Sermons to the People 172.1–174.9

Augustine of Hippo · Sermons to the People · ca. 391-430 · Hippo Regius · 15 passages

Latin text: PL 38 (Latin text: Migne, PL 38, digitized by Open Greek and Latin (patrologia_latina-dev, University of Leipzig), CC BY-SA 4.0).English: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), public domain (CC0). Compare: NPNF 1/6: Sermons on Selected Lessons of the New Testament (R. G. MacMullen, ed., 1888).

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Chapter 172

172.1PL 38:544

Admonet nos beatus Apostolus, ut de dormientibus, hoc est, mortuis charissimis nostris, non contristemur, sicut et cæteri qui spem non habent, spem scilicet resurrectionis et incorruptionis æternæ. Nam ideo et dormientes eos appellat Scripturæ veracissima consuetudo, ut cum dormientes audimus, evigilaturos minime desperemus. Unde etiam cantatur in Psalmo: Numquid qui dormit, non adjiciet ut resurgat? Est ergo de mortuis eis qui diligunt, quædam tristitia quodam modo naturalis. Mortem quippe horret, non opinio, sed natura. Nec mors homini accideret, nisi ex pœna quam præcesserat culpa. Quapropter si animalia quæ ita creata sunt, ut suo quæque tempore moriantur, mortem fugiunt, diligunt vitam; quanto magis homo, qui sic fuerat creatus, ut si vivere sine peccato voluisset, sine termino viveret? Hinc itaque necesse est ut tristes simus, quando nos moriendo deserunt quos amamus: quia etsi novimus eos non in æternum relinquere nos mansuros, sed aliquantum præcedere secuturos; tamen mors ipsa quam natura refugit, cum occupat dilectum, contristat in nobis ipsius dilectionis affectum. Ideo non admonuit Apostolus, ut non contristemur; sed, non sicut cæteri qui spem non habent. Contristamur ergo nos in nostrorum mortibus necessitate amittendi, sed cum spe recipiendi. Inde angimur, hinc consolamur: inde infirmitas afficit, hinc fides reficit: inde dolet humana conditio, hinc sanat divina promissio.

The blessed Apostle admonishes us not to grieve over those who sleep, that is, our dearest dead, “as the rest do who have no hope”—hope, namely, of resurrection and of eternal incorruption. For that is why the most truthful custom of Scripture calls them “sleeping,” so that when we hear of them as sleeping we may by no means despair that they will awake. Hence it is also sung in the Psalm: “Will not he who sleeps rise again?” So there is, for those who love them, a certain grief over the dead that is in a way natural. For it is not opinion but nature that shudders at death. And death would not happen to man except as the punishment that guilt had preceded. So if animals, which were so created that each dies in its own time, flee death and love life, how much more man, who had been so created that, had he willed to live without sin, he would have lived without end? Hence it is necessary that we be sad when those we love desert us by dying; because, even if we know that they have not left us to remain forever, but have gone a little ahead and we shall follow, yet death itself, from which nature recoils, when it seizes a loved one, saddens in us the very affection of love. Therefore the Apostle did not admonish us not to grieve, but not to grieve “as the rest do who have no hope.” So we grieve at the deaths of our own from the necessity of losing them, but with the hope of receiving them back. On this side we are pained, on that we are consoled; on this side weakness afflicts us, on that faith restores us; on this side the human condition grieves, on that the divine promise heals.

1 Thess 4:13 (quotation, high confidence) · Ps 41:8 (40:9 Vulg.) (quotation, high confidence)

Notes and citation

Summary: Grief at the death of loved ones is natural, since death is a punishment from which nature recoils, but Christians grieve with the hope of resurrection, not as those without hope.

This ref is Maurist paragraph 1 of Sermon 172 (staged 172.2, 172.3, 172.5 = Maurist 1, 2, 3; nothing is lost). Quotations: 1 Thess 4:13; Ps 41:8 (40:9 Vulg.).

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (OCR slip; OCR slips; OCR slips; stray footnote mark): mortuis charissimis nostis, non contristemur → mortuis charissimis nostris, non contristemur; spem scilicct resurrectionis → spem scilicet resurrectionis; et dormientes cos appellat → et dormientes eos appellat; ut cum dormicntes audimus → ut cum dormientes audimus; Uude etiam cantatur in Psalmo: Numquid qui dormit, non adjiciet ul resurgat? Est ergo de mortuis cis qui diligunt 1, quædam tristitia → Unde etiam cantatur in Psalmo: Numquid qui dormit, non adjiciet ut resurgat? Est ergo de mortuis eis qui diligunt, quædam tristitia; si animalia quæ ila creata sunt → si animalia quæ ita creata sunt; qui sic fucrat crealus, ut si vivere sine peccato voluisset, sinc termino viveret? Hinc itaque nccesse est → qui sic fuerat creatus, ut si vivere sine peccato voluisset, sine termino viveret? Hinc itaque necesse est; iudc infirmitas afficit, hinc fides reficit: indo dolet bumana conditio → inde infirmitas afficit, hinc fides reficit: inde dolet humana conditio.

Topics: Eschatology

Cite (SBL): Augustine, Serm. 172.1 (PL 38:544; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-sermones/172-1/#p-172-1). (abbreviation not yet checked)

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Translation: Translated by Claude from the Latin of Migne's Patrologia Latina 38 (Maurist text; digital text, Open Greek and Latin; corrections logged). Sermons outside 51–147 have no public-domain English and were re-read against the Latin; sermons 51–147 were compared section by section with NPNF¹ 6 (MacMullen, 1888).

172.2PL 38:544–545

Proinde pompæ funeris, agmina exsequiarum, sumptuosa diligentia sepulturæ, monumentorum opulenta constructio, vivorum sunt qualiacumque solatia, non adjutoria mortuorum. Orationibus vero sanctæ Ecclesiæ, et sacrificio salutari, et eleemosynis, quæ pro eorum spiritibus erogantur, non est dubitandum mortuos adjuvari; ut cum eis misericordius agatur a Domino, quam eorum peccata meruerunt. Hoc enim a patribus traditum, universa observat Ecclesia, ut pro eis qui in corporis et sanguinis Christi communione defuncti sunt, cum ad ipsum sacrificium loco suo commemorantur, oretur, ac pro illis quoque id offerri commemoretur. Cum vero eorum commendandorum causa opera misericordiæ celebrantur, quis eis dubitet suffragari, pro quibus orationes Deo non inaniter allegantur? Non omnino ambigendum est, ista prodesse defunctis; sed talibus qui ita vixerint ante mortem, ut possint eis hæc utilia esse post mortem. Nam qui sine fide quæ per dilectionem operatur, ejusque Sacramentis, de corporibus exierunt, frustra illis a suis hujusmodi pietatis impenduntur officia, cujus, dum hic essent, pignore caruerunt, vel non suscipientes, vel in vacuum suscipientes Dei gratiam, et sibi non misericordiam thesaurizantes, sed iram. Non ergo mortuis nova merita comparantur, cum pro eis boni aliquid operantur sui, sed eorum præcedentibus consequentia ista redduntur. Non enim actum est, nisi cum hic viverent, ut eos hæc aliquid adjuvarent, cum hic vivere destitissent. Et ideo istam finiens quisque vitam, nisi quod meruit in ipsa, non poterit habere post ipsam.

Accordingly, the pomp of the funeral, the throngs of the procession, costly care for burial, the lavish building of monuments are some kind of comfort for the living, not helps for the dead. But that the dead are helped by the prayers of the holy Church, and by the saving sacrifice, and by the alms that are given for their spirits, is not to be doubted: so that the Lord may deal with them more mercifully than their sins deserved. For this, handed down from the fathers, the whole Church observes: that for those who have died in the communion of the body and blood of Christ, when they are commemorated in their place at the sacrifice itself, prayer is offered, and it is commemorated that the sacrifice is offered for them too. But when works of mercy are performed to commend them, who would doubt that they are aided, for whom prayers are not offered to God in vain? It is not at all to be doubted that these things profit the dead—but such as lived before death in such a way that these things could be useful to them after death. For those who departed from their bodies without the faith that works through love, and its sacraments, have in vain these offices of devotion paid them by their own: they lacked its pledge while they were here, either not receiving God's grace or receiving it in vain, and treasuring up for themselves not mercy but wrath. So no new merits are acquired for the dead when their own do something good for them; but these consequences are rendered to their preceding merits. For it was brought about only while they lived here that these things should help them somewhat when they had ceased to live here. And therefore each one, ending this life, will be able to have after it only what he merited in it.

Gal 5:6 (allusion, high confidence) · Rom 2:5 (allusion, medium confidence)

Notes and citation

Summary: Funerals and monuments console the living, but the Church's prayers, the eucharistic sacrifice, and alms help the faithful dead, though only those who lived so as to be helped; no new merit is gained after death.

Maurist paragraph 2. The practice of commemorating and praying for the departed at the eucharistic sacrifice, and its limits, are translated exactly as Augustine states them. Allusion: Gal 5:6; Rom 2:5.

