Appendix to Augustine's Sermones: Sermones supposititii, Sermones 94-106

promises made out of faith they are compared, they will at once appear vanity, as David says: All of them will grow old like a garment, and like a covering Thou wilt change them, and they will be changed; but Thou art the selfsame, and Thy years will not fail (Ps. 101:27–28). Therefore, since nothing is stable of itself, nothing unchangeable, nothing good, except the Godhead alone, while all creatures, if they obtain the blessedness of eternity or of unchangeableness, will attain this not through their own nature but through participation in their Creator and through His grace, they cannot retain the merit of goodness when compared with their Creator.

4. Human goodness is evil in view of the divine. But if we should wish to establish the reasoning of this statement by still clearer testimonies, do we not read that many things are pronounced good in the Gospel, both a good tree and a good treasure? For [it speaks of] both a good man and a good servant: for, it says, a good tree cannot bear evil fruits (Matt. 7:18); and, A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good things (Matt. 12:35); and, Well done, good and faithful servant (Matt. 25:21): and although there is certainly no doubt that all these are good in their own right, if we look to the goodness of God, none of them is pronounced good, as the Lord says: No one is good but God alone (Luke 18:19). In view of Him even the Apostles themselves, who by the merit of their election had surpassed the goodness of the human race in many ways, are said to be evil by the Lord, Who speaks to them thus: If then you, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father Who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him (Luke 11:13)? Finally, just as our goodness, in view of the goodness on high, is turned into wickedness, so also our justice, compared with the divine justice, is accounted like the rag of a menstruous woman, all our justice, as Isaiah the prophet says: All our justices are like the rag of a menstruous woman (Isa. 64:6).

5. The Law, good in itself, is not good in view of the Gospel. Scripture justifies those who sin less by comparison with the impious. And to adduce something still more evident: the life-giving precepts of the Law itself also, which is said to have been Ordained by angels in the hand of a Mediator (Gal. 3:19), and concerning which the same apostle says, The Law indeed is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good (Rom. 7:12), are, if compared with the perfection of the Gospel, pronounced by the divine oracle to be by no means good; for it says, And I gave them precepts not good, and judgements in which they will not live (Ezek. 20:25). The Apostle too affirms that the glory of the Law is so dulled by the light of the New Testament that he pronounces it, by comparison with the brightness of the Gospel, not even to have been glorified, saying: Surely what was glorified is not even glorious, because of the surpassing glory (2 Cor. 3:10)? Scripture keeps this same comparison also in the contrary direction, that is, in weighing the deserts of sins, so that it justifies those who have sinned much less by comparison with the impious, saying: Sodom is justified by you (Ezek. 16:52); and again, For what did your sister Sodom sin (Ezek. 16:48)? and, Turncoat Israel has justified her soul by comparison with sinful Judah (Jer. 3:11). Thus, therefore, the merits of all the virtues which I have set out above, though in themselves they are good and precious, are nevertheless darkened by comparison with the brightness of contemplation. For they greatly draw back and hold back the saints from the contemplation of that highest good, saints who, though of good works, are nevertheless occupied with earthly pursuits.

Sermon 103. On the words of the Apostle, Rom. 7:24-25, For I delight in the law of God according to the inner man, etc.

1. The saints themselves do not lack cause to groan continually. The battles of the inner and the outer man. Since, then, the saints feel themselves daily, weighed down by the burden of earthly thought, from that sublimity of mind

