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Against Five Heresies

NOTE ON THE FOLLOWING SERMON.

The treatise against five heresies, which Erasmus, indeed a learned, sharp, and eloquent man, had judged not to be of Augustine, unless perhaps, he says, he wrote it as a young man, is without hesitation attributed to Augustine by the Louvain scholars and Bellarmine, and others by the authority of Bede, who cites certain things from the fourth and fifth chapters of the same treatise in the first chapter of Paul's Epistle to the Romans. In fact, those words cited in the name of Augustine are found not only in the more extensive collection of Bede, which is more truly of Florus of Lyons, but also in another certain collection of Bede, which we have, a shorter one on Paul, not yet published. However, this sermon is found to have been delivered at a time when Africa was held under the dominion of the Arians, when already orthodox pastors, some exiled or fled, others removed by death, were being solicited by heretics with debates and attempted to be corrupted with gifts or money. In chapter 6, Where are you, he says, sources of tears? To which farmers do I speak? Some are dead, others have fled. And in chapter 7, (The Arian) opposes, cries out, argues, fights, gathers crowds, fights against Christ. He shed blood to redeem; this one scatters money to destroy. Similar things are read in sermon 2 to the Catechumens, number 24, and in the sermon on the Barbaric Time, number 10; which we have observed to fit the time of the Vandalic persecution stirred up after Augustine's death. Furthermore, the diction is neither accurate enough nor as serious as Augustine's usually is. For example, in chapter 3, he teaches that God the Father had a good will in place of a wife for begetting the Son. Moreover, what Augustine wrote against the Donatists, the author twists against the Arians, chapter 6: Why do we argue? If the inheritance is one for us, let us possess it together, we are brothers, etc. Therefore, we believe that Bede, just as in the spurious Collation with Pascentius, which we rejected into the appendix of the second volume, was deceived by the error of ancient codices that assign this treatise to Augustine. Hincmar makes mention of this book in his work on the non-trinitarian Deity, and because these words of chapter 7 were very inconvenient to his preconceived opinion: Thanks to you, true and one Trinity, one and threefold Truth, three and one Unity, he contends at length, from page 450 to 464, that they were inserted by some forger and impostor. Bellarmine says it is noted in the Index of Possidius, namely in that which John Ulimmerius published as interpolated: but nowhere in the others, both published and written, which we were able to see, is it found in the exemplars of the Possidian Index. We have reviewed and corrected the Treatise according to ten Vatican codices, one Germanensian, the Michaelinian, the Remigian, the Ebrulphensian, the Arnulphensian, the Cistercian, the Fossatensian, the Colbertine, the codex of the V. C. lord of Maran of Toulouse, the Tours of St. Gatian, and another codex of the Church of Lyons, in which it is titled Little Book against Five Heresies, or against Five Kinds of Enemies; because it is against Pagans, Jews, Manichaeans, Sabellians, and Arians.

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Sermo 10, aduersus quinque haereses.

ADMONITIO IN SUBSEQUENTEM SERMONEM.

Tractatum adversus quinque Haereses, quem Erasmus hominis eruditi quidem, et arguti et facundi esse censuerat, non tamen Augustini, nisi forte, ait, juvenis scripsit, Augustino sine cunctatione adjudicant Lovanienses et Bellarminus, aliique auctoritate Bedae, qui ex capite ejusdem tractatus quarto et quinto citat quaedam in caput primum Epistolae Pauli ad Romanos. Ea de facto verba nomine Augustini citata reperiuntur non solum in vulgata Bedae collectione illa auctiore, quae verius est Flori Lugdunensis; sed etiam in altera certa Bedae, quae penes nos est brevior in Paulum collectio, nondum typis edita. Verum sermo iste dictus eo tempore deprehenditur, quo Africa tenebatur Arianorum dominatu, quando jam orthodoxis pastoribus, aliis exsilio seu fuga, aliis morte sublatis, haeretici Catholicos et concertationibus sollicitabant, et largitionibus pecuniave corrumpere tentabant. In capite 6, Ubi estis, inquit, fontes lacrymarum? Quibus agricolis loquor? Alii sunt mortui, alii fugati. Et cap. 7, Adversatur (Arianus), clamat, litigat, pugnat, turbas congregat, contra Christum dimicat. Ille sanguinem fudit, ut redimat; iste pecuniam spargit, ut perimat. Similia leguntur in sermone 2 ad Catechumenos, n. 24, et sermone de Tempore barbarico, n. 10; quae tomo sexto, in tempus Vandalicae persecutionis post Augustini mortem excitatae convenire observavimus. Praeterea dictio nec satis accurata, nec tam seria est, quam solet esse Augustini. Exempli gratia, in cap. 3, Deo Patri ad gignendum Filium conjugis vice fuisse bonam voluntatem docet. Ad haec quod Augustinus in Donatistas scripsit, id auctor in Arianos torquet, cap. 6: Quare litigamus? Si una nobis est haereditas, simul possideamus, fratres sumus, etc. Credimus itaque Bedam hic, quemadmodum et in subdititia Collatione cum Pascentio, quam in secundi tomi appendicem rejecimus, deceptum esse errore veterum codicum qui hunc tractatum Augustino assignant. Hujus libri mentionem facit Hincmarus, lib. de non trina Deitate, et quia praeconceptae illius opinioni valde incommoda erant haec capitis 7: Gratias tibi, vera et una Trinitas, una et trina Veritas, trina et una Unitas, ibi multis contendit, a pagina scilicet 450 ad 464, ea a falsario et impostore aliquo fuisse immissa. In Indice Possidii notatum dicit Bellarminus, in eo videlicet, quem interpolatum edidit Joannes Ulimmerius: nusquam vero in caeteris, tum editis, tum scriptis, quae videre nobis licuit, Possidiani Indicis exemplaribus invenitur. Recognovimus Tractatum et emendavimus ad codices Vaticanos decem, ad Germanensem unum, ad Michaelinum, ad Remigianum, ad Ebrulphensem, ad Arnulphensem, ad Cisterciensem, ad Fossatensem, ad Colbertinum, ad codicem V. C. domini de Maran Tolosatis, ad Turonensem S. Gatiani, et ad alium Ecclesiae Lugdunensis codicem, in quibus inscribitur Libellus adversus quinque haereses, sive contra quinque hostium genera; quia nempe est contra Paganos, Judaeos, Manichaeos, Sabellianos et Arianos.