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Augustine, Sermones 257-265 (Classis II, de Tempore)

Sermons CCLX–CCLXI

facitis: Quia videmur nos ministrare, et nostra dantur, et per nos dantur; et tamen ea dantur, quae nobis Deus dedit. Bonum est, fratres, etiam manu vestra dispensetis: valde gratum est Deo. Ipse accipit, et dabit tibi, qui ante tibi quam deberet quod dares dedit. Debet erogationis officio conjungi ministrationis officium. Cum tibi liceat duas mercedes habere, quare perdis unam? Sed quisquis minus idoneus est omnibus dare, det pauperibus pro viribus, cum hilaritate. Hilarem autem datorem diligit Deus (II Cor. IX, 7). Omni pretio comparandum propositum est regnum coelorum. Non est ut dicat aliquis habens duos denarios, idoneum se non esse ad comparandum. Tanto evangelica illa vidua comparavit (Luc. XXI, 2).

you hold: Because we seem to be ministering, and the things given are ours, and they are given through us; and yet the things given are those which God has given to us. It is good, brothers, that you also dispense with your own hand: it is very pleasing to God. He Himself receives, and He will give to you, He Who, before He owed you anything, gave you what you might give. To the duty of giving out ought to be joined the duty of ministering. Since you are permitted to have two rewards, why do you lose one? But whoever is less able to give to all, let him give to the poor according to his strength, with cheerfulness. For God loves a cheerful giver (2 Cor. 9:7). The kingdom of heaven is set forth to be purchased at any price. It is not for anyone having two denarii to say that he is not able to purchase it. For so much did that widow in the Gospel purchase it (Luke 21:2).

6. Dies feriati. Peracti sunt dies feriati, succedent jam illi conventionum, exactionum, litigiorum: videte quomodo in his vivatis, fratres mei. De vacatione dierum istorum mansuetudinem debetis concipere, non jurgiorum consilia meditari. Sunt enim homines, qui propterea vacaverunt per dies istos, ut cogitarent malitias, quas exercerent post dies istos. Petimus vos, ut ita vivatis, tanquam qui Deo rationem reddituros vos sciatis de tota vita, non de solis istis quindecim diebus. Deinde Scripturarum quaestiones, quas hesterna die proposui, et angustia temporis impediente, non solvi, fateor me debere. Sed certe, quia dies qui sequuntur jam exactiones etiam pecuniae permittunt jure forensi et publico, hoc a me potius vos exigite jure christiano. Modo enim omnes solemnitatis gratia veniunt: post istos dies amor legis adducat a me exigi quod promisi. Qui enim dat, per me dat vobis: ipse utique dat omnibus nobis. Novi quippe Apostolum dicentem, Reddite omnibus debita: cui tributum, tributum; cui vectigal, vectigal; cui honorem, honorem; cui timorem, timorem: nemini quidquam debeatis, nisi ut invicem diligatis (Rom. XIII, 7 et 8). Sola dilectio est semper reddenda; nemo a tali debito alienus est. Quod enim debeo, fratres, in nomine Domini redditurus sum. Sed fateor vobis, non officio segnibus, sed exigentibus reddo.

6. The holidays. The holidays are over; now there follow those of meetings, of exactions, of lawsuits: see how you live in them, my brothers. From the rest of these days you ought to conceive gentleness, not to plot schemes of quarrels. For there are people who kept leisure through these days for this purpose, that they might devise wickednesses which they would carry out after these days. We ask you to live in such a way, as people who know that you will render an account to God of your whole life, not only of these fifteen days. Next, the questions from the Scriptures which I proposed yesterday and, with the shortness of time hindering me, did not resolve, I confess that I owe. But certainly, since the days that follow now permit exactions even of money by forensic and public law, exact this rather from me by Christian law. For now all come for the sake of the solemnity: after these days let love of the law lead to what I promised being exacted from me. For He Who gives, gives to you through me: indeed He gives to all of us. For I know the Apostle saying, Render to all what is owed: to whom tribute, tribute; to whom revenue, revenue; to whom honour, honour; to whom fear, fear: owe no one anything, except that you love one another (Rom. 13:7–8). Love alone is always to be paid; no one is a stranger to such a debt. For what I owe, brothers, I shall pay in the name of the Lord. But I confess to you, I pay not to those who are slack in their duty, but to those who demand it.

SERMO CCLX. Habitus eodem die in ecclesia Leontiana, de monitis baptizatorum.

Sermon 260. Preached on the same day in the Leontian church, on admonitions to the baptized.

Octavae infantium. Falsi fideles. Continentia servanda pro suo cuique gradu. Votum continentiae non reddens, damnatur. Ne moras faciamus, acturi multa, regeneratis

The octave of the infants. False faithful. Continence to be kept by each according to his own rank. One who does not fulfil a vow of continence is condemned. That we may not cause delays, since we are about to treat of many things, to the regenerated

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Footnotes

(*) ‹anchor: SERMO CCLX› · call in col 1201 Emendatus ad codices cb. gr. r. et ad Ulim. Par. Lov.

