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

Sermons CCXXXV–CCXXXVII

hominis nuper hoc principium habere assignat. Maledictus qui deitatem ejus passam esse confitetur. Maledictus qui incomparabilem deitatem Trinitatis proprie ad hominis lineamenta esse confitetur, dum scriptum inveniamus: quia non sit illi similis quisquam Deus in coelo sursum et in terra deorsum (III Reg. VIII, 23).

of man, asserts that He had this beginning only recently. Cursed is he who confesses that His deity suffered. Cursed is he who confesses that the incomparable deity of the Trinity is properly [conformed] to the lineaments of a man, since we find it written: that there is no God whatever like Him in heaven above and on earth beneath (1 Kgs. 8:23).

SERMO CCXXXV. ⟨De⟩ Fide catholic⟨a⟩, III.

Sermon 235. On the Catholic Faith, 3.

1. Deus unus non solitarius. Spiritus sanctus a Patre et Filio. Filius a Patre natura, non voluntate, genitus. Credimus in unum Deum, Patrem omnipotentem, et unigenitum Filium ejus Jesum Christum, Deum et Dominum salvatorem nostrum, et Spiritum sanctum Deum. Non tres deos, sed Patrem et Filium et Spiritum sanctum unum Deum colimus et confitemur. Non sic unum Deum quasi solitarium; nec eum denique qui ipse sibi pater sit, ipse et filius; sed Patrem verum, qui genuit Filium verum, id est, Deum de Deo, lumen de lumine, Deum verum de Deo vero, omnipotentem de omnipotente, vitam ex vita, perfectum ex perfecto, totum a toto, plenum a pleno; non creatum, sed genitum; non ex nihilo, sed ex Patre; unius substantiae cum Patre, quod graece dicitur ὁμοούσιον. Spiritum vero sanctum Deum non ingenitum neque genitum, non creatum neque factum: sed de Patre procedentem et Filio, Patris et Filii Spiritum, semper in Patre et Filio, Patri et Filio coaeternum, et coaequalem, et cooperatorem confitemur et veneramur. Ideoque in nomine Patris et Filii et Spiritus sancti unum confitemur Deum: quia Deus nomen est potestatis, non proprietatis. Proprium nomen est Patri pater, et proprium nomen est Filio filius, et proprium nomen est Spiritui sancto spiritus sanctus. Hanc Trinitatem unum Deum credimus: quia ex uno Patre quod est, unius cum Patre naturae est, uniusque substantiae, et unius potestatis. Pater Filium genuit, non voluntate, non necessitate, sed natura.

1. One God, not solitary. The Holy Spirit from the Father and the Son. The Son begotten of the Father by nature, not by will. We believe in one God, the Father almighty, and His only-begotten Son Jesus Christ, God and Lord, our Saviour, and the Holy Spirit, God. Not three gods, but we worship and confess the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit as one God. Not one God in such a way as though solitary; nor yet One Who is Himself His own Father, Himself also the Son; but a true Father, Who begot a true Son, that is, God from God, light from light, true God from true God, almighty from almighty, life from life, perfect from perfect, whole from whole, full from full; not created, but begotten; not from nothing, but from the Father; of one substance with the Father, which in Greek is called homoousion. The Holy Spirit, however, we confess and venerate as God, neither unbegotten nor begotten, neither created nor made, but proceeding from the Father and the Son, the Spirit of the Father and of the Son, always in the Father and the Son, co-eternal with the Father and the Son, and co-equal, and co-worker. And therefore in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit we confess one God: because God is a name of power, not of property. The proper name of the Father is Father, and the proper name of the Son is Son, and the proper name of the Holy Spirit is Holy Spirit. This Trinity we believe to be one God: because what is from the one Father is of one nature with the Father, and of one substance, and of one power. The Father begot the Son not by will, not by necessity, but by nature.

2. Christi duae naturae. Filius ultimo tempore, per quem omnia facta sunt, quae in coelis et quae in terra, visibilia et invisibilia, ad nos salvandos et ad implendas Scripturas venit a Patre, qui nunquam desiit esse cum Patre, quem credimus conceptum de Spiritu sancto, et natum de virgine Maria; Verbum carnem factum, non demutatum, sed Deum permanentem; hominem natum non putative, sed vere; non aereum, sed corporeum; non phantasticum, sed carneum; ossa, sanguinem, sensum et animam habentem: hoc est, perfectum hominem, verum hominem, et verum Deum intelligimus; ut verum Deum, verum hominem fuisse nullo modo ambigamus. Non

2. The two natures of Christ. The Son, in the last time, He through Whom all things were made, which are in the heavens and which are on earth, visible and invisible, came from the Father for our salvation and to fulfil the Scriptures, He Who never ceased to be with the Father, Whom we believe conceived of the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary; the Word made flesh, not changed, but remaining God; born a man not putatively but truly; not airy but bodily; not phantasmal but fleshly; having bones, blood, sense and soul: that is, we understand Him to be perfect man, true man, and true God, so that we in no way doubt that He was true God and true man. Not

Editors' notes and page, col. 2180

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Er. Lugd. et Ven. sic habent hunc locum ; Et in unigenitum Filium ejus Jesum Christum, Deum et Dominum salvatorem, et in Spiritum sanctum Deum. M.

