CHAP. 66. THE PARDON OF SIN HAS REFER- ENCE CHIEFLY TO THE FUTURE JUDGMENT.
Now the pardon of sin has reference chiefly to the future judgment. For, as far as this life is concerned, the saying of Scripture holds good: "A heavy yoke is upon the sons of Adam, from the day that they go out of their mother's womb, till the day that they return to the mother of all things."6 So that we see even infants, after baptism and regen- erations suffering from the infliction of divers evils: and thus we are given to understand, that all that is set forth in the sacraments of salvation refers rather to the hope of future good, than to the retaining or attaining of present blessings. For many sins seem in this world to be overlooked and visited with no punishment, whose punishment is reserved for the future (for it is not in vain that the day when Christ shall come as Judge of quick and dead is peculiarly named the day of judg- ment); just as, on the other hand, many sins are punished in this life, which nevertheless are pardoned, and shall bring down no pun- ishment in the future life. Accordingly, in reference to certain temporal punishments, which in this life are visited upon sinners, the apostle, addressing those whose sins are 4 Ps. li. 17.
4 Ps. li. 17.
5 Ps. xxxviii. 9.
6 Ecclus. xl. 1.
Chap. LXVIII.]
ENCHIRIDION.
259 blotted out, and not reserved for the final judgment, says: " For if we would judge our- selves, we should not be judged. But when we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world." J CHAP. 67. FAITH WITHOUT WORKS IS DEAD, AND CANNOT SAVE A MAN.
It is believed, moreover, by some, that men who do not abandon the name of Christ, and who have been baptized in the Church by His baptism, and who have never been cut off from the Church by any schism or heresy, though they should live in the grossest sin, and never either wash it away in penitence nor redeem it by almsgiving, but persevere in it persistently to the last day of their lives, shall be saved by fire: that is, that although they shall suffer a punishment by fire, lasting for a time proportionate to the magnitude of their crimes and misdeeds, they shall not be pun- ished with everlasting fire. But those who believe this, and yet are Catholics, seem to me to be led astray by a kind of benevolent feeling natural to humanity. For Holy Script- ure, when consulted, gives a very different answer. I have written a book on this sub- ject, entitled Of Faith and Works, in which, to the best of my ability, God assisting me, I have shown from Scripture, that the faith which saves us is that which the Apostle Paul clearly enough describes when he says: " For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth anything, nor uncircumcision, but faith which worketh by love."2 But if it worketh evil, and not good, then without doubt, as the Apostle James says, "it is dead, being alone."3 The same apostle says again, "What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works? Can faith save him?"4 And further, if a wicked man shall be saved by fire on account of his faith alone, and if this is what the blessed Apostle Paul means when he says, " But he himself shall be saved, yet so as by fire;"s then faith without works can save a man, and what his fellow-apostle James says must be false. And that must be false which Paul himself says in another place: " Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor ex- tortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God."6 For if those who persevere in these wicked courses shall nevertheless be saved on account 5 1 Cor. iii. 15.
2 Gal. v. 6.
4 Jas. ii. 14.
6 1 Cor. vi. 9, 10.
of their faith in Christ, how can it be true that they shall not inherit the kingdom of God?
CHAP. 68. THE TRUE SENSE OF THE PASSAGE (i COR. III. II-15) ABOUT THOSE WHO ARE SAVED, YET SO AS BY FIRE.
But as these most plain and unmistakeable declarations of the apostles cannot be false, that obscure saying about those who build upon the foundation, Christ, not gold, silver, and precious stones, but wood, hay, and stubble (for it is these who, it is said, shall be saved, yet so as by fire, the merit of the foundation saving them7), must be so inter- preted as not to conflict with the plain state- ments quoted above. Now wood, hay, and stubble may, without incongruity, be under- stood to signify such an attachment to worldly things, however lawful these may be in them- selves, that they cannot be lost without grief of mind. And though this grief burns, yet if Christ hold the place of foundation in the heart, — that is, if nothing be preferred to Him, and if the man, though burning with grief, is yet more willing to lose the things he loves so much than to lose Christ, — he is saved by fire. If, however, in time of temptation, he prefer to hold by temporal and earthly things rather than by Christ, he has not Christ as his foun- dation; for he puts earthly things in the first place, and in a building nothing comes before the foundation. Again, the fire of which the apostle speaks in this place must be such a fire as both men are made to pass through, that is, both the man who builds upon the foundation, gold, silver, precious stones, and the man who builds wood, hay, stubble. For he immediately adds: "The fire shall try every man's work, of what sort it is. If any man's work abide which he hath built there- upon, he shall receive a reward. If any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss; but he himself shall be saved, yet so as by fire."8 The fire then shall prove, not the work of one of them only, but of both. Now the trial of adversity is a kind of fire which is plainly spoken of in another place: "The furnace proveth the potter's vessels: and the furnace of adversity just men."9 And this fire does in the course of this life act exactly in the way the apostle says. If it come into contact with two believers, one " caring for the things that belong to the Lord, how he may please the Lord,"10 that is, building upon Christ the foundation, gold, silver, precious stones; the other "caring for the things that are of the 7 1 Cor. iii. 11-15. [The " fire" in ver. 15 is not the purgator- ial fire in the state between death and resurrection, but, as in ver. 14, the fire of the day of judgment. — P. S.]
