Where is His name not found in the mouths of readers, disputants, inquirers, respondents, adorers, singers, all sorts of haranguers, and lastly even of blasphemers themselves? And although no one keeps silence about Him, who is there that apprehends Him as He is to be understood, although He is never out of the mouths and the hearing of men? Who is there, whose keenness of mind can even get near Him? Who is there that would have known Him as the Trinity, had not He Himself desired so to become known? And what man is there that now holds his tongue about that Trinity; and yet what man is there that has any such idea of it as the angels? The very things, therefore, that are incessantly being uttered off-hand and openly about the eternity, the truth, the holiness of God, are understood well by some, and badly by others: nay rather, are understood by some, and not understood at all by others. For he that understands in a bad way, does not understand at all. And in the case even of those by whom they are understood in a right sense, by some they are perceived with less, by others with greater mental vividness, and by none on earth are apprehended as they are by the angels. In the very mind, therefore, that is to say, in the inner man, there is a kind of growth, not only in order to the transition from milk to solid food, but also to the taking of food itself in still larger and larger measure. But such growth is not in the way of a space-covering mass of matter, but in that of an illuminated understanding; because that food is itself the light qt the understanding. In order, then, to your growth and apprehension of God, and in order that your apprehension may keep full pace with your ever-advancing growth, you ought to be addressing your prayer, and turning your hope, not to the teacher whose voice only reaches your ears, that is, who plants and waters only by outside labor, but to Him who giveth the increase. 3 2. Accordingly, as I have admonished you in my last sermon, take heed, those of you speciallv who are still children and have need of a milk diet, of turning a curious ear to men, who have found occasion for self-deception and the deceiving of others in the words of 3 1 Cor. iii. 6.
Tractate XCVII.]
3/D the Lord, " I have yet manj^ things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now," in order to the discovery of that which is unknown, while you still have minds that are incompetent to discriminate between the true and the false; and most especially on account of the obscene lewdnesses which Satan has instilled, by God's permission, into unstable and carnal souls, for this end, that His judgments may everywhere be objects of terror, and that pure discipline may best manifest its sweetness in contrast with the impurities of wickedness; and that honor may be given to Him, and fear and modesty of demeanor assumed by every one, who has either been kept from falling into such evils by His kingly power, or been raised out of them by His uplifting hand. Beware, with fear and prayer, of rushing into that mystery of Solomon's, where " the woman that is foolish and brazen-faced, and become destitute of bread," invites the passers-by with the words, " Come and make a pleasant feast on hidden bread, and the sweetness of stolen waters. '' ' For the woman thus spoken of is the vanity of the impious, who, utterly senseless as they are, fancy that they know something, just as was said of that woman, that she had "become destitute of bread; " who, though destitute of a single loaf, promises loaves; in other words, tliough ignorant of the truth, she promises the knowledge of the truth. But it is bread of a hidden character she promises, and which she declares is partaken of with pleasure, as well as the sweetness of stolen waters; in order that what is publicly forbidden to be uttered or believed in the Church, may be listened to and acted upon with willingness and relish.
For by such secrecy profane teachers give a kind of seasoning to their poisons for the curious, that thereby they may imagine that they learn something great, because counted worthy of holding a secret, and may imbibe the more sweetly the folly which they regard as wisdom, the hearing of which, as a thing prohibited, they are represented as stealing.
3. Hence the system of magical arts commends its nefarious rites to those who are deceived, or ready to be so, by a sacrilegious curiosity. Hence, also, those unlawful divinations by the inspection of the entrails I Prov. ix. 13-17, accordinK to the Scf)tiia,i;int, where, in verse i3,JTi*'712 's rendered ei'Serjt i|/(u^oO, "in want of a morsel of bread," as if from nr or JTiJlS, a morsel. The form of the word, however, as well as the.Masorrtic pointing, shows its connection with "JIC '" the sense of " siin|ilicity " or "folly" persdnified,.And iiKain in verse 17, the LXX. have (lartly inverted the llihnw order of the words, and translate "rn^"' (" "'''-■ sweet ") in its active sense of " taste with relish " (or pleasure), as if it were Irjl^. Imperative; and read Ci?2'' (" '^ sweet ' ) in the last clause, as if it were 2*'i''^ "■■ d'ji "sweet," or "sweetness: " hence.Viiijustin's rendennK al)ove. The Vulgate corresponds more nearly with the Hebrew and our Knglish version. — Tk.
