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Augustine, Sermones 296-301 (Classis III, de Sanctis)

Sermons CCXCVIII–CCXCIX

ut imitati, ad eorum praemia pervenire mereamur.

that, having imitated them, we may deserve to attain to their rewards.

SERMO CCXCVIII. In Natali apostolorum Petri et Pauli, IV.

Sermon 298. On the Birthday of the Apostles Peter and Paul, 4.

CAPUT PRIMUM. — 1. Petri et Pauli natalitia frequentia majore celebranda. Debuimus quidem tantorum martyrum diem, hoc est, sanctorum apostolorum Petri et Pauli majore frequentia celebrare. Si enim celebramus frequentissime natalitia agnorum, quanto magis debemus arietum? De fidelibus enim, quos lucrati sunt Apostoli praedicatione sua, scriptum est, Afferte Domino filios arietum (Psal. XXVIII, 1). Per angustias passionum, per viam spinis plenam, per tribulationes persecutionum, ut transeant postea fideles, Apostolos duces habuerunt. Beatus Petrus primus Apostolorum, beatus Paulus novissimus Apostolorum: qui rite coluerunt eum qui dixit, Ego sum primus, et ego sum novissimus (Apoc. I, 17); ad unum diem passionis sibi occurrerunt primus et novissimus. Petrus ordinator sancti Stephani fuit (Act. VI, 6). Quando ordinatus est diaconus martyr Stephanus, inter alios Apostolos eum ordinavit apostolus Petrus. Petrus illius ordinator, Paulus illius persecutor. Sed prima Pauli non quaeramus, de novissimis novissimi gaudeamus. Nam si priora quaerimus, nec ipsius Petri satis placebunt. Paulum diximus Stephani fuisse persecutorem, Petrum respiciamus Domini negatorem. Petrus negationem Domini lacrymis lavit: Paulus persecutionem Stephani caecitate expiavit. Flevit Petrus ante flagellum, Paulus passus est et flagellum. Boni ambo, sancti, devotissimi: Litterae ipsorum quotidie populis recitantur. Et quibus populis? et quantis populis? Psalmum attendite: In omnem terram exivit sonus eorum, et in fines orbis terrae verba eorum (Psal. XVIII, 5). Et nos probamus, et ad nos ista verba venerunt, et ad sanitatem fidei ab infidelitatis insania converterunt.

Chapter I. — 1. The birthday of Peter and Paul ought to be celebrated with a greater attendance. We ought indeed to have celebrated the day of such great martyrs, that is, of the holy apostles Peter and Paul, with a greater attendance. For if we celebrate the birthdays of lambs with a very large attendance, how much more ought we to celebrate those of rams? For of the faithful, whom the Apostles won by their preaching, it is written, Bring to the Lord the offspring of rams (Ps. 28:1). Through the straits of sufferings, through a way full of thorns, through the tribulations of persecutions, the faithful had the Apostles as leaders, so that they might afterwards pass through. Blessed Peter the first of the Apostles, blessed Paul the last of the Apostles: they duly worshipped Him Who said, I am the first, and I am the last (Rev. 1:17); the first and the last met each other on the one day of their passion. Peter was the ordainer of saint Stephen (Acts 6:6). When the martyr Stephen was ordained deacon, the apostle Peter ordained him together with the other Apostles. Peter was his ordainer, Paul his persecutor. But let us not inquire into the first things of Paul; let us rejoice in the last things of the last one. For if we inquire into earlier things, not even those of Peter himself will be very pleasing. We have said that Paul was the persecutor of Stephen; let us look back at Peter, the denier of the Lord. Peter washed away his denial of the Lord with tears: Paul expiated his persecution of Stephen with blindness. Peter wept before the scourge; Paul suffered the scourge as well. Both good, holy, most devoted: their letters are read out to the peoples every day. And to which peoples? and to how many peoples? Attend to the psalm: Into all the earth their sound went out, and to the ends of the world their words (Ps. 18:5). We too bear it out, for these words have come to us also, and they have converted us from the madness of unbelief to the soundness of faith.

CAPUT II. — 2. Amandi in primis Petrus et Paulus. Vulnus amoris. Haec loquor, charissimi, laetus quidem hodierno die propter tantam festivitatem, sed aliquantulum tristis, quia non video tantum populum congregatum, quantus congregari debuit in Natali passionis Apostolorum. Si lateret nos, non nobis imputaretur: si autem neminem latet, quae est ista tanta pigritia? Non amatis Petrum et Paulum? Ego in vobis illis loquor qui hic non sunt. Nam vobis ago gratias, quia vel vos venistis. Et potest animus cujusque christiani non amare Petrum et Paulum? Si adhuc frigidus est, legat et amet: si adhuc non amat, sagittam verbi in cor accipiat. De ipsis enim Apostolis dictum est, Sagittae tuae acutae, potentissimae. Quibus sagittis factum est quod sequitur, Populi sub te cadent (Psal. XLIV, 6). Bona sunt talia vulnera. Vulnus amoris salubre est. Sponsa Christi cantat in Cantico canticorum,

Chapter II. — 2. Peter and Paul are to be loved above all. The wound of love. I say these things, dearly beloved, glad indeed on this day because of so great a festival, but somewhat sad, because I do not see as great a people gathered as ought to have gathered on the Birthday of the Apostles' passion. If it were hidden from us, it would not be imputed to us: but if it is hidden from no one, what is this great sloth? Do you not love Peter and Paul? I am speaking in you to those who are not here. For to you I give thanks, because you at least have come. And can the soul of any Christian not love Peter and Paul? If it is still cold, let it read and love: if it still does not love, let it receive the arrow of the word into its heart. For of the Apostles themselves it is said, Thy arrows are sharp, most mighty. By these arrows was done what follows, Peoples shall fall beneath Thee (Ps. 44:6). Such wounds are good. The wound of love is healthful. The bride of Christ sings in the Song of Songs,

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(1) ‹anchor: acutae, potentissimae› · call in col 1365

Lov., potentissime. Alii editi, potentissimae. Sic etiam legitur Enarr. in psalmos, 44, n. 16. M.

Louvain: most mightily. Other editions: most mighty. So too it is read in the Expositions of the Psalms, 44, no. 16. M[igne].

(*) ‹anchor: the sermon's title, not visible in the page-foot image› · call in col 1365 Recognitus in cl. d. gr. r. t. et in Ulim. Par. Lov., et quidem in posterioribus aliquot Mss. brevior inventus est quam in editionibus; sed editiones a vetustissimis Mss. habent auctoritatem.

Revised against … [abbreviated sigla of manuscripts] and against the Ulm, Paris and Louvain editions; and indeed in some later manuscripts it was found shorter than in the editions; but the editions have their authority from very old manuscripts.

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Alias, de Diversis 41.

Formerly On Various Subjects 41.

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In Bedae vera et nondum vulgata Collectione citatur ad II Tim. IV.

In Bede's genuine and not yet published Collection it is cited on 2 Timothy 4.

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Vulnerata charitate ego sum (Cant. V, 8). Vulnus hoc quando sanatur? Quando satiabitur in bonis desiderium nostrum. Vulnus dicitur, quamdiu desideramus, et nondum tenemus. Sic enim est amor, ut sit illic dolor. Cum pervenerimus tunc transit dolor, non deficit amor.

I am wounded with charity (Song 5:8). When is this wound healed? When our desire is satisfied with good things. It is called a wound so long as we desire and do not yet hold. For such is love that there is pain in it. When we have arrived, then the pain passes, the love does not fail.

3. Pauli gaudium passione sua imminente. Per angustias transitur ad locum latitudinis. Audistis verba in Epistola Pauli, quam scripsit ad discipulum suum beatum Timotheum: Ego enim jam immolor. Videbat imminentem passionem: videbat, sed non timebat. Quare non timebat? Quia jam dixerat, Concupiscentiam habens dissolvi et esse cum Christo (Philipp. I, 23). Ego enim, inquit, jam immolor. Nemo cum tanta exsultatione dicit se esse pransurum, et magnas epulas habiturum, cum quanta exsultatione dicit se esse passurum. Ego enim jam immolor. Quid est, immolor? Sacrificium ero. Sacrificium cujus? Dei: quia pretiosa in conspectu Domini mors sanctorum ejus (Psal. CXV, 15). Ego, inquit, immolor. Securus sum: habeo sursum sacerdotem, qui me offerat Deo. Ipsum habeo sacerdotem, qui pro me prior victima fuit. Jam immolor, et tempus meae resolutionis instat. Resolutionem dicit a corpore.

3. Paul's joy when his passion was imminent. Through straits one passes to the place of breadth. You have heard the words in the Epistle of Paul which he wrote to his disciple, blessed Timothy: For I am already being offered up. He saw his passion imminent: he saw it, but he did not fear it. Why did he not fear it? Because he had already said, Having a desire to be dissolved and to be with Christ (Phil. 1:23). For I, he says, am already being offered up. No one says with such exultation that he is going to dine and to have a great feast as the exultation with which he says that he is going to suffer. For I am already being offered up. What is "I am being offered up"? I shall be a sacrifice. A sacrifice of whom? Of God: for precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints (Ps. 115:15). I, he says, am being offered up. I am secure: I have a priest above, Who may offer me to God. I have Him as priest, Who was first a victim for me. I am already being offered up, and the time of my dissolution is at hand. He means dissolution from the body.

