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Augustine, Sermones 121-127 (Classis I, de Scripturis)

Sermon CXXV

Cor loquatur, non cervix. Superbo videtur indigna Domini humilitas, ideo a talibus longe fit sanitas. Noli te extollere: si vis sanari, descende. Expavescere pietas debuit, si Christus in carne mutabilis diceretur. Nunc autem commendat tibi veritas immutabilem Christum, quantum attinet ad Verbum. In principio enim erat Verbum, et Verbum erat apud Deum: non quod sonaret, et transiret; quia Deus erat Verbum (Joan. I, 1). Manet ergo Deus tuus immutabilis. O verax pietas: manet Deus tuus: noli timere, non perit; et per ipsum nec tu peris. Manet, nascitur ex femina; sed in carne. Verbum autem et matrem fecit. Qui erat antequam fieret, fecit sibi in qua fieret. Infans fuit; sed in carne. Suxit, crevit, alimenta sumpsit, per aetates cucurrit, ad juventam pervenit; sed in carne. Fatigatus dormivit; sed in carne. Esuriem sitimque passus est; sed in carne. Comprehensus, ligatus, flagellatus, contumeliis affectus, postremo crucifixus, occisus; sed in carne. Quid expavescis? Verbum Domini manet in aeternum. Qui respuit istam Dei humilitatem, non vult sibi a mortifero tumore superbiae sanitatem.

Let the heart speak, not the neck. To the proud man the humility of the Lord seems unworthy; therefore health is far from such men. Do not exalt yourself: if you want to be healed, come down. Piety would have had cause to be terrified, if Christ were said to be changeable in the flesh. But now truth commends to you an unchangeable Christ, as far as concerns the Word. For in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God: not such that it sounded and passed away; for the Word was God (John 1:1). Your God therefore remains unchangeable. O true piety: your God remains: do not fear, He does not perish; and through Him you too do not perish. He remains, He is born of a woman; but in the flesh. Yet the Word also made His mother. He Who was before He came to be made for Himself her in whom He would come to be. He was an infant; but in the flesh. He sucked, He grew, He took food, He ran through the ages of life, He reached young manhood; but in the flesh. Wearied, He slept; but in the flesh. He suffered hunger and thirst; but in the flesh. Seized, bound, scourged, treated with insults, finally crucified, slain; but in the flesh. Why are you terrified? The word of the Lord remains for ever. He who spurns this humility of God does not want health for himself from the deadly swelling of pride.

CAPUT IV. — 4. Christus mortalitatem suscepit, ut daret immortalitatem. Brevitas hujus vitae. Praestitit ergo Dominus Jesus Christus per carnem suam carni nostrae spem. Suscepit enim quod noveramus in hac terra, quod hic abundabat, nasci et mori. Nasci et mori, hic abundabat: resurgere et in aeternum vivere, non hic erat. Invenit hic viles merces terrestres, attulit peregrinas coelestes. Si expavescis mortem, ama resurrectionem. Dedit tibi auxilium de tribulatione sua: nam vana remanserat salus tua. Salutem itaque in hoc mundo peregrinam, hoc est, sempiternam, fratres, agnoscamus et diligamus, et in hoc mundo tanquam peregrini vivamus. Transire nos cogitemus, et minus peccabimus. Agamus potius Domino Deo nostro gratias, quia hujus vitae ultimum diem et brevem esse voluit et incertum. A prima infantia usque ad decrepitam senectutem, breve spatium est. Quod tam diu vixerat, quid ei profuisset, si Adam hodie mortuus esset? Quid diu est, ubi finis est? Hesternum diem nemo revocat: hodiernus crastino urgetur, ut transeat. Ipso parvo spatio bene vivamus, ut illo eamus unde non transeamus. Et modo cum loquimur, utique transimus. Verba currunt, et horae volant: sic aetas nostra, sic actus nostri, sic honores nostri, sic miseria nostra, sic ista felicitas nostra. Totum transit: sed non expavescamus: Verbum Domini manet in aeternum. Conversi ad Dominum, etc.

Chapter IV. — 4. Christ took up mortality, that He might give immortality. The brevity of this life. So the Lord Jesus Christ through His flesh afforded hope to our flesh. For He took up what we knew on this earth, what abounded here: to be born and to die. To be born and to die abounded here: to rise again and to live for ever was not here. He found here cheap earthly wares; He brought foreign heavenly ones. If you are terrified of death, love the resurrection. He gave you help out of His own tribulation: for your salvation had remained empty. Therefore, brethren, let us recognize and love a salvation that is a stranger in this world, that is, an everlasting one, and let us live in this world as strangers. Let us consider that we are passing away, and we shall sin less. Let us rather give thanks to the Lord our God, that He willed the last day of this life to be both brief and uncertain. From earliest infancy up to decrepit old age is a short span. If Adam had died today, what would it have profited him that he had lived so long? What is long, where there is an end? No one calls back yesterday: today is pressed by tomorrow, that it may pass. In this very small span let us live well, that we may go there whence we do not pass away. Even now while we are speaking, we are surely passing away. Words run, and hours fly: so does our age, so do our deeds, so do our honours, so does our misery, so does this happiness of ours. The whole passes: but let us not be terrified: the word of the Lord remains for ever. Turning to the Lord, etc.

SERMO CXXV. Rursum in Joannis cap. V. De quinque porticibus, ubi multitudo languentium jacebat; et de piscina Siloe, cap. IX.

Sermon 125. Again on chapter 5 of John. On the five porches, where a multitude of the sick lay; and on the pool of Siloam, chapter 9.

1. Eadem a tractatore Scripturarum non frustra repetuntur. Nec auribus, nec cordibus vestris rudia repetuntur: reparant tamen audientis affectum, et

1. The same things are not repeated in vain by an expounder of the Scriptures. Things that are not new either to your ears or to your hearts are being repeated: yet they renew the affection of the hearer, and

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(a) ‹anchor: SERMO CXXV› · call in col 688

Alias, ex Sirmondianis 13.

Formerly, the 13th of the Sirmondian sermons.

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(b) ‹anchor: de piscina Siloe, cap. IX› · call in col 688

Meminit Possidius in Indiculo, cap. 8.

Possidius mentions it in the Indiculus, ch. 8. [The chapter numeral is blurred in the scan and read as 8.]

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quodam modo commemorata innovant nos: nec piget ea quae nota sunt audire, quia semper dulcia sunt, quae Domini sunt. Sic est expositio divinarum Scripturarum, sicut sunt ipsae divinae Scripturae: etsi notae sunt, leguntur tamen ad commemorationem. Sic et expositio earum, etsi nota est, repetenda est tamen, ut qui obliti sunt commemorentur, vel qui forte non audierunt, audiant; et qui tenent quod audire consueverunt, repetendo fiat ut oblivisci non possint. Meminimus enim de hoc capitulo Evangelii jam nos locutos Charitati vestrae. Nec piget tamen eadem vobis commemorare, sicut non piguit eamdem vobis lectionem repetere. Apostolus Paulus dicit quadam in Epistola: Eadem scribere vobis, mihi quidem non pigrum, vobis autem necessarium (Philipp. III, 1). Ita et nos eadem dicere vobis, nobis non pigrum, vobis autem tutum.

in a certain way, when recalled, renew us: nor is it irksome to hear the things that are known, because the things that are the Lord's are always sweet. The exposition of the divine Scriptures is just as the divine Scriptures themselves are: although they are known, they are nevertheless read for the sake of remembrance. So also their exposition, although it is known, must nevertheless be repeated, so that those who have forgotten may be reminded, or those who perhaps did not hear may hear; and for those who retain what they have been accustomed to hear, it may come about by repetition that they cannot forget. For we remember that we have already spoken to your Charity about this passage of the Gospel. Yet it is not irksome to recall the same things to you, just as it was not irksome to repeat the same reading to you. The Apostle Paul says in a certain Epistle: To write the same things to you is indeed not irksome to me, but for you it is necessary (Phil. 3:1). So we too say the same things to you: for us it is not irksome, but for you it is safe.

