PL 38 · cols. 773–777

Augustine, Sermones 138-145 (Classis I, de Scripturis)

Sermons CXL–CXLI

SERMO CXL. De verbis Evangelii Joannis, cap. XII, 44-50, Qui credit in me, non credit in me, sed in eum qui me misit Contra quoddam dictum Maximini Arianorum episcopi, qui cum Segisvulto comite constitutus in Africa blasphemabat.

Sermon 140. On the words of the Gospel of John, chapter 12:44-50, He who believes in Me does not believe in Me, but in Him Who sent Me. Against a certain saying of Maximinus, bishop of the Arians, who, while stationed in Africa with Count Segisvult, was uttering blasphemy.

1. Fides in Christum. Quid est quod audivimus, fratres, dicentem Dominum, Qui credit in me, non credit in me, sed in eum qui me misit? Bonum est nobis credere in Christum; maxime quia ipse aperte etiam dixit istud quod audistis, hoc est, quoniam ipse lux venerat in mundum, et qui credit in eum, non ambulabit in tenebris, sed habebit lumen vitae (Joan. VIII, 12). Bonum est ergo credere in Christum. Magnum bonum est credere in Christum: et magnum malum est non credere in Christum. Sed quia Christus Filius de Patre est quidquid est, Pater autem non est de Filio, sed Pater est Filii; commendat quidem in se fidem, sed honorem revocat ad auctorem.

1. Faith in Christ. What is it that we have heard, brethren, the Lord saying: He who believes in Me does not believe in Me, but in Him Who sent Me? It is good for us to believe in Christ, especially since He Himself also said openly what you have heard, that is, that He Himself had come as light into the world, and whoever believes in Him will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life (John 8:12). It is good, therefore, to believe in Christ. It is a great good to believe in Christ, and a great evil not to believe in Christ. But since Christ the Son is from the Father whatever He is, while the Father is not from the Son, but is the Father of the Son, He commends faith in Himself indeed, but refers the honour back to its author.

2. Nativitates Christi duae. Hoc enim firmum et fixum tenete, si vultis perseverare catholici, quia Deus Pater Deum Filium genuit sine tempore, et f⟨e⟩cit ex Virgine in tempore. Nativitas illa excedit tempora: nativitas ista illuminat tempora. Ambae tamen nativitates mirabiles: illa sine matre, ista sine patre. Quando genuit Deus Filium, de se genuit, non de matre: quando genuit mater filium, virgo genuit, non de viro. De Patre natus est sine initio: de matre natus est hodie certo initio. De Patre natus fecit nos: de matre natus refecit nos. De Patre natus est, ut essemus: de matre natus est, ne periremus. Genuit autem Pater aequalem sibi, et totum quidquid est Filius, habet de Patre. Quod autem Deus Pater est, non habet de Filio. Itaque dicimus Patrem Deum de nullo, Filium Deum de Deo. Propterea omne quod Filius facit mirabiliter, omne quod dicit veraciter, ei tribuit de quo est; nec esse potest aliud, quam ille de quo est. Adam factus est homo: potuit esse aliud, quam est factus. Factus est enim justus, et potuit esse injustus. Unigenitus autem Dei Filius, quod est, hoc mutari non potest: in aliud converti non potest, minui non potest, quod erat non esse non potest, non esse Patri aequalis non potest. Sed plane ille, qui omnia Filio dedit nascenti, dedit non indigenti; sine

2. The two nativities of Christ. For hold this firm and fixed, if you wish to persevere as catholics: that God the Father begot God the Son without time, and made Him from the Virgin in time. That nativity surpasses the ages; this nativity illuminates the ages. Both nativities, however, are wondrous: that one without a mother, this one without a father. When God begot the Son, He begot Him from Himself, not from a mother; when the mother brought forth the son, a virgin brought him forth, not from a man. From the Father He was born without beginning; from His mother He was born today with a definite beginning. Born of the Father, He made us; born of His mother, He remade us. He was born of the Father, that we might exist; He was born of His mother, that we might not perish. Now the Father begot one equal to Himself, and the whole of whatever the Son is, He has from the Father. But that which God the Father is, He does not have from the Son. And so we say that the Father is God from no one, the Son God from God. Therefore all that the Son does wondrously, all that He says truly, He attributes to Him from Whom He is; nor can He be other than He from Whom He is. Adam was made a man: he could have been other than he was made. For he was made just, and he could have been unjust. But the only-begotten Son of God, what He is, this cannot be changed: He cannot be turned into something else, He cannot be diminished, He cannot cease to be what He was, He cannot fail to be equal to the Father. But plainly He Who gave all things to the Son in His being born gave them to one not in need; without

