Sirach (Ecclesiasticus) 34

Concerning this point, Peter, you must understand that there are six kind of dreams. For sometime they proceed of too much fulness or emptiness of the stomach: sometime by illusion: sometime both by thought and illusion: sometime by revelation: and sometime both by thought and revelation. The two first all by experience know to be true: and the four latter we find mentioned in holy scripture. For if dreams did not sometime proceed by illusion from our secret enemy, never would the wise man have said: Dreams have made many to err, and hoping in them have they been deceived: and again: You shall not be soothsayers, nor observe dreams: by which words we see how they are to be detested, that are compared with sooth-sayings. Again, if dreams did not sometime proceed both of thought together with illusion, the wise man would not have said: Dreams follow many cares. And if sometime also they did not come by mystical revelation, Joseph had never known by dream that he should have been exalted above his brethren: neither the Angel would ever in a dream have admonished the spouse of our Lady to fly away with the child into Egypt. Again, if sometime they did not also proceed both from thoughts and divine revelation, never would the prophet Daniel, disputing of Nabuchodonosor's dream, have begun from the root of his former thoughts, saying: Thou, O king, diddest begin to think in thy bed, what should happen in times to come; and he that revealeth mysteries did shew thee what things should come: and a little after: Thou diddest see, and behold as it were a great statue: that great statue and high of stature did stand against thee, &c. Wherefore, seeing Daniel doth with reverence insinuate that the dream should come to pass, and also declareth from what cogitation it did spring, plainly do we learn that dreams sometimes do come both of thought and revelation together. But seeing dreams do grow from such divers roots, with so much the more difficulty ought we to believe them: because it doth not easily appear unto us, from what cause they do proceed. Holy men, indeed, by a certain inward spiritual taste, do discern betwixt illusions and true revelations, by the very voices or representations of the visions themselves: so that they know what they receive from the good spirit, and what they suffer by illusion from the wicked: and therefore, if our mind be not herein very attentive and vigilant, it falleth into many vanities, through the deceit of the wicked spirit: who sometime useth to foretell many true things, that, in the end, he may by some falsehood ensnare our soul.

Dialogues, Book 4, Chapter 48

“And lead us not into temptation,” Lord. Does the Lord perhaps teach us to pray that we will never be tempted? Why does he say elsewhere, “The person who has not been tempted is not proven,” and again, “Consider it supreme joy, brothers and sisters, when you fall into various temptations.” But to enter into temptation is not to let oneself be overwhelmed by temptation. In fact, temptation seems like a stream of difficult passage. Some, who do not let themselves be submerged by temptation, make it across. They are good swimmers who do not allow themselves to be carried away by the stream. Others, who are not good swimmers, are submerged when they enter the stream. Thus, for example, Judas, having entered into the temptation of avarice, did not overcome it but hanged himself, being materially and spiritually submerged. Peter entered into the temptation of denial but, overcoming it, was not submerged by it. He crossed the stream with courage and was not carried away. In yet another passage, listen to the chorus of the perfect saints, who give thanks for having escaped temptation. “You tried us, O God. Like silver you passed us through the fire. You pushed us into the snare, you laid sufferings on our backs. You made people pass over our heads. We passed through fire and water, and you have brought us to refreshment.”

Mystagogical Lectures 5:17

But, on the other hand, those who both give what they have and desist not from seizing on what belongs to others are to be admonished not to desire to appear exceeding munificent, and so be made worse from the outward show of good. For these, giving what is their own without discretion, not only, as we have said above, fall into the murmuring of impatience, but, when want urges them, are swept along even to avarice. What, then, is more wretched than the mind of those in whom avarice is born of bountifulness, and a crop of sins is sown as it were from virtue? First, then, they are to be admonished to learn how to keep what is theirs reasonably, and then in the end not to go about getting what is another's. For, if the root of the fault is not burnt out in the profusion itself, the thorn of avarice, exuberant through the branches, is never dried up. So then, cause for seizing is withdrawn, if the right of possession be first adjusted well. But then, further, let those who are admonished be told how to give mercifully what they have, when they have learnt not to confound the good of mercy by throwing into it the wickedness of robbery. For they violently exact what they mercifully bestow. For it is one thing to shew mercy on account of our sins; another thing to sin on account of shewing mercy; which can no longer indeed be called mercy, since it cannot grow into sweet fruit, being embittered by the poison of its pestiferous root. For hence it is that the Lord through the prophet rejects even sacrifices themselves, saying, "I the Lord love judgment, and I hate robbery in a whole burnt offering." Hence again He has said, "The sacrifices of the ungodly are abominable, which are offered of wickedness." Such persons also often withdraw from the indigent what they give to God. But the Lord shews with what strong censure he disowns them, saying through a certain wise man, "Whoso offereth a sacrifice of the substance of the poor doeth as one that killeth the son before the father's eyes." For what can be more intolerable than the death of a son before his father's eyes? Wherefore it is shewn with what great wrath this kind of sacrifice is beheld, in that it is compared to the grief of a bereaved father. And yet for the most part people weigh well how much they give; but how much they seize they neglect to consider. They count, as it were, their wage, but refuse to consider their defaults. Let them hear therefore what is written, "He that hath gathered wages hath put them into a bag with holes." For indeed money put into a bag with holes is seen when it is put in, but when it is lost it is not seen. Those, then, who have an eye to how much they bestow, but consider not how much they seize, put their wages into a bag with holes, because in truth they look to them when they gather them together in hope of being secure, but lose them without looking.

