Then again, as for what he says, " For I have kept His ways, and have not turned aside from His commandments, nor will I depart from them; " ■♦ he has kept God's ways who does not so turn aside as to forsake them, but makes progress by running his course therein; although, weak as he is, he sometimes stumbles or falls, onward, however, he still goes, sinning less and less until he reaches the perfect state in which he will sin no more. For in no other way could he make progress, except by keeping His ways. The man, indeed, who declines from these and becomes an apostate at last, is certainly not he who, although he has sin, yet never ceases to persevere in fighting against it until he arrives at the home where there shall remain no more conflict with death. Well now, it is in our pres- ent struggle therewith that we are clothed with the righteousness in which we here live by faith, — clothed with it as it were with a breastplate.5 Judgment also we take on ourselves; and even when it is against us, we turn it round to our own behalf; for we become our own accusers and condemn our sins: whence that scripture which says, " The righteous man accuses himself at the beginning of his speech." '^ Hence also he says: " I put on righteousness, and clothed ' Job xvi. 18.
* Job xxiii. II, 12.
^ Job IX. 17. S Eph. vi. 14.
myself with judgment like a mantle." ^ Our vesture at present no doubt is wont to be armour for war rather than garments of peace, while concupiscence has still to be subdued; it will be diff'erent by and by, when our last enemy death shall be destroyed,^ and our righteousness shall be full and complete, without an enemy to molest us more.
(28.) WHEN OUR HEART MAY BE SAID NOT TO RE- PROACH US; WHEN GOOD IS TO BE PERFECTED.
Furthermore, concerning these words of Job, " My heart shall not reproach me in all my life," "> we remark, that it is in this present life of ours, in which we live by faith, that our heart does not reproach us, if the same faith whereby we believe unto righteousness does not neglect to rebuke our sin. On this principle the apostle says: " The good that I would I do not; but the evil which I would not, that I do." '° Now it is a good thing to avoid concupiscence, and this good the just man would, who lives by faith; " and still he does what he hates, because he has concupiscence, although " he goes not after his lusts; " '- if he has done this, he has himself at that time really done it, so as to yield to, and acquiesce in, and obey the desire of sin. His heart then reproaches him, because it re- proaches himself, and not his sin which dwelleth in him. But whensoever he suffers not sin to reign in his mortal body to obey it in the lusts thereof,'^ and }-ields not his members as instru- ments of unrighteousness unto sin,'* sin no doubt is present in his members, but it does not reign, because its desires are not obeyed. Therefore, while he does that which he would not, — in other words, while he wishes not to lust, but still lusts, — he consents to the law that it is good: 's for what the law would, that he also wishes \ because it is his desire not to indulge concupis- cence, and the law expressly says, " Thou shalt not covet." "^ Now in that he wishes what tlie law also would have done, he no doubt consents to the law: but still he lusts, because he is not without sin; it is, however, no longer himself that does the thing, but the sin which dwells within him. Hence it is that " his heart does not reproach him in all his life;" that is, in his faith, because the just man lives by faith, so that' his faith is his very life. He knows, to be sure, that in himself dwells nothing good, — even in his flesh, which is the dwelling-place of sin. By not consenting, however, to it, he lives by faith, wherewith he also calls upon God to help him in his contest against sin. Moreover, there is present to him to will that no sin at all should be in him, but then how to perfect this good is ' Job. xxix. 14, '° Kom. vii. 15. 'J Rom. vi. 12. '*" Ex. XX. 17.
9 Job xxvii. 6. '- Ecclus. xviii. 30. '5 Rom. vii. 16.
Chap. 30.]
ON MAN'S PERFECTION IN RIGHTEOUSNESS.
