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THE LETTERS OF ST. AUGUSTINE 

HANDBOOKS OF CHRISTIAN LITERATURE

THE LETTERS OF
ST.

AUGUSTINE

BY

W.

J.

SPARROW-SIMPSON,

D.D.

LONDON SOCIETY FOR PROMOTING
:

CHRISTIAN KNOWLEDGE
NEW YORK: THE MACMILLAN COMPANY
1919 

CONTENTS
CHAP.
1'AGB

INTRODUCTION
I.

.

.

.

.

.

.

7

LETTERS PRIOR TO HIS CONSECRATION

.

.

24
45
63

II.

LETTERS ON PAGANISM

.

'
.

.

.

III.

LETTERS ON THE DOCTRINE OF GOO

.

.

.

IV.

LETTERS ON AFRICAN CHURCH DIVISIONS

.

.

77

V.

LETTERS ON THE DOCTRINE OF GRACE
LETTERS ON BIBLICAL EXPOSITION
-.

.

.126
.185
2l6
255

VI.

.

VII.

LETTERS TO
LETTERS TO

S.

JEROME
.

VIII.

WOMEN

.....
....
.

IX.

LETTERS ON THE EUCHARIST
LETTERS' ON DIOCESAN AFFAIRS

276
301

X.

.

.

XI.

LETTERS OF THE CLOSING YEARS

.

.

.

319 333

INDEX

. 

THE LETTERS OF

ST.

AUGUSTINE

INTRODUCTION
AUGUSTINE'S letters have never been translated into English as a whole. Large selections have been translated containing what appeared to the translators the most important. But all such selections are liable to omit passages of very great importance. And this is Cuncertainly what has happened in the present case.
ningham's version in the Edinburgh translation of Augustine's writings is an admirable rendering of the letters which it gives. But the omissions are many

and

serious.

of the present work is not to translate but to give such an account of Augustine's life and thought as may be derived from his letters. A lengthy correspondence in any controversy is sure to contain a The same illustrations, the great deal of repetition. same expositions, the same ideas are certain to be included over and over again. Such repetitions are for the most part avoided in the present work, which condenses the contents of the letters and presents
their principal features. But since Augustine often refers his correspondents for further information to what he has written en a

The purpose

particular subject in one of his larger treatises, it seemed necessary for completeness' sake to reproduce in such cases the main ideas of the teaching to which the Bishop refers. On no single subject is the whole of Augustine's

teaching necessarily to be found in his
7

letters.

But

if

13

& 

8

THE LETTERS OF

ST.

AUGUSTINE

the letters are thus supplemented by what he has taught elsewhere a fairly full presentation of the great writer's mind may be obtained. The letters range over a period of forty-three years. The earliest was written in A.D. 386, the year before his conversion the latest in A.D. 429, the year before his death. There are 270 letters in the Benedictine But of these, fifty are addressed to Augustine edition. so that we have only 220 from the Bishop's own pen. And these 220 include one or two official letters of Councils whose authorship is undoubted. After all, 220 letters in forty-three years does not If we omit the seem an unwieldy correspondence. letters written before his consecration this leaves 213
;

;

letter was often an elaborate treatise. So great was his wealth of thought that frequently his spring became a river and his river became a sea. These letters occupy a folio volume consisting, in Gaume's edition, of 1370 columns. Moreover, Augustine informs us that he estimated his writings to extend to 232 treatises, not including letters or sermons (Letter 224, 2). Augustine's letters were arranged by the Benedictine editors as far as possible in the order in which they were written. But there is a large section of which the dates are unknown. It has been thought best in the of the contents to arrange the letters present summary in groups according to subjects, preserving the chronological order, as far as possible, within each group. This arrangement has the advantage that Augustine's teaching and development of mind on various doctrines can be easily followed. It also enables the reader to see the proportion of his correspondence on the prin-

during his episcopate. But then in Augustine's case a

cipal subjects

which absorbed

his attention.

At
this

same time, it is difficult to carry out rigorously method of grouping according to subjects. For
the

Augustine's correspondents had a

way

of launching on 

INTRODUCTION
the

9
inquiries.

Bishop a host of miscellaneous

This

prevents anything approaching to systematic arrangement, if the contents of each letter are to be given, as they must be, in one place. Biblical expositions again form a convenient group by themselves while of course many an exposition will be found in other divisions. It has further seemed best to group together by itself Augustine's correspondence with S. Jerome, although the letters contained in it belong in part to the section on the doctrine of grace and in part to Biblical exposition. It is certainly important to retain the chronological order of Augustine's letters within each group, as far as because this arrangement enables us to this might be see the development of his mind and his changes of
;
;

For this great writer changed his opinion on opinion. more subjects than one, and on matters of very great
importance.

Three instances of this change have been noted. 1 He changed his opinion about coercion in religion. In a letter written during his priesthood making overtures to the Donatists (Letter 23, 7, A.D. 392) he distinctly says that on the Catholic side there shall be no appeal to men's fear of the civil power. There is to be nothing but dispassionate appeal to reason and

Scripture authority. But sixteen years later (Letter 93, 17, A.D. 408) he owns that his original opinion is now The expediency of coercion has been abandoned.

proved by its results. He changed his opinion also about predestination. " Who will In his earlier period he understood the text, have all men to be saved," as meaning a universal offer of salvation. But in his later period, that is, from A.D. 417, he was led, by inferences on the doctrine of grace and Divine Will, to reject what is the obvious and natural meaning of the passage quoted, and to deny, in
the interests of a theory of predestination, the existence
1

See Rottmanner

in

Revue Benedictine, pp. 257-261.

1901. 

io

THE LETTERS OF

ST.

AUGUSTINE

of any sincere will on the part of God that all men shall be saved. He changed his opinion also on the authorship of the Whereas in the early part of Epistle to the Hebrews. his career he always ascribes it to S. Paul (cf. De Div. Q. Ixxxiii., Ixxv. I written in A.D. 389), after the year 409 he ceases to make that ascription. Thus he says in one place simply "scriptum est ad Hebraeos." (Letter 187, 34, A.D. 417.)
;

The

letters fall quite easily into certain

main

divisions:

1. It is natural to group together the letters of the early period written while he was a layman, and as a all in fact written before the date of his consepriest cration to the episcopate. 2. Next to this may be placed the letters on Paganism. These form a suitable introduction to his great reply to Paganism, The City of God, It would be very natural to suggest that the next group should be those concerned with Manichaeism that form of Oriental Dualism to which Augustine was au adherent for some nine years, and from which he escaped with so much difficulty. But it is a singular fact that nothing survives of Augustine's correspondence with Manichaeans. There are of course allusions to the controversy, and cases noted of its intrusion into the Church, even among the Church's teachers (cf. Letter 236 and Letter 64, 3). But there is no direct correspondence with the sect or with its leaders. This is all the more remarkable because controversy with the Manichaeans occupied a very important place in There are his five Augustine's early literary labours. works against them which a correspondent called the Pentateuch against the Manichaeans. There is, above But there all, the great treatise in reply to Faustus. is no separate letter to Faustus, nor indeed to any Manichaean leader. It may be that in the later period of Augustine's episcopate Manichaeisrn had lost its
: ; 

INTRODUCTION
strength, or that attention.
3.

n
his

more urgent controversies absorbed

Accordingly, passing over the Manichaean discusnext group of Augustine's letters is that which is connected with the Christian doctrine of God. These are his replies to Arianism and his exposition of the doctrine of the Trinity. 4. Next to these may be grouped the very important series of letters dealing with African Church divisions the Donatist controversy with all its discussions on validity of Sacraments, on schism, and on the conditions of ministry. Much in these letters will be found to be of living interest, involving principles of ecclesiastical
sions, the
:

unity important for all time. 5. Following on these are grouped the letters on the doctrine of grace that subject with which, more than
:

all

others,
6.

Augustine was
there are a

identified.

fairly
is

letters which may be grouped together as Biblical expositions. It admitted, of course, that this arrangement is not

Then

number of

strictly systematic. Letters on interpretation of Scripture will be found in most other groups. Nevertheless, it is

suitable that

examples of Augustine's letters as a Biblical student should be given by themselves. 7. To this is naturally appended the celebrated correspondence between Augustine and Jerome. It is, of course, very largely concerned with Biblical interpretation and study. But it forms also a group by itself, very Also it gains characteristic of both these great writers. a great deal by being allowed to tell consecutively its

own
8.

story.

to be

Another series of Augustine's letters which deserve grouped together, especially in view of modern

discussions, is his letters to Women. They will help to illustrate the position then occupied by educated

women in the of 9. Much

Church.
Augustine's

Sacramental

teaching

is

scattered over his letters on Donatism.

But they are 

12

THE LETTERS OF

ST.

AUGUSTINE

concerned with Baptism and Ordination. It seems well to gather in a special group Augustine's letters on the Eucharist. 10. From the central act of Christian worship we
chiefly

turn to the field of administration.

We

come

an idea of a bishop's occupations, his

activities,

to get his

attempt is, practical duties in the fifth century. therefore, made to collect the letters on Diocesan affairs.n. Lastly comes the natural and inevitable section,
letters

An

concerned with Augustine's closing years.

Instruction on almost all the theological problems then agitating the human mind may be found in the pages of these letters Paganism, Arianism, Sabellian:

represented, as well as Donatism impossible not to be filled with profound admiration for the wonderful intellectual activity and comprehensiveness of this great genius. Never was there a mind more alert, more sensitive to contemporary movements, more implicated in the life and thought of his own time. Most instructive it is to note the variety of persons who corresponded with him. Large numbers of questions and difficulties were sent him by all sorts of people.
ism, Novatianism, are
all

and Pelagianism.

It is

They certainly never spared him. They pelted him with whole strings of inquiries. And the patient Bishop seldom spared himself in answering them. Sometimes he took the initiative and wrote to separatists asking what their objections were against unity with the Church or he propounded some dilemmas which he requested them to decide or he invited them to conference and discussion. He always seemed alert in cases of conversion to the Church, strengthening the newcomer by some exposition of Catholic principles. Quite a number of his letters are directed to high This department of his correofficials of the State. spondence naturally belongs to the last twenty-five years of his episcopate. There is Donatus, Proconsul
; ; 

INTRODUCTION
;

13

of Africa (Letter 100) Generosus occupying a consular rank in Numidia (Letter 116) Marcellinus the Tribune (Letters 128, 133, 138, 139, 141), whose tragic fate was one of Augustine's greatest sorrows; Apringius the Proconsul (Letter 134); Macedonius Africse Vicarius Caecilian, sus(Letter 154, cf. Life by Possidius, 20) pected of being implicated in the judicial murder of Marcellinus the Tribune (Letter 151) Boniface, Count of Africa, whom Augustine instructed in African Church troubles, and who admitted the Vandals into that unhappy country, and afterwards vainly tried to drive them out (Letters 185 and 220); Count Valerius, to whom Augustine sends a copy of one of his writings the Tribune Dulcitius (Letter (Letters 200 and 206) Count Darius (Letter 229), who was sent to Africa 204) to secure peace, and who asks for a copy of Augustine's Confessions (Letter 230), which was sent to him (Letter 231); and Count Pascentius, an Arian, with whom Augustine conferred at Carthage, and who went about boasting that he had refuted the Bishop, and to whom the Bishop wrote a long and important exposition of the Catholic Faith (Letter 238). Readers of the letters cannot fail to be impressed with Augustine's ascendancy among the bishops of his time. He was the moving spirit in Councils, whether concernOfficial documents ing the Donatists or the Pelagians. issued by African Councils were composed by him. Even when (as several times occurs) his name is not mentioned, the Augustinian authorship is obvious both His familiar antiin the arguments and in the style. thesis, his plays on words, his dogmatic outlook, all are there. Very significantly we find at the end of one " such document the endorsement of the Primate I, of the Catholic Church of Carthage, Aurelius, Bishop
;

;

;

;

;

:

have signed
It

this letter" (Letter 128).

was the Pelagian controversy which drew Augustine into most intimate relations with Rome and its Bishops. We find him giving expositions of the doctrine of grace, 

14

THE LETTERS OF

ST.

AUGUSTINE

in deferential terms indeed, to Pope Innocent. We find him delivering Pope Zosimus from a total misapprehension of the real opinions of Pelagius. We find him instructing and, after some misgivings, congratulating the future Pope Sixtus on his energetic defence of the

traditional faith.

the recognition at Rome of as a theologian. He receives Augustine's pre-eminence Innocent's letters as a member of the Councils of CarParticularly informing
is

African defenders of the doctrine of Grace. But Innocent went further still. When he wrote to the Primate of Carthage there was only one other person to whom a letter was directed, and that other person was the Bishop of Hippo. So far as ecclesiastical status is concerned Augustine was only Bishop of a very third-rate seaport in an inferior province. He was not the Primate of one of the African provinces, still less did he occupy the chief place in the African hierarchy. Nevertheless it is he who is the mind of the African clergy. He is in correspondence with all parts of the Church with John, Bishop of Jerusalem, with Simplician of Milan, with Paulinus
five chief
:

thage and of Milevis. Innocent as one of the

He

receives another letter from

in

Spain, with Jerome at Bethlehem, with Gaul and

Marseilles, and with Rome. The literature mentioned or quoted in Augustine's letters is considerable. Among Pagan writers the favourites are Cicero, Virgil and Terence. Like many another reader since his time,

Augustine was deeply impressed by the famous
"

line

:

Homo

sum, humani

nil

a

me

alienum puto."

1

(Letter 155.)

Horace is also quoted (Letter 143). Reference is made to letters written by Seneca to the Apostle S.Paul (Letter 153, 14). Among philosophers Democritus, Plato and Plotinus are mentioned the last
:

1

Terence Heaut,

77. 

INTRODUCTION

15

repeatedly (Letter 118, 33), as was to be expected, seeing that Augustine's obligations to the Neoplatonists are obvious everywhere. Porphyry and his impressions on Christianity (Letter 102, 8) Apollonius of Tyana, and Apuleius of Madaura are often named (Letter 102, 8), the two latter frequently together. Apuleius being an African would be familiar to the Pagans with whom Augustine corresponded (Letter 102, 32; Letter 138,
;

18).

In Christian literature frequent reference is made Tertullian is also mentioned. naturally to S. Cyprian. Seven Scripture expositors are enumerated by Jerome in a letter to Augustine. They are Origen, Didymus, Apollinaris of Laodicea, Alexander, Eusebius of Emesa, Theodore of Heraclium, and John Chrysostom (Letter 75)
.

Augustine makes remarks on these, but without showing We any particular knowledge of them (Letter 82). know from other parts of his writings that he was acquainted with works of S. John Chrysostom. Elsewhere four authors are quoted Ambrose, Jerome, Athanasius and Gregory. It appears, however, that the
:

last is not, as Augustine supposed, Gregory Nazianzen, nor indeed a Greek writer at all, but a Latin perhaps, as the Benedictines suggest, Gregory of Elvira in Spain. 1
:

There is also a reference to Philastrius (Letter 222). But Augustine's favourite author is certainly S. Ambrose. To appreciate the deep veneration for the Bishop of Milan which appears repeatedly in Augustine's letters we must bear in mind the pages of the Confessions. Ambrose was the living embodiment of priestly ideals at once attracting and repelling by his entire unworldliness and self-denying life. It was Ambrose's character even more than his exposition of the Faith which con;

tributed
1

so

largely

to

Augustine's conversion.

No

See note by Benedictines to Letter 148, 10. Gaume's edit. 746. treatise, possibly by Gregory of Elvira, on the Orthodox Faith against the Divine is printed in Appendix to S. Ambrose, ed.
II.

A

Migne,

ii.

549-568. 

16

THE LETTERS OF

ST.

AUGUSTINE

wonder we find eager inquiries after some of Ambrose's writings which Augustine does not yet possess (Letter No wonder he is quoted as a guide and appealed 31). to as an example in matters of practical religion. " Ambrosius noster " is one whose insight is decisive Beatus Ambrosius, expounding the (Letter 82, 21). of S. Luke, lives in Augustine's glowing memories Gospel
(Letter 147,
17).

"Ambrose

that

saintly

man"

is

quoted again, half apologetically, with an assurance that his opinion is not valued only because through his ministrations the saving Baptism was bestowed upon Augustine, but for the intrinsic excellence of his exposi" " tions (ib. Again the aforesaid Bishop of Milan 52).
practical question to unfamiliar practices when worshipping in a church away from home, is settled at once by appeal to Ambrose's example.
is

quoted (Letter 148,

12);

and the

how to conduct oneself with regard

A quantity of religious literature of an unorthodox and debased description found its way to the Bishop's house at Hippo. Many a copy of heretical writings was sent for Augustine's opinion, or to induce him to make Many of the documents of the Donatist conreply. troversy were in his possession so were the writings of the Pelagians. Reference to these and many a quotation are to be found in the course of the letters. Augustine has immortalised them by his quotations. There are also references, although not very numerous, to Apocry;

of the strangest of these is a hymn circulated by a Spanish sect, the Priscillianists, who asserted that it had been composed by the Lord Jesus Christ and given to His Apostles on the night of the Betrayal being in fact the hymn referred to in the Gospel as sung before they went out to the Mount of Olives. copy of this document was sent by a Spanish Bishop to Augustine for his criticism. The hymn is as follows " I desire to set free and I desire to be set free. I desire to save and I desire to be saved.

phal writings.

One

which was being

;

A

: 

INTRODUCTION
Dance all of you. desire to be born. Mourn ye all of you. desire to lament. desire to adorn and I desire to be adorned, am the lamp to thee who seest me. am the door to thee whosoever knocks at me Thou who seest what I do, be silent concerning
;

17

my

works."

(Letter 237.)

that they were

Augustine was familiar with these words and says common among apocryphal writings. were accepted by certain sects which accepted They
the canonical writings also.

The

Priscillianists

who

accepted them accounted for their omission from the Canon on the ground that they were kept secret from the natural man and reserved for the spiritually minded. They justified this exclusion by an " appeal to the Book It is good to keep of Tobit, where it is written (xii. 7) close the secret of a king but it is honourable to reveal the works of God." Accordingly this secret of the king, this "sacramentum regis," was concealed from those who walked after the flesh, and not after the Spirit. Augustine points out that this statement implies that the canonical scriptures are not according to the Spirit. Further he calls attention to the inextricable confusion For in which this theory involved the Priscillianists.
:
;

when they proceeded to explain what these mystic sentences mean they quoted texts from the New
Testament to throw
the line
:

light

upon them.
I

For example

"

I

desire to set free

and

desire to be set free"

was explained by a reference to Galatians v. I, "Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made
If thus the obscurities of this hymn are to be us free." explained by the clearer utterances of the New Testament, what becomes of the Priscillianist theory that the hymn was excluded from the Canon in order that spiritual truths should be concealed from the carnally

minded?

(Letter 237). 

i8

THE LETTERS OF

ST.

AUGUSTINE

Many details concerning the Councils of the Church are given in Augustine's letters. The famous African Code of Canons is in process of formation. Councils held in the time of Cyprian are appealed to as precedents,

and evaded.

Much

stress

is

laid

on

"

instituta

kinds of (Letter 36, 2). Councils are carefully discriminated, and the authority of each is discussed. An accusation against a presbyter must be finally settled by a Council of six Bishops. This was a Canon of the Council of Carthage in 348 (Letter 65). There were in Africa Provincial Councils. For instance the Council of Milevis, which was the Council of the Province of Numidia (Letter 176). There were Councils " of the entire " Africana Ecclesia (Letter 22, These 2). were held under the presidency of the Bishop of Carthage as Primate. The Councils of Carthage were very independent and influential in their dealings with the Popes, especially with Pope Zosimus. The right of appeals to Rome was a burning question in the fifth century, a subject of expostulation, and of careful restriction. Caecilian Archbishop of Carthage possessed the right of appeal from the African Council to the because the Church is not Bishops beyond the seas confined to Africa (Letter 43, The ultimate n). decision belonged, in the Donatist case, after it had been tried before the Pope and his assessors, to a plenary Council of the Universal Church (Letter 43, that 19) is to say, to the collective episcopate. The African Church divisions and the action of the imperial authorities naturally compelled discussion on the relations between Church and State. find the maxim formulated that a Bishop ought not to be tried before a proconsular tribunal (Letter 43, 13). Augustine reminds the Donatists that by this maxim they are self-condemned for it was they who made the appeal to the authority of the State (Letter 43, 13). Doubtless the distinction between the secular and the spiritual powers was clear enough to a disciple of

majorum"

The

different

;

;

We

; 

INTRODUCTION

19

S. Ambrose. Augustine could certainly never forget the principle formulated by the Bishop of Milan that the Emperor is within the Church but not above it. Certainly also the author of the treatise on The City of God was not likely to confuse the State with the Church. But yet it must be acknowledged that the appeals of the African Church to the State in the matter of the Church divisions, and the fact of a conference of

bishops, over which an imperial lay official presided as Moderator, must have done much to confuse the distinction in the popular mind. Moreover we find Augustine asking for copies of imperial decisions against the Donatists in order to have them read in all the churches of his diocese (Letter 139). The rights of a bishop within his diocese were sometimes ill-defined and constantly subject to irregularities. The right of a bishop to choose his own successor was prohibited and exercised. Augustine was actually consecrated to a see not vacant, in ignorance of Canons forbidding this. Augustine complains that a man has been ordained sub-deacon in the diocese of Hippo without the Bishop's consent (Letter 63). On the other hand there was no difficulty in sub-dividing a diocese. Augustine decreed the consecration of a Bishop to a portion of the diocese of Hippo. The consecration was

the Primate's act.

The new

his deprivation necessary,

bishop's misconduct made and that part of the diocese

apparently reverted to Augustine's control. Augustine's way of addressing his ecclesiastical inferiors is to identify himself with their level. Thus a deacon is the bishop's fellow-deacon (Letter 149, i),

and a presbyter is his fellow-presbyter (ib. 34 condiaconus, conpresbyter). Much is incidentally revealed concerning African Church life and its customs. The Church had developed a considerable amount of external dignity since the days of Constantine. read of the episcopal thrones ascended by flights of steps, the canopied seats,
:

We 

20

THE LETTERS OF

ST.

AUGUSTINE
.
. .

Cathedrae the pulpits (Letter 23, "absidae gradatae " " velatae Letter 29, exhedram ascenderemus "J. 1 read of several churches in the town of Hippo belonging to the Catholics also of ecclesiastical houses and There was also a church of the Donatists buildings. to which, at the beginning of Augustine's ministry, the majority of the population belonged. Evening service was daily said in the church of Hippo (Letter 29). But the moral level was deplorably low. Augustine's energies as preacher were first directed against the
;

We

;

drunkenness which prevailed in his own congregation at the festival of the Martyrs (Letter 22). We find that a it had not been usual before Augustine's time for This priest to preach when the Bishop was present.
innovation was introduced by Bishop Valerius at Hippo, thankful to avail himself of Augustine's ability. And the example was followed by the Primate Aurelius at Carthage (Letter 41). Extraordinary local incidents of church life are found in these letters. There is a weird account of the outrageous attempt of the congregation at Hippo to compel a wealthy laymen who was there on a visit to take an oath that he would be ordained among them. It has been cynically observed that when the layman had impoverished himself by his The concharity the people's interest in him ceased. With at Hippo do not shine in this incident. gregation this should be compared the curious scene in church at the selection of a coadjutor to Augustine with the right of succession (Letter 213). North Africa in Augustine's time was a strange mixture of languages and nationalities, as appears in the proper names. Valerius, Bishop of Hippo before Augustine, was a Greek who preached with difficulty in Latin. Whether a priest was able to preach in Latin or in Punic was of great importance. The question is several times mentioned in the Letters. It has been

who was

1

Letter 29. 

INTRODUCTION

21

thought that the difficulties between Catholic and Donatist were partly created by racial differences, the Latin colonists on the one side, the early inhabitants on We find uncouth Punic names among the the other. Church's martyrs, provoking the ridicule of the cultivated Roman Pagan, who could not stand such proper names as Mygdon, Sanais, and, worst of all, Namphanio

Then again we find apparently a Jewish (Letter 16). element among the Clergy. Lazarus is a Bishop of the African Church (Letter 175).

Among
the

the Bishops a different origin
244),

names Chrisimus (Letter

is suggested by Pancarius (Letter

251), Eufrates (Letter 142), Gignantius (Letter 176).

Then again there is Bishop Pontican (Letter 247) and Classician (Letter 250).

What strikes all students of the Letters is the curious anticipation in North Africa of the Puritan form of Thus we find Bishop Benenatus Christian names.
Three Bishops in (Letter 253), and Bishop Adeodatus. one Council share the name of Quodvultdeus. Among
is a priest named Deogratias (Letter 102). Bishop Habetdeus figures in the Conference of 410. The work of the Church in North Africa was hindered by lack of clergy acquainted with the language of the people. Augustine's predecessor in the Bishopric of Hippo was imperfectly acquainted with the Latin

Augustine's correspondents

language. Hippo was a Roman colony, but contained also a Punic population. Augustine's sermons give at In a letter still extant (Letter 84) times Punic words. Augustine refuses to give up his deacon, Lucillus, for work in another diocese on the ground that the deacon was able to talk Latin. This is the reading in the text of the letter. But it has been thought much more probable that the deacon's usefulness consisted in his

ability to talk Punic.

Another feature of Church
letters

life

display

is

the

constant

which Augustine's intercommunication 

22

THE LETTERS OF
is,

ST.

AUGUSTINE
Correspondis

between different portions of the Church.
ence
indeed, often
difficult.

One

letter-carrier

delayed, consecrated to the episcopate, and dies without delivering his letters. Letters sometimes miscarried (Letter 149), and were circulated among people for whom they were not meant, while failing to reach the This happened persons for whom they were intended. with letters sent by Augustine to Jerome. Correspondence was also at times fearfully belated. Augustine complains that he wrote a letter while still juvenis, and has not yet received an answer though he has become But if years at times elapsed between a letter senex. and its reply the fault was not always with the bearer of the letter. By way of precaution Augustine mentions that he has sealed his letter with a seal representing the profile of a man's face (Letter 59). In spite of all these drawbacks and difficulties the reader of Augustine's letters is constantly reminded how closely the various portions of Christendom are linked Travellers are continually moving from one together. Spanish priest, Orosius, visits country to another. Augustine at Hippo and is sent on to Bethlehem, almost certainly commissioned to find out what the Pelagians are about, and to neutralise the leader's influence with such bishops as John of Jerusalem, who may not be equal to his subtlety. No part of Christendom seems isolated from the rest. Pope Zosimus sends the Bishop of Hippo on a mission to another part of Africa, on some business connected with the Holy See. Bishop Augustine informs and instructs the successive occupants of the Roman See on the nature of the Pelagian dis-

A

The Roman bishop misunderstands, through inadequate knowledge, an appeal made to him by an African priest, and requires to be better informed.
putes.

But there is no isolation no mere Church is one vast organism.
;

insularity.

The

A

character.

study of Augustine's letters is also a study in His extraordinary ascendancy over his 

INTRODUCTION
; ;

23

the uniqueness of his genius his contemporaries intellectual power, of which he could not possibly be unconscious the deference with which the leaders of
;

the Church regarded his utterances might easily have had disastrous effect upon the individual himself. What strikes the student of these letters is the writer's profound consciousness of the limitations of human knowledge his readiness to confess his ignorance his emphatic refusal to be regarded as an oracle his insistence that all theologians are liable to error and his willingness to be instructed require correction his submission to the authority of the world-wide
;
; ;
;
;

Church.
the use sometimes made of Augustine's theoopinions it seems necessary to make what is nevertheless an exceedingly obvious remark that the opinions of a theologian are by no means necessarily accepted by the Church. Augustine's predestination theories, which are in these letters carried to rigorous extremes, have never been endorsed by the Catholic Church. No introduction to Augustine's correspondence would be complete without drawing attention to his constant references to the Scriptures. Considerable portions of His the Bible could be reproduced from his letters.
logical
is continually founded upon prophetic and The apostolic utterances. The quotations are profuse. so obviously use made of them is most penetrating the result of deep and continued study. 1 This appears But chiefly in the teaching on Sacrament and Schism. above all is the wonderful exposition of the Christian doctrine of Grace.

From

teaching

;

1

Cf. Bossuet,

Defense de la Tradition, Pt.

I. iv.

cap. xvi.

[The Letters have been studied in the Benedictine text, and in Gaume's edition, Paris 1836. But reference has been made to the Vienna edition by Goldbacher, 4 vols., 1895-1911. The references to S. Jerome are to Vallarsi's edition, Verona 1735.] 

CHAPTER

I

LETTERS PRIOR TO HIS CONSECRATION

THE first series of letters belong to the period before Augustine's consecration. They are dated between the years 386 and 395. They include the letters to his friend Nebridius to Valerius, Bishop of Hippo; to Aurelius, Bishop of Carthage, and to Paulinus of Nola. They were all written after the return to Africa. No letters Information about of the earlier period in Italy exist. that time is obtained from the Confessions, from the discussions embodied in the early treatises, and from scattered allusions in the later letters. Among the early letters of Augustine there is a series of twelve, 1 written before his ordination, that is before the year 391, to his friend Nebridius. Nebridius owned an estate near Carthage. His acute criticism caused
;

much* perplexity
2

phase. pressly

to Augustine during his Manichaean Nebridius followed Augustine to Milan exin order to pursue together the search for He was one of the circle of Augustine's most truth. intimate associates sharing his retreat in the Villa at Cassiacum not far from Milan during the months which followed immediately after the great writer's conversion. Nebridius himself was still outside the Christian Faith. He was unable to believe in the Incarnation. He held the theory that the Body of Christ was not constituted of flesh and bones, but was only an appearance and a phantasm. But he was an eager inquirer after truth. Augustine's conversation led the way which his friend
1

Letters 3-14.
24

2

Confessions,

vi.

17;

vii. 3. 

LETTERS PRIOR TO HIS CONSECRATION
was to

25

follow. 1 They earnestly discussed together in the problem of immortality and the nature of evil Italy When Augustine returned to Africa, and good. Nebridius settled in his country house near Carthage, where he lived with his mother. Meantime Augustine founded his community at Thagaste. And Nebridius's heart uas there. Weak health, however, prevented his Letters were frequent between them. joining it. Augustine had sent Nebridius some copies of his writings, no doubt the Dialogues composed in the country house near Milan, and had received a grateful

reply congratulating him as happy. Augustine's answer breathes the calm reflective spirit of the period of retreat in which, without knowing it, he was preparing for his priestly labours. " I read your letter beside the lamp after supper. The time of rest was near but not of sleep. On my bed I fell into a long meditation, and talked to myself,

Augustine conversing with Augustine

:

Is

it

not true,
;

as Nebridius says, that I am happy ? Not altogether for that I am still far from wise he himself would not venture to deny. May not, however, a happy life be the portion of those who are not wise? That is not For were it so, lack of wisdom would be probable. but a small defect, whereas it is the source of all unthen did Nebridius come to such a happiness.

How

view ? Was it because he had read my tracts and ventured to think me wise? Surely his pleasure could not make the man so rash more especially since he is a person whose judgment, as I well know, is of weight. Here is the explanation he wrote what he thought would please me, because he was pleased with my writings; and he wrote in a joyful mood, careless what he entrusted to his joyous pen. What would he have written if he had read my Soliloquies ? He would have But he would not have found a rejoiced still more.
:

:

1

Confessions,

vi. 26. 

26

THE LETTERS OF

ST.

AUGUSTINE

So then he has higher term to call me than happy. ascribed to me the highest of all names, and has kept nothing in reserve whereof to call me if he became more joyous over me than he is at present. See what joy " can do This interesting passage shows already the writer's accurate and reasoned use of words, and also that he judged his Soliloquies to be a more important work than his other early writings. There is no question that in this his insight was true, and that his opinion has been endorsed in the judgment of posterity. Augustine throws this letter into the form of a Catechism. 1
!

Of what parts do we consist ? Of soul and body. Which of these is the nobler ? Doubtless the soul. What do men praise in the body? Nothing that
see but comeliness.

I

And what is comeliness of body? Harmony of parts in the form, together with a certain agreeableness of colour. Is this comeliness better when it is true, or when it is illusive ? Unquestionably it is better when it is true. And when is it found true? In the soul. The soul, therefore, is to be loved more than the body. But in what part of the soul does this truth reside ? In the mind and understanding. With what has the understanding to contend ? With the senses. Must we then resist the senses with all our might?
Certainly.

What then if the things with which the senses must prevent them acquaint us gives us pleasure ?

We

from doing

so.

How

?

By acquiring

the habit of doing without them,
?

and desiring better things. But if the soul die, what then
1

Why

then truth

Letter 3. 

LETTERS PRIOR TO HIS CONSECRATION
dies, or intelligence is

27

not truth, or intelligence is not a part of the soul, or that which has some part immortal conclusions all of which I demonstrated is liable to die
;

long ago
possible
;

in

my
I

and

Soliloquies to be absurd because imam firmly persuaded that this is the

somehow through the influence of custom in the experience of evils we are terrified and hesitate. But even granting, finally, that the soul dies, which I do not see to be in any way possible, it remains nevertheless true that a happy life does not consist in the
case, but

evanescent joy which sensible objects can yield have pondered deliberately and proved. 1

;

this

I

Nebridius desired to be more fully acquainted with 2 development. Augustine replies that he has not yet arrived at the beginning of the soul's manhood. His soul is in its boyhood still. He hopes it may be called a promising boyhood rather than a He is, at any rate, well assured a good for nothing. which that the intellect is superior to the senses implies the superiority of things perceived by the intellect over those perceived by the material organs If Nebridius can discover any flaw in of sensation.
his friend's religious
;

this

argument

let

him say

so.

But, after valuable in
"

these activities of the intellect, although their place and degree, are completely subordinated to the religious experiences of the spirit
all,
:

and when

rise to

Him
I

sense real,

after calling upon you for help I begin to and to those things which are in the highest at times satisfied with such a grasp and

am

enjoyment of the things which eternally abide that I sometimes wonder at my requiring any such reasoning as I have given above to persuade me of the reality of those things which in my soul are as truly present to

me

as

I

am

to myself." 3

It

seems that Augustine's fellow-citizens
1

at

Thagaste
2.

Letter 3.

2

Letter

s

4.

Letter

4, 

28

THE LETTERS OF

ST.

AUGUSTINE

invaded his hours of study, and made serious inroads on his time and thought. Nebridius was highly in1 dignant with this frustration of the very purpose of " Is it true, retirement from the world. Augustine's " my beloved Augustine," he wrote, that you are spending your strength and patience on the affairs of your fellow-citizens, and that the leisure from distractions so Who, I would like earnestly desired is still withheld ? to know, arc the men who thus take advantage of your Have you good nature, and trespass on your time ?
.
. .

no friend at hand to tell them what your heart is set upon? Will neither Romanian nor Lucinian do this? Let them hear me at all events." Nebridius proposes that Augustine should remove to the writer's home. In a remarkable passage in answer to Nebridius's inquiry by what means certain thoughts and dreams are put into our minds by higher powers or by superhuman agents, Augustine says, 2 " It is my opinion that every movement of the mind affects in some degree the body." Although no physical effect of mental activity
be discernible to other human beings, yet it may be discerned by beings of acuter faculties than those of
"

men. It is by no means unreasonable to suppose that beings which act with the powers of an aerial or ethereal body upon our bodies, and are by the constitution of their natures able to pass unhindered through these bodies, should be capable of much greater quickness in moving whatever they wish, while we, though not perceiving what they do, are nevertheless affected by the results of their activity." This is certainly a

remarkable essay in fourth-century psychology. Nebridius greatly valued Augustine's letters. They " bring to his ear the voice of Christ and the teaching of Plato and of Plotinus." 3 But, greatly as he valued the written message, he longed far more with the irritability of
1

weak health
5.

for actual conversation.
2

He grew
6.

Letter

Letter

3

9.

Letter 

LETTERS PRIOR TO HIS CONSECRATION

29

importunate in proposals that they should live together. He even reproached Augustine with indifference to his 1 plans for common life. Augustine was much distressed at his friend's reproach, but explained that he cannot transfer the Community to Carthage or the neighbourTheir mutual friend Lucinian suggested that hood. Nebridius could bear the journey in a litter but his mother would never consent to his removal in his invalidish state. Augustine cannot leave the Community For Nebridius has mental and come to Nebridius. resources when left to himself, but in the Community are some who require constant attention. Neither can Augustine divide his time between the Community and Nebridius. Constantly journeying to and fro would be
;

beyond
"
I

his strength.

cannot accomplish what I wish unless I cease wholly to wish what is beyond my strength." Moreover continual travelling would be destructive to tranquillity and collectedness. Doubtless incessant movement is, in certain rulers of the Churches, blended with the grace
of recollection; but it is neither Augustine's mission, nor within reach of his capabilities still less is it congenial to his tastes. There is much need for withdrawal from the tumult of things transitory, in order to acquire the calmness of spirit which can say I have no fear. Nebridius's desire was not to be achieved. During the brief remainder of his days he was the favoured But apparently they recipient of Augustine's letters.
;

never met again on earth. He became "a faithful member of the Catholic Church." 2 And when " his whole household were brought to Christianity through him," he was "released from the flesh." Augustine afterwards dedicated to his memory a touching page of his Confessions. No sooner was Augustine ordained to the priesthood than he wrote to his bishop, Valerius, the well-known
1

Letter 10.

2

Confessions,

ix. 6. 

30
letter
1

THE LETTERS OF

ST.

AUGUSTINE

asking for some months quiet before his priestly When the circumstances of his labours should begin. ordination are remembered this request was only right and natural. Augustine's ordination was no calm, deliberate reception of the ministerial commission after a lengthy period of conscious preparation. He not only did not seek the priesthood, he had deliberately avoided His ideal, as his letters have already shown, was it. a life of study and devotion not at all a life of active He was living in Comministry and administration. munity as a recluse. He avoided 'cities where ordination might be imposed upon him by the congregation or by the clergy in spite of his reluctance. When he visited Hippo he thought himself safe because there was no vacancy in the See. Nevertheless, ordained he was, in spite of his reluctance and in spite of his tears. His letter to Bishop Valerius still remains to testify to his feelings on being suddenly set in the responsibilities of the Apostolic ministry. His words are memorable. 2 "If," he wrote, "the duties of the office of a bishop or presbyter or deacon be discharged in a perfunctory and time-serving manner, no work can be in this life more easy, agreeable, and likely to secure the favour of men, especially in our day but none at the same time more miserable, deplorable, and worthy " of condemnation in the sight of God and on the other hand, "if in the office of bishop or presbyter or deacon the orders of the Captain of our Salvation be observed, there is no work in this life more difficult,
; ; ;

toilsome, and hazardous, especially in our day, but none at the same time more blessed in the sight of God." Augustine complains that he has never been taught, either in youth or in early manhood, what the method of that ministry is. He thought that his ordination in such a state of ignorance must have been a punishment for his sins. He tells the old Bishop with delightful
1

Letter 21.

2

Ibid. 

LETTERS PRIOR TO HIS CONSECRATION
frankness that

31

he was accustomed formerly, with an

air of superiority, to criticise the defects of the clergy. has now begun to realise the rashness of his judg-

He

It was this which caused his tears when he was ordained tears which were completely misunderbeing stood by some who wished him well. He was ordained just at the very time when he was beginning to devote himself to the study of the Scrip-

ment.