26o THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Chap. LXXII.
world, how he may please his wife,"" that is, building upon the same foundation wood, hay, stubble, — the work of the former is not burned, because he has not given his love to things whose loss can cause him grief; but the work of the latter is burned, because things that are enjoyed with desire cannot be lost without pain. But since, by our supposition, even the latter prefers to lose these things rather than to lose Christ, and since he does not desert Christ out of fear of losing them, though he is grieved when he does lose them, he is saved, but it is so as by fire; because the grief for what he loved and has lost burns him. But it does not subvert nor consume him; for he is protected by his immoveable and incorruptible foundation.
CHAP. 69. IT IS NOT IMPOSSIBLE THAT SOME BELIEVERS MAY PASS THROUGH A PURGATO- RIAL FIRE IN THE FUTURE LIFE.
And it is not impossible that something of the same kind may take place even after this life. It is a matter that may be inquired into, and either ascertained or left doubtful, whether some believers shall pass through a kind of purgatorial fire, and in proportion as they have loved with more or less devotion the goods that perish, be less or more quickly delivered from it. This cannot, however, be the case of any of those of whom it is said, that they " shall not inherit the kingdom of God,"1 unless after suitable repentance their sins be forgiven them. When I say " suit- able," I mean that they are not to be unfruit- ful in almsgiving; for Holy Scripture lays so much stress on this virtue, that our Lord tells us beforehand, that He will ascribe no merit to those on His right hand but that they abound in it, and no defect to those on His left hand but their want of it, when He shall say to the former, " Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom," and to the lat- ter, " Depart from me, ye cursed, into ever- lasting fire."2 CHAP. 70. — ALMSGIVING WILL NOT ATONE FOR SIN UNLESS THE LIFE BE CHANGED.
We must beware, however, lest any one should suppose that gross sins, such as are committed by those who shall not inherit the kingdom of God, may be daily perpetrated, and daily atoned for by almsgiving. The life must be changed for the better; and almsgiving must be used to propitiate God for past sins, not to purchase impunity for the commission of such sins in the future. For He has given no man license to sin,3 although in His mercy 1 1 Cor. vi. 10.
2 Matt. xxv. 31-46.
3 Ecclus. xv. 20.
He may blot out sins that are already com- mitted, if we do not neglect to make proper satisfaction.
CHAP. 71. THE DAILY PRAYER OF THE BE- LIEVER MAKES SATISFACTION FOR THE TRIVIAL SINS THAT DAILY STAIN HIS LIFE.
Now the daily prayer of the believer makes satisfaction for those daily sins of a momen- tary and trivial kind which are necessary in- cidents of this life. For he can say, "Our Father which art in heaven,"4 seeing that to such a Father he is now born again of water and of the Spirit. s And this prayer certainly takes away the very small sins of daily life. It takes away also those which at one time made the life of the believer very wicked, but which, now that he is changed for the better by repentance, he has given up, provided that as truly as he says, " Forgive us our debts" (for there is no want of debts to be forgiven), so truly does he say, " as we forgive our debt- ors;"6 that is, provided he does what he says he does: for to forgive a man who asks for pardon, is really to give alms.
CHAP. 72. THERE ARE MANY KINDS OF ALMS, THE GIVING OF WHICH ASSISTS TO PROCURE PARDON FOR OUR SINS.