169 not present. It is not the mere "doing" of a goocf thing that is not present to liim, but the " perfecting " of it. For in this, that he yields no consent, he does good; he does good again, in this, that he hates his own lust; he does good also, in this, that he does not cease to give alms; and in this, that he forgives the man who sins against him, he does good; and in this, that he asks forgiveness for his own trespasses, — sin- cerely avowing in his petition that he also for- gives those who trespass against himself, and pra)'ing that he may not be led into temptation, but be delivered from evil, — he does good. But how to perfect the good is not present to him; it will be, however, in that final state, when the concupiscence which dwells in his members shall exist no more. His heart, therefore, does not reproach him, when it reproaches the sin which dwells in his members; nor can it reproach un- belief in him. Thus " in all his life," — that is, in his faith, — he is neither reproached by his own heart, nor convinced of not being without sin. And Job himself acknowledges this con- cerning himself, when he says, " Not one of my sins hath escaped Thee; Thou hast sealed up my transgressions in a bag, and marked if I have done iniquity unawares." ' With regard, then, to the passages which he has adduced from the book of holy Job, we have shown to the best of our ability in what sense they ought to be taken. He, however, has failed to explain the meaning of the words which he has himself quoted from the same Job: " Who then is pure from unclean- ness? Not one; even if he be an infant of only one day upon the earth." ^ CHAP. XII. (29.) THE SECOND PASSAGE. WHO MAY BE SAID TO ABSTAIN FROM EVERY EVIL THING.
"They are in the habit of next quoting," says he, " the passage: ' Every man is a liar.' " ^ But here again he offers no solution of words which are quoted against himself even by him- self; all he does is to mention other apparently opposite passages before persons who are unac- quainted with the sacred Scriptures, and thus to cast the word of God into conflict. This -is what he says: " We tell them in answer, how in the book of Numbers it is said, ' Man is true.' ■♦ While of holy Job this eulogy is read: ' There was a certain man in the land of Ausis, whose name was Job; that man was true, blameless, righteous, and godly, abstaining from every evil thing.' "5 I am surprised that he has brought forward this passage, which sa}'s that Job " ab- ' Job xiv. 16 * If this refe 17- Job XIV. 4, 5.
3 Ps. CXV. 2.
fer to Num. xxiv. 3, 15 {as the editions mark it), the (Quotation is most inexact. The Septuagint words o aiypwiro? 6 aArjOii'i,)? opcur is not a proposition equal to " homo verax," as an amiihesis to the proposition " oinnis homo mendax." fejobi. I.
Stained from every evil thing," wishing it to mean " abstained from every sin; " because he has argued already "^ that sin is not a thing, but an act. Let him recollect that, even if it is an act, it may still be called a thing. That man, however, abstains from every evil thing, who either never consents to the sin, which is always with him, or, if sometimes hard pressed by it, is never oppressed by it; just as the wresUing champion, who, although he is sometimes caught in a fierce grapple, does not for all that lose the prowess which constitutes him the better man. We read, indeed, of a man without blame, of one without accusation; but we never read of one without sin, except the Son of man, who is also the only-begotten Son of God.
(30.) "every M.\N IS A LIAR," OWING TO HIM- SELF alone; but "every man is true," by HELP only of the GRACE OF GOD.
"Moreover," says he, "in Job himself it is said: ' And he maintained the miracle of a true man.' ^ Again we read in Solomon, touching wisdom: ' Men that are liars cannot remember her, but men of truth sliall be found in her.' ** Again in the Apocalypse: ' And in their rriouth was found no guile, for they are without fault.' " '' To all these statements we reply with a reminder to our opponents, of how a man may be called true, through the grace and truth of God, who is in himself without doubt a liar. Whence it is said: " Every man is a liar." ^ As for the pas- sage also which he has quoted in reference to Wisdom, when it is said, " Men of truth shall be found in her," we must observe that it is un- doubtedly not " in her,'' but /// themselves that men shall be found liars. Just as in another passage: " Ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord," '° — when he said, " Ye were darkness," he did not add, " in the Lord; " but, after saying, " Ye are now light," he expressly added the phrase, "in the Lord." for they could not possibly be " light" in themselves; in order that " he who glorieth may glory in the Lord." " The " faultless " ones, indeed, in the Apocalypse, are so called because " no guile was found in their mouth." 9 They did not say they had no sin: if they had said this, they would deceive themselves, and the truth would not be in them; '^ and if the truth were not in them, guile and untruth would be found in their mouth. If, however, to avoid envy, they said they were not without sin, although they were sinless, then this very insincerity would be a lie, and the character given of them would be untrue: " In their mouth was found no guile." Hence in- deed " they are without fault; " for as they have I70 THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Chap. 31.
forgiven those who have done them wrong, so are they purified by God's forgiveness of them- selves. Observe now how we have to the best of our power explained in what sense the quota- tions he has in his own behalf advanced ought | to be understood. But how the passage, " Every man is a liar," is to be interpreted, he on his part has altogether omitted to explain; nor is an explanation within his power, without a correc- tion of the error which makes him believe that man can be true without the help of God's grace, and merely by virtue of his own free will.