:

tures.

He was

just

advanced

far

enough

to realise his

for a man who undertakes the ministry of the Sacrament and of the Word of God ? Note this familiar twofold division

deficiencies.

What

can be more essential

of ministerial functions already in use. He appeals to Father Valerius to give him time to study the Scriptures before he begins to teach. At least let him have till He asks Valerius to aid him with prayers that Easter. his absence from the people may not prove fruitless to the Church of Christ and the benefit of his brethren.

Augustine's peculiar power was recognised by his superiors very soon after his ordination. 1 Already he is in correspondence with the Primate, Aurelius, Bishop of Carthage, on the defects of African Church life (" Ecclesia Africana "). It appears that the festival commemorations of the Martyrs at Hippo were scandalous scenes of drunkenness. Quoting S. Paul's exhortation to the Romans, " Not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying," Augustine says that while the second of these three classes of sin is punished severely by the Church, by exclusion from the Sacraments, neither the first nor the third were treated as seriously. Unless the laws of the Church are as strict in these cases as in the other, these sins will be less seriously regarded in popular esteem. S. Paul forbade participation in a common meal with Christians who were drunkards. If we are to receive the Body of Christ together with
ecclesiastical
1

Letter 22. 

32

THE LETTERS OF

ST.

AUGUSTINE

persons with whom S. Paul prohibits the sharing of a meal, at least, says Augustine, let us keep these scandals away from the graves of the saintly dead. He feels that the moral level of the African Church in these matters is inferior to that of many other places.

common

The

evil is

long-standing and deeply rooted.

Augus-

tine thinks that the authority of a Council of the Church will be necessary if this evil is to be removed. At

same time tact and sympathetic treatment will be essential (" Magis docendo quam jubendo, magis monendo quam minando"). "Thus, at least, we must deal with the multitude; severity is to be employed toward the sins of the few. And if we threaten, let it be done with sorrow, threatening from Scripture a judgment to come, so that deference be not paid to our authority but to God Himself in our words. In this way an impression will be made first upon the spiritually minded or upon those who are inclined that way and then by their influence and through the gentlest but most urgent exhortations the rest of the multitude will be overcome." l
the
;

A

later letter will

show how admirably Augustine

precepts when he came to deal with difficulties and disorders of this kind in the Church at
practised his

own

Hippo. Augustine observes further that festival commemorations in the cemeteries were regarded by popular opinion not only as honouring the Martyrs but as some advantage to the dead ("solatia mortuorum"). Consequently it is necessary to disentangle the true element in these observances from the false. Sanction should be given
to the belief that offerings for the spirits of those who are asleep do really confer some benefit on the dead. 2

But the practice must be regulated and extravagance No offerings are to be put up for sale, and forbidden.
;

1

Letter 22,

p. 41,

5.

2

Oblationes

pro

adjuvare credendum

spiritibus est. Ibid.

dormientium,
6.

quas

vere

aliquid 

LETTERS PRIOR TO HIS CONSECRATION

33

offerings of money must be given immediately to the Regulations of this kind will justify no compoor. on the ground that the dead are neglected or plaint the bereaved ill-considered. As for strife and deception, the third class of the list

of defects, Augustine fears that these exist more seri1 He ously among the clergy than among the people. speaks of the subtle dangers of human praise, and the temptations to self-esteem whose force no man realises until he has made war against it. On this subject he speaks feelingly, for he has felt its danger. He closes by asking the Bishop to pray for him,

There are many things concerning my life and adding conversation of which I will not write, which I would confess with weeping if between my heart and your heart there were no other medium than my mouth and
:

"

your ears."
of Nola.

2

Another of Augustine's correspondents was Paulinus
Augustine kept up his correspondence with Paulinus of Nola throughout his life. He wrote to Paulinus at a later date (417) instructing him in the Pelagian dis-

and yet later still (about 421) he putes (Letter 186) composed, in reply to Paulinus's inquiries, the treatise on care for the dead. Paulinus had formerly held the office of Consul, and had travelled much about the world. He knew Ambrose at Milan, and looked on him as his spiritual He had retired from secular functions and was father. now residing in Spain, and had married a lady named
;

Therasia.

records in a letter to Augustine's friend he had been baptised by Delphinus, Alypins 3 Bishop of Bordeaux, and consecrated Bishop by Lamthat

He

He knew a number of clergy in. pius of Barcelona. high places, including Bishop Aurelius of Carthage. His veneration for Augustine was unbounded. Five of
1

Letter 21,

2

7.

Letter 21,

3

9.

Letter 24,

2.

c 

34

THE LETTERS OF

ST.

AUGUSTINE
;

l and he does Augustine's writings are known to him not hesitate to consider them divinely inspired, and to He call them the Pentateuch against the Manichaeans. writes as one familiar with the Churches and the Monasteries of Africa, whether at Carthage, Thagaste, He sends Alypius a copy of the or Hippo Regius. Chronicon of Eusebius asks to know which of his own hymns Alypius is acquainted with and sends him, in the usual way of salutation, a loaf which he calls
; ;
1

eulogia?
3 noteworthy that both this letter and another to are sent not only by Paulinus but also by Augustine In this letter Augustine is addressed Therasia his wife. in glowing language as a light worthy of its place on the candlestick of the Church, diffusing widely in the Catholic towns the brightness of a flame fed by the oil of the seven-branched lamp of the Upper Sanctuary. With characteristic humility he says that if the office which they hold is considered, Augustine is his brother if maturity of intelligence, Augustine, although his And he asks to be injunior in years, is his father. structed in the Sacred Scriptures and in spiritual studies. A letter to Licentius, son of Romanian, recalls an earlier chapter of Augustine's career. 4 Readers of the will remember that far back in the critical Confessions

It is

;

period of Augustine's youth, when the slender resources of his family were exhausted and he was withdrawn from higher education, Romanian, a wealthy African citizen, came to his support and generously provided From that the necessary funds (Confessions, II. 5). time Romanian followed with interest Augustine's
progress.
sion,

over which

They were together at Milan in that many a reader must have

discus-

smiled,

when oblivious to the fact that some of the party had wives, the little group of Augustine's friends debated on
1

3

Letter 24, Letter 25.

2.

2 *

Letter 24. Letter 26, A.D. 395. 

LETTERS PRIOR TO
possibility of leading a

-HIS

CONSECRATION
life

35
,

Community

{Confessions

Augustine's earnestness was sometimes a little lacking in a sense of the ludicrous. In the little party of friends in retreat at the country house of Verecundus, outside Milan, Licentius was At that time he was Augustine's pupil, and, included. as the records of their conversations show, was in his
VI.
24).

master's opinion deficient in moral calmness and sincerity of purpose. Licentius was gifted with ability and was

an educated person, but his interests were classical and pagan, literary and worldly, not by any means spiritual He is frequently mentioned in the or Christian. 1 Dialogues and early writings of his great teacher. Now that Augustine was a priest, Licentius sent a lengthy piece of Latin hexameters to his former
teacher.

Augustine was not at

all

disposed to
to

criticise

his

character. He was very anxious about the young man's morals. In affectionate terms Augustine told him that while dreading the restraints of wisdom the young man was becoming enslaved to mortal affairs. He tells Licentius that the restraint of discipline, while admittedly hard to bear at first, results in freedom and in joy whereas the fetters of the world have a delusive charm and an

verses, but rather if possible

deepen

his

:

experience

full

of misery.
tells

him that if his verses were not Augustine according to rule of rhythm he would be ashamed of them, and would never rest until they had been carefully corrected but if his conduct is not in accordance with the laws of God, how can he be content to let it remain uncorrected? Is an error in literary composition more serious to him than moral disorder must be in the ears of God ? Licentius had put into verse the wish that the days spent with Augustine in the hills of Italy might be
:

1

See

De

beata Vita, 6, Works,

I.

p. 501. 

36
recalled.

THE LETTERS OF

ST.

AUGUSTINE

If Augustine will but express the wish nothing would prevent Licentius from following him. Augustine quotes this sentiment and applies it to He calls on Licentius to follow him not to morals. " Give heed the hills of Italy but into a better life. he exclaims, " listen to yourself, to your own poem,"

most unreasonable, most unheeding friend," He " upon the young man to attend to the words My is easy and my burden is light." yoke To this he adds a constraining and affectionate " Why do you turn away from me ? Why appeal. yield your ears to the imaginations of deadly pleasures ?

my

calls

:

They will perish. They lead to deare false, Licentius." He tells him that if he were to find a golden crown in the earth he would present it to the Church. Licentius has received from God a mind which is spiritually golden, and he makes it an instrument of his passions, and a means of approach to Satan. The bearer of Augustine's reply to Paulinus was Romanian. 1 Augustine reminds Paulinus that the bearer's name will be found in the treatise on True 2 a treatise which was evidently one of the five Religion which Augustine sent to Paulinus. This treatise was written for Romanian's instruction and in reply to his Augustine informs Paulinus that Romanian inquiries.

They

are false.

struction.

They

:

possesses copies of all his writings, and will submit them to Paulinus's consideration. But Augustine asks Paulinus to remember that what he has written erroneously is his own, whereas what he has written correctly is due to Him in Whose light we shall see light " For," says

" Augustine characteristically, what have we that we " ? It is important to note this ascriphave not received

tion of insight to the grace of God in this early period of Augustine's development, and long before the Pelagian troubles had become conspicuous.
1

Letter 27, p. 62.

~ .

De

Vera Religione,

12. 

LETTERS PRIOR TO HIS CONSECRATION

37

Paulinus had written to Bishop Alypius asking for an account of his religious experiences. 1 Alypius, whose spiritual life had been bound up with that of Augustine, and who had been the solitary witness of Augustine's conversion (Confessions, VIII. 30), could undoubtedly have written a religious autobiography of exceptional But he appears in this letter of Augustine as interest. a man of profound humility and reserve, whose sensitiveness of nature did not allow him to record his innermost experiences even for the edification of others. He therefore asked Augustine to reply instead of him. Augustine accordingly answered Paulinus's request by dwelling on the exceptional character of his intimate friend, and by informing Paulinus that Alypius was a relative of Romanian, the bearer of this letter.
It

further appears that

Romanian was

travelling to

Italy with his son Licentius, the young the subject of Augustine's affectionate

man who was He anxiety.

commends

Licentius to Bishop Paulinus in the earnest will be influenced by him. " I desire that while his earnestly," wrote Augustine, life is yet in the green blade, the tares may be turned into wheat, and he may believe those who know by experience the dangers to which he is eager to expose himself." Augustine sends Paulinus a copy of the young man's poetry and of his own letter in reply. An exceedingly graphic letter, 2 written by Augustine soon after he became a priest to his friend Alypius, Bishop of Thagaste, shows the tenacity of pagan customs over Christian converts, and the difficulty experienced by the Church in overcoming them. The ordinary Christian of Hippo was strongly disposed to convert the festivals of the Church into occasions for drunkenness. This scandal appears to have reached its worst on the Festival of S. Leontius, a former Bishop of Hippo, and in the Church which he had erected and

hope that the young man "

1

Letter 27,

2

5, p. 65.

Letter 29. 

38

THE LETTERS OF

ST.

AUGUSTINE

which was dedicated in his memory. Bishop Valerius imposed on his priest Augustine the task of preaching
against this popular vice. Just before the festival the passage read in the Gospel was on casting pearls before swine, and Augustine availed himself of the lesson to make some emphatic statements He told the congregaagainst sensual self-indulgence. tion that people who did that sort of thing in their own houses ought to be driven away from the pearls which were in the Church's possession. This discourse on pearls and swine was made to a somewhat scanty congregation. But the hearers reported the substance of it in Hippo, where it roused considerable opposition. On a later occasion the people assembled in much The Gospel account of Christ cleansing larger numbers. the Temple was the singularly appropriate lesson for the day. Augustine drew the moral that if Christ could not tolerate the intrusion of worldliness in the Sanctuary even in the form of commercial transactions, the congregation might infer for themselves what our Lord's attitude would be towards vices which are nowhere perDrunkenness at a religious festival would missible. have been an intolerable scandal among the Jews. What was it among Christians? Augustine read to them from Exodus how the great Legislator threw down the Tables of the Law in despair at the conduct of his What distinguished the Christian from the people. Jew was the writing of the Law upon his heart. What degraded the Christian beneath the Jew was the introduction into Christian worship of a scandal which never once occurred among the Jews except when that people

away into pagan idolatry. Accordingly Augustine laid Exodus aside and turned He reminded his hearers how to the Pauline Epistles. S. Paul required the faithful to separate themselves from the drunken how he warned that they who do such things shall not inherit the Kingdom of God how
fell
;
; 

LETTERS PRIOR TO HIS CONSECRATION
;

39

he corrected the Eucharistic scandals at Corinth how he characterised the works of the flesh and the fruits of
the Spirit.

earnestness that he could
Christ,

Then Augustine pleaded with the people with all the command, by the Passion of
by
their

for the venerable Bishop imposed on the preacher, by solemn warnings from the Psalms " If his children forsake my law I will visit their offences with the rod, and their sin with scourges."

regard

Valerius,

by the

trust

;

Being deeply moved he spoke so effectually that they were also moved and softened, and priest and people

wept together over the sins of the congregation. But there .was yet the outer circle to be convinced and won. Adverse criticism upon the preacher still The time-honoured argument against recontinued. forms was made as usual. There had been clergy in Hippo before Augustine came. They permitted these customs to continue. They were just as true Christians as Augustine was. Rumours of these criticisms were brought to the He prepared himself to answer them by preacher.
appeal to the assurance given to Ezekiel (xxxiii. 9), that the prophet who warns the evil even if his warning is unsuccessful at least delivers his soul. He would shake his robe and depart. That sermon however was not delivered. For the critics themselves came and interviewed Augustine before the time of service, and he was enabled to win them over to his course. Setting aside therefore the sermon which he had prepared, he contented himself with explaining how it was that the clergy of a previous generation had not insisted on suppressing these festivities. It was due to the fact that the Church was in the period of persecutions. The leaders of the Church made concessions to the pagan ways. It was an indulgence to human infirmities: an encouragement 

40

THE LETTERS OF

ST.

AUGUSTINE

to the pagan to become converted, if too austere a demand were not made upon him at the beginning. They were permitted to honour the Martyrs by social festivities. These reasons were now matters of the past. Now that men were converted the Christian standard

must
It

prevail.

appears that the supporters of pagan custom had been able to appeal to similar festivities held in Rome in the Basilica of the Blessed Apostle Peter.

He adAugustine's reply to this is characteristic. mitted the fact but urged that it had been often forbidden that the place where it happened was a long way off the Bishop's dwelling; that in so large a city the population was very mixed and that in any case those who desire to honour S. Peter should obey his
; ;

precepts,
in

and pay attention to

his ideal

plainly given

on upon Augustine quoted

his letters, rather than to the practice which went in his Church in contradiction to his ideal. There-

i Pet. iv. 1-3, where S. Peter says that the time of our past life should suffice us to have walked in drunkenness. The effect of this explanation was excellent. Augustine directed that the time should be spent in Scripture And the day passed in readings and in the Psalms. a very edifying manner. One further day completed the good work. The congregation assembled in larger numbers than ever. So the Scripture was read and Psalms were sung. evening came on. The Bishop ordered Augustine, much Accordagainst his will, to address the people again. ingly he gave a short thanksgiving for the blessings of the day. So the daily evensong was reached, and evening closed in upon the singing of a hymn. Meanwhile, he hears that there has been trouble at another Church in the diocese. The Circumcellions broke into the Basilica and destroyed the Altar. The place was called Hasna, where Brother Argentius is

presbyter. 

LETTERS PRIOR TO HIS CONSECRATION

41

From a letter to Paulinus of Nola 1 comes the announcement that Augustine has been consecrated in 395 coadjutor bishop at Hippo by Bishop Valerius, who was not satisfied with continuing him in the rank of presbyter. This was done relying on certain preIn Augustine's Life by Possidius we are cedents. informed that Augustine had misgivings whether the
consecration of a successor during a Bishop's lifetime was not against the custom of the Church. But he was led at the time to believe that the procedure was correct. Precedents both in the African Church and in other Churches across the seas were produced for it. Augustine did not know at the time that this was forbidden by the Council of Nicaea. The eighth Canon of Nicaea regulates in such a way as to maintain the principle "that there may not be two bishops in the city." Hammond says that " the rule of one bishop only in a city was of universal observance in the Church from the very beginning All attempts to ordain a second were condemned and This rule however did not apply to the resisted case of coadjutors, where the bishop, from old age or infirmity, was unable to perform the duties of his
.
. .

.

.

.

office." 2

Towards the

close of his

life,

some

four years before

his death, Augustine held a meeting of his people, and with their approval took the step of nominating his own successor. But he declined to have his successor informed his people consecrated while he lived.

He

that such consecration was forbidden by the Council of Nicaea, and that the irregularity incurred in his own consecration had been done in ignorance, since neither he nor Bishop Valerius were aware of the Nicene Decree at the time. 3 It might be thought a singular thing that African Bishops should be ignorant
1

Letter 31,

4.

2
3

Hammond, The
See Letter 213,

Definitions of Faith, 1843,
4.

p.

28. 

42

THE LETTERS OF

ST.

AUGUSTINE

of the Decrees of Nicaea seventy years after they had been passed. But when we find even a Pope (Zosimus) confusing the Decrees of Nicaea with those of another council we shall be less surprised at the ignorance of a local bishop.
1 Augustine begs Paulinus to pay a visit to Africa, sends him his three books on Free Will, and refers to some writings of S. Ambrose which are no longer exOne of Augustine's Community, Brother Severus, tant. has been made Bishop (Antistes) of the Church of Milan. Augustine sends Paulinus bread, after the

manner of eastern

salutation.

Paulinus did not visit Africa in person, but some of the Spanish clergy did. They brought back to Paulinus in Spain, letters from Aurelius of Carthage, Alypius of Thagaste, Severus of Milevis, and Augustine. After receiving these, Paulinus, acting on Augustine's request about Licentius, wrote a letter to Romanian, He congratulates the African the young man's father.

Churches on possessing Augustine among their Bishops, and speaks in high praise of the aged Bishop Valerius's freedom from all jealousy of Augustine's great abilities. Paulinus expresses the hope, nay the assurance, that Romanian's son will listen to this " summus Christi
Augustine's pleadings will prevail over pontifex." the young man's earthly desires. The writer directs the remainder of his letters to Licentius. Remembering the young man's love of
verse, Paulinus
2

sends him a poem in which he sings Augustine's praises. What the young man thought of But Paulinus did the poem history does not record. not hesitate twice over in some eighty-six lines to end an hexameter with the word Augustinus. Licentius was very fastidious of his literary productions. The young man did nothing of this kind in the Carmen which he sent to Augustine, his father's teacher
1

Letter 31,

2

4.

Letter 32,

3. 

LETTERS PRIOR TO HIS CONSECRATION

43

Paulinus's verses are full of admirable (cf. Letter 26). advice and spiritual principles. At the date of Augustine's priesthood (391-395) it was not the custom in the African Church that a priest should preach when his bishop was present. It appears to have been Bishop Valerius of Hippo who introduced this innovation. Other bishops soon began to follow his example. There is a letter written by Augustine together with his friend Alypius, soon after the former became a bishop, to Bishop Aurelius of Carthage 1 con-

him on authorising priests to preach at Carthage when the Bishop was present. References to Augustine's delicate health appear from time to time in the letters, as they do in the sermons and in the treatises. Weakness of constitution is frequently mentioned in the Confessions. Illness hindered
gratulating

him during the period of

retreat in

the villa outside

Milan before his baptism. Before he had been Bishop two years he speaks of himself as well in spirit, but unable to walk or stand. 2 He writes to his friend Profuturus from a bed of sickness. It was the time when Megalius, Primate of Numidia, had just died. The Primate's relations with Augustine had been unfortunate. Megalius, for some reason not distinctly ascertainable, wrote an angry letter against

Augustine while the latter was only a priest. But Megalius afterwards apologised for this letter before an African council. He also became Augustine's conThe letter was remembered, and the apology secrator. This forgotten, by Augustine's Donatist opponents. unfortunate letter and its misuse is expressly mentioned 3 by Augustine in his reply to the Donatist Petilian, which was written shortly after the letter to Profuturus.

And
tion,
1

the same calumny, in spite of Augustine's refutawas repeated yet again on the Donatist side. It
Letter 41.
2

Letter 38,

A. D.

397

3

Contra

lift.

Petit,

iii.

19. 

44

THE LETTERS OF

ST.

AUGUSTINE

has been thought probable that the Primate's unjust and angry letter was in Augustine's mind when he mentioned the death of Megalius, and was the reason u We are not free from troubles neither why he added
:

are

we deprived

of protection.

If there are

grounds

for grief so also there are for consolation." This reference to Megalius leads Augustine to
1

warn

himself against the dangers of anger, and its tendency to become habitual. Prolonged anger is hatred.
1 Inveterascens ira fit odium. Letter 38, cf. Letter 9, 4. Ira est autem, quantum mea fert opinio, turbulentus appetitus auOn this distinction ferendi ea qiue facilitatem actionis impediunt.

between

ira

and odium see Trench's Synonyms. 

CHAPTER

II

LETTERS ON PAGANISM 1
IN Augustine's correspondence with Pagans we have the advantage of possessing letters addressed to him as well as his replies. Of several of these letters the date cannot now be ascertained. Those whose dates we know range between 390 and 412. are here enabled to see how Christianity appeared in the beginning of the fifth century to Pagans of culture and position what were the lines of attack as well as what were the lines of apologetic defence. Augustine's earliest controversial reply to a Pagan writer dates in 390, that is just six years after the famous controversy in Milan between S. Ambrose and the Prefect Symmachus. 2 The atmosphere is much the same in Africa as it was at Milan only on the Catholic side there is a yet more serene assurance of victory. The Pagan consciously represents a religion no longer supported by the State. The Christian consciously possesses political influence as The Pagan is sarcastic or deferential, well as spiritual. mingling respect for the Church official with contempt for his principles, but always curbed by consciousness of The Pagan's ideas of dealing with a person in power. are often quite inadequate, and sometimes Christianity mere misrepresentation. But he has a high conception

We

;

;

Much help will be found on this La Fin du Paganisme. Two vols.
1

subject in Gaston Boissier, See also Leclercq, 1891.
;

LlAfrique Chretienne, 2 Ambrose, Works.

Two

vols.
ii.

1904.

Migne,

971

Augustine's Letter

18.

45 

46

THE LETTERS OF
;

ST.

AUGUSTINE

of a bishop's function and while he does not hesitate to use Christian terms in non-Christian senses, he can appeal to a bishop on the basis of episcopal ideals. Just a year before Augustine became a priest he received a letter 1 from a Pagan grammarian of Madaura a scornful and contemptuous letter of criticism on Christian religious practices. Maximus, the writer of this letter, admitted that the multitude of divinities was In his opinion the a fiction invented by the Greeks. existence of one Supreme Deity was a fact which no one could be so mad as to deny. God is a name
;

common
But

is the host of dead men Christians are elevating to the position of minor These heroes are quite impossible persons divinities. with appalling names. Maximus pours ridicule on such names as Mygdon, Sanais, Namphanib 3 names detestable alike to gods and men martyrs who in his opinion ended a scandalous career in a well-merited execution. It reminded him of Egyptian monsters finding their way among the gods of Rome. 1 he writer calls on Augustine to set aside his usual weapons of logic which aim at the demolition of all certainty, and to inform him who that God is whom Christians claim as their peculiar possession and declare to be present in hidden places. The writer says he has no doubt that this letter will be thrown on the fire. But if so it will only involve the destruction of a document, not of its contents, for he has other copies which he intends to circulate freely. Wherewith he takes farewell of the distinguished recipient, whom he regards as an apostate from his own ending with a hope that the gods may preserve religion Augustine those gods through whom all mortals on the

to all religions. 2 what arouses his contempt

whom

:

;

;

;

1
2

Letter

16. (?)

Maximus might have
This
is

A.D. 390. learnt his opinions from Cicero.
text.

3

the

Benedictine

The Vienna

Edition reads

:

"

Migginem, Sanamem, Namphamonem." 

LETTERS ON PAGANISM
earth, in a

47

thousand ways, and with discordant harmony, worship the one Common Father of gods and men. When Maximus alludes to the Christian Deity as one Whom His adherents assert to be present in hidden places, we may wonder whether he had heard of the Presence in the Eucharist.

open to the reply that it was the writer was in earnest or in 1 jest. Augustine explains that the uncouth, outlandish names of martyrs which offended so greatly the grammarian's literary taste were after all only Punic appellaMaximus as an African writing to Africans, tions. since both he and Augustine were living in Africa, ought not to be startled by the use of Punic names. If the grammarian is disposed to be scandalised by names, there were many among the Pagan divinities who ought to offend him. Augustine gives him examples. Augustine assures him that the private worship in Christian places will bear favourable comparison with
letter laid itself
difficult to

Such a

know whether

what transpires
to

Maximus

in certain Pagan temples. He appeals to find some question worthy of discussion

will meet him. Meanwhile let him rest assured that Christian Catholics (there is a Church of them in the grammarian's own city) do not worship the dead, and that no creature is adored as divine, but only the one true God. In the year 408 the Pagan population at Calama, a town where Possidius was Bishop, broke out into a Necfurious attack on their Christian fellow-citizens. 2 tarius, a leading Pagan, alarmed at the legal consequences for his town, implored Augustine to intercede for them.

and he

The

letter is interesting because it gives a contemporary pagan idea of a bishop. Nectarius recognises that the offence will be punished very severely if dealt with accord" But a bishop is guided ing to the laws of the State. another law. His duty is to promote the welfare of by
1

Letter

17,

A.D. 390.

2

Letter 90. 

48

THE LETTERS OF

ST.

AUGUSTINE

men, to interest himself in any case only for the benefit of the parties, and to obtain for other men the pardon of their sins at the hand of Almighty God." Nectarius that compensation must be made. He acknowledges He is moved by a deeply patriotic deprecates retaliation.
spirit

and loves
this

his country.

appeal Augustine replied commending the writer's 1 patriotic zeal; but insisting that the highest form of patriotism is that which is concerned for a He criticises the contrast nation's eternal destinies. between the Pagan moralists and the morals of the pagan religion points out, as he does in the work on The City of God, the effect of the Pagan legends on the morals of young men quotes to this effect from the plays of Terence urges the inconsistency of imitating Cato rather than Jupiter in the daily conduct while worshipping Jupiter rather than Cato in the temples and insists on the blindness of worshipping in the temples
; ; ; ;

To

ridiculed in the theatres. Nectarius is increasingly anxious the older he becomes to leave his country in prosperity, let the people be converted to the true worship of God. Augustine quotes Nectarius's ideal of the conduct appropriate for a bishop, and proceeds to give his It was on version of the facts during the recent riot. the ist of June, a Pagan festival, when a Pagan mob attacked the church at Calama with stones, attempted to set it on fire, killed one of the Christians, while the Bishop only escaped by concealment in some hole where the invaders failed to find him, although he could hear Meanwhile the their expressions of disappointed rage. secular authorities of the town did nothing to keep the
is

what
If

peace.

Augustine had himself visited the town since the outHe assures Nectarius rage and addressed the Pagans. that the concern of the Church is for the souls of the
1

Letter 91. 

LETTERS ON PAGANISM
Pagans.
pensation.

49

As

for the loss Christians will seek

no com-

If justice is to be done to these outbursts of Pagan violence it must be remembered that they were suffering from the suppressive enactments of the State, and the In the year 400 the aggressive movement of the Church. great Pagan Temple at Carthage was closed by imperial Augustine himself in a letter (Letter 232, authority. of the Pagan Temples in Africa being closed, 3) speaks or ruinous, or destroyed, or converted to other uses their statues of the deities being broken or burnt or destroyed. It was ttu's destructive policy which provoked retaliation. In the colony of Suffectana in Augustine's diocese As a conChristians destroyed the statue- of Hercules. sequence sixty members of the Church were massacred by the infuriated Pagan populace. Augustine wrote promising to restore this emblem of Pagan religion.
;

"Gold, metals, and marble, shall all be supplied them. Will they please restore to the Church the sixty souls who have been massacred." (Letter 50.) Sometimes a Pagan Temple was converted to Christian purposes, sometimes a portion was incorporated in the Church, or a church was built upon the foundation of
the older building. 1

The Pagan had powerful incentives before his eyes for exasperation as he passed along the familiar places of his town, and saw the ancient religious landmarks completely revolutionised while he remained unconverted. Augustine was conscious enough, and told the Pagans so in a letter, that it was one thing to remove the statues from the temples, another thing to remove them from
their hearts.

Sometimes Augustine deals with difficulties which Christianity presented to the Pagan mind. There is a letter 2 dealing with six questions raised by
1
2

Cf. Leclercq, LAfrique Chrettenne, II 87-88. Letter 102, A.D. 408. 

50

THE LETTERS OF

ST.

AUGUSTINE

Pagans, which illustrates the sort of criticism then made on Christianity. The letter came from Carthage. The
subjects are, the Resurrection of Christ the late period at which the Christian religion arose the objection raised by Christians to Pagan sacrifice while Christians practise rites which are essentially similar misconceptions of Christ's teaching on retribution difficulty in believing the doctrine that God has a Son exposition of the Book of Jonah. The subjects are as miscellaneous and ill-assorted as in a modern popular gathering of the sceptically disposed. Augustine sent his reply in the form of a letter to the
; ; ;
; ;

priest Deogratias.

1

confusion existed in the minds of inquirers between the raising of Lazarus and the Resurrection of Christ. They were not clear which of these two represented the Christian doctrine of the future resurrection. Augustine had no difficulty in explaining the distinction. The Pagan criticism 2 on the late arrival of Christianity among religions was ably put by Porphyry. If Christ is the Way and the Truth and the Life, what of the men who lived in the centuries before Christ came ? It is no answer to say that they possessed the religion of the for that religion was of late beginning, and Jews when it came was long confined to a narrow corner of
:

Much

Syria.

these criticisms on the newness of Christianity, 3 that from the very beginning of the human race men believed in the Word of God by

To

Augustine replied

coming and were undoubtedly saved through Him. The pre-Christian ages looked forward to His appearing the Christian ages look back to it. Thus religion adopted one sacrificial form corresponding to the period of anticipation and another for the period
anticipating His
;
;

of retrospect. But the principle of faith in the Word of God was the same, and the Salvation was the same.
1

Letter 102.

2

Letter 102,

8.

3

Letter 102,

11. 

LETTERS ON PAGANISM
Moreover there
of
is
1

51

human

history,

such a thing as Providential control by which the form of religion is

adapted to the stage of

human

progress.
2

Augustine

was providentially withheld from those times and places where men were Men are more disposed not prepared to believe in it.
further suggests that Christianity

opinions than to yield themselves This is exactly the weakness of human nature. Augustine is never tired of urging what his personal experience accentuated, that the incapacity of human intelligence must find its refuge in divinely
to trust their
to Divine authority.

human

given truth. Nevertheless, it must never be forgotten that truth has been revealed to men (sometimes more obviously, sometimes more obscurely) from the very beginning of the human race. Augustine holds that revelation of truth has never been withheld from any who was saving worthy of it. How Augustine harmonised these comprehensive propositions with the Predestinarian severities of his later career, or with his doctrine of the scanty number of the The great writer had a way elect, is not quite obvious. of flinging out separate aspects of truth and leaving them unreconciled. Hence it is so often possible to quote him in contradictory directions. But while the austere propositions are remembered, the larger and more merciful, not to say more just, ought not to be
to the criticism on Jonah and the whale, Augustine observes that ridicule on the subject comes inappropriately from a Pagan who believes miraculous incidents equally startling of such persons as Apollonius of Tyana. The Bishop has no doubt that it is literally
true.

forgotten. In reply

He

detailed criticisms have
1

concludes by remarking that to delay faith until all been solved is to reverse the
Letter 102,
13.
a

Letter 102,

14. 

52

THE LETTERS OF

ST.

AUGUSTINE

true order.

only be ended by

For there are many difficulties which can faith. Otherwise life will be ended

before faith begins.

Augustine's correspondents we find a young requests the Bishop to send him explanation of a number of passages in Cicero. The young man

man who l

Among

was frankly concerned to get a reputation for scholarly attainments. He received in reply a letter of very considerable length, in thirty-four sections, containing many remarks of a sort which he had neither desired nor expected. Augustine was greatly distressed at the man's vanity, and charged him with being more young
concerned for reputation than for knowledge. Did he suppose that bishops had nothing better to do than write comments on Cicero? Very unpalatable remarks followed on the emptiness of human praise and the
futility

of ambition.

Let the young
criticisms

man

picture himself with his Ciceronian

What and his inquiries satisfied. 2 then? Then he would gain the reputation of being a learned man. But what then ? These criticisms are not the fundamental problems of human life. Augustine
solved
is

clear that young Dioscorus sees things out of all The essential thing is the Way of Salvaproportion. There is no necessity for tion, the Christian Truth. Dioscorus to teach men the Dialogues of Cicero. knowledge of controversial errors is of service to the teacher of Christian truth because it enables him to answer objections and remove difficulties. But the main thing is the knowledge of the truth. Augustine seems to have felt that his correspondent was wasting his time on obsolete speculations and philosophical objections which no living person adopted. Dioscorus must learn not to be ashamed to say he does not know. Augustine quotes the example of Themistocles. Themistocles at the feast when asked to sing or play, replied that he

A

1

Letter 118, A.D. 410.

2

Letter 118,

11. 

LETTERS ON PAGANISM

53

knew no melody. They asked him, What then did he know ? He answered, " I know how to make a small
Republic great."

many minor

matters,

Let Dioscorus be prepared to say of I do not know. If asked, What

then do you know ? let him reply, I know how a man without this knowledge can be blessed. So Augustine discovers what is the secret of a blessed What is the highest good ? The answer must be life. found either in the body, or in the soul, or in God. Hereupon follows a disquisition on philosophic and Christian schools of thought, much on the lines of the sermon preached by Augustine on S. Paul at Athens

(Sermon

150).

1 highest good is not to be found in the body, for is the body's superior. It would be senseless the soul to assert that the body is superior to the soul. The soul does not receive the highest good from the body. Not to see this is to be blinded by sensual pleasure. Neither is the highest good to be found in the soul. 2 Otherwise the soul would never be wretched. Moreover At one time it is foolish, at the soul is changeable. It cannot find the final good in itself. another wise. Consequently, by elimination of these two, it follows that the supreme good must be found in God God the
:

The

immutable.
nists. 3

Here, as constantly, Augustine commends the PlatoIt would not require many changes of ideas to
Christians.

make them

here comes the famous passage 4 in commendaone of the noblest sentences ever tion of Humility written in praise of that most distinctively Christian Virtue. Dwelling on the thought, What is the way to reach the truth ? Augustine writes " the second, In that way the first part is humility humility the third, humility and this I would continue
:
:

And

;

:

;

1

3

Letter 118, Letter 118,

2

14. 21.

4

Letter 118, 15. Letter 118, | 22. 

54

THE LETTERS OF

ST.

AUGUSTINE
;

to repeat as often as you might ask direction not that there are no other instructions which may be given, but because, unless humility precede, accompany, and follow every good action which we perform, being at once the object which we keep before our eyes, the support to which we cling, and the monitor by which we are restrained, any good work on which we are congratulating ourselves is wholly wrested from our hand by
*

pride."

This Christian Virtue of Humility is a necessary consequence of the Incarnation. Our Lord was humiliated in order to teach humility. And here Augustine, in spite of his deprecatory remarks on classical studies, shows a thorough knowledge of Cicero's opinions on the nature of the Deity, and contrasts the Christian doctrine of the personal Word of God, a doctrine which none could realise unless God revealed it. Then after an acute criticism on Democritus and the 2 theory of the fortuitous concourse of atoms, Augustine asks his correspondent Dioscorus to consider whether any method would be better adapted for the enlightenment of the human race than the Incarnation. 3 For in the Incarnation the Truth itself clothed itself in Manhood (et ipsius in terris personam gerens), taught the ideal, and realised the idea4 in Divine deeds. By assent to the authority of the Incarnate One we escape from the reign of perplexity into the atmosphere of pure and
perfect truth.

Then with a reference to Plotinus, or rather to his disciples at Rome, the letter closes with an acknowledgment that he has answered some of Dioscorus's inquiries,
and deliberately set many aside, and doubtless treated him otherwise than his correspondent desired, but in a manner which he will appreciate as he matures. The
1

2

Letter 118, Letter 118,

22,

Cunninghams

translation,
3

i.

109.
32.

28-31.

Letter 118, 

LETTERS ON PAGANISM
tine

55

whole reply would have been impossible had not Augusbeen at a distance from Hippo recruiting himself after an illness. Another supporter of the old Pagan religion is met in the person of Volusian. Volusian was a man of distinction, education, and influence, who had succeeded in frustrating many a conversion to Christianity. Volusian's mother was a Christian, and she begged the Tribune Marcellinus to bring what influence he could to bear upon her son. Volusian had come across Augustine and conversed with him on the subject of Volusian was evidently much impressed, 1 and religion. afterwards wrote a letter to the Bishop in which, with much deference and profession of admiration for the Bishop's eloquence, he propounds certain criticisms on
the doctrine of the Incarnation. That the Lord of the Universe should have passed through the process of human beginnings and have been born of a Virgin, and have passed through the successive stages of infancy, childhood, adolescence, and maturity, is to his mind utterly inconceivable. The absence of the Deity from His proper throne is quite incredible. Augustine's ability imposes on him the obligation of a solution to these difficulties. Ignorance may exist in other priests without detriment to their religious functions, but when Augustine is approached there is no room for ignorance to exist. VVith which elaborate

compliment
begging him

his letter closes.

had written 2 privately to Augustine answer Volusian's criticisms. To Volusian's inquiries Augustine accordingly replies, 3
Marcellinus
to
if

is so profound a man studies it from early youth to decrepit old age, with the concentration of all his powers, it may still be truly said that when he has finished he has only

insisting first that the Christian doctrine

that

begun. Volusian
*

is

bidden

first
2

to

understand what
3

the

Letter 135.

A. 0.412.

Letter 136.

Letter 137.

A. 0.412. 

56

THE LETTERS OF
is.

ST.

AUGUSTINE

Christian doctrine

The

doctrine of the Incarnation

does not mean that the Person Who became Man * and was born of a Virgin abandoned the direction of the Universe, or was limited to the space of an infant's body. God cannot be estimated by physical dimensions. He is not contained in space like water, or air, or light. He comes without departing whence He was, and 2 departs without abandoning whence He came. If the human mind marvels at these propositions and is disposed to discredit them, Augustine advises Volusian to consider the marvels involved in the relations of body

and
is.

spirit in himself, and how totally inexplicable it all let him be prepared for the probability of

And

greater mysteries in Deity. Thus, in Augustine's view, the narrow limits of our knowledge of ourselves, which is not infrequently urged as a proof of our incapacity for any real knowledge of God, should rather lead us to accept on the authority of revelation, facts in the Godhead which we could not otherwise ascertain. If our human limitations are an argument against knowledge they are an incentive to faith. It is instructive to notice that Augustine draws exactly the opposite inference to that which is commonly drawn from the acknowledged fact of our limitations. God comes by self-manifestation. He departs by But He is present whether manifest self-concealment. or concealed. 3 Thus there are no such consequences involved in Incarnation as Volusian supposes. As to the mysterious nature of Incarnation and of the Virgin Birth, "if the reason of this event is required, it would cease to be If a parallel is demanded, it would cease miraculous. to be unique." Augustine was afterwards challenged for this statement. He explained that he did not mean

Deus infusus carni. Letter 137. Novit ubique totus esse, et nullo contineri loco novit venire non recedendo uti erat novit abere non deserendo quo venerat.
2
;

1

;

3

J,etter 137,

7. 