Corrected against the manuscripts cb., gr., r. and against the editions of Ulimmerius [?], Paris and Louvain.

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(a) ‹anchor: not visible in the page-foot image› · call in col 1201

Dies quindecim, ut mox dicet : hoc est septeni ante Pascha, totidem post Pascha, quibus diebus lites omnes et contentiones partium cessabant, ex lege Theodosii, quae est lex II Cod. Theod. de Feriis : « Sacros quoque Paschae dies, « qui septeno vel praecedunt numero, vel sequuntur, in « eadem feriarum observatione numeramus. »

Fifteen days, as he will say shortly: that is, seven before Easter and as many after, during which all lawsuits and disputes between parties ceased, by the law of Theodosius, which is law 2 of the Theodosian Code, "On Holidays": "The sacred days of Easter also, the seven that precede and the seven that follow it, we reckon in the same observance of holidays."

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(b) ‹anchor: fateor me debere› · call in col 1201

Quaestiones forte quae supra in sermone 149 tractantur.

Perhaps the questions treated above in sermon 149.

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Alias, de Diversis 11.

Formerly "On Various Subjects," 11.

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(d) ‹anchor: de monitis baptizatorum› · call in col 1201

Cum hoc titulo in editis et in Germanensi Ms. subsequitur sermonem supra ordine 148 habitum « die Dominico octavarum Paschae. » Eidem diei multis in libris assignatur sermo qui supra est 224, « ad Infantes. » Possidius in Indiculo, capp. 8 et 10, notat Tractatus « de die « octavarum, » seu « de octavis Infantium duos. » Hos Baronius in Martyrolog. die 5 jan. perperam existimavit ad diem octavam festi SS. Innocentium spectasse. Infantes, interprete Augustino, sunt Baptismo regenerati; quorum ipse nunquam forte diem octavum, sed octavas aliquoties commemorat. De his haud dubie in epist. 55, n. 35, scribit : « Tam « multis praesumptionibus sic plena sunt omnia, ut gravius « corripiatur qui per octavas suas terram nudo pede tetige- « rit, quam qui mentem vinolentia sepelierit. » Vide item epistolam 34, n. 3.

With this title, in the printed editions and in the Saint-Germain manuscript, it follows the sermon set above as number 148, delivered "on the Sunday of the octave of Easter." To the same day many books assign the sermon that is number 224 above, "To the newly baptized." Possidius in his Index, chapters 8 and 10, lists treatises "on the day of the octave," or "two on the octave of the newly baptized." Baronius, in the Martyrology at 5 January, wrongly thought these referred to the octave day of the feast of the Holy Innocents. The "infantes," as Augustine explains, are those reborn in baptism; he perhaps never mentions their eighth day, but several times their octave. Of these he without doubt writes in letter 55, n. 35: "Everything is so full of so many presumptions, that a man who touches the ground with bare foot during his octave is rebuked more severely than one who has buried his mind in drunkenness." See also letter 34, n. 3.

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in Baptismo, qui hodie miscendi sunt populo, brevis, sed gravis sermo reddendus est. Vos qui baptizati estis, et hodie completis sacramentum octavarum vestrarum, breviter accipite et intelligite translatam fuisse figuram circumcisionis carnis, ad circumcisionem cordis. Die octavo circumciduntur carne secundum veterem Legem (Gen. XVII, 12): et hoc propter Dominum Christum, qui post diem septimum sabbatorum octavo Dominico resurrexit. Cultellis petrinis jussum est circumcidi (Josue V, 2): Petra erat Christus (I Cor. X, 4). Infantes appellamini, quoniam regenerati estis, et novam vitam ingressi estis, et ad vitam aeternam renati estis, si hoc quod in vobis renatum est, male vivendo non suffocetis. Reddendi estis populis, miscendi estis plebi fidelium: cavete ne imitemini malos fideles, imo falsos fideles; quasi confitendo fideles, sed male vivendo infideles. Videte, quia testificor vobis coram Deo et Angelis ejus: castitatem servate, sive conjugalem, sive omnimodae continentiae. Quisque quod vovit reddat. Qui non habetis uxores, licet vobis ducere uxores, sed quarum mariti non vivunt. Feminae quae non habent viros, licet eis nubere, sed eis viris quorum uxores non vivunt. Qui habetis uxores, nihil mali faciatis praeter uxores. Reddite quod exigitis. Fides vobis debetur, fidem debetis. Fidem debet maritus uxori, uxor marito; ambo Deo. Quicumque continentiam vovistis, reddite quod vovistis: quia non exigeretur, si non vovissetis. Quod potuit licere, non licet: non quia nuptiae damnantur, sed qui retro respicit damnatur. Cavete a fraudibus in negotiis vestris. Cavete a mendaciis et perjuriis. Cavete a verbositate et luxuria. Quaecumque non vultis fieri vobis, nolite facere aliis, et hominibus et Deo. Quid vos onerem? Haec agite, et Deus pacis erit vobiscum (Philipp. IV, 9).

