Book
III.
1. Critob. I am charmed with the exuberance of your
eloquence, but at the same time I would remind you that,5282
“In the multitude of words
there wanteth not
transgression.” And how does it bear upon the
question before us? You will surely admit that those who have received
Christian baptism are without
sin. And that being free from
sin they
are
righteous. And that once they are
righteous, they can, if they take
care,
preserve their
righteousness, and so through
life avoid all
sin.
Attic. Do you not blush to follow the opinion of
Jovinian, which has been exploded and condemned? For he relies upon
just the same proofs and arguments as you do; nay, rather, you are all
eagerness for his inventions, and desire to preach in the East what was
formerly5283
| 5283 By a Synod
under Siricius in a.d. 390. |
condemned at
Rome, and not
long ago in
5284
| 5284 The allusion
is to the African Synod, held a.d. 412, at
which Celestius was condemned and excommunicated. |
Africa. Read then the reply
which was given to him, and you will there find the answer to yourself.
For in the discussion of
doctrines and disputed points, we must have
regard not to persons but to things. And yet let me tell you that
baptism condones past offences, and does not
preserve righteousness in
the time to come; the keeping of that is dependent on toil and
industry, as well as earnestness, and above all on the
mercy of
God. It
is ours to ask, to Him it
belongs to bestow what we ask; ours to begin,
His it is to
finish; ours to offer what we can, His to fulfil what we
cannot perform.
5285
“For
except the
Lord build the
house, they labour in
vain that build it.
Except the
Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in
vain.”
Wherefore the
Apostle5286
bids us so
run that we may attain. All indeed
run, but one receiveth the
crown.
And in the
5287
Psalm it is written,
“O
Lord, thou hast
crowned us with thy favour as with a
shield.” For our
victory is won and the
crown of our
victory is
gained by His protection and through His
shield; and here we
run that
hereafter we may attain; there he shall receive the
crown who in this
world has
proved the conqueror. And when we have been
baptized we are
told,
5288
“Behold thou art made
whole;
sin no more lest a worse thing happen unto thee.” And
again,
5289
“Know ye not that ye are
a
temple of
God, and that the Spirit of
God dwelleth in you? If any man
profane the
temple of
God, him shall
God destroy.” And in another
place,
5290
“The
Lord is with you so
long as ye are with Him: if ye
forsake Him, He will also
forsake
you.” Where is the man, do you suppose, in whom as in a
shrine
and
sanctuary the
purity of
Christ is permanent, and in whose case the
serenity of the
temple is saddened by no
cloud of
sin? We cannot always
have the same
countenance, though the
philosophers falsely
boast that
this was the experience of Socrates; how much less can our minds be
always the same! As men have many expressions of
countenance, so also
do the feelings of their
hearts vary. If it were possible for us to be
always immersed in the waters of
baptism,
sins would
fly over our heads
and leave us untouched. The
Holy Spirit would protect us. But the
enemy
assails us, and when
conquered does not depart, but is ever
lying in
ambush, that he may secretly shoot the upright in
heart.
2. In the Gospel according to the Hebrews, which is
written in the Chaldee and Syrian language, but in Hebrew characters,
and is used by the Nazarenes to this day (I mean the Gospel according
to the Apostles, or, as is generally maintained, the Gospel according
to Matthew, a copy of which is in the library at Cæsarea), we
find, “Behold, the mother of our Lord and His brethren said to
Him, John Baptist baptizes for the remission of sins; let us go and be
baptized by him. But He said to them, what sin have I committed that I
should go and be baptized by him? Unless, haply, the very words which I
have said are only ignorance.” And in the same volume, “If
thy brother sin against thee in word, and make amends to thee, receive
him seven times in a day.” Simon, His disciple, said to Him,
“Seven times in a day?” The Lord answered and said to him,
“I say unto thee until seventy times seven.” Even the
prophets, after they were anointed with the Holy Spirit, were guilty of
sinful words. Ignatius, an apostolic man and a martyr, boldly writes,5291
| 5291 The words are
those of S. Barnabas. Possibly in Jerome’s copy the passage may
have been attributed to Ignatius. |
“The
Lord chose
Apostles who
were
sinners above all men.” It is of their speedy conversion
that the Psalmist
sings,
5292
“Their
infirmities were multiplied; afterwards they made
haste.” If you
do not allow the
authority of this evidence, at least admit its
antiquity, and see what has been the opinion of all good churchmen.
Suppose a person who has been
baptized to have been carried off by
death either immediately, or on
the very day of his
baptism, and I will generously concede that he
neither thought nor said anything whereby, through error and ignorance,
he fell into
sin. Does it follow that he will, therefore, be without
sin, because he appears not to have overcome, but to have
avoided sin?
Is not the true reason rather that by the
mercy of
God he was
released
from the
prison of
sins and departed to the
Lord? We also say this,
that
God can do what He wills; and that man of himself and by his own
will cannot, as you maintain, be without
sin. If he can, it is idle for
you now to add the word
grace, for, with such a
power, he has no need
of it. If, however, he cannot
avoid sin without the
grace of
God, it is
folly for you to attribute to him an ability which he does not possess.
For whatever depends upon another’s will, is not in the
power of
him whose ability you assert, but of him whose aid is clearly
indispensable.
3. C. What do you mean by this perversity, or, rather,
senseless contention? Will you not grant me even so much—that
when a man leaves the waters of baptism he is free from sin?
A. Either I fail to express my meaning clearly, or you
are slow of apprehension.
C. How so?
A. Remember both what you maintained and also what I
say. You argued that a man can be free from sin if he chooses. I reply
that it is an impossibility; not that we are to think that a man is not
free from sin immediately after baptism, but that that time of
sinlessness is by no means to be referred to human ability, but to the
grace of God. Do not, therefore, claim the power for man, and I will
admit the fact. For how can a man be able who is not able of himself?
Or what is that sinlessness which is conditioned by the immediate death
of the body? Should the man’s life be prolonged, he will
certainly be liable to sins and to ignorance.
C. Your logic stops my mouth. You do not speak with
Christian simplicity, but entangle me in some fine distinctions between
being and ability to be.
A. Is it I who play these tricks with words? The article
came from your own workshop. For you say, not that a man is free from
sin, but that he is able to be; I, on the other hand, will grant what
you deny, that a man is free from sin by the grace of God, and yet will
maintain that he is not able of himself.
