you cling to Him Who made you.

5. The bad man wants all things good except himself. How many good things do you seek, bad man? You are certainly bad: tell me, what do you want, if not what is good? You seek a horse, only a good one; you seek an estate, only a good one; you seek a house, only a good one; you seek a wife, only a good one; a tunic, only a good one, a boot, only a good one: your soul alone you want bad. Are you not contrary to yourself, you who seek good things although you are bad? If you seek good things, first be yourself what you seek. But if, being bad, you have found many good things, what does it profit you, since you yourself have perished? Love your souls as good: hold your souls in hatred as bad. But by loving Him from Whom is every good, you will be good. Holding your evils in hatred, choose good things.

Chapter V. 6. Sin is to be punished either by God or by the penitent man. What is it to hold your evils in hatred? To confess your sins by repenting. For everyone who is penitent, and by repenting confesses his sins, is angry with himself; and in a certain way by repenting he avenges on himself what displeases him. For God hates sin. If you too hate in yourself what God also hates, meanwhile you are joined to God by some measure of will, while you hate in yourself this which God also hates. Be fierce against yourself, so that God may intercede for you and not condemn you. For sin without any doubt is to be punished: this is owed to sin, punishment, condemnation. Sin is to be punished, either by you or by Him. If it is punished by you, then it will be punished without you; but if it is not punished by you, it is punished with you. Confess therefore to the Lord, for He is good. Praise as much as you can, love as much as you can: pour out your hearts before Him, God is our helper (Ps. 62:9); for He is good.

Sermon 30. On the words of Psalm 118, Direct my steps, etc. And of the Apostle, Rom. 7, The law is spiritual, but I am carnal, etc. Against the Pelagians.

Chapter I. 1. The dominion of iniquity over man before grace. Without doubt, brothers, he who said to God, Direct my steps according to Thy word, and let no iniquity have dominion over me (Ps. 118:133), desired to avoid a certain heavy burden and a heavy yoke of iniquity. Let us see, therefore, when iniquity has dominion over a man, that we may understand what we have heard one praying, and what we ourselves too have prayed in responding. For all of us, at the holy Psalm, as far

as I judge, we responded with a devout and truthful heart, praying and saying to the Lord our God, Direct my steps according to Thy word, and let no iniquity have dominion over me. From the dominion of this most wicked mistress we have been redeemed by precious blood. And what did it profit to have received the Law, commanding and threatening and not helping, so that under it we were guilty before the grace of God? In vain does the Law threaten when iniquity has dominion. For the Law is not bodily, it is not carnal: but since God, Who gave the Law, is spirit, without doubt the Law is spiritual. But what does the Apostle say? For we know that the Law is spiritual; but I am carnal, sold under sin. Do not then marvel, O you who are sold under sin, if that to which you are sold has dominion over you. Hear the apostle John: Sin is iniquity (1 John 5:17). Against such a mistress, then, we call upon the Lord, to Whom we say, Direct my steps according to Thy word, and let no iniquity have dominion over me.

Chapter II. — 2. The captivity of man arising from sin. The one who was sold cries out; let the Redeemer hear. Man himself sold himself through free choice under iniquity holding dominion, and received as his price a slight pleasure from the forbidden tree. He himself therefore cries out, Direct my ways, which I have twisted: Direct my steps, which I myself have depraved by my own choice: direct them according to Thy word. What is, direct according to Thy word? That my steps may be straight, because Thy word is straight. I, he says, am twisted under the weight of iniquity, but Thy word is the rule of truth: so correct me, twisted by myself, as against a rule, that is, by the straight word. Therefore, Direct my steps according to Thy word, and let no iniquity have dominion over me. I sold myself, redeem me: I sold myself by my own choice, redeem me by Thy blood. In the seller let pride blush, in the Redeemer let grace glory. For God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble (Jas. 4:6).

3. The adversary of grace is refuted by the experience of his own weakness. — For the Law is spiritual; but I am carnal, sold under sin. For what I do I do not know: for I do not do what I will. I do not do what I will, says the carnal man: he accuses not the Law but himself. For the spiritual Law has no fault: the carnal man, being sold, falls into fault. He does not do what he wills: when he wills, he cannot, because when he could, he would not. By willing evil he lost the power of good; and now the captive speaks, and the captive says, I do not do what I will. For I do not do the good that I will, but the evil that I hate, that I do (Rom. 7:14–15). Not what I will. And against this a man [says], You do will it, entirely. I do not do what I will. You do altogether what you will. I do not do what I will: believe me, brother, I do not do what I will. Oh, if you willed it, you would do it: because you do not will it, you do not do good. I do not do what I will: believe me, I know what goes on in me; I do not do what I will. Opponent of grace, you are not the judge of my conscience: I know that I do not do what I will, and you say, You do what you will? No one knows what goes on in a man except the spirit of the man which is in him (1 Cor. 2:11).

