CHAP. 27. INFANTS MUST FEED ON CHRIST.
Will, however, any man be so bold as to say that this statement has no relation to infants, and that they can have life in them without partak- ing of His body and blood — on the ground that He does not say. Except one eat, but " Ex- cept ye eat; " as if He w^ere addressing those who were able to hear and to understand, which of course infants cannot do? But he who says this is inattentive; because, unless all are em- braced in the statement, that without the body and the blood of the Son of man men cannot have life, it is to no purpose that even the elder age is solicitous of it. For if you attend to the mere words, and not to the meaning, of the Lord as He speaks, this passage may very w^ell seem to have been spoken merely to the people whom He happened at the moment to be addressing; because He does not say, Except one eat; but Except ye eat. What also becomes of the state- * John iii. 3.
2 Ver. 5.
3 John vi. 53.
ment which He makes in the same context on this very point: " The bread that I will give is my flesh, for the life of the world? "^ For, it is according to this statement, that we find that that sacrament pertains also to us, who were not in existence at the time the Lord spoke these words \ for we cannot possibly say that we do not belong to " the world," for the life of which Christ gave His flesh. Who indeed can doubt that in the term 7vorld all persons are indicated who enter the world by being born? For, as He says in another passage, " The children of this world beget and are begotten." 5 From all this it follows, that even for the life of infants was His flesh given, which He gave for the life of the world; and that even they will not have life if they eat not the flesh of the Son of man.
CH.AP. 28. — BAPTIZED INFANTS, OF THE FAITH- FUL; UNBAPTIZED, OF THE LOST, Hence also that other statement: " The Father loveth the Son, and hath given all things into His hand. He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life; while he that believeth not the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him." ^ Now in which of these classes must we place infants — amongst those who believe on the Son, or amongst those who believe not the Son? In neither, say some, be- cause, as they are not yet able to believe, so must they not be deemed unbelievers. This, however, the rule of the Church does not indi- cate, for it joins baptized infants to the number of the faithful. Now if they who are baptized are, by virtue of the excellence and administra- tion of so great a sacrament, nevertheless reck- oned in the number of the faithful, although by their own heart and mouth they do not literally perform what appertains to the action of faith and confession; surely they who have lacked the sacrament must be classed amongst those who do not believe on the Son, and therefore, if they shall depart this life without this grace, they will have to encounter what is written con- cerning such — they shall not have life, but the wrath of God abideth on them. \Vhence could this result to those who clearly have no sins of their own, if they are not held to be obnoxious to original sin?
CHAP. 29 [xXl] — IT IS AN INSCRUTABLE MYS- TERY WHY SOME ARE SAVED, AND OTHERS NOT.
Now there is much significance in that He does not say, "The wrath of God shall co me Vi\)on him," but ^'■abideth on him." For from this wrath (in which we are all involved under sin, and of which the apostle says, " For we too were once by nature * John vi. 51.
5 Generant et generantur; * John iii. 35, 36.
Luke XX. 34.
26 THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Book I.
the children of wrath, even as others'") nothing delivers us but the grace of God, through Jesus Christ our Lord. The reason why this grace conies upon one man and not on another may be hidden, but it cannot be unjust. For " is there unrighteousness with God? Gpd forbid."^ But we must first bend our necks to the authority of the Holy Scriptures, in order that we may each arrive at knowledge and understanding through faith. For it is not said in vain, " Thy judgments are a great deep."^ The profundity of this " deep" the apostle, as if with a feeling of dread, notices in that exclamation: " O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and the knowledge of God! " He had indeed previously pointed out the meaning of this marvellous depth, when he said: " For God hath concluded them all m unbelief, that He might have mercy upon all." ■* Then struck, as it were, with a horrible fear of this deep: " O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and the knowledge of God! how unsearchable are His judgments, and His ways past fintling out! For who hath known the mind of the Lord? or who hath been His counsellor? or who hath first given to Him, and it shall be recompensed unto him again? For of Him, and through Him, and in Him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever. Amen."5 How utterly insignificant, then, is our faculty for discussing the justice of God's judgments, and for the considera- tion of His gratuitous grace, which, as men have no prevenient merits for deserving it, cannot be partial or unrighteous, and which does not dis- turb us when it is bestowed upon unworthy men, as much as when it is denied to those who are equally unworthy!
CHAP. 30. — WHY ONE IS BAPTIZED AND ANOTHER NOT, NOT OTHERWISE INSCRUTABLE.
