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Appendix to Augustine's Sermones: Sermones supposititii, Sermones 2-15

Sermons II–III

SERMO II. De vocatione Abrahae, Egredere de terra tua, etc. Gen. XII, 1.

Sermon 2. On the calling of Abraham, "Go out from your land", etc. Gen. 12:1.

1. Egredi de terra sua quid sit. Modo cum divina lectio legeretur, audivimus Dominum beato Abrahae dicentem, Egredere de terra tua, et de cognatione tua, et de domo patris tui. Omnia, fratres charissimi, quae in Veteri Testamento conscripta sunt, Novi Testamenti typum et imaginem praetulerunt. Sic enim Paulus dixit, Omnia in figura contingebant illis: scripta sunt autem propter nos, in quos fines saeculorum devenerunt (I Cor. X, 11). Si ergo propter nos scripta sunt; quod tunc in Abraham corporaliter legimus factum, spiritualiter in nobis videmus impletum. Egredere, inquit illi Dominus, de terra tua, et de cognatione tua, et de domo patris tui. Haec omnia, fratres, per sacramentum Baptismi in nobis et credimus et sentimus impleri. Terra nostra, caro nostra est: bene de terra nostra egredimur, quando carnales consuetudines deserentes, Christi vestigiis inhaeremus. Quasi non tibi videtur feliciter de terra sua, id est, de se ipso egredi, qui de superbo efficitur humilis, patiens ex iracundo, castus ex luxurioso, largus ex cupido, benignus ex invido, placidus ex cruento? Vere, fratres, feliciter de terra sua egreditur, qui pro Dei amore taliter commutatur. Denique etiam in collocutione privata ita loqui consuevimus, ut si aliquis malus homo subito bona opera coeperit exercere, dicamus de illo, Exiit i⟨s⟩te de se. Et vere bene de se exiisse dicitur, qui repudiatis vitiis, virtutibus delectatur. Egredere, inquit Dominus, de terra tua. Terra nostra, id est, caro nostra, ante Baptismum terra morientium fuit; per Baptismum facta est terra viventium. Ipsa est illa terra, de qua Psalmista commemorat dicens, Credo videre bona Domini in terra viventium (Psal. XXVI, 13). Terra viventium et non morientium, id est, virtutum, non vitiorum, ut dixi, per Baptismum facti sumus: si tamen post acceptum Baptismum ad vitiorum non revertimur volutabrum, si posteaquam terra viventium

1. What it is to go out from one's land. Just now, while the divine reading was being read, we heard the Lord saying to blessed Abraham, Go out from your land, and from your kindred, and from your father's house. All things, dearest brethren, that were written down in the Old Testament set forth beforehand a type and image of the New Testament. For thus Paul said, All things happened to them in figure: but they were written for our sake, upon whom the ends of the ages have come (1 Cor. 10:11). If, then, they were written for our sake, what we read was then done bodily in Abraham, we see fulfilled spiritually in ourselves. Go out, the Lord says to him, from your land, and from your kindred, and from your father's house. All these things, brethren, we both believe and feel to be fulfilled in us through the sacrament of Baptism. Our land is our flesh: we go out well from our land when, forsaking carnal habits, we cling to the footsteps of Christ. Does it not seem to you that he happily goes out from his land, that is, from himself, who from proud is made humble, patient from wrathful, chaste from lustful, generous from greedy, kindly from envious, gentle from bloodthirsty? Truly, brethren, he happily goes out from his land who is thus changed for the love of God. Indeed, even in private conversation we are accustomed to speak thus, so that if some bad man suddenly begins to do good works, we say of him, "He has gone out of himself." And truly he is said to have gone out of himself well who, having rejected vices, delights in virtues. Go out, says the Lord, from your land. Our land, that is, our flesh, was before Baptism a land of the dying; through Baptism it has been made a land of the living. That is the very land of which the Psalmist makes mention, saying, I believe that I shall see the good things of the Lord in the land of the living (Ps. 26:13). Through Baptism we have been made a land of the living and not of the dying, that is, of virtues, not of vices, as I said: provided, however, that after receiving Baptism we do not return to the wallow of vices, if, after we a land of the living

Editors' notes and page, col. 1741

Footnotes

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Olim, de Tempore 51; et post, in Appendice 51.

