PL 38 · cols. 442–444

Augustine, Sermones 59-70 (Classis I, de Scripturis: de Evangelio Matthaei)

Sermon LXX

in infernum, adest (Psal. CXXXVIII, 8). Laboras, nolens recedere a factis malis, et volens non videri a Deo. Magnus labor. Facere vis mala quotidie, suspicaris te non videri? Audi Scripturam dicentem, Qui plantavit aurem, nonne audiet? qui finxit oculum, nonne considerat? Ubi mala facta tua abscondis ab oculis Dei? Si non vis recedere ab ipsis, multum laboras.

descend into hell, He is present (Ps. 138:8). You labour, unwilling to withdraw from evil deeds and wishing not to be seen by God. A great labour. You want to do evil things daily: do you suppose that you are not seen? Hear the Scripture saying, He Who planted the ear, shall He not hear? He Who formed the eye, does He not consider? Where do you hide your evil deeds from the eyes of God? If you are unwilling to withdraw from them, you labour much.

CAPUT III.—4. Peccatori fugiendum ad Deum. Audi dicentem, Venite ad me, omnes qui laboratis. Non finis laborem fugiendo. Ab illo eligis fugere, non ad illum? Inveni quo, et fuge. Si autem propterea non potes ab illo fugere, quia ubique praesens est; de proximo fuge ad Deum, qui praesens est, ubi stas. Fuge. Ecce fugiendo excessisti coelos, ibi est: descendisti ad inferos, ibi est: quascumque terrarum solitudines elegeris, ibi est qui dixit, Coelum et terram ego impleo (Jerem. XXIII, 24). Ergo si coelum et terram ipse implet, et quo fugere ab illo non est; noli laborare: fuge ad praesentem, ne sentias venientem. Praesume te visurum bene vivendo, a quo videris et male vivendo. Male enim vivendo videri potes, videre non potes: bene autem vivendo et videris, et vides. Quanto enim te familiarius videbit qui coronat dignum, qui misericorditer vidit ut vocaret indignum? Nathanael ait Domino, quem nondum sciebat: Unde me nosti? Ait ei Dominus: Cum esses sub arbore fici, vidi te (Jonn. I, 48). Videt te Christus in umbra tua: non te videbit in luce sua? Quid est enim, Cum esses sub arbore fici, vidi te? Quid sibi hoc vult? quid significat? Recordare originale peccatum Adae, in quo omnes morimur. Quando primo peccavit, de foliis ficulneis succinctoria sibi fecit (Gen. III, 7), significans in illis foliis pruritum libidinis, quo peccando pervenit. Inde nascimur, sic nascimur, in carne peccati nascimur, quam sola sanat similitudo carnis peccati. Ideo misit Deus Filium suum in similitudinem carnis peccati (Rom. VIII, 3). Inde venit, sed sic non venit. Non enim eum virgo libidine, sed fide concepit. Venit in virginem, qui erat ante virginem. Quam creavit elegit, quam eligeret creavit. Attulit virgini fecunditatem, non abstulit integritatem. Qui ergo sine pruritu foliorum ficus venit ad te, cum esses sub arbore fici, vidit te. Para te videre sublimiter, a quo visus es misericorditer. Sed quia magnum fastigium est, de fundamento cogita. Quo, inquis, fundamento? Disce ab illo, quoniam mitis est, et humilis corde. Hoc in te fodi fundamentum humilitatis, et pervenies ad fastigium charitatis. Conversi ad Dominum, etc.