LETTERS ON PAGANISM

57

by this statement that a miracle is an event which has no reason. " I said this," he wrote, " not because the event was without a reason, but because the reason of it is concealed." "Let it be granted that (Letter 1 6 1.) God is able to do what transcends our comprehension." Further he maintains Mary's perpetual Virginity. The gradual transition of Christ through the stages of human life was a necessity of His Mediation. 1 Had it been otherwise the inference must have been the unreality of His Manhood. 2 Some, observes Augustine, insist on demanding an explanation of the manner in which God was blended with Man 3 to make One Person in Christ. As if they were able to explain what is of daily occurrence the manner in which body and soul are blended to make one person in man. Accordingly, the great writer tells Volusian what InIt is essentially that the Word of carnation means. 4 God took Manhood (suscepit hominem) and made Himself one with it: equal to the Father according to His Divinity, and less than the Father according to the Flesh. We notice here, as so often, phrases which are almost identical with the Athanasian formula. 5 This action of the Word of God occurred at the time which He knew to be most appropriate and had eternally
:

determined.

The two main purposes of the Incarnation are in Augustine's view Instruction and Strength (Magisterium Adjutorium). i. Enlightenment, instruction, came by Christ. Truths, indeed, had been already before the Incarnation taught to men partly by the sacred Prophets, partly also by Pagan philosophers and poets, who mingled much truth with elements which are false. But the Incarnation confirmed what was true by God's own authority.
;
:

1

3
4

Letter 137, Letter 137. Letter 137,

9.

2 u. Letter 137, Deus homini permixtus sit. Quomodo 5

12.

Cf. esp. the Treatise

on the Trinity. 

58

THE LETTERS OF

ST.

AUGUSTINE

Although the Truth before He became incarnate presented Himself to all who were capable of receiving truth. 2. But not only is enlightenment a purpose of the The other main purpose is strength or Incarnation.
For without help. desires.
"

grace no one can overcome

evil

If objectors urge that the authority of Christ was not shown with sufficient distinctness above the miraculous

powers which existed under the Jewish dispensation," Augustine points to the Virgin Birth, the Resurrection, and the Ascension, as the supreme instances, unparalleled
manifestations of power. Augustine here draws a brilliant outline of the preThe call of Abraham, parations for Christ in history. the selection of Israel, its training, its discipline, its failings, and its receptiveness down to the Incarnation of Christ. Prophets, priesthood, sacrifices, and the Temple or sacred signs of that itself, were all Sacraments

crowning event.

To these preparations succeeded the realisation. His life, words, deeds, suffering, death Christ appeared. and Resurrection and Ascension, correspond and fulfil the Then came the descent of the Spirit and anticipations. the work of the Church. Augustine describes in eloquent terms the Church's growth and influence, the opposition of the Pagan world, and the strange evidential position of the Jews. The chosen people dethroned, dispersed, carrying everywhere their sacred books which are evidences to the truth of Christianity. They are the Church's librarians, bearing the books which are only explicable in the light of Christianity. The very heresies which oppose the name of Christ do in reality support that against which they contend. Thus everything converges and contributes to verify the truth of the Catholic Religion. This remarkable letter, written in the year 412, was produced while the writer's mind was full of his great reply to Paganism which appeared later in the work on
. 

LETTERS ON PAGANISM
The City of God.

59

The letter to Volusian has been as an outline or preliminary sketch of rightly regarded that masterly production.

When Augustine had been a bishop some years he received a curious letter of friendly congratulation from the Pagans of Madaura, a place familiar to the readers of the Confessions as the school where he was placed in Madaura preparation for higher studies at Carthage. was near to Hippo. It was the place from which he had to be withdrawn owing to the narrow resources 1 of The Pagans of Madaura evidently wanted his family.
to conciliate this powerful opponent, and fellow-countryman, the Christian Bishop. They addressed him in phrases which had a Christian sound, wished him eternal

the Lord, and added, wish that for many years your lordship may always, in the midst of your clergy, be glad in God and His Christ." 2 he Augustine in his reply declares that at first himself reading a letter composed by Christians, thought and supposed that the people of Madaura had become converted. He objected greatly to their misleading use of Christian expressions. Referring to the closing of the Pagan sanctuaries by the laws of the Emperor Honorius, he told them that Paganism was more easily excluded
salvation
in

"

We

from their temples than from their hearts. 3 to Augustine appealed to the dispersion of the Jews the marvellous rise and extension of Christianity to the fulfilment of predictions with regard to heresies and schisms from the Christian society to the Apostolic Sees and the succession of bishops to the overthrow of idols to the Pagan temples falling into ruin and neglect
; ;
; ; ;

;

to the State accepting the religion of men who died for the truth the chief of the noblest empire in the world laying aside his crown and kneeling as a suppliant at the tomb of the fisherman Peter.
;

1

Confessions, II.

5, p.

154.

2

Letter 232,

p.

1279.

3

Letter 232,

3. 

60

THE LETTERS OF

ST.

AUGUSTINE

Augustine assures these unfortunate Pagans, who after were only maintaining the religion of their fathers, that not one of them will be able in the last judgment
all

to plead anything in defence of his unbelief. He tells them that they cannot avoid mentioning the name of Christ. The Pagan flatterer and the Christian worship" Christianus venerator, et per both repeat the name paganus adulator" but they will have to give account for their use of it. After these warnings as to their spiritual peril, 1
:

;

Augustine proceeds to give an exposition of the Christian doctrine of the Trinity and of the Incarnation. The Incarnation is represented 2 as the supreme revelation of lowliness and of gentleness, and therefore the remedy for human pride and violence. God subduing us by persuasion, not by force, through the amazing act of Divine condescension. They are not bidden to contemplate an imperial Christ, nor a wealthy Christ, nor a prosperous Christ, but a Crucified Christ. For there is nothing more powerful than the humility of God. Then the letter closes with an appeal to the people of Madaura as his fellow-citizens who have given him this opportunity of speaking to Pagans something concerning
Christ.
It was. the Pagan people themselves who made this overture and gave the Bishop his opportunity. At other times Augustine himself took the initiative. 3 find him writing to ask Longinian, a Pagan philosopher, what he thought concerning Christ. That the philosopher regards Christ with reverence he is aware. What

We

he desires to know
this letter is

is

whether Longinian regards Christ's

teaching as the only

way

to a blessed

life.

The

date of

unknown.
in

an interesting reply, 4 gives the contemporary Pagan view. He writes with evident emLonginian,
1

3

Letter 232, Letter 233.

2
'

5.

.

4

Letter 232, Letter 234.

6. 

LETTERS ON PAGANISM
barrassment.

61

For Paganism

is

now discountenanced by

imperial law. Longinian is himself a Platonist and a The approach to God is through believer in God. righteous acts and words. And by aid of the lesser divinities whom the Christians call Angels, men are There is intended to reach the one ineffable Creator. need for this purpose of purification and of expiation, of self-discipline and self-control. But as to the Christ by whom Augustine and the Christians feel themselves sure to reach the supreme Father of all, Longinian confesses he is perplexed, he knows not what to say. He has great regard for

Augustine, and his religious aspirations. Longinian's answer encouraged Augustine to write 1 again, partly on account of the philosopher's cautious attitude of suspense. He rejoiced that Longinian would neither rashly assent nor deny anything concerning He rejoices that Longinian is willing to read Christ. what Augustine has written on the subject. There is one point, however, on which he desires further discussion. Longinian maintains that purification by sacred rites, expiation by sacrifice, is part of the way of approach to the one Father of the gods. But if a man requires to be purified by sacrifice, then he is not yet pure; and if he is not yet pure, he is not living the
righteous
life. Augustine desires to know what place Longinian assigns to sacrificial cleansing in the development of a religious life. It Longinian's reply unfortunately does not exist.

not escape the reader how keenly Augustine seizes on the central question of expiation, as a Pagan acknowledgment of personal imperfection and of human how he passes inability to reach the Divine unaided by subordinate interests, and fixes attention on the one subject which seems to promise best a way to
will
;

appreciate Christian principles.
1

Letter 235. 

62

THE LETTERS OF

ST.

AUGUSTINE

letter of Augustine's to Bishop Deuterius * shows us something of the intrusion of non-Christian principles into the Church. It appears that a certain sub-deacon named Victorinus, a man advanced in years, was secretly an adherent of the Manichaean heresy. Augustine had deposed him on his own admission. Victorinus was a Manichaean of the preliminary class called " Hearers." He had not been admitted to be one of the " Elect." Augustine's object in mentioning this to Deuterius is to warn him against admitting Victorinus among his penitents. Augustine further takes the opportunity of explaining to Deuterius the main He informs him that the practices of the Manichaeans. Hearers are permitted to eat flesh and to marry, neither of which things are permitted to the Elect. They say prayers to the sun and the moon, they fast on the Lord's Day, they deny the doctrine of the Virgin Birth and the They neither believe in reality of the Incarnation. the Passion nor in the Resurrection. They hold that the Jewish Law is a product of the Prince of Darkness. They believe that animals as well as men have souls, and that souls are a part of God. They hold that the good and the evil principles have become intermingled and confused that the good is to be liberated by the wholesome action of the sun and the moon, and that such part of the Divine nature as cannot be extricated from this confusion will be condemned for ever.
;

A

1

Letter 236. 

CHAPTER
A
LETTER
to

III

LETTERS ON THE DOCTRINE OF GOD
Nebridius 1 is important because it shows that the problems of the doctrine of the Trinity, which were afterwards to mature in Augustine's wonderful treatise, were already occupying his mind some two years afier his conversion. Already he was discussing how to reconcile the inseparability of the Persons in the Trinity with the fact that the Son alone became
incarnate.

Pascentius set himAugustine at a conference in Carthage, where he assembled a number of leading people. Augustine demanded that shorthand writers should be admitted in order to secure an accurate report of the discussion. 2 Pascentius objected to this, apparently on the ground that it was not legal for a person in his official position. Accordingly the proceedings had to be of a private nature. They were, as might be expected,
self in opposition to

Count Pascentius was an Arian the Catholic belief, and exerted clergy of the less instructed sort.

who boldly attacked much influence over

utterly unsatisfactory.

In an account of the incident, 3 Augustine complains that Pascentius propounded propositions to which he did not adhere made dogmatic statements in the morning and changed the wording in the afternoon. When the discussion began, Count Pascentius affirmed faith in God the Father Almighty unbegotten, and in
;

1 3

Letter n, A.D. 389. Letter 238.
63

2

Vita, auctore Possidio,

19. 

64

THE LETTERS OF

ST,

AUGUSTINE

Jesus Christ His Son, God born before the ages, by Whom all things were made and in the Holy Spirit. Augustine on hearing this replied that he was prepared to endorse this statement of faith. Pascentius then proceeded to denounce l the use of the term Homoousion, and to require to be shown that it was a scriptural expression. Augustine claimed that the proper course would be first to ascertain what the expression means, and then to consider whether it could be found in the Scriptures. For men ought to contend for principles and not for words. However, as Pascentius refused to allow this course, Augustine asked whether the phrase which Pascentius himself had formulated, that the Father is unbegotten, can be found in Scripture. And if it could, whether Pascentius would kindly indicate the passage. To this u it was replied, Do you then believe that the Father " " was begotten ? Augustine answered No." To which " Then if He is not begotten He his opponent replied,
;

Augustine thereupon rejoined, see then that a reason may be given to justify similar the use of a term which is not in Scripture." 2 justification may be made for the term Homoousion. The Arians could not answer this. But in the Conference in the afternoon they withdrew their own expression that the Father was unbegotten, and called on
"

must be unbegotten."

You

A

Augustine to formulate

his

own

belief.

But Augustine

insisted that they must deal with Pascentius's own declaPascentius accordingly repeated his principles, ration.

but omitted the terms employed before about the Father. This of course made any definite di'scussion hopeless. Pascentius then descended to personalities about Augustine's intellectual reputation. The meeting broke

up having accomplished nothing. Augustine subsequently sent Pascentius an exposition
1

Letter 238,

2

4.

Letter 238,

5. 

LETTERS ON THE DOCTRINE OF GOD

65

of the Catholic Belief. 1 Here he expressed his faith in the One God and the Only Begotten Son, and in the 2 both of God the Father and Spirit Who is the Spirit of His Only Begotten Son. The Scripture phrase, "Who 3 only hath immortality," applies not only to the Father but also to the Son and to the Holy Spirit. The Father and the Son are one God. As Christ " I and my Father are One." FatherHimself said hood and Sonship are relative attributes. 4 But the Substance of the Godhead is One. Father, Son and 5 The Holy Spirit are not three Gods, but one God. Son of Man and the Son of God are identical. This is only another way of affirming the Incarnation. 6 The
:

Lord, thy God, is one Lord. But when S. Thomas " exclaimed " My Lord and my God Christ, so far from rebuking him, commended him for He answered, " Because thou hast seen Me thou hast believed." Thus the Father is Lord and God the Son also is Lord and God and yet the Lord thy God is one Lord. "To us there is but one God, the Father and one Lord Jesus Christ" (i Cor. viii. 5, 6).
!

;

;

;

.

.

.

And

the

changing what He was, but by assuming what He was not. 7 Moreover, the Father was never without His Son any more than the eternal light can be without its 8 The generation of the Son must be eternal. brightness. Augustine informs Pascentius that this is his faith.

Son of God became the Son of Man, not by

As to the claim that Pascentius has refuted Augustine, the real question is whether the Homoousion is refuted. 9 It is easy for men to ridicule a great word which they do not understand. But let them look at the Scripture words " I and my Father are One." What else can that mean but that they are of one and the same substance?
:

1
3
5

7

9

Letter Letter Letter Letter Letter

238, 238, 258, 238, 238,

10.

2 4 6 8

n.
16.

21.
28.

Letter Letter Letter Letter

238, 238, 238, 238,

10.
14. 18.

24. 

66

THE LETTERS OF

ST.

AUGUSTINE

tius

1 Augustine wrote a second letter, reminding Pascenhow greatly the Arian had changed the wording of

his profession of faith.

" was, I believe in God the Father first of the creatures before all other creatures and in the Son Who is neither equal to the Father nor like Him nor true God and in the Holy Spirit Who was made after the Son and by the Son." If this is Pascenttus's Creed, Augustine desires to know how he proposes to defend it out of the Scriptures ? The other version was, " I believe in God the Father Almighty, invisible, immortal, unbegotten, of are all things; and in His Son Jesus Christ, God born all things were made. before the ages, by And in the Holy Spirit." This version Augustine can accept. It appears that the Arian was prepared to believe in the Virgin Birth. To these letters Count Pascentius wrote a short 2 contemptuous reply, in which he expresses regret that Augustine has not abandoned his errors, but makes no attempt to discuss either Augustine's faith or his own. All he does is to throw out a question. If there are Three, which of them is God ? Or is there una persona triformis ? Augustine hastens to reply that he does not maintain a triformis persona. There is one form because there

One version of it Who made the Son
;

;

Whom

Whom

is

one Deity.
It

is curious that in these letters Augustine says nothing of the psychological and moral arguments which involve a Trinity, and which occupy so important a

place in the Bishop's great treatise on this doctrine. What was the outcome of the correspondence is unknown. It may have served some purpose in supporting Catholics at Carthage. thoughtful correspondent named Consentius sent for Augustine's inspection and revision an outline of

A

1

Letter 239.

3

Letter 240. 

LETTERS ON THE DOCTRINE OF GOD
his ideas
in
1

67

about the Trinity. He held that the truth things divine was rather to be perceived by faith than by reason. For if the Doctrine of the Church was derived from the discussions of reason rather than from the assent of faith, Religion would be rather the privilege of the philosophic few than of the unlearned many. But since God was pleased to choose the weak things of this world whereby to confound the strong, and to save believers by the foolishness of the Christian preaching, it was clear that we were not so much to depend on reason as on the authority of the saints.
tinctions

Consentius thereupon proceeded to propound disbetween the Divine Substance and the Divine

Persons.

him

in reply observes 2 that Consentius asks to discuss the oneness of the Deity and the disYet Consentius himself urges tinctions of the persons. that we ought rather to follow the authority of the Saints than the inference of reason. But if the stress is

Augustine

on authority why should Consentius Augustine for reasons? The truth is, that both faith and reason have their function. Let him hold the doctrine by faith, and endeavour to apprehend it by reason. God does not endow us with reason withthus to be
laid

appeal to

out intending it to be used. 3 The exercise of faith a rational intelligence. Faith comes first presupposes because there are things which reason cannot as yet perceive. But reason must be exercised on the contents of faith. There are things concerning which a rational 4 not because it does not explanation cannot be given Faith exist, but because we have not yet discovered it. prepares the mind for intellectual appreciation. Contemplating therefore the doctrine of the Trinity in the light of these presuppositions, we are not to shrink from the use of reason but only from its abuses.
;

1

3

Letter 119. Letter 120,

2 *

3.

Letter 120. Letter 120,

5. 

68

THE LETTERS OF

ST.

AUGUSTINE

the theory that the Son is inferior to the Father not to be rejected because it is rationalising but because it is false reasoning. 1 To avoid false reasoning it is essential to rid the mind of material and spacial analogies. 2 The Trinity is not to be conceived as three individuals in spacial juxtaNor is the Divinity to be regarded as a position. Nor are the Three fourth element beyond the Trinity. Persons to be regarded as existing nowhere but in Heaven while the Deity itself is regarded as everywhere All these theories are to be completely present.

Thus
is

abandoned and

What

is

dispelled. to be maintained

is

this:

that the Father

and the Son and the Holy Spirit are the Trinity and 3 that there is not a fourth element of yet one God
;

the Trinity. All corporeal similitudes are to be avoided, rejected and cast out. Augustine warns against the danger of materialistic conceptions of Deity by a string of imperatives abige, abnue, nega, And this rejection of the false is respice, abjice, fuge. a great step towards acceptance of the true. For it is no small beginning of the Knowledge of God if, before

Deity

in addition to

:

we can know what He
is

is,

we begin

to

know what He

not.

And further, the theory which locates the substance of the Father exclusively in Heaven, 4 while it ascribes ubiquity to the Deity as if the Trinity were localised and material, while the Deity was everywhere present
;

this theory is to be unquestionably incorporeal repudiated. The true doctrine is that the Father and the Son and For it is the Holy Spirit is a Trinity and is one God. inseparably of one and the same substance, or more 5 There is no other essence of God properly, essence. beside the Trinity.

as

;

1

3
5

Letter 120, Letter 120, Letter 120,

6.

2

13.

4

Letter 120, Letter 120,

7.

16.

17. 

LETTERS ON THE DOCTRINE OF GOD

69

Materialistic conceptions of God's Nature appear to have been popular in Africa among Churchmen as well as beyond the Church's limits. Augustine wrote several times on the Vision of God, insisting that God cannot either here or hereafter be seen by bodily eyes. It appears that a certain African bishop was greatly offended by a letter in which Augustine refuted such materialistic

views.

Augustine

in a characteristic letter

1

to

Bishop

Fortunatianus requests the recipient to intervene in his behalf with the offended person, asking his forgiveness for any want of consideration in the letter which, howThe substance ever, he does not regret having written. of his former teaching on the Vision of God is reinforced and supported by quotations from Ambrose from Jerome, whom he calls holy and a man of God from Athanasius and finally from a writing, which Augustine ascribes to Gregory, a holy Eastern bishop, but which "as a fact appears to have been a Latin
;

;

;

composition mistakenly incorporated among Gregory Nazianzen's genuine discourses. 2 Augustine writes earnestly warning against the anthropomorphic tendencies of the popular theology. The entire physical terminology of Scripture by which God is represented must be interpreted in an allegorical way. Thus, the Wings of God signify Protection and the Hands of God, His Working and the Eyes of God, His Knowledge. This interpretation, Augustine
;
;

assures his reader,
his

is traditional and no invention of own. 3 This leads him to dwell on the difference between the

authority of Scripture and the authority of Catholic expositors. " The reasonings of any men whatsoever, even though they be Catholics, and of high reputation, are not to be treated by us in the same way as the Canonical Scriptures are treated. We are at liberty, without doing
1

Letter 148, A.D. 413.

2

cf. p.

3

15.

Letter 148,

13. 

70

THE LETTERS OF

ST.

AUGUSTINE

any violence to the respect which these men deserve, to condemn and reject anything in their writings, if perchance we shall find that they have entertained opinions differing from that which others or we ourselves have, by the Divine help, discovered to be the truth. I deal thus with the writings of others, and I wish my
intelligent readers to deal thus with mine."
1

here comes a remarkable passage on the Resurrec" As tion Body of Christians. 2 to the spiritual body which we shall have in the resurrection, how great a change for the better it is to undergo whether it shall become pure spirit, so that the whole man shall then be a spirit, or shall (as I rather think, but do not yet confidently affirm) become a spiritual body in such a way as to be called spiritual because of a certain ineffable facility in its movements, but at the same time to retain its material substance," Augustine confesses that he had not read anything sufficiently established to be made the basis of instruction. It This last paragraph deserves serious attention. was written about the year 413. It is incomparably less materialistic and less confident than the teaching given in the closing books of the work on the City of
:

And

God (De Civ. Dei, XXII. 12 ff. p. 1077). There is an openness of mind and a cautiousness of expression in the The letter which is sadly lacking in the later treatise. final book on the City of God was probably written some twelve years later than the letter, but it reveals a harder doctrine contrasting unfavourably with the
passage here.
In the City of God Augustine considers that the measure of the stature of Christ is the physical height to which those who died in infancy will grow. Evodius, Augustine's friend, frequently sent the Bishop strings of questions to explain. Out of one one concerning the series Augustine selected two
:

1

2

Letter 148, Letter 148,

15.

Cunningham's translation.

16. 

LETTERS ON THE DOCTRINE OF GOD
a

71

Holy Trinity, another concerning the appearance of Dove at the Baptism of our Lord. 1 This letter is also of interest owing to the information
about
the
tells

it

Evodius that he has now finished the first five books of the treatise on the City of God. Thesa five are an answer to those who consider that Pagan divinities are to be worshipped for the sake of advantages in the present world. He will next proceed to answer those who maintain that Pagan divinities are to be worshipped for the sake of advantages in the world He has also dictated three expositions on the to come. Psalms, and is being pressed urgently to dictate more. Meanwhile the books on the Trinity which have been long in hand are still delayed. Augustine thinks
they will not be intelligible to many persons. More widely useful works may, therefore, rightly take precedence. Augustine begins by correcting a misapprehension by Evodius of a text in S. Paul. Evodius applies the words: " He that is ignorant shall be ignored" (i Cor. xiv. 38), to those who are unable to discern the unity of
the Trinity in the same manner as the unity of memory, understanding, and will in the human soul is discussed. Augustine advises Evodius to consult the original passage again. He will then realise that the reference is to persons who caused disorder by their insubordinate use of spiritual gifts within the Church. Such persons should be ignored, that is rejected.
2 against supplying Augustine warns Evodius

gives labours.

progress of

Augustine's

literary

He

this

If sentence to persons of small intellectual insight. Christ died only for the intellectually discerning, the labour of the Church is almost in vain. The fact is, that throngs of simple-minded folk without much intellectual power crowd in to the Great Physician and are cured by the Crucified while some, who pride
:

1

Letter 169, A.D. 415.

-

Letter 169,

4. 

72

THE LETTERS OF

ST.

AUGUSTINE
wander
far

themselves on their intellectual

ability,
life.

away

from the path that leads to eternal
:

We must believe in concerning the Trinity is this one God, the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. At the same time we must believe " that the Son is not He Who is the Father, and the Father is not H* Who is the Son, and neither the Father nor the Son is He Who is the Spirit of both the Father and the Son." "Let no separation be imagined to exist in this Trinity but that these Three are equal either in time or space and co-eternal, and absolutely of one nature and that the creatures one and all which have been created or are being created subsist in the Trinity as their Creator not that some were created by the Father and some by
; ;
;

What, then, we Christians must firmly hold and

believe

the Son and
is

some by the Holy

Spirit

;

also that

no one

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 but by the Father, the Son and the Holy the Son Spirit, the only one true and truly immortal (that is, x Nevertheless, adds absolutely unchangeable) God."
;

Augustine, many things are said in Scripture concerning each of the Three separately, teaching us that although the Trinity is inseparable, at the same time it is a
Trinity.

Thus, at the Baptism of Christ, the Father
in

is

heard

the Voice, the Son is seen in the human nature, the The Three are Spirit in the bodily form of a Dove. but they are not separated. present separately Augustine illustrates this by the co-existence of 2 memory, understanding and will in the human soul. He warns Evodius, however, that the illustration is imperfect, for whereas these three human faculties are not the soul but exist in the soul " the Trinity does not The point of the illustration exist in God but is God."
1

Letter 169,

2

5.

Letter 169,

6. 

LETTERS ON THE DOCTRINE OF GOD
is

73

that as in

man

so in

God

the three are inseparable in

operation. In the scene at the Baptism of Christ the Voice is not 1 permanently united with the person of the Father, nor Both the the Dove with the person of the Holy Spirit. sound and the appearance passed away. It is the manhood alone (for whose deliverance the entire dispensation was brought about), which was brought into unity with the person of the Word of God, by a wondrous and unique assumption. Nevertheless the Word remains in

The human nature came Word. The Word did not come to the human nature by a process of change. Thus He continues to be the Son of God while He has assumed humanity. 2 Thus the assumption of humanity by the Word, 3 or Son of God, has made no increase in the number of the The Trinity remains a Trinity still. For just persons.
His own nature immutable.
to the as in every man, that one alone excepted assumed into union with Himself, the soul

Whom He
and body

constitute one person, so in Christ the Word and His human soul and body constitute one person. 4 This unity of person makes it possible to speak concerning the Son of God under either of the two Then it is correct natures, either as human or divine. to say that God was crucified, just as you say a philosopher dies, although that is only true of him in his body,

and not
1
2

in his

mind.
7.

Letter 169, Letter 169,

7.

liberandam ilia omnia fiebant, hoc est unici Filii Dei, mirabili est, permanente tamen Verbo
. . .

Solus homo, quia propter ipsam naturam in unitatem personae Verbi Dei,
et singular! susceptione coaptatus in sua natura incommutabiliter

Homo

autem Verbo
. .

accessit,

non Verbum

in

hominem
auctus

convertibiliter accessit
3

.

Letter 169,

8.

4

Non enim homine assumpto personarum numerus

est,

homine quolibet, praeter unum ilium qui singulariter susceptus est, anima et corpus una persona est ita in Christo Verbum et homo una persona est,
sed eadem Trinitas mansit.
;

Nam

sicut in 

74

THE LETTERS OF

ST.

AUGUSTINE
1

Towards the close of this letter Augustine informs Evodius that he has written to Jerome concerning the Jerome had maintained the creaorigin of the soul.
tionist

theory that a new soul is created at every birth. Augustine desires to be informed how this theory can be harmonised with the doctrine of original sin.

priest Orosius, was Augustine to consult him on the heresy of the Priscillianists and concerning some opinions of Origen which the Church had not accepted. Augustine induced Orosius to go to Palestine on a visit to Jerome. So he became Augustine's letter

A

studious

young Spaniard, the
on a
visit to

at this time (A.D. 415)

carrier.

The

sequel will be found in the correspondence with

Jerome. This does
occupations.

complete the list of Augustine's has also written a book against Pelagianism at the request of some of the brethren who had been led astray into that error. The book was apparently the treatise on Nature and Grace. If
not

He

Evodius wants these books Augustine advises him to send a copyist. Meanwhile for himself the great writer, evidently a little wearied, pleads to be left uninterrupted to study matters urgently necessary and in his opinion more important than some of Evodius's questions, which
are of interest to very few. There is an interesting letter written by Alypius 2 and Augustine to Maximus, a physician recently converted from the Arian heresy to the Catholic Faith, urging upon him to impart to others the truth which he now It is noteworthy that Augustine puts first the accepts. divine Unity of God. There is only one God to worship is due. Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God But divine worship is and Him only shalt thou serve. not only due to the Father, but also to the Son. And this can only be the case because both Father and Son

Whom

1

Letter 169,

2

13.

Letter 170 

LETTERS ON THE DOCTRINE OF GOD

75

are included within the Divine Unity. There is moreover the Holy Spirit to also divine worship is The Unity includes a Trinity. The Son is of due. the Substance of the Father eternal as the Father is.

Whom
;

no temporal priority. The Father was never without the Son. Augustine illustrates by the light which is co-equal with the flame. The Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son. This Trinity is of one and the same nature and It is not less in each than in all. substance. God is

There

is

neither confusedly One nor separatedly Three. (Nee confuse unum sunt, nee disjuncte tria sunt.) The letter is chiefly concerned with explaining that like generates like; 1 that the son of a man has the qualities of his father, and the Son of God the qualities of His Father. Thus the Son of God is the Father's This equality is inherent and essential. It is equal. not something subsequently acquired, as of one who,

being naturally unequal, rose to equality. Also when it is said " the Father is greater than
the reference
is

"
I

and
self.

my

to the Son as Incarnate. 2 Whereas " I " Father are One refers to the Son in His own

instruct his former associates

Augustine pleads most earnestly with the convert to and to bring them into the

Catholic Faith.

Leporius was a Gallican monk condemned by certain Bishops of his country of erroneous opinions about the Incarnation, He was sent to Hippo to be instructed by Augustine and if possible to be reclaimed. Augustine succeeded in convincing him. Leporius was ready to believe that the Word was God, but not that the Word became flesh. He denied that God was made man.

The ground
mortality

of this denial was a fear of introducing the substance of God. Incarnation seemed to him to detract from the equality of the Word
into
1

Letter 170,

8.

2

Letter 170,

9. 

76

THE LETTERS OF

ST.

AUGUSTINE

with God the Father. Augustine showed him that, in his anxiety to maintain the immortality of God, he had in reality introduced a fourth person into the Trinity. For he had elevated the Man Jesus to a level with Deity
while denying that Jesus was the Word made flesh. Augustine has explained the position very briefly, but this appears to be the essence of Leporius's view and of
his

own

reply to

it.

Augustine wrote to the Galilean Bishops, Procopius and Cylinnius, 1 certifying that Leporius was now orthodox. Leporius openly recanted his error. He is mentioned by Cassian in his work on the Incarnation, 2 and by others, with admiration, as a man of exemplary life, and was afterwards raised to the priesthood.
1
2

Letter 219, A.D. 427.

Gaume,

I.

4.

See Appendix to Augustine.

Tom. X.

p.

2398.

on the Christian doctrine concerning God should [These only be taken as an introduction to the great writer's teaching in his Confessions, in his Expositions of St. Johns Gospel, and above all in the Treatise on the Trinity^
letters 

CHAPTER

IV

LETTERS ON AFRICAN CHURCH DIVISIONS 1

To appreciate Augustine's letters on African Church Divisions it is necessary to recall the principal facts of their history prior to Augustine's time. The divisions had existed since A.D. 311. It was one of the indirect results of the Diocletian persecution in A.D. 305. In that persecution many an African The clergy were required to surrender Christian failed. their sacred books to be destroyed. Mensurius, Primate, Bishop of Carthage, instead of yielding the Scriptures, presented a quantity of heretical writing to the magistrates, who, on being informed of the Primate's subtlety, refused to allow further investigation. So Mensurius
If his measures were unheroic they were escaped. He did his utmost to discourage a fanaticism prudent. in the Church which courted danger, and provoked an ordeal which it might not have the power to endure. In these measures he was throughout supported by his

Archdeacon

Caecilian.

Now
1

there existed

among

the bishops of the Province
:

Help will be found on this subject in the following works Noris, Historia Donatistarum, ed. Ballerini. 4 Vols. Verona 1732. Morcelli, Africa Christiana, 3 Vols. 1816. Reuter, Augustinische Studien. Ribbeck, Donatismus, 1858. " Monceaux, Article L'Eglise Donatiste avant S. Augustine," in the Revue deFHistoire des Religions. July 1909. Histoire Litteraire d? ^Afrique Chretienne^ 4 Vols. 1915.
77 

78

THE LETTERS OF

ST.

AUGUSTINE

of

Numidia a long-standing jealousy of the See of Carthage, which in reality held a sort of patriarchal position without the title. The conduct of Mensurius was most unfavourably represented among the Numidian bishops. In 311 Mensurius died, and his Archdeacon Coecilian was consecrated by Felix Bishop of Aptunga, to take his place, without consulting the bishops of Numidia. But the Numidian bishops refused to acknowledge him. They assembled at Carthage and held a Council in which they complained (i) that the consecration of Caecilian was irregular because according to custom the proper consecrator of the Bishop of Carthage was the Primate of Numidia (2) that in any case Caecilian was an impossible candidate, because he was a Traditor that is, he had surrendered the Sacred Scripture to the Pagan magistrates in the days of the persecution. There is irresistible evidence that the conduct of some of Caecilian's accusers, the Numidian bishops, during that same period would not bear investigation. None the less they refused to acknowledge him, and ordered him to appear before which he refused to do. Accordingly their Council
;

;

;

they proceeded to elect another bishop for Carthage. They consecrated Majorinus, a reader of the Carthaginian Church, whose candidature was supported by the wealth and influence of a lady named Lucilla whom Bishop Caecilian had mortally offended by objecting to her devotional esteem for some questionable relics, which he regarded as little better than superstition. Majorinus was a mere figurehead, a nonentity. In a few months he died and was replaced by Donatus, a powerful, commanding personality who gave not only his influence but also his name to the Sect. Meanwhile the Emperor Constantine acknowleged Caecilian and ordered his officials to support him against the Separatists. Thereupon the Separatists appealed to the Emperor through the Proconsul at Carthage requesting Constantine to submit the dispute to a Synod of Gallican 

LETTERS ON AFRICAN CHURCH DIVISIONS

79

bishops, on the ground that such a Synod would be impartial, seeing that Gaul had been exempt from the To this appeal Constantine consented. persecution. He selected three Gallican bishops together with Pope Melchiades and other Italian bishops, making in all a Council of seventeen which was held at Rome in 313. By that Council of the Lateran Csecilian was acquitted.

From that first decision the Separatists appealed to Constantine again. They complained that in the Council in Rome no inquiry had been made into the qualifications of Caecilian's consecrator, Felix of Aptunga, whom they asserted to be also a Traditor. Accordingly Constantine ordered inquiry to be made by the Proconsul ^Elian at Carthage. ^Elian acquitted Felix of the accusation made against him. Constantine then had the whole subject brought before the Council of Aries in 314. Here for the second time Caecilian was declared to be innocent. For the third time the Separatists appealed. They now requested the Emperor to take the matter into his own hands. Accordingly Constantine decided at Milan in 316 that Caecilian was duly and regularly elected and consecrated, and was the lawful Bishop of Carthage. Constantine then attempted coercive measures to supThe usual result of coercion followed. press the Schism.
Separatists had now their persecuted and their martyrs, and the spirit of their community was intensified even to a fanatical degree. Then arose in Africa that extraordinary band of furies known as the Circumcellions, who religious terrorised the villages l and waylaid travellers with clubs and afterwards with swords, beating and wounding all Catholics who had the misfortune to come within their reach. These Agonistici consisted chiefly of the submerged element of the African population, the social failures, impecunious colonists, runaway slaves, the
1

The

Aug. Contra Ep, Parmen.
i.ff.

i.

17,

18,

and Letter

23,

6. 7.

Letter 133, 

8o

THE LETTERS OF

ST.

AUGUSTINE

able

unemployed, the discontented, who gathered in formidgroups to the destruction of social order and civilised existence (Letter 108, They robbed the 18). inhabitants and threatened their lives. They ill-treated the clergy and attacked the Churches self-constituted
:

defenders of the Donatist Communion against the ancient Church of the land. They freely shed the blood of Church-people to the glory of God. The Roman Imperial authorities in Africa were quite unequal to their task, and were dismayed by the consequences of the persecution which they had instituted. After some five years of utter distraction, hostility was suspended. In 321 Constantine allowed a contemptuous The Donatists had in reality gained their way. peace. In the Imperial vacillation promoted their increase. year 326 they were so strong that they assembled a Council of 270 Donatist bishops at Carthage so that they clearly existed in opposition to the Catholic Church in almost every place of much importance in North
;

Africa.

No Church outside Africa acknowledged them, whereas the Church over which Caecilian presided was in communion with all the ancient Churches of the World. The Donatists attempted to establish a Church in Rome, which, however, could but maintain a struggling and precarious existence on a hill and in a cave, while it set up a rival against the Roman Bishop. Elsewhere the Donatists made overtures to the Arians and for that purpose offered doctrinal reductions concerning the
Trinity.

Under the successors of Constantine fresh attempts were made by Imperial power to bring the two Churches into union, chiefly in the interests of social peace. But history does not encourage political efforts at ecclesiastical
state official, whose name became notorious unity. in Africa, Macarius, was commissioned to bring the Separatists into union with the Church by all possible means. He attempted bribery. He resorted to force.

A 

LETTERS ON AFRICAN CHURCH DIVISIONS

81

He

failed

in

both.

He

interviewed the Chief of the

Community at Carthage, but Donatus scorned his overtures. What has the Emperor, he asked, to do with
the Church ? Donatus wrote a circular to all his subordinates prohibiting all relations with the State official. An Imperial Edict of Union was issued in 347. This promoted quiet when the Donatists were weak but
;

when they were strong
at times lost self-control
result

it

intensified strife.

Macarius

and resorted to violence. The was more martyrs for the Sect. The Catholics were now nicknamed the Macarian Church. The period was long after called in Augustine's time the Macarian 1 Donatus was exiled period, the Macarian persecution. and other leaders after him. Catholics began to think that unity was restored.
Their feelings are described in the pages of the contemporary historian Optatus. But the victory was only superficial peace was but partial. Underneath the apparent quiet simmered the old resentment awaiting or rather preparing for retaliation. These were the days in which the Donatists composed their records of the Macarian persecution. The Passio Mercuti relates how
:

a Donatist bishop died. Then came the Donatist opportunity. The accession of Julian reversed all Christian prospects. In 362 he decreed that the Donatists might return, and ordered the restitution of their Churches. The scenes that followed baffle description. 2 The Agonistici revived. Retaliations everywhere occurred on the Catholic occupants of the property of which the Donatists had been for years deprived. The Reserved Sacrament in Catholic Churches was flung to the dogs, the altars scraped. Consecrated Virgins were insulted and injured, clergy were wounded and sometimes killed. The wildest and most atrocious incidents are recorded. The reign of terror ceased with Julian's death in 363,
1

Letter 87,
F

10.

Letter 49,

2

3.

Letter 105,

9. 

82

THE LETTERS OF

ST.