The Erasmus, Lyons and Venice editions have this passage thus: "And in His only-begotten Son Jesus Christ, God and Lord and Saviour, and in the Holy Spirit, God." M.

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Editi : Et unum esse Deum Patrem, et ex uno Patre Filium qui est unius cum Patre naturae. Codices manuscriptos secuti sumus.

The printed editions: "And that God the Father is one, and from the one Father the Son, Who is of one nature with the Father." We have followed the manuscripts.

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Olim, de Tempore 125; et post, in Appendice 47.

Formerly [Sermon] 125 de Tempore; and later, Appendix 47.

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Ipsum fere est Symbolum, quod in Hieronymi Operum tomo 9 cernitur Damaso inscriptum; re autem vera conflatum est ex libello Fidei, qui cap. 39 Codicis canonum Ecclesiae Romanae continetur. Hunc autem libellum doctissimus Quesnellius probat, neque Athanasii esse, cujus etiam operibus insertus fuerat; neque Vigilii Tapsensis, cui tribui volebat Chiffletius; neque tandem Gregorii Nazianzeni, apud quem idem libellus est Tractatus sive Oratio ordine 50; sed Gregorii Boetici potius Eliberitani episcopi : quod huic nempe tribuenda videatur Oratio apud Gregorium Nazianzenum 49, ab Augustino in epist. 148 citata; quam Orationem 49 liquet ejusdem esse auctoris, cujus est praedicta Oratio 50, cum altera alterius explicatio sit ab auctore sua dicta vindicante conscripta. Porro hic « Filioque, » ubi de Spiritus sancti processu agitur, additamentum est, nec legitur in libello Fidei codicis Romani.

It is almost exactly the Creed which is seen in volume 9 of Jerome's Works inscribed to Damasus; in truth, however, it is put together from the libellus of Faith contained in ch. 39 of the Codex of the canons of the Roman Church. The most learned Quesnel shows that this libellus is not Athanasius's, among whose works it had also been inserted; nor that of Vigilius of Thapsus, to whom Chifflet wished to assign it; nor, finally, that of Gregory Nazianzen, among whose works the same libellus stands as Tractate or Oration 50; but rather that of Gregory the Baetican, bishop of Elvira: since to him, namely, Oration 49 among Gregory Nazianzen's works, cited by Augustine in Letter 148, seems to be ascribable; and it is clear that this Oration 49 is by the same author as the said Oration 50, since the one is an explanation of the other, written by an author vindicating his own statements. Further, "and from the Son" here, where the procession of the Holy Spirit is treated, is an addition, and is not read in the libellus of Faith in the Roman codex.

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enim amisit quod erat, sed coepit esse quod non erat; ut perfectus sit in suis, et verus sit in nostris. Nam qui Deus erat, homo factus est; et qui homo natus est, operatur ut Deus; et qui operatur ut Deus, ut homo moritur; et qui ut homo moritur, surgit ut Deus: qui devicto mortis imperio, cum ea carne qua natus et passus et mortuus fuerat, resurrexit, ascendit ad Patrem, sedetque ad dexteram ejus in gloria, quam semper habuit, habetque. In ejus morte et sanguine credimus nos emundatos, et ab eo resuscitandos die novissima in hac carne in qua nunc vivimus, et quam habemus, consecuturos nos aut vitam aeternam pro praemio boni meriti, aut poenas pro peccatis aeterni supplicii. Haec retinete, huic fidei animas vestras subjugate, a Christo Domino praemia consecuturi regni coelorum. Amen.

indeed did He lose what He was, but began to be what He was not; so that He is perfect in what is His own, and true in what is ours. For He Who was God was made man; and He Who was born as man works as God; and He Who works as God dies as man; and He Who dies as man rises as God: Who, having overcome the dominion of death, with that flesh in which He had been born and had suffered and had died, rose again, ascended to the Father, and sits at His right hand in the glory which He always had, and has. In His death and blood we believe that we have been cleansed, and that we are to be raised up by Him on the last day in this flesh in which we now live and which we have, and that we shall obtain either eternal life as the reward of good merit, or the penalties of eternal punishment for sins. Hold fast to these things, subject your souls to this faith, so that you may obtain from Christ the Lord the rewards of the kingdom of heaven. Amen.

SERMO CCXXXVI. De Fide catholica, IV.

Sermon 236. On the Catholic Faith, 4.