Formerly [Sermon] 51 de Tempore; and afterwards, 51 in the Appendix.

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(b) ‹anchor: Gen. XII, 1› · call in col 1741

Hunc Amerbachiana et Erasmiana editio repraesentat inter germanos Augustini sermones: inter supposititios collocat Lovaniensium censura, quae Verlino et Vindingo probatur. In manuscriptis praefert nomen Augustini, sed falso. Ex iis est, quos censemus Caesarii Arelatensis episcopi.

The Amerbach and Erasmus editions present this among Augustine's genuine sermons; the judgement of the Louvain editors, approved by Verlinus and Vindingus, places it among the spurious ones. In the manuscripts it bears the name of Augustine, but falsely. It is one of those we judge to be by Caesarius, bishop of Arles.

(printed under page 133)

Caesarius, homil. 10. et inter editas a Baluzio, 3.

Caesarius, homily 10, and [homily] 3 among those edited by Baluze.

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running head: SERMO II.
marginal letters: (none)
old-edition numerals: (none)
other: the column opens with the end of the previous work (another unit); not set here: the unit begins at SERMO II.
other: footnote 1 under page 133 is called at "suscepto tuo" in the preceding sermon (another unit), so it is not set here (removed in QA Q1).

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facti sumus, opera morti obnoxia et luxuriosa non faciamus. Et veni, inquit Dominus, in terram, quam monstravero tibi. Tunc enim ad terram, quam Dominus ostendit, cum gaudio venimus, si prius de terra nostra, id est, de carne nostra, ipso adjuvante, vitia et peccata repellimus.

have been made, we do not do works that are liable to death and luxurious. And come, says the Lord, into the land which I shall show you. For we come with joy to the land which the Lord has shown only then, if first, with His help, we drive out vices and sins from our land, that is, from our flesh.

2. Egredi de cognatione nostra. — Egredere, inquit, et de cognatione tua. Cognatio ista, vitia intelliguntur atque peccata, quae nobiscum quodam modo ex parte nascuntur, et ab infantia malis actibus adduntur ac nutriuntur. De cognatione ergo nostra egredimur, quando per gratiam Baptismi omnibus peccatis et vitiis vacuamur: ita tamen ut postea cum Dei adjutorio, quantum possumus, laboremus, ut expulsis vitiis, virtutibus repleamur. Nam si per Baptismum malis omnibus vacuati, desides et ignavi esse volumus, timeo ne impleatur illud in nobis quod in Evangelio scriptum est, Cum exierit spiritus immundus ab homine, vadit per loca arida quaerens requiem, et non invenit. Postea reversus, si invenerit domum vacuam, adducit secum septem alios spiritus nequiores se, et ingressi habitant ibi: et sunt novissima illius pejora prioribus (Matth. XII, 43-45). Ita ergo de cognatione nostra, id est, de peccatis et vitiis exeamus, ut nunquam ad haec mala postea, velut canis ad vomitum, redire velimus.

2. To go out from our kindred. — Go out, He says, also from your kindred. By this kindred are understood vices and sins, which in a certain way are in part born with us, and from infancy are added to and nourished by evil acts. We therefore go out from our kindred when through the grace of Baptism we are emptied of all sins and vices: yet in such a way that afterwards, with God's help, we labour as much as we can, so that, the vices having been expelled, we may be filled with virtues. For if, having been emptied of all evils through Baptism, we wish to be slothful and idle, I fear lest that be fulfilled in us which is written in the Gospel: When the unclean spirit has gone out from a man, he goes through dry places seeking rest, and does not find it. Afterwards, having returned, if he finds the house empty, he brings with him seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and having entered they dwell there: and the last things of that man are worse than the former (Matt. 12:43–45). Let us therefore go out from our kindred, that is, from sins and vices, in such a way that we never wish to return afterwards to these evils, like a dog to its vomit.

