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| To Paulinus and Therasia
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Letter XCV.
(a.d. 408.)
To Brother Paulinus and Sister
Therasia, Most Beloved and Sincere Saints Worthy of Affection and
Veneration, Fellow-Disciples with Himself Under the Lord Jesus as
Master, Augustin Sends Greeting in the Lord.
1. When brethren most closely united to us,
towards whom along with us you are accustomed both to cherish and
to express sentiments of regard which we all cordially reciprocate,
have frequent occasions of visiting you, this benefit is one by
which we are comforted under evil rather than made to rejoice in
increase of good. For we strive to the utmost of our power to avoid
the causes and emergencies which necessitate their journeys, and
yet,—I know not how, unless it be as just retribution,—they
cannot be dispensed with: but when they return to us and see us,
that word of Scripture is fulfilled in our experience: “In the
multitude of my thoughts within me, Thy comforts delight my
soul.”2283
Accordingly, when you learn from our brother Possidius himself how
sad is the occasion which has compelled him to go to Italy,2284
| 2284 Possidus, bishop of Calama, was going to Rome to
complain of the outrage of the Pagans of Calama, described in
Letter XCI. sec. 8, p. 378. | you will
know how true the remarks I have made are in regard to the joy
which he has in meeting you; and yet, if any of us should cross the
sea for the one purpose of enjoying a meeting with you, what more
cogent or worthy reason could be found? This, however, would not be
compatible with those obligations by which we are bound to minister
to those who are languid through infirmity, and not to withdraw our
bodily presence from them, unless their malady, assuming dangerous
form, makes such departure imperative. Whether in these things we
are receiving chastening or judgment I know not; but this I know,
that He is not dealing with us according to our sins, nor requiting
us according to our iniquities,2285
who mingles so great comfort with
our tribulation, and who, by remedies which fill us with wonder,
secures that we shall not love the world, and shall not by it be
made to fall away.
2. I asked in a former letter your opinion as to the
nature of the future life of the saints; but you have said in your
reply that we have still much to study concerning our condition in
this present life, and you do well, except in this, that you have
expressed your desire to learn from me that of which you are either
equally ignorant or equally well-informed with myself, or rather,
of which you know much more perhaps than I do; for you have said
with perfect truth, that before we meet the dissolution of this
mortal body, we must die, in a gospel sense, by a voluntary
departure, withdrawing ourselves, not by death, but by deliberate
resolution, from the life of this world. This course is a simple
one, and is beset with no waves of uncertainty; because we are of
opinion that we ought so to live in this mortal life that we may be
in some measure fitted for immortality. The whole question,
however, which, when discussed and investigated, perplexes men like
myself, is this—how we ought to live among or for the welfare of
those who have not yet learned to live by dying, not in the
dissolution of the body, but by turning themselves with a certain
mental resolution away from the attractions of mere natural things.
For in most cases, it seems to us that unless we in some small
degree conform to them in regard to those very things from which we
desire to see them delivered, we shall not succeed in
doing them any good. And when we do thus conform, a pleasure in
such things steals upon ourselves, so that often we are pleased to
speak and to listen to frivolous things, and not only to smile at
them, but even to be completely overcome with laughter: thus
burdening our souls with feelings which cleave to the dust, or even
to the mire of this world, we experience greater difficulty and
reluctance in raising ourselves to God that by dying a gospel-death
we may live a gospel-life. And whensoever this state of mind is
reached, immediately thereupon will follow the commendation,
“Well done! well done!” not from men, for no man perceives in
another the mental act by which divine things are apprehended, but
in a certain inward silence there sounds I know not whence, “Well
done! well done!” Because of this kind of temptation, the great
apostle confesses that he was buffeted by the angel.2286
Behold
whence it comes that our whole life on earth is a temptation; for
man is tempted even in that thing in which he is being conformed so
far as he can be to the likeness of the heavenly life.
3. What shall I say as to the infliction or
remission of punishment, in cases in which we have no other desire
than to forward the spiritual welfare of those in regard to whom we
judge that they ought or ought not to be punished? Also, if we
consider not only the nature and magnitude of faults, but also what
each may be able or unable to bear according to his strength of
mind, how deep and dark a question it is to adjust the amount of
punishment so as to prevent the person who receives it not only
from getting no good, but also from suffering loss thereby!
