Augustine, Sermones 277-283 (Classis III, de Sanctis)

harm no one, as far as you are able; and if any immoderation in the use of these permitted things should creep in through the infirmity of human life, since it pertains to the corruption of the temple of God, hold fast and ponder this: that you quickly forgive men the things committed against you, so that your Father Who is in heaven may forgive you your sins.

Sermon 279. On Paul the Apostle. For the solemnity of his Conversion, 2.

Chapter I. — 1. In Paul's change the prophecy of Jacob concerning Benjamin is fulfilled. We have heard the words of the Apostle, or rather, through the Apostle, the words of Christ speaking in him, whom He made a preacher out of a persecutor, striking and healing, slaying and making alive; the Lamb slain by wolves, and making lambs out of wolves. It had been foretold in a remarkable prophecy, when the holy patriarch Jacob was blessing his sons, touching those present, looking ahead to things to come; what happened in Paul had been foretold. For Paul was, as he himself testifies, of the tribe of Benjamin (Phil. 3:5). Now when Jacob, blessing his sons, had come to Benjamin to bless him, he said of him: Benjamin a ravening wolf. What then? If a ravening wolf, always ravening? Far from it. But what? In the morning he will seize, in the evening he will divide food (Gen. 49:27). This was fulfilled in the apostle Paul, because it had been foretold concerning him also. Now, if you please, let us look at him seizing in the morning, dividing food in the evening. Morning and evening are put as if it were said, Before and after. So let us take it thus: Before he will seize, afterwards he will divide food. Observe the plunderer: Saul, it says, as the Acts of the Apostles testify, having received letters from the chief priests, so that wherever he found followers of the way of God he might drag them off and bring them, to be punished, of course, went breathing and panting slaughter. This is that one seizing in the morning. For when Stephen, the first martyr, was stoned for the name of Christ, Saul too was quite evidently present. And he was so present with those stoning that it was not enough for him if he stoned with his own hands only. For, so that he might be in the hands of all who were stoning, he himself kept the garments of them all, raging more by helping them all than by stoning with his own hands. We have heard, In the morning he will seize: let us see, in the evening he will divide food. By the voice of Christ from heaven he was struck down, and receiving the prohibition against raging, he fell upon his face; first to be laid low, then to be raised up; first to be struck, afterwards to be healed. For Christ would not afterwards live in him, unless he were slain in that in which he had previously lived wickedly. What then did he hear when struck down? Saul, Saul, why do you persecute Me? It is hard

for you to kick against the goad. And he: Who art Thou, Lord? And the voice from above: I am Jesus the Nazarene, Whom you are persecuting. While the members were still placed on earth, the Head was crying out in heaven, and He did not say, Why are you persecuting My servants? but, Why are you persecuting Me? And he: What dost Thou wish me to do? Now he who before was raging to persecute makes himself ready to obey. Now out of a persecutor a preacher is formed, out of a wolf a sheep, out of an enemy a soldier. He heard what he ought to do. He was indeed made blind: so that his heart might shine with the inner light, the outer light was taken away for a time; it was withdrawn from the persecutor, that it might be restored to the preacher. And yet at that time, when he did not see other things, he saw Jesus. Thus even in his very blindness the mystery of believers was being formed; for whoever believes in Christ ought to gaze upon Him, and reckon other things as not even born; so that the creature may grow worthless, and the Creator grow sweet in the heart.

2. Paul is brought to Ananias, the wolf is led captive to the sheep. Let us see, then. He was brought to Ananias, and Ananias is interpreted "Sheep". See, the ravening wolf is brought to the sheep, to follow her, not to seize her. But lest the sheep should take fright at the wolf coming suddenly, the Shepherd Himself from heaven, Who was doing all these things, announced to the sheep that the wolf would come, but would not rage. And yet so monstrous a report had gone before that wolf, that the sheep could not but be troubled on hearing his name. For when the Lord Jesus announced to that same Ananias that Paul had now come to believe, and that Ananias ought to go to him, Ananias said: "Lord, I have heard about this man, that he has worked many evils against Thy saints: and now he has received letters from the chief priests, that wherever he finds followers of Thy name, he may drag them off." But the Lord said to him: "Let be, and I will show him what he must suffer for My name" (Acts 9:13, 16). A wonderful and great thing is done. Savagery is forbidden to the wolf; the wolf is led captive to the sheep. But so great a report of the ravening wolf had gone before, that at the hearing of his name the sheep was afraid even under the Shepherd's hand. She is strengthened, so that she may no longer think him raging, nor fear him swelling with pride. By the Lamb Who died for the sheep the sheep is made safe from the wolf.

