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ST. AUGUSTINE

Aurelius Augustinus (St. Augustine) was born at Tagaste in Numidia, November 13, 354 A.D. His father, Patricius, was a pagan of respectable position; his mother, St. Monica, was one of the noblest Christian women of antiquity. He was early taught the Christian faith by his mother, but in his youth gave himself up to debauchery. Although his knowledge of Greek was always limited, his general education was good. In the course of his studies to fit himself for the career of a rhetorician, he visited the best schools and became acquainted with all the principal Latin writers. Augustine's conversion to Christianity, after some years spent among the Manichæans, took place under Ambrose of Milan, in 386. At this turn in his affairs, he gave up his profession, and, not long after his baptism (Easter, 387), embraced the monastic life. He was ordained priest in 391 at Hippo Regius, an insignificant city of North Africa. In 395 he was consecrated Coadjutor Bishop of Hippo, and soon became sole Bishop. By his genius Hippo was made the intellectual centre of the Western Church. He died August 28, 430, at Hippo. which was at that time besieged by the Vandals.

St. Augustine's sermons are not constructed on the elaborate plan popular in the East. They are not set speeches; rather, they are thoughtful, deeply earnest expoundings of the meaning of Scripture as it had revealed itself in the experience of the preacher. There is no strict adherence to the text and little attempt at a grammatical and philological exegesis. These sermons are aimed to impress the fundamental truths and to open up the heart to the influences of grace. Spiritual insight is their highest quality.

Most ample materials are accessible for the biography of this great man. He has himself given an account of his youth and conversion in his Confessions (written about 400), a

spiritual autobiography of unsurpassed power. His numerous letters and the many references in his controversial works to events with which he was connected supply the rest. St. Augustine enjoys a distinguished position in the history of philosophy, having made valuable contributions to psychology, the philosophy of history (De Civitate Dei), and metaphysics. The best edition of St. Augustine's complete works is the Benedictine, 8 vols. in 11 folio, Paris, 1679-1700, reprinted by Migne. The Vienna Academy has undertaken a new edition in its Corpus scriptorum ecclesiasticorum latinorum, of which a few volumes have appeared. A full analysis of the contents of each volume of the Benedictine Edition may be found in Dupin, History of Ecclesiastical Writers of the Fifth Century, London, 1698, pp. 125-207. There are translations of nearly all of St. Augustine's works in the Oxford Library of the Fathers; editions of T. & T. Clark, Edinburgh; and the Christian Literature Company, New York.

The literature on St. Augustine is very extensive. Consult Church Histories, histories of dogma, and histories of philosophy. Limited but good bibliographies may be found in Herzog's Real Encyclopädie, in Harnack's Dogmengeschichte, Freiburg, 1800, iii., 54 f., and in Dr. Schaff's Prolegomena to the American reprint of the Edinburgh and Oxford translations of St. Augustine's works. A few titles only may be given here. Reuter, Augustinische Studien, Gotha, 1887; Windelband, Geschichte der Philosophie, Freiburg, 1892 (pp. 217-226), since translated; Bindemann, Der heilige Augustinus, 3 vols., 1842-1869; Nourisson, La Philosophie de St. Augustin, 2 vols., Paris, 1866; Harnack, Dogmengeschichte (see above); Gangauf, Des heiligen Augustinus speculativ Lehre von Gott dem Dreieinigen, Augsburg, 1865; Allen, Continuity of Christian Thought, Boston, 1885; Ueberweg, History of Philosophy (English translation), New York, 1872, vol. i.; Mozley, The Augustinian Doctrine of Predestination, London, 1855 (much more comprehensive than the title might imply); Cutts, St. Augustine, London, 1886.

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Augustine. The following sermon was "delivered at the Table of St. Cyprian, in the presence of Count Boniface." An account of Count Boniface, the friend of St. Augustine, may be found in chapter xxxiii. of Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. This sermon probably belongs to the closing years of St. Angustine's life, as Count Boniface was not in Africa until within a few years of St. Augustine's death. From the reference to the Table of St. Cyprian, it would appear that this sermon was delivered at Carthage.

"If thy brother sin against thee, rebuke him."-Luke xvii., 3.

HE Holy Gospel which we heard just now as

THE

it was being read has admonished touching the remission of sins. And on this subject must ye now be admonished by my discourse. For we are ministers of the word, not our own word, but the word of our God and Lord, whom no one serves without glory, whom no one despises without punishment. He then, the Lord our God, who, abiding with the Father, made us, and having been made for us, remade us, He, the Lord our God, Jesus Christ Himself, says to us what we have heard just now in the Gospel. "If," He saith, "thy brother shall sin against thee, rebuke him,

and if he shall repent, forgive him; and if he shall sin against thee seven times in a day, and shall come and say, I repent, forgive him." He would not have "seven times in a day" otherwise understood than "as often as may be," lest haply he sin eight times, and thou be unwilling to forgive. What then is "seven times"? Always, as often as he shall sin and repent. For this, "Seven times in a day will I praise Thee," is the same as in another Psalm, "His praise shall always be in my mouth." And there is the strongest reason why seven times should be put for that which is always; for the whole course of time revolves in a circle of seven coming and returning days.

Whosoever then thou art that hast thy thoughts on Christ, and desirest to receive what He hath promised, be not slow to do that which He hath enjoined. Now what hath He promised? "Eternal Life." And what hath He enjoined ? That pardon be given to thy brother. As if He had said to thee, "Do thou, O man, give pardon to a man, that I, who am God, may come unto thee." But that I may pass over, or rather pass by for a while, those more exalted divine promises in which our Creator engages to make us equal with His angels, that we may with Him, and in Him, and by Him, live without end: not to speak of this just now, dost thou not wish to receive of thy God this very thing, which thou art com

manded to give thy brother? This very thing, I say, which thou art commanded to give thy brother, dost thou not wish to receive from thy Lord? Tell me if thou wishest it not; and so give it not. What is this, but that thou shouldest forgive him that asks thee, if thou requirest to be forgiven? But if thou hast nothing to be forgiven thee, I dare to say, be unwilling to forgive. Though I ought not even to say this. Though thou hast nothing to be forgiven thee, forgive.

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Thou art just on the point of saying to me, "But I am not God: I am a man, a sinner." God be thanked that thou dost confess thou hast sins. Forgive then, that they may be forgiven thee. Yet the Lord our God Himself exhorteth us to imitate Him. In the first place God Himself, Christ, exhorteth us, of whom the Apostle Peter said, Christ hath suffered for us, leaving you an example that ye should follow His steps, who did no sin, neither was guile found in His mouth." He then verily had no sin, yet did He die for our sins, and shed His blood for the remission of sins. He took upon Him for our sakes what was not His due, that He might deliver us from what was due to us. Death was not due to Him, nor life to us. Why? Because we were sinners. Death was not due to Him, nor life to us; He received what was not due to Him, He gave what was not due to us. But since we are speaking of the

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