Appendix to Augustine's Sermones: Sermones supposititii, Sermones 16-29

before the tribunal of the eternal Judge we may be able to come without confusion: by the gift of our Lord Jesus Christ, Who with the Father and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns for all ages of ages. Amen.

Sermon 23. On the cruelty and the drowning of Pharaoh. Exod. chapters 1, 5, 14.

1. The cruelty of Pharaoh against the Hebrews. The troops of the Egyptians, having entered upon a path not their own amid the waves of the sea in order to bring back into their dominion those who had God as their special defender, are punished by the avenging water. Those whom a desperate boldness had drawn into the middle of the hollow of the sea's bed, the empty fury of anger was goading on with still greater madness; as the waves flowed together and returned to their own nature, the shore soon received them grievously in scattered places, and the sand kept them unburied as pasture for the beasts. God had chosen Moses to invite Pharaoh by mighty works, to warn him by signs and wonders, to terrify him by punishment, and, once terrified, to restrain him by severity. But you say: How could he be set free by being warned, who was already being dragged along by God's sentence? I will harden, He says, the heart of Pharaoh (Exod. 7:3). He pronounced a sentence which He had promised that He would carry out, not one which He was showing He had already carried out. I will harden, He says; not, I harden. It is one thing to do; it is another thing which is promised as already done and yet is not fulfilled, so that those terrified by fear may be corrected. He ordered the Hebrews to be worn out with mud and brick, straw being denied them, so that at last, afflicted, if war befell the Egyptians, they might not be able to resist the state. So machines are raised up to the sky, towers stand out, and they build the structure most skilfully: not because the city lacked buildings; but he sought that a people should perish which was strong in divine favour. The people grows while it is oppressed, and while he thinks it is diminished, it increases daily: he pursues all the more, as if he could conquer those whom the divine majesty had foretold would be the victors.

2. The same argument is treated. Meanwhile he ordered the midwives to be called; he commands that, if male children were born to the Hebrew women, they should be killed, and the inferior sex preserved. O lavish boldness of fury! Punishment is decreed for those not yet born, and danger is stirred up before the beginning of life. Restrain, wicked man, your madness. Those whom you do not yet see, you pursue: what is more criminal? You kill those not yet born. Let your savagery keep its order; let them first be born, whom you would punish. The attendants nevertheless assist the birth; they refused to practise for destruction what they had learned for safety, saying that Hebrew women give birth more easily than Egyptian women; nor are the services of midwives necessary for those to whom God came forth to set souls free. O great resourcefulness of humanity, and a pious lie for the sake of safety! So greatly did the midwives fear God that they despised the king's commands and preserved the sanctuaries of women. But unbelieving Pharaoh turns to another way of doing harm, so that what he had before attempted secretly he might do openly among the peoples; he ordered all the male offspring of the Hebrews to be killed. When rumour carried this to the ears of the mothers, heaven was beaten with laments; and when the offspring, torn from the very breasts, was snatched away to death, there followed a grief surpassing the pain of one in labour. Yet no mother had been more unhappy, except she who was more fruitful. Yet all wished to be barren rather than give birth as fruitful women. Why do you rage impiously? Why are you cruelly savage? Though you inflict bitter deaths on very many innocents, and cruelly burn the souls of the wretched, for you the desert of slaughter is increased, and nothing is taken away from the desert of punishment.

3. The mystical name of Moses. For when the little bodies of infants were being thrown down everywhere into the river, a human hand received Moses, whom they were seeking as the cause of the whole vengeance. For when Pharaoh's daughter, on the green bank, was seeking the bath of the trembling stream, she found in a little chest him whom her father could not nourish for punishment. To

rear him, his mother is brought in as nurse (Exod. 2:5); occasion joined together for nurturing the affection which the king's fear had sundered. A new kind of miracle: the daughter of a parricide showed mercy. For while she unknowingly preserves the little one, she unwarily deceives her father. It was worthy of the malice of that crime of his that he who had forbidden mothers to give birth should perish through the foresight of his daughter. A fitting divine vengeance went forth, that he should be punished through his own affections, and that Moses should be drawn out for the drawing out of others. From the waves, in short, Moses received his name in mystical language, and the death of Pharaoh, which he had prepared in the name, he found in the flood of the sea. He, with the rod at work, shows forth steps through the midst of the waves as though over dusty ground, and by his command raises up the wave, held suspended, to the height of mountains, so that he might render the people of God safe.