CH.\P. XIII. (31.) THE THIRD P.ASSAGE. IT IS ONE THIXG TO DEPART, AND ANOTHER THING TO HAVE DEPARTED, FROM ALL SIN. "THERE IS NONE THAT DOETH GOOD," — OF WHOM THIS IS TO BE UNDERSTOOD.
He has likewise propounded another question, as we shall proceed to show, but has failed to solve it; nay, he has rather rendered it more difficult, by first stating the testimony that had been quoted against him: " There is none that doeth good, no, not one; " ' and then resorting to seemingly contrary passages to show that there are persons who do good. This he succeeded, no doubt, in doing. It is, however, one thing for a man not to do good, and another thing not to be without sin, although he at the same time may do many good things. The passages, there- fore, which he adduces are not really contrary to the statement that no person is without sm in this life. He does not, for his own part, explain in what sense it is declared that " there is none that doeth good, no, not one." These are his words: " Holy David indeed says, ' Hope thou in the Lord and be doing good.' "^ But this is a precept, and not an accomplished fact; and such a precept as is never kept by those of whom it is Slid, " There is none that doeth good, no, not one." He adds: " Holy Tobit also said, ' Fear not, my son, that we have to endure pov- erty; we shall have many blessings if we fear God, and depart from all sin, and do that which is good.' " 3 Most true indeed it is, that man shall have many blessings when he shall have departed from all sin. Then no evil shall betide him; nor shall he have need of the prayer, " Deliver us from evil." ■♦ Although even now every man who progresses, advancing ever with an upright purpose, departs from all sin, and becomes further removed from it as he ap- proaches nearer to the fulness and perfection of the righteous state; because even concupiscence itself, which is sin dwelling in our flesh, never ceases to diminish in those who are making progress, although it still remains in their mortal ' Ps. xiv. 3. * Matt vi 13.
2 Ps. xxxvii. 3.
3 Tobit iv. 21.
members. It is one thing, therefore, to depart from all sin, — a process which is even now in operation, — and another thing to have departed from all sin, which shall happen in the state of future perfection. But still, even he who has departed already from evil, and is continuing to do SO, must be allowed to be a doer of good. How then is it said, in the passage which he has quoted and left unsolved, "There is none that doeth good, no, not one," unless that the Psalmist there censures some one nation, amongst whom there was not a man that did good, wishing to remain " children of men," and not sons of God, by whose grace man becomes good, in order to do good? For we must suppose the Psalmist here to mean that " good " which he describes in the context, saying, " God looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand, and seek God." 5 Such good then as this, seeking after God, there was not a man found who pursued it, no, not one; but this was in that class of men which is predestinated to destruction.'^ It was upon such that God looked down in His foreknowledge, and passed sentence.
CHAP. XIV. (32.) THE FOURTH PASSAGE. IN WHAT SENSE GOD ONLY IS GOOD. WITH GOD TO BE GOOD.AND TO BE HIMSELF ARE THE SAME THING.
" They likewise," says he, " quote what the Saviour says: ' Why callest thou me good? There is none good save one, that is, God?' " 7 This statement, however, he makes no attempt whatever to explain; all he does is to oppose to it sundry other passages which seem to con- tradict it, which he adduces to show that man, too, is good. Here are his remarks: " We must answer this text with another, in which the same Lord says, ' A good man out of the good treas- ure of his heart bringeth forth good things.' ^ And again: ' He maketh His sun to rise on the good and on the evil.' 9 Then in another passage it is wTitten, ' For the good things are created from the beginning; ' '° and yet again, 'They that are good shall dwell in the land.' " " Now to all this we must say in answer, that the passages in question must be understood in the same sense as the former one, " There is none good, save one, that is, God." Either because all created things, although God made them very S Ps. xiv. 2.
S Ps. xiv. 2.