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (OCR slip; OCR slips): nionumentorum opulenta constructio → monumentorum opulenta constructio; eorum commendandorum causa opera inisericordiæ celebrantur, quis eis dubitet suflragari → eorum commendandorum causa opera misericordiæ celebrantur, quis eis dubitet suffragari; isia prodesse defunctis → ista prodesse defunctis; pignore carueront → pignore caruerunt; sed eorum præcedentibus oonsequentia ista redduutur. Non enim actum est, nisi cum hie viverent → sed eorum præcedentibus consequentia ista redduntur. Non enim actum est, nisi cum hic viverent.

Topics: Eucharist, Prayer, Eschatology

Cite (SBL): Augustine, Serm. 172.2 (PL 38:544–545; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-sermones/172-1/#p-172-2). (abbreviation not yet checked)

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172.3PL 38:545

Permittantur itaque pia corda charorum de suorum mortibus contristari dolore sanabili, et consolabiles lacrymas fundant conditione mortali; quas cito reprimat fidei gaudium, qua creduntur fideles, quando moriuntur, paululum a nobis abire, et ad meliora transire. Consolentur eos etiam fraterna obsequia, sive quæ funeribus exhibentur, sive quæ dolentibus adhibentur, ne sit justa querela dicentium, Sustinui qui simul contristaretur, et non fuit; et consolantes, et non inveni. Sit pro viribus cura sepeliendi et sepulcra construendi: quia et hæc in Scripturis sanctis inter bona opera deputata sunt: nec solum in corporibus Patriarcharum aliorumque sanctorum, et humanis cadaveribus quorumcumque jacentium; verum etiam in ipsius Domini corpore prædicati atque collaudati sunt, qui ista fecerunt. Impleant hæc homines erga suos officia postremi muneris, et sui humani levamenta mœroris. Verum illa quæ adjuvant spiritus defunctorum, oblationes, orationes, erogationes, multo pro eis observantius, instantius, abundantius impendant, qui suos carne, non spiritu mortuos, non solum carnaliter, sed etiam spiritualiter amant.

So let the devout hearts of loved ones be allowed to grieve over the deaths of their own with a sorrow that can be healed, and let them shed tears that can be consoled, because of our mortal condition; tears which the joy of faith may quickly check, by which it is believed that the faithful, when they die, depart from us for a little while and pass to better things. Let them be consoled also by brotherly services, whether those shown at funerals or those offered to the grieving, lest there be just complaint from those who say, “I waited for one to grieve with me, and there was none; and for comforters, and I found none.” Let there be care, according to one's means, for burying and building tombs: for these too are reckoned among good works in the holy Scriptures; and not only in the case of the bodies of the patriarchs and other saints, and the human corpses of any who lay unburied, but also in the case of the Lord's own body, those who did these things were proclaimed and praised. Let men fulfill these offices of the last service toward their own, and these alleviations of their human grief. But those things that help the spirits of the dead—offerings, prayers, alms—let those who love their own, dead in flesh, not in spirit, not only in a carnal but also in a spiritual way, pay them for them much more observantly, more earnestly, more abundantly.

Ps 69:20 (68:21 Vulg.) (quotation, high confidence) · Gen 50:13 (allusion, medium confidence) · John 19:38–42 (allusion, high confidence)

Notes and citation

Summary: Mourners may weep with healable grief and should be comforted by others; burial is a good work praised in Scripture, but offerings, prayers, and alms that help the dead matter much more.

Maurist paragraph 3. Quotation: Ps 69:20 (68:21 Vulg.); allusions to Gen 23 and 50 (patriarchs' burials), Tob 1–2 (burying the dead; Tobit is extrabiblical on this site), and Matt 27:57–61 with John 19:38–42.

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (OCR slip; OCR slips): sivc quæ funeribus exhibentur → sive quæ funeribus exhibentur; inter bona opera dcputata sunt: nee solum in corporibus → inter bona opera deputata sunt: nec solum in corporibus; Impleant hæc homines crga suos officia postremi muneris, et sui humani leuinicnta moeroris. → Impleant hæc homines erga suos officia postremi muneris, et sui humani levamenta mœroris.; multo pio eis observantius → multo pro eis observantius; DOn solum carnaliter, scd etiam spirilualiter amant. → non solum carnaliter, sed etiam spiritualiter amant..

Extrabiblical texts: Tob 1:17 (Tobit [in RC, EO, ETH canons]; allusion)

Topics: Prayer, Eschatology

Cite (SBL): Augustine, Serm. 172.3 (PL 38:545; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-sermones/172-1/#p-172-3). (abbreviation not yet checked)

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Chapter 173

173.1PL 38:545

Quando celebramus dies fratrum defunctorum, in mente habere debemus, et quid sperandum, et quid timendum sit. Secundum hoc enim sperandum est, quoniam pretiosa in conspectu Domini mors sanctorum ejus: secundum hoc autem timendum est, quia mors peccatorum pessima ( PsaL XXXIII, 22). Ideoque propter spem, In memoria æterna erit justus: propter timorem, Ab auditu malo non timebit. Erit enim auditus quo nullus sit pejor, quando dicetur sinistris, Ite in ignem æternum. Ab hoc auditu malo justus non timebit. Erit enim ad dexteram inter illos quibus dicetur, Venite, benedicti Patris mei, percipite regnum. In hac autem vita, quæ media ante summa bona et ante summa mala ducitur, in medio bonorum malorumque mediorum, id est, in neutra parte summorum; quia et bona quæcumque hic fuerint homini, in comparatione bonorum æternorum nulla sunt; et mala quæcumque in hac vita experitur homo, in comparatione ignis æterni nec comparanda sunt: in hac ergo medietate vitæ, illud quod audivimus nunc ex Evangelio, tenere debemus, Qui credit, inquit, in me, licet moriatur, vivit. Et vitam pronuntiat, et mortem non negat. Qui credit in me, licet moriatur, vivit. Quid est, licet moriatur, vivit? Licet moriatur corpore, vivit spiritu. Deinde adjungit: Et qui vivit et credit in me, non morietur in æternum. Certe licet moriatur; quomodo, si non morietur? Sed licet moriatur ad tempus, non morietur in æternum. Sic ista solvitur quæstio, ut non sint inter se contraria verba veritatis, et possint instruere affectum pietatis. Ergo licet corpore morituri simus, vivimus si credimus.

When we celebrate the days of our departed brothers, we ought to keep in mind both what is to be hoped and what is to be feared. For according to this it is to be hoped, that “precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints”; but according to this it is to be feared, that “the death of sinners is very evil.” And so, because of hope, “The righteous will be in everlasting remembrance”; because of fear, “He will not fear an evil hearing.” For there will be a hearing than which none is worse, when it will be said to those on the left, “Go into the eternal fire.” The righteous will not fear this evil hearing. For he will be on the right among those to whom it will be said, “Come, blessed of my Father, receive the kingdom.” But in this life, which is led midway before the highest goods and before the highest evils, in the midst of goods and evils that are middling, that is, in neither part of the highest—because whatever goods a man may have here are nothing in comparison with eternal goods, and whatever evils a man experiences in this life are not even to be compared with eternal fire—in this middle part of life, then, we ought to hold what we have now heard from the Gospel: “He who believes in me,” he says, “though he die, lives.” He both pronounces life and does not deny death. “He who believes in me, though he die, lives.” What is “though he die, lives”? Though he die in body, he lives in spirit. Then he adds: “And whoever lives and believes in me will not die for ever.” Certainly “though he die”: how so, if he will not die? But though he die for a time, he will not die for ever. So this question is solved, so that the words of truth are not contrary to each other, and can instruct the affection of devotion. So though we are to die in body, we live if we believe.

Ps 116:15 (115:15 Vulg.) (quotation, high confidence) · Ps 34:21 (33:22 Vulg.) (quotation, high confidence) · Ps 112:6–7 (111:7 Vulg.) (quotation, high confidence) · Matt 25:41 (quotation, high confidence) · Matt 25:34 (quotation, high confidence) · John 11:25–26 (quotation, high confidence)

Notes and citation

Summary: At commemorations of the dead we should hope and fear: the righteous will hear “Come, blessed,” the wicked “Go into the fire”; Christ's promise means that believers who die in body live in spirit and will not die forever.

Quotations: Ps 116:15 (115:15 Vulg.); Ps 34:21 (33:22 Vulg.); Ps 112:6–7 (111:7 Vulg.); Matt 25:41, 34; John 11:25–26.

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (OCR slip; OCR slips; punctuation lost; stray footnote mark; words run together): Quando celebramus dies fratrum delunctorum → Quando celebramus dies fratrum defunctorum; secundum hocautem timendum est → secundum hoc autem timendum est; Erit cnim ad dexteram inter illos quibus dicetur, Venite, benedicti Patris mei, percipito regnum. → Erit enim ad dexteram inter illos quibus dicetur, Venite, benedicti Patris mei, percipite regnum.; in medio bonorum maloru i que mediorum → in medio bonorum malorumque mediorum; in comparatione ignis æterni nec comparanda sunt1: → in comparatione ignis æterni nec comparanda sunt:; Qui credit in me, licet moriatur, vivit Quid est → Qui credit in me, licet moriatur, vivit. Quid est; Deinde adjungil: → Deinde adjungit:; et possiut instruere affectum pietatis → et possint instruere affectum pietatis.