Pastoral Rule, Part 3, Chapter 21

If a person does not do what he can, uniting himself to the prayers of the saints, neither does he derive any benefit if the saints pray for him. If they abstain and intercede for him but he abandons himself to dissoluteness and pleasure, what good is their prayer for him? The word is thus fulfilled, “If one builds and another destroys, what good is further labor?” If this could in fact occur, that the one for whom the saints prayed would be saved without him making even a minimum of effort, nothing would stop them from doing this for all the sinners in the world. The sinner, moreover, if he does make a bit of effort, also has need of the prayers of the righteous. As the apostle says, “The intense prayer of the righteous can do much.” This happens when a holy and righteous person intercedes and the sinner cooperates with the saints’ prayers, to the extent possible for him, by penance, being unable to pay his debt by himself. His contribution is small, but that of the prayer of the saints is great. It is as though someone needed to carry ten sacks of grain and was unable to carry even two but finds a God-fearing person who takes nine of them, leaving him with just one. And he is protected in this way until he arrives safe and sound, unharmed by robbers. This also is the same thing.

Book of Letters 616

It was not Donatus of Carthage who established that Christians had to be rebaptized, as I thought when I responded to his letter. Nor is it true that he drew the words necessary for his purpose directly from an expression of Ecclesiasticus, where it is written, “If a person is baptized after touching a dead person and touches him again, what good was it for him to wash.” He claims it reads, “If someone is baptized by a dead person, what good was it for him to wash?” We later ascertained that even before the Donatist party existed, many codices—mostly, to be honest, African—did not have in this context the words “and touches him again.”

Retractations 1:21.3

When it is said to a sinner who desires to receive the benefit of salvation that if he converts and groans he will be saved, one must also understand that if he groans but is not converted, he will not be saved. Indeed, not in vain did the Word of God unite both these elements, that we might know that both are necessary, conversion and groaning, to attain salvation. Some, in fact, humiliated by the consideration of their offenses, groan in prayer over their iniquities, but, this notwithstanding, they do not distance themselves from their bad actions. They recognize they have behaved badly but do not want to put an end to their wicked actions. They humbly denounce before God the sins that oppress them but obstinately pile up in their perverse heart the same sins they denounce with their humble speech. The indulgence that they ask for with tearful groanings, they take away by their bad actions. They ask the doctor for medicine and give sustenance to the sickness, to their ruin. And thus vainly they seek by their words to placate the just judge, who they incite to greater fury by wicked actions. Such people will never purify their sins with groanings, because they do not stop sinning after their groaning. They groan for their misdeeds, and after they groan, they return to them. In Ecclesiasticus, the sacred Scripture speaks of such persons thusly: “The one who purifies himself after having touched a dead person and touches him again, what good did it do him to have been purified? Likewise, the person who fasts for his sins and again does the same actions, what advantage does he gain from humiliating himself? Who will listen to his prayers?” Fine, says God to such a person, “If you convert and groan, you will be saved.” With the severe and good God, when one has turned to God with the humility of a contrite heart, then the prayer of the one who groans will be heard, the request made with tears will be attended to, salvation will be granted to the one who weeps. Certainly God will pardon the sinner and have mercy on him if the sinner acknowledges his iniquity by conversion.

On the Forgiveness of Sins 1:12.1-2