Remembering Faults

Restat itaque, frater charissime. ut inter ea quae operante Deo exterius facis, semper te interius subtiliter judices, ac subtiliter intelligas et temetipsum qui sis, et quanta sit in eadem gente gratia, pro cujus conversione etiam faciendorum signorum deus percepisti. Et si quando te Creatori nostro seu per linguam, sive per opera reminisceris deliquise, semper haec ad memoriam revoces, ut surgentem corda gloria memoria reatus premat. Et quidquid de faciendis signis acceperis vel accepisti hac non tibi, sed illis deputes donata pro quorem salute collata sunt. Occurit autem menti ista cogitanti quid de uno famulo actum sit, etiam egregie electo. Certe Moyses dum Dei populum ex Aegypto educeret, mira, sicut tua fraternitas novit, signa in Aegypto operatus est. In Sina monte quadraginta diebus et noctibus jejunans, legis tabulas accepit, inter coruscos et tonituros, per timescente omni populo, omnipotentis Dei servitio solus familiari etiam collocutione conjunctus est; Rubrum mare aperuit; in itinere ducem habuit nubis columnam; esurienti populo manna de coelo deposuit; carnes desiderantibus usque ad sitentatem nimiam in eremo per miraculum minstravit. Sed cum jam sitis tempore ad petram ventum fuisset, diffusus est, seque de eadem aquam educere posse dubitavit, quam jubente Domino largis utique fluentis aperuit. Quanta autem post haec per triginta et octo annos in deserto miracula fecerit quis enummerare, quis investigare valeat. Quoties res dubia animum pulsasset, recurrens ad tabernaculum, secreto Dominum requirebat, atque de ea protinus, Deo loquente, docebatur. Iratum populo Dominum placabat saue preces intervetione; surgentes in superbia atque in discordia dissidentes dehiscentis terrae hiatibus absorbebat, victoriis premebat hostes, signa monstrabat civibus. Sed cum jam ad repromissionis terram ventum fuisset, vocatus in montem est; et quam culpam ante annos triginta et octo, ut dixi, fecerat audivit quia de educenda aqua dubitavit. Et propter hoc quia terram repromissions intrare non posset agnovit. Qua in re considerandum nobis est quam timendum sit omnipotentis Dei judicium, qui per illum famulum suum tot signa faciebat cujus culpam tam longo tempore adhuc servabat in cogitatione. Igitur, frater charissime, si et illum agnoscimus post signa pro culpa mortuum, quem ab omnipotente Deo novimus praecipue electum, quanto nos debemus metu contremiscere, qui necdum adhuc novimus si electi sumus?  Sanctus Gregorius Magnus, Registri Epistolarum, Liber XI, Epistola XXVIII, Ad Augustinum Anglorum Episcopum

So it remains, dearest brother, that among the things which by the operation of God you do outwardly, you should carefully judge yourself within, and carefully understand both what you are yourself and how great is the grace among the people for whom the conversion of which God has given the gift of doing signs. And if at any time you should recall having offended our Creator, whether it be in tongue or deed, always be mindful of these things, so that the rising glory of the heart may be suppressed by memory of guilt. And whatever for the doing of signs you may receive or have received, it is not for yourself, but as gifts for the salvation of others that they have been given to you. Indeed it comes to mind, while I think on these things, what happened with one of the servants of God, even one eminently chosen. Certainly Moses, when he led the people of God out of Egypt, as you know, worked signs in Egypt. Fasting forty days and nights on Mount Sina, he received the tables of the law, among lightning and thunder, and while all the people trembled he alone was associated with the service of Almighty God, even entering into conversation with Him. He opened the Red Sea; on the journey he had a pillar of a cloud as leader; to a hungry people he gave manna from heaven; flesh to those who desired it he supplied beyond satiation in the desert by a miracle. But when in a time of thirst they had come to the rock, he was distrustful, he doubted being able to draw water from it, that which at the Lord's command he then opened into copious streams. But how many miracles after these he did during thirty eight years in the desert who can enumerate or seek out? As many times as a doubtful matter struck his soul, he had recourse to the tabernacle, and sought out the Lord in secret, and, God speaking, he was immediately taught. The anger of the Lord against the people he appeased by the intervention of his own prayers; those who rose in pride and dissented in discord he consumed in gulfs of a gaping earth; he crushed enemies with victories, and showed signs to his people. But when the promised land had been reached, he was called to the mountain and a fault which he had committed thirty eight years before, one which I have spoken of, when he doubted about drawing water from the rock, he heard. And on account of this he was told that he could not enter the promised land. So we must consider and fear the judgment of Almighty God, who made so many signs through that servant, yet whose fault was kept in remembrance for so long. Therefore, dearest brother, if we find that he after many signs perished for a fault, he whom we know to have been especially chosen by Almighty God, with what fear should we tremble, who do not yet know whether we are chosen? Saint Gregory the Great, Registry of Letters, Book 11, Letter 28, To Augustine Bishop of the English