Topics: Eschatology

Cite (SBL): Augustine, Serm. 173.1 (PL 38:545; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-sermones/172-1/#p-173-1). (abbreviation not yet checked)

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173.2PL 38:545–546

Est autem fides nostra maxime discreta ab omni fide Gentilium in resurrectione mortuorum. Hanc enim illi omnino non recipiunt: quia ubi recipiant, non habent. A Domino enim præparatur voluntas hominis, ut sit fidei receptaculum. Dicit Judæis Dominus: Sermo meus non capit in vobis. Ergo in his capit, in quibus invenit quod capiat. In his enim invenit quod capiat sermo qui capit, quos Deus pollicendo non decipit. Ille enim qui quærit ovem perditam, et quam quærit novit, et ubi quærat, et quomodo ejus membra dispersa colligat, et in unam salutem redigat, et ita restituat ut eam ulterius non perdat. Consolemur ergo nos invicem, et in his sermonibus nostris. Potest non dolere cor humanum defuncto charissimo: melius tamen cum dolet sanatur cor humanum quam non dolendo fit inhumanum. Maria Domino cohærebat, et mortuum fratrem dolebat. Sed quid miraris quia Maria dolebat tunc, cum ipse Dominus flebat? Movere autem quemvis potest, quomodo flebat mortuum, se continuo jubente victurum (Joan. XI)? Non mortuum flebat, quem ipse suscitavit; sed mortem, quam sibi homo peccando comparavit. Si enim peccatum non præcessisset, sine omors secula non fuisset. Secuta ergo mors uu poris, quam præcessit mors animæ. Mor præcessit deserendo Deum 1, et mors corpoi est deserente anima. Hac deseruit volens, ha est deserere nolens. Tanquam illi diceretur sisti ab eo quem diligere debuisti, recede ab dilexisti. Quis enim vult mori? Prorsus nem nemo, ut beato Petro diceretur, Alter te feret quo tu non vis. Si ergo n mortis amaritudo, non esset magna martyri tudo.

Now our faith is most of all distinguished from all the faith of the Gentiles in the resurrection of the dead. For they do not receive this at all, because they have nothing in which to receive it. For “the will of man is prepared by the Lord,” so as to be a receptacle of faith. The Lord says to the Jews: “My word finds no place in you.” So it finds place in those in whom it finds something in which to find place. For the word that finds place finds in them something in which to find place, those whom God, in promising, does not deceive. For he who seeks the lost sheep knows the one he seeks, and where to seek it, and how to gather its scattered members and bring them back into one salvation, and so to restore it that he does not lose it again. Let us comfort one another, then, also with these words of ours. It is possible for the human heart not to grieve over a dearest one who has died; yet the human heart is better healed when it grieves than made inhuman by not grieving. Mary clung to the Lord, and grieved for her dead brother. But why do you wonder that Mary grieved then, when the Lord himself wept? But it can disturb anyone how he wept for a dead man who, at his command, would at once live again. He did not weep for the dead man whom he himself raised, but for death, which man brought on himself by sinning. For if sin had not gone before, death of the body would not have followed. So death of the body followed, which death of the soul had preceded. The death of the soul came first by deserting God, and the death of the body comes by the soul's deserting it. The soul deserted willingly; the body is deserted unwillingly. As if it were said to it: “You deserted the one you ought to have loved; withdraw from what you loved.” For who wants to die? Certainly no one—so much no one that it was said to blessed Peter, “Another will carry you where you do not want to go.” So if the bitterness of death were not great, the fortitude of the martyrs would not be great.

Prov 8:35 (quotation, high confidence) · John 8:37 (quotation, high confidence) · Luke 15:4 (allusion, high confidence) · John 11:35 (allusion, high confidence) · John 21:18 (quotation, high confidence)

Notes and citation

Summary: Faith in the resurrection distinguishes Christians from pagans; grief is human and Christ himself wept, not for Lazarus but for death, the penalty of the soul's desertion of God; death is so bitter that martyrs' courage is great.

Quotations: Prov 8:35 (LXX, “the will is prepared by the Lord”); John 8:37; Luke 15:4; John 11:35 (allusion); John 21:18. Several words at line ends are lost in the digital text near the end of this section (“…the body followed… …the death of the soul came first… …so much no one… …the fortitude of the martyrs”); translated by sense from the surviving words, without altering the text.

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (Migne's marginal heading left in the text; OCR slips; OCR slip; stray footnote mark; OCR slips; word divided): Mors pæna peccati. Est autem fides nostra maxime discreta ab omni lide Gentilium ill resurrectione mortuorum. Hanc enim iili omnino non recipiunt: quia ubi rccipiant, non habent. A Domino enim præparatur voluntas bominis → Est autem fides nostra maxime discreta ab omni fide Gentilium in resurrectione mortuorum. Hanc enim illi omnino non recipiunt: quia ubi recipiant, non habent. A Domino enim præparatur voluntas hominis; et in unam salutem redigat 2, ct ita restituat → et in unam salutem redigat, et ita restituat; sanatur cor huma - num quam non dolendo → sanatur cor humanum quam non dolendo; Maria Do. mino cohærebat → Maria Domino cohærebat; quam sibi homo peccando cOmparavit. Si cnim peccatum → quam sibi homo peccando comparavit. Si enim peccatum.

Topics: Eschatology, Martyrdom

Cite (SBL): Augustine, Serm. 173.2 (PL 38:545–546; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-sermones/172-1/#p-173-2). (abbreviation not yet checked)

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173.3PL 38:546

et Apostolus, De dormientibus, inquit, nolo rare, fratres, ut non contristemini, sicut et Ge spem non habent. Non tantum ait, ut non mini; sed, ut non sic contristemini, quemi Gentes, quæ spem non habent. Necesse est contristemini: sed ubi contristaris, conso spes. Quomodo enim non contristaris, ut quod vivit ex anima, fit exanime, discedentE Qui ambulabat jacet, qui loqu batur tace oculi lucem non capiunt, aures nulli voci pa omnia membrorum officia conquievcrunl; qui moveat gressus ad ambulandum, manus a dum, sensus ad percipicndum. Nonne ista es quam nescio quis invisibilis habitator orna cessit qui non videbatur, remansit quod cum videatur. Ista est causa tristitiæ. Si hæc I ristitix, sit hujus tristitiæconsolatio. Quæ cc « Quia ipse Dominus in jussu et in voce ar et in novissima tuba descendet de cœlo, et i Chribto resurgent primi: deinde noa vive re iqui snmus, simul cum illis rapiemur in obviam Christo in æra. > Numquid ethoc ac Non: sed quid est? Et ita semper cum Domino Pereat contristatio, ubi tanta est consolati gatur luctus ex animo, fides expellat dol lania spe non decet esse triste templum De bitat bonus consolator, ibi qui non fallit, p Quid mortuum diu plangamus' Quoniam m( est? Per illam transivit et Dominus. Suffn pauca Charitati vestræ: consoletur vos abi qui non migrat de corde vestro; sed ita dig! bitare, ut nos dignetur etiam in fine mutare versi ad Dominum, etc.

The Apostle too: “Concerning those who sleep,” he says, “I do not want you to be ignorant, brothers, that you may not grieve as the Gentiles do, who have no hope.” He does not say only “that you may not grieve,” but “that you may not grieve as the Gentiles, who have no hope.” It is necessary that you grieve; but where you grieve, let hope console you. For how should you not grieve, when what lived from the soul becomes lifeless as the soul departs? He who walked lies; he who spoke is silent; the eyes take in no light, the ears are open to no voice; all the functions of the members have ceased; there is no one to move the steps for walking, the hands for working, the senses for perceiving. Is not this the house which some invisible dweller adorned? He who was not seen has departed; there has remained what grieves us when it is seen. This is the cause of grief. If this is the cause of grief, let there be a consolation for this grief. What consolation? “For the Lord himself, at the command and at the voice of the archangel and at the last trumpet, will come down from heaven, and the dead in Christ will rise first; then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet Christ in the air.” Is even this the end? No: but what? “And so we shall always be with the Lord.” Let grief perish, where there is such consolation; let mourning be driven from the mind; let faith drive out sorrow. Where there is such hope, it is not fitting that the temple of God be sad. There the good Consoler dwells; there he who does not deceive promises. Why should we long lament the dead? Because death is bitter? The Lord too passed through it. Let these few words to your Charity suffice: may he console you who does not move out of your heart, but so deigns to dwell there that he deigns also to change us at the end. Turning to the Lord, etc.

1 Thess 4:13 (quotation, high confidence) · 1 Thess 4:16–17 (quotation, high confidence)

Notes and citation

Summary: Christians must grieve, but not as those without hope: the departed soul leaves the body lifeless, yet Paul's promise of resurrection and of being always with the Lord consoles, for Christ too passed through death.

