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| To Boniface
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Letter CLXXXIX.
(a.d. 418.)
To Boniface,2867
| 2867 Count Boniface, to whom St. Augustin also
addressed Letters CLXXXV. and CCXX., was governor of the province
of Africa under Placidia, who for twenty-five years ruled the
empire in the name of her son Valentinian. By his perfidious rival
Ætius, Boniface was persuaded to disobey the order of Placidia,
when, under the instigation of Ætius himself, she recalled him
from the government of Africa. The necessity of powerful allies in
order to maintain his position led him to invite the Vandals to
pass from Spain into Africa. They came, under Genseric, and the
fertile provinces of Northern Africa fell an easy prey to their
invading armies. When the treachery of Ætius was discovered,
Placidia received Boniface again into favour, and he devoted all
his military talents to the task of expelling the barbarians whom
his own invitation had made masters of North Africa. But it was now
too late to wrest this Roman province from the Vandals; defeated in
a great battle, Boniface was compelled in 430 to retire into Hippo
Regius, where he succeeded in resisting the besieging army for
fourteen months. It was during this siege, and after it had
continued three months, that Augustin died. Reinforced by troops
from Constantinople, Boniface fought one more desperate but
unsuccessful battle, after which he left Hippo in the hands of
Genseric, and returned by order of Placidia to Italy. For fuller
particulars of his history, see Gibbon’s History of the
Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, ch. xxxiii. | My Noble Lord and Justly Distinguished and Honourable
Son, Augustin Sends Greeting in the Lord.
1. I had already written a reply to your Charity,
but while I was waiting for an opportunity of forwarding the
letter, my beloved son Faustus arrived here on his way to your
Excellency. After he had received the letter which I had intended
to be carried by him to your Benevolence, he stated to me that you
were very desirous that I should write you something which might
build you up unto the
eternal salvation of which you have hope in Christ Jesus our Lord.
And, although I was busily occupied at the time, he insisted, with
an earnestness corresponding to the love which, as you know, he
bears to you, that I should do this without delay. To meet his
convenience, therefore, as he was in haste to depart, I thought it
better to write, though necessarily without much time for
reflection, rather than put off the gratification of your pious
desire, my noble lord and justly distinguished and honourable
son.
2. All is contained in these brief sentences:
“Love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul,
and with all thy strength: and love thy neighbour as thyself;”2868
for these
are the words in which the Lord, when on earth, gave an epitome of
religion, saying in the gospel, “On these two commandments hang
all the law and the prophets.” Daily advance, then, in this love,
both by praying and by well-doing, that through the help of Him,
who enjoined it on you, and whose gift it is, it may be nourished
and increased, until, being perfected, it render you perfect.
“For this is the love which,” as the apostle says, “is shed
abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost, which is given unto
us.”2869
This is
“the fulfilling of the law;”2870
this is the same love by which
faith works, of which he says again, “Neither circumcision
availeth anything, nor uncircumcision; but faith, which worketh by
love.”2871
3. In this love, then, all our holy fathers,
patriarchs, prophets, and apostles pleased God. In this all true
martyrs contended against the devil even to the shedding of blood,
and because in them it neither waxed cold nor failed, they became
conquerors. In this all true believers daily make progress, seeking
to acquire not an earthly kingdom, but the kingdom of heaven; not a
temporal, but an eternal inheritance; not gold and silver, but the
incorruptible riches of the angels; not the good things of this
life, which are enjoyed with trembling, and which no one can take
with him when he dies, but the vision of God, whose grace and power
of imparting felicity transcend all beauty of form in bodies not
only on earth but also in heaven, transcend all spiritual
loveliness in men, however just and holy, transcend all the glory
of the angels and powers of the world above, transcend not only all
that language can express, but all that thought can imagine
concerning Him. And let us not despair of the fulfilment of such a
great promise because it is exceeding great, but rather believe
that we shall receive it because He who has promised it is
exceeding great, as the blessed Apostle John says: “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.”2872
4. Do not think that it is impossible for any
one to please God while engaged in active military service. Among
such persons was the holy David, to whom God gave so great a
testimony; among them also were many righteous men of that time;
among them was also that centurion who said to the Lord: “I am
not worthy that Thou shouldest come under my roof, but speak the
word only, and my servant shall be healed: for I am a man under
authority, having soldiers under me: and I say to this man, Go, and
he goeth; and to another, Come, and he cometh; and to my servant,
Do this, and he doeth it;” and concerning whom the Lord said:
“Verily, I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not
in Israel.”2873
Among them
was that Cornelius to whom an angel said: “Cornelius, thine alms
are accepted, and thy prayers are heard,”2874
when he directed him to send to
the blessed Apostle Peter, and to hear from him what he ought to
do, to which apostle he sent a devout soldier, requesting him to
come to him. Among them were also the soldiers who, when they had
come to be baptized by John,—the sacred forerunner of the Lord,
and the friend of the Bridegroom, of whom the Lord says: “Among
them that are born of women there hath not arisen a greater than
John the Baptist,”2875
—and had inquired of him what
they should do, received the answer, “Do violence to no man,
neither accuse any falsely; and be content with your wages.”2876
Certainly
he did not prohibit them to serve as soldiers when he commanded
them to be content with their pay for the service.
