Writings of Augustine. A Treatise Concerning Man's Perfection in Righteousness.
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Augustin and the Pelagian Controversy.
A Treatise Concerning Man's Perfection in Righteousness.
Published in 1886 by Philip Schaff,
New York: Christian Literature Publishing Co.
Preface to the Treatise on Man's Perfection in Righteousness.
Augustin has made no mention of this treatise in his book of
Retractations; for the reason, no doubt, that it belonged to the
collection of the Epistles, for which he designed a separate statement
of Retractations. In all the mss. this work begins with his usual
epistolary salutation: "Augustin, to his holy brethren and
fellow-bishops Eutropius and Paulus." And yet, by general consent,
this epistle has been received as a treatise, not only in those
volumes of his works which contain this work, but also in the writings
of those ancient authors who quote it. Amongst these, the most
renowned and acquainted with Augustin's writings, Possidius (In
indiculo, 4) and Fulgentius (Ad Monimum, i. 3) expressly call this
work "A Treatise on the Perfection of Man's Righteousness." So far
nearly all the mss. agree, but a few (including the Codd. Audöenensis
and Pratellensis) add these words to the general title: "In opposition
to those who assert that it is possible for a man to become righteous
by his own sole strength." In a ms. belonging to the Church of Rheims
there occurs this inscription: "A Treatise on what are called the
definitions of Coelestius." Prosper, in his work against the Collator,
ch. 43, advises his reader to read, besides some other of Augustin's
"books," that which he wrote "to the priests Paulus and Eutropius in
opposition to the questions of Pelagius and Coelestius."
From this passage of Prosper, however, in which he mentions, but with
no regard to accurate order, some of the short treatises of Augustin
against the Pelagians, nobody could rightly show that this work On the
Perfection of Man's Righteousness was later in time than his work On
Marriage and Concupiscence, or than the six books against Julianus,
which are mentioned previously in the same passage by Prosper. For,
indeed, at the conclusion of the present treatise, Augustin hesitates
as yet to censure those persons who affirmed that men are living or
have lived in this life righteously without any sin at all: their
opinion Augustin, in the passage referred to (just as in his treatises
On Nature and Grace, n. 3, and On the Spirit and the Letter, nn. 49,
70), does not yet think it necessary stoutly to resist. Nothing had as
yet, therefore, been determined on this point; nor were there yet
enacted, in opposition to this opinion, the three well-known canons
(6-8) of the Council of Carthage, which was held in the year 418.
Afterwards, however, on the authority of these canons, he cautions
people against the opinion as a pernicious error, as one may see from
many passages in his books Against the two Epistles of the Pelagians,
especially Book iv. ch. x. (27), where he says: "Let us now consider
that third point of theirs, which each individual member of Christ as
well as His entire body regards with horror, where they contend that
there are in this life, or have been, righteous persons without any
sin whatever." Certainly, in the year 414, in an epistle (157) to
Hilary, when answering the questions which were then being agitated in
Sicily, he expresses himself in the same tone, and almost in the same
language, on sinlessness, as that which he employs at the end of this
present treatise. "But those persons," says he (in ch. ii. n. 4 of
that epistle), "however much one may tolerate them when they affirm
that there either are, or have been, men besides the one Saint of
saints who have been wholly free from sin; yet when they allege that
man's own free will is sufficient for fulfilling the Lord's
commandments, even when unassisted by God's grace and the gift of the
Holy Spirit for the performance of good works, the idea is altogether
worthy of anathema and of perfect detestation." On comparing these
words with the conclusion of this treatise before us, nothing will
appear more probable than that the work which supplies the refutation
of Coelestius' questions, which were also brought over from Sicily,
was written not long after the above-mentioned epistle. This work
Possidius, in his index, places immediately after the treatise On
Nature and Grace, and before the book On the Proceedings of Pelagius.
Augustin, however, does not mention this work in his epistle (169)
which he addressed to Evodius about the end of the year 415; but he
intimates in it that he had published an answer to the Commonitorium
of Orosius, wherein that author stated that "the bishops Eutropius and
Paulus had already given information to Augustin about certain
formidable heresies." Some suppose that this statement refers to the
letter which they despatched to Augustin along with Coelestius'
propositions. However that be, it is not unreasonable to believe that
they, not long after Orosius' arrival in Africa (that is, before the
midsummer of the year 415), had sent these propositions to him, and
that Augustin soon afterwards wrote back to Eutropius and Paulus a
refutation of them, his answer to Orosius having been previously
given.
Furthermore, Coelestius, whose name is inscribed in the propositions,
"wrote to his parents from his monastery," as Gennadius informs us in
his work on Church writers (De Scriptoribus Ecclesiasticis), "before
he fell in with the teaching of Pelagius, three letters in the shape
of short treatises, necessary for all seekers after God." Afterwards
he openly professed the Pelagian heresy, and published a short
treatise, in which, besides other topics, he acknowledged in the
Church of Carthage that even infants had redemption by being baptized
into Christ,--an episcopal decision on the question having been
obtained in that city about the commencement of the year 412, as we
learn from an epistle to Pope Innocent (amongst the Epistles of
Augustin [175, n. 1 and 6]), as well as from the epistle [157, n. 22]
which we have referred to above; and from Augustin's work On the
Merits of Sins, i. 62, and ii. 59; also from his treatise On Original
Sin, 21; and his work Against Julianus, iii. 9. Another work by an
anonymous writer, but which was commonly attributed to Coelestius,
divided into chapters, is mentioned in the treatise which follows the
present one, On the Proceedings of Pelagius; see chapters 29, 30, and
62. There were extant, moreover, in the year 417, several small books
or tracts of Coelestius, which Augustin, in his work On the Grace of
Christ, 31, 32, and 36, says were produced by Coelestius himself in
some ecclesiastical proceedings at Rome under Zosimus. Augustin, at
the commencement of the present work On the Perfection of Man's
Righteousness, mentions an undoubted work of Coelestius as having been
seen by him, from which he discovered that the definitions or
propositions therein examined by Augustin were not unsuited to the
tone and temper of Coelestius. This was very probably the book which
Jerome quotes in his Epistle to Ctesiphon, written in the year 413 or
414. These are Jerome's words: "One of his followers [that is,
Pelagius'], who was already in fact become the master and the leader
of all that army, and `a vessel of wrath,' [1361] in opposition to the
apostle, runs on through thickets, not of syllogisms, as his admirers
are apt to boast, but of solecisms, and philosophizes and disputes to
the following effect: `If I do nothing without God's help, and if
everything which I shall achieve is owing to His operations solely,
then it follows that it is not I who work, but only God's work is to
be crowned in me. In vain, therefore, has He conferred on me the power
of will, if I am unable to exercise it fully without His incessant
help. That volition, indeed, is destroyed which requires the
assistance of another. But it is free will which God has given to me;
and free it can only remain, if I do whatever I wish. The state of the
case then is this: I either use once for all the power which has been
bestowed on me, so that free will is preserved; or else, if I require
the assistance of another, liberty of decision in me is destroyed.'"
Footnotes
[1361] Rom. ix. 22.
A Treatise Concerning Man's Perfection in Righteousness,
by Aurelius Augustin, Bishop of Hippo;
In One Book,
addressed to eutropius and paulus, a.d. 415.
A paper containing sundry definitions, [1362] said to have been drawn
up by Coelestius, was put into the hands of Augustin. In this
document, Coelestius, or some person who shared in his errors, had
recklessly asserted that a man had it in his power to live here
without sin. Augustin first refutes the several propositions in brief
answers, showing that the perfect and plenary state of righteousness,
in which a man exists absolutely without sin, is unattainable without
grace by the mere resources of our corrupt nature, and never occurs in
this present state of existence. He next proceeds to consider the
authorities which the paper contained as gathered out of the
Scriptures; some of them teaching man to be "unspotted" and "perfect;"
others mentioning the commandments of God as "not grievous;" while
others again are quoted as opposed to the authoritative passages which
the Catholics were accustomed to advance against the Pelagians.
Footnotes
[1362] These breves definitiones, which Augustin also calls
ratiocinationes, are short argumentative statements, which may be
designated breviates.
Augustin to his holy brethren and fellow-bishops Eutropius and Paulus.
[1363]
Chapter I.
Your love, which in both of you is so great and so holy that it is a
delight to obey its commands, has laid me under an obligation to reply
to some definitions which are said to be the work of Coelestius; for
so runs the title of the paper which you have given me, "The
definitions, so it is said, of Coelestius." As for this title, I take
it that it is not his, but theirs who have brought this work from
Sicily, where Coelestius is said not to be,--although many there
[1364] make boastful pretension of holding views like his, and, to use
the apostle's word, "being themselves deceived, lead others also
astray." [1365] That these views are, however, his, or those of some
associates [1366] of his, we, too, can well believe. For the
above-mentioned brief definitions, or rather propositions, are by no
means at variance with his opinion, such as I have seen it expressed
in another work, of which he is the undoubted author. There was
therefore good reason, I think, for the report which those brethren,
who brought these tidings to us, heard in Sicily, that Coelestius
taught or wrote such opinions. I should like, if it were possible, so
to meet the obligation imposed on me by your brotherly kindness, that
I, too, in my own answer should be equally brief. But unless I set
forth also the propositions which I answer, who will be able to form a
judgment of the value of my answer? Still I will try to the best of my
ability, assisted, too, by God's mercy, by your own prayers, so to
conduct the discussion as to keep it from running to an unnecessary
length.
Footnotes
[1363] [Probably Spanish refugees; they had recently presented to
Augustin a memorial against certain heresies. Oros. ad Aug. i.--W.]
[1364] In his epistle (157) to Hilary, written a little while before
this work, he mentions Coelestius and the condemnation of his errors
in a Council held at Carthage; he expresses also some apprehension of
Coelestius attempting to spread his opinions in Sicily: "Whether he be
himself there," says Augustin, "or only others who are partners in his
errors, there are too many of them; and, unless they be checked, they
lead astray others to join their sect; and so great is their increase,
that I cannot tell whither they will force their way," etc.
[1365] 2 Tim. iii. 13.
[1366] Sociorum ejus. It has been proposed to read sectatorum
ejus,--not unsuitably (although not justified by ms. evidence),
because Coelestius "had," to use Jerome's words, "by this time turned
out a master with a following,--the leader of a perfect
army."--Jerome's Epistle to Ctesiphon, written in the year 413 or 414.
Chapter II.--(1.) The First Breviate of Coelestius.
I. "First of all," says he, "he must be asked who denies man's ability
to live without sin, what every sort of sin is,--is it such as can be
avoided? or is it unavoidable? If it is unavoidable, then it is not
sin; if it can be avoided, then a man can live without the sin which
can be avoided. No reason or justice permits us to designate as sin
what cannot in any way be avoided." Our answer to this is, that sin
can be avoided, if our corrupted nature be healed by God's grace,
through our Lord Jesus Christ. For, in so far as it is not sound, in
so far does it either through blindness fail to see, or through
weakness fail to accomplish, that which it ought to do; "for the flesh
lusteth against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh," [1367]
so that a man does not do the things which he would.
Footnotes
[1367] Gal. v. 17.
(2.) The Second Breviate.
II. "We must next ask," he says, "whether sin comes from will, or from
necessity? If from necessity, it is not sin; if from will, it can be
avoided." We answer as before; and in order that we may be healed, we
pray to Him to whom it is said in the psalm: "Lead Thou me out of my
necessities." [1368]
Footnotes
[1368] Ps. xxv. 17.
(3.) The Third Breviate.
III. "Again we must ask," he says, "what sin is,--natural? or
accidental? If natural, it is not sin; if accidental, it is separable;
[1369] and if it is separable, it can be avoided; and because it can
be avoided, man can be without that which can be avoided." The answer
to this is, that sin is not natural; but nature (especially in that
corrupt state from which we have become by nature "children of wrath"
[1370] ) has too little determination of will to avoid sin, unless
assisted and healed by God's grace through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Footnotes
[1369] [An accident "is a modification or quality which does not
essentially belong to a thing, nor form one of its constituent or
invariable attributes: as motion in relation to matter, or heat to
iron."--Fleming: Vocabulary of Philosophy.--W.]
[1370] Eph. ii. 3.
(4.) The Fourth Breviate.
IV. "We must ask, again," he says, "What is sin,--an act, or a thing?
If it is a thing, it must have an author; and if it be said to have an
author, then another besides God will seem to be introduced as the
author of a thing. But if it is impious to say this, we are driven to
confess that every sin is an act, not a thing. If therefore it is an
act, for this very reason, because it is an act, it can be avoided."
Our reply is, that sin no doubt is called an act, and is such, not a
thing. But likewise in the body, lameness for the same reason is an
act, not a thing, since it is the foot itself, or the body, or the man
who walks lame because of an injured foot, that is the thing; but
still the man cannot avoid the lameness, unless his foot be cured. The
same change may take place in the inward man, but it is by God's
grace, through our Lord Jesus Christ. The defect itself which causes
the lameness of the man is neither the foot, nor the body, nor the
man, nor indeed the lameness itself; for there is of course no
lameness when there is no walking, although there is nevertheless the
defect which causes the lameness whenever there is an attempt to walk.
Let him therefore ask, what name must be given to this defect,--would
he have it called a thing, or an act, or rather a bad property [1371]
in the thing, by which the deformed act comes into existence? So in
the inward man the soul is the thing, theft is an act, and avarice is
the defect, that is, the property by which the soul is evil, even when
it does nothing in gratification of its avarice, even when it hears
the prohibition, "Thou shalt not covet," [1372] and censures itself,
and yet remains avaricious. By faith, however, it receives renovation;
in other words, it is healed day by day, [1373] --yet only by God's
grace through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Footnotes
[1371] [Coelestius had in the previous breviate confined sin to either
nature or accident: Augustin declares it to be a property. By this he
apparently means that it is a non-essential attribute, without which
man would remain man, but yet not what is called a "separable
accident."--W.]