1. Arianorum conatus. Auctoris pro Ecclesia preces. Fides patrum. Multa quidem et frequenter ausi sunt Ariani haeretici adversus servos Dei. qui fidem rectam et catholicam custodiunt, per adulterinam doctrinam asserere, et orthodoxos persequi tentaverunt. In tantum autem nunc exsurrexerunt contra fidem, ita ut multos ex vobis polluerint, et aures vestras commoverint, ut animas laniarent. Sceleratae autem haeresis suae perfidiam tegunt: sed non diutius haec illis facere permissum est. Est enim gubernator Ecclesiarum suarum Dominus, qui pro omnibus nobis mortem sustinuit. Et ideo indeficiens nobis est oratio, dilectissimi fratres: primo, ut sancta Domini et catholica Ecclesia dissensionibus omnibus et haeresibus carens, unitatem spiritus in vinculo charitatis ubique conservet, quam per fidem rectam et vitam immaculatam tenere, amplecti, servare, custodire omnibus invocantibus Dominum est quidem justum, praecipue tamen episcopis, qui Ecclesiis praesunt; secundo, ut Ecclesiae regula sanctaque patrum traditio atque judicia in perpetuum firma solidaque permaneant. Est autem Patrum nostrorum fides haec.

1. The endeavours of the Arians. The author's prayers for the Church. The faith of the fathers. Many things indeed, and often, have the Arian heretics dared to assert through adulterous doctrine against the servants of God who guard the right and catholic faith, and they have tried to persecute the orthodox. But now they have risen up against the faith to such a degree that they have defiled many of you, and have stirred up your ears, so as to tear your souls apart. They conceal, however, the perfidy of their wicked heresy: but they have not been permitted to do this any longer. For the Lord, Who endured death for us all, is the helmsman of His Churches. And therefore our prayer is unfailing, dearly beloved brethren: first, that the holy and catholic Church of the Lord, free from all dissensions and heresies, may everywhere preserve the unity of the spirit in the bond of charity, which it is right indeed for all who call upon the Lord to hold, embrace, keep and guard through right faith and an immaculate life, but especially for the bishops who preside over the Churches; secondly, that the rule of the Church and the holy tradition and judgements of the fathers may remain firm and solid for ever. Now this is the faith of our Fathers.

2. De Patre, de Filio, de Spiritu sancto. Credimus in Deum Patrem omnipotentem, cunctorum visibilium et invisibilium conditorem. Credimus et in Dominum nostrum Jesum Christum, per quem creata sunt omnia, verum Deum, unigenitum, verum Dei Filium, non factum aut adoptivum; sed genitum, unius cum Patre substantiae, quod Graeci dicunt ὁμοούσιον: atque ita per omnia aequalem Deo Patri, ut nec tempore, nec gradu, nec potestate esse possit inferior: tantumque esse confitemur illum qui est genitus, quantus est ille qui genuit. Non autem quia dicimus genitum a Patre Filium, divinae et ineffabili generationi aliquod tempus adscribimus. Sed nec Patrem dicimus aliquando coepisse, nec Filium. Non enim possumus aliter confiteri aeternum Patrem, nisi confiteamur etiam et Filium coaeternum. Ex Filio Pater dicitur: et qui semper Pater fuit, semper Filium habuit. Credimus et in Spiritum sanctum, Deum verum ex Patre procedentem, aequalem per omnia Patri et Filio, natura, voluntate, potestate, aeternitate, substantia,

2. Of the Father, of the Son, of the Holy Spirit. We believe in God the Father almighty, the maker of all things visible and invisible. We believe also in our Lord Jesus Christ, through Whom all things were created, true God, only-begotten, true Son of God, not made or adopted, but begotten, of one substance with the Father, which the Greeks call homoousion: and thus equal in all things to God the Father, so that He cannot be inferior either in time, or in rank, or in power: and we confess that He Who is begotten is as great as He Who begot. But because we say that the Son is begotten of the Father, we do not ascribe any time to the divine and ineffable generation. Nor do we say that either the Father or the Son ever began. For we cannot otherwise confess the Father to be eternal, unless we also confess the Son to be coeternal. He is called Father from the Son: and He Who was always Father always had a Son. We believe also in the Holy Spirit, true God, proceeding from the Father, equal in all things to the Father and the Son, in nature, will, power, eternity, substance,

3. Natura unum sunt, sed proprietatibus distinguuntur. Nec est prorsus aliquis in Trinitate gradus, nihil quod inferius superiusque dici possit. Ideo tota deitas sua perfectione aequalis est; ut, exceptis vocabulis quae proprietatem personarum indicant, quidquid de una persona dicitur, de tribus dignissime possit intelligi.

3. In nature they are one, but they are distinguished by their properties. Nor is there any rank at all in the Trinity, nothing which could be called lower or higher. Therefore the whole Godhead is equal in its perfection; so that, except for the terms which indicate the property of the persons, whatever is said of one person may, of the three, most worthily be understood.