4. He orders the male children of the Hebrews to be thrown into the river. You have heard the wicked and most cruel voice of the most hard-hearted Pharaoh: Throw the males into the river, keep the females alive. The enemy orders little ones to be thrown into the river, he orders the innocent to be put to death by a cruel death. He does not forbid them to be born, while he decrees that those born be killed. For those whom nature had not yet granted to live, a sentence already holds bound for punishment. O new and unheard-of cruelty! Judgement is carried out before the accused himself is condemned: sentence is pronounced before the one liable to the sentence is shown to be so. Certainly it is the custom of the accused that they are wont to await the sentence upon their guilt. For an accused man cannot be condemned before his fault has begun to be made manifest. But these were neither born guilty, nor deservedly delivered over to the sentence upon their guilt. For they were being born, not that they might receive the fruit of life's welfare, but that there might be those whom cruelty should make a mourning for the world. Now you command what, once done, you ought to avenge. Neither tenderness for the newborn nor the grief of parents bends you, who, between the death of infants and the grief of parents, rejoice that the sentence of your savagery is fulfilled. O cruel wishes of parents, joy changed into mourning! Whatever turned out to their happiness served the crime. The enemy rejoiced most joyfully amid the streaming tears of all. How many prayers of the grieving perished, how many tears were shed in vain, how many groans and wailings of many, when parents, who would nonetheless soon have done the like, saw children exposed by hand? Already some saw their own misfortunes in others. Some, keeping back their sons, when they could no longer hide them, exposed them: others exposed them as soon as they were born, lest the longer they kept them, the more cruelly they should send them forth. How many wished to die for their sons? How many were willing to defy the tyrant's sentence? Let us glut him, they say, and fill up his savagery with our sorrow.

5. The just striking of the firstborn of Egypt. Egypt is struck in its affection for the firstborn, so that they who had killed the sons of the Hebrews might learn from themselves how great is the grief for sons. Egypt, I say, is struck in its affection for the firstborn, and a deathly outcry arises. Rank excused no one, nor did station weigh down another more. Not the slave for his service, not the master for his authority. Honour did not excuse the king, nor did need set the poor man apart. The Hebrews stood unharmed while the vengeance held sway, they whom not only their own safety had made glad, but the blow upon their enemies had made gladder still. They go out glad, they go out secure, unconquered with the Lord protecting them. Then Pharaoh repents that he lives, and his so great crimes did not suffer him to have escaped: so that he who amid so many plagues had amended no fault was seeking out what was fitting for him. He yokes his chariots, makes ready his army, draws up his battle line; no one is left behind who might deserve to be saved. With the Egyptians in pursuit the Hebrews are shut in between the sea and the enemy, between the waves and the swords. On this side the sea foams, on that side arms flash: on this side the roar of waters, on that the din of arms. So God has been wont to work for His own, that where human counsel has failed, there divine help intervenes.

6. God wondrously provides for His own. At the sight of these things the people, terrified, were afraid. When they beheld the sea flowing in upon the shores in swift courses, and, with the wind rolling them, letting loose the clashing waters, at once all cried out to

the leader of the Hebrews: "While we wish to be free of Pharaoh's dominion," they say, "we find danger; and since we refuse to serve willingly, we have come into peril. You set before us evils, you who up to now keep on making promises; nor do you understand yourself to be the author of our destruction, while you do not acknowledge yourself liable for such great evils." To them the most holy Moses says: "Do not be afraid, men; be armed with faith; believe the word which you will feel come to pass; believe that your victory is already hastening on, and the destruction of a raging nation." With the winds not consenting, the masses of the waters are reined in with their courses unfinished, lest they punish your enemies before they are commanded. At once, by divine command, the sea is broken by the stroke of the rod, and with the waves divided it displayed plains which nature had not known. With the waves of the strait gaping open, the water reveals the hidden things and the secrets of the sea. The deep is raised up into a heap, and displays the billows suspended like walls. Shore comes to be where there had been deep, and a way stretches out in a straight line, where the people of the Lord might walk wondrously. For when they saw these things, the people of the Lord recognized that all had been done for their sake, and at the divine command entered fearlessly. It walked, he says, secure, unconquered, with the Lord fighting [for it]. Pharaoh's army follows, destined to perish by the punishment of the waters. It thought it could fight there, where it alone with its own was destined to perish. Thus, therefore, the Lord spoke to Moses: "Now the destruction of Egypt has come. For those whom I willed to destroy, I have determined to abolish by this punishment. Let the sea return to its former state, as it had been, so that it may work salvation for the just and destruction for the unjust." Immediately, by divine command, a rush having been made, the Egyptians are swept away, and, overwhelmed by the collapse of the waters, they are cast up on the shore by the rolling wave; the Egyptians were dead before the Hebrews arrived unharmed. This vengeance was due, so that he who refused to attain salvation should perish the more quickly.

Sermon 24. On the way of three days. Exod. 8.