Editors' notes and page, col. 773

Footnotes

(*) ‹anchor: not visible (sermon heading)› · call in col 773 Castigatus est subsidio librorum cl. r. v. et Sirm.

Corrected with the help of the books cl. r. v. and Sirmond.

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(a) ‹anchor: not visible (sermon heading)› · call in col 773

Alias, ex Sirmondianis 16.

Formerly no. 16 of Sirmond's sermons.

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(b) ‹anchor: not visible (sermon heading)› · call in col 773

Apud Sirmondum inscribitur, « In die Natalis Domini. » Apud veteres etiam, quos vidimus codices, exstat inter Sermones de Christi Natali, cum titulo prope eodem: quo nos diem, non in qua sermo habitus ab Augustino, sed in qua legendus in ecclesia erat, indicari arbitramur.

In Sirmond it is headed "On the day of the Lord's Nativity." In the old codices we have seen it also stands among the Sermons on Christ's Nativity, with nearly the same title; by which we judge that the day indicated is not the one on which Augustine preached the sermon, but the one on which it was to be read in church.

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Segisvultum comitem Prosper in Chronico narrat in Africam missum fuisse Hierio et Ardabure Coss. hoc est anno Christi 427. Cum eo tunc fuisse Maximinum episcopum, Maximinus ipse profitetur initio Collationis, quam Hippone habuit cum Augustino: « Ego, » inquit, « in hanc civitatem.... « missus a comite Segisvulto contemplatione pacis adveni. » Pertinet ergo hic sermo ad annum circiter 428.

Prosper in his Chronicle relates that Count Segisvult was sent into Africa in the consulship of Hierius and Ardabur, that is, in the year of Christ 427. That Bishop Maximinus was then with him Maximinus himself declares at the opening of the Conference he held with Augustine at Hippo: "I came into this city," he says, "... sent by Count Segisvult for the sake of peace." This sermon therefore belongs to about the year 428.

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(d) ‹anchor: natus est hodie› · call in col 773

Vocem, hodie, hic et in sermonis fine ab iis additam suspicamur, quorum consilio institutum fuit, ut idem sermo in Christi Nativitate legeretur.

We suspect that the word "today," here and at the sermon's end, was added by those on whose decision it was arranged that this sermon should be read on Christ's Nativity.

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dubio et ipsam aequalitatem cum Patre Pater dedit Filio. Quomodo Pater dedit? ⟨n⟩umquid minorem genuit, et addidit illi ad formam, ut faceret aequalem? Si hoc fecisset, indigenti dedisset. Jam vero dixi vobis, quod firmissime tenere debetis, id est, totum quod est Filius Pater dedit, sed nascenti, non indigenti. Si nascenti dedit, non indigenti, et aequalitatem sine dubio dedit, et aequalitatem dando aequalem genuit. Et licet alius sit ille, alius iste; non tamen aliud est ille, aliud iste: sed quod ille, hoc et iste. Non qui ille, hic et iste: sed quod ille, hoc et iste.

doubt the Father also gave to the Son equality itself with the Father. How did the Father give? Did He beget Him lesser, and then add to Him towards His form, so as to make Him equal? Had He done this, He would have given to one in need. But I have already told you what you ought to hold most firmly, that is, the Father gave all that the Son is, but to one being born, not to one in need. If He gave to one being born, not to one in need, He without doubt gave equality too, and by giving equality He begot an equal. And though that One is one person and this One another, yet that One is not one thing and this One another thing: but what that One is, this One is also. Not: who that One is, this One is also; but: what that One is, this One is also.

