CHAP. XVI. (37.) THE SIXTH PASSAGE.
He has also adduced this passage of Scripture, which is very commonly quoted against his party " For there is not a just man upon earth, that doeth good, and sinneth not." '^ And he makes a pretence of answering it by other passages, — how, " the Lord says concerning holy Job, ' Hast thou considered my servant Job? For there iS' none like him upon earth, a man who is blame- less, true, a worshipper of God, and abstaining from every evil thing.' " "^ On this passage we have already made some remarks. '5 But he has not even attempted to show us how, on the one '' Ecchis. xxxviii. 10.
'3 Eccles. vii. 20.
'5 See above, ch. xii. (29).
Chap. 39.]
ON MAN'S PERFECTION IN RIGHTEOUSNESS.
17: hand, Job was absolutely sinless upon earth, — if the words are to bear such a sense; and, on tlie other hand, how that can be true which he lias admitted to be in the Scripture, " There is not a just man upon earth, that doeth good, and sinneth not." ' CHAP. XVII. ($8.) THE SEVENTH PASS.AGE. WHO MAY BE CALLED IMMACULATE. HOW IT IS THAT IN god's sight no man is JUSTIFIED.
" They also, says he, " quote the text: ' For in thy sight shall no man living be justified.' " ^ And his affected answer to this passage amounts to nothing else than the showing how texts of Ifoly Scripture seem to clash with one another, whereas it is our duty rather to demonstrate their agreement. These are his words: " We must confront them with this answer, from the testimony of the evangelist concerning holy Zacharias and Elisabeth, when he says, ' And they were both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless.' " ^ Now both these righteous persons had, of course, read amongst these very commandments the method of cleansing their own sins. For, according to what is said in the Epistle to the Hebrews of " every high priest taken from among men," * Zacharias used no doubt to offer sacrifices even for his own sins. The meaning, however, of the phrase " blame- less''' which is applied to him, we have already, as I suppose, sufficiently explained. s " And," he adds, " the blessed apostle says, ' That we should be holy, and without blame before Him.' " "^ This, according to him, is said that we should be so, if those persons are to be understood by " blameless " who are altogether without sin. If, however, they are " blameless " who are without blame or censure, then it is impossible for us to deny that there have been, and still are, such persons even in this present life; for it does not follow that a man is with- out sin because he has not a blot of accusation, i Accordingly the apostle, when selecting ministers I for ordination, does not say, " If any be sinless," ■ for he would be unable to find any such; but \ he says, " If any be without accusation," ' for ' such, of course, he would be able to find. But our opponent does not tell us how, in accord- ' ance with his views, we ought to understand the scripture, " For in Thy sight shall no man living be justified." ^ The meaning of these words is ])lain enough, receiving as it does additional light tVom the preceding clause: " Enter not," says the Psalmist, " into judgment with Thy ser- vant, for in Thy sight shall no man living be ^ Heb. V. I. 5 See above, ch. xi. (23).
justified." It is judgment which he fears, there- fore he desires that mercy which triumphs over judgment.'^ For the meaning of the prayer, " Fhitcr not into judgment with Thy servant," is this: "Judge me not according to Thyself," who art without sin; " for in Thy sight shall no man living be justified." This without doubt is understood as spoken of the present life, v.hilst the predicate " shall not be justified " has refer- ence to that perfect state of righteousness which belongs not to this life.
chap. X\TII. (39.) THE EIGHTH P-i^SSAGE. IN WHAT SENSE HE IS SAID NOT TO SIN WHO IS BORN OF GOD. IN WHAT WAY HE WHO SINS SHALL NOT SEE NOR KNOW GOD.