The digital text of this section has lost many words at the beginnings and ends of lines (and the opening words, after Migne's heading); the translation follows the surviving words and the evident sense of the quoted Scripture, and the text is left as staged except for the heading. Quotations: 1 Thess 4:13, 16–17.

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (Migne's marginal heading left in the text (its end and the following words are lost in the digital text)): Consolatio in mortuorum lu et Apostolus → et Apostolus.

Topics: Eschatology

Cite (SBL): Augustine, Serm. 173.3 (PL 38:546; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-sermones/172-1/#p-173-3). (abbreviation not yet checked)

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Chapter 174

174.1PL 38:546

Audivimus beatum apostolum Paulum dicentem, Humanus sermo et omni acceptione dignus, quia Christus Jesus venit in mundum peccatores salvos facere, quorum primus ego sum. Humanus ergo sermo et omni acceptione dignus. Quare humanus, et non divinus? Procul dubio nisi iste humanus sermo etiam divinus esset, dignus omni acceptione non esset. Sed sic est sermo iste humanus et divinus, quomodo est ipse Christus et homo et Deus. Si ergo recte intelligimus sermonem istum, non solum humanum esse, verum etiam divinum; quare Apostolus humanum maluit dicere, quam divinum? Procul dubio enim qui non mentiretur, si diceret divinum, non sine causa maluit dicere humanum. Hoc ergo elegit, per quod Christus in mundum venit. Venit enim per quod homo erat. Nam per quod Deus erat, semper hic erat. Ubi enim non est Deus, qui dixit, Cælum et terram ego impleo? Christus est certe virtus et sapientia Dei; de qua dicitur, Attingit a fine usque ad finem fortiter, et disponit omnia suaviter. Ergo in hoc mundo erat, et mundus per eum factus est, et mundus eum non cognovit. Et hic erat, et venit: hic erat per divinam majestatem, venit per humanam infirmitatem. Quia ergo venit per infirmitatem humanam, ideo prædicans adventum ejus dixit, Humanus sermo. Non liberaretur humanum genus, nisi sermo Dei dignaretur esse humanus. Nam et homo ille dicitur humanus, qui se exhibet hominem, et maxime qui hospitio suscipit hominem. Si ergo humanus dicitur qui in domo sua suscipit hominem, quam humanus est qui in se ipso suscepit hominem?

We have heard the blessed apostle Paul saying: “A human saying, and worthy of all acceptance: that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the first.” So: “a human saying, and worthy of all acceptance.” Why human, and not divine? Without doubt, unless this human saying were also divine, it would not be worthy of all acceptance. But this saying is human and divine just as Christ himself is both man and God. If then we rightly understand this saying to be not only human but also divine, why did the Apostle prefer to say human rather than divine? Without doubt, he who would not have lied if he had said divine did not without reason prefer to say human. So he chose that by which Christ came into the world. For he came by that by which he was man. For by that by which he was God, he was always here. For where is God not, who said, “I fill heaven and earth”? Christ is certainly the power and wisdom of God, of which it is said, “It reaches from end to end mightily, and orders all things sweetly.” So “he was in this world, and the world was made through him, and the world did not know him.” Both he was here, and he came: he was here by divine majesty; he came by human weakness. Because he came by human weakness, therefore, preaching his coming, he said, “A human saying.” The human race would not be set free unless the Word of God deigned to be human. For a man is also called humane who shows himself a man, and especially who receives a man as a guest. If then he is called humane who receives a man into his house, how humane is he who received man into himself?

1 Tim 1:15 (quotation, high confidence) · Jer 23:24 (quotation, high confidence) · 1 Cor 1:24 (allusion, high confidence) · John 1:10 (quotation, high confidence)

Notes and citation

Summary: Paul calls the saying that Christ came to save sinners “human” because Christ, always present as God, came by his humanity; and he who took man into himself is supremely humane.

Quotations: 1 Tim 1:15 (Augustine's Old Latin reads “humanus sermo,” a human saying, for πιστὸς ὁ λόγος); Jer 23:24; 1 Cor 1:24; Wis 8:1; John 1:10. The wordplay humanus = “human” and “humane, hospitable” is Augustine's.

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (Migne's marginal heading left in the text; OCR slip): Incarnationis necessitas. Audivimus beatum apostolum → Audivimus beatum apostolum; dignus omni acceptione non esse. → dignus omni acceptione non esset.; Ubi enim nun est Deus → Ubi enim non est Deus.

Extrabiblical texts: Wis 8:1 (Wisdom of Solomon [in RC, EO, ETH canons]; quotation)

Topics: Christology

Cite (SBL): Augustine, Serm. 174.1 (PL 38:546; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-sermones/172-1/#p-174-1). (abbreviation not yet checked)

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174.2PL 38:546–547

Ergo, Humanus sermo et omni acceptione dignus, quia Christus Jesus venit in mundum peccatores salvos facere. Attende Evangelium: Venit enim Filius hominis quærere et salvare quod perierat. Si homo non perisset, Filius hominis non venisset. Ergo perierat homo, venit Deus homo, et inventus est homo. Perierat homo per liberam voluntatem: venit Deus homo per gratiam liberatricem. Quæris quid valeat ad malum liberum arbitrium? Recole hominem peccantem. Quæris quid valeat ad auxilium Deus et homo? Attende in eo gratiam liberantem. Nusquam potuit sic ostendi, quantum valeat voluntas hominis usurpata per superbiam, ad vitandum sine adjutorio Dei malum; non potuit plus et manifestius exprimi, quam in homine primo. Et ecce periit primus homo, et ubi esset, nisi venisset secundus homo? Quia et ille homo, ideo et iste homo, et ideo humanus sermo. Prorsus nusquam sic apparet benignitas gratiæ et liberalitas omnipotentiæ Dei, quam in homine mediatore Dei et hominum, homine Christo Jesu. Quid enim dicimus, fratres mei? In fide catholica nutritis loquor, vel in pacem catholicam lucratis. Novimus et tenemus mediatorem Dei et hominum, hominem Christum Jesum, in quantum homo erat, ejus esse naturæ cujus et nos sumus. Non enim alterius naturæ caro nostra et caro illius, nec alterius naturæ anima nostra et anima illius. Hanc suscepit naturam, quam salvandam esse judicavit. Nihil minus habebat in natura, sed nihil habebat in culpa. Natura pura, sed non sola humana: ibi erat Deus, ibi erat Verbum Dei. Et sicut tu unus homo, anima es et caro; sic et ille unus Christus, Deus et homo. Audebit ergo aliquis dicere quia natura nostra in illo Mediatore primum per liberum arbitrium promeruit Deum, et sic suscipi meruit, ut esset homo et Deus unus Christus Jesus? Ecce nos possumus dicere virtutibus nostris, moribus nostris, conversatione vitæ nostræ meruisse ut efficiamur filii Dei: possumus dicere, Accepimus præceptum, si servaverimus et bene vixerimus, recipiemur in numerum filiorum Dei. Numquid et ille prius vixit filius hominis, et bene vivendo factus est filius Dei? Inde cœpit, et inde incœpit, et susceptione factus est. Verbum enim caro factum est, ut habitaret in nobis. Verbum Dei, unicus Dei Filius assumpsit animam et carnem hominis, non antea se promerentis, nec ad illam percipiendam sublimitatem virtute propria laborantis, sed omnino gratis. Nihil enim præcessit illam susceptionem: susceptione factus est. Virgo concepit: ante conceptum virginis homo mediator? Non utique prius justus fuit. Quomodo enim justus fuit, qui nec fuit? Virgo concepit, et susceptione hominis inde coepit. Merito dictum est: Vidimus gloriam ejus, gloriam tanquam unigeniti a Patre, plenum gratia et veritate. Amas liberam voluntatem tuam, dicturus es patri tuo: Da mihi substantiam meam quæ me contingit ( Luc. XV, 12). Quid te tibi committis? Melius te potest servare, qui te potuit, antequam esses, creare. Agnosce ergo Christum, gratia plenus est. Hoc tibi vult fundere, quo plenus est: hoc tibi dicit, Quære dona mea, obliviscere merita tua; quia si ego quærerem merita tua, non venires ad dona mea. Noli te extollere, pusillus esto, Zacchæus esto.