AUGUSTINE

after less

Gratian

than two years. Edicts of Valentinian, of and of Theodosius, were all adverse to the

Doriatist cause. 1

Such were the antecedents of the African Church divisions when Augustine entered on his priestly work. In Numidia the Separatists were exceedingly strong. In Hippo they outnumbered the Catholics. 2
Augustine's letters on the Donatist Controversy occupy a larger space than those on any other subject. They extend over thirty years (from 388 to 417). The fundamental problem of the Donatist ConWhat constitutes the Validity of a troversy is Sacrament? Does its validity depend on the personal religion of the minister ? Is the validity of a sacrament affected by its being administered beyond the limits of the one visible historic Church ? These questions were forced upon the Church by the facts of its history. very admirable discussion of the principles underlying this controversy will be found in Essays on the
:

A

Early History of the Church and the Ministry, edited by
the late Professor Swete, pp. 143-196.

There is much to be gathered from these letters on Donatism about Augustine's theory of the relation of

Roman See to the other local churches of the of the place position of Apostolic Sees in general which the Authority of Councils occupied in the Uniof the authority of the Episcopate of versal Church the principles of Succession of the validity of Sacraments of the nature of the Church and of Schism. It is necessary to remember that our knowledge of
the
;

;

;

;

;

;

Donatism is chiefly derived from its opponents that it clearly possessed many sincere and admirable men that the rude fanatics who became the terror of North
; ;

Africa in Augustine's days were not necessarily the
1

Letter 105,

2

9.

Letter 129,

6.

Letter 209,

2. 

LETTERS ON AFRICAN CHURCH DIVISIONS
truest
torically the

83

examples of its spirit, although they were hismost conspicuous. 1 Moreover Augustine's teaching on coercion in religion must not be criticised apart from the deplorable circumstances which provoked him to alter his opinion. 2 Augustine's earliest existing letter on the Donatist
addressed to a bishop of the Donatist " is directed in terms of to courtesy Maximin, my most beloved lord and honoured brother, Augustine, presbyter of the Catholic Church, sends greeting in the Lord."

Controversy

is

Communion.

It

But Augustine proceeds to qualify every epithet and its effect by explaining the sense in which he employs them. He explains that if he call Maximin honoured he does not mean to honour him as Bishop, " for he says quite frankly you are no Bishop to me." He asks Maximin not to be offended by this, as he
to neutralise

considers that sincerity requires such plain speaking. What he honours in Maximin is simply his dignity as a man. After explaining away the whole of the address in this fashion, Augustine reaches the subject of his letter. Rumour says that Maximin has actually reNow, to rebaptise a baptised a Catholic deacon. Catholic is in Augustine's opinion the most atrocious

wickedness ("immanissimum scelus"). He therefore calls on Maximin to explain his conduct in a letter 3 which he will read to the congregation in
church.

He appeals to Maximin to remember the transitoriness of earthly honours and the judgment-seat of Christ.
"

The honour

also passes.

of this world passes away, ambition In the future judgment of Christ neither

elevated stalls nor canopied pulpits (absidae gradatae, nee cathedrae velatae), nor the processions and chantings of throngs of consecrated virgins shall be admitted for
1

Cf.

Monceaux, Histoire Litteraire de VAfrique Chreiiennc,
3

1905.
2

Letter 23, A.U. 388.

Letter 23,

3. 

84

THE LETTERS OF

ST.

AUGUSTINE

the defence, when conscience shall begin to accuse and The things the Lord of Conscience to give decision. what that are an honour here will be a burden there here exalts will there depress." l Augustine calls on him to say, I know but one Baptism, consecrated and sealed in the Name of the This Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
:

I form, wherever I find it, I needs must acknowledge. do not destroy what I recognise as my Lord's. I do not dishonour the banner of my King. Augustine pleads earnestly with the Donatist Bishop

against rending the seamless robe of Christ breaking, He laments the dethat is, the unity of the Church. plorable divisions of African Christianity of which one consequence was that believers in Christ could share their daily bread at home, but could not share together There was no spiritual hospitality the Table of Christ. between the Donatist and the Catholic Communion of the fourth century. Augustine dwells on the strangeness of the fact that man and wife who vowed mutual
:

fidelity

to different

were rending Christ's own Body by belonging Communions. It was a scandal, a triumph Great would be his reward in of Satan, a ruin of souls.

Heaven who could remedy

this

miserable calamity by

which the whole of Africa was grievously afflicted. He appeals to Bishop Maximin that both sides should avoid exasperating allusions to the past. 2 Let Donatists say nothing again of the incidents which they
call the tempora Macariana (that is, the period when the State official Macarius treated the Donatists with Let the Catholics say nothing again about severity). the violence of the Circumcellions (that is, the rude gang of fanatics who terrorised all Africa in the Donatist interest). He invites Maximin to a further If conference with him on the subject of the Schism.
1 Another of Augustine's untranslatable plays hie honorant, ibi onerant." 2 Letter 23, 6.

on words

"
:

Quas 

LETTERS ON AFRICAN CHURCH DIVISIONS

85

Maximin refuses, he will read the correspondence between them before his congregation, in order that the Catholic people may be the better instructed in the facts He promises that he will not of the Controversy.
appeal for protection to the civil power if the Donatists do not invoke the support of their fanatics. Augustine further explains that he writes in the absence of his Bishop, who, if present, would doubtless

have approved AugusBut the rebaptising of a Catholic deacon was a scandal which admitted of no delay in expressing
either have written in person or
tine's action.

his grief.

and while Bishop Valerius was still living, he wrote to Proculeian, the Donatist bishop of his own city Hippo. In this letter he is most anxious to conciliate, and to remove any bad impression caused by Catholics on the Donatist mind. He is afraid that his companion Evodius has spoken with more zeal than consideration. Proculeian has complained of this. Augustine asks him to believe that Evodius's conduct was not caused 2 by contempt but by devoted attachment to the Church. invites Proculeian to hold a discussion with Augustine him on the subject of African divisions. 3 He pleads strongly with Proculeian on the duty of

Soon

after his episcopate began, 1

What have we to do, he asks, with the quarrels of long ago ? He points out that insensibility to wounds is a sign of mortification and not of life. He appeals to the miserable effects of separate Communions on the life of the home. Husband and wife agree in their union with each other but disagree concerning the altar of Christ. They can keep pace on every subject except religion. Parents and children share one house but cannot share one House of God.
4 promoting Reunion.
1

3

Letter 33. Letter 33,

2

4

4.

Letter 33, Letter 33,

3.
5. 

86

THE LETTERS OF

ST.

AUGUSTINE
by two others

The letter to Proculeian was followed to his congregation in Hippo diocese. 1

Augustine here lays down emphatically that he has no desire that any one should be coerced into the Catholic Communion. That was his original principle, however much under the influence of circumstances he diverged from it afterwards. But Augustine feels forced to call attention to the unworthy motives by which exchange of Communion was sometimes prompted. 2 There was a young man

among

the Catholics at Hippo who beat his own mother, and, on being rebuked by the Bishop, became a convert to the Donatists, who baptised him, and gave him a

conspicuous position in their Church. Augustine desires to know what responsibility Bishop And Proculeian acknowledges in this transaction. further he desires to know whether Proculeian will

meet him and discuss their differences. Such discussion cannot be held in some other city, as Proculeian appears to suggest. For Augustine has no business

beyond the diocese of Hippo, and the question is If Proculeian thinks between Proculeian and himself. himself no match for Augustine let him call in whatever aid he pleases. But Augustine professes that hesitation on the part of a matured, experienced person like Proculeian to meet such a novice as himself is
will

unaccountable. Or if Proculeian prefers, Augustine send another Catholic Bishop instead of coming in
person.

conversion mentioned in his last was not the only example which came under Augustine's notice in the diocese. There was a subdeacon of the Church at Spana named Primus, who was deprived of office for immoral relations to certain nuns. He instantly became converted to the Donatist Comletter 3
1

The scandalous

3

Letters 34 and 35. Letter 35.

2

Letter 34,

2. 

LETTERS ON AFRICAN CHURCH DIVISIONS

87

munion, and the two nuns followed him. This trio were now members of a group of wandering missionaries. Augustine inquires whether Proculeian is ignorant of
this scandal as well as of the other.
is a further grievance still. Augustine himself the Church at Spana was shouted at by a Presbyter of Proculeian for being a persecutor. Yet Augustine had expressly refused to allow a father to compel his daughter to leave the Donatists for the Catholic Communion. One of the very best of Augustine's letters on African Church Divisions is Letter 43. l This letter was written in 398 to a group of prominent Donatists with whom Augustine had recently held a discussion. He wants to approach them in a conThe present generation had inherited ciliatory spirit. this schism, not created it. What constitutes a heretic is not so much the special error which he maintains as the spirit in which he maintains it. Augustine puts these ideas into the following sentence " But though the doctrine which men hold be false

There

visiting

:

if they do not maintain it with passionate obstinacy, especially when they have not devised it by the rashness of their own presumption, but have accepted it from parents who had been misguided and had fallen into error, and if they are with anxiety seeking the truth, and are prepared to be set right when they have found it, such men are not to be counted heretics." 2 The letter is concerned with the proper inferences to be drawn from the history of the Donatist Communion and of the Catholic Church in Africa. It presupposes a knowledge of the main facts. Both Catholic and Donatist alike were familiar with the general history of the divisions. Augustine here recalls 3 to the Donatist reader's mind

and perverse,

1

3

Letter 43, written in A.D. 398. Letter 43, 3.

2

Letter 43,

i. 

88

THE LETTERS OF

ST.

AUGUSTINE

the principal points urged in his recent discussion with The Donatists produced certain Acts or Ecclesiastical Records in which it was stated that Caecilian of Carthage was condemned by a Council of seventy The Catholics replied by producing certain bishops. other Ecclesiastical Documents according to which the Donatist party included bishops who had committed the very same offence with which they charged Caecilian and yet were tolerated in office among them. Augustine maintains that the ordination of Majorinus " as a rival to Bishop Caecilian l was an erection of altar and a sinful rending of the unity of Christ. against altar," He points out that the Donatists appealed to the secular authorities in the person of the Emperor Constantine, asking him to appoint bishops at a distance from the scene of strife who might adjudicate in the Constantine granted the request, and three dispute. trials followed. The first was before Melchiades, Bishop of Rome, and In this trial Caecilian was certain assessors (313). From this the Donatists appealed. acquitted. second trial was held in the Council of Aries 314. Here again Caecilian was acquitted. Once more the Donatists appealed to the Emperor. third trial was now held by Constantine in person. This confirmed the acquittal of the previous judgments. Augustine's comment on all this is that Caecilian of Carthage " could afford to disregard even a number of enemies conspiring against him, because he saw himself united by letters of communion both to the Roman Church in which the supremacy of an apostolic chair has 2 always flourished (" in qua semper apostolicae cathedrae viguit principatus "), ancl to all other lands from which Africa itself received the Gospel and was prepared to defend himself before these Churches if his adversaries 3 attempted to cause an alienation of them from him."

them.

A

A

;

1

Letter 43,

2

4.

Letter 43,

3

7.

Ibid. 

LETTERS ON AFRICAN CHURCH DIVISIONS
The
the the

89
:

points to notice in this important paragraph are meaning vtprincipatus, or supremacy, as applied to Roman Church. (2) Whether the rendering should be an apostolic chair, or the apostolic chair that is, whether Augustine denotes a prerogative of all apostolic Churches in general or of the Roman See in particular. (3) The appeal which Augustine considers Caecilian is prepared to make is not only to the Roman Church, but to the other Churches also with which he was united. 1 2 Augustine argues that Secundus, the Primate, who over the Council at Carthage, ought not to have presided permitted a judgment to be given against the absent Bishop Caecilian. True, that Caecilian refused to appear before the Council. But this was not the case of the trial of a priest or one of the inferior orders of clergy. It was a case of one of their own colleagues, a bishop who had the right to reserve the decision to the judgment of other bishops, especially those of the Apostolic Churches. The Primate's duty in the case was to
(i)
:

;

Augustine's mind perfectly plain. If the Numidian bishops had resisted the Primate's advice to postpone decision, 3 they would have been frustrated, because no act of theirs could be valid without the Primate's approval. If they still persisted, and acted in defiance of the Primate, he would be wiser to separate himself from their disorderly procedures than from the Communion of the world-wide Church.
4 Augustine further contended that Caecilian's opponents included men who had committed the very act of betraying sacred writings which they laid to Caecilian's

charge. In any case Caecilian and his adherents ought not to
For critical notices of this passage see Bright, The Roman See in the Early Church, p. 62 Father Puller, The Primitive Saints and the See of Rome, 1914, p. 152 Denny's Papalism.
1
; ;

2 4

Letter 43, Letter 43,

3

7,

Letter 43,

9.

10. 

90

THE LETTERS OF

ST.

AUGUSTINE

For they have been condemned in their absence. 1 were not chargeable with deserting a tribunal before which they had never stood nor was the Church so
;

exclusively represented in these African bishops that refusal to appear before them was equivalent to declinFor there remained ing all ecclesiastical jurisdiction. thousands of bishops in countries beyond the sea, before whom it was obvious that those who seemed to distrust their peers in Africa and Numidia could be
tried.

further problem to be discussed 2 the relation of the Church to the State. The namely, Donatists complained that Caecilian had been acquitted by the secular authorities. It was not right that a bishop should be acquitted by trial before a proconsul. Augustine points out in reply that it was not Caecilian who appealed to the Emperor Constantine. Augustine appears to recognise an authority in the Emperor to secure the peace of the Church in case of internal dis-

There was a

:

putes.
("

He would

This matter belonged especially to his care. have to give account concerning it to God. Imperator ... ad cujus curam, de qua rationem Deo

In any rediturus esset, res ilia maxime pertinebat." 3 ) case the objection came most unbecomingly from the Donatists, since it was they who made the appeal to the Emperor, and then refused to abide by his decision. But after all, as Augustine had already reminded his Donatist opponents, 4 the Imperial sentence was only one of the three trials of the case of Caecilian. It was also tried before the Roman Bishop with certain episcopal colleagues. Augustine asks whether the Donatists object to this episcopal court ? " Perhaps you will say that Melchiades, Bishop of the Roman Church, along with the other bishops beyond
1

3

Contrast S. Ambrose. " Sermo contra Auxentium." Works,
14.

Letter 43,

n.

2

Letter 43,

13.

II,

1018, 36. 4 Letter 43, 

LETTERS ON AFRICAN CHURCH DIVISIONS

91

the sea who acted as his colleagues, had no right to usurp the place of judge in a matter which had been already settled by seventy African bishops, over whom the Bishop of Tigisis (Secundus) as Primate presided." Augustine's reply to this possible objection against ,the Roman Bishop with his colleagues deciding a case already tried before a tribunal in Africa is remarkable.

He
"

says

:

But what will you say if he in fact did not usurp this place ? For the Emperor, being appealed to, sent bishops to sit with him as judges, with authority to decide the whole matter in the way which to them seemed just." Augustine apparently here represents the Roman Bishop as nominated judge of this African dispute by the Emperor with authority to give final decision. But before any inference is drawn from this passage it is essential to read what the writer says later in 20 of this same letter. Meanwhile Augustine is strong in praise l of the
moral value of the Roman Bishop's conduct of the Court before which Caecilian was tried.
of numbers.

Augustine refuses to acquiesce merely in superiority Doubtless there were seventy bishops
Caecilian in Africa, while not a tenth

who condemned
part of that
in

number acquitted him with Melchiades

Rome. But it is a question of quality not of mere quantity. Augustine is clear that in this instance the votes must be weighed not counted. And the weightiness of which he thinks is moral not ecclesiastical or He does not mean that the Roman Council official,
had higher
African
In
superiority.
ecclesiastical authority

provincial

assembly.

It

than belonged to an possesses a moral

Roman

Augustine's view the Council over which the 2 did not care to Bishop Melchiades presided
1

Letter 43,

16.

2

Ibid. 

92

THE LETTERS OF

ST.

AUGUSTINE

inquire either what was the number of those bishops, or whence they had been collected, when they saw them to be blinded with such reckless presumption as to pronounce rash sentence upon their colleagues in
their absence,

and without having examined them.
defects

With these moral

of

the

Council

of the

Seventy Bishops, Augustine proceeds to contrast the moral excellence of the Council of the few, and more
especially of the presiding bishop. "And yet what a decision was finally pronounced by the blessed Melchiades himself: how equitable, how complete, how prudent, and how fitting, to make peace For he did not presume to depose from his college
.

!

(de collegio suo) colleagues against whom nothing had " " etc. excellent man (adds Augus" son of tine after a little further explanation,) Christian peace, father of the Christian people. Compare now this handful with that multitude of bishops, not counting, but weighing them on the one side have moderation and circumspection on the other, you * precipitancy and blindness." And here Augustine goes behind the Ecclesiastical 2 Assembly in Africa to the wire-pullers and real influences at work. He declares that some of Caecilian's opponents were maintained against him by the wrath of a lady named Lucilla, who took a violent dislike to Caecilian because he had ventured to rebuke her for certain religious practices which he considered superstitious. Augustine also declares that it could be proved from public records in the possession of one Zenophilus that Lucilla's money had greatly promoted the opposition to Caecilian, 3 He says they were urged

been proved,"

O

!

O

:

;

on by a women's

spite.

But, says Augustine, suppose that the tribunal before which the case of Caecilian was tried was, as his

opponents declare, unjust.
1

Letter 43,

16.

2

Letter 43,

3

17.

Letter 43,

18. 

LETTERS ON AFRICAN CHURCH DIVISIONS
"

93

Well, let us suppose that those bishops who decided the case at Rome were not good judges x there still remained a plenary Council of the Universal Church, in which these judges themselves might be put on so that, if they were convicted of their defence mistake, their decisions might be reversed." Augustine complains that the Donatists make no such appeal to a plenary Council of the Universal Church, Instead of appealing to the plenary Council they appealed against the Council at Rome to the That was the reason why Constantine Emperor. the Donatists a second trial of Caecilian at the granted Council of Aries not because this was due to them, but only as a concession to their stubbornness. " For. this Christian Emperor did not presume so to grant their unruly and groundless complaints as to make himself the judge of the decision pronounced by the but he appointed, as bishops who had sat at Rome I have said, other bishops, from whom, however, they preferred again to appeal to the Emperor himself; and you have heard the terms in which he- disapproved of this." 2 From this point Augustine describes in strong and 3 indignant terms the inconsistences and the calamities in which the adherents of the Schism are involved. This he does at considerable length and with much
;

;

:

;

He brings his long letter towards its close eloquence. with one of those striking and remarkable sentences which live to this day: " No one can cancel from heaven the decree of God, no one can cancel from earth the Church of God." 4 This long and careful letter on the history of the Donatist Body was the sequel to a conference held by Augustine with their leaders at a town in his
1

3
4

Letter 43, Letter 43,

2

19. 21.

Letter 43,

20.
delet de terra

Nemo

delet de ccelo constitutionem Dei,

nemo

Ecclesiam Dei.

Letter 43,

27. 

94
diocese.

THE LETTERS OF

ST.

AUGUSTINE

in his exertions to him, as he travelled about his diocese, seeking interviews wherever possible with the Donatist Bishops. Thus at a town called Tubursi he visited the Donatist Bishop Fortunius, and wrote an account of the interview in a letter 1 to the same persons whom he had addressed in Letter 43. Augustine's account shows the singular futility of Conferences on Reunion where the desire for mutual understanding is not strongly developed. The Catholic desired reunion with the Donatist, but not the Donatist with the Catholic. Crowds assembled, but rather in the hope of witnessing a scene between the two bishops jn the spirit in which they might attend a theatre rather than a serious discussion on matters of faith. Augustine draws a lively picture of the confusion and disorder and interruptions, and the refusal to allow reporters to take notes, in a meeting of several hours' duration. When the meeting had been reduced to comparative 2 Fortunius spoke approvingly of Augustine's quiet, manner of life, but added that such work would be But excellent if it had been done within the Church. he denied absolutely that Augustine was within the Church. Thereupon Augustine asked what the true Church was ? Was it a world-wide community, or was it merely local and Afiican? Fortunius replied that his Church existed in all parts of the world. Augustine then inquired whether the Donatist Bishop could prove his membership in the Universal Church by issuing letters

He

was indefatigable

secure reunion.

We

find

;

of

Communion to places which Augustine would select. This question Fortunius evaded in a cloud of words, 3
test

off into the totally different proposition that of the true Church was to be found in its endurance of persecution. He quoted the Beatitude on those who suffered persecution for righteousness' sake.

and went
a

1

Letter 44, A. D. 389.

2

Letter 44,

3

3.

Letter 44,

4. 

LETTERS ON AFRICAN CHURCH DIVISIONS

95

Augustine thanked him for the appropriateness of the quotation, but pointed out that the Beatitude did not apply to all the persecuted as such indiscriminately, but only to those whose cause was righteous. The previous question, therefore, was whether the Donatists were acting rightfully. No one denied that they had
suffered persecution.

Augustine, however, insisted on asking whether the Donatists had not, as indeed they had, separated from the Church Catholic long before the Macarian persecution. Consequently the real question was, whether they had not done serious wrong in severing themselves from the Universal Church. So Augustine brought the discussion back to the question whether the persecution which the Donatists suffered was for righteousness'
sake. 1
justify their

"I asked them," wrote Augustine, 2 "how they could separation of themselves from all other Christians who had done them no wrong, who throughout the world preserved the order of succession, and were established in the most ancient churches, but had no knowledge whatever as to who were traditors in Africa and who assuredly could not hold communion with others than those whom they heard of as occupying
;

the episcopal sees/' He found that the Donatists were supporting their cause by appealing to a Council of Arians. 3 But the Donatists refused to lend him the document or even to allow him to mark the MS. to insure its identity on a subsequent occasion. Returning to the subject of persecution for righteousness' sake, Augustine 4 asked Bishop Fortunius whether he considered Ambrose, Bishop of the Church of Milan,
1

The

Optatits,
2
4

facts about Macarius, sent in A. D. 347, will be found in Book III. See also Augustine's Works, ed. Gaume,

Tom. IX.

pp. 1115-1117.
3

Letter 44, Letter 44,

5.

Letter 44,

6.

7. 

96

THE LETTERS OF

ST.

AUGUSTINE

man and a Christian ? This apparently simple question put the Donatist Bishop in a dilemma. If he were to admit that Ambrose was a righteous man and a Christian, Augustine intended at once to retort, " Then why do you think it necessary for Ambrose to be " Fortunius, in order to avoid that perplexity, baptised ? was forced to say that Ambrose was not a Christian nor a righteous man. To which Augustine replied by relating the story of the persecutions which Ambrose had endured from the Arian authorities. Clearly
to be a righteous

on Fortunius's own principles, the suffering of persecution was not a test of righteousness. After further debate on this point, 1 Augustine urged that mutual recriminations ought to be laid aside. Christ's treatment of Judas Iscariot emphasised the duty of tolerating evil. Christ admitted Judas to the first Sacrament of His Body and Blood. Augustine says that almost everybody present felt the force of this
therefore,

argument. Fortunius endeavoured to destroy the force of it by urging that communion with an evil person did no injury to the Apostles, because they had not yet received the Baptism of Christ, but only that of S. John Baptist.
that

Augustine's reply to this is curious, (i) He asserted when Christ sent His disciples to baptise, the Baptism which they administered was that of Christ and not that of S. John. (2) That accordingly the disciples must have been already themselves baptised with the Baptism of Christ. For how could they give what they had not received? This was the favourite Donatist maxim. (3) That the Apostles must have received the Baptism of Christ before the Institution of the Eucharist. " For how could they receive the Eucharist if not
"

previously baptised ? Fortunius here observed 2 that his party were apprehensive of further persecutions from Catholics, and asked
1

Letter 44,

10.

2

Letter 44,

n. 

LETTERS ON AFRICAN CHURCH DIVISIONS
what attitude Augustine was prepared to adopt event of any such occurrence.

97

in the

Augustine dissociated himself altogether from approval know how on this important matter of persecution. he was afterwards overruled. But he said on the present occasion that if persecution arose it would be the work He spoke of forbearing one another in of evil men. love. He referred to the conduct of Bishop Genethlius of Carthage, 1 predecessor of Aurelius, who suppressed an edict against the Donatists. This reference was

We

Nevertheless, retorted Augustine, highly commended. the Donatists would have rebaptised Bishop Genethlius if he had fallen into their power. The Conference was now breaking up, and ready to Fortunius remarked with great frankness that disperse. their existing rule required the rebaptism of every convert from the Catholic Church. But he evidently He regretted that this rule had ever been made. deplored many of the actions perpetrated by his own

He was evidently well-disposed toward Communion. He went the following day of his the Catholic Church. own accord to have further talk with Augustine, and parted on friendly terms. Augustine thought that good might be done by further consultation in the absence of the disorderly throng of Donatist adherents, and suggests that a private meeting might be held elsewhere. The Donatist Communion experienced the tendency to sub-division, which is the common tendency of 2 remarkable and instructive separated churches. of this was the case of the Maximianists, which example Augustine puts forward in Letter 51. Since the facts were thoroughly well known to the Donatists whom he was controverting, Augustine deals with the case here in a rather allusive manner, taking much for He tells the story granted as common knowledge.

A

1

Letter 44,

12.

2

Letter 51, A.D. 400.

G 

9&

THE LETTERS OF

ST.

AUGUSTINE

more completely elsewhere in his treatises against the Maximian Donatists. 1 Briefly the facts were these. was a Donatist deacon who rebelled against his Bishop, separated from the parent Community, obtained episcopal consecration, and established a new Donatist Church, over which he presided as chief. The original Donatist Communion not only pronounced him and his adherents outside the Church, but also went to law against them and endeavoured to get them turned out of the churches which they occupied. But meanwhile the Maximianists
thrived.

Churches

Their adherents multiplied. They set up rival in hundreds of towns and villages. Thus two

Donatist Bishops in addition to the Catholic Bishop The separation grew so serious existed in most places. that the original Donatist Church took alarm. It was now determined to secure reunion at every cost. The Maximianists, who up to then were discredited and regarded as unbaptised, were now received without rebaptism into the original Donatist Communion and their adherents with them. Thus on motives of expediency the very principles which the original Donatist Church insisted on as vital in regard to the Catholic Communion were simply overlooked and set aside for the sake of recovering the

Maximianists. This is the point which Augustine forces on the attention of the Donatists in the present letter. He draws out the inconsistency of it, and the injustice of the Donatists towards the Catholic Church. They acknowledged the Baptism of the Maximianists and rejected that of the Universal Church.

Here
"

is

his concluding appeal

:

to the charge made by your Council against the Maximianists as guilty of impious schism look to the persecutions by the civil courts to which you appealed
;

Look

1 See the Treatise against Cresconius, Book IV. Works, IX. 742, and the Treatise de Gestis cum Emerito, Works, IX. 964.
; 

LETTERS ON AFRICAN CHURCH DIVISIONS
;

99

against them look to the fact that you restored some of them without reordination, and accepted their baptism as valid and answer, if you can, whether it is in your power to hide, even from the ignorant, the question why you have separated yourselves from the whole world in a schism more heinous than that which you boast of having condemned in the Maximianists?" Another letter was written to Generosus, a layman of
;

1 The Constantine, the capital of Numidia. Succession in the Donatist Communion in Episcopal Cirta had been urged upon Generosus. And Augustine accordingly here deals with the principle of the Apostolic succession in the Catholic Church. Herein lies the It has been pointed out importance of the letter.

Cirta,

or

(Turner, Apostolic Succession," essay in Early History of the Church and Ministry, pp. 192, 193) that this is not one of Augustine's usual arguments in the Donatist But he was willing enough to take it Controversy. up when challenged. Succession, as he understood it, meant the series of Bishops in a particular See. It is a succession " from holder to holder, not from consecrator " to consecrated (ib. p. 193). Another letter was written by Augustine together with Alypius and Fortunatus to the same Generosus. Generosus had received a letter 2 from a Donatist priest who professed that he had been ordered by an angel to convert Generosus to the Donatist Communion. Augustine reminds Generosus, who was not at all favourably impressed by this Donatist overture, of the Pauline teaching that if an angel from heaven were to preach any other gospel than that which he had received, the proper reply would be an anathema. Augustine proceeds further to give a list of the Rome from S. Peter to Episcopal succession in Anastasius. 3 The list including Peter consists of thirtynine names. Augustine points out that no Donatist can
1

"

Letter 53.

2

Letter 53, A.D. 400.

3

Letter 53,

2. 

ioo

THE LETTERS OF

ST.

AUGUSTINE

be found in this Succession. There was indeed a small Donatist Community in Rome with a Bishop sent to them from Africa. The sect was known apparently derisively from its insignificance and obscurity as the Montenses^ or by a term which is probably corrupt, and
the meaning quite uncertain Cuteupitce. 2 But, says Augustine, even if a faithless individual had been intruded into the order of the Bishops between S. Peter and Anastasius who now occupies the See, that individual failure would not affect the status of the Church (nihil praejudicaret Ecclesiae et innocentibus Christ Himself has provided against such Christianis). contingencies (S. Matt, xxiii. 3). And the Donatist is at the disadvantage that he reads in Scripture of Apostolic Churches with which he is not
in

communion.

Augustine then turns to the evidence of public documents 3 to show that the Donatist succession had been invalidated by the very infidelity and persecution which they charged against the Catholic Succession of Bishops. Another letter on the African Schism warns the Donatists by the fate of Korah, Dathan and Abiram. 4 Augustine appeals to the moral sense of his correspondent Emeritus, that no high-minded man could defend the conduct of the notorious Donatist, Bishop Optatus, whose scandalous career was a disgrace to any 5 He asks with what justice could the Community. which were apostolic foundations, be conChurches, demned by the Donatists for their ignorance of an
African dispute. He claims that if Catholics 6 appealed to the State it was only to protect themselves from "The question violence, as S. Paul himself had done. between us, however, is, whether your Church or ours is " the Church of God ? 7 the beginning of the fifth century the fanaticism of By
1

4

2. Letter 53, Letter 87, A.D. 405. 8. Letter 87,

2

Letter 53,
5

3

3.

^^^

Tjtt"r 87,

Letter 53, 4 and 5.
10.

4.

W3ffl*Vg7, 

LETTERS ON AFRICAN CHURCH DIVISIONS

101

the Donatists' Communion had become intolerable. In the year 406 the Catholic clergy of the diocese of Hippo 1 Regius sent the Donatists a letter which gives details of the cruel sufferings inflicted on the Church by the Separated Body. Important extracts are given from public documents of the time of Constantine to show what the actual facts at the beginning of the Division But the account of the sufferings of really were. Catholics is dreadful. Bishops were waylaid during When their pastoral visitation and savagely beaten. 2 complaints were made to the Donatist authorities they were evaded or rejected. Catholics were compelled in self-defence to appeal to the State for protection. The diocese of Calama over which Possidius, Augustine's friend and biographer, presided was the scene of a Pagan riot in 408 (see Letters 90, 91). Shortly after that outbreak subsided a riot of Donatist fanatics followed. desperate attempt was made by a Donatist priest named Crispin to murder Bishop Possidius, who very narrowly escaped with his life. Augustine has elsewhere told the story of the suffer3 The Donatists surrounded ings of Bishop Possidius. the house in which he was taking refuge, stormed it, and attempted to set it on fire. The inhabitants of the town dared not resist the Donatists, but warned Crispin, the leader of the attack, what the consequences might be at the hands of the State. This warning had some effect, and the flames were partially extinguished. But Crispin and his crew burst into the house, killed the cattle on the ground floor, and dragged down the Bishop from the upper storey and beat him, until Crispin himself grew frightened and called his associates off. The case was brought before the secular authorities, and Crispin was condemned to pay a fine of ten pounds The in gold, according to the Law of Theodosius.

A

1

Letter 88, to Januarius.

2
iii.

Letter 88,
50.

6.

3

Augustine, Contra Crescon. Donat. 

102

THE LETTERS OF

ST.

AUGUSTINE

Catholics then acted with great forbearance. Bishop Possidius himself interceded on Crispin's behalf with the Emperor and the fine was remitted. Council of Bishops was held which sent a deputation to Rome requesting that this fine of ten pounds in gold should not be inflicted on all Donatist leaders indiscriminately, as the Imperial decree had ordered, but only on those who inflicted violence on the Catholic Church. However this considerate and forgiving spirit did little good. Another bishop, the Catholic Bishop of Bagae, had been brutally injured by the Donatists, and his case was known at Rome. The Emperor therefore insisted on severer measures with a view to repress these ferocious outbursts of fanaticism. Then the Circumcellions resorted to vitriol throwing. 1 They flung a mixture of lime and acid into the eyes of their religious opponents with blinding effect. When action was taken against them by the State the Donatists considered themselves victims of persecution. In a sentence Augustine sums up the position: "They live as robbers, they die as Circumcelliones, they are

A

honoured as martyrs." Further arguments and criticisms on the Donatist 2 position are given in a letter to an owner of property near Hippo whose servants were members of the sect. Once more Augustine insists that rejection of the authority of the State comes with bad grace from those who appealed to the Emperor Constantine, esteeming the Imperial authority so much "above that of all the
Bishops beyond the sea, that to him rather than to them they referred this ecclesiastical dispute." 3 4 even if you grant that But, argues Augustine, the decision of these judges was unjust, what then ?

They
1

are responsible

to

God

for

their verdict.

But

what has the Church done, the Universal Church, that
Letter 88, Letter 89,
8.
2

3

4

3.

Letter 89. Letter 89,

4. 

LETTERS ON AFRICAN CHURCH DIVISIONS

103

it should deserve to be rebaptised, merely because it accepts the decision of the civil courts, of judges whom to be in a position to know the facts? it believed " No man deserves to be blamed for the crime of another what then has the whole world to do with the sin which some one in Africa may have committed ? No man deserves to be blamed for a crime about which he knows nothing and how could the whole world possibly know the crime in this case, whether the judges or the party condemned were guilty ? You who have understanding, judge what I say. Here is the the party of Donatus condemns justice of heretics the whole world unheard, because the whole world does not condemn a crime unknown." Then as to the Donatist theory, 1 that the validity of Baptism depends on the righteousness of the minister, For they Augustine reduces it to an absurdity. admitted that Baptism conferred in their own Communion by an unworthy minister whose unworthiness is secret is valid. Accordingly the Catholics asked Who in that case is the real Baptiser? The Donatists could only answer it is God. Thereupon Augustine presented the Donatist with the following conclusion If when Baptism is administered by a righteous minister, but it is the minister who sanctifies the candidate when Baptism is administered by a secretly unworthy the candidate ought minister, it is God who sanctifies to wish to be baptised rather by a minister who is secretly bad than by one who is manifestly good. For obviously God sanctifies much more effectually than any minister, however righteous, can do. The absurdity of this logical inference shows how wrong the Donatist theory of the influence of the are not to put our minister on the Sacrament is. trust in man, but in Christ. The validity of Baptism does not depend on the moral worth of the minister.
; ;
: : :

;

;

We

1

Letter 89,

5. 

io 4
It
is

THE LETTERS OF
valid

ST.

AUGUSTINE
Himself
is

because

Christ

the

real

Baptiser.

Augustine warns Festus,

his correspondent, that the
1

men on
and

his property near that Festus's letter to

He suggests that servant to the Bishop should be taken.

Hippo are still Donatists, them has taken no effect. Festus should send some trusty

who

will explain the steps that

The letter to Vincent contains Augustine's famous defence of coercion. 2 The defence is based on the ground of expediency. Coercion has been found productive of satisfactory results. It has made men amenable to reason, and reduced them to a teachable frame of mind. Augustine illustrates from cases in which coercion is 3 It is right to restrain a delirious incontestably right.
patient from injuring himself. Severity is confessedly sometimes right. 4 Did not God chasten Israel? Does

He

not correct
"

those

whom He
"

loves
5

?

Is

it

not

compel them to come in ? giving that fatal interpretation which was destined to have such farWas not S. reaching and disastrous consequences. Paul coerced by Christ to embrace the truth ? Did not Sarah rightly afflict her insolent servant? If slew prophets so did Elijah. 6 Nor was this Jezebel confined to the Old Testament. 7 God spared not His only Son. The difference between rightful and wrongful compulsion depends upon the motive. When the Father delivered up His Son, and Judas delivered up Jesus Christ, the action was the same but the motive different. Everything depends on the motive of
written
coercion. The magistrates imprisoned S. Paul, but S. Paul delivered over a person to Satan which is Christ The Jews scourged Christ infinitely worse. also scourged the Jews. 8
;

1

J-.CLIC1 Letter

oy, 89,

3

8.
-

2 4
7

Letter 93, Letter 93,

2. 6.

Letter yj, J_iCllCI Letter 93, Letter 93,

/Y.J-'.

4<JO.
5 s

4.
7.

Letter 93, Letter 93,

5.
8. 

LETTERS ON AFRICAN CHURCH DIVISIONS

105

Vincent objected that no example of appeal to the State by the Church 1 to exercise coercion is found in the New Testament. Augustine admits that this is true. But times have changed. He finds an illustration of two periods of the Church's existence in the The age of the Apostles story of Nebuchadnezzar. resembled Nebuchadnezzar's persecution of the faithful.

The age after Constantine resembled Nebuchadnezzar's decree enforcing penalties against those who spoke a word against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and
Abed-nego. Coercion as a matter of practical experience had 2 It had brought many proved extremely beneficial. misguided individuals to accept the truth. Augustine confesses that he had originally held the 3 He had maintained that no one should opposite view. be forced into Christian unity. He had believed that Christianity must be advanced by argument and perHe had been keenly suasion, but not by compulsion. alive to the dangers of hypocritical conversions. And this But he had now altered his opinion. change of mind was not due to the arguments of other bishops, but simply to the evidence of the results which compulsion had produced. He had seen the change wrought in his own city, under his own eyes, by the Imperial edicts. Hippo had been almost entirely He had ascerIt was now a Catholic city. Donatist. tained from the admissions of those converts that family tradition, ignorance, prejudice, misrepresentation, had Crowds kept multitudes alienated from the Church. of people had imagined that it was a matter of pure indifference to which Christian Communion a person might belong. Many remained in schism simply because they had been born into it, and not from any
personal conviction.
1
3

Letter 93, Letter 93,

2

9.

Letter 93,

16.

17. 

io6

*

THE LETTERS OF

ST.

AUGUSTINE

Augustine dwells here as often on the note of Catholicity as a test of the true Church. " You think that you make a very acute remark when you affirm the name Catholic to mean Universal, not in respect to the Communion as embracing the whole world, but in respect to the observance of all Divine precepts and of all the Sacraments as if we the position that the Church is called (even accepting Catholic because it honestly holds the whole truth, of which fragments here and there are found in some heresies) rested upon the testimony of this word's signification, and not upon the promises of God, and so many indisputable testimonies of the truth itself, our demonstration of the existence of the Church of God in all nations. In fact, however, this is the whole which you attempt to make us believe, that the Donatists alone remain worthy of the name Catholics, on the ground of their observing all the Divine precepts and all the Sacraments and that you are the only persons in whom the Son of Man when He cometh
;
;

shall find
clo

faith.

You must excuse me
l

for

saying we

not believe a word of this."

Augustine further insisted here, as often in other above all in his expositions on the Psalms, that Scripture contains witness to Christ and witness to the Church, and that to throw discredit on its witness in the one case virtually undermines its credit in the other. How can we be sure that we have indisputable testimony to Christ in the Divine word, if we do not
places,

accept as indisputable the testimony of the same word to the Church ? 2 The Donatist was involved in this inconsistency, for he accepted the witness of Scripture to Christ's Passion and Resurrection, but rejected its witness to the Catholic or world-wide character of the Church. He also urges that the erection of an exclusive,
1

Letter 93,

23.

