Just as in slippery evils pleasant things are believed to be so precisely because they quickly pass away, as it were displaying the flower of themselves, so these were the more suspect to him for this reason: because they captivate their follower by appearance, destroy him by pleasure, and abandon him by their swiftness. Considering therefore all the empty things of the present world, and gathering them before his eyes, and looking down upon them as from the citadel of wisdom, and, in comparison with things eternal, spurning them as nothing, he armed his breast, now filled with God, with the consolations and colloquies of his own will according to his faith: 'I have nothing more manifestly in common with you, passing figure of the deceitful world.'
By this one manner I shall gain the victory: by forsaking you; nor do I again incur loss, and by the use of you I shall rather seize from you a palm made bright. How much you are nothing, and how great at times is the vanity of earthly things! You promise much while you are held, but you bestow more when you are rejected. Sought after, you take your followers captive; despised, you glorify your despisers, conferring great riches through hatred and flight from you. What need of more?
Holy Augustine, shut in amid the shipwrecks of this life, placed in the midst of the billows of the world, and set as it were with Jonah in the jaws of that devouring and monstrous beast, crying to the Lord out of the deep—the world, though unwilling, vomited him forth and sent him out for the advancement of all the churches, for whose benefits he was being prepared. And because this is the nature of righteousness and virtue, that the more zealously it desires to be hidden for a longer time, the more clearly it becomes known, and the very concealment is a betrayal, the fame conscious of such great goods flew everywhere among the peoples, and with the odor of a most delightful sweetness shone far and wide.
He was eminent even in a lowly place, in the admiration of all, like a city set upon the top of a mountain; nor could the lamp now lie hidden under a bushel, nor was the greatness of his overflowing light, like a star, received or contained within its own hiding-place. So a great lamp is not kindled for itself, but casts its light afar and upon the things round about, pouring out a beautiful light with the flaming brilliance of doctrine, and was present whole to all and entire to each, by the bounty of our Lord Jesus Christ, who with the Father and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns as God through the infinite ages of ages. Amen. XXVIII. A SERMON ON THE REVELATION OF THE BODY OF BLESSED STEPHEN, TO BE READ ON THE FINDING.
In the present reading we have received a vision celebrated by all the churches; we have heard not dreams deluded by the slippery error of the senses, but oracles approved by the effects of the events. Deservedly do we believe in the revelation in the discourse, we who hold the fruit in the gift. Where are they who say that pious honors are not to be paid to the martyrs? Behold, this man, who already long since enjoys the blessed splendor of paradise, is now shown to the world for this purpose, that he may be venerated. Wherefore God, the dispenser of our benefits, evidently commands him to be honored, whom he granted to be found. The discourse of the revelation says, then, that neither bird nor beast violated that sacred body. Where are they who wish the sacred ashes of the martyrs to be seen as unhonored?
Behold, the brute nature of beasts and birds, which has no understanding, yet renders a diligent homage to its friend and shuns the unlawful touch, having perhaps reverenced the secret of angelic guardianship. The bird did not touch him, the beast did not violate him. With great reproach of cruelty the reverence of the beasts already condemns man, for by how much more does the savagery of wild beasts pass over to us as impiety of a hardened heart, and our humanity pass over to the beasts. This man therefore, first both minister and martyr of the nascent church, being subjected by the ardor of glory even to the very summit and height of merits, escaped, and being made a Levite of Christ's altar, suddenly became a priest of his own blood.
And after that singular and illustrious victory of the Lord, as leader of an untried contest and author of a new triumph, the standard-bearer of the white-clad army, he offered up to God the notable first-fruits of martyrdom from himself. The herald of truth and the follower of the Redeemer was destroyed by the hard hail of stones with manifold wounds, at the hands of the impious nation of the Jews, which, hot with recent parricide, was panting for the crime of monstrous guilt—more beautiful and, with his stained garment, whiter. To this end the diverse graces from his earliest years, and the disciplines of the law and the prophets, had prepared him.
