CHAP. 48. FROM THE EPISTLES TO TIMOTHY.
And then to Timothy he says: "This is a faithful saying,9 and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief Howbeit for this cause I obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might show forth all long-suffering, for a pattern to them which should hereafter believe on Him to life everlasting." '° He also says: " For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus; who gave Him- self a ransom for all." " In his second Epistle to the same Timothy, he says: " Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me His prisoner: but be thou a fellow- labourer for the gospel, according to the power of God; who hath saved us, and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began; but is now manifested by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath abolished death, and hath brought life and immortality to light through the gospel." '- CH.AP. 49. Then again FROM THE EPISTLE TO TITUS.
to Titus " Looking for he writes to Titus as follows that blessed hope, and the gloriof the great God and our Saviour who gave himself for us, that He from all iniquity, and purify us ous appearing Jesus Christ; might redeem unto Himself a peculiar people, zealous of* good * Col. i. 12-14.
' E.xuens se carnem.
* Col. ii. 10-15.
o- THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Book I.
works." ' And to the like effect in another pas- sage: " But after that the kindness and love of God our Saviour toward man appeared, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost; which He shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour; that, being justified by His grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life." ^ CHAP. 50. — FROM THE EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS.
Although the authority of the Episde to the Hebrews is doubted by some,^ nevertheless, as I find it sometimes thought by persons, who | oppose our opinion touching the baptism oft infants, to contain evidence in favour of their own views, we shall notice the pointed testimony it bears in our behalf; and I quote it the more { confidently, because of the authority of the East- ern Churches, which expressly place it amongst the canonical Scriptures. In its very exordium one thus reads: " God, who at sundry times, and in divers manners, spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He hath ap- pointed heir of all things, by whom also He made the worlds; w^ho, being the brightness of His glory, and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His 1 power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, j sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on | high." •♦ And by and by the writer says: " For | if the word spoken by angels was stedfast, and | every transgression and disobedience received a just recompense of reward, how shall w^e escape if we neglect so great salvation? " s And again in another passage: " Forasmuch then," says he, " as the children are partakers of flesh and blood. He also Himself likewise took part of the same; that through death He might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; and deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bond- age." *" Again, shortly after, he says: "Where- fore in all things it behoved Him to be made like unto His brethren, that He might be a mer- ciful and faithful High Priest in things pertaining ' Tit. ii. 13, 14.
^ Til. iii. 3-7.
3 Amongsi the Latins, as Jerome tells us in more than one pas- sage (see his Commentaries, on Isa. vi., viii.; on Zech. viii.; on Matt xxvi.; also, in his Catal. Script. Eccles.,c. xvi. [ad Paiilum], and Ixx. [ad Gaium], etc.). The Greeks, however, held that the epistle was the work of St. Paul. In his Epistle cxxi,v. [ad Darda- niim] he thus writes: " We must admit that the epistle written to the Hebrews is regarded as the.Apostle Paul's, not only by the churches of the East, but by all church writers who have from the beginning {retro) written in Greek." — Note of the Benedictine Editor. [See Augustin's C//J' o/'Gcrf, xvi. 22, and Christian Doctrine, ii. (8), 13. The matter is fairly stated by.\ugustin, after whose day the Epistle was not doubted even in the West. — W. I *■ Heb. i. 1-3.
5 Heb. ii. 2, 3.
<> Heb. ii. 14, 15.
to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people." 7 And in another place he writes: " Let us hold fast our profession. For we have not a high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we^re, yet without sin." '^ Again he says: " He hath an unchangeable priesthood. Wherefore He is able also to save them to the ut- termost that come unto God by Him, seeing He ever liveth to make intercession for them. For such a High Priest became us, who is holy, harm- less, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens; who needeth not daily (as those high prissts) to offer up sacrifice, first for His own sins, and then for the people's: for this He did once, w-hen He offered up Himself." 9 And once more: " For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, Avhich are the figures of the true; but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us: nor yet that He should offer Himself often, as the high priest entereth into the holy place every year with blood of others; (for then must He often have suffered since the foundation of the world; ) but now once, in the end of the world, hath He appeared to put away sin by the sacri- fice of Himself. And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment; so Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many: and unto them that look for Him shall He ap- pear the second time, without sin, unto salva- tion." '° CHAP. 51. FROM THE APOCALYPSE.
