excluded from the kingdom of God because they are unbaptized. ^\■hat an absurdity! Who can suppose that such splendid geniuses do not per- ceive it?
chap. 42. SANCTIFICATION MANIFOLD; SACRA- MENT OF CATECHUiMFNS.
Our opinions on this point are stricdy in uni- ' fSee Gelasius, in his Treatise against the Pelagians.'\ - I Cor. vii. 14.
^ See above, Book i. chs 21-23.
son with the apostle's himself, who said, " From one all to condemnation," and " from one all to justification of life." ■* Now how consistent these statements are with what he elsewhere says, when treating of another pomt, " Else were your chil- dren unclean, but now are they holy," consider a while, [xxvi.] Sanctification is not of merely one measure; for even catechumens, I take it, are sanctified in their own measure by the sign of Christ, and the prayer of imposition of hands; and what they receive is holy, although it is not the body of Christ, — holier than any food which constitutes our ordinary nourishment, because it is a sacrament. 5 However, that very meat and drink, wherewithal the necessities of our present life are sustained, are, according to the same apostle, " sanctified by the word of God and prayer," ^ even the prayer with which we beg that our bodies may be refreshed. Just as therefore this sanctification of our ordinary food does not hinder what enters the mouth from descending into the belly, and being ejected into the draught,^ and partaking of the corruption into which every- thing earthly is resolved, whence the Lord ex- horts us to labour for the other food which never perishes: '^ so the sanctification of the catechumen, if he is not baptized, does not avail for his entrance into the kingdom of heaven, nor for the remission of his sins. And, by parity of reason- ing, that sanctification likewise, of whatever meas- ure it be, which, according to the apostle, is in the children of believers, has nothing whatever to do with the question of baptism and of the ori- gin or the remission of sin.^ The apostle, in this very passage which has occupied our attention, says that the unbeliever of a married couple is sanctified by a believing partner: " For the un- believing husband is sanctified by the wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified by the husband. Else were your children unclean, but now are they holy." ^ Now, \ should say, there is not a man whose mind is so warped by unbelief, as to suppose that, whatever sense he gives to these words, they can possibly mean that a husband who is not a Christian should not be l)aptized, because his wife is a Christian, and that he has already obtained remission of his sins, with the certain prospect of entering the kingdom of heaven, because he is described as being sancti- fied by his wife.
^ See Rom. v. 18.
5 Catechumens received the sacrametitum salis — salt pl.iced in the mouth — with other rites, such as exorcism and the sign of the cross; the Lord's Prayer and other invocations concluding the cere- mony. See Canon 5 of the third Council of Carthage; also Augus- tin's De Catechiz. Rud. 50; and his Confessions, i. 11, where (speaking of his own catechumenical course) he says: " I was now signed with the sign of His cross, and was seasoned with His salt."
9 See btljw, Book iii. ch. 21; and his Sermons, xxix. 4.
62 THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Book II.
CHAP. 43 [xXVn.] WHY THE CHILDREN THE BAPTIZED SHOULD BE BAPTIZED.
OF If any man, however, is still perplexed by the question why the children of ba-ptized persons are baptized, let him briefly consider this: In- asmuch as the generation of sinful flesh through the one man, Adam, draws into condemnation all who are born of such generation, so the gen- eration of the Spirit of grace through the one man Jesus Christ, draws to the justification of eternal life all who, because predestinated, par- take of this regeneration. But the sacrament of baptism is undoubtedly the sacrament of regen- ation. Wherefore, as the man who has never lived cannot die, and he who has never died cannot rise again, so he who has never been born cannot be born again. From which the con- clusion arises, that no one who has not been born could possibly have been born again in his father. Born again, however, a man must be, after he has been born; because, " Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God " ' Even an infant, therefore, must be imbued with the sacrament of regeneration, lest without it his would be an unhappy exit out of this life; and this baptism is not administered except for the remission of sins. And so much does Christ show us in this very passage; for when asked, How could such things be? He reminded His questioner of what Moses did when he lifted up the serpent. Inasmuch, then, as infants are by the sacrament of baptism con- formed to the death of Christ, it must be ad- mitted that they are also freed from the serpent's poisonous bite, unless we wilfully wander from the rule of the Christian faith. This bite, how- ever, they did not receive in their own actual life, but in him on whom the wound was pri- marily inflicted.
CHAP. 44. — AN OBJECTION OF THE PELAGIANS.
Nor do they fail to see this point, that his own sins are no detriment to the parent after his conversion; they therefore raise the question: " How much more impossible is it that they should be a hinderance to his son? " But they who thus think do not attend to this considera- tion, that as his own sins are not injurious to the father for the very reason that he is born again of the Spirit, so in the case of his son, unless he be in the same manner born again, the sins which he derived from his father will prove injurious to him. Because even renewed parents beget children, not out of the first-fruits of their re- newed condition, but carnally out of the remains of the old nature; and the children who are thus the offspring of their parents' remaining old nature, and are born in sinful flesh, escape from ' John iii. 3.
