Part III
NPNF1-03. On the Holy Trinity; Doctrinal Treatises; Moral Treatises
i
Author(s):
Schaff, Philip (1819-1893) (Editor)
Publisher:
Grand Rapids, MI: Christian Classics Ethereal Library
Description:
Subjects:
With over twenty volumes, the Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers is a momentous achievement. Originally gathered by Philip Schaff, the Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers is a collection of writings by classical and medieval Christian theologians.The purpose of such a collection is to make their writings readily available.The entire work is divided into two series.The first series focuses on two classical Christian theologians--St. Augustine and St. John Chrysostom. St. Augustine is one of the most influential and important Christian thinkers of all time. In addition to reprinting his most popular two works--the Confessions and the City of God--these volumes also contain other noteworthy and important works of St. Augustine, such as On the Holy Trinity, Christian Doctrine, and others. St. John Chrysostom was an eloquent speaker and well-loved Christian clergyman. St. John took a more literal interpretation of Scripture, and much of his work focused on practical aspects of Christianity, particularly what is now called social justice. He advocated for the poor, and challenged abuses of authority.This particular volume contains Augustine's On the Holy Trinity and treatises on morality and doctrine.The Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers is comprehensive in scope, and provide keen translations of instructive and illuminating texts from some of the greatest theologians of the Christian church.These spiritually enlightening texts have aided Christians for over a thousand years, and remain instructive and fruitful even today! Tim Perrine CCEL Staff Writer Christianity Early Christian Literature. Fathers of the Church, etc.
Contents
ii
Title Page.
1
Preface.
2
Contents
4
Doctrinal Treatises of St. Augustin
6
On the Holy Trinity.
6
Introductory Essay.
7
Translator’s Preface.
18
The unity and equality of the Trinity are demonstrated out of the Scriptures; and the true interpretation is given of those texts which are wrongly alleged against the equality of the Son.
21
This Work is Written Against Those Who Sophistically Assail the Faith of the Trinity, Through Misuse of Reason. They Who Dispute Concerning God Err from a Threefold Cause. Holy Scripture, Removing What is False, Leads Us on by Degrees to Things Divine. What True Immortality is. We are Nourished by Faith, that We May Be Enabled to Apprehend Things Divine.
22
In What Manner This Work Proposes to Discourse Concerning the Trinity.
25
What Augustin Requests from His Readers. The Errors of Readers Dull of Comprehension Not to Be Ascribed to the Author.
26
What the Doctrine of the Catholic Faith is Concerning the Trinity.
28
Of Difficulties Concerning the Trinity: in What Manner Three are One God, and How, Working Indivisibly, They Yet Perform Some Things Severally.
29
That the Son is Very God, of the Same Substance with the Father. Not Only the Father, But the Trinity, is Affirmed to Be Immortal. All Things are Not from the Father Alone, But Also from the Son. That the Holy Spirit is Very God, Equal with the Father and the Son.
30
In What Manner the Son is Less Than the Father, and Than Himself.
35
The Texts of Scripture Explained Respecting the Subjection of the Son to the 37 Father, Which Have Been Misunderstood. Christ Will Not So Give Up the Kingdom to the Father, as to Take It Away from Himself. The Beholding Him is the Promised End of All Actions. The Holy Spirit is Sufficient to Our Blessedness Equally with the Father. All are Sometimes Understood in One Person.
42
In What Manner Christ Shall Deliver Up the Kingdom to God, Even the Father. The Kingdom Having Been Delivered to God, Even the Father, Christ Will Not Then Make Intercession for Us.
44
iii
By What Rule in the Scriptures It is Understood that the Son is Now Equal and Now Less.
47
In What Manner the Son is Said Not to Know the Day and the Hour Which 49 the Father Knows. Some Things Said of Christ According to the Form of God, Other Things According to the Form of a Servant. In What Way It is of Christ to Give the Kingdom, in What Not of Christ. Christ Will Both Judge and Not Judge. Diverse Things are Spoken Concerning the Same Christ, on Account of the Diverse Natures of the One Hypostasis [Theanthropic Person]. Why It is Said that the Father Will Not Judge, But Has Given Judgment to the Son. The equality of the Trinity maintained against objections drawn from those texts which speak of the sending of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
54
61
Preface.
62
There is a Double Rule for Understanding the Scriptural Modes of Speech Concerning the Son of God. These Modes of Speech are of a Threefold Kind.
63
That Some Ways of Speaking Concerning the Son are to Be Understood According to Either Rule.
66
Some Things Concerning the Holy Spirit are to Be Understood According to the One Rule Only.
67
The Glorification of the Son by the Father Does Not Prove Inequality.
68
The Son and Holy Spirit are Not Therefore Less Because Sent. The Son is Sent 69 Also by Himself. Of the Sending of the Holy Spirit. The Creature is Not So Taken by the Holy Spirit as Flesh is by the Word.
73
A Doubt Raised About Divine Appearances.
75
The Entire Trinity Invisible.
77
Against Those Who Believed the Father Only to Be Immortal and Invisible. The Truth to Be Sought by Peaceful Study.
78
Whether God the Trinity Indiscriminately Appeared to the Fathers, or Any One Person of the Trinity. The Appearing of God to Adam. Of the Same Appearance. The Vision to Abraham.
80
Of the Same Appearance.
84
The Appearance to Lot is Examined.
85
The Appearance in the Bush.
87
Of the Appearance in the Pillar of Cloud and of Fire.
89
iv
Of the Appearance on Sinai. Whether the Trinity Spake in that Appearance or Some One Person Specially.
90
In What Manner Moses Saw God.
92
How the Back Parts of God Were Seen. The Faith of the Resurrection of Christ. 93 The Catholic Church Only is the Place from Whence the Back Parts of God are Seen. The Back Parts of God Were Seen by the Israelites. It is a Rash Opinion to Think that God the Father Only Was Never Seen by the Fathers. The Vision of Daniel. The appearances of God to the Old Testament saints are discussed.
98 100
Preface.
101
What is to Be Said Thereupon.
104
The Will of God is the Higher Cause of All Corporeal Change. This is Shown 106 by an Example. Of the Same Argument.
108
God Uses All Creatures as He Will, and Makes Visible Things for the Manifestation of Himself.
109
Why Miracles are Not Usual Works.
111
Diversity Alone Makes a Miracle.
112
Great Miracles Wrought by Magic Arts.
113
God Alone Creates Those Things Which are Changed by Magic Art.
114
The Original Cause of All Things is from God.
117
In How Many Ways the Creature is to Be Taken by Way of Sign. The Eucharist.120 The Essence of God Never Appeared in Itself. Divine Appearances to the 124 Fathers Wrought by the Ministry of Angels. An Objection Drawn from the Mode of Speech Removed. That the Appearing of God to Abraham Himself, Just as that to Moses, Was Wrought by Angels. The Same Thing is Proved by the Law Being Given to Moses by Angels. What Has Been Said in This Book, and What Remains to Be Said in the Next. Augustin explains for what the Son of God was sent; but, however, that the Son 130 of God, although made less by being sent, is not therefore less because the Father sent Him; nor yet the Holy Spirit less because both the Father sent Him and the Son. Preface.
131
We are Made Perfect by Acknowledgement of Our Own Weakness. The Incarnate Word Dispels Our Darkness.
133
v
How We are Rendered Apt for the Perception of Truth Through the Incarnate 135 Word. The One Death and Resurrection of The Body of Christ Harmonizes with Our Double Death and Resurrection of Body and Soul, to the Effect of Salvation. In What Way the Single Death of Christ is Bestowed Upon Our Double Death.
136
The Ratio of the Single to the Double Comes from the Perfection of the Senary 140 Number. The Perfection of The Senary Number is Commended in the Scriptures. The Year Abounds in The Senary Number. The Number Six is Also Commended in the Building Up of the Body of Christ 142 and of the Temple at Jerusalem. The Three Days of the Resurrection, in Which Also the Ratio of Single to Double is Apparent.
143
In What Manner We are Gathered from Many into One Through One Mediator.
145
In What Manner Christ Wills that All Shall Be One in Himself.
146
The Same Argument Continued.
147
As Christ is the Mediator of Life, So the Devil is the Mediator of Death.
148
Miracles Which are Done by Demons are to Be Spurned.
149
The Devil the Mediator of Death, Christ of Life.
150
The Death of Christ Voluntary. How the Mediator of Life Subdued the Mediator of Death. How the Devil Leads His Own to Despise the Death of Christ.
152
Christ the Most Perfect Victim for Cleansing Our Faults. In Every Sacrifice Four Things are to Be Considered.
156
They are Proud Who Think They are Able, by Their Own Righteousness, to Be Cleansed So as to See God.
157
The Old Philosophers are Not to Be Consulted Concerning the Resurrection and Concerning Things to Come.
158
In How Many Ways Things Future are Foreknown. Neither Philosophers, 159 Nor Those Who Were Distinguished Among the Ancients, are to Be Consulted Concerning the Resurrection of the Dead. The Son of God Became Incarnate in Order that We Being Cleansed by Faith 161 May Be Raised to the Unchangeable Truth.
vi
In What Manner the Son Was Sent and Proclaimed Beforehand. How in the Sending of His Birth in the Flesh He Was Made Less Without Detriment to His Equality with the Father.
163
The Sender and the Sent Equal. Why the Son is Said to Be Sent by the Father. 165 Of the Mission of the Holy Spirit. How and by Whom He Was Sent. The Father the Beginning of the Whole Godhead. Of the Sensible Showing of the Holy Spirit, and of the Coeternity of the Trinity.170 What Has Been Said, and What Remains to Be Said. He proceeds to refute those arguments which the heretics put forward, not out 173 of the Scriptures, but from their own conceptions. And first he refutes the objection, that to beget and to be begotten, or that to be begotten and not-begotten, being different, are therefore different substances, and shows that these things are spoken of God relatively, and not according to substance. What the Author Entreats from God, What from the Reader. In God Nothing 174 is to Be Thought Corporeal or Changeable. God the Only Unchangeable Essence.
176
The Argument of the Arians is Refuted, Which is Drawn from the Words Begotten and Unbegotten.
177
The Accidental Always Implies Some Change in the Thing.
178
Nothing is Spoken of God According to Accident, But According to Substance 179 or According to Relation. Reply is Made to the Cavils of the Heretics in Respect to the Same Words Begotten and Unbegotten.
180
The Addition of a Negative Does Not Change the Predicament.
182
Whatever is Spoken of God According to Substance, is Spoken of Each Person 184 Severally, and Together of the Trinity Itself. One Essence in God, and Three, in Greek, Hypostases, in Latin, Persons. The Three Persons Not Properly So Called [in a Human Sense].
186
Those Things Which Belong Absolutely to God as an Essence, are Spoken of the Trinity in the Singular, Not in the Plural.
187
What is Said Relatively in the Trinity.
188
In Relative Things that are Reciprocal, Names are Sometimes Wanting.
190
How the Word Beginning (Principium) is Spoken Relatively in the Trinity.
191
The Father and the Son the Only Beginning (Principium) of the Holy Spirit.
192
Whether the Holy Spirit Was a Gift Before as Well as After He Was Given.
194 vii
What is Said of God in Time, is Said Relatively, Not Accidentally.
195
In reply to the argument alleged against the equality of the Son from the apostle’s 197 words, saying that Christ is the ‘power of God and the wisdom of God,’ he propounds the question whether the Father Himself is not wisdom. But deferring for a while the answer to this, he adduces further proof of the unity and equality of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit; and that God ought to be said and believed to be a Trinity, not triple (triplicem). And he adds an explanation of the saying of Hilary—Eternity in the Father, Appearance in the Image, and Use in the Gift. The Son, According to the Apostle, is the Power and Wisdom of the Father. 198 Hence the Reasoning of the Catholics Against the Earlier Arians. A Difficulty is Raised, Whether the Father is Not Wisdom Himself, But Only the Father of Wisdom. What is Said of the Father and Son Together, and What Not.
200
That the Unity of the Essence of the Father and the Son is to Be Gathered 202 from the Words, ‘We are One.’ The Son is Equal to the Father Both in Wisdom and in All Other Things. The Same Argument Continued.
204
The Holy Spirit Also is Equal to the Father and the Son in All Things.
205
How God is a Substance Both Simple and Manifold.
206
God is a Trinity, But Not Triple (Triplex).
207
No Addition Can Be Made to the Nature of God.
208
Whether One or the Three Persons Together are Called the Only God.
209
Of the Attributes Assigned by Hilary to Each Person. The Trinity is Represented in Things that are Made.
211
He resolves the question he had deferred, and teaches us that the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit is one power and one wisdom, no otherwise than one God and one essence. And he then inquires how it is that, in speaking of God, the Latins say, One essence, three persons; but the Greeks, One essence, three substances or hypostases.
213
Augustin Returns to the Question, Whether Each Person of the Trinity by Itself is Wisdom. With What Difficulty, or in What Way, the Proposed Question is to Be Solved.
214
The Father and the Son are Together One Wisdom, as One Essence, Although 218 Not Together One Word.
viii
Why the Son Chiefly is Intimated in the Scriptures by the Name of Wisdom, 219 While Both the Father and the Holy Spirit are Wisdom. That the Holy Spirit, Together with the Father and the Son, is One Wisdom. How It Was Brought About that the Greeks Speak of Three Hypostases, the Latins of Three Persons. Scripture Nowhere Speaks of Three Persons in One God.
222
In God, Substance is Spoken Improperly, Essence Properly.
226
Why We Do Not in the Trinity Speak of One Person, and Three Essences. What He Ought to Believe Concerning the Trinity Who Does Not Receive What is Said Above. Man is Both After the Image, and is the Image of God.
227
He advances reasons to show not only that the Father is not greater than the 232 Son, but that neither are both together anything greater than the Holy Spirit, nor any two together in the same Trinity anything greater than one, nor all three together anything greater than each singly. He also intimates that the nature of God may be understood from our understanding of truth, from our knowledge of the supreme good, and from our implanted love of righteousness; but above all, that our knowledge of God is to be sought through love, in which he notices a trio of things which contains a trace of the Trinity. Preface.—The Conclusion of What Has Been Said Above. The Rule to Be Observed in the More Difficult Questions of the Faith.
233
It is Shown by Reason that in God Three are Not Anything Greater Than One 234 Person. Every Corporeal Conception Must Be Rejected, in Order that It May Be Understood How God is Truth.
235
How God May Be Known to Be the Chief Good. The Mind Does Not Become 237 Good Unless by Turning to God. God Must First Be Known by an Unerring Faith, that He May Be Loved.
239
How the Trinity May Be Loved Though Unknown.
241
How the Man Not Yet Righteous Can Know the Righteous Man Whom He Loves.
243
Of True Love, by Which We Arrive at the Knowledge of the Trinity. God is to Be Sought, Not Outwardly, by Seeking to Do Wonderful Things with the Angels, But Inwardly, by Imitating the Piety of Good Angels.
247
That He Who Loves His Brother, Loves God; Because He Loves Love Itself, Which is of God, and is God.
249
Our Love of the Righteous is Kindled from Love Itself of the Unchangeable Form of Righteousness.
251 ix
There are Three Things in Love, as It Were a Trace of the Trinity.
252
He instructs us that there is a kind of trinity discernible in man, who is the image 253 of God, viz. the mind, and the knowledge by which the mind knows itself, and the love wherewith it loves both itself and its own knowledge; these three being mutually equal and of one essence. In What Way We Must Inquire Concerning the Trinity.
254
The Three Things Which are Found in Love Must Be Considered.
256
The Image of the Trinity in the Mind of Man Who Knows Himself and Loves 258 Himself. The Mind Knows Itself Through Itself. The Three are One, and Also Equal, Viz. The Mind Itself, and the Love, and the Knowledge of It. That the Same Three Exist Substantially, and are Predicated Relatively. That the Same Three are Inseparable. That the Same Three are Not Joined and Commingled Like Parts, But that They are of One Essence, and are Relatives.
259
That These Three are Several in Themselves, and Mutually All in All.
262
There is One Knowledge of the Thing in the Thing Itself, and Another in Eternal Truth Itself. That Corporeal Things, Too, are to Be Judged the Rules of Eternal Truth.
263
We Conceive and Beget the Word Within, from the Things We Have Beheld 265 in the Eternal Truth. The Word, Whether of the Creature or of the Creator, is Conceived by Love. In What Desire and Love Differ.
266
In the Love of Spiritual Things the Word Born is the Same as the Word Conceived. It is Otherwise in the Love of Carnal Things.
267
Whether Only Knowledge that is Loved is the Word of the Mind.
268
That the Image or Begotten Word of the Mind that Knows Itself is Equal to the Mind Itself.
269
Why Love is Not the Offspring of the Mind, as Knowledge is So. The Solution 270 of the Question. The Mind with the Knowledge of Itself and the Love of Itself is the Image of the Trinity. That there is yet another and a more manifest trinity to be found in the mind of man, viz. in his memory, understanding, and will.
273
The Love of the Studious Mind, that Is, of One Desirous to Know, is Not the Love of a Thing Which It Does Not Know.
274
No One at All Loves Things Unknown.
278
That When the Mind Loves Itself, It is Not Unknown to Itself.
279 x
How the Mind Knows Itself, Not in Part, But as a Whole.
281
Why the Soul is Enjoined to Know Itself. Whence Come the Errors of the Mind Concerning Its Own Substance.
282
The Opinion Which the Mind Has of Itself is Deceitful.
283
The Opinions of Philosophers Respecting the Substance of the Soul. The Error 284 of Those Who are of Opinion that the Soul is Corporeal, Does Not Arise from Defective Knowledge of the Soul, But from Their Adding There to Something Foreign to It. What is Meant by Finding. How the Soul Inquires into Itself. Whence Comes the Error of the Soul Concerning Itself.
286
The Mind Knows Itself, by the Very Act of Understanding the Precept to Know Itself.
287
Every Mind Knows Certainly Three Things Concerning Itself—That It Understands, that It Is, and that It Lives.
288
In Memory, Understanding [or Intelligence], and Will, We Have to Note Ability, Learning, and Use. Memory, Understanding, and Will are One Essentially, and Three Relatively.
291
The Mind is an Image of the Trinity in Its Own Memory, and Understanding, 293 and Will. That even in the outer man some traces of a trinity may be detected, as e.g., in the bodily sight, and in the recollection of objects seen with the bodily sight.
294
A Trace of the Trinity Also In the Outer Man.
295
A Certain Trinity in the Sight. That There are Three Things in Sight, Which Differ in Their Own Nature. In What Manner from a Visible Thing Vision is Produced, or the Image of that Thing Which is Seen. The Matter is Shown More Clearly by an Example. How These Three Combine in One.
296
The Unity of the Three Takes Place in Thought, Viz. Of Memory, of Ternal Vision, and of Will Combining Both.
300
How This Unity Comes to Pass.
302
The Trinity of the Outer Man, or of External Vision, is Not an Image of God. 304 The Likeness of God is Desired Even in Sins. In External Vision the Form of the Corporeal Thing is as It Were the Parent, Vision the Offspring; But the Will that Unites These Suggests the Holy Spirit. Of What Kind We are to Reckon the Rest (Requies), and End (Finis), of the Will in Vision.
306
xi
There is Another Trinity in the Memory of Him Who Thinks Over Again What He Has Seen.
308
Different Modes of Conceiving.
310
Species is Produced by Species in Succession.
313
The Imagination Also Adds Even to Things We Have Not Seen, Those Things 314 Which We Have Seen Elsewhere. Number, Weight, Measure. After premising the difference between wisdom and knowledge, he points out a kind of trinity in that which is properly called knowledge; but one which, although we have reached in it the inner man, is not yet to be called the image of God.
315 316
Of What Kind are the Outer and the Inner Man.
317
Man Alone of Animate Creatures Perceives the Eternal Reasons of Things Pertaining to the Body.
318
The Higher Reason Which Belongs to Contemplation, and the Lower Which 319 Belongs to Action, are in One Mind. The Trinity and the Image of God is in that Part of the Mind Alone Which Belongs to the Contemplation of Eternal Things.
320
The Opinion Which Devises an Image of the Trinity in the Marriage of Male 321 and Female, and in Their Offspring. Why This Opinion is to Be Rejected.
323
How Man is the Image of God. Whether the Woman is Not Also the Image 326 of God. How the Saying of the Apostle, that the Man is the Image of God, But the Woman is the Glory of the Man, is to Be Understood Figuratively and Mystically. Turning Aside from the Image of God.
329
The Same Argument is Continued.
330
The Lowest Degradation Reached by Degrees.
331
The Image of the Beast in Man.
332
There is a Kind of Hidden Wedlock in the Inner Man. Unlawful Pleasures of the Thoughts.
333
The Opinion of Those Who Have Thought that the Mind Was Signified by the Man, the Bodily Sense by the Woman.
335
xii
What is the Difference Between Wisdom and Knowledge. The Worship of God is the Love of Him. How the Intellectual Cognizance of Eternal Things Comes to Pass Through Wisdom.
336
In Opposition to the Reminiscence of Plato and Pythagoras. Pythagoras the Samian. Of the Difference Between Wisdom and Knowledge, and of Seeking the Trinity in the Knowledge of Temporal Things.
339
He expounds this trinity that he has found in knowledge by commending Christian faith.
341
The Attempt is Made to Distinguish Out of the Scriptures the Offices of 342 Wisdom and of Knowledge. That in the Beginning of John Some Things that are Said Belong to Wisdom, Some to Knowledge. Some Things There are Only Known by the Help of Faith. How We See the Faith that is in Us. In the Same Narrative of John, Some Things are Known by the Sense of the Body, Others Only by the Reason of the Mind. Faith a Thing of the Heart, Not of the Body; How It is Common and One and 346 the Same in All Believers. The Faith of Believers is One, No Otherwise than the Will of Those Who Will is One. Some Desires Being the Same in All, are Known to Each. The Poet Ennius.
348
The Will to Possess Blessedness is One in All, But the Variety of Wills is Very 350 Great Concerning that Blessedness Itself. Of the Same Thing.
351
Why, When All Will to Be Blessed, that is Rather Chosen by Which One Withdraws from Being So.
352
Faith is Necessary, that Man May at Some Time Be Blessed, Which He Will Only Attain in the Future Life. The Blessedness of Proud Philosophers Ridiculous and Pitiable.
353
Blessedness Cannot Exist Without Immortality.
355
We Say that Future Blessedness is Truly Eternal, Not Through Human 357 Reasonings, But by the Help of Faith. The Immortality of Blessedness Becomes Credible from the Incarnation of the Son of God. There Was No Other More Suitable Way of Freeing Man from the Misery of Mortality Than The Incarnation of the Word. The Merits Which are Called Ours are the Gifts of God.
358
A Difficulty, How We are Justified in the Blood of the Son of God.
360
All, on Account of the Sin of Adam, Were Delivered into the Power of the Devil.
361
xiii
Man Was to Be Rescued from the Power of the Devil, Not by Power, But by Righteousness.
363
The Unobligated Death of Christ Has Freed Those Who Were Liable to Death. 365 Of the Same Subject.
367
The Remains of Death and the Evil Things of the World Turn to Good for the Elect. How Fitly the Death of Christ Was Chosen, that We Might Be Justified in His Blood. What the Anger of God is.
369
Other Advantages of the Incarnation.
372
Why the Son of God Took Man Upon Himself from the Race of Adam, and from a Virgin.
373
What in the Incarnate Word Belongs to Knowledge, What to Wisdom.
375
What Has Been Treated of in This Book. How We Have Reached by Steps to a Certain Trinity, Which is Found in Practical Knowledge and True Faith.
377
He speaks of the true wisdom of man, viz. that by which he remembers, 379 understands, and loves God; and shows that it is in this very thing that the mind of man is the image of God, although his mind, which is here renewed in the knowledge of God, will only then be made the perfect likeness of God in that image when there shall be a perfect sight of God. What the Wisdom is of Which We are Here to Treat. Whence the Name of 380 Philosopher Arose. What Has Been Already Said Concerning the Distinction of Knowledge and Wisdom. There is a Kind of Trinity in the Holding, Contemplating, and Loving of Faith 383 Temporal, But One that Does Not Yet Attain to Being Properly an Image of God. A Difficulty Removed, Which Lies in the Way of What Has Just Been Said.
384
The Image of God is to Be Sought in the Immortality of the Rational Soul. How a Trinity is Demonstrated in the Mind.
386
Whether the Mind of Infants Knows Itself.
387
How a Kind of Trinity Exists in the Mind Thinking of Itself. What is the Part 388 of Thought in This Trinity. The Thing is Made Plain by an Example. In What Way the Matter is Handled 390 in Order to Help the Reader. The Trinity Which is the Image of God is Now to Be Sought in the Noblest Part of the Mind.
392
Whether Justice and the Other Virtues Cease to Exist in the Future Life.
394 xiv
How a Trinity is Produced by the Mind Remembering, Understanding, and Loving Itself.
396
Whether Memory is Also of Things Present.
397
The Trinity in the Mind is the Image of God, in that It Remembers, Understands, and Loves God, Which to Do is Wisdom.
398
How Any One Can Forget and Remember God.
400
The Mind Loves God in Rightly Loving Itself; And If It Love Not God, It Must 401 Be Said to Hate Itself. Even a Weak and Erring Mind is Always Strong in Remembering, Understanding, and Loving Itself. Let It Be Turned to God, that It May Be Blessed by Remembering, Understanding, and Loving Him. Although the Soul Hopes for Blessedness, Yet It Does Not Remember Lost Blessedness, But Remembers God and the Rules of Righteousness. The Unchangeable Rules of Right Living are Known Even to the Ungodly.
404
How the Image of God is Formed Anew in Man.
406
How the Image of God in the Mind is Renewed Until the Likeness of God is Perfected in It in Blessedness.
408
Whether the Sentence of John is to Be Understood of Our Future Likeness with the Son of God in the Immortality Itself Also of the Body.
410
John is Rather to Be Understood of Our Perfect Likeness with the Trinity in Life Eternal. Wisdom is Perfected in Happiness.
411
He embraces in a brief compendium the contents of the previous books; and 413 finally shows that the Trinity, in the perfect sight of which consists the blessed life that is promised us, is here seen by us as in a glass and in an enigma, so long as it is seen through that image of God which we ourselves are. God is Above the Mind.
414
God, Although Incomprehensible, is Ever to Be Sought. The Traces of the Trinity are Not Vainly Sought in the Creature.
415
A Brief Recapitulation of All the Previous Books.
417
What Universal Nature Teaches Us Concerning God.
420
How Difficult It is to Demonstrate the Trinity by Natural Reason.
421
How There is a Trinity in the Very Simplicity of God. Whether and How the 423 Trinity that is God is Manifested from the Trinities Which Have Been Shown to Be in Men. That It is Not Easy to Discover the Trinity that is God from the Trinities We Have Spoken of.
426
How the Apostle Says that God is Now Seen by Us Through a Glass.
429 xv
Of the Term ‘Enigma,’ And of Tropical Modes of Speech.
431
Concerning the Word of the Mind, in Which We See the Word of God, as in 433 a Glass and an Enigma. The Likeness of the Divine Word, Such as It Is, is to Be Sought, Not in Our 436 Own Outer and Sensible Word, But in the Inner and Mental One. There is the Greatest Possible Unlikeness Between Our Word and Knowledge and the Divine Word and Knowledge. The Academic Philosophy.
439
Still Further of the Difference Between the Knowledge and Word of Our Mind, and the Knowledge and Word of God.
442
The Word of God is in All Things Equal to the Father, from Whom It is.
444
How Great is the Unlikeness Between Our Word and the Divine Word. Our Word Cannot Be or Be Called Eternal.
445
Our Word is Never to Be Equalled to the Divine Word, Not Even When We Shall Be Like God.
447
How the Holy Spirit is Called Love, and Whether He Alone is So Called. That 448 the Holy Spirit is in the Scriptures Properly Called by the Name of Love. No Gift of God is More Excellent Than Love.
452
The Holy Spirit is Called the Gift of God in the Scriptures. By the Gift of the Holy Spirit is Meant the Gift Which is the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is Specially Called Love, Although Not Only the Holy Spirit in the Trinity is Love.
453
Against Eunomius, Saying that the Son of God is the Son, Not of His Nature, 458 But of His Will. Epilogue to What Has Been Said Already. Of the Likeness of the Father and of the Son Alleged to Be in Our Memory and Understanding. Of the Likeness of the Holy Spirit in Our Will or Love.
460
How Great the Unlikeness is Between the Image of the Trinity Which We Have Found in Ourselves, and the Trinity Itself.
462
Augustin Dwells Still Further on the Disparity Between the Trinity Which is 463 in Man, and the Trinity Which is God. The Trinity is Now Seen Through a Glass by the Help of Faith, that It May Hereafter Be More Clearly Seen in the Promised Sight Face to Face. The Infirmity of the Human Mind.
465
The Question Why the Holy Spirit is Not Begotten, and How He Proceeds 466 from the Father and the Son, Will Only Be Understood When We are in Bliss.
xvi
The Holy Spirit Twice Given by Christ. The Procession of the Holy Spirit 467 from the Father and from the Son is Apart from Time, Nor Can He Be Called the Son of Both. What It is that Suffices Here to Solve the Question Why the Spirit is Not Said 471 to Be Begotten, and Why the Father Alone is Unbegotten. What They Ought to Do Who Do Not Understand These Things. The Conclusion of the Book with a Prayer, and an Apology for Multitude of Words. The Enchiridion.
475 477
Introductory Notice.
478
Argument.
479
The Author Desires the Gift of True Wisdom for Laurentius.
480
The Fear of God is Man’s True Wisdom.
481
God is to Be Worshipped Through Faith, Hope, and Love.
482
The Questions Propounded by Laurentius.
483
Brief Answers to These Questions.
484
Controversy Out of Place in a Handbook Like the Present.
485
The Creed and the Lord’s Prayer Demand the Exercise of Faith, Hope, and Love. 486 The Distinction Between Faith and Hope, and the Mutual Dependence of Faith, 487 Hope, and Love. What We are to Believe. In Regard to Nature It is Not Necessary for the Christian489 to Know More Than that the Goodness of the Creator is the Cause of All Things. The Supremely Good Creator Made All Things Good.
490
What is Called Evil in the Universe is But the Absence of Good.
491
All Beings Were Made Good, But Not Being Made Perfectly Good, are Liable to Corruption.
492
There Can Be No Evil Where There is No Good; And an Evil Man is an Evil Good.
493
Good and Evil are an Exception to the Rule that Contrary Attributes Cannot 494 Be Predicated of the Same Subject. Evil Springs Up in What is Good, and Cannot Exist Except in What is Good. The Preceding Argument is in No Wise Inconsistent with the Saying of Our Lord: ‘A Good Tree Cannot Bring Forth Evil Fruit.’
495
xvii
It is Not Essential to Man’s Happiness that He Should Know the Causes of Physical Convulsions; But It Is, that He Should Know the Causes of Good and Evil.
496
The Nature of Error. All Error is Not Hurtful, Though It is Man’s Duty as Far as Possible to Avoid It.
497
It is Never Allowable to Tell a Lie; But Lies Differ Very Much in Guilt, According499 to the Intention and the Subject. Men’s Errors Vary Very Much in the Magnitude of the Evils They Produce; But 500 Yet Every Error is in Itself an Evil. Every Error is Not a Sin. An Examination of the Opinion of the Academic Philosophers, that to Avoid Error We Should in All Cases Suspend Belief.
501
Error, Though Not Always a Sin, is Always an Evil.
503
A Lie is Not Allowable, Even to Save Another from Injury.
504
Summary of the Results of the Preceding Discussion.
505
The Secondary Causes of Evil are Ignorance and Lust.
506
God’s Judgments Upon Fallen Men and Angels. The Death of the Body is Man’s 507 Peculiar Punishment. Through Adam’s Sin His Whole Posterity Were Corrupted, and Were Born Under the Penalty of Death, Which He Had Incurred.
508
The State of Misery to Which Adam’s Sin Reduced Mankind, and the Restoration509 Effected Through the Mercy of God. When the Rebellious Angels Were Cast Out, the Rest Remained in the Enjoyment510 of Eternal Happiness with God. The Restored Part of Humanity Shall, in Accordance with the Promises of God, 511 Succeed to the Place Which the Rebellious Angels Lost. Men are Not Saved by Good Works, Nor by the Free Determination of Their Own Will, But by the Grace of God Through Faith.
512
Faith Itself is the Gift of God; And Good Works Will Not Be Wanting in Those 513 Who Believe. The Freedom of the Will is Also the Gift of God, for God Worketh in Us Both to Will and to Do.
514
Men, Being by Nature the Children of Wrath, Needed a Mediator. In What Sense God is Said to Be Angry.
516
The Ineffable Mystery of the Birth of Christ the Mediator Through the Virgin Mary.
517
xviii
Jesus Christ, Being the Only Son of God, is at the Same Time Man.
518
The Grace of God is Clearly and Remarkably Displayed in Raising the Man Christ Jesus to the Dignity of the Son of God.
519
The Same Grace is Further Clearly Manifested in This, that the Birth of Christ According to the Flesh is of the Holy Ghost.
520
Jesus Christ, According to the Flesh, Was Not Born of the Holy Spirit in Such a Sense that the Holy Spirit is His Father.
521
Not Everything that is Born of Another is to Be Called a Son of that Other.
522
Christ’s Birth Through the Holy Spirit Manifests to Us the Grace of God.
523
Christ, Who Was Himself Free from Sin, Was Made Sin for Us, that We Might 524 Be Reconciled to God. The Sacrament of Baptism Indicates Our Death with Christ to Sin, and Our Resurrection with Him to Newness of Life.
525
Baptism and the Grace Which It Typifies are Open to All, Both Infants and Adults.
526
In Speaking of Sin, the Singular Number is Often Put for the Plural, and the Plural for the Singular.
527
In Adam’s First Sin, Many Kinds of Sin Were Involved.
528
It is Probable that Children are Involved in the Guilt Not Only of the First Pair, 529 But of Their Own Immediate Parents. It is Difficult to Decide Whether the Sins of a Man’s Other Progenitors are Imputed to Him.
530
The Guilt of the First Sin is So Great that It Can Be Washed Away Only in the Blood of the Mediator, Jesus Christ.
531
Christ Was Not Regenerated in the Baptism of John, But Submitted to It to Give 532 Us an Example of Humility, Just as He Submitted to Death, Not as the Punishment of Sin, But to Take Away the Sin of the World. Christ Took Away Not Only the One Original Sin, But All the Other Sins that Have Been Added to It.
533
All Men Born of Adam are Under Condemnation, and Only If New Born in Christ are Freed from Condemnation.
534
In Baptism, Which is the Similitude of the Death and Resurrection of Christ, 535 All, Both Infants and Adults, Die to Sin that They May Walk in Newness of Life. Christ’s Cross and Burial, Resurrection, Ascension, and Sitting Down at the Right Hand of God, are Images of the Christian Life.
537
xix
Christ’s Second Coming Does Not Belong to the Past, But Will Take Place at the End of the World.
538
The Expression, ‘Christ Shall Judge the Quick and the Dead,’ May Be Understood539 in Either of Two Senses. The Holy Spirit and the Church. The Church is the Temple of God.
540
The Condition of the Church in Heaven.
542
We Have No Certain Knowledge of the Organization of the Angelic Society.
543
The Bodies Assumed by Angels Raise a Very Difficult, and Not Very Useful, Subject of Discussion.
544
It is More Necessary to Be Able to Detect the Wiles of Satan When He Transforms Himself into an Angel of Light.
545
The Church on Earth Has Been Redeemed from Sin by the Blood of a Mediator. 546 By the Sacrifice of Christ All Things are Restored, and Peace is Made Between Earth and Heaven.
547
The Peace of God, Which Reigneth in Heaven, Passeth All Understanding.
548
Pardon of Sin Extends Over the Whole Mortal Life of the Saints, Which, Though 549 Free from Crime, is Not Free from Sin. God Pardons Sins, But on Condition of Penitence, Certain Times for Which Have Been Fixed by the Law of the Church.
550
The Pardon of Sin Has Reference Chiefly to the Future Judgment.
551
Faith Without Works is Dead, and Cannot Save a Man.
552
The True Sense of the Passage I Cor. III. 11–15 About Those Who are Saved, Yet So as by Fire.
553
It is Not Impossible that Some Believers May Pass Through a Purgatorial Fire in the Future Life.
555
Almsgiving Will Not Atone for Sin Unless the Life Be Changed.
556
The Daily Prayer of the Believer Makes Satisfaction for the Trivial Sins that Daily Stain His Life.
557
There are Many Kinds of Alms, the Giving of Which Assists to Procure Pardon 558 for Our Sins. The Greatest of All Alms is to Forgive Our Debtors and to Love Our Enemies.
559
God Does Not Pardon the Sins of Those Who Do Not from the Heart Forgive Others.
560
The Wicked and the Unbelieving are Not Made Clean by the Giving of Alms, Except They Be Born Again.
561 xx
To Give Alms Aright, We Should Begin with Ourselves, and Have Pity Upon Our Own Souls.
562
If We Would Give Alms to Ourselves, We Must Flee Iniquity; For He Who Loveth Iniquity Hateth His Soul.
564
What Sins are Trivial and What Heinous is a Matter for God’s Judgment.
565
Sins Which Appear Very Trifling, are Sometimes in Reality Very Serious.
567
Sins, However Great and Detestable, Seem Trivial When We are Accustomed to Them.
568
There are Two Causes of Sin, Ignorance and Weakness; And We Need Divine Help to Overcome Both.
569
The Mercy of God is Necessary to True Repentance.
570
The Man Who Despises the Mercy of God is Guilty of the Sin Against the Holy 571 Ghost. The Resurrection of the Body Gives Rise to Numerous Questions.
572
The Case of Abortive Conceptions.
573
If They Have Ever Lived, They Must of Course Have Died, and Therefore Shall 574 Have a Share in the Resurrection of the Dead. The Case of Monstrous Births.
575
The Material of the Body Never Perishes.
576
But This Material May Be Differently Arranged in the Resurrection Body.
577
If There Be Differences and Inequalities Among the Bodies of Those Who Rise 578 Again, There Shall Be Nothing Offensive or Disproportionate in Any. The Bodies of the Saints Shall at The Resurrection Be Spiritual Bodies.
579
The Resurrection of the Lost.
580
Both the First and the Second Deaths are the Consequence of Sin. Punishment is Proportioned to Guilt.
581
The Saints Shall Know More Fully in the Next World the Benefits They Have Received by Grace.
582
God’s Judgments Shall Then Be Explained.
583
The Omnipotent God Does Well Even in the Permission of Evil.
584
In What Sense Does the Apostle Say that ’God Will Have All Men to Be Saved,’ 585 When, as a Matter of Fact, All are Not Saved? Predestination to Eternal Life is Wholly of God’s Free Grace.
586
As God’s Mercy is Free, So His Judgments are Just, and Cannot Be Gainsaid.
588 xxi
The Will of God is Never Defeated, Though Much is Done that is Contrary to His Will.
590
The Will of God, Which is Always Good, is Sometimes Fulfilled Through the Evil Will of Man.
591
The Will of the Omnipotent God is Never Defeated, and is Never Evil.
592
Interpretation of the Expression in I Tim. II. 4: ‘Who Will Have All Men to Be Saved.’
593
God, Foreknowing the Sin of the First Man, Ordered His Own Purposes Accordingly.
595
Man Was So Created as to Be Able to Choose Either Good or Evil: in the Future 596 Life, the Choice of Evil Will Be Impossible. The Grace of God Was Necessary to Man’s Salvation Before the Fall as Well as After It.
597
Eternal Life, Though the Reward of Good Works, is Itself the Gift of God.
598
A Mediator Was Necessary to Reconcile Us to God; And Unless This Mediator 599 Had Been God, He Could Not Have Been Our Redeemer. The State of the Soul During the Interval Between Death and the Resurrection.
600
The Benefit to the Souls of the Dead from the Sacraments and Alms of Their Living Friends.
601
After the Resurrection There Shall Be Two Distinct Kingdoms, One of Eternal Happiness, the Other of Eternal Misery.
602
There is No Ground in Scripture for the Opinion of Those Who Deny the Eternity of Future Punishments.
603
The Death of the Wicked Shall Be Eternal in the Same Sense as the Life of the Saints.
604
Having Dealt with Faith, We Now Come to Speak of Hope. Everything that Pertains to Hope is Embraced in the Lord’s Prayer.
605
The Seven Petitions of the Lord’s Prayer, According to Matthew.
606
Luke Expresses the Substance of These Seven Petitions More Briefly in Five.
607
Love, Which is Greater Than Faith and Hope, is Shed Abroad in Our Hearts by the Holy Ghost.
608
The Four Stages of the Christian’s Life, and the Four Corresponding Stages of the Church’s History.
609
The Grace of Regeneration Washes Away All Past Sin and All Original Guilt.
610
Death Cannot Injure Those Who Have Received the Grace of Regeneration.
611 xxii
Love is the End of All the Commandments, and God Himself is Love.
612
Conclusion.
613
On the Catechising of the Uninstructed.
614
Introductory Notice.
615
How Augustin Writes in Answer to a Favor Asked by a Deacon of Carthage.
616
How It Often Happens that a Discourse Which Gives Pleasure to the Hearer is 618 Distasteful to the Speaker; And What Explanation is to Be Offered of that Fact. Of the Full Narration to Be Employed in Catechising.
621
That the Great Reason for the Advent of Christ Was the Commendation of Love.
624
That the Person Who Comes for Catechetical Instruction is to Be Examined with Respect to His Views, on Desiring to Become a Christian.
627
Of the Way to Commence the Catechetical Instruction, and of the Narration of Facts from the History of the World’s Creation on to the Present Times of the Church.
629
Of the Exposition of the Resurrection, the Judgment, and Other Subjects, Which 631 Should Follow This Narration. Of the Method to Be Pursued in Catechising Those Who Have Had a Liberal Education.
633
Of the Method in Which Grammarians and Professional Speakers are to Be Dealt with.
636
Of the Attainment of Cheerfulness in the Duty of Catechising, and of Various Causes Producing Weariness in the Catechumen.
638
Of the Remedy for the Second Source of Weariness.
641
Of the Remedy for the Third Source of Weariness.
643
Of the Remedy for the Fourth Source of Weariness.
645
Of the Remedy Against the Fifth and Sixth Sources of Weariness.
648
Of the Method in Which Our Address Should Be Adapted to Different Classes of Hearers.
651
A Specimen of a Catechetical Address; And First, the Case of a Catechumen with Worthy Views.
653
The Specimen of Catechetical Discourse Continued, in Reference Specially to the Reproval of False Aims on the Catechumen’s Part.
656
Of What is to Be Believed on the Subject of the Creation of Man and Other Objects.
658 xxiii
Of the Co-Existence of Good and Evil in the Church, and Their Final Separation. 660 Of Israel’s Bondage in Egypt, Their Deliverance, and Their Passage Through the Red Sea.
663
Of the Babylonish Captivity, and the Things Signified Thereby.
665
Of the Six Ages of the World.
668
Of the Mission of the Holy Ghost Fifty Days After Christ’s Resurrection.
670
Of the Church in Its Likeness to a Vine Sprouting and Suffering Pruning.
673
Of Constancy in the Faith of the Resurrection.
674
Of the Formal Admission of the Catechumen, and of the Signs Therein Made Use of.
678
Of the Prophecies of the Old Testament in Their Visible Fulfillment in the Church.
680
A Treatise on Faith and the Creed.
683
Introductory Notice.
684
Of the Origin and Object of the Composition.
687
Of God and His Exclusive Eternity.
688
Of the Son of God, and His Peculiar Designation as the Word.
690
Of the Son of God as Neither Made by the Father Nor Less Than the Father, and of His Incarnation.
692
Of Christ’s Passion, Burial, and Resurrection.
697
Of Christ’s Ascension into Heaven.
698
Of Christ’s Session at the Father’s Right Hand.
699
Of Christ’s Coming to Judgment.
700
Of the Holy Spirit and the Mystery of the Trinity.
701
Of the Catholic Church, the Remission of Sins, and the Resurrection of the Flesh.
708
Concerning Faith of Things Not Seen.
712
Section 1
713
Section 2
714
Section 3
715
Section 4
716
Section 5
718
Section 6
720 xxiv
Section 7
722
Section 8
724
Section 9
725
Section 10
726
Section 11
727
On the Profit of Believing.
728
Translator’s Preface.
729
Section 1
730
Section 2
731
Section 3
732
Section 4
733
Section 5
734
Section 6
735
Section 7
736
Section 8
738
Section 9
739
Section 10
741
Section 11
743
Section 12
744
Section 13
745
Section 14
747
Section 15
748
Section 16
749
Section 17
750
Section 18
751
Section 19
752
Section 20
753
Section 21
754
Section 22
755
Section 23
757
Section 24
758
Section 25
760 xxv
Section 26
763
Section 27
764
Section 28
766
Section 29
767
Section 30
768
Section 31
769
Section 32
771
Section 33
772
Section 34
773
Section 35
775
Section 36
777
On the Creed.
779
Section 1
780
Section 2
781
Section 3
782
Section 4
783
Section 5
784
Section 6
785
Section 7
786
Section 8
787
Section 9
789
Section 10
790
Section 11
793
Section 12
794
Section 13
795
Section 14
796
Section 15
797
Section 16
798
Section 17
799
Moral Treatises of St. Augustin On Continence. Section 1
800 800 801 xxvi
Section 2
802
Section 3
803
Section 4
804
Section 5
806
Section 6
807
Section 7
808
Section 8
809
Section 9
810
Section 10
812
Section 11
813
Section 12
815
Section 13
816
Section 14
817
Section 15
818
Section 16
819
Section 17
820
Section 18
821
Section 19
823
Section 20
824
Section 21
825
Section 22
826
Section 23
827
Section 24
828
Section 25
830
Section 26
832
Section 27
833
Section 28
834
Section 29
835
Section 30
837
Section 31
838
Section 32
839
On the Good of Marriage.
840 xxvii
Translator’s Preface.
841
Section 1
843
Section 2
844
Section 3
846
Section 4
847
Section 5
848
Section 6
849
Section 7
850
Section 8
851
Section 9
853
Section 10
854
Section 11
855
Section 12
856
Section 13
857
Section 14
858
Section 15
859
Section 16
860
Section 17
861
Section 18
862
Section 19
863
Section 20
864
Section 21
865
Section 22
867
Section 23
868
Section 24
869
Section 25
870
Section 26
871
Section 27
872
Section 28
874
Section 29
875
Section 30
876
Section 31
877 xxviii
Section 32
878
Section 33
879
Section 34
880
Section 35
881
Of Holy Virginity.
882
Translator’s Preface.
883
Section 1
884
Section 2
885
Section 3
886
Section 4
887
Section 5
888
Section 6
889
Section 7
890
Section 8
891
Section 9
892
Section 10
893
Section 11
894
Section 12
895
Section 13
896
Section 14
897
Section 15
898
Section 16
899
Section 17
900
Section 18
901
Section 19
902
Section 20
903
Section 21
904
Section 22
906
Section 23
907
Section 24
908
Section 25
909
Section 26
910 xxix
Section 27
911
Section 28
912
Section 29
913
Section 30
914
Section 31
915
Section 32
916
Section 33
918
Section 34
919
Section 35
920
Section 36
921
Section 37
922
Section 38
923
Section 39
924
Section 40
926
Section 41
927
Section 42
929
Section 43
930
Section 44
931
Section 45
932
Section 46
933
Section 47
935
Section 48
936
Section 49
937
Section 50
938
Section 51
939
Section 52
940
Section 53
941
Section 54
942
Section 55
943
Section 56
944
Section 57
945
On the Good of Widowhood.
946 xxx
Translator’s Preface.
947
Section 1
948
Section 2
949
Section 3
950
Section 4
951
Section 5
952
Section 6
953
Section 7
954
Section 8
955
Section 9
956
Section 10
957
Section 11
958
Section 12
960
Section 13
961
Section 14
962
Section 15
963
Section 16
964
Section 17
965
Section 18
966
Section 19
967
Section 20
968
Section 21
969
Section 22
971
Section 23
972
Section 24
973
Section 25
975
Section 26
976
Section 27
977
Section 28
979
Section 29
980
On Lying. Translator’s Preface.
981 982 xxxi
Section 1
983
Section 2
984
Section 3
985
Section 4
986
Section 5
989
Section 6
990
Section 7
991
Section 8
992
Section 9
994
Section 10
996
Section 11
997
Section 12
998
Section 13
999
Section 14
1000
Section 15
1001
Section 16
1002
Section 17
1003
Section 18
1004
Section 19
1005
Section 20
1006
Section 21
1007
Section 22
1008
Section 23
1009
Section 24
1010
Section 25
1011
Section 26
1012
Section 27
1013
Section 28
1014
Section 29
1015
Section 30
1016
Section 31
1017
Section 32
1019 xxxii
Section 33
1020
Section 34
1021
Section 35
1023
Section 36
1024
Section 37
1025
Section 38
1026
Section 39
1027
Section 40
1028
Section 41
1029
Section 42
1030
Section 43
1032
Against Lying.
1033
Translator’s Preface.
1034
Section 1
1035
Section 2
1036
Section 3
1037
Section 4
1038
Section 5
1040
Section 6
1041
Section 7
1042
Section 8
1043
Section 9
1044
Section 10
1045
Section 11
1046
Section 12
1047
Section 13
1048
Section 14
1049
Section 15
1050
Section 16
1051
Section 17
1052
Section 18
1053
Section 19
1055 xxxiii
Section 20
1056
Section 21
1057
Section 22
1058
Section 23
1060
Section 24
1061
Section 25
1063
Section 26
1064
Section 27
1066
Section 28
1067
Section 29
1068
Section 30
1069
Section 31
1070
Section 32
1071
Section 33
1072
Section 34
1074
Section 35
1076
Section 36
1077
Section 37
1078
Section 38
1079
Section 39
1080
Section 40
1081
Section 41
1083
Of the Work of Monks.
1084
Translator’s Preface.
1085
Section 1
1086
Section 2
1087
Section 3
1089
Section 4
1090
Section 5
1092
Section 6
1093
Section 7
1094
Section 8
1095 xxxiv
Section 9
1097
Section 10
1098
Section 11
1099
Section 12
1100
Section 13
1102
Section 14
1104
Section 15
1105
Section 16
1106
Section 17
1108
Section 18
1110
Section 19
1111
Section 20
1112
Section 21
1113
Section 22
1115
Section 23
1116
Section 24
1117
Section 25
1118
Section 26
1119
Section 27
1120
Section 28
1121
Section 29
1122
Section 30
1123
Section 31
1124
Section 32
1125
Section 33
1127
Section 34
1128
Section 35
1130
Section 36
1132
Section 37
1133
Section 38
1135
Section 39
1136
Section 40
1138 xxxv
Section 41
1140
On Patience.
1141
Translator’s Preface.
1142
Section 1
1143
Section 2
1144
Section 3
1145
Section 4
1146
Section 5
1147
Section 6
1148
Section 7
1149
Section 8
1150
Section 9
1152
Section 10
1153
Section 11
1154
Section 12
1155
Section 13
1156
Section 14
1157
Section 15
1159
Section 16
1160
Section 17
1161
Section 18
1162
Section 19
1163
Section 20
1164
Section 21
1165
Section 22
1166
Section 23
1167
Section 24
1168
Section 25
1169
Section 26
1170
On Care to Be Had for the Dead.
1171
Translator’s Preface.
1172
Section 1
1173 xxxvi
Section 2
1174
Section 3
1175
Section 4
1176
Section 5
1178
Section 6
1180
Section 7
1181
Section 8
1182
Section 9
1183
Section 10
1185
Section 11
1186
Section 12
1187
Section 13
1189
Section 14
1190
Section 15
1191
Section 16
1193
Section 17
1195
Section 18
1196
Section 19
1197
Section 20
1198
Section 21
1200
Section 22
1202
Section 23
1203
Subject Indexes
1204
On the Trinity
1204
Doctrinal and Moral Treatises
1209
Indexes
1246
Index of Scripture References
1247
Greek Words and Phrases
1254
Index of Pages of the Print Edition
1257
xxxvii
This PDF file is from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library, www.ccel.org. The mission of the CCEL is to make classic Christian books available to the world. • This book is available in PDF, HTML, ePub, Kindle, and other formats. See http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf103.html. • Discuss this book online at http://www.ccel.org/node/2980. The CCEL makes CDs of classic Christian literature available around the world through the Web and through CDs. We have distributed thousands of such CDs free in developing countries. If you are in a developing country and would like to receive a free CD, please send a request by email to cd-request@ccel.org. The Christian Classics Ethereal Library is a self supporting non-profit organization at Calvin College. If you wish to give of your time or money to support the CCEL, please visit http://www.ccel.org/give. This PDF file is copyrighted by the Christian Classics Ethereal Library. It may be freely copied for non-commercial purposes as long as it is not modified. All other rights are reserved. Written permission is required for commercial use.
xxxviii
Title Page.
i
A SELECT LIBRARY OF THE
NICENE AND POST-NICENE FATHERS OF
THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. EDITED BY
PHILIP SCHAFF, D.D., LL.D., PROFESSOR IN THE UNION THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY, NEW YORK, IN CONNECTION WITH A NUMBER OF PATRISTIC SCHOLARS OF EUROPE AND AMERICA.
VOLUME III
ON THE HOLY TRINITY DOCTRINAL TREATISES MORAL TREATISES T&T CLARK EDINBURGH
__________________________________________________ WM. B. EERDMANS PUBLISHING COMPANY GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN
Preface.
iii
Preface.
———————————— Thisthird volume contains the most important doctrinal and moral treatises of St. Augustin, and presents a pretty complete view of his dogmatics and ethics. The most weighty of the doctrinal treatises is that on the Holy Trinity. The Latin original (De Trinitate contra Arianos libri quindecim)is contained in the 8th volume of the Benedictine edition. It is the most elaborate, and probably also the ablest and profoundest patristic discussion of this central doctrine of the Christian religion, unless we except the Orations against the Arians, by Athanasius, “the Father of Orthodoxy,” who devoted his life to the defense of the Divinity of Christ. Augustin, owing to his defective knowledge of Greek, wrote his work independently of the previous treatises of the Eastern Church on that subject. He bestowed more time and care upon it than on any other book, except the City of God. The value of the present translation, which first appeared in Mr. Clark’s edition, 1873, has been much increased by the revision, the introductory essay, and the critical notes of a distinguished American divine, who is in full sympathy with St. Augustin, and thoroughly at home in the history of this dogma. I could not have intrusted it to abler hands than those of my friend and colleague, Dr. Shedd. The moral treatises (contained in the 6th volume of the Benedictine edition) were first translated for the Oxford Library of the Fathers (1847). They contain much that will instruct and interest the reader; while some views will appear strange to those who fail to distinguish between different ages and different types of virtue and piety. Augustin shared with the Greek and Latin fathers the ascetic preference for voluntary celibacy and poverty. He accepted the distinction which dates from the second century, between two kinds of morality: a lower morality of the common people, which consists in keeping the ten commandments; and a higher sanctity of the elect few, which observes, in addition, the evangelical counsels, so called, or the monastic virtues. He practiced this doctrine after his conversion. He ought to have married the mother of his son; but in devoting himself to the priesthood, he felt it his duty to remain unmarried, according to the prevailing spirit of the church in his age. His teacher, Ambrose, and his older contemporary, Jerome, went still further in the enthusiastic praise of single life. We must admire their power of self-denial and undivided consecration, though we may dissent from their theory.1
1
On the ascetic tendencies of the second and third centuries, and the gradual introduction of clerical celibacy
(which began with a decree of Bishop Siricius of Rome, 385), see Schaff, Church Hist., vol. ii. 367–414, and vol. iii. 242–250.
Preface.
The asceticism of the early church was a reaction against the awful sexual corruption of surrounding heathenism, and with all its excesses it accomplished a great deal of good. It prepared the way for Christian family life. The fathers appealed to the example of Christ, who in this respect, as the Son of God, stood above ordinary human relations, and the advice of St. Paul, which was given in view of “the present distress,” in times of persecution. They deemed single life better adapted to the undivided service of Christ and his church than the married state with its unavoidable secular cares (1 Cor. vii. 25sqq.). Augustin expresses this view when he says, on Virginity, § 27: “Therefore go on, Saints of God, boys and girls, males and females, unmarried men and women; go on and persevere unto the end. Praise more sweetly the Lord, whom ye think on more richly; hope more happily in Him, whom ye serve more earnestly; love more ardently Him, whom ye please more attentively. With loins girded, and lamps burning, wait for the Lord, when He returns from the marriage. Ye shall bring unto the marriage of the Lamb a new song, which ye shall sing on your harps.” The Reformation has abolished the system of monasticism and clerical celibacy, and substituted for it, as the normal condition for the clergy as well as the laity, the purity, chastity and beauty of family life, instituted by God in Paradise and sanctioned by our Saviour’s presence at the wedding at Cana. New York, March, 1887. iv
3
Contents
CONTENTS.
v
__________ Preface. I.
DOCTRINAL TREATISES OF ST. AUGUSTIN. On the Holy Trinity Translated by the Rev. Arthur West Haddan, B.D. Revised and annotate, together with an introductory essay, by the Rev. Professor W. G. T. Shedd, D.D. The Enchiridion Translated by Professor J. F. Shaw. On the Catechising of the Uninstructed. Translated by the Rev. Professor S. D. F. Salmond, D.D. Concerning Faith of Things not Seen. Translated by the Rev. C. L. Cornish, M.A. On the Profit of Believing. Translated by the Rev. C. L. Cornish, M.A. On the Creed: A Sermon to Catechumens. Translated by the Rev. H. Brown, M.A.
II. MORAL TREATISES OF ST. AUGUSTIN. Of Continence. Translated by the Rev. C. L. Cornish, M.A. On the Good of Marriage. Translated by the Rev. C. L. Cornish, M.A. Of Holy Virginity. Translated by the Rev. C. L. Cornish, M.A. On the Good of Widowhood. Translated by the Rev. C. L. Cornish, M.A. On Lying. Translated by the Rev. H. Browne, M.A.
Contents
To Consentius: Against Lying. Translated by the Rev. H. Browne, M.A. Of the Work of Monks. Translated by the Rev. H. Browne, M.A. On Patience. Translated by the Rev. H. Browne, M.A. On Care to be Had for the Dead. Translated by the Rev. H. Browne, M.A. Index to On the Holy Trinity. Index to Fifteen Doctrinal and Moral Treatises.
5
Section 10
10. Nor, because I called Ruth blessed, Anna more blessed, in that the former married twice, the latter, being soon widowed of her one husband, so lived long, do you straightway also think that you are better than Ruth. Forsooth different in the times of the Prophets was the dispensation of holy females, whom obedience, not lust, forced to marry, for the propagation of the people of God,2241 that in them Prophets of Christ might be sent beforehand; whereas the People itself also, by those things which in figure happened among them, whether in the case of those who knew, or in the case of those who knew not those things, was nothing else than a Prophet of Christ, of whom should be born the Flesh also of Christ. In order therefore for the propagation of that people, he was accounted accursed by sentence of the Law, whoso raised not up seed in Israel.2242 Whence also holy women were kindled, not by lust of sensual intercourse, but by piety of bearing; so that we most rightly believe of them that they would not have sought sensual intercourse, in case a family could have come by any other means. And to the husbands was allowed the use of several wives living; and that the cause of this was not lust of the flesh, but forethought of begetting, is shown by the fact, that, as it was lawful for holy men to have several wives living, it was not likewise lawful for holy women to have intercourse with several husbands living; in that they would be by so much the baser, by how much the more they sought what would not add to their fruitfulness. Wherefore holy Ruth, not having seed such as at that time was necessary in Israel, on the death of her husband sought another of whom to have it. Therefore than this one twice married, Anna once married a widow was on this account more blessed, in that she attained also to be a prophetess of Christ; concerning whom we are to believe, that, although she had no sons, (which indeed Scripture by keeping silence hath left uncertain,) yet, had she by that Spirit foreseen that Christ would immediately come of a virgin, by Which she was enabled to recognize Him even as a child: whence, with good reason, even without sons, (that is, assuming she had none,) she refused a second marriage: in that she knew that now was the time wherein Christ were better served, not by duty of bearing, but by zeal of containing: 445not by fruitfulness of married womb, but by chastity of widowed conduct. But if Ruth also was aware that by her flesh was propagated a seed, whereof Christ should hereafter have flesh, and by marrying set forth her ministering to this knowledge, I dare not any longer say that the widowhood of Anna was more blessed than her fruitfulness.
2241
l Cor. x. 11
2242
Deut. xxv. 5–10
Section 11
11. But thou who both hast sons, and livest in that end of the world, wherein now is the time not of casting stones, but of gathering; not of embracing, but of abstaining from embracing;2243 when the Apostle cries out, “But this I say, brethren, the time is short; it remains, 2244 that both they who have wives be as not having;” assuredly if thou hadst sought a second marriage, it would have been no obedience of prophecy or law, no carnal desire even of family, but a mark of incontinence alone. For you would have done what the Apostle says, after he had said, “It is good for them, if they shall have so continued, even as2245 I;” forsooth he straightway added, “But if they contain not themselves, let them marry; for I had rather that they marry than be burned.” For this he said, in order that the evil of unbridled desire might not be carried headlong into criminal baseness, being taken up by the honest estate of marriage. But thanks be to the Lord, in that thou hast given birth to what thou wouldest not be, and the virginity of thy child hath compensated for the loss of thy virginity. For Christian doctrine, having diligent question made of it, makes answer, that a first marriage also now at this time is to be despised, unless incontinence stand in the way. For he, who said, “If they contain not themselves, let them marry,” could have said, “If they have not sons, let them marry,” if, when now after theResurrection and Preaching of Christ, there is unto all nations so great and abundant supply of sons to be spiritually begotten, it were any such duty to beget sons after the flesh as it was in the first times. And, whereas in another 2246 place he saith, “But I will that the younger marry, bear children, be mothers of families,” he commends with apostolic sobriety and authority the good of marriage, but doth not impose the duty of bearing, as though in order to obey the law, even on those who “receive” the good of continence. Lastly, why he had said this, he unfolds, when he adds and says, “To give no occasion of speaking evil to the adversary; for already certain have turned back after Satan:” that by these words of his we may understand, that those, whom he would have marry, could have done better to contain than marry; but better to marry than to go back after Satan, that is, to fall away from that excellent purpose of virginal or widowed chastity, by looking back to things that are behind, and perish. Wherefore, such as contain not themselves, let them marry before they make profession of continence, before they vow unto God, what, if they pay not, they are justly condemned. Forsooth in another place he saith of such, “For when they have lived in delights in Christ, they wish to marry: having condemnation, in that they have made of none effect their first faith;”2247 that is, they have turned aside their will from the purpose of continence unto marriage. Forsooth they have
2243
Eccl. iii. 5
2244
1 Cor. vii. 29. [See R.V.]
2245
1 Cor. vii. 8, 9
2246
1 Tim. v. 14, 15
2247
1 Tim. v. 11, 12. [See R.V.]
Section 11
made of none effect the faith, whereby they formerly vowed what they were unwilling by perseverance to fulfill. Therefore the good of marriage is indeed ever a good: but in the people of God it was at one time an act of obedience unto the law; now it is a remedy for weakness, but in certain a solace of human nature. Forsooth to be engaged in the getting of children, not after the fashion of dogs by promiscuous use of females, but by honest order of marriage, is not an affection such as we are to blame in a man; yet this affection itself the Christian mind, having thoughts of heavenly things, in a more praiseworthy manner surpasses and overcomes.
959
Section 12 12. But since, as the Lord saith, “Not all receive this word;” 2248 therefore let her who can receive it, receive it; and let her, who containeth not, marry; let her, who hath not begun, deliberate; let her, who hath undertaken it, persevere; let there be no occasion given unto the adversary, let there be no oblation withdrawn from Christ. Forsooth in the marriage bond if chastity be preserved, condemnation is not feared; but in widowed and virginal continence, the excellence of a greater gift2249 is sought for: and, when this has been sought, and chosen, and by debt of vow offered, from this time not only to enter upon marriage, but, although one be not married, to wish to marry is matter of condemnation. For, in order to show this, the Apostle saith not, “When they shall have lived in delights, in Christ” they marry;2250 but “they wish to marry; having,” saith he, “condemnation, in that they have made of none effect their first faith,” although not by marrying, yet by wishing; not that the marriages even of such are judged matter of condemnation; but there is condemned a wrong done to purpose, there is condemned a broken faith of vow, there is condemned not a relief 446by lower good, but a fall from higher good: lastly, such are condemned, not because they have entered upon marriage faith afterwards, but because they have made of none effect the first faith of continence. And in order to suggest this in few words, the Apostle would not say, that they have condemnation, who after purpose of greater sanctity marry, (not because they are not condemned, but lest in them marriage itself should be thought to be condemned:) but, after he had said, “they wish to marry,” he straightway added, “having condemnation.” And he stated the reason, “in that they have made of none effect their former faith,” in order that it may appear that it is the will which fell away from its purpose, which is condemned, whether marriage follow, or fail to follow.
2248
Matt. xix. 11
2249
Muneris
2250
1 Tim. v. 11, 12
Section 13
13. Wherefore they who say that the marriages of such are not marriages, but rather adulteries, seem not to me to consider with sufficient acuteness and care what they say; forsooth they, are misled by a semblance of truth. For, whereas they, who of Christian sanctity marry not, are said to choose the marriage of Christ, hence certain argue saying, If she, who during the life of her husband is married to another, be an adulteress, even as the Lord Himself hath laid down in the Gospel; therefore, during the life of Christ, over Whom death hath no more dominion, 2251 if she who had chosen His marriage, be married to a man, she is an adulteress. They, who say this, are moved indeed with acuteness, but fail to observe, how great absurdity in fact follows on this reasoning. For whereas it is praiseworthy that, even during the life of her husband, by his consent, a female vow continence unto Christ, now, according to the reasoning of these persons, no one ought to do this, lest she make Christ Himself, what is impious to imagine, an adulterer, by being married to Him during the life of her husband. Next, whereas first marriages are of better desert than second, far be it that this be the thought of holy widows, that Christ seem unto them as a second husband. For Himself they used heretofore also to have, (when they were subject and did faithful service to their own husbands,) not after the flesh, but after the Spirit a Husband; unto Whom the Church herself, of which they are members, is the wife; who by soundness of faith, of hope, of charity, not in the virgins alone, but in widows also, and faithful married women, is altogether a virgin. Forsooth unto the universal Church, of which they all are members, the Apostle saith, “I joined you unto one husband a chaste virgin to present unto Christ.�2252 But He knoweth how to make fruitful, without marring of chastity, a wife a virgin, Whom even in the flesh itself His Mother could without violation of chastity conceive. But there is brought to pass by means of this ill-considered notion, (whereby they think that the marriages of women who have fallen away from this holy purpose, in case they shall have married, are no marriages,) no small evil, that wives be separated from their husbands, as though they were adulteresses, not wives; and wishing to restore to continence the women thus separated, they make their husbands real adulterers, in that during the life of their wives they have married others.
2251
Rom. vi. 9
2252
2 Cor. xi. 2. [See R.V.]
Section 14
14. Wherefore I cannot indeed say, of females who have fallen away from a better purpose, in case they shall have married, that they are adulteries, not marriages; but I plainly would not hesitate to say, that departures and fallings away from a holier chastity, which is vowed unto the Lord, are worse than adulteries. For if, what may no way be doubted, it pertains unto an offense against Christ, when a member of Him keepeth not faith to her husband; how much graver offense is it against Him, when unto Himself faith is not kept, in a matter which He requires when offered, Who had not required that it should be offered. For when each fails to render that which, not by force of command, but by advice of counsel, he vowed, by so much the more doth he increase the unrighteousness of the wrong done to his vow, by how much the less necessity he had to vow. These matters I for this reason treat of, that you may not think either that second marriages are criminal, or that any marriages whatsoever, being marriages, are an evil. Therefore let this be your mind, not that you condemn them, but that you despise them. Therefore the good of widowed chastity is becoming after a brighter fashion, in that in order to make vow and profession of it, females may despise what is both pleasing and lawful. But after profession of vow made they must continue to rein in, and overcome, what is pleasing, because it is no longer lawful.
Section 15
15. Men are wont to move a question concerning a third or fourth marriage, and even more numerous marriages than this. On which to make answer strictly, I dare neither to condemn any marriage, nor to take from these the shame of their great number. But, lest the brevity of this my answer may chance to displease any, I am prepared to listen to my 447reprover treating more fully. For perhaps he alleges some reason, why second marriages be not condemned, but third be condemned. For I, as in the beginning of this discourse I gave warning, dare not to be more wise than it behoveth to be wise. 2253 For who am I, that I should think that that must be defined which I see that the Apostle hath not defined? For he saith, “A woman is bound, so long as her husband liveth.”2254 He said not, her first; or, second; or, third; or, fourth;2255 but, “A woman,” saith he, “is bound, so long as her husband liveth; but if her husband shall be dead, she is set free; let her be married to whom she will, only in the Lord: but she shall be more blessed, if she shall have so continued.” I know not what can be added to, or taken from, this sentence, so far as relates to this matter. Next I hear Himself also, the Master and Lord of the Apostles and of us, answering the Sadducees, when they had proposed to Him a woman not once-married, or twice-married, but, if it can be said, seven-married, 2256 whose wife she should be in the resurrection? For rebuking them, He saith, “Ye do err, not knowing the Scriptures, nor the power of God. For in the resurrection they shall neither be married, nor marry wives;2257 for they shall not begin to 2258 die, but shall be equal to the Angels of God.” Therefore He made mention of their resurrection, who shall rise again unto life, not who shall rise again unto punishment. Therefore He might have said, Ye do err, knowing not the Scriptures, nor the power of God: for in that resurrection it will not be possible that there be those that were wives of many; and then added, that neither doth any there marry. But neither, as we see, did He in this sentence show any sign of condemning her who was the wife of so many husbands. Wherefore neither dare I, contrary to the feeling of natural shame, say, that, when her husbands are dead, a woman marry as often as she will; nor dare I, out of my own heart, beside the authority of holy Scripture, condemn any number of marriages whatever. But, what I say to a widow, who hath had one husband, this I say to every widow; you will be more blessed, if you shall have so continued.
