The Fathers Of The Church A New Church A New Translation Volume 30

231,1 ?252 v. JO 66 "04330

[''others of the Church*

J'M^e.'s of the Church,

66-011.330

KANSAS CITY. MO PUBLIC LIBRARY

-J98&-

THE FATHERS
OF THE CHURCH

A NEW TRANSLATION
VOLUME 30

A NEW TRANSLATION

EDITORIAL BOARD

ROY JOSEPH DEFERRARI

The Catholic University of America
Editorial Director

RUDOLPH ARBESMANN, O.S.A. BERNARD M. PEEBLES

Fordham University The Catholic University of America

STEPHAN KUTTNER ROBERT P. RUSSELL, O.S.A.

The Catholic University of America Villanova University

MARTIN R. P. McGuiRE ANSELM STRITTMATTER, O.S.B.

The Catholic University of America St. A'nselm's Priory

WILFRID PARSONS, SJ. JAMES EDWARD XOBIN

The Catholic University of America Queens College

SAINT A UGUSTINE

LETTERS

VOLUME IV (165-203)

Translated by
SISTER WILFRID PARSONS, S.N.D.

New York

FATHERS OF THE CHURCH, INC-
1955

NIHIL OBSTAT:

JOHN M. A. FEARNS, S.T.D.

Censor Librorum

IMPRIMATUR:

% FRANCIS CARDINAL SPELLMAN

Archbishop of New York

November 21, 1955

Copyright 1955 by
FATHERS OF THE CHURCH, INC.

475 Fifth Avenue, New York 17, N. Y.
All rights reserved

Lithography by Bishop Litho, Inc.
U. S, A.

WRITINGS

OF
SAINT AUGUSTINE

VOLUME 12

6G04330

CONTENTS

Letter Page

165 Jerome to Marcellinus and Anapsychia ... 3

166 To Jerome [On the Origin of the Human Soul] . 6

167 To Jerome [On the Passage from the Apostle
James: * Whosoever shall keep the whole law/ etc.] 32

168 Timasius and James to Augustine 50

169 To Bishop Evodius 51

170 Alypius and Augustine to Maximus 61

171 Alypius and Augustine to Bishop Peregrinus . . 68
171 A To Maximus 69

172 Jerome to Augustine 72

173 To Donatus 73

173A To Deogratias, Theodore, and Titianus ... 81

174 To Archbishop Aurelius 83

175 The Council of Carthage to Pope Innocent . . 85

176 The Council of Milevis to Pope Innocent ... 91

177 Aurelius, Alypius, Augustine, Evodius, and Pos-
sidius to Pope Innocent 94

178 To Bishop Hilary 108

179 To Bishop John 110

180 To Oceanus 117

vu

Letter Page

181 Pope Innocent to the Council of Carthage ... 121

182 Pope Innocent to the Council of Milevis ... 127

183 Pope Innocent to Aurelius, Alypius, Augustine,
Evodius, and Possidius 132

184 Pope Innocent to Aurelius and Augustine ... 136
184A To Peter and Abraham 136

185 To Boniface [On the Treatment of the Donatists] 141
185 A To Count Boniface 190

186 Alypius and Augustine to Paulinus 191

187 To Dardanus [On the Presence of God] .... 221

188 Alypius and Augustine to Juliana 255

189 To Count Boniface 266

190 To Bishop Optatus 271

191 To Sixtus 288

192 To Celestine 291

193 To Mercator 292

194 To Sixtus 301

195 Jerome to Augustine 332

196 To Bishop Asellicus 333

197 To Bishop Hesychius 347

198 Hesychius to Augustine 350

199 To Hesychius [On the End of the World] ... 356

200 To Valerius 401

201 Emperors Honorius and Theodosius to Bishop
Aurelius [and Augustine] 403

202 Jerome to Alypius and Augustine 405

202A To Optatus 407

203 To Largus 420

Vlll

INTRODUCTION

| HE LETTERS INCLUDED HI Volume 4 (165-203) COVCF

the years from 410 to the beginning of 420. The
long conflict with the Donatists was drawing to a
close; Letter 185 is the next to the last and much the most
important one on this bitter subject. It is addressed to the
tribune Boniface, afterward Count of Africa, and is one of
the longest of the letters. Augustine himself calls it a book:
Liber de correctione Donatistarum. Its importance lies in the
fact that it gives a fairly complete summary of the whole
controversy, by this time practically settled, and shows the
writer reluctantly convinced that the policy of compelle
intrare was the right one after all. At the same time, he was
invincibly opposed to harsh punishments for heretics.

But if the Donatist threat was dying out, the new and more
insidious danger of Pelagiansm was spreading in unsuspected
quarters, and during these ten years was to absorb more and
more of Augustine's time and effort. Two African synods, one
at Carthage and one at Milevis, had condemned the here-
siarch, and a report of this action was sent to Pope Innocent
I from each gathering (Letters 175-177). Though sent in
the name of a long list of bishops, each of these reports is

IX

bAlJNT

evidently the work of Augustine. The Pope answered them
in Letters 181 and 182, giving the formal condemnation
which had been requested.

Another aspect of the case is shown in Letter 179 to Bishop
John of Jerusalem, who had not accepted the verdict of the
Council of Carthage. Instead, he had held his own synod in
415 and had acquitted Pelagius. Augustine was thoroughly
alarmed at this and wrote firmly but tactfully to Bishop
John, protesting the acquittal, pointing out the evasive char-
acter of Pelagius, and suggesting certain questions which he
should be required to answer unequivocally. The question of
nature and grace recurs so frequently in letters of this period,
even in letters not dealing specifically with this subject, that
it is plain to see how deeply disturbed Augustine was at the
spread of this deadly error. One of these is addressed to
Juliana (188), daughter-in-law of Proba (cf. the earlier Let-
ters 130 and 131 ) , whose daughter Demetrias had consecrated
herself to a life of virginity and had received some graceful
congratulations in Letter 150, Learning that Pelagius had
written a 'book' to Demetrias, the theme of which was that
all her virtue was due to her own efforts and not to the grace
of God, Augustine wrote a vigorous warning to mother and
daughter.

St. Jerome appears in this series of letters, but the old fire
is extinguished. He wrote to Marcellinus the tribune (165),
who had asked him some questions on the origin of the soul,
advising him to address himself to *the holy and learned man,
Augustine' for his answers, because he, Jerome was anxious to
get to work on a promised commentary on Ezechiel. Augustine
complied with the request and also sent a copy of his treatise
(166) to Jerome by the hands of his young protege, Orosius.
He also sent his treatise (167) on the words of St. James
(2.10) : 'Whoever shall keep the whole law but offend in
one point is become guilty of all,' into which he introduces

LETTERS XI

some interesting parallels to Stoic teaching. In Retractations
2.45, Augustine gives evidence of the tact he had learned by
sad experience in his correspondence with Jerome. He says
of Letter 166: I only raised the question; I did not solve it.'
This was evidently because Jerome had written on the Origin
of the Soul in one of his works against Rufinus, and Augustine
did not want to seem to differ with him. Of Letter 167 he
says: 'I set forth what I thought might solve this question, 5
and of both works he says: C I did not publish these treatises
while Jerome was alive, because he might answer them at
some time and I should have had to publish them with his
reply. But after his death I published both.' Jerome had
acknowledged the receipt of the two treatises in Letter 172,
and had praised them, but excused himself from commenting
on them. Letter 202 was Jerome's last to Augustine. He
died the following year.

This problem of the origin of the soul, so closely connected
with the mystery of original sin, attacked by Pelagius, was
plainly one that preoccupied Augustine. In addition to the
treatise in which he set forth four theories on the time and
manner of the creation of the soul, without indicating his
preference for any of them, he wrote two letters to Optatus
(190 and 202 A) reviewing the same material, and one to
Oceanus (180). His conclusion was that, no matter which
theory was the true one, it is of faith that everyone born of
Adam is under the curse of original sin, and no one is freed
from it except by rebirth in Christ.

A feeling of the imminent approach of the end of the world
recurred constantly in the early centuries of the Church, and
it was natural that it should be especially strong in an age
that had seen Rome fall for the first time to barbarian on-
slaught. Hesychius, Bishop of Salona, asked Augustine (198)
whether it might reasonably be inferred from Scripture that
the second coming of Christ was near at hand. The reply

Xll SAINT AUGUSTINE

was admirably prudent. In Letter 198 Augustine makes a
careful analysis of the Scriptural passages cited and concludes
that it is not profitable to inquire into the future, but that
each one should so act as to be ready to receive Christ when-
ever He comes.

It was during this period that Augustine finished his
treatise on The Trinity, begun in 400. He had Intended to
publish it as a whole after careful revision, because the nature
of the subject requires the utmost precision of language.
Unfortunately for him, some too zealous friend borrowed or
stole the earlier books, and circulated them, which made the
author set the whole project aside for several years. Finally,
he yielded to pressure and completed the work, sending it to
Aurelius, Archbishop of Cathage, with a covering letter (174)
which he intended should be used as a preface.

He also wrote Letters 169 and 170 on this subject to
Evodius and to Maximus, a physician. This latter communica-
tion gave rise to an amusing note to Peregrinus, in which we
learn something of the difference between formal and in-
formal letter writing. He and Alypius had written jointly to
Maximus, a recent convert from Arianism, exhorting him to
try to reclaim some of those whom he had led into error, and
setting him clear on a point of doctrine concerning the Trinity.
They had received no answer from him, so they wrote to his
bishop, Peregrinus, asking him to find out how their letter
had been received. They were afraid Maximus might have
taken offense because their letter was written by hand, not
dictated, and was on paper instead of parchment. They
wanted him to know that they wrote to their dearest friends
that way, even to bishops, because it was quicker and because
paper was easier to hold in the hand while being read.

Letter 189 is addressed to Count Boniface, Roman Vicar of
Africa, a man of strangely conflicting desires. He had aspira-
tions to the higher life, but could descend to depths of revenge

LETTERS Xlll

against a rival, which resulted in the summoning of the
Vandals into Africa. A friend of his had suggested to Augus-
tine that Boniface would appreciate some spiritual counsels,
as he was under the apprehension that a soldier could not
please God in the profession of arms. Augustine gives him
the highest of all rules for a holy life: 'Thou shalt love the
Lord thy God with thy whole heart/ and then proceeds to
give some examples of soldiers who were pleasing to God.
The list includes David, the good centurion of the Gospel, and
the soldiers who had applied to John the Baptist for advice.
All of these prove that the military life is not forbidden by
God. A particularly fine aphorism which occurs here might
be pondered with profit by modern military men : Won enim
pax quaeritur ut bellum excitetur, sed helium geritur ut pax
acquiratur.* On the whole, however, war is to be the result of
necessity, not of choice; a promise made to an enemy must
be kept; the warrior must be a peace-maker that he may
be called the son of God. In his private life Augustine advises
Boniface to observe chastity, sobriety, moderation, honesty;
to forgive easily, to pray often. If he had practised all this
he might have been another soldier-saint.

The letters of these years show on the whole a preoccupa-
tion with intellectual and doctrinal matters, and they prob-
ably represent the climax of Augustine's achievement. There is
a conspicuous lack of mention of the merely mundane affairs
which figure so frequently in earlier letters. It is possible that
the bishop had by this time an assistant who could take
such problems off his hands and leave him free to pursue his
glorious career as the champion of Catholic truth.

Translated by

SISTER WILFRID PARSONS, S.N.D., PH.D.

Emmanuel College

Boston, Mass.

165. Jerome gives greeting in Christ to the truly holy lords,

his sons, Marcellinus and Anapsychia, deserving

of every consideration of affection (c. 410 J 1

At last I have received the letter of your Unanimity from
Africa, and I am not ashamed of my boldness in harassing
you out of your silence by my frequent letters, because I did
it in order to deserve an answer and thus learn by no other
message than your own word, that you are safe and well. I
remember your little' question about the origin of the soul
it is, rather, a question of great importance to the Church
whether it slipped down from heaven, as the philosopher
Pythagoras, 2 all the Platonists, and Origen 3 think; or is an
emanation of the substance of God, as the Stoics, Mani, and
the Spanish heresy of Priscillian imagine; or is long preserved
in the treasury of God, as some churchmen are foolishly in-
duced to believe; or is daily created by God and sent into
bodies, according to the words of Scripture: 'My Father
worketh until now and I work'; 4 or, at least, is derived from

1 The tribune of Letters 128, 129, 133, 136, 138, 139, and 143, who was
put to death by the heretics in 413. This letter was written not later
than 410, but is listed here by Migne because Letter 166 is based on it.

2 End of 5th century B.C.

3 A.D. 185-255.

4 John 5.17.

3

* SAINT AUGUSTINE

a root-stock, as Tertullian, 5 Apollinaris, 6 and most of the
Western scholars claim, holding that, as each body is born of
another body, so the soul is born of a soul and has an origin
like that of the lower animals. I know that I wrote my opinion
of this long ago, in my treatises against Rufinus, 7 especially
against that work which he dedicated to the bishop of the
Church of Rome, Anastasius 8 of holy memory. In that work
he tries to play on the simplicity of his hearers by a sly and
crafty, but really stupid, confession, but he only made a
mockery of his own faith, or, rather, his unfaith. I think your
holy father, Oceanus, 9 has these works, for they were pub-
lished long ago, 10 in refutation of the many calumnies in
the book of Rufinus against us. In any case, you have with
you a holy and learned man in Bishop Augustine who will be
able to teach you by the living word, as they say, and will
set forth his opinion, or rather mine in his words.

I have been wanting for a long time to go to work on the
Book of Ezechiel, and thereby fulfill a promise frequently
made to my eager readers, but I had hardly begun to dictate
it when my mind was so disturbed by the sack of the Western
provinces, and especially of the city of Rome, that, to use a
common proverb, I hardly knew my own name, and I fell
into a long silence, knowing that c it is a time to weep.' 11 In
this very year, after I had made a commentary on three books,
there was such a sudden incursion of barbarians, whom your
Vergil calk The far-wandering Barcaeans,' 12 and holy Scrip-

5 C. 150-211.

6 Flourished at end of 4th century; taught that Christ had no rational
human mind.

7 An early friend but later bitter opponent of St. Jerome.

8 Pope from 399 to 402.

9 I.e., his spiritual father or director.

10 C. 403.

11 Eccle. 3.4.

12 Vergil, Aeneid 4.42,43.

LETTERS 5

ture describes in the words about Ismael: 'He shall dwell over
against the face of all his brethren/ 13 that they overran the
boundaries of Egypt, Palestine, Phoenicia, Syria, like a torrent
carrying all before it, and it was only by the mercy of Christ
that we were able to escape from their hands. But if it is
true, as that illustrious orator said: c ln the midst of war the
law is silent/ 14 how much more true is it of Scriptural studies,
which need innumerable books, silence, frequenting of librar-
ies, and, as an absolute requirement, safety and peace for
dictating. So, I sent two books to my holy daughter, Fabiola, 15
and you can borrow copies of them, if you like, from her, for
I was not able to copy out any others in these woeful times.
When you read them and see the vestibule, you will easily
be able to form an idea about the future nature of the house.
But I believe that the mercy of God, which has helped us in
the very difficult beginning of the above-mentioned work, will
help through the parts near the end where the wars of Gog
and Magog are described, 16 and also the very end where the
building of the sacred and intricate temple with its parts and
dimensions is set forth. 17

Our holy brother, Oceanus, to whom you wished to be
remembered, has such weight and erudition in the law of the
Lord that he can instruct you without any request from us,
and can explain my opinion about the rest of the questions
on the Scriptures in a manner adapted to the ordinary mind.
May Christ, our almighty God, keep you safe, truly holy
lords, and may you flourish to an advanced age.

13 Cf. Gen. 16.12.

14 Cicero, Pro Milone 4.10.

15 One of the noble and scholarly Roman women who gathered around
Jerome to study the Scriptures.

16 Ezech. 38-39.

17 Ezech. 40-48.

SAINT AUGUSTINE

166. Augustine to Jerome 1 (415)
On the Origin of the Human Soul

Chapter 1

I have called upon and I continue to call upon our God
Vho hath called us unto his kingdom and glory, 32 that He
may grant what I write to you, holy brother Jerome, to be
fruitful to us, while I consult you on those points on which I
am ignorant. Although you are much older than I am, it is
as an old man that I consult you, for it seems to me that no
age is too advanced to learn what needs learning, because,
although it is more fitting for old men to teach than to learn,
it is even more fitting to learn what they teach than to remain
ignorant. There is nothing I feel more in all the perplexities
which I endure in dealing with these difficult questions than
the great distance there is between me and your Charity.
The time that elapses between sending my letter and receiving
yours is so great that the interval is not of days or of months,
but of several years. If I could have my way I would have
you with me daily, so that I could discuss whatever I wish
with you. However, if I cannot have everything I want, there
is no reason for my not doing what I can.

1 There is no formula of address. In Retractations 2.45, Augustine says
of this letter: 1 wrote two books to the priest Jerome residing at
Bethlehem; one on the origin of the human soul.'

2 1 Thess. 2.12.

LETTERS /

Chapter 2

Just now Orosius 1 has come to me, a religious young man,
a brother in the Catholic fold, in age a son, in dignity a
fellow priest, alert of mind, ready of speech, burning with
eagerness, longing to be a useful vessel in the house of the
Lord, 2 in order to refute the false and pernicious teachings
which have been much more deadly to the souls of Spaniards 3
than the sword of the barbarian has been to their bodies. He
hastened from there, even from the shore of the ocean, 4
moved by the report that he might be able to learn from me
whatever he wished of the topics in which he was interested.
And he did gain something from his coming: first, not
to put too much faith in what he heard of me; then I
instructed the man as far as I could; I pointed out to him
where he could learn what I could not give him, and en-
couraged him to go to you. Seeing that he took my advice or
command willingly and obediently, I asked him to return from
you by way of us when he traveled back to his own country.
I have his promise, so I believe this opportunity has been
granted me by the Lord to write you about the subjects on
which I wish to be enlightened by you. I was looking around
for someone to send to you, but it was not easy to find anyone
endowed with reliability of conduct, readiness to obey and
experience in traveling; so, when I found this young man,
I did not doubt that he was just the one I had been asking
of the Lord.

1 Born about 390 in Spain, came Lo Hippo in 414, spent some time with
Jerome in Bethlehem, author of Liber apologeticus against the Pela-
gians, and Adversus paganos, libri septem,

2 2 Tim. 2.21.

3 The Priscillianist heresy.

4 Le,, the Atlantic. He came from Bracara in Galida, in northwest Spam.

SAINT AUGUSTINE

Chapter 3

Learn, then, what I ask you to solve, and do not refuse to
discuss it. The question about the soul troubles many, among
whom I confess I am found. I will set forth what I hold
with certainty about the soul, and then I will add what I
still wish to learn* The soul of man is immortal according
to a certain mode of its own, for it is not in every respect like
God, of whom it is said that c He only hath immortality.' 1
Holy Scripture has many references to the death of the soul,
among them this: 'Let the dead bury their dead,' 2 But, in-
asmuch as the soul, turned away from God, dies in such way
that it does not entirely cease to exist according to its own
nature, so it is found to be mortal under one aspect in such
way that it is not unreasonably called immortal. The soul
is not a part of God. If this were so, the soul would be
entirely unchangeable and incorruptible. And if this were
so, it would not degenerate into a worse state or advance to
a better one, or begin to have something in itself which it
did not have before, or cease to have what it had, as far as its
affections are concerned. There is no need of external proof
to show how different it is from this: one has only to look
into himself to know it. It is useless for those who claim that
the soul is a part of God to say that the defilement and vile-
ness which we see in men of great wickedness, as well as the
disease and weakness which we perceive in all men, come
from the body, not from the soul. What difference does it
make where the illness comes from, when there could not
possibly be any illness if the soul were unchangeable? What

1 1 Tim. 6.16.

2 Matt. 8.22; Luke 9,60.

LETTERS y

is truly unchangeable and incorruptible cannot be changed
or corrupted by contact with anything whatsoever, otherwise
not only Achilles, as the legends tell, but all flesh would be
invulnerable so long as no accident befell it. Therefore, the
soul is not unchangeable by nature but is subject to change
in some way, for some cause, in some part. But it is forbidden
to believe that God is anything else than truly and supremely
unchangeable. Therefore, the soul is not a part of God.

Chapter 4

Although it is difficult to convince those who are slow of
comprehension that the soul is also incorporeal, I confess that
I am convinced of it. But I do not wish to make a useless
difficulty over terms, nor deserve to bring one down upon
myself, since when there is question of reality there is no
need to quarrel over a word. Therefore, if the body is the
whole substance or essence or whatever better term one can
use to express what it is in itself, then the soul is a body.
Likewise, if one chooses to call that alone incorporeal which
is supremely unchangeable and everywhere wholly present,
then the soul is a body, since of itself it is no such thing.
Furthermore, if it is a characteristic of a body to occupy
space with a certain length, width, and height, and for it
to be so placed or moved that it fills a larger space with the
larger part of itself, and a smaller space with a smaller part,
and for the part to be less than the whole, then the soul is
not a body. For, the soul extends through the whole body to
which it imparts life, not by a distribution in space but by a
certain life-giving impetus; it is wholly present in every
smallest part, not less in smaller parts and more in larger

1 SAINT AUGUSTINE

ones, but in one place more conscious, in another less at-
tentive, yet wholly present in each and all parts. Otherwise,
it would not wholly feel, as it does, what is not felt by the
whole body; for, when some part of the living flesh is touched
by the slightest prick, although that spot is not only not the
whole body but hardly seems to be in the body, the whole
soul is conscious of it, even when what is felt does not run
through the whole body but is felt only where it occurs.
How, then, does it happen that the sensation which is not
total reaches the whole soul, except that the soul is wholly
there where the pain is, and does not leave the other parts
of the body to be wholly present at that spot? Those parts
are alive and the soul is present in them where nothing of
the sort has happened. But, if it did happen there, and both
sensations happened at the same time, the whole soul would
be equally conscious of both. Therefore, it could not at the
same time be wholly present in all and each several part of
its body if it were distributed through the parts as we see
bodies distributed in space, occupying less room with their
smaller parts and more with their larger ones. Therefore, if
the soul is to be called a body, it certainly is not a body like
anything made of earth or water or air or light. Indeed, all
of these are such that they are more extensive in larger space
and smaller in lesser places, and none of them is wholly pre-
sent in any part of itself; but, as there are parts of space, so
they are occupied by parts of bodies. Hence, it is clear that,
whether the soul is to be called corporeal or incorporeal, it
has a special nature created of a more excellent substance than
all these elements of earthly material, a nature which cannot
be represented to the fancy by any of the corporeal images
which we perceive through the senses, but is understood by
the mind and apprehended by its life. I do not repeat these
things, which are known to you, in order to teach you, but
to make clear what I firmly believe about the soul, so that,

LETTERS 1 1

when I come to the points on which I raise a question, no
one may think that I have no views about the soul whether
they are based on knowledge or faith.

Chapter 5

I am certain that the soul fell into sin, through no fault,
no compulsion, on God's part, but by its own personal will,
and that it cannot be delivered from 'the body of this death, 91
either by the strength of its own will, as if this were sufficient
for it, or by the death of the body itself, but by 'the grace of
God by Jesus Christ our Lord' ; 2 and that there is no soul in
the whole human race which does not need to be delivered
by 'the mediator of God and men, the man Christ Jesus.' 3
Every soul that departs from the body, no matter at what age,
without the grace of the Mediator and His sacrament is
destined for punishment, and will receive back its body for
punishment at the Last Judgment. But if, after the human
generation which comes to it from Adam, the soul is re-
generated in Christ and belongs to His fold, it will attain rest
after the death of the body, and will receive back its body
for its glory. These are the truths which I firmly believe about
the soul.

Chapter 6

Now listen, please, to what I ask, and do not despise me,
as I pray that He may not despise you who deigned to be
despised for us. I ask when the soul contracted the guilt
through which it is doomed to condemnation, even in the

1 Rom. 7.24.

2 Rom. 9.25.

3 1 Tim. 2,5.

1 2 SAINT AUGUSTINE

case of an infant, prematurely dead, on whom the grace of
Christ was not conferred through the sacrament by which
even babies are baptized. You are not one of those who have
begun to babble new doctrines, saying that there is no guilt
inherited from Adam, which has to be remitted in the infant
by baptism. If I knew that you approved of this view, or,
rather, if I did not know that you do not approve of it, I
would never ask this of you nor think it something to be
asked. But I do believe that your opinion on this point is
consonant with the foundations of Catholic faith, as you
proved by refuting the idle prating of Jovinian/ by the
passage from the Book of Job : 'No one is clean in the sight
of God, nor is the infant whose life upon earth is but of one
day/ 2 Then you went on and said: c We are held guilty after
the similitude of the transgression of Adam'; 3 and your book
on the Prophet Jonas 4 asserts this with emphasis and clarity,
where you said that it was right for infants to be obliged to
fast because of original sin. Consequently, I think it is proper
for me; to ask you when the soul contracted that guilt from
which it has to be delivered, even at that age, by the sacra-
ment of Christian grace.

Chapter 7

A few years ago when I wrote some books on free will
which have gone out into many hands and are possessed by
many more I thought well to discuss four opinions about
the union of the soul and the body : Whether all subsequent
souls are propagated from that one which was given to the

1 Adversus Jovinianum 2.2 (c. 383) , in Migne, PL 23.284.17-21. Jovinian
held that salvation comes by faith alone without good works.

2 Job 14.4,5 (Septuagint) .

3 Rom. 5.14.

4 Comment. In Jonam 3.5, in PL 25.1140.47-1141.4.

LETTERS 13

first man, or whether new ones are now created for each
single person, or whether they exist somewhere and are sent
down from heaven, or are spontaneously joined to bodies. I
discussed them so that whichever one of them should prove
to be true, it would not interfere with my purpose of opposing
with all my might those who were trying to prove that nature
was endowed with its own principle of evil in conflict with
God. These were the Manichaeans, for I had not yet heard
of the Priscillianists who babble blasphemies not much dif-
ferent from theirs. I did not add the fifth opinion that the
soul is a part of God which you mentioned, so as not to
omit any, in your letter to Marcellinus, 1 a man of religious
memory and very dear to us in the charity of Christ, who
had asked you about it. I did not add that one to my list
because, first, when the question was asked, it was on the
nature of the soul and not of its union with the body; and,
second, because that view is held by those whom I was attack-
ing, and I made it a special point to distinguish the sinless and
inviolable nature of the Creator from the vices and corruption
of the creature; because they contend that the very substance
of the good God is, in part, derived from the substance of evil
to which they attribute dominion and rulers, and they say
that in that part it is corrupted, under subjection, and prone
to the necessity of sinning. Leaving out this erroneous and
heretical opinion, I am anxious to know which of the four
remaining opinions is the preferred one. Whichever one is
preferred, God forbid that it should be opposed to this tenet
of faith, of which we are certain, that deliverance from the
bond of sin is necessary for every soul, even in the tiny infant,
and that there is no such deliverance except through Jesus
Christ and Him crucified.

1 Letter 165.

1 4 SAINT AUGU STINE

Chapter 8

Therefore, to make a long story short, you certainly believe
that God still creates separate souls for separate persons at
birth. To forestall the objection to this opinion that God
finished creating all living beings on the sixth day and
rested on the seventh 1 you offer the testimony of the Gospel :
'My Father worketh until now.' 2 That is what you wrote to
Marcellinus, and in your letter you were kind enough to
speak very favorably of me, saying that he had me here in
Africa, and that I could more easily explain that opinion to
him. But, if I had been able to do it, he would not have
appealed to you at such a distance, if, however, he really
wrote that to you from Africa. I do not know when he wrote
it; I only know that he was well aware of my hesitancy on
this subject, and chose to do it without consulting me. But,
even if he had consulted me, I would have encouraged him
to write to you and would have been thankful for the favor
conferred on all of us, if you had not preferred to write
briefly rather than really to answer him, I suppose you did
that so as not to waste your effort, since I was here and you
thought I was sure of what he asked. And now you see that
I wish that opinion to be mine, but I do not yet claim it.

Chapter 9

You have sent me pupils to learn the very thing I have not
yet learned myself. Teach me, then, what I am to teach.
Many keep asking me and I confess to them that I am
ignorant of this, as well as of many other things. And, perhaps,
although they respect me to my face, they say among them-

1 Gen. 2.2.

2 John 5.17.

LETTERS 15

selves: c Art thou a master in Israel and knowest not these
things? 51 These words the Lord said to a man who was one
of those who delighted to be called Rabbi (master), and
probably his reason for coming to the true Master by night 2
was that he was accustomed to teach and he was ashamed
to have to learn. But it gives me greater pleasure to listen to
a master than to be listened to as a master, for I recall what
He said to those whom He had chosen before the others:
'But be not you called Rabbi by men, 3 He said, c for one is
your Master, Christ.' 3 It was no other, not even Jethro, who
taught Moses; 4 no other who first taught Cornelius through
Peter; 5 no other who afterward taught Peter through Paul;
for, by whomever truth is spoken, it is spoken through the
bounty of Him who is truth itself. 7 And if we are still ignorant
of these things, and we have not been able to find a solution
either by prayer or reading or thought and reasoning, is not
the reason, perhaps, to show not only with what charity we
should teach but also with what humility we should learn
from the learned?

Chapter 10

Teach me, then, I beg of you, what I am to teach; teach
me what I am to hold, and tell me, if souls are individually
created today for individuals at birth, when these souls commit
sin in infants, so as to need remission of sin in the sacrament
of Christ, since they sin in Adam from whom the flesh of sin
is derived; or, if they do not sin, how can it be just of the

1 John 3.10.

2 John 3.1,2,

3 Matt. 23.8.

4 Exod. 18.14-23.

5 Acts 10.25-48.

6 Gal. 2,11-21.

7 John 14.6; 1 John 5.6.

1 6 SAINT AUGUSTINE

Creator to bind them by another's sin, when they are joined
to mortal bodies descended from him, so that damnation is
their lot unless help is given them by the Church, yet it is
not in their power to be helped by the grace of baptism?
What kind of justice is it that so many thousands of souls
should be damned because they departed from their bodies
by death in infancy, without the grace of the Christian sacra-
ment, if new souls, created separately by the will of the
Creator, are joined to separate bodies at birth, with no
previous sin of their own; souls which He created and gave
to animate these bodies, when He certainly knew that each
one of them by no fault of its own would leave the body
without the baptism of Christ? Since, therefore, we cannot
say of God that He either forces souls to become sinful or
punishes the innocent, and we must necessarily assert that
souls, even those of infants, which leave the body without
the sacrament of Christ are subject to damnation, how are
we to defend this opinion which holds that other souls do
not come into being from that of the first man, but are thus
created separately for separate bodies as that first one was?

Chapter 11

I think I can easily refute the other objections made
against this opinion, as, for instance, that one which some
seem to press, asking how God completed all His works on
the sixth day and rested on the seventh, if He still creates
new souls. If we answer by saying to them what you quoted
from the Gospel in the above-mentioned letter: e My Father
worketh until now,' they reply that e work' is used in the
sense of carrying on what is established, not of setting up
new creatures, and this they do in order not to contradict
the passage from Genesis, where it is very plainly said that

LETTERS 17

God finished all His works. And where it is written that
He rested, it surely means that He rested from creating new
beings, not from ruling over them; that He had then made
those things which had not previously existed and He rested
from making them; that He had finished all the things
which had not previously existed and He rested from making
them; that He had finished all the things which He saw
were to be made before they existed, so that afterwards,
whatever He made, He should create and make, not as
something which had not existed, but as something which
came from what did previously exist. Thus it is proved that
both are true : the saying 'He rested from His works' and the
saying 'He worketh until now, 5 since the Gospel cannot
contradict Genesis.

Chapter 12

Those who say this so that we may not believe that God
creates new souls which did not then exist, as He created the
first one, but creates them from that first one, which then
existed, as from some fount or treasury which He then made,
and lets them out, are easily answered that even on those six
days God created many things from creatures previously
created, as, birds and fish from the waters, trees, grass,
animals from the earth. It is clear that He did then make
things which were not in existence, for there was no bird,
no fish, no tree, no animal, and it is easy to understand that
He rested after creating these beings which had not existed
and were created, that is, He ceased to create any more
creatures which did not exist. But, now, if we reject the
opinion that He sends down souls already existing in some
fount or other, that He sprinkles them with something of
Himself as if they were parts of Him, that they are derived
from that first soul and are bound before they are joined to

1 8 SAINT AUGU STINE

flesh by fleshly sins committed previously, and if we sa)
that He creates new souls individually for each person al
birth, we are not saying that He makes something which did
not previously exist. For, on the sixth day He made man 'tc
His image/ 1 which we naturally understand to be according
to the rational soul. And this He then did, not by establishing
something which did not exist, but by multiplying what did
exist. Hence it is true that He rested from creating things
which did not exist, and it is also true that He worketh
until now, not only by governing what He made, but alsc
by making more numerous not what He had not but what He
had already created. By this or by some other argument we get
out of this objection which is made to us about the rest of
God from His works, which might prevent us from believing
that new souls are now being created, not from that first one,
but like that one.

Chapter 13

When they say: c Why does He make souls for those of
whom He knows that they are going to die soon?' we can
answer that in this way the sins of parents are either made
known or punished. With good reason we can leave all that
to His guidance, since we know that He gives a lovely and
ordered course to all things that pass with time, among which
are the birth and death of living creatures, but we cannot
see this, for if we could we should be comforted with in-
describable sweetness. Not in vain did the Prophet say of
God what he had learned by divine revelation: 'Who bringeth
out their age by number/ 1 Therefore, music, that is, the

I Gen. 1.26.

1 Isa. 40.26 (Septuagmt) .

LETTERS 19

science or perception of rhythm, is granted by the liberality
of God to mortals having rational souls, to teach a great truth.
Hence, if a man who is skilled in composing a song knows
what lengths to assign to what tones, so that the melody flows
and progresses with beauty by a succession of slow and rapid
tones, how much more true is it that God permits no periods
of time in the birth and death of His creatures periods which
are like the words and syllables in the measure of this temporal
life to proceed either more quickly or more slowly than the
recognized and well-defined law of rhythm requires, in this
wonderful song of succeeding events, for the wisdom through
which He made all things is to be esteemed far above all the
arts. When I apply this to the leaves of the tree and the
number of our hairs, 2 how much more is it applicable to the
rise and fall of man whose span of life is neither shortened
nor prolonged beyond what God, the distributer of time,
knows to be in harmony with the control of the universe !

Chapter 14

Some say that whatever begins to exist in time cannot be
immortal, because 'All things are born and die, they increase
and grow old,' 1 and thus they would compel the belief that
the human soul is immortal only because it was created
before all time, but this does not disturb our faith, for, to
pass over other instances, the immortality of Christ's flesh
began in time, yet 'He dieth now no more, death shall no
more have dominion over him*' 2

2 Matt. 10.30; Luke 12,7.

1 Sallust, Jugurtha 2.3.

2 Rom. 6.9.

20 SAINT AUGUSTINE

Chapter 15

Regarding that instance which you brought up in your
book against Rufinus, 1 that some are giving a wrong meaning
to the statement that it seems unworthy of God to give souls
to those conceived in adultery, and that from it they try to
endow souls with merits of a life lived before their union with
the flesh, to which, as to a penitentiary, they claim that it
is just for them to be sentenced, I am not much impressed,
for I can think of many ways of refuting this false claim. And
you yourself made use of an exquisitely chosen comparison
when you answered that there is no guilt in the sower when
his wheat is carried off by stealth, but there is in the thief
who stole the wheat; and there is no reason for the earth
to refuse to cherish the seed in her bosom because the sower
has scattered it with an unclean hand. Before I read that,
the objection about adulterous conceptions had not caused me
any difficulty in this question, because, as I see it, God usually
brings much good even from our evils and our sins. If the
creation of any living creature calls for unutterable praise to
the Creator from the thoughtful man who devoutly considers
it, how much more the creation of man above that of any
living creature! But if the reason for its creation is sought,
there is no quicker or better answer than that every creature
of God is good, and what is more worthy of a good God
than that He should create good things, which no one but
God can create?

Chapter 16

These and other arguments according to my ability I
advance, as best I can, against those who try to break down
this opinion which holds that souls are created individually as

1 Jerome, Apologia adversus libros Rufini 3.28, in PL 23.478.35-47.

LETTERS 2 1

the first one was. But, when I come to the question of the
sufferings of infants, believe me I am beset with great trouble,
and I find no ready answer, I mean not only those sufferings
which damnation brings after this life, and which must
necessarily come upon those who leave the body without the
grace of the Christian sacrament, but also those which are
presented in this life to our grieving eyes, so numerous that
time fails me rather than examples to recount them. They
pine away with illness, they are racked with pains, they are
tortured with hunger and thirst, they are weak of limb, they
are deprived of their faculties, they are tormented by unclean
spirits. Certainly, there must be a proof that they suffer all
this justly, but without any evil cause on their part. It is
not permissible to say either that these things happen without
God's knowledge, or that He is unable to hinder those who
cause them, or that He causes or permits them unjustly. Of
irrational animals we say rightly that they are given over to
be used by higher beings, even sinful ones, as we see in the
Gospel, where the devils were allowed to use the swine for
their intended purpose, 1 but how can we rightly say the same
of man? He is an animal, but a rational though mortal one.
There is a rational soul in his members which pays the
penalty by such sufferings. God is good, God is just, God
is almighty: only a madman doubts this. Therefore, a just
cause must be assigned to these great sufferings which befall
little children. Doubtless, when their elders suffer these
afflictions, we are wont to say either that their goodness is
being tested, as in the case of Job, or that their sins are being
punished, as happened to Herod; and from the examples
which God has willed to manifest it is granted men to make
a conjecture about others which are hard to understand. But
these are older people. Tell me what we are to answer about
children, if there are no sins to be punished in them by such

1 Matt. 8.31,32; Mark 5.12,13; Luke 8.32,33.

22 SAINT AUGUSTINE

sufferings, since there obviously is no virtue to be tested at
that age.

Chapter 17

But what shall I say about the variety of their mental
endowment? This lies hidden in children, of course, but its
development as they grow older appears as a consequence of
their natural mentality, as it was from the beginning. Some
are so slow and so forgetful that they cannot even learn the
first rudiments of language, while some are so unintelligent
that they are not many removes from animals, and these
are commonly called morons. 1 Perhaps the answer is that their
bodies cause this. But, according to this opinion which we
wish to uphold, did the soul choose its body, and then
commit some wrong by being mistaken in its choice? Or,
when it was forced by the necessity of birth to enter a body,
could it find no other because crowds of souls took possession
of other bodies before it could get them, and, like people
hunting for a place at the public games, did it take, not the
one it wanted, but the one it could get? Is it possible for us
to say such things, or should we even think them? Tell me,
then, what we ought to think and say, so that the theory
of new souls, created individually for each body, may be
confirmed for us.

Chapter 18

It is a fact that I had something to say about the sufferings
which children endure in this life, if not about their mentality,
in my books on free will. 1 To let you know what it is, and

1 moriones.

I De libero arbitrio 3.68.

LETTERS 23

why it does not meet my difficulty in the question we have
at hand, I shall quote an excerpt from Book 3 in this letter.
It goes like this: 'In the case of bodily sufferings endured by
children too young to commit sin, if the souls which animate
them had no existence before they became men, a greater
complaint, and in a sense, a compassionate one, is offered
when someone says: "What wrong have they done that they
should suffer so?" As if there could be any merit in innocence
before it is able to do wrong! But when God accomplishes
some good by the correction of older persons, scourging them
by the death or suffering of the children who are dear to
them, why should these things not happen, since, in those
who suffer them, they are as if they had never been, once
they are past, and those on whose account they have happened
will either be better, if they are converted by these temporal
trials, and will resolve to lead a better life; or they will have
no defense against condemnation at the last judgment, if
they have refused to turn their desires away from this life
of anguish toward eternal life. Who knows what reward, in
the secret of His judgments, God has in store for these little
ones, whose sufferings have served to break down the hardness
of their elders or to test their faith or to prove their mercy;
who knows what these little ones will receive, for, although
they have done no good deed, neither have they sinned, yet
they have suffered? When Herod sought to kill the Lord
Jesus Christ, and the Innocents were put to death, it is not
without reason that the Church receives and honors them
among the martyrs.'

Chapter 19

That is what I said when I wanted to strengthen this very
opinion which is now in question. For, as I mentioned a
short time ago, I was striving to show that, whichever of

24 SAINT AUGUSTINE

those four opinions should prove to be true, the blameless
substance of the Creator is absolutely removed from any
participation in our sins. Therefore, if any one of them
could be truthfully refuted and rejected, it would lie outside
the scope of the intention which I then had, since, after all
had been discussed with careful argument, whichever of them
should prevail over the others, I would be on the safe side,
because I had proved that according to each one of them
the point I was making remained irrefutable. But now I
want, if possible, to choose one clear argument from all of
them, because, as I look more carefully at the words which
I have quoted from my book, I do not see that I have a strong,
unshakeable defense of this point which we are now treating.

Chapter 20

What I said above is a sort of support for this : 'Who knows
what good reward, in the secret of His judgments, God has
in store for these little ones whose sufferings have served to
break down the hardness of their elders, or to test faith, or
to prove their mercy; who knows what these little ones will
receive?' But I see that this could also be said, not unreason-
ably, of those who either unknowingly suffer something similar
for the name of Christ and the true religion, or have now
been immersed in the sacrament of Christ, because they
cannot be delivered from damnation unless they belong to the
fold of the one Mediator; and so that reward could be given
to them also for the evils which they suffer in the manifold
afflictions of this life. But now, since that difficulty cannot be
solved unless an answer is also found to this one about the
children who die, after bitter torments, without the sacrament
which admits them to the society of Christians, what reward
can be imagined in their case when they are over and above

LETTERS 25

foredoomed to damnation? It is* true I made some answer
about the baptism of infants in that same book, not an
adequate one, perhaps, but one that seemed sufficient for the
scope of the work, which is useful for those who do not know
or do not yet possess the faith, but I did not then think fit to
say anything about the damnation of those infants who depart
this life without baptism because that question was not at
issue, as it now is.

Chapter 21

But to pass over and make little of those sufferings which
last but a short time and, once over, are not repeated, can we
make little of this : 'By one man came death and by one man
the resurrection of the dead; for as in Adam all die, so also
in Christ all shall be made alive'? 1 By this divine and direct
statement of the Apostle it is quite unequivocally clear that
no one enters into death except through Adam and no one
into eternal life except through Christ. This is the meaning of
that repeated all, 3 because as all men belong to Adam through
their first, that is, their carnal birth, so all men who belong to
Christ come to the second or spiritual birth. Therefore, he
says f air in both places because as all who die die only in
Adam, so all who will be made alive will not be made alive
except in Christ. Therefore, we must detest as the bane of our
common faith the one who tells us that anyone can be made
alive at the resurrection of the dead otherwise than in Christ.
Likewise, if anyone shall say that even infants who depart life
without sharing in this sacrament shall be made alive in
Christ, he certainly goes counter to the teaching of the Apostle
and condemns the whole Church, which is in great haste to
baptize infants, because of the unquestioned belief that other-
wise they cannot possibly be made alive in Christ. And of

1 1 Cor. 15.21,22.

26 SAINT AUGUSTINE

those who are not made alive in Christ we must conclude
that they remain under that condemnation of which the
Apostle speaks: c By the offense of one unto all men to con-
demnation.' 2 The whole Church believes that infants are sub-
ject to this condemnation at birth, and you yourself have
expressed it with truest faith in your argument against
Jovinian, and in your commentary on Jonas, as I mentioned
awhile ago, and, I believe in other passages of your works
which I have either not read or do not at present recall
Therefore, I am seeking for the reason of this sentence of
damnation against infants, because I do not see any sin on
their souls at that age, if new souls are created individually,
nor do I believe that any soul is condemned by God in which
He does not see sin.

Chapter 22

Are we, then, to say, perhaps, that only the flesh of the
child is sinful, that a new soul is created for him and that
this soul, by living according to the commandments of God
with the help of Christ's grace, can purchase the reward of
incorruption even for the subdued and conquered flesh? Or
shall we say that as the soul is not yet able to achieve this
in the child, but, if it receives the sacrament of Christ, it
gains for its body by this grace what it could not gain by
those modes of action; but, if the soul departs without that
sacrament, it will itself be in eternal life from which no sin
has been able to separate it, yet its body will not rise in Christ
because it had not received His sacrament before death?

2 Rom. 5.18.

LETTERS 27

Chapter 23

I have never heard or read this opinion, but I have clearly
heard and e l have believed therefore I have spoken/ 1 that c the
hour cometh wherein all that are in the graves shall hear
the voice of the Son of God, and they that have done good
things shall come forth unto the resurrection of life.' 2 This
is the life of which it is said : 'and by one man the resurrection
of the dead' ; this is the life by which 'all shall be made alive
in Christ'; 3 c but they that have done evil shall come forth
unto the resurrection of judgment.' 4 What, then, are we to
think of those infants who have been stripped of their bodies
without baptism, before they were able to do either good or
evil? Nothing is said about such in these passages. If their
flesh will not rise because they have done neither good nor
evil, then the bodies of those who have died at that early
age after receiving the grace of baptism will not rise either,
because they have not been able to do either good or evil.
And if they rise among the saints, that is, among those who
have done good, among whom will the others rise if not
with those who have done evil? Otherwise, we should have
to believe that some human souls will not receive their
bodies either at the resurrection of life or at the resurrection
of judgment. This opinion is repellent by its very novelty
even before it is refuted. Moreover, who could bear it if those
who hurry their children to baptism believe that they hurry
them for the sake of their bodies, not their souls? Blessed
Cyprian, indeed, was not setting up some new decree, but
affirming the most solid belief of the Church in order to
correct some who thought that a child should not be baptized

1 Ps. 115.L

2 John 5.28,29.

3 I Cor. 15.21,22.

4 John 5.29.

28 SAINT AUGUSTINE

sooner than the eighth day after birth, when he said that it
was not the body but the soul that was to be saved from
destruction. He also agreed with some of his fellow bishops
that a child could be validly baptized almost at the instant
of birth. 5

Chapter 24

Let each one think what he likes contrary to any of
Cyprian's opinions, but let no one hold any opinion contrary
to the most evident belief of the Apostle who teaches that
from one man's offense all are subject to condemnation, and
from this condemnation there is no deliverance except e the
grace of God by Jesus Christ our Lord,' 1 in whom alone all
are made alive who are to be made alive. Let no one think,
contrary to this absolutely fundamental custom of the Church,
that children are rushed to baptism for the welfare of their
bodies only, because, if that were true, the dead also could
be brought to be baptized.

Chapter 25

This being granted, a reason must be sought and given why
souls which are newly created for each one at birth are
damned if the children die without the sacrament of- Christ.
Holy Scripture and holy Church both testify that they are
damned if they depart thus from the body. Consequently, if
that opinion about the creation of new souls is not opposed
to this fundamental belief, let it be mine; if it is opposed, let
it not be yours.

5 Cyprian, Epistolae 61.2-6 (ed. Hartel, pp. 718-721) .
1 Rom, 7.25.

LETTERS 29

Chapter 26

I do not want anyone to tell me that this view should be
supported by the passage: 'Who formed the spirit of man
in him,' 1 and 'Who made the heart of every one of them.' 2
Something supremely strong and invincible is needed to force
me to believe that God condemns any souls without any
guilt of theirs. It is either as great a thing, or it is, perhaps,
greater, to create as to form, yet it is written: 'Create a
clean heart in me, O God.' 3 This is no argument for thinking
that the soul in this passage prays to be made before it had
any being. As, therefore, while now existing, it is created by
the renewal of its justice, so, while now existing, it is formed
by the shaping force of doctrine. That other passage in
Ecclesiastes : 'Then the dust shall return into its earth as it
was, and the spirit shall return to the Lord who gave it,' 4
does not confirm the opinion which we wish to hold; it is
rather on the side of those who think that all souls were
created together; Tor,' they say, 'as the dust returns into its
earth as it was, and the flesh, which is here meant, does not
return to the man from whom it originally came but to the
earth from which the first man was made, so also the spirit,
derived from his spirit, does not return to him but to the
Lord who gave it to him.' However, inasmuch as this testi-
mony favors them but does not seem to be entirely opposed
to the theory which I wish to defend, I thought that your
Prudence should be warned, at least this far, that you
would not try to extricate me from this dilemma by such
testimony. For, although no one by wishing can make a thing
true which is not true, still, if it were possible, I would wish

1 Zach. 12.1.

2 Ps. 32.15.

3 Ps. 50.12.

4 Eccle. 12.7.

30 SAINT AUGUSTINE

that this theory might be true, as I wish that, if it is true,
you may defend it brilliantly and invincibly.

Chapter 27

But there is a difficulty which pursues those who hold that
souls, already in existence and prepared by God from the
beginning of His divine works, are sent down into bodies.
This same question can be put to them: If innocent souls
go obediently where they are sent, why are they punished in
children whose lives end without baptism? Exactly this same
difficulty is found in both theories. Those who assert that
souls are assigned individually to bodies according to the
merits of a former life imagine that they escape this objection
more easily. They think this is what it is to die in Adam,
namely, to pay the penalty in the flesh which is derived from
Adam, but they say that the grace of Christ delivers 'both
little and great 51 from this guilt. In saying that the grace of
Christ delivers the little with the great from the guilt of sin
they are indeed speaking rightly, truly, and infallibly. But
that souls sin in another previous life and are therefore thrust
down into fleshly prisons I do not believe, I do not agree to,
I do not accept, because, first of all, I do not know a more
revolting opinion than that these souls should make some
indefinite number of trips through an indefinite number of
cycles of ages only to return again to that burden of corrupt
flesh to pay the penalty of torment; and, second, how could
there be anyone who died in the state of grace about whom
we should have to be anxious lest if what they say is true
even in the bosom of Abraham he might commit sin after
leaving the body if he could do so before entering it? Finally,

I Ps. 113.13,

LETTERS

31

there is a great difference between sinning in Adam, as the
Apostle says: 'In whom all sinned,' 2 and sinning out of
Adam somewhere or other, and for that reason being thrust
down in Adam, that is, into the flesh which is derived from
Adam, as into a prison. The opinion that all souls come from
the first soul is one I do not wish to discuss, unless it should
be necessary, and how I wish that the one we are now de-
bating may be so well upheld by you that the other may not
require discussion ! Although I desire, I ask, I pray with ardent
longings that the Lord may make use of you to remove my
ignorance in this matter, still, if I do not deserve this, which
God forbid, I shall ask patience of the Lord our God in
whom I have such faith that I should not murmur against
Him if He refuses to open to me when I knock. 3 I shall recall
the saying of the Apostle: 'I have many things to say to
you but you cannot bear them now.' 4 As far as in me lies
may I apply this to myself, and may I not knowingly be
offended at being deemed unworthy, lest by this very fact I
be proved more unworthy. There are many other points on
which I am likewise ignorant too many to recall or recount

and I would try to bear my ignorance on this one if I did

not fear that some one of those opinions might be contrary to
what we hold with strongest faith, and might creep into un-
wary minds. But, before I know which one of them is to be
preferred, I protest that I hold confidently that the one which
is true is not opposed to the firm and fundamental faith by
which the Church of Christ believes that the children of men
just born cannot be delivered from damnation except through
the grace of the name of Christ which He has entrusted to us
in His sacraments.

2 Rom. 5.12.

3 Matt 7.7,8; Luke 11.9,10.

4 John 16.12.

32 SAINT AUGUSTINE

167. Augustine to Jerome 1 (Spring, 415)

On the Passage from the Apostle James: 'Whosoever shall
keep the whole law,' etc.

Chapter I

When I had finished my letter to you, brother Jerome,
revered by me in Christ, with my inquiry about the human
soul whether new ones are now created for each one at
birth, and when they contract the debt of sin which we do
not doubt must be canceled by the sacrament of Christ's
grace, even in newborn infants I found my letter had
lengthened into a sizable volume, so I decided against loading
it with another question. But, the more pressing a difficulty
is, the more we are bound not to pass it by. Therefore, I
ask and beg you by the Lord to explain for me something
which I think will benefit many, or, if you have an explana-
tion done either by you or by somebody else, to send it to
me; namely, how we are to understand those words in the
Epistle of the Apostle James; 'Whosoever shall keep the whole
law but offend in one point is become guilty of all/ 2 This is a
matter of such great importance that I regret profoundly not
having written you about it long ago.

1 Cf. Retractations 2.45: 1 also wrote two books to the priest Jerome,
residing at Bethlehem, of which the second was on the passage from
the Apostle James: "Whoever shall keep the whole law," etc/

2 James 210.

LETTERS 33

Chapter 2

We have to think about leading our present life so as to
attain eternal life, not about examining how completely the
past is buried in oblivion, such as that question which I
thought it necessary to ask about the soul. That question keeps
coming back. There is a cleverly told story which fits this
case neatly. Someone once fell into a well where the water
was deep enough to hold him up so that he did not drown,
but not enough to choke him so that he could not speak. A
bystander came over when he saw him and asked sympatheti-
cally: 'How did you fall in?' He answered: Tlease find some
way of getting me out and never mind how I fell in/ Thus,
as we confess and hold by our Catholic faith that the soul,
even of the little inf ant, has to be delivered from sin, as from
a well, by the grace of Christ, it is enough for him that we
know how he may be saved, even if we never find out how
he came into that evil state. But I thought it wise to raise the
question lest we unwittingly hold one of those opinions about
the soul joining the body which might forthwith go counter
to the necessity of deliverance for the soul of the child by
denying that he is in that state. I cling to this most firmly:
that the soul of the child can be freed from the guilt of sin
in no other way than by the 'grace of God by Jesus Christ
our Lord/ 1 If we can discover the cause and origin of that
evil, we shall be better prepared and equipped to refute the
idle prating of pettifoggers I do not call them debaters.
However, if we cannot discover it, we should not grow slothful
in the exercise of mercy because the origin of the misery is
hidden from us. By not ignoring our own ignorance we shall
be more secure against those who imagine they know what
they do not know. There is a difference between what it is
evil not to know and what cannot be known, or what it is

1 Rom. 7.25.

34 SAINT AUGUSTINE

not necessary to know, or what has no bearing on the way of
life we seek. But this question which I am now asking about
the Epistle of the Apostle James involves our conduct in the
life which we are now leading and which we wish to live so as
to please God.

Chapter 3

I ask you, then, how to interpret 'Whosoever shall keep the
law but offend in one point is become guilty of all/ Is it
possible that he who has committed theft, nay, he who has
said to the rich man: 'Sit thou here,' but to the poor man:
'Stand thou there,' 1 is guilty of murder and adultery and
sacrilege? If that is not so, how has he that has offended in
one point become guilty of all? Or is what I said about the
rich and the poor man not included in the things of which if
a man offend in one he is guilty of all? But we must recall
the source of that statement, what preceding words led up
to it, and in what connection it was uttered. He says: 'My
brethren, have not the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ of
glory with respect of persons. For if there shall come into your
assembly a man having a golden ring, in fine apparel, and
there shall come in also a poor man in mean attire, and you
have respect to him that is clothed with the fine apparel and
shall say to him: Sit thou here well; but say to the poor man:
Stand thou there: or Sit under my footstool: do you not
judge within yourselves and are become judges of unjust
thoughts? Hearken, my dearest brethren: hath not God
chosen the poor in this world, rich in faith and heirs of the
kingdom which God hath promised to them that love him?
But you have dishonored the poor man, 52 because of him to
whom it is said 'Stand thou there,' while to the man with the

1 James 2.5.

2 James 2.1-6.

LETTERS 35

golden ring it was said : 'Sit them here well.' Then he follows
up that statement, developing it more fully and explaining it
by saying: 'Do not the rich oppress you by might, and do
not they draw you before the judgment seats? Do not they
blaspheme the good name that is invoked upon you? If then
you fulfil the royal law according to the Scriptures: Thou
shalt love thy neighbor as thyself : you do well, but if you have
respect to persons, you commit sin, being reproved by the
law as transgressors. 53 See how he calls those transgressors who
say to the rich man: 'Sit thou here/ and to the poor man:
'Stand thou there.' And lest they think it an insignificant sin
to transgress the law in this one point, he goes on and adds:
'But whosoever shall keep the whole law but offend in one
point is become guilty of all. For he that said: Thou shalt
not commit adultery, said also: Thou shalt not kill. Now if
thou do not kill but commit adultery thou art become a
transgressor of the law,' 4 because he had also said: 'Being
reproved by the law as transgressors.' This being established,
the conclusion seems to be, unless another meaning can be
shown for it, that the one who said to the rich man : 'Sit thou
here,' and to the poor one: 'Stand thou there,' offering
greater deference to the former than to the latter, is an
idolater, a blasphemer, an adulterer, and a murderer; not to
run through the whole list, which would take too long, he is
to be judged guilty of every crime, and thus, offending in one
point, he is become guilty of all.

Chapter 4

On the other hand, he who has one virtue has them all,
and he who does not have a particular one has none. If

3 James 2.6-9.

4 James 10.11.

36 SAINT AUGUSTINE

this is true, that statement is proved. But I want an explana-
tion, not an assent, for that principle which in itself is more
weighty for us than the authority of all the philosophers. If
it is really true to say that of virtues and vices, it does not
follow that therefore all sins are equal. I might conceivably
be wrong, but if my memory serves rne well in something I
barely remember, all the philosophers accept that dictum
about the inseparability of virtues, by saying that the same
virtues are necessary for right living. But the Stoics are the
only ones who dared to argue for the equality of sins and this
they did against all human experience. Your adversary,
Jovinian, was a Stoic in following that opinion, but an
Epicurean in grasping at and constantly defending pleasure,
and you refuted him brilliantly from the holy Scriptures. 1
In that most delightful and most luminous work of yours, it
is quite clear that neither the authors on our side, nor Truth
Itself which spoke through them, accepted the view that all
sins are equal. How it can happen that even if this is true
of virtues we are not thereby obliged to admit the equality of
sins, I shall try to expound to the best of my ability, with
the help of the Lord; if I succeed, you will approve; where I
am lacking in my argument, you will supply.

Chapter 5

Those who hold that he who has one virtue has them all,
and that all are lacking to him who lacks one particular one,
use this argument: that prudence can be neither cowardly,
nor unjust, nor intemperate, for if it is any of these it will
not be prudence. On the other hand, if it is brave and just
and temperate, it will be prudence; therefore, wherever it is
found it has the other virtues with it. Thus, also fortitude

1 Jerome, Adversus Jovinianum 2.21-34, in PL 23,

LETTERS 37

cannot be imprudent or intemperate or unjust; likewise,
temperance must necessarily be prudent, brave, and just, as
justice will not be present if it is not prudent, brave, and
temperate. Therefore, wherever any of these virtues is truly
present, the others are likewise there; where the others are
lacking, the one is not a true virtue, even though in some ways
it seems like one.

Chapter 6

There are, as you know, certain vices forming contraries to
the virtues by a clear distinction, as, imprudence to prudence;
but there are also some which are only contrary because they
are vices, but which have a sort of deceptive resemblance to
virtues, as when we set against prudence, not imprudence, but
craftiness. I am now speaking of that craftiness which is
more commonly understood and expressed in an evil sense,
not as our Scripture ordinarily uses it, which often gives it a
good meaning; hence we have: 'Wise as serpents, 31 and c to
give subtlety to little ones.' 2 We admit that the most fluent
author of the Roman tongue among the ancients said: e One
did not have to be on guard against trickery in him, nor was
he lacking in subtlety,' 3 giving astutiam a good meaning; but
among them that usage is extremely rare, though most com-
mon among our writers. Likewise, among the subdivisions of
temperance, prodigality is clearly contrary to thrift, but what,
in everyday speech, is called niggardliness is obviously a vice,
not like thrift by nature, but having a deceptive resemblance
to it. In the same way, injustice is contrary to justice by an
evident antithesis, whereas the craving for vengeance puts
on a show of justice but is a vice. Slothfulness is clearly the

1 Matt. 10.16. The adjective used is astuti (from astutiam), translated
as 'craftiness/

2 Prov. 1.4. Astutia is here 'subtlety.'

3 Sallust, Catiline 5.3.

38 SAINT AUGUSTINE

opposite of fortitude; hardihood differs from it by nature but
counterfeits its appearance. Constancy is an essential part of
virtue; inconstancy is completely different and forms an
undeniable contrary, but stubbornness aims at being called
constancy and is not constancy, because the one is a virtue,
the other a vice.

Chapter 7

Let us take an example to illustrate the rest of this subject
so as not to have to repeat the same things over and over.
Those who had the opportunity of knowing Catiline have
written of him that 'he was able to endure hunger, cold, and
lack of sleep to an unbelievable degree,' 1 and for this reason
it seemed to himself as well as to his followers that he was
endowed with great fortitude. But, this fortitude was not
prudent: it took evil for good; it was not temperate because
it was defiled with base excesses; it was not just for he con-
spired against his country. Therefore, in him it was not
fortitude, but hardihood, that put on the name of fortitude
to lead fools astray. If it had been fortitude it would not
have been a vice but a virtue; if it had been a virtue it would
never have been abandoned by the other virtues which are,
so to speak, its inseparable companions.

Chapter 8

Thus, when the question is raised about vices, whether they
are all equally present when one is present, or whether none
is present when a particular one is lacking, it is a difficult
task to prove it, because two vices are usually the opposites
of one virtue: the manifest contrary and the one which

1 Sal lust, Catiline 5.3.

LETTERS 39

masquerades under the appearance of similarity. Thus, also,
it is easily seen that Catiline did not have fortitude, because
he did not have the other virtues with it, but we can hardly
be convinced that it was slothfulness which practised that
endurance and tolerance of such extreme discomforts c to an
unbelievable degree.' But, perhaps, if we examine more
closely, that hardness will appear as slothfulness because he
had neglected the effort of the pursuit of good through which
true fortitude is attained. Nevertheless, as those who are not
timid are bold and, on the other hand, those who lack bold-
ness are timid and here there is vice on both sides whereas
he who is strong in true virtue neither rashly dares nor un-
reasonably fears, we are forced to admit that vices are more
numerous than virtues.

Chapter 9

Sometimes, indeed, one vice is driven out by another, as
love of money by love of praise; sometimes one yields and
gives place to several, as when a man who has been a
drunkard has learned to drink with moderation through
miserliness and ambition. Therefore, it is possible for vices to
to give place, not to virtues but to successive vices, because
there are more of them. But, when one virtue has entered,
bringing the others with it, at once all the vices which were
present leave; not that all the vices were present, but some-
times as many, sometimes more, vices yield place to fewer
virtues or fewer give way to more.

Chapter 10

Whether this is really the case is something we must look
into with great care. When we say that he who has one
virtue has them all and he who lacks any particular one has

40 SAINT AUGUSTINE

none, we are not making a statement on divine authority. This
is the result of men's thought men of great ability, deep
study and leisure, it is true, but still men. But I do not know
how I can deny that even a woman to say nothing of man
from whom virtue 1 takes its name who keeps marital faith
with her husband, if she does this because of the com-
mandment and promise of God and is faithful to Him first of
all, has chastity; nor would I say that it is a non-existent or
insignificant virtue, and the same is true of the husband who
keeps faith with his wife. Yet there are many such, none of
whom I would say are without some sin, and certainly that
sin, whatever it is, comes from some vice. We deduce that
conjugal chastity in God-fearing men and women is un-
questionably a virtue for it is something and it is not a vice
but it does not have all the virtues with it. If they were all
present there would be no vice; if no vice, absolutely no sin;
but who is without some sin? Who, then, is without any vice,
that is, the very stock and root, so to speak, of sin, when he
who leaned upon the Lord's bosom 2 cried out: c if we say that
we have no sin we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not
in us'? 3 This does not have to be developed further for you,
but I am saying it for the sake of others who will read it. For
you, indeed, in that same brilliant work against Jovinian 4
have proved it exhaustively from the holy Scriptures, when
you quoted from this very Epistle, part of which we are now
seeking to understand, the following: 'For in many things
we all offend.' 5 When the Apostle of Christ spoke, he did
not say: 'You offend/ but 'We offend,' and when he says in
this passage: 'Whosoever shall keep the whole law, but offend
in one point, is become guilty of all/ he is there speaking of
many, not of one; he says that all offend, not merely some.

1 Virtus; literally, "manliness/ from t/ir ('man') .

2 John 13.25; 21.20.

3 1 John L8.

4 Jerome. Adversus Jovinianurn 2.2, in PL 23.

LETTERS 41

Chapter 11

But God forbid that any of the faithful should think that
so many thousands of the servants of God have no virtue
when they say that they have sin, lest they deceive themselves
and truth should not be in them, because wisdom is a great
virtue. 'But he said to man: Behold piety, that is wisdom.' 1
God forbid that we should say of so many deeply pious and
faithful men of God that they have not piety, which the
Greeks call eusebeian, 2 or, more exactly and completely,
theosebeian? For, what is piety but the worship of God?
What is the source of that worship if not charity? For,
'charity from a pure heart and a good conscience and an
unfeigned faith 5 is also a true virtue, because it is 'the end of
the commandment/ 4 Rightly is it said to be 'strong as death,' 5
either because no one overcomes it as no one overcomes death,
or because in this life the measure of charity is unto death,
as the Lord said : 'Greater love than this no man hath that a
man lay down his life for his friends,' 6 or, rather, because as
death tears the soul away from the senses of the flesh, so
charity tears it away from carnal passions. Knowledge is its
handmaid when it is useful, for without charity 'knowledge
puffeth up,' 7 but, in the measure that charity fills the heart
by edification, knowledge finds there nothing empty to puff
up. Moreover, the sacred writer showed that knowledge is
useful by defining it, when he said: 'Behold piety, that is
wisdom,' and he straightway continued: 'To depart from
evil, that is wisdom.' 8 Why, then, do we not say that he who

1 Cf. Job 28.28.

2 I.e., reverence toward the gods.

3 I.e., worship or fear of God.

4 1 Tim. 1.5,

5 Cant. 8.6.

6 John 15.13.

7 1 Cor. 8.1.

8 Job 28.28.

42 SAINT AUGUSTINE

has this virtue has them all, since love is the fulfilling of the
law'? 9 Or is it true that, the more charity a man has, the
more he is endowed with virtue, because charity is itself a
virtue; and the less virtue he has the more vice there is in
him? Therefore, where charity is full and perfect there will be
no remains of vice.

Chapter 12

For that reason it seems to me that the Stoics are wrong in
refusing to admit that the man who is increasing in wisdom
has any wisdom at all, and insisting that he has it only when
he is absolutely perfect in it; not that they refuse to admit the
increase, but for them he is not wise in any degree unless he
suddenly springs forth into the free air of wisdom after
coming up and, as it were, emerging from the depths of the
sea. Just as it makes no difference, if you want to drown a
man, whether the water is many feet deep over him or only
a hand's breadth or a finger's breadth, so, for them, those
who are making progress are like men coming up from the
depths of the sea into the air, but, unless they have entirely
escaped from total folly by emerging and coming forth from
the oppressive waters, they have no virtue and they are not
wise; whereas, when they have escaped, they at once have
complete wisdom, and no folly is left from which any sin
could arise.

Chapter 13

This comparison in which folly is represented as water and
wisdom as air, so that the soul coming up from the choking
depths of folly into wisdom is suddenly able to breathe, does
not seem to me compatible with the authority of our Scrip-

9 Rom. 13.10.

LETTERS 43

tures; that other comparison is better, where vice or folly is
likened to darkness, virtue or wisdom to light, in so far, of
course, as resemblance drawn from corporeal sources can be
applied to intellectual concepts. Wisdom does not come
suddenly, in the manner of one rising from water into air
who is able to breathe as much as he needs as soon as he has
reached the top of the waves; it comes, rather, by degrees,
in the manner of one advancing from darkness into light and
being gradually illumined as he progresses. Until this is
fully accomplished we say that he is like someone emerging
from a very dark cave into the proximity of light, who is
illumined more and more as he approches the exit, and that
the light he has comes from the brightness toward which he
is advancing, but the darkness still about him is from the
blackness out of which he is coming. Thus: c ln the sight of
God shall no man living be justified,' 1 yet 'the just man liveth
by faith.' 2 The saints are clad in justice, 3 one more, another
less; yet no one lives here without sin. In this, also, one more,
another less, but he is best who has least sin.

Chapter 14

But what am I about? I am forgetting to whom I am
speaking; I have been making myself out to be a teacher after
proposing something which I wished to learn from you. It
was because the question of the equality of sins came up in
the matter I was treating that I decided to set forth my
opinion for you to examine. Now I will bring it to a con-
clusion soon because, although it is true that he who has one
virtue has them all, while he who lacks a particular one has
none, it is not equally true that sins are equal, because where

1 Ps. 142.2.

2 Hab. 2.4; Rom. 1.17; Gal. 3.11; Heb. 10.38.

3 Job 29.14.

44 SAINT AUGUSTINE

there is no virtue there is nothing upright, yet a thing may be
more or less crooked, more or less twisted. However, I think
it more likely and more in accord with the sacred writings
that the movements of the soul are like the members of the
body, not that they are seen in different places, but they are
felt in the affections, and one has more light, another less,
while another lacks light entirely and is enveloped in its
inhibition as in darkness. In like manner, according as a
man is moved by the enlightenment of devout love, more in
one act, less in another, he can be said to have one virtue,
not to have another, or to have yet another in greater or less
degree. We can rightly say: There is greater charity in this
man than in that one,' and 'there is some in him, none at all
in that one/ and this applies to charity which is piety. We
can also say of one and the same man that he has more
modesty than patience, and, if he makes progress, more today
than yesterday, and that as yet he has no continence but he
has no slight kindness.

Chapter 15

And now, to summarize briefly and comprehensively the
idea I have of the virtue which belongs to right living: that
virtue is charity by means of which we love what we should
love. This is greater in some, less in others, lacking in still
others; its fullest measure, beyond which there is no increase,
is found in no one as long as he lives the life of man. As
long as it is subject to increase, the defect by which it is less
than it ought to be is accounted as vice; by reason of this
vice 'There is no just man upon earth, that will do good and
sin not'; 1 because of this vice, 'No man living shall be
justified in the sight of God'; 2 because of this vice, *I we

1 Eccle, 7.21; 3 Kings 8.46.

2 Ps. 142.2.

LETTERS 45

say that we have no sin we deceive ourselves and the truth is
not in us 3 ; 3 because of it, also, however much progress we
have made, we still have to say: Torgive us our debts, 34
even though in baptism all our words, deeds, thoughts have
been forgiven. Therefore, he who sees rightly sees where and
when and whence that perfection is to be hoped for, to
which no addition is possible. But, if there were no command-
ments, there would certainly be no norm by which a man
might look into himself and see what he should avoid, what
he should strive after, what he should rejoice in, what he
should pray for. Commandments, then, are highly useful, if
only because free will is thereby given the opportunity of
doing greater honor to the grace of God.

Chapter 16

If all that is so, how does it happen that he who keeps the
whole law is guilty of all if he offends in one point? Is it
perhaps because 'Love is the fulfilling of the law 51 by which
God and the neighbor are loved, on which commandments
'dependeth the whole law and the prophets,' 2 that he is
deservedly guilty of all who has acted against that virtue on
which all depends? For, no one sins except by acting con-
trary to charity, because 'Thou shalt not commit adultery,
thou shalt not kill, thou shalt not covet, and if there be any
other commandment it is comprised in this word : Thou shalt
love thy neighbor as thyself. The love of our neighbor worketh

3 1 John 1.8.

4 Matt 6.12; Luke 11.4.

1 Rom. 13.10.

2 Matt. 22.40.

46 SAINT AUGUSTINE

no evil. Love therefore is the fulfilling of the law/ 3 However,
no one loves his neighbor unless he loves God, and, by loving
him as himself to the limit of his ability, he pours out his
love on him so that he, too, may love God. But, if he does
not love God, he loves neither himself nor his neighbor. In
this way, whoever shall keep the whole law but offend in one
point becomes guilty of all because he acts against charity on
which the whole law depends. Thus, he becomes guilty of all
by acting against that virtue on which all depends.

Chapter 17

Why, then, cannot we say that sins are equal? It might be
because he who sins more grievously deals a greater blow to
charity, while he who sins more lightly wounds it less; the
one who sins more grievously or more frequently is more
culpable, the one who sins more lightly or less often is less
guilty. Obviously, the guilt would be greater or less according
as the sin has been greater or less; yet, if he has offended in
one point, he becomes guilty of all, because he has violated
charity on which all depends. If this is true, it explains what
a man of even apostolic grace says: *In many things we all
offend/ for we do offend, one more grievously, another more
lightly; and to measure how much more or less anyone sins
we say that, the less he loves God and his neighbor, the
more prone he is to commit sin; on the other hand, the
greater his love of God and his neighbor, the less he is
likely to commit sin; whoever has less charity has more
sinfulness, but he who is perfect in charity has no remains of
weakness.

3 Rom. 13.9,10.

LETTERS 47

Chapter 18

Yet, certainly, as I look at it, it is not to be deemed a light
sin to have the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ with respect of
persons, if we apply that difference of sitting and standing to
ecclesiastical dignities. Who could bear to have a rich man
chosen to a seat of honor in the Church while a more learned
and holier one is passed over because he is poor? And if we
speak of everyday seating arrangements, does he not commit
this sin, if it is a sin, when he judges within himself, from
appearances, that a rich man is a better man? The Apostle
seems to have meant this when he said: 'Do you not judge
within yourselves and are become judges of unjust thoughts?' 1

Chapter 19

Therefore, the law of charity is the law of liberty, of which
he says: 'If then you fulfil the royal law according to the
Scriptures: Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself you do
well, but if you have respect to persons you commit sin, being
reproved by the law as transgressors.' 1 And after that sen-
tence, so very difficult to understand, on which I have said
all that I think needs saying, he mentions that same law of
liberty in the words: 'So speak ye, and so do, as being to be
judged by the law of liberty.' And since, as I said awhile ago,
'in many things we all offend,' he suggests the Lord's remedy
to be used as a daily medicine for daily wounds, even slight
ones, for he says: 'Judgment without mercy to him that hath
not done mercy.' 2 On this point, also, the Lord said: 'Forgive
and you shall be forgiven; give and it shall be given to you';

1 James 2.4.

1 James 2.8,9.

2 James 2.12,13.

3 Luke 6.37,38.

48 SAINT AUGUSTINE

but 'Mercy exalteth itself above judgment.' 4 It does not say:
'Mercy overcomes judgment, 5 for it is not in conflict with it,
but 'exalteth itself because more are won over by mercy, and
by mercy it means those who have shown mercy. 'Blessed are
the merciful because God will be merciful to them.' 5

Chapter 20

Obviously, it is just that those who have pardoned should
receive pardon and that it should be given to those who give.
It is natural that there should be in God both mercy for him
that judges and judgment for him that shows mercy. That is
why we say to Him: 'Mercy and judgment I will sing to
thee, O Lord. 11 Whoever, presuming on his own justice,
expects judgment with mercy as if he were secure provokes
the most just anger, of which the Psalmist said in fear:
'Enter not into judgment with thy servant.' 2 Therefore, God
says to His perverse people: 'Why will you contend with me
in judgment?' 3 For, when 'the just king shall sit on his
throne, who will boast that he has a chaste heart, or who will
boast that he is pure of sin?' 4 What hope is there, then,
unless 'mercy exalteth itself above judgment, ' but only
toward those who have shown mercy by saying sincerely:
'Forgive us as we forgive,' and by giving without protest?
Tor God loveth a cheerful giver,' 5 Finally, in order to comfort
those in whom the former sentence had roused extreme fear,
St. James in the sequence to that passage speaks of the works

4 James 2.13.

5 Cf. Matt. 5.7.

1 Ps. 100.1.

2 Ps. 142.2.

3 Jer. 2,29.

4 Prov. 20.8,9 (Septuagint) .

5 2 Cor. 9.7.

LETTERS 49

of mercy, when he points out how even daily sins, without
which there is no living in this world, are expiated by daily
remedies. Without these, man who becomes guilty of all by
offending in one point, and by offending in many 'because
in many things we all offend' would drag with him to the
judgment seat of the great Judge a mighty load of guilt,
gathered up bit by bit, and would not find the mercy which
he had not shown, but by forgiving and giving he deserves to
have his debts forgiven and the promised reward given to him.

Chapter 21

I have spoken at length, and probably I have bored you by
repeating arguments which you accept but which you do not
expect to learn because you have been accustomed to teach
them. If there is anything in them regarding their content
for I am not concerned about the language in which they are
expressed but if there is anything in them which offends
your learning, I beg you in your answer to warn me of it,
and to take the trouble to correct me. Unhappy is he who
does not worthily honor such great and holy labors as are
those of your studies, and give thanks for them to the Lord
our God, by whose gift you are what you are! Therefore,
since I ought to be more ready to learn from anyone at all
what I am so useless as not to know rather than eager to
teach anyone at all what I do know, how much more reason
have I to beg to be indebted to your Charity, by whose
learning, in the name and with the help of the Lord, ecclesi-
astical literature in the Latin tongue has been advanced as
it could never have been before ! Especially do I ask you by
the Lord, if your Charity knows of a better way of interpreting
that sentence: 'Whosoever shall keep the whole law but
offend in one point is become guilty of all/ be so kind as to
share it with us.

50 SAINT AUGUSTINE

168. Timasius and James 1 give greeting in the Lord to the

truly blessed lord, their deservedly revered father,,

Bishop Augustine (415)

The grace of God, administered by your word, has so
refreshed and revived us that we can appropriately say: c He
sent his word and healed them/ 2 blessed lord, deservedly
revered father. Certainly we find that your Holiness has
rendered the text of that same book, 3 so redolent of your
careful attention, that we were in admiration of the answers
contained in it, down to the last page, whether in those points
which it befits a Christian to refute, detest, and avoid, or in
those in which it is shown that the objector 4 was not so far
wrong, although, by some clever twist or other, even in those
passages he believed that the grace of God was to be passed
over. But we have one regret in this favor you have done us,
that so sublime a gift of the grace of God should be so late
in shedding its light, because it happens that some are absent
whose blindness has need of the illumination of so shining a
truth, but we trust by the mercy of God that this same grace
may come to them, however late, since 'He will have all men
to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.' 5 As
for us, taught as we have been long since by the spirit of
charity which is in you, we have cast off our attachment to
that error, and we now return thanks that we have learned
how to reveal to others what we have previously believed,
because the fruitful words of your Holiness have opened the
way and made it easy for us.

May the mercy of our God ever glorify your Blessedness
and make you mindful of us. 6

1 Converts of Augustine's; probably members of a group of monks. Cf.
Letter 179 n. 2.

2 Ps. 106.20.

3 On Nature and Grace.

4 Pelagius, against whom the book was written.

5 1 Tim. 2.4.