Chapter III.—4. The sinner must flee to God. Hear Him saying, Come to Me, all you who labour. You do not end your labour by fleeing. Do you choose to flee from Him, not to Him? Find somewhere to go, and flee. But if you cannot flee from Him for this reason, that He is present everywhere, flee from close at hand to God, Who is present where you stand. Flee. See, in fleeing you have gone beyond the heavens: He is there; you have descended to the underworld: He is there; whatever solitudes of the earth you choose, there is He Who said, I fill heaven and earth (Jer. 23:24). Therefore, if He Himself fills heaven and earth, and there is nowhere to flee from Him, do not labour: flee to Him Who is present, lest you feel Him coming. Presume that by living well you will see Him by Whom you are seen even when living badly. For by living badly you can be seen, you cannot see; but by living well you are both seen and you see. For how much more intimately will He see you Who crowns the worthy, Who mercifully saw the unworthy so as to call him? Nathanael said to the Lord, Whom he did not yet know: Whence dost Thou know me? The Lord said to him: When you were under the fig tree, I saw you (John 1:48). Christ sees you in your shadow: will He not see you in His light? For what is, When you were under the fig tree, I saw you? What does this mean? what does it signify? Recall the original sin of Adam, in which we all die. When he first sinned, he made himself girdles of fig leaves (Gen. 3:7), signifying by those leaves the itch of lust, to which he came by sinning. Thence we are born, thus we are born, in the flesh of sin we are born, which only the likeness of the flesh of sin heals. Therefore God sent His Son in the likeness of the flesh of sin (Rom. 8:3). He came from thence, but He did not come thus. For the virgin conceived Him not by lust but by faith. He came into the virgin Who was before the virgin. Her whom He created He chose; her whom He was to choose He created. He brought fruitfulness to the virgin; He did not take away her integrity. He therefore Who came to you without the itch of the fig leaves saw you when you were under the fig tree. Prepare yourself to see on high Him by Whom you were seen in mercy. But since it is a great summit, think about the foundation. What foundation, you say? Learn from Him, for He is meek and humble of heart. Dig in yourself this foundation of humility, and you will arrive at the summit of charity. Turning to the Lord, etc.

SERMO LXX. Rursum de verbis Evangelii Matthaei, XI, 28⟨-⟩30, Venite ad me, omnes qui laboratis et onerati estis, et ego reficiam vos, etc.

Sermon 70. Again on the words of the Gospel of Matthew, 11:28-30, Come to Me, all you who labour and are burdened, and I will refresh you, etc.

CAPUT PRIMUM.—1. Jugum Christi in speciem durum.

Chapter I.—1. The yoke of Christ, in appearance hard.

Editors' notes and page, col. 442

Footnotes

(1) ‹anchor: not visible› · call in col 442

Sic Mss. At editi affirmanter, Si vis; omisso, non.

So the manuscripts. But the printed editions read affirmatively, Si vis ("If you wish"), with non omitted.

(printed under page 227)

(2) ‹anchor: not visible› · call in col 442

Aliquot Mss., Non est finis laborare (vel, laboris) fugiendo ab illo. Eligis, etc.

Some manuscripts have, Non est finis laborare (or, laboris) fugiendo ab illo. Eligis, etc. ("There is no end to labouring [or, of labour] in fleeing from him. You choose," etc.)

(*) ‹anchor: SERMO LXX› · call in col 442 Recensuimus ad codices Mss. et Edd. supra in sermone 67 designatos.

We have revised it against the manuscript codices and the editions named above at sermon 67.

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(a) ‹anchor: SERMO LXX› · call in col 442

Alias, de Verbis Domini 9.

Formerly, de Verbis Domini 9 (On the Words of the Lord, 9).

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(b) ‹anchor: reficiam vos, etc.› · call in col 442

Citatur a Floro ad II Cor. VI, 1. Idemque sermo, seu (continues)

It is cited by Florus on 2 Cor. 6:1. And the same sermon, or (continues)

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other: the word durum. was split at the column break and stands whole here (joined on receipt); check that the English reads whole across the break into col 443

PL 38:443

Mirum quibusdam videtur, fratres mei, cum audiunt Dominum dicentem, Venite ad me, omnes qui laboratis et onerati estis, et ego reficiam vos. Tollite jugum meum super vos, et discite a me quoniam mitis sum et humilis corde, et invenietis requiem animabus vestris. Jugum enim meum lene est, et sarcina mea levis est: et considerant eos qui jugum ipsum intrepida cervice subierunt et illam sarcinam mansuetissimis humeris acceperunt, tantis agitari et exerceri difficultatibus hujus saeculi, ut non a laboribus ad quietem, sed a quiete ad laborem vocati videantur; cum et Apostolus dicat, Omnes qui volunt in Christo pie vivere, persecutionem patientur (II Tim. III, 12). Ait ergo aliquis: Quomodo jugum lene est, et sarcina levis, quandoquidem illud jugum et sarcinam ferre, nihil est aliud, quam pie vivere in Christo? Et quomodo dicitur, Venite ad me, omnes qui laboratis et onerati estis, et ego reficiam vos: ac non potius dicitur, Venite, qui vacatis, ut laboretis? Nam et vacantes invenit, quos conduxit in vineam, ut ferrent aestum diei (Matth. XX, 3-7). Et sub illo jugo leni et sarcina levi, audimus Apostolum dicere: In omnibus commendantes nosmetipsos, tanquam Dei ministros, in multa patientia, in tribulationibus, in necessitatibus, in angustiis, in plagis etc. (II Cor. VI, 4). Et alio loco in eadem Epistola: A Judaeis quinquies quadragenas, una minus, accepi. Ter virgis caesus sum, semel lapidatus sum, ter naufragium feci, nocte et die in profundo maris fui (Id. XI, 24, 25): et caetera pericula quae numerari quidem possunt, sed tolerari, nisi Spiritu sancto juvante, non possunt.