And on this principle of interpretation, our Lord's saying, "Give alms of such things as ye have, and, behold, all things are clean un- to you,"7 applies to every useful act that a man does in mercy. Not only, then, the man who gives food to the hungry, drink to the thirsty, clothing to the naked, hospitality to the stranger, shelter to the fugitive, who visits the sick and the imprisoned, ransoms the captive, assists the weak, leads the blind, comforts the sorrowful, heals the sick, puts the wanderer on the right path, gives advice to the perplexed, and supplies the wants of the needy, — not this man only, but the man who pardons the sinner also gives alms; and the man who corrects with blows, or restrains by any kind of discipline one over whom he has power, and who at the same time forgives from the heart the sin by which he was in- jured, or prays that it may be forgiven, is al- so a giver of alms, not only in that he for- gives, or prays for forgiveness for the sin, but also in that he rebukes and corrects the sinner: for in this, too, he shows mercy. Now much good is bestowed upon unwilling recipi- ents, when their advantage and not their pleasure is consulted; and they themselves 4 Matt. vi. 9. 6 Matt. vi. 12.
Chap. LXXV.]
ENCHIRIDION.
261 frequently prove to be their own enemies, while their true friends are those whom they take for their enemies, and to whom in their blindness they return evil for good. (A Christian, indeed, is not permitted to return evil even for evil.1) And thus there are many kinds of alms, by giving of which we assist to procure the pardon of our sins.
CHAP. 73. THE GREATEST OF ALL ALMS IS TO FORGIVE OUR DEBTORS AND TO LOVE OUR ENEMIES.
But none of those is greater than to for- give from the heart a sin that has been com- mitted against us. For it is a comparatively small "thing to wish well to, or even to do good to, a man who has done no evil to you. It is a much higher thing, and is the result of the most exalted goodness, to love your en- emy, and always to wish well to, and when you have the opportunity, to do good to, the man who wishes you ill, and, when he can, does you harm. This is to obey the com- mand of God: " Love your enemies, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which persecute you."2 But seeing that this is a frame of mind only reached by the per- fect sons of God, and that though every be- liever ought to strive after it, and by prayer to God and earnest struggling with himself endeavor to bring his soul up to this standard, yet a degree of goodness so high can hardly belong to so great a multitude as we believe are heard when they use this petition, " For- give us our debts, as we forgive our debtors; " in view of all this, it cannot be doubted that the implied undertaking is fulfilled if a man, though he has not yet attained to loving his enemy, yet, when asked by one who has sinned against him to forgive him his sin, does forgive him from his heart. For he cer- tainly desires to be himself forgiven when he prays, "as we forgive our debtors/' that is, Forgive us our debts when we beg forgive- ness, as we forgive our debtors when they beg forgiveness from us.
CHAP. 74. — GOD DOES NOT PARDON THE SINS OF THOSE WHO DO NOT FROM THE HEART FOR- GIVE OTHERS.
Now, he who asks forgiveness of the man against whom he has sinned, being moved by his sin to ask forgiveness, cannot be counted an enemy in such a sense that it should be as difficult to love him now as it was when he was engaged in active hostility. And the man who does not from his heart forgive him who repents of his sin, and asks forgiveness 2 Matt. v. 44.
need not suppose that his own sins are for- given of God. For the Truth cannot lie. And what reader or hearer of the Gospel can have failed to notice, that the same person who said, " I am the Truth,"3 taught us also this form of prayer; and in order to impress this particular petition deeply upon our minds, said, "For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you; but if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your tres- passes"?4 The man whom the thunder of this warning does not awaken is not asleep, but dead; and yet so powerful is that voice, that it can awaken even the dead.
CHAP. 75. THE WICKED AND THE UNBELIEVING ARE NOT MADE CLEAN BY THE GIVING OF ALMS, EXCEPT THEY BE BORN AGAIN.