6 In another handwriting.

LETTERS 51

169. Augustine, bishop, to Evodius, 1 bishop (End of 415)

If your Holiness is so anxious to know what subjects keep
me most occupied, from which I am unwilling to be diverted
to something else, send someone to describe them to you.
Several, which I began this year before Easter, at the
approach of Lent, are now completed, I have added two
more to my three books on the City of God against His
enemies the demon-worshipers, and in these five books I think
I have made out a rather good argument against those who
think the gods are to be worshiped for the sake of happiness
in this life, and who are hostile to the very name of Christian
because they believe we are the obstacle to that happiness.
Besides, it must be said, as we promised in Book 1, that it
is also against those who think the worship of their gods
necessary for the life after death, and that is the life for the
sake of which we are Christians. I have also dictated some
sizable volumes containing a commentary on three Psalms:
67, 71, and 77. The others, not yet dictated, or even composed,
are urgently looked for and demanded of me. I do not want
to be called off from these or slowed down by any flank
attack of any other questions, and so I have no desire to give
my attention to the books on the Trinity which I have had
on hand for a long time, but have not yet finished, because
they are too exacting a work, and I think they are com-
prehensible to few. Therefore, the other works which I hope
will be useful to more people are more pressing.

The passage, 'If any man know not he shall not be known,' 2
does not mean, as you write, that the Apostle spoke in this
matter as if that punishment would be inflicted on anyone
whose mind is not keen enough to perceive the ineffable unity
of the Trinity, as memory, intellect, and will are perceived

1 There is no formal address. Evodius was his boyhood friend.

2 1 Cor. 14.38.

52 SAINT AUGUSTINE

in our mind. The Apostle is here speaking of something else.
Read it and you will see that he was saying such things as
would serve to strengthen the faith or morals of many, not
such as would appeal to the understanding of a few, a
limited understanding, restricted, the only kind one can find
in this life. He was dealing with such topics as these: that
prophecy should be preferred to tongues; that their meetings
should be carried on without disturbance, as if the spirit of
prophecy forced even the unwilling to speak; that women
should keep silence in church; 'that all things be done
decently and according to order/ 3 When he had settled these
points, he said: 'If any seem to be a prophet or spiritual, let
him know the things that I wrote to you, that it is the com-
mandment of the Lord. But if any man know not, he shall
not be known'; 4 by these words restraining the turbulent and
recalling them to peaceful order, especially those who were
more ready to dissent because they seemed to surpass the
rest in spirituality, whose pride disturbed everything. 'If
therefore any seem to be a prophet or spiritual, let him
know,' says the Apostle, 'the thing I write to you, because it
is the commandment of the Lord. 9 c lf any seem to be, 5 and
obviously is not, for he who is knows beyond doubt and has
no need of warning or exhortation, because 'he judgeth all
things and is judged by no man.' 5 Therefore, those who
make dissensions and disturbances in the Church are the ones
who seem to be what they are not. He teaches these to know
that it is the commandment of the Lord because 'He is not
the God of dissension but of peace.' 6 But, 'if any man know
not, he shall not be known,' that is, he shall be cast off, for,
if you are speaking of knowledge, God is not without knowl-

3 1 Cor. 14.34-40.

4 1 Cor. 14.37-39.

5 1 Cor. 2.15.

6 1 Cor. 14.33.

LETTERS 53

edge of those to whom He will say: 'I know you not.' 7 His
rejection is indicated by that word.

But when the Lord says : 'Blessed are the clean of heart for
they shall see God/ 8 and that vision is thereby promised at
the end as our reward, we have no reason to fear that we
shall then hear the word: c if any man know not, he shall
not be known/ because we are now unable to see what we
believe about the nature of God. Tor seeing that in the
wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it
pleased God by the foolishness of our preaching to save them
that believe.' 9 This foolishness of preaching and 'foolishness
of God which is wiser than men' 10 draws many to salvation,
and so, not only those who are not yet able to perceive with
sure understanding the nature of God which they hold by
faith, but also those who do not yet distinguish in their own
mind incorporeal substance from the common nature of the
body, and do not know how to live, know, and will, are still
not deprived of salvation which that foolishness of preaching
bestows on the faithful.

For, if Christ died for those only who are able to discern
these truths with sure understanding, our labor in the Church
is almost worthless. But if, as truth holds, the believers among
the peoples run to their Physician in their sickness to be healed
by Christ, and Him crucified, so that 'where sin abounded
grace might more abound,' 11 it happens in marvellous ways,
'through the depth of the riches of the wisdom and of the
knowledge of God,' and by 'his unsearchable judgments' 12
that some, because they can distinguish incorporeal from
corporeal things, seem great to themselves, mock at the

7 Matt. 7.23; Luke 13,25,27.

8 Matt. 5.8.

9 1 Cor, 1.21.

10 1 Cor. 1.25.

11 Cf. Rom. 5.20.

12 Cf. Rom. 11.33.

54 SAINT AUGUSTINE

foolishness of the preaching through which they believed and
were saved, and wander far from the one way which alone
leads to eternal life. On the other hand, many who glory in
the cross of Christ and do not withdraw from that same way,
though ignorant of those points which are so subtlely debated,
because not one little one perishes for whom He died, 13
attain to that same eternity, truth, charity, that is, to a fixed,
sure, and complete happiness where all things are clear to
those who remain faithful, who see, and who love.

Therefore, let us believe with firm piety in one God, Father
and Son and Holy Spirit, in such wise that the Son is not
believed to be the same Person as the Father, or the Father
the same as the Son, or the Father and the Son the same as
the Spirit of both, And let it not be thought that there is any
separation of time or place in this Trinity, but that these
three are equal and co-eternal and entirely of one nature; or
that one creature was created by the Father, another by the
Son, another by the Holy Spirit, but that all created things,
all and each one of them that have been or are being created
exist by the creative power of the Trinity. Nor must we think
that anyone is saved by the Father without the Son and the
Holy Spirit, or by the Son without the Father and the Holy
Spirit, or by the Holy Spirit without the Father and the
Son, but by the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, one
true and only God, truly immortal, that is, entirely unchange-
able. In the Scripture many details are mentioned separately
of the Persons individually, such as cannot be said of them
jointly, even though they are inseparably together, as when
they are made manifest by corporeal sounds; and so in
certain passages of Scripture and through certain created
beings they are shown separately and successively, as the
Father in the voice which was heard : 'Thou art my Son/ 14

13 Matt. 18.14; John 17,12.

14 Mark 1.11; Luke 3,22; Ps, 2.7; Matt. 3.17.

LETTERS 55

and the Son in the human nature which He took from the
Virgin/ 5 and the Holy Spirit in the physical appearance of
a dove. 16 These are mentioned separately, it is true, but they
do not prove that the Three are separated.

To understand this to some extent, we take the example of
our memory, our understanding, our will. Although we list
these separately, individually, and in their separate times, yet
there is nothing we do or say which proceeds from one of
them without the other two. However, we are not to think
that these three faculties are compared to the Trinity so as to
resemble it at every point, for a comparison is never given
such importance in an argument that it exactly fits the thing
to which it is compared. Besides, when can any likeness in a
created being be applied to the Creator? In the first place,
that comparison lacks resemblance because those three fac-
ulties memory, understanding, will are in the mind, the
mind is not identical with the three of them; whereas the
Trinity is not in God, it is God. Therein we admire His
marvellous simplicity because in the nature of God being is
not different from understanding or anything else we might
say of Him; the mind, however, exists even without the
understanding because its being is not identical with its
understanding. In the second place, who would dare to say
that the Father does not understand through Himself but
through the Son, as the memory does not understand through
itself, but through the understanding, or, rather, the mind
itself, in which these faculties exist, understands only through
the understanding, as it remembers only through the memory,
and wills only through the will? Thus far, then, that com-
parison is applied to make us understand in some way how,
when mention is made of the separate names by which these
faculties of the mind are made known, each single name is

15 Matt. 1.23,25; Luke 2.7.

16 Matt. 3.16; Mark 1.10; Luke 3.22; John 1.22.

56 SAINT AUGUSTINE

used of their joint action, as when we speak of remembering
and understanding and willing; but there is no created being,
by which the Father alone or the Son alone or the Holy
Spirit alone is made known, which is not the work of the
Trinity together, since its action is indivisible. Thus, neither
the voice of the Father, nor the soul and body of the Son,
nor the dove of the Holy Spirit is brought about in any other
way than by the common action of the same Trinity.

For, certainly, the sound of the voice which at once ceased
to be is not a fitting likeness to the unity of the person of the
Father, nor does the corporeal appearance of the dove re-
semble the unity of the person of the Holy Spirit, for it, also,
like that luminous cloud which overshadowed the Saviour
on the mountain with the three disciples, 17 or, rather, like
that fire which manifested the presence of the Holy Spirit, 18
ceased to be as soon as its purpose had been fulfilled. But
man alone, because all the wonders took place to deliver
human nature, was assimilated to the unity of the person of
the Word of God, that is, the only Son of God, by His
marvellous and unique incarnation, yet the Word remained
unchangeable in His nature in which nothing complex is
to be supposed which could support any image of the human
mind. It is true, we read: The spirit of wisdom is manifold,' 19
but it is also rightly called simple : manifold because there are
many things which it has, but simple because what it has is
nothing other than what it is, as the Son is said to 'have life
in himself' 20 and is Himself the same life. 21 It is man that
draws near to the Word, not the Word that by any change
draws near to man. Thus, He is called the Son of God and
God made man at the same time. Consequently, the same

17 Matt. 17.5; Mark 9,6; Luke 9,24.

18 Acts 2.3.

19 Wisd. 7.22.

20 John 5.26.

21 John 14.6.

LETTERS 57

Son of God is unchangeable and co-eternal with the Father in
the Word alone; and the Son of God was buried, but in the
flesh alone.

Therefore, in what is said of the Son of God the choice of
words must be guided by the meaning intended. The number
of Persons was not increased by the assuming of human
nature, but the Trinity remained the same. Just as in any
man, except the one who was uniquely assumed by the Word,
soul and body form one person, so in Christ the Word and
man form one Person. And just as a man is called, for in-
stance, a philosopher though this refers uniquely to his mind,
and it is not an illogical but a highly appropriate and
customary form of speech to say of him that a philosopher was
killed, a philosopher died, a philosopher was buried, although
all this affects him only in the body and not in what makes
him a philosopher so it must be held certain that Christ
who is God, the Son of God, the Lord of glory, and any
other titles that may be given to Him, is rightly said to be a
crucified God, although He suffered this only according to
the flesh and not according to His nature as Lord of glory.

But the sound of that voice and the corporeal appearance
of the dove, and the 'parted tongues as it were of fire that
sat upon every one of them,' 22 like those terrible manifestations
that happened on Mount Sinai 23 and that pillar of cloud by
day and of fire by night, 24 were performed and carried out
as figurative acts. Now, in these matters, special care must be
taken lest anyone believe that the nature of God, either the
Father, the Son, or the Holy Spirit, is subject to change or
transformation. And let no one be troubled because sometimes
the sign receives the name of the thing signified. Thus, the
Holy Spirit is said to have descended on Christ in the cor-

22 Acts 2.3.

23 Exod. 19.18.

24 Exod. 13.21.

58 SAINT AUGUSTINE

poreal appearance, as it were, of a dove and to have re-
mained upon Him; thus, also, the rock is called Christ because
it signifies Christ. 25

But I am surprised that you think it possible for the sound
of that voice which said: Thou art my Son/ 26 to be produced
by the divine will acting on physical nature without the
agency of a living being, and you do not think it possible
for the physical appearance of any living creature and of
movement like that of life to be produced by the divine will
in the same way without the agency of any animal life-
principle. If created nature obeys God without the action of
a vivifying soul, so that sounds are uttered such as are
usually uttered by a living body, and the form of articulate
speech is brought to the ears, why should it not obey Him
so that without the agency of a vivifying soul the form and
movement of a bird should be presented to the sight by the
same power of the Creator? Can this be the privilege of the
sense of hearing but not of sight, although both sense im-
pressions are formed from the matter of the body which lies
near both what sounds in the ears and what appears to the
sight, both the syllables of the voice and the outline of the
physical shape, both audible and visible movement so that
it should be both a true body which is perceived by a bodily
sense and at the same time nothing more than what is
perceived by a bodily sense? The soul is not perceived by any
bodily sense, nor is it seen in any living being. Therefore,
there is no need to inquire how the corporeal appearance of
the dove was produced, just as we do not inquire how the
words of an articulate body produce their sound. For, if it
were possible for a soul not to be the medium by which a
voice is said to have been made audible and not as a voice
usually is, how much more possible was it when the dove was

25 1 Cor. 10.4.

26 Matt. 3.16-17; Mark 1.10,11; Luke 3.22.

LETTERS 59

spoken of that this word should signify merely a physical ap-
pearance presented to the eyes without the actual nature of a
living creature! These words, also, were said in that sense:
'And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a
mighty wind coming, and there appeared to them parted
tongues as it were of fire, 327 where a certain phenomenon is
said to be c as of a wind' and 'as it were' a visible fire, like
the natural fire with its customary nature, but it does not
seem to mean that natural fire of the customary kind was
produced.

If a more subtle reasoning or a more thorough investigation
into this matter shows that the nature which is not susceptible
of motion in either time or space undergoes no motion except
through a nature which can move in time only but not in
space, the conclusion will be that all those phenomena were
brought about through the agency of a living creature, as,
for example, by angels. Hence, it would take too long and
there is no need to discuss it more in detail. In addition, there
are visions which appear to the mind as if to the bodily
senses, not only to people in sleep or out of their minds, but
sometimes to people of sane mind and wide awake; they are
not caused by the deceit of mocking demons but by some
spiritual revelation which acts through incorporeal forms
resembling bodies. These cannot be distinguished at all unless
they are more fully revealed by divine assistance and dis-
cerned by the understanding of the mind, and this is scarcely
ever the case while they are happening, but occurs for the
most part after they have disappeared. This being so, whether
they have a corporeal nature or merely a corporeal appear-
ance but a spiritual nature in which they appear to our mind
as to the bodily senses, since sacred Scripture relates these
things, we ought not to judge rashly of which sort these two
are, or whether they are produced by the agency of a living

27 Acts 2.2,3.

)0 SAINT AUGUSTINE

;reature if they occur in bodily form, so long as we either
Delieve without any doubt or accept with such understanding
is we have that the invisible and immutable nature of the
Creator, that is, of the supreme and ineffable Trinity, is
3Oth far removed and distinct from the senses of mortal
flesh, and from all change into something either better or
worse or into anything else at all.

You see, in spite of my being so very busy, how lengthily
[ have been able to write you these thoughts on your two
juestions, that is, about the Trinity and the dove, the form
inder which the Holy Spirit was seen, not in His own nature
>ut under a symbolical appearance, just as the Son of God
vas not crucified by the Jews in His own begotten nature of
vhich the Father says: 'Before the day-star I begot thee,' 28
>ut in the human nature which He took in the womb of
he Virgin, I thought better not to treat of all the objections
vhich you put into your letter, but these two on which you
vanted to hear from me I think I have answered fully
inough to obey your Charity, though not enough, perhaps,
or your insatiable desire.

In addition to those two books which, as I said above, I
idded to the other three, and the commentary on the three
3 salms, I have also written a book to the holy priest Jerome
>n the origin of the soul, advising him how to defend that
opinion which he had written as his own to Marcellinus of
eligious memory; that new, individual souls are created at
>irth, so that the fundamental belief of the Church may not
e shaken, by which we steadfastly believe that in Adam all
ie' 29 and, unless they are redeemed by the grace of Christ,
fhich is effected through His sacrament conferred even on
ifants, are doomed to condemnation. I also wrote him
nother one asking how he thought we should interpret what

8 Ps. 109.3.

9 1 Cor. 15.22.

LETTERS 61

is written in the Epistle of James: 'Whosoever shall keep the
whole law but offend in one point, is become guilty of all.' 30
But in this one I said what I thought, whereas in the other
one on the origin of the soul I only asked, in a sort of tentative
argument, what he thought. I did not want to lose the
opportunity of sending them by a certain very holy and very
studious young man, the priest Orosius, who came to us from
faraway Spain, that is, from the Atlantic coast, with the
sole incentive of learning the holy Scriptures. I persuaded him
to go to Jerome. In one small book, as briefly and clearly as I
could, I gave this same Orosius the answers to several ques-
tions on the Priscillianist heresy and on certain of Origen's
opinions, not accepted by the Church, which troubled him.
And I wrote an especially long book against the Pelagian
heresy at the request of several of the brethren who had been
impressed by his deadly doctrine against the grace of Christ.
If you want to have all these, send someone to transcribe
them for you, but leave me free to study and to dictate works
which are needful for many and which I think should have
the right of way over your inquiries on matters of interest to
few.

170. Alypius and Augustine give greeting in the Lord to the
excellent and deservedly honored lord, their re-
ligious brother, Maximus 1 (c. 415)

When we were inquiring of our holy brother and fellow
bishop, Peregrinus, 2 about your health not your physical
health only, but especially your spiritual health and that of
your household, his answers about you gave us pleasure, but

30 James 2.10.

1 A physician, recently converted from Arianism.

2 Cf. Letter 139. He became a bishop in 413, but his see is not named.

62 SAINT AUGU STINE

we were sad to hear of your household that they have not
yet experienced a salutary conversion or joined the Catholic
Church. As we had hoped that this would soon happen, we
deeply regret that it has not yet come to pass, excellent lord,
deservedly honored and religious brother.

Therefore, we greet your Charity in the peace of the Lord,
and we enjoin on you and beg of you not to delay teaching
them what you have learned, namely, that to the one God
alone do we owe the worship which is called latreia in Greek.
That same word is found in the Law, where it is written:
The Lord thy God shalt thou adore and him only shalt thou
serve.' 3 If we spoke of Him as God the Father only, we
should be answered : 'Then the worship of latreia is now owed
to the Son/ which it is forbidden to say. But if it is owed,
how, then, is it owed to God alone if it is owed to the Father
and the Son, unless the one God to whom we are commanded
to give the worship of latreia is so named the only God as to
mean the Father and the Son and, certainly, the Holy Spirit
as well? Of Him doubtless the Apostle says: 'Know you not
that your bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in
you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own?
For you are bought with a great price. Glorify God, therefore,
in your body/ 4 Of what God but the Holy Spirit did he say
that our bodies are the temple? Therefore, latreia is owed to
the Holy Spirit. For, if we were commanded to build Him a
temple of wood and stone as Solomon did, by this very
building of a temple we should prove that we offered Him
worship; how much more, then, do we owe Him worship,
we who do not build Him a temple but are his temple !

Thus, if the worship of latreia is owed to the Father and to
the Son and to the Holy Spirit and is paid by us, as it is said :
'The Lord thy God shalt thou adore and him only shalt thou

3 Dent. 6.13; Matt. 4,10.

4 1 Cor. 6.19,20.

LETTERS 63

serve/ without any doubt the Lord our God to whom alone
we owe worship of latreia is not the Father alone, or the Son
alone, or the Holy Spirit alone, but the Trinity Itself, one
only God, Father, and Son and Holy Spirit; but not in such
wise as that the Father should be the same as the Son, or the
Holy Spirit the same as the Father or the Son, since in that
Trinity the Father is Father of the Son alone, and the Son is
Son of the Father alone, but the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of
the Father and the Son. By reason of its one and the same
nature and inseparable life the Trinity is understood as
far as can be understood by man, with faith leading the way
as one Lord our God, of whom it is said: The Lord thy
God shalt thou adore and him only shalt thou serve,' of
whom the Apostle spoke when he said: Tor of him and by
him and in him are all things: to him be glory forever.' 5

But the only-begotten Son does not come of God the
Father as the whole of creation came from Him, which He
created from nothing. He begot the Son of His own sub-
stance, He did not make Him out of nothing; He did not
beget Him in time, through whom He instituted all time, for,
as the flame is not antecedent to the brightness which it
produces, so the Father has never been without the Son.
Indeed, He is the wisdom of the Father, of whom it is
written: c The brightness of eternal light. 56 Therefore, there
is no doubt that wisdom is co-eternal with the light whose
brightness it is, that is, with God the Father, and therefore,
also, as in the beginning God made heaven and earth, not
so, in the beginning, did He make the Word, but c ln the
beginning was the Word.' 7 The Holy Spirit was not made,
either, as creation was from nothing, but as He proceeds

5 Rom. 11.36.

6 Wisd. 7.26.

7 John 1.1.

64 SAINT AUGUSTINE

from the Father and the Son, so He was not created by the
Son or by the Father.

This Trinity is of one and the same nature and substance,
not less in each Person than in all, or more in all than in
each; and as much in the Father alone or in the Son alone
as in the Father and the Son together, and as much in the
Holy Spirit alone as in the Father and the Son and the Holy
Spirit together. And the Father did not diminish Himself in
order to have a Son of Himself, but He begot Him as
another self so as to remain whole in Himself, and to be as
great in the Son as He is alone. Likewise, the Holy Spirit, a
whole Person from a whole Person, does not precede Him
from whom He proceeds, but is as much with Him as He is
from Him; He does not diminish Him by proceeding from
Him or increase Him by remaining with Him. All these
Persons are not confusedly one or separately three, but be-
cause they are one they are three, and because they are three
they are one. Moreover, as He has granted to the many hearts
of His faithful to be one heart, 8 how much more does He
reserve for Himself that these three Persons should be all and
singly God and at the same time that they should be one
God, not three gods. This is the Lord our God who is
served with universal devotion, to whom alone the worship of
latreia is due.

Since of His bounty He has granted to things which are
born in time that each thing should beget offspring of its
own substance, see how impious it is to say that He did not
beget what He is, when man, by His gift, begets what he is,
that is, man, not of another nature but of the same as his
own, although He does not beget the Father of His Son
which is Himself. These terms indicate analogy not nature,
and, therefore, when applied to something they have a

8 Acts 4.32.

LETTERS 65

relative sense, sometimes identical, sometimes different. They
have a meaning of identity, of course, when brother is com-
pared to brother, friend to friend, neighbor to neighbor,
kindred to kindred, and other like cases which could be
drawn out to infinity if one wished to run through all of
them. In these cases this one is to that one what that one is
to this one. But they are different in comparisons of father to
son, son to father, father-in-law to son-in-law, son-in-law to
father-in-law, master to slave, slave to master: in these this
one is not to that one what that one is to this one, although
both are men. This comparison of diverse objects is not made
in terms of their nature, since, as you notice, what one of
the pair is to the other is not in the formula of this one is to
that one as that one is to this one, because one is the father,
the other the son; or one the father-in-law, the other the
son-in-law; or one the master, the other the slave. But, if
you notice what each one is to himself or in himself, one is
the same as the other because one is man as the other is.
Consequently, your Prudence understands the illogical con-
tention of those from whose error the Lord has delivered you,
which states that the nature of God the Father must be
different from the nature of God the Son, because one is the
Father, the other the Son, and therefore the Father did not
beget what He is Himself, since He did not beget the
Father of the Son which He is Himself. Anyone can see that
those terms do not denote their natures in themselves, but the
Person of each toward the other.

They also promote an error like this when they say that the
Son is of another nature and of different substance because
the Father does not derive His Godhead from another but the
Son derives His from God the Father. Here, however, it is
not a question of substance, but of origin; that is, not what
each one is, but whence He is or is not. We do not say that
Abel and Adam were not of the same nature and substance

66 SAINT AUGUSTINE

because the former had had human nature from the latter, but
the latter had his from no man. If, then, we consider the
nature of both, Abel was a man, Adam was a man; but, if
we consider their origin, Abel descended from the first man,
Adam from no man. Thus, in God the Father and God the
Son, if we consider the nature of both, each one is God, but
one is not more God than the other; if we consider their
origin, the Father is God from whom the Son is God, but
there is no god previous to God the Father.

Those who try to reply to this make a vain effort when
they say: 'But man begets with sufferings; God begot His
Son without suffering.' This does not help them at all, but it
helps us greatly. For, if God granted to temporal and
passible things to beget what they are, how much more did
He who is eternal and impassible beget no other than He is
Himself: one Father an only Son, to our unutterable wonder,
since He begot Him with no suffering on His part, and with
such complete equality to Himself that the Son does not
excel Him either in power or in age ! All He has and can do
He attributes to His Father, not to Himself, because He is
not of Himself but of the Father. For, He is equal to the
Father and this also He received from the Father, but He
did not so receive His being equal as if He had previously
been unequal and was born equal, but, as He is always born,
so He is always equal. Therefore, He did not beget one un-
equal and add equality to Him at birth, but He gave it to
Him in begetting Him because He begot Him equal, not
unequal. Therefore, being in the form of God, it was not
robbery in Him to be equal to God; 9 since He assumed this
at birth, He did not presume it by pride.

His reason for saying that the Father is greater 10 is that

9 Phil. 2.6.

10 John 14.28.

LETTERS 67

,

'He emptied himself, taking the form of a servant/ 11 without
losing that of God. Because of this form of servant, He not
only became less than the Father but also less than Himself
and the Holy Spirit; not only less than this most high Trinity,
but He was even made c a little lower than the angels.' 12 He
was also lower than man, because as a boy He was subject
to His parents. 13 And so it was because of this form of the
servant which He took by emptying Himself when the
fullness of time was come that He said: 'The Father is
greater than I,' 14 but it was because of that form of God
which He did not lose by emptying Himself that He said:
fi l and the Father are one.' 15 It is clear that He became man
while remaining God, for man was assumed by God; God
was not consumed in man. Therefore, it is perfectly reasonable
to say both that Christ as man is less than the Father and
that Christ as God is equal to the Father and is equally God.
Since, then, we rejoice that you have joined the right and
Catholic faith in our presence, to the great exultation of the
people of God, why are we still sad at your slothfulness
toward your household? We beg you by the mercy of Christ
and by His help to remove this grief from our hearts. We
cannot believe that your influence has so much weight in
supporting the obstinacy of your dependents and none at all
in inducing their conversion. Or do they perhaps despise you
because you have become a member of the Catholic Church
at your age, when they ought rather admire and respect you
because you overcame a very old error when your youth was
growing old? God forbid that they who agreed with you in
your departure from truth should now resist you when you

11 Phil. 2.7.

12 Heb. 2.9.

13 Luke 2.51.

14 John 14.28.

15 John 10.30.

68 SAINT AUGUSTINE

speak the truth; God forbid that they who delighted to share
your error should now refuse to accept your correct views.
Pray for them, plead with them; nay, bring them with you
into the house of God, since they are with you in your own
house. You should feel shame and regret at coming to the
house of God without those who are accustomed to meet in
your house, especially as your Catholic Mother asks you to
give some of them back, she asks them back. She asks for
those whom she finds with you, but she asks back those whom
she lost through you. Do not let her suffer in her losses, rather
let her rejoice in her gains. Let her gain the sons whom she
does not yet have, not mourn those whom she once had. We
pray to God that you may do what we urge, and we hope of
His mercy that our heart may be filled with joy and 'our
tongue with gladness,' 16 at the letter of our holy brother and
fellow bishop, Peregrinus, and the speedy answer of your
Charity on this matter.

17 7. Alypius and Augustine give greeting in the Lord to the
most happy lord, their esteemed and very dear
brother and fellow bishop, Peregrinus (c. 415)

We sent a letter to our honored brother, Maxirnus, 1 in the
belief that he would be glad to receive it. Please write back
at the first opportunity you can find and tell us whether we
did any good. Let him know that we are in the habit of
writing long letters to our intimate friends, not only laymen
but even bishops, in the same form 2 in which we wrote to

16 Ps. 125.2.

1 Cf. Letter 170,

2 The custom of the time required ceremonious letters to be written in
one's own hand on parchment, where as letters to equals or inferiors
were dictated and written on paper, as this letter was. Augustine feared
that Maximus might have taken offense at his lack of formality.

LETTERS 69

him. We do this to speed up our correspondence, and besides,
paper is more comfortable to hold when reading. Perhaps, as
he is not acquainted with this custom of ours, he might think
he has been slighted.

171 A. 1 Augustine to Maxirnus (c. 415)

You should regulate your life and conduct by the com-
mandments of God, which we have received to enable us to
lead a good life, beginning with a religious fear, for 'the
fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom/ 2 whereby human
pride is broken down and weakened. Secondly, with a rnild
and gentle piety you should refrain from objecting to passages
of the holy Scriptures which you do not yet understand and
which seem to the uninstructed devoid of sense and self-con-
tradictory, and you should not try to impose your ideas on the
meaning of the holy books, but submit and hold your mind
in check, rather than savagely attack its hidden meaning.
Thirdly, when your human weakness begins to be revealed to
you in the course of your self-knowledge, and you learn how
low a place you occupy, what penal bonds of mortality you
drag around with you, son of Adam that you are, and how
far you are from the Lord 3 in your sojourning, and when you
'see another law in your members fighting against the law of
your mind and captivating you in the law of sin that is in
your members,' and you cry out: 'Unhappy man that I am,
who shall deliver me from the body of this death? 5 let the
'grace of God by Jesus Christ our Lord/ 4 who promises you

1 This fragment on the seven stages of the spiritual life, without title or
address, was found as a quotation in the Commentaries of Primasius
on the Apocalypse (Primasius 1.2,5; PL 48.828.20) .

2 Ps. 110.10; Prov. 1.7.

3 2 Cor. 5.6.

4 Rom. 7.23-25.

70 SAINT AUGUSTINE

that deliverance, be your comfort in your grief. In the fourth
place, desire to fulfill justice much more eagerly and ardently
than carnal pleasures are usually desired by evil men, with this
difference, that in such desire the ardor is peaceful and the
flame safer because it rests on the hope of divine help. In
that fourth stage of life there is constant application to prayer,
that the fullness of justice may be granted to those who
hunger and thirst for it. 5 In that stage it is not burdensome, it
is rather a delight, to refrain from every pleasure of corrup-
tion, whether one's own or another's, either by struggling
against it or by actively opposing it. That this heavenly help
may be more readily granted, a fifth stage is added, setting
forth the counsel of mercy, that, as far as you are able, you
succor the needy, desiring to be helped by the Almighty in
what you are not able to do. The practice of mercy is twofold :
when vengeance is sacrificed and when compassion is shown.
The Lord included both of these in His brief sentence:
'Forgive and you shall be forgiven, give and it shall be given
to you. 36 This work has the effect of purifying the heart, so
that, even under the limitations of this life, we are enabled
with pure mind to see the immutable substance of God.
For there is something holding us back, which has to be loosed
so that our sight may break through to the light. In connection
with this the Lord said: 'Give alms and behold all things are
clean to you.' 7 Therefore, the next and sixth step is that
cleansing of the heart.

But, in order that an upright and pure gaze may be turned
to the true light, none of the good and praiseworthy deeds
which we do, none of the truths which we keenly and pro-
foundly discern, is to have the intention of pleasing men or
satisfying the needs of the body. God wishes to be worshiped

5 Matt. 5,6.

6 Luke 6.37,38.

7 Luke 11.41.

LETTERS

71

for Himself alone, for nothing outside Himself should be a
motive for seeking Him. When by the stages of a good life
we have come to that purity of mind, whether slowly or
speedily, then let us dare to say that we are able to make
some contact of mind with the unity of the supreme and
ineffable Trinity, where there will be the deepest peace,
because there is nothing more to hope for, when men become
sons of God, remade according to the likeness of His nature,
enjoying the immutability of their Father. For the first stage
is: 'Blessed are the poor in spirit,' when they fear God; the
second: 'Blessed are the meek,' when there is a docile piety;
the third: 'Blessed are they that mourn/ when they know
their own weakness; the fourth: 'Blessed are they that hunger
and thirst after justice,' when strong effort keeps their pas-
sions under control; the fifth: 'Blessed are the merciful, for
God will have mercy on them,' which is the counsel of helping
that you may deserve to be helped. Then we come to the
sixth stage, in which it is said: 'Blessed are the clean of heart
for they shall see God,' 8 in which the mind cannot be kept
pure and fit to understand the Trinity, in however slight a
degree, unless we give up the craving for human praise even
when we perform praiseworthy deeds. Thereafter, we come,
by the seventh stage, to the tranquility of that peace which the
world cannot give. This is brought about by those four virtues
which the philosophers of old were able to strive for with
commendable industry: namely, prudence, fortitude, tem-
perance and justice ; and if we add to them these three, faith,
hope and charity, needed for the perfect practice of religion,
we attain at once the number seven. With reason do we take
care not to neglect these, without which we know that it is
impossible for anyone to worship God or to please Him.

8 Matt. 5.3-8; Luke 6.20,21; Isa. 11.2,3.

9 Matt. 5.9; John 14.27.

72 SAINT AUGUSTINE

172. Jerome gives greeting in the Lord to Augustine, truly
holy lord and pope revered by me with all
affection (c. 416)

At your bidding and because of his own worth, I have
welcomed the priest Orosius 1 as my honored brother and the
son of your Worthiness. But I have been going through a
difficult time when it has been better for me to keep silent
than to speak; consequently, my studies have fallen off and,
like Appius, 2 my speech has been a snarl. So I have not been
able to seize this occasion to answer the two books 3 which you
dedicated to my name, learned books and brilliant, with the
full splendor of eloquence; not that I think there is anything
to criticize in them, but according to the blessed Apostle:
'Let every man abound in his own sense, one after this
manner, another after that.' 4 Certainly, you have set forth and
discussed with your profound mind all that can be said,
drawing from the fount of sacred Scripture. But I ask your
Reverence to leave me for a while to the praise of your
genius. You and I carry on discussion with the intention of
learning, but the envious and, especially, the heretics, if they
see us holding different opinions, will conclude falsely that
this comes from ill feeling between us. It is my fixed deter-
mination to love you, support you, cherish you, marvel at
you, and defend your opinions as my own. Certainly, in the
dialogue 5 which I published recently I made mention of
your Blessedness, as was fitting; let us, then, make a greater
effort to uproot this most baneful heresy from the Churches, a
heresy which is always pretending to repent so as to have

1 This letter was probably brought back by him in the spring of 416.

2 Cf. Sail ust, Fragmenta Historiae 2.37 (ed. Dietsch) .

3 Letters 166 and 167.

4 Rom. 14.5; 1 Cor. 7,7.

5 Libri adversus Pelagianos 3.19 (PL 23.588-590) .

LETTERS 73

the chance of teaching in the Churches, because, if it came
out into the full light of day, it would be driven out and
would die.

Your holy and venerable daughters, Eustochium and
Paula, 6 are progressing in a manner worthy of their own
rank and your encouragment, and they send special greetings
to your Blessedness, as do all the brotherhood who strive
with us to serve the Lord our Saviour. Last year we sent the
holy priest Firmus to Ravenna on business connected with
them, and afterward to Sicily and Africa. We think he is now
delaying in some part of Africa. I pray you, give my greetings
to the saints who belong to your household. I have addressed
a letter to the holy priest Firmus; if it reaches you, be so
kind as to direct it to him. May Christ keep you safe and
mindful of me, truly holy lord and blessed pope.

We suffer in this province from a great scarcity of copyists
of the Latin tongue, and therefore we cannot fulfill your
behests, especially in regard to the edition of the Septuagint
which is marked with asterisks and obelisks; 7 besides, we
have lost a large part of our earlier work through someone's
dishonesty.

173. Augustine, Bishop of the Catholic Church, to Donatus?
priest of the Donatist sect (c. 416)

If you could see the grief of my heart and my anxiety for
your salvation, perhaps you would 'take pity on your own
soul, pleasing God' 2 by listening to the word that is His, not

6 Two of the noble Roman ladies who followed Jerome to Bethlehem
and there led a religious life. Paula was the mother of Eustochium.

7 Cf. Letter 71.

1 Donatist priest of Mutugenna in the diocese of Hippo. Brought
forcibly into a church, he attempted to commit suicide.

2 Eccli. 30.24.

74r SAINT AUGUSTINE

ours, and by not shutting your heart to the Scriptures which
you have committed to memory. You are angered because
you are brought by force to salvation, while yours have
dragged so many of ours to destruction. We have no other
wish for you than that you should be caught, brought in, and
saved from perishing. The inconsiderable bodily injury which
you suffered was self-inflicted, through your refusal to use
the horse that was immediately brought to you, and your
having fallen heavily to the ground, for it is a fact that the
other, who was brought in with you as your companion,
came unharmed because he did not act that way.

But you think that this should not have happened to you
because you believe that no one should be forced to do good.
See what the Apostle said; c lf a man desire the office of a
bishop, he desireth a good work/ 3 yet how many are forced
against their will to undertake the episcopacy; they are
dragged in, they are imprisoned, they are kept under guard;
they suffer all this unwillingly until there arises in them a
will to undertake this good work. With much greater reason
should you be dragged away from the baneful error in which
you are your own enemies, and led to the knowledge and
embrace of truth, not only that you may receive honor in
safety but that you may not come to an evil end. You say
that God gave man free will and therefore he should not be
forced ever to do good. Why, then, are those of whom I
have just spoken forced to do good? Note well a point you
do not want to consider. The good will is subject to merciful
compulsion in order that the bad will of man may receive right
guidance. Surely, everyone knows that no man is damned
unless he deserves it by his evil will, and no one is saved
unless he has a good will. Therefore, those we love are not
to be cruelly abandoned without restriction to their own evil

3 1 Tim. 3.1.

LETTERS 75

will, but, when possible, they are to be restrained from doing
evil and forced to do good.

If an evil will is always to be left to its own freedom, why
were the rebellious and querulous Israelites restrained from
evil by such harsh scourges and compelled to enter the land
of promise? 4 If the evil will is always to be left to its own
freedom, why was Paul not allowed the use of his altogether
perverted will to persecute the Church? Why was he thrown
prostrate in order to be blinded, and blinded in order to be
transformed, and transformed in order to become an apostle,
and made an apostle in order to endure for the truth the
same sufferings he had inflicted while in error? 5 If the evil
will is always to be left to its own freedom, why is the father
admonished in the holy Scriptures not only to correct his
headstrong son with rebukes, but also to beat his sides in
order that he may be brought under good discipline, tamed
and directed into the right way? 6 And in the same sense it
says: 'But thou shalt beat him with the rod and deliver his
soul from hell.' 7 If the evil will is always to be left to its
own freedom, why are careless shepherds rebuked, and
why is it said to them: 'The wandering sheep you have not
called back, that which was lost you have not sought'? 8 You,
too, are the sheep of Christ, you bear the Lord's mark which
you have received in His sacrament, but you have gone astray
and become lost. It should not cause you displeasure that we
call back the strays and seek the lost; it is better for us to do
the will of the Lord when He urges us to force you to return
to His sheepfold than to yield to the will of the straying
sheep, and allow them to be lost. Do not then say what I hear
you constantly saying : 'But I want to go astray, I want to be

4 Exod. 15.22-27.

5 Acts 9.1-9.

6 Eccli. 30.12.

7 Cf. Prov. 23.14.

76 SAINT AUGUSTINE

lost that way,' it is better for us not to allow you to do this
at all, as far as in us lies.

When, recently, you jumped into a well in order to die
there, you certainly did this of your own free will, but how
cruel the servants of God would have been had they aban-
doned you to your evil will and had not delivered you from
that death ! Yet you threw yourself into the water deliberately
in order to die there, and they pulled you out of the water
against your will so that you might not die there; you acted
according to your own evil will to your own destruction; they
acted against your will to save you* If, then, that bodily
welfare is to be so safeguarded that it is preserved even in
those who do not want it by those who love them, how much
more is that spiritual welfare to be preserved since by its
loss eternal death is feared ! Yet, you would have remained in
that death which you wanted to inflict on yourself, not for
time but for eternity, because even if you were being forced
to some evil deed instead of to salvation, to the peace of the
Church, to the unity of the body of Christ, to holy and
indivisible charity, you had no right to try to kill yourself.

Examine the divine Scriptures and scrutinize them as
closely as you can, and see whether this was ever done by
any of the good and faithful souls, even though they suffered
great trials at the hands of those who were trying to drive
them to eternal destruction, not to eternal life, to which you
are being forced. I have heard that you said the Apostle
Paul meant that this was lawful when he said: 'If I should
deliver my body to be burned.' 9 Probably because he was
listing all kinds of good things which are worth nothing
without charity, such as tongues of men and angels, and all
mysteries, and all knowledge, and all prophecy, and all faith
so as to move mountains, and distribution of his goods to

8 Cf. Ezech. 34.4.

9 1 Cor. 13.3.

LETTERS 77

the poor, 10 you thought he included among good things the
taking of one's own life. But notice carefully and understand
in what sense Scripture says that anyone should deliver his
body to be burned: not, certainly, that he should jump into
the fire when harassed by a pursuing enemy, but that, when
a choice is offered him of either doing wrong or suffering
wrong, he chooses not to do wrong rather than not to suffer
wrong. In this case he delivers his body into the power of the
slayer, as those three men did who were being forced to
adore the golden statue, and who were threatened by the one
who was forcing them with the furnace of burning fire if
they did not do it. 11 They refused to adore the idol, but they
did not cast themselves into the fire, yet it is written of them :
'They delivered up their bodies that they might not serve nor
adore any god but their own God.' 12 This is what the Apostle
means by 'If I deliver my body to be burned.'

But notice what follows : c lf I have not charity it profiteth
me nothing.' 13 You are called to that charity; you will not
be allowed to perish away from that charity, and you think
it profits you something if you hurl yourself to destruction,
whereas it would profit you nothing if another put you to
death as an enemy of charity. Even if you were burned alive
for the name of Christ, you would suffer the punishment of
eternal torment if you persisted in remaining outside the
Church, separated from the edifice of unity and the bond of
charity. This is the sense in which the Apostle said: 'And if

I should deliver my body to be burned and have not charity
it profiteth me nothing.' Bring your mind back to sane
conclusions and serious thoughts, examine carefully whether
you are being summoned to error and impiety; be willing to

10 1 Cor. 13.1-3.

II Dan. 3.13-21.

12 Dan. 3.95.

13 1 Cor. 13.3.

78 SAINT AUGUSTINE

suffer some inconvenience for the truth. If, instead, you are
living in error and impiety, and truth and piety are on the
side to which you are called, because Christian unity and the
grace of the Holy Spirit are there, why do you still try to be
an enemy to yourself?

For this reason the mercy of God provided your bishops and
us with an opportunity of meeting at Carthage in such a
well-attended, even crowded, conference, and of carrying on
a discussion in a really orderly manner about this dissension
of ours. The record of it has been written up; our signatures
are in evidence. Read it or have it read to you, and then
choose which side you prefer. I have heard that you said you
could deal with us on the basis of that record if we would
suppress the words of your bishops where they said: 'One
case does not bring guilt on another nor one person on
another.' 14 You want us to suppress those words in which
truth itself spoke through them without their knowledge. You
will say that on this point they were wrong, and that they
stumbled into a false position through inadvertence, but we
say that here they spoke truly, and we prove this with the
greatest of ease from your own case. For, if you do not allow
that your bishops, chosen from the entire Donatist sect to
represent the whole group, with the understanding that
whatever action they took would be ratified and accepted by
the rest should prejudice your case by what you judge to have
been rashly and incorrectly spoken, by this very fact the
truth of their statement stands out that c one case does not
prejudice another nor one person another.' And here you
ought to recognize that if you do not wish the person of so
many of your bishops, represented by those seven, 15 to bring
blame on the person of Donatus, priest of Mutugenna, how

14 Cf. Letter 141.

15 At the Conference of Carthage in 411, seven bishops were chosen to
speak for each side.

LETTERS 79

much less should the person of Caecilian, 16 even if some defect
had been found in him, bring blame on the whole unity of
Christ, which is not confined to the single hamlet of Mutu-
genna, but is spread throughout the entire world !

But see, we do what you wanted. We deal with you as if
your bishops had not said: 'One case does not prejudice
another nor one person another/ It is your turn to find out
what they ought to have said in answer to the objection of the
case and person of Primian, 17 who at first joined the others
in condeming his accusers and then received the condemned
and accursed back to their former dignity. The baptism, too,
which 'dead men' had given for it was then that the famous
statement was made that 'the shores are full of dead men' 18
was recognized and accepted by him instead of being scorned
and repudiated. Thus he cut the ground from under the
wrong interpretation your people are wont to give to the
words: 'He that washeth himself after touching the dead,
what doth his washing avail? 519 Thus, if they had not said:
'One case does not prejudice another nor one person another/
they would share in the guilt of Primian's case, but as they
have said it they have freed the Church of any implication
in the case of Caecilian, as we have always maintained.

But read the rest of the record, examine the rest of it.
See whether they have succeeded in proving any wrong-doing
against Caecilian himself, from whose person they tried to
bring blame on the Church. See whether, instead, they have
not done much for him, whether they have not altogether
strengthened and supported his case by the many extracts

16 His contested consecration was the starting point of the Donatist
schism; cf. Letter 43 n. 5.

17 Cf. Letter 43 n. 52.

18 Cf. Exod. 14.31, The Donatists called the Christians 'dead men' because
to them Catholics were deprived of Christian life. In Contra
Gaudentium 1.54 (PL 43.740) Augustine gives this sentence in full.

19 Eccli. 34.30. The Donatists used this text to prove their case for re-

80 SAINT AUGUSTINE

which they offered and read, to their own detriment. Read
them or have them read to you. Consider them all, examine
them carefully, and choose which side you will follow:
Whether you will rejoice with us in the peace of Christ, in
the unity of the Catholic Church, in the love of brothers, or
whether you will side with wicked dissension in support of
the Donatist sect with its accursed separation, and even so
endure yet longer the importunity of our love for you.

I hear that you often repeat and call attention to the
passage in the Gospel where it is written that the seventy
disciples went back from the Lord, and were left to their own
choice in their evil and impious separation; and to the
twelve who stayed with Him He said: 'Will you also go
away? 520 You fail to notice that the Church then was just
beginning to put out young shoots and that as yet there was
no fulfillment of that prophecy: 'And all the kings of the
earth shall adore him; all nations shall serve him. 521 Surely,
the more complete the fulfillment, the greater the authority
exercised by the Church, not only to invite but to compel
men to goodness. This is what the Lord wished to convey by
that incident, for, in spite of possessing full power, He chose,
instead, to commend humility. He showed this quite clearly
in the parable of the wedding feast, in which, after the
invited guests had been notified and had refused to come,
the servant was told: 'Go out into the streets and lanes of
the city and bring in hither the poor and the feeble and the
blind and the lame. And the servant said to his lord: It is
done as thou hast commanded and yet there is room. And
the lord said to the servant: Go out into the highways and
hedges and compel them to come in that my house may be
filled.' 22 Notice how of the first to come it says: 'Bring them

20 John 6.67,68. The Gospel does not say 'the seventy/ but 'many' went
away.

21 Ps. 71.11.

22 Luke 14.21-23.

LETTERS 81

in' it does not say 'compel' thus indicating the beginnings
of the Church while it was still growing to the point where it
might have the strength to compel Accordingly, since it was
fitting that when the Church had been strengthened with His
strength and greatness, men should be compelled to come in
to the feast, the words were afterward added: 'It is done as
thou hast commanded and yet there is room,' and he said:
*Go out into the highways and hedges and compel them to
come in.' Therefore, if you had been walking peacefully out-
side this banquet of the unity of holy Church, we should
have found you as if in the highways, but now, because of
the many evil cruelties which you have perpetrated against
our people, we find you, as it were, in the hedges, as if you
were full of sharp thorns, and we compel you to come in.
He who is compelled is forced to go where he does not wish
to go, but when he has entered he shares willingly in the
banquet. Therefore, you must restrain that wicked and
rebellious mind of yours so that, in the true Church of Christ,
you may find the life-giving banquet.

173 A. 1 Augustine to the beloved lords, his holy brothers, and
fellow priests and deacons, Deogratias 2 and Theo-
dore,* and their companion-brother, Titianus
(c. 416)

Although you have not written to me, I have learned from
a trustworthy and faithful messenger that you wish me to
write you, without any of that uncertainty and obscurity
which is incomprehensible to slower minds, how the Holy
Spirit is proved to be God. But your Brotherhood must

1 This letter, not in Migne, was published by Goldbacher from a single
copy.

2 Cf. Letter 102.

3 Cf. Letters 61 and 107.

82 SAINT AUGUSTINE

realize that of all the passages from holy Scripture which I

can recall on this point, I do not know any that will convince

you by the authority of revealed writings that the Holy Spirit

is God, since you are not convinced by what the Apostle says :

'Know you not that your bodies are the temple of the Holy

Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are

not your own? For you are bought with a great price. Glorify

and bear God in your body.' 4 However, by reasoning, such

as can be used by man or by such a man as we are, the

proof of this doctrine is worked out by an intricate process.

Whoever yields assent to the supreme authority of divine

Scripture should first examine these words: The Lord thy

God shalt thou adore and him only shalt thou serve.' 5 In

Greek, the expression used does not signify the service owed

to human masters, but that which is offered to God, called

latreia. Thus, idolatry is rightly condemned because the latreia

which is due to the true God alone is offered to idols. It does

not say: Thou shalt adore only the Lord thy God/ but it

says: 'And him only shalt thou serve/ It uses the word 'only*

with 'thou shalt serve', meaning, no doubt, that service which

is called latreia. To this service belong temple, sacrifice, priest

and other like attributes. Consequently, the Apostle would

certainly not say that our body is the temple of the Holy

Spirit if that service, called latreia, were not His due. But

such service would not be His due if He were not God to

whom it is due, especially as the Apostle says that our bodies

are the members of Christ, 6 and those who deny that the

Holy Spirit is God or who claim that Christ is greater than

the Holy Spirit 7 do not deny that Christ is God. How, then,

4 1 Cor. 6.19,20.

5 Deut. 6.13; Matt. 4.10.

6 1 Cor. 6.15; 12.27.

7 A group of semi-Arians or Pneumatomachians under Macedonius were
condemned for this error at Constantinople in 381.

LETTERS 83

could the members of the greater be the temple of the lesser?
This argument proves incontestably not only that the Holy
Spirit is God, because a temple cannot be rightly and
religiously dedicated to anyone but God, but it also shows
that He is necessarily one God with the Father and the Son,
because the Trinity is one God, Since the dedication of a
temple is part of that service which is called latreia, and since
it is written: The Lord thy God shalt thou adore and him
only shalt thou serve,' that is, offer Him latreia, it follows that
as latreia is rightly offered to God, and latreia is offered to him
to whom a temple is offered, then there is only one God to
whom latreia is due, and that one God is, beyond doubt, the
Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. And this is what is
meant by: 'Glorify God in your body,' of which it says:
'Your bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in
you, whom you have from God. 5

I have chosen to dictate this in great haste rather than use
some pretext to prolong the desire of your Charity. If you
think it is inconclusive, keep yourselves in readiness to read
the books on the Trinity 8 which I am now preparing to
publish in the name of the Lord; perhaps they may convince
you where this brief letter cannot.

174. Augustine gives greeting in the Lord to Pope Aurelius, 1

most blessed lord, holy brother and fellow priest,

revered with most sincere affection (c. 416)

In my youth I began a work on the Trinity, 2 the supreme

8 De Trinitate, begun in 398, probably finished in 418-419,

1 Archbishop of Carthage, primate of all Africa. Bishops generally were
called pope until the ninth century.

2 A thirteenth book was added later to the original twelve.

84 SAINT AUGUSTINE

and true God; I have finished it in my old age. Indeed, I
had laid the work aside after discovering that it had been
carried off prematurely or purloined from me, before I had
finished it or revised and corrected it as I had planned. I
had intended to publish it as a whole, not in separate books,
for the reason that the subsequent books are linked to the
preceding ones by a continuous development of the argument.
Since my intention could not be carried out because of the
persons who had secured access to the books before I wished
It, I left off my interrupted dictation, thinking to make a
complaint of this in some of my other writings, so that those
who could might know that the said books had not been
published by me but filched from me before I deemed them
worthy of publication under my name. Now, however, under
the insistent demands of many brethren and the compulsion
of your bidding, I have devoted myself, with the Lord's help,
to the laborious task of finishing them. They are not cor-
rected as I should wish, but as best I could, so that the whole
work might not differ too much from the parts which have
for some time been circulating surreptitiously. I send it now
to your Reverence by my son and very dear fellow deacon,
and I give my permission for it to be read, heard, and
copied by any who wish. If I had been able to carry out my
original plan, it would have been much smoother and clearer,
though the statements would have been the same; always, of
course, as far as my ability and the difficulty of explaining
such matters would allow. There are some persons who have
the first four or, rather, five books without the introductions,
and the twelfth without most of the last part. If they come
to know of this edition they will make the corrections, pro-
vided they have the good will and the ability. I ask earnestly
that you order this letter to be used as a preface, separated
from but at the head of those same books. Pray for me.

LETTERS 85

175. We who were present at the Council of Carthage send
greetings to the most blessed Lord, our honored
and saintly brother, Pope Innocent: 1 to wit: 2
Aurelius, Numidius, Rusticanus, Fidentius, Eva-
grius, Antoninus, Palatinus, Adeodatus, Vincent,
Publian, Theasius, Tutus, Pannonius, Victor,
Restitutus, [another] Restitutus, Rusticus, Fortu-
natian, Ampelius, Avivius, Felix, Donatian,
Adeodatus, Octavius, Serotinus, Maiorinus,
Postumian, Crispulus, Victor, [another] Victor,
Leucius, Marianus, Fructuosus, Faustinian,
Quodvultdeus, Candorius, Maximus, Megarius,
Rusticus, Rufinian, Proculus, Thomas, Januarius,
Octavian, Praetextatus, Sixtus, [another] Quod-
vultdeus, Pentadius, [still another] Quodvultdeus,
Cyprian, Servilius, Pelagius, Marcellus, Venan-
tius, Didymus, Saturnian, Bazacenus, Germanus,
Germanian, Juventius, Candidus, [another]
Cyprian, Aemilian, Romanus, Africanus, and
Marcellinus (c. 416)

After we had gathered in solemn conclave in the church at
Carthage, according to our custom, and were holding a synod
on various subjects, our fellow priest Orosius 3 brought us a
letter from our holy brothers and fellow priests, Heros and
Lazarus, 4 the substance of which we have decided to append
to this. After reading it, we make known that Pelagius and

1 Pope Innocent I.

2 These sixty-eight were all African bishops. Although Augustine is not
named in the list, this report is attributed to him.

3 Cf. Letter 166 n. 3.

4 Bishops of Aries and of Aix, respectively. These Gallic bishops were
driven from their sees and went to Palestine, where they had given to
Eulogius, primate of Caesarea, a treatise against Pelagius and Caeles-
tius.

86 SAINT AUGUSTINE

Caelestius 5 are the originators of an accursed error, which is
a subject of anathema to all of us. As a consequence, we
asked for a review of the disturbance raised under the name
of Caelestius here in the church at Carthage about five years
ago. When the report had been read, as your Holiness will
be able to note from the documents appended, although
there was clearly an undisputed verdict by the bishop's
court at that time, by which this great sore seemed to have
been cut out from the Church, we have decreed, after general
deliberation, that the authors of opinions of this kind, even
though the said Caelestius attained to the priesthood after-
ward, should be subject to anathema unless they have pre-
viously and openly anathematized these teachings. Thus, if
their own recovery cannot be brought about, at least those
who have been or can be deceived by them might be cured
by the publication of this sentence against them.

Consequently, Lord and Brother, we have thought it best
to transmit this report to your holy Charity, that the authority
of the Apostolic See may be added to the decisions of our
insignificance, in order to safeguard the welfare of many
and to correct the perversity of some. In their detestable
disputations these latter argue for freedom of will, or, rather,
they elevate it to proud and sacrilegious heights, leaving no
scope for the grace of God, which makes us Christians, which,
in fact, makes the action of our will truly free, by delivering
us from subjection to our carnal passions, according to the
Lord's words: If the son shall make you free, you shall be
free indeed 5 ; 6 and this is the help which faith asks and obtains
in Christ Jesus our Lord. They affirm, as we have learned
from brethren who have gone so far as to read their books,
that the grace of God is to be reduced to the extent that

5 Cf. Letter 157 n. 71.

6 1 John 8.36.

LETTERS 8/

He is supposed to have made and created the nature of man
such that he is able by his own will to fulfill the law oi
God, whether written by nature in his heart, or given to
him in books, but that this law also belongs to grace because
God has given it to men as a help. 7

But they refuse either to acknowledge fully or to oppose
openly that grace by which, as it is written, we are Christians;
which the Apostle preaches in the words: C I am delighted with
the law of God according to the inward man, but I see
another law in my members fighting against the law of my
mind and captivating me in the law of sin, that is in my mem-
bers. Unhappy man that I am, who shall deliver me from the
body of this death? The grace of God by Jesus Christ our
Lord/ 8 But this is what they do when they constantly try to
convince sensual men who 'perceive not the things that are
of the spirit of God,' 9 that human nature alone can suffice
to perform good works perfectly and to fulfill the command-
ments of God. They pay no attention to what is written:
The Spirit helpeth our infirmity/ and It is not of him that
willeth nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth
mercy,' and that 'We are one body in Christ, and every
one members one of another, having different gifts according
to the grace that is given us,' 10 and 'By the grace of God I
am what I am and his grace in me hath not been void; but

I have labored more abundantly than all they, yet not I
but the grace of God with me/ and Thanks be to God who
hath given us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ, 511
and 'Not that we are sufficient to think anything as of our-

7 Isa. 8.20 (Septuagint) .

8 Rom. 7.22-25.

9 1 Cor. 2.14.

10 Rom. 8.26; 9.16; 12.5.6.

II 1 Cor. 15.10,57,

88 SAINT AUGUSTINE

selves, but our sufficiency is from God/ and 'We have this
treasure in earthen vessels; that the excellency may be of
the power of God and not of us/ 12 and other pasages so
innumerable that a volume could not contain them if we
were to try to cull them from all the Scriptures. We fear
we may seem to have been forward in citing these passages
to you, which you have greater reason to preach from the
Apostolic See; but we do it because we suffer frequently
from those who are bold enough to rise up against us, in
proportion to our feebleness, however much any of us may
be considered more adept in preaching the word of God.
If your Reverence has believed that Pelagius was justly
acquitted of heresy by the action of the bishops which was
accomplished in the East, 13 it still remains urgent that his
false doctrine, which now has many supporters scattered in
various places, ought to be anathematized by the authority
of the Apostolic See. Let your Holiness have compassion on
us in your pastoral heart, and consider what a baneful and
deadly thing it is for the sheep of Christ that a necessary
consequence of their sacrilegious argument is that we ought
not to pray lest we enter into temptation, as the Lord warned
His disciples, 14 and set forth in the prayer which He taught, 15
or lest our faith fail as He testified that He had prayed for
the Apostle Peter. 16 For, if these things are placed in our
power through the capability of nature and the freedom of
the will, anyone can see that it is useless to ask them of the
Lord, and deceitful to pray, when we ask in prayer for what
our nature so constituted possesses by its adequate strength.

12 2 Cor. 3.5; 4.7.

13 He had been acquitted by two assemblies of bishops in 415, one at
Jerusalem, one at Diospolis. This acquittal had been conditonal on a
denial of the errors condemned at Cathage in 411.

14 Matt. 26.41; Mark 14.38; Luke 22.46.

15 Matt. 6.13; Luke 11.4.

16 Luke 22.32.

LETTERS 89

In that case, the Lord Jesus ought not to have said: 'Watch
and pray/ but only 'Watch, lest ye enter into temptation/
nor should He have said to the blessed chief of the Apostles:
'I have prayed for thee/ but fi l warn thee, or command thee,
or enjoin on thee that thy faith fail not.'

That claim of theirs is opposed to our acts of blessing, and
makes us seem to speak idle words over the people when we
ask anything of the Lord for them, as, that they may please
Him by living righteously and piously, or those graces which
the Apostle asked in prayer for the faithful, saying: fi l bow
my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, of whom all
paternity in heaven and earth is named; that he would grant
you according to the riches of his glory to be strengthened
by his Spirit with might/ 17 If, then, we wished to bless the
people by saying: 'Grant them, O Lord, to be strengthened
by thy Spirit with might/ the teaching of these heretics will
gainsay us by claiming that our free will is denied by asking
from God what is in our own power; if we wish to be strength-
ened with might, they say, we can do it by that capacity of our
nature which we do not receive now, but did receive when
we were created.

They also say that little children do not have to be baptized
to secure salvation, and thus, by this deadly doctrine, they
bring eternal death upon them by promising that even though
not baptized they will have everlasting life, because they do
not belong to those of whom the Lord said : 'For the Son of
man is come to seek and to save that which was lost. 518 They
say that infants had not been lost, that there was nothing in
them requiring salvation or redemption at such a price,
because there was nothing depraved in them, nothing that
held them captive under the power of the Devil, and that

17 Eph. 3.14-16.

18 Luke 19UO; Matt. 18.11.

90 SAINT AUGUSTINE

what we read about blood shed for the remission of sins 19
does not apply to them. It is true that Caelestius admitted in
the church at Carthage that according to his book the re-
demption of children, also, was accomplished by the baptism
of Christ, but many of those who appear to be or to have been
his disciples do not cease to proclaim these wicked theories,
striving thereby, to the utmost of their power, to overturn the
foundations of the Christian faith. Hence, even if Pelagius and
Caelestius have been converted, or say that they never held
those views, and that none of the writings produced against
them is theirs, and there is no reason to convict them of lying,
nevertheless, speaking generally, if anyone holds as dogma and
asserts that human nature is able to get the better of its own
sins and carry out the commandments of God, and is thereby
discovered to be an enemy of the grace of God which is so
clearly proclaimed in the utterances of the saints, and if
anyone affirms that little children are not delivered from
perdition by the baptism of Christ, thereby receiving eternal
salvation, let him be anathema. Whatever other charges are
brought against them, your Reverence will, no doubt, pass
this judgment, after you have examined the report of the
action taken by the bishops in the same case in the East. We
shall then all rejoice in the mercy of God. Pray for us, blessed
lord and pope.

19 Matt. 26.28.

LETTERS 91

776. To the most holy Pope Innocent, deservedly revered and
honored in Christ we, the following, 1 send greet-
ings in the Lord from the Council of Milevis, to
wit: the venerable Silvanus, Valentine, Aurelius,
Donatus, Restitutus, Lucian, Alypius, Augustine,
Placentius, Severus, Fortunatus, Possidius, No-
vatus, Secundus, Maurentius, Leo, Faustinian,
Cresconius, Melchus, Litorius, Fortunatus, Do-
natus, Pontician, Saturninus, Cresconius, Hono-
rius, Cresconius, Lucius, Adeodatus, Processus,
Secundus, Felix, Asiaticus, Rufinus, Faustinus,
Servus, Terence, Cresconius, Sperantius, Quadra-
tus, Ludllus, Sabinus, Faustinus, Cresconius,
Victor, Gigantius, Possidonms, Antoninus, Inno-
cent, Felix, Antoninus, Victor, Honoratus,
Donatus, Peter, Praesidius, Cresconius, Lam-
padius, Delphinus (c. 416)

Whereas, by a particular gift of His grace the Lord has
placed you in the Apostolic See and has given to our times
a man like you to reign over us, it would be more possible
for us to be charged with the guilt of negligence if we
failed to report to your Reverence matters which need to be
made known for the benefit of the Church than for you to
receive such suggestions coldly or negligently, we therefore
beg you to deign to apply your pastoral care to the great
perils of the weak members of Christ.

A new heresy is trying to break out, indeed a most ruinous
one, through the effort of the enemies of the grace of Christ,
who seek by their wicked arguments to deprive us even of
the Lord's Prayer. For, although the Lord taught us to say:
'Forgive us our debts as we also forgive our debtors/ they
say that it is possible for man in this life, by a knowledge

1 The order of bishops appears to be by seniority.

92 SAINT AUGUSTINE

of the commandments of God, without the help of the
Saviour's grace, to attain to such perfection of holiness, by the
sole force of free will, that it is not even necessary to say:
'Forgive us our debts.' In that case, the words that follow:
'Lead us not into temptation/ 2 are not to be taken in the
sense that we ought to ask for divine help lest we be tempted
to fall into sin, but that this is in our own power, and the
will of man alone suffices to fulfill it. If all this were in the
power of man, it would make a liar of the Apostle when he
says: It is not of him that willeth nor of him that runneth,
but of God that showeth mercy/ 3 and 'God is faithful who
will not suffer you to be tempted above that which you are
able, but will make also with temptation issue, that you may
be able to bear it.' 4 It would also make the Lord a liar when
He said to the Apostle Peter: 'I have prayed for thee that
thy faith fail not' 5 and 'Watch and pray lest ye enter into
temptation.' 6 They claim, also, that little children will possess
eternal life without the sacramental waters of Christian grace,
thus, with anything but Christian boldness, making void what
the Apostle says : 'By one man sin entered into the world, and
by sin death, and so death passed upon all men in whom all
have sinned/ 7 and in another passage : 'As in Adam all die,
so also in Christ all shall be made alive.' 8

We pass over, then, their many other contentions in which
they go contrary to the holy Scriptures, and we single out,
for the present, these two by which they try to undermine
everything that makes us Christian, everything that is the
support of faithful hearts, namely, that we are not to ask
God to be our helper against the evil of sin and in our

2 Matt. 6.12,13; Luke 11.4.

3 Rom. 9.16.

4 1 Cor. 10.13.

5 Luke 22.32.

6 Matt. 26.41; Mark 14.38; Luke 22.40.

7 Rom. 5.12.

8 1 Cor. 15.22.

LETTERS 93

practice of goodness, and that the sacrament of Christian
grace is not to be conferred on babies to enable them to
attain eternal life. In making these errors known to your
apostolic heart, we have no need to say much or to enlarge
upon this great impiety by our words, since without doubt they
move you so deeply that you could not possibly neglect to
correct them, lest they creep in more widely and infect or,
rather, destroy many souls, turning them in the name of
Christ away from the grace of Christ.

Pelagius and Caelestius are named as the originators of this
destructive error, and we would rather see them cured of it
in the Church than cut off from the Church through despair
of saving them, unless some necessity presses. It is reported
that one of them, Caelestius, even attained to the priesthood
in Asia, but your Holiness has probably been better informed
by the Church at Carthage on the action taken in his regard a
few years ago. Pelagius, however, as we learn from letters sent
by some of our brethren, is established at Jerusalem and is
said to lead many astray. But many more, who have been
able to examine more carefully into the meaning of his
teaching, are actively opposing him in defense of the grace
of Christ and the truth of the Catholic faith; in the vanguard
of these is your holy son, our brother and fellow priest, Jerome.

Trusting in the merciful help of the Lord our God, which
deigns to guide you in your plans and hear you in your
prayers, we think that those who hold these distorted and
dangerous views will readily submit to the authority of your
Holiness, which is derived from the authority of the holy
Scriptures, so that we may congratulate you on their con-
version rather than grieve over their loss, most holy lord.
But, no matter what choice they make, your Reverence
surely sees that immediate and speedy provision must be
made for the others whom they are able to trap in their
snares in great numbers if this is not made known to them.

94 SAINT AUGUSTINE

We are addressing this written report to your Holiness from
the Council of Numidia, imitating the Church at Carthage
and our brother bishops of the Carthaginian province, having
heard that they have written on this matter to the Apostolic
See which you so blessedly adorn.

May you increase in the grace of the Lord and be mindful
of us, most holy lord, honored and saintly Pope, worthy of
our veneration in Christ. 9

177. Aurelius, Alypius, Augustine, Evodius, and Possidius
give greeting to the most holy lord. Pope Inno-
cent, their deservedly honored brother (c. 416)

We have sent your Holiness letters from the two councils
of the province of Carthage and of Numidia, signed by a
large number of bishops. These letters condemn the enemies
of the grace of Christ, who trust in their own virtue and say,
in effect, to their Creator: 'You have made us men, but we
have made ourselves good. 5 They say that human nature is
free, so that they look for no liberator; and safe, so that they
consider a saviour superfluous; they claim that this nature
is so strong of its own strength, acquired once and for all at
the moment of creation, without any helping grace from Him
who created it, that it can subdue and extinguish all passions
and overcome all temptations. 'Many are they who rise up
against us and say to our soul : There is no salvation for him in
his God. 51 But the family of Christ, which says: 'When I am
weak, then I am strong, 52 and to which the Lord says: 'I am
thy salvation, 53 its heart quivering with fear and trembling,

9 In another handwriting.

1 Cf. Ps. 3.2,3.

2 2 Cor. 12.10.

3 Ps. 34.3.

LETTERS 95

awaits the help of the Lord even through the charity of
your Reverence.

We hear that there are many in the city of Rome, where
he lived for a long time, who take his side for various reasons;
some, indeed, because they are said to have convinced you
on such points, but many more who do not believe that he
held such views, especially as great publicity has been given
to ecclesiastical decisions in the East, where he is staying, by
which they think he has been cleared. But, if the bishops in
the East did indeed pronounce him a Catholic, we must
believe that it was done only because he said that he admitted
the grace of God and said that man can live a good life by
his own will and effort, yet not so as to deny the help of
God's grace. By these words the Catholic bishops could have
understood no other grace of God except that of which they
are accustomed to read in the books of God and to preach to
the people of God, the same, obviously, of which the Apostle
says: C I cast not away the grace of God, for if justice be by
the law, then Christ died in vain,' 4 the same grace, beyond
doubt, by which we are justified from sin and saved from
weakness, but not that grace in our own will with which we
were created. For, if those bishops had understood him to
mean that grace which we possess in common with the
wicked, with those who share human nature with us, and
to deny the grace by which we are Christians and sons of
God, what Catholic prelate could have borne the sight of
him, much less have listened to him with patience? Therefore,
the judges are not to be blamed because they heard the
term grace according to Church usage without knowing what
meaning such men usually scatter through their books or
repeat in the hearing of their followers.

It is not a question of Pelagius alone, because it may be
that he has been converted and may it be so! but of so

4 Gal. 2.21.

96 SAINT AUGUSTINE

many who argue noisily, dragging down weak and untutored
souls as their conquest, wearing out those who are strong
and well grounded in the faith by their very persistence until
everything is full of them. Therefore, he ought either to be
summoned to Rome and carefully questioned on the kind
of grace he admitted, if he did admit it, whether it is the
grace by which men are helped not to sin and to lead a good
life, or this matter should be taken up with him by letter.
And if you find that he says grace is what ecclesiastical and
apostolic truth teach that it is, then he should be absolved
by the Church without any scruple, without any lurking
ambiguity, and that is really the time to rejoice at his being
cleared.

For, if he says that grace is free will, or grace is forgiveness
of sin, or grace is the commandment of the Law, he mentions
nothing of what belongs to the overcoming of concupiscence
and temptation, through the help furnished by the Holy
Spirit, c Whom he hath poured forth upon us abundantly, 55
'Who ascended into heaven and led captivity captive; he
gave gifts to men.' 6 Hence we pray that we may be able to
overcome the temptation to sin, that 'the Spirit of God,' of
whom we have received the pledge, 'may help our infirmity.' 7
But when a man says in prayer: 'Lead us not into temptation/
he certainly does not pray to be a man, which he is by nature;
he does not pray to possess free will, which he received when
his nature itself was created; he does not pray for the for-
giveness of sin, because in a previous phrase the prayer says:
'Forgive us our debts,' nor does he pray to receive the com-
mandment; he manifestly does pray to fulfill the command-
ment. If he is led into temptation, that is, fails under
temptation, it is plain that he commits sin, which is against

5 Titus 3,6.

6 Eph. 4.8; Ps. 67.19.

7 Cf. 2 Cor. 1.22; 5.5; Rom. 8.26.

LETTERS 97

the commandment. He prays, therefore, not to commit sin,
that is, not to do any evil; that is what the Apostle asks in
prayer for the Corinthians when he says : Now we pray the
Lord that you may do no evil.' 8 From this it is quite clear
that, although the freedom of the will is called into play in
refraining from sin, that is, in doing no evil, its power is not
efficacious unless there is help for its weakness. Therefore, the
Lord's prayer itself is the clearest testimony of grace. Let him
admit this and we will rejoice over him as being either in
the right or set right.

There has to be a distinction between the Law and grace.
The Law knows how to command; grace, how to help. The
Law would not command if there were no free will, nor
would grace help if the will were sufficient. We are com-
manded to have understanding when the Scripture says:
'Do not become like the horse and the mule that have no
understanding,' 9 yet we pray to have understanding when it
says: c Give me understanding that I may learn thy com-
mandments.' 10 We are commanded to have wisdom when it
says: 'You fools, be wise at last, 511 but we pray to have
wisdom when it says: 'If any of you want wisdom, let him
ask of God who giveth to all men abundantly and up-
braideth not.' 12 We are commanded to have continence when
it says: 'Let your loins be girt/ 13 but we pray to have con-
tinence when it says: c As I knew that no one could be
continent except God gave it, and this also was a point of
wisdom to know whose gift it was, I went to the Lord and
besought him.' 14 Finally, not to be too lengthy in listing all

8 Cf. 2 Cor. 13.7.

9 Ps. 31.9.

10 Cf. Ps. 118.125.

11 Ps. 93.8.

12 James 1.5.

13 Luke 12.35. Goldbacher indicates a lacuna at this point.

14 Wisd. 831.

98 SAINT AUGUSTINE

the rest, we are commanded not to do evil when it says:
'Decline from evil,' 15 but we pray not to do evil when it
says: 'We pray the Lord that you do no evil. 516 We are
commanded to do good when it says : 'Decline from evil and
do good/ 17 but we pray to do good when it says: 'We cease
not to pray for you, asking, 318 and among other things that
he asks he mentions: 'That you may walk worthy of God
in all things pleasing, in every good work and good word.' 18
As then we acknowledge the part played by the will when
these commands are given, so let him acknowledge the part
played by grace when these petitions are offered.

We are sending your Reverence a book given to us by
certain religious and honorable young men, servants of God,
whose names we do not withhold they are called Timasius
and James 19 and, as we have heard and as you also deign
to know, gave up the hope which they had in the world on
the urging of the said Pelagius, and are now serving God in
continence. When, some time ago, they were at length freed
from their erroneous opinion through some little service of
ours, by the Lord's inspiration, they produced the same book,
saying it was the work of Pelagius, 20 and they earnestly begged
that it might be answered. This has been done; the answer
itself has been sent to them as a reply to their letter; they
have written back thanking us. We are sending you both the
answer and the request which drew the answer, and, not to
cause you too much trouble, we have marked out the passages
which we beg you not to refuse to examine. They show how,
when the objection had been made to him that he was deny-
ing the grace of God, he answered in such a way as not to

15 Ps. 36.27.

16 2 Cor. 13.7.

17 Ps. 36.27.

18 CL Col. 1.9,10.

19 Cf. Letter 168.

20 De natura. Augustine's reply was De natura et gratia.

LETTERS 99

admit its existence except as the nature with which God
created us.

However, if he says that the book is not his, that the
above-mentioned passages in the book are not his, we do
not continue the argument; let him solemnly repudiate them
and openly confess that grace which Christian doctrine proves
and preaches as the intimate possession of Christians, which
is not nature, but that by which nature is saved and helped,
not by teaching resounding in its ears, or by any visible
assistance, as if it were something planted and watered from
without, but by the inner action of the Spirit, and His hidden
mercy, as God 'Who giveth the increase' 21 is wont to act. If,
by some unobjectionable reasoning, the grace of God is
identified with the favor of our creation, by which we
escape from nothingness, by which we are something more
than a corpse which is not alive, a tree which has no con-
sciousness, or a sheep which has no understanding, by which
we become men with being and life and consciousness and
understanding, able to give thanks for this great benefit to
our Creator, and if in that sense it might be called grace
because it is not granted through the merits of any previous
actions, but by the unsolicited goodness of God, still there is
another grace by which we are predestined to be called,
justified, and endowed with glory, which makes us able to
say: 'If God be for us, who is against us? He that spared not
even his own Son but delivered him up for all of us.' 22

This is the grace that was being called into question when
those whom Pelagius had offended and disturbed told him
that he was making war on grace by the arguments in which
he asserted that human nature, through its own free will, was
sufficiently strong, not only to carry out the divine com-
mandments but even to fulfill them perfectly. But the teach-

21 1 Cor. 3.7.

22 Rom. 8.31,32.

1 00 SAINT AUGU STINE

ing of the Apostles gives the name of grace to that gift by
which we are saved and justified through our faith In Christ,
and of this it is written: C I cast not away the grace of God,
for if justice be by the law, then Christ died in vain. 523 Of
this grace it is written: c You are made void of Christ you
who are justified in the law; you are fallen from grace. 524 Of
this grace it is written: 'And if by grace it is not now by
works; otherwise grace is no more grace.' 25 This is the grace
of which it is written : 'Now to him that worketh, the reward
is not reckoned according to grace but according to debt. But
to him that worketh not yet believeth in him that justifieth
the ungodly, his faith is reputed to justice. 526 There are many
other passages which you can recall for yourself, with your
prudent understanding and your well-known gift of expres-
sion. As to that other grace by which we are created as
human beings, even though we understand that it may
reasonably be called grace, it would be surprising if we
found it so used in any of the authentic writings of the
Prophets, of the Gospel, or of the Apostles.

Therefore, since the request has been made to him in
regard to this grace so well known to the Christian and
Catholic faithful that he cease to attack it, why, when the
same person acting as objector reproached him with that
passage in his book, so that he might answer it and clear
himself, did he answer only that the nature of created man
shows forth the grace of the Creator? Why did he say that
this nature, without sin, can fulfill justice by its free will,
with the help of divine grace which God gave to man as part
of the endowment of his nature? A proper answer to him
would be: 'Then is the scandal of the cross made void/ 27

23 Gal. 2.21.

24 Gal. 5.4.

25 Rorn. 11.6.

26 Rom. 4.4,5.

27 Gal. 5.1.

LETTERS 101

'then Christ died in vain.' 28 For, if He had not died for our
sins and risen for our justification, 29 if he had not ascended
on high, taking captivity captive, if he had not given gifts
to men, 30 then that endowment of nature which he defends
would not exist in man.

But, perhaps there was no commandment of God and that
is why Christ died. On the contrary, there was a command-
ment and it was e holy and just and good. 331 Long before
Christ it had been said: Thou shalt not covet'; 32 long before,
it had been said: Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself,' 33
a phrase which, as the Apostle says, expresses the fulfillment
of the whole Law. 34 And as no one loves himself unless he
loves God, the Lord says that the whole Law and the
Prophets depend on these two commandments. 35 But these
two commandments had long before been given to man from
on high. Perhaps the eternal reward of justice had not yet
been made. Pelagius himself does not say this, for he wrote
in his letter that the kingdom of heaven had been promised
in the Old Testament. If then, it was possible for human
nature, through its free will, to attain to perfect justice, if the
commandment of God's Law, holy, just, and good, was
already in existence, if the promise of eternal reward had
already been made, then Christ died in vain.

Therefore, justice does not come through the Law, nor
through the innate power of human nature, but by faith and
the gift of God through our Lord Jesus Christ, the one
Mediator of God and men, 36 and if, in the fullness of time, 37

28 Gal. 2.21.

29 Rom. 4.25.

30 Eph. 4.8; Ps. 67.19.

31 Rom. 7.12.

32 Exod. 20.17.

33 Lev. 19.18.

34 Rom. 13.8,9.

35 Matt. 22.37-40.

36 I Tim. 2.5.

37 Gal. 4.4.

1 02 SAINT AUGUSTINE

He had not died for our sins and risen again for our
justification, it is clear that the faith of the men of old
would have been made void and so would ours. But, if
faith were made void, what justice would remain to man
since the just man lives by faith? 38 'Wherefore as by one
man sin entered into the world, and by sin death, and so
death passed upon all men in whom all have sinned,' 39 it
is not to be doubted that no one ever has been or is now
delivered by his own power from the body of this death,
where another law fights against the law of the mind, 40
because that power was lost and is in need of a redeemer,
it was wounded and is in need of a saviour. What did deliver
him was the grace of God through faith in the one Mediator
of God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who being God
made man and continuing to be God, was made man and
remade what He Himself had made.