Blessed is he whose life, happily administered, was more happily spent; blessed is he whose life was set forth as an example in the world, consummated in the testimony of God, taken up into the patronage of the whole earth; blessed is he in whom an illustrious life trod down death, nay rather, in whom death was the exchange of life. Others are consumed through the common lot of the ancient transgression, by the general exit, or by various fevers and the kinds of mortality imposed on them. Blessed is this man, who, pouring out his unspotted spirit for the honor of Christ, made an occasion of glory out of the necessity of nature, and merited to turn the debt of his condition into the gain of virtue; so that what the law of origin and of crime claimed for itself in man from the ages, all of it
the devotion of praise seized for itself in him. And so, after the triumph of the Lord, in him for the first time cruel death also recognized that it could be conquered even by a servant, so that, though in life, it might grow accustomed to yield up life from itself to the martyrs to come. When therefore he sweated in spiritual contests, with the gates of righteousness unbarred and heaven as witness, filled with the Holy Spirit and with a mind made drunk by God, he spoke thus: 'Behold, I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.' Full therefore of the Spirit, and seeing the Son of Man at the right hand, under the spectacle of the Trinity he set forth the gifts of his passion. So then concerning him and concerning the Jews the divine discourse testifies: 'They saw,' it says, 'his face as it were the face of an angel.'
Doubtless the brightness of his mind had poured itself out wholly even into the beauty of his outward appearance. With such a countenance the presence of the angel [made] him, who had seen the face of God. The Jews therefore saw his face as it were the face of an angel. It is a great portion of their damnation, if the impious be not allowed to be ignorant of their own crime. They saw his face as it were the countenance of an angel, so that they could not take the fruit of their hatred, but only that which serves for their warning. While even in the present they behold the glory of him whom they persecute, so that they almost already received a part through their eyes; while they understand him, whom in their fury they rejoice to see extinguished, to be consecrated through their own ministry—they saw his face. He who appeared such in the battle, of what sort do we suppose he will appear in the kingdom?
Or that God, the arbiter of merits, who adorned him dying with such an appearance, with what appearance, do you think, will he clothe him rising again? And bowing his knees he prayed, saying: 'Lord, lay not this sin to their charge.' Willingly dying, he prayed for the authors of his own slaying, because the glory of a precious death was not hidden from him. 'Lord, lay not this sin to their charge.' Do you think that he will ever cease to intercede for suppliants, who prayed for his persecutors? He who rendered this to stones, what will he render to vows? He who, being stoned, interceded, what will he do when invoked? This man therefore neither nobility nor means, but faith, made a son of God and an angel, believing indeed in the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.
In this confession of God he subscribed neither with hand nor with the lips alone, but with his blood, and swore by his death. But you say: no authority of the Scriptures speaks that honor should be paid to the martyrs. And where is that which the prophet attests through the Holy Spirit: 'But to me your friends, O God, are exceedingly to be honored'? He could show them no greater honor than to pronounce them the friends of God, than to believe that in their countenance he honored God. 'But to me your friends, O God, are exceedingly to be honored,' that is: your benefits, O Lord, I embrace in the merits of your own; your gifts I admire in their virtues; and in your own, concerning your gifts, I rightly venerate you.
And so, since our God testifies that he is clothed in the freezing man, refreshed in the hungry man, honored in the poor man, saying thus: 'He who did it to one of these least did it to me,' it follows that we must believe him to say and feel thus concerning his elect: 'The reverence which anyone strives to pay to my saints, he renders to me. It is fitting that he be honored in my name, who honored me in his own blood.' Divine providence therefore appointed these as healers for human infirmities, so that by a mutual and delightful commerce both the intercessor [might be aided] by his worshipper and the worshipper by his intercessor.
Since these things are so, beloved, let us venerate the sacred and venerable ashes of the martyrs with all the strength we can, so that the pardon of our sins, which by our own merits we are not able to obtain, we may procure by their suffrages, our Lord Jesus Christ granting this, who lives unto the ages of ages. Amen. XXVIIII. A SERMON ON PENTECOST. Today, dearest brethren, all things which have been read to us agree with the festival. For the psalm says: 'Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation, and strengthen me with a princely spirit'; the gospel, moreover, says: 'The Spirit of truth is come'; and the scripture of the Acts of the Apostles: 'They were all,' it says, 'filled with the Holy Spirit.' All things therefore are completed and made perfect.
The psalm asked for the coming of the Holy Spirit; the gospel promised that he would come; the scripture of the Acts of the Apostles recorded that he had already come. Nothing therefore of the order of divine things is lacking in the reading, since in the prophet there is entreaty, in the gospel a promise, in the Acts the fulness. For concerning the Holy Spirit himself the blessed apostle Paul also testifies, saying: 'To one is given the word of wisdom, to another the word of knowledge, to another faith in the same Spirit. But all these one and the same Spirit works, dividing to each one as he wills.' But perhaps at this point someone says:
'If the Spirit divides his gifts only to those whom he wills, then he who does not receive the gift is without fault, since the division of graces depends not on the will of the receiver but on the judgment of the divider.' It is true, most beloved, but it is nevertheless true in such a way that we understand this only concerning the virtues, not concerning life. For we cannot obtain all the virtues, even if we wish; yet the life we can all attain, if we seek it, according to that saying: 'For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds.' The division therefore of the sublime and excellent graces pertains to the judgment and dispensation of the Holy Spirit; the conversation of a good life pertains to man's faith and labor. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds.