Now those very persons, who think it unjust that infants which depart this life without the grace of Christ should be deprived not only of the kingdom of God, into which they themselves admit that none but such as are regenerated through baptism can enter, but also of eternal life and salvation, — when they ask how it can be just that one man should be freed from origi- nal sin and another not, although the condition of both of them is the same, might answer their own question, in accordance with their own opinion of how it can be so frequently just and! right that one should have baptism administered to him whereby to enter into the kingdom of God, and another not be so favoured, although; the case of both is alike. For if the question disturbs him, why, of the two persons, who are ' Eph. ii. 3. ^ Rom. ix. 14. 3 Ps. xxxvi. 6.
* Rom. xi. 32.
* Rom. XI 33-36.
both equally sinners by nature, the one is loosed from that bond, on whom baptism is conferred, and the other is not released, on whom such grace is not bestowed; why is he not similarly dis- turbed by the fact that of two persons, innocent by nature, one receives baptism, whereby he is able to enter into the kingdom of God, and the other does not receive it, so that he is incapable of approaching the kingdom of God? Now in both cases one recurs to the apostle's outburst of wonder, " O the depth of the riches! " Again, let me be informed, why out of the bo<ly of bap- tized infants themselves, one is taken away, so that his understanding undergoes no change from a wicked life,^ and the other survives, destined to become an impious man? Suppose both were carried off, would not both enter the kingdom of heaven? And* yet there is no unrighteousness with God.^ How is it that no one is moved, no one is driven to the expression of wonder amidst such depths, by the circumstance that some chil- dren are vexed by the unclean spirit, while others experience no such pollution, and others again, as Jeremiah, are sanctified even in their mother's womb; ^ whereas all men, if there is original sin, are equally guilty; or else equally innocent if there is original sin? Whence this great diver- sity, except in the fact that God's judgments are unsearchable, and His ways past finding out?
CHAP. 31 [XXII.] HE REFUTES THOSE WHO SUPPOSE TH.-^T SOULS, ON ACCOUNT OF SINS COM- MUTED IN ANOTHER STATE, ARE THRUST INTO BODIES SUITED TO THEIR MERITS, IN WHICH THEY ARE MORE OR LESS TORMENTED.
Perhaps, however, the now exploded and re- jected opinion must be resumed, that souls which once sinned in their heavenly abode, descend by stages and degrees to bodies suited to their deserts, and, as a penalty for their previous life, are more or less tormented by corporeal chas- tisements. To this opinion Holy Scripture indeed presents a most manifest contradiction; for when recommending divine grace, it says: " For the children being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of Him that calleth, it was said, The elder shall serve the younger."** And yet they who entertain such an opinion are actually unable to escape the perplexities of this ques- tion, but, embarrassed and straitened by them, are compelled to exclaim like others, " O the depth! " For whence does it come to pass | that a person shall from his earliest boyhood show greater moderation, mental excellence, and temperance, and shall to a great extent conquer ^ Wisdom iv. 11. ° Rom. ix. II, 12.
Chap. 32.]
ON FORGIVENESS OF SINS, AND BAPTISM.
27 lust, shall hate avarice, detest luxury, and rise to a greater eminence and aptitude in the other \irtues, and yet live in such a place as to be unable to hear the grace of Christ preached? — for " how shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? or how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher?"' While another man, although of a slow mind, addicted to lust, and covered with disgrace and crime, shall be so directed as to hear, and believe, and be baptized, and be taken away, — or, if per- mitted to remain longer here, lead the rest of his life in a manner that shall bring him praise? Now where did these two persons acquire such diverse deserts, — I do not say, tliat the one should believe and the other not believe, for that is a matter for a man's own will; but that the one should hear in order to believe, and that the other should not hear, for this is not within man's power? Where, I say, did they acquire diverse deserts? If they had indeed passed any part of their life in heaven, so as to be thrust down, or to sink down, to this world, and to tenant such bodily receptacles as are con- gruous to their own former life, then of course that man ought to be supposed to have led the better life previous to his present mortal body, who did not much deserve to be burdened with it, so as both to have a good disposition, and to be importuned by milder desires which he could easily overcome; and yet he did not deserve to have that grace preached to him whereby alone he could be delivered from the ruin of the second death. Whereas the other, who was hampered with a grosser body, as a penalty — so they sup- pose — for worse deserts, and was accordingly possessed of obtuser affections, whilst he was in the violent ardour of his lust succumbing to the snares of the flesh, and by his wicked life aggra- vating his former sins, which had brought him to such a pass, by a still more abandoned course of earthly pleasures, — either heard upon the cross, '•' To-day shalt thou be with me in para- dise," ^ or else joined himself to some apostle, by whose preaching he became a changed man, and was saved by the washing of regeneration, — so that where sin once abounded, grace did much more abound. I am at a loss to know what answer they can give to this who wish to maintain God's righteousness by human conjec- tures, and, knowing nothing of the depths of grace, have woven webs of improbable fable.
CHAP. 32.
■THE CASE OF CERTAIN IDIOTS AND SLMPLETONS.