[1372] Ex. xx. 17.
[1373] 2 Cor. iv. 16.
Chapter III.--(5.) The Fifth Breviate.
V. "We must again," he says, "inquire whether a man ought to be
without sin. Beyond doubt he ought. If he ought, he is able; if he is
not able, then he ought not. Now if a man ought not to be without sin,
it follows that he ought to be with sin,--and then it ceases to be sin
at all, if it is determined that it is owed. Or if it is absurd to say
this, we are obliged to confess that man ought to be without sin; and
it is clear that his obligation is not more than his ability." We
frame our answer with the same illustration that we employed in our
previous reply. When we see a lame man who has the opportunity of
being cured of his lameness, we of course have a right to say: "That
man ought not to be lame; and if he ought, he is able." And yet
whenever he wishes he is not immediately able; but only after he has
been cured by the application of the remedy, and the medicine has
assisted his will. The same thing takes place in the inward man in
relation to sin which is its lameness, by the grace of Him who "came
not to call the righteous, but sinners;" [1374] since "the whole need
not the physician, but only they that be sick." [1375]
Footnotes
[1374] Matt. ix. 13.
[1375] Matt. ix. 12.
(6.) The Sixth Breviate.
VI. "Again," he says, "we have to inquire whether man is commanded to
be without sin; for either he is not able, and then he is not
commanded; or else because he is commanded, he is able. For why should
that be commanded which cannot at all be done?" The answer is, that
man is most wisely commanded to walk with right steps, on purpose
that, when he has discovered his own inability to do even this, he may
seek the remedy which is provided for the inward man to cure the
lameness of sin, even the grace of God, through our Lord Jesus Christ.
(7.) The Seventh Breviate.
VII. "The next question we shall have to propose," he says, "is,
whether God wishes that man be without sin. Beyond doubt God wishes
it; and no doubt he has the ability. For who is so foolhardy as to
hesitate to believe that to be possible, which he has no doubt about
God's wishing?" This is the answer. If God wished not that man should
be without sin, He would not have sent His Son without sin, to heal
men of their sins. This takes place in believers who are being renewed
day by day, [1376] until their righteousness becomes perfect, like
fully restored health.
Footnotes
[1376] 2 Cor. iv. 16.
(8.) The Eighth Breviate.
VIII. "Again, this question must be asked," he says, "how God wishes
man to be,--with sin, or without sin? Beyond doubt, He does not wish
him to be with sin. We must reflect how great would be the impious
blasphemy for it to be said that man has it in his power to be with
sin, which God does not wish; and for it to be denied that he has it
in his power to be without sin, which God wishes: just as if God had
created any man for such a result as this,--that he should be able to
be what He would not have him, and unable to be what He would have
him; and that he should lead an existence contrary to His will, rather
than one which should be in accordance therewith." This has been in
fact already answered; but I see that it is necessary for me to make
here an additional remark, that we are saved by hope. "But hope that
is seen is not hope; for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for?
But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for
it." [1377] Full righteousness, therefore, will only then be reached,
when fulness of health is attained; and this fulness of health shall
be when there is fulness of love, for "love is the fulfilling of the
law;" [1378] and then shall come fulness of love, when "we shall see
Him even as He is." [1379] Nor will any addition to love be possible
more, when faith shall have reached the fruition of sight.
Footnotes
[1377] Rom. viii. 24, 25.
[1378] Rom. xiii. 10.
[1379] 1 John iii. 2.
Chapter IV.--(9.) The Ninth Breviate.
IX. "The next question we shall require to be solved," says he, "is
this: By what means is it brought about that man is with sin?--by the
necessity of nature, or by the freedom of choice? If it is by the
necessity of nature, he is blameless; if by the freedom of choice,
then the question arises, from whom he has received this freedom of
choice. No doubt, from God. Well, but that which God bestows is
certainly good. This cannot be gainsaid. On what principle, then, is a
thing proved to be good, if it is more prone to evil than to good? For
it is more prone to evil than to good if by means of it man can be
with sin and cannot be without sin." The answer is this: It came by
the freedom of choice that man was with sin; but a penal corruption
closely followed thereon, and out of the liberty produced necessity.
Hence the cry of faith to God, "Lead Thou me out of my necessities."
[1380] With these necessities upon us, we are either unable to
understand what we want, or else (while having the wish) we are not
strong enough to accomplish what we have come to understand. Now it is
just liberty itself that is promised to believers by the Liberator.
"If the Son," says He, "shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed."
[1381] For, vanquished by the sin into which it fell by its volition,
nature has lost liberty. Hence another scripture says, "For of whom a
man is overcome, of the same is he brought in bondage." [1382] Since
therefore "the whole need not the physician, but only they that be
sick;" [1383] so likewise it is not the free that need the Deliverer,
but only the enslaved. Hence the cry of joy to Him for deliverance,
"Thou hast saved my soul from the straits of necessity." [1384] For
true liberty is also real health; and this would never have been lost,
if the will had remained good. But because the will has sinned, the
hard necessity of having sin has pursued the sinner; until his
infirmity be wholly healed, and such freedom be regained, that there
must needs be, on the one hand, a permanent will to live happily, and,
on the other hand, a voluntary and happy necessity of living
virtuously, and never sinning.
Footnotes
[1380] Ps. xxv. 17.
[1381] John viii. 38.
[1382] 2 Pet. ii. 19.
[1383] Matt. ix. 12.
[1384] Ps. xxxi. 7.
(10.) The Tenth Breviate.
X. "Since God made man good," he says, "and, besides making him good,
further commanded him to do good, how impious it is for us to hold
that man is evil, when he was neither made so, nor so commanded; and
to deny him the ability of being good, although he was both made so,
and commanded to act so!" Our answer here is: Since then it was not
man himself, but God, who made man good; so also is it God, and not
man himself, who remakes him to be good, while liberating him from the
evil which he himself did upon his wishing, believing, and invoking
such a deliverance. But all this is effected by the renewal day by day
of the inward man, [1385] by the grace of God through our Lord Jesus
Christ, with a view to the outward man's resurrection at the last day
to an eternity not of punishment, but of life.
Footnotes
[1385] 2 Cor. iv. 16.
Chapter V.--(11.) The Eleventh Breviate.
XI. "The next question which must be put," he says, "is, in how many
ways all sin is manifested? In two, if I mistake not: if either those
things are done which are forbidden, or those things are not done
which are commanded. Now, it is just as certain that all things which
are forbidden are able to be avoided, as it is that all things which
are commanded are able to be effected. For it is vain either to forbid
or to enjoin that which cannot either be guarded against or
accomplished. And how shall we deny the possibility of man's being
without sin, when we are compelled to admit that he can as well avoid
all those things which are forbidden, as do all those which are
commanded?" My answer is, that in the Holy Scriptures there are many
divine precepts, to mention the whole of which would be too laborious;
but the Lord, who on earth consummated and abridged [1386] His word,
expressly declared that the law and the prophets hung on two
commandments, [1387] that we might understand that whatever else has
been enjoined on us by God ends in these two commandments, and must be
referred to them: "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy
heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind;" [1388] and "Thou
shalt love thy neighbour as thyself." [1389] "On these two
commandments," says He, "hang all the law and the prophets." [1390]
Whatever, therefore, we are by God's law forbidden, and whatever we
are bidden to do, we are forbidden and bidden with the direct object
of fulfilling these two commandments. And perhaps the general
prohibition is, "Thou shalt not covet;" [1391] and the general
precept, "Thou shalt love." [1392] Accordingly the Apostle Paul, in a
certain place, briefly embraced the two, expressing the prohibition in
these words, "Be not conformed to this world," [1393] and the command
in these, "But be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind." [1394]
The former falls under the negative precept, not to covet; the latter
under the positive one, to love. The one has reference to continence,
the other to righteousness. The one enjoins avoidance of evil; the
other, pursuit of good. By eschewing covetousness we put off the old
man, and by showing love we put on the new. But no man can be
continent unless God endow him with the gift; [1395] nor is God's love
shed abroad in our hearts by our own selves, but by the Holy Ghost
that is given to us. [1396] This, however, takes place day after day
in those who advance by willing, believing, and praying, and who,
"forgetting those things which are behind, reach forth unto those
things which are before." [1397] For the reason why the law inculcates
all these precepts is, that when a man has failed in fulfilling them,
he may not be swollen with pride, and so exalt himself, but may in
very weariness betake himself to grace. Thus the law fulfils its
office as "schoolmaster," so terrifying the man as "to lead him to
Christ," to give Him his love. [1398]
Footnotes
[1386] An application of Rom. ix. 28.
[1387] Matt. xxii. 40.
[1388] Matt. xxii. 37.
[1389] Matt. xxii. 39.
[1390] Matt. xxii. 40.
[1391] Ex. xx. 27.
[1392] Deut. vi. 5.
[1393] Rom. xii. 2.
[1394] Rom. xii. 2.
[1395] Wisd. viii. 21.
[1396] Rom. v. 5.
[1397] Phil. iii. 13.
[1398] Gal. iii. 24.
Chapter VI.--(12.) The Twelfth Breviate.
XII. "Again the question arises," he says, "how it is that man is
unable to be without sin,--by his will, or by nature? If by nature, it
is not sin; if by his will, then will can very easily be changed by
will." We answer by reminding him how he ought to reflect on the
extreme presumption of saying--not simply that it is possible (for
this no doubt is undeniable, when God's grace comes in aid), but--that
it is "very easy" for will to be changed by will; whereas the apostle
says, "The flesh lusteth against the spirit, and the spirit against
the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other; so that ye do
not the things that ye would." [1399] He does not say, "These are
contrary the one to the other, so that ye will not do the things that
ye can," but, "so that ye do not the things that ye would." [1400] How
happens it, then, that the lust of the flesh which of course is
culpable and corrupt, and is nothing else than the desire for sin, as
to which the same apostle instructs us not to let it "reign in our
mortal body;" [1401] by which expression he shows us plainly enough
that that must have an existence in our mortal body which must not be
permitted to hold a dominion in it;--how happens it, I say, that such
lust of the flesh has not been changed by that will, which the apostle
clearly implied the existence of in his words, "So that ye do not the
things that ye would," if so be that the will can so easily be changed
by will? Not that we, indeed, by this argument throw the blame upon
the nature either of the soul or of the body, which God created, and
which is wholly good; but we say that it, having been corrupted by its
own will, cannot be made whole without the grace of God.
Footnotes
[1399] Gal. v. 17.
[1400] ;!Ina me ha an thelete, tauta poiete.
[1401] Rom. vi. 12.
(13.) The Thirteenth Breviate.
XIII. "The next question we have to ask," says he, "is this: If man
cannot be without sin, whose fault is it,--man's own, or some one's
else? If man's own, in what way is it his fault if he is not that
which he is unable to be?" We reply, that it is man's fault that he is
not without sin on this account, because it has by man's sole will
come to pass that he has come into such a necessity as cannot be
overcome by man's sole will.
(14.) The Fourteenth Breviate.
XIV. "Again the question must be asked," he says, "If man's nature is
good, as nobody but Marcion or Manichæus will venture to deny, in what
way is it good if it is impossible for it to be free from evil? For
that all sin is evil who can gainsay?" We answer, that man's nature is
both good, and is also able to be free from evil. Therefore do we
earnestly pray, "Deliver us from evil." [1402] This deliverance,
indeed, is not fully wrought, so long as the soul is oppressed by the
body, which is hastening to corruption. [1403] This process, however,
is being effected by grace through faith, so that it may be said by
and by, "O death, where is thy struggle? Where is thy sting, O death?
The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law;" [1404]
because the law by prohibiting sin only increases the desire for it,
unless the Holy Ghost spreads abroad that love, which shall then be
full and perfect, when we shall see face to face.
Footnotes
[1402] Matt. vi. 13.
[1403] Wisd. ix. 15.
[1404] 1 Cor. xv. 35, 36.
(15.) The Fifteenth Breviate.
XV. "And this, moreover, has to be said," he says: "God is certainly
righteous; this cannot be denied. But God imputes every sin to man.
This too, I suppose, must be allowed, that whatever shall not be
imputed as sin is not sin. Now if there is any sin which is
unavoidable, how is God said to be righteous, when He is supposed to
impute to any man that which cannot be avoided?" We reply, that long
ago was it declared in opposition to the proud, "Blessed is the man to
whom the Lord imputeth not sin." [1405] Now He does not impute it to
those who say to Him in faith, "Forgive us our debts, as we forgive
our debtors." [1406] And justly does He withhold this imputation,
because that is just which He says: "With what measure ye mete, it
shall be measured to you again." [1407] That, however, is sin in which
there is either not the love which ought to be, or where the love is
less than it ought to be, [1408] --whether it can be avoided by the
human will or not; because when it can be avoided, the man's present
will does it, but if it cannot be avoided his past will did it; and
yet it can be avoided,--not, however, when the proud will is lauded,
but when the humble one is assisted.
Footnotes
[1405] Ps. xxxii. 2.
[1406] Matt. vi. 12.
[1407] Matt. vii. 2.
[1408] See above, in his work De Spiritu et Litterâ, 64; also De
Naturâ et Gratiâ, 45.
Chapter VII.--(16.) The Sixteenth Breviate.
