Tractatus De Charitate [Incertus]

A Treatise on Charity, or On the Words of the Psalm, "The Earth Gave Forth Its Fruit." Vignier, who extracted this fragment from a Dijon codex, suggests an imitator of Augustine, not Augustine himself. The fruit of the blessed earth is charity. To cleave to God. To render the fruit of charity. He who does not love God loves neither himself nor his neighbor. Love of the world is not love. It is the same: "Love God"; and, "Do not love the world." What, then, is your fruit? Charity. If you love your brother, the earth has given forth its fruit. What earth? Surely that of which it is said, "You have blessed, Lord, your earth" (Ps. 84:2). For unless God had blessed your earth, it would have produced for you not fruit, but thorns and thistles. This is the fruit of your earth, when God did not bless it; but when he blessed it, you bring forth fruit, charity. When, therefore, you do not love, you are barren; you have perhaps leaves, but empty of fruits: because the fruit of your tree is charity. Behold, you are placed so that you may bear fruit: who placed you? Do you think it was yourself, or he who said, "I have placed you so that you may bear fruit" (John 15:16)? If you had been placed by yourself, you would either bear no fruit, or if you did bear it, it would be wild, of no flavor, to be gathered by no one, nor to be stored in the storehouse of the master of the house. See, therefore, that when the master of the house has placed you so that you may bear fruit, and has demanded it back from you, you render it to him.

You will certainly give back what is its own, not your own: its own, to which He placed you, charity; your own, to which you placed yourself, evil; because the tree which the Father did not plant will be uprooted (Matt. 15:13). Why will it be uprooted? Because it is from itself, not from the master of the household. You are the agriculture of God; not your own, not that of others. Neither does the tree plant itself, nor does it cultivate itself. Indeed, Paul plants, and Apollo waters: but what Paul plants is nothing, and what Apollo waters is nothing; but God gives the increase (1 Cor. 3:7); after Paul has planted in His name, or together with Him. But He who is the farmer is also the vine: the farmer, that he may plant, that he may graft. To what does he graft? Surely to another’s tree? Not at all; to himself, as to the true vine, so that you may also be a branch. Now if you are a branch, who will give you fruit, except that vine of which you are a branch? Tear the branch away from the vine, what will happen? It will wither, become barren, die: I say further, it will be burned. Brothers, you are branches: as long as you cling to the vine, you will give fruit. Once you fall away: what remains for you, and what is to be expected for you, except to be cast into the fire? Charity is the vine, charity the branch. The vine pours vital saps into the branch; and therefore it rightly demands fruit from the branch. What kind? Of charity. Charity gave, charity demands back, give back charity; charity to the vine of which you are a branch, charity to your neighbor with whom you are a branch. Love God, love your neighbor.

It is in vain that I say, Love God, love your neighbor; for if you love God, you love your neighbor; nor indeed can you love God without loving your neighbor. And thus by loving God, you love not only your neighbor, but also yourself. But if you do not love God, you love neither your neighbor nor yourself. For how can you love without love? And whose is love, except of the good? And what is good, except God, who Himself commands that we love one another? What does God command? That you love. What does the world? That you do not love: for he does not love, who loves as the world commands him to love. Abide in my love (John 15:9): He did not say, in the love of the world. The world knows not how to love; it is an artisan of hatred. If the world hates you, know that it first held me in hatred (Ibid. 18). But what do I hear, brothers? Do not love the world (1 John 2:15). I recognize the voice; it is the voice of the beloved and of the one who loves. Is the disciple, then, above the master? The master says, This I command you, that you love (John 15:12). The disciple says, Do not love. Yet both voices are of truth, both voices are of one who incites to love. And when the master commands that we love, he also commands that we do not love: let us love one another, branch to branch; let us not love the profane, the holy; the world, the Christian. And when the disciple says, Do not love, he commands that we love; for if we hold the world in hatred, we love God. He affirms, Love; he denies, Do not love: yet neither commands otherwise nor more than the other. Do you love?

You hate the world. Do you hate the world? You love God. In both there is charity: in loving, that you may hate; in not loving, that you may love. He who hates his own soul loves. He who loves hates. It is fulfilled what the prophet said: Hatred for love (Ps. 108:5), but not in the sense in which the prophet spoke; for he was offering love, they were repaying hatred. But hatred for love means this: when you hate the world, love of God will be repaid to you for this hatred; when you have loved God, hatred of the world will be repaid to you for this love. Therefore love, brothers, and do not love. Love the Master, do not love the Disciple; that is, in each case, love. The branch, the disciple, could say nothing other than what the vine, the Master, says. Truth is everywhere, both in the vine and in the branch. For a true vine, what else does it produce but truthful branches? And this truth in both will always be charity: because God is charity, and God is truth, and he who is in God abides in truth; and he abides in truth because the charity of God is in him.