C. It is useless to give commandments if we cannot keep
them.
A. No one doubts that God commanded things possible. But
because men do not what they might, therefore the whole world is
subject to the judgment of God, and needs His mercy. On the other hand,
if you can produce a man who has fulfilled the whole law, you will
certainly be able to show that there is a man who does not need the
mercy of God. For everything which can happen must either take place in
the past, the present, or the future. As to your assertion that a man
can be without sin if he chooses, show that it has happened in the
past, or at all events that it does happen at the present day; the
future will reveal itself. If, however, you can point to no one who
either is, or has been, altogether free from sin, it remains for us to
confine our discussion to the future. Meanwhile, you are vanquished and
a captive as regards two out of three periods of time, the past and the
present. If anyone hereafter shall be greater than patriarchs,
prophets, apostles, inasmuch as he is without sin, then you may perhaps
be able to convince future generations as to their time.
4. C. Talk as you like, argue as you please, you will
never wrest from me free will, which God bestowed once for all, nor
will you be able to deprive me of what God has given, the ability if I
have the will.
A. By way of example let us take one proof:5293
| 5293 Acts xiii. 32; Ps. lxxxviii. 21. |
“I have found
David, the Son of
Jesse, a man after Mine own
heart, who shall do all My will.”
There is no doubt that
David was a holy man, and yet he who was chosen
that he might do all
God’s will is
blamed for certain actions. Of
course it was possible for him who was chosen for the purpose to do all
God’s will. Nor is
God to
blame Who beforehand spoke of his doing
all His will as commanded, but
blame does attach to him who did not
what was foretold. For
God did not say that He had found a man who
would unfailingly do His bidding and fulfil His will, but only one who
would do all His will. And we, too, say that a man can
avoid sinning,
if he chooses, according to his local and temporal circumstances and
physical
weakness, so long as his
mind is set upon
righteousness and
the string is well stretched upon the lyre. But if a man grow a little
remiss it is with him as with the boatman pulling against the
stream,
who finds that, if he slackens but for a moment, the
craft glides back
and he is carried by the flowing waters whither he would not. Such is
the
state of man; if we are a little careless we
learn our
weakness,
and find that our
power is limited. Do you suppose that the
Apostle
Paul, when he wrote
5294
“the
coat (or cloak) that I left at Troas with Carpus, bring when thou
comest, and the books, especially the parchments,” was thinking of heavenly
mysteries, and not of those things which are required for
daily life
and to satisfy our bodily necessities? Find me a man who is never
hungry,
thirsty, or cold, who knows nothing of
pain, or
fever, or the
torture of strangury, and I will grant you that a man can think of
nothing but
virtue. When the
Apostle was
5295
struck by the
servant, he
delivered
himself thus against the High
Priest who commanded the blow to be
given: “
God shall strike thee, thou whited wall.” We miss
the
patience of the Saviour Who was led as a
lamb to the
slaughter, and
opened not His mouth, but mercifully said to the smiter,
5296
“If I have spoken
evil, bear
witness of the
evil; but if well, why smitest thou Me?” We do not
disparage the
Apostle, but declare the
glory of
God Who
suffered in the
flesh and overcame the
evil inflicted on the
flesh and the
weakness of
the
flesh—to say nothing of what the
Apostle says elsewhere:
5297
“
Alexander, the coppersmith,
did me much
evil; the
Lord, the
righteous Judge, will recompense him in
that day.”
5. C. I have been longing to say something, but have
checked the words as they were bursting from my lips. You compel me to
say it.
A. Who hinders you from saying what you think? Either
what you are going to say is good—and you ought not to deprive us
of what is good—or it is bad, and, therefore, it is not regard
for us, but shame that keeps you silent.
C. I will say, I will say after all, what I think. Your
whole argument tends to this: You accuse nature, and blame God for
creating man such as he is.
A. Is this what you wished, and yet did not wish, to
say? Pray speak out, so that all may have the benefit of your wisdom.
Are you censuring God because he made man to be man? Let the angels
also complain because they are angels. Let every creature discuss the
question, Why it is as it was created? and not what the Creator could
have made it. I must now amuse myself with the rhetorical exercises of
childhood, and passing from the gnat and the ant to cherubim and
seraphim, inquire why each was not created with a happier lot. And when
I reach the exalted powers, I will argue the point: Why God alone is
only God, and did not make all things gods? For, according to you, He
will either be unable to do so, or will be guilty of envy. Censure Him,
and demand why He allows the devil to be in this world, and carry off
the crown when you have won the victory.
C. I am not so senseless as to complain of the existence
of the devil, through whose malice death entered into the world; but
what grieves me is this: that dignitaries of the Church, and those who
usurp the title of master, destroy free will; and once that is
destroyed, the way is open for the Manichæans.
A. Am I the destroyer of free will because, throughout
the discussion, my single aim has been to maintain the omnipotence of
God as well as free will?
C. How can you have free will, and yet say that man can
do nothing without God’s assistance?
A. If he is to be blamed who couples free will and
God’s help, it follows that we ought to praise him who does away
with God’s help.
C. I am not making God’s help unnecessary, for to
His grace we owe all our ability; but I and those who think with me
keep both within their own bounds. To God’s grace we assign the
gift of the power of free choice; to our own will, the doing, or the
not doing, of a thing; and thus rewards and punishments for doing or
not doing can be maintained.
6. A. You seem to me to be lost in forgetfulness, and to
be going over the lines of argument already traversed as though not a
word had been previously said. For, by this long discussion, it has
been established that the Lord, by the same grace wherewith He bestowed
upon us free choice, assists and supports us in our individual
actions.
C. Why, then, does He crown and praise what He has
Himself wrought in us?
A. That is to say, our will which offered all it could,
the toil which strove in action, and the humility which ever looked to
the help of God.
C. So, then, if we have not done what He commanded,
either God was willing to assist us, or He was not. If He was willing
and did assist us, and yet we have not done what we wished, then He,
and not we, has been overcome. But if He would not help, the man is not
to be blamed who wished to do His will, but God, who was able to help,
but would not.