' John iii. 3.
the condemnation which is due to the old man by the sacrament of spiritual regeneration and renewal. Now this is a consideration which, on account of the controversies that have arisen, and may still arise, on this subject, we ought to keep in our view and memory, — that a full and perfect remission of sins takes place only in bap- tism, that the character of the actual man does not at once undergo a total change, but that the first-fruits of the Spirit in such as walk worthily change the old carnal nature into one of like character by a process of renewal, which increases day by day, until the entire old nature is so reno- vated that the very weakness of the natural body attains to the strength and incorruptibility of the spiritual body.
CH.\P. 45 [XXVIII.] THE LAW OF SIN IS CALLED SIN; HOW CONCUPISCENCE STILL RE.MAINS AFTER ITS EVIL HAS BEEN REMOVED IN THE BAPTIZED.
This law of sin, however, which the apostle also designates *' sin," when he says, " Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof," ^ does not so remain in the members of those who are born again of water and the Spirit, as if no remission thereof has been made, because there is a full and perfect remission of our sins, all the enmity being slain, which separated us from God; but it remains in our old carnal nature, as if over- come and destroyed, if it does not, by consent- ing to unlawful objects, somehow revive, and recover its own reign and dominion. There is, however, so clear a distinction to be seen between this old carnal nature, in which the law of sin, or sin, is already repealed, and that life of the Spirit, in the newness of which they who are baptized are through God's grace born again, that the apostle deemed it too little to say of such that they were not in sin; unless he also said that they were not in the flesh itself, even before they departed out of this mortal life. " They that are in the flesh," says he, " cannot please God; but ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you." ^ And indeed, as they turn to good account the flesh itself, however corruptible it be, who apply its members to good works, and no longer are in that flesh, since they do not mould their under- standing nor their life according to its principles; and as they in like manner make even a good use of death, which is the penalty of the first sin, who encounter it with fortitude and patience for their brethren's sake, and for the faith, and in defence of whatever is true and holy and just, — so also do all " true yokefellows " in the faith turn to good account that very law of sin which still remains, though remitted, in their old 2 Rom. vi. 12.
3 Ro;n viii. 8, 9.
Chap. 48.]
ON FORGIVENESS OF SINS, AND BAPTISM.
carnal nature, who, because they have the new hfe in Christ, do not permit hist to have domin- ion over them. And yet these very persons, because they still carry about Adam's old nature, mortally generate children to be immortally re- generated, with that propagation of sin, in which such as are born again are not held bound, and from which such as are born are released by being born again. As long, then, as the law by concupiscence ' dwells in the members, although it remains, the guilt of it is released; but it is released only to him who has received the sacra- ment of regeneration, and has already begun to be renewed. But whatsoever is born of the old nature, which still abides with its concupiscence, requires to be born again in order to be healed. Seeing that believing parents, who have been both carnally born and spiritually born again, have themselves begotten children in a carnal manner, how could their children by any possi- bihty, previous to their first birth, have bepn born again?
CHAP. 46.- GUILT MAY BE TAKEN AWAY BUT CONCUPISCENCE REMAIN.
You must not be surprised at what I have said, that although the law of sin remains with its concupiscence, the guilt thereof is done away through the grace of the sacrament. For as wicked deeds, and words, and thoughts have already passed away, and cease to exist, so far as regards the mere movements of the mind and the body, and yet their guilt remains after they have passed away and no longer exist, unless it be done away by the remission of sins; so, con- trariwise, in this law of concupiscence, which is not yet done away but still remains, its guilt is done away, and continues no longer, since in baptism there takes place a full forgiveness of sins. Indeed, if a man were to quit this present life immediately after his baptism, there would be nothing at all left to hold him liable, inasmuch as all which held him is released. As, on the one hand, therefore, there is nothing strange in the fact that the guilt of past sins of thought, and word, and deed remains before their remission; so, on the other hand, there ought to be nothing to create surprise, that the guilt of remaining concupiscence passes away after the remission of sin.
CHAP. 47 [XXIX.] — ALL THE PREDESTINATED ARE SAVED THROUGH THE ONE MEDIATOR CHRIST, AND BY ONE AND THE SAME FAITH.
This being the case, ever since the time when by one man sin thus entered into this world and death by sin, and so it passed through to all men, ' We follow the reading, lex \scil peccati] conciipisceniialiter.
etc.
