These are also indeed good works, yet still laborious, whose reward is rest. But therefore it is said: Rejoicing in hope, so that, thinking upon the future rest, we may work with cheerfulness amid our labours. This cheerfulness the breadth of the cross signifies, in the transverse beam where the hands are fastened; for by the hands we understand works, by the breadth the cheerfulness of the worker, because sadness makes narrowness; but by the height, to which the head is joined, the expectation of retribution from the sublime justice of God, who will render to each according to his works—to those, indeed, who by patience in good work seek glory and honour and incorruption, eternal life.
And so also the length, by which the whole body is stretched out, signifies that same patience, whence those who endure are called longsuffering. But the depth, which is fixed in the earth, prefigures the secret of the sacrament. For you recall, unless I am mistaken, what apostolic words I set forth in this designation of the cross, where he says: Rooted and grounded in charity, that you may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the length, the breadth, the height, and the depth. Those things which we do not yet see and do not yet hold, but carry on by faith and hope, are figured in the other two days. For these things which we now do, fastened as it were by the nails of the precepts in the fear of God, as it is written:
Pierce my flesh with nails from your fear—are reckoned among things necessary, not among those which are to be sought and desired for their own sake. Whence he says that he desires that best thing, to be dissolved and to be with Christ; but to remain in the flesh, he says, is necessary for your sake. Therefore that which he says, to be dissolved and to be with Christ—from thence rest begins, because it is not interrupted by the resurrection, but glorified; which rest, however, is now held by faith, because the just man lives by faith. Know you not, he says, that whosoever of us have been baptized in Christ Jesus, have been baptized in His death? We are therefore buried together with Him through baptism into death. Whence, unless by faith?
For it is not yet made perfect in us, while we ourselves are still groaning within ourselves and awaiting the adoption, the redemption of our body: For we are saved by hope; but hope that is seen is not hope; for what a man sees, why does he also hope for? But if we hope for that which we do not see, we await it through patience. Remember how often I commemorate this. Nor let us think that we ought already now, in this present life, to be made blessed and free from all difficulties; and so, in the straits of temporal things, let us not murmur against God with sacrilegious mouth, as though He did not furnish what He promised. He promised indeed the necessities even for this life; but the consolations of the wretched are one thing, the joys of the blessed another:
Lord, he says, according to the multitude of my sorrows in my heart, your consolations have gladdened my soul. Let us not therefore murmur in difficulties, lest we lose that breadth of cheerfulness, concerning which it is said: Rejoicing in hope, because there follows: Patient in tribulation. The new life, then, is now begun in faith and carried on in hope; for it shall be, when death shall be swallowed up in victory, when that last enemy, death, shall be destroyed, when we shall be changed and made equal to the angels: For we shall all, he says, rise again, but we shall not all be changed; and the Lord says: They shall be, He says, equal to the angels of God. For we have now been apprehended in fear through faith, but then we shall apprehend in charity through sight.
For as long as we are in the body, we are on pilgrimage away from the Lord; for we walk by faith, not by sight. And so the Apostle himself, who says: That I may apprehend, even as I also have been apprehended, openly confesses that he has not apprehended: Brethren, he says, I do not reckon myself to have apprehended. But nevertheless, because that very hope, from the promise of the truth, is certain to us, when he had said: We are therefore buried together with Him through baptism into death, he subjoined and said: That, as Christ rose from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we also may walk in newness of life. We walk, therefore, in the reality of labour but in the hope of rest, in the flesh of the old but in the faith of the new. For he says:
The body indeed is dead because of sin, but the spirit is life because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of Him who raised up Jesus Christ from the dead dwells in you, He who raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies through His Spirit dwelling in you. These things, both from the authority of the divine Scriptures and by the consent of the universal Church, which is spread throughout the whole world, are celebrated through the yearly Pasch, indeed in a great sacrament, as you now understand. And in the old Scriptures no time is prescribed for keeping the Pasch except in that month of the new grain, from the fourteenth moon up to the twenty-first;
From the Gospel, nevertheless, since it is plain on what day the Lord was crucified, lay in the tomb, and rose again, there has been added also the observance of these very days through the councils of the Fathers, and the whole Christian world has been persuaded that Easter ought to be celebrated in this manner. Lent, indeed, the season of fasting, has authority both in the ancient books — from the fast of Moses and Elijah — and from the Gospel, since the Lord fasted for the same number of days, thereby showing that the Gospel does not dissent from the Law and the Prophets. For in the person of Moses the Law, and in the person of Elijah the Prophets are understood, and it was between these two that He appeared in glory upon the mountain, so that what the Apostle says of Him might shine forth more evidently: 'Having testimony from the Law and the Prophets.'