2. Quinque porticus Legem Moysi figurabant. Legis ad sanandum impotentia. Lex quare data. Quinque porticus, in quibus jacebant infirmi, Legem significant, quae primo data est Judaeis et populo Israel per famulum Dei Moysen. Etenim Moyses ipse, minister Legis, quinque libros fecit. Propter numerum ergo librorum, quos ille scripsit, quinque porticus Legem figurabant. Quia vero Lex non data est quae sanaret infirmos, sed quae proderet et ostenderet: sic enim dicit Apostolus, Si enim data esset Lex quae posset vivificare, omnino ex Lege esset justitia; sed conclusit Scriptura omnia sub peccato, ut promissio ex fide Jesu Christi daretur credentibus (Galat. III, 21, 22): propterea in illis porticibus jacebant aegroti, non sanabantur. Quid enim ait? Si data esset Lex quae posset vivificare. Non ergo illae porticus, quae figurabant Legem, sanare poterant aegrotos. Dicit mihi aliquis: Quare ergo data est? Ipse exposuit apostolus Paulus: Conclusit, inquit, Scriptura omnia sub peccato, ut promissio ex fide Jesu Christi daretur credentibus. Qui enim aegrotabant, sanos se esse putabant. Acceperunt Legem, quam implere non poterant; didicerunt in quo morbo essent, et imploraverunt manus medici; voluerunt sanari, quia cognoverunt se laborare; quod non cognoscerent, nisi datam Legem implere non possent. Innocens enim homo sibi videbatur, et ex ipsa superbia innocentiae falsae insanior fiebat. Ad domandam ergo superbiam, et ad denudandam, data est Lex; non ad liberandos aegrotos, sed ad convincendos superbos. Ergo attendat Charitas vestra: ad hoc data est Lex, quae proderet morbos, non quae tolleret. Ideo ergo aegroti illi, qui in domibus suis secretius aegrotare possent, si illae quinque porticus non essent, prodebantur oculis omnium in illis porticibus, sed a porticibus non sanabantur. Utilis ergo erat Lex ad prodenda peccata, quia reus homo abundantius factus ex praevaricatione Legis, posset edomita superbia implorare auxilium miserantis. Attendite Apostolum: Lex subintravit, ut abundaret delictum; ubi autem abundavit delictum, superabundavit et gratia (Rom. V, 20). Quid est, Lex subintravit, ut abundaret delictum? Sicut alio loco dicit, Ubi enim non est lex, nec praevaricatio (Id. IV, 15). Peccator homo potest dici ante legem, praevaricator non

2. The five porches figured the Law of Moses. The powerlessness of the Law to heal. Why the Law was given. The five porches, in which the sick lay, signify the Law, which was first given to the Jews and the people of Israel through Moses the servant of God. For Moses himself, the minister of the Law, made five books. On account of the number of the books, therefore, which he wrote, the five porches figured the Law. But because the Law was not given to heal the sick, but to expose and show them, for thus the Apostle says, For if a Law had been given which could give life, righteousness would wholly be from the Law; but Scripture has shut up all things under sin, so that the promise from the faith of Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe (Gal. 3:21–22): therefore in those porches the sick lay, and were not healed. For what does he say? If a Law had been given which could give life. Those porches, therefore, which figured the Law, could not heal the sick. Someone says to me: Why then was it given? The apostle Paul himself has explained it: Scripture, he says, has shut up all things under sin, so that the promise from the faith of Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe. For those who were sick thought themselves to be healthy. They received the Law, which they could not fulfil; they learned in what disease they were, and implored the hands of the physician; they wished to be healed, because they recognized that they were suffering; which they would not have recognized, unless they had been unable to fulfil the Law that was given. For man seemed to himself innocent, and from that very pride in a false innocence he became more insane. To tame pride, therefore, and to lay it bare, the Law was given; not to free the sick, but to convict the proud. Therefore let your Charity attend: the Law was given for this, to expose diseases, not to take them away. Therefore those sick people, who could have been sick more privately in their own houses, if those five porches had not existed, were exposed to the eyes of all in those porches, but by the porches they were not healed. The Law, therefore, was useful for exposing sins, so that man, made more abundantly guilty by the transgression of the Law, might, his pride being subdued, implore the help of the One Who has mercy. Attend to the Apostle: The Law entered in besides, so that transgression might abound; but where transgression abounded, grace also superabounded (Rom. 5:20). What is, The Law entered in besides, so that transgression might abound? As he says in another place, For where there is no law, there is no transgression either (Rom. 4:15). Man can be called a sinner before the law, but called a transgressor he

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potest. Cum autem accepta lege peccaverit, non solum peccator, sed etiam praevaricator invenitur. Cum ergo praevaricatio adjuncta sit peccato, ideo abundavit delictum. Abundante autem delicto, discit humana superbia tandem subjici, et confiteri Deo, et dicere, Infirmus sum (Psal. VI, 3). Dicere etiam verba illa Psalmi, quae non dicit nisi anima humiliata: Ego dixi: Domine, miserere mei, sana animam meam, quoniam peccavi tibi (Psal. XL, 5). Dicat ergo hoc anima infirma, saltem convicta per praevaricationem; et non sanata, sed demonstrata per Legem. Audi et ipsum Paulum ostendentem tibi quia et Lex bona est, et tamen nisi gratia Christi non liberat a peccato. Lex enim prohibere potest, et jubere: afferre medicinam, ut sanetur illud quod non permittit hominem implere Legem, non potest, sed gratia illud facit. Ait enim Apostolus, Condelector enim Legi Dei secundum interiorem hominem. Id est, jam video quia quod reprehendit Lex, malum est; et quod jubet Lex, bonum est. Condelector enim Legi Dei secundum interiorem hominem. Video aliam legem in membris meis repugnantem legi mentis meae, et captivantem me sub lege peccati. Hoc ex poena peccati, ex traduce mortis, ex damnatione Adam, repugnat legi mentis, et captivat legi peccati, quae est in membris. Convictus est iste; accepit legem ut convinceretur; vide quid ei profuit quod convictus est. Audi verba sequentia: Miser ego homo, quis me liberabit de corpore mortis hujus? Gratia Dei per Jesum Christum Dominum nostrum (Rom. VII, 22-25).

cannot be. But when he has sinned after receiving the law, he is found to be not only a sinner but also a transgressor. Since, then, transgression has been added to sin, for that reason the offence abounded. And when the offence abounds, human pride learns at last to submit, and to confess to God, and to say, I am weak (Ps. 6:3). To say also those words of the Psalm which only a humbled soul says: I said: Lord, have mercy on me, heal my soul, for I have sinned against Thee (Ps. 40:5). Let the weak soul, then, say this, convicted at least through transgression; and not healed, but shown up through the Law. Hear Paul himself also showing you that the Law too is good, and yet, without the grace of Christ, does not set free from sin. For the Law can forbid, and command; to bring a remedy, so that what does not allow a man to fulfil the Law may be healed, it cannot, but grace does that. For the Apostle says, For I delight in the Law of God according to the inner man. That is, I now see that what the Law reproves is evil; and what the Law commands is good. For I delight in the Law of God according to the inner man. I see another law in my members, fighting against the law of my mind, and taking me captive under the law of sin. This, from the penalty of sin, from the propagation of death, from the condemnation of Adam, fights against the law of the mind, and makes captive to the law of sin, which is in the members. This man has been convicted; he received the law in order to be convicted; see what it profited him that he was convicted. Hear the words that follow: Wretched man that I am, who will deliver me from the body of this death? The grace of God through Jesus Christ our Lord (Rom. 7:22–25).