XVI. After all these disputations, their author introduces himself in
person as arguing with another, and represents himself as under
examination, and as being addressed by his examiner: "Show me the man
who is without sin." He answers: "I show you one who is able to be
without sin." His examiner then says to him: "And who is he?" He
answers: "You are the man." "But if," he adds, "you were to say, `I,
at any rate, cannot be without sin,' then you must answer me, `Whose
fault is that?' If you then were to say, `My own fault,' you must be
further asked, `And how is it your fault, if you cannot be without
sin?'" He again represents himself as under examination, and thus
accosted: "Are you yourself without sin, who say that a man can be
without sin?" And he answers: "Whose fault is it that I am not without
sin? But if," continues he, "he had said in reply, `The fault is your
own;' then the answer would be, `How my fault, when I am unable to be
without sin?'" Now our answer to all this running argument is, that no
controversy ought to have been raised between them about such words as
these; because he nowhere ventures to affirm that a man (either any
one else, or himself) is without sin, but he merely said in reply that
he can be,--a position which we do not ourselves deny. Only the
question arises, when can he, and through whom can he? If at the
present time, then by no faithful soul which is enclosed within the
body of this death must this prayer be offered, or such words as these
be spoken, "Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors," [1409]
since in holy baptism all past debts have been already forgiven. But
whoever tries to persuade us that such a prayer is not proper for
faithful members of Christ, does in fact acknowledge nothing else than
that he is not himself a Christian. If, again, it is through himself
that a man is able to live without sin, then did Christ die in vain.
But "Christ is not dead in vain." No man, therefore, can be without
sin, even if he wish it, unless he be assisted by the grace of God
through our Lord Jesus Christ. And that this perfection may be
attained, there is even now a training carried on in growing
[Christians,] and there will be by all means a completion made, after
the conflict with death is spent, and love, which is now cherished by
the operation of faith and hope, shall be perfected in the fruition of
sight and possession.
Footnotes
[1409] Matt. vi. 12.
Chapter VIII.--(17.) It is One Thing to Depart from the Body, Another
Thing to Be Liberated from the Body of This Death.
He next proposes to establish his point by the testimony of Holy
Scripture. Let us carefully observe what kind of defence he makes.
"There are passages," says he, "which prove that man is commanded to
be without sin." Now our answer to this is: Whether such commands are
given is not at all the point in question, for the fact is clear
enough; but whether the thing which is evidently commanded be itself
at all possible of accomplishment in the body of this death, wherein
"the flesh lusteth against the spirit, and the spirit against the
flesh, so that we cannot do the things that we would." [1410] Now from
this body of death not every one is liberated who ends the present
life, but only he who in this life has received grace, and given proof
of not receiving it in vain by spending his days in good works. For it
is plainly one thing to depart from the body, which all men are
obliged to do in the last day of their present life, and another to be
delivered from the body of this death,--which God's grace alone,
through our Lord Jesus Christ, imparts to His faithful saints. It is
after this life, indeed, that the reward of perfection is bestowed,
but only upon those by whom in their present life has been acquired
the merit of such a recompense. For no one, after going hence, shall
arrive at fulness of righteousness, unless, whilst here, he shall have
run his course by hungering and thirsting after it. "Blessed are they
which do hunger and thirst after righteousness; for they shall be
filled." [1411]
Footnotes
[1410] Gal. v. 17.
[1411] Matt. v. 6.
(18.) The Righteousness of This Life Comprehended in Three
Parts,--Fasting, Almsgiving, and Prayer.
As long, then, as we are "absent from the Lord, we walk by faith, not
by sight;" [1412] whence it is said, "The just shall live by faith."
[1413] Our righteousness in this pilgrimage is this--that we press
forward to that perfect and full righteousness in which there shall be
perfect and full love in the sight of His glory; and that now we hold
to the rectitude and perfection of our course, by "keeping under our
body and bringing it into subjection," [1414] by doing our alms
cheerfully and heartily, while bestowing kindnesses and forgiving the
trespasses which have been committed against us, and by "continuing
instant in prayer;" [1415] --and doing all this with sound doctrine,
whereon are built a right faith, a firm hope, and a pure charity. This
is now our righteousness, in which we pass through our course
hungering and thirsting after the perfect and full righteousness, in
order that we may hereafter be satisfied therewith. Therefore our Lord
in the Gospel (after saying, "Take heed that ye do not your
righteousness [1416] before men, to be seen of them," [1417] ) in
order that we should not measure our course of life by the limit of
human glory, declared in his exposition of righteousness itself that
there is none except there be these three,--fasting, alms, prayers.
Now in the fasting He indicates the entire subjugation of the body; in
the alms, all kindness of will and deed, either by giving or
forgiving; and in prayers He implies all the rules of a holy desire.
So that, although by the subjugation of the body a check is given to
that concupiscence, which ought not only to be bridled but to be put
altogether out of existence (and which will not be found at all in
that state of perfect righteousness, where sin shall be absolutely
excluded),--yet it often exerts its immoderate desire even in the use
of things which are allowable and right. In that real beneficence in
which the just man consults his neighbour's welfare, things are
sometimes done which are prejudicial, although it was thought that
they would be advantageous. Sometimes, too, through infirmity, when
the amount of the kindness and trouble which is expended either falls
short of the necessities of the objects, or is of little use under the
circumstances, then there steals over us a disappointment which
tarnishes that "cheerfulness" which secures to the "giver" the
approbation of God. [1418] This trail of sadness, however, is the
greater or the less, as each man has made more or less progress in his
kindly purposes. If, then, these considerations, and such as these, be
duly weighed, we are only right when we say in our prayers, "Forgive
us our debts, as we also forgive our debtors." [1419] But what we say
in our prayers we must carry into act, even to loving our very
enemies; or if any one who is still a babe in Christ fails as yet to
reach this point, he must at any rate, whenever one who has trespassed
against him repents and craves his pardon, exercise forgiveness from
the bottom of his heart, if he would have his heavenly Father listen
to his prayer.
Footnotes
[1412] 2 Cor. v. 6.
[1413] Hab. ii. 4.
[1414] 1 Cor. ix. 27.
[1415] Rom. xii. 12.
[1416] For this reading of dikaiosunen instead of eleemosunen there is
high ms. authority. It is admitted also by Griesbach, Lachmann,
Tischendorf, Tregelles, Westcott and Hort, and Alford.
[1417] Matt. vi. 1.
[1418] 2 Cor. ix. 7.
[1419] Matt. vi. 12.
(19.) The Commandment of Love Shall Be Perfectly Fulfilled in the Life
to Come.
And in this prayer, unless we choose to be contentious, there is
placed before our view a mirror of sufficient brightness in which to
behold the life of the righteous, who live by faith, and finish their
course, although they are not without sin. Therefore they say,
"Forgive us," because they have not yet arrived at the end of their
course. Hence the apostle says, "Not as if I had already attained,
either were already perfect. . .Brethren, I count not myself to have
apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which
are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I
press toward the mark, for the prize of the high calling of God in
Christ Jesus. Let us therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus
minded." [1420] In other words, let us, as many as are running
perfectly, be thus resolved, that, being not yet perfected, we pursue
our course to perfection along the way by which we have thus far run
perfectly, in order that "when that which is perfect is come, then
that which is in part may be done away;" [1421] that is, may cease to
be but in part any longer, but become whole and complete. For to faith
and hope shall succeed at once the very substance itself, no longer to
be believed in and hoped for, but to be seen and grasped. Love,
however, which is the greatest among the three, is not to be
superseded, but increased and fulfilled,--contemplating in full vision
what it used to see by faith, and acquiring in actual fruition what it
once only embraced in hope. Then in all this plenitude of charity will
be fulfilled the commandment, "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with
all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind." [1422]
For while there remains any remnant of the lust of the flesh, to be
kept in check by the rein of continence, God is by no means loved with
all one's soul. For the flesh does not lust without the soul; although
it is the flesh which is said to lust, because the soul lusts
carnally. In that perfect state the just man shall live absolutely
without any sin, since there will be in his members no law warring
against the law of his mind, [1423] but wholly will he love God, with
all his heart, with all his soul, and with all his mind [1424] which
is the first and chief commandment. For why should not such perfection
be enjoined on man, although in this life nobody may attain to it? For
we do not rightly run if we do not know whither we are to run. But how
could it be known, unless it were pointed out in precepts? [1425] Let
us therefore "so run that we may obtain." [1426] For all who run
rightly will obtain,--not as in the contest of the theatre, where all
indeed run, but only one wins the prize. [1427] Let us run, believing,
hoping, longing; let us run, subjugating the body, cheerfully and
heartily doing alms,--in giving kindnesses and forgiving injuries,
praying that our strength may be helped as we run; and let us so
listen to the commandments which urge us to perfection, as not to
neglect running towards the fulness of love.
Footnotes
[1420] Phil. iii. 12-15.
[1421] 1 Cor. xiii. 10.
[1422] Mente. The Septuagint, however, like the Hebrew, has dunameos.
A.V. "thy might." Comp Deut. vi. 5 with Matt. xxii. 37.
[1423] Rom. vii. 23.
[1424] Matt. xxii. 37.
[1425] See above in Augustin's De Spiritu et Littera, 64.
[1426] 1 Cor. ix. 23.
[1427] 1 Cor. ix. 24.
Chapter IX.--(20.) Who May Be Said to Walk Without Spot; Damnable and
Venial Sins.
Having premised these remarks, let us carefully attend to the passages
which he whom we are answering has produced, as if we ourselves had
quoted them. "In Deuteronomy, `Thou shalt be perfect before the Lord
thy God.' [1428] Again, in the same book, `There shall be not an
imperfect man [1429] among the sons of Israel.' [1430] In like manner
the Saviour says in the Gospel, Be ye perfect, even as your Father
which is in heaven is perfect.' [1431] So the apostle, in his second
Epistle to the Corinthians, says: `Finally, brethren, farewell. Be
perfect.' [1432] Again, to the Colossians he writes: `Warning every
man, and teaching every man in all wisdom, that we may present every
man perfect in Christ.' [1433] And so to the Philippians: `Do all
things without murmurings and disputings, that ye may be blameless,
and harmless, as the immaculate sons of God.' [1434] In like manner to
the Ephesians he writes: `Blessed be the God and father of our Lord
Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in
heavenly places in Christ; according as He hath chosen us in Him
before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and
blameless before Him.' [1435] Then again to the Colossians he says in
another passage: `And you, that were sometime alienated, and enemies
in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath He reconciled in the body
of His flesh through death; present yourselves holy and unblameable
and unreprovable in His sight.' [1436] In the same strain, he says to
the Ephesians: `That He might present to Himself a glorious Church,
not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing but that it should be
holy and without blemish.' [1437] So in his first Epistle to the
Corinthians he says `Be ye sober, and righteous, and sin not.' [1438]
So again in the Epistle of St. Peter it is written: `Wherefore gird up
the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end, for the grace
that is offered to you: . . . as obedient children, not fashioning
yourselves according to the former lusts in your ignorance: but as He
who hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of
conversation; because it is written, [1439] Be ye holy; for I am
holy.' [1440] Whence blessed David likewise says: `O Lord, who shall
sojourn in Thy tabernacle, or who shall rest on Thy holy mountain? He
that walketh without blame, and worketh righteousness.' [1441] And in
another passage: `I shall be blameless with Him.' [1442] And yet
again: `Blessed are the blameless in the way, who walk in the law of
the Lord.' [1443] To the same effect it is written in Solomon: `The
Lord loveth holy hearts, and all they that are blameless are
acceptable unto Him.'" [1444] Now some of these passages exhort men
who are running their course that they run perfectly; others refer to
the end thereof, that men may reach forward to it as they run. He,
however, is not unreasonably said to walk blamelessly, not who has
already reached the end of his journey, but who is pressing on towards
the end in a blameless manner, free from damnable sins, and at the
same time not neglecting to cleanse by almsgiving such sins as are
venial. For the way in which we walk, that is, the road by which we
reach perfection, is cleansed by clean prayer. That, however, is a
clean prayer in which we say in truth, "Forgive us, as we ourselves
forgive." [1445] So that, as there is nothing censured when blame is
not imputed, we may hold on our course to perfection without censure,
in a word, blamelessly; and in this perfect state, when we arrive at
it at last, we shall find that there is absolutely nothing which
requires cleansing by forgiveness.
Footnotes
[1428] Deut. xviii. 13.
[1429] Augustin's word is inconsummatus. The Septuagint term
teliskomenos (which properly signifies complete, perfect) comes to
mean one initiated into the mysteries of idolatrous worship.
[1430] Deut. xxiii. 17.
[1431] Matt. v. 48.
[1432] 2 Cor. xiii. 11.
[1433] Col. i. 28.
[1434] Phil. ii. 14, 15.
[1435] Eph. i. 3, 4.
[1436] Col. i. 21, 22.
[1437] Eph. v. 26, 27.
[1438] 1 Cor. xv. 34.
[1439] Lev. xix. 2.
[1440] 1 Pet. i. 13-16.
[1441] Ps. xv. 1, 2.
[1442] Ps. xviii. 23.
[1443] Ps. cxix. 1.
[1444] Prov. xi. 20.
[1445] Matt. vi. 12.
Chapter X.--(21.) To Whom God's Commandments are Grievous; And to
Whom, Not. Why Scripture Says that God's Commandments are Not
Grievous; A Commandment is a Proof of the Freedom Of Man's Will;
Prayer is a Proof of Grace.