CAPUT III. — Est enim quoddam dulce vinculum corporis, et ligatus est homo, et solvi non vult. Illo tamen qui dicebat, Concupiscentiam habens dissolvi, et esse cum Christo, gratulabatur quod ista vincula essent aliquando solvenda. Solvenda vincula carnalium membrorum, accipienda indumenta et ornamenta aeternarum virtutum. Securus ponebat carnem, coronam accepturus. Felix mutatio, sancta migratio. Quam beata mansio, fides eam videt, nondum oculus: quia nec oculus vidit, nec auris audivit, nec in cor hominis ascendit, quae praeparavit Deus diligentibus se (I Cor. II, 9). Ubi sunt sancti isti, putamus? Ibi ubi bene est. Quid quaeris amplius? Non nosti locum, sed cogita meritum. Ubicumque sunt, cum Deo sunt. Justorum animae in manu Dei sunt, et non tanget illos tormentum (Sap. III, 1). Sed ad locum sine tormento per tormenta transierunt: ad locum latitudinis per angustias pervenerunt. Non ergo timeat laboriosam viam, qui talem desiderat patriam. Tempus, inquit, resolutionis meae instat. Bonum certamen certavi, cursum consummavi, fidem servavi: de caetero superest mihi corona justitiae. Merito festinas, merito te immolandum esse laetaris: superest enim tibi corona justitiae. Adhuc imminet amaritudo passionis, sed transit eam passuri cogitatio, et quid ultra sit cogitat; non qua itur, sed quo itur. Et quia cum magno amore cogitatur quo itur, cum magna fortitudine calcatur qua itur.

Chapter III. For there is a certain sweet bond of the body, and a man is bound, and does not wish to be loosed. Yet he who said, Having a desire to be dissolved and to be with Christ, rejoiced that these bonds were at some time to be loosed. The bonds of the fleshly members were to be loosed, the garments and ornaments of eternal virtues were to be received. Secure, he was laying aside the flesh, about to receive a crown. A happy change, a holy migration. How blessed a dwelling: faith sees it, the eye does not yet: for eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor has it ascended into the heart of man, what God has prepared for those who love Him (1 Cor. 2:9). Where are these saints, do we think? There, where it is well. What do you seek further? You do not know the place, but think of the merit. Wherever they are, they are with God. The souls of the just are in the hand of God, and torment shall not touch them (Wis. 3:1). But to the place without torment they passed through torments: to the place of breadth they arrived through straits. Let him therefore not fear the toilsome way who desires such a homeland. The time, he says, of my dissolution is at hand. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith: for the rest, there remains for me the crown of justice. Rightly you hasten, rightly you rejoice that you are to be offered up: for there remains for you the crown of justice. The bitterness of the passion still impends, but the thought of the one about to suffer passes beyond it, and he thinks of what lies beyond; not by what way one goes, but whither one goes. And because whither one goes is thought of with great love, by what way one goes is trodden with great fortitude.

CAPUT IV. — 4. Corona non redderetur debita, nisi gratia prius data fuisset indebita. Cum autem dixisset, Superest mihi corona justitiae; intulit, quam reddet mihi Dominus in illa die justus judex (II Tim. IV, 6-8). Reddet justus, ante non reddidit. Nam si, o Paule, primo Saule, quando persequebaris sanctos Christi, quando servabas vestimenta lapidatorum Stephani, exerceret circa te Dominus justum judicium, ubi esses? Tanto sceleri tuo quis locus in fundo gehennae

Chapter IV. 4. The crown would not be rendered as due, unless grace had first been given as not due. Now when he had said, There remains for me the crown of justice, he added, which the Lord, the just judge, will render to me on that day (2 Tim. 4:6–8). He will render as just; before, He did not render. For if, O Paul, at first Saul, when you were persecuting the saints of Christ, when you were keeping the garments of those who stoned Stephen, the Lord had exercised just judgement upon you, where would you be? For so great a crime of yours what place in the depth of Gehenna

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reperiretur? Sed tunc tibi non reddidit, ut modo reddat. Verba enim tua de prioribus factis tuis legimus in Epistola tua, et per te novimus. Tu dixisti, Ego enim sum novissimus Apostolorum, qui non sum dignus vocari apostolus. Quare? Quia persecutus sum Ecclesiam Dei. Si persecutus es Ecclesiam Dei, unde ergo apostolus? Sed gratia Dei sum quod sum. Ante gratia, modo debitum. Ante gratia donabatur, modo debitum redditur. Gratia Dei sum, inquit, quod sum. Ego nihil sum. Quidquid sum, gratia Dei sum. Quidquid sum; sed modo apostolus; nam quod eram, ego eram: Gratia Dei sum quod sum: et gratia ejus in me vacua non fuit; sed plus omnibus illis laboravi. Quid est, apostole Paule? Quasi extulisti te, quasi de aliqua cervicula videtur dictum, Plus omnibus illis laboravi. Agnosce ergo. Agnosco, inquit: Non ego autem, sed gratia Dei mecum (I Cor. XV, 9, 10). Non erat oblitus, sed unde gaudeamus in novissimo, servabat novissimus. Non ego autem, sed gratia Dei mecum.

would be found? But at that time He did not render it to you, so that He might render it now. For we have read your own words about your earlier deeds in your Epistle, and we have come to know them through you. You said: For I am the least of the apostles, who am not worthy to be called an apostle. Why? Because I persecuted the Church of God. If you persecuted the Church of God, how then an apostle? But by the grace of God I am what I am. Before, grace; now, a debt. Before, grace was being bestowed; now, a debt is being paid. By the grace of God I am, he says, what I am. I am nothing. Whatever I am, by the grace of God I am. Whatever I am; but now an apostle; for what I was, I myself was: By the grace of God I am what I am; and His grace in me was not void; but I laboured more than all of them. What is this, apostle Paul? You have as it were exalted yourself; it seems to be said as if from some stiff little neck, I laboured more than all of them. Acknowledge it, then. I acknowledge it, he says: Yet not I, but the grace of God with me (1 Cor. 15:9–10). He had not forgotten, but he, the last, was keeping back for the last that in which we might rejoice. Yet not I, but the grace of God with me.

CAPUT V. — 5. Victoria certanti datur per Christum. Merita hominis dona sunt Dei. Tunc non redditum est, modo quid? Cursum consummavi, fidem servavi: de caetero superest mihi corona justitiae, quam reddet mihi Dominus in illa die justus judex. Bonum agonem certasti. Sed quis fecit ut vinceres? Lego tibi te, et tu dicis, Gratias ago Deo, qui dedit nobis victoriam per Dominum nostrum Jesum Christum (Ibid. 57). Quid proderit certasse, si non prosit vicisse? Ergo habes quia certasti quidem, sed Christus dedit victoriam. Sequere aliud: Cursum consummavi. Et hoc quis in te? Nonne tu dixisti, Non volentis, neque currentis, sed miserentis est Dei (Rom. IX, 16). Dic quod sequitur: Fidem servavi. Et hoc unde tibi? Audi verba tua: Misericordiam, inquit, consecutus sum, ut fidelis essem (I Cor. VII, 25). Ergo fidem servasti ex misericordia Dei, non ex fortitudine tua. De caetero ergo superest tibi corona justitiae, quam reddet tibi Dominus in illa die justus judex. Meritis enim reddet, ideo justus judex. Sed etiam hic non extollatur cervix tua, quia dona ipsius sunt merita tua. Quod illi dixi, ab illo didici, et vos mecum in ista schola utique didicistis. Superiore loco propter praeconium praesidemus, sed in una schola communem magistrum in coelis habemus.

Chapter V. — 5. Victory is given through Christ to the one who contends. A man's merits are gifts of God. Then it was not rendered; now what? I have finished the course, I have kept the faith; for the rest there remains for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the just judge, will render to me on that day. You have fought the good contest. But who made you conquer? I read you to yourself, and you say: Thanks be to God, Who gave us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ (1 Cor. 15:57). What would it have profited to have contended, if it did not profit to have conquered? So you have it that you did indeed contend, but Christ gave the victory. Go on to the next: I have finished the course. And this too, who did it in you? Did you not say: It is not of him who wills, nor of him who runs, but of God Who shows mercy (Rom. 9:16)? Say what follows: I have kept the faith. And this too, whence did you have it? Hear your own words: I obtained mercy, he says, that I might be faithful (1 Cor. 7:25). So you kept the faith out of the mercy of God, not out of your own strength. For the rest, then, there remains for you the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the just judge, will render to you on that day. For He will render it to merits; that is why He is a just judge. But even here let your neck not be lifted up, because your merits are His gifts. What I said to him, I learned from him; and you with me have surely learned it in this school. We preside in a higher place for the sake of proclamation, but in the one school we have a common Master in heaven.

