quence of the mistake, supposing that the bad man whom we think good inflicts no damage upon us. In the same way, it is one thing to think that we are on the right road when we are not; it is another thing when this mistake of ours, which is an evil, leads to some good, such as saving us from an ambush of wicked men.
CHAP. 20. EVERY ERROR IS NOT A SIN. AN EXAMINATION OF THE OPINION OF THE ACA- DEMIC PHILOSOPHERS, THAT TO AVOID ERROR WE SHOULD IN ALL CASES SUSPEND BELIEF.
I am not sure whether mistakes such as the following, — when one forms a good opinion of a bad man, not knowing what sort of man he is; or when, instead of the ordinary per- ceptions through the bodily senses, other ap- pearances of a similar kind present them- selves, which we perceive in the spirit, but think we perceive in the body, or perceive in the body, but think we perceive in the spirit (such a mistake as the Apostle Peter made when the angel suddenly freed him from his chains and imprisonment, and he thought he saw a vision1); or when, in the case of sensi- ble objects themselves, we mistake rough for smooth, or bitter for sweet, or think that putrid matter has a good smell; or when we mistake the passing of a carriage for thun- der; or mistake one man for another, the two being very much alike, as often happens in 1 Acts xii. 9.
the case of twins (hence our great poet calls it "a mistake pleasing to parents "2), — whether these, and other mistakes of this kind, ought to be called sins. Nor do I now undertake to solve a very knotty question, which per- plexed those very acute thinkers, the Aca- demic philosophers: whether a wise man ought to give his assent to anything, seeing that he may fall into error by assenting to falsehood: for all things, as they assert, are either unknown or uncertain. Now I wrote three volumes shortly after my conversion, to remove out of my way the objections which lie, as it were, on the very threshold of faith. And assuredly it was necessary at the very outset to remove this utter despair of reach- ing truth, which seems to be strengthened by the arguments of these philosophers. Now in their eyes every error is regarded as a sin, and they think that error can only be avoided by entirely suspending belief. For they say that the man who assents to what is uncer- tain falls into error; and they strive by the most acute, but most audacious arguments, to show that, even though a man's opinion should by chance be true, yet that there is no certainty of its truth, owing to the impossi- bility of distinguishing truth from falsehood.
But with us, "the just shall live by faith." 3 Now, if assent be taken away, faith goes too; for without assent there can be no belief. And there are truths, whether we know them or not, which must be believed if we would attain to a happy life, that is, to eternal life. But I am not sure whether one ought to argue with men who not only do not know that there is an eternal life before them, but do not know whether they are living at the present mo- ment; nay, say that they do not know what it is impossible they can be ignorant of. For it is impossible that any one should be igno- rant that he is alive, seeing that if he be not alive it is impossible for him to be ignorant; for not knowledge merely, but ignorance too, can be an attribute only of the living. But, forsooth, they think that by not acknowledg- ing that they are alive they avoid error, when even their very error proves that they are alive, since one who is not alive cannot err. As, then, it is not only true, but certain, that Ave are alive, so there are many other things both true and certain; and God forbid that it should ever be called wisdom, and not the height of folly, to refuse assent to these.
CHAP. 21. ERROR, THOUGH NOT ALWAYS A SIN, IS ALWAYS AN EVIL.
But as to those matters in regard to which 1 Rom. i. 17.
Chap. XXIV.]
ENCHIRIDION.
245 our belief or disbelief, and indeed their truth or supposed truth or falsity, are of no im- portance whatever, so far as attaining the kingdom of God is concerned: to make a mistake in such matters is not to be looked on as a sin, or at least as a very small and trifling sin. In short, a mistake in matters of this kind, whatever its nature and magni- tude, does not relate to the way of approach to God, which is the faith of Christ that " worketh by love."1 For the "mistake pleasing to parents " in the case of the twin children was no deviation from this way; nor did the Apostle Peter deviate from this way, when, thinking that he saw a vision, he so mistook one thing for another, that, till the angel who delivered him had departed from him, he did not distinguish the real objects among which he was moving from the vision- ary objects of a dream; 2 nor did the patriarch Jacob deviate from this way, when he believed that his son, who was really alive, had been slain by a beast.3 In the case of these and other false impressions of the same kind, we are indeed deceived, but our faith in God re- mains secure. We go astray, but we do not leave the way that leads us to Him. But yet these errors, though they are not sinful, are to be reckoned among the evils of this life, which is so far made subject to vanity, that we receive what is false as if it were true, re- ject what is true as if it were false, and cling to what is uncertain as if it were certain. And although they do not trench upon that true and certain faith through which we reach eternal blessedness, yet they have much to do with that misery in which we are now liv- ing. And assuredly, if we were now in the enjoyment of the true and perfect happiness that lies before us, we should not be subject to any deception through any sense, whether of body or of mind.