in Baptism, who today are to be mingled with the people, a brief but weighty sermon must be delivered. You who have been baptized, and today complete the sacrament of your octaves, briefly receive and understand that the figure of the circumcision of the flesh has been transferred to the circumcision of the heart. On the eighth day they are circumcised in the flesh according to the old Law (Gen. 17:12): and this on account of the Lord Christ, Who after the seventh day of the sabbaths rose again on the eighth, the Lord's day. It was commanded that they be circumcised with knives of stone (Josh. 5:2): the Rock was Christ (1 Cor. 10:4). You are called infants, because you have been regenerated, and have entered upon a new life, and have been reborn to eternal life, if you do not stifle by living badly that which has been reborn in you. You are to be returned to the peoples, you are to be mingled with the congregation of the faithful: beware lest you imitate the bad faithful, or rather the false faithful; faithful, as it were, by confessing, but unfaithful by living badly. See, for I testify to you before God and His angels: keep chastity, whether conjugal or that of complete continence. Let each render what he has vowed. You who do not have wives, it is lawful for you to take wives, but those whose husbands are not living. Women who do not have husbands, it is lawful for them to marry, but men whose wives are not living. You who have wives, do nothing wrong outside your wives. Render what you demand. Fidelity is owed to you; you owe fidelity. The husband owes fidelity to the wife, the wife to the husband; both to God. Whoever of you have vowed continence, render what you have vowed: for it would not be demanded if you had not vowed. What could have been lawful is not lawful: not because marriage is condemned, but because he who looks back is condemned. Beware of frauds in your business dealings. Beware of lies and perjuries. Beware of idle talk and wantonness. Whatever you do not wish to be done to you, do not do to others, both to men and to God. Why should I burden you? Do these things, and the God of peace will be with you (Phil. 4:9).

SERMO CCLXI. In die quadragesimo Ascensionis Domini, I. Habitus Carthagine in basilica Fausti.

Sermon 261. On the fortieth day, of the Ascension of the Lord, 1. Preached at Carthage in the Basilica of Faustus.

CAPUT I. — 1. Ascensio Domini sic celebranda, ut cum ipso ascendamus. Sursum cor, quandonam pietatis, quandonam superbiae. Resurrectio Domini, spes nostra; ascensio Domini, glorificatio nostra. Ascensionis enim hodie solemnia celebramus. Si ergo recte, si fideliter, si devote, si sancte, si pie ascensionem Domini celebramus, ascendamus cum illo, et sursum cor habeamus. Ascendentes autem non extollamur, nec de nostris quasi de propriis meritis praesumamus. Sursum enim cor habere debemus, sed ad Dominum. Sursum enim cor non ad Dominum, superbia vocatur: sursum autem cor ad Dominum, refugium vocatur.

Chapter I. — 1. The Ascension of the Lord is to be celebrated in such a way that we ascend with Him. The heart lifted up: when it belongs to piety, when to pride. The resurrection of the Lord, our hope; the ascension of the Lord, our glorification. For today we are celebrating the solemnities of the Ascension. If therefore we celebrate the ascension of the Lord rightly, faithfully, devoutly, holily, piously, let us ascend with Him, and let us have our heart lifted up. But in ascending let us not be puffed up, nor presume on what is ours as though on merits of our own. For we ought to have the heart lifted up, but to the Lord. For the heart lifted up not to the Lord is called pride: but the heart lifted up to the Lord is called a refuge.

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(1) ‹anchor: qui retro respicit damnatur› · call in col 1202

Lov., non quia nuptiae damnantur, sed qui retrospicit damnatur. M.

Louvain: "non quia nuptiae damnantur, sed qui retrospicit damnatur" (the same sense: "not because marriage is condemned, but he who looks back is condemned"). M.

(*) ‹anchor: SERMO CCLXI› · call in col 1202 Emendatus ad gr. et ad Ulim. Par. Lov.

Corrected against the manuscript gr. and against the editions of Ulimmerius [?], Paris and Louvain.

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Alias, de Diversis 12.

Formerly "On Various Subjects," 12.

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(b) ‹anchor: Ascensionis Domini, I› · call in col 1202

Sermones de die Ascensionis Domini recenset Possidius in Indiculo, capp. 8, 9 et 10.

Possidius lists the sermons on the day of the Lord's Ascension in his Index, chapters 8, 9 and 10.

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Illi enim dicimus, qui ascendit, Domine, refugium factus es nobis (Psal. LXXXIX, 1). Resurrexit enim, ut spem nobis daret, quia resurgit quod moritur: ne moriendo desperaremus, et totam vitam nostram morte finitam putaremus. Solliciti enim eramus de ipsa anima; et ille nobis resurgendo et de carne securitatem dedit. Ergo ascendit, quis? Qui descendit. Descendit, ut sanaret te: ascendit, ut levaret te. Cadis, si levaveris te: manes, si levaverit te. Sursum ergo cor, sed ad Dominum, refugium est: sursum cor, sed non ad Dominum, superbia est. Dicamus ergo illi resurgenti, Quoniam tu es, Domine, spes mea: ascendenti autem, Altissimum posuisti refugium tuum (Psal. XC, 9). Quomodo enim ad eum cor sursum habentes, superbi erimus, qui propter nos humilis factus est, ne superbi remaneremus?