" They also quote," says he, " this passage, " If we say that we have no sin, we deceive our- selves, and the truth is not in us.' " ^ And this very clear testimony he has endeavoured to meet with apparently contradictory texts, saymg thus: " The same St. John in this very epistle says, ' This, however, brethren, I say, that ye sin not. Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he can- not sin.' '° Also elsewhere: ' Whosoever is born of God sinneth not; because his being born of God preserveth him, and the evil one toucheth him not.' " And again in another passage, when speaking of the Saviour, he says: ' Since He was manifested to take away sins, whosoever abideth in Him sinneth not: whosoever sinneth hath not seen Him, neither known Him.' '^ And yet again: ' Beloved, now are we the sons of God; and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when He shall appear, we shall be like Him; for we shall see Him as He is. And every man that hath this hope towards Him purifieth himself, even as He is pure.' " '3 And yet, notwithstanding the truth of all these passages, that also is true whicli he has adduced, without, however, offering any explanation of it: '• If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us." 9 Now it follows from the whole of this, that in so far as we are born of God we abide in Him who appeared to take away sins, that is, in Christ, and sin not, — which is sim|)ly that " the inward man is renewed day by day;"'-* but in so far as we are born of that man " through whom sin entered into the world, and death by sin, and so death passed upon all men," 's we are not without sin. because we are not as yet free from his infirmity, until, by that renewal which takes place from day to day (for 9 1/4 THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Chap. 40.
it is in accordance with this that we were born of God), that infirmity shall be wholly repaired, wherein we were born from the first man, and in which we are not without sin. While the re- mains of this infirmity abide in our inward man, however much they may be daily lessened in those who are advancing, " we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us, if we say that we have no sin." Now, however true it is that " whoso- ever sinneth hath not seen Him, nor known Him " ' since with that vision and knowledge, which shall be realized in actual sight, no one can in this life see and know Him; yet with that vision and knowledge which come of faith, there may be many who commit sin, — even apostates themselves, — who still have believed in Him some time or other; so that of none of these could it be said, according to the vision and knowledge which as yet come of feith, that he has neither seen Him nor known Him. But I suppose it ought to be understood that it is the renewal which awaits perfection that sees and knows Him; whereas the infirm- ity which is destined to waste and ruin neither sees nor knows Him. And it is owing to the remains of this infirmity, of whatever amount, which remain firm in our inward man, that " we deceive ourselves, and have not the truth in us, when we say that we have no sin." Altliough, then, by the grace of renovation " we are the sons of God," yet by reason of the remains of infirmity within us " it doth not appear what we shall be; only we know that, when He shall appear, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is." Then there shall be no more sin, because no infirmity shall any longer remain within us or without us. " And every man that hath this hope towards Him purifieth himself, even as He is pure," — purifieth himself, not in- deed by himself alone, but by believing in Him, and calling on Him who sanctifieth His saints; which sanctification, when perfected at last (for it is at present only advancing and growing day by day), shall take away from us for ever all the remains of our infirmity.
CHAP. XIX. (40.) THE NINTH P.ASSAGE.
" This passage, too," says he, " is quoted by them: ' It is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mer- cy.' " ^ And he observes that the answer to be given to them is derived from the same apostle's words in another passage: " Let him do what he will." s And he adds another passage from the Epistle to Philemon, where, speaking of Onesimus, [St. Paul says]: "'Whom I would have retained with me, that in thy stead he might have ministered unto me in the bonds of • I John iii. 6.