3. Verus Filius Dei cur dictus Christus.—Qui me misit, inquit, audistis: Qui me misit, inquit, ipse mihi mandatum dedit quid dicam, et quid loquar: et scio quia mandatum ejus vita aeterna est. Joannis Evangelium est, tenete. Qui me misit, ipse mihi mandatum dedit quid dicam, et quid loquar: et scio quia mandatum ejus vita aeterna est. O si donet ut dicam quod volo? Facit enim mihi angustias inopia mea, et copia illius. Ipse, inquit, mandatum mihi dedit quid dicam, et quid loquar: et scio quia mandatum ejus vita aeterna est. Quaere in Epistola Joannis hujus evangelistae quid de Christo dixit. Credamus, inquit, in verum Filium ejus Jesum Christum. Ipse est verus Deus, et vita aeterna (I Joan. V, 20). Quid est, Verus Deus, et vita aeterna? Verus Filius Dei, verus Deus est, et vita aeterna. Quare dixit, in verum Filium ejus? Quia multos filios habet Deus, propterea discernendus erat, addendo quod verus esset Filius. Non tantum dicendo quod est Filius; sed addendo, ut dixi, quod est verus Filius: ideo discernendus erat, propter multos filios, quos habet Deus. Nos enim filii sumus gratia, ille natura. Nos facti a Patre per ipsum: ille quod Pater, hoc et ipse est: numquid quod Deus est, sumus et nos?

3. Why Christ is called the true Son of God.—He Who sent Me, He says, you have heard: He Who sent Me, He says, Himself gave Me a commandment what I should say, and what I should speak: and I know that His commandment is life eternal. It is the Gospel of John; hold it fast. He Who sent Me, Himself gave Me a commandment what I should say, and what I should speak: and I know that His commandment is life eternal. O if He would grant that I might say what I wish! For my poverty and His abundance put me in straits. He Himself, He says, gave Me a commandment what I should say, and what I should speak: and I know that His commandment is life eternal. Seek in the Epistle of John, this same evangelist, what he said of Christ. Let us believe, he says, in His true Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God, and life eternal (1 John 5:20). What is, The true God, and life eternal? The true Son of God is true God, and life eternal. Why did he say, in His true Son? Because God has many sons, therefore He had to be distinguished, by adding that He was the true Son. Not only by saying that He is the Son; but by adding, as I said, that He is the true Son: therefore He had to be distinguished, on account of the many sons whom God has. For we are sons by grace, He by nature. We were made by the Father through Him: what the Father is, that He Himself is too: are we too what God is?

4. Unum se esse cum Patre nemo praeter Christum dicere ausit. Sed quidam de transverso, nesciens quid loquatur ait: Propterea dictum est, Ego et Pater unum sumus (Joan. X, 30), quia habent inter se concordem voluntatem, non quia ipsa est natura Filii, quae est natura Patris. Nam et Apostoli (et hoc ille dixit, non ego), nam et Apostoli unum sunt cum Patre et Filio. Horrenda blasphemia! Et Apostoli, inquit, unum sunt cum Patre et Filio, quia obediunt voluntati Patris et Filii. Hoccine ausus est dicere? Dicat ergo Paulus: Ego et Deus unum sumus. Dicat Petrus, dicat quilibet propheta: Ego et Deus unum sumus. Non dicit: absit ut dicat. Novit se aliam esse naturam, salvandam naturam: novit se aliam e⟨s⟩se na⟨t⟩uram, illuminandam naturam. Nemo dicit: ⟨Ego⟩ et Deus unum sumus. Quantumcumque profic⟨ia⟩t, quantumcumque sanctitate praepolleat, quantolibet culmine virtutis excellat, nunquam dicit, Ego et Deus unum sumus: quia si habet virtutem, et ideo hoc dicit; hoc dicendo, quod habebat, amisit.