to fall away, and, unwilling, indeed even unknowing, to be drawn over into the law of sin and death; and, to pass over the rest, to be called away from the sight of God at least by those works which I described above, good and just indeed, but nevertheless earthly: they certainly have things for which they should groan unceasingly to God, they have things for which, humbled in truth and pierced with compunction, they should declare themselves sinners not in words only but in feeling; so that, unceasingly begging from the grace of the Lord pardon for all the things which they incur daily when overcome by the frailty of the flesh, they may pour out true tears of penitence without ceasing: since they see that, entangled in those very surges over which they are vexed with continual sorrow, and over which they groan unceasingly even unto God, they cannot offer even their very supplications without anxiety of thoughts. Having learned by experience, therefore, that by human strength they cannot attain the desired faith, while the burden of the flesh stands in the way, nor be joined to that chief and highest good according to the desire of their heart, but are drawn away captive from the sight of it to worldly things, they fly to the grace of God, Who justifies the ungodly, and protest with the Apostle: Unhappy man that I am, who will deliver me from the body of this death? The grace of God through Jesus Christ our Lord. For they feel that they cannot accomplish that good which they will, but that they always fall into that evil which they do not will and which they hate, that is, the stirrings of thoughts and care for bodily things. And they delight indeed in the Law of God according to the inner man, which, transcending all visible things, strives to be united always to God alone: but they see another law in their members, that is, implanted in the nature of the human condition, which fights against the law of their mind and drags the sense along by the violent law of sin; compelling them, that is, to abandon that principal good and to submit to earthly thought. And although this may seem necessary and useful to the body, when it is spent on the religious management of some necessity, yet in comparison with that good which delights the gaze of all the saints, it is judged by them to be evil indeed and to be fled from, since by it they are in some way drawn back, even for a short time, from the joy of that perfect blessedness.

2. The law of sin. It is universal. For truly it is the law of sin, which the transgression of its author brought upon the human race, through the guilt of him against whom that sentence of the most just Judge was passed: Cursed is the earth in your works; thorns and thistles shall it bring forth for you, and in the sweat of your face you shall eat your bread (Gen. 3:17–19). This, I say, is the law implanted in the members of all mortals, which fights against the law of our mind and keeps it from the divine sight: which, as the earth cursed in our works after the knowledge of good and evil, began to bring forth the thorns and thistles of thoughts: by whose blunted prickles of the flesh the seeds are choked, so that we cannot eat that bread of ours which came down from heaven, and which strengthens the heart of man, without the sweat of our face. The whole human race, therefore, is subject to this law universally without any exception. For there is no one, however holy, who receives the aforesaid bread otherwise than with the sweat of his face and with anxious intentness of heart: whereas many rich men, as we see, eat this common bread without any sweat of their face. This law too the blessed Apostle declares to be spiritual, saying: For we know that the law is spiritual; but I am carnal, sold under sin (Rom. 7:14). For the law is spiritual which commands us to eat in the sweat of our face that true bread which came down from heaven: but that selling of sin has made us carnal.

3. Adam sold [our] freedom. Hence his descendants are born slaves. What, I ask, is this, and whose sin is it? Without doubt Adam's, by whose transgression and, so to speak, ruinous trading and fraudulent bargain we have been sold. For, seduced by the persuasion of the serpent, he consigned all his offspring, sold off by the eating of the forbidden food, to the yoke of perpetual slavery. For this custom is usually observed between seller and buyer, that he who desires to deliver himself into another's ownership, something

by way of price for the loss of his own liberty and his consignment to perpetual servitude should obtain from his buyer. This too we see most plainly fulfilled between Adam and the serpent. For he, taking from the serpent as the price of his liberty the eating of the forbidden tree, departed from his natural liberty, and preferred to sell himself into perpetual servitude to him from whom he had obtained the deadly price of the forbidden fruit. Bound thenceforth by this condition, he not undeservedly subjected the whole offspring of his posterity in perpetual bondage to the same one whose slave he had become. For what else can a servile marriage procreate but slaves?