2253
Rom. xii. 3
2254
1 Cor. vii. 39, 40
2255
Al. “or any number.”
2256
Septiviram
2257
Matt. xxii. 29, 30
2258
Luke xx. 35, 36
Section 16
16. For that also is no foolish question which is wont to be proposed, that whoso can may say, which widow is to be preferred in desert; whether one who hath had one husband, who, after having lived a considerable time with her husband, being left a widow with sons born to her and alive, hath made profession of continence; or she who as a young woman having lost two husbands within two years, having no children left alive to console her, hath vowed to God continence, and in it hath grown old with most enduring sanctity. Herein let them exercise themselves, if they can, by discussing, and by showing some proof to us, who weigh the merits of widows by number of husbands, not by the strength itself of continence. For, if they shall have said, that she who hath had one husband is to be preferred to her who hath had two; unless they shall have alleged some special reason or authority, they will assuredly be found to set before excellence of soul, not greater excellence of soul, but good fortune of the flesh. Forsooth it pertained unto good fortune of the flesh, both to live a long time with her husband, and to conceive sons. But, if they prefer her not on this account, that she had sons; at any rate the very fact that she lived a long time with her husband, what else was it than good fortune of the flesh? Further, the desert of Anna herself is herein chiefly commended, in that, after she had so soon buried her husband, through her protracted life she long contended with the flesh, and overcame. For so it is written, “And there was Anna, a prophetess, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Aser; she was far advanced in many days; and had lived with her husband seven years from her virginity; and she was a widow even unto eighty-four years, who used not to depart from the Temple, by fastings and prayers serving day and night.� 2259 You see how the holy widow is not only commended in this, that she had had one husband, but also, that she had lived few years with a husband from her virginity, and had with so great service of piety continued her office of widowed chastity even unto so great age.
2259
Luke ii. 36, 37
Section 17
17. Let us therefore set before our eyes three widows, each having one of the things, the whole of which were in her: let us suppose one who had had one husband, in whose case is wanting both so great length of widowhood, in that she hath lived long with her husband, and so great zeal of piety, in that she doth not so serve with fasts and prayers: a second, who after the very short life of her former husband, had quickly lost a second also, and is now long time a widow, but yet herself also doth not so set herself to the most religious service of fasts and prayers: a third, who not only hath had two husbands, but also hath lived long 448with each of them singly, or with one of them, and being left a widow at a later period of life, wherein indeed, in case she had wished to marry, she might also conceive sons, hath taken upon her widowed continence; but is more intent on God, more careful to do always the things that please Him, day and night, like Anna, serving by prayers and fasts. If a question be raised, which of these is to be preferred in deserts, who but must see that in this contest the palm must be given to the greater and, more glowing piety? So also if three others be set, in each of whom are two of those three, but one of the three in each wanting, who can doubt that they will be the better, who shall have in a more excellent manner in their two goods pious humility, in order that there may be lofty piety?
Section 18
18. No one indeed of these six widows could come up to your standard. For you, in case that you shall have maintained this vow even unto old age, mayest have all the three things wherein the desert of Anna excelled. For both thou hast had one husband, and he lived not long with thee in the flesh; and, by this means, in case that thou shall show forth obedience to the words of the Apostle, saying, “But she who is a widow indeed and desolate, hath hoped in the Lord, and persevereth in prayers night and day,” 2260 and with sober watchfulness shall shun what follows, “But she who passes her time in delights, living is dead,” all those three goods, which were Anna’s, shall be thine also. But you have sons also, which haply she had not. And yet you are not on this account to be praised, that you have them, but that you are zealous to nurture and educate them piously. For that they were born to thee, was of fruitfulness; that they are alive, is of good fortune; that they be so brought up, is of your will and disposal.2261 In the former let men congratulate you, in this let them imitate you. Anna, through prophetic knowledge, recognized Christ with His virgin Mother; thee the 2262 grace of the Gospel hath made the mother of a virgin of Christ. Therefore that holy virgin, whom herself willing and seeking it ye have offered unto Christ, hath added something of virginal desert also unto the widowed deserts of her grandmother and mother. For ye who have her, fail not to have something thence; and in her ye are, what in yourselves ye are not. For that holy virginity should be taken from you at your marriage, was on this account brought to pass, in order that she should be born of you.
2260
1 Tim. v. 5, 6
2261
Potestatis
2262
Demetrias, whose grandmother was Proba Faltonia, her mother, Juliana. See S. Aug. Ep. 130. and 150.
Vol. I, pp. 459, 503, sqq.
Section 19
19. These discussions, therefore, concerning the different deserts of married women, and of different widows, I would not in this work enter upon, if, what I am writing unto you, I were writing only for you. But, since there are in this kind of discourse certain very difficult questions, it was my wish to say something more than what properly relates to you, by reason of certain, who seem not to themselves learned, unless they essay, not by passing judgment to discuss, but by rending to cut in pieces the labors of others: in the next place, that you yourself also may not only keep what you have vowed, and make advance in that good; but also know more carefully and more surely, that this same good of yours is not distinguished from the evil of marriage, but is set before the good of marriage. For let not such, as condemn the marriage of widowed females, although they exercise their continence in abstaining from many things, which you make use of, on this account lead you astray, to think what they think, although you cannot do what they do. For no one would be a madman, although he see that the strength of a madman is greater than of men in their sound senses. Chiefly, therefore, let sound doctrine both adorn and guard goodness of purpose. Forsooth it is from this cause that catholic females, even after that they have been married more than once, are by just judgment preferred, not only to the widows who have had one husband, but also to the virgins of heretics. There are indeed on these three matters, of marriage, widowhood, and virginity, many winding recesses of questions, many perplexities; and in order by discussion to enter deeply into and solve these, there is required both greater care, and a fuller discourse; that either we may have a right mind in all those things, or, if in any matter we be otherwise minded, this also God may reveal unto us. However, what there also the Apostle saith next after, “Whereunto we have arrived, in that let us walk.� 2263 But we have arrived, in what relates to this matter on which we are speaking, so far as to set continence before marriage, but holy virginity even before widowed continence; and not to condemn any marriages, which yet are not adulteries but marriages, by praise of any purpose whatever of our own or of our friends. Many other things on these matters we have said in a Book concerning the Good of Marriage, and in another Book concerning Holy Virginity, and in a Book which we composed with as great pains as we could against Faustus the 449Manichee; since, by most biting reproaches in his writings of the chaste marriages of Patriarchs and Prophets, he had turned aside the minds of certain unlearned persons from soundness of faith.
2263
Phil. iii. 15, 16
Section 20
20. Wherefore, forasmuch as in the beginning of this little work I had proposed certain two necessary matters, and had undertaken to follow them out; one which related to doctrine, the other to exhortation; and I have not failed in the former part, to the best of my power, according to the business which I had undertaken; let us come to exhortation, in order that the good which is known wisely, may be pursued ardently. And in this matter I give you this advice first, that, how great soever love of pious continence you feel to be in you, you ascribe it to the favor of God, and give Him thanks, Who of His Holy Spirit hath freely given unto you so much, as that, His love being shed abroad in your heart, the love of a better good should take away from you the permission of a lawful matter. For it was His gift to you that you should not wish to marry, when it was lawful, in order that now it should not be lawful, even if you wished; and that by this means the wish not to do it might be the more settled, lest what were now unlawful be done, which was not done even when lawful; and that, a widow of Christ, you should so far attain as to see your daughter also a virgin of Christ; for whilst you are praying as Anna, she hath become what Mary was. These by how much the more you know them to be gifts of God, by so much the more are you by the same gifts blessed; yea, rather, you are not so otherwise than as you know from Whom you have what you have. For listen to what the Apostle said on this matter, “But we have received not the spirit of this world, but the Spirit Which is of God, that we may know what things have been given to us by God.”2264 Forsooth many have many gifts of God, and by not knowing from Whom they have them, come to boast themselves with impious vanity. But there is no one blessed with the gifts of God, who is ungrateful to the Giver. Forasmuch as, also, whereas in the course of the sacred Mysteries we are bidden to “lift up our hearts,” it is by His help that we are able, by Whose bidding we are admonished; and therefore it follows, that, of this so great good of the heart lifted up, we give not the glory to ourselves as of our own strength, but render thanks unto our Lord God. For of this we are straightway admonished, that “this is meet,” “this is right.” You remember whence these words are taken, you recognize by what sanction 2265, and by how great holiness they are commended within. Therefore hold and have what you have received, and return thanks to the Giver. For, although it be yours to receive and have, yet you have that, which you have received; forasmuch as to one waxing proud, and impiously glorying of that which he had, as though he had it of himself, the Truth saith by the Apostle, “But what hast thou, which thou hast not received? But, if thou hast received, why boastest thou, as if thou hadst not received?”2266
2264
1 Cor. ii. 12
2265
“Intus qua sanctione,” al. “inter quas actiones,” “amongst what actions;” there are other various readings
besides. 2266
1 Cor. iv. 7
Section 21
21. These things I am compelled to admonish by reason of certain little discourses of some men, that are to be shunned and avoided, which have begun to steal through the ears unto the minds of many, being (as must be said with tears) hostile to the grace of Christ, which go to persuade that we count not as necessary for us prayer unto the Lord, that we enter not into temptation. For they so essay to defend the free will of man, as that by it alone, even without help of the grace of God, we are able to fulfill what is commanded us of God. And thus it follows, that the Lord in vain said, “Watch and pray, lest ye enter into temptation;”2267 and in vain daily in the Lord’s Prayer itself we say, “Lead us not into temptation.”2268 For if it is of our own power alone that we be not overcome by temptation, why do we pray that we enter not, nor be led into it? Rather let us do what is of our own free will, and most absolute power; and let us mock at the Apostle, saying, “God is faithful, Who will not suffer you to be tempted above what ye are able;” 2269 and let us oppose him, and say, Why seek I of the Lord, what He hath set in my own power? But far be it, that he be so minded, who is sound minded. Wherefore let us seek that He may give, what He bids us that we have. For to this end He bids us have this, which as yet we have not, to admonish as what to seek; and that when we shall have found the power to do what He hath bidden, we may understand, of this also, whence we have received it; lest, being puffed and lifted up by the spirit of this world, we know not what things have been given unto us of God. Wherefore the free choice of the human will we by no means destroy, when the Grace of God, by which the free choice itself is helped, we deny not with ungrateful pride, but rather 450set forth with grateful piety. For it is ours to will: but the will itself is both admonished that it may arise, and healed, that it may have power;2270 and enlarged, that it may receive; and filled, that it may have. For were not we to will, certainly neither should we receive the things that are given, nor should we have. For who would have continence, (among the rest of the gifts of God to speak of this rather, of which I am speaking to you,) who, I say, would have continence, unless willing? forasmuch as also no one would receive unless willing. But if you ask, Whose gift it is, that it can be by our will received and had? listen to Scripture; yea, rather, because thou knowest, recollect what thou hast read, “Whereas I knew,” saith he, “that no one can be continent, unless God give it, and this itself was of wisdom, to know whose gift it was.”2271 Great are these two gifts, wisdom and continence; wisdom, forsooth, whereby we are formed in the knowledge of God; but continence, whereby we are not conformed unto this world. But God bids us that we be both wise and continent, without which
2267
Matt. xxvi. 41
2268
Matt. vi. 13
2269
1 Cor. x. 13
2270
Or “be sound.”
2271
Wisd. viii. 21
Section 21
goods we cannot be just and perfect. But let us pray that He give what He bids, by helping and inspiring, Who hath admonished us what to will by commanding and calling. Whatsoever of this He hath given, let us pray that He preserve; but what He hath not given as yet, let us pray that He supply; yet let us pray and give thanks for what we have received; and for what we have not yet received, from the very fact that we are not ungrateful for what we have received, let us trust that we shall receive it. For He, Who hath given power unto the faithful who are married to contain from adulteries and fornications, Himself hath given unto holy virgins and widows to contain from all sexual intercourse; in the case of which virtue now the term inviolate chastity2272 or continence is properly used. Or is it haply that from Him indeed we have received continence, but from ourselves have wisdom? What then is it that the Apostle James saith, “But if any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, Who giveth 2273 unto all liberally, and upbraideth not, and it shall be given unto him.” But on this question, already in other little works of ours, so far as the Lord hath helped us, we have said many things; and at other times, so far as through Him we shall be able, when opportunity is given, we will speak.
2272
“Integritas.”
2273
James i. 5
970
Section 22
22. Now it has been my wish on this account to say something on this subject, by reason of certain of our brethren most friendly and dear to us, and without willful guilt indeed entangled in this error, but yet entangled; who think, that, when they exhort any to righteousness and piety, their exhortation will not have force, unless the whole of that, wherein they would work upon man that man should work, they set in the power of man, not helped by the grace of God, but put forth by the alone choice of the free will; as though there can be free will to perform a good work, unless set free by the gift of God! And they mark not that this very thing themselves also have by the gift of God, that with such power they exhort, as to excite the dull wills of men to enter upon a good life, to enkindle the cold, to correct such as are in error, to convert such as are turned aside, to pacify such as are opposed. For thus they are able to succeed in persuading what they would persuade to, or if they work not these things in the wills of men, what is their work? wherefore speak they? Let them leave them rather to their own choice. But if in them they work these things, what? I pray, doth man, in the will of man, work so great things by speaking, and doth God work nothing there by helping? Yea rather, with how great soever power of discourse man may prevail, as that by skill of discussion, and sweetness of speech, he in the will of man implant truth, nourish charity, by teaching remove error, by exhortation remove sloth, “Neither he who planteth is any thing, nor he who watereth, but God Who giveth the increase.” 2274 For in vain would the workman use all means without, unless the Creator should work secretly within. I hope therefore that this letter of mine by the worthy deed 2275 of your Excellence will soon come into the hands of such also; on this account I thought that I ought to say something on this subject. Next that both you yourself, and whatsoever other widows shall read this, or hear it read, may know that you make more advance unto the love and profession of the good of continence by your own prayers than by our exhortations; forasmuch as if it be any help to you that our addresses also are supplied to you, the whole must be assigned to His grace, “in Whose Hand,” as it is written, “are both we and our discourses.”2276
2274
1 Cor. iii. 7
2275
Merito
2276
Wisdom vii. 16
Section 23
23. If, therefore, you had not as yet vowed unto God widowed continence, we would assuredly exhort you to vow it; but, in that you have already vowed it, we exhort you to persevere. And yet I see that I must so speak as to lead those also who had as yet thought of marriage to love it and to seize on it. Therefore let us give ear unto the Apostle, “She who 451is unmarried,” saith he, “is careful about the things of the Lord, to be holy both in body and spirit; but she who is married is careful about the things of the world, how to please her husband.”2277 He saith not, is careful about the things of the world, so as not to be holy; but certainly that that marriage holiness 2278 is less, in regard of that portion of cares, which hath thought of the pleasure of the world. Whatever, therefore, I of earnest purpose of mind would be expended also on these things whereby she would have to please a husband, the unmarried Christian woman ought in a certain way to gather and bring together unto that earnest purpose whereby she is to please the Lord. And consider, Whom she pleases, who pleases the Lord; and assuredly she is by so much the more blessed by how much the more she pleases Him; but by how much the more her thoughts are of the things of the world, by so much the less does she please Him. Therefore do ye with all earnest purpose please Him, Who is “’fair of form above the sons of men.”2279 For that ye please Him, it is by His grace which is “shed abroad on His lips.” Please ye Him in that portion of thought also, which would be occupied by the world, in order to please a husband. Please ye Him, Who displeased the world, in order that such as please Him might be set free from the world. For This One, fair of form above the sons of men, men saw on the Cross of the Passion; “and He had not form or beauty, but His face cast down, and His posture unseemly.” 2280 Yet from this unseemliness of your Redeemer flowed the price of your beauty, but of a beauty within, for 2281 “all the beauty of the King’s daughter is within.” By this beauty please ye Him, this beauty order ye with studious care and anxious thought. He loves not dyes of deceits; the Truth delighteth in things that are true, and He, if you recognize what you have read, is called the Truth. “I am,” saith He, “the Way, and the Truth, and the Life.”2282 Run ye to Him through Him, please ye Him of Him; live ye with Him, in Him, of Him. With true affections and holiest chastity love ye to be loved by such a Husband.
2277
1 Cor. vii. 34
2278
Most mss.“but certainly that divine holiness.”
2279
Ps. xlv. 2
2280
Is. liii. 2. [See R.V.]
2281
Ps. lxv. 13. [See R.V.]
2282
John xiv. 6
Section 24 24. Let the inner ear of the virgin also, thy holy child, hear these things. I shall see 2283 how far she goes before you in the Kingdom of That King: it is another question. Yet ye have found, mother and daughter, Him, Whom by beauty of chastity ye ought to please together, having despised, she all, you second, marriage. Certainly if there were husbands whom ye had to please, by this time, perhaps, you would feel ashamed to adorn yourself together with your daughter; now let it not shame you, to set yourselves to do what may adorn you both together; because it is not matter of blame, but of glory, that ye be loved both together by That One. But white and red, feigned and laid on with paints, ye would not use, even if ye had husbands; not thinking that they were fit persons for you to deceive, or yourselves such as ought to deceive; now therefore That King, Who had longed for the beauty of His Only Spouse, of Whom ye are members, do ye with all truth together please, together cleave unto; she with virginal chastity, you with widowed continence, both with spiritual beauty. In which beauty also her grandmother, and your mother-in-law, who by this time surely hath grown old, is beautiful together with you. Forsooth whilst charity carries the vigor of this beauty into things that are before, length of years causeth not in it a wrinkle. You have with you a holy aged woman, both in your house and in Christ, whom to consult concerning perseverance; how you are to fight with this or that temptation, what you are to do, that it may be the more easily overcome; what safeguard you are to take, that it may not easily again lay wait; and if there be any thing of this sort, she teaches you, who is now by time fixed, by love a well-wisher, by natural affection full of cares, by age secure. Do you specially, do you in such things consult her, who hath made trial of what you have made trial of. For your child sings that song, 2284 which in the Apocalypse none save virgins can sing. But for both of you she prays more carefully than for herself, but she is more full of care for her granddaughter, for whom there remains a longer space of years to overcome temptations; but you she sees nearer to her own age, and mother of a daughter of such an age, as that, had you seen her married, (which now is not lawful, and far be it from her,) I think you would have blushed to bear children together with her. How much then is it that now remains to you of a dangerous age, who are on this account not called a grandmother, in order that together with your daughter you may be fruitful in offspring of holy thoughts and works? Therefore not without reason is the grandmother more full of care for her, for whom you also the mother; because both what she hath vowed is greater, and the whole of 452what she hath just now begun remains to her. May the Lord hear her prayers, that ye may holily follow her good deserts, Who in youth gave birth to the flesh of your husband, 2285 in old age travaileth with the heart of your daughter. Therefore do ye all, alike and with one
2283
One ms“to see.�
2284
Rev. xiv. 3, 4. [See R.V.]
2285
Olibrius, see S. Jerome to Demetr. Ben. ed.
Section 24
accord, by conduct please, by prayers press upon, That One Husband of One Wife, in Whose Body by One Spirit ye are living.
974
Section 25
25. The past day returns not hereafter, and after yesterday proceeds to-day, and after to-day will proceed to-morrow; and, lo, all times and the things of time pass away, that there may come the promise that shall abide; and “whoso shall have persevered even unto the end, this one shall be saved.� 2286 If the world is now perishing, the married woman, for whom beareth she? Or in heart about to bear, and in flesh not about to bear, why doth she marry? But if the world is still about to last, why is not He more loved, by Whom the world was made? If already enticements of this life are failing, there is not any thing for a Christian soul with desire to seek after; but if they shall yet remain, there is what with holiness he may despise. For the one of these two there is no hope of lust, in the other greater glory of charity. How many or how long are the very years, in which the flower of carnal age seems to flourish? Some females having thoughts of marriage, and with ardor wishing it, whilst they are being despised or put off, on a sudden have grown old, so as that now they would feel shame, rather than desire, to marry. But many having married, their husbands having set out into distant countries very soon after their union, have grown aged expecting their return, and, as though soon left widows, at times have not even attained so as at least as old women to receive their old men on their return. If therefore, when betrothed bridegrooms despised or delayed, or when husbands were abroad, carnal desire could be restrained from commission of fornication or adultery, why cannot it be restrained from commission of sacrilege? If it hath been repressed, when being deferred it was glowing, why is it not put down, when having been cut off it had grown cold? For they in greater measure endure glowing of desire, who despair not of the pleasure of the same desire. But whoso of unmarried persons vow chastity to God, withdraw that very hope, which is the fuel of love. Hence with more ease is desire bridled, which is kindled by no expectation; and yet, unless against this prayer be made, in order to overcome it, itself as unlawful is the more ardently wished for.
2286
Matt. x. 22
Section 26
26. Therefore let spiritual delights succeed to the place of carnal delights in holy chastity; reading, prayer, psalm, good thought, frequency in good works, hope of the world to come, and a heart upward; and for all these giving of thanks unto the Father of lights, from Whom, without any doubt, every good gift, and every perfect gift, as Scripture bears witness, cometh down.2287 For when, in stead of the delights of married women, which they have in the flesh of their husbands, the use of other carnal delights is taken, as it were to solace them, why should I speak of the evils which follow, when the Apostle hath said in short, that the widow, who lives in delights, living is dead.2288 But far be it from you, that ye be taken with lust of riches instead of lust of marriage, or that in your hearts money succeed to the place of love of a husband. For looking into men’s conversation, we have often found by experience, that in certain persons, when wantonness hath been restrained, avarice hath increased. For, as, in the senses themselves of the body, they who see not hear more keenly, and discern many things by touch, nor have such as have the use of their eyes so great life in their touch; and in this instance it is understood that, when the exertion of the power of attention 2289 hath been restrained in one approach, that is, of the eyes, it puts itself forth into other senses, more ready with keenness to distinguish, as though it essayed to supply from the one what was denied in the other; thus also often carnal lust, being restrained from pleasure of sensual intercourse, with greater strength reaches itself forth to desire money, and when turned away from the one, turns itself with more glow of passion to the other. But in you let the love of riches grow cold together with the love of marriage, and let a pious use of what property you possess be directed to spiritual delights, that your liberality wax warm rather in helping such as are in want than in enriching covetous persons. Forsooth into the heavenly treasury are sent not gifts to the covetous, but alms to the needy, which above measure help the prayers of widows. Fastings, also, and watchings, so far as they disturb not health, if they be spent in praying, singing psalms, reading, and meditating in the Law of God, even the very things which seem laborious are turned into spiritual delights. For no way burdensome are the labors of such as love, but even of themselves delight, as of such as hunt, fowl, fish, 453gather grapes, traffic, delight themselves with some game. It matters therefore what be loved. For, in the case of what is loved, either there is no labor, or the labor also is loved. And consider how it should be matter for shame and grief, if there be pleasure in labor, to take a wild beast, to fill cask and purse, 2290 to cast a ball, and there be no pleasure in labors to win God!
2287
James i. 17
2288
1 Tim. v. 6
2289
Intentione
2290
Cupa et sacculus
Section 27
27. Indeed in all spiritual delights, which unmarried women enjoy, their holy conversation ought also to be with caution; lest haply, though their life be not evil through haughtiness, their report be evil through negligence. Nor are they to be listened to, whether they be holy men or women, when (upon occasion of their neglect in some matter being blamed, through which it comes to pass that they fall into evil suspicion, from which they know that their life is far removed) they say that it is enough for them their conscience before God, despising what men think of them, not only imprudently2291 but also cruelly; when they slay the souls of others; whether of such as blaspheme the way of God, who following their suspicion are displeased at what is the chaste life of the Saints, as though it were shameful, or of such also as make excuse, and imitate, not what they see, but what they think. Wherefore whosoever guards his life from charges of shameful and evil deeds, does good to himself; but whosoever guards his character too, is merciful also towards others. For unto ourselves our own life is necessary, unto others our character; and certainly even what we mercifully minister unto others, for their health, abounds also to our own profit. Whence not in vain the Apostle, “We provide good things,” saith he, “not only before God, but also before men;” 2292 also he saith, “Please ye all men through all things; even as I also please all men through all things, 2293 not seeking what is of profit unto myself, but what unto many, that they may be saved.” Also in a certain exhortation he says, “For the rest, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are holy, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are most dear, whatsoever things are of good report; if any virtue, if any praise, these things think on, which ye have both learned, and received, and heard, and seen in me.”2294 You see how among many things, unto which by exhortation he admonished them, he neglected not to set, “whatsoever things are of good report;” and in two words included all things, where he saith, “if any virtue, if any praise.” For unto virtue pertain the good things of which He made mention above; but good report unto praise. I think that the Apostle took not the praise of men for any great thing, saying in another place, “But to me it is the least 2295 thing, that I be judged of you, or of day of man;” and in another place, “If I were pleasing 2296 men, I should not be a servant of Christ;” and again, “For our glory is this, the testimony of our conscience.” 2297 But of these two, that is, of a good life, and a good report, or as is said more shortly, of virtue and praise, the one for his own sake he most wisely kept, the
2291
al. “impudenter,” “with lack of modesty.”
2292
2 Cor. viii. 21. [See R.V.]
2293
1 Cor. x. 33
2294
Phil. iv. 8, 9
2295
1 Cor. iv. 3
2296
Gal. i. 10
2297
2 Cor. i. 12
Section 27
other for the sake of others he most mercifully provided. But, forasmuch as human caution, how great soever, cannot on every side avoid most malevolent suspicions, when for our good report we shall have done whatever we rightly can, if any, either by falsely pretending evil things of us, or from believing evil of us, endeavor to stain our fair fame, let there be present the solace of conscience, and clearly also the joy, in that our reward is great in 2298 Heaven, even when men say many evil things of us, and we yet live godly and righteously. For that reward is as the pay of such as serve as soldiers, through the arms of righteousness, not only on the right hand, but on the left also; that is to say, through glory and mean estate, through ill report and good report.2299
2298
Matt. v. 11, 12
2299
2 Cor. vi. 7, 8
978
Section 28
28. Go on therefore in your course, and run with perseverance, in order that ye may obtain; and by pattern of life, and discourse of exhortation, carry away with you into this same your course, whomsoever ye shall have had power. Let there not bend you from this earnest purpose, whereby ye excite many to follow, the complaint of vain persons, who say, How shall the human race subsist, if all shall have been continent? As though it were for any other reason that this world is delayed, save that the predestined number of the Saints be fulfilled, and were this the sooner fulfilled, assuredly the end of the world would not be put off. Nor let it stay you from your earnest purpose of persuading others to the same good ye have, if it be said to you, Whereas marriage also is good, how shall there be all goods in the Body of Christ, both the greater, forsooth, and the lesser, if all through praise and love of continence imitate? In the first place, because with the endeavor that all be continent, there will still be but few, for “not all receive this word.” But forasmuch as it is written, “Whoso can receive, let him receive;”2300 then do they receive who can, when silence is not 454kept even toward those who cannot. Next, neither ought we to fear lest haply all receive it, and some one of lesser goods, that is, married life, be wanting in the body of Christ. For if all shall have heard, and all shall have received, we ought to understand that this very thing was predestinated, that married goods already suffice in the number of those members which so many have passed out of this life. For neither now, if all shall have been continent, will they give the honor of the continent to those who have already borne into the garners of the Lord the fruit thirty-fold, if that be understood of married good. Therefore all these goods will have there their place, although from this time no woman wish to be married, no man wish to marry a wife. Therefore without anxiety urge on whom ye can, to become what ye are; and pray with watchfulness and fervor, that by the help of the Right Hand of the Most High, and by the abundance of the most merciful grace of the Lord, ye may both persevere in that which ye are, and may make advances unto that which ye shall be.
2300
Matt. xix. 11, 12
Section 29
29. Next I entreat you, by Him, from Whom ye have both received this gift, and hope for the rewards of this gift, that ye be mindful to set me also in your prayers with all your household Church. Forsooth it hath come to pass in most proper order, that I should write unto your Mother now aged a letter 2301 concerning prayer; unto her, forsooth, it chiefly pertains by praying to contend on your behalf, who is less full of care for herself than for you; and that for you rather than for her I should compose this little work concerning widowed continence; because unto you it remaineth to overcome, what her age hath already overcome. But the holy virgin your child, if she desire aught concerning her profession from our labors, she hath a large book on Holy Virginity to read. Concerning the reading of which I had also admonished you, forasmuch as it contains many things necessary unto either chastity, that is, virginal and widowed, which things on this account I have here partly touched on lightly, partly altogether passed over, because I there discussed them more fully. May you persevere in the grace of Christ.
2301
Ep. 150, ad Probam. Vol. I. p. 503.
On Lying.
457
On Lying.
[De Mendacio.] Translated by Rev. H. Browne, M.A., of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, Late Principal of the Diocesan College, Chichester.
Translator’s Preface.
This book appears from its place in the Retractationsto have been written about a.d.395, as it is the last work named in the first book, which contains those which he wrote before he was Bishop. Some editions represent it as addressed to Consentius, but not the mss.The latter are probably right, as his other work on the subject was written in answer to the inquiries of Consentius on the case of the Priscillianists many years later.—Bened. Ed. Retractations, Book I. last Chapter. “I have also written a Book on Lying, which though it takes some pains to understand, contains much that is useful for the exercise of the mind, and more that is profitable to morals, in inculcating the love of speaking the truth. This also I was minded to remove from my works, because it seemed to me obscure, and intricate, and altogether troublesome; for which reason I had not sent it abroad. And when I had afterwards written another book, under this title, Against Lying, much more had I determined and ordered that the former should cease to exist; which however was not done. Therefore in this retractation of my works, as I have found this still in being, I have ordered that it should remain; chiefly because therein are to be found some necessary things which in the other are not. Why the other has for its title, Against Lying, but this, Of Lying, the reason is this, that throughout the one is an open assault upon lying, whereas great part of this is taken up with the discussion of the question for and against. Both, however, are directed to the same object. This book begins thus: “Magna quæstio est de Mendacio.”
Section 1
1. Thereis a great question about Lying, which often arises in the midst of our every day business, and gives us much trouble, that we may not either rashly call that a lie which is not such, or decide that it is sometimes right to tell a lie, that is, a kind of honest, wellmeant, charitable lie. This question we will painfully discuss by seeking with them that seek: whether to any good purpose, we need not take upon ourselves to affirm, for the attentive reader will sufficiently gather from the course of the discussion. It is, indeed, very full of dark corners, and hath many cavern-like windings, whereby it oft eludes the eagerness of the seeker; so that at one moment what was found seems to slip out of one’s hands, and anon comes to light again, and then is once more lost to sight. At last, however, the chase will bear down more surely, and will overtake our sentence. Wherein if there is any error, 458yet as Truth is that which setteth free from all error, and Falsehood that which entangleth in all error, one never errs more safely, methinks, than when one errs by too much loving the truth, and too much rejecting of falsehood. For they who find great fault say it is too much, whereas peradventure Truth would say after all, it is not yet enough. But whoso readest, thou wilt do well to find no fault until thou have read the whole; so wilt thou have less fault to find. Eloquence thou must not look for: we have been intent upon things, and upon dispatch in putting out of hand a matter which nearly concerns our every day life, and therefore have had small pains, or almost none, to bestow upon words.
Section 2
2. Setting aside, therefore, jokes, which have never been accounted lies, seeing they bear with them in the tone of voice, and in the very mood of the joker a most evident indication that he means no deceit, although the thing he utters be not true: touching which kind of discourse, whether it be meet to be used by perfect minds, is another question which we have not at this time taken in hand to clear; but setting jokes apart, the first point to be attended to, is, that a person should not be thought to lie, who lieth not.
Section 3
3. For which purpose we must see what a lie is. For not every one who says a false thing lies, if he believes or opines that to be true which he says. Now between believing and opining there is this difference, that sometimes he who believes feels that he does not know that which he believes, (although he may know himself to be ignorant of a thing, and yet have no doubt at all concerning it, if he most firmly believes it:) whereas he who opines, thinks he knows that which he does not know. Now whoever utters that which he holds in his mind either as belief or as opinion, even though it be false, he lies not. For this he owes to the faith of his utterance, that he thereby produce that which he holds in his mind, and has in that way in which he produces it. Not that he is without fault, although he lie not, if either he believes what he ought not to believe, or thinks he knows what he knows not, even though it should be true: for he accounts an unknown thing for a known. Wherefore, that man lies, who has one thing in his mind and utters another in words, or by signs of whatever kind. Whence also the heart of him who lies is said to be double; that is, there is a double thought: the one, of that thing which he either knows or thinks to be true and does not produce; the other, of that thing which he produces instead thereof, knowing or thinking it to be false. Whence it comes to pass, that he may say a false thing and yet not lie, if he thinks it to be so as he says although it be not so; and, that he may say a true thing, and yet lie, if he thinks it to be false and utters it for true, although in reality it be so as he utters it. For from the sense of his own mind, not from the verity or falsity of the things themselves, is he to be judged to lie or not to lie. Therefore he who utters a false thing for a true, which however he opines to be true, may be called erring and rash: but he is not rightly said to lie; because he has not a double heart when he utters it, neither does he wish to deceive, but is deceived. But the fault of him who lies, is, the desire of deceiving in the uttering of his mind; whether he do deceive, in that he is believed when uttering the false thing; or whether he do not deceive, either in that he is not believed, or in that he utters a true thing with will to deceive, which he does not think to be true: wherein being believed, he does not deceive though it was his will to deceive: except that he deceives in so far as he is thought to know or think as he utters.
Section 4
4. But it may be a very nice question whether in the absence of all will to deceive, lying is altogether absent. Thus, put the case that a person shall speak a false thing, which he esteems to be false, on the ground that he thinks he is not believed, to the intent, that in that way falsifying his faith he may deter the person to whom he speaks, which person he perceives does not choose to believe him. For here is a person who tells a lie with studied purpose of not deceiving, if to tell a lie is to utter any thing otherwise than you know or think it to be. But if it be no lie, unless when something is uttered with wish to deceive, that person lies not, who says a false thing, knowing or thinking it to be false, but says it on purpose that the person to whom he speaks by not believing him may not be deceived, because the speaker either knows or thinks the other will not believe him. Whence if it appear to be possible that a person should say a false thing on purpose that he to whom it is said may not be deceived, on the other hand there is this opposite case, the case of a person saying the truth on purpose that he may deceive. For if a man determines to say a true thing because he perceives he is not believed, that man speaks truth on purpose that he may deceive: for he knows or thinks that what is said may be accounted false, just because it is spoken by him. Wherefore in saying a true thing on purpose that it may be thought false, he says a true thing on purpose to deceive. So that it may be inquired, which rather lies: he who says a 459false thing that he may not deceive, or he who says a true thing that he may deceive? the one knowing or thinking that he says a false thing, and the other knowing or thinking that he says a true thing? For we have already said that the person who does not know the thing to be false which he utters, does not lie if he thinks it to be true; and that that person rather lies who utters even a true thing when he thinks it false: because it is by the sense of their mind that they are to be judged. Concerning these persons therefore, whom we have set forth, there is no small question. The one, who knows or thinks he says a false thing, and says it on purpose that he may not deceive: as, if he knows a certain road to be beset by robbers, and fearing lest some person for whose safety he is anxious should go by that road, which person he knows does not trust him, should tell him that that road has no robbers, on purpose that he may not go by it, as he will think there are robbers there precisely because the other has told him there are none, and he is resolved not to believe him, accounting him a liar. The other, who knowing or thinking that to be true which he says, says it on purpose that he may deceive: for instance, if he tells a person who does not believe him, that there are robbers in that road where he really knows them to be, that he to whom he tells it may the rather go by that road and so fall among robbers, because he thinks that to be false, which the other told him. Which then of these lies? the one who has chosen to say a false thing that he may not deceive? or the other who has chosen to say a true thing that he may deceive? that one, who in saying a false thing aimed that he to whom he spake should follow the truth? or this one, who in saying a true thing aimed that he to whom he spake should follow a falsehood? Or haply have both lied? the one, because he wished to say a false thing:
Section 4
the other, because he wished to deceive? Or rather, has neither lied? not the one, because he had the will not to deceive: not the other, because he had the will to speak the truth? For the question is not now which of them sinned, but which of them lied: as indeed it is presently seen that the latter sinned, because by speaking a truth he brought it about that a person should fall among robbers, and that the former has not sinned, or even has done good, because by speaking a false thing he has been the means of a person’s avoiding destruction. But then these instances may be turned the other way, so that the one should be supposed to wish some more grievous suffering to the person whom he wishes not to be deceived; for there are many cases of persons who through knowing certain things to be true, have brought destruction upon themselves, if the things were such as ought to have continued unknown to them: and the other may be supposed to wish some convenience to result to the person whom he wishes to be deceived; for there have been instances of persons who would have destroyed themselves had they known some evil that had really befallen those who were dear to them, and through deeming it false have spared themselves: and so to be deceived has been a benefit to them, as to others it has been a hurt to know the truth. The question therefore is not with what purpose of doing a kindness or a hurt, either the one said a false thing that he might not deceive, or the other a true thing that he might deceive: but, setting apart the convenience or inconvenience of the persons spoken to, in so far as relates to the very truth and falsehood, the question is, whether both of them or neither has lied. For if a lie is an utterance with will of uttering a false thing, that man has rather lied who willed to say a false thing, and said what he willed, albeit he said it of set purpose not to deceive. But if a lie is any utterance whatever with will to deceive; then not the former has lied, but the latter, who even in speaking truth willed to deceive. And if a lie is an utterance with will of any falsity, both have lied; because both the former willed his utterance to be false, and the latter willed a false thing to be believed concerning his utterance which was true. Further, if a lie is an utterance of a person wishing to utter a false thing that he may deceive, neither has lied; because both the former in saying a false thing had the will to make a true thing believed, and the latter to say a true thing in order that he might make a false thing believed. We shall be clear then of all rashness and all lying, if, what we know to be true or right to be believed, we utter when need is, and wish to make that thing believed which we utter. If, however, either thinking that to be true which is false, or accounting as known that which is to us unknown, or believing what we ought not to believe, or uttering it when need is not, we yet have no other aim than to make that believed which we utter; we do not stand clear indeed of the error of temerity, but we do stand clear of all lying. For there is no need to be afraid of any of those definitions, when the mind has a good conscience, that it utters that
987
Section 4
which to be true it either knows, or opines, or believes, and that it has no wish to make any thing believed but that which it utters. 460
988
Section 5
5. But whether a lie be at some times useful, is a much greater and more concerning question. Whether, as above, it be a lie, when a person has no will to deceive, or even makes it his business that the person to whom he says a thing shall not be deceived although he did wish the thing itself which he uttered to be false, but this on purpose that he might cause a truth to be believed; whether, again, it be a lie when a person willingly utters even a truth for the purpose of deceiving; this may be doubted. But none doubts that it is a lie when a person willingly utters a falsehood for the purpose of deceiving: wherefore a false utterance put forth with will to deceive is manifestly a lie. But whether this alone be a lie, is another question. Meanwhile, taking this kind of lie, in which all agree, let us inquire, whether it be sometimes useful to utter a falsehood with will to deceive. They who think it is, advance testimonies to their opinion, by alleging the case of Sarah,2302 who, when she had laughed, denied to the Angels that she laughed: of Jacob questioned by his father, and answering that he was the elder son Esau: 2303 likewise that of the Egyptian midwives, who to save the Hebrew infants from being slain at their birth, told a lie, and that with God’s approbation and reward:2304 and many such like instances they pick out, of lies told by persons whom you would not dare to blame, and so must own that it may sometimes be not only not blameworthy, but even praiseworthy to tell a lie. They add also a case with which to urge not only those who are devoted to the Divine Books, but all men and common sense, saying, Suppose a man should take refuge with thee, who by thy lie might be saved from death, wouldest thou not tell it? If a sick man should ask a question which it is not expedient that he should know, and might be more grievously afflicted even by thy returning him no answer, wilt thou venture either to tell the truth to the destruction of the man’s life, or rather to hold thy peace, than by a virtuous and merciful lie to be serviceable to his weak health? By these and such like arguments they think they most plentifully prove, that if occasion of doing good require, we may sometimes tell a lie.
2302
Gen. xviii. 15
2303
Gen. xxvii. 19
2304
Exod. i. 19, 20
Section 6
6. On the other hand, those who say that we must never lie, plead much more strongly, using first the Divine authority, because in the very Decalogue it is written “Thou shall not bear false witness;” 2305 under which general term it comprises all lying: for whoso utters any thing bears witness to his own mind. But lest any should contend that not every lie is to be called false witness, what will he say to that which is written, “The mouth that lieth slayeth the soul:”2306 and lest any should suppose that this may be understood with the exception of some liars, let him read in another place, “Thou wilt destroy all that speak leasing.”2307 Whence with His own lips the Lord saith, “Let your communication be yea, yea; nay, nay; for whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil.” 2308 Hence the Apostle also in giving precept for the putting off of the old man, under which name all sins are understood, says straightway, “Wherefore putting away lying, speak ye truth.”2309
2305
Exod. xx. 16
2306
Wisdom i. 11. Os quod mentitur. “The mouth that belieth,” E.V., στόμα καταψευδόμενον
2307
Psalm v. 6
2308
Matt. v. 37. [See R.V.]
2309
Eph. iv. 25
Section 7
7. Neither do they confess that they are awed by those citations from the Old Testament which are alleged as examples of lies: for there, every incident may possibly be taken figuratively, although it really did take place: and when a thing is either done or said figuratively, it is no lie. For every utterance is to be referred to that which it utters. But when any thing is either done or said figuratively, it utters that which it signifies to those for whose understanding it was put forth. Whence we may believe in regard of those persons of the prophetical times who are set forth as authoritative, that in all that is written of them they acted and spoke prophetically; and no less, that there is a prophetical meaning in all those incidents of their lives which by the same prophetic Spirit have been accounted worthy of being recorded in writing. As to the midwives, indeed, they cannot say that these women did through the prophetic Spirit, with purpose of signifying a future truth, tell Pharaoh one thing instead of another, (albeit that Spirit did signify something, without their knowing what was doing in their persons:) but, they say that these women were according to their degree approved and rewarded of God. For if a person who is used to tell lies for harm’s sake comes to tell them for the sake of doing good, that person has made great progress. But it is one thing that is set forth as laudable in itself, another that in comparison with a worse is preferred. It is one sort of gratulation that we express when a man is in sound health, another when a 461sick man is getting better. In the Scripture, even Sodom is said to be justified in comparison with the crimes of the people Israel. And to this rule they apply all the instances of lying which are produced from the Old Books, and are found not reprehended, or cannot be reprehended: either they are approved on the score of a progress towards improvement and hope of better things, or in virtue of some hidden signification they are not altogether lies.
Section 8
8. For this reason, from the books of the New Testament, except the figurative pre-significations used by our Lord, if thou consider the life and manners of the Saints, their actions and sayings, nothing of the kind can be produced which should provoke to imitation of lying. For the simulation of Peter and Barnabas is not only recorded, but also reproved and corrected.2310 For it was not, as some suppose, 2311 out of the same simulation that even Paul the Apostle either circumcised Timothy, or himself celebrated certain ceremonies 2312 according to the Jewish rite; but he did so, out of that liberty of his mind whereby he preached that neither are the Gentiles the better for circumcision, nor the Jews the worse. Wherefore he judged that neither the former should be tied to the custom of the Jews, nor the Jews deterred from the custom of their fathers. Whence are those words of his: “Is any man called being circumcised let him not become uncircumcised. Is any called in uncircumcision? let him not be circumcised. Circumcision is nothing, and uncircumcision is nothing, but the keeping of the commandments of God. Let every man abide in the same calling wherein he was called.”2313 How can a man become uncircumcised after circumcision? but let him not do so, saith he: let him not so live as if he had become uncircumcised, that is, as if he had covered again with flesh the part that was bared, and ceased to be a Jew; as in another place he saith, “Thy circumcision is become uncircumcision.”2314 And this the Apostle said, not as though he would compel either those to remain in uncircumcision, or the Jews in the custom of their fathers: but that neither these nor those should be forced to the other custom; and, each should have power of abiding in his own custom, not necessity of so doing. For neither if the Jew should wish, where it would disturb no man, to recede from Jewish observances, would he be prohibited by the Apostle, since the object of his counselling to abide therein was that Jews might not by being troubled about superfluous things be hindered from coming to those things which are necessary to salvation. Neither would it be prohibited by him, if any of the Gentiles should wish to be circumcised for the purpose of showing that 2315 he does not detest the same as noxious, but holds it indifferently, as a seal, the usefulness of which had already passed away with time; for it did not follow that, if there were now no salvation to be had from it, there was destruction to be dreaded therefrom. And for this reason, Timothy, having been called in uncircumcision, yet because his mother was a Jewess and he was bound, in order to gain his kindred, to show them that he had not learnt in the Christian discipline to abominate the sacraments of the old Law, was circumcised by the
2310
Gal. ii. 12–21
2311
S. Jerome Ep. inter Augustinianas, 75, n. 9–11.
2312
Sacramenta
2313
1 Cor. vii. 18–20
2314
Rom. ii. 25
2315
Signaculum
Section 8 Apostle;2316 that in this way they might prove to the Jews, that the reason why the Gentiles do not receive them, is not that they are evil and were perniciously observed by the Fathers, but because they are no longer necessary to salvation after the advent of that so great Sacrament, which through so long times the whole of that ancient Scripture in its prophetical prefigurations did travail in birth withal. For he would circumcise Titus also, when the Jews urged this,2317 but that false brethren, privily brought in, wished it to be done to the intent they might have it to disseminate concerning Paul himself as a token that he had given place to the truth of their preaching, who said that the hope of Gospel salvation is in circumcision of the flesh and observances of that kind, and that without these Christ profiteth no man: whereas on the contrary Christ would nothing profit them, who should be circumcised because they thought that in it was salvation; whence that saying, “Behold, I Paul say unto you, that if ye be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing.” 2318 Out of this liberty, therefore, did Paul keep the observances of his fathers, but with this one precaution and express declaration, that people should not suppose that without these was no Christian salvation. Peter, however, by his making as though salvation consisted in Judaism, was compelling the Gentiles to judaize; as is shown by Paul’s words, where he says, “Why com2319 pellest thou the Gentiles to live as do the Jews?” For they would be under no compulsion unless they saw that he observed them in such manner as if beside them could be no salvation. Peter’s simulation therefore is not to be compared to Paul’s liberty. And while we ought to love Peter for that he willingly received correction, we must not bolster up lying even by the 462authority of Paul, who both recalled Peter to the right path in the presence of them all, lest the Gentiles through him should be compelled to judaize; and bare witness to his own preaching, that whereas he was accounted hostile to the traditions of the fathers in that he would not impose them on the Gentiles, he did not despise to celebrate them himself according to the custom of his fathers, and therein sufficiently showed that this has remained in them at the Coming of Christ; that neither to the Jews they are pernicious, nor to the Gentiles necessary, nor henceforth to any of mankind means of salvation.2320
2316
Acts xvi. 1–3
2317
Gal. ii. 3, 4
2318
Gal. v. 2
2319
Gal. ii. 14
2320
Salutares
993
Section 9
9. But if no authority for lying can be alleged, neither from the ancient Books, be it because that is not a lie which is received to have been done or said in a figurative sense, or be it because good men are not challenged to imitate that which in bad men, beginning to amend, is praised in comparison with the worse; nor yet from the books of the New Testament, because Peter’s correction rather than his simulation, even as his tears rather than his denial, is what we must imitate: then, as to those examples which are fetched from common life, they assert much more confidently that there is no trust to be given to these. For first they teach, that a lie is iniquity, by many proofs of holy writ, especially by that which is written, “Thou, Lord, hatest all workers of iniquity, thou shall destroy them that speak leasing.”2321 For either as the Scripture is wont, in the following clause it expounds the former; so that, as iniquity is a term of a wider meaning, leasing is named as the particular sort of iniquity intended: or if they think there is any difference between the two, leasing is by so much worse than iniquity as “thou wilt destroy” is heavier than “thou hatest.” For it may be that God hates a person to that degree more mildly, as not to destroy him, but whom He destroys He hates the more exceedingly, by how much He punisheth more severely. Now He hateth all who work iniquity: but all who speak leasing He also destroyeth. Which thing being fixed, who of them which assert this will be moved by those examples, when it is said, suppose a man should seek shelter with thee who by thy lie may be saved from death? For that death which men are foolishly afraid of who are not afraid to sin, kills not the soul but the body, as the Lord teacheth in the Gospel; whence He charges us not to fear that death:2322 but the mouth which lies kills not the body but the soul. For in these words it is most plainly written, “The mouth that lieth slayeth the soul.” 2323 How then can it be said without the greatest perverseness, that to the end one man may have life of the body, it is another man’s duty to incur death of the soul? The love of our neighbor hath its bounds in each man’s love of himself. “Thou shall love,” saith He, “thy neighbor as thyself.”2324 How can a man be said to love as himself that man, for whom that he may secure a temporal life, himself loseth life eternal? Since if for his temporal life he lose but his own temporal life, that is not to love as himself, but more than himself: which exceeds the rule of sound doctrine. Much less then is he by telling a lie to lose his own eternal for another’s temporal life. His own temporal life, of course, for his neighbor’s eternal life a Christian man will not hesitate to lose: for this example has gone before, that the Lord died for us. To this point He also saith, “This is my commandment, that ye love one another as I have loved you. Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.” 2325 For none is so 2321
Ps. v. 5, 6. [See R.V.]
2322
Matt. x. 28
2323
Wisd. i. 11; “belieth,” E.V.
2324
Levit. xix. 18; Matt. xxii. 39
2325
John xv. 12, 13
Section 9
foolish as to say that the Lord did other than consult for the eternal salvation of men, whether in doing what He hath charged us to do, or in charging us to do what Himself hath done. Since then by lying eternal life is lost, never for any man’s temporal life must a lie be told. And as to those who take it ill and are indignant that one should refuse to tell a lie, and thereby slay his own soul in order that another may grow old in the flesh; what if by our committing theft, what if by committing adultery, a person might be delivered from death: are we therefore to steal, to commit whoredom? They cannot prevail with themselves in a case of this kind: namely, if a person should bring a halter and demand that one should yield to his carnal lust, declaring that he will hang himself unless his request be granted: they cannot prevail with themselves to comply for the sake of, as they say, saving a life. If this is absurd and wicked, why should a man corrupt his own soul with a lie in order that another may live in the body, when, if he were to give his body to be corrupted with such an object, he would in the judgment of all men be held guilty of nefarious turpitude? Therefore the only point to be attended to in this question is, whether a lie be iniquity. And since this is asserted by the texts above rehearsed, we must see that to ask, whether a man ought to tell 463a lie for the safety of another, is just the same as asking whether for another’s safety a man ought to commit iniquity. But if the salvation of the soul rejects this, seeing it cannot be secured but by equity, and would have us prefer it not only to another’s, but even to our own temporal safety: what remains, say they, that should make us doubt that a lie ought not to be told under any circumstances whatsoever? For it cannot be said that there is aught among temporal goods greater or dearer than the safety and life of the body. Wherefore if not even that is to be preferred to truth, what can be put in our way for the sake of which they who think it is sometimes right to lie, can urge that a lie ought to be told?
995
Section 10
10. As concerning purity of body; here indeed a very honorable regard seems to come in the way, and to demand a lie in its behalf; to wit, that if the assault of the ravisher may be escaped by means of a lie, it is indubitably right to tell it: but to this it may easily be answered, that there is no purity of body except as it depends on integrity of mind; this being broken, the other must needs fall, even though it seem intact; and for this reason it is not to be reckoned among temporal things, as a thing that might be taken away from people against their will. By no means therefore must the mind corrupt itself by a lie for the sake of its body, which it knows remaineth incorrupt if from the mind itself incorruptness depart not. For that which by violence, with no lust foregoing, the body suffereth, is rather to be called deforcement than corruption. Or if all deforcement is corruption, then not every corruption hath turpitude, but only that which lust hath procured, or to which lust hath consented. Now by how much the mind is more excellent than the body, so much the more heinous is the wickedness if that be corrupted. There, then, purity can be preserved, because there none but a voluntary corruption can have place. For assuredly if the ravisher assault the body, and there is no escaping him either by contrary force, or by any contrivance or lie, we must needs allow that purity cannot be violated by another’s lust. Wherefore, since no man doubts that the mind is better than the body, to integrity of body we ought to prefer integrity of mind, which can be preserved for ever. Now who will say that the mind of him who tells a lie hath its integrity? Indeed lust itself is rightly defined, An appetite of the mind by which to eternal goods any temporal goods whatever are preferred. Therefore no man can prove that it is at any time right to tell a lie, unless he be able to show that any eternal good can be obtained by a lie. But since each man departs from eternity just in so far as he departs from truth, it is most absurd to say, that by departing therefrom it is possible for any man to attain to any good. Else if there be any eternal good which truth compriseth not, it will not be a true good, therefore neither will it be good, because it will be false. But as the mind to the body, so must also truth be preferred to the mind itself, so that the mind should desire it not only more than the body, but even more than its own self. So will the mind be more entire and chaste, when it shall enjoy the immutability of truth rather than its own mutability. Now if Lot,2326 being so righteous a man that he was meet2327 to entertain even Angels, offered his daughters to the lust of the Sodomites, to the intent, that the bodies of women rather than of men might be corrupted by them; how much more diligently and constantly ought the mind’s chasteness in the truth to be preserved, seeing it is more truly preferable to its body, than the body of a man to the body of a woman?
2326
Gen. xix. 8
2327
“Ut mereretur.”
Section 11
11. But if any man supposes that the reason why it is right for a person to tell a lie for another is, that he may live the while, or not be offended in those things which he much loveth, to the end he may attain unto eternal truth by being taught: that man doth not understand, in the first place, that there is no flagitious thing which he may not upon the same ground be compelled to commit, as has been above demonstrated; and in the next place, that the authority of the doctrine itself is cut off and altogether undone if those whom we essay to bring thereunto, are by our lie made to think that it is somewhiles right to lie. For seeing the doctrine which bringeth salvation consisteth partly in things to be believed, partly in things to be understood; and there is no attaining unto those things which are to be understood, unless first those things are believed, which are to be believed; how can there be any believing one who thinks it is sometimes right to lie, lest haply he lie at the moment when he teacheth us to believe? For how can it be known whether he have at that moment some cause, as he thinks, for a well-meant2328 lie, deeming that by a false story a man may be frightened and kept from lust, and in this way account that by telling a lie he is doing good even in spiritual things? Which kind of lie once admitted and approved, all discipline of faith is subverted altogether; and this being subverted, neither is there any attaining to 464understanding, for the receiving of which that discipline nurtureth the babes: and so all the doctrine of truth is done away, giving place to most licentious falsehood, if a lie, even wellmeant, may from any quarter have place opened for it to enter in. For either whoso tells a lie prefers temporal advantages, his own or another’s, to truth; than which what can be more perverse? or when by aid of a lie he wishes to make a person fit for gaining the truth, he bars the approach to truth, for by wishing when he lies to be accommodating, 2329 it comes to pass that when he speaks the truth, he cannot be depended upon. Wherefore, either we must not believe good men, or we must believe those whom we think obliged sometimes to tell a lie, or we must not believe that good men sometimes tell lies: of these three the first is pernicious, the second foolish; it remains therefore that good men should never tell lies.
2328
Officiosi
2329
Aptus
Section 12
12. Thus has the question been on both sides considered and treated; and still it is not easy to pass sentence: but we must further lend diligent hearing to those who say, that no deed is so evil, but that in avoidance of a worse it ought to be done; moreover that the deeds of men include not only what they do, but whatever they consent to be done unto them. Wherefore, if cause have arisen that a Christian man should choose to burn incense to idols, that he might not consent to bodily defilement which the persecutor threatened him withal, unless he should do so, they think they have a right to ask why he should not also tell a lie to escape so foul a disgrace. For the consent itself to endure violation of the person rather than to burn incense to idols, this, they say, is not a passive thing, but a deed; which rather than do, he chose to burn incense. How much more readily then would he have chosen a lie, if by a lie he might ward off from a holy body so shocking a disgrace?
Section 13
13. In which proposition these points may well deserve to be questioned: whether such consent is to be accounted as a deed: or whether that is to be called consent which hath not approbation: or whether it be approbation, when it is said, “It is expedient to suffer this rather than do that;” and whether the person spoken of did right to burn incense rather than suffer violation of his body; and whether it would be right rather to tell a lie, if that was the alternative proposed, than to burn incense? But if such consent is to be accounted as a deed, then are they murderers who have chosen rather to be put to death than bear false witness, yea, what is worse, they are murderers of themselves. For why, at this rate, should it not be said that they have slain themselves, because they chose that this should be done to them that they might not do what they were urged to do? Or, if it be accounted a worse thing to slay another than himself, what if these terms were offered to a Martyr, that, upon his refusing to bear false witness of Christ and to sacrifice to demons, then, before his eyes, not some other man, but his own father should be put to death; his father entreating him that he would not by his persevering permit that to be done? Is it not manifest, that, upon his remaining steadfast in his purpose of most faithful testimony, they alone would be the murderers who should slay his father, and not he a parricide into the bargain? As therefore, in this case, the man would be no party to this so heinous deed, for choosing, rather than violate his faith by false testimony, that his own father should be put to death by others, (yea, though that father were a sacrilegious person whose soul would be snatched away to punishment;) so the like consent, in the former case, would not make him a party to that so foul disgrace, if he refused to do evil himself, let others do what they might in consequence of his not doing it. For what do such persecutors say, but, “Do evil that we may not?” If the case were so, that our doing evil would make them not to have done it, even then it would not be our duty by doing wickedness ourselves to vote them harmless; but as in fact they are already doing it when they say nothing of the kind,2330 why are they to have us to keep them company in wickedness rather than be vile and noisome by themselves? For that is not to be called consent; seeing that we do not approve what they do, always wishing that they would not, and, as much as in us lies, hindering them that they should not do it, and, when it is done, not only not committing it with them, but with all possible detestation condemning the same.
2330
Al. when they say such things.
Section 14
14. “How,” sayest thou, “is it not his doing as well as theirs, when they would not do this, if he would do that?” Why, at this rate we go housebreaking with house-breakers, because if we did not shut the door, they would not break it open: and we go and murder with highwaymen, if it chance we know that they are going to do it, because if we killed them out of hand, they would not kill others. Or, if a person confess to us that he is going to commit a parricide, we commit it along with him, if, being able, we do not slay him before he can 465do the deed when we cannot in some other way prevent or thwart him. For it may be said, word for word as before, “Thou hast done it as well as he; for he had not done this, hadst thou done that.” With my good will, neither ill should be done; but only the one was in my power, and I could take care that this should not be done; the other rested with another, and when by my good advice I could not quench the purpose, I was not bound by my evil deed to thwart the doing. It is therefore no approving of a sinner, that one refuses to sin for him; and neither the one nor the other is liked by him who would that neither were done; but in that which pertains to him, he hath the power to do it or not, and with that he perpetrateth it not; in that which pertains to another, he hath only the will to wish it or not, and with that he condemneth. And therefore, on their offering those terms, and saying, “If thou burn not incense, this shalt thou suffer;” if he should answer, “For me, I choose neither, I detest both, I consent unto you in none of these things:” in uttering these and the like words, which certainly, because they would be true, would afford them no consent no approbation of his, let him suffer at their hands what he might, to his account would be set down the receipt of wrongs, to theirs the commission of sins. “Ought he then,” it may be asked, “to suffer his person to be violated rather than burn incense?” If the question be what he ought, he ought to do neither. For should I say that he ought to do any of these things, I shall approve this or that, whereas I reprobate both. But if the question be, which of these he ought in preference to avoid, not being able to avoid both but able to avoid one or other: I will answer, “His own sin, rather than another’s; and rather a lighter sin being his own, than a heavier being another’s.” For, reserving the point for more diligent inquiry, and granting in the mean while that violation of the person is worse than burning incense, yet the latter is his own, the former another’s deed, although he had it done to him; now, whose the deed, his the sin. For though murder is a greater sin than stealing, yet it is worse to steal than to suffer murder. Therefore, if it were proposed to any man that, if he would not steal he should be killed, that is, murder should be committed upon him; being he could not avoid both, he would prefer to avoid that which would be his own sin, rather than that which would be another’s. Nor would the latter become his act for being committed upon him, and because he might avoid it if he would commit a sin of his own.
Section 15
15. The whole stress, then, of this question comes to this; whether it be true universally that no sin of another, committed upon thee, is to be imputed to thee, if, being able to avoid it by a lighter sin of thine own, thou do it not; or whether there be an exception of all bodily defilement. No man says that a person is defiled by being murdered, or cast into prison, or bound in chains, or scourged, or afflicted with other tortures and pains, or proscribed and made to suffer most grievous losses even to utter nakedness, or stripped of honors, and subjected to great disgrace by reproaches of whatsoever kind; whatever of all these a man may have unjustly suffered, no man is so senseless as to say that he is thereby defiled. But if he have filth poured all over him, or poured into his mouth, or crammed into him, or if he be carnally used like a woman; then almost all men regard him with a feeling of horror, and they call him defiled and unclean. One must conclude then that the sins of others, be they what they may, those always excepted which defile him on whom they are committed, a man must not seek to avoid by sin of his own, either for himself or for any other, but rather he must put up with them, and suffer bravely; and if by no sins of his own he ought to avoid them, therefore not by a lie: but those which by being committed upon a man do make him unclean, these we are bound to avoid even by sinning ourselves; and for this reason those things are not to be called sins, which are done for the purpose of avoiding that uncleanness. For whatever is done, in consideration that the not doing it were just cause of blame, that thing is not sin. Upon the same principle, neither is that to be called uncleanness when there is no way of avoiding it; for even in that extremity he who suffers it has what he may do aright, namely, patiently bear what he cannot avoid. Now no man while acting aright can be defiled by any corporal contagion. For the unclean in the sight of God is every one who is unrighteous; clean therefore is every one who is righteous; if not in the sight of men, yet in the sight of God, Who judges without error. Nay, even in the act of suffering that defilement with power given of avoiding it, it is not by the mere contact that the man is defiled; but by the sin of refusing to avoid it when he might. For that would be no sin, whatever might be done for the avoiding of it. Whoever therefore, for the avoiding of it, shall tell a lie, sinneth not.
Section 16
16. Or, are some lies, also, to be excepted, so that it were better to suffer this than to 466commit those? If so, then not every thing that is done in order to the avoiding of that defilement ceases to be sin; seeing there are some lies to commit which is worse than to suffer that foul violence. For, suppose quest be making after a person that his body may be deflowered, and that it be possible to screen him by a lie; who dares to say that even in such a case a lie ought not be told? But, if the lie by which he may be concealed be one which may hurt the fair fame of another, by bringing upon him a false accusation of that very uncleanness, to suffer which the other is sought after; as, if it should be said to the inquirer, “Go to such an one,” (naming some chaste man who is a stranger to vices of this kind,) “and he will procure for you one whom you will find a more willing subject, for he knows and loves such;” and thereby the person might be diverted from him whom he sought: I know not whether one man’s fair fame ought to be violated by a lie, in order that another’s body may not be violated by lust to which he is a stranger. And in general, it is never right to tell a lie for any man, such as may hurt another, even if the hurt be slighter than would be the hurt to him unless such a lie were told. Because neither must another man’s bread be taken from him against his will, though he be in good health, and it is to feed one who is weak; nor must an innocent man, against his will, be beaten with rods, that another may not be killed. Of course, if they are willing, let it be done, because they are not hurt if they be willing that so it should be: but whether, even with his own consent, a man’s fair fame ought to be hurt with a false charge of foul lusts, in order that lust may be averted from another’s body, is a great question. And I know not whether it be easy to find in what way it can be just that a man’s fair fame, even with his consent, should be stained with a false charge of lust, any more than a man’s body should be polluted by the lust itself against his will.
Section 17
17. But yet if the option were proposed to the man who chose to burn incense to idols rather than yield his body to abominable lust, that, if he wished to avoid that, he should violate the fame of Christ by some lie; he would be most mad to do it. I say more: that he would be mad, if, to avoid another man’s lust, and not to have that done upon his person which he would suffer with no lust of his own, he should falsify Christ’s Gospel with false praises of Christ; more eschewing that another man should corrupt his body, than himself to corrupt the doctrine of sanctification of souls and bodies. Wherefore, from the doctrine of religion, and from those utterances universally, which are uttered on behalf of the doctrine of religion, in the teaching and learning of the same, all lies must be utterly kept aloof. Nor can any cause whatever be found, one should think, why a lie should be told in matters of this kind, when in this doctrine it is not right to tell a lie for the very purpose of bringing a person to it the more easily. For, once break or but slightly diminish the authority of truth, and all things will remain doubtful: which unless they be believed true, cannot be held as certain. It is lawful then either to him that discourses, disputes, and preaches of things eternal, or to him that narrates or speaks of things temporal pertaining to edification of religion and piety, to conceal at fitting time whatever seems fit to be concealed: but to tell a lie is never lawful, therefore neither to conceal by telling a lie.
Section 18
18. This being from the very first and most firmly established, touching other lies the question proceeds more securely. But by consequence we must also see that all lies must be kept aloof which hurt any man unjustly: because no man is to have a wrong, albeit a lighter one is done to him, that another may have a heavier kept from him. Nor are those lies to be allowed, which, though they hurt not another, yet do nobody any good, and are hurtful to the persons themselves who gratuitously tell them. Indeed, these are the persons who are properly to be called liars. For there is a difference between lying and being a liar. A man may tell a lie unwillingly; but a liar loves to lie, and inhabits in his mind in the delight of lying. Next to such are those to be placed who by a lie wish to please men, not that they may do wrong or bring reproach upon any man; for we have already before put away that kind; but that they may be pleasant in conversation. These, differ from the class in which we have placed liars in this respect, that liars delight in lying, rejoicing in deceit for its own sake: but these lust to please by agreeable talk, and yet would rather please by saying things that were true, but when they do not easily find true things to say that are pleasant to the hearers, they choose rather to tell lies than to hold their tongues. Yet it is difficult for these sometimes to undertake a story which is the whole of it false; but most commonly they interweave falsehood with truth, where they are at a loss for something sweet. Now these two sorts of lies do no harm to those who believe them, because they are not deceived concerning any matter of 467religion and truth, or concerning any profit or advantage of their own. It suffices them, to judge the thing possible which is told, and to have faith in a man of whom they ought not rashly to think that he is telling a lie. For where is the harm of believing that such an one’s father or grandfather was a good man, when he was not? or that he has served with the army even in Persia, though he never set foot out of Rome? But to the persons who tell these lies, they do much harm: to the former sort, because they so desert truth as to rejoice in deceit: to the latter, because they want to please people better than the truth.
Section 19
19. These sorts of lies having been without any hesitation condemned, next follows a sort, as it were by steps rising to something better, which is commonly attributed to wellmeaning and good people, when the person who lies not only does no harm to another, but even benefits somebody. Now it is on this sort of lies that the whole dispute turns, whether that person does harm to himself, who benefits another in such sort as to act contrary to the truth. Or, if that alone may be called truth which illustrateth the very minds of men with an intimate and incommutable light, at least he acts contrary to some true thing, because although the bodily senses are deceived, yet he acts contrary to a true thing who says that a thing is so or not so, whereof neither his mind nor senses nor his opinion or belief giveth him any report. Whether therefore he does not hurt himself in so profiting another, or in that compensation not hurt himself in which he profiteth the other, is a great question. If it be so, it should follow that he ought to profit himself by a lie which damages no man. But these things hang together, and if you concede that point, it necessarily draws in its train some very embarrassing consequences. For should it be asked, what harm it does to a person rolling in superfluous wealth, if from countless thousands of bushels of wheat he lose one bushel, which bushel may be profitable as necessary food to the person stealing it; it will follow that theft also may be committed without blame, and false witness borne without sin. Than which, what can be mentioned more perverse? Or truly, if another had stolen the bushel, and thou sawest it done, and wert questioned, wouldest thou tell a lie with honesty for the poor man, and if thou do it for thine own poverty wilt thou be blamed? As if it were thy duty to love another more than thyself. Both then are disgraceful, and must be avoided.
Section 20
20. But haply some may think that there is an exception to be added; that there be some honest lies which not only hurt no man, but profit some man, excepting those by which crimes are screened and defended: so that the reason why the aforesaid lie is disgraceful, is that, although it hurt no man, and profit the poor, it screens a theft; but if it should in such sort hurt nobody and profit somebody as not to screen and defend any sin, it would not be morally wrong. As, put the case that some one should in thy sight hide his money that he might not lose it by theft or violence, and thereupon being questioned thou shouldest tell a lie; thou wouldest hurt no man, and wouldest serve him who had need that his money were hidden, and wouldest not have covered a sin by telling a lie. For it is no sin if a man hide his property which he fears to lose. But, if we therefore sin not in telling a lie, for that, while covering no man’s sin, we hurt nobody and do good to somebody, what are we about as concerning the sin itself of a lie? For where it is laid down, “Thou shalt not steal,” there is also this, “Thou shall not bear false witness.”2331 Since then each is severally prohibited, why is false witness culpable if it cover a theft or any other sin, but if without any screening of sin it be done by itself, then not culpable, whereas stealing is culpable in and by itself, and so other sins? Or is it so that to hide a sin is not lawful; to do it, lawful?