CHAP. 22. A LIE IS NOT ALLOWABLE, EVEN TO SAVE ANOTHER FROM INJURY.
But every lie must be called a sin, because not only when a man knows the truth, but «ven when, as a man may be, he is mistaken and deceived, it is his duty to say what he thinks in his heart, whether it be true, or whether he only think it to be true. But every liar says the opposite of what he thinks in his heart, with purpose to deceive. Now it is evident that speech was given to man, not that men might therewith deceive one another, but that one man might make known his thoughts to another. To use speech, then, for 1 Gal. v. 6.
3 Gen. xxxvii. 33.
2 Acts xii. 9-11.
the purpose of deception, and not for its ap- pointed end, is a sin. Nor are we to suppose that there is any lie that is not a sin, because it is sometimes possible, by telling a lie, to do service to another. For it is possible to do this by theft also, as when we steal from a rich man who never feels the loss, to give to a poor man who is sensibly benefited by what he gets. And the same can be said of adul- tery also, when, for instance, some woman appears likely to die of love unless we consent to her wishes, while if she lived she might purify herself by repentance; but yet no one will assert that on this account such an adul- tery is not a sin. And if we justly place so high a value upon chastity, what offense have we taken at truth, that, while no prospect of advantage to another will lead us to violate the former by adultery, we should be ready to violate the latter by lying? It cannot be de- nied that they have attained a very high standard of goodness who never lie except to save a man from injury; but in the case of men who have reached this standard, it is not the deceit, but their good intention, that is justly praised, and sometimes even rewarded. It is quite enough that the deception should be pardoned, without its being made an object of laudation, especially among the heirs of the new covenant, to whom it is said: " Let your communication be, Yea, yea; Nay, nay: for whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil."4 And it is on account of this evil, which never ceases to creep in while we retain this mortal vesture, that the co-heirs of Christ themselves say, " Forgive us our debts. " CHAP. 23. — SUMMARY OF THE RESULTS OF THE PRECEDING DISCUSSION.
As it is right that we should know the causes of good and evil, so much of them at least as will suffice for the way that leads us to the kingdom, where there will be life with- out the shadow of death, truth without any alloy of error, and happiness unbroken by any sorrow, I have discussed these subjects with the brevity which my limited space de- manded. And I think there cannot now be any doubt, that the only cause of any good that we enjoy is the goodness of God, and that the only cause of evil is the falling away from the unchangeable good of a being made good but changeable, first in the case of an angel, and afterwards in the case of man.
CHAP. 24. THE SECONDARY CAUSES OF EVIL ARE IGNORANCE AND LUST.
This is the first evil that befell the intelli- 4 Matt. v. 37.
5 Matt. vi. 12.
246 THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Chap XXVIII.
gent creation — that is, its first privation of good. Following upon this crept in, and now even in opposition to man's will, ignorance of duty, and lust after what is hurtful: and these brought in their train error and suffering, which, when they are felt to be imminent, produce that shrinking of the mind which is called fear. Further, when the mind attains the objects of its desire, however hurtful or empty they may be, error prevents it from perceiving their true nature, or its perceptions are overborne by a diseased appetite, and so it is puffed up with a foolish joy \ From these fountains of evil, which spring out of defect rather than superfluity, flows every form of misery that besets a rational nature.
CHAP. 25. — GOD'S JUDGMENTS UPON FALLEN MEN AND ANGELS. THE DEATH OF THE BODY IS MAN'S PECULIAR PUNISHMENT.
And yet such a nature, in the midst of all its evils, could not lose the craving after hap- piness. Now the evils I "have mentioned are common to all who for their wickedness have been justly condemned by God, whether they be men or angels. But there is one form of punishment peculiar to man — the death of the body. God had threatened him with this punishment of death if he should sin,1 leaving him indeed to the freedom of his own will, but yet commanding his obedience under pain of death; and He placed him amid the happi- ness of Eden, as it were in a protected nook of life, with the intention that, if he preserved his righteousness, he should thence ascend to a better place.
CHAP. 26. THROUGH ADAM'S SIN HIS WHOLE POSTERITY WERE CORRUPTED, AND WERE BORN UNDER THE PENALTY OF DEATH, WHICH HE HAD INCURRED.
Thence, after his sin, he was driven into exile, and by his sin the whole race of which he was the root was corrupted in him, and thereby subjected to the penalty of death. And so it happens that all descended from him, and from the woman who had led him into sin, and was condemned at the same time with him,— being the offspring of carnal lust on which the same punishment of disobedi- ence was visited, — were tainted with the orig- inal sin, and were by it drawn through divers errors and sufferings into that last and endless punishment which they suffer in common with the fallen angels, their corrupters and masters, and the partakers of their doom. And thus " by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all 1 Gen. ii. 17.
men, for that all have sinned."2 By "the world" the apostle, of course, means in this place the whole human race.
