Appendix to Augustine's Sermones: Sermones supposititii, Sermones 211-230

with the want of avarice, the more he, loving them, has had them in greater measure. How then are those riches by which poverty grows, which, the larger they have been, bring their lovers not satiety, but inflame them with the desire of riches? You think that you would be in less need if you had less. Hence someone has well said, The love of money grows as much as the money itself grows (Juvenal, Sat. 14, line 139); for with the increase of money the madness of desire is increased. For all the avaricious or covetous seem to be sick as with the disease of dropsy. For just as the dropsical man, the more he drinks, the more he thirsts, so the avaricious or covetous man is not sated by acquiring.

6. Conclusion. But let us, brethren, considering that we are pilgrims and strangers in this world, keep for ourselves on the journey of this life only so much as is needed for food and clothing, and, as far as we can, send [the rest] on towards eternal beatitude through alms to the poor; so that when on the day of judgement the covetous and avaricious, for the barrenness of their good works, have deserved to hear, Depart from Me, you cursed, into eternal fire (Matt. 25:41), we for our good works may be able to hear, Come, you blessed of My Father, receive the kingdom which is prepared for you from the beginning of the world: for I was hungry, and you gave Me to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me to drink; I was naked, and you covered Me (ibid., 34, 36). May the Lord lead you to this blessing under His protection: to Whom is honour and glory for ages of ages. Amen.

Sermon 221. On the Feast of the Holy Innocents, 4. And on the words of the Apocalypse, I saw under the altar of God the souls of the slain, etc., ch. 6, vv. 9-11; ch. 7, vv. 9-17.

1. In the veneration of the martyrs the Saviour is praised. How fittingly the martyrs are under the altar of God. The Innocents prevail in prayer more than the rest. Whenever, brethren, we celebrate the martyrdoms of the saints, so often do we proclaim the praises of the Saviour: and as often as we declare their sufferings, so often do we preach the glory of Christ. For we do not look up to the fact that they suffered; but we admire Him for Whose sake they suffered. Therefore it is not the punishment that is praised, but the faith that is honoured. We magnify, then, the martyrs, but especially those who, when Christ was born, confessing Him at the very outset not by speaking but by dying, went before the others into the everlasting kingdom. And see what place these same men deserve among men, who have deserved a place with God beneath the altar. For Holy Scripture says, For I saw under the altar of God the souls of the slain for the word of God, and for the testimony of Jesus which they held, and they cried out, and the rest. Under the altar, it says, of God, I saw the souls of the slain. What can be said more reverently, what more honourably, than to rest beneath that altar on which sacrifice is celebrated to God, on which victims are offered, at which the Lord is priest, as it is written, Thou art a priest for ever according to the order of Melchizedek (Ps. 109:4)? Rightly do the souls of the just rest beneath the altar; for upon the altar the body of the Lord is offered. Nor is it without reason that the just there ask vengeance for their blood, where also the blood of Christ is poured out for sinners. Fittingly, therefore, and as if by a kind of fellowship, burial has been appointed for the martyrs there where the death of the Lord is daily celebrated, as He Himself says, As often as you do these things, you will proclaim the death of the Lord, until He comes (1 Cor. 11:26): namely, so that those who had died on account of His death may rest beneath the mystery of His sacrament. Not without reason, I say, is a tomb set up there, by a kind of fellowship, for the slain, where the members of the Lord's slaying are laid: so that those whom the cause of one passion had bound together with Christ, the sanctity of one place might also join together. We read that many of the just are cherished in the bosom of Abraham, that some rejoice in the delight of paradise: yet no one has deserved better than the martyrs, that is, to rest there where Christ, both victim

and priest, is; namely, so that they may both obtain propitiation from the offering of the victim and receive the blessing and function of the priest. Among the other martyrs, therefore, whom we proclaim to stand beneath the altar of God, those blessed infants too, still at the breast, the first fruits of martyrs for Christ, who confessed not by speaking but by dying, merited crowns. For it is not to be doubted that those who went before the others in martyrdom prevail in prayer in martyrdom more than the others.