2331
Exodus xx. 15, 16
Section 21
21. If this be absurd, what shall we say? Is it so, that there is no “false witness,” but when one tells a lie either to invent a crime against some man, or to hide some man’s crime, or in any way to oppress any man in judgment? For a witness seems to be necessary to the judge for cognizance of the cause. But if the Scripture named a “witness” only so far as that goes, the Apostle would not say, “Yea, and we are found false witnesses of God; because we 2332 have testified of God that He raised up Christ: whom He raised not up.” For so he shows that it is false witness to tell a lie, yea, in falsely praising a person. Or peradventure, doth the person who lies then utter false witness when he either invents or hides any man’s sin, or hurts any man in whatever way? For, if a lie spoken against a man’s temporal life is detestable, how much more one against eternal life? as is every lie, if it take place in doctrine of religion. And it is for this reason that the Apostle calls it false witness, if a man tell a lie about Christ, yea, one which may seem to pertain to His praise. 468Now if it be a lie that neither inventeth or hideth any man’s sin, nor is answered to a question of the judge, and hurteth no man, and profits some man, are we to say that it is neither false witness, nor a reprehensible lie?
2332
1 Cor. xv. 15
Section 22
22. What then, if a homicide seek refuge with a Christian, or if he see where the homicide have taken refuge, and be questioned of this matter by him who seeks, in order to bring to punishment a man, the slayer of man? Is he to tell a lie? For how does he not hide a sin by lying, when he for whom he lies has been guilty of a heinous sin? Or is it because he is not questioned concerning his sin, but about the place where he is concealed? So then to lie in order to hide a person’s sin is evil; but to lie in order to hide the sinner is not evil? “Yea, surely:” says some one: “for a man sins not in avoiding punishment, but in doing something worthy of punishment. Moreover, it pertaineth to Christian discipline neither to despair of any man’s amendment, nor to bar against any man the way of repentance.” What if thou be led to the judge, and then questioned concerning the very place where the other is in hiding? Art thou prepared to say, either, “He is not there,” when thou knowest him to be there; or, “I know not, and have not seen,” what thou knowest and hast seen? Art thou then prepared to bear false witness, and to slay thy soul that a manslayer may not be slain? Or, up to the presence of the judge wilt thou lie, but when the judge questions thee, then speak truth that thou be not a false witness? So then thou art going to slay a man thyself by betraying him. Surely the betrayer too is one whom the divine Scripture detesteth. Or haply is he no betrayer, who in answer to the judge’s interrogation gives true information; but would be a betrayar, if, unasked, he should delate a man to his destruction? Put the case with respect to a just and innocent man, that thou know where he is in hiding, and be questioned by the judge; which man, however, has been ordered to be taken to execution by a higher power, so that he who interrogates is charged with the execution of the law, not the author of the sentence? Will it be no false witness that thou shall lie for an innocent man, because the interrogator is not a judge, but only charged with the execution? What if the author of the law interrogate thee, or any unjust judge, making quest of an innocent man to bring him to punishment? What wilt thou do? wilt thou be false witness, or betrayer? Or will he be a betrayer, who to a just judge shall ultroneously delate a lurking homicide; and he not so, who to an unjust judge, interrogating him of the hiding-place of an innocent man whom he seeks to slay, shall inform against the person who has thrown himself upon his honor? Or between the crime of false witness and that of betrayal, wilt thou remain doubtful and unable to make up thy mind? Or by holding thy peace or professing that thou wilt not tell, wilt thou make up thy mind to avoid both? Then why not do this before thou come to the judge, that thou mayest shun the lie also? For, having kept clear of a lie, thou wilt escape all false witness; whether every lie be false witness, or not every: but by keeping clear of all false witness in thy sense of the word, thou wilt not escape all lying. How much braver then, how much more excellent, to say, “I will neither betray nor lie?”
Section 23
23. This did a former Bishop of the Church of Thagasta, Firmus by name, and even more firm in will. For, when he was asked by command of the emperor, through officers sent by him, for a man who was taking refuge with him, and whom he kept in hiding with all possible care, he made answer to their questions, that he could neither tell a lie, nor betray a man; and when he had suffered so many torments of body, (for as yet emperors were not Christian,) he stood firm in his purpose. Thereupon being brought before the emperor, his conduct appeared so admirable, that he without any difficulty obtained a pardon for the man whom he was trying to save. What conduct could be more brave and constant? But peradventure some more timid person may say, “I can be prepared to bear any torments, or even to submit to death, that I may not sin; but, since it is no sin to tell a lie such that you neither hurt any man, nor bear false witness, and benefit some man, it is foolish and a great sin, voluntarily and to no purpose to submit to torments, and, when one’s health and life may haply be useful, to fling them away for nothing to people in a rage.” Of whom I ask; Why he fears that which is written, “Thou shall not bear false witness,” 2333 and fears not that which is said unto God, “Thou wilt destroy all them that speak leasing?” 2334 Says he, “It is not written, Every lie: but I understand it as if it were written, Thou wilt destroy all that speak false witness.” But neither there is it said, All false witness. “Yes, but it is set there,” saith he, “where the other things are set down which are in every sort evil.” What, is this the case with what is set down there, “Thou shalt not kill?”2335 If this be in every sort evil, how 469shall one clear of this crime even just men, who, upon a law given, have killed many? “But,” it is rejoined, “that man doth not himself kill, who is the minister of some just command.” These men’s fear, then, I do accept, that I still think that laudable man who would neither lie, nor betray a man, did both better understand that which is written, and what he understood did bravely put in practice.
2333
Exod. xx. 16
2334
Ps. v. 6
2335
Exod. xx. 13
Section 24
24. But one sometimes comes to a case of this kind, that we are not interrogated where the person is who is sought, nor forced to betray him, if he is hidden in such manner, that he cannot easily be found unless betrayed: but we are asked, whether he be in such a place or not. If we know him to be there, by holding our peace we betray him, or even by saying that we will in no wise tell whether he be there or not: for from this the questioner gathers that he is there, as, if he were not, nothing else would be answered by him who would not lie nor betray a man, but only, that he is not there. So, by our either holding our peace, or saying such words, a man is betrayed, and he who seeks him hath but to enter in, if he have the power, and find him: whereas he might have been turned aside from finding him by our telling a lie. Wherefore if thou know not where he is, there is no cause for hiding the truth, but thou must confess that thou knowest not. But, if thou know where he is, whether he be in the place which is named in the question or elsewhere; thou must not say, when it is asked whether he be there or not, “I will not tell thee what thou askest,” but thou must say, “I know where he is, but I will never show.” For if, touching one place in particular thou answer not and profess that thou wilt not betray, it is just as if thou shouldest point to that same place with thy finger: for a sure suspicion is thereby excited. But if at the first thou confess that thou know where he is, but will not tell, haply the inquisitor may be diverted from that place, and begin now to ply thee that the place where he is may be betrayed. For which good faith and humanity whatever thou shall bravely bear, is judged to be not only not culpable, but even laudable; save only these things which if a man suffer he is said to suffer not bravely, but immodestly and foully. For this is the last description of lie, concerning which we must treat more diligently.
Section 25
25. For first to be eschewed is that capital lie and far to be fled from, which is done in doctrine of religion; to which lie a man ought by no consideration to be induced. The second, that he should hurt some man unjustly: which is such that it profits no man and hurts some man. The third, which so profits one as to hurt another, but not in corporal defilement. The fourth, that which is done through only lust of lying and deceiving, which is an unmixed lie. The fifth, what is done with desire of pleasing by agreeableness in talk. All these being utterly eschewed and rejected, there follows a sixth sort which at once hurts nobody and helps somebody; as when, if a person’s money is to be unjustly taken from him, one who knows where the money is, should say that he does not know, by whomsoever the question be put. The seventh, which hurts none and profits some: except if a judge interrogate: as when, not wishing to betray a man who is sought for to be put to death, one should lie; not only a just and innocent, but also a culprit; because it belongs to Christian discipline neither to despair of any man’s amendment, nor to bar the way of repentance against any. Of which two sorts, which are wont to be attended with great controversy, we have sufficiently treated, and have shown what was our judgment; that by taking the consequences, which are honorably and bravely borne, these kinds also should be eschewed by brave and faithful and truthful men and women. The eighth sort of lie is that which hurts no man, and does good in the preserving somebody from corporal defilement, at least that defilement which we have mentioned above. For even to eat with unwashen hands the Jews thought defilement. Or if a person think this also a defilement, yet not such that a lie ought to be told to avoid it. But if the lie be such as to do an injury to any man, even though it screen a man from that uncleanness which all men abhor and detest; whether a lie of this kind may be told provided the injury done by the lie be such as consists not in that sort of uncleanness with which we are now concerned, is another question: for here the question is no longer about lying, but it is asked whether an injury ought to be done to any man, even otherwise than by a lie, that the said defilement may be warded off from another. Which I should by no means think: though the case proposed be the slightest wrongs, as that which I mentioned above, about a single measure of wheat; and though it be very embarrassing whether it be our duty not to do even such an injury to any man, if thereby another may be defended or screened from a lustful outrage upon his person. But, as I said, this is another question: at present let us go on with what we have taken in hand: whether a lie ought to be told, if even 470the inevitable condition be proposed that we either do this, or suffer the deed of lust or some execrable pollution; even though by lying we do no man harm.
Section 26
26. Touching which matter, there will be some place open for consideration, if first the divine authorities which forbid a lie be diligently discussed: for if these give no place, we vainly seek a loophole; for we are bound to keep in every way the command of God, and the will of God in all that through keeping His command we may suffer, it is our duty with an even mind to follow: but if by some relaxation any outlet be allowed, in such a case we are not to decline a lie. The reason why the Divine Scriptures contain not only God’s commands, but the life and character of the just, is this: that, if haply it be hidden in what way we are to take that which is enjoined, by the actions of the just it may be understood. With the exception, therefore, of those actions which one may refer to an allegorical significance, although none doubts that they really took place, as is the case with almost all the occurrences in the books of the Old Testament. For who can venture to affirm of any thing there, that it does not pertain to a figurative foretelling? Seeing the Apostle, speaking of the sons of Abraham, of whom of course it is most easily said that they were born and did live in the natural order of propagating the people, (for not monsters and prodigies were born, to lead the mind to some presignification,) nevertheless asserteth that they signify the two Testaments;2336 and saith of that marvellous benefit which God bestowed upon His people Israel to rescue them out of the bondage in which they in Egypt were oppressed, and of the pun2337 ishment which avenged their sin on their journey, that these things befell them in a figure: what actions wilt thou find, from which thou mayest set aside that rule, and take upon thee to affirm that they are not to be reduced to some figure? Excepting therefore these, the things which in the New Testament are done by the Saints, where there is a most evident commending of manners to our imitation, may avail as examples for the understanding of the Scriptures, which things are digested in the commands.
2336
Gal. iv. 22–24
2337
1 Cor. x. 1–11
Section 27
27. As, when we read in the Gospel, “Thou hast received a blow in the face, make ready the other cheek.” 2338 Now as an example of patience can none be found than that of the Lord Himself more potent and excellent; but He, when smitten on the cheek, said not, Behold here is the other cheek, but He said, “If I have spoken ill, bear witness of the evil; but if well, why smitest thou Me?” 2339 Where He shows that the preparation of the other cheek is to be done in the heart. Which also the Apostle Paul knew, for he, too, when he was smitten on the face before the high priest, did not say, Smite the other cheek: but, “God,” saith he, “shall smite thee, thou whited wall: and sittest thou to judge me according to law, and contrary to law commandest me to be smitten?” 2340 with most deep insight beholding that the priesthood of the Jews was already become such, that in name it outwardly was clean and fair, but within was foul with muddy lusts; which priesthood he saw in spirit to be ready to pass away through vengeance of the Lord, when he spake those words: but yet he had his heart ready not only to receive other blows on the cheek, but also to suffer for the truth any torments whatever, with love of them from whom he should suffer the same.
2338
Matt. v. 39
2339
John xviii. 22, 23
2340
Acts xxiii. 3
Section 28
28. It is also written, “But I say unto you, Swear not at all.” But the Apostle himself has used oaths in his Epistles.2341 And so he shows how that is to be taken which is said, “I say unto you, Swear not at all:” that is, lest by swearing one come to a facility in swearing, from facility to a custom, and so from a custom there be a downfall into perjury. And therefore he is not found to have sworn except in writing, where there is more wary forethought, and no precipitate tongue withal. And this indeed came of evil, as it is said, “Whatever is more than these is of evil:” 2342 not however from evil of his own, but from the evil of infirmity which was in them, in whom he even in this way endeavored to work faith. For that he used an oath in speaking, while not writing, I know not that any Scripture has related concerning him. And yet the Lord says, “Swear not at all:” for He hath not granted license thereof to persons writing. Howbeit, because to pronounce Paul guilty of violating the commandment, especially in Epistles written and sent forth for the spiritual life and salvation of the nations, were an impiety, we must understand that word which is set down, “At all,” to be set down for this purpose, that as much as in thee lies, thou affect not, love not, nor as though it were for a good thing, with any delight desire, an oath.
2341
Rom. ix. 1; Phil. i. 8; Gal. i. 20
2342
Matt. v. 34, 37
Section 29
29. As that, “Take no thought for the morrow,” and, “Take therefore no thought what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink, or what ye shall put on.”2343 Now when we see that the 2344 471Lord Himself had a bag in which was put what was given, that it might be kept for necessary uses as the time should require; and that the Apostles themselves made much provision for the indigence of the brethren, not only for the morrow, but even for the more pro2345 tracted time of impending dearth, as we read in the Acts of the Apostles; it is sufficiently clear that these precepts are so to be understood, that we are to do nothing of our work as matter of necessity, through love of obtaining temporal things, or fear of want.
2343
Matt. vi. 34, 31
2344
John xii. 6. [See R.V.]
2345
Acts xi. 28–30
Section 30
30. Moreover, it was said to the Apostles that they should take nothing with them for their journey, but should live by the Gospel.2346 And in a certain place too the Lord Himself signified why He said this, when He added, “The laborer is worthy of his hire:” 2347 where He sufficiently shows that this is permitted, not ordered; lest haply he who should do this, namely, that in this work of preaching the word he should take aught for the uses of this life from them to whom he preached, should think he was doing any thing unlawful. And yet that it may more laudably not be done is sufficiently proved in the Apostle Paul: who, while he said, “Let him that is taught in the word, communicate unto him, that teacheth in all things,”2348 and showed in many places that this is wholesomely done by them to whom he preached the word, “Nevertheless,” saith he, “I have not used this power.”2349 The Lord, therefore, when He spake those words, gave power, not bound men by a command. So in general, what in words we are not able to understand, in the actions of the Saints we gather how it is meet to be taken, which would easily be drawn to the other side, unless it were recalled by an example.
2346
Luke ix. 3; x. 4, 7
2347
Matt. x. 10
2348
Gal. vi. 6
2349
1 Cor. ix. 12. [See R.V.]
Section 31 31. Thus then what is written, “The mouth that lieth, slayeth the soul;” 2350 of what mouth it speaketh, is the question. For in general when the Scripture speaks of the mouth, it signifies the very seat of our conception2351 in the heart, where is approved and decreed whatever also by the voice, when we speak the truth, is uttered: so that he lieth with the heart who approveth a lie; yet that man may possibly not lie with the heart, who uttereth other than is in his mind, in such sort that he knows it to be for the sake of avoiding a greater evil that he admitteth an evil, disapproving withal both the one and the other. And they who assert this, say that thus also is to be understood that which is written, “He that speaketh the truth in his heart:”2352 because always in the heart truth must be spoken; but not always in the mouth of the body, if any cause of avoiding a greater evil require that other than is in the mind be uttered with the voice. And that there is indeed a mouth of the heart, may be understood even from this, that where there is speech, there a mouth is with no absurdity understood: nor would it be right to say, “Who speaketh in his heart,” unless it were right to understand that there is also a mouth in the heart. Though in that very place where it is written, “The mouth that lieth, slayeth the soul,” if the context of the lesson be considered, it may peradventure be taken for no other than the mouth of the heart. For there is an obscure response there, where it is hidden from men, to whom the mouth of the heart, unless the mouth of the body sound therewith, is not audible. But that mouth, the Scripture in that place saith, doth reach to the hearing of the Spirit of the Lord, Who hath filled the whole earth; at the same time mentioning lips and voice and tongue in that place; yet all these the sense permitteth not to be taken, but concerning the heart, because it saith of the Lord, that what is spoken is not hidden from Him: now that which is spoken with that sound which reacheth to our ears, is not hidden from men either. Thus, namely, is it written: “The Spirit of wisdom is loving, and will not acquit an evil-speaker of his lips: for of his reins God is witness, and of his heart a true searcher, and of his tongue a hearer. For the Spirit of the Lord hath filled the whole earth, and that which containeth all things hath knowledge of the voice. Therefore he that speaketh unrighteous things cannot be hid: but neither shall the judgment when it punisheth pass by him. For in the thoughts of the ungodly shall there be interrogation; and the hearing of his words shall come from the Lord, to the punishment of his iniquities.2353 For the ear of jealousy heareth all things, and the tumult of murmurings will not be hid. Therefore keep yourselves from murmuring, which profiteth nothing, and from backbiting refrain your tongue: because an obscure response will not go into the
2350
Wisd. i. 11
2351
Conceptaculum
2352
Ps. xv. 2
2353
A Domino, “unto the Lord.” E.V.
Section 31 void.2354 But the mouth that lieth, slayeth the soul.”2355 It seems then to threaten them who think that to be obscure and secret, which they agitate and turn over in their heart. And this, it would show, is so clear to the ears of God, that it even calls it “tumult.”
2354
Obscurum responsum in vacuum non ibit, “There is no word so secret that shall go for nought.” E.V.
2355
Wisd. i. 6–11
1018
Section 32
32. Manifestly also in the Gospel we find the mouth of the heart: so that in one place the Lord is found to have mentioned the mouth both of the body and of the heart, where he saith, “Are ye also yet without understanding? Do ye not yet understand, that whatsoever entereth in at the mouth, goeth into the belly, and is cast out into the draught? but those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart, and they defile the man. For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies: these are the things which defile a man.”2356 Here if thou understand but one mouth, that of the body, how wilt thou understand, “Those things which proceed out of the mouth, come forth from the heart;” since spitting also and vomiting proceed out of the mouth? Unless peradventure a man is but then defiled when he eateth aught unclean, but is defiled when he vomits it up. But if this be most absurd, it remains that we understand the mouth of the heart to have been expounded by the Lord, when He saith, “The things which proceed out of the mouth, come forth from the heart.” For being that theft also can be, and often is, perpetrated with silence of the bodily voice and mouth; one must be out of his mind so to understand it as then to account a person to be contaminated by the sin of theft, when he confesses or makes it known, but when he commits it and holds his peace, then to think him undefiled. But, in truth, if we refer what is said to the mouth of the heart, no sin whatever can be committed tacitly: for it is not committed unless it proceed from that mouth which is within. 472
2356
Matt. xv. 16–20
Section 33
33. But, like as it is asked of what mouth the Scripture saith, “The mouth that lieth, slayeth the soul,” so it may be asked, of what lie. For it seems to speak of that lie in particular, which consists in detraction. It says, “Keep yourselves from murmuring, which profiteth nothing, and from detraction refrain your tongue.” Now this detraction takes place through malevolence, when any man not only with mouth and voice of the body doth utter what he forgeth against any, but even without speaking wisheth him to be thought such; which is in truth to detract with the mouth of the heart; which thing, it saith, cannot be obscure and hidden from God.
Section 34 34. For what is written in another place, “Wish not to use every lie;”2357 they say is not of force for this, that a person is not to use any lie. Therefore, when one man shall say, that according to this testimony of Scripture we must to that degree hold every sort and kind of lie in detestation, that even if a man wish to lie, yea, though he lie not, the very wish is to be condemned; and to this sense interpreteth, that it is not said, Do not use every lie, but, “Do not wish to use every lie;” that one must not dare not only to tell, but not even to wish to tell, any lie whatever: saith another man, “Nay, in that it saith, Do not wish to use every lie, it willeth that from the mouth of the heart we exterminate and estrange lying: so that while from some lies we must abstain with the mouth of the body, as are those chiefly which pertain to doctrine of religion; from some, we are not to abstain with the mouth of the body, if reason of avoiding a greater evil require; but with the mouth of the heart we must abstain utterly from every lie.” Where it behoveth to be understood what is said, “Do not wish:” namely, the will itself is taken as it were the mouth of the heart, so that it concerneth not the mouth of the heart when in shunning a greater evil we lie unwillingly. There is also a third sense in which thou mayest so take this word, “not every,” that, except some lies, it giveth thee leave to lie. Like as if he should say, wish not to believe every man: he would not mean to advise that none should be believed; but that not all, some however, should be believed. And that which follows, “For assiduity thereof will not profit for good,” sounds as if, not lying, but assiduous lying, that is, the custom and love of lying, should seem to be that which he would prohibit. To which that person will assuredly slide down, 2358 who either shall think that every lie may be boldly used (for so he will shun not that even which is committed in the doctrine of piety and religion; than which what more abominably wicked thing canst thou easily find, not among all lies, but among all sins?) or to some lie (no matter how easy, how harmless,) shall accommodate the inclination of the will; so as to lie, not unwillingly for the sake of escaping a greater evil, but willingly and with liking. So, seeing there be three things which may be understood in this sentence, either “Every lie, not only tell thou not, but do not even wish to tell:” or, “Do not wish, but even unwillingly tell a lie when aught worse is to be avoided:” or, “Not every,” to wit, that except some lies, the rest are admitted: one of these is found to make for those who hold that one is never to lie, two 473for those who think that sometimes one may tell a lie. But yet what follows, “For assiduity thereof will not profit to good,” I know not whether it can countenance the first sentence of these three; except haply so, that while it is a precept for the perfect not only not to lie, but not even to wish; assiduity of lying is not permitted even to beginners. As if, namely, on laying down the rule at no time whatever not merely to lie but so much as to have a wish to
2357
Ecclus. vii. 13 μὴ θέλε ψεύδεσθαι πᾶν Ψεῦδος , noli velle mentiri omne mendacium.“Use not to make
any manner of lie,” E.V. “Every” is used for “any.” 2358
Abutendum
Section 34
lie, and this being gainsaid by examples, in regard that there are some lies which have been even approved by great authority, it should be rejoined that those indeed are lies of beginners, which have, in regard of this life, some kind of duty of mercy; and yet to that degree is every lie evil, and by perfect and spiritual minds in every way to be eschewed, that not even beginners are permitted to have assiduous custom thereof. For we have already spoken concerning the Egyptian midwives, that it is in respect of the promise of growth and proficiency to better things that they while lying are spoken of with approval: because it is some step towards loving the true and eternal saving of the soul, when a person doth mercifully for the saving of any man’s albeit mortal life even tell a lie.
1022
Section 35 35. Moreover what is written “Thou wilt destroy all that speak leasing:” 2359 one saith that no lie is here excepted, but all condemned. Another saith: Yea verily: but they who speak leasing from the heart, as we disputed above; for that man speaketh truth in his heart, who hateth the necessity of lying, which he understands as a penalty of the moral life. Another saith: All indeed will God destroy who speak leasing, but not all leasing: for there is some leasing which the Prophet was at that time insinuating, in which none is spared; that 2360 is, if refusing to confess each one his sins, he defend them rather, and will not do penance, so that not content to work iniquity, he must needs wish to be thought just, and succumb not to the medicine of confession: as the very distinction of the words may seem to intimate 2361 no other, “Thou hatest all that work iniquity;” but wilt not destroy them if upon repenting they speak the truth in confession, that by doing that truth they may come to the light; as is said in the Gospel according to John, “But be that doeth truth cometh unto the light.2362 Thou wilt destroy all who” not only work what Thou hatest, but also “speak leasing;” 2363 in holding out before them false righteousness, and not confessing their sins in penitence.
2359
Ps. v. 6
2360
Agere pœnitentiam
2361
Ps. v. 5
2362
John iii. 21
2363
Ps. v. 6, 7
Section 36
36. For, concerning false witness, which is set down in the ten commands of the Law, it can indeed in no wise be contended that love of truth may at heart be preserved, and false witness brought forth to him unto whom the witness is borne. For, when it is said to God only, then it is only in the heart that the truth is to be embraced: but when it is said to man, then must we with the mouth also of the body bring forth truth, because man is not an inspector of the heart. But then, touching the witness itself, it is not unreasonably asked, to whom one is a witness? For not to whomsoever we speak unto are we witnesses, but to them to whom it is expedient and due that they by our means should come to know or believe the truth; as is a judge, that he may not err in judging; or he who is taught in doctrine of religion, that he may not err in faith, or by very authority of the teacher waver in doubt. But when the person who interrogates thee or wishes to know aught from thee seeks that which concerneth him not, or which is not expedient for him to know, he craveth not a witness, but a betrayer. Therefore if to him thou tell a lie, from false witness peradventure thou wilt be clear, but from a lie assuredly not. So then with this salvo, that to bear false witness is never lawful, the question is, whether it be lawful sometimes to tell a lie. Or if it be false witness to lie at all, it is to be seen whether it admit of compensation, to wit, that it be said 2364 for the sake of avoiding a greater sin: as that which is written, “Honor father and mother,� under stress of a preferable duty is disregarded; whence the paying of the last honors of sepulture to a father, is forbidden to that man who by the Lord Himself is called to preach the kingdom of God.
2364
Exod. xx. 12
Section 37
37. Likewise, touching that which is written, “A son which receiveth the word shall be far from destruction: but receiving, he receiveth it for himself, and no falsehood proceedeth out of his mouth:”2365 some one may say, that what is here set down, “A son which receiveth the word,” is to be taken for no other than the word of God, which is truth. Therefore, “A son receiving the truth shall be far from destruction,” refers to that which is written, “Thou wilt destroy all that speak leasing.” But when it follows, “Receiving he receiveth for himself,” what other doth this insinuate than what the Apostle saith, “But let every man prove his 2366 474own work, and then he shall have glorying in himself and not in another?” For he that receiveth the word, that is, truth, not for himself, but for men-pleasing, keepeth it not when he sees they can be pleased by a lie. But whoso receiveth it for himself, no falsehood proceedeth out of his mouth: because even when the way to please men is to lie, that man lieth not, who receiving the truth not thereby to please them but to please God, hath received it for himself. Therefore there is no reason why it should be said here He will destroy all who speak leasing, but not all leasing: because all lies, universally, are cut off in this saying, “And no falsehood proceedeth out of his mouth.” But another saith, it is to be so taken as the 2367 Apostle Paul took our Lord’s saying, “But I say unto you, Swear not at all.” For here also all swearing is cut off; but from the mouth of the heart, that it should never be done with approbation of the will, but through necessity of the weakness of another; that is, “from the evil” of another, when it shows that he cannot otherwise be got to believe what is said, unless faith be wrought by an oath; or, from that “evil” of our own, that while as yet involved in the skins of this mortality we are not able to show our heart: which thing were we able to do, of swearing there were no need. Though moreover in this whole sentence, if the saying, “A son receiving the word shall be far from destruction,” be said of none other than that Truth,2368 by Whom all things were made, which remaineth ever incommutable; then, because the doctrine of Religion strives to bring men to the contemplation of this Truth, it may seem that the saying, “And no falsehood proceedeth out of his mouth,” is said to this purpose, that he speaketh no falsehood that pertaineth to doctrine. Which sort of lie is upon no compensation whatever to be gone into, and is utterly and before all to be eschewed. Or if the saying, “No falsehood,” is absurdly taken if it be not referred to every lie, the saying, “From his mouth,” should, as was argued above, be taken to mean the mouth of the heart, in the opinion of him who accounts that sometimes one may tell a lie.
2365
Prov. xxix. 27. Lat. Not in the Hebrew, but LXX. xxiv. 23. λόγον φυλασσόμενος υἱὸ·ς ἀπωλείας ἐκτὸς
ἔσται δεχόμενος δὲ ἐδέξατο αὐτόν. Μηδὲν ψεῦδος ἀπὸ γλώσσης βασιλέως λεγέσθω, καὶ οὐδὲν ψεῦδος ἀπὸ γλώσσης αὐτοῦ οὐ μὴ ἐξέλθῃ 2366
Gal. vi. 4
2367
Matt. v. 34
2368
Or “of Him who is Truth itself.”
Section 38
38. Certain it is, albeit all this disputation go from side to side, some asserting that it is never right to lie, and to this effect reciting divine testimonies: others gainsaying, and even in the midst of the very words of the divine testimonies seeking place for a lie; yet no man can say, that he finds this either in example or in word of the Scriptures, that any lie should seem a thing to be loved, or not had in hatred; howbeit sometimes by telling a lie thou must do that thou hatest, that what is more greatly to be detested may be avoided. But then here it is that people err; they put the precious beneath the vile. For when thou hast granted that some evil is to be admitted, that another and more grievous may not be admitted; not by the rule of truth, but by his own cupidity and custom doth each measure the evil, accounting that to be the more grievous, which himself more greatly dreads, not which is in reality more greatly to be fled from. All this fault is engendered by perversity of loving. For being there are two lives of ours; the one eternal, which is promised of God; the other temporal, in which we now are: when a man shall have begun to love this temporal more than that eternal, for the sake of this which he loveth he thinks all things right to be done; and there are not any, in his estimation, more grievous sins than those which do injury to this life, and either take away from it any commodity unjustly and unlawfully, or by inflicting of death take it utterly away. And so thieves, and robbers, and ruffians, and torturers, and slayers, are more hated of them than lascivious, drunken, luxurious men, if these molest no man. For they do not understand or at all care, that these do wrong to God; not indeed to any inconvenience of Him, but to their own pernicious hurt; seeing they corrupt His gifts bestowed upon them, even His temporal gifts, and by their very corruptions turn away from eternal gifts: above all, if they have already begun to be the Temple of God; which to all Christians the Apostle saith thus: “Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? Whoso shall corrupt God’s temple, God will corrupt him. For the temple of God is holy: which temple are ye.�2369
2369
1 Cor. iii. 16, 17
Section 39
39. And all these sins, truly, whether such whereby an injury is done to men in the comforts of this life, or whereby men corrupt themselves and hurt none against his will: all these sins, then, even though they seem to mean well by this temporal life to the procuring of any delight or profit, (for no man commits any of these things with any other purpose and end;) yet in regard of that life which is forever and ever, they do entangle and in all ways hinder. But there are some of these that hinder the doers only, others likewise those on whom they are done. For as to the things which people keep safe for the sake of utility to 475this life, when these are taken away by injurious persons, they alone sin and are hindered from eternal life who do this, not they to whom they do it. Therefore, even if a person consent to the taking of them from him, either that he may not do some evil, or that he may not in these very things suffer some greater inconvenience; not only does he not sin, but in the one case he acts bravely and laudably, in the other usefully and unblameably. But as to those things which are kept for the sake of sanctity and religion, when injurious persons wish to violate these, it is right, if the condition be proposed and the means given, to redeem them even by sins of lesser moment, yet not by wrongs to other men. And then do these things thenceforth cease to be sins, which are undertaken in order to the avoidance of greater sins. For as in things useful, for instance in pecuniary or any other corporal commodity, that is not called a loss which is parted with in order to a greater gain; so in things holy, that is not called sin which is admitted lest a worse be admitted. Or if that is called loss, which one foregoes that he may not forego more; let this also be called sin, while however the necessity of undertaking it in order to the eschewing of a greater is no more to be doubted, than that, in order to avoid a greater loss, it is right to suffer a smaller one.
Section 40
40. Now the things which are to be kept safe for sanctity’s sake are these: pudicity of body, and chastity of soul,2370 and verity of doctrine. Pudicity of body, without consent and permission of the soul, doth no man violate. For, whatever against our will and without our empowering the same is by greater force done upon our body, is no lewdness. Howbeit, of permitting there may be some reason, but of consenting, none. For we consent, when we approve and wish: but we permit even not willing, because of some greater turpitude to be eschewed. Consent, truly, to corporal lewdness violates also chastity of mind. For the mind’s2371 chastity consists in a good will and sincere love, which is not corrupted, unless when we love and desire that which Truth teaches ought not to be loved and desired. We have therefore to guard the sincerity of love toward God and our neighbor; for in this is chastity of mind sanctified: and we must endeavor with all the strength in our power, and with pious supplication, that, when the pudicity of our body is sought to be violated, not even that outermost sense of the soul,2372 which is entangled with the flesh, may be touched with any delight; but if it cannot this, at least the mind and thought 2373 in not consenting may have its chastity preserved entire. Now what we have to guard in chastity of mind,2374 is, as pertaining to the love of our neighbor, innocence and benevolence; as pertaining to the love of God, piety. Innocence is that we hurt no man; benevolence, that we also do good to whom we can; piety, that we worship God. But as for verity of doctrine, of religion and piety, that is not violated unless by a lie; whereas the highest and inmost Verity Itself, Whose that doctrine is, can in no wise be violated: which Truth to attain unto, and in It on every wise to remain, and to It thoroughly to cleave, will not be permitted, but when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality. But, because all piety in this life is practice by which we tend to that life, which practice hath a guidance afforded unto it from that doctrine, which in human words and signs2375 of corporal sacraments doth insinuate and intimate Truth herself: for this cause this also, which by lying is possible to be corrupted, is most of all to be kept incorrupt; that so, if aught in that chastity of mind be violated, it may have that wherefrom it may be repaired. For once corrupt authority of doctrine, and there can be none either course or recourse to chastity of mind.
2370
Animæ
2371
Animi
2372
Animæ
2373
Mentis
2374
Animi
2375
Signaculis
Section 41
41. There resulteth then from all these this sentence, that a lie which doth not violate the doctrine of piety, nor piety itself, nor innocence, nor benevolence, may on behalf of pudicity of body be admitted. And yet if any man should propose to himself so to love truth, not only that which consists in contemplation, but also in uttering the true thing, which each in its own kind of things is true, and no otherwise to bring forth with the mouth of the body his thought than in the mind it is conceived and beheld; so that he should prize the beauty of truth-telling honesty, not only above gold and silver and jewels and pleasant lands, but above this temporal life itself altogether and every good thing of the body, I know not whether any could wisely say that that man errs. And if he should prefer this and prize it more than all that himself hath of such things; rightly also would he prefer it to the temporal things of other men, whom by his innocence and benevolence he was bound to keep and to help. For he would love perfect faith, not only of believing aright those things which by 476an excellent authority and worthy of faith should to himself be spoken, but also of faithfully uttering what himself should judge right to be spoken, and should speak. For faith hath its 2376 name in the Latin tongue, from that the thing is done which is said: and thus it is manifest that one doth not exhibit when telling a lie. And even if this faith be less violated, when one lies in such sort that he is believed to no inconvenience and no pernicious hurt, with added intention moreover of guarding either one’s life or corporal purity; yet violated it is, and a thing is violated which ought to be kept safe in chastity and sanctity of mind. Whence we are constrained, not by opinion of men, which for the most part is in error, but by truth itself, truth which is eminent above all, and alone is most invincible, to prefer even to purity of body, perfect faith. For chastity of mind is, love well ordered, which does not place the greater below the smaller. Now it is less, whatever in the body than whatever in the mind can be violated. For assuredly when for corporal chasteness a man tells a lie, he sees indeed that his body is threatened with corruption, not from his own, but from another’s lust, but is cautious lest by permitting at least, he be a party. That permission, however, where is it but in the mind? So then, even corporal chasteness cannot be corrupted but in the mind; which not consenting nor permitting, it can by no means be rightly said that corporal chasteness is violated whatever in the body be perpetrated by another’s lust. Whence it is gathered, that much more must the chastity of the mind be preserved in the mind, in the which is the guardianship of the pudicity of the body. Wherefore, what in us lies, both the one and the other must by holy manners and conversation be walled and hedged round, lest from another quarter it be violated. But when both cannot be, which is to be slighted in comparison of which, who doth not see? when he seeth which to which is to be preferred, the mind to the body, or the body to the mind; and which is more to be shunned among sins, the permitting of another’s deed, or the committing of the deed thyself.
2376
“Fides, quia fit quod dicitur.”
Section 42
42. It clearly appears then, all being discussed, that those testimonies of Scripture have none other meaning than that we must never at all tell a lie: seeing that not any examples of lies, worthy of imitation, are found in the manners and actions of the Saints, as regards those Scriptures which are referred to no figurative signification, such as is the history in the Acts of the Apostles. For all those sayings of our Lord in the Gospel, which to more ignorant minds seem lies, are figurative significations. And as to what the Apostle says: “I am made all things to all men, that I might gain all;”2377 the right understanding is, that he did this not by lying, but by sympathy; so that he dealt with them in liberating them with so great charity, as if he were himself in that evil from which he wished to make them whole. There must therefore be no lying in the doctrine of piety: it is a heinous wickedness, and the first sort of detestable lie. There must be no lying of the second sort; because no man must have a wrong done to him. There must be no lying of the third sort; because we are not to consult any man’s good to the injury of another. There must be no lying of the fourth sort, that is, for the lust of lying, which of itself is vicious. There must be no lying of the fifth sort, because not even the truth itself is to be uttered with the aim of men-pleasing, how much less a lie, which of itself, as a lie, is a foul thing? There must be no lying of the sixth sort; for it is not right that even the truth of testimony be corrupted for any man’s temporal convenience and safety. But unto eternal salvation none is to be led by aid of a lie. For not by the ill manners of them that convert him is he to be converted to good manners: because if it is meet to be done towards him, himself also ought when converted to do it toward others; and so is he converted not to good, but to ill manners, seeing that is held out to be imitated by him when converted, which was done unto him in converting him. Neither in the seventh sort must there be any lying; for it is meet that not any man’s commodity or temporal welfare be preferred to the perfecting of faith. Not even if any man is so ill moved by our right deeds as to become worse in his mind, and far more remote from piety, are right deeds therefore to be foregone: since what we are chiefly to hold is that whereunto we ought to call and invite them whom as our own selves we love; and with most courageous mind we must drink in that apostolic sentence: “To some we are a savor of life unto life, to others a savor of death unto death; and who is sufficient for these things?” 2378 Nor in the eighth sort must there be lying: because both among good things chastity of mind is greater than pudicity of body; and among evil things, that which ourselves do, than that which we suffer to be done. In these eight kinds, however, a man sins less when he tells a lie, in pro-
2377
1 Cor. ix. 22
2378
2 Cor. ii. 16
Section 42
portion as he emerges to the eighth: more, in proportion as he diverges to the first. But whoso shall think there is any sort of lie that is not sin, will deceive himself foully, while he deems himself honest as a deceiver of other men. 477
1031
Section 43
43. So great blindness, moreover, hath occupied men’s minds, that to them it is too little if we pronounce some lies not to be sins; but they must needs pronounce it to be sin in some things if we refuse to lie: and to such a pass have they been brought by defending lying, that even that first kind which is of all the most abominably wicked they pronounce to have been used by the Apostle Paul. For in the Epistle to the Galatians, written as it was, like the rest, for doctrine of religion and piety, they say that he has told a lie, in the passage where he says concerning Peter and Barnabas, “When I saw that they walked not uprightly according to the truth of the Gospel.”2379 For, while they wish to defend Peter from error, and from that pravity of way into which he had fallen; the very way of religion in which is salvation for all men, they by breaking and mincing the authority of the Scriptures do endeavor themselves to overthrow. In which they do not see that it is not only lying, but perjury that they lay to the charge of the Apostle in the very doctrine of piety, that is, in an Epistle in which he preaches the Gospel; seeing that he there saith, before he relates that matter, “What I write unto you, behold, before God, I lie not.”2380 But it is time that we set bounds to this disputation: in the consideration and treatment whereof altogether there is nothing more meet to be, before all else, borne in mind and made our prayer, than that which the same Apostle saith: “God is faithful, Who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able to bear, but will with the temptation make also a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.”2381
2379
Gal. ii. 14
2380
Gal. i. 20
2381
1 Cor. x. 13
Against Lying.
481
Against Lying. To Consentius
[Contra Mendacium.] Translated by the Rev. H. Browne, M.A. of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, Late Principal of the Diocesan College, Chichester.
Translator’s Preface.
From the Retractations, Book II. Chap. 60. “ Then2382 also I wrote a Book against Lying, the occasion of which work was this. In order to discover the Priscillianist heretics, who think it right to conceal their heresy not only by denial and lies, but even by perjury, it seemed to certain Catholics that they ought to pretended themselves Priscillianists, in order that they might penetrate their lurking places. In prohibition of which thing, I composed this book. It begins: Multa mihi legenda misisti.�
2382
i.e. A.D. 420, the work mentioned just before belonging to the early part of that year. Consentius is
thought to be the writer of ep. 119, to Augustin, and ep. 120, and 205, are addressed to him. This is the work referred to in the Enchiridion, ch. 18, p. 243.
Section 1
1. A great deal for me to read hast thou sent, my dearest brother Consentius: a great deal for me to read: to the which while I am preparing an answer, and am drawn off first by one, then by another, more urgent occupation, the year has measured out its course, and has thrust me into such straits, that I must answer in what sort I may, lest the time for sailing being now favorable, and the bearer desirous to return, I should too long detain him. Having therefore unrolled and read through all that Leonas, servant of God, brought me from thee, both soon after I received it, and afterwards when about to dictate this reply, and having weighed it with all the consideration in my power, I am greatly delighted with thy eloquence, and memory of the holy Scripture, and cleverness of wit, and the resentment with which thou bitest negligent Catholics, and the zeal with which thou gnashest against even latent heretics. But I am not persuaded that it is right to unearth them out of their hiding places by our telling lies. For to what end do we take such pains in tracking them out and running them down, but that having taken them and brought them forth into open day, we may either teach them the truth, or at least having convicted them by the truth, may not allow them to hurt others? to this end, therefore, that their lie may be blotted out, or shunned, and God’s truth increased. How then by a lie shall I rightly be able to prosecute lies? Or is it by robbery that robberies and by sacrilege that sacrileges, and by adultery that adulteries, are to be prosecuted? “But if the truth of God shall abound by my lie,” are we too to say, 2383 “Let us do evil that good may come?” A thing which thou seest how the Apostle detesteth. For what else is, “Let us lie, that we may bring heretic liars to the truth,” but, “Let us do evil that good may come?” Or, is a lie sometimes good, or sometimes a lie not evil? Why then is it written, “Thou hatest, Lord, all that work iniquity; Thou wilt destroy all that speak leasing.”2384 For he hath not excepted some, or said indefinitely, “Thou wilt destroy them that speak leasing;” so as to permit some, not all, to be understood: but it is an universal 482sentence that he hath passed, saying, “Thou wilt destroy all who speak leasing.” Or, because it is not said, Thou wilt destroy all who speak all leasing, or, who speak any leasing whatsoever; is it therefore to be thought that there is place allowed for some lie; to wit, that there should be some leasing, and them who speak it, God should not destroy, but destroy them all which speak unjust leasing, not what lie soever, because there is found also a just lie, which as such ought to be matter of praise, not of crime?
2383
Rom. iii. 7, 8
2384
Psalm v. 6, 7. [See R.V.] “Thou wilt destroy them that speak a lie,” Heb.
ψεῦδος, LXX.
πάντας τοὺς λαλοῦντας τὸ
Section 2
2. Perceivest thou not how much this reasoning aideth the very persons whom as great game we make ado to catch by our lies? For, as thyself hast shown, this is the sentiment of the Priscillianists to prove which, they apply testimonies from the Scriptures exhorting their followers to lie, as though by the examples of Patriarchs, Prophets, Apostles, Angels; not hesitating to add even the Lord Christ Himself; and deeming that they cannot otherwise prove their falsehood truthful, unless they pronounce Truth to be a liar. It must be refuted, this; not imitated: nor ought we to be partners with the Priscillianists in that evil in which they are convicted to be worse than other heretics. For they alone, or at least they in the greatest degree, are found to make a dogma of lying for the purpose of hiding their truth, as they call it: and this so great evil therefore to esteem just, because they say that in the heart must be held that which is true, but with the mouth to utter unto aliens a false thing, is no sin; and that this is written, “Who speaketh the truth in his heart:”2385 as though this were enough for righteousness, even though a person do with his mouth speak a lie, when not his neighbor but a stranger is he that heareth it. On this account they think the Apostle Paul, when he had said, “Putting away lying, speak ye truth,” to have immediately added, “Every man with his neighbor, for we are members one of another.”2386 Meaning, that with 2387 them who are not our neighbors in society of the truth, nor, so to say, our co-members, it is lawful and right to speak a lie.
2385
Ps. xv. 2
2386
Eph. iv. 25
2387
Commembres
Section 3
3. Which sentence dishonoreth the holy Martyrs, nay rather taketh away holy martyrdoms altogether. For they would do more justly and wisely, according to these men, not to confess to their persecutors that they were Christians, and by confessing make them murderers: but rather by telling a lie, and denying what they were, should both themselves keep safe the convenience of the flesh and purpose of the heart, and not allow those to accomplish the wickedness which they had conceived in their mind. For they were not their neighbors in the Christian faith, that with them it should be their duty to speak the truth in their mouth which they spake in their heart; but moreover enemies of Truth itself. For if Jehu (whom it seems they do prudently to single out unto themselves to look unto as an example of lying) falsely gave himself out for a servant of Baal, that he might slay Baal’s servants: how much more justly, according to their perversity, might, in time of persecution, the servants of Christ falsely give themselves out, for servants of demons, that the servants of demons might not slay servants of Christ; and sacrifice to idols that men might not be killed, if Jehu sacrificed to Baal that he might kill men? For what harm would it do them, according to the egregious doctrine of these speakers of lies, if they should lyingly pretend a worship of the Devil in the body, when the worship of God was preserved in the heart? But not so have the Martyrs understood the Apostle, the true, the holy Martyrs. They saw and held that which is written, “With the heart man believeth unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession 2389 is made unto salvation;”2388 and, “In their mouth was found no lie:” and so they departed irreproachable, to that place where to be tempted by liars any further they will not fear; because they will not have liars any more in their heavenly assemblies, either for strangers or neighbors. As for that Jehu, by an impious lie and a sacrilegious sacrifice making inquisition for impious and sacrilegious men for to kill them, they would not imitate him, no, not though the Scripture had said nothing concerning him, what manner of man he was. But, seeing it is written that he had not his heart right with God; 2390 what profited it him, that for some obedience which, concerning the utter destruction of the house of Ahab, he exhibited for the lust of his own domination. he received some amount of transitory wages in a temporal kingdom? Let, rather, the truth-telling sentence of the Martyrs be thine to defend: to this I exhort thee, my brother, that thou mayst be against liars, not a teacher of lying, but an asserter of truth. For, I pray thee, attend diligently to what I say, that thou mayest find how needful to be shunned is that which, with laudable zeal indeed towards impious men, that they may be caught and corrected, or avoided, but yet too incautiously, is thought fit to be taught.
2388
Rom. x. 10
2389
Rev. xiv. 5 ψεῦδος, Griesbach; δόλος, text rec.; guile, E.V.
2390
2 Kings x. 31
Section 4
4. Of lies are many sorts, which indeed all, universally, we ought to hate. For there is no lie that is not contrary to truth. For, as light and darkness, piety and impiety, justice and iniquity, sin and right-doing, health and weakness, life and death, so are truth and a lie contrary the one to the other. Whence by how much we love the former, by so much ought we to hate the latter. Yet in truth there be some lies which to believe does no harm: although even by such sort of lie to wish to deceive, is hurtful to him that tells it, not to him that believes it. As though, if that brother, the servant of God, Fronto, in the information which he gave thee, should (though far be the thought!) say some things falsely; he would have hurt himself assuredly, not thee, although thou, without iniquity of thine, hadst believed all, upon his telling it. Because, whether those things did so take place or not so, yet they have not any thing, which if a person believe to have been so, though it were not so, he by the rule of truth and doctrine of eternal salvation should be judged worthy of blame. Whereas, if a person tell a lie which if any believe he will be an heretic against the doctrine of Christ, by so much is he who tells the lie more hurtful, by how much he that believes it is more miserable. See then, what manner of thing it is, if against the doctrine of Christ we shall tell a lie which whoso believes shall perish, in order that we may catch the enemies of the same doctrine, to the end we may bring them to the truth, while we recede from it; nay rather, when we catch liars by lying, teach worse lies. For it is one thing what they say when they lie, another when they are deceived. For, when they teach their heresy, they speak the things in which they are deceived; but when they say that they think what they do not think, or that they do not think what they do think, they say the things in which they lie. In that any believeth them, what though he do not find them out, himself perisheth not. For it is no receding from the catholic rule, if, when a heretic lyingly professes the catholic doctrines, one believes him to be a catholic: and therefore it is not pernicious to him; because he is mistaken in the mind of a man, of which, when latent, he cannot judge, not in the faith of God which it is his duty to keep safe planted within him. Moreover, when they teach their heresy, whoso shall believe them, in thinking it truth, will be partaker, as of their error, so of their damnation. So it comes to pass, that when they fable their nefarious dogmas in which they are with deadly error deceived, then whoso believeth them is lost: whereas when we preach catholic dogmas, in which we hold the right faith, then if he shall believe, that man is found, whoso was lost. But when, they being Priscillianists, do, in order that they may not betray their venom, lyingly give themselves out to be of us; whoever of us believes them, even while they escape detection, himself perseveres a Catholic: we on the other hand, if, in order to attain to the discovery of them, we falsely give ourselves out for Priscillianists, because we shall praise their dogmas as though they were our own, whoso shall believe the same, will either be confirmed among them, or will be transferred to them in the meantime straightway: but what the coming hour may bring forth, whether they shall be afterwards set free therefrom by us when speaking true things, who were deceived by us when speaking 483
Section 4
false; and whether they will be willing to hear one teaching whom they have thus experienced telling a lie, who can know for certain? who can be ignorant that this is uncertain? Whence it is gathered, that it is more pernicious, or to speak more mildly, that it is more perilous for Catholics to lie that they may catch heretics, than for heretics to lie that they may not be found out by Catholics. Because, whoso believes Catholics when they tell a lie to tempt people, is either made or confirmed a heretic; but whoso believes heretics when they tell a lie to conceal themselves, doth not cease to be a Catholic. But that this may become more plain, let us propose some cases by way of example, and from those writings in preference which thou hast sent me to read.
1039
Section 5
5. Well then, let us set before our eyes a cunning spy as he makes up to the person whom he has already perceived to be a Priscillianist; he begins with Dictinius the bishop, and lyingly bepraises either his life, if he knew him, or his fame, if he knew him not; this is more tolerable thus far, because Dictinius is accounted to have been a Catholic, and to have been corrected of that error. Then, passing on to Priscillian, (for this comes next in the art of lying,) he shall make reverend mention of him, of an impious and detestable person, condemned for his nefarious wickedness and crimes! In which reverend mention, if haply the person for whom this sort of net is spread, had not been a firm Priscillianist, by this preaching of him, he will be confirmed. But when the spy shall go on to discourse of the other matters, and saying that he pities them whom the author of darkness hath invoked in such darkness of error, that they acknowledge not the honor of their own soul, and the brightness of their divine 484ancestry: then speaking of Dictinius’s Book, which is called “the Pound,” because it treats, first and last, of a dozen questions, being as the ounces which go to the pound, shall extol it with such praise, as to protest that such a “Pound” (in which awful blasphemies are contained) is more precious than many thousands of pounds of gold; truly, this astuteness of him who tells the lie slays the soul of him who believes it, or, that being slain already, doth in the same death sink, and hold it down. But, thou wilt say, “afterwards it shall be set at liberty.” What if it come not to pass, either upon something intervening that prevents what was begun from being completed, or through obstinacy of an heretical mind denying the same things over again, although of some it had already begun to make confession? especially because, if he shall find out that he has been tampered with by a stranger, he will just the more boldy study to conceal his sentiments by a lie, when he shall have learned much more certainly that this is done without blame, even by the example of the very person who tampered with him. This, truly, in a man who thinks it right to hide the truth by telling a lie, with what face can we blame, and dare to condemn what we teach?
Section 6
6. It remains, then, that what the Priscillianists think, according to the nefarious falsity of their heresy, of God, of the soul, of the body, and the rest, we hesitate not with truthful pity to condemn; but what they think of the right of telling a lie to hide the truth is to be to us and them (which God forbid!) a common dogma. This is so great an evil, that even though this attempt of ours, whereby we desire by means of a lie to catch them and change them, should so prosper that we do catch and change them, there is no gain that can compensate the damage of making ourselves wrong with them in order to set them right. For through this lie shall both we be in that respect perverse, and they but half corrected; seeing that their thinking it right to tell a lie on behalf of the truth is a fault which we do not correct in them, because we have learned and do teach the same thing, and lay it down that it is fit to be done, in order that we may be able to attain to the amending of them. Whom yet we amend not, for their fault, with which they think right to hide the truth, we take not away, rather we make ourselves faulty when by such a fault we seek them; nor do we find how we can believe them, when converted, to whom, while perverted, we have lied; lest haply what was done to them that they might be caught, they do to us when caught; not only because to do it hath been their wont, but because in us also, to whom they come, they find the same.
Section 7
7. And, what is more miserable, even they, already made as it were our own, cannot find how they may believe us. For if they suspect that even in the catholic doctrines themselves we speak lyingly, that we may conceal I know not what other thing which we think true; of course to one suspecting the like thou shalt say, I did this then only to catch thee: but what wilt thou answer when he says, Whence then do I know whether thou art not doing it even now, lest thou be caught by me? Or indeed, can any man be made to believe that a man does not lie not to be caught, who lies to catch? Seest thou whither this evil tends? that is, that not only we to them, and they to us, but every brother to every brother shall not undeservedly become suspected? And so while that which is aimed at by means of the lie, is that faith may be taught, the thing which is brought about is, rather, that there shall be no having faith in any man. For if we speak even against God when we tell a lie, what so great evil will people be able to discover in any lie, that, as though it were a most wretched thing, we should be bound in every way to eschew it?
Section 8
8. But now observe how more tolerable in comparison with us is the lying of the Priscillianists, when they know that they speak deceitfully: whom by our own lying we think right to deliver from those false things in which they by erring are decayed. A Priscillianist saith, that the soul is a part of God, and of the same nature and substance with Him. This is a great and detestable blasphemy. For it follows that the nature of God may be taken captive, deceived, cheated, disturbed, and defiled, condemned and tortured. But if that man also saith this, who from so great an evil desires to deliver a man by a lie, let us see what is the difference between the one blasphemer and the other. “Very much,” sayest thou: “for this the Priscillianist saith, also believing it so: but the catholic not so believing, though so speaking.” The one, then, blasphemes without knowing, the other with knowledge: the one against science, the other against conscience; the one hath the blindness of thinking false things, but in them hath at least the will of saying true things; the other in secret seeth truth, and willingly speaketh false. “But the one;” thou wilt say, “teacheth this, that he may make men partakers of his error and madness: the latter saith it that from that error and madness 485he may deliver men.” Now I have already shown above how hurtful is this very thing which people believe will do good: but meanwhile if we weigh in these two the present evils, (for the future good which a catholic seeks from correcting a heretic is uncertain,) who sins worse? who deceives a man without knowing it, or he who blasphemes God, knowing it? Assuredly which is the worse, that man understands, who with solicitous piety preferreth God to man. Add to this, that, if God may be blasphemed in order that we may bring men to praise Him, without doubt we do by our example and doctrine invite men not only to praise, but also to blaspheme God: because they whom through blasphemies against God we plot to bring to the praises of God, verily, if we do bring them, will learn not only to praise, but also to blaspheme. These be the benefits we confer on them whom, by blaspheming not ignorantly but with knowledge, we deliver from heretics! And whereas the Apostle delivered men to Satan himself that they might learn not to blaspheme, 2391 we endeavor to rescue men from Satan, that they may learn to blaspheme not with ignorance, but with knowledge. And upon ourselves, their masters, we bring this so great bane, that, for the sake of catching heretics, we first become, which is certain, blasphemers of God, in order that we may for the sake of delivering them, which is uncertain, be able to be teachers of His truth.
2391
1 Tim. i. 20
Section 9
9. When therefore we teach ours to blaspheme God that the Priscillianists may believe them theirs, let us see what evil themselves say when they therefore lie that we may believe them ours. They anathematize Priscillian, and detest him according to our mind; they say that the soul is a creature of God, not a part; they execrate the Priscillianists’ false martyrdoms; the catholic bishops by whom that heresy has been stripped, attacked, prostrated, they extol with great praises, and so forth. Behold, themselves speak truth when they lie: not that the very thing which is a lie can be true at the same time; but when in one thing they lie, in another they speak truth: for when, in saying they are of us, they lie, of the catholic faith they speak truth. And therefore they, that they may not be found out for Priscillianists, speak in lying manner the truth: but we, that we may find them out, not only speak lyingly, that we may be believed to belong to them; but we also speak false things which we know to belong to their error. Therefore as for them, when they wish to be thought of us, it is both false in part, and true in part, what they say; for it is false that they are of us, but true that the soul is not a part of God: but as for us, when we wish to be thought to belong to them, it is false, both the one and the other that we say, both that we are Priscillianists, and that the soul is a part of God. They, then, praise God, not blaspheme, when they conceal themselves; and when they do not so, but utter their own sentiments, they know not that they blaspheme. So that if they be converted to the catholic faith, they console themselves, because they can say what the Apostle said: who when among other things he had said, “I was before a blasphemer; but,” saith he, “I obtained mercy, because I did it ignorantly.”2392 We on the contrary, in order that they may open themselves to us, if we utter this as if it were a just lie for deceiving and catching them, do assuredly both say that we belong to the blaspheming Priscillianists, and that they may believe us, do without excuse of ignorance blaspheme. For a catholic, who by blaspheming wishes to be thought a heretic, cannot say, “I did it ignorantly.”
2392
1 Tim. i. 13
Section 10
10. Ever, my brother, in such cases, it behoves with fear to recollect, “Whoso shall deny Me before men, I will deny him before My Father which is in heaven.�2393 Or truly is it no denying of Christ before men, to deny Him before Priscillianists, that when they hide themselves, one may by a blasphemous lie strip them and catch them? But who doubts, I pray thee, that Christ is denied, when so as He is in truth, we say that He is not; and so as the Priscillianist believes Him, we say that He is?
2393
Matt. x. 33
Section 11
11. “But, hidden wolves,” thou wilt say, “clad in sheep’s clothing, and privily and grievously wasting the Lord’s flock, can we no otherwise find out.” Whence then have the Priscillianists become known, ere this way of hunting for them with lies was ex-cogitated? Whence was their very author, more cunning doubtless, and therefore more covert, got at in his bed? Whence so many and so great persons made manifest and condemned, and the others innumerable partly corrected, partly as if corrected, and in the Church’s compassion gathered into her fold? For many ways giveth the Lord, when He hath compassion, whereby we may come to the discovery of them: two of which are more happy than others; namely, that either they whom they have wished to seduce, or they whom they had already seduced, shall, when they repent and are converted, point them out. Which is more easily effected, 486if their nefarious error, not by lying tricks, but by truthful reasonings be overthrown. In the writing of which it behoves thee to bestow thy pains, since God hath bestowed the gift that thou canst do this: which wholesome writings whereby their insane perversity is destroyed, becoming more and more known, and being by catholics, whether prelates who speak in the congregations, or any studious men full of zeal for God, every where diffused, these will be holy nets in which they may be caught truthfully, not with lies hunted after. For so being taken, either, of their own accord, they will confess what they have been, and others whom 2394 they know to be of the evil fellowship they will either kindly correct, or mercifully betray. Or else, if they shall be ashamed to confess what with long-continued simulation they have concealed, by the hidden hand of God healing them shall they be made whole.
2394
“Concorditer”—“Misericorditer.”
Section 12
12. “But,” thou wilt say, “we more easily penetrate their concealment if we pretend to be ourselves what they are.” If this were lawful or expedient, Christ might have instructed his sheep that they should come clad in wolves’ clothing to the wolves, and by the cheat of this artifice discover them: which He hath not said, no, not when He foretold that He would send them forth in the midst of wolves.2395 But thou wilt say: “They needed not at that time to have inquisition made for them, being most manifest wolves; but their bite and savageness were to be endured.” What, when foretelling later times, He said that ravening wolves would come in sheep’s clothing? Was there not room there to give this advice and say, And do ye, that ye may find them out, assume wolves’ clothing, but within be ye sheep still? Not this saith He: but when he had said, “Many will come to you in sheep’s clothing, but within are ravening wolves;”2396 He went on to say, not, By your lies, but, “By their fruits ye shall know them.” By truth must we beware of, by truth must we take, by truth must we kill, lies. Be it far from us, that the blasphemies of the ignorant we by wittingly blaspheming should overcome: far from us, that the evils of deceitful men we by imitating should guard against. For how shall we guard against them if in order to guard against them we shall have them? For if in order that he may be caught who blasphemes unwittingly, I shall blaspheme wittingly, worse is the thing I do than that which I catch. If in order that he may be found who denies Christ unwittingly, I shall deny Him wittingly, to his undoing will he follow me whom I shall so find, since in order that I may find him out, I first am undone.
2395
Matt. x. 16
2396
Matt. vii. 15, 16
Section 13
13. Or haply is it so, that he who plots in this way to find out Priscillianists, denies not Christ, forasmuch as with his mouth he utters what with his heart he believes not? As if truly (which I also said a little above) when it was said, “With the heart man believeth unto righteousness,” it was added to no purpose, “with the mouth confession is made unto salvation?”2397 Is it not so that almost all who have denied Christ before the persecutors, held in their heart what they believed of Him? And yet, by not confessing with the mouth unto salvation, they perished, save they which through penitence have lived again? Who can be so vain,2398 as to think that the Apostle Peter had that in his heart which he had on his lips when he denied Christ? Surely in that denial he held the truth within and uttered the lie without. Why then did he wash away with tears the denial which he uttered with his mouth, if that sufficed for salvation that with the heart he believed? Why, speaking the truth in his heart, did he punish with so bitter weeping the lie which he brought forth with his mouth, unless because he saw it to be a great and deadly evil, that while with his heart he believed unto righteousness, with his mouth he made not confession unto salvation?
2397
Rom. x. 10
2398
Evanescat
Section 14 14. Wherefore, that which is written, “Who speaketh the truth in his heart,” 2399 is not so to be taken, as if, truth being retained in the heart, in the mouth one may speak a lie. But the reason why it is said, is, because it is possible that a man may speak with his mouth a truth which profiteth him nothing, if he hold it not in his heart, that is, if what he speaketh, himself believe not; as the heretics, and, above all, these same Priscillianists do, when they do, not indeed believe the catholic faith, but yet speak it, that they may be believed to be of us. They speak therefore the truth in their mouth, not in their heart. On this account were they to be distinguished from him of whom it is written, “He that speaketh truth in his heart.” Now this truth the catholic as in his heart he speaketh, because so he believeth, so also in his mouth ought he, that so he may preach it; but against it, neither in heart nor in mouth have falsehood, that both with the heart he may believe unto righteousness, and with the mouth may make confession unto salvation. For also in that psalm, after it had been said, “Who speaketh truth in his heart,” presently this is added, “Who hath used no deceit in his tongue.”2400
2399
Ps. xv. 2
2400
Ps. xv. 2
Section 15
>15. And as for that saying of the Apostle, “Putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another,” 2401 far be it that we should so understand it, as though he had permitted to speak a lie with those who are not yet with us members of the body of Christ. But the reason why it is said, is, because each one of us ought to account every man to be that which he wishes him to become, although he be not yet become such; as the Lord showed the alien Samaritan to be neighbor to him unto whom he showed mercy.”2402 A neighbor then, and not an alien, is that man to be accounted, with whom our concern is that he remain not an alien; and if on the score of his not being yet made partaker of our Faith and Sacrament, there be some truths that must be concealed from him, yet is that no reason why false things should be told him. 487
2401
Eph. iv. 25
2402
Luke x. 30–37
Section 16
16. For there were even in the Apostles’ times some who preached the truth not in truth, that is, not with truthful mind: of whom the Apostle saith that they preached Christ not chastely, but of envy and strife. And on this account even at that time some were tolerated while preaching truth not with a chaste mind: yet not any have been praised as preaching falsehood with a chaste mind. Lastly, he saith of those, “Whether in pretence or in truth Christ be preached:” 2403 but in no wise would he say, In order that Christ may after be preached, let Him be first denied.
2403
Phil. i. 15–18
Section 17
17. Wherefore, though there be indeed many ways in which latent heretics may be sought out, without vituperating the catholic faith or praising heretical impiety, yet if there were no other way at all of drawing out heretical impiety from its caverns, but that the catholic tongue should deviate from the straight path of truth; more tolerable were it that that should be hid, than that this should be precipitated; more tolerable that the foxes should lurk in their pits unseen, than for the sake of catching them the huntsmen should fall into the pit of blasphemy; more tolerable that the perfidy of Priscillianists should be covered with the veil of truth, than that the faith of catholics, lest it should of lying Priscillianists be praised, should of believing catholics be denied. For if lies, not of whatsoever kind, but blasphemous lies, are therefore just because they are committed with intent to detect hidden heretics; it will be possible at that rate, if they be commuted with the same intention, that there should be chaste adulteries. For put the case that of a number of lewd Priscillianists, some woman should cast her eye upon a catholic Joseph, and promise him that she will betray their hidden retreats if she obtain from him that he lie with her, and it be certain that if he consent unto her she will make good her promise: shall we judge that it ought to be done? Or shall we understand that by no means must such a price be paid in purchase of that kind of merchandise? Why then do we not rout out heretics, in order to their being caught, by the flesh committing lasciviousness in adultery, and yet think right to rout them out by a mouth committing fornication in blasphemy? For either it will be lawful to defend both the one and the other with equal reason, that these things be therefore said to be not unjust, because they were done with intention of finding out the unjust: or if sound doctrine willeth not even for the sake of finding out heretics that we should have to do with unchaste women, albeit only in body, not in mind, assuredly not even for the sake of finding out heretics willeth it that by us, albeit only in voice not in mind, either unclean heresy were preached, or the chaste Catholic Church blasphemed. Because even the very sovereignty of the mind, to which every inferior motion of the man ought to be obedient, will not lack deserved opprobrium, when a thing is done that ought not to be done, whether by member or by word. Although even when it is done by word, it is done by member: because the tongue is a member, by which the word is made; nor is any deed of ours by any member brought to the birth unless it is first conceived in the heart; or rather being by our inwardly thinking upon and consenting unto it already brought to the birth, it is brought forth abroad in our doing of it, by a member. It is therefore no excusing the mind from the deed, when any thing is said to be done not after the purpose of the mind, 2404 which yet were not done, unless the mind decreed it to be done.
2404
Ex animo
Section 18
18. It does indeed make very much difference, for what cause, with what end, with what intention a thing be done: but those things which are clearly sins, are upon no plea of a good cause, with no seeming good end, no alleged good intention, to be done. Those works, namely of men, which are not in themselves sins, are now good, now evil, according as their causes are good or evil; as, to give food to a poor man is a good work, if it be done because 488of pity, with right faith; as to lie with a wife, when it is done for the sake of generation, if it be done with faith to beget subjects for regeneration. These and the like works according to their causes are good or evil, because the self-same, if they have evil causes, are turned into sins: as, if for boasting sake a poor man is fed; or for lasciviousness a man lies with his wife; or children are begotten, not that they may be nurtured for God, but for the devil. When, however, the works in themselves are evil, such as thefts, fornications, blasphemies, or other such; who is there that will say, that upon good causes they may be done, so as either to be no sins, or, what is more absurd, just sins? Who is there that would say, That we may have to give to the poor, let us commit thefts upon the rich: or, Let us sell false witness, especially if innocent men are not hurt thereby, but rather guilty men are rescued from the judges who would condemn them? For two good things are done by selling of this lie, that money may be taken wherewith a poor man may be fed, and a judge deceived that a man be not punished. Even in the matter of wills, if we can, why not suppress the true, and forge false wills that inheritances or legacies may not come to unworthy persons, who do no good with them; but rather to those by whom the hungry are fed, the naked clothed, strangers entertained, captives redeemed, Churches builded? For why should not those evil things be done for the sake of these good things, if, for the sake of these good things, those are not evil at all? Nay, further, if lewd and rich women are likely to enrich moreover their lovers and paramours, why should not even these parts and arts be undertaken by a man of merciful heart, to use them for so good a cause as that he may have whence to bestow upon the needy; and not hear the Apostle saying, “Let him that stole steal no more, but rather let him labor, working with his hands that which is good, that he may have to give to him that needeth?�2405 If indeed not only theft itself, but also false witness and adultery and every evil work will be not evil but good, if it be done for the sake of being the means of doing good. Who can say these things, except one who endeavors to subvert human affairs and all manners and laws? For of what most heinous deed, what most foul crime, what most impious sacrilege, may it not be said that it is possible for it to be done rightly and justly; and not only with impunity, but even gloriously, that in perpetrating thereof not only no punishments should be feared, but there should be hope even of rewards: if once we shall concede in all evil works of men, that not what is done, but wherefore done, must be the question; and this, to the end that whatever are found to have been done for good causes,
2405
Eph. iv. 28
Section 18
not even they should be judged to be evil? But if justice deservedly punisheth a thief, albeit he shall say and shew that he therefore withdrew superfluities from a rich that he might afford necessaries to a poor man; if deservedly she punisheth a forger, albeit he prove that he therefore corrupted another’s will, that he might be heir, who should thence make large alms, not he who should make none; if deservedly she punisheth an adulterer yea, though he shall demonstrate that of mercy he did commit adultery, that through her with whom he did it he might deliver a man from death; lastly, to draw nearer to the matter in question, if deservedly she punishment him who hath with that intent mixed in adulterous embrace with some woman, privy to the turpitude of the Priscillianists, that he might enter into their concealments; I pray thee, when the Apostle saith, “Neither yield ye your members instruments of unrighteousness unto sin;�2406 and therefore neither hands, nor members of generation, nor other members, can it be right to yield unto flagitious deeds with intent that we may be able to find out Priscillanists; what hath our tongue, what our whole mouth, what the organ of the voice, offended us, that we should yield these as instruments to sin, and to so great a sin, in which, that we may apprehend and rescue Priscillianists from blaspheming in ignorance, we, without excuse of ignorance, are to blaspheme our God?
