CHAP. 31, — GRACE IS GIVEN TO SOME MEN IN MERCY; IS WITHHELD FROM OTHERS IN JUSTICE AND TRUTH.
Forasmuch then as our turning away from God is our own act, and this is evil will; but our turning to God is not possible, except He rouses and helps us, and this is good will, — what have we that we have not received? But if we re- ceived, why do we glory as if we had not received? Therefore, as "he that glorieth must glory in the Lord," ^ it comes from His mercy, not their merit, that God wills to impart this to some, but from His truth that He wills not to im- part it to others. For to sinners punishment is justly due, because " the Lord God loveth mercy and truth," ^ and " mercy and truth are met together; " '° and " all the paths of the Lord are 5 Prov. viii. 35. *> Ps. xxxvii. 23.
7 I'hil. ii. 13.
9 Ps. Ixxxiv. II. '° Ps. Ixxxv. 10.
Chap. 34.]
ON FORGIVENESS OF SINS, AND BAPTISM.
57 mercy and truth." ' And who can tell the num- berless instances in which Holy Scripture com- bines these two attributes? Sometimes, by a change in the terms, grace is put for mercy, as in the passage, " We beheld His glory, the glory as of the Only-begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth." ^ Sometimes also jtidginent occurs instead of truth, as in the passage, " I will sing of mercy and judgment unto Thee, O Lord." ^ CHAP. 32. — god's sovereignity IN HIS GRACE.
As to the reason why He wills to convert some, and to punish others for turning away, — although nobody can justly censure the merciful One in conferring His blessing, nor can any man justly find fault with the truthful One in awarding His punishment (as no one could justly blame Him, in the parable of the labourers, for assign- ing to some their stipulated hire, and to others unstipulated largess-*), yet, after all, the purpose of His more hidden judgment is in His own power, [xix.] So far as it has been given us, let us have wisdom, and let us understand that the good Lord God sometimes withholds even from His saints either the certain knowledge or the triumphant joy of a good work, just in order tliat they may discover that it is not from them- selves, but from Him that they receive the light which illuminates their darkness, and the sweet grace which causes their land s to yield her fruit.
CHAP. 2>Z- THROUGH GRACE WE HAVE BOTH THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOOD, AND THE DELIGHT WHICH IT AFFORDS.
But when we pray Him to give us His help to do and accomplish righteousness, what else do we pray for than that He would open what was hidden, and impart sweetness to that which gave no pleasure? For even this very duty of praying to Him we have learned by His grace, whereas before it was hidden; and by His grace have come to love it, whereas before it gave us no pleasure, — so that " he who glorieth must glory not in himself, but in the Lord." To be lifted up, indeed, to pride, is the result of men's own will, not of the operation of God; for to such a thing God neither urges us nor helps us. There first occurs then in the will of man a certain desire of its own power, to become disobedient through pride. If it were not for this desire, indeed, there would be nothing dif- ficult; and whenever man willed it, he might refuse without difficulty. There ensued, how- ever, out of the penalty which was justly due such a defect, that henceforth it became difficult ' Ps. XXV. 10.
^ John i. 14.
3 Ps. ci. I.
•♦ Matt. XX. 1-16.
5 i.e., the soil of their he?rts; see above, at the end of ch. 27.
to be obedient unto righteousness; and unless this defect were overcome by assisting grace, no one would turn to holiness; nor unless it were healed by efficient grace would any one enjoy the peace of righteousness. But whose grace is it that conquers and heals, but His to whom the prayer is directed: " Convert us, O God of our salvation, and turn Thine anger away from us?"^ And both if He does this, He does it in mercy, so that it is said of Him, " Not according to our sins hath He dealt with us, nor hath He recom- pensed us according to our iniquities; " ^ and when He refrains from doing this to any, it is in judgment that He refrains. And who shall say to Him, " What hast Thou done?" when with pious mind the saints sing to the praise of His mercy and judgment? Wherefore even in the case of His saints and faithful servants He applies to them a tardier cure in certain of their failings, in order that, while they are involved in these, a less pleasure than is sufficient. for the fulfilling of righteousness in all its perfection may be ex- perienced by them at any good they may achieve, whether hidden or manifest; so that in respect of His most perfect rule of equity and truth " no man living can be justified in His sight." ** He does not in His own self, indeed, wish us to fall under condemnation, but that we should become humble; and He displays to us all the self-same grace of His own. Let us not, how- ever, after we have attained facility in all things, suppose that to be our own which is really His j for that would be an error most antagonistic to religion and piety. Nor let us think that we should, because of His grace, continue in the same sins as of old; but against that very pride, on account of which we are humiliated in them, let us, above all things, both vigilantly strive and ardently pray Him, knowing at the same time that it is by His gift that we have the power thus to strive and thus to pray; so that in every case, while we look not at ourselves, but raise our hearts above, we may render thanks to the Lord our God, and whenever we glory, glory in Him alone.
