Sermons to the People 175.1–176.6

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 175

175.1PL 38:549

Quod lectum est modo de sancto Evangelio, hoc et Paulus apostolus dicit, cujus verba ista sunt: Fidelis sermo et omni acceptione dignus, quia Christus Jesus venit in mundum peccatores salvos facere, quorum primus ego sum. Nulla causa fuit veniendi Christo Domino, nisi peccatores salvos facere. Tolle morbos, tolle vulnera, et nulla causa est medicinæ. Si venit de coelo magnus medicus, magnus per totum orbem terræ jacebat ægrotus. Ipse ægrotus genus humanum est. Sed non omnium est fides. Novit Dominus qui sunt ejus. Superbiebant Judæi, extollebant se, alta sapiebant, justos se putabant, et Dominum colligentem peccatores insuper accusabant. Qui ergo superbiebant et alta sapiebant, relicti sunt in montibus, ad nonaginta novem pertinent (Matth. XVIII, 12). Quid est, relicti sunt in montibus? Relicti sunt in timore terreno. Quid est, ad nonaginta novem pertinent? In sinistra sunt, non in dextera. Nonaginta enim et novem in sinistra numerantur; unum adde, ad dexteram transitur. Venit ergo, ut ipse alio loco dicit, Venit Filius hominis quærere et salvare quod perierat. Totum enim perierat: ex quo peccavit unus, ubi erat totum periit totum. Sed venit unus sine peccato, qui salvos faceret a peccato. Isti autem superbiendo, quod est pejus, et ægrotabant, et sanos se esse credebant.

What has just been read from the holy Gospel the apostle Paul also says, whose words are these: “A faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptance: that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the first.” There was no reason for Christ the Lord to come except to save sinners. Take away diseases, take away wounds, and there is no reason for medicine. If a great physician came from heaven, a great sick man was lying throughout the whole world. That sick man is the human race. “But not all have faith.” “The Lord knows those who are his.” The Jews were proud; they exalted themselves; they thought lofty things; they thought themselves righteous, and moreover accused the Lord of gathering sinners. So those who were proud and thought lofty things were left on the mountains: they belong to the ninety-nine. What is “they were left on the mountains”? They were left in earthly fear. What is “they belong to the ninety-nine”? They are on the left, not on the right. For ninety-nine are counted on the left hand; add one, and it passes to the right. So he came, as he says in another place: “The Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost.” For the whole was lost: from the time one sinned, in whom the whole was, the whole perished. But one came without sin, to save from sin. But these, by being proud—which is worse—were both sick and believed themselves healthy.

1 Tim 1:15 (quotation, high confidence) · 2 Thess 3:2 (quotation, high confidence) · 2 Tim 2:19 (quotation, high confidence) · Matt 18:12 (allusion, high confidence) · Luke 19:10 (quotation, high confidence)

Notes and citation

Summary: Christ came only to save sinners, as a physician to a sick human race; the proud who thought themselves righteous were left like the ninety-nine on the mountains, sick while believing themselves healthy.

Quotations: 1 Tim 1:15; 2 Thess 3:2; 2 Tim 2:19; Matt 18:12 (Luke 15:4); Luke 19:10. The counting on the fingers (numbers below 100 on the left hand, 100 on the right) refers to the ancient finger-reckoning. Statements about the Jews are Augustine's, translated as written.

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (OCR slip; OCR slips): Quod lectuln est modo de sancto Evangelio, boc et Paulus apostolus dicit → Quod lectum est modo de sancto Evangelio, hoc et Paulus apostolus dicit; Nulla causa luit veniendi Christo Domino → Nulla causa fuit veniendi Christo Domino; ad nonaginta no. vcm pertinent (Matth. ivm, 12) → ad nonaginta novem pertinent (Matth. XVIII, 12); Nonaginta enim et novem ill sinistra numerantur; unum adde, ad dexteram transhur. → Nonaginta enim et novem in sinistra numerantur; unum adde, ad dexteram transitur.; Venit Filius hominis quarere et salvare quod perierat. Tutum enim perierat → Venit Filius hominis quærere et salvare quod perierat. Totum enim perierat; et sanos se esse credcbant → et sanos se esse credebant.

Cite (SBL): Augustine, Serm. 175.1 (PL 38:549; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-sermones/175-1/#p-175-1). (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).

175.2PL 38:549

Periculosius ægrotant, qui mentem febribus perdiderunt. Illi rident, et sani plorant. Ridet enim phreneticus; sed non est sanus. Porro autem qui mentis est sanæ, plorat phreneticum ridentem. Primum, si duo ista proponas, Quid est melius, ridere, an plorare? quis non sibi eligat ridere? Denique propter dolorem salubrem pœnitentiæ, in fletu Dominus posuit officium, in risu beneficium. Quomodo? Quando ait in Evangelio, Beati qui plorant, quoniam ridebunt. Ergo in ploratu officium est, in risu est præmium sapientiæ. Risum enim pro gaudio posuit, non cachinnationem, sed exsultationem. Ergo si duo ista proponas, et quæras quid horum sit melius, ridere, an plorare; omnis homo plorare non vult, et ridere vult. Porro si addas personas ad istos affectus, et ita proponas cum personis, Quid est melius, ridere phreneticum, an plorare sanum? eligit sibi homo fletum cum sanitate, quam risum cum amentia. Tantum valet mentis sanitas, ut etiam cum planctu eligatur. Isti ergo qui sanos se putabant, multo periculosius et desperatius ægrotabant; et ipsa ægritudine qua mentes perdiderant, etiam medicum cædebant. Parum est, cædebant: dicam totum; non solum cædebant, sed etiam occidebant. Ille autem etiam cum occideretur, medicus erat, vapulabat, et curabat; patiebatur phreneticum, nec deserebat ægrotum: tenebatur, alligabatur, colaphis percutiebatur, arundine plagas accipiebat, irridebatur, insultabatur ei, postremo audiebatur, damnabatur, ligno suspendebatur, undique circumfremebatur; et medicus erat.

Those who have lost their minds to fever are more dangerously sick. They laugh, and the healthy weep. For the delirious man laughs, but he is not healthy. But one who is of sound mind weeps over the delirious man laughing. First, if you set out these two things—“Which is better, to laugh or to weep?”—who would not choose for himself to laugh? Indeed, because of the wholesome pain of repentance, the Lord placed duty in weeping and reward in laughter. How? When he says in the Gospel, “Blessed are those who weep, for they will laugh.” So in weeping there is duty; in laughter there is the reward of wisdom. For he put laughter for joy—not guffawing, but exultation. So if you set out these two things and ask which of them is better, to laugh or to weep, every man does not want to weep and wants to laugh. But if you add persons to these feelings, and set it out thus with persons—“Which is better, a delirious man laughing or a healthy man weeping?”—a man chooses for himself weeping with health rather than laughter with madness. So much is soundness of mind worth that it is chosen even with lamentation. These, then, who thought themselves healthy were sick far more dangerously and hopelessly; and by the very sickness by which they had lost their minds, they even beat the physician. That is too little—they beat him: let me say it all: not only did they beat him, but they killed him. But he, even while he was being killed, was the physician: he was being beaten, and was healing; he bore with the delirious, and did not desert the sick. He was seized, bound, struck with fists, received blows from a reed, was mocked, insulted; finally he was heard, condemned, hung on the wood, roared at on every side: and he was the physician.

Luke 6:21 (quotation, high confidence) · Matt 27:26–31 (allusion, high confidence)

Notes and citation

Summary: Those who thought themselves healthy were delirious like fevered men who laugh while the sane weep; in their madness they beat and killed the Physician, who went on healing them as they did.

Quotation: Luke 6:21. “Delirious” renders phreneticus. Statements about those who killed Christ are Augustine's, translated as written.

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (Migne's marginal heading left in the text; OCR slips; OCR slip; OCR slips; word divided; stray mark): Judæi in medicum insanientes. Periculosius ægrotant, ui mentem febribus perdiderunt. Illi rident, ct sani plorant. Ridct enim phreneticus → Periculosius ægrotant, qui mentem febribus perdiderunt. Illi rident, et sani plorant. Ridet enim phreneticus; plorat phrene- I cum ridentem → plorat phreneticum ridentem; quis non sibi cligat ridere? → quis non sibi eligat ridere?; Beati qui plorunt, quoniam ridebunt → Beati qui plorant, quoniam ridebunt; in risu est præminum sapientiæ. Risum onim pro gaudio posuit, non cachiuHationem → in risu est præmium sapientiæ. Risum enim pro gaudio posuit, non cachinnationem; et qureras quid horum sit melius → et quæras quid horum sit melius; et ip a ægritudine qua mentes perdiderant, etiam medicum cacdebant. Parum est, cacdebant: → et ipsa ægritudine qua mentes perdiderant, etiam medicum cædebant. Parum est, cædebant:; undique circumfremcbalur → undique circumfremebatur.