Chapter III. — 4. The struggle of flesh and spirit. You too are a man; if you will not believe me, attend to yourself. Do you really live in this corruptible body, which weighs down the soul (Wis. 9:15), in such a way that the flesh does not lust against your spirit, nor the spirit against your flesh? Is this quarrel not in you? Is there no concupiscence of the flesh that resists the law of the mind? If nothing in you resists the other, see where the whole of you is. If your spirit does not dissent from the flesh lusting against it, see lest perhaps the whole mind consents to the flesh: see lest perhaps there is no war for this reason, that the peace is a perverse one. Perhaps you consent to the flesh entirely, and there is no quarrel. What hope have you that you may at some time conquer, you who have not yet begun to fight? But if you delight in the law of God according to the inner man, yet see another law in your members fighting against the law of your mind (Rom. 7:22–23); if on this side you delight, on that side you are bound, free in the mind, a slave in the flesh: if it is already so, rather have compassion on the man who says, What I will, I do not do. For do you not wish that that concupiscence which resists your mind should not be in you at all? You are a man of evil wishes if you do not wish to be rid of such an adversary. As for me, I confess to you, whatever in me rebels against my mind and contends with me by a contrary delight, whatever such thing is in me, I wish to kill it utterly. And if perhaps, with the Lord's help, I do not consent to it, still I do not wish to have something to contend with. It is far more desirable to me to have no enemy than to conquer one. For is that very thing, that the flesh lusts against the spirit, not mine? Or am I indeed compounded of a contrary nature? That too is mine, and that I do not consent to it is mine. A part that is somewhat free resists the remnants of servitude. I wish the whole to be sound, because I am the whole. I do not wish my flesh to be separated from me for ever as something foreign, but to be healed entire along with me. If you do not wish this, I do not know what you think about the flesh: I suppose you think it comes from some unknown source, as if from a contrary race. It is false, it is heretical, it is blasphemous: of mind and flesh there is one Maker. He, when He created man, made both and joined both: He subjected the flesh to the soul, and the soul to Himself. If that one [the soul] had always stood under its Lord, this one [the flesh] too would always have obeyed its mistress. Do not wonder, then, if she who deserted her superior suffers punishment through her inferior. For the flesh lusts against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh. For these, he says, are opposed to one another, so that you do not do the things that you will (Gal. 5:17). Hence also this man says, What I will, I do not do. For the flesh lusts against the spirit, and I do not want it to lust: I count it a great thing if I do not consent, yet I long to be rid of it. Therefore, What I will, I do not do. For I will that the flesh should not lust against the spirit, and I cannot: this is what I said, What I will, I do not do.

Chapter IV. — 5. A false defender of nature, ungrateful to the physician. Why do you slander me here? I say, What I will, I do not do: and you say, You do what you will. Why do you slander me? You who are ungrateful to the physician, why do you slander the sick man?

Let me ask the physician. Redeem me from the calumnies of men, and I will keep Thy law (Ps. 118:134). I will keep it through Thy redemption, not through my own power. Therefore I do not claim for myself the health which I do not yet have, because I ask the physician. But you are a defender of nature; would that you were, not applying a false defence to it as though it were healthy, but asking the physician on behalf of a nature not yet healthy: but as it is, you, the defender of nature, or rather its assailant, while you praise the Creator as though for a healthy nature, shut the Saviour out from a sick one. He Who created heals; the nature that falls through itself He raises through Himself. This is the faith itself, this is the truth itself, this is the foundation of the Christian faith. One and one: one man through whom came the ruin, another Man through Whom came the building up; through that one the ruin, through This One the building up. He fell who did not stand fast; He raises up Who did not fall. That one fell because he abandoned the One Who stands fast; the One Who stands fast came down to the one lying fallen.

6. What is to be done in the struggle of flesh and spirit. If, then, the flesh lusts against the spirit, so that in this very thing you do not do what you will, because you will that it should not lust, and you cannot; at least hold fast your will in the grace of the Lord, and persevere in His help: say to Him what you have sung, Direct my steps according to Thy word, and let no iniquity have dominion over me. What is, let no iniquity have dominion over me?