So: “A human saying, and worthy of all acceptance: that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.” Attend to the Gospel: “For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost.” If man had not been lost, the Son of Man would not have come. So man was lost; God-man came; and man was found. Man was lost through free will; God-man came through liberating grace. Do you ask what free choice can do toward evil? Recall man sinning. Do you ask what God-and-man can do toward help? Attend in him to liberating grace. Nowhere could it be so shown how much the will of man, usurped through pride, can do to avoid evil without God's help; it could not be expressed more or more plainly than in the first man. And see, the first man perished; and where would he be, had the second man not come? Because that one was man, therefore this one too is man; and therefore “a human saying.” Certainly nowhere does the kindness of grace and the generosity of God's omnipotence appear so much as in the man who is mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus. For what do we say, my brothers? I am speaking to those nourished in the Catholic faith, or won over into Catholic peace. We know and hold that the mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, insofar as he was man, is of the same nature as we are. For our flesh and his flesh are not of different natures, nor our soul and his soul of different natures. He took the nature which he judged was to be saved. He had nothing less in nature, but he had nothing in guilt. A pure nature, but not merely human: there was God, there was the Word of God. And as you, one man, are soul and flesh, so he too, one Christ, is God and man. Will anyone then dare to say that our nature in that Mediator first deserved God by free choice, and so deserved to be taken up, so that he should be man and God, one Christ Jesus? See, we can say that by our virtues, our character, the conduct of our life, we have deserved to be made sons of God; we can say: “We received a commandment; if we keep it and live well, we shall be received into the number of the sons of God.” Did he too first live as son of man, and by living well become Son of God? From that point he began, and from that point he started: he was made by being taken up. “For the Word was made flesh, to dwell in us.” The Word of God, the only Son of God, took the soul and flesh of a man who did not deserve it beforehand, nor labored by his own virtue to attain that sublimity, but entirely freely. For nothing preceded that taking up: by the taking up he was made. A virgin conceived: before the virgin's conception was there a man mediator? Certainly he was not righteous beforehand. For how was he righteous, who did not even exist? A virgin conceived, and from the taking up of man he began. Rightly it was said: “We saw his glory, glory as of the only-begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.” You love your free will; you are going to say to your father, “Give me the portion of property that falls to me.” Why do you entrust yourself to yourself? He can keep you better who could create you before you existed. So recognize Christ: he is full of grace. He wants to pour on you that of which he is full. He says this to you: “Seek my gifts; forget your merits; for if I sought your merits, you would not come to my gifts.” Do not exalt yourself; be small; be Zacchaeus.

1 Tim 1:15 (quotation, high confidence) · Luke 19:10 (quotation, high confidence) · 1 Tim 2:5 (quotation, high confidence) · John 1:14 (quotation, high confidence) · Luke 15:12 (quotation, high confidence)

Notes and citation

Summary: Adam shows what free will does without help, Christ what grace does; Christ's humanity, one nature with ours but sinless, was united to the Word with no prior merit, so we too must seek his gifts, not our merits, and be small like Zacchaeus.

Quotations: 1 Tim 1:15; Luke 19:10; 1 Tim 2:5; John 1:14 (Augustine's Latin “ut habitaret in nobis”); Luke 15:12. Christological statements (the man Christ Jesus taken up by the Word without prior merit) are translated exactly; they are aimed at the Pelagians, as the heading states.

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (Migne's marginal heading left in the text; OCR slip; OCR slips; OCR slips; stray footnote mark; punctuation lost; stray mark; punctuation; words run together): Liberi arbitrii infirmitas cernitur in Adamo. Gratiæ donum in Christo perspicitur. Ergo, Humanus sermo → Ergo, Humanus sermo; quia Christus Jesus » venit in mundum peccatores salvos facere. Attende Evangelium Venit enim Filius hominis quærere et salvarequod perierat. → quia Christus Jesus venit in mundum peccatores salvos facere. Attende Evangelium: Venit enim Filius hominis quærere et salvare quod perierat.; venit Deus homo, et in ventus est homo. Perierat homo per liberam volumtatem: venit Deus homo per gratiam liberatricem Quæris → venit Deus homo, et inventus est homo. Perierat homo per liberam voluntatem: venit Deus homo per gratiam liberatricem. Quæris; et ideo humanus sermo Prorsus nusquam → et ideo humanus sermo. Prorsus nusquam; in homine mediatore Dei et hominum2, homine Christo Jesu. Quid enim dicimus, fratres mei i In fide catholica nutritis loquor → in homine mediatore Dei et hominum, homine Christo Jesu. Quid enim dicimus, fratres mei? In fide catholica nutritis loquor; Novimus et tenemus mediatorem Dci et hominum → Novimus et tenemus mediatorem Dei et hominum; Non cnim alterius naturæ caro nostra → Non enim alterius naturæ caro nostra; Nibil minus habebat in natura, sed nihihabebat in culpa. Natura pura, sed non sola humana. ibi erat Deus → Nihil minus habebat in natura, sed nihil habebat in culpa. Natura pura, sed non sola humana: ibi erat Deus; Et sicut tu unus humo, anima es et caro → Et sicut tu unus homo, anima es et caro; quia natura Rostra in illo Mediatore → quia natura nostra in illo Mediatore; conversatione vitæ nostre meruisse → conversatione vitæ nostræ meruisse; Verbum enim caro factum eat, ut habitaret in nobis. → Verbum enim caro factum est, ut habitaret in nobis.; virtute propria lahorantis, sed omnino gratis. Nihil enim processit illam susceptionem: susceptione factus est I. → virtute propria laborantis, sed omnino gratis. Nihil enim præcessit illam susceptionem: susceptione factus est.; Non ntique prius justus fuit. Quomodo enim justus fait → Non utique prius justus fuit. Quomodo enim justus fuit; gloriam tanquam unigemti a Patre, plenum fratia et feritate. Amas liberam voluntatem luam → gloriam tanquam unigeniti a Patre, plenum gratia et veritate. Amas liberam voluntatem tuam.

Topics: Christology, Heresy

Cite (SBL): Augustine, Serm. 174.2 (PL 38:546–547; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-sermones/172-1/#p-174-2). (abbreviation not yet checked)

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174.3PL 38:547

Sed dicturus es: Si Zacchæus fuero, præ turba non potero videre Jesum. Noli esse tristis, ascende lignum, ubi pro te pependit Jesus, et videbis Jesum. Et quale genus ligni ascendit Zacchæus? Sycomorum. In regionibus nostris aut omnino nusquam, aut raro forte alicubi nascitur: in illis autem partibus multum est hujus generis ligni et pomi. Sycomora dicuntur poma quædam ficis similia: sed tamen distant aliquid; quod possunt nosse qui viderunt vel gustaverunt. Quantum tamen indicant interpretatione nominis, sycomora Fici fatuæ latine interpretantur. Jam vide Zacchæum meum, vide illum, obsecro te, volentem in turba videre Jesum, et non valentem. Humilis enim erat, turba superba erat: et ipsa turba ad videndum bene Dominum, sicut solet turba, se ipsam impediebat: ascendit a turba, et videt Jesum non impediente turba. Turba enim dicit humilibus, humilitatis viam gradientibus, injurias suas Deo dimittentibus, vindictam de inimicis non requirentibus, turba insultat, et dicit: Indefense, qui te non potes vindicare. Turba impedit ne videatur Jesus: turba glorians et exultans quando se potuerit vindicare, impedit ne videatur ille qui pendens ait, Pater, ignosce illis, quia nesciunt quid faciunt. Hunc ergo volens videre Zacchæus, in quo figurabatur persona humilium, non attendit turbam impedientem; sed ascendit sycomorum, quasi fatui pomi lignum. Nos enim, inquit Apostolus, prædicamus Christum crucifixum, Judæis quidem scandalum: attende sycomorum: Gentibus autem stultitiam. Denique de cruce Christi nobis insultant sapientes hujus mundi, et dicunt: Quale cor habetis, qui Deum colitis crucifixum? Quale cor habemus? Non utique vestrum. Sapientia hujus mundi stultitia est apud Deum. Non enim vestrum cor habemus. Sed dicitis cor nostrum stultum. Dicite quod vultis: nos ascendamus sycomorum, et videamus Jesum. Ideo enim vos Jesum videre non potestis, quia sycomorum ascendere erubescitis. Apprehendat Zacchæus sycomorum, ascendat humilis crucem. Parum est, ascendat; ne de cruce Christi erubescat, in fronte illam figat, ubi sedes pudoris est: ibi omnino, ibi in quo membro erubescitur, ibi figatur unde non erubescatur. Puto quia tu irrides sycomorum: et ipsa me fecit videre Jesum. Sed tu irrides sycomorum, quia homo es: stultum autem Dei sapientius est quam hominum

But you will say: “If I am Zacchaeus, I shall not be able to see Jesus for the crowd.” Do not be sad: climb the tree where Jesus hung for you, and you will see Jesus. And what kind of tree did Zacchaeus climb? A sycamore. In our regions it either grows nowhere at all or perhaps rarely somewhere; but in those parts there is much of this kind of tree and fruit. Sycamores are the name of certain fruits like figs, but they differ somewhat, as those who have seen or tasted them can know. Yet as far as the meaning of the name indicates, sycomora is interpreted in Latin “foolish figs.” Now see my Zacchaeus; see him, I beg you, wanting to see Jesus in the crowd and not being able. For he was humble; the crowd was proud; and the crowd itself, as a crowd usually does, hindered itself from seeing the Lord well. He climbed up from the crowd and sees Jesus, the crowd no longer hindering. For the crowd says to the humble, to those walking the way of humility, forgiving their injuries to God, not demanding vengeance on their enemies—the crowd mocks and says: “Defenseless one, who cannot avenge yourself!” The crowd hinders Jesus from being seen: the crowd, glorying and exulting when it has been able to avenge itself, hinders him from being seen who, hanging, said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do.” So Zacchaeus, wanting to see him—in Zacchaeus the person of the humble was figured—paid no attention to the hindering crowd, but climbed the sycamore, the tree as it were of foolish fruit. “For we,” says the Apostle, “preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling block”—attend to the sycamore—“but to the Gentiles foolishness.” Indeed the wise of this world mock us about the cross of Christ and say: “What kind of heart do you have, who worship a crucified God?” What kind of heart do we have? Certainly not yours. “The wisdom of this world is foolishness with God.” For we do not have your heart. But you say our heart is foolish. Say what you like: let us climb the sycamore and see Jesus. For you cannot see Jesus because you are ashamed to climb the sycamore. Let Zacchaeus take hold of the sycamore; let the humble man climb the cross. That is too little—let him climb; lest he be ashamed of Christ's cross, let him fix it on his forehead, where the seat of shame is: there altogether, there in that member where one blushes, let it be fixed, so that one does not blush. I think you laugh at the sycamore; and it made me see Jesus. But you laugh at the sycamore because you are a man; “but the foolishness of God is wiser than men.”