3. Aegrotus unus aqua mota curatus quid significat. Intendite ergo. Erant illae porticus Legem significantes, portantes aegrotos, non sanantes; prodentes, non curantes. Sed quis curabat aegrotos? Qui descendebat in piscinam. Quando autem descendebat aeger in piscinam? Cum angelus signum dabat de aquae motu. Sic enim erat sanctificata illa piscina, ut angelus veniret, et moveret aquam. Homines aquam videbant: sed ex motu aquae turbatae intelligebant praesentiam angeli. Si quis tunc descendisset, curabatur. Quare ergo ille aegrotus non curabatur? Consideremus verba ipsius: Hominem, inquit, non habeo, ut cum mota fuerit aqua, deponat me in piscinam: cum enim venio, descendit alius. Ergo tu non potes postea descendere, si alter ante te descendat? Significatum est hic, quia non curabatur nisi un⟨u⟩s ad motum aquae. Quisquis prior descendisset, ipse solus curabatur: quicumque autem postea descendisset, ad illum motum aquae non sanabatur; sed exspectabat donec iterum moveretur. Quid sibi vult ergo hoc sacramentum? Non enim sine causa est. Intendat Charitas vestra. Aquae positae sunt in Apocalypsi in figura populorum. Nam cum multas aquas vidisset, quaesivit Joannes in Apocalypsi quid esset, et dictum est ei populos esse (Apoc. XVII, 15). Aqua ergo illa populum significabat Judaeorum. Sicut enim populus ille tenebatur quinque libris Moysi in Lege,

3. What the one sick man healed when the water was moved signifies. Pay attention, then. Those porches signified the Law, bearing the sick, not healing them; exposing them, not curing them. But who cured the sick? The one who went down into the pool. And when did the sick man go down into the pool? When the angel gave the sign by the movement of the water. For that pool had been so sanctified that an angel would come and move the water. Men saw the water; but from the movement of the troubled water they understood the presence of the angel. If anyone went down at that moment, he was cured. Why, then, was that sick man not cured? Let us consider his own words: I have no man, he says, to put me into the pool when the water has been moved; for when I come, another goes down. So you cannot go down afterwards, if another goes down before you? What is signified here is that only one was cured at the movement of the water. Whoever went down first, he alone was cured; but whoever went down afterwards was not healed at that movement of the water, but waited until it should be moved again. What, then, does this sacrament mean? For it is not without cause. Let your Charity pay attention. Waters are set in the Apocalypse as a figure of peoples. For when John had seen many waters, he asked in the Apocalypse what it was, and he was told that they were peoples (Rev. 17:15). That water, then, signified the people of the Jews. For just as that people was held by the five books of Moses in the Law,

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(1) ‹anchor: not visible› · call in col 690

Ms. cr: Audiat ipsum Paulum ostendentem sibi.

The manuscript cr: Audiat ipsum Paulum ostendentem sibi ("Let him hear Paul himself showing it to him"). [The first letter of Audiat is damaged in the scan.]

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(2) ‹anchor: quis curabat aegrotos› · call in col 690

Idem Ms.: Sed quod curabat aegrotos. Forte legendum: Sed quos curabat aegrotos.

The same manuscript: Sed quod curabat aegrotos. Perhaps one should read: Sed quos curabat aegrotos ("But which sick did it cure").

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sic et aqua illa quinque porticibus cingebatur. Quando turbata est aqua? Quando turbatus est populus Judaeorum. Et quando turbatus est populus Judaeorum, nisi quando venit Dominus Jesus Christus? Passio Domini, aquae turbatio. Turbati sunt enim Judaei, quando passus est Dominus. Ecce ad ipsam perturbationem pertinet, quod modo legebatur. Volebant illum Judaei occidere, non solum quia ista faciebat sabbatis, sed quia Filium Dei se dicebat, aequalem se faciens Deo. Aliter enim se dicebat Filium Dei Christus, aliter dictum est hominibus, Ego dixi, Dii estis, et filii Altissimi omnes (Psal. LXXXI, 6). Nam si sic se faceret Filium Dei, quomodo quicumque homo potest dici filius Dei (per gratiam enim Dei dicuntur homines filii Dei), non irascerentur Judaei. Sed quia alio modo illum intelligebant dicere Filium Dei se esse, secundum quod est, In principio erat Verbum, et Verbum erat apud Deum, et Deus erat Verbum (Joan. I, 1); et secundum id quod dicit Apostolus, Qui cum in forma Dei esset, non rapinam arbitratus est esse se aequalem Deo (Philipp. II, 6): videbant hominem, et irascebantur, quia aequalem se Deo faciebat. Ille autem noverat se aequalem, sed ubi illi non videbant. Quod enim illi videbant, crucifigere volebant: quod non videbant, ab eo judicabantur. Quid videbant Judaei? Quod videbant et Apostoli, quando dixit Philippus: Ostende nobis Patrem, et sufficit nobis. Quid autem non videbant Judaei? Quod nec ipsi Apostoli, quando respondit Dominus: Tanto tempore vobiscum sum, et non cognovistis me? Qui me videt, videt et Patrem (Joan. XIV, 8, 9). Hoc ergo in illo Judaei quia videre non poterant, tanquam hominem superbum et impium habebant, aequalem se facientem Deo. Turbatio erat, turbabatur aqua, Angelus venerat. Dictus est enim et Dominus magni consilii Angelus (Isai. IX, 6, sec. LXX), quia nuntius voluntatis Patris. Angelus enim graece, latine nuntius est. Et habes Dominum dicentem annuntiare se nobis regnum coelorum. Venerat ergo ille magni consilii Angelus, sed Dominus omnium Angelorum. Et propter hoc Angelus, quia carnem suscepit: Dominus autem Angelorum, ex eo quod omnia per ipsum facta sunt, et sine ipso factum est nihil (Joan. I, 3). Si enim omnia, et Angeli. Et ideo ipse factus non est, quia per ipsum facta sunt omnia. Quod autem factum est, sine Verbo operante factum non est. Caro autem, quae facta est mater Christi, nasci non potuit, nisi per Verbum, quod de illa postea natum est, crearetur.

so also that water was surrounded by five porticoes. When was the water stirred up? When the people of the Jews was stirred up. And when was the people of the Jews stirred up, except when the Lord Jesus Christ came? The Passion of the Lord is the stirring of the water. For the Jews were stirred up when the Lord suffered. See, what was just now being read pertains to that very disturbance. The Jews wanted to kill Him, not only because He did these things on the sabbaths, but because He said that He was the Son of God, making Himself equal to God. For Christ called Himself the Son of God in one way; in another way it was said to men, I said, You are gods, and all of you sons of the Most High (Ps. 81:6). For if He had made Himself the Son of God in the way in which any man whatever can be called a son of God (for it is by the grace of God that men are called sons of God), the Jews would not have been angry. But because they understood Him to be saying that He was the Son of God in another way, according to what is [written], In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and God was the Word (John 1:1); and according to what the Apostle says, Who, though He was in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal to God (Phil. 2:6): they saw a man, and they were angry, because He made Himself equal to God. He, however, knew Himself to be equal, but where they did not see. For what they saw they wanted to crucify; by what they did not see they were being judged. What did the Jews see? What the Apostles also saw, when Philip said: Show us the Father, and it is enough for us. But what did the Jews not see? What not even the Apostles themselves [saw], when the Lord answered: Have I been with you so long a time, and you have not known Me? Whoever sees Me sees the Father also (John 14:8–9). Because, then, the Jews could not see this in Him, they regarded Him as a proud and impious man, making Himself equal to God. There was a stirring, the water was being stirred, the Angel had come. For the Lord too has been called the Angel of great counsel (Isa. 9:6, according to the Septuagint), because He is the messenger of the Father's will. For angelus in Greek is nuntius in Latin. And you have the Lord saying that He announces to us the kingdom of heaven. So that Angel of great counsel had come, but the Lord of all the Angels. And He is an Angel for this reason, that He took on flesh; but Lord of the Angels from the fact that all things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made (John 1:3). For if all things, then the Angels too. And therefore He Himself was not made, because through Him all things were made. But whatever has been made has not been made without the Word working. Now the flesh which became the mother of Christ could not have been born unless it were created through the Word, which was afterwards born of it.