Chapter V. — Hear the Apostle: Let not sin reign in your mortal body. What is, Let it not reign? So as to obey its desires. He did not say, Do not have evil desires. For how, in this mortal flesh, where the flesh lusts against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh, am I not to have evil desires? Do this, then: Let not sin reign in your mortal body so as to obey its desires. Even if there are desires, let them not be obeyed, lest iniquity have dominion. Nor yield your members as weapons of iniquity to sin (Rom. 6:12). Let your members not become weapons of iniquity, and let no iniquity have dominion over you. But even this, that your members do not become weapons of iniquity, do you supply it to yourself by your own strength? This very thing, I say, this very thing, that your members do not become weapons of iniquity, do you supply it to yourself by your own strength? For when your members do not become weapons of iniquity, there is indeed iniquity in your members, in unlawful desires, but it does not reign. How does that reign which has no weapons? A part of you, your flesh, the concupiscence of your flesh, rebels against you through weakness. This weakness is a tyrant: if you wish to be the victor over the tyrant, call upon Christ as your commander.

7. The adversary of grace is under the yoke of iniquity. For I know what you were going to say to me, or what you are now saying within yourself. Whoever of that kind you are here, and are listening to me, I know what iniquity is saying to you inwardly. For you are still under the yoke of iniquity, when you do not acknowledge the price paid by the Redeemer. I know what you say to yourself. See, my flesh lusts against my spirit, it lusts after adultery; but I do not consent, I do not assent, I do not resolve upon it: not only do I not do it, but I do not even consent to doing it; not only do I not commit it outwardly through the flesh, but not even the very

I follow it in mind as it rebels. Do I consent to it as it fights against me, do I yield to it as it struggles? I do not. See, no iniquity has dominion over me. So it is, it is true.

Chapter VI.—If it is so, give thanks to Him Who granted you that it should be so. Do not claim this for yourself, lest you lose what you have received and begin to ask in vain. Do you not fear, God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble (Jas. 4:6)?

8. The prayer of the Church refutes the enemy of grace. So do you grant it to yourself that no iniquity should have dominion over you? If this presumption of yours is true, our prayer is vain, where we say to God, Let no iniquity have dominion over me. Did you sing these words today, or not? Were you here, when we all were saying, Direct my steps according to Thy word, and let no iniquity have dominion over me? You were here, you sang these words; I think you will not deny it. So you sang among the people of God, and you asked God, saying, Direct my steps according to Thy word, and let no iniquity have dominion over me. If you were granting this to yourself, why were you asking with me? I hold you as one who prays, I hold you as one who calls upon Him, I convict you of being one who labours: let us therefore together hear Him saying, Come to Me, all you who labour. Let us hear and let us come. What is, Let us come? Let us advance by believing, let us draw near by giving thanks, let us arrive by persevering. Let us come to Him Who says, Come to Me, all you who labour. Both you labour and I labour: let us hear Him, let us come to Him; why do we quarrel among ourselves? Let us both hear, because we both labour: why do we quarrel among ourselves? Is it so that we may not hear the physician calling? O unhappy infirmity! The physician calls to himself, and the sick man is busied with quarrels. See what He says in calling: Come to Me, all you who labour. Where do you labour, if not under the burdens of sins, if not under the yoke of the evil mistress, iniquity? Come therefore to Me, all you who labour and are burdened, and I will refresh you. I Who made you, I will refresh you. I, He says, will refresh you: for without Me you can do nothing (John 15:5).

Chapter VII. — 9. Christ the teacher of humility. How will I refresh you? Take My yoke upon you, and learn from Me. What do we learn from Thee? We know Thee, Lord, in the beginning the Word, the Word God, the Word with God: we know that all things were made through Thee, those which we see and those which we do not see. What do we learn from Thee? For we, Thy disciples, are not going to found another world, as disciples of a craftsman and builder. Thou didst found one world, Thou didst make heaven and earth: Thou didst adorn each with its own creatures and ornaments. What do we learn from Thee? Learn, He says, from Me. When I was in the beginning God with God, I created you; this I do not want you to learn from Me: but I was made what I had made, so that he whom I had made might not perish. Whence was I made what I had made? He emptied Himself, taking the form of a servant; made in the likeness of men, and found in fashion as a man; He humbled Himself. Learn this from Me, for He humbled Himself, He says. Learn from Me, for I am meek and humble of heart (Matt. 11:28–29). For not,