I think Pelagius overlooks the fact that faith in Christ
which afterwards came to be revealed was hidden in the
times of our fathers, yet they were redeemed by the grace of
God, and so are all the members of the human race in all
times who, by a secret, irrefragable decree of God, are capable
of being redeemed. Hence, the Apostle says: 'Having the
same spirit of faith' no doubt the same as they had 'as it
is written: I believed for which cause I have spoken: we
also believe for which cause we speak also.' 41 For that
reason the Mediator himself said: 'Abraham desired to see
my day, he saw it and was glad'; 42 so, too, Melchisedech,
offering the sacrament of the Lord's table, knew that he
prefigured Christ's eternal priesthood. 43

38 Hab. 2.4; Rom. 1.17; Gal. 3.11; Heb. 10.38.

39 Rom. 5.12.

40 Rom. 7.23,24.

41 2 Cor. 4.13; Ps. 115.10.

42 John 8.56.

43 Gen. 14.18.

LETTERS 103

Now that the Law has been given in writing, which the
Apostle says entered in that sin might abound, 44 and of
which he said: 'If therefore the inheritance be of the law,
it is no more of promise; but God gave it to Abraham by
promise. Why then was the law? It was set because of
transgression, until the seed should come to whom he made
the promise, being ordained by angels in the hand of a
mediator. Now a mediator is not of one, but God is one.
Was the law then against the promises of God? God forbid.
For if there had been a law given which could give life, verily
justice should have been by the law. But the Scripture hath
concluded all under sin, that the promise by the faith of
Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe,' 45 is it not
quite clear that what the Law accomplished was to make
sin known and to increase transgression 'for where there is
no law, neither is there transgression.' 46 Thus, against the
victory of sin there would be recourse to divine grace which
is contained in the promises; thus, the Law would not be
against the promises of God, because through it comes
knowledge of sin, and abundance of sin from transgression of
the Law, that thereby men may seek their deliverance through
the promises of God, that is, the grace of God. Thus, there
would be the beginning of justice in man, yet not his own
but God's, given him by the gift of God.

But even now there are some, as there were then among
the Jews, of whom it is said : 'Not knowing the justice of God
and seeking to establish their own, they have not submitted
themselves to the justice of God. 547 No doubt they think they
are justified by the Law, and that their own free will enables
them to keep it. This means that their justice is derived from

44 Rom. 8.20,

45 Gal. 3.18-22.

46 Rom. 4.15.

47 Rom. 10.3.

1 04 SAINT AUGU STINE

their own human nature, not given by divine grace, which
is the reason of its being called the justice of God. Again on
this subject it is written : Tor by the law is the knowledge of
sin. But now without the law the justice of God is made
manifest, being witnessed by the law and the prophets.' 48
When he says 'made manifest' he shows that it then existed
but was like that dew which Gideon asked; then it was not
visible on the fleece, but now it is made manifest on the
ground around. 49 Since, then, the Law without grace could
not have been the death of sin but its strength as it is
written: The sting of death is sin and the strength of sin
is the law' 50 as many flee for refuge from the face of sin
enthroned to grace, lying manifest, as it were, on the ground,
so at that time few fled to it for refuge, invisible as it were,
on the fleece. Indeed, this division of times belongs to the
depth of the riches of the wisdom and of the knowledge of
God, of which it is said: c How incomprehensible are his
judgments and how unsearchable his ways!' 51

Therefore, if it was not the innate power of a nature, weak
and needy and depraved and sold into the slavery of sin, that
justified the godly patriarchs who lived by faith before the
time of the Law or at the very time of the Law, and if it
was the grace of God which justified them by faith, and
which, coming into the open by revelation, does still justify
men, let Pelagius solemnly repudiate the writings in which
he argues against it, through ignorance if not through
obstinacy, defending the innate power of nature to win the
victory over sin and to fulfill the commandments. On the
other hand, if he says that the writings are not his, or that
they have been inserted into his by his enemies, let him still

48 Rom. 3.20,21.

49 Judges 6.36-40.

50 1 Cor. 15.56.

51 Rom. 11.33.

LETTERS 105

pronounce anathema against what he says is not his, and
let him condemn it, in obedience to the paternal exhortation
and authority of your Holiness. If he is willing to do that,
let him learn how to remove from the Church a scandal so
burdensome and so dangerous to himself, a scandal which
his hearers and his misguided lovers spread around unceas-
ingly in every direction. For, if they knew that the same
book which they think or know is his had been anath-
ematized and condemned by him, in submission to the
authority of the Catholic bishops and especially of your
Holiness, which we are very certain has great weight with
him, we think they would not dare to go on speaking against
the grace of God, which was revealed through the Passion and
Resurrection of Christ, but they would cease to trouble the
hearts of simple and faithful Christians; or, rather, with the
help of the Lord's mercy, together with our joint forces and
your prayers, burning with charity and piety, they would
trust in that same grace, not in their own strength, for their
eternal happiness as well as for their justice and holiness in
this life. A letter has been written to him by one of us, to
whom he had addressed some writings in his own defense,
sending them by a certain deacon from the East, but a
citizen of Hippo, 52 but we have thought it better in our
judgment to forward it to your Blessedness, asking that you
would deign to send it to him yourself. In that way he will
not disdain to read it, having regard rather to the sender
than to the writer.

As to what they say of the ability of man to remain sinless
and to keep the commandments of God with ease, if he wills
it, when they add that this is achieved by the help of grace,
which, however, is revealed and imparted through the In-
carnation of the only-begotten Son, it seems that this state-
ment can be tolerated; still, since a difficulty can reasonably

52 Chains, a deacon in Palestine, but by birth a citizen of Hippo.

106 SAINT AUGUSTINE

arise as to where and when it is accomplished in us by the
said grace that we should thenceforth be sinless, and whether
it is in this life, when 'the flesh lusteth against the spirit/ 53
or in that other life 'when this saying that is written shall
come to pass : C O death, where is thy victory? O death, where
is thy sting? Now the sting of death is sin.' 54 This should be
examined more carefully because of some other persons who
have had the erroneous idea and have published it in their
writings, that even in this life it is possible for man to be
sinless, not from the time of his birth, but from that of his
conversion from sin to righteousness, and from a bad life to
a good one. 55 This is the meaning they give to what is
written of Zachary and Elizabeth that c they walked in all the
justifications of the Lord without blame.' 56 This expression,
'without blame,' they took to mean 'without sin' ; not, indeed,
that they deny the assisting grace of our Lord on the
contrary, they piously admit it, as we find in other passages
of their writings that this help is not derived from the
natural spirit of man but comes originally from the Spirit
of God. It seems that they have not paid sufficient attention to
the fact that Zachary was a priest, and that all priests at that
time were obliged by the Law of God to offer sacrifice first for
their own sins and then for those of the people. 57 Therefore,
as it is now proved by the sacrifice of prayer that we are not
sinless, since we are commanded to say: Torgive us our
debts/ 58 so it was proved then by the sacrifice of animal vic-
tims that the priests were not sinless, since they were com-
manded to offer the victim for their own sins.

53 Gal. 5.19.

54 1 Cor. 15.54-56.

55 Cf. St. Ambrose, Expositio E-oangeln Lucae 1.17 (ed. Schenkl pp.
2-25), r

56 Luke 1.6.

57 Lev. 9.7; Heb. 7.27.

58 Matt. 6.12; Luke 11.4.

LETTERS 107

But, if our circumstances are such that we do indeed make
some progress in this life by the grace of the Saviour, when
covetousness declines and charity increases, it is in the other
life that we reach perfection, when covetousness is extin-
guished and charity made perfect. That saying, 'Whosoever
is born of God, sinneth not,' 59 is undoubtedly meant to apply
to pure charity which alone does not sin. Obviously, it is the
charity which is to be increased and perfected that belongs to
the birth which is of God, not the covetousness which is to
be diminished and destroyed; yet, as long as this latter is in our
members, it fights by a certain law of its own against the law
of the mind, 60 whereas he that is born of God, who does
not obey his own desires, nor yield his members as instruments
of iniquity unto sin, 61 can say: 'Now it is no longer I that do
it but sin that dwelleth in me.' 62

Whatever the status of that question that, even if man is
not found in this life without sin, it is stated that he can
become sinless by the help of grace and the Spirit of God,
and that he should strive and ask that he may become so,
there is a tolerable chance of going wrong, and it is not a
diabolical impiety but a human error to assert that this is
something to work and pray for, even though there were no
proof of what they assert they believe it is possible because it
is certainly praiseworthy to wish it. It is enough for us that
no one of the faithful, in whatever advanced stage of high
virtue he may be found, should dare to say that he has no
need to make the petition of the Lord's prayer: 'Forgive us
our debts,' or should say that he is sinless and not self-
deceived so that truth is not in him, although he should
now be living a blameless life. It is not merely some kind of

59 1 John 3.9; 5.18.

60 Rom. 7.23.

61 Rom. 6.12,13.

62 Rom. 7.20.

108 SAINT AUGUSTINE

human temptation but a grave sin that brings him blame.
Your Blessedness will see, from the defense made in the
report, the rest of the objections that have been made against
him, and will no doubt judge them accordingly. Surely, the
most gentle sweetness of your heart will pardon us for sending
your Holiness a more lengthy letter than perhaps you wished.
We are not pouring our little trickle back into your ample
fountain to increase it, but the trial of our time is no slight
one, and we pray to be delivered from it by Him to whom
we say: 'Lead us not into temptation.' We wish to be re-
assured by you that this trickle of ours, however scant, flows
from the same fountainhead as your abundant stream, and we
desire the consolation of your writings, drawn from our
common share of the one grace.

178. Augustine gives greeting in the Lord to the saintly lord,

his brother and fellow priest, Hilary, 1 revered in

the truth of Christ (c. 416)

When our honored son, Palladius, 2 was on the point of
sailing from our shore, he conferred rather than asked a favor
by requesting me to commend him to your Benignity and
myself to your prayers, most holy lord and brother, revered in
the charity of Christ. Since I do this, your Holiness surely will
do what we both rely on you to do. From the above-men-
tioned bearer your Holiness will hear what news there is of us,
since I know your Charity is as anxious for us as we are for
you. But I will tell you briefly what is most important. A new
heresy, enemy of the grace of Christ, is trying to rise against

1 Believed to have been a bishop of Narbonne; not to be confused with
Hilary of Aries, who was not a bishop before 428, or with Hilary of
Sicily, the layman to whom Letters 156 and 157 are addressed.

2 He was later sent by Pope Celestine to reclaim Britain to the faith.

LETTERS 109

the Church of Christ, but has not yet broken away from the
Church, namely, that one proposed by men who dare to
attribute so much power to human weakness as to claim
that we owe to the grace of God only the fact that we are
created with free will and with the possibility of not sinning,
and that we receive the commandments of God which are
fulfilled by us, but that we need no divine help to enable us
to keep and fulfill the same commandments. However, they
say that the forgiveness of sins is necessary for us because we
are not able to undo the evil deeds which we have committed
in the past, but that the human will, by its natural strength,
without any subsequent help of the grace of God, is adequate
for avoiding and overcoming future sins and triumphing over
all temptations, through its own ability; and that babies do
not need the grace of the Saviour to deliver them from
perdition by His baptism, because they have not inherited
any contagion of damnation from Adam.

Your Reverence can see with us how opposed these teach-
ings are to the grace of God, which has been granted to the
human race by Jesus Christ our Lord, and how they aim at
overturning the foundations of the whole Christian faith.
So we must not fail to warn you to be on guard with pastoral
care against men of that kind, whom we would certainly
rather see healed in the Church than cut off from it. While
writing this, we have learned that a decree of a council of
bishops has been passed against them in the Church at
Carthage, and is to be sent to the venerable Pope Innocent,
and we of the Council of Numidia also have written in like
tenor to the Apostolic See.

All of us who place our hope in Christ ought to resist this
deadly impiety and unite in condemning and anathematizing
it. It goes contrary to our very prayers, allowing us, it is
true, to say : 'Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors,' 8

3 Matt. 6.12; Luke 11.4.

110 SAINT AUGUSTINE

yet so allowing it as to claim that man in this corruptible
body which is a load on the soul 4 can by his own strength
attain to such a height of goodness that he no longer needs
to say: 'Forgive us our debts.' The words that follow: 'Lead
us not into temptation,' they do not interpret to mean that we
are to pray God to help us to overcome temptation, but
only to keep us from being overwhelmed corporeally by on-
rushing physical disaster, because, as it is left to our own
power by the capacity of nature to overcome temptation, we
should think it useless to ask this in prayer. It is not possible
for us in one short letter to summarize all or even many of
the arguments of such impious nature, all the more because,
while I write, the bearers who are about to sail leave me no
further time. I think I am not putting a burden on your holy
feelings, but I could not refrain from telling you of the
necessity of warding off this great evil with all watchfulness,
by the help of the Lord.

779. Augustine gives greeting in the Lord to the holy lord,

his deservedly revered brother and fellow bishop,

John 1 (c. 416)

I do not in the least venture to resent the fact that I have
not been honored with a letter from your Holiness; I would
rather believe that you had no messenger than suspect that
your Reverence held me in low esteem, saintly lord, deservedly
revered brother. But now, as I have heard that Luke, a
servant of God, by whom I am sending this, will return

4 Wisd. 9.15.

1 Bishop of Jerusalem, 386-417. He had not accepted the decrees of the
Council of Carthage against Pelagius and Caelestius, but had held his
own synod in 415. Another synod at Diospolis in 416 favored Pelagius
but was later reversed.

LETTERS 111

shortly, I shall give hearty thanks to the Lord and to your
Benignity, if you will be so kind as to visit me by letter. As
to Pelagius, our brother and your son, whom I hear you
hold in great affection, I suggest that you show him this
affection in such wise that people who know him and who
have listened to him with attention may not imagine that
your Holiness is being deceived by him.

Some of his disciples, in fact, young men of very good
birth, well-versed in the liberal arts, 2 gave up their worldly
prospects at his urging and devoted themselves to the service
of God. But when they noticed certain teachings opposed to
the sound doctrine contained in the Gospel of the Saviour,
and formulated in the preaching of the Apostles, that is,
when they found that they were arguing against the grace
of God which makes us Christians, by which e we in spirit, by
faith, wait for the hope of justice,' 3 they began to return to
the truth through our warnings and they gave me a book
which they said was written by the same Pelagius, asking
that I should rather be the one to answer it. 4 Seeing that it
was my duty to do this, in order to remove that hateful error
more completely from their hearts, I read it and replied to it.

In that book he calls the grace of God nothing but our
nature through which we are endowed with free will. As for
that grace which holy Scripture commends in innumerable
passages, teaching that by it we are justified, that is, made
holy, and helped by the mercy of God to perform or
complete every good work something which even the prayers
of the saints manifest very clearly, for they ask of the
Lord what the Lord commands this grace he not only
passes over in silence, but also makes many statements
against. He asserts and strongly insists that human nature,

2 Timasius and James; cf. Letter 168 and 177.

3 Gal. 5.5.

4 De natura; cf. Letter 177 n. 20.

112 SAINT AUGUSTINE

through its free will alone, is competent to do the works of
justice and to keep all the commandments of God. Anyone
can see, after reading that book, how he attacks the grace
of God of which the Apostle says: 'Unhappy man that I am,
who shall deliver me from the body of this death? The grace
of God by Jesus Christ our Lord. 55 No room would be left
for divine help which we are in duty bound to ask, saying:
"Lead us not into temptation,' 6 and the Lord would seem
to have spoken to no purpose when He said to the Apostle
Peter: I have prayed for thee that thy faith fail not,' 7 if
all this is accomplished in us by the sole power of our will,
with no help from God.

So, by these perverted and wicked arguments, he goes
counter not only to the prayers by which we ask of the
Lord whatever we read and believe that the saints asked,
but it even nullifies our blessings, whenever we pray over
the people, asking and begging of the Lord 'that he would
make them abound in charity towards one another and
towards all men,' 8 that he would grant them, according to
the riches of his glory, to be strengthened by his spirit with
might unto the inward man, 39 'that he fill them with all joy
and peace in believing, and that they may abound in hope
and in the power of the Holy Spirit.' 10 Why should we ask
those things which we know the Apostle asked of the Lord
for his people, if, even now, our nature, created with free
will, can furnish itself with all this by an act of its own will?
Why, too, does the same Apostle say: 'As many as are led
by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God,' 11 if we are

5 Rom. 7.24,25.

6 Matt. 6.13; Luke 11.4.

7 iuke 22,32.

8 1 Thess. 3.12,

9 Eph. 3.16.

10 Rom. 15.13.

11 Rom. 8.14.

LETTERS 113

led by the spirit of our own nature to become the sons of
God? Why is it likewise said: 'The Spirit helpeth our in-
firmity,' 12 if our nature is so made as not to need the help
of the Spirit to perform works of justice? Why is it written:
'But God is faithful who will not suffer you to be tempted
above that which you are able, but will make also with
temptation issue that you may be able to bear it,' 13 if we
are now so endowed that by the strength of our free will we
are able to overcome all temptations merely by bearing them?

Why should I draw this out any further for your Holiness
when I am well aware that I am tiresome, especially as you
hear my letter through an interpreter? 14 If all of you love
Pelagius, may he love you in return, or, rather, may he
deceive himself and not you. For, when you hear him
admitting the grace of God and the help of God, you imagine
he means the same as you do, who are well versed in the
Catholic rule of faith, because you do not know what he has
written in his book; for this reason I am sending his book
and my own in which I refuted him, so that your Reverence
may see what grace or help of God he speaks of when he is
charged with opposing the grace and help of God. Therefore
do you show him by teaching, by exhorting, and by praying
for his salvation, which must needs be in Christ, how to con-
fess that grace of God which the saints of God confessed, as
has been proved, when they asked of the Lord the strength to
do those things which He commanded them to do, since these
commands would not be made except to show that we have
a will, and strength would not be asked unless the weakness
of our will were helped by Him who gave the command.

Let him be questioned publicly on whether he agrees that
we must pray to the Lord to keep us from sin. If he disagrees,

12 Rom. 8.26.

13 1 Cor. 10.13.

14 His own language was Greek.

114 SAINT AUGUSTINE

have the words of the Apostle read in his ears, where he
says: 'Now we pray God that you may do no evil'; 15 if he
agrees, let him openly preach the grace by which we are
helped, so that he himself may be kept from doing much
evil. This grace of God through Jesus Christ our Lord
delivers all who are delivered, since no one can be delivered
in any other way than by that grace. For that reason it is
written: c As in Adam all die, so also in Christ all shall be
made alive,' 16 not that no one will be damned, but that no
one will be delivered in any other way, since none are sons
of men except through Adam, just as none are sons of God
except through Christ. Thus, all can become sons of men
only through Adam and all can become sons of God only
through Christ. Let him also express his views openly on this :
Whether he agrees that little children, not yet able to choose
or reject goodness, yet because of one man through whom
'sin entered into the world and by sin death, and so death
passed upon all men in whom all have sinned,' 17 are delivered
by the grace of Christ; whether he believes that the blood of
Christ which was certainly shed for the remission of sin, was
shed for them, also, because of original sin. Concerning these
points in particular we wish to be informed about him:
what he believes, what he holds as true, what he confesses
and preaches with assurance. In the other objections, how-
ever, which may be raised against him, even if he is proved
to be wrong, he can be borne with more tolerably until he
accepts correction.

I ask you to be so kind as to send us the minutes of the
Church council 18 which show that he was cleared. I ask this

15 2 Cor. 13.7.

16 1 Cor. 15.22.

17 Rom. 5.12.

18 Held at Diospolis (ancient Lydda) in 415. On receipt of these
minutes, Augustine wrote his De gestis Pelagii to give a true account
of the proceedings in the East.

LETTERS 115

at the joint desire of many bishops, who, like me, have been
troubled by the unsubstantiated report about this affair, but
I have written this in my own name because I did not want
to lose the opportunity of a messenger who is making a
quick journey from here, and who, I hear, will be able to
return to us shortly. Instead of these minutes, or any part
of them, Pelagius had sent us some kind of defense 19 he
wrote, in which he said he had replied to the charges made by
the Gauls. 20 In it, to pass over other points, he replied to the
objection made to him that he had said man can live without
sin and can keep the commandments of God, if he wills it,
by saying: 'I said that God gave man this power; I did not
say that anyone could be found who had never committed a
sin from infancy to old age, but that a man converted from
sin by his own effort and helped by the grace of God can
live without sin, and his having sinned will not make him
incorrigible for the future.'

In this reply of Pelagius, your Reverence can observe that
he made this admission, that the early life of man, that is,
from his infancy, cannot be free of sin, but that he can be
converted to a sinless life by his own effort helped by the
grace of God. Why, then, did he say in the book which I have
answered that Abel had lived a life entirely without sin?
These are his words on this point: 'This,' he says, 'can
rightly be said of those of whose good or evil deeds Scripture
makes no mention: that, as it recorded their goodness, it
would undoubtedly have recorded their sins, if it had known
that they did sin. But granted,' he says, 'that in other ages
Scripture neglected to describe the sins of all, because of the
numerous throng of men, right at the very beginning of the
world, when there were only four people alive, what reason
can we give,' he says, 'for its failure to record the misdeeds

19 Cf. Letter 177 n. 52.

20 Heros and Lazarus, Gallic bishops,* cf. Letter 175 n. 4.

116 SAINT AUGUSTINE

of all? Was it because of a great multitude which did not
yet exist? Or was it because it remembered only those who
committed sin, but could not remember those who had not
committed any? Certainly, 5 he says, c at the beginning of
time, there were Adam and Eve, of whom Cain and Abel
were born four persons only are reported as existing. Eve
sinned, Scripture tells us this; Adam also sinned, the same
Scripture does not fail to mention it. Scripture also testifies
further that Cain sinned as well. It points out not only their
sins, but the nature of their sins. But if Abel, too, had
sinned/ he says, 'without doubt the Scripture would have
mentioned it; but it does not mention it; therefore, he did
not sin.'

I have quoted these passages from his book your Holiness
will be able to find them in the volume itself that you may
understand what kind of reliance you may put on his denial
of other points also ; unless, perhaps, he says that Abel himself
did not commit sin, but that he was not thereby without sin,
and so could not be compared to the Lord, who alone of
mortal flesh was sinless, because in Abel there was the original
sin derived from Adam, but no sin committed by himself
personally would that at least he would say this that we
might for the present get from him a clear statement about
infant baptism! or unless he says, perhaps, since he used
the words 'from infancy to old age,' that Abel did not sin
because it is shown that he did not live to old age. His words
do not indicate this; he said that from the beginning the
early part of life was sinful; the later part could be sinless.
He claims that he did not say that anyone could be found
who had not sinned from infancy to old age, but that after
turning away from sin by his own effort, helped by the grace
of God, he could live without sin. For, when he says: 'turning
away from sin, 3 he shows that the earlier part of life is
lived in sin. Let him admit, then, that Abel did sin, since his

LETTERS 117

early life was lived in the world and that part he admits is
not without sin; and let him look again into his own book,
where it is clear that he did say what he denies having said
in his defense.

If he says that this book, or this passage in the book, is
not his, I have on my side competent witnesses, men of honor
and integrity, and unquestioned friends of his own, on whose
evidence I can clear my reputation, that they gave me this
same book, and therein that statement can be read; they
said it was the work of Pelagius and that evidence is enough
to keep anyone from saying that it has been written or forged
by me. Now, let each one choose among these which one he
will believe ; it does not devolve on me to discuss this question
any further. I ask you to be sure to convey to him, if he
denies that those views are his, the objection made against
him that he is opposed to the grace of Christ. Indeed, his
defense is so plausible that we shall be very glad and thankful
if he has not deceived you, who are unacquainted with his
other writings, by some of his ambiguous expressions, but we
do not much care whether he never held those perverse and
wicked views, or was sometime converted from them.

180. Augustine gives greeting in the Lord to Oceanus^ his
deservedly cherished lord and brother, worthy of
esteem in the members of Christ (End of 416)

I have received two letters together from your Charity, in
one of which you mention a third which you say was dis-
patched before the other two. I do not recall having received
it; in fact, I am quite sure I have not received it. For those
I have received, however, I return hearty thanks for your
kindness to us. My reason for not answering them at once is

1 Cf. Letter 165.

118 SAINT AUGUSTINE

that I have been distracted by one task after another. But
now I am taking advantage of a little drop of free time,
choosing rather to give you some kind of answer than to
maintain a long silence toward your very sincere Charity,
and thus become more unmannerly by too little than by too
much talk.

I know now what holy Jerome thinks about the origin of
souls, and I have, in fact, read the very words which you
quoted from his book in your letter. But this does not raise the
troublesome question which disturbs some, how God can
justly give souls to adulterous conceptions, because not even
their own sins, much less those of their parents, can harm
good-living persons, and those who have turned to God with
faith and piety. But, if it is true that new individual souls are
created from nothing for new individuals at birth, it is a
question worth asking how such unnumbered souls of infants
which God knows will leave their bodies without baptism
before the age of reason, before they know right from wrong,
can with justice be given over to damnation by Him with
whom above all there is no injustice. 2 There is no need for me
to say more on this subject, since you know what I wish,
or rather, what I do not wish to say. I think I have said
enough for a wise man. However, if you have read anything,
or heard anything from his mouth, or if the Lord has given
some light to your mind on this point, by which this problem
could be solved, share it with me, I beg of you, and I will
give you even more heartfelt thanks.

In that matter of the officious or useful lie 3 which you
thought could be settled by the example of the Lord saying
that the Son knows not the day nor the hour of the end of
the world, 4 I was pleased to read this product of your in-

2 Rom. 9.14.

3 For the classification of lies, cf. Letter 40.

4 Matt. 24.36; Mark 13.32.

LETTERS 119

genuity, but I am quite sure that a figurative expression
cannot rightly be called a lie. For it is not a lie to say that
the day is joyful because it makes people joyful, and that a
lupine seed is sad because it lengthens the face of the eater
because of its bitter taste; so also we say that God 'knows'
something when he makes a man know it you yourself
recalled that this was said to Abraham. 5 None of these is a lie,
as you can easily see for yourself. Consequently, when the
blessed Hilary 6 threw light on an obscure point by this kind
of figurative expression, making us understand that in pro-
portion as he made others ignorant by concealing his meaning
he admitted his own lack of knowledge, he did not condone
lying, but he proved that it was not lying to use the more
common figures, or even that one which is called metaphor,
a form of speech familiar to all. Will anyone call it a lie to
say that vines are jewelled with buds, or that a grain-field
waves, or that a man is in the flower of his youth, because
he sees in these objects neither waves nor precious stones,
nor grass, nor trees to which these expressions would literally
to applied?

Accordingly, with your keen and learned mind, you can
notice easily how different are these expressions from what the
Apostle said: 'When I saw that they walked not uprightly
unto the truth of the gospel, I said to Peter before them all:
If thou, being a Jew, livest after the manner of the gentiles,
and not as the Jews do, how dost thou compel the gentiles
to live as the Jews do?' 7 There is here no figurative obscurity
of speech; these are the proper words of direct speech. Here
the Doctor of the Gentiles 8 spoke either truth or falsehood
to those of whom he was in labor until Christ should be

5 Gen. 22.12.

6 Bishop of Poitiers (315-368) , author of De Trinitate (trans, by
Stephen J. McKenna, C.SS.R., as Vol. 25 in this series) .

7 Gal. 2.14.

8 1 Tim. 2.7.

1 20 SAINT AUGUSTINE

formed in them; 9 if falsehood, which God forbid, you notice
what follows and you shrink from both alternatives, 10 but
he gives us evidence of truth, and in the Apostle Peter there
is an admirable example of humility.

But why do I dwell any longer on this point which has
been adequately treated in the letters 11 between me and the
aforementioned brother Jerome? In his most recent work
against Pelagius, 12 which he published under the name of
Critobulus, he held the same opinion of that episode, and the
words of the Apostle, which we followed as being that of
blessed Cyprian. 13 In that other question of the origin of
the soul which I think it wise to explore, not because of the
matter of adulterous conceptions, but because of the damna-
tion of the innocent, which God forbid, if you have learned
anything from that great and grand man which can be used
to answer those in doubt, I beg you not to refuse to share it
with us, Indeed, you appear to me so learned and charming
in your letters that it is worth while conversing by letter with
you. I ask you not to delay sending us a book I do not
know its name of the same man of God, which the priest
Orosius brought back and gave to your Charity to copy. In it
he gains praise for his discussion of the resurrection of the
body. But we do not ask it of you at once, because we think
it needs copying and correcting, both of which we realize
require ample time. As you live, remember us with God.

9 Gal. 4.19.

10 A lacuna is suggested in the text at this point. Augustine seems not
to follow up the true-false alternative,

11 Letters 28, 40, 71, 75, and 82.

12 Jerome, Dialogus adverus Pelaglum 1.8, in PL 23.502.

13 Cyprian, Letter 71.3 (ed. Hartel, pp. 773-774) .

LETTERS 121

181. Innocent gives greeting in the Lord to Aurelius and all
the holy bishops his beloved brothers who took
part in the Council of Carthage
(January 27, 417) 1

In your inquiries into the things of God, which require to
be treated by priests with great care, especially when there
is question of a true, just, and Catholic council, you have
kept the precedents of ancient tradition, being mindful of
ecclesiastical discipline, and you have added strength to our
religion, not only now in your council, but before it when
you made your pronouncement according to right reason,
and when you voted to submit the matter to our judgment,
knowing well what is owing to the Apostolic See, since all of
us who are placed in this position desire to follow the Apostle
himself, from whom the very episcopate and the whole
authority of its name are derived. Following in his footsteps,
we know equally how to condemn what is evil and to approve
what is praiseworthy, as for example, the fact that you keep
the customs of the fathers with priestly zeal, that you do not
think they should be trampled underfoot. Because it has been
decreed by a divine, not a human, authority that whenever
action is taken in any of the provinces, however distant or
remote, it should not be brought to a conclusion before it
comes to the knowledge of this See, so that every just decision
may be affirmed by our complete authority. Thus, just as all
waters corne forth from their natural source and flow through
all parts of the world, keeping the purity of their source, so all
the other Churches may draw from this source knowledge
of what they are to teach, whom they are to absolve, and

1 This is an answer to Letter 175. Innocent I, Pope from 401 to 417,
active against Novatiamsts, Manichaeans, Donatists, Priscillianists and
Pelagians, strongly supported St. John Chrysostom, defended the
authority of the Holy See against encroachments from the East, and
restored many points of Church discipline.

122 SAINT AUGUSTINE

from whom the waters, intended only for pure bodies, should
be withheld as being soiled with indelible filth.

Therefore, I thank you, dearest brothers, for sending us
letters by our brother and fellow priest, Julius, in which you
show that while administering the Churches of which you
have care, you have an interest in the welfare of all, and on
behalf of the Churches of the whole world, in union with all,
you ask a decree that may be for the good of all. Thus, a
Church, supported by its own rules and strengthened by the
decretals of a legitimate pronouncement, may not have to be
exposed to those against whom it should be on guard: men
instructed or, rather, destroyed by the perverse subtleties of
words, who pretend to argue for the Catholic faith yet
breathe out deadly poison so as to corrupt the hearts of
right-thinking men and drag them down, seeking to over-
throw the whole system of true dogma.

Therefore, the remedy must be applied quickly, that this
hateful disease may not make a further attack on the minds
of men, in the same way as a doctor, when he sees some
weakness in this earthly body, thinks it a great proof of his
skill to save from a fatal outcome a patient who is despaired
of, or who examines an infected sore and applies poultices or
other remedies which may avail to draw out what has
developed in it; but, if it persists and cannot be healed, he
cuts out the harmful part with a knife lest it infect the whole
body with its poison, and so he preserves the body whole and
sound. Therefore, this poison is to be cut out, which, like a
sore, has crept into a clean and wholly sound body, lest if it
is removed too late it may settle in the very vitals from which
it may not be possible for the corruption of this evil to be
drawn off.

Shall we not, then, think it right to act thus toward those
minds which think they owe their goodness to themselves,
and take no thought of Him whose grace they daily receive?

LETTERS 123

But such men no longer receive the grace of God, because
they rely on themselves for the power to accomplish as much
without Him as those who ask and receive His grace can
scarcely profess to do. Could anything be so unjust, so bar-
baric, so oblivious of all religion, so inimical to Christian
minds as to deny that you owe to God whatever you achieve
by your daily deeds, while admitting that you owe Him the
fact of your existence meaning that you will be more suc-
cessful in providing for yourself than He who brought you into
being can be for you! and while you think you owe Him
your existence, how can you think you do not owe it to Him
that you live in such a manner by receiving His daily grace?
And you who deny that we need His divine help, as if we
were provided against everything by our own strength, do
we refrain from calling His help upon us because we can be
such by our own effort?

When anyone denies the help of God, I should like to ask
him why he says that: Is it because we do not deserve it? Or
is He unable to give it? Or is there no reason why anyone
should ask it? Our very works bear witness that God can
do this. We cannot deny that we need daily help. For, if we
are living a good life, we ask that we may live a better and
holier one; if we have turned away from good by wicked
thoughts, we need His help even more. Nowhere can we
find anything so deadly, so prone to make us fall, so exposed
to all dangers as the thought that it can be enough for us
to have received free will at birth, and so we should ask
nothing more of the Lord, that is, of the Author of our
being. This is to deny His power in order to show ourselves
free, as if He who made us free at our birth could give us
nothing more! This is to refuse to know that, unless His
grace comes down upon us in answer to earnest prayer, it
will be useless for us to try to overcome the aberrations of
earthly corruption and a perishable body, since it is not free

1 24 SAINT AUGUSTINE

will but the help of God that alone can make us fit to resist.

For, if he contends that he has need of divine help and
does not seek it honestly because his free will is a greater help
to him while that blessed man who was already elect of the
Lord prayed thus to God, saying: c Be thou my helper: for-
sake me not nor despise me, O God, my Saviour,' 2 do we call
free will to our help while he calls on God as his helper?
Do we say that it is enough for us that we are born, while
he begs God not to forsake him? I ask, do we not learn
clearly what we should ask when that saintly man, as I
said above, begs so earnestly not to be despised? Those who
assert such things must needs use that argument. David
could not be accused of being ignorant of prayer and
unaware of his own nature; if he knew that so much power
resided in his nature he nevertheless called on God as his
helper, his constant helper; and even this constant help does
not satisfy him, but, lest God should at any time despise him,
he calls upon Him in abject prayer, and through the whole
collection of the Psalms he proclaims his need and cries it
aloud. If, therefore, this is something so important to know
that he kept saying it constantly, and if he confessed that
it is so necessary to teach, how can Pelagius and Gaelestius
discard every refutation of it in the Psalms, and repudiate
all similar teaching, and then believe they can convince
some persons that we do not need the help of God, and
ought not to ask it, while all the saints bear witness that
they can do nothing without it?

Long since there was one 3 who had experience of his free
will, making a careless use of its goods and falling into a
flood of error where he would have been drowned; since he
could find no means of raising himself, deceived as he was

2 PS. 26.9.

3 This description fits Augustine's own conversion; cf. his Contra duos
epistulas Pelagianorum 2-6 (Migne, PL 44.575) .

LETTERS 1 25

forever by his own liberty, he would have been sunk in
overwhelming ruin if the coming of Christ had not raised
him afterwards by means of his grace, washed away every
past sin in the font of his baptism through the purification
of a new birth, and strengthened his steps that he might
advance more surely and more steadily: never afterwards
did he deny God's grace. And although Christ had redeemed
man from his past sins, He knew that man could sin again,
and for that reason He kept many remedies in reserve to
heal him, so that He could amend those later offenses. He
offers those remedies daily, and, unless we make use of
them with faith and confidence, we shall never be able to
overcome human failings. It necessarily follows, then, that
as we overcome by His help, so we are in turn overcome
without His help. I could say more, but it is evident that you
have said all the rest.

Therefore, whoever appears to be in agreement with this
statement which declares that we have no need of divine
help shows himself an enemy of the Catholic faith, and an
ingrate to the goodness of God. They are unworthy of our
communion, which they have polluted by such preaching.
They have voluntarily fled from the true religion by following
those who make these statements. Since this whole matter
rests on our avowal, and we accomplish nothing by our
daily prayer except in so far as we receive the grace of God,
how can we tolerate such boasting? I ask what great error
blinds their hearts which makes them fail to notice what is
individually lavished on others by divine grace, but feel no
grace of God themselves because they are unworthy and
undeserving of it. Indeed, they fully deserve this blindness
who have not left themselves the resource of believing that
they can be drawn back from their wanderings by divine
help. By denying this help they have robbed themselves of
it, not others. They must be plucked out and removed far

126 SAINT AUGUSTINE

from the bosom of the Church, lest their error, gaining
ground for a long time, should afterwards grow into some-
thing incurable. If they were to remain long unpunished they
must needs draw many into their perverted state of mind, and
deceive the innocent or, rather, the unwary who now follow
the Catholic faith, who will think the deceivers must be
right since they see them remaining in the Church.

Therefore, let the diseased sore be cut off from the sound
body, and the miasma of the cruel malady be carefully re-
moved, that thus the healthy parts may continue to live, that
the flock, being cleansed, may be clear of this contagion of
an infected flock. Let there be an unspotted perfection of
the whole body, such as we know, from your pronouncement
against them, that you follow and hold, and which we,
together with you, uphold with equal assent. If, however, they
call down some help of God upon themselves, as they have
hitherto refused to do, and if they recognize that they need
His help, in order to be set free from this corruption into
which they have fallen through the subjugation of their heart,
and if they are led to the light, so to speak, from this foul
cloud under which they have been, by the surrender and
removal of all that darkens and dims their sight, so that
they cannot see the truth, let them repudiate the views they
have hitherto held; let them lend their minds for a while to
true arguments, and, turning from their former corruption,
let them give and deliver themselves over to be healed by true
counsels. If they do this, it will be in the power of the
pontiffs to help them to some extent, and to offer the care
for such wounds which the Church is not wont to refuse to
the lapsed when they have recanted. Thus, they may be
drawn back from the precipice on which they are, and led
into the sheepfold of the Lord, lest, if they are left outside
and deprived of the great protection afforded by the wall
of faith, they may be exposed to all the dangers of being

LETTERS 127

torn and eaten by the teeth of wolves, since they cannot fight
them off by reason of the perverted doctrine which roused
the attack against them. But this answer, furnished with
abundant examples of our law, is sufficient to meet your
warning, and we think that nothing remains for us to say.
Since you, also, have left nothing out, it is clear that nothing
has been passed over by which they may be refuted and may
acknowledge their defeat. Therefore, no testimony is added
here by us because this report is filled with them; it is
evident that so many learned priests have said everything,
and it does not befit us to believe that you overlooked anything
which could advance the case. Farewell, brothers. 4

2. Innocent gives greeting in the Lord to his beloved

brothers, Silvanus elder, Valentine, and the

others who attended the Synod of Milevis
(January, 417) 1

In the midst of our other cares for the Church at Rome
and the duties of the Apostolic See, in the course of which
we examine decrees on various subjects with faithful and
curative argument, our brother and fellow priest, Julius,
brought the letter of your Charity which you sent, in your
close devotion to the faith, from the Council of Milevis, and,
without my knowing it, he included the report of the Synod
of Carthage, adding this document of similar protest. Truly
the Church rejoices that her pastors display such watchful
care for the flocks entrusted to them, not only that they do

4 In another handwriting. And along the side of the Letter as given in
textual notes: Given on the fifth day of the Kalends of February, after
the seventh consulship of Theodosius Augustus and Junius Quartus.

1 This is the answer to Letter 176.

1 28 SAINT AUGUSTINE

not allow any to go astray, but, if the harm of herbage on
the left entices any of the sheep and they persist in wandering
away, they decide either to cut them off entirely, or to
watch them with all the old-time care when they unlawfully
disregard warnings; on guard against both extremes, lest, if
they refuse the strays, others may be led away by a like
example; if they cast them off at their return, they may
seem to have been devoured by the teeth of wolves. Their
plan of action is always prudent and full of Catholic faith.
For, who could either show indulgence to an erring soul or
fail to welcome him back at his conversion? As I think it is a
sign of hardness to treat sinners with connivance, so I judge
that it is wicked to refuse a helping hand to the converted.

You show diligence and consideration in taking thought of
the apostolic honor, of that concealed honor, I mean, of
him whom 'besides those things which are without, the
solicitude for all the churches' 2 weighed down; and in asking
what opinion is to be held on anxious matters, following in
that the form of the ancient rule, which you know has always
been upheld by me throughout the whole world. But I pass
over that for 1 believe your Prudence is well aware of it. Why
did you affirm it by your action if you did not know that
replies always flow from the apostolic font to petitioners in
all the provinces? In particular, I think that as often as an
argument on the faith is being blown about, all our brothers
and fellow bishops ought to refer it solely to Peter, that is,
to the one having the authority of his name and rank, as
your Charity has now done, so that it may be for the common
benefit of all the Churches. They must be the more on
guard when they see the originators of evil cut off from
communion with the Church by the enactments of our decree,
in consequence of the report from a twofold synod.

Therefore, your Charity will perform a doubly good action,

2 2 Cor. 11.28.

LETTERS 129

for you will gain gratitude for preserving the canons of
belief, and the whole world will share in the common good
conferred by you. Are there any Catholic men who would be
willing to join conversation hereafter with the adversaries of
Christ? Would anyone want to share the common light of
life with them? Surely, the authors of a new heresy should be
shunned. What more bitter attack could they imagine against
the Lord than to take away the reason for daily prayer, after
having nullified divine assistance? This is the same as saying:
'What need have I of God?' Let the Psalmist say of them
with good reason : 'Behold the men that made not God their
helper!' 3 Therefore, by denying the help of God they say
that man is self-sufficient, that he has no need of divine
grace, the deprivation of which necessarily entangles him in
the snares of the Devil 4 and makes him fall; while at the
same time he claims that human liberty alone is enough
to enable him to fulfill all the commandments of life. 5 O
perverse doctrine of utterly depraved minds ! Take note, then,
how that liberty led the first man astray and made him fall
into a presumptuous sin because he failed to bridle it strongly
enough, and how he could not have been rescued from his
state if the coming of the Lord Christ in the providence of
regeneration had not reformed the condition of his original
liberty. Let him listen to David saying c Our help is in the
name of the Lord' and 'Be thou my helper, forsake me not;
do not thou despise me, O God, my Saviour!' 6 which accord-
ing to him would be useless if what the Psalmist asked of the
Lord with tearful speech rested on his own will alone.

This being so, when we read on all the divine pages
nothing else than that the help of God must be added to our

3 Ps. 51.9.

4 1 Tim. 3.7; 2 Tim. 2.26.

5 Ezech. 33.15; Baruch 3.9.

6 Ps. 123.8; 26.9.

1 30 SAINT AUGUSTINE

free will, and that, deprived of these heavenly safeguards, It
can do nothing, how can Pelagius and Caelestius so obsti-
nately defend the power of the will alone, persuading them-
selves of its truth, as you assert, nay, what is a subject worthy
of general grief, persuading so many others? We could cite
numberless examples to instruct such a group of masters, if
we did not know that your Holiness is fully versed in all the
divine Scriptures, especially as your report is replete with
such cogent testimonies that by these alone the teachings in
question could be torn apart, and there is no need of far-
fetched quotations, since the heretics would neither dare nor
be able to counter those which you used as coming easily to
mind. Therefore, they try to deprive us of the grace of God,
which we should still have to seek, even if the liberty of our
original state were restored to us, inasmuch as we cannot
otherwise avoid the contrivances of the Devil except by the
help of the same grace.

That other doctrine which your Fraternity claims that they
preach, that little children can attain the reward of eternal
life without the grace of baptism, is very foolish. For, unless
they eat of the flesh of the Son of man and drink His blood
they will not have life in them. 7 Those who claim this for
them without regeneration seem to me to wish to nullify
baptism, since they teach that these children have what they
believe is not to be bestowed on them in baptism even by
themselves. If, then, they do not wish anything to stand in
their way, let them confess that there is no need of rebirth
and that the sacred stream of regeneration has no effect. But
in order to disarm the vicious doctrine of vain men by the
swift reasoning of truth, the Lord proclaims this in the
Gospel by saying: 'Suffer the little children and forbid them
not to come to me.' 8 Therefore, concerning Pelagius and

7 John 6.54.

8 Matt. 19.4; Mark 10.14; Luke 18.16.

LETTERS

131

Caelestius, that is, the originators of new dogmas, which,, as
the Apostle says, are of no profit, but tend to beget utterly
vain questions, we decree, relying on the strength of apostolic
authority, that they are to be deprived of communion with
the Church until 'they recover themselves from the snares of
the Devil, by whom they are held captives at his will'; 9 that
they are not to be received within the Lord's flock which they
have chosen to forsake by following the path of a crooked
way. Those who trouble us, who would pervert the gospel
of Christ, 5 are to be cut off. 10 We likewise prescribe that if
any strive to defend this teaching with similar obstinacy,
they are to be bound under the same censures, 'and not only
they that do these things, but they also that consent to them
that do them,' 11 because I think there is not much difference
between the intention of him that does something and the
consent of him that agrees to it. I add more: When no one
assents to the errant one he generally unlearns his error.
Therefore, beloved brothers, let the aforementioned decisions
stand as a fixed decree; let them be kept out of the house of
the Lord; let them at least be prevented from exercising any
pastoral care, lest the deadly contagion of two sheep creep
in among the unwary flock, and the greedy-hearted wolf
rejoice that so many flocks of sheep within the Lord's sheep-
fold have been scattered, because the guards have been
negligent in overlooking the wounds of the two. We must be
watchful then, lest, by allowing the wolves to enter, we appear
to be hirelings rather than shepherds. 12

Moreover, since Christ our Lord showed that He willed not
the death of the sinner but that he should be converted and
live, 13 we order that if ever these two recover a sane mind,

9 2 Tim. 2.14,23,26.

10 Gal. 1.7; 5.12.

11 Cf. Rom. 1.32.

12 John 10.12.

13 Ezech. 33.11; 2 Peter 3.9.

132 SAINT AUGUSTINE

after having repudiated the error of their wrong teaching,
and if they condemn the false statements which brought on
their condemnation, the customary remedy is not to be re-
fused them by the Church, that is, they are to be received
back, lest, if we should perchance forbid their return, they
might remain outside the fold and be swallowed up by the
fierce jaws of their waiting enemy, which they have armed
against themselves with the sharp points of their wicked
arguments. Farewell, brothers.

Given on the sixth day before the Kalends of February in
the consulship of the noble Honorius and the noble Con~
stantius. 14

183. Innocent gives greeting to Aurelius, Alypius, Augustine,
Evodius, Possidius, bishops (January, 417) 1

We have received with grateful heart the letters of your
Fraternity, so full of faith, so strong with the full vigor of the
Catholic religion, which you sent from the two councils by
our brother and fellow bishop, Julius. Their content and the
whole development of thought on the daily grace of God
and the amendment of those who hold contrary views are
based on right reason, so as to be well fitted to remove all
error from these latter and to furnish them a worthy teacher,
by citing certain precedents from our law, whom they ought
to follow. However, in our previous letters in answer to your
reports I think we have said enough on these points con-
cerning what we think either of their perfidy or of your
opinions. Furthermore, what may be said against them
strengthens and supports your statement, and there can never

14 January 27, 417.
1 An answer to Letter 177.

LETTERS 133

be lacking an argument to overcome them, since this
wretched and impious heresy is such that it is overcome by
the strength of our faith, and, more fully, by truth itself. He
who has rejected and despised the whole hope of life, con-
fusing his own heart with his hateful and damnable argument,
by which he believes that there is nothing for him to receive
from God, nothing left for him to ask for his own cure what
is left for one who has bereft himself of this?

If, then, there are some whom this great perversity has
forced into self-defense, who surrender and join themselves
to this teaching, hoping that it is part of Catholic doctrine,
whereas it is far removed from it, and is proved to be com-
pletely opposed to it, if these, infected by their words of
exhortation, are led on to their ruin, they will hasten, as
fast as they can, to return to the rightful path of the way,
lest, if error besiege their mind too long, it may enter their
senses as if it were food. For, if Pelagius, in whatever place
he has stayed, has used this assertion to lead astray minds that
easily and simply yield faith to an argument, whether they
are here in the city 2 and, as we do not know, we can
neither affirm nor deny this, since, even if they were here,
they would stay in hiding and would never dare to defend
him if he preached such things, nor would they boast of them
before anyone of us, and in such a great crowd of people it
would not be easy for anyone to be caught, nor would it be
possible for anyone to be recognized anywhere or whether
they live in any other part of the earth, we believe by the
mercy and grace of God that it will be easy to convert them
when they hear the condemnation of the one who has been
found to be the stubborn and obstinate author of this dogma.
It makes no difference where they may be, since they are to
be cured wherever they can be found.

Nevertheless, we cannot be convinced that Pelagius has

2 Rome.

134 SAINT AUGUSTINE

been cleared, although a report has been brought to us by
some laymen or other, according to which he believes that
he has been heard and absolved. We doubt that this report
is true, because it did not come with any subsequent notice
of that council, 3 nor have we received any letters from those
before whom he stated his case on this matter. But, if he had
been able to put faith in his own acquittal, we believe that
what he would more probably have done would be to oblige
those who gave the verdict to publish it in letters something
which was much more truly possible. 4 However, there are
some points set forth in the minutes of the council which were
offered as objections, and these he partly suppressed by
leaving them out, partly wrapped in obscurity by twisting
many words to his own advantage; other points, which were
made by fallacious arguments rather than by true reasoning,
as could be seen at the time, he changed by denying some
and distorting others to a false meaning.

What is most to be wished is that he would turn from the
error of his way to the true way of the Catholic faith, that
he would wish and choose to be acquitted by considering the
daily grace of God and by recognizing His help, that it may
appear true to all and be proved by plain reasoning that he
has been converted from the heart to the Catholic faith, not
merely rectified by the publication of a document! Hence,
we can neither approve nor blame the verdict of those who
judged him, since we do not know whether the minutes are
authentic, and in case they are authentic it is clear that
he has rather escaped by evasion than cleared himself by the
full truth. If he trusts and knows that he does not deserve our
condemnation as he says, or that he has now rebutted the
whole of what he said formerly, then he ought not so much

3 Of Diospolis.

4 Cf. Augustine, De gratia Christiana et de peccato originali 2.10
(CSEL 42.172.21-173.6).

LETTERS

135

to be summoned by us as to hasten of his own accord so that
he can be acquitted. But, if he still holds the same views, and
if he is summoned by any kind of letter, would he ever
trust himself to our judgment, knowing that he is to be
condemned? On the other hand, if he were to be summoned,
it would be better for it to be done through those who are
nearest to him, who seem not to be separated from him by a
wide range of country. Care will not be wanting if he gives
a chance for healing. He can repudiate the views he held,
and by sending a letter, as befits one who returns to us, can
ask pardon for his error, dearest brothers.

We have, of course, gone through the book said to be his
which your Charity sent us. In it we have read many state-
ments against the grace of God, many blasphemies; nothing
that pleases, nothing that is not deeply displeasing, worthy of
being condemned and trampled underfoot by all; the like
of which, if he did not write it, no one else would admit
to his mind and hold as an opinion. We do not think it
necessary in this letter to argue more extensively about the
law, as if Pelagius were present and opposing us, since we
are speaking to you who know the law, 5 and who rejoice in
mutual agreement with us. It will be better for us to adduce
examples when we deal with those who are evidently un-
acquainted with those matters. But to one who thinks cor-
rectly about the power of nature, about free will, and the
fullness of God's daily grace, it would not be very fruitful
to discuss these things. Therefore, let him repudiate those
views which he holds, so that those who have fallen into error
through his talks and instruction may know at length what
the true faith holds. They can more easily be reclaimed when
they see that these errors are condemned by their very
author. But, if he chooses to persist obstinately in this impiety,
action must be taken to save those who have been led astray

5 Rom. 7.1.

136 SAINT AUGUSTINE

by his error, not their own, lest this remedy be lost to them,
since he neither recognizes nor asks for care such as this.
May God keep you safe, dearest brothers. 6
Given on the sixth day before the Kalends of February.

184. Innocent to Aurelius and Augustine, bishops (417)

The return of our most esteemed fellow priest, Germanus,
should not be unaccompanied by some mark of our esteem.
It seems to us in a sense a natural and reasonable thing to
greet our dearest through those who are dear. Therefore,
dearly beloved, we desire your Brotherhood to rejoice in the
Lord, and we beg you to offer similar prayers for us to God,
for, as you well know, we accomplish more through common
and mutual prayer than we do through individual and
private prayer.

184A. Augustine gives greeting in the Lord to the beloved
lords, his holy sons, Peter and Abraham 1 (417)

Neither justice nor charity can or ought to belittle your
holy zeal, which makes you think that I should look into
many questions so that you may be well armed against the
arguments of impiety, and may be strong to resist it. But one
letter, however lengthy, could not contain a careful answer
to all your questions. You know that in several of my works I
have already answered, to the best of my ability, all or
nearly all the points which you ask. If you read these and
I hear that you have undertaken a life in the service of God, so
that you have leisure for reading either the whole doctrine

6 In another handwriting.

1 Two monks. Peter was later an abbot in the province of Tripoli.

LETTERS 137

on these points will be clear to you, or not much of it will
be lacking, especially as there is an inner teacher in you by
whose grace you are what you are. For, how does man help
man to learn anything, if we are not e taught of the Lord'? 2
Still, in this letter, with the Lord's help, I shall not cheat your
expectation of at least a short reply.

The Lord said: c He that believeth and is baptized shall
be saved, but he that believeth not shall be condemned. 33 If,
then, when little children are baptized, these are no empty
words but are truthfully acted on that these little ones may
be included among the believers, and if, on the lips of all
Christians, they are thenceforth called a new offspring, it is
certain that if they do not believe, they will be condemned,
and because they have added nothing to original sin by a
bad life, for this reason it can rightly be said that in their
condemnation they suffer the lightest of penalties, but not
that they suffer none. If anyone thinks there will not be
different penalties, let him read what is written: It will be
more tolerable for Sodom in the day of judgment than for
that city.' 4 Therefore, let no middle place for infants between
the kingdom and the state of punishment be sought by
deceivers, but let them pass over from the Devil to Christ,
that is, from death to life, lest the wrath of God 5 rest upon
them; from this wrath of God nothing but the grace of God
can deliver them. But what is the wrath of God if not the
due penalty and vengeance inflicted by a just God? God is
not stirred by any emotion, as the changeable human soul is
roused to anger; what is called the wrath of God is nothing
else than the just penalty of sin, and it is no wonder that
this should pass down to posterity.

Now, the concupiscense of the flesh, in which men are

2 Isa. 54.13; John 6.45.

3 Mark 16.16.

4 Matt. 10.5; 11.24.

5 John 5.24; 3.36.

138 SAINT AUGUSTINE

begotten and conceived, did not exist prior to sin, nor would
it have existed at all except that the disobedience of his own
flesh followed upon the disobedience of man, as a reciprocal
penalty. And although the blessing of marriage makes a
good use of this evil, it is a fact that without it there cannot be
a marriage, that is, a licit and honorable intercourse for the
purpose of begetting children; but it would have been possible
without it if human nature, by not sinning, had remained in
that state in which it was created. For the sex organs, like
other parts of the body, could have been stimulated to per-
form their functions by an impulse of the will, not by the
heat of passion. Who would claim that those words of God:
'Increase and multiply/ 6 were intended as a curse on sinners,
not a blessing on marriage? Therefore Christ was neither
begotten nor conceived in this concupiscence, because His
birth of the Virgin took place far differently. But I repeat
that all men who are begotten, conceived, and born in this
concupiscence must necessarily be reborn if they are to escape
the penalty, because, even if a man is born of parents who
are regenerated, his carnal birth cannot bestow on him what
a spiritual rebirth bestowed on them; in the same way, the
wild olive is produced not only from a wild olive, but even
from the seed of the true olive, although the olive is not a
wild olive. We have spoken at length on these points in
other letters of ours, and I would rather you read them
than oblige me to repeat the same things.

It is a more laborious task to reply to infidels who are not
bound by the authority of Christian books. Their wrong-
headedness cannot be set right by the force of divine Scrip-
tures; rather, the Scripture itself has often to be defended
against them because it is too openly attacked by them.
But if the Lord helps you to be persuasive, you will still
make little progress among those whom you desire to see

6 Gen. 1.22.

LETTERS 139

Christians if you merely overcome their unbelief by truthful
arguments, unless you beg the gift of faith for them with
suppliant prayers. And faith itself, as you surely know, is a
gift of God, who allots to each one his measure of faith; it
is such a gift that it requires the understanding to precede it.
The Prophet is not deceived when he says: 'Unless you
believe, you shall not understand. 57 And the Apostle prayed
not only for the faithful but also for the unbelieving Jews,
and asked only that they might believe 8 when he said:
'Brethren, the will of my heart, indeed, and my prayer to
God is for them unto salvation* ; & that is to say, he prayed
for those who had put Christ to death, who would have
killed him, too, if the power had been theirs, for men like
those whom the Lord prayed for when He was mocked as
He hung on the cross, 10 and whom blessed Stephen prayed
for as he was being stoned. 11

There are two classes of those unbelievers whom we call
Gentiles, or, by a more commonly used word, pagans: those
of one class prefer the superstitions which they invent to the
Christian religion; those of the other class are hampered by
no nominal religion. I have called attention to these in
certain books of the City of God, of which, I think notice
has come to you, and the remainder of which I am now
laboring to finish, if the Lord wills, in the midst of my other
duties. I have finished ten books long ones against the
first class of pagans, whom the Apostle points out when he
says: 'But the thing which the heathens sacrifice, they
sacrifice to devils, not to God, 512 and whom he also certainly
means when he says: 'They worshipped and served the

7 C. Lsa. 7.9.

8 Goldbacher notes a lacuna here, but the text is coherent without
emendation.

9 Rom. 10.1.

10 Luke 23.34.

11 Acts 7.59.

12 1 Cor. 10.20.

140 SAINT AUGUSTINE

creature rather than the Creator/ 13 The first five volumes
refute those who claim that it is necessary to worship many
gods, not the one supreme and true God, in order to attain
or retain earthly and temporal happiness in human affairs;
the last five are directed against those who think to achieve
the happiness which we hope for after this life by raising
themselves up with swelling pride against the doctrine of
salvation and by worshiping demons and many gods. Also, in
three of the last five books we refute their well-known philos-
ophers. The rest, as many as there will be after the eleventh
of which three are finished and the fourth in hand will
cover all that we hold and believe about the City of God,
because we do not wish to give the impression of being
satisfied with refuting the views of others without setting
forth our own in this work. The fourth book after the first
ten, that is, the fourteenth of the whole work, will have a
solution, if the Lord wills, of all the questions which you
have proposed in your letter.

However, with the other class of unbelievers who either
believe that there is no divine power or that it has nothing
to do with human affairs, I am not sure that an argument
should be undertaken on any subject of dutiful devotion,
although hardly anyone can be found nowadays who is so
foolish as to dare to say even in his own heart : 'There is no
God.' 14 But other fools are not lacking who have said: 'The
Lord shall not see, 515 that is, He does not extend His pro-
vidence to these earthly affairs. Accordingly, in those books
which I wish your Charity to read, along with the description
of the City of God, if God wills and for whom He wills, I
shall justify the belief that not only does God exist and
this belief is so ingrained in nature that hardly any impiety

IS Rom. 1,25.

14 Ps. 13.1.

15 Ps. 93.7.

LETTERS 141

ever tears it out but that He regulates human affairs, from
governing men to rewarding the just with blessedness in the
company of the holy angels and condemning the wicked to
the lot of the bad angels.

Therefore, dearly beloved, this letter must not be loaded
down any further. We have pointed out clearly enough where
you may hope to learn what you wish to know through our
instrumentality, and if you do not yet possess those same
books, we have taken steps, in proportion to our meager
resources, to let you have them through our holy brother,
my fellow priest, Firmus, 16 who has great affection for you,
and has diligently recommended you to our affection, so
that he may give thanks for your mutual love.

785. 1 Augustine to Boniface, 2 tribune and count
in Africa (417)

On the Treatment of the Donatists*

Chapter 1

I praise and congratulate and admire you, my beloved
son, Boniface, for your ardent desire to know the things that

16 A monk who had spent some time in St. Jerome's monastery, and was
the bearer of Letters 115, 134, and 194.

1 Goldbacher gives no title of address to this letter; it is supplied from
Migne. Augustine speaks of it in Retractations 2.48.

2 Governor of Africa under Honorius and Placidia.

3 In Retractations 2.48, Augustine says. *At the same time I wrote a
book on the treatment of the Donatists, because of some who did not
want them to be disciplined under the imperial laws.' This Letter
represents the summary of his thought on the Donatists,

1 42 SAINT AUGUSTINE

are of God, in the midst of the cares of war and arms.
Indeed, it is clear that this is what makes you serve, with
that same military valor, the faith which you have in Christ. 4
So, then, to explain briefly to your Charity the difference
between the error of the Arians and that of the Donatists,
the Arians say that the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit
are different in substance, but the Donatists do not say
this; they confess one substance in the Trinity. And if some of
them say that the Son is inferior to the Father, they still do
not deny that He is of the same substance, but most of
them say that they believe of the Father, the Son, and the
Holy Spirit exactly what the Catholic Church believes. This
question does not arise with them; what they quarrel about
is union with the Church, and they stir up rebellion and
enmity against the unity of Christ by persisting in their
error. Some time ago, as we heard, some of them were trying
to win over the Goths 5 to their side, and seeing that they
could make some headway they said that they believed the
same doctrines. But they are proved wrong by the authority
of their elders, because there is no claim that Donatus
himself, to whose sect they glory in belonging, held these
beliefs.

Chapter 2

But do not be troubled by these things, my dearest son.
It has been prophesied that there will be heresies and
scandals/ that we may gain instruction in the midst of
enemies, and so both our faith and our love may be more

4 Philem. 1.5.

5 They had been won over to the Arians shortly after their conversion,
from barbarism.

I 1 Cor. 1L19.

LETTERS 14:3

surely proved: our faith, of course, that we may not be
deceived by them; our love, that we may provide for their
amendment to the extent of our power. We must not only
make an effort to free them from their abominable error
and to keep them from harming the weak, but we must also
pray for them that the Lord may open their minds and
make them understand the Scriptures, because it is in the
holy books that the Lord Christ is revealed, and His Church
made manifest. In their extraordinary blindness they not
only fail to know Christ Himself except in the Scriptures,
they even fail to recognize the Church on the authority of the
divine writings, and picture it to themselves according to the
falsity of human misrepresentation.

Chapter 3

They agree with us in recognizing Christ when they read :
'They have dug my hands and my feet; they have numbered
all my bones. And they have looked and stared upon me.
They parted my garments and upon my vesture they cast
lots'; but they refuse to recognize the Church In the verses
that follow shortly after: 'All the ends of the earth shall
remember and shall be converted to the Lord and all the
kindreds of the Gentiles shall adore in his sight. For the
kingdom is the Lord's and he shall have dominion over the
nations. 51 With us they recognize Christ when they read:
'The Lord hath said to me : Thou art my son, this day have I
begotten thee,' and they refuse to recognize the Church in
what follows: 'Ask of me and I will give thee the Gentiles
for thy inheritance and the utmost parts of the earth for thy
possession.' 2 With us they recognize Christ in what the Lord

1 Ps. 21.17-19,28,29.

2 Ps. 2.7,8.

1 44r SAINT AUGUSTINE

Himself says in the Gospel; 'It behooved Christ to suffer
and to rise again from the dead the third day,' and they
refuse to recognize the Church in what follows: 'And that
penance and remission of sins should be preached in his
name unto all nations beginning at Jerusalem.' 3 There are
other testimonies in the sacred books so numerous that I
ought not to compress them into this book. And as the
Lord Christ stands out in these, either as equal to the Father
according to His divine nature, because, e ln the beginning
was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word
was God/ or in the humility of His assumed flesh, because
The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us'; 4 so His
Church is manifest not in Africa alone, as the Donatists
madly proclaim with their shameless pride, but as spread
throughout the whole world.

Chapter 4

They prefer their quarrelsome contentions to the divine
testimonies, and they have separated themselves from the
Catholic Church, that is, from the unity of all nations,
because of the case of Caecilian, 1 formerly bishop of the
Church at Carthage, against whom they make charges which
they neither could nor can prove. Yet, if the charges made
by them against Caecilian had been true and could have
been proved so at any time, we should have repudiated
him even after his death, but we ought not thereupon,
because of some man, forsake the Church of Christ which
is not produced by litigious imaginations, but is based on

3 Luke 24.46,47.

4 John 1.U4.

1 For an explanation of this controversy, cf. Letter 43 n. 5.

LETTERS 145

divine evidence, because c lt is good to confide in the Lord
rather than to have confidence in man,' 2 For, even if Caecilian
sinned and I say this without prejudice to his innocence
Christ did not thereby lose His inheritance. It is easy for a
man to believe either truth or falsehood about another man,
but it is a sign of accursed shamelessness to wish to condemn
the unity of the whole world because of a man's misdeeds
which you cannot prove to the world.

Chapter 5

Whether Caecilian was ordained by betrayers of the divine
books I do not know; I did not see it; I heard it from his
enemies; it is not declared to me by the Law of God, or
by the preaching of the Prophets, or by the holy Psalms, or
by the Apostle of Christ, or by Christ's words. But the
testimonies of the entire Scripture proclaim with one voice
that the Church, with which the sect of Donatus is not in
communion, is indeed spread throughout the entire world.
'In thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed,' 1
said the Law of God. Trom the rising of the sun even to
the going down, there is offered to my name a clean offering,
for my name is great among the Gentiles,' 2 said God through
the Prophet. 'He shall rule from sea to sea, and from the
river unto the ends of the earth,' 3 said God in the psalm.
'Bringing forth fruit and growing in the whole world,' 4 said
God through the Apostle. c You shall be witnesses unto me in
Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria^ and even to the

2 Ps. 117.8.

1 Gen. 22.18; 26.4.

2 Mai. 1.11.

3 Ps. 71.8.

4 Col. 1.6.

146 SAINT AUGUSTINE

uttermost of the earth/ 5 said the Son of God with His own
lips. Caecilian, bishop of the Church at Carthage, is accused
in human lawsuits; the Church of Christ, established among
all nations, is commended by divine pronouncements. Piety
itself, truth, charity do not allow us to receive against
Caecilian the testimony of those men whom we do not see in
the Church to which God bears witness, for those who do
not follow divine testimonies have lost the power of human
testimony,

Chapter 6

I add the fact that they themselves carried the case of
Caecilian to the judgment of Emperor Constantine on appeal;
indeed, after the bishops' verdict, they even went so far as to
hale Caecilian himself after they had failed to get him
convicted to the tribunal of this emperor before his most
persistent persecutors. And they themselves did first what
they now blame in us, in order to deceive the unwary, saying
that Christians ought not to ask any action on the part of
Christian emperors against the enemies of Christ. Even in
the conference which we had with them at Carthage they did
not dare to deny on the contrary, they even dared to
boast of it that their predecessors had brought a criminal
charge against Caecilian to the emperor, adding, for good
measure, the lie that they had won their case and brought
about his conviction. In what sense, then, are they not
persecutors who persecuted Caecilian with their accusation
and lost their case to him, who then tried to claim false
credit for themselves by a most shameless lie, and were so far
from thinking this wrong that they boasted of it as if it were
to their credit, so long as they could show that Caecilian

5 Acts 1.8.

LETTERS

147

had been convicted by the accusation of their predecessors?
It would be a long task for you, occupied as you are with
other matters necessary to the peace of Rome, to read how
they were vanquished at every point in that conference,
because the minutes of the meeting are excessively full, but
perhaps it would be possible for you to have the summary
read to you, which I believe my brother and fellow bishop
Optatus 1 has, or, if he has not, he can get it for you very
easily from the church at Sitifis. Even so, the book, which is
detailed, might prove to be a burden to you in the midst of
your cares.

Chapter 7

The same thing happened to the Donatists as happened to
the accusers of holy Daniel. Just as the lions were turned
against the latter, 1 so the laws by which they tried to oppress
the innocent were turned against the former, except that, by
the mercy of Christ, those laws which seemed to be against
them were rather favorable to them, since many through
them have been and are daily being converted, who now
give thanks both for their conversion and for their deliverance
from that raging destruction. And those who hated now love,
and where formerly they swore in their madness that these
most salutary laws were hurtful to them, in the same measure
they now rejoice over their restored sanity. They are now
animated by a love like ours toward the remainder of their
number with whom they were on the verge of destruction, and
they urge us to put pressure on them lest they perish. The
physician is hateful to the madman in a frenzy, as the father is
to his rebellious son, the one because he ties him down, the

1 One of the bishops present at the Council of Zerta; cf. Letter 141.
1 Dan. 6.24.

148 SAINT AUGUSTINE

other because he beats him, yet both do it out of love. But, if
they neglected their charges and left them to destroy them-
selves, that would rather be a false and cruel kindness. If the
horse and the mule that have no understanding' 3 use bites
and kicks to fight against the men who are treating their
wounds in order to heal them, and if these men, though often
endangered and injured by their teeth and hooves, do not
leave off until they have restored health by their painful and
harsh remedies, how much more should man be succored by
man, and brother by brother, lest he perish eternally, since
he can understand, once he is set right, what a great benefit
was conferred on him while he was complaining of suffering
persecution !

Chapter 8

In the same way, therefore, the Apostle says: 'Let us not
fail, while we have time, let us work good to all men/ 1 Let
those who can do so achieve this by their sermons as Catholic
preachers; let others who can do so achieve it by their laws
as Catholic rulers. Thus, partly by obedience to the divine
warnings, partly by compliance with the imperial decrees, all
will be called to salvation, all will be called back from destruc-
tion. And the reason for this is that, when emperors pass bad
laws favoring falsehood and opposing truth, staunch believers
are tested and faithful champions are crowned; but, when
they pass good laws favoring truth and opposing falsehood, the
cruel extremists are constrained by fear and the intelligent are
converted. Therefore, whoever refuses to obey the imperial
laws which are passed for the protection of God's truth incurs
grave punishment. For, in the times of the Prophets, all the

2 PS. 31.8.

1 Gal. 6.9,10.

LETTERS 149

kings among the people of God who failed to annul or repeal
decrees which had been passed contrary to the commandment
of God are blamed, and those who did annul and repeal
them receive praise beyond what others deserve. When King
Nabuchodonosor was the slave of idols, he passed a sac-
rilegious law requiring a statue to be adored, but those who
refused to obey this impious statute acted with piety and
faith. Then the same king, converted by a divine miracle,
published a praiseworthy law in favor of truth, that whoever
should speak blasphemy against the true God of Sidrach,
Misach, and Abdenago should be utterly destroyed, together
with his house. 2 If any of his subjects despised this law and
deservedly suffered what had been decreed, they must have
said what the Donatists now say, that they were just men
because they suffered persecution according to the king's law.
No doubt they would have said it if they had been as mad
as these are, who bring division among the members of Christ
and pour scorn upon the sacraments of Christ; who boast of
being persecuted because the imperial laws, enacted to protect
the unity of Christ, prevent them from doing such things;
who falsely vaunt their innocence and seek from men the
glory of martyrdom which they cannot receive from Christ.

Chapter 9

The true martyrs are those of whom the Lord says:
'Blessed are they that suffer persecution for justice' sake.' 1
Therefore, it is not those who suffer for the sake of injustice
and the impious division of Christian unity, but those who
suffer persecution for justice' sake who are truly martyrs.

2 Dan. 3.5-96.
1 Matt. 5.10.

150 SAINT AUGUSTINE

Agar suffered persecution from Sarai, yet the one who per-
secuted was holy and she who suffered was sinful. 2 Is that
any reason for comparing the persecution suffered by Agar
to that with which the wicked Saul afflicted holy David? 3
Obviously, there is a very great difference, not because
David suffered, but because he suffered for justice' sake. And
the Lord Himself was crucified among thieves, 4 but, though
they were alike in suffering, they were different in the reason
for suffering. Therefore, in the psalm we must understand
the voice of the true martyr wishing to be distinguished from
false martyrs: 'Judge me, O God, and distinguish my cause
from the nation that is not holy.' 5 He does not say 'distinguish
my punishment,' but 'distinguish my cause. 3 For, the punish-
ment of the wicked can be the same but the cause of the
martyrs is not the same, and their cry is: 'They have per-
secuted me unjustly; do thou help me. 56 The Psalmist thinks
himself worthy of being justly helped because they persecuted
unjustly, for, if they persecuted justly, he would not be
worthy of help but of chastisement.

Chapter 10

But, if the Donatists think that no one can persecute anyone
justly, as they said at the conference that the true Church
was the one that suffered, not the one that practised per-
secution, I forbear to say what I have said elsewhere, 1 because,
if what they say is true, Caecilian belonged to the true
Church when their predecessors persecuted him by bringing

2 Gen. 16.6.

3 1 Kings 18.8-29.

4 Matt. 27.38; Mark 15.27; Luke 23.33.

5 Ps. 42.1.

6 Ps. 118.86.

1 Cf. Augustine, Ad Donatistas post conlationem 16.20.

LETTERS 151

an accusation against him to the emperor's tribunal. The
reason why we say that he belonged to the true Church was
not that he suffered persecution, but that he suffered it for
justice' sake, while, on the other hand, they have been
estranged from the Church not because they persecuted, but
because they persecuted unjustly. This, therefore, we say:
that if they do not look into the reasons which induce anyone
either to persecute or to suffer persecution, and if they think
it is a sign of a true Christian not to persecute but to suffer
persecution, without doubt they include CaecUian in that
definition because he suffered persecution, he did not per-
secute; whereas they exclude their predecessors from their
definition because they persecuted, they did not suffer per-
secution.

Chapter 11

But, as I said, I pass over that, and I do say this: that if
the true Church is the one which suffers persecution, not the
one which inflicts it, let them ask of the Apostle what Church
Sara signified when she persecuted her handmaid. He says
plainly that the Jerusalem which is above is free, which is
our mother, that is, the true Church of God, and that it is
prefigured by the woman who afflicted her handmaid. But,
if we were to state the argument more correctly, it was rather
she who persecuted Sara by her haughtiness than Sara who
persecuted her by restraining her; the one did an injury to
her mistress, the other imposed restraint on pride. 1 In the
second place I ask, if the good and holy never persecute any-
one but only suffer persecution, whose voice do they think
that is in the psalm where we read: 'I will pursue after my
enemies and overtake them, and I will not turn again until
they are consumed/ 2 If, then, we are willing to speak or to

1 Gal. 4.21-31.

2 Ps. 17.38.

152 SAINT AUGUSTINE

acknowledge the truth, there is an unjust persecution which
the wicked inflict on the Church of Christ, and there is a
just persecution which the Church of Christ inflicts on the
wicked. She, indeed, is happy because she suffers persecution
for justice' sake, but they are unhappy because they suffer
persecution for injustice 3 sake. Therefore she persecutes out
of love, they out of hatred; she to correct them, they to
overturn her; she to reclaim them from error, they to hurl
men into error; finally she pursues her enemies and catches
them until they give up their folly and make progress in truth,
but they, repaying good with evil, try to rob us of even our
temporal life because we take measures to assure them
eternal salvation, being so in love with murder that they
even commit it on themselves when they cannot murder any-
one else. While, on the one hand, the charity of the Church
strives to deliver from that perdition so that none of them
may die, on the other, their fury strives either to kill us in
order to feed their passion for cruelty, or to kill themselves
that they may not seem to have lost the power of killing men.

Chapter 12

People unfamiliar with their way of acting imagine that
they have taken to committing suicide only now, when such
throngs of people are being set free from their fanatical
domination through the opportunity of the laws enacted in
behalf of unity. But those who know how they used to act
before the laws were passed are not surprised at their dying
when they recall their vying with one another in evil. 1 More
especially when there was idol worship, they used to come in
great hordes to the crowded ceremonies of the pagans, not
to break the idols, but to be killed by the worshipers of idols.

1 One of Augustine's puns: Non eorum mirantur mortes, sed recordantur
mores.

LETTERS 153

If they had received authority to break the idols and tried
to do it, then, if anything happened to them, they might have
had some kind of shadow of the name of martyr, but they
came solely to be killed, leaving the idols intact, for there
were some particular worshipers of the idols, robust youths,
who had the custom of dedicating to the idols as many
victims as each one killed. Some, indeed, in order to be killed,
mingled with armed wayfarers, making horrible threats of
striking them if they were not killed by them. Sometimes,
too, when judges were passing through, they used violence
to extort commands from them that they should be struck
down by executioners or by a court official In this connection,
a story is told of one official who tricked them by ordering
them to be bound and handed over as if to blows, and then
escaped their attack unhurt and unbloody. Then it was also
their daily sport to kill themselves by jumping off steep crags,
or by fire or water. The Devil taught them these three kinds
of death, so that, when they wished to die and could find no
one to frighten into killing them with a sword, they should
hurl themselves from rocks or expose themselves to fire and
water. For, who else was in possession of their heart, of whom
else is it believable that he taught them these things except
the one who suggested to our Saviour, as if it accorded with
the Law, that He should cast Himself headlong from the
pinnacle of the Temple? 2 They would certainly repudiate this
imputation if they carried Christ in their heart. But, because
they have made room instead for the Devil within them,
they either perish as that herd of swine which the legion of
demons rushed down the mountainside into the sea, 3 or,
rescued from those deaths, they are gathered into the loving
bosom of their Catholic mother, and delivered, as the Lord

2 Matt. 4.5-7; Luke 4.9-15.

3 Matt. 8.32; Mark 5.13.

154 SAINT AUGUSTINE

delivered the demoniac boy whom his father brought to be
healed of the demon's hold, saying that sometimes he was
used to cast him into the water, sometimes into fire. 4

Chapter 13

Consequently, a great mercy is being done them by these
imperial laws by which they are first rescued, in spite of
themselves, from the sect In which they have learned those
evil practices through the teaching of lying demons, in order
that they may afterward be healed in the Catholic fold by
good teachings and may become habituated to good behavior.
There are many of them whose fervent faith, piety, and
charity we now wonder at in the unity of Christ, who give
thanks to God with deep joy that they have been freed from
that error in which they had believed that evil was good,
but they would not now offer those thanks voluntarily unless
they had been severed involuntarily from that abominable
company. What shall be said of those who confess to us
every day that they had long wanted to be Catholics, but
could not be what they wanted, being overpowered with fear
of those among whom they lived, because, if they had said
one word in defense of the Catholic faith, both they and
their homes would have been completely destroyed? No one
is so mad as to say that they ought not to have been helped
by the imperial decrees to escape from so great an evil, while
those whom they feared are forced to fear in their turn, and
by this fear are either converted themselves or at least pre-
tend to be converted, and leave the converts in peace by
whom they were formerly feared.