Topics: Christology

Cite (SBL): Augustine, Serm. 175.2 (PL 38:549; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-sermones/175-1/#p-175-2). (abbreviation not yet checked)

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175.3PL 38:549–550

Agnoscis phreneticos, agnosce et medicum. Pater, ignosce illis, quia nesciunt quid faciunt. Illi perdita mente sæviebant, et medici sanguinem sæviendo fundebant: ille autem etiam de ipso sanguine suo ægrotis medicamenta faciebat. Non enim vere frustra dixit, Pater, ignosce illis, quia nesciunt quid faciunt. Orat christianus, et exauditur; orat Christus, et non exauditur? Nam qui exaudit cum Patre, quia Deus est, quomodo non exauditur homo, quod pro nobis factus est? Prorsus exauditus est. Ibi erant, ibi sæviebant: de his erant qui reprehendebant eum, et dicebant, Ecce cum publicanis et peccatoribus convescitur. Erant in ipso populo, a quo ipso medicus occidebatur, et in ejus sanguine etiam ipsis antidotum parabatur. Cum enim Dominus non solum sanguinem funderet, verum etiam ipsam suam mortem ad medicamenti confectionem impenderet; resurrexit ad demonstrandum resurrectionis exemplum. Patientia sua passus est, ut doceret patientiam nostram; et in resurrectione sua præmium patientiæ demonstravit. Item, ut nostis, et omnes confitemur, ascendit in cœlum, deinde ab eo Spiritus sanctus est missus, ante promissus. Dixerat enim discipulis suis: Sedete in civitate, donec induamini virtute ex alto. Venit ergo et promissio ipsius, venit Spiritus sanctus, implevit discipulos, coeperunt loqui linguis omnium gentium: signum in illis procedebat unitatis. Loquebatur enim tunc unus homo omnibus linguis; quia locutura erat unitas Ecclesiæ in omnibus linguis. Expaverunt qui audiebant. Noverant enim homines idiotas fuisse, unius tantum linguæ; et mirabantur ac stupebant, quod unius linguæ homines, vel ut multum duarum, linguis omnium gentium, loquerentur: suspensi sunt stupore, perdiderunt elationem, de monte facti sunt valles. Jam si humiles sunt, valles sunt; quod infuderis capiunt, non dimittunt. Si venerit aqua super altitudinem, decurrit et defluit: si venerit aqua ad concavum et humilem locum, et capitur et stat. Tales jam illi erant; stupebant, mirabantur, perdiderant sævitiam.

You recognize the delirious; recognize the physician too: “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do.” They raged with lost minds, and in raging shed the physician's blood; but he made medicines for the sick even from his own blood. For not in vain did he say, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do.” A Christian prays and is heard; does Christ pray and not be heard? For he who hears together with the Father, because he is God—how is he not heard as man, which he became for us? Certainly he was heard. They were there; they raged there; among them were those who found fault with him and said, “See, he eats with tax collectors and sinners.” They were among that very people by which the physician was killed, and in his blood an antidote was prepared even for them. For since the Lord not only shed his blood but also spent his very death on preparing the medicine, he rose to show an example of resurrection. By his own patience he suffered, to teach our patience; and in his resurrection he showed the reward of patience. Then, as you know and we all confess, he ascended into heaven; then the Holy Spirit was sent by him, having been promised before. For he had said to his disciples: “Stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.” So his promise came: the Holy Spirit came, filled the disciples; they began to speak in the tongues of all nations: a sign of unity went forth in them. For then one man spoke in all languages, because the unity of the Church was going to speak in all languages. Those who heard were astonished. For they knew that these men had been unlearned, of one language only; and they wondered and were amazed that men of one language, or at most two, spoke in the languages of all nations: they were struck with astonishment, they lost their pride, from mountains they became valleys. Now if they are humble, they are valleys: what you pour in they take and do not let go. If water comes upon a height, it runs down and flows off; if water comes to a hollow and low place, it is both taken in and stays. Such were they now: they were amazed, they wondered, they had lost their savagery.

Luke 23:34 (quotation, high confidence) · Mark 2:16 (quotation, high confidence) · Luke 24:49 (quotation, high confidence) · Acts 2:1–13 (allusion, high confidence)

Notes and citation

Summary: Christ prayed for his killers and was heard, making his blood their medicine; at Pentecost the apostles' speech in all languages, a sign of the Church's unity, humbled the hearers from mountains into valleys that receive grace.

Quotations: Luke 23:34; Mark 2:16; Luke 24:49; allusion to Acts 2:1–13.

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (OCR slip; OCR slips): ille autem eliam de ipso sanguine suo ægrotis medicamenta facicbat. Non enim vcre frustra dixit, Pater, ignosce illis, qma nesciunt → ille autem etiam de ipso sanguine suo ægrotis medicamenta faciebat. Non enim vere frustra dixit, Pater, ignosce illis, quia nesciunt; et in cjus sanguine etiam ipsis antidotum parabatur → et in ejus sanguine etiam ipsis antidotum parabatur; verum cHam ipsam suam mortem → verum etiam ipsam suam mortem; donec induamini virlute ex alto → donec induamini virtute ex alto; signuin in illis procedebat unitatis → signum in illis procedebat unitatis; Noverant cnim homines idiotas fuisse → Noverant enim homines idiotas fuisse; vcl ut multum duarum → vel ut multum duarum; perdiderunt cla - tionem, de monte facti suni vallos. → perdiderunt elationem, de monte facti sunt valles.; si veverit aqua ad concavum ct humilem locum → si venerit aqua ad concavum et humilem locum; Talcs jam illi erant → Tales jam illi erant.

Topics: Christology, Prayer

Cite (SBL): Augustine, Serm. 175.3 (PL 38:549–550; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-sermones/175-1/#p-175-3). (abbreviation not yet checked)

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175.4PL 38:550

Denique loquente sibi Petro, compuncti sunt, et factum est in illis quod Psalmus prædixerat: Conversus sum in ærumnam, cum configeretur spina. Quid est spina? Compunctio pœnitentiæ. Sic habes et verba ipsa Scripturæ in Actibus Apostolorum: Compuncti sunt corde, et dixerunt ad Apostolos, Quid faciemus? Quare dixerunt, Quid faciemus? Novimus quid fecimus: Quid faciemus? Quantum ad nostrum factum attinet, desperatio est salutis: sit ergo in vestro consilio, si fieri potest, spes aliqua sanitatis. Novimus quid fecerimus, dicite quid faciamus. Quid est quod fecimus? Non enim quemcumque hominem occidimus; et multum mali fecissemus, si quemcumque hominem innocentem occidissemus. Latronem elegimus, innocentem occidimus; mortuum elegimus, medicum occidimus: dicite, Quid faciemus? Et Petrus: Agite poenitentiam, et baptizetur unusquisque vestrum in nomine Domini nostri Jesu Christi; ut transeatis de nonaginta novem ad centum: quia cum nonaginta et novem essetis, pœnitentiam vobis necessariam non putabatis, et Domino colligenti peccatores et volenti eos facere pænitentes, insuper insultabatis. Modo ergo compuncti, quia cognovistis peccatum vestrum, Agite pænitentiam, et baptizetur unusquisque vestrum in nomine Domini nostri Jesu Christi; baptizetur in ejus nomine quem occidistis sine crimine: et remittuntur vobis peccata vestra. Reducti sunt in spem: doluerunt, gemuerunt, conversi sunt, sanati sunt (Act. II). Ipsi erant illi; Pater, ignosce illis, quia nesciunt quid faciunt.

Then, when Peter spoke to them, they were pierced, and there was done in them what the Psalm had foretold: “I was turned to misery while the thorn was fixed in me.” What is the thorn? The pricking of repentance. So you have the very words of Scripture in the Acts of the Apostles: “They were pierced to the heart, and said to the apostles, What shall we do?” Why did they say, “What shall we do?” “We know what we have done: what shall we do? As far as our deed is concerned, there is despair of salvation: so let there be in your counsel, if it can be, some hope of health. We know what we have done; tell us what we should do. What is it that we have done? For we did not kill just any man; and we would have done much evil if we had killed any innocent man at all. We chose a robber, we killed the innocent; we chose the dead, we killed the physician: tell us, what shall we do?” And Peter: “Repent, and let each of you be baptized in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ”: so that you pass from the ninety-nine to the hundred; because when you were the ninety-nine, you did not think repentance necessary for you, and you even mocked the Lord as he gathered sinners and wanted to make them penitent. Now then, pierced, because you have recognized your sin, “repent, and let each of you be baptized in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ”; let him be baptized in the name of him whom you killed without crime: “and your sins will be forgiven you.” They were brought back to hope: they grieved, they groaned, they were converted, they were healed. They were the very ones: “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do.”