2 Rom. Lx. i5.
3 I Cor. vii. 36.
the gospel. But without thy mind would I do nothing; that thy benefit should not be as it were of necessity, but willingly.' ■* Likewise, in Deuteronomy: ' Life and death hath He set be- fore thee, and good and evil:...choose thou life, that thou mayest live.' 5 So in the book of Solomon: ' God from the beginning made man, and left him in the hand of His counsel; and He added for him commandments and pre- cepts: if thou wilt — to perform acceptable faith- fulness for the time to come, they shall save thee. He hath set fire and water before thee: stretch forth thine hand unto whether thou wilt. Be- fore man are good and evil, and life and death; poverty and honour are from the Lord God.' ^ So again in Isaiah we read: ' If ye be willing, and hearken unto me, ye shall eat the good of the land; but if ye be not willing, and hearken not to me. the sword shall devour you: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken this.' " ^ Now with all their efforts of disguise they here betray their purpose; for they plainly attempt to con- trovert the grace and mercy of God, which we desire to obtain whenever we offer the prayer, " Thv will be done in earth as it is in heaven: " * or again this, " Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil." ^ For indeed why do we present such petitions in earnest supplication, if the result is of him that willeth, and him that runneth, but not of God that showeth mercy? Not that the result is without our will, but that our will does not accomplish the result, unless it receive the divine assistance. Now the whole- someness of faith is this, that it makes us " seek, that we may find; ask, that we may receive; and knock, that it may be opened to us." '" Whereas the man who gainsays it, does really shut the door of God's mercy against himself. I am unwilling to say more touching so impor- tant a matter, because I do better in commit- ting it to the groans of the faithful, than to words of my own. ^— (41.) SPECIMENS OF PELAGIAN EXEGESIS.
But I beg of you to see what kind of ob- jection, after all, he makes, that to him who " willeth and runneth " there is no necessity for God's mercy, which actually anticipates him in order that he may run, — because, forsooth, the apostle says concerning a certain person, " Let him do what he will," ^ — in the matter, as I suppose, which he goes on to treat, when he says, " He sinneth not, let him marry!"-' As if indeed it should be regarded as a great matter to be willing to marry, when the subject is a laboured discussion concerning the assistance of God's grace, or that it is of any great advantage 5 Dent. XXX. i5, tg. ^ Matt. vi. lo.
9 Matt. vi. 13.
Chap. 43.]
ON MAN'S PERFECTION IN RIGHTEOUSNESS.
175 to will it, unless God's providence, which governs all things, joins together the man and the woman. ^ Or, in the case of the apostle's writing to Phile- mon, that " his kindness should not be as it were of necessity, but voluntary," — as if any good act could indeed be voluntary otherwise than by God's "working in us both to will and to do of His own good pleasure." ' Or, when the Scrip- ture says in Deuteronomy, " Life and death hath j He set before man, and good and evil," and ad- monishes him " to choose life; " as if, forsooth, this very admonition did not come from God's mere)-, or as if there were any advantage in choosing life, unless God inspired love to make such a choice, and gave the possession of it when chosen, concerning which it is said: " For anger is in His indignation, and in His pleasure is Hfe." ^ Or again, because it is said, " The command- ments, if thou wilt, shall save thee," ^ — as if a man ought not to thank God, because he has a will to keep the commandments, since, if he wholly lacked the light of truth, it would not be possible for him to possess such a will. " Fire and water being set before him, a man stretches forth his hand towards which he pleases; "■* and 1 yet higher is He who calls man to his higher vocation than any thought on man's own part, inasmuch as the beginning of correction of the heart lies in faith, even as it is written, " Thou shalt come, and pass on from the beginning of faith." 5 Every one makes his choice of good, " according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith; " ^ and as the Prince of faith says, " No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him." 7 And that He spake this in reference to the faith which believes in Him, He subsequently explains with sufficient clearness, when He says: " The words that 1 speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are hfe; yet there are some of you that believe not. For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were that believed not, and who should betray Him. And He said, Therefore said I unto you, that no man can come unto me, except it were given unto him of my Father." ** j (42.) god's promises conditional, saints of' the old testament were saved bv the GRACE OF CHRIST. j He, however, thought he had discovered a| great support for his cause in the prophet Isaiah; because by him God said: " If ye be willing, and hearken unto me, ye shall eat the good of j the land; but if ye be not willing, and hearken not to me, the sword shall devour you: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken this." ^ As if ' Jolui VI. 44.
^ Ps. XXX. 5.