CHA?: 34 [XX.] — (4) TH.^T NO MAN, WITH THE EXCEPTION OF CHRIST, H.'^S EVER LIVED, OR CAN LIVE WITHOUT SIN.'^ [4//2.] There now remains our fourth point, after the explanation of which, as God shall help us, this lengthened treatise of ours may at last be brought to an end. It is this: Whether the man who never has had sin or is to have it, not merely is now living as one of the sons of men, but even could ever have existed at any time, or will yet in time to come exist? Now it is altogether most * Ps. Ixxxv. 4. 7 Ps. ciii. 10.
* Ps. cxliii. 2.
58 THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Book II.
certain that such a man neither does now hve, nor has Hved, nor ever will live, except the one only Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus. We have already said a good deal on this subject in our remarks on the baptism of infants; for if these have no sin, not only are there at present, but also there have been, and there will be, persons innumerable without sin. Now if the point which we treated of under the second head be truly substantiated, that there is in fact no man without sin," then of course not even infants are without sin. From which the conclusion arises, that even supposing a man could possibly exist in the present life so far ad- vanced in virtue as to have reached the perfect fulness of holy living which is absolutely free from sin, he still must have been undoubtedly a sinner previously, and have been converted from the sinful state to this subsequent newness of life. Now when we were discussing the second head, a different question was before us from that which is before us under this fourth head. For then the point we had to consider was. Whether any man in this life could ever attain to such perfection as to be al)solutely without sin by the grace of God, by the hearty desire of his own will? whereas the question now proposed in this fourth place is. Whether there be among the sons of men, or could possibly ever have been, or yet ever can be, a man who has not indeed emerged out of sin and -attained to perfect righteousness, but has never, at any time whatever, been under the bondage of sin? If, therefore, the remarks are true which we have made at so great length concerning infants, there neither is, has been, nor will be, among the sons of men any such man, except the one Mediator, in whom- there accrues to us propitiation and justification through which we have reconciliation with God, by the termi- nation of the enmity produced by our sins. It will therefore be not unsuitable to retrace a few considerations, so far as the present subject seems to require, from the very commencement of the human race, in order that they may in- form and strengthen the reader's mind in answer to some objections which may possibly disturb him.
CHAP. 35 [XXI.] ADAM AND EVE; OBEDIENCE MOST STRONGLY ENJOINED BY GOD ON MAN.
When the first human beings — the one man Adam, and his wife Eve who came out of him — willed not to obey the commandment which they had received from God, a just and deserved punishment overtook them. The Lord had threatened that, on the day they ate the forbid- den fruit, they should surely die.^ Now, inas- much as they had received the permission of ' See above, chs. 8, g. ^ Gen. ii. 17.