Ps 32:4 (31:4 Vulg.) (quotation, high confidence) · Acts 2:37–38 (quotation, high confidence) · Luke 23:34 (quotation, high confidence)

Notes and citation

Summary: Pierced by Peter's preaching, Christ's killers asked what to do and were told to repent and be baptized in the name of the one they had killed; they were healed, the answer to Christ's prayer for them.

Quotations: Ps 32:4 (31:4 Vulg., Latin “dum configitur spina”); Acts 2:37–38; Luke 23:34. The Jews' words are Augustine's paraphrase.

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (OCR slip; OCR slip; stray footnote mark; OCR slips; OCR slips; stray footnote mark): compuncti sunt, ei factum est in illis quod Psalmus prædixerat: Conversus sum in ærumnam1, cum configeretur spina. → compuncti sunt, et factum est in illis quod Psalmus prædixerat: Conversus sum in ærumnam, cum configeretur spina.; Sic habes el verba ipsa Scripturæ → Sic habes et verba ipsa Scripturæ; et dixerunl ad Apostolos, Quid faciemus? Quare dixcrunt → et dixerunt ad Apostolos, Quid faciemus? Quare dixerunt; Quantum nd nostrum factum attinet, desperatio est salutis: sil ergo in vestro consilio → Quantum ad nostrum factum attinet, desperatio est salutis: sit ergo in vestro consilio; Non euim quemcumque hominem occidimus → Non enim quemcumque hominem occidimus; Latroneln elegimus → Latronem elegimus; quia cum nonaginta ct novcm essetis2, pœnitentiam vobis necessariam non putabatis, et Domino colliDenti peccatores ct volenti cos facere pænitentes → quia cum nonaginta et novem essetis, pœnitentiam vobis necessariam non putabatis, et Domino colligenti peccatores et volenti eos facere pænitentes; Mudo ergo compuncti → Modo ergo compuncti; Agile pænitentiam, et baptizetur unusquisque vestrum in nomine Domini nostri Jesu Christi; bat tizetur in ejus nomine → Agite pænitentiam, et baptizetur unusquisque vestrum in nomine Domini nostri Jesu Christi; baptizetur in ejus nomine; doluerunt, gcmuerunt, conversi sunt → doluerunt, gemuerunt, conversi sunt.

Topics: Baptism

Cite (SBL): Augustine, Serm. 175.4 (PL 38:550; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-sermones/175-1/#p-175-4). (abbreviation not yet checked)

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175.5PL 38:550

Unusquisque ergo, charissimi, quando audit Dominum Jesum Christum non venisse propter justos, sed propter peccatores, non amet esse peccator: ne forte dicat in corde suo, Si justus fuero, non me amat Christus; si peccator fuero, amat me: quia propter peccatores descendit, non propter justos. Respondet enim tibi: Si medicum agnovisti, febrem quare non timuisti? Utique medicus ad ægrotum venit, constat: sed ideo venit medicus ad ægrotum, ne ille sit semper ægrotus. Quid ergo dicimus? quid pronuntiamus? quid definimus? Ægrotum amat medicus, an sanum? Quod vult facere amat; non quod invenit. Ad ægrotum quidem venit, ad sanum non venit: noli attendere quia ad illum venit, ad illum non venit; plus enim amat sanum, quam ægrotum. Nam, ut noveritis quia plus amat sanum, quam ægrotum; numquid faceret quod odisset?

So, dearly beloved, when each one hears that the Lord Jesus Christ came not for the righteous but for sinners, let him not love being a sinner; lest perhaps he say in his heart, “If I am righteous, Christ does not love me; if I am a sinner, he loves me, because he came down for sinners, not for the righteous.” For he answers you: “If you recognized the physician, why did you not fear the fever?” Certainly the physician comes to the sick man, that is plain; but the physician comes to the sick man so that he may not always be sick. What then do we say? What do we pronounce? What do we define? Does the physician love the sick man or the healthy one? He loves what he wants to make, not what he finds. He comes indeed to the sick man; he does not come to the healthy: do not attend to the fact that he comes to the one and does not come to the other; for he loves the healthy man more than the sick. For, that you may know that he loves the healthy more than the sick—would he make what he hated?

Matt 9:13 (allusion, high confidence)

Notes and citation

Summary: Christ came for sinners, but not so that they remain sinners: as a physician loves the health he wants to produce, not the disease he finds, Christ loves the healed more than the sick.

Allusion: Matt 9:13.

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (OCR slip; OCR slips; spacing): non venisse propter justos, scd propter peccatores → non venisse propter justos, sed propter peccatores; Utique medirus ad ægrotum venit → Utique medicus ad ægrotum venit; Ægrotum amat medicus, an sanum?Quod vult facere amat → Ægrotum amat medicus, an sanum? Quod vult facere amat; plus enim amat sanum, qnam ægrotum. Nam, ut noveritis quia plus amat sanum, quam ægrotum; nUmquid faceret → plus enim amat sanum, quam ægrotum. Nam, ut noveritis quia plus amat sanum, quam ægrotum; numquid faceret.

Cite (SBL): Augustine, Serm. 175.5 (PL 38:550; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-sermones/175-1/#p-175-5). (abbreviation not yet checked)

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175.6PL 38:550

Ergo Paulum apostolum attende: Fidelis sermo et omni acceptione dignus, quia Christus Jesus venit in mundum peccatores salvos facere, quorum primus ego sum. Dixit, quorum primus ego sum. Quomodo erat primus? Ante illum non fuerunt peccatores tot Judæi? Ante illum non fuerunt peccatores in genere humano? Ante illum in omnibus hominibus nemo peccato tenebatur? Adam non ante illum fuit, qui primus peccavit, et nos omnes in mortem præcipitavit? Quid est, Quorum primus ego sum? Ad quos venit primus ego sum? Sed nec hoc verum est. Primus electus est Petrus, primus Andreas, primi alii apostoli; tu apostolus es novissimus: quomodo dicis, Quorum primus ego sum? Ergo apostolus novissimus, primus peccator. Et hoc quomodo primus peccator? Ante te peccavit Petrus, quando ipsum Dominum ter negavit. Nolo dicere, quia et ipse nisi peccator inventus esset, de sinistra ad dexteram non transisset.

So attend to the apostle Paul: “A faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptance: that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the first.” He said, “of whom I am the first.” How was he the first? Were there not so many Jewish sinners before him? Were there not sinners in the human race before him? Before him was no one among all men held by sin? Was not Adam before him, who sinned first and hurled us all into death? What is “of whom I am the first”? Of those to whom he came, am I the first? But this is not true either. Peter was chosen first, Andrew first, the other apostles first; you are the last apostle: how do you say, “of whom I am the first”? So the last apostle is the first sinner. And how is this the first sinner? Peter sinned before you, when he denied the Lord himself three times. I will not say that he too, unless he had been found a sinner, would not have passed from the left to the right.

1 Tim 1:15 (quotation, high confidence) · Matt 4:18 (allusion, high confidence) · Matt 26:70–74 (allusion, high confidence) · 1 Cor 15:8 (allusion, medium confidence)

Notes and citation

Summary: Augustine asks how Paul can call himself the first of sinners when Adam, many Jews, and even Peter, who denied Christ, sinned before him.

Quotations and allusions: 1 Tim 1:15; Matt 4:18; Matt 26:70–74; 1 Cor 15:8 (allusion, “last apostle”).

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (OCR slips; stray mark): Ergo Panlum apostolnm attende: Fidelia sermo → Ergo Paulum apostolum attende: Fidelis sermo; Dixit, quoruni primus ego sum. Quomodo erat primus! Ante illum non fuerunt peccatores tot Juda'i? → Dixit, quorum primus ego sum. Quomodo erat primus? Ante illum non fuerunt peccatores tot Judæi?; Adam non ante illum fuit i, qui primus peccavit → Adam non ante illum fuit, qui primus peccavit; tu apostollus cs novissimus → tu apostolus es novissimus; Ergo'apostolus novissimos. primus peccator. → Ergo apostolus novissimus, primus peccator..