In what part of the year, then, could the observance of Lent more fittingly be established than close upon and contiguous with the Lord's Passion? For in that season is signified this toilsome life, which has need of continence, so that we may fast from the friendship of this very world, which never ceases deceitfully to flatter us and to scatter about and flaunt the false colours of its enticements.
I judge that this present life is figured by the number forty for this reason: that the number ten, in which lies the perfection of our blessedness — as in the number eight, because it returns to the first, so in this ten, because the creature, which is figured by seven, cleaves to the Creator, in whom is declared the unity of the Trinity — has been proclaimed in time throughout the whole world; for the world is both bounded by the four winds and raised up from the four elements and varied by the four annual changes of the seasons; and ten taken four times is completed in forty. Moreover, forty, when reckoned by its own parts, adds the very ten, and they become fifty, as it were the wage of labour and continence.
For not in vain did the Lord Himself both spend forty days after His resurrection on this earth and in this life in company with His disciples, and, after He had ascended into heaven, with ten days intervening, send the promised Holy Spirit on the completed day of Pentecost. And this fiftieth day holds another mystery: for seven times seven makes forty-nine, and when one returns to the beginning, which is the eighth, and also the first day, fifty are completed — days which are celebrated after the Lord's resurrection now as a figure not of toil but of rest and gladness. For this reason the fasts are relaxed, and we pray standing, which is a sign of the resurrection. Hence also on all the Lord's days this is observed at the altar, and the Alleluia is sung.
This signifies that our future activity will be nothing but the praise of God, as it is written: 'Blessed are they that dwell in Thy house; for ever and ever they shall praise Thee.' But the fifty days are commended also in the Scriptures, not only in the Gospel — because then the Holy Spirit came — but also in the ancient books. For they too, after they had celebrated the Passover by slaying the lamb, number fifty days until the day on which the Law was given on Mount Sinai, written by the finger of God for God's servant Moses; and in the books of the Gospel it is most plainly declared that the finger of God signifies the Holy Spirit. For when one Evangelist had said, 'By the finger of God I cast out demons,' another said this very same thing thus: 'By the Spirit of God I cast out demons.'
Who would not prefer this joy of the divine mysteries, when they shine forth with the light of sound doctrine, to all the empires of this world, even though these were pacified with unwonted felicity? Do not the two Seraphim, as it were, cry to one another, singing together the praises of the Most High: 'Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God of Sabaoth'? So the two Testaments, faithfully agreeing, sing together the hallowed truth. The sheep is slain, the Passover is celebrated, and after fifty days intervene the Law is given, written by the finger of God unto fear:
Christ is slain, He who was led as a sheep to the slaughter, as the prophet Isaiah testifies; the true Passover is celebrated, and after fifty days intervene there is given, unto love, the Holy Spirit, who is the finger of God — opposed to men who seek their own things and therefore bear a harsh yoke and a heavy burden and find no rest for their souls, because love seeks not the things that are its own. Therefore the animosity of the heretics is always restless; the Apostle declares that they have the attempt of Pharaoh's magicians when he says: 'For as Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses, so do these also resist the truth, men of corrupt mind, reprobate concerning the faith; but they shall proceed no further;'
'for their folly shall be manifest to all men, as theirs also was.' For because through that very corruption of mind they were most restless, at the third sign they failed, confessing that the Holy Spirit, who was in Moses, was against them. For, failing, they said: 'This is the finger of God.' But just as the Holy Spirit, when reconciled and appeased, grants rest to the meek and humble of heart, so, when opposed and adverse, He agitates the harsh and proud with unrest. This unrest those tiniest of flies signified, under which Pharaoh's magicians failed, saying: 'This is the finger of God.' Read Exodus and see where they celebrated the Passover, and after how many days the Law was given.
God speaks to Moses in the wilderness of Sinai on the third day of the third month. Mark, then, one day from the entrance of that third month, and see what He says among other things: 'Go down,' He says, 'testify to the people and sanctify them today and tomorrow, and let them wash their garments and be ready against the third day. For on the third day the Lord will come down upon Mount Sinai in the sight of all the people.' Then was the Law given, namely on the third day of the third month. Count therefore from the fourteenth of the first month, on which the Passover was kept, up to the third day of the third month: you will find seventeen of the first month, thirty of the second, three of the third, which make fifty.