Now a good deal may be said of men's strange vocations, — either such as we have read about, or have experienced ourselves, — which go to overthrow the opinion of those persons who think that, previous to the possession of their bodies, men's souls passed through certain lives peculiar to themselves, in which they must come to this, and experience in the present life either good or evil, according to the difference of their individual deserts. My anxiety, however, to bring this work to an end does not permit me to dwell longer on these topics. But on one point, which among many I have found to be a very strange one, I will not be silent. If we follow those persons who suppose that souls are oppressed with earthly bodies in a greater or a less degree of grossness, according to the deserts of the life which had been passed in celestial bodies previous to the assumption of the present one, who would not affirm that those had sinned previous to this life with an especial amount of enormity, who deserve so to lose all mental light, that they are born with faculties akin to brute animals, — who are (I will not say most slow in intellect, for this is very commonly said of others also, but) so silly as to make a show of their fatuity for the amusement of clever people, even with idiotic gestures,^ and whom the vulgar call, by a name derived from the Greek, Morioncs? + And yet there was once a certain person of this class, who was so Christian, that although he was patient to the degree of strange folly with any amount of injury to him- self, he was yet so impatient of any insult to the name of Christ, or, in his own person, to the religion with which he was imbued, that he could never refrain, whenever his gay and clever audience proceeded to blaspheme the sacred name, as they sometimes would in order to provoke his patience, from pelting them with stones; and on these occasions he would show no favour even to persons of rank. "Well, now, such persons are predestinated and brought into being, as I suppose, in order that those who are able should understand that God's grace and the Spirit, " which bloweth where it listeth," s does not pass over any kind of capacity in the sons of mercy, nor in hke manner does it pass over any kind of capacity in the children of Gehenna, so that " he that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord."*' They, however, who affirm that souls severally receive different earthly bodies, more or less gross according to the merits of their former life, and that their abilities as men vary according to the self-same mertts, so that some minds are sharper and others more obtuse, and that the grace of God is also dispensed for 3 We here follow the reading ccrriti; other readings are, — curaii (with studied folly), cirrati (with effeminate foppery), and citrati (decking themselves with citrus leaves).
* That is, " fools," from the Greek (xiopos.
5 John iii. 8.
^ I Cor. i. 31.
28 THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Book I.
the liberation of men from their sins according to the deserts of their former existence: — what will they have to say about this man? How will they be able to attribute to him a i:)revious life of so disgraceful a character that he deserved to be born an idiot, and at the same time of so highly meritorious a character as to entitle him to a preference in the award of the grace of Christ over many men of the acutest intellect?
CHAP. ^^. CHRIST IS THE SAVIOUR AND RE- DEEMER EVEN OF INFANTS.
Let us therefore give in and yield our assent to the authority of Holy Scripture, which knows not how either to be deceived or to deceive; and as we do not believe that men as yet unborn have done any good or evil for raising a differ- ence in their moral deserts, so let us by no means doubt that all men are under sin, which came into the world by one man and has passed through unto all men; and from which nothing frees us but the grace of God through our Lord Jesus Christ, [xxiii.] His remedial advent is needed by those that are sick, not by the whole: for He came not to call the righteous, but sin- ners; and into His kingdom shall enter no one that is not born again of water and the Spirit; nor shall any one attain salvation and eternal Hfe except in His kingdom, — since the man who believes not in the Son, and eats not His flesh, shall not have life, but the wrath of God remains upon him. Now from this sin, from this sickness, from this wrath of God (of which by nature they are children who have original sin, even if they have none of their own on account of their youth), none dehvers them, ex- cept the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world; ' except the Physician, who came not for the sake of the sound, but of the sick; except the Saviour, concerning whom it was said to the human race: " Unto you there is born this day a Saviour;"^ except the Redeemer, by whose blood our debt is blotted out. For who would dare to say that Christ is not the Saviour and Redeemer of infants? But from what does He save them, if there is no malady of original sin within them? From what does He redeem them, if through their origin from the first man they are not sold under sin? Let there be then no eternal salvation promised to infants out of our own opinion, without Christ's baptism; for none is promised in that Holy Scripture which is to be preferred to all human authority and opinion.