2

Ibid. 

LETTERS ON AFRICAN CHURCH DIVISIONS
1

107

separated body, on the plea of higher sanctity, must always make the separated body liable to be similarly treated by a still smaller and more exclusive minority, who may separate in turn from them as they did from the larger Church and may claim exactly as they did to be the only true Church existing on the earth. " You are by no means sure that there may not be
persons, few in number, and therefore in some place far remote from the south of Africa, who, long before the party of Donatus

some righteous

unknown, dwelling
had withdrawn
the

their righteousness from fellowship with unrighteousness of all other men, had, in their remote southern region, separated themselves in the

same way for some most satisfactory reason, and are now, by a claim superior to yours, the Church of God,
as the spiritual Zion which justifiable secession," etc.

preceded

all

your sects

in a

Vincent further supported his separation by quotation from S. Hilary and from S. Cyprian. 2 Cyprian was a
peculiar cause of embarrassment to the Catholics in this controversy, because he had advocated rebaptism of separatists, which was precisely what the Donatist maintained against the Church. This put the African Church in difficulties. For there was no greater

authority

And
to

among

African

in

this question of

than Cyprian. rebaptism they were obliged

churchmen

disown him. Augustine argues first that episcopal writings are not to be placed on a level of authority with the 3 Scriptures. Secondly, that whatever Cyprian may have written he never separated from the unity of the Church. Thirdly, that Cyprian recognised that his own theory had not been acted upon in the previous generation. Tourthly, Augustine propounded the exceedingly hazardous proposition that Cyprian may
Letter 93, Letter 93,
2

25. 36.

Letter 93,

35 

io8

THE LETTERS OF
;

ST.

AUGUSTINE

have altered his opinions 1 adding that critics existed who maintained that Cyprian never held the view ascribed to him, but that it was a pure invention of his enemies. Augustine, however, is much too genuine to He has no doubt agree with such critics as these.
that Cyprian held this view. 2
is

unmistakable.

But

The style of his writings after all this does not help the

Donatists. 3 For Cyprian's principle was that unity must remain unbroken. Each Bishop was responsible for his action with that unity to Christ. But the Church must continue undivided. Augustine proceeds to distinguish what he could 4 as valid in the Donatists, and what he must accept He accepted their Sacraments regard as their defect. as valid, because those Sacraments'were the Sacraments of Christ and not of Donatus or any other chief of a
" For from the Catholic Church are all the Sacraments of the Lord, which you hold and administer in the same way as they were held and administered even before you went forth from her. The fact, however, that you are no longer in that Church from which proceeded the Sacraments which you have, does not make it the less true that you still have them." ''You are at one with us in Baptism, in Creed, and in the other Sacraments of the Lord. But in the spirit of unity and the bond of peace, in a word, in the Catholic Church itself, 5 you are not with us." It should be noted that the letter to Vincent is dis" tinguished by use of such phrases as Catholic Churches," " Catholic Unity," "Communion of the Catholic Church" "within the Communion of the Sacraments of Christ." The riots at Calama resulted in fresh laws against Pagans and Donatists. The African Proconsul, Donatus, was commissioned to carry these new enactments into
.

separation.

.

.

;

1
3 5

Letter 93, Letter 93,
Ibid.

38. 41.

2 4

Letter 93, Letter 93,

39.

46. 

LETTERS ON AFRICAN CHURCH DIVISIONS
effect.

109

Augustine, fearing that this would mean severe on the offenders, exerted himself to restrain He wrote in 408 (Letter the severities of the State. 100) to the Proconsul, entreating him with a most solemn appeal to the Name of our Lord, to exercise Christian leniency even toward the most desperate of to remember the Bishop's petition these fanatics to to use forget the magistrate's power of the sword milder methods of coercion, and to spare their lives.
retaliation
;

;

;

But the attempts to suppress Donatism by legislation produced its natural result it intensified their hatred of 1 the Church. Augustine wrote a circular letter to Donatists in general, in which he claims to be promoting Catholic peace, and to be acting in the spirit of the Beatitude Blessed are the peacemakers. But he acknowledges that his overtures were frustrated by the desperate " Go away from our people if threat of his opponents do not desire us to kill you." If imperial laws comyou 2 pel the Donatists to unite with the Church, they have it upon themselves by the violence of their own brought fanatics. Augustine gives examples of the brutal manner in which Donatists revenged themselves on seceders to
: :

:

the Church.

Imperial decrees against the Donatists had been enacted by all the Emperors since Constantine, with the sole exception of Julian, the desertor Christi who hoped to destroy Christianity by encouraging divisions. If the sons of Theodosius now made similar enactments

they are only following the Imperial tradition. After all, the appeal to the State was originally made 4 But Constantine did not by the Donatists themselves. venture to pass judgment in the case of a bishop. He left that to be investigated and determined by bishops. Moreover the imperial decree ordering unity is, after 5 It is exactly what the Apostle all, the order of Christ.
1

3

3

Letter 105, A.D. 409. Letter 105, 9.

2

4

Ibid.

5

Letter 105, Letter 105,

3.

n. 

no

THE LETTERS OF

ST.

AUGUSTINE

commands, that there be no divisions among us. The Emperors insisted on this because they are Catholic
Christians.

God does not desire that they should perish in a sacri1 legious discord separated from their Catholic mother. As to the question concerning unworthy clergy. 2 The charge against Caecilian has never been proved. But the Christian principle is to correct evil when we can, and can unite to endure it when we cannot correct it. in Sacraments with unworthy persons without consentRemember the Parable of the Wheat ing to their sins. and the Tares. Augustine appears to argue as if unspirituality did not affect the orthodoxy of the teaching. Even if the teacher is unspiritual his teaching may be

We

true.

Who
unity.

For what he teaches is not his own but God's, has placed the teaching of truth in the seat of
3

Augustine was simply indefatigable when the State determined to compel the Donatist leaders to a ConThe ference with the Catholics at Carthage in 41 1 Tribune Marcellinus had been entrusted by the Emperor with the whole affair, and was authorised to act as a sort Marcellinus of Moderator between the two parties.
.

4 published a decree regulating the method of procedure. He wished that none but certain selected episcopal representatives should be present at the Conference. Every one else was to be kept at a distance to secure To this quiet and avoid disturbance from the unruly. the Catholics consented. But the Donatists refused. They demanded that the entire number of their Bishops should be present. And the Catholics yielded to this. The African Bishops proposed that, 5 in the event of Reunion, the Catholic Bishop and the Donatist Bishop should share the See between them. Or else if this was uncongenial to the diocese, both of them should resign.
1

Letter 105,
Ibid.

2

13.
4

3 5

16. Letter 105, Letter 128, A.D. 411.

Letter 105,

3. 

LETTERS ON AFRICAN CHURCH DIVISIONS

in

The Catholic Bishops declared that no one ought to shrink from this resignation of their thrones if the interests of the unity of the Church demanded it. This acknowledgment of the Donatist Orders shows how remarkable a change had passed over African ecclesiastical theories since the age of Cyprian. 1 The Catholic Bishops, in another letter to Marcellinus, 2 protested their anxiety that mutual recriminations should be laid aside. But they justified Imperial action against the Donatists by an unfortunate appeal to the Jews, threatening foreigners who spoke against the God of
Israel.

They were on

safer

ground when they urged

that according to the Parable the Church of Christ was to be a mingled community of wheat and tares, and that the separation would take place at the end and not now. They pointed out that the Donatists had been

compelled, most inconsistently with their protest against the Church, to overlook unspirituality among themselves in order to avoid subdivision. The Bishops were apprehensive that the Donatist desire to appear in full force boded ill for unity. It partook rather of the nature of a demonstration of their strength. They wanted to show that Catholics had

underrated them and underestimated their numbers. Catholics might have said that the Donatists were not numerous. This was true except in the Province of Numidia. The Catholic Bishops express a hope that there will be no disturbance at the Conference. But they think it wise to be prepared for the worst. The details of the Conference at Carthage in 411 are to be found in Augustine's Summary of the Conference. 3 But the principal incidents are related in a letter written

by Augustine and sent
1

in

the

name

of a

Numidian

See further on this subject in Swete's Early History of the Church and the Ministry, essay on " Ordination " by Frere. See also Hefele's comments on the bearing of such procedures on the Eighth Canon of Nicsa, History of the Councils.
2

Letter 129, A.D. 411.

3

Letter 141, A.D. 412. 

ii2

THE LETTERS OF

ST.

AUGUSTINE

Council to the Donatists in June 412. Augustine tells us that he wrote this letter, but did not include it in the collection of his correspondence because it was issued as an official document of a Council. 1 It is, however, now placed among his letters by the Benedictine editors. Augustine was himself a member of the Council which The Donatists after the Conference issued his letter. spread a report that the president, Marcellinus, had been bribed by Catholics to decide in their favour. The purpose of the present letter is to refute this baseless scandal by describing the actual events. Augustine says that this letter cost him several nights of labour (Letter
the Donatist Bishops of fraudulent misrepresentation of their real numbers, and of deliberate attempt to delay the proceedings and to evade a decision. Under the circumstances this latter is not improbable. For the Donatists were forced by to attend in spite of their reluctance. Imperial regulations It is strange that the African Bishops did not realise the moral futility of such conferences. Modern historians consider that the confusion can be accounted for without accusations of duplicity. The letter says 2 that in the course of the investigation into the history of both parties it was shown that the Donatists had retained unspiritual persons within their Communion which was the very pretext of their When this was urged separation from the Catholics. against them in the Conference the Donatists were forced to excuse it on the principle that causes and persons must be judged on their own merits the very principle which the Catholics maintained as an argument If that principle were applied to against Separation. the claim of Caecilian and the claim of the Church, the entire controversy would be at an end. The letter adds that the Donatists were reduced to
;
:

139. P- 3)The letter bluntly accuses

1

Retract,

ii.

40.

2

Letter 141,

6. 

LETTERS ON AFRICAN CHURCH DIVISIONS
much
ments

113

confusion and embarrassment, and produced docuin their own defence which in reality strengthened the Catholic cause. It was all providential in the opinion of the Council. In 412 we find Augustine writing to Apringius the 1 Proconsul, Marcellinus's brother, calling on him to remember the Divine Judgment Seat, where he will have to give account for his present judgments on his fellow-men. He allows that criminals who have blinded people, or mutilated them, deserve to be flogged, but he would not have them tortured. This Augustine entreats by the mercy of Christ. Doubtless the magistrate bears not the sword in vain. But the principles of the State are one thing those of the Church another. Augustine would argue on other lines if he were not corresponding with a Christian. He is conscious that Christians are under a condition of exasperation. He pleads that they should not be stained with the blood of their enemies. Much in the same spirit of forbearance and deprecation of reprisals Augustine wrote in the same year 41 2 2 to the very distinguished State official, Marcellinus, asking that copies of Official Acts concerning the Donatists should be set up with all publicity and recited in the Church at Hippo but at the same time making it a matter of conscience that Catholics must exercise He is sure that a leniency towards religious fanatics. can mitigate the penalties of the law. It is a magistrate case in which appeal should be made to the Emperor. He warns Marcellinus that if Donatists are sentenced to death they will be honoured as martyrs. Augustine has himself drawn up a summary account of the Conference held with the Donatist chiefs at Carthage in the The whole letter breathes the spirit of previous year. Christian charity. All this gives a very different view of Augustine's prinIt would ciple and character from that frequently held.
: ;

1

Letter 134, A.D. 412.

2

Letter 139, A.D. 412.

H 

ii 4

THE LETTERS OF

ST.

AUGUSTINE

difficult to be more unhistoric and more unjust than to represent Augustine as a Torquemada born before his That his unhappy misinterpretation of the Scriptime. ture words formed a deadly precedent, and led to appalling consequences, is indeed only too painfully true. But Augustine is not the only great thinker who failed to conseanticipate the consequences of his teaching

be

:

quences from which, it may be safely have recoiled more completely.

said,

no man would

The student of history will compare the unhappy use made of this precedent for coercion by Bossuet against
the Huguenots, and by Balmes in his instruction of the Spanish Church in the nineteenth century. In neither case had these theologians the excuse, such as it is, of severe provocation. It is clear that Augustine's activity in this department was resented by the legal authorities. The Bishop persisted, and such magistrates as were Christians did not see their way to refuse his petitions, but cordially wished he would confine himself to his proper sphere.

Macedonius, for example, writes granting Augustine's " 1 You say request, but adding, deferentially yet firmly
:

that it is the function of your priesthood to intervene in behalf of the accused, and that unless you obtain your request you have no right to be offended. I very greatly doubt whether this claim can be justified from
2

religion."

Macedonius appeals to the principles of the Church. According to the practice of the Church restoration is allowed only once after Baptism in the case of serious To allow sins to go unpunished is to lower the sin. He considers that exemption for penalty has standard. been pleaded for cases in which such exemption has done no good whatever. To this criticism Augustine sent an admirable answer: 3
1

3

Letter 152. Letter [53, A.D. 414.

2

Letter 152,

2. 

LETTERS ON AFRICAN CHURCH DIVISIONS
"

115

You

ask

me why

I

maintain

that

it

is

part of our

priestly office to intercede in behalf of the guilty, and office if the petition why I consider it derogatory to

my

not allowed. You say that you are not sure that this is a proper inference from religion. For if the Church granted restoration to the penitent only once, how can it require that crime of every sort -should be forgiven? To advocate such laxity would be a sin against the
is

social order."
l Augustine replies that this severity would frighten one who did not know how gentle and humane any Macedonius really was. Augustine certainly by no means condones a sin, nor has the slightest wish that it should go unpunished. But while you abhor the sin you must pity the sinner. And the more you abhor

more you must desire the sinner's convereasy to hate bad men because they are bad it is less common, but it is religious, to love them because they are men. Augustine held that no other place for moral correction existed beyond the present world. For after this life a man would possess exactly what he had
the sin the
It is

sion.

:

acquired. Charity, therefore, prompts us to intercede for the guilty for fear they should end this life by a punishment which involved a further punishment which would never come to an end. Clearly, then, such intercession is a work of religion. Augustine appeals to the Divine benevolence toward the evil, taught by our Lord in the Sermon on the Mount (S. Matt. v. 44, 45). Doubtless Divine patience might be abused, but it was exercised none the less

(Rom.

ii.

3-6).

Augustine propounds the theological principles and motives to the legal mind. God is the only judge whose decisions need not be revised, for He alone is And yet He sends the incapable of being deceived. sun to shine on the evil as well as on the good,
1

Letter 153. 

n6
and

THE LETTERS OF
sends
rain

ST.

AUGUSTINE
also

upon the just and

upon

the

unjust.

Macedonius must also remember that persons who are liberated from the severity of the State are punished by the Church are removed from the Altar, and compelled to penitence. If there are relapses even after such penitential discipline, yet God still continues to the scandalous offender the gifts of nature, and still offers him the grace of And although the Church no longer gives salvation. him a place even for the humblest penitence, yet God has not forgotten to be patient towards him. And
;

Augustine drew a very striking picture of a penitent soul pleading for restoration " Either grant me again a place of repentance or suffer me in despair to live as I please. Or if you call me back from such an evil course, tell me whether it will profit me anything in the future life if in this life I resist the seductions of pleasure if I chasten my body, and withdraw myself even from lawful and permissible
:

;

things if by my penitence I afflict myself more grievously than before weep more profusely, live far better, maintain the poor more generously, burn more ardently with charity which covers the multitude of sins." Certainly, says Augustine, no one would be so mad as to tell him that all this would profit him nothing in the future life. The Church, Augustine considered, could not venture to allow restoration of the offender more than once for fear of lowering the moral level of ChrisBut God goes further than the Church dare tian life. venture. The long-suffering of God leads men to
;

;

repentance.

There is the case of the woman brought by the Pharisees before our Lord. Christ called them back to mercy, by an appeal to their own consciences. Augustine thinks that if the woman's husband had been present he would have been moved to spare the For since Christ here warned off the guilty one. 

LETTERS ON AFRICAN CHURCH DIVISIONS
judicial accusers, the injured person

117
fail

could scarcely
to

to learn the lesson of mercy his wife a public example.

and be reluctant

make

a day when Macedonius himself interceded in the Church at Carthage in behalf of a cleric with whom his bishop was justly indignant. If it is for Macedonius to mitigate the severity of ecclesiright astical discipline, it must be right for a bishop to mitigate the seventy of secular discipline, especially in a trial where the life of the accused is at stake. And here Augustine appeals to Macedonius 2 on the He calls him ground of the magistrate's goodness. " good in spite, he says, of the words of Christ, There is none good save one, that is God." This leads the Bishop to insinuate the lesson that all human goodness

Augustine

recalls

1

is

We call him good in whom good exceeds him best who sins the least. 3 Quoting Seneca, whose letters to S. Paul, he says, " still exist, He who hates the bad must needs hate all
imperfect. the evil and
:

yet the bad are to be cease to be bad." As to Macedonius's fear that ecclesiastical intervention 4 in criminal cases would render judicial action Both imperial and nugatory, Augustine denies it. paternal power have undoubtedly the right of discipline but the intercessions of a bishop are not contrary to secular authority. So much depends upon the motive which induces men to spare. 5 Certainly a magistrate may grant a bishop's intercession for an offender, and yet the leniency make the offender nothing better. But then the intention must be remembered. The purpose of the intercession is none the less excellent, in spite of its failure to improve the offender. Thus the severity of the magistrate is good, 6 and the

men," Augustine adds:

loved in order that they

"And may

;

1

3
5

Letter 133, Letter 153, Letter 153,

10.

2 4

14.
fi

17.

Letter 153, Letter 153, Letter 153

12.
16.
19. 

n8

THE LETTERS OF

ST.

AUGUSTINE

The former leniency of the interceding person is good. is to be feared and the latter not to be despised. Certainly to plead that a thief need not restore what he had taken 1 would be to become a party to the
fraud.

interceding

Then, of course, there are cases in which the person 2 may be deceived and the magistrate may know what the Bishop does not. So Augustine, before the letter ended, had written almost a small treatise for the magistrate's use, extending to six-and-twenty sections, full of reason and insight into human nature, and shrewd reflections, and all of course expressed in terms of persuasive eloquence. Macedonius was greatly captivated by this letter. He sent a short but extremely grateful reply, 3 acknowledging himself convinced by the Bishop's explanations, which were so replete with penetration, knowledge,
;

by humility that the magistrate would

while his intercessions for offenders so marked feel inexcusable unless he consented. Augustine replied that although he was unable to discover 4 in himself the wisdom which Macedonius ascribed to him, yet he was profoundly indebted to the writer's kindliness, and rejoiced that his work commended itself to such a reader. Most of all he rejoiced that Macedonius was an ardent follower of the truth. No one can truly be a lover of man unless he is first a lover of truth. Thereupon the Bishop seizes the occasion to dwell on the theme that the meaning and the blessedness of life is only to be found in God. The so-called Conference of 411, when the Donatists were forced by the State to conform to the Catholic Church, was one of the strangest parodies of Reunion ever invented. The reluctant and despairing leaders of the sect were driven by imperial officials into the
sanctity
;

Letter 153, Letter 154.

20 and

2

31.
4

Letter 153, Letter 155.

22. 

LETTERS ON AFRICAN CHURCH DIVISIONS
Catholic Church.

119

was

intensified. 1

One result was that suicidal frenzy One of the oddest letters Augustine

ever wrote was sent to a Donatist priest in the diocese This unfortunate man was ordered to be of Hippo. arrested and brought to church. He threw himself down a well to escape conformity. He was brought up again, seriously injured, and scarcely in a mood to attend to Augustine's remonstrances and exhortations. Seldom was logic more futile, or argument more misplaced, than in Augustine's reasonings with this unhappy victim of imperial and ecclesiastical coercion. Augustine insists on the educational and corrective value of coercive measures, illustrated in the Divine punishment of the rebellious Israelites, and the violent Conversion of S. Paul insists that much good may result from a father flogging his son distinguishes between martyrdom false and true false when endured without charity, which, says the Bishop, was the case with the Donatists " For if I give my body to be burned, and have not " charity, it profiteth me nothing repeats again the fatal
;
; : ;

"

interpretation

:

Compel them

to

come

in."

impression Augustine's reasonings made on the suicidal tendencies of the despairing sectarian has not But the hopelessness of curing the been recorded. effects of violence by the use of logic and history does not seem to have dawned upon the great writer's mind. He seems to have had no misgivings. It never occurs to him that the situation which he deplored was one for

What

which coercive measures were largely responsible. No summary of this Conference with the Donatist Bishops can be complete without a reference to the
tragic fate of
its President. years after the date of the Conference the imperial representative in Africa, Count Heraclian, revolted from his master Honorius. Count Marinus was sent to Africa in the Emperor's interests, and Heraclian was

Two

1

Letter 173. 

120

THE LETTERS OF

ST.

AUGUSTINE

Marinus was commissioned to captured and executed. pass judgment on all the supporters of the late revolt. It appears from Augustine's account that this act of retaliation was carried out with haste, indiscriminately, and with gross injustice. Vengeance fell on the innocent as well as on the guilty. Suspicion easily lighted on the wrong persons. Private jealousy and spite found an opportunity to requite personal dislikes under pretext of loyalty to the State. Solitary accusations unsupported by further evidence were allowed to ruin men. These were the circumstances which the Donatists are said to have utilised for taking revenge on the President Marcellinus. He was accused with having

So was his elder supported the usurper Heraclian. brother the Proconsul Apringius. It will be remembered that Augustine had written to both brothers entreating them not to be over-severe with Donatist offenders Count Marinus had them both (Letters 133, 134).
arrested

and imprisoned.

at the time.

distinguished State official, Caecilian, a Churchman and a friend, assured him in the strongest terms that they were safe. And the Bishop left the Then like a thunderclap city with that assurance. came the news that both the brothers had been suddenly executed. Augustine was almost stunned by the terrible news. Suspicion fell on Caecilian that, in spite of his assurances

A

Augustine was

in

Carthage

and professions, he had incited Count Marinus to an act of judicial murder for private reasons of his own. Augustine kept silence for a considerable time, overwhelmed. At last Caecilian wrote to ask the Bishop why he did not write ? That question produced such a letter 1 as Augustine had seldom written. It is a letter in which the intensity of grief and affection for the dead were mingled with the strongest moral indignation against all aiders and
1

Letter 151, A.D. 413. 

LETTERS ON AFRICAN CHURCH DIVISIONS

121

abettors of the cruel deed, together with wonderful selfa lofty refusal to restraint and measured utterance credit the popular suspicion that Caecilian could have perpetrated such loathsome insincerity and a courtesy and deference which must have made the words of con; ;

demnation stinging and scathing beyond description if Caecilian were really guilty. Quite a number of Augustine's correspondents were persons of eminence in the State, who wrote to him for advice or instruction. Count Boniface, 1 evidently perplexed by the diversities of African religion, wrote to inquire what was the difference between a Donatist and an Arian ? This led Augustine to write another most
important account of the Donatist controversy. He explains that an Arian is a person who maintains that the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are different substances, whereas the Donatist, like the Catholic, acknowledges one substance of the Trinity although, Augustine adds, the Donatists, in their desire to strengthen their position, made overtures to the Arian Goths, and minimised the difference about the doctrine of the Trinity. Augustine also tells Boniface how the Donatist schism arose. Augustine paints an extraordinary picture of sectarian fanaticism and violence among the Donatists. 2 They tramped the country in troops, and fell on travellers, Sometimes they wounding and slaughtering them. incited and provoked magistrates on circuit to be their executioners. story is told of a magistrate who pretended to comply with their request, ordered them to be bound, and left them, thereby securing time to escape
;

A

their threats

and violence. Augustine was naturally led to talk of horse and mule which have no understanding, and of the necessity of imposing restraint on the violence of those who were out of their mind.
1

Letter 185, A.D. 417.

2

Letter 185,

12. 

122

THE LETTERS OF

ST.

AUGUSTINE

These considerations encouraged Augustine to believe 1 advantage of force. Runaway slaves, and debtors unwilling or unable to pay for goods supplied to them, found conversion to the Donatists an effective method of escape from their liabilities, for neither owner nor creditor were inclined to face the clubs of the Circumcellions, or to have their houses burnt above them. The country was under mob regulations. The sectarians did exactly what they pleased, played grim practical jokes on their victims when the fancy served them. For instance, they harnessed an educated and cultured man to a mill, in place of an ass, and forced him round and round to grind the corn. Authority looked the other way, and ignored what it could not prevent. Terrorised 2 sufferers dared not complain. Hardly a Church of the Catholic Communion was safe from outrage. Hardly a road was secure to travellers. Not only laymen and clerics were sufferers, says Augustine, but even the Catholic Bishops (we note his triple division) were placed in a deplorable dilemma. Either they were silent, and thereby unfaithful to their duty of proclaiming the truth or else they spoke, and brought calamity, not only on It seems clear themselves, but upon all their people. from this that fanatics must have been very numerous.
in the
;

Under these circumstances, says Augustine, who could question the necessity of appealing to the State in the 3 And here Auguspersons of the Christian Emperors? tine explains to Count Boniface his own conception of the existing relation between Church and State. The objection had been raised that the Apostles did not desire coercive legislation against their opponents. Augustine points out that circumstances had changed. There was no Christian Emperor in the Apostolic Age. Those were the days in which the kings of the earth stood up against the Lord and against His Anointed.
1
3

Letter 185, Letter 185,

2

15.

Letter 185,

18.

18

and

19. 

LETTERS ON AFRICAN CHURCH DIVISIONS
to
in

123

But now that Emperors were Christian the words applied them " Be wise now, therefore, O ye kings be learned, ye that are judges of the earth serve the Lord "
: ; :

fear that is, repress irreligion by just severity. Illustrations of this asserted kingly duty are given from Hezekiah to Nebuchadnezzar. And here Augustine
:
:

1

formulates the mediaeval conception of the duty of the " What sober-minded person could State to the Church say to Kings, Care not by whom the Church of your Lord is in your Kingdom restrained or oppressed it is no business of yours who in your Kingdom is religious or sacrilegious since you cannot say to them, It is no business of yours who is chaste or who is unchaste in your Kingdom ? Why should adultery be punished and Is it a lighter thing that a man sacrilege permitted ? should not keep faith with God than that a woman " should be faithless to her husband ? 2 Thus Augustine could not conceive a religious State ignoring offences
'

;

'

'

;

'

against religion. At the same time he saw quite clearly 3 that it was an immeasurably better thing that men should be led to the worship of God by instruction rather than comBut he thought that although the way pelled by force. of freedom was better, yet the way of coercion was not
altogether to be neglected. Consequently disobedience
is

to be coerced

:t
:

Compel

them

come in." At the same time Augustine himself and
to
5

4

others of

had been formerly opposed to compulsory communion. They had held that force
the African Bishops

should only be exerted defensively to protect Catholics from Donatist violence. And this view was expressed in a Canon of the Council of Carthage in 414. This decision of the Council of Carthage 6 was sent to the Emperors with a request that they would endorse
1

3
5

Letter 185, Letter 185, Letter 185,

2

19.

21.

4
6

25.

Letter 185, Letter 185, Letter 185,

20.
24.

26 and

27. 

124
it

THE LETTERS OF

ST.

AUGUSTINE

at

But the appearance of a Bishop Court disfigured by scars of Circumcellion violence determined the Emperor to legislate on severer lines. Honorius accordingly ordered the infliction of fines, 1 and insisted on enforcing the return of the Donatists to
as a law of the State.

Catholic Unity. On the arrival of this Law in Africa many immedi2 ately flocked into the Church, including many ignorant unable to distinguish between the two Churches. persons But, on the other hand, these defections filled the remaining sectarians with the madness of despair. Some were prepared to commit suicide rather than be converted, and to throw the responsibility of their conduct upon the Catholics. Well, reflects Augustine, if the House of David can only be at peace by the death of Absalom what alternative 3 remains but to weep his death, and be thankful for peace ? After all, reflects the Bishop, there is another side to If Boniface were to see the joy of these the picture. converts to the Catholic Congregation, and their appreciation of Sacraments which they had been taught to despise as false, he would feel that coercion ought to be practised, whatever effect it might have on a certain

number
"

of desperate
it,"

men. 4
"

form of a simple illusa house which you know You try to warn them, but neither is certain to fall. will come out. One says that if you try to force him he will kill himself. Will you not risk his committing suicide in your desire at least to save the other who " has no such suicidal proclivities ? 5 This, in the writer's opinion, was parallel to the Donatist difficulty. Among phrases to be noted in this important Letter 24), and that the 185 are "sacramentum altaris" (

Put

says Augustine,

in the

tration.

Suppose two men

in

1

3
5

Letter 185, Letter 185, Letter 185,

28. 32.
33.

*
4

Letter 185,
Ibid.

29. 

LETTERS ON AFRICAN CHURCH DIVISIONS
siae

125

Donatists "extra ecclesiam et contra ecclesiam ecclesacramenta tenuerunt" ( 46). To appreciate at its full value this remarkable series of letters on the Donatist Controversy, it is well to remember that in addition to those there still exists a folio volume of Augustine's set treatises on the same These letters are his minor efforts on the subject. theme. But the facts and the principles, the history and theology contained in them make it possible to gain a fairly complete view of the whole course of that tragical separation which inflicted such injury on African ChristiIf Augustine had written nothing else, these anity. alone would form a claim to unusual distinction. 

CHAPTER V
LETTERS ON THE DOCTRINE OF GRACE
1

THE letters on Pelagianism extend across the last sixteen years of the great writer's activity, from 414 to 430. During that period occasional letters appeared on the Donatist Controversy. Hut the absorbing interest of his mind was the great subject of Divine Grace.
I

The shown

theological standpoint of Pelagius is very plainly in his celebrated letter to Demetrias on the In that letter he occasion of her taking the veil in 413. that his 2 practice when giving instructions in explains religious life is always to lay great stress on the capaHe wants to banish the word bility of human nature.

impossible," and to convince human indolence how 3 it is able to do by its own exertions. Accordhe exalts the power of the human will. 4 God ingly gave us freedom of choice, made us capable of good and And what the capacities of human nature are for evil. moral excellence can be seen in the Pagan philosophers

"

much

who were pure and
1

self-denying and benevolent and
literature

on this subject it may be suffiAugustinian Doctrine of Predestination ; Hermann Reuter, Augustinische Studien, 1887 Mausbach, Die Rthik des heiligen Augustinus, two vols., 1909 Duchesne, Histoire Ancienne de PEglise. 2 In S. Augustine's Works, Gaume's Edition, Tom. II. Appencient to mention: Mozley,
;

Out of the enormous

;

dix, pp.
3

1380 ff.-I4I2.
2.

Letter to Demetrias,

126 

LETTERS ON THE DOCTRINE OF GRACE

127

Whence came all this goodness unless out unworldly. of the goodness of human nature ? It all shows how men without God were able by the power bestowed on them in their creation to please Him. If human nature is in itself capable of this high excellence, how much more can a Christian accomplish, taught as he is by Christ and aided by the help of Divine Grace ? Here, then, the distinctive Christian term occurs. Pelagius But Grace nowhere means for him recognises Grace. what it meant for the Church. It nowhere means the supernatural influence of the indwelling Christ within the soul. 1 What Felagius finds in human personalities " " is a naturalis sanctitas of which conscience is an evidence. He quotes numerous examples from the Old Testament of human perfection. Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, for instance, perfectly fulfilled the will of God. 2 Job was an evangelist before the Gospel, and an apostolic disciple of the Apostles before the Apostolic teaching had been given. In his psychology the will is always free to determine which of two courses it will take. 3 Pelagius reiterates his interpretation of religious history by observing that the Patriarchs who attained excellence without the guidance of the Law are no doubt proof of the natural goodness of mankind. Their Creator had endowed their nature, long before the Law was given, with capacities sufficient for achieving He admits that in process of time the righteousness. moral level deteriorated. In his opinion the Law was then revealed in order to enable men by admonition to recover their earlier excellence. He acknowledges that we have a difficulty in doing good. But that difficulty is to be traced to nothing but habit and neglect from childhood onward. This habit undoubtedly becomes a second nature it resists us
;

1

Letter to Demetrias,
Ibid.
8.

2

4, p.

1383.

Ibid.

6.

Quibus liberum est unum semper ex duobus agere. cum semper utrumque possimus.

3 

128

THE LETTERS OF
that

ST.

AUGUSTINE
better will.

now

we

are trying to exert a

We

wonder why, in this ignorance contracted by indolence, sanctity seems as if it were conferred upon us by another rather than by ourselves. But the truth is, that this is caused by our long experience in evil and the
absence of habitual continuance
in

good.

Nevertheless, urges Pelagius, if primitive men before the Law was given achieved such excellence, what ought not to be possible for us after the Advent of Christ ? For we who have been instructed by the Grace of Christ, and born again to a better manhood, and cleansed by His Blood, and encouraged by His

example. These sentences might seem to have a Catholic meaning. But they do not represent that meaning as Pelagius uses them. They are phrases of ecclesiastical tradition which Pelagius could employ in a sense by They do placing his own construction upon them. not; convey the Catholic doctrine of the Grace of
Christ.

of the letter encourages self-reliance to an extraordinary degree. Much is said of studying Scripture. Very little is said of prayer. The need of help to overcome our weakness is not part of the Pelagian He pictures God 1 and the angels witconception. the Christian conflict. But God is Spectator nessing rather than Helper. There is no reference to infusion of strength. If human weakness pleads that the task is hard and 2 beyond the power of the frailty of the flesh, Pelagius that this plea accuses God of twofold ignorance replies ignorance of what He has created, and ignorance of what He has commanded. As if He can forget the limitations of the nature which He created and imposes
:

The whole

upon it commandments which it is unable to fulfil. Do we suppose that God condemns men for disobedience
1

Letter to Demetrias,

z

14, p. 1395.

Ibid.

16, p. 1396. 

LETTERS ON THE DOCTRINE OF GRACE
which they cannot avoid ? of our strength better than

129

No one knows the measure He that gave that strength.

Accordingly Pelagius fixes attention on texts which the ideal. 1 The Christian is to be blameless and immaculate in the midst of a perverse generation, a shining light in the world. There is remarkable con-

command

fidence in the
this.

power of the unassisted

will to fulfil all

appeals to the texts which inculcate But he passes in responsibility and affirm our freedom. silence those which confirm our weakness and cry aloud for help. Demetrias is repeatedly exhorted to act, and to make herself acceptable to Christ. But the stress is laid entirely on her own ability. It is even strange to
Pelagius
invariably and instinctively every Apostolic out which ascribes spiritual progress to God and the influence of His Grace. 2 Demetrias is to control her thoughts by the study of the Law of God. Even when Pelagius at last quotes the Apostolic words " Now I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me," it does not appear to mean for Pelagius the indwelling, cooperating Christ, but rather the product of human imitation of a Divine example. And when Pelagius comes to acknowledge that this ideal is a great undertaking, he supports the Christian
notice

how
is

passage

left

:

effort,

3 not by suggesting an appeal to God for strength, but simply by reminding Demetrias of the greatness of the reward to those who are successful.

principal characteristic of the letter to its consistent and evidently deliberate omission of the doctrine of supernatural and moral aid enabling man to do and become what otherwise he could not. The theory of Pelagianism, then, is essentially and fundamentally a theory of the goodness of human nature the power of the human will to realise the

Thus the

Demetrias

is

;

1

Letter to Demetrias,
Ibid.

17, p. 1397-

2 Ibid.

27, p. 1409.

3

28, p. 1409. 

I3o

THE LETTERS OF
its

ST.

AUGUSTINE

destiny by its own inherent of any further support than strength, independently It is a theory which leaves no room nature supplies. for Grace. Grace in the sense of supernatural strength imparted is obviously superfluous in the Pelagian view. The term may still be employed and was freely emwas impossible not to use a term so It ployed. But other meancharacteristic of Christian thought.

Divine ideal and achieve

ings were assigned to

it.

1. Sometimes Pelagians identified Grace with Nature. Grace denoted the natural endowments with which man was created the essential gifts of our spiritual Thus Grace was the same thing as Free constitution. Will. To assert that the power of the will was not
:

enough was to disparage the Creator. To say that we cannot do what God commands is to say that God commands the impossible. But this dishonours Him. The Grace of God, then, is the same thing as the gifts of the natural man. 2. Pelagianism freely allowed that Grace might have a further meaning. For clearly there was one thing which men obviously require in addition to the power of their will and the capacities inherent in their nature. That one thing is instruction. They must be told what the Divine Will is. Enlightenment in the ideals of the moral Christian Law is essential. The will must be
informed. Grace, then, may be taken in this larger sense to represent the Revelation of Truth and Duty God telling us what we ought to do and then leaving us
:

to

for which our unaided will is enough. Of do it course instruction includes example. There is the example of Christ, which is given us for imitation. This also comes under the heading of Grace. The Pelagian admitted all this, so long as the integrity and independent sufficiency of the will for the purpose of achieving our eternal destiny was in no way compromised. 3. Then, further, Grace might receive another mean; 

LETTERS ON THE DOCTRINE OF GRACE
ing.
It

131

might denote Forgiveness of Sins. This cerwas requisite in addition to human capabilities. tainly 4. One last concession was made to the advocate of Grace. It was admitted that there might be encouragements to do God's Will which would enable a man to do that Will more easily. More easily that was the The illustration given is that of a boat on the phrase. It will reach its destination more easily with a water. But. the thing can be done with sail than with oars. oars only. tamen -et (" Velo facilius, remo difficilius remo itur." Sermon 156, 13.)
:
:

But Pelagianism insisted that the credit of the achievement belonged to man. It was man who took
the initiative in matters of faith. It was man who merited God's approval by the use of his unaided will. Accordingly nothing was more abhorrent to Pelagius than the famous sentence in Augustine's Confessions : " Give [grace to do] what Thou commandest and then command what Thou wilt." On the contrary, Pelagius did not hesitate to say, " God made us human, we made ourselves righteous." (See Letter 177, I.)
II

To this optimistic view of human nature as it now exists Augustine's teaching presents the exact antithesis.
he insists on the powerlessness of the good. Unquestionably man was endowed with freedom of decision. And nothing is so much in our power as the will itself (De Libero Arbitrio, Nevertheless to speak as if the tendency of the iii. 7). will was towards good is to contradict the facts of experience. There is no such thing as natural sanctity no moral goodness at all as a product of the unaided The tendency of human nature is towards evil. will. The picture of It never achieves the Divine ideal.
i.

First of
will

all

unaided

lor

: 

132

THE LETTERS OF

ST.

AUGUSTINE

ready compliance with Divine commands which PelaHe has gius has drawn is fiction and nothing else. ignored the maladies of the will. The will can exist without the power. We will and we are not able.
(Letter 157,

The
157,
S.

will
8-)

is

"

10.)

There is the weakness of the will. tanto liberior quanto sanior." (Letter

Augustine contrasts the general Pelagian view with
Paul's

confession in the

Roman

Epistle.

