Second Division.
Letters Which Were Written by
Augustin After His Becoming Bishop of Hippo, and Before the
Conference Held with the Donatists at Carthage, and the Discovery
of the Heresy of Pelagius in Africa (a.d. 396–410).
Letter XXXI.
(a.d. 396.)
To Brother Paulinus and to Sister
Therasia, Most Beloved and Sincere, Truly Most Blessed and Most
Eminent for the Very Abundant Grace of God Bestowed on Them
Augustin Sends Greeting in the Lord.
1. Although in my
longing to be without delay near you in one sense, while still
remote in another, I wished much that what I wrote in answer to
your former letter (if, indeed, any letter of mine deserves to be
called an answer to yours) should go with all possible expedition
to your Grace, my delay
has brought me the advantage of a second letter from you. The Lord
is good, who often withholds what we desire, that He may add to it
what we would prefer. For it is one pleasure to me that you will
write me on receiving my letter, and it is another that, through
not receiving it at once, you have written now. The joy which I
have felt in reading this letter would have been lost to me if my
letter to your Holiness had been quickly conveyed to you, as I
intended and earnestly desired. But now, to have this letter, and
to expect a reply to my own, multiplies my satisfaction. The blame
of the delay cannot be laid to my charge; and the Lord, in His more
abundant kindness, has done that which He judged to be more
conducive to my happiness.
2. We welcomed with great gladness in the Lord the
holy brothers Romanus and Agilis, who were, so to speak, an
additional letter from you, capable of hearing and answering our
voices, whereby most agreeably your presence was in part enjoyed by
us, although only to make us long the more eagerly to see you. It
would be at all times and in every way impossible for you to give, and unreasonable for us to ask, as much information from you concerning yourself by letter as we received from them by word of mouth. There was manifest also in them (what no paper could convey) such delight in telling us of you, that by their very countenance and eyes while they spoke, we could with unspeakable joy read you written on their hearts. Moreover, a sheet of paper, of whatever kind it be, and however excellent the things written upon it may be, enjoys no benefit itself from what it contains, though it may be unfolded with great benefit to others; but, in reading this letter of yours—namely, the minds of these brethren—when conversing with them, we found that the blessedness of those upon whom you had written was manifestly proportioned to the fulness with which they had been written upon by you. In order, therefore, to attain to the same blessedness, we transcribed in our own hearts what was written in theirs, by most eager questioning as to everything concerning you.