He next quotes passages to show that God's commandments are not
grievous. But who can be ignorant of the fact that, since the generic
commandment is love (for "the end of the commandment is love," [1446]
and "love is the fulfilling of the law" [1447] ), whatever is
accomplished by the operation of love, and not of fear, is not
grievous? They, however, are oppressed by the commandments of God, who
try to fulfil them by fearing. "But perfect love casteth out fear;"
[1448] and, in respect of the burden of the commandment, it not only
takes off the pressure of its heavy weight, but it actually lifts it
up as if on wings. In order, however, that this love may be possessed,
even as far as it can possibly be possessed in the body of this death,
the determination of will avails but little, unless it be helped by
God's grace through our Lord Jesus Christ. For as it must again and
again be stated, it is "shed abroad in our hearts," not by our own
selves, but "by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us." [1449] And for
no other reason does Holy Scripture insist on the truth that God's
commandments are not grievous, than this, that the soul which finds
them grievous may understand that it has not yet received those
resources which make the Lord's commandments to be such as they are
commended to us as being, even gentle and pleasant; and that it may
pray with groaning of the will to obtain the gift of facility. For the
man who says, "Let my heart be blameless;" [1450] and, "Order Thou my
steps according to Thy word: and let not any iniquity have dominion
over me;" [1451] and, "Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven;"
[1452] and, "Lead us not into temptation;" [1453] and other prayers of
a like purport, which it would be too long to particularize, does in
effect offer up a prayer for ability to keep God's commandments.
Neither, indeed, on the one hand, would any injunctions be laid upon
us to keep them, if our own will had nothing to do in the matter; nor,
on the other hand, would there be any room for prayer, if our will
were alone sufficient. God's commandments, therefore, are commended to
us as being not grievous, in order that he to whom they are grievous
may understand that he has not as yet received the gift which removes
their grievousness; and that he may not think that he is really
performing them, when he so keeps them that they are grievous to him.
For it is a cheerful giver whom God loves. [1454] Nevertheless, when a
man finds God's commandments grievous, let him not be broken down by
despair; let him rather oblige himself to seek, to ask, and to knock.
Footnotes
[1446] 1 Tim. i. 8.
[1447] Rom. xiii. 10.
[1448] 1 John iv. 18.
[1449] Rom. v. 5.
[1450] Ps. cxix. 80.
[1451] Ps. cxix. 133.
[1452] Matt. vi. 10.
[1453] Matt. vi. 13.
[1454] 2 Cor. ix. 7.
(22.) Passages to Show that God's Commandments are Not Grievous.
He afterwards adduces those passages which represent God as
recommending His own commandments as not grievous: let us now attend
to their testimony. "Because," says he, "God's commandments are not
only not impossible, but they are not even grievous. In Deuteronomy:
`The Lord thy God will again turn and rejoice over thee for good, as
He rejoiced over thy fathers, if ye shall hearken to the voice of the
Lord your God, to keep His commandments, and His ordinances, and His
judgments, written in the book of this law; if thou turn to the Lord
thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul. For this command,
which I give thee this day, is not grievous, neither is it far from
thee: it is not in heaven, that thou shouldest say, Who will ascend
into heaven, and obtain it for us, that we may hear and do it? neither
is it beyond the sea, that thou shouldest say, Who will cross over the
sea, and obtain it for us, that we may hear and do it? The word is
nigh thee, in thy mouth, and in thine heart, and in thine hands to do
it.' [1455] In the Gospel likewise the Lord says: `Come unto me, all
ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my
yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and
ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden
is light.' [1456] So also in the Epistle of Saint John it is written:
`This is the love of God, that we keep His commandments: and His
commandments are not grievous.'" [1457] On hearing these testimonies
out of the law, and the gospel, and the epistles, let us be built up
unto that grace which those persons do not understand, who, "being
ignorant of God's righteousness, and wishing to establish their own
righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of
God." [1458] For, if they understand not the passage of Deuteronomy in
the sense that the Apostle Paul quoted it,--that "with the heart men
believe unto righteousness, and with their mouth make confession unto
salvation;" [1459] since "they that be whole need not a physician, but
they that are sick," [1460] --they certainly ought (by that very
passage of the Apostle John which he quoted last to this effect: "This
is the love of God, that we keep His commandments; and His
commandments are not grievous" [1461] ) to be admonished that God's
commandment is not grievous to the love of God, which is shed abroad
in our hearts only by the Holy Ghost, not by the determination of
man's will by attributing to which more than they ought, they are
ignorant of God's righteousness. This love, however, shall then be
made perfect, when all fear of punishment shall be cut off.
Footnotes
[1455] Deut. xxx. 9-14.
[1456] Matt. xi. 28-30.
[1457] 1 John v. 3.
[1458] Rom. x. 3.
[1459] Rom. x. 10.
[1460] Matt. ix. 12.
[1461] 1 John v. 3.
Chapter XI.--(23.) Passages of Scripture Which, When Objected Against
Him by the Catholics, Coelestius Endeavours to Elude by Other
Passages: the First Passage.
After this he adduced the passages which are usually quoted against
them. He does not attempt to explain these passages, but, by quoting
what seem to be contrary ones, he has entangled the questions more
tightly. "For," says he, "there are passages of Scripture which are in
opposition to those who ignorantly suppose that they are able to
destroy the liberty of the will, or the possibility of not sinning, by
the authority of Scripture. For," he adds, "they are in the habit of
quoting against us what holy Job said: `Who is pure from uncleanness?
Not one; even if he be an infant of only one day upon the earth.'"
[1462] Then he proceeds to give a sort of answer to this passage by
help of other quotations; as when Job himself said: "For although I am
a righteous and blameless man, I have become a subject for mockery,"
[1463] --not understanding that a man may be called righteous, who has
gone so far towards perfection in righteousness as to be very near it;
and this we do not deny to have been in the power of many even in this
life, when they walk in it by faith.
Footnotes
[1462] Job xiv. 4, 5.
[1463] Job xii. 4.
(24.) To Be Without Sin, and to Be Without Blame--How Differing.
The same thing is affirmed in another passage, which he has quoted
immediately afterwards, as spoken by the same Job: "Behold, I am very
near my judgment, and I know that I shall be found righteous." [1464]
Now this is the judgment of which it is said in another scripture:
"And He shall bring forth thy righteousness as the light, and thy
judgment as the noonday." But he does not say, I am already there;
but, "I am very near." If, indeed, the judgment of his which he meant
was not that which he would himself exercise, but that whereby he was
to be judged at the last day, then in such judgment all will be found
righteous who with sincerity pray: "Forgive us our debts, as we
forgive our debtors." [1465] For it is through this forgiveness that
they will be found righteous; on this account that whatever sins they
have here incurred, they have blotted out by their deeds of charity.
Whence the Lord says: "Give alms; and, behold, all things are clean
unto you." [1466] For in the end, it shall be said to the righteous,
when about to enter into the promised kingdom: "I was an hungered, and
ye gave me meat," [1467] and so forth. However, it is one thing to be
without sin, which in this life can only be predicated of the
Only-begotten, and another thing to be without accusation, which might
be said of many just persons even in the present life; for there is a
certain measure of a good life, according to which even in this human
intercourse there could no just accusation be possibly laid against
him. For who can justly accuse the man who wishes evil to no one, and
who faithfully does good to all he can, and never cherishes a wish to
avenge himself on any man who does him wrong, so that he can truly
say, "As we forgive our debtors?" And yet by the very fact that he
truly says, "Forgive, as we also forgive," he plainly admits that he
is not without sin.
Footnotes
[1464] Job xiii. 18.
[1465] Matt. vi. 12.
[1466] Luke xi. 41.
[1467] Matt. xxv. 35.
(25.) Hence the force of the statement: "There was no injustice in my
hands, but my prayer was pure." [1468] For the purity of his prayer
arose from this circumstance, that it was not improper for him to ask
forgiveness in prayer, when he really bestowed forgiveness himself.
Footnotes
[1468] Job xvi. 18.
(26.) Why Job Was So Great a Sufferer.
And when he says concerning the Lord, "For many bruises hath He
inflicted upon me without a cause," [1469] observe that his words are
not, He hath inflicted none with a cause; but, "many without a cause."
For it was not because of his manifold sins that these many bruises
were inflicted on him, but in order to make trial of his patience. For
on account of his sins, indeed, without which, as he acknowledges in
another passage, he was certainly not, he yet judges that he ought to
have suffered less. [1470]
Footnotes
[1469] Job ix. 17.
[1470] Job vi. 2, 3.
(27.) Who May Be Said to Keep the Ways of the Lord; What It is to
Decline and Depart from the Ways of the Lord.
Then again, as for what he says, "For I have kept His ways, and have
not turned aside from His commandments, nor will I depart from them;"
[1471] he has kept God's ways who does not so turn aside as to forsake
them, but makes progress by running his course therein; although, weak
as he is, he sometimes stumbles or falls, onward, however, he still
goes, sinning less and less until he reaches the perfect state in
which he will sin no more. For in no other way could he make progress,
except by keeping His ways. The man, indeed, who declines from these
and becomes an apostate at last, is certainly not he who, although he
has sin, yet never ceases to persevere in fighting against it until he
arrives at the home where there shall remain no more conflict with
death. Well now, it is in our present struggle therewith that we are
clothed with the righteousness in which we here live by
faith,--clothed with it as it were with a breastplate. [1472] Judgment
also we take on ourselves; and even when it is against us, we turn it
round to our own behalf; for we become our own accusers and condemn
our sins: whence that scripture which says, "The righteous man accuses
himself at the beginning of his speech." [1473] Hence also he says: "I
put on righteousness, and clothed myself with judgment like a mantle."
[1474] Our vesture at present no doubt is wont to be armour for war
rather than garments of peace, while concupiscence has still to be
subdued; it will be different by and by, when our last enemy death
shall be destroyed, [1475] and our righteousness shall be full and
complete, without an enemy to molest us more.
Footnotes
[1471] Job xxiii. 11, 12.
[1472] Eph. vi. 14.
[1473] Prov. xviii. 17.
[1474] Job. xxix. 14.
[1475] 1 Cor. xv. 26.
(28.) When Our Heart May Be Said Not to Reproach Us; When Good is to
Be Perfected.
Furthermore, concerning these words of Job, "My heart shall not
reproach me in all my life," [1476] we remark, that it is in this
present life of ours, in which we live by faith, that our heart does
not reproach us, if the same faith whereby we believe unto
righteousness does not neglect to rebuke our sin. On this principle
the apostle says: "The good that I would I do not; but the evil which
I would not, that I do." [1477] Now it is a good thing to avoid
concupiscence, and this good the just man would, who lives by faith;
[1478] and still he does what he hates, because he has concupiscence,
although "he goes not after his lusts;" [1479] if he has done this, he
has himself at that time really done it, so as to yield to, and
acquiesce in, and obey the desire of sin. His heart then reproaches
him, because it reproaches himself, and not his sin which dwelleth in
him. But whensoever he suffers not sin to reign in his mortal body to
obey it in the lusts thereof, [1480] and yields not his members as
instruments of unrighteousness unto sin, [1481] sin no doubt is
present in his members, but it does not reign, because its desires are
not obeyed. Therefore, while he does that which he would not,--in
other words, while he wishes not to lust, but still lusts,--he
consents to the law that it is good: [1482] for what the law would,
that he also wishes; because it is his desire not to indulge
concupiscence, and the law expressly says, "Thou shalt not covet."
[1483] Now in that he wishes what the law also would have done, he no
doubt consents to the law: but still he lusts, because he is not
without sin; it is, however, no longer himself that does the thing,
but the sin which dwells within him. Hence it is that "his heart does
not reproach him in all his life;" that is, in his faith, because the
just man lives by faith, so that his faith is his very life. He knows,
to be sure, that in himself dwells nothing good,--even in his flesh,
which is the dwelling-place of sin. By not consenting, however, to it,
he lives by faith, wherewith he also calls upon God to help him in his
contest against sin. Moreover, there is present to him to will that no
sin at all should be in him, but then how to perfect this good is not
present. It is not the mere "doing" of a good thing that is not
present to him, but the "perfecting" of it. For in this, that he
yields no consent, he does good; he does good again, in this, that he
hates his own lust; he does good also, in this, that he does not cease
to give alms; and in this, that he forgives the man who sins against
him, he does good; and in this, that he asks forgiveness for his own
trespasses,--sincerely avowing in his petition that he also forgives
those who trespass against himself, and praying that he may not be led
into temptation, but be delivered from evil,--he does good. But how to
perfect the good is not present to him; it will be, however, in that
final state, when the concupiscence which dwells in his members shall
exist no more. His heart, therefore, does not reproach him, when it
reproaches the sin which dwells in his members; nor can it reproach
unbelief in him. Thus "in all his life,"--that is, in his faith,--he
is neither reproached by his own heart, nor convinced of not being
without sin. And Job himself acknowledges this concerning himself,
when he says, "Not one of my sins hath escaped Thee; Thou hast sealed
up my transgressions in a bag, and marked if I have done iniquity
unawares." [1484] With regard, then, to the passages which he has
adduced from the book of holy Job, we have shown to the best of our
ability in what sense they ought to be taken. He, however, has failed
to explain the meaning of the words which he has himself quoted from
the same Job: "Who then is pure from uncleanness? Not one; even if he
be an infant of only one day upon the earth." [1485]
Footnotes
[1476] Job xxvii. 6.
[1477] Rom. vii. 15.
[1478] Hab. ii. 4.
[1479] Ecclus. xviii. 30.
[1480] Rom. vi. 12.
[1481] Rom. vi. 13.
[1482] Rom. vii. 16.
[1483] Ex. xx. 17.
[1484] Job xiv. 16, 17.
[1485] Job xiv. 4, 5.
Chapter XII.--(29.) The Second Passage. Who May Be Said to Abstain
from Every Evil Thing.
