we made a profit from the sharpness of our discipline. One of those four men
SERMON 2290 325
There were some people, you see, who wanted to be the apostles' scholars, and they are recalled by the apostles themselves to a sounder state of mind. They were Christ's sheep, and they wanted to be men's; and some were saying, I belong to Paul; I though belong to Apollos; while I belong to Cephas-, there were sheep among them who did acknowledge the Lord: / though belong to Christ (1 Cor 1:12). But Paul knew very well that Christ had entrusted the apostles with his own sheep, and that they didn't belong to himself, and he repudiated this kind of ownership for himself; he confesses he is not the owner, not the lord, so that he might remain with the Lord. Was Paul crucified for you ? or were you baptized in the name of Paul? (1 Cor 1:13). You're his sheep, you don't know whose sheep you are. Read the stamp you were sealed with.4
Feed my sheep. Why? Because you love me, because you are devoted to me, I am committing my sheep to you. Feed them, but remember they're mine. Heretical leaders, though, wish to make their own the sheep that are really Christ's; all the same they are forced, willy-nilly, to set the stamp of Christ on them; to make them their own private flock, and yet to register them in the Lord's name. But what does divine scripture say to such people in the Song of Songs? You see, the bridegroom is addressing the bride, Christ the Church, and saying,
Unless you recognize yourself, O beautiful among women. What's beautiful among women? Catholic among heresies. Notice what a stem warning he's giving. Unless you recognize yourself, whose you are, what you believe, who you belong to, how far and wide you have spread, I'm throwing you out: Go out, you. What's Go out, you? What John says in his letter: They went out from us, but they were not of us (1 Jn 2:19). Go out, you, in the tracks of the flocks-, not in the tracks of the shepherd, but in the tracks of the flocks; following in the footsteps of men, not of Christ. And feed your goats-, not, like Peter, my sheep. And feed your goats where? In the tents of the shepherds (Sg 1:8); divided, in the tents of the shepherds, not in the tent of the shepherd. I have other sheep, which are not from this sheepfold; I must bring them along, and they will hear my voice; and there will be one flock and one shepherd (Jn 10:16).
Augustine announces to his people the conversion of one out of four
Eunomian heretics, whom he had previously warned them to avoid
4. I've some news for your graces; our severity yesterday was not in vain; we made a profit from the sharpness of our discipline. One of those four men has repudiated and anathematized the heresy of the Arians and Eunomians, and Arius and Eunomius themselves; he has become a Catholic. And so, while I pointed him out to you yesterday as someone to be shunned, I'm pointing him out to you today as someone to be cherished. So I recommend him to you, to look on him with joy, not with suspicion. I also urge you to pray for the others.5