A. Do you not see that your dilemma has landed you in a
deep abyss of blasphemy? Whichever way you take it, God is either weak
or malevolent, and He is not so much praised because He is the author
of good and gives His help, as abused for not restraining evil. Blame
Him, then, because He allows the existence of the devil, and has
suffered, and still suffers, evil to be done in the world. This is what
Marcion asks, and the whole pack of heretics who mutilate the Old Testament, and have mostly spun an
argument something like this: Either God knew that man, placed in
Paradise, would transgress His command, or He did not know. If He knew,
man is not to blame, who could not avoid God’s foreknowledge, but
He Who created him such that he could not escape the knowledge of God.
If He did not know, in stripping Him of foreknowledge you also take
away His divinity. Upon the same showing God will be deserving of blame
for choosing Saul, who was to prove one of the worst of kings. And the
Saviour must be convicted either of ignorance, or of unrighteousness,
inasmuch as He said in the Gospel,5298
“Did I not choose you the
twelve, and one of you is a
devil?” Ask Him why He chose
Judas, a
traitor? Why He entrusted to him the
bag when He knew that he was a
thief? Shall I tell you the reason?
God judges the present, not the
future. He does not make use of His foreknowledge to
condemn a man
though He knows that he will hereafter displease Him; but such is His
goodness and unspeakable
mercy that He chooses a man who, He perceives,
will meanwhile be good, and who, He knows, will turn out badly, thus
giving him the opportunity of being
converted and of repenting. This is
the
Apostle’s meaning when he says,
5299
“Dost thou not know that the
goodness of
God leadeth thee to repentance? but after thy hardness and
impenitent heart treasurest up for thyself
wrath in the day of
wrath
and revelation of the
righteous judgment of
God, Who will render to
every man according to his works.” For
Adam did not
sin because
God knew that he would do so; but
God inasmuch as He is
God, foreknew
what
Adam would do of his own free choice. You may as well
accuse God
of
falsehood because He said by the mouth of Jonah:
5300
“Yet three days, and
Nineveh shall
be
overthrown.” But
God will reply by the mouth of Jeremiah,
5301
“At what instant I shall speak
concerning a
nation, and concerning a
kingdom, to pluck up, and to
break down, and to
destroy it; if that
nation, concerning which I have
spoken, turn from their
evil, I will
repent of the
evil that I thought
to do unto them. And at what instant I shall speak concerning a
nation,
and concerning a
kingdom, to build and to
plant it; if it do
evil in my
sight, that it obey not my voice, then I will
repent of the good,
wherewith I said I would benefit them.” Jonah, on a certain
occasion, was indignant because, at
God’s command, he had spoken
falsely; but his
sorrow was
proved to be
ill founded, since he would
rather speak
truth and have a countless multitude
perish, than speak
falsely and have them
saved. His position was thus illustrated:
5302
“Thou grievest over the ivy (or
gourd), for the which thou hast not laboured, neither madest it grow,
which came up in a
night, and
perished in a
night; and should not I
have pity on
Nineveh, that great city, wherein are more than six score
thousand persons that cannot
discern between their right
hand and their
left
hand?” If there was so vast a number of
children and simple
folk, whom you will never be able to
prove sinners, what shall we say
of those
inhabitants of both sexes who were at different periods of
life? According to Philo, and the
wisest of
philosophers, Plato (so the
“Timæus” tells us), in passing from infancy to
decrepit old age, we go through seven stages, which so gradually and so
gently follow one another that we are quite insensible of the
change.
C. The drift of your whole argument is this—what
the Greeks call αὐτέξουσιον
, and we free will, you admit in terms, but in effect destroy. For you
make God the author of sin, in asserting that man can of himself do
nothing, but that he must have the help of God to Whom is imputed all
we do. But we say that, whether a man does good or evil, it is imputed
to him on account of the faculty of free choice, inasmuch as he did
what he chose, and not to Him Who once for all gave him free
choice.
A. Your shuffling is to no purpose; you are caught in
the snares of truth. For upon this showing, even if He does not Himself
assist, according to you He will be the author of evil, because He
might have prevented it and did not. It is an old maxim that if a man
can deliver another from death and does not, he is a homicide.
C. I withdraw and yield the point; you have won;
provided, however, that victory is the subverting of the truth by
specious words, that is to say, not by truth, but by falsehood. For I
might make answer to you in the Apostle’s words,5303
“Though I be rude in
speech, yet
not in
knowledge.” When you speak, your rhetorical tricks are too
much for me, and I seem to agree with you; but when you stop speaking,
it all goes out of my head, and I see quite clearly that your argument
does not flow from the
fountains of
truth and
Christian simplicity, but
rests on the laboured subtleties of the
philosophers.
A. Do you wish me, then, once more to resort to the
evidence of Scripture? If so, what becomes of the boast of your
disciples that no one can answer
your arguments or solve the questions you raise?
C. I not only wish, but am eager that you should do so.
Show me any place in Holy Scripture where we find that, the power of
free choice being lost, a man does what of himself he either would not,
or could not do.
8. A. We must use the words of Scripture not as you
propose, but as truth and reason demand. Jacob says in his prayer,5304
“If the
Lord God will be with
me, and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me
bread to
eat, and
raiment to put on, so that I come again to my
father’s
house in
peace, then shall the
Lord be my
God, and this
stone, which I
have set up for a token, shall be
God’s
house; and of all that
Thou shalt give me I will surely give the tenth unto Thee.” He
did not say, If thou
preserve my free choice, and I
gain by my toil
food and
raiment, and return to my
father’s
house. He refers
everything to the will of
God, that he may be found worthy to receive
that for which he
prays. On
Jacob’s return from
Mesopotamia5305
an
army of
angels met him, who are
called
God’s
camp. He afterwards
contended with an
angel in the
form of a man, and was strengthened by
God; whereupon, instead of
Jacob, the
supplanter, he received the name,
the most upright
of God. For he would not have
dared to return to his cruel
brother
unless he had been strengthened and
secured by the
Lord’s help.
In the sequel we read,
5306
“The sun
rose upon him after he passed over Phanuel,” which is, being
interpreted,
the face of God. Hence
5307
Moses also says, “I have seen
the
Lord face to face, and my
life is
preserved,” not by any
natural quality—but by the condescension of
God, Who had
mercy.
So then the Sun of
Righteousness rises upon us when
God makes His face
to shine upon us and gives us
strength.
Joseph in Egypt was shut up in
prison, and we next hear that the
keeper of the
prison, believing in
his
fidelity,
committed everything to his
hand. And the reason is
given:
5308
“Because the
Lord was
with him: and whatsoever he did, the
Lord made it to
prosper.”