Cite (SBL): Augustine, Serm. 175.6 (PL 38:550; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-sermones/175-1/#p-175-6). (abbreviation not yet checked)

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175.7PL 38:550

Quid est ergo, Quorum primus ego sum? Quia omnibus pejor sum. Ergo pejorem voluit intelligi primum. Quomodo in artificibus, quicumque vult ædificare, quid dicit? Quis est hic primus structor? quis est primus faber? Aut si curari vult, Quis est hic primus medicus? Non utique interrogat quis prior sit ætate, aut quis prior sit professione; sed quis prior sit arte. Quomodo illi in arte primi, sic iste in iniquitate primus. Quare Paulus in iniquitate primus? Recolite Saulum, et invenietis. Attenditis Paulum, obliti estis Saulum: attenditis ad pastorem, obliti estis lupum. Nonne ille est cui ad lapidandum Stephanum manus una non sufficiebat, et aliorum vestimenta servabat? Nonne ipse est qui Ecclesiam ubique persequebatur? Nonne ipse est qui litteras acceperat a principibus sacerdotum? Quia parum illi erat persequi Christianos, qui erant in Jerusalem; sed volebat ad alia loca venire, ubi eos inveniret, et ligaret, et puniendos adduceret. Nonne cum iter agens spirat et anhelat cædes, de coelo percussus est, et vocem Domini ad salutem fulminatus audivit? Dum ambulat, prosternitur; ut videat, excæcatur. Ipse est ergo qui primus erat persecutor, illo pejor non fuit.

What then is “of whom I am the first”? Because I am worse than all. So he wanted “first” to be understood as worse. As with craftsmen: whoever wants to build, what does he say? “Who is the first builder here? Who is the first smith?” Or if he wants to be cured: “Who is the first physician here?” Certainly he does not ask who is prior in age, or who is prior in profession, but who is prior in skill. As they are first in skill, so this man is first in iniquity. Why was Paul first in iniquity? Recall Saul, and you will find out. You attend to Paul; you have forgotten Saul: you attend to the shepherd; you have forgotten the wolf. Is not he the one for whom one pair of hands was not enough for stoning Stephen, and who guarded the clothes of others? Is not he the one who persecuted the Church everywhere? Is not he the one who had received letters from the chief priests? Because it was too little for him to persecute the Christians who were in Jerusalem; but he wanted to go to other places, where he might find them, bind them, and bring them to be punished. Is it not he who, as he was traveling, breathing and panting slaughter, was struck down from heaven, and, thunderstruck, heard the voice of the Lord for his salvation? While he walks, he is laid low; in order to see, he is blinded. So he is the one who was the first persecutor; there was none worse than he.

Acts 7:58 (allusion, high confidence) · Acts 8:3 (allusion, high confidence) · Acts 9:1–9 (allusion, high confidence)

Notes and citation

Summary: Paul is “first” of sinners as a craftsman is first in skill: the worst, for Saul was the fiercest persecutor, at Stephen's stoning and on the road to Damascus.

Allusions: Acts 7:58; Acts 8:3; Acts 9:1–9.

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (OCR slip; OCR slips; words run together): Quid cst ergo, Quorum primus ego sum? → Quid est ergo, Quorum primus ego sum?; quis est primus fabcr? → quis est primus faber?; aut qnis prior sit professione → aut quis prior sit professione; Quare Patrius in iniquitate primus? → Quare Paulus in iniquitate primus?; a principihus sacerdotum? Quia parum illi erat persequi Christianos, qui crant in Jerusalem → a principibus sacerdotum? Quia parum illi erat persequi Christianos, qui erant in Jerusalem; et ligaret, et pnnicndos adduceret → et ligaret, et puniendos adduceret; Dumambulat, prosternitur; utvideat, excæcatur. → Dum ambulat, prosternitur; ut videat, excæcatur..

Topics: Persecution

Cite (SBL): Augustine, Serm. 175.7 (PL 38:550; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-sermones/175-1/#p-175-7). (abbreviation not yet checked)

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175.8PL 38:550–551

Audite unde plus intelligatis. Ananiæ loquebatur ipse Dominus Christus, jam illo prostrato, jam erecto: et dicebat ei, Vade ad vicum illum, ibi invenies Saulum a Tarsis Ciliciæ, loquere ei. Quoniam vidit virum Ananiam intrantem ad se, et baptizantem se. Ille audivit nomen Sauli, et inter manus ipsius medici tremuit. Quod est autem dulcius, Saulus unde vocaretur, credo quia recolitis, et propter eos qui non recolunt, commemorem. Saül erat ille persecutor David. In David Christus erat, in David Christus præfigurabatur, in Saule Saulus præfigurabatur. Tanquam David Saüli de cœlo, Saule, Saule, quid me persequeris? Ananias Ovis interpretatur: loquebatur ovi pastor, et timebat ovis lupum. Tanta hujus lupi fama præcesserat, ut non se putaret tutam ovis, nec inter manus pastoris. Et Dominus ad illum, quasi ad ovem trementem. Ille enim cum audisset hoc, dixit: Domine, audivi de isto homine quanta mala fecit sanctis tuis in Jerusalem, et modo dicitur epistolas accepisse a principibus sacerdotum, ut quoscumque tenuerit, alligatos ducat. Quo me mittis? ovem ad lupum? Sed ille non audivit hanc excusationem. Jam enim dixerat paucis oviculis suis: Ecce ego mitto vos sicut oves in medio luporum. Si missæ sunt oves in medio luporum, quare trepidas ire, Anania, ad eum qui jam non est lupus? Lupum timebas: sed respondet tibi Dominus Deus tuus, De lupo ovem feci; facio de ove pastorem.

Hear something from which you may understand more. The Lord Christ himself was speaking to Ananias, when Saul had already been laid low and already raised up, and he was saying to him: “Go to that street; there you will find Saul of Tarsus in Cilicia; speak to him. For he has seen a man, Ananias, coming in to him” and baptizing him. Ananias heard the name of Saul, and trembled in the very hands of the physician. And what is sweeter: why he was called Saul, I believe you remember; and for those who do not remember, let me recall it. Saul was that persecutor of David. In David was Christ; in David Christ was prefigured; in Saul this Saul was prefigured. As David to Saul, so from heaven: “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?” Ananias means “sheep”: the shepherd was speaking to the sheep, and the sheep feared the wolf. So great a report of this wolf had gone before that the sheep did not think itself safe even in the shepherd's hands. And the Lord spoke to him, as to a trembling sheep. For when he heard this, he said: “Lord, I have heard of this man how much evil he has done to your saints in Jerusalem; and now he is said to have received letters from the chief priests to bring bound whomever he catches. Where are you sending me—a sheep to the wolf?” But the Lord did not listen to this excuse. For he had already said to his few little sheep: “Behold, I send you as sheep in the midst of wolves.” If sheep were sent into the midst of wolves, why do you hesitate to go, Ananias, to one who is no longer a wolf? You feared the wolf; but the Lord your God answers you: “From a wolf I have made a sheep; from a sheep I am making a shepherd.”

Acts 9:11–14 (quotation, high confidence) · Acts 9:4 (quotation, high confidence) · Matt 10:16 (quotation, high confidence) · 1 Sam 19:1 (allusion, medium confidence)

Notes and citation

Summary: Ananias, whose name means “sheep,” feared to go to Saul the wolf, but Christ, who as David was persecuted by Saul, had turned the wolf into a sheep and would make him a shepherd.

Quotations: Acts 9:11–14; Acts 9:4; Matt 10:16. The etymology of Ananias as “sheep” is Augustine's; the typology of King Saul persecuting David is his.

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (OCR slip; OCR slips; word divided; words run together): Ia David Christus erat, in David Christus præfigurabatur, in Saule Saulns præfigurabatur. tanquam David Saüli de CORIO, Saule, Saule → In David Christus erat, in David Christus præfigurabatur, in Saule Saulus præfigurabatur. Tanquam David Saüli de cœlo, Saule, Saule; loquobatur ovi pastor, et timebat ovis lupuln → loquebatur ovi pastor, et timebat ovis lupum; nec inter manus pasto - ris → nec inter manus pastoris; audivi de islo homine quanta mala fecit sanctis tuis in Jerusalem, ei modo decitur epistolas → audivi de isto homine quanta mala fecit sanctis tuis in Jerusalem, et modo dicitur epistolas; Quo me minis? ovem ad lupum? → Quo me mittis? ovem ad lupum?; De lupo ovemfeci; faciodeove pastorem. → De lupo ovem feci; facio de ove pastorem..