Let anyone only ask with his whole heart and seek: he who commanded you to seek, without doubt grants that you may be able to find. For does the divine discourse lie? 'Knock,' it says, 'and it shall be opened to you.' Why did he command us to knock, unless because he wishes to open to those who knock? Even into men themselves this iniquity does not fall, that one should wish to be asked who is unwilling to grant. For everyone who has no will to bestow shuns the request of the petitioner. There is no one who wishes to be asked, unless he who first deliberates within himself that he will grant. Therefore God, who wishes to bestow on all, wishes to be asked by all, saying: 'Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and you shall find.' But perhaps someone can say:
If everyone who asks receives, then, if we ask for spiritual powers, we shall receive them too. For why should we not also ask for such powers, if we can obtain whatever we ask? It is not so, beloved. For it is proud, and beyond the condition of man, to demand the grace of miraculous powers. Human petition ought indeed to be humble, not presumptuous, asking for salvation alone, not for vanity. For since no man can be free from sin, what impudence is it that he who cannot yet be fully secure of pardon should ask for powers? It is enough, therefore, for a man to merit the mercy of the Lord. He ought to believe that he has obtained the greatest grace of powers from God, who has been able to attain to forgiveness.
For whoever asks presumptuously, by that very fact merits the less to receive, if he has presumed to ask for higher things. To this may be added that a man who asks for the grace of powers, even if he does not offend God by the presumption of his prayers, may nevertheless be endangered by vanity. For it is not expedient for all to possess the grace of exercising such powers. For there are some placed higher in humility than those puffed up with the boasting of sanctity. There are some for whom the very loftiness of graces is perilous. He who, being placed on high, does not know how to stand firm, by that very fact falls the more grievously, in that he has climbed to higher things. And therefore the blessed Apostle says: 'There are diversities of graces,' and: 'All these worketh one and the selfsame Spirit, dividing to each as he wills.' Well does he say:
'as he wills,' because nothing is better for a man than what He wills. For the will of the Holy Spirit knows well how to dispense His own gifts. Nothing is more profitable than that a man should have only so much of powers as the Holy Spirit has judged that He ought to confer upon him. Assuredly, if anyone desires to obtain the grace of powers, he has powers which he may innocently seek. Let him seek chastity, let him lay hold of sobriety, let him keep discipline, let him love charity. For these powers we all can and ought to have by the grace of God. For powers are not to be believed to consist solely in casting out demons, or in curing the sick, or in granting healings. Every good work is a power.
If you act well daily, if you live holily and justly, you daily accomplish the holy works of powers. If someone cannot cast out a demon from another, let him at least cast out from himself the vices of the demon's assault. If someone cannot cure the disease of another's body, let him cure the disease of his own soul. It is not required of a man that he bestow the grace of healings, which has not been given him by the Deity. He can effect nothing greater than if he himself has merited to attain to his own health. After the labor of the vigils, it is not fitting that a longer sermon should weary you further. And therefore, whoever is spiritual and desires to hear a fuller sermon on the divinity of the Holy Spirit, let him come tomorrow early to the church, thirsting and faithful.
For whoever neglects to come will most plainly show that he is not spiritual. But we trust, concerning the mercy of God, that the grace of the Holy Spirit will prevail more among you than the occupation of this world, our Lord Jesus Christ granting it, to whom be glory unto ages of ages. Amen. XXX. A SERMON ON THE HOLY TRINITY. When there is discourse concerning God, most dear brethren, just as the intent of contradiction is exceedingly harmful, so the concern of inquiry is profitable. For in the one, understanding is obstructed by obstinacy of mind; in the other, understanding is nourished by inquiry. There, resisting unbelief delights to be corrupted; here, obedient humility merits to be instructed.
But you, most dear brethren, prepare the receptacle of your holy heart for the divine water flowing in; and what we desire to convey concerning the mystery of the Holy Trinity and the divinity of the Holy Spirit, receive with silence and quiet. For by the testimonies of the holy Scriptures we wish to prove how the Holy Spirit can evidently be recognized as coequal with the Father and the Son in all powers. We read in the Old Testament that 'in the beginning God made heaven and earth, and the Spirit of God was borne over the waters.' In 'God' understand the Father; in 'the beginning' receive the Son; in that which was spread over the waters recognize the Holy Spirit. Over the waters, therefore, was borne the eminence of the ruling One, even then, I believe, prefiguring the gifts of baptism.