2406
Rom. vi. 13
1054
Section 19
19. Some man will say, “So then any thief whatever is to be accounted equal with that thief who steals with will of mercy?� Who would say this? But of these two it does not follow that any is good, because one is worse. He is worse who steals through coveting, than he who steals through pity: but if all theft be sin, from all theft we must abstain. For who can say that people may sin, even though one sin be damnable, another venial? but now we are asking, if a man shall do this or that, who will not sin or will sin? not, who will sin more heavily or lightly. For even thefts themselves are more lightly punished by law than crimes of lust: they are, however, both sins, albeit the one lighter, the other heavier; so that a theft which is committed of concupiescence is held to be lighter than an act of lust which is 489committed for doing a good turn. Namely, in their own kind these become lighter than other sins of the same kind, which appear to be committed with a good intention; when yet the same compared with sins of another kind lighter in respect of the kind itself, are found to be heavier. It is a heavier sin to commit theft of avarice than of mercy; and likewise it is a heavier sin to perpetrate lewdness of luxury, than of mercy; and yet is it a heavier sin to commit adultery of mercy, than to commit theft of avarice. Nor is it our concern now, what is lighter or what heavier, but what are sins or are not. For no man can say that it was a duty for a sin to be done, where it is clearly a sin; but we say that it is a duty, if the sin were done so or so, to forgive or not to forgive.
Section 20
20. But, what must be confessed, to human minds certain compensative sins do cause such embarrassment, that they are even thought meet to be praised, and rather to be called right deeds. For who can doubt it to be a great sin, if a father prostitute his own daughters to the fornications of the impious? And yet hath there arisen a case in which a just man thought it his duty to do this, when the Sodomites with nefarious onset of lust were rushing upon his guests. For he said, “I have two daughters which have not known man; I will bring them out to you, and do ye to them as is good in your eyes: only unto these men do ye no wrong, for that they have come under covering of my roof.” 2407 What shall we say here? Do we not so abhor the wickedness which the Sodomites were attempting to do to the guests of the just man, that, whatever were done so this were not done, he should deem right to be done? Very much also moveth us the person of the doer, which by merit of righteousness was obtaining deliverance from Sodom, to say that, since it is a less evil for women to suffer lewdness than for men, it even pertained to the righteousness of that just man, that to his daughters he chose this rather to be done, than to his guests; not only willing this in his mind, but also offering it in word, and, if they should assent, ready to fulfill it in deed. But then, if we shall open this way to sins, that we are to commit less sins, in order that others may not commit greater; by a broad boundary, nay rather, with no boundary at all, but with a tearing up and removing of all bounds, in infinite space, will all sins enter in and reign. For, when it shall be defined, that a man is to sin less, that another may not sin more; then, of course, by our committing thefts shall other men’s committing of lewdness be guarded against, and incest by lewdness; and if any impiety shall seem even worse than incest, even incest shall be pronounced meet to be done by us, if in such wise it can be wrought that that impiety be not committed by others: and in each several kind of sins, both thefts for thefts, and lewdness for lewdness, and incest for incest, shall be accounted meet to be done: our own sins for other men’s, not only less for greater, but even if it come to the very highest and worst, fewer for more; if the stress of affairs so turns, that otherwise other men would not abstain from sin unless by our sinning, somewhat less indeed, but still sinning; so that in every case where an enemy who shall have power of this sort shall say, “Unless thou be wicked, I will be more wicked, or unless thou do this wickedness, I will do more such,” we must seem to admit wickedness in ourselves, if we wish to refrain (others) from wickedness. To be wise in this sort, what is it but to lose one’s wits, or rather, to be downright mad? Mine own iniquity, not another’s, whether perpetrated upon me or upon others, is that from which I must beware of damnation. For “the soul that sinneth, it shall die.”2408
2407
Gen. xix. 8
2408
Ezek. xviii. 4
Section 21
21. If then to sin, that others may not commit a worse sin, either against us or against any, without doubt we ought not; it is to be considered in that which Lot did, whether it be an example which we ought to imitate, or rather one which we ought to avoid. For it seems meet to be more looked into and noted, that, when so horrible an evil from the most flagitious impiety of the Sodomites was impending over his guests, which he wished to ward off and was not able, to such a degree may even that just man’s mind have been disturbed, that he was willing to do that which, not man’s fear with its misty temper, but God’s Law in its tranquil serenity, if it be consulted by us, will cry aloud, must not be done, and will command rather that we be so cautious not to sin ourselves, that we sin not through fear of any sins whatever of other men. For that just man, by fearing other men’s sins, which cannot defile except such as consent thereto, was so perturbed that he did not attend to his own sin, in that he was willing to subject his daughters to the lusts of impious men. These things, when we read in holy Scriptures, we must not, for that we believe them done, therefore believe 490them meet to be done; lest we violate precepts while we indiscriminately follow precedents. Or, truly, because David swore to put Nabal to death, and, upon more considerate clemency, did it not,2409 shall we therefore say that he is to be imitated, so that we may swear to do a thing which afterwards we may see to be not meet to be done? But as fear perturbed the one, so that he was willing to prostitute his daughters, so did anger the other, that he swore rashly. In short, if it were allowed us to inquire of them both, by asking them to tell us why they did these things, the one might answer, “Fearfulness and trembling came upon me, and darkness covered me;” 2410 the other too might say, “Mine eye was troubled through wrath:”2411 so that we should not marvel either that the one in the darkness of fear, or the other with troubled eye, saw not what was meet to have been seen, that they might not do what was not meet to have been done.
2409
1 Sam. xxv. 22–35
2410
Ps. lv. 5
2411
Ps. vi. 7, turbatus est prœ ira, as in LXX. “Mine eye is consumed because of grief.” E.V.
Section 22
22. And to holy David indeed it might more justly be said, that he ought not to have been angry; no, not with one however ungrateful and rendering evil for good; yet if, as man, anger did steal over him, he ought not to have let it so prevail, that he should swear to do a thing which either by giving way to his rage he should do, or by breaking his oath leave undone. But to the other, set as he was amid the libidinous frenzy of the Sodomites, who would dare to say, “Although thy guests in thine own house, whither to enter in thou by most violent humanity hast compelled them, be laid hold upon by lewd men, and being deforced be carnally known as women, fear thou not a whit, care for it not a whir, have no dread, no horror, no trembling?” What man, even a companion of those wretches, would dare to say this to the pious host? But assuredly it would be most rightly said, “Do what thou canst, that the thing be not done which thou deservedly fearest: but let not this fear of thine drive thee to do a thing which if thy daughters be willing that it be done unto them, they will through thee do wickedness with the Sodomites, if unwilling, will through thee from the Sodomites suffer violence. Commit not thou a great crime of thine own, while thou dreadest a greater crime of other men; for be the difference as great as thou wilt between thine own and that of others, this will be thine own, that other men’s.” Unless perchance in defending this man one should so crowd himself into a corner, as to say, “Since to receive a wrong is better than to do one, and those guests were not about to do but to suffer a wrong, that just man chose that his daughters should suffer wrong rather than his guests, acting upon his rights as his daughters’ lord; and he knew that it would be no sin in them if the thing were done, because they would but bear them which did the sin, not consenting unto them, and so without sin of their own. In fine, they did not offer themselves (albeit better females than males) to be carnally known instead of those guests, lest they should be rendered guilty, not by the suffering of others’ lust, but by consenting of their own will: nor yet did their father permit it to be done unto himself, when they essayed to do it, because he would not betray his guests to them, (albeit there had been less of evil, if it were done to one man than to two;) but as much as he could he resisted, lest himself also should be defiled by any assent of his own, though even if the frenzy of others’ lust had prevailed by strength of body, it would not have defiled him so long as he consented not. Now as the daughters sinned not, neither did he sin in their persons, because he was not making them to sin, if they should be deforced against their will, but only to bear them that did the sin. Just as if he should offer his slaves to be beaten by ruffians, that his guests might not suffer the wrong of beating.” Of which matter I shall not dispute, because it would take long to argue, whether even a master may justly use his right of power over his slave, so as to cause an unoffending slave to be smitten, that his unoffending friend may not be beaten in his house by violent bad men. But certainly, as concerning David, it is no wise right to say that he ought to have sworn to do a thing which afterwards he would perceive that he ought not to do. Whence it is clear that we ought not to take all that we read to have been done by holy or just men,
Section 22
and transfer the same to morals, but hence too we must learn how widely that saying of the Apostle extends, and even to what persons it reaches: “Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual restore such an one in the spirit of meekness, considering thyself also, lest thou be tempted.�2412 The being overtaken in a fault happens, either while one does not see at the time what is right to be done, or while, seeing it, one is overcome; that is, that a sin is done, either for that the truth is hidden, or for that infirmity compelleth.
2412
Gal. vi. 1
1059
Section 23
23. But in all our doings, even good men are very greatly embarrassed in the matter of compensative sins; so that these are not esteemed to be sins, if they have such causes for the which they be done, and in the which it may seem to be rather sin, if they be left undone. And chiefly as concerning lies hath it come to this pass in the opinion of men that those lies are not accounted sins, nay rather are believed to be rightly done, when one tells a lie for the benefit of him for whom it is expedient to be deceived, or lest a person should hurt others, who seems likely to hurt unless he be got rid of by lies. In defense of these kinds of lies, very many examples from holy Scripture are accounted to lend their support. It is not, however, the same thing to hide the truth as it is to utter a lie. For although every one who lies wishes to hide what is true, yet not every one who wishes to hide what is true, tells a lie. For in general we hide truths not by telling a lie, but by holding our peace. For the Lord lied not when He said, “I have many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now.”2413 He held His peace from true things, not spoke false things; for the hearing of which truths He judged them to be less fit. But if He had not indicated this same to them, that is, that they were not able to bear the things which He was unwilling to speak, He would indeed hide nevertheless somewhat of truth but that this may be rightly done we should peradventure not know, or not have so great an example to confirm us. Whence, they who assert that it is sometimes meet to lie, do not conveniently mention that Abraham did this concerning Sarah, whom he said to be his sister. For he did not say, She is not my wife, but he said, “She is my sister;”2414 because she was in truth so near akin, that she might without a lie be called a sister. Which also afterwards he confirmed, after she had been given back by him who had taken her, answering him and saying, “And indeed she is my sister, by father, not by mother;” that is, by the father’s kindred, not the mother’s. Somewhat therefore of truth he left untold, not told aught of falsehood, when he left wife untold, and told of sister. This also did his son Isaac: for him too we know to have gotten a wife near of kin. 2415 It is not then a lie, when by silence a true thing is kept back, but when by speech a false thing is put forward. 491
2413
John xvi. 12
2414
Gen. xx. 2, 12
2415
Gen. xxvi. 7, and xxiv
Section 24
24. Touching Jacob, however, that which he did at his mother’s bidding, so as to seem to deceive his father, if with diligence and in faith it be attended to, is no lie, but a mystery. The which if we shall call lies, all parables also, and figures designed for the signifying of any things soever, which are not to be taken according to their proper meaning, but in them is one thing to be understood from another, shall be said to be lies: which be far from us altogether. For he who thinks this, may also in regard of tropical expressions of which there are so many, bring in upon all of them this calumny; so that even metaphor, as it is called, that is, the usurped transferring of any word from its proper object to an object not proper, may at this rate be called a lie. For when he speaks of waving corn-fields, of vines putting forth gems,2416 of the bloom of youth, of snowy hairs; without doubt the waves, the gems, the bloom, the snow, for that we find them not in those objects to which we have from other transferred these words, shall by these persons be accounted lies. And Christ a Rock, and the stony heart of the Jews; also, Christ a Lion, and the devil a lion, and innumerable such like, shall be said to be lies. 2417 Nay, this tropical expression reaches even to what is called antiphrasis, as when a thing is said to abound which does not exist, a thing said to be sweet which is sour; “lucus quod non luceat, Parcæ quod non parcant.” Of which kind is that in holy Scripture, “If he will not bless 2418 Thee to Thy face;” which the devil saith to the Lord concerning holy Job, and the meaning is “curse.” By which word also the feigned crime of Naboth is named by his calumniators; for it is said that he “blessed2419 the king,” that is, cursed. All these modes of speaking shall be accounted lies, if figurative speech or action shall be set down as lying. But if it be no lie, when things which signify one thing by another are referred to the understanding of a truth, assuredly not only that which Jacob did or said to his father that he might be blessed, but that too which Joseph spoke as if in mockery of his brothers, 2420 and David’s feigning of madness, 2421 must be judged to be no lies, but prophetical speeches and actions, to be referred to the understanding of those things which are true; which are covered as it were with a garb of figure on purpose to exercise the sense of the pious inquirer, and that they may not become cheap by lying bare and on the surface. Though even the things which we have learned from other places, where they are spoken openly and manifestly, these, when they are brought out from their hidden retreats, do, by
2416
“Gemmare.”
2417
1 Cor. x. 4; Ezek. xxxvi. 26; Rev. v. 5; 1 Pet. v. 8
2418
Job ii. 5, benedixerit:as LXX. εὐλογήσει: E.V. “curse.”
2419
1 Kings xxi. 10, 13. LXX. εὐλόγηκας: E.V. “didst blaspheme.”
2420
Gen. xlii
2421
1 Sam. xxi. 13
Section 24
our (in some sort) discovering of them, become renewed , and by renewal sweet. Nor is it that they are begrudged to the learners, in that they are in these ways obscured; but are presented in a more winning manner, that being as it were withdrawn, they may be desired more ardently, and being desired may with more pleasure be found. Yet true things, not false, are spoken; because true things, not false, are signified, whether by word or by deed; the things that are signified namely, those are the things spoken. They are accounted lies only because people do not understand that the true things which are signified are the things said, but believe that false things are the things said. To make this plainer by examples, attend to this very thing that Jacob did. With skins of the kids, no doubt, he did cover his limbs; if we seek the immediate cause, we shall account him to have lied; for he did this, that he might be thought to be the man he was not: but if this deed be referred to that for the signifying of which it was really done, by skins of the kids are signified sins; by him who covered himself therewith, He who bare not His own, but others’ sins. The truthful signification, therefore, can in no wise be rightly called a lie. And as in deed, so also in word. Namely, when his father said to him, “Who art thou my son?”2422 he answered, “I am Esau, thy firstborn.” This, if it be referred to those two twins, will seem a lie; but if to that for the signifying of which those deeds and words are written, He is here to be understood, in His body, which is His Church, Who, speaking of this thing, saith, “When ye shall see Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, and yourselves cast out. And they shall come from the east and from the west and from the north and from the south, and shall sit down in the kingdom of God; and, behold, there are last which shall be first, and there are first which shall be last.”2423 For so in a certain sort the younger brother did bear off the primacy of the elder brother, and transfer it to himself. Since then things so true, and so truthfully, be signified, what is there here that ought to be accounted to have been done or said lyingly? For when the things which are signified are not in truth things which are not, but which are, whether past or present or future, without doubt it is a true signification, and no lie. But it takes too long in the matter of this prophetical signification by stripping off the shell to search out all,2424 wherein truth hath the palm, because as by being signified they were fore-announced, so by ensuing have they become clear. 492
2422
Gen. xxvii. 16–19
2423
Luke xiii. 28–30
2424
Enucleate cuncta rimari
1062
Section 25
25. Nor have I undertaken that in the present discourse, as it more pertains to thee, who hast laid open the hiding-places of the Priscillianists, so far as relates to their false and perverse dogmas; that they may not seem to have been in such sort investigated as if they were meet to be taught, not to be argued against. Make it therefore more thy work that they be beaten down and laid low, as thou hast made it, that they should be betrayed and laid open; lest while we wish to get at the discovery of men practising falsehood, we allow the falsehoods themselves, as if insuperable, to stand their ground; when we ought rather even in the hearts of latent heretics to destroy falsehoods, than by sparing falsehoods to find out the deceivers who practise falsehood. Moreover, among those dogmas of theirs which are to be subverted, is this which they dogmatize, namely, that in order to hide religion religious people ought to lie, to that degree that not only concerning other matters, not pertaining to doctrine of religion, but concerning religion itself, it is meet to lie, that it may not become exposed to aliens; to wit, that one may deny Christ, in order that one may in the midst of His enemies be in secret a Christian. This impious and nefarious dogma do thou likewise, I beseech thee, overthrow; to bolster up which they in their argumentations do gather from the Scriptures testimonies to make it appear that lies are not only to be pardoned and tolerated, but even honored. To thee therefore it pertains, in refuting that detestable sect, to show that those testimonies of Scripture are so to be received, that either thou shalt teach those to be no lies which are accounted to be such, if they be understood in that manner in which they ought to be understood; or, that those are not to be imitated which be manifestly lies; or in any wise at last, that concerning those matters at least which pertain to doctrine of religion, it is in no wise meet to tell a lie. For thus are they truly from the very foundation overthrown, while that is overthrown wherein they lurk: that in that very matter they be judged least fit for us to follow, most fit to be shunned, in that they, for the hiding of their heresy, do profess themselves liars. This it is in them that must from the very first be assaulted, this which is, as it were, their fitting bulwark must with blows of Truth be battered and cast down. Nor must we afford them another lurking-place, which they had not, wherein they may take 493refuge, to wit, that being perhaps betrayed of them whom they have essayed to seduce but could not, they should say, “We only wanted to try them, because prudent Catholics have taught that to find out heretics it is right to do this.� But it is necessary with somewhat more earnest be-speaking of thy favor to say why this seems to me a tripartite method of disputing against those who want to apply the divine Scriptures as advocates of their lies; to wit, by showing that some which are there accounted to be lies, are not what they are accounted, if rightly understood; next, that if there be there any manifest lies, they are not meet to be imitated; thirdly, contrary to all opinions of all persons who think it pertains to the duty of a good man sometimes to lie, that it must in every way be held that in doctrine of religion there must in no wise a lie be told. For these are the three things to follow up which I shortly before recommended, and in some sort enjoined thee.
Section 26
26. To show then that some things in the Scriptures which are thought to be lies are not what they are thought, if they be rightly understood, let it not seem to thee to tell little against them, that it is not from Apostolic but from Prophetical books that they find as it were precedents of lying. For all those which they mention by name, in which each lied, are read in those books in which not only words but many deeds of a figurative meaning are recorded, because it was also in a figurative sense that they were done. But in figures that which is spoken as a seeming lie, being well understood, is found to be a truth. The Apostles, however, in their Epistles spoke in another sort, and in another sort are written the Acts of the Apostles, to wit, because now the New Testament was revealed, which was veiled in those prophetic figures. In short, in all those Apostolic Epistles, and in that large book in which their acts are narrated with canonical truth, we do not find any person lying, such that from him a precedent can be set forth by these men for license of lying. For that simulation of Peter and Barnabas with which they were compelling the Gentiles to Judaize, was deservedly reprehended and set right, both that it might not do harm at the time, and that it might not weigh with posterity as a thing to be imitated. For when the Apostle Paul saw that they walked not uprightly according to the truth of the Gospel, he said to Peter in the presence of them all, “If thou, being a Jew, livest as the Gentiles; and not as do the Jews, how compellest thou the Gentiles to Judaize?”2425 But in that which himself did, to the intent that by retaining and acting upon certain observances of the law after the Jewish custom he might show that he was no enemy to the Law and to the Prophets, far be it from us to believe that he did so as a liar. As indeed concerning this matter his sentence is sufficiently well known, whereby it was settled that neither Jews who then believed in Christ were to be prohibited from the traditions of their fathers, nor Gentiles when they became Christians to be compelled thereunto: in order that those sacred rites2426 which were well known to have been of God enjoined, should not be shunned as sacrileges; nor yet accounted so necessary, now that the New Testament was revealed, as though without them whoso should be converted unto God, could not be saved. For there were some who thought so and preached, albeit after Christ’s Gospel received; and to these had feignedly consented both Peter and Barnabas, and so were compelling the Gentiles to Judaize. For it was a compelling, to preach them to be so necessary as if, even after the Gospel received, without them were no salvation in Christ. This the error of certain did suppose, this Peter’s fear did feign, this Paul’s liberty 2427 did beat down. What therefore he saith, “I am made all things to all, that I might gain all,” that did he, by suffering with others, not by lying. For each becomes as though he were that person whom he would fain succor, when he succoreth with the same pity wherewith he
2425
Gal. ii. 13, 14
2426
“Sacramenta.”
2427
1 Cor. ix. 22. [See R.V.]
Section 26
would wish himself to be succored, if himself were set in the same misery. Therefore he becomes as though he were that person, not for that he deceives him, but for that he thinks himself as him. Whence is that of the Apostle, which I have before rehearsed, “Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual restore such an one in the spirit of meekness, considering thyself lest thou also be tempted.” 2428 For if, because he said, “To the Jews became I as a Jew, and to them which were under the law as under the law,” 2429 he is therefore to be accounted to have in a lying manner taken up the sacraments of the old law, he ought in the same manner to have taken up, in a lying way, the idolatry of the Gentiles, because he hath said that to them which were without law he became as without law; which thing in any wise he did not. For he did not any where sacrifice to idols or adore those figments and not rather freely as a martyr of Christ show that they were to be detested 494and eschewed. From no apostolic acts or speeches, therefore, do these men allege things meet for imitation as examples of lying. From prophetical deeds or words, then, the reason why they seem to themselves to have what they may allege, is only for that they take figures prenunciative to be lies, because they are sometimes like unto lies. But when they are referred to those things for the signifying of which they were so done or said, they are found to be significations full of truth, and therefore in no wise to be lies. A lie, namely, is a false signification with will of deceiving. But that is no false signification, where, although one thing is signified by another, yet the thing signified is a true thing, if it be rightly understood.
2428
Gal. vi. 1
2429
1 Cor. ix. 20
1065
Section 27
27. There are some things of this sort even of our Saviour in the Gospel, because the Lord of the Prophets deigned to be Himself also a Prophet. Such are those where, concerning the woman which had an issue of blood, He said, “Who touched Me?”2430 and of Lazarus. “Where have ye laid him?”2431 He asked, namely, as if not knowing that which in any wise He knew. And He did on this account feign that He knew not, that He might signify somewhat else by that His seeming ignorance: and since this signification was truthful, it was assuredly not a lie. For those were signified, whether by her which had the issue, or by him which had been four days dead, whom even He Who knew all things did in a certain sort know not. For both she bore the type of the people of the Gentiles, whereof the prophecy had gone before, “A people whom I have not known hath served Me:”2432 and Lazarus, removed from the living, did as it were in that place lie in significative similitude where He lay, Whose voice that is, “I am cast out of the sight of thine eyes.”2433 And with that intent, as though it were not known by Christ, both who she was and where he was laid, by His words of interrogating a figure was enacted and by truthful signification all lying left apart.
2430
Luke viii. 45
2431
John xi. 34
2432
Ps. xviii. 44—“Servivit.”
2433
Ps. xxxi. 22
Section 28
28. Hence is also that which thou hast mentioned that they speak of, that the Lord Jesus, after He was risen, walked in the way with two disciples; and upon their drawing near to the village whither they were going, He made as though He would have gone farther: where 2434 the Evangelist, saying, “But He Himself feigned that He would go further,” hath put that very word in which liars too greatly delight, that they may with impunity lie: as if every thing that is feigned is a lie, whereas in a truthful way, for the sake of signifying one thing by another, so many things use to be feigned. If then there had been no other thing that Jesus signified, in that He feigned to be going further, with reason might it be judged to be a lie: but then if it be rightly understood and referred to that which He willed to signify, it is a mystery. Else will all things be lies which, on account of a certain similitude of things to be signified, although they never were done, are related to have been done. Of which sort is that concerning the two sons of one man, the elder who tarried with his father, and the younger who went into a far country, which is narrated so much at length. 2435 In which sort of fiction, men have put even human deeds or words to irrational animals and things without sense, that by this sort of feigned narrations but true significations, they might in more winning manner intimate the things which they wished. Nor is it only in authors of secular letters, as in Horace,2436 that mouse speaks to mouse, and weasel to fox, that through a fictitious narration a true signification may be referred to the matter in hand; whence the like fables of Æsop being referred to the same end, there is no man so untaught as to think they ought to be called lies: but in Holy Writ also, as in the book of Judges, the trees seek 2437 them a king, and speak to the olive, to the fig and to the vine and to the bramble. Which, in any wise, is all feigned, with intent that one may get to the thing which is intended, by a feigned narration indeed, yet not a lying one, but with a truthful signification. This I have said on account of that which is written concerning Jesus, “And Himself feigned to be going further:” lest any from this word, like the Priscillianists, wishing to have license of lying, should contend that beside others even Christ did lie. But whoso would understand what He by feigning that did prefigure, let him attend to that which He by acting did effect. For when afterwards He did go further, above all heavens, yet deserted He not His disciples. In order to signify this which in the future He did as God, at the present He feigned to do that as Man. And therefore was a veritable signification caused in that feigning to go before, because in this departure the verity of that signification did follow after. Let him therefore contend that Christ did lie by feigning, who denieth that He fulfilled by doing that which He signified.
2434
Luke xxiv. 28—“Finxit.”
2435
Luke xv. 11–32
2436
Serm. ii. 6; Epist. i. 7.
2437
Judg. ix. 8–15
Section 29
29. Because, therefore, lying heretics find not in the books of the New Testament any precedents of lying which are meet to be imitated, they esteem themselves to be most copious in their disputation wherein they opine that it is right to lie, when from the old prophetical books, because it doth not appear therein, save to the few who understand, to what must be referred the significative sayings and doings which as such be true, they seem to themselves to find out and allege many that be lies. But desiring to have, wherewith they may defend themselves, precedents of deceit seemingly meet to be imitated, they deceive themselves, and “their iniquity lieth unto itself.” 2438 Those persons, however, of whom it is not there to be believed that they wished to prophesy, if in doing or saying they feigned aught with will of deceiving, however it may be that from the very things also which they did or said somewhat prophetical may be shapen out, being by His omnipotence afore deposited therein as a seed and pre-disposed, Who knoweth how to turn to good account even the ill-deeds of men, yet as far as regards the persons themselves, without doubt they lied. But they ought not to be esteemed meet for imitation simply for that they are found in those books which are deservedly called holy and divine: for those books contain the record of both the ill deeds and the good deeds of men; the one to be eschewed, the other to be followed after: and some are so put, that upon them is also sentence passed; some, with no judgment there expressed, are left permitted for us to judge of: because it was meet that we should not only be nourished by that which is plain, but exercised by that which is obscure. 495
2438
Ps. 26(Heb. xxvii), 12. “Mentitur eorum iniquitas sibi.” LXX. ἐψεύσατο ἡ ἀδικία ἑαυτῇ . Heb. and E.V.
“And such as breathe out cruelty.”
Section 30
30. But why do these persons think they may imitate Tamar telling a lie, and not think they may imitate Judah committing fornication? 2439 For there they have read both, and nought of these hath that Scripture either blamed or praised, but has merely narrated both, and to our judgment dismissed both: but it is marvellous if it hath permitted aught of these to be imitated with impunity. For, that Tamar not through lust of playing the harlot, but through wish of conceiving seed, did tell the lie, we know. But fornication also, howbeit Judah’s was not such, yet some man’s may be such whereby to procure that a man may be delivered, just as her lie was in order that a man might be conceived; is it right then to commit fornication on this account, if on that account it is thought that it was right to lie? Not therefore concerning lying only, but concerning all works of men in which there arise as it were compensative sins, must we consider what sentence we ought to pass; lest we open a way not only to small sins whatsoever, but even to all wickednesses, and there remain no outrageous, flagitious, sacrilegious deed, in which there may not arise a cause upon which it may rightly seem a thing meet to be done, and so universal probity of life be by that opinion subverted.
2439
Gen. xxxviii. 14–18
Section 31
31. But he who says that some lies are just, must be judged to say no other than that some sins are just, and therefore some things are just which are unjust: than which what can be more absurd? For whence is a thing a sin, but for that it is contrary to justice? Be it said then that some sins are great, some small, because it is true; and let us not listen to the Stoics who maintain all to be equal: but to say that some sins are unjust, some just, what else is it than to say that there be some unjust, some just iniquities? When the Apostle John 2440 saith, “Every man who doeth sin, doeth also iniquity and sin is iniquity.” It is impossible therefore that a sin should be just, unless when we put the name of sin upon another thing in which one doth not sin, but either doeth or suffereth aught for sin. Namely, both sacrifices for sins are named “sins,” and the punishments of sins are sometimes called sins. These doubtless can be understood to be just sins, when just sacrifices are spoken of, or just punishments. But those things which are done against God’s law cannot be just. It is said unto God, “Thy law is truth:” 2441 and consequently, what is against truth cannot be just. Now who can doubt that every lie is against truth? Therefore there can be no just lie. Again, what man doth not see clearly that every thing which is just is of the truth? And John crieth out, “No lie is of the truth.” 2442 No lie therefore is just. Wherefore, when from holy Scriptures are proposed to us examples of lying, either they are not lies, but are thought to be so while they are not understood; or, if lies they be, they are not meet to be imitated, because they cannot be just.
2440
1 John iii. 4. [See R.V.]
2441
Ps. cxix. 142
2442
1 John. ii. 21
Section 32
32. But, as for that which is written, that God did good to the Hebrew midwives, and to Rahab the harlot of Jericho, 2443 this was not because they lied, but because they were merciful to God’s people. That therefore which was rewarded in them was, not their deceit, but their benevolence; benignity of mind, not iniquity of lying. 2444 For, as it would not be 496marvellous and absurd if God on account of good works after done by them should be willing to forgive some evil works at another time before committed, so it is not to be marvelled at that God beholding at one time, in one cause, both these, that is, the thing done of mercy and the thing done of deceit, did both reward the good, and for the sake of this good forgive that evil. For if sins which are done of carnal concupiscence, not of mercy, are for the sake of after works of mercy remitted, 2445 why are not those through merit of mercy remitted which of mercy itself are committed? For more grievous is a sin which with purpose of hurting, than that which with purpose of helping, is wrought. And consequently if that is blotted out by a work of mercy thereafter following, why is this, which is less heinous, not blotted out by the mercy itself of the man, both going before that he may sin, and going along with him while he sins? So indeed it may seem: but in truth it is one thing to say, “I ought not to have sinned, but I will do works of mercy whereby I may blot out the sin which I did before;” and another to say, “I ought to sin, because I cannot else show mercy.” It is, I say, one thing to say, “Because we have already sinned, let us do good,” and another to say, “Let us sin, that we may do good.” There it is said, “Let us do good, because we have done evil;” but here, “Let us do evil that good may come.”2446 And, consequently, there we have to drain off the sink of sin, here to beware of a doctrine which teacheth to sin.
2443
Exod. i. 17–20; Josh. ii., and vi. 25
2444
Mentis, mentientis
2445
Dimittuntur
2446
Rom. iii. 8
Section 33
33. It remains then that we understand as concerning those women, whether in Egypt or in Jericho, that for their humanity and mercy they received a reward, in any wise temporal, which indeed itself, while they wist not of it, should by prophetical signification prefigure somewhat eternal. But whether it be ever right, even for the saving of a man’s life, to tell a lie, as it is a question in resolving which even the most learned do weary themselves, it did vastly surpass the capacity of those poor women, set in the midst of those nations, and accustomed to those manners. Therefore their ignorance in this as well as in those other things of which they were alike unknowing, but which are to be known by the children not of this world but of that which is to come, the patience of God did bear withal: Who yet, for their human kindness which they had shown to His servants, rendered unto them rewards of an earthly sort, albeit signifying somewhat of an heavenly. And Rahab, indeed, delivered out of Jericho, made transition into the people of God, where, being proficient, she might attain to eternal and immortal prizes which are not to be sought by any lie. Yet at that time when she did for the Israelite spies that good, and, for her condition of life, laudable work, she was not as yet such that it should be required of her, “In your mouth let Yea be yea, Nay nay.”2447 But as for those midwives, albeit Hebrewesses, if they savored only after the flesh, what or how great is the good they got of their temporal reward in that they made them houses, unless by making proficiency they attained unto that house of which is sung unto 2448 God, “Blessed are they that dwell in thine house; for ever and ever they will praise thee?” It must be confessed, however, that it approacheth much unto righteousness, and though not yet in reality, even now in respect of hopefulness and disposition that mind is to be praised, which never lies except with intention and will to do good to some man, but to hurt no man. But as for us, when we ask whether it be the part of a good man sometimes to lie, we ask not concerning a person pertaining to Egypt, or to Jericho, or to Babylon, or still to Jerusalem itself, the earthly, which is in bondage with her children; 2449 but concerning a citizen of that city which is above and free, our mother, eternal in the heavens. And to our asking it is answered, “No lie is of the truth.”2450 The sons of that city, are sons of the Truth. That city’s sons are they of whom it is written,“In their mouth was found no lie:” 2451 son of that city is he of whom is also written, “A son receiving the word shall be far from destruction: but receiving, he hath received that for himself, and nothing false proceedeth out of his mouth.”2452 These sons of Jerusalem on high, and of the holy city eternal, if ever, as they
2447
Matt. v. 37
2448
Ps. lxxxiv. 4
2449
Gal. iv. 25, 26
2450
1 John ii. 21
2451
Rev. xiv. 5
2452
Prov. xxix. 27. Lat. (not in Hebrew).
Section 33
be men, a lie of what kind soever doth worm itself into them, they ask humbly for pardon, not therefrom seek moreover glory.
1073
Section 34
34. But some man will say, Would then those midwives and Rahab have done better if they had shown no mercy, by refusing to lie? Nay verily, those Hebrew women, if they were such as that sort of persons of whom we ask whether they ought ever to tell a lie, would both eschew to say aught false, and would most frankly refuse that foul service of killing the babes. But, thou wilt say, themselves would die. Yea, but see what follows. They would die with an heavenly habitation for their incomparably more ample reward than those houses which 497they made them on earth could be: they would die, to be in eternal felicity, after enduring of death for most innocent truth. What of her in Jericho? Could she do this? Would she not, if she did not by telling a lie deceive the inquiring citizens, by speaking truth betray the lurking guests? Or could she say2453 to their questionings, I know where they are; but I fear God, I will not betray them? She could indeed say this, were she already a true Israelitess in whom was no guile:2454 which thing she was about to be, when through the mercy of God passing over into the city of God. But they, hearing this (thou wilt say), would slay her, would search the house. But did it follow that they would also find them, whom she had diligently concealed? For in the foresight of this, that most cautious woman had placed them where they would have been able to remain undiscovered if she, telling a lie, should not be believed. So both she, if after all she had been slain by her countrymen for the work of mercy, would have ended this life, which must needs come to an end, by a death precious in the sight of the Lord,2455 and towards them her benefit had not been in vain. But, thou wilt say, “What if the men who sought them, in their thorough-going search had come to the place where she had concealed them?” In this fashion it may be said: What if a most vile and base woman, not only telling, but swearing a lie, had not got them to believe her? Of course even so would the things have been like to come to pass, through fear of which she lied. And where do we put the will and power of God? or haply was He not able to keep both her, neither telling a lie to her own townsmen, nor betraying men of God, and them, being His, safe from all harm? For by Whom also after the woman’s lie they were guarded, by Him could they, even if she had not lied, have in any wise been guarded. Unless perchance we have forgotten that this did come to pass in Sodom, where males burning towards males with hideous lust could not so much as find the door of the house in which were the men they sought; when that just man, in a case altogether most similar, would not tell a lie for his guests, whom he knew not to be Angels, and feared lest they should suffer a violence worse than death. And doubtless, he might have given the seekers the like answer as that woman gave in Jericho. For it was in precisely the like manner that they sought by interrogating. But that just person was not willing that for the bodies of his guests his soul should
2453
mss.and edd. “An posset;” but Ben. ed. propose “an non posset,” “Could she not?”
2454
John i. 47
2455
Ps. cxvi. 15
Section 34
be spotted by his own telling of a lie, for which bodies he was willing that the bodies of his daughters by iniquity of others’ lust should be deforced.2456 Let then a man do even for the temporal safety of men what he can; but when it comes to that point that to consult for such saving of them except by sinning is not in his power, thenceforth let him esteem himself not to have what he may do, when he shall perceive that only to be left him which he may not rightly do. Therefore, touching Rahab in Jericho, because she entertained strangers, men of God, because in entertaining of them she put herself in peril, because she believed on their God, because she diligently hid them where she could, because she gave them most faithful counsel of returning by another way, let her be praised as meet to be imitated even by the citizens of Jerusalem on high. But in that she lied, although somewhat therein as prophetical be intelligently expounded, yet not as meet to be imitated is it wisely propounded: albeit that God hath those good things memorably honored, this evil thing mercifully overlooked.
2456
Gen. xix. 5–11
1075
Section 35
35. Since these things are so, because it were too long to treat thoroughly of all that in that “Pound” 2457 of Dictinius are set down as precedents of lying, meet to be imitated, it seemeth to me that this is the rule to which not only these, but whatever such there be, must be reduced. Namely, either what is believed to be a lie must be shown not to be such; whether it be where a truth is left untold, and yet no falsehood told; or where a true signification willeth one thing to be understood of another, which kind of figurative either sayings or doings abounds in the prophetical writings. Or, those which are convicted to be lies, must be proved to be not meet to be imitated: and if any (as other sins) should stealthily creep in upon us, we are not to attribute righteousness to them, but to ask pardon for them. So indeed it seems to me, and to this sentence the things above disputed do compel me.
2457
Or “Balance.”
Section 36
36. But for that we are men and among men do live, and I confess that I am not yet in the number of them whom compensative sins embarrass not, it oft befalleth me in human affairs to be overcome by human feeling, nor am I able to resist when it is said to me, “Lo, here is a sick man in peril of his life with a grievous disease, whose strength will no more be able to bear it, if the death of his only and most dear son be announced to him; he asks 498of thee whether his son liveth, and thou knowest that he is departed this life; what wilt thou reply, when, whatever thou shall say beside one of these three; either, He is dead; or, He liveth; or, I know not; he believes no other than that he is dead; which thing he perceives thee to be afraid to tell, and unwilling to tell a lie?” It comes to the same thing, if thou altogether hold thy peace. But of those three, two are false, He liveth, and, I know not; and they cannot be said by thee but by telling a lie. Whereas if thou shall say that one thing which is true, that is, that he is dead, and the man be so perturbed that death follow, people will cry out that thou hast killed him. And who can bear men casting up to him what a mischief it is to shun a lie that might save life, and to choose truth which murders a man? I am moved by these objections exceedingly, but it were marvelous whether also wisely. For, when I shall set before the eyes of my heart (such as they be) the intellectual 2458 beauty of Him out of Whose mouth nothing false proceedeth, albeit where truth in her radiance doth more and more brighten upon me, there my weak and throbbing sense is beaten back: yet I am with love of that surpassing comeliness so set on fire, that I despise all human regards which would thence recall me. But it is much that this affection persevere to that degree, that in temptation it lack not its effect. Nor doth it move me while contemplating that luminous Good in which is no darkness of a lie, that, when we refuse to lie, and men through hearing of a truth do die, truth is called a murderer. For if a lewd woman crave of thee the gratification of her lust, and, when thou consentest not, she perturbed with the fierceness of her love should die, will chastity also be a murderer? Or, truly, because we read, “We are a sweet savor of Christ in every place, both in them which are saved and in them which perish;” 2459 to the one, indeed, a savor of life unto life, to others a savor of death unto death; shall we pronounce even the savor of Christ to be a murderer? But, for that we, being men, are in questions and contradictions of this sort for the most part overcome or wearied out by our feeling as men, for that very reason hath the Apostle also presently subjoined, “And who is sufficient for these things?”
2458
Intelligibilem
2459
2 Cor. ii. 15, 16. [See R.V.]
Section 37
37. Add to this, (and here is cause to cry out more piteously,) that, if once we grant it to have been right for the saving of that sick man’s life to tell him the lie, that his son was alive, then, by little and little and by minute degrees, the evil so grows upon us, and by slight accesses to such a heap of wicked lies does it, in its almost imperceptible encroachments, at last come, that no place can ever be any where found on which this huge mischief, by smallest additions rising into boundless strength, might be resisted. Wherefore, most providently is it written, “He that despiseth small things shall fall by little and little.” 2460 Nay more: for these persons who are so enamored of this life, that they hesitate not to prefer it to truth, that a man may not die, say rather, that a man who must some time die may die somewhat later, would have us not only to lie, but even to swear fasely; to wit, that, lest the vain health of man should somewhat more quickly pass away, we should take the name of the Lord our God in vain! And there are among them learned men who even fix rules, and set bounds when it is a duty, when not a duty, to commit perjury! O, where are ye, fountains of tears? And what shall we do? whither go? where hide us from the ire of truth, if we not only neglect to shun lies, but dare moreover to teach perjuries? For look they well to it, who uphold and defend lying, what kind, or what kinds, of lying they shall delight to justify: at least in the worship of God let them grant that there must be no lying; at least let them keep themselves from perjuries and blasphemies; at least there, where God’s name, where God as witness, where God’s oath2461 is interposed, where God’s religion is the matter of discourse or colloquy, let none lie, none praise, none teach and enjoin, none justify a lie: of the other kinds of lies let him choose him out that which he accounteth to be the mildest and most innocent kind of lying, he who will have it to be right to lie. This I know, that even he who teaches that it is meet to tell lies, wishes to be thought to teach a truth. For if it be false which he teaches, who would care to give heed to false doctrine, in which both he deceives that teaches and he is deceived that learns? But if, in order that he may be able to find some disciple, he upholds that he teaches a truth when he teaches that it is meet to lie, how will that 2462 lie be of the truth, when the Apostle John reclaimeth, “No lie is of the truth?” It is therefore not true, that it is sometimes right to lie; and that which is not true to no man is at all to be persuaded.
2460
Ecclus. xix. 1
2461
“Sacramentum.”
2462
1 John ii. 21
Section 38
38. But infirmity pleadeth its part, and with favor of the crowds proclaims itself to have a cause invincible. Where it contradicts, and says, “What way is there among men, who 499without doubt by being deceived are turned aside from a deadly harm to others or themselves, to succor men in peril, if our affection as men may not incline us to lie?” If it will hear me patiently, this crowd of mortality, crowd of infirmity, I will say somewhat in answer on the behalf of truth. Surely at the least pious, true, holy chastity is not otherwise than of the truth: and whoso acts against it, acts against truth. Why then, if otherwise it be not possible to succor men in peril, do I not also commit whoredom, which is therefore contrary to truth, for that it is contrary to chastity, and yet, to succor men in peril, do speak a lie which most openly is contrary to truth itself? Wherein hath chastity so highly deserved at our hands, and truth offended us? When all chastity is of the truth, and not the body’s but the mind’s chastity is truth, yea, in the mind dwelleth even the body’s chastity. Lastly, as I shortly before said, and say again, whoever for the recommending and defending of any lie speaks against me, what speaks he, if he speaks not truth? Now if he is therefore to be heard because he speaks truth, how wishes he to make me, by speaking truth, a liar? How does lying take unto itself truth as its patroness? Or, is it for her own adversary that she conquers, that by herself she may be conquered? Who can bear this absurdity? In no wise therefore may we say, that they who assert that it is sometimes right to lie, in asserting that are truthful; lest, what is most absurd and foolish to believe, truth should teach us to be liars. For what sort of thing is it, that no man learns of chastity that we may commit adultery; that we may offend God none learns of piety; that we may do any man harm, none learns of kindness; and that we may tell lies, we are to learn of truth! But then if this thing truth teaches not, it is not true; if not true, it is not meet to be learned; if not meet to be learned, never therefore is it meet to tell a lie.
Section 39 39. But, some man will say, “Strong meat is for them that are perfect.”2463 For in many things a relaxation by way of indulgence is allowed to infirmity, although in her utmost sincerity the things be nowise pleasing to truth. Let him say this, whoever dreads not the consequences which are to be dreaded, if once there shall be in any way any lies permitted. In nowise, however, must they be permitted to climb up to such a height as to reach to perjuries and blasphemies: nor must any plea whatever be held out, for which it should be right that perjury should be committed, or, what is more execrable, that God should be blasphemed. For it does not follow that because the blaspheming is only in pretence and a lie, therefore He is not blasphemed. For at this rate it might be said that perjury is not committed, because it is by a lie that it is committed: for who can be by truth a perjurer? So also by truth can no man be a blasphemer. Doubtless it is a milder kind of false swearing, when a person does not know that thing to be false and believes it to be true, which he swears: like as also Saul blasphemed more excusably, because he did it ignorantly. 2464 But the reason why it is worse to blaspheme than to perjure one’s self, is, that in false swearing God is taken to witness a false thing, but in blaspheming false things are spoken of God Himself. Now by so much is a man more inexcusable, whether perjurer or blasphemer, by how much the more, while asserting the things wherein they perjure or blaspheme, they know or believe them to be false. Whoever therefore says that for an imperilled man’s temporal safety or life a lie may be told, doth too much himself swerve from the path of eternal safety and life, if he says that on that behalf one may even swear by God, or even blaspheme God.
2463
Heb. v. 14
2464
1 Tim. i. 13
Section 40 40. But sometimes a peril to eternal salvation itself is put forth against us; 2465 which peril, they cry out, we by telling a lie, if otherwise it cannot be, must ward off. As, for instance, if a person who is to be baptized be in the power of impious and infidel men, and cannot be got at that he may be washed with the laver of regeneration, but by deceiving his keepers with a lie. From this most invidious cry, by which we are compelled, not for a man’s wealth or honors in this world which are fleeting by, not for the life itself of this present time, but for the eternal salvation of a human being, to tell a lie, whither shall I betake me for refuge but unto thee, O truth? And by thee is put forth before me, 2466 Chastity. For why, if those keepers may be enticed to admit us to baptize the man, by our committing lewdness, do we refuse to do things contrary to chastity, and yet, if by a lie they may be deceived, consent to do things contrary to truth? when without doubt no man would faithfully think chastity amiable, but because it is enjoined of truth? So then, to get at a man to baptize him, let the keepers be deceived by lying, if truth bid it. But how can truth bid in order that a man may be baptized, that we should tell a lie, if chastity biddeth not, in order that a man be baptized, 500that we should commit whoredom? Now why doth chastity not bid this, but because this truth teacheth not? If then, save what truth teacheth, we ought not to do, when truth teacheth not even for the sake of baptizing a man to do what is contrary to chastity, how shall she teach us to do for the sake of baptizing a man what is contrary to herself, the truth? But like as eyes not strong enough to look upon the sun yet do gladly look upon the objects which are by the sun enlightened, so, souls which have already strength to delight in the beauty of chastity are yet not straightway able to consider in her very self that truth whence charity hath her light, insomuch that when it cometh to the doing of somewhat that is adverse to truth, they should so start back in horror as they do start back in horror if aught be proposed to be done that is adverse to chastity. But that son, who, receiving the word shall be far from perdition, and nothing false cometh forth of his mouth, 2467 accounts it as much debarred from him if, to the succoring of his fellow man he be urged to pass through a lie, as if it were through the deed of lewdness. And the Father heareth and granteth his prayer that he may avail without a lie to succor whom the Father Himself, Whose judgments are unsearchable, willeth to be succored. Such a son therefore so keeps watch against a lie, as he doth against sin. For indeed sometimes the name of lie is put for the name of sin: whence is that saying, “All men are liars.” 2468 For it is so said, as if it were said, “All men are sinners.” And that: “But if the truth of God hath abounded through my lie.”2469 And therefore, when he lies as
2465
Opponitur.
2466
Proponitur.
2467
Prov. xxix. 27. Lat.
2468
Ps. cxvi. 11. [See R.V.]
2469
Rom. iii. 7
Section 40
a man he sins as a man, and will be held by that sentence in which it is said, “All men are liars;” and, “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.”2470 But when nothing false cometh forth of his mouth, according to that grace will it so be, of which is said: “He that is born of God, sinneth not.” 2471 For were this nativity by itself alone in us, no man would sin: and when it shall be alone, no man will sin. But now, we as yet drag on that which we were born corruptible: although, according to that which 2472 we are new-born, if we walk aright, from day to day we are renewed inwardly. But when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, life will swallow it up wholly, and not a sting of death will remain.2473 Now this sting of death is sin.
2470
1 John i. 8
2471
1 John iii. 9
2472
2 Cor. iv. 16
2473
1 Cor. xv. 53–56. [See R.V.]
1082
Section 41
41. Either then we are to eschew lies by right doing, or to confess them by repenting: but not, while they unhappily abound in our living, to make them more by teaching also. But let him who thinks this, choose out whereby he may help his fellow man being in peril, to what safety he will, what kinds soever of lies; provided yet even of such men we obtain our demand, that upon no cause must we be carried on to false-swearing and to blaspheming. These wickednesses at least let us judge either greater than deeds of lewdness, or certainly not smaller. For indeed it is worth thinking of, that very often men, where they suspect them of adultery, challenge their wives to an oath: which surely they would not do, unless they believed that even they who were not afraid to perpetrate adultery, might be afraid of perjury. Because in fact also some lewd women who were not afraid by unlawful embraces to deceive their husbands, have been afraid to call God deceitfully to witness unto those same husbands whom they had deceived. What cause then can there be, that a chaste and religious person should be unwilling by adultery to help a man to baptism, yet be willing to help him by perjury, which even adulterers are wont to dread? And then, if it be shocking to do this by perjuring one’s self, how much rather by blaspheming? Far be it then from a Christian to deny and blaspheme Christ, that he may make another man a Christian; and by losing himself seek to find one, whom, if he teach him such things, he may cause to be lost when found. The book then which is called “the Pound,� thou must in this method refute and destroy; namely, that head of it in which they dogmatize that for the purpose of concealing religion a lie may be told, this thou shall understand must be the first to be amputated; in such manner, that their testimonies by which they labor to advance the Holy Books as patrons of their lies, thou must demonstrate partly not to be lies, partly, even those which are such, to be not meet to be imitated: and if infirmity usurps to herself thus much, that somewhat shall be venially permitted unto her which truth approve not, yet that thou unshakenly hold and defend, that in divine religion it is at no time whatever right to tell a lie. And, as for concealed heretics, that, as we are not to find out concealed adulterers by committing of adulteries, nor murderers by committing of murders, nor practisers of black arts 2474 by practising of black arts, so neither must we seek to find out liars by telling lies or blasphemers by blaspheming: according to the reasonings which we have in this volume so copiously set forth, that unto the goal of the same, which we fixed to be in this place, we have with difficulty come at last.
2474
Maleficos
Of the Work of Monks.
503
Of the Work of Monks. [De Opere Monachorum.]
Translated by Rev. H. Browne, M.A. Of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge; Late Principal of the Diocesan College, Chichester.
Translator’s Preface.
From the Retractations, ii. 21. To write the Book on the Work of Monks, the need which compelled me was this. When at Carthage there had begun to be monasteries, some maintained themselves by their own hands, obeying the Apostle; but others wished so to live on the oblations of the faithful, that doing no work whence they might either have or supply the necessaries of life, they thought and boasted that they did rather fulfill the precept of the Gospel, where the Lord saith, Behold the fowls of heaven, and the lilies of the field, (Matt. vi. 26). Whence also among laics of inferior purpose, but yet fervent in zeal, there had begun to arise tumultuous contests, whereby the Church was troubled, some defending the one, others the other part. Add to this, that some of them who were for not working, wore their hair long. Whence contentions between those who reprehended and those who justified the practice, were, according to their party affections, increased. On these accounts the venerable old Aurelius, Bishop of the Church of the same city, desired me to write somewhat of this matter; and I did so. This Book begins, “Jussioni tuæ, sancte frater Aureli.” This work is placed in the Retractationsnext after that “On the Good of Marriage” which belongs to the year 401.
Section 1
1. Thybidding, holy brother Aurelius, it was meet that I should comply withal, with so much the more devotion, by how much the more it became clear unto me Who, out of thee, did speak that bidding. For our Lord Jesus Christ, dwelling in thine inner part, and inspiring into thee a solicitude of fatherly and brotherly charity, whether our sons and brothers the monks, who neglect to obey blessed Paul the Apostle, when he saith, “If any will not work, neither let him eat,� 2475 are to have that license permitted unto them; He, assuming unto His work thy will and tongue, hath commanded me out of thee, that I should hereof write somewhat unto thee. May He therefore Himself be present with me also, that I may obey in such sort that from His gift, in the very usefulness of fruitful labor, I may understand that I am indeed obeying Him.
2475
2 Thess. iii. 10. [R.V.]
Section 2
2. First then, it is to be seen, what is said by persons of that profession, who will not work: then, if we shall find that they think not aright, what is meet to be said for their correction? “It is not,” say they, “of this corporal work in which either husbandmen or handicraftsmen labor, that the Apostle gave precept, when he said, ‘If any will not work, neither 504let him eat.’” For he could not be contrary to the Gospel, where the Lord Himself saith, “Therefore I say unto you, be not solicitous for your life, what ye shall eat, neither for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment? Consider the fowls of heaven, that they sow not, nor reap, nor gather into barns; and your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are not ye rather of more worth than they? But who of you by taking thought can add to his stature one cubit? And concerning raiment, why are ye solicitous? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they labor not, neither spin; but I say unto you, that not even Solomon in all his glory was arrayed like one of these. But if the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is cast into the oven, God so clotheth; how much more you, (O ye) of little faith! Be not therefore solicitous, saying, What shall we eat, or what shall we drink, or wherewithal shall we be clad? for all these things do the Gentiles seek. And your heavenly Father knoweth that ye need all these. But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness, and all these shall be added unto you. Be not therefore solicitous for the morrow: for the morrow will be solicitous for itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.”2476 Lo, say they, where the Lord biddeth us be without care concerning our food and clothing: how then could the Apostle think contrary to the Lord, that he should instruct us that we ought to be in such sort solicitous, what we shall eat, or what we shall drink, or wherewithal we shall be clothed, that he should even burden us with the arts, cares, labors of handicraftsmen? Wherefore in that he saith, “If any will not work, neither let him eat;” works spiritual, say they, are what we must understand: of which he saith in another place, “To each one according as the Lord hath given: I have planted, Apollos hath watered; but God gave the increase.”2477 And a little after, “Each one shall receive his reward according to his own labor. We are God’s fellow-workers; God’s husbandry, God’s building are ye: according to the grace which is given unto me, as a wise masterbuilder I have laid the foundation.” As therefore the Apostle worketh in planting, watering, building, and foundation-laying, in that way whoso will not work, let him not eat. For what profiteth in eating spiritually to be fed with the word of God, if he do not thence work others’ edification? As that slothful servant, what did it profit to receive a talent and to hide it, and not work for the Lord’s gain? Was it that it should be taken from him at last, and himself cast into outer darkness? So, say they, do we also. We read with the brethren, who come to us fatigued from the turmoil of the world, that with us, in the word of God, and in prayers,
2476
Matt. vi. 25–34
2477
1 Cor. iii. 5–10
Section 2
psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, they may find rest. We speak to them, console, exhort, building up in them whatever unto their life, according to their degree, we perceive to be lacking. Such works if we wrought not, with peril should we receive of the Lord our spiritual sustenance itself. For this is it the Apostle said, “If any one will not work, neither let him eat.” Thus do these men deem themselves to comply with the apostolic and evangelic sentence, when both the Gospel they believe to have given precept concerning the not caring for the corporal and temporal indigence of this life, and the Apostle concerning spiritual work and food to have said, “If any will not work, neither let him eat.”
1088
Section 3
3. Nor do they attend to this, that if another should say, that the Lord indeed, speaking in parables and in similitudes concerning spiritual food and clothing, did warn that not on these accounts should His servants be solicitous; (as He saith, “When they shall drag you to judgment-seats, take no thought what ye shall speak. For it will be given you in that hour what ye shall speak: but it is not ye that speak, but the Spirit of your Father that speaketh in you.”2478 For the discourse of spiritual wisdom is that for which He would not that they should take thought, promising that it should be given unto them, nothing solicitous thereof;) but the Apostle now, in manner Apostolical, more openly discoursing and more properly, than figuratively speaking, as is the case with much, indeed well-nigh all, in his Apostolic Epistles, said it properly of corporal work and food, “If any will not work, neither let him eat:” by those would their sentence be rendered doubtful, unless, considering the other words of the Lord, they should find somewhat whereby they might prove it to have been of not caring for corporal food and raiment that He spoke when He said, “Be not solicitous what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink, or wherewithal ye shall be clothed.” As, if they should observe what He saith, “For all these things do the Gentiles seek;” for there He shows that it was of very corporal and temporal things that He spake. So then, were this the only thing that the Apostle has said on this subject, “If any will not work, neither let him 505eat;” these words might be drawn over to another meaning: but since in many other places of his Epistles, what is his mind on this point, he most openly teaches, they superfluously essay to raise a mist before themselves and others, that what that charity adviseth they may not only refuse to do, but even to understand it themselves, or let it be understood by others; not fearing that which is written, “He would not understand that he might do good.”2479
2478
Matt. x. 19, 20
2479
Ps. xxxvi. 3, (35, 4.) “noluit intelligere ut bene ageret.”
Section 4
4. First then we ought to demonstrate that the blessed Apostle Paul willed the servants of God to work corporal works which should have as their end a great spiritual reward, for this purpose that they should need food and clothing of no man, but with their own hands should procure these for themselves: then, to show that those evangelical precepts from which some cherish not only their sloth but even arrogance, are not contrary to the Apostolical precept and example. Let us see then whence the Apostle came to this, that he should say, “If any will not work, neither let him eat,” and what he thereupon joineth on, that from the very context2480 of this lesson may appear his declared sentence. “We command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye withdraw yourselves from every brother that walketh unquietly, and not according to the tradition which they have received2481 of us. For yourselves know how ye ought to imitate us; for we were not unquiet among you, neither ate we bread of any man for nought, but in labor and travail night and day working that we might not burden any of you: not for that we have not power, but that we might give ourselves as a pattern to you in which ye should imitate us. For also when we were with you, we gave you this charge, that if any will not work, let him not eat. For we have heard that certain among you walk unquietly, working not at all, but being busy-bodies. Now them that are such we charge and beseech in our Lord Jesus Christ, that with silence they work, and eat their own bread.”2482 What can be said to these things, since, that none might thereafter have license to interpret this according to his wish, not according to charity, he by his own example hath taught what by precept he hath enjoined? To him, namely, as to an Apostle, a preacher of the Gospel, a soldier of Christ, a planter of the vineyard, a shepherd of the flock had the Lord appointed that he should live by the Gospel; and yet himself exacted not the pay which was his due, that he might make himself a pattern to them which desired what was not their due; as he saith to the Corinthians, “Who goeth a warfare at any time at his own charges? Who planteth a vineyard, and of its fruit eateth not? Who feedeth a flock, and of the milk of the flock partaketh not?”2483 Therefore, what was due to him, he would not receive, that by his example they might be checked, who, although not so ordained in the Church, did deem the like to be due to themselves. For what is it that he saith, “Neither ate we bread of any man for naught, but in labor and travail night and day working that we might not burden any of you; not for that we have not power, but that we might give ourselves as a pattern to you wherein ye should follow us?” Let them, therefore, hear to whom he hath given this precept, that is, they which have not this power which he had, to wit, that while only spiritually working they should eat bread by corporal labor not
2480
“Circumstantia.”
2481
“Acceperunt.”
2482
2 Thess. iii. 6–12
2483
1 Cor. ix. 1–7
Section 4 earned:2484 and as he says, “We charge and beseech in Christ that with silence they work and eat their own bread,” let them not dispute against the most manifest words of the Apostle, because this also pertaineth to that “silence” with which they ought to work and eat their own bread.
2484
Gratuitum
1091
Section 5 5. I would, however, proceed to a more searching 2485 and diligent consideration and handling of these words, had I not other places of his Epistles much more manifest, by comparing which, both these are made more clearly manifest, and if these were not in existence, those others would suffice. To the Corinthians, namely, writing of this same thing, he saith thus, “Am I not free? am I not an Apostle?2486 Have I not seen Christ Jesus our Lord? Are not ye my work in the Lord? If to others I am not an Apostle, to you assuredly I am. For the seal of mine Apostleship are ye in the Lord. My defense to them which interrogate me is this. Have we not power to eat and to drink? Have we not power to lead about a woman who is a sister, 2487 as also the other Apostles, and the brethren of the Lord, and Cephas?” See how first he shows what is lawful to him, and therefore lawful for that he is an Apostle. For with that he began, “Am I not free? am I not an Apostle?” and proves himself to be an Apostle, saying, “Have I not seen Christ Jesus our Lord? Are not ye my work in the Lord?” Which being proved, he shows that to be lawful to him which was so to the other Apostles; that is, that he should not work with his hands, but live by the Gospel, as the Lord appointed, 506which in what follows he has most openly demonstrated; for to this end did also faithful women which had earthly substance go with them, and minister unto them of their substance, that they might lack none of those things which pertain to the necessities of this life. Which thing blessed Paul demonstrates to be lawful indeed unto himself, as also the other Apostles did it, but that he had not chosen to use this power he afterwards mentions. This thing some not understanding, have interpreted not “a woman which is a sister,” when he said, “Have we not power to lead about a sister a woman;” but, “a sister a wife.” They were misled by the ambiguity of the Greek word, because both “wife” and “woman” is expressed in Greek by the same word. Though indeed the Apostle has so put this that they ought not to have made this mistake; for that he neither says “a woman” merely, but “a sister woman;” nor “to take” (as in marriage), but “to take about” (as on a journey). Howbeit other interpreters have not been misled by this ambiguity, and they have interpreted “woman” not “wife.”
2485
Enucleatius
2486
So Griesbach amd Lachmann. But text recept. “Am I not an Apostle? am I not free?”
2487
“Sororem mulierem.”
Section 6
6. Which thing whoso thinks cannot have been done by the Apostles, that with them women of holy conversation should go about wheresoever they preached the Gospel, that of their substance they might minister to their necessities, let him hear the Gospel, and learn how in this they did after the example of the Lord Himself. Our Lord, namely, according to the wont of His pity, sympathizing with the weak, albeit Angels might minister unto Him, had both a bag in which should be put the money which was bestowed doubtless by good and believing persons, as necessary for their living, (which bag He gave in charge to Judas, that even thieves, if we could not keep clear of such, we might learn to tolerate in the Church. 2488 He, namely, as is written of him, “stole what was put therein:”) and He willed that women should follow Him for the preparing and ministering what was necessary, showing what was due to evangelists and ministers of God as soldiers, from the people of God as the provincials; so that if any should not choose to use that which is due unto him, as Paul the Apostle did not choose, he might bestow the more upon the Church, by not exacting the pay which was due to him, but by earning his daily living of his own labors. For it had been said to the inn-keeper to whom that wounded man was brought, “Whatever thou layest out more, at my coming again I will repay thee.” 2489 The Apostle Paul, then, did “lay out more,”2490 in that he, as himself witnesseth, did at his own charges go a warfare. In the Gospel, namely, it is written, “Thereafter also Himself was making a journey through cities and villages preaching and evangelizing of the kingdom of God; and the twelve with Him, and certain women which had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities: Mary who is called Magdalene, out of whom seven devils had gone forth, and Joanna wife of Chuza Herod’s steward, and Susanna, and many others, who ministered unto Him of their substance.”2491 This example of the Lord the Apostles did imitate, to receive the meat which was due unto them; of which the same Lord most openly speaketh: “As ye go,” saith He, “preach, saying, The kingdom of heaven is at hand. Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, cast out devils. Freely have ye received, freely give. Possess not gold nor silver nor money in your purses, neither scrip on your journey, neither two coats, neither shoes, neither staff: for the workman is worthy of his meat.” 2492 Lo, where the Lord appointeth the very thing which the Apostle doth mention. For to this end He told them not to carry all those things, namely, that where need should be, they might receive them of them unto whom they preached the kingdom of God.
2488
“Auferebat.”
2489
Luke x. 35
2490
1 Cor. ix. 7–15; and 2 Cor. xi. 7
2491
Luke viii. 1–3. [See R.V.]
2492
Matt. x. 7–10
Section 7
7. But lest any should fancy that this was granted only to the twelve, see also what Luke relateth: “After these things,” saith he, “the Lord chose also other seventy and two, and sent them by two and two before His face into every city and place whither He was about to come. And He said unto them, The harvest indeed is plentiful, but the laborers few: ask ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that He would send forth laborers into His harvest. Go your ways: behold, I send you as lambs in the midst of wolves. Carry neither purse nor scrip nor shoes, and salute no man by the way. Into whatsoever house ye shall enter, first say, Peace be to this house. And if the son of peace be there, your peace shall rest upon him: if not, it shall return to you. And in the same house remain, eating and drinking such things as are with them: for the workman is worthy of his hire.” 2493 Here it appears that these things were not commanded, but permitted, that whoso should choose to use, might use that which was lawful unto him by the Lord’s appointment; but if any should not choose to use it, he would not do contrary to a thing commanded, but would be yielding up his own 507right, by demeaning himself more mercifully and laboriously in the Gospel in the which he would not accept even the hire which was his due. Otherwise the Apostle did contrary to a command of the Lord: for, after he had shown it to be lawful unto him, he hath straightway subjoined, “But yet have I not used this power.”
2493
Luke x. 1–7
Section 8
8. But let us return to the order of our discourse, and the whole of the passage itself of the Epistle let us diligently consider. “Have we not,” saith he, “leave2494 to eat and to drink? have we not leave to lead about a woman, a sister?” What leave meant he, but what the Lord gave unto them whom He sent to preach the kingdom of heaven, saying, “Those things which are (given) of them, eat ye;2495 for the workman is worthy of his hire;” and proposing Himself as an example of the same power, to Whom most faithful women did of their means minister such necessaries? But the Apostle Paul hath done more, from his fellow-Apostles alleging a proof of this license permitted of the Lord. For not as finding fault hath he subjoined, “As do also the other Apostles, and the brethren of the Lord, and Cephas;” but that hence he might show that this which he would not accept was a thing which, that it was lawful for him to accept was proved by the wont of the rest also his fellow-soldiers. “Or I only and Barnabas, have we not power to forbear working?” Lo, he hath taken away all doubt even from the slowest hearts, that they may understand of what working he speaks. For to what end saith he, “Or I only and Barnabas, have we not power to forbear working?” but for that all evangelists and ministers of God’s word had power received of the Lord, not to work with their hands, but to live by the Gospel, working only spiritual works in preaching of the kingdom of heaven and edifying of the peace of the Church? For no man can say that it is of that very spiritual working that the Apostle said, “Or I only and Barnabas, have we not power to forbear working?” For this power to forbear working all those had: let him say then, who essays to deprave and pervert precepts Apostolical; let him say, if he dares that all evangelists received of the Lord power to forbear preaching the Gospel. But if this is most absurd and mad to say, why will they not understand what is plain to all, that they did indeed receive power not to work, but works bodily, whereby to get a living, because “the workman is worthy of his hire,” as the Gospel speaks. It is not therefore that Paul and Barnabas only had not power to forbear working; but that all alike had this power of which these availed not themselves in “laying out more” upon the Church; so as in those places where they preached the Gospel they judged to be meet for the weak. And for this reason, that he might not seem to have found fault with his fellow-Apostles, he goes on to say: “Who goeth a warfare at any time at his own charges? Who feedeth a flock, and of the milk of the flock partaketh not? Speak I these things as a man? Saith not the Law the same? For in the law of Moses it is written, Thou shall not muzzle the ox that treadeth out the corn. Doth God care for oxen? Or saith he it for our sake altogether? For our sakes truly is it written, because he that plougheth ought to plough in hope, and he that thresheth in hope of partaking of the fruits.”2496 By these words the Apostle Paul sufficiently indicates, that it was no usurping
2494
Licentiam
2495
Luke x. 7. “Ea quæ ab ipsis sunt.”
2496
1 Cor. ix. 7–10. [See R.V.]
Section 8
unto themselves of aught beyond their due on the part of his fellow-Apostles, that they wrought not bodily, whence they might have the things which to this life are necessary, but as the Lord ordained, should, living by the Gospel, eat bread gratuitously given of them unto whom they were preaching a gratuitous grace. Their charges, namely, they did like soldiers receive, and of the fruit of the vineyard by them planted, they did, as need was, freely gather; and of the milk of the flock which they fed, they drank; and of the threshingfloor on which they threshed, they took their meat.
1096
Section 9
9. But he speaks more openly in the rest which he subjoins, and altogether removes all causes of doubting. “If we unto you,” saith he, “have sown spiritual things, is it a great matter if we shall reap your carnal things?” What are the spiritual things which he sowed, but the word and mystery of the sacrament of the kingdom of heaven? And what the carnal things which he saith he had a right to reap, but these temporal things which are indulged to the life and indigency of the flesh? These however being due to him he declares that he had not sought nor accepted, lest he should cause any impediment to the Gospel of Christ. What work remaineth for us to understand him to have wrought, whereby he should get his living, but bodily work, with his own bodily and visible hands? For if from spiritual work he sought food and clothing, that is, to receive these of them whom he was edifying in the Gospel, he could not, as he does, go on to say, “If others be partakers of this power over you, 508are not we rather? Nevertheless, we have not used this power, but tolerate all things that we may not cause any hindrance to the Gospel of Christ.”2497 What power doth he say he had not used, but that which he had over them, received of the Lord, the power to reap their carnal things, in order to the sustenance of this life which is lived in the flesh? Of which power were others also partakers, who did not at the first announce the Gospel to them, but came thereafter to their Church preaching the self-same. Therefore, when he had said, “If we have sown unto you spiritual things, is it a great matter if we shall reap your carnal things?” he subjoined, “If others be partakers of this power over you, are not we rather?” And when he had demonstrated what power they had: “Nevertheless we have not used,” saith he, “this power; but we put up with all things, lest we should cause any impediment to the Gospel of Christ.” Let therefore these persons say in what way from spiritual work the Apostle had carnal food, when himself openly says that he had not used this power. But if from spiritual work he had not carnal food, it remains that from bodily work he had it and thereof saith, “Neither did we eat any man’s bread for nought; but wrought with labor and travail night and day, that we might not be chargeable to any of you: not because we have not power, but to make ourselves an example unto you to follow us. 2498 All things,” saith he, “we suffer, lest we cause any hindrance to the Gospel of Christ.”