The Law upon the threshing-floor is the sanctification in the body of the Lord, through whose resurrection the rest to come is promised us, and for the receiving of which love is breathed into us by the Holy Spirit. But the Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified. Hence that prophecy was sung: 'Arise, O Lord, into Thy rest, Thou and the ark of Thy sanctification.' Where there is rest, there also is sanctification. Whence now, that we may love and desire it, we have received a pledge. And all men are called to the rest of another life, whither there is a passing from this life — which the Passover signifies — in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
For this reason the number fifty, thrice multiplied, with the very number three added for the eminence of the mystery, is found in those great fishes which the Lord, already after His resurrection, showing forth the new life, commanded to be lifted up from the right side; nor were the nets broken, because then the restlessness of heretics will no longer exist. Then man will be perfect and at rest, purged in soul and body through the chaste utterances of the Lord — 'silver tried by fire for the earth, purified sevenfold' — and he will receive the reward, the denarius, so that they may be seventeen. For in this number too, as in others displaying manifold figures, a wonderful mystery is discovered.
Nor is it without reason that the seventeenth Psalm alone is read entire in the books of the Kingdoms, because it signifies that kingdom where we shall have no adversary. For its title is: 'On the day when the Lord delivered him from the hand of all his enemies and from the hand of Saul.' For who is figured in David but He who came according to the flesh from the seed of David? He who indeed in His own body, which is the Church, still suffers enemies. Hence to that persecutor — whom He slew with His voice and, casting him into His own body, in a certain manner devoured — there sounded from heaven: 'Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou Me?' But when shall this His body be delivered from the hand of all its enemies, save when that last enemy, death, shall also be destroyed?
To this time pertains that number of a hundred and fifty-three fishes. For the very number seventeen, rising into a triangle, completes the sum of a hundred and fifty-three. For rising from one up to seventeen, add all the intermediate numbers and you will find it: namely, to one add two, they make three; add three, they make six; add four, they make ten; add five, they make fifteen; add six, they make twenty-one; add so the rest and the seventeenth itself, they make a hundred and fifty-three. These things are most firmly held from the Scriptures, that is, the Passover and Pentecost. But that those forty days before Easter should be observed, the consensus of the Church has confirmed;
so also that the eight days of the newly baptized should be distinguished from the rest, that is, that the eighth should harmonize with the first. But that the Alleluia should be sung in the church only through those fifty days is not observed everywhere; for on other days too it is sung variously in one place and another, though on those days themselves everywhere. But whether it is observed everywhere that we pray standing both on those days and on all the Lord's days, I know not; nevertheless I have said, as best I could, what the Church follows in this, and I judge it to be manifest.
Concerning the washing of feet — since the Lord commended this for the sake of the pattern of humility which He had come to teach, as He Himself subsequently explained — the question has been raised at what time so great a matter might best be taught even by deed; and the answer fell upon that time in which the commendation itself might cling more religiously. But lest it should seem to pertain to the very sacrament of baptism, many were unwilling to receive this into custom. Some even did not hesitate to remove it from custom. But others, in order to commend it at a more secret time and to distinguish it from the sacrament of baptism, chose either the third day of the octave — because the number three also excels in many sacraments — or even the eighth day itself, to do this.
I marvel indeed that you wished me to write to you anything about these things which are variously observed in different places, since it is neither necessary and one most wholesome rule is to be maintained in these matters: that whatever things are not against the faith nor against good morals, and have something conducive to the encouragement of a better life, wherever we see them instituted or learn that they have been instituted, we should not only not disapprove of them but even follow them by praising and imitating — unless the weakness of certain persons so impedes that greater harm results.
For if it impedes in such a way that greater gains of the zealous are to be hoped for than harms of the slanderers are to be feared, it is without doubt to be done — especially that which can also be defended from the Scriptures, as in the singing of hymns and psalms, since we have the example and precepts both of the Lord Himself and of the Apostles. Concerning this matter, so useful for piously moving the mind and kindling the affection of divine love, the custom is varied, and very many members of the Church in Africa are rather sluggish, so that the Donatists reproach us because we soberly chant the divine songs of the prophets in church, while they inflame their drunken revels with the singing of psalms composed by human wit, as though with the trumpets of exhortation.