Cite (SBL): Augustine, Serm. 175.8 (PL 38:550–551; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-sermones/175-1/#p-175-8). (abbreviation not yet checked)

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175.9PL 38:551

Quomodo ergo ipse Saulus postea Paulus gratulatur se ad Dei pervenisse misericordiam, quia primus, hoc est excellens in peccatis inventus est: Et tamen misericordiam consecutus sum, ut in me ostenderet Christus Jesus omnem longanimitatem, propter eos qui credituri sunt illi in vitam æternam: ut dicant sibi omnes, Si Paulus sanatus est, ego quare despero? Si a tanto medico tam desperatus æger sanatus est, ego cur vulneribus meis illas manus non aptabo? ad illas manus non festinabo? Ut hoc dicerent homines, ideo Saulus factus est ex persecutore apostolus (Act. VII-IX). Quia quo venit medicus, quærit aliquem ibi desperatum, et ipsum sanat: et si pauperrimum inveniat, tamen desperatum inveniat; non ibi quærit mercedem, sed commendat artem. Dicam ergo quod cœperam. Quomodo ergo Saulus congratulatur se a Christo, quia peccator erat, assumptum atque sanatum, nec dixit, Maneam in peccato, quia propter me venit Christus, non propter justum: ita etiam tu, qui audieras quia Christus propter peccatores venit, noli tibi dormire in dulci stratu; sed audi ipsum Paulum dicentem, Surge, qui dormis, et exsurge a mortuis, et illuminabit te Christus. Noli amare stratum peccati. Totum stratum ejus vertisti in infirmitate ejus, dictum est antea. Surge, sanus esto, sanitatem ama, et noli rursus per superbiam de dextera ire ad sinistram, de valle ad montem, de humilitate ad tumorem. Cum factus fueris sanus, id est, cum juste cœperis vivere, Deo tribue, non tibi. Non enim laudando te, salvus factus es; sed contra te pronuntiando. Nam si te laudaveris per superbiam, gravius ægrotabis. Omnis enim qui se exaltat, humiliabitur; et qui se humiliat, exaltabitur. Conversi ad Dominum, etc.

So Saul, later Paul, rejoices that he came to God's mercy, because he was found first, that is, outstanding in sins: “And yet I obtained mercy, so that in me Christ Jesus might show all his long-suffering, for the sake of those who are going to believe in him for eternal life”: so that all may say to themselves, “If Paul was healed, why do I despair? If so hopeless a patient was healed by so great a physician, why should I not apply those hands to my wounds? Why should I not hurry to those hands?” That men might say this, Saul was made from a persecutor an apostle. For wherever a physician comes, he looks for someone there who has been given up, and heals him; and if he finds him very poor, still he finds him given up: he does not look for a fee there, but commends his skill. So let me say what I had begun. Just as Saul rejoices that he, because he was a sinner, was taken up and healed by Christ, and did not say, “Let me remain in sin, because Christ came for me, not for the righteous man,” so you too, who had heard that Christ came for sinners, do not sleep on a sweet bed; but hear Paul himself saying, “Rise, you who sleep, and arise from the dead, and Christ will enlighten you.” Do not love the bed of sin. “You have turned his whole bed in his sickness,” it was said before. Rise, be healthy, love health, and do not again through pride go from the right to the left, from the valley to the mountain, from humility to swelling. When you have been made healthy, that is, when you have begun to live righteously, attribute it to God, not to yourself. For you were not saved by praising yourself, but by pronouncing against yourself. For if you praise yourself through pride, you will be more seriously sick. “For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.” Turning to the Lord, etc.

1 Tim 1:16 (quotation, high confidence) · Eph 5:14 (quotation, high confidence) · Ps 41:3 (40:4 Vulg.) (quotation, high confidence) · Luke 18:14 (quotation, high confidence)

Notes and citation

Summary: Paul, the worst of sinners, was healed as a sign that no one should despair; but sinners must not stay in sin's bed, rising instead to health and crediting it to God, since self-praise makes one sicker.

Quotations: 1 Tim 1:16; Eph 5:14; Ps 41:3 (40:4 Vulg.); Luke 18:14; allusion to Acts 7–9.

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (OCR slip; OCR slip; stray footnote mark; OCR slips): gratulatur se ad Dei pervenisse misericordiam1, qnia primus → gratulatur se ad Dei pervenisse misericordiam, quia primus; Si Paulus sanatus est, ogo quare despero? Si -a tanto medico → Si Paulus sanatus est, ego quare despero? Si a tanto medico; ad illas manus non restinabo? Ut hoc dicerent homines,. ideo Saulus → ad illas manus non festinabo? Ut hoc dicerent homines, ideo Saulus; quia peccator crat, assumptum atque sanatum, nec dixit, Maneam in percato → quia peccator erat, assumptum atque sanatum, nec dixit, Maneam in peccato; ita ctiam tu, qui audieras → ita etiam tu, qui audieras; noli tibi dormire in dulci stratu; sud audi → noli tibi dormire in dulci stratu; sed audi; de valle ad monlem → de valle ad montem; Deo tribue, noh tibi. → Deo tribue, non tibi..

Cite (SBL): Augustine, Serm. 175.9 (PL 38:551; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-sermones/175-1/#p-175-9). (abbreviation not yet checked)

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Chapter 176

176.1PL 38:551

De divinis lectionibus quod Dominus admonere dignatur, intenti audite, fratres, illo dante, me ministrante. Primam lectionem audivimus Apostoli: Fidelis sermo et omni acceptione dignus, quia Christus Jesus venit in mundum peccatores salvos facere, quorum primus ego sum. Sed ideo misericordiam consecutus sum, ut in me ostenderet Christus Jesus omnem longanimitatem suam, ad informationem eorum qui credituri sunt illi in vitam æternam. Hoc de apostolica lectione percepimus. Deinde cantavimus Psalmum, exhortantes nos invicem, una voce, uno corde dicentes, Venite adoremus, et prosternamur ei, et fleamus coram Domino qui fecit nos: et ibi præveniamus faciem ejus in confessione, et in psalmis jubilemus ei. Post hæc, evangelica lectio decem leprosos mundatos nobis ostendit, et unum ex eis alienigenam gratias agentem mundatori suo. Has tres lectiones, quantum pro tempore possumus, pertractemus, dicentes pauca de singulis; et quantum conari possumus, adjuvante Domino, non in aliqua earum sic immorantes, ut aliis duabus impedimentum afferamus.

Hear attentively, brothers, what the Lord deigns to admonish concerning the divine readings, he giving, I ministering. We heard first the reading from the Apostle: “A faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptance: that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the first. But for this I obtained mercy, so that in me Christ Jesus might show all his long-suffering, for the instruction of those who are going to believe in him for eternal life.” This we took in from the reading from the Apostle. Then we sang the Psalm, exhorting one another, saying with one voice, one heart, “Come, let us worship and fall down before him, and weep before the Lord who made us”; and there, “let us come before his face with confession, and in psalms let us shout for joy to him.” After these, the Gospel reading showed us ten lepers cleansed, and one of them, a foreigner, giving thanks to his cleanser. Let us treat these three readings, as far as time allows, saying a little about each; and as far as we can try, with the Lord's help, not dwelling so long on any of them as to hinder the other two.

1 Tim 1:15–16 (quotation, high confidence) · Ps 95:6 (94:6 Vulg.) (quotation, high confidence) · Ps 95:2 (94:2 Vulg.) (quotation, high confidence) · Luke 17:12–18 (allusion, high confidence)

Notes and citation

Summary: Augustine announces the three readings of the day, 1 Timothy 1:15–16, Psalm 95, and the ten lepers of Luke 17, and proposes to treat each briefly.

This ref is Maurist paragraph 1 of Sermon 176 (staged 176.2–176.7 = Maurist 1–6; nothing is lost). Quotations: 1 Tim 1:15–16; Ps 95:6, 2 (94:6, 2 Vulg., with “and weep”); Luke 17:12–18.

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (OCR slip; OCR slips; word divided): Fidelis sermo et omni accepltone dignus, qnia Christus Jesus venit in mundum peccatores salvos facere, quorum prirnus ego sum. Sed idco misericordiam → Fidelis sermo et omni acceptione dignus, quia Christus Jesus venit in mundum peccatores salvos facere, quorum primus ego sum. Sed ideo misericordiam; Venite adoremus, et prosternamur et, et fleamus coram Domino → Venite adoremus, et prosternamur ei, et fleamus coram Domino; Post h:rc, evan - gelica lectio → Post hæc, evangelica lectio; ut aliis duabus im - pedimentum afferamus → ut aliis duabus impedimentum afferamus.