SERMO CCXCIX. De Natali apostolorum Petri et Pauli, V.

Sermon 299. On the Feast of the Apostles Peter and Paul, 5.

In quo disputatur contra Pelagianorum haeresim.

In which there is argument against the heresy of the Pelagians.

1. Petrus Apostolorum primus, Paulus novissimus. Praedicandis praedicatoribus, et tantis praedicatoribus, de quibus audivimus et cantavimus, quod in omnem terram exivit sonus eorum, et in fines orbis terrae verba eorum (Psal. XVIII, 5), procul dubio nulla nostra verba sufficiunt. Devotionem debemus, vestram exspectationem non implemus. Exspectatis enim a nobis hodie

1. Peter the first of the apostles, Paul the last. To praise preachers, and such great preachers, of whom we have heard and sung that their sound went out into all the earth, and their words to the ends of the circle of the earth (Ps. 18:5), beyond doubt no words of ours suffice. We owe devotion; your expectation we do not fulfil. For you expect from us today

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Editi, in novissimis. At manuscripti, in novissimo.

The editions read in the last [plural]. But the manuscripts: in the last [singular].

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Ex vetere libro Corbeinsi nunc primum prodit. Excerpta ex hoc sermone tria dedit Beda nondum vulgatus in Pauli Epistolas : unum prolixius cum Floro ad II Cor. V; et alia breviora duo ad II Tim. IV, quae praeteriit Florus.

It appears now for the first time, from an old book of Corbie. Bede, not yet published, on the Epistles of Paul gave three excerpts from this sermon: one longer, together with Florus, on 2 Corinthians 5; and two other shorter ones on 2 Timothy 4, which Florus passed over.

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praedicari apostolos Petrum et Paulum, quorum solemnis hic dies est. Agnosco quid exspectetis; et ubi agnosco, succumbo. Video enim exspectari quid, a quo. Sed quia Deus eorum laudari dignatur ab omnibus nobis, non dedignentur servi ejus utcumque praedicari ab eis qui serviunt vobis.

the apostles Peter and Paul to be proclaimed, whose solemn day this is. I recognize what you are expecting; and where I recognize it, I give way. For I see what is expected, and from whom. But since their God deigns to be praised by all of us, let His servants not disdain to be proclaimed, in whatever manner, by those who serve you.

2. Idem tractatur argumentum. Sicut nostis, omnes qui Scripturas sanctas nostis, apostolus Petrus inter discipulos, quos Dominus praesens in carne elegit, primus electus est: Paulus autem non inter illos, non cum illis; sed longe postea, non dispar illis. Petrus ergo primus Apostolorum, Paulus novissimus: Deus autem, cujus hi servi, cujus hi praecones, cujus hi praedicatores, primus et novissimus. Petrus in Apostolis primus, Paulus in Apostolis novissimus: Deus et primus et novissimus, ante quem nihil et post quem nihil. Deus ergo qui se primum et novissimum aeternitate commendavit, ipse Apostolos primum et novissimum passione conjunxit. Utriusque passio concordat solemnitate, utriusque vita consonat charitate. In omnem terram exiit sonus eorum, et in fines orbis terrae verba eorum sonuerunt. Ubi electi sunt, ubi praedicaverunt, ubi etiam passi sunt, omnes novimus. Illos autem ipsos unde nos novimus, nisi quia in omnem terram exiit sonus eorum?

2. The same argument is treated. As you know, all of you who know the holy Scriptures, the apostle Peter was chosen first among the disciples whom the Lord, present in the flesh, chose: but Paul was not among them, not with them; but long afterwards, not unequal to them. Peter, then, is the first of the Apostles, Paul the last: but God, Whose servants these are, Whose heralds these are, Whose preachers these are, is the first and the last. Peter is first among the Apostles, Paul last among the Apostles: God is both first and last, before Whom there is nothing and after Whom there is nothing. God, therefore, Who commended Himself as first and last by eternity, Himself joined the first and the last Apostle by passion. The passion of each agrees in one solemnity, the life of each is in harmony in charity. Their sound has gone out into all the earth, and their words have sounded to the ends of the world. Where they were chosen, where they preached, where they also suffered, we all know. But from where do we know these very men, except that their sound has gone out into all the earth?

3. Apostoli verba de passione sua imminente. Ex Dei gratia et debitores efficimur, et redditores. Martyrum virtus a Deo. Revelatione Paulus confirmatus de sua futura passione et victoria. De passione sua jam imminente et propinquante praenuntiantem audivimus Paulum, cum ejus Epistola legeretur: « Ego enim jam immolor, et tempus resolutionis meae instat. Bonum certamen certavi, cursum consummavi, fidem servavi: de caetero reposita est mihi corona justitiae, quam reddet mihi Dominus in illa die justus judex: non solum autem, inquit, mihi, sed omnibus qui diligunt manifestationem ejus. (II Tim. IV, 6-8). Hinc dicamus aliquid: adjuvant enim nos, quae in fines orbis terrae exierunt, verba eorum. Primo sanctam devotionem videte. Immolari se dixit, non mori: non quia non moritur, qui immolatur; sed non omnis qui moritur, immolatur. Ergo immolari est Deo mori. Ductum est enim Verbum a sacrificio. Omne quod sacrificatur, Deo occiditur. Intellexit enim Apostolus cui ejus sanguis in passione deberetur: factus est enim debitor sanguinis sui, pro quo fusus est sanguis Domini sui. Unus ille sanguinem fudit, et omnes oppigneravit. Quotquot illam fidem recipimus, debemus quod accipimus: et hoc quia dignatus est facere et debitores et redditores. Quis enim nostrum in tanta inopia et paupertate infirmitatis idoneus est reddere tanto creditori? Sed quomodo scriptum est, Dominus dabit verbum evangelizantibus virtute multa (Psal. LXVII, 12): verbum, quo diffamentur; virtutem, qua patiantur. Ipse ergo sibi victimas fecit, ipse sibi sacrificia dicavit, ipse implevit Spiritu martyres, ipse virtute instruxit confessores. Eis quippe dixit, Non enim vos estis qui loquimini (Matth. X, 20). Quamvis ergo passurus, quamvis pro fide Christi sanguinem

3. The Apostle's words about his imminent passion. By the grace of God we are made both debtors and repayers. The strength of the martyrs is from God. Paul, strengthened by revelation concerning his future passion and victory. We heard Paul foretelling his passion, already imminent and drawing near, when his Epistle was read: « For I am already being sacrificed, and the time of my dissolution is at hand. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith: for the rest, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will render to me on that day: and not only to me, he says, but to all who love His manifestation. (2 Tim. 4:6–8). From this let us say something: for their words, which have gone out to the ends of the world, help us. First, see his holy devotion. He said that he was being sacrificed, not that he was dying: not because one who is sacrificed does not die; but not everyone who dies is sacrificed. Therefore to be sacrificed is to die to God. For the word is derived from sacrifice. Everything that is sacrificed is slain to God. For the Apostle understood to Whom his blood was owed in his passion: for he had become a debtor of his own blood, for whom the blood of his Lord was shed. That One shed His blood, and put all under pledge. As many of us as receive that faith owe what we receive: and this because He deigned to make [us] both debtors and repayers. For which of us, in such great want and poverty of weakness, is able to repay so great a creditor? But as it is written, The Lord will give the word to those who evangelize with much strength (Ps. 67:12): the word, by which they might be made known abroad; the strength, by which they might suffer. He Himself therefore made victims for Himself, He Himself dedicated sacrifices to Himself, He Himself filled the martyrs with the Spirit, He Himself equipped the confessors with strength. For He said to them, For it is not you who speak (Matt. 10:20). Although therefore about to suffer, although for the faith of Christ blood

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fusurus; recte tamen dicit, Quid retribuam Domino pro omnibus quae retribuit mihi? Et quid occurrit? Calicem salutaris accipiam, et nomen Domini invocabo (Psal. CXV, 12 et 13). De retributione cogitabas, quid retribueres inquirebas; et occurrit tibi quasi retributuro, Calicem salutaris accipiam, et nomen Domini invocabo. Certe redditurus eras? Ecce accipis. Quod accipis ergo, quia accepisti quod deberes, accipis unde reddas; debitor cum acceperis, debitor cum reddideris. Quid enim retribuam, inquit? Calicem salutaris accipiam. Ergo et hoc accipis, calicem passionis, calicem de quo Dominus ait: Potestis bibere calicem, quem ego bibiturus sum (Matth. XX, 22)? Sed ecce jam calix in manu tua est, jam imminet passio: quid facis ne trepides? quid facis ne titubes? quid facis ne quod jam portas, bibere non possis? Quid faciam, inquit? Et ibi accipiam: debitor ero; quia nomen Domini invocabo. Ego, inquit, jam immolor. Confirmatum illi erat revelatione: non enim hoc sibi humana infirmitas promittere auderet. Fiducia ejus non a se, sed ab eo qui totum dedit, quem intellexit cum diceret superius: Quid enim habes quod non accepisti (I Cor. IV, 7)? Ego ergo, inquit, jam immolor, et tempus resolutionis meae instat. Bonum certamen certavi. Interroga conscientiam: non cunctatur, quia in Domino gloriatur. Bonum, inquit, certamen certavi, cursum consummavi, fidem servavi. Merito cursum consummasti, quia fidem servasti. De caetero, inquit, superest mihi corona justitiae, quam reddet mihi Dominus in illo die justus judex.