4. That no one but Christ would dare to say he is one with the Father. But a certain man, from the side, not knowing what he says, says: It was said, I and the Father are one (John 10:30), for this reason, that they have between them a concordant will, not because the nature of the Son is the very nature of the Father. For the Apostles too (and he said this, not I), for the Apostles too are one with the Father and the Son. Horrible blasphemy! The Apostles too, he says, are one with the Father and the Son, because they obey the will of the Father and of the Son. Did he dare to say this? Let Paul then say: I and God are one. Let Peter say, let any prophet you please say: I and God are one. He does not say it: far be it that he should say it. He knows that he is another nature, a nature to be saved; he knows that he is another nature, a nature to be enlightened. No one says: I and God are one. However much he may advance, however much he may excel in holiness, to whatever summit of virtue he may rise, he never says, I and God are one: because if he has virtue, and says this on that account, by saying this he has lost what he had.

5. Aequalitas Filii cum Patre. Aequalem ergo Pat⟨r⟩i

5. The equality of the Son with the Father. Equal, therefore, to the Father,

Editors' notes and page, col. 774

Footnotes

(a) ‹anchor: hoc ille dixit› · call in col 774

Maximinus in Collatione Augustini cum ipso, et lib. 2 contra eumdem, cap. 22.

Maximinus, in Augustine's Conference with him, and Book 2 against the same, ch. 22.

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credite. Filium, sed tamen de Patre Filium, Patrem vero non de Filio. Origo apud illum, aequalitas apud istum. Nam si aequalis non est, verus Filius non est. Quid enim dicimus, fratres? Si aequalis non est, minor est: si minor est, interrogo salvandam naturam male credentem, quomodo minor natus est. Responde: minor crescit, an non? Si crescit, ergo et Pater senescit. Si autem quod natus est, hoc erit; si minor natus est, et minor erit: cum detrimento suo perfectus erit, cum detrimento formae Patris perfectus natus, nunquam perventurus est ad formam Patris. Sic impii addicitis Filium: sic haeretici blasphematis Filium. Quid ergo catholica fides dicit? Filius Deus de Patre Deo: Pater Deus non de Filio Deus. Sed Filius Deus aequalis Patri, aequalis natus, non minor natus; non aequalis factus, sed aequalis natus. Quod est ille, hoc et iste qui natus est. Aliquando fuit Pater sine Filio? Absit. Tolle Aliquando, ubi tempus non est. Semper Pater, semper Filius. Sine initio temporis Pater, sine initio temporis Filius: nunquam Pater ante Filium, nunquam Pater sine Filio. Sed tamen quia Filius Deus de Deo Patre, Pater autem Deus, sed non de Deo Filio; non nobis displiceat honorificentia Filii in Patre. Honorificentia enim Filii Patri tribuit honorem, non suam minuit divinitatem.

so believe Him, the Son, but yet the Son from the Father, whereas the Father is not from the Son. Origin is with the one, equality with the other. For if He is not equal, He is not a true Son. For what are we saying, brothers? If He is not equal, He is lesser; if He is lesser, I ask the nature that needs to be saved, which believes wrongly, how He was born lesser. Answer: does the lesser one grow, or not? If He grows, then the Father also grows old. But if what He was born, that He will be; if He was born lesser, He will also be lesser: He will be perfect to His own detriment; born perfect to the detriment of the form of the Father, He will never attain to the form of the Father. Thus you impious ones condemn the Son; thus you heretics blaspheme the Son. What then does the catholic faith say? The Son is God from God the Father; the Father is God not from God the Son. But the Son is God equal to the Father, born equal, not born lesser; not made equal, but born equal. What the One is, this also is He Who was born. Was the Father at some time without the Son? Far from it. Take away 'at some time' where there is no time. Always Father, always Son. Without beginning of time the Father, without beginning of time the Son: never the Father before the Son, never the Father without the Son. But yet, because the Son is God from God the Father, while the Father is God, but not from God the Son, let not the honouring of the Son in the Father displease us. For the honouring of the Son bestows honour on the Father; it does not diminish His own divinity.