3. Christ meek and humble: how He neither keeps silence nor grows mild. Next, He to Whom we sang on the preceding Lord's day, Lord, who is like Thee? Keep not silence, nor grow mild, O God (Ps. 82:2); Who nevertheless says, Come to Me, and learn from Me, for I am meek and humble of heart (Matt. 11:28–29): let us see how He displays both, and shows in Himself that His sayings agree. He is meek and humble of heart, because as a sheep He was led to the slaughter, and as a lamb before the shearer without a voice, so He did not open His mouth (Isa. 53:7). Hung on the wood He endured the unjust flames of hatreds, He bore the tongues that were the servants of a most wicked heart: with these tongues they struck the Spotless One, crucified the Just One. Of their tongues it had been said: Sons of men, their teeth are weapons and arrows, and their tongue a sharp sword. And what did the tongue do? what did the sharp sword do? It killed. What did it kill? Death killed Life, so that by Life death might be killed. What then, what did the tongue

of theirs, the sharp sword, do? Hear what it did: see what follows. Be Thou exalted above the heavens, O God; and Thy glory above all the earth (Ps. 56:5–6). See what the sharp sword did. We know the Lord exalted above the heavens, not by seeing, but by believing: His glory above all the earth, by reading, by believing, by seeing. See then the One meek and humble of heart, so that He might bring to that glory the trophy of mortified flesh. See Him meek. Hanging, He said: Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing (Luke 23:34); and, Learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart. Let us learn from Thee, for Thou art meek and humble of heart. Where could it have appeared more, or where ought it to have appeared more worthily, than on the cross itself? When His limbs hung on the wood, when His hands and feet were fastened with nails, when they still raged at Him with their tongues, when they were not sated with the blood shed, when the sick did not recognize the physician: Father, He says, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing. As if He were saying, I came to cure the sick: that they do not recognize me, the savagery of the fever does it. Meek then and humble of heart, He says, Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.

4. Towards Paul He shows both; He both does not keep silence and does not grow mild. Temporal tribulations are to be thought of little account in the hope of future glory. What then of, Do not keep silence, nor grow mild, O God? Let Him fulfil this too. See, He did not keep silence: He cried out from heaven, Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me? He has done, Do not keep silence: let Him show, And do not grow mild. First, because He did not spare his error, because He did not spare his savagery, because by His voice He struck down the man panting for slaughter, snatched the light from the raging man, and brought him captive to Ananias, whom in his persecuting he was seeking. See, not mild; see, raging, not against the man, but against the error. This is little: still let Him not keep silence, nor grow mild. To Ananias, fearing and trembling on hearing the name of that notorious wolf, I, He says, will show him. I will show him. See Him threatening, see Him still raging: I will show him. Do not keep silence, nor grow mild, O God. Show the persecutor not only Thy goodness, but also Thy severity. Show him, let him suffer what he did, let him learn also to suffer what he was doing, let him too feel what he was inflicting on others. I, He says, will show him what he must suffer. But He speaks as one raging, and fulfils what was said, Do not keep silence, nor grow mild, O God. Let Him not depart from this, Learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart. I will show him what he must suffer for my name. Thou hast shown terror; come to his aid, lest he whom Thou hast made, whom Thou hast found, should suffer and perish. He is threatening, He does not keep silence, He does not grow mild, He threatens. I will show him what he must suffer for my name. Where there is terror, there is salvation. He who acted against the name, let him suffer for the name. O merciful savagery! You see Him preparing the steel: He is going to cut, not to destroy; going to cure, not to kill. Christ said, I will show him what he must suffer for my name. But to what end? Hear the very man who suffered. The sufferings of this time are not worthy. He who suffered says it, and he knew for what name he suffered, and with what fruit he suffered. The sufferings of this time are not worthy to be compared with the future glory, which will be revealed in us (Rom. 8:18). Let the world rage, let the world roar,

let it rail with tongues, let it flash with arms, let it do whatever it can: what will it do to that which we are going to receive? I weigh what I suffer against that which I hope for. This I feel, that I believe. And yet what I believe is worth more than what I feel. Whatever it is that rages on account of the name of Christ, if one can live, it is bearable: if one cannot live, it makes one depart hence. It does not extinguish, but hastens. What does it hasten? The reward itself, the sweetness itself; which, when it has come, will be without end. The work with an end, the wages without end.