4. Requies Dei septimo die. Sex aetates mundi. Quomodo requievit Deus, et semper operatur. Turbabantur ergo Judaei. Quid est hoc? Utquid ista facit sabbatis? Et maxime ad ipsa verba Domini: Pater meus usque nunc operatur, et ego operor. Turbavit illos quod carnaliter intelligebant, quia septimo die requievit Deus ab omnibus operibus suis (Gen. II, 2). Scriptum est enim in Genesi, et optime scriptum est, et rationabile quare scriptum est. Illi autem putantes quasi Deum fatigatum post omnia requievisse

4. The rest of God on the seventh day. The six ages of the world. How God rested, and yet is always working. So the Jews were stirred up. What is this? Why does He do these things on sabbaths? And above all at the very words of the Lord: My Father is working until now, and I am working. What disturbed them was that they understood in a carnal way that on the seventh day God rested from all His works (Gen. 2:2). For it is written in Genesis, and excellently written, and there is good reason why it is written. But they, supposing that God, as if wearied after all things, had rested

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septimo die, et ideo benedixisse eum, quia in eo a lassitudine refectus est, non intelligebant stulti, quia qui verbo fecit omnia, fatigari non potuit. Legant, et dicant mihi quomodo posset fatigari Deus dicens: Fiat; et factum est. Hodie si sic faciat homo, quomodo fecit Deus, quis fatigatur? Dixit: Fiat lux; et facta est lux. Item, Fiat firmamentum; et factum est (Gen. I, 3, 6, 7): aut si dixit, et factum non est, fatigatus est. Alio loco breviter: Ipse dixit, et facta sunt; ipse mandavit, et creata sunt (Psal. XXXII, 9). Qui ergo sic facit, quomodo laborat? Si autem non laborat, quomodo requiescit? Sed in illo sabbato, ubi requiescere dictum est Deum ab omnibus operibus suis, in requie Dei requies nostra significata est: quia erit sabbatum hujus saeculi, cum transierint sex aetates. Quasi sex dies saeculi transeunt. Unus dies ab Adam usque ad Noe transiit; alius a diluvio usque ad Abraham transiit; tertius ab Abraham usque ad David transiit; quartus a David usque ad transmigrationem Babyloniae transiit; quintus a transmigratione Babyloniae usque ad adventum Domini nostri Jesu Christi. Modo sextus dies agitur. In sexta aetate, in sexto die sumus. Ergo reformemur ad imaginem Dei, quia sexto die factus est homo ad imaginem Dei (Gen. I, 27). Quod ibi fecit formatio, hoc in nobis reformatio: et quod ibi fecit creatio, hoc in nobis recreatio. Post istum diem in quo modo sumus, post istam aetatem, ventura est requies quae promittitur sanctis, quae praefigurabatur in illis diebus. Quia et revera post omnia quae fecit in mundo, nihil fecit postea novum in creatura. Ipsae creaturae convertentur et commutabuntur. Nam ex quo institutae sunt creaturae, nihil amplius additum est. Sed tamen, nisi ille qui fecit, mundum regeret, caderet quod factum est; non potest nisi administrare illud quod fecit. Quia ergo nihil additum est creaturae, requievisse dictus est ab omnibus operibus suis: quia vero quod fecit gubernare non cessat, recte dixit Dominus, Pater meus usque nunc operatur. Intendat Charitas vestra. Perfecit, requievisse dictus est: perfecit enim opera, et nihil addidit. Gubernat quod fecit: ergo non cessat. Sed quanta facilitate fecit, tanta facilitate gubernat. Nolite enim putare, fratres, quia non laborabat cum conderet, et laborat quia regit; quomodo in navi laborant qui fabricant navem, laborant qui gubernant; homines enim sunt. Ille enim quanta facilitate dixit, et facta sunt, tanta facilitate et judicio per Verbum gubernat omnia.

on the seventh day, and that He therefore blessed it, because on it He was refreshed from weariness, the foolish did not understand that He Who made all things by a word could not be wearied. Let them read, and tell me how God could be wearied saying: Let it be; and it was made. If today a man should make in this way, as God made, who is wearied? He said: Let there be light; and light was made. Again, Let there be a firmament; and it was made (Gen. 1:3, 6–7): or if He spoke and it was not made, He was wearied. In another place briefly: He spoke, and they were made; He commanded, and they were created (Ps. 32:9). He then Who makes in this way, how does He labour? And if He does not labour, how does He rest? But in that sabbath, where God is said to have rested from all His works, our rest was signified in the rest of God: for there will be a sabbath of this world, when six ages have passed. Six days of the world, as it were, pass. One day passed from Adam to Noah; another passed from the flood to Abraham; the third passed from Abraham to David; the fourth passed from David to the transmigration of Babylon; the fifth from the transmigration of Babylon to the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Now the sixth day is in progress. In the sixth age, on the sixth day, we are. Therefore let us be re-formed to the image of God, since on the sixth day man was made to the image of God (Gen. 1:27). What formation did there, let re-formation do in us; and what creation did there, let re-creation do in us. After this day in which we now are, after this age, there is to come the rest which is promised to the saints, which was prefigured in those days. For indeed, after all the things which He made in the world, He made nothing new in creation afterwards. The creatures themselves will be converted and changed. For from the time when the creatures were established, nothing further has been added. But yet, unless He Who made it ruled the world, what was made would fall; He cannot but administer that which He made. Since, therefore, nothing has been added to creation, He is said to have rested from all His works; but since He does not cease to govern what He made, the Lord rightly said, My Father works until now. Let your Charity attend. He completed, He is said to have rested: for He completed His works, and added nothing. He governs what He made: therefore He does not cease. But with as much ease as He made, with so much ease does He govern. For do not think, brothers, that He did not labour when He was founding, and labours because He rules; just as on a ship those who build the ship labour, and those who steer it labour; for they are men. For He, with as much ease as He spoke and they were made, with so much ease and judgement governs all things through the Word.

5. Dei providentia in ordinatione malorum. No⟨n⟩ quia videntur perversae res humanae, videatur nobis non esse gubernationem rerum humanarum. Omnes enim homines in locis suis ordinantur: sed unicuique videtur quia ordinem non habent. Tu tantum vide quid velis esse: nam quomodo volueris esse, novit artifex ubi te ponat. Pictorem attende. Ponuntur

5. The providence of God in the ordering of evil men. Let it not seem to us, because human affairs seem perverse, that there is no governance of human affairs. For all men are ordered in their places: but to each it seems that they have no order. Only see what you wish to be: for according as you wish to be, the Craftsman knows where to place you. Consider a painter. They place

Editors' notes and page, col. 692

Footnotes

(1) ‹anchor: illud quod fecit› · call in col 692

Ms. cr., non potest stare nisi illud quod fecit.

The manuscript cr.: non potest stare nisi illud quod fecit ("it cannot stand, save that which He made").

(printed under page 352)

(2) ‹anchor: ordinem non habent› · call in col 692

Idem Ms., sed unicuique videtur qui ordinem non habet.

The same manuscript: sed unicuique videtur qui ordinem non habet ("but so it seems to each one who has no order"). [The words "videtur" and "non" are damaged in the scan and read from what remains.]