about to pour out; yet he rightly says, What shall I render to the Lord for all the things that He has rendered to me? And what comes to mind? I will take the cup of salvation, and I will call upon the name of the Lord (Ps. 115:12–13). You were thinking about rendering, you were asking what you might render; and there comes to you, as one about to render, I will take the cup of salvation, and I will call upon the name of the Lord. Surely you were about to give back? See, you receive. What you receive, then, because you have received what you were to owe, you receive the means with which to give back; a debtor when you have received, a debtor when you have given back. For what shall I render, he says? I will take the cup of salvation. So you receive this too, the cup of the passion, the cup of which the Lord says: Can you drink the cup which I am about to drink (Matt. 20:22)? But see, the cup is already in your hand, the passion is already at hand: what are you doing so as not to tremble? what are you doing so as not to stagger? what are you doing so that you are not unable to drink what you are already carrying? What shall I do, he says? There too I will receive: I shall be a debtor; for I will call upon the name of the Lord. I, he says, am already being offered up. It had been confirmed to him by revelation: for human weakness would not dare to promise this to itself. His confidence was not from himself, but from Him Who gave everything, Whom he understood when he said above: For what do you have that you have not received (1 Cor. 4:7)? I, then, he says, am already being offered up, and the time of my dissolution is at hand. I have fought the good fight. Question his conscience: it does not hesitate, because it glories in the Lord. I have fought, he says, the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith. Rightly have you finished the course, because you have kept the faith. For the rest, he says, there remains for me the crown of justice, which the Lord, the just judge, will render to me on that day.

4. Corona justitiae non martyribus tantum, sed omnibus fidem servantibus promissa. Desiderium adventus Christi judicis futuri. Et ne ipse quasi unus supra modum gloriari videretur, et sibi proprie Dominum vindicare, Non solum autem, inquit, mihi, sed omnibus qui diligunt manifestationem ejus. Non potuit melius et brevius insinuare quid debeant homines facere, ut mereantur illam justitiae coronam. Non enim omnes infundendum sanguinem exspectare debemus: pauci martyres, sed multi fideles. Immolari sicut Paulus non potes? Fidem servare potes: fidem servando diligis manifestationem ejus. Si enim times ne veniat Dominus, non diligis manifestationem ejus. Dominus Christus modo in occulto est; manifestabitur tempore suo, judex futurus juste, qui fuit reus sub judice injuste. Venturus est: et quomodo venturus? Judicaturus. Neque enim iterum judicandus, sed utique

4. The crown of justice promised not to martyrs only, but to all who keep the faith. The longing for the coming of Christ the future judge. And lest he himself should seem to glory beyond measure as if he were the only one, and to claim the Lord for himself as his own, And not only to me, he says, but to all who love His manifestation. He could not have indicated better or more briefly what people ought to do in order to merit that crown of justice. For we must not all expect to have our blood poured out: the martyrs are few, but the faithful many. You cannot be offered up as Paul was? You can keep the faith: by keeping the faith you love His manifestation. For if you fear that the Lord may come, you do not love His manifestation. The Lord Christ is now hidden; He will be manifested in His own time, to be judge justly, He Who was a defendant under a judge unjustly. He is to come: and how is He to come? To judge. For He is not to be judged again, but certainly

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(a) ‹anchor: not visible in the page-foot image› · call in col 1369 (call not visible)

Paulo allatam divina revelatione securitatem de victoria in ultimo certamine non hic tantum dicit. In libro secundo de peccatorum Meritis, cap. 16, n. 24, Pelagianos, qui ex eodem isto loco Apostoli, nunc humanae voluntatis vires, nunc sanctorum virorum in hac vita perfectionem extollebant, sic refellit : « Quod si ideo talibus verbis certus securusque gaudebat, quia de victoria futuri tanti certaminis certum eum securumque jam fecerat, qui eamdem passionem jam illi revelaverat imminere; non re plenissima, sed spe firmissima haec dixit, » etc.

Not only here does he say that a certainty of victory in the last contest was brought to Paul by divine revelation. In the second book On the Merits of Sins, chapter 16, no. 24, he refutes thus the Pelagians, who from this same passage of the Apostle extolled now the powers of the human will, now the perfection of holy men in this life: "But if he rejoiced, certain and secure, in such words because he who had already revealed to him that this same passion was at hand had already made him certain and secure of victory in so great a coming contest, he said these things not in the fullest possession of the thing but in the firmest hope," etc.

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Timorem hunc vehementer improbat Augustinus, Enarr. in Psal. 147, n. 1 : « Si enim, » inquit, « amamus Christum, utique adventum ejus desiderare debemus. Perversum enim est, et nescio utrum verum, quem diligis timere ne veniat; orare, Adveniat regnum tuum, et timere ne exaudiaris. »

Augustine strongly condemns this fear, Exposition of Psalm 147, no. 1: "For if," he says, "we love Christ, we ought surely to long for his coming. For it is perverse, and I do not know whether it is true, to fear that the one you love may come; to pray Thy kingdom come, and to fear that you may be heard."

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jam judicaturus, sicut novimus, sicut credimus, de vivis et mortuis. Interrogo quemlibet hominem intentum in me, ut audiat me; interrogo; respondeat non mihi, sed sibi: Vis ut veniat judex iste? Volo, inquit. Vide quid dicis: si verum dicis, si vis ut veniat, vide quomodo te inveniat. Judex enim venturus est: jam tibi praerogata est humilitas, ventura est potestas. Non enim sic venturus est, ut corpore induatur, de matre nascatur, sugat ubera, cunis involvatur, in praesepe ponatur; postremo jam juvenis ab homine illudatur, teneatur, flagelletur, suspendatur; taceat cum judicatur. Ne forte ideo venturum exspectes, quia humilem venturum adhuc putas. Tacuit judicandus; non tacebit judicaturus. Occultus hic fuit, ut non agnosceretur: Si enim cognovissent, nunquam Dominum gloriae crucifixissent (I Cor. II, 8). Cum ergo hic jam fuerit occultus in potestate sua, tacitus sub aliena; contrarium erit occultationi et huic taciturnitati quod venturum exspectamus. Deus enim manifestus veniet. Qui prius venit occultus, veniet manifestus. Ecce habes contrarium, illi occultationi: vide contrarium illi taciturnitati. Deus noster veniet, et non silebit. Siluit occultus; quia sicut ovis ad immolandum ductus est, Siluit occultus; quia sicut agnus coram tondente se sine voce, sic non aperuit os suum. Siluit occultus; quia in humilitate judicium ejus sublevatum est (Isai. LIII, 7, 8). Siluit occultus; quia homo tantum putatus est: sed Deus manifestus veniet, Deus noster et non silebit. Quid ergo tu qui dicebas, Volo veniat: Volo, inquit, veniat, veniat: nondum times? Ignis ante ipsum praeibit (Psal. XLIX, 3). Si non times judicem, non ignem?

now about to judge, as we know, as we believe, the living and the dead. I question any man at all who is attentive to me, that he may hear me; I question him; let him answer not me, but himself: Do you want this judge to come? I do, he says. See what you are saying: if you are saying what is true, if you want Him to come, see how He is to find you. For the Judge is to come: humility has already been paid out to you in advance, power is yet to come. For He is not to come in such a way as to be clothed with a body, to be born of a mother, to suck at the breast, to be wrapped in a cradle, to be laid in a manger; and finally, already a young man, to be mocked by man, to be seized, to be scourged, to be hung up; to keep silent when He is judged. Do not perhaps await His coming for this reason, that you still think He will come humble. When about to be judged He kept silent; when about to judge He will not keep silent. He was hidden here, so that He might not be recognized: For if they had known, they would never have crucified the Lord of glory (1 Cor. 2:8). Since, then, He was here hidden in His own power, silent under another's, what we await as coming will be the opposite of this hiding and of this silence. For God will come manifest. He Who came before hidden will come manifest. See, you have the opposite of that hiding: see the opposite of that silence. Our God will come, and will not keep silent. Hidden, He kept silent; because as a sheep He was led to be sacrificed, Hidden, He kept silent; because as a lamb before its shearer without voice, so He did not open His mouth. Hidden, He kept silent; because in humility His judgement was lifted up (Isa. 53:7–8). Hidden, He kept silent; because He was thought only a man: but God will come manifest, our God, and He will not keep silent. What then of you who were saying, I want Him to come: I want, he says, Him to come, let Him come: do you not yet fear? Fire shall go before Him (Ps. 49:3). If you do not fear the judge, [do you] not [fear] the fire?