In the making of man also, the threefold repetition of the Deity shows that the work is not of one but of three persons. For thus we read: 'And God said: Let us make man according to our image and likeness.' Notice the sentence, simple in the proposal, manifold in the response. 'And God said: Let us make man.' What else is this but that the substance of unity speaks and the power of the Trinity works? Observe how in the creation of man the name of God is called upon three times. For thus we have in Genesis: 'And God said: Let us make man,' and again: 'God created man,' and thirdly: 'God blessed him.' God said, God made, God blessed. The Father said, the Son made, the Holy Spirit blessed.
On account of the three persons, the one Godhead is repeated thrice. In this place understand evidently also the mystery of unity. Behold, the image and likeness of God is given to each single man by the Three, and yet is discerned to be one. 'God said: Let us make.' Attend diligently, while one speaks and not one makes, and while again He mingles the plural with the singular, nor does He say: 'according to our images and likenesses,' or indeed: 'according to my image and likeness,' He commends unity by singularity, Trinity by plurality. And so in that He says: 'Let us make according to our own,' the number of persons is unfolded; but in that He says in the singular: 'according to the image and likeness,' the undivided Deity is gathered into one substance.
When God had appeared to Abraham at the door of the tabernacle, and out of One three had marvelously offered themselves to his eyes, he, conscious of the majesty, adored One in three. In the Psalms too the unity is absolutely designated with its own persons: 'Cast me not away,' he says, 'from thy face, and take not thy Holy Spirit from me.' Behold, the prophet, supplicating the Father, dreads no less the offense of the Holy Spirit than of the Father and the Son. 'Cast me not away,' he says, 'from thy face.' The Son, as He is the image of the Father, so also is received as the face of the Father, and therefore we read: 'Philip, he who sees me sees also the Father'; likewise: 'Whither shall I go from thy Spirit, and whither shall I flee from thy face?' Take note, O unbeliever, of the mystery of the perfect confession of the Trinity.
The prophet speaks to the Father, professes the Son to be the face of the Father, and likewise attests the Holy Spirit diffused through all things. But concerning the Son the Lord also speaks to Moses: 'My face shall go before thee.' Which name, that is, 'face,' pertains both to the substance of unity and to the coeternity of majesty. Isaiah too numbers the Holy Spirit as one in the glory of the Trinity, when he says: 'I saw the Lord sitting upon a lofty throne, and the Seraphim were standing and crying one to another: Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God of Sabaoth.' And in what follows he says: 'And I heard the voice of the Lord saying: Go, and thou shalt say to this people: Hearing you shall hear and shall not understand, and seeing you shall see and shall not perceive.'
Let us believe at least Paul, that most renowned herald of the truth, that the Holy Spirit was that Lord of hosts whom Isaiah saw and who spoke through Isaiah. But because he leaps forth with the threefold repetition, 'Holy, holy, holy,' let us see whether this honor regards the whole Trinity. When Isaiah says: 'I saw the Lord of Sabaoth,' he is recognized to proclaim the Father to the Jews. John the Evangelist is proved openly to assert the Son, saying thus: 'Therefore they could not believe in Jesus, because Isaiah said: He hath blinded their eyes and hardened their heart. These things said Isaiah, when he saw the glory of the Son of God and spoke of him.' But that same thing which Isaiah says: 'And I heard the voice of the Lord saying: Go, and say to this people:'
Hearing you shall hear and shall not understand, and seeing you shall see and shall not perceive'—the Apostle Paul, as we have said, confirms this Lord to be the Holy Spirit. You see, therefore, that this voice 'Holy, holy, holy' celebrates together the whole Trinity; and just as in these three words there is no dissimilarity, no difference, so in the power of the Trinity there can be no distance. But you say: 'From this the Holy Spirit is evidently recognized to be less, in that He is called the finger of God.' It is not so. But when you hear it said of the Holy Spirit: 'If I by the finger of God cast out demons,' know that not a diminution of glory, but a unity of substance is demonstrated, and not a discrepancy of honor, but a concord of work. What then?
Because the Holy Spirit is sometimes called the finger (of God), is He therefore believed to be less than the Son and the Father? Flee from the error of this persuasion; see lest sometimes in this designation of the finger it comprehend both the Father and the Son. Let us remember that it was not said of one finger, when we read: 'For I shall see thy heavens, the works of thy fingers.' But you say that in the 'fingers' this is signified only of the Son and the Holy Spirit under a certain duality. Lest you attempt to assert this of two persons, in another place Isaiah speaks of the Trinity by the number of three fingers only, saying: 'Who hath weighed the mass of the earth with three fingers?' What could be more evident concerning the unity of the Trinity, what clearer?