(printed under page 352)

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other: the word Ponuntur was split at the column break and stands whole here (joined on receipt); check that the English reads whole across the break into col 693

PL 38:693

ante illum varii colores, et novit ubi ponat quemque colorem. Ce⟨r⟩te peccator niger color esse voluit: ideo nescit ordo artificis ubi eum ponat? Quanta ordinat de nigro colore? quanta ornamenta facit pictor? Facit inde capillos, facit barbam, facit supercilia: non facit frontem, nisi de albo. Tu vide quid velis esse: non cures ubi te ordinet qui non novit errare, scit ubi te ponat. Sic enim per leges istas mundi videmus hoc fieri. Effractor esse voluit nescio quis: novit lex judicis quia contra legem fecit; novit lex judicis ubi illum ponat: ordinat illum optime. Ille quidem male vixit: sed non male ordinavit lex. Ex effractore erit metallicus: de opere metallici quanta opera construuntur? Illius poena damnati ornamenta sunt civitatis. Sic ergo Deus novit ubi te ponat. Noli putare quia turbas consilium Dei, si perversus esse volueris. Qui creare te noverat, ordinare te non novit? Bonum est ibi ut illuc coneris, ut bono loco ponaris. Quid dictum est de Juda ab Apostolo? Abiit in locum suum (Act. I, 25). Operante utique divina providentia, quia per malam voluntatem malus esse voluit, non autem Deus malum ordinando fecit. Sed quia ipse malus peccator esse voluit, fecit quod voluit, sed passus est quod noluit. In eo quod fecit quod voluit, peccatum ejus deprehenditur: in eo quod passus est quod noluit, ordo Dei laudatur.

before him various colours, and he knows where to place each colour. Certainly the sinner wished to be a black colour: does the order of the artist therefore not know where to place him? How much does he arrange out of the black colour? How many ornaments does the painter make? From it he makes the hair, he makes the beard, he makes the eyebrows: he does not make the forehead, except out of white. See you what you wish to be: do not be concerned where He places you Who does not know how to err; He knows where to put you. For thus, through these laws of the world, we see this happen. Someone or other wished to be a housebreaker: the law of the judge knows that he has acted against the law; the law of the judge knows where to put him: it orders him excellently. He indeed lived badly: but the law did not order badly. From a housebreaker he will become a miner: out of the work of the miner how many works are built? The punishment of that condemned man is the ornaments of the city. So then God knows where to put you. Do not think that you trouble the counsel of God if you wish to be perverse. He Who knew how to create you, does He not know how to order you? It is good there that you strive thither, so that you may be put in a good place. What was said of Judas by the Apostle? He went to his own place (Acts 1:25). By divine providence assuredly at work, because through an evil will he wished to be evil, but God did not make him evil by ordering him. But because he himself wished to be an evil sinner, he did what he willed, but he suffered what he did not will. In that he did what he willed, his sin is detected; in that he suffered what he did not will, the order of God is praised.

6. Judaeorum turbatio ex duplici capite. Aegrotus descendendo in piscinam curatus. Unus tantum sanatus. Hoc quare dixi? Ut intelligatis, fratres, quod optime dictum sit a Domino Jesu Christo, Pater meus usque modo operatur. Quia non deserit creaturam, quam fecit. Et dixit, Quomodo operatur, et ego operor. Jam ibi se significavit aequalem Deo. Pater meus, ait, usque modo operatur, et ego operor. Ille carnalis sensus de sabbato turbatus est. Putabant enim fatigatum Dominum requievisse, ut nihil operaretur. Audiunt, Pater meus usque modo operatur: turbantur. Et ego operor: fecit se aequalem Deo, turbantur. Sed nolite jam expavescere. Turbatur aqua, sanari habet aegrotus. Quid est hoc? Ideo turbantur illi, ut patiatur Dominus. Patitur Dominus, funditur pretiosus sanguis, redimitur peccator, donatur gratia peccanti, et dicenti, Miser ego homo, quis me liberavit de corpore mortis hujus? Gratia Dei per Dominum nostrum Jesum Christum (Rom. VII, 24, 25). Sed quomodo curatur? Si descendat. Sic enim erat illa piscina, quo descenderetur, non quo ascenderetur. Possent enim esse et tales piscinae, sic instructae, ut ascenderetur ad illas. Quare autem illa talis facta est, quo descenderetur? Quia passio Domini humilem quaerit. Descendat humilis, non sit superbus, si vult sanari. Quare autem unus? Quia unica est Ecclesia per totum orbem terrarum, unitas salvatur. Ubi ergo salvatur

6. The troubling of the Jews on two counts. The sick man cured by going down into the pool. Only one healed. Why have I said this? So that you may understand, brothers, that it was said excellently by the Lord Jesus Christ, My Father works until now. For He does not desert the creation which He made. And He said, As He works, I too work. There already He signified Himself equal to God. My Father, He says, works until now, and I work. That carnal sense was troubled concerning the sabbath. For they thought that the Lord, being wearied, had rested, so as to do no work. They hear, My Father works until now: they are troubled. And I work: He made Himself equal to God; they are troubled. But do not now be terrified. The water is troubled, the sick man is to be healed. What is this? They are troubled for this reason, that the Lord may suffer. The Lord suffers, the precious blood is shed, the sinner is redeemed, grace is given to the one who sins and says, Wretched man that I am, who has delivered me from the body of this death? The grace of God through our Lord Jesus Christ (Rom. 7:24–25). But how is he cured? If he goes down. For that pool was such that one went down into it, not up into it. For there could also be pools of such a kind, so constructed that one would go up to them. But why was that one made such that one went down into it? Because the passion of the Lord seeks the humble man. Let the humble man go down, let him not be proud, if he wishes to be healed. But why only one? Because the Church throughout the whole world is one; unity is saved. Where, then, there is saved

Editors' notes and page, col. 693

Footnotes

(1) ‹anchor: not visible› · call in col 693

Ms. cr., civitati.

The manuscript cr.: civitati ("to the city"). [The word is blurred in the scan.]

(printed under page 353)

(a) ‹anchor: not visible› · call in col 693

Id est, metalli poenam subibit, ad secanda marmora, vel alia id genus damnabitur; uti observat Sirmondus. Effractores enim parietum, praesertim nocturnos, fustibus caesos in metallum dari solitos, auctor est Ulpianus, L. 2, D. «De effractoribus et expilatoribus.»

That is, he will undergo the penalty of the mines, he will be condemned to cutting marble or to other things of that kind; as Sirmond observes. For Ulpian is authority (L. 2, D. "De effractoribus et expilatoribus") that those who break through walls, especially by night, were customarily beaten with rods and given over to the mines.

(printed under page 353)

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unus, unitas significatur. Per unum unitatem intellige. Ab unitate ergo noli recedere, si non vis immunis esse ab ista salute.

one, unity is signified. By the one understand unity. Do not, then, withdraw from unity, if you do not wish to have no share in this salvation.

7. Infirmitas triginta annorum. Justitiae perfectio quadragenario numero significata. Amor saeculi non compatitur amorem Dei. Quid sibi ergo vult quod triginta et octo annos infirmus erat? Scio, fratres, me ista jam dixisse: sed et qui legunt obliviscuntur, quanto magis qui raro audiunt? Intendat ergo paululum Charitas vestra. In quadragenario numero completio justitiae figuratur. Completio justitiae, quia hic vivimus in labore, in aerumnis, in continentia, in jejuniis, in vigiliis, in tribulationibus; ipsa est exercitatio justitiae, ferre tempus hoc, et ab hoc saeculo quodam modo jejunare; non a cibo carnis, quod raro facimus; sed ab amore saeculi, quod semper facere debemus. Ille ergo implet legem, qui se abstinet ab isto saeculo. Non enim potest amare quod aeternum est, nisi destiterit amare quod temporale est. Intendite amorem hominis: sic putate quasi manum animae. Si aliquid tenet, tenere aliud non potest. Ut autem possit tenere quod datur, dimittat quod tenet. Hoc dico, videte quia aperte dico: Qui amat saeculum, amare Deum non potest; occupatam habet manum. Dicit illi Deus: Tene quod do. Non vult dimittere quod tenebat: non potest accipere quod offertur. Numquid dixi, Non possideat nescio quis? Si potest, si hoc de illo exigit perfectio, non possideat. Si non potest, aliqua necessitate impeditus, possideat, non possideatur; teneat, non teneatur: dominus sit rei suae, non servus; sicut dicit Apostolus: De caetero, fratres, tempus breve est: superest ut et qui habent uxores, tanquam non habentes sint; et qui emunt, tanquam non possidentes; et qui gaudent, tanquam non gaudentes; et qui flent, tanquam non flentes; et qui utuntur hoc saeculo, tanquam non utantur: praeterit enim figura hujus mundi. Volo vos sine sollicitudine esse (I Cor. VII, 29-32). Quid est, Noli amare quod possides in hoc saeculo? Non teneat manum tuam, unde tenendus est Deus. Non occupetur amor tuus, quo potes ad Deum tendere, et inhaerere ei qui te creavit.

