Augustine, Sermones 179-184 (Classis I, de Scripturis)

Sermon 179. On the words of the Apostle James, But let every one of you be swift to hear, but slow to speak. And on those in the same place, But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, etc. (Jas. 1:19, 22).

Chapter I. — 1. Something must be said about the duty of both, the hearers and the preachers of the word of God. The blessed apostle James addresses the assiduous hearers of the word of God, saying: But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves (Jas. 1:22). For you do not deceive Him whose word it is, nor him through whom the word is spoken; but you deceive your own selves. From this sentence, then, flowing from the fount of truth through the most truthful apostolic mouth, we too dare to exhort you: and when we exhort you, to look back at ourselves. For he is an empty preacher of the word of God outwardly who is not a hearer of it inwardly. Nor are we so turned away from humanity and faithful consideration that we do not understand our own dangers, we who preach the word of God to the peoples. But it consoles us that where we are imperilled in our ministries, we are helped by your prayers. For that you may know, brethren, how much safer a place you stand in than we, I bring forward another sentence of the same apostle, saying, But let every one of you be swift to hear, but slow to speak (Jas. 1:19). First, therefore, I shall speak about this duty of ours, on account of this sentence, by which we are admonished to be swifter to hear, slower to speak: so that when I have excused our duty, we who often speak, I may then come to what I first proposed.

Chapter II. — 2. To hear the word of God is safer than to preach it. It behoves us to exhort you that you be not hearers only of the word, but also doers. That we speak to you often, then: who, paying little attention to our necessity, does not judge us, when he reads, But let every man be swift to hear, but slow to speak?

See, your eagerness does not allow us to keep to that resolve. You ought therefore to pray, to support the one whom you compel to be in danger. Nevertheless, my brothers, I shall tell you something which I want you to believe, since you do not see it in my heart. I who speak to you constantly, at the bidding of my lord and brother, your bishop, and at your demand, have solid joy only when I listen. My joy, I say, is solid then, when I listen, not when I preach. For then I take delight without anxiety. That pleasure has no puffing up. There the precipice of pride is not feared, where there is the rock of solid truth. And so that you may know that this is so, hear where it is said, To my hearing Thou wilt give exultation and gladness. There I rejoice, where I listen. Then, following on, he added, The bones that have been humbled will exult (Ps. 50:10). When we listen, therefore, we are humble; but when we preach, even if we are not endangered by pride, we are at least reined in. And even if I am not lifted up, I am in danger of being lifted up. But when I listen, I enjoy without a defrauder, I take delight without a witness. That friend of the bridegroom also knew this joy, who said: He who has the bride is the bridegroom; but the friend of the bridegroom stands and hears him. And he stands for this reason, because he hears him. For the first man too stood by hearing God, and fell by hearing the serpent. Therefore the friend of the bridegroom stands and hears him: and with joy, he says, he rejoices because of the voice of the bridegroom (John 3:29). Not because of his own voice, but because of the voice of the bridegroom. Yet the voice of the bridegroom which he heard within, he did not shut out from the peoples outside.

Chapter III. — 3. The duties of Mary and Martha. Martha's part is good. The good of hospitality. This part that Mary too had chosen for herself, who, while her sister was serving and busy about much serving, sat at the Lord's feet and at leisure heard His word. John stood, she sat: but she stood in heart, and he sat in humility. For standing signifies remaining; sitting, humility. And so that you may know that standing signifies remaining, the devil is said not to have had this remaining; of whom it is said: He was a murderer from the beginning, and did not stand in the truth (John 8:44). Likewise, that sitting signifies humility, that psalm shows where it admonishes about penitence and says: Rise after you have sat, you who eat the bread of sorrow (Ps. 126:2). What is, Rise after you have sat? He who humbles himself will be exalted (Luke 14:11). But what good listening has, the Lord Himself is witness, speaking of Mary, who sat at His feet and heard His word. For when her sister, very busy about the serving, complained that she was deserted by her sister, she heard from the Lord whom she had appealed to: Martha, Martha, you are busy about many things; but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the better part, which will not be taken away from her (Luke 10:38–42). Was what Martha was doing an evil thing, then? Which of us could explain sufficiently in words how great a good it is to provide hospitality to saints? If to any saints whatever, how much more to the head and chief members, Christ and the Apostles? Does not each one of you who has this good of hospitality, when he hears what Martha was doing, say within