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Alias, de Tempore 191.

Elsewhere, [Sermon] 191 de Tempore.

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In Appendice nunc primum collocatur. Dubium reliquerunt Lovanienses : rejecerunt Verlinus et Vindingus. Quippe nihil aliud est quam fidei professio a Pelagio directa ad apostolicam Sedem, et in Operum Hieronymi tomo 9 contenta : quae hic exordio praefixo ac mutata conclusione formam sermonis accepit

It is now placed in the Appendix for the first time. The Louvain editors left it doubtful; Verlinus and Vindingus rejected it. For it is nothing other than the profession of faith addressed by Pelagius to the Apostolic See and contained in volume 9 of Jerome's Works, which here, with an opening prefixed and the conclusion altered, has taken the form of a sermon.

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Atque ut confutantes Arium, unam eamdemque dicimus Trinitatis esse substantiam, et unum in tribus personis fatemur Deum: ita impietatem Sabellii declinantes, tres personas expressas sui proprietate distinguimus: non ipsum s⟨i⟩bi Patrem, ipsum Filium, ipsum Spiritum sanctum esse dicentes; sed aliam Patris, aliam Filii, aliam Spiritus sancti esse personam. Non enim nom⟨i⟩na tantummodo, sed etiam nominum proprietates, id est, personas confitemur. Nec Pater Filii aut Spiritus sancti personam aliquando excludit; nec rursus Filius aut Spiritus sanctus Patris nomen per⟨s⟩onamque recipit: sed Pater semper pater, Filius semper filius, Spiritus sanctus semper spiritus sanctus. Itaque substantia unum sunt; personis ac nominibus distinguuntur.

And just as, in refuting Arius, we say that the substance of the Trinity is one and the same, and confess one God in three persons, so, in avoiding the impiety of Sabellius, we distinguish three persons, expressed by their own property: not saying that the same one is to Himself Father, the same Son, the same Holy Spirit; but that the person of the Father is one, that of the Son another, that of the Holy Spirit another. For we confess not names only, but also the properties of the names, that is, persons. Nor does the Father ever exclude the person of the Son or of the Holy Spirit; nor again does the Son or the Holy Spirit take on the name and person of the Father: but the Father is always father, the Son always son, the Holy Spirit always holy spirit. Therefore in substance they are one; in persons and names they are distinguished.

4. De Incarnationis mysterio. Error quorumdam: Photini et Apollinaris: aliorum. Ipsum autem Dei Filium, qui absque initio aeternitatem cum Patre et Spiritu sancto possidet, dicimus in fine saeculorum perfectum naturae nostrae hominem suscepisse ex Maria semper virgine, et Verbum carnem esse factum; sed assumendo hominem, non permutando deitatem. Nec, ut quidam sceleratissime opinantur, Spiritum sanctum dicimus fuisse pro semine, sed potentia et virtute creatoris operatum. Sic autem confitemur in Christo unam Filii esse personam, ut dicamus duas perfectas atque integras esse substantias, deitatis scilicet et humanitatis, quae ex anima constat et corpore. Atque ut condemnamus Photinum, qui solum et nudum hominem confitetur in Christo; ita anathematizamus Apolli⟨n⟩arem et ejus similes, qui dicunt Dei Filium minus aliquid de humana suscepisse natura, et vel in carne, vel in anima, vel in sensu assumptum hominem his, propter quos assumptus est, fuisse dissimilem, quem absque sola peccati macula (quae naturalis non est) nobis confitemur fuisse conformem. Illorum quoque similiter exsecramur blasphemiam, qui novo sensu asserere conantur, a tempore susceptae carnis, omnia quae erant divinitatis, in hominem demigrasse; et rursum quae humanitatis erant, in Deum esse transfusa: ut, quod nulla unquam haeresis ausa est dicere, videatur hac confusione utraque exinanita esse substantia, et deitatis scilicet et humanitatis; et amisso proprio statu, in aliud esse mutata: ut qui tam Deum perfectum in Filio quam hominem confitemur, nec Deum vere, nec hominem tenere credamur.

4. On the mystery of the Incarnation. The error of certain men: of Photinus and Apollinaris: of others. Now we say that the Son of God Himself, Who without beginning possesses eternity with the Father and the Holy Spirit, at the end of the ages took up a perfect man of our nature from Mary ever virgin, and that the Word was made flesh; but by assuming man, not by changing the deity. Nor do we say, as certain men most wickedly suppose, that the Holy Spirit served as seed, but that He worked by the power and might of the Creator. And we so confess one person of the Son in Christ as to say that there are two perfect and entire substances, namely of deity and of humanity, which consists of soul and body. And just as we condemn Photinus, who confesses a mere and bare man in Christ, so we anathematize Apollinaris and those like him, who say that the Son of God took up something less of human nature, and that the man assumed was unlike, either in flesh, or in soul, or in mind, those for whose sake He was assumed, whereas we confess that, apart only from the stain of sin (which is not natural), He was conformed to us. Likewise we also execrate the blasphemy of those who attempt to assert, in a novel sense, that from the time the flesh was taken up all things that belonged to the divinity passed over into the man, and again that the things that belonged to the humanity were transferred into God: so that, as no heresy has ever dared to say, both substances, namely of deity and of humanity, would seem to have been emptied out by this confusion, and, having lost their proper state, to have been changed into something else: so that we who confess both perfect God and man in the Son would be thought to hold neither God truly nor man.

