Appendix to Augustine's Sermones: Sermones supposititii, Sermones 107-120

away from the body, and that it should go away with it, lest its poison seize the whole body and attack the life: so too when a wicked and evil man, who wishes to give himself to nothing but lawsuits, brings some false charge against you, consider him to be a malignant pustule, and consent to lose some small portion of your property, whatever it may be, lest, while you occupy yourself excessively with litigating, you be unable to have a quiet heart and to give yourself to God.] Does not the proverb mentioned above seem to have been born of the Gospel? Did the Lord say anything other than "Redeem the time" when He says, If anyone wishes to contend with you in judgement and to take away your tunic, let him have your cloak also (Matt. 5:40)? He wishes to contend with you in judgement and to take away your tunic? He is bound to call you away from your God by lawsuits; you will not have a quiet heart, you will not have a tranquil mind. Are you thrown into turmoil by your thoughts, are you provoked against your adversary himself? Behold, you have lost time. How much better that you should lose the coin and redeem the time! Certainly what has been said has pleased everyone; [I come to your affairs, and there I find you.]

7. It follows concerning lawsuits. And yet, my brothers, in your cases, in your affairs, when they come before us to be decided, if I tell a Christian man to lose something of his own for the sake of redeeming the time, with how much greater care and confidence ought I to tell the other to give back what belongs to another? For I hear both as Christians. That false accuser who wishes to bring a case against another and to take from him rejoices, as if for a settlement, at these words: "The Apostle said, Redeeming the time, because the days are evil: I will bring a false charge against a Christian; willing or not, he gives me something in order to redeem the time, because he has heard the Apostle." [Take care lest perhaps, while you think yourself cunning, you find him litigious, and he would rather pay out so as to defeat you than lose so as to be rid of you.] Yet if I am going to say to that man, "Lose something, being at leisure, redeem the time; you hear the Apostle, because the days are evil"; if I say to him who is good and just, "Lose something, so that you may be at peace": am I not going to say to you, false accuser, lost man, son of the devil, "You have no case, and you strive to carry off what belongs to others; you have no case, and are you full of false accusation?" You are a Christian; do I wish him to gain and you to perish? If I say to him, "Give him something, so that he may withdraw from the false accusation", where will you be, you who will have money from false accusation? He who has redeemed the time from you in order to avoid false accusation endures evil days here; you who are fed by false accusations both have evil days here and, after those very days, will have worse ones on the day of judgement. But perhaps you laugh, because you are attending to the coin. Laugh, laugh, and despise: let me pay out; there will come One Who exacts it. [But we trust in the mercy of God that the gracious Lord Himself will deign so to inspire all, not only the saints and the God-fearing Christians, but also those who disturb both themselves and others with many lawsuits, that, all contention and rivalry being set aside, they may so devote themselves to peace and charity that they do not incur the wrath of God through discord, but rather, through love and peace, may deserve to attain to eternal rewards: by the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, to Whom is honour and dominion with the Father and the Holy Spirit for ages of ages. Amen.]

Sermon 112. On the words of the Apostle, 1 Tim. 1:5, The end of the commandment is charity from a pure heart, and a good conscience, and faith unfeigned.

1. Charity something brief and great. Charity sweet. If we can present ourselves more frequently to your charity, dearest brothers, with Christ's help, from the copious fountains of the holy Scriptures, even if not abundant streams, then certainly at least some

drops we shall be able to pour into your holy souls: so that the most fertile and fruitful soil of your heart, having received the rain of the word of God, may bring forth an abundant harvest of good works; so that the Lord, when He comes, may rejoice to find in the field of your heart not only thirtyfold, but sixtyfold and a hundredfold fruit, with which fruits He may prepare a granary in heaven, not a burning in hell. But since we are hindered by many occupations, if we are able to present our lowliness to you according to your desire, we wish, God granting it, to instil in you something brief in speech, but great enough for the salvation of souls: in which brevity, if you attend diligently, you can find what befits your soul. What, then, is this thing that is brief and yet so great that it can suffice for the human race? The Apostle says, The end of the commandment is charity from a pure heart, and a good conscience, and faith unfeigned. Consider, brothers, what could be found briefer in words and more magnificent in substance than charity from a pure heart, and a good conscience, and faith unfeigned? This brevity is both pleasant to hold in memory and sweet to keep faithfully. What is sweeter than charity, dearest brothers? Whoever does not know, let him taste and see. What, then, must he taste who wishes the sweetness of charity to be savoury to him? Hear, brothers, the Apostle saying, God is charity (1 John 4:16). What is sweeter, brothers? Whoever does not know, let him hear the Psalmist saying, Taste and see how sweet the Lord is (Ps. 33:9). God, therefore, is charity. Whoever has charity, God abides in him, and he in God.