using for food every tree that grew in Paradise, among which God had planted the tree of life, but had been forbidden to partake of one only tree, which He called the tree of knowledge of good and evil, to signify by this name the consequence of their discovering whether what good they would experience if they kept the prohibition, or what evil if they transgressed it: they are no doubt rightly considered to have abstained from the forbidden food previous to the malignant persuasion of the devil, and to have used all which had been allowed them, and therefore, among all the others, and before all the others, ' the tree of life. For what could be more absurd than to suppose that they partook of the fruit of other trees, but not of that which had been equally with others granted to them, and which, by its especial virtue, prevented even their ani- mal bodies from undergoing change through the decay of age, and from aging into death, apply- ing this benefit from its own body to the man's body, and in a mystery demonstrating what is conferred by wisdom (which it symbolized) on • the rational soul, even that, quickened by its fruit, it should not be changed into the decay and death of iniquity? For of her it is rightly said, " She is a tree of Hfe to them that lav hold of her." 3 Just as the one tree was for the bodily Paradise, the other is for the spiritual; the one affording a vigour to the senses of the outward man, the other to those of the inner man, such as will abide without any change for the worse through time. They therefore served God, since that dutiful obedience was committed to them, by which alone God can be worshipped. And it was not possible more suitably to intimate the inherent importance of obedience, or its sole suffi- ciency securely to keep the rational creature un- der the Creator, than by forbidding a tree which was not in itself evil. For God forbid that the Creator of good things, who made all things, "and behold they were very good,""* should plant anything evil amidst the fertility of even that material Paradise. Still, however, in order that he might show man, to whom submission to such a Master would be very useful, how much good belonged simply to obedience (and this was all that He had demanded of His servant, and this would be of advantage not so much for the lordship of the Master as for the profit of the servant), they were forbidden the use of a tree, which, if it had not been for the prohibition, they might have used without suffering any evil result whatever; and from this circumstance it may be clearly understood, that whatever evil they brought on themselves because they made use of it in spite of the prohibition, the tree did not produce from any noxious or pernicious quality Chap. 3S.]
ON FORGIVENESS OF SINS, AND BAPTISM.
59 in its fruit, but entirely on account of their violated obedience.
CHAP. 36 [XXII.] man's state BEFORE THE FALL.
Before they had thu.s violated their obedience they were pleasing to God, and God was pleas- ing to them; and though they carried about an animal body, they yet felt in it no disobedience mo\'ing against themselves. This was the right- eous appointment, that inasmuch as their soul had received from the Lord the body for its servant, as it itself obeyed the Lord, even so its body should obey Him, and should exhibit a service suitable to the life given it without re- sistance. Hence " they were both naked, and were not ashamed." ' It is with a natural in- stinct of shame that the rational soul is now indeed affected, because in that flesh, over whose service it received the right of power, it can no longer, owing to some indescribable infirmity, prevent the motion of the members thereof, not- withstanding its own unwillingness, nor excite them to motion even when it wishes. Now these members are on this account, in every man of chastity, rightly called ''pudenda,''' ^ be- cause they excite themselves, just as they like, in opposition to the mind which is their master, as if they were their own masters; and the sole authority which the bridle of virtue possesses over them is to check them from approaching impure and unlawful pollutions. Such disobe- dience of the flesh as this, which lies in the very excitement, even when it is not allowed to take effect, did not exist in the first man and woman whilst they were naked and not ashamed. For not yet had the rational soul, which rules the flesh, developed such a disobedience to its Lord, as by a reciprocity of punishment to bring on itself the rebellion of its own servant the flesh, along with that feeling of confusion and trouble to itself which it certainly failed to inflict upon God by its own disobedience to Him; for God is put to no shame or trouble when we do not obey Him, nor are we able in any wise to lessen His very great power over us; but we are shamed in that the flesh is not submissive to our govern- ment, — a result which is brought about by the infirmity which we have earned by sinning, and is called " the sin which dwelleth in our mem- bers." 3 But this sin is of such a character that it is the punishment of sin. As soon, indeed, as that transgression was effected, and the disobedi- ent soul turned away from the law of its Lord, then its servant, the body, began to cherish a law of disobedience against it; and then the man and the woman grew ashamed of their nakedness, when they perceived the rebellious ' Gen. ii 25.
^ i.e. " Partb of shame."
3 Rom. vii. 17, 23.
motion of the flesh, which they had not felt be- fore, and which perception is called " the open- ing of their eyes; " t for, of course, they did not walk about among the trees with closed eyes. The same thing is said of Hagar: " Her eyes were opened, and she saw a well." s Then the man and the woman covered their parts of shame, which God had made for them as members, but they had made parts of shame.