3. Egredi de domo patris sui. — Egredere, inquit, et de domo patris tui. Et hoc, charissimi, spiritualiter debemus accipere. Pater noster ante gratiam Christi diabolus fuit. De ipso Dominus in Evangelio Judaeos arguit dicens, Vos ex patre diabolo estis, et desideria patris vestri vultis perficere (Joan. VIII, 44). Patrem ergo hominum dixit diabolum, non ex ipso nascendo, sed ipsius nequitiam imitando; non quod ex ipso potuerint nasci, sed quod eum voluerint imitari. Nam quod prius pater noster diabolus fuerit, ex persona Dei loquentis ad Ecclesiam Psalmista commemorat dicens, Audi, filia, et vide, et obliviscere populum tuum et domum patris tui (Psal. XLIV, 11). Considerate, fratres, quod dixit: Audi, inquit, filia. Qui dixit, Audi, filia, pater utique est. Et cum dicit, Obliviscere populum tuum et domum patris tui; patrem utique admonet derelinquendum. Invitamur ergo a Deo patre, ut beata et felici commutatione patrem diabolum relinquamus. Bene diabolum patrem relinquimus, si Deo auxiliante calliditates et nequitias illius vitare semper vel fugere studeamus.

3. To go out from his father's house. — Go out, He says, also from your father's house. This too, dearly beloved, we ought to take spiritually. Before the grace of Christ our father was the devil. Concerning him the Lord in the Gospel reproves the Jews, saying, You are of your father the devil, and you wish to accomplish the desires of your father (John 8:44). He therefore called the devil the father of men, not by their being born of him, but by their imitating his wickedness; not because they could have been born of him, but because they chose to imitate him. For that the devil was formerly our father, the Psalmist recalls, speaking in the person of God addressing the Church, saying, Hear, daughter, and see, and forget your people and the house of your father (Ps. 44:11). Consider, brothers, what He said: Hear, He says, daughter. He who said, Hear, daughter, is certainly a father. And when He says, Forget your people and the house of your father, He certainly admonishes that a father is to be forsaken. We are therefore invited by God the Father to leave the devil as father by a blessed and happy exchange. We do well in leaving the devil as father if, with God's help, we strive always to avoid or flee his cunning and his wickedness.

4. Recapitulatio supra dictorum. Haec ergo omnia, fratres, id est, ut ad exemplum Abrahae de terra nostra, conversatione utique carnali, possimus exire, et cognationem nostram, vitia videlicet et peccata relinquere, et de domo diaboli patris effugere; non nostris viribus, sed Christi gratia donante meruimus. Et ideo quantum possumus, cum ipsius adjutorio laboremus, ne ad consortium vel ad amicitias diaboli, aut ad vitia vel ad carnales concupiscentias redeamus; propter illud quod scriptum est, Jam sanus factus es; amplius noli peccare, ne quid tibi deterius contingat (Joan. V, 14): sed Abrahae fidem potius imitando, et bona jugiter opera faciendo, non solum ad veniam, sed etiam ad consortium vel amicitias Dei pervenire possimus. Sed et illud, fratres charissimi, quod de hac eadem re Dominus locutus est ad Moysen, cum grandi metu et tremore considerare debemus. Sic enim ait: Cum tradiderit vobis Dominus terram Chananaeorum, cavete ne unquam cum habitatoribus terrae illius jungatis amicitias, quae vobis protinus sint in ruinas (Deut. VII, 1-3). Cum enim per gratiam Baptismi a nobis omnia crimina vel peccata expulsa esse credamus, si postea cum ipsis vitiis et peccatis

4. Recapitulation of what has been said above. All these things, therefore, brothers, that is, that after the example of Abraham we are able to go out from our land, namely our carnal manner of life, and to leave our kindred, namely vices and sins, and to flee from the house of the devil our father, we have merited not by our own strength but by the gift of Christ's grace. And therefore let us labour as much as we can, with His help, so that we do not return to fellowship or friendship with the devil, or to vices or to carnal desires; on account of that which is written, Now you have been made whole; sin no more, lest something worse befall you (John 5:14): but rather, by imitating the faith of Abraham and by continually doing good works, may we be able to attain not only to pardon, but also to fellowship or friendship with God. But that too, dearest brothers, which the Lord spoke to Moses concerning this same matter, we ought to consider with great fear and trembling. For He says thus: When the Lord has delivered to you the land of the Canaanites, take care that you never join in friendship with the inhabitants of that land, which would at once be to your ruin (Deut. 7:1–3). For since we believe that through the grace of Baptism all crimes or sins have been driven out from us, if afterwards with those very vices and sins

Editors' notes and page, col. 1742

Footnotes

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Morel, Elem. Crit., p. 291, censet legendum, ex patre nascuntur, quod aptissime consentit cum textu, ubi de cognatione agitur. M.