For to Him Who ascended we say, Lord, Thou hast become a refuge for us (Ps. 89:1). For He rose again in order to give us hope, because what dies rises again: so that we would not despair in dying, and would not think that our whole life is ended by death. For we were anxious about the soul itself; and He, by rising again, gave us assurance about the flesh too. So who ascended? He Who descended. He descended to heal you; He ascended to lift you up. You fall if you lift yourself up; you stand firm if He lifts you up. So the heart lifted up, but to the Lord, is a refuge; the heart lifted up, but not to the Lord, is pride. Let us therefore say to Him as He rises again, For Thou, Lord, art my hope; but to Him as He ascends, Thou hast made the Most High Thy refuge (Ps. 90:9). For how shall we, having our heart lifted up to Him, be proud, when for our sake He was made humble so that we should not remain proud?

CAPUT II. — 2. Christus semper Deus. Dei notitiam vanitas litigando quaerit, pietas credendo. Deus Christus, hoc semper: nunquam hoc desinet, quia nunquam coepit. Si enim per gratiam ejus aliquid incipit, quod nunquam desinat; ille quomodo desinet, qui nunquam coepit? Quid est quod incipit, et nunquam desinet? Immortalitas nostra initium habebit, finem non habebit. Non enim jam habemus, quod cum habere coeperimus, non amittemus. Semper ergo Deus Christus. Et qualis Deus? Quaeris qualis? Patri aequalis. Noli ergo quaerere in aeternitate qualitatem, sed felicitatem. Qualis Deus Christus, cape, si potes. Ecce dico, non te fraudabo. Quaeris qualis Deus Christus? Audi me, imo audi mecum: simul audiamus, simul discamus. Non enim quia loquor et vos auditis, ideo vobiscum non audio. Quaeris ergo, cum audis, Deus est Christus, Qualis Deus Christus? Audi mecum: non, inquam, me audi, sed mecum. In hac enim schola omnes sumus condiscipuli. Coelum est cathedra magistri nostri. Audi ergo qualis Deus Christus. In principio erat Verbum. Ubi? Et Verbum erat apud Deum. Sed verba quotidie solemus audire. Noli sic cogitare, quomodo soles audire, Deus erat Verbum (Joan. I, 1). Qualis quaero. Nam ecce jam Deum credo: sed qualis Deus sit, quaero. Quaerite faciem ejus semper (Psal. CIV, 4). Nemo quaerendo deficiat, sed proficiat. Proficit quaerens, si pietas quaerat. Quomodo quaerit pietas, quomodo vanitas? Pietas quaerit credendo, vanitas litigando. Si enim litigare mecum velis, mihique dicere, Quem Deum colis? qualem Deum colis? ostende mihi quod colis: respondebo, Etsi est quod ostendam, non est cui.

Chapter II. — 2. Christ always God. Vanity seeks the knowledge of God by disputing, piety by believing. Christ is God, and this always: He will never cease to be this, because He never began. For if through His grace something begins which will never cease, how will He cease, Who never began? What is it that begins and will never cease? Our immortality will have a beginning; it will not have an end. For we do not yet have that which, once we have begun to have it, we shall not lose. Christ, then, is always God. And what sort of God? Do you ask what sort? Equal to the Father. So do not seek in eternity a quality, but felicity. What sort of God Christ is, grasp it if you can. See, I am telling you; I will not cheat you. Do you ask what sort of God Christ is? Listen to me, or rather, listen with me: let us listen together, let us learn together. For it is not the case that, because I speak and you listen, I therefore do not listen with you. So, when you hear that Christ is God, you ask, What sort of God is Christ? Listen with me: not, I say, listen to me, but with me. For in this school we are all fellow pupils. Heaven is the chair of our Teacher. Listen, then, to what sort of God Christ is. In the beginning was the Word. Where? And the Word was with God. But we are accustomed to hear words every day. Do not think of it in the way you are accustomed to hear: The Word was God (John 1:1). What sort, I ask. For see, I already believe in God: but what sort of God He is, I ask. Seek His face always (Ps. 104:4). Let no one fall short in seeking, but let him make progress. The seeker makes progress if it is piety that seeks. How does piety seek, how does vanity? Piety seeks by believing, vanity by disputing. For if you should wish to dispute with me and say to me, What God do you worship? What sort of God do you worship? Show me what you worship: I shall answer, Even if there is something for me to show, there is no one to show it to.