Topics: Scripture and canon

Cite (SBL): Augustine, Serm. 176.1 (PL 38:551; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-sermones/175-1/#p-176-1). (abbreviation not yet checked)

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176.2PL 38:551–552

Proponit nobis Apostolus scientiam gratiarum actionis. Mementote quid ultima evangelica lectio resonet, quomodo Jesus Dominus laudat gratias agentem, ingratos improbat, mundatos in cute, leprosos in corde. Quid ergo Apostolus? Fidelis, inquit, sermo et omni acceptione dignus. Quis est iste sermo? Quia Christus Jesus venit in mundum. Utquid? Peccatores salvos facere. Quid tu? Quorum primus ego sum. Qui dicit, vel Non sum peccator, vel Non fui, ingratus est Salvatori. Nullus hominum in ista quæ ex Adam defluit massa mortalium, nullus omnino hominum non ægrotus, nullus sine gratia Christi sanatus. Quid de parvulis pueris, si ex Adam ægroti? Nam et ipsi portantur ad Ecclesiam: et si pedibus illuc currere non possunt, alienis pedibus currunt, ut sanentur. Accommodat illis mater Ecclesia aliorum pedes ut veniant, aliorum cor ut credant, aliorum linguam ut fateantur: ut quoniam quod ægri sunt alio peccante prægravantur, sic cum hi sani sunt, alio pro eis confitente salventur. Nemo ergo vobis susurret doctrinas alienas. Hoc Ecclesia semper habuit, semper tenuit: hoc a majorum fide percepit; hoc usque in finem perseveranter custodit. Quoniam non est opus sanis medicus, sed ægrotantibus. Quid necessarium ergo habuit infans Christum, si non ægrotat? Si sanus est, quare per eos qui eum diligunt, medicum quærit? Si quando portantur infantes, dicuntur omnino nullum propaginis habere peccatum, et veniunt ad Christum; quare non eis dicitur in Ecclesia qui eos apportant, Auferte hinc innocentes istos: non est opus sanis medicus, sed male habentibus; non venit Christus vocare justos, sed peccatores? Nunquam dictum est: sed nec aliquando dicetur. Quisque ergo quod potest, fratres, loquatur pro eo qui loqui pro se non potest. Pro magno commendantur episcopis patrimonia pupillorum, quanto magis gratia parvulorum? Pupillum tuetur episcopus, ne mortuis parentibus ab extraneis opprimatur. Clamet plus pro parvulo, cui timet ne a parentibus occidatur: clamet cum Apostolo, Fidelis sermo et omni acceptione dignus, quia Christus Jesus venit in mundum, nullam aliam ob causam, nisi peccatores salvos facere. Qui venit ad Christum, habet quod in eo sanetur: qui non habet, non est causa quare medico offeratur. Eligant parentes unum de duobus: aut confiteantur in parvulis suis sanari peccatum, aut eos medico offerre desinant. Hoc nihil est aliud quam velle medico sanum offerre. Quid offers? Baptizandum. Quem? infantem. Cui offers? Christo. Ei certe qui venit in mundum? Ita, inquit. Quare venit in mundum? Peccatores salvos facere. Ergo quem offers, habet quod in illo salvum fiat? Si dixeris, Habet; confitendo deles: si dixeris, Non habet; negando tenes.

The Apostle sets before us the knowledge of thanksgiving. Remember what the last reading, from the Gospel, sounds: how the Lord Jesus praises the one who gives thanks and reproves the ungrateful, cleansed in their skin, leprous in their heart. What then does the Apostle say? “A faithful saying,” he says, “and worthy of all acceptance.” What is this saying? “That Christ Jesus came into the world.” For what? “To save sinners.” And you? “Of whom I am the first.” Whoever says either “I am not a sinner” or “I was not” is ungrateful to the Savior. No man in this lump of mortals that flows from Adam, no man at all is not sick; no one is healed without the grace of Christ. What of little children, if they are sick from Adam? For they too are carried to the Church; and if they cannot run there on their own feet, they run on the feet of others, to be healed. Mother Church lends them the feet of others so that they may come, the heart of others so that they may believe, the tongue of others so that they may confess; so that, since they are weighed down by their sickness through another's sin, so when they are healthy they may be saved by another confessing for them. So let no one whisper strange doctrines to you. This the Church has always had, always held; this it received from the faith of the elders; this it guards perseveringly to the end. Because it is not the healthy who need a physician, but the sick. What need of Christ, then, had an infant, if it is not sick? If it is healthy, why does it seek the physician through those who love it? If, when infants are carried, they are said to have no sin of descent at all, and they come to Christ, why is it not said in the Church to those who bring them, “Take these innocents away from here: it is not the healthy who need a physician, but those who are ill; Christ did not come to call the righteous, but sinners”? It has never been said; nor will it ever be said. So let each one, brothers, speak as he can for one who cannot speak for himself. The patrimonies of orphans are entrusted to bishops as a great charge; how much more the grace of little ones? The bishop protects the orphan, lest, his parents dead, he be oppressed by strangers. Let him cry out more for the little one, for whom he fears lest he be killed by his parents; let him cry out with the Apostle: “A faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptance: that Christ Jesus came into the world” for no other reason than “to save sinners.” He who comes to Christ has something in him to be healed; he who has not has no reason to be offered to the physician. Let parents choose one of two: either let them confess that sin is healed in their little ones, or let them stop offering them to the physician. This is nothing else than to want to offer a healthy person to the physician. What are you offering? “One to be baptized.” Whom? “An infant.” To whom are you offering him? “To Christ.” Surely to him who came into the world? “Yes,” he says. Why did he come into the world? “To save sinners.” So the one you offer has something in him to be saved? If you say, “He has,” by confessing you blot it out; if you say, “He has not,” by denying you keep it.

1 Tim 1:15 (quotation, high confidence) · Luke 17:17–18 (allusion, high confidence) · Matt 9:12–13 (quotation, high confidence)

Notes and citation

Summary: No one descended from Adam is healthy without Christ's grace, including infants, whom the Church brings to baptism on others' feet, hearts, and tongues; to deny their need is to keep them from the Physician.

Quotations: 1 Tim 1:15; Luke 17:17–18 (allusion); Matt 9:12–13. Infant baptism with sponsors' faith and confession, and the bishop's protection of orphans, are described as Augustine describes them. Aimed at the Pelagians (“strange doctrines”).

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (Migne's marginal heading left in the text; OCR slip; OCR slip; stray footnote mark; OCR slips): Peccatum originale in parvulis. Pupillorum tutores episcopi. Proponit nobis Apostolus → Proponit nobis Apostolus; Quia Christus Jesus vcnit iti mundum, Utquid? → Quia Christus Jesus venit in mundum. Utquid?; Qui dicit, vel Non simi peccator, vel Non fui, ingratas est Salvatori. → Qui dicit, vel Non sum peccator, vel Non fui, ingratus est Salvatori.; nullus sine gratia Christi sauntus. Quid de parvulis pueris i, si ex Adam ægroti? → nullus sine gratia Christi sanatus. Quid de parvulis pueris, si ex Adam ægroti?; Accommodat illis mater Ecclesia alioruni pedes → Accommodat illis mater Ecclesia aliorum pedes; sic cum hi sani sunt I, a!io pro eis confitente salventur → sic cum hi sani sunt, alio pro eis confitente salventur; Quid nccessaii um ergo habuit infans Christum, si non xgrotat? Si sanus est, quare per cos qui eum diligunt → Quid necessarium ergo habuit infans Christum, si non ægrotat? Si sanus est, quare per eos qui eum diligunt; quare non cis dicitur in Ecclesia qui cos apportant, Aufertc hinc innocentes istos: uon est opus → quare non eis dicitur in Ecclesia qui eos apportant, Auferte hinc innocentes istos: non est opus; loquatur pro eo qni loqui pro se non potest → loquatur pro eo qui loqui pro se non potest; cui timet ne a parentibus occidadatur → cui timet ne a parentibus occidatur; Hoc nihil est aliud quam velle medico lanum offerre. → Hoc nihil est aliud quam velle medico sanum offerre..

Topics: Baptism, Heresy, Church office

Cite (SBL): Augustine, Serm. 176.2 (PL 38:551–552; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-sermones/175-1/#p-176-2). (abbreviation not yet checked)

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176.3PL 38:552

Peccatores, inquit, salvos facere, quorum primus ego sum. Ante Paulum non erant peccatores? Certe vel ipse Adam ante omnes, et plena peccatoribus terra deleta diluvio, et deinceps quam multi. Unde verum est, ego primus sum? Primum se dixit, non peccatorum ordine, sed peccati magnitudine. Magnitudinem peccati sui attendit, unde se primum dixit peccatorum; quomodo dicuntur inter advocatos, verbi gratia, primi: primus est iste, non quia plures annos habet, ex quo causas agit; sed quia ex quo cœpit, cæteros superavit. Dicat ergo Apostolus alio loco unde primus sit peccatorum: Ego, inquit, sum novissimus Apostolorum, qui non sum dignus vocari apostolus, quia persecutus sum Ecclesiam Dei. Nemo acrior inter persecutores: ergo nemo prior inter peccatores.