5. Christus passus est vere, sed secundum hominem. Resurrectionis fides. Praemia justorum, et injustorum supplicia diversa. Nos autem ita dicimus susceptum a Dei Filio passibile nostrum, ut Deus tamen impassibilis permaneret. Passus est etenim Dei Filius non putative, sed vere, omnia quae Scriptura testatur, id est, esuriem, sitim, lassitudinem, dolorem, mortem, et caetera hujusmodi: sed secundum illud passus est quod pati poterat; id est, non secundum illam substantiam quae assumpsit, sed secundum illam quae assumpta est. Ipse enim Dei Filius secundum deitatem suam impassibilis est ut Pater, invisibilis ut Pater, inconvertibilis ut Pater, incorruptibilis ut Pater. Et quamvis proprie persona Filii, id est, Dei Verbum susceperit passibilem hominem, ita tamen ejus inhabitatione secundum suam substantiam deitas Verbi nihil passa est, ut tota Trinitas, quam impassibilem esse necesse est confiteri. Mortuus est ergo Dei Filius eadem natura carnis, in qua natus et passus est, in qua etiam resurrexit. Non enim exinanita est humanitatis substantia, sed glorificata in aeternum cum deitate mansura. Venturus est ad judicium vivorum et mortuorum, ut et justos remuneret, et puniat peccatores. Resurrectionem carnis ita credimus, ut dicamus nos

5. Christ truly suffered, but according to the man. Faith in the resurrection. The differing rewards of the just and punishments of the unjust. Now we say that what is passible in us was taken up by the Son of God in such a way that God nevertheless remained impassible. For the Son of God suffered, not in appearance but truly, all that Scripture attests, that is, hunger, thirst, weariness, pain, death, and the other things of this kind: but He suffered according to that which was able to suffer; that is, not according to the substance which assumed, but according to that which was assumed. For the Son of God Himself, according to His deity, is impassible as the Father is, invisible as the Father is, unchangeable as the Father is, incorruptible as the Father is. And although properly the person of the Son, that is, the Word of God, took up a passible man, yet in His indwelling the deity of the Word suffered nothing according to its own substance, just as the whole Trinity, which must necessarily be confessed impassible. The Son of God therefore died in the same nature of flesh in which He was born and suffered, in which He also rose again. For the substance of the humanity was not emptied out, but glorified, to remain for ever with the deity. He will come to the judgement of the living and the dead, both to reward the just and to punish sinners. We believe in the resurrection of the flesh in such a way as to say that we

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Ita Ms. At editi, temere credamus. Pelagius autem apud Hieronymum : Qui tum Deum imperfectum in Filio quam hominem confitentur, ut nec Deum vere nec hominem tenere credantur.

So the manuscript. But the printed editions: "rashly believe." Pelagius, however, in Jerome's works: "who confess both an imperfect God in the Son and [an imperfect] man, so that they are believed to hold neither true God nor [true] man."

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in eadem in qua nunc sumus, veritate membrorum esse reparandos; qualesque semel post resurrectionem fuerimus effecti, in perpetuum permansuros. Unam esse vitam sanctorum omnium, sed praemia pro labore diversa; et e contrario pro modo delictorum, peccatorum quoque esse supplicia. Baptisma unum tenemus, quod iisdem Sacramenti verbis in infantibus, quibus etiam in majoribus dicimus esse celebrandum. Hominem, si post Baptismum lapsus fuerit, primo per reconciliationem, deinde per poenitentiam credimus posse salvari.

in the same truth of members in which we now are, are to be restored; and that such as we shall once have been made after the resurrection, so we shall remain for ever. That there is one life of all the saints, but rewards differing according to labour; and, on the contrary, that according to the measure of offences the punishments of sinners also differ. We hold one Baptism, which we say is to be celebrated in infants with the same words of the Sacrament as in adults also. We believe that a man, if he has fallen after Baptism, can be saved, first through reconciliation, then through penance.