himself: O blessed, O happy woman, who was found worthy to receive the Lord; whose guests the Apostles became, walking in the flesh! And do not lose heart because you cannot do what Martha did, receive Christ into your house with His Apostles: He Himself makes you secure: When you did it to one of the least of Mine, you did it to Me (Matt. 25:40). It is therefore a great work, a very great one, which the Apostle enjoins, saying: Sharing in the necessities of the saints, pursuing hospitality (Rom. 12:13). Praising this in the Epistle to the Hebrews he says: Through this some, without knowing it, received angels as guests (Heb. 13:2). A great ministry, then, a great gift. And yet Mary chose the better part; for while her sister was anxious, labouring, attending to many things, she was at leisure, she sat, she listened.

Chapter IV. — 4. Mary's part is better, because it is not taken away. Martha's work is taken away, not her reward. The Lord, however, showed why that part was better. For immediately after He had said, Mary chose the better part, as though we were asking, wishing to know why it was better, He added and said, Which shall not be taken away from her. What do we understand by this, my brothers? If she chose the better part for this reason, that it shall not be taken away from her, then without doubt Martha had chosen that part which would be taken away from her. Plainly it will be taken away from every person who ministers to the saints the things that are necessary for the body; what he does will be taken away from him. For he will not always be ministering to the saints. For to what does he minister, if not to weakness? to what does he minister, if not to mortality? to whom does he minister, if not to one who is hungry and thirsty? All these things will not exist when this corruptible has put on incorruption, and this mortal has put on immortality. For when necessity itself has passed away, there will be no ministry of necessity. The labour will be taken away, but the reward will be rendered. To whom then will food be ministered, where no one hungers? to whom drink, where no one thirsts? to whom hospitality, where no one is a stranger? The Lord, therefore, with His disciples, so that He might be able to render the reward of this work, deigned to be in need. He Himself hungered and thirsted: not because He was compelled, but because He deigned to. For it was good that He through Whom all things were made should hunger: for thus he who fed Him would be happy. And when anyone fed the Lord, what did he give? who gave? from what did he give? to whom did he give? What did he give? He gave food to the Bread. Who gave? He certainly gave who wished to receive more. From what did he give? Was it from his own? For what did he have that he had not received? To whom did he give? Was it not to Him Who had created both what He was receiving and the one from whom He was receiving it? A great ministry this, a great work this, a great gift. And yet Mary chose the better part, which shall not be taken away from her. Martha's part, then, passes away: but, as I have said, the reward given for it does not pass away.

Chapter V. — 5. How Mary's part does not pass away. But Mary's part does not pass away. See how it does not pass away. In what did Mary take delight when she listened? What was she eating? what was she drinking? Do you know what she was eating, what she was drinking? Let us ask the Lord Himself, Who prepares such a table for His own; let us ask Him. Blessed, He says, are those who hunger and thirst for justice,

for they shall be satisfied (Matt. 5:6). From this fountain, from this granary of righteousness, holy Mary, sitting at the feet of the Lord, hungering, was receiving certain crumbs. For the Lord was then giving as much as she could take in. But the whole of all that He is going to give at that future table of His, neither the disciples themselves nor the Apostles themselves were then able to take in, when He was saying to them: I have yet many things to say to you; but you cannot hear them now (John 16:12). In what, then, as I said, was Mary delighting? What was she eating, what was she drinking with the most eager jaws of the heart? Righteousness, truth. She was delighting in truth, she was listening to truth: she was gaping after truth, she was sighing for truth. Hungering, she was eating truth; thirsting, she was drinking it: and she herself was being refreshed, and that on which she was feeding was not being diminished. In what was Mary delighting? what was she eating? I linger over it, because I delight in it. I dare to say, she was eating Him to Whom she was listening. For if she was eating truth, did He Himself not say, I am the truth (John 14:6)? And what more shall I say? He was being eaten, because He was bread: I am, He says, the bread which came down from heaven (John 6:41). This is the bread which refreshes, and does not fail.