It seems strange to some, my brothers, when they hear the Lord saying, Come to Me, all you who labour and are burdened, and I will refresh you. Take My yoke upon you, and learn from Me that I am meek and humble of heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is gentle, and My burden is light: and they observe that those who have submitted to that very yoke with fearless neck and have taken up that burden with most meek shoulders are tossed and tried by such great difficulties of this world that they seem to have been called not from labours to rest, but from rest to labour; since the Apostle too says, All who wish to live piously in Christ will suffer persecution (2 Tim. 3:12). So someone says: How is the yoke gentle and the burden light, seeing that to bear that yoke and burden is nothing other than to live piously in Christ? And how is it said, Come to Me, all you who labour and are burdened, and I will refresh you: and is it not rather said, Come, you who are at leisure, that you may labour? For He also found people at leisure, whom He hired into the vineyard, that they might bear the heat of the day (Matt. 20:3–7). And under that gentle yoke and light burden we hear the Apostle say: In all things commending ourselves as ministers of God, in much patience, in tribulations, in necessities, in distresses, in stripes, etc. (2 Cor. 6:4). And in another place in the same Epistle: From the Jews five times I received forty lashes less one. Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day I was in the depth of the sea (ibid. 11:24–25): and the other dangers, which can indeed be counted, but cannot be endured unless the Holy Spirit helps.

CAPUT II. — 2. Unde lene fit jugum Christi. Omnia ergo illa quae commemoravit aspera et gravia, frequentius et abundantius sustinebat: sed ⟨p⟩rofecto ad⟨e⟩rat ei Spiritus sanctus, qui in exterioris hominis corruptione, interiorem renovaret de die in diem, et gustata requie spirituali in affluentia deliciarum Dei, in spe beatitudinis futurae omnia praesentia deliniret aspera, et om⟨n⟩ia gravia relevaret. Ecce quam suave jugum Chri⟨s⟩ti portabat, et quam levem sarcinam: ut omnia illa, quae superius enumerata dura et immania omnis auditor horrescit, levem tribulationem diceret; intuens interioribus et fidelibus oculis, quanto pretio temporalium emenda sit futura vita, non pati aeternos labores impiorum, et sine ulla sollicitudine perfrui aeterna felicitate justorum. Secari et uri se homines patiuntur, ut dolores non aeterni, sed aliquanto diuturnioris ulceris, acriorum dolorum pretio redimantur. In languida et incerta vacationis brevissimae atque ultima vita, immanissimis bellis miles atteritur; pluribus fortasse annis in laboribus inquietus, quam in otio quieturus. Quibus tempestatibus et procellis, quam horribili et tremenda saevitia coeli et maris importuni

Chapter II. — 2. Whence the yoke of Christ becomes gentle. All those harsh and heavy things, then, which he recounted, he endured more frequently and more abundantly: but assuredly the Holy Spirit was present to him, Who, amid the corruption of the outer man, renewed the inner man from day to day, and, once spiritual rest had been tasted in the abundance of the delights of God, in the hope of future blessedness soothed all present harshness and lightened all heavy things. See how sweet a yoke of Christ he carried, and how light a burden: so that all those things enumerated above, hard and monstrous, at which every hearer shudders, he called a light tribulation; looking with inner and faithful eyes at how great a price in temporal things the future life is to be bought, namely not to suffer the eternal labours of the impious, and to enjoy without any anxiety the eternal happiness of the just. Men allow themselves to be cut and burned, so that pains, not eternal, but of a somewhat more lasting ulcer, may be bought off at the price of sharper pains. For a languid and uncertain last life of the briefest leisure the soldier is worn down in most savage wars; restless in labours for more years, perhaps, than he will rest in ease. With what tempests and storms, with what horrible and dreadful fury of sky and sea, importunate