Morel, Éléments de critique, p. 291, judges that we should read "ex patre nascuntur" (they are born of the father), which agrees most aptly with the text, where kinship is the subject. M[aurists].

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Ita unus Ms. Alii duo, malis artibus adducuntur. Editi autem, malis moribus adduntur.

So one manuscript. Two others: "are drawn on by evil arts". The printed editions, however: "are added by evil ways".

(printed under page 133)

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Mss., Nam si per Baptismum malis moribus vacuari noluerimus et ignari fuerimus, timeo, etc.

Manuscripts: "For if through Baptism we have refused to be emptied of evil ways and have been ignorant, I fear," etc.

(printed under page 133)

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Caesarius homil. inter editas a Baluzio, 4.

Caesarius, homily 4 among those edited by Baluze.

(printed under page 133)

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running head: SERMO II.
marginal letters: (none)
old-edition numerals: (none)

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amicitias ponimus, dum eis ad cupiditatem vel luxuriam consentimus, sine dubio haec amicitia nobis efficitur in ruinam. Et ideo quantum possumus, cum Dei adjutorio pro salute animae laboremus; et in agro cordis nostri, quem peccata vel crimina possederant, virtutes intromittere curemus, ut in nobis impleatur illud quod beatus Isaac in typo Christi benedicens filium suum dixit: Ecce odor filii mei, sicut odor agri pleni, cui benedixit Dominus (Gen. XXVII, 27): quod ipse praestare dignetur, cui honor et imperium cum Patre et Spiritu sancto in saecula saeculorum. Amen.

we form friendships, while we consent with them to cupidity or luxury, without doubt this friendship becomes ruin for us. And therefore, as much as we can, with the help of God let us labour for the salvation of the soul; and into the field of our heart, which sins or crimes had possessed, let us take care to bring virtues, so that there may be fulfilled in us that which blessed Isaac, blessing his son as a type of Christ, said: Behold, the odour of my son is as the odour of a full field, which the Lord has blessed (Gen. 27:27): which may He Himself deign to grant, to Whom is honour and dominion with the Father and the Holy Spirit unto the ages of ages. Amen.

SERMO III. De beato Abraham.

Sermon 3. On blessed Abraham.

1. Abraham justificatus ex fide. — Credidit Abraham Deo, et deputatum est illi ad justitiam (Gen. XV, 6). Ecce sine opere justificatur ex fide, et quidquid illi legali pos⟨s⟩et observatione conferri, totum credulitas sola donavit. Ipse sibi fuerat lex, qui legem non acceperat, natura tamen quidquid legis fuerat observabat (Rom. II, 14). Abraham Pater noster radicem fidei nominisque christiani habebat, qui cum ex proprietate genuina ad incerta atque peregrina juberetur exire, tota devotione complevit: cui in re tam dura nulla dubitatio fuit, sed sententiam Dei tanquam qui optare videretur, accepit. Exi, inquit Dominus, de terra tua et de cognatione tua, et veni in terram quam monstravero tibi (Gen. XII, 1). Novum probationis genus, habenti propria, exsilia indicere peregrina, ingerere laborem itineris quiescenti, imperare penuriam possidenti, et tantarum facultatum domino necessitatem imponere peregrinandi. Libenter tamen fides accepit quidquid arduum videbatur incredulis. Cui non est magis dulce proprium tugurium quam palatia peregrina, et voluntaria casa quam digesta praetoria? Leve cuiquam non est dimittere propria, et sectari aliena incerta; dimittere quod scias, quaerere quod ignoras. Quis enim propria sine dolore deseruit, aut sine lacrymis dereliquit? Cui non est durum illos conscios natalium parietes, dulcia illa limina atque amabilem larem, quem et parentum memoria et ipsius infantiae rudimenta commendant, ubi cunabula illa novi et mox orientis hominis famulabantur, ubi secura alludens infantia inter lucis primordia, aut pueriles anni simplicitate felices, quos sibi inter lascivos atque ipsius aetatis lusus vernaculo genuina solo necessitas exhibebat? Inter haec ergo tam blanda, tam dulcia, quae omni fuerant difficultate relinquenda, Exi, ait, de terra tua. Quis hoc sine fidei viribus libenter audiret? Levius probaretur, si vel nomen loci quo perrexisset, audiret. Proficiscitur, pergit, socia scilicet credulitate, conjuge comite, it securus, it fretus, promissum sibi fidei laboribus exacturus, plus sperans de incerto quam fuerat securus de proprio. It ergo per desertas solitudines, per invias sedes, per naturae secreta, ubi hominis vestigium necdum rudis terra cognoverat: et inter illa omnia quae Dei imperio dereliquerat, non tugurium, non casam, sed inter ipsa camporum silescentium formidolosa secreta, hospes tantummodo coeli terraeque, nullum suffugium quo diverteret, inveniebat.

