To Augustine, Bishop of the Angles

Gregory to Augustine, and so on. [a]

“Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men of good will.” For a grain of wheat has fallen into the earth and died, so that it might not reign in heaven alone. He it is by whose death we live, by whose weakness we are made strong, by whose suffering we are rescued from suffering, through whose love we seek in Britain for brothers we did not know, and by whose gift we find those we sought without knowing them. But who can describe how great a joy has sprung up here in the hearts of all the faithful, because the Angles, through the working of the grace of Almighty God and the labor of your fraternity, have cast away the darkness of error and been flooded with the light of holy faith? With a mind now wholly sound they trample on the idols they once groveled before in senseless fear. They fall down with a pure heart before Almighty God. They are held back from slipping into wrongdoing by the rules of holy preaching. They bow down in heart to God’s commands, so that they may be lifted up in understanding. They humble themselves to the very ground in prayer, so that in mind and soul they may not lie upon the ground. Whose work is this but his who says, “My Father is working still, and I am working”? To show that he converts the world not by human wisdom but by his own power, he chose unlettered men as the preachers he sent into the world. And he does the same even now, for he has been pleased to work mighty works among the Angles through weak men. But in this heavenly gift, dearest brother, there is cause for very serious fear along with great joy. For I know that Almighty God has shown great miracles through your love among the people he has willed to be chosen. So you must rejoice with fear over this same heavenly gift, and tremble as you rejoice. Rejoice, that is, because the souls of the Angles are drawn by outward miracles to inward grace; but tremble, in case, amid the signs that are done, the weak mind lifts itself up in presumption about itself, and, exalted in honor outwardly, falls inwardly through empty glory. For we ought to remember how the disciples returned from preaching with joy and said to their heavenly Master, “Lord, in your name even the demons are subject to us,” and at once they heard, “Do not rejoice in this; rejoice rather that your names are written in heaven.” For they had set their minds on a private and passing gladness when they rejoiced in the miracles. But they are called back from private to shared gladness, from the passing to the eternal, when it is said to them, “Rejoice in this, that your names are written in heaven.” For not all the chosen work miracles, and yet the names of all of them are kept enrolled in heaven. For the disciples of the Truth should have no joy except in the good they share with all, and in which their gladness has no end. [b]

It remains, then, dearest brother, that amid the things you do outwardly through God’s working, you should always judge yourself closely within. Understand closely both what you yourself are and how great the grace is among that people, for whose conversion you have received even the gift of working signs. And if at any time you remember having offended our Creator, whether in word or in deed, always call these things back to mind, so that the memory of guilt may keep down the rising glory of the heart. And whatever gift of working signs you may receive or have received, regard these powers as granted not to yourself but to those for whose salvation they have been given you. Further, as I think on these things, there comes to my mind what happened to one servant of God, and one especially chosen. Moses, certainly, as your fraternity knows, worked wonderful miracles when he led God’s people out of Egypt. Fasting forty days and nights on Mount Sinai, he received the tablets of the law. Amid lightning and thunder, while all the people trembled, he was bound to the service of Almighty God, alone with him even in close conversation. He opened a way through the Red Sea. He had a pillar of cloud to lead him on his journey. When the people were hungry he gave them manna from heaven. When they longed for meat he supplied it in the wilderness by a miracle, until they had far more than enough. But when, in a time of drought, they had come to the rock, he lost confidence and doubted that he could draw water from it, though at the Lord’s command he still opened it without fail in plentiful streams. And after these, how many great miracles did he do during thirty-eight years in the desert? Who can count them or search them out? Whenever a doubtful matter troubled his mind, he went to the tabernacle and asked the Lord in secret, and was taught about it at once, God speaking to him. When the Lord was angry with the people, he appeased him by stepping in with his prayer. Those who rose up in pride and broke away in discord he swallowed up in the jaws of the gaping earth. He bore down his enemies with victories, and showed signs to his own people. But when the land of promise had at last been reached, he was called up into the mountain, and heard of the fault he had committed thirty-eight years before, as I have said, when he doubted that he could draw water from the rock. And for this reason he was told that he might not enter the land of promise. Here we must consider how fearful is the judgment of Almighty God, who did so many signs through that servant of his, and still kept his fault in remembrance for so long a time. [e]

So, dearest brother, if we find that even he whom we know to have been especially chosen by Almighty God died for a fault after so many signs, with what fear ought we to tremble, who do not yet know whether we are chosen?

And what should I say of the miracles of the reprobate, when your fraternity knows well what the Truth says in the Gospel: “Many will come on that day, saying to me, ‘Lord, in your name we have prophesied, and in your name have cast out demons, and in your name have done many wonderful works.’ But I will say to them, ‘I do not know who you are. Depart from me, all you workers of wickedness’”? So the mind should be kept well down amid signs and miracles, in case one perhaps seeks one’s own glory in them and exults in a private joy at one’s own exaltation. For through signs we should seek the winning of souls, and the glory of him by whose power these very signs are done. But there is one sign the Lord has given us in which we may rejoice greatly and recognize in ourselves the glory of being chosen, for he says, “By this it will be known that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” This is the sign the prophet asked for when he said, “Make with me, Lord, a sign for good, that those who hate me may see it and be put to shame.” [g]

I say these things because I wish to bring the mind of my hearer low in humility. But let your very humility have its confidence. For I, a sinner, hold a most certain hope that through the grace of our almighty Creator and Redeemer, our God and Lord Jesus Christ, your sins are already forgiven, and you have been chosen for this purpose, that the sins of others may be forgiven through you. Nor will you have sorrow for any guilt in the future, while you strive to bring about joy in heaven through the conversion of many. Truly, this same Maker and Redeemer of ours, speaking of the repentance of men, says, “Truly I tell you, there will be joy in heaven over one sinner who repents, more than over ninety-nine righteous people who need no repentance.” And if there is great joy in heaven over one penitent, what kind of joy may we believe there is over so great a people, turned from its error, which in coming to the faith has condemned by penitence the evil it did? In this joy of heaven and of the angels, then, let us repeat the very words of the angels with which we began. Let us say, then, let us all say, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men of good will.” [i]