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| Of the Formal Admission of the Catechumen, and of the Signs Therein Made Use of.
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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,1501
| 1501 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,1502
| 1502 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 seasoned1503
| 1503 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 apostle1504
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 solicitude1505
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,1506
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.E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
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