6. Errores de animarum substantia et origine: de praeceptis Dei. Manichaeorum et Cataphrygum de nuptiis: aliorum de Christo: Joviniani de meritis: Manetis et Joviniani de libero arbitrio. Novum et Vetus Testamentum recipimus in illo librorum numero, quem sanctae Ecclesiae catholicae tradit auctoritas. Animas a Deo dari credimus, quas ab ipso factas dicimus; anathematizantes eos qui animam, quasi partem Dei, divinae dicunt esse substantiae. Eorum quoque condemnamus errorem, qui eas ante peccasse, vel in coelo conversatas esse dicunt, quam in corpora mitterentur. Exsecramur etiam blasphemiam eorum qui dicunt, impossibile aliquid homini a Deo esse praeceptum; et mandata Dei non a singulis, sed ab omnibus in commune posse servari: vel qui primas nuptias cum Manichaeo, vel secundas cum Cataphrygis damnant. Anathematizamus etiam illos qui Dei Filium necessitate carnis mentitum esse dicunt, et eum propter assumptum hominem non omnia facere potuisse quae voluit. Joviniani quoque damnamus errorem, qui dicit nullam in futuro meritorum esse distantiam; nosque eas ibi habituros esse virtutes, quas hic habere neglexerimus. Liberum sic confitemur arbitrium, ut dicamus nos Dei semper indigere auxilio; et tam illos errare, qui cum Manichaeo dicunt, hominem peccatum vitare non posse, quam illos qui cum Joviniano asserunt hominem non posse peccare: uterque enim tollit arbitrii libertatem. Nos vero dicimus hominem semper et peccare, et non peccare posse, ut nos liberi confiteamur esse arbitrii. Haec est fides, dilectissimi fratres, quam in catholica didicimus Ecclesia, quamque semper tenuimus et tenemus, quam credimus et a vestra Bon⟨i⟩tate deinceps posse teneri.

6. Errors concerning the substance and origin of souls: concerning the commandments of God. Those of the Manichaeans and Cataphrygians concerning marriage: of others concerning Christ: of Jovinian concerning merits: of Manes and Jovinian concerning free will. We receive the New and Old Testament in that number of books which the authority of the holy catholic Church hands down. We believe that souls are given by God, and we say that they are made by Him; anathematizing those who say that the soul, as if a part of God, is of the divine substance. We also condemn the error of those who say that souls sinned before, or lived in heaven, before they were sent into bodies. We execrate also the blasphemy of those who say that something impossible has been commanded to man by God; and that the commandments of God can be kept not by individuals, but by all in common; or of those who condemn first marriages with Manes, or second marriages with the Cataphrygians. We anathematize also those who say that the Son of God lied by necessity of the flesh, and that on account of the man He assumed He was not able to do all things that He willed. We condemn also the error of Jovinian, who says that in the future there is no difference of merits; and that we shall have there those virtues which we have neglected to have here. We so confess free will as to say that we always stand in need of the help of God; and that those err, who say with Manes that man cannot avoid sin, as much as those who assert with Jovinian that man cannot sin: for each takes away the freedom of the will. But we say that man is always able both to sin and not to sin, so that we confess ourselves to be of free will. This is the faith, most beloved brethren, which we have learned in the catholic Church, and which we have always held and hold, and which we believe can henceforth be held by your Goodness also.

SERMO CCXXXVII. De Symbolo, I: ac de deitate et omnipotentia Patris.

Sermon 237. On the Creed, 1: and on the deity and omnipotence of the Father.

1. Omnipotentia Dei evincitur. Ex operum magnitudine. Ostendimus, fratres dilectissimi, ut vestra certe Dilectio recordatur, Deum in quem vos credere promisistis et creditis, verum esse Deum, ita etiam verum Patrem, hunc vero eumdem etiam omnipotentem. Hic enim Symboli ordo esse monstratur. Nam licet hoc ipso quo verus Deus probatur, sine dubio omnipo⟨t⟩e⟨n⟩s intelligatur, tamen magis hoc fidei proficit, sicut Scripturis sanctis omnipotentia ejus asseritur. Maxima enim credentibus oritur confidentia, cum agnoscunt illum omnia posse quem credunt. Omnipotentem ergo Dominum ac Deum nostrum ipsa imprimis ejus opera testantur, qui fecit hunc mundum totum de nihilo, et totam, quae magna est, pulchritudinem, tanquam speciosas rerum formas, ex nulla materia exstante composuit. De ipso enim dicit Scriptura divina, In principio fecit Deus coelum et terram (Gen. I, 1); et rursus, Quoniam ipsius est mare, e⟨t⟩ ipse fecit illud (Psal. XCIV, 5). Quis ergo neget omnipotentem esse, quem tam clara cognoscit operatum?