CAPUT III. — 3. Pauli in Dei cognitione modestia. Nec ego audeo dicere, jam me cepisse quod quaeris. Ingredior enim; quantum possum, post vestigia illius tanti athletae Christi, apostoli scilicet Pauli dicentis, Fratres, ego me ipsum non arbitror apprehendisse. Ego me ipsum: Ego, quid est, et, me ipsum? Ego qui plus omnibus illis laboravi. Novi, Apostole, quomodo dicas, Ego. Expressio est, non elatio. Nam vis audire quomodo dicat, Ego? Cum dixisset, Plus omnibus illis laboravi; et quasi nos ad illum, Quis? et ille ad nos,

Chapter III. — 3. The modesty of Paul in the knowledge of God. Nor do I dare to say that I have already grasped what you ask about. For I walk, as far as I can, in the footsteps of that great athlete of Christ, namely the apostle Paul, who says, Brothers, I do not consider that I myself have laid hold of it. I myself: what is I, and, myself? I who laboured more than all of them. I know, Apostle, how you say, I. It is an expression, not an exaltation. For do you want to hear how he says, I? When he had said, I laboured more than all of them; and as if we said to him, Who? and he to us,

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Non ego autem, sed Dei gratia mecum (I Cor. XV, 10). Ille ergo cum quo tanta gratia Dei erat, ut posterius vocatus plus praecedentibus laboraret; dicit tamen, Fratres, ego me ipsum non arbitror apprehendisse. Ibi ego, ubi non apprehendit. Humanae quippe infirmitatis est, non apprehendere. Ubi autem levatus est in tertium coelum, et audivit ineffabilia verba, quae non licet homini loqui, non dixit, Ego. Sed quid dixit? Scio hominem ante annos quatuordecim (II Cor. XII, 2-4). Scio hominem: et ipse homo erat qui loquebatur, et quod in eo factum est, quasi alterum fecit, ideo non defecit. Noli ergo contendere, noli litigare, exigendo a me qualem Deum colo. Non enim idolum est, et digitum extendo, et dico tibi, Ecce Deum quem colo: aut aliquod sidus est, aut aliqua stella, aut sol, aut luna; et extendo digitum in coelum, et dico, Ecce quod colo. Non est quo digitus extendatur: sed est quo mens extendatur. Vide ipsum non comprehendentem, et tamen quaerentem; sequentem, inhiantem, suspirantem, desiderantem: vide illum, quid intendat vide, ad Deum suum, utrum digitum, an vero animum. Quid ait? Non me arbitror apprehendisse. Unum autem, quae retro oblitus, in ea quae sunt ante extentus, secundum intentionem sequor ad palmam supernae vocationis Dei in Christo. Sequor, inquit: ambulo, inquit, in via sum. Sequere, si potes: simul ad patriam veniamus, ubi non a me quaeras, nec ego a te. Simul ergo modo credendo quaeramus, ut simul postea videndo gaudeamus.

Yet not I, but the grace of God with me (1 Cor. 15:10). He, then, with whom so great a grace of God was, so that, though called later, he laboured more than those who went before, nevertheless says, Brothers, I do not reckon myself to have apprehended. There he says "I", where he did not apprehend. For it belongs to human infirmity not to apprehend. But where he was lifted up into the third heaven, and heard unspeakable words, which it is not lawful for a man to speak, he did not say, I. But what did he say? I know a man fourteen years ago (2 Cor. 12:2–4). I know a man: and he himself was the man who was speaking, and what was done in him he made as it were another, and so he did not fail. Do not then contend, do not dispute, demanding from me what kind of God I worship. For it is not an idol, so that I stretch out a finger and say to you, Behold the God whom I worship; nor some constellation, or some star, or the sun, or the moon, so that I stretch out a finger towards the sky and say, Behold what I worship. There is nothing towards which a finger may be stretched out; but there is something towards which the mind may be stretched out. See him not comprehending, and yet seeking; following, gaping after, sighing, desiring: see him, see what he stretches out towards his God, whether a finger, or rather the mind. What does he say? I do not reckon myself to have apprehended. But one thing: forgetting the things that are behind, stretched out to those that are before, according to intention I follow towards the prize of the heavenly calling of God in Christ. I follow, he says: I am walking, he says, I am on the way. Follow, if you can: let us come together to the fatherland, where you will not ask of me, nor I of you. Together, therefore, let us now seek by believing, so that together afterwards we may rejoice by seeing.