Wherefore, also,
dreams were suggested to
Pharaoh’s attendants,
and
Pharaoh had one which none could
interpret, that so
Joseph might be
released, and his
father and
brethren fed, and Egypt
saved in the time
of
famine. Moreover,
God5309
said to
Israel, in a vision of the
night, “I am the
God of thy fathers;
fear not to go down into Egypt; for I will make of thee there a great
nation, and I will go down with thee into Egypt; and I will also surely
bring thee up again, and
Joseph shall put his
hand upon thine
eyes.” Where in this passage do we find the
power of free choice?
Is not the whole circumstance that he ventured to go to his son, and
entrust himself to a
nation that knew not the
Lord, due to the help of
the
God of his fathers? The people was
released from Egypt with a
strong hand and an outstretched
arm; not the
hand of
Moses and
Aaron,
but of Him who set the people free by
signs and
wonders, and at last
smote the
firstborn of Egypt, so that they who at
5310
first were persistent in keeping the
people, eagerly urged them to depart.
Solomon5311
says, “
Trust in the
Lord with
all thine
heart, and lean not upon thine own understanding: in all thy
ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy paths.” Understand
what He says—that we must not
trust in our
wisdom, but in the
Lord alone, by Whom the steps of a man are directed. Lastly, we are
bidden to show Him our ways, and make them known, for they are not made
straight by our own labour, but by His assistance and
mercy. And so it
is written,
5312
“Make my way right before
Thy face,” so that what is right to Thee may seem also right to
me.
Solomon says the same—
5313
“
Commit thy works unto the
Lord, and thy thoughts shall be established.” Our thoughts are
then established when we
commit all we do to the
Lord our
helper,
resting it, as it were, upon the firm and solid
rock, and attribute
everything to Him.
9. The Apostle Paul, rapidly recounting the benefits of
God, ended with the words,5314
“And
who is sufficient for these things?” Wherefore, also, in another
place he
5315
says, “Such
confidence have
we through
Christ to
Godward; not that we are sufficient of ourselves
to think anything as of ourselves; but our sufficiency is from
God; Who
also made us sufficient as
ministers of a new
covenant; not of the
letter but of the spirit; for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth
life.” Do we still
dare to
pride ourselves on free will, and to
abuse the benefits of
God to the dishonour of the
giver? Whereas the
same chosen
vessel openly
5316
writes,
“We have this
treasure in earthen
vessels, that the exceeding
greatness of the
power may be of
God, and not from ourselves.”
Therefore, also, in another place, checking the impudence of the
heretics, he
5317
says,
“He that glorieth, let him
glory in the
Lord. For not he that
commendeth himself is approved, but whom the
Lord commendeth.”
And again,
5318
“In nothing was I
behind the very chiefest
Apostles, though I be nothing.” Peter, disturbed by
the greatness of the
miracles he witnessed, said to the
Lord,
5319
“Depart from me, for I am a
sinful man.” And the
Lord said to His
disciples,
5320
“I am the
vine and ye are the
branches: He that abideth in Me and I in him, the same beareth much
fruit, for apart from Me ye can do nothing.” Just as the
vine
branches and shoots immediately
decay when they are severed from the
parent stem, so all the
strength of men fades and
perishes, if it be
bereft of the help of
God. “No one,”
5321
He says, “can come unto Me
except the
Father Who sent Me draw him.” When He says, “No
one can come unto Me,” He shatters the
pride of free will;
because, even if a man will to go to
Christ, except that be realized
which follows—“unless My heavenly
Father draw
him”—desire is to no purpose, and effort is in
vain. At the
same time it is to be noted that he who is drawn does not
run freely,
but is led along either because he holds back and is
sluggish, or
because he is reluctant to go.
10. Now, how can a man who cannot by his own strength
and labour come to Jesus, at the same time avoid all sins? and avoid
them perpetually, and claim for himself a name which belongs to the
might of God? For if He and I are both without sin, what difference is
there between me and God? One more proof only I will adduce, that I may
not weary you and my hearers.5322
Sleep was
removed from the
eyes of Ahasuerus, whom the Seventy call Artaxerxes,
that he might turn over the memoirs of his
faithful ministers and come
upon
Mordecai, by whose evidence he was
delivered from a
conspiracy;
and that thus Esther might be more acceptable, and the whole people of
the
Jews escape imminent
death. There is no doubt that the mighty
sovereign to whom belonged the whole East, from
India to the North and
to
Ethiopia, after feasting sumptuously on
delicacies gathered from
every part of the
world would have desired to
sleep, and to take his
rest, and to gratify his free choice of
sleep, had not the
Lord, the
provider of all good things,
hindered the course of
nature, so that in
defiance of
nature the tyrant’s
cruelty might be overcome. If I
were to attempt to produce all the instances in Holy Writ, I should be
tedious. All that the
saints say is a prayer to
God; their whole prayer
and
supplication a
strong wrestling for the pity of
God, so that we,
who by our own
strength and
zeal cannot be
saved, may be
preserved by
His
mercy. But when we are concerned with
grace and
mercy, free will is
in part
void; in part, I say, for so much as this depends upon it, that
we wish and desire, and give assent to the course we choose. But it
depends on
God whether we have the
power in His
strength and with His
help to perform what we desire, and to bring to effect our toil and
effort.
11. C. I simply said that we find the help of God not in
our several actions, but in the grace of creation and of the law, that
free will might not be destroyed. But there are many of us who maintain
that all we do is done with the help of God.
A. Whoever says that must leave your party. Either,
then, say the same yourself and join our side, or, if you refuse, you
will be just as much our enemy as those who do not hold our views.
C. I shall be on your side if you speak my sentiments,
or rather you will be on mine if you do not contradict them. You admit
health of body, and deny health of the soul, which is stronger than the
body. For sin is to the soul what disease or a wound is to the body. If
then you admit that a man may be healthy so far as he is flesh, why do
you not say he may be healthy so far as he is spirit?
A. I will follow in the line you point out,
“and you to-day
Shall ne’er escape; where’r you call, I
come.”