^ Compare Augustin's Contra yulianutn, vi. c. 22.
up to the end of this carnal generation and per- ishing world, the children of which beget and are begotten, there never has existed, nor ever will exist, a human being of whom, placed in this life of ours, it could be said that he had no sin at all, with the exception of the one Mediator, who reconciles us to our Maker through the for- giveness of sins. Now this same Lord of ours has never yet refused, at any period of the human race, nor to the last judgment will He ever re- fuse, this His healing to those whom, in His most sure foreknowledge and future loving-kindness, He has predestinated to reign with Himself to life eternal. For, previous to His birth in the flesh, and weakness in suffering, and power in His own resurrection, He instructed all who then lived, in the faith of those then future blessings, that they might inherit everlasting life; whilst those who were alive when all these things were being accomplished in Christ, and who were wit- nessing the fulfilment of prophecy. He instructed in the faith of these then present blessings; whilst again, those who have since lived, and ourselves who are now alive, and all those who are yet to live, He does not cease to instruct, in the faith of these now past blessings. It is therefore " one faith " which saves all, who after their carnal birth are born again of the Spirit, and it terminates in Him, who came to be judged for us and to die, — the Judge of quick and dead. But the sacraments of this "one faith" are varied from time to time in order to its suitable signification.
CHAP. 48. CHRIST THE SAVIOUR EVEN OF IN- FANTS; CHRIST, WHEN AN INFANT, WAS FREE FROM IGNORANCE AND MENTAL WEAKNESS.
He is therefore the Saviour at once of infants and of adults, of whom the angel said, " There is born unto you this day a Saviour; " ^ and con- cerning whom it was declared to the Virgin Mary,+ " Thou shalt call His name Jesus, for He shall save His people from their sins," where it is plainly shown that He was called Jesus be- cause of the salvation which He bestows upon us, — Jesus being tantamount to the Latin Sal- vator, "Saviour." Who then can be so bold as to maintain that the Lord Christ is Jesus only for adults and not for infants also? who came in the likeness of sinful flesh, to destroy the body of sin, with infants' limbs fitted and suitable for no use in the extreme weakness of such body, and His rational soul oppressed with miserable ignorance! Now that such entire ignorance ex- isted, I cannot suppose in the infant in whom the Word was made flesh, that He might dwell among us; nor can I imagine that such weak- ness of the mental faculty ever existed in the 3 Luke ii. 11.
* Rather to Joseph, Mary's husband; Matt. i. 21.
64 THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Book II.
infant Christ which we see in infants generally. For it is owing to such infirmity and ignorance that infants are disturbed with irrational affec- tions, and are restrained by no rational command or government, but by pains and penalties, or the terror of such; so that you can quite see that thev are children of that disobedience, which excites itself in the members of our body in oppo- sition to the law of the mind, — and refuses to be still, even when the reason wishes; nay, often is either repressed only by some actual infliction of bodily pain, as for instance by flogging; or is checked only by fear, or by some such mental emotion, but not by any admonishing of the will. Inasmuch, however, as in Him there was the likeness of sinful flesh, He willed to pass through the changes of the various stages of life, beginning even with infancy, so that it would siem as if even His flesh might have arrived at death by the gradual approach of old age, if He had not been killed while young. Nevertheless, the death is inflicted in sinful flesh as the due of disobedience, but in the likeness of sinful flesh it was undergone in voluntary obedience. For when He was on His way to it, and was soon to suffer it. He said, " Behold, the prince of this world cometh, and hath nothing in me. But tliat all may know that I am doing my Father's will, arise, let us go hence." ' Having said these words. He went straightway, and encountered His undeserved death, having become obedient even unto death.
CHAP. 49 [XXX.J AN OBJECTION PELAGIANS.
OF THE They therefore who say, " If through the sin of the first man it was brought about that we must die, by the coming of Christ it should be brought about that, believing in Him, we shall not die; " and they add what they deem a reason, saying, " For the sin of the first transgressor could not possibly have injured us more than the incarnation or redemption of the Saviour has benefited us." But why do they not rather give an attentive ear, and an unhesitating belief, to that which the apostle has stated so unambigu- ously: " Since by man came death, by Man came also the resurrection of the dead; for as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive?" ^ For it is of nothing else than of the resurrection of the body that he Avas speaking. Having said that the bodily death of all men has come about through one man, he adds the promise that the bodily resurrection of all men to eternal life shall happen through one, even Christ. How can it therefore be that "the one has injured us more by sinning than the other has benefited us by redeeming," when by the sin of the former we die a temporal death, but by the redemption of the latter we rise again not to a temporal, but to a perpetual life? Our body, therefore, is dead because of sin, but Christ's body only died without sin, in order that, having poured out His blood without fault, "the bonds "3 which contain the register of all faults " might be blotted out," by which thev who now believe in Him were formerly held as debtors by the devil. And accordingly He says, "This is my blood, which is shed for many for the remission of sins." •♦ CHAP..50[XXXI.] — WHV IT IS THAT DEATH ITSELF IS NOT ABOLISHED, ALONG WITH SIN, BV BAPTISM.