1. Abraham justified by faith. — Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him unto righteousness (Gen. 15:6). Behold, without works he is justified by faith, and whatever could have been conferred on him by legal observance, belief alone bestowed it all. He had been a law to himself who had not received the law, yet by nature he observed whatever belonged to the law (Rom. 2:14). Abraham our Father held the root of the faith and of the Christian name, who, when he was commanded to go out from his native property to uncertain and foreign places, fulfilled it with entire devotion: in so hard a matter he had no hesitation, but received the sentence of God as one who seemed to desire it. Go out, says the Lord, from your land and from your kindred, and come into the land which I shall show you (Gen. 12:1). A new kind of testing: to impose foreign exile on one who had his own possessions, to lay the toil of a journey on one at rest, to command want to one who possessed, and to impose on the master of such great wealth the necessity of wandering abroad. Yet faith willingly accepted whatever seemed arduous to the unbelieving. To whom is not his own hut sweeter than foreign palaces, and a cottage of his own choosing than well-ordered mansions? It is not light for anyone to leave his own things and to follow uncertain things belonging to others; to leave what you know, to seek what you do not know. For who has abandoned his own without grief, or left them without tears? To whom is it not hard [to leave] those walls that witnessed his birth, that sweet threshold and beloved hearth, which both the memory of parents and the first beginnings of infancy itself commend, where that cradle served the new and newly rising human being, where carefree infancy played amid the first beginnings of light, or the boyish years happy in their simplicity, which inborn necessity provided for itself amid the playful games of that very age on the native soil of home? Amid these things, then, so pleasant, so sweet, which were to be left with every difficulty, Go out, He says, from your land. Who would willingly hear this without the strength of faith? It would be more easily approved if he were at least to hear the name of the place to which he was to proceed. He sets out, he goes on, with belief indeed as his companion, his wife as his comrade; he goes secure, he goes confident, intending to exact what was promised to him by the labours of faith, hoping more from the uncertain than he had been secure about his own. So he goes through desert solitudes, through pathless abodes, through the secret places of nature, where the untilled earth had not yet known the footprint of man: and among all those things which he had left at the command of God, he found not a hut, not a cottage, but amid the very fearful secret places of the silent plains, a guest only of heaven and earth, he found no refuge to which he might turn aside.

2. Tres Angelos Abraham suscipit hospitio. Excepit tamen Abraham peregrinum quercus arbor humana; quae venientem Abraham atque aestivo sole decoctum, amoenitatis suae umbraculo refoveret: cujus silvescentis nemoris comata luxuries, in aestivum tempus diem et urentis solis vaporiferos radios ramorum

2. Abraham receives three Angels in hospitality. Yet an oak, a humane tree, received Abraham the wanderer; so that it might refresh Abraham, as he came scorched by the summer sun, with the shade of its pleasantness: whose leafy luxuriance of growing woodland, against the summer season, the day and the heat-bearing rays of the burning sun by its branches'

Editors' notes and page, col. 1743

Footnotes

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Mss. sic habent, praestare dignetur, qui vivit et regnat cum Patre, etc.

The manuscripts read thus: "may he deign to grant, who lives and reigns with the Father," etc.

(printed under page 134)

(a) ‹anchor: not visible (title of the sermon)› · call in col 1743

Olim, de Tempore 68, et post, in Appendice 37.

Formerly [Sermon] 68 de Tempore, and afterwards 37 in the Appendix.