4 Matt. 17.1448; Mark 9.16-26.

LETTERS 155

Chapter 14

But, if they tried to kill themselves to prevent those who
were to be delivered from being delivered, aiming in this
way to deter the devoted affection of the deliverers, and if,
by creating a fear that some of the fanatics would destroy
themselves, they tried to prevent any rescue from perdition
of those who were either no longer willing to perish or could
be saved from it by coercion, what course does Christian
charity take, especially when those who madly threaten to
take their own lives are very few in comparison with the
throngs of those who are to be delivered? What course does
fraternal love take? Surely, it does not abandon all to the
eternal fires of hell because it fears the transitory fires of
furnaces for a few, nor does it abandon to eternal doom so
many who now wish, or will wish afterward, in spite of their
weakness, to come to everlasting life through Catholic peace,
because it is trying to ward off suicide from a few whose life
is an obstacle to salvation for others. These do not allow men
to live according to the teaching of Christ, but, according to
the practice of their diabolical doctrine, they try to teach
them, at any and every time, to rush into the voluntary
death which is feared for themselves. Surely, the Church saves
those whom it can, even if those whom it cannot save perish
by their own act. It ardently longs that all may live, but
toils even more ardently that all may not perish. Thanks be
to the Lord that among us, not indeed everywhere, but in a
great many places, as also in other parts of Africa, Catholic
peace makes and has made headway without any of those
deaths of madmen. But those disastrous happenings occur in.
the parts where the insane and useless kind of men live, who
have been accustomed to act that way at other times.

156 SAINT AUGUSTINE

Chapter 15

And Indeed, even before those laws were enacted by
Catholic emperors, the doctrine of the peace and unity of
Christ was gradually spreading, and many a one, as he
learned of it and found the inclination and ability, came
over to the Church from that sect, although it is true that
among them unbridled bands of abandoned men disturbed
the peace of the innocent in various cases. What master was
not forced to fear his own slave if once he fled for refuge to
their patronage? Who would even dare to threaten a de-
structive servant or his instigator? Who could dismiss a
wasteful warehouseman, or any debtor, if he sought their
help and protection? Under fear of clubs and fires and instant
death, the records of worthless slaves were torn up so that
they could go free. Receipts extorted from debtors were
returned. Whoever scorned their harsh words were forced
by harsher blows to do what they ordered. Innocent men who
had offended them had their houses razed to the ground or
burned down. Some land-owners of honorable birth and
gentlemanly breeding were dragged off half -dead after scourg-
ing, or were tied to a mill-stone and forced by blows to turn
it as if they were beasts of burden. What help from civil laws
or local authorities had any effect on them? What court
officer was zealous for his duty in their presence? What
tax-gatherer collected taxes from them against their will?
Who would attempt to avenge the murdered victims of their
beatings, unless his own madness called for punishment from
them, while some were going around trying to turn men's
swords against themselves by terrifying the owners under
threat of death into striking them, and others were hurling
themselves to self-destruction over cliffs or into water and
fire, and exposing their cruel souls to the punishment brought
upon themselves?

LETTERS 157

Chapter 16

A large number of those who belonged to that heretical
superstition shuddered at such excesses, and when they
thought their innocence was shown by their displeasure at
such deeds, the Catholics said to them: 'If those evil deeds
do not defile your innocence, how can you say that the
Christian world was defiled by the false, or at least unknown,
sins of Caecilian? How can you separate yourselves by a
wicked crime from Catholic unity, as from the Lord's thresh-
ing floor, which, until the time of winnowing, must needs
contain both the grain which is to be gathered into the barn
and the chaff which is to be consumed in the fire?' 1 Thus to
certain ones a reason is given why some came over to Catholic
unity, ready to bear even the enmity of the fanatics, but
many more, although they wished to, did not dare to make
enemies of the men who had such scope for their cruetly.
Indeed, some suffered most cruelly at their hands when they
came over to us.

Chapter 17

It even happened at Carthage that, when a certain deacon
of theirs, named Maximian, 1 had revolted against his bishop,
some of the bishops of the same sect made a schism, split off
some of the people of Carthage who were of the party of
Donatus, and ordained him bishop in opposition to his own
bishop. But as this displeased many of theirs, they condemned
Maximian, together with twelve other bishops who had
assisted at his ordination, but offered the other members of
the same schismatic band the opportunity of returning to

1 Matt. 3.12; Luke 3.17.

1 Cf. Letter 45 n. 52,

158 SAINT AUGUSTINE

them by a fixed date. But, afterward, they received back to
their clerical rank some of those very twelve, as well as others
to whom an extension of time had been granted; they did this
for the sake of peace in their own group, even though these
returned after the appointed day. In addition to that, they
did not dare to rebaptize some whom the condemned had
baptized outside their communion. This conduct of theirs
began to tell so heavily against them and for the Catholics
that their mouths were completely shut. When this circum-
stance, so fitting to win the minds of men away from
schism, was published more insistently and in every possible
direction, and when it was shown by the speeches and
arguments of Catholics that they, for the sake of peace in
Donatisrn, had received back their own condemned members
with rank intact, and had not dared to invalidate the baptism
given outside their church by their condemned or suspended
members, yet did dare to oppose the peace of Christ and to
charge the whole world with the defilement of some evil-doers
or other, and also to invalidate the baptism given in those
Churches from which the very Gospel came to Africa, large
numbers of their sectaries were embarrassed before the
manifest truth and began to show more frequent signs of
amendment, especially in places where freedom had a breath-
ing spell from their cruelty.

Chapter 18

Then truly their anger blazed forth so violently, and they
were goaded on by such barbs of hatred, that hardly any of
the churches of our communion were safe from their intrigues,
their acts of violence, their bare-faced robberies; hardly any
road was safe for travel by anyone who had preached Catholic

LETTERS 159

peace as opposed to their fury, or who had shown up their
madness by the clear light of truth. This went so far that
not only laymen, or occasional clerics, but the very bishops
themselves had to meet in some fashion their harsh alterna-
tive: either silence truth or endure their barbarity. If truth
were silenced, not only would no one have been delivered
by its silence, but many would be lost through their mis-
leading doctrine. If, on the other hand, their fury were
roused to savage excess by the preaching of truth, after
some had been delivered and ours had been strengthened,
fear would again prevent the timid from following the
truth. Therefore, if anyone thinks that, after affliction had
reduced the Church to these straits, we should have endured
everything rather than appeal for the help of God, to be
effected through Christian emperors, he overlooks the fact
that no good reason could have been given for this negligence.

Chapter 19

Those who are averse to having just laws enacted against
their own wicked deeds say that the Apostles did not call
on the kings of the earth for such services; but they fail to
notice that times were different then, and that all things have
to be done at their own times. At that time there was no
emperor who believed in Christ, or who would have served
Him by enacting laws in favor of religion and against
irreligion; it was the time when that prophetic utterance was
fulfilled : 'Why have the Gentiles raged and the people devised
vain things? The kings of the earth stood up and the princes
met together, against the Lord and against his Christ.' Not
yet had that come to pass which is spoken of a little further
on in the same psalm: 'And now, O ye kings understand;
receive instruction you that judge the earth. Serve ye the

160 SAINT AUGU STINE

Lord with fear, and rejoice unto him with trembling.' 1 How,
then, do kings serve the Lord with fear except by forbidding
and restraining with religious severity all acts committed
against the commandments of the Lord? A sovereign serves
God one way as man, another way as king; he serves Him
as man by living according to faith, he serves Him as king
by exerting the necessary strength to sanction laws which
command goodness and prohibit its opposite. It was thus that
Ezechias served Him by destroying the groves and temples
of idols and the high places which had been set up contrary to
the commandments of God; 2 thus Josias served Him by per-
forming similar acts; 3 thus the king of the Ninevites served
Him by compelling the whole city to appease the Lord; 4
thus Darius served Him by giving Daniel power to break
the idol, and by feeding his enemies to the lions; 5 thus
Nabuchodonosor, of whom we spoke above, served Him when
he restrained all his subjects from blaspheming God by a
terrible penalty. 6 It is thus that kings serve the Lord as kings
when they perform acts in His service which none but kings
can perform.

Chapter 20

Since, then, kings did not yet serve the Lord in the times
of the Apostles, but were still devising vain things against
Him and against His Christ, so that all the predictions of
the Prophets might be fulfilled, certainly they were not then
able to restrain wickedness by law, but were practising it
themselves. The sequence of time was so unrolled that the

1 Ps. 2.1,2,9,10.

2 4 Kings 18.4.

$ 4 Kings 23.4.20.

4 Jonas 3.6-9.

5 Dan. 14.21,41.

6 Dan. 3.96.

LETTERS 161

Jews killed the preachers of Christ, thinking they were doing
a service to God, 1 as Christ had foretold, and the Gentiles
raged against the Christians, and the patience of the martyrs
won the victory. But after the prophetic words began to be
fulfilled, as it is written: And all the kings of the earth shall
adore him; all nations shall serve him, 52 what serious-minded
man would say to kings: { Do not trouble to care whether
the Church of your Lord is hampered or attacked by anyone
in your kingdom; let it not concern you whether a man
chooses to practise or to flout religion 5 ? For it would not be
possible to say to them: 'Let it not concern you whether
anyone in your kingdom chooses to be virtuous or shameless.'
Why, then, since free will has been divinely bestowed on
man, should adultery be punished by law and sacrilege
permitted? Is it a lesser matter for a soul to keep faith with
God than for a woman to keep it with her husband? Or if
offenses committed, not through contempt but through igno-
rance of religion, are to be punished more leniently, is that
any reason for overlooking them altogether?

Chapter 21

Does anyone doubt that it is better for man to be led to
the worship of God by teaching rather than forced to it by
fear of suffering? Because the former group is preferable it
does not follow that those of the latter, who are not like
them, should be neglected. We have proved by experience
and do still prove that it has been a blessing to many to be
driven first by fear of bodily pain, in order afterward to be
instructed, or to follow up in act what they have learned in
words. Some objectors suggest to us the sentiment of a

1 John 1.62.

2 Ps. 71.11.

162 SAINT AUGUSTINE

certain secular writer who said: I believe it is better to
train children by feelings of self-respect and decent outlook
rather than of fear. 31 This is indeed true, but if those whom
love leads are better, those whom fear restrains are more
numerous. They can be answered from the same author in the
passage which reads: c You cannot do anything right unless
you are compelled by fear of harm, 52 But divine Scripture
has this to say about the better group : 'Fear is not in charity,
but perfect charity casteth out fear,' 3 and this about the
inferior group who are more numerous: *A hard-hearted
slave will not be corrected by words, for if he understandeth
he will not obey.' 4 When it said that he is not corrected by
words, it did not command him to be given up, but warned
silently of what needed correction; otherwise, it would not
say : 'He will not be corrected by words.' In another passage
it says that the unruly son, as well as the slave, is to be
restrained by blows to his own great profit, in the words:
Thou shalt beat him with the rod and deliver his soul from
death;' and elsewhere it says: 'He that spareth the rod
hateth his own son/ 5 Give me one who can say with upright
faith and true understanding and all the strength of his soul:
*My soul hath thirsted after the living God; when shall I
come and appear before the face of God?' 6 For such a one
no fear will be necessary, either of temporal penalties or of
imperial laws or even of hell, because to him it is so desirable
a good 'to stick close to God 57 that not only does he shrink
from being separated from that happiness as from a great
torture, but he feels it as a trial that it is delayed. However,

1 Terence, Adelphoe 57,58.

2 Terence, unidentified line.

3 1 John 4.18.

4 Cf. Prov. 23.14.

5 Prov. 23.14;

6 Ps. 41.3.

7 Ps. 72.28.

LETTERS 163

before the good sons can say: e We have a desire to be
dissolved and to be with Christ/ 8 many wicked servants and
worthless runaways, so to speak, are called back to their
Lord by the lash of temporal scourges.

Chapter 22

Who can love us more than Christ who laid down His life
for His sheep? 1 Nevertheless, although He called Peter and
the other Apostles by word alone, 2 in the case of Paul, pre-
viously Saul, a dread destroyer of the Church, and afterward
its great builder. He not only compelled him by words, but
used His power to strike him prostrate, and in order to force
him to leave off the savagery of his dark unbelief and to
desire the light of his heart He afflicted him with corporeal
blindness. If it had not been for that punishment, he would
not have been healed of it afterward, and since he saw nothing
though his eyes were open, if he had been able to see, Ananias
would not have laid his hands upon him that his sight might
be restored, when, as Scripture relates, there fell from his
eyes, as it were, scales with which they had been closed. 3
What ground is there for the cry generally raised by schis-
matics: 'There is freedom to believe or not to believe: did
Christ use force on anyone? did He compel anyone?' See,
now they have the Apostle Paul; let them acknowledge in
him Christ first compelling and afterward teaching, first
striking and afterward consoling. It is a wonderful thing how
he who came to the Gospel under the compulsion of bodily

8 Phil. 1.23.

1 John 10.15,

2 Matt. 4.18-22; Mark L16-20; Luke 5.10; John 1.35.43.

3 Acts 9.1-18.

1 64 SAINT AUGU STINE

suffering labored more in the Gospel than all the others 4 who
were called by word alone, and that in him whom greater
fear drove to love 'perfect charity casteth out fear.' 5

Chapter 23

Why, then, should the Church not compel her lost sons to
return if the lost sons have compelled others to be lost? And
yet, even in the case of those whom they have not compelled
but only enticed, if they are called back to the bosom of the
Church by stern but salutary laws, their loving mother
embraces them more kindly and rejoices much more over
them than over those whom she has never lost. Is it no part
of the shepherd's care when he has found those sheep, also,
which have not been rudely snatched away but have been
gently coaxed and led astray from the flock, and have begun
to be claimed by others, to call them back to the Lord's sheep-
fold, by threats or pain of blows if they try to resist? And
especially if their numbers are increased by fruitful generation
in the midst of runaway slaves and bandits, has he not more
authority over them because he recognizes on them the brand
mark of the Lord which is not tampered with in those whom
we receive back without rebaptism? The wandering of the
sheep is to be remedied without destroying in it the mark of
the Redeemer. But, if anyone is branded with the royal mark
by a deserter who has himself been branded, and if they
both find mercy and the one returns to his service, while the
other begins a service which he had not yet undertaken, the
mark is not erased in either of them. In fact, is it not rather
recognized in both of them and accorded due honor since it
is the king's mark? As the Donatists cannot prove that what

4 1 Cor. 15.10.

5 1 John 4.18.

LETTERS 165

they are forced to is evil, they claim that they ought not to
be forced into good. But we have shown that Paul was forced
by Christ; therefore, the Church imitates her Lord in forcing
them, although in her early days she did not expect to have
to compel anyone in order to fulfill the prophetic utterance, 1

Chapter 24

Indeed, this is not an unreasonable deduction from that
statement of the Apostle, where blessed Paul says: 'Having
in readiness to revenge all disobedience when your obedience
shall be fulfilled.' 1 In the same way, the Lord Himself
commands the guests first to be brought in to His great
supper, but afterward to be compelled, for, when the servant
answered the king; 'Lord, it is done as thou hast commanded
and yet there is room/ he said: 'Go out into the highways
and hedges and whomsoever you find, compel them to come
in.' 2 Thus, the obedience was first fulfilled in those who were
first brought in gently, but the disobedience is put under
restraint in those who are compelled. That is the purpose of
that: 'Compel them to come in,' after he had first said:
'Bring them in,' and had been answered: 'It is done as thou
hast commanded and yet there is room.' If He meant us to
understand that they are to be compelled by the fear
engendered by miracles, many more divine miracles were
wrought for those who were invited first, especially the Jews,
of whom it is said: 'The Jews require signs.' 3 Among the
Gentiles, too, in the time of the Apostles, such miracles won
faith in the Gospel, so that, if the command was given to

l PS. 7i.il.

1 2 Cor. 10.6.

2 Luke 14.16-23.

3 1 Cor. 1.22.

166 SAINT AUGUSTINE

compel them by such means, it is more reasonable to believe
that the first guests were compelled to come. Consequently, if
the Church, in the era of kings, exercises, as she ought, the
power which she has received by a divine gift, together with
religion and faith, and if those who are found in the highways
and hedges, that is, in heresies and schisms, are compelled
to come in, she is not to be blamed for compelling them,
but they for waiting to be compelled. The banquet of the
Lord is the unity of the Body of Christ, not only in the
sacrament of the altar, but also in the 'bond of peace/ 4 But
of the Donatists we can say with absolute truth that they
compel no one to what is good; whomsoever they compel,
they compel only to evil.

Chapter 25

To tell the truth, before those laws came into Africa by
which they are compelled to come in, it seemed to some of the
brethren and to me among them that, although the Dona-
tist heresy raged everywhere, it would be better not to petition
the emperors to suppress that heresy altogether by enacting
a penalty for those who should persist in it, but they should
rather decree that those who either preached Catholic truth
by word of mouth or spread it by enactment should not
have to suffer the mad violence of these men. We thought
this could be accomplished to some extent in this way: if
the authorities would apply directly to the Donatists who
deny that they are heretics the law which Theodosius, of
pious memory, promulgated against all heretics in general, to
the effect that any bishop or cleric of theirs wherever found
should pay a fine of ten pounds in gold. At the same time,
not all were to be subject to that fine, but only those in

4 Eph. 4.3.

LETTERS 167

whose districts the Catholic Church had to suffer some form
of violence at the hands of their clerics, their Circumcellions,
or their people. 1 This would happen, namely, after a protest
on the part of Catholics who had suffered such excesses, and
it would be the duty of local officials to see that Donatist
bishops or other ministers were obliged to pay the fine. Our
idea was that if they were frightened in this manner, and
so did not dare to commit such acts, there would be freedom
for the Catholic truth to be taught and embraced, so that
no one would be forced to it, but any who wished might follow
it without fear, and thus we should not have any false or
feigned Catholics. And despite the difference of opinion of
some of the brethren, men advanced in age or impressed by
the example of many cities and localities where we could see
a strong and true Catholic Church founded and established
on such blessings of God as were afforded by the laws of
former emperors forcing men to the Catholic communion,
we nevertheless carried our point, and the request I mentioned
above was made to the emperors. This was decreed in our
council and an embassy was sent to the court. 2

Chapter 26

But the greater mercy of God brought it about that our
ambassadors did not get what they had undertaken to
secure, since He knew how necessary to the depraved and
cold minds of many was the fear inspired by these laws, and
a certain remedial harassment necessary, too, to overcome
that hardness of heart which cannot be influenced by words
but only by some degree of disciplinary sternness. Ours were
anticipated by some very serious complaints from bishops of

1 Cf. Letter 88.

2 Cf. Letter 139.

1 68 SAINT AUGUSTINE

other districts, who had suffered many outrages and been
turned out of their sees by the Donatists; particularly revolt-
ing and unbelievable was the maltreatment of Maximian,
Catholic Bishop of Bagai. It left our embassy with nothing
to transact, for a law had already been promulgated to the
effect that the Donatist heresy was guilty of such monstrous
conduct that to spare it seemed a greater cruelty than any
perpetrated by it; that it should not only be restrained from
violence but should not be allowed to exist at all under the
protection of the laws. However, the death penalty was not
to be invoked, because Christian moderation was to be
observed even toward those unworthy of it, but fines were to
be imposed and exile was decreed against their bishops and
ministers.

Chapter 27

In the case of the above-mentioned Bishop of Bagai, there
had been a case in the civil court, and the verdict awarded
him the basilica which the Donatists had taken over, although
it was Catholic. As he stood at the altar, they rushed upon
him with terrifying force, and with furious cruelty they
struck him inhumanly with clubs and other weapons of that
sort, even with wooden beams broken from the very altar.
They stabbed him in the groin with a dagger, and his life
would have ebbed away with the blood from this wound if
their further savagery had not saved his life. For, as they
dragged him along the ground, grievously wounded as he
was, the dirt clogged the bleeding vein and stopped the flow
of blood which was bringing him to death. Then, when they
had left him, and ours were trying to carry him away, to the
accompaniment of psalms, their anger blazed forth more
fiercely; they snatched him from the hands of his bearers,
driving the Catholics away with kicks an easy matter for

LETTERS 169

them as they surpassed them in number and in barbarism.
Finally, thinking him dead, they tossed him up into a tower
and went off. But he was still living, having fallen on a
heap of somethting soft. During the night he was discovered
by the light of a lamp carried by some passersby, was rec-
ognized, rescued, and carried to a religious house, where he
was carefully tended. After a long time he recovered from
his desperate plight. However, the report that he had been
killed by the Donatists had already crossed the sea; later, he
arrived in person, showing himself alive, contrary to all
expectation, but the sight of his scars, so numerous, so
extensive, so fresh, made it seem that there had been good
ground for the report of his death.

Chapter 28

He therefore asked help from a Christian emperor, not so
much to avenge himself as to protect the Church entrusted
to him. If he had refrained from doing so, his patience would
not have been a subject of praise, while his negligence would
deservedly have been a subject of blame. The Apostle Paul
was not thinking of his own transitory life, but of the Church
of God, when he undertook to reveal to the tribune the plot
of those who had conspired to kill him, and, as a consequence,
he was escorted by an armed guard to the place where he
was to go, thereby escaping their ambush. 1 He had not the
least hesitation in calling on Roman law by declaring himself
a Roman citizen, whom it was not lawful at that time to
scourge. 2 Likewise, he appealed to the help of Caesar to
save himself from being given over to the Jews who were
eager to kill him and this was a Roman prince, not a

1 Acts 23.12,32.

2 Acts 22.24-29.

170 SAINT AUGUSTINE

Christian one. 3 By this he showed clearly what the ministers
of Christ were to do afterward,, in times of crisis for the
Church, when they should find their rulers Christian. From
this it followed that, when such cases were brought to his
notice, a religious and devout emperor preferred to effect a
complete reformation of that impious aberration by stringent
religious laws and to force those who carried the standard
of Christ against Christ to return to Catholic unity, under
stress of fear and compulsion, rather than merely to cut off
their opportunity for savage cruelty and leave them free to go
astray and be lost. 4

Chapter 29

As soon as those laws were promulgated in Africa, there
was an immediate conversion to the Church, especially of
those who only wanted an opportunity or who feared the
rage of rabid men, or who were timid about offending their
families. Many, too, who were attached to their belief by
nothing more than custom handed down by their parents,
who had never before investigated the cause of the heresy,
had never cared to inquire into or examine it, became
Catholics without any difficulty once they began to take
note of it, and found in it no adequate reason for suffering
such losses. Isolation was a good teacher for those who had
grown careless through immunity. Moreover, the persuasive
influence of all these predecessors had many followers among
those who were less capable of understanding for themselves
the difference between Donatist error and Catholic truth.

3 Acts 25.11.

4 This was done by the Edict of Union, 405.

LETTERS 171

Chapter 30

Thus, although the true mother received great throngs of
people into her bosom with rejoicing, there remained un-
yielding groups which persisted, with ill-fated hostility, in
that deadly pestilence. Of these many pretended to conform;
the rest escaped notice because of their small numbers. Those
who pretended were largely converted by becoming ac-
customed little by little to hearing the truth preached, and
this was especially true after the conference and discussion
between their bishops and ours at Carthage. In some places,
however, where a stubborn and unruly mob held sway, too
powerful to be resisted by a minority, although these latter
were well-disposed to conform, or where crowds were forced
by the authority of a powerful few to follow their evil course,
there was trouble for some time longer. It is among these that
the trouble still exists, and in that trouble Catholics, especially
bishops and clerics, have suffered unspeakable hardships
which it will take too long to enumerate; some had their
eyes put out; one bishop had his hands and tongue cut off;
some were even massacred. I say nothing of the inhuman
beatings, of looting of homes in nightly raids, of fires set not
only to private houses but even to churches; and into these
flames some even cast the sacred books.

Chapter 31

But the ensuing good effects consoled us after we had been
afflicted with such evils. For, wherever those excesses were
committed by abandoned men, there Christian unity flour-
ished more fervently and more perfectly; there the Lord was
praised more abundantly because He had deigned to grant
that His servants, by their sufferings, should enrich their

172 SAINT AUGUSTINE

brothers, and by their blood should gather to the peace of
eternal salvation His sheep that had been led astray by deadly
error. The Lord is mighty and merciful and to Him we pray
daily that He may grant 'repentance and that they may
recover themselves from the snares of the devil, by whom they
are held captive at his will,' 1 to the others who seek only an
occasion to do us harm and to repay evil for good, 2 because
they have not the mind to understand what loving sentiments
we entertain for them, and how, according to the Lord's
commandment, which He gave to His shepherds through
the Prophet Ezechiel, we long to bring back that which was
scattered and to find that which was lost. 3

Chapter 32

But, as we have said elsewhere on occasion, these heretics
refuse to take the blame for what they do to us and they lay
the blame on us for what they do to themselves. Who of us
would wish them to lose anything, much less that they be lost
themselves? If the house of David could win peace in no
other way than through the death of Absalom, David's son,
in the war which he was carrying on against his father
although the latter had instructed his followers with great
care to keep him safe and sound as far as it was possible
for them to do so, that he might repent and receive pardon
from his father's love what was left for him but to weep
over his son's loss, and find comfort for his grief in the peace
thus gained for his kingdom? 1 In the same manner, then,

1 2 Tim, 2,25,26.

2 Ps, 34.12.

3 Ezech. 34.4-6.

1 2 Rings 18.5-15.33j 22.1-51.

LETTERS 173

our Catholic mother acts when others who are not her sons
make war on her because it is a fact that this little branch
in Africa has been broken off 2 from the great tree which
embraces the whole world in the spreading of its branches 3
and although she is in labor with them 4 in charity, that they
may return to the root without which they cannot have true
life, still, if she rescues so many others by losing some,
especially when these fall by self-destruction, not by the
fortune of war as Absalom did, she solaces the grief of her
maternal heart and heals it by the deliverance of such
numbers of people. If you were to see the effects of the
peace of Christ: the joyful throngs, their eagerness to hear
and sing hymns and to receive the word of God, the well-
attended, happy meetings; the sentiments of many among
them, their great grief in recalling past error, their joy in
contemplating the known truth, their indignation at their
masters and repudiation of their lies, because they now know
what false reports these circulated about our sacraments; the
admission of many, also, that they had long wished to be
Catholics, but did not dare to brave the fury of such men I
repeat, if you were to see in one glance these flocks of people
in many parts of Africa, now delivered from that destruction,
you would say that it would have been excessively cruel for
all these to be abandoned to eternal loss and to the torments
of everlasting fire through fear that some desperate men, not
to be compared by any standard of judgment to that un-
numbered throng, should destroy themselves in flames kindled
by themselves.

Chapter 33
If two persons were living together in a house which we

2 Isa. 18.5; Rom. 11.17,19.

3 Luke 13.19; Matt. 13.32; 24.14; Mark 4.32.

4 Gal. 4.19.

1 74 SAINT AUGUSTINE

knew with absolute certainty was about to collapse, and if
they refused to believe us when we forewarned them of it
and insisted on staying there, and if we were able to drag
them out, even against their will, and afterward to point
out the imminent collapse, so that they would not dare to
return again into the danger, I think that if we failed to do
so we should deserve to be called cruel. Furthermore, if one
of them were to say to us: 'As soon as you come in to
rescue us I shall kill myself on the spot/ and if the other
should refuse either to leave the house or to be pulled out,
yet dared not kill himself, what should we decide to do?
Should we leave them both to be overwhelmed in the crash,
or should we extend our compassionate help to the one at
least and leave the other to perish, not through our fault but
his own? There is no one so hapless as not to decide easily
what one should do in such cases. I have suggested in this
parable of the two men that one is lost and the other saved,
but what are we to think of the few lost and the unnumbered
throng of people saved? For, the number of those men who
perish by a self-willed death is not so great as the crowds who
are saved by these laws from that deadly and eternal destruc-
tion, on the farms, through the countryside, in the villages,
in the citadels, the towns, the cities.

Chapter 34

However, if we look carefully into this matter which we
are discussing, I think that if there were many persons in the
house doomed to collapse, and at least one could be saved,
even though the others should kill themselves by jumping
headlong while we were trying to save the one, we should
find comfort, in the safety of at least one, for our sorrow

LETTERS 1 75

over the others; but this would not be so if we allowed all
to perish without saving the one, because we feared that the
others would destroy themselves. What, then, is our estimate
of the work of mercy which we should practice toward men
to enable them to gain eternal life and avoid eternal torment,
if a right and kind reason obliges us to afford them help to
secure a mere temporal and brief safety, for however short a
time?

Chapter 35

As to their charging us with coveting and confiscating
their property, would that they might become Catholics and
possess jointly with us, in peace and charity, not only what
they say is theirs, but even what is ours! But they are so
blinded by their passion for false accusation that they do not
notice how they contradict themselves in what they say.
They certainly say, and they seem to make it a matter of
invidious complaint, that we force them into our communion
by the violent compulsion of law. This we would emphatically
not do if we had designs on their property. What miser looks
for a co-owner? Who that is fired with a lust of power or
puffed up with the pride of authority yearns to have a
partner? Let them at least take note of those who were
formerly their associates but are now ours, how they not
only retain their own possessions which they used to have,
but even share ours which they did not have, for, if we are
poor, our possessions are also theirs. Moreover, if we have
private property which suffices for us, the other is not ours
but the property of the poor; we are in a sense merely its
administrators, and we do not call down judgment on our-
selves by usurping ownership of it.

176 SAINT AUGUSTINE

Chapter 36

Whatever property, therefore, is held by the Donatist sect
in the name of their churches, by the orders issued through
the religious laws of our Christian emperors is to revert to
the Catholic Church together with their churches. Since the
people , of the same churches are with us, and their poor, who
were supported by their puny possessions, are also with us,
while they remain outside, let them stop coveting the pro-
perty of others; let them enter into unity as partners with us>
so that we may together administer not only what they call
theirs, but also what is ours. For, it is written: 'All things
are yours, but you are Christ's and Christ is God's,' 1 Let us
be one under that Head, in His one Body, 2 and let us deal
with such things as these in the manner described in the
Acts of the Apostles: They had one heart and one soul,
neither did anyone say that aught was his own, but all
things were common unto them.' 3 Let us love what we sing:
"Behold how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to
dwell together in unity, 54 that they may experience and may
know how truthfully their Catholic mother calls out to them
in the words written by the blessed Apostle to the Corinthians:
( I seek not the things that are yours, but you.' 5

Chapter 37

If, however, we reflect on what is written in the Book of

1 Cor. 3.22,23.

2 Gal. 3.28; Eph. 1.22,23; 3.15; 5.23; Col. 1.18.

3 Acts 4.32.

4 Ps. 132.1.

5 2 Cor. 12.14.

LETTERS 177

Wisdom: Therefore the just took the spoils of the wicked, 51
and likewise on what we read in Proverbs: 'But the riches of
the wicked are laid up as treasure for the just/ 2 we shall see
that the question is not who holds the property of heretics,
but who are in the company of the just. We know, indeed,
that the Donatists falsely claim such justice for themselves,
that they boast not only of having it themselves but of
giving it to other men. They go so far as to say that the one
whom they baptize is justified by them, and the only thing
left for them to say to the one who is baptized by them is
that he should believe in his baptizer. And why should he
not do so, when the Apostle says: To him that believeth in
him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is reputed unto
justice.' 3 Let him therefore believe in his baptizer if he is
justified by him, that his faith may be reputed unto justice.
But I think they are horrified at themselves if they regard it
as fitting even to imagine such things. The only just and
justifying one is God. 4 But we can apply to them what the
Apostle said of the Jews that, c not knowing the justice of
God and seeking to establish their own, they have not sub-
mitted themselves to the justice of God.' 5

Chapter 38

Far be it from anyone of us to say that he is just, or to
seek to establish his own justice, that is, as if it were given
to him by himself, when the Apostle says to him: Tor what

1 Wisd. 10.19.

2 Prov. 13.32 (Septuagint) .

3 Rom. 4.5.

4 2 Mach. 1.25; Rom. 8.33.

5 Rom. 10.3.

178 SAINT AUGUSTINE

hast thou that thou hast not received? 51 or to dare to boast
that he is without sin in this life, as they said at our conference
that they were in a Church which has not 'spot or wrinkle
or any such thing/ 2 not knowing that this is fulfilled only
in those who go out of the body either straightway after
baptism, or after the forgiveness of our debts which we pray
to have remitted in the Lord's prayer. But this will be true of
the whole Church, namely, that it should be entirely without
spot or wrinkle or any such thing, only when we can say
C O death, where is thy victory? O death, where is thy sting?
Now the sting of death is sin. 53

Chapter 39

If their church is like that in this life where 'the cor-
ruptible body is a load upon the soul,* 1 then let them not say
to God what the Lord taught us to pray: 'Forgive us our
debts. 32 Since all sins are forgiven in baptism, why does the
Church make this petition if even in this life she has 'neither
spot nor wrinkle nor any such thing'? Let them also disregard
the Apostle John crying out in his Epistle: 'If we say that
we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in
us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us
our sins and to cleanse us from all iniquity.' 3 It is because of
this hope that the whole Church says: 'Forgive us our debts,'
that he may cleanse us, not boasting but confessing, from all
iniquity, and thus the Lord Christ may present to Himself

1 1 Cor. 4.7.

2 Eph. 5.27.

3 1 Cor. 15.55,56.

1 Wisd. 9.15.

2 Matt. 6.12.

3 1 John 1.8,9.

LETTERS 179

on that day a glorious Church not having spot or wrinkle or
any such thing. This Church He now cleanses by 'the laver
of water in the word/ 4 because, on the one hand, nothing
of all our past sins remains unforgiven in baptism always
supposing that the baptism is not considered invalid as given
outside the Church, but is either given inside, or, if it was
given outside, it is not left outside with the subject and,
on the other hand, whatever guilt is contracted through
human weakness by those who live on after having received
baptism is forgiven by the same laver. It is of no use for the
unbaptized to say: 'Forgive us our debts 1

Chapter 40

Thus, He cleanses His Church by the laver of water in the
word,' that He may then present it to Himself, having
neither spot nor wrinkle nor any such thing, that is, wholly
beautiful and perfect when 'death shall be swallowed up in
victory.' 1 In this life, therefore, in so far as the fact that
we are born of God and live by faith 2 prevails in us we are
just, but in so far as we inherit the remnants of mortality
from Adam we are not without sin. This saying is true:
4 Whosoever is born of God committeth not sin,' 3 and this is
also true : 'If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves
and the truth is not in us.' 4 Therefore, the Lord Christ is
both the just one and the justifier, but we are 'justified freely
by his grace.' 5 However, He justifies only His Body, 'which is

4 Eph. 5.26,27.

1 1 Cor. 15.54.

2 Hab. 2.4; Rom. 1.17; Gal. 3.41.

3 1 John 3.9.

4 1 John 1.8.

5 Rom. 3.24.

1 80 SAINT AUGUSTINE

the Church/ 6 and thus, if the body of Christ takes the spoils
of the wicked and lays up as a treasure for the body of
Christ the riches of the wicked, the wicked ought not to
remain outside the body of Christ to their injury, but should
enter into it for their justification.

Chapter 41

Consequently, those words which are written of the day
of judgment, 'Then shall the just stand with great constancy
against those that have afflicted them and taken away their
labors/ 1 should certainly not be taken to mean that the
Chanaanite shall stand against Israel because Israel has
taken away the labors of the Chanaanite, 2 but Naboth shall
stand against Achab because Achab took away the labors of
Naboth, 3 for in this case the Chanaanite was wicked but
Naboth was just. In the same way, the pagan shall not stand
against the Christian who has taken away his labors by
despoiling or giving away the temples of the idols, but the
Christian shall stand against the pagan who took away his
labors by laying low the bodies of the martyrs. Thus, there-
fore, the heretic shall not stand against the Catholic who
received his labors when the laws of Catholic emperors came
into force, but the Catholic shall stand against the heretic
who took away his labors when the fury of wicked Cir-
cumcellions was in force. In truth, Scripture itself has solved
the question by saying: 'Then shall the just stand/ not 'then
shall men stand/ and therefore it will be with great constancy
because it will be with a good conscience.

6 Col. 1.24.

1 Wisd. 5.1.

2 Josue 17.12,13.

3 3 Kings 21.1-16.

LETTERS 181

Chapter 42

But no one is just by his own justice, that is, as if it were
the effect of his own act, but, as the Apostle says: 'According
as God hath divided to every one the measure of faith/ and
he follows up and adds : Tor as in one body we have many
members, but all the members have not the same office, so
we being many are one body in Christ.' 1 As a consequence,
no one can be just so long as he is separated from the unity
of this body. For, in the same way as a member cannot
retain the spirit of life if it is cut off from the body of a
living man, so a man, cannot possibly retain the spirit of
justice if he is cut off from the body of the just Christ,
although he may retain the appearance of a member which
he derived from the body. Let the Donatists come, then,
into the structure of this body and let them possess their
labors, not with a passion for power, but with the holy
desire of using them well. As has been said before, we, on
our part, cleanse our will of the baseness of such passion no
matter what enemy judges us when we strive with all our
might to bring those very ones whose labors these are said to
be to make use jointly with us in the Catholic community of
their goods and ours.

Chapter 43

'But/ they say, 'this is what disturbs us: if we are unjust
why do you seek us? 5 We answer them: 'We seek you in
your injustice that you may not remain unjust, we seek you as
lost that we may rejoice at finding you, saying: 'Our brother
was dead and is come to life again, he was lost and is found.' 1

1 Rom. 12.3-5.
1 Luke 15.32.

182 SAINT AUGUSTINE

'Why, then,' says one, 'do you not baptize me to wash me
from sin?' I answer: 'Because I do not dishonor the brand
mark of the commander when I rectify the wandering of the
deserter.' 'Why,' says he, 'do I not do penance when I join
you?' 'Indeed, unless you do penance you cannot be saved,
for how will you rejoice at being set right if you do not
grieve at having gone astray?' 'What, then/ says he, 'do we
receive when we go over to you?' I answer: 'You do not
indeed receive baptism which it was possible for you to have
outside the unity of the body of Christ, although it was not
possible for it to profit you, but you do receive "the unity of
the Spirit in the bond of peace/ 52 "without which no man
shall see God," 3 and also charity, which, as it is written,
"covereth a multitude of sins." 4 The Apostle bears witness that
this is so great a good that without it neither tongues of men
and angels, nor knowledge of all mysteries, nor prophecy, nor
faith so great as to move mountains, nor distributing to the
poor of everything a man possesses, nor delivering one's body
to be burned profit a man anything, 5 and, therefore, if you
think this great good is little or nothing, you are in an
unhappy state of error, and if you do not come over to
Catholic unity, you are lost/

Chapter 44

'If, then,' they say, 'it is our duty to repent of having been
outside the Church and opposed to the Church, in order to
be saved, how can we continue to be clerics or even bishops

2 Eph. 4.3.

3 Heb. 12.14

4 1 Peter 4.8.

5 1 Cor. 131-3.

LETTERS 183

after that penance?' 1 This would not happen, since we must
confess as a matter of truth it ought not to happen, unless
the healing of the peace of the Church effects a restoration.
Let them tell themselves this, and let them grieve with great
and deep humility, that those who lie prostrate in the death
of such a severance can live again, in spite of such a wound
inflicted on their Catholic mother. For, when a cut branch is
grafted, another cut is made in the tree into which it is
fitted, so that it may live by the life of the root, without which
it would die; but, when the graft has become one with its
host, it grows strong and produces fruit, whereas, if he does
not become one with the tree, it withers away, while the
life of the tree will remain. There is also a kind of grafting
in which the branch which is not part of the tree is inserted
without cutting off any branch belonging to it, and with
some cut in the tree, but at most a very slight one. So it is,
then, with them when they come to the Catholic root,
although they are not deprived of the dignity of clerical or
episcopal rank after they have done penance for their lapse,
there is some severe effect in the bark, as it were, of the
mother tree, diminishing its integrity. Nevertheless, because
'neither he that planteth is anything nor he that watereth,' 2
when their prayers are poured forth to the mercy of God, as
the peace of the engrafted branches grows into unity, 'charity
covereth a multitude of sins. 5

Chapter 45

But when it was decreed in the Church that no one after
penance should become a cleric, or return to clerical status

1 Agreed at the Council of Carthage, 401.

2 I Cor. 3.7.

184 SAINT AUGUSTINE

or remain in it, 1 this was not done through any despair of
forgiveness, but for the maintenance of discipline; otherwise,
there would be a challenge to the keys given to the Church,
of which it is said: 'Whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth, it
shall be loosed also in heaven/ 2 But lest, perchance, anyone,
when his crimes have been discovered, should do penance with
a mind full of pride, in the hope of ecclesiastical preferment,
this more severe decree was passed that no one should be a
cleric after performing penance for a mortal offense. The
purpose of this was to be that the humiliation of the remedy
would be more effective and more sincere when temporal
rank was not to be hoped for. Holy David did penance for
his mortal crimes and still retained his rank, 3 and blessed
Peter certainly repented of having denied the Lord when
he shed such bitter tears, but he remained an Apostle. 4 Still,
not for that reason is the caution of their successors to be
considered useless, by which they have added to the force of
humility without removing any help to salvation: rather,
salvation is thereby more safely assured. They had experience,
I imagine, of the pretended repentance of some who were
aiming at the power attached to rank. The experience of
many diseases forces us to find many remedies. In cases of
this sort, where there is question of the dread division of
schism, and there is not merely danger for this or that man,
but of destruction which lays low whole peoples, there has to
be some reduction in severity so that a sincere charity may
help to remedy greater evils.

1 One of the canons of the Council of Nicaea, as mentioned by Pope
Innocent I in his letter to the bishops of Apulia.

2 Matt 16,19; 18.18.

3 2 Kings 12.1-20; 24.17,

4 Matt. 26.69-75; Mark 14.66-72; Luke 22.55-62.

LETTERS 185

Chapter 46

Let them, then, have a bitter sorrow for their former
detestable wrong-doing, as Peter had for his cowardly lie,
and let them come to the true Church, that is, their Catholic
mother, and let them be clerics or bishops in it with as much
service for it as they formerly used against it. We do not
begrudge it to them; on the contrary, we embrace them, we
beg them, we exhort them, we compel them to come in when
we find them in the highways and hedges. Even so, we do
not yet persuade some of them that we seek them, not their
possessions. When the Apostle Peter denied the Saviour, and
wept and remained an Apostle, he had not yet received the
Holy Spirit who had been promised, 2 but much less have
they received Him when, severed from the unity of the body
to which alone the Holy Spirit gives life, 8 they have main-
tained the sacraments of the Church outside the Church and
in opposition to the Church, and have fought a kind of
civil war, setting up our own banners and our own arms
against us. Let them come; let there be peace in the strength
of Jerusalem, the strength which is charity, as it was said to
the holy city: 'Let peace be in thy strength and abundance
in thy towers.' 4 Let them not rise up against the motherly
anxiety which she had and has to gather them in, and with
them so many throngs of people whom they deceive or did
deceive; let them not be proud, because she thus welcomes
them; let them not turn to the evil purpose of self-esteem
what she does for the good purpose of peace.

1 Luke 1433.

2 John 14.26; 16.13.

3 John 6.64; 2 Cor. 3.6.

4 Ps. 121.6,7.

186 SAINT AUGUSTINE

Chapter 47

It is thus that she has been wont to succor the crowds
perishing in schism and heresy. Lucifer 1 was displeased
because the same thing was done in rescuing and healing
those who had been lost through the poison of Arianism,
and as a result of his displeasure he fell into th$ darkness of
schism by losing the light of charity. From the beginning
this was the course pursued toward these men by the Catholic
Church in Africa, following the decisions of the bishops in
the Roman Church when they judged between Caecilian and
the sect of Donatus, who was shown to be the author of the
schism. Donatus alone was condemned, but they decreed that
the others, his followers, once they were converted, should
be maintained in their clerical rank, even though they had
been ordained outside the Church, not because it was possible
for them to have the Holy Spirit while cut off from the
unity of the body of Christ, but mostly for the sake of those
whom they could lead astray and prevent from receiving that
gift while they were established in their dissidence, and also
that this more kindly treatment of their weakness might effect
their cure within the Church, when obstinacy should no
longer shut the eyes of their heart to the evidence of truth.
What other course of action did they themselves think up
when they first condemned the Maximianists 2 for their sac-
rilegious schism as their council shows 3 and ordained
others in their stead; but afterward, when they saw that
their flocks did not desert the Maximianists, they received
them back in their respective rank, so as not to lose all of

1 Lucifer of Cagliari, bishop, who resented the clemency shown to
repentent Arians, and gathered a schismatic group around him. Cf.
De agone Christiana 30.

2 Cf. Augustine, Contra Cresconum $.53,59; 4.10-12; De baptismo 1.5-7.

3 At Bagai, in 394.

LETTERS 187

them, and raised no objection or question about the baptism
which they had conferred while separated from the Donatist
sect by their sentence of condemnation? Why, then, do they
wonder or complain or take it ill that we receive them back
for the sake of the true peace of Christ, and fail to remember
what they themselves did for the sake of the false peace of
Donatus which is opposed to Christ? If this fact is held up
before them and skillfully pressed on them, they will have
no ground at all on which to make an answer.

Chapter 48

But, when they say: c lf we have sinned against the Holy
Spirit by casting scorn on your baptism, what use is it for
you to seek us, when it is utterly impossible for this sin to be
forgiven us, in the Lord's words: "He that shall sin against
the Holy Spirit, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this
world nor in the world to come," n they do not observe that
according to that interpretation no one should be saved.
For, who does not speak against the Holy Spirit and sin
against Him, whether it be he who is not yet a Christian,
or a heretic Arian, 2 or a Eunomian, 3 or a Macedonian, 4 all
of whom say that He is created, or a Photinian, 5 who denies
Him substance entirely, saying that only the Father is God >
or other heretics whom it would take too long to enumerate?
Should none of them be saved? Or the Jews themselves, whom
the Lord reproached that if they had believed in Him they
would not have to be baptized? The Saviour did not say: c lt

1 Matt. 12.32.

2 Arius (4th century) held the Son and the Holy Spirit to have been
created by the Father.

3 Eunomius (350-381) held the Son to be unequal to the Father.

4 Macedonius (4th century) denied the divinity of the Holy Spirit.

5 Photinus (4th century) held the three Persons of the Trinity to be
merely three aspects of the divinity.

1 88 SAINT AUGU STINE

shall be forgiven in baptism/ but He said: It shall not be
forgiven him, neither in this world nor in the world to come.'

Chapter 49

Let us, then, understand that this does not apply to every
sin, but to a certain sin against the Holy Spirit, which will
not be forgiven. In the same way, when He said: 'If I had
not come, they would not have sin/ 1 He manifestly did not
intend us to understand every sin, for indeed they were
guilty of many great sins, but that, if they did not have a
certain special sin, all the others which they had could be
forgiven them; and that sin was that they did not believe in
Him when He came they would not have had this sin if He
had not come so also when He said: 'He that shall sin
against the Holy Spirit or shall speak a word against the
Holy Spirit,' it is plain that He did not mean every sin
committed against the Holy Spirit by deed or word, but a
certain particular sin. This sin is a hardness of heart persisted
in until the end of this life, by which a man refuses to accept
remission for his sins in the unity of the body of Christ, to
which the Holy Spirit gives life. For, when He had said to
His disciples: 'Receive ye the Holy Spirit,' He immediately
added: 'Whose sins you shall forgive, they are forgiven them;
whose sins you shall retain, they are retained. 52 Therefore,
whoever shall resist this gift of the grace of God, and shall
oppose it or shall in any way be estranged from it until the
end of this temporal life, 'It shall not be forgiven him,
neither in this world nor in the world to come,' for, obviously,
this is so great a sin that all other sins are comprised in it;

1 John 15.22.

2 John

LETTERS 189

but it is not committed by anyone until he has left the body.
As long as he lives, as the Apostle says: 'The patience of
God leadeth him to do penance/ but, if the sinner remains
in his persistent wickedness, then, as the Apostle adds at
once: 'According to the hardness of his heart and his
impenitent heart,' he treasures up for himself 'wrath against
the day of wrath and revelation of the just judgment of
God, 53 and c it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this
world nor in the world to come. 5

Chapter 50

Those with whom we are treating, or of whom we are
treating, are not to be despaired of, for they are still in the
body. But let them not seek the Holy Spirit except in the
Body of Christ. It is true they have His sacrament outside the
Church, but they do not hold the reality of it within, for it
is His sacrament, and therefore they eat and drink judgment
to themselves. 1 For, the one bread is the sacrament of unity,
since, as the Apostle says: ; We being many are one bread,
one body.' 2 Therefore, the Catholic Church alone is the Body
of Christ; He is its head and the Saviour of His Body. 3 The
Holy Spirit gives life to no one outside this body, because, as
the Apostle himself says : 'The charity of God is poured forth
in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who is given to us.' 4 But
the enemy of unity has no share in the divine charity.
Consequently, those who are outside the Church do not have
the Holy Spirit, and of them it is written: 'These are they

3 Rom. 2.43.

1 1 Cor. 11.29.

2 1 Cor. 10.17.

3 Eph. 5.33.

4 Rom. 5.5.

1 90 SAINT AUGUSTINE

who separate themselves, sensual men, having not the Spirit.' 5
But he who pretends to be in the Church does not receive
Him either, since it is written of him: 'The Holy Spirit of
discipline will flee from the deceitful' 6 Whoever, then, wishes
to have the Holy Spirit must beware of remaining outside the
Church; he must beware of pretending to come into it, or, if
he has made such a pretended entry, he must beware of
persisting in his pretense, so that he may truly grow into the
tree of life.

Chapter 51

I have addressed you a lengthy book; perhaps it will be
tiresome to you in the midst of your duties. But, if even parts
of it can be read to you, the Lord will give you understanding
so that you may know what to answer them for their amend-
ment and cure. For Mother Church entrusts them to you as
to her faithful son, so that, when and as you are able, you
may amend and cure them, whether by speaking to them
and answering them yourself, or by leading them to the
doctors of the Church.

185A. To Count Boniface 1

It is very gratifying to me that amid the tasks of your
stewardship you do not neglect to care for religion, also, and
that you wish to call back to the way of salvation and peace
men who are firmly set in schism and division.

5 Jude 1.19.

6 Wisd. 1.5.

1 A fragment found in a manuscript between Augustine's book on The
Spirit and the Letter and his treatise, The Care To Be Taken for the
Dead. It is entitled 'Here beginneth happily the letter of the same
to Count Boniface/

LETTERS 191

186. Alypius and Augustine, to their fellow bishop, Paulinus^

their saintly lord and brother, cherished more

than words can tell, worthy of being embraced

with fraternal love in the heart of Christ

(Mid 417)

At long last God has provided us with the most trust-
worthy of all letter-bearers, our justly cherished brother
Januarius. 2 Even if we did not write, your Sincerity could
learn all the news of us from him as from a living and
intelligent letter. We knew that you loved Pelagius as a servant
of God this Pelagius, we believe, is called the Briton, 3 to
distinguish him from another Pelagius who is said to be a
Tarentine but we do not know how you love him now. We
also not only have loved but still do love him. But the love
we have for him now is different from the love we had for
him formerly; then we loved him as one who seemed to be
of the true faith, whereas we now love him in order that, by
the mercy of God, he may be set free from those antagonistic
views which he is said to hold against the grace of God,
It was not easy to believe this about him, when the rumor
began to be circulated some time ago for rumor is usually
a liar but what brought it home to us and made us believe
it was a certain book of his which aims to set forth theories
intended to destroy and remove from faithful hearts any belief
in the grace of God bestowed on the human race through
the one Mediator of God and men, Christ Jesus. 4 We read
this book when it was brought to us by some servants of

1 Bishop of Nola.

2 It is not clear whether this is the Januarius of Letters 54 and 55.

3 Marius Mercator in his Commonitorium, Orosius in his Liber Apolo-
geticus (PL 31) , and Prosper in his Carmen de ingratis all name him
as Britannus or Britannicus; Jerome is supposed to insinuate the
same when he describes him as 'heavy with Scottish porridge/ in his
Praelatio ad Jeremiam (PL 24.679) .

4 1 Tim. 2.5.

192 SAINT AUGUSTINE

Christ 5 who had listened attentively to teachings such as
these, and had been his followers. At their request, as we saw
that it needed to be done, one of us made answer to this book
in a treatise, 6 without mentioning his name, lest, if he were
offended, he would not be open to correction. His book
contains and asserts this view frequently and fully, as he also
set it forth in certain letters sent to your Reverence, 7 where
he says that he ought not to be reputed as defending free will
unhelped by the grace of God, since he says that the ability
to will and to do, without which we can neither will nor do
any good, has been implanted by our Creator in our human
nature, and that manifestly this was the grace of God as
understood by the doctor of grace himself, 8 which is common
to pagans and Christians, wicked and good, unbelievers and
believers.

To the best of our ability, we refuted these evil views by
which the coming of the Saviour is made void, to which we
can say what the Apostle says of the Law: 'If justice be by
nature, then Christ died in vain,' 9 Thus we aimed to pluck
these views from the hearts of those who held them, and our
object in making them, known was that, if he were not
personally attacked, he might be converted and the dignity
of the man safeguarded, while the deadly infection of error
might be stamped out. But later, when letters came to us
fcom the East, giving the most open publicity to the case, we
were in duty bound not to fail to use our episcopal authority,
such as it is, in behalf of the Church, Therefore, reports 10 of
this controversy were sent to the Apostolic See from the two
Councils of Carthage and Milevis, and this was done before

5 Timasius and James; cf Letters 168 and 179.

6 Augustine, De natura et gratia.

7 Cf. Pelagius, Liber de gratia Dei 35.

8 St. Paul.

9 Cf. Gal. 2.21.

10 Cf. Letters 175 and 176.

LETTERS 193

the ecclesiastical minutes of the meeting, in which Pelagius is
described as having been cleared before the bishops of the
province of Palestine, had come into our hands or even into
Africa. In addition to the reports of the councils we also
wrote a personal letter 11 to Pope Innocent of blessed mem-
ory, 12 in which we dealt with the same case somewhat more
at length. He answered all these communications 13 in a
manner which was right and fitting for the pontiff of the
Apostolic See.

You will soon be able to read all these in case none or not
all of them have reached you. There you will see how, while
preserving a due regard for men, not to condemn them
provided they condemn their wrong views, the authority of the
Church has so prohibited that new and deadly error that we
wonder greatly how there could still be any who try to persist
in any false view of the grace of God that is, always
supposing they have heard of these decrees the grace of
God through Jesus Christ our Lord, as the true and Catholic
Church always holds, which transforms both little and great 14
from the death of the first man to the life of the second
man, 15 not only by destroying sin, but also by helping those
who are now able to use their free will to avoid sin and live
virtuously; and this help is such that, if it is not given, we can
have no trace of piety or justice either in our works or even
in our very will: Tor it is God who worketh in you both to
will and to accomplish according to his good will. 316

For, who distinguishes us from that mass and material of
perdition except the One who came 'to seek and to save that

11 Cf. Letters 177.

12 He died on July 28, 417.

13 Cf. Letters 181, 182, and 183.

14 Apoc. 11.18.

15 1 Cor. 15.47.

16 Phil. 2.13.

1 94 SAINT AUGU STINE

which was lost 5 ? 17 The Apostle asks this question when he
says: 'Who distinguished thee? 5 and if any man should say:
'My faith, my good will, my good work/ he would receive
the answer: 'But what hast thou that thou hast not received?
And if thou hast received why dost thou glory as if thou
hadst not received it?' 18 And he certainly says all this, not
that man should not glory but that c he that glorieth may
glory in the Lord/ 19 not of works, that no man may be
puffed up' ; 20 not because good works are rendered useless by
that holy thought, since 'God will render to every man
according to his works and there should be glory and honor
and peace to everyone that worketh good/ 21 but because the
works come from the grace, not the grace from the works,
because 'faith that worketh by charity' 32 would have no
effect unless c the charity of God were poured forth in our
hearts by the Holy Spirit who is given to us. 523 And faith
itself would not be in us if God did not 'divide to every one
the measure of faith.' 24

Therefore, it is good for a man to say truthfully and with
the full strength of his free will: 'I will keep my strength to
thee/ 25 because the man who thought he could keep it
without the help of Him who gave it went abroad into a far
country and wasted his substance, living riotously. But, worn
down by the wretchedness of a harsh slavery, he returned to
himself and said: C I will arise and go to my father.' 26 But,
how could he have had this good thought if the most merciful
Father had not whispered it to him in secret? It was because

17 Luke 19.10.

18 1 Cor. 4.7.

19 1 Cor. L31.

20 Cf. Eph. 2.9.

21 Rom. 2.6,10.

22 Gal. 5.6,

23 Rom. 5.5.

24 Rom. 12.3.

25 Ps. 58.10.

26 Luke 15.12-18.

LETTERS 195

he understood this that the minister of the New Testament 27
said : 'Not that we are sufficient to think anything of ourselves
as of ourselves, but our sufficiency is from God.' 28 Con-
sequently, when the Psalmist also had said: 'I will keep my
strength to thee,' lest he should attribute to himself the fact
that he was keeping it, and as if he recalled to mind that
'Except the Lord keep the city, they watch in vain that keep
it,' 29 and that 6 He shall neither slumber nor sleep that keepeth
Israel,' 30 he added the reason of his being able to keep it, or,
rather, the guard by whom it is kept and said: Tor thou,
O God, art my protector.' 31

Let Pelagius then recall, if he can, his merits which would
make God deign to be his protector, as if God had been
protected; let him recall whether he sought or was sought by
Him, I mean the One 'who came to seek and to save that
which was lost.' 32 For, if a man is willing to seek for what he
deserves before receiving grace, which will make him fit to
receive it, he will be able to find his evil deeds, not his good
ones, 33 and this would be true even if the grace of the
Saviour came upon him when he had lived only one day
upon earth; because, if a man does anything good by which
he may merit grace, 'the reward is not reckoned according
to grace, but according to debt; but if he believeth in him
that justifieth the ungodly, that his faith may be reputed to
justice,' 34 for 'the just man liveth by faith' 35 certainly be-
fore he is justified by grace, that is, made just, what else is
the wicked man but wicked? If his debt followed him, what

27 Eph. 3.7.

28 2 Cor. 3.5.

29 Ps. 126.1.

30 Ps. 120.4.

31 Ps. 58.10.

32 Luke 19.10.

33 Job 14.5 (Septuagint) .

34 Rom. 4.4,5.

35 Hab. 2.4; Rom. 1.17; Gal. 3.11; Heb. 10.38.

1 96 SAINT AUGU STINE

would he deserve to receive but punishment? 'And if by
grace, it is not now by works; otherwise grace is no more
grace.' 35 To works is given what they deserve, but grace is
given freely; that is why it is called grace.

If anyone says that faith merits the grace of doing good
works, we cannot deny it; on the contrary, we admit it most
thankfully. This is the faith we wish those brothers of ours to
have so that they may obtain charity which alone truly per-
forms good works, for they glory much in their works, but
charity is so much the gift of God that it is called God. 37
Therefore, those who have faith by which they win justifica-
tion attain by the grace of God to the law of justice; hence
the Prophet says: 'In an acceptable time I have heard thee,
and in the day of salvation I have helped thee/ 38 Con-
sequently, in those who are saved by the election of grace, 39
it is God as helper 'who worketh both to will and to ac-
complish according to his good will/ 40 because c to them that
love God all things work together unto good.' 41 If this is
true of all things, it is more so of that charity to which we
attain by faith, so that by His grace we love Him c who hath
first loved us/ 42 in order to believe in Him, and by loving
Him we perform good works, but we have not performed
the good works in order to love Him.

Those, however, who expect a reward of their merits as if
it were due to them, who attribute their merits, not to the
grace of God, but to the strength of their own will, through
following after the law of justice, like carnal Israel, do not
come unto the Law. 43 'Why so? Because they sought it not by

36 Rom. 11.6.

37 1 John 4.8.

38 Isa. 49.8; 2 Cor. 6.2.

39 Rom. 11.5.

40 Phil. 2.14.

41 Rom. 8.28.

42 1 John 4.19.

43 Rom. 9.3.

LETTERS

197

faith but, as it were, by works. 5 But that justice is of faith
which the Gentiles attained, of whom it is said: 'What then
shall we say? That the Gentiles who knew not justice have
attained to justice, even the justice that is of faith. But
Israel, by following after the law of justice, is not come unto
the law. Why so? Because they sought it not by faith but, as
It were, by works. They stumbled at the stumbling stone, as
It Is written: Behold I lay in Sion a stumbling stone and a
rock of scandal; and whosoever believeth in him shall not
be confounded. 544 That justice is of faith by which we
believe we are justified, that is, made just by the grace of
God through Jesus Christ our Lord, that we may be found
in Him not having our justice 'which is of the law, but that
which is of the faith of Christ Jesus, which is of God,
justice in faith'; 45 certainly in the faith by which we believe
that justice is given to us from above, not made by us for
ourselves by our own strength.

Why does the Apostle call that justice his which is of the
Law and not of God? Could it be possible that the Law is
not of God? None but an irreligious man would think that.
But, because the Law commands by the letter and does not
help by the spirit, whoever listens to the letter of the Law in
such wise as to think that it is enough for him to know what
it commands or forbids, whoever trusts in the strength of his
own free will to accomplish it, and does not take refuge in
faith in order to be assisted in his approach to the Spirit that
quickeneth lest the letter find him guilty and kill him/ 6 that
man has a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge. For,
not knowing the justice of God, that Is, the holiness which is
given from God, and seeking to establish his own, so that
it may be uniquely of the Law, he has not subjected himself

44 Rom. 9-30-33.

45 Phil. 3.9.

46 2 Cor. 3.6.

198 SAINT AUGUSTINE

to the justice of God, 'for the end of the law is Christ unto
justice to every one that believeth.' 47 So the same Apostle says:
That we might be made the justice of God in him/ 48 'being
justified therefore by faith, let us have peace with God
through our Lord, Jesus Christ'; 49 'being justified freely by
his grace/ 50 and let this faith not be proud.

Let no one say to himself: If it is of faith, how is it freely
given? If faith earns it, why is it not rather paid than given?'
Let the faithful man not say that because, when he says: 'I
have faith that I may earn justification/ he is answered:
'What hast thou that hast not received?' 51 Therefore, since
faith asks for and receives justification, 'according as God
hath divided to every one the measure of faith/ 52 no human
merit precedes the grace of God, but grace itself merits an
increase, and the increase merits perfection, with the will
accompanying it, not going before it; following behind it,
not pointing out the way. Hence, he who said: 'I will keep
my strength to thee/ gave his reason by saying: 'For thou,
O God, art my protector/ and, as if asking by what merits
he attained this and finding nothing in himself antecedent to
the grace of God, he said : 'My God, his mercy shall prevent
me.' 53 By this he means: 'However great I may think my
antecedent merits to be* his mercy shall prevent me. 5 There-
fore, by keeping to Him the strength which is attributed to
Him, with God for saviour, he does not lose what he received
from God as giver. In no other way does he deserve more
generous gifts than by knowing through faith and piety from
whom all these good things come in to him, and by knowing

47 Rom. 10.2-4.

48 2 Cor. 5.21.

49 Rom, 5.1.

50 Rom. 3.24.

51 1 Cor. 4.7.

52 Rom. 12.3.

53 Ps. 58,10,11.

LETTERS 199

that they do not come to him from himself, lest even this
should not be in him which is not of God. Finely, indeed,
does the Apostle say: 'We have received not the spirit of
this world but the Spirit that is of God, that we may know the
things that are given us from God.' 54 Thus, this very merit of
man is a free gift, and no one deserves to receive anything
from the Father of lights from whom every best gift comes
down, r>3 except by receiving what he does not deserve.

Much more merciful and more freely given, beyond any
doubt, is the grace of God through our Lord Jesus Christ
which is bestowed on infants, so that they may not suffer for
their descent from Adam but may benefit by their rebirth
in Christ; and this mercy of God forestalls by a long time
the very consciousness of receiving it. It is certain that, if they
depart from the body at this tender age, they receive eternal
life and the kingdom of heaven, knowing that it is by His
gift, although here they did not know it when it was beneficial
to them. Certainly in their case there is nothing but the
former gifts to merit the subsequent ones, and in giving them
the grace of God He operates in such wise that the will of the
recipients is not previously stirred or assisted, nor does it
follow after, since, in fact, this great benefit is conferred on
them not only without their willing it, but often in spite of
their fighting against it, which would be imputed to them as
a great sacrilege if the freedom of the will had any effect
in them.

We have said this for the sake of those who are unable to
search into the unsearchable judgments of God 56 for the
reason why, of the clay of Adam, which from him alone fell
wholly into condemnation, He makes one vessel unto honor,
another unto dishonor, 57 yet they dare to decide that babies

54 1 Cor. 2.12.

55 James 1.17.

56 Rom. 11.33.

57 Rom. 9.21.

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who are unable to think anything, either good or bad, are
guilty of actual sins, and that they are reputed to gain either
penalty or favor through their free will, whereas apostolical
truth, by saying c by one unto condemnation, 358 shows clearly
that all are born under penalty so that they may be reborn
in grace, not by merit but by mercy. 'Otherwise grace is no
more grace/ 59 if it is a reward for human merits, not a freely
given gift of divine bounty. In this it alone differs from
punishment, that punishment is from Adam and is every
man's due, but grace through the one Jesus Christ is owed
to none but is freely given, that it may truly be grace. The
unsearchable judgments of God, as if they were God, can
be the reason why He distinguishes the little ones whom no
merits single out, but they cannot be unjust judgments because
'all the ways of the Lord are mercy and truth.' 60 Consequently,
when the mercy of grace is bestowed on one man, he has
no reason to boast of his human merit, since it is 'not of
works, that no man may glory'; 61 but when the truth of
punishment is meted out to another he has no just ground
for complaint that what is rightly owed to sin is paid to it,
since it is certainly not unjust for the one in whom all have
sinned to be punished even in each individual. Their punish-
ment throws into clearer light what is conferred on the
vessels of mercy 62 by a true grace which is not their due, that
is, it is freely given.

Let them produce their arguments against the Apostle when
he says in the clearest possible words: 'By one man sin
entered into this world, and by sin death, and so death passed
upon all men in whom all have sinned/ 63 As for those who

58 Rom, 5.16,

59 Rom. 11.6.

60 Ps. 24.10.

61 Eph. 2.9.

62 Rom. 9.23.

63 Rom. 5.12.

LETTERS 201

say that even babies commit actual sins through free will, we
are tired listening to them and disgusted at having to mention
them, but we are under the greater obligation to speak. For
it is a mark either of indolence to avoid by silence what these
great and keen minds have been able to think up, or of
arrogance to pass over it through contempt. 'See/ they say,
'Esau and Jacob struggle within their mother's womb; at the
time of their birth one is supplanted by the other, and by
the fact that the second one came forth holding the foot of
the first one in his hand, 64 this struggle is proved to be in a
sense continuous. How is it possible that in infants acting
thus there should be no freedom of will for good or evil, as a
result of which reward or punishment should follow their
previous merits?'

To this we may say that the reason why those movements
and that seeming struggle of the infants were a sign of great
things was because they were miraculous, not acts of free
choice. We are not likely to concede that asses have the power
of free will because a dumb beast of that sort, as it is written:
'used to the yoke which, speaking with man's voice, forbade
the folly of the prophet.' 65 But those who claim that there
were voluntary acts and not miraculous movements, ac-
complished by them and not through them, would be hard
put to answer the Apostle who, when he saw that these twins
were worthy of remembrance as a testimonial of grace,
freely given, said : Tor when the children were not yet born
nor had done any good or evil, that the purpose of God
according to election might stand, not of works but of him
that calleth, it was said to her: The elder shall serve the
younger' ; then, adding the testimony of a Prophet who spoke
long after those events, but nevertheless declared the ancient

64 Gen. 25.22,25; Osee 12.3.

65 Num. 22.28-30; 2 Peter 2.16. The Prophet was Balaam.

202 SAINT AUGUSTINE

purpose of God in this matter, he said: 'As it is written:
Jacob I have loved but Esau I have hated.' 66

Manifestly, the 'doctor of the Gentiles in faith and truth' 67
testifies that those twins, not yet born, had done neither good
nor evil, in order to bring out the value of grace, so that the
words 'the elder shall serve the younger' may be understood
as a result e not of works but of him that calleth, that the
purpose of God according to election might stand. c But these
words do not imply the antecedent merit of each man. He
does not say the election of the human will or of nature, since
in each twin there was the same status of death and dam-
nation, but without any doubt he means the election of grace
which does not find men worthy of being chosen but makes
them so. In a later passage of the same Epistle he treats of
this again when he says: 'Even so then at this present time
also there is a remnant saved according to the election of grace.
And if by grace it is not now by works; otherwise grace is
no more grace. 368 This passage is in accord with the former
one where he states: 'not of works but of him that calleth:
the elder shall serve the younger.' What, then, is their purpose
in contradicting this eminent eulogist of grace, by their
impudent insistence on the free will of infants and the acts of
children not yet born? Why is grace said to be preceded by
merits when it would not be grace if it were allotted according
to merit? Why do they attack salvation which is sent for the
lost, which comes for the unworthy? However keen, however
complete and well-phrased their argument, it is nevertheless
hardly Christian.

'But how/ says Pelagius, 'is it possible that there is no
injustice with God if He singles out by His love those whom

66 Rom. 9.11 -IS; Mai. 1.2,3.

67 1 Tim. 2.7.

68 Rom. 11.5,6.

LETTERS 203

no merit of good works distinguishes? 3 This is said to us as if
the Apostle himself had not seen it, had not stated it, had
not answered it. On hearing these objections, he certainly
saw what human weakness or ignorance can imagine, and
stating the same question to himself, he says: 'What shall
we say, then? Is there injustice with God? 5 and he answers at
once: 'God forbid.' But in giving the reason why He should
forbid, that is, why there is no injustice with God, he does
not say: Tor He judges the merits or works of infants even
though they are still enclosed in their mother's womb for
how could he say this when he had already said of the unborn
and of those who had not yet done either good or evil that
'not of works but of him that calleth it was said to her : The
elder shall serve the younger?' but when he wished to show
why in these matters there is no injustice with God, he said:
Tor he saith to Moses: I will have mercy on whom I will
have mercy, and I will show mercy to whom I will show
mercy.' 69 What did he here teach us but that, as death is the
just due of the clay of the first man, it belongs to the mercy
of God and not to the merits of man that anyone is saved,
and that therein there is no injustice with God, because He
is not unjust either in forgiving or in exacting the penalty.
Mercy is free where just vengeance could be taken. From this
it is more clearly shown what a great benefit is conferred on
the one who is delivered from a just penalty and freely
justified, while another, equally guilty, is punished without
injustice on the part of the avenger.

Finally, he adds this when he says: c So then it is not of
him that willeth nor of him that runneth but of God that
showeth mercy.' This is said of those who are justified and
saved by grace. But of those on whom the anger of God
rests, because God makes good use of them to teach others
whom He deigns to save, he goes on and says: Tor the

G9 Rom. 9.15; Exod. 33.19.

204 SAINT AUGUSTINE

Scripture salth to Pharao: to this purpose have I raised thee
that I may show my power in thee; and that my name may
be declared throughout all the earth/ Then, making a con-
clusion to both passages, he says: Therefore he hath mercy
on whom he will and whom he will he hardeneth.' 70
Obviously, He treats neither of these with injustice, but both
with mercy and truth; in spite of that there is an uprising of
insolent weakness on the part of those who attempt to com-
prehend the unsearchable depth of the judgment of God 71
according to the interpretations of the human heart,

The Apostle refutes this view when he says: Thou wilt
say therefore to me: Why doth he then find fault? for who
resisteth his will?' 72 Let us imagine this as said to us. What
other answer should we make than the one he made? If
such ideas disturb us also because we, too, are men, we all
have need to listen to the Apostle saying: O man, who art
thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say
to him that formed it: Why hast thou made me thus? Or
hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump
to make one vessel unto honor, another unto dishonor?' 73
If this lump of clay were of such indifferent value that It
deserved nothing good any more than it deserved anything
evil, there would be reason to see injustice in making of it a
vessel unto dishonor; but when, through the free will of the
first man alone, condemnation extended to the whole lump
of clay, undoubtedly if vessels are made of it unto honor, it
is not a question of justice not forestalling grace, but of God's
mercy; if, however, vessels are made of it unto dishonor, it is
to be attributed to the judgment of God, not to His injustice
far be from us the thought that there could be any such with

70 Rom. 8.16-18; Exod. 9.16.

71 Rom. 11.33.

72 Rom. 9.19.

73 Rom. 9.20-21; Isa. 45.9; 29.16.

LETTERS 205

God ! Whoever Is wise in this matter with the Catholic Church
does not argue against grace in favor of merit, but he sings
mercy and judgment to the Lord/ 4 that he may not un-
gratefully deny His mercy or unjustly upbraid His judgment*

But that other lump is different, of which the same Apostle
says : Tor if the first fruit be holy so is the lump also, and if
the root be holy, so also are the branches.' 75 That lump is of
Abraham, not of Adam; it is of the communion of the
sacrament and of the likeness of faith, not of mortal genera-
tion; whereas the former paste or, as we read in several
versions, lump, is wholly given over to death, since c by one
man sin entered into the world and by sin death and so
death passed upon all men in whom all have sinned. 375
Consequently, it is through mercy that one vessel is made
unto honor, but through judgment that another is made unto
dishonor. In the first case merit does not precede the grace
of deliverance; in the second, sin does not escape the punish-
ment of justice. In earlier ages this does not stand out so
clearly against the objectors where those who argue for the
merits of man are protected by a certain obscurity. But it
was against their objection that the Apostle found those others
among 'children not yet born, who had not yet done any
good or evil; not of works but of him that calleth it was said:
The elder shall serve the younger.'

Therefore, since the judgments of God are exceedingly
deep and incomprehensible and His ways unsearchable, let
man meanwhile hold that there is no injustice with God; let
him confess that as man he does not know with what justice
God has mercy on whom He will and hardens whom He will.
In virtue of the unshaken belief which he holds that there is
no injustice with God, he knows that although no one is

74 Ps. 100.1.

75 Rom. 11.16.

76 Rom. 5.12.

206 SAINT AUGUSTINE

justified because of antecedent merits, so no one is hardened
unless he deserves it. Piety and truth make us believe that God
saves harmful and wicked men by justifying them from the
penalties which were their due, but if we believe that God
condemns anyone who does not deserve it and who is not
subject to any sin, we make God out to be not free from
injustice. When the undeserving one is saved, his gratitude
ought to be greater in proportion to the justice of his penalty,
but when the undeserving is condemned neither mercy nor
truth is maintained.

'How is it,' they say, 'that Esau was not deservedly con-
demned, if it was "not of works but of him that calleth it
was said: The elder shall serve the younger"? For, just as
there were no antecedent good works of his to call for
grace, so there were no evil works to call for punishment/
Certainly there were no acutal works, either good or evil, in
either of them, but both of them were subject to the one in
whom all have sinned, that all should die in him. However
many descendants there were to be from that one, in Mm
they were then all one. Therefore, that sin would have been
his alone if no other had descended from him, but henceforth
no one who had a share in the common nature was to be
immune from his sin. If, then, those twins, who had not
performed any works of their own, either good or bad, were
nevertheless born with the original guilt, let the one who is
saved praise His mercy, the one who is chastised not blame
His judgment.

If upon this we were to say: 'How much better if both
had been saved!' there will be no more appropriate answer
for us than: 'O man, who art thou that repliest to God'? For,
He surely knows what He is doing and how great a number
there should be, first of all men, secondly of the saints, as He
knows it of the stars, of the angels; and, to speak of earthly
things, as He knows it of beasts, of fishes, of birds, of trees

LETTERS 207

and plants, and, to sum up, of leaves and of our hairs. We,
with our human thought, can still say: 'Since all the things
which He has made are good, how much better it would be if
He had doubled or multiplied them, so that there would be
many more than there are! If the world could not hold
them, could He not make it as much bigger as He wished?'
Yet, however far He went in making things more numerous,,
or the world larger and more spacious, the same could still
be said about increasing them, and there would be no limit to
unbounded thought.

But, as far as that goes, this can also be said: If there is a
grace by which the unjust are justified, of which we are not
allowed to doubt; if, as some claim, grace is always antecedent
to free will, while punishment or reward are always sub-
sequent to merit, what reason is there at all for God to create
souls of whom He foresees that they will inevitably sin so as to
be worthy of condemnation to eternal fire? For, although He
has not created the sins, who but God created the very
natures which are undoubtedly good in themselves, but in
which there are bound to be defects leading to sin by reason
of their freedom of will, and, in many, there would be such
defects that eternal penalty would be their due? Why, except
that He willed it? As to why He willed it, 'Who art thou,
O man, that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say
to him that formed it: Why hast thou made me thus? Or
hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to
make vessel unto honor, and another unto dishonor?'

And that we may now say what follows: 'What if God,
willing to show his wrath and to make his power known,
endured with much patience vessels of wrath, fitted for
destruction, that he might show the riches of his glory on the
vessels of mercy ? m Here is the account given to man as far
as it is owed to man if, indeed, he who argues for the

77 Rom. 9.22,23.

208 SAINT AUGUSTINE

liberty of his own free will, subject to the slavery of such
weakness, accepts even that account here are the reasons
set forth in words: Therefore, who art thou that repliest
against God, if God is willing to show his wrath and to
make his power known?' because, being perfect, He is able
to make good use of the wicked, provided we understand that
they are wicked, not through any divine enactment but
through a nature vitiated by the malice of its own will, a
nature which was good when formed by God the Creator,
'who endured with much patience vessels of wrath fitted for
destruction.' But it is not true that the sins of angels or men
are necessary to Him any more than the justice of any
creature is necessary to Him; His purpose was 'that He
might show the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy,'
that they might not pride themselves on their good works as if
done by their own strength, but should humbly acknowledge
that if the grace of God, not owed but freely given, had not
delivered them, they would have seen as the reward of their
merits just what was awarded to others of the same clay.

There is, therefore, in the foreknowledge of God a pre-
determined limit and number of saints, who love God as He
has given them to do through the Holy Spirit poured forth
in their hearts, 78 and for them c all things work together unto
good to such as according to his purpose are called; for whom
he foreknew he also predestinated to be made conformable to
the image of his Son; that he might be the first-born among
many brethren. And whom he predestinated, them he also
called.' 70 Here we have to get the undertone of 'according
to his purpose.' For there are others called but not chosen, 80
because they are not called 'according to his purpose.' But
c whom he called/ that is, 'according to his purpose,' 'them

78 Rom. 5.5.

79 Rom. 8.28-30.

80 Matt. 20.16; 22.14,

LETTERS 209

also he justified, and whom he justified them also he
glorified.' 81 These are c the children of the promise'; 82 these
are the chosen who are saved by 'the election of grace/ as it
is said : 'But if by grace it is not now by works, otherwise grace
is no more grace.' 83 These are the vessels of mercy in whom
God makes known the riches of His glory by means of the
vessels of wrath. Through His Holy Spirit He makes of them
'one heart and one soul/ 84 which blesses the Lord and does
not forget all His recompenses; who forgiveth all its iniquities
and healeth all its diseases; who redeemeth its life from
destruction; who crowneth it with mercy and compassion,' 85
because 'it is not of him that willeth nor of him that runneth,
but of God that showeth mercy.' 86

But the rest of men who do not belong to that fellowship,
although the goodness of God made their soul and body and
whatever their nature possesses except sin, which the rebellion
of a proud will inflicted on them, have been created by a
foreknowing God that He might show in them what the free
will of a deserter is worth without His grace, and that the
vessels of mercy who have been set apart from that mass of
clay, not through the merits of their own works, but by the
grace of God, freely given, may learn, by the just and due
penalties of the others, what has been bestowed on them,
'that every mouth may be stopped/ 87 and 'that he that
glorieth may glory in the Lord.' 88

'If any man teach otherwise and consent not to the sound
words of our Lord Jesus Christ/ 89 who said: 'The Son of

81 Rom. 8.30.

82 Rom. 9.8.

83 Rom. 11.5,6.

84 Acts 4.3U2.

85 Cf. Ps. 102.1-4.

86 Rom, 9.16.

87 Rom. 3.19.

88 1 Cor. 1.31; 2 Cor. 10.17.