2. How the saints ask for vengeance. The saints now have one robe; afterwards it will be double. "And they cried out," says John, "with a loud voice: Avenge, O Lord, our blood. And there were given to them white robes, one to each; and it was said to them that they should rest a little while longer, until the number of their brethren and fellow servants should be filled up." A question arises in this place: why the saints, who already abide with the Lord, demand vengeance on their enemies, when the Lord says in the Gospel, "Love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute and slander you." But it must be known that those saints, standing already in the sight of their Creator, see His will; and therefore they receive from Him what they know He wills to do, and they drink from Him what they thirst for from Him. Now they ask vengeance on their enemies in two ways, and this for the sake of charity: namely, that those who are predestined to eternal life may be converted from evil to good; but that those who, God foreknowing it, are to be damned may die and cease to sin, so that by this they may have a lesser punishment in hell, where each one will endure a greatness of punishments according to the quality of his works. They ask vengeance on the reprobate, moreover, because they long for the day of the last judgement to come, and they await the resurrection of their bodies. "And there were given to them white robes, one to each." By the white robes we ought to understand the reward of Baptism, the prize of martyrdom, the recompense of eternal things, and the joy of the heavenly homeland. Before the resurrection, therefore, the saints have one robe each, because as yet they enjoy eternal beatitudes in the soul alone; but afterwards they are to receive two, when, their bodies having been received back, they will be unchangeable in soul and incorruptible in body. Of this Isaiah says: "In their own land they shall possess double" (Isa. 61:7).

3. How God speaks to the saints. "And it was said to them that they should rest a little while longer, until the number of their fellow servants and brethren be filled up." This saying is a divine inspiration, by which, into their minds as they long for the day of judgement, the virtue of patience is sent, so that they may patiently bear all things, awaiting the number of those who are likewise to be slain for Christ and afterwards to reign with them; so that those who long to receive back their bodies may rejoice in the number of the brethren to be gathered. In such a manner Almighty God speaks to the saints, just as any father of a household who has many sons, when they return one by one from the field and ask him to give them food, answers: "Your refreshment is indeed prepared, but wait for your brothers, so that when you have been placed together, you may all eat in common and feast rejoicing"; for those too are to be slain, namely either by open martyrdom or by hidden. It is therefore said to them, as they demand vengeance after the gift has been given, that they should rest and wait until the number of their fellow servants is completed.

4. Let us follow in the footsteps of the martyrs as far as we can. You see, then, that because of us the vengeance of the martyrs is deferred. For while we delay, their blood is unavenged. But this happens through our sloth, we who do not live devoutly, as has been said; who do not act piously, as is fitting. For if our righteousness of good works went before us to the Lord, the number of fellow servants that is awaited would already be completed. But no one doubts that the martyrs, who even before the judgement are honoured with heavenly rewards, will obtain vengeance after the judgement. Wherefore it behoves us, dearest brethren, who venerate the first fruits of the martyrs in today's festival, to think diligently of the eternal festival of the martyrs which is in heaven, and by following their footsteps as far as we can, to take care that we ourselves also become partakers of the same heavenly festival, as the Apostle testifies,

because if we have been sharers in the sufferings, we shall also be sharers in the consolation (2 Cor. 1:7): and let us not so much mourn over their death as rejoice over their just receiving of the palm. For when each one of them was being driven out of this life through torments, Rachel, groaning, that is, the Church, groans, following them with grief and tears: but the Jerusalem above, which is the mother of us all, at once received those now driven out from here into another life, with ministers of gladness coming to meet them, and brought them into the joy of their Lord, to be crowned for ever.

5. The lot of the martyrs changed. Hence John says, They were standing before the throne in the sight of the Lamb, clothed in white robes, and palms in their hands. For they now stand crowned before the throne of God, who once lay bound by punishments before the throne of earthly judges. They stand in the sight of the Lamb, by no means to be separated there from contemplating His glory, from Whose love here they could not be separated even by tortures. They shine in white robes and have palms in their hands; because they have rewards for their works, while they receive back, glorified through the resurrection, the bodies which for the Lord they suffered to be scorched by fire, and torn apart by beasts, consumed by scourges, broken by being cast down precipices, scraped by hooks, destroyed by every kind of punishment. And they cried out, he says, with a loud voice, saying: Salvation to our God, Who sits upon the throne, and to the Lamb. With a loud voice they sing salvation to God, who with great thanksgiving call to mind that they overcame the contests of assailing tribulations not by their own strength, but with Him helping.

6. Their robes, while they are thought to be defiled, are made white. The service of God. He speaks again, describing both their past struggles and their everlasting crowns: These are they who have come out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and have made them white in the blood of the Lamb. For the martyrs washed their robes in the blood of the Lamb when their limbs, which to the eyes of the foolish seemed defiled by the squalor of punishments, they rather thus cleansed from all contagions by blood shed for Christ, and moreover rendered worthy of the blessed light of immortality; which is also to have had robes washed in the blood of the Lamb. Therefore they are, he says, before the throne of God, and serve day and night in His temple. It is not a laborious but a lovable and desirable service to stand perpetually in the praises of God (Ps. 83:11). For day and night signify not, in the proper sense, the alternation of time, but, figuratively, perpetuity. For there will be no night there; but one day in the courts of Christ is better than thousands. In it Rachel does not weep for her children, but God will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and gives the voice of gladness and of eternal salvation in the tabernacles of the just, Who lives and reigns as God, etc.

