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Letter CXLVIII.
(a.d. 413.)
A Letter of Instructions
(Commonitorium) to the Holy Brother Fortunatianus.2614
| 2614 Fortunatianus, Bishop of Sicqua, was one of the
seven bishop selected to represent the Catholics in the Conference
of Carthage with the Donatists in 411. He was probably a neighbour
of the bishop who had regarded himself as aggrieved by the
arguments with which Augustin confuted some extravagant
speculations of his. |
Chap. I.
1. I write this to remind you of the request
which I made when I was with you, that you would do me the kindness
of visiting our brother, whom we mentioned in conversation, in
order to ask him to forgive me, if he has construed as a harsh and
unfriendly attack upon himself any statement made by me in a recent
letter (which I do not regret having written), affirming that the
eyes of this body cannot see God, and never shall see Him. I added
immediately the reason why I made this statement, namely, to
prevent men from believing that God Himself is corporeal and
visible, as occupying a place determined by size and by distance
from us (for the eye of this body can see nothing except under
these conditions), and to prevent men from understanding the
expression “face to face”2615
as if God were limited within the
members of a body. Therefore I do not regret having made this
statement, as a protest against our forming such unworthy and
profane ideas concerning God as to think that He is not everywhere
in His totality, but susceptible of division, and distributed
through localities in space; for such are the only objects
cognizable through these eyes of ours.
2. But if, while holding no such opinion as this
concerning God, but believing Him to be a Spirit, unchangeable,
incorporeal, present in His whole Being everywhere, any one thinks
that the change on this body of ours (when from being a natural
body it shall become a spiritual body) will be so great that in
such a body it will be possible for us to see a spiritual substance
not susceptible of division according to local distance or
dimension, or even confined within the limits of bodily members,
but everywhere present in its totality, I wish him to instruct me
in this matter, if what he has discovered is true; but if in this
opinion he is mistaken, it is far less objectionable to ascribe to
the body something that does not belong to it, than to take away
from God that which belongs to Him. And even if that opinion be
correct, it will not contradict my words in that letter; for I said
that the eyes of this body shall not see God, meaning that the eyes
of this body of ours can see nothing but bodies which are separated
from them by some interval of space, for if there be no interval,
even bodies themselves cannot through the eyes be seen by us.
3. Moreover, if our bodies shall be changed into
something so different from what they now are as to have eyes by
means of which a substance shall be seen which is not diffused
through space or confined within limits, having one part in one
place, another in another, a smaller in a less space, a greater in
a larger, but in its totality spiritually present
everywhere,—these bodies shall be something very different from
what they are at present, and shall no longer be themselves, and
shall be not only freed from mortality, and corruption, and weight,
but somehow or other shall be changed into the quality of the mind
itself, if they shall be able to see in a manner which shall be
then granted to the mind, but which is meanwhile not granted even
to the mind itself. For if, when a man’s habits are changed, we
say he is not the man he was,—if, when our age is changed, we say
that the body is not what it was, how much more may we say that the
body shall not be the same when it shall have undergone so great a
change as not only to have immortal life, but also to have power to
see Him who is invisible? Wherefore, if they shall thus see God, it
is not with the eyes of this body that He shall be seen, because in
this also it shall not be the same body, since it has been changed to so great an
extent in capacity and power; and this opinion is, therefore, not
contrary to the words of my letter. If, however, the body shall be
changed only to this extent, that whereas now it is mortal, then it
shall be immortal, and whereas now it weighs down the soul, then,
devoid of weight, it shall be most ready for every motion, but
unchanged in the faculty of seeing objects which are discerned by
their dimensions and distances, it will still be utterly impossible
for it to see a substance that is incorporeal and is in its
totality present everywhere. Whether, therefore, the former or the
latter supposition be correct, in both cases it remains true that
the eyes of this body shall not see God; or if they are to see Him,
they shall not be the eyes of this body, since after so
great a change they shall be the eyes of a body very different from
this.