89 1 Tim. 6.3.

210 SAINT AUGUSTINE

man is come to seek and to save that which was lost,' 90 for
He did not say : 'which would have been lost/ but 'which was
lost,' and what else does that show but that the nature of
the whole human race was lost by the sin of the first man?
whoever, then, teaches otherwise and consents not to that
doctrine which is according to godliness defends human
nature against the grace of the Saviour and the blood of the
Redeemer, yet claims to be rated in name as a Christian.
What will such a one have to say about the selection of infants,
why one is admitted to the life of the second Man, while the
other is left in the death of the first man? If he says that the
merits of free will were antecedent to grace, the Apostle
answers what we quoted above about children not yet born,
who have done neither good nor evil; but if he says what is
still maintained in the books which Pelagius is reported to
have published quite recently although at the episcopal trial
in Palestine it now appears that he repudiated those who say
that the sin of Adam injured him alone and not the human
race that is, if he says that both babies were born without
sin and inherited no condemnation from the first man, cer-
tainly, as he does not dare to deny that the one who was
regenerated in Christ is admitted to the kingdom of heaven,
let him answer what happens to the other one who, through
no fault of his own, is cut off by a temporal death without
baptism. We do not think he will say that God will condemn
to eternal death an innocent soul, without original sin, before
the age at which it could commit actual sin; he is therefore
forced to answer as Pelagius did at the episcopal trial, when,
in order to be considered some kind of Christian, he was
forced to repudiate the doctrine that infants, even though
unbaptized, possess eternal life. And when this has been
denied, what will remain but eternal death?

Thus, he will also argue against the sentence of the Lord

90 Luke 19.10; Matt. 18.11.

LETTERS 211

when He said : 'Your fathers did eat manna in the desert and
are dead; this is the bread which cometh down from heaven,
that if any man eat of it he may not die/ 91 for He was not
speaking of the death which even those who eat of the same
Bread must necessarily undergo; and shortly afterward, when
He said: 'Amen, amen, I say unto you: Except you eat the
flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood, you shall not
have life in you/ 92 He meant that life which will follow after
death. The objector will also argue against the authority of the
Apostolic See which cited this testimony from the Gospel,
while treating of the matter, to show that we should not
believe unbaptized children can possess eternal life. 93 And
he will contradict the very words of Pelagius himself as he
pronounced them before the bishops who were hearing his
case, in which he repudiated those who hold that unbaptized
infants possess eternal life.

We have repeated all this because, if what we hear is
true, there are some among you, or rather in your city, who
support that error with such obstinacy that they say they
would sooner forsake and contemn Pelagius in his repudiation
of those who hold these views than give up what seems to
them the truth of this opinion. But, if they submit to the
Apostolic See, or, rather, to the Master and Lord of the
Apostles Himself, who says that they will not have life in
them unless they eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink
His blood, which they certainly cannot do unless they are
baptized, doubtless at some time they will admit that un-
baptized children cannot possess life, and that, although it
will be more bearable for them than for all who commit
actual sins as well, they will nevertheless pay the penalty of
eternal death.

91 John 6.49,50.

92 John 6.54.

93 Cf. Letter 182.

212 SAINT AUGU STINE

This being so, let them dare to argue and strive to convince
those whom they can that a just God, with whom there is no
injustice, would sentence to eternal death children innocent
of actual sin if they were not bound by and involved in the
sentence laid on Adam. But, if this is altogether absurd and
thoroughly repugnant to the justice of God, no one who
remembers that he is a Christian of the Catholic faith denies
or doubts that children who have not received the grace of
regeneration in Christ, who have not eaten His flesh or drunk
His blood, have no life in them and are consequently subject
to the penalty of everlasting death, and it certainly remains
true that though they themselves have done neither good nor
evil, the penalty of their death is just because they die in him
in whom all have sinned, since they are alive in Him alone
by whom original sin could not be bequeathed or actual sin
committed.

'He hath called us not only of the Jews but also of the
Gentiles,' 94 since He gathered together the children whom He
would of that Jerusalem which refused Him, which killed the
Prophets and stoned those who were sent to her, 95 and this
He did before His Incarnation in the case of the Prophets
themselves, and after 'the Word was made flesh' 96 in the
Apostles and the thousands of men who laid down the price
of their goods at the feet of the Apostles. 97 All these were
manifestly children of a Jerusalem unwilling that they should
be gathered together, yet they were gathered together at His
will, of whom He says : c lf I by Beelzebub cast out devils, by
whom do your children cast them out? Therefore they shall
be your judges.' 98 Of these the prophecy had been made;
'If the number of the children of Israel be as the sand of the

94 Rom. 9.24.

95 Matt. 23.37; Luke 13.34.

96 John 1.14.

97 Acts 4.54.

98 Matt. 12.37; Isa. 10.22; Osee 1.10.

LETTERS 213

sea, a remnant shall be saved.' 99 The word of God cannot
miscarry, 100 'God hath not cast away his people which he
foreknew/ 101 'even so, there is a remnant saved according to
the election of grace. But if by grace/ as we must so often
say, *it is not now by works, otherwise grace is no more
grace. 5102 These are plainly the words of the Apostle, not
ours. Therefore, what He called out to Jerusalem unwilling
for her children to be gathered together, this we call out
against those who are unwilling for their children to be
gathered to the Church, although they themselves are willing.
Those men have not even been converted after the trial
which was held of that very Pelagius in Palestine, from
which he would have issued condemned if he had not himself
condemned what he could not cover up, namely, the objec-
tionable words spoken by him against the grace of God.

Besides this, there were other teachings brought against
him which he had dared to defend with such reasoning as he
could, and if he had not repudiated them without any shadow
of evasion he would himself have been subject to anathema.
He was accused of saying that Adam was created mortal and
that he was destined to die whether he sinned or not; that
his sin injured only himself and not the human race; that
infants just born are in the state in which Adam was before
the fall; that the whole race of men does not die through
the death or fall of Adam, or does the race of men rise again
through the Resurrection of Christ; that infants, even though
not baptized, have eternal life; that, if the rich who are
baptized do not renounce all things, they cannot be credited
with any good they may have seemed to do, nor can they
possess the kingdom of God; that the grace and help of God

99 Rom. 9.27.

100 Rom. 9.6.

101 Rom. 11.2.

102 Rom, 11.5,6.

214 SAINT AUGUSTINE

are not given for individual actions but reside in the free will,
or in the Law and the doctrine; that the grace of God is given
according to our merits; that none can be called children
of God unless they have become entirely sinless; that free will
does not exist if it needs the help of God, since each one has
it in his own will to do or not to do something; that our victory
is not through the help of God but through our free will;
and that pardon is not given to the repentant according to
the grace and mercy of God but according to the merit and
effort of those who deserve mercy through their repentance. 103
All these assertions Pelagius repudiated so thoroughly, as
the official reports plainly show, that he left no ground to
support any defense of them in any way. It results as a
consequence that whoever follows the authority of that
episcopal trial and the confession of Pelagius himself is obliged
to believe what the Catholic Church has always held: that
Adam would not have died if he had not sinned; that his
sin injured not only himself but the human race; that new-
born infants are not in the state in which Adam was before
the fall and that the brief pronouncement of the Apostle does
apply to them: c By one man came death and by one man
the resurrection of the dead, and as in Adam all die, so also
in Christ all shall be made alive.' 104 Whence it happens that
unbaptized infants not only cannot attain the kingdom of
heaven but cannot even possess eternal life. Let the believer
confess also that the rich who are baptized cannot be deprived
of the kingdom of heaven if they are such as the Apostle
describes to Timothy when he says: 'Charge the rich of
this world not to be high-minded nor to trust in the uncer-
tainty of riches, but in the living God who giveth us abun-
dantly all things to enjoy; to be rich in good works, to give
easily, to communicate to others, to lay up in store for them-

103 Cf. Augustine, De gestis Pelasni (CSEL 43, pp. 76-121) .

104 1 Cor. 15.21,22.

LETTERS 215

selves a good foundation against the time to come, that
they may lay hold on the true life.' 105 Let him confess that
the helping grace of God is given to individual acts, and that
it is not given according to our merits, that it may be truly
grace, that is, freely given by the mercy of Him who said:
'I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy and I will
show mercy to whom I will show mercy.' 106 Let him confess
that they who say daily : Torgive us our debts/ can be called
the children of God, for they obviously could not say it with
truth if they were entirely sinless. Let him confess that the
will is free even though it has need of divine help. Let him
confess that when we make war on temptations and unlawful
passions, although our own will is engaged in the fight, our
victory does not result from that but from the help of God;
otherwise the Apostle's words would not be true: 'Not of
him that willeth nor of him that runneth, but of God that
showeth mercy.' 107 Let him confess that pardon is granted to
the repentant according to the grace and mercy of God, not
according to his merits, since it is that very repentance which
the Apostle called the gift of God when he said of certain
ones: 'Lest peradventure God may give them repentance.' 108
If anyone agrees to the authority of the Catholic Church
and the words of Pelagius himself as quoted in the ecclesias-
tical records, let him confess all these truths straightforwardly,
without any evasions. For there is no reason to believe that
the statements which are contrary to these have been truth-
fully repudiated unless these statements, their contraries, are
held with upright heart and made public with open admission.
But, in the more recent books which the same Pelagius is
said to have published since the trial it is not quite clear
what he thinks on this point, although he appears to accept

105 1 Tim. 6.17-19.

106 Rom. 9.15; Exod. 33.19.

107 Rom. 9.16.

108 2 Tim. 2.25.

216 SAINT AUGU STINE

the idea of divine grace as a help. Sometimes he balances the
power of the will with such equal weight in a poised scale
that he defines it as having as much power to avoid sin as
it has to sin. But, if this is so, no scope is left for the help of
grace, without which, we say, the free will is not able to
avoid sin. Sometimes he admits that we are fortified by the
daily help of God's grace, although we have a free will
strong and firm enough to avoid sin, whereas he ought to
have confessed that our will is weak and feeble until all the
maladies of our soul are cured. The Psalmist was not praying
to be cured of weakness of body when he said : 'Have mercy
on me, O Lord, for I am weak; heal me, O Lord, for my
bones are troubled/ for by way of showing that he was
praying for his soul he went on: c And my soul is troubled
exceedingly.' 109

It seems, therefore, that he thinks the help of grace can be
conceded as something extra, that is, that even if it is not
granted we still have a will strong and firm enough to avoid
sin. We do not wish to be thought guilty of rash suspicion
about him, and in case someone should say that he holds
the free will strong and firm enough to avoid sin, although
it cannot fulfill this without God's grace, in the way we say
that healthy eyes are strong enough to see, but cannot possibly
do so if the help of light is lacking, it is a fact that in another
place he shows more plainly what he said or thought, when
he says that the grace of God is given to men in this sense
that what they are commanded to do by their free will they
can accomplish more easily with the help of grace. Now,
when he says 'more easily,' what else does he want us to
understand except that, even if grace is lacking, the divine
commandments can be accomplished by the free will either
with ease or with difficulty? 110

109 Ps. 6.3,4.

110 CL Augustine, De gratia Christi 8.27 (CSEL 42, pp. 131-148).

LETTERS 217

Where does he say: 'What is man that thou art mindful of
him?* 111 Where, again, are those evidences which, as we read
in the records, the Bishop of Jerusalem relates that he cited
to the said Pelagius when he was informed that the latter
had said it is possible for man to be sinless without the grace
of God? 112 These are the three texts he cited, very strong
ones, against wicked presumption of this kind: where the
Apostle said : ' I have labored more abundantly than all they,
yet not I, but the grace of God with me,' 113 and 'not of him
that willeth nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth
mercy,' 114 and 'Except the Lord build the house, they labor
in vain that build it.' 115 How, then, is God's commandment
accomplished, even with difficulty, without His help, since,
if the Lord does not build, the builder is said to have labored
in vain; and since it is not written: 'It is indeed of him that
willeth and runneth, but it is more easily of God that showeth
mercy,' but it is written: 'Not of him that willeth nor of
him that runneth but of God that showeth mercy/ not
because man does not will and run, but because he can do
nothing unless God shows him mercy; and since the Apostle
did not say: 'And I,' but 'not I but the grace of God with me,'
not because the Apostle did nothing good, but because he
would have done nothing at all if grace had not helped him?
Yet, that balancing of the power of free will, equally poised in
the scale toward good and evil, leaves no scope for that ease
which he seems at least to have admitted by saying: 'they
could accomplish it more easily with grace,' for, if good is
accomplished more easily with grace, evil is committed most
easily without grace, in which case that possibility is not
balanced on an even scale.

111 Ps. 8.5.

112 CL Aug. De gestis Pelagii, 37 (CSEL 42, pp. 93-94) .

113 1 Cor. 15.10.

114 Rom. 9.16.

115 Ps. 126.1.

218 SAINT AUGUSTINE

What more is there to say? Not only should we take care
to avoid these persons, but, if they allow it, we should even
not be slothful in teaching and warning them. We do them
a greater service if we unhesitatingly pray for their con-
version, lest, with such great abilities, they should either be
lost themselves, or destroy others by their damnable presump-
tion, because c they have a zeal of God but not according to
knowledge, for they, not knowing the justice of God,' that is,
the justice which comes from God, 'and seeking to establish
their own, have not submitted themselves to the justice of
God.' 116 Certainly, as they are called Christians, they are
more bound to observe this than were the Jews to whom the
Apostle said it, that they might not stumble at the stumbling-
stone, 117 by defending nature and free will as noisily as the
philosophers of this world did, trying hard to be thought or to
think themselves able to achieve happiness by the efficacy of
their own will. Let them take care, then, not to make void the
cross of Christ by wisdom of speech, 118 lest this be to them a
way of stumbling at the stumbling-stone. For, even if human
nature had remained in the integrity in which it was created,
it would have been utterly impossible for it to preserve itself
so without the help of its Creator. Therefore, as it could not,
without the grace of God, guard the salvation which it had
received, how can it recover, without the grace of God, that
salvation which it has lost?

But we should not refrain from praying for these heretics
on the ground that their failure to amend is chargeable to
their will, since they refuse to believe that they need the
Saviour's grace for this very amendment, holding that it
derives from their own will alone. In this matter they are
exactly like the Jews to whom the Apostle said that, c not

116 Rom. 10.2,3,

117 Rom. 9.32.

118 1 Cor. 1.17.

LETTERS 219

knowing the justice of God and seeking to establish their
own, they have not submitted themselves to the justice of
God/ because it is clear that they did not believe in the
deficiency of their own will For, they were not forced against
their will to become unbelievers, but by their refusal to
believe they become responsible for the crime of unbelief. Yet,
because the will is not sufficient to move man to believe the
truth unless God helps him with His grace, as the Lord Him-
self said when He spoke of unbelievers: No man cometh to
me unless it be given him by my Father/ 119 for that reason,
although the Apostle was preaching the Gospel to them con-
stantly, he saw that he would accomplish little unless he also
prayed for them to believe. So he said : 'Brethren, the will of
my heart indeed and my prayer to God is for them unto
salvation,' and then he added the words which we have
quoted: Tor I bear them witness that they have a zeal of
God, but not according to knowledge,' 120 and the rest. Let us
therefore pray for them, holy brother.

No doubt you are one with us in seeing what an evil error
holds them, for your letters are fragrant with the genuine
perfume of Christ, and in them you stand out as an intimate
lover and defender of grace itself. But the reason why we
have thought it well to speak with you at such length on
this matter is first, because our delight is so great in doing it,
for what could be more delightful to the sick than the grace
which heals them, or to the sluggish than the grace which
helps them? In the second place, if we were able with God's
help to accomplish anything by our arguments, we aimed to
support, not your faith, but your profession of the faith against
such men, as we also have been helped to this opportunity by
your Fraternity's letters.

For, what is more fruitful or more filled with the truest

119 John 6.66.

120 Rom. 10.1,2.

220 SAINT AUGUSTINE

confession than that passage in one of your letters in which
you humbly bewail the fact that our nature did not remain
as it was created, but was debased by the father of the
human race? In it you said : ' "But I am poor and sorrow-
ful/ 5121 I, that am still hardened in the filth of an earthly
image, having in me more of the first Adam than of the
second, still give my attention to the senses of the flesh and
to earthly acts. How shall I dare to depict myself when earthly
corruption proves that I deny my heavenly image? I blush to
paint what I am, I do not dare to paint what I am not.
But what good will it do me, wretched as I am, to hate
iniquity and to love virtue, 122 when I do rather what I hate
and am too sluggish to strive to do what I love? I am torn
asunder, fighting with myself in an interior warfare, while
"the spirit lusteth against the flesh and the flesh against the
spirit," 123 and the law of my body under the law of sin
fights against the law of my mind* 124 Unhappy I that have
absorbed the poisonous taste of that hateful tree, not the
wood of the cross I The ancestral poison hardens in me, from
Adam the father, who by his fall has undone the whole
race/ 125 These and many other things you said, groaning over
your misery and expecting the redemption of your body,
knowing yourself saved by hope, if not yet in fact. 126

But perhaps you transformed another into yourself when
you said this, and you do not now suffer these hateful and
importunate motions of the flesh lusting against the spirit,
although you do not admit it. But, in any case, you, or
whoever else suffers these ills, are also awaiting the grace of
Christ through which you are delivered from e the body of

121 Ps. 68.30.

122 Ps. 44.8.

123 Gal. 5.17.

124 Rom. 7.23.

125 Paulinus of Nola, Ep. 30.2 (CSEL 29) .

126 Rom. 8.23,24.

LETTERS

221

this death.' 127 You do not see it openly in yourself but as it
was hidden in that man when the forbidden food was touched
and desired, and destruction would have fallen far and wide
over all men, if He who was not lost had not come fi to seek
and to save that which was lost.' How fervent your letter is
in praying and asking with groans for help in advancing and
in living well ! What part of your letter is not sprinkled over
with tender sighs such as we utter in the Lord's prayer:
'Lead us not into temptation 9 ? 128 Let us then console and
encourage each other in all these ways, and let us help each
other as much as the Lord grants us to do. Your Holiness
will hear from our mutual friend 129 what we have heard and
about whom, which causes us much grief, but which we find
it hard to believe. When he comes back safe, by the mercy
of God, we hope to be informed about everything.

787. Augustine, bishop, to his beloved brother, Dardanus 1

(Mid 417)

On the Presence of God

Chapter 1

I confess that I have been slower than I should have been
in answering our letter, my dearest brother, Dardanus, whom
I hold in higher esteem for the charity of Christ than for
your worldly rank. But please do not ask the reasons for my

127 Rom. 7.24.

128 Matt. 6.13; Luke 11.4.

129 Januarius, the bearer of the letter.

1 Prefect of the province of Gaul.

222 SAINT AUGUSTINE

delay, for I should only cause you more annoyance by my
long-winded excuse than you have already suffered by rny
tardy reply, and 1 would rather you gave an easy pardon to
my offense than a verdict on my defense. Whatever those
reasons may have been, believe me that not any of them
could have involved my holding you in slight esteem. On the
contrary, if I had had no respect for you I should have
answered you immediately. But my reason for answering you
at long last. is not because at long last I have composed
something at least worth your perusal, something which can
deserve to be dedicated under your name; as a matter of
fact, I have chosen to answer you now rather than allow the
summer to pass, leaving me still in your debt for this courtesy.
And it was not your high position which intimidated me and
made me hold back, for your kindly manner attracts more
than your rank repels me. But because I love you so much I
find it proportionately difficult to measure up to the great
eagerness of your religious affection.

Chapter 2

Moreover, in addition to that flame of mutual charity
which makes us love even those whom we have never seen,
provided they have what we love in which you outstrip me
and make me fear to fall short of your opinion and expecta-
tion of me in addition to that, you have asked me such
questions in your letter that if they were proposed by anyone
else they would present no slight task for the free time which
is lacking to rne. But when they are proposed by you, with
your mind accustomed to probing into profound truths, a
summary solution of them would be utterly insufficient.
Besides, they have been propounded to a very busy man who is
besieged and beset by an army of cares, so it is for your

LETTERS 223

Prudence and Benevolence to figure out how I may appease
you either for not answering for so long or for not answering
even now in accord with the intensity of your interest.

Chapter 3

You ask, then, in what manner the 'Mediator of God and
men, the man, Christ Jesus,' 1 is now believed to be in heaven,
when, hanging on the cross and at the point of death, He
said to the believing thief: 'This day thou shalt be with me
in paradise. 52 You say that from this we are to understand,
perhaps, that paradise is established in some part of heaven,
or that, because God is everywhere, the man also who is
in God is present everywhere. From this, no doubt, you wish
to deduce that He who is everywhere could also be in paradise.

Chapter 4

At this point I inquire, or rather I recognize, in what way
you understand Christ as man. Surely not as certain heretics
do who assert that He is the Word of God with a body, but,
that is, without a human soul, the Word serving as soul for
His body; 1 or, as the Word of God with a soul and a body
but without a human mind, the Word of God serving as
mind to His soul. 2 You certainly do not understand Christ as
man in this sense, but, as you expressed it above when you
said that you accepted Christ as almighty God, with this

1 Tim. 2.5.

2 Luke 23.43.

1 The Arians.

2 The Apollinarists.

224 SAINT AUGUSTINE

formula of belief that you would not believe Him God if you
had not believed Him perfect man. Obviously, when you
say perfect man, you mean that the whole human nature is
there, for a man Is not perfect if either a soul is lacking to
the body or a human mind to the soul.

Chapter 5

If, then, we think He said: This day thou shalt be with
me in paradise/ according to the human nature which God
the Word assumed, we cannot conclude from these words that
paradise is in heaven, for the man Christ Jesus was not to be
in heaven that day, but in hell as to His soul, in the tomb
as to His body. And the Gospel is absolutely clear about His
body being placed that day in the tomb; 1 while apostolic
teaching reveals that His soul descended into hell, since
blessed Peter bears witness to this fact from the Psalms, where
he shows that the following prophecy was made of Him:
'Because thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, nor wilt thou
give thy holy one to see corruption. 52 The first part of this
was said of His soul, because it was not left there, but
returned from there very quickly; the second part refers to
His body, which was not able to suffer corruption because of
its speedy resurrection. But no one thinks that paradise was
in the tomb. If anyone were so foolish as to try to justify
that opinion because the tomb was a garden, 3 he would
certainly find it untenable, because the one to whom Christ
said: 'This day thou shalt be with me in paradise' was not
with Christ in the tomb on any day. Moreover, the burial of
his body, unconscious alike of joy or sorrow in death, would

1 Matt. 27.60; Mark 15.46; Luke 23.53; John 19.41,42.

2 Ps. 15.10; Acts 2.27.

3 Paradisus.

LETTERS 225

not have been offered to him as the great reward of his
faith, when he was thinking of that rest where his conscious
being would go.

Chapter 6

It remains, then, that if the words, This day thou shalt be
with me in paradise,' were spoken in a human sense, paradise
would be understood to be in hell, where Christ was to be
that day in His human soul. But I would find it hard to say
whether the bosom of Abraham where the wicked rich man,
from the torments of hell in which he was, saw the poor man
reposing is to be included under the term paradise, or con-
sidered as belonging to hell. Of the rich man, indeed, we
read the words : 'But the rich man also died and was buried/
and 'when he was in the torments of hell.' In the case of the
death or repose of the poor man there is no mention of hell,
but it says: 'It came to pass that the begger died and was
carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom.' After that,
Abraham says to the rich man in the flame : c Between us and
you there is fixed a great chaos,' 1 as if it were between hell
and the abodes of the blessed, for it is not easy to find the
word hell used in a good sense anywhere in the Scriptures.
Hence, the question is usually raised how we can reverently
believe that the soul of the Lord Christ was in hell, if the
word is not taken in any but the penal sense. A good answer
to this is that he descended there to rescue those who were to
be rescued. Consequently, blessed Peter says that he loosed the
sorrows of hell in which it was 'impossible that he should be
held.' 2 Besides, if we are to believe that there are two regions
in hell, one of the suffering and one of the souls at rest, that
is, both a place where the rich man was tormented and one

1 Cf. Luke 16.22-26.

2 Acts 2.24.

226 SAINT AUGUSTINE

where the poor man was comforted, who would dare to say
that the Lord Jesus came to the penal parts of hell instead
of only among those who rest in Abraham's bosom? If He
was there, then, we must understand that as paradise which
He deigned to promise to the soul of the thief on that day.
In that case, the word paradise is a general term meaning a
state of living in happiness. But the fact of the place where
Adam lived before the fall being called paradise did not
prevent Scripture from calling the Church paradise, also, with
the fruit of apples.

Chapter 7

However, Christ may be assumed to have said: 'This day
thou shalt be with me in paradise/ in a much easier sense
and one free of all these subtleties, if He said it not as man
but as God. Manifestly, the man Christ was to be that day
in the tornb as to His body, in hell as to His soul, but as God,
Christ Himself is always everywhere present. For He is the
light which shines in the darkness although the darkness does
not comprehend it. 1 He is the strength and wisdom of God
of which it is written that 'it reacheth from end to end
mightily and ordereth all things sweetly, 52 and that c it
reacheth every where because of its purity and nothing defiled
cometh to it.' 3 Therefore, wherever paradise may be, who-
ever is blessed is there with Him who is everywhere.

Chapter 8
Since, then, Christ is God and man God, as He tells us in

1 John 1.5.

2 Wisd. 8.L

3 Cf. Wisd. 7.24,25.

LETTERS 227

the words: C I and the Father are one,' 1 man, as He says in
'The Father is greater than I' 2 but equally son of God,
Only-begotten of the Father, 3 and Son of man e of the seed
of David according to the flesh,' 4 we must take account of
both these natures in Him when He speaks or when Scripture
speaks of Him, and we must mark in what sense anything is
said. For, just as a single man is rational soul and body, so
the single Christ is Word and man. Therefore, in what
pertains to the Word, Christ is creator: A11 things were made
by him,' 5 but as man Christ was created e of the seed of David
according to the flesh' and c made in the likeness of men.' 6
Likewise, because man is a duality, soul and body, according
to the soul, He was sorrowful unto death; according to the
flesh, He suffered death. 7

Chapter 9

Nevertheless, when we say that Christ is the Son of God we
do not separate His humanity from Him, nor when we say
that the same Christ is the Son of man do we lose sight of
His divinity. For, as man He was on earth, not in heaven
where He now is, when He said: 'No man ascendeth into
heaven but he that descended from heaven, the Son of man
who is in heaven,' 1 although in His nature as Son of God He
was in heaven, but as Son of man He was still on earth and
had not yet ascended into heaven. In like manner, although

1 John 10.30.

2 John 14.28.

3 John 1.14.

4 Rom. L3.

5 John 1.3.

6 Phil. 2.7.

7 Matt. 26.38; Mark 14.34.

1 John 3.13.

228 SAINT AUGUSTINE

in His nature as Son of God He is the Lord of glory, in His
nature as Son of man He was crucified, since the Apostle says:
Tor if they had known it they would never have crucified the
Lord of glory.' 2 Thus, the Son of man as God was in heaven
and the Son of God as man was crucified on earth. As, then,
it could rightly be said that the Lord of glory was crucified,
although His Passion belonged to His humanity alone, so He
could rightly say: This day thou shalt be with me in
paradise,' since, although in terms of His human lowliness He
was going to be in the tomb as to His body, in hell as to
His soul, in terms of His divine immutability He had never left
paradise because He is always everywhere present.

Chapter 10

Do not doubt, then, that the man Christ Jesus is now there
whence He shall come again; cherish in your memory and
hold faithfully to the profession of your Christian faith that
He rose from the dead, ascended into heaven, sitteth at the
right hand of the Father, 1 and will come from no other
place but there to judge the living and the dead; and He
will so come, on the testimony of the angel's voice, as He
was seen going into heaven, 2 that is, in the same form and
substance of flesh to which, it is true, He gave immortality,
but He did not take away its nature. According to this form,
we are not to think that He is everywhere present. We must
beware of so building up the divinity of the man that we
destroy the reality of His body. It does not follow that what is
in God is in Him so as to be everywhere as God is. The

2 1 Cor. 2.8.

1 Mark 16.19; Luke 26.69; Col. 3.1; Heb. L3; 10.12.

2 2 Tim. 4.1; Acts 1.10,11.

LETTERS 229

Scripture says, with perfect truth: c ln him we live and move
and are,' 3 yet we are not everywhere present as He is, but
man is in God after one manner, while God is in man quite
differently, in His own unique manner. God and man in Him
are one Person, and both are the one Jesus Christ who is
everywhere as God, but in heaven as man.

Chapter 11

Although in speaking of Him we say that God is every-
where present, we must resist carnal ideas and withdraw our
rnind from our bodily senses, and not imagine that God is
distributed through all things by a sort of extension of size,
as earth or water or air or light are distributed for in each
of these the part is less in extent than the whole but,
rather, in the way in which there is great wisdom in a man
whose body is small, so that, if there were two wise men of
whom one is taller in stature but neither one wiser than the
other, there would not be greater wisdom in the taller one
and less in the smaller, nor less in one than in the two, but
as much in one as in the other and as much in each one as in
both; for, if both are absolutely equally wise, the two together
are not wiser than each one separately. In the same way, if
they are equally immortal, the two do not live longer than
each one individually.

Chapter 12

Finally, the very immortality of body which Christ first
experienced and which is promised to us at the end of the
world is indeed a great thing, but it is not great in size, for,
although it is corporeally possessed, it is an incorporeal per-

3 Acts 17.28.

230 SAINT AUGUSTINE

fection. So, although the Immortal body is less in one part
than in the whole, its immortality is as complete in the part
as in the whole, and, although some members are larger than
others, it does not follow that some are more immortal than
others. In the same way, in this life, when we are in good
health in every part of us, according to the present mode of
well-being in our body, we do not say that because the whole
hand is larger than the finger the health of the whole hand is
greater than that of the finger, but it is equal in these unequal
members. Thus, when smaller things are compared to larger
ones, it can happen that one thing may not be as large as
another, but it can be as healthy. There would be greater
health in larger members if the larger were more healthy;
since this is not so, but the larger and smaller are equally
healthy, there is obviously a disparity of size in the dimensions
of the members coinciding with a similarity of health in the
dissimilar.

Chapter 13

Since, then, the body is a substance, its quantity is in the
greatness of its bulk, whereas its health is not a quantity but
a quality of it. Thus, the quantity of the body could not
attain what its quality could. Quantity is found in the separate
parts which cannot be together in the same place, since each
one occupies its own space, the smaller ones less and the
larger ones more, and it could not be entire, or even as great,
in the several parts; but it is larger in the larger parts and
less in the smaller ones, and in no part as- great as it is in the
whole body. On the other hand, a quality, such as we say
health is, is as great in the smaller parts as in the larger ones
when the whole body is in health, and the parts which are
less extensive are not thereby less healthy nor are the larger
parts more healthy. God forbid, then, that a quality which

LETTERS 23 1

can be found In a created body would not exist in the very
substance of the Creator.

Chapter 14

Therefore, God is poured forth in all things. He Himself
says by the Prophet: 'I fill heaven and earth,' and, as I
quoted a short time before of His wisdom: He reacheth
from end to end mightily and ordereth all things sweetly.' 2
It is likewise written: 'The Spirit of the Lord hath filled
the whole world,' 3 and one of the Psalms has these words
addressed to Him: 'Whither shall I go from thy Spirit, or
whither shall I flee from thy face? If I ascend up into heaven,
thou art there; if I descend into hell thou art there.' 4 Yet
God so permeates all things as to be not a quality of the
world, but the very creative substance of the world, ruling
the world without labor, sustaining it without effort. Never-
theless, He is not distributed through space by size so that
half of Him should be in half of the world and half in the
other half of it. He is wholly present in all of it in such wise as
to be wholly in heaven alone and wholly in the earth alone,
and wholly in heaven and earth together; not confined in any
place, but wholly in Himself everywhere.

Chapter 15

Thus He is as the Father, thus as the Son, thus as the Holy
Spirit, thus as the Trinity, one God. They did not divide the
world among them into three parts, each One filling a sep-

1 Jer. 23.24.

2 Wisd. 8.1.

3 Wisd. L7.

4 Ps. 138.7,8.

232 SAINT AUGUSTINE

arate part, as if the Son and the Holy Spirit would not have
any part to be in if the Father had occupied the whole. A
truly incorporeal and immutable divinity does not exist on
those terms. They are not bodies, so that the Three together
should be larger than each One separately; They do not hold
places by Their extension so as not to be able to be in different
places at the same time. For, if our soul, established in our
body, not only does not feel crowded but even finds a sort of
breadth, not of physical space, but of spiritual joys, when it
happens as the Apostle says: 'Know you not that your
bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom
you have from God? 51 and it would be the height of foolish-
ness to say that there is no room for the Holy Spirit in our
body because our soul fills it all up, how much more foolish
to say that the Trinity could be prevented by crowding from
being anywhere, so that the Father and the Son and the Holy
Spirit could not be everywhere at the same time!

Chapter 16

Here is something much more remarkable: although God
is everywhere wholly present, He does not dwell in everyone,
It is not possible to say to all what the Apostle says, or what
I have just said, or even this: 'Know you not that you are
the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in
you?' 1 Hence, of some the same Apostle says the opposite:
'Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of
his. 52 Who, then, would dare to think, unless he were com-
pletely ignorant of the inseparability of the Trinity, that the

l 1 Cor. 6.19.

1 I Cor. 3.16.

2 Rom. 8.9.

LETTERS 233

Father or the Son could dwell in someone in whom the Holy
Spirit does not dwell, or that the Holy Spirit could be present
in someone in whom the Father and the Son are not present?
Hence it must be admitted that God is everywhere by the
presence of His divinity, but not everywhere by the grace of
His indwelling. It is because of this indwelling, in which the
grace of His love is recognized with certainty, that we do
not say: 'Our Father, who art everywhere,' but 'Our Father
who art in heaven,' 3 so that in our prayer we recall His
temple which we ought to be ourselves, and the measure of
our being such is the measure of our belonging to His
fellowship and His family of adoption. 4 For, if the people
of God, not yet made equal to the angels, 5 and still absent
from the Lord, 6 is called His temple, how much more true is
it that His temple is in heaven where the people of His angels
dwell, to whom we are to be joined and made equal, when,
after our pilgrimage, we attain to what has been promised !

Chapter 17

Therefore, He that is everywhere does not dwell in all,
and He does not even dwell equally in those in whom He
does dwell. Otherwise, what is the meaning of the request
made by Eliseus that there might be in him double the Spirit
of God that was in Elias? 1 And how is it that among the
saints some are more holy than others, except that they have
a more abundant indwelling of God? How, then, did we
speak the truth when we said above that God is everywhere

3 Matt. 6.9.

4 Rom. 8.15; Gal. 4.5.

5 Luke 20.36.

6 2 Cor. 5.6.

1 4 Kings 2.9.

234 SAINT AUGUSTINE

wholly present if He is more amply present in some, less in
others? But it should be noticed with care that we said He is
everywhere wholly present in Himself, not in things of which
some have a greater capacity for Him, others less. He is said to
be present everywhere because He is absent from no part of
the universe, and wholly present because He does not give
one part of Himself to one half of creation and another part
to the other half, in equal shares, or less to a smaller part
and more to a larger one; but, He is not only wholly present
to the whole universe, He is equally so to each part of it.
Those who have become wholly unlike Him by sinning are
said to be far from Him; those who receive His likeness by a
virtuous life are said to draw near to Him, just as it is correct
to say that eyes are farther from the light of day the more
blind they are, for what is so far from light as blindness,
even though the light of day be near at hand and shine upon
sightless eyes? But it is correct to say that eyes draw near to
the light when they advance to a recovery of sight through
improvement in health.

Chapter 18

However, I see that a more careful explanation is needed
of my reason for adding 'in Himself to my statement that
God is everywhere wholly present, because I think this could
be taken in an ambiguous sense. How is He everywhere if
He is in Himself? Everywhere, of course, because He is
nowhere absent; in Himself, because He is not dependent
on the things in which He is present, as if He could not exist
without them. Take away the spatial relations of bodies, they
will be nowhere, and because they are nowhere they will not
be at all. Take away bodies from the qualities of bodies,
there will be no place for them to be, and, as a necessary
consequence, they will not exist. For, even when a body is

LETTERS 235

equally healthy throughout its whole mass, or equally hand-
some, neither its health nor its beauty is greater in any part
than in any other, nor greater in the whole than in the part,
since it is evident that the whole is not any more healthy or
more handsome than the part. But, if it should be unequally
healthy or unequally handsome, it can happen that there
might be greater health or beauty in a smaller part when
the smaller members are more healthy or more beautiful than
the larger ones, because what we call great or small in
qualities does not depend on size. However, if the size itself
of the body, however great or small it may be, should be
taken away entirely, there will be nothing in which its
qualities can subsist. But, in the case of God, if less is received
by the one in whom He is present, He is not thereby lessened.
For He is entire in Himself, and He is not present in any
such way as to need them, as if He could not exist except in
them. Just as He is not absent from the one in whom He
does not dwell, but is wholly present even though this one
does not possess Him, so He is wholly present in the one in
whom He does dwell, although this one does not receive Him
wholly.

Chapter 19

He does not divide Himself among the hearts or bodies of
men in order to dwell in them, giving one part of Himself to
this one, another to that one, like the sunlight coming through
the doors and windows of houses. He is rather to be compared
to sound, although it is a corporeal and transitory thing,
which a deaf man does not receive at all, a partly deaf one
does not receive entirely, and of those who hear and are
equally near it, one receives more than another in proportion
as his hearing is keener, another less according as he is harder
of hearing, yet the sound itself does not vary from more to

236 SAINT AUGUSTINE

less, but in the place where all of them are it is equally present
to all. How much more perfect than this is God, whose nature
is incorporeal and unchangeably living, who cannot be pro-
longed and divided like sound by intervals of time, who does
not need airy space as a place in whch to exist, so as to be
near to those who are present, but who remains eternally
steadfast in Himself, who can be wholly present to all and to
each, and although those in whom He dwells possess Him in
proportion to the diversity of their own capacity, some more,
some less, He builds up all of them by the grace of His
goodness as His most beloved temple! 1

Chapter 20

The expression 'diversities of graces' is used as if they were
parts and members of one body in which we are all one temple
taken together, but individually we are individual temples,
because God is not greater in all than He is in each, and it
often happens that the many receive Him less, the one more.
When the Apostle said: 'There are diversities of graces/ he
at once added: But the same Spirit. 51 Likewise, when he had
listed these same diversities of graces, he said: 'But all these
things one and the same Spirit worketh, dividing to every one
according as he will 5 ; 2 dividing, therefore, but not Himself
those diversities are spoken of as members in the body, because
the ears have not the same function as the eyes, and, so,
divided, because He Himself is one and the same. Thus,
different duties are harmoniously allotted to the different
members. However, when we are in good health, in spite of

1 1 Cor. 3.16; 6.19; 2 Cor. 6.16.

1 1 Cor. 12.4.

2 1 Cor. 12.11.

LETTERS 237

these members being different, they rejoice in a common and
equal health, 3 all together, not separately, not one with more,
another with less. The head of this body is Christ/ the unity
of this body is proved by our sacrifice, which the Apostle
refers to briefly when he says: Tor we being many are one
bread, one body.' 5 Through our Head we are reconciled to
God, because in Him the divinity of the only-begotten Son
shared in our mortality, that we might be made sharers in
His immortality.

Chapter 21

This mystery is far removed from the hearts of the prideful
wise, but not from Christian hearts; consequently, not from
the truly wise. By those other wise I mean the ones who have
known God, 'because when they knew God, 5 as the Apostle
says, 'they have not glorified him as God or given thanks. 51
But you know in what sacrifice the words occur: 'Let us give
thanks to the Lord our God.' 2 The pride and pretention of
such men as these are far removed from the humility of this
sacrifice. So, it is remarkable how God dwells in some souls
who do not yet know Him and does not dwell in those who do.
These latter do not belong to the temple of God, 'who know-
ing God have not glorified him or given thanks/ yet little
children, sanctified by the sacrament of Christ and regen-
erated by the Holy Spirit, do belong to the temple of God,
although it is certain that they cannot yet know God because
of their age. Thus, the one group have been able to know
God but not to possess Him; the other have been able to

3 1 Cor. 12.26.

4 Col. 1.18.

5 1 Cor. 10.17.

1 Rom. 1.21.

2 Words found in the Preface of the Mass.

238 SAINT AUGUSTINE

possess Him before they knew Him. But most blessed are
those to whom knowing God is the same as possessing Him,
for that is the most complete, true, and happy knowledge.

Chapter 22

It is now time to take up that question which you added to
your letter after you had signed it : 'If infants are still without
knowledge of God, how was it possible for John, even before
his birth, to leap for joy in his mother's womb, at the coming
and in the presence of the Mother of the Lord?' After men-
tioning that you had read my book, On the Baptism of
Infants, you added these words: C I should like to know what
you think about pregnant mothers, when the mother of John
the Baptist answered in her son's name for the faith of his
belief. 5

Chapter 23

These are certainly the words of Elizabeth, mother of
John: 'Blessed art thou among women and blessed is the fruit
of thy womb. And whence is this to me that the Mother of
my Lord should come to me? For behold, as soon as the
voice of thy salutation sounded in my ears, the infant in my
womb leaped for joy. 31 But, in order that she might be able
to say this, the Evangelist forewarns us that she was filled
with the Holy Spirit,' 2 and it is clear that she knew by His
inspiration what that leaping of her infant signified, that is,
the coming of the Mother of Him whose forerunner and
announcer he was to be. It was possible for that to be a sign
of a great happening which the older people should know,
but not of something known by the infant. For, in the

1 Luke 1.41-44.

2 Luke 1.41.

LETTERS

239

introductory part of this narration in the Gospel it did not
say : The infant believed in her womb/ but c he leaped' ; and
she did not say: The infant leaped for faith in my womb, 5
but 'he leaped for joy.' We see instances of this leaping not
only in children but even in animals, although certainly not
for any faith or religion or rational recognition of someone
coming; but this case stands out as utterly uncommon and
new, because it took place in a womb, and at the coming of
her who was to bring forth the Saviour of men. Therefore,
this leaping, this greeting, so to speak, offered to the Mother
of the Lord is miraculous, it is to be reckoned among the
great signs, it was not effected by human means by the infant,
but by divine means in the infant, as miracles are usually
wrought.

Chapter 24

Yet, even if the use of reason and will were so advanced
in the child that he was able, from within his mother's womb,
to recognize, believe, and assent to what in other children
has to await the proper age, even this is to be considered
among the miracles of divine power, not adduced as an
example of human nature. For, when God willed it, even a
dumb beast spoke rationally, 1 yet not for this are men advised
to expect the counsel of asses in their deliberations. Therefore,
I neither reject what happened to John, nor do I set it up as a
norm of what is to be thought of infants; on the contrary, I
pronounce that in him it was miraculous, because I do not
find it in others. There is something similar to it in that
struggle of the twins in the womb of Rebecca, but this was
such a prodigy that the woman consulted the divine oracle
and learned that two nations were prefigured by those two
infants. 2

1 Num. 22.28.

2 Gen. 25.22,23. Balaam and the ass.

240 SAINT AUGUSTINE

Chapter 25

However, if we wish to show by words that infants do not
know divine things in fact, they do not yet know human
thmgs i f ear that we may seem to do an injury to our own
senses, since our persuasion is done by speaking, in which all
the force and function of speech easily overpower the evidence
of truth. Do we not see that even when infants begin to
utter any syllables at all of articulate speech, and pass from
infancy 1 to the beginning of speech, they still think and say
such things as would make anyone but a fool not hesitate to
call them fools if they remained persistently in that state as
they advanced in years? Unless, perhaps, it remains for us to
believe that infants were wise in the wailing of infancy or in
the silence of the womb, but, after they began to speak to us,
they came, as they grew up, to that degree of ignorance which
we deride. You see how absurd it is to think that, for, when
the consciousness of children issues in any kind of words, it is
almost nothing in comparison with what its elders know, but,
compared to the state in which children are born, it can be
called intelligence. Why, in that safeguard of salvation, when
Christian grace is made available to them, although they
struggle against it with all their might by voice and movement,
are they not held responsible for it, and why has all that
effort of theirs no effect until the sacrament is completed in
them, by which the guilt derived from the original damnation
is expiated, unless because, in so far as they do not know
what they are doing, they are not judged for doing it? Besides,
what Christian does not know that if they had the use of
reason and free will, which would require assent to the
sanctifying act, what an evil it would be to resist so great a
grace, and how useless the act performed would be to them,
or even what an increase of guilt it would bring?

1 Infantia means, literally, 'speechlessness.'

LETTERS 241

Chapter 26

We say, then, that the Holy Spirit dwells in baptized
children although they do not know it. They are unconscious
of Him although He is in them, just as they are unconscious
of their own mind, and the reason in them which they cannot
yet use is like a covered spark waiting to be enkindled by
oncoming age. And this ought not to seem strange in the
case of infants, since the Apostle says to some of their elders,
also: 'Know you not that you are the temple of God and
that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? 5 And, shortly before,
he had said: 'But the sensual man perceiveth not these
things that are of the Spirit of God.' 1 Such as these he also
calls little ones, not in carnal but in spiritual age. 2 Thus,
their understanding did not recognize the Holy Spirit who
dwelt in them, and they were still carnal, not spiritual, in
spite of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in them, because
their understanding could not recognize His indwelling Spirit.

Chapter 27

He is said to dwell in such as these because He works in
them secretly that they may be His temple, and He perfects
His work in them as they advance in virtue and persevere in
their progress. Tor we are saved by hope/ 1 as the Apostle
says, and he repeats in another place: 'He saved us by the
laver of regeneration. 52 Therefore, when he says: c He saved
us, 5 as if salvation itself had already been given us, he explains

1 1 Cor. 2.14.

2 I Cor. 3.1.

1 Rom. 8.24.

2 Titus 3.5.

242 SAINT AUGU STINE

how this is to be understood when he says : Tor we are saved
by hope. But hope that is seen is not hope, for what a man
seeth why doth he hope for? But if we hope for that which
we see not, we wait for it with patience.' 3 Thus, many things
are spoken of in the divine Scriptures as if they were
accomplished, but we understand that they are still a subject
of hope. Hence, that other saying of the Lord when He spoke
to the disciples: 'All things whatsoever I have heard of my
Father I have made known to you/ 4 which is so manifestly
said of what is to be hoped for that He said to them after-
ward: C I have many things to say to you but you cannot bear
them now.' 5 Therefore, in the mortals in whom He still dwells
He carries on the building of His dwelling which He does
not perfect in this life, but in another after this one, when
'death shall be swallowed up in victory,' and shall hear these
words: O death, where is thy victory? O death, where is thy
sting?' and what is the sting of death but sin? 6

Chapter 28

Although we are now reborn of water and the Spirit, 1 and
all our sins are washed away in the cleansing of that laver,
both the original sin of Adam, in whom all have sinned, and
our own sins of deeds, words and thoughts, we still remain in
this human life which is a warfare upon earth, 2 and therefore
we have good reason to say: Forgive us our debts.' This
prayer is also said by the whole church which the Saviour

3 Rom. 8.24,25.

4 John 15.15.

5 John 16.12.

6 Gf. 1 Cor. 15.54-56.

1 John 3.5.

2 Job 7.1.

LETTERS 243

cleansed 'by the laver of water in the word, that He might
present it to himself glorious, not having spot or wrinkle or
any such thing'; 3 at that future time, of course, when it
shall be perfected in deed where now it walks forward in
hope. In this life it is plainly not without spot or wrinkle or
any such thing, either in all men who belong to it, who have
the use of reason and free will and who carry the burdens of
mortal flesh, or, at least, as our objectors must necessarily
admit, in many of its members; so how can it say otherwise
than with truth: 'Forgive us our debts'?

Chapter 29

Since, then, of the mortals in whom He dwells He justifies
the proficient in goodness more and more as they are renewed
from day to day, hears them when they pray, cleanses them
when they confess their sins, that He may present them to
Himself as a pure and everlasting temple, it is right to say
that He does not dwell in those who 'knowing God have not
glorified him as God or given thanks.' For, by worshiping and
serving the 'creature rather than the Creator,' 1 they have not
wished to be a temple of the one true God, and thus, by
wishing to have Him along with many other things, they
have been more successful in not having Him at all than in
joining Him to many false gods. And He is rightly said to
dwell in those whom He has called according to His purpose,
and whom He has received in order to justify and glorify
them even before they are able to know His incorporeal
nature, as far as it can be known e in part, through a glass,
in a dark manner,' 2 by man in this life, although he has made

3 Eph. 5.26,27.

1 Rom. 1.25.

2 1 Cor. 13.12.

244 SAINT AUGUSTINE

great progress. There are some in whom He dwells who are
like those to whom the Apostle says: e l could not speak to
you as unto spiritual but as unto carnal. As unto little ones
in Christ I gave you milk to drink, not meat, for you were
not able as yet; but neither indeed are you now able.' And
to these, words he added this: 'Know you not that you are
the temple of God; that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?' 3
Even if such as these are overtaken by the last day of this
life before they attain to that spiritual age of mind when
they will be fed solid food instead of milk, the One who
dwells in them will perfect whatever they have lacked of
understanding here, since they have not withdrawn from the
unity of the body of Christ, who has become our way, 4 nor
from their membership in the temple of God. In order not
to withdraw from it, they hold steadfastly to the rule of faith
which is common to little and great in the Church; they
walk in Him whereunto they are come, and until God reveals
to them that they are otherwise minded, 5 they do not make
dogma of their carnal thoughts, because they are not hardened
by clinging to contentious excuses; but walking in a certain
way, that is, the way of advancement, they struggle with
their understanding, winning clear sight by their pious faith.

Chapter 30

This being so, those two phenomena, birth and rebirth,
which occur in a single man, belong to two men, one to the
first Adam, the other to the second Adam who is called
Christ. 'Yet that was not first,' says the Apostle, 'which is
spiritual, but that which is natural; afterwards that which is

3 1 Cor. 3.12,16.

4 John 14.6.

5 Phil. 3.15,16.

LETTERS 245

spiritual. The first man was of the earth, earthly, the second
man from heaven, heavenly. Such as is the earthly such also
are the earthly; and such as is the heavenly such also are
they that are heavenly. As we have borne the image of the
earthly, let us bear also the image of him who is from
heaven/ 1 He says, likewise: By one man came death and
by a man the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all
die, so also in Christ all shall be made alive. 52 He says *alP in
both places because no one comes to death but by the first,
no one to life but by the second: in the first the power of
man's will to cause death was made evident; in the second,
the value of God's help for life. To sum up: The first man
was only man, but the second was God and man; sin was
committed by forsaking God, justice is not achieved without
God. Thus we should not have to die if we had not come
from his members by carnal generation, nor should we live
if we were not His members by spiritual incorporation. There-
fore, for us there was need of birth and rebirth, but for Him
need only of birth for our sake; we pass from sin to justice
by rebirth, but He passed to justice without any sin. By being
baptized He gave a higher commendation to the sacrament
of our regeneration through His humility, signifying our old
man by His Passion, our new one by His Resurrection.

Chapter 31

The revolt of concupiscence which is rooted in mortal flesh,
by which it happens that its members are stirred to action
even against the movement of the will, is brought into such
control that those who stand in need of regeneration are
lawfully begotten by the intercourse of parents. However,

1 Cf. 1 Cor. 15.46-49.

2 1 Cor. 15.21,22.

246 SAINT AUGUSTINE

Christ did not will that His flesh should come into being by
this kind of meeting of male and female, but in His con-
ception of the Virgin, without any such human passion, He
took on c the likeness of sinful flesh' 1 for us, that the flesh of
sin in us might be purified. Tor, as by the offense of one/
the Apostle says, c unto all men to condemnation, so also by
the justice of one unto all men to justification of life.' 2 No one
is born without the intervention of carnal concupiscence
which is inherited from the first man who is Adam, and no
one is reborn without the intervention of spiritual grace
which is given by the second man who is Christ. Therefore,
if we belong to the former by birth, we belong to the latter by
rebirth; as no one can be bom again before he is born, it is
clear that Christ's birth was unique in that He had no need
to be born again because He did not pass over from sin, to
which He was never subject. He was not conceived in iniquity
nor did His Mother nourish Him in her womb in sin, 3
because the Holy Spirit came upon her and the power of the
Most High overshadowed her; therefore, the Holy that was
born of her is called the Son of God. 4 He does not destroy
the good of marriage, but He curbs the evil of rebellious
members, so that when carnal concupiscence has been tamed
it may at least become conjugal chastity. But the Virgin
Mary, to whom the words were said : 'And the power of the
Most High shall overshadow thee,' burned with no heat of
this concupiscence in conceiving her holy offspring under
such a shadow. Therefore, with the exception of this corner-
stone, 5 I do not see how men are to be built into a house of
God, to contain God dwelling in them, 6 without being born
again, which cannot happen before they are born.

1 Rom. 8.3.

2 Rom. 5.18.

3 Ps. 50.7.

4 Luke 1.35.

5 Isa. 28.16; 1 Peter 2.6; Eph. 2.20.

6 2 Cor. 6.16.

LETTERS 247

Chapter 32

Furthermore, whatever opinion we may hold about preg-
nant mothers, or even about men still sheltered within their
mother's womb, whether or not they can be endowed with
some kind of sanctification, either because of John who
leaped for joy, though he had not yet come forth to the
light of day and who would believe this could happen
without the action of the Holy Spirit? or because of Jeremias
to whom the Lord said: 'Before thou earnest forth out of
the womb I sanctified thee,' 1 it is a fact that the sanctification
by which we become temples of God individually, and form
one temple of God all together, takes place only in the reborn,
which men cannot be unless they are first born. No one will
make a good end of the life into which he is bom unless
he is bora again before he ends it.

Chapter 33

But if anyone says that a man is already born even when he
is still in his mother's womb, and offers as proof from the
Gospel the words to Joseph about the Virgin Mother of the
Lord, then with child: Tor that which is born in her is of the
Holy Spirit,' 1 is that any reason why a second nativity
should follow on this one? Otherwise, it will not be the
second but the third. When the Lord was speaking on this
point He said: 'Unless a man be born again/ 2 counting that

l Jer. 1.5.

1 Matt. 1.20. This objection arose from the version of Scripture used by
St. Augustine. The Vulgate obviates it by using 'conceived* instead of
'born/

2 John 3.3.

248 SAINT AUGUSTINE

the first nativity, of course, which happens when a mother
gives birth, not when she conceives or becomes pregnant;
birth is what happens from her, not what happens in her. We
do not say that a man is reborn when his mother brings him
forth, as if he were born a second time after being born
once in the womb, but, not counting that as a birth which
makes a woman pregnant, a man is said to be born when he
comes forth, so that he may be born again 'of water and
the Holy Spirit. 53 The Lord is said to have been born at
Bethlehem of Juda 4 according to the time of His birth from
His Mother. If, then, a man can be regenerated in the womb
by the grace of the Spirit, since he still has to be born, he is
reborn before he is born, which is absolutely impossible.
Therefore, it is not by the works of justice which they are
about to perform that men are born into the totality of the
body of Christ as into a living structure of the temple of
God which is His Church, but, by being born again through
grace, they are carried over as from a ruinous mass into the
foundation of the building. Outside this building which is
raised up to be made blessed as an eternal dwelling of God,
the whole life of man is unhappy and is rather to be called
death than life. Whoever, therefore, has God dwelling in him,
that the anger of God may not rest on him, will not be
hostile to this Body, this temple, this birth. But whoever is
not reborn is hostile to it.

Chapter 34

Moreover, our Mediator, when revealed to us, wished the
sacrament of our regeneration to be manifest. But for the
just men of old it was something hidden, although they also
were to be saved by the same faith which was to be revealed

3 John 3.5.

4 Matt. 2.1.

LETTERS 249

in its own time. For we do not dare to prefer the faithful of
our own time to the friends of God by whom those prophecies
were to be made, since God so announced Himself as the God
of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob, 1 as to give
Himself that name forever. If the belief is correct that
circumcision served instead of baptism in the saints of old,
what shall be said of those who pleased God before this was
commanded, except that they pleased Him by faith, because,
as it is written in Hebrews: 'Without faith it is impossible to
please God 3 ? 2 'But having the same spirit of faith,' says the
Apostle, 'as it is written: I believed, for which cause I have
spoken, we also believe for which cause we speak also.' 3 He
would not have said e the same' unless this very spirit of faith
were theirs, also. For, just as they, when this same mystery
was hidden, believed in the Incarnation of Christ which was
to come, so we also believe that it has come. And both we
and they expect His future coming to judgment, for there is
no other mystery of God 4 except Christ in whom all who have
died in Adam are to be made alive, because 'as in Adam all
die, so also in Christ all shall be made alive,' 5 as we have
explained above.

Chapter 35

Therefore, God, who is everywhere present and everywhere
wholly present, does not dwell in all men, but in those only
whom He has made into His most blessed temple or temples,
delivering them 'from the power of darkness,' and translating
them 'into the kingdom of the Son of his love,' 1 which began

1 Exod. 3.15.

2 Heb. 11.6.

3 2 Cor. 4.13; Ps. 115.10.

4 Apoc. 10.7.

5 2 Cor. 15.22.

1 Col. 1.13.

250 SAINT AUGUSTINE

with their regeneration. But His temple has one meaning
when it is built by the hands of men, of inanimate materials,
as the Tabernacle, made of wood, tapestries, skins and other
movables of that sort; as also the Temple built by King
Solomon, of stone, wood and metal; and another meaning
for that true temple which was symbolized by those meanings.
Hence the words: c Be you also as living stones, built up, a
spiritual house'; 2 hence it is also written: Tor we are the
temple of the living God, as God saith: I will dwell in them
and I will be their God and they shall be my people. 33

Chapter 36

Yet we ought not to be disturbed because some who do not
belong or do not yet belong to this temple, that is, among
whom God does not or does not yet dwell, perform some
works of power, as happened to him who cast out devils in
the name of Christ; although he was not a follower of Christ, 1
Christ ordered that he be allowed to continue because it gave
a useful testimony of His name to many. He said also that
many would say to Him at the last day: c ln thy name we
have done many miracles,' to whom He would certainly not
say: 'I know you not,' 2 if they belonged to the temple of
God, which He makes blessed by His indwelling. The cen-
turion Cornelius also saw the angel that was sent to him
and heard him saying that his prayers had been heard and his
alms accepted, even before he was incorporated into this
temple by regeneration. 3 God does these things as One every-
where present, even when He acts through His holy angels.

2 1 Peter 2.5.

3 2 Cor. 6.16; Lev. 26.12.

1 Mark 9.37-39.

2 Matt. 7.22,23.

3 Acts 10.1-4.

LETTERS

Chapter 37

In the case of that sanctification of Jeremlas before he came
forth from the womb, 1 some take it that he was a type of
the Saviour, who had no need of regeneration; however,
even if it is taken literally, it can also be appropriately
understood in the sense of regeneration; as the Gospel calls
sons of God those not yet regenerated, when, after Caiaphas
had said of the Lord: 'It is expedient for you that one man
should die for the people and that the whole nation perish
not, 5 the Evangelist goes on and adds: This he spoke not of
himself, but being the high priest of that year, he prophesied
that Jesus should die for the nation, and not only for the
nation, but to gather together in one the children of God that
were dispersed.' 2 In addition to the Hebrew race, he ob-
viously calls children of God men included in all other races
who were not yet among the faithful, not yet baptized. How
else can he call them sons of God except in the sense of
their predestination, in which sense, also, the Apostle says
that God chose us in Christ before the foundation of the
world? 3 That very gathering together in one would have made
them children of God. And by the words 'in one' he would
not have meant any corporeal place, since the Prophet made
this prophecy of a similar calling of the Gentiles : They shall
adore him every man from his own place; all the islands of
the Gentiles,' 4 but 'gathered together in one' refers to the one
Spirit and one body of which the Head is Christ. 5 Such a
gathering together is the building of the temple of God; such
a gathering together is not effected by carnal generation, but
by spiritual regeneration.

1 jer. 1.5.

2 John 11.50-52.

3 Eph. 1.4.

4 Soph. 2.11.

5 Col. 1.18; Eph. 1.22,23.

252 SAINT AUGUSTINE

Chapter 38

Therefore, God dwells in each one singly as in His temples,
and in all of them gathered together as in His temple. As
long as this temple, like the ark of Noe, is tempest-tossed in
this world, the words of the psalm are verified: The Lord
dwelleth in the flood/ 1 although, if we consider the many
people of the faithful of all races whom the Apocalypse
describes under the name of waters, 2 they can also be
appropriately meant by The Lord dwelleth in the flood/ But
the psalm goes on: c And the Lord shall sit king forever/*
doubtless in that very temple of His, established in eternal
life after the tempest of this world. Thus, God, who is every-
where present and everywhere wholly present, does not dwell
everywhere but only in His temple, to which, by His grace,
He is kind and gracious, but in His indwelling he is received
more fully by some, less by others.

Chapter 39

Speaking of Him as our Head, the Apostle says: Tor in
him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead corporally/ 1
He does not say 'corporally' because God is corporeal, but he
either uses the word in a derived sense as if He dwelt in a
temple made by hands, not corporally but symbolically, that
is, under prefiguring signs for using a derived word he calls
all those observances shadows of things to come, 2 for the
most high God, as it is written, 'dwelleth not in temples made

1 Ps. 28.10. The Vulgate has: The Lord maketh the flood to dwell/

2 Apoc. 17.15.

3 Ps. 28.10.

1 CoL 2.9.

2 Col. 2.17; Heb. 10.1.

LETTERS 253

with hand* 3 or else the word 'corporally' is certainly used
because God dwells, as in His temple, in the body of Christ
which He took from the Virgin. That is why, when He said
to the Jews who demanded a sign: 'Destroy this temple and
in three days I will raise it up, 5 the Evangelist, explaining
what He meant, added: 'But he spoke of the temple of his
body.' 4

Chapter 40

What then? Are we to think there is this difference between
the head and the other members that divinity may dwell in
any given member however outstanding, as some great pro-
phet or apostle, yet not c all the fullness of the Godhead' 1 as
in the Head which is Christ? In our body there also is sen-
sation innate in the individual members, but not so much as
in the head, where it is clear that all the five senses are
centered; for there are located sight and hearing and smell
and taste and touch, but in the other members there is only
touch. But perhaps, besides the fact that 'all the fullness of
the Godhead' is found in that Body as in a temple, there is
another difference between that Head and the perfection of
any of the members. There is, indeed, in the fact that by a
certain unique assumption of humanity He became one
Person with the Word. Of none of the saints has it been, is it,
or will it be possible to say: 'The Word was made flesh'; 2
none of the saints by any supreme gift of grace received the
name of only-begotten Son, so as to be called by the name
which is that of the very Word of God Himself before all

3 Acts 17.24.

4 John 2.19,21.

1 Col, 2.9.

2 John 1.14,

254 SAINT AUGUSTINE

ages, together with the humanity which He assumed. There-
fore, that act of becoming man cannot be shared with any
holy men, however eminent in wisdom and sanctity. That is
a sufficiently evident and clear proof of divine grace. Who,
then, could be guilty of such sacrilege as to dare assert that
any soul, through the merit of its free will, could succeed in
becoming another Christ? How could one single soul, by
means of the free will given uniformly to all by nature, have
merited to be joined to the Person of the only-begotten Word,
unless a supreme grace had granted this, a grace which we
may lawfully extol, but of which it is forbidden us to wish
to judge?

Chapter 41

If I have been successful in treating of these matters, in
proportion to my strength and by the Lord's help, when you
set yourself to think of God everywhere present and every-
where wholly present, not distributed in different places as if
by the stretching of physical mass, turn your mind from all
corporeal images such as it is wont to fashion. That is not
how we think of wisdom or justice or, finally, of charity, of
which it is written : 'God is charity/ 1 And when you think of
His indwelling, think of the unity of the gathering of saints,
especially in heaven, where He is said to dwell in a unique
manner, because His will is done there by the perfect
obedience of those in whom He dwells; then think of Him
on earth where He dwells while building His house which is
to be dedicated at the end of time. But when you think of
Christ our Lord, the only-begotten Son of God, equal to the
Father, and likewise Son of man, in which respect the Father
is greater then He, do not doubt that as God He is every-
where wholly present, and also as God He dwells in the

1 1 John 4.8.

LETTERS 255

same temple of God; while in His true Body He is in some
part of heaven.

It gives me such pleasure to talk with you that I do not
know whether I have observed a due measure of speech, in
my desire to compensate for my long silence by my long
talk. Truly I speak to you as to a friend, so closely are you
bound to my heart by the ties of religion and kindness, in
which you have surpassed me. Give thanks to God whenever
you know that any work of my pen has been fruitful, but if
you observe my defects, pardon them as a most dear friend,
with the same sincere affection, praying for my cure, as you
grant me your indulgence.

188. Alypius and Augustine give greeting in the Lord to the

lady Juliana? their deservedly distinguished

daughter, worthy of honor, with due respect in

Christ (End of 417 or beginning of 418)

It was a pleasing and happy coincidence that the letter of
your Reverence found us settled together at Hippo. This
gives us an opportunity of writing you a joint reply, assuring
you of our joy in hearing of your welfare and giving you
news, with reciprocal affection, of our own, which we trust
is dear to you, lady worthy of honor with due respect in
Christ, our deservedly distinguished daughter. We know well
that you know the depth of religious affection we owe you,
and the great solicitude we feel for you before God and
among men. Although our Lowliness came to know your
family as pious Catholics, that is, true members of Christ,
first by letters, and then by personal acquaintance, neverthe-
less as you have, through our ministry, 'received the word of

1 Mother of Demetrias, a consecrated virgin, who had received from
Pelagius a book filled with errors.

256 SAINT AUGUSTINE

the hearing of God,' as the Apostle says: y u received it not
as the word of men, but, as it is indeed, the word of God.' 2
And this ministry of ours has borne such fruit in your house,
by the helping grace and mercy of the Saviour that, although
a worldly marriage had been arranged for her, the saintly
Demetrias preferred the spiritual embrace of the Spouse,
'beautiful above the sons of men,' 3 to whom virgins pledge
themselves that they may gain the more abundant fruitf ulness
of the spirit without losing the integrity of their flesh. We
should not have known how that exhortation of ours had
been received by the faithful and noble girl if we had not
learned the most joyful news from the truthful report of your
letter, which reached us on our journey a short time after
she had made profession of virginity as a consecrated nun,
that this great gift of God which He plants and waters by
means of His servants, but gives the increase Himself, 4 had
prospered so well for His workers.

This being the case, no one will call us unmannerly if we
are moved by too urgent distress in warning you to avoid
teachings contrary to the grace of God. Although the Apostle
warns us to be instant in preaching the word not only in
season but even out of season, 5 we do not include you in the
list of those persons to whom a sermon or a page of ours would
seem unseasonable when we advise you to avoid carefully
what is not in accord with sound doctrine. That is the
reason why you have received our warning in so grateful a
spirit that you say in the letter which we are now answering :
Indeed I return fervent thanks to your Reverence for the
loving warning you gave us not to lend our ears to the men
who often corrupt our venerable faith by lying treatises.*

2 1 Thess. 2,13.

3 Ps. 44.3.

4 1 Cor, 3.5,6.

5 2 Tim. 4.2.

LETTERS 257

But what presses us more and more urgently not to refrain
from speaking to you about those who are trying to distort
even those teachings which are sound is the sentence which
you add when you say: 'But your Priesthood knows that I
and my little household are far removed from persons of that
kind; all our family follow the Catholic faith so closely that
we have never fallen into any heresy, nor ever lapsed into any
sect which seems to have even small errors, much less those
which are outside the pale. 5 We count your house as no small
Church of Christ. Similarly, it is no small error on the part
of those who think that we have of ourselves whatever justice,
continence, piety, and chastity there is in us, because God
has made us so that He gives us no further help beyond a
revelation of knowledge, which makes us do, with love, what
we know through learning that we ought to do; in short, who
define nature and doctrine as being the only form of grace
and help given us by God that we may live justly and up-
rightly. They will not admit that we are divinely helped to-
ward the possession of a good will on which depends the very
fact that we live justly, or of charity itself, which is so eminent
among all the gifts of God that it is said to be God, 6 by
which alone any fulfillment of the divine law and teaching
there may be in us is accomplished; but they say that we are
sufficient of ourselves and of our own will to accomplish such
fulfillment. It ought to seem no slight error to us that Chris-
tians should profess such belief and refuse to listen to the
Apostle of Christ who said: 'The charity of God is poured
forth in our hearts/ and, lest anyone think he has it through
his will alone, he at once adds: 'by the Holy Spirit who is
given to us.' 7 You understand how greatly and how irreme-
diably anyone errs who no longer admits that this great grace

6 1 John 4,8,16.

7 Rom. 5.5.

258 SAINT AUGUSTINE

is from the Saviour who 'ascended on high, led captivity
captive and gave gifts to men.' 8

We would like to know, preferably through your reply,
how, owing you such affection, we could have refrained from
warning you to beware of such teaching, after we had read
the book which a certain one 9 addressed to the saintly
Demetrias, or even whether it reached you* If it is right and
proper, let the virgin of Christ read what may make her
believe that her virginal sanctity and all her spiritual riches
come to her from herself alone, and thus, before she reaches
full beatitude, let her learn to be ungrateful to God which
God forbid ! These are the words written in that same book
addressed to her: 'You have here,' he says, 'the reason why
you are preferred to others; nay, you have here much more,
for your physical beauty and the wealth of your family will
not be attributed to you, but of your spiritual riches, no one
but you could bestow them on you. For these, then, you are
deservedly praised, for these you are deservedly preferred to
others, because they can be found only in you and of you.' 10

You see, of course, the destructive effect of these words.
Certainly, when he says: 'These good things cannot be
found except in you,' he speaks well and truly: these words
are food ; but when he says : 'They come only from yourself,'
this is all poison. God forbid that these words should find a
willing hearing from the virgin of Christ who lovingly under-
stands the natural poverty of the human heart and knows
therefrom that her only adornment is in the gifts of her
Spouse. Let her listen, rather, to the Apostle when he says:
'I have espoused you to one husband that I may present you
as a chaste virgin to Christ; but I fear lest, as the serpent
seduced Eve by his subtlety, your minds should be corrupted

8 Eph, 4.7,8; Ps. 67.19.

9 Pelagius.

10 Pelagii Liber ad Demetriaden 11 (PL 33.1107.3-36).

LETTERS 259

from the chastity that is in Christ. 311 Therefore, let her not
listen to the one who says of her spiritual riches: c No one
but yourself could bestow them on you,' and 'they can be
found only in you and of you/ but let her listen to the one
who says: 'We have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the
excellency may be of the power of God and not of us. 512

Concerning this same sacred virginal continence, also,
which is not of herself but is a gift of God, although it is
given to one who believes and desires it, let her listen to the
same truthful and pious teacher who said, in treating of this
subject: 'I would that all men were even as myself; but
everyone hath his proper gift from God ; one after this manner
and another after that.' 13 Let her listen to what is said of such
chastity and integrity by Him who is the sole Spouse of the
whole Church as well as her own: 'All men take not this
word but they to whom it is given, 314 and let her learn from it
that she has such a great and excellent gift that she ought to
give thanks to our God and Lord rather than listen to the
words of, we do not say a cajoling flatterer lest we seem to
judge rashly of men's secret motives, but at least of a deluded
admirer who tells her that she has this from herself. As the
Apostle James says: 'Every best gift and every perfect gift is
from above, coming down from the Father of lights.' 15 This
is the source of the holy virginity in which your daughter
surpasses you, to your joy and satisfaction; after you in age,
before you in conduct; of you by birth, before you in honor;
inferior to you in years, excelling you in holiness. In her you
begin to have for yours what you could not have in yourself.
She, indeed, did not contract a carnal marriage and as a
result she was spiritually enriched more than you, yet not

11 2 Cor. 11.2,3.

12 2 Cor. 4.7.

13 1 Cor. 7.7.

14 Matt. 19.11.

15 James 1.17.

260 SAINT AUGUSTINE

only for herself but for you; though you are inferior to her,
in this you are made equal to her that your marriage was the
cause of her birth. These are gifts of God, and they are yours
also, but they are 'not of yourselves,' 16 for you have this
treasure in earthly and still frail bodies, as 'in earthen vessels
that the excellency may be of the power of God and not of
you.' 17 Do not be surprised that we say it is both yours and not
of you, for when we speak of our daily bread, we say c Give us,'
lest it be thought to be c of us.'

Therefore, as it is written: Tray without ceasing; in all
things give thanks, 318 for you pray that you may have it
continually and increasingly; you give thanks because you do
not have it of yourselves. Who set you apart from that clay 19
of Adam, that lump of death and damnation? Was it not He
who 'is come to seek and to save that which was lost'? 20 On
the other hand, when a man hears the Apostle saying: 'Who
hath distinguished thee?' will he answer: 'My good will, my
faith, my justice,' and not listen to the words immediately
following: 'For what hast thou that thou hast not received?
And if thou hast received it, why dost thou glory as if thou
hadst not received it?' 21 Thus, when the consecrated virgin
hears or reads: 'No one but yourself can bestow spiritual
riches on you; for these you are deservedly praised, for these
you are deservedly preferred to others, because they can be
found only in you and of you,' we do not wish her thereupon
to glory as if she had not received them. Let her say: 'In me,
O God, are vows to thee which I will pay, praises to thee'; 22
but because they are in her but not of her, let her remember
to say: C O Lord, in thy favor thou givest strength to my

16 Eph. 2.8.

17 Cf. 2 Cor. 4.7.

18 1 Thess. 5.1748.

19 Rom. 9.21.

20 Luke 19.10; Matt. 18.11.

21 1 Cor. 4.7.

22 Ps. 55.12.

LETTERS 261

beauty, 523 because even though they may be of her because of
her free will, without which we perform no good work, yet it is
not true, as he said : They could come only from her.' There
can be no good will in man unless the free will is helped by
the grace of God. The Apostle says: Tor it is God who
worketh in you both to will and to accomplish, according to
his good will,' 24 not, as they think, by a mere revelation of
knowledge so that we may know what we ought to do, but
also by breathing His charity into us so that we do with
love what we have learned by our knowledge.

Surely, the wise man knew how great a good continence
was when he said: 'And as I knew that no one can be
continent except God give it.' Therefore, he not only knew
how great, how desirable, how much to be coveted this good
is, but also that it could not exist unless God gave it, for
wisdom had taught him this. When he also said: 'And this
also was a point of wisdom to know whose gift it was,' his
own wisdom did not supply him with it, but he said: 'I
went to the Lord and besought him/ 25 Thus, God's help does
not consist only in this, that we know what is to be done,
but also in our doing with love what we have learned by our
knowledge. Therefore, no one can be either learned or con-
tinent unless God give it. Consequently, when he had the
knowledge he prayed to have the continency, that it might
also be in him, because he knew that it was not of himself;
or if by reason of his free will it was to some extent of himself,
it was not exclusively of himself, 'because no one can be
continent unless God give it. 3 But when Pelagius speaks of
spiritual riches, among which that shining and beautiful con-
tinence is certainly included, he does not say: They can be
in you and of you, 3 but They can be only of you and in you.'

23 PS. 29.18.

24 Phil. 2.13.

25 Wisd. 8.21.

262 SAINT AUGUSTINE

Consequently, he believes that as they cannot be found
elsewhere than in her, so they can have no other source than
herself, and therefore may the merciful Lord avert it from
her heart ! let her so glory as if she had not received them.

Our opinion, however, of the training and Christian
humility of the saintly virgin in which she was nourished and
brought up makes us think that when she read those words,
if indeed she did read them, she groaned and humbly struck
her breast, perhaps wept, also, and faithfully prayed God,
to whom she is consecrated and by whom she is sanctified,
that, as those words are not hers but another's so her faith
should not be such that she would believe she has anything
which would make her glory in herself and not in the Lord.
Her glory, indeed, is in herself, not in another's words, as the
Apostle says: 'But let every one prove his own work and so
he shall have glory in himself and not in another. 526 But God
forbid that she should be her own glory and not He to whom
it is said: 'My glory and the lifter up of my head/ 27 Thus,
It is safe for that glory to be in her when God who is in her
is Himself her glory; from whom she has all the good things
by which she is good, and will have all things by which she
will be better, in so far as she can be better in this life; and
by which she will be made perfect when divine grace, not
human praise, has made her perfect. For, 'in the Lord shall
her soul be praised,' 28 'who hath satisfied her desire with good
things,' 29 because He has Himself inspired this desire, lest His
virgin should glory in any good as if she had not received it.

Inform us about this in your answer and let us know
whether we are wrong about her state of mind. For we know
one thing very well, that you and all your household are and

26 Gal. 6.4.

27 Ps. 3.4.

28 C. Ps. 33.3.

29 Cf. Ps. 102.5.

LETTERS

263

have been worshipers of the undivided Trinity. But this is not
the only source from which human error steals upon us,
namely, that we should have heterodox views of the undivided
Trinity, for there are also other points in which it is possible to
fall into error, such as the one we have spoken of in this letter,
more at length, perhaps, than was needful for your faithful
and chaste prudence. Still, if anyone says that the good which
is of God is not of God, we do not know whom else he insults
except God, and thereby also the undivided Trinity. May
this evil be far from you, as we believe it has been. God forbid
utterly that this book from which we have thought it
advisable to quote some passages to make their meaning more
c l ear should leave any such impression in your mind, and
we do not mean yours only or that of the consecrated virgin,
your daughter, but even the mind of any one of your male or
female servants of however long service.

But if you will look into it more carefully, you will find
that even what he seems to say there in favor of grace or of
the help of God is ambiguous, and can be referred either to
nature or knowledge or the remission of sins. As to their
being forced to admit that we ought to pray lest we enter
into temptation, they can apply it in this sense so as to
answer that we are helped to it to this extent that when we
ask and knock, 30 our intellect is opened to truth by which we
learn what we ought to do, but not to the extent that our will
receives strength to make us do what we have learned. And
when they say that the Lord Christ is set before us as a
model of virtuous living, and that this is the grace or help
of God, they go back to the same idea of grace as knowledge,
because obviously we learn by His example how we ought to
live; but they refuse to admit that we are helped to do with
love what we know through what we have learned.
" Find some passage in the same book, if you can, where he

30 Cf. Matt. 7.7,8; Luke 11.9,10.

264 SAINT AUGUSTINE

admits that such help from God is something else except
nature or free will, which belongs to the same nature, or the
remission of sins and revelation of knowledge, or that it is
such as the wise man confessed when he said: 'As I knew
that no one can be continent except God give it, and this
also was a point of wisdom to know whose gift it was, I went
to the Lord and besought him.' 31 In answer to that prayer,
he did not wish to receive the nature in which he was created,
nor was he exercised about the natural freedom of will with
which he was created, nor did he long for the remission of
sins, since he rather sighed after continence that he might not
sin, nor did he long to know what he had to do, since he has
already admitted that he knew whose gift it was, but un-
doubtedly he wished to receive from the spirit of wisdom
such strength of will, such ardor of love as would make him
fit to attain the great virtue of continence. If, then, you can
find anything of that sort in his book, we will give you
hearty thanks if you will be so kind as to point it out to us in
your answer.