'' On this passage Fulgenlius remarks {Ad Moui»iitm, i. 5): " In no other sense do 1 suppose that passage of St. Aiigustin should be taken, in which he affirms that there are certain persons predestinated to destruction, than in regard to their punishment, not their sin; not to the evil which they unrighteously commit, but to the punishment which they shall righteously suffer; not to the sin on account of w hioh they either do not receive, or else lose, the benefit of the first resur- rection, but to the retribution which their own personal miquity evilly incurs, and the divine justice righteously inflicts."
Chap. 34.]
ON MAN'S PERFECTION IN RIGHTEOUSNESS.
171 good, are yet, when compared with their Creator, not good, being in fact incapable of any com- parison with Him. For in a transcendent, and yet very proper sense, He said oi' Himself, " I AM THAT I AM." ' The Statement therefore be- fore us, " None is good save one, that is, God," is used in some such way as that which is said of John, " He was not that light; " - although the Lord calls him " a lamp," ^ just as He says to His disciples: " Ye are the light of the world:.., neither do men light a lamp and put it under a bushel." ■♦ Still, in comparison with that light which is " the true lii^ht which lighteth every man that cometh into the world," s he was not light. Or else, because the very sons of God even, when compared with themselves as they shall hereafter become in their eternal perfection, are good in such a way that they still remain also evil. Although I should not have dared to say this of them (for who would be so bold as to call them evil who have God for their Father?) unless the Lord had Himself said: " If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask Him? " ^ Of course, by applying to them the words, " your Father," He proved that they were already sons of God; and yet at the same time He did not hesitate to say that they were " evil." Your author, however, does not explain to us how they are good, whilst yet " there is none good save one, that is, God." Accordingly the man who asked " what good thing he was to do,"? was admonished to seek Him '^ by whose grace he might be good; to whom also /o be good'x'a nothing else than to be Himself, because He is unchangeably good, and cannot be evil at all.
(33.) THE FIFTH PASSAGE. 9 "This," says he, "is another text of theirs: *Who will boast that he has a pure heart?' " '° And then he answered this with several pas- sages, wishing to show that there can be in man a pure heart. But he omits to inform us how the passage which he reported as quoted against himself must be taken, so as to prevent Holy Scripture seeming to be opposed to itself in this text, and in the passages by which he makes his answer. We for our part indeed tell him, in answer, that the clause, " Who will boast that he has a pure heart?" is a suitable sequel to the preceding sentence, "whenever a righteous king sits upon the throne." " For how great so- 3 John V. 35: I" hicernam," not " lux: " as also in the Dies free It IS s.tIiI of John, iwii iux iste, i,ed lucernam," in allusion lo these passages. — W. ] •° Prov. XX. 9. II Piov. XX. 8.
ever a man's righteousness may be, lie ought to reflect and think, lest there should be found sometliing blameworthy, which has escaped in- deed his own notice, when that righteous King shall sit upon His throne, whose cognizance no sins can possibly escape, not even those of which it is said, " Who understandeth his transgres- sions? " '^ " When, therefore, the righteous King shall sit upon His throne,...who will boast that he has a pure heart? or who will boldly say that he is pure from sin?"'^ Except perhaps those who wish to boast of their own righteous- ness, and not glory in the mercy of the Judge Himself.
CHAP. XV. (34.) THE OPPOSING PASSAGES.
And yet the passages are true which he goes on to adduce by way of answer, saying: " The Saviour in the gospel declares, ' Blessed are the pure in heart; for they shall see God.' '** David also says, ' Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord? or who shall stand in His holy place? He that is innocent in his hands, and pure in I his heart; ' '5 and again in another passage, ' Do ( good, O Lord, unto those that be good and up- i right in heart.' '"^ So also in Solomon: ' Riches are good unto him that hath no sin on his con- science; ' '7 and again in the same book, ' Leave off from sin, and order thine hands aright, and cleanse thy heart from wickedness.' '^ So in tlie Epistle of John, ' If our heart condemn us not, then have we confidence toward God; and what- soever we ask, we shall receive of Him.' " "^ For all this is accomplished by the will, by the exer- cise of faith, hope, and love; by keeping under the body; by doing alms; by forgiving injuries; by earnest prayer; by supplicating for strength to advance in our course; by sincerely sa\ing, us, as we also forgive others," and us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil." ^° By this process, it is certainly brought about that our heart is cleansed, and all our sin taken away; and what the righteous King, when sitting on His throne, shall find concealed in the heart and uncleansed as yet, shall be re- mitted by His mercy, so that the whole shall be rendered sound and cleansed for seeing God. For " he shall have judgment without mercy, that hath showed no mercy: yet mercy triumpheth against judgment."^' If it were not so, what hope could any of us have? " Wlien, indeed, the righteous King shall sit upon His throne, who shall boast tliat he hath a pure heart, or who shall boldly say that he is pure from sin? " Then, however, through His mercy shall the righteous, being by that time fully and perfectly cleansed, " Jas. ii. 13.