4. But if this brother is able to propound anything
better on this subject, I am ready to learn either from himself or
from his instructor. If I were saying this ironically, I would also
say that I am prepared to learn concerning God that He has a body
having members, and is divisible in different localities in space;
which I do not say, because I am not speaking ironically, and I am
perfectly certain that God is not in any respect of such a nature;
and I wrote that letter to prevent men from believing Him to be
such. In that letter, being carried away by my zeal to warn against
error, and writing more freely because I did not name the person
whose views I assailed, I was too vehement and not sufficiently
guarded, and did not consider as I ought to have done the respect
which was due by one brother and bishop to the office of another:
this I do not defend, but blame; this I condemn rather than excuse,
and beg that it may be forgiven. I entreat him to remember our old
friendship, and forget my recent offence. Let him do that which he
is displeased with me for not having done; let him exhibit in
granting pardon the gentleness which I have failed to show in
writing that letter. I thus ask, through your kindly mediation,
what I had resolved to ask of him in person if I had had an
opportunity. I indeed made an effort to obtain an interview with
him (a venerable man, worthy of being honoured by us all, writing
to request it in my name), but he declined to come, suspecting, I
suppose, that, as very often happens among men, some plot was
prepared against him. Of my absolute innocence of such guile, I beg
you to do your utmost to assure him, which by seeing him personally
you can more easily do. State to him with what deep and genuine
grief I conversed with you about my having hurt his feelings. Let
him know how far I am from slighting him, how much in him I fear
God, and am mindful of our Head in whose body we are brethren. My
reason for thinking it better not to go to the place in which he
resides was, that we might not make ourselves a laughing-stock to
those without the pale of the Church, thereby bringing grief to our
friends and shame to ourselves. All this may be satisfactorily
arranged through the good offices of your Holiness and Charity;
nay, rather, the satisfactory issue is in the hands of Him who, by
the faith which is His gift, dwells in your heart, whom I am
confident that our brother does not refuse to honour in you, since
he knows Christ experimentally as dwelling in himself.
5. I, at all events, do not know what I could
do better in this case than ask pardon from the brother who has
complained that he was wounded by the harshness of my letter. He
will, I hope, do what he knows to be enjoined on him by Him who,
speaking through the apostle, says: “Forgiving one another, if
any man have a quarrel against any: even as God in Christ has
forgiven you;”2616
“Be ye therefore followers of
God, as dear children; and walk in love, as Christ also hath loved
us.”2617
Walking in
this love, let us inquire with oneness of heart, and, if possible,
with yet greater diligence than hitherto, into the nature of the
spiritual body which we shall have after our resurrection. “And
if in anything we be diversely minded, God shall reveal even this
unto us,”2618
if we
abide in Him. Now he who dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, for
“God is love,”2619
—whether as the fountain of love
in its ineffable essence, or as the fountain whence He freely gives
it to us by His Spirit. If, then, it can be shown that love can at
any time become visible to our bodily eyes, then we grant that
possibly God shall be so too; but if love never can become visible,
much less can He who is Himself its Fountain or whatever other
figurative name more excellent or more appropriate can be employed
in speaking of One so great.
Chap. II.
6. Some men of great gifts, and very learned
in the Holy Scriptures, who have, when an opportunity presented
itself, done much by their writings to benefit the Church and
promote the instruction of believers, have said that the invisible
God is seen in an invisible manner, that is, by that nature which
in us also is invisible, namely, a pure mind or heart. The holy
Ambrose, when speaking of Christ as the Word, says: “Jesus is
seen not by the bodily, but by the spiritual eyes;” and shortly
after he adds: “The Jews saw Him not, for their foolish heart was
blinded,”2620
| 2620 Ambrosius, Lib. i. in Luc. c. i. | showing in
this way how Christ is seen. Also, when he was speaking of
the Holy
Spirit, he introduced the words of the Lord, saying: “I will pray
the Father, and He shall give you another Comforter, that He may
abide with you for ever, even the Spirit of truth; whom the world
cannot receive, because it seeth Him not, neither knoweth Him;”2621
and adds:
“With good reason, therefore, did He show Himself in the body,
since in the substance of His Godhead He is not seen. We have seen
the Spirit, but in a bodily form: let us see the Father also; but
since we cannot see Him, let us hear Him.” A little after he
says: “Let us hear the Father, then, for the Father is invisible;
but the Son also is invisible as regards His Godhead, for ‘no man
hath seen God at any time;’2622
and since the Son is God, He is
certainly not seen in that in which He is God.”2623
| 2623 Ambrosius, Lib. ii. in Luc. c. iii. v.