of slain animals, or of the cries and flights of birds, or of mnltiform demoniacal signs, are distilled by converse with abandoned wretches into the ears of persons who are on the brink of destruction. And it is because of these unlawful and punishable secrets that the woman mentioned above is styled not merely " foolish," but also " audacious." But such things are alien not only to the reality, but to the very name of our religion. And what shall we say of this foolish and brazen-faced woman seasoning, as she does, so many wicked heresies, and serving up so many detestable fables with Christian forms of expression? Would that they were only such as are found in theatres, w^iether as the subjects of song or dancing, or turned into ridicule by a mimicking buffoonery; and not, some of them, such as makes us grieve at the foolishness, while wondering at the audacity that could have contrived them, against God! And yet all these utterly senseless heretics, who wish to be styled Christians, attempt to color the audacities of their devices, which are perfectly ahorrent to every human feeling, with the chance presented to them of that gospel sentence uttered by the Lord, " I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now: " as if these were the very things which the apostles could not then bear, and as if the Holy Spirit had taught them what the unclean spirit, with all the length he can carry his audacity, blushes to teach and to preach in broad daylight.
4. It is such whom the apostle foresaw through the Holy Spirit, when he said: " For the time will come when they will not enilure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; and they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables."- For that mentioning of secrecy and theft, whereof it is said, "Partake with pleasure of hidden bread and the sweetness of stolen waters,'' creates an itching in those who listen with ears that are lusting after spiritual fornication, just as by a kind of itching also of desire in the flesh tiie soundness of chastity is corrupted. Hear, therefore, how the apostle foresaw such things, and gave salutary admonition about avoiding them, when he said, "Shun profane novelties of words; for they increase unto much ungotlliness, and their speech insinuates itself as doth a cancer."^ He did not say novelties of wordh merely; but added, " profane.''
- 2 Tim. iv. 3. 4.
3 2 Tim. ii. 16, 17. AuKUStin translates (Cfvo^uii'iot ("babblinKS," "empty utterances," 7vi;//Ay"''', ^'u'K'ite) as if it read Kaico^uiWat, " novelties of words." — Ik.
3/6 [Tractate XCVIIl.
For there are also novelties of words in perfect harmony with religious doctrine, as is told us in Scripture of the very name of Christians, when it began to be used. For it was in Antioch that the disciples were first called Christians after the Tord's ascension, as we read in the Acts of the Apostles: ' and certain houses were afterwards called by the new names of hospices^ and monasteries; but the things themselves existed prior to their names, and are confirmed by religious truth, which also forms their defense against the wicked. In opposition also to the impiety of Arian heretics, they coined the new term, Patris Homousios;3 but there was nothing new signified by such a name; for what is called Homousios is just this: *' I and my Father are one,"-* to wit, of one and the same substance. For if every novelty were profane, as little should we have it said by the Lord, "A new commandment I give unto you;" 5 nor would the Testament be called New, nor the new song be sung throughout the whole earth. But there is profanity in the novelties of words, when it is said by " the foolish and audacious woman, Come and enjoy the tasting of hidden bread, and the sweetness of stolen waters." From such enticing words of false science the apostle also gives his prohibitory warning, in the passage where he says, " O Timothy, keep that which is committed to thy trust, avoiding profane novelties 1 Acts xi. 26, 2 Xenodochia, houses of entertainment for strangers.
3 " Of the same essence (or substance) with the Father," as applied to Christ.
of expression, and oppositions of science falsely so called; which some professing, have erred concerning the faith."* For there is nothing that these men so love as to profess science, and to deride as utter silliness faith in those verities which the young are enjoined to believe.
5. But some one will say. Have spiritual men nothing in the matter of doctrine, which they are to say nothing about to the carnal, but to speak out upon to the spiritual? If I shall answer. They have not, I shall be immediately met with the words of the Apostle Paul in his Epistle to the Corinthians: "I could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal. As unto babes in Christ I have given you milk to drink, and not meat to eat: for hitherto ye were not able; neither yet now are ye able; for ye are yet carnal; '' ^ and with these, "We speak wisdom among them that are perfect;" and with these also, "Comparing spiritual things with spiritual: but the natural man perceiveth not the things of the Spirit of God; for they are foolishness unto him."^ The meaning of all this, in order that these words of the apostle may no longer lead to the hanke'ring after secrets through the profane novelties of verbiage, and that what ought always to be shunned by the spirit and body of the chaste may not be asserted as only unable to be borne by the carnal, we shall, with the Lord's permission, make the subject of dissertation in another discourse, so that for the time we may bring the present to a close.
TRACTATE XCVIII Chapter XVI. 12, 13 (cotitinuea).