5 Cant. iv. 8. ^ John vi. 62-65.
the entire law were not full of conditions of this sort; or as if its commandments had been given to proud men for any other reason than that " the law was added because of transgression, until the seed should come to whom the promise was made." '° " It entered, therefore, that the offence might abound; but where sin abounded, grace did much more abound." " In other words. That man might receive commandments, trusting as he did in his own resources, and that, failing in these and becoming a transgressor, he might ask for a deliverer and a saviour; and that the fear of the law might humble him, and bring him, as a schoolmaster, to taith and grace. Thus " their weaknesses being multiplied, they hastened after; " '^ and in order to heal them, Christ in due season came. In His grace even righteous men of old believed, and by the same grace were they helped; so that with joy did they receive a foreknowledge of Him, and some of them even foretold His coming, — whether they were found among the people of Israel themselves, as Moses, and Joshua the son of Nun, and Samuel, and David, and other such; or outside that people, as Job; or previous to that people, as Abraham, and Noah, and all others who are either mentioned or not in Holy Scripture. " For there is but one God, and one Mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus," '3 without whose grace nobody is delivered from condemnation, whether he has derived that condemnation from him in whom all men sinned, or has afterwards aggravated it by his own iniquities.
CHAP. XX. (43.) NO MAN IS ASSISTED UNLESS HE DOES HLMSELF ALSO WORK. OUR COURSE IS A CONSTANT PROGRESS.
But what is the import of the last statement which he has made: " If any one say, ' May it possibly be that a man sin not even in word? ' then the answer," says he, " which must be given is, ' Quite possible, if God so will; and God does so will, therefore it is possible.' " See how unwilling he was to say, " If God give His help, then it would be possible;" and yet the Psalmist thus addresses God: " Be Thou my helper, for- sake me not; " '-^ where of course help is not sought for procuring bodily advantages and avoid- ing bodily evils, but for practising and fulfilling righteousness. Hence it is that we say: "' Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil." '5 Now no man is assisted unless he also himself does something; assisted, however, he is, if he prays, if he believes, if he is " called according to God's purpose; " "" for " whom He did fore- know. He also did predestinate to be conformed '^ Gnl iii. ig. " I rim. li. 5. "> Rom. via. 28.
'= Ps. xvi. 4. 'S Matt. vi. 13.
176 THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Chap. 44.
to the image of His Son, that He might be the J first-born among many brethren. Moreover, whom He did predestinate, them He also called; and whom He called, them He also justified; and whom He justified, them He also glorified." ' We run, therefore, whenever we make advance; and our wholeness runs with us in our advance (just as a sore is said to run - when the wound is in process of a sound and careful treatment), in order that we may be in every respect perfect, without any infirmity of sin whatever, — a result which God not only wishes, but even causes and helps us to accomplish. And this God's grace does, in co-operation with ourselves, through Jesus Christ our Lord, as well by commandments, sacraments, and examples, as by His Holy Spirit also; through whom there is hiddenly shed abroad in our hearts ^ that love, " which maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered," * until wholeness and salvation be perfected in us, and God be manifested to us as He will be seen in His eternal truth.
CHAP. XXI. (44.) CONCLUSION OF THE WORK. IN THE REGENERATE IT IS NOT CONCUPISCENCE, BUT CONSENT, WHICH IS SIN.