7. The infirmity of thirty years. The perfection of righteousness signified by the number forty. The love of the world does not abide alongside the love of God. What, then, does it mean that he was infirm for thirty-eight years? I know, brethren, that I have already said these things; but even those who read forget, how much more those who rarely hear? Let Your Charity, then, attend a little. In the number forty the completion of righteousness is figured. The completion of righteousness, because here we live in toil, in hardships, in continence, in fastings, in watchings, in tribulations; this itself is the exercise of righteousness: to bear this time, and in a certain manner to fast from this world; not from the food of the flesh, which we do seldom, but from the love of the world, which we ought to do always. He, then, fulfils the law who abstains from this world. For he cannot love what is eternal unless he has ceased to love what is temporal. Consider the love of a man: think of it as if it were the hand of the soul. If it holds something, it cannot hold something else. But that it may be able to hold what is given, let it let go of what it holds. I say this, see that I say it openly: He who loves the world cannot love God; he has his hand occupied. God says to him: Hold what I give. He does not want to let go of what he was holding: he cannot receive what is offered. Did I say, Let so-and-so not possess? If he can, if perfection demands this of him, let him not possess. If he cannot, being hindered by some necessity, let him possess, not be possessed; let him hold, not be held: let him be master of his property, not its slave; as the Apostle says: For the rest, brethren, the time is short: it remains that both those who have wives be as though not having them; and those who buy, as though not possessing; and those who rejoice, as though not rejoicing; and those who weep, as though not weeping; and those who use this world, as though they did not use it: for the form of this world passes away. I wish you to be without anxiety (1 Cor. 7:29–32). What does it mean, Do not love what you possess in this world? Let it not hold your hand, with which God is to be held. Let your love not be occupied, by which you can stretch towards God and cleave to Him Who created you.

8. Possessio rerum temporalium unde innocens agnoscitur. Dicis, et respondes mihi: Et Deus scit quia innocenter possideo. Tentatio probat. Turbatur tibi quod possides, et blasphemas. Modo talia patiebamur. Turbatur quod possides, et non inveniris qui eras, et ostendis aliud esse in voce tua nunc, et aliud pridie in voce tua. Atque utinam tuum vel cum clamore defendas, et non alienum cum audacia usurpare coneris: et quod pejus est, ne reprehendaris, quod alienum est tuum esse dicis. Sed quid opus est? Illud moneo, illud dico, fratres, et ego fraterne moneo; Deus jubet, et ego commoneo, quia commoneor. Ille

8. Whence the possession of temporal things is recognized as innocent. You say, and you answer me: And God knows that I possess innocently. Temptation proves it. What you possess is disturbed for you, and you blaspheme. Just now we were suffering such things. What you possess is disturbed, and you are not found to be who you were, and you show that there is one thing in your voice now, and another in your voice the day before. And would that you defended your own even with clamour, and did not attempt with boldness to usurp what is another's: and what is worse, lest you be reproved, you say that what is another's is your own. But what need is there? This I admonish, this I say, brethren, and I admonish as a brother; God commands, and I admonish, because I am admonished. He

Editors' notes and page, col. 694

Footnotes

(1) ‹anchor: not visible› · call in col 694

Ms. cr., in vigiliis. Tribulatio ipsa est exercitatio justitiae.

The manuscript cr.: in vigiliis. Tribulatio ipsa est exercitatio justitiae ("in watchings. Tribulation itself is the exercise of righteousness").

(printed under page 353)

(2) ‹anchor: rei suae, non servus› · call in col 694

Sirm., non servus avaritiae. Ms. cr. non habet, avaritiae; cujus loco subintelligendum, rei suae.

Sirm.: non servus avaritiae ("not the slave of avarice"). The manuscript cr. does not have avaritiae; in its place rei suae ("of his own property") is to be understood.

(printed under page 353)

(3) ‹anchor: teneat manum tuam› · call in col 694

Ms. cr.: Non teneat manus tua unde tenendus est Deus. Pauloque post, quo potes Deum tenere.

The manuscript cr.: Non teneat manus tua unde tenendus est Deus ("Let not your hand hold that with which God is to be held"). And a little after: quo potes Deum tenere ("by which you can hold God"). [This note is badly worn in the scan; "manus tua" and "tenere" are read from what remains.]

(printed under page 353)

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terret me, qui tacere non sinit. De me exigit quod dedit. Dedit enim erogandum, non servandum. Si autem servavero, et abscondero, dicit mihi: Serve nequam et piger, quare non dedisti pecuniam nummulariis, et ego veniens cum usuris eam exigerem (Luc. XIX, 23)? Et mihi quid proderit, quia nihil perdidi ex eo quod accepi? Parum est Domino meo, avarus est: sed avaritia Dei salus nostra est. Avarus est, nummos suos quaerit, imaginem suam colligit. Dares, inquit, pecuniam nummulariis, et ego veniens cum usuris exigerem. Et si forte oblivio faceret, ut non vos commonerem; vel tentationes et tribulationes quas patimur, admonerent vos. Certe audistis verbum Dei. Benedictus Dominus et gloria ipsius. Congregati enim estis, et suspendimini in verbo dispensatoris Dei. Non ad carnem nostram attendatis, per quam vobis exhibetur: quia esurientes non attendunt ad vilitatem vasculi, sed ad charitatem cibi. Probat vos Deus. Congregati estis, laudatis verbum Dei; tentatio probabit quomodo audiatis: habebitis negotia, in quibus ostendatur quales estis. Nam et qui hodie conviciose clamat, heri libenter audiebat. Ideo praemoneo, ideo dico, ideo non taceo, fratres mei, quia veniet interrogandi tempus. Dominus enim interrogat justum et impium. Certe hoc cantastis, certe simul cantavimus: Dominus interrogat justum et impium. Et quid sequitur? Qui autem diligit iniquitatem, odit animam suam (Psal. X, 6). Et alio loco: In cogitationibus impii interrogatio erit (Sap. I, 9). Non ubi ego te interrogo, ibi interrogat Deus. Ego interrogo linguam tuam, Deus interrogat cogitationem tuam. Novit autem quomodo audias, et novit quomodo exigat, qui jubet ut dem. Erogatorem me esse voluit, exactionem sibi servavit. Monere, docere, corripere nostrum est: salvare vero et coronare, aut damnare et in gehennas mittere, non est nostrum. Judex autem tradet ministro, minister in carcerem. Amen dico tibi, non exies inde, donec solvas novissimum quadrantem (Matth. V, 25, 26).

terrifies me, He Who does not permit me to be silent. He exacts from me what He gave. For He gave it to be paid out, not to be kept. But if I keep it and hide it, He says to me: Wicked and slothful servant, why did you not give the money to the money-changers, and I on coming would have exacted it with interest (Luke 19:23)? And what will it profit me that I have lost nothing of what I received? That is too little for my Lord; He is greedy: but the greed of God is our salvation. He is greedy, He seeks His coins, He gathers His image. You should have given, He says, the money to the money-changers, and I on coming would have exacted it with interest. And if perhaps forgetfulness should bring it about that I did not remind you, the temptations and tribulations which we suffer would admonish you. Certainly you have heard the word of God. Blessed is the Lord and His glory. For you have been gathered together, and you hang upon the word of God's steward. Do not pay attention to our flesh, through which it is set before you: for the hungry do not pay attention to the cheapness of the little vessel, but to the preciousness of the food. God is testing you. You have gathered together, you praise the word of God; temptation will test how you hear: you will have affairs of business in which it will be shown what sort of people you are. For he too who today shouts abuse was yesterday listening gladly. Therefore I forewarn, therefore I speak, therefore I do not keep silent, my brothers, because the time of questioning will come. For the Lord questions the just and the ungodly. Certainly you sang this, certainly we sang it together: The Lord questions the just and the ungodly. And what follows? But he who loves iniquity hates his own soul (Ps. 10:6). And in another place: In the thoughts of the ungodly there will be questioning (Wis. 1:9). Where I question you is not where God questions. I question your tongue, God questions your thought. He knows how you hear, and He knows how to exact, He Who commands that I give. He willed me to be the paymaster; the exaction He kept for Himself. To admonish, to teach, to rebuke is ours: but to save and to crown, or to condemn and send into hell, is not ours. And the judge will hand over to the officer, the officer into prison. Amen I say to you, you will not go out from there until you pay the last farthing (Matt. 5:25–26).