“To save sinners,” he says, “of whom I am the first.” Were there no sinners before Paul? Certainly Adam himself before all, and the earth full of sinners destroyed by the flood, and after that how many! How then is it true, “I am the first”? He called himself first not in the order of sinners but in the greatness of sin. He looked at the greatness of his sin, and so called himself first of sinners; as among advocates some are called, for example, first: this man is first, not because he has more years since he began pleading cases, but because, from the time he began, he surpassed the rest. So let the Apostle say in another place why he is first of sinners: “I,” he says, “am the least of the apostles, who am not worthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God.” No one was fiercer among the persecutors: so no one was foremost among sinners more than he.

1 Tim 1:15 (quotation, high confidence) · 1 Cor 15:9 (quotation, high confidence) · Gen 7:21–23 (allusion, medium confidence)

Notes and citation

Summary: Paul is first of sinners not in time but in the greatness of his sin, as an advocate is “first” in skill; none was fiercer as a persecutor.

Quotations: 1 Tim 1:15; 1 Cor 15:9; allusion to Gen 6–7.

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (OCR slip; OCR slips): Cerle vel ipse Adam ante omnes, et piena peccatoribus terra → Certe vel ipse Adam ante omnes, et plena peccatoribus terra; Prirnum se dixit, non peccatorum ordine → Primum se dixit, non peccatorum ordine; non quia plures annos habet. ex qao causas agit; sed quia ex quo cœpit, cæteros supcravit. → non quia plures annos habet, ex quo causas agit; sed quia ex quo cœpit, cæteros superavit..

Cite (SBL): Augustine, Serm. 176.3 (PL 38:552; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-sermones/175-1/#p-176-3). (abbreviation not yet checked)

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176.4PL 38:552

Sed misericordiam, inquit, consecutus sum. Et quare sit misericordiam consecutus, exponit causam: Ut in me, inquit, ostenderet Christus Jesus omnem longanimitatem, ad informationem eorum qui credituri sunt illi in vitam æternam. Christus, inquit, daturus veniam conversis ad se peccatoribus usque ad inimicos suos, me primo elegit acriorem inimicum; quem cum sanaret, nemo in cæteris desperaret. Faciunt hoc medici: quando ad ea loca veniunt ubi ignoti sunt, quos curent primitus eligunt desperatos; ut in eis et benevolentiam exerceant, et commendent doctrinam; ut unusquisque in illo loco dicat proximo suo, Vade ad illum medicum, securus esto, sanat te. Et ille, Me sanat? non vides quid patiar? Ego novi quid simile: tu quod pateris, et ego quidem passus sum. Sic dicit Paulus unicuique ægroto, et de se volenti desperare: Qui curavit me, misit me ad te, et dixit mihi, Illi desperanti vade, et dic quid habuisti, quid in te sanavi, quam cito sanavi. De cœlo vocavi, una voce percussi et dejeci, alia erexi et elegi, tertia implevi et misi, quarta liberavi et coronavi (Act. IX). Vade, dic ægrotis, clama desperatis: Fidelis sermo, et omni acceptione dignus, quia Christus Jesus venit in mundum peccatores salvos facere. Quid timetis? quid trepidatis? Quorum primus ego sum. Ego, inquit, vobis loquor, sanus ægrotantibus, stans jacentibus, securus desperantibus. Ideo enim misericordiam consecutus sum, ut in me ostenderet Christus Jesus omnem longanimitatem. Morbum meum diu pertulit, et sic abstulit; tanquam bonus medicus phreneticum patienter toleravit, sustinuit me ferientem se, donavit mihi feriri pro se. Omnem, inquit, longanimitatem ostendit in me, ad informationem eorum qui credituri sunt illi in vitam æternam.

“But I obtained mercy,” he says. And he explains the reason why he obtained mercy: “So that in me,” he says, “Christ Jesus might show all his long-suffering, for the instruction of those who are going to believe in him for eternal life.” “Christ,” he says, “who was going to give pardon to sinners turning to him, even to his enemies, chose me first, the fiercer enemy; so that when he healed him, no one among the rest would despair.” Physicians do this: when they come to places where they are unknown, they first choose to cure those given up as hopeless, so that in them they may both exercise kindness and commend their skill; so that each one in that place may say to his neighbor, “Go to that physician; be secure; he heals you.” And the other: “He heals me? Do you not see what I suffer?” “I know something like it: what you suffer, I too suffered.” So Paul says to each sick man who wants to despair of himself: “He who cured me sent me to you, and said to me, ‘Go to that despairing man, and tell him what you had, what I healed in you, how quickly I healed it. I called from heaven; with one word I struck and cast down, with another I raised and chose, with a third I filled and sent, with a fourth I set free and crowned.’ Go, tell the sick, cry out to the despairing: ‘A faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptance: that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.’ Why do you fear? Why do you tremble? ‘Of whom I am the first.’ I,” he says, “speak to you, healthy to the sick, standing to the fallen, secure to the despairing. ‘For this I obtained mercy, so that in me Christ Jesus might show all his long-suffering.’ He bore my disease long, and so took it away; like a good physician he patiently tolerated the delirious man; he endured me striking him; he granted me to be struck for him. ‘He showed all his long-suffering in me,’ he says, ‘for the instruction of those who are going to believe in him for eternal life.’”

1 Tim 1:15–16 (quotation, high confidence) · Acts 9:3–18 (allusion, high confidence)

Notes and citation

Summary: Christ healed Paul, his fiercest enemy, first, as a new physician first cures the hopeless, so that no one would despair; Paul now tells the sick what was healed in him.

Quotations: 1 Tim 1:15–16; allusion to Acts 9.

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (OCR slip; OCR slips; OCR slips; stray footnote mark): usque ad inimicos suos, ine primo elegit acriorem inimicum; qucm cum sanaret → usque ad inimicos suos, me primo elegit acriorem inimicum; quem cum sanaret; Faciunt boc medici: quando ad ca loca veniunt → Faciunt hoc medici: quando ad ea loca veniunt; Me sanat? hon vides quid patiar? Eso novi quid simile: tu quod pateris, et ego quidem passus sum I. → Me sanat? non vides quid patiar? Ego novi quid simile: tu quod pateris, et ego quidem passus sum.; Qui curavit me, inisitme ad te, et dixit mibi, Illi desperanti vade, ct dic → Qui curavit me, misit me ad te, et dixit mihi, Illi desperanti vade, et dic; alia erexi et clegi, tertia implevi et misi, quarta liberavi et coronavi' → alia erexi et elegi, tertia implevi et misi, quarta liberavi et coronavi; Fidelia sermo, et onuii acceptione dignus, quia Christus Jesua venit → Fidelis sermo, et omni acceptione dignus, quia Christus Jesus venit; quid Irepidatis? → quid trepidatis?; ldeo enim misericordiam → Ideo enim misericordiam; Morbum meum diu pcrtulit, et sic abstulit; tanquam bonus medicus phrenelicum patienter toleravit, sustinuit me ferientem se. donavit mihi → Morbum meum diu pertulit, et sic abstulit; tanquam bonus medicus phreneticum patienter toleravit, sustinuit me ferientem se, donavit mihi; qui credituri sunl illi in vitam æternam → qui credituri sunt illi in vitam æternam.

Cite (SBL): Augustine, Serm. 176.4 (PL 38:552; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-sermones/175-1/#p-176-4). (abbreviation not yet checked)

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176.5PL 38:552–553

Nolite ergo desperare. Ægroti estis, accedite ad eum, et sanamini: cæci estis, accedite ad eum, et illuminamini. Et qui sani estis, ei gratias agite: et qui ægrotatis, ad eum sanandi currite: dicite omnes, Venite adoremus, et prosternamur ei, et ploremus coram Domino qui fecit nos, et homines, et salvos. Nam si ille nos fecit homines, nos autem ipsi nos fecimus salvos; aliquid illo melius fecimus. Melior est enim salvus homo, quam quilibet homo. Si ergo te Deus fecit hominem, et tu te fecisti bonum hominem; quod tu fecisti melius est. Noli te extollere super Deum: subde te Deo, adora, prosternere, confitere illi qui fecit te: quia nemo recreat, nisi qui creat; nemo reficit, nisi qui fecit. Hoc et in alio psalmo: Ipse fecit nos, et non ipsi nos. Sane quando te fecit, quid tu faceres non habebas: quando autem jam es, habes et tu ipse quod facias; ad medicum curras, medicum implores, qui ubique est. Et ut implorares, excitavit cor tuum, et posse implorare donavit tibi; Deus est enim, inquit, qui operatur in vobis et velle, et operari, pro bona voluntate. Quia ut haberes bonam voluntatem, illius vocatio præcessit. Clama, Deus meus, misericordia ejus prœveniet me. Ut esses, ut sentires, ut audires, ut consentires, prævenit te misericordia ejus. Prævenit te in omnibus: præveni et tu in aliquo iram ejus. In quo, inquis, in quo? Confitere ista omnia a Deo te habere quidquid boni habes, a te quidquid mali. Ne in bonis tuis illum contemnas, te laudes; ne in malis tuis illum accuses, te excuses: ipsa est vera confessio. Ille qui in tantis bonis prævenit te, venturus est ad te, et inspecturus dona sua et mala tua; quomodo bono ejus usus fueris, inspicit te. Ergo quia in omnibus istis donis prævenit te, vide in quo tu prævenias faciem venturi: audi Psalmum, Præveniamus faciem ejus in confessione. Præveniamus faciem ejus: antequam veniat, propitietur; antequam adsit, placetur. Habes enim sacerdotem per quem possis placare Deum tuum, et ipse cum Patre Deus est ad te, qui homo est propter te. Ita jubilabis in Psalmis, præveniens faciem ejus in confessione. Jubila in Psalmo: præveniens faciem ejus in confessione, accusa te; jubilans in Psalmo, lauda illum. Accusando te, et laudando eum qui fecit te; veniet qui mortuus est pro te, et vivificabit te.