Besides, I know not whether a greater number have been improved or
made worse when alarmed under threats of such punishment at the
hands of men as is an object of fear. What, then, is the path of
duty, seeing that it often happens that if you inflict punishment
on one he goes to destruction; whereas, if you leave him
unpunished, another is destroyed? I confess that I make mistakes
daily in regard to this, and that I know not when and how to
observe the rule of Scripture: “Them that sin rebuke before all,
that others may fear;”2287
and that other rule, “Tell him
his fault between thee and him alone;”2288
and the rule, “Judge nothing
before the time;”2289
“Judge not, that ye be not
judged”2290
(in which
command the Lord has not added the words, “before the time”);
and this saying of Scripture, “Who art thou that judgest another
man’s servant? to his own master he standeth or falleth: yea, he
shall be holden up, for God is able to make him stand;”2291
by which
words he makes it plain that he is speaking of those who are within
the Church; yet, on the other hand, he commands them to be judged
when he says, “What have I to do to judge them also that are
without? do not ye judge them that are within? therefore put away
from among yourselves that wicked person.”2292
But when this is necessary, how
much care and fear is occasioned by the question to what extent it
should be done, lest that happen which, in his second epistle to
them, the apostle is found admonishing these persons to beware of
in that very example, saying, “lest, perhaps, such an one should
be swallowed up with overmuch sorrow;” adding, in order to
prevent men from thinking this a thing not calling for anxious
care, “lest Satan should get an advantage of us; for we are not
ignorant of his devices.”2293
What trembling we feel in all
these things, my brother Paulinus, O holy man of God! what
trembling, what darkness! May we not think that with reference to
these things it was said, “Fearfulness and trembling are come
upon me, and horror hath overwhelmed me. And I said, Oh that I had
wings like a dove! for then would I fly away, and be at rest. Lo,
then would I wander far off, and remain in the wilderness.” And
yet even in the wilderness perchance he still experienced it; for
he adds, “I waited for Him who should deliver me from weakness
and from tempest.”2294
| 2294 Ps. lv. 5–8, as given in the LXX. | Truly, therefore, is the life of
man upon the earth a life of temptation.2295
4. Moreover, as to the oracles of God, is it not
true that they are lightly touched rather than grasped and handled
by us, seeing that in by far the greater part of them we do not
already possess opinions definite and ascertained, but are rather
inquiring what our opinion ought to be? And this caution, though
attended with abundant disquietude, is much better than the
rashness of dogmatic assertion. Also, if a man is not carnally
minded (which the apostle says is death), will he not be a great
cause of offence to those who are still carnally minded, in many
parts of Scripture in the exposition of which to say what you
believe is most perilous, and to refrain from saying it is most
grievous, and to say something else than what you believe is most
pernicious? Nay more, when in the discourses or writings of those
who are within the Church we find some things censurable, and do
not conceal our disapprobation (supposing such correction to be
according to the freedom of brotherly love), how great a sin is
committed against us when we are suspected of being actuated in
this by envy and not by goodwill! and how much do we sin against
others, when we in like manner impute to those who find fault with
our opinions a desire rather to wound than to correct us! Verily,
there arise usually from this cause bitter enmities even between
persons bound to each other by the greatest affection and intimacy,
when, “thinking of men above that which is written, any one is
puffed up for one against another;”2296
and while they bite and devour one
another, “there is reason to fear lest they be consumed one of
another.”2297
Therefore,
“Oh that I had wings like a dove! for then would I fly away, and
be at rest.”2298
For
whether it be that the dangers by which one is beset seem to him
greater than those of which he has no experience, or that my
impressions are correct, I cannot help thinking that any amount of
weakness and of tempest in the wilderness would be more easily
borne than the things which we feel or fear in the busy
world.
5. I therefore greatly approve of your saying that
we should make the state in which men stand, or rather the course
which they run, in this present life, the theme of our discussion.
I add as another reason for our giving this subject the preference,
that the finding and following of the course itself must come
before our finding and possessing that towards which it leads.
When, therefore, I asked your views on this, I acted as if, through
holding and observing carefully the right rule of this life, we
were already free from disquietude concerning its course, although
I feel in so many things, and especially in those which I have
mentioned, that I toil in the midst of very great dangers.
Nevertheless, forasmuch as the cause of all this ignorance and
embarrassment appears to me to be that, in the midst of a great
variety of manners and of minds having inclinations and infirmities
hidden altogether from our sight, we seek the interest of those who
are citizens and subjects, not of Rome which is on earth, but of
Jerusalem which is in heaven, it seemed to me more agreeable to
converse with you about what we shall be, than about what we now
are. For although we do not know the blessings which are to be
enjoyed yonder, of one thing at least we are assured, and it is not
a small thing, that yonder the evils which we experience here shall
have no place.