22. |
7. The holy Jerome also says: “The eye of
man cannot see God as He is in His own nature; and this is true not
of man only; neither angels, nor thrones, nor powers, nor
principalities, nor any name which is named can see God, for no
creature can see its Creator.” By these words this very learned
man sufficiently shows what his opinion was on this subject in
regard not only to the present life, but also to that which is to
come. For however much the eyes of our body may be changed for the
better, they shall only be made equal to the eyes of the angels.
Here, however, Jerome has affirmed that the nature of the Creator
is invisible even to the angels, and to every creature without
exception in heaven. If, however, a question arise on this point,
and a doubt is expressed whether we shall not be superior to the
angels, the mind of the Lord Himself is plain from the words which
He uses in speaking of those who shall rise again to the kingdom:
“They shall be equal unto the angels.”2624
Whence the same holy Jerome thus
expresses himself in another passage: “Man, therefore, cannot see
the face of God but the angels of the least in the Church do always
behold the face of God.2625
And now we see as in a mirror
darkly, in a riddle, but then face to face;2626
when from being men we shall
advance to the rank of angels, and shall be able to say with the
apostle, ‘We all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror
the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image, from glory
to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord;’2627
although no creature can see the
face of God, according to the essential properties of His nature,
and He is, in these cases, seen by the mind, since He is believed
to be invisible.”2628
| 2628 Hieron, lib. i. in Isai, i. |
8. In these words of this man of God there are
many things deserving our consideration: first, that in accordance
with the very clear declaration of the Lord, he also is of opinion
that we shall then see the face of God when we shall have advanced
to the rank of angels, that is, shall be made equal to the angels,
which doubtless shall be at the resurrection of the dead. Next, he
has sufficiently explained by the testimony of the apostle, that
the face is to be understood not of the outward but of the inward
man, when it is said we shall “see face to face;” for the
apostle was speaking of the face of the heart when he used the
words quoted in this connection by Jerome: “We, with unveiled
face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are changed
into the same image.”2629
If any one doubt this, let him
examine the passage again, and notice of what the apostle was
speaking, namely, of the veil, which remains on the heart of every
one in reading the Old Testament, until he pass over to Christ,
that the veil may be removed. For he there says: “We also, with
unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the
Lord,”—which face had not been unveiled in the Jews, of whom he
says, “the veil is upon their heart,”—in order to show that
the face unveiled in us when the veil is taken away is the face of
the heart. In fine, lest any one, looking on these things with too
little care and therefore failing to discern their meaning, should
believe that God now is or shall hereafter be visible either to
angels or to men, when they shall have been made equal to the
angels, he has most plainly expressed his opinion by affirming that
“no creature can see the face of God according to the essential
properties of His nature,” and that “He is, in these cases,
seen by the mind, since He is believed to be invisible.” From
these statements he sufficiently showed that when God has been seen
by men through the eyes of the body as if He had a body, He has not
been seen as to the essential properties of his nature, in which He
is seen by the mind, since He is believed to be
invisible—invisible, that is to say, to the bodily perception
even of celestial beings, as Jerome had said above, of angels, and
powers, and principalities. How much more, then, is He invisible to
terrestrial beings!
9. Wherefore, in another place, Jerome says in
still plainer terms, it is true not only of the divinity of the
Father but equally of that of the Son and of that of the Holy
Spirit, forming one nature in the Trinity, that it cannot be seen
by the eyes of the flesh, but by the eyes of the mind, of which the
Saviour Himself says: “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they
shall see God.”2630
| 2630 Hieron. lib. iii. in Isa, i. | What could be more clear than this
statement? For if he had merely said that it is impossible for the
divinity of the Father, or of the Son, or of the Holy Spirit, to be
seen by the eyes of the flesh, and had not added the words, “but
only by the eyes of the mind,” it might perhaps have been said,
that when the body shall have become spiritual it can no longer be
called “flesh;” but by adding the words, “but only by the
eyes of the mind,” he has excluded the vision of God from every
sort of body. Lest, however, any one should suppose that he was
speaking only of the present state of being, observe that he has
subjoined also a testimony of the Lord, quoted with the design of
defining the eyes of the mind of which he had spoken; in which
testimony a promise is given not of present, but of future vision:
“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see
God.”