It is impossible to express how much we long to find in
the writings of those men, who are read by many because of
their keenness and fluency, an open admission of that grace
which the Apostle praises so strongly, who even says that
God has divided to everyone the measure of faith itself, 32
without which it is impossible to please God, by which the
just man lives, 33 which 'worketh by charity,' 34 before which
and without which no good works can be imagined in anyone,
since 'all that is not of faith is sin' ; 35 and not the claim that
we are helped by God to live piously and justly by the sole

31 Wisd. 8.21.

32 Rom. 12,3.

33 Heb. 11.6; Rom. 1.17; Gal. 3.11; Heb. 10.38.

34 GaL 5.6,

35 Rom. 14.24.

LETTERS 265

revelation of knowledge, which puffs us up without charity; 36
whereas He does it by breathing charity itself into us, charity
which is the fulfilling of the law, 37 and which edifies our
heart so that charity may not puff us up. But thus far we
have been unable to find any such statement anywhere in
their writings.

We should wish most of all that this had been in the book
from which we have quoted the above selected passages,
where, after praising the virgin of Christ as if no one but
herself could bestow spiritual riches on her, and as if they
could not exist except as coming from her, he does not wish
her to glory in the Lord, but to so glory as if she had not
received them. Although he has not mentioned in this book
the name of your Reverence or that of your daughter, he does
say that he was asked by the girl's mother to write to her.
However, the same Pelagius, in a certain letter of his to
which he openly signed his own name, and in which he does
not fail to mention the name of the consecrated virgin, says
that he has written to her and tries to prove by the testimony
of the same work that he makes open confession of the grace
of God, which he is reputed to ignore or deny. We beg you
to be so kind as to inform us in your answer whether the book
in question is the one in which he used those expressions about
spiritual riches, or whether it has reached your Holiness.

36 I Cor. 8.1.

37 Rom. 13.10.

266 SAINT AUGUSTINE

189. Augustine gives greeting in the Lord to the noble lord,
his deservedly distinguished and honorable son,
Boniface 1 (c. 418)

I had already written an answer to your Charity and I was
looking for an opportunity of forwarding it to you, when my
dear son Faustus arrived on his way to your Excellency.
After receiving the letter which I had already written for
delivery to your Benevolence, 2 he gave me to understand that
you greatly desired me to write you something which might
edify you and help you to win eternal salvation, of which your
hope is in our Lord Jesus Christ. And although I am so busy,
he insisted that I should not put off doing it, and you know
how great is his urgency because he loves you so sincerely.
Therefore, to accommodate myself to his haste, I have chosen
to write something hurried rather than disappoint your
religious craving, noble lord, deservedly distinguished and
honorable son.

All that I can say, then, in brief is this: Thou shalt love
the Lord thy God with thy whole heart and with thy whole
soul and with thy whole strength 3 and c thou shalt love thy
neighbor as thyself.' 3 This is the compendium which the Lord
gave upon earth when He said in the Gospel : c On these two
commandments dependeth the whole law and the prophets/ 4
Do you, then, advance daily in this love both by prayer and
good works, so that, with the help of Him who endows and
bestows it on you, it may be fostered and increased until,

1 Count or Governor of Africa under Honorius and Placidia. Unjustly
disgraced through the treachery of his rival Aetius, he allied himself
with Genseric and the Vandals whom he invited into Africa in 429.
Later, vindicated and restored to favor, he fought the invaders. St.
Augustine died during the siege of Hippo, one of the results of the
invasion, Boniface died in Italy in battle in 432.

2 There is some doubt whether this was Letter 185.

3 Matt. 22.37,39; Mark 12.20,31; Luke 10.27; Deut. 22.37; Lev. 19.18.

4 Matt. 22.40.

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267

being perfected, it may perfect you. This is the charity which,
as the Apostle says, 'is poured forth in our hearts by the Holy
Spirit who is given to us'; 5 this is the charity of which he
likewise says : 'Love is the fulfilling of the Law' ; 6 this is the
charity by which faith works, of which he says again: Tor
neither circumcision availeth anything nor uncircumcision but
faith that worketh by charity.' 7

In this charity all our holy fathers and patriarchs and
prophets and apostles have been pleasing to God. In it, all
true martyrs have striven against the Devil unto blood, 8 and
because it has not grown cold or fallen away in them they have
won the victory. In it, all good faithful souls daily progress
in their desire to attain, not a mortal kingdom but the
kingdom of heaven; not a temporal but an eternal inherit-
ance; 9 not gold and silver but the incorruptible riches of
the angels; not the goods of this world which fill life with
fear, and which no one can take with him when he dies, but
the vision of God. 10 The sweetness and bliss of this vision
surpass the beauty not only of terrestrial creatures but even
of celestial ones; it exceeds all the loveliness of souls however
good and holy; it exceeds all the splendor of the highest angels
and heavenly powers; it exceeds not only all that can be
said but even what can be thought. And let us not despair of
the fulfillment of this great promise, because it is so exceed-
ingly great, but, rather, let us believe that we shall receive
what is promised because He who has promised it is exceed-
ingly great. Thus, blessed John the Apostle says: 'We are the
sons of God and it hath not yet appeared what we shall be. We

5 Rom. 5.5,

6 Rom. 13.10.

7 Gal. 5.6.

8 Matt. 24.12.

9 Matt. 4.21; Heb. 9.15.
10 Matt. 5.8.

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know that when he shall appear we shall be like to him be-
cause we shall see him as he is.' 11

Do not imagine that no one can please God while he is
engaged in military service. Among such was holy David to
whom the Lord gave such high testimony. Among such were
many just men of that time. Among such, also, was that
centurion who said to the Lord: C I am not worthy that thou
shouldst enter under my roof, but only say the word and my
servant shall be healed. For I also am a man, subject to
authority, having under me soldiers, and I say to this one:
Go, and he goeth, and to another: Come, and he cometh;
and to my servant: Do this, and he doth it'; of him the Lord
said: 'Amen I say to you I have not found so great faith in
Israel.' 12 Among such, also, was that Cornelius to whom the
angel was sent, who said: 'Cornelius, thy prayer is heard and
thy alms are accepted,' when he advised him to send to the
blessed Apostle Peter, to hear from him what he ought to do.
And to summon the Apostle to him he sent a religious
soldier. 12 Among such, also, were those who came for baptism
to John, the holy precursor of the Lord and friend of the
bridegroom, of whom the Lord said : There hath not arisen
among them that are born of women a greater one than
John the Baptist/ 14 When they asked him what they ought
to do, he answered them: 'Do violence to no man, neither
calumniate any man, and be content with your pay/ 15
Obviously, he did not forbid them to serve in the army when
he commanded them to be satisfied with their pay.

Those who serve God with the highest self-discipline of
chastity, by renouncing all these wordly activities, have a

11 1 John 3.2.

12 Matt. 8.8-10; Luke 7.6-9.

13 Acts 10.1-8; 30-33.

14 Matt. 11.11.

15 Luke 3.12-11

LETTERS 269

more prominent place before Him: 'But everyone hath his
proper gift from God, one after this manner and another after
that.' 16 Thus, some fight for you against invisible enemies
by prayer, while you strive for them against visible barbarians
by fighting. Would that one faith were found in all, for there
would be less striving and the Devil and his angels would be
overcome more easily ! But as it must needs be in this world
that citizens of the kingdom of heaven are troubled by
temptations in the midst of the erring and the godless, so
that they may be tested and tried as gold in the furnace, 17
so we should not wish to live before the time with the holy
and upright only, that we may deserve to receive this reward
in its own time.

Think first of this, then, when you are arming for battle,
that your strength, even of body, is a gift of God, for so you
will not think of using the gift of God against God. When your
word is pledged, it must be kept even with the enemy against
whom you wage war, how much more with the friend for
whom you are fighting ! Your will ought to hold fast to peace,
with war as the result of necessity, that God may free you
from the necessity and preserve you in peace. Peace is not
sought for the purpose of stirring up war, but war is waged
for the purpose of securing peace. Be, then, a peacemaker
even while you make war, that by your victory you may
lead those whom you defeat to know the desirability of peace,
for the Lord says : 'Blessed are the peacemakers for they shall
be called the children of God.' 18 Yet, if human peace is so
sweet as a means of assuring the temporal welfare of mortals,
how much sweeter is divine peace as a means for assuring
the eternal welfare of angels! Therefore, let it be necessity,
not choice, that kills your warring enemy. Just as violence is

16 1 Cor. 7.7.

17 Wisd. 3.5,6.

18 Matt. 5.9.

270 SAINT AUGUSTINE

meted out to him who rebels and resists, so mercy is due him
who is defeated or captured, especially where no disturbance
of peace is to be feared.

Let chastity in the marriage bond be the adornment of
your character, let sobriety and moderation be its adornment,
for it is exceedingly disgraceful that lust should conquer one
whom man cannot conquer, and that he who cannot be
captured by the sword should be laid low by wine. If earthly
riches are lacking to you, do not seek them in the world by
evil deeds; if they fall to your lot, let them be laid up in
heaven by good works. A manly Christian soul ought neither
to be elated at acquiring them nor cast down when they
leave him. Let us, instead, reflect on what the Lord says:
'Where thy treasure is, there will thy heart be also,' 19 and
surely when we hear that we should lift up our hearts, the
answer which you know we make should not be a lie. 20

I know in truth that you are very zealous in these matters,
I take great pleasure in your good reputation, and I con-
gratulate you heartily in the Lord. Let this letter serve you
as a mirror in which you see yourself as you are rather than
learn what you ought to be. However, if you find either in
this letter or in holy Scripture that something is lacking to
you for a good life, be instant in work and prayer that you
may attain it. For what you have give thanks to God, as to a
fount of goodness, from whom you have it, and in all your
good deeds give the glory to God, keep humility for yourself.
For, as it is written: 'Every best gift and every perfect gift
is from above, coming down from the Father of lights.' 21
But whatever progress you make in the love of God and your
neighbor, as well as in true piety, do not believe that you

19 Matt. 6.21; Luke 12.34.

20 Sursum corda: Habemus ad Dominum, one of the responses at the
Preface of the Mass.

21 James 1.17.

LETTERS 271

are free from sin as long as you are in this life; on which point
we read in the holy Writ: 'Is not the life of man on earth a
warfare?' 22 Consequently, since it will always be necessary
for you, as long as you are in this body, to say in the prayer
which the Lord taught: Torgive us our debts as we also
forgive our debtors,' 23 remember to forgive quickly if anyone
sins against you and asks pardon, so that you may say this
prayer sincerely and may be able to win pardon for your
own sins.

I have written this hurriedly for your Charity, as the haste
of the bearer put pressure on me. But I give thanks to God
that I have in some measure complied with your laudable
desire. May the mercy of God ever protect you, noble lord,
deservedly distinguished and honorable son.

190. Augustine gives greeting in the Lord to the holy lord,
his brother and fellow bishop, Optatus, 1 cher-
ished with sincere affection (418)

Although I have not received any letter from your Holiness,
addressed to me personally, I read one which you sent to
Caesarea in Mauretania, which came while I was there. An
urgent matter connected with the Church took me to that
city at the bidding of the venerable Pope Zozimus, 2 Bishop
of the Apostolic See, and your letter was given me to read by
the holy servant of God, Renatus, 3 a brother most dear to us
in Christ. It is at his request, in fact at his vehement insistence,

22 Cf. Job 7.1.

23 Matt. 6.12; Luke 11.4.

1 A bishop of Mauretania Tingitana (modern Tangier) ,

2 Pope in 41 7 and 418.

3 A priest of Caesarea and champion of Augustine against one Vincent
who had attacked him.

272 SAINT AUGUSTINE

that I am impelled, though busy with other matters, to answer
your letter to him. Additional force was given to my decision
by the arrival, in the above-mentioned town where we were
staying, of another holy brother of ours, whose name I speak
with due respect, Muresis, 4 a kinsman of yours, as I learned
from him. He brought me another letter which your Re-
verence had sent him on this subject, and he consulted me
on it, asking that I should let you know, either by my answer
or his, what I think about it; that is, whether souls are
propagated like bodies, and are derived from the first one
which was created for the first man, or whether the all-power-
ful Creator, who undoubtedly 'worketh until now,' 5 creates
new ones for individual persons, without any root-stock.

Before I advise your Sincerity on this matter, I wish you
to know that in my numerous works I have never ventured
to commit myself to a definite opinion on this subject, and I
consider it lacking in modesty to put into letters designed for
the instruction of others what I have not clearly expressed.
It would take too long to set forth in this letter the motives
and reasons which influence me so that my mind inclines to
neither of these theories, and I still balance between them,
but the necessity of this decision is not so imperative that we
cannot pass it over and carry on a satisfactory discussion
which may serve to ward off temerity if not to remove doubt.

The truth, then, on which the Christian faith especially
rests is that 'by a man came death and by a man the resur-
rection of the dead; for as in Adam all die, so also in Christ
all shall be made alive'; 6 and that 'by one man sin entered
into this world, and by sin death, and so death passed upon
all men in whom all have sinned'; and that 'judgment
indeed was by one unto condemnation, but grace is of many

4 A Mauretanian priest.

5 John 5.17.

6 1 Cor. 15,21,22.

LETTERS 273

offenses unto justification 5 ; and that by the offense of one
unto all men to condemnation, and by the justice of one
unto all men to justification of life.' 7 If there are any other
testimonies, they assert that no one is born of Adam without
being bound under the fetters of sin and damnation; that no
one is delivered therefrom except through rebirth in Christ, 8
and this we must hold with such unshaken faith as to know
that whoever denies this does not belong to the faith of
Christ, or to that grace of God which is given through Christ
to little and great. Thus, if the origin of the soul is an obscure
question, there is no danger so long as the doctrine of
Redemption is clear, for we do not believe in Christ in order
to be born, but in order to be born again, whatever may
have been the mode of our first birth.

Thus far, then, we say without risk that the origin of the
soul is an obscure question, provided we believe that the
soul is not a part of God but a creature; not born of God
but made by Him to be adopted into sonship with Him, by
a marvellous condescension of grace, not by a likeness or
worthiness of nature; that it is not body but spirit; not the
Creator, obviously, but the thing created; that the reason
why it comes into this corruptible body which is a load upon
it 9 is not because it is being driven there in punishment for
a previous life badly spent among celestial beings or in some
other parts of the universe; for, when the Apostle speaks of
the twin sons of Rebecca, he says that they had not yet done
any good or evil, so that not of works, in which one was not
distinguished from the other, but of Him that calleth was it
said that the elder should serve the younger. 10

Therefore, when we have firmly established these points,

7 Rom. 5.12,16,18.

8 John 3.3.

9 Wisd. 9.15.

10 Rom. 9.11,12; Gen. 25.23.

274 SAINT AUGUSTINE

if it is something so withdrawn and hidden in the secret works
of God that even the divine Scriptures do not declare in
plain words whether we are to believe that these children had
as yet done nothing good or evil because they received their
soul individually, not propagated from others, but created
from nothing at that instant, or whether it was because they
themselves had no existence by which they could lead their
own lives while they were in embryo in their parents, we
must nevertheless hold firmly to that faith by which we
believe that no one born of man, whether a person of great
age or an infant just born, is freed from the contagion of
the primal death and the bond of sin which is contracted
at birth except through the one Mediator of God and men,
the Man, Christ Jesus. 11

Those just men also were saved by their salutary faith in
Him as man and God who, before He came in the flesh,
believed that He was to come in the flesh, 12 Our faith is the
same as theirs, since they believed that this would be, while
we believe that it has come to pass. Hence, the Apostle
Paul says: 'But having the same spirit of faith, as it is
written: I believed for which cause I have spoken: we also
believe for which cause we speak also. 513 If, then, those who
foretold that Christ would come in the flesh had the same
faith as those who have recorded His coming, these religious
mysteries could vary according to the diversity of times, yet
all refer most harmoniously to the unity of the same faith.
It is written in the Acts of the Apostles that the Apostle
Peter said: 'Now therefore why tempt you God to put a
yoke upon the neck of the disciples which neither our fathers
nor we have been able to bear? But by the grace of the Lord
Jesus Christ we believe to be saved in like manner as they

11 1 Tim. 2.5.

12 1 John 4.2; John L7.

13 2 Cor. U3; Ps. 115.1.

LETTERS 275

also.' 14 If, therefore, they, that is, the fathers, being unable
to bear the yoke of the Old Law, believed that they were
saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, it is clear that
this grace saved even the just men of old through faith, for
'the just man liveth by faith.' 15

'Now the law entered in that sin might abound,' 16 that
grace might superabound through which the abounding of
sin might be healed. Tor if there had been a law given which
could give life, verily justice should have been by the law.'
Still, he indicates for what good purpose the Law was given
when he adds: 'But the Scripture hath concluded all under
sin, that the promise by the faith of Jesus Christ might be
given to them that believe.' 17 Therefore, the Law had to be
given to reveal man more clearly to himself, lest the proud
human- spirit should think it could be just by its own effort,
and 'not knowing the justice of God,' that is, what comes
to man from God, 'and seeking to establish its own,' that is,
as if it had been won for it by its own strength, 'should not
submit to the justice of God.' 18 For it was fitting that, in
addition to the commandment which is thus expressed: 'Thou
shalt not covet,' 19 there should come upon the proud sinner
the charge of prevarication, so that, convinced of his weakness
which was not cured by the Law, he should seek the remedy
of grace.

Consequently, since all the just, that is, the true worshipers
of God, whether before the Incarnation or after the Incar-
nation of Christ, neither lived nor live except by faith in the
Incarnation of Christ, in whom is the fullness of grace,
certainly the words which are written that 'there is no other

14 Acts 15.10,11.

15 Rom. 1.17; Gal. 3.11; Heb. 10.38; Hab. 2.4.

16 Rom. 5.20.

17 Gal. 3.21,22.

18 Cf. Rom. 10.3.

19 Exod. 20.17; Deut. 5.21; Rom. 7.7.

276 SAINT AUGUSTINE

name under heaven whereby we must be saved/ 20 were
effective for saving the human race from the time when the
human race was tainted in Adam. Tor as in Adam all die,
so also in Christ all shall be made alive/ 21 because as no one
is in the kingdom of death but through Adam, so no one is
in the kingdom of life but through Christ; as by Adam all
are men, so by Christ all are just men; as by Adam all
mortals become children of the world in their punishment,
so by Christ all immortals become children of God in grace.

And with a brevity as concise as his authority is compelling,
the blessed Apostle explains the reason for the creation of
those also of whom the Creator knows that they are to belong
to damnation, not to grace. He says that 'God, willing to
show his wrath and to make his power known, endured with
much patience vessels of wrath fitted for destruction, that he
might show the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy, 5
having described Him above as a potter using 'clay of the
same lump to make one vessel unto honor, and another unto
dishonor.' 23 But it would seem unjust that vessels of wrath
should be made unto destruction if the whole lump of clay
had not been condemned in Adam. The fact that men become
vessels of wrath at birth is due to the penalty deserved, but
that they become vessels of mercy at their second birth is due
to an undeserved grace.

Therefore, God shows His wrath, not indeed as a dis-
turbance of mind, which is what the wrath of men is called,
but as a fixed and settled decree of punishment, because the
root-stock of disobedience produces the offshoot of sin and
doom. 'Man born of woman, 3 as it is written in the Book of
Job, 'is short-lived and full of wrath. 523 For he is a vessel of
that of which he is full; hence they are called vessels of

20 Acts 4.12.

21 1 Cor. 15.22.

22 Rom. 9.22,23L

23 Job 14.1 (Septuagint) .

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277

wrath. He shows His power, also, of which He makes a
good use by bestowing many natural and temporal goods
even on the wicked, adapting their malice to make trial of
the good and warning them by a comparison of their state,
so that they may learn to thank God for having distinguished
them from these others by His mercy, not for any merit of
theirs, since they were equally vessels of the same clay. This
is especially manifest in the case of infants, some of whom are
born again by the grace of Christ, and if they end their
lives at that tender age pass on to an eternal and blessed
life. Yet it cannot be said that they are distinguished because
of their free will from other infants who die without this
grace in the damnation of that clay.

But if the only ones created from Adam were those who
were to be recreated through grace, and no other men were
born but those who are adopted as sons of God, the fact that
bounty is bestowed on the unworthy would be obscured,
because the due punishment would not be inflicted on any
who come of the same doomed stock. When c He endured
with much patience vessels of wrath fitted for destruction, 5
He not only 'showed his wrath and made known his power'
by meting out punishment and making a good use of the
wicked, but He also made known 'the riches of his glory on
the vessels of mercy. 5 Being thus freely justified, man learns
what is bestowed on him when he is distinguished from the
condemned, not by his own merit, but by the glory of God's
most bountiful mercy, though he himself deserved damnation
and was of the same original justice.

By creating so many He willed that those should be born
of whom He foreknew that they would have no part in His
grace, so that by their countless multitude they might out-
number those whom He deigned to predestine to the kingdom
of His glory as sons of promise. Thus, also, He willed to
show by this very multitude of the castaways how the mere

278 SAINT AUGUSTINE

number, whatever it may be, of the justly damned is of no
account with a just God; and thus, also, those who are
ransomed from that damnation may understand that this
fate, which they see meted out to so large a part, is owed to
the whole lump of clay. And in this part are included not
only those who add many sins to the original sin by the free
choice of an evil will, but even many infants, bound only
by the fetter of original sin, who are carried off from this
life without the grace of the Mediator. Doubtless, the whole
mass of clay would have received its due of just damnation,
if the potter, not only just but merciful, had not made of it
vessels unto honor, according to grace, not according to their
due, when He both succors the little ones who have no
merits to be recorded, and forestalls their elders that they
may have some merits.

This being so, you will be right if your statement does
not lead you to say that newly created souls, because of the
innocence of their new state, cannot be subject to original
damnation before they make use of their free will to commit
sin, but if you admit that, in accord with Catholic faith, if
they leave the body at that tender age, they will go to eternal
loss unless they are freed by the sacrament of the Mediator
who 'came to seek and to save that which was lost/ 24 Inquire,
therefore, where or whence or when they began to deserve
damnation, if they are newly created, so long as you do not
make God, or some nature which God did not create,
responsible either for their sin or for the damnation of the
innocent. And if you discover what I advise you to seek out,
which, I confess, I have not yet discovered myself, defend it
as vigorously as you can, and proclaim this newness of souls
of such sort as not to be derived from any root-stock, and in
your brotherly affection share what you have discovered with
us.

24 Luke 19.10; Matt. 18.11.

LETTERS 279

But if you do not discover why or how infant souls
become sinful, and why they are obliged to derive the source
of their damnation from Adam, though they have no evil
in themselves, since you believe that they are included in the
flesh of sin though not propagated from that first sinful soul,
but created new and blameless, do not let your inclination
lead you rashly to that other opinion, to make you believe that
they are derived from that primal one by propagation, lest,
perhaps, another make the discovery which you cannot, or you
might sometime discover what you cannot now find out. For
those who claim that souls are begotten from one which
God gave to the first man, and who say that they are derived
from their parents, if they follow the opinion of Tertullian, 25
they certainly hold that such souls are not spirits but bodies,
and are produced from corporeal seed and what more per-
verted view could be expressed? But it is not surprising that
Tertullian was dreaming when he thought this, since he even
thought that God the Creator was not spirit but body.

Any Christian who rejects this madness with heart and
lips, and confesses that the soul is not body but spirit, as
indeed it is, and that it is nevertheless transmitted from
parents to children, in one respect at least is not involved in
difficulties, because the true faith teaches that all souls, even
of infants whom the Church baptizes, not indeed to a feigned
but to a real remission of sins, inherit the original sin com-
mitted by the free will of the first man and transmitted by
generation to all his descendants, which sin can be cleansed
away only by the second birth. But when anyone begins to
consider and examine into what is here said, it is a wonder
that any human perception can understand in what manner
a soul is produced in the offspring from the soul of the
parent, as light is kindled from light, and a second flame
comes into existence without loss to the first; whether the

25 Tertullian, Adv. Praxean 7; Augustine De Genesi ad litteram 10.25,26.

280 SAINT AUGUSTINE

incorporeal seed of the soul flows up by its own secret and
invisible way from the father to the mother when conception
takes place in a woman, or, which is still harder to believe,
whether it is latent in the bodily seed. But, when seed flows
out uselessly without any conception, the question is whether
the seed of the soul does not issue forth at the same time, or
whether it returns, with the greatest speed in an instant of
time, to the place from which it carne, or whether it is des-
troyed. If it is destroyed, we ask how the soul whose seed is
mortal is itself immortal, or if it receives its immortality when
it is formed that it may live, as it receives justice when it is
formed that it may be wise; and how God fashions it in
man, even if soul is derived from soul by seed, as He fashions
the members of the body in man, although body is derived
from body by seed. For, if the spiritual being were not
formed by God, these words would not have been written:
'Who formeth the spirit of man in him,' 26 and also this that
we read: 'He hath made the hearts of men, every one of
them'; 27 if by hearts we mean souls, who could doubt that
they can be formed? But the question remains whether each
soul is formed from that of the first man, as He forms the
faces of men singly, but from the one body of the first man.
Since many questions of this kind are raised on this matter,
such as cannot be investigated by any human sense, are far
removed from our experience and hidden in the most secret
recesses of nature, it is no shame for a man to admit that
he does not know what he does not know, lest by pretending
that he does know he should deserve never to know. Who
would deny that God is the creator and maker not only of
one soul but of every soul, except the man who is most
openly opposed to His word? He speaks through the Prophet
without any ambiguity when He says: 'I have made every

26 Zach. 12.1.

27 Ps. 32.15.

LETTERS 281

breath/ 28 evidently intending us to understand souls, as the
subsequent words show. For He did not breathe only the
one breath into the first man made from the earth, but He
made every breath, as He still does. Nevertheless, there is
question whether He makes every breath from that one breath,
as He makes each body of man from that first body, or
whether He makes new bodies from that one, but new souls
from nothing. Who is it that makes from seeds various kinds
of things appropriate to their origins, except He who made
the very seeds without seeds? When a thing naturally obscure
surpasses our limited intelligence, and there is no assistance
from a clear passage of sacred Scripture, human conjecture
is rash in presuming to define any opinion on it. Speaking in
terms of the life which they begin to have as their own we
say that men are new-born, whether of soul or body, but in
terms of original sin they are born old, and therefore they
are made new by baptism.

I have therefore found nothing certain about the origin of
the soul in the canonical Scriptures. Those who assert that
souls are created anew without any root-stock rely on certain
testimonies by which they seek to prove it, among which are
the two which I quoted awhile ago : 'Who formeth the spirit
of man in him,' and 'He hath made the hearts of men, every
one of them. 5 You see how these can be used by those who
oppose this view, for it is not certain whether, when He
forms it, He forms it from another or from nothing. The one
outstanding evidence seems to be the one which occurs in
the Book of Ecclesiastes by Solomon: 'And the dust shall
return into its earth from whence it was, and the spirit return
to God who gave it. 529 But the rebuttal to this is easily found:
The body returns to the earth from which the first human
body was made and the spirit to God by whom the first

28 Isa. 57.16 (Septuagint) .

29 Eccle. 12.7.

?32 SAINT AUGUSTINE

human soul was made; for, as they say, just as our body,
although propagated from that first body, returns to that
element from which the first body was made, so our soul,
although propagated from that soul, does not return to no-
thing, because it is immortal, but to Him by whom that ^ first
soul was made. Therefore, this passage which was written
about the soul of every man that 'it returns to God who gave
it 5 , does not solve this very obscure question, because, whether
the soul came from that first one or from no other, it is true
that God gave it.

Likewise, those who rashly and inconsiderately defend the
theory of the propagation of souls, in offering evidence which
they imagine supports their case, think they can produce no
clearer or more explicit text on their side than this passage
from Genesis: 'Arid all the souls that went with Jacob into
Egypt and that came out of his thighs.' 30 From this apparently
clear testimony it is possible to believe that souls are trans-
mitted to sons by parents, since it seems to be quite plainly
stated that the souls and not only the bodies of his sons came
out of the thighs of Jacob; and in the same way they want
to understand the whole for the part in what Adam said when
his wife was presented to him: This is now bone of my
bones and flesh of my flesh/ 31 for he did not say: 'and soul
of my soul 3 ; but it could be possible by naming the flesh to
imply both, just as in the former passage the writer named
the souls yet wished the bodies of the sons to be understood.

But this testimony, seemingly clear and direct, would not
suffice to disentangle this knotty point, even if in the clause,
'who (qui) came out of his thighs' we were to read 'quae*
(which) in the feminine gender so as to refer it to souls, since
it is proved that under the name of soul the body alone can
be designated by a certain figure of speech in which the

30 Gen. 46.26 (Septuagint) .

31 Gen. 2.23.

LETTERS 283

thing contained is signified by the container. Thus, the poet
says: They wreathed the wine, 532 although it was the wine-
cups that were wreathed: the wine is the thing contained,
the cup the container. So also we call a basilica, in which
the people are contained, a church; yet it is the people who
are rightly called the church; 33 and so, by the name of
church, that is, of the people who are contained, we des-
ignate the place which contains them. Thus, as souls are
contained in bodies, the bodies of the sons can be understood
under the name of souls. An even better interpretation is that
of the Law, which says that a man is unclean who goes in to
a dead soul, 34 that is, the corpse of a dead man, by the words
'dead souP meaning to designate the dead body which
formerly contained the soul. And so, too, when the people,
that is, the church, are not present, the place of assembly is
nonetheless called a church. This answer could be made, as
I said, if the feminine gender had been used in: 'that came
out of the thighs of Jacob,' that is, the souls that came out.
But now, since the masculine gender has been used, that is,
'who (qui) came out of the thighs of Jacob 5 , anyone might
prefer to interpret it thus: A11 the souls of those who came out
of his thighs/ that is, the souls of men. Thus it would be
possible to understand that men came out of the thighs of
their father according to the body only, but theirs were the
souls according to the number of which so many were
designated.

I should like to read the treatise of yours which you
mentioned in your letter, in case you have collected there
some unambiguous evidence. But when a friend, 35 who is
very dear to me and very well versed in sacred literature,
asked me my opinion on this subject, and I had confessed

32 Vergil, Aeneid 1.724.

33 Ecclesia literally means 'assembly.'

34 Num. 9.6-10.

35 Marcellinus; cf. Letter 143.

284 SAINT AUGUSTINE

to him without human respect my uncertainty and ignorance,
he wrote from there to a very learned man, 36 far across the
sea. He answered advising him rather to consult me, not
knowing that he had already done so and had not been able
to get a certain or definite answer from me. However, in
his brief letter he indicated that he inclined to the belief that
souls are created separately rather than propagated, although
he warned his correspondent that the Western Church gener-
allyhe is in the East holds to the belief in the propagation
of souls. Upon this I took advantage of a favorable oppor-
tunity and wrote him a long book/ 7 asking his advice and
begging him to instruct me first and then send me others to
instruct.

This book, which is not the work of a teacher but of an
inquirer, or, rather, of one desiring to learn, can be read at
niy house, but ought not to be sent anywhere or given to
anyone outside, until I receive an answer and find out what
he thinks, for I am ready and willing to defend him, if he
succeeds in teaching me how it happens that souls do not
descend from Adam, yet inherit from him the just doom of
damnation unless they attain by a second birth a remission
of sin. But far be it from us to believe either that the souls of
little children receive an apparent cleansing from sin in the
baptismal font, or that God, or some nature which God did
not create, is the source of the defilement from which they
are cleansed. Therefore, until either he writes me an answer,
or I myself, if God wills, find out in some fashion what is
the cause of the soul's incurring original sin if it does not
derive its origin from that first sinful soul, I would not dare
to make any such statement, because that sin must necessarily
exist in all infants, and God does not drive the guiltless soul

36 St. Jerome; cf. Letter 165.

37 Letter 166.

LETTERS 285

into it, because He is not the author of sin, nor does any
nature of evil do it because nothing of that sort exists.

If you will bear with me willingly and patiently, dearest
brother, I warn you not to rush heedlessly into this new
heresy which is trying to undermine the solid foundations of
the ancient faith by arguing against the grace of God, lavished
by the Lord Christ with indescribable bounty on little and
great. When Pelagius and Caelestius were found to be the
authors, or, at least, the keenest and best-known promoters
of this heresy, they were condemned by the watchful care of
councils of bishops, as well as by two venerable prelates of
the Apostolic See, Pope Innocent and Pope Zozimus, and by
the whole Christian world, and were ordered to amend their
lives and do penance. We have copies of recent letters from
the above-mentioned Apostolic See, both those sent in partic-
ular to Africa, and those issued in general to all the bishops,
and in case they have not yet reached your Holiness, we
have made it a point to have them sent by the brothers to
whom we are giving this letter to deliver to your Reverence.
The reason why those two are heretics is not because they
hold that souls do not derive their origin from that first
sinful one, which could either be asserted as true with some
semblance of reason, or could be ignored without offense to
faith, but they are judged to be most openly heretical because
on this foundation they try to build up the theory that the
souls of infants inherit no evil from Adam which needs
expiation in the baptismal font. The argument of Pelagius,
which is included among others of his condemned state-
ments in the letters of the Apostolic See, runs thus: c lf the
soul,' he says, c is not from a root-stock, but if only the flesh
belongs to the parent stock of sin, then the flesh alone
deserves the penalty. For it is unjust that a soul, born today
and not formed of the clay of Adam, should bear the con-
sequences of so ancient a sin committed by another, because

286 SAINT AUGUSTINE

reason does not concede that God, who pardons a man's
own sins, should impute to him another's sin.'

If, then, you can affirm the theory of newly created souls,
not propagated from another, so as to show by a right reason,
not inconsistent with the Catholic faith, that they are, even
so, subject to the sin of the first man, affirm what you think
as best you can. But if you cannot find any argument against
the propagation of souls without making them free from
every bond of sin, refrain entirely from discussion of this
kind. For the remission of sins given to infants in baptism is
not a pretended one nor is it confined to words only; it is
truly effected in them. To quote the words which we read
in the letter of the blessed Pope Zozimus: 'The Lord is
faithful in his words,' 38 and His baptism has the same ful-
fillment in fact and in words, that is, indeed, by a true
confession and remission of sins in every sex, age, and
condition of the human race. No one is set free but he who is
the slave of sin, and no one can be called ransomed but he
who was formerly made captive by sin, as it is written: 'If
the Son shall make you free, you shall be free indeed.^ 9
Through Him we are spiritually bom again, through Him
we are crucified to the world, by His death the decree of
death that was brought upon all of us by Adam, and trans-
mitted to every soul by its descent, is torn down; but there
is no single one of his children who is not held subject to
this decree before he is set free by baptism.' 40 In these words
of the Apostolic See the Catholic faith stands out as so ancient
and so firmly established, so certain and so clear, that it
would be wrong for a Christian to doubt it.

Since, then, the decree of death, brought upon not one or
some but every human soul by its descent, is torn down by

38 Ps. 144.13.

39 John 8.36.

40 Fragment of a tractoria or papal brief of Pope Zozimus, not otherwise
extant.

LETTERS

287

the death of Christ, if you can defend the theory of souls
free of this descent, yet so that they may be proved by strict
reasoning to be bound by this decree which is to be torn down
only by the death of Christ, and if you can show that they
owe this just debt to their flesh if not to their own descent,
defend it without hindrance from anyone, and show us how
we may defend it with you. But if you cannot affirm what
you think regarding the new creation of souls without claim-
ing either that they are not involved in the sin of the first man,
or that innocent souls become sinful not through their own
origin but through that of the body, with God or some evil
nature as the cause, then it would be better for the origin
of the soul to remain unknown so long as we do not doubt
that it is created by God rather than have it said that God
is the author of sin, or that some evil nature opposed to
God should be introduced into the discussion, or that the
baptism of infants should be called useless.

However, in order that your Charity may hear something
definite from me on this question, something not to be lightly
esteemed, but, on the contrary, something necessary and
memorable, it is not allowable to believe that the soul of the
Mediator contracted any sin from Adam, and that holds
true no matter what view we take of the origin of souls,
whether they are propagated from the first one or from no
other. For, if no soul is propagated from another, while all
souls are enclosed in flesh descended from sinful flesh, how
much less credible is it that His soul could have come by
propagation from a sinful woman, whereas his flesh came
from a virgin and was not conceived in lust, that He might
be e in the likeness of sinful flesh, 541 not in sinful flesh! Now,
if all other souls are held in bondage to the sin of the first
sinful soul because they are derived from it, then, manifestly,
the soul which the Only-begotten prepared for Himself either

41 Rom. 8.3.

288 SAINT AUGUSTINE

did not derive any sin from it or it was not derived from it at
all. He who freed us from our sins was able to derive for
Himself a soul without sin, and He who created a new soul
for the body which He made from the earth without parents
was equally able to create a soul for the body which He took
of a woman without the co-operation of man.

I have written this answer as best I could to the letter of
your Holiness, addressed, it is true, not to me but to my
very dear brothers. What is lacking in skill must be supplied
by anxious affection. If you receive it kindly and keep my
brotherly and useful warning by not going astray on this
question, but by considering it prudently in the peace of the
Church, I give thanks to God. But if you wonder that I do
not yet know these things, or even if you do not wonder and
do not refuse with mutual love to teach me something certain
about the origin of the soul, provided our faith, which is
most certain and most clear, is not attacked, I will give even
more abundant thanks to God.

Live always in the Lord and remember me, most saintly
lord, brother cherished with sincere affection.

191. Augustine gives greeting in the Lord to the revered lord,
Sixtusf his holy brother and fellow priest, cher-
ished in the charity of Christ (418)

The letter which your Benignity sent me by our holy
brother, the priest Firmus, 2 reached Hippo while I was away,
and I was able to read it on my return only after the bearer
had departed, but this earliest and most welcome opportunity
of answering is afforded by our very dear son, the acolyte, 3

1 Afterwards Pope Sixtus III (432440) .

2 A faithful letter-bearer; cL Letters 115 and 134.

3 He was a personal attendant of his bishop, having received some of the
minor orders.

LETTERS 289

Albinus. Although your letter was addressed jointly to both
of us, we were not together when it arrived, and that accounts
for your receiving a letter from each of us instead of a single
one from both. The bearer of this letter, after leaving me,
will pass by my revered brother and fellow bishop, Alypius, so
that he may write another one to your Holiness, and he is
taking with him your own letter which I have finished read-
ing. As to the great joy which your letter roused in me, why
should a man try to express what is inexpressible? I imagine
you do not adequately appreciate how much good you have
done us by writing as you did, but take our word for it; just
as you are witness to your own soul, so we are to ours of the
depth to which we have been moved by the transparent
sincerity of your letter. For, if our joyful eagerness was so
great as we copied out that very short letter on the same
subject, which you sent by the acolyte, Leo, 4 to the saintly
elder, Aurelius, and if we read it with great zeal to all whom
we could reach the letter in which you explained to us your
views on that altogether deadly doctrine, and, contrariwise,
on the grace of God which He bestows on little and great, to
which this doctrine is diametrically opposed how great do
you think was our joy in reading this longer letter of yours,
how great our care to have it read by all to whom we have
been able or are still able to offer it? What more welcome
statement could be read or heard than so perfect a defense
of the grace of God against its enemies, pronounced by one
whom those same enemies had previously boasted of as an
influential authority on their side? Or is there anything which
should make us give more grateful thanks to God than the
fact that His grace is so well defended by those to whom it is
given against those to whom it is either not given or who
resent its being given because by a secret judgment of God
it is not given to them to receive it gratefully?

4 Afterwards Pope Leo the Great (440-461) .

290 SAINT AUGUSTINE

Therefore, revered lord and holy brother, cherished in the
love of Christ, although you perform an excellent service in
writing on this subject to the brothers among whom those
men are in the habit of boasting of your friendship, a greater
duty awaits you, not only of using a wholesome severity in
punishing those who dare with too great boldness to prate
of that error so utterly hostile to the name of Christ, but
also, for the sake of the weaker and more simple-minded of
the Lord's sheep, of directing your pastoral vigilance to the
erection of most careful safeguards against those who do not
cease to whisper this error, more moderately, it is true, and
more covertly, 'creeping into houses,' 5 as the Apostle says,
and with practised impiety doing the other things which he
goes on to mention. And those are not to be overlooked who
through fear conceal what they think under a deep silence,
but do not cease to hold the same perverted views. Some of
them, indeed, may have come to your notice before that
pestilence was condemned by a most explicit decree of the
Apostolic See, and you may observe that they have suddenly
lapsed into silence, making it impossible to discover whether
they have been cured of it, unless they not only refrain from
proclaiming those false doctrines but also defend the true and
contrary views with the same zeal they showed in promoting
error. These, however, ought surely to be treated more gently,
for what need is there of frightening them when their very
silence shows that they are already frightened enough? At
the same time they are not to be passed over by your remedial
care as if they were sound, merely because their wound is
hidden. While they are not to be frightened, they must still
be taught, and in my opinion this can be done more easily
while their fear of severe measures aids the teacher of truth.
Thus, with the Lord's help, by uttering what they have
learned and loved of His grace, they may refute what they
no longer dare to affirm.

5 2 Tim. 3.6-8.

LETTERS 291

192. Augustine gives greeting in the Lord to his revered

lord, holy brother and greatly desired fellow

deacon, Celestine 1 (418)

The letter which your Holiness sent me by the cleric,
Projectus, reached Hippo while I was far away. As soon as I
read it at my return and realized that I had become your
debtor, I began to look for a chance to pay my debt, when
lo! a most welcome opportunity presented itself in the un-
expected departure from us of Albinus, 2 the acolyte of our
very dear brother. I take pleasure, therefore, in your good
health as in the fulfillment of my dearest desire, and I return
to your Holiness the greeting which I owe you. But I always
owe you love, the only thing which leaves us still in debt
even when it has been repaid. For it is repaid when it is
expended, but it is owed even after it has been repaid, since
there is never a time when it does not have to be expended.
Yet, when it is repaid it is not lost, but is rather increased
by repayment, for it is repaid by retaining it, not by being
without it. And since it cannot be repaid unless it is retained,
so it cannot be retained unless it is repaid; nay, rather,
when it is paid out by a man it increases in him, and the
more generously he pays it out the more of it he gains. But
how can we refuse to friends what we owe even to enemies?
We pay it out to enemies, however, with reserve, but to our
friends with ready trust. Nevertheless, the heart makes a
strong effort to recover what it expends, even from those to
whom it is returning good for evil. That is because we wish
to have as a friend the one whom we sincerely love as an
enemy, for we do not love him unless we wish his good,

1 Afterwards Pope Celestine I (422-432) . He sent Germanus of Auxerre
and Palladius to reclaim the Britons from Pelagianism.

2 Cf. Letter 191 n. 3.

292 SAINT AUGUSTINE

which certainly he cannot have unless he lays aside the evil
of enmity.

Therefore, love is not expended like money. For, besides
the fact that the one is diminished by being expended and the
other increased, they also differ in this that we show greater
good will toward anyone, if we do not seek to recover the
money we have given him ; but no one can be a true spender
of love unless he is also a kindly collector of it. When money
is received, it is a gain to the recipient but a loss to the giver;
love, on the other hand, not only grows in the one who asks it
back from the object of his love, even if he does not receive
it, but the one from whom he receives it only begins to possess
it when he pays it back. Therefore, my lord and brother, I
willingly pay you and gladly receive back from you the love
we owe each other; what I receive I still claim, what I repay
I still owe. For we ought to hearken submissively to the one
Master whose fellow pupils we are, who instructs us by His
Apostle, saying: 'Owe no man anything but to love one
another.' 3

193. Augustine gives greeting in the Lord to the beloved

lord, Mercator? a son worthy to be praised

among the members of Christ with sincere

affection (418)

I received the former letter sent by your Charity while I
was at Carthage, and it gave me such pleasure that when
your second letter came I even bore graciously your indignant
reproach at my failure to answer. But, of course, your in-

3 Rom. 13.8.

1 Author of some newly published tracts against the Pelagians. He was
at this time residing at Rome.

LETTERS 293

dignation was a sign of affection, not a beginning of enmity.
What kept me from writing you at Carthage was not a lack
of opportunity to send a letter, but other urgent matters
which were a cause of great preoccupation and strain to us
up to the time when we left. Moreover, on leaving there we
went straight to Caesarea in Mauretania on exigent matters
connected with the Church. And while we traveled through
all those lands, many distractions assailed our senses and
diverted our attention this way and that, but there was no
insistent monitor to remind me to write to you, no opportunity
offered by a bearer. At my return, I found at home the letter
from your Sincerity, with its sharp note of complaint, and a
book filled with proofs from the pages of holy Writ, directed
against the new heretics. After reading them, and even run-
ning through your first letter, I found myself impelled to
reply because of the opportune occasion offered by the return
o our very dear brother Albinus, an acolyte of the Church
at Rome.

Therefore, my very dear son, God forbid that I should
treat you carelessly when you write to me or send me your
writings to examine, or that I should look down on you with
lofty scorn, especially as the pleasure you have given me is
greater for being unexpected and unforeseen; for, I admit, I
did not know you had made such progress. We ought to have
no dearer wish than that there should be many men able to
refute those who attack the Catholic faith with their deadly
errors, and lay snares everywhere for the weak and ignorant
among the brethren; men who can staunchly and faithfully
defend the Church of Christ against c the profane novelties
of words,' 3 according to the passage: c The multitude of the
wise is the welfare of the whole world.' 4 Therefore, to the

2 Goldbacher indicates a lacuna here, but the sense is complete as it
stands.

3 1 Tim. 6.20.

4 Wisd. 6.26.

294 SAINT AUGUSTINE

best of my ability I have looked into your heart, as revealed
in your writings, and I have found that I must embrace it and
encourage it to press forward with untiring zeal to what lies
before you, with the help of the Lord who has given you your
ability that He may foster it.

Some whom we are trying to call back to the way from
which they have strayed are not far from the truth on the
question of the baptism of infants when they claim that an
infant of however recent birth makes its act of faith through
those by whom it is offered for baptism. For, when they say,
as you write, that infants do not believe in the remission of
sins in the sense that remission is made to them since it is
believed that they have no sin but because they also receive
the same cleansing through which remission is made in those
who do receive it, they believe that what does not happen in
them happens in others, and since they say 'they do not
believe in one sense but they do believe in another' they admit
that these do manifestly believe. Let them, then, hearken to
the Lord: 'He that believeth in the Son hath life everlasting;
but he that believeth not the Son shall not see life, but the
wrath of God abideth on him.' Therefore, infants who became
believers through others by whom they are offered for
baptism become equally unbelievers through them, if they
are in the hands of such as believe they are not to be offered
for baptism because it does them no good. Consequently, if
they believe through believers and have everlasting life, no
doubt they disbelieve through unbelievers and will not see
life, but the wrath of God abides on them. It does not say
"comes upon them/ but 'abides on them,' because it has been
on them since the beginning and cannot possibly be lifted
from them except by 'the grace of God by Jesus Christ our
Lord.' 6 Of this wrath we read in the Book of Job: 'Man

5 John 3.36.

6 Rom. 7.25.

LETTERS 295

born of a woman, living for a short time and full of wrath/
Whence, then, comes the wrath of God upon the innocence
of an infant except from the lot and taint of original sin?
In the same Book we read again that the infant is not free of
this, 'whose life is of one day upon earth. 57

Thus, he accomplished something among them by refuting
them with ready arguments and making Catholic words echo
in their ears, since, although they were trying to argue against
the sacraments of the Church, they nevertheless admitted that
infants believe. But let them not promise life to these without
baptism, for to what other life do these words refer : c he that
believeth not the Son shall not see life'? And let them not
admit that these have no part in the kingdom of heaven, while
at the same time they defend them from damnation, for what
else but damnation is meant by the wrath which, as the Lord
bears witness, abides on him who does not believe? That
admission brings them at once close to our side and the
case is ended without wrangling over trifles. For, if they grant
that infants believe, no doubt this statement applies to them:
'Unless a man be born again of water and the Holy Spirit,
he cannot enter into the kingdom of heaven,' 8 as well as this
one: c He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved, but
he that believeth not shall be condemned.' 9 Therefore, since
these men confess that infants become believers when they are
baptized, let them not doubt that if they are unbelievers they
are damned; and let them dare to say, if they can, that beings
who inherit no evil from their origin and have no taint of
sin are damned by a just God.

I do not understand what help it is to them in the present
issue to bring against us, as you mentioned in your letter, the
case of Enoch and Elias, who did not die but were removed

7 Job 14.1,5 (Septuagint) .

8 John 3.5.

9 Mark 16.16.

296 SAINT AUGUSTINE

in their bodies from contact with men. I pass over the general
belief that they will meet death later, for several interpreters
of John's Apocalypse 10 refer to the two Prophets what he says
without mentioning their names, namely, that they will then
appear in the bodies in which they now live so that they, too,
may die, as other martyrs have died, for the truth of Christ;
but, I repeat, I pass over that, and postponing that question,

I ask you, what help is the status of these two Prophets to
them? They derive no proof from these that physical death is
not a punishment of sin. For, if God, who remits their sins
to so many of His faithful, has willed to remit the punishment
of death to certain ones, who are we that reply against God 11
as to why He treats 'one after this manner and another after
that? 312

We say, therefore, what the Apostle says very plainly:
The body indeed is dead because of sin, but the spirit liveth
because of justification. And if the Spirit of him that raised
up Christ from the dead dwell in you; he that raised up
Christ from the dead shall quicken also your mortal bodies
because of his Spirit that dwelleth in you. 313 When we say
this, we do not mean to deny that God can do now for some,
according to His will, without death what we have no doubt
He will do for so many after death; not for this will the
Apostle's words be falsified when he says: 'By one man sin
entered into this world and by sin death, and so death passed
upon all men/ 14 This is said because there would have been
no death if death had not entered by sin. So, also, when we
say e all are sent to hell because of sin, 5 is our saying falsified
because not all men are sent to hell? That statement is true,
because no one is sent there except as a punishment of sin,

10 Apoc. 11.3-7.

II Rom. 930.

12 1 Cor. 7.7.

13 Rom. 8.10,11.

14 Rom. 5.12.

LETTERS 297

not because everybody is sent there. This other opposite
statement is of the same kind: c By the justice of one unto
all men to justification of life/ 15 for all men do not attain
to the justification of Christ, but no one is justified except
by Christ.

Not without reason does the question puzzle us why the
penalty of death remains, although the sin does not remain
that is, if bodily death is also a punishment of sin; but it is
much more of a question why an infant dies after it has been
baptized than why Elias did not die after he had been
justified. In the former case, what puzzles us is why the
penalty of sin follows after the sin has been destroyed; in the
latter, we ought not to be puzzled if the penalty of sin does
not follow after the sin has been destroyed. To the best of
my ability, and with the Lord's help, I have settled that
question about the death of baptized children that is, why
some penalty of sin follows even after the destruction of sin
in my books on the baptism of infants, 16 which I am sure are
well known to you. But we should not be troubled by that
other question, 'Why did the just Elias not die if death is
the penalty of sin? 5 any more than if one said, 'Why did the
sinner Elias not die if death is the penalty of sin?*

But if they raise one difficulty from another and say: 'If
Enoch and Elias were so sinless that they did not suffer death,
which is the penalty of sin, how does that tally with the
teaching that no one lives in this world without sin?' the
probable answer to them would be : 'Because God willed them
to live after they had done with sin, they were not permitted
to live here, since here no one can live without sin.' But this
and other arguments of the same sort could be brought against
them if it could be proved with certainty from any source
that those two will never die. But, since they cannot teach

15 Rom. 5.18.

16 De peccatorum meritis et remissions et de baptismo parvulorum.

298 SAINT AUGUSTINE

this It is better to believe that Enoch and Elias will die at the
end of the world, and since it is better to believe that they
will meet death, there is no reason why these should wish to
make an objection to us of men who will not support their
case at any point.

On the other hand, those whom the Apostle mentions when
he speaks of the resurrection of the dead: Then we who are
alive, who are left, shall be taken up together with them in
the clouds to meet Christ, into the air, and so we shall be
always with the Lord/ 17 do indeed raise something of a
difficulty, but it concerns themselves, not our objectors. Even
if these survivors are not themselves going to die, I see no
way in which their case helps these objectors, since it is
possible to make the same comments on these as were made
on the other two. As a matter of fact, as far as the words of
the blessed Apostle are concerned, he seems to state that
certain persons, at the end of the world, when the Lord comes,
when the resurrection of the dead is to take place, will not
die, but, being found alive, are to be suddenly transformed
into the immortality which is given to the rest of the saints,
and to be taken up together with them, as he says, in the
clouds; as often as I think over these words, they seem to me
to mean nothing else but that.

But I should be better pleased to hear more competent
teachers on this point; otherwise, those who think that some
persons, having received life without previously dying, are
to pass to everlasting life, may find the Apostle saying to
them: 'Senseless man, that which thou sowest is not quickened
except it die first !' For, if we do not all die, how can there
be a fulfillment of what we read in many texts: c We shall all
rise again?* 18 Obviously, there is no resurrection without a
preliminary death. And the fact that some texts have the

17 1 Thess. 4.16.

18 1 Cor. 15.36,51.

LETTERS 299

words: 'We shall all fall asleep/ makes this much easier and
plainer to understand. And every other similar passage found
in holy Writ seems to force us to conclude that no man will
attain immortality without first passing through death. Con-
sequently, when the Apostle says: 'And we who are alive,
who remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent
them who have slept. For the Lord himself shall come down
from heaven with commandment and with the voice of an
archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead who are
in Christ shall rise first. Then we who are alive, who are
left, shall be taken up together with them in the clouds to
meet Christ, into the air, and so we shall be always with the
Lord 5 ; 19 as I said, I should like to hear more competent
teachers comment on these words, and if they can only be in-
terpreted so that it is possible to understand from them that all
men who are now alive or who are to live after us will die, I
wish to correct a different view which I formerly held. We
who are teachers ought not to be intractable, and it is
certainly better for a little man to be set right than for an
obdurate one to be broken, since by our writings our own
deficiency and that of others may be trained and taught, yet
not in such wise as to set up in them anything like canonical
authority.

If no other meaning can be found for these words of the
Apostle, and it is clear that he intended them to mean what
the words themselves seem to cry aloud, that is, that at the
end of the world and the coming of the Lord there will be
some who will be clothed with immortality without being
stripped of their bodies, 'that that which is mortal may be
swallowed up by life, 520 undoubtedly that will agree with the
words which we profess in the Creed, namely, that the Lord
will come to judge the living and the dead. In this sense we

19 1 Thess. 4.14-16.

20 2 Cor. 5.4.

300 SAINT AUGUSTINE

will not take the living to mean the righteous and the dead
the ungodly, although both righteous and ungodly are to be
judged, but by living we shall understand those who, at His
coming, have not yet gone out of their bodies, and by the
dead those who have gone out from them long since. If
that interpretation stands, we shall have to examine carefully
into these passages : 'that which thou sowest is not quickened
except it die first/ and 'we shall rise again/ or we shall all
fall asleep/ so as to understand them in amanner consistent
with this view which holds that some will enter into eternal
life in their bodies without first tasting death.

But whichever one of these interpretations turns out to
be truer or clearer, what good does it do the case of our
objectors whether all men are bound by the debt of death,
or some are spared its necessity, when it is still a fact that
there would have been no subsequent death of soul or body
if sin had not come first, and that it is a more remarkable
effect of grace for the just to rise from death to eternal
happiness than for them not to experience death? This will
have to be enough to answer those of whom you wrote me,
although I do not imagine they are now saying that Adam
would have died, at least in body, even if he had not sinned.

However, as far as the question of resurrection is concerned,
because of the belief that some will not die but will pass
from mortal life to immortality without any intervening
death, there is need of a more careful examination into it. If
you have either read or heard anything certain and definite
on it, anything based on a reasonable and satisfactory argu-
ment, or even if you have been able to think it out for
yourself, or if in future you are able to hear or read or think
it out, I beg you not to refuse to share it with me. For I must
confess to your Charity, I like much better to learn than to
teach. We are also advised to this by the words of the Apostle

LETTERS 301

James: c Let every man be swift to hear but slow to speak/ 21
Therefore, the sweetness of truth should invite us to learn
where the necessity of charity forces us to teach. In this case
it is the more to be desired that this necessity which causes
man to teach man anything may pass away that we may
'all be taught of God', 32 although we are this when we learn
what belongs to true godliness, even when man seems to
teach it, because 'neither he that planteth is anything nor he
that watereth, but God that giveth the increase. 523 Since, then,
the Apostles would have accomplished nothing by planting
and watering if God had not given the increase, how much
more true is this of you or me or any men of our time who
fancy themselves as teachers!

194. Augustine gives greeting in the Lord to his holy brother

and fellow priest, Sixtus* his lord most beloved

in the Lord of lords (418)

In the letter 2 which I sent by our very dear brother, the
acolyte, Albinus, I promised to send a longer one by our
holy brother and fellow priest, Firmus. He had brought us a
letter from your Sincerity, showing forth the candor of your
faith, which filled us with a joy so great that we can more
easily contain than describe it. We had been exceedingly sad
when rumor spread abroad the news that you sided with the
enemies of Christian grace* But several developments erased
this sadness from our hearts: first, the same rumor made it
known that you were the first to pronounce anathema on

21 James 1.19.

22 John 6.45; Isa. 54.15.

23 1 Cor, 3.7.

1 Cf. Letter 191 n. 1.

2 Letter 191.

302 SAINT AUGUSTINE

them before a large crowd; second, your letter to the venerable
elder, Aurelius, came with the letter sent by the Apostolic
See to xAirica concerning their condemnation, and although
yours was short it gave sufficient evidence of your strong
repudiation of their error; and finally, now^ that your faith
speaks more openly and comprehensively against that dogma,
stating your views to us and to the Roman Church, to which
the blessed Apostle Paul spoke so frequently and variously
about the 'grace of God by Jesus Christ our Lord,' 3 not
only has every shadow of sadness fled from our hearts, but
such a brilliance of happiness shines there that the former
sorrow and fear seem to have intensified the glowing warmth
of the joys that were to come.

Therefore, dearest brother, although we do not see you
with the eyes of the flesh, nevertheless in spirit, in the faith
of Christ, in the grace of Christ, in the members of Christ,
we hold you, we embrace you, we kiss you, and we are taking
advantage of the return of that most holy and faithful
bearer of our mutual communications, whom you wished
us to have as the narrator and witness of your deeds, as well
as the carrier of your writings,, to send you our answer and
to hold a somewhat longer conversation with you, encourag-
ing you to follow up by instructing those in whom you have
begun, as we hear, to instill an adequate fear. There are
some who think it a mark of the liberal mind to defend the
impious doctrine which has been most justly condemned;
there are some who c creep into houses, 4 in secret, and pro-
pagate actively but in secret what they fear to preach openly;
there are some who have been forced by great fear into
complete silence, but who still keep in their hearts what they
dare not utter with their lips, and these can be well known
to the brethren from their former defense of this doctrine.

3 Rom. 7.25.

4 2 Tim. 3.6.

LETTERS 303

Therefore, some are to be restrained by severe measures; some
to be investigated with care; some to be treated more gently
but instructed more diligently, and, although there may be
fear of their doing harm, there should be no backwardness in
saving them from harm.

When they think they are being deprived of their free will
if they admit that man has no good will of his own without
the help of God, they do not understand that they are not
thus strengthening human free will but puffing it up so that
it is carried off into empty space, not anchored on the Lord
as on an immovable rock, for 'the will is made ready by
the Lord. 55

And when they affect to believe that God is a respecter of
persons, 6 because without any antecedent merits of theirs
'He hath mercy on whom he will,' 7 and calls whom He
deigns to call and makes righteous whom He will, they
overlook the fact that a deserved penalty is meted out to the
damned, an undeserved grace to the saved, so that the former
cannot complain that he is undeserving nor the latter boast
that he is deserving. Where one and the same clay of
damnation and offense is involved, there can be no respect
had of persons, so that the saved may learn from the lost
that the same punishment would have been his lot, also, if
grace had not rescued him; if it is grace, it is obviously not
awarded for any merit, but bestowed as a pure act of bounty.

c But, 5 they object, 'it is unjust in one and the same case for
this one to be saved and that one to be punished.' That
means it is just for both to be punished. Would anyone deny
this? Then let us give thanks to the Saviour when we see that
we have not received what we recognize as our due from the
damnation of our fellow men. If both were saved, then what

5 Prov. 8.35 (Septuagint) .

6 Acts 10.34; 2 Paral. 19.7; Rom. 2.11; Eph. 6.9; 1 Peter 1.17; Col. 3.25.

7 Rom. 9.18.

304 SAINT AUGUSTINE

is justly due to sin would not be apparent; if no one were
saved, we would not know the free gift of grace. Therefore,
in this very difficult question, let us rather use the words of
the Apostle: 'God, willing to show his wrath and to make
his power known, endured with much patience vessels of
wrath, fitted for destruction, that he might show the riches of
his glory on the vessels of mercy.' And the thing formed
cannot say to Him: 'Why hast thou made me thus? Since
He has power of the same lump to make one vessel unto
honor, another unto dishonor.' 8 For, when the whole lump
of clay is justly doomed to destruction, justice awards it the
dishonor it deserves, while grace bestows an undeserved honor,
not for any privilege of merit, not through any inevitability
of fate, not through any chance stroke of fortune, but through
'the depth of the riches of the wisdom and of the knowledge
of God,' which the Apostle does not reveal to us, but marvels
at as something hidden, crying out: C O the depth of the riches
of the wisdom and of the knowledge of God ! How incompre-
hensible are his judgments, how unsearchable his ways! For
who hath known the mind of the Lord? or who hath been
his counsellor? or who hath first given to him and recompense
shall be made him? For of him and by him and in him are
all things: to him be glory forever!' 9

But they do not wish the glory of justifying the sinful by
His freely given grace to be given to Him, because, not
knowing His justice, they seek to establish their own, 10 and
even when influenced by the clamorous words of religious
and godly men, they admit to receiving some divine help in
attaining justice or performing its works, they claim some
previous merit of their own, as if they were first willing to
give that recompense might be made to them by Him of

8 Rom. 9.22,23,20,21.

9 Rom. 11.33-36.
10 Roin. 10.3.

LETTERS 305

whom it is said: 'who hath first given to him and recom-
pense shall be made him?' Thus they think their merits pre-
cede His action of whom they hear, or, rather, refuse to hear
that fi of him and by him and in him are all things.' From
those riches which are the depth of His wisdom and His
knowledge come also the riches of His glory toward the
vessels of mercy whom He calls to adoption; these riches He
also wills to make known even through the vessels of wrath
which are fitted for destruction. And what are His ways
which are unsearchable, if not those which are praised in the
Psalm: 'All the ways of the Lord are mercy and truth 5 ? 11
His mercy, therefore, and His truth are unsearchable, because
*He hath mercy on whom he will,' not through justice but
the mercy of grace; and 'whom he will he hardeneth,' not
through injustice but the truth of retribution. Nevertheless,
mercy and truth meet so harmoniously, as it is written:
'Mercy and truth have met each other,' 12 that mercy does
not hinder truth when the one who deserves it is cast down,
nor does truth hinder mercy when the one who does not
deserve it is saved. What merits of his own has the saved to
boast of, when, if he received his just deserts, he would be
damned? But, have the just no merits at all? Certainly they
have, since they are just; only, there were no previous merits
to make them just. They became just when they were justified,
but, as the Apostle says, 'They are justified freely by his
grace.' 13

Although these men are dangerous opponents of this grace,
those who say that the grace of God is given according to our
merit were anathematized by Pelagius at the ecclesiastical
trial in Palestine otherwise, he could not have come off un-
scathed. But no other statement is found in their subsequent

11 Ps. 24.10.

12 Ps. 84.11.

13 Rom. 3.24.

306 SAINT AUGUSTINE

controversy except that merit regulates grace, of which the
Epistle to the Romans speaks in such high terms and which
was afterward preached throughout the world, coming down,
so to speak, from the head of the world, It is grace that
justifies the wicked, that is, he who was formerly wicked
thereby becomes just. Therefore, the reception of this grace
is not preceded by any merits because the wicked deserve
punishment, not grace, and it would not be grace if it were
awarded as something due and not freely given.

But, when these men are asked what kind of grace Pelagius
thought was given without any antecedent merits, since he
anathematized those who say that the grace of God is given
according to our merit, they answer that grace without any
antecedent merit is the human nature in which we have been
created, for, before we existed, it was not possible for us to
merit existence. Let Christian hearts reject that fallacy. No,
a thousand times no! The grace which is praised by the
Apostle is not that by which we were created and became men,
but that by which, being sinful men, we were made just.
That grace is given by Jesus Christ our Lord. Christ did not
die for some that they might be created, but for sinful men
that they might be made just. It was a man, indeed, who
said: 'Unhappy man that I am, who shall deliver me from
the body of this death? The grace of God by Jesus Christ our
Lord. 514

They can indeed say that the remission of sins is a grace
which is given without any antecedent merit, for what good
merits can sinners have? Yet, even that remission of sins is
not without some merit, if faith asks and obtains it. There
is some merit in faith, that faith which made the publican
say : 'O Lord be merciful to me, a sinner. And he went down
justified' 15 by the merit of humble faith, because 'he that

14 Rom. 7.24,25.

15 Luke 18.13,14.

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307

humbleth himself shall be exalted.' 16 It remains, then, that
faith itself, from which all justice derives its origin and
that is why these words of the Canticle of Canticles are
addressed to the Church: 'Thou shalt come and shalt pass
over from the beginning of faith' 17 it remains, I repeat, that
faith itself is not to be attributed to the human free will
which these men extol, nor to any antecedent merits, since
any good merits, such as they are, come from faith; but we
must confess it as a free gift of God, if we are thinking of
true grace without merit, because we read in the same
Epistle: c God hath divided to every one the measure of
faith.' 18 It is true that good works are performed by man,
but faith is imparted to man, and without it no good works
are done by any man: 'For all that is not of faith is sin.' 19
Therefore, the very act of prayer should not take credit to
itself, even if help is granted to him who prays to overcome
his covetousness of temporal things and to love eternal goods
and God Himself, the source of all goods, for it is faith that
prays, faith which is given to him who does not pray, for, if it
were not given he could not pray. 'How then shall they call
on him in whom they have not believed? or how shall they
believe him of whom they have not heard and how shall they
hear without a preacher? Faith then cometh by hearing and
hearing by the word of Christ/ 20 Consequently, the 'minister
of Christ, 5 the preacher of this grace, 'because of the grace
which is given to him,' 21 is the one who plants and waters.
Tor neither he that planteth is anything, nor he that watereth,
but God that giveth the increase,' 22 'who divideth to every
one the measure of faith.* Therefore, in another place he

16 Luke 14.11; Matt. 23.12.

17 Cant. 4.8 (Septuagint) .

18 Rom. 12.3.

19 Rom. 14.23.

20 Rom. 10.14,17.

21 Rom, 15.15,16.

22 1 Cor. 3.7.

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says: Teace be to the brethren and charity with faith/
and that they may not attribute it to themselves he adds:
'from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ/ 23 because
not all those who hear the word have faith, but those to
whom God allots the measure of faith, just as all seeds,
which are planted and watered, do not sprout but those to
which God gives the increase. The reason why one believes
and another does not believe, although both hear the same
thing, and, if a miracle is worked in their sight, both see the
same thing, is hid in the depth of the riches of the wisdom
and of the knowledge of God whose judgments are un-
searchable, 24 and with whom there is no injustice, when
He 'has mercy on whom He will and whom He will He hard-
eneth,' 25 for His judgments are not unjust because their
meaning is hidden.

But then, unless the Holy Spirit dwells in the clean house
after the remission of sins, does not the unclean spirit return
with seven other spirits and will the last state of that man
not be worse than the first? 26 And in order that the Holy
Spirit may dwell there, does He not breathe where He will, 27
and is not the charity of God, without which no one lives a
good life, 'poured forth in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who
is given to us 5 ? 28 This is the faith which the Apostle defined
when he said: Tor neither circumcision availeth anything,
nor uncircumcision, but faith that worketh by charity. 529
And that is obviously the faith of Christians, not of demons.
Tor the devils also believe and tremble/ 30 but do they love?
If they had not believed, they would not have said: 'Thou

23 Eph. 6,23,

24 Cf. Rom. 11.33.

25 Rom. 9.14,18.

26 Matt. 12.43-45; Luke 11.24-26.

27 John 3.8.

28 Rom. 5.5.

29 Gal. 5.6.

30 James 2.19.

LETTERS

art the holy one of God' or 'Thou art the Son of God/ 31 but
if they had loved, they would not have said : 'What have we
to do with thee?' 32

Faith, therefore, draws us to Christ, and if it were not
given to us from above as a free gift, He Himself would not
have said: c No man can come to me except the Father,
who hath sent me, draw him. 533 And shortly after this He
said: The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and
life. But there are some of you that believe not. 5 And the
Evangelist adds: Tor Jesus knew from the beginning who
they were that believed and who it was that would betray
him/ And lest anyone should think that His foreknowledge
concerned believers in the same way as unbelievers, that is,
not in the sense that faith itself was given them from above,
but only that their will was foreseen, the Gospel at once
added the words: 'And he said: Therefore did I say to you
that no man can come to me unless it be given him by the
Father. 534 This explains why some of those who heard Him
speak of His flesh and His blood were scandalized and went
away, 35 while some remained steadfast in their belief, because
no man could come to Him unless it were given him by the
Father, and consequently also by the Son Himself and by the
Holy Spirit. There is no separation in the gifts and works of
the inseparable Trinity; when the Son thus honors His Father
He does not give us proof of any separation, but He does
offer us a great example of humility.

Here, again, if those defenders of free will, nay rather,
those deceivers, because they are puffed up, and they are
puffed up because they are presumptuous, were to speak, not
against us but against the Gospel, what else would they say

31 Luke 4.41,34; Mark 3,11,12.

32 Matt. 8.29; Mark 5.7; Luke 8.28.

33 John 6.44.

34 John 6.64-66.

35 John 6.53,61,62,67.

310 SAINT AUGUSTINE

but what the Apostle proposes as an objection to himself, as
if it were said by such men: Thou sayest therefore to me:
Why doth he then find fault? for who resisteth his will?' He
put this objection to himself as if from another, in the very
words of those who refuse to accept what he had said before :
'He hath mercy on whom he will and whom he will he
hardeneth.' Let us therefore say with the Apostle to such
men for we cannot find anything better than that to say
'O man, who art thou that repliest against God? 336

What we seek to know is how this hardening is deserved,
and we find it to be so because the whole clay of sin was
damned. God does not harden by imparting malice to it, but
by not imparting mercy. Those to whom He does not impart
mercy are not worthy, nor do they deserve it; rather, they
are worthy and do deserve that He should not Impart it.
But when we seek to know how mercy is deserved we find
no merit because there is none, lest grace be made void if it
is not freely given but awarded to merit.

If we say that faith goes before and that the merit of grace
is in it, what merit does a man have before faith so as to
receive faith? For, what has he that he has not received?
And if he has received it, why does he glory as if he had not
received it? 37 Just as a man would not have wisdom, under-
standing, counsel, fortitude, knowledge, piety, and fear of
God unless, according to the Prophet's words, he had received
'the spirit of wisdom and of understanding, of counsel and
of fortitude, of knowledge and of godliness, and of fear of
God/ 38 and just as he would not have power and love and
sobriety, except by receiving the Spirit of whom the Apostle
speaks: 'We have not received the spirit of fear but of power
and of love and of sobriety/ 39 so also he would not have faith

36 Rom. 9.19,18,20.

37 Cf. 1 Cor. 4.7.

38 Isa. 11 3,3.

39 2 Tim. 1.7.

LETTERS 311

unless he received the spirit of faith of which the same
Apostle says: 'But having the same spirit of faith, as it is
written: I believed for which cause I have spoken, we also
believe for which cause we speak also.' 40 Thus, he shows very
plainly that faith is not received because of merit but by the
mercy of Him who has mercy on whom He will, 41 when he
says of himself: 'I have obtained mercy to be faithful. 542

If we say that prayer produces antecedent merit so that
the gift of grace may follow, it is true that prayer, by asking
and obtaining whatever it does obtain, shows clearly that it
is God's gift when a man does not think that he has grace
of himself, because if it were in his own power, he would
assuredly not ask for it. But, lest we should think that even
the merit of prayer is antecedent to grace, in which case it
would not be a free gift and then it would not be grace
because it would be the reward which was due our very
prayer itself is counted among the gifts of grace. As the
Doctor of the Gentiles says: We know not what we should
pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself asketh for us
with unspeakable groanings.' 43 And what does 'asketh for
us 5 mean but that He makes us ask? It is a very sure sign
of one in need to ask with groaning, but it would be monstrous
for us to think that the Holy Spirit is in need of anything.
So, then, the word c ask j is used because He makes us ask, and
inspires us with the sentiment of asking and groaning, accord-
ing to that passage in the Gospel: Tor it is not you that
speak, but the Spirit of your Father that speaketh in you.' 44
However, this is not accomplished in us without any action
on our part, and therefore the help of the Holy Spirit is
described by saying that He does what He makes us do.

40 2 Cor. 4.13; Ps. 115.10.

41 Rom. 9.18.

42 1 Cor. 7.25.

43 Rom. 8.26; 1 Tim. 2.7.

44 Matt. 10.20.

312 SAINT AUGUSTINE

The Apostle himself makes It quite clear that our spirit is
not meant when he says it 'asketh with unspeakable groan-
ings,' but the Holy Spirit by whom our infirmity is helped.
He begins by saying: The Spirit helpeth our infirmity'; then
he goes on; Tor we know not what we should pray for as
we ought, 5 and the rest. 45 And indeed he speaks even more
plainly of this Spirit in another place: Tor you have not
received the spirit of bondage again in fear, but you have
received the spirit of adoption of sons, whereby we cry:
Abba, Father. 346 Notice that he does not here say that the
Spirit Himself cries in His prayer, but he says: 'whereby we
cry: Abba, Father. 3 However, in another passage he says:
'Because you are sons, God hath sent the Spirit of his Son
into your hearts, crying: Abba. Father.' 47 Here he does not
say 'whereby we cry,' but he preferred to represent the Spirit
Himself as crying, which has the effect of making us cry, as
in the other two passages: The Spirit himself asketh with
unspeakable groanings,' and The Spirit of your Father that
speaketh in you. 5

Therefore, as no one has true wisdom, true understanding;
no one is truly eminent in counsel and fortitude; no one has
a pious knowledge or a knowledgable piety; no one fears God
with a chaste fear unless he has received 'the spirit of wisdom
and understanding, of counsel and fortitude, of knowledge
and piety and fear of God;' 48 and as no one has true power,
sincere love, and religious sobriety except through 'the spirit
of power and love and sobriety,' 49 so also without the spirit
of faith no one will rightly believe, without the spirit of
prayer no one will profitably pray; not that there are so many
spirits, 'but all these things one and the same Spirit worketh,

45 Rom. 8.26.

46 Rom. 8.15.

47 Gal. 4.6.

48 Isa. 11.2,3.

49 2 Tim. 1.7.

LETTERS 313

dividing to every one according as he will,' 50 because 'the
Spirit breatheth where he will.' 51 But it must be admitted that
His help is given differently before and after His indwelling,
for before His indwelling He helps men to believe, but after
His indwelling He helps them as believers.

What merit, then, has man before grace which could
make it possible for him to receive grace, when nothing but
grace produces good merit in us; and what else but His gifts
does God crown when He crowns our merits? For, just as in
the beginning we obtained the mercy of faith, not because
we were faithful but that we might become so, in like manner
He will crown us at the end with eternal life, as it says, 'with
mercy and compassion.' 52 Not in vain, therefore, do we sing
to God: 'His mercy shall prevent me,' and His mercy shall
follow me.' 53 Consequently, eternal life itself, which will cer-
tainly be possessed at the end without end, is in a sense
awarded to antecedent merits, yet, because the same merits
for which it is awarded are not effected by us through our
sufficiency, but are effected in us by grace, even this very
grace is so called for no other reason than that it is given
freely; not, indeed, that it is not given for merit, but because
the merits themselves are given for which it is given. And
when we find eternal life itself called grace, we have in the
same Apostle Paul a magnificent defender of grace: 'The
wages of sin,' he says, 'is death. But the grace of God life ever-
lasting in Christ Jesus our Lord.' 54

Notice, please, how concisely and how exactly he has
chosen his words; a careful examination of them will throw
some light on the obscurity of this question. After he had
said: 'The wages of sin is death,' anyone would have agreed

50 1 Cor. 12.11.

51 John 3.8.

52 Ps. 102.4.

53 Ps. 58.11; 22.6.

54 Rom. 6.23.

3 14 SAINT AUGUSTINE

that he could have made a most consistent and logical con-
clusion if he had said: 'But the wages of justice is eternal life/
And it is true, because eternal life is awarded as if it were
the wages which justice deserves, just as death is the wages
which sin deserves. Or if he had not said 'justice' he might
have said 'faith/ since 'the just liveth by faith.' 55 Hence, the
word 'pay 5 is also used in many passages of the holy Scriptures,
but neither justice nor faith is ever called pay, because the
pay is made to justice or faith. What pay is to the workman,
that wages is to the soldier.

But the blessed Apostle was speaking against pride, which
is always trying to steal into great souls, when he said of
himself on that account that an angel of Satan had been
given to him by whom he was buffeted lest he should lift up
his head in presumption; 56 and it was in his vigilant warfare
against this bane of pride that he said: 'The wages of sin is
death/ Rightly does he say 'wages/ because it is owed, because
it is rendered according to a man's deserts. But after that he
did not make the contrary statement: 'the wages of justice
is eternal life 5 ; instead he said : 'the grace of God, life ever-
lasting/ so that justice might not be based on human merit
in the same way that sin is undoubtedly the cause of evil
retribution. And in order that eternal life might not be sought
in any other way than through the Mediator, he added; 'in
Christ Jesus our Lord/ as if he were saying: 'Having heard
that the wages of sin is death, why do you try to exalt your-
self, O human justice, who are truly pride under the name
justice? Why do you try to exalt yourself and demand eternal
life, the opposite of death, as if it were due you as wages?
That to which eternal life is owed is true justice, but if it is
true justice, it does not originate in you, 'it is from above,

55 Rom. 1.17; Gal. 3.11; Heb. 10.38; Hab. 2.4,

56 2 Cor. 12.7.