1. The omnipotence of God is proved. From the greatness of His works. We have shown, most beloved brethren, as your Love surely remembers, that God, in Whom you have promised to believe and do believe, is true God, and likewise true Father, and that this same One is also omnipotent. For this is shown to be the order of the Creed. For although by the very fact that He is proved to be true God He is without doubt understood to be omnipotent, yet this profits faith the more, as His omnipotence is asserted by the holy Scriptures. For the greatest confidence arises in believers when they recognize that He in Whom they believe can do all things. Therefore His very works above all bear witness that our Lord and God is omnipotent, Who made this whole world out of nothing, and composed all its beauty, which is great, as it were the beautiful forms of things, out of no pre-existing matter. For of Him the divine Scripture says, In the beginning God made heaven and earth (Gen. 1:1); and again, For the sea is His, and He made it (Ps. 94:5). Who then would deny that He is omnipotent, Whom he recognizes to have wrought such clear works?

2. Ex facilitate qua facta sunt. Ex creatione rerum

2. From the ease with which they were made. From the creation of things

Editors' notes and page, col. 2183

Footnotes

(a) ‹anchor: SERMO CCXXXVII› · call in col 2183

Alias, de Tempore 192.

Elsewhere, [Sermon] 192 de Tempore.

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(b) ‹anchor: omnipotentia Patris› · call in col 2183

In Appendice nunc primum collocatur. Dubius erat Lovaniensibus, falsus Verlino et Vindingo. Idem auctor hujus ac duorum subsequentium. Cum autem in exordio dicit jam se ostendisse Deum in quem credimus esse verum Deum, non superiorem tractatum, ut putarunt Verlinus et Vindingus, sed alium quemdam notat nobis incompertum.

It is now placed in the Appendix for the first time. It was doubtful to the Louvain editors, spurious to Verlinus and Vindingus. The author of this and of the two following is the same. When in the opening he says he has already shown that the God in whom we believe is true God, he refers not to the preceding treatise, as Verlinus and Vindingus thought, but to some other one unknown to us.

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invisibilium. Sed multo magis eum esse omnipotentem fatebitur, cum haec ipsa quam facile sit operatus agnoverit. Propheta loquitur in Psalmo, Ipse dixit, et facta sunt; ipse mandavit, et creata sunt (Psal. XXXII, 9). Absque ullo labore, absque difficultate aliqua verbo res condidit: quidquid ratio humana miratur, non labore Deus, sed jussione reformavit. Imperio ejus exstiterunt omnia, quae ante non fuerant: cum ex nihilo tanta procedunt, omnipotentem loquuntur auctorem. Neque vero a Deo ista sola creata sunt quae videmus; sed majores potentiae divinae divitias invisibilia illius opera testantur: siquidem ab ipso creatae sunt omnes angelicae Potestates; quae quamvis non videantur a nobis, tamen, ut in Scripturis divinis agnoscimus, Deo militant, et ipsi serviunt Throni, Dominationes ac Virtutes omnes, et spiritualis substantiae Potestates. Qui facit Angelos suos spiritus, et ministros suos ignem urentem (Psal. CIII, 4). Unde angelicum tanti regis exercitum propheta describens, Millia, inquit, millium ministrabant ei, et decies millies centena millia assistebant ei (Dan. VII, 10).

invisible. But much more will he confess Him to be omnipotent when he has recognized how easily He made these very things. The prophet says in the Psalm, He spoke, and they were made; He commanded, and they were created (Ps. 32:9). Without any labour, without any difficulty, He founded things by a word: whatever human reason marvels at, God shaped not by labour but by command. At His bidding all things came into being which had not existed before: since such great things proceed from nothing, they proclaim an omnipotent author. Nor indeed are these things that we see the only ones created by God; rather His invisible works bear witness to greater riches of divine power: for by Him all the angelic Powers were created; and although these are not seen by us, yet, as we recognize in the divine Scriptures, they serve as soldiers of God, and to Him do service the Thrones, the Dominions and all the Virtues, and the Powers of spiritual substance. Who makes His angels spirits, and His ministers a burning fire (Ps. 103:4). Hence the prophet, describing the angelic army of so great a king, says, Thousands of thousands ministered to Him, and ten times a thousand times a hundred thousand stood by Him (Dan. 7:10).