10. The very blessed Athanasius, also, Bishop
of Alexandria, when contending against the Arians, who affirm that
the Father alone is invisible, but suppose the Son and the Holy
Spirit to be visible, asserted the equal invisibility of all the
Persons of the Trinity, proving it by testimonies from Holy
Scripture, and arguing with all his wonted care in controversy,
labouring earnestly to convince his opponents that God has never
been seen, except through His assuming the form of a creature; and
that in His essential Deity God is invisible, that is, that the
Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are invisible, except in so
far as the Divine Persons can be known by the mind and the spirit.
Gregory, also, a holy Eastern bishop, very plainly says that God,
by nature invisible, had, on those occasions on which He was seen
by the fathers (as by Moses, with whom He talked face to face),
made it possible for Himself to be seen by assuming the form of
something material and discernible.2631
Our Ambrose says the same: “That
the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, when visible, are
seen under forms assumed by choice, not prescribed by the nature of
Deity;”2632
| 2632 Ambrose on Luke, c. i. 11. | thus
clearing the truth of the saying, “No man hath seen God at any
time,”2633
which is
the word of the Lord Christ Himself, and of that other saying,
“Whom no man hath seen, nor can see,”2634
which is the word of the apostle,
yea, rather, of Christ by His apostle; as well as vindicating the
consistency of those passages of Scripture in which God is related
to have been seen, because He is both invisible in the essential
nature of His Deity, and able to become visible when He pleases, by
assuming such created form as shall seem good to Him.
Chap. III.
11. Moreover, if invisibility is a property of
the divine nature, as incorruptibility is, that nature shall
assuredly not undergo such a change in the future world as to cease
to be invisible and become visible; because it shall never be
possible for it to cease to be incorruptible and become
corruptible, for it is in both attributes alike immutable. The
apostle assuredly declared the excellence of the divine nature when
he placed these two together, saying, “Now, unto the King of
ages, invisible, incorruptible, the only God, be honour and glory
for ever and ever.”2635
Wherefore I dare not make such a
distinction as to say incorruptible, indeed, for ever and ever, but
invisible—not for ever and ever, but only in this world. At the
same time, since the testimonies which we are next to quote cannot
be false,—”Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see
God,”2636
and, “We
know that, when He shall appear, we shall be like Him; for we shall
see Him as He is,”2637
—we cannot deny that the sons of
God shall see God; but they shall see Him as invisible things are
seen, in the manner in which He who appeared in the flesh, visible
to men, promised that He would manifest Himself to men, when,
speaking in the presence of the disciples and seen by their eyes,
He said: “I will love him, and will manifest myself to
him.” In what other manner are invisible things seen than by the
eyes of the mind, concerning which, as the instruments of our
vision of God, I have shortly before quoted the opinion of
Jerome?
12. Hence, also, the statement of the Bishop
of Milan, whom I have quoted before, who says that even in the
resurrection it is not easy for any but those who have a pure heart
to see God, and therefore it is written, “Blessed are the pure in
heart, for they shall see God.” “How many,” he says, “had
He already enumerated as blessed, and yet to them He had not
promised the power of seeing God;” and he adds this inference,
“If, therefore, the pure in heart shall see God, it is obvious
that others shall not see Him;” and to prevent our understanding
him to refer to those others of whom the Lord had said, “Blessed
are the poor, blessed are the meek,” he immediately subjoined,
“For those that are unworthy shall not see God,” intending it
to be understood that the unworthy are those who, although they
shall rise again, shall not be able to see God, since they shall
rise to condemnation, because they refused to purify their hearts
through that true faith which “worketh by love.”2638
For this
reason he goes on to say, “Whosoever has been unwilling to see God
cannot see Him.” Then, since it occurred to him that, in a sense,
even all wicked men have a desire to see God, he immediately
explains that he used the words, “Whosoever has been unwilling to
see God,” because the fact that the wicked do not desire to
purify the heart, by which alone God can be seen, shows that they
do not desire to see God, and follows up this statement with the
words: “God is not seen in space, but in the pure heart; nor is
He sought out by the eyes of the body; nor is He defined in form by
our faculty of sight; nor grasped by the touch; His voice does not
fall on the ear; nor are His goings perceived by the senses.”2639
| 2639 Ambrose on Luke, i. 11. | By these
words the blessed Ambrose desired to teach the preparation which
men ought to make if they wish to see God, viz. to purify the heart
by the faith which worketh by love, through the gift of the Holy
Spirit, from whom we have received the earnest by which we are
taught to desire that vision.2640
Chap. IV.