6. Verbum Dei mandatum Patris. Quia ergo dicebam, quod proposueram, Et scio, ait, quia mandatum ejus vita aeterna est. Intendite, fratres, quod dico: Scio quia mandatum ejus vita aeterna est. Et legimus apud ipsum Joannem de Christo, Ipse est verus Deus, et vita aeterna. Si mandatum Patris vita aeterna est, et Christus Filius ipse est vita aeterna; mandatum Patris ipse Filius est. Quomodo enim non est mandatum Patris, quod est Verbum Patris? Aut si mandatum a Patre Filio datum carnaliter accipitis, tanquam dixerit Pater Filio, Hoc mando tibi, hoc illud volo facias: quibus verbis locutus est unico Verbo? Numquid quando mandatum dabat ad Verbum, verba quaerebat? Quia ergo vita aeterna est Patris mandatum, et ipse Filius est vita aeterna, credite et accipite, credite et intelligite, quia Propheta dicit, Nisi credideritis, non intelligetis (Isai. VII, 9, sec. LXX). Non capitis? dilatamini. Apostolum audite: Dilatamini, ne sitis jugum ducentes cum infidelibus (II Cor. VI, 15, 14). Qui hoc nolunt credere antequam capiant, infideles sunt. Quia vero infideles esse voluerunt, imperiti remanebunt. Credant ergo, ut intelligant. Prorsus mandatum Patris vita aeterna est. Ergo mandatum Patris ipse Filius est, qui hodie natus est: mandatum non a tempore datum, sed mandatum natum. Exercet mentes Evangelium Joannis, limat et excarnat, ut de Deo non carnaliter, sed spiritualiter sapiamus. Sufficiant ergo ista, fratres, vobis: ne in longitudine disputationis subrepat somnus oblivionis.

6. The Word of God is the commandment of the Father. Since, then, I was saying what I had set forth: And I know, He says, that His commandment is eternal life. Attend, brothers, to what I say: I know that His commandment is eternal life. And we read in John himself concerning Christ: He is the true God, and eternal life. If the commandment of the Father is eternal life, and Christ the Son is Himself eternal life, then the Son Himself is the commandment of the Father. For how is that not the commandment of the Father which is the Word of the Father? Or if you take the commandment given by the Father to the Son in a carnal sense, as though the Father had said to the Son, This I command you, this, that I want you to do: with what words did He speak to the only Word? When He was giving a commandment to the Word, was He looking for words? Since, then, eternal life is the commandment of the Father, and the Son Himself is eternal life, believe and receive, believe and understand, for the Prophet says, Unless you believe, you will not understand (Isa. 7:9, according to the Septuagint). Do you not grasp it? Be enlarged. Hear the Apostle: Be enlarged; do not be bearing the yoke with unbelievers (2 Cor. 6:13–14). Those who will not believe this before they grasp it are unbelievers. But because they have chosen to be unbelievers, they will remain unlearned. Let them therefore believe, that they may understand. Assuredly the commandment of the Father is eternal life. Therefore the Son Himself is the commandment of the Father, He Who was born today: a commandment not given in time, but a commandment born. The Gospel of John exercises minds, files them and strips them of flesh, so that we may think of God not carnally but spiritually. Let these things, then, suffice for you, brothers, lest in the length of the disputation the sleep of forgetfulness creep upon us.

Editors' notes and page, col. 775

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SERMO CXLI. De verbis Evangelii Joannis, Ego sum via, et veritas, et vita. Cap. XIV, v. 6.

Sermon 141. On the words of the Gospel of John, I am the way, and the truth, and the life. Chapter 14, verse 6.