2. It makes one rich. If you have charity, you have God; and if you have God, what do you not have? A rich man, if he does not have charity, what does he have? A poor man, if he has charity, what does he not have? Do you perhaps think that he is rich whose chest is full of gold, and that he is not rich whose conscience is full of God? It is not so, brothers: he truly is seen to be rich in whom God deigns to dwell. For what in the Scriptures could you be ignorant of, if charity, that is, God, has begun to possess you? For what good works could you not fulfil, if you have been found worthy to carry the fountain of good works in your heart? What adversary will you fear, if you have been found worthy to have God as King within you? Hold fast, therefore, and guard, dearly beloved brothers, the sweet and wholesome bond of charity. But above all hold fast to true charity, not that which is only promised with the mouth and not kept in the heart; but that which is so brought forth from the mouth that it is nevertheless held continually in the heart: so that there may be fulfilled in you that which the Apostle says, Rooted and grounded in charity (Eph. 3:17). For the root of all good things is charity, just as the root of all evils is covetousness: just as in charity nothing evil can ever be found, so in covetousness nothing good can ever be found.

3. Two roots planted in the hearts of men. From the one comes forth nothing evil, from the other nothing good. These two roots, dearly beloved brothers, are planted in two fields by two husbandmen: the one Christ plants in the hearts of the good, the other the devil plants in the hearts of the wicked. Neither does anything evil spring from the root of charity, nor anything good from the root of covetousness. For the Truth does not lie, which in the Gospel, when it was speaking of these two roots, defined it thus, saying, A good tree makes good fruits; and again, A good tree cannot make evil fruits, nor an evil tree make good fruits. This sentence is not mine, brothers, but the Lord's. Let there be, then, such abundance of charity in us that it reaches not only as far as our friends, but even as far as our very enemies. And therefore, since you have heard both the praise of charity and the censure of covetousness, let each one attend to and consider the field of his own heart: and whoever sees charity in himself, let him rejoice, and with the whole vigilance of his heart guard the holy shoots within himself. But whoever has discovered in the field of his heart any stock of covetousness whatever, with Christ's help, let him root out

cupidity, and plant charity. For as long as he is unwilling to do this, he will not be able to bear good fruits. And when he has not borne good fruits, Christ, the Lord of heaven and earth, says of him: The tree that does not make good fruit will be cut down and cast into the fire (Matt. 7:17–19). If it does not delight you to bear the sweet fruits of charity, ought you not at least to fear the fire for the thorns of your sins? Every tree, He says, that does not make good fruit will be cut down and cast into the fire. As long as you have not changed the root, you will not be able to bear lawful fruits; and without reason do you promise with your mouth what is good, because you cannot fulfil it as long as the root of goodness is not held in the heart. These two roots, then, as I said above, two husbandmen are accustomed to plant. One Christ plants in the hearts of the faithful, the other the devil plants in the hearts of the proud: and so the one is planted in heaven, the other in hell.

4. The hearts of the faithful are heaven. The hearts of the covetous are earth. But someone says: If it is planted in the hearts of the faithful, surely the faithful are seen to be still in the world; how then is that root planted in heaven? Do you wish to know how? Because the hearts of the faithful are heaven, since they are daily lifted up to the heavens. For when the priest says, Lift up your hearts, they answer with confidence, We have them to the Lord: because, as the Apostle says, But our conversation is in the heavens (Phil. 3:20). If therefore the conversation of the faithful is in the heavens, because true charity is in them, the root of charity has been planted in heaven. On the contrary, the root of cupidity, which is in the hearts of the proud, has been planted in hell, because they always desire the earth, savour the earth, love the earth, and place all their hope in the earth.