C. I am ready to listen.
A. And I to speak to deaf ears. I will therefore reply
to your argument. Made up of soul and body, we have the nature of both
substances. As the body is said to be healthy if it is troubled with no
weakness, so the soul is free from fault if it is unshaken and
undisturbed. And yet, although the body may be healthy, sound, and
active, with all the faculties in their full vigour, yet it suffers
much from infirmities at more or less frequent intervals, and, however
strong it may be, is sometimes distressed by various humours; so the
soul, bearing the onset of thoughts and agitations, even though it
escape shipwreck, does not sail without danger, and remembering its
weakness, is always anxious about death, according as it is written,5323
“What man is he that shall
live and not see
death?”—
death, which threatens all
mortal
men, not through the
decay of
nature, but through the
death of
sin,
according to the
prophet’s words,
5324
“The
soul that sinneth, it
shall
die.” Besides, we know that
Enoch and
Elias have not yet
seen this
death which is common to man and the brutes. Show me a body
which is never
sick, or which after sickness is ever
safe and sound,
and I will show you a
soul which
never
sinned, and after acquiring
virtues will never again
sin. The
thing is
impossible, and all the more when we remember that vice
borders on
virtue, and that, if you deviate ever so little, you will
either go
astray or fall over a precipice. How
small is the interval
between obstinacy and
perseverance, miserliness and frugality,
liberality and extravagance,
wisdom and
craft, intrepidity and
rashness, caution and timidity! some of which are classed as good,
others as bad. And the same applies to bodies. If you take precautions
against biliousness, the phlegm increases. If you dry up the humours
too quickly, the
blood becomes heated and vitiated with bile, and a
sallow hue spreads over the
countenance. Without
question, however much
we may
exercise all the care of the
physician, and regulate our diet,
and be free from indigestion and whatever fosters
disease, the causes
of which are in some cases hidden from us and known to
God alone, we
shiver with cold, or
burn with
fever, or
howl with colic, and implore
the help of the true
physician, our Saviour, and
5325
say with the
Apostles, “Master,
save us, we
perish.”
12. C. Granted that no one could avoid all sin in
boyhood, youth, and early manhood; can you deny that very many
righteous and holy men, after falling into vice, have heartily devoted
themselves to the acquisition of virtue and through these have escaped
sin?
A. This is what I told you at the beginning—that
it rests with ourselves either to sin or not to sin, and to put the
hand either to good or evil; and thus free will is preserved, but
according to circumstances, time, and the state of human frailty; we
maintain, however, that perpetual freedom from sin is reserved for God
only, and for Him Who being the Word was made flesh without incurring
the defects and the sins of the flesh. And, because I am able to avoid
sin for a short time, you cannot logically infer that I am able to do
so continually. Can I fast, watch, walk, sing, sit, sleep
perpetually?
C. Why then in Holy Scripture are we stimulated to aim
at perfect righteousness? For example:5326
“
Blessed are the pure in
heart,
for they shall see
God,” and
5327
“
Blessed are the
undefiled in
the way, who
walk in the
law of the
Lord.” And
God says to
Abraham,
5328
“I am thy
God, be thou
pleasing in My sight, and be thou without spot, or
blame, and I will
make My
covenant between Me and thee, and will multiply thee
exceedingly.” If that is
impossible which Scripture testifies, it
was useless to command it to be done.
A. You play upon Scripture until you wear a question
threadbare, and remind me of the platform tricks of a conjurer who
assumes a variety of characters, and is now Mars, next moment Venus; so
that he who was at first all sternness and ferocity is dissolved into
feminine softness. For the objection you now raise with an air of
novelty—“Blessed are the pure in heart,”
“Blessed are the undefiled in the way,” and “Be
without spot,” and so forth—is refuted when the Apostle
replies,5329
“We know in part, and we
prophesy in part,” and, “Now we see through a mirror
darkly, but when that which is
perfect is come, that which is in part
shall be done away.” And therefore we have but the
shadow and
likeness of the pure
heart, which hereafter is destined to see
God,
and, free from spot or stain, to
live with
Abraham. However great the
patriarch,
prophet, or
Apostle may be, it is
5330
said to them, in the words of our
Lord
and Saviour, “If ye being
evil, know how to give good
gifts unto
your
children, how much more shall your
Father Which is in
heaven give
good things to them which ask Him?” Then again even
Abraham, to
whom it was said,
5331
“Be
thou without spot and
blame,” in the consciousness of his frailty
fell upon his face to the
earth. And when
God had spoken to Him,
saying, “Thy
wife Sarai shall no longer be called
Sarai, but Sara
shall her name be, and I will give thee a son by her, and I will
bless
him and he shall become a great
nation, and kings of
nations shall
spring from him,” the narrative at once proceeds to say,
“
Abraham fell upon his face, and
laughed, and said in his
heart,
Shall a
child be
born unto him that is an
hundred years old? and shall
Sarah, that is ninety years old, bear?” And
Abraham said unto
God, “Oh, that
Ishmael might
live before thee!” And
God
said, “Nay, but
Sarah thy
wife shall bear thee a son, and thou
shalt call his name
Isaac,” and so on. He certainly had heard the
words of
God, “I am thy
God, be thou pleasing in My sight, and
without spot”; why then did he not believe what
God promised, and
why did he
laugh in his
heart, thinking that he
escaped the notice of
God, and not
daring to
laugh openly? Moreover he gives the reasons for
his
unbelief, and says, “How is it possible for a man that is an
hundred years old to
beget a son of a
wife that is ninety years
old?” “Oh, that
Ishmael might
live before thee,” he
says. “
Ishmael whom thou once gavest me. I do not ask a hard
thing, I am content with the
blessing I have received.”
God
convinced him by a mysterious
reply. He said, “Yea.” The meaning is, that shall come to
pass which you think shall not be. Your
wife Sara shall bear you a son,
and before she conceives, before he is
born, I will give the
boy a
name. For, from your error in secretly laughing, your son shall be
called
Isaac, that is
laughter. But if you think that
God is
seen by those who are pure in
heart in this
world, why did
Moses, who
had previously said, “I have seen the
Lord face to face, and my
life is
preserved,” afterwards entreat that he might see him
distinctly? And because he said that he had seen
God, the
Lord told
him,
5332
“Thou canst not see My face.
For man shall not see My face, and
live.” Wherefore also the
Apostle5333
calls Him the only
invisible
God, Who dwells in
light unapproachable, and Whom no man hath seen, nor
can see. And the
Evangelist John in holy accents testifies, saying,
5334
“No man hath at any time seen
God. The only begotten Son Who is in the
bosom of the
Father, He hath
declared Him.” He Who sees, also declares, not how great He is
Who is seen, nor how much He knows Who declares; but as much as the
capacity of
mortals can receive.