5. They occupy indeed a higher place before
God who, abandoning all these secular employments, serve Him with
the strictest chastity; but “every one,” as the apostle says,
“hath his proper gift of God, one after this manner, and another
after that.”2877
Some,
then, in praying for you, fight against your invisible enemies;
you, in fighting for them, contend against the barbarians, their
visible enemies. Would that one faith existed in all, for then
there would be less weary struggling, and the devil with his angels
would be more easily conquered; but since it is necessary in this
life that the citizens of the kingdom of heaven should be subjected
to temptations among erring and impious men, that they may be exercised, and
“tried as gold in the furnace,”2878
we ought not before the appointed
time to desire to live with those alone who are holy and righteous,
so that, by patience, we may deserve to receive this blessedness in
its proper time.
6. Think, then, of this first of all, when you
are arming for the battle, that even your bodily strength is a gift
of God; for, considering this, you will not employ the gift of God
against God. For, when faith is pledged, it is to be kept even with
the enemy against whom the war is waged, how much more with the
friend for whom the battle is fought! Peace should be the object of
your desire; war should be waged only as a necessity, and waged
only that God may by it deliver men from the necessity and preserve
them in peace. For peace is not sought in order to the kindling of
war, but war is waged in order that peace may be obtained.
Therefore, even in waging war, cherish the spirit of a peacemaker,
that, by conquering those whom you attack, you may lead them back
to the advantages of peace; for our Lord says: “Blessed are the
peacemakers; for they shall be called the children of God.”2879
If,
however, peace among men be so sweet as procuring temporal safety,
how much sweeter is that peace with God which procures for men the
eternal felicity of the angels! Let necessity, therefore, and not
your will, slay the enemy who fights against you. As violence is
used towards him who rebels and resists, so mercy is due to the
vanquished or the captive, especially in the case in which future
troubling of the peace is not to be feared.
7. Let the manner of your life be adorned by
chastity, sobriety, and moderation; for it is exceedingly
disgraceful that lust should subdue him whom man finds invincible,
and that wine should overpower him whom the sword assails in vain.
As to worldly riches, if you do not possess them, let them not be
sought after on earth by doing evil; and if you possess them, let
them by good works be laid up in heaven. The manly and Christian
spirit ought neither to be elated by the accession, nor crushed by
the loss of this world’s treasures. Let us rather think of what
the Lord says: “Where your treasure is, there will your heart be
also;”2880
and
certainly, when we hear the exhortation to lift up our hearts, it
is our duty to give unfeignedly the response which you know that we
are accustomed to give.2881
| 2881 The allusion is evidently to the ancient formulary
in public worship, first mentioned by Cyprian in his treatise on
the Lord’s Prayer. To the presbyter’s exhortation, “Sursum
corda!” the people responded “Habemus ad Dominum.” For an
account of this formulary and a most beautiful exposition of it,
quoted from Cyril of Jerusalem, see Riddle’s Christian
Antiquities, book IV. ch. i. sec. 2. |
8. In these things, indeed, I know that you
are very careful, and the good report which I hear of you fills me
with great delight, and moves me to congratulate you on account of
it in the Lord. This letter, therefore, may serve rather as a
mirror in which you may see what you are, than as a directory from
which to learn what you ought to be: nevertheless, whatever you may
discover, either from this letter or from the Holy Scriptures, to
be still wanting to you in regard to a holy life, persevere in
urgently seeking it both by effort and by prayer; and for the
things which you have, give thanks to God as the Fountain of
goodness, whence you have received them; in every good action let
the glory be given to God, and humility be exercised by you, for,
as it is written, “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from
above, and cometh down from the Father of lights.”2882
But
however much you may advance in the love of God and of your
neighbour, and in true piety, do not imagine, as long as you are in
this life, that you are without sin, for concerning this we read in
Holy Scripture: “Is not the life of man upon earth a life of
temptation?”2883
Wherefore,
since always, as long as you are in this body, it is necessary for
you to say in prayer, as the Lord taught us: “Forgive us our
debts, as we forgive our debtors,”2884
remember quickly to forgive, if
any one shall do you wrong and shall ask pardon from you, that you
may be able to pray sincerely, and may prevail in seeking pardon
for your own sins.
These things, my beloved friend, I have written to
you in haste, as the anxiety of the bearer to depart urged me not
to detain him; but I thank God that I have in some measure complied
with your pious wish. May the mercy of God ever protect you, my
noble lord and justly distinguished son.
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