Assuredly, then, those who live in gross wickedness, and take no care to reform their lives and manners, and yet amid all their crimes and vices do not cease to give fre- quent alms, in vain take comfort to them- selves from the saying of our Lord: "Give alms of such things as ye have; and, behold, all things are clean unto you."5 For they do not understand how far this saying reaches. But that they may understand this, let them hear what He says. For we read in the Gospel as follows: " And as He spake, a certain Pharisee besought Him to dine with him; and He went in, and sat down to meat. And when the Pharisee' saw it, he marvelled that He had not first washed before dinner. And the Lord said unto him, Now do ye Pharisees make clean the outside of the cup and the platter; but your inward part is full of ravening and wickedness. Ye fools, did not he that made that which is without, make that which i*s within also? But rather give alms of such things as ye have; and, behold, all things are clean unto you."6 Are we to understand this as meaning that to the Phari- sees who have not the faith of Christ all things are clean, if only they give alms in the way these men count almsgiving, even though they have never believed in Christ, nor been born again of water and of the Spirit? But the fact is, that all are unclean who are not made clean by the faith of Christ, according to the expression, " purifying their hearts by faith;"7 and that the apostle says, "Unto them that are defiled and unbelieving is noth- ing pure; but even their mind and conscience is defiled."8 How, then, could all things be clean to the Pharisees, even though they gave 3 John xiv. 6. 5 Luke xi. 41. 7 Acts xv. 9.
4 Matt. vi. 14, 15.
8 Tit. i. 15.
262 THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN.
[Chap. LXXVIII.
alms, if they were not believers? And how could they be believers if they were not will- ing to have faith in Christ, and to be born again of His grace? And yet what they heard is true: ' ' Give alms of such things as ye have; and, behold, all things are clean unto you."
CHAP. 76. TO GIVE ALMS ARIGHT, WE SHOULD BEGIN WITH OURSELVES, AND HAVE PITY UPON OUR OWN SOULS.
For the man who wishes to give alms as he ought, should begin with himself, and give to himself first. For almsgiving is a work of mercy; and most truly is it said, "To have mercy on thy soul is pleasing to God." * And for this end are we born again, that we should be pleasing to God, who is justly displeased with that which we brought with us when- we were born. This is our first alms, which we give to ourselves when, through the mercy of a pitying God, we find that we are ourselves wretched, and confess the justice of His judg- ment by which we are made wretched, of which the apostle says, " The judgment was by one to condemnation;"2 and praise the greatness of His love, of which the same preacher of grace says, "God commendeth His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us:"3 and thus, judging truly of our own misery, and loving God with the love which He has Himself be- stowed, we lead a holy and virtuous life. But the Pharisees, while they gave as alms the tithe of all their fruits, even the most insig- nificant, passed over judgment and the love of God, and so did not commence their alms- giving at home, and extend their pity to themselves in the first instance. And it is in reference to this order of love that it is said, "Love thy neighbor as thyself."4 When, then, our Lord had rebuked them because they made themselves clean on the outside, but within were full of ravening and wicked- ness, He advised them, in the exercise of that charity which each man owes to himself in the first instance, to make clean the inward parts. " But rather/' He says, "give alms of such things as ye have; and, behold, all things are clean unto you."5 Then, to show what it was that He advised, and what they took no pains to do, and to show that He did not overlook or forget their almsgiving, "But woe unto you, Pharisees!"5 He says; as if He meant to say: I indeed advise you to give alms which shall make all things clean unto you; " but woe unto you! for ye tithe mint, and rue, and all manner of herbs; " as if He meant to say: I know these alms of yours, 2 Rom. v. 5 Luke xi.
[6. 42.
3 Rom. v. 8.
and ye need not think that I am now admon- ishing you in respect of such things; "and pass over judgment and the love of God," an alms by which ye might have been made clean from all inward impurity, so that even the bodies which ye are now washing would have been clean to you. For this is the import of " all things," both inward and outward things, as we read in another place: "Cleanse first that which is within, that the outside may be clean also."6 But lest He might appear to despise the alms which they were giving out of the fruits of the earth, He says: "These ought ye to have done," referring to judg- ment and the love of God, " and not to leave the other undone," referring to the giving of the tithes.
CHAP. 77. IF WE WOULD GIVE ALMS TO OUR- SELVES, WE MUST FLEE INIQUITY; FOR HE WHO LOVETH INIQUITY HATETH HIS SOUL.
Those, then, who think that they can by giving alms, however profuse, whether in money or in kind, purchase for themselves the privilege of persisting with impunity in their monstrous crimes and hideous vices,, need not thus deceive themselves. For not only do they commit these sins, but they love them so much that they would like to go on forever committing them, if only they could do so with impunity. Now, he who loveth iniquity hateth his own soul;7 and he who^ hateth his own soul is not merciful but cruel towards it. For in loving it according to the world, he hateth it according to God. But if he desired to give alms to it which should make all things clean unto him, he would hate it according to the world, and love it ac- cording to God. Now no one gives alms unless he receive what he gives from one who is not in want of it. Therefore it is said, " His mercy shall meet me." 8 CHAP. 78. WHAT SINS ARE TRIVIAL AND WHAT HEINOUS IS A MATTER FOR GOD'S JUDGMENT.