13. And whereas you think he is blessed who is undefiled
in the way, and walks in His law, you must interpret the former clause
by the latter. From the many proofs I have adduced you have learnt that
no one has been able to fulfil the law. And if the Apostle, in
comparison with the grace of Christ, reckoned those things as filth
which formerly, under the law, he counted gain, so that he might win
Christ, how much more certain ought we to be that the reason why the
grace of Christ and of the Gospel has been added is that, under the
law, no one could be justified? Now if, under the law, no one is
justified, how is he perfectly undefiled in the way who is still
walking and hastening to reach the goal? Surely, he who is in the
course, and who is advancing on the road, is inferior to him who has
reached his journey’s end. If, then, he is undefiled and perfect
who is still walking in the way and advancing in the law, what more
shall he have who has arrived at the end of life and of the law? Hence
the Apostle, speaking of our Lord, says that, at the end of the world,
when all virtues shall receive their consummation, He will present His
holy Church to Himself without spot or wrinkle, and yet you think that
Church perfect, while yet in the flesh, which is subject to death and
decay. You deserve to be told, with the Corinthians,5335
“Ye are already
perfect, ye
are already made
rich: ye
reign without us, and I would that ye did
reign, that we might also
reign with you”—since true and
stainless
perfection belongs to the
inhabitants of
heaven, and is
reserved for that day when the bridegroom shall say to the
bride,
5336
“Thou art all fair, my
love;
and there is no spot in thee.” And in this sense we must
understand the words:
5337
“That ye may be blameless and
harmless, as
children of
God, without
blemish”; for He did not
say
ye are, but
may be. He is contemplating the future,
not stating a case pertaining to the present; so that here is toil and
effort, in that other
world the
rewards of labour and of
virtue.
Lastly, John writes:
5338
“
Beloved, we are sons of
God, and it is not yet made manifest what we shall be. We know that
when He shall be manifested, we shall be like Him: for we shall see Him
even as He is.” Although, then, we are sons of
God, yet likeness
to
God, and the true contemplation of
God, is
promised us then, when He
shall appear in His
majesty.
14. From this swelling pride springs the audacity in
prayer which marks the directions in your letter to a5339
| 5339 See S. Aug.
De Gest. Pelag. § 16. The widow was Juliana, mother to Demetrias
(to whom Jerome addressed his Letter CXXX. “On the keeping of
Virginity”). Pelagius’ letter to Demetrias is found in
Jerome’s works (Ed. Vall.), vol. xi. col. 15. |
certain
widow as to how the
saints
ought to
pray. “He,” you say,
5340
| 5340 The whole
passage, as quoted by Augustin, runs as follows: “May piety find
with thee a place which it has never found elsewhere. May truth, which
no one now knows, be thy household friend; and the law of God, which is
despised by almost all men, be honoured by thee alone.”
“How happy, how blessed art thou, if that justice which we are to
believe exists only in heaven is found with thee alone upon
earth.” Then follow the words quoted above. |
“rightly lifts up his
hands to
God; he pours out
supplications with a good conscience who can say,
‘Thou knowest,
Lord, how holy, how
innocent, how pure from all
deceit, wrong, and robbery are the
hands which I spread out unto Thee;
how
righteous, how spotless, and free from all
falsehood are the
lips
with which I pour forth my prayers unto Thee, that Thou mayest pity
me.’” Is this the prayer of a
Christian, or of a
proud
Pharisee like him who
5341
says in the
Gospel, “
God, I thank Thee that I am not as other men are,
robbers,
unjust,
adulterers, or even as this
publican: I fast twice in
the
week, I give
tithes of all that I possess.” Yet he merely
thanks
God because, by His
mercy, he is not as other men: he execrates
sin, and does not claim his
righteousness as his own. But you say,
“Now Thou knowest how holy, how
innocent, how pure from all
deceit, wrong, and robbery are the
hands which I spread out before
Thee.” He says that he fasts twice in the
week, that he may
afflict his vicious and
wanton flesh, and he gives
tithes of all his substance. For
5342
“the
ransom of a man’s
life is his
riches.” You join the
devil in boasting,
5343
“I will ascend above the
stars, I will place my
throne in
heaven, and I will be like the Most
High.”
David says,
5344
“My
loins are filled with illusions”; and
5345
“My
wounds stink and are
corrupt
because of my foolishness”; and
5346
“Enter not into
judgment with
Thy
servant”; and
5347
“In
Thy sight no man living shall be justified.” You
boast that you
are holy,
innocent, and pure, and spread out
clean hands unto
God. And
you are not satisfied with glorying in all your works, unless you say
that you are pure from all
sins of
speech; and you tell us how
righteous, how spotless, how free from all
falsehood your
lips are. The
Psalmist
sings,
5348
“Every man is a
liar”;
and this is supported by apostolical
authority: “That
God may be
true,” says St.
Paul,
5349
“and
every man a
liar”; and yet you have
lips righteous, spotless, and
free from all
falsehood. Isaiah laments, saying,
5350
“Woe is me! for I am undone,
because I am a man of
unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a
people of
unclean lips”; and afterwards one of the seraphim
brings a
hot coal, taken with the tongs, to
purify the
prophet’s
lips, for he was not, according to the tenor of your words, arrogant,
but he confessed his own faults. Just as we read in the Psalms,
5351
“What shall be due unto thee, and
what shall be done more unto thee in respect of a
deceitful tongue?
Sharp arrows of the mighty, with
coals that make
desolate.” And
after all this swelling with
pride, and boastfulness in prayer, and
confidence in your
holiness, like one
fool trying to
persuade another,
you
finish with the words “These
lips with which I pour out my
supplication that Thou mayest have pity on me.” If you are holy,
if you are
innocent, if you are cleansed from all defilement, if you
have
sinned neither in word nor
deed—although James says,
5352
“He who offends not in word is
a
perfect man,” and “No one can curb his
tongue”—how is it that you sue for
mercy? so that,
forsooth, you
bewail yourself, and pour out prayers because you are
holy, pure, and
innocent, a man of stainless
lips, free from all
falsehood, and endowed with a
power like that of
God.