CHAP. 34 [XXIV.] — BAPTISM IS CALLED SALVA- TION, AND THE EUCHARIST, LIFE, BY THE CHRISTIANS OF CARTHAGE, The Christians of Carthage have an excellent name for the sacraments, when they say that baptism is nothing else than " salvation," and the sacrament of the body of Christ nothing else than " life." Whence, however, was this de- rived, but from that primitive, as I suppose, and apostolic tradition, by which the Churches of Christ maintain it to be an inherent principle, that without baptism and partaking of the supper of the Lord it is impossible for any man to at- tain either to the kingdom of God or to salva- tion and everlasting life? So much also does Scripture testify, according to the words which we already quoted. For wherein does their opinion, who designate baptism by the term salvation, differ from what is written: " He i•rt^'l?rt' z/i- by the washing of regeneration?" ^ or from Peter's statement: " The like figure where- unto even baptism doth also now save ns? " * And what else do they say who call the sacra- ment of the Lord's Supper life, than that which is written: " I am the living bread which came down from heaven; " 5 and " The bread that I shall give is my flesh, for the life of the world; " s and " Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink His blood, ye shall have no life in you?"^ If, therefore, as so many and such divine witnesses agree, neither salvation nor eternal life can be hoped for by any man with- out baptism and the Lord's body and blood, it is vain to promise these blessings to infants with- out them. Moreover, if it be only sins that separate man from salvation and eternal life, there is nothing else in infants which these sac- raments can be the means of removing, but the guilt of sin, — respecting which guilty nature it is written, that " no one is clean, not even if his life be only that of a day." ^ Whence also that exclamation of the Psalmist: " Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me! " '^ This is either said in the per- son of our common humanity, or if of himself only David speaks, it does not imply that he was born of fornication, but in lawful wedlock. We therefore ought not to doubt that even for in- fants yet to be baptized was that precious blood shed, which previous to its actual effusion was so given, and applied in the sacrament, that it was said, " This is my blood, which shall be shed for many for the remission of sins." 9 Now they who will not allow that they are under sin, deny that there is any liberation. For what is there that men are liberated from, if they are held to be bound by no bondage of sin?
3 Tit. iii. s.
4 I Pet. iii. 21 5 John vi. SI. * John vi. S3.
7 Job xiv. 4.
8 Ps. )i. 5.
9 Matt. xxvi. 28.
Chap. 38.]
ON FORGIVENESS OF SINS, AND BAPTISM.
29 CHAP. 35. — UNLESS INFANTS ARE BAPTIZED, THEY REMAIN IN DARKNESS.
" I am come," says Christ, " a light into the world, that whosoever believeth on me should not abide in darkness." ' Now what does this passage show us, but that every person is in darkness who does not believe on Him, and that it is by believing on Him that he escapes from this permanent state of darkness? What do we understand by the darkness but sin? And what- ever else it may embrace in its meaning, at any rate he who believes not in Christ will " abide in darkness," — which, of course, is a penal state, not, as the darkness of the night, necessary for the refreshment of living beings, [xxv.] So that infants, unless they pass into the number of be- lievers through the sacrament which was divinely instituted for this purpose, will undoubtedly re- main in this darkness.
CHAP. 36. INFANTS NOT ENLIGHTENED AS SOON AS THEY ARE BORN.
Some, however, understand that as soon as children are born they are enlightened; and they derive this opinion from the passage: "That was the true Light, which lighteth every one that Cometh into the world." ^ Well, if this be the case, it is quite astonishing how it can be that those who are thus enlightened by the only-be- gotten Son, who was in the beginning the Word with God, and [Himself] God, are not admitted into the kingdom of God, nor are heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ. For that such an inheritance is not bestowed upon them except through baptism, even they who hold the opinion in question do acknowledge. Then, again, if they are (though already illuminated) thus unfit for entrance into the kingdom of God, they at all events ought gladly to receive the baptism, by which they are fitted for it; but, strange to say, we see how reluctant infants are to submit to baptism, resisting even with strong crying. And this ignorance of theirs we think lightly of at their time of life, so that we fully administer the sacraments, which we know to be serviceable to them, even although they struggle against them. And why, too, does the apostle say, " Be not children in understanding," ^ if their minds ha\e been already enlightened \vith that true Light, which is the Word of God?
CHAP. 37. — HOW GOD ENLIGHTENS EVERY PERSON.
That statement, therefore, which occurs in the gospel, " That was the true Light, which lighteth everyone that cometh into the world,"- has this meaning, that no man is illuminated except with ' John xii. 46.
^ John i. g.
3 I Cor. xiv. 20.
that Light of the truth, which is God; so that no person must think that he is enlightened by him whom he listens to as a learner, although that instructor happen to be — I will not say, any great man — but even an angel himself. For the word of truth is applied to man externally by the ministry of a bodily voice, but yet " neither is he that planteth any thing, neither he that watereth; but God that giveth the in- crease." ^ Man indeed hears the speaker, be he man or angel, but in order that he may perceive and know that what is said is true, his mind is internally besprinkled with that light which re- mains for ever, and which shines even in dark- ness. But just as the sun is not seen by the blind, though they are clothed as it were with its rays, so is the light of truth not understood by the darkness of folly.
CHAP. 38. WHAT "lighteth" MEANS.