(printed under page 134)

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In nostris manuscriptis non reperitur. Editus per Amerbachium et Erasmum fuit cum sermonibus Augustinianis; post vero per Lovanienses in Appendice cum spuriis, reluctante nemine. Confer sermonem 7 Appendicis.

It is not found in our manuscripts. It was published by Amerbach and Erasmus with Augustine's sermons; afterwards, however, by the Louvain editors in the Appendix with the spurious ones, with no one objecting. Compare Sermon 7 of the Appendix.

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frequentia suspendebat; ut quidquid injuria temporis irrogabat, omne auferret et ramorum et foliorum densitas. Ingreditur ergo lucum arboris Abraham, sub qua construitur qualecumque suffugium; angustum quidem homini, sed sufficiens majestati. Dignum tamen Deo palatium fides devota pingebat, in quo fuisset majestas superna pransura. Cum ergo illic positus curiosis oculis coelum intentaret, ecce subito in trium virorum persona majestas incorporea descendit. Accurrit, properat, manus supplices tendit, et transeuntium genua osculatur: Domine, ait, si inveni gratiam coram te, ne transieris puerum tuum (Gen. XVIII, 3). Videtis, Abraham tribus occurrit, et unum adorat. Trina unitas, et una Trinitas. Sumatur aqua, laventur pedes vestri, et refrigerate sub arbore ista, et afferam panem, et manducabitis; et postea transibitis in viam vestram. Et dixerunt ei, Fac ut dixisti (Id. XVIII, 5). Servat semper in bonis tenorem sui perfecta justitia, offert peregrinis hospitium qui non habet tectum; et cum sit omni domicilio viduatus, domicilium, quale necessitas procurabat, exhibuit transeuntibus. Et licet illa minora fuerint quae offerebantur, locorum angustiis magnitudinem dederat fides, quae contemni non meruit a Deo. Divertunt ad arboris hospitium, quod Abraham Deo jam fecerat dignum. Interea conspergitur similago, fiunt encryphiae, mactatur et vitulus. Etsi illis divinitas non eguit; justitia tamen, quod optabat, impendit. Ecce ad humanam mensam coelestis sublimitas recumbebat, cibus capitur, pransitatur, et contubernali colloquio inter hominem et Deum familiaria verba miscentur.

density kept suspended, so that whatever the injury of the weather inflicted, the thickness both of the branches and of the leaves would take it all away. Abraham therefore enters the grove of the tree, under which some sort of shelter is put together; narrow indeed for a man, but sufficient for majesty. Yet devout faith was painting a palace worthy of God, in which the supernal majesty was to dine. When therefore, placed there, he was straining his curious eyes towards heaven, behold, suddenly the incorporeal majesty descended in the person of three men. He runs up, hastens, stretches out suppliant hands, and kisses the knees of those passing by: Lord, he says, if I have found favour before Thee, do not pass by Thy servant (Gen. 18:3). You see, Abraham runs to meet three, and adores one. A threefold unity, and one Trinity. Let water be taken, let your feet be washed, and refresh yourselves under this tree, and I will bring bread, and you shall eat; and afterwards you shall pass on your way. And they said to him, Do as you have said (Gen. 18:5). Perfect justice always keeps its own course among the good: he who has no roof offers hospitality to strangers; and though he is bereft of every dwelling, he displayed to the passers-by such a dwelling as necessity provided. And although the things that were offered were rather small, faith had given greatness to the narrowness of the place, a faith which did not deserve to be despised by God. They turn aside to the hospitality of the tree, which Abraham had already made worthy of God. Meanwhile fine flour is sprinkled, ash-cakes are made, and a calf too is slaughtered. Although the divinity had no need of these things, yet justice expended what it wished to. Behold, the heavenly sublimity was reclining at a human table, food is taken, a meal is eaten, and in companionable converse familiar words are exchanged between man and God.