The Revelation of John likewise tells us that in a new song these praises are offered to Christ; " Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for Thou wast slain, and hasti redeemed us to God by Thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation.""
CHAP. 52. FROM THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES.
To the like effect, in the Acts of the Apostles, the Apostle Peter designated the Lord Jesus as " the Author of life," upbraiding the Jews for having put Him to death in these words: " But ye dishonoured and denied the Holy One and the Just, and desired a murderer to be granted unto you, and ye killed the Author of life."'^ While in another passage he says: " This is the stone which was set at nought by you builders, which is become the head of the corner. Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved." '^ And again, else- 7 Heb. ii 17.
8 Heb. iv. 14, 15.
I- Acts iii. 14, 15. " Acts iv. II, 12.
Chap. 54-] ON FORGIVENESS OF SINS, AND BAPTISM.
35 where: " The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom ye slew, by hanging on a tree. Hin) hath God exalted with His right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour, for to give repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins." ' Once more: " To Him give all the prophets witness, that, through His name, whosoever believeth in Him shall receive remission of sins." - Whilst in the same Acts of the Apostles Paul says: " Be it known tlierefore unto you, men and brethren, that through this Man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins: and by Him every one that believeth is justified from all things, from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses." ^ CHAP. 53. THE UTILITY OF THE BOOKS OF THE OLD TESTAMENT.
Under so great a weight of testimony, who would not be oppressed that should dare lift up his voice against the truth of God? And many other testimonies might be found, were it not for my anxiety to bring this tract to an end, — an anxiety which I must not slight. I have deemed it superfluous to quote from the books of the Old Testament, likewise, many attesta- tions to our doctrine in inspired words, since what is concealed in them under the veil of earthly promises is clearly revealed in the preach- ing of the New Testament. Our Lord Himself briefly demonstrated and defined the use of the Old Testament writings, when He said that it was necessary that what had been written con- cerning Himself in the Law, and the Prophets, and the Psalms, should be fulfilled, and that this was that Christ must suffer, and rise from the dead the third day, and that repentance and re- mission of sins should be preached in His name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.'' In agreement with this is that statement of Peter which I have already quoted, how that all the prophets bear witness to Christ, that at His hands every one that believes in Him receives remission of his sins.^ CHAP. 54. — BY THE SACRIFICES OF THE OLD TESTAMENT, MEN WERE CONVINCED OF SINS AND LED TO THE SAVIOUR.
And yet it is perhaps better to advance a few testimonies out of the Old Testament also, which ought to have a supplementary, or rather a cumulative value. The Lord Himself, speak- ing by the Psalmist, says: " As for my saints which are upon earth, He hath caused all my purposes to be admired in them." s Not their merits, but '^ my purposes." For what is theirs except that which is afterwards mentioned, — ' Acts V. 30, 31.
^ Acts X. 43.
* See Luke xxiv. 44-47.