1. The crossing of the Red Sea, a figure of Baptism. The threefold immersion. In the divine readings which were recited to us in recent days, we heard that Moses said to Pharaoh, "We will go a way of three days into the desert with all the people to sacrifice to the Lord." Let us see, most beloved brethren, what it is that Moses said, "We will go a way of three days into the desert, and we will offer sacrifice to the Lord our God." This indeed Moses wished; but Pharaoh opposed it, and did not wish the sons of Israel to depart far from him. The prince of this world did not wish the army of the Lord to know the mysteries of the three days; those mysteries, namely, of which the prophet said: "He will bring us to life after two days; on the third day He will raise us up" (Hos. 6:3). The first day is the passion of the Lord the Saviour, the second that on which He descended into hell, and the third is the day of the resurrection. And therefore on the third day God went before them by day in a pillar of cloud, and by night in a pillar of fire; and the people is led through the Red Sea. For not unfittingly can we call the three days the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit: since the Father is a day, and the Son is a day, and the Holy Spirit is a day; and these three are one day. The way of three days, by which one goes out of Egypt, is rightly understood as Him who said: "I am the way, the truth and the life" (John 14:6). For no one comes to the Father except through Him. He is the way through which the people that is joined to God is led out of Egypt, that is, out of the observance of idols; and through the Red Sea, reddened by the blood of Christ and in a certain manner already then consecrated in mystery, as through the sacrament of Baptism, with Pharaoh drowned, the people of God is rescued. And truly so it comes about, brethren: when Christians are immersed three times in the saving bath, then the Egyptians, that is, original sins or actual crimes, as if in the Red

Sea are buried; and while the children of Israel pass over to the service of God, only sins suffer shipwreck. And if anyone doubts and thinks that not all sins are blotted out through Baptism, let him recognize and understand that, just as none of the Egyptians remained, so nothing at all of sins remains.

2. The cry of the saints without a voice. But before the Red Sea was crossed, Moses cried out to the Lord. How does he cry out? No voice of his crying is heard; and yet God says to him, Why do you cry out to Me? (Exod. 14:15). I should like to know how the saints cry out to God without a voice. The Apostle teaches, For God has given the Spirit of His Son in our hearts, crying, Abba, father (Gal. 4:6). And elsewhere, The Spirit Himself intercedes for us with unutterable groanings; and again, But He Who searches the reins and the hearts knows what the Spirit desires; for He makes request for the saints according to God (Rom. 8:26–27). Thus, then, by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, the cry of the saints is heard before God through silence.

3. The mystery of the cross in the rod. Who destroys the spiritual Egyptian. After this Moses is commanded to strike the sea with the rod (Exod. 14:16). In the rod recognize the mystery of the holy cross. And it is true, brethren: for attend and see that unless the rod is raised over the sea, the people of God is not taken out of Pharaoh's power. So it is, dearest brethren. If the holy cross had not been raised, the Christian people would have perished for ever. But when the rod is raised, that is, when the cross is set up, the sea gives way, and its waves give way too: that is, the world is conquered, and the powers of this world. The wave, then, is driven into a heap, and the water, held back upon itself, is bent. The liquid takes on solidity, and the floor of the sea dries up into dust. Understand the goodness of the Creator. If you obey His will, if you follow His law, He compels the very elements to serve you even against their own nature. Let us pray, then, dearly beloved brethren, that what our Lord did to the Egyptians in the Red Sea He may do in our heart and in our body, that He may give us the strength and help of the Holy Spirit, so that we may be able to destroy the spiritual Egyptians within ourselves. For he destroys the spiritual Egyptian who does not do the works of darkness. He destroys the Egyptian who lives not carnally but spiritually. He destroys the Egyptian who either drives foul and impure thoughts out of his heart or does not admit them at all: as the Apostle also says: Taking up the shield of faith, with which we may be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one (Eph. 6:16). In this way, then, we too can today see the Egyptians dead and lying on the shore, and their chariots and horses submerged. We can also see Pharaoh submerged, if we live with such great faith that the God of peace may swiftly crush Satan under our feet.

4. What is to be understood by the three days' journey. The three days' journey can also be understood as thinking well, speaking well, acting well. And indeed he who does this, and guards it with all the strength of his mind, walks not in the night but in the day; and he becomes not a son of darkness but a son of light: and in him is fulfilled what the Apostle says: You were once darkness, but now light in the Lord; walk as children of light (Eph. 5:8). When were we darkness, brethren? Surely when we walked the ways of the night, that is, when we thought evil, spoke evil, and also did evil. But afterwards, coming to Christ, let us through His grace forsake the works of darkness, and by thinking well, speaking well, acting well, let us hasten to run the way of light. These, then, are the three ways by which one arrives at heaven: just as there are also those other three by which lovers of the world arrive in hell, that is, thinking evil, speaking evil, doing evil. This is the broad and spacious way that leads to perdition. And by these ways the rich man clad in purple went down into hell: but by those others Lazarus deserved to reach the bosom of Abraham. These three ways the enemy besets, as we read of Pharaoh's army: He drowned the chosen riders standing three by three