It is

the

latter

which represents the experience of humanity.
represent the

To

more than
ance of

human will as requiring nothing instruction in moral ideals betrayed an ignorincapacity which in Augustine's opinion
tragic.

human

was positively

Nothing was more certain

in

human

experience than the powerlessness of moral ideals We acknowledge their to get themselves obeyed. excellence, but we do not fulfil them. Nay, more. The very fact that a thing is forbidden awakens resistance and increases its attractions. To our perversity prohibiAnd if this is the case with a tion increases desire. comparatively low moral standard, the higher the standard is raised the more powerless the will to achieve it. If the letter of the law is not accomplished, still less is

Hence all moral instruction becomes a spirit. ministration of condemnation and a ministration *>f death. It tells us what to do and then sits in judgment upon us for not fulfilling it. All these ideas are commonplaces of Augustine's teaching. The most brilliant exposition of them occurs in the great treatise on the The Letter is the moral comSpirit and the Letter. mandment. The Spirit is the Holy Spirit, the Giver of
its

grace and moral strength to accomplish. When Pelagius taught that what Pagans and Jews had accomplished before Christ came, Christians ought, a fortiori, to accomplish now that they had the additional advantages of Christ's illuminating instruction and example, the British monk forgot that Christ had made fulfilment immeasurably more difficult because He 

LETTERS ON THE DOCTRINE OF GRACE
had raised the standard

133

in the Sermon on the Mount to the highest conceivable levels of sublimity. And the light-hearted way in which the Pelagian could talk of fulfilling Christ's ideal and imitating Christ's example was to men of Augustine's disposition positively appalThe imitation of Christ is an aim which should ling. fill the best of men with the protoundest of despair if they are expected to attempt it in their own unassisted

strength.
2.

How

is

this

weakness of the

will

accounted

for

?

condition of human nature. Augustine ascribes the origin of this universal The solidarity of mankind insinfulness to the Fall. volving the whole race in a state of transmitted inferioritythis is Original Sin. Humanity is debased. Rom. v. 12 is rendered "in whom" [that is, in Adam] "all It should be noted here that the fact of unisinned." the explanation of its versal sinfulness is one thing cause is another. Pelagius disputed the explanation, but failed to do justice to the fact. His view of sin was exceedingly superficial, while that of Augustine was
It is

accounted

for

by the

sinful

;

profound.

For Pelagius sin was merely an act. For Augustine it was an abiding condition or state. Augustine insists that sin is not what Pelagius thinks it is. It is not a mere deed which passes away leaving

the personality essentially unchanged. On the contrary, it involves the doer in a permanent condition of sinfulThis sinful condition means a tendency towards ness. evil and a weakening of the moral nature. The sinful individual is in an abnormal and enfeebled state. To present him with the moral ideal is as effective as to tell the paralysed to walk. That is exactly what his condition makes impossible. Augustine has analysed this feebleness of the enslaved will most strikingly in the pages of his Confessions.
afflicted

The remedies which Pelagianism provided for this condition were perfectly futile. They were

merely external applications to heal a deeply rooted 

134
internal

THE LETTERS OF

ST.

AUGUSTINE

malady. Human nature required a complete renewal. Nothing less than entire regeneration of the inner self could meet the case. Instruction is not enough. And forgiveness is not enough. The nature itself must be cleansed and purged and strengthened. The Pelagians in Augustine's opinion are not defenders " " of free will. They are its inflatores et prsecipitatores (De Gratia et Libero Arbitrio, They foster its 27). pride and encourage its ruin. Neither knowledge of the Divine Law, nor natural ability, nor forgiveness of sins is the same thing as the grace given by Jesus Christ. Grace enables us to fulfil the moral law. It sets our nature free from the dominion of our sinfulness (#.,
Works, X. 1249). 3. Here then comes in the great Christian doctrine of Grace that doctrine of which Augustine is the greatest
:

exponent. He is never weary of insisting what grace is not. It The is not nature not our constitutional endowments. identification of grace with free will deprives Christianity of its supreme moral value, which consists in its supplementing nature, in reinforcing the will. Neither is grace equivalent to instruction. In the letter to Volusian (137) Augustine maintains that the two main purposes of the Incarnation correspond with the two main human defects,
;

which are ignorance and inability. Accordingly, Christianity offers enlightenment to the one and strength to the other. The powerlessness of mere instruction in morals

The setting Christ's example for our proverbial. imitation is simply appalling if it is to be attempted by our own unaided will. The thing of all others which human nature needs is power. And that power or grace
is is

exactly what Christianity supplies. While Pelagius confined attention to Scriptural commands and ideals and exhortations to holiness, Augus-

tine balanced this one-sided presentment of the Christian religion by an array of passages where an appeal is made or absolute dependence upon that to the help of God
; 

LETTERS ON THE DOCTRINE OF GRACE
help is acknowledged bestowed.
"
;

135

or

He

is

praised for strength
do."

" "

It is God that worketh in us both to will and to What hast thou that thou didst not receive ? "

Lead us not
Order

"

into temptation."

my

steps

in

Thy word and

so shall

no

wickedness have dominion over me." " I could not otherwise obtain her except God gave her me" (Wisd. viii. 21). In this great doctrine of Grace Augustine simply exulted. Nowhere has he exhibited such brilliancy, such penetration. Nowhere does he carry a doctrine out more completely to its results. Every spiritual quality is a Divine gift. If he thinks of love towards God, he has not the slightest doubt that this love does not originate in a movement of man towards God. It is awakened in man " The love of God," by which Augustine by the Spirit. understands man's love toward God, "is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit which is given us." Love towards God is God's own gift. (" Ut ea quae facienda discendo novimus, etiam diligendo faciamus." Letter
is certain that our very help are the work of the Spirit cooperating with us and according to our weak appeals any value they may possess. If he thinks of faith, he is equally clear that God takes Faith does not originate in the initiative, not man. man's decision. Man cannot believe unless God gives

188, If

3.)

he thinks of prayer, he

petitions to

God

for

him

faith.

" according as God hath dealt to each man a measure of faith" (Rom. xii. 3). Christ Himself has " No man can come to Me, except the Father said " " No man which sent Me draw him (John vi. 44) can come unto Me, except it be given unto him of the Father" (John vi. 15). Augustine had not always appreciated this. In the
It is
: ; 

136

THE LETTERS OF

ST.

AUGUSTINE

early period of his thought, before his episcopate, he maintained that our faith is due to ourselves, but our good works to God. But in his maturer judgment this was wrong. " I should not have said it," he wrote, " had I realised that faith itself is among the gifts of God " which are bestowed by the Spirit {Retract, xxiii. 2). The conclusion from this doctrine of Grace is inevitAnd it is exactly the contrary to the Pelagian able. For if love is a gift and faith is a gift and prayer idea. itself, so far as it is acceptable, is a work of the Spirit within us, then it is clear that God takes the initiative, not man, and that grace begins and accompanies all

human

Aceffort which possesses any moral worth. cordingly, the conclusion is expressed in the celebrated sentence that God, when He crowns human merits,
gifts (Letter 194, 19). a striking illustration of Augustine's influence on Western religious thought that this sentence is embodied in the teaching.of the Council of Trent. 1 Although, says the Council, much is attributed in Scripture to good " works, nevertheless God forbid that a Christian should either trust or glory in himself, and not in the Lord, Whose bounty towards all men is so great, that He will have the things which are His own gifts be their
It is

crowns His own

merits."

But what moved Augustine most of all, and to the depth of his being, was his keen realisation of the bearing of Pelagianism on the place of Christ in Redemption. The Pelagian theory of man's capacity to fulfil unaided his own destiny was destructive to the whole Christian conception of justification through Christ. They that are whole need not a physician. Christ did not come to call the righteous. Men who were competent to comply with the Divine requirements by their own independent
4.

strength could not
1

owe

their salvation to Christ.

Then

Water-worth, Canons Session VI. Chap. XVI.

and Decrees of the Council of

J^rent, p. 43. 

LETTERS ON THE DOCTRINE OF GRACE

137

the Apostolic doctrine that there is no other name under heaven through Salvation is possible beside the name of Christ is not true (De Natura et Gratia, 46). Then is the cross of Christ made of none effect. Augustine cannot resist applying here the words "This wisdom " is not from above It is only by Regenera(ib. 6). tion conferred through Christ that the human soul can

Whom

:

If Pelagius interposes 7). acquire eternal life (ib. here that he admits the necessity of Christ as an instructor how we ought to live, although not as a vital force " of grace enabling us, Augustine retorts Here is a condition of the human mind, which knows miserable how to tame a lion but is ignorant how it ought itself to If the power of the unaided human will suffices to live. live aright, then Christ has died in vain. Pelagianism is a mere ignoring of the divinely given righteousness and a futile endeavour to establish a righteousness of " our own (ib. 47) According to the Pelagian view, heaven will contain two distinct types of men those who have been justified by Christ and those who have been justified without Him. There is, then, more than one way into the life of God. There is a way with which Christ has nothing to
:

.

:

But this is false. There is only one Mediator between God and men. Surely the Pelagians, exclaims Augustine, must see, without any further remarks from him, how abhorrent this theory should be to Christian minds {Contra Julian, vi. 8 1 Works, X. 1207). Thus the truth is, that in the Pelagian scheme Christ sinks from Redeemer to the mere level of a prophet or His Incarnation and teacher of morals and religion. His Death are deprived of their life-giving power. He is no longer the Saviour of Humanity, but is degraded to
do.
;

a totally inferior position. Consequently Augustine's work, viewed from aspect, is" a defence of the Christian doctrine of Atonement. His accusation against the Pelagians that they glorified the Creator at the expense of

this

the

was
the 

138

THE LETTERS OF

ST.
stress

AUGUSTINE
on Nature that they

Redeemer. They laid such left no room for Grace.

Ill

Whenever the human mind has to dwell on complementary truths it is invariably liable to disproportion. It readily places undue stress on the one or else on the other.
i. Augustine saw with perfect clearness that the production of a saint is a work of God and man comBut the exact proportion which ought to be bined. ascribed to Divine action and to Human action, to Grace and to Free Will respectively, in the process, is a problem of exceeding difficulty. Augustine in the course of the discussion laid increasing stress on the Divine side in the production of a saint, until Grace dominated everything, and the formidable conclusions of Predestination emerged, and man appeared to be no more than the helpless clay in the hands of the Then the doctrine of universal Atonement, Potter. the Redemption of the race, became narrowed down, under the exigencies of an overwhelming conception of Divine power, to the Redemption of a selected few, The arbitrarily selected from the massa perditionis. clear Evangelical universality of the Apostolic belief that He "will have all men to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth," became forced into

a strange self-contradiction of what it says " all men did not mean all men, but only
4<

men whom Providence for inscrutable, if 1 arbitrarily selected to eternal life.

so that those reasons just,
;

all

Augustine's correspondence brings out into exceedingly clear light the inability of Augustine's disciples to force these opinions on certain Catholics of the period. And it certainly is one of the most significant ironies
1 Bossuet identified this with the Faith of the Church. (Defense de la Tradition, II. xiii. ch. x.) But he was not fair to Richard Simon. See rather Rottmanner, Der Augustinismus, 1892. 

LETTERS ON THE DOCTRINE OF GRACE
of theological
tine's

139

development if it was against Augusextreme conclusions that the famous Vincentian Canon was formulated. 2. Nevertheless, the defects of Pelagianism are immeasurably more serious than any of the most rigorous

conclusions of Augustine; for Pelagianism is simply the If logically carried out religion of the natural man. there is no Christianity left. Incarnation, Redemption, Grace, all disappeared, because they are made superThe words may be retained. The presence fluous. of the Church's belief, the constant traditional use of the great expressions compelled the Pelagian to accept

words which represented

conceptions wholly incom-

Thus he retained the Baptism patible with his ideals. of Infants, for which his theory left no real room. But while he retained the words, he "reconstructed" their
That is, he replaced the principles which meaning. they represented by something totally different to the Church's use of them. No two better champions of the two religions could have been discovered. Each pleaded for the value of
his

own experience. Pelagius, the calm, dispassionate man of strong will and high principles, had apparently never known the fiery trials by which human life is

too often rent in twain. He felt no need for anything which nature did not supply. Augustine was the exact His stormy impulses and the passions of antithesis.
his

youth had dragged him through degradations which gave tremendous power to his exposition of the doctrine of Grace. He is expounding that Grace upon which his whole religious security depends.

IV
it is

In order to follow Augustine's Letters on this subject necessary to bear in mind the main facts concerning

Pelagius and Celestius. Pelagius was of British birth.

He

resided in

Rome 

140

THE LETTERS OF

ST.

AUGUSTINE
:

sometime before the approach of the Goths

in 410 thence he escaped to Africa, visited Hippo when Augustine was not there. They were at Carthage together. But it was the time of the Conference with the Donatists (411) and Pelathe monk's peculiar theories were not observed. His disciple Celestius, gius then went on to Palestine. who was also in Carthage, did not escape undetected. but he was opCelestius attempted to get ordained posed by Paulinus, one of the deacons of the Church of Milan, who, at Augustine's request, wrote S. Ambrose's life. Paulinus accused Celestius of heresy before Aure;

lius,

Bishop of Carthage.

The consequence

was, that
at

Celestius could not get ordained. He to Ephesus, where he secured his aim.
ideas.

removed

once

Augustine was speedily informed of the Pelagian He wrote and preached in reply to them. He composed in 412 his treatises on the Forgiveness of Sins and the Baptism of Infants, also the great treatise on the Spirit and the Letter: all these for the benefit of his But he nowhere attacked friend, Count Marcellinus. On the contrary, he wrote him a friendly Pelagius.
expressing regard for his character, of this Pelagius afterwards made much use. (Letter 146.) Meanwhile Pelagius settled at Jerusalem, where he ingratiated himself into the society of the Bishop John. Thereupon the old lion at Bethlehem began to growl. Jerome made rude references in his commentary on " Jeremiah to a false antagonist, the grunter," an indoctus and his follower a "stolidissimus" indicalumniator, vidual "stuffed to repletion with Scotch porridge." The
letter
;

Pelagian theories have been reported at Bethlehem. Jerome, in a fierce reply to a correspondent, quotes " Ecclesiasticus Why art thou proud, O dust and ashes?" 1 In God's sight shall no man living be justified. And here are men who talk of being without sin and who say thnt we are not supported in separate
:

;

1

Ecclus.

x. 9.

Letter to Ctesiphon. 

LETTERS ON THE DOCTRINE OF GRACE
actions
Will.

141

by Divine Grace, and identify Grace with Free Jerome freely flings about the charge of sacrilege

and blasphemy. Then, grappling with his unnamed but very obvious opponent, Jerome accuses him of teaching in private what he dare not preach openly, and calls
:

ance

" If this disturbupon him to imitate Jonah, and to say is on my account, take me and cast me into the

sea."

But JeruPelagius did not act on Jerome's advice. salem and Bethlehem grew estranged. John of Jerusalem was well disposed towards his visitor, and ill disposed towards Jerome, of whose learned ferocity he was afraid. Meanwhile movements were being matured in the Bishop's house at Hippo. The learned Spanish priest, Orosius, was on a visit there, consulting Augustine on doctrinal affairs. Augustine persuaded him to go on to Palestine. The motive announced was to consult S. Jerome on the subject of the Origin of the Soul. But there can be little doubt that another motive lay
beneath.
It was to prevent the Bishop of Jerusalem from committing himself to any approval of Pelagian ideas. 1 Augustine was not fortunate in his messenger. Orosius was full of zeal, but he was deficient in the He exhibited no discretion. qualities of a diplomatist. It may be that Jerome's influence enhanced his controversial vehemence. The result was that the Bishop of Jerusalem called him to attend a conference of clergy and to give a public explanation. 2 This was in 415. Orosius himself has left us his account of it, from which it is easy to see that he must have appeared to the Bishop of Jerusalem as an advocate of African Church

opinions, attempting to enforce unquestioning deference to the views of Aurelius of Carthage and Augustine of Hippo. Orosius compares himself at Bethlehem to David called forth to meet the Philistine. He had come
1

2

Duchesne, Histoire Anctcnne de FEglise, Orosius, Liber Apologeticus, Chaps. 2-4.
Cf,

iii.

218. 

142

THE LETTERS OF

ST.

AUGUSTINE

from Father Augustine, and was seated at the feet of In the Conference at Jerusalem he was asked Jerome. what he had to say about false doctrine. He read before the Conference Augustine's letter to Hilary Bishop John then directed that Pelagius (Letter 157). should be admitted. Pelagius was asked whether he To which he taught what Augustine condemned.

These words Augustine to me ? But Bishop John brushed them aside created scandal. by observing that he represented Augustine at that
replied,

"

What

"

is

meeting. Whereupon Orosius confesses that he made the extremely unwise retort: "It you represent Augustine's person, follow Augustine's faith." Orosius was then asked what he had to say against Pelagius? Orosius soon felt that he had gone too far. The Bishop
of Jerusalem

now appears

was evidently ready to act as judge. It to have dawned on Orosius that he must

not let the African decision be brought in dispute before a tribunal evidently favourable to Pelagius. Accordingly Orosius said that this was a discussion belonging to the Latin world and must be referred to He secured that the whole question Latin Judges. It was just should be referred to Innocent of Rome. as well. Bishop John spoke Greek, Orosius Latin. The discussion was conducted through an interpreter who was none too qualified for his task. Indeed, the Bishop of Jerusalem entirely misunderstood Orosius and on a subsequent occasion charged him with teaching heresy. Pelagius's opponents in Palestine were discomfited but determined not to let matters stop where they were.
;

Accordingly they resolved to appeal to the Metropolitan The subject, therefore, Eulogius, Bishop of Caesarea.

came before the Synod of Diospolis (or Lydda) in December 41 5. Augustine has preserved fragments of
Council in Letter 186 (31, 32, 33). It appears that Pelagius exerted n.uch subtlety gave plausible but evasive answers, which the Greeks, unfamiliar with the
this
; 

LETTERS ON THE DOCTRINE OF GRACE
intricacies

143

of the discriminate from

Latin

orthodox

discussions, were unable to belief. He seemed to

anathematise what they required of him. He produced Augustine's courteous letter to him and flourished it as a certificate of his orthodoxy. Altogether he completely

He showed much cleverness and readiand an engaging frankness with the result that the fourteen bishops who heard his explanations were quite prepared to acquit him of heresy. That Synod of Diospolis holds an important place in Augustine's correspondence, as also in that of Popes Innocent and Zosimus. The news of Pelagius's acquittal filled Augustine with dismay. Jerome characterises it with his customary vigour. It was a great asset on the
won
his judges.

ness,

;

Pelagian side. Some time elapsed before Augustine could obtain a copy of the Acta of the Council. But presently Orosius himself returned to Africa with information from Jerome and the report of the acquittal.
In a letter written about 414 l to Hilary, the necessity of supernatural help over and above man's natural abilities, if he is to fulfil the Divine commands, is taught with characteristic earnestness. Augustine repeats in this letter (what he has written in the famous treatise on the Spirit and the Letter), that while the assertion that any other man, Christ alone excepted, ever lived absolutely without sin is permissible, the theory that free will is sufficient to fulfil the Divine commands without being assisted by the grace of God and the gift of the Holy Spirit, is to be anathematised and abominated. 2 Free will is sufficient to good works if it be divinely assisted. 3 But there is no solid righteousness (whatever knowledge may exist), where a man is deserted by the support of God. Lead us not into temptation means do not desert us in temptation. This free will of ours
1

Letter 157.

2

Letter 157,

3

4.

Letter 157,

5. 

144
is

THE LETTERS OF

ST.

AUGUSTINE

free in proportion as it is healthy, and it is healthy in Hence proportion as it is subject to Divine Grace. the petition " Order my steps in thy word, and so shall no wickedness have dominion over me." 1 It is not he who trusts in his own strength, but he who calls on the name of the Lord that shall be saved. 2 Accordingly Augustine repeats some of his favourite God orders self-control and gives self-control phrases. He orders it by the Law He gives it by Grace orders it by the letter and gives it by the Spirit. For the Letter without the Spirit killeth. 3 Here is the main principle of the famous treatise on the Letter and the Spirit. Augustine then proceeds to expound his terrifying theory of the fate of infants dying unbaptised. The Pelagian discredited altogether the doctrine of Original Sin. According to his definition sin is an act of the individual will. Infants then have no sin. Consequently
.

.

.

:

;

;

they cannot be condemned. or not they must be saved.
fallen

Whether they

die baptised

Augustine, defining sin as a condition of the entire 4 from which no one was exempt, made race, Original Sin the basis of his whole discussion. This, as he understood it, was the meaning of the Pauline language, " By one man sin entered into the world and death

through
In

sin."

every individual is condemned. Salvation is only possible through regeneration. Regeneration is only given to the baptised. Those, therefore, who die unbaptised die unregenerate. And to die unregenerate is to be lost. 5 Generation is only through Adam.

Adam

Accordingly Augustine argued as follows.

Regeneration

is

only through Christ.
perfectly
logical,

Both theories are

granting their

premises. Naturally they nowhere meet. The Pelagian does not appear to have reckoned that innocence is not the same as holiness. Augustine does not seem to have
1 3
t

Letter 157, pp. 119133. Letter 157, 9. Letter 157, 13.

2

4

Letter 157, Letter 157,

8.

n. 

LETTERS ON THE DOCTRINE OF GRACE

145

asked why the Almighty should be so restricted by His own sacramental methods as to be unable or unwilling
to bestow regenerating grace in any other way. He assures his correspondent, Hilary, that those

who

to those who contradict the Apostles' teaching. The theory that sinfulness is not transmitted, but only affects us as a bad 1 example, is to be absolutely rejected.
2 Augustine informs Hilary that he has discussed this in many treatises and serm6ns, because these subject errors had infected his own neighbourhood. They also exist in Carthage. Celestius had been living in that and was fairly on the way to the dignity of the city priesthood, if his heresies had not been discovered and Celestius was unable to reconepiscopally condemned.
;

desire to live in Christ

must pay no attention

cile

his theories concerning infants dying unbaptised with the prevalent ecclesiastical practice of the baptism of infants. For why should infants be baptised if they had no need to be redeemed ? Augustine is reluctantly compelled to mention Celestius's name for the Bishop suspects that this is the source which is disturbing
;

Hilary's faith. Perhaps the most interesting part of this letter to Hilary is the section on the relation of Christianity to wealth. 3 Celestius and his adherents upheld the ideal of poverty, of absolute renunciation of all possessions as the Christian duty of all rich men. They taught that if a rich man retained his riches he could not enter the Kingdom of God. Augustine's reply to this is a most remarkable testimony to his power of seeing the two elements on both He observes to begin with sides of a moral question. that Abraham, Isaac and Jacob were all rich men, and yet they are the persons with whom many shall sit down in the Kingdom of Heaven. The beggar Lazarus also was poor, but he was admitted in Paradise into the bosom
1

Letter 157,

21.

2

Letter 157,

22.

3

Letter 157,

23.

K 

146

THE LETTERS OF

ST.

AUGUSTINE

These facts demonstrate to of Abraham who was rich. us that neither is poverty accepted as such, nor wealth condemned as such. The followers of Celestius replied that the retention 1 of riches was permissible under the old Dispensation, but not after Christ's express command, u Sell all that thou hast and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven and come follow me." 2 This is only a partial and oneAugustine answers sided use of Christ's injunction. Christ said those words in reply to an inquiry. The inquiry was " What shall " I do to obtain eternal life ? Christ did not say in reply, If tho.u wilt enter into life sell all that thou hast but if thou wilt enter into life keep the commandments. When the rich young man replied that he had kept all these and asked, What lack I yet? Christ answered, If thou wilt be perfect go sell all that thou hast and give to the To' this also Christ added two things: first, bypoor. way of encouragement, Thou shalt have treasure in Heaven secondly, Come, follow Me lest the young man should imagine his renunciation of possessions would profit him unless he also followed Christ. Augustine thinks that the young man's claim to have kept all the " commandments was spoken arrogantius quam verius." But in any case Christ drew a clear distinction between, the commandments of life and the counsels of perfection. Why, then, should Christians deny that obedience to the Commandments secures entrance into life, even if the counsel of perfection has not been followed ? 3 This, says Augustine, agrees with S. Paul's instructions for rich people (i Tim. vi. 17-19). Surely the Apostle is not mistaken. He did not instruct Timothy to charge them that are rich in this world, that they sell all that they have and give to the poor but that they were not to be proud, nor to trust in uncertain riches. It was the pride
; : ;
; : ;

1 3

Letter 157, Letter 157,

24.
26.

2

Letter 157,

25. 

LETTERS ON THE DOCTRINE OF GRACE

147

of wealth and the faith in material possessions which brought Dives to the place of torment. It was not riches as such. " If his opponents infer from our Lord's reflection, 1 It is easier for a camel to the eye of a needle go through than for a rich man to enter into the K ingdom of Heaven," that a rich man who obeys S. Paul's instructions cannot enter into the Kingdom of Heaven, Augustine propounds a dilemma: Either the Apostle contradicts our Lord, or else these 2 No Christian will doubt which Pelagians are mistaken. of these alternatives to adopt. I think it better for us to believe that these men do not understand, than to believe that S. Paul contradicted our Lord. Did not Christ add that what was impossible with men is easy with God ? On the other side Christ spoke of those who have " left houses or brethren or sisters or father or mother or children or lands for His Name's sake" (Matt. xix. Christ spoke of renunciation as the condition of 29). 3 discipleship (Luke. xiv. 33). He who renounces the world for the purpose of becoming Christ's disciple does certainly renounce all that the world contains. But renunciation of wealth may appear in various forms. It may consist in withholding love from our possessions or in liberal distribution to the poor or in transference to Christ of that faith and hope which some perversely It may consist in the disposition and place in riches. readiness to forsake father or mother or wife or child if Christ cannot be retained without forsaking them. Augustine quotes Cyprian's sentence on renunciation of the world in words but not in reality. 4 But Augustine is quite clear that rich men can truly renounce the world while retaining their possessions, and converting those possessions to a proper use, breaking their bread to the hungry, clothing the naked, and redeeming the captives.
;

;

1 3

Letter 157, Letter 157,

2

27.

Ibid.

34.

4 Ibid. 

148

THE LETTERS OF

ST.

AUGUSTINE

Consequently these Pelagians may exhort if they will to higher courses so long as they do not condemn inferior ones. 1 If they exalt virginity they must not condemn
the married state.

Did not the Apostle say that each one has his special gift from God one in one direction, one in another ? Let them take the way of perfection and sell all that they have. But they must not condemn
:

those

retain their possessions in a Christian spirit. all this by an extremely telling " I who write these reference to his own case. 2 things

who

Augustine reinforces

was greatly drawn to love that way of perfection which the Lord described when he said to the rich young -man, Go, sell all that thou hast and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in Heaven and come follow Me and, not in my own strength, but by His Grace
4 ;
' :

assisting

me, I have so done. Nor will it be less accounted to me because I was not rich for neither were the Apostles rich, who did the same before me. For he renounces all the world who renounces what he possesses and what he hopes to possess." This way of perfection, then, has Augustine's emphatic
:

He will encourage others in it to the best preference. of his power. Nevertheless he will never do it in such a way as to depreciate those who retain their possessions in a Christian spirit and make religious use of what they
The African Episcopate put out its collective strength Councils were held at against the Pelagian heresy. 4 3 Carthage in 416 and at Milevis in the same year; and letters were written by both these Councils to Pope Innocent at Rome. The Bishops invoked the authority of the Holy See to support their efforts. They are clearly apprehensive that the acquittal of Pelagius in the unfortunate Synod of Diospolis may prejudice Innocent's mind by concealing from him the serious nature of the
1

retain.

3

Letter 157, Letter 175.

37.

2 4

Letter 157, Letter 176.

39. 

LETTERS ON THE DOCTRINE OF GRACE
errors to

149

which Pelagius in reality adheres. They insist, therefore, that if Innocent thinks that Pelagius was
his expressions went, yet nevertheless the erroneous doctrine widely prevalent among his followers ought to be condemned. They call on Innocent to realise that Pelagianism is laying such stress on the natural abilities by which we are human, that it leaves no place for the Grace of God, by which we are Christians. For, according to Pelagian views, we " Lead us not into temptation," ought not to pray, Himself taught us so to pray nor to although Christ pray lest our faith should fail, which our Lord did for
;

rightly acquitted so far as

S. Peter.

There is little doubt that this letter of the Council of Carthage represented Augustine's mind and influence, although his name does not appear in the list of the
signatures.

the Council of Milevis Augustine was present. 1 similar in character to that of the Council of Carthage was sent to Innocent. Augustine was apparently not entirely satisfied with this. At any rate he supported it in a longer letter, sent from Bishop Aurelius of Carthage, together with three of Augustine's intimate friends, Bishops Alypius, Evodius and Possidius, of whom the last became
letter

At

A

Augustine's biographer. In this important letter on Pelagian ideas Augustine quotes the maxim which was to him peculiarly abhorrent " God made us men, we made ourselves righteous." It would be impossible to conceive a maxim more irreconThe effect of such cilable with Augustine's experience. was to render a Saviour superfluous. It made teaching human nature self-sufficient and independent of the Grace of God. Augustine understands that Pelagius has supporters in Rome. They think that he does not really hold such
1

:

Letter 176. 

150

THE LETTERS OF

ST.

AUGUSTINE

opinions. They appeal to the fact of his acquittal by the Bishops in the Council of Diospolis. Augustine explains that this acquittal was due to the fact that Pelagius employed the term "Grace" in one sense and " " his judges in another. Pelagius meant by Grace the endowment by which we are human. The Bishops meant by " Grace " the gifts whereby we are Christians. Augustine suggests that Pelagius should be summoned to Rome and carefully examined on the sense which he " If he means that whereby attaches to the term Grace." men are divinely assisted to avoid sin and lead a holy
let him be acquitted. " he holds that " Grace is the same as free will, or forgiveness, or moral commandments, then he is leaving out precisely those gifts which constitute Grace the power to overcome temptation which is derived from the Ascended Christ. The prayer " Lead us not into " temptation is not a prayer that we may be granted the faculties which are natural to us as men. Nor is it a We have already that we may be forgiven. prayer " prayed for that when we say forgive us our trespasses." It is a prayer that we may be enabled to do that which
life,

then
if

But

;

is

commanded. The obvious
Augustine

distinction between

Law and Grace

is

that the former

commands and

sends

the latter enables. Innocent a sample of Pelagian

It is the document writings. his treatise concerning Nature
;

which he answered in and Grace. He sends the Pope a copy of both marking the passages which he wants Innocent to read, in order not to be burdensome. If Pelagius disowns authorship of the work which has been ascribed to him, that is no matter. Augustine
will

not press

it.

Only

let

Pelagius anathematise

its

contents.

The
writers

letter closes

do not dream of adding anything

with a deferential assurance that the to Innocent's

amplitude of knowledge. The writers have explained their position in order to be reassured by the Pope's reply. 

LETTERS ON THE DOCTRINE OF GRACE

151

The Synod of Diospolis had of course acquitted Pelagius under a total misapprehension of his meaning. But their acquittal naturally promoted his influence and set the Catholic Bishops in grave perplexity. For Pelagius naturally flourished in their faces the decision of Diospolis as a certificate of his orthodoxy. The indefatigable Bishop of Hippo wrote to John, 1 Bishop of Jerusalem, assuring him that he and his colleagues had been deceived. The disciples of Pelagius had brought one of their master's writings to Augustine. In that book Pelagius had employed the term "Grace" " " Nature and had consimply as an equivalent for tended vehemently that men are able to realise the ideal by the unassisted power of their own free will. How
;

was

it

possible,

with the Apostolic cry "

who

shall

Augustine asks, to harmonise this theory " O wretched man that I am And why should Christ have deliver me ?
:
!

prayed for S. Peter that his faith fail not if stability is in the power of our own will without any help from God ? Augustine is anxious to avoid prolixity, chiefly because he writes in Latin and his words will require to be But Augustine sends a copy of interpreted in Greek. own book for the Bishop to see. Also he sends Pelagius's his own book on Nature and Grace written in reply to it. He entreats Bishop John to teach Pelagius the true faith. He suggests some questions which the Bishops in Palestine should put to this erring mind. He requests that a copy of the Acts of the Synod of Diospolis should be sent to Africa. This is on behalf of the African
Bishops in general. Nothing has reached them as yet but a fragment circulated by Pelagius himself. They are most anxious to possess a complete account of the

whole Synod. Innocent sent replies to the letters 2 which he had received from the Council of Carthage, the Council of Milevis, and the Five Bishops.
1

Letter 179, A.D. 416.

2

Letters 181, 182, 183. 

152

THE LETTERS OF

ST.

AUGUSTINE

First comes Innocent's reply to the Council of CarInnocent speaks in lofty terms of the dignity of thage. his See, and highly approves the conduct of the Bishops at Carthage in referring to his judgment. He commends them for knowing what is due to the Apostolic See. 1 For the Apostolic See is the final and completing endorsement of what is done elsewhere. 2 This assertion of the claims of his See is really the He goes on at some principal part of Innocent's letter. length indeed to speak of the Pelagian contradiction to the doctrine of Grace. 3 He quotes the Psalmist's words: " Lord, be Thou my helper, leave me not neither forsake God of my salvation" (Ps. xxvii. 9). He declares me, that the entire Psalter proclaims the necessity of Divine He represents the Christian doctrine as mainsupport. taining that through the cleansing of the New Regeneration God purges away in the laver of Baptism all past sin, and places the baptised in a condition which makes further progress possible but that God does not refuse

O

;

His Grace

in the future.

There must be daily remedies

for the reparation of post-baptismal sin.

Innocent adds that it is unnecessary for him to say more, since the Bishops have said everything already. Accordingly he reaches his conclusion. Whosoever assents to the opinion that we have no need of the
1

Scientes quid Apostolicae Sedi,

cum omnes hoc

loco positi

ipsum sequi desideremus

apostolurrr, debeatur,

a quo ipse episco-

patus et tota auctoritas nominis hujus emersit. 2 Quern sequentes, tarn mala damnare novimus quam probare laudanda. Vel id vero quid patrum instituta sacerdotali custodientes officio non censetis esse calcanda, quod illi non humana, sed divina decrevere sententia, ut quidquid quamvis in disjunctis remotisque provinciis ageretur, non prius ducerent finiendum, nisi ad hujus Sedis notitiam perveniret ut tota hujus auctoritate justa qua fuerit pronuntiatio firmaretur, indeque sumerent caeterae Ecclesiae (velut de natali suo fonte aquas cunctae procederent, et per diversas totius mundi regiones puri latices capitis incorrupt! manarent) quid pmeciperent, quos abluerent, quos velut caeno inemundabili sordidatos mundis digna corporibus unda vitaret. 3 6. Letter 181,
: 

LETTERS ON THE DOCTRINE OF GRACE
Divine
assistance
Faith,

153

(adjutorium) is an enemy of the and unworthy of our Communion. Such persons must be severed from the healthy Body until such time as he recants. Innocent in replying to the Council of Carthage mentions by name each Bishop present. In replying to the Council of Milevis 1 he mentions two Bishops only and addresses the Synod collectively. In this letter Innocent applies to himself what S. Paul had claimed, the care of all the Churches commends the Council for consulting the Apostolic See as to what opinion ought to be maintained. He sees that the

Catholic

;

Bishops understand that responses to these inquiries are always sent through all the provinces from the Apostolic fount. Especially in matters of faith all his brothers and fellow-bishops should refer to Peter, that is to the author of their name and dignity. After this introduction Innocent turns to the errors 01 Pelagius and his follower Celestius, both of whom he mentions by name. Innocent applies to them the words " of the Psalmist (Hymnidicus) Lo this is the man that took not God for his strength." To say that eternal life can be obtained by infants unbaptised 2 is " perfatuum." " For except ye eat the Flesh of the Son of Man and drink His Blood ye have no life in you." This cannot be without Regeneration.
:

Wherefore Pelagius and Celestius are by Apostolic
authority
until
3

to be deprived of

ecclesiastical

communion

they recover.

The letter is dated in the Consulship of Honorius and Constantius. To the five Bishops, Aurelius of Carthage, Alypius ot Thagaste, Augustine of Hippo, Evodius of Uzala, and Possidius of Calama, Innocent sent a separate reply 4 a noteworthy tribute to their importance in the Pelagian
:

dispute.
1 3

Letter 182. Letter 182,

2

6.

4

Letter 182, 5. Letter 183, A.D. 417. 

154

THE LETTERS OF
letter is

ST.

AUGUSTINE
i

This

know
Rome.
and

Innocent does not confidential. 1 whether there are any followers of Pelagius in If they exist they have concealed themselves
;

more

a community. Innocent has received certain documents, Acts of a Council, which some laymen have sent him. According to these documents Pelagius has been acquitted. But Innocent has his misgivings about the reality of all this. The internal evidence of the document seems to betray evasiveness. He hopes that there has been a genuine conversion. In his letter to Peter and Abraham 2 Augustine says that baptised infants are to be regarded as believers. [This subject had already been discussed in Letter 98, see p. 290.] have seen that Innocent in Letter 182 the necessity both of Baptism and Com(p. 153), taught munion for salvation. Augustine says much the same in his treatise on the Forgiveness of Sin (Book I. 34). He tells us that Punic Christians called Baptism, SalvaHe tion, and the Sacrament of Christ's Body, Life. it as an Apostolic tradition that without partiregards cipation in Baptism and the Table of the Lord there is no way of entrance into eternal life. Thus, Scripture " He saved us by the Washing of Regeneration." says, Accordingly, unless infants are admitted by the divinely instituted Sacrament into the number of believers they will remain in the darkness. 3 Here, in Letter 184 B, Augustine does not shrink from the tremendous negative side of this question. 4 He does not only say that infants if baptised are saved and are
it is

difficult to ascertain in so large

We

believers but he proceeds to add that, if unbaptised, they are unbelievers and are condemned. He held, " indeed, that their condemnation will be minima pcena, 5 non tamen nulla." He asserts that there will be degrees
;

1

Letter 183,

2.

2

Letter 184 B,

2.
p. 287).

3 4
5

Works, Tom. X.
Letter 184 B,
2.

pp. 214-215;
i.

cf.

Book

III

2,

#.

De

Peccat. Remis.

21, in

damnatione omnium mitissima. 

LETTERS ON THE DOCTRINE OF GRACE
of future penalty
;

155

basing this statement on the

New

Testament principle that it shall be more tolerable for one city than for another in the final account. But he maintains that there is no final third position between being saved and being lost of, as he puts it, between regnum and supplicium. Nothing can deliver but the Grace of God. And that Grace Augustine here, as elsewhere, tied to the outward sign so inseparably that not Christ Himself could extend His Grace beyond it. Augustine regards all human individuals as conceived in sin. 1 The Virgin Birth excepted Christ from this
;

inheritance. that of the

20. No soul except [Cf. Letter 202 B, one Mediator escaped contracting from Adam Original Sin, or was loosed without regeneration. Augustine puts this doctrine of the Virgin " Birth more plainly elsewhere What was more pure than the Virgin's womb, whose flesh although de peccati propagine venit, nori tamen de peccati propagine con:

'

'

"

cepit

?

(Literal Interpretation of Genesis,
III. 431).

Works, Tom.