Luke 19:3–4 (allusion, high confidence) · Luke 23:34 (quotation, high confidence) · 1 Cor 1:23 (quotation, high confidence) · 1 Cor 3:19 (quotation, high confidence) · 1 Cor 1:25 (quotation, high confidence)

Notes and citation

Summary: Zacchaeus, small and hindered by the proud crowd, climbed the sycamore, the “foolish fig,” as the humble climb the cross that seems foolish to the world's wise, and so see Jesus.

Quotations and allusions: Luke 19:3–4; Luke 23:34; 1 Cor 1:23; 1 Cor 3:19; 1 Cor 1:25. The etymology sycomorus = “foolish fig” (Greek μωρός) is Augustine's. Fragments of other matter interleaved in the digital text after “Now see my Zacchaeus” are removed by a logged correction.

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (OCR slip; OCR slip; punctuation lost; OCR slips; fragments of other matter interleaved in the digital text; word divided): pre turba non potcro videre Jesum → præ turba non potero videre Jesum; et videbis Jusum → et videbis Jesum; In regionibus nosiris aut omnino → In regionibus nostris aut omnino; in illis autem partibus mullum est hujus generis ligni et pomi Sycomora → in illis autem partibus multum est hujus generis ligni et pomi. Sycomora; Jam vide Zacchæum sunt noss iti addunt, susceptus est Dei Filius Abest a Betamen in Fici fatuaæ meum, vide illum → Jam vide Zacchæum meum, vide illum; ascendit a turba, et vadit Jesum non impediente turba → ascendit a turba, et videt Jesum non impediente turba; Indefense, qui tc non potes vindicare → Indefense, qui te non potes vindicare; quando se potuerit,-judicare, impedit → quando se potuerit vindicare, impedit; quia nesciunt quid faciunt, Hune ergo volens → quia nesciunt quid faciunt. Hunc ergo volens; Denique de crucc Christi nobis insultant sapientes hujus mundi, et dicunt: Quale cor Labetis → Denique de cruce Christi nobis insultant sapientes hujus mundi, et dicunt: Quale cor habetis; Non enim vestrum cor h abemus. → Non enim vestrum cor habemus.; ibi in quo membro crubescitur, ibi figatur unde non crubescatur → ibi in quo membro erubescitur, ibi figatur unde non erubescatur.

Topics: Christology

Cite (SBL): Augustine, Serm. 174.3 (PL 38:547; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-sermones/172-1/#p-174-3). (abbreviation not yet checked)

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174.4PL 38:547

Et vidit Dominus ipsum Zacchæum. Visus est, et vidit: sed nisi visus esset, non videret. Quos enim prædestinavit, illos et vocavit. Ipse est qui Nathanæli dixit, jam quasi testimonio suo adjuvanti Evangelium, et dicenti, A Nazareth potest aliquid boni esse? Dominus ad illum, Priusquam te Philippus vocaret, cum esses sub arbore fici, vidi te. Nostis unde sibi succinctoria fecerunt primi peccatores Adam et Eva. Quando peccaverunt, de foliis fici succinctoria sibi fecerunt et pudenda texerunt: quia quod eos puderet peccando fecerunt. Ergo si succinctoria sibi primi peccatores fecerunt, unde originem ducimus, in quibus perieramus, ut veniret ille quærere et salvare quod perierat, de foliis fici ad pudenda tegenda fecerunt; quid aliud dictum est, Cum esses sub arbore fici, vidi te; nisi, non venires ad purgatorem peccati, nisi prior te vidisset in umbra peccati? Ut videremus, visi sumus; ut diligeremus, dilecti sumus. Deus meus, misericordia ejus præveniet me.

“And the Lord saw Zacchaeus himself.” He was seen, and he saw; but unless he had been seen, he would not have seen. “For those whom he predestined, he also called.” He is the one who said to Nathanael—who was already, as it were, helping the Gospel by his testimony, and saying, “Can anything good come from Nazareth?”—the Lord said to him: “Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you.” You know from what the first sinners, Adam and Eve, made themselves girdles. When they sinned, they made themselves girdles of fig leaves and covered their shame, because by sinning they had done what shamed them. So if the first sinners, from whom we draw our origin, in whom we had perished—so that he came to seek and save what had perished—made themselves girdles of fig leaves to cover their shame, what else was meant by “When you were under the fig tree, I saw you,” but: you would not come to the cleanser of sin unless he had first seen you in the shade of sin? That we might see, we were seen; that we might love, we were loved. “My God, his mercy will go before me.”

Luke 19:5 (allusion, high confidence) · Rom 8:30 (quotation, high confidence) · John 1:46 (quotation, high confidence) · John 1:48 (quotation, high confidence) · Gen 3:7 (allusion, high confidence) · Luke 19:10 (allusion, high confidence) · Ps 59:10 (58:11 Vulg.) (quotation, high confidence)

Notes and citation

Summary: Zacchaeus saw because he was first seen, as Christ saw Nathanael under the fig tree, the tree of Adam's shame: grace goes before, for we see and love because we were first seen and loved.

Quotations and allusions: Luke 19:5; Rom 8:30; John 1:46, 48; Gen 3:7; Luke 19:10; 1 John 4:19 (allusion); Ps 59:10 (58:11 Vulg.).

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (OCR slip): Nostis unde sibi suceinetoria fecerunt → Nostis unde sibi succinctoria fecerunt; de foliis fici succinetoria sibi fecerunt → de foliis fici succinctoria sibi fecerunt; Ergo si succinctoria sibi primi peccatres fecerunt → Ergo si succinctoria sibi primi peccatores fecerunt; ut veniret ille qurere et salvare → ut veniret ille quærere et salvare; quid aliud dictum est, Gum esses sub arbore fici → quid aliud dictum est, Cum esses sub arbore fici.

Cite (SBL): Augustine, Serm. 174.4 (PL 38:547; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-sermones/172-1/#p-174-4). (abbreviation not yet checked)

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174.5PL 38:547–548

Jam ergo Dominus, qui Zacchæum in corde susceperat, in domum ejus dignatus est suscipi: et dixit, Zacchæe, festinans descende, quoniam in domo tua oportet me manere. Magnum beneficium ille arbitrabatur, Christum videre. Qui magnum et ineffabile beneficium putabat, transeuntem videre, subito meruit in domo habere. Infunditur gratia, operatur fides per dilectionem, suscipitur Christus in domum, qui jam habitabat in corde. Dicit Christo Zacchæus: Domine, dimidium rerum mearum do pauperibus; et si quid aliquem fraudavi, quadruplum reddo. Quasi diceret: Ideo mihi dimidium teneo, non quod habeam, sed unde reddam. Vere ecce quod est suscipere Jesum, in cor suscipere. Ibi enim erat Christus, in Zacchæo erat, et de illo sibi dicebat, quod ex ore ejus audiebat. Sic enim Apostolus dicit: Habitare Christum per fidem in cordibus vestris.

Now then the Lord, who had received Zacchaeus in his heart, deigned to be received into his house; and he said: “Zacchaeus, make haste and come down, for I must stay in your house.” He thought it a great benefit to see Christ. He who thought it a great and unspeakable benefit to see him passing by suddenly was found worthy to have him in his house. Grace is poured in; faith works through love; Christ is received into the house, who was already dwelling in the heart. Zacchaeus says to Christ: “Lord, half of my goods I give to the poor; and if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I restore fourfold.” As if he said: “I keep half for myself, not in order to have it, but in order to have something from which to make restitution.” Truly, see what it is to receive Jesus: to receive him into the heart. For Christ was there, he was in Zacchaeus, and from him Zacchaeus said to himself what he heard from his mouth. For so the Apostle says: “That Christ may dwell through faith in your hearts.”

Luke 19:5–8 (quotation, high confidence) · Gal 5:6 (allusion, high confidence) · Eph 3:17 (quotation, high confidence)

Notes and citation

Summary: Christ, already received into Zacchaeus's heart, entered his house; Zacchaeus gave half to the poor and kept the rest to make restitution, showing that to receive Jesus is to receive him into the heart.

Quotations: Luke 19:5–8; Gal 5:6 (allusion); Eph 3:17.