"They are in the habit of next quoting," says he, "the passage: `Every
man is a liar.'" [1486] But here again he offers no solution of words
which are quoted against himself even by himself; all he does is to
mention other apparently opposite passages before persons who are
unacquainted with the sacred Scriptures, and thus to cast the word of
God into conflict. This is what he says: "We tell them in answer, how
in the book of Numbers it is said, `Man is true.' [1487] While of holy
Job this eulogy is read: `There was a certain man in the land of
Ausis, whose name was Job; that man was true, blameless, righteous,
and godly, abstaining from every evil thing.'" [1488] I am surprised
that he has brought forward this passage, which says that Job
"abstained from every evil thing," wishing it to mean "abstained from
every sin;" because he has argued already [1489] that sin is not a
thing, but an act. Let him recollect that, even if it is an act, it
may still be called a thing. That man, however, abstains from every
evil thing, who either never consents to the sin, which is always with
him, or, if sometimes hard pressed by it, is never oppressed by it;
just as the wrestling champion, who, although he is sometimes caught
in a fierce grapple, does not for all that lose the prowess which
constitutes him the better man. We read, indeed, of a man without
blame, of one without accusation; but we never read of one without
sin, except the Son of man, who is also the only-begotten Son of God.
Footnotes
[1486] Ps. cxv. 2.
[1487] If this refer to Num. xxiv. 3, 15 (as the editions mark it),
the quotation is most inexact. The Septuagint words o anthropos o
alethinos oron is not a proposition equal to "homo verax," as an
antithesis to the proposition "omnis homo mendax."
[1488] Job i. 1.
[1489] See above, ii.(4).
(30.) "Every Man is a Liar," Owing to Himself Alone; But "Every Man is
True," By Help Only of the Grace of God.
"Moreover," says he, "in Job himself it is said: `And he maintained
the miracle of a true man.' [1490] Again we read in Solomon, touching
wisdom: `Men that are liars cannot remember her, but men of truth
shall be found in her.' [1491] Again in the Apocalypse: `And in their
mouth was found no guile, for they are without fault.'" [1492] To all
these statements we reply with a reminder to our opponents, of how a
man may be called true, through the grace and truth of God, who is in
himself without doubt a liar. Whence it is said: "Every man is a
liar." [1493] As for the passage also which he has quoted in reference
to Wisdom, when it is said, "Men of truth shall be found in her," we
must observe that it is undoubtedly not "in her," but in themselves
that men shall be found liars. Just as in another passage: "Ye were
sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord," [1494] --when
he said, "Ye were darkness," he did not add, "in the Lord;" but after
saying, "Ye are now light," he expressly added the phrase, "in the
Lord," for they could not possibly be "light" in themselves; in order
that "he who glorieth may glory in the Lord." [1495] The "faultless"
ones, indeed, in the Apocalypse, are so called because "no guile was
found in their mouth." [1496] They did not say they had no sin: if
they had said this, they would deceive themselves, and the truth would
not be in them; [1497] and if the truth were not in them, guile and
untruth would be found in their mouth. If, however, to avoid envy,
they said they were not without sin, although they were sinless, then
this very insincerity would be a lie, and the character given of them
would be untrue: "In their mouth was found no guile." Hence indeed
"they are without fault;" for as they have forgiven those who have
done them wrong, so are they purified by God's forgiveness of
themselves. Observe now how we have to the best of our power explained
in what sense the quotations he has in his own behalf advanced ought
to be understood. But how the passage, "Every man is a liar," is to be
interpreted, he on his part has altogether omitted to explain; nor is
an explanation within his power, without a correction of the error
which makes him believe that man can be true without the help of God's
grace, and merely by virtue of his own free will.
Footnotes
[1490] Job xvii. 8.
[1491] Ecclus. xv. 8.
[1492] Rev. xiv. 5.
[1493] Ps. cxv. 2.
[1494] Eph. v. 8.
[1495] 1 Cor. i. 31.
[1496] Rev. xiv. 5.
[1497] 1 John i. 8.
Chapter XIII.--(31.) The Third Passage. It is One Thing to Depart, and
Another Thing to Have Departed, from All Sin. "There is None that
Doeth Good,"--Of Whom This is to Be Understood.
He has likewise propounded another question, as we shall proceed to
show, but has failed to solve it; nay, he has rather rendered it more
difficult, by first stating the testimony that had been quoted against
him: "There is none that doeth good, no, not one;" [1498] and then
resorting to seemingly contrary passages to show that there are
persons who do good. This he succeeded, no doubt, in doing. It is,
however, one thing for a man not to do good, and another thing not to
be without sin, although he at the same time may do many good things.
The passages, therefore, which he adduces are not really contrary to
the statement that no person is without sin in this life. He does not,
for his own part, explain in what sense it is declared that "there is
none that doeth good, no, not one." These are his words: "Holy David
indeed says, `Hope thou in the Lord and be doing good.'" [1499] But
this is a precept, and not an accomplished fact; and such a precept as
is never kept by those of whom it is said, "There is none that doeth
good, no, not one." He adds: "Holy Tobit also said, `Fear not, my son,
that we have to endure poverty; we shall have many blessings if we
fear God, and depart from all sin, and do that which is good.'" [1500]
Most true indeed it is, that man shall have many blessings when he
shall have departed from all sin. Then no evil shall betide him; nor
shall he have need of the prayer, "Deliver us from evil." [1501]
Although even now every man who progresses, advancing ever with an
upright purpose, departs from all sin, and becomes further removed
from it as he approaches nearer to the fulness and perfection of the
righteous state; because even concupiscence itself, which is sin
dwelling in our flesh, never ceases to diminish in those who are
making progress, although it still remains in their mortal members. It
is one thing, therefore, to depart from all sin,--a process which is
even now in operation,--and another thing to have departed from all
sin, which shall happen in the state of future perfection. But still,
even he who has departed already from evil, and is continuing to do
so, must be allowed to be a doer of good. How then is it said, in the
passage which he has quoted and left unsolved, "There is none that
doeth good, no, not one," unless that the Psalmist there censures some
one nation, amongst whom there was not a man that did good, wishing to
remain "children of men," and not sons of God, by whose grace man
becomes good, in order to do good? For we must suppose the Psalmist
here to mean that "good" which he describes in the context, saying,
"God looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there
were any that did understand, and seek God." [1502] Such good then as
this, seeking after God, there was not a man found who pursued it, no,
not one; but this was in that class of men which is predestinated to
destruction. [1503] It was upon such that God looked down in His
foreknowledge, and passed sentence.
Footnotes
[1498] Ps. xiv. 3.
[1499] Ps. xxxvii. 3.
[1500] Tobit iv. 21.
[1501] Matt. vi. 13.
[1502] Ps. xiv. 2.
[1503] On this passage Fulgentius remarks (Ad Monimum, i. 5): "In no
other sense do I suppose that passage of St. Augustin should be taken,
in which he affirms that there are certain persons predestinated to
destruction than in regard to their punishment, not their sin: not to
the evil which they unrighteously commit, but to the punishment which
they shall righteously suffer; not to the sin on account of which they
either do not receive, or else lose, the benefit of the first
resurrection, but to the retribution which their own personal iniquity
evilly incurs, and the divine justice righteously inflicts."
Chapter XIV.--(32.) The Fourth Passage. In What Sense God Only is
Good. With God to Be Good and to Be Himself are the Same Thing.
"They likewise," says he, "quote what the Saviour says: `Why callest
thou me good? There is none good save one, that is, God?'" [1504] This
statement, however, he makes no attempt whatever to explain; all he
does is to oppose to it sundry other passages which seem to contradict
it, which he adduces to show that man, too, is good. Here are his
remarks: "We must answer this text with another, in which the same
Lord says, `A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth
forth good things.' [1505] And again: `He maketh His sun to rise on
the good and on the evil.' [1506] Then in another passage it is
written, `For the good things are created from the beginning;' [1507]
and yet again, `They that are good shall dwell in the land.'" [1508]
Now to all this we must say in answer, that the passages in question
must be understood in the same sense as the former one, "There is none
good, save one, that is, God." Either because all created things,
although God made them very good, are yet, when compared with their
Creator, not good, being in fact incapable of any comparison with Him.
For in a transcendent, and yet very proper sense, He said of Himself,
"I Am that I Am." [1509] The statement therefore before us, "None is
good save one, that is, God," is used in some such way as that which
is said of John, "He was not that light;" [1510] although the Lord
calls him "a lamp," [1511] just as He says to His disciples: "Ye are
the light of the world: . . .neither do men light a lamp and put it
under a bushel." [1512] Still, in comparison with that light which is
"the true light which lighteth every man that cometh into the world,"
[1513] he was not light. Or else, because the very sons of God even,
when compared with themselves as they shall hereafter become in their
eternal perfection, are good in such a way that they still remain also
evil. Although I should not have dared to say this of them (for who
would be so bold as to call them evil who have God for their Father?)
unless the Lord had Himself said: "If ye then, being evil, know how to
give good gifts to your children, how much more shall your Father
which is in heaven give good things to them that ask Him?" [1514] Of
course, by applying to them the words, "your Father," He proved that
they were already sons of God; and yet at the same time He did not
hesitate to say that they were "evil." Your author, however, does not
explain to us how they are good, whilst yet "there is none good save
one, that is, God." Accordingly the man who asked "what good thing he
was to do," [1515] was admonished to seek Him [1516] by whose grace he
might be good; to whom also to be good is nothing else than to be
Himself, because He is unchangeably good, and cannot be evil at all.
Footnotes
[1504] Luke xviii. 19.
[1505] Matt. xii. 35.
[1506] Matt. v. 45.
[1507] Ecclus. xxxix. 25.
[1508] Prov. ii. 21.
[1509] Ex. iii. 14.
[1510] John i. 8.
[1511] John v. 35: ["lucernam," not "lux:" as also in the Dies Iræ it
is said of John, "non lux iste, sed lucernam," in allusion to these
passages.--W.]
[1512] Matt. v. 14, 15.
[1513] John i. 9.
[1514] Matt. vii. 11.
[1515] Matt. xix. 16.
[1516] Luke x. 27, 28.
(33.) The Fifth Passage. [1517]
"This," says he, "is another text of theirs: `Who will boast that he
has a pure heart?'" [1518] And then he answered this with several
passages, wishing to show that there can be in man a pure heart. But
he omits to inform us how the passage which he reported as quoted
against himself must be taken, so as to prevent Holy Scripture seeming
to be opposed to itself in this text, and in the passages by which he
makes his answer. We for our part indeed tell him, in answer, that the
clause, "Who will boast that he has a pure heart?" is a suitable
sequel to the preceding sentence, "whenever a righteous king sits upon
the throne." [1519] For how great soever ever a man's righteousness
may be, he ought to reflect and think, lest there should be found
something blameworthy, which has escaped indeed his own notice, when
that righteous King shall sit upon His throne, whose cognizance no
sins can possibly escape, not even those of which it is said, "Who
understandeth his transgressions?" [1520] "When, therefore, the
righteous King shall sit upon His throne, . . . who will boast that he
has a pure heart? or who will boldly say that he is pure from sin?"
[1521] Except perhaps those who wish to boast of their own
righteousness, and not glory in the mercy of the Judge Himself.
Footnotes
[1517] See also his work Contra Julianum. ii. 8.
[1518] Prov. xx. 9.
[1519] Prov. xx. 8.
[1520] Ps. xix. 12.
[1521] Prov. xx. 8, 9.
Chapter XV.--(34.) The Opposing Passages.
And yet the passages are true which he goes on to adduce by way of
answer, saying: "The Saviour in the gospel declares, `Blessed are the
pure in heart; for they shall see God.' [1522] David also says, `Who
shall ascend into the hill of the Lord? or who shall stand in His holy
place? He that is innocent in his hands, and pure in his heart;'
[1523] and again in another passage, `Do good, O Lord, unto those that
be good and upright in heart.' [1524] So also in Solomon: `Riches are
good unto him that hath no sin on his conscience;' [1525] and again in
the same book, `Leave off from sin, and order thine hands aright, and
cleanse thy heart from wickedness.' [1526] So in the Epistle of John,
`If our heart condemn us not, then have we confidence toward God; and
whatsoever we ask, we shall receive of Him.'" [1527] For all this is
accomplished by the will, by the exercise of faith, hope, and love; by
keeping under the body; by doing alms; by forgiving injuries; by
earnest prayer; by supplicating for strength to advance in our course;
by sincerely saying, "Forgive us, as we also forgive others," and
"Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil." [1528] By
this process, it is certainly brought about that our heart is
cleansed, and all our sin taken away; and what the righteous King,
when sitting on His throne, shall find concealed in the heart and
uncleansed as yet, shall be remitted by His mercy, so that the whole
shall be rendered sound and cleansed for seeing God. For "he shall
have judgment without mercy, that hath showed no mercy: yet mercy
triumpheth against judgment." [1529] If it were not so, what hope
could any of us have? "When, indeed, the righteous King shall sit upon
His throne, who shall boast that he hath a pure heart, or who shall
boldly say that he is pure from sin?" Then, however, through His mercy
shall the righteous, being by that time fully and perfectly cleansed,
shine forth like the glorious sun in the kingdom of their Father.
[1530]
Footnotes
[1522] Matt. v. 8.
[1523] Ps. xxiv. 3, 4.
[1524] Ps. cxxv. 4.
[1525] Ecclus. xiii. 24.
[1526] Ecclus. xxxviii. 10.
[1527] 1 John iii. 21, 22.
[1528] Matt. vi. 12, 13.
[1529] Jas. ii. 13.
[1530] Matt. xiii. 43.
(35.) The Church Will Be Without Spot and Wrinkle After the
Resurrection.
Then shall the Church realize, fully and perfectly, the condition of
"not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing," [1531] because then
also will it in a real sense be glorious. For inasmuch as he added the
epithet "glorious," when he said, "That He might present the Church to
Himself, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing," he signified
sufficiently when the Church will be without spot, or wrinkle, or
anything of this kind,--then of course when it shall be glorious.