9. Quadragenarius numerus in jejunio Moysi, Eliae et Christi. Quadragesima ante Pascha. Quinquaginta dies post Pascha. Redeamus ergo ad rem. Perfectio Justitiae quadragenario numero demonstratur. Quid est quadragenarium numerum implere? Continere se ab amore hujus saeculi. Continentia a rebus temporalibus, ne perniciose amentur, quasi jejunare est ab isto saeculo. Ideo Dominus quadraginta diebus jejunavit (Id. IV, 2), et Moyses (Exod. XXXIV, 28), et Elias (III Reg. XIX, 8). Qui ergo dedit servis jejunare posse quadraginta diebus, non potuit octoginta vel centum jejunare? Quare noluit amplius quam dederat servis, nisi quia in ipso quadragenario numero est mysterium jejunii, continere ab isto saeculo? Quid est hoc dicere? Quod ait Apostolus: Mundus mihi crucifixus est, et ego mundo (Galat. VI, 14). Ipse ergo implet numerum quadragenarium. Et quid ostendit Dominus? Quia hoc Moyses fecit, hoc Elias, hoc Christus, hoc et Lex, hoc et Prophetae, hoc et Evangelium docet: ne aliud putes esse in Lege, aliud in Prophetis, aliud in Evangelio. Omnes Scripturae nihil te aliud docent,

9. The number forty in the fasting of Moses, Elijah and Christ. The forty days before Easter. The fifty days after Easter. Let us return, then, to the matter. The perfection of righteousness is shown by the number forty. What is it to fulfil the number forty? To restrain oneself from the love of this world. Restraint from temporal things, lest they be loved to our ruin, is, as it were, to fast from this world. For this reason the Lord fasted forty days (Matt. 4:2), and Moses (Exod. 34:28), and Elijah (1 Kgs. 19:8). Could He, then, Who granted His servants the ability to fast forty days, not have fasted eighty or a hundred? Why did He not wish for more than He had granted His servants, unless because in the number forty itself lies the mystery of fasting, to refrain from this world? What does this mean? What the Apostle says: The world is crucified to me, and I to the world (Gal. 6:14). He, then, fulfils the number forty. And what did the Lord show? That this Moses did, this Elijah, this Christ; this the Law too, this the Prophets too, this the Gospel too teaches: lest you think there is one thing in the Law, another in the Prophets, another in the Gospel. All the Scriptures teach you nothing else,

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nisi continentiam ab amore saeculi, ut amor tuus currat in Deum. Figuratur quia hoc docet Lex, quadraginta diebus jejunavit Moyses. Figuratur quia hoc docent Prophetae, quadraginta diebus jejunavit Elias. Figuratur quia hoc docet Evangelium, quadraginta diebus jejunavit Dominus. Ideo et in monte ipsi tres apparuerunt, Dominus in medio, Moyses et Elias a lateribus. Quare? Quia ipsum Evangelium testimonium habet a Lege et Prophetis (Rom. III, 21). Quare autem in quadragenario numero est perfectio justitiae? In Psalterio dictum est: Deus, canticum novum cantabo tibi; in psalterio decem chordarum psallam tibi (Psal. CXLIII, 9). Quod significat decem praecepta Legis, quam Dominus non venit solvere, sed adimplere. Ipsa autem Lex per orbem terrarum, quatuor angulos habere constat, orientem, occidentem, meridianum, et aquilonem, sicut dicit Scriptura. Unde et vas, quod portabat figurata omnia animalia, quod demonstratum est Petro, quando dictum est, Macta, et manduca (Act. X, 11-13), ut ostenderentur Gentes crediturae et intraturae in corpus Ecclesiae, sicut quod manducamus in corpus nostrum intrat, quatuor lineis dimissum est de coelo (ipsae sunt quatuor partes orbis terrarum), totum orbem crediturum ostendit. Ergo in quadragenario numero continentia a saeculo est. Haec est Legis plenitudo: Legis autem plenitudo charitas. Ideo ante Pascha quadraginta diebus jejunamus. Signum enim est ante Pascha vitae hujus nostrae laboriosae, ubi in laboribus et aerumnis, et continentia implemus Legem. Post Pascha autem, id est, resurrectionis Domini dies celebramus, significantes resurrectionem nostram. Ideo quinquaginta dies celebrantur: quia denarii merces additur quadragenario, et fit quinquagenarius. Quomodo est merces denarius? Non legistis quia qui ad vineam conducti sunt, sive illi qui prima, sive qui sexta, sive qui novissima hora, non potuerunt accipere nisi denarium (Matth. XX, 1-10). Justitiae nostrae cum addita fuerit merces ejus, in quinquagenario erimus. Jam tunc non nobis vacabit nisi laudare Deum. Ideo per illos dies Alleluia dicimus. Alleluia enim laus Dei est. In ista fragilitate mortalitatis, in isto quadragenario hic, velut ante resurrectionem, gemamus in orationibus, ut tunc laudemus. Modo tempus est desiderandi, tunc tempus erit amplectendi et fruendi. Non deficiamus in tempore quadragenario, ut gaudeamus in tempore quinquagenario.

except continence from the love of the world, so that your love may run towards God. It is figured, because the Law teaches this: Moses fasted forty days. It is figured, because the Prophets teach this: Elijah fasted forty days. It is figured, because the Gospel teaches this: the Lord fasted forty days. Therefore also on the mount these three appeared, the Lord in the middle, Moses and Elijah at the sides. Why? Because the Gospel itself has testimony from the Law and the Prophets (Rom. 3:21). But why is the perfection of righteousness in the number forty? In the Psalter it is said: O God, I will sing a new song to Thee; on a psaltery of ten strings I will play to Thee (Ps. 143:9). This signifies the ten commandments of the Law, which the Lord came not to abolish but to fulfil. Now the Law itself, throughout the world, is agreed to have four corners: east, west, south and north, as Scripture says. Hence also the vessel which carried all the animals in figure, which was shown to Peter when it was said, Kill and eat (Acts 10:11–13), so that the Gentiles might be shown to be about to believe and to enter into the body of the Church, as what we eat enters into our body, was let down from heaven by four cords (these are the four parts of the world), and it showed that the whole world would believe. Therefore in the number forty there is continence from the world. This is the fullness of the Law: and the fullness of the Law is charity. Therefore before Easter we fast for forty days. For before Easter it is a sign of this laborious life of ours, where in labours and hardships, and by continence, we fulfil the Law. But after Easter, that is, we celebrate the days of the Lord's resurrection, signifying our own resurrection. Therefore fifty days are celebrated: because the wage of a denarius is added to the forty, and it becomes fifty. How is the wage a denarius? Have you not read that those who were hired for the vineyard, whether those at the first hour, or those at the sixth, or those at the last, could receive nothing but a denarius (Matt. 20:1–10)? When its wage has been added to our righteousness, we shall be in the fifty. Then indeed we shall have no leisure for anything except to praise God. Therefore during those days we say Alleluia. For Alleluia is the praise of God. In this frailty of mortality, in this forty here, as before the resurrection, let us groan in prayers, so that then we may praise. Now is the time of desiring, then will be the time of embracing and enjoying. Let us not fail in the time of the forty, so that we may rejoice in the time of the fifty.