Editors' notes and page, col. 443

Footnotes

(1) ‹anchor: atque ultima vita› · call in col 443

His discrepant Editi: Fr. et Lov., redimantur in languida et incerta vacationis brevissimae atque ultima vita. Immanissimis, etc. Lugd. et Ven., redimantur in languida et incerta vacationis brevissimae atque ultimae vitae. Immanissimis, etc. — In B. legitur ad marginem « Forte, Pro languida, » etc. M.

The printed editions differ from this: Froben and the Louvain edition have, redimantur in languida et incerta vacationis brevissimae atque ultima vita. Immanissimis, etc. ("may be bought off in the feeble and uncertain last life of a very brief respite. By most savage," etc.); the Lyons and Venice editions have, redimantur in languida et incerta vacationis brevissimae atque ultimae vitae. Immanissimis, etc. — In B. there is read in the margin, "Perhaps, Pro languida" ("For a feeble"), etc. M.

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PL 38:444

sunt mercatores, ut divitias ventosas acquirant, majoribus qnam quibus acquisitae sunt, periculis et tempestatibus plenas? Quos aestus, quae frigora, quae pericula ab equis, a fossis, a praecipitiis, a fluminibus, a feris perferunt venatores? quem laborem esuriendi et sitiendi, quantas vilissimi et sordidissimi cibi et potus angustias, ut bestiam capiant? et interdum nec ipsius bestiae carnes, propter quam haec tanta sustinent, sunt epulis necessariae. Quanquam etsi aper cervusque capiatur, magis suave sit venantis animo quia captus est, quam comedentis palato quia coctus est. Quantis cruciatibus prope quotidianarum plagarum tenera puerorum aetas subditur? Quantis etiam in scholis vigiliarum et abstinentiae molestiis exercentur, non propter discendam sapientiam, sed propter opes honoresque vanitatis, ut numeros, et litteras, et disertas fallacias eloqui discant?

are merchants, in order to acquire windy riches, full of dangers and storms greater than those by which they were acquired? What heats, what colds, what dangers from horses, from ditches, from precipices, from rivers, from wild beasts do hunters endure? What labour of hungering and thirsting, what straits of the vilest and filthiest food and drink, in order to catch a beast? And sometimes not even the flesh of the beast itself, for the sake of which they endure such great things, is needed for their feasts. Although, even if a boar or a stag is caught, it is sweeter to the mind of the hunter because it has been caught than to the palate of the eater because it has been cooked. To what torments of almost daily blows is the tender age of boys subjected? With what vexations of night-watches and abstinence are they also exercised in the schools, not for the sake of learning wisdom, but for the sake of the riches and honours of vanity, so that they may learn numbers, and letters, and how to utter eloquent deceits?

CAPUT III. — 3. Amore dura quaeque mitescunt. Sed in his omnibus qui haec non amant, eadem gravia patiuntur: qui vero amant, eadem quidem, sed non gravia pati videntur. Omnia enim saeva et immania, prorsus facilia et prope nulla efficit amor. Quanto ergo certius ac facilius ad veram beatitudinem charitas facit, quod ad miseriam, quantum potuit, cupiditas fecit? Quam facile toleratur qua⟨e⟩libet adversitas temporalis, ut aeterna poena vitetur, et aeterna requies comparetur? Non immerito ille vas electionis cum ingenti laetitia dixit: Non sunt condignae passiones hujus temporis, ad superventuram gloriam, quae revelabitur in nobis (Rom. VIII, 18). Ecce unde illud jugum suave est, et sarcina levis. Et si angusta est paucis eligentibus, facilis tamen omnibus diligentibus. Dicit Psalmista: Propter verba labiorum tuorum, ego custodivi vias duras (Psal. XVI, 4). Sed quae dura sunt laborantibus, eisdem ipsis mitescunt amantibus. Propter quod ita divinae pietatis dispensatione actum est, ut interior homo, qui renovatur de die in diem (II Cor. IV, 16), non adhuc sub Lege positus, sed jam sub gratia exoneratus sarcinis innumerabilium observationum, quod erat revera grave jugum, sed durae cervici convenienter impositum, facilitate simplicis fidei, et bonae spei, et sanctae charitatis, quidquid molestiarum exteriori homini forinsecus intulisset ille princeps qui missus est foras, interiori gaudio leve fieret. Nihil enim tam facile est bonae voluntati, quam ipsa sibi: et haec sufficit Deo. Quantumlibet ergo saeviat iste mundus, verissime Angeli nato in carne Domino clamaverunt, Gloria in excelsis Deo, et in terra pax hominibus bonae voluntatis (Luc. II, 14): quia ejus qui natus erat, suave jugum est, et sarcina levis. Et sicut dicit Apostolus, Fidelis Deus qui nos non sinit tentari supra id quod possumus ferre; sed facit cum tentatione etiam exitum, ut possimus sustinere (I Cor. X, 13).