5. Despair is to be avoided by the wicked, presumption by the just. Penitence is not to be deferred. And although these things are so, nevertheless neither ought proud sinners to despair, nor ought the humble just to grow proud in anything as though of their own merits: because both the just, if they presume upon themselves, quickly lose the root of charity, and sinners, if they turn to penitence, once cupidity has been torn out, quickly receive the plant of charity. And therefore let those who are good guard what they have received by the gift of God; and let those who are wicked be eager to repair what they have unhappily lost. Let no one reserve himself for that time, to take up penitence or the sweetness of charity only then, when he has begun to depart from this light. Let him not reserve himself for this, that in old age he may flee to the remedies of penitence: for he does not know what the coming day may bring forth. With what face does he neglect his salvation until the time of old age, when he cannot be certain of the space of a single day? And therefore, if we do not wish to fear death, we ought always to be ready, so that when the Lord commands us to be called from this world, we may come before the sight of the eternal Judge with a secure conscience, and not with despair but with joy, so that there we may happily hear: Well done, good and faithful servant, because you have been faithful over few things, I will set you over many: enter into the joy of your Lord (Matt. 25:21). To which joy may the Lord in His mercy lead us, Who lives and reigns through all the ages of ages. Amen.

Sermon 113. On the words of the Apostle, to the Hebrews chapter 1, verse 3: For He is the brightness of eternal light, and the image of the invisible God.

1. Concerning God, of what kind or how great He is, no judgement is to be passed. What God is. You have heard together with me the reading from the Apostle, dearly beloved. For he says of the Lord Jesus Christ: For He is the brightness of eternal light, and the image of the invisible God, inasmuch as the image of the sun too is its own light, which proceeds from the same sun. For since it is established,

that this light of the divinity cannot be assessed, comprehended and defined, I therefore forewarn you that you should simply believe spiritually concerning the unity of substance, and recognize the true Son from the true Father. But into the quality of the matter you ought not to enquire: for God willed to be believed, not to be judged, nor examined; for of what kind or how great He is cannot be known. For this the Prophets, this the Apostles preached. Then, according to our capacity, according to our strength, according to our faith, let us look at what God is: and let us see whether anything can be compared to Him. Certainly God is this: that which, even when it is spoken, cannot be spoken; when it is assessed, cannot be assessed; when it is compared, cannot be compared; when it is defined, grows by the very definition: He who covers heaven with His hand, encloses the whole circuit of the world in His fist; Whom all things do not know in His entirety, and yet know by fearing Him; to Whose name and power this world is in service, and the very momentary alternation of the elements succeeding one another bears witness to itself that it must serve.

2. The diverse names of the Son. The reasons for each. See therefore whether there can be anything to which the Father and the Son can be compared, since the Son is such as the Father also is. For He would not say that He is one with the Father, unless He knew Himself to be, from the Father, such as the Father is. A certain Reason, which among the Greeks is called λόγος, which distinguishes the persons or names between Father and Son, since the Son Himself too is called Reason: yet this Reason is called by many names, now Word, now Power, now Wisdom, now right hand, now arm, now pearl, now treasure, now nets, now plough, now fountain, now rock, now cornerstone, now man, now lamb, now calf, now eagle, now lion, now way, truth and life, since God is all in all: so that through these names the mysteries of the divine dispensations may be known, not so that the very majesty of the Son of God may be shown properly defined. For the Son of God is this, what the Father is, nothing else, that is, He through Whom all things were made. For He is also called Word because He is always in the Father, and from the Father, and the Father commanded or made nothing without Him. He is called Power, because He is properly from God, and all might consists in Him. He is called Wisdom, because, coming from nowhere else than from the Father, He has unlocked heavenly secrets to believers. He is named the right hand, because through Him all divine works have been accomplished. He is called the arm, because all things are held together by Him. He is called a pearl, so that nothing may be held more precious than He. He is called treasure, because in Him all wealth, the riches of the heavenly kingdoms, are known to be stored up. He is called nets, because through Him and in Him the multitude of diverse nations is gathered out of the sea of the world, after the manner of fish, through Baptism into the Church, where the distinction between good and bad is recognized. He is named a plough, because by the sign of His cross hard hearts are brought under the yoke, so that they may be made ready for the necessary seed. He is called a fountain of living water, because from Him thirsting hearts are watered by the grace of heavenly water. He is called a rock, because He provides strength to believers, hardness to unbelievers. He is called the cornerstone, because, Himself one and the mediator, holding together in Himself both walls, of the New and of the Old Testament, He joined them. He is called a lamb, so that the innocence and passion of Christ may be shown. He is called man, because according to the flesh He deigned to be born for us men. He is called a calf, because for our salvation He endured to be sacrificed. He is called an eagle, because after His venerable resurrection He flew back to the seat of His Father. He is said to be a lion, because He is King of kings, because He crushed death and the devil by the might of His power. He is the way, because through Him there is access to the Father. He is the truth, because He knows no lie. He is the life, because He gives life. He signifies all things.