Appendix to Augustine's Sermones: Sermones supposititii, Sermones 231-239

Sermon 231. On the Dedication of a Church or the Consecration of an Altar, 3. And on the words of 3 Kings chapter 10, But also the queen of Saba, having heard of the fame of Solomon, etc.

1. The various figures of the Church. They rightly celebrate the feasts of the Church who acknowledge themselves to be sons of the Church. For she is the mother of all believers, who regenerates for salvation those born for death. She was indeed called after the Synagogue, but promised before the Synagogue. For she was already prefigured in the first man. For as Eve was fashioned from the side of Adam, so from the body and wound of Christ the redeemed Church grew. She, preserved within the ark while the flood overflowed, foreshadowed the benefit of the cross and the mystery of Baptism. Her did Sarah foretell, barren and despaired of in old age, made fruitful with an only pledge: for the Church, when the world was already growing old, brought forth an only, that is, a most beloved people for God. She is that queen of whom it is said to the Lord, The queen stood at Thy right hand in gilded clothing, wrapped around with variety (Ps. 44:10); that is, encircled with the precious adornment of diverse virtues.

2. The queen of Saba represents her in many ways. The doctrines of the Church handed down by Christ. She is that queen who came from the regions of Ethiopia to hear the wisdom of Solomon. But she, destined to bring forth kings, came not so much from one region as from all parts of the world, as the evangelist also records: The queen of the south came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon. The Church came to her redeemer and teacher, so that out of the folly of error she might receive the doctrine of truth; about her, as we have heard, the history of the Kingdoms has written more fully, saying thus: And the queen entered Jerusalem with a great retinue and riches, with camels carrying spices, and gold exceedingly boundless, and precious gems; she came to Solomon, and spoke to him all that she had in her heart. Therefore in the figure of this queen the Church came from the Gentiles and from the ends of the earth, putting an end to earthly desires and vices, to hear the wisdom of Solomon, that is, of the true Peacemaker, our Lord Jesus Christ, Who made both one, dissolving the enmities between God and man in His flesh (Eph. 2:14). After old and profane superstitions she came to hear and to learn about the illumination of faith and the judgement to come, about the immortality of the soul, about the hope of resurrection and of glory. She came therefore into Jerusalem with a great retinue, that is, no longer with the one nation of the Jews alone, as the Synagogue formerly had only Hebrews; but with the peoples of the whole world and diverse nations. She came therefore presenting gifts worthy of Christ, gold and

precious gems; and this with camels carrying them, that is, with those coming from the Gentile people, who had formerly been twisted by the foulness of vices, bent under the burden of evils, and deformed by the depravity of sins. With these, as with gifts, this queen goes in to the peaceful king Christ, presenting the gold of faith, the precious incense of purity, and the splendours of gems, namely the marks of good conduct and the adornments of the virtues. And she spoke to him all that she had in her heart; that is, she opened her heart to Him, she made manifest to Him the hidden things of her conscience in confession and repentance for past offences.

3. The Church marvels at the wisdom of Christ. In the workmanship of the world. In the house which He built through the incarnation. In the foods of His table: and what the foods of Christ are. Let us see what this queen does. The queen of Saba, it says, seeing all the wisdom of Solomon, and the house which he had built, and the foods of his table, and the holocausts which he offered in the house of the Lord, had no more spirit [in her]. What reason was there that a most powerful queen should so greatly marvel at a house, at expenditure, and at royal foods? Therefore in this place we must look for some greater things. The Church, then, gathered from the Gentiles, saw the wisdom of Christ: that is, after the carnal institutions of the Gentiles, after the human and animal teaching of the philosophers, she received the understanding of salvation and life, she beheld the marvels of spiritual goods, she acknowledged the true maker of heaven and earth, and the most mighty Creator of the human race; of whose wisdom it is said, Thou hast ordered all things in measure and weight and number (Wis. 11:21). She saw also the house which He had built, that is, the incarnation of the man assumed, in whom all the fullness of the Godhead dwells bodily. She saw also the foods of Solomon's table, that is, those of which the Lord said, My food is to do the will of Him Who sent Me, the Father (John 4:34). For Christ's food is our salvation; He is refreshed with heavenly banquets, with our progress. We are His food, when, acquired for the Church, we pass into His members and body. Or else His food is the heavenly Sacraments of the altar, of which it is said, He gave them the bread of heaven, man ate the bread of Angels (Ps. 77:24–25). She saw also His holocausts, without doubt the mysteries of prayers and supplications; and she was astonished when she saw the inestimable riches of her Lord.

4. When the Church has seen the glory of the Lord, she will confess it greater than what was told. And she said to the king: True is the word which I had heard in my land concerning your words and concerning your wisdom: and I did not believe those who told it, until I came myself, and saw with my own eyes, and found that half had not been reported to me. Greater are your wisdom and your works than the report which I heard. When, therefore, this queen, whether the Church or any holy soul whatever, has arrived at the eternal Jerusalem, that is, the vision of peace, and has entered into the blessed rest and glory of the heavenly promises, she will behold things far more numerous and more magnificent than those which have been announced to her in this land through the sacred words, through the Prophets and Apostles. For now [she sees] as in a mirror and in an enigma, but then she will see with her own eyes, that is, face to face. Then the blessed and glorious soul, set amid the astounding riches of her Rewarder, will be able to use towards God the ineffable words of this queen, saying: True is the word which I heard in my land concerning Thy words. Greater are Thy works than the report which I heard. And truly, that which God prepares for those who love Him is not comprehended by faith, is not reached by hope, is not contained by charity; it surpasses desires and prayers: it can be acquired, it cannot be estimated. It will have fruit from its possession; it will not have weariness from satiety. To which good things may He lead you, Who lives and reigns for ages of ages. Amen.