CAPUT PRIMUM. — 1. Veritas a philosophis hujus saeculi inventa, non via. Inter caetera, cum sanctum Evangelium legeretur, audistis quod ait Dominus Jesus: Ego sum via, et veritas, et vita. Veritatem et vitam omnis homo cupit: sed viam non omnis homo invenit. Deum esse quamdam vitam aeternam, immutabilem, intelligibilem, intelligentem, sapientem, sapientes facientem, nonnulli etiam hujus saeculi philosophi viderunt. Veritatem fixam, stabilem, indeclinabilem, ubi sunt omnes rationes rerum omnium creatarum, viderunt quidem, sed de longinquo; viderunt, sed in errore positi: et idcirco ad eam tam magnam et ineffabilem et beatificam possessionem, qua via perveniretur, non invenerunt. Nam quia viderunt etiam ipsi (quantum videri ab homine potest) creatorem per creaturam, factorem per facturam, fabricatorem mundi per mundum, Paulus apostolus testis est, cui utique debent credere Christiani. Ait enim, cum de talibus loqueretur: Revelatur ira Dei de coelo super omnem impietatem. Ista, sicut recognoscitis, Pauli apostoli verba sunt. Revelatur ira Dei de coelo super omnem impietatem et injustitiam hominum, qui veritatem in iniquitate detinent. Numquid dixit eos non detinere veritatem? Sed, veritatem in iniquitate detinent. Bonum est quod tenent: sed malum est ubi tenent. Veritatem in iniquitate detinent.

Chapter One. — 1. The truth found by the philosophers of this world, not the way. Among other things, when the holy Gospel was being read, you heard what the Lord Jesus said: I am the way, and the truth, and the life. Truth and life every man desires: but not every man finds the way. That God is a certain life, eternal, unchangeable, intelligible, intelligent, wise, making wise, some even of the philosophers of this world have seen. The truth, fixed, stable, unswerving, where are the reasons of all created things, they did indeed see, but from afar; they saw, but placed in error: and for that reason they did not find by what way one might arrive at that so great and ineffable and beatifying possession. For that they too saw (so far as it can be seen by man) the Creator through the creature, the Maker through the thing made, the Fashioner of the world through the world, the apostle Paul is witness, whom Christians surely ought to believe. For he says, when he was speaking of such men: The wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all impiety. These, as you recognize, are the words of the apostle Paul. The wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all impiety and injustice of men, who hold back the truth in iniquity. Did he say that they do not hold the truth? But: they hold back the truth in iniquity. It is good, what they hold: but it is bad, where they hold it. They hold back the truth in iniquity.

CAPUT II. — 2. Unde ab illis inventa veritas. Occurrebat autem, ut diceretur ei: Unde illi impii veritatem detinent? Numquid Deus ad quemquam eorum locutus est? Numquid legem acceperunt, sicut Israelitarum populus per Moysen? Unde ergo detinent veritatem, vel in ipsa iniquitate? Audite quod sequitur, et ostendit. Quia quod notum est Dei, inquit, manifestum est in illis: Deus enim illis manifestavit. Manifestavit illis quibus legem non dedit? Audi quomodo manifestavit. Invisibilia enim ejus, per ea quae facta sunt, intellecta conspiciuntur. Interroga mundum, ornatum coeli, fulgorem dispositionemque siderum, solem diei sufficientem, lunam noctis solatium: interroga terram fructificantem herbis et lignis, animalibus plenam, hominibus exornatam: interroga mare, quantis et qualibus natatilibus plenum: interroga aera, quantis volatilibus viget: interroga omnia, et vide si non sensu suo tanquam tibi respondent, Deus nos fecit. Haec et philosophi nobiles quaesierunt, et ex arte artificem cognoverunt. Quid ergo? quare revelatur ira Dei super ipsam impietatem? Quia veritatem in iniquitate detinent? Veniat, ostendat quomodo. Jam enim dixit, quomodo cognoverunt. Invisibilia

Chapter II. — 2. From where the truth was found by them. But it occurred that one might say to him: From where do those impious men hold the truth? Did God speak to any one of them? Did they receive the law, as the people of the Israelites did through Moses? From where, then, do they hold the truth, even in that very iniquity? Hear what follows, and he shows it. Because what is known of God, he says, is manifest in them: for God has manifested it to them. Did He manifest it to those to whom He did not give the law? Hear how He manifested it. For His invisible things are clearly seen, being understood through the things that have been made. Question the world, the adornment of the sky, the brightness and arrangement of the stars, the sun sufficient for the day, the moon the solace of the night: question the earth, bearing fruit with plants and trees, full of animals, adorned with men: question the sea, with how many and what kinds of swimming creatures it is full: question the air, with how many flying creatures it teems: question all things, and see whether they do not, by their own sense, as it were answer you: God made us. These things the noble philosophers too sought out, and from the work they came to know the Workman. What then? why is the wrath of God revealed against that very impiety? Because they hold back the truth in iniquity? Let him come, let him show how. For he has already said how they came to know. The invisible things

Editors' notes and page, col. 776

Footnotes

(1) ‹anchor: hominibus exornatam› · call in col 776

Plerique Mss., in omnibus exornatam.