CAPUT IV. — 4. Mundandum cor, quo videatur Deus. Nam quis tibi ostendit qualis sit Deus Christus? Ecce quod dignatus est dicere per servum suum, dicat et per istum servum suum, conservis meis, servis suis. Dictum est tibi, In principio erat Verbum. Quaerebas ubi esset, responsum est, Verbum erat apud Deum. Et ne verba contemneres ex consuetudine locutionis humanae, audisti, Deus erat Verbum. Adhuc quaeris qualis Deus? Omnia per ipsum facta sunt. Ama illum: quidquid amas, ab illo est. Non amemus creaturam, neglecto Creatore: sed attendamus creaturam, et laudemus Creatorem. Non tibi possum ostendere Deum meum: ostendo quae fecit, recolo quae fecit. Omnia per ipsum facta sunt. Fecit nova non novus; fecit temporalia sempiternus; fecit mutabilia, qui nescit mutari. Facta inspice, lauda factorem: crede, ut munderis. Videre enim vis? Bonam rem, magnam rem vis: hortor, ut velis. Videre vis? Beati mundo corde, quia ipsi Deum videbunt (Matth. V, 8). Prius ergo cogita de corde mundando: hoc habeto negotium, ad hoc te advoca, insta huic operi. Quod vis videre mundum est, immundum est unde vis videre. Cogitas Deum quasi aliquam istorum oculorum immensam vel multiplicem lucem, auges tibi spatia quanta vis: non ponis finem ubi non vis, ponis ubi vis. Phantasmata sunt ista cordis tui, immunditia est ista cordis tui. Tolle, abjice. Si terra tibi in oculum caderet, et velles ut ostenderem tibi lucem; prius tui oculi quaererent mundatorem. Tantum immunditiae est

Chapter IV. — 4. The heart must be cleansed, by which God may be seen. For who has shown you what kind of God Christ is? Behold, what He deigned to say through His servant, let Him say also through this servant of His, to my fellow servants, His servants. It was said to you, In the beginning was the Word. You were asking where He was; the answer was, The Word was with God. And lest you should despise words out of the habit of human speech, you heard, The Word was God. Do you still ask what kind of God? All things were made through Him. Love Him: whatever you love is from Him. Let us not love the creature, neglecting the Creator; but let us look at the creature, and praise the Creator. I cannot show you my God: I show what He made, I recall what He made. All things were made through Him. He made new things, not being new; He made temporal things, being everlasting; He made mutable things, He Who cannot be changed. Look at the things made, praise the Maker: believe, that you may be cleansed. For do you wish to see? A good thing, a great thing you wish for: I urge you to wish it. Do you wish to see? Blessed are the clean of heart, for they shall see God (Matt. 5:8). First, then, think about cleansing the heart: have this as your business, summon yourself to this, press on with this work. What you wish to see is clean; unclean is that with which you wish to see. You think of God as some immense or manifold light of these eyes; you extend spaces for yourself as far as you wish: you do not set an end where you do not wish, you set it where you wish. These are phantasms of your heart, this is uncleanness of your heart. Take it away, throw it off. If earth fell into your eye, and you wanted me to show you the light, your eyes would first seek one to clean them. So much uncleanness is

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Footnotes

(1) ‹anchor: ad hoc te advoca› · call in col 1204

Codex gr., ad hoc te avoca.

The manuscript gr. reads "ad hoc te avoca" ("call yourself away to this").

(printed under page 608)

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in corde tuo : ibi avaritia non parva immunditia est. Congeris quod tecum non tollas. Nescis quia cum congeris, ad cor tuum lutum trahis? Unde videbis ergo quod quaeris?

in your heart: there avarice is no small uncleanness. You heap up what you may not take with you. Do you not know that when you heap up, you drag mud into your heart? From where, then, will you see what you seek?

CAPUT V. — 5. Deus habitare vult in corde mundo. Avaritiae homo servit, non Deo. Tu mihi dicis : Ostende mihi Deum tuum. Ego tibi dico : Attende, paululum ad cor tuum. Ostende, inquis, mihi Deum tuum. Attende, inquio, paululum ad cor tuum. Quidquid ibi vides quod displicet Deo, tolle inde. Venire ad te vult, Deus; Dominum ipsum Christum audi : Ego et Pater veniemus ad eum, et mansionem apud eum faciemus (Joan. XIV, 23). Ecce quid promittit Deus. Si ego promitterem venturum me in domum tuam, mundares eam : Deus in cor tuum venire vult, et piger es ei domum mundare? Non amat habitare cum avaritia, cum muliere immunda et insatiabili, cui tu jubenti serviebas, et Deum videre quaerebas. Quid fecisti, quod Deus jussit? Quid non fecisti, quod avaritia jussit? Quid fecisti, quod Deus jussit? Ego ostendo quid habitet in corde tuo, qui vis videre Deum. Hoc enim dixeram : Est quod ostendere, sed cui non est. Quod Deus jussit, quid fecisti? Quod avaritia jussit, quid distulisti? Jussit Deus ut nudum vestires, tremuisti : jussit avaritia ut vestitum exspoliares, insanisti. Si fecisses quod Deus jussit, quid tibi dicam, haberes illud et illud? Ipsum Deum haberes. Si fecisses quod Deus jussit, Deum haberes. Fecisti quod avaritia jussit, quid habes? Scio, dicturus es mihi : Habeo quidquid abstuli. Ergo auferendo habes. Habes aliquid apud te, qui perdidisti te? Haboo, inquis. Ubi, ubi, rogo te? Certe aut in cubiculo, aut in saccello, aut in arca : nolo amplius dicere. Ubicumque habes, modo certe tecum non habes, Certe modo cogitas in arca te habere : forte periit, et nescis; forte cum redis, non invenis quod dimisisti. Cor tuum quaero : ibi quid habeas, interrogo. Ecce implesti arcam tuam, et fregisti conscientiam tuam. Vide plenum : disce esse plenus. Dominus dedit, Dominus abstulit; sicut Domino placuit, ita factum est : sit nomen Domini benedictum (Job I, 21). Nempe omnia perdiderat. Unde ergo istas gemmas laudis Domino proferebat?