Now, what sins are trivial and what heinous is not a matter to be decided by man's judg- ment, but by the judgment of God. For it is plain that the apostles themselves have given an indulgence in the case of certain sins: take, for example, what the Apostle Paul says to those who are married: "Defraud ye not one the other, except it be with consent for a time, that ye may give yourselves to fasting and prayer: and come together again, that 6 Matt, xxiii. 26.
7 Ps. xi. 5 (" Him that loveth violence, His (God's) soul hat- eth," A. V.).
8 Ps. lix. 10.
Chap. LXXX.]
ENCHIRIDION.
263 Satan tempt you not for your incontinency." ' Now it is possible that it might not have been considered a sin to have intercourse with a spouse, not with a view to the procreation of children, which is the great blessing of mar- riage, but for the sake of carnal pleasure, and to save the incontinent from being led by their weakness into the deadly sin of fornication, or adultery, or another form of uncleanness which it is shameful even to name, and into which it is possible that they might be drawn by lust under the temptation of Satan. It is possible, I say, that this might not have been considered a sin, had the apostle not added: "But I speak this by permission, and not of commandment." - Who, then, can deny that it is a sin, when confessedly it is only by apostolic authority that permission is granted to those who do it? Another case of the same kind is where he says: "Dare any of you, having a matter against another, go to law before the unjust, and not before the saints? " 3 And shortly afterwards: ' ' If then ye have judgments of things pertaining to this life, set them to judge who are least esteemed in the Church. I speak to your shame. Is it so, that there is not a wise man among you? no, not one that shall be able to judge between his brethren? But brother goeth to law with brother, and that before the unbelievers." 4 Now it might have been sup- posed in this case that it is not a sin to have a quarrel with another, that the only sin is in wishing to have it adjudicated upon outside the Church, had not the apostle immediately added: "Now therefore there is utterly a fault among you, because ye go to law with one another. "s And lest any one should excuse himself by saying that he had a just cause, and was suffering wrong, and that he only wished the sentence of the judges to re- move his wrong, the apostle immediately an- ticipates such thoughts and excuses, and says: " Why do ye not rather take wrong? Why do ye not rather suffer yourselves to be de- frauded?" Thus bringing us back to our Lord's saying, " If any man will sue thee at the law, and take away thy coat, let him have thy cloak also;"6 and again, "Of him that taketh away thy goods, ask them not again." 7 Therefore our Lord has forbidden His followers to go to law with other men about worldly affairs. And carrying out this princi- ple, the apostle here declares that to do so is "altogether a fault." But when, notwith- standing, he grants his permission to have such cases between brethren decided in the 7 Luke vi. 30.
Church, other brethren adjudicating, and only sternly forbids them to be carried outside the Church, it is manifest that here again an in- dulgence is extended to the infirmities of the weak. It is in view, then, of these sins, and others of the same sort, and of others again more trifling still, which consist of offenses in words and thought (as the Apostle James con- fesses, "In many things we offend all"8), that we need to pray every day and often to the Lord, saying, "Forgive us our debts," and to add in truth and sincerity, "as we forgive our debtors. " CHAP. 79. SINS WHICH APPEAR VERY TRIFLING, ARE SOMETIMES IN REALITY VERY SERIOUS.
Again, there are some sins which would be considered very trifling, if the Scriptures did not show that they are really very serious. For who would suppose that the man who says to his brother, "Thou fool," is in danger of hell-fire, did not He who is the Truth say so? To the wound, however, He immediately applies the cure, giving a rule for reconcilia- tion with one's offended brother: "There- fore, if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee; leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way: first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift."9 Again, who would suppose that it was so great a sin to observe days, and months, and times, and years, as those do who are anxious or unwilling to begin any- thing on certain days, or in certain months or years, because the vain doctrines of men lead them to think such times lucky or un- lucky, had we not the means of estimating the greatness of the evil from the fear ex- pressed by the apostle, who says to such men, "I am afraid of you, lest I have bestowed upon you labor in vain "? I0