LETTERS 315

coming down from the Father of lights.' 57 In order to have
it, if you do have it, you must have received it, for 'what
good hast thou that thou hast not received?' 58 Therefore,
O man, if you are to receive eternal life, it is indeed the
wages of justice, but for you it is a grace just as justice itself
is a grace. It would be paid as something due to you if the
justice to which it is due had its origin in you. But now, c of
his fulness we have received,' not only the grace by which
we now live uprightly and in labors unto the end, but also
'grace for this grace/ 59 that afterward we may live in repose
forever. Faith has no more salutary doctrines to believe than
this because the understanding finds none more true, and
we should hearken to the Prophet saying: e lf you will not
believe, you shall not understand. 560

The objector says to this: c But men who refuse to live
uprightly and faithfully will excuse themselves by saying:
'What wrong have we done by leading a bad life, since we
did not receive grace to lead a good life?' They cannot
possibly say with truth that they have done no wrong in
living a bad life, for if they do no wrong they lead a good
life; but if they lead a bad life the wrong is of their Own
doing, either the original sin which they inherited or the sin
they have added over and above. But, if they are 'vessels of
wrath, fitted for destruction/ let them impute this to them-
selves as something owed and paid to them, because they are
made of the clay which God deservedly and justly condemned
on account of the sin of one man, in whom all have sinned,
but if they are Vessels of mercy/ fashioned of the same clay on
which God did not will to inflict the punishment due, let
them not be puffed up, but give the glory to Him who has

57 James 1.17.

58 1 Cor. 4.7.

59 John 1.16.

60 Isa. 7.9 (Septuagint) .

316 SAINT AUGUSTINE

shown them an undeserved mercy, 61 and, if they are 'otherwise
minded, God himself will reveal this to them also/ 52

After all, how will they excuse themselves? No doubt, in
the manner briefly mentioned 63 by the Apostle when he
raised an objection for himself in their supposed words: 'Why
doth he then find fault? for who resisteth his will?' This is
the same as saying: 'Why is fault found with us that we
offend God by an evil life, since no one can resist His will,
and He has hardened us by not giving us His grace? 5 If they
are not ashamed to offer this excuse, not against us but
against the Apostle, why should we tire of saying to them
again and again what the Apostle said: 'Q man, who art
thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to
him that formed it: Why hast thou made me thus? or hath
not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump,' justly
and deservedly damned, c to make one vessel unto honor/
through the undeserved grace of mercy, 'another unto dis-
honor,' which is due because of His just wrath, and 'that he
might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of
mercy/ by showing what is bestowed on them, while the
vessels of wrath receive the punishment which is equally due
to all? Let it be enough at present for the Christian still living
by faith and not yet seeing that which is perfect, but knowing
it in part, 64 to recognize or believe that God saves no one
except by a freely given mercy through our Lord Jesus Christ,
and condemns no one except by the most just truth through
the same Lord Jesus Christ. Let him who is able search out
His reason for saving or not saving this one or that, but let
him also beware of the deep abyss of His judgments, 'Is there

61 Rom. 9.22,23; 5.12.

62 Cf. Phil. 3.15.

63 Rom. 9.19-23.

64 1 Cor. 13.9,10.

LETTERS 317

injustice with God? God forbid!' but 'His judgments are in-
comprehensible and his ways are unsearchable.' 65

In earlier ages it could at least be said with justice: 'They
would not understand that they might do well,' 66 but the
men of our time are worse; they have understood and have
not obeyed, because, as it is written: *A stubborn slave will
not be corrected by words, for if he understand he will not
obey.' 67 And what makes him disobey but his own evil will?
A heavier punishment is due him by divine justice: 6 And
unto whomsoever more is given, of him more shall be re-
quired.' 68 Indeed, the Scripture says they are inexcusable who
know the truth and persist in ungodliness. The Apostle says:
Tor the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all
ungodliness and injustice of those men that detain the truth
of God in injustice; because that which is known of God is
manifest in them, for God hath manifested it unto them. For
the invisible things of him from the creation of the world
are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are
made; his eternal power also and divinity, so that they are
inexcusable.' 69

If, then, he calls those inexcusable who were able to see
and understand the invisible things of Him by the things
that are made, yet did not obey the truth but persisted in
their wickedness and ungodliness for they did know, but,
he says, 'knowing God they have not glorified him as God
or given thanks,' 70 how much more inexcusable are those
who are confident that they are leaders of the blind, who
teach others and do not teach themselves, who preach that
men should not steal, yet they themselves steal,' 71 and the

65 Rom. 9.14; 11.33.

66 Ps. 35.4.

67 Prov. 29.19 (Septuagint) .

68 Cf. Luke 12.47,48.

69 Rom. 1.18-20.

70 Rom. 1.21.

71 Cf. Rom. 2.18,19,21.

318 SAINT AUGUSTINE

other things which the Apostle says of them! That is why
he says to them: 'Wherefore thou art inexcusable, O man,
whosoever thou art that judgest. For wherein thou judgest
another thou condemnest thyself; for thou doest the same
things which thou judgest.' 72

The Lord Himself also says in the Gospel: 'If I had not
come and spoken to them, they would not have sin, but now
they have no excuse for their sin.' 73 Surely He does not mean
that they have no sin, when they are full of many great sins,
but He wishes us to know that, if He had not come, they
would not have had this sin of having heard Him and not
having believed in Him. He protests that they lack the excuse
which would let them say: 'We have not heard, therefore
we have not believed. 9 Human pride, presuming on the
strength of free will, thinks it is excused when its sin seems
to come from ignorance, not from a deliberate choice.

Referring to this excuse, divine Scripture says those are
inexcusable who are proved to sin knowingly. Nevertheless,
the just judgment of God does not spare those either who
have not heard: Tor whosoever have sinned without the law,
shall perish without the law.' 74 And although they think they
have an excuse, God does not accept this excuse, because He
knows that He made man right 75 and gave him a com-
mandment to obey, and that this sin, which passed upon his
descendants, came from his having made a bad use of his free
will. And we cannot say that those who have not sinned are
damned, since that first sin passed upon all from one, in
whom all sinned together before they committed any separate
sins of their own. Thus, every sinner is inexcusable by reason
either of the original guilt or of the added sin of his own will,
and this is true whether he knows or not, whether he judges

72 Rom. 2.1.

73 John 15.22.

74 Rom. 2.12.

75 Eccle. 7.30.

LETTERS 319

or not, because that ignorance in those who refused to know
is assuredly a sin; even in those who were unable to know
it is the penalty of sin. Therefore, in either case there is no
just excuse, but there is a just condemnation.

The reason why holy Scripture says that those are in-
excusable who sin, not in ignorance but knowingly, is because
they now have no excuse for their ignorance, and there is no
longer any justice on which the self-sufficiency of their will
can presume, and these words are to make them see that they
are inexcusable even by the verdict of their own pride, which
makes them rely heavily on the strength of their own will.
But he to whom the Lord granted the grace of knowing and
obeying said: 'By the law is the knowledge of sin,' 76 and
'I did not know sin but by the law, for I had not known
concupiscence if the law did not say: Thou shalt not covet.' 77
He does not mean the man ignorant of the Law which com-
mands but the one in need of the grace which redeems when
he says: C I am delighted with the law of God according to
the inward man, 5 and also when he speaks later on not only
of this knowledge but also of delight in the Law, saying:
'Unhappy man that I am who shall deliver me from the
body of this death? The grace of God by Jesus Christ our
Lord/ 78 Therefore, man is delivered from the wounds of that
murder by the grace of the Saviour alone, and those sold into
sin are delivered from the bonds of captivity by the grace
of the Redeemer alone.

For this reason, a most just punishment falls on those who
try to make excuses for their sins and wickedness, whereas
grace alone delivers those who are delivered. If their excuse
were valid, it would not be grace but justice that redeemed
them. But, since only grace redeems man, it finds nothing just

76 Rom. 3.20.

77 Rom. 7.7; Exocl. 20.17; Deut. 5.21; 17.25.

78 Rom. 7.22,24,25.

320 SAINT AUGUSTINE

in him whom it redeems, neither will, nor act, nor, least of
all, that excuse, for if it were a just excuse the one using it
would not truly be redeemed by grace. We know that the
grace of Christ does redeem some of those who say: 'Why
doth he then find fault? for who resisteth his will?' 79 If this
excuse is valid, men are no longer redeemed by a freely given
grace, but through the validity of their excuse. But, if it is
grace that redeems, doubtless this excuse is not valid, for it
is truly grace that redeems man if it is not awarded him as
something owed in justice. Therefore, in those who say: 'Why
doth he find fault? for who resisteth his will?' nothing is
effected but what is expressed by the Book of Solomon:
The folly of a man supplanteth his steps; he fretteth in his
mind against God.' 80

Thus, although God makes Vessels of wrath fitted for
destruction, 5 that He may show His wrath and make known
His power, which He exercises even over the wicked, 'that
he may show the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy/
which He makes unto honor, not as something due to their
condemned clay, but as granted by the bounty of His grace,
nevertheless, in those same vessels of wrath made unto a
dishonor due to their clay, 81 that is, in men created for
natural goods, but doomed for their sins to punishment, He
knows that He is condemning injustice which truth rightly
rejects; He does not commit it. Human nature as coming
from His will is unquestionably worthy of praise; sin, as
coming from man's will, is an object of reprobation to all.
This will of man either transmitted a hereditary taint to the
descendants whom he had within him when he sinned, or
each one acquired other guilt by living sinfully within him-
self. But, neither from that sin which is derived from man's

79 Rom. 9.19.

80 Prov. 18.22 (Septuagint) ; cf. 19-3 (Vulgate) .

81 Rom. 9.21-23.

LETTERS

321

origin, nor from those which each one accumulates as his
own, either by not understanding, or by not wishing to under-
stand their evil, or even by increasing them through his
instruction in the law by an added act of malice, is anyone
redeemed or justified except by 'the grace of God by Jesus
Christ our Lord.' 82 This is effected not only by the remission
of sins, but first by the inspiration of faith itself and of the
fear of God, when His love has been graciously imparted to
us by the operation of prayer, until He heals all our diseases
and redeems our life from destruction and crowns us with
mercy and compassion. 83

But, for those who think that God becomes a respecter of
persons 84 if, for one and the same reason, His mercy comes
upon some while His wrath remains on others, all the force
of human reasoning comes to naught in the case of infants.
I pass over for the present the fact that infants, however
lately come from their mother's womb, are not alone in
being subject to the penalty of which the Apostle says: By
the offense of one unto all men to condemnation,' from
which there is no deliverance except through the One alone
of whom the same Apostle says: 'By the justice of one unto
all men to justification of life.' 85 I repeat, I shall pass over
this for the present and I shall say of infants only what they
themselves concede without any objection, terrified as they
are by the authority of the Gospel, or, rather, overawed by
the perfect agreement in that belief of Christian peoples,
namely, that no infant enters the kingdom of heaven unless
it is born again of water and the Holy Spirit. 86 I ask, then,
what reason they will offer why one is so treated as to go
out of life after baptism while another is given over to the

82 Rom. 7.25.

83 Ps. 102.3,4.

84 Acts 10.34.

85 Rom. 5.18.

86 John 3.5.

322 SAINT AUGUSTINE

hands of unbelievers or even of believers and dies before it is
brought by them to be baptized? Will they attribute it to fate
or chance? I do not think they will rush into such madness,
if they have even a slight desire of retaining the name of
Christian.

Why, then, will no infant enter into the kingdom of
heaven without receiving the 'laver of regeneration'? 87 Surely,
it did not chose to be born of unbelieving or careless parents?
What is to be said of the innumerable unexpected and sudden
deaths by which children of pious Christians are often carried
off and prevented from being baptized, while on the other
hand children of wicked parents, enemies of Christ, come
somehow into Christian hands and do not leave this life
without the sacrament of regeneration? What answer will they
make to this, those who claim that some human merit pre-
cedes in order that grace may be given, lest God be a
respecter of persons? What merits have preceded in this case?
If you take these same infants, there are no merits of theirs;
the same doomed clay is common to both. If you look at their
parents, those whose children have died sudden deaths with-
out the baptism of Christ were good; those whose children
received the sacraments of the Church through some Christian
influence are bad- Yet, the providence of God, by which
the hairs of our head are numbered, without whose will not
a sparrow falls to the ground, 88 which is neither constrained
by fate, nor restrained by chance happenings, nor frustrated
by any injustice, does not provide rebirth to a heavenly in-
heritance for all the children of His sons, yet does provide
it for some children of evil men. One child born of faithful
wedlock, received with joy by its parents, but suffocated in
sleep by mother or nurse, becomes an outcast with no share
in its parents' faith; the other, born in shame and sacrilege,

87 Titus 3.5.

88 Matt. 10.29,30.

LETTERS 323

abandoned by the cruel fear of its mother, but rescued by
the compassionate charity of strangers and baptized through
Christian care, becomes a partaker and sharer in the eternal
kingdom. Let them think of these things, let them examine
into them, and then let them dare to say that God is a respecter
of persons, or that He bestows His grace as a reward for
antecedent merits.

Even if they try to seek out some form of deserving, either
good or bad, on the part of those of mature age, what will
they say of these two cases of infants of whom one could
not, by any evil deeds of his own, draw on himself the violent
death of suffocation, nor the other, by any good deeds, deserve
the care of his baptizer? They are men of excessive vanity and
blindness if, after examining these facts, they still refuse to
cry out with us: C O the depth of the riches of the wisdom
and of the knowledge of God! How incomprehensible are
his judgments and how unsearchable his ways!' 89 They will
not thereby frustrate the freely given mercy of God by their
obstinate madness. Let them permit the 'Son of man to seek
and to save that which was lost,' 90 but let them not dare to
judge why, in His incomprehensible judgments, His mercy
comes upon one, and in one and the same case His wrath
remains on the other.

Who are these that reply to God, when He says to Rebecca,
who had twin sons of one conception of Isaac our father,
'when the children were not yet born nor had done any good
or evil (that the purpose of God according to election might
stand)' the election, namely, of grace not of merit, the
election by which He does not find but makes elect 'that it
was not of works but of him that calleth, that the elder should
serve the younger 7 ? 91 To this sentence the blessed Apostle adds

89 Rom. 11.33.

90 Matt. 18.11; Luke 19.10.

91 Rom. 9.10-12.

3 24 SAINT AUGUSTINE

the testimony of a Prophet who came long afterward: 'Jacob
I have loved, but Esau I have hated/ 92 to give us to under-
stand plainly by the latter utterance what was hidden in the
predestination of God by grace before they were born. For
what did He love but the free gift of His mercy in Jacob,
who had done nothing good before his birth? And what did
He hate but original sin in Esau, who had done nothing evil
before his birth? Surely, He would not have loved in the
former a goodness which he had not practised, nor would
He have hated in the latter a nature which He himself had
created good.

It is strange, when they are entangled in such straits, to
see into what an abyss they hurl themselves through fear of
the nets of truth. The reason,' say they, 'why He did not yet
hate one of the children and love the other was because He
foresaw their future deeds/ Who would not be surprised that
this very subtle reasoning escaped the Apostle? Of course he
did not see this, when he did not make this answer, so brief,
so plain, and, as they think, so true and absolute, to the
hypothetical question made him by an objector. For, when he
had set forth the amazing fact how, of children not yet born,
not having done any good or evil, it could rightly be said that
God loved the one and hated the other, he makes an objection
expressing the feeling of his hearer: 'What shall we say then?
Is there injustice with God? God forbid!' 93 this would have
been the place for him to say what these men say: c God
foresaw their future deeds when He said that the elder should
serve the younger.' But the Apostle does not say this; rather,
he wishes what he says to redound to the praise of the grace
and glory of God, that no one may dare to glory in the merits
of his own acts. For, when he had said : 'God forbid that there
should be injustice with God,' as if we had said to him:

92 Mai. 1.2,3.

93 Rom. 9.14.

LETTERS 325

'How do you prove this when you state that it is not of works
but of Him that calleth that the elder shall serve the younger?'
he goes on to say : Tor he saith to Moses : I will have mercy
on whom I will have mercy, and I will show mercy to whom
I will show mercy. So then it is not of him that willeth nor
of him that runneth but of God that showeth mercy.' 94
Where, now, are the merits, where the works, either past or
future, as if they had been or were to be performed by the
strength of free will? Did the Apostle not make this plain
statement in praise of free grace, that is, true grace? 'Hath
not God made foolish the wisdom' 95 of heretics?

But what was the issue that made the Apostle say this,
that made him cite the example of the twins? What point
was he trying to make? What did he wish to drive home?
Doubtless, this, which the madness of heretics attacks, which
the proud do not accept, which they do not wish to under-
stand: who, c not knowing the justice of God and seeking to
establish their own, have not subjected themselves to the
justice of God.' 96 Clearly, the Apostle was treating of that
very grace, and that is why he commended the children of
promise. What God promises no one but God performs;
and while there is some reason and truth in saying that man
promises and God performs, it is a reprobate sentiment of
impious pride for a man to say that he performs what God
has promised.

Therefore, by commending the children of promise, he
showed the first prefiguring of this in Isaac, the son of
Abraham. The action of God appears much more plainly in
him who was not begotten in the ordinary course of nature,
but in a womb that was sterile and worn out by age, that it
might be a sign of a divine, not a human activity, among

94 Rom. 9.15,16.

95 1 Cor. 1.20.

96 Rom. 10.3.

326 SAINT AUGUSTINE

the sons of God whose coming was foretold. In Isaac/ he
says, 'shall thy seed be called, that is to say, not they that
are the children of the flesh are the children of God, but
they that are the children of the promise are accounted for
the seed. For this is the word of promise: According to this
time will I come, and Sara shall have a son. And not only
she, 3 he says, c but Rebecca also had conceived at once of
Isaac our father. 597 What significance was there in his adding
'at one conception/ except that Jacob was not to boast of
his own merits nor of those of other parents, much less of his
own father, as if his will had somehow been changed for
the better, saying that he was loved by the Creator because,
when his father begot him, he was rewarded for his superior
conduct? He says 'of one conception'; consequently, there
was one merit of their father in begetting them, one merit of
their mother in conceiving them, because, although their
mother carried them shut up in her womb until she brought
them forth, and perhaps varied in her will and affection, she
certainly did not vary for one but for both whom she carried
equally in her womb.

We must, then, look into the meaning of the Apostle and
note how, in his zeal for extolling grace, he does not want
him of whom it was said 'Jacob I have loved' to glory except
in the Lord; and, although they were of the same father, the
same mother, the same conception, before they had done
anything good or evil God loved the one and hated the
other, so that Jacob might understand that he was of the
same clay of original sin as his brother, with whom he shared
a common origin, and thus he sees that he is distinguished
from him by grace alone. Tor when the children were not
yet bora, he says, c nor had done any good or evil (that the
purpose of God according to election might stand), not of

97 Rom. 9.7-10.

LETTERS 327

works but of him that calleth it was said to her: The elder
shall serve the younger. 598

In another passage, the same Apostle shows most plainly
that the election of grace is effected without any antecedent
merits, when he says : 'Even so, then, at this present time also,
there is a remnant saved according to the election of grace.
But if by grace it is not now by works, otherwise grace is
no more grace.' 99 And applying thereupon the testimony of
the Prophet to this grace, he says: 'Jacob I have loved but
Esau I have hated,' and goes on to say: 'What shall we say
then? is there injustice with God? God forbid !' But why 'God
forbid'? Was it because He foresaw the future deeds of the
twins? God forbid this even more! Tor he saith to Moses: I
will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will
show mercy to whom I will show mercy. So then it is not of
him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that
showeth mercy.' 100 So also in the case of the vessels which
are fitted for destruction, a consequence of their doomed
clay, let the vessels made of the same clay unto honor re-
cognize what the divine mercy has bestowed on them. For
he says: 'The Scripture saith to Pharao: And therefore have
I raised thee that I may show my power in thee and my
name may be spoken of throughout all the earth.' Finally,
he concludes both passages with the words: 'Therefore he
has mercy on whom he will and whom he will he
hardeneth. 3101

But let the self-conceit of the proud unbeliever or the
excuse of the object of final punishment say: 'Why then
doth he find fault? for who resisteth his will?' Let him say it
and hear in reply what man deserves : 'O man, who art thou
that repliest against God?' and the remaining words on which

98 Rom. 9.11,12.

99 Rom. 11.5,6.

100 Rom. 9.1348.

101 Exod. 9.16; 33.19.

328 SAINT AUGUSTINE

I have commented long enough and often enough, to the
best of my ability. Let him hear this and not despise it. If
he does despise it, let him find himself hardened so that he
may despise it; if he does not despise it, let him believe
himself helped that he may not despise it; but the hardening
is his due, the help is a free gift.

Since we have now shown what blindness it is for anyone
to say, in the case of the twin sons of the patriarch Jacob,
that God foresaw their future deeds because they lived and
grew old, and therefore He loved Jacob but hated Esau, it is
even more impossible for anyone to say the same in the case
of infants who are destined to die, namely, that God foresees
their future deeds, therefore He does not provide that one
should receive baptism, but does provide that the other
should; for how can anyone speak of future deeds for those
who will have none?

'But/ they say, 'in the case of those whom He takes away,
God foresees how each one would have lived if he had lived,
and therefore He causes one to die without baptism, thus
punishing in him, not the evil deeds he did, but those he
would have done/ Now, if evil deeds which have not been
committed are punished by divine decree, let these objectors
observe how illusory is their promise that infants who die
without baptism will not suffer damnation, if the reason why
they lack baptism is the evil life they would have lived if
they had lived, and if even probable evil deeds are subject
to damnation. In the second place, if provision is made for
the reception of baptism on the part of those of whom God
knows that they would have lived a good life if they had
lived, why are not all maintained in a life which they are
likely to adorn with their good works? And why do some of
those who are baptized live long and wickedly and eventually
come to apostasy? Why, since He certainly knew that they
were going to sin, did He not expel that very first pair of

LETTERS 329

sinners from paradise before they could commit there an act
so unworthy of that holy place that is, if it is just to punish
sins not yet committed? Again, what benefit is it to the one
who 'is taken away lest wickedness should alter his under-
standing or deceit beguile his soul?' 102 if it is just to punish
acts which he has not committed, but which he might have
committed by living longer? Finally, why is provision not
made for the one who would have lived a bad life, if he had
lived, to receive the laver of regeneration 103 before his im-
minent death, so that the sins he was going to commit may
be forgiven in baptism? Is anyone so irrational as to deny that
these sins can be forgiven by baptism if he says that they can
be punished without baptism?

In our debate against those who try, even though refuted
at every point, to present God as the avenger of uncommitted
sins, we run the risk of being thought to imagine such things
about them, whereas they are not to be supposed so stupid
as either to believe or to try to make others believe them.
If I had not heard them say these things, I should not have
thought them worthy of rebuttal. Confronted by the authority
of divine writings as well as by the rite of baptism, handed
down from antiquity and firmly adhered to in the Church,
in which it is plainly shown that infants are freed from the
power of the Devil both by the exorcism and by the re-
nunciation pronounced for them by the sponsors who carry
them, and not finding any way out of their dilemma, these
heretics plunge headlong into fatuity because they will not
change their opinion.

Doubtless, some imagine they have a clever rebuttal when
they say: 'How does the sin of faithful parents pass to their
children when we are sure this sin of the parents was forgiven
in their baptism? 5 as if carnal birth cannot have what spiritual

102 Wisd. 4.11.

103 Titus 3.5.

330 SAINT AUGUSTINE

rebirth alone takes away. Or does it happen in baptism that
the weakness of concupiscence in the flesh is immediately
healed as its guilt is immediately removed? This is the effect
of the grace of rebirth, not a condition of birth. Anyone
born of this concupiscence, even of a regenerated parent, will
undoubtedly suffer its effects unless he is likewise regenerated.
But, however great the difficulty in this question, it does not
prevent the workers in the field of Christ from baptizing
infants unto the remission of sins whether they are born of
unbelievers or of believers, just as it is no obstacle to farmers
engaged in grafting wild olives upon olive trees not to know
whether the grafts originated from wild olives or from olive
trees. If you put this question to a country man why nothing
but a wild olive will grow from the seed of either species,
although there is a difference between olive and wild olive
he may not be able to answer the question, but he does not
for that give up his work of grafting; otherwise, if he thought
that seedlings springing up from the seed of the olive were
olives, the sloth due to his mistake would make the whole
field run wild with unproductive sterility. 104

As to that theory they think up when overpowered by the
weight of truth, that 'the Lord is faithful in his words/ 105
and therefore His Church does not act hypocritically when
it baptizes children for the remission of sin, but that what is
done is effected through faith for, certainly, what is pro-
nounced is effected what Christian would not laugh at
them, however subtle this trumped-up doctrine appears, when
the very manifest body of truth is weighted against them?
They say that infants truly answer by the lips of their sponsors
that they believe in the remission of sins, not because their
own sins are remitted but because they believe there is
remission in the Church or in baptism for those in whom sin

104 Cf. Rom. 11.24.

105 Ps. 144,13.

LETTERS 331

is found, but not for those who have no sins. Consequently,
they do not want them baptized for the remission of sins, as
if such remission took place in them whom they claim to
be without sin, but they say that, when they are baptized,
even though sinless, by that baptism the effect is a remission
of sin in those who are sinners.

It is possible that, with more time, this crafty subtlety
could be refuted with more detail and greater penetration.
But that cleverness of theirs does not find an answer to the
fact that infants are exorcized and breathed upon in baptism.
Undoubtedly, this is an illusory practice if the Devil has no
power over them, but, if he has power over them, and if the
exorcism and breathing are not illusory, where does he get
his power if not through the primal sin of all sinners? Hence,
if they now blush and shrink from saying that these ceremonies
in the Church are spurious, let them confess that even among
infants Christ came to seek that which was lost. For, that
which was lost by sin alone cannot be sought, cannot be
found, but by grace alone. But, thank God, when they argue
against the remission of sins, lest anyone should believe that
it is effected in children, now at least they admit that children
profess their belief in it through the lips of their elders.
Therefore, as they hear the Lord saying: 'Unless a man be
born again of water and the Holy Spirit, he cannot enter
into the kingdom of heaven/ 106 and thereupon admit that
children should be baptized, let them hear the same Lord
saying: 'He that believeth not shall be condemned,' 107 since
they admit that children are reborn through the ministry of
the taptizer, just as they profess their faith through the
hearts and lips of their sponsors. Let them, then, dare to say
that the innocent are condemned by a just God if they are
bound by no fetters of original sin.

106 John 3.5.

107 Mark 16.16.

332 SAINT AUGUSTINE

If this treatise is a long and burdensome one in the midst
of your busy life, grant me your pardon because I was induced
by your own letter to write this to you, and the kindness you
there expressed made me want to have this conference with
you. Indeed, it has been a forcible interruption of my own
cares. If you hear that they have thought up other attacks
on the Catholic faith, and if you develop any arguments
against them, lest they lay waste the weak members of the
Lord's flock, in your faithful and truly pastoral charity share
them with us. Thus our own effort is roused from slothful sleep
by the restlessness of heretics, forcing us to examine the
Scriptures more carefully, lest they use them to harni the
flock of Christ. And so, by the manifold grace of the Saviour,
God turns to our help what the enemy plots for our destruc-
tion, because 'to them that love God all things work together
unto good.' 108

195. Jerome to the saintly lord and blessed father, 1 Augustine

(c. 418)

I have always revered your Blessedness with the respect
which befits you and I have loved the Lord our Saviour
dwelling in you, but now we add something to the heap, and,
if that is possible, we fill up what was full, so as not to allow
one single hour to pass without mention of your name;
because the ardor of your faith has stood firm against the
blasts of the wind, and you have chosen, in so far as it rests
with you, to be delivered from Sodom rather than to remain
there with the doomed. 2 Your Prudence knows what I mean.

108 Rom. 8.28.

1 He uses the word papa, 'pope.'

2 Gen. 19.14.

LETTERS 333

Bravo to your valor! Your fame is world- wide; Catholics
revere you and accept you as the second founder of the
ancient faith, and which is a mark of greater fame all the
heretics hate you, and pursue me, too, with equal hatred;
they plan our death by desire if they cannot achieve it by
the sword. May the mercy of Christ our Lord keep you safe
and mindful of me, revered lord, most saintly father.

196. Augustine gives greeting in the Lord to his saintly
brother and fellow bishop, Asellicus 1 (End of 418)

The letter which your Holiness sent to our venerable
senior, Donatian, 2 containing a discussion of the necessity
of avoiding Jewish practices, has been forwarded by him to
me, with the urgent request, or command, that I answer it.
Not wishing to show him disrespect, I am answering it as
best I can, with the Lord's help, in the belief that by writing
to you I am giving pleasure to your Charity, also; besides,
I could not refuse to comply with the request of one whom
we both esteem for his good qualities.

The Apostle Paul teaches that Christians who have been
Gentiles should not have to practice the Jewish law, when he
says: C I said to Peter before them all: If thou being a Jew
livest after the manner of the Gentiles and not as the Jews
do, how dost thou compel the Gentiles to live as do the Jews?'
and he added at once: We by nature are Jews and not of
the Gentiles, sinners. But knowing that man is not justified
by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, we
also believe in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by the

1 Probably an African bishop.

2 Bishop of Byzacena, found in the list of bishops who signed the
report of the Council of Carthage; cf. Letter 175.

334 SAINT AUGUSTINE

faith of Christ and not by the works of the law, because by
the works of the law no flesh shall be justified.' 3

Not only are those works of the Law which are found in
the ancient observance no longer practiced by Christians
since the revelation of the New Testament, such as circum-
cision, the Sabbath rest from worldly activity, abstinence
from certain foods, the offering of animals in sacrifice, new
moons, unleavened bread, and other such customs, but even
the commandment which is found in the Law, Thou shall
not covet,' 4 which no one doubts is addressed to Christians,
too, does not justify a man except by the faith of Jesus Christ
and 'the grace of God by Jesus Christ our Lord.' 5 The same
Apostle likewise says: 'What shall we say then? Is the law sin?
God forbid ! But I did not know sin but by the law, for I
had not yet known concupiscence if the law did not say:
Thou shalt not covet. But sin, taking occasion by the com-
mandment, wrought in me all manner of concupiscence. For
without the law sin was dead. And I lived some time without
the law, but when the commandment came sin revived. And
I died and the commandment that was ordained to life was
found to be unto death to me. For sin, taking occasion by the
commandment, seduced me and by it killed me. Wherefore
the law indeed is holy and the commandment holy and just
and good. Was that then which is good made death unto me?
God forbid ! But sin, that it may appear sin, by that which is
good, wrought death in me; that sin by the commandment
might become sinful above measure. For we know that the
law is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under sin. For that
which I work I understand not, for I do not that good
which I will, but the evil which I hate, that I do. If then
I do that which I will not, I consent to the law that is good.' 6

3 Gal. 2.14-16; Rom. 3.20.

4 Exocl. 20.17; Deut. 5.21; 7.25; Rom. 7.7.

5 Rom. 7.25.

6 Rom. 7.7-16.

LETTERS 335

We see, therefore, from these words of the Apostle, that
not only is the Law not sin, but that it is even holy, and that
the commandment which says 'Thou shalt not covet' is holy
and just and good. But sin seduces under the appearance of
good and thus kills those who think, even though they are
carnal, that they can fulfill the spiritual Law by their own
strength. Thus, they become not only sinners, which they
would be even if they had not received the Law, but also
transgressors, which they would not be if they had not
received the Law. So the Apostle says in another passage:
'Where there is no law, neither is there transgression,' 7 and
elsewhere he testifies that c the law entered in that sin might
abound, and where sin abounded grace did more abound.' 8

This, then, is the useful function of the law, that it shows
man to himself, that he may know his own wickedness and see
how his carnal concupiscence is increased rather than healed
by prohibition. Forbidden things are more eagerly sought
after when carnal nature is forced to practice what is spirit-
ually commanded. 9 Man must be spiritual to observe a
spiritual law; he does not become so by the law but by grace,
that is, not by a commandment but by a free gift, not by the
impulsion of the letter but by the impulse of the Spirit. Now,
a man begins to be renewed in the inward man according
to grace, provided he carries out what he loves in his mind
and does not consent to the urging of the flesh which he
hates; this does not mean that he has no evil desires at all,
but that he does not go after his lusts. 10 This, however, is
so great a thing that, if it were perfectly accomplished, and
if we yielded no assent to any of the enticements of sin,
although they are still present in us as long as we are in

7 Rom. 4.15.

8 Rom. 5.20.

9 2 Cor. 4.16.
10 Eccli. 18.30.

336 SAINT AUGUSTINE

'the body of this death/ 11 there would be no occasion for us
to say to our Father who is in heaven: 'Forgive us our
debts. 312 Yet we should not for that be such now as we shall
be when 'this mortal hath put on immortality/ 13 for then
not only shall we not obey any enticement of sin 3 but there
will be no such enticements of the kind we are commanded
not to obey.

So, then, when the Apostle says: 'It is no more I that do
it but sin that dwelleth in me/ 14 he is speaking of the lust of
the flesh which stirs its impulses in us even when we do not
obey them, so long as sin does not reign in our mortal body
to obey its lusts, and we do not yield our members as instru-
ments of iniquity unto sin. 15 By progressing constantly in that
justice which is not yet perfected we shall eventually come to
its perfection where the lust of sin does not have to be
curbed and bridled, for it does not then exist at all The
Law lays down this obligation in the words: Thou shalt
not covet/ 16 not that we are able to do this, but that we should
strive for it. And this is accomplished not by the law which
imposes, but by the faith which implores; not by the letter
through which the commandment is given, but by the Spirit
through which help is given; not, therefore, by the merits
of man's striving, but by the grace of the Saviour's bestowing.
The value of the Law is that it shows a man his own weakness
and forces him to beg for the remedy of grace which is in
Christ. Tor whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord
shall be saved. How then shall they call upon him in whom
they have not believed? or how shall they believe him of whom
they have not heard? 5 Therefore he adds a little further on:

11 Rom. 724,

12 Matt. 6.9,12; Luke 11.4.

13 1 Cor. 15,54.

14 Rom. 7.17.

15 Rom. 6.12,13.

16 Exod. 20.17; Deut. 5.21; Rom. 7.7.

LETTERS 337

'Faith then cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of
Christ. 517

From this it is clear that the Apostle is speaking of those
who rejoice in being Israelites according to the flesh, and
who glory in the Law more than in the grace of Christ,
when he says that 'not knowing the justice of God and seek-
ing to establish their own, they have not submitted them-
selves to the justice of God.' 18 Notice that he says 'the justice
of God,' which comes to man from God, and 'their own,'
by which they think they have strength in themselves to fulfill
the commandments without the help and gift of Him who
gave the Law. There are some like these who indeed profess
to be Christians, but are so hostile to the very grace of Christ
that they think they can fulfill the divine commandments by
their own human strength, and thus they, too, 'not knowing
the justice of God and seeking to establish their own, have
not submitted themselves to the justice of God.' These are
not Jews in name, but they become so by their error. This
group of men have "found leaders for themselves in Pelagius
and Caelestius, passionate preachers of this impiety, who have
recently been deprived of communion with the Catholic
Church by the judgment of God through His careful and
faithful servants, 19 and who still persist with impenitent
heart in their own damnation.

Whoever seeks to be a stranger to that carnal and animal
Judaism which is justly repudiated and condemned must first
consider as alien to himself those ancient observances which
have clearly ceased to be necessary now that the New Testa-
ment has been revealed, and the things which were prefigured
by those others have come to pass, and he is not to be judged
'in meat or in drink or in respect of a festival day, or of

17 Rom. 10.13,14,17; Joel 2.32; Acts 2.21.

18 Rom. 10.3.

19 They were excommunicated by Pope Innocent I in 417.

338 SAINT AUGUSTINE

the new moon, or of the sabbaths, which are a shadow of
things to come/ 20 On the other hand, he must receive, em-
brace, and observe, without any reserve, those commandments
in the Law which help to form the character of the faithful,
such as that 'denying ungodliness and worldly desires, we
should live soberly and justly and godly in this world,' 21 and
this one: Thou shalt not covet,' chosen by the Apostle as the
part of the Law worthy of the greatest commendation; and
the commandments about loving God and our neighbor,
as set forth in the Law without any figure or mystery on
which two commandments the Lord Christ Himself said the
whole Law depends 22 but whatever progress he makes in
them he must not attribute it to himself but to e the grace of
God by Jesus Christ our Lord.'

However, when anyone has become by that means a true
and full-fledged Christian, the question may reasonably be
asked whether he is also to be called a Jew or an Israelite.
This term is understood, of course, in a spiritual, not a carnal,
sense; even so, he should not give himself this name in ordi-
nary conversation though he may retain it in his spiritual
consciousness because daily speech does not distinguish this
twofold meaning and he might seem to take credit for
something inimical to the name of Christian. The same
blessed Apostle solves and settles this question for us whether
one who is a Christian can also be considered a Jew or an
Israelite when he says: 'Circumcision profiteth indeed if
thou keep the law; but if thou be a transgressor of the law,
thy circumcision is made uncircumcision. If then the uncir-
cumcised keep the justices of the law, shall not his uncir-
cumcision be counted for circumcision? And shall not that
which by nature is uncircumcision, if it fulfil the law, judge

20 Col. 2.16,17.

21 Titus 2.12,

22 Matt. 22.37-40; Mark 12.30-31; Luke 10.27; Dent. 6.5; Lev. 19.18.

LETTERS

339

thee who by the letter and circumcision art a transgressor of
the law? For not he is a Jew that is so outwardly, nor is that
circumcision which is outward in the flesh; but he is a Jew
that is one inwardly, and the circumcision is that of the heart,
in the spirit, not in the letter, whose praise is not of men but
of God. 523 Thus, when we hear the Apostle of Christ com-
mending for us the Jew who is one inwardly, by the circum-
cision, not of the flesh but of the heart, in the spirit, not in the
letter, what is he but a Christian?

So, then, we are Jews not in the flesh but in the spirit,
just as we are the seed of Abraham, not according to the flesh
like those who boast proudly of the carnal name, but ac-
cording to the spirit of faith which they lack. We know that
we were the ones promised when God said to him: 'I have
made thee a father of many children. 524 We know, too, how
much the Apostle has to say on this theme: Tor we say,' he
says, 'that unto Abraham faith was reputed to justice. How,
then, was it reputed? When he was in circumcision or uncir-
cumcision? Not in circumcision, but in uncircumcision. And
he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the justice of
the faith, which he had being uncircumcised; that he might
be the father of all them that believe, being uncircumcised,
that unto them also it may be reputed to justice; and might
be the father of circumcision, not to them only that are of
the circumcision, but to them also that follow the steps of
the faith, that is, in the uncircumcision of our father,
Abraham. 5 And a little further on he says: 'Therefore it is
of faith that, according to grace, the promise might be firm,
to all the seed, not to that only which is of the law, but to
that also which is of the faith of Abraham, who is the father
of us all. As it is written : I have made thee a father of many
nations.' 25 Likewise, in Galatians he says: 'As Abraham

23 Rom. 2.25-29.

24 Gen. 17.5.

25 Rom. 4.9-12,16,17.

340 SAINT AUGUSTINE

believed God and it was reputed to him unto justice, know
ye therefore that they who are of the faith, the same are the
children of Abraham. And the Scripture, foreseeing that
God justifieth the Gentiles by faith, told unto Abraham be-
fore: In thee shall all nations be blessed. Therefore they
that are of faith shall be blessed with faithful Abraham.' 26
And somewhat further on in the same Epistle he says:
'Brethren, I speak after the manner of man, yet a man's
testament, if it be confirmed, no man despiseth nor addeth to
it. To Abraham were the promises made and to his seed.
He saith not: And to his seeds, as of many, but as of one:
And to thy seed, which is Christ.' And again a little further
on he says: 'You are all one in Christ Jesus, but if you be
Christ's then are you the seed of Abraham, heirs according
to the promise.' 27

Thus, in accord with that definition of the Apostle, there
are found to be some that are Jews but not Christians, who are
not the sons of Abraham, although they are descendants of
Abraham according to the flesh. For, when he says: 'Know
ye therefore that they who are of the faith the same are
the children of Abraham,' he certainly means that those who
are not of the faith are not the children of Abraham. Conse-
quently, if Abraham is not a father to the Jews in the same
way as he is to us, what good does it do them to have been
his descendants in the flesh, and to have borne a name without
value? But, when they come to Christ and begin to be the
children of Abraham who are of the faith, then they will be
Jews, not outwardly, but inwardly; by the circumcision of
the heart, in the spirit, not in the letter; whose praise is not
of men but of God. But those who are strangers to this faith
will be counted among the branches broken from that olive
tree into whose root the same Apostle says that the wild olive,

26 Gal. 3.6-9; Gen. 12.3; 15.6; 22.18; 26.4; Rom. 4.3; Tames 2.23; Acts 3 25.

27 Gal. 3.15,16,27,28.

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341

that is, the Gentiles, are ingrafted, 28 which certainly is not ac-
complished by the flesh but by faith; not by the law but
by grace; not by the letter but by the spirit; by the circum-
cision of the heart not of the flesh; not outwardly but in-
wardly; with praise from God, not from men. Thus, as every
Christian is a child of Abraham not carnally but spiritually,
so he is a Jew not carnally but spiritually, and an Israelite
not carnally but spiritually, for the Apostle speaks of that
name in these words: Tor all are not Israelites that are of
Israel; neither are all they that are the seed of Abraham
children; but in Isaac shall thy seed be called; that is to say
not they that are the children of the flesh are the children of
God; but they that are the children of the promise are ac-
counted for the seed.' 29 Is it not a great marvel and a deep
mystery that many who are born of Israel are not of Israel,
and many are not children although they are the seed of
Abraham? How is it that they are not his children but we are,
except that they are not the children of the promise who
belong to the grace of Christ, who boast an idle name?
Therefore, they are not of Israel as we are, nor are we of
Israel as they are. Our claim is that of a spiritual rebirth;
theirs, of a carnal birth.

We must note, then, and distinguish two Israels: one which
receives the name because of the flesh, the other, by the spirit,
has attained to the reality which is signified by the name.
The Israelites are not descended from Agar the handmaid of
Sara, are they? Was not Ishmael her son and did he not
beget the race of Ishmaelites, not Israelites? Israel descended
from Sara by Isaac, who was born to Abraham according to
promise. 30 Still, although that is the manner of the fleshly
descent, we find, when we come to the spiritual meaning, that

28 Cf. Rom. 11.17-24.

29 Rom. 9.6-8; Gen. 21.12; Heb. 11.18.

30 Gen. 18.10. -

342 SAINT AUGUSTINE

the carnal Israelites do not belong to Sara, although they
trace their fleshly origin to her; and those who are sons of the
flesh, not according to Ishmael but according to Isaac, are
the children of promise, not because they belong to the carnal
seed of Isaac, but to a spiritual mystery. In this sense the
Apostle speaks thus to the Galatians: Tell me, you that desire
to be under the law, have you not heard the law? For it is
written: that Abraham had two sons, the one by a bond-
woman, and the other by a free woman. But he who was of
the bondwoman was born according to the flesh, but he of
the free woman was of promise, which things are said by an
allegory. For these are the two testaments, the one from
Mount Sina engendering unto bondage, which is Agar; for
Sina is a mountain in Arabia, which hath affinity to that
Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children.
But that Jerusalem which is above is free, which is our mother.
For it is written : Rejoice thou barren that bearest not, break
forth and cry thou that travailest not; for many are the
children of the desolate, more than of her that hath a husband.
Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are children of promise.
But as then he that was born according to the flesh persecuted
him that was after the spirit, so it is now. But what saith the
Scripture? Cast out the bondwoman and her son, for the son
of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the free
woman. So then, brethren, we are not children of the bond-
woman but of the free, by the freedom wherewith Christ
hath made us free.' 32

See how, according to this spiritual meaning of the
Apostle, we belong to the free woman, Sara, although we
trace no carnal descent from her, while the Jews, who do
trace their descent from her, are shown to belong rather to
Agar, the bondwoman, from whom they do not trace their

31 Gal. 4.21-5.1; Gen. 16.15; 21.2.

32 Gal. 4.21-31; Gen. 16.15; 21,2; Isa. 54.1.

LETTERS 343

descent. This great and profound mystery is also found in
the grandsons of Abraham and Sara, that is, the sons of Isaac
and Rebecca, the twins Esau and Jacob, who was afterward
called Israel. In speaking of this, the same Apostle stated that
the sons of promise through Isaac are those who belong to
the grace of Christ, when he said: 'Not only she, but when
Rebecca also had conceived at once of Isaac our father. For
when the children were not yet born, nor had done any good
or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might
stand, not of works but of him that calleth, it was said to
her : the elder shall serve the younger, as it is written : Jacob
I have loved but Esau I have hated. 933 This apostolic and
Catholic doctrine certainly shows quite clearly that the Jews,
that is, the Israelites, belong to Sara, and the Ishmaelites to
Agar, according to carnal descent, but according to the
spiritual mystery Christians belong to Sara, Jews to Agar;
likewise, the race of Idumeans, according to carnal descent,
belong to Esau who was also called Edom, 34 and the race
of Jews to Jacob who was also called Israel; 35 but according
to the spiritual mystery the Jews belong to Esau, the Christians
to Israel. In this way we see the fulfillment of the pronounce-
ment: The elder shall serve the younger,' that is, the Jewish
people, born first, shall serve the Christian people, born later.
This is how we are of Israel, boasting of a divine adoption,
not a human kinship; Jews inwardly, not outwardly; not in
the letter, but in the spirit; by the circumcision of the heart,
not of the flesh.

This being the case, we ought not to upset the usage of
human speech by an ill-chosen manner of speaking, nor
introduce common terms with a distorted meaning into mat-
ters that need to be carefully distinguished; as if someone

33 Rom. 9.10-13; Gen. 25.23; Mai. 1.2,3.

34 Gen. 25.30.

35 Gen. 32.28.

344 SAINT AUGUSTINE

should affect to call Jews those who are Christians and are
most commonly called Christians, using the word in a far-
fetched sense; or as if he should both be and be called a
Christian but should take greater pleasure in the name of
Jew. It is a sign of foolish inexperience, and, if I may say so,
of ignorant knowledge, to introduce into the ordinary speech
of everyday a term which ought to be taken in a mystical
sense and rarely uttered by the tongue. Surely, the Apostles,
from whom we learn these things, were not ignorant of the
manner in which it is rather we who are the seed of Abraham,
heirs of the promise according to Isaac, Jews in spirit, not in
the letter, by the circumcision of the heart, not of the flesh;
Israel not according to the flesh, but the Israel of God.
Naturally, they knew all that much more truly and surely
than we do, yet in their mode of speaking they called Jews
and Israelites those who come of the stock of Abraham ac-
cording to the flesh, and who are universally called by that

name.

The Apostle Paul says: The Jews require signs and the
Greeks seek after wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified;
unto the Jews indeed a stumbling-block but unto the Gen-
tiles foolishness; but unto them that are called both Jews
and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of
God. 336 Those whom he called Greeks he also referred to
by the name of Gentiles, because the Greek language was
prevalent among the Gentiles; but he called Jews only those
to whom all give that name. If the Christians themselves are
Jews, then Christ crucified is a stumbling-block to the
Christians, since it is said: To the Jews indeed a stumbling-
block. 5 Anyone who is not completely out of his mind can
see that. He also says: 'Be without offense to the Jews and
to the Gentiles and to the church of God. 537 How could he

36 1 Cor. 1.22-24.

37 1 Cor. 10.32.

LETTERS

345

make that distinction if it were proper to call the Church of
God Jews in the ordinary meaning of daily speech? Again he
says: 'Even us whom also he hath called, not only of the
Jews but also of the Gentiles. 538 How did He call them 'of the
Jews' if, instead, He called them of the non-Jews to be Jews?
He says similarly of the Israelites: 'What then shall we say?
That the Gentiles who followed not after justice have attained
to justice, even the justice that is of faith. But Israel by fol-
lowing after the law of justice, is not come unto the law
of justice. Why so? Because they sought it not by faith but as
it were by works; for they stumbled at the stumbling-stone.' 39
Again: 'But to Israel what doth he say? All day long have
I spread my hands to a people that believeth not and con-
tradicteth me.' 40 And he goes on to say: 'I say then: Hath
God cast away his own people? God forbid. For I also am
an Israelite of the seed of Abraham and of the tribe of
Benjamin. God hath not cast away his people which he fore-
knew. 541 How can the Apostle call Israel a people that be-
lieveth not and contradicteth if Christians are Israel; or how
could he call himself an Israelite? Was it because he had be-
come a Christian? Certainly it was not for that reason, be-
cause according to the flesh he was 'of the seed of Abraham,
of the tribe of Benjamin,' whereas we are not that according
to the flesh, although we are the seed of Abraham and there-
fore Israel according to faith. But there is a difference between
what the mind acknowledges as part of a higher mystery
and what the usage of everyday speech means by the word.

Finally, there is that obscure person named Aptus, of
whom you wrote that he is teaching Christians to become
Jews, and likewise, as your Holiness claimed, calls himself
Jew and Israelite in order to forbid the use of those foods

38 Rom. 9.24.

39 Rom. 9.30-32.

40 Rom. 10.21.

41 Rom. 11.1,2.

346 SAINT AUGUSTINE

which the Law, given through the holy servant of God, Moses,
forbade in accordance with the circumstances of that time;
and to advocate the observances of that time, 42 now abolished
and dispensed with among Christians, which the Apostle calls
shadows of things to come, 43 thereby showing that they are
to be understood prophetically and that their observance has
now been made void. From this it seems clear why that Aptus
wishes to be called an Israelite and a Jew, not in a spiritual
sense, but in an absolutely carnal sense. We, however, are not
bound by those observances which have been made void by
the revelation of the New Testament, but we have learned
and we teach that the commandments of the Law which are
obligatory at this time, such as : 'Thou shalt not commit adul-
tery; thou shalt not kill; thou shalt not covet; and if there
be any other commandment it is comprised in this word:
Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself/ 44 are to be observed
by us not by our own strength, as if we were establishing our
own justice, but through the 'grace of God by Jesus Christ
our Lord,' in that justice which comes to us from Him. Yet,
we do not refuse to be called the seed of Abraham, as the
Apostle says: 'You are the seed of Abraham'; 45 or Jews
inwardly, of whom he also says: Tor not he is a Jew that is
so outwardly, nor is that circumcision which is outward in
the flesh; but he is a Jew that is so inwardly, in the spirit
not in the letter; whose praise is not of men but of God'; 46
or spiritual Israelites, belonging manifestly to him of whom it
was said that the elder should serve the younger. But we do
not apply those terms to ourselves improperly; we restrict
their use to the mystical meaning; we do not fill the air with
novelties of language.

42 Lev. 11.1-32; Dent. 14.3-21.

43 Col. 2.16,17.

44 Rom. 13.9; Exod. 20.14,13,17; Luke 10.27; Gal. 5.14; James 2.8.

45 Gal. 3.29,

46 Rom. 2.28,29.

LETTERS

347

797. Augustine 1 to Bishop Hesychius, 2 on the end of the
world (End of 418)

I am availing myself of the return to your Holiness of your
son, our fellow priest, Cornutus, from whom I received the
letter of your Reverence in which you were so kind as to
visit my insignificance, and I am finally paying my debt of
the answer, as well as the long-due courtesy of returning
your greeting, recommending myself to your acceptable
prayers to the Lord, my lord and brother. But regarding the
prophetic words, often uttered, on which you wished me to
write something, I thought it better to refer you to the inter-
pretation of those same words done by holy Jerome, a man
of great learning, and in case you did not have them at hand,
I have had extracts copied from his works, which I am
sending to your Beatitude. However, if you have them, and
they do not satisfy your inquiry, I ask you to please write me
what you think of them, and how you yourself understand
the prophetic oracles. I think that the phrase of Daniel about
the weeks should be taken to refer to time already past; but
as to the coming of the Saviour at the end of the world, I do
not venture to calculate the time, and I do not think that
any Prophet has defined the number of years in that matter,
but that special weight is to be given to what the Lord Him-
self said: c lt is not for you to know the times and moments
which the Father hath put in his own power/ 3

In another place He says: 'But of that day and hour no
one knoweth, 34 and there are some who take this to mean
that they can calculate the time, but what no one knows is
merely the day and hour. Here I shall pass over the manner in
which Scripture uses 'day 5 and 'hour' in the sense of time.

1 There is no title of address in the text; another reading gives this one.

2 Bishop of Salona in Dalmatia. Cf. De civ. Dei 20.5.

3 Acts 1.7.

4 Matt. 24.36; Mark 13.32.

348 SAINT AUGUSTINE

It is clear that the former quotation speaks very plainly of
not knowing the time, for it was when He was questioned on
this point by His disciples that He said: 'No one can know
the times which the Father hath put in his own power/
He did not say c day' or 'hour,' but 'times,' a word not ordi-
narily used of a short lapse of time, as c day' and 'hour' are,
especially if we examine the Greek version, from which, as we
know, the same book has been translated into our tongue,
although it is not possible to distinguish the terms adequately
in Latin. In Greek, we read chronous or kairous y but we call
both words 'times,' whether chronous or kairous, although
there is a significant difference between the two. The Greeks
use the word kairous not for time as a succession of eras, but
for time as it is felt in human happenings as either suitable or
unsuitable for doing something, such as harvest, vintage, heat,
cold, peace, war, and the like; the actual passing of time they
call chronous.

Certainly, the Apostles did not ask their question as if they
wanted to know the final day or hour that is, a small part
of a day but they asked if the time was suitable for restoring
the kingdom of Israel. It was then they heard : 'No one can
know the times which the Father hath put in his own power/
that is, chronous or kairous. If this were translated into Latin
by 'times' and 'occasions' (opportunitates], and not as it
now is, it would be clearly expressed, because when times are
spoken of as suitable or unsuitable they are called kairoi. But
when we mean to calculate time, the word is chronous.
Hence, to wish to know when the end of the world will come
and when the Lord will appear is, it seems to me, what He
says no one can know.

The suitable occasion for that time will certainly not come
until the 'Gospel shall be preached in the whole world for a
testimony to all nations,' for the statement of the Saviour on
this point as we read it is very clear: 'And this Gospel of

LETTERS 349

the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world for a
testimony to all nations, and then shall the consummation
come. 55 What else does 'then it shall come' mean but that
it will not come before then? How long after that it will come
i$ unknown to us, but, obviously, we ought not to doubt
that it will not come sooner. Therefore, if the servants of God
were to undertake the labor of traveling all over the earth
so as to gather in as many as they can, we could certainly
estimate how long a time remains before the end of the world
by the remaining number of nations to whom the Gospel has
not yet been preached. But, if anyone believes that it is not
possible for the servants of God to travel over the whole earth
because some regions are inaccessible and inhospitable, and
therefore a truthful report cannot be made on the number
and importance of the nations still deprived of the Gospel of
Christ, I think it is much less possible to understand from
the Scriptures how much time there will be before the end,
since we read in them: 'No one can know the times which
the Father hath put in his own power.' Hence, if someone
were to announce to us now, with complete certainty, that
the Gospel had been preached to all nations, not even so could
we say how much time remains before the end, but we could
reasonably say that we are coming nearer and nearer to it.
Someone might answer to this that, by the preaching of the
Gospel with such speed, the Roman nations and many bar-
barian ones, as well as some whose territory we now occupy,
would have been converted to the faith of Christ suddenly,
not gradually, so that it might not be beyond the bounds
of probability that in a few years, not, perhaps, in the lifetime
of us elders, but certainly in that of young men who will grow
old, all the remaining nations will be completely accounted
for. If that happens, it will be easier to prove it by experience
than by reading about it before it happens.

5 Matt. 24.14.

350 SAINT AUGUSTINE

I have been impelled to say this by the opinion of one
exegete whom the priest Jerome charges with rashness be-
cause he has dared to apply the weeks of Daniel to the future
coming of Christ, not to His first one. 6 However, if the Lord
has revealed or will reveal anything better to the holy humility
of your heart, as you deserve, I ask you to share it with us
and to receive this letter as coming from a man who would
rather have knowledge than ignorance of these matters of
which you inquire; but, as that cannot yet be, I choose rather
to confess a cautious ignorance than to profess a false knowl-
edge.

198. Hesychius 1 gives greeting in the Lord to the saintly lord,
Augustine, his brother and fellow bishop, revered
with the most sincere affection (End of 418)

Our holy fellow priest, Cornutus, has satisfied my longing
and expectancy by bringing me the letter of your Blessedness,
and it has given me joy that you so kindly remembered me
and that you outlined in passing in a few words of the very
language of your holy mind what I had asked. You also
added some extracts from the works of our holy fellow priest,
Jerome, so that I could complete the answer to my question
by reading his work on the holy Scriptures. As you were so
kind as to ask me to set forth in a letter to your most sincere
Charity what I think on those questions, I am adding it to
what I have read as far as the limited intelligence of my
mediocrity can either think or understand.

All things are governed by the will and power of Almighty
God, the Creator of the universe; both those things that have

6 Jerome, Commentary on Daniel 9 (PL 25.548.14-549.5) .

1 The text edition gives no heading; another reading gives this one.
The writer is the recipient of Letter 197.

LETTERS

351

happened and those that are about to happen are made
known by the words of the holy Prophets who have followed
the divine will in announcing future happenings to men be-
fore they happened. In this there is matter for sufficient
wonder whether God determined that the prophecies which
He wished made should not be able to penetrate deeply into
the understanding of men, according to the passage in which
the Lord spoke to the blessed Apostles, saying: c No one can
know the times which the Father hath put in his own power/
especially as it is not written 'no one can' in the earliest texts
of the Church, but it is written: c lt is not for you to know
the times and moments which the Father hath put in his own
power,' a fashion of speech which is logically completed by
what follows: 'But . . . you shall be witnesses unto me in
Jerusalem and Samaria and even to the uttermost part of the
earth. 32 He wishes us to understand, therefore, that the
Apostles were to be witnesses of His name and His resurrec-
tion, not of the end of the world.

In this matter of knowing the times, the Lord Himself
warns us thus: 'Who, thinkest thou, is a faithful and wise
servant whom his lord hath appointed over his family to give
them meat in season? Blessed is that servant whom when his
lord shall come he shall find so doing!' 3 The family of Christ
is fed by the word of preaching, and the faithful servant is the
one who furnishes this necessary meat in season to believers
who are awaiting their lord. But the evil servant is thus
rebuked: 'But if the evil servant shall say in his heart: My
lord is long a-coming, his lord shall come in a day that he
knoweth not and an hour that he thinketh not,' 4 and the rest.
Likewise, He shows why this time is not known by saying:

2 Acts 1.7,8. The "second version given by the writer is that found in
the Vulgate. It is possible to surmise that St. Augustine had put
together two passages in Letter 197, Acts 1.7 and Matt. 24.36, and that
Hesychius is tactfully setting him right.

3 Matt. 24.45,46.

4 Matt. 24.48-50; Luke 12.45,46.

352 SAINT AUGUSTINE

c You hypocrites, you know how to discern the face of heaven,
how is it that you do not discern this time? 55 The Apostle also
says: In the last days shall come on dangerous times/ 6 and
the rest. And again the Apostle says: 'But of times and
moments we have no need to write to you; for yourselves
know perfectly that the day of the Lord shall so come as a
thief in the night. For when they shall say: Peace and
security, then shall sudden destruction come upon them, as
the pains upon her that is with child, and they shall not
escape/ 7 Again, the Apostle says: 'Remember you not that
when I was yet with you I told you these things? And now
you know what withholdeth that he may be revealed in his
time. For the mystery of iniquity already worketh; only that
he that now holdeth do hold until he be taken out of the way.
And then that wicked one shall be revealed whom the Lord
Jesus shall kill with the spirit of his mouth/ 8 In like manner
in the Gospel the Lord thus reproaches the Jews: 'If thou
also hadst known . . . the time of thy visitation/ perhaps thou
shouldst have remained, c but now these things are hidden
from thy eyes.' 9 And the Lord made this prediction to the
Jews: 'The time is accomplished; do penance; believe in the
Gospel.' 10 Rightly did He tell the Jews that their time was
accomplished, because their time came to an end after His
preaching and the thirty-five or forty years of His life. In
Daniel we read: 'Until the beast was slain and the body
thereof was destroyed and given to the fire to be burnt; and
the power of the other beasts was taken away and the times
of life were appointed them for a time 5 which in Greek is
called both chronos and kairos. And he goes on : 'Behold the
son of man coming with the clouds of heaven.' 11

5 Luke 12.56.

6 2 Tim. 3.!.

7 1 Thess. 5.1-3.

8 2 Thess. 2.5-8; Isa. 11.4.

9 Cf. Luke 19.42,44.

10 Mark 1.15. These words were spoken by St. John the Baptist,

11 Dan. 7.11-13.

LETTERS 353

The second point is that the coming of the Lord is to be
loved and expected. For it is a great bliss for those who love
His coming, as the blessed Apostle Paul bears witness : c As to
the rest there is laid up for me a crown of justice which the
Lord, the just judge, will render to me in that day. And
not only to me but to them also that love his coming.' 12 And
the Lord says in the Gospel : Then shall the just shine as the
sun in the kingdom of their Father. 513 The Prophet also
says: Tor behold darkness shall cover the earth and a mist
the people, but the Lord shall arise upon thee and his glory
shall be seen upon thee 5 ; 14 and again the Prophet: c But they
that hope in the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall
take wings as eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they
shall walk and not faint.' 15 Many other such passages may
be found showing the happiness of those who love the Lord's
coming.

It is evident that no one can deduce the exact length of
the time. In fact, the Gospel says: 16 c Of that day and hour
no one knoweth'; and I say, with due regard for the limi-
tations of my mind, that neither the day nor the month nor
the year of that coming can be known, but by noticing and
believing the existing signs of the coming, it befits me to hope
for it and to distribute this food to believers that they may
hope for and love the coming of Him who said: 'When you
shall see all these things, know ye that it is nigh, even at the
doors. 5 Therefore, the signs which are given in the Gospel
and in prophecy and which are fulfilled in us show forth the
coming of the Lord. For, those who seek to know or to
traduce seek in vain to understand the days and the years
by computation, since it is written: c And unless those days

12 z Tim. 4.8.

13 Matt. 13.43.

14 Isa. 60.2.

15 Isa. 40.31.

16 Matt. 24.36,33,22.

354 SAINT AUGUSTINE

had been shortened no flesh should be saved, but for the sake
of the elect those days shall be shortened.' Certainly, there is
no computation for a time which is to be shortened by the
Lord who has established the times, but we know that the
coming is at hand by the fact that we see the fulfillment of
certain signs of that coming which have been accomplished.
Again He says: 'But when these things begin to come to pass,
be revived and lift up your heads because your redemption
is at hand/ 17 The signs which He told them to look for are
listed in the Gospel of Saint Luke: 'Jerusalem shall be
trodden down by the Gentiles till the times of the nations be
fulfilled/ This has happened and no one doubts that it has
happened. And He goes on: 'And there shall be signs in the
sun and in the moon and in the stars and upon the earth
distress of nations/ Our very suffering forces us to admit, if
our will refuses, that we are suffering these things, for it is
well known that at one and the same time signs are seen by
men in heaven 18 and distress of nations is suffered on earth.
And he goes on: 'Men withering away for fear and expect-
ation of what shall come upon the whole world/ 19 It is plain
that there is no country, no place in our time which is not
harassed or humbled according to the words 'for fear and
expectation of what shall come upon the whole world,' and
all the signs which the Gospel describes in the earlier verses 20
have in large measure been accomplished.

As to the words, 'And this Gospel shall be preached in the
whole world and then shall the consummation come,' 21 this
was rather 22 a promise made by the Lord that the Apostles
should be witnesses of His name and resurrection 'in Jeru-

17 Luke 21.28.

18 A possible reference to an eclipse of the sun on July 19, 418, which,
was followed by a severe drought.

19 Luke 21.24-26.

20 Luke 21.8-12,16-26.

21 Matt. 24.14.

22 Goldbacher indicates a lacuna here, but the sense is complete.

LETTERS 355

salem and In Judea and in Samaria and even to the uttermost
part of the earth, 323 and the Apostle teaches by this authority:
'But I say: have they not heard? Yes, verily, their sound hath
gone forth into all the earth and their words unto the ends
of the whole world. 524 Again he says: Tor the hope that is
laid up for you, which you have heard before in the word
of truth of the Gospel, which is come unto you, as also it is in
the whole world and bringeth forth fruit and groweth.' 25
But the faith introduced by the Apostles among the Gentiles
had many persecutors and, although retained, it was slower
in growing strong, giving the fulfillment of the words: 'But
before all these things they will lay hands on you and
persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues and into
prisons, dragging you before kings and governors for my
name's sake, 526 and that word also shall be fulfilled: 'And
thou shalt quickly be rebuilt by those by whom thou hast been
destroyed.' 27 For, as soon as we began, by the will of God,
to have most clement Christian emperors, the faith which had
previously increased slowly because of persecution grew from
age to age, and under Christian kings the Gospel of Christ
little by little made its appearance everywhere.

As to the Commentary on the weeks of blessed Daniel, 28
although it was made by our holy fellow priest, Jerome, in
the manner handed down by the learned men of the churches,
it leaves the reader hanging in the air. 29 If our fellow priest,
learned man that he is, says it is dangerous to judge among
opinions of the masters in the churches, 30 how much less
possible is it for the reader to do what the master shrinks

23 Acts 1.8.

24 Rom. 10.18; Ps. 18.5.

25 Col. 1.5,6.

26 Luke 21.12.

27 The origin of this quotation is unknown.

28 Dan. 9.24-27.

29 A manifest lacuna after lectorem has been supplied by the editors with
suspendit.

30 Jeiome, Commentary on Daniel 9.24, in PL 25.542.34-36.

356 SAINT AUGUSTINE

from doing! But we believe what the Lord says: c that heaven
and earth shall pass but one jot or one tittle shall not pass of
the law till all be fulfilled.' 31 I wonder, then, how the
mystery of weeks is accomplished by the time of the birth and
Passion of Christ, since the Prophet, speaking thus of the half
of the week, says: 'In the half of the week my sacrifice and
supplication shall be taken away and the abomination of
desolation shall last until the sacrifice.' 32 If, then, this abomin-
ation has come to pass, how does the Lord warn us, saying:
'When you shall see the abomination of desolation which was
spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place,
he that readeth let him understand 5 ? 33

I have written your Charity this statement of what I think,
not wishing to show disesteem of the request of your Blessed-
ness. Be so kind when you answer as to instruct and rejoice
us more fully with the word of your grace.

199. Augustine gives greeting in the Lord to the blessed lord,

Hesychius, 1 his brother and fellow bishop, worthy

of respect and esteem (c. 419)

On the End of the World

Chapter 1

I have received the letter of your Reverence in which you
urge on us the great good of loving and longing for the

31 Matt. 5.18.

32 Cf. Dan. 9.27.

33 Matt 24.15, Mark 13.14; Dan. 9.27.

1 Cf. Letter 197 n. 2. This letter is an answer to Letter 198.

LETTERS 357

coming of our Saviour. In this you act like the good servant
of the master of the household who is eager for his lord's
gain and who wishes to have many sharers in the love which
burns so brightly and constantly in you. Examining, therefore,
the passage you quoted from the Apostle where he said that
the Lord would render a crown of justice not only to him.
but to all who love His coming, 2 we live as uprightly as he
and we pass through this world as pilgrims while our heart
constantly expands with this love, and whether He comes
sooner or later than He is expected, His coming is loved with
faithful charity and longed for with pious affection. Doubt-
less, that servant who says: c My lord is long a-coming,' and
who strikes his fellow servants and eats and drinks with
drunkards, does not love His coming; his mind is shown by his
behavior. 3 The good master was careful, however briefly, to
explain this conduct, that is, pride and riotous living, lest his
saying c My lord is long a-coming 3 be attributed to a longing
for his Master in the same way as the Psalmist longed for Him
when he said: 6 My soul hath thirsted after the living God;
when shall I come and appear before the face of God?' 4 For,
by saying 'When shall I come?' he showed his impatience at
the delay, because, even though it be quickened in time, it
seems slow to his longing. But, how is His coming slow or
how is it far in the future when the very Apostles, while they
were still in the flesh, said: 'It is the last hour,' 5 although
they heard the Lord say: c lt is not for you to know the times'?
Therefore, they did not know this any more than we know it
I am speaking for myself and for those who share this
lack of knowledge with me yet, those to whom He said:
c lt is not for you to know the times which the Father hath

2 2 Tim. 4.8.

3 Matt. 24.48,49.

4 Ps. 41.3.

5 1 John 2.18.

358 SAINT AUGUSTINE

put in his own power/ 6 loved His coming and gave their
fellow servants meat in due season; did not strike them by
lording it over them, nor revel with the lovers of the world,
saying: c My lord is long a-coming.' 7

Chapter 2

Therefore, not to know the times is something different
from decay of morals and love of vice. For, when the
Apostle Paul said: 'Be not easily moved from your mind nor
he frighted, neither by word nor by epistle as sent from us,
as if the day of the Lord were at hand/ 1 he obviously did
not want them to believe those who thought the coming of
the Lord was already at hand, but neither did he want them
to be like the wicked servant and say: c My lord is long
a-coming/ and deliver themselves over to destruction by pride
and riotous behavior. Thus, his desire that they should not
listen to false rumors about the imminent approach of the
last day was consistent with his wish that they should await
the coming of their Lord fully prepared, with their loins girt
and lamps burning. 2 He said to them: 'But you, brethren,
are not in darkness that that day should overtake you as a
thief, for all you are the children of light and children of
the day; we are not of the night nor of darkness. 53 On the
other hand, the one who says: c My lord is long a-coming,' and
then strikes his fellow servants and eats and drinks with
drunkards, is not of light but of darkness, and therefore that
day will overtake him as a thief, because everyone ought to
fear the last day of his life here. In whatever state his own

6 Acts 1.7.

7 Matt. 24.45,49,48.

1 2 Thess. 2.2.

2 Luke 12.55,36.

3 1 Thess. 5.4.5.

LETTERS 359

last day finds each one, in that state the last day of the
world will overtake him; such as he is on the day of his
death, such each one will be judged on that last day.

Chapter 3

What is written in the Gospel of St. Mark has a bearing
on this: 'Watch, for you know not when the lord of the
house cometh, at even or at midnight or at the cock crowing
or in the morning, lest coming on a sudden he find you sleep-
ing. And what I say to you, I say to all: Watch. 51 Who are
the e all' to whom He says this if not His elect and His beloved,
the members of His body which is the Church? 2 Therefore,
He said if not only to those who then heard Him speaking,
but also to those who came after them and before us, as well
as to us and to those who will come after us until His final
coming. Is that day going to find all in this life or is anyone
likely to say that these words are also addressed to the dead,
when He says: 'Watch, lest coming on a sudden he find you
sleeping?' Why, then, does He say to all what concerns only
those who will then be living, unless it concerns all in the
way I have explained it? For that day will come to every
single one, when the day comes for him to go out of life, such
as he is, to be judged on the last day. For this reason, every
Christian ought to watch lest the coming of the Lord find him
unprepared. But that day will find unprepared anyone whom
the last day will find unprepared. This at least was certainly
clear to the Apostles, that the Lord was not likely to come
in their times, while they were still living here in the flesh,
yet who would doubt that they watched most carefully and
observed what He said to all, lest coming on a sudden He
find them unprepared?

1 Mark 13.35-37.

2 Col. 1.24.

360 SAINT AUGUSTINE

Chapter 4

I do not quite understand how one ought to take what
your Holiness wrote of the reason why the Lord said to the
Apostles: 'It is not for you to know the times or moments
which the Father hath put in his own power/ because He
added at once: 'But you shall be witnesses unto me in
Jerusalem and in Judea and in Samaria and even to the
uttermost part of the earth. 5 You explain the meaning of
this passage of Scripture by saying: 'He wished us^to under-
stand, therefore, that the Apostles were to be witnesses of
His name and His resurrection,, not of the end of the world. 91
It is true He did not say: 'It is not for you to announce the
times' but c it is not for you to know. 3 If you want us tc under-
stand His saying: 'It is not for you to know' as if He had
said: 'It is not for you to let others know/ that is, it is not
for you to teach this, who of us would dare to teach or
presume to know what neither God the Master taught the
disciples by whom He was questioned face to face, nor the
holy and great doctors have been able to teach the Church?

Chapter 5

Will you answer that the Apostle did not teach this, but
the Prophets did? You said the things that are about to
happen are made known by the words of the holy Prophets
who have followed the divine will, as you say, c in announcing
future happenings to men before they happened. 5 But, if your
Reverence says: 'In this there is sufficient matter for wonder
whether God determined that the prophecies which He
wished made should not be able to penetrate deeply into
the understanding of man/ how much greater matter for

1 Cf. Letter 198.

LETTERS 361

wonder there would be if the Apostles were prevented from
knowing or teaching what the Prophets spoke to men ! How
would it be possible for the Apostles not to understand the
teachings of the Prophets regarding those times now under
discussion if they are understood by us? Or, if the Apostles
did understand the prophecy of the length of time, how
could they fail to teach what they understood, when it is
through their preaching that the Prophets themselves, who
taught these things in their books, have become known?
Therefore, as they learned these matters from previous writ-
ings, others among the Gentiles to whom the Apostles com-
mended the authority of the Prophets could learn them from
the same writings. Why were they told: 'It is not for you to
know' or if it must be taken to mean it is not for you to
teach 'the times which the Father hath put in his own
power,' when they were teaching them and when those
writings through which these things are learned were be-
coming known through them? Hence, it is better to believe,
not that God was unwilling to make known what He wished
to have preached, but that He did not wish to have preached
what He saw was not useful for us to know.

Chapter 6

'Why, then, 5 you say, f in this matter of knowing the times,
does the Lord Himself warn us when He says: "Who, thinkest
thou, is a faithful and wise servant whom his lord hath
appointed over his family to give them meat in season," *
and the rest? Indeed, He does not warn the good servant to
know the end of time, but to watch at all times by his good
works because he knows not the end of time; He does not
warn us to outdo the Apostles by searching into the 'times
which the Father hath put in his own power,' but to imitate

362 SAINT AUGUSTINE

the Apostles by preparing our heart, because we know not
when the lord cometh. But on this I have already said
enough above. He censured the Jews for not knowing the
time when He says: 'You hypocrites, you know how to
discern the face of heaven', and the rest, because they did
not know the time which He wished to know, that is, the
time of His first coming, so that they might believe in Him
and so await His second coming by watching for Him when-
ever that coming should be. Whoever does not recognize the
first coming of the Lord cannot prepare himself for the second
by believing in Him and watching faithfully lest that day
overtake him in darkness as a thief, 1 whether He comes later
or sooner than He is expected.

Chapter 7

As you note, the Apostle Paul says: 'In the last days shall
come dangerous times,' and the rest. He surely is not here
referring to the 'times which the Father hath put in his own
power,' and he is not giving anyone to understand how long
or how short those times will be which are admittedly to be
the last. We should recall how long ago the Apostles said:
'Little children, it is the last hour.' 1

Chapter 8

Again you remind us that the same Apostle said: 'But of
times and moments you need not that I should write to you,
for yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord shall

1 1 Thess. 5.4; 2 Peter 3.10.
1 1 John 2.18.

LETTERS 363

so come as a thief in the night. For when they shall say:
Peace and security, then shall sudden destruction come upon
them as the pains upon her that is with child and they shall
not escape.' Here he did not say how much time would
elapse before this happens, that is, he did not give the
length or brevity of the age, but whatever interval and
space of time intervenes this last evil will not come upon them
until they have said : 'Peace and security/ By these words the
Apostle seems to have removed either the hope or the fear
of that last day from our times, for we do not see the lovers
of this world, on whom destruction will come suddenly, now
saying: 'Peace and security.'

Chapter 9

The Apostle himself shows quite clearly what it is enough
for us to know when he says: 'Of times and moments we
have no need to write to you' or, as other manuscript readings
have it: 'You need not that we should write to you.' 1 He
did not go on and say: Tor you yourselves know perfectly
how much time remains/ but he said: Tor you yourselves
know perfectly that the hour of the lord shall so come as a
thief in the night/ 2 Those who do not wish to be overtaken
by that hour as by a thief in the night have need to know
this, that they may strive to be children of light and watch
with well-prepared hearts. If it were necessary to know the
length of time in order to avoid this misfortune, that is, of
the hour of the Lord coming upon us unprepared like a
thief, the Apostle would not have said that he had no need
to write this, but, like a far-sighted teacher, he would rather

1 The latter is the Vulgate version.

2 1 Thess. 5.1 ,2.

364 SAINT AUGUSTINE

have judged that he ought to write it to them. But now he
shows that this is not needful for them, for whom it was
enough to know that the hour of the Lord would come like
a thief upon sleepers and the unready; and by knowing this
they would themselves be ready and watchful however long a
time He would be in coming. He also kept his own place, and,
Apostle though he was, he did not presume to teach others
what He knew the Lord had forbidden the Apostles: c lt is
not for you to know/

Chapter 10

You also quote what the same Apostle said: 'Remember
you not that when I was yet with you I told you these things?
And now you know what withholdeth that he may be re-
vealed in his time. For the mystery of iniquity already worketh,
only that he that now holdeth do hold until he be taken out
of the way. And then that wicked one shall be revealed whom
the Lord Jesus shall kill with the spirit of his mouth.' 1 Would
that you had not only quoted but had also deigned to expound
these words, for, though they are so obscure and so mystical
in meaning, it does not appear that he said anything about
fixed time or that he revealed any length or interval of time.
He says : c that he may be revealed in his time,' but he does
not say how long it will be before this happens. What the
mystery of iniquity is is variously understood by one and
another, but how long it will work is a secret. The Apostle
did not say this as a man outside the number of those to
whom it was said: 'It is not for you to know the times,' for,
although he was not yet among them when this was said to
them, we do not doubt that he is their colleague and a
member of their group.

Thess. 2.5-8.

LETTERS 365

Chapter 11

Likewise, in what follows : 'Only that he that now holdeth
do hold until he be taken out of the way, and then that
wicked one shall be revealed whom the Lord Jesus shall kill
with the spirit of his mouth, 3 he teaches us openly that Anti-
christ will come, and although he seems to have described
him in somewhat clearer terms as due to be killed by the
breath of the mouth of the Lord Jesus Christ, he does not
say, even obscurely, how long it will be before this happens.
Who he is 'that now holdeth, 5 or what he holds, or what is
meant by 'taken out of the way, 3 each one can work out for
himself so as to understand or have some inkling of it,
according as he reads what is written in one way or another;
but how long he holds or how long it will be before he is
taken out of the way is wholly wrapt in secrecy.

Chapter 12

You also say: c ln like manner, the Lord, in the Gospel,
reproaches the Jews, saying: "If thou also hadst known . . .
the time of thy visitation, perhaps thou shouldest have re-
mained, but now these things are hidden from thy eyes." '
But this refers to the time of the first coming of the Lord, not
of the second which is now in question. Obviously, it was of
His second coming, not of the first, that He said : 'It is not for
you to know the times,' for the Apostles had asked Him
about the coming they hoped for, not the one they then
witnessed. If the Jews had known His first coming, 'they
would never have crucified the Lord of glory,' 1 and thus they
could have escaped destruction and might have remained. As
to His words to them : 'The time is accomplished, do penance,

1 1 Cor. 2.8.

366 SAINT AUGUSTINE

believe in the Gospel/ you yourself have affirmed that they
were said of the time of the Jews which was to come after a
few years, and we now know that it is past by the destruction
of the city in which their realm had been established.

Chapter 13

From what your Reverence next quoted from Daniel about
the slaying of the beast, and the power of the other beasts,
and the Son of man coming with the clouds of heaven in the
midst of these happenings, it is plain that you speak to those
who are versed in the Scripture. But, if you will be so kind
as to explain how those passages have any bearing on our
knowledge of the length of time which is to elapse before
the Saviour's coming, I will confess with great thankfulness
that the Lord's words, 'It is not for you to know,' were
addressed only to the Apostles, not to their followers who are
to know.