Christ prayed
thus on the
cross:
5353
“My
God, my
God, why hast Thou forsaken Me? Why art Thou so
far from
helping Me?” And, again,
5354
“
Father, into Thy
hands I
commend My spirit,” and
5355
“
Father,
forgive them, for they know not what they do.” And this is He,
who, returning thanks for us, had said,
5356
“I confess to Thee, O
Father,
Lord of
heaven and
earth.”
15. Our Lord so instructed His Apostles that, daily at
the sacrifice of His body, believers make bold to say, “Our
Father, Which art in Heaven, hallowed be Thy name”; they
earnestly desire the name of God, which in itself is holy, to be
hallowed in themselves; you say, “Thou knowest, Lord, how holy,
how innocent, and how pure are my hands.” Then they say:
“Thy Kingdom come,” anticipating the hope of the future
kingdom, so that, when Christ reigns, sin may by no means reign in
their mortal body, and to this they couple the words, “Thy will
be done in earth as it is in Heaven”; so that human weakness may
imitate the angels, and the will of our Lord may be fulfilled on earth;
you say, “A man can, if he chooses, be free from all sin.”
The Apostles prayed for the daily bread, or the bread better than all
food, which was to come, so that they might be worthy to receive the
body of Christ; and you are led by your excess of holiness and well
established righteousness to boldly claim the heavenly gifts. Next
comes, “Forgive us our debts, as we also forgive our
debtors.” No sooner do they rise from the baptismal font, and by
being born again and incorporated into our Lord and Saviour thus fulfil
what is written of them,5357
“
Blessed are they whose
iniquities are
forgiven and whose
sins are covered,” than at the
first
communion of the body of
Christ they say, “
Forgive us our
debts,” though these
debts had been
forgiven them at their
confession of
Christ; but you in your arrogant
pride boast of the
cleanness of your holy
hands and of the
purity of your
speech. However
thorough the conversion of a man may be, and however
perfect his
possession of
virtue after a time of
sins and failings, can such
persons be as free from fault as they who are just leaving the font of
Christ? And yet these latter are commanded to say, “
Forgive us
our
debts, as we also
forgive our
debtors”; not in the spirit of
a false
humility, but because they are afraid of human frailty and
dread their own conscience. They say, “Lead us not into
temptation”; you and Jovinian unite in saying that those who with
a full
faith have been
baptized cannot be further tempted or
sin.
Lastly, they add, “But
deliver us from the
evil one.” Why
do they beg from the
Lord what they have already by the
power of free
will? Oh, man, now thou hast been made
clean in the laver, and of thee
it is said, “Who is this that cometh up all white, leaning upon her
beloved?” The
bride, therefore, is
washed, yet she cannot keep her
purity, unless she
be supported by the
Lord. How is it that you long to be set free by the
mercy of
God, you who but a little while ago were
released from your
sins? The only explanation is the principle by which we maintain that,
when we have done all, we must confess we are
unprofitable.
16. So then your prayer outdoes the pride of the
Pharisee, and you are condemned when compared with the Publican. He,
standing afar off, did not dare to lift up his eyes unto Heaven, but
smote upon his breast, saying,5358
“
God be merciful unto me a
sinner.” And on this is based our
Lord’s declaration,
“I say unto you this man went down to his
house justified rather
than the other. For every one that exalteth himself shall be
abased,
and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.” The
Apostles are
humbled that they may be exalted. Your
disciples are lifted up that
they may fall. In your
flattery of the
widow previously mentioned you
are not
ashamed to say that
piety such as is found on
earth, and
truth
which is everywhere a
stranger, had made their
home with her in
preference to all others. You do not recollect the familiar words,
5359
“O my people, they which call
thee
blessed cause thee to err, and
destroy the paths of thy
feet”; and you expressly
praise her and say, “
Happy beyond
all thought are you! how
blessed! if
righteousness, which is believed
to be now nowhere but in
Heaven, is found with you alone on
earth.” Is this teaching or slaying? Is it raising from
earth, or
casting down from
heaven, to attribute that to a
poor creature of a
woman, which
angels would not
dare arrogate to themselves? If
piety,
truth, and
righteousness are found on
earth nowhere but in one
woman,
where shall we find your
righteous followers, who, you
boast, are
sinless on
earth? These two chapters on prayer and
praise you and your
disciples are wont to
swear are none of yours, and yet your brilliant
style is so clearly seen in them, and the elegance of your Ciceronian
diction is so marked that, although you strut about with the slow pace
of a tortoise, you have not the
courage to acknowledge what you
teach
in private and expose for sale.
Happy man! whose books no one writes
out but your own
disciples, so that whatever appears to be
unacceptable, you may
contend is not your own but some one else’s
work. And where is the man with ability enough to
imitate the charm of
your
language?
17. C. I can put it off no longer; my patience is
completely overcome by your iniquitous words. Tell me, pray, what sin
have little infants committed. Neither the consciousness of wrong nor
ignorance can be imputed to those who, according to the prophet Jonah,
know not their right hand from their left. They cannot sin, and they
can perish; their knees are too weak to walk, they utter inarticulate
cries; we laugh at their attempts to speak; and, all the while, poor
unfortunates! the torments of eternal misery are prepared for them.
A. Ah! now that your disciples have turned masters you
begin to be fluent, not to say eloquent. Antony,5360
| 5360 The grandfather
of the Triumvir, born b.c. 142, died in the
civil conflict excited by Marius, b.c. 87. |
an excellent
orator, whose
praises
Tully loudly
proclaims, says that he had seen many fluent men, but so
far never an eloquent speaker; so don’t amuse me with
flowers of
oratory which have not grown in your own
garden, and with which the
ears of inexperience and of boyhood are wont to be tickled, but plainly
tell me what you think.
C. What I say is this—you must at least allow that
they have no sin who cannot sin.
A. I will allow it, if they have been baptized into
Christ; and if you will not then immediately bind me to agree with your
opinion that a man can be without sin if he chooses; for they neither
have the power nor the will; but they are free from all sin through the
grace of God, which they received in their baptism.
C. You force me to make an invidious remark and ask,
Why, what sin have they committed? that you may immediately have me
stoned in some popular tumult. You have not the power to kill me, but
you certainly have the will.
A. He slays a heretic who allows him to be a heretic.
But when we rebuke him we give him life; you may die to your heresy,
and live to the Catholic faith.
C. If you know us to be heretics, why do you not accuse
us?