13. For as to the members of God which the Scripture
frequently mentions, lest any one should suppose that we resemble
God as to the form and figure of the body, the same Scripture
speaks of God as having also wings, which we certainly have not. As
then, when we hear of the “wings” of God, we understand the
divine protection, so by the “hands” of God we ought to
understand His working,—by His “feet,” His presence,—by His
“eyes,” His power of seeing and knowing all things,—by His
face, that whereby He reveals Himself to our knowledge; and I
believe that any other such expression used in Scripture is to be
spiritually understood. In this opinion I am not singular, nor am I
the first who has stated it. It is the opinion of all who by any
spiritual interpretation of such language in Scripture resist those
who are called Anthropomorphites. Not to occupy too much time by
quoting largely from the writings of these men, I introduce here
one extract from the pious Jerome, in order that our brother may
know that, if anything moves him to maintain an opposite opinion,
he is bound to carry on the debate with those who preceded me not
less than with myself.
14. In the exposition which that most learned
student of Scripture has given of the psalm in which occur the
words, “Understand, ye brutish among the people: and ye fools,
when will ye be wise? He that planted the ear, shall he not hear?
or He that formed the eye, doth He not behold?”2641
he says,
among other things: “This passage furnishes a strong argument
against those who are Anthropomorphites, and say that God has
members such as we have. For example, God is said by them to have
eyes, because ‘the eyes of the Lord behold all things:’ in the
same, literal manner they take the statements that the hand of the
Lord doeth all things, and that Adam ‘heard the sound of the feet
of the Lord walking in the garden,’ and thus they ascribe the
infirmities of men to the majesty of God. But I affirm that God is
all eye, all hand, all foot: all eye, because He sees all things;
all hand, because He worketh all things; all foot, because He is
everywhere present. See, therefore, what the Psalmist saith: ‘He
that planted the ear, shall He not hear? He that formed the eye,
doth He not behold?’ He doth not say: ‘He that planted the ear,
has He not an ear? and He that formed the eye, has He not an
eye?’ But what does he say? ‘He that planted the ear, shall He
not hear? He that formed the eye, doth He not behold?’ The
Psalmist has ascribed to God the powers of seeing and hearing, but
has not assigned members to Him.”2642
15. I have thought it my duty to quote all these
passages from the writings of both Latin and Greek authors who,
being in the Catholic Church before our time, have written
commentaries on the divine oracles, in order that our brother, if
he hold any different opinion from theirs, may know that it becomes
him, laying aside all bitterness of controversy, and preserving or
reviving fully the gentleness of brotherly love, to investigate
with diligent and calm consideration either what he must learn from
others, or what others must learn from him. For the reasonings of
any men whatsoever, even though they be Catholics, and of high
reputation, are not to be treated by us in the same way as the
canonical Scriptures are treated. We are at liberty, without doing
any violence to the respect which these men deserve, to condemn and
reject anything in their writings, if perchance we shall find that
they have entertained opinions differing from that which others or
we ourselves have, by the divine help, discovered to be the truth.
I deal thus with the writings of others, and I wish my intelligent
readers to deal thus with mine. In fine, I do by the help of the
Lord most stedfastly believe, and, in so far as He enables me, I
understand what is taught in all the statements which I have now
quoted from the works of the holy and learned Ambrose, Jerome,
Athanasius, Gregory, and in any other similar statements in other
writers which I have read, but have for the sake of brevity
forborne from quoting, namely, that God is not a body, that He has
not the members of the human frame, that He is not divisible
through space, and that He is unchangeably invisible, and appeared
not in His essential nature and substance, but in such visible form as He pleased to those
to whom he appeared on the occasions on which Scripture records
that He was seen by holy persons with the eyes of the body.