4. Yet the Lord did not on this account lose His right. But for man to be freed against his will would be both unjust and evil. What then? Did that crafty and cunning buyer snatch the right of dominion from the true and lawful Lord? It is not so: for he did not so seize the whole property of God by the deceitfulness of a single fraud that the true Master should lose the power of His dominion, Who holds down under the yoke of servitude even the buyer himself, fugitive or rebel though he be. But because the Creator had granted freedom of choice to all rational creatures, He ought not to call back against their will to their inborn liberty those who, contrary to what is right, had sold themselves by the transgression of a devouring concupiscence. For whatever is contrary to goodness and equity is abhorrent to that Author of justice and piety. For it would have been evil if He had revoked the benefit of the liberty He had granted; unjust if, oppressing and taking captive free man by His power, He had not allowed him to exercise the privilege of the liberty he had received. And He reserved his salvation for ages then to come, so that the fullness of the appointed time might be completed in right order. For it was fitting that his offspring should endure so long under the ancestral condition, until the grace of its former Lord, freeing it from the original bonds, should restore it to the ancient state of liberty by the price of His blood: which by the prompting of His mercy He could have saved even then; but He would not, because equity did not allow Him to break through the sanction of His decree.

5. Our iniquity is the cause of our sale and the obstacle to our redemption. Do you wish to know the cause of your sale? Hear your Redeemer Himself proclaiming most openly through Isaiah the prophet: What is this bill of divorce of your mother, by which I put her away? or who is My creditor, to whom I sold you? Behold, in your iniquities you were sold, and in your crimes I put away your mother. Do you wish also to recognize clearly why He would not redeem you, consigned to the yoke of servitude, by the might of His power? Hear what He added to the preceding words, in which He reproaches those same servants with the cause of their voluntary sale: Has My hand been shortened and made small, so that I cannot redeem? or is there no strength in Me to set free (Isa. 50:1–2)? But what has always stood in the way of this most powerful mercy of His, the same prophet shows: Behold, he says, the hand of the Lord is not shortened, so that it cannot save; nor is His ear made heavy, so that it does not hear: but your iniquities have made a division between you and your God, your sins have hidden His face from you, so that He would not hear (Isa. 59:1–2).

6. The force of the law of sin. Since, then, that first curse of God made us carnal and condemned us with thorns and thistles, and our father sold us by so wicked a bargain that we cannot do the good that we will, while, divided from the remembrance of the most high God, we are compelled to think of the things that belong to human frailty, while, burning with love of purity, we are very often pricked even against our will by natural incitements of which we would wish to be wholly ignorant; we know that good does not dwell in our flesh (Rom. 7:18), that is, the perpetual and unbroken tranquillity of that contemplation and purity of which we have spoken: but this most wretched and lamentable separation has come about, that although with the mind we wish to serve the Law of God, never, that is, wishing to turn our gaze away from divine charity, yet, surrounded by carnal darkness, we are torn by a certain law of sin away from that which we know to be good: falling, that is, from that loftiness of mind to earthly cares and thoughts, to which the law

of sin, that is, that sentence of God which the first transgressor received, not undeservedly condemned us. And hence it is that the blessed Apostle, although he most openly confesses that he himself, or all the saints, are bound by the inescapable necessity of this sin, nevertheless boldly declares that none of them is to be condemned for this, saying: There is therefore now nothing of condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set me free from the law of sin and death (Rom. 8:1–2); that is, the daily grace of Christ absolves all His saints from this law of sin and death, into which they are continually compelled to fall even against their will, when they beg the Lord for the remission of their debts.

Sermon 104. On the words of the Apostle, 1 Cor. 3:11-15, No one can lay another foundation, etc.