I. From the words of our Lord, where He says, " I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now, "there arose a difficult question, which I recollect to have put off, that it might be handled afterwards at greater leisure, because my last discourse had reached its proper limits, and required to be brought to a close. And now, accordingly, as we have time to redeem our promise, let us take up its discussion as the Lord Himself shall grant us ability, who put it into our heart to make the proposal. And the question is this: Whether spiritual men have aught in doctrine which they should withhold from the carnal, but declare to the spiritual. For if we shall say, They have not, we shall meet with the reply, What, then, is to be made of che words of the apostle in writing to the Corinthians: " I could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal. As unto babes in Christ, I have given you milk to drink, and not meat to eat: for hitherto ye were not able; neither yet now are ye able; for ye are yet carnal?"' But if we say. They have, we have cause to fear and take hedd, lest under such a pretext Tractatf. XCVIII.]
zn detestable doctrines be taught in secret, and under the name of spiritual, as things which cannot be understood by the carnal, may seem not only capable of being whitewashed by plausible excuses, but deserving also to be lauded in preaching.
2. In the first place, then, your Charity ought to know that it is Christ Himself as crucified, wherewith the apostle says that he has fed those who are babes as with milk; but His flesh itself, in which was witnessed His real death, that is, both His real wounds when transfixed and His blood when pierced, does not present itself to the minds of the carnal in the same manner as to that of the spiritual, and so to the former it is milk, and to the latter it is meat; for if they do not hear more than others, they understand better.
For the mind has not equal powers of perception even for that which is equally received by both in faith. And so it happens that the preaching of Christ crucified, by the apostle, was at once to the Jews a stumbling-block, and to the Gentiles foolishness; and to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, the power of God, an^ the wisdom of God; '^ ' but to the carnal, as babes who held it only as a matter of faith, and to the spiritual, as those of greater capacity, who perceived it as a matter of understanding; to the former, therefore, as a milk-draught, to the latter as solid food: not that the former knew it in one way out in the world at large, and the latter in another way in their secret chambers; but that what both heard in the same measure when it was publicly spoken, each apprehended in his own measure. For inasmuch as Christ was crucified for the very purpose of shedding His blood for the remission of sins, and of divine grace being thereby commended m the passion of His Only-begotten, that no one should glory in man, what understanding had they of Christ crucified who were still saying, " I am of Paul "? = Was it such as Paul himself had, who could say, " But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ "?3 In regard, therefore, even to Christ crucified, he himself found food in proportion to his own capacity, and nourished them with milk in accordance with their infirmity. And still further, knowing that what he wrote to the Corinthians might doubtless be understood in one way by those who were still babes, and differently by those of greater capacity, he said, "If any one among you is a prophet, or spiritual, let him acknowledge that the things tiiat I write unto you are the commandment of the Lord: but I Cor. i. 12."
if any man be ignorant, let him be ignorant." * Assuredl}' he would have the knowledge of the spiritual to be substantial, wherever not only faith had found a suitable abode, but a certain power of understanding was possessed; and whereby such believed those very things which as spiritual they likewise acknowledged. But " let him be ignorant," he says, who "is ignorant;" because it was not yet revealed to him to know that which he believes. When this takes place in a man's mind, he is said to be known of God; for it is God who endows him with this poA'er of understanding, as it is elsewhere said, " But now, knowing God, or rather, being known of God." 5 For it was not then that God first knew those who were foreknown and chosen before the foundation of the world;* but then it was that He made them to know Himself.
3. Having ascertained this, therefore, at the outset, that the very things, which are equally heard by the spiritual and the carnal, are received by each according to the slender measure of his own capacity, — by some as babes, by others as those of riper years, — by one as milk nourishment, by another as solid food, — there seems no necessity for any matters of doctrine being retained in silence as secrets, and concealed from infant believers, as things to be spoken of apart to those who are older, or possessed of a riper understanding; and let us regard it as needful to act thus, just because of the words of the apostle, " I could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal." For even this very statement of his, that he knew nothing among them but Jesus Christ and Him crucified,' he could not speak unto them as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal; because even that they were not able to receive as spiritual. But all who were spiritual among them received with spiritual understanding the very same truths which the others only heard as carnal; and in this way may we understand the words, '' I could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal," as if he said. What I did speak, ye could not receive as spiritual, but as carnal. For " the natural man" — that is, the man whose wisdom is of a mere human kind, and is called natural [literally, soulish] from the so.il, and carnal from the flesh, because the complete man consists of soul and flesh — " perceiveth not the things of the Spirit of God;"^ that is, the measure of grace bestowed on believers by the cross of Christ, and thinks that all that is effected by that cross is to proviile us with an example for our imitation in contending even to death 37. 38.
K|>h. i.