Chapter V. — 5. God wishes to dwell in a clean heart. Man serves avarice, not God. You say to me: Show me your God. I say to you: Attend a little to your heart. Show me, you say, your God. Attend, I say, a little to your heart. Whatever you see there that displeases God, remove it from there. God wishes to come to you; hear the Lord Christ Himself: I and the Father will come to him, and will make Our abode with him (John 14:23). See what God promises. If I were to promise that I would come into your house, you would clean it: God wishes to come into your heart, and are you slow to clean the house for Him? He does not love to dwell with avarice, with an unclean and insatiable woman, whom you served at her bidding, and yet you were seeking to see God. What have you done that God commanded? What have you not done that avarice commanded? What have you done that God commanded? I am showing what dwells in your heart, you who wish to see God. For I had said this: There is something to show, but [no one] to whom. What God commanded, what have you done of it? What avarice commanded, what have you put off? God commanded that you clothe the naked, and you trembled; avarice commanded that you strip the clothed, and you went mad. If you had done what God commanded, what am I to say to you, would you have this and that? You would have God Himself. If you had done what God commanded, you would have God. You have done what avarice commanded; what do you have? I know, you are going to say to me: I have whatever I took away. So by taking away you have. Do you have something with you, you who have lost yourself? I have, you say. Where, where, I ask you? Surely either in your chamber, or in your purse, or in your chest: I will not say more. Wherever you have it, at any rate you certainly do not have it with you now. Surely you now think that you have it in your chest: perhaps it has perished, and you do not know it; perhaps when you return, you do not find what you left. It is your heart I am seeking: what you have there, that is what I ask. See, you have filled your chest, and you have broken your conscience. Look at one who was full: learn to be full. 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). He had, of course, lost everything. From where, then, did he bring forth these gems of praise to the Lord?

CAPUT VI. — 6. Tenebrae cupiditates et opera mala. Munda ergo cor, quantum potes : id age, id operare. Et ut ille mundet ubi maneat, roga, supplica, humiliare. Non capis, « In principio erat Verbum, et Verbum erat apud Deum, et Deus erat Verbum : hoc erat in principio apud Deum. Omnia per ipsum facta sunt, et sine ipso factum est nihil, quod factum est. In ipso vita erat; et vita erat lux hominum : et lux in tenebris lucet, et tenebrae eam non comprehenderunt. » Ecce quare non capis. Lux in tenebris lucet, et tenebrae eam non comprehenderunt. Quae sunt tenebrae, nisi opera mala? Quae sunt tenebrae, nisi cupiditates malae, superbia, avaritia, ambitio, invidentia? Omnia ista tenebrae sunt : ideo non comprehendis. Nam lux lucet in tenebris : sed da qui comprehendat.

Chapter VI. — 6. The darkness is desires and evil works. Cleanse your heart, then, as much as you can: do this, work at this. And that He may cleanse the place where He is to abide, ask, entreat, humble yourself. You do not grasp: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God: this was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. In Him was life; and the life was the light of men: and the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it." See why you do not grasp it. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it. What is the darkness but evil works? What is the darkness but evil desires, pride, avarice, ambition, envy? All these are darkness: therefore you do not comprehend. For the light shines in the darkness: but provide one who may comprehend it.

7. Deus homo factus manet semper Deus. Una persona Deus et homo in Christo. Vide ergo, ne forte hoc

7. God, made man, remains always God. One person, God and man, in Christ. See, then, whether perhaps this is something

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quomodocumque possis accipere : Verbum caro factum est, et habitavit in nobis (Joan. I, 1-14). Per hominem Christum tendis ad Deum Christum. Multum est ad te Deus : sed homo factus est Deus. Quod longe erat a te, per hominem factum est juxta te. Ubi maneas, Deus est : qua eas, homo est. Idem ipse Christus, et qua eas, et quo eas. Ipse ergo Verbum caro factum est, et habitavit in nobis. Assumpsit quod non erat, non amisit quod erat. Apparebat homo, et latebat Deus. Occisus est homo, et offensus est Deus : sed resurrexit homo, et inventus est Deus. Cogita ergo quanta fecit ut Deus, quanta passus est ut homo. Occisus est, sed non in divinitate : ipse Christus occisus est. Non enim duo, Deus et homo; ut jam non faciamus vel noverimus Trinitatem, sed quaternitatem. Homo quidem homo, et Deus Deus; sed totus Christus homo et Deus : ipse ergo Christus homo et Deus. Quomodo tu homo corpus et animus : sic totus Christus homo et Deus. Ergo totus Christus, caro, anima, et Deus.