1. By fire only small sins are purged. In the reading from the Apostle, dearest brethren, we heard the Apostle saying: No one can lay another foundation besides that which has been laid, which is Christ Jesus. But if anyone builds upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, each one's work will be made manifest. For the day of the Lord will declare it; because it will be revealed in fire, and the fire will test what sort each one's work is. If anyone's work which he has built upon remains, he will receive a reward. If anyone's work burns, he will suffer loss: but he himself will be saved; yet so as through fire. There are many who, understanding this reading wrongly, are deceived by a false security, believing that if they build capital crimes upon the foundation of Christ, those very sins can be purged through a transitory fire, and they themselves afterwards attain to everlasting life. This understanding, dearest brethren, must be corrected; for those who flatter themselves in such a way deceive themselves. For by that transitory fire, of which the Apostle said, But he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire, not capital but small sins are purged. And although, what is worse, not only the greater but even the small ones, if they are exceedingly many, drown [a man]: of these greater or lesser sins, if not all, then at least some must be mentioned, lest anyone try to excuse himself in vain and say that he does not know which are small sins, or which are capital crimes.

2. Capital sins. And although the Apostle has listed many capital sins, we nevertheless, lest we seem to cause despair, state briefly which they are: sacrilege, murder, adultery, false witness, theft, robbery, pride, envy, avarice; and, if it is held for a long time, anger; and drunkenness, if it is habitual, is counted among their number. For whoever recognizes that some of these sins hold dominion in him, unless he amends himself worthily and, if he has time, does penance for a long time, and gives generous alms, and abstains from those very sins, cannot be purged by that transitory fire of which the Apostle speaks, but the eternal flame will torment him without any remedy.

3. Small sins. From these no one is exempt. They do not kill the soul, but they defile it. Now which are the small sins, although they are known to all, nevertheless, because it would take long to recount them all, it is needful that we name at least some of them. As often as someone takes more than is necessary in food or in drink, let him know that this belongs to the small sins. As often as he speaks more than he ought, or keeps silent more than is expedient. As often as he exasperates a poor man who begs importunately. As often as, though he is sound in body, he chooses to dine while others are fasting; or, given over to sleep, rises too late for church. As often as

he has known his wife apart from the desire for children. As often as he has been slow to seek out those shut up in prison and placed in chains. As often as he has been slow to visit the sick. If he has neglected to call back those at discord to concord. If he has provoked his neighbour, or his wife, or his son, or his servant more than is proper; if he has flattered more than is expedient. If he has wished to fawn upon any greater person, whether of his own will or out of necessity. If he has not given food to the hungry poor; or has prepared for himself banquets that are too delicate or costly. If, in church or outside the church, he has occupied himself with idle tales, of which an account must be rendered on the day of judgement. If, when we swear incautiously and then through some necessity are unable to fulfil it, we certainly commit perjury. And when with every readiness or rashness we curse; though it is written, Nor shall cursers possess the kingdom of God (1 Cor. 6:10). And when we rashly suspect something, which yet for the most part is not proved to be as we believe, we sin without any doubt. For it is not doubtful that these things, and things like them, belong to the small sins, which, as I have already said, can scarcely be counted, and from which not only the Christian people, but not even any of the saints could at any time be, or will be able to be, immune. By these sins, although we do not believe that the soul is killed, yet they make it so deformed, filling it as it were with certain pustules and as with a horrid scab, that they allow it to come to the embraces of that heavenly Bridegroom either scarcely or with great shame: of Whom it is written, He has fitted for Himself a Church not having spot or wrinkle (Eph. 5:27).

4. They are purged either by good works, or by fire, or by punishments inflicted here by God. For whom the punishments inflicted by God are profitable. And therefore let them be redeemed constantly by continual prayers, and frequent fasts, and more generous almsgiving, and especially by forgiveness of those who sin against us; lest perhaps, gathered together, they make a heap and sink the soul. For whatever of these sins has not been redeemed by us must be purged by that fire of which the Apostle said, Because it shall be revealed in fire: and if any man's work burns, he shall suffer loss. For either, while we live in this world, we wear ourselves out through penance: or certainly, God willing or permitting it, we are afflicted with many tribulations for these sins; and if we give thanks to God, we are set free. This comes about thus, if, as often as a husband, or a wife, or a son dies; or if property which we love more than is proper is taken from us. Although we love Christ more than property itself, and, if there were need, would rather lose that property than deny Christ: yet because, as I have already said, if we love it more than is proper, we cannot lose it, either while we live or when we die, without great grief: and yet if we give thanks to God, Who as a loving father permits it to be taken from us, as good sons, and with true humility declare that we suffer less than we deserve; thus those very sins are purged in this world, so that in the future that purgatorial fire either finds nothing, or certainly finds little, to burn up. But if we neither give thanks to God in tribulation nor redeem our sins by good works, we ourselves shall remain in that purgatorial fire for as long as the small sins mentioned above, like wood, hay, stubble, are consumed.