10. Lex non impletur sine charitate. Quis est autem qui implet Legem, nisi qui habuerit charitatem? Interroga Apostolum: Plenitudo Legis charitas (Rom. XIII, 10). Omnis enim Lex in uno sermone impleta est, in eo quod scriptum est, Diliges proximum tuum tanquam te ipsum (Galat. V, 14). Sed praeceptum charitatis geminum est: Diliges Dominum Deum tuum ex toto corde tuo, et ex tota anima tua, et ex tota mente tua. Hoc praeceptum magnum est. Alterum huic simile: Diliges proximum tuum tanquam te ipsum. Domini verba sunt in Evangelio: In his duobus praeceptis tota

10. The Law is not fulfilled without charity. But who is it that fulfils the Law, except one who has charity? Ask the Apostle: The fullness of the Law is charity (Rom. 13:10). For the whole Law is fulfilled in one saying, in that which is written, You shall love your neighbour as yourself (Gal. 5:14). But the commandment of charity is twofold: You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the great commandment. The second is like to it: You shall love your neighbour as yourself. They are the Lord's words in the Gospel: On these two commandments the whole

Editors' notes and page, col. 696

Footnotes

(1) ‹anchor: ut tunc laudemus› · call in col 696

Ms. cr., ut tunc laudemus, cum viderimus.

The manuscript cr.: ut tunc laudemus, cum viderimus ("that we may praise then, when we shall have seen"). [The note is worn in the scan; "viderimus" is read from what remains.]

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Lex pendet et Prophetae (Matth. XXII, 37-40). Sine dilectione gemina Lex impleri non potest. Quamdiu non impletur Lex, infirmitas est. Ideo duo minus habebat, qui triginta octo annos infirmus erat. Quid est, duo minus habebat? Duo praecepta illa non implebat. Quid prodest quia caetera implentur, si illa non implentur? Triginta octo habes? si illa duo non habueris, caetera nihil tibi proderunt. Minus habes duo, sine quibus nihil valeant caetera, si non habueris duo praecepta, quae perducunt ad salutem. Si linguis hominum loquar et Angelorum, charitatem autem non habeam, factus sum aeramentum sonans, aut cymbalum tinniens. Et si sciero omnia sacramenta et omnem scientiam, et si habuero omnem fidem, ita ut montes transferam; charitatem autem non habeam, nihil sum. Et si distribuero omnem substantiam meam, et si tradidero corpus meum ut ardeam; charitatem autem non habeam, nihil mihi prodest (I Cor. XIII, 1-3). Apostoli verba sunt. Illa ergo omnia quae dixit, quasi triginta octo anni sunt: sed quia charitas ibi non erat, infirmitas erat. Quis ergo ab ista infirmitate sanabit, nisi qui venit dare charitatem? Mandatum novum do vobis, ut vos invicem diligatis (Joan. XIII, 34). Et quia venit dare charitatem, et charitas perficit Legem; merito dixit, Non veni Legem solvere, sed implere (Matth. V, 17). Sanavit aegrotum, et dixit illi ut ferret grabatum suum, et iret in domum suam. Hoc et paralytico, quem sanavit, dixit (Marc. II, 11). Quid est ferre grabatum nostrum? Voluptatem carnis nostrae. Ubi infirmi jacemus, quasi lectus noster est. Sed qui sanati fuerint, continent et ferunt eam, non ab ipsa carne continentur. Ergo sanus contine fragilitatem carnis tuae, ut signo quadragenarii jejunii ab isto saeculo, impleas quadragenarium numerum, qui sanavit illum aegrotum, qui non venit Legem solvere, sed implere.

Law and the Prophets hang (Matt. 22:37–40). Without the twofold love the Law cannot be fulfilled. As long as the Law is not fulfilled, there is infirmity. That is why he who had been infirm for thirty-eight years had two too few. What does it mean, he had two too few? He was not fulfilling those two commandments. What does it profit that the rest are fulfilled, if those are not fulfilled? You have thirty-eight? If you do not have those two, the rest will profit you nothing. You have two too few, without which the rest avail nothing, if you do not have the two commandments, which lead to salvation. If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not charity, I have become sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. And if I know all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so that I move mountains, but have not charity, I am nothing. And if I distribute all my substance, and if I hand over my body to be burned, but have not charity, it profits me nothing (1 Cor. 13:1–3). These are the Apostle's words. All those things, then, that he spoke of are, as it were, thirty-eight years; but because charity was not there, there was infirmity. Who, then, will heal from this infirmity, except Him Who came to give charity? A new commandment I give you, that you love one another (John 13:34). And because He came to give charity, and charity perfects the Law, rightly did He say, I came not to destroy the Law, but to fulfil it (Matt. 5:17). He healed the sick man, and told him to carry his bed and go to his house. This He said also to the paralytic whom He healed (Mark 2:11). What is it to carry our bed? The pleasure of our flesh. Where we lie infirm, there, as it were, is our bed. But those who have been healed restrain it and carry it; they are not held by the flesh itself. So, being healthy, restrain the frailty of your flesh, so that by the sign of the forty-day fast from this world you may fulfil the number forty, Who healed that sick man, Who came not to destroy the Law but to fulfil it.

11. Temporalia animo dimittenda. Tentatio plerumque peccatorem non facit, sed prodit. Hoc audito, dirigite cor vestrum in Deum. Nolite vos fallere. Tunc vos interrogate, quando bene est in saeculo; tunc vos interrogate, si amatis hunc mundum, aut si non amatis; discite dimittere, antequam dimittamini. Quid est dimittere? Animo non amare. Cum adhuc tecum est quod amissurus es, aut vivus, aut moriens illud dimittis, non potest tecum esse semper: cum ergo adhuc tecum est, solve amorem; paratus esto in voluntate Dei, susp⟨e⟩ndere in Deum. Tene te ad illum quem non amittis invitus; ut si contigerit ut amittas ista temporalia, dicas: Dominus dedit, Dominus abstulit; sicut Domino placuit, ita factum est: sit nomen Domini benedictum (Job I, 21). Si autem contigerit, et hoc vult Deus, ut illa quae habes tecum sint usque in finem; solutus ab hac vita, accipis denarium quinquagenerium, et fit in te perfectio beatitudinis, cum cantas Alleluia. Haec habentes in memoria quae commemoravi, valeant ut non diligatis saeculum. Mala est

11. Temporal things are to be let go in the mind. Temptation for the most part does not make a sinner, but reveals him. Having heard this, direct your heart towards God. Do not deceive yourselves. Question yourselves at the time when things go well in the world; question yourselves then whether you love this world or do not love it; learn to let go before you are let go. What is it to let go? Not to love in the mind. While what you are going to lose is still with you, either living or dying you let it go; it cannot be with you always: so while it is still with you, loosen your love; be ready, in the will of God, to hang upon God. Hold yourself to Him Whom you do not lose against your will; so that, if it should happen that you lose these temporal things, you may say: The Lord gave, the Lord has taken away; as it pleased the Lord, so it has been done: blessed be the name of the Lord (Job 1:21). But if it should happen, and God wills this, that the things you have remain with you to the end, released from this life you receive the denarius of fifty, and the perfection of blessedness comes about in you, when you sing Alleluia. Keeping in memory these things which I have recalled, may they avail so that you do not love the world. Evil is

Editors' notes and page, col. 697

Footnotes

(1) ‹anchor: denarium quinquagenerium› · call in col 697

Sirm., quadragenarium. Corrigitur ex codice cr. et ex dictis n. 9.

Sirm.: quadragenarium ("of forty"). It is corrected from the codex cr. and from what is said in n. 9.

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(a) ‹anchor: quadragenarium numerum, qui› · call in col 697

Forte, quia.

Perhaps quia ("because").

(*) ‹anchor: SERMO CXXVI› · call in col 698 Recognitus est ad duos cl. ad gr. rm. Am. Er. Par. Lov.

It has been revised against two cl. [manuscripts], against gr. rm. Am. Er. Par. Lov.

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