5. Whence Saul was named. Paul, small and humble. This man then, brethren, this vessel of election, was first Saul, from Saul. For remember, you who know the Letters of God, who Saul was. A most wicked king, the persecutor of the holy servant of God, David: and he too, if you remember, of the tribe of Benjamin. Hence this man was Saul, drawing with him the path of raging, but not destined to remain in his raging. Afterwards, if Saul is from Saul, whence is Paul? Saul from the savage king, when he was proud, when he was raging, when he was breathing out slaughter: but whence Paul? Paul, because small. Paul is a name of humility. Paul, after he had been brought to the Master, Who says, Learn of Me, for I am meek and humble of heart. Hence Paul. Note the usage of the Latin idiom: for paulum means a little. Paulo post videbo te, paulum hic exspecta; that is, After a little I shall see you, wait here a little. Hear then Paul: I am, he says, the least of the Apostles (1 Cor. 15:9). Truly, I am the least of the Apostles: and in another place, I am the last of the Apostles (ibid. 4:9).

6. God exalts the humble. Both least and last, like the fringe of the Lord's garment. What is so slight, what is so last, as a fringe? Yet when this was touched, a woman was healed of a flow of blood (Matt. 9:20–22). In this small man there was a great One, in the least dwelt a mighty One; and the smaller he was, the less he shut the great One out from himself. Why do we wonder that the great One dwells in a narrow place? He dwells rather in the least. Hear Him saying, Upon whom shall My spirit rest? Upon the humble, and the quiet, and the one who trembles at My words (Isa. 66:2). Therefore the high One dwells in the humble, that He may exalt the humble. For the Lord is high, and looks upon lowly things; but lofty things He knows from afar (Ps. 137:6). Humble yourself, and He will draw near to you: exalt yourself, and He will withdraw from you.

7. One must not be ashamed of Christ crucified. What then does this least one say? What we heard today: With the heart one believes unto righteousness, but with the mouth confession is made unto salvation (Rom. 10:10). Many believe with the heart, and are ashamed to confess with the mouth. Know, brethren, that there is now almost no one among the pagans who does not marvel within himself, and perceive that the prophecies are being fulfilled concerning Christ exalted above the heavens; for they see His glory over all the earth. But since they fear one another, they are ashamed before one another, they put salvation far from themselves: for with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. What does it profit to have believed with the heart

unto righteousness, if the mouth hesitates to bring forth what has been conceived in the heart? Within, God sees faith: but it is too little. So as not to confess a humble one, you fear the proud; and you set the proud above Him Who for your sake displeased the proud. You fear to confess the humble Son of God. The great Word of God, the power of God, the wisdom of God you do not blush to confess: born, crucified, dead, you blush to confess Him. High, exalted and equal to the Father, through Whom all things were made, through Whom you too were made, He was made what you are; He was made man for your sake, for your sake born, for your sake dead. Sick man, how will you be healed, you who blush at your own medicine? Choose the time. Now is the time: afterwards He Who was despised will come to be marvelled at, He Who was judged will come to judge, He Who was slain will come to raise up, He Who was dishonoured will come to bestow honour. Now, and afterwards: now the matter is in faith, afterwards it will be in manifestation. Choose at this time what part you are to hold in the future. Do you blush at the name of Christ? From the fact that you now blush before men, you will have cause to blush when He comes in His glory to render what He promised to the good, what He threatened to the wicked. Where will you be? What will you do, if that exalted One looks upon you and says to you, You blushed at My humility, you shall not be in My glory? Let evil bashfulness therefore depart; let wholesome shamelessness approach, if it is to be called shamelessness: but nevertheless, brethren, I forced myself to say this, and not to fear at all.

8. Why one must not blush at the death of Christ. Christ took up two evils of ours, that He might give two goods of His. For I do not want us to blush at the name of Christ. Let it be thrown at us as an insult that we believe in one crucified, in one slain. Plainly in one slain; but if blood had not flowed from Him, the bond of our sins would still remain. Certainly I have believed in one slain: but what was slain in Him is what He took from me, not that by which He made me. Certainly I believe in one slain, but in whom slain? He Who came is Someone, and He received something. Who came? He Who, when He was in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal to God. Behold Who came: what did He receive? But He emptied Himself, taking the form of a servant, made in the likeness of men (Phil. 2:6–7). The Maker was made, the Creator created. But in what was He made and created? In the form of a servant, by receiving the form of a servant, not by losing the form of God. In this form of a servant, then, in that which He received from us for us, He was both born, and suffered, and rose again, and ascended into heaven. I have named four things. He was born, He died, He rose again, and He ascended into heaven. Two first, two last: the two first, He was born, He died; the two last, He rose again, He ascended into heaven. In the two first He showed you your own condition: in the two last He gave an example of the reward. To be born and to die you knew: the region of mortals is full of these two. What abounds here in all flesh, but to be born and to die? This man has in common with the beast: this life, then, we lead in common with the beasts. We have been born, we are going to die. This you did not yet know, to rise again and to ascend into heaven. Two you knew, two you did not know: He took up what you knew, He showed what you did not know: endure