5. Of what kind is the punishment of the purgatorial fire. But someone says: It does not concern me how long I remain, so long as I reach eternal life. Let no one say this, dearest brethren, because that purgatorial fire will be harsher than whatever of punishments can be thought, or seen, or felt in this world. And since it is written of the day of judgement that one day will be as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day (Ps. 89:4);

how does each one know whether he will pass through that fire for days or for months, or perhaps even for years? And he who now is unwilling to put even one finger of his into the fire, must needs fear to be tormented then, even for a short time, with soul and whole body. And therefore let each one labour with all his strength, that he may be able to escape capital crimes, and so to redeem small sins by good works that nothing of them may seem to remain which that fire could consume. But those who commit capital crimes, if, as long as they live, they are unwilling to redeem them with the medicines of penance, will not be able to come to that fire of which the Apostle says, But he himself shall be saved, yet so as by fire, as has already been said; rather they are going to hear that harsh and irrevocable sentence, Depart from me, you cursed, into everlasting fire (Matt. 25:41). And therefore, those who desire to be freed from that perpetual punishment, and from that purgatorial fire, let them not commit capital crimes; or if they have already committed them, let them do fruitful penance, and let them not cease to redeem those small or daily sins by good works.

6. By what works small sins are redeemed. By what works, however, small sins are redeemed, I desire to make known to you more fully. Whenever we visit the sick, seek out those shut in prison and those placed in chains, call back the quarrelsome to concord, fast when a fast has been proclaimed in the Church, wash the feet of guests, gather frequently for the vigils, give alms before our door to the poor passing by, grant pardon to our enemies as often as they ask it: by these works, and by works like these, small sins are redeemed daily.

7. By what [works] capital [sins] are blotted out. Public penance. For capital crimes, however, this alone does not suffice; but to it must be added tears, roaring and groaning, fasts continued and prolonged over a long time, more generous alms to be paid out, we ourselves of our own accord removing ourselves from the communion of the Church, remaining for a long time in mourning and in sorrow, and also doing penance publicly: for it is just that he who has destroyed himself with the destruction of many should redeem himself with the edification of many. Finally, what I suggest is not impossible or burdensome: let us at least mourn our extinguished soul in the way that we lament another's dead flesh. If a wife, or a son, or a husband has died, men dash themselves upon the ground, tearing their hair, beating their breasts, and persevere for no short time in mourning and repentance, or in tears. I beg you, brothers, let us show to our own soul what they show to another's flesh. And see this, brothers, how evil it is that we seek what we cannot do, and do not seek what we can. The flesh which we cannot raise up, we lament; and our own dead soul, which we can recall to its former state through penance, we do not lament. But what is worse for us, we lament the dead body which we love; but the dead soul, which we do not love, we neither grieve over nor lament. And therefore, with the order reversed, let us begin to love the Lord more than the servant, that is, the Maker of the body more than the body; the mistress more than the handmaid, that is, the soul made to the image of God more than the flesh formed from the slime of the earth: so that when on the last day our flesh begins to rot and to be devoured by worms in the tomb, the soul may be lifted up by the hands of Angels into the bosom of Abraham, and on the day of judgement, the body having been received back through the resurrection, we may be found worthy to hear: Well done, good and faithful servant, enter into the joy of your Lord (Matt. 25:21).