Book X. 32. "Christ took the visible sub-

stance of the flesh from the flesh of the Virgin. The came not from the side of man but far otherwise and from above" (ib. 35, p. 434)-] Whatever is conceived in the ordinary course of nature
principle of this Conception

to be born again. Carnal generation cannot 2 dispense with spiritual regeneration. Augustine goes on to speak of the books which he has now completed of the work on The City of God. He has now got as far as Book XIV. The first five books are designed to refute those who advocated Polytheism as a source of temporal advantages. The next five apply to those who advocated Polytheism as a means of future blessedness. In this section comes his answer to Pagan philosophies. If his correspondents will read the later books they will find answers to their inquiries. Some most important particulars about the Pelagian

requires

1

Letter 184

B,4.

2

Letter 184. 

156

THE LETTERS OF

ST.
l

AUGUSTINE

addressed by Bishops Alypius and Augustine to Paulinus, Bishop of Nola. This is the letter which says that Pelagius was of British extraction a fact which other writers have endorsed in forms more expressive than courteous. Thus, Prosper calls Pelagius the British snake, and Jerome, with his customary forcefulness, describes him " as stuffed with Scottish porridge Scotorum pultibus
controversy are given in the letter
: :

prsegravatus."

2

A copy of one of Pelagius's writings

some
upon

had been sent by of his admirers to Augustine. The Bishop therewrote a reply (the Treatise on Nature and Grace]

,

without mentioning Pelagius by name. That was written two years before the present letter. Augustine had reasons for omitting to name Pelagius. The Bishop had been favourably impressed by Pelagius's character, and had sent him a courteous note, 3 written in 413, which certainly did not commit its writer to very much, least of all to any endorsement of its recipient's pecuIt was extremely brief, remarkably so for Augustine, who scarcely knew how to write short notes. It only contained some hundred words in all. But converted it to his purposes. It was much to Pelagius be able to produce a kindly letter from the great leader of African religious thought. Augustine felt it necessary when writing his treatise on the acquittal of Pelagius by the Palestine Synod to explain what his letter to Pelagius was intended to convey. (See De Gestis
liarities.

Pelagii,

50-5 3, where this letter
;

is

reproduced.

Works,

X.

510.)

In the present letter to Paulinus, Augustine explains that he had previously written against Pelagian errors without mentioning their advocate, because he hoped that Pelagius might be recovered by this indirect refutation and so a scandal might be avoided. Augustine adds that reports of the two Councils of
1
3

Letter 186, A.D. 417Letter 146.

2

Ct.

p 140. 

LETTERS ON THE DOCTRINE OF GRACE
l

157

Carthage and Milevis had been sent to the Apostolic See before the Ecclesiastical Acts of the Province of Palestine, in which Pelagius was acquitted, had reached

The reference of course is to the Synod of Augustine also refers to his own Diospolis or Lydda. letter to Innocent, and adds that the Pope had replied as was right and becoming for an occupant of the Apostolic See. 2 Augustine urges that Pelagius should be advised to consider whether his acceptance by God was a reward of his merits whether he first sought God or God first sought him whether God did not care to seek and to save that which was lost. For if Pelagius sought God first it could only be as one who had no goodness of his own. If Pelagius believes in One Who justifies the evil, what else could he be but evil before he was
Africa.
;
;

justified

?

3 Augustine dwells much in this letter on the differences between moral commands and power to obey. It is the distinction which he has so magnificently explained in his great treatise on The Spirit and the Letter. The Law commands us what to do. But it is the Spirit which enables us to do it. Unless the Spirit of God infuses grace and strength to fulfil it, the letter of the Law condemns us for our failure to obey. 4 What hast thou Here, as ever, Augustine reiterates If the Pelagian answers, that thou didst not receive? My faith Augustine replies, Faith is the gift of God. According as He hath given to every man the measure of faith. Human merit does not precede Divine Grace. But Grace when given may merit to be increased. When questioned on the problem of Predestination 5 why out of the same mass God should make one for honour and another for dishonour Augustine admits that it is insoluble. The judgments of God are
: :

1

3
5

Letter 186, Letter 186, Letter 186,

2.

2

4

9.

Letter 186, Letter 186,

6.
10.

12. 

158

THE LETTERS OF

ST.

AUGUSTINE

inscrutable, but they are not unjust. For in Augustine's God had a perfect right to select l to remit in one case and not in another. note here, as

opinion

;

We

constantly during the last period of the Pelagian discussions, that Augustine conceives of God as power rather than as love. But he considers that his teaching 2 " is in He keeping with the Apostolic maxim, wills He pities, and whom He wills He hardens." The right of the potter over the clay appears as the last word, not in a selection to privilege on earth, but to eternal fate hereafter. And the objection is to be " Who silenced with the language of the Apostle, art thou that repliest against God?" 3 Thus no one is justified for his merits, nor hardened without deserving And there is no unrighteousness with God. it. As for Pelagius himself, Augustine says, 4 that he appears to have pronounced an anathema at the episcopal trial in Palestine against those who held that the sin of Adam only injured himself and not the human race. He also anathematised the assertion that infants dying unbaptised obtained eternal life. He could not escape being condemned unless he had done this. But in that case, what is the inference ? Clearly no one is condemned without sin. Clearly also infants have no actual sin of their own. Consequently it must be original sin which is the cause of their exclusion. Grant the premises, and it is all extremely logical.

Whom

The

anathematise
following
:

propositions which Pelagius was compelled to in the Council in Palestine 5 included the

That

Adam would have died he sinned or not
;

in

any

case,

whether

That Adam's

sin injured himself only
;

and not the

human
1

race
16.

3
6

Letter 186, Letter 186, Letter 186,

2

20.
32.

4

Letter 1 86, Letter 186,

17.

27. 

LETTERS ON THE DOCTRINE OF GRACE
That
infants are

159

now born
;

in the

same condition
all
;

as

before his fall That it is not true that in Christ's Resurrection

A clam

Adam
all rise

die nor that in

That infants dying unbaptised have eternal life That Grace is not given to aid us in separate acts,
;

but consists in free will or instruction or doctrine.

That Grace

is

given according to merits.

l Accordingly those who accept the anathemas of Pelagius are committed to the contraries of their propositions in other words, to the faith of the Catholic Church. Augustine proceeds, therefore, to formulate the contrary
;

propositions. But in spite of admissions made before the Palestine 2 Synod, in order to escape being condemned, Pelagius

had

subsequent writings spoken in terms which no room for grace in the Catholic sense of it. He *had not hesitated, for instance, to say that we could do by free will what we could do more easily
in

virtually left

by

grace.

It

was that word "more easily" which

Augustine resisted with all his force. To say that we can do right more easily by grace is to say that we can do right without grace which is absolutely unapostolic 3
:

yet not I, but the grace Scriptural principle " is, Except the Lord build the house, their labour is It is not that it is harder for but lost that build it." them to build it, but simply that without grace their efforts to build it are in vain. So Augustine condenses the whole subject into one of his strongest utterances. Human nature, even if it had remained in the integrity in which it was created, 4 could no way serve its Creator without His aid. If, then, without the grace of God it
is,

The Apostolic doctrine of God which was with

"

I,

me."

The

1 *

Letter 186, Letter 186,

2

33.
4

36.

Letter 186, Letter 186,

34.

37. 

160

THE LETTERS OF

ST.

AUGUSTINE

could not keep what it had received, how could it without God's grace restore what it had lost? Augustine supports his own conclusion with a passage borrowed from one of Paulinus's own letters J a passage thoroughly congenial to Augustine's whole mind and experience, expressing the conflicts in human weakness and the powerlessness of unaided beings to achieve " I am ashamed to describe what I am. their destiny. I dare not describe what I am not. I hate what T am, and I am not what I love." Concerning the origin of the soul Christian thought was greatly exercised at the beginning of the fifth
:

century.
it.

Bishop Optatus had been writing letters about to Augustine, but he had read them. He sends Bishop Optatus a reply. 2 He is away from Hippo at the Mauritanian city of Caesarea, whither he has been sent on some mission by Pope Zosimus. Augustine assures Bishop Optatus that he has never ventured to express a definite decision on the question, whether at every birth a soul is created or is transmitted

They were not addressed

like the

body.

After
is

all,

if

the origin of the soul

is

unknown, there

no danger so long as redemption is understood. What he knows on Apostolic authority is that in Adam all die, and that no one is delivered except through Christ. Just men were saved before Christ came 3 through their belief in His coming. Thus " S. Peter speaking of the yoke which neither our fathers " but we nor we were able to bear," goes on to say, believe that we shall be saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, in like manner as they" (Acts xv. 10, n). The true worshippers of God, whether before the Incarnation, or since the Incarnation, lived or live only by is the fullness faith in the Incarnation of Christ in

Whom

of grace. 4
1

3

Letter 186, Letter 190,

2

40.
6.
4

Letter 190, A.D. 418. Letter 190, 8. 

LETTERS ON THE DOCTRINE OF GRACE

161

Augustine thereupon is led to discuss the doctrine of Piedestination: 1 he applies the principle alike to the lost and to the saved. Then he reaches the problem of the Origin of the Soul. 2 Bishop Optatus had clearly taught the Creationist theory. Augustine asks him how that theory can be reconciled with the need of redemption on the part of infants? If the soul of the infant is newly created, how
can it be affected by Original Sin ? And if it is not so affected, how can it require to be redeemed ? If Optatus can explain this, Augustine would be grateful for the information. Traducianism is readily reconciled with the doctrine of Original Sin. Creationism is not. That is what
certain must be rejected is the opinion of 3 Tertullian, which materialises the soul by regarding it as a product of the body, and makes God the Creator
is

Augustine What he

feels.

But he

will

not dogmatise.

He was, therefore, comincorporeal was the unreal. Otherwise it pelled to think the soul to be corporeal. seemed to evaporate into nothingness. For the same reason he ascribed body to the Deity, although his acuteness could not fail to see that this involved him in
difficulties. 4

only of the latter. Elsewhere Augustine says that for Tertullian the

But as

to the soul's origin

should be ashamed to confess his ignorance of what he does not know, lest while he falsely professes knowledge he never deserves to know. When a matter in its very nature difficult surpasses our capacities, and Scripture assists us with

he cannot decide. 5

No man

Augustine confesses that

nothing plain,
define.
1

it is only presumption if we attempt to 6 Nothing conclusive about the origin of the soul
2

3
4 5

Letter 190, Letter 190,

9.

Letter 190,
7).

13.

14
16.

(cf.

Tertull. cont.

Praxeam
6

De

Genesi

ad Litteram X.

41.

Works,

III. 437.

Letter 190,

Letter 190,

17.

L 

162

THE LETTERS OF
in Scripture. 1 bone, and flesh of

ST.

AUGUSTINE
flesh,"

can be found

When Adam

bone of my " and soul of my soul." Optatus mentions in written on the subject. 2
see
S.

my

This is he did not add,
said,

"

his letter a

A very learned man across the sea, he means it. Jerome, referred people to Augustine on this problem. Jerome inclined to the Traducianist theory, and affirmed that the Western Church was accustomed to take that This was why Augustine wrote to Jerome. view. 3 It is Augustine is cautious about this book of his. the work of an inquirer not of a teacher. He is waiting for Jerome's reply. Meanwhile he will not define
anything.

book which he has Augustine would be glad to

As

to Pelagianism, Augustine warns Optatus of
It
:

its

has been condemned by two occupants of the Apostolic See Pope Innocent and Pope Zosimus. Augustine quotes the Papal letters. In their words the Catholic faith is plain. No Christian may doubt of it. But, whether the problem of the soul's origin can be solved or not, what is certain is that it is a creation of God, and that God is not the author of sin, and that the Baptism of Infants is not an empty form. Certainly also the soul of the Mediator contracted nothing evil by transmission from Adam. Augustine connects this exemption from original sin with the fact of the Virgin Birth. (On the Virgin Birth, see Letter 137
insidiousness.

among

the letters on Paganism, pp. 55, 56.) Here then is Augustine's reply. It does not show the knowledge which Optatus desires, but it is prompted by

profound regard.
Augustine's vigilance with regard to heretical tendencies was incessant. He seems to know at once

where important
1

ecclesiastics begin to vacillate.
18.
2

Sixtus,

3

Letter 190, Letter 190,

Letter 190,

20.

21. 

LETTERS ON THE DOCTRINE OF GRACE
priest of the

163

Roman Church, afterwards Pope, is carefully touch by the Bishop of Hippo, 1 who sends him letters by the acolyte Albinus. Bishop Alypius also writes to him. Sixtus also writes to Bishop Aurelius It is of Carthage by another acolyte named Leo. thought that this Leo was no other than Leo the Great, who succeeded Sixtus as Pope in 440. Augustine encourages Sixtus to defend the doctrine of grace But Augustine does not conceal against its opponents. his misgivings. Sixtus has had the reputation of befriending heresy. Augustine would rouse him to alertSixtus should realise that there is a suspicious ness. silence on the part of many persons who cherish the They must be heresy which they dare not utter. It is impossible to know whether they are instructed. recovered unless silence about what is false is converted into open defence of what is true. Sixtus must realise
kept
in

the dangers of this taciturnity. far longer 'letter followed.

A

It

extended to forty-

seven paragraphs. 2 This letter is sent to Sixtus by Albinus the acolyte, who brought Augustine the letters from Rome. Augustine repeats the unfavourable rumour which has reached him that Sixtus had befriended the enemies of Christian grace. On the other hand, he hears that Sixtus has openly anathematised this heresy, and the Roman priest's letter to Aurelius, although
short, was against it. Augustine thankfully recognises that Sixtus's letters now breathe the faith of the Roman

Church.

The Bishop then proceeds to strengthen Sixtus by a lengthy reply to Pelagian criticisms on the doctrine of grace. One criticism against the Augustinian theory of Predestination 3 was that in a case where all were equally at fault, to liberate one and to punish another would be
unjust.
1

Letter 191.

2

Letter 194.

3

Letter

194..

5. 

1

64

THE LETTERS OF
is

ST.

AUGUSTINE

Augustine's reply

curious.
all ?

He

would be unjust to punish

asks whether it Let us then whom
1

God has

make our thanksgiving. Then the tremendous proposition that Augustine propounds if every man were delivered, the just retribution on sin would not be. realised. If no man weie delivered the power of grace would not be known. This proposition the Bishop conceived to be justified by S. Paul's metaphor of the Clay and the Potter. But, like S. Paul, he falls back on the fact of our ignorance. How inscrutable are His judgments, and His ways past
not punished
Also, he adds, without however reconciling finding out. the statement with his proposition, that "all the ways of the Lord are mercy and truth." The Pelagians attempted to solve the problem by asserting that grace is given in response to human merit. But this contradicts S. Paul's challenge: "Who hath
2

given to Him, and it shall be recompensed unto ? For of Him and through Him and unto Him are all things" (Rom. xi. 35, 36). It contradicts also the teaching that "we are justified freely by His 3 It contradicts the very conception of grace. grace." For what is grace if it is not freely given, independently If grace is of merits, apart from human deservings? not a gratuitous gift, it is a debt and not grace
first

him again

at

all.

Augustine here reminds Sixtus that Pelagius himself was compelled, verbally at least, to anathematise the proposition that grace is the reward of merit, in the Palestinian Synod of Diospolis. Otherwise he could not have escaped condemnation.

The fact is that the Pelagians identify 4 grace with the natural endowments with which we were created. Let that confusion be absolutely repudiated by Christians, says Augustine. For the grace which the Apostle
1

3

Letter 194, Letter 194,

2

5.
4

7.

Letter 194, Letter 194,

6.
8. 

LETTERS ON THE DOCTRINE OF GRACE
inculcates
gift
is

165

is

which made us men, but the when we were evil men. Well, then, say the Pelagians, grace means forgiveness of sins. 1 But forgiveness is preceded by merit. There "
not the
gift

which

justified us

the merit of faith.

But

faith

is itself

a

gift.

Accord-

ing as God hath given to every man the measure of If God's works are done by men, faith" (Rom. xii. 3). they are a product of faith. They cannot be done

which is not of faith is sin. hear the Christian message 2 by no means all have faith. Why one believes and another does not, when both alike hear the same, is among the
without
it.

For

all

Among men who

inscrutable mysteries.

What
It

is

clear

is,

that on

whom

He

wills

He

has

mercy.

is

inscrutable, but

not

therefore unjust. Moreover forgiveness is not enough. 3 The Holy Spirit must inhabit the house which He has cleansed. And that Spirit bloweth where it listeth. Moreover, love towards God is not produced in us by ourselves, but by the Holy Spirit. The gratuitous character of this gift of faith is shown
in Christ's

own statement
44 and
65).

4
:

"

No man

can come unto

Me
(cf.

except the Father

Who

hath sent

Me

draw him"

John

vi.

then impossible to account for any gifts of grace 5 by preceding merit on the part of the recipient. Augus" tine is never weary of asking, What hast thou that thou
It is

didst not receive?" (i Cor. iv. 7). If men say that faith preceded grace, then ask what merit preceded the gift of faith ? If men say that prayer preceded grace, 6

we must
and that

prayer has merit, then we must reply that our prayer is worthless unless accompanied by the Spirit. "It is not ye that speak, but the Spirit of your Father that speaketh
in
"

you
1

(Matt. x. 20).
9.

Augustine explains that
2

this

3
5

Letter 194, Letter 194, Letter 194,

II.
14.

4
6

Letter 194, Letter 194, Letter 194,

10.

12.
16. 

166

THE LETTERS OF

ST.

AUGUSTINE

does not mean that we do nothing. It expresses the co-operation of the Spirit with our prayers, so that He is said to do what He enables us to do.
the difference between the man in not dwell, and the man in whom former he enables to become faithful, the latter to continue faithful. Thus there is no merit in man prior to grace. Grace is the creative cause of all human deserving. Accordingly Augustine sums up the doctrine of grace in the " When God crowns our merits He celebrated sentence,

Thus

there

is all

whom 1 the Spirit does He does dwell. The

crown nothing else than His own gifts." 2 Augustine is well aware that in response to all this 3 Well, then, if we do argument the Pelagian will say For we have not been granted ill, it is no fault of ours.
will
:

grace.

Augustine cannot tolerate

this excuse.

We

cannot

Men might know much more escape responsibility. God than they are inclined to know. S. Paul concerning Men says that they are without excuse (Rom. i. 20). have no ground to say, We have not heard and therefore we have not believed. Ignorance on the part of those who do not desire to know is unquestionably sin 4 on the part of those who cannot know it is a consequence Neither have any excuse. Their condemnation of sin.
:

is

just.

Sixtus thought of this awful severity we are left But when Sixtus is represented as a halfhearted defender of the doctrine of grace 5 we must not forget the form in which Augustine presented that It is possible to be perfectly orthodox doctrine to him. in the Church's doctrine of grace without assenting to the Augustinian deductions. 6 Augustine proceeds to support his conclusions from the case of infants dying unbaptised. Here he considers
to imagine.
1 3

What

Letter 194, Letter 194,
e.g.

18.

*

22.

5

by Duchesne.

6

Letter 194, Letter 194, Letter 194,

19. 27.

31. 

LETTERS ON THE DOCTRINE OF GRACE
the

167

shattered to pieces. Now, according to Augustine, the teaching of Scripture and the faith of the Church 1 concur that there is no admission for infants into the Kingdom if they die unbaptised. From this position the great writer saw no possible escape. He descants on the strange anomalies involved. But what it proves to. his mind is that God is no accepter of persons, and that grace is not the reward of antecedent merits. He can only repeat once more that God's ways are
is

Pelagian theory of merit

There can be no merit

in infancy.

inscrutable.

Then Augustine identifies selection to privileges on earth (as in the case of Jacob and Esau) with determination of eternal destinies. 2 The Pelagian solution of this problem was just as 3 desperate. They did not deny the exclusion from Heaven of infants dying unbaptised. But they hazarded the proposition that they were allowed to die and so remain excluded because God foresaw the evil they would commit if He allowed them to live. To which Augustine made the inevitable retort 4 Why in that case does not God kill off all infants who are baptised and live to turn out badly ? Augustine's position in the controversy was recognised by the chiefs of the State as well as of the Church. The Emperors Honorius and Theodosius sent a copy of their decree 5 against Pelagians to Aurelius, Bishop of Carthage, and to Augustine, Bishop of Hippo. Augustine's letter to the priest Sixtus led to difficulties.
:

It was appreciated by its recipient, but it caused perIt happened that Florus, one of the plexity to others. monks of Adrumetum, was on a visit to Uzala, his native

place,

And

where Augustine's friend Evodius was Bishop.
there,

probably in Evodius's possession, found a copy of Augustine's letter to Sixtus.
1

Florus Florus

3
5

Letter 194, Letter 194, Letter 201.

2

32. 41,
4

Letter 194, Letter 194,

34.

42. 

168

THE LETTERS OF
it,

ST.

AUGUSTINE
Monastery
If Pelagius

transcribed
at
insisted

and sent

his transcription to the

Adrumetum, where it created much trouble.

on human freedom to the exclusion of grace, it was possible on the other side to lay such emphasis on grace that no room was left for the freedom of the human will. This was the conclusion drawn by certain

monks at Adrumetum. It seemed to them that the doctrine of grace involved a denial that the will was free. Apparently grace did everything. Man was reduced to a mere instrument under Divine activity. The monks who held this view were in the minority. The majority held that the will was assisted by grace, and distinguished between being assisted and being coerced. But the peace of the Monastery was broken by the difficult propositions contained in Augustine's letter to Sixtus. News of this dispute in the Monastery of Adrumetum was brought to Augustine by Cresconius and Felix, two monks of that community. His letter to Sixtus had been misunderstood. 1 Augustine, therefore, sent a letter to the Abbot Valentinus and his monks explaining that the true doctrine was neither with those who laid exclusve stress on free will nor with those who laid exclusive stress on grace. Taking the fact that Christ did not come to condemn the world but to save it (John iii. 17), Augustine asks, " How could the world be saved if there is no such " and " How could it be judged if there is thing as grace ?
no such thing as
free will
"
?

assert that grace is given according to human merit. That theory leads a man to glory not in the Lord but in himself. It is most false. Augustine writes with indignant emphasis, with deep conviction. He would like to send various documents 2 to the Abbot of Adrumetum, but the two monks are in a hurry
1

He explains that his letter to Sixtus, presbyter Roman Church, was designed to refute those who

of the

Letter 214, A.D. 426.

2

Letter 214,

5. 

LETTERS ON THE DOCTRINE OF GRACE
to get
letter

169

home by

Easter.

from their Abbot.

They have not brought any But Augustine does not doubt

their

genuine character, as they are obviously simple-

minded persons.
that

Augustine has ascertained from conversation with them all the trouble arose from a certain individual in the Community. The Bishop would greatly like to see that man, and presses the Abbot to send him to Hippo. Either the monk does not understand Augustine's book
is misrepresented by others. Meanwhile, if men cannot understand the relation of freedom l and grace, let them at any rate believe in the

or else

existence of both.
in spite of their desire to Easter Festival, the monks For Augustine were induced to remain at Hippo. 2 wrote again to the Abbot Valentinus explaining that he has retained them in order to give them further inHe struction in the meaning of the Pelagian disputes. sends them a work on grace and free will, which he has
It

would seem that

after

all,

return to

Adrumetum

for the

written for their instruction.
to set in true proportion

The book on Grace and Free Will 3 is an endeavour human self-determination and Divine aid. Augustine says that he has written much against those who laid the stress so exclusively on the human will that they left no room for Divine co-operBut in reaction from this exclusiveness ation and grace. some have gone to the opposite extreme. They are defending the doctrine of grace in such a manner as to leave no room for the freedom of the human will.
Understanding that
this
latter

extreme exists

in

the

Community (congregation) of Adrumetum, Augustine now proceeds to balance these two aspects of the truth. It has now become necessary to insist on the reality of This is implied in every Divine command free will. 4
;

1

Letter 2 1 4,

-

7.

3

Works, Tom. X.

p.

1232.

4

Letter 2 15, A.D. 426. 2. Letter 215, 

170
for

THE LETTERS OF

ST.

AUGUSTINE

command would be meaningless if there were no power of choice. Human responsibility is everywhere assumed in Scripture. Augustine collects numerous examples of prohibition. There is a monotonous reiteration of the words " do not do this or that." He gives a whole page of instances. But the strongest insistence on human independence and self-decision 1 must be balanced by the absolute
2 necessity of Divine Grace. Scripture testimonies to are as obvious as those to free will. Self-control, grace for example, is a gift of God (Wisd. viii. 21). Christ

3 pleads for Peter lest his faith should fail. , Pelagius, in the province of Palestine, which conresiding tains the city of Jerusalem, dared not tell the Bishop that grace is given according to our merits. For he knew that he could not escape condemnation if he did, that theory being utterly foreign to Catholic doctrine, and hostile to the very nature of the Grace of Christ.

when

Accordingly he anathematised that proposition. Nevertheless he continues to teach it in books which he has " No written since that Council. 4 Christ taught: man can come to me except it be given him by my Father" (John vi. 66). S. Paul said he was not worthy to be called an apostle 5 because he persecuted the

Now

Yet he obtained grace. Church of God. account of his merits but in spite of them.

Not on

here Augustine repeats his maxim that when He human being eternal life 6 "God crowns His own Our sufficiency is of God gifts and not man's merits." not of ourselves. 7 S Paul said " I obtained mercy that I might be faithful." He did not say " I obtained mercy because I had been faithful." His faithfulness was not the cause of the Divine Mercy but the consequence. He could not have been faithful unless it were for that gift of God. Thus good works are the results of Grace. 8

And

gives a

1

Works, Tom. X.

p.

1234.
4 7

2 5
8

Ib. p. 1235.
Ib. p. 1239. Ib. p. 1243.

3

Ib. p. 1237. 6 Ib. p. 1241.

Ib. p. 1237. Ib. p. 1242. 

LETTERS ON THE DOCTRINE OF GRACE

171
1

Nothing can be more perverse than the Pelagian

identification of grace with Divine commands and inMoral law condemns us because it orders structions. 2

us to do what it gives us power to fulfil. This is the constant theme of Augustine's teaching nowhere brought out more brilliantly than in the great treatise on The Spirit and the Letter. He bids the monks of Adrumetum to study Cyprian's book on the Lord's 3 No man of course stood higher in African Prayer. Church esteem. As usual, there is in this treatise of Augustine a profusion of Scripture references. The profusion of
:

excessive, because bewildering in Selected passages few and more fully expounded might have been more effective. But the great writer's mind is full, and his knowledge of Scripture very extensive. Old Testament and New alike are Here is one from Ezekiel. 4 laid under contribution. we read "make you a new heart and a new In xviii. 31 There the stress is on the human will. In spirit." " xxxvi. 26 we read a new heart will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you." There the stress is on " the Grace of God. Augustine asks, Why does He Who a new heart say also a new heart says make you will I give you ? Why does He command if He Him-

quotation
its

may seem

multiplicity.

'

'

'

'

self will give

?

Because God gives what He commands when He enables us to do what He commands us." Thus Grace and Free Will are set in true The passage is a reminder of the famous proportion. " Give what Thou commandest and command saying, what Thou wilt." It is not only a reminder but an expansion and explanation. 5 But, objected the Pelagian, God would not command what He knew man could not perform. They think
for himself?
:

"

Why does He give Augustine answers

if "

man

is

to

make

it

1

Ib. p. 1246.

2
5

4

Ib. p.

1252.

Ib. p. 1248. Ib. p. 1253.

3

Jb.

1249. 

172

THE LETTERS OF

ST.

AUGUSTINE

they have said something very convincing here, replies Augustine. But the fact is, God commands what He knows man cannot perform in order to teach us what we are to seek from Him. And All real obedience to God depends on love. 1 love is a gift from Heaven. Augustine assures Valentinus and the monks of his 2 Community that a careful study of his book on Grace and Free Will may prevent the rise of further disputes. He sends copies of the letters sent to Pope Innocent of the Provincial Council of Carthage and the Council of the Province of Numidia, and by the five Bishops, as well as the Pope's three replies. Also the letter sent to Pope Zosimus and the Pope's reply to the Bishops of the world. Also there have been decisions passed against Pelagianism in the Plenary Council of all Africa. [This was held at Carthage in 418 under Aurelius of Carthage and included mqre than 200 Bishops.]

He supports the Catholic doctrine of grace against the Pelagians by appeal to Cyprian on the Lord's Prayer, who explains the petition " Lead us not into temptation " to imply a misgiving of the power of the human will. On receiving these letters Abbot Valentinus replied 3
to

Augustine

in

profoundly deferential language, which

scarcely, however, conceals the Superior's annoyance with his monks. He compares himself to Elijah wraphis face in his mantle when confronted with the ping

He is ashamed of the rusticity of glory of the Lord. his brethren. He must confess the facts. Brother Felix brought back Augustine's letter to Sixtus and without informing the Abbot had read it to his illiterate comHence all this trouble. The Community was panions. divided, and the Abbot still kept in ignorance, until
the
1
3

Brother Florus returned from Carthage and informed Abbot that he had copied Augustine's letter and
Works, Tom. X.
Letter 216.
2

p.

1254

ff.

Letter 215, A.D. 426. 

LETTERS ON THE DOCTRINE OF GRACE
sent the
it

173

to the

Monastery by Brother Felix.

Thereupon

Abbot determined to send to Bishop Evodius The asking him to explain Augustine's meaning. Abbot feels that good will come out of evil, just as the doubts of S. Thomas resulted in the more confirmValentinus sends the originator ation of the Church. of these disputes to Augustine for instruction as the Bishop had requested. He begs the Bishop to pray that the devil may be expelled from the Community. In his conversations with the misguided monk Augustine ascertained that the controversy in the Monastery of Adrumetum had developed on further lines. When
the Brothers who laid exclusive stress on human free will were instructed that their theory must be supplemented by the doctrine of grace, and that it was God that worketh in them both to will and to do they replied that, if that was the case, it was unreasonable to rebuke and correct those who failed to do right. For their failure is not their fault. It is due to the absence of grace. If God has not yet given the power to obey His commands there is no sense in correcting what is a misfortune but not a sin. All that is reasondo for a person so situated is to pray that the able t
;

grace

may be given. This perverse inference
of
is

1

astery
If
it

Adrumetum
God

led

emanating from the MonAugustine to write them

his treatise

on Correction and Grace. that worketh in us both to will and to 2 do, why preach and give instruction? said the independent of Adrumetum. Augustine replied, Men must be shown what the ideal of conduct is. Well then, said the monk, instruct us by all means. But you have no right to correct us if we fail to comply with instruction. Failure is due to the fact that we have not yet received God's Grace. Pray for us, if you But that is all that you can rightly do. 3 Whereto like.
1

Works, X.

J*7,p.

pp. 1281. 1285.

2

Id. p. 1284. 

174

THE LETTERS OF

ST.

AUGUSTINE

Augustine answered, You ought to be corrected for the very reason that you would avoid correction. You Correction should drive you prefer your deformity. to pray for yourself that grace may be given. To allow instruction 1 and refuse correction is illogical. If you refuse the latter you might as reasonably refuse the former also. For since instruction might come direct from God without human intermediary, as it did to S. Paul at his conversion, you might refuse to accept instruction from the Apostle. You might object, He Who instructed you directly is able to instruct us wait for immediate illumination from directly also. Heaven. But no Christian will venture on such a demand. And if the believer is willing to receive instruction through men, consistency requires him to be willing also to receive correction through men. 2 Moreover, asked Augustine, will you really venture to say that you have not received God's Grace ? The monk shrank from this Divine challenge. He drew a I distinction. have received faith, he answered, but not perseverance. 3

We

That

distinction

led

Augustine off at

once into

a whole disquisition on the grace to persevere. It led him into an uncompromising insistence on the formidable doctrine of Predestination. These monks of Adrumetum had probably not the faintest notion what they were bringing on themselves, and indeed upon the theology of the subsequent period, by that plea that they had not received the grace of 4 perseverance. Augustine acknowledged the distinction

between grace to begin and grace to persevere. He admitted that it was to his mind an unfathomable mystery that God should give regeneration and faith and love to certain human beings, and yet not give them grace to persevere unto the end. All he can say
1

Works, X.
Ib. p. 1288.

8, p.

1286.

2

Ibt
Ib.

8j
1

p I286>
1294.

3

4

8, p. 

LETTERS ON THE DOCTRINE OF GRACE
is

175

that God's ways are past finding out. There is an undeniable distinction between the called and the It is a solemn warning against over-confidence chosen. and human arrogance. The Psalmist who sang " I said " in my prosperity I shall never be moved was compelled
to

add

l
:

"Thou didst hide thy face from me and I was No prudent man who thinks of this will troubled." refuse correction.
again, and yet more uncompromisingly the tremendous doctrine of Predestination. 2 There is a certain number of souls predestined to the Kingdom of God. That number can be neither diminished nor increased. The strongest use is made here of Scripture passages. Thus the text " Hold fast that " is which thou hast that no man take thy crown represented as implying the existence of a candidate for salvation whose chance depends on another man's
asserted,
failure.

Then comes

is

But Augustine is profoundly convinced 3 that there no room for assurance of our own salvation. The moral is, " Be not high-minded but fear." Who of all the multitudes of believers can affirm, so long as he is in this mortal life, that he is among the number of the This insepredestined predestined, that is, to life ? It is an incentive to exertion. curity has a real use. Augustine even thinks that sons of perdition are permitted to be mingled for a time among those who will persevere in order to deepen the solemn insecurity of
:

redemption.

4

will either utilise the

that no sensible man 5 theory of correction as an argument nor the theory of grace as an argument against grace, against correction. But Augustine cannot allow that the words 6 "Who

The

practical

conclusion

is

1

Works, X.
Ib.
Ib.

3 5

24, p. 1300. 40, p. 1311. 43, p. 1314-

2

Ib.

39, p.

4

Ib. p. 1312. 6 Ib. 44, P- 

1

76

THE LETTERS OF

ST.

AUGUSTINE

have all men to be saved" mean that all are Here as in many other predestined to eternal life. passages of his writings that great sentence is forced to agree with his theory of Predestination. Until quite recently this was all that was known about the objections raised to Augustine's doctrine by the monks of Adrumetum. Recently, however, two other letters bearing upon the dispute have been discovered by Dom Morin. 1 have seen that Abbot Valentinus, being distracted and alarmed by the opposition between his monks and the great leader of African religious thought, sent a despatch to Augustine's friend, Bishop Evodius, to consult him and seek his
will

We

advice.

Evodius replied in a letter, first published in 1896, which he insisted that the writings of the doctors of the Church must be read "cum pietate non cum No one ought to be surprised if there contentione." are problems concerning free will, or grace, or the Divine determinations, which he does not understand. Let him believe that God is righteous, and what he cannot understand in the present life let him keep for
in

the next. By all means let the monks read the great teachers of the Church but when they fail to understand let them not instantly begin to reproach. Let
:

them pray

for intelligence. God, says Evodius, gives whom He wills grace not according to our merits
;

by His goodness and whom He wills He hardens by a just judgment. It is, adds the writer, beyond human comprehension. Meanwhile it would

He

pities

;

be presumption and pride
to
if

for us insignificant individuals
:

blame the writings of these great men

above

all

are reluctant to accept the teaching of a Plenary -Council on the matter. That would be a "temeraria
"

we

praesumptio destitute of
1

;

thinking it knows what it does not, and Those who refuse humility to learn.

See Revue Benedictine, 1896, pp. 481-486. 

LETTERS ON THE DOCTRINE OF GRACE

177

submission to the decrees of the Church deserve expulsion and anathema. This was written in 417. It is not remarkable that
it

failed

to

restore

the

monks

to

harmony.

Abbot

Valcntinus wrote for help in various directions. Among others he appealed to Januarius, a priest. Januarius's letter was discovered by Dom Morin and It is a long letter, addressed to published in 1901.

Abbot Valentinus, insisting that the servant of God should not strive and must be teachable. Januarius rejects the proposition that it is for man to take the
and for God to complete. Scripture declares that we are not sufficient of ourselves to think anything Let men learn from the Apostles, and as of ourselves. cease to contend. S. Paul ascribes both the beginning and the completion of all good works to God. He hath begun a good work in you will perform it. Those who raise the objection, If all is God's what then is ours ? must be answered that we have nothing but falsehood and sin. Hence the insistence on fear and trembling in the injunction to work out your own salvation, for it is God that worketh in you. Januarius is a thorough disciple of Augustine, and echoes Augustine's explanation of the text, "Who will have all men It does not really mean "all," but refers to be saved." only to all those whom He wills to be saved. He wills He hardens. It is the Clay and the Potter. If the monks are able and willing to receive this, let them receive it. But if they cannot be convinced, let them humbly believe on the authority of Scripture avoiding contentions, and ceasing to contradict the
initiative

Who

Whom

;

truth.

are

will imperil their faith. There things in the Catholic Faith which must be What objects of faith rather than of comprehension. learned and distinguished Fathers and Doctors of the

Otherwise they

many

Church have taught ently regarded and
rejoice

in

their writings should

be rever-

received.

The
:

where he can understand

pious reader will and where he cannot

M 

1

78

THE LETTERS OF

ST.

AUGUSTINE

understand will not quarrel, but accept provisionally, until such time as God shall grant him understanding. Januarius then proceeds to give Abbot Valentinus
the
benefit of his confidential advice.

In

future the

Abbot should be careful to see what books are given to monks of limited intelligence. Their reading ought to be determined in future by the Abbot's authority.
Indiscriminate study of a codex or a book by the Let any unqualified is certain to lead to difficulties. of the Community read the Scriptures freely. The caution given applies only to other books. Januarius has one further piece of advice to give. No casual visitor in future should be allowed to teach the monks. There were too many people about who desired to be teachers of the law, yet neither understand

what they say nor whereof they affirm. What was the sequel at Adrumetum is unknown. Another letter, 1 addressed to Vitalis of Carthage, contains one of the clearest summaries of Catholic
principles concerning the doctrine of grace to be found Augustine's writings. Vitalis had been teaching that the first beginnings of faith originate in ourselves
in

Augustine contends that gift of God. proposition is irreconcilable with the Apostolic teaching, that it is God that worketh in you both to will and to do (Phil. ii. 13). Vitalis understood this to
this

and are not a

refer to Divine instruction, directing what we ought to do.

and informing

us

According to
tion,
2

this identification of grace with instruc-

we ought not to pray that believe the Gospel, but only that they may people may hear it. But this is contrary to the practice of the Church. You hear God's priest at the Altar ("sacerdotem Dei ad altare ") exhorting the people to pray that God would convert to faith those who do not believe. Pelagianism supposed itself to be defending the freereplies Augustine,
1

Letter 217, A. D. 427.

2

Letter 217,

2. 

LETTERS ON THE DOCTRINE OF GRACE

179

dom

of the human will. 1 But, says Augustine, we must not support the freedom of the will by opposing the It is grace by which source from which it is made free. we are liberated from the tendency to sin. To oppose Instead grace is therefore to keep the will enslaved. of liberum arbitrium we only have arbitrium captivum. It is God alone who delivers us from the power of And he that glories must not glory in man, darkness. nor in himself, but in the Lord. The Mediator enters the strong man's house 2 that is, the power which holds the human race enslaved, and binds him. But that is a work of grace and not of nature. Thus the grace of God is not a synonym for free
;

will,

3

or

for
It

instruction,
is

"sicut

pelagiana perversitas

desipit." " acts.

by

my

power given to the will for separate No man cometh unto me, except it is given him Father." 4 Thus what we have to pray for is the
will,
5

strengthening of the
believe, already believe.

power to

and of perseverance

the gift to the unbelieving of to those who

Of course

there are problems in the doctrine of grace, 6

some of which Augustine confesses himself unable to solve. Why do some receive grace and persevere for a time and yet live long enough to fall away, when they might have been seemingly removed by an early death before evil had changed them ? Let each investigate
If he finds the according to his capacity. Augustine will hold it with him, provided it deviate from the rule of faith. But whatever let us hold the Catholic Faith. Since, then, by the mercy of Christ we are

solution

does not

happens

Catholic 7 says Augustine, we know the following He proceeds to enumerate propositions to be true. twelve in reply to Pelagianism.
Christians,
1

3

5
7

Letter Letter Letter Letter

217, 217, 217, 217,

8.