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (OCR slips; OCR slips; stray footnote mark; stray mark): Jam erigo Dominus, qui Zacchæum;n corde susceperat in domum ejus dinatus est suscipi: et dixit, Zacchæe, festinans 1 descende → Jam ergo Dominus, qui Zacchæum in corde susceperat, in domum ejus dignatus est suscipi: et dixit, Zacchæe, festinans descende; Qui magnum et ineffabile, beneficium putabat → Qui magnum et ineffabile beneficium putabat; Infunditur gratia. operatur fides per dilectionem, susripitur Christus → Infunditur gratia, operatur fides per dilectionem, suscipitur Christus; in cor suscipere. ibi enim erat Christus, in Zacchæo erat, et de Illo sibi dice bat → in cor suscipere. Ibi enim erat Christus, in Zacchæo erat, et de illo sibi dicebat.

Topics: Ethics

Cite (SBL): Augustine, Serm. 174.5 (PL 38:547–548; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-sermones/172-1/#p-174-5). (abbreviation not yet checked)

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174.6PL 38:548

Jam ergo quia Zacchæus erat, quia princeps publicanorum erat, quia valde peccator erat; quasi sana illa turba, quæ impediebat videre Jesum, admirata est, et reprehendit quod in domum peccatoris intrasset Jesus. Hoc erat reprehendere quod in domum ægroti intravit medicus. Quia ergo velut peccator Zacchæus irrisus est, irrisus est autem ab insanis sanatus, Dominus respondit irridentibus: Hodie salus huic domui facta est. Ecce quare intravi, salus hodie facta est. Utique si Salvator non intrasset, salus in illa domo facta non esset. Quid ergo miraris, ægrote? Voca et tu Jesum, noli tibi sanus videri. Cum spe ægrotat, qui medicum suscipit: desperate ægrotat, qui per insaniam medicum cædit. Qualis ergo ejus insania, qui medicum occidit? Quanta vero bonitas et potentia medici, qui de sanguine suo, insano interfectori suo medicamentum fecit? Neque enim ille qui venerat quærere et salvare quod perierat, pendens sine causa dicebat, Pater, ignosce illis, quia nesciunt quid faciunt. Insani sunt, medicus sum: sæviant, patienter fero; cum occiderint, tunc sanabo. Simus ergo inter illos quos sanat. Humanus sermo et omni acceptione dignus, quia Christus Jesus venit in mundum peccatores salvos facere: magnos, pusillos, peccatores salvos facere. Venit Filius hominis quærere et salvare quod perierat.

Now then, because he was Zacchaeus, because he was chief of the tax collectors, because he was a great sinner, that crowd, as if healthy, which hindered the seeing of Jesus, was amazed and found fault that Jesus had entered a sinner's house. This was to find fault that the physician entered a sick man's house. So because Zacchaeus was mocked as a sinner—and he was mocked, healed, by the mad—the Lord answered the mockers: “Today salvation has come to this house.” See why I entered: salvation has come today. Certainly, if the Savior had not entered, salvation would not have come to that house. Why then do you wonder, sick man? Call Jesus too; do not think yourself healthy. He is sick with hope who receives the physician; he is sick without hope who, through madness, strikes the physician. What then is the madness of him who kills the physician? And how great the goodness and power of the physician, who of his own blood made medicine for his mad killer? For not without reason did he who had come to seek and save what was lost say, hanging, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do.” “They are mad; I am the physician: let them rage, I bear it patiently; when they have killed me, then I will heal.” Let us then be among those whom he heals. “A human saying, and worthy of all acceptance: that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners”—to save sinners great and small. “The Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost.”

Luke 19:7 (allusion, high confidence) · Luke 19:9–10 (quotation, high confidence) · Luke 23:34 (quotation, high confidence) · 1 Tim 1:15 (quotation, high confidence)

Notes and citation

Summary: The crowd that thought itself healthy blamed Jesus for entering a sinner's house, as if blaming a physician for visiting the sick; Christ made his own blood a medicine even for those who killed him.

Quotations: Luke 19:7, 9–10; Luke 23:34; 1 Tim 1:15.

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (Migne's marginal heading left in the text; word divided; stray mark; OCR slip; stray comma): Sanguis medici medicamentum suo interfectori. Jam ergo quia Zacchæus erat, quia prin - ceps publicanorum erat, quia valde peccator erat; quasi sana' illa turba → Jam ergo quia Zacchæus erat, quia princeps publicanorum erat, quia valde peccator erat; quasi sana illa turba; Ecce quare intravi, salus hodie, facta est. → Ecce quare intravi, salus hodie facta est.; Cum spe ægrotat, qui mendicum suscipit → Cum spe ægrotat, qui medicum suscipit.

Topics: Christology

Cite (SBL): Augustine, Serm. 174.6 (PL 38:548; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-sermones/172-1/#p-174-6). (abbreviation not yet checked)

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174.7PL 38:548

Qui dicit infantilem ætatem non habere quod salvet Jesus, omnibus fidelibus infantibus Christum negat esse Jesum. Qui dicit, inquam, infantilem ætatem non habere quod salvet Jesus in ea, nihil aliud dicit quam Christum Dominum fidelibus infantibus, idest, in Christo baptizatis infantibus non esse Jesum. Jesus enim quid est? Interpretatur Jesus, Salvator. Salvator est Jesus. Quos non salvat, non habendo quod in eis salvet, non est illis Jesus. Jam si corda vestra tolerant, aliquibus baptizatis Christum non esse Jesum, nescio utrum fides vestra in regula sana possit agnosci. Infantes sunt, sed membra ejus fiunt. Infantes sunt, sed Sacramenta ejus accipiunt. Infantes sunt, sed mensæ ejus participes fiunt, ut habeant in se vitam. Quid mihi dicis, Sanus est, non habet vitium? Quare cum illo curris ad medicum, si non habet vitium? Non times ne dicat tibi, Aufer hinc eum quem putas sanum? Filius hominis non venit, nisi quærere et salvare quod perierat. Quare illum ad me affers, si non perierat?

Whoever says that the age of infancy has nothing for Jesus to save is saying that Christ is not Jesus for all believing infants. Whoever says, I say, that the age of infancy has nothing for Jesus to save in it is saying nothing else than that Christ the Lord is not Jesus for believing infants, that is, for infants baptized in Christ. For what is Jesus? Jesus is interpreted Savior. Jesus is Savior. Those he does not save, having nothing in them to save, he is not Jesus to them. Now if your hearts can bear that Christ is not Jesus for some baptized persons, I do not know whether your faith can be recognized as sound in the rule. They are infants, but they become his members. They are infants, but they receive his sacraments. They are infants, but they become partakers of his table, so that they may have life in themselves. Why do you tell me, “He is healthy; he has no fault”? Why do you run with him to the physician, if he has no fault? Do you not fear lest he say to you, “Take away from here the one you think healthy”? The Son of Man came only to seek and to save what was lost. “Why do you bring him to me, if he was not lost?”

Matt 1:21 (allusion, high confidence) · John 6:53 (allusion, high confidence) · Luke 19:10 (quotation, high confidence) · Matt 9:12 (allusion, medium confidence)

Notes and citation

Summary: To deny that infants have anything for Jesus to save is to deny that he is Jesus, Savior, to baptized infants, who become his members, receive his sacraments, and share his table.

The witness to infant baptism and infant communion (“they become partakers of his table, so that they may have life in themselves,” John 6:53) is translated exactly as Augustine states it. Aimed at the Pelagians. Allusions: Matt 1:21; John 6:53; Luke 19:10; Matt 9:12.

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (Migne's marginal heading left in the text; OCR slip; OCR slips; words run together): Christus etiam infantibus est Jesus Parvulorum baptismus et communio. Qui dicit infantilem → Qui dicit infantilem; Qui dick, inquam, infantilem ætatem noa babere quod salvet Jesus in ea → Qui dicit, inquam, infantilem ætatem non habere quod salvet Jesus in ea; Jesus enim quid est? lnterpretatur Jesus, Salvator. Satvator est Jesus. Quos non salvat, non habendo quod in eia salvet → Jesus enim quid est? Interpretatur Jesus, Salvator. Salvator est Jesus. Quos non salvat, non habendo quod in eis salvet; Infantes sunt, sed membra ejus flunt. → Infantes sunt, sed membra ejus fiunt.; sed mensæ ejus participes fiunt, uthabeant in se vitam → sed mensæ ejus participes fiunt, ut habeant in se vitam; Aufer hine eum quem putas sanum? Filius hominis non venit, nisi quærere et saivare quod perierat. → Aufer hinc eum quem putas sanum? Filius hominis non venit, nisi quærere et salvare quod perierat..