Whosoever, then, supposes that any man or any men (except the one Mediator between God and man') have ever lived, or are yet living in this present state, who have not needed, and do not need, forgiveness of sins, he opposes Holy Scripture, wherein it is said by the apostle: " By one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, in which all have sinned."^ And he must needs go on to assert, with an impious contention, that there may possibly be men who are freed and saved from sin without the liberation and salva- tion of the one Mediator Christ. Whereas He it is who has said: " They that be whole need Hot a physician, but they that are sick; "7 "I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance."^ He, moreover, who says that any man, after he has received remission of sins, has ever lived in this body, or still is living, so righteously as to have no sin at all, he contra- dicts the Apostle John, who declares that " If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us." ^ Observe, the expres- sion is not we liad, but " n'e havcy If, however, anybody contend that the apostle's statement concerns the sin which dwells in our mortal flesh according to the defect which was caused by the will of the first man when he sinned, and concerning which the Apostle Paul enjoins us "not" to "obey it in the lusts thereof," '° — so that he does not sin who altogether withholds his consent from this same indwelling sin, and so brings it to no evil work, — either in deed, or word, or thought, — although the lusting after it may be excited (wliich in another sense has received the name of sin, inasmuch as consent- ing to it would amount to sinning), but excited against our will, — he certainly is drawing subtle distinctions, and should" consider what relation all this bears to the Lord's Prayer, wherein we say, " Forgive us our debts." " Now, if I judge aright, it would be unnecessary to put up such a prayer as this, if we never -in the least degree consented to the lusts of the before-mentioned sin, either in a slip of the tongue, or in a wanton thought; all that it would be needful to say would be, " Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil." '^ Nor could the Apostle James say: " In many things we all offend." '' For in truth only that man offends whom an evil concupiscence persuades, either by deception or by force, to do or say or think something which he ought to avoid, by directing his appetites or his aversions contrary to the rule of righteous- ness. Finally, if it be asserted that there either have been, or are in this present life, any per- sons, wath the sole exception of our Great Head, " the Saviour of His body," '-* who are righteous, without any 3in, — and this, either by not con- senting to the lusts thereof, or because that must not be accounted as any sin which is such that God does not impute it to them by reason of their godly lives (although the blessedness of being without sin is a different thing from the blessedness of not having one's sin imputed to him), '5 — I do not deem it necessary to contest the point over much. I am quite aware that some hold this opinion,'^ whose views on the subject I have not the courage to censure, al- though, at the same time, I cannot defend them. But if any man says that we ought not to use the prayer, " Lead us not into temptation " (and he says as much who maintains that God's help is unnecessary to a person for the avoidance of sin. and that human will, after accepting only the law, is sufficient for the purpose), then I do not hesitate at once to affirm that such a man ought to be removed from the public ear, and to be anathematized by every mouth.
" Matt. vi. 12. '2 Matt. vi.
'° Rom. vi. 12.
'^ Jas. ill. 2.
'5 Ps. xxxii. 2.
'0 See Augustin's treatise, Dc Natura et Gratia, 74, 75.
13- A WORK ON THE PROCEEDINGS OF PELAGIUS.
EXTRACT FROM AUGUSTIN'S "RETRACTATIONS," Book II. Chap. 45, ON THE FOLLOWING TREATISE, "DE GESTIS PELAGIL" " About the same time, in the East (that is to say, in Palestinian Syria), Pelagius was summoned by certain catholic brethren ' before a tribunal of bishops, and was heard on his trial by four- teen prelates, in the absence of his accusers, who were unable to be present on the day of the synod. On his condemning the very dogmas which were read from the indictment against him, as assailing the grace of Christ, they pro- ' Their names were Heros and Lazarus. 178 novmced him to be a catholic. But when the Acts of this synod found their way into our hands, I wrote a treatise on them, to prevent the idea gaining ground that, because he had been in a manner acquitted, his opinions also were ap- proved by the bishops; or that the accused could by any chance have escaped condemna- tion at their hands, unless he had condemned the opinions charged against him. This treatise of mine begins with these words: ' After there came into my hands.' " PREFACE TO THE BOOK ON THE PROCEEDINGS OF PELAGIUS.
In the year of Christ 415, Pelagius was accused of heresy in Palestine, and brought to trial on one or two occasions. At the first trial, which was held on or about the 30th of July, at a congress of his presbyters, by John, bishop of Jerusalem, no regular record was kept of the proceedings, as we are informed by Augustin in the following work (sec. 39 and 55). The hour and the day of this assembly we may learn from Orosius, a pres- byter of Spain, who was present at the congress, and has in his Apology committed to writing some of its most memorable acts. We are informed by him that "after a great deal of earnest proceeding on both sides, the bishop John proposed the last resolution, that certain brethren should be sent with a letter to blessed Innocent, Pope of Rome, to the intent that he might decide on all the points which were to follow."