Chapter 26.—Of the Formal Admission of the Catechumen, and of the Signs Therein Made Use of.

50. At the conclusion of this address the person is to be asked whether he believes these things and earnestly desires to observe them. And on his replying to that effect then certainly he is to be solemnly signed and dealt with in accordance with the custom of the Church. On the subject of the sacrament, indeed,171    It has been supposed by the Benedictine editors that sane may be a misreading for salis. Whether that be or be not the case, the sacramentum intended here appears to be the sacramentum salis, in reference to which Neander (Church History iii. p. 458, Bohn’s Translation) states that “in the North African Church the bishop gave to those whom he received as competentes, while signing the cross over them as a symbol of consecration, a portion of salt over which a blessing had been pronounced. This was to signify the divine word imparted to the candidates as the true salt for human nature.” There is an allusion to the same in the Confessions (i. 11), where Augustin says, “Even from my mother’s womb who greatly hoped in thee, I was signed with the sign of His cross, and seasoned with His salt.” which he receives, it is first to be well impressed upon his notice that the signs of divine things are, it is true, things visible, but that the invisible things themselves are also honored in them, and that that species,172    Speciem = kind, in reference to the outward and sensible sign of the salt. which is then sanctified by the blessing, is therefore not to be regarded merely in the way in which it is regarded in any common use. And thereafter he ought to be told what is also signified by the form of words to which he has listened, and what in him is seasoned173    Adopting condiat, which unquestionably is the reading most accordant with the figure of the sacramental salt here dealt with. Some editions give condatur = what is hidden in it, i.e. in the said form of words. by that (spiritual grace) of which this material substance presents the emblem. Next we should take occasion by that ceremony to admonish him that, if he hears anything even in the Scriptures which may carry a carnal sound, he should, even although he fails to understand it, nevertheless believe that something spiritual is signified thereby, which bears upon holiness of character and the future life. Moreover, in this way he learns briefly that, whatever he may hear in the canonical books of such a kind as to make him unable to refer it to the love of eternity, and of truth, and of sanctity, and to the love of our neighbor, he should believe that to have been spoken or done with a figurative significance; and that, consequently, he should endeavor to understand it in such a manner as to refer it to that twofold (duty of) love. He should be further admonished, however, not to take the term neighbor in a carnal sense, but to understand under it every one who may ever be with him in that holy city, whether there already or not yet apparent. And (he should finally be counselled) not to despair of the amendment of any man whom he perceives to be living under the patience of God for no other reason, as the apostle174    Rom. ii . 4 says, than that he may be brought to repentance.

51. If this discourse, in which I have supposed myself to have been teaching some uninstructed person in my presence, appears to you to be too long, you are at liberty to expound these matters with greater brevity. I do not think, however, that it ought to be longer than this. At the same time, much depends on what the case itself, as it goes on, may render advisable, and what the audience actually present shows itself not only to bear, but also to desire. When, however, rapid despatch is required, notice with what facility the whole matter admits of being explained. Suppose once more that some one comes before us who desires to be a Christian; and accordingly, suppose further that he has been interrogated, and that he has returned the answer which we have taken the former catechumen to have given; for, even should he decline to make this reply, it must at least be said that he ought to have given it;—then all that remains to be said to him should be put together in the following manner:—

52. Of a truth, brother, that is great and true blessedness which is promised to the saints in a future world. All visible things, on the other hand, pass away, and all the pomp, and pleasure, and solicitude175    Curiositas of this world will perish, and (even now) they drag those who love them along with them onward to destruction. The merciful God, willing to deliver men from this destruction, that is to say, from everlasting pains, if they should not prove enemies to themselves, and if they should not withstand the mercy of their Creator, sent His only-begotten Son, that is to say, His Word, equal with Himself, by whom He made all things. And He, while abiding indeed in His divinity, and neither receding from the Father nor being changed in anything, did at the same time, by taking on Himself human nature,176    Hominem and appearing to men in mortal flesh, come unto men; in order that, just as death entered among the human race by one man, to wit, the first that was made, that is to say, Adam, because he consented unto his wife when she was seduced by the devil to the effect that they (both) transgressed the commandment of God; even so by one man, Jesus Christ, who is also God, the Son of God, all those who believe in Him might have all their past sins done away with, and enter into eternal life.

CAPUT XXVI.

50. Initiatio catechumeni, cum expositione signorum. Sermo quandoque brevior adhibendus. Incipit sermo alius brevior. Filius Dei immissus, ut a morte quae per Adamum intravit, liberaremur. His dictis, interrogandus est an haec credat atque observare desideret. Quod cum responderit, solemniter utique signandus est et Ecclesiae more tractandus. De sacramento sane quod accipit , cum ei bene commendatum fuerit, signacula quidem rerum divinarum esse visibilia, sed res ipsas invisibiles in eis honorari; nec sic habendam esse illam speciem benedictione sanctificatam, 0345 quemadmodum habetur in usu quolibet: dicendum etiam quid significet et sermo ille quem audivit, quid in illo condiat , cujus illa res similitudinem gerit. Deinde monendus est ex hac occasione, ut si quid etiam in Scripturis audiat quod carnaliter sonet, etiamsi non intelligit, credat tamen spirituale aliquid significari, quod ad sanctos mores futuramque vitam pertineat. Hoc autem ita breviter discit , ut quidquid audierit ex Libris canonicis quod ad dilectionem aeternitatis et veritatis et sanctitatis, et ad dilectionem proximi referre non possit, figurate dictum vel gestum esse credat; atque ita conetur intelligere, ut ad illam geminam referat dilectionem. Ita sane ut proximum non carnaliter intelligat, sed omnem qui cum eo in illa sancta civitate potest esse, sive jam, sive nondum appareat: et ut de nullius hominis correctione desperet, quem patientia Dei videt vivere, non ob aliud, sicut Apostolus ait, nisi ut adducatur ad poenitentiam (Rom. II, 4).

51. Si longus tibi videtur iste sermo, quo tanquam praesentem rudem hominem instruxi, licet ea tibi dicere brevius, longiorem tamen esse debere non puto: quanquam multum interest quid res ipsa, cum agitur, moneat, et quid auditorum praesentia non solum ferre, sed etiam desiderare se ostendat. Cum autem celeritate opus est, vide quam facile explicari tota res possit. Fac rursus adesse aliquem, qui velit esse christianus: ergo et interrogatum, illud quod superior respondisse; quia et si non hoc respondet, hoc eum respondere debuisse dicendum est. Deinde hoc modo et caetera contexenda.

52. Vere, frater, illa magna et vera beatitudo est, quae in futuro saeculo sanctis promittitur. Omnia vero visibilia transeunt, et omnis hujus saeculi pompa et deliciae et curiositas interibunt, et secum ad interitum trahunt amatores suos. A quo interitu, hoc est, poenis sempiternis Deus misericors volens homines liberare, si sibi ipsi non sint inimici, et non resistant misericordiae Creatoris sui, misit unigenitum Filium suum, hoc est, Verbum suum aequale sibi, per quod condidit omnia. Et manens quidem in divinitate sua, et non recedens a Patre, nec in aliquo mutatus, assumendo tamen hominem, et in carne mortali hominibus apparendo venit ad homines: ut quemadmodum per unum hominem qui primus factus est, id est Adam, mors intravit in genus humanum, quia consensit mulieri suae seductae a diabolo, ut praeceptum Dei transgrederentur; sic per unum hominem qui etiam Deus est Dei Filius, Jesum Christum, deletis omnibus peccatis praeteritis, credentes in eum omnes in aeternam vitam ingrederentur (Id. V, 12-19).