CHAP. 37 [xXIIl] — THE CORRUPTION OF X.ATURE IS BY SIN, ITS RENOVATION IS BY CHRIST.
From this law of sin is born the flesh of sin, which requires cleansing through the sacrament of Him who came in the likeness of sinful flesli, that the body of sin might be destroyed, which is also called " the body of this death," from which only God's grace delivers wretched man through Jesus Christ our Lord.*^ For this law, the origin of death, passed on from the first pair to their posterity, as is seen in the labour with which all men toil in the earth, and the travail of women in the pains of childbirth. For these suf- ferings they merited by the sentence of God, when they were convicted of sin; and we see them ful- filled not only in them, but also in their descend- ants, in some more, in others less, but nevertheless in all. Whereas, however, the primeval righteous- ness of the first human beings consisted in obey- ing God, and not having in their members the la\v~ef their own concupiscence against the law of their mind; now, since their sin, in our sinful flesh which is born of them, it is obtained by those who obey God, as a great acquisition, that they do not obey the desires of this evil con- cupiscence, but crucify in themselves the flesh with its affections and lusts, in order that they may be Jesus Christ's, who on His cross symbol- ized this, and who gave them power through His grace to become the sons of God. For it is not to all men, but to as many as have received Him, that He has given to be born again to God of the Spirit, after they were bom to the world by the flesh. Of these indeed it is writ- ten: "But as many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God; which were born, not of the flesh, nor of blood, nor of the will of man, nor of the will of the flesh, but of God." 7 CHAP. 38 [XXIV.] WHAT BENEFIT HAS BEEN CONFERRED ON US BY THE INCARNATION OF THE word; CHRIST'S BIRTH IN THE FLESH, WHEREIN IT IS LIKE AND WHEREIN UNLIKE OUR OWN BIRTH.
He goes on to add, "And the Word was made 6o THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Book II.
flesh, and dwelt among us; " ' as much as to say, A great thing indeed has been done among them, even that they are born again to God of God, who had before been born of the flesh to the world, although created by God Himself; but a far more wonderful thing has been done, that, although it accrued to them by nature to be born of the flesh, but by the divine goodness to be born of God, — in order that so great a ben- efit might be imparted to them, He who was in His own nature born of God, vouchsafed in mercy to be also born of the flesh; — no less being meant by the passage, "And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us." Hereby, he says in effect, it has been wrought that we who were born of the flesh as flesh, by being after- Avards born of the Spirit, may be spirit and dwell in God; because also God, who was born of God, by being afterwards born of the flesh, be- came flesh, and dwelt among us. For the Word, which became flesh, was in the beginning, and was God with God.^ But at the same time His participation in our inferior condition, in order to our participation in His higher state, held a kind of medium ^ in His birth of the flesh; so that we indeed were born in sinful flesh, but He was born in the likeness of sinful flesh, — we not only of flesh and blood, but also of the will of man, and of the flesh, but He was born only of flesh and blood, not of the will of man, nor oi the will of the flesh, but of God: we, there- fore, to die on account of sin, He, to die on our account without sin. So also, just as His inferior circumstances, into which He descended to us, were not in every particular exactly the same with our inferior circumstances, in which He found us here; so our superior state, into which we ascend to Him, will not be quite the same with His superior state, in which we are there to find Him. For we by His grace are to be made the sons of God, whereas He was ever- more by nature the Son of God; we, when we are converted, shall cleave to God, though not as His equals; He never turned from God, and remains ever equal to God; we are partakers of eternal life. He is eternal life. He, therefore, alone having become man, but still continuing to be God, never had any sin, nor did he assume a flesh of sin, though born of a maternal "♦ flesh of sin. For what He then took of flesh, He either cleansed in order to take it, or cleansed by tak- ing it. His virgin mother, therefore, whose con- ception was not according to the law of sinful flesh (in other words, not by the excitement of 3 Medieiatem.