2497
1 Cor. ix. 12
2498
2 Thess. iii. 8, 9
Section 10
10. And he comes back again, and in all ways, over and over again, enforceth what he hath the right to do, yet doeth not. “Do ye not know,” saith he, “that they which work in the temple, eat of the things which are in the temple? they which serve the altar, have their share with the altar? So hath the Lord ordained for them which preach the Gospel, to live of the Gospel. But I have used none of these things.” 2499 What more open than this? what more clear? I fear lest haply, while I discourse wishing to expound this, that become obscure which in itself is bright and clear. For they who understand not these words, or feign not to understand, do much less understand mine, or profess to understand: unless perchance they do therefore quickly understand ours, because it is allowed them to deride them being understood; but concerning the Apostle’s words this same is not allowed. For this reason, where they cannot interpret them otherwise according to their own sentence, be it ever so clear and manifest, they answer that it is obscure and uncertain because wrong and perverse they dare not call it. Cries the man of God, “The Lord hath ordained for them which preach the Gospel, of this Gospel to live; but I have used none of these things;” and flesh and blood essayeth to make crooked what is straight; what open, to shut; what serene, to cloud over. “It was,” saith it, “spiritual work that he was doing, and thereof did he live.” If it be so, of the Gospel did he live: why then doth he say, “The Lord hath ordained for them which preach the Gospel, of the Gospel to live; but I have used none of these things?” Or if this very word, “to live” which is here used, they will needs also interpret in respect of spiritual life, then had the Apostle no hope towards God, in that he did not live by the Gospel, because he hath said, “I have used none of these things.” Wherefore, that he should have certain hope of life eternal the Apostle did of the Gospel in any wise spiritually live. What therefore he saith, “But I have used none of these things,” doth without doubt make to be understood of this life which is in the flesh, that which he hath said of the Lord’s ordaining to them which preach the Gospel, that of the Gospel they should live; that is, this life which hath need of food and clothing, they by the Gospel shall sustain; as above he said of his fellowapostles; of whom the Lord Himself saith, “The workman is worthy of his meat;” and, “The workman is worthy of his hire.” This meat, then, and this hire of the sustenance of this life, due to evangelists, this of them to whom he evangelized the Apostle accepted not, saying a true thing, “I have used none of these things.”
2499
1 Cor. ix. 13–15
Section 11
11. And he goes on, and adjoins, lest perchance any should imagine that he only therefore received not, because they had not given: “But I have not written these things that they may be so done unto me: good is it for me rather to die than that any make void my glory.”2500 What glory, unless that which he wished to have with God, while in Christ suffering with the weak? As he is presently about to say most openly; “For if I shall have preached the Gospel, there is not to me any glory: for necessity is laid upon me;”2501 that is, of sustaining this life. “For woe will be to me,” he saith, “if I preach not the Gospel:” that is, to my own will shall I forbear to preach the Gospel, because I shall be tormented with hunger, and shall not have whereof to live. For he goes on, and says; “For if willingly I do this, I have a reward.” 509By his doing it willingly, he means, if he do it uncompelled by any necessity of supporting this present life; and for this he hath reward, to wit, with God, of glory everlasting. “But if unwilling,” saith he, “a dispensation is entrusted unto me:”2502 that is, if being unwilling, I am by necessity of passing through this present life, compelled to preach the Gospel, “a dispensation is entrusted unto me;” to wit, that by my dispensation as a steward, because Christ, because the truth, is that which I preach, howsoever because of occasion, howsoever seeking mine own, howsoever by necessity of earthly emolument compelled so to do, other men do profit, but I have not that glorious and everlasting reward with God. “What then,” saith he, “shall be my reward?” He saith it as asking a question: therefore the pronunciation must be suspended, until he give the answer. Which the more easily to understand, let, as it were, us put the question to him, “What, then, will be thy reward, O Apostle, when that earthly reward due to good evangelists, not for its sake evangelizing, but yet taking it as the consequence and offered to them by the Lord’s appointment, thou acceptest not? What shall be thy reward then?” See what he replies: “That, preaching the Gospel, I may make the Gospel of Christ without charge;” that is, that the Gospel may not be to believers expensive, lest they account that for this end is the Gospel to be preached to them, that its preachers should seem as it were to sell it. And yet he comes back again and again, that he may show what, by warrant of the Lord, he hath a right unto, yet doeth not: “that I abuse not,” saith he, “my power in the Gospel.”2503
2500
1 Cor. ix. 15
2501
1 Cor. ix. 16. [See R.V.]
2502
1 Cor. ix. 17
2503
1 Cor. ix. 18
Section 12
12. But now, that as bearing with the infirmity of men he did this, let us hear what follows: “For though I be free from all men, yet have I made myself servant unto all, that I might gain the more. To them that are under the law, I became as under the law, that I might gain them that are under the law; to them that are without law, as without law, (being not without law to God, but under the law to Christ,) that I might gain them that are without law.”2504 Which thing he did, not with craftiness of simulation, but with mercy of compassion with others; that is, not as if to feign himself a Jew, as some have thought, in that he observed at Jerusalem the things prescribed by the old law. 2505 For he did this in accordance with his free and openly declared sentence, in which he says, “Is any called being circumcised? let him not become uncircumcised.” That is, let him not so live, as though he had become uncircumcised, and covered that which he had laid bare: as in another place he saith, “Thy 2506 circumcision is become uncircumcision.” It was in accordance then with this his sentence, in which he saith, “Is any called being circumcised? let him not become uncircumcised. Is any called in uncircumcision? let him not be circumcised;”2507 that he did those things, in which, by persons not understanding and not enough attending, he has been accounted to have feigned. For he was a Jew, and was called being circumcised; therefore he would not become uncircumcised; that is, would not so live as if he had not been circumcised. For this he now had in his power to do. And “under” the law, indeed, he was not as they who servilely wrought it; but yet “in” the law of God and of Christ. For that law was not one, and the law of God another, as accursed Manicheans are wont to say. Otherwise, if when he did those things he is to be accounted to have feigned, then he feigned himself also a pagan, and sacrificed to idols, because he says that he became to those without law, as without law. By whom, doubtless, he would have us to understand no other than Gentiles whom we call Pagans. It is one thing therefore to be under the law, another in the law, another without law. “Under the law,” the carnal Jews; “in the law,” spiritual men, both Jews and Christians; (whence the former kept that custom of their fathers, but did not impose unwonted burdens upon the believing Gentiles; and therefore they also were circumcised;) but “without law,” are the Gentiles which have not yet believed, to whom yet the Apostle testifieth himself to have become like, through sympathy of a merciful heart, not simulation of a changeable exterior; that is, that he might in that way succor carnal Jew or Pagan, in which way himself, if he were that, would have wished to be succored: bearing, to wit, their infirmity, in likeness of compassion, not deceiving in fiction of lying; as he straightway goes on, and says, “I became to the weak as weak, that I might gain the weak.”2508 For it was from this point that he was 2504
1 Cor. ix. 19–21
2505
S. Jerome in Ep. inter Augustinianas, 75, n. 9–11.
2506
Rom. ii. 25
2507
1 Cor. vii. 18
2508
1 Cor. ix. 22
Section 12
speaking, in saying all those other things. As then, that he became to the weak as weak, was no lie; so all those other things above rehearsed. For what doth he mean his weakness towards the weak to have been, but that of suffering with them, insomuch that, lest he should appear 510to be a seller of the Gospel, and by falling into an ill suspicion with ignorant men, should hinder the course of God’s word, he would not accept what by warrant of the Lord was his due? Which if he were willing to accept, he would not in any wise lie, because it was truly due to him; and for that he would not, he did not in any wise lie. For he did not say, it was not due; but he showed it to be due, and that being due he had not used it, and professed that he would not at all use it, in that very thing becoming weak; namely, in that he would not use his power; being, to wit, with so merciful affection endued, that he thought in what way he should wish to be dealt withal, if himself also were made so weak, that possibly, if he should see them by whom the Gospel was preached to him, accepting their charges, he might think it a bringing of wares to market, and hold them in suspicion accordingly.
1101
Section 13
13. Of this weakness of his, he saith in another place, “We made ourselves small among you, even as a nurse cherisheth her children.”2509 For in that passage the context indicates this: “For neither at any time,” saith he, “used we flattering words, as ye know, nor an occasion of covetousness; God is witness: nor of men sought we glory, neither of you, nor yet of others when we might have been burdensome to you as the Apostles of Christ: but we made ourselves small among you, even as a nurse cherisheth her children.” What therefore he saith to the Corinthians, that he had power of his apostleship, as also the other Apostles, which power he testifieth that he had not used; this also he saith in that place to the Thessalonians, “When we might have been burdensome to you as Christ’s Apostles:” according to that the Lord saith, “The workman is worthy of his hire.” For that of this he speaks, is indicated by that which he above set down, “Neither for occasion of coveteousness, God is witness.” By reason, namely, of this which by right of the Lord’s appointment was due to good evangelists, who not for its sake do evangelize but seek the kingdom of God, so that all these things should be added unto them, others were taking advantage thereof, of whom he also saith, “For they that are such serve not God, but their own belly.” 2510 From whom the Apostle wished so to cut off this occasion, that even what was justly due to him, he would forego. For this himself doth openly show in the second to the Corinthians, speaking of other Churches supplying his necessities. For he had come, as it appears, to so great indigence, that from distant Churches were sent supplies for his necessities, while yet from them among whom he was, he accepted nothing of that kind. “Have I committed a sin, “saith he, “in humbling myself that ye might be exalted, because I have preached to you the Gospel of God freely? Other Churches I despoiled, taking wages of them to minister unto you: and when I was present with you and wanted, to no man was I burdensome. For that which was lacking to me the brethren which came from Macedonia supplied, and in all things I have kept myself from being burdensome to you, and will keep myself. It is the truth of Christ in me, that this glory shall not be infringed in me in the regions of Achaia. Wherefore? because I love you not? God knoweth. But what I do, I also mean to do, that I may cut off occasion from them which seek occasion, that wherein they glory they may be found as also we.”2511 Of this occasion, therefore, which he here saith that he cuts off, he would have that understood which he saith in the former place, “Neither for occasion of covetousness, God is witness.” And what he here saith, “In humbling myself that ye might be exalted:” this in the first to the same Corinthians, “I became to the weak as weak;” this to the Thessalonians, 2512 “I became small among you, as a nurse cherisheth her children.” Now then observe what
2509
“Parvuli.” 1 Thess. ii. 5–7. [See R.V.]
2510
Rom. xvi. 18
2511
2 Cor. xi. 7–12. [See R.V.]
2512
1 Thess. ii. 7–9
Section 13
follows: “So,” saith he, “being affectionately desirous of you, we are minded to impart unto you not alone the Gospel of God, but our own souls also; because ye are become most dear to us. For ye remember, brethren, our labor and toil, night and day working, that we might not burden any of you.” For this he said above, “When we might be burdensome to you, as Christ’s Apostles.” Because, then, the weak were in peril, lest, agitated by false suspicions, they should hate an, as it were, venal Gospel, for this cause, trembling for them as with a father’s and a mother’s bowels of compassion, did he this thing. So too in the Acts of the Apostles he speaks the same thing, when, sending from Miletus to Ephesus, he had called thence the presbyters of the Church, to whom, among much else, “Silver,” saith he, “and gold, or apparel of no man have I coveted; yourselves know, that to my necessities and theirs who were with me these hands have ministered. In all things have I shown you that so laboring it behoveth to help the weak, mindful also of the words of the Lord Jesus, for that He said, More blessed is it rather to give than to receive.”2513
2513
Acts xx. 33–35
1103
Section 14
14. Here peradventure some man may say, “If it was bodily work that the Apostle wrought, whereby to sustain this life, what was that same work, and when did he find time for it, both to work and to preach the Gospel?” To whom I answer: Suppose I do not know; nevertheless that he did bodily work, and thereby lived in the flesh, and did not use the power which the Lord had given to the Apostles, that preaching the Gospel he should live by the Gospel, those things above-said do without all doubt bear witness. For it is not either in one place or briefly said, that it should be possible for any most astute arguer with all his tergiversation to traduce and pervert it to another meaning. Since then so great an authority, with so mighty and so frequent blows mauling the gainsayers, doth break in pieces their contrariness, why ask they of me either what sort of work he did, or when he did it? One thing I know, that he neither did steal, nor was a housebreaker or highwayman, nor chariotdriver or hunter or player, nor given to filthy lucre: but innocently and honestly wrought things which are fitted for the uses of men; such as are the works of carpenters, builders, shoemakers, peasants, and such like. For honesty itself reprehends not what their pride doth reprehend, who love to be called, but love not to be, honest. The Apostle then would not disdain either to take in hand any work of peasants, or to be employed in the labor of craftsmen. For he who saith, “Be ye without offense to Jews and to Greeks and to the Church of God,”2514 before what men he could possibly stand abashed, I know not. If they shall say, the Jews; the Patriarchs fed cattle: if the Greeks, whom we call also Pagans; they have had philosophers, held in high honor, who were shoemakers: if the Church of God; that just man, elect to the testimony of a conjugal and ever-during virginity, to whom was betrothed the Virgin Mary who bore Christ, was a carpenter. 2515 Whatever therefore of these with innocence and without fraud men do work, is good. For the Apostle himself takes precaution of this, that no man through necessity of sustaining life should turn aside to evil works. “Let him that stole,” saith he, “steal no more; but rather let him labor good with his hands, that he may have to impart to him that needeth.” 2516 This then is enough to know, that also in the very work of the body the Apostle did work that which is good. 511
2514
1 Cor. x. 32
2515
Matt. xiii. 55
2516
Eph. iv. 28
Section 15
15. But when he might use to work, that is, in what spaces of time, that he might not be hindered from preaching the Gospel, who can make out? Though, truly, that he wrought at hours of both day and night himself hath not left untold. 2517 Yet these men truly, who as though very full of business and occupation inquire about the time of working, what do they? Have they from Jerusalem round about even to Illyricum filled the lands with the Gospel?2518 or whatever of barbarian nations hath remained yet to be gone unto, and to be filled of the peace of the Church, have they undertaken? We know them into a certain holy society, most leisurely gathered together. A marvellous thing did the Apostle, that in very deed amid his so great care of all the Churches, both planted and to be planted, to his care and labor appertaining, he did also with his hands work: yet on that account, when he was with the Corinthians, and wanted, was burdensome to no man of those among whom he was, but altogether that which was lacking to him the brethren which came from Macedonia supplied.2519
2517
1 Thess. ii. 9; 2 Thess. iii. 8
2518
Rom. xv. 19
2519
2 Cor. xi. 9
Section 16
16. For he himself also, with an eye to the like necessities of saints, who, although they obey his precepts, “that with silence they work and eat their own bread,” may yet from many causes stand in need of somewhat by way of supplement to the like sustenance, therefore, after he had thus said, teaching and premonishing, “Now them which are such we command and beseech in our Lord Jesus Christ, that with silence they work and eat their own bread;”2520 yet, lest they which had whereof they might supply the needs of the servants of God, should hence take occasion to wax lazy, providing against this he hath straightway added, “But ye, brethren, become not weak in showing beneficence.”2521 And when he was writing to Titus, saying, “Zenas the lawyer and Apollos do thou diligently send forward, that nothing may be wanting to them;”2522 that he might show from what quarter nothing ought to be wanting to them, he straightway subjoined, “But let ours also learn to maintain 2524 good works2523 for necessary use, that they be not unfruitful.” In the case of Timothy also, whom he calls his own most true2525 son, because he knew him weak of body, (as he shows, in advising him not to drink water, but to use a little wine for his stomach’s sake and his often infirmities,) lest then haply, because in bodily work he could not labor, he being un512willing to stand in need of daily food at their hands, unto whom he ministered the Gospel, should seek some business in which the stress of his mind would become entangled; (for it is one thing to labor in body, with the mind free, as does a handicraftsman, if he be not fraudulent and avaricious and greedy of his own private gain; but another thing, to occupy the mind itself with cares of collecting money without the body’s labor, as do either dealers, or bailiffs, or undertakers, for these with care of the mind conduct their business, not with their hands do work, and in that regard occupy their mind itself with solicitude of getting;) lest then Timothy should fall upon such like ways, because from weakness of body he could not work with his hands, he thus exhorts, admonishes, and comforts him: “Labor,” saith he, “as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. No man, going a warfare for God, entangleth himself with secular business; that he may please Him to whom he hath proved himself.2526 For he that striveth for masteries, is not crowned except he strive lawfully.”2527 Hereupon, lest the 2528 other should be put to straits, saying, “Dig I cannot, to beg I am ashamed,” he adjoined,
2520
2 Thess. iii. 12, 13
2521
Infirmari benefacientes
2522
Tit. iii. 13, 14
2523
Bonis operibus præesse,καλῶν ἔργων προΐστασθαι . E.V. in margin, “profess honest trades.”
2524
1 Tim. i. 2
2525
“Germanissimum.” 1 Tim. v. 23
2526
Cui se probavit
2527
2 Tim. ii. 3–6
2528
Luke xvi. 3. [See R.V.]
Section 16
“The husbandman that laboreth must be first partaker of the fruits:” according to that which he had said to the Corinthians, “Who goeth a warfare any time at his own charges? Who planteth a vineyard, and eateth not of the fruit thereof? Who feedeth a flock, and partaketh not of the milk of the flock?” 2529 Thus did he make to be without care a chaste evangelist, not to that end working as an evangelist that he might sell the Gospel, but yet not, having strength to supply unto himself with his own hands the necessities of this life; for that he should understand whatever being necessary for himself he was taking of them whom as provincials he as a soldier was serving, and whom as a vineyard he was culturing, or as a flock was feeding, to be not matter of mendicity, but of power.
2529
1 Cor. ix. 7
1107
Section 17
17. On account then of these either occupations of the servants of God, or bodily infirmities, which cannot be altogether wanting, not only doth the Apostle permit the needs of saints to be supplied by good believers, but also most wholesomely exhorteth. For, setting apart that power, which he saith himself had not used, which yet that the faithful must serve unto, he enjoins, saying, “Let him that is catechised in the word, communicate unto him that doth catechise him, in all good things:” 2530 setting apart, then, this power, which that the preachers of the word have over them to whom they preach, he often testifieth; speaking, moreover, of the saints who had sold all that they had and distributed the same, and were dwelling at Jerusalem in an holy communion of life, not saying that any thing was their own, to whom all things were in common,2531 and their soul and heart one in the Lord: that these by the Churches of the Gentiles should have what they needed bestowed upon them, he chargeth and exhorteth. Thence is also that to the Romans: “Now therefore I will go unto Jerusalem, to minister unto the saints. For it hath pleased Macedonia and Achaia to make a certain contribution for the poor of the saints which are at Jerusalem. For it hath pleased them; and their debtors they are. For if in their spiritual things the Gentiles have communicated, they ought also in carnal things to minister unto them.”2532 This is like that which he says to the Corinthians: “If we have sown unto you spiritual things, is it a great thing if we reap your carnal things?” 2533 Also to the Corinthians in the second Epistle: “Moreover, brethren, we do you to wit of the grace of God bestowed on the Churches of Macedonia; how that in a great trial of affliction the abundance of their joy and their deep poverty abounded in the riches of their liberality; for to their power, I bear record, yea, and beyond their power, they were willing of themselves; with many prayers beseeching of us the grace and the fellowship of the ministering to the saints: and not as we hoped, but first they gave their own selves to the Lord, and unto us by the will of God, insomuch, that we desired Titus, that as he had begun, so he would also finish in you the same grace also. But as ye abound in every thing, in faith, and utterance, and knowledge, and in all diligence, and in your love to us, see that ye abound in this grace also. I speak not by commandment, but by occasion of the forwardness of others, and to prove the exceeding dearness of your love. For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that ye through His poverty might be made rich. And herein I give advice: for this is expedient for you, who have begun before, not only to do, but also to be willing a year ago; now therefore perfect it in the doing; that as there is a readiness to will, so of performance also out of that which each hath. For if there be first a ready mind, it is accept-
2530
Gal. vi. 6
2531
Acts ii. 44: iv. 32
2532
Rom. xv. 25–27
2533
1 Cor. ix. 11
Section 17
able according to that a man hath, not according to that he hath not. Not, namely, that 513others may have ease, and ye straits; but by an equality, that now at this time your abundance may be a supply for their want, that their abundance also may become a supply for your want: that there may be equality, as it is written, He that had gathered much had nothing over; and he that had gathered little had no lack. But thanks be to God, which put the same earnest care for you into the heart of Titus: for indeed he accepted the exhortation; but being more forward, of his own accord he went forth unto you. And we have sent with him the brother, whose praise is in the Gospel throughout all the Churches; and not that only, but he was also ordained of the Churches as a companion of our travail, with this grace which is administered by us to the glory of the Lord, and our ready mind: avoiding this, that no man should blame us in this abundance which is administered by us. For we provide for honest things, not only in the sight of the Lord, but also in the sight of men.” 2534 In these words appeareth how much 2535 the Apostle willed it not only to be the care of the holy congregations2536 to minister necessaries to the holy servants of God, giving counsel in this, because this was profitable more to the persons themselves who did this, than to them towards whom they did it, (for to those another thing was profitable, that is, that they should make of this service of their brethren towards them an holy use, and not with an eye to this serve God, nor take these things but to supply necessity, not to feed laziness:) but likewise his own care the blessed Apostle saith to be so great in this ministration which was now in transmitting through Titus, that a companion of his journey was on this account, he tells us, ordained by the Churches, a man of God well reported of, “whose praise,” says he, “is in the Gospel throughout all the Churches.” And to this end, he says, was the same ordained to be his companion, that he might avoid men’s reprehensions, lest, without witness of saints associated with him in this ministry, he should be thought by weak and impious men to receive for himself and turn aside into his own bosom, what he was receiving for supplying the necessities of the saints, by him to be brought and distributed to the needy.
2534
2 Cor. viii. 1–21
2535
Read perhaps “quantam;” “how great the Apostle willed to be the care.”
2536
Plebium
1109
Section 18
18. And a little after he saith, “For as touching the ministering to the saints, it is superfluous for me to write to you. For I know the forwardness of your mind, for which I boast of you to them of Macedonia, that Achaia was ready a year ago; and your zeal hath provoked very many. Yet have we sent the brethren, lest our boasting of you should be in vain in this behalf; that, as I said, ye may be ready: lest haply if they of Macedonia come with me, and find you unprepared, we (that we say not, ye) should be ashamed in this substance. Therefore I thought it necessary to exhort the brethren, that they would go before unto you, and make up beforehand this your long promised benediction, that the same might be ready, as benediction, and not as covetousness. But this I say, He which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly; and he which soweth in benediction shall reap also in benediction. Every man according as he hath purposed in his heart, not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loveth a cheerful giver. And God is able to make all grace abound in you; that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work: as it is written, He hath dispersed abroad; he hath given to the poor: his righteousness remaineth for ever. But He that ministereth seed to the sower will both minister bread for your food, and multiply your seed sown, and increase the growing fruits of your righteousness; that ye may be enriched in every thing to all bountifulness, which causeth through us thanksgiving to God: for the administration of this service not only supplieth the want of the saints, but makes them also to abound by thanksgiving unto God of many, while by the proof of this ministration they glorify God for the obedience of your confession unto the Gospel of Christ, and for your liberal distribution unto them, and unto all men; and in the praying for you of them which long after you for the excellent grace of God in you. Thanks be unto God for His unspeakable gift.”2537 In what richness of holy gladness must the Apostle have been steeped, while he speaks of the mutual supply of the need of Christ’s soldiers and His other subjects, 2538 on the one part of carnal things to those, on the other of spiritual things to these, to exclaim as he does, and as it were in repletion of holy joys to burst out 2539 with, “Thanks be to God for His unspeakable gift!”
2537
2 Cor. ix
2538
Provincialium
2539
“Eructuare.”
Section 19
19. As therefore the Apostle, nay rather the Spirit of God possessing and filling and actuating his heart, ceased not to exhort the faithful who had such substance, that nothing should be lacking to the necessities of the servants of God, who wished to hold a more lofty degree of sanctity in the Church, in cutting off all ties of secular hope, and dedicating a mind 514at liberty to their godly service of warfare: likewise ought themselves also to obey his precepts, in sympathizing with the weak, and unshackled by love of private wealth, to labor with their hands for the common good, and submit to their superiors without a murmur; that there may be made up for them out of the oblations of good believers that which, while they labor and do some work whereby they may get their living, yet still by reason of bodily infirmities of some, and by reason of ecclesiastical occupations or erudition of the doctrine which bringeth salvation, they shall account to be lacking.
Section 20
20. For what these men are about, who will not do bodily work, to what thing they give up their time, I should like to know. “To prayers,” say they, “and psalms, and reading, and the word of God.” A holy life, unquestionably, and in sweetness of Christ worthy of praise; but then, if from these we are not to be called off, neither must we eat, nor our daily viands themselves be prepared, that they may be put before us and taken. Now if to find time for these things the servants of God at certain intervals of times by very infirmity are of necessity compelled, why do we not make account of some portions of times to be allotted also to the observance of Apostolical precepts? For one single prayer of one who obeyeth is sooner heard than ten thousand of a despiser. As for divine songs, however, they can easily, even while working with their hands, say them, and like as rowers with a boat-song,2540 so with godly melody cheer up their very toil. Or are we ignorant how it is with all workmen, to what vanities, and for the most part even filthinesses, of theatrical fables they give their hearts and tongues, while their hands recede not from their work? What then hinders a servant of God while working with his hands to meditate in the law of the Lord, and sing unto the Name of the Lord Most High?2541 provided, of course, that to learn what he may by memory rehearse, he have times set apart. For to this end also those good works of the faithful ought not to be lacking, for resource of making up what is necessary, that the hours which are so taken up in storing of the mind that those bodily works cannot be carried on, may not oppress with want. But they which say that they give up their time to reading, do they not there find that which the Apostle enjoineth? Then what perversity is this, to refuse to be ruled by his reading while he wishes to give up his time thereto; and that he may spend more time in reading what is good, therefore to refuse to do what is read? For who knows not that each doth the more quickly profit when he reads good things, the quicker he is in doing what he reads?
2540
Celeumate
2541
Ps. i. 2; xiii. 6
Section 21
21. Moreover, if discourse must be bestowed upon any, and this so take up the speaker that he have not time to work with his hands, are all in the monastery able to hold discourse unto brethren which come unto them from another kind of life, whether it be to expound the divine lessons, or concerning any questions which may be put, to reason in an wholesome manner? Then since not all have the ability, why upon this pretext do all want to have nothing else to do? Although even if all were able, they ought to do it by turns; not only that the rest might not be taken up from necessary works, but also because it sufficeth that to many hearers there be one speaker. To come now to the Apostle; how could he find time to work with his hands, unless for the bestowing of the word of God he had certain set times? And indeed God hath not willed this either to be hidden from us. For both of what craft he was a workman, and at what times he was taken up with dispensing the Gospel, holy Scripture has not left untold. Namely, when the day of his departure caused him to be in haste, being at Troas, even on the first day of the week when the brethren were assembled to break bread, such was his earnestness, and so necessary the disputation, that his discourse was prolonged even until midnight,2542 as though it had slipped from their minds that on that day it was not a fast: 2543 but when he was making longer stay in any place and disputing daily, who can doubt that he had certain hours set apart for this office? For at Athens, because he had there found most studious inquirers of things, it is thus written of him: “He disputed 2544 therefore with the Jews in the synagogue, and with the Gentile inhabitants in the market 2545 every day to those who were there.” Not, namely, in the synagogue every day, for there it was his custom to discourse on the sabbath; but “in the market,” saith he, “every day;” by reason, doubtless, of the studiousness of the Athenians. For so it follows: “Certain however of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers conferred with him.” And a little after, it says: “Now 515the Athenians and strangers which were there spent their time in nothing else but either to tell or to hear some new thing.” Let us suppose him all those days that he was at Athens not to have worked: on this account, indeed, was his need supplied from Macedonia, as he says in the second to the Corinthians:2546 though in fact he could work both at other hours and of nights, because he was so strong in both mind and body. But when he had gone from Athens, let us see what says the Scripture: “He disputed,” saith it, “in the synagogue every sabbath;”2547 this at Corinth. In Troas, however, where through necessity of his departure 2542
Acts xx. 7
2543
S. Augustin therefore assumes that the Christians of the Apostolic age did not break their fast before
receiving the Eucharist. See St. Chrys. on Stat. Hom. ix. § 2. Tr. p. 159, and note g. 2544
. Τοῖς ᾽Ιουδαίοις καὶ τοῖς σεβομένοις καὶ ἐν τῇ ἀγορᾷ κατὰ πᾶσαν ἡμέραν πρὸς τοὺς παρατυγχάνοντας
For καὶ τοῖς σεβομένοιςAug. has et Gentibus incolis: for which some mss. have Gentibus in viculis. 2545
Acts xvii. 17, 18, 21
2546
2 Cor. xi. 9
2547
Acts xviii. 4
Section 21
being close at hand, his discourse was protracted until midnight, it was the first day of the week, which is called the Lord’s Day: whence we understand that he was not with Jews but with Christians; when also the narrator himself saith they were gathered together to break bread. And indeed this same is the best management, that all things be distributed to their times and be done in order, lest becoming ravelled in perplexing entanglements, they throw our human mind into confusion.
1114
Section 22
22. There also is said at what work the Apostle wrought. “After these things,” it says, “he departed from Athens and came to Corinth; and having found a certain Jew, by name Aquila, of Pontus by birth, lately come from Italy, and Priscilla his wife, because that Claudius had ordered all Jews to depart from Rome, he came unto them, and because he 2548 was of the same craft he abode with them, doing work: for they were tent-makers.” This if they shall essay to interpret allegorically, they show what proficients they be in ecclesiastical learning, on which they glory that they bestow all their time. And, at the least, touching those sayings above recited, “Or I only and Barnabas, have we not power to forbear working?” and, “We have not used this power;” 2549 and, “When we might be burdensome to you, as Apostles of Christ,” 2550 and, “Night and day working that we might not burden any of you;”2551 and, “The Lord hath ordained for them which preach the Gospel, of the Gospel to live; but I have used none of these things:” 2552 and the rest of this kind, let them either expound otherwise, or if by most clear shining light of truth they be put to it, let them understand and obey; or if to obey they be either unwilling or unable, at least let them own them which be willing, to be better, and them which be also able, to be happier men than they. For it is one thing to plead infirmity of body, either truly alleged, or falsely pretended: but another so to be deceived and so to deceive, that it shall even be thought a proof of righteousness obtaining more mightily in servants of God, if laziness have gotten power to reign among a set of ignorant men. He, namely, who shows a true infirmity of body, must be humanely dealt withal; he who pretends a false one, and cannot be convicted, must be left unto God: yet neither of them fixeth a pernicious rule; because a good servant of God both serves his manifestly infirm brother; and, when the other deceives, if he believes him because he does not think him a bad man, he does not imitate him that he may be bad; and if he believe him not; he thinks him deceitful, and does, nevertheless, not imitate him. But when a man says, “This is true righteousness, that by doing no bodily work we imitate the birds of the air, because he who shall do any such work, goes against the Gospel:” whoso being infirm in mind hears and believes this, that person, not for that he so bestows all his time, but for that he so erreth, must be mourned over.
2548
Acts xviii. 1–3
2549
1 Cor. ix. 6–12
2550
1 Thess. ii. 6
2551
2 Thess. iii. 8
2552
1 Cor. ix. 14, 15
Section 23
23. Hence arises another question; for peradventure one may say, “What then? did the other Apostles, and the brethren of the Lord, and Cephas, sin, in that they did not work? Or did they occasion an hindrance to the Gospel, because blessed Paul saith that he had not used this power on purpose that he might not cause any hindrance to the Gospel of Christ? For if they sinned because they wrought not, then had they not received power not to work, but to live instead by the Gospel. But if they had received this power, by ordinance of the Lord, that they which preach the Gospel should live by the Gospel; and by His saying, “The workman is worthy of his meat;” which power Paul, laying out somewhat more,2553 would not use; then truly they sinned not. If they sinned not, they caused no hindrance. For it is not to be thought no sin to hinder the Gospel. 2554 If this be so, “to us also,” say they, “it is free either to use or not to use this power.”
2553
Amplius aliquid erogans
2554
1 Cor. ix. 12
Section 24
24. This question I should briefly solve, if I should say, because I should also justly say, that we must believe the Apostle. For he himself knew why in the Churches of the Gentiles it was not meet that a venal Gospel were carried about; not finding fault with his fellowapostles, but distinguishing his own ministry; because they, without doubt by admonition of the Holy Ghost, had so distributed among them the provinces of evangelizing, that Paul 2555 516and Barnabas should go unto the Gentiles, and they unto the Circumcision. But that he gave this precept to them who had not the like power, those many things already said do make manifest. But these brethren of ours rashly arrogate unto themselves, so far as I can judge, that they have this kind of power. For if they be evangelists, I confess, they have it: if ministers of the altar, dispensers of sacraments, of course it is no arrogating to themselves, but a plain vindicating of a right.
2555
Acts xiii. 2; Gal. ii. 9
Section 25
25. If at the least they once had in this world wherewithal they might easily without handiwork sustain this life, which property, when they were converted unto God, they disparted to the needy, then must we both believe their infirmity, and bear with it. For usually such persons, having been, not better brought up, as many think, but what is the truth, more languidly brought up, are not able to bear the labor of bodily works. Such peradventure were many in Jerusalem. For it is also written, that they sold their houses and lands, and laid the prices of them at the Apostles’ feet, that distribution might be made to every one as he had need.2556 Because they were found, being near, and were useful to the Gentiles, who, being afar off, 2557 were thence called from the worship of idols, as it is said, “Out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem,” 2558 therefore hath the Apostle called the Christians of the Gentiles their debtors: “their debtors,” saith he, “they are:” and hath added the reason why, “For if in their spiritual things the Gentiles have communicated, they ought also in carnal things to minister unto them.”2559 But now there come into this profession of the service of God, both persons from the condition of slaves, or also freed-men, or persons on this account freed by their masters or about to be freed, likewise from the life of peasants, and from the exercise and plebeian labor of handicraftsmen, persons whose bringing up doubtless has been all the better for them, the harder it has been: whom not to admit, is a heavy sin. For many of that sort have turned out truly great men and meet to be imitated. For on this account also “hath God chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty, and the foolish things of the world hath He chosen to confound them who are wise; and ignoble things of the world, and things which are not, as though they were, that the things that are may be brought to nought: that no flesh may glory before God.”2560 This pious and holy thought, accordingly, causeth that even such be admitted as bring no proof of a change of life for the better. For it doth not appear whether they come of purpose for the service of God, or whether running away empty from a poor and laborious life they want to be fed and clothed; yea, moreover, to be honored by them of whom they were wont to be despised and trampled on. Such persons therefore because they cannot excuse themselves from working by pleading infirmity of body, seeing they are convicted by the custom of their past life, do therefore shelter themselves under the screen of an ill scholarship, that from the Gospel badly understood they should essay to pervert precepts apostolical: truly “fowls of the air,” but in lifting themselves on high through pride; and “grass of the field,” but in being carnally minded.
2556
Acts ii. 45; iv. 34
2557
Acts ii. 39
2558
Is. ii. 3
2559
Rom. xv. 27
2560
1 Cor. i. 27–29
Section 26
26. That, namely, befalleth them which in undisciplined younger widows, the same Apostle saith must be avoided: “And withal they learn to be idle; and not only idle, but also busy bodies and full of words, speaking what they ought not.� 2561 This very thing said he concerning evil women, which we also in evil men do mourn and bewail, who against him, the very man in whose Epistles we read these things, do, being idle and full of words, speak what they ought not. And if there be any among them who did with that purpose come to the holy warfare,2562 that they may please Him to whom they have proved themselves, these, when they be so vigorous in strength of body, and soundness of health, that they are able not only to be taught, but also, agreeably unto the Apostle, to work, do, by receiving of these men’s idle and corrupt discourses, which they are unable, by reason of their unskilled rawness, to judge of, become changed by pestiferous contagion into the same noisomeness: not only not imitating the obedience of saints which quietly work, and of other monasteries 2563 which in most wholesome discipline do live after the apostolic rule; but also insulting better men than themselves, preaching up laziness as the keeper of the Gospel, accusing mercy as the prevaricator therefrom. For a much more merciful work is it to the souls of the weak, to consult for the fair fame of the servants of God, than it is to the bodies of men, to break bread to the hungry. Wherefore I would to God that these, which want to let their hands lie idle, would altogether let their tongues lie idle too. For they would not make so many willing to imitate them, if the examples they set were not merely lazy ones, but mute withal.
2561
1 Tim. v. 13
2562
2 Tim. ii. 4. [See R.V.]
2563
Cassian. de Inst. x. 22.
Section 27
27. As it is, however, they, against the Apostle of Christ, recite a Gospel of Christ. For so marvellous are the works of the sluggards, hindered that they want to have that very thing by Gospel, which the Apostle enjoined and did on purpose that the Gospel itself should not be hindered. And yet, if from the very words of the Gospel we should compel them to live agreeably with their way of understanding it, they will be the first to endeavor to persuade us how they are not to be understood so as they do understand them. For certainly, they say that they therefore ought not to work, for that the birds of the air neither sow nor reap, of which the Lord hath given us a similitude that we should take no thought about such necessaries. Then why do they not attend to that which follows? For it is not only said, that “they sow not, neither reap;”2564 but there is added, “nor gather in apothecas.” Now “apothecæ” may be called either “barns,” or word for word, “repositories.” Then why do these persons want to have idle hands and full repositories? Why do they lay by and keep what they receive of the labors of others, that thereof may be every day somewhat forthcoming? Why, in short, do they grind and cook? For the birds do not this. Or, if they find some whom they may persuade to this work also, namely, to bring unto them day by day viands ready made; at least their water they either fetch them from springs, or from cisterns and wells draw and set it by: this the fowls do not. But if so please them, let it be the study of good believers and most devoted subjects of the Eternal King, to carry their service to His most valiant soldiers even to that length, that they shall not be forced even to fill a vessel of water for themselves, if now-a-days people have surpassed even them which at that time were at Jerusalem, in a new grade of righteousness, stepping out beyond them. To them, namely, by reason of famine being imminent, and foretold by the Prophets which were at that time,2565 good believers sent out of Greece supplies of corn; of which I suppose they made them bread, or at least procured to be made; which thing the birds do not. But if now-adays these persons, as I began to say, have surpassed these in some grade of righteousness, and do altogether in things pertaining to the maintenance of this life, as do the birds; let them show us men doing such service unto birds as they wish to be done unto them, except indeed birds caught and caged because they are not trusted, lest if they fly they come not back: and yet these would rather enjoy liberty and receive from the fields what is enough, than take their food by men laid before them and made ready. 517
2564
Matt. vi. 26
2565
Acts xi. 28–30
Section 28
28. Here then shall these persons in their turn be in another more sublime degree of righteousness outdone, by them who shall so order themselves, that every day they shall betake them into the fields as unto pasture, and at what time they shall find it, pick up their meal, and having allayed their hunger, return. But plainly, on account of the keepers of the fields, how good were it, if the Lord should deign to bestow wings also, that the servants of God being found in other men’s fields should not be taken up as thieves, but as starlings be scared off. As things are, however, such an one will do all he can to be like a bird, which the fowler shall not be able to catch. But, lo, let all men allow this to the servants of God, that when they will they should go forth into their fields, and thence depart fearless and refreshed: as it was ordered to the people Israel by the law, that none should lay hands on a thief in his fields, unless he wanted to carry any thing away with him from thence; 2566 for if he laid hands on nothing but what he had eaten, they would let him go away free and unpunished. Whence also when the disciples of the Lord plucked the ears of corn, the Jews calumniated them on the score of the sabbath 2567 rather than of theft. But how is one to manage about those times of year, at which food that can be taken on the spot is not found in the fields? Whoso shall attempt to take home with him any thing which by cooking he may prepare for himself, he shall, according to these persons’ understanding of it, be accosted from the Gospel with, “Put it down; for this the birds do not.”
2566
Deut. xxiii. 24, 25
2567
Matt. xii. 1, 2
Section 29
29. But let us grant this also, that the whole year round there may in the fields be found either of tree or of herbs or of any manner of roots, that which may be taken as food uncooked; or, at any rate, let so great exercise of body be used, that the things which require cooking, may be taken even raw without hurt, and people may even in winter weather, no matter how rough, go forth to their fodder; and so it shall be the case that nothing be taken away to be prepared, nothing laid up for the morrow. Yet will not those men be able to keep these rules, who for many days separating themselves from sight of men, and allowing none access to them, do shut themselves up, living in great earnestness of prayers. For these do 518use to shut up with themselves store of aliments, such indeed as are most easily and cheaply had, yet still a store which may suffice for those days during which they purpose that no man shall see them; which thing the birds do not. Now touching these men’s exercising of themselves in so marvellous continency, seeing that they have leisure for the doing of these things, and not in proud elation but in merciful sanctity do propose themselves for men’s imitation, I not only do not blame it, but know not how to praise it as much as it deserves. And yet what are we to say of such men, according to these persons’ understanding of the evangelical words? Or haply the holier they be, the more unlike are they to the fowls? because unless they lay by for themselves food for many days, to shut themselves up as they do they will not have strength? Howbeit, to them as well as us is it said, “Take therefore no thought for the morrow.”2568
2568
Matt. vi. 34
Section 30
30. Wherefore, that I may briefly embrace the whole matter, let these persons, who from perverse understanding of the Gospel labor to pervert apostolical precepts, either take no thought for the morrow, even as the birds of the air; or let them obey the Apostle, as dear children: yea rather, let them do both, because both accord. For things contrary to his Lord, Paul the servant of Jesus Christ would never advise. 2569 This then we say openly to these persons; If the birds of the air ye in such wise understand in the Gospel, that ye will not by working with your hands procure food and clothing; then neither must ye put any thing by for the morrow, like as the birds of the air do put nothing by. But if to put somewhat by for the morrow, is possibly not against the Gospel where it is said, “Behold the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into stores;�2570 then is it possibly not against the Gospel nor against similitude of the birds of the air, to maintain this life of the flesh by labor of corporal working.
2569
Rom. i. 1
2570
Matt. vi. 26
Section 31
31. For if they be urged from the Gospel that they should put nothing by for the morrow, they most rightly answer, “Why then had the Lord Himself a bag in which to put by the money which was collected?2571 Why so long time beforehand, on occasion of impending famine, were supplies of corn sent to the holy fathers? 2572 Why did Apostles in such wise provide things necessary for the indigence of saints lest there should be lack thereafter, that most blessed Paul should thus write to the Corinthians in his Epistle: “Now concerning the collection for the saints, as I have given order to the Churches of Galatia, even so do ye. Upon the first day of the week let every one of you lay by him in store, as God hath prospered him, that the gatherings be not then first made when I come. And when I come, whomsoever ye shall approve by your letters, them will I send to bring your liberality unto Jerusalem. And if it be meet that I go also, they shall go with me?”2573 These and much else they most copiously and most truly bring forward. To whom we answer: Ye see then, albeit the Lord said, “Take no thought for the morrow,” yet ye are not by these words constrained to reserve nothing for the morrow: then why do ye say that by the same words ye are constrained to do nothing? Why are the birds of the air not a pattern unto you for reserving nothing, and ye will have them to be a pattern for working nothing?
2571
John xii. 6
2572
Acts xi. 28–30
2573
1 Cor. xvi. 1–4
Section 32
32. Some man will say: “What then does it profit a servant of God, that, having left the former doings which he had in the world he is converted unto the spiritual life and warfare, if it still behove him to do business as of a common workman?” As if truly it could be easily unfolded in words, how greatly profiteth what the Lord, in answer to that rich man who was seeking counsel of laying hold on eternal life, told him to do if he would fain be perfect: sell that he had, distribute all to the indigence of the poor, and follow Him? 2574 Or who with so unimpeded course hath followed the Lord, as he who saith, “Not in vain have I run, nor in vain labored?” 2575 who yet both enjoined these works, and did them. This unto us, being by so great authority taught and informed, ought to suffice for a pattern of relinquishing our old resources, and of working with our hands. But we too, aided by the Lord Himself, are able perchance in some sort to apprehend what it doth still profit the servants of God to have left their former businesses, while they do yet thus work. For if a person from being rich is converted to this mode of life, and is hindered by no infirmity of body, are we so without taste of the savor of Christ, as not to understand what an healing it is to the swelling of the old pride, when, having pared off the superfluities by which erewhile the mind was deadly inflamed, he refuses not, for the procuring of that little which is still naturally necessary for this present life, even a common workman’s lowly toil? If however he be from a poor 519estate converted unto this manner of life, let him not account himself to be doing that which he was doing aforetime, if foregoing the love of even increasing his ever so small matter of 2576 private substance, and now no more seeking his own but the things which be Jesu Christ’s, he hath translated himself into the charity of a life in common, to live in fellowship of them who have one soul and one heart to Godward, so that no man saith that any thing is his own, but they have all things common. 2577 For if in this earthly commonwealth its chief men in the old times did, as their own men of letters are wont in their most glowing phrase to tell of them, to that degree prefer the common weal of the whole people of their city and country to their own private affairs, that one of them, 2578 for subduing of Africa honored with a triumph, would have had nothing to give to his daughter on her marriage, unless by decree of the senate she had been dowered from the public treasury: of what mind ought he to be towards his commonwealth, who is a citizen of that eternal City, the heavenly Jerusalem, but that even what with labor of his own hands he earns, he should have in common with his brother, and if the same lack any thing, supply it from the common store; saying
2574
Matt. xix. 21
2575
Phil. ii. 16
2576
Phil. ii. 21
2577
Acts iv. 32
2578
Scipio ap. Val. iv. 4.
Section 32
with him whose precept and example he hath followed, “As having nothing, and possessing all things?�2579
2579
2 Cor. vi. 10
1126
Section 33
33. Wherefore even they which having relinquished or distributed their former, whether ample or in any sort opulent, means, have chosen with pious and wholesome humility to be numbered among the poor of Christ; if they be so strong in body and free from ecclesiastical occupations, (albeit, bringing as they do so great a proof of their purpose, and conferring from their former havings, either very much, or not a little, upon the indigence of the same society, the common fund itself and brotherly charity owes them in return a sustenance of their life,) yet if they too work with their hands, that they may take away all excuse from lazy brethren who come from a more humble condition in life, and therefore one more used to toil; therein they act far more mercifully than when they divided all their goods to the needy. If indeed they be unwilling to do this, who can venture to compel them? Yet then there ought to be found for them works in the monastery, which if more free from bodily exercise, require to be looked unto with vigilant administration, that not even they may eat their bread for nought, because it is now become the common property. Nor is it to be regarded in what monasteries, or in what place, any man may have bestowed his former having upon his indigent brethren. For all Christians make one commonwealth. And for that cause whoso shall have, no matter in what place, expended upon Christians the things they needed, in what place soever he also receiveth what himself hath need of, from Christ’s goods2580 he doth receive it. Because in what place soever himself has given to such, who but Christ received it? But, as for them who before they entered this holy society got their living by labor of the body, of which sort are the more part of them which come into monasteries, because of mankind also the more part are such; if they will not work, neither let them eat. For not to that end are the rich, in this Christian warfare, brought low unto piety, that the poor may be lifted up unto pride. As indeed it is by no means seemly that in that mode of life where senators become men of toil, there common workmen should become men of leisure; and whereunto there come, relinquishing their dainties, men who had been masters of houses and lands, there common peasants should be dainty.
2580
De Christi
Section 34
34. But then the Lord saith, “Be not solicitous for your life what ye shall eat, nor for the body, what ye shall put on.” Rightly: because He had said above, “Ye cannot serve God and mammon.” For he who preaches the Gospel with an eye to this, that he may have whereof he may eat and whereof be clothed, accounts that he at the same time both serves God, because he preaches the Gospel; and mammon, because he preaches with an eye to these necessaries: which thing the Lord saith to be impossible. And hereby he who doth for the sake of these things preach the Gospel is convicted that he serves not God but mammon; however God may use him, he knows not how, to other men’s advancement. For to this sentence doth He subjoin, saying “Therefore I say unto you, Be not solicitous for your life what ye shall eat, nor for your body what ye shall put on:” not that they should not procure these things, as much as is enough for necessity, by what means they honestly may; but that they should not look to these things, and for the sake of these do whatever in preaching of the Gospel they are bidden to do. The intention, namely, for which a thing is done, He calls the eye: of which a little above He was speaking with purpose to come down to this, and saying, “The light of thy body is thine eye: if thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light; 520but if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness;” that is, such will be thy deeds as shall be thine intention for which thou doest them. For indeed that He might come to this, He had before given precept concerning alms, saying, “Lay not up for yourselves treasures on earth where rust and moth doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal. But lay up for yourselves treasure in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal. For where thy treasure shall be, there will thy heart be also.” 2581 Thereupon He subjoined, “The light of thy body is thine eye:” that they, to wit, which do alms, do them not with that intention that they should either wish to please men, or seek to have repayment on earth of the alms they do. Whence the Apostle, giving charge to Timothy for warning of rich men, “Let them,” says he “readily give, communicate, treasure up for themselves a good foundation for the time to come, that they may lay hold on the true life.”2582 Since then the Lord hath to the future life directed the eye of them which do alms, and to an heavenly reward, in order that the deeds themselves may be full of light when the eye shall be simple, (for of that last retribution is meant that which He says in another place, “He that receiveth you receiveth Me, and he that receiveth Me receiveth Him that sent Me. He that receiveth a prophet in the name of a prophet shall receive a prophet’s reward; and he that receiveth a righteous man in the name of a righteous man shall receive a righteous man’s reward. And whosoever shall give to drink unto one of these little ones a cup of cold water only in the name of a disciple, verily I say unto you, his reward
2581
Matt. vi. 19–22
2582
1 Tim. vi. 18, 19
Section 34 shall not be lost,” 2583) lest haply after he had reproved the eye 2584 of them which bestow things needful upon the indigent both prophets and just men and disciples of the Lord, the eye of the persons to whom these things were done should become depraved, so that for the sake of receiving these things they should wish to serve Christ as His soldiers: “No man,” saith He, “can serve two masters.” And a little after: “Ye cannot,” saith He, “serve God and mammon.”2585 And straightway He hath added, “Therefore I say unto you, be not solicitous for your life what ye shall eat, nor for the body what ye shall put on.”
2583
Matt. x. 40–42
2584
Correpto oculo
2585
Matt. vi. 24, 25, 34
1129
Section 35
35. And that which follows concerning birds of the air and lilies of the field, He saith to this end, that no man may think that God careth not for the needs of His servants; when His most wise Providence reacheth unto these in creating and governing those. For it must not be deemed that it is not He that feeds and clothes them also which work with their hands. But lest they turn aside the Christian service of warfare unto their purpose of getting these things, the Lord in this premonisheth His servants that in this ministry which is due to His Sacrament, we should take thought, not for these, but for His kingdom and righteousness: and all these things shall be added unto us, whether working by our hands, or whether by infirmity of body hindered from working, or whether bound by such occupation of our very warfare that we are able to do nothing else. For neither does it follow that because the Lord hath said, “Call upon Me in the day of tribulation and I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify Me,” 2586 therefore the Apostle ought not to have fled, and to be let down by the wall in a basket that he might escape the hands of a pursuer,2587 but should rather have waited to be taken, that, like the three children from the midst of the fires, the Lord might deliver him. Or for this reason ought not the Lord either to have said this, “If they shall persecute you in one city, flee ye to another,”2588 namely, because He hath said, “If ye shall 2589 ask of the Father any thing in My name, He will give it you.” As then whoever to Christ’s disciples when fleeing from persecution should cast up this sort of question, why they did not rather stand, and by calling upon God obtain through His marvellous works in such wise deliverance, as Daniel from the lions, as Peter from his chains, they would answer that they ought not to tempt God, but He would then and then only do the like for them, if it should please Him, when they had nothing that they could do; but when He put flight in their power, although they were thereby delivered, yet were they not delivered but by Him: so likewise to servants of God having time and strength after the example and precept of the Apostle to get their living by their own hands, if any from the Gospel shall raise a question concerning the birds of the air, which sow not nor reap nor gather into stores, and concerning lilies of the field that they toil not neither do they spin; they will easily answer, “If we also, by reason of any either infirmity or occupation cannot work, He will so feed and clothe us, 521as He doth the birds and the lilies, which do no work of this kind: but when we are able, we ought not to tempt our God; because this very ability of ours, we have it by His gift, and in living by it, we live by His bounty Who hath bounteously bestowed upon us that we should have this ability. And therefore concerning these necessary things we are not solicitous; because when we are able to do these things, He by Whom mankind are fed and clothed
2586
Ps. l. 15
2587
Acts ix. 25; 2 Cor. xi. 33
2588
Matt. x. 23
2589
John xvi. 23
Section 35
doth feed and clothe us: but when we are not able to do these things, He feeds and clothes us by Whom the birds are fed and the lilies clothed, because we are more worth than they. Wherefore in this our warfare, neither for the morrow take we thought: because not for the sake of these temporal things, whereunto pertaineth To-morrow, but for the sake of those eternal things, where it is evermore To-day, have we proved ourselves unto Him, that, entangled in no secular business, we may please Him.2590
2590
2 Tim. ii. 4
1131
Section 36
36. Since these things are so, suffer me awhile, holy brother, (for the Lord giveth me through thee great boldness,) to address these same our sons and brethren whom I know with what love thou together with us dost travail in birth withal, until the Apostolic discipline be formed in them. O servants of God, soldiers of Christ, is it thus ye dissemble the plottings of our most crafty foe, who fearing your good fame, that so goodly odor of Christ, lest good souls should say, “We will run after the odor of thine ointments,”2591 and so should escape his snares, and in every way desiring to obscure it with his own stenches, hath dispersed on every side so many hypocrites under the garb of monks, strolling about the provinces, no where sent, no where fixed, no where standing, no where sitting. Some hawking about limbs 2592 of martyrs, if indeed of martyrs; others magnifying their fringes and phylacteries; others with a lying story, how they have heard say that their parents or kinsmen are alive in this or that country, and therefore be they on their way to them: and all asking, all exacting, either the costs of their lucrative want, or the price of their pretended sanctity. And in the meanwhile wheresoever they be found out in their evil deeds, or in whatever way they become notorious, under the general name of monks, your purpose is blasphemed, a purpose so good, so holy, that in Christ’s name we desire it, as through other lands so through all Africa, to grow and flourish. Then are ye not inflamed with godly jealousy? Does not your heart wax hot within you, and in your meditation a fire kindle,2593 that these men’s evil works ye should pursue with good works, that ye should cut off from them occasion of a foul trafficking, by which your estimation is hurt, and a stumbling-block put before the weak? Have mercy then and have compassion, and show to mankind that ye are not seeking in ease a ready subsistence, but through the strait and narrow way of this purpose, are seeking the kingdom of God. Ye have the same cause which the Apostle had, to cut off occasion from them which seek occasion, that they who by their stinks are suffocated, by your good odor may be refreshed.
2591
Cant. i. 3, 4
2592
Reg. S. Ben. c. l. Cass. Coll. xviii. 7.
2593
Ps. xxxix. 3. [See R.V.]
Section 37
37. We are not binding heavy burdens and laying them upon your shoulders, while we with a finger will not touch them. Seek out, and acknowledge the labor of our occupations, and in some of us the infirmities of our bodies also, and in the Churches which we serve, that custom now grown up, that they do not suffer us to have time ourselves for those works to which we exhort you. For though we might say, “Who goeth a warfare any time at his own charges? Who planteth a vineyard, and eateth not of the fruit thereof? Who feedeth a flock, and partaketh not of the milk of the flock?” 2594 yet I call our Lord Jesus, in Whose name I fearlessly say these things, for a witness upon my soul, that so far as it concerns mine own convenience, I would much rather every day at certain hours, as much as is appointed by rule in well-governed monasteries, do some work with my hands, and have the remaining hours free for reading and praying, or some work pertaining to Divine Letters, 2595 than have to hear these most annoying perplexities of other men’s causes about secular matters, which we must either by adjudication bring to an end, or by intervention cut short. Which troubles the same Apostle hath fastened us withal, (not by his own sentence, but by His who spake through him,) while yet we do not read that he had to put up with them himself: indeed his was not the sort of work to admit of it, while running to and fro in his Apostleship. Nor hath he said, “If then ye have secular law-suits, bring them before us;” or, “Appoint us to judge them;” but, “Them which are contemptible in the Church, these,” saith he, “put ye in place. To your abashment I say it: is it so that there is not among you any wise man who 522can judge between his brother, but brother goeth to law with brother, and that before infidels?”2596 So then wise believers and saints, having their stated abode in the different places, not those who were running hither and hither on the business of the Gospel, were the persons whom he willed to be charged with examination of such affairs. Whence it is no where written of him that he on any occasion gave up his time to such matters; from which we are not able to excuse ourselves, even though we be contemptible; because he willed even such to be put in place, in case there were lack of wise men, rather than have the affairs of Christians to be brought into the public courts. Which labor, however, we not without consolation of the Lord take upon us, for hope of eternal life, that we may bring forth fruit with patience. For we are servants unto His Church, and most of all to the weaker members, whatsoever members we in the same body may chance to be. I pass by other innumerable ecclesiastical cares, which perchance no man credits but he who hath experienced the same. Therefore we do not bind heavy burdens and place them on your shoulders, while we ourselves touch them not so much as with a finger; since indeed if with safety to our office we might, (He seeth it, Who tries our hearts!) we would rather do these things which we
2594
1 Cor. ix. 7
2595
Reg. S. Ben. c. xlviii.
2596
1 Cor. vi. 4–6
Section 37
exhort you to do, than the things which we ourselves are forced to do. True it is, to all both us and you, while according to our degree and office we labor, both the way is strait in labor and toil; and yet, while we rejoice in hope, His yoke is easy and His burden light, Who hath called us unto rest, Who passed forth before us from the vale of tears, where not Himself either was without pressure of griefs. If ye be our brethren, if our sons, if we be your fellowservants, or rather in Christ your servants, hear what we admonish, acknowledge what we enjoin, take what we dispense. But if we be Pharisees, binding heavy burdens and laying them on your shoulders; 2597 yet do ye the things we say, even though ye disapprove the 2598 things we do. But to us it is a very small thing that we be judged by you, or of any human 2599 2600 assize. Of how near and dear charity is our care on your behalf, let Him look into it Who hath given what we may offer to be looked into by His eyes. In fine: think what ye will of us: Paul the Apostle enjoins and beseeches you in the Lord, that with silence, that is, 2601 quietly and obediently ordered, ye do work and eat your own bread. Of him, as I suppose, ye believe no evil, and He who by him doth speak, on Him have ye believed.
2597
Matt. xxiii. 3
2598
1 Cor. iv. 3
2599
Ab humano die
2600
Germana
2601
2 Thess. iii. 12
1134
Section 38
38. These things, my brother Aurelius, most dear unto me, and in the bowels of Christ to be venerated, so far as He hath bestowed on me the ability Who through thee commanded me to do it, touching work of Monks, I have not delayed to write; making this my chief care, lest good brethren obeying apostolic precepts, should by lazy and disobedient be called even prevaricators from the Gospel: that they which work not, may at the least account them which do work to be better than themselves without doubt. But who can bear that contumacious persons resisting most wholesome admonitions of the Apostle, should, not as weaker brethren be borne withal, but even be preached up as holier men; insomuch that monasteries founded on sounder doctrine should be by this double enticement corrupted, the dissolute license of vacation from labor, and the false name of sanctity? Let it be known then to the rest, our brethren and sons, who are accustomed to favor such men, and through ignorance to defend this kind of presumption, that they need themselves most chiefly to be corrected, 2602 in order that those may be corrected, nor that they become “weary in well-doing.� Truly, in that they do promptly and with alacrity minister unto the servants of God the things they need, not only we blame them not, but we most cordially embrace them: only let them not with perverse mercy more hurt these men’s future life, than to their present life they render aid.
2602
2 Thess. iii. 13
Section 39
39. For there is less sin, if people do not praise the sinner in the desires of his soul, and speak good of him who practiseth iniquities.2603 Now what is more an iniquity than to wish to be obeyed by inferiors, and to refuse to obey superiors? The Apostle, I mean, not us: insomuch that they even let their hair grow long: a matter, of which he would have no disputing at all, saying, “If any chooseth to be contentious, we have no such custom, neither the Church of God.2604 Now this I command;”2605 which gives us to understand that it is not cleverness of reasoning that we are to look for, but authority of one giving command to attend unto. For whereunto, I pray thee, pertaineth this also, that people so openly against the Apostle’s precepts wear long hair? Is it that there must be in such sort vacation, that not even the 523barbers are to work? Or, because they say that they imitate the Gospel birds, do they fear to be, as it were, plucked, lest they be not able to fly? I shrink from saying more against this fault, out of respect for certain long-haired brethren, in whom, except this, we find much, and well-nigh every thing, to venerate. But the more we love them in Christ, the more solicitously do we admonish them. Nor are we afraid indeed, lest their humility reject our admonition; seeing that we also desire to be admonished by such as they, wherever we chance to stumble or to go aside. This then we admonish so holy men, not to be moved by foolish quibblings of vain persons, and imitate in this perversity them whom in all else they are far from resembling. For those persons, hawking about a venal hypocrisy, fear lest shorn sanctity be held cheaper than long-haired; because forsooth he who sees them shall call to mind 2606 those ancients whom we read of, Samuel and the rest who did not cut off their hair. And they do not consider what is the difference between that prophetic veil, and this unveiling 2607 which is in the Gospel, of which the Apostle saith, “When thou shall go over unto Christ, 2608 the veil shall be taken away.” That, namely, which was signified in the veil interposed between the face of Moses and the beholding of the people Israel, 2609 that same was also signified in those times by the long hair of the Saints. For the same Apostle saith, that long hair is also instead of a veil: by whose authority these men are hard pressed. Seeing he saith openly, “If a man wear long hair, it is a disgrace to him.” “The very disgrace,” say they, “we take upon us, for desert of our sins:” holding out a screen of simulated humility, to the end that under cover of it they may carry on their trade of self-importance. 2610 Just as if the 2603
Ps. x. 3[ix. 24]
2604
1 Cor. xi. 16, 17
2605
E.V. follows text rec. τοῦτο δὲ παραγγελλων οὐκ ἐπαινῶ , but good mss.and Versions besides the Ital.
and Vulg, have τοῦτο δὲ παραγγελλω ουκ ἐπαινῶν , hoc autem prœcipio non laudans. 2606
Numb. vi. 5
2607
Cum transieris. Gr. ἡνίκα δ᾽ ἄν ἐπιστρέψη , sc. ὁ ἸσραὴλChrys. Theod. or τὶς Origen.
2608
2 Cor. iii. 16
2609
Exod. xxxiv. 33
2610
Venalem typhum
Section 39
Apostle were teaching pride when he says, “Every man praying or prophesying with veiled head shameth his head;”2611 and, “A man ought not to veil his head, forsomuch as he is the image and glory of God.”2612 Consequently he who says, “Ought not,” knows not perchance how to teach humility! However, if this same disgrace in time of the Gospel, which was a thing of a holy meaning 2613 in time of Prophecy, be by these people courted as matter of humility, then let them be shorn, and veil their head with haircloth. Only then there will be none of that attracting of people’s eyes in which they trade,2614 because Samson was veiled not with haircloth, but with his long hair.
2611
1 Cor. xi. 4
2612
1 Cor. xi. 14
2613
Sacramentum
2614
Species illa venalis
1137
Section 40
40. And then that further device of theirs, (if words can express it), how painfully ridiculous is it, which they have invented for defense of their long locks! “A man,” say they, “the Apostle hath forbidden to have long hair: but then they who have made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of God are no longer men.” O dotage unparalleled! Well may the person who says this arm himself against Holy Scripture’s most manifest proclamations, with counsel of outrageous impiety, and persevere in a tortuous path, and essay to bring in a pestiferous doctrine that not “Blessed is the man who hath not walked in the counsel of the 2615 ungodly, and in the way of sinners hath not stood, and in the chair of noisome wickedness hath not sat.”2616 For if he would meditate in God’s law day and night, there he should find the Apostle Paul himself, who assuredly professing highest chastity saith, “I would that all men were even as I:” and yet shows himself a man, not only in so being, but also in so speaking. For he saith, “When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; when I became a man, I put away childish things.” 2617 But why should I mention the Apostle, when concerning our Lord and Saviour Himself they know not what they think who say these things. For of Whom but Him is it said, “Until we come all to unity of faith and to knowledge of the Son of God, to the Perfect Man, to the measure of the age of the fullness of Christ; that we be no longer babes, tossed and carried about with every wind of doctrine, in sleight of men, in cunning craftiness for machination of error.” 2618 With which sleight these persons deceive ignorant people, with which cunning craftiness and machinations of the enemy both they themselves are whirled round, and in their whirling essay to make the minds of the weak which cohere unto them so (in a manner) to spin round with them, that they also may not know where they are. For they have heard or read that which is written, “Whosoever of you have been baptized in Christ, have put on Christ: where is no Jew nor Greek; no bond nor free; no male nor female.”2619 And they do not understand that it is in reference to concupiscence of carnal sex 2620 that this is said, because in the inner man, wherein we are renewed in newness of our mind, no sex of this kind exists. Then let them not deny themselves to be men, just because in respect of their 524masculine sex they work not. For wedded Christians also who do this work, are of course not Christians on the score of that which they have in common with the rest who are not Christians and with the very cattle. For that is one thing that is either to infirmity conceded or to mortal propagation paid as a debt, but another that which for the laying hold of incor-
2615
Pestilentiæ
2616
Ps. i. 1
2617
1 Cor. xiii. 11. [See R.V.]
2618
Eph. iv. 13, 14
2619
Gal. iii. 27, 28. [See R.V.]
2620
2 Cor. iv. 16
Section 40
rupt and eternal life is by faithful profession signified. That then which concerning not veiling of the head is enjoined to men, in the body indeed it is set forth in a figure, but that it is enacted in the mind, wherein is the image and glory of God, the words themselves do indicate: “A man indeed,” it saith, “ought not to veil his head, forsomuch as he is the image and glory of God.” For where this image is, he doth himself declare, where he saith, “Lie not one to another; but stripping off the old man with his deeds, put ye on the new, which is 2621 renewed to the acknowledging of God, according to the image of Him who created him.” Who can doubt that this renewing takes place in the mind? But and if any doubt, let him hear a more open sentence. For, giving the same admonition, he thus saith in another place: “As is the truth in Jesus, that ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, him which is corrupt according to the lust of deception; but be ye renewed in the spirit of 2622 your mind, and put on the new man, him which after God is created.” What then? Have women not this renewal of mind in which is the image of God? Who would say this? But in the sex of their body they do not signify this; therefore they are bidden to be veiled. The part, namely, which they signify in the very fact of their being women, is that which may be called the concupiscential part, over which the mind 2623 bears rule, itself also subjected to its God, when life is most rightly and orderly conducted. What, therefore, in a single individual human being is the mind and the concupiscence, (that ruling, this ruled; that lord, this subject,) the same in two human beings, man and woman, is in regard of the sex of the body exhibited in a figure. Of which sacred import 2624 the Apostle speaks when he says, that the man ought not to be veiled, the women ought. For the mind doth the more gloriously advance to higher things, the more diligently the concupiscence is curbed from lower things; until the whole man together with even this now mortal and frail body in the last resurrection be clothed with incorruption and immortality, and death be swallowed up in victory.2625
2621
Col. iii. 9, 10
2622
Eph. iv. 21–24. [See R.V.]
2623
Mens
2624
Sacramentum
2625
1 Cor. xv. 54
1139
Section 41
41. Wherefore, they which will not do right things, let them give over at least to teach wrong things. Howbeit they be others whom in this speech we reprove: but as for those who by this one fault, of letting their hair contrary to apostolic precept grow long, offend and trouble the Church, because when some being unwilling to think of them any thing amiss are forced to twist the manifest words of the Apostle into a wrong meaning, others choose to defend the sound understanding of the Scriptures rather than fawn upon any men, there arise between the weaker and the stronger brethren most bitter and perilous contentions: which things perchance if they knew, these would correct without hesitation this also, in whom we admire and love all else. Those then we not reprove, but ask and solemnly beseech by the Godhead and the Manhood of Christ and by the charity of the Holy Ghost, that they no more put this stumbling-block before the weak for whom Christ died, and aggravate the grief and torment of our heart when we bethink us how much more readily evil men can imitate this evil thing for deceiving of mankind, when they see this in them whom on the score of other so great good we with deserved offices of Christian love do honor. If however, after this admonition, or rather this solemn entreaty of ours, they shall think fit to persevere in the same, we shall do nothing else but only grieve and mourn. This let them know; it is enough. If they be servants of God, they have pity. If they have not pity, I will not say any thing worse. All these things, therefore, in the which peradventure I have been more loquacious than the occupations both of thee and of me could wish, if thou approve the same, make thou to be known to our brethren and sons, on whose behalf thou hast deigned to put this burden upon me: but if aught seem to thee meet to be withdrawn or amended, by reply of your Blessedness I shall know the same.
On Patience.
527
On Patience
[De Patientia.] Translated by Rev. H. Browne, M.A. Of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge; Late Principal of the Diocesan College, Chichester.
Translator’s Preface.
Erasmus infers from the style and language of this piece, that it is not S. Augustin’s, putting it in the same category with the treatises On Continence, On substance of Charity, On Faith of things invisible.The Benedictine editors acknowledge that it has peculiarities of style which are calculated to move suspicion; (especially the studied assonances and rhyming endings, e.g. “cautior fuit iste in doloribus quam ille in nemoribus . . . consensit ille oblectamentis, non cessit ille tormentis,” chap. 12.); yet they feel themselves bound to retain it among the genuine works by Augustin’s own testimony, who mentions both this piece and that On Continencein his Epistle to Darius, 231. chap. 7. [Vol. I. 584.] That it is not named in the Retractationsis accounted for by the circumstance that it appears to have been delivered as a sermon, see chap. 1. and 3, and Augustin did not live to fulfill his intention of composing a further book of retractations on review of his popular discourses and letters. Ep. 224. chap. 2. In point of matter and doctrine this treatise has nothing contrary to or not in harmony with S. Augustin’s known doctrine and sentiments.