you can take in some way or other: The Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us (John 1:1–14). Through the man Christ you make your way to God Christ. God is a long way off for you: but God was made man. What was far from you has, through the man, been brought near you. Where you are to abide is God; the way by which you are to go is man. The very same Christ is both the way by which you go and the place to which you go. He therefore, the Word, was made flesh, and dwelt among us. He took up what He was not; He did not lose what He was. The man was seen, and God lay hidden. The man was killed, and God was stumbled against: but the man rose again, and God was found. Consider therefore how great were the things He did as God, how great the things He suffered as man. He was killed, but not in His divinity: Christ Himself was killed. For they are not two, God and man, so that we should now make or acknowledge not a Trinity but a quaternity. Man indeed is man, and God is God; but the whole Christ is man and God: Christ Himself, therefore, is man and God. Just as you, a man, are body and mind, so the whole Christ is man and God. Therefore the whole Christ is flesh, soul, and God.

CAPUT VII. — Idem ipse aliquid dicit, quod ad Deum pertinet; aliquid dicit, quod ad animam pertinet; aliquid dicit, quod ad carnem pertinet : totum ad Christum pertinet. Quid dicit ut Deus? Sicut Pater habet vitam in semetipso, sic dedit Filio habere vitam in semetipso. Quaecumque Pater facit, haec eadem et Filius facit similiter (Id. V, 26, 19). Ego et Pater unum sumus (Id. X, 30). Quid dicit Christus secundum animam suam? Tristis est anima mea usque ad mortem (Matth. XXVI, 38). Quid dicit Christus secundum carnem? Solvite templum hoc, et in triduo suscitabo illud (Joan. II, 19). Palpate et videte, quia spiritus carnem et ossa non habet, sicut me videtis habere (Luc. XXIV, 39). Haec sunt thesauri sapientiae et scientiae.

Chapter VII. — The very same One says something that belongs to God; He says something that belongs to the soul; He says something that belongs to the flesh: the whole belongs to Christ. What does He say as God? As the Father has life in Himself, so He has given to the Son to have life in Himself. Whatever the Father does, these same things the Son also does likewise (ibid. 5:26, 19). I and the Father are one (ibid. 10:30). What does Christ say according to His soul? My soul is sorrowful even unto death (Matt. 26:38). What does Christ say according to the flesh? Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up (John 2:19). Handle and see, for a spirit does not have flesh and bones, as you see Me have (Luke 24:39). These are the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.

CAPUT VIII. — 8. Praeceptum utrumque dilectionis erga Christum impletur. Certe tota Lex in duobus praeceptis pendet. Diliges Dominum Deum tuum ex toto corde tuo, et ex tota anima tua, et ex tota mente tua; et diliges proximum tuum tanquam te ipsum. In his duobus praeceptis tota Lex pendet et Prophetae (Matth. XXII, 37-40). In Christo habes totum. Deum tuum vis diligere? Habes in Christo : In principio erat Verbum, et Verbum erat apud Deum, et Deus erat Verbum. Proximum vis diligere? Habes in Christo : Verbum caro factum est, et habitavit in nobis.

Chapter VIII. — 8. Both commandments of love are fulfilled towards Christ. Certainly the whole Law hangs on two commandments. You shall love the Lord your God with your whole heart, and with your whole soul, and with your whole mind; and you shall love your neighbour as yourself. On these two commandments hangs the whole Law and the Prophets (Matt. 22:37–40). In Christ you have the whole. Do you wish to love your God? You have Him in Christ: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. Do you wish to love your neighbour? You have him in Christ: The Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us.

CAPUT IX. — 9. Bona opera frequentanda. Peccata, praeter crimina, sunt alia minora. Mundet nos gratia sua : mundet nos opitulationibus et consolationibus suis. Fratres mei, per ipsum et in ipso obsecro vos, in bonis operibus abundetis, in misericordia, benignitate, bonitate. Cito dimittite quod in vos peccatur. Nemo teneat iram adversus alium, ne intercludat sibi orationem ad Deum. Haec enim omnia, quia in hoc saeculo sumus, quia etsi proficimus, etsi juste vivimus, sine peccato hic non vivimus. Non enim peccata sola sunt illa quae crimina nominantur, adulteria, fornicationes, sacrilegia, furta, rapinae, falsa testimonia : non ipsa sola peccata sunt. Attendere aliquid quod non debebas, peccatum est : audire aliquid

Chapter IX. — 9. Good works are to be practised often. Besides crimes there are other, lesser sins. May He cleanse us by His grace: may He cleanse us by His aids and His consolations. My brothers, through Him and in Him I beseech you, abound in good works, in mercy, kindness, goodness. Forgive quickly what is sinned against you. Let no one hold anger against another, lest he shut off his prayer to God. For all these things [are needed], because we are in this world, because even if we make progress, even if we live justly, we do not live here without sin. For those are not the only sins which are called crimes: adulteries, fornications, sacrileges, thefts, robberies, false testimonies: these alone are not the only sins. To give your attention to something you ought not to have is a sin: to hear something

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