Does He not here weigh the equality of one power in three fingers upon a certain scale of mystery? Therefore, as has been said, since you are now instructed concerning the fellowship of the work, do not doubt concerning the parity of power. Therefore in saying: 'Who hath weighed the mass of the earth with three fingers,' here He wished to speak especially of the cooperation of power and of the unity of substance, which is proved to be one and the same in the three fingers. Although the Holy Spirit always kindles your heart to hear the word of God, so that your holy desires can scarcely be satisfied, yet care must be taken that the preaching of the word of God be so tempered that it may be continually desired by you and always increased. Therefore let now these things which have been said suffice for your charity.
And because we have believed that something of this sermon should be reserved for you, if according to your custom you gather tomorrow early, without any weariness, the morning offices being finished, you shall hear what has been purposely reserved, our Lord Jesus Christ granting it, to whom be honor unto ages of ages. Amen. XXXI. A SERMON ON THE HOLY SPIRIT. What we reserved yesterday for your charity concerning the divinity of the Holy Spirit, now, if you bid, you can hear opportunely and fittingly with silence and quiet. Since we demonstrate the proper person of the Holy Spirit, and confess the Father to be unbegotten, but know the Son to be only-begotten, you ask of me whether the Holy Spirit is to be confessed as unbegotten, or begotten, or something else.
The holy Scriptures speak of the power and deity of the Holy Spirit, but whether He ought to be called begotten or unbegotten, they do not say. See what darkness unbelief makes for itself. You are unwilling to know what God did not wish to be unknown, and you wish to know what He did not command to be inquired into. He did not say 'begotten,' lest you should believe Him to be the Son; He did not say 'unbegotten,' lest you should think Him the Father; but, for the distinction of essence, He attested that He proceeds from the Father, as we read: 'the Paraclete, who proceeds from the Father.' Since these things are so, even thus recognize that the Holy Spirit has His own proper person. The diversity of name proves Him to be a third besides the two; the unity of majesty shows that He who proceeds from God is not third in order or degree.
For He who proceeds from the inner things of God is proved to be not the creature of God, but the substance of God. Do not scrutinize how He is God, when it is manifest that He is God. Here reason is hidden, truth is not hidden. Why do you inquire how He is the companion and equal of the King, who is established to be of royal honor and lineage? Superfluously is inquiry made concerning the name, where there is no doubt concerning the sublimity. Therefore, because the Holy Spirit proceeds from both, therefore it says: 'But whoever has not the Spirit of the Lord, this one is not His,' and in another place: 'He breathed and said: Receive the Holy Spirit.' Whether He is unbegotten or begotten, you require. Of this the sacred oracles have sung nothing; it is impious to break into the divine silences.
What God did not believe should be indicated in His Scriptures, He did not will to be inquired into or known by superfluous curiosity. Is the glory or substance of the Holy Spirit at all in this, whether He be proved unbegotten or begotten? For it detracts nothing from the Son that He is not read to be unbegotten, nor from the Father that He is not held to be begotten. In discourses of this kind there is a property of appellation, not a diversity of power or majesty. Begotten and unbegotten is a difference of person, not of nature. But concerning the Holy Spirit our Lord and Savior, when about to go to heaven, spoke thus to His apostles:
'When,' He says, 'the Paraclete shall come, whom I will send to you, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, He shall give testimony of me,' and again: 'He,' He says, 'shall teach you all things.' What is this, beloved, that the Savior said He would send the Holy Spirit to teach the disciples? Had He not taught His apostles, or is the doctrine of Christ to be thought half-complete? No, without doubt. But because your faith is in the Father and in the Son and in the Holy Spirit, the Savior wished by sending the Holy Spirit to show this: that both the will of God the Father builds His churches, and the passion of the Son redeems them, and the doctrine of the Holy Spirit confirms them. How can this be recognized more evidently?
How, except that for our redemption God the Father sent His Son, the Son saved us by His passion, and the Holy Spirit inspired faith in us? And so the salvation of the churches is the operation of the whole divine Trinity. For the piety of the Father willed not that the human race should perish; the Son freed us from destruction; the Holy Spirit leads us through to the heavenly kingdoms. Yet so believe in the Holy Spirit that you think Him to be neither the Father nor the Son, but the Spirit of the Father and of the Son. And this whole Trinity is one God. There is no dissimilarity there, no division. For if the spirit that is in man is the greater portion of man himself, how is the Spirit of God to be believed to be less?