Because it is not so much when the Church is involved in so many
evils, or amidst such offences, and in so great a mixture of very evil
men, and amidst the heavy reproaches of the ungodly, that we ought to
say that it is glorious, because kings serve it,--a fact which only
produces a more perilous and a sorer temptation;--but then shall it
rather be glorious, when that event shall come to pass of which the
apostle also speaks in the words, "When Christ, who is your life,
shall appear, then shall ye also appear with Him in glory." [1532] For
since the Lord Himself, in that form of a servant by which He united
Himself as Mediator to the Church, was not glorified except by the
glory of His resurrection (whence it is said, "The Spirit was not yet
given, because Christ was not yet glorified" [1533] ), how shall His
Church be described as glorious, before its resurrection? He cleanses
it, therefore, now "by the laver of the water in the word," [1534]
washing away its past sins, and driving off from it the dominion of
wicked angels; but then by bringing all its healthy powers to
perfection, He makes it meet for that glorious state, where it shall
shine without a spot or wrinkle. For "whom He did predestinate, them
He also called; and whom He called, them He also justified; and whom
He justified, them He also glorified." [1535] It was under this
mystery, as I suppose, that that was spoken, "Behold, I cast out
devils, and I do cures to-day and to-morrow, and the third day I shall
be consummated," or perfected. [1536] For He said this in the person
of His body, which is His Church, putting days for distinct and
appointed periods, which He also signified in "the third day" in His
resurrection.
Footnotes
[1531] Eph. v. 27.
[1532] Col. iii. 4.
[1533] John vii. 39.
[1534] Eph. v. 26.
[1535] Rom. viii. 30.
[1536] Luke xiii. 32.
(36.) The Difference Between the Upright in Heart and the Clean in
Heart.
I suppose, too, that there is a difference between one who is upright
in heart and one who is clean in heart. A man is upright in heart when
he "reaches forward to those things which are before, forgetting those
things which are behind" [1537] so as to arrive in a right course,
that is, with right faith and purpose, at the perfection where he may
dwell clean and pure in heart. Thus, in the psalm, the conditions
ought to be severally bestowed on each separate character, where it is
said, "Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord? or who shall stand
in His holy place? He that is innocent in his hands, and clean in his
heart." [1538] He shall ascend, innocent in his hands, and stand,
clean in his heart,--the one state in present operation, the other in
its consummation. And of them should rather be understood that which
is written: "Riches are good unto him that hath no sin on his
conscience." [1539] Then indeed shall accrue the good, or true riches,
when all poverty shall have passed away; in other words, when all
infirmity shall have been removed. A man may now indeed "leave off
from sin," when in his onward course he departs from it, and is
renewed day by day; and he may "order his hands," and direct them to
works of mercy, and "cleanse his heart from all wickedness," [1540]
--he may be so merciful that what remains may be forgiven him by free
pardon. This indeed is the sound and suitable meaning, without any
vain and empty boasting, of that which St. John said: "If our heart
condemn us not, then have we confidence toward God. And whatsoever we
ask, we shall receive of Him." [1541] The warning which he clearly has
addressed to us in this passage, is to beware lest our heart should
reproach us in our very prayers and petitions; that is to say, lest,
when we happen to resort to this prayer, and say, "Forgive us, even as
we ourselves forgive, we should have to feel compunction for not doing
what we say, or should even lose boldness to utter what we fail to do,
and thereby forfeit the confidence of faithful and earnest prayer.
Footnotes
[1537] Phil. iii. 13.
[1538] Ps. xxiv. 3, 4.
[1539] Ecclus. xiii. 24.
[1540] Ecclus. xxxviii. 10.
[1541] 1 John iii. 21, 22.
Chapter XVI.--(37.) The Sixth Passage.
He has also adduced this passage of Scripture, which is very commonly
quoted against his party: "For there is not a just man upon earth,
that doeth good, and sinneth not." [1542] And he makes a pretence of
answering it by other passages,--how, "the Lord says concerning holy
Job, `Hast thou considered my servant Job? For there is none like him
upon earth, a man who is blameless, true, a worshipper of God, and
abstaining from every evil thing.'" [1543] On this passage we have
already made some remarks. [1544] But he has not even attempted to
show us how, on the one hand, Job was absolutely sinless upon
earth,--if the words are to bear such a sense; and, on the other hand,
how that can be true which he has admitted to be in the Scripture,
"There is not a just man upon earth, that doeth good, and sinneth
not." [1545]
Footnotes
[1542] Eccles. vii. 20.
[1543] Job i. 8.
[1544] See above, ch. xii. (29).
[1545] Eccles. vii. 20.
Chapter XVII.--(38.) The Seventh Passage. Who May Be Called
Immaculate. How It is that in God's Sight No Man is Justified.
"They also, says he, "quote the text: `For in thy sight shall no man
living be justified.'" [1546] And his affected answer to this passage
amounts to nothing else than the showing how texts of Holy Scripture
seem to clash with one another, whereas it is our duty rather to
demonstrate their agreement. These are his words: "We must confront
them with this answer, from the testimony of the evangelist concerning
holy Zacharias and Elisabeth, when he says, `And they were both
righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances
of the Lord blameless.'" [1547] Now both these righteous persons had,
of course, read amongst these very commandments the method of
cleansing their own sins. For, according to what is said in the
Epistle to the Hebrews of "every high priest taken from among men,"
[1548] Zacharias used no doubt to offer sacrifices even for his own
sins. The meaning, however, of the phrase "blameless," which is
applied to him, we have already, as I suppose, sufficiently explained.
[1549] "And," he adds, "the blessed apostle says, `That we should be
holy, and without blame before Him.'" [1550] This, according to him,
is said that we should be so, if those persons are to be understood by
"blameless" who are altogether without sin. If, however, they are
"blameless" who are without blame or censure, then it is impossible
for us to deny that there have been, and still are, such persons even
in this present life; for it does not follow that a man is without sin
because he has not a blot of accusation. Accordingly the apostle, when
selecting ministers for ordination, does not say, "If any be sinless,"
for he would be unable to find any such; but he says, "If any be
without accusation," [1551] for such, of course, he would be able to
find. But our opponent does not tell us how, in accordance with his
views, we ought to understand the scripture, "For in Thy sight shall
no man living be justified." [1552] The meaning of these words is
plain enough, receiving as it does additional light from the preceding
clause: "Enter not," says the Psalmist, "into judgment with Thy
servant, for in Thy sight shall no man living be justified." It is
judgment which he fears, therefore he desires that mercy which
triumphs over judgment. [1553] For the meaning of the prayer, "Enter
not into judgment with Thy servant," is this: "Judge me not according
to Thyself," who art without sin; "for in Thy sight shall no man
living be justified." This without doubt is understood as spoken of
the present life, whilst the predicate "shall not be justified" has
reference to that perfect state of righteousness which belongs not to
this life.
Footnotes
[1546] Ps. cxliii. 2.
[1547] Luke i. 6.
[1548] Heb. v. 1.
[1549] See above, ch. xi. (23).
[1550] Eph. i. 4.
[1551] Tit. i. 6.
[1552] Ps. cxliii. 2.
[1553] Jas. ii. 13.
Chapter XVIII.--(39.) The Eighth Passage. In What Sense He is Said Not
to Sin Who is Born of God. In What Way He Who Sins Shall Not See Nor
Know God.
"They also quote," says he, "this passage, "If we say that we have no
sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us." [1554] And
this very clear testimony he has endeavoured to meet with apparently
contradictory texts, saying thus: "The same St. John in this very
epistle says, `This, however, brethren, I say, that ye sin not.
Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth
in him: and he cannot sin.' [1555] Also elsewhere: `Whosoever is born
of God sinneth not; because his being born of God preserveth him, and
the evil one toucheth him not.' [1556] And again in another passage,
when speaking of the Saviour, he says: `Since He was manifested to
take away sins, whosoever abideth in Him sinneth not: whosoever
sinneth hath not seen Him, neither known Him.' [1557] And yet again:
`Beloved, now are we the sons of God; and it doth not yet appear what
we shall be: but we know that, when He shall appear, we shall be like
Him; for we shall see Him as He is. And every man that hath this hope
towards Him purifieth himself, even as He is pure.'" [1558] And yet,
notwithstanding the truth of all these passages, that also is true
which he has adduced, without, however, offering any explanation of
it: "If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the
truth is not in us." [1559] Now it follows from the whole of this,
that in so far as we are born of God we abide in Him who appeared to
take away sins, that is, in Christ, and sin not,--which is simply that
"the inward man is renewed day by day;" [1560] but in so far as we are
born of that man "through whom sin entered into the world, and death
by sin, and so death passed upon all men," [1561] we are not without
sin, because we are not as yet free from his infirmity, until, by that
renewal which takes place from day to day (for it is in accordance
with this that we were born of God), that infirmity shall be wholly
repaired, wherein we were born from the first than, and in which we
are not without sin. While the remains of this infirmity abide in our
inward man, however much they may be daily lessened in those who are
advancing, "we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us, if we
say that we have no sin." Now, however true it is that "whosoever
sinneth hath not seen Him, nor known Him," [1562] since with that
vision and knowledge, which shall be realized in actual sight, no one
can in this life see and know Him; yet with that vision and knowledge
which come of faith, there may be many who commit sin,--even apostates
themselves,--who still have believed in Him some time or other; so
that of none of these could it be said, according to the vision and
knowledge which as yet come of faith, that he has neither seen Him nor
known Him. But I suppose it ought to be understood that it is the
renewal which awaits perfection that sees and knows Him; whereas the
infirmity which is destined to waste and ruin neither sees nor knows
Him. And it is owing to the remains of this infirmity, of whatever
amount, which remain firm in our inward man, that "we deceive
ourselves, and have not the truth in us, when we say that we have no
sin." Although, then, by the grace of renovation "we are the sons of
God," yet by reason of the remains of infirmity within us "it doth not
appear what we shall be; only we know that, when He shall appear, we
shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is." Then there shall be
no more sin, because no infirmity shall any longer remain within us or
without us. "And every man that hath this hope towards Him purifieth
himself, even as He is pure,"--purifieth himself, not indeed by
himself alone, but by believing in Him, and calling on Him who
sanctifieth His saints; which sanctification, when perfected at last
(for it is at present only advancing and growing day by day), shall
take away from us for ever all the remains of our infirmity.
Footnotes
[1554] 1 John i. 8.
[1555] 1 John iii. 9.
[1556] 1 John v. 18.
[1557] 1 John iii. 5, 6.
[1558] 1 John iii. 2, 3.
[1559] 1 John i. 8.
[1560] 2 Cor. iv. 16.
[1561] Rom. v. 12.
[1562] 1 John iii. 6.
Chapter XIX--(40.) The Ninth Passage.
"This passage, too," says he, "is quoted by them: `It is not of him
that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth
mercy.'" [1563] And he observes that the answer to be given to them is
derived from the same apostle's words in another passage: "Let him do
what he will." [1564] And he adds another passage from the Epistle to
Philemon, where, speaking of Onesimus, [St. Paul says]: "`Whom I would
have retained with me, that in thy stead he might have ministered unto
me in the bonds of the gospel. But without thy mind would I do
nothing; that thy benefit should not be as it were of necessity, but
willingly.' [1565] Likewise, in Deuteronomy: `Life and death hath He
set before thee, and good and evil: . . .choose thou life, that thou
mayest live.' [1566] So in the book of Solomon: `God from the
beginning made man, and left him in the hand of His counsel; and He
added for him commandments and precepts: if thou wilt--to perform
acceptable faithfulness for the time to come, they shall save thee. He
hath set fire and water before thee: stretch forth thine hand unto
whether thou wilt. Before man are good and evil, and life and death;
poverty and honour are from the Lord God.' [1567] So again in Isaiah
we read: `If ye be willing, and hearken unto me, ye shall eat the good
of the land; but if ye be not willing, and hearken not to me, the
sword shall devour you: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken this.'"
[1568] Now with all their efforts of disguise they here betray their
purpose; for they plainly attempt to controvert the grace and mercy of
God, which we desire to obtain whenever we offer the prayer, "Thy will
be done in earth as it is in heaven;" [1569] or again this, "Lead us
not into temptation, but deliver us from evil." [1570] For indeed why
do we present such petitions in earnest supplication, if the result is
of him that willeth, and him that runneth, but not of God that showeth
mercy? Not that the result is without our will, but that our will does
not accomplish the result, unless it receive the divine assistance.
Now the wholesomeness of faith is this, that it makes us "seek, that
we may find; ask, that we may receive; and knock, that it may be
opened to us." [1571] Whereas the man who gainsays it, does really
shut the door of God's mercy against himself. I am unwilling to say
more touching so important a matter, because I do better in committing
it to the groans of the faithful, than to words of my own.
Footnotes
[1563] Rom. ix. 16.
[1564] 1 Cor. vii. 36.
[1565] Philem. 13, 14.
[1566] Deut. xxx. 15, 19.
[1567] Ecclus. xv. 14-17.
[1568] Isa. i. 19, 20.
[1569] Matt. vi. 10.
[1570] Matt. vi. 13.
[1571] Luke xi. 9.
(41.) Specimens of Pelagian Exegesis.
But I beg of you to see what kind of objection, after all, he makes,
that to him who "willeth and runneth" there is no necessity for God's
mercy, which actually anticipates him in order that he may
run,--because, forsooth, the apostle says concerning a certain person,
"Let him do what he will," [1572] --in the matter, as I suppose, which
he goes on to treat, when he says, "He sinneth not, let him marry!"