3. Hospitalitas non est sine mercede. Et quia apud Deum infructuosa hospitalitas esse non potuit, statim pretium mercedis accepit: datur filius seni, datur posteritas desperanti, accepit senectus quod minime potuit habere juventus. Ad hoc, inquit, tempus veniam, et erit Sarae filius (Gen. XVIII, 10). Cumque seniles anni, et emortua Sarae viscera hoc posse fieri denegarent; dedit tamen divinae promissioni credulitas fidem. Patrem, inquit, multarum gentium posu⟨i⟩ te (Id. XVII, 5). Repletus est bonis, quia quod ei promisit, implevit. Ecce in ipso margine senectutis, nondum prolatis legibus recitatisque, asserimus Abraham quod fuerit religiosus; et qui fuerat in cultura justior, fuerit in credulitate probatior. Ecce enim senex ille maritus, qui adhuc unum non habebat, in uno tamen Deus innumerabiles promittebat. Ecce exhaustis visceribus dixit Deus ad Abraham, Suspice in coelum, et numera stellas: sic erit semen tuum. Et credidit Abraham Deo, et deputatum est illi ad justitiam (Id. XV, 5 et 6). Defecerunt Sarae venire muliebria; quia jam lassa defecerant membra. Totum corpus sulcatur in rugas, fit perarata fronte, et exhausta senectute. Deficiente sanguine in venis tristis senectus delassatur; sed divi⟨n⟩o judicio aetatis fervor accenditur. Meliorem facit divina promissio matrem, quam aetas non fecerat generare. Accepit genitrix nomen, quod ei sterilitas temporis subtraxerat. Longe deficientibus membris Isaac concipitur: subito inanes ac marcescentes venae redivivo sanguine ferbuerunt, et emortua seni viscera calefacto sanguine vaporata, usque ad partum inquilinis sunt caloribus animata. Juvenilis aetas incaluit, et calefacto sanguine vaporavit. Fit anus feta, fit senex gravida, crescit venter per dies singulos, et convalescente partu, tumescentis uteri capax sinus extenditur. Fit sarcina, et desideratus affectus ex visceribus lassis, onus nimium exoptata posteritas. Portabat uterum gravem talis mater, quae inanis ambulare vix posset. Sed quia credulitatis fuerant quae acceperat, defecta viscera fides validior animabat.

3. Hospitality is not without reward. And because with God hospitality could not be fruitless, he at once received the price of a reward: a son is given to the old man, posterity is given to one despairing, old age received what youth could least have had. At this time, He says, I will come, and Sarah shall have a son (Gen. 18:10). And although the aged years and the dead womb of Sarah denied that this could happen, yet belief gave credence to the divine promise. I have made you, He says, the father of many nations (Gen. 17:5). He was filled with good things, because what He promised him, He fulfilled. Behold, on the very brink of old age, when the laws had not yet been brought forth and recited, we affirm of Abraham that he was religious; and he who had been more just in worship was more approved in belief. For behold, that old husband, who as yet did not have one [son], was nevertheless in that one being promised innumerable ones by God. Behold, when his loins were exhausted, God said to Abraham, Look up into heaven, and count the stars: so shall your seed be. And Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him unto justice (Gen. 15:5–6). The ways of women had ceased to come to Sarah, because her weary limbs had already failed. The whole body is furrowed into wrinkles; she becomes one with a ploughed brow and an exhausted old age. As the blood fails in the veins, sad old age grows weary; but by divine judgement the ardour of youth is kindled. The divine promise makes a better mother, one whom age had not made able to bear. The mother received the name which the barrenness of time had taken from her. With limbs far failing, Isaac is conceived: suddenly the empty and withering veins seethed with revived blood, and the dead womb of the old woman, steamed by heated blood, was quickened up to the birth by indwelling warmth. A youthful age grew warm, and with heated blood gave off its heat. The old woman becomes pregnant, the aged woman with child; the belly grows day by day, and as the offspring grows strong, the capacious fold of the swelling womb is stretched. The desired affection from weary loins becomes a pack, the too eagerly longed-for posterity a load. Such a mother was carrying a heavy womb, who could scarcely have walked when empty. But because what she had received belonged to belief, a stronger faith was animating the failing womb.

Editors' notes and page, col. 1744

Footnotes

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Am., engrisiae. Melius Er. et Lov., encryphiae.

Amerbach: "engrisiae". Better Erasmus and the Louvain edition: "encryphiae".

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(a) ‹anchor: not visible› · call in col 1744

Sic dicti subcinericii panes a verbo graeco, egcrupto, quod dum coquuntur, sub cinere abscondantur.

Ash-baked loaves are so called from the Greek verb "egcrupto" (to hide in), because while they bake they are hidden under the ashes.

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