2

12.

4
6

14. 16.

Letter 217, Letter 217, Letter 217,

n
13.
15. 

i8o
1.

THE LETTERS OF

ST.

AUGUSTINE
depend

We

know

t^at our condition here does not

on merits acquired

in a previous existence, but that the

race has contracted the contagium mortis, and can only

be saved by being born again by grace in Christ. 2. We know that the grace of God is not given, either to infants or to adults, according to merit. 3. We know that grace is given to aid us in individual
actions.
it is

know that grace is not given to all that where given it is not given according to the merits or the will of the recipient. Witness the case of infants. know that grace is given by the gratuitous 5. mercy of God. 6. know that when grace is withheld, it is withheld by the just judgment of God. know that we shall all stand before the judg7. ment seat of Christ, to be judged according to the deeds actually committed in the body, and not according to deeds which we should have committed if our lives had
4.
;

We

We

We

We

been prolonged.
8.

We know

that even infants will receive according

to

what they have done through the body, whether good or evil. But this cannot apply to their personal
actions, but to the faith of their sponsors who promised in their behalf, and through they are included

whom

amjng

the believing. But this must apply, according to Augustine, negatively as well as positively. The unbaptised are the unbelieving. And he that believeth not is condemned. know that they are happy who die in the 9.

We

Lord.

who sincerely believe in the own will and free choice. 11. We know that we do rightly to pray for the conversion of those who do not believe. 12. We know that it is right to thank God for those who believe.
10.

We

know

that they

Lord do so by

their 

LETTERS ON THE DOCTRINE OF GRACE
If Vitalis assents to- these

181
4

twelve propositions he will be holding the Catholic Faith concerning Grace. But Augustine feels that his Predestinarianism will present difficulties to his correspondent. There is the text that God will have all men to be saved (i Tim. ii. 4). Augustine labours to make this agree with the Predestination of the elect alone. 1 He takes the words to mean that all men who are saved are saved because

God God

wills

their salvation.

Yet,

in

wills that

many

shall not be

Augustine's view, saved (" tarn multos
2

nolit salvos fieri").

important letter. appealed to as a supreme example of grace producing faith. Stress is laid on the words " and they glorified God in me." That was the Church's recognition of the power of grace. 3 Again Augustine insists on the evidence of the Church's prayers for the conversion of the unbelieving. Incidentally he not only speaks of hearing God's priest at His Altar exhorting the people to pray, but speaks of the priest praying audibly (" clara voce orantem ") that
is

There

very

much more

in this

The Conversion

of S. Paul

is

God would bring the incredulous to believe. Augustine mentions also the response of the people, their Amen
to the priest's petitions. The fifth-century Eucharistic Prayers were audible to the congregation.
set

the closing years of Augustine's dogmatic activity complaints increased concerning his extreme Predestinarian opinions. The opposition came from his own adherents and disciples, who revolted from his later conclusions. The difficulties presented by the Augustinian view were felt profoundly in the Gallican Church and in particular at Marseilles. 4 Two of Augustine's devoted followers, Prosper of Aquitaine and Hilary of Aries, both wrote to Augustine on the difficulties felt by Catholics in his theory of Predestination.
in
1

As

3

Letter 217. Letter 217,

2

26.

4

Letter 217, 24. Letters 225 and 226. 

1

82

THE LETTERS OF

ST.

AUGUSTINE

Prosper told Augustine, deferentially but frankly, that of the servants of Christ at Marseilles considered that his theory of the purpose of God according to election was contrary to the opinion of the Fathers x and the mind of the Church. They were willing to suppose that this criticism of theirs was due to misapprehension on their part rather than to erroneous But they had lately read his work teaching on his.

many

on Correction and Grace, and the reading of

it

only

increased their objections. Here follows a profession of the faith of the Church at Marseilles. They believed that salvation is not by works but by regeneration through the Grace of God. What they could not credit was that any human being
exists

whom God

does not

will to save.

They main-

tained, on by Christ

the contrary, that the propitiation offered is inclusive of every human being, and that
to

whosoever willed

come

to faith

and Baptism was

capable of being saved. Thus they held that no man need despair of attaining eternal life. The doctrine of arbitrary election or rejection, the destination of one human being to life and another to perdition was, in
their opinion, fatal in its

moral

effects:

for

it

taught

that no labour could save the rejected and no indolence exclude the elected. Thus Augustine's theory of Predestination was nothing less than fatalism and necessity. They agreed that no one could enter into the Kingdom of God 2 except by the Sacrament of Regeneration, but they affirmed that if any person was lost, the fault was his own. For God repelled no man from life but desired that all men should be saved and should come to As to infants who died the knowledge of the truth. unbaptised, their theory was that this was to be accounted for by the Divine foreknowledge of the godless lives these children would have led had they been allowed to mature. The essential point with the Church1

Letter 225,

2

2

Letter 225. 

LETTERS ON THE DOCTRINE OF GRACE
men
the

183

of Marseilles was that God places no obstacle in of the salvation of any man. They do not believe that the number of the elect can neither be diminished nor increased. Prosper confesses that he is not able to solve their difficulties. Many of the persons holding these opinions are more spiritual than himself. Some are his ecclesi-

way

-

was supported by another from Hilary, 1 same effect only adding quotations from Augustine's own letter written some twenty years before in reply to Pagan criticism on the Christian Religion

astical superiors. Prosper's letter

much

to the

;

(see Letter 102). Augustine had there maintained that Christ willed to appear to men and His doctrine to be proclaimed when and where He knew that men would believe in Him. Elsewhere, again, Augustine had taught that God decreed to give the Holy Spirit to those who, He foresaw, would believe (Exposition of

Romans).
Hilary informed Augustine that a quotation which the Bishop had made from the Book of Wisdom was set aside by the Churchmen at Marseilles on the ground that this writing is not among the number of the canonical books. 2 Augustine was further reminded that in one of his
3 very early writings (that on Free Will) he had expressed caution and uncertainty with regard to the himself with fate of infants. These things could not but have their effect on that considerable element of believers who are led to change their opinions by the authority of disCatholics in the Gallican Church tinguished names. were complaining that Augustine had disturbed the* peace of the Church. What possible need could exist for unsettling the minds of swarms of simple people by intruding these doubtful disputations. The Catholic Faith had been defended without these theories for

1

Letter 226.

'Ibid.

3

Letter 226,

8. 

184

THE LETTERS OF
by many

ST.
:

AUGUSTINE
in
fact,

many

years, himself.

writers

by Augustine

Hilary lays these considerations before the Bishop of Hippo. Hilary is evidently impressed by the extent and the strength of the opposition to Augustine's theories. Augustine will know what is the proper Meanwhile he asks for some more course to take. of Augustine's writings, copies of which have not yet He is anxious that Augustine should not reached him. suppose that he identifies himself with these critics. He is simply a reporter of their criticisms. The sequel is not to be found among Augustine's letters, but in the Treatises on The Predestination of the Saints, and on The Gift of Perseverance. 

CHAPTER
THE
successor to S.

VI

LETTERS ON BIBLICAL EXPOSITION

for I know Who it is Who it is pleasing dwells within you." Quite a number of Augustine's correspondents treat him as if he were a man of leisure with no occupation except to answer their inquiries. They did not hesitate to send him strings of questions, any one of which 3 certain required almost a treatise for an answer. named Honoratus, not yet baptised, asked person Augustine to reply to the following five questions. He wanted to know, first, What was the meaning of the cry from the Cross. Secondly, What S. Paul meant when he wrote "that he being rooted and grounded in love may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the

Ambrose at Milan was the priest Readers of Augustine's Confessions will remember that he is mentioned there. 1 Augustine 2 corresponded with him from Africa, and wrote to him in 397, which was the year of Ambrose's death. Simplician was not a man of great learning but of deep Simplician sought instruction from Augusspirituality. who wrote a treatise in reply to his questions. tine, And Augustine on his side highly valued Simplician's approval of his works and even expressed his esteem in terms not a little embarrassing to Simplician's " When what I write pleases you, I know humility
Simplician.
;
:

to

Whom

:

A

length and breadth and height and depth."
1

Thirdly,

2

Confessions, VIII. Letter 37.

i,

3

;

cf.

De
3

Civitate Dei, X. 29. Letter 140, A.D. 412.

185 

1

86

THE LETTERS OF

ST.

AUGUSTINE

he wanted an explanation of the parable of the Wise and Foolish Virgins. Fourthly, he asked to be told what was meant by the outer darkness. Fifthly, he inquired how are we to understand the text " The Word was

made
is

flesh."

in

the

To these is added a sixth question, What New Testament signified by Grace?

*

Augustine with exemplary patience replied to all His these inquiries, and at very considerable length. letter became a treatise. Paragraph after paragraph flowed on until the number of sections reached the figure of eighty-five. The letter to Honoratus is a book in itself. It is entitled On the Grace of the New Testament. i. Augustine takes first the question on the prelude to the Gospel of S. John, 1 and gives a lengthy exposi" " tion. Incidentally he explains that born of a woman does not imply the Virgin Birth. Dwelling on the distinction between S. John Baptist and Christ he sets together Christ's words about him, that he was a burning and a shining light, and the Fourth Evangelist's words, " he was not that light." The Baptist was a lucerna, a lamp but a lucerna requires to be kindled and is liable He was the " lumen illuminatum " to be extinguished. 2 " to be contrasted with the lumen verum." The difference between other human beings and Christ as sons of God 3 are made by grace what lies in the term Adoption. we were not by nature, whereas Christ is essentially and naturally God's Son. What the Fourth Evangelist teaches is the personal Word of God made flesh and Since the Son of God by participation dwelling in us. in the flesh is made Son of Man, faith can credit the proposition that men may by participation in the Word be made sons of Gocl. therefore, the changeable, are changed into 4 But something higher by the reception of the Word. the Word, being unchangeable, is not deteriorated by
;

We

We

1

3

Letter 140, Letter 140,

6.

2

10.

4

Letter 140, Letter 140,

8.

12. 

LETTERS ON BIBLICAL EXPOSITION

187

His reception of the flesh and reasonable soul. Yes, He took a reasonable soul as well as a human body.

The

humiliations. here Augustine warns his reader to realise that the Person Who thus is both God and Man, is one. Otherwise instead of a Trinity you would introduce a But in the Incarnation there is no increase Quaternity. " in the number of the Persons. For just as there is no increase in the number of persons when the flesh is united to the soul to make one man, so neither is the number of persons increased when man is united with the Word, to make one Christ." l 2. This leads Augustine to consider 2 the meaning of the cry from the Cross. In a very interesting exposition he reminds Honoratus of a passage in Psalm Ixxii., where the singer confesses that problems were insoluble until he went into the Sanctuary of God that under the guidance of thq is, until they were viewed enlightenment bestowed by the Spirit. This cry of desolation from the Cross 3 " My God, my " is to be understood God, why hast thou forsaken me? as Christ in self-identity with mankind, giving utterance to the Voice of our infirmities. For the old man was crucified together with Him, and He bore our griefs and carried our sorrows. It is Christ representing the Church. 4 Just as afterwards He identifies Himself with the suffering inflicted on His Church, when He said

Apollinarists are mistaken. nature, He subjected Himself to

And, taking human

human

And

;

:

?" persecutest thou Augustine further claims that the opening words of Psalm xxii., which our Lord uttered upon the Cross, are not to be separated from the whole contents of the Psalm. The Bishop feels that part of the Psalm is 5 literally appropriate to Christ, and part of it is not.
Saul, Saul,

"

why

Me

1

Letter 140,

12.

2

Letter 140,

3

13.

4

Hsec ex persona

sui corporis Christus dicit,

quod

Letter 140, 14. est Ecclesia.

Letter 140, 18. 5 Letter 140, 31. 

1

88

THE LETTERS OF

ST.

AUGUSTINE

Hence he allegorises much, and applies to Christ as representing the Church what seemed to be inappropriate as applied to Christ in Thus the verses person. 1 25 and 26,
"

My praise is of Thee in the great congregation My vows will perform in the sight of them that
:

I

fear

Him.
shall eat

The poor
is in

and be

satisfied

"
:

Augustine's view a reference, first, to the Sacrifice of the Body of Christ in the Sacrament of the Faithful and secondly, to Eucharist reception. 3. The outer darkness may be understood in two senses. 2 It is the present condition of souls which have not yet received light and grace. But this is a state
;

which may be reversed. Outer darkness may signify also the final exclusion ubi correctionis locus non erit. God is light and in Him is no darkness at all. But he
that hateth his brother
4.
is

in

darkness.

Ephesians on the length and breadth and height and depth is mystically explained by Augustine by reference to the dimensions of the
in

The passage

Cross. 3

Here follows an exposition 4 of the parable of the Wise and Foolish Virgins. It is an illustration of the changeful human soul which can only find its blessedness in the unchanging good and which cannot be healed by itself, but only by the unmerited mercy of its Creator. The answer, " Go ye rather to those that sell, and buy for The lamps lighted signify good yourselves," is derisive. works as when the Lord said " Let your light so shine before men." 5 The lamps gone out signify failure to 6 The sleep, which wise and foolish alike persevere. experienced, is death. The awakening in the night is
5.
;
:

the Resurrection.
1

3
5

Letter 140, Letter 140, Letter 140,

61. 63.
75.

2 4

6

Letter 140, Letter 140, Letter 140,

54.
74.

76. 

LETTERS ONf BIBLICAL EXPOSITION

189

6. To these Augustine himself adds finally the question concerning the Grace of the New Testament. It is that which comes to us through the Incarnation and gives us power to become sons of God. He would wish to say much on this. For this Grace has its

opponents, who desire to ascribe their goodness to themselves and not to God. 1 Augustine mentions no names. But he acknowledges the excellence of the people Who oppose the doctrine of Grace. They are not persons whom you will easily despise. They live a
life

They are praiseworthy for their are orthodox on the doctrine of But they the Godhead quite unlike the Manichaeans. are ignorant of the Divine righteousness, and they seek to establish their own. They are foolish virgins. They do not carry the knowledge of the Grace of God in their
good works.

of self-restraint.

They

:

hearts.

They do
really
is.

not

restraint

know Whose gift their selfThey do not give thanks for it.

Their foolish heart is darkened. But they are by no means to be despaired of so lorrg as their life may last. 2 Paulinus, Bishop of Nola, asked a series of questions on Biblical exposition. In this case both sides of the
correspondence are preserved. The questions are partly on passages in the Psalms. (i) For instance, the passage which is rendered in our Authorised Version, " Slay them not, lest my people forget it But scatter them abroad among the people, and put them down, O Lord our defence,"
;

is

regarded by Paulinus as addressed by Jesus Christ to the Father in reference to the Jews. Paulinus saw the fulfilment of the passage in the dispersion of the

Jews, without temple and without sacrifice, among all the nations of the earth. But he has misgivings about the text, for his Version reads
:

"

Slay them not
1

lest
83.

they should forget
2

Thy

law."

Letter 140,

Letter 121. 

IQO

THE LETTERS OF
this

ST.

AUGUSTINE

seems to him unintelligible. (2) Paulinus Augustine to define the difference between Apostles, Prophets, Evangelists, Pastors and Teachers, mentioned in Eph. iv. II (p. 533). (3) Also to be told the difference between the prayers called intercessions in i Tim. ii. I, and other kinds of prayer (P- 534)(4) Also to know the meaning of the difficult passage in Col. ii. 18, about voluntary humility -and worshipping of angels (p. 535). (5) Also concerning the words of Simeon to the Blessed Virgin Mary " A sword shall pierce through thine own soul also, that the thought of many hearts may be revealed." Did this refer to Mary's maternal grief when she saw
also desired
:

And

the Crucifixion

?

These were among the questions which the Bishop of Nola propounded to Augustine. Paulinus's letter is believed to have been written about A.D. 410.
Augustine's reply is dated apparently four years later, the Benedictine editors are right. 1 Augustine's letters familiarise us with late arrivals, with missing
if

We follow here only the selected instances. Paulinus his fellow-bishop, describes another of the clergy as his fellow-presbyter, and yet another
inquiries. calls

documents, and interrupted correspondence. But this is one of the worst examples. Augustine replies to the whole number of Paulinus's

He

as his fellow-deacon.
1. The passage in the Psalms, "Slay them not, lest they forget Thy law," Augustine understands as a prediction that the Jews when conquered and dispersed would continue in their ancient law, so that the witness of the Scripture should remain among them everywhere in the world. Elsewhere Augustine calls the Jews the librarians of the Church as retaining the books which the Church alone fulfils. 2. On the list of ministries in Eph. iv., Augustine
;

1

Letter 149. 

LETTERS ON BIBLICAL EXPOSITION
thinks
that

191

Pastors

and

Teachers

do

not

denote

kinds of He notes that the prayer, especially as intercessions. Greek word svrev^si^ which we translate intercessions, is variously rendered in the Latin version by interpellare or postulare. Our Lord makes intercession for us (Rom. viii. 34). Augustine understood this to mean making requests to the Father. S. Paul's order is supplications, prayers, intercessions, " " Augustine thinks that supplications thanksgivings. is the right name for those prayers which precede the " while " the prayers Consecration in the Eucharist is the right name when the Consecration is effected and the distribution takes place. That this is the right meaning of the term "prayers" is, he thinks, implied in the Greek word used. For the word nooosv^ denotes a vow or dedication. Now all things offered to God are dedicated to Him, above all the Oblation of the Holy Altar. In that sacrament our self-dedication is proclaimed, when we vow to remain in Christ, that is in the bond of the Body of Christ. The For the Eucharist is the Sacrament of the Union. Bread is One, and we being many are one Body. 1 Then the interpolations or intercessions or requests For then the are made when the people are blessed. priests act as advocates. Finally the thanksgivings are the prayers which follow when the Sacrament has been received. 4. Then as to the different passages in Colossians on voluntary humility. Augustine illustrates the term from a number of popular Latin expressions. person who aims at being considered wealthy is called thelodives ; one whose ambition is to be reputed wise is called thelosapiens According to these analogies, a person of voluntary humility or thelohumilis? is the
;

different offices, but are synonymous. to say on the different 3. He has much

A

.

1

Letter 149,

16.

2

Letter 149,

27. 

192

THE LETTERS OF

ST.

AUGUSTINE

person who simulates humility, who desires to be regarded as humble-minded. There is in the term the notion of unreality and pretentiousness. 5. On the words of Simeon to Mary, Augustine agrees with Paulinus, and encloses another letter which he had written on the subject, but which unhappily has not survived. Hut the phrase that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed, means that by the Passion of our Lord both the motives of the Jews and the weakness of the Apostles would be brought
to light.

Evodius was one of Augustine's intimate friends. They grew up together at Thagaste. Evodius became a convert and was baptised at an earlier date than Augustine. The two were together in the villa outside Milan. 1 Both started on the return journey to Africa, and Evodius was present at Ostia when Monica died. It was Evodius who took the Psalter in the house of 2 mourning, while all responded:
"

My

Unto Thee,
Back

song shall be of mercy and judgment O Lord, will I sing." 3

:

in Africa, Evodius was ordained and became a His See was Uzala. The two friends kept bishop. a correspondence, of which part survives. But many up It was now the year 414. years had elapsed. Bishop Evodius tells his friend Augustine about the death of a young private secretary, a deeply religious 4 how he died just youth, a son of a certain priest how after signing himself with the sign of the Cross they held memorial services for three days at the grave, and on the third day offered the Sacrament of Redemption. Evodius then relates various dreams of devout persons concerning the welfare of the departed. These incidents raised various problems in the writer's
; ;

1
3

Confessions, IX. 17. Confessions, IX. 31.

2

Psalm

ci.

4

Letter 158, A.D. 414. 

LETTERS ON BIBLICAL EXPOSITION
1

193

mind. He wants to know whether the soul when it leaves the earthly body continues in a disembodied state until the Resurrection, or is meanwhile clothed with a body of some kind. He seems to think that a disembodied soul could not retain its individuality. If the soul resides in some distinct locality, such as

Abraham's bosom,
to

it

must be embodied. 2

He

wants

the soul separated from the earthly solid frame should not possess a body of its own. Evodius had read in an apocryphal book called the Mysteries of Moses, to which however he assigns no authority, that when the Lawgiver ascended the Mount to die, his body was committed to the earth but another body was granted him. Evodius considers that this idea is confirmed by the visible appearance of Moses at the Transfiguration. -The future Resurrection of the body does not exclude the possibility of some intermediate body. But what the soul's condition is Evodius
desires to be instructed. What he revolts against is the notion that death is a dreamless sleep. Pursuing the subject further, Evodius asks whether, if the soul possesses after death and before Resurrection a body such as he imagines, that body possesses the same senses as we have here. Evodius is willing to part with all except hearing and sight. He thinks that to exist apart from body of some kind 4 is a Divine prerogative which cannot be shared
3

know why

by men.

" these inquiries of his beloved brother and sharer the priestly office," Augustine replied 5 that he sees no reason to believe that the soul departing from this earthly body receives another body in the other world before the Resurrection. As to the visions of the departed or the absent Augustine is sure that they are independent of any

To

in

.

1

3
5

Letter 158, 4 and 5. Letter 158, 7. Letter 159, A.D. 415.

2

4

Letter 158, Letter 158,

6.

n.

N 

194

THE LETTERS OF

ST.

AUGUSTINE

Thus embodied manifestation of the object seen. 1 Augustine while writing to Evodius contemplates in mental vision a very definite image of his friend which, however, is not created by Evodius's presence, and of which Evodius is not even aware. This would apply to visions of the departed. Augustine here refers his correspondent to his books on Genesis where this
subject is carefully considered. In the present reply to Evodius, Augustine adds an example to illustrate the facts of mental vision apart from the physical vision through the senses of the 2 There was a well-known physician named body. Gennadius, formerly resident in Rome, and now in Carthage, who in early life had doubted the soul's survival of physical death. But one night he had a vision in which a stranger led him where he saw the heavenly city and heard the hymn of the blessed. He 3 But another awoke, and regarded it only as a dream.

He was night he saw his heavenly guide again. conscious that his bodily eyes were closed in sleep. And yet he saw the heavenly vision. He was accordingly taught that when the bodily eyes shall be dispensed with after death, the power of mental vision still remains.
His mind is Evodius wrote again to Augustine. 4 much exercised on the relation between Reason and God. Reason declares that God ought to exist. Similarly Reason declares that the world must exist. Reason therefore is prior to the world. Reason thus appears as an abstraction which is followed by the actualisation of what it postulates. Evodius is therefore puzzled to know whether Reason is prior to Deity. God would not exist unless Reason existed which taught that God ought to be. Neither would Reason exist unless God existed. God cannot be without Reason nor Reason without God.
1

3

Letter 159, Letter 159,

2.
4.

2 4

Letter 159, 3Letter 160, A.D. 414. 

LETTERS ON BIBLICAL EXPOSITION

195

Here is Evodius's perplexity, which without more ado he leaves Augustine to solve. Apparently without waiting for a reply, Evodius wrote again. 1 He has been reading some letters which Augustine had written to Volusian (Letter 137), and
to a

lady

named

Italica (Letter 92).

The

letter

to

was written about A.D. 408. That to Volusian in 412. Volusian had been It was now A.D. 414. perplexed about the Incarnation, and about the Virgin In the course of his reply Augustine had written Birth. the sentence, " If an explanation is sought, there will be no miracle if an example is demanded, there will be no uniqueness." Evodius does not see the reason of
Italica
;

He thinks it will still be miraculous if a reason has been sought, and if an example is demanded He means that an illustration it will still be unique. will not be exactly parallel with that which it illustrates. He gives examples of parthenogenesis in the inferior orders of creation. He thinks that Augustine's assertion may rather hinder than help the inquirer about the Faith. To these criticisms Augustine sent a reply 2 with a For his letter will not sense of grave responsibility. only be read by intelligent friends like Evcdius, but also by less educated people, and by unfriendly critics. What care such conditions demand Now he is already Are these fully occupied with other literary labours. to be put aside in favour of the newly arrived letter? If so, is the newcomer in its turn to be set aside in favour of some still later arrival? Many of Evodius's questions are already answered in works which Augustine has written, but not yet published, whether on the Trinity or on Genesis. Augustine also" reminds Evodius of their discussions, doubtless those held in the villa outside Milan, on the quantity of the Soul, and the Freedom of the Will
this remark.
;
!

:

1

Letter 161, A.D. 414.

2

Letter 161, A.D. 415. 

196

THE LETTERS OF

ST.

AUGUSTINE

discussions embodied in Augustine's earlier works. Then, again, Evodius has the book on True Religion. If Evodius will read that book and reflect upon it, he will certainly not regard Reason as prior to Deity. Evodius can hardly have forgotten his discussions with Augustine outside Milan in which he took so important a part. The whole book on The Freedom of the Will is nothing else than a dialogue between Evodius and Augustine. The substance of this dialogue dates from many It was held in 388. In the course of it years before. there is a discussion on the grounds of belief in the existence of God. 1 All being is classified in an ascending scale of value: that which exists, that which lives, and that which has intelligence. Augustine asks Evodius in the dialogue whether he will give the name of God to that which is superior to our intelligence. Evodius replies that God must be not only that which is superior to our intelligence, but that which has no
2 superior to itself (quo nihil superius esse constiterit). The reader will be reminded of S. Anselm's definition God is that than which no greater can be conceived. 3 Augustine proceeds by inquiring whether there is any object of thought which is not the exclusive possession of this or that individual mind, but the common property of all minds alike or whether there is such a thing as objective truth. Evodius replies that there is 4 and he gives arithmetical undoubtedly numbers as an illustration. The truths of mathematics are the same for every mind. They cannot be other than they are. Seven plus three are ten. Under no circumstances, nowhere, at no time, can this be other: :

:

It is an immutable, incorruptible truth. Augustine then asks whether the existence of ob5 truth holds good in the moral and spiritual jective

wise.

1 3

*

2 Ibid. Libero Arbitrio, II. u, p. 961. Id quo majus cogitari nequit," Proslogion, ii. 5 Ibid. De Libero Arbitrio, 20, p. 967.

De
"

14, p. 964.

25, p. 970. 

LETTERS ON BIBLICAL EXPOSITION

197

Is there such a thing as Wisdom ? Or does spheres. individual have a wisdom of his own ? Evodius every The ideals of individual men, their conis perplexed.
It ception of the highest good, differ enormously. looks as if the whole thing were reduced, as we say, to

opinion and subjectivity. But, replies Augustine, whatever individuals pursue they do so under the impression Thus if they differ in their idea of what that it is good. is good, they agree in their idea that such a thing as good exists. If they differ about the means they agree about the end. 1 All men aspire to happiness even if they dispute wherein that happiness consists. Now this idea is not the property of the individual but is common to all. Moreover there are things objectively It is always true that inferior true in the moral sphere. things are to be subordinated to better that the eternal is better than the temporal that the mind must be These are unchanging raised to things incorruptible. The principles of wisdom are everywhere the truths. do not say that they ought to be. 2 same. that they are. Seven plus three are ten. simply say cannot say that they ought to be. Now this immutable truth is greater than the human mind. For we cannot correct it nor alter it. And
; ;

We

We

We

what

else

is

this objective

Truth and Wisdom

if it

is

not God ? It is It is what all can embrace and share. the inspirer of every individual. It transcends the individual and can become the common possession of the whole race. This objective, unchanging truth is the 3 If there is anything in existlight of all our seeing. ence more excellent than this, that more excellent thing is God. If there is nothing more excellent than Truth then Truth is God. If Evodius turned to the treatise on Free Will to which Augustine referred him in his letter, this is the
1

De

Libero Arbitrio,
39, p. 981.

II.

2

28, p. 973.

Ibid.

34, p. 977.

3

Ibid. 

i 98

THE LETTERS OF

ST.

AUGUSTINE

substance of the answer given there. Augustine here contents himself with repeating the statement that we do not say that seven plus three ought to be ten, but simply that they are. Reason does not create God, but only discovers Him. It is not quite so easy to see why Augustine also referred Evodius to the book on True Religion^ As to the criticism which Evodius had sent to
Augustine's remarks on visions, Augustine invites his reconsider the original letter. When the spirit leaves the body in death it neither takes the eyes of the body with it nor a body constructed out of the earthly body. It still possesses the power of sight, but the 2 sight is not physical. Then with regard to Augustine's former statement on the Virgin Birth in the letter to Volusian " If an example is demanded, there will be no uniqueness." Evodius had criticised this on the ground that instances of parthenogenesis could be found in the inferior orders of Creation. Augustine replies that Christ alone is Virgin-born meaning apparently that there is no parallel within the experience of the human 3 Then again with regard to Augustine's staterace. ment that "if an explanation is sought there will be no miracle," the writer now adds that everything has its cause. But when the cause is unknown to us, and the reason of a thing is concealed, we call it miracle. The Virgin Birth is a miracle not because it has no explanation but because the explanation is concealed from us. Augustine assures Evodius that a man of his insight The letter has requires no more than these hints. already reached a length which suggests that the writer has forgotten his other occupations. Meanwhile will Evodius send another copy of a previous letter which cannot be answered because it has been mislaid.
critics to
: :

1

3

Letter i62, Letter 162,

2

3.

Ibid.

7. 

LETTERS ON BIBLICAL EXPOSITION
1

199

He desired an explanation of Evodius wrote again. the passage in i Pet. iii. 18-21, on Christ preaching to the spirits in prison. 2 Augustine sent a long and elaborate reply. Here, as constantly, the great writer confesses his own unHe is himself in much perplexity on the certainty.
be glad to be instructed. His His Passion went and difficulty preached to spirits in Hell, why were the unbelieving of the age of Noah the only objects of His Mercy ? That our Lord descended into hell (apud inferos) 4 Augustine thinks no one but an infidel will deny. As to the souls who were delivered, Augustine would
subject.
is this.
3

He

would

If Christ after

5 Christ emptied hell and that all rejoice to think that He thinks symwithout exception were delivered. pathetically of the great Pagan poets and literary men, praiseworthy in their lives, noble in many moral ways,

life and true in death, always excepting the of their religion. Augustine is torn between His heart goes one way. His conflicting thoughts. theory of predestination another. He would desire to " free from the powers of hell, were not the see them verdict of human feeling different from that of the justice of the Creator." Was it, then, not all, but only some of the souls in hell that Christ delivered ? 6 Augustine says that according to the almost unanimous tradition of the Church it was believed that

faithful in

falsity

Adam

although

This tradition had great authority could not be supported from any definite Scripture statement. " But seeing that plain scriptural testimonies make mention 7 of hell and its pains, no reason can be alleged for believing that He Who is the Saviour went but thither, except that He might save from its pains

was

delivered.

it

;

1

3 6

Letter 163, A.D. 414. 2. Letter 164, Letter 164, 3.

2 4

Letter 164,

Letter 164, A.D. 414. 5 Letter 164, 3. 7 Letter 164, 8.

4. 

200

THE LETTERS OF He
did save
all

ST.

AUGUSTINE
found held
in

whether
or
:

whom He

them,

favour, I still that He conferred this benefit on persons subjected to those pains, I do not doubt. Wherefore, I have not yet found what benefit He, when He descended into hell, conferred upon those righteous ones who were in Abraham's bosom, from whom I see that, so far as regarded the beatific presence of His Godhead, He never withdrew Himself; since even on that very day on which He died, He promised that the thief should be with Him in Paradise at the time when He was about to descend to loose the pains of hell. Most certainly, therefore, He was, before that time, both in Paradise and in the bosom of Abraham in His beatific Wisdom, and in for since the Godhead hell in His condemning power is confined by no limits, where is He not present ? At the same time, however, so far as regarded the created nature, in assuming which at a certain point of time, He, while continuing to be God, became man, that is to this is say, so far as regarded His soul, He was in hell plainly declared in those words of Scripture, which were both sent before in prophecy and fully expounded by Thou wilt not leave my apostolical interpretation soul in hell.'" 1 Augustine's critical mind saw further problems in the
;
:

some whom He judged worthy of the ask that He was, however, in hell, and

*

:

exposition of this passage in S. Peter. Some interpreters held that the persons delivered by our Lord's preaching in Hades were those who had never heard the Gospel on earth, and had never been granted an opportunity to believe. Well then, said Augustine, the same plea is available for those who since Christ's Resurrection died But without even hearing the Gospel preached. 3 Augustine was unable to accept this plea for their inclusion within Redemption. His arguments are First that the possibility of redemption in the other world
2
:

1

Letter 164,

8.

2

Letter 164,

12.

3

Letter 164,

13. 

LETTERS ON BIBLICAL EXPOSITION
And

201

would lead to indifference to conversion here on earth. secondly, that it would be a reason against preaching the Gospel to the Pagan world. On these grounds Augustine propounds another in1

The spirits in prison may denote the here on earth. Christ's going to preach to unbelieving them may refer to His appeals prior to His incarnation. 2 Thus in the time of Noah Christ did virtually preach to the souls in prison, i.e. send His warnings to the unconverted here on earth. 3 He came to them in the Spirit although not in the flesh. 4 If this exAugustine throws this out as possible. does not satisfy, let the reader apply the position passage to an actual preaching of Christ to spirits in
terpretation.
hell.

Only

let

him

try

to

solve

Augustine's

diffi-

culties.

As

for the
it

senses,

problem of visions of God by the bodily must be deferred for a lengthier discussion.

of Augustine's correspondents, Dardanus, a high in Gaul, was much exercised in understanding " the word from the Cross To-day shalt thou be with 5 If Christ said He would be in ParaMe in Paradise." Does dise, how can we believe that He is in Heaven ? it mean that Paradise is a part of Heaven ? Or is it a reference to God's ubiquity ? To this the Bishop replied in his book on the Presence of God. Augustine in reply distinguishes. Christ is either 6 If the former, Paraspeaking as Man or else as God. dise is not to be regarded as part of Heaven, for the soul of Christ went down to the lower world (inferno). Paradise, therefore, is situated in the lower world, to which Christ went in order to deliver those who ought to be delivered. In the lower world Christ did not only visit the penal part but also those who were in
official
:

One

1
3

5

Letter 164, 15. Letter 164, 17. Letter 187, to Dardanus, A.D. 417.

2
4 6

Letter 164, Letter 164, Letter 187,

-r6.

22.
5. 

202

THE LETTERS OF
It
is

ST.

AUGUSTINE
for Paradise. 1

Abraham's bosom. Abraham's bosom
If,

seems to Augustine probable that

however,

a Christ

synonym
is

here speaking as

God

the

meaning is simpler. For Christ as God is everywhere. Thus He is present with the blessed wherever they

may

be. 2

But the

Man

human

nature

Christ Jesus is now in Heaven. 3 In does not possess ubiquity.

humanity

He is not everywhere diffused. taken while insisting on His Divinity not to detract from the truth of His humanity. (" Cavendum est enim ne ita divinitatem astruamus hominis, ut veritatem
corporis auferamus.") Augustine also points out the danger of misconGod is, ceiving the omnipresence or ubiquity of God.

His His Care must be

we say, everywhere diffused. He fills Heaven and earth. But this universal presence must not be understood in a material sense.

through

space.

We

It is not a case of extension cannot say that God is partly-

present in one place and partly in another, like a But He is wholly present wherever material substance. He is present. Present in His whole being, 4 whether in earth or in Heaven (in seipso ubique totus). Nevertheless this universal presence of God is differFor He does ent from His indwelling in human souls. not dwell in all. He is everywhere, by the presence of His Divinity, but not by the grace of indwelling. 5 And as God does not dwell in all, neither does He dwell

There are degrees equally in all in whom He ^dwells. of Divine indwelling in the human soul. This Divine indwelling may begin in infancy. 7 Thus we say that the Holy Spirit dwells in baptised infants although they are unconscious of the fact. God is said 8 to dwell in them because He is influencing them within, to make them His temples. And this rebirth of water
6
1

4
7

Letter 187, Letter 187, Letter 187,

6.

2

5

14.

26.

8

Letter 187, Letter 187, Letter 187,

3

7.

16.

6

Letter 187, Letter 187,

10.

17

27. 

LETTERS ON BIBLICAL EXPOSITION
of

203

and of the Spirit confers upon the baptised the forgiveness all sins. It is the Sacrament of our Regeneration.

Among expressions to notice in this letter are that the Eucharist is called a sacrifice and reference is made to the Liturgy ( 21). The Rule of Faith is also mentioned as that to which all within the Church must adhere ( 29). And Baptism is called the Sacrament of
our Regeneration
(

30),

l Augustine's correspondents wrote him a letter The writer mainthe end of the world. concerning tained that while it was not possible to determine the

One of

day and the hour, there were, nevertheless, certain signs by which it would be possible to recognise when the end was near. The writer had been meditating on Jerusalem being trodden down by the Gentiles until the time of the Gentiles should be fulfilled. He had thought on the signs in the sun and the moon and the stars, and on the earth distress of nations, and men's hearts failing them for fear. There had been some incidents in the course of nature. He had alarming been reading also Jerome's exposition of the words in Daniel, and was perplexed by the abomination of desolation. So he confides in Augustine what he thinks, hoping to hear some instruction in reply.
Augustine's replies give the impression of a man already absorbed in studies, breaking off from his labours to answer an inquirer out of the fullness of his mind. And as he answers, thoughts crowd in upon him. Precedents, authorities, scripture expositions, one after another are poured out from an apparently inexhaustible
treasury of resources, until the fountain became a river and the river became a sea. In the present case there issues a masterly treatise, 2 of more than fifty sections, on the end of the world. Augustine begins by commending the zeal with which
1

Letter 198.

2

Letter 199. 

204
his

THE LETTERS OF

ST.

AUGUSTINE
;

correspondent writes on the Advent of Christ dwells on the danger of reliance on the thought that the Lord delays His coming; points out the true religious attitude of desire to appear before the presence of God and emphasises our ignorance of the times, as an For the individual human incentive to watchfulness. If being the end of the world is the day when he dies. Christ said that it was not for His Apostles to know the date of the last day, it would be presumption on our part to define it. Augustine's correspondent had referred to the 1 passages in Daniel about the Son of Man coming with the clouds of Heaven. Augustine requests him to
;

explain in unambiguous language precisely what this means, and how it can be reconciled with our Lord's own declaration that it is not for us to know the times or the seasons. Appeal is made to S. Paul's dis2 couragement of expectations of a speedy return of The Gospel words, " of that day and that hour Christ. knoweth no man," must not be understood to imply the possibility of knowing the year or the decade or the century, as Augustine imagined his correspondent to 3 thousand years are to God as a single suppose. 4 The language of Daniel cannot contradict the day. 5 warning of Christ about our ignorance of the final day. to It was disputed whether the words in Daniel refer UnChrist's first coming or to His second or to both