Sermon 222. On the holy Apostles.

1. The Apostles as rams. If the solemn feast of all the holy martyrs ought to be welcome to us, dearest brethren, how much more welcome that of those who followed the Prince of martyrs when He was present? If that of the lambs, how much more that of the rams? For all who afterwards confessed Christ even unto death were made their sons, not by generation of the flesh, but by imitation of virtue. These the peoples of the Gentiles offered, of whom the Psalm sang beforehand, saying, Bring to the Lord the sons of rams (Ps. 28:1). To these first the Lord, when He was urging them to the confession of His name, promised Himself not only as the crowner of the victory but also as helper in the contest: in them He was admonishing their successors too, since what He was saying He was leaving in writing to those who came after. To them therefore He says, exhorting them: But when they bring you before princes and powers, do not think what you shall answer or what you shall say: for it is not you who speak, but the spirit of your Father Who speaks in you (Matt. 10:19–20). He forbade them to premeditate, and commanded them to confess. For He preferred to take away human presumption and to give divine grace,

so that in themselves they might be timid, and towards the world bold. Hence also in another psalm the voice of the martyrs says, as if fearing on the side of human frailty, Rescue me from my enemies, my God, and from those who rise up against me deliver me (Ps. 58:2): and a little after, trusting in divine help, it says, My strength I will guard towards Thee (Ps. 58:10).

2. They surpass the other faithful. For the Lord, wishing to show His Apostles as eminent above the other crowds of the faithful, and also of the ancient just and of the Prophets, said to them: Blessed are the eyes which see what you see, and the ears which hear what you hear: for many Prophets and just men wished to see what you see, and did not see it; and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it (Matt. 13:16–17). Likewise elsewhere: Now, He says, I will not call you servants; for the servant does not know what his lord does: but I have called you friends; for all things whatsoever I have heard from My Father, I have made known to you (John 15:15). Likewise the same One says in another place: Whatsoever you bind upon earth shall be bound also in heaven; and whatsoever you loose upon earth shall be loosed also in heaven (Matt. 18:18). Likewise elsewhere, when Peter asked what it would profit himself and his companions to have left all things and to follow the Redeemer, He answered, saying, Amen I say to you, that you who have followed Me, in the regeneration when the Son of Man shall sit on the seat of His majesty, you also shall sit upon twelve seats, judging the twelve tribes of Israel (Matt. 19:28).

3. They are the light of the world, the salt of the earth, the foundations and gates of the Church. These are the light of the world (Matt. 5:14); because through them the Lord first handed on to this world the light of faith and of true knowledge, and rescued the Gentiles and peoples from the darkness of errors and sins. These are the salt of the earth; because through them the earth-born received the seasoning of the savour of eternal life, so that they might restrain the wantonness of the flesh, and be kept unharmed from the rottenness of sins and from the worms of vices. These are the precious stones which John in his Apocalypse describes as set in the foundation of the heavenly building (Rev. 21); because their preaching laid the foundations of the Church. Hence also Paul says: You are fellow citizens of the saints and members of the household of God, built upon the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets (Eph. 2:19–20). These are the twelve gates of the new Jerusalem, which comes down from heaven; because through them we first entered the door of faith, and were numbered among the fellow citizens of the saints.

4. Their virtues are set forth. The manner of loving friends and enemies. Here, then, dearest brethren, considering what such great leaders of the people have taught us, let us strive to fulfil in deeds what they commanded. Let us learn by their example to despise the riches of the world, not to love the pleasure of the present age, to long for the heavenly kingdom, to put nothing before Christ: but to obey His commandments in all things, to love poverty in present things, to possess the riches of the virtues, to seek the treasure of wisdom, to look for spiritual delights, to envy no one, but to love all men, friends in God, and enemies for the sake of God; for this is the true and only love. For carnal and vicious love drags one into the abyss, and will be likened to hatred: whence it is written, Whoever wishes to be a friend of this world is made an enemy of God (Jas. 4:4).

5. On the manner of loving the Creator and the creature. These our princes, then, most perfect in the love of God and filled with love of their neighbours, were thereby able to overcome the onslaught of the world and to tame the bloody age; for they loved nothing in anything except the will of God. So let us too, brethren, love to do the will of God in all things, and let us love our Creator in Himself, but the creature in its Maker: and thus we shall have a most rightly ordered charity; for God is charity (1 John 4:16), and whoever loves this love loves God. And if we love thus, God Himself loves us, and the holy Apostles, our judges, love us too and pray for us, that in the universal judgement of Christ we may be crowned with them for ever. May He deign to grant this, He Himself our Judge and Lord, Who with the Father and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns as God through