Chapter VI.— 6. To be fed with truth, the part of Mary which does not pass away. The delight in the light of truth. Let your Charity therefore attend. See, we speak of ministering to the saints, preparing food, serving drink, setting a table, washing feet, spreading a bed, receiving under one's roof; is not all this going to pass away? But who dares to say that we are fed with truth now, but are not fed when we have come to immortality? If we are fed now with crumbs, shall we not then have a full table? For of this very spiritual food the Lord was speaking when He praised the faith of the centurion and said: Amen I say to you, I have not found such great faith in Israel. And therefore I say to you, that many shall come from the east and the west, and shall recline with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven (Matt. 8:10–11). Far be it from our thoughts that we should think of the foods at the table of that kingdom as being of the sort of which the Apostle says: Food for the belly, and the belly for foods; but God will bring to nothing both it and them (1 Cor. 6:13). Why will He bring them to nothing? Because there will be no hunger there. What will be eaten is not used up. For, promising this reward too to His saints in that kingdom, He says: Amen I say to you, that He will make them recline; and He will pass by, and will minister to them (Luke 12:37). What is He will make them recline, except He will make them rest, He will make them be at leisure? What is He will pass, or, He will pass by, and will minister to them? After this passing He will minister to them. For here Christ made the passage: we shall come to Him whither He passed over, there He no longer passes. For Pascha too, in the Hebrew tongue, is interpreted Passage. This the Lord showed, or rather the evangelist, where he said of the Lord: But when the hour had come that He should pass from this world to the Father (John 13:1). If, then, He feeds us here, and feeds us thus, how will He feed us there? What Mary chose, therefore, was growing, not passing away. For the delight of the human heart in the light of truth, in the abundance of wisdom, the delight of the human heart, of the faithful heart, of the holy heart: no pleasure is found that could in any respect be compared with it, so that it might even be called lesser. For when you say, It is less, as if

by growing it will be equal. I do not want to say "Less": I make no comparison; it is of another kind, it is far different. For what is it now that you all attend to, all hear, are all roused by, and when something true is said, are delighted? What have you seen? What have you held? What colour has appeared to your eyes? What form, what figure, what stature, what lineaments of limbs, what beauty of body? None of these. And yet you love. For when would you praise thus, if you did not love? When would you love, if you saw nothing? So then, though I show no form of body, no lineaments, no colour, no beautiful movements, though I show nothing, you nevertheless see, love, praise. If this delight in truth is sweet now, much sweeter will it be then. Mary has chosen the better part, which shall not be taken away from her.