Section 1
1. Thatvirtue of the mind which is called Patience, is so great a gift of God, that even in Him who bestoweth the same upon us, that, whereby He waiteth for evil men that they may amend, is set forth by the name of Patience, [or long-suffering.] So, although in God there can be no suffering, 2626 and “patience� hath its name a patiendo, from suffering, yet a patient God we not only faithfully believe, but also wholesomely confess. But the patience of God, of what kind and how great it is, His, Whom we say to be impassible, 2627 yet not impatient, nay even most patient, in words to unfold this who can be able? Ineffable is therefore that patience, as is His jealousy, as His wrath, and whatever there is like to these. For if we conceive of these as they be in us, in Him are there none. We, namely, can feel none of these without molestation: but be it far from us to surmise that the impassible nature of God is liable to any molestation. But like as He is jealous without any darkening of spirit,2628 wroth without any perturbation, pitiful without any pain, repenteth Him without any wrongness in Him to be set right; so is He patient without aught of passion. Now therefore as concerning human patience, which we are able to conceive and beholden to have, of what sort it is, I will, as God granteth and the brevity of the present discourse alloweth, essay to set forth.
2626
Pati
2627
Nihil patientem
2628
Livore
Section 2
2. The patience of man, which is right and laudable and worthy of the name of virtue, is understood to be that by which we tolerate evil things with an even mind, that we may not with a mind uneven desert good things, through which we may arrive at better. Wherefore the impatient, while they will not suffer ills, effect not a deliverance from ills, but only the suffering of heavier ills. Whereas the patient who choose rather by not commit528ting to bear, than by not bearing to commit, evil, both make lighter what through patience they suffer, and also escape worse ills in which through impatience they would be sunk. But those good things which are great and eternal they lose not, while to the evils which be temporal and brief they yield not: because “the sufferings of this present time are not worthy 2629 to be compared,” as the Apostle says, “with the future glory that shall be revealed in us.” And again he says, “This our temporal and light tribulation doth in inconceivable manner work for us an eternal weight of glory.”2630
2629
Rom. viii. 18
2630
2 Cor. iv. 17
Section 3
3. Look we then, beloved, what hardships in labors and sorrows men endure, for things which they viciously love, and by how much they think to be made by them more happy, by so much more unhappily covet. How much for false riches, how much for vain honors, how much for affections of games and shows, is of exceeding peril and trouble most patiently borne! We see men hankering after money, glory, lasciviousness, how, that they may arrive at their desires, and having gotten not lose them, they endure sun, rain, icy cold, waves, and most stormy tempests, the roughnesses and uncertainties of wars, the strokes of huge blows, and dreadful wounds, not of inevitable necessity but of culpable will. But these madnesses are thought, in a manner, permitted. Thus avarice, ambition, luxury, and the delights of all sorts of games and shows, unless for them some wicked deed be committed or outrage which is prohibited by human laws, are accounted to pertain to innocence: nay moreover, the man who without wrong to any shall, whether for getting or increasing of money, whether for obtaining or keeping of honors, whether in contending in the match, or in hunting, or in exhibiting with applause some theatrical spectacle, have borne great labors and pains, it is not enough that through popular vanity he is checked by no reproofs, but he is moreover extolled with praises: “Because,” as it is written, “the sinner is praised in the desires of his soul.”2631 For the force of desires makes endurance of labors and pains: and no man save for that which he enjoyeth, freely takes on him to bear that which annoyeth. But these lusts, as I said, for the fulfilling of which they which are on fire with them most patiently endure much hardship and bitterness, are accounted to be permitted, and allowed by laws.
2631
Ps. x. 3
Section 4
4. Nay more; for is it not so that even for open wickednesses, not to punish but to perpetrate them, men put up with many most grievous troubles? Do not authors of secular letters tell of a certain right noble parricide of his country, that hunger, thirst, cold, all these he was able to endure, and his body was patient of lack of food and warmth and sleep to a degree surpassing belief?2632 Why speak of highway robbers, all of whom while they lie in wait for travellers endure whole nights without sleep, and that they may catch, as they pass by, men who have no thought of harm, will, no matter how foul the weather, plant in one spot their mind and body, which are full of thoughts of harm? Nay it is said that some of them are wont to torture one another by turns, to that degree that this practice and training against pains is not a whit short of pains. For, not so much perchance are they excruciated by the Judge, that through smart of pain the truth may be got at, as they are by their own comrades, that through patience of pain truth may not be betrayed. And yet in all these the patience is rather to be wondered at than praised: nay neither wondered at nor praised, seeing it is no patience; but we must wonder at the hardness, deny the patience: for there is nothing in this rightly to be praised, nothing usefully to be imitated; and thou wilt rightly judge the mind to be all the more worthy of greater punishment, the more it yields up to vices the instruments of virtues. Patience is companion of wisdom, not handmaid of concupiscence: patience is the friend of a good conscience, not the foe of innocence.
2632
Sallust Catilin, c. v.
Section 5
5. When therefore thou shall see any man suffer aught patiently, do not straightway praise it as patience; for this is only shown by the cause of suffering. When it is a good cause, then is it true patience: when that is not polluted by lust, then is this distinguished from falsity. But when that is placed in crime, then is this much misplaced in name. For not just as all who know are partakers of knowledge, just so are all who suffer partakers of patience: but they which rightly use the suffering, these in verity of patience are praised, these with the prize of patience are crowned.
Section 6
6. But yet, seeing that for lusts’ sake, or even wickednesses, seeing, in a word, that for this temporal life and weal men do wonderfully bear the brunt of many horrible sufferings, they much admonish us how great things ought to be borne for the sake of a good life, that it may also hereafter be eternal life, and without any bound of time, without waste or loss 529of any advantage, in true felicity secure. The Lord saith, “In your patience ye shall possess your souls:”2633 He saith not, your farms, your praises, your luxuries; but, “your souls.” If then the soul endures so great sufferings that it may possess that whereby it may be lost, how great ought it to bear that it may not be lost? And then, to mention a thing not culpable, if it bear so great sufferings for saving of the flesh under the hands of chirurgeons cutting or burning the same, how great ought it to bear for saving of itself under the fury of any soever enemies? Seeing that leeches, that the body may not die, do by pains consult for the body’s good; but enemies by threatening the body with pains and death, would urge us on to the slaying of soul and body in hell.
2633
Luke xxi. 19
Section 7
7. Though indeed the welfare even of the body is then more providently consulted for if its temporal life and welfare be disregarded for righteousness’ sake, and its pain or death most patiently for righteousness’ sake endured. Since it is of the body’s redemption which is to be in the end, that the Apostle speaks, where he says, “Even we ourselves groan within 2634 ourselves, waiting the adoption of sons, the redemption of our body.” Then he subjoins, “For in hope are we saved. But hope which is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he also hope for? But if what we see not we hope for, we do by patience wait for it.” When therefore any ills do torture us indeed, yet not extort from us ill works, not only is the soul possessed through patience; but even when through patience the body itself for a time is afflicted or lost, it is unto eternal stability and salvation resumed, and hath through grief and death an inviolable health and happy immortality laid up for itself. Whence the Lord Jesus exhorting his Martyrs to patience, hath promised of the very body a future perfect entireness, without loss, I say not of any limb, but of a single hair. “Verily I say unto you,” saith He, “a hair of your head shall not perish.” 2635 That so, because, as the Apostle says, “no man ever hated his own flesh,”2636 a faithful man may more by patience than by impatience take vigilant care for the state of his flesh, and find amends for its present losses, how great soever they may be, in the inestimable gain of future incorruption.
2634
Rom. viii. 23–25
2635
Luke xxi. 18
2636
Eph. v. 29
Section 8
8. But although patience be a virtue of the mind, yet partly the mind exercises it in the mind itself, partly in the body. In itself it exercises patience, when, the body remaining unhurt and untouched, the mind is goaded by any adversities or filthinesses of things or words, to do or to say something that is not expedient or not becoming, and patiently bears all evils that it may not itself commit any evil in work or word. By this patience we bear, even while we be sound in body, that in the midst of the offenses of this world our blessedness is deferred: of which is said what I cited a little before, “If what we see not we hope for, we do by patience wait for it.” By this patience, holy David bore the revilings of a railer, 2637 and, when he might easily have avenged himself, not only did it not, but even refrained another who was vexed and moved for him; and more put forth his kingly power by prohibiting than by exercising vengeance. Nor at that time was his body afflicted with any disease or wound, but there was an acknowledging of a time of humility, and a bearing of the will of God, for the sake of which there was a drinking of the bitterness of contumely with most patient mind. This patience the Lord taught, when, the servants being moved at the mixing in of the tares and wishing to gather them up, He said that the householder answered, “Leave both to grow until the harvest.” 2638 That, namely, must be patience put up with, which must not be in haste put away. Of this patience Himself afforded and showed an example, when, before the passion of His Body, He so bore with His disciple Judas, that ere He pointed him out as the traitor, He endured him as a thief; 2639 and before experience of bonds and cross and 2640 death, did, to those lips so full of guile, not deny the kiss of peace. All these, and whatever else there be, which it were tedious to rehearse, belong to that manner of patience, by which the mind doth, not its own sins but any evils so ever from without, patiently endure in itself, while the body remains altogether unhurt. But the other manner of patience is that by which the same mind bears any troubles and grievances whatsoever in the sufferings of the body; not as do foolish or wicked men for the sake of getting vain things or perpetrating crimes; but as is defined by the Lord, “for righteousness’ sake.”2641 In both kinds, the holy Martyrs contended. For both with scornful reproofs of the ungodly were they filled, where, the body remaining intact, the mind hath its own (as it were) blows and wounds, and bears these unbroken: and in their bodies they were bound, imprisoned, vexed with hunger and thirst, tortured, gashed, torn asunder, burned, butchered; and with piety immovable submitted
2637
2 Sam. xvi. 5–12
2638
Matt. xiii. 30
2639
John xii. 6; xiii. 29
2640
Matt. xxvi. 49
2641
Matt. v. 10
Section 8
unto God their mind, while they were suffering in the flesh all that exquisite cruelty could devise in its mind. 530
1151
Section 9
9. It is indeed a greater fight of patience, when it is not a visible enemy that by persecution and rage would urge us into crime which enemy may openly and in broad day be by not consenting overcome; but the devil himself, (he who doth likewise by means of the children of infidelity, as by his vessels, persecute the children of light) doth by himself hiddenly attack us, by his rage putting us on to do or say something against God. As such had holy Job experience of him, by both temptations vexed, but in both through steadfast strength of patience and arms of piety unconquered. For first, his body being left unhurt, he lost all that he had, in order that the mind, before excruciation of the flesh, might through withdrawal of the things which men are wont to prize highly, be broken, and he might say something against God upon loss of the things for the sake of which he was thought to worship Him. He was smitten also with sudden bereavement of all his sons so that whom he had begotten one by one he should lose all at once, as though their numerousness had been not for the adorning of his felicity, but for the increasing of his calamity. But where, having endured these things, he remained immovable in his God, he cleaved to His will, Whom it was not possible to lose but by his own will; and in place of the things he had lost he held Him who took them away, in Whom he should find what should never be lost. For He that took them away was not that enemy who had will of hurting, but He who had given to that enemy the power of hurting. The enemy next attacked also the body, and now not those things which were in the man from without, but the man himself, in whatever part he could, he smote. From the head to the feet were burning pains, were crawling worms, were running sores; still in the rotting body the mind remained entire, and horrid as were the tortures of the consuming flesh, with inviolate piety and uncorrupted patience it endured them all. There stood the wife, and instead of giving her husband any help, was suggesting blasphemy against God. For we are not to think that the devil, in leaving her when he took away the sons, went to work as one unskilled in mischief: rather, how necessary she was to the tempter, he had already learned in Eve. But now he had not found a second Adam whom he might take by means of a woman. More cautious was Job in his hours of sadness, than Adam in his bowers of gladness, the one was overcome in the midst of pleasant things, the other overcame in the midst of pains; the one consented to that which seemed delightsome, this other quailed not in torments most affrightsome. There stood his friends too, not to console him in his evils, but to suspect evil in him. For while he suffered so great sorrows, they believed him not innocent, nor did their tongue forbear to say that which his conscience had not to say; that so amid ruthless tortures of the body, his mind also might be beaten with truthless reproaches. But he, bearing in his flesh his own pains, in his heart others’ errors, reproved his wife for her folly, taught his friends wisdom, preserved patience in each and all.
Section 10 10. To this man let them 2642 look who put themselves to death when they are sought for to have life put upon them; and by bereaving themselves of the present, deny and refuse also that which is to come. Why, if people were driving them to deny Christ or to do any thing contrary to righteousness, like true Martyrs, they ought rather to bear all patiently than to dare death impatiently. If it could be right to do this for the sake of running away from evils, holy Job would have killed himself, that being in so great evils, in his estate, in his sons, in his limbs, through the devil’s cruelty, he might escape them all. But he did it not. Far be it from him, a wise man, to commit upon himself what not even that unwise woman suggested. And if she had suggested it, she would with good reason here also have had that answer which she had when suggesting blasphemy; “Thou hast spoken as one of the foolish women. If we have received good at the hand of the Lord, shall we not bear evil?”2643 Seeing even he also would have lost patience, if either by blasphemy as she had suggested, or by killing himself which not even she had dared to speak of, he should die, and be among them of whom it is written, “Woe unto them that have lost patience!” 2644 and rather increase than escape pains, if after the death of his body he should be hurried off to punishment either of blasphemers, or of murderers, or of them which are worse even than parricides. For if a parricide be on that account more wicked than any homicide, because he kills not merely a man but a near relative; and among parricides too, the nearer the person killed, the greater criminal he is judged to be: without doubt worse still is he who kills himself, because there is none nearer to a man than himself. What then do these miserable persons 531mean, who, though both here they have inflicted pain upon themselves, and hereafter not only for their impiety towards God but for the very cruelty which they have exercised upon themselves will deservedly suffer pains of His inflicting, do yet seek moreover the glories of Martyrs? since, even if for the true testimony of Christ they suffered persecution, and killed themselves, that they might not suffer any thing from their persecutors, it would be rightly said to them, “Woe unto them which have lost patience!” For how hath patience her just reward, if even an impatient suffering receives the crown? or how shall that man be judged 2645 innocent, to whom is said, “Thou shall love thy neighbor as thyself,” if he commit murder upon himself which he is forbidden to commit upon his neighbor?
2642
Donatists
2643
Job ii. 10
2644
Ecclus. ii. 14
2645
Matt. xix. 19
Section 11
11. Let then the Saints hear from holy Scripture the precepts of patience: “My son, when thou comest to the service of God, stand thou in righteousness and fear, and prepare thy soul for temptation: bring thine heart low, and bear up; that in the last end thy life may increase. All that shall come upon thee receive thou, and in pain bear up, and in thy humility 2646 have patience. For in the fire gold and silver is proved, but acceptable men in the furnace of humiliation.”2647 And in another place we read: “My son, faint not thou in the discipline of the Lord, neither be wearied when thou art chidden of Him. For whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom He receiveth.” 2648 What is here set down, “son whom He receiveth,” the same in the above mentioned testimony is, “acceptable men.” For this is just, that we who from our first felicity of Paradise for contumacious appetence of things to enjoy were dismissed, through humble patience of things that annoy may be received back: driven away for doing evil, brought back by suffering evil: there against righteousness doing ill, here for righteousness’ sake patient of ills.
2646
Receptibiles
2647
Ecclus. ii. 1–5
2648
Prov. iii. 11, 12
Section 12
12. But concerning true patience, worthy of the name of this virtue, whence it is to be had, must now be inquired. For there are some 2649 who attribute it to the strength of the human will, not which it hath by Divine assistance, but which it hath of free-will. Now this error is a proud one: for it is the error of them which abound, of whom it is said in the Psalm, “A scornful reproof to them which abound, and a despising to the proud.” 2650 It is not 2651 therefore that “patience of the poor” which “perisheth not forever.” For these poor receive it from that Rich One, to Whom is said, “My God art Thou, because my goods Thou needest 2653 not:”2652 of Whom is “every good gift, and every perfect gift;” to Whom crieth the needy and the poor, and in asking, seeking, knocking, saith, “My God, deliver me from the hand of the sinner, and from the hand of the lawless and unjust: because Thou art my patience, O Lord, my hope from my youth up.” 2654 But these which abound, and disdain to be in want before God, lest they receive of Him true patience, they which glory in their own false patience, seek to “confound the counsel of the poor, because the Lord is his hope.”2655 Nor do they regard, seeing they are men, and attribute so much to their own, that is, to the human will, that they run into that which is written, “Cursed is every one who putteth his hope in man.”2656 Whence even if it chance them that they do bear up under any hardships or difficulties, either that they may not displease men, or that they may not suffer worse, or in self-pleasing and love of their own presumption, do with most proud will bear up under these same, it is meet that concerning patience this be said unto them, which concerning wisdom the blessed Apostle James saith, “This wisdom cometh not from above, but is earthly, animal, devilish.”2657 For why may there not be a false patience of the proud, as there is a false wisdom of the proud? But from Whom cometh true wisdom, from Him cometh also true patience. For to Him singeth that poor in spirit, “Unto God is my soul subjected, because from Him is my patience.”2658
2649
Pelagians
2650
Ps. cxxiii. 4
2651
Ps. ix. 18
2652
Ps. xvi. 2
2653
James i. 17
2654
Ps. lxxi. 4, 5
2655
Ps. xiv. 6
2656
Jer. xvii. 5
2657
James iii. 15
2658
Ps. lxii. 5
Section 13
13. But they answer and speak, saying, “If the will of man without any aid of God by strength of free choice2659 bears so many grievous and horrible distresses, whether in mind or body, that it may enjoy the delight of this mortal life and of sins, why may it not be that in the same manner the self-same will of man by the same strength of free-choice, not thereunto looking to be aided of God, but unto itself by natural possibility sufficing, doth, in all of labor or sorrow that is put upon it, for righteousness and eternal life’s sake most patiently sustain the same? Or is it so, say they, that the will of the unjust is sufficient, without aid of God, for them, yea even to exercise themselves in undergoing torture for iniquity, and before they be tortured by others; sufficient the will of them which love the respiting 532of this life that, without aid of God, they should in the midst of most atrocious and protracted torments persevere in a lie, lest confessing their misdeeds they be ordered to be put to death; and not sufficient the will of the just, unless strength be put into them from above, that whatever be their pains, they should, either for beauty’s sake of very righteousness or for love of eternal life, bear the same?”
2659
Liberi arbitrii
Section 14
14. They which say these things, do not understand that as well each one of the wicked is in that measure for endurance of any ills more hard, in what measure the lust of the world is mightier in him; as also that each one of the just is in that measure for endurance of any ills more brave, in what measure in him the love of God is mightier. But lust of the world hath its beginning from choice of the will, its progress from enjoyableness of pleasure, its confirmation from the chain of custom, whereas “the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts,”2660 not verily from ourselves, but “by the Holy Spirit which is given unto us.” And therefore from Him cometh the patience of the just, by Whom is shed abroad their love (of Him). Which love (of charity) the Apostle praising and setting off, among its other good qualities, saith, that it “beareth all things.” 2661 “Charity,” saith he, “is magnanimous.” 2662 And a little after he saith, “endureth all things.” The greater then is in saints the charity (or love) of God, the more do they endure all things for Him whom they love, and the greater in sinners the lust of the world, the more do they endure all things for that which they lust after. And consequently from that same source cometh true patience of the righteous, from which there is in them the love of God; and from that same source the false patience of the unrighteous, from which is in them the lust of the world. With regard to which the Apostle John saith; “Love not the world, neither the things that be in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him: because all that is in the world, is lust of the flesh, and lust of the eyes, and pride of life;2663 which is not of the Father, but is of the world.”2664 This concupiscence, then, which is not of the Father, but is of the world, in what measure it shall in any man be more vehement and ardent, in that measure becometh each more patient of all troubles and sorrows for that which he lusteth after. Therefore, as we said above, this is not the patience which descendeth from above, but the patience of the godly is from above, coming down from the Father of lights. And so that is earthly, this heavenly; that animal, this spiritual; that devilish, this Godlike. 2665 Because concupiscence, whereof it cometh that persons sinning suffer all things stubbornly, is of the world; but charity, whereof cometh that persons living aright suffer all things bravely, is of God. And therefore to that false patience it is possible that, without aid of God, the human will may suffice; harder, in proportion as it is more eager of lust, and bearing ills with the more endurance the worse itself becometh: while to this, which is true patience, the human will, unless aided and inflamed from above, doth not suffice, for the very reason that the Holy Spirit is the
2660
Rom. v. 5
2661
1 Cor. xiii. 4, 7
2662
Magnanima
2663
Ambitio sæculi
2664
1 John ii. 15, 16
2665
Deifica
Section 14
fire thereof; by Whom unless it be kindled to love that impassible Good, it is not able to bear the ill which it suffereth.
1158
Section 15
15. For, as the Divine utterances testify, “God is love, and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God dwelleth in him.”2666 Whoso therefore contends that love of God may be had without aid of God, what else does he contend, but that God may be had without God? Now what Christian would say this, which no madman would venture to say? Therefore in the Apostle, true, pious, faithful patience, saith exultingly, and by the mouth of the Saints; “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written, For Thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him that loved us:” not through ourselves, but, “through Him that loved us.” 2667 And then he goes on and adds; “For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” This is that “love of God” which “is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit which is given unto us.” But the concupiscence of the bad, by reason of which there is in them a false patience, “is not of the Father,” 2668 as saith the Apostle John, but is of the world.
2666
1 John iv. 16
2667
Rom. viii. 35–39
2668
1 John ii. 16
Section 16
16. Here some man shall say; “If the concupiscence of the bad, whereby it comes that they bear all evils for that which they lust after, be of the world, how is it said to be of their will?” As if, truly, they were not themselves also of the world, when they love the world, 533forsaking Him by Whom the world was made. For “they serve the creature more than the Creator, Who is blessed for ever.”2669 Whether then by the word “world,” the Apostle John signifies lovers of the world, the will, as it is of themselves, is therefore of the world: or whether under the name of the world he comprises heaven and earth, and all that is therein, that is the creature universally, it is plain that the will of the creature, not being that of the Creator, is of the world. For which cause to such the Lord saith, “Ye are from beneath, I am from above: ye are of this world, I am not of this world.” 2670 And to the Apostle He saith, “If ye were of the world, the world would love his own.” But lest they should arrogate more unto themselves than their measure craved, and when He said that they were not of the world, should imagine this to be of nature, not of grace, therefore He saith, “But because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you.” It follows, that they once were of the world: for, that they might not be of the world, they were chosen out of the world.
2669
Rom. i. 25
2670
John viii. 23
Section 17
17. Now this election the Apostle demonstrating to be, not of merits going before in good works, but election of grace, saith thus: “And in this time a remnant by election of grace is saved. But if by grace, then is it no more of works, otherwise grace is no more grace.”2671 This is election of grace; that is, election in which through the grace of God men are elected: this, I say, is election of grace which goes before all good merits of men. For if it be to any good merits that it is given, then is it no more gratuitously given, but is paid as a debt, and consequently is not truly called grace; where “reward,” as the same Apostle saith, “is not imputed as grace, but as debt.” 2672 Whereas if, that it may be true grace, that is, gratuitous, it find nothing in man to which it is due of merit, (which thing is well understood in that saying, “Thou wilt save them for nothing,”2673) then assuredly itself gives the merits, not to merits is given. Consequently it goes before even faith, from which it is that all good works begin. “For the just,” as is written, “shall live by faith.”2674 But, moreover, grace not only assists the just, but also justifies the ungodly. And therefore even when it does aid the just and seems to be rendered to his merits, not even then does it cease to be grace, because that which it aids it did itself bestow. With a view therefore to this grace, which precedes all good merits of man, not only was Christ put to death by the ungodly, but “died for the ungodly.”2675 And ere that He died, He elected the Apostles, not of course then just, but to be justified: to whom He saith, “I have chosen you out of the world.” For to whom He said, “Ye are not of the world,” and then, lest they should account themselves never to have been of the world, presently added, “But I have chosen you out of the world;” assuredly that they should not be of the world was by His own election of them conferred upon them. Wherefore, if it had been through their own righteousness, not through His grace, that they were elected, they would not have been chosen out of the world, because they would already not be of the world if already they were just. And again, if the reason why they were elected was, that they were already just, they had already first chosen the Lord. For who can be righteous but by choosing righteousness? “But the end of the law is Christ, for righteousness is to every one that believeth.2676 Who is made unto us wisdom of God, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption: that, as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord.”2677 He then is Himself our righteousness.
2671
Rom. xi. 5, 6
2672
Rom. iv. 4
2673
Psalm lvi. 7, Lat. and LXX. ὑ πšρ τοῦ μηθενὸς σὡσεις αὐτούς . But Heb. and E.V. “shall they escape by
iniquity?” 2674
Habak. ii. 4
2675
Rom. v. 6
2676
Rom. x. 4
2677
1 Cor. i. 30, 31
Section 18
18. Whence also the just of old, before the Incarnation of the Word, in this faith of Christ, and in this true righteousness, (which thing Christ is unto us,) were justified; believing this to come which we believe come: and they themselves by grace were saved through faith, not of themselves, but by the gift of God, not of works, lest haply they should be lifted 2678 up. For their good works did not come before God’s mercy, but followed it. For to them was it said, and by them written, long ere Christ was come in the flesh, “I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will show compassion on whom I will have compassion.”2679 From which words of God the Apostle Paul, should so long after say; “It is not therefore of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy.” It is also their own voice, long ere Christ was come in the flesh, “My God, His mercy shall prevent me.” 2680 How indeed could they be aliens from the faith of Christ, by whose charity even Christ was fore-announced unto us; without the faith of Whom, not any of mortals either hath been, or is, or ever shall be able to be, righteous? If then, being already just, the Apostles were elected by Christ, they would have first chosen Him, that just men might be chosen, because 534without Him they could not be just. But it was not so: as Himself saith to them, “Not ye have chosen Me, but I have chosen you.” Of which the Apostle John speaks, “Not that we loved God, but that He loved us.”2681
2678
Eph. ii. 8, 9
2679
Ex. xxxiii. 19; Rom. ix. 15, 16
2680
Ps. lix. 10
2681
1 John iv. 10
Section 19
19. Since the case is so, what is man, while in this life he uses his own proper will, ere he choose and love God, but unrighteous and ungodly? “What,” I say, “is man,” a creature going astray from the Creator, unless his Creator “be mindful of him,”2682 and choose2683 him freely, and love2684 him freely? Because he is himself not able to choose or love, unless being first chosen and loved he be healed, because by choosing blindness he perceiveth not, and by loving laziness is soon wearied. But perchance some man may say: In what manner is it that God first chooses and loves unjust men, that He may justify them, when it is written, “Thou hatest, Lord, all that work iniquity?” 2685 In what way, think we, but in a wonderful and ineffable manner? And yet even we are able to conceive, that the good Physician both hates and loves the sick man: hates him, because he is sick; loves him, that he may drive away his sickness.
2682
Ps. viii. 4
2683
Eligere
2684
Diligere
2685
Ps. v. 5
Section 20
20. Let thus much have been said with regard to charity, without which in us there cannot be true patience, because in good men it is the love of God which endureth all things, as in bad men the lust of the world. But this love is in us by the Holy Spirit which was given us. Whence, of Whom cometh in us love, of Him cometh patience. But the lust of the world, when it patiently bears the burdens of any manner of calamity, boasts of the strength of its own will, like as of the stupor of disease, not robustness of health. This boasting is insane: it is not the language of patience, but of dotage. A will like this in that degree seems more patient of bitter ills, in which it is more greedy of temporal good things, because more empty of eternal.
Section 21
21. But if it be goaded on and inflamed with deceitful visions and unclean incentives by the devilish spirit, associated and conspiring therewith in malignant agreement, this spirit makes the will of the man either frantic with error, or burning with appetite of some worldly delight; and hence, it seems to show a marvellous endurance of intolerable evils: but yet it does not follow from this that an evil will without instigation of another and unclean spirit, like as a good will without aid of the Holy Spirit, cannot exist. For that there may be an evil will even without any spirit either seducing or inciting, is sufficiently clear in the instance of the devil himself, who is found to have become a devil, not through some other devil, but of his own proper will. An evil will therefore, whether it be hurried on by lust, whether called back by fear, whether expanded by gladness, whether contracted by sadness, and in all these perturbations of mind enduring and making light of whatever are to others, or at another time, more grievous, this evil will may, without another spirit to goad it on, seduce itself, and in lapsing by defection from the higher to the lower, the more pleasant it shall account that thing to be which it seeks to get or fears to lose, or rejoices to have gotten, or grieves to have lost, the more tolerably for its sake bear what is less for it to suffer than that is to be enjoyed. For whatever that thing be, it is of the creature, of which one knows the pleasure. Because in some sort, the creature loved approaches itself to the creature loving in fond contact and connection, to the giving experience of its sweetness.
Section 22
22. But the pleasure of the Creator, of which is written, “And from the river of Thy 2686 pleasure wilt Thou give them to drink,” is of far other kind, for it is not, like us, a creature. Unless then its love be given to us from thence there is no source whence it may be in us. And consequently, a good will, by which we love God, cannot be in man, save in whom God also worketh to will. This good will therefore, that is, a will faithfully subjected to God,2687 a will set on fire by sanctity of that ardor which is above, a will which loves God and his neighbor for God’s sake; whether through love, of which the Apostle Peter makes answer, “Lord, Thou knowest that I love Thee;”2688 whether through fear, of which says the Apostle Paul, “In fear and trembling work out your own salvation;” 2689 whether through joy, of which he says, “In hope rejoicing, in tribulation patient;”2690 whether through sorrow, with which he says he had great grief for his brethren;2691 in whatever way it endure what bitterness and hardships soever, it is the love of God which “endureth all things,”2692 and which is not shed abroad in our hearts but by the Holy Spirit given unto us. 2693 Whereof piety makes no manner of doubt, but, as the charity of them which holily love, so the patience of them which piously endure, is the gift of God. For it cannot be that the divine Scripture deceiveth or is deceived, which not only in the Old Books hath testimonies of this thing, 2694 535when it is said unto God, “My Patience art Thou,” and, “From Him is my patience;” and where another prophet saith, that we receive the spirit of fortitude; 2695 but also in the Apostolic writings we read, “Because unto you is given on behalf of Christ, not only to believe on Him, but to suffer for Him.”2696 Therefore let not that make the mind to be as of its own merit uplifted, wherewith he is told that he is of Another’s mercy gifted.
2686
Ps. xxxvi. 9
2687
Phil. ii. 13
2688
John xxi. 15
2689
Phil. ii. 12
2690
Rom. xii. 12
2691
Rom. ix. 2
2692
1 Cor. xiii. 7
2693
Rom. v. 5
2694
Ps. lxxi. 5; and lxii. 5
2695
Is. xi. 2
2696
Phil. i. 29
Section 23
23. But if moreover any not having charity, which pertaineth to the unity of spirit and the bond of peace whereby the Catholic Church is gathered and knit together, being involved in any schism, doth, that he may not deny Christ, suffer tribulations, straits, hunger, nakedness, persecution, perils, prisons, bonds, torments, swords, or flames, or wild beasts, or the very cross, through fear of hell and everlasting fire; in nowise is all this to be blamed, nay rather this also is a patience meet to be praised. For we cannot say that it would have been better for him that by denying Christ he should suffer none of these things, which he did suffer by confessing Him: but we must account that it will perhaps be more tolerable for him in the judgment, than if by denying Christ he should avoid all those things: so that what the Apostle saith, “If I shall give my body to be burned, but have not charity, it profiteth me nothing,�2697 should be understood to profit nothing for obtaining the kingdom of heaven, but not for having more tolerable punishment to undergo in the last judgment.
2697
1 Cor. xiii. 3
Section 24 24.2698 But it may well be asked, whether this patience likewise be the gift of God, or to be attributed to strength of the human will, by which patience, one who is separated from the Church doth, not for the error which separated him but for the truth of the Sacrament or Word which hath remained with him, for fear of pains eternal suffer pains temporal. For we must take heed lest haply, if we affirm that patience to be the gift of God, they in whom it is should be thought to belong also to the kingdom of God; but if we deny it to be the gift of God, we should be compelled to allow that without aid and gift of God there can be in the will of man somewhat of good. Because it is not to be denied that it is a good thing that a man believe he shall undergo pain of eternal punishment if he shall deny Christ, and for that faith endure and make light of any manner of punishment of man’s inflicting.
2698
See on Profit of Believing, c. 1, p. 347.
Section 25
25. So then, as we are not to deny that this is the gift of God, we are thus to understand that there be some gifts of God possessed by the sons of that Jerusalem which is above,2699 and free, and mother of us all, (for these are in some sort the hereditary possessions in which we are “heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ:”) but some other which may be received even by the sons of concubines to whom carnal Jews and schismatics or heretics are compared. For though it be written, “Cast out the bondmaid and her son, for the son of the bondmaid shall not be heir with my son Isaac:”2700 and though God said to Abraham, “In Isaac shall thy seed be called:” which the Apostle hath so interpreted as to say, “That is, not they which be sons of the flesh, these be the sons of God; but the sons of the promise are counted for the seed;”2701 that we might understand the seed of Abraham in regard of Christ to pertain by reason of Christ to the sons of God, who are Christ’s body and members, that is to say, the Church of God, one, true, very-begotten, catholic, holding the godly faith; not 2702 the faith which works through elation or fear, but “which worketh by love;” nevertheless, even the sons of the concubines, when Abraham sent them away from his son Isaac, he did not omit to bestow upon them some gifts, that they might not be left in every way empty, but not that they should be held as heirs. For so we read: “And Abraham gave all his estate unto Isaac; and to the sons of his concubines gave Abraham gifts, and sent them away from his son Isaac.”2703 If then we be sons of Jerusalem the free, let us understand that other be the gifts of them which are put out of the inheritance, other the gifts of them which be heirs. For these be the heirs, to whom is said, “Ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear, but ye have received the spirit of adoption of sons, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.”2704
2699
Gal. iv. 26
2700
Gal. iv. 30; and Gen. xxi. 10
2701
Gen. xxi. 12; and Rom. ix. 7, 8
2702
Gal. v. 6
2703
Gen. xxv. 5, 6
2704
Rom. viii. 15
Section 26
26. Cry we therefore with the spirit of charity, and until we come to the inheritance in which we are alway to remain, let us be, through love which becometh the free-born, not through fear which becometh bondmen, patient of suffering. Cry we, so long as we are poor, until we be with that inheritance made rich. Seeing how great earnest thereof we have received, in that Christ to make us rich made Himself poor; Who being exalted unto the riches which are above, there was sent One Who should breathe into our hearts holy longings, the Holy Spirit. Of these poor, as yet believing, not yet beholding; as yet hoping, not yet enjoying; 536as yet sighing in desire, not yet reigning in felicity; as yet hungering and thirsting, not yet satisfied: of these poor, then, “the patience shall not perish for ever:”2705 not that there will be patience there also, where aught to endure shall not be; but “will not perish,” meaning that it will not be unfruitful. But its fruit it will have for ever, therefore it “shall not perish for ever.” For he who labors in vain, when his hope fails for which he labored, says with good cause, “I have lost so much labor:” but he who comes to the promise of his labor says, congratulating himself, I have not lost my labor. Labor then is said not to perish (or be lost), not because it lasts perpetually, but because it is not spent in vain. So also the patience of the poor of Christ (who yet are to be made rich as heirs of Christ) shall not perish for ever: not because there also we shall be commanded patiently to bear, but because for that which we have here patiently borne, we shall enjoy eternal bliss. He will put no end to everlasting felicity, Who giveth temporal patience unto the will: because both the one and the other is of Him bestowed as a gift upon charity, Whose gift that charity is also.
2705
Ps. ix. 18
On Care to Be Had for the Dead.
On Care to Be Had for the Dead.
539
[De Cura Pro Mortuis.] Translated by Rev. H. Browne, M.A. Of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge; Late Principal of the Diocesan College, Chichester.
Translator’s Preface.
From the Retractations, Book ii. Chap. 64. The book, On care to be had for the dead, I wrote, having been asked by letter whether it profits any person after death that his body shall be buried at the memorial of any Saint.2706 The book begins thus: Long time unto your Holiness, my venerable fellowbishop Paulinus.
2706
The date may be conjectured from the order of the Retractations, where this book is mentioned next
after the Enchiridion ad Laurentium, which was not finished earlier than A.D. 421. The first two paragraphs of this treatise will be found quoted by Augustin in his Book On Eight Questions of Dulcitius, Quæst. ii. 2, 3. Ben. ed.Paulinus, to whom it was addressed, was Bishop of Nolæ, and took great pains to honor the memory of St. Felix, who is mentioned in the beginning of it. Several poems of his on the subject are extant.
Section 1
1. Long time, my venerable fellow-bishop Paulinus, have I been thy Holiness’s debtor for an answer; even since thou wrotest to me by them of the household2707 of our most religious daughter Flora, asking of me whether it profit any man after death that his body is buried at the memorial of some Saint. This, namely, had the said widow begged of thee for her son deceased in those parts, and thou hadst written her an answer, consoling her, and announcing to her concerning the body of the faithful young man Cynegius, that the thing which she with motherly and pious affection desired was done, to wit, by placing it in the basilica of most blessed Felix the Confessor. Upon which occasion it came to pass, that by the same bearers of thy letter thou didst write also to me, raising the like question, and craving that I would answer what I thought of this matter, at the same time not forbearing to say what are thine own sentiments. For thou sayest that to thy thinking these be no empty motions of religious and faithful minds, which take this care for their deceased friends. Thou addest, moreover, that it cannot be void of effect2708 that the whole Church is wont to supplicate for the departed: so that hence it may be further conjectured that it doth profit a person after death, if by the faith of his friends for the interment of his body such a spot be provided wherein may be apparent the aid, likewise in this way sought, of the Saints.
2707
Homines
2708
Vacare
Section 2
2. But this being the case, how to this opinion that should not be contrary which the Apostle says, “For we shall all stand before the judgment-seat of Christ, that each may receive according to the things he hath done by the body,2709 whether good or bad;”2710 this, thou signifiest, thou dost not well see. For this apostolic sentence doth before death admonish to be done, that which may profit after death; not then, first, when there is to be now a receiving of that which a person shall have done before death. True, but this question is thus solved, namely, that there is a certain kind of life by which is acquired, while one lives in this body, that it should be possible for these things to be of some help to the departed; and, consequently, it is “according to the things done by the body,” that they are aided by the things which shall, after they have left the body, be religiously done on their behalf. For 540there are whom these things aid nothing at all, namely, when they are done either for persons whose merits are so evil, that neither by such things are they worthy to be aided; or for persons whose merits are so good, that of such things they have no need as aids. Of the kind of life, therefore, which each hath led by the body, doth it come, that these things profit or profit not, whatever are piously done on his behalf when he has left the body. For touching merit whereby these things profit, if none have been gotten in this life, it is in vain sought after this life. So it comes to pass as well that not unmeaningly2711 doth the Church, or care of friends, bestow upon the departed whatever of religion it shall be able; as also that, nevertheless, each receiveth “according to the things which he hath done by the body, whether it be good or bad,” the Lord rendering unto each according to his works. For, that this which is bestowed should be capable of profiting him after the body, this was acquired in that life which he hath led in the body.
2709
Per corpus
2710
2 Cor. v. 10
2711
Inaniter
Section 3
3. Possibly thy inquiry is satisfied by this my brief reply. But what other considerations move me, to which I think meet to answer, do thou for a short space attend. In the books of the Maccabees we read of sacrifice offered for the dead. 2712 Howbeit even if it were no where at all read in the Old Scriptures, not small is the authority, which in this usage is clear, of the whole Church, namely, that in the prayers of the priest which are offered to the Lord God at His altar, the Commendation of the dead hath also its place. But then, whether there be some profit accruing unto the soul of the dead from the place of its body, requires a more careful inquiry. And first, whether it make any difference in causing or increasing of misery after this life to the spirits of men if their bodies be not buried, this must be looked into, not in the light of opinion however commonly received, but rather of the holy writ of our religion. For we are not to credit that, as is read in Maro, the unburied are prohibited from navigating and crossing the infernal stream: because forsooth “To none is giv’n to pass the hideous banks And waters hoarse, ere in their meet abode The bones have sunk to rest.”2713 Who can incline a Christian heart to these poetical and fabulous figments, when the Lord Jesus, to the intent that under the hands of their enemies, who should have their bodies in their power, Christians might lie down without a fear, asserts that not a hair of their head shall perish, exhorting that they should not fear them which when they have killed the body have nothing more that they can do? 2714 Of which in the first book “On the City of God,” I have methinks enough spoken, to break the teeth in their mouths who, in imputing to Christian times the barbarous devastation, especially that which Rome has lately suffered, do cast up to us this also, that Christ did not there come to the succor of His own. To whom when it is answered that the souls of the faithful were, according to the merits of their faith, by Him taken into protection, they insult over us with talking of their corpses left unburied. All this matter, then, concerning burial I have in such words as these expounded.
2712
2 Mac. xii. 43
2713
Æneidvi. 327, 328.
2714
Matt. x. 28
Section 4
4. “But” (say I) “in such a slaughter-heap of dead bodies, could they not even be buried? not this, either, doth pious faith too greatly dread, holding that which is foretold that not even consuming beasts will be an hindrance to the rising again of bodies of which not a hair of the head shall perish.2715 Nor in any wise would Truth say, “Fear not them which kill the body, but cannot kill the soul;” if it could at all hinder the life to come whatever enemies might choose to do with the bodies of the slain. Unless haply any is so absurd as to contend that they ought not to be feared before death, lest they kill the body, but ought to be feared after death, lest, having killed the body, they suffer it not to be buried. Is that then false which Christ says, “Who kill the body, and afterwards have no more that they can do,” if they have so great things that they can do on dead bodies? Far be the thought, that that should be false which Truth hath said. For the thing said is, that they do somewhat when they kill, because in the body there is feeling while it is in killing, but afterward they have nothing more that they can do because there is no feeling in the body when killed. Many bodies, then, of Christians the earth hath not covered: but none of them hath any separated from heaven and earth, the whole of which He filleth with presence of Himself, Who knoweth whence to resuscitate that which He created. It is said indeed in the Psalm, “The dead bodies of thy servants have they given for meat unto the fowls of the heaven, the flesh of thy saints unto the beasts of the earth: they have shed their blood like water round about Jerusalem, and there was no man to bury them:”2716 but more to heighten the cruelty of them who did 541these things, not to the infelicity of them who suffered them. For, however, in sight of men these things may seem hard and dire, yet “precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints.” 2717 So, then, all these things, care of funeral, bestowal in sepulture, pomp of obsequies, are more for comfort of the living, than for help to the dead. If it at all profit the ungodly to have costly sepulture, it shall harm the godly to have vile sepulture or none. Right handsome obsequies in sight of men did that rich man who was clad in purple receive of the crowd of his housefolk; but far more handsome did that poor man who was full of sores obtain of the ministry of Angels; who bore him not out into a marble tomb, but into Abraham’s bosom bore him on high.2718 All this they laugh at, against whom we have undertaken to defend the City of God: but for all that their own philosophers, even, held care of sepulture in contempt; and often whole armies, while dying for their earthly country, cared not where they should after lie, or to what beasts they should become meat; and the poets had leave to say of this matter with applause “though all unurn’d he lie,
2715
Luke xxi. 18; xii. 4–7; Matt. x. 28–30
2716
Ps. lxxix. 2, 3
2717
Ps. cxvi. 15
2718
Luke xvi. 19–22
Section 4 His cov’ring is the overarching sky.�2719 How much less ought they to make a vaunting about unburied bodies of Christians, to whom the flesh itself with all its members, re-fashioned, not only from the earth, but even from the other elements, yea, from their most secret windings, whereinto these evanished corpses have retired, is assured to be in an instant of time rendered back and made entire as at the first, according to His promise?
2719
Lucan vii. 819, speaking of the slain in the battle of Pharsalia, whose bodies Caesar forbad to burn or
inter.
1177
Section 5
5. Yet it follows not that the bodies of the departed are to be despised and flung aside, and above all of just and faithful men, which bodies as organs and vessels to all good works their spirit hath holily used. For if a father’s garment and ring, and whatever such like, is the more dear to those whom they leave behind, the greater their affection is towards their parents, in no wise are the bodies themselves to be spurned, which truly we wear in more familiar and close conjunction than any of our putting on. For these pertain not to ornament or aid which is applied from without, but to the very nature of man. Whence also the funerals of the just men of old were with dutiful piety cared for, and their obsequies celebrated, and sepulture provided:2720 and themselves while living did touching burial or even translation of their bodies give charge to their sons. Tobias also, to have by burying of the dead obtained favor with God, is by witness of an Angel commended. 2721 The Lord Himself also, about to rise on the third day, both preaches, and commends to be preached, the good work of a religious woman, that she poured out a precious ointment over His limbs, and did it for His burial:2722 and they are with praise commemorated in the Gospel, who having received His Body from the cross did carefully and with reverend honor see it wound and laid in the sepulchre.2723 These authorities however do not put us upon thinking that there is in dead bodies any feeling; but rather, that the Providence of God (Who is moreover pleased with such offices of piety) doth charge itself with the bodies also of the dead, this they betoken, to the intent our faith of resurrection might be stayed up thereby. Where also is wholesomely learned, how great may be the reward for alms which we do unto the living and feeling, if not even that be lost before God, whatever of duty and of diligence is paid to the lifeless members of men. There are indeed also other things, which in speaking of the bestowal or removal of their bodies the holy Patriarchs willed to be understood as spoken by the prophetic Spirit: but this is not the place to treat thoroughly of these things, seeing that sufficeth which we have said. But if the lack of those things which are necessary for sustentation of the living, as food and clothing, however heavy affliction attend the lacking, do not break in good men the manly courage of bearing and enduring, nor eradicate piety from the mind, but by exercising make it more fruitful; how much more doth lack of those things which are wont to be applied for care of funerals and bestowal of bodies of the departed, not make them wretched, now that in the hidden abodes of the pious they are at rest! And therefore, when these things have to dead bodies of Christians in that devastation of the great City or of other towns also been lacking, there is neither fault of the living, who could not afford these things, nor pain of the dead who could not feel the same.2724 This is 2720
Gen. xxiii.; xxv. 9, 10; xlvii. 30
2721
Tobit ii. 7; xii. 12
2722
Matt. xxvi. 7–13
2723
John xix. 38, 39
2724
On the City of God, book i. chap. xii. 13. Vol. ii. p. 10.
Section 5
my opinion concerning the ground and reason of sepulture. Which I have therefore from another book of mine transferred to this, because it was easier to rehearse this, than to express the same matter in another way.
1179
Section 6
6. If this be true, doubtless also the providing for the interment of bodies a place at the Memorials of Saints, is a mark of a good human affection towards the remains of one’s friends: since if there be religion in the burying, there cannot but be religion in taking thought where the burying shall be. But while it is desirable there should be such like solaces of survivors, for the showing forth of their pious mind towards their beloved, I do not see what helps they be to the dead save in this way: that upon recollection of the place in which are deposited the bodies of those whom they love, they should by prayer commend them to those same Saints, who have as patrons taken them into their charge to aid them before the Lord. Which indeed they would be still able to do, even though they were not able to inter them in such places. But then the only reason why the name Memorials or Monuments is given to those sepulchres of the dead which become specially distinguished, is that they recall to memory, and by putting in mind cause us to think of, them who by death are withdrawn from the eyes of the living, that they may not by forgetfulness be also withdrawn from men’s hearts. For both the term Memorial2725 most plainly shews this, and Monument is so named from monishing, that is, putting in mind. For which reason the Greeks also call that μνημεῖον which we call a Memorial or Monument: because in their tongue the memory itself, by which we remember, is called μνήμη. When therefore the mind recollects where the body of a very dear friend lies buried, and thereupon there occurs to the thoughts a place rendered venerable by the name of a Martyr, to that same Martyr doth it commend the soul in affection of heartfelt recollection2726 and prayer. And when this affection is exhibited to the departed by faithful men who were most dear to them, there is no doubt that it profits them who while living in the body merited that such things should profit them after this life. But even if some necessity should through absence of all facility not allow bodies to be interred, or in such places interred, yet should there be no pretermitting of supplications for the spirits of the dead: which supplications, that they should be made for all in Christian and catholic fellowship departed, even without mentioning of their names, under a general commemoration, the Church hath charged herself withal; to the intent that they which lack, for these offices, parents or sons or whatever kindred or friends, may have the same afforded unto them by the one pious mother which is common to all. But if there were lack of these supplications, which are made with right faith and piety for the dead, I account that it should not a whit profit their spirits, howsoever in holy places the lifeless bodies should be deposited. 542
2725
Memoria
2726
Recordationis
Section 7
7. When therefore the faithful mother of a faithful son departed desired to have his body deposited in the basilica of a Martyr, forasmuch as she believed that his soul would be aided by the merits of the Martyr, the very believing of this was a sort of supplication, and this profited, if aught profited. And in that she recurs in her thoughts to this same sepulchre, and in her prayers more and more commends her son, the spirit of the departed is aided, not by the place of its dead body, but by that which springs from memory of the place, the living affection of the mother. For at once the thought, who is commended and to whom, doth touch, and that with no unprofitable emotion, the religious mind of her who prays. For also in prayer to God,2727 men do with the members of their bodies that which becometh suppliants, when they bend their knees, when they stretch forth their hands, or even prostrate themselves on the ground, and whatever else they visibly do, albeit their invisible will and heart’s intention be known unto God, and He needs not these tokens that any man’s mind should be opened unto Him: only hereby one more excites himself to pray and groan more humbly and more fervently. And I know not how it is, that, while these motions of the body cannot be made but by a motion of the mind preceding, yet by the same being outwardly in visible sort made, that inward invisible one which made them is increased: and thereby the heart’s affection which preceded that they might be made, groweth because they are made. But still if any be in that way held, or even bound, that he is not able to do these things with his limbs, it does not follow that the inner man does not pray, and before the eyes of God in its most secret chamber, where it hath compunction, cast itself on the ground. So likewise, while it makes very much difference, where a person deposits the body of his dead, while he supplicates for his spirit unto God, because both the affection preceding chose a spot which was holy, and after the body is there deposited the recalling to mind of that holy spot renews and increases the affection which had preceded; yet, though he may not be able in that place which his religious mind did choose to lay in the ground him whom he loves, 543in no wise ought he to cease from necessary supplications in commending of the same. For wheresoever the flesh of the departed may lie or not lie, the spirit requires rest and must get it: for the spirit in its departing from thence took with it the consciousness without which it could make no odds how one exists, whether in a good estate or a bad: and it does not look for aiding of its life from that flesh to which it did itself afford the life which it withdrew in its departing, and is to render back in its returning; since not flesh to spirit, but spirit unto flesh procureth merit even of very resurrection, whether it be unto punishment or unto glory that it is to come to life again.
2727
Orantes
Section 8
8. We read in the Ecclesiastical History which Eusebius wrote in Greek, and Ruffinus turned into the Latin tongue, of Martyr’s bodies in Gaul exposed to dogs, and how the leavings of those dogs and bones of the dead were, even to uttermost consumption, by fire burned up; and the ashes of the same scattered on the river Rhone, lest any thing should be left for any sort whatever of memorial. 2728 Which thing must be believed to have been to no other end divinely permitted, but that Christians should learn in confessing Christ, while they despise this life, much more to despise sepulture. For this thing, which with savage rage was done to the bodies of Martyrs, if it could any whit hurt them, to impair the blessed resting of their most victorious spirits, would assuredly not have been suffered to be done. In very deed therefore it was declared, that the Lord in saying, “Fear not them which kill the body, and afterward have no more that they can do,” 2729 did not mean that He would not permit them to do any thing to the bodies of His followers when dead; but that whatever they might be permitted to do, nothing should be done that could lessen the Christian felicity of the departed, nothing thereof reach to their consciousness while yet living after death; nothing avail to the detriment, no, not even of the bodies themselves, to diminish aught of their integrity when they should rise again.
2728
Eusebius, H. E. book v. chap. i. relates, that the bodies of these martyrs of Lyons lay exposed in the open
air for six days successively, and were then burned and cast into the Rhone.—Ben. ed. 2729
Matt. x. 28; Luke xii. 4
Section 9
9. And yet, by reason of that affection of the human heart, whereby “no man ever hateth his own flesh,”2730 if men have reason to know that after their death their bodies will lack any thing which in each man’s nation or country the wonted order of sepulture demandeth, it makes them sorrowful as men; and that which after death reacheth not unto them, they do before death fear for their bodies: so that we find in the Books of Kings, God by one prophet threatening another prophet who had transgressed His word, that his carcase should not be brought into the sepulchre of his fathers. Which the Scripture hath on this wise: “Thus saith the Lord, Because thou hast been disobedient to the mouth of the Lord, and hast not kept the charge which the Lord thy God commanded thee, and hast returned and eaten bread and drunk water in the place in which He commanded thee not to eat bread, 2731 nor drink water, thy carcase shall not be brought into the sepulchre of thy fathers.” Now if in considering what account is to be made of this punishment, we go by the Gospel, where we have learned that after the slaying of the body there is no cause to fear lest the lifeless members should suffer any thing, it is not even to be called a punishment. But if we consider a man’s human affection towards his own flesh, it was possible for him to be frightened or saddened, while living, by that of which he would have no sense when dead: and this was a punishment, because the mind was pained by that thing about to happen to its body, howsoever when it did happen it would feel no pain. To this intent, namely, it pleased the Lord to punish His servant, who not of his own contumacy had spurned to fulfill His command, but by deceit of another’s falsehood thought himself to be obeying when he obeyed not. For it is not to be thought that he was killed by the teeth of the beast as one whose soul should be thence snatched away to the torments of hell: seeing that over his very body the same lion which had killed it did keep watch, while moreover the beast on which he rode was left unhurt, and along with that fierce beast did with intrepid presence stand there beside his master’s corpse. By which marvellous sign it appeareth, that the man of God was, say rather, checked temporally even unto death, than punished after death. Of which matter, the Apostle when on account of certain offenses he had mentioned the sicknesses and deaths of many, says, “For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged of the Lord. But when we 2732 are judged we are chastened of the Lord, that we may not be condemned with the world.” That Prophet, truly, the very man who had beguiled him, did with much respect bury in his own tomb, and took order for his own burying beside his bones: in hope that thereby his
2730
Eph. v. 29
2731
1 Kings xiii. 21, 22
2732
1 Cor. xi. 31, 32. [See R.V.]
Section 9
own bones might be spared, when, according to the prophecy of that man of God, Josiah king of Judah did in that land disinter the bones of many dead, and with the same bones defile the sacrilegious altars which had been set up for the graven images. For he spared that tomb in which lay the prophet who more than three hundred years before predicted those things, and for his sake neither was the sepulture of him who had seduced him violated. By that affection namely, which causes that no man ever hateth his own flesh, this man had taken forethought for his carcase, who had slain with a lie his own soul. By reason then of this, the natural love which every man hath for his own flesh, it was both to the one a punishment to learn that he should not be in the sepulchre of his fathers, and to the other a care to take order beforehand that his own bones should be spared, if he should lie beside him whose sepulchre no man should violate. 544
1184
Section 10
10. This affection the Martyrs of Christ contending for the truth did overcome: and it is no marvel that they despised that whereof they should, when death was overpast, have no feeling, when they could not by those tortures, which while alive they did feel, be overcome. God was able, no doubt, (even as He permitted not the lion when it had slain the Prophet, to touch his body further, and of a slayer made it to be a keeper): He was able, I say, to have kept the slain bodies of His own from the dogs to which they had been flung; He was able in innumerable ways to have deterred the rage of the men themselves, that to burn the carcases, to scatter the ashes, they should not dare: but it was fit that this experience also should not be lacking to manifold variety of temptations, lest the fortitude of confession which would not for the saving of the life of the body give way to the savageness of persecution, should be tremblingly anxious for the honor of a sepulchre: in a word, lest faith of resurrection should dread the consuming of the body. It was fit then, that even these things should be permitted, in order that, even after these examples of so great horror, the Martyrs, fervent in confession of Christ, should become witnesses of this truth also, in which they had learned that they by whom their bodies should be slain had after that no more that they could do. 2733 Because, whatever they should do to dead bodies, they would after all do nothing, seeing that in flesh devoid of all life, neither was it possible for him to feel aught who had thence departed, nor for Him to lose aught thereof, Who created the same. But while these things were doing to the bodies of the slain, albeit the Martyrs, not frightened by them, did with great fortitude suffer, yet among the brethren was there exceeding sorrow, because there was given them no means of paying the last honors to the remains of the Saints, neither secretly to withdraw any part thereof, (as the same history testifies,) did the watchings of cruel sentinels permit. So, while those which had been slain, in the tearing asunder of their limbs, in the burning up of their bones, in the dispersion of their ashes, could feel no misery; yet these who had nothing of them that they could bury, did suffer torture of exceeding grief in pitying them; because what those did in no sort feel, these in some sort did feel for them, and where was henceforth for those no more suffering, yet these did in woful compassion suffer for them.
2733
Matt. x. 28
Section 11
11. In regard to that woful compassion which I have mentioned, are those praised, and by king David blessed, who to the dry bones of Saul and Jonathan afforded mercy of sepulture.2734 But yet what mercy is that, which is afforded to them that have feeling of nothing? Or haply is this to be challenged back to that conceit of an infernal river which men unburied were not able to pass over? Far be this from the faith of Christians: else hath it gone most ill with so great a multitude of Martyrs, for whom there could be no burying of their bodies, and Truth did cheat them when It said, “Fear not them which kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do,�2735 if these have been able to do to them so great evils, by which they were hindered to pass over to the places which they longed for. But, because this without all doubt is most false, and it neither any whit hurts the faithful to have their bodies denied sepulture, nor any whit the giving of sepulture unto infidels advantageth them; why then are those who buried Saul and his son said to have done mercy, and for this are blessed by that godly king, but because it is a good affection with which the hearts of the pitiful are touched, when they grieve for that in the dead bodies of other men, which, by that affection through which no man ever hateth his own flesh, they would not have done after their own death to their own bodies; and what they would have done by them when they shall have no more feeling, that they take care to do by others now having no feeling while themselves have yet feeling?
2734
2 Sam. ii. 5
2735
Luke xii. 4
Section 12 2736 12. Stories are told of certain appearances or visions, which may seem to bring into this discussion a question which should not be slighted. It is said, namely, that dead men have at times either in dreams or in some other way appeared to the living who knew not where their bodies lay unburied, and have pointed out to them the place, and admonished that the sepulture which was lacking should be afforded them. These things if we shall answer to be false, we shall be thought impudently to contradict the writings of certain faithful men, and the senses of them who assure us that such things have happened to themselves. But it is to be answered, that it does not follow that we are to account the dead to have sense of these things, because they appear in dreams to say or indicate or ask this. For living men do also appear ofttimes to the living as they sleep, while they themselves know not that they do appear; and they are told by them, what they dreamed, namely, that in their dream the speakers saw them doing or saying something. Then if it may be that a person in a dream should see me indicating to him something that has happened or even foretelling something about to happen, while I am perfectly unwitting of the thing and altogether regardless not only what he dreams, but whether he is awake while I am asleep, or he asleep while I am awake, or whether at one and the same time we are both awake or asleep, at what time he has the dream in which he sees me: what marvel if the dead be unconscious and insensible of these things, and, for all that, are seen by the living in their dreams, and say something which those on awaking find to be true? By angelical operations, then, I should think it is effected, whether permitted from above, or commanded, that they seem in dreams to say something about burying of their bodies, when they whose the bodies are are utterly unconscious of it. Now this is sometimes serviceably done; whether for some sort of solace to the survivors, to whom pertain those dead whose likenesses2737 appear to them as they dream; or whether that by these admonitions the human race may be made to have regard to humanity of sepulture, which, allow that it be no help to the departed, yet is there culpable irreligiousness in slighting of it. Sometimes however, by fallacious visions, 2738 men are cast into great errors, who deserve to suffer this. As, if one should see in a dream, what Æneas by poetic falsity is told to have seen in the world beneath: and there should appear to him the likeness of some unburied man, which should speak such words as Palinurus is said to have spoken to him; and when he awakes, he should find the body in that place where he heard say while dreaming, that it lay unburied, and was admonished and asked to bury it when found; and because he finds this to be true, should believe that the dead are buried on purpose that their souls may pass to places from which he dreamed that the souls of men 545
2736
Visa
2737
Imagines
2738
Visis
Section 12
unburied are by an infernal law prohibited: does he not, in believing all this, exceedingly swerve from the path of truth?
1188
Section 13
13. Such, however, is human infirmity, that when in a dream a person shall see a dead man, he thinks it is the soul that he sees: but when he shall in like manner dream of a living man, he has no doubt that it is not a soul nor a body, but the likeness of a man that has appeared to him: just as if it were not possible in regard of dead men, in the same sort unconscious of it, that it should not be their souls, but their likenesses that appear to the sleepers. Of a surety, when we were at Milan, we heard tell of a certain person of whom was demanded payment of a debt, with production of his deceased father’s acknowledgment, 2739 which debt unknown to the son the father had paid, whereupon the man began to be very sorrowful, and to marvel that his father while dying did not tell him what he owed when he also made his will. Then in this exceeding anxiousness of his, his said father appeared to him in a dream, and made known to him where was the counter2740 acknowledgment by which that acknowledgment was cancelled. Which when the young man had found and showed, he not only rebutted the wrongful claim of a false debt, but also got back his father’s note 2741 of hand which the father had not got back when the money was paid. Here then the soul of a man is supposed to have had care for his son, and to have come to him in his sleep, that, teaching him what he did not know, he might relieve him of a great trouble. But about the very same time as we heard this, it chanced at Carthage that the rhetorician Eulogius, who had been my disciple in that art, being (as he himself, after our return to Africa, told us the story) in course of lecturing to his disciples on Cicero’s rhetorical books, as he looked over the portion of reading which he was to deliver on the following day, fell upon a certain passage, and not being able to understand it, was scarce able to sleep for the trouble of his mind: in which night, as he dreamed, I expounded to him that which he did not understand; 546nay, not I, but my likeness, while I was unconscious of the thing, and far away beyond the sea, it might be, doing, or it might be dreaming, some other thing, and not in the least caring for his cares. In what way these things come about, I know not: but in what way soever they come, why do we not believe it comes in the same way for a person in a dream to see a dead man, as it comes that he sees a living man? both, no doubt, neither knowing nor caring who, or where, or when, dreams of their images.
2739
Cautio
2740
Recautum
2741
Chirographum
Section 14
14. Like dreams, moreover, are also some visions of persons awake, who have had their senses troubled, such as phrenetic persons, or those who are mad in any way: for they too talk to themselves just as though they were speaking to people verily present, and as well with absent as with present, whose images they perceive, whether persons living or dead. But just as they which live, are unconscious that they are seen of them and talk with them; for indeed they are not really themselves present, or themselves make speeches, but through troubled senses, these persons are wrought upon by such-like imaginary visions; just so they also who have departed this life, to persons thus affected appear as present, while they be absent, and whether any man sees them in regard of their image,2742 are themselves utterly unconscious.
2742
Imaginaliter
Section 15
15. Similar to this is also that condition when persons, with their senses more profoundedly in abeyance than is the case in sleep, are occupied with the like visions. For to them also appear images of quick and dead; but then, when they return to their senses, whatever dead they say they have seen are thought to have been verily with them: and they who hear these things pay no heed to the circumstance that there were seen in like manner the images of certain living persons, absent and unconscious. A certain man by name Curma, of the 2743 municipal town of Tullium, which is hard by Hippo, a poor member of the Curia, 2744 scarcely competent to serve the office of a duumvir of that place, and a mere rustic, being ill, and all his senses entranced, lay all but dead for several days: a very slight breathing in his nostrils, which on applying the hand was just felt, and barely betokened that he lived, was all that kept him from being buried for dead. Not a limb did he stir, nothing did he take in the way of sustenance, neither in the eyes nor in any other bodily sense was he sensible of any annoyance that impinged upon them. Yet he was seeing many things like as in a dream, which, when at last after a great many days he woke up, he told that he had seen. And first, presently after he opened his eyes, Let some one go, said he, to the house of Curma the smith, and see what is doing there. And when some one had gone thither, the smith was found to have died in that moment that the other had come back to his senses, and, it might almost be said, revived from death. Then, as those who stood by eagerly listened, he told them how the other had been ordered to be had up, when he himself was dismissed; and that he had heard it said in that place from which he had returned, that it was not Curma of the Curia, but Curma the smith who had been ordered to be fetched to that place of the dead. Well, in these dream-like visions of his, among those deceased persons whom he saw handled according to the diversity of their merits, he recognized also some whom he had known when alive. That they were the very persons themselves I might perchance have believed, had he not in the course of this seeming dream of his seen also some who are alive even to this present time, namely, some clerks of his district, by whose presbyter there he was told to be baptized at Hippo by me, which thing he said had also taken place. So then he had seen a presbyter, clerks, myself, persons, to wit, not yet dead, in this vision in which he afterwards also saw dead persons. Why may he not be thought to have seen these last in the same way as he saw us? that is, both the one sort, and the other, absent and unconscious, and consequently not the persons themselves, but similitudes of them just as of the places? He saw, namely, both a plot of ground where was that presbyter with the clerks, and Hippo where he was by me seemingly baptized: in which spots assuredly he was not, when he seemed to himself to be there. For what was at that time going on there, he knew not: which, without doubt, he would have known if he had verily been there. The sights beheld, therefore,
2743
Curialis
2744
Duumviralitius
Section 15
were those which are not presented in the things themselves as they are, but shadowed forth in a sort of images of the things. In fine, after much that he saw, he narrated how he had, moreover, been led into Paradise, and how it was there said to him, when he was thence dismissed to return to his own family, “Go, be baptized, if thou wilt be in this place of the blessed.” Thereupon, being admonished to be baptized by me, he said it was done already. He who was talking with him replied, “Go, be truly baptized; for that thou didst but see in 547the vision.” After this he recovered, went his way to Hippo. Easter was now approaching, he gave his name among the other Competents, alike with very many unknown to us; nor did he care to make known the vision to me or to any of our people. He was baptized, at the close of the holy days he returned to his own place. After the space of two years or more, I learned the whole matter; first, through a certain friend of mine and his at my own table, while we were talking about some such matters: then I took it up, and made the man in his own person tell me the story, in the presence of some honest townsmen of his attesting the same, both concerning his marvellous illness, how he lay all but dead for many days, and about that other Curma the smith, what I have mentioned above, and about all these matters; which, while he was telling me, they recalled to mind, and assured me, that they had also at that time heard them from his lips. Wherefore, just as he saw his own baptism, and myself, and Hippo, and the basilica, and the baptistery, not in the very realities, but in a sort of similitudes of the things; and so likewise certain other living persons, without consciousness on the part of the same living persons: then why not just so those dead persons also, without consciousness on the part of the same dead persons?
1192
Section 16
16. Why should we not believe these to be angelic operations through dispensation of the providence of God, Who maketh good use of both good things and evil, according to the unsearchable depth of His judgments? whether thereby the minds of mortals be instructed, or whether deceived; whether consoled, or whether terrified: according as unto each one there is to be either a showing of mercy, or a taking of vengeance, by Him to Whom, not without a meaning, the Church doth sing “of mercy and of judgment.”2745 Let each, as it shall please him, take what I say. If the souls of the dead took part in the affairs of the living, and if it were their very selves that, when we see them, speak to us in sleep; to say nothing of others, there is my own self, whom my pious mother would no night fail to visit, that mother who by land and sea followed me that she might live with me. Far be the thought that she should, by a life more happy, have been made cruel, to that degree that when any thing vexes my heart she should not even console in his sadness the son whom she loved with an only love, whom she never wished to see mournful. But assuredly that which the sacred Psalm sings in our ears, is true; “Because my father and my mother have forsaken me, but the Lord hath taken me up.” 2746 Then if our parents have forsaken us, how take they part in our cares and affairs? But if parents do not, who else are there of the dead who should know what we are doing, or what we suffer? Isaiah the Prophet says, “For Thou art our Father: because Abraham hath not known us, and Israel is not cognizant of us.” 2747 If so great Patriarchs were ignorant what was doing towards the People of them begotten, they to whom, believing God, the People itself to spring from their stock was promised; how are the dead mixed up with affairs and doings of the living, either for cognizance or help? How say we that those were favored who deceased ere the evils came which followed hard upon the decease, if also after death they feel whatever things befall in the calamitousness of human life? Or haply do we err in saying this, and in accounting them to be quietly at rest whom the unquiet life of the living makes solicitous? What then is that which to the most godly king Josias God promised as a great benefit, that he should first die, that he might not see the evils which He threatened should come to that place and People? Which words of God are these: “Thus saith the Lord God of Israel: concerning My words which thou hast heard, and didst fear before My face when thou didst hear what I have spoken concerning this place and them which dwell therein, that it should be forsaken and under a curse; and hast rent thy garments, and wept before Me, and I have heard thee, saith the Lord of Sabaoth: not so; behold, I will add thee unto thy fathers, and thou shalt be added unto them in peace; and thine eyes shall not see all the evils which I am bringing upon this place and upon them that dwell therein.”2748 He, frightened by God’s comminations, had wept, and rent his gar2745
Ps. ci. 1
2746
Ps. xxvii. 10
2747
Is. lxiii. 16
2748
2 Kings xxii. 18–20
Section 16
ments, and is made, by hastening on of his death, to be without care of all future evils, because he should so rest in peace, that all those things he should not see. There then are the spirits of the departed, where they see not whatever things are doing, or events happening, in this life to men. Then how do they see their own graves, or their own bodies, whether they lie cast away, or buried? How do they take part in the misery of the living, when they are either suffering their own evils, if they have contracted such merits; or do rest in peace, as was promised to this Josiah, where they undergo no evils, either by suffering themselves, or by 548compassionate suffering with others, freed from all evils which by suffering themselves or with others while they lived here they did undergo?