Most manuscripts: "adorned in all things."

(*) ‹anchor: not visible (sermon heading)› · call in col 776 Emendatus ad tres bn. ad quatuor cl. ad a. cb. f. fs. g. lr. m. pr. rm. vd.

Emended against three bn. [manuscripts], against four cl., and against a. cb. f. fs. g. lr. m. pr. rm. vd.

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(a) ‹anchor: not visible (sermon heading)› · call in col 776

Alias, de Verbis Domini 55.

Formerly [Sermon] 55 on the Words of the Lord.

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(b) ‹anchor: not visible (sermon heading)› · call in col 776

Hunc, opinamur, sermonem notat Possidius in Indiculi capite 8, his verbis: « Ex Evangelio, Ego sum via, veritas « et vita, sermo habitus cum Pagani ingrederentur. » Totum fere exscripsit Florus ad Rom. 1.

This sermon, we think, is the one Possidius notes in chapter 8 of his Indiculus in these words: "On the Gospel, I am the way, the truth and the life, a sermon preached when pagans came in." Florus copied out nearly the whole of it on Rom. 1.

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old-edition numerals: (none)

PL 38:777

ejus, id est, Dei, per ea quae facta sunt, intellecta conspiciuntur; sempiterna quoque ejus virtus et divinitas; ut sint inexcusabiles. Quia cum cognovissent Deum, non sicut Deum honorificaverunt, aut gratias egerunt; sed evanuerunt in cogitationibus suis, et obscuratum est insipiens cor eorum. Apostoli verba sunt, non mea: Et obscuratum est insipiens cor eorum; dicentes enim se esse sapientes, stulti facti sunt. Quod curiositate invenerunt, superbia perdiderunt. Dicentes se esse sapientes, id est, donum Dei sibi tribuentes, stulti facti sunt. Verba, inquam, Apostoli sunt: Dicentes se esse sapientes, stulti facti sunt.

of Him, that is, of God, are clearly seen, being understood through the things that have been made; His eternal power also and divinity; so that they are without excuse. For when they had known God, they did not honour Him as God, nor give thanks; but they became vain in their thoughts, and their foolish heart was darkened. These are the Apostle's words, not mine: And their foolish heart was darkened; for, saying that they were wise, they became fools. What they found by curiosity, they lost by pride. Saying that they were wise, that is, attributing God's gift to themselves, they became fools. These are, I say, the Apostle's words: Saying that they were wise, they became fools.

CAPUT III. — 3. Stultitia colentium idola. Ostende, proba stultitiam ipsorum. Ostende, Apostole, et sicut ostendisti nobis unde potuerunt pervenire ad cognitionem Dei, quoniam invisibilia ejus, per ea quae facta sunt, intellecta conspiciuntur: ita nunc ostende quomodo dicentes se esse sapientes, stulti facti sunt. Audi: Quia immutaverunt, ait, gloriam incorruptibilis Dei in similitudinem imaginis corruptibilis hominis, et volucrum, et quadrupedum, et serpentium (Rom. I, 18-23). Figuras enim istorum animalium, sibi deos Pagani fecerunt. Invenisti Deum, et colis idolum. Invenisti veritatem, et ipsam veritatem in injustitia detines. Et quod per Dei opera cognovisti, per opera hominis perdis. Totum considerasti; coeli, terrae, maris, elementorumque omnium ordinem collegisti: istud non vis attendere, quod mundus opus est Dei, idolum opus est fabri. Si faber idolo, sicut dedit figuram, daret et cor; ab ipso idolo faber adoraretur. Quomodo enim, o homo, faber tuus Deus est, sic homo idoli faber est. Quis est Deus tuus? Qui te fecit. Quis est Deus fabri? Qui illum fecit. Quis est Deus idoli? Qui fecit illud. Ergo si idolum cor haberet, nonne fabrum adoraret qui illud fecit? Ecce in qua iniquitate veritatem tenuerunt, et ad possessionem illam quam viderunt, viam perducentem non invenerunt.