0/ [Tractate XCVIII.
for the truth. For if men of this type, who have no desire to be aught else than men, knew how it is that Christ cruciiied is " made of God unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption, that, according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord." ' they would doubtless no longer glory in man, nor say in a carna! spirit, " I am of Paul, and I of Apollos, and I of Cephas; " but in a spiritual way, " I am of Christ. '' = 4. But the question is still further raised by what we read in the Epistle to the Hebrews: " When now for the tune ye ought to be teachers, ye have need again to be taught which be the first principles of the oracles of God; and are become such as have need of milk, and not of strong meat. For every one that useth milk hath no experience in the word of righteousness; for he is a babe. But strong meat belongeth to them that are perfect, even those who by habit have their senses exercised to distinguish good from evil."^ For here we see, as if clearly defined, what he calls the strong meat of the perfect; and which is the same as that which he writes to the Corinthians, "We speak wisdom among them that are perfect." * But who it was that he wished in this passage to be understood as perfect, he proceeded to indicate in the words, " Even those who by habit have their senses exercised to distinguish good from evil." Those, therefore, who, through a weak and undisciplined mind, are destitute of this power, will certainly, unless enabled by what may be called the milk of faith to believe both the invisible things which they see not, and the comprehensible things ivhich they do not yet comprehend, be easily seduced by the promise of science to vain and sacrilegious fables: so as to think both of good and evil only under corporeal forms, and to have no idea of God Himself save as some sort of body, and be able only to view evil as a substance; while there is rather a kind of falling away from the immutable Substance in the case of all mutable substances, which were made out of nothing by the immutable and supreme substance itself, which is God. And assuredly whoever not only believes, but also through the exercised inner senses of his mind understands, and perceives, and knows this, there is no longer cause for fear that he will be seduced by those who, while accounting evil to be a substance uncreated by God, make God Himself a mutable substance, as is done by the Manicheans, or any other pests, if such there be, that fall into similar foily.
5. But to those who are still babes in mind, and who as carnal, the apostle says, require to be nourished with milk, all discoursing on such a subject, wherein we deal not only with the believing, but also with the understanding and the knowing of what is spoken, must be burdensome, as being still unable to perceive such things, and be more fitted to oppress than to feed them. Whence it comes to pass that the spiritual, while not altogether silent on such subjects to the carnal, because of the Catholic faith which is to be preached to all, yet do not so handle them as, in their wish to simplify them to understandings that are still deficient in capacity, to bring their discourse on the truth into disrepute, rather than the truth that is in their discourse within the perceptions of their hearers. Accordingly in his Epistle to the Colossians he says; "And though I be absent in the flesh, yet am I with you in the spirit, joying and beholding your order, and that which is lacking ^ in your faith in Christ."* And in that to the Thessalonians: " Night and day," he says, "praying more abundantly, that we might see your face, and might perfect that which is lacking in your faith." ^ Here we are, of course, to understand those who were under such primary catechetical instruction, as implied their nourishment with milk and not with strong meat; of che former of which there is mention made in the Epistle to the Hebrews of an abundant supply for such as nevertheless he would now have had to be feeding on solid food. Accordingly he says: " Therefore leaving the word of the beginning of Christ, let us have regard to the completion; not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God, of the doctrine of the baptismal font, and of the laying on of hands, and of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment." ^ This. is the copious supply of milk, without which even they cannot live, who have already indeed their reason sufficiently in use to enable them to believe, but who cannot distinguish good from evil, so as to be not only a matter of faith, but also of understanding (which belongs to the department of solid food). But when he includes doctrine also in his description of the milk, it is that which has been delivered to us in the Creed and the Lord's Prayer.
6. But let us be far from supposing that there is any contrariety between this milk and 2 I Cor. i. 12.
3 Heb. V. 12-14.
5 In place of to (rrepeajfia, solidity, steadfastness^ Augustin reads to va-Tcprifxa, that ivhieh is lacking. So also in his epistle to Paulinus, which is marked 149 (in Migne's edition of Augustin).
6 Col. ii. 5.
7 I Thess. lii 10.
SHeb.
Tractate XCVIII.]
the food of spiritual things that has to be received by the sound understanding, and which was wanting to the Colossians and Thessalonians, and had still to be supplied. For the supply of the deficiency implies no disapproval of that which existed. For even in the very food that we take, so far is there from being any contrariety between milk and solid food, that the latter itself becomes milk, in order to make it suitable to babes, whom it reaches through the medium of the mother's or the nurse's body; so did also mother Wisdom herself, who is solid food in the lofty sphere of angels, condescend in a manner to become jnilk for babes, when the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us. ' But the man Christ Himself, who in His true flesh, true cross, true death, and true resurrection is called the pure milk of babes, is, when rightly understood by the spiritual, found to be the Lord of angels. Accordingly, babes are not to be so fed with milk as always to remain without understanding the Godhead of Christ; nor are the}'' to be so withdrawn from milk as to turn their backs on His manhood. And the same thing may also be stated in another way in this manner: they are neither so to be fed with milk as never to understand Christ as Creator, nor so to be withdrawn from milk as ever to turn their backs on Christ as Mediator. In this respect, indeed, the similitude of