1194
Section 17
17. Some man may say: “If there be not in the dead any care for the living, how is it that the rich man, who was tormented in hell, asked father Abraham to send Lazarus to his five brothers not as yet dead, and to take course with them, that they should not come themselves also into the same place of torments?”2749 But does it follow, that because the rich man said this, he knew what his brethren were doing, or what they were suffering at that time? Just in that same way had he care for the living, albeit what they were doing he wist not at all, as we have care for the dead, albeit what they do we confessedly wot not. For if we cared not for the dead, we should not, as we do, supplicate God on their behalf. In fine, Abraham did not send Lazarus, and also answered, that they have here Moses and the Prophets, whom they ought to hear that they might not come to those torments. Where again it occurs to ask, how it was that what was doing here, father Abraham himself wist not, while he knew that Moses and the Prophets are here, that is, their books, by obeying which men should escape the torments of hell: and knew, in short, that rich man to have lived in delights, but the poor man Lazarus to have lived in labors and sorrows? For this also he says to him; “Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime hast received good things, but Lazarus evil things.” He knew then these things which had taken place of course among the living, not among the dead. True, but it may be that, not while the things were doing in their lifetime, but after their death, he learned these things, by information of Lazarus: that it be not false which the Prophet saith, “Abraham hath not known us.”2750
2749
Luke xvi. 24–29
2750
Is. lxiii. 16
Section 18
18. So then we must confess that the dead indeed do not know what is doing here, but while it is in doing here: afterwards, however, they hear it from those who from hence go to them at their death; not indeed every thing, but what things those are allowed to make known who are suffered also to remember these things; and which it is meet for those to hear, whom they inform of the same. It may be also, that from the Angels, who are present in the things which are doing here, the dead do hear somewhat, which for each one of them to hear He judgeth right to Whom all things are subject. For were there not Angels, who could be present in places both of quick and dead, the Lord Jesus had not said, “It came to 2751 pass also that the poor man died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham’s bosom.” Therefore, now here, now there, were they able to be, who from hence bore thither whom God willed. It may be also, that the spirits of the dead do learn some things which are doing here, what things it is necessary that they should know, and what persons it is necessary should know the same, not only things past or present, but even future, by the Spirit of God revealing them: like as not all men, but the Prophets while they lived here did know, nor even they all things, but only what things to be revealed to them the providence of God judged meet. Moreover, that some from the dead are sent to the living, as, on the other hand, Paul from the living was rapt into Paradise, divine Scripture doth testify. 2752 For Samuel the Prophet, appearing to Saul when living, predicted even what should befall the king:2753 although some think it was not Samuel himself, that could have been by magical arts evoked, but that some spirit, meet for so evil works, did figure his semblance:2754 though the book Ecclesiasticus, which Jesus, son of Sirach, is reputed to have written, and which on account of some resemblance of style is pronounced to be Solomon’s, 2755 contains in the praise of the Fathers, that Samuel even when dead did prophesy. But if this book be spoken against from the canon of the Hebrews,2756 (because it is not contained therein,) what shall we say 2757 of Moses, whom certainly we read both in Deuteronomy to have died, and in the Gospel 2758 to have, together with Elias who died not, appeared unto the living?
2751
Luke xvi. 22
2752
2 Cor. xii. 4
2753
1 Sam. xxviii. 11–19
2754
Quæst. ad Simplicianum, lib.ii. qu. 4.
2755
Retract. ii. 4, and “On Christian Doctrine,” book ii. chap. viii., vol. ii. p. 539. Ben. ed.
2756
Ecclus. xlvi. 20
2757
Deut. xxxiv. 5
2758
Matt. xvii. 3
Section 19
19. Hence too is solved that question, how is it that the Martyrs, by the very benefits which are given to them that pray, indicate that they take an interest in the affairs of men, if the dead know not what the quick are doing. For not only by effects of benefits, but in the very beholding of men, it is certain,2759 that the Confessor Felix (whose denizenship among you thou piously lovest) appeared when the barbarians were attacking Nola, as we have heard not by uncertain rumors, but by sure witnesses. But such things are of God exhibited, far otherwise than as the usual order hath itself, unto each kind of creatures apportioned. For it does not follow because water was, when it pleased the Lord, in a moment changed 549into wine, that we are not to regard the worth and efficacy of water in the proper order of the elements, as distinct from the rarity, or rather singularity, of that divine work: nor because Lazarus rose again, therefore that every dead man rises when he will; or that a lifeless man is raised up by a living, in the same way as a sleeping man by one who is awake. Other be the limits of human things, other the signs of divine virtues: other they be that are naturally, other that be miraculously done: albeit both unto nature God is present that it may be, and unto miracles nature is not lacking. We are not to think then, that to be interested in the affairs of the living is in the power of any departed who please, only because to some men’s healing or help the Martyrs be present: but rather we are to understand that it must needs be by a Divine power that the Martyrs are interested in affairs of the living, from the very fact that for the departed to be by their proper nature interested in affairs of the living is impossible.
2759
Inquilinatum
Section 20
20. Howbeit it is a question which surpasses the strength of my understanding, after what manner the Martyrs aid them who by them, it is certain, are helped; whether themselves by themselves be present at the same time in so different places, and by so great distance lying apart one from another, either where their Memorials are, or beside their Memorials, wheresoever they are felt to be present: or whether, while they themselves, in a place congruous with their merits, are removed from all converse with mortals, and yet do in a general sort pray for the needs of their suppliants, (like as we pray for the dead, to whom however we are not present, nor know where they be or what they be doing,) God Almighty, Who is every where present, neither bounded in 2760 with us nor remote from us, hearing and granting the Martyrs’ prayers, doth by angelic ministries every where diffused afford to men those solaces, to whom in the misery of this life He seeth meet to afford the same, and, touching His Martyrs, doth where He will, when He will, how He will, and chiefest through their Memorials, because this He knoweth to be expedient for us unto edifying of the faith of Christ for Whose confession they suffered, by marvellous and ineffable power and goodness cause their merits to be had in honor. A matter is this, too high that I should have power to attain unto it, too abstruse that I should be able to search it out; and therefore which of these two be the case, or whether perchance both one and the other be the case, that sometimes these things be done by very presence of the Martyrs, sometimes by Angels taking upon them the person of the Martyrs, I dare not define; rather would I seek this at them who know it. For it is not to be thought that no man knows these things: (not indeed he who thinks he knows, and knows not,) for there be gifts of God, Who bestows on these some one, on those some other, according to the Apostle who says, that “to each one is given the manifestation of the Spirit to profit withal; to one2761 indeed,” saith he, “is given by the Spirit discourse of wisdom; to another2762 discourse of science according to the same Spirit; while to another2763 faith in the same Spirit; to another2764 the gift of healings in one Spirit; to one2765 workings of miracles; to one2766 prophecy; to one2767 discerning of spirits; to one2768 kinds of tongues; to one 2769 interpretation of discourses. But all these worketh
2760
Concretus
2761
Alii, ἄλλῳ
2762
Alii, ἄλλῳ
2763
Alteri, ἑτέρῳ
2764
Alteri, ἑτέρῳ
2765
Alii, ἄλλῳ
2766
Alii, ἄλλῳ
2767
Alii, ἄλλῳ
2768
Alii, ἄλλῳ
2769
Alii, ἄλλῳ
Section 20 2770 one and the same spirit, dividing to every man severally as He will.� Of all these spiritual gifts, which the Apostle hath rehearsed, to whomsoever is given discerning of spirits, the same knoweth these things as they are meet to be known.
2770
1 Cor. xii. 7–10
1199
Section 21
21. Such, we may believe, was that John the Monk, whom the elder Theodosius, the Emperor, consulted concerning the issue of the civil war: seeing he had also the gift of prophecy. For that not each several person has a several one of those gifts, but that one man may have more gifts than one, I make no question. This John, then, when once a certain most religious woman desired to see him, and to obtain this did through her husband make vehement entreaty, refused indeed this request because he had never allowed this to women, but “Go,” said he, “tell thy wife, she shall see me this night, but in her sleep.” And so it came to pass: and he gave her advice, whatever was meet to be given to a wedded believing woman. And she, on her awaking, made known to her husband that she had seen a man of God, such as he knew him to be, and what she had been told by him. The person who learned this from them, reported it to me, a grave man and a noble, and most worthy to be believed. But if I myself had seen that holy monk, because (it is said) he was most patient in hearing questions and most wise in answering, I would have sought of him, as touching our question, whether he himself came to that woman in sleep, that is to say, his spirit in the form of his body, just as we dream that we see ourselves in the form of our own body; or whether, while 550he himself was doing something else, or, if asleep, was dreaming of something else, it was either by an Angel or in some other way that such vision took place in the woman’s dream; and that it would so be, as he promised, he himself foreknew by the Spirit of prophecy revealing the same. For if he was himself present to her in her dream, of course it was by miraculous grace that he was enabled so to do, not by nature; and by God’s gift, not by faculty of his own. But if, while he was doing some other thing or sleeping and occupied with other sights, the woman saw him in her sleep, then doubtless some such thing took place, as that is which we read in the Acts of the Apostles, where the Lord Jesus speaks to Ananias concerning Saul, 2771 and informs him that Saul has seen Ananias coming unto him, while Ananias himself wist not of it. The man of God would make answer to me of these things as the case might be, and then about the Martyrs I should go on to ask of him, whether they be themselves present in dreams, or in whatever other way to those who see them in what shape they will; and above all when the demons in men confess themselves tormented by the Martyrs, and ask them to spare them; or whether these things be wrought through angelic powers, to the honor and commendation of the Saints for men’s profit, while those are in supreme rest, and wholly free for other far better sights, apart from us, and praying for us. For it chanced at Milan at (the tomb of) the holy Martyrs Protasius and Gervasius, that Ambrose the bishop, at that time living, being expressly named, in like manner as were the dead whose names they were rehearsing, the demons confessed him and besought him to spare them, he being the while otherwise engaged, and when this was taking place, altogether unwitting of it. Or whether indeed these things are wrought, somewhiles by very
2771
Acts ix. 12
Section 21
presence of the Martyrs, otherwhiles by that of Angels; and whether it be possible, or by what tokens possible, for us to discriminate these two cases; or whether to perceive and to judge of these things none be able, but he which hath that gift through God’s Spirit, “dividing unto every man severally as He will:”2772 the same John, methinks, would discourse to me of all these matters, as I should wish; that either by his teaching I might learn, and what I should be told should know to be true and certain; or I should believe what I knew not, upon his telling me what things he knew. But if peradventure he should make answer out of holy Scripture, and say, “Things higher than thou, seek thou not; and things stronger than thou, search thou not; but what the Lord hath commanded thee, of those things bethink thee alway:” 2773 this also I should thankfully accept. For it is no small gain if, when any things are obscure and uncertain to us, and we not able to comprehend them, it be at any rate clear and certain that we are not to seek them; and what thing each one wishes to learn, accounting it to be profitable that he should know it, he should learn that it is no harm that he know it not.
2772
1 Cor. xii. 11
2773
Ecclus. iii. 22
1201
Section 22
22. Which things being so, let us not think that to the dead for whom we have a care, any thing reaches save what by sacrifices either of the altar, or of prayers, or of alms, we solemnly supplicate: although not to all for whom they are done be they profitable, but to them only by whom while they live it is obtained that they should be profitable. But forasmuch as we discern not who these be, it is meet to do them for all regenerate persons, that none of them may be passed by to whom these benefits may and ought to reach. For better it is that these things shall be superfluously done to them whom they neither hinder nor help, than lacking to them whom they help. More diligently however doth each man these things for his own near and dear friends, in order that they may be likewise done unto him by his. But as for the burying of the body, whatever is bestowed on that, is no aid of salvation, but an office of humanity, according to that affection by which “no man ever hateth his own flesh.�2774 Whence it is fitting that he take 2775 what care he is able for the flesh of his neighbor, when he is gone that bare2776 it. And if they do these things who believe not the resurrection of the flesh, how much more are they beholden to do the same who do believe; that so, an office of this kind bestowed upon a body, dead but yet to rise again and to remain to eternity, may also be in some sort a testimony of the same faith? But, that a person is buried at the memorials of the Martyrs, this, I think, so far profits the departed, that while commending him also to the Martyrs’ patronage, the affection of supplication on his behalf is increased.
2774
Eph. v. 29
2775
Gerat
2776
Gerebat.
Section 23
23. Here, to the things thou hast thought meet to inquire of me, thou hast such reply as I have been able to render: which if it be more than enough prolix, thou must excuse this, for it was done through love of holding longer talk with thee. For this book, then, how thy 551charity shall receive it, let me, I pray thee, know by a second letter: though doubtless it will be more welcome for its bearer’s sake, to wit our brother and fellow-presbyter Candidianus, whom, having been by thy letter made acquainted with him, I have welcomed with all my heart, and am loath to let him depart. For greatly in the charity of Christ hath he by his presence consoled us, and, to say truth, it was at his instance that I have done thy bidding. For with so great businesses is my heart distraught, that had not he by ever and anon putting me in mind not suffered me to forget it, assuredly to thy questioning reply of mind had not been forthcoming.
Subject Indexes
ON THE TRINITY. INDEX OF SUBJECTS. Abraham, appearance of God to, 46sq., 66sq. Academic philosophy, the, criticised, 210sq. Adam, the appearing of God to, and how he spoke to, 45sq.; on account of his sin we are delivered into the power of the devil, 175. Angels, how they work miracles, 60; have their power from God only, 63; appearing of, 64–66; how the law was given by, 67. Anthropomorphism, 18. Arians, the arguments of, derived from the words “begotten” and “unbegotten,” refuted, 88 sq. Back parts, the, of God, 50–52. “Beginning,” the word, spoken relatively in regard to the Trinity, 85, 94, 95. “Begotten” and “unbegotten,” the words, 91, 225; reply to cavils of heretics respecting, 89. Blessedness, desired by all, 170; perfect only in the life to come, 171; cannot exist without immortality, 172. Christ, the mediation and intercession of, shall cease, 26–28; the sending of, at His incarnation, 40; the death and resurrection of, and their bearing on us, 71sq.; the Mediator gathers the many into one, 75sq.; the ignorance of, 30; the death of, voluntary, 77sq.; the most perfect victim for cleansing guilt, 79, 80. Cicero says all men will be blessed, 170; commends contemplative wisdom, 197. Creation, all, a manifestation of God, 58. Daniel, the appearance of God to, 53. Death, the, of soul and body, and the bearing of Christ’s one death on, 71-73. Degradation, the lowest, reached by degrees, 160. Demons, miracles wrought by, to be spurned, 76. Devil, the, the mediator of death, 76; how he leads his own to despise the death of Christ, 79; overcome not by might but by righteousness, 176–178. Dove, the, Holy Spirit manifested by a, 42, 224. Essence, and substance, 21(note), 92, 109–114, 139(note). Eunomius, his error in saying that the Son of God is the son not of His nature but of His will, 220.
On the Trinity
Faith, a thing of the heart, 168; necessary to blessedness, 171. Father, the, not alone immortal, 44, etc.; what is said of, and the Son together; and what not, 98, etc.; is Himself power and wisdom, 104, etc.; and the Son, together one wisdom as one essence, 107, etc. Generation, eternal, 225, 226(notes). Glass, seeing through darkly, explained, 206, etc. God, how the Scriptures speak of, 18; why immortality ascribed exclusively to, 18; the substance of, how to know, 18; uses of the term, 22(note); whether God the Trinity, or one person of the Trinity, appeared to the fathers, 45; how He spake to Adam, 45; His appearance to Abraham, 46, etc., 66, etc.; to Lot, 47; to Moses, 48; in the pillar of cloud and fire, 49; at Sinai, 50; to Daniel, 53; the will of, the higher cause of all corporeal changes, 57; uses all His creatures as He will for His glory, 58; the essence of, never appeared, 65; the appearances of, wrought by angels, 66; the knowledge of, to be sought from Himself, 69, etc.; not corporeal nor changeable, 87; the only unchangeable essence, 88; what is spoken of according to essence, is spoken of each person severally, and together of the Trinity itself, 91; of those things which belong absolutely to His essence, 92; what is said of, in respect to time, said relatively, 95; how a substance, simple and manifold, 100; is a Trinity, but not triple, 101; whether one person, or the three together, called the one God, 102; substance is spoken of improperly, essence properly, 111; nothing greater in, than one person 116; corporeal conceptions of, to be rejected, 116; to be known by faith, that He may be loved, 118, etc.; worship of, is the love of Him, 163; what His wrath is, 179. Head, mystical meaning of covering the, 159. Hilary quoted respecting the persons of the Trinity, 102, 201. Holy Spirit, the, is very God, 23; why so called, 93; relation to the Son, 26; relation to the Son and the Father, 39; the sending of, 40, 85; not incarnate in the dove, 42; the sensible showing of, 85; the Father and the Son the only beginning of, 94; whether He was a gift before as well as after He was given, 95; equal to the Father and the Son in all things, 100, etc.; is together with the Father and the Holy Spirit one wisdom, 107; is properly called in Scripture by the name of love, 215, etc.; is God, and also the gift of God, 217; of the procession of the, 224, etc. Hypostasis and person, how these words came into use in reference to the Trinity, the former among the Greeks, the latter among the Latins, 23(note), 92, 109, etc.
1205
On the Trinity
Image of God, how man is the, 113; turning aside from, 160; to be found in the rational soul, 185; how formed anew in man, 195. Image of the beast in man, 161. Imagination, the power of 153. Incarnation of the Word, benefits of, 174, 179. Infants, minds of, 186. Infinite, the, not the All, 101(note). Kingdom, the, delivered by Christ to the Father. 26, etc., 28. Knowledge of God, the, to be sought from God, 69, etc. Law, the, given by angels, 67. Love, the true, by which we arrive at a knowledge of the Trinity, 122. Magic, great miracles wrought by, 60; how far it extends, 61. Man, is both after the image of God and is the image of God, 113; rescued not by might but by righteousness, 176. Mediatorship of Christ, the cessation of, 28(note), 29. Merits, our, are the gifts of God, 174. Mind, the Trinity in, 125; knows itself not in part but in whole, 137; its opinion of itself deceitful, 138; what it knows of itself, 140, etc.; an image of the Trinity, 143; in what part of, alone, is the Trinity the image of God, 156; how it thinks of itself, 187;loves God in rightly loving itself, 192, etc.; infirmity of the human, 223. Miracles, why not usual works, 59; diversity lone makes, 60; great, wrought by magicians, 60; how angels work, 61; signs, 63wrought by demons, to be spurned, 76. Moses, in what manner he saw God, 50; his rod changed into a serpent, its sign, 64. Nature, what it teaches us regarding God, 202. Numbers, the senary and ternary, 73, etc., 74, etc. Perfection, how God brings us to, 70. Persons, the three, in the Godhead, 23(note), 92; and Hypostases, how the word came into use, etc., 109–111; the Scriptures never formally speak of three, in one God, 110. Pharaoh, the miracles wrought by the wise men of, 59. Philosophers, not to be consulted respecting the resurrection, 80; their blessedness ridiculous, 171; origin of the name, 183. Plato’s doctrine of reminiscences, 164. Procession, 225, 226(notes). 1206
On the Trinity
Pythagoras, story regarding, 164. Resurrection of Christ, the, the faith of, saves, 51. Righteous man, how the man not yet righteous can know the, 120. Sabellianism, 7, 92. Scripture, Holy, the adaptation of, even to the simplest, 18; has more meanings than one, 36; a double rule for understanding the various modes of speech used in, respecting the Son, 37. Sheol, 192. Son of man, the, 33(note). Son of God, the, is very God, 21; in what respects less than the Father, 24, etc.; the subjection of, to the Father, and delivers up the kingdom to the Father, 24–28; relation of, to the Holy Spirit, 26; how equal to, and how less than the Father, 29; how said not to know the day nor the hour, 30, etc.; how to sit on His right hand and His left, not His to give, 31; the two natures of, lays a foundation for opposite things being said of, 33, etc.; judgment committed to, 33, etc.; double rule for understanding the phraseology of Scripture respecting, 37, etc.; glorification of, by the Father, 39; the sending of, 40; object of the incarnation of, 81; how sent and proclaimed beforehand, 82; how in His incarnation He was made less without detriment to His equality with the Father, 83; what the sending of, means, 84; the wisdom and power of the Father, 97; what is said of the Father and, together, and what not, 98; and the Father, how one, 99; and the Father, one wisdom as one essence, 107, etc.; why He is chiefly intimated by the word wisdom, when both the Father and the Holy Spirit are wisdom, 107; the love by which we arrive at a knowledge of, 122; how we are justified by His blood, 175; why He took upon Himself man from the race of Adam and from a virgin, 180; we are to be like Him, 196. Soul, opinions of philosophers regarding its substance, 139; whence comes its error concerning itself, 140; its power over the body, 148. Species, mental, produced by species in succession, 153. Spirit, the Holy, why so called, 93(note). Spirit, a word of many meanings, 195. Spiration, 93, 225, 226(notes). Subordination, 4, 38–40. Ternary number, the, in Christ’s resurrection, 118, 119. Theophanies, the, 43–54, 65–68. Trinity, for what purpose the dissertation on, was written, 17; the Catholic faith respecting, 20; the difficulties concerning, 21, etc.; all three sometimes understood in one person, 1207
On the Trinity
27, 28(note); the entire invisible, 43; whether the, spoke at Sinai, or some one person specially, 49, 53; the co-eternity of, 85, 86; the three persons of, and one essence, 92, 93; the word “beginning” how spoken relatively in regard to the Trinity, 94; God is a, but not triple, 101; whether one, or the three persons together, is called the one God, 102; Hilary quoted respecting the persons of the, 102; whether each person of, is of itself wisdom, 104, etc.; the use of the words hypostasis and person, in relation to, 109–114; why we do not speak of one person and three essences in, 111; how the, may be loved though unknown, 119; difficult to be demonstrated by natural reason, 202, etc.; disparity between the trinity which is in man and that which is in God, 111, 129, 133, 143(notes), 222. Trinity in man, three things in love, as it were a trace of, 124; a kind of, exists in mind, knowledge, and love, 125; another, in memory, understanding, and will, 134–143; a trace of, in the outer man, 144, etc.; man made after the image of the, 5, 157., etc., 190. Unity of the Father and the Son, 99; numerical not specific, 20(note). Vision, how produced, 145. Word, the Incarnate, dispels our darkness, 70; man apt for the perception of truth through, 71; incarnation of, suitable for freeing man from mortality, 174; knowledge and wisdom of, 180, etc.; of God, and word of man, 209; of God, equal to the Father, 213.
1208
Doctrinal and Moral Treatises
DOCTRINAL AND MORAL TREATISES. INDEX OF SUBJECTS. Abortive conceptions, question regarding resurrection of, 265. Abraham, Christ the promised Seed of, 339, 340; His example cited, 408, 409, 412; actions of, figurative, 470; told no lie, 491; knew the state of the world from Lazarus, 548. Abstinence, practice of, a benefit due to authority, 364; easier than moderation, 405, 410; from food, etc. for ill ends, 528. Academics, St. Augustin once inclined to, 356. Action, unless rightly done, sin, 360; whether implied in permission, 464, 475; always conceived in the heart, 487; indifferent, takes its character from motive, 488; some unconsciously prophetic, 495; character determined by the intention, 519. Adam, sin of, the results to his posterity, 246, 254; involved many kinds of sin, 252; Job, how unlike, 530. Address, different methods of, to different classes of hearers, catechumens, 298sq. Admonition, desired by St. Augustin, 522. Adultery, what? 400, 402; compared with fornication, 403; is evil, while even second marriage is good, 443; might be justified on same grounds as lying, 487, 488; some guilty of, fear perjury, 500; penance done for, 575. Æsop, Fables of, 494. Ætiology, explanation by, 349. Age, qualifies to give counsel, 451; flower of, brief, 452. Aged, marriage, 400. Ages, seven; the last to be an age of rest, 301. Ages of the world, the six, 307. Alexis, of Plato and Virgil thought allegorical, 355. All things gathered together in one in Christ, expounded, 257. Allegory, explanation by, 349; instances of, 350, 351; in real events, 460, 470, 492; no lie if the thing figured is true, 460; Jacob’s deceit was, 491; use of, 492. Almighty, what He Who is, cannot do, 569. Alms, means of, not to be gotten by sin, 488; a means of pardon, 496; given to Christ, 519; to be done for a heavenly reward, 520. Almsgiving, will not, without change of life, atone for sin, 260; the greatest, is forgiveness of debtors and love of enemies, 261; the first, is to pity our own souls, 262; advanced by Christianity, 364. Altar, prayers at the, 434; ministers of, Christian Priests, 515; prayers offered at the, 540. Alternatives, 464, 466, 468, 469.
Doctrinal and Moral Treatises
Ambrose, St., Bp. of Milan, heard by St. Augustin, 356. Analogy, explanation by, 349. Ananias, appearance to St. Paul, 550. Angel, Temple may not be built to an, 374. Angels, the fallen, God’s judgment on, 246; who fell not, 246; nothing certainly known of their social organization, 256; bodies assumed by, 256; what Christ did for man was in a sense done for them, 257; may communicate the events of time to the dead, 359; cannot sin, 385; entertained by Lot, 463; ministry of, to Lazarus, 541; free of both worlds, 548. Anger, darkens the mind’s eye, 490. Angry, in what sense God is said to be, 248, 527. Anima, animus, mens, 475. Anna, and Susanna, 403, 413; more blessed than Ruth, 443; unless Ruth knew what was to follow; probably knew Christ should be born of a Virgin, 444; her long and early widowhood, 447; her piety, 448; recognized Christ with His Virgin Mother, 444, 448. Antiphrasis, is no lie, 491; instances of, 492. Antiquity, testimony of, to Religion, 363. Apocrypha, books of, 548; quoted, 540. Apostle, God spoke in him, 521. Apostles, common men chosen to show Christ’s power, 342; prophesied of, 343; use the four-fold exposition, 349, 350; Acts of, rejected by Manichees, inconsistently, 350; teaching handed down from, 356; effect of their labors on nations, 364; whether bound to live of the Gospel, 471, 522; Acts of the, a place to find examples, 476, 493; example of, no obligation not to labor, 505–508; maintained by holy women and those among whom they preached, 506–508; words not to be derided, 508; divided their provinces, 516; had power not to work: to speak with authority, 522; once of the world, 532; chosen not just but justified: else had first chosen Christ, 533. Apostolic chair, succession from, and note, 365. Apparitions, in dreams, 544–550; of the dead without their consciousness, 545sq.; as of the living, unconscious, 545. 546, 549; images only, not of souls themselves, 545; produced by the ministry of Angels, 545, 547, 549; asking for burial, 545; use of: pointing out places of burial, 545; foretelling things future, 545; not to be denied, 545; instances of, in sleep, 545; pointing out where things should be found, 545; seen when awake, 546; in trances, 546; doctrines taught by: of Samuel to Saul, 548; of St. Felix, 548; of saints whether themselves or angelic appearances, doubtful, 549, 550; of John the Monk, 549; of Ananias to St. Paul: John would have solved St. Augustin’s difficulties, 550. Aptus, 464. Archimedes, not to be explained by Epicurus, 353. 1210
Doctrinal and Moral Treatises
Arena, matches of the, 372. Aristotle, not to be explained by an enemy, 353. Army, of the virtues and vices, 382. Artisans, singing at work, 514. Ascension of Christ foretold, 341; witnessed by Apostles, 342; of our Lord, 373, 374, 375; how our Lord prefigured, 494. Ashes, of martyrs, thrown into the Rhone, 543; not scattered, 544. Asper, a grammarian, 355. Atoms, soul not formed of, 352. Augustin, St., when ordained Priest or Presbyter, 347; his early love of truth, 347, 349; his prayer for Honoratus, 348; how led into Manicheism (nine years in it), tempted by discussions, 348; only a “Hearer:” a worldling: contrast later, 348; his eyes weak from past delusions, 349; his book “De Spiritu et Litera,” note, 351; his belief about the Old Testament, 353; young when led into error, 353; his way of search for true religion, 356, 357; disappointed in Faustus, 356; tended at times toward Academics: his prayers for help: becomes Catechumen, 356; his purpose of writing further to Honoratus, 365; expresses doubt on a point connected with marriage, 407; not at variance with Council of Carthage, 441; his many engagements, 441; his books on marriage and virginity, 448, 454; wrote against Faustus, 448; works of, on Divine grace, 450; his works on Lying of different dates, 457; uses a homely style in practical matters, 458; his avocations, 481; life laborious, (bodily infirmity), 521, 522; did what he exhorted others to do, 522; found a Bishop’s life more laborious than a Monk’s, 521; not submitting to man’s judgment, 522; desired to be admonished, 523; never completed his Retractations, 527; visited nightly by his mother while she lived, 547; not after her death, 547. Aurelius, Bp. of Carthage, desired St. Augustin to write on the work of Monks, 503, 522. Authority, necessity of in religion,356, 357; source of what we believe, 359; lovers of truth believe, 360; for doctrine same as for belief in Christ, 362; some probable a priori, 363; shown by miracles on multitudes, 364; brought to bear on life through numbers, 364; seat of, in Catholic Church, 365; of doctrine to be strictly guarded, 466, 483, 484. Babylon, represents the world, 496. Ball, pleasure of playing with, 453. Baptism, indicates our death to sin and resurrection to life, 252, 254; open to all, both infants and adults, 252; “Come, ye blessed of My Father, receive the kingdom,” 374; makes men temples of the Holy Spirit, 374; remission of all things in, 374; received, to be guarded by good life: washes once for all: why not repeated, 375; of heretics, “a form of Godliness:” is of the Church only: remits original sin, 386; puts away all sin, 408; of
1211
Doctrinal and Moral Treatises
children, 419; remits from all sin, 435; supposed case of lying in order to give, 499; necessary for admission to Paradise, 546. Baptized persons pray, 435. Barnabas, simulation of corrected, 461, 493. Barrenness, does not make divorce lawful, 402, 406, 412. Beauty, inward is what Christ loves, 451; false, lawful to none, 451; spiritual, decays not, 451; of truth, 498. Bees, have progeny without intercourse, 399. Begging Monks, 515. Beginners, lying, well meant, excused in,.460, 473, 495, 497. Beginning, The Father is, of Christ: The Son also the, 328; Godhead has none, 372. Belief, See Faith; implies objects unseen, 337. 338; of historical facts, 359; different from opinion, 458; needed before understanding, 463; of a lie, not always hurtful, 466, 483; of false doctrine, a real misery, 483; in the heart, not enough without confession, 486. Bene-dictio, better than bona dictio, 292. Betrayal, sin of, 467, 468, 496; by silence, 468, 469. Bill of divorcement, 402. Birds, their habits alluded to, 409; who? 436; image of the proud, 516; not to be imitated in all points, 517, 518sq.; in cages, 517; not imitated in picking food or flies, 518; caught by want of water, 348. Bishop, empowered to relax certain excommunications, 441; addresses another Bishop’s flock by permission, 521, 524. Bishops, Catholic, overthrew Priscillianism, 485; called to act in secular affairs, 517; by Apostolic injunction, to be obeyed, 522; succession of from Apostles, 565. Bishop’s life, laborious, 521, 522; recent increase of occupation, 521. Blasphemy, worst in one who knows it such, 444, 495, 499; none can be allowable, 499; suggested by Job’s wife, 500. Blessedness, called Right Hand of God, 373. Blessing, put for cursing, 491. Blood, of Christ, given the pardoned to drink, 374. Bodies of the married are holy, 405. Body, the death of, man’s peculiar punishment, 246; resurrection of, 264, 332, 375, 540, 541; in the resurrection, spiritual, 266; material of, never perishes, 265, 529; a creature of God, 374; Temple of the Holy Spirit, 374, 444, 474, not our object in religion, 354; its peaceful members made the soul’s pattern, 389; may be holy in marriage, 443, 444; of all the Faithful is “members of Christ,” 444; soul to be preferred to, 463, purity of, depends on soul, 463, 499; Priscillianists erred concerning, 484; real good of, in the life to come, 528, 529; to be restored entire, 529; patience of Martyrs concerning their, 530; 1212
Doctrinal and Moral Treatises
motions of, affect the mind, 542; an interest felt in, by us while living, 543, 544; overcome by the Martyrs, 544; hurt only by the pain of dying, 543, 544; faith in resurrection of, confirmed by care for the dead, 541, 550; obtained by the spirit, 543; not affected by the treatment of the corpse, 540, 541, 543, 544. Boyhood, good and bad reasons for preferring, 352; rashness incident to, 353. Bread, daily breaking of, at Troas, the Eucharist, 514. Bridegroom, Christ the, 343. Burial, in the memorials of Martyrs, 539, 542, 549, 550; place provided for, 539; want of, does not affect the dead, 540, 541, 543, 544, 545; a grief to the living, 544; external rites of, for the comfort of the living, 540, 544, 550; no benefit to the wicked, 540, 544; care for, a duty, 541; why? 544; by the Patriarchs and their children, 541; significative, 541; commended in Scripture, 541; rewarded, 541; want of, and place of, does not hinder the resurrection, 540, 541; or rest, 541, 543, 545; place of, a benefit only as occasioning prayer, 542, 543, 550; to slight, irreligious, 545; place of, naturally, a subject of interest, 543, 544; loss of, how a punishment; how a kindness, 544. Business distracting the mind unsuitable to preachers, 405. Butler, Analogy, 337. Calling, each to remain in, 509. Candidianus, bearer of St. Augustin’s book on “Care for the Dead,” 551. Canticles, prophecy of Christ and the Church, 343. Care for the Dead, book on, occasion of writing, 539, 551. Caring for temporal things forbidden, 504. Caring not, by some limited to spiritual wants, 503. Carnally-minded like grass, 516. Carthage, fourth Council of, 441; introduction of monasteries into, 503. Cassiodorus, his book, De Inst. Div. Lit., 347. Catechetical instruction, 282 sq.; way to commence it, 288sq.; of the educated,290sq.; of grammarians and professional speakers, 291; causes and remedies of tediousness in, 292sq. Catechumen, examination of, as to his views, 288; specimen of address to (1) one of worthy views, (2) one of false aims, 299; formal admission of, 312; St. Augustin becomes one, 356; learned and repeated the Creed, 369; still under sins, 375; having a second wife, case of, 408. Catholic, title of, whose by consent, 356. Cataline, his powers of endurance, 528. Cato, cited, 408.
1213
Doctrinal and Moral Treatises
Causes, essential to man’s happiness to know the; of good and evil, 242; the secondary, of evil, are ignorance and lust, 245, 264; of common things obscure. Centurion, ready faith of, praised, 363; case of the, 428. Chalcedon, Council of, excommunicates (Church) widows who marry, 441. Character, care of, a point of charity, 453. Characterem, (of Baptism), 375. Charity, the Church abides in, 374; of the married state, 400; shown in communicating any good to others, 441; in keeping good repute, 453; unity of the Church belongs to, 535; a mark of the free-born, 535. Chase, simile of, 457. Chastity, advanced by Christianity, 364; of continence, better than married chastity, 411; wedded, is a good, 443, 445; wedded, is God’s gift, 450; complete (integritas), of virgins and widows, 450; spiritual delights in, 452; not to be broken to save a life, 463; or a soul, 499; not lost by violence, 463, 475; of mind what, 475, 499; of mind to be preserved for detecting heresy, 487; is of the truth, 498, 499; cannot teach adultery, 499. Children, probably involved in the guilt, not only of our first parents, but also of their own immediate parents, 252; know their parents by faith, 338, 360; exorcised, 369; loss of, 372, 530; why baptized, 419; the Three Holy, Song of, 438; having, a reason for not marrying again, 445; spiritual, may serve instead of natural, 445, 450; virginity of, a compensation to parents, 445, 448; desire of, lawful, but not praiseworthy, 445; having, a blessing, not a merit, 447, 448; bringing up well, is of good will, 448; spiritual fruits in place of, 451, 452; lawfully begetting, for God a good work, 488; power of a parent over, 490. Childhood, why a grown man may prefer, 352. Christ, birth of, 249, 371; being the only Son of God, is at the same time man, 249; grace of God in His birth, 250, 251; made sin for us, 251; not regenerated in the baptism of John, 253; took away original sin and all other sins, 253; His life typical of the Christian life, 254; second coming of, 255; advent of, why foretold, 286; shows God’s love to us, 287; generation of, as Son of God and the Word, 322sq.; neither made by nor less than the Father, 323; born through the Holy Ghost of the Virgin Mary, 325; as God, has no mother, 325; Passion, Burial and Resurrection of, 326; Ascension of, 326; Session at the Father’s Right Hand and Coming to Judgment, 326, 327; relation of, as Son to the Father, 328sq.; the Seed of Abraham, 339; nations blessed in, 339; so honored though crucified, a miracle, 340; witnessed to by Jewish prophecy, 342; sufferings of, contrasted with His Victory, 342; name of, honored even by heretics, 343; the Bridegroom, 343; used the four ways of exposition, 349, 350; veil of Law done away by, 351; teaching handed down from, 356; even heretics bid us believe in, 361; on whose testimony we do so, 362; planted His religion by the way of faith, 363; Death and Resurrection of, 1214
Doctrinal and Moral Treatises
shut out fear, 363; various miracles of, their use, 364; effects of His Incarnation and Teaching, 365; God in true Man, 364; without sin, restores from sin, 369, 370; what He teaches of Himself, 371; His lowly Birth, Passion and Death: born perfect as Son of God, 371, 372; born of the Virgin in the fullness of time: God and Man: death of, a pattern to martyrs; Resurrection of, 372, 375; sets a prize as in the arena, 372; arose to die no more, 372; example of, exceeds Job’s, 373; His Sufferings and Ascension, 373; shall come to judge the quick and the dead: the Church abides in, as branches in a Vine, 374; the Root: sin of killing, not unpardonable: members of, shall follow Him, 375; our pattern: condescends to our slowness, 380; and the Church, their union, 388; heretical notion concerning, 389; came in real flesh, 389; took a human body and a human soul, 390, 364; really hungered and thirsted: saw fit not to abstain like the Baptist, 410; the object of love, 437, 452; taught humility when near His Passion, 429; Himself the model for virgins, 429, 431; the object of virgin love, 437; crucified, to be gazed on with the inward eyes, 437; may not be loved a little, 444; recognized by Anna as a child, 444, 448; conceived in chastity, can make virginity fruitful, 446; loves an inward beauty, 446; a Husband, in the Spirit, to the married as to the Church, 446; shown to be the worthiest object of love, 452; did and commanded all for our salvation, 462; no lie to be told about, 466; patience of, perfect, 470; yet did not literally turn the other cheek, 470; sayings of, that seem false, are figurative, 476, 494; denied before men in pretending heresy, 485; few deny sincerely, 486; kept back some truth, 491; called a “Rock,” “Lion,” 491; under our sins figured by Jacob, 492; Himself a Prophet, 494; assumed show of ignorance, 494; His feigning, 494; exhorts Martyrs to patience, 529; forbearance of, to Judas, 529; chose and justified the Apostles, 533; faith of, saved the old Saints, 533; made poor for our sakes, 535; poor of, to be made rich 539. Christianity, derided as credulous, 337; is not without evidence, 339; testimony of mankind to, 355; profession of, its effect on the masses, 364, 365. Christians, nominal, described, 311; more numerous than Jews and Pagans united [in the Roman empire,] 356; they are not, who forbid faith before reason, 362, 363; misrepresented, 365; work and prize of, 372; all in one commonwealth, 519; state of, as longing for inheritance, 535. Christian life, four stages of, 275. Church, is the Temple of God, 255; condition of, in heaven, 256; redeemed by blood, 257; history of, in four stages, 275; in its likeness to a Vine, 309; the Catholic, 331; quotes herself as fulfillment of prophecy, 339, 341; called the “Queen,” 339; visible as such, 340; is herself an evidence, 341; witness of past and future, 342; spread abroad by suffering, 342; Bride of Christ, 343; milk from the teats of, 348; with what error charged by Manichees, 353, 357; Catholic, prima facieclaims of, 355; her teaching from Christ and the Apostles, 356; witnessed to by people and nations, 362; testimony of mankind 1215
Doctrinal and Moral Treatises
leads us to, 364; doctrines of, concerning God, 365; mother of God’s children, 369; named in the Creed after the Holy Trinity: victorious over heresies, abides in charity, 374; Body of Christ: He the Head, 375; an heretical notion concerning, 389; Christ and the, 388, 389; not yet perfect, 390; made subject to Christ, 390; her daily cry, 391; the, a Mother and a Virgin, 417, 418; a holy Virgin, 420; sometimes called the kingdom of heaven, 425; the, a virgin and spouse of Christ, 446, 451, 452; includes the departed, 454; in a household, 454; authority of its practices though not in Scripture, 541; disunion with, breaks charity, 535. Churches, seats in (apparently an exception), 296; of withdrawing from, during service; by whom filled on Festival days, 311; building of, 488. Cicero, his rule for argument, 348; studied because acknowledged by all, 354; conspirators put to death by, 359; lectured on, 545. Circumcision, a seal: is not for Christians, 351; made uncircumcision by leaving the law, 461, 462; for whom lawful, 461. City of God, St. Augustin on, 317. Clean, who are, in God’s sight, 465. Clergy, not bound to labor, 506–508; may claim maintenance from their people, 506, 507; all, as well as Apostles, 508, 510; employments fitted for, 511; receive support, not as mendicants, that they may escape distracting occupations, 512; injunctions to support, 511, 513; for the good of the people, 513; have same right to maintenance as the Apostles, 515, 516: ministers of His Sacrament unto righteousness, 519, 520; not to be careful, 521. Cæcilius, not studied instead of Cicero, 354. Coeval, image of the Coeternal, 371. Colors, divers, signify what, 339. Command, of the Lord, why St. Paul had none, 421. Commands, clear, to be obeyed at all risks, 469, 470; explained by examples, 470, 471. Community of goods at Jerusalem, 512; of goods, benefit of, 520; all Christians one, 519. Compacts, sexual, how far sinful, 400, 401. Competentes, a step beyond other Catechumens, 547. Concealment, of many things lawful, 352; not itself lying, 491. Conceptaculum 471. Concubinage, for offspring’s sake unlawful, 406; was lawful among the ancient fathers, 406; lawfulness of a certain kind of, doubtful, 407. Concupiscence, gradually weakened, 524; patience not to minister to, 528. Confession, of sins, 436; medicine of, 473; remedy for lies, 500. Confinis, 351. Conflict. of virtues and vices in the soul, 381; of the Christian, 382, 387. 1216
Doctrinal and Moral Treatises
Conscience, moves all good minds to seek God, 363; good, excuses not carelessness of repute, 453; solace of, in evil report, 453; sinning against, 484. Consent, in thought constitutes sin, 380, 381; yielded and withheld, 387, 388; withheld is mortification of the members, 392; what constitutes, 464, 465; when it justifies doing a man wrong, 466; chastity not lost without, 475. Consentius, his inquiries about Priscillianists, 457, 482; praise of, 481; advised to write against Priscillianism, 486, 492. Constancy, in the faith of the Resurrection, 310sq. Continence, praised by Epicurus, 352; door of, 380, 381; why mentioned last by St. Paul, 383; God’s gift, 379, 391; the gift of God’s Spirit, 384; difficult to treat of, 379; marriage, glorious, not to be attained in our own strength, 383; forbears excuses, 384, sought of God by David, 384; required against all sin, 385; peace the prize of, 386; a healthful chastisement of our nature, 390; falsely claimed, considered, 391; its office, 391; is refusing the consent of the mind, 392; must watch the thoughts, 393; glory of perseverance in, due to the Lord, 393; the greater of two goods, 402, 411423; and marriage, two goods, 403; compared to fasting, 403; how, is not on a level with the marriage of the old Fathers, 408, 409; a virtue of the soul, 409; in habit and act, 410; praise of the state of, 411; the root-virtue, 412; profitable for the life to come, 420, 421, 422, 424; when unwillingly professed, 429; of widows: its rank, 434; widowed, better than nuptial chastity, 443; best for those who “receive” it, 445; strength of, measures merit of widowhood, 447; of heretics not to persuade us, 448; all is God’s gift, 449; though willing, 450; term properly used of virgins and widows, 450; universal, supposed danger of, 460. Contraries, instances of, 483. Conversion, not to be brought about by lying, 476, 484. Cornutus, a grammarian, 355. Corruption, all things not perfectly good are liable to, 240. Councils, weight of, against heretics, 365. Creation, of man, what is to be believed concerning the, 302; all good, the whole better than each part, 444. Creature, visible and invisible, 369; gives pleasure by approach to that which it loves, 534. Credulousness, distinguished from faith, 357. Creed, the Apostles’, 238; current in 4th century, 318; expounded, 321sq.; the rule of faith or symbol, 369sq.; not written, repeated by Catechumens: scattered through Scripture, 369; calls, not the Son Almighty, yet implies this, 370. Crimes, penance for, 575. Crispina, mentioned, 434. Critics, destructive, 448. 1217
Doctrinal and Moral Treatises
Cross, why Christ chose, 372. Crown, for those who strive, 372; is not for the impatient, 531. Curia, of Tullium, 546. Curiosity, what it means, 356, 357; idle, danger of, in reading, 398; forbidden, 573. Curma, vision of, 546. Custom, binding power of, 263sq. Cynegius, buried in the Basilica of St. Felix, 539. Cyprian, St., on the unity of the Church, note, 365. Danger, seeking, tempting God, 520. Daniel and St. Paul, 423. Darius Comes, Ep. to, 337; St. Augustin’s letter to, 527. David, a great saint, 384; spake rashly, 393; rash oath of, no example, 490; his feigned madness, 491; patient forbearance of, 529. Day, the first and the Lord’s, 515. Dead, souls of the, benefitted by the sacraments and alms of living friends, 272, 550; care for, 539–551; pagan opinions of, 539, 544, 545: at rest, 541, 543, 544, 545; sacrifice for, in Maccabees, 540; not affected by the condition of the body, 540sq.; unconscious when seen in visions, 545sq.; do not know what happens in this world, 547–549; or their happiness would be affected, 547; except in special cases, 548; perhaps by information from other spirits, 548; from Angels, 548; by dispensation of the Holy Spirit: interpose not ordinarily, 547sq., 549; not as they please, 549; sometimes, 548, 549; a blessing thereby, 547; by extraordinary Divine permission, 549; we care and pray for, without knowing their state, 548, 549. Death, of the body is man’s peculiar punishment, 246; the first and the second, consequences of, 267; eternal, 273; cannot injure the regenerate, 275; question of lying to prevent, 497, 498; sin worse than, 462; wrongly thought of as worst evil, 474; for mercy and truth, a gain, 497; sin the sting of, 500. Deceit, purpose of, implied in lying, 458; may be by means of truth, 458; safest to avoid, entirely, 459; turns on itself, 495. Defamation, question of, to prevent crime, 466; especially condemned, 472. Degrees of glory in Heaven, 426, 435. Dei fica, 532. Demetrias, consecrated a Nun, 441; her choice of virginity praised, and note, 443, 448; became like Virgin Mary was, 449; before her mother in the kingdom, 451; grandmother of, 451; care needed for, being young, and a book recommended, 454. Demons, served, 391; confess themselves tormented by Martyrs, 550; by living Saints, 550. Deogratias, the book on Catechising the Uninstructed, written for, 282. 1218
Doctrinal and Moral Treatises
Deserter, mark of, not changed, 375. Desires, earthly, lead to endurance, 528. Devil, the, how he tempts, 314; the, called a lion, 491. Dictinius, reformed from his error, 483; his book called the “Pound,” 484, 497, 500. Diet, what St. Augustin used, 348. Difficulties, to be borne with, 550. Discourse, a, often pleasant to the hearer and distasteful to the speaker, and probable explanation of the fact, 282 sq. Disease, of nature, what, 386. Dives, care for his brethren did not imply that he knew of their state, 548. Divorce, why permitted the Jews, 349; rebuked by Christ, 402; may not take place for barrenness, 402, 406, 412; does not dissolve marriage, 402, 406, 412; dissolves marriage in the world’s opinion, 402. Donatists, suicides of, 530; not martyrdoms, 531. Donatus, the grammarian, 355. Dreams, See Apparitions, 545sq. Drunkenness, a fault in act or habit, 357. Duty, of marriage among the early people of God, 403, 406, 408, 419; higher, supersede lower, 474; cannot require a sin, 489. Duumvir, 546. Dwelling called “sitting,” 373 Earth, creation of the, 369. Ecclesiasticus, said to be written by Solomon, not canonical, 548. Economy, some, used toward aliens without lying, 487; practiced by our Lord, 491. Educated, the, how to catechise, 290sq. Egypt, represents the world, 496. Election, God’s sovereign grace in, 268; Divine, is grace, 532, 533; precedes faith, 533; examples of, 534. Eligere, 534. Eloquence, few attain, yet masters of, known, 354. Emperor, heathen, grants pardon to the courage of Firmus, 468. End of the Lord, our example, 373. Endurance, not patience, 426; of sufferings for worldly objects, 527; of men for temporal objects praised, 528; practised for wicked ends, 528, 529; not patience, but an example, 528; in surgical cases, worldly, 532, 534; this is animal and devilish, 532; like stupor of disease, 534; frantic, of misguided lust, 534. Enemies, love of, 261. 1219
Doctrinal and Moral Treatises
Epicurus, sometimes praises continence, 352; his error about pleasure 352; not fit to explain Archimedes, 353. Epistles, of St. Paul, said by Manichees to be interpolated, 350; written for men’s salvation, 470, 477; truth clearly put forth in, 493. Erasmus, his opinion of the “De Patientia,” 527. Error, the nature of, 242; always an evil, 243, 245; not always a sin, 244; easy to talk against, 348; three kinds of, in reading, 351; hurts not unless believed: charitable, no evil, 352; truth frees from, falsehood involves in 457, 458; of fact does little harm, 483. Erucius, Orations of, 354. Esau, birthright of, what it signified, 492. Eternal life, the penny in the parable, 426. Eternity, no space of, between the Father and the Son, 371. Eucharist, Blood of Christ given to drink in, 374. Eulogius, sees St. Augustin in a dream, 545. Eunuchs, for the kingdom of Heaven, 424, monks preferred to be as, 523. Eusebius, Eccl. Hist. translated by Ruffinus, 543. Evanescere, 486. Eve, Adam tempted by, 372; a help to the tempter, 530. Every, used for “any,” 472. Evidence, of prophecy, 339, 340sq.; of the Jews, 342. Evil, in the universe is but the absence of good, 240; there can be no evil where there is no good, 241; good and evil are exceptions to the rule that contrary attributes cannot be predicated of the same subject, 241; permission of, 267, 269, 385; turned into good by God, 269, 385, 495; man created able to choose good or evil,—choice of evil impossible in the future life, 271; co-existence of, with good, in the Church, and their final separation, 303sq.; God not the author of, 365; not self-existent, 385; Manichæan errors concerning, 385, 386, 388; uses of, 385, 386; lusts, what, 387; perfected hereafter, not a substance, 387, 388; its nature explained, 464; question of doing less, to avoid greater, 465, 467; wrongly measured through earthly affections, 474; comparison of evils, 476; not to be done that good may come, 488. Evil fruit, good tree cannot bring forth, expounded, 241. Examples (see Saints), how to be judged of, 495. Excommunication, needed for crimes, 373; may be incurred by a valid marriage, 441. Excuses, shunned by continence, 384; useless before God, 384. Exhortation, needful to spur us to action, 442, 449; use of, implies acting on others’ will, 450. Exorcism of children shows original sin, 369. Experience, of friendship leaves room for faith, 338. 1220
Doctrinal and Moral Treatises
Exsufflation of Children, 369. Eye, inward and outward, 337. Eyes, weak from darkness cannot bear light, 361; fools use more readily than the mind, 363; their honorable place in the body, 444; want of, supplied by hearing, etc., 452. Fables, are no lies, 494. Fairness of Christ, the love of virgins, 436, 437. Faith, is the gift of God, 247; without works, is dead, 259; of things unseen derided, 337; defended by analogy, 338; even after trial, 338; if due to human things, more so to divine, 339; prophesied of, a ground of faith, 343; on authority, blamed by the Manichees, 348, 356; distinguished from credulity, 357; question if still a fault, 357, 358; necessary for friendship, 357, 358, 338; teacher uses, towards learner, 357; no harm in, though reason might be used, 358; distinguished from knowledge and opinion, 359; faulty only when rash or wrong, 359; of historical facts, needful, 360; parents known by, 359, 360; most needful of all in religion, and why, 360, 361; before reason, no rashness, 362; they are not Christians who forbid faith in Christ before reason, 362; miracles lead to, 363; prepares way to wisdom, 365; before understanding, 370; is in order to eternal life, 374; and works, 392; without putting down lust, is dead, 393; in wedlock, 401; conjugal, less worthy than virginity, 442; of profession to be kept, 445; whence named, 476; of Christ, none justified without, 533; Faith, Hope and Love, God to be worshipped through, 238; their mutual dependence, 239; distinction between faith and hope, 239; love is the greatest of the three, 274. Fall of man, through pride, 371. Falling, danger of, 432. Falsehood, not all, is a lie, 458; leads to error, 459. Faltonia, Proba, mother of Juliana, 448. Fame, endurance from desire of, 528. Famine, provided against, 471. Fasting, continuous for several days, 364; compared to continence, 403; adds to the merit of widowhood, 448; time of, how to be used, 452; before receiving the Eucharist, 514. Fatalism, its excuses blasphemous, 384. Fate, inconsistency of those who speak of it, 384. Father, The, how greater than the son, 249; Himself God, 327; the Beginning of The Son, 328; hath not His Being from The Son, 329; nor from any other, 329; The Son anointed by, 339; One God with The Son, 370; coeternal with Son imaged by coeval, 371; doth what he will, never without The Son, 371. Father, human, supposed death of, inciting to lying, 464; power of, over children, 490; why greater than sons, 370. 1221
Doctrinal and Moral Treatises
Fathers, Catholic, remarks on their writings, 291; the Old, how they married, 403, 406, 407, 466; typical in their marriage of many wives, 408. Faustus, the Manichee, attacked Patriarchs’ marriages: his pretensions and failure, 448. Fear, to displease God entertained by love, 431; spoken of by St. Paul, 432; likely to mislead, 489; of God, His gift, 534; patience founded on, 535. Feast, conversation at a, 357. Feigning, in our Lord no falsehood, 494. Felix, St., burial in his Basilica, 539; appeared at Nola, 548. Fellowship, attainable without marriage, 403. Female, contrasted with male, 408. Fides, from fieri, 476. Figure, of speech, 392, 393; in speech, no lie, 491, 494. Filth of soul, love of any thing but God and the soul, 364. Final goods, 403. “Finger of God,” means the Holy Spirit, 305. Fire, saved by, expounded, 259; coeval father of light, 371. Firmus, Bishop, courage of, 468, 469. Flames of the world, 438. Fleeing iniquity, the greatest of all alms, 262. Flesh and blood, shall not inherit the kingdom of God, expounded, 317; living after what? 383; meaning of, in Scripture, 383, 384; how saved, 387; Manichæan error concerning, 388, 389; as created, spoken well of by St. Paul, 388; Christ’s was true, 389; not evil: likened to the Church, 389, 390; its works, may be sins of the soul, 391. Flood, the, a sacramental sign, 303. Flora, a pious widow, 539. Food, strong, not for the diseased, 357, 361; preserves man, 407; uncooked, needs exercise to digest, 518; stores of, necessary, 518. Fools, all who are not wise, and note, 360; do best to follow the wise, 361, 363; cannot know wisdom surely, 361; incapable of reason concerning God, 363; easiest led by means of sense, 363, 364. Foreknowledge, of God, 271, 302. Forgery of wills, 488. Forgiveness, of debtors, 261; of sins, realized in baptism, 374sq.; asked by all, shows all sinful, 443. Fortitude, spirit of, 535. Fowlers, why the, cover up waters, 348. Foxes, who? 436. Free, why man is left, 385. 1222
Doctrinal and Moral Treatises
Free-born, love is of, 535. Free-will, lost by sin, 247. Freedom of the will, See Will, is the gift of God, 248; man created with, 271. Friendship, founded on faith, 337; exists before fully proved, 338; none without faith, 358; attainable without marriage, 403. Fronto, informant of Consentius, 483. Fruitfulness, not to be compared to virginity, 419. Fruits, thirty, sixty, and hundred fold, 434. Future life, continence profitable for, 420, 421, 423, 424. Games, illustrate the Christian conflict, 372; what men will suffer for, 528. Gaul, martyrs of, 542. Generation, preserves mankind, as food man, 407; of mortal creatures is by corruption, 370. Generation, of The Son from eternity, 371. Genius, finds not truth without God’s help, 358. Gentiles, not to use Jewish customs, 461, 462, 493; typified by the woman with issue of blood, 494; idolatrous, called Pagans, 509, 511; debtors to Jews, 516. Gift, The Holy Ghost called, 339. Gifts, are all from God, 432; prayed for, are not of ourselves, 433; of different kinds, 434; spiritual, one person may have many, 549. Girding the loins, what? 386. Glory, different degrees of, 426, 435. God, to be worshipped through faith, hope and love, 238; in what sense said to be angry, 248; Grace of, displayed in Christ, 249; in election, 268, 533; Peace of, 257; pardons sin, but on condition of penitence, 258; alone decides what sins are trivial and what not, 262; does well even in the permission of evil, 267; Will of, never defeated, though much is done contrary to His will, 269; always good, but sometimes fulfilled through the evil will of man, 269; Grace necessary to salvation before the fall, 271; foreknew the sin of the first man, and ordered His own purpose. accordingly, 271; is Love, 275sq.; severity of, 287; finger of, signifies the Holy Spirit, 305; exclusive eternity and omnipotence of, 322; blessed Abraham, 339; most fitly born of a Virgin, 339; is not in any special place, 341; the True, now invoked by all, 342; if Almighty created matter, 322; just in binding men by law, 351; frees from the Law, but condemns it not, 351; dwells in pure souls, 353; reasons concerning, understood by few, 358; helps those who go humbly and charitably, 358; knowledge of, true wisdom, 360; search for true religion presupposes faith in, 361; cannot be displeased with our believing, 361; demands faith, 362; the wise most near to, 363; mercy of,. shown in Christ, 363; now known by nations not to be of earth or fire, 364; Old Testament charged with false doctrine about, 365; providence 1223
Doctrinal and Moral Treatises
of, points out the Church, 364; no substance but is of Him, 365; Father of those to whom the Church is Mother, 369; The Almighty Father, cannot lie or will wrong, 369; Author of Incorruptibility: One Will of Father and Son, 370; not lost by misfortunes, 372, 373; a Temple is for Him: He creates, Who clothes, 374; permits evil, why? 385; brings good out of evil, 385; Manichæan heresy concerning, 385, 386; His nature, 386; a Physician, 386; not wanting under the law, 449; destroys not free will, 449, 450; favor of, gives continence, 449;. gifts of, no blessings unless owned, 449; all good comes from, 452; labors to win, pleasant, 453; “hates” sinners, “destroys” liars, 462, 481; who unclean in sight of, 465; hears our inward speech, 471; wronged, though not hurt, by sins of luxury, 474; to be honored outwardly as well as inwardly, 482; Priscillianists erred concerning, 484; sin against, worse than against man, 485; sometimes heals secretly, 486; we must depend on, after all means, 497; will provide where we cannot rightly, 500; impassible: passions attributed to: patience His Gift, 527, 536; Himself long-suffering, though not suffering, 527, 528; His wrath, jealousy: His “repentance” implies no error, 527; cares for our body, 529; not lost by will, 530; riches of, 531, 536; patience likens to, 532; assists the just, and justifies the ungodly. 533; free mercy of, to old Saints, 533; how first loves sinners, works in us good will, 534, 536; never lies, 565. “God will have all men to be saved,” expounded, 267, 270. Gold, may be known and not had, 361. Goliath and Zaccheus compared, 411. Good, all things made, 240; but not perfectly good, hence liable to corruption, 240; there can be no evil where there is no good, 241;. highest, not attained without loving it, 363; brought out of evil, 385; all nature is, 386; in what degree attainable, 387; man so created, 388; the substance of the flesh is, 390; superior, makes not lesser good an evil: some, implied in “better,” 443, 446; more honored by having a good below it than an evil, 444, 446; fall from a higher, is an evil, 445, 446; all, comes from God, 452; sin aims at some, in this life, 474; temporal, may be given up without sin, 474, 475; three things to be kept, for sanctity’s sake, 475; luminous, of truth, 498; impassible, 532. Goods, final and instrumental, 403; when abused, become sin, 403; of marriage are offspring, faith, sacrament, 412. Good works, men not saved by, 247; follow faith, 247; rewarded by eternal life, the gift of God, 272. Gospel, not to seem sold, 508–510. Gospels, said by Manichees to be interpolated, 350. Government, of mankind, 385. Grammarians, expected to find good sense in Virgil, 353; several named, 355. Gratitude, due from virgins to God, 433. Greek, words borrowed from, 349. 1224
Doctrinal and Moral Treatises
Greeks, philosophers, shoemakers, 511. Guests, duty of protecting, 489, 490. Guilt, transmitted from progenitors, 252, 253. Habits, hard to change, 364. Hair, bosses of, 429; worn long by some monks: long, thought a sign of sanctity, 522; St. Paul’s rule against long, 523; every, in God’s keeping. 529. Happiness, knowledge of the causes of good and evil necessary to man’s, 242; of perfect knowledge not yet ours, 359. Head dress of women, 429. Health and immortality, two goods, 403. Hearers, order of, among the Manichees, 348; what said of, when they left them, 348. Hearing, studiousness of, 357. Heart, its mouth, 379–381: continence must be seated there, 379; its consent, 380, 381; its language, 379; picture of purity, 392. Heaven, the Church in, 256, 257; degrees of glory in, 426, 435. Heresies, fight in vain against the Church, 374. Heresy, pretence of, may cause real, 483, 484; how to be exposed: sometimes healed secretly, 486. Heretic, not every one a, who believes heretics, 347; what makes a, 348; silence to be kept to a: each claims name of Catholic, 355, 356; spoils that claim by pretending to reason, 357, 363; cannot claim authority, or do without it, 362; that on which we believe Christ is against them, 363. Heretics, or schismatics compared to twigs lopped off the vine, 310sq.; all, would have us believe in Christ, 362; many ways condemned, 365; yet in their sins, 375; continence of, should not persuade us, 448; widows and virgins of, inferior to Catholic wives, 448; not to be tracked out by lying, 482; sin less in speaking heresy than Catholics would, 483, 485; little harm in believing, when they pretend Catholicism, 483; converted, may take comfort in their former ignorance, 485; converted, will correct others, 486. Hidden life with Christ, 392. History, explanation by, 349; of the Exodus allegorical, though true, 350. Holy Spirit, the birth of Christ is of The, 250; is not the Father of Christ, 250; Holy Spirit and the Church, 255; is not a creature, 256; sin against The, 264; signified by the expression, finger of God, 305; mission of, on Pentecost, 308; The third Person of the Trinity, 327; His individuality and offices, 329; body of any Christian, a temple of, 444; speaking in St. Paul, 513. Homicide, lying to screen from punishment, 468; justifiable, 469.