5. Corona debita servantibus fidem. Sed si servas fidem, diligis vere ejus manifestationem, securus coronam debes exspectare justitiae: non enim donatur talibus, sed debetur. Nam et ipse apostolus Paulus tanquam debitum flagitat: Quam reddet, inquit, mihi Dominus in illo die justus judex. Reddet, quia justus est: fecit se mihi promissione debitorem. Praecepit, audivi: praedicavit, credidi. Bonum certamen certavi, cursum consummavi. ⟨ ⟩ His donis suis debet pro⟨ ⟩ moralis, quod bonum ⟨ ⟩ servas, ab illo habes. Qu⟨ ⟩ accepisti? Sed his, inquam ⟨ ⟩ sua. Antequam talia don⟨ ⟩ beret?

5. The crown owed to those who keep the faith. But if you keep the faith, you truly love His manifestation, you ought to await without anxiety the crown of justice: for it is not given as a gift to such men, but is owed. For the apostle Paul himself also demands it as a debt: Which the Lord, he says, the just judge, will render to me on that day. He will render it, because He is just: He has made Himself my debtor by a promise. He commanded, I heard: He preached, I believed. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course. ⟨ ⟩ By these gifts of His He owes pro⟨ ⟩ moralis, what good ⟨ ⟩ you keep, you have from Him. Wh⟨ ⟩ have you received? But by these, I say ⟨ ⟩ his own. Before such gift⟨ ⟩ beret?

6. Salvator Christus Jesus. Paulus primus peccator, quia caeteris persecutoribus crudelitate superior. Pro supplicio debito salus ipsi reddita. Medicus Christus artis suae vim in Pauli curatione commendavit. Vide ipsum Apostol⟨ ⟩ et omni acceptione dign⟨ ⟩ in mundum peccatores ⟨ ⟩

6. The Saviour Christ Jesus. Paul the first sinner, because he surpassed the other persecutors in cruelty. In place of the punishment owed, salvation was rendered to him. Christ the Physician commended the power of His art in the healing of Paul. See the Apostle himself ⟨ ⟩ and worthy of all accept⟨ ⟩ into the world sinners ⟨ ⟩

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(a) ‹anchor: judicium ejus sublevatum› · call in col 1370

Forte, sublatum.

Perhaps taken away.

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(b) ‹anchor: in mundum peccatores. . . .› · call in col 1370

Haec lacuna contigit (ut saepe alias in elegantioribus manuscriptis) facinore nebulonis cujusdam male feriati, qui litteram initialem hujus sermonis auro minioque depictam cultro praecidit. Quod sane non admodum gravate tulissemus, nisi scriptura detractae litterae spatio in aversa parte respondens eodem vulnere periisset. — Addit.

This gap came about (as often elsewhere in the finer manuscripts) through the crime of some idle rascal who cut out with a knife the initial letter of this sermon, painted in gold and red lead. We would not have taken this too hard, had not the writing on the reverse side, corresponding to the space of the removed letter, perished by the same wound. — Addition.

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quorum primus ego sum. Christus, inquit, Jesus, id est Christus Salvator. Hoc est enim latine Jesus. Nec quaerant grammatici quam sit latinum, sed Christiani quam verum. Salus enim latinum nomen est. Salvare et salvator non fuerunt haec latina antequam veniret Salvator: quando ad latinos venit, et haec latina fecit. Ergo Christus Jesus, Christus Salvator, venit in mundum. Et quasi quaereremus, Quare? Ait, Peccatores salvos facere. Ideo Jesus venit. Nam sic ipsum nomen etiam interpretatum et expositum quodam modo in Evangelio legimus: Vocabunt nomen ejus Jesum; ipse enim salvum faciet populum suum a peccatis eorum (Matth. I, 21). Sermo igitur omni acceptione dignus, credulitate dignus: id est, quia Christus Jesus venit in mundum peccatores salvos facere, quorum primus ego sum. Non quia prior peccavit, sed quia caeteris plus peccavit. Quomodo dicimus in artibus medicum primum, multis aetate inferiorem, sed arte superiorem; fabrum primum, architectum primum: solemus ita loqui. Sic se Apostolus appellavit peccatorem primum. Nemo enim est gravius Ecclesiam persecutus. Ergo peccatoribus, ad quos venit Jesus, si quaeras quid debebatur, non invenis quid peccatoribus deberetur, nisi supplicium. Si quid deberetur quaeris, supplicium est: si quid redditum sit quaeris, salus est: pro supplicio salus. Debebatur supplicium, reddita est salus: debebatur poena, reddita est corona. Nihil debebatur Paulo prius Saulo, primo peccatori, crudelitate caeteros superanti, nihil ei debebatur, nisi supplicium, magnumque supplicium; et vocatur de coelo, Saule, Saule, quid me persequeris (Act. IX, 4)? Coercetur, ut parcat, ut ei parci possit. Mutatur lupus in ovem: parum est, in ovem; imo in pastorem. Superna voce occiditur et vivificatur, percutitur et sanatur. Prosternitur persecutor, erigitur praedicator. Quae ista gratia, nisi gratia? Quid enim boni meriti praecessit? Gratia vocatur, quia gratis datur. Venit, inquit, Jesus in mundum peccatores salvos facere, quorum primus ego sum. Sed ideo misericordiam consecutus sum. Numquid posset tunc dicere, Reddet mihi Dominus in illa die justus judex? Si primo peccatori reddet Dominus in illa die justus judex, quid reddet, nisi quod primo peccatori

of whom I am the first. Christ, he says, Jesus, that is, Christ the Saviour. For this is what Jesus is in Latin. Let the grammarians not ask how Latin it is, but let Christians ask how true it is. For salus is a Latin noun. Salvare and salvator were not Latin before the Saviour came: when He came to the Latins, He made these Latin too. Therefore Christ Jesus, Christ the Saviour, came into the world. And as if we were asking, Why? he says, To save sinners. That is why Jesus came. For in this way we read the very name also interpreted and in a certain manner explained in the Gospel: They shall call His name Jesus; for He shall save His people from their sins (Matt. 1:21). The saying, therefore, is worthy of all acceptance, worthy of belief: that is, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the first. Not because he sinned earlier, but because he sinned more than the rest. Just as in the arts we speak of the first physician, inferior to many in age but superior in skill; the first smith, the first architect: we are accustomed to speak thus. So the Apostle called himself the first sinner. For no one persecuted the Church more grievously. Therefore, if you ask what was owed to the sinners to whom Jesus came, you find nothing that was owed to sinners except punishment. If you ask what was owed, it is punishment: if you ask what has been paid, it is salvation: salvation in place of punishment. Punishment was owed, salvation has been paid: penalty was owed, a crown has been paid. Nothing was owed to Paul, formerly Saul, the first sinner, surpassing the rest in cruelty, nothing was owed to him except punishment, and great punishment; and he is called from heaven, Saul, Saul, why do you persecute Me (Acts 9:4)? He is restrained, that he may spare, that he himself may be spared. The wolf is changed into a sheep: that is too little, into a sheep; rather into a shepherd. By a voice from above he is slain and brought to life, struck and healed. The persecutor is laid low, the preacher is raised up. What is this grace, if not grace? For what good merit went before? It is called grace because it is given gratis. Jesus came, he says, into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the first. But for this reason I obtained mercy. Could he then have said, The Lord, the just judge, will render to me on that day? If the Lord, the just judge, will render on that day to the first sinner, what will He render, except that which the first sinner

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Footnotes

(b, continued) ‹anchor: in mundum peccatores. . . . (col 1370)› · call in col 1370; continuation printed under page 692 (added by QA Q1) tomi quinti PP. Benedictinorum : « Lacuna ibi relicta sic videtur supplenda : Bonum certamen certavi, cursum consummavi, fidem servavi. De caetero his donis suis debet promissa sua. Quod enim immolaris, quod bonum certamen certas, quod fidem servas, ab illo habes. Quid enim habes quod non accepisti? Sed his, inquam, donis suis debet promissa sua Antequam talia donaret, quid erat quod Paulo deberet? Vide ipsum Apostolum dicentem : Humanus (seu) Fidelis sermo (utrumque enim legit Augustinus, primum quidem serm. 174; secundum autem serm. 175 et serm. 176), et omni acceptione dignus : quia venit Jesus in mundum peccatores salvos facere, quorum primus ego sum. » Bossuet eumdem locum sic restituit : « Bonum certamen certavi, cursum consummavi, fidem servavi. Haec donavit. His suis donis debet promissam coronam : quod immolaris, quod bonum certamen certas, quod fidem servas, ab illo habes. Quid enim habes quod non accepisti? Sed his, inquam, donis suis debet alia dona sua. Antequam talia donaret, quam coronam deberet? Vide ipsum Apostolum : Humanus sermo, et omni acceptione dignus : quod Christus Jesus in mundum peccatores venit salvos facere, quorum primus ego sum. » M.

