Augustine, Sermones 347-352 (Classis IV, de Diversis)

or through numbness, does not feel pain. For according to the health of this mortality, healthy flesh feels pain when it is pricked. Such too is the mind that is well disposed according to this life, which, pricked by the misery of one who suffers, grieves with him in mercy. But flesh numbed by a graver disease, or even dead because the spirit has departed, does not feel pain even when it is pricked: such is the mind of those who philosophize without God, or rather are choked. For just as the body lives breathed into by the soul, so the soul itself lives breathed into by God. Let these men therefore, who neither feel pain nor fear, take heed lest perhaps they are not healthy, but dead.

Chapter III. — 4. Fear in a Christian: one kind to be cast out little by little, another to endure. Let the Christian fear, however, before perfect charity casts out fear: let him believe and understand that he is a pilgrim away from the Lord, as long as he lives in the body which is corrupted and weighs down the soul. Let fear be the less, the nearer the homeland to which we are heading. For the fear of those on pilgrimage ought to be greater, that of those drawing near less, that of those who have arrived none. So both fear leads to charity, and perfect charity casts out fear. Let the Christian fear, however, not those who kill the body and afterwards have nothing they can do; but Him Who has power to kill both body and soul in the gehenna of fire (Luke 12:4–5). But there is another fear of the Lord, a chaste one, enduring for ever and ever (Ps. 18:10). This, then, perfect charity does not cast out, otherwise it would not endure for ever and ever: nor was it in vain that, when "the fear of the Lord" had been said, "chaste" was added; and so there was joined to it "enduring for ever and ever". Why so, unless because that fear which charity casts out pricks the soul for this reason, lest something be lost which is loved in the creature, or bodily health and rest itself, or something of the kind after death? For it is for this reason that both punishments in the underworld and the pains and torments of gehenna are feared. But when the soul is on its guard lest God, deserted, desert it, that is the chaste fear enduring for ever and ever. Of this I would speak more broadly, were not a sermon already rather long compelling me to spare both my aged strength and perhaps your satiety.

Sermon 349. On Charity, and on the blind man given light, 1.

Chapter One. — 1. One charity divine, another human. Human charity, one lawful, another unlawful. The Apostle was speaking to us of charity a little while ago, when his Epistle was being read: and he so commended it to us that we should understand that all other things, however great gifts of God, profit nothing without it. But where it is, it cannot be alone. Let us therefore also render to your Charity a sermon on charity. One charity is divine, another human: one human charity is lawful, another unlawful. Of these three charities, then, or loves (for what in Greek is called ἀγάπη has two names among the Latins), I shall say what the Lord may grant. This, then, is my first division, that I have said one human,

another divine love; and that this same human love is divided into two, in that one is lawful, the other unlawful. First, then, I speak of lawful human love, which is not reproved; next of unlawful human love, which is condemned; third of divine love, which leads us to the kingdom.

Chapter II. — 2. Of lawful human love. To put it briefly, then: lawful is the human love by which a wife is loved; unlawful, that by which a harlot or another man's wife is loved. For in the forum and the streets lawful love is loved more than a harlot; in the house of God, in the temple of God, in the city of Christ, in the body of Christ, even the love of a harlot leads the lover to hell. Have, then, lawful love: it is human, but, as I have said, it is lawful. And it is not only lawful in such a way that it is permitted, but lawful in such a way that, if it is lacking, it is reproved. Let it be lawful for you to love with human love your spouses, to love your children, to love your friends, to love your fellow citizens. For all these names carry the bond of kinship and, in a certain manner, the glue of love. But you see that this love can belong also to the ungodly, that is, to pagans, Jews, heretics. For which of them does not love his wife, his children, his brothers, his neighbours, his relations by marriage, his friends, and so on? This, then, is human. If, therefore, anyone is carried away by such cruelty that he loses even the human feeling of affection, and does not love his children, and does not love his wife, he is not even to be counted among human beings. For he who loves his children is not to be praised; but he who does not love his children is to be condemned. Let him further consider with whom this affection must be common to him. Even wild beasts love their young: asps love their young, tigers love their young, lions love their young. For there is no beast that does not murmur tenderly to its young. For though it terrifies men, it cherishes its little ones. The lion roars in the forests, so that no one may pass by: it enters the cave where it has its young, and lays aside all the rage of its ferocity. It puts it outside, when it goes in itself. Therefore he who does not love his children is worse even than a lion. These things are human, and they are lawful.

Chapter III. — 3. Of unlawful love. The members of Christ. Beware of unlawful love. You are members of Christ, and you are the body of Christ. Hear the Apostle, and be terrified. For he could not have spoken more gravely, could not more vehemently, could not more sharply have deterred Christians from the love of fornications, than where he said: Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them members of a harlot? And in order to say this, he said above: Do you not know that he who cleaves to a harlot becomes one body? And he gave testimony from Scripture, in that it is written, The two shall be in one flesh (1 Cor. 6:15–16, and Gen. 2:24). For this was said by divine authority: but of husband and wife, where it is lawful, where it is permitted, where it is honourable; not where it is shameful, not where it is unlawful, not where it is in every respect damnable. And just as one flesh comes about in the lawful union of husband and wife, so one flesh comes about in the unlawful union of harlot and lover. Since, then, one flesh comes about, let that terrify you, let [one] shudder at that which he added: Shall I then take the members of Christ. Consider the members of Christ, Christian:

the members of Christ, not in another; in yourself attend to the members of Christ, you who were bought with the blood of Christ. Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them the members of a harlot? Whoever does not shudder at this is an object of horror to God.