A. Because the5361
Apostle
teaches me to
avoid a heretic after the first and second admonition,
not to
accuse him. The
Apostle knew that such an one is
perverse and
self-
condemned. Besides, it would be the height of
folly to make my
faith depend on another man’s
judgment. For supposing some one
were to call you a Catholic, am I to immediately give assent? Whoever
defends you, and says that you rightly hold your
perverse opinions,
does not succeed in rescuing you from infamy, but charges himself with
perfidy. Your numerous supporters will never
prove you to be a
Catholic, but will show that you
are a heretic. But I would have such opinions as these suppressed by
ecclesiastical
authority; otherwise we shall be in the case of those
who show some dreadful picture to a crying
child. May the
fear of
God
grant us this—to
despise all other
fears. Therefore, either
defend your opinions, or abandon what you are unable to
defend. Whoever
may be called in to
defend you must be enrolled as a partisan, not as a
patron.
18. C. Tell me, pray, and rid me of all doubts, why
little children are baptized.
A. That their sins may be forgiven them in baptism.
C. What sin are they guilty of? How can any one be set
free who is not bound?
A. You ask me! The Gospel trumpet will reply, the
teacher of the Gentiles, the golden vessel shining throughout the
world:5362
“
Death reigned from
Adam
even unto
Moses: even over those who did not
sin after the likeness of
the
transgression of
Adam, who is a figure of Him that was to
come.” And if you object that some are spoken of who did not
sin,
you must understand that they did not
sin in the same way as
Adam did
by transgressing
God’s command in
Paradise. But all men are held
liable either on account of their ancient
forefather Adam, or on their
own account. He that is an
infant is
released in
baptism from the
chain
which bound his
father. He who is old enough to have
discernment is set
free from the
chain of his own or another’s
sin by the
blood of
Christ. You must not think me a heretic because I take this view, for
the
blessed martyr Cyprian, whose rival you
boast of being in the
classification of Scripture
proofs, in the
5363
| 5363 Cyp. Ep. 64
(al. 59). S. Augustine preaching at Carthage on June 27, 413, quoted
the same letter, which was a Synodical letter of a.d. 253. See Bright’s Anti-Pelagian Treatises,
Introduction, p. xxi. |
epistle addressed to
Bishop Fidus on
the
Baptism of
Infants speaks thus: “Moreover, if even the worst
offenders, and those who previous to
baptism sin much against
God, once
they believe have the
gift of
remission of
sins, and no one is kept
from
baptism and from
grace, how much more ought not an
infant to be
kept from
baptism seeing that, being only just
born, he has
committed
no
sin? He has only, being
born according to the
flesh among
Adam’s sons, incurred the taint of ancient
death by his first
birth. And he is the more easily admitted to
remission of
sins because
of the very fact that not his own
sins but those of another are
remitted to him. And so, dearest
brother, it was our decision in
council that no one ought to be kept by us from
baptism and from the
grace of
God, Who is merciful to all, and
kind, and good. And whereas
this rule ought to be observed and kept with reference to all, bear in
mind that it ought so much the more to be observed with regard to
infants themselves and those just
born, for they have the greater
claims on our assistance in order to obtain
Divine mercy, because their
cries and
tears from the very
birth are one perpetual
prayer.”
19. That holy man and eloquent bishop Augustin not long
ago wrote to5364
| 5364 Marcellinus
was the lay imperial commissioner appointed to superintend the
discussion between the Catholics and Donatists at the Council of
Carthage, a.d. 411. In 413 Heraclian, governor
of Africa, revolted against Honorius, the Emperor, and invaded Italy.
The enterprise failed, and on his return to Africa the promoter of it
was put to death. The Donatists, called by Jerome
“heretics,” are supposed to have accused Marcellinus of
taking part in the rebellion. He was executed in 414. |
Marcellinus
(the same that was afterwards, though
innocent, put to
death by
heretics on the pretext of his taking part in the tyranny of
Heraclian
5365
| 5365 “On the
Deserts and Remission of Sins, and the Baptism of Infants,” in
three books, the earliest of S. Augustin’s Anti-Pelagian
treatises. It was composed in reply to a letter from his friend
Marcellinus, who was harassed by Pelagianising disputants. See S. Aug.
“De Gest. Pel.” § 25. |
) two treatises on
infant
baptism, in opposition to your
heresy which maintains that
infants are
baptized not for
remission of
sins, but for admission to the
kingdom of
heaven, according as it is written in the
Gospel,
5366
“Except a man be
born again of
water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the
kingdom of
heaven.” He addressed a
5367
| 5367 The “De
Spiritu et Littera.” Marcellinus found a difficulty in
Augustin’s view of the question of sinlessness. See
Bright’s Anti-Pelagian Treatises, Introduction, p. xix. |
third,
moreover, to the same Marcellinus, against those who say as do you,
that a man can be free from
sin, if he chooses, without the help of
God. And, recently, a
5368
| 5368 Whether he
who was made Bishop of Arles, in 429, is disputed. The treatise was the
“De Natura et Gratia,” written early in 415. |
fourth to
Hilary against this
doctrine of yours, which is full of perversity. And
he is said to have others on the anvil with special regard to you,
which have not yet come to
hand. Wherefore, I think I must abandon my
task, for
fear Horace’s words may be thrown at me,
5369
“Don’t carry firewood
into a forest.” For we must either say the same as he does, and
that would be superfluous; or, if we wished to say something
fresh, we
should
5370
| 5370 Or,
better positions have been occupied. |
find our
best points anticipated
by that splendid genius. One thing I will say and so end my
discourse,
that you ought either to give us a new creed, so that, after
baptizing
children into the name of the
Father, Son, and
Holy Spirit, you may
baptize them into the
kingdom of
heaven; or, if you have one
baptism
both for
infants and for persons of mature age, it follows that
infants
also should be
baptized for the
remission of
sins after the likeness of
the
transgression of
Adam. But if you think the
remission of another’s
sins implies
injustice,
and that he has no need of it who could not
sin,
cross over to Origen,
your special favourite, who says that ancient offences
5371
| 5371 Origen held
the pre-existence of souls, endowed with free will, and supposed their
condition in this world to be the result of their conduct in their
previous state of probation. |
committed long before in the heavens
are loosed in baptism. You will then be not only led by his authority
in other matters, but will be following his error in this also.
E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