But when is there not a time, when the brethren are gathered in church, for singing holy things — save when there is reading, or disputation, or the presiding ministers pray aloud with a clear voice, or the common prayer is announced by the voice of the deacon? At other portions of time, indeed, what better thing could be done by assembled Christians, what more useful, what more holy, I do not at all see. But that which is instituted beyond custom, as though it were an observance of a sacrament, I cannot approve — even though, on account of avoiding the scandal of certain persons, whether holy or turbulent, I do not dare too freely to disapprove of many things of this kind. But this I grieve over exceedingly: how many things which are most wholesomely prescribed in the divine books are little cared for;
and all things are so full of so many presumptions that one who has touched the earth with bare foot during his octave is more severely rebuked than one who has buried his mind in wine. All such things, therefore, which are neither contained in the authorities of the Holy Scriptures, nor found established by the councils of bishops, nor strengthened by the custom of the universal Church, but are innumerably varied by the diverse impulses of diverse places — so that scarcely, or never at all, can the causes be found which men followed in instituting them — these, where opportunity is granted, I judge should without any hesitation be cut away.
For although it cannot even be discovered in what way they are against the faith, yet they burden with servile loads that very religion which the mercy of God willed to be free with the fewest and most manifest sacraments of celebrations, so that the condition of the Jews is more tolerable, who, even if they did not recognize the time of liberty, are yet subject to the burdens of the Law, not to human presumptions. But the Church of God, set amid much chaff and many tares, tolerates many things, and yet does not approve, nor keep silent about, nor practice those things which are against the faith or against a good life. And so that which you wrote — that certain brethren so abstain from eating flesh as to consider it unclean — is most plainly against the faith and sound doctrine.
But if I should wish to dispute this at greater length, it might be supposed by some that the Apostle here obscurely prescribed it — the Apostle who, among the many things he said on this matter, so detested the impious opinion of the heretics that he said: 'Now the Spirit manifestly says that in the last times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of demons, in the hypocrisy of men speaking lies, having their conscience seared, forbidding to marry, to abstain from meats which God created to be received with thanksgiving by the faithful and by those who have known the truth; for every creature of God is good, and nothing to be rejected which is received with thanksgiving;'
'for it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer.' And in another place he speaks of these matters: 'All things,' he says, 'are clean to the clean; but to the unclean and unbelieving nothing is clean, but both their mind and their conscience are defiled.' Do you yourself read the rest and recite it to those to whom you can. Let them not make void in themselves the grace of God, because we are called in liberty; only let them not take liberty as an occasion for the flesh, and therefore not now refuse, for the sake of restraining carnal concupiscence, to abstain from any foods whatsoever — because it is not permitted them to do so superstitiously and unbelievingly.
But those who read lots from the Gospel pages — although it is to be wished that they should rather do this than run to consult demons — nevertheless this custom too displeases me, of wishing to turn the divine oracles, which speak concerning another life, to the business of the world and to the vanity of this present life. Let these things suffice you for what you inquired — if you do not think so, you too greatly are ignorant both of my powers and of my occupations. For I am so far from that which you supposed, namely that nothing is hidden from me, that I have read nothing in your letter sadder than this — because it is most plainly false, and I marvel that this is hidden from you: that not only in innumerable other matters do many things lie hidden from me, but even in the holy Scriptures themselves I am ignorant of far more than I know.
But therefore I bear a hope not unfruitful in the name of Christ, because I have not only believed my God when He said that the whole Law and the Prophets hang on those two commandments, but I have also experienced, and daily experience, that no mystery, and no rather obscure discourse of the sacred writings, is opened to me wherein I do not find those same commandments: 'For the end of the commandment is charity out of a pure heart and a good conscience and faith unfeigned,' and: 'Love is the fulfilling of the Law.' And so you also, most dear one, whether these or other things, so read, so learn, that you remember that most true saying: 'Knowledge puffs up, but charity does not envy, is not puffed up.'
So then let knowledge be applied as a kind of scaffolding, by which the structure of love may rise up — love which abides for ever, even when knowledge shall be destroyed; which knowledge, when applied to the end of love, is very useful, but of itself, without such an end, has been proved not only superfluous but even pernicious. But I know what holy thought guards you under the shadow of the wings of the Lord our God. Yet I have admonished these things, though briefly, because I know that this very love of yours, which does not envy, will give and read this letter to many. LVI. TO THE MOST EXCELLENT LORD, DESERVEDLY HONOURABLE AND MOST BELOVED SON CELER, AUGUSTINE. I am not unmindful of my promise and of your wish.