Chapter IV. — 4. Divine charity does not tolerate the unlawful love of a harlot. Utterly, utterly I beseech you, my brothers: look, let us suppose what is not so, that God had promised impunity to such men, and had said, Those who have done such things, I will have mercy on them, I will not condemn them. Let us make God have said this. Even with impunity promised, does anyone take the members of Christ and make them now the members of a harlot? He does not, if the third, divine love is there. For I mentioned three loves: I promised that I would speak of three, as the Lord should grant: of the lawful human, of the unlawful human, of that excellent and divine one. Let us question divine charity, and let us set before it the two human charities, and say to it: Look, here is lawful human charity, by which a wife is loved, and daughters and the other worldly ties of kinship; look, here is another, unlawful, by which a harlot is loved, by which another man's maidservant is loved, by which another man's daughter is loved, not asked for, not promised, by which another man's wife is loved. Two charities are before you; with which of these do you wish to remain? He who chooses to remain with that lawful human one does not remain with that unlawful human one. Let no one say to himself, I have both. If you have both, by admitting to yourself the love of a harlot you do injury to divine charity, as to the lady of the house who dwells there. For I suppose that if you are a married man and love a harlot, you do not send the harlot into your house to live with your wife. You do not go so far as that. You seek darkness, you seek hiding-places, you do not openly profess your shame. But those too who have no wives, and are lovers of harlots, as it were, with more licence (that is why I said "as it were", because they too are condemned, if they are already of the faithful): I suppose that the young man too who does not yet have a wife, if he loves a harlot, does not make her live with his sister, does not make her live with his mother, lest he do injury to human modesty, lest he offend the honour of his own blood. If then you do not make the harlot whom you love live with your mother, with your sister, lest, as I said, you offend the honour of your blood, do you make the love of a harlot live in your heart with the love of God, and offend the honour of the blood of Christ?

Chapter V. — 5. Out of love for the inner light, after the example of the blind man, we must cry out by living well. The opposition of the world. Love God; you find nothing better. You love silver, because it is better than iron and bronze; you love gold more, because it is better than silver; you love precious stones more, because they surpass even the value of gold; you love, finally, this light, which everyone who fears death dreads to leave; you love, I say, this light, as he longed for it with a certain immense love who cried out after Jesus, Have mercy on me, son of David. The blind man cried out as Christ was passing by. For he feared that He would pass by and not heal him. And how much did he cry out? So much that he did not fall silent though the crowd forbade him. He overcame the one who opposed him, he held fast the Saviour. While the crowds were making a din and forbidding him to cry out, Jesus stood still, called him, and said to him: What do you wish

to be done for you? Lord, he said, that I may see. See again, your faith has made you whole (Luke 18:38–42). Love Christ; desire the light, which is Christ. If that man desired the light of the body, how much more ought you to desire the light of the heart? Let us cry out to Him not with our voices but with our conduct. Let us live well, let us despise the world: let everything that passes away be nothing to us. When we live thus, worldly men will reproach us, as though they were our well-wishers: men who love the earth, who savour dust, who draw nothing from heaven, who take in the free airs with the heart, with the nostril: they will reproach us without doubt, and will say, if they see us despising these human things, these earthly things: What is the matter with you? Why are you mad? That is the crowd speaking against him, so that the blind man should not cry out. And there are some Christians who forbid living in a Christian way: for that crowd too was walking with Christ, and was keeping the man who was crying out to Christ and desiring light from the benefit of Christ Himself. There are such Christians: but let us overcome them, let us live well; and let our very life be our voice to Christ. He will stand still; for He stands.

Chapter VI. — 6. The passing of Christ. For there is a great mystery there too. He was passing by when that man was crying out: when He healed, He stood still. Let the passing of Christ make us intent on crying out. What is the passing of Christ? Whatever He endured for us in time is His passing. He was born, He passed by: is He still being born? He grew, He passed by: is He still growing? He was suckled: is He still sucking? Wearied, He slept: is He still sleeping? He ate and drank: is He still doing so? At last He was seized, He was bound, He was scourged, He was crowned with thorns, He was struck with blows of the hand, smeared with spittle, hung on the wood, killed, pierced with a lance, buried, He rose again: still He passes by. He ascended into heaven, He sits at the right hand of the Father: He has stood still. Cry out as much as you can: now He enlightens you. For even in the very fact that the Word was with God, He was surely standing, because He was not changed. And the Word was God: and the Word was made flesh. The flesh, in passing, did many things and suffered: the Word stood still. By the Word itself the heart is enlightened; because by the Word itself the flesh which He took up is honoured. Take away the Word, and what is the flesh? It is what yours is. But that the flesh of Christ might be honoured, the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us (John 1:1, 14). Let us cry out, therefore, and live well.

Chapter VII. — 7. Let parents be loved, but Christ more. Love your children, love your wives, even in a worldly way. For you ought to love them according to Christ, so that you take thought for them according to God, and love nothing in them but Christ, and hate it in your own if they refuse to have Christ. For that is the divine charity. For what will your transitory and mortal charity profit them? Yet even when you love in a human way, love Christ more. I do not say that you should not love your wife; but love Christ more. I do not say that you should not love your father, I do not say that you should not love your children; but love Christ more. Hear Him saying it, lest you think these words mine: He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me (Matt. 10:37). When you hear, He is not