4 De maternA came peccati, which is the reading of the best and oldest Mss. Another reading has, De uaturA carnis peccati (" of the nature of sinful flesh"); and a third, De viaterid carnis peccati (" of the matter of sinful flesh "). Compare Contr. Juliunuiii, v. 9, and De Gen. ad. Lit. x. 18-20.
carnal concupiscence), but who merited by her faith that the holy seed should be framed within her. He formed in order to choose her, and chose in order to be formed from her. How much more needful, then, is it for sinful flesh to be baptized in order to escape the judgment, when the flesh which was untainted by sin was baptized to set an example for imitation?
CHAP. 39 [XXV.] AN OBJECTION OF THE PELAGIANS.
The answer, which we have already given, s to those who say, " If a sinner has begotten a sinner, a righteous man ought also to have begotten a righteous man," we now advance in reply to such as argue that one who is born of a baptized man ought himself to be regarded as already bap- tized. " For why," they ask, " could he not have been baptized in the loins of his father, when, according to the Epistle to the Hebrews, Levi,^ was able to pay tithes in the loins of Abraham? " They who propose this argument ought to ob- serve that Levi did not on this account subse- quently not pay tithes, because he had paid tithes already in the loins of Abraham, but be- cause he was ordained to the ofiice of the priest- hood in order to receive tithes, not to pay them; otherwise neither would his brethren, who all contributed their tithes to him, have been tithed — because they too, whilst in the loins of Abraham, had already paid tithes to ]\Iel- chisedec.
CHAP. 40. AN ARGUMENT ANTICIPATED.
And let no one contend that the descendants of Abraham might fairly enough have paid tithes, although they had already paid tithes in the loins of their forefather, seeing that paying tithes was an obligation of such a nature as to require con- stant repetition from each several person, just as the Israelites used to pay such contributions every year all through life to their Levites, to whom were due various tithes from all kinds of produce; whereas baptism is a sacrament of such a nature as is administered once for all, and if one had already received it when in his father, he must be considered as no other than baptized, since he was born of a man who had been himself bap- tized. Well, whoever thus argues (I will simply say, without discussing the point at length,) should look at circumcision, which was adminis- tered once for all, and yet was administered to each person separately and individually. Just as therefore it was necessary in the time of that an- cient sacrament for the son of a circumcised man to be himself circumcised, so now the son of one who has been baptized must himself also receive baptism.
5 See above, c. 11.
<> The allusion is to Heb. vii. 9.
Chap. 42.]
ON FORGIVENESS OF SINS, AND BAPTISM.
61 CHAP. 41. CHILDREN OF BELIEVERS ARE CALLED "clean" by the APOSTLE.'
The apostle indeed says, " Else were your children unclean, but now are they holy; " ^ and " therefore " they inier '■ there was no necessity for the children of believers to be baptized." I am surprised at the use of such language by persons who deny that original sin has been transmitted from Adam. For, if they take this passage of the apostle to mean that the children of believ- ers are born in a state of holiness, how is it that even they have no doubt about the necessity of their being baptized? Why, in fine, do they refuse to admit tliat any original sin is derived from a sinful parent, if some holiness is received from a holy parent? Now it certainly does not contravene our assertion, even if from the faith- ful '• holy " children are propagated, when we hold that unless they are baptized those go into damnation, to whom our opponents themselves shut the kingdom of heaven, although they insist that they are without sin, whether actual or ori- ginal.^ Or, if they think it an unbecoming thing for " holy ones " to be damned, how can it be a becoming thing to exclude " holy ones" from the kingdom of God? They should rather joay espe- cial attention to this point. How can something sinful ht'lp being derived from sinful parents, if something holy is derived from holy parents, and uncleanness from unclean parents? For the two- fold principle was affirmed when he said, " Else were your children unclean, but now are they holyy They should also explain to us how it is right that the holy children of believers and the unclean children of unbelievers are, notwithstand- ing their different circumstances, equally prohib- ited from entering the kingdom of God, if they have not been baptized. What avails that sanc- tity of theirs to the one? Now if they were to maintain that the unclean children of unbelievers are damned, but that the holy children of behev- ers are unable to enter the kingdom of heaven unless they are baptized, — but nevertheless are not damned, because they are " holy," — that would be some sort of a distinction; but as it is, they equally declare respecting the holy chil- dren of holy parents and the unclean offspring of unclean parents, that they are not damned, since they have not any sin; and that they are