If this is so, please quote the whole sermon
https://www.cathinfo.com/baptism-of-desire-and-feeneyism/will-be-interested-to-hear-thoughts-on-this-new-bodbob-book/msg634706/#msg634706Augustine the Bishop by F. Van der Meer
pgs. 149 - 150
7. Day-to-Day Pastoral Work
(. . .)
The Indifferent
(. . .)
Augustine never sought to make easy excuses for those who kept putting off baptism. Some did this from indifference and through the lack of any serious element in their dispositions, some from that peculiar laziness which Augustine had himself had occasion to observe in his own father Patricius, for Patricius, after being a catechumen for many years, was only baptized in 371, when he was actually on his death-bed and Augustine himself was already seventeen years of age.(94) There were others who pointed to some baptized blockhead, who was a scoundrel in the bargain, and haughtily demanded whether they were not better men than he. Augustine's comment on these occasions was that Christ himself had been baptized "for the sake of the proud men who were still to come".
"It often happens that a catechumen knows more of his religion and leads a better life than many others who have been baptized. He sees how badly instructed a baptized person can often be and that his way of life is often much less recollected and much less chaste than his own. He himself never thinks of women, yet he sees Christians, who, while remaining innocent of actual adultery, practice little self control toward their wives. Even so, no man has a right to puff himself up and say, 'Why should I be baptized? Why should I desire desire to partake of something that happens to be possessed by another who is my inferior both in the matter of conduct and knowledge? The Lord will answer him, 'How much is he thy inferior? As much as those art mine? Or is perhaps the servant greater than the master?' ".(95)
In most cases the motive for avoiding baptism lay in the desire of such men not to be bound. They wanted to be free to sin and then get rid of their sins cheaply and all at once when the appropriate moment came. Augustine did not mince matters in this connection. They think, he said, that as catechumens they can make light of their adulteries, and then have the effrontery to compare themselves with the woman in the Temple who "also was not condemned".(96)
This whole evil was one with which Augustine never wearied in doing battle. Even the anniversary of his consecration found him in fighting mood. I care naught, he cried out on this occasion, that today of all the days you expect to hear something pleasant from me. I must warn you in the words of Holy Scripture: "Defer it not from day to day, for his wrath shall come on a sudden." God knows that I tremble in my
cathedra myself when I hear those words. I must not, I cannot be silent. I am compelled to preach to you on this matter and "to make you fearful, being myself full of fear".(97)
How dangerous, he says, is is every delay! How many rascals are saved by being baptized on their death on their death-beds? And how many earnest catechumens die unbaptized?--which, for Augustine, is equivalent to saying that they are lost for ever.(98 ) He compares the carefree condition of mind that such people often display with the dread sleeping-sickness of an old man, who keeps on saying "Let me sleep", although the doctor keeps warning those around him that sleep is the one thing he must not do. And do not make it a reproach to me, he continues, that I disturb your peace of mind. How can I comfort you when the threat comes from God himself? For I am but the steward, not the father of the house.(99) "You say, 'I will do it later, I will do it tomorrow. Why do you frighten us? Have we not been promised forgiveness?' Yes, forgiveness is promised you, but it has been promised to you that you shall see tomorrow."
Notes from pg. 613
95.
IP, 90, 2, 6.
96.
DSI, 20, 6.
97.
FSA, 2, 7 and 8; see Ecclus. v.8-9
98.
SE, 27, 6.
99.
FSA, 2, 8b-9
Abbrevations can be found starting on page XI, in the front of the book.
IP =
Enarrationes in PsalmosDSI = Denis,
Sancti Aurelii Augustini Sermones IneditiFSA = Frangipane,
Sancti Aurelii Augustini Hipponensis Episcopi Sermones XSE =
SermonesNote 95, Exposition on Psalm 90:
http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/1801090.htmNote 96 text, Jesuit, Michael Denis:
https://books.google.com/books?id=oGg7WvZhAckC&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=falseNote 97 and 99 text, Dom Frangipane:
https://books.google.com/books?id=gdZLAAAAcAAJ&pg=PP7&source=gbs_selected_pages&cad=2#v=onepage&q&f=falseNote 98 refers to Sermon 27 which I already posted:
https://www.cathinfo.com/baptism-of-desire-and-feeneyism/will-be-interested-to-hear-thoughts-on-this-new-bodbob-book/msg634012/#msg634012
Topic: Who Can be Saved? By Card Avery Dulles (Read 6021 times)