Sermon 232. On the Holy Trinity.

1. Disputation about the Trinity is dangerous. This we know of God, that we do not know Him. I hear, brethren, that certain people dispute among themselves how the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit are both three and one. You see from the question how dangerous the disputation is. Clay and an earthen vessel disputes about the Creator; and it cannot attain to the reckoning of its own nature: and it curiously seeks to know about the mystery of the Trinity what the angels in heaven cannot know. For what do the angels in heaven say? Who is this king of glory? The Lord of hosts, He is the king of glory (Ps. 23:10). Likewise in Isaiah it is said, Who is this who comes up from Edom, His garments white (Isa. 63:1)? See what they say: they proclaim His beauty, and are silent about His nature. Therefore let us too say simply: Do you wish to know the nature of God? do you wish to know what God is? Know this, that you do not know: and do not be saddened in this, that you do not know; for the angels too have not known, and likewise all creatures.

2. By this knowledge we surpass the philosophers and the Gentiles. But someone says: How then do I believe what I do not know? how am I a Christian, who do not know how I am a Christian? I shall speak simply, before I bring forward anything from the Scriptures. O Christian, who seem to yourself to know nothing, if you know this very thing, that you do not know, do you not seem to know much more than the rest? The Gentile sees a stone, and thinks it God; the philosophers see the heaven, and think it God; others see the sun, and think it God: but you, see how much knowledge you have above these, you who say, A stone cannot be God, the sun cannot be God, because it runs at the command of another. Do you see that in saying that you know nothing, you know more? But the Gentiles, in saying that they know, do not know, because the things they know are false. And at the same time consider that you are called faithful, not rational. Indeed, when Baptism has been received, we say this: He has been made faithful, or, I have been made faithful. I believe what I do not know, and therefore I know, because I know that I do not know what I do not know.

3. Not the one ignorant of God's nature, but the rash asserter will be condemned. But someone says: This is not to expound, but to flee from exposition. We too knew that we know what we did not know: you were telling us that we know what we are ignorant of. Is it not mine rather to confess ignorance piously than rashly to claim knowledge for myself? On the day of judgement I am not condemned because I shall say, I did not know the nature of my Creator: but if I say anything rashly, rashness incurs punishment, while ignorance earns pardon. Let us say something from the Scriptures, following not reason but the authority of the Lord the Saviour. Christ says, when about to ascend into heaven, speaking to the Apostles, to whom He preaches as master and Lord (no one knows how to speak of his own nature as He Himself Who is God does; but let it suffice us to know about the Trinity what the Lord has deigned to expound): what then does He say to the Apostles? Go and baptize all nations in the name of the Father and of the Son and

of the Holy Spirit (Matt. 28:19). I hear three names, and it is called one name. For He did not say, In the names; but, In the name. He speaks three names, and how does He set down one, In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit? The name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit is one: but the Trinity is the name which is spoken in the name of God the Father, in the name of God the Son, in the name of God the Holy Spirit; Father and Son and Holy Spirit are one name of the Godhead.

4. What knowledge of the Trinity suffices for a Christian. The Sabellian is a Jew. The Persons are distinguished by properties, not by nature. But you ask of me how three are called by one name. I do not know; and I freely confess that I do not know what Christ did not wish to show. This alone I know, that in this I am a Christian, that I confess one God in Trinity. But if I say that there is one Person of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, I shall be called a Sabellian, and I begin to be not a Christian but a Jew: for the Jew too speaks of one God; and because he does not know the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, therefore he does not hold the mystery of the Trinity. So if we speak of one God in such a way that we exclude the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit from the mystery of the Trinity, we become Jews. I say freely, not from myself but from the judgement of the Saviour, that it is a stumbling-block which arises in the mind of the hearer, how the three are one, how the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit are not divided in Godhead, but in the character of the Persons. Whenever I speak of Persons, I ask you not to think that I am speaking of persons of men: I do not speak of Persons in the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit as though of persons of men. I speak of the Person of the Father, because He is Father; and of the Son, because He is Son; and of the Holy Spirit, because He is the Holy Spirit. The Father is not the Son, nor the Son the Father, nor the Holy Spirit Father or Son. For they are divided by properties; but they are joined in nature. See, the apostle Philip once suffered this very stumbling-block, when he said to the Lord Himself: Lord, show us the Father. Answering him the Lord said: Philip, have I been with you so long a time, and you do not know the Father? He who sees Me sees the Father also (John 14:8–9). What? Is He Himself the Father, is He Himself the Son? This it is impious to say: but He says this: In that you see the Son, understand the Father: for one cannot be called son unless he has a father. When one is called father, he is not so called unless he has a son.

5. What the Christian's rivalry ought to be. There are many things which could be said: but let it suffice the faithful to have heard a few things about the mystery of the Trinity. I beg you, let this rather be the contest among us: how we may overcome the adversary, how we may fast, how we may lament our sins, how we may make satisfaction for so great wickedness, how we may persevere in almsgiving, how our thought may not drag us captive into lust, how we may keep patience against every injury, how we may not resist a brother who does us injury, but overcome him in humility, which we have learned from Christ, Who when He suffered did not threaten (1 Pet. 2:23). If ever the thought comes and puts forward what God is and what is the reason of the Trinity, let it suffice us to believe that it is, and not rashly to seek the reason of the Trinity: but we ought always to fear and pray to the Lord, and to Him alone offer our knowledge in this matter, so that day and night we may sing praises to Him, to Whom be glory for ages of ages. Amen.