But since I set out of necessity to visit the churches belonging to my care, I was neither able through myself to repay the debt immediately, nor did I wish it to be owed to you any longer, since it could be discharged even while I was engaged. Accordingly I have delegated to my most dear son the presbyter Optatus that, at whatever hours seem to you more opportune, he should read with you those things which I promised. When he shall have perceived that the whole can be done, how gratefully your excellency will receive this, so untiringly and keenly will he urge it to be done. But how much I love you, and how I wish you to be delighted and exercised in wholesome studies in the knowledge of things divine and human, I believe you understand excellently well.
If you do not spurn the charity of my office, I hope, in the Christian faith itself and in the manners now suited to a person of your standing, that you will have such advances as to await the last day of this smoke or temporal vapour which is called human life — the day which none of mortals is granted to evade — whether eager, or secure, or at least not despairingly anxious, not in the vanity of error but in the solidity of truth. For as certain as it is to you that you live, so certain let it be, by saving doctrine, that this life which is passed in temporal delights, in comparison with the eternal life which is promised to us through Christ and in Christ, is to be reckoned not life but death.
But in no way would I doubt of your natural disposition, that you will most easily extricate yourself from that custom of the Donatists, if you most religiously do not lightly esteem Christian purity itself. For by what unshaken foundations of proofs that error is refuted, it is no great matter even for those slow of wit — if only they will patiently and attentively listen — to see through. But to pursue an unaccustomed uprightness, to break the bond of a habitual, as it were familiar, perversity, is a matter of greater strength. And by no means is one to despair, with the Lord our God Himself aiding and exhorting, of that noble liberty and plainly manly breast of yours. May the mercy of the Lord our God keep you unharmed, most excellent lord, deservedly honourable and most beloved son. LVII.
TO THE MOST BELOVED LORD, DESERVEDLY HONOURABLE AND WORTHY-TO-BE-RECEIVED SON CELER, AUGUSTINE, GREETING IN THE LORD. That there was no just cause why the party of Donatus should sever itself from the whole world, throughout which the Catholic Church is spread abroad according to the prophetic and evangelical promises, I believe that your prudence, considering it more fully, most easily understands. Concerning which matter, if a more diligent disputation is necessary, I remember that I gave to your benevolence, to be read, a book, when your most dear son, my son Caecilius, had intimated to me that you had asked for it. Which book was with you for not a few days.
If, out of zeal for knowing this matter, you either wished or were able to read it amid your occupations, I do not doubt that your prudence has ascertained that they have nothing which they can plausibly contradict. And if perchance anything still moves you, as far as God grants and permits, perhaps we shall be able to answer you when you inquire, or likewise to give you something to read, most beloved lord and deservedly honourable and worthy-to-be-received son. Wherefore I beg that you would more diligently commend Catholic unity to the region of Hippo, to your men, especially to Paternus and Maurusius.
I know the vigilance of your heart, nor is it needful, I judge, to write more, since, if you wish, you can most easily learn both what others take care of and beware of in your possessions, and what is done in your affairs. It has been very strongly affirmed to me that in your estate there is a friend with whom I desire to be in concord; I beg you to favour this matter, that you may have both great praise among men and a great reward with God. For already, through a certain Carus, an intermediary of us both, he had sent me word that he feared some violent men of his, I know not who, lest he should do it — men whom, in your estate and with your favour, he will not be able to fear; nor should you yourself love in him not constancy but plainly obstinacy.
For it is base to change a true and right opinion; but to change a foolish and harmful one is even praiseworthy and wholesome. And as constancy does not allow a man to be depraved, so obstinacy does not allow him to be corrected; and therefore, just as the former is to be praised, so the latter is to be amended. The presbyter whom I have sent will more plainly intimate the rest to your prudence. May the mercy of God keep you unharmed and happy, most beloved lord, deservedly honourable and worthy-to-be-received son. LVIII. TO THE MOST EXCELLENT LORD, DESERVEDLY WORTHY-TO-BE-RECEIVED AND MOST BELOVED SON IN THE BOWELS OF CHRIST, PAMMACHIUS, AUGUSTINE, GREETING IN THE LORD. Your good works, sprouting by the grace of Christ, have made you to be honoured by us in His members, and plainly most well-known and most beloved.