[1573] As if indeed it should be regarded as a great matter to be
willing to marry, when the subject is a laboured discussion concerning
the assistance of God's grace, or that it is of any great advantage to
will it, unless God's providence, which governs all things, joins
together the man and the woman. Or, in the case of the apostle's
writing to Philemon, that "his kindness should not be as it were of
necessity, but voluntary,"--as if any good act could indeed be
voluntary otherwise than by God's "working in us both to will and to
do of His own good pleasure." [1574] Or, when the Scripture says in
Deuteronomy, "Life and death hath He set before man and good and
evil," and admonishes him "to choose life;" as if, forsooth, this very
admonition did not come from God's mercy, or as if there were any
advantage in choosing life, unless God inspired love to make such a
choice, and gave the possession of it when chosen, concerning which it
is said: "For anger is in His indignation, and in His pleasure is
life." [1575]
Or again, because it is said, "The commandments, if thou wilt, shall
save thee," [1576] --as if a man ought not to thank God, because he
has a will to keep the commandments, since, if he wholly lacked the
light of truth, it would not be possible for him to possess such a
will. "Fire and water being set before him, a man stretches forth his
hand towards which he pleases;" [1577] and yet higher is He who calls
man to his higher vocation than any thought on man's own part,
inasmuch as the beginning of correction of the heart lies in faith,
even as it is written, "Thou shalt come, and pass on from the
beginning of faith." [1578] Every one makes his choice of good,
"according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith;"
[1579] and as the Prince of faith says, "No man can come to me, except
the Father which hath sent me draw him." [1580] And that He spake this
in reference to the faith which believes in Him, He subsequently
explains with sufficient clearness, when He says: "The words that I
speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life; yet there are some
of you that believe not. For Jesus knew from the beginning who they
were that believed not, and who should betray Him. And He said,
Therefore said I unto you, that no man can come unto me, except it
were given unto him of my Father." [1581]
Footnotes
[1572] 1 Cor. vii. 36.
[1573] 1 Cor. vii. 36.
[1574] Phil. ii. 13.
[1575] Ps. xxx. 5.
[1576] Ecclus. xv. 15.
[1577] Ecclus. xv. 16.
[1578] Cant. iv. 8.
[1579] Rom. xii. 3.
[1580] John vi. 44.
[1581] John vi. 62-65.
(42.) God's Promises Conditional. Saints of the Old Testament Were
Saved by the Grace of Christ.
He, however, thought he had discovered a great support for his cause
in the prophet Isaiah; because by him God said: "If ye be willing, and
hearken unto me, ye shall eat the good of the land; but if ye be not
willing, and hearken not to me, the sword shall devour you: for the
mouth of the Lord hath spoken this." [1582] As if the entire law were
not full of conditions of this sort; or as if its commandments had
been given to proud men for any other reason than that "the law was
added because of transgression, until the seed should come to whom the
promise was made." [1583] "It entered, therefore, that the offence
might abound; but where sin abounded, grace did much more abound."
[1584] In other words, That man might receive commandments, trusting
as he did in his own resources, and that, failing in these and
becoming a transgressor, he might ask for a deliverer and a saviour;
and that the fear of the law might humble him, and bring him, as a
schoolmaster, to faith and grace. Thus "their weaknesses being
multiplied, they hastened after;" [1585] and in order to heal them,
Christ in due season came. In His grace even righteous men of old
believed, and by the same grace were they holpen; so that with joy did
they receive a foreknowledge of Him, and some of them even foretold
His coming,--whether they were found among the people of Israel
themselves, as Moses, and Joshua the son of Nun, and Samuel, and
David, and other such; or outside that people, as Job; or previous to
that people, as Abraham, and Noah, and all others who are either
mentioned or not in Holy Scripture. "For there is but one God, and one
Mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus," [1586] without
whose grace nobody is delivered from condemnation, whether he has
derived that condemnation from him in whom all men sinned, or has
afterwards aggravated it by his own iniquities.
Footnotes
[1582] Isa. i. 19, 20.
[1583] Gal. iii. 19.
[1584] Rom. v. 20.
[1585] Ps. xvi. 4.
[1586] 1 Tim. ii. 5.
Chapter XX.--(43.) No Man is Assisted Unless He Does Himself Also
Work. Our Course is a Constant Progress.
But what is the import of the last statement which he has made: "If
any one say, `May it possibly be that a man sin not even in word?'
then the answer," says he, "which must be given is, `Quite possible,
if God so will; and God does so will, therefore it is possible.'" See
how unwilling he was to say, "If God give His help, then it would be
possible;" and yet the Psalmist thus addresses God: "Be Thou my
helper, forsake me not;" [1587] where of course help is not sought for
procuring bodily advantages and avoiding bodily evils, but for
practising and fulfilling righteousness. Hence it is that we say:
"Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil." [1588] Now no
man is assisted unless he also himself does something; assisted,
however, he is, if he prays, if he believes, if he is "called
according to God's purpose;" [1589] for "whom He did foreknow, He also
did predestinate to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He
might be the first-born among many brethren. Moreover, whom He did
predestinate, them He also called; and whom He called, them He also
justified; and whom He justified, them He also glorified." [1590] We
run, therefore, whenever we make advance; and our wholeness runs with
us in our advance (just as a sore is said to run [1591] when the wound
is in process of a sound and careful treatment), in order that we may
be in every respect perfect, without any infirmity of sin whatever,--a
result which God not only wishes, but even causes and helps us to
accomplish. And this God's grace does, in co-operation with ourselves,
through Jesus Christ our Lord, as well by commandments, sacraments,
and examples, as by His Holy Spirit also; through whom there is
hiddenly shed abroad in our hearts [1592] that love, "which maketh
intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered," [1593]
until wholeness and salvation be perfected in us, and God be
manifested to us as He will be seen in His eternal truth.
Footnotes
[1587] Ps. xxvii. 9.
[1588] Matt. vi. 13.
[1589] Rom. viii. 28.
[1590] Rom. viii. 29, 30.
[1591] Ps. lxxvii. 2.
[1592] Rom. v. 5.
[1593] Rom. viii. 26.
Chapter XXI.--(44.) Conclusion of the Work. In the Regenerate It is
Not Concupiscence, But Consent, Which is Sin.
Whosoever, then, supposes that any man or any men (except the one
Mediator between God and man [1594] ) have ever lived, or are yet
living in this present state, who have not needed, and do not need,
forgiveness of sins, he opposes Holy Scripture, wherein it is said by
the apostle: "By one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin;
and so death passed upon all men, in which all have sinned." [1595]
And he must needs go on to assert, with an impious contention, that
there may possibly be men who are freed and saved from sin without the
liberation and salvation of the one Mediator Christ. Whereas He it is
who has said: "They that be whole need not a physician, but they that
are sick;" [1596] "I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to
repentance." [1597] He, moreover, who says that any man, after he has
received remission of sins, has ever lived in this body, or still is
living, so righteously as to have no sin at all, he contradicts the
Apostle John, who declares that "If we say we have no sin, we deceive
ourselves, and the truth is not in us." [1598] Observe, the expression
is not we had, but "we have." If, however, anybody contend that the
apostle's statement concerns the sin which dwells in our mortal flesh
according to the defect which was caused by the will of the first man
when he sinned, and concerning which the Apostle Paul enjoins us "not"
to "obey it in the lusts thereof, [1599] --so that he does not sin who
altogether withholds his consent from this same indwelling sin, and so
brings it to no evil work,--either in deed, or word, or
thought,--although the lusting after it may be excited (which in
another sense has received the name of sin, inasmuch as consenting to
it would amount to sinning), but excited against our will,--he
certainly is drawing subtle distinctions, and should consider what
relation all this bears to the Lord's Prayer, wherein we say, "Forgive
us our debts." [1600] Now, if I judge aright, it would be unnecessary
to put up such a prayer as this, if we never in the least degree
consented to the lusts of the before-mentioned sin, either in a slip
of the tongue, or in a wanton thought; all that it would be needful to
say would be, "Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil."
[1601] Nor could the Apostle James say: "In many things we all
offend." [1602] For in truth only that man offends whom an evil
concupiscence persuades, either by deception or by force, to do or say
or think something which he ought to avoid, by directing his appetites
or his aversions contrary to the rule of righteousness. Finally, if it
be asserted that there either have been, or are in this present life,
any persons, with the sole exception of our Great Head, "the Saviour
of His body," [1603] who are righteous, without any sin,--and this,
either by not consenting to the lusts thereof, or because that must
not be accounted as any sin which is such that God does not impute it
to them by reason of their godly lives (although the blessedness of
being without sin is a different thing from the blessedness of not
having one's sin imputed to him), [1604] --I do not deem it necessary
to contest the point over much. I am quite aware that some hold this
opinion, [1605] whose views on the subject I have not the courage to
censure, although, at the same time, I cannot defend them. But if any
man says that we ought not to use the prayer, "Lead us not into
temptation" (and he says as much who maintains that God's help is
unnecessary to a person for the avoidance of sin, and that human will,
after accepting only the law, is sufficient for the purpose), then I
do not hesitate at once to affirm that such a man ought to be removed
from the public ear, and to be anathematized by every mouth.
Footnotes
[1594] 1 Tim. ii. 5.
[1595] Rom. v. 12.
[1596] Matt. ix. 12.
[1597] Matt. ix. 13.
[1598] 1 John i. 8.
[1599] Rom. vi. 12.
[1600] Matt. vi. 12.
[1601] Matt. vi. 13.
[1602] Jas. iii. 2.
[1603] Eph. i. 22, 23, and v. 23.
[1604] Ps. xxxii. 2.
[1605] See Augustin's treatise, De Natura et Gratia, 74, 75.
.
A Work on the Proceedings of Pelagius.
Extract from Augustin's "Retractations," Book II. Chap. 45,
On the Following Treatise, "De gestis pelagii."
"About the same time, in the East (that is to say, in Palestinian
Syria), Pelagius was summoned by certain catholic brethren [1606]
before a tribunal of bishops, and was heard on his trial by fourteen
prelates, in the abscnce of his accusers, who were unable to be
present on the day of the synod. On his condemning the very dogmas
which were read from the indictment against him, as assailing the
grace of Christ, they pronounced him to be a catholic. But when the
Acts of this synod found their way into our hands, I wrote a treatise
on them, to prevent the idea gaining ground that, because he had been
in a manner acquitted, his opinions also were approved by the bishops;
or that the accused could by any chance have escaped condemnation at
their hands, unless he had condemned the opinions charged against him.
This treatise of mine begins with these words: `After there came into
my hands.'"
Footnotes
[1606] Their names were Heros and Lazarus.
Preface to the Book on the Proceedings of Pelagius.
In the year of Christ 415, Pelagius was accused of heresy in
Palestine, and brought to trial on one or two occasions. At the first
trial, which was held on or about the 30th of July, at a congress of
his presbyters, by John, bishop of Jerusalem, no regular record was
kept of the proceedings, as we are informed by Augustin in the
following work (sec. 39 and 55). The hour and the day of this assembly
we may learn from Orosius, a presbyter of Spain, who was present at
the congress, and has in his Apology committed to writing some of its
most memorable acts. We are informed by him that "after a great deal
of earnest proceeding on both sides, the bishop John proposed the last
resolution, that certain brethren should be sent with a letter to
blessed Innocent, Pope of Rome, to the intent that he might decide on
all the points which were to follow."
The second trial took place afterwards at Diospolis, [1607] a city in
Palestine, before fourteen bishops, at which was kept an accurate
record of the proceedings. The bishops are severally mentioned by
Augustin in his work against Julianus, Book i. chs. v. and vii. (19,
32), in the following order: "Eulogius, John, Ammonianus, Porphyry,
Eutonius, another Porphyry, Fidus, Zoninus, Zoboennus, Nymphidius,
Chromatius, Jovinus, Eleutherius, and Clematius." There can be no
doubt that Eulogius, bishop of Cæsarea, was also primate of the
province of Palestine, because he is constantly mentioned by Augustin
as occupying the first place before the other thirteen bishops, and
even before John himself, bishop of Jerusalem.
We find from the epistle of Lucian, [1608] De revelatione corporis
Stephani martyris, that this synod was held at the approach of
Christmas. In this epistle he tells us of three visions which God had
shown him in the year 415,--the first on December 3d, and the other
two on the 10th and 17th of the same month; that he then reported the
matter to John, bishop of Jerusalem, who sent him in quest of the
martyr's sepulchre. He further informs us that he discovered the
sepulchre, and at once returned to John, "who (says he) was attending
a synod at Lydda, which is Diospolis." This must have happened about
the 21st of the month, since Lucian goes on to say that John came, in
the company of two more bishops, Eutonius of Sebaste and Eleutherius
of Jericho, and that in their presence the relics of the martyr were
removed on the 26th day of the same month of December.
A certain deacon, called Annianus, is supposed to have pleaded the
cause of Pelagius at the synod; some learned men finding it easier to
interpret of this deacon than of Pelagius what Jerome writes in a
letter addressed to Alypius and Augustin (Epist. Augustinian. 202, 2):
"For every thing which he denies having ever uttered in that miserable
synod of Diospolis he professes to hold in this work." Jerome bestowed
the epithet of "miserable" on this synod of Diospolis, for no other
reason (as we suppose) than because he discovered from its Acts how
miserably the synod had been duped by Pelagius. Pope Innocent, after a
sight of these Acts, expressly owned (see Epist. Augustinian. 183, 4)
that "he could not bring himself to refuse either blame or praise of
those bishops." Augustin, however, in the following treatise (see chs.
4 and 8), does not hesitate to call them "pious judges," and (in his
first book against Julianus, i. ch. v. 19) "catholic judges," who,
when Pelagius abjured the errors attributed to him, pronounced him a
catholic, and acquitted him; indeed, he frequently cites these
fourteen bishops as witnesses of the catholic faith in opposition to
Julianus.