Chapter III. — 3. The folly of those who worship idols. Show, prove their folly. Show, O Apostle, and just as you showed us whence they were able to arrive at the knowledge of God, since His invisible things are clearly seen, being understood through the things that have been made: so now show how, saying that they were wise, they became fools. Listen: Because they changed, he says, the glory of the incorruptible God into the likeness of the image of corruptible man, and of birds, and of four-footed beasts, and of serpents (Rom. 1:18–23). For the pagans made figures of these animals into gods for themselves. You have found God, and you worship an idol. You have found the truth, and you hold back that very truth in injustice. And what you came to know through the works of God, you lose through the works of man. You have considered the whole; you have gathered the order of the heaven, the earth, the sea and all the elements: this you will not attend to, that the world is the work of God, an idol the work of a craftsman. If the craftsman, as he gave the idol its shape, were also to give it a heart, the craftsman would be worshipped by the idol itself. For just as, O man, God is your maker, so man is the maker of the idol. Who is your God? He Who made you. Who is the craftsman's God? He Who made him. Who is the idol's god? He who made it. So if the idol had a heart, would it not worship the craftsman who made it? See in what iniquity they held the truth, and did not find the way leading to that possession which they saw.

CAPUT IV. — 4. Christus factus via. Christus autem, quia ipse est apud Patrem veritas et vita, Verbum Dei, de quo dictum est, Vita erat lux hominum (Joan. I, 4): quia ergo ipse est apud Patrem veritas et vita, et non habebamus qua iremus ad veritatem; Filius Dei qui semper in Patre veritas et vita est, assumendo hominem factus est via. Ambula per hominem, et pervenis ad Deum. Per ipsum vadis, ad ipsum vadis. Noli quaerere qua ad illum venias, praeter ipsum. Si enim via esse ipse noluisset, semper erraremus. Factus ergo via est qua venias. Non tibi dico, quaere viam. Ipsa via ad te venit: surge et ambula. Ambula moribus, non pedibus. Multi enim bene ambulant pedibus, et male ambulant moribus. Aliquando enim ipsi bene ambulantes, praeter viam currunt. Invenies quippe homines bene viventes, et non christianos. Bene currunt: sed in via non currunt. Quanto plus currunt, plus errant; quia a via recedunt. Si autem tales homines perveniant ad viam, et teneant viam, o quanta securitas est, quia et bene

Chapter IV. — 4. Christ made the way. But Christ, because He Himself is with the Father truth and life, the Word of God, of Whom it was said, The life was the light of men (John 1:4): since, then, He Himself is with the Father truth and life, and we had no way by which to go to the truth, the Son of God, Who is always truth and life in the Father, by taking up man became the way. Walk by the man, and you arrive at God. Through Him you go, to Him you go. Do not seek by what way you may come to Him, other than Himself. For if He Himself had not willed to be the way, we would always be going astray. So He was made the way by which you may come. I do not say to you, seek the way. The way itself comes to you: rise and walk. Walk with your conduct, not with your feet. For many walk well with their feet, and walk badly in their conduct. For sometimes those very ones who walk well run off the way. For you will find men living good lives, and not Christians. They run well: but they do not run on the way. The more they run, the more they go astray; because they move away from the way. But if such men arrive at the way, and hold to the way, O how great a security there is, because they both walk well

Editors' notes and page, col. 777

Footnotes

(1) ‹anchor: not visible› · call in col 777

Am. et aliquot Mss., Figura.

Amerbach and some manuscripts: "Figure."

(printed under page 395)

(2) ‹anchor: praeter viam currunt› · call in col 777

Plures Mss., corruunt.

Several manuscripts: "collapse."

(printed under page 395)