[Addenda] of the fifth volume of the Benedictine Fathers: "The gap left there seems to be filled thus: I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith. For the rest, He owes His promises to these His gifts. For that you are offered up, that you fight the good fight, that you keep the faith, you have from Him. For what have you that you did not receive? But to these His gifts, I say, He owes His promises. Before He gave such things, what was there that He owed to Paul? See the Apostle himself saying: A human (or) A faithful saying (for Augustine reads both, the first in Sermon 174, the second in Sermons 175 and 176), and worthy of all acceptance: that Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the first." Bossuet restored the same passage thus: "I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith. These He gave. To these His gifts He owes the promised crown: that you are offered up, that you fight the good fight, that you keep the faith, you have from Him. For what have you that you did not receive? But to these His gifts, I say, He owes His other gifts. Before He gave such things, what crown did He owe? See the Apostle himself: A human saying, and worthy of all acceptance: that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the first." M.

(printed under page 692) - QA Q1: n1370's (b) stops at "— Addit." and its English renders that as "Addition."; the note runs on here, so with this continuation it reads "Addit. tomi quinti PP. Benedictinorum" ("Addenda to the fifth volume of the Benedictine Fathers"). Join the two at settle; n1370 not written here (outside the Q1 sample). Printed "sua Antequam" (no full stop) kept as printed; "acception:" and "nnmdum" are broken type for acceptione, mundum.

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debetur, magnum supplicium, poena aeterna? Hoc prius debebatur, nec redditum est. Ideo, inquit, misericordiam consecutus sum. Non debitum accepi: sed misericordiam consecutus sum primus peccator, ut in me ostenderet Christus Jesus omnem longanimitatem, ad informationem eorum qui credituri sunt illi in vitam aeternam (I Tim. I, 15, 16). Quid est, ad informationem? Ut quilibet sceleratus, quilibet facinoribus involutus, non desperet veniam, quam accepit Saulus. Medicus magnus, hoc est Jesus, medicus magnus, ad regionem veniens languidorum, unde medicina ejus diffamaretur, talem sibi curandum elegit, de quo multum desperabatur. Talis ergo modo, qui prius talis, dicit: Jam immolor, et tempus resolutionis meae instat. Bonum certamen certavi, cursum consummavi, fidem servavi. Tu eras ille qui currebas per praeceps, qui Christianos trahebas ad mortem, qui cum lapidaretur Stephanus, ut in omnium manibus lapidares, omnium vestimenta servabas? tu eras ille? Ego, inquit, eram, sed non sum. Quare eras, et non es? Quia misericordiam consecutus sum. Accepisti ergo, Paule, quod non tibi debebatur. Dic jam securus quid tibi debeatur, dic jam. De caetero superest mihi corona justitiae, quam reddet mihi Dominus in illa die justus judex. Quam fidenter exigit debitum, cui donatum est non debere supplicium. Dic jam Domino tuo, dic securus, dic certus, dic fiducia plenissimus: Ego eram antea in malitia mea, usus sum indebita misericordia tua; corona ex debito munera tua. Satis hoc sit Veniamus ad Petrum; et illi non facultatem dignam, sed solemnem devotionem reddamus: a novissimo ad primum; quia et nos a novissimis con⟨a⟩mur ad prima.

is owed, a great punishment, eternal penalty? This was owed before, and it was not paid. Therefore, he says, I obtained mercy. I did not receive what was owed: but I obtained mercy, I the first sinner, that in me Christ Jesus might show all long-suffering, for the instruction of those who would believe in Him unto eternal life (1 Tim. 1:15–16). What is "for the instruction"? That any wicked man whatever, anyone whatever entangled in crimes, should not despair of the pardon which Saul received. The great Physician, that is Jesus, the great Physician, coming to a region of the sick, so that His medicine might be made widely known, chose for Himself to cure such a one as was greatly despaired of. Such a man therefore now, who was formerly such, says: I am now being offered up, and the time of my dissolution is at hand. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith. Were you the one who ran headlong, who dragged Christians to death, who, when Stephen was being stoned, kept the garments of all, so that you might stone him in the hands of all? Were you that one? I was, he says, but I am not. Why were you, and are not? Because I obtained mercy. You received therefore, Paul, what was not owed to you. Say now securely what is owed to you, say it now. For the rest there remains for me a crown of justice, which the Lord, the just judge, will render to me on that day. How confidently he demands what is owed, he to whom it was granted not to owe punishment. Say now to your Lord, say it securely, say it surely, say it most full of confidence: I was formerly in my wickedness, I enjoyed Thy undeserved mercy; crown Thy gifts as what is owed. Let this suffice Let us come to Peter; and let us render to him not an eloquence worthy [of him], but solemn devotion: from the last to the first; for we too strive from the last things to the first.

7. Petro jam sane praedicitur sua passio, cui infirmo fuerat praedicta negatio. Petro sancto primo apostolo Dominus ipse Jesus in Evangelio, quod modo cum legeretur, audivimus, passionem suam praenuntiavit dicens: Cum esses junior, cingebas te, et ibas quo velles; cum autem senex fueris factus, extendes manus tuas, et alter te cinget, et feret quo tu non vis. Et ipse Evangelista consequenter exposuit nobis quid dictum fuerit: Hoc autem, inquit, dicebat Dominus, significans qua morte clarificaturus erat Deum (Joan. XXI, 18, 19). Passionem ejus, crucem ejus praenuntiavit ei ipse Dominus Christus, sed jam amanti, non neganti. Utrumque enim tempus servavit in eo medicus: negavit infirmus, amavit sanus. Ostendit ei Dominus, eidem Petro ostendit Petrum, quando temeraria quadam fiducia promiserat pro Christo se esse moriturum, cum venisset Christus pro Petro moriturus. Animam, inquit, tuam pro me ponis? Amen dico tibi; antequam gallus cantet, ter me negabis (Id. XIII, 38). Sanabo te: sed prius est ut aeger agnoscas te. Ergo in illa negatione praedicta ostendit Dominus Petro Petrum: in illo autem amore ostendit Dominus Petro Christum. Amas me, inquit? Amo. Pasce oves meas (Id. XXI, 15-17). Hoc semel, hoc iterum, hoc tertio. Ter amor confessus est, ter timor damnatus est. Et quia amabat, indicatur ei passio ejus. Hoc enim

7. To Peter, indeed, his passion is now foretold, to whom, when he was weak, his denial had been foretold. To holy Peter, the first apostle, the Lord Jesus Himself, in the Gospel which we heard just now when it was read, foretold his passion, saying: When you were younger, you girded yourself, and went where you wished; but when you have become old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will gird you, and will carry you where you do not wish. And the Evangelist himself thereupon explained to us what had been said: This, he says, the Lord said, signifying by what death he was to glorify God (John 21:18–19). His passion, his cross, the Lord Christ Himself foretold to him, but to him now loving, not denying. For the physician kept both times in view in him: he denied when weak, he loved when healthy. The Lord showed him, showed to that same Peter, Peter, when with a certain rash confidence he had promised that he would die for Christ, when Christ had come to die for Peter. Will you lay down your life for Me, He says? Amen I say to you; before the cock crows, you will deny Me three times (John 13:38). I will heal you: but first it is that you, being sick, recognize yourself. Therefore in that foretold denial the Lord showed Peter to Peter: but in that love the Lord showed Christ to Peter. Do you love Me, He says? I love. Feed My sheep (John 21:15–17). This once, this again, this a third time. Three times love was confessed, three times fear was condemned. And because he loved, his passion is made known to him. For this

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erat amare, usque ad passionem per Christi amorem pervenire.

was to love, to come even to suffering through the love of Christ.