He might, however, have also conferred this upon believers, that they should not even ex- perience the death of their body. But if He had done this, there might no doubt have been added a certain felicity to the flesh, but the forti- tude of faith would have been diminished; for men have such a fear of death, that they would declare Christians happy, for nothing else than their mere immunity from dying. And no one would, for the sake of that life which is to be so happy after death, hasten to the grace of Christ by the power of his contempt of death itself; but with a view to remove the trouble of death, would rather resort to a more delicate mode of believing in Christ. More grace, therefore, than this has He conferred on those who believe on Him; and a greater gift, undoubtedly, has He vouchsafed to them! What great matter would it have been for a man, on seeing that people did not die when they became believers, himself also to believe that he was not to die? How much greater a thing is it, how much braver, how much more laudable, so to believe, that although one is sure to die, he can still hope to live hereafter for evermore! At last, upon some there will be bestowed this blessing at the last day, that they shall not feel death itself in sud- den change, but shall be caught up along with the risen in the clouds to meet Christ in the air, and so shall they ever live with the Lord.s And rightly shall it be these who receive this grace, since there will be no posterity after them to be led to believe, not by the hope of what they see not, but by the love of what they see. This faith is weak and nerveless, and must not be called faith at all, inasmuch as faith is thus defined: "Faith is the firmness of those who hope,*" the clear proof of things which they do not see." 7 Accordingly, in the same Epistle to the Hebrews, 4 Matt. xxvi. 28.
5 I 'I'hess. iv. 17. Compare Retrac. ii. 33 and Letter 193.
* Aiigustin constantly quotes this text with the active participle sperantiitm, instead of sperandorum. The Greek eAn-t^OMei''"'' is not always construed passively in the passage; some regard it as of the middle voice.
7 Heb. xi. I.
Chap. 53.]
ON FORGIVENESS OF SINS, AND BAPTISM.
65 where this passage occurs, after enumerating in subsequent sentences certain worthies who pleased God by their faith, he says: " These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but seeing them afar off, and hailing them, and confessing that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth."' And then afterwards he con- cluded his eulogy on faith in these words: " And these all, having obtained a good report through faith, did not indeed receive God's promises; for they foresaw better things for us, and that without us they could not themselves become perfect." ^ Now this would be no praise for faith, nor (as I said) would it be faith at all, were men in believing to follow after rewards which they could see, — in other words, if on be- lievers were bestowed the reward of immortality in this present world.
CHAP. 51. — WHY THE DEVIL IS SAID TO HOLD THE POWER AND DOMINION OF DEATH.
Hence the Lord Himself willed to die, " in order that," as it is written of Him, " 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 bondage." ^ From this passage it is shown with sufficient clearness that even the death of the body came about by the instigation and work of the devil, — in a word, from the sin which he persuaded man to commit; nor is there any other reason why he should be said in strictness of truth to hold the power of death. Accordingly, He who died without any sin, ori- ginal or actual, said in the passage I have already quoted: " Behold, the prince of this world," that is, the devil, who had the power of death, " Cometh and findeth nothing in me," — mean- ing, he shall find no sin in me, because of which he has caused men to die. As if the question were asked Him: Why then should you die? He says, " That all may know that I am doing the will of my Father, arise, let us go hence; " ^ that is, that I may die, though I have no cause of death from sin under the author of sin, but only from obedience and righteousness, having be- come obedient unto death. Proof is likewise afforded us by this passage, that the fact of the faithful overcoming the fear of death is a part of the struggle of faith itself; for all struggle would indeed be at an end, if imnhortality were at once to become the reward of them that believe.
CHAP. 52 [XXXII.] WHY CHRIST, AFTER HIS RESURRECTION, WITHDREW HIS PRESENCE FROM THE WORLD.
Although, therefore, the Lord wrought many ' Heb. xi. 13.
° Heb. xi. 39, 40.
5 Heb. it. 14.
visible miracles in order that faith might sprout at first and be fed by infant nourishment, and grow to its full strength by and by out of this softness (for as fliith becomes stronger the less does it seek such help); He nevertheless wished us to wait quietly, without visible inducements, for the promised hope, in order that " the just might live by faith; " 5 and so great was this wish of His, that though He rose from the dead the third day, He did not desire to remain among men, but, after leaving a proof of his resurrection by showing Himself in the flesh to those whom He deigned to have for His wit- nesses of this event, He ascended into heaven, withdrawing Himself thus from their sight, and conferring no such thing on the flesh of any one of them as He had displayed in His own flesh, in order that they too " might live by faith," and in the present world might wait in patience and without visible inducements for the reward of that righteousness in which men live by faith, — a reward which should hereafter be visibly and openly bestowed. To this signification I believe that passage must be referred which He speaks concerning the Holy Ghost: " He will not come, unless I depart." ^ For this was in fact saying,