Topics: Baptism, Eucharist, Heresy

Cite (SBL): Augustine, Serm. 174.7 (PL 38:548; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-sermones/172-1/#p-174-7). (abbreviation not yet checked)

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174.8PL 38:548

Humanus sermo et omni acceptione dignus, quia Christus Jesus venit in mundum. Quare venit in mundum? Peccatores salvos facere. Alia causa non fuit quare veniret in mundum. Non eum de cælo ad terram merita nostra bona, sed peccata duxerunt. Hæc est causa cur veniret, peccatores salvos facere. Et vocabis, inquit, nomen ejus Jesum. Quare vocabis nomen ejus Jesum? Ipse enim salvum faciet populum suum a peccatis eorum. Vocabis nomen ejus Jesum. Quare Jesum? quæ ratio est hujus nominis? Audi quare: Ipse enim salvum faciet populum suum. Unde? A peccatis eorum. Populum suum a peccatis eorum. Numquid ad istum populum non pertinent parvuli, quem salvum faciet Jesus a peccatis eorum? Pertinent plane, pertinent, fratres mei. Sic habete in corde, sic credite, cum ista fide parvulos ad gratiam Christi portate; ne si hanc fidem in corde non habueritis, pro quibus respondetis, lingua vestra occidatis. Prorsus, fratres, qui non cum ista fide cum parvulo cucurrerit, fingit. Sanus est, nihil mali habet, nihil vitii habet; sed tollam illum ad medicum. Quare? Quia sic solet fieri. Non times ne tibi dicat medicus, Tolle hinc tecum ipsum; non est opus sanis medicus, sed male habentibus.

“A human saying, and worthy of all acceptance: that Christ Jesus came into the world.” Why did he come into the world? “To save sinners.” There was no other reason why he should come into the world. Not our good merits but our sins brought him from heaven to earth. This is the reason why he came: to save sinners. “And you shall call,” it says, “his name Jesus.” Why shall you call his name Jesus? “For he will save his people from their sins.” “You shall call his name Jesus.” Why Jesus? What is the reason for this name? Hear why: “For he will save his people.” From what? “From their sins.” “His people from their sins.” Do little ones not belong to this people, whom Jesus will save from their sins? They certainly belong, they belong, my brothers. Hold this so in your heart; believe it so; bring the little ones to the grace of Christ with this faith; lest, if you do not have this faith in your heart, you kill with your tongue those for whom you answer. Certainly, brothers, whoever runs with a little one without this faith is pretending. “He is healthy, he has nothing wrong, he has no fault; but I will take him to the physician.” Why? “Because that is what is usually done.” Do you not fear that the physician may say to you, “Take him away from here with you; it is not the healthy who need a physician, but those who are ill”?

1 Tim 1:15 (quotation, high confidence) · Matt 1:21 (quotation, high confidence) · Matt 9:12 (quotation, high confidence)

Notes and citation

Summary: Christ came only to save sinners, and his name Jesus means he saves his people from their sins; infants belong to that people, so those who answer for them at baptism must bring them with this faith.

Quotations: 1 Tim 1:15; Matt 1:21; Matt 9:12. “Those for whom you answer” refers to sponsors who make the baptismal responses for infants.

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (Migne's marginal heading left in the text; OCR slip; OCR slips; punctuation slip): Ratio nominis Jesu. Parvuli Salvatore egent. Fides recta sit. respondentium pro ipsis in Baptismo.- Humanus sermo → Humanus sermo; Quare venit in mundum 1 Peccatores salvos facere. → Quare venit in mundum? Peccatores salvos facere.; Populum suum a peccatis corum. Numquid ad isium poputum non pertinent parvuli → Populum suum a peccatis eorum. Numquid ad istum populum non pertinent parvuli; cum isia fide parvulos ad gratiam Christi portate; ne si hanc fidem in corde non babueritis, pro quibas respondetis → cum ista fide parvulos ad gratiam Christi portate; ne si hanc fidem in corde non habueritis, pro quibus respondetis; nibil vitii habet → nihil vitii habet; Non times ne tibi dicat medicus. Tolle hinc tecum ipsum → Non times ne tibi dicat medicus, Tolle hinc tecum ipsum.

Topics: Baptism, Heresy

Cite (SBL): Augustine, Serm. 174.8 (PL 38:548; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-sermones/172-1/#p-174-8). (abbreviation not yet checked)

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174.9PL 38:548–549

Commendaverim Charitati vestræ causam eorum qui pro se loqui non possunt. Omnes parvuli tanquam pupilli considerentur, etiam qui nondum parentes proprios extulerunt. Omnis prædestinatorum numerus parvulorum populum Dei quærit tutorem, qui exspectat Dominum salvatorem. Universam massam generis humani in homine primo venenator ille percussit; nemo ad secundum transit a primo, nisi per Baptismatis sacramentum. In parvulis natis et nondum baptizatis agnoscatur Adam: in parvulis natis et baptizatis et ob hoc renatis agnoscatur Christus. Qui Adam non agnoscit in parvulis natis, nec Christum agnoscere poterit in renatis. Sed quare, inquiunt, jam baptizatus homo fidelis, jam dimisso peccato, generat eum qui est cum primi hominis peccato? Quia carne illum generat, non spiritu. Quod natum est de carne, caro est. Et si exterior homo noster, ait Apostolus, corrumpitur, sed interior renovatur de die in diem. Ex eo quod in te renovatur, non generas parvulum: ex eo quod in te corrumpitur, generas parvulum. Tu ut non in æternum moriaris natus es, et renatus es: ille adhuc natus, renatus nondum est. Si tu renascendo vivis, sine ut et ille renascatur ut vivat; sine, inquam, renascatur, sine renascatur. Quare contradicis? quare novis disputationibus antiquam fidei regulam frangere conaris? Quid est enim quod dicis, Parvuli non habent omnino vel originale peccatum? Quid est quod dicis, nisi ut non accedant ad Jesum? Sed tibi clamat Jesus, Sine parvulos venire ad me ( Marc. X, 14). Conversi ad Dominum, etc.

Let me commend to your Charity the cause of those who cannot speak for themselves. Let all little ones be regarded as orphans, even those who have not yet buried their own parents. The whole number of predestined little ones, the people of God, seeks a guardian, who awaits the Lord as Savior. That poisoner struck the whole lump of the human race in the first man; no one passes from the first to the second except through the sacrament of Baptism. In little ones born and not yet baptized, let Adam be recognized; in little ones born and baptized, and therefore reborn, let Christ be recognized. Whoever does not recognize Adam in little ones born would not be able to recognize Christ in those reborn. “But why,” they say, “does a baptized believer, whose sin has already been forgiven, beget one who has the sin of the first man?” Because he begets him by the flesh, not by the spirit. “What is born of the flesh is flesh.” “And though our outer man,” says the Apostle, “is being corrupted, yet the inner is being renewed day by day.” You do not beget a little one from what is renewed in you: you beget a little one from what is corrupted in you. You, so as not to die for ever, were born and reborn: he is as yet born, not yet reborn. If you live by being reborn, allow him too to be reborn that he may live; allow him, I say, to be reborn, allow him to be reborn. Why do you contradict? Why do you try to break the ancient rule of faith with new disputations? For what is it that you say, “Little ones have no sin at all, not even original”? What is it you say, but that they should not come to Jesus? But Jesus cries to you: “Let the little ones come to me.” Turning to the Lord, etc.

John 3:6 (quotation, high confidence) · 2 Cor 4:16 (quotation, high confidence) · Mark 10:14 (quotation, high confidence)

Notes and citation

Summary: Augustine pleads for infants, who cannot speak for themselves: all inherit Adam's sin and pass to Christ only by baptism; baptized parents beget by the flesh, so their children too must be reborn, as the ancient rule of faith holds.

Quotations: John 3:6; 2 Cor 4:16; Mark 10:14. The objection is the Pelagian one, quoted as Augustine reports it; “the ancient rule of faith” refers to the Church's practice of baptizing infants. Translated exactly.

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (Migne's marginal heading left in the text; OCR slip; OCR slips; stray footnote mark): Parvulis regeneratio necessaria. Objectis contra peccatum originale. Regula antiqua fidei, baptizare parvulos. Commendaverim Charitati vestræ → Commendaverim Charitati vestræ; OMnes parvuli tanquam pupilli considerentur → Omnes parvuli tanquam pupilli considerentur; Omnis prædestinatorum numerus parvulorum populum Dei 2 quærit tutorem → Omnis prædestinatorum numerus parvulorum populum Dei quærit tutorem; in homine priino venenator ille percussit → in homine primo venenator ille percussit; Qui Adam nou agnoscit in parvulis natis, nec Christum agnoscere poterat in renatis. Sec quare, inquiunt, jam baptizatus bomo fidelis → Qui Adam non agnoscit in parvulis natis, nec Christum agnoscere poterit in renatis. Sed quare, inquiunt, jam baptizatus homo fidelis; generat eum qui est cum Irimi hominis peccato? Quia carne illum generai, non spiritu. → generat eum qui est cum primi hominis peccato? Quia carne illum generat, non spiritu.; ait Apostulus, corrumpitur → ait Apostolus, corrumpitur; ex eo quod in te corrumpitur, genefts parvulum → ex eo quod in te corrumpitur, generas parvulum; sine ut et ine renascatur ut vivat → sine ut et ille renascatur ut vivat.

Topics: Baptism, Heresy

Cite (SBL): Augustine, Serm. 174.9 (PL 38:548–549; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-sermones/172-1/#p-174-9). (abbreviation not yet checked)

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