8. Petrus quomodo nolens passurus. Mors poena peccati. Sed quid est illud, fratres, quem non moveat? Alter, inquit, te cinget, et feret quo tu non vis. Non ergo volens Petrus ad tantam gratiam passionis advenit? Ecce Paulus, Ego enim jam immolor, et tempus resolutionis meae instat; videtur in his verbis exsultando quasi festinare ad passionem: huic autem, Alter te cinget, et feret quo tu non vis. Volens Paulus et nolens Petrus? Imo si intelligamus, volens Paulus et volens Petrus, et nolens Paulus et nolens Petrus. Hoc dum explicem ut possum, intentione vestra mihi opus est. Amari mors non potest, tolerari potest. Nam si amatur, nihil magnum fecerunt qui eam pro fide susceperunt. Numquid si eos laetari videremus in conviviis, diceremus magnos viros, diceremus fortes viros? Si voluptatibus circumfluere cerneremus, fortitudinem in eis aut patientiam laudaremus? Quare? Num quia rem facerent contrariam doloribus, contrariam molestiis, essent in gaudiis, in voluptatibus, in deliciis; num quia tales, ut magni, ut fortes, ut patientissimi laudarentur? Martyres autem non sic laudamus. Magni viri, fortes viri, patientes viri. Vis nosse quia tolerandum est, non amandum? Nomen interroga: passio vocatur. Natura ergo, non tantum homines, sed et omnes omnino animantes recusant mortem et formidant. Ideo magni martyres, quia quod valde durum est, pro regno coelorum fortiter susceperunt, et cogitantes promissa tolerarunt molestias. Videte Dominum dicentem, Majorem hac charitatem nemo habet, ut animam suam ponat quis pro amicis suis (Joan. XV, 13). Si hoc durum non est, quid magnum charitas facit, quia pro me amat delicias? Non. Sed quia tolerat mortem. Propter verba labiorum tuorum; martyrum vox est; Propter verba labiorum tuorum, hoc est, pro⟨p⟩ter monita et promissa tua, ego custodivi vias duras (Psal. XVI, 4). Ergo quantum ad naturae modum et vim consuetudinis recusatur mors: sed dum amatur quod erit post mortem, suscipitur quod nolumus, ut perveniatur quo volumus. Ecce unde venit, Feret quo tu non vis. Naturam expressit, non devotionem. Hanc nostrae infirmitatis naturam in se ipse Dominus transfiguravit, cum passurus ait Patri: Pater, si fieri potest, transeat a me calix iste (Matth. XXVI, 39). Ego enim jam immolor, patientis verba sunt, non deliciantis. Mors ergo nostra de poena est, propinata nobis. A radice hanc accepimus, diffusio ramorum generis humani. Adam primus hanc peccando meruit. A muliere initium factum est peccati, sicut Scriptura loquitur, et per illam omnes morimur (Eccli. XXV, 33). Et, Per unum hominem peccatum intravit in mundum, et per peccatum mors; et ita in omnes homines pertransiit, in quo omnes peccaverunt (Rom. V, 12). Ergo in nostra natura et culpa et poena. Deus naturam sine culpa fecit, et si sine culpa persisteret, nec poena utique sequebatur. Inde venimus, inde utrumque

8. How Peter was to suffer unwilling. Death the penalty of sin. But what is that saying, brothers, which would not move anyone? Another, He says, will gird you, and carry you where you do not wish. Did Peter then not come willingly to so great a grace of suffering? Look at Paul: For I am now being offered up, and the time of my dissolution is at hand; in these words he seems, exulting, as it were to hasten to his suffering: but to this man, Another will gird you, and carry you where you do not wish. Paul willing and Peter unwilling? On the contrary, if we understand, Paul was willing and Peter was willing, and Paul was unwilling and Peter was unwilling. While I explain this as I can, I need your attention. Death cannot be loved; it can be endured. For if it is loved, those who underwent it for the faith did nothing great. If we saw them making merry at banquets, would we call them great men, would we call them brave men? If we beheld them overflowing with pleasures, would we praise fortitude or patience in them? Why? Is it because they would be doing a thing contrary to pains, contrary to troubles, would be in joys, in pleasures, in delights; is it because such men would be praised as great, as brave, as most patient? But we do not praise the martyrs so. Great men, brave men, patient men. Do you wish to know that it is to be endured, not loved? Ask its name: it is called suffering. By nature, then, not only men but absolutely all living creatures refuse death and dread it. Therefore the martyrs are great, because what is very hard they bravely underwent for the kingdom of heaven, and, thinking on the promises, they endured troubles. See the Lord saying, Greater love than this no one has, that one lay down his life for his friends (John 15:13). If this is not hard, what great thing does love do, in that for my sake it loves delights? No. But in that it endures death. Because of the words of Thy lips; it is the voice of the martyrs; Because of the words of Thy lips, that is, because of Thy admonitions and promises, I have kept hard ways (Ps. 16:4). Therefore, as regards the measure of nature and the force of habit, death is refused: but while what will be after death is loved, what we do not wish is undergone, so that we may arrive where we wish. See from where it comes, He will carry you where you do not wish. He expressed nature, not devotion. This nature of our weakness the Lord Himself transfigured in Himself when, about to suffer, He said to the Father: Father, if it can be, let this cup pass from Me (Matt. 26:39). For I am now being offered up: these are the words of one suffering, not of one taking his delight. Our death, then, comes from punishment, a draught served to us. From the root we received it, the spreading of the branches of the human race. Adam first deserved it by sinning. From a woman the beginning of sin was made, as Scripture says, and through her we all die (Sir. 25:33). And, Through one man sin entered into the world, and through sin death; and so it passed through into all men, in whom all sinned (Rom. 5:12). Therefore in our nature there is both guilt and punishment. God made nature without guilt, and if it had persisted without guilt, punishment would certainly not have followed. From there we came, from there both

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(1) ‹anchor: diffusio› · call in col 1373

Forte, diffusione.

Perhaps by the spreading.

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(2) ‹anchor: utique sequebatur› · call in col 1373

Forte, sequeretur.

Perhaps would follow.

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traximus, et hinc multa contraximus. In nostra igitur natura et culpa et poena: in Jesu carne et poena sine culpa, ut et culpa sanaretur et poena. Alter te, inquit, cinget, et feret quo tu non vis. Poena est haec: sed per poenam tenditur ad coronam. Contemnebat poenam Paulus: ergo attendens coronam, contemnebat poenam, et dicebat, Jam immolor, debetur mihi corona justitiae. Durum est qua transitur, sed magnum est quo transitur. Et Petrus noverat quo tendebat: ideo et ipse passionem plena devotione suscepit; sed toleravit, non amavit passionem. Toleravit passionem, quod sequebatur amavit, et quoniam quo ibat amavit, qua ibat toleravit.

we have drawn, and from this we have contracted many things. In our nature, therefore, there is both guilt and penalty: in the flesh of Jesus there is penalty without guilt, so that both guilt and penalty might be healed. Another, He says, will gird you, and carry you where you do not wish. This is a penalty: but through the penalty one strives towards the crown. Paul despised the penalty: therefore, looking to the crown, he despised the penalty, and said, Now I am being offered up; the crown of righteousness is owed to me. Hard is the way by which one passes, but great is that to which one passes. And Peter knew where he was heading: therefore he too underwent the passion with full devotion; but he endured the passion, he did not love it. He endured the passion, he loved what followed it; and because he loved where he was going, he endured the way by which he was going.

9. Paulum quoque mori noluisse ostenditur. Diximus ambos noluisse et ambos voluisse; ambos, si fieri posset, noluisse poenam, ambos tamen pariter coronam adamasse. Sed ostendamus et Paulum poenam noluisse. Petro enim testis factus est ipse Dominus: quia et te transfiguravit in se, quando dixit, Pater, si fieri potest, transeat a me calix iste. Petro ergo attestatus est Dominus: Paulus autem ipse sibi. Ait enim quodam loco de mortali isto corpore, Ingemiscimus gravati: secundum illud Scripturae alio loco, Corpus quod corrumpitur, aggravat animam, et deprimit terrena inhabitatio sensum multa cogitantem (Sap. IX, 15). Ergo ait, ingemiscimus gravati: sub sarcina scilicet corruptibilis corporis. Ingemiscimus gravati. Si ingemiscis, libenter pone sarcinam istam. Certe ingemiscere se dixit sub hoc onere, gravari sub sarcina hac corruptibilis corporis: vide utrum velit hoc onere spoliari, sub quo gravatur, sub quo ingemiscit. Non hoc sequitur: sed quid ait? In quo nolumus exspoliari. O vocem naturae, confessionem poenae! Grave corpus est, onerosum corpus est, corruptibile corpus est: gemitur sub illo, et non libenter deseritur, et non libenter deponitur. Nolumus, inquit, spoliari. Sic remansurus es gemens? Et si ingemiscis gravatus, quare spolia⟨r⟩i non vis? Non, inquit. Vide quid sequitur: Nolumus spoliari, sed supervestiri. Sub terrena tunica gemo, ad coelestem festino: illam volo accipere, istam nolo ponere. In quo nolumus spoliari, sed supervestiri. Ergo, Paule, intelligam te, quid dicis? Fiet injuria tanto illi coelesti vestimento, ut veniat tibi super hos pannos mortalitatis et corruptionis, ut hoc sit inferius, illud superius; hoc interius, illud exterius? Absit, inquit: non sic dico. Nolo spoliari, sed supervestiri. Non tamen ut sub incorruptione lateat corruptio, sed ut absorbeatur mortale a vita. Bene exclamasti, qui Scripturas nosti. Sed no aliquis ignarus Scripturarum verba mea putet subsecuta, Pauli sunt verba, omnia ista apostolica verba sunt: Ingemiscimus gravati, in quo nolumus spoliari, sed supervestiri, ut absorbeatur mortale a vita (II Cor. V, 4). Bene tenes, quod alibi dicis de resurrectione corporis loquens: Oportet corruptibile hoc induere incorruptionem, et mortale hoc induere immortalitatem. Cum autem corruptibile hoc induerit incorruptionem, tunc fiet sermo qui scriptus est, Absorpta est mors in victoriam. Quod illo loco ait, ut absorbeatur mortale a

