Young—Or do Prophet arum. 
3 
great bishop persisted throughout the middle ages. 3 The sermon 
was written manifestly during the period in which the Arian heresy 
throve; hence, before the year 600. 4 Since, moreover, the author 
seems to have made use of a translation of the Old Testament older 
than the Yulgate, we may place the date of composition before the 
middle of the fifth century. 5 
Of the twenty-two chapters, or sections, into which the discourse 
is divided in the Benedictine edition, the first six are addressed 
to the Faithful by way of an exhortation to resist the devil and to 
cling to their Christian faith, to be worthy of their baptism, and 
to believe in the Trinity. 6 In Sections seven to ten the preacher 
arraigns the heretics and brings before them the relation of the Son 
to the Father, and Christ’s birth from the Virgin. 7 Section ten as¬ 
sails Herod for his cruel designs against Jesus, and passes into a 
denunciation of the Jews as a whole. Sections eleven to eighteen, 
addressed to the Jews, attempt primarily to convict them of error 
through utterances of their own prophets and of certain Gentiles. 
The preacher summons the prophets and Gentiles singly by 
name, and delivers their successive testimonies. 8 Section nineteen 
inveighs once more against the Arians. 9 The last three sections are 
an appeal to the Faithful to prepare for the eternal life. 10 
3 For example, in Ms. Vatic. Regin. 125, a version of the passage beginning 
Vos } inquam, convenio (fol. 74r-76v, written at Forcalquier in the thirteenth 
century) bears the following heading: Sermo beati Augustini Episcopi de 
Natale Domini. See also below, pp. 5, 18. 
4 See Weber, p. 41. 
5 See Meyer, p. 50. Chambers assumes (Vol. II, p. 52) that it was “probably 
written in the sixth century.” In regard to date and provenience the Benedictine 
editors (loc. cit., col. 11—12) write, “Iste quoque Sermo sub Arianorum dominatu 
habitus est, eo tempore quo haereticis illis disputantibus, & catholicos, alios pol- 
licitatione ac praemio, alios vi potentiaque deducere a fide nitentibus obsistere 
nullus audebat.” Hauck (as reported by Weber, p. 41) infers as follows: 
“Der Sermo gehort entweder nach Gallien unter die Westgotenherrschaft, Oder 
nach Afrika unter die Vandalenherrschaft.” 
6 The headings of the first six sections, given by the Benedictines in side-votes, 
are as follows: Caput I, Christianse vigiliae; Caput II, Diabolus qui sit; Caput 
III, Renuntiare satanae, quid; Caput IV, Relapsus a baptismo; Caput V, Triadis 
Unitas; Caput VI, Trinitas incomprehensibilis. These headings may be merely 
editorial. 
7 The headings are as follows: Caput VII, Contra Arianos; Caput VIII, 
^Equalitas personarum ; Caput IX, Christi nativitas ; Caput X, Crudelitas Herodis. 
8 The headings are these : Caput XI, Contra Judseos ; Caput XII, Ex Daniele ; 
Caput XIII, Testimonia ex Lege & Prophetis; Caput XIV, Simeonis & Zacharies 
testimonium; Caput XV, Ex libris Ethnicorum; Caput XVI, De Sibyllinis vati- 
ciniis; Caput XVII (no heading) ; Caput XVIII, Ex eventis. 
9 Caput XIX, Contra Arianos. 
10 Caput XX, Resurrectio; Caput XXI, Differentia temporalis vitae & aeternse ,* 
Caput XXII, De via ad patriam. 