" Forgive " Lead I 172 THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Chap. 35.
shine forth Hke the glorious sun in the kingdom of their Father. ' (35.) THE CHURCH WILL BE WITHOUT SPOT AND WRINKLE AFTER THE RESURRECTION.
Then shall the Church realize, fully and per- fectly, the condition of "not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing," ^ because then also will it in a real sense be glorious. For uiasmuch as he added the epithet " glorious," when he said, " That He might present the Church to Himself, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing," he signified sufficiently when the Church will be without spot, or wrinkle, or anything of this kind, — then of course when it shall be glorious. Because it is not so much when the Church is involved in so many evils, or amidst such offences, and in so great a mixture of very evil men, and amidst the heavy reproaches of the ungodly, that we ought to say that it is glori- ous, because kings serve it, — a fact which only produces a more perilous and a sorer tempta- tion; — but then shall it rather be glorious, when that event shall come to pass of which the apostle also speaks in the words, " When Christ, who is your life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with Him in glory." 3 For since the Lord Him- self, in that form of a servant by which He united Himself as Mediator to the Church, was not glorified except by the glory of His resurrection (whence it is said, "The Spirit was not yet given, because Christ was not yet glorified " '»), how shall His Church be described as glorious, before ■ its resurrection? He cleanses it, therefore, now " by the laver of the water in the word," s wash- ing away its past sins, and driving off from it tJie dominion of wicked angels; but then by bring- ing all its healthy powers to perfection, He makes it meet for that glorious state, where it shall shine without a spot or wrinkle. For " whom He did predestinate, them He also called; and whom He called, them He also justified; and whom He justified, them He also glorified."*^ It was under this mystery, as I suppose, that that was spoken, " Behold, I cast out devils, and I do cures to-day and to-morrow, and the third day I shall be con- summated," or i:)erfected.7 For He said this in the person of His body, which is His Church, putting days for distinct and appointed periods, which He also signified in " the third day " in His resurrection.
(36.) THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE UPRIGHT IN HEART AND THE CLEAN IN HEART.
I suppose, too, that there is a difference be- tween one who is upright in heart and one who is clean in heart. A nian is upright in heart ■ Matt. xiii. 43. < John VII. 39, ' Luke xiii. 32.
3 Col. iii. 4. * Rom. viii. 30.
when he " reaches forward to those things which are before, forgetting those things which are be- hind," '^ so as to arrive in a right course, that is, with right faith and purpose, at the perfection where he may dwell clean and pure in heart. Thus, in the psalm, the conditions ought to be severally bestowed on each separate character, where it is said, " Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord? or who shall stand in His holy place? He that is innocent in his hands, and clean in his heart." 9 He shall ascend, innocent in his hands, and stand, clean in his heart, — the one state in present operation, the other in its consummation. And of them should rather be understood that which is written: " Riches are good unto him that hath no sin on his con- science." '° Then indeed shall accrue the good, or true riches, when all poverty shall have passed away; in other words, when all infirmity shall have been removed. A man may now indeed " leave off from sin," when in his onward course he departs from it, and is renewed day by day; and he may " order his hands," and direct them to works of mercy, and " cleanse his heart from all wickedness," " — he may be so merciful that what remains may be forgiven him by free pardon. This indeed is the sound and suitable meaning, without any vain and empty boasting, of that which St. John said: " If our heart con- demn us not, then have we confidence toward God. And whatsoever we ask, we shall receive of Him." '^ The warning which he clearly has addressed to us in this passage, is to beware lest our heart should reproach us in our very prayers and petitions; that is to say, lest, when we happen to resort to this prayer, and say, " For- give us, even as we ourselves forgive," we should have to feel compunction for not doing what we say, or should even lose boldness to utter what we fail to do, and thereby forfeit the confidence of faithful aiid earnest prayer.