In his letters addressed to Pope Innocent in the year 416 (see Epist.
Augustinian. 175, 4, and 177, 2), Augustin intimated that he knew
nothing of the Proceedings of the synod except from hearsay; and in a
letter to John, bishop of Jerusalem (Epist. 179, 4), he earnestly
requested him to forward them to him. But the report was in his hands
about midsummer in 417, when he wrote his Epistle to Paulinus (Epist.
186, 31); so that the date of the following treatise is thus traced to
the commencement of the year 417, supposing it to have been published
immediately after he had received the Proceedings.
The title given to this work by Augustin, in his book On Original Sin
(15), stands De Gestis Palæstinis [On the Proceedings which took place
in Palestine]; by this title Prosper likewise refers to the work (in
his book Adv. Collatorem, 43); but yet we ought to retain the
inscription De Gestis Pelagii which is prefixed both to the ancient
editions and to the particular Retractation in which Augustin reviewed
this work. The treatise had this title given to it, no doubt, either
because it had been already commonly accepted as a description of
these proceedings of Pelagius and his vindication, which led to his
boast that he had been acquitted; or else from the fact that an
examination had become necessary of those proceedings, which the
accused party had himself published in an abridged and garbled form.
Hence Possidonius named the treatise by the title, Contra Gesta
Pelagii [A Protest, or Vindication, against the Proceedings of
Pelagius].
Out of this book Photius copied a very accurate account of the Synod
of Diospolis and inserted it in his Bibliotheca (cod. 54). One may
therefore conclude that this work of Augustin's is one of those which
Possidonius, in his Life, ch. xi. or xxi., No. 59, mentions as having
been "translated into the Greek tongue." The Aurelius to whom the work
is dedicated is mentioned by Photius in the passage just cited, and by
Prosper before him (in the 43d chapter of the above-quoted Adversus
Collatorem), as "the bishop of Carthage." If the title-page of old did
not give them this information, they could both of them discover it
from reading this book, especially ch. 23 [XI.].
Footnotes
[1607] That is, Lydda.
[1608] To be found in Migne's Patrologia Latina, vol. vii., Appendix.
A Work on the Proceedings of Pelagius, [1][1609]
In One Book,
addressed to Bishop Aurelius [of Carthage], by Aurelius Augustin;
written about the commencement of the year, a.d. 417.
The several heads of error which were alleged against Pelagius at the
Synod in Palestine, with his answers to each charge, are minutely
discussed. Augustin shows that, although Pelagius was acquitted by the
synod, there still clave to him the suspicion of heresy; and that the
acquittal of the accused by the synod was so contrived, that the
heresy itself with which he was charged was unhesitatingly condemned.
Chapter 1.--Introduction.
After there came into my hands, holy father Aurelius, the
ecclesiastical proceedings, by which fourteen bishops of the province
of Palestine pronounced Pelagius a catholic, my hesitation, in which I
was previously reluctant to make any lengthy or confident statement
about the defence which he had made, came to an end. This defence,
indeed, I had already read in a paper which he himself forwarded to
me. Forasmuch, however, as I received no letter therewith from him, I
was afraid that some discrepancy might be detected between my
statement and the record of the ecclesiastical proceedings; and that,
should Pelagius perhaps deny that he had sent me any paper (and it
would have been difficult for me to prove that he had, when there was
only one witness), I should rather seem guilty in the eyes of those
who would readily credit his denial, either of an underhanded
falsification, or else (to say the least) of a reckless credulity.
Now, however, when I am to treat of matters which are shown to have
actually transpired, and when, as it appears to me, all doubt is
removed whether he really acted in the way described, your holiness,
and everybody who reads these pages, will no doubt be able to judge,
with greater readiness and certainty, both of his defence and of this
my treatment of it.
Chapter 2 [I.]--The First Item in the Accusation, and Pelagius'
Answer.
First of all, then, I offer to the Lord my God, who is also my defence
and guide, unspeakable thanks, because I was not misled in my views
respecting our holy brethren and fellow-bishops who sat as judges in
that case. His answers, indeed, they not without reason approved;
because they had not to consider how he had in his writings stated the
points which were objected against him, but what he had to say about
them in his reply at the pending examination. A case of unsoundness in
the faith is one thing, one of incautious statement is another thing.
Now sundry objections were urged against Pelagius out of a written
complaint, which our holy brethren and fellow-bishops in Gaul, Heros
and Lazarus, presented, being themselves unable to be present, owing
(as we afterwards learned from credible information) to the severe
indisposition of one of them. The first of these was, that he writes,
in a certain book of his, this: "No man can be without sin unless he
has acquired a knowledge of the law." After this had been read out,
the synod inquired: "Did you, Pelagius, express yourself thus?" Then
in answer he said: "I certainly used the words, but not in the sense
in which they understand them. I did not say that a man is unable to
sin who has acquired a knowledge of the law; but that he is by the
knowledge of the law assisted towards not sinning, even as it is
written, `He hath given them a law for help'" [1609] Upon hearing
this, the synod declared: "The words which have been spoken by
Pelagius are not different from the Church." Assuredly they are not
different, as he expressed them in his answer; the statement, however,
which was produced from his book has a different meaning. But this the
bishops, who were Greek-speaking men, and who heard the words through
an interpreter, were not concerned with discussing. All they had to
consider at the moment was, what the man who was under examination
said was his meaning,--not in what words his opinion was alleged to
have been expressed in his book.
Footnotes
[1609] Isa. viii. 20.
Chapter 3.--Discussion of Pelagius' First Answer.
Now to say that "a man is by the knowledge of the law assisted towards
not sinning," is a different assertion from saying that "a man cannot
be without sin unless he has acquired a knowledge of the law." We see,
for example, that corn-floors may be threshed without
threshing-sledges,--however much these may assist the operation if we
have them; and that boys can find their way to school without the
pedagogue,--however valuable for this may be the office of pedagogues;
and that many persons recover from sickness without
physicians,--although the doctor's skill is clearly of greatest use;
and that men sometimes live on other aliments besides bread,--however
valuable the use of bread must needs be allowed to be; and many other
illustrations may occur to the thoughtful reader, without our
prompting. From which examples we are undoubtedly reminded that there
are two sorts of aids. Some are indispensable, and without their help
the desired result could not be attained. Without a ship, for
instance, no man could take a voyage; no man could speak without a
voice; without legs no man could walk; without light nobody could see;
and so on in numberless instances. Amongst them this also may be
reckoned, that without God's grace no man can live rightly. But then,
again, there are other helps, which render us assistance in such a way
that we might in some other way effect the object to which they are
ordinarily auxiliary in their absence. Such are those which I have
already mentioned,--the threshing-sledges for threshing corn, the
pedagogue for conducting the child, medical art applied to the
recovery of health, and other like instances. We have therefore to
inquire to which of these two classes belongs the knowledge of the
law,--in other words, to consider in what way it helps us towards the
avoidance of sin. If it be in the sense of indispensable aid without
which the end cannot be attained; not only was Pelagius' answer before
the judges true, but what he wrote in his book was true also. If,
however, it be of such a character that it helps indeed if it is
present, but even if it be absent, then the result is still possible
to be attained by some other means,--his answer to the judges was
still true, and not unreasonably did it find favour with the bishops
that "man is assisted not to sin by the knowledge of the law;" but
what he wrote in his book is not true, that "there is no man without
sin except him who has acquired a knowledge of the law,"--a statement
which the judges left undiscussed, as they were ignorant of the Latin
language, and were content with the confession of the man who was
pleading his cause before them, especially as no one was present on
the other side who could oblige the interpreter to expose his meaning
by an explanation of the words of his book, and to show why it was
that the brethren were not groundlessly disturbed. For but very few
persons are thoroughly acquainted with the law. The mass of the
members of Christ, who are scattered abroad everywhere, being ignorant
of the very profound and complicated contents of the law, are
commended by the piety of simple faith and unfailing hope in God, and
sincere love. Endowed with such gifts, they trust that by the grace of
God they may be purged from their sins through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Chapter 4 [II.]--The Same Continued.
If Pelagius, as he possibly might, were to say in reply to this, that
that very thing was what he meant by "the knowledge of the law,
without which a man is unable to be free from sins," which is
communicated by the teaching of faith to converts and to babes in
Christ, and in which candidates for baptism are catechetically
instructed with a view to their knowing the creed, certainly this is
not what is usually meant when any one is said to have a knowledge of
the law. This phrase is only applied to such persons as are skilled in
the law. But if he persists in describing the knowledge of the law by
the words in question, which, however few in number, are great in
weight, and are used to designate all who are faithfully baptized
according to the prescribed rule of the Churches; and if he maintains
that it was of this that he said, "No one is without sin, but the man
who has acquired the knowledge of the law,"--a knowledge which must
needs be conveyed to believers before they attain to the actual
remission of sins,--even in such case there would crowd around him a
countless multitude, not indeed of angry disputants, but of crying
baptized infants, who would exclaim,--not, to be sure, in words, but
in the very truthfulness of innocence,--"What is it, O what is it that
you have written: `He only can be without sin who has acquired a
knowledge of the law?' See here are we, a large flock of lambs,
without sin, and yet we have no knowledge of the law." Now surely they
with their silent tongue would compel him to silence, or, perhaps,
even to confess that he was corrected of his great perverseness; or
else (if you will), that he had already for some time entertained the
opinion which he acknowledged before his ecclesiastical examiners, but
that he had failed before to express his opinion in words of
sufficient care,--that his faith, therefore, should be approved, but
this book revised and amended. For, as the Scripture says: "There is
that slippeth in his speech, but not in his heart." [1610] Now if he
would only admit this, or were already saying it, who would not most
readily forgive those words which he had committed to writing with too
great heedlessness and neglect, especially on his declining to defend
the opinion which the said words contain, and affirming that to be his
proper view which the truth approves? This we must suppose would have
been in the minds of the pious judges themselves, if they could only
have duly understood the contents of his Latin book, thoroughly
interpreted to them, as they understood his reply to the synod, which
was spoken in Greek, and therefore quite intelligible to them, and
adjudged it as not alien from the Church. Let us go on to consider the
other cases.
Footnotes
[1610] Ecclus. xix. 16.
Chapter 5 [III.]--The Second Item in the Accusation; And Pelagius'
Answer.
The synod of bishops then proceeded to say: "Let another section be
read." Accordingly there was read the passage in the same book wherein
Pelagius had laid down the position that "all men are ruled by their
own will." On this being read, Pelagius said in answer: "This I stated
in the interest of free will. God is its helper whenever it chooses
good; man, however, when sinning is himself in fault, as under the
direction of a free will." Upon hearing this, the bishops exclaimed:
"Nor again is this opposed to the doctrine of the Church." For who
indeed could condemn or deny the freedom of the will, when God's help
is associated with it? His opinion, therefore, as thus explained in
his answer, was, with good reason, deemed satisfactory by the bishops.
And yet, after all, the statement made in his book, "All men are ruled
by their own will," ought without doubt to have deeply disturbed the
brethren, who had discovered what these men are accustomed to dispute
against the grace of God. For it is said, "All men are ruled by their
own will," as if God rules no man, and the Scripture says in vain,
"Save Thy people, and bless Thine inheritance; rule them, and lift
them up for ever." [1611] They would not, of course, stay, if they are
ruled only by their own will without God, even as sheep which have no
shepherd: which, God forbid for us. For, unquestionably to be led is
something more compulsory than to be ruled. He who is ruled at the
same time does something himself,--indeed, when ruled by God, it is
with the express view that he should also act rightly; whereas the man
who is led can hardly be understood to do any thing himself at all.
And yet the Saviour's helpful grace is so much better than our own
wills and desires, that the apostle does not hesitate to say: "As many
as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God." [1612] And
our free will can do nothing better for us than to submit itself to be
led by Him who can do nothing amiss; and after doing this, not to
doubt that it was helped to do it by Him of whom it is said in the
psalm, "He is my God, His mercy shall go before me." [1613]
Footnotes
[1611] Ps. xxviii. 9.
[1612] Rom. viii. 14.
[1613] Ps. lix. 10.
Chapter 6.--Pelagius' Answer Examined.
Indeed, in this very book which contains these statements, after
laying down the position, "All men are governed by their own will, and
every one is submitted to his own desire," Pelagius goes on to adduce
the testimony of Scripture, from which it is evident enough that no
man ought to trust to himself for direction. For on this very subject
the Wisdom of Solomon declares: "I myself also am a mortal man like
unto all; and the offspring of him that was first made of the earth,"
[1614] --with other similar words to the conclusion of the paragraph,
where we read: "For all men have one entrance into life, and the like
going out therefrom: wherefore I prayed and understanding was given to
me; I called, and the Spirit of Wisdom came into me." [1615] Now is it
not clearer than light itself, how that this man, on duly considering
the wretchedness of human frailty, did not dare to commit himself to
his own direction, but prayed, and understanding was given to him,
concerning which the apostle says: "But we have the understanding of
the Lord;" [1616] and called, and the Spirit of Wisdom entered into
him? Now it is by this Spirit, and not by the strength of their own
will, that they who are God's children are governed and led.
Footnotes
[1614] Wisd. vii. 1.
[1615] Wisd. vii. 6, 7.
[1616] 1 Cor. ii. 16.
Chapter 7.--The Same Continued.
As for the passage from the psalm, "He loved cursing, and it shall
come upon him; and he willed not blessing, so it shall be far removed
from him," [1617] which he quoted in the same book of Chapters, as if
to prove that "all men are ruled by their own will," who can be
ignorant that this is a fault not of nature as God created it, but of
human will which departed from God? The fact indeed is, that even if
he had not loved cursing, and had willed blessing, he would in this
very case, too, deny that his will had received any assis