6. Wherefore, as to the ordering of this present
life in the way which we must follow in order to the attainment of
eternal life, I know that our carnal appetites must be held in
check, only so much concession being made to the gratification of
the bodily senses as suffices for the support of this life and the
active discharge of its duties, and that all the vexations of this
life which come upon us in connection with the truth of God, and
the eternal welfare of ourselves or of our neighbours, must be
borne with patience and fortitude. I know also that with all the
zeal of love we should seek the good of our neighbour, that he may
rightly spend the present life so as to obtain life eternal. I know
also that we ought to prefer spiritual to carnal, immutable to
mutable things, and that all this a man is so much more or less
enabled to do, according as he is more or less helped by the grace
of God through Jesus Christ our Lord. But I do not know the reason
why one or another is more or less helped or not helped by that
grace; this only I know, that God does this with perfect justice,
and for reasons which to Himself are known as sufficient. In
regard, however, to the things which I have mentioned above, as to
the way in which we ought to live amongst men, if anything has
become known to you through experience or meditation, I beseech you
to give me instruction. And if these things perplex you not less
than myself, make them the subject of conference with some
judicious spiritual physician, whom you may find either where you
reside, or in Rome, when you make your annual visit to the city,
and thereafter write to me whatever the Lord may reveal to you
through his instructions, or to you and him together when engaged
in conversation on the subject.
7. As to the resurrection of the body, and the
future offices of its members in the incorruptible and immortal
state, since you have, in return for the questions which I put to
you, inquired my views on these matters, listen to a brief
statement which, if it be not sufficient, may afterwards, with the
Lord’s help, be amplified by fuller discussion. It is to be held
most firmly, as a doctrine in regard to which the testimony of Holy
Scripture is true and unmistakable, that these visible and earthly
bodies which are now called natural2299
shall, in the resurrection of the
faithful and just, be spiritual bodies. At the same time, I do not
know how the quality of a spiritual body can be comprehended or
stated by us, seeing that it lies beyond the range of our
experience. There shall be, assuredly, in such bodies no
corruption, and therefore they shall not require the perishable
nourishment which is now necessary; yet though unnecessary, it will
not be impossible for them at their pleasure to take and actually
consume food; otherwise it would not have been taken after His
resurrection by the Lord, who has given us such an example of the
resurrection of the body, that the apostle argues from it: “If
the dead rise not, then is not Christ raised.”2300
But He, when He appeared to His
disciples, having all His members, and using them according to
their functions, also pointed out to them the places where His
wounds had been, regarding which I have always supposed that they
were the scars, not the wounds themselves, and that they were
there, not of necessity, but according to His free exercise of
power. He gave at that time the clearest evidence of the ease with
which He exercised this power, both by showing Himself in another
form to the two disciples, and by His appearing, not as a spirit,
but in His true body, to the disciples in the upper chamber,
although the doors were shut.2301
8. From this arises the question as to angels,
whether they have bodies adapted to their duties and their swift
motions from place to place, or are only spirits? For if we say
that they have bodies, we are met by the passage: “He maketh His
angels spirits;”2302
and if we say that they have not
bodies, a still greater difficulty meets us in explaining how, if
they are without bodily form, it is written that they appeared to
the bodily senses of men, accepted offers of hospitality, permitted
their feet to be washed, and used the meat and drink which was
provided for them.2303
For it seems to involve us in less
difficulty, if we suppose that the angels are there called spirits
in the same manner as men are called souls, e.g. in the
statement that so many souls (not signifying that they had not
bodies also) went down with Jacob into Egypt,2304
than if we suppose that, without
bodily form, all these things were done by angels. Again, a certain
definite height is named in the Apocalypse as the stature of an
angel, in dimensions which could apply only to bodies, proving that
that which appeared to the eyes of men is to be explained, not as
an illusion, but as resulting from the power which we have spoken
of as easily put forth by spiritual bodies. But whether angels have
bodies or not, and whether or not any one be able to show how
without bodies they could do all these things, it is nevertheless
certain, that in that city of the holy in which those of our race
who have been redeemed by Christ shall be united for ever to
thousands of angels, voices proceeding from organs of speech shall
furnish expression to the thoughts of minds in which nothing is
hidden; for in that divine fellowship it will not be possible for
any thought in one to remain concealed from another, but there
shall be complete harmony and oneness of heart in the praise of
God, and this shall find utterance not only from the spirit, but
through the spiritual body as its instrument; this, at least, is
what I believe.
9. Meanwhile, if you have already found or can learn
from other teachers anything more fully agreeing with the truth
than this, I am most eagerly longing to be instructed therein by
you. Study carefully, if you please, my letter, in regard to which,
as you pled in excuse for your very hurried reply the haste of the
deacon who brought it to me, I do not make any complaint, but
rather remind you of it, in order that what was then omitted in
your answer may now be supplied. Look over it again, and observe
what I wished to learn from you, both regarding your opinion
concerning Christian retirement as a means to the acquisition and
discussion of the truths of Christian wisdom, and regarding that
retirement in which I supposed that you had found leisure, but in
which it is reported to me that you are engrossed with occupation
to an incredible extent.
May you, in whom the holy God has given us
great joy and consolation, live mindful of us, and in true
felicity. (This sentence is added by another
hand.)
E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
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