CHAP. 27. — THE STATE OF MISERY TO WHICH ADAM'S SIN REDUCED MANKIND, AND THE RESTORATION EFFECTED THROUGH THE MERCY OF GOD.
Thus, then, matters stood. The whole mass of the human race was under condem- nation, was lying steeped and wallowing in misery, and was being tossed from one form of evil to another, and, having joined the fac- tion of the fallen angels, was paying the well- merited penalty of that impious rebellion. For whatever the wicked freely do through blind and unbridled lust, and whatever they suffer against their will in the way of open punishment, this all evidently pertains to the just wrath of God. But the goodness of the Creator never fails either to supply life and vital power to the wicked angels (without which their existence would soon come to an end); or, in the case of mankind, who spring from a condemned and corrupt stock, to im- part form and life to their seed, to fashion their members, and through the various sen- sons of their life, and in the different parts of the earth, to quicken their senses, and be- stow upon them the nourishment they need. For He judged it better to bring good out of evil, than not to permit any evil to exist. And if He had determined that in the case of men, as in the case of the fallen angels, there should be no restoration to happiness, would it not have been quite just, that the being who rebelled against God, who in the abuse of his freeddm spurned and trans- gressed the command of his Creator when he could so easily have kept it, who defaced in himself the image of his Creator by stubbornly turning away from His light, who by an evil use of his free-will broke away from his wholesome bondage to the Creator's laws, — would it not have been just that such a being should have been wholly and to all eternity deserted by God, and left to suffer the ever- lasting punishment he had so richly earned? Certainly so God would have dene, had He been only just and not also merciful, and had He not designed that His unmerited mercy should shine forth the more brightly in con- trast with the unworthiness of its objects.
CHAP. 28. WHEN THE REBELLIOUS ANGELS WERE CAST OUT, THE REST REMAINED IN THE ENJOYMENT OF ETERNAL HAPPINESS WITH GOD.
Whilst some of the angels, then, in their 2 Rom. v. 12.
Chap. XXXL] ENCHIRIDION.
247 pride and impiety rebelled against God, and were cast down from their heavenly abode into the lowest darkness, the remaining num- ber dwelt with God in eternal and unchang- ing purity and happiness. For all were not sprung from one angel who had fallen and been condemned, so that they were not all, like men, involved by one original sin in the bonds of an inherited guilt, and so made sub- ject to the penalty which one had incurred; but when he, who afterwards became the devil, was with his associates in crime exalted in pride, and by that very exaltation was with them cast down, the rest remained steadfast in piety and obedience to their Lord, and ob- tained, what before they had not enjoyed, a sure and certain knowledge of their eternal safety, and freedom from the possibility of falling.
CHAP. 29. — THE RESTORED PART OF HUMANITY SHALL, IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE PROMISES OF GOD, SUCCEED TO THE PLACE WHICH THE REBELLIOUS ANGELS LOST.
And so it pleased God, the Creator and Governor of the universe, that, since the whole body of the angels had not fallen into rebellion, the part of them which had fallen should remain in perdition eternally, and that the other part, which had in the rebellion re- mained steadfastly loyal, should rejoice in the sure and certain knowledge of their eternal happiness; but that, on the other hand, man- kind, who constituted the remainder of the intelligent creation, having perished without exception under sin, both original and actual, and the consequent punishments, should be in part restored, and should fill up the gap which the rebellion and fall of the devils had left in the company of the angels. For this is the promise to the saints, that at the resur- rection they shall be equal to the angels of God. r And thus the Jerusalem which is above, which is the mother of us all, the city of God, shall not be spoiled of any of the number of her citizens, shall perhaps reign over even a more abundant population. We do not know the number either of the saints or of the devils; but we know that the chil- dren of the holy mother who was called barren on earth shall succeed to the place of the fallen angels, and shall dwell for ever in that peaceful abode from which they fell. But the number of the citizens, whether as it now is or as it shall be, is present to the thoughts of the great Creator, who calls those things which are not as though they were,2 and ordereth all things in measure, and number, and weight.3 CHAP. 30. MEN ARE NOT SAVED BY GOOD WORKS, NOR BY THE FREE DETERMINATION OF THEIR OWN WILL, BUT BY THE GRACE OF GOD THROUGH FAITH.