Chapter VII. — 7. We ought to be doers of the word both within and without. I have shown, as I could, as far as the Lord has deigned to help me, to your most sweet Charity, how much safer a place you stand in by hearing than we by preaching. For in this way you are doing now what we shall all do then. For then there will not be any teacher of the word, but the Word [will be] the teacher. It follows, then, that it belongs to you to do, to us to admonish. For you are hearers of the word, we preachers. But within, where no one sees, we are all hearers: within, in the heart, in the mind, where He teaches you Who admonishes you to praise. For I speak outwardly, He rouses within. So we are all hearers within; and we all ought to be doers both without and within in the sight of God. How doers within? Because whoever has looked upon a woman to lust after her has already committed adultery with her in his heart (Matt. 5:28). And one can be an adulterer with no man seeing, but with God punishing. Who, then, is a doer within? He who does not look in order to lust. Who is a doer without? Break your bread for the hungry (Isa. 58:7). For when this is done, one's neighbour too sees it: but with what intention it is done, none sees but God. Be therefore, my brethren, doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves: not God, not him who preaches. For I, or whoever preaches the word to you, do not see your heart: what you are doing within in your thoughts, he cannot judge. Because man cannot, God beholds, from Whom the human heart cannot be hidden. He sees with what zeal you hear, what you think, what you retain, how much you profit from His supplies, how earnestly you pray, how you entreat God for what you do not have, how you give thanks for what you have: He knows Who is going to exact [it]. We can pay out the Lord's money: the exactor will come Who said, Wicked servant, you should have given my money to the moneychangers, and I on coming would have exacted it with interest.

Chapter VIII. — 8. Hearers of the word building, some upon rock, others upon sand. Do not, then, my brethren, deceive yourselves because you have come eagerly to hear the word, if you do not do what you hear, by falling short. Consider: if it is a fine thing to hear, how much more to do. If you do not hear, you neglect hearing, you build nothing. If you hear and do not do, you build a ruin. Of the Lord

Christ is a most fitting similitude set forth on this matter: Whoever hears, He says, these words of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a prudent man who builds his house upon rock. The rain came down, the rivers came, the winds blew, and they struck against that house, and it did not fall. Why did it not fall? For it was founded upon rock. Therefore to hear and to do is to build upon rock. For hearing itself is building. But whoever, He says, hears these words of Mine, and does not do them, I will liken him to a foolish man who builds. He too builds. What does he build? See, he builds his house: but because he does not do what he hears, by hearing too he builds upon sand. Therefore he who hears and does not do builds upon sand; he who hears and does builds upon rock; he who does not hear at all builds neither upon sand nor upon rock. But see what follows: The rain came down, the rivers came, the winds blew, and they struck against that house, and it fell; and great was its ruin (Matt. 7:24–27). A pitiable spectacle!

Chapter IX. — 9. Not to hear, as if not to build, is evil. So someone says: What I am not going to do, what need have I to hear? For by hearing, he says, and not doing, I shall build a ruin. Is it not safer to hear nothing? For that very part the Lord did not wish to touch upon in the similitude He set forth, but left it to be understood. For in this world rain, winds, rivers do not rest. You do not build upon rock, so that when they come they may not throw you down? You do not build upon sand, lest when they come they throw down your house? Then you will remain thus, without any roof, because you hear nothing. The rain comes, the rivers come: are you then safe because you are swept away naked? Consider then what sort of part you have chosen for yourself. You will not be, as you think, secure by not hearing: you must, naked and without any roof, be overwhelmed, carried off, submerged. If then it is evil to build upon sand, it is evil to build nothing; it remains that nothing is good except to build on rock. It is evil, therefore, not to hear; it is evil to hear and not to do; it remains to hear and to do. Be therefore doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.

Chapter X. — 10. Let the negligent hearer not plead the faults of the preacher. After this exhortation I fear lest I may not raise you up by the word, but break you down with despair. For perhaps someone, whether one, or two, or certainly more, in this crowded presence of yours judges me, and says: I should like to know whether this man who speaks to me does all the things which he himself either hears or tells to others. To him I reply: But to me it is a very small thing that I should be judged by you, or by man's day. For I myself too can know in some part what I am now; what I shall be tomorrow I do not know. But concerning me, O whoever you are who are so moved, the Lord has given you security. For if I do what I say or what I hear, be imitators of me, as I also am of Christ (1 Cor. 4:3, 16). But if I say, and do not do, hear the Lord: What they say, do; but what they do, do not do. Therefore if you think well of me, you praise me; if you think ill of me, you accuse me, but you do not excuse yourself. For how will you excuse yourself, if against a bad preacher of the truth, who speaks the word of God to you, and his own