Chapter III. — 3. By love all hard things grow mild. But in all these things, those who do not love them suffer the same things as heavy; but those who love them seem to suffer the same things indeed, yet not as heavy. For love makes all things cruel and monstrous altogether easy and almost nothing. How much more surely and easily, then, does charity bring about towards true blessedness what cupidity, as far as it could, brought about towards misery? How easily is any temporal adversity whatever borne, so that eternal punishment may be avoided and eternal rest obtained? Not without reason did that vessel of election say with great gladness: The sufferings of this time are not worthy to be compared with the glory to come, which shall be revealed in us (Rom. 8:18). See whence that yoke is sweet and the burden light. And if it is narrow to the few who choose it, yet it is easy to all who love it. The Psalmist says: Because of the words of Thy lips, I have kept hard ways (Ps. 16:4). But the things that are hard to those who toil grow mild to those very same people when they love. Therefore it has been so ordered by the dispensation of the divine goodness that the inner man, who is renewed from day to day (2 Cor. 4:16), no longer placed under the Law but now under grace, unburdened of the loads of innumerable observances, which was in truth a heavy yoke, but fittingly laid upon a stiff neck, should, by the easiness of simple faith, and good hope, and holy charity, find light through inner joy whatever troubles that prince who has been cast out had inflicted from without upon the outer man. For nothing is so easy to a good will as itself to itself; and this suffices for God. However much, then, this world may rage, most truly did the Angels cry out when the Lord was born in the flesh, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men of good will (Luke 2:14): because the yoke of Him Who had been born is sweet, and the burden light. And as the Apostle says, God is faithful, Who does not allow us to be tempted beyond what we are able to bear; but with the temptation He makes also a way out, so that we may be able to endure (1 Cor. 10:13).

Editors' notes and page, col. 444

Footnotes

(1) ‹anchor: sunt mercatores› · call in col 444

Sic Am. Er. et Mss. At Lov., impleti sunt mercatores.

So Amerbach, Erasmus and the manuscripts. But the Louvain edition has, impleti sunt mercatores ("the merchants are filled").

(printed under page 228)

(2) ‹anchor: sunt epulis necessariae› · call in col 444

In Er. Lugd. Ven., ut bestiam capiant, et interdum nec ipsius bestiae carnes, propter quam haec tanta sustinent, epulis necessarias. M.

In Erasmus, the Lyons and the Venice editions: ut bestiam capiant, et interdum nec ipsius bestiae carnes, propter quam haec tanta sustinent, epulis necessarias ("that they may take a beast, and sometimes not even the flesh of the beast itself, for whose sake they endure such great things, is needed for their table"). M.

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running head: …UGUSTINI EPISCOPI (cut off at left edge) 444
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other: Q1b (2026-10-12): the word split at the break from col 443 stands whole in col 443 and is to be translated there. The English of this column no longer repeats it and now opens at the verb. The English of col 443 still ends with the dangling half-word ("im-"), which is to read "importunate" there; c443_a.md was not written by Q1b.
other: Q1b: in the sentence after the charity/cupidity question, the ligature of the indefinite pronoun (nominative feminine) is damaged type with a visible gap; the file had set the word without its e, and the letter is now supplied in angle brackets. Slightly UNSURE: damaged type, read from the gap and the grammar.
other: Q1b: the calls of notes 1 and 2 are visible in the column image, and their anchors are now given.