But this part of the human race to which God has promised pardon and a share in His eternal kingdom, can they be restored through the merit of their own works? God forbid. For what good work can a lost man perform, except so far as he has been delivered from perdition? Can they do anything by the free determination of their own will? Again I say, God forbid. For it was by the evil use of his free-will that man destroyed both it and himself. For, as a man who kills himself must, of course, be alive when he kills him- self, but after he has killed himself ceases to live, and cannot restore himself to life; so, when man by his own free-will sinned, then sin being victorious over him, the freedom of his will was lost. ' ' For of whom a man is over- come, of the same is he brought in bondage."4 This is the judgment of the Apostle Peter. And as it is certainly true, what kind of liberty, I ask, can the bond-slave possess, except when it pleases him to sin? For he is freely in bondage who does with pleasure the will of his master. Accordingly, he who is the ser- vant of sin is free to sin. And hence he will not be free to do right, until, being freed from sin, he shall begin to be the servant of righteous- ness. And this is true liberty, for he has pleasure in the righteous deed; and it is at the same time a holy bondage, for he is obedient to the will of God.' But whence comes this liberty to do right to the man who is in bondage and sold under sin, except he be redeemed by Him who has said, " If the Son shall make you free, ye shall be free in- deed?"5 And before this redemption is wrought in a man, when he is not yet free to do what is right, how can he talk of the free- dom of his will and his good works, except he be inflated by that foolish pride of boast- ing which the apostle restrains when he says, " By grace are ye saved, through faith."6 CHAP. 31. — FAITH ITSELF IS THE GIFT OF GOD; AND GOOD WORKS WILL NOT BE WANTING IN THOSE WHO BELIEVE.
And lest men should arrogate to themselves the merit of their own faith at least, not un- derstanding that this too is the gift of God, this same apostle, who says in another place that he had " obtained mercy of the Lord to be faithful,"7 here also adds: " and that n«t Luke xx. 36.
- Rom. iv. 17.
3 Wisd. xi. 20.
4 2 Pet. ii. 19.
6 Kph. ii. 8.
248 THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Chap. XXXIII.
of yourselves; it is the gift of God: not of works, lest any man should boast."1 And lest it should be thought that good works will be wanting in those who believe, he adds further: "For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them."2 We shall be made truly free, then, when God fashions us, that is, forms and creates us anew, not as men — for He has done that already — but as good men, which His grace is now doing, that we may be a new creation in Christ Jesus, ac- cording as it is said: " Create in me a clean heart, O God." 3 For God had already created his heart, so far as the physical structure of the human heart is concerned; but the psalm- ist prays for the renewal of the life which was still lingering in his heart.
CHAP. 32. THE FREEDOM OF THE WILL IS ALSO THE GIFT OF GOD, FOR GOD WORKETH IN US BOTH TO WILL AND TO DO.
And further, should any one be inclined to boast, not indeed of his works, but of the freedom of his will, as if the first merit be- longed to him, this very liberty of good action being given to him as a reward he had earned, let him listen to this same preacher of grace, when he says: " For it is God which worketh in you, both to will and to do of His own good pleasure;"4 and in another place: "So, then, it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy." s Now as, undoubtedly, if a man is of the age to use his reason, he cannot be- lieve, hope, love, unless he will to do so, nor obtain the prize of the high calling of God unless he voluntarily run for it; in what sense is it " not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy," except that, as it is written, " the preparation of the heart is from the Lord?"6 Otherwise, if it is said, "It is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy," because it is of both, that is, both of the will of man and of the mercy of God, so that we are to understand the saying, "It is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy," as if it meant the will of man alone is not sufficient, if the mercy of God go not with it; • — then it will follow that the mercy of God alone is not sufficient, if the will of man go not with it; and therefore, if we may rightly say, "it is not of man that willeth, but of God that showeth mercy," because the will of 2 Eph. ii. 10. 4 Phil. ii. 13. 6 Prov. xvi. 1.
man by itself is not enough, why may we not also rightly put it in the converse way: "It is not of God that showeth mercy, but of man that willeth," because the mercy of God by itself does not suffice? Surely, if no Chris- tian will dare to say this, "It is not of God that showeth mercy, but of man that willeth," lest he should openly contradict the apostle, it follows that the true interpretation of the saying, "It is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy," is that the whole work belongs to God, who both makes the will of man right- eous, and thus prepares it for assistance, and assists it when it is prepared. For the man's righteousness of will precedes many of God's gifts, but not all; and it must itself be in- cluded among those which it does not pre- cede. We read in Holy Scripture, both that God's mercy " shall meet me," 7 and that His mercy "shall follow me."8 It goes before the unwilling to make him willing; it follows the willing to make his will effectual. Why are we taught to pray for our enemies,9 who are plainly unwilling to lead a holy life, unless that God may work willingness in them? And why are we ourselves taught to ask that we may receive,10 unless that He who has created in us the wish, may Himself satisfy the wish? We pray, then, for our enemies, that the mercy of God may prevent them, as it has prevented us: we pray for ourselves that His mercy may follow us.