9. It is shown that Paul too did not wish to die. We have said that both did not wish and both wished; that both, if it were possible, did not wish the penalty, yet both alike loved the crown. But let us show that Paul too did not wish the penalty. For to Peter the Lord Himself became witness: for He transfigured you too into Himself when He said, Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me. To Peter, then, the Lord bore witness; but Paul bore witness to himself. For he says in a certain place concerning this mortal body, We groan, being burdened: in accordance with that word of Scripture in another place, The body which is corrupted weighs down the soul, and the earthly dwelling presses down the mind that thinks many things (Wis. 9:15). So he says, we groan, being burdened: namely under the load of the corruptible body. We groan, being burdened. If you groan, lay down that load gladly. He certainly said that he groaned under this burden, that he was weighed down under this load of the corruptible body: see whether he wishes to be stripped of this burden under which he is weighed down, under which he groans. That does not follow: but what does he say? In which we do not wish to be stripped. O voice of nature, confession of the penalty! The body is heavy, the body is burdensome, the body is corruptible: one groans under it, and yet it is not gladly abandoned, and not gladly laid down. We do not wish, he says, to be stripped. Will you then remain groaning like this? And if you groan, being burdened, why do you not wish to be stripped? No, he says. See what follows: We do not wish to be stripped, but to be clothed over. Under an earthly tunic I groan, towards a heavenly one I hasten: that one I wish to receive, this one I do not wish to lay down. In which we do not wish to be stripped, but to be clothed over. So then, Paul, let me understand you: what are you saying? Will such an injury be done to that heavenly garment, that it should come upon you over these rags of mortality and corruption, so that this is beneath and that above, this inside and that outside? Far from it, he says: I do not say so. I do not wish to be stripped, but to be clothed over. Yet not so that corruption may lie hidden under incorruption, but so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. Well have you cried out, you who know the Scriptures. But lest anyone ignorant of the Scriptures should think these words that followed were mine, they are Paul's words, all these are apostolic words: We groan, being burdened, in which we do not wish to be stripped, but to be clothed over, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life (2 Cor. 5:4). You hold well to what you say elsewhere, speaking of the resurrection of the body: This corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. But when this corruptible has put on incorruption, then shall come to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. What he says in that place, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by

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vita; hoc isto loco, Absorpta est mors in victoriam. Nusquam mors: non infra, non supra; non intra, non extra. Absorpta est enim mors in victoriam. Ubi est, mors, contentio tua? dicetur morti in futura corporis resurrectione, et tali commutatione, ut absorbeatur mors in victoria. Cum corruptibile hoc induerit incorruptionem, dicetur morti, Ubi est, mors, contentio tua? Ipsa contentio facit ut feraris quo non vis. Ubi est, mors, contentio tua? Ubi est, mors, aculeus tuus? Aculeus autem mortis peccatum (I Cor. XV, 53-56).

life; this [he says] in this place, Death is swallowed up in victory. Nowhere is death: not below, not above; not within, not without. For death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is your contention? will be said to death in the future resurrection of the body, and in such a transformation that death is swallowed up in victory. When this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, it will be said to death, O death, where is your contention? That very contention brings it about that you are carried where you do not wish. O death, where is your contention? O death, where is your sting? But the sting of death is sin (1 Cor. 15:53–56).

10. Mortem a peccato esse contra Pelagianos probatur. Certe non est mors a peccato? De qua enim morte alia loquebatur, cum de resurrectione corporis loqueretur. Induetur incorruptibilitate hoc corruptibile: absorbebitur mors in victoria. Haec corporis resurrectio. Ibi dicetur, Ubi est, mors, contentio tua? Cui, nisi corporis morti? Quia sermo est de corporis resurrectione. Ubi est, mors, contentio tua? Ubi est, mors, aculeus tuus? Aculeus autem mortis peccatum. Peccatum aculeus mortis, quo aculeo facta est mors, non quem aculeum fecit mors: quomodo venenum poculum mortis, quia facit mortem, non quia fit a morte. Dominus ergo in resurrectione finit hanc poenam: mortem autem etiam et fidelibus et sanctis relinquit ad luctam. Ad agonem tibi mors dimissa est. Nam poterat Deus justificato tibi auferre mortem, sed dimisit ad certamen, ut esset quod pro fide contemneres. Nam de quibus voluit, fecit. Enoch translatus est, et Elias translatus est, et vivunt. Justitia ipsorum meruit hoc? an Dei gratia et Dei beneficium et speciale concessum? Ut Creator ostendat in omnibus potestatem, commendavit nobis quid possit.

10. That death is from sin is proved against the Pelagians. Surely death is not from sin? For of what other death was he speaking, when he was speaking of the resurrection of the body? This corruptible will be clothed with incorruptibility: death will be swallowed up in victory. This is the resurrection of the body. There it will be said, O death, where is your contention? To whom, if not to the death of the body? For the discourse is about the resurrection of the body. O death, where is your contention? O death, where is your sting? But the sting of death is sin. Sin is the sting of death, the sting by which death was made, not a sting which death made: as poison is the cup of death, because it makes death, not because it is made by death. The Lord therefore in the resurrection ends this penalty: but death He leaves even to the faithful and to the saints for wrestling. Death has been left to you for the contest. For God could have taken death away from you once justified, but He left it for the struggle, so that there might be something that you would despise for the sake of faith. For with those with whom He willed, He did so. Enoch was translated, and Elijah was translated, and they live. Did their own righteousness merit this? or was it the grace of God and the kindness of God and a special grant? So that the Creator might show His power in all things, He has set before us what He can do.

11. Pelagianorum errori, mortem naturae esse, non peccati, Enoch et Eliae exemplum nihil suffragatur. Frustra ergo isti, qui dicunt non de peccato nos mori, quantum pertinet ad corporis mortem, sed naturae esse quod morimur, et moriturum fuisse Adam etiamsi non peccasset, frustra nobis istos opponunt, Enoch et Eliam. Valde inconsiderate loquuntur; et si attendant, contra se loquuntur. Quid enim dicunt? Si peccati est mors, quare non mortui sunt Enoch et Elias? Non vides, qui hoc loqueris, quia naturae dicis esse mortem, qui negas esse peccati. Tu dicis, naturae; ego dico, peccati: est naturae quidem, sed jam vitiosae, jam isto supplicio condemnatae.

11. The example of Enoch and Elijah lends no support to the error of the Pelagians, that death belongs to nature, not to sin. In vain therefore do these men, who say that we do not die from sin, as far as concerns the death of the body, but that it belongs to nature that we die, and that Adam would have died even if he had not sinned, in vain do they set these against us, Enoch and Elijah. They speak very inconsiderately; and if they paid attention, they speak against themselves. For what do they say? If death is of sin, why did Enoch and Elijah not die? Do you not see, you who say this, that you say death belongs to nature, you who deny that it belongs to sin? You say, of nature; I say, of sin: it is indeed of nature, but of a nature now vitiated, now condemned by this punishment.

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(a) ‹anchor: Enoch et Eliam› · call in col 1375

Idipsum aliquando Marius Mercator Augustino per litteras significavit, objici a Pelagianis Enoch et Eliam, quod mortui non fuerint, sed cum suis corporibus translati. Cui argumento in Epist. 193, eidem Mercatori anno 418 scripta respondet hoc fere quod in isto sermone : « Quid eos, » inquit, n. 5, « ad hoc unde agitur adjuvet, non intelligo. Ut enim omittam quod ipsi quoque morituri postea perhibentur, sicut plerique exponunt Apocalypsim Joannis de duobus illis Prophetis, etc., quid istos adjuvat, quaeso te? Neque enim hinc ostendunt non propter peccatum homines secundum corpus mori. Nam si Deus, qui tam multis fidelibus suis donat ipsa peccata, voluit quibusdam etiam istam poenam donare peccati; qui nos sumus qui respondeamus Deo, cur alius sic, alius autem sic? » Et postea, n. 7 : « Si mors etiam corporis poena peccati est, ista potius aliqua quaestio est, cur moriatur infans cum fuerit baptizatus, quam cur mortuus non sit Elias cum fuerit justificatus. »

Marius Mercator once informed Augustine by letter of this very thing: that the Pelagians objected Enoch and Elijah, because they did not die but were translated with their bodies. To this argument, in Letter 193, written to the same Mercator in the year 418, he replies much as in this sermon: "How it helps them," he says, no. 5, "towards the matter in question, I do not understand. For, to pass over the fact that they too are said to be going to die later, as most expound the Apocalypse of John about those two Prophets, etc., what help is it to these men, I ask you? For they do not show from this that men do not die in the body because of sin. For if God, who forgives so many of His faithful their very sins, willed to remit to some even this penalty of sin, who are we to answer God, why one so and another otherwise?" And later, no. 7: "If the death of the body too is a penalty of sin, the question is rather why an infant dies when he has been baptized, than why Elijah did not die when he had been justified."

(*) ‹anchor: SERMO CCC› · call in col 1376 Collatus ad d. r. t. v. et ad Lov.

Collated with … [abbreviated sigla of manuscripts] and with the Louvain edition.

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