1225
Doctrinal and Moral Treatises
Honoratus, several of the name, 347; one a companion of St. Augustin, a lover of truth, 347; prayed for, 348, 349; how led astray, 348; not then a Christian, 348; his friendship with St. Augustin, 351; will wonder at the Old Testament being called pure, 353; called on to take more pains, 355; a sincere and earnest inquirer, 365. Honorius, laws of, against idols, 337. Hope, everything pertaining to, embraced in the Lord’s Prayer, 273; worldly, its objects, 348; of discovery implied in search, 361; of Christians in the Judgment, 374. Horace, fable quoted, 494. House, temporal and eternal, 496. Humility, most needful for virgins, 428, 437; who would follow Christ, 436; its praise, 428; instances of, 428, 429; commended by our Lord, 428, 430. Humility, taught by Christ, near his Passion, 429; learnt of Christ, 430; unfeigned, needed, 434; treated of fully by St. Augustin, 436; of Saints, 438; and holiness: need of in pious widows, 448. Hundredfold fruits of virginity, 434. Hunting, pleasure of, 452. Husband, and wife, their union, 388; relative duties, 389, 391; might once have many wives, 406, 407; must have but one, 408. I AM, meaning of the Name, 324. Idleness leads to vain talking, 516. Idolaters, a minority, 355. Idolatry conforming to, to avoid violence, 464; might be done to save life, if lying lawful, 482; conformity to, nowhere allowed, 493. Idols, laws of Honorius against, 337; some still believe in, 341; rejection of, prophesied, 342. Ignorance, sometimes better than knowledge, 242; result of evil, 245, 264; to be borne patiently, 550. Image, of God, in the mind, 524. Images, of persons and things seen in visions, 545sq. Imitation of Christ, 427. Immanuel, 340. Immortality, the penny in the parable, 426. Impatience, evil of, 527. Impurity, legal, not always sin, 409. Incest, compared with adultery and fornication, 402. Incorruptible, begets Incorruptible, 370. Incorruption, future gain of, 529. Infirmity, a reason for not working, 515; pleaded as an excuse, 516. 1226
Doctrinal and Moral Treatises
Injury, not to be done to one man to save another, 466, 467. Instrumental, goods, 403. Integritas, said of virgins and widows, 450. Intention, determines the character of an action, 520. Intercourse of the sexes venial in marriage state, 263; when right, when wrong, 487. Interpolations supposed in Holy Scripture, 350. Involuntary continence estimated, 429. Isaac, son of Abraham: told no lie, 491; inherited otherwise than his brothers, 535. Israel, prefigured the future Church, 304; history of, and its significance, 304sq.; compared with Sodom, 461; history of, figurative, 470. Israelites, whole people as it were a prophet, 444. Israelitess, without guile, Rahab became, 497. Jacob, his birth as typical of Christ’s Incarnation, 286; an ancestor of Christ, 339; his example quoted for lying, 460; his deceit was a mystery, 491; acted in the figure of Christ, 492. Jealousy, attributed to God, 527. Jehu, falsehood of, no safe example, 482. Jericho, represents the world, 496. Jerome, St. opinion of, about St. Peter’s simulation, and note, 461. Jerusalem, heavenly and earthly contrasted, 496; Christian’s living in common at, 512; the heavenly, what gifts her sons have, 535. Jesus, supported by pious women, 506. Jewish Christians, kept the Law, 509. Jews, named from Judah, 339; our witnesses to prophecy, 342; permitted to ill-treat our Lord, 373; many of, murderers of Christ, forgiven, 374; and heathens, out numbered by Christians, 355; their notions of defilements, 469; priesthood of, become vile, 470; heart of, called “stony,” 491; rites of, culled “sacramenta,” 493. Job, his example cited, 409; patience of, in various temptations, 530; was thought to worship God, for temporal things: compared with Adam, 530; trials of, extreme, 372; tempted by his wife: stood fast in God, 373; restored to prosperity for our example, 373. John, St. beautifully alluded to, 390; his example cited, 410; alluded to, 426. John, the Monk, 539; he had the gift of prophecy: consulted by Theodosius: appeared to one in sleep, 550. Joke, a, not a lie, 458. Joseph, St. chosen to evidence the perpetual virginity of St. Mary, 511. Joseph, temptation of, 487; his concealment no lie, 491. Josiah, sparing the Prophet’s bones, 544; spared the knowledge of the afflictions which followed after his death, 547. 1227
Doctrinal and Moral Treatises
Jotham, parable of, 494. Joy, different degrees of, in Heaven, 426; godly, given to us, 534. Judah, Jews named from, 339. Judah, fornication of, no example, 495. Judaism, how far St. Paul allowed, 460. 461, 493. Judas prophesied of, 341; an example of evil tolerated, 506; our Lord’s patience with, 529. Judge, seems required for “false witness,” 467, 468, 473; information to, no betrayal, 468; tortures inflicted by, 528. Judgment, reason for believing, 341; will separate good and evil, 343; of the just and the unjust, 374. Judgments of God, on fallen men and angels 246; will be explained at the Resurrection, 267; are just, 268sq. Juliana, thanks St. Augustin for a warning: asked him to write, 441; not to take all as written for herself, 441, 448; had children when left a widow, 445, 448; highest achievements open to, 448; is to communicate the book to others, 450; household of, a Church, 454. Kids, skins of, meant sins, 492. Kindred, spiritual, preferable to human, 418. Kingdoms, two distinct, after the resurrection; Christ’s and the Devil’s, 273. Kiss, not refused to Judas, 529. Knowledge, different ways of desiring, 357; distinguished from opinion and belief, 359; of evil, no misery, 359; matter of belief may be called, 360; and charity, two goods, 403; all who know, partake of, 528; of difficult questions, a divine gift, 549. Labor, pleasure in, 453; those able to, happier, 515; a duty of monks, 514; practised in good monasteries, 516; humbling effects of, on the wealthy, 518; for the common store, 519;. in the rich more charitable than alms-giving, 535. Lamb, The, followed by virgins, and married persons, 426, 432. Lamps, burning, what, 386. Laurentius, the Enchiridion addressed to, 237. Law, counsel given beyond, 461, 462; of God unmoved by circumstances, 489; of nature, 407; under, in, withoutdistinguished, 509; Jewish, permitted eating in the fields, 517; supposed wish to combine, with the Gospel, 351; Ceremonial, mysteries of, 351; in the letter, killeth; wants an expounder, 353. Laws, of man, in some sort Christian, 356. Laying out more, St. Paul, 515. Lazarus, buried, what signified in, 494; borne by Angels, 541; told Abraham the state of the Jews, 548. 1228
Doctrinal and Moral Treatises
Lectures of Rhetoricians, 545. Leeches, 529. Left-hand, what means, 374. Legal purification shows not marriage sinful, 409; was for the type of sin, 409. Leisure, what, had St. Paul, 466. Leonas, messenger of Consentius, 481. Lewdness, worse than theft, 488489. Liar, not every is a, who lies, 466. Liberty, Christian, 461, 462, 493. Lie, never allowable, but differs much in guilt, 243; not allowable to save another from injury, 245; question if ever lawful, 457sq.; a joke is not a, 458; nor a mistake, 458; definition of, 458, 459, 494; how to be safe from, 460; question if ever useful, 460, 491; examples quoted in favor of, 460, 495, 500; cases of danger requiring, 460, 462, 490; condemned as false witness, 460; condemned more generally, and note, 460, .468, 476; allegory is not, 460, 491; sometimes allowed in imperfect state, 461; New Testament never favors, 461, 493; God hates, even to destroying, 462, 482; corrupts the soul, 463; any sin as easily justified, 463, 495; good men lose authority by telling, 464; about Christ, 466; several cases of, 466; none lawful in doctrine, 466, 490; not to be told to give pleasure, 467; useful, question of, 467, 472, 474, 495; if not to defend crime, 467; how to escape, when questioned, 468; how to escape, when silence betrays, 469; five kinds of, condemned: three still questioned, 469; wish to use, forbidden, 472; what, threatened with destruction, 473; Deceit is, even if not “false witness,” 473; a harmless one, to save pudicity of body, allowed, 475; eight sorts of, all shown to be evil, 476; which sorts less culpable: none is good, 481, 482; examples of, quoted from Scripture, 482, 491; every, contrary to truth, 482; pretending heresy worse kind of, 483; metaphor or antiphrasis, is not, 491; none is “just,” 495, 484; no holy person glories in, 496; one, leads to another, 498; about religion worst, 498, 500; not to be told to save a soul, 499; rather trust God, 500; put for sin in general, 500; not less than lewdness, 500. Life, eternal, through the reward of good works, is itself the gift of God, 272; eternal, not to be given for temporal, 462, 474; good here, eternal hereafter, worth patience, 528. Light, real and pretended, 348; strong, not born at once, 361; beauty of, a standing miracle, 364; coeval offspring of fire, 371. Lips, have spoken if the heart has consented, 338. Literal sense, the usual one of the Epistles, 504. Liturgy, quoted, 449. Living after man, is living after the flesh, 383. Lot, entertained Angels, 463; his example discussed, 463, 489, 490; excused by perturbation, 490; knew not his guests to be Angels, 497. 1229
Doctrinal and Moral Treatises
Love, greater than faith and hope, 274; is the end of all the commandments, 275; action of, 286sq.; “perfect, casteth out fear,” 330; act of, invisible, 338; only way to attain the highest good, 363; submits without hope of temporal rewards, 373; of husband for wife, Apostolical argument for, 388; fears to displease God, 431; owed to God by virgins, 433; of Christ, on the part of virgins, 437; the remedy for pride, 437; of neighbor as self, 462; misdirected, makes false estimates, 474; rectitude of, the soul’s chastity, 475, 476; of God, is His gift, 532; the ground of patience, 532, 534; kindled by The Holy Spirit, 532; of creature: already in creature loving, 534; of God, not in creature unless given, 534. Lucan, quoted, 239, 541. Lucretius, error of, about the soul, 352. Lucus quod non luceat, 491. Lust, what is chiefly so called, 380, 381; our enemy, to be resisted, 381; its resistance the business of man, 382; proved to be of the soul as much as of the body, 391; how put down, 393; sexual, its sinfulness, 401; definition of, 463. Maccabees, book of, referred to, 540. Madmen, strength of, not healthy, 448. Magic arts, 391; in bringing up Samuel, 548. Male and female, contrasted, 407. Malefici, 500. Man, knowledge concerning, a part of wisdom, 306; nature of, assumed by God, 363; image of God in, 369; begins in imperfection, 372; living after, what, 383. Manhood, assumed by The Son, 329; perfect in Christ, 249. Manichees, object to believing on authority, 348; their pretence of reasons and learned discussions, 348; refute rather than prove, 348; their contemptuous phrases: attack the Old Testament, 349; think Scripture interpolated, and how, 350; of what error they accuse the Church, 353; worship the sun, 353; boasted of Faustus, 356; inquire origin of evil, 365; charges of, against Scripture: of bloodless bodies, but coarse minds, 365, 366; their heresy, 385, 386, 388, 389; refuted: dismissed, 388, 390; their saying, 410; their heretical opinion, 413; said the law was not of God, 509. Manichæans, place claimed for among the Apostles, 350. Mankind, how they might have multiplied had Adam not sinned, 399, 400. Mansions, many in heaven, 426. Marriage, fools should consult the wise about 361; many have learned to despise, 364; its end, 391; not regarded as unholy by the Fathers, 398; a lower state than virginity: first bond of society: that of our first parents, holy, 399; Christ went to one, 400; how a good, 400, 402, 412; intended as well for fellowship, 400; of aged persons, 400; continence in, 1230
Doctrinal and Moral Treatises
praise-worthy, 400; brings good out of evil: its uses, 400, 401402; its grave joy, 400; how far certain compacts deserve the name of, 401; its abuse, not the sin of marriage, 401; Sacramental, 402, 406, 408; the lesser of two goods, 403, 411, 422, 423; of the just, better than the virginity of the impious, 403; not evil, but good, 402, 403, 409; in what sense it is “better” not to marry, 403, 407; was once a duty: St. Paul’s view of, 404; not sinful, 404, 408; to be not sinful must be without excess, 404; holy, though the partner is unholy, 405; that looks only to pleasing God, rare, 405; how piously contracted by the old Fathers, 406, 407, 408, 413; cannot be dissolved, except by death, 402, 411, 412; of many wives, allowable once, 406; compared to the taking of food, 407; was once contracted with spiritual desire, 407; hard, to use it like Abraham, 413; compared to ordination, 411; goods of, three, 413; of the old Fathers, holier than virginity now, 413; summary of St. Augustin’s book on, 417; how that of the old Fathers must be regarded, 422, 423; not even indirectly condemned by St. Paul, 422423, 424; its fruits thirty-fold only, 434; of (professed) widows wrong but valid, 441; ends with the life of either party, 442; good of, shown, in that the bodies of married Christians are members of Christ, 442; due of, not to be withheld for fear of temptation, 442; the chastity in, God’s gift, 442, 450; evil of excess in, not of marriage, but venial through it, 442; ends of: that of Sacrament: second, allowable, 443; second attacked by Montanists, etc., 443; body as well as spirit, holy in, 443, 444; more desirable in Old Covenant, 444; of Patriarchs, was for offspring, 444; provides against temptation, 445; not needed when we may have spiritual children, 445, 453; better than unstable purpose of widowhood, 441; still good under the Gospel, 446; desire of, wrong after vows, 446; argument from “marriage to Christ” refuted, 446; third or fourth, lawful, though less worthy, 446; seventh, allowed by our Lord to be marriage, 447; hard questions about, 448, 449; ranks below continence: holiness of, inferior by reason of cares, 451; less needful since the world is perishing, 452. Married, faithful women are mothers of Christ, 419; fruitfulness may not vie with virgin chastity, 419, 420; persons may follow the Lamb, 427, 436; persons in one respect cannot follow the Lamb, 427; may be fitter than virgins for Martyrdom, 434. Martha and Mary, 403. Martyr, supposed terms put to a, 464; no place for, if doctrine may be denied, 482; makes real gain, 497. Martyrs, effect of their sufferings on mankind, 464; not prayed for at the Altar, 489; patience of, in scorn and pain, 529; true, do not kill themselves, 530; who suffer out of the Church, 535; memorials of, 542, 549, 550; prayers to, 542; care for others, the living, 542, 544 sq.; ashes and bodies dispersed, of Gaul, and elsewhere, 542, 544; overcame natural regard for the fate of their bodies, 544; removed from knowledge of earthly things, 549; tormenting demons, 550. 1231
Doctrinal and Moral Treatises
Martyrdom, often a hidden gift: common among Christians, 364; higher than virginity, 435. Mary (see Virgin), the Blessed Virgin of the Jewish race, 339; Virgin after Christ’s birth, 339, 511; Christ born of, 371; suspected: conceived Christ in chastity, 486; holy virgins become like, 449. Mary and Martha, 403, 413, 423. Master, opposed to “schoolmaster,” 351; of grammar, 353; one, to many slaves, 408; power of, over slaves, 490. Mechanics, became Monks, 516. Mediator, a, needed by fallen men, 248, 253, 257; must be God in order to redeem us, 272. Medicine, taking, implies hope of recovery, 361. Meditation, in the Law of God, 452; consistent with work, 514. Members of sin, how mortified, 392; all members, though differing in honor, 444. Memorials of Martyrs, 539542; prayers offered there, obtain special blessings, 539, 540, 542; buried, 550. Men, fallen, God’s judgments on, 246; restored through the mercy of God, 246; the restored part succeeds to the place lost by the rebellious angels, 247; not saved by good works, but by grace through faith, 247; needed a mediator, 248; all born of Adam are under condemnation, 246, 254; Christians truly so, 523; figure the ruling principle of the mind, 524. Mercy of God, free and abounding, 264, 268, 271; how far an excuse for wrong actions, 496. Metaphor, is no lie, 491. Midwives, believed, as to parents, 360; Hebrew, quoted for lying, 460, 495; were not prophesying, 460, 496; temporarily rewarded, 460; excused as beginners, 470, 495. Mind, things in, perceived without sight, 337; of others, not directly perceived, etc., 337sq.; prepared for truth by believing, 358, 362; of the wise brought in contact with God, 363; sovereign power of, disgraced by body’s sin, 487; parts of the, how figured, 524; patience a virtue of, 529; wounds of, 529; incomprehensible to itself, 569. Miracle, spread of the Gospel a, 340. Miracles, meant to produce faith, 363; what are, 364; better than reasons to impress fools, 363; point out authority, 364; some more gracious, some more wonderful: why less frequent, and note, 364; witness of, against heretics, 365. Mistrust of self, our security, 383. Monachism, a holy purpose, 521. Monasteries, introduction of, into Carthage, 503; good, practise manual labor, 516; indifferent to which one’s property has been given, 519; time divided for labor and devotion and study, 521. Monastery, some may labor, others instruct, 514; owes a maintenance to those who have surrendered their property to it, 519; division of works in, 519. 1232
Doctrinal and Moral Treatises
Monica, St., failed not to visit St. Augustin every night, 547. Monks, not laboring for their own support, 503; the work of, occasion of writing, 504; honest trades for men; a holy society, 511; laziness of, a trap, 515; cause scandals, 516; to avoid giving offense, to labor and be obedient, 514; ecclesiastical occupations and teaching of, 514, 515; life holy and praiseworthy, 514; their many religious offices, 515; who have been delicately brought up, to be borne with, 516; not Evangelists nor Priests: supporters of the Monastery, 519; persons admitted without signs of amendment, 516; a heavy sin not to admit as, slaves, peasants, mechanics: some became exemplars, 516; kept stores of provisions, 517; might have dressed provisions, 517, 518; who have been rich not compelledto bodily labor, 519; none to be idle: disentangled from secular affairs, 520, 521; trusting for support in labor if able, without, if unable: called servants of God, 521; poor of Christ, 519; objects of the Bishop’s care, 521; hypocritical and vagrant, pretended ones, 521; a device of Satan to discredit that life by scandal, 521; accused of wishing to be maintained in idleness: of hawking: costuming: lying stories: begging, 521; wearing long hair, 522; life preferred to Bishop’s, 521; good ones accused and unsettled by the idle, 522; idle ones regarded as more holy, 523. Monstrous births, and the resurrection, 265. Montanists, attacked second marriages, 443. Moral government of the world, 385. Mortification of the members, what? 392. Moses, veil of, 523; appeared after death, 548. Mothers, of Christ, who? 418, 419. Mouth of the heart as well as the body, 380, 381; not to be always literally taken in Scripture, 380; of the heart, 471, 472; confession with the mouth required, 486. Multitude, testimony of followed in common life, 355; must be led by steps to religion, 358: is believed regarding Christ, 362; gathered by Him in the way of faith, 363; led by faith to approve many good things, 364, 365; witness of, against heretics, 365. Mysteries, holy, words used in celebrating, 449. Mystery, defense of, not popular, 349; to be borne with, 534. Nabal, David right in sparing, 490. Naboth, charge against, 491. Name, eternal, promised to the eunuchs, 425. Narration, to be employed in catechising, 285sq., 289. Nations blessed in Christ, 339; come to God, by believing, 341. Nativity, Eternal, of the Son, 371; of Christ in time, 374.
1233
Doctrinal and Moral Treatises
Nature, the Christian knows little of, except that the goodness of the Creator is the cause of all things, 239; knowledge of the causes of, unessential to happiness, 242; wonders of, familiar, 364; all, is good, 386; lust is a disease of, 386. Nazarites, long hair a figure of the veil of the Law, 523. Neighbor, even an alien is, 487. Net, of the Gospel, takes bad and good, 343. Novations, against second marriages, 443. Nuns, holy, deceased, 434. Nurses, believed as to parents, 360. Obedience, the Christian’s work, 372; above continence, 411; implies chastity, 412; unmurmuring, duty of Monks, 514. Old persons, why they marry, 400. Olibrius, husband of Juliana, 452. Omnipotence of God, 322. Opinatio, 360. Opinion, distinguished from knowledge and belief, 359; different from belief, 458. Ordination, to be withheld from a husband who had a second wife, 408; a sacrament, 412. Original sin, remitted by Baptism, 386. Pagans, soldiers: poets: yet in their sins, 375; idolatrous heathen so called, 509, 511; opinions of burial, 540; philosophers, 540. Paint, not to be used by women, 451. Parables, are no lies, 494. Paradise, man deceived in, 372; Adam careless in, 530; how man forfeited, 531; vision of, also baptism necessary for admission to, 546. Parcae quad non parcant, 491. Pardon, granted implies sin, 404; to what granted by St. Paul, 404. Pardon of sin conditioned by penitence, and has reference chiefly to the Judgment, 258; not given to those who forgive not others, 261. Parents, not to be recognized when they hinder our ministry, 325; known by testimony, 339; known to children by faith: yet love due to, 360. Parricide, Cataline, of his country, 528; why worst homicide, 530. Passion, foretold by same writers as things now seen fulfilled, 341; in Jewish Scriptures, 342. Passions, how attributed to God, 527. Patience, of Christ, 372; of Job, 372; is not to be for temporal hopes, 372, 373; differs from endurance, 391; a great gift of God, 527; attributed to God: in what sense, 527; of God, without passion, 527, 528; in man, what, 527, 528; waits for good, 527, 529; compared 1234
Doctrinal and Moral Treatises
with worldly endurance, 528, 531; for ill ends is no patience, 528; truth of, is in the cause, 528; not like science: both in mind and body, 529; shown without bodily pain: of our Lord toward Judas, 529; greatest against Satan’s assaults, 530; is God’s gift, 531; being from love of God, is from grace, 532; likens to God, 532; her words by St. Paul, 535; is it God’s gift? 535, 536. Patriarchs, had several wives for offspring, 444; marriages of, attacked by Faustus, 448; fed cattle, 511; ignorant of what befell the Jews, 547. Paul, his speaking by permission not of commandment, expounded, 262sq.; once a persecutor, 309; his counsels and commands concerning marriage and virginity, 421; what “he spared,” 422; the Teacher: “vessel of election,” 442. chose the unmarried state as higher good, 442; rightly allows second marriage, 443; cared not for men’s praise, 453; St. Peter corrected by, 461, 462; kept good repute with care, 461; his answer to the high priest, 470; his oaths, 470, 474, 477; right in not “living of the Gospel,” 470; used sympathy, not falsehood, 476; charged by some with a lie, 477; not compelled by want to preach, 509; not using his liberty, 506509, 510; bearing with the weak, 509; condescending, not of craft, 509, 510; becoming all things to all men: “becoming weak,” 509; relieved by distant Churches, 510; declined gifts to avoid suspicion of venal motives, 510, 511; labored in temporal as well as spiritual works, 511; avoiding suspicion of dishonesty, 513; rejoicing in the liberality of believers, 513; had special times for labor and teaching, at Troas: at Athens, 513, 514; could work by day and night, 515; not receiving support was to avoid offense, 515, 517; because his ministry was among the Gentiles, 515; not contrary to his Lord, 518; used means for self-preservation, 520; rapt into Paradise, 548. Paulinus, St., of Nola, inquires about burial: his opinion, 569. Peace, on earth, 257; the prize of continence, 386. Peasants, became Monks, 516, 519. Pelagianism, noted by St. Augustin in his book on widowhood, 441, 449. 450; dangerous approaches to 450. Pelagians, think patience man’s attainment, 531; argument of, for free-will, 531, 532. Penance, done openly in Church: way of remission for the baptized, 375; refusal of, condemned, 473. Penitence, needful for pardon of sins, 258. Penitents, order of, 375. Penny, in the parable, 426. Pentecost, 308. Peoples, and nations, our witnesses to Christ, 362. Perfect, are not even to wish to lie, 472. Perfecting, good and evil, 387. 1235
Doctrinal and Moral Treatises
Perjury, strangely justified by some, 498; none can be allowable, 499; real though not of truth, 499; feared even by the adulterous, 500. Permission, not same as consent, 475. Persecution, flight from, 520, 521. Perseverance, need of grace for, 453, 454. Persian fable of Manichees, 365. Peter, St., his example cited, 410; simulation of, corrected, 461, 493; his denial, 462; justifying him makes St. Paul a liar, 477; denied only with the mouth, yet sinned, 486. Pharisee and Publican, 428. Physician, best judge for the sick, 373; hates sickness, loves the sick, 534. Pity, how attributed to God, 527. Plato, hidden meanings of, in amorous writing, 355. Pleasure, thought chief good by Epicurus, 352; in holy labor, 452; of earthly things a known motive to natural will, 534. Pontius Pilate, named to mark the date, 371. Poor, feeding, for man’s praise not good, 487; of Christ, monks so called, 519; patience of the, 531; long for the inheritance, 535; of Christ to be made rich, 536. Posture, in prayer increases fervor, 542. Powers that be, subjection to the, illustrated, 306. Prayer, the Lord’s, 238, 274; called “The Prayer,” 375; needed against temptation, 449. Prayer, the daily, of the believer makes satisfaction for daily trivial sins, 260; remission of lighter sins by, 375; does more than exhortation, 450; spiritual delight in, 452, 453; helped by alms, 452; of the obedient heard, 514; interrupted for necessary labors, 518; posture at, increases fervency: yet is not necessary to it, 542. Prayer, for the dead, 434; an universal practice, 539; at the Altar, 540; authority for, though not in Scripture: also profit of, 539, 540; do not profit all, 539, 542, 550; for all the faithful departed, 542, 543; for our departed friends, especially, 550. Preaching, the Gospel, reward of, 509; the Gospel for support might offend the weak, 510, 511; for the sake of a maintenance wrong, 519. Predestination, to eternal life is wholly of God’s free grace, 268. Pride, and envying, 428; to be guarded against, 531; ground of false patience, 531. Priesthood, of the Jews become vile, 470. Priscillian, artful praise of, 483; himself detected without lies, 485. Priscillianists, exposed by Consentius, 450; inquiries of Consentius about, 457; thought it lawful to deny doctrines, 481, 486, 492; some of their notions, 484; sin less than Catholics in blaspheming, 484, 485; heresy of, overthrown by Catholic Bishops, 485; anathematize Priscillian in pretence, 485.
1236
Doctrinal and Moral Treatises
Proba Faltonia, mother-in-law of Juliana, and note, 448, 454; grandmother of Demetrias, 451. Property, management of, 361; question of lying to save, 467, 476; giving up of, a pattern to us, 518. Prophecy, evidence of, conclusive, 339, 340; even for Gospel records, 340, 341; of things we see proves things unseen: Passion foretold in, 341, 342. Prophecies, Old Testament, fulfillment of, pointed out, 313. Prophetic meaning of Patriarchs’ care for burial, 541. Prophets, effect of their teaching on multitudes, 364; in time of, women served God by marriage: God’s ancient people a prophet, 444; marriages of, attacked by Faustus, 448; knew only what God thought fit, 548. Providence, not excluding our exertions, 520, 521. Provision, for the morrow, how forbidden, 470; to be made for the future, 518. Psalmody, a spiritual delight, 452; no hindrance to work, 514. Psalms, to be learnt by heart, 514. Publican and Pharisee, 428. Punishment, eternal, 341; for sin inevitable, 385; less for schismatics who suffer for Christ, 535. Punishments, future, eternity of, 273; threatened to correct the foolish, 351. Purgatorial fire, possible, 260. Purification, why ordered under the Law, 409. Quick, the, and the dead, Christ shall judge, expounded, 255, 373. Rahab, not approved for lying, 495; how she might have avoided it, 496. Reading, three kinds of error in, 351, 352; spiritual delight in, 452453; pursued to the neglect of doing what is read, 514. Reality of Christ’s flesh, 389. Reason, Manichees would prove all by, 348, 354; not enough to keep men from sin, 351; why not to be followed before faith, 357; unable to master religion, 360. Refuge, is one seeking, to be saved by a lie? 460, 462, 468. Regeneration, effects of, 275; prayer for, for Catechumens, 375; in Baptism, 386; had we no other birth we should not sin, 500. Relics of martyrs (pretended ones), hawked about, 521. Religion, search after true, 354; search for true, presupposes belief in God, 361. Repentance, true, 264; of God without error, 527. Report, good, duty of keeping, 453.
1237
Doctrinal and Moral Treatises
Resurrection, the, of the body, 264sq.; of the saints, 266; of the lost, 266; derided by some, 313; is certain, 332; of Christ, prophesied, 341. Retreat of monks, for prayer, 517, 518. Revelations, by visions, 546; to Prophets partial, 548. Reward, of Christian soldier, 453; of evangelizing, 509. Rhadamanthus, fable of, 352. Rhetoric, learned from the few whom the many acknowledge, 354. Rhyming terminations, 527. Rich, the, humbled before the Church, 340; healed of pride, in becoming poor, 518; men, become monks, 519. Riches, desire of, condemned in widows, 452; what men will suffer to gain, 528; of God, 531. Right Hand of God, what meant by, 327, 373. Rising with Christ, what, 392. Robbers, lying in wait, 458, 459. Rome, the usage of, in respect of divorce, 402; love of the commonwealth, 519. Root-virtue, continence, 412. Ruffinus, translated Eusebius’ Ecel. Hist., 543. Rule of Faith, the Creed, 369sq. Ruth, blessed, though Anna more so, 443; continent widows may not set themselves above: married again to be an ancestor of Christ, 444. Sacraments, of New Law, supersede the old, 461; truth intimated in, 475. Sacrifice, for sin, called sin, 495. Sacrifices, legal, not for Christians,. 351. Sadducees, our Lord’s answer to, 447. Saints, the, resurrection of, 266; shall know at the resurrection the benefits they have received by grace, 267; Church daily renewed in the, 340; general effect of their examples, 364; in heaven cannot sin, 385, 387; differ in merits: in glory: and joy, 426; number of the, to be completed, 453; of Old Testament saved by grace through faith, 533. 534; intercession of: prayers to, 549; prayers to: patrons, 539, 542sq.; memorial chapels. of, 539, 542. Sallust, referred to, 528. Samuel, apparition to Saul, opinions on, 548. Sanctity, treated of, 437; higher, sought in separation from the world, 514. Sarah, her example cited, 411; an example to wives, 444; denied her laughing, 460; truly called Abraham’s sister, 491.
1238
Doctrinal and Moral Treatises
Satan, as an angel of light, 257; tempted Job, as Adam, by woman, 372, 530; brought low, after his pride, 522; tempts. through or without instruments, 530; hurt not Job, but by God’s power, 530; fell by his own will, 534; exorcised from children, 569. Saul (King), those who buried him praised, 544; seeing Samuel, 548. Schism, a breach of charity, 535. School, tempting discussions in, 348. Schoolmaster, the Law a, 351. Scipio Africanus, his daughter portioned by the state, 519. Scripture Holy, creed scattered about in, 347; statements all true, 422, 423; forbids being overwise, 442; wrested, 508; to. be learnt by memory, 514; cannot deceive, 534. Scriptures, copies of, in hands of Jews, 342; of the Old Testament often figurative, 460; why contain examples as well as precepts, 470; forbid every lie, 476; no mincing of, 477; knowledge of, praised, 481; true interpretation of, to be urged, 492; three methods to be used with, 493; of Old Testament attacked by Manichees, 349, 350; why hard to defend, 349; fourfold sense of, 349; partial use of, 351; how to deal with, 351, 353; three suppositions about, 352; Church’s belief about, 353; falsely charged with absurdity, 355; believed on Church’s testimony, 362. Secular judgments imposed on Bishops by Apostolical injunction, 521. Sedes, dwellings called, 373. Senators, became Monks, 519. Septivira, 447. Sermon on the mount, 428. Sickness of the soul, what, 386. Signacula; 475. Signs; intelligible, 283; employed at the formal admission of a catechumen, 312; not known, without the thing, 361. Similes, easy weapons to find, 348. Simon, his example cited, 433. Sin and Sins, results of Adams, 246; often put one for the other, 252; of progenitors, 253; guilt of the first, can be washed away only in the blood of Christ, 253; pardon of, extends over the whole mortal life of the saints, 258; trivial, 260, 263; relative magnitude of sins, 262sq.; two causes of, ignorance and weakness, 264; remission of, 331; impossible to God: original in children, 347; law made to restrain fools from, 351; every action not rightly done is, 360; forgiveness of, in Baptism, 375; none too heinous: some are venial, some remitted by prayers, some, by penance, 374; Catechumens still under, 375; remitted to the faithful in Baptism, 386; spiritual men not exempt from, 390; venial and deadly, 402, 403; none are free from, 439; confession of, 447; not to be committed to save life, 462sq.; confession of, required, 473; wrongly estimated by carnal men, 474; of others, 1239
Doctrinal and Moral Treatises
not to be prevented by our own, 476, 486; not to be done to detect sin, 481; against conscience, 484; not justified by motive, 488; yet made less, 488, 496; venial not allowed, 489; alternatives of, 489, 491; of ignorance or infirmity, 490, 496, 510; forgiven for subsequent good works, 496; comes of our earthly birth: is the sting of death. 500. Singing at work, 514. Sinner, to protect a, is not to aid sin, 468; not to be despaired of, 468. Sitting, at the right hand of God, what? 523. Sixtyfold fruits of widowed life, 434. Slaves, many, but one master, 408; freed to become Monks, 516; trusted by masters, 358. Sleep, abstinence from, 528. Society, founded on faith, 339. Sodom, justified in comparison of Israel, 461; Lot’s conduct in, 463, 467. 468; men of, smitten with blindness, 497. Soldiers of Christ, mark of, not repeated after desertion, 375; Monks so called, 521. Solomon, commanded to build God a temple, 374. Son, The, anointed by the Father, 339; said to suffer because His humanity suffered: of God is God: of man is man: of God is Almighty: why Only Son, 370; doth what He will: One God with the Father, 370; of God suffered and died: begotten before all times, 371. Song of the Three Holy Children, 438. Soul, made to know truth, 356; may be defiled, 380; meaning of, in Scripture, 383; purity of, more than that of the body, 463, 475, 476; Priscillianists in error about, 484. Souls pure, God dwells in, 353; of the faithful departed, at rest, 541, 543; obtain the resurrection of the body, 542; rest of, not affected by the condition of the body, 540–543; nor by the events of the world, 547, 548; some free from all suffering, 547. Speech, inward, heard by God, 471. Spirit Holy, signified by finger of God, 305; the Apostles filled with, 342; continence the gift of God’s, 354; signified by men’s actions, 460; God, as dwelling in Temple, 350; consubstantial and coequal: called “Love,” 374; heareth all things, 471; the fire of Divine Love, 532; hence the source of patience, 532, 534. Spiritual, desire of the old Fathers, 407, 408, 413. Spy, supposed practice of, 483. Steward of the Church must have one wife, 408. Stewards, trusted though slaves, 358. Stoics, wrong in making all sins equal, 495. Studiousness, matter of praise, 356, 357. Subtance, none but what God begot or created, 365. Succession, Apostolic, 365. Suffering, for faith and humanity, praiseworthy, 469. 1240
Doctrinal and Moral Treatises
Sufferings, endured for worldly objects, 528. Suicide, threat of, may not move us to sin, 462sq.; false claim of martyrdom by, 531. Supererogation, 427. Susanna and Anna, 403, 413, 423. Swearing, instances of, in New Testament, 470; all “cometh of evil,” 474; rash, of David, 490; false, excused by some, 498. Talking, lust of, leads to lying, 466, 467. Tamar, falsehood of, not to be imitated, 495. Tares, borne with till the harvest, 529. Teaching, all implies some faith, 354; multitude may show where to find, 355, 362; Catholic, origin of, 356; ordinary way of, uses belief, 359; all requires a master, 365. Tediousness, in catechising causes and remedies of, 293sq. Temple, Christian heart a, 374. Temptation, counsel against, from the aged, 451; hope of gratification a, 452. Tempting God by not avoiding danger, 508. Terentianus Maurus, not to be read without expositors, 355. Tertullian, unwisely attacks second marriage, 443. Testament, Old, food for infant souls, 349; agrees with New, 349. passages that seem to condemn it, 351; veil of removed, 351; what the charge against, 353; St. Augustin’s belief about, 353; St. Ambrose’s exposition of, 356; charges brought against, 365; two, signified by Abraham’s sons, 470. Testimony, parents known by, 339; of the multitude how useful, 354, 355. Theatre, applause of, courted by poets, 355. Thecla, mentioned, 434. Theft, from rich not lawful, 467; is “from the mouth” of the heart, 472; some think too much of, as compared with sins of luxury, 474; though to feed the poor, 488; is less sin than lewdness: one worse than another, 488, 489. Thigh, signification of putting the hand under, 409. Thirtyfold fruit of marriage, 434. Thought, sins of, 379, 380; goes before works, 381; of intention, 380; cannot go unpunished, 385; a mystery, 385. Time, shifting course of, 452. Times, change of, 349. Timothy, St., his example cited, 409; circumcised by St. Paul, 461. Titus, St., not circumcised, and why, 461. Tobias, commended for burying the dead, 541. Tongue, the, 487; not to be yielded to sin, 488. 1241
Doctrinal and Moral Treatises
Torture, to obtain testimony, 468, 528; question of lying, to escape, 468; to be borne with love, 470. Trades, honest, practised by St. Paul, 511; manual, suitable to preachers, 512. Travel, in search of instruction: to Holy Land, 355. Tribulation, attends marriage, 422, 424. Trinity, Holy, the, doctrine of, 327sq., 374. Truth, St. Augustin’s early love of, 347; belief prepares for beholding, 348, 349; search after, 354sq.; lovers of, believe authority: why, made hard to discover, 361; God is, 363; state of mind needful for seeking, 365; of every statement in Scripture, 422; may be spoken in order to deceive, 459; comprises every eternal good, 463; eternal, distinguished from ordinary, 467, 474, 475; notion of keeping “in the heart,” 471, 486; love of, allows not false witness, 473; may be preferred to everything external, 475, 498; not to be wronged in defending it, 481; every lie contrary to, 483; to be kept with those without: some to be concealed from aliens, 487; nothing against it “just,” 495; defended by examples of chastity, 499, 500. Type, woman, of what 425; application of the Three Holy Children, 438. Typical, meaning of many wives, 408; view of impurity, 409. Uncircumcision, not to be feigned, 509. Understanding, distinguished from belief and opinion: is by reason, 359; now known by multitudes to be the way of knowing God, 364; quick, God’s gift, 370; faith goes before, 370. Unions, three spoken of by the Apostle, 388. Unity, in Godhead illustrated by that of souls united: but imperfectly, 370. Unmarried, may mean widows, 442; persons, “think of things of the Lord,” 443; should give Christ what they reserve from a consort, 451; exhorted to forbear marriage, 453. Unwilling continence estimated, 429. Veil, of Scripture, done away in Christ, 351; of Moses, of the Nazarite, 523. Veils, men not to wear: why, 524. Vengeance, less kingly than forbearance, 529. Ventilare, 351. Vice, can use the instruments of virtue, 528. Vine, the Church in its likeness to Christ compared to, 309. Violence, not consented to, corrupts not, 463, 490; lying to escape, wrong, 463; not to be evaded by sin, 464. Virgil, quoted, 239, 242, 352, 355, 540.
1242
Doctrinal and Moral Treatises
Virgin, (see Mary,) God most fitly born of a, 339; the Blessed, 403; the blessed, a type and pattern, 417; what was her highest blessedness, 418, 419; had vowed virginity, 418; was born of Christ: how both a Mother and a Virgin, 418. Virginal chastity above marriage, 422. Virginity, preferred to marriage, 397, 411, 422; is angelic, 403, 420; the greater of two goods, 411; to be guarded by humility, 413; that of the blessed Virgin, 418; a good, for the sake of the future life, 420, 421, 423, 424; its joys in heaven, 426; the gift of God, 432; its fruits hundredfold, 434; inferior to martyrdom, 435; preferred by St. Paul to conjugal faith, 442; goodness of, makes not marriage evil, 442; of children, a compensation to parents, 445, 448; forsaking, after profession is sinful, 445; of the Church, 446. Virgins, brought to Christ everywhere, 340; all holy ones are Mothers of Christ, 418; rich, how they may give birth to members of Christ, 419; distinguished from sacred Virgins, 420; no “command” concerning, 421; have peculiar joys in heaven, 426; follow the Lamb, 427; need humility, 428; their grounds for loving God, 432; may be less fit than married women for martyrdom, 434, 435; encouragement to, 437; should love the fairness of Christ, 437; distinguished from the “unmarried,” 442; before widows in the kingdom, 451; special song of, 451. Virtue, what patience is a, 527; instruments of, not to be yielded to, 528. Virtues of the soul may exist unseen in habit, 409, 410. Visible and invisible creation, 369. Visions, of the unseen world, 546. Vows, freely made, makes what was lawful unlawful. 443; wrong to desire to revoke, 445; marriage after, is not adultery, 446; but yet is worse, 446; of continence recommended, 450; a protection, 452; marriage to Christ by, 446; more laudable because not required, 446. Vows of continence, 427. Warfare, of the Christian life, 382, 387. Washing, once for all in Baptism: daily, in prayer, 375. Watchings, use of, 452. Water, changed into wine, 363. Whirling, about false doctrine, 523. Wicked, the death of, eternal in the same sense as the life of the Saints, 273. Widowed, chastity, above marriage, 423. Widowed, continence, its rank, 434. Widowhood, forsaking, after profession is a sin, 445; this is not adultery, but worse, 446; long and early, greater test of continence, 447; prayer and fasting make better, 448; hard questions about, 448. 1243
Doctrinal and Moral Treatises
Widows, their continence, 434; Fourth Council forbade (professed widows) to marry again, 441; may be called unmarried: better among the members of Christ than married women, 442; may marry again, as Ruth, 443; more blessed if not, as Anna, 443, 447; not therefore better than Ruth herself, 444; do better in not marrying now that Christ is come, 444; having family, have no good reason to marry, 445; what they should do according to their ability, 445; merits of, in different cases compared, 447; luxurious living of, condemned, 452; humility an ornament to, 448; alms help their prayers, 452; to draw others to like profession, 453. Wife (see Husband), why created out of husband, 399; many allowed once, why, 407, 408; only one belongs to a steward of the Church, 408; and woman, Greek word ambiguous, 506. Will (see Freedom of), of God, invariable, 369; true submission of, to God, 373; of man, admonished and healed by grace, 449; free, made too much of, by some, 450; if man works on, much more God helps, 450; God not lost but by, 530; free, of man, gets not patience by itself, 531; why it produces hardness, yet not true patience, 531, 532; evil, made frantic by devilish incitements: the devil became devil by his own, 534; has not love of God, but by His gift, 534. Wills, forgery of, 488. Wisdom, man’s true, is the fear of God, 237; to be found in true religion, 354; implies knowledge concerning God and man, 360; he who has not, knows not, 361; prayer to God for, 363; is God’s gift, 433, 450; patience handmaid of, 528; true and false, true from God, 531. Wise, who are, 360; how are fools to find them, 361; are brought near to God, 363. Witchcraft, not to be detected by witchcraft; 500. Witness, false forbidden, 460, 467, 469; question if lawful to save life, 464; about God or Christ, 464, 467; definition of, 467, 468; incompatible with love of truth, 473; false, might seem expedient at times, 488. Wolves, in sheep’s clothing, 485; sheep not to wear theirs, 486. Woman, insult offered to the sun by a, 353. Women, now, compared to the holy women of old, 406, 412; accompanied and supported the Apostles: and our Lord, 506; figure the concupiscential part of the mind, 524. Words, use of Greek, 349; are the beginning of works, 400; are deeds, 487. Work, evil, not made good by motive, 488; to refuse, as wrong an error, 415. Working, understood of laboring in spiritual things enjoined by the Apostle, 503. Works, are preceded by thoughts, 380, 381; and Faith, 392; good, a better portion than children, 451, 452; precede not election, 533, 534. World, spirit of this, puffs up, 449; cares of, lower married holiness, 451; passing away, a reason against marrying, 452; waits for the number of Saints, 453; trials of, require 1244
Doctrinal and Moral Treatises
patience, 529; love of, produces worldly endurance, 532, 534; lust comes of, but also of man’s will, 532sq. Wounds of Christ, 437. Wrath, in God no passion, 527. Writers, three was to err in using, 351; sense of, often hard to see clearly, 352. Zaccheus and Goliath compared, 411, 430.
1245
Indexes
Indexes
Index of Scripture References
Index of Scripture References Genesis 1 1:1 1:1 1:4-5 1:20-25 1:24 1:26 1:26 1:26 1:26 1:26 1:26-27 1:27 1:27 1:27 1:27 1:27 1:27 1:27-28 1:28 1:31 1:31 2:1-3 2:17 2:20-22 2:21-22 2:22 2:22 2:24 2:24 3 3:1 3:1-6 3:4 3:5 3:5 3:7 3:8-10 3:14-19 3:21 4:14 6:3 6:7 6:7 6:22 7:22 12:1 12:1 12:7 16:7 17:1 17:4 18 18:1 18:1-2 18:4 18:15 18:20 18:33 18:33 19:1 19:1-19 19:2 19:5-11 19:8 19:8 19:17-21 19:18-20 19:21-22 19:24 20:2 20:12 21:10 21:12 21:12 22 22:6 22:12 22:12 22:18 22:18 23 24:2-4 25:5-6 25:26 25:26 26:7 27:16-19 27:19 28:18 28:18 28:18 30:37-41 30:41 32:24-25 37:33 38:14-18 42 46:27 46:27 Exodus 1:17-20 1:19-20 2:15 3:1-6 3:2 3:2 3:6 3:14 3:14 3:14 3:14 3:14 3:21-22 4:3 4:4 7 7:10 7:12 7:12 9:16 12 12 13:21-22 16:10-12 17:8-16 19:6 19:16 19:18-19 20:5 20:5 20:12 20:13 20:13 20:14 20:15-16 20:16 20:16 20:18 20:21 21:18 24:10 24:17 32:4 32:31 33:11-23 33:19 33:19 34:28 34:33 Leviticus 11:20 19:18 Numbers 6:5 11:17 17:8 19:11 21:7 21:9 Deuteronomy 5:9 6:4 6:4 6:4 6:5 6:5 6:5 6:13 6:13 10:22 23:24-25 24:1 25:5 25:5-10 25:10 29:5 34:5 Joshua 2 Judges 9:8-15 1 Samuel 21:13 25:22-35 28:11-19 2 Samuel 2:5 7:3 16:5-12 1 Kings 2:38 11:13 11:30-31 13:21-22 18:45 21:10 21:13 2 Kings 10:31 22:18-20 Job 1 1:8 1:21 1:21 2 2:5 2:9 2:10 2:10 7:1 7:1 7:1 14:1 25:4 28:28 28:28 28:28 28:28 28:28
Index of Scripture References Psalms 1:1 1:2 1:2 2:7 2:7 2:7-8 2:7-8 2:11 3:8 3:8 4:8 5:5 5:5 5:5 5:5-6 5:6 5:6 5:6 5:6-7 5:6-7 5:12 6:7 6:7 7:14 8:4 8:5 8:8 9:17 9:18 9:18 10:3 10:3 10:3 10:3 11:5 11:5 11:6 14:1 14:1 14:2 14:6 15:1 15:2 15:2 15:2 15:2 15:3 16 16:2 16:11 17:2 17:8 18:29 18:44 19:1 19:3-4 19:3-4 19:4 19:5 19:7 19:9 20:8 22:1 22:1 22:16-18 22:27 22:27-28 23:6 25:15 25:18 26 27:1 27:4 27:4 27:4 27:9 27:10 30:6-7 31:19 31:20 31:21 31:22 31:22 32:4-5 32:8 34:1 34:5 34:14 35:19 36:3 36:9 36:9 36:11 37:23 38:9 38:10 38:10 39:3 39:3 39:5 39:6 39:7 41:4 41:6-8 41:9-10 43:1 45 45:1 45:2 45:2 45:2 45:5 45:6-17 45:7 46:8 48:1 49:12 50:15 51:5 51:5 51:10 51:17 51:17 54:1 55:5 56:7 57:6 59:9 59:9 59:10 59:10 59:10 59:11 59:17 62:5 62:5 65:2 65:13 66:4 68:9 68:18 68:18 69:4 69:21-23 69:32 71:4-5 71:5 71:5 72:18 73:1 73:23 75:7 77:9 77:9 78 79:2-3 79:11 80:1 81:8 81:10 82:6 82:6 84:2 84:4 85:11 85:12 86:10 88:5 90 90:1 90:9 91:9 91:16 94:8-9 94:11 94:12-15 94:19 96:1 96:8 101:1 101:1 102:26-27 102:26-27 102:27 103:2-3 103:3 103:3 103:3 103:5 104:4 104:6 105:3-4 105:4 105:4 105:4 105:4 108:5 110:1 110:3 111:2 112:7 112:8 115:3 115:3 116:11 116:12 116:15 116:15 118:22 119:4-6 119:133 119:142 120 122:3 123:4 126:1 127:1 138:3 138:6 139:6 139:6 139:7 139:7 139:8 139:8 141:3 141:3-4 141:3-4 141:4 141:5 143:2 143:2 146:8 148:2 148:5 148:8 148:8 Proverbs 3:11-12 8:22 8:22 8:25 8:30 9:8 10:19 16:1 16:1 19:21 19:21 20:9 29:27 29:27 29:27 30:15 Ecclesiastes 1:18 3:5 3:5 3:21 Song of Solomon 1:3 1:3-4 1:11 1:12 2:2 Isaiah 2:3 5:7 5:18 5:20 5:20 6:10 7:9 7:9 7:9 7:14 7:14 9:6 9:6 11:2 26:10 26:18 28:11 28:16 40:6 40:8 48:16 53:2 53:7 53:8 55:6-7 56:4-5 56:4-5 56:5 61:1 63:16 63:16 66:1-2 66:2 66:2 Jeremiah 16:19 16:19-20 17:5 17:5 17:5 23:24 25:12 25:12 25:18 29:4-7 31:1-2 Ezekiel 18:2 18:4 34 36:26 37:1-10 Daniel 2:47 7:9-14 9:21 Hosea 4:8 6:6 1248
Index of Scripture References Joel 2:32 Jonah 3 Habakkuk 2:4 2:4 Zephaniah 2:11 Zechariah 1:9 9:17 12:10 12:10 13:7-13 Malachi 1:2-3 Matthew 1:17 1:17 1:18 1:20 1:20 1:23 2:12 2:20 3:3 3:11 3:13-15 3:16 3:16 3:16 3:16 3:16 3:16 3:16 3:17 3:17 4:1-11 5:3 5:3-10 5:6 5:8 5:8 5:8 5:8 5:8 5:10 5:11-12 5:14 5:22-23 5:27 5:28 5:32 5:34 5:34 5:37 5:37 5:37 5:37 5:37 5:37 5:39 5:40 5:44 5:44 5:44 6:8 6:9 6:9 6:9-10 6:11 6:11-13 6:12 6:12 6:12 6:12 6:12 6:12 6:12 6:12 6:12-13 6:13 6:14-15 6:15 6:19-22 6:24 6:24-25 6:25-34 6:26 6:26 6:26 6:30 6:31 6:34 6:34 6:34 7:7 7:7 7:8 7:12 7:15-16 7:16 7:18 7:21 7:21-22 8:5-10 8:8 8:8-9 8:11 8:19-20 8:22 9:2-4 9:11-13 9:15 10:7-10 10:10 10:16 10:16 10:19-20 10:20 10:21 10:22 10:22 10:23 10:28 10:28 10:28 10:28 10:28 10:28 10:28-30 10:33 10:40-42 11:13 11:18-19 11:19 11:21 11:25-29 11:27 11:27 11:27 11:27 11:27-28 11:28 11:28-29 11:29 11:29 12:1-2 12:3-4 12:28 12:32 12:32 12:33 12:35 12:37 12:39-40 12:40 12:45 12:46-50 12:48 13:8 13:9 13:15 13:30 13:47-50 13:55 14:26 14:31 15:10-20 15:11 15:16-20 15:17-20 15:22-28 15:28 16:18 16:18 16:21-23 17:3 17:5 17:27 18 18:1-3 18:7 19:8 19:8 19:9 19:9 19:10-12 19:11 19:11 19:11-12 19:12 19:12 19:12 19:12 19:12 19:12 19:12 19:17 19:19 19:21 20:9-10 20:21-22 20:22 20:23 21:31 22:13 22:29-30 22:30 22:37 22:37 22:37-40 22:37-40 22:37-40 22:37-40 22:37-40 22:39 22:39 22:40 22:40 22:40 23:3 23:9 23:15 23:26 23:26 23:37 23:37 24:12 24:19 24:31 25:4 25:21 25:23 25:26-27 25:31 25:31-32 25:31-46 25:33 25:34 25:34 25:34 25:34 25:37 25:40 25:41 25:41 25:41 25:46 25:46 26:7-13 26:38-39 26:41 26:49 26:70-74 27:23-50 27:46 Mark 1:11 3:27 13:32 13:32 15:37 15:39 15:42-46 15:43 15:44 17:5 Luke 1:15 1:15 1:17 1:26-32 1:27-28 1:28 1:30 1:34 1:34-35 1:35 1:41 1:80 2:14 2:25-38 2:36-37 2:37 2:52 3:6 3:6 3:21-23 3:22 4:18-19 5:21-22 6:19 6:30 6:45 7:6-7 7:36-47 7:37-38 7:38 7:47 8:1-3 8:8 8:21 8:45 9:3 10:1-7 10:7 10:27 10:27 1249
Index of Scripture References
10:30 10:30-35 10:30-37 10:30-42 10:34 10:35 10:35 10:39 11:20 11:20 11:27-28 11:37-41 11:41 11:41 11:42 11:42 11:42 12:4 12:4 12:17 12:20 12:35 12:35-36 12:36 13:6-17 13:28-30 15:11-32 16:3 16:19-22 16:22 16:24-29 18:10-14 18:11-14 18:13 18:18-19 19:2-8 19:41 20:35-36 20:36 20:36 20:36 20:36 21:18 21:18 21:18 21:19 22:61 23:34 23:34 24:28 24:39 24:39 24:39 24:39 24:44 John 1 1:1 1:1 1:1 1:1 1:1 1:1 1:1 1:1 1:1 1:1 1:1-2 1:1-14 1:2 1:2 1:3 1:3 1:3 1:3 1:3 1:3 1:3 1:3 1:3 1:3 1:3 1:3 1:5 1:5 1:9 1:9 1:9 1:10 1:10 1:10-11 1:12 1:12 1:12-14 1:14 1:14 1:14 1:14 1:14 1:14 1:14 1:14 1:14 1:14 1:14 1:14 1:14 1:14 1:14 1:14 1:14 1:14 1:18 1:18 1:18 1:29 1:29 1:29 1:47 2:2 2:4 2:7-9 2:9 2:9 2:19 2:19-21 2:20 3:2 3:5 3:6 3:6 3:8 3:14-15 3:17 3:21 3:35 3:35 3:36 3:36 4:7-14 4:13 4:24 4:24 4:24 4:24 4:24 4:34 5:2 5:19 5:19 5:19 5:19 5:19 5:21 5:22 5:22 5:22 5:22-29 5:24-25 5:25-26 5:26 5:26 5:26 5:26 5:26 5:27 5:29 5:46 6:38 6:38 6:67 7:16 7:16 7:16 7:16 7:37-39 7:39 8:15 8:23 8:25 8:25 8:25 8:31-32 8:36 8:42 8:44 8:50 9:6-7 10:17-18 10:18 10:30 10:30 10:30 10:30 10:30 10:30 10:30 10:30 10:30 10:30 10:30 10:36 11:34 11:51 12:6 12:6 12:6 12:28 12:28 12:44 12:47 12:47-50 12:48 13:1 13:1-17 13:5 13:16 13:21-24 13:23 14:1 14:1 14:2 14:6 14:6 14:6 14:6 14:6 14:8 14:9 14:9 14:10 14:10-11 14:10-11 14:15-17 14:16-23 14:17 14:21 14:21 14:21 14:21 14:22-23 14:23 14:25-26 14:26 14:26 14:26 14:26 14:28 14:28 14:28 14:28 14:28 14:28 14:30-31 15:2 15:5 15:12-13 15:13 15:13 15:15 15:25 15:26 15:26 15:26 15:26 15:26 15:26 15:26 15:26 15:26 16:6-7 16:7 16:7 16:12 16:12 16:13 16:13 16:13 16:13-15 16:15 16:15 16:22 16:23 16:25-28 16:28 16:28 17:1 17:2 17:3 17:3 17:3 17:3 17:3 17:3-5 17:4 17:5 17:5 17:10 17:11 17:11 17:15 17:19 17:20-22 17:23 18:22-23 19:14 19:23-24 19:26-27 19:30 19:30-34 19:34 19:38-39 19:41 19:41-42 20:17 20:17 20:17 20:17 20:22 20:22 20:22 20:22 20:23 20:28 21:15 Acts 1:11 2 2 2:1-4 2:1-4 2:1-4 2:2 2:2-4 2:2-4 2:3 2:3 2:3-4 2:4 2:4 2:4 2:4 2:32 2:33 2:37 2:37-38 2:39 2:41 2:44 2:44 2:44 2:45 4:12 4:32 4:32 4:32 4:32 5:15 6:7 7:2 7:29-33 7:47-48 7:51-53 8:18-19 8:18-20 8:20 8:20 8:21-22 9:4 9:12 9:25 10:38 10:41 10:44 10:46 11:15-17 11:28-30 11:28-30 11:28-30 12:9 12:9-11 13:2 13:18 13:30 13:33 15:9 15:9 16:1-3 17:17-18 17:21 17:27-28 17:27-28 17:27-28 17:28 17:28 18:1-3 18:4 20:7 20:33-35 21:10-12 23:3 26:16-18 Romans 1:1 1:3 1:3-4 1:9 1:17 1:17 1:17 1:17 1:17 1:18 1:20 1:20 1:20 1:20 1:20 1:20 1:21-22 1:23 1:23 1:25 1:25 1:26-27 1:30 2:4 2:4 2:4 2:5 2:5 2:25 2:25 3:7 3:7-8 3:8 3:19 3:20 3:20 3:20 3:26 4:4 4:5 4:5 4:15 4:17 4:25 5:4-5 5:5 5:5 5:5 5:5 5:5 5:5 5:5 5:5 5:5 5:5 5:5 5:6 5:6-10 5:8 5:8 5:8 5:8-10 5:9 5:10 5:10 1250
Index of Scripture References
5:12 5:12 5:12 5:12 5:16 5:16 5:18 5:20 5:20 5:20 5:20 6:1 6:1-11 6:3-4 6:4 6:5 6:6 6:6 6:9 6:9 6:9 6:9 6:12-13 6:12-13 6:12-14 6:13 6:13 6:13 6:14 6:23 7:7 7:7 7:14 7:17 7:18 7:18 7:18 7:18 7:22-23 7:23 7:24-25 7:25 7:25 8 8:9 8:10 8:10 8:10-11 8:12-14 8:13 8:13 8:14 8:14 8:14 8:14 8:15 8:15 8:15 8:15 8:15 8:15-17 8:17 8:18 8:22 8:23 8:23 8:23-25 8:24-25 8:24-25 8:26 8:28 8:28 8:28-32 8:29 8:30 8:30 8:31 8:31-32 8:31-32 8:32 8:32 8:32 8:34 8:35-39 9:1 9:2 9:5 9:5 9:5 9:7-8 9:12 9:13 9:14 9:15 9:15-16 9:16 9:16 9:16 9:17 9:18 9:18 9:19 9:20-21 9:21 9:22-23 9:23 10:3 10:3 10:3 10:3 10:4 10:9 10:10 10:10 10:10 10:10 10:14 10:17 11:5-6 11:6 11:17-18 11:20 11:20 11:20 11:33-36 11:36 11:36 11:36 11:36 11:36 11:36 11:36 12:1 12:2 12:2 12:2 12:2 12:3 12:3 12:3 12:4-6 12:10 12:12 12:16 12:17 13:1 13:1 13:7 13:8 13:9 13:10 14:9 14:9 14:10 14:23 15:3 15:4 15:19 15:25-27 15:27 16:18 16:19 1 Corinthians 1:13 1:20 1:21 1:24 1:24 1:24 1:24 1:24 1:24 1:24 1:24 1:24 1:25 1:25 1:27-29 1:30 1:30 1:30-31 1:31 1:31 1:31 2:2 2:2-3 2:3 2:6 2:8 2:8 2:9 2:9 2:11 2:12 2:14 2:14 2:14 3:1 3:1-2 3:1-3 3:3 3:5 3:5-10 3:6 3:7 3:7 3:8 3:9 3:11 3:11-15 3:11-15 3:13-15 3:15 3:16 3:16 3:16 3:16-17 3:17 3:19 3:22-23 3:22-23 4:3 4:3 4:5 4:5 4:5 4:7 4:7 4:7 4:7 6:1 6:4-6 6:4-6 6:7 6:9-10 6:10 6:15 6:15 6:15 6:15 6:15 6:16-17 6:17 6:17 6:18 6:19 6:19 6:19 6:19 6:19 6:19-20 6:19-20 6:20 6:20 6:20 7:1 7:4 7:4 7:4 7:5 7:6 7:6 7:6 7:6-7 7:7 7:7 7:7 7:8 7:8 7:8 7:8-9 7:9 7:9 7:9 7:9 7:9 7:10-11 7:10-11 7:10-11 7:14 7:18 7:18-20 7:25 7:25 7:25 7:25-26 7:26 7:26 7:26 7:27 7:28 7:28 7:28 7:28 7:28 7:28 7:28 7:28 7:29 7:29-34 7:32 7:32 7:32 7:32 7:32-34 7:33 7:34 7:34 7:34 7:34 7:34 7:34 7:35 7:36 7:36 7:36 7:37 7:38 7:38 7:38 7:39 7:39-40 7:39-40 7:40 7:40 8:1 8:1 8:1 8:2 8:3 8:5-6 8:6 8:6 9:1-7 9:6-12 9:7 9:7 9:7-10 9:7-15 9:11 9:12 9:12 9:12 9:13-15 9:14-15 9:15 9:16 9:17 9:18 9:19-21 9:20 9:22 9:22 9:22 9:22 9:24 10:1-11 10:1-11 10:4 10:4 10:11 10:11 10:11 10:12 10:13 10:13 10:13 10:13 10:13 10:13 10:32 10:33 11:3 11:3 11:3 11:3 11:3 11:4 11:5 11:7 11:7 11:7 11:7 11:10 11:12 11:14 11:16-17 11:31-32 11:31-32 11:31-32 12:3 12:6 12:6-11 12:7-8 12:7-10 12:8 12:10 12:11 12:11 12:11 12:12 12:13 12:18 12:18 12:24 12:24-26 12:29 12:31 12:31 13:1-3 13:3 13:4 13:4 13:4 13:4-5 13:7 13:7 13:8 13:11 13:12 13:12 13:12 13:12 13:12 13:12 13:12 13:12 13:12 13:12 13:12 13:12 13:12 13:12 13:12 13:12 13:12 13:12 13:12 13:12 13:12 13:12 13:12 13:12 13:12 13:13 13:13 13:13 14:14 14:21 15:15 15:19 15:21-22 15:23 15:24 15:24 15:24-25 15:24-28 15:24-28 15:27 15:28 15:28 15:28 15:28 15:33 15:36-38 15:39-40 15:41 15:41-42 15:41-42 15:43 15:44 15:44 15:44 15:44 15:45 15:47 15:49 15:50 15:50 15:50 15:51 15:52 15:52 15:52 15:52 15:53 15:53 15:53-56 15:54 15:54-55 15:55 15:56 16:1-4 2 Corinthians 1251
Index of Scripture References
1:12 1:19 2:15-16 2:16 3:6 3:14 3:16 3:16 3:17 3:17 3:18 3:18 4:6 4:13 4:16 4:16 4:16 4:16 4:16 4:16 4:16 4:17 4:18 5:5 5:6 5:6-7 5:6-7 5:6-7 5:7 5:7 5:10 5:10 5:13-14 5:20-21 6:2-10 6:7-8 6:10 8:1-21 8:9 8:21 9 9:7 9:7 10:12 10:12 10:17 11:2 11:2 11:2 11:7 11:7-12 11:9 11:9 11:14 11:14 11:33 12:4 12:6 12:9 12:15 13:4 Galatians 1:10 1:20 1:20 2:3-4 2:9 2:12-21 2:13-14 2:14 2:14 2:16 2:20 2:20 2:20 2:20 3:11 3:19 3:24 3:26-28 3:27-28 4:4 4:4 4:4 4:4 4:4 4:4 4:4 4:4 4:4-5 4:4-5 4:5 4:5 4:6 4:9 4:10-11 4:19 4:22-24 4:22-26 4:24 4:25-26 4:26 4:26 4:26 4:26 4:30 5:2 5:4 5:5 5:6 5:6 5:6 5:6 5:6 5:6 5:6 5:6 5:6 5:6 5:13 5:14 5:16 5:16-17 5:16-17 5:16-18 5:17 5:17 5:17 5:19-21 5:19-21 5:22-23 5:24 5:24 6:1 6:1 6:2 6:4 6:6 6:6 6:14 Ephesians 1:4 1:5 1:5 1:10 1:14 1:22-23 2:1-3 2:3 2:3 2:8 2:8-9 2:8-9 2:8-10 2:10 3:7-8 4:3 4:5 4:7-8 4:7-12 4:8 4:8 4:13-14 4:21-24 4:22-25 4:23-24 4:23-24 4:25 4:25 4:25 4:28 4:28 5:1 5:8 5:12 5:14 5:22-28 5:24 5:25-28 5:29 5:29 5:29 5:29 5:29 5:29 5:29 5:29 6:5 Philippians 1:8 1:15-18 1:18 1:23 1:23 1:29 2:3 2:5-11 2:6 2:6 2:6 2:6 2:6 2:6 2:6 2:6 2:6 2:6-7 2:6-7 2:6-7 2:6-7 2:6-7 2:7 2:7 2:7 2:7-8 2:8 2:8 2:8 2:8 2:8 2:8-11 2:9 2:9 2:12 2:12-13 2:13 2:13 2:13 2:16 2:17 2:21 3:3 3:6 3:12-14 3:13-15 3:15 3:15-16 3:20-21 3:21 4:7 4:8-9 4:12 Colossians 1:9 1:13 1:13-14 1:15 1:15 1:16 1:16 1:16 1:17 1:18 1:18 1:18 1:18 1:18 1:19-20 1:24 1:24 2:1-3 2:3 2:3 2:11 2:11 2:15 2:20 3:1-2 3:1-2 3:1-3 3:1-4 3:3-4 3:4 3:5 3:6 3:7 3:8 3:9-10 3:9-10 3:9-10 3:10 3:10 3:10 1 Thessalonians 2:5-7 2:6 2:7 2:7-9 2:9 2:13 4:5 4:17 5:6-8 2 Thessalonians 3:6-12 3:8 3:8 3:8-9 3:10 3:12 3:12-13 3:13 1 Timothy 1:1 1:2 1:5 1:5 1:5 1:5 1:5 1:5 1:5 1:5 1:13 1:13 1:13 1:15 1:17 1:17 1:17 1:20 2:1-2 2:1-4 2:4 2:4 2:4 2:5 2:5 2:5 2:5 2:5 2:5 2:5 2:9-10 2:15 3:2 3:16 4:8 5:5 5:5-6 5:6 5:6 5:6 5:6 5:11-12 5:11-12 5:11-13 5:13 5:14 5:14-15 5:23 5:23 6:10 6:14-16 6:15-16 6:16 6:16 6:16 6:18-19 2 Timothy 2:3-6 2:4 2:4 2:8 2:13 2:19 2:25 2:25 4:1 4:2 Titus 1252
Index of Scripture References
1:6 1:15 1:15 1:15 3:13-14 Hebrews 1:3 1:3 1:5 1:5 1:8 1:9 1:13 1:13-14 2:1-4 2:4 2:9 2:11 5:14 5:14 5:14 7 7:17 10:38 11:1 11:1 12:3 12:7 12:11 13:4 James 1:5 1:5 1:14 1:14 1:15 1:17 1:17 1:17 1:17 1:17 2:14 2:14 2:17 2:19 2:19 3:2 3:15 4:6 4:6 5:11 1 Peter 1:10-11 1:17 1:20 1:24-25 2:21 2:21 2:21 2:22 3:1-7 3:5-7 3:9 5:8 2 Peter 1:4 2:4 2:19 2:19 1 John 1:5 1:5 1:5 1:8 1:8 1:8 1:8-10 2:1-2 2:10 2:15-16 2:16 2:21 2:21 2:21 3:1 3:1 3:2 3:2 3:2 3:2 3:2 3:2 3:2 3:4 3:4 3:9 3:16 3:16 4:6 4:7-8 4:7-19 4:8 4:8 4:8 4:10 4:10 4:10 4:16 4:16 4:16 4:16 4:16 4:16 4:16 4:16 4:16 4:18 4:18 4:19 4:20 5:20 5:20 5:20 Revelation 1:5 1:7 1:8 2:2 5:5 5:6 5:11 14:1-5 14:3-4 14:4 14:4-5 14:5 14:5 21:8 Tobit 2:7 12:12 Wisdom of Solomon 1:6-11 1:7 1:11 1:11 1:11 1:13 2:1 3:9 6:1 6:23 6:24 6:26 7:16 7:24-25 7:25-27 7:27 7:27 7:27 8:1 8:1 8:1 8:1 8:1 8:1 8:1 8:21 8:21 8:21 8:21 9 9:10 9:10 9:14 9:14-17 9:15 9:15 9:15 9:15 9:15 9:15 9:15 9:15 11:17 11:20 11:20 11:20 11:21 12:18 13:1-5 16:24-25 Susanna 1:22 1:23 1:23 Bel and the Dragon 1:41 2 Maccabees 12:43 1 Esdras 2:7 Sirach 1:1 1:5 2:1-5 2:14 3:18 3:18 3:18 3:18 3:22 3:30 7:13 10:12 10:15 15:20 18:7 19:1 19:1 23:20 24:3 24:5 24:5 24:22 27:5 30:24 30:24 37:16 37:20 39:16 40:1 43:29 46:20
1253
Greek Words and Phrases
Index of Greek Words and Phrases ἀλληγοροὐμενα: 738 δόλος: 1037 εὐλόγηκας: 1061 εὐλογήσει: 1061 θεὸς: 200 λόγον φυλασσόμενος υἱὸ·ς ἀπωλείας ἐκτὸς ἔσται δεχόμενος δὲ ἐδέξατο αὐτόν. Μηδὲν ψεῦδος ἀπὸ γλώσσης βασιλέως λεγέσθω, καὶ οὐδὲν ψεῦδος ἀπὸ γλώσσης αὐτοῦ οὐ μὴ ἐξέλθῃ: 1025 μορφῆ: 3333 πνεῦμα: 189 τὶς: 1136 τύποι.: 738 τοῦτο δὲ παραγγελλω ουκ ἐπαινῶν: 1136 ὴν ἀρχὴν ὅ, τι καὶ λαλῶ ὑηῖν: 703 ἀγαθοῦ: 58 ἀχώριστα: 178 ἁρμονία: 135 ἄλλῳ: 1198119811981198119811981198 ἐκένωσε: 33 ἐν μορφῇ θεοῦ),: 33 ἐπιστήμην: 380 ἐψεύσατο ἡ ἀδικία ἑαυτῇ: 1068 ἑτέρῳ: 11981198 ἡ γυνὴ καὶ ἡ παρθένος: 950 ἡνίκα δ᾽ ἄν ἐπιστρέψη: 1136 ὁ Ἰσραὴλ: 1136 ὁ θεόλογος: 13 ὅτι: 739 ὑπάρχων: 33 ὑπόστασις: 185185185 Σίνται: 654 Σωτήρ: 359 Τοῖς ᾽Ιουδαίοις καὶ τοῖς σεβομένοις καὶ ἐν τῇ ἀγορᾷ κατὰ πᾶσαν ἡμέραν πρὸς τοὺς παρατυγχάνοντας: 1113 βίος: 327
Greek Words and Phrases δουλεύειν: 33 εἰς: 408408 εὐσέβεια: 380481 θεὸς: 200 θεότης: 705 θεοῦ: 33 θεοσέβεια: 336380380481 καὶ τοῖς σεβομένοις: 1113 καλῶν ἔργων προΐστασθαι: 1106 κινήσεις κυκλικαὶ: 262 κοινωνεῖν: 48 κτίσις: 692 κτίσμα: 692 λατρεία: 34 λατρεύειν: 33 λατρεύοντες: 34 λατρεύσεις: 33 μὴ θέλε ψεύδεσθαι πᾶν Ψεῦδος: 1021 μίαν οὐσίαν, τρεῖς ὑποστάσεις: 185 μνήμη: 1180 μνημεῖον: 1180 μορφῇ: 33 νεῖκος: 807 νοερόν: 171 ξωή: 327 οἰκονομία: 693 οὐσία: 176185185185 οὐσία and ὑπόστασις: 8 πšρ τοῦ μηθενὸς σὡσεις αὐτούς: 1161 πάντας τοὺς λαλοῦντας τὸ ψεῦδος: 1035 περιχώρησις: 262 πλήρωμα τῆς θεότητος: 12 πλῆθος σοφῶν σωτηρία κόσμου: 480 στόμα καταψευδόμενον: 990 σχήμα: 73 τὐποι ἠμῶν: 738 τὸν θεὸν: 200 1255
Greek Words and Phrases τελεταί: 148 τοῖς, ταῖς: 950 τοῦτο δὲ παραγγελλων οὐκ ἐπαινῶ: 1136 ψεῦδος: 1037 ψυχικός: 101
1256
Index of Pages of the Print Edition
Index of Pages of the Print Edition i iii iv v 1 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 13 14 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150 151 152 153 154 155 156 157 158 159 160 161 162 163 164 165 166 167 168 169 170 171 172 173 174 175 176 177 178 179 180 181 182 183 184 185 186 187 188 189 190 191 192 193 194 195 196 197 198 199 200 201 202 203 204 205 206 207 208 209 210 211 212 213 214 215 216 217 218 219 220 221 222 223 224 225 226 227 228 229 231 237 238 239 240 241 242 243 244 245 246 247 248 249 250 251 252 253 254 255 256 257 258 259 260 261 262 263 264 265 266 267 268 269 270 271 272 273 274 275 276 277 279 283 284 285 286 287 288 289 290 291 292 293 294 295 296 297 298 299 300 301 302 303 304 305 306 307 308 309 310 311 312 313 314 315 317 318 321 322 323 324 325 326 327 328 329 330 331 332 333 337 338 339 340 341 342 343 347 348 349 350 351 352 353 354 355 356 357 358 359 360 361 362 363 364 365 366 369 370 371 372 373 374 375 379 380 381 382 383 384 385 386 387 388 389 390 391 392 393 397 398 399 400 401 402 403 404 405 406 407 408 409 410 411 412 413 417 418 419 420 421 422 423 424 425 426 427 428 429 430 431 432 433 434 435 436 437 438 441 442 443 444 445 446 447 448 449 450 451 452 453 454 457 458 459 460 461 462 463 464 465 466 467 468 469 470 471 472 473 474 475 476 477 481 482 483 484 485 486 487 488 489 490 491 492 493 494 495 496 497 498 499 500 503 504 505 506 507 508 509 510 511 512 513 514 515 516 517 518 519 520 521 522 523 524 527 528 529 530 531 532 533 534 535 536 539 540 541 542 543 544 545 546 547 548 549 550 551
Related Books
You might also enjoy these classic Christian books from the CCEL Trinity is One God Not Three Godsby Boethius Formats available:PDF, Web, and others. See http://www.ccel.org/ccel/boethius/trinity.html.
Summa Theologicaby St. Thomas Aquinas Written from 1265-1274, the Summa Theologicais St. Thomas Aquinas' greatest work. Originally written for the "instruction of beginners," time has shown that all believers can come to learn from this enriching book. Organized systemically for the clearest way of "setting forth" the "sacred doctrine," Aquinas addresses many of Christianity's most pertinent questions in this multi-volume work. The First Part of the Summabegins with the existence and nature of God, before moving to creation and the nature of man. The Second Part contains his examination of morality and law; it also provides his account of the theological virtues, the cardinal virtues, and the seven deadly sins. The Third Part, uncompleted due to Aquinas' death, treats the incarnation and the sacraments. Taken together, the three parts compose one of the most impressive works of Christianity. Indeed, countless people from many centuries have studied and learned from the Summa; it has been widely influential from Aquinas' own day to the present. Hence, those with a passing inquiry or a serious question, an existential concern or a philosophical problem, can learn much from reading and studying St. Thomas Aquinas' Summa Theologica. Tim Perrine CCEL Staff Writer Formats available: PDF, Web, Kindle, and others. Visit the Kindle store or see http://www.ccel.org/ccel/aquinas/summa.html.