Chap. V.
16. As to the spiritual body which we shall have in
the resurrection, how great a change for the better it is to
undergo,—whether it shall become pure spirit, so that the whole
man shall then be a spirit, or shall (as I rather think, but do not
yet confidently maintain) become a spiritual body in such a way as
to be called spiritual because of a certain ineffable facility in
its movements, but at the same time to retain its material
substance, which cannot live and feel by itself, but only through
the spirit which uses it (for in our present state, in like manner,
although the body is spoken of as animated [animal], the nature of
the animating principle is different from that of the body), and
whether, if the properties of the body then immortal and
incorruptible shall remain unchanged, it shall then in some degree
aid the spirit to see visible, i,e. material things, as at present
we are unable to see anything of that kind except through the eyes
of the body, or our spirit shall then be able, even in its higher
state, to know material things without the instrumentality of the
body (for God Himself does not know these things through bodily
senses), on these and on many other things which may perplex us in
the discussion of this subject, I confess that I have not yet read
anywhere anything which I would esteem sufficiently established to
deserve to be either learned or taught by men.
17. And for this reason, if our brother will
bear patiently any degree whatever of hesitation on my part, let us
in the meantime, because of that which is written, “We shall see
Him as He is,” prepare, so far as with the help of God Himself we
are enabled, hearts purified for that vision. Let us at the same
time inquire more calmly and carefully concerning the spiritual
body, for it may be that God, if He know this to be useful to us,
may condescend to show us some definite and clear view on the
subject, in accordance with His written word. For if a more careful
investigation shall result in the discovery that the change on the
body shall be so great that it shall be able to see things that are
invisible, such power imparted to the body will not, I think,
deprive the mind of the power of seeing, and thus give the outward
man a vision of God which is denied to the inward man; as if, in
contradiction of the plain words of Scripture, “that God may be
all and in all,”2643
God were only beside the
man—without him, and not in the man, in his inner being; or as if
He, who is everywhere present in his entirety, unlimited in space,
is so within man that He can be seen outside only by the outward
man, but cannot be seen inside by the inward man. If such opinions
are palpably absurd,—for, on the contrary, the saints shall be
full of God; they shall not, remaining empty within, be surrounded
outside by Him; nor shall they, through being blind within, fail to
see Him of whom they are full, and, having eyes only for that which
is outside of themselves, behold Him by whom they shall be
surrounded,—if, I say, these things are absurd, it remains for us
to rest meanwhile certainly assured as to the vision of God by the
inward man. But if, by some wondrous change, the body shall be
endowed with this power, another new faculty shall be added; the
faculty formerly possessed shall not be taken away.
18. It is better, then, that we affirm that
concerning which we have no doubt,—that God shall be seen by the
inward man, which alone is able, in our present state, to see that
love in commendation of which the apostle says, “God is
love;”2644
the inward
man, which alone is able to see “peace and holiness, without
which no man shall see the Lord.”2645
For no fleshly eye now sees love,
peace, and holiness, and such things; yet all of them are seen, so
far as they can be seen, by the eye of the mind, and the purer it
is the more clearly it sees; so that we may, without hesitation,
believe that we shall see God, whether we succeed or fail in our
investigations as to the nature of our future body—although, at
the same time, we hold it to be certain that the body shall rise
again, immortal and incorruptible, because on this we have the
plainest and strongest testimony of Holy Scripture. If, however,
our brother affirm now that he has arrived at certain knowledge as
to that spiritual body, in regard to which I am only inquiring, he
will have just cause to be displeased with me if I shall refuse to
listen calmly to his instructions, provided only that he also
listen calmly to my questions. Now, however, I entreat you, for
Christ’s sake, to obtain his forgiveness for me for that
harshness in my letter, by which, as I have learned, he was, not
without cause, offended; and may you, by God’s help, cheer my
spirit by your answer.
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