3. Ex mundi gubernatione. Ex ejusdem dissolutione. Ex hominum suscitatione. Certe si breviter agnovistis ex creatione ista visibilium et invisibilium omnipotentiam Dei; nunc etiam eamdem ejus virtutem ex administratione cognoscite. Cum enim toto sub Noe peccante mundo diluvium inducit, cum Sodomam et Gomorrham pluvia ignis exurit, cum populo suo de Aegyptiorum servitute liberato siccam in mari praebet viam, quid aliud quam se omnipotentem testatur; et se ipsum esse qui mare fecit, qui illud etiam siccavit ex ea parte qua voluit? Cum vero ipsum populum per quadraginta annos in solitudine coelesti cibo aluit, id est, manna; nonne ineffabilem virtutem suae divinitatis asseruit; ut ostenderet quia non in solo pane vivit homo, sed in omni verbo quod procedit de ore Dei (Deut. VIII, 3). Et ut innumeras virtutes Dei pauca commemorando praeteream, ostendit etiam tunc omnipotentiam suam Deus, cum Filium suum, quem secundum hominem mori voluit pro salute nostra, solutis inferni legibus a mortuis suscitavit: ut in ⟨C⟩hristo ostenderet se esse, a quo mortales homines sunt creati, qui etiam immortalem fecit ex mortuo. Ad ipsius omnipotentiae virtutem pertinet, ut istum mundum, quem aliquando fecit ex nihilo, in fine saeculorum dissolvat. Unde propheta, Coelum, inquit, plicabitur revolutum ut liber, et omnia sidera cadent ut folia de vite, et sicut folia cadunt de ficu (Isai. XXXIV, 4): et Salvator in Evangelio, Quia coelum et terra tran⟨s⟩ibunt, verba autem mea non transibunt (Matth. XXIV, 35). Eadem quoque omnipotentia omnes homines qui sunt mortui, quique morientur in finem, ad diem judicii suscitabit, ut propheta dicit, Reddet unicuique juxta opera sua (Psal. LXI, 13): et alios quidem in coelorum regno consortio copulabit Angelorum, alios vero in gehennae supplicio diabolo junget.

3. From the governing of the world. From its dissolution. From the raising of men. Surely, if you have briefly recognized the omnipotence of God from this creation of things visible and invisible, now recognize also that same power of His from His administration. For when He brings a flood upon the whole world as it sinned under Noah, when He burns up Sodom and Gomorrah with a rain of fire, when He provides a dry path in the sea for His people freed from the slavery of the Egyptians, what else does He testify than that He is omnipotent, and that He Himself is the One Who made the sea, Who also dried it up in the part where He willed? And when He fed that same people for forty years in the wilderness with heavenly food, that is, manna, did He not assert the ineffable power of His divinity, to show that man lives not by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God (Deut. 8:3)? And to pass over the innumerable mighty works of God by mentioning a few, God showed His omnipotence then too, when His Son, Whom according to the manhood He willed to die for our salvation, He raised from the dead, the laws of the underworld being loosed: so that He might show in Christ that He is the One by Whom mortal men were created, Who also made an immortal out of a dead man. It belongs to the power of His omnipotence that this world, which He once made from nothing, He will dissolve at the end of the ages. Hence the prophet says, The heaven shall be folded, rolled up like a book, and all the stars shall fall like leaves from the vine, and as leaves fall from the fig tree (Isa. 34:4); and the Saviour in the Gospel, For heaven and earth shall pass away, but My words shall not pass away (Matt. 24:35). By the same omnipotence also He will raise all men who are dead, and who shall die until the end, on the day of judgement, as the prophet says, He will render to each according to his works (Ps. 61:13); and some He will join to the fellowship of the angels in the kingdom of heaven, but others He will join to the devil in the punishment of Gehenna.

4. Fides tanti Dei incutere debet timorem. In hunc credentes Deum, dilectissimi fratres, omnipotentem, justum, severum, et his tantum benignum, qui hic severitatem ejus timendo peccata vitaverunt: in hunc, inquam, credentes Deum, cum omni timore et tremore, ut ait Apostolus, vestram salutem operamini (Philipp. II, 12); et ab omni peccato, et ab omnibus criminibus et vitiis recedentes, ad sola opera justitiae festinate; ambulantes, sicut Salvator ait, in luce, dum habetis lucem, ne tenebrae vos comprehendant (Joan. XII, 35). Cavete a malorum consortiis atque colloquiis, et ad sola Dei verba audienda fidelium praeparetur auditus, et ad res sanctas solas loquendas lectorum lingua moveatur, ut auditum bonum et sermonem bonum bona opera subsequantur. Quod Dominus noster Jesus Christus in nobis secundum bonae voluntatis studium perficere dignetur: cui est honor et gloria cum Patre et Spiritu sancto in saecula saeculorum. Amen.

4. Faith in so great a God ought to strike fear into us. Believing in this God, dearest brethren, omnipotent, just, severe, and kind only to those who here, by fearing His severity, have avoided sins: believing, I say, in this God, with all fear and trembling, as the Apostle says, work out your salvation (Phil. 2:12); and, withdrawing from every sin and from all crimes and vices, hasten to the works of justice alone; walking, as the Saviour says, in the light, while you have the light, lest darkness overtake you (John 12:35). Beware of the company and conversations of the wicked, and let the hearing of the faithful be prepared for hearing the words of God alone, and let the tongue of readers be moved to speaking holy things alone, so that good works may follow good hearing and good speech. May our Lord Jesus Christ deign to accomplish this in us according to the desire of His good will: to Whom is honour and glory with the Father and the Holy Spirit unto the ages of ages. Amen.

Editors' notes and page, col. 2184

Footnotes

(1) ‹anchor: not visible› · call in col 2184

Ms. rm., dena.

A manuscript [siglum "rm."]: "dena" ("ten each").

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