So do not despair. You are sick: come to him, and be healed. You are blind: come to him, and be enlightened. And you who are healthy, give him thanks; and you who are sick, run to him to be healed. Say, all of you: “Come, let us worship and fall down before him, and weep before the Lord who made us”—both men and saved. For if he made us men, and we made ourselves saved, we made something better than he. For a saved man is better than any man whatever. If then God made you a man, and you made yourself a good man, what you made is better. Do not exalt yourself above God; submit yourself to God; worship, fall down, confess to him who made you: for no one re-creates but he who creates; no one remakes but he who made. This too in another psalm: “He made us, and not we ourselves.” Of course, when he made you, you had nothing you could do; but when you already exist, you yourself also have something to do: run to the physician, implore the physician, who is everywhere. And that you might implore him, he roused your heart and granted you to be able to implore: “For it is God,” he says, “who works in you both to will and to work, according to good will.” Because, that you might have a good will, his calling went before. Cry, “My God, his mercy will go before me.” That you might exist, that you might feel, that you might hear, that you might consent, his mercy went before you. He went before you in everything: you too, go before his anger in something. In what, you say, in what? Confess that you have all these things from God—whatever good you have—and from yourself whatever evil. Lest in your good things you despise him and praise yourself; lest in your evil things you accuse him and excuse yourself: this is true confession. He who went before you in so many good things is going to come to you and inspect his gifts and your evils; he inspects you as to how you have used his good. So since he went before you in all these gifts, see in what you may go before the face of the one who is coming: hear the Psalm, “Let us come before his face with confession.” “Let us come before his face”: before he comes, let him be propitiated; before he is present, let him be appeased. For you have a priest through whom you can appease your God; and he, God with the Father, is man for your sake. So you will shout for joy in psalms, coming before his face with confession. Shout for joy in the Psalm: coming before his face with confession, accuse yourself; shouting for joy in the Psalm, praise him. By accusing yourself and praising him who made you, he will come who died for you, and he will give you life.

Ps 95:6 (94:6 Vulg.) (quotation, high confidence) · Ps 100:3 (99:3 Vulg.) (quotation, high confidence) · Phil 2:13 (quotation, high confidence) · Ps 59:10 (58:11 Vulg.) (quotation, high confidence) · Ps 95:2 (94:2 Vulg.) (quotation, high confidence)

Notes and citation

Summary: God made us and also saves us, for no one re-creates but the Creator; his grace goes before even our good will, so we should go before his anger by confessing that all good is from him and all evil from ourselves.

Quotations: Ps 95:6, 2 (94:6, 2 Vulg.); Ps 100:3 (99:3 Vulg.); Phil 2:13; Ps 59:10 (58:11 Vulg.). “Confession” here is both of sin and of praise, as Augustine explains.

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (OCR slip; OCR slips; punctuation slip; punctuation slips; stray mark): Nolite ergo, desperare. Ægroti estis, accedite ad eum, Et sanamini → Nolite ergo desperare. Ægroti estis, accedite ad eum, et sanamini; Et qui sani estis, I ei gratias agite → Et qui sani estis, ei gratias agite; Venite adoremus, ei prosternamur eit et ploremus coram Domino → Venite adoremus, et prosternamur ei, et ploremus coram Domino; Nam si ille nos fccit homines → Nam si ille nos fecit homines; quod tu fccieti melius est. Noli te extollore super Deum: subde te Deo, adcra → quod tu fecisti melius est. Noli te extollere super Deum: subde te Deo, adora; Ipse fecit nos. et non ipsi nos. → Ipse fecit nos, et non ipsi nos.; quid tu faceres non hahebas: quando autem jam es, habes ct tu ipse → quid tu faceres non habebas: quando autem jam es, habes et tu ipse; et posse implorare donavi: tibi; Deus est enim, iuquit, qui operatur → et posse implorare donavit tibi; Deus est enim, inquit, qui operatur; Quia ut haheres bonam voluntatem → Quia ut haberes bonam voluntatem; ne in malis tuis i!. lam accuses → ne in malis tuis illum accuses; antequam adsit, placetnr. Habes euim sacerdotem perquem possis → antequam adsit, placetur. Habes enim sacerdotem per quem possis; Ita jubilahis in Psalmis, præveniens faciem ejus in confessior.e. → Ita jubilabis in Psalmis, præveniens faciem ejus in confessione.; jubilans in Psahno, lauda illum. Accusando te, et laudando eum qui fccit te → jubilans in Psalmo, lauda illum. Accusando te, et laudando eum qui fecit te.

Topics: Christology

Cite (SBL): Augustine, Serm. 176.5 (PL 38:552–553; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-sermones/175-1/#p-176-5). (abbreviation not yet checked)

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176.6PL 38:553

Hoc tenete, in hoc persistite. Nemo variet, nemo leprosus sit. Doctrina inconstans, non habens unum colorem, mentis lepram significat: et istam Christus mundat. Forte in aliquo variasti, et inspexisti, et in melius sententiam commutasti; et quod varium erat, unius coloris effectum est. Noli tibi tribuere, ne sis inter novem qui gratias non egerunt. Unus egit gratias: cæteri Judæi erant: ille alienigena erat, gentes alienigenas significabat, numerus ille Christo decimas dedit. Illi ergo debemus quod sumus, quod vivimus, quod intelligimus: quod homines sumus, quod bene viximus, quod recte intelleximus, illi debemus. Nostrum nihil, nisi peccatum quod habemus. Quid enim habes, quod non accepisti? Vos ergo, maxime qui scitis quid audiatis, curatum ab ægritudine, mundatum a varietate sursum cor ponite, et Deo gratias agite.

Hold this; persist in this. Let no one be varied; let no one be leprous. Inconstant doctrine, not having one color, signifies leprosy of the mind; and this too Christ cleanses. Perhaps you varied in something, and looked into it, and changed your opinion for the better; and what was varied has been made of one color. Do not attribute it to yourself, lest you be among the nine who did not give thanks. One gave thanks: the rest were Jews; he was a foreigner; he signified the foreign nations; that number gave Christ a tithe. To him, then, we owe what we are, that we live, that we understand: that we are men, that we have lived well, that we have understood rightly, we owe to him. Nothing is ours except the sin that we have. “For what do you have that you did not receive?” You then, especially you who know what you are hearing, cured from sickness, cleansed from variegation, lift up your heart, and give thanks to God.

Luke 17:15–18 (allusion, high confidence) · 1 Cor 4:7 (quotation, high confidence)

Notes and citation

Summary: Inconstant doctrine, many-colored like leprosy, is cleansed by Christ; like the one grateful leper, a foreigner, believers must thank God for all they are and have, since only sin is their own.

Quotations: Luke 17:15–18 (allusion); 1 Cor 4:7. “The rest were Jews” is Augustine's reading of the parable; the tithe image (one in ten) is his.

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (OCR slip; OCR slips; word divided): Doctrina inconstans, non habens unnm colorem → Doctrina inconstans, non habens unum colorem; et In melius sententiam commutasti → et in melius sententiam commutasti; Noli tibi tribucre, ne sis inter novem → Noli tibi tribuere, ne sis inter novem; numerus ille Christo decimas dedif. Illi ergo debcmus quod sumus → numerus ille Christo decimas dedit. Illi ergo debemus quod sumus; illi debemus. N ostrum nihil → illi debemus. Nostrum nihil; curandum ab ægritudine, mundatum a varietate sursum cur ponite → curatum ab ægritudine, mundatum a varietate sursum cor ponite.

Topics: Heresy

Cite (SBL): Augustine, Serm. 176.6 (PL 38:553; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/augustine-sermones/175-1/#p-176-6). (abbreviation not yet checked)

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