Chapter 14

According to your holy advice, the Lord's coming is to be
loved and hoped for, and, as you say, the happiness of those
who love it is great, as shown by the testimony of the Apostle
whose words you thus quote: 'As to the rest, there is laid
up for me a crown of justice which the Lord, the just judge,
will render to me in that day. And not only to me but to
them also that love the Lord's coming.' And then, also, as
you recite from the Gospel, 'the just shall shine as the sun in
the kingdom of their Father/ and, as the Prophet says, Tor
behold darkness shall cover the earth and a mist the people,
but the Lord shall arise upon thee and his glory shall be
seen upon thee'; he likewise says: 'But they that hope in the

LETTERS

367

Lord shall renew their strength; they shall take wings as
eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and
not faint.'

Chapter 15

All this you repeat with great piety and truth, praising the
happiness of those who love the coming of the Lord. But those
to whom the Apostle said: 'Be not easily moved from your
mind ... as if the day of the Lord were at hand,' 1 evidently
loved the Lord's coming, and the purpose of the Doctor of
the Gentiles in saying this was not to break them away from
the love which burned in them; rather, he did not want them
to put their faith in those from whom they heard that the
day of the Lord was at hand, lest, perhaps, when the time
had passed within which they had thought He would come,
and they saw that He had not come, they might think the
other promises made to them were also false, and might
despair of the mercy of faith itself. Therefore, it is not the
one who asserts that He is near nor the one who asserts that
He is not near who loves the coming of the Lord, but the one
who waits for Him, whether He be near or far, with sincere
faith, firm hope and ardent love. For, if love of the Lord is
in proportion to the belief and profession that He will come
soon, then those who said that His coming was at hand loved
Him more than those whom the Apostle warned not to
believe them, or even than the Apostle himself who manifestly
did not believe it.

Chapter 16

If my weakness is not troublesome to your Holiness, I beg
you not to refuse to explain more clearly how you could say

1 2 Thess. 2.2.

368 SAINT AUGUSTINE

that no one can deduce the exact length of the time,' as
this might not mean the same to me as it does to your
Charity, and any one of us might look in vain to be en-
lightened by the other. After saying that, you went on and
said: c ln fact, the Gospel says: "of that day and hour no one
knoweth," but I,' you say, 'with due regard for the limitations
of my mind, say neither the day nor the month nor the year
of that coming can be known/ That sounds as if we cannot
know in what year He will come, but we can know in what
week or decade of years, as if it were possible to assign it
with certainty to this or that period of seven years, this or
that period of ten years. But, if not even this can be known,
I ask whether at least the time of His coming can be defined
so as to say that He will come, for instance, in the next fifty
or a hundred years, or any other number of years more or less,
but that we do not know in which of these years He will come.
If that is how you have understood it, it is a great thing to
understand. What I ask is that you would kindly impart your
knowledge to us, citing the proper sources from which you
have been able to work it out; if you do not claim this
knowledge, then your opinion is the same as mine.

Chapter 17

All of us who believe see that those times are indeed the
last by the appearance of many signs in nature which we
read that the Lord foretold. If we take a period of a thousand
years, 1 and if the end of that period were the end of the
world, we could say that it was the ultimate end of time or
also the last day because it is written: Tor a thousand years
in thy sight are but as one day/ 2 so that anything that was
done during that thousand years could be spoken of as done

1 Apoc. 20.4-7.

2 Ps. 89.4; 2 Peter 3.8.

LETTERS 369

at the end of time or on the last day. I repeat what must
often be said on this question: let us recall how long ago
the blessed Evangelist, John, said: It is the last hour.' 3 If
we had been alive then and had heard this, how could we
have believed that so many years would pass after it, and
would we not rather have hoped that the Lord would come
while John was still present in the body? For he did not say:
'It is the last of time, or the last year or month or day/ but
'It is the last hour 5 , and see what a long hour it is ! He did
not lie, however, but we must understand that he used the
word 'hour' instead of 'time.' Some explain this by setting up
a period of 6,000 years as one day, and they divide it into
twelve parts like hours, so that the last hour seems to consist
of the last 500 years, and they say that John was speaking of
these years when he said it was the last hour.

Chapter 18

But knowing something and surmising it are two different
things. If 6,000 years is to be taken as one day, why is one
hour a twelfth of it and not rather a twenty-fourth, that is,
not 500 but 250 years? For the whole day is more truly spoken
of as the whole course of the sun, not from east to west but
from east to east where it rises again after the whole day is
over; that is, in twenty-four hours. According to that reckon-
ing, the last hour is found to be past by at least seventy years 1
from the time John said that, and the end of the world has
not yet come. Besides, if we look carefully into Church history,
we find that the Apostle John died long before the completion
of 5,500 years from the beginning of the human race. It was

3 1 John 2.18.

1 It works out to sixty-eight years, which is near enough; St. John wrote
his Epistle in A.D. 99.

370 SAINT AUGUSTINE

not yet the last hour if the twelfth part of 6,000 years, that is,
500 years, is taken as the length of one hour. Moreover, if
we follow the Scriptures and take a thousand years as one day,
then the last hour of so long a day is even further past, I
do not say if we take one-twenty-fourth of it, which is a
little over forty, but if we suppose a twelfth part of it which
has twice as many years. Therefore, it is more consistent to
believe that the Apostle used 'hour' for 'time,' but how long
that hour is we do not know, because it is not for us to
'know the times which the Father hath put in his own power,'
although we certainly know that last hour much better than
those who preceded us, from the time when it began to be
the last hour of the day.

Chapter 19

I do not understand what your Reverence means by saying
that the exact time cannot be computed, so as to define in
what year the end will come, because, according to the
promise of the Lord, those days will be shortened. If they
will be so shortened as to become fewer rather than more, I
ask you, according to what truth would they have been more
if they had not been shortened? You think that the weeks
of holy Daniel do not refer to the first coming of the Lord,
as the majority do, but to the second. Will they then be
shortened so that there will be one less week in that number,
thus falsifying the prophecy which had defined the number
of weeks so carefully that it said a certain event would occur
even in the middle of a week? I find it surprising that the
prophecy of Daniel is annulled by the prophecy of Christ.
What sort of prophecy is that which makes us think that
Daniel, or, rather, the angel from whom he learned it, did not
know that the Lord would shorten those days and erred in

LETTERS

371

what he said, or that he did know it indeed, but lied to the
one whom he was instructing? If that is nonsense, why do
we not rather believe that Daniel prophesied so many weeks
according to the reckoning that the Lord would shorten those
days, if that number of years does refer to the second coming
of Christ? But I do not see how that can be proved.

Chapter 20

Finally, if those weeks foretell the coming of the Lord, it is
much surer and safer to say that it will occur within seventy
or, at most, within a hundred years. There are 490 years in
seventy weeks, but from the birth of the Lord down to the
present we count about 420; from His Resurrection or
Ascension, 390, more or less. Thus, if we count from His birth,
there are seventy years left; if from His Passion, about one
hundred remain, within which all those weeks of Daniel will
be completed if they are a prophecy of His final coming.
Hence, if anyone says: Tt will happen within so many years/
he will be wrong if it happens beyond them; but because
the times will be shortened, it will be possible for them to be
less, not more. Therefore, it is correct to say: 'It will happen
within such a time,' because it will be true however much
the time is shortened; for, if that shortening is understood in
the sense of fewer years, it does not allow of the day of the
Lord coming after that time, but it is more and more true of
the shortened time the fewer those years will be. Hence, tiiat
shortening does not disturb the computer who defines it so
as to say that the day of the Lord will come within so many
years; it helps him, instead, because the greater the reduction
in the number of those days, the more the coming will occur
within them and will not possibly occur beyond them. Thus,
what is so defined will be true if we say: 'It wiU happen

372 SAINT AUGUSTINE

within so many years/ although we do not know the year in
which it will happen.

Chapter 21

Consequently, the whole question comes down to this:
whether the weeks of Daniel were fulfilled by the first coming
of the Lord, or foretold the end of the world, or refer to
both; for there are some authorities, well versed in this
matter, who say that they were fulfilled at the time of the
first coming of Christ and that they are to be fulfilled again
by the same number to the end of the world. For my part,
I see that if the first coming did not fulfill them, the second
must necessarily do so, since the prophecy cannot be falsified.
If it was fulfilled at the time of the first coming, there is no
obligation to believe that it will be fulfilled again at the end
of the world. This point of view, then, is uncertain even if it
is true, and we should neither deny nor assume that it will
be so. It remains, then, that if anyone wishes to insist on
believing that the prophecy is to be fulfilled at the end of
the world, he should exert himself to the best of his ability
and prove, if he can, that it was not fulfilled at the first
coming of the Lord, contrary to the teachings of so many
expounders of the divine writings, who prove that it was
fulfilled, not only by reckoning the time, but also by the
very circumstances of it. Especially do they adduce what is
written in the prophecy: c The Saint of saints shall be
anointed/ or, as the Hebrew versions of the same prophecy
say more explicitly: 'Christ shall be slain and shall not be
theirs/ 1 that is, He will not belong to their city because He
was cast off by the Jews who did believe that He was their
Saviour and Redeemer, and therefore it was possible for them
to kill Him. But Christ is not to be anointed or killed at the

1 Dan. 9.24,26.

LETTERS 373

end of the world, which prevents us from believing that this
prophecy of Daniel is not yet fulfilled but that its fulfillment
is to be looked for then.

Chapter 22

Considering the signs mentioned by Gospel and prophecy
which we see happening, would anyone deny that we ought to
hope for the proximate coming of the Lord? Manifestly, it is
nearer and nearer every day. But the exact span of the
nearness, that, as we said, 'is not for you to know.' Notice
when the Apostle said this: Tor our salvation is nearer than
when we believed. The night is past and the day is at hand,' 1
and look how many years have passed! Yet, what he said
was not untrue. How much more probable is it to say now
that the coming of the Lord is near when there has been
such an increase of time toward the end! Certainly, the
Apostle said: The Spirit manifestly saith that in the last
times some shall depart from the faith. 32 Obviously, those were
not yet the times of heretics such as he describes them in the
same sentence, but they have now come. According to this,
we seem to be in the last times and the heretics seem to be a
warning of the end of the world. Likewise, he says in another
place: 'Know also this: that in the last days shall come on
savage times' or, as another version has it: dangerous times
and then he describes what they will be like, saying: 'Men
shall be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, haughty, proud,
blasphemous, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, wicked, ir-
religious, without affection, slanderers, incontinent, unmerci-
ful, without kindness, traitors, stubborn, blind, lovers of
pleasures more than of God, having an appearance of godli-
ness but denying the power thereof.' I wonder if such men

1 Rom. 13.11,12.

2 1 Tim. 4.1.

374 SAINT AUGUSTINE

have ever been lacking. Finally, he goes on and speaks of them
as they then were: 'Now these avoid, for of these are they
who creep into houses.' He does not say: 'they will creep,'
as he said above: 'there will come on dangerous times,' but
he says: they creep into houses and lead captive silly women' f
he does not say: 'they will lead' or 'they are likely to lead/
but they now lead.

Chapter 23

We are not to think that in this passage he used his verbs
in the present tense for the future, because, in fact, he was
warning his correspondent to avoid these persons. Yet, he
had a purpose in saying: 'In the last times shall come on
dangerous days/ and he proved that the times will be
dangerous by prophesying that men will be such, if for no
other reason than because they will be more and more
numerous as the end draws near. We see that they are nu-
merous at present. But what "does that signify if they will be
even more numerous after us and most numerous of all when
the end itself is imminent, although it is not known how far
off it is? Indeed, those last days were spoken of even in the
first days of the Apostles when the Lord's Ascension into
heaven was a recent happening; when on the day of Pentecost
He had sent the promised Holy Spirit; when some were
amazed and wondered at men speaking tongues which they
had not learned, while others mocked, saying that they were
full of new wine. 1 On that day, Peter, speaking to those who
were variously affected by this portent, said: Tor these are
not drunk, as you suppose, seeing that it is but the third
hour of the day. But know you that this is that which was

3 2 Tim. 3.1-6.
1 Acts 2.1-14.

LETTERS 375

spoken of by the Prophet: It shall come to pass in the last
days, saith the Lord, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all
flesh,' 2 and the rest.

Chapter 24

Therefore, there were last days even then ; how much more
now, even if there remained as many days to the end as
have already passed from the Ascension of the Lord to this
day, or even if there remain something over, more or less!
Manifestly, we do not know this, because it is not for us c to
know the times which the Father hath put in his own power/
although we do know that we, like the Apostles, are living
in last times, last days, a last hour, and this is much more so
of those who lived after them and before us, much more so
of us, and much more of those who will come after us than
of us, until the time comes, so to speak, of the last, and finally
of that very last moment which the Lord referred to when
He said : 'And I will raise him up in the last day. 31 But how
far off that is cannot be known.

Chapter 25

The future signs, which, as your Holiness remarked, are
foretold in the Gospel according to Luke, are the same as
those in Matthew and Mark. 1 These three tell what the
Lord said in answer to His disciples who had asked when
the events which He had foretold of the destruction of the
Temple would come to pass, and what was to be the sign of

2 Acts 2.15-17; Joel 2.28.

1 John 6.40.

1 Matt. 24.4-35; Mark 13.5-29.

376 SAINT AUGUSTINE

His coming and of the end of the world. 2 There is no dis-
crepancy in the Gospels as to facts, although one tells one
detail which another passes over or describes differently;
rather, they supplement each other when compared, and
thus give direction to the mind of the reader. But it would
take too long to discuss them all now. To their questions the
Lord replied by telling what was to happen from that time
on, whether of the destruction of Jerusalem, which had given
rise to their inquiry, or of His coming in the Church in which
He does not cease to come until the end for He is recognized
when He comes to His own, while His members are daily
born, and of this coming He said: 'Hereafter you shall see
the Son of man coming in the clouds,' 3 of which clouds the
Prophet said : C I will command my clouds not to rain upon it* 4

or, finally, of the end itself at which He will appear c to

judge the living and the dead.' 5

Chapter 26

Since He gives the signs which refer to these three events,
that is, to the destruction of the city, to His coming in His
body which is the Church, 1 and to His coming in His own
Person as the head of the Church, it requires careful con-
sideration to distinguish which of these signs refer to each
of these three. Otherwise, we might think that the signs
which belong to the destruction of Jerusalem are to be re-
ferred to the end of the world; or, on the other hand, we
might assert that what refers to the end of the world is a
prophecy of the destruction of the city; or we might say that

2 Matt. 24.1-3; Mark 13.1-4; Luke 21.5-7.

3 Matt. 26.64.

4 Isa. 5.6.

5 2 Tim. 4.1.

1 Eph. 1.22,23; Col. 1.24.

LETTERS

377

what points to His coming in His body which is the Church
is a sign of His last coming in His Body which is the head of
the Church; or, again, we might affirm that what refers to
His final coming in person belongs to that coming which is in
the Church. In all these details, some are plain, but others are
so obscure that it would either be hard to distinguish them or
rash to pronounce on them so long as they are not understood.

Chapter 27

Anyone can see that when He says: 'When you shall see
Jerusalem compassed about with an army, then know that
the desolation thereof is at hand/ 1 He refers to that city.
Again, anyone can see that these words refer to the last
coming of the Lord when He says: 'When you shall see
these things come to pass, know that the kingdom of God is
at hand.' 2 But, when He says: 'Woe to them that are with
child and that give suck in those days. But pray that your
flight be not in the winter or on the sabbath, for there shall
be great tribulation, such as hath not been seen from the
beginning of the world, neither shall be,' 3 this passage is so
phrased in Matthew and Mark that it is uncertain whether
it is to be understood of the destruction of the city or of the
end of the world. It reads this way in Mark: 'And woe to
them that are with child and that give suck in those days.
But pray ye that these things happen not in winter. For in
those days shall be such tribulations as were not from the
beginning of the creation which God created until now,
neither shall be. And unless the Lord had shortened those
days, no flesh shall be saved; but for the sake of the elect

1 Luke 21.20.

2 Luke 21.31.

3 Matt. 24.19-21.

378 SAINT AUGUSTINE

which he hath chosen he hath shortened the days.' 4 This is
not different from Matthew. But Luke has so arranged it
that it seems to refer to the destruction of that city, for It
reads thus in his Gospel: 'But woe to them that are with
child and give suck in those days, for there shall be great
distress in the land and wrath upon this people; and they
shall fall by the edge of the sword and shall be led away
captives into all nations, and Jerusalem shall be trodden down
by the Gentiles till the times of the nations be fulfilled. 55

Chapter 28

But in the passage which precedes this, Matthew writes
thus: 'When therefore you shall see the abomination of
desolation which was spoken of by Daniel the prophet stand-
ing in the holy place, he that readeth, let him understand.
Then they that are in Judea, let them flee to the mountains,
and he that is on the house-top, let him not come down to
take anything out of his house, and he that is in the field,
let him not go back to take his coat. But woe to them that
are with child and that give suck in those days. 91 Mark has
it thus: 'And wh^n you shall see the abomination standing
where it ought not, he that readeth, let him understand. Then
let them that are in Judea flee unto the mountains, and let
him that is on the house-top not go down into the house nor
enter therein to take anything out of the house, and let him
that shall be in the field not turn back to take up his garment.
But woe to them that are with child and that give suck in
those days, 52 and the rest. But Luke, in order to show that the

4 Mark 13.17-20.

5 Luke 21.23,24.

1 Matt. 24.15-19; Dan. 9.27.

2 Mark 13.14-17.

LETTERS 379

abomination of desolation which had been foretold by Daniel,
would come to pass when Jerusalem was besieged, relates
the words of the Lord in the same passage: 'And when you
shall see Jerusalem compassed about with an army, then know
that the desolation thereof is at hand. 5 Thus, the abomination
of desolation of which those two Evangelists had spoken
appears in this connection. Finally, he continues in the same
strain as they: Then let those that are in Judea flee to the
mountains,' but, instead of saying as they do: c He that is on
the house-top, let him not go down into the house nor enter
therein to take anything out of the house, 5 he says: 'And let
those that are in the midst thereof depart out,' to show that
by those words of the other Evangelists haste in flight had
been commanded. And instead of what they said: 'And let
him that shall be in the field not turn back to take up his
garment, 5 he says more plainly: 'And let those who are in
the countries not enter into it, for these are the days of
vengeance that all things may be fulfilled that are written/
Then he continues in the same way, so that it is quite clear
that this passage of the Gospel refers to the same thing in all
three : 'But woe to them that are with child and give suck in
those days,' and the other words which bear on this point as
I have already remarked above. 3

Chapter 29

Thus, Luke made clear what could have been uncertain,
that what was said of the abomination of desolation referred
to the siege of Jerusalem, not to the end of the world; and
also what was said about the shortening of the days for the
sake of the elect, for, although he himself did not say exactly
that, he did say other things quite plainly about this, by which

3 Luke 21.20-23.

380 SAINT AUGUSTINE

he showed that the other two were referring to it. We must not
doubt that there were elect of God among that people when
Jerusalem was destroyed, men of the circumcision who had
become or were about to become believers, chosen before the
foundation of the world, for whose sake those days were
shortened that the evils might be bearable. Some com-
mentators, it seems to me, have aptly held that the evils
mentioned are signified by the word 'days', as days are spoken
of as evil in various places of the divine Scripture; 1 not that
the days themselves are evil, but that what happens on them
is evil. Therefore, they were said to be shortened because when
God gave endurance they were felt less, and thus what was
great became brief.

Chapter 30

But, whether that shortening of days is to be taken in
that sense, because either they were reduced in number or
they were shortened by a swifter course of the sun there
are some who think that days will be shorter in the future,
as the day became longer at the prayer of Josue, 1 the
Evangelist Luke showed that this shortening of days and
abomination of desolation referred to the destruction of
Jerusalem, although he did not speak of both of them, while
Matthew and Mark did; and he did this by adding other
details to make it plainer, whereas they had spoken more
obscurely. Josephus, who wrote a history of the Jews, 2 says
that the evils which then befell that people are scarcely
believable. Consequently, it is correct to say that such
tribulation has not been since the beginning of creation, nor
shall be. Even if there shall be such, or possibly greater,

1 a. Ps. 40.2; 48.6.

1 Josue 10.12-14.

2 Flavins Josephus (37-94) , History of the Jewish War 6.3.3.

LETTERS 381

tribulation in the time of Antichrist, what is here said must
be referred to the Jewish people, that such or greater
tribulation will not befall them, for, if they are the first and
foremost to receive Antichrist, that people will rather cause
than suffer tribulation.

Chapter 31

There is no reason, then, for us to think that the weeks of
the Prophet Daniel were either falsified by the shortening of
the days or were not fully completed, but that they are to be
completed at the end of the world; for they were not com-
pleted before the Passion of the Lord. Those who think this
are correctly refuted by your pronouncement in which you
said: c lf, then, the abomination has come to pass, how does
the Lord warn us, saying: "When you shall see the abomina-
tion of desolation which was spoken of by Daniel the
prophet standing in the holy place, he that readeth let him
understand"?' These words of your Blessedness ought to set
right those who say that this prophecy had been fulfilled when
the Lord spoke, even before His Passion and Resurrection.
Those who say, as the Evangelist Luke bears witness most
plainly, that it came to pass when Jerusalem was destroyed,
ought to see what answer to make to those who think it will
happen at the end of the world or near the end. However,
this abomination of desolation is such an obscure saying
that it could be understood by men in more than one way.

Chapter 32

In regard to the saying, 'He that is on the house-top, let
him not come down to take anything out of his house, and
he that is in the field, let him not go back to take his coat,'

382 SAINT AUGUSTINE

it can be suitably taken in a spiritual sense, namely, that in
all our trials each one must take care not to be overcome or
to come down from a spiritual height to a carnal life;^or
that he who had progressed should not look back by turning
toward the past or failing to reach out to the future. But, if
this is true of every trial, how much greater care must be
prescribed in a trial such as that foretold for the city: 'Such
as hath not been from the beginning, neither shall be' ; and if
for that, how much more still for that final tribulation which
is to come upon the whole world, that is, the Church spread
through the whole world! It is true that Luke does not
connect this with the time when the Lord was questioned
about His coming, as Matthew and Mark do, but he puts it
in another place where the Pharisees had asked Him when
the kingdom of God would come, and he relates that the
Lord said something similar: c ln that hour, 5 He said, 'he
that shall be on the house-top and his goods in the house,
let him not go down to take them away, and he that shall
be in the field, in like manner let him not return back.' 1

Chapter 33

But we are now dealing with the reckoning of time
according to the weeks of Daniel, and if they were not
completed about the time of the first coming of the Lord,
and they are to be completed at the end, who could believe
that the Apostles did not know this, or that they did know
it but were forbidden to teach it? Of course, if this is the case,
it is useful for the Gentiles not to know what the Lord forbade
those whom He chose as teachers of the Gentiles to teach
them. But, if those weeks have been completed, because the
Saint of saints has been anointed, Christ has been slain, the

1 Luke 17.31.

LETTERS

383

sacrifice has been taken away, and the anointing has been
taken away, 1 then, when the Apostles asked about the end
of the world, the answer given was correct: 'It is not for
you to know the times which the Father hath put in his
own power, 3 since the times which they could know from the
prophecy of Daniel did not refer to the end of the world
about which they had asked.

Chapter 34

Have we, then, seen greater signs in heaven and on earth
than have those who came before us? If we read the history
of the nations, are not such portents found to have happened
in heaven and on earth that some are not even credible? To
pass over others which it would take too long to go into,
when have we seen two suns, as those who lived before the
Lord's coming in the flesh saw and described in writing?
When have we seen the sun darkened as it was darkened when
the Light of the world hung upon the cross? Unless, perhaps,
we are to include among celestial portents eclipses of the sun
and moon which astronomers have been wont to calculate and
predict, because we have seen the full moon eclipsed fairly
often, but the sun more rarely and in the dark of the moon,
according to their reckoning. But there was no such eclipse
of the sun when Christ was crucified, and therefore it was a
miraculous and portentous happening. It happened, indeed,
at the Pasch of the Jews, which was celebrated only at the
full moon; now, according to the calculations of the astro-
nomers, it is an assured fact that the sun cannot be eclipsed
when the moon is full, and it does not always suffer eclipse
when the moon is dark, but, according to the same calcula-
tions, it never does so at any other time. Therefore, if such

1 Dan. 9.24,26,27 (Septuagint) .

384 SAINT AUGUSTINE

prodigies appear if they are not rather to be taken in a
spiritual sense they will appear when the end is so near
that they must necessarily appear.

Chapter 35

As to wars, when has the earth not been scourged by them
at different periods and places? To pass over too remote
history, when the barbarians were everywhere invading Ro-
man provinces in the reign of Gallienus, 1 how many of our
brothers who were then alive do we think could have believed
that the end was near, since this happened long after the
Ascension of the Lord! Thus, we do not know what the
nature of those signs will be when the end is really near at
hand, if these present ones have not been so foretold that they
should at least be understood in the Church. Certainly, there
are two nations and two kingdoms, namely, one of Christ, the
other of the Devil, of which it was possible to say: 'Nation
shall rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom,' 2
which has not ceased to be the case since the words were
uttered: Do penance, for the kingdom of heaven is at
hand. sn Notice when that was said, and how many years have
passed since that time, yet it was said with perfect truth.
For in those last days the Lord came by the Virgin, and that
would not be called the last hour 4 unless the kingdom of
heaven were at hand, and so those things which the Lord
predicted would happen at the approach of His kingdom
do happen throughout this whole hour. As to how long a
time this hour is to last, if it was said to the Apostles: 'It is
not for you to know, 5 how much more should any mere man

1 Emperor from 260 to 268.

2 Mark 13.8; Matt. 24.7; Luke 21.10.

3 Matt. 3.2: 4.17.

4 Cf. 1 John 2.18.

LETTERS 385

such as I am recognize his limitations: 'not to be more wise
than it behooveth to be wise!' 5

Chapter 36

But, you say, our very suffering forces us to admit that the
end is at hand when there is a fulfillment of what was
foretold: { Men withering away for fear and expectation of
what shall come upon the whole world. 5 c lt is plain,' you say,
'that there is no country, no place in our time which is not
harassed or humbled according to the words, "for fear and
expectation of what shall come upon the whole world." ' If,
then, these evils which the human race now suffers are clear
signs that the Lord is about to come now, what becomes of
the Apostle's words: 'When they shall say: Peace and
security'? 1 For, when the Gospel said: 'Men withering away
for fear and expectation,' it went on at once: 'For the
powers of heaven shall be moved. And then shall they see
the Son of man coming in a cloud with great power and
majesty.' 2

Chapter 37

Let us therefore see whether, perhaps, a better under-
standing of the things which are foretold in those words may
not show that they are not being fulfilled now but are rather
to come at a time when there will be tribulation in the whole
world, so as to refer to the Church which will suffer tribula-
tion throughout the world, but not to those who will afflict
the Church. For these latter will say: 'Peace and security/

5 Rom. 12.3.

1 1 Thess. 5.3.

2 Luke 21.26,27.

386 SAINT AUGUSTINE

so that sudden destruction will come upon them and the
coming of the Lord will overtake them as a thief in the
night, while, on the other hand, those who love the mani-
festation of the Lord will rejoice and exult. But we see that
these present evils which are considered so supreme and
ultimate are common to both nations and both kingdoms,
that is, of Christ and of the Devil; both good and bad are
afflicted by them and there is no one to say: Teace and
security'; everywhere, disasters happen or there is fear that
they will happen. Yet, in the midst of these misfortunes, there
are still people crowding to luxurious banquets, drunkenness
is rife, avarice plies its trade, wanton songs shrill out, there
are organs, flutes, lyres, harps, dice, many and various kinds
of sound and spectacles* Is this withering away with fear and
not, rather, reeking with lust? But those sons of darkness
shall possess goods and shall use them more amply when
they shall say: Teace and security. 5

Chapter 38

But what of the very children of light and children of the
day, that that day should overtake them as a thief? 1 Do
they not still 'use this world as if they used it not, 5 because
they think with pious care of the saying: The time is short,' 2
even though this was said many years ago, in the times of the
Apostles? Do not the majority of them still set out vines,
build, buy, possess, hold offices, marry wives? I speak of
those 'who wait for their lord when he shall return from the
wedding, 33 and who, although they do not refrain from
carnal marriage, hearken, with obedient love, to the Apostle

1 1 Thess. 5.4,5.

2 1 Cor. 7.31,29.

3 Luke 12.36.

LETTERS 387

teaching them how wives should live with their husbands,
husbands with wives, children with parents, parents with
children, slaves with masters, masters with slaves. 4 Do not
all these use this world in all these ways? They cultivate land,
they sail ships, they acquire goods, they beget children, they
fight wars, they manage their affairs. I think they will not be
doing so when, as the Gospel foretells: 'There shall be signs
in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars, and upon the
earth distress of nations by reason of the roaring of the sea
and of the waves; men withering away for fear and ex-
pectation of what shall come upon the whole world, for the
powers of heaven shall be moved.' 5

Chapter 39

I think it is better to apply these things to the Church so
that the Lord Jesus may not seem to have predicted, for the
approach of His second coming, a magnified form of what
has been accustomed to happen in this world even before
His first coming, and that, when we fall into a panic over
present happenings as if they were the ultimate and extreme
of all things, we may not be laughed at by those who have
read of more and worse things in the history of the world.
The Church is the sun and the moon and the stars, to which
it was said: Tair as the moon, bright as the sun.' 1 By her
our Joseph is adored in this world as in Egypt, when He is
raised from humble to high estate. Certainly, his mother
could not adore that other Joseph, since she died before
Jacob came to his son; 2 therefore, the truth of that prophetic

4 Eph. 5.22-6.9.

5 Luke 21.25,26.

1 Cant. 6.9.

2 Gen. 35.19; 46.1-7; 37.9-11.

388 SAINT AUGUSTINE

dream was saved for its fulfillment in the Lord Christ. But,
when 'the sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not
give her light, and the stars fall from heaven, and the powers
of heaven shall be moved,' 3 as this passage is given by the
other two Evangelists, the Church will not be manifest; for,
when impious persecutors rage beyond measure, and when
the fortune of this world seems to smile upon them and fear
leaves them and they say: Teace and security,' then the
stars shall fall from heaven and the powers of heaven shall
be moved, when many who seemed to shine brilliantly with
grace will yield to the persecutors and will fall, and even the
strongest of the faithful will be shaken. Now, according to
Matthew and Mark it is said that this will happen 'after the
tribulation of those days, 5 not because these things will
happen after the whole persecution has come to an end, but
because the tribulation will precede so that the falling away
of some may follow, and because this will happen through
all those days, it will happen "after the tribulation of those
days,' yet it will be in the same days.

Chapter 40

By the words according to Luke, 'And upon the earth
distress of nations/ He wishes us to understand, not the
nations belonging to the seed of Abraham, 'in whom all
nations shall be blessed,' 1 but the nations which shall stand
on His left, 2 when all nations shall be gathered together before
the Judge of the living and the dead. 3 In all nations there

3 Matt. 24.29; Mark 13.24,25.

1 Gen. 22.18; 26.4.

2 Matt. 25.33,32.

3 Acts 10.42.

LETTERS 389

will be two groups, one which oppresses, the other which is
oppressed; one which says: Teace and security,' the other
in which the sun is darkened and the moon does not give her
light, from which the stars shall fall, and in which the powers
of heaven are moved.

Chapter 41

'And then shall they see the Son of man coming in a cloud,
with great power and majesty/ 1 As I see it, this could be
taken in two ways: one, that He will come in the Church
as in a cloud, as He continues to come now according to His
word : 'Hereafter you shall see the Son of man sitting on the
right hand of the power of God, and coming in the clouds
of heaven'; 2 and He comes with great power and majesty
because His greater power and majesty will appear in the
saints to whom He will give great power, so that they may
not be overcome by such persecution. The other way in which
He will come will be in His Body in which He sits at the
right hand of the Father, 3 in which, also, He died and rose
again and ascended into heaven, as it is written in the Acts
of the Apostles: 'And when he had said these things, a
cloud received him and he was taken up from their sight/
And because the angels said thereupon: 'He shall so come as
you have seen him going away/ 4 we have reason to believe
that He will come not only in the same Body but also in a
cloud, since He will so come as He went away, and a cloud
received Him as He went.

1 Luke 21.27; Matt. 24.30; Mark 13.26.

2 Matt. 26.64.

3 Rom, 8.34; Mark 16-19; Col. 3.1.

4 Acts 1.9,11.

390 SAINT AUGUSTINE

Chapter 42

It is hard to decide which of these two views is preferable.
The more ready sense would make anyone who hears or
reads: 'And then shall they see the Son of man coming in a
cloud with great power and majesty/ immediately under-
stand it of His coming not in the Church but in His person,
when He will come to judge the living and the dead. As the
Scriptures are to be closely studied, and we are not to be
satisfied with a general view of them, since they yield a
changed meaning to our effort and demand a deeper insight,
the sequence of passages must be carefully examined. For,
when He had said: Then shall they see the Son of man
coming in a cloud with great power and majesty/ He went
on and said: 'But when these things begin to come to pass,
look up and lift up your heads because your redemption is
at hand. And he spoke to them a similitude : See the fig-tree
and all the trees, when they now shoot forth their fruit, you
know that summer is nigh. So also you, when you shall see
these things come to pass, know that the kingdom of God is
at hand. 51 Thus, when He says: 'When you shall see these
things come to pass/ what else are we to think they are but
the ones mentioned above? But among these is His prediction:
'And then shall they see the Son of man coming in a cloud
with great power and majesty.' Consequently, when He is
seen thus, it will not yet be the kingdom of God, but it will
be near.

Chapter 43

We see that the other two Evangelists keep to the same
order. In Mark, when He had said: 'And the powers that are
in heaven shall be moved/ He said : c And then shall they see

1 Luke 21.28-31.

LETTERS 391

the Son of man coming in the clouds with great power and
glory. 5 Then He adds something more than Luke had said:
'And then shall he send his angels and shall gather together
his elect from the four winds, from the uttermost part of the
earth to the uttermost part of heaven.' Then He mentions
the fig-tree alone, where Luke had spoken of the fig-tree and
other trees: 'Now of the fig-tree learn ye a parable: when
the branch thereof is now tender and the leaves are come
forth, you know that summer is very near; so you also, when
you shall see these things come to pass, know ye that it is
very nigh, even at the doors.' 1 What is the meaning of 'When
you shall see these things come to pass' but the things which
He spoke of above? And among these is that prediction:
*And then shall they see the Son of man coming in the
clouds with great power and glory.' Therefore, this will not
actually be the end, but the end will then be very near.

Chapter 44

Or are we to say that not all the details mentioned above
are to be included when He says : * When you shall see these
things come to pass,' but that one of them, this one, for
instance, is to be excepted, when He says: 'Then shall they
see the Son of man coming,' and the rest? Certainly, that
will be the end; it will not then be near. But Matthew
makes it clear that everything mentioned is to be included
without exception, for in his Gospel, after saying: The powers
of heaven shall be moved,' he says: 'And then shall appear
the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the
tribes of the earth mourn; and they shall see the Son of
man coming in the clouds of heaven with much power and

1 Mark 13.25-29.

392 SAINT AUGUSTINE

majesty. And he shall send his angels with a trumpet and a
great voice, and they shall gather together his elect from the
four winds, from the farthest parts of the heavens to the
utmost bounds of them. And from the fig-tree learn a parable :
When the branch thereof is now tender and the leaves come
forth, you know that summer is nigh. So you also, when you
shall see all these things, know ye that it is nigh, even at the
doors.' 1

Chapter 45

Therefore, we know that He is near when we see all of
these things, not some of them; among which is this that the
Son of man shall be seen coming, and He will send His
angels, and He gathers together His elect from the four parts
of the world, that is, from the whole world. He does this
during the whole of this last hour, coming in His members
as in the clouds, or in the whole Church itself, which is His
Body, as in a cloud, 'bringing forth much fruit and growing
over the whole world.' 1 This He does ever since He began
to preach and to say: 'Do penance, for the kingdom of
heaven is at hand.' 2 So, perhaps, if all the details of His
coming which are mentioned by the three Evangelists are
carefully compared and discussed, we may find that they
refer to His daily coming in His Body, which is the Church;
and of this coming He said: 'Hereafter you shall see the
Son of man sitting on the right hand of the power of God,
and coming in the clouds of heaven 3 ; 3 with the exception
of those passages in which His final coming in person, when
c He shall judge the living and the dead,' is so promised by

1 Matt. 24.29-33.

1 Col. 1.6.

2 Matt. 3.2; 4.17.

3 Matt. 26.64; Mark 14.62.

LETTERS 393

Him that it is said to be at hand; and also the place at the
end of His speech according to Matthew, where the final
coming is so very evidently described, with certain signs by
which He shows that its nearness is to be recognized. In
Matthew His speech ends thus: 'And when the Son of man
shall come in his majesty, and all the angels with him, then
shall he sit upon the seat of his majesty; and all nations shall
be gathered together before him, 5 and the rest, up to the
place where He says: 'And these shall go into everlasting
punishment but the just into life everlasting.' 4 No one doubts
that this is a prophecy of Christ's final coming and of the
end of the world. As to the parable of the five wise and the
five foolish virgins, 5 there are some who wish to teach and
their contention is not to be slighted that it refers to Christ's
present coming which is effected through the Church. These
are things not to be lightly promised, lest something arise to
offer a valid contradiction; and this is especially so because
it has pleased God to test our minds by a kind of obscurity
in the divine utterance, with the result, for those who deal
with holy Scripture in matters of probability, that one is
impressed more deeply by one passage another by another;
and it may even happen to any one of them that he has
more understanding at one time, less at another.

Chapter 46

However, I do not know whether we can discover anything
more definite on this question supposing we can do so by
any ability of reasoning than what I wrote in my previous
letter about the time when the whole world will be filled
with the Gospel. I have not proved by sure authorities what

4 Matt. 25.31.32,46.

5 Matt. 25.1-12.

394 SAINT AUGUSTINE

your Reverence thinks, namely, that this has already been
brought about by the Apostles themselves. For there are
among us, that is, in Africa, innumerable barbarian tribes
among whom the Gospel has not yet been preached. We
learn this by the daily evidence before our eyes of those who
are taken captive from there, and are now subjected to
slavery by the Romans. Nevertheless, a few years ago, some
of them, but very few and far between, made their peace
and were joined to Roman territory, so that they have no
kings of their own, and are governed by Roman authority
through prefects who are set over them, and these same
prefects began about then to be Christians. Those in the
interior, however, who are not under Roman authority are
manifestly not in contact with the Christian religion in any
of their members, yet it cannot rightly be said that the
promise of God does not concern them,

Chapter 47

The Lord did not promise the Romans but all nations to
the seed of Abraham, and He did this by means of an oath.
According to this promise, it has already come to pass that
some nations, not held under Roman power, have received
the Gospel and have been joined to the Church which brings
forth fruit and grows throughout the whole world. It still
has room to bring forth fruit and grow until the fulfillment
of the prophecy made of Christ under the figure of Solomon:
c He shall rule from sea to sea and from the river unto the ends
of the earth 7 ; 1 c from the river,' that is, where He was
baptized, 2 because from there He began to preach the Gospel;
but 'from sea to sea 5 means the whole earth with all its

1 Ps. 71.8.

2 Matt. 3.13-16; Mark 1.9.

LETTERS 395

inhabitants, because the universe is surrounded by the Ocean
sea. But how otherwise shall this prophecy be fulfilled: 'All
the nations, as many as thou hast made, shall come and adore
before thee, O Lord?' 3 For they shall not come by moving
from their own lands, but by believing in God in their own
lands. Doubtless, it was of believers that the Lord said: c No
man can come to me unless it be given him by my Father,' 4
but the Prophet says: 'And they shall adore him, every man
from his own place, all the islands of the Gentiles.' 5 'All the
islands,' he said, as if to say 'even all the islands,' showing
by this that no part of the earth is excluded from having the
Church, since none of the islands is left out, some of which
are found in the Ocean, and of these we have heard that
some have already received the Gospel. Thus, in some single
islands there is a fulfillment of what was said: 'He shall rule
from sea to sea': the sea by which every single island is
surrounded, as is the case of the whole world, which is, in a
sense, the greatest island of all because the Ocean also girds it
about. It is to some of its shores in the West that we know
the Church has come, and whatever shores it has not yet
reached it will eventually reach, bringing forth fruit and
growing.

Chapter 48

If, then, as the prophecy of truth cannot be falsified, it
must needs be that all nations, as many as God has made,
should adore Him, how shall they adore Him unless they
call upon Him? But, 'how shall they call upon him in whom
they have not believed? how shall they believe him of whom
they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a

3 Ps. 85.9.

4 John 6.66.

5 Soph. 2.11.

SAINT AUGUSTINE

preacher? and how shall they preach unless they be sent?' 1
He sends His angels and gathers together His elect from the
four winds, that is, from the whole world. Therefore, the
Church must necessarily be found among the nations where
it does not yet exist, but it does not necessarily follow that all
who live there shall believe, for the promise was of all nations,
not all men of all nations: 'for all men have not faith. 52 There-
fore, each nation believes, among all 'who have been chosen
before the foundation of the world/ 3 but among the rest
none believe and they hate the believers. How else shall the
prophecy, 'You shall be hated by all nations for my name's
sake,' 4 be fulfilled, unless in all nations there are some
who hate and some whom they hate?

Chapter 49

How, then, was that prophecy fulfilled by the Apostles,
when there are still nations, as we are well assured, in which
there is only a beginning and some in which there is not yet
a beginning of fulfillment? It was not in this sense that He
said to the Apostles: 'You shall be witnesses unto me in
Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the
uttermost part of the earth,' 1 as if they alone to whom He
spoke were to carry such a task to completion; similarly, He
seemed to say to them alone the words: 'Behold I am with
you even to the consummation of the world,' 2 yet who does
not know that He made this promise to the universal Church,

1 Rom. 10.14,15.

2 2 Thess. 3.2.

3 Eph. 1.4.

4 Matt. 24.9,10,22; Mark 13.13; Luke 21.17.

1 Acts 1.9.

2 Matt. 28.20.

which will last from now even to the consummation of the
world by successive births and deaths? So, also, He told
them something which does not concern them exclusively, yet
It was said as if it did concern them alone : c When you shall
see all these things, know ye that it is nigh, even at the
doors, 93 yet whom does it concern if not those who will be
alive when all things are fulfilled? How much more is this
true of what was to be in large part carried out by them,
although the same activity was reserved for their successors!

Chapter 50

As to the Apostle's saying: 'Have they not heard? Their
sound hath gone forth into all the earth,' 1 although he used
his verbs in the past tense, he spoke of what was going to be,
not of what was over and past, just as the Prophet whom he
adduces as witness did not say: 'Their sound will go forth
into all the earth,' but, c it hath gone forth.' Yet, it is certain
that this had not yet happened, just as in the case of that
other phrase, They have dug my hands and feet,' 2 we know
that it came to pass long afterward. Lest we should believe
that those were only prophetic utterances not apostolic ones,
did not the same Apostle say: 'Which is the church of the
living God, the pillar and ground of the truth. And evidently
great is the mystery of godliness which was manifested in the
flesh, was justified in the spirit, appeared unto angels, hath
been preached unto the Gentiles, is believed in the world, is
taken up in glory'? 3 Surely it is clear that what he said at

3 Matt. 24.33; Mark 13.29.

1 Rom. 10.18; PJL 18.5.

2 Ps. 21.17.

3 1 Tim. 3.15,16.

398 SAINT AUGUSTINE

the end has not yet been fulfilled, even in our time; how
much less when he said it ! Manifestly, it is the Church that
will be taken up in glory when He says: 'Come, ye blessed
of my Father, possess you the kingdom,' 4 yet what he spoke
of as if it had taken place was certainly recognized as some-
thing still to come.

Chapter 51

It is much less surprising that he used his verbs in the
present tense in that passage which, as you remarked, he
repeated again and again: Tor the hope which is laid up
for you in heaven, which you have heard before in the word
of the truth of the Gospel, which is come unto you as also
it is in the whole world, and bringeth forth fruit and
groweth,' 1 although the Gospel did not yet embrace the
whole world, he said that it brings forth fruit and grows in
the whole world, in order to show how far it would extend
in bearing fruit and growing. If, then, it is hidden from us
when the whole world will be filled by the Church bringing
forth fruit and growing, undoubtedly it is hidden from us
when the end will be, but it certainly will not be before that.

Chapter 52

So, then, that I may disclose to you as to a holy man of
God and a most sincere brother what I think on this matter,
there is error to be avoided on both sides as far as it can
be avoided by man that is, whether we believe that the
Lord will come sooner or later than He actually will come.
However, it seems to me that a man does not go wrong when

4 Matt. 25.34.

LETTERS 399

he knows that he does not know something, but only when
he thinks he knows something which he does not know. Let
us therefore remove from our midst that evil servant who
says in his heart: 'My lord is long a-coming,' and who
tyrannizes over his fellow servants and spends his time re-
veling with drunkards, 1 for without any doubt such a one
hates the coming of his Lord. So, when we have removed
this evil servant, let us set before our eyes three good servants
who manage the Lord's family with care and moderation,
who ardently long for the coming of their Lord with watchful
care and faithful love. One of them thinks the Lord will
come sooner, another later, while the third admits his own
ignorance on this matter. Although all are in agreement with
the Gospel because all love the manifestation of the Lord,
and wait for it longingly and watchfully, let us see which one
is in closest agreement.

Chapter 53

The first says: 'Let us watch and pray because the Lord
will come soon'; the second says: 'Let us watch and pray
because this life is short and uncertain, although the Lord
delays to come'; the third says: 'Let us watch and pray
because this life is short and uncertain and we do not know
the time when the Lord will come' ; the Gospel says : 'Take ye
heed, watch and pray, for ye know not when the time is.' 1
I ask you what else do we hear the third one saying but
what we hear the Gospel saying? All, indeed, in their great
desire for the kingdom of God wish the first one's thought to
be true, but the second one denies this, while the third does
not deny either of them but confesses that he does not know
which of them speaks truly. Therefore, if the first one's

1 Matt. 24.48,49.

1 Mark 13.33.

400 SAINT AUGUSTINE

prediction comes true, the second and third will rejoice with
him, for all love the manifestation of the Lord, and because
they love Him they will rejoice at His more speedy coming.
But if it does not come to pass, and it begins to look as if the
view of the second is more likely to be the true one, there is
reason to fear that those who believed what the first had
said may be troubled at the intervening delay and may begin
to think that the Lord's coming is not so much delayed as
non-existent. You can see how much damage to souls that
means. But, if these should be possessed of such great faith
that they turn to the teaching of the second, and await the
Lord's coming, however late, with fidelity and patience,
there will still be an abundance of taunts and insults and
mockeries on the part of enemies who may turn many weak
members from the Christian faith by saying that the promise
made to them of the kingdom is as spurious as the prophecy
of His speedy coming. On the other hand, those who believe
what the second one says, that the Lord's coming will be
delayed, will not be troubled in faith if it is proved false by
the Lord's speedy coming, but they will experience an
unexpected joy.

Chapter 54

Consequently, the one who says that the Lord will come
soon speaks of what is more desirable, but he is wrong at his
peril. Would that it were true, because it will be a cause of
trouble if it is not true ! But the one who says that the Lord's
coming will be delayed, and who nevertheless believes in,
hopes for, and loves His coming, is happily in error if he is
wrong about His delay. He will have greater patience if it is
so; greater joy if it is not. Thus, for those who love the
manifestation of the Lord, it is sweeter to listen to the first,
safer to believe the second. But the one who admits that he

LETTERS 401

does not know which of these views is true hopes for the
one, is resigned to the other, is wrong in neither of them. I
beg you not to despise me for being such a one, because I
love you when you affirm what I wish to be true. At the
same time I am the more anxious that you should not be
deluded the more I love what you promise, and the more I
see the danger if you are wrong. Pardon me if I have been
irksome to your holy feelings, but because it happens so
seldom I take pleasure in speaking with you at greater length,
at least through letters.

200. Augustine gives greeting in the Lord to Valerius^ his

distinguished lord and justly renowned son, most

dear in the love of Christ (End of 418 or

beginning of 419)

I had been feeling downcast for a long time because I had
written so often and had not deserved any answer from your
Highness, when suddenly I received three letters from your
Benignity, one not addressed to me individually, but given to
me by my fellow bishop, Vindemialis, 2 and, not long after-
ward, two brought by my fellow priest, Firmus. 3 That holy
man, bound to us by ties of most intimate friendship, as you
may have heard from him, spoke to us at length about your
Excellency, and described you so truthfully, as he knows you
'in the bowels of Christ,' 4 that he surpassed not only the
letters brought me from the above-mentioned bishop and by
himself, but even those we had complained of not receiving.
And his account of you was all the more agreeable because

1 Count of Africa, a devout Christian and strong defender of orthodoxy
against heresy. Cf., also, Letter 206.

2 Not otherwise known.

3 Cf. Letters 113, 134, 191, and 194,

4 Phil. 1.8.

402 SAINT AUGUSTINE

he told me things you could not write back to me even if I
asked them, for fear of being a preacher of your own praises,
which holy Scripture forbids. 5 In fact, I am almost afraid
to write these things to you, distinguished lord, justly re-
nowned son, most dear in the love of Christ, lest I incur the
suspicion of flattering you.

Imagine, then, what pleasure and joy it was to me to hear
your praises in Christ, or, rather, the praises of Christ in you,
from one who could not deceive me because of his trust-
worthiness nor fail to know you because of his friendship. We
have also heard other details from others not such full or
reliable information, but still worth while how sound and
Catholic your faith is; how devout your hope of the world
to come; what love you have for God and your brothers; how
lowly of mind you are in your high offices; how your hope
is not in the uncertainty of riches, but in the living God; how
rich in good works you are; 6 what a rest and refuge your
home is for the faithful, and what a terror for evil-doers;
what care you take to prevent any of His old or newer
enemies from cloaking themselves with the name of Christ, yet
how well you provide for the salvation of these same enemies,
while fighting their error. These and other such things, as I
said, I am accustomed to hear from others, also, but now I
have learned them in fuller and more authentic detail from
the above-mentioned brother.

Moreover, in the matter of conjugal chastity, how could
I hear of that, too, so as to be able to praise and love it in
you, save from someone on intimate terms with you, who
knew your life inside and out? I, too, should love to speak
with you more familiarly and more at length about this virtue
of yours which is God's gift. I know I shall not tire you if I
send you something comprehensive which may keep you

5 Prov. 27.2.

6 1 Tim. 6.17,18.

LETTERS 403

longer with me as you read it. For I have also learned that
among your many and great cares you are ready and willing to
read my modest works, and that you take considerable plea-
sure in them when they happen to come into your hands,
even when they are not addressed to you. How much more
likely is it that you will receive with pleasure one addressed
to yourself 7 in which I speak to you as if you were present,
and that you will kindly give it your close attention! From
this letter, then, pass on to the book which I am sending
with it; in its introduction it will inform you more adequately
both why it was written and why it is especially sent to you.

201. The august Emperors, Honorius and Theodosius? give
greeting to Bishop Aurelius^ (June 419)

It had been decreed some time ago that Pelagius and
Caelestius, inventors of an unspeakable doctrine, should be
expelled from the city of Rome as sources of contamination
to Christian unity, lest by their vile persuasion they should
seduce untutored minds. In this our Clemency followed the
verdict of your Holiness, 3 according to which it was evident
that they had been condemned unanimously after a just
inquiry into their teaching. Whereas the deep-rooted evil of
persistence in wrong requires a doubling of the law, we have
recently sanctioned the decree that, if anyone who knows that

7 Book 1 of the treatise on Marriage and Concupiscence. Augustine was
accused by Julian of Eclanum, a Pelagian, of denying the divine
institution of marriage. He then added a second book in refutation of
the charge.

1 This was Theodosius II, who had succeeded Arcadius in 403 as
Emperor of the East,

2 Archbishop of Carthage.

3 Acts of the Synods of Milevis and Carthage in 416, confirmed by Pope
Innocent I, and of the plenary Council of Carthage in 418, confirmed
by Pope Zozimus, ivere promulgated by Aiirelius in Africa.

404 SAINT AUGUSTINE

they are in hiding in any part of the provinces delays to expel
them or to inform on them, he is to be subject to the same
penalty as being party to the offense.

As a special means of curbing the obstinacy of certain
bishops who either further their vile arguments by tacit con-
sent or fail to stamp them out by public attack, it will be
fitting, very dear and loving Father, that the authority of
your Holiness continue as long as the Christian devotion of
all is agreed on the abolition of this perverted heresy. There-
fore, by the requisite written notices, your Holiness will make
known to all who are to be informed that this decree has been
enjoined on them by the decree of your Holiness, to the effect
that all those who impiously persist in refusing to subscribe to
the condemnation of the above-mentioned heretics, whereby
their true mind is made known, are to be punished by the
loss of their bishoprics, are to be expelled from the cities,
and are to be shut off forever from communion with the
Church. Whereas we ourselves, in accord with the Synod of
Nicaea, 4 adore God with sincere confession, as the Creator of
all things and the Source of our imperial power, your Holiness
will not suffer men of that accursed sect, who draw up new
and unheard of theories in secret treatises to the injury of
religion, to conceal a sacrilege which has once been con-
demned by public authority. One and the same guilt rests on
those who connive by dissembling as well as on those who
give dangerous support by not condemning the heresy.

May the Divine Power keep you safe for many years,
dearest and most loving Father. 5

Given at Ravenna on the fifth day before the Ides of June. 6

A notice to the same effect has been sent to the holy bishop,
Augustine.

4 Council of Nice, 325; the Nicene Creed is the summary of its conclusions.

5 In another handwriting.

6 June 9.

LETTERS 405

202. Jerome 1 gives greeting in Christ to Bishops Alypius and

Augustine, his truly holy lords,- worthy of due

respect with all affection (End of 419)

The holy priest, Innocent, who is the bearer of this missive,
did not deliver my letter of last year to your Worthiness, on
the ground that he had no intention of returning to Africa.
However, I thank God that it happened so, because it gave
you a chance to overpower my silence by your letters. Every
occasion is welcome to me which allows me to write to your
Reverence, calling God to witness that if it were possible I
would take the wings of a dove and fly to be enfolded in
your embrace. This is always my sentiment because of your
virtues, but it is especially so now that the heresy of Cae-
lestius has been given its death blow on your initiative and
by your combined efforts. 2 This heresy has so deeply infected
the hearts of many that, even though they see themselves
defeated and condemned, they do not eject the poison from
their minds, but do the only thing left to them, which is to
hate us through whom they think they have lost the freedom
to teach heresy.

As to your inquiry whether I have written in answer to
the books of Annianus, 3 the self-styled deacon of Celenderis, 4
who feeds copiously on the worthless words of another's
blasphemy so as to serve them up again, you must know
that it is only a short time since I received the books, copied

1 This was Jerome's last letter to Augustine. He died the following year.

2 Unfortunately not. Although Pelagius and Caelestius drop into
oblivion after this condemnation, the heresy was carried on for many
more years with unabated bitterness by Julian of Eclanum and his
coterie.

3 He had translated some homilies of St. John Chrysostom into Latin,
giving them a heretical slant. Jerome seems to hint here that Pelagius
was using him as a puppet to spread his errors after he himself had
been reduced to silence.

4 A town in Cilicia,

406 SAINT AUGUSTINE

on small sheets of paper and sent by our holy brother, the
priest Eusebius, 5 and since then I have been in such grief over
the increasing illness and death of your holy and venerable
daughter, Eustochium, 6 that I was almost minded to cast
them aside. For 'he sticks in the same old mud' 7 and says
nothing new, with his tinkling words like coins given to a
beggar. However, we have made a great effort to force him
into the open, so that when he tries to answer my letter, he
will betray himself and reveal his blasphemies to all. He
makes profession in this work of everything he denied having
said at the unfortunate Council of Diospolis. 8 It is no great
task to answer such childish nursery rhymes. But, if the Lord
grants me life, and I have a good number of secretaries, I
will answer in a few carefully composed paragraphs, not for
the purpose of giving a final blow to a dead heresy, but in
order to show up his clumsiness and his blasphemy in my
own words. It would be better for your Holiness to do this
so that I may not be forced to praise my own work against
the heretic. Our mutual saintly children, Albina, Pinianus
and Melania, 9 send you sincere greetings. I am giving this
note to the holy priest, Innocent, to deliver from holy Beth-
lehem. Your granddaughter, 10 Paula, begs you to remember
her in her grief, and sends you cordial greetings.

May the mercy of Christ our Lord keep you safe, and
mindful of me, truly holy lords, and fathers universally loved
and revered.

5 Not the Donatist bishop of Letters 34 and 35, but possibly a priest of
Jerome's religious congregation.

6 Daughter of Paula; cf. Letter 172 n. 6,

7 Terence, Phormio 780.

8 Ancient Lydda; cf. Letters 176 n. 19 and 179 n. 18.

9 Cf. Letters 124, 125, and 126.
10 In a purely religious sense.

LETTERS 407

202A. Augustine gives greeting in the Lord to Optatus^
saintly lord, his sincerely loved and cherished
brother and fellow bishop (Beginning of 420)

The religious priest, Saturninus, 2 has brought me a letter
from your Reverence in which you ask me most earnestly for
something which I do not yet possess. You tell me frankly
the reason why you do this, which is that you think I have
had an answer long ago to my request for advice. If only
I had! God forbid that I should cheat you of a share in
this bounty, knowing as I do your eager anticipation. But
behold, if you will believe it, my dearest brother, five years
have gone by since I sent rny book 3 to the East, not out of
presumption but for my own information, and thus far I
have not deserved an answer with the solution of the
question on which you want me to give a definite pronounce-
ment, I would have sent you both if I had both.

But it does not seem right to me to send to anyone or
to publish what I have without the other which as yet I have
not, lest he 4 may still possibly answer me as I greatly long
to have him do, and may then be angry that my inquiry,
worked out with intricate reasoning, had been passed around
and become generally known without his answer, which I
still do not despair of, and may think that I have acted out
of boastfulness rather than of a desire to help. It would be as
if I had been able to raise a question which he could not
solve, when perhaps he can and should be given time in
which to do it, for I know that he is engaged on other tasks
of more importance, which should not suffer delay.

That your Holiness may have some idea of this, also, give

1 Bishop of Tingitana in Mauretania. Ci Letter 190.

2 Cf. Letter 142.

3 Letter 166, On the Origin of the Human Soul (written in 415) .

4 Jerome, to whom he addressed Letter 165.

408 SAINT AUGUSTINE

your attention for a little to what he wrote me another year 5
by a return bearer through whom I had written to him. 6
I am copying from his letter into this one: I have/ he says,
'been going through a difficult time when it has been better
for me to keep silent than to speak; consequently, my studies
have fallen off and, like Appius, rny speech has been a snarl.
So I have not been able to seize this occasion to answer the
two books which you dedicated to my name, learned books
and brilliant, with the full splendor of eloquence; not that I
think there is anything to criticize in them, but, according to
the blessed Apostle: "Let every man abound in his own
sense, one after this manner, another after that." Certainly,
you have set forth and discussed with your profound mind all
that can be said, drawing from the fount of sacred Scripture.
But I ask your Reverence to leave me for a while to the
praise of your genius. You and I carry on discussion with the
intention of learning, but the envious and, especially, the
heretics, if they see us holding different opinions, will conclude
falsely that this comes from ill feeling between us. It is my
fixed determination to love you, support you, cherish you,
marvel at you, and defend your opinions as my own. Cer-
tainly, in the dialogue which I published recently I made
mention of your Blessedness, as was fitting; let us, then, make
a greater effort to uproot this most baneful heresy from the
Churches; a heresy which is always pretending to repent so
as to have the chance of teaching in the Churches, because, if
it came out into the full light of day, it would be driven out
and would die/ 7

Surely you see, venerable brother, that these words sent by
one very dear to me, as an answer to my query, did not
refuse that reply but made an excuse of the time, because he
was obliged to expend his effort on other more urgent tasks.

5 Letter 172, in 416.

6 Orosius; cf. Letter 166.

7 Letter 172.

LETTERS 409

You see, too, how kindly disposed he is toward me and how
he warns against allowing the envious and, especially, heretics
to conclude falsely that what we do for the purpose of
learning with all due regard for charity and sincere friend-
ship proceeds from ill feeling. Therefore, if men read the
work of both of us, both the questions I raised and the
answers he gave to the questions because it is also fitting
that if the same question has been adequately explained I
should give thanks for being enlightened there will be no
slight advantage in having this come to the knowledge of
many, so that those who come after us may not only know
what they ought to think on this matter, which has been
argued between us with careful discussion, but may also
learn from our example, by the mercy and favor of God, how
mutual discussion for the sake of inquiry may be carried on
without injury to abiding charity.

But if my treatise, in which a most obscure matter is read
as a question only, without his answer, in which perhaps the
solution will appear, should be made public and should be
spread abroad, it might even reach those who, as the Apostle
says, compare themselves with themselves, 8 and fail to under-
stand the spirit in which we do what they cannot do in the
same spirit. They do not see, either, my good will toward a
friend whom I honor and hold dear for his mighty merits,
since they do not see it as it is, but they describe it as it
pleases them and as they suspect it to be, at the suggestion
of their hatred. This is certainly something we ought to
avoid as far as in us lies.

But if in spite of our unwillingness the work which we do
not wish to publish should become known to those whom we
do not wish it to reach, what will be left to us but to bear
it with resignation as the will of God? I ought not to have
written to anyone what I wanted to keep secret forever. And

8 2 Cor. 10.12.

410 SAINT AUGU STINE

if, which God forbid, through some accident or exigency he
never answers it and it is circulated, it will be useful to readers
because, even if they do not find what they are seeking, they
will certainly find out how these matters are to be examined
and how things not known are not to be rashly affirmed.
And according to what they read there they will make it a
point to consult whomever they can, not with contentious
discord but with zealous charity, until they either find what
they want or so sharpen their mind by the inquiry that they
know when no further inquiry is to be made. But at present,
as long as there is hope of a reply from the friend whom I
have consulted, I do not think my consultation should be
published, as least as far as it rests with me, and I would
give the same advice to your Charity, although you not only
asked for my work but earnestly desired me to send the
appended answer of the one whom I consulted. I would
certainly send it if I had it. But if, to borrow the words of
your Holiness as you wrote in your letter, you are seeking the
luminous demonstration of my wisdom, which the Author of
light has added to my life, as you write, and you do not
mean that consultation and inquiry of mine, because you
think that the solution of the matter which I inquired of
has come to me, and you are rather asking me to send that,
I would do it if things were as you think. I admit that up to
the present I have not discovered how the soul derives its sin
from Adam, which it is not allowed us to doubt, without being
itself derived from Adam, which is something to be carefully
inquired into rather than rashly affirmed.

Your letter has a reference to several elders and men trained
by learned priests whom you were not able to bring to an
understanding of your moderation and to an acceptance of
a statement full of truth, but you do not explain what
statement full of truth this is of yours which you could not
bring the elders and the men trained by learned priests to

LETTERS 411

accept. For, if these elders held or hold to the teaching
received from the learned priests, how has a rustic and ill-
instructed band of clerics raised up trouble for you in the
matters in which they had been instructed by learned priests?
But, if these elders or the band of clerics have deviated
through malice from the teaching received from the learned
priests, they ought rather to be set right and to be restrained
from strife and contention by their authority. Again, when
you say that as a fledgling and inexperienced teacher you
feared to break down the traditions of such great teachers
and bishops, and that you shrank from winning men over
to a better course for fear of doing an injustice to the dead,
what else do you give us to understand but that those whom
you wished to convert refused to assent to a fledgling and
inexperienced teacher because they were unwilling to forsake
the traditions of great and learned bishops now dead? For the
present I say nothing of them, but I have an extreme desire
to know that statement of yours which you say is full of
truth, and I do not mean the statement itself but your
assertion of it.

You have made it sufficiently clear to me that you disagree
with those who assert that all human souls are propagated
and produced by successive generation from that one which
was given to the first man, but by what reasoning or what
evidences from the divine Scriptures you prove that this view
is false I do not know, because your letter does not indicate it.
Secondly, it is not quite clear to me as I read your letter,
both the one you wrote previously to the brethren at Caesarea
and the one you recently sent me, what view you hold in
place of the one you disapprove; the only thing I see is that
you believe, as you write, that God created, creates, and will
create men, and that there is nothing in heaven or on earth
which does not owe its existence and continuance to His
creative act. Certainly, that is so true that no one should

412 SAINT AUGUSTINE

have any doubt of it. But you still have to explain from what
sources God makes the souls which you say are not derived
by generation: whether from something else and if that is
so, what it is or entirely from nothing. God forbid that you
should hold that opinion of Origen 9 and Priscillian 10 or any
others who have the same idea, that souls are sent into earthly
and mortal bodies in accord with their merits in a previous
life. Apostolic authority is quite contrary to this opinion, where
it speaks of Esau and Jacob and says that before they were
born they had done nothing either good or evil. 11 Therefore,
your opinion on this matter is partly if not wholly known to
me, but the statement of it, that is, on what ground your
opinion is to be taught as true, is altogether unknown to me.
For that reason I asked you in my former letter 12 to be so
kind as to send me the treatise On Faith which you mentioned
having written, and of which you complained that some
priest had deceitfully signed his name to it; and I ask it
again now, as also that you tell me what Scriptural proof
you were able to apply to the solution of this question. In
you letter to the Caesareans you say that you were pleased
that even secular judges recognized the whole approval of
truth, that they were holding session in accord with a
universal appeal and were scrutinizing everything that con-
cerned the faith, and that the Divine Power, as you write,
had granted them an outpouring of faith, so that they uttered
a stronger protestation and assertion according to their views
which your Mediocrity in comparison with them kept in
memory with the authority of weighty evidence. It is this
authority of weighty evidence which I most eagerly desire to
know.

9 Cf. Letter 40 n. 21.

10 Cf. Letter 36 n, 65.

11 Rom. 9.11.

12 Letter 190.

LETTERS 413

Certainly you seem to have followed up only one reason
by which you refute your opponents, namely, that they deny
that our souls are the work of God. If they believe this, their
opinion is rightly judged worthy of condemnation. If they said
this even of bodies, undoubtedly they should be held worthy
of correction and detestation. What Christian would deny
that the bodies of all who are born are the work of God?
We do not deny that they are begotten of their parents be-
cause we confess that they are fashioned by God. When,
therefore, anyone says that certain unique incorporeal seed
of our souls is derived from parents, yet that souls are made
of it by the work of God, it is not human supposition which
is needed to refute this, it is the divine Scripture which has
to be adduced as proof. An abundance of evidence could be
available to you from the sacred book of canonical authority
by which to prove that God creates souls, and by such
evidence it is possible to refute those who deny that each
separate soul at birth is the work of God, but not those who
admit it, although these contend that souls are formed as
bodies are by the action of God, but through generation by
parents. To refute these latter you will need to seek out
divine testimony which is certain, or, if you have already
found it, you must send it to us as a duty of mutual charity,
since we have not yet found it, although we seek it most
eagerly to the limit of our ability.

Your brief inquiry at the end of the letter which you
wrote to the brethren at Caesarea goes this way: I beseech
you,' you say, 'to teach me as you ought, as is worthy of you,
as befits prudent priests, to answer with your information
one who is your son and disciple but lately and recently come
to these mysteries with the help of God, and tell me whether
I ought to hold the opinion which claims that the soul is
derived from a root-stock and that all other souls come by
generation from the first man, Adam, upon the whole race

414 SAINT AUGUSTINE

of men by some hidden origin and secret process, or whether
that other formula is to be chosen and belief awarded to it,
which all your brothers and priests stationed here hold and
affirm, and which testifies and believes that God is and was
and will be the Creator of all things and of all men. 5 You
wish, then, that one or other of these two opinions which you
proposed in your inquiry should be chosen, and that you
should be told which one, a thing it would be possible to do
if these two opinions were contrary to each other, so that if
one were to be chosen the other would necessarily be rejected.

But now, if someone were not to choose one of those two
but should answer that both are true, that is, that all souls
come by generation from the first man, Adam, upon the
whole race of men, and that God nevertheless is and was
and will be the Creator of all things and of all men, would
you think he ought to be contradicted? Shall we say to him :
'If souls are begotten from parents, God is not the Creator of
all things, because He does not create souls'? If we say that,
the answer will be: Therefore, since bodies are begotten
from parents, God is not the Creator of all things, if for this
reason we say that He does not make bodies.' Who would
say that God is not the Creator of all human bodies but only
of that one which He first fashioned from the earth, or at
least of his wife, also, because He formed her from Adam's
side, but not of the bodies of others, because we cannot deny
that the bodies of the rest of men have come from theirs?

Hence, if your contest in this matter is with those who
affirm the begetting of souls by generation from that first one,
but deny that God makes and forms them, continue to refute
them, convince them, correct them as strongly as you are
able with the Lord's help. But if they admit a certain origin
from the first man and subsequent generation by parents, and
still affirm that individual souls are created and formed for
individual persons by God, the source of all things, seek the

LETTERS 415

answer to be made to them from the holy Scriptures above all,
and let it not be ambiguous or susceptible of another meaning,
or, if you have already found it, send it to us, as I asked you
above. But if this still eludes you as it does me, continue just
the same with all your strength to refute those who say that
$'" c.'is are not of divine handiwork, as you said in your letter
that they had at first muttered this among their less-known
aberrations, but had subsequently withdrawn from your com-
pany and the service of the Church because of this insensate
and impious opinion. Do you, then, uphold and defend
against them by every means the view you set forth in the
same letter: that God has created, creates, and will create
souls, and that there is nothing in heaven or on earth that
has not been formed and does not exist by His creative power.
This is most truly and most rightly believed, stated, defended,
proved about every possible variety of creature. God was and
is and will be the Creator of all things and of all men, as
you wrote at the end of your inquiry to our fellow bishops
of the rrovince of Caesarea, wherein you exhorted them, so
to speak, rather to choose this statement of belief, following
the example of all their brothers and fellow priests who are
with you and who hold to this.

It is one thing to ask whether God is the Creator and
Maker of all souls and bodies, which is the truth, or whether
anything comes into existence in nature which He does not
make, which is manifestly an erroneous opinion; but it is
another thing to ask whether God creates human souls by
generation or without generation, while recognizing that it is
not lawful to doubt that they are created by Him. In this con-
troversy I would have you restrained and on guard not to
break down the theory of the generation of souls and thereby
fall into the Pelagian heresy. For, if we say and we say it
with truth that God is the Creator of human bodies whose
generation is known to all, and not only of the first man or the

416 SAINT AUGUSTINE

first pair, but of all bodies begotten from them, I think it is
easy to understand that those who defend the begetting of souls
do not wish to break down the idea that we have our souls
from that source, since God makes souls when He makes
bodies, which we cannot deny are the result of generation, but
other proofs must be looked for to refute those who believe in
the generation of souls, if truth says they err. If it had been
possible, an inquiry on this point should have been put to
those of whom you wrote in the last letter you sent me that
you shrank from converting men to the better course for fear
of doing an injustice to the dead. You said that those dead
were such great and such learned bishops that you, a fledgling
and inexperienced teacher, feared to break down their tradi-
tions. Therefore, as far as I could learn, by whatever reasoning
and evidence such great and learned men maintained that
opinion about the begetting of souls, 13 which in your letter
addressed to Caesarea you nevertheless called a new invention
and an unheard-of dogma, showing no regard for their
authority, it may indeed be an error; if so, we know that it
is not a new one but an old and hoary one.

However, when certain reasons force us not unjustly to
doubt in a given question, we ought not to doubt whether
we ought to doubt. Indeed, on doubtful matters doubt should
be maintained without doubt. You see how the Apostle does
not hesitate to doubt about himself, when he was rapt to the
third heaven, 'whether it was in the body or out of the body;
'whether it was the latter or the former, C I know not,' he
says, 'God knoweth/ 14 Why, then, should I not be allowed
to doubt, so long as I do not know, whether my soul has
come into this life by generation or without generation,
provided I do not doubt that in either case it was created

13 Goldbacher indicates a lacuna here, and the first half of the sentence
does seem to require a balancing phrase.

14 2 Cor. 12.2,3.

LETTERS 417

by the supreme and true God? Why should it not be per-
missible for me to say: C I know that my soul derives its
existence from the work of God, and, moreover, that it is the
work of God, but whether by generation like the body, or
without generation like the soul that was given to the first
man: 'I know not, God knoweth.' Whichever one of these
you wish me to affirm, I could if I knew. And if you yourself
know, then you have in me one more eager to learn what I
do not know than to teach what I do know. But if, like me,
you do not know, then pray as I do that whether it be
through some servant of His or by Himself, the Master who
said to His disciples: 'But be not you called by man, Rabbi,
for one is your master, Christ/ 15 may teach us, if, however,
He knows that it is expedient for us to know such things, for
He knows not only what He teaches, but also what it is
expedient for us to learn.

I confess my covetousness to your Charity. Indeed, I covet
to know this doctrine that you are seeking, but I should be
much more anxious to know, if it were possible, when 'the
desired of all nations' 16 shall appear, and when the kingdom
of the saints will come to pass, than I am to know whence I
began to come upon this earth. Yet, when His disciples, our
Apostles, asked this of Him who knows all things, they
received the answer: c lt is not for you to know the times which
the Father hath put in his own power.' 17 What if He knows
that it is not for us to know this, also, since He surely knows
what it is useful for us to know? This, indeed, I know from
Him, that 'it is not for us to know the times which the
Father hath put in his own power.' But, whether it is for
us to know the origin of souls, which I do not yet know, that
is, whether it concerns us to know it, I do not know even

15 Matt. 23.8,10.

16 Aggeus 2.8.

17 Acts 1.7,

418 SAINT AUGUSTINE

that. If I knew at least that it is not for us to know it, I
would cease not only to affirm it, as long as I do not know,
but also to inquire into it. But now, although it is a matter so
dark and so deep that I am more on guard against rashness
in teaching it than I am eager to learn it, I would like to
know it, even so, if I could. And although what the holy
Prophet said is much more necessary: f O Lord, make me
know my end' 18 he did not say c my beginning' would
that my beginning, also, which belongs to that question,
might not be hidden from me !

I am not ungrateful to my Teacher, however, that I
know this much about niy own beginning: that the human
soul is a spirit, not a body; that it is a rational or intellectual
being; that it is not the nature of God, but rather a creature,
to some extent mortal, in so far as it can be turned to a
lower course and can be cut off from the life of God, a sharing
in which is its happiness; and to some extent immortal, since
it cannot lose the consciousness through which it experiences
happiness or woe after this life. I know that it is not enclosed
in the flesh as a reward or punishment for acts performed
before it was joined to the flesh, but not for that reason does
it exist in man 'without the uncleanness of sin, even if his
life on earth be but one day.' 19 From this I know that no one
is born of Adam through the succession of generation without
sin; hence it is necessary for babies to be reborn in Christ
by the grace of regeneration. I am glad to have learned and
I assert that I know these things, both numerous and im-
portant, concerning the beginning or origin of our souls, for
many of these truths belong to that knowledge which supports
faith. Therefore, if in this question of the origin of souls I
do not know whether God creates them for men by generation
or without generation I do not doubt that they are created

18 Ps. 38,5.

19 Job 14.4 (Septtiagint) .

LETTERS 419

by Him I choose to know rather than not to know; but, as
long as I cannot know, it is better for me to doubt than to
dare to assert something as certain which might be contrary
to a truth of which perhaps I ought not to doubt.

Therefore, my good brother, since you consult me and you
wish me to declare for one of these two theories: whether
other souls are derived from the first man by generation as
bodies are, or are made by the Creator individually for
each individual, without generation like that of the first man
for we do not deny that they are created in one or other
manner allow me to consult you on how the soul contracts
original sin from a source from which it is not itself derived.
In order not to rush horribly into the horrible heresy of
Pelagius, we admit that all souls equally derive original sin
from Adam. If you do not know what I ask, be patient and
allow me not to know two things: both what you ask and
what I ask. But, if you do know what I ask, I will answer
what you wish me to answer when you enlighten me, because
I shall no longer fear any snare. I ask you, then, not to be
angry with me because I have not been able to make the
statement which you are seeking, but I have been able to
demonstrate what you are seeking. When you find what you
are seeking, do not hesitate to defend it.

I thought this much should be written to your Holiness,
because you think that the theory of the begetting of souls is
to be condemned. But, if I were answering those who maintain
it, I would probably show how ignorant they are of what
they think they know, and how great reason they have to
shrink from daring to make this statement.

Coming now to my friend's 20 answer which I enclose in
this letter, do not be disturbed at his mentioning two books 21
I sent which he said he had no leisure time to answer: one

20 Jerome; cf. Letter 172.

21 Letters 166 and 167.

420 SAINT AUGUSTINE

of them is on this question, but not both; in the other I had
proposed another point to be examined and treated by him.
In the advice and admonition he gives that I rather apply my
effort to stamping out this deadly heresy from the Churches,
he refers to that same Pelagian heresy which I urge you, my
brother, with all my strength, to avoid with the utmost care,
whenever you either think or argue about the origin of souls,
so that the belief may not steal upon you that any soul ^ at
all, save that of the unique Mediator, was free from in-
heritance of Adam, that original sin under which we are
bound when we are begotten but from which we are freed
by our second birth.

203. Augustine gives greeting in the Lord to Largus, 1 his
illustrious and distinguished lord and most
cherished son (420)

I have received your Excellency's letter in which you ask me
to write to you. You would not desire this unless you thought
that I could write you something in which you could take
pleasure and satisfaction; namely, that if you coveted the
vanities of this world before you had tried them, you should
despise them now that they are known. For the sweetness in
them is deceptive, the toil fruitless, the fear constant, and the
elation dangerous; you begin without forethought, you end
with regret. Thus it is with everything that is pursued with
more eagerness than prudence in the sad state of mortal
life. But with devout souls hope is a different thing; different,
too, the fruit t>f their toil, different the reward of perils. In
this world it is impossible not to fear, not to grieve, not to
labor, not to be in danger, but it is a matter of utmost im-

1 Proconsul in Africa 415. 418, and 419.

LETTERS 421

portance for what reason, with what hope, for what purpose
a man suffers those trials. As for me, when I look at the lovers
of this world, I do not know when wisdom has the best
opportunity of healing their souls. But they enjoy apparent
prosperity, they scornfully reject her wholesome warnings and
esteem them as an old wives' ditty; when they are pinched
by adversity, they are more intent on escaping the source
of their present straits than on laying hold of what may
furnish a cure and a place of refuge from which anguish
is completely excluded. Sometimes, however, some of them
turn the ears of their heart to listen to truth, but this happens
more rarely in prosperity, more often in adversity. Still, they
are few, for so it was foretold, 2 but I long to see you among
them, for I truly love you, illustrious and distinguished lord,
and most cherished son. Let this advice be the greeting I
return to you, for, although I do not wish you to suffer
hereafter such trials as you have already endured, I wish still
more that you may not have endured them without some
change for the better in your life.

2 Matt. 20.16,22. A reference to the few who find the strait and narrow
path.

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