Source of St. Augustine quote

[Bran_Stark]

I am reading a sermon for the First Sunday of Advent by John Mirk, an English Augustinian canon who lived around the year 1400. It contains the following passage:

Then of þe fyrst comyng of Cryst into þys world, þus sayth Seynt Austyne: ‘Þer ben þre þyngys þat ben ryuet yn þys world: burth, trauell, and deþe.’ Þys ys þe testament þat Adam, our formast fadyr, made to all his ospryng after hym, þat ys: forto be borne yn sekenes, forto lyuen in trauayle, and forto dye yn drede. But Crist — blessyt most he be! — he come forto be executure of þys testament: and was borne, and trauayld, and dyet. He was born to bryng man out of sekenes ynto euerlastyng hele; he trauaylde forto bryng man ynto euerlastyng reste; he was ded forto bryng man ynto þe lyfe þat neuer schall haue ende.

which I, using my ever-so-impressive Middle English skills, would modernize as

Then of the first coming of Christ into this world, thus saith St. Augustine: “There be three things that be plentiful in this world: birth, travail, and death.” This is the testament that Adam, our foremost father, made to all his offspring after him, that is: for to be born in sickness, for to live in travail, and for to die in dread. But Christ — blessed most he be! — he came for to be executor of this testament: and was born, and travailed, and died. He was born to bring man out of sickness into everlasting health; he travailed for to bring man into everlasting rest; he was dead for to bring man into the life that never shall have end.

I think it’s a lovely passage worth sharing on its own merits, but right now I am sharing specifically to see if someone can find me a source for the writing of St. Augustine quoted here. Even in the fifteenth century, I’m sure the fake-St. Augustine-quotes industry was a giant.

 

[DaveBj]

There are several searchable volumes of St. Augustin available online. I would suggest accessing them and searching on the text string “blessed be he”, or alternatively, “everlasting health”, or “everlasting rest”.

 

[Bran_Stark]

There are several searchable volumes of St. Augustin available online. I would suggest accessing them and searching on the text string “blessed be he”, or alternatively, “everlasting health”, or “everlasting rest”.

I don’t think that would help me much, since all those phrases are from John Mirk’s own words, not his quotation of St. Augustine.

 

[DaveBj]

I don’t think that would help me much, since all those phrases are from John Mirk’s own words, not his quotation of St. Augustine.

I realize that, which is why I limited my suggested search strings to word combinations that might actually be used in the 19th-century English translations that you would find.

 

[Bran_Stark]

I realize that, which is why I limited my suggested search strings to word combinations that might actually be used in the 19th-century English translations that you would find.

I’m afraid I don’t see how that would help… those phrases you mentioned are phrases of John Mirk, not of St. Augustine, so they wouldn’t appear in any corpus of Augustinian works, regardless of the translation.

 

[DaveBj]

I’m afraid I don’t see how that would help… those phrases you mentioned are phrases of John Mirk, not of St. Augustine, so they wouldn’t appear in any corpus of Augustinian works, regardless of the translation.

How would you know if you don’t do the searches? This is your question, and that makes it your homework.