5 Ps. xvi. 3.
" their weaknesses are multiplied," '^ — above the weakness that they had? Moreover, the law also entered, that the offence might abound. But why does the Psalmist immecliately add: " They hastened after? "^ When their sorrows and infirmities multiplied (that is, when their ofi"ence abounded), they then sought the Phy- sician more eagerly, in order that, where sin abounded, grace might much more al)Ound. He then says: " I will not gather their assem- blies together [with their offerings] of blood; " for by their many sacrifices of blood, when they gathered their assemblies into the tabernacle at first, and then into the temple, they were rather convicted as sinners than cleansed. I shall no longer, He says, gatlier their assemblies of blood- offerings together; because there is one blood- shedding given for many, whereby they may be truly cleansed. Then it follows: " Neither will I make mention of their names with my lips," as if they were the names of renewed ones. For these were their names at first: children of the flesh, children of the world, children of wTath, children of the devil, unclean, sinners, impious; but afterwards, children of God, — a new name to the new man, a new song to the singer of what is new, by means of the New Testament. Men must not be ungracious with God's grace, mean with great things; [but be ever rising] from the less to the greater. The cry of the whole Church is, " I have gone astray like a lost sheep."? p>om all the members of Christ the voice is heard: " All we, as sheep, have gone astray; and He hath Himself been delivered up for our sins." ^ The whole of this passage of prophecy is that famous one in Isaiah which was expounded by Philip to the eunuch of Queen Candace, and he believed in Jesus.'' See how often he commends this very subject, and, as it were, inculcates it again and again on proud and contentious men: " He was a man under misfortune, and one who well knows to bear infirmities; wherefore^ also He turned away His face. He was dishonoured, and was not much esteemed. He it is that bears our weak- nesses, and for us is involved in pains: and we accounted Him to be in pains, and in misfortune, and in punishment. But it was He who was wounded for our sins, was weakened for our iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was upon Him; and by His bruise we are healed. All we, as sheep, have gone astray; and the Lord delivered Him up for our sins. And although He was evilly entreated, yet He opened not His mouth: as a sheep was He led to the slaughter, and as a lamb is dumb before the shearer, so He opened not Hio mouth. In * Ps. xvi. 4.
7 Ps. cxix. 176.
8 Isa. liii. 6.
9 Acts \\\\. 30-37.
THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Book I.
His humiliation His judgment was taken away: His generation who shall declare? For His life shall be taken away from the earth, and for the iniquities of my people was He led to death. Therefore I will give the wicked for His burial, [ and the rich for His death; because He did no iniquity, nor deceit with His mouth. The Lord j is pleased to purge Him from misfortune. If^ you could yourselves have given your soul on account of your sins, ye should see a seed of a long life. And the Lord is pleased to rescue His soul from pains, to show Him light, and to form it through His understanding; to justify the Just One, who serves many well; and He shall Himself bear their sins. Therefore He shall inherit manv, and He shall divide the spoils of the mighty; and He was numbered amongst the transgressors; and Himself bare the sins of many, and He was delivered for their iniquities." ' Consider also that passage of this same prophet which Christ actually declared to be fulfilled in Himself, when He recited it in the synagogue, in discharging the function of the reader: - " The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because He hath anointed me: to preach glad tidings to the poor hath He sent me, that so I may refresh all who are broken-hearted, — to preach deliverance to the captives, and to the blind sight." ^ Let us then all acknowledge Him; nor should there be one exception among persons like ourselves, who wish to cleave to His body, to enter through Him into the sheepfold, and to attain to that life and eternal salvation which He has prom- ised to His own. — Let us, I repeat, all of us acknowledge Him who did no sin, who bare our sins in His own body on the tree, that we might live with righteousness separate from sins; by whose scars we are healed, when we were "• weak "♦ — like wandering sheep.
CHAP. 55 [XXVIII.] — HE CONCLUDES THAT ALL MEN NEED THE DEATH OF CHRIST, THAT THEY MAY BE SAVED. UNBAPTIZED INFANTS WILL BE INVOLVED IN THE CONDEMNATION OF THE DEVIL, HOW ALL MEN THROUGH ADAM ARE UNTO CONDEMNATION; AND THROUGH CHRIST UNTO JUSTIFICATION. NO ONE IS RECONCILED WITH GOD, EXCEPT THROUGH CHRIST.
In such circumstances, no man of those who have come to Christ by baptism has ever been regarded, according to sound faith and the true doctrine, as excepted from the grace of forgive- ness of sins; nor has eternal life been ever thought possible to any man apart from His kingdom. For this [eternal life] is ready to be • Isa. liii. 3-12.
- See Luke iv. 16-21.
3 Isa. Ixi. I.
* There seems to be here some omission. — Benedictine Note.
revealed at the last time, 5 that is, at the resur- rection of the dead who are reserved not for that eternal death which is called " the second death," but for the eternal life which God, who cannot lie, promises to His saints and faithful serwmts. Now none who shall partake of this life shall be made alive except in Christ, even as all die in Adam.^ For as none whatever, of all those who belong to the generation accord- ing to the will of the flesh, die except in Adam, in whom all sinned; so, out of these, none at all who are regenerated by the will of the Spirit are endowed with life except in Christ, in whom all are justified. Because as through one all to condemnation, so through One all to justifica- tion.7 Nor is there any middle place for any man, and so a man can only be with the devil who is not with Christ. Accordingly, also, the Lord Himself (wishing to remove from the hearts of wrong-believers ^ that vague and in- definite middle condition, which some would provide for unbaptized infants, — as if, by rea- son of their innocence, they were embraced in eternal life, but were not, because of their un- baptized state, with Christ in His kingdom) uttered that definitive sentence of His, which shuts their mouths: " He that is not with me is against me."^ Take then the case of any infant you please: If he is already in Christ, why is he baptized? If, however, as the Truth has it, he is baptized just that he may be with Christ, it certainly follows that he who is not baptized is not with Christ; and because he is not " with " Christ, he is " against " Christ; for He has pronounced His own sentence, which is so explicit that we ought not, and indeed cannot, impair it or change it. And how can he be "against" Christ, if not owing to sin? for it cannot possibly be from his soul or his body, both of these being the creation of God. Now if it be owing to sin, what sin can be found at such an age, except the ancient and original sin? Of course that sinful flesh in which all are born to condemnation is one thing, and that Flesh which was made " after the likeness of sinful flesh," whereby also all are freed from condemnation, is another thing. It is, however, by no means meant to be implied that all who are born in sinful flesh are themselves actually cleansed l)y that Flesh which is " like " sinful flesh; " for all men have not faith; " '° but that all who are born from the carnal union are born entirely of sinful flesh, whilst all who are born from the spiritual union are cleansed only by the Flesh which is in the likeness of sinful flesh.
5 I Pet. i. 5.
'' I Cor. XV. 22.
7 Rom. V. 18.
^ Male credentium.
9 Matt. xii. 30.
ON FORGIVENESS OF SINS, AND BAPTISM.
2>7 In other words, the former class are in Adam unto condemnation, the latter are in Christ unto justification. This is as if we should say, for example, that in such a city there is a certain midwife who delivers all; and in the same place there is an expert teacher who instructs all. By all, in the one case, only those who are born can possibly be understood; by all, in the other, only those who are taught: and it does not follow that all who are born also receive the instruction. But it is obvious to every one, that in the one case it is correcdy said, " she deliv- ers all," since without her aid no one is born; and in the other, it is rightly said, " he teaches all," since without his tutoring, no one learns.
CHAP. 56. — NO ONE IS RECONCILED TO GOD EXCEPT THROUGH CHRIST.
Taking into account all the inspired statements which I have quoted, — whether I regard the value of each passage one by one, or combine their united testimony in an accumulated witness or even include similar passages which I have not adduced, — there can be nothing discovered, but that which the catholic Church holds, in her dutiful vigilance against all profane novelties: that every man is separated from God, except those who are reconciled to God through Christ the Mediator; and that no one can be separated from God, except by sins, which alone cause separation; that there is, therefore, no reconcil- iation except by the remission of sins, through the one grace of the most merciful Saviour, — through the one sacrifice of the most veritable Priest; and that none who are born of the woman, that trusted the serpent and so was cor- rupted through desire,' are delivered from the body of this death, except by the Son of the virgin who believed the angel and so conceived without desire.2 CHAP. 5 7 [XXIX.] — THE GOOD OF MARRIAGE; FOUR DIFFERENT CASES OF THE GOOD AND THE EVIL USE OF MATRIMONY.
The good, then, of marriage lies not in the passion of desire, but in a certain legitimate and honourable measure in using that passion, appro- priate to the propagation of children, not the gratification of lust.^ That, therefore, which is disobediently excited in the members of the body of this death, and endeavours to draw into itself our whole fallen soul, (neither arising nor subsiding at the bidding of the mind), is that evil of sin in which every man is born. ^Vhen, however, it is curbed from unlawful desires, and ' Gen. iii. 6.
2 Luke i. 38.
3 [The editions, but apparently no MSs., add here the somewhat sententious words: "Voluntas isla, non vohiptas ilia, nuptialis est," — which may, perhaps, be rcudered: " Wedded desire is williugness, not wantonness." — W.j thing, giveth his virgin is permitted only for the orderly propagation and renewal of the human race, this is the good of wedlock, by which man is born in the union that is appointed. Nobody, however, is born again in Christ's body, unless he be previously born in the body of sin. But inasmuch as it is evil to make a bad use of a good thing, so is it good to use well a bad thing. These two ideas there- fore of good and evil, and those other two of a good use and an evil use, when they are duly combined together, produce four different con- ditions: — [i.] A man makes a good use of a good thing, when he dedicates his continence to God; [2.] He makes a bad use of a good thing, when he dedicates his continence to an idol; [3.] He makes a bad use of an evil thing, when he loosely gratifies his concupiscence by adul- tery; [4.] He makes a good use of an evil thing, when he restrains his concupiscence by matri- mony. Now, as it is better to make good use of a good thing than to make good use of an evil since both are good, — so " he that in marriage doeth well; but he that giveth her not in marriage doeth better." •♦ This question, indeed, I have treated at greater length, and more sufficiently, as God enabled me according to my humble abilities, in two_ works of mine, — one of them, On the Good of Marriage, and the other. On Holy Virginity. They, therefore, who extol the flesh and blood of a sinful creature, to the prejudice of the Redeem- er's flesh and blood, must not defend the evil of concupiscence through the good of marriage; nor should they, from whose infant age the Lord has inculcated in us a lesson of humility,5 be lifted up into pride by the error of others. He only was born without sin whom a virgin conceived without the embrace of a husband, — not by the concupiscence of the flesh, but by the chaste submission of her mind.*^ She alone was able to give birth to One who should heal our wound, who brought forth the germ of a pure offspring without the wound of sin.
CHAP. 58 [XXX.] IN WHAT RESPECT THE PELA- GIANS REGARDED BAPTISM.AS NECESSARY FOR INFANTS.
Let us now examine more carefully, so far as the Lord enables us, that very chapter of the Gospel where He says, " Except a man be born again, — of water and the Spirit, — he shall not enter into the kingdom of God." ^ If it were not for the authority which this sentence has, with them, they would not be of opinion that infants ought to be baptized at all. This is their comment on the passage: " Because He does not say, ' Except a man be born again of water THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Book I.
and the Spirit, he shall not have salvation or eternal life,' but He merely said, ' he shall not enter into the kingdom of God,' therefore infants are to be baptized, in order that they may be with Christ in the kingdom of God, where they will not be unless they are baptized. Should infants die, however, even without baptism, they will have salvation and eternal life, seeing that they are bound with no fetter of sin." Now in such a statement as this, the first thing that strikes one is, that they never explain lahere the Justice is of separating from the kingdom of God that " image of God " which has no sin. Next, we ought to see whether the Lord Jesus, the one only good Teacher, has not in this very passage of the Gospel intimated, and indeed shown us, that it only comes to pass through the remission of their sins that baptized persons reach the kingdom of God; although to persons of a right understanding, the words, as they stand in the passage, ought to be sufficiently explicit: " Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God; " ' and: " Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God." ^ For why should he be born again, unless to be renewed? From what is he to be renewed, if not from some old condition? From what old condition, but that in which " our old man is crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be destroyed? "^ Or whence comes it to pass tliat " the image of God " enters not into the kingdom of God, unless it be that the impediment of sin prevents it? However, let us (as we said before) see, as earnestly and diligently as we are able, what is the entire context of this passage of the Gospel, on the point in question.
CHAP. 59. THE CONTEXT OF THEIR CHIEF TEXT.
" Now there was," we read, " a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews: the same came to Jesus' by night, and said unto Him, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God: for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him. Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Nicodemus saith unto Him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother's womb, and be born? Jesus answered. Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he carmot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Mar\el not that I said unto thee. Ye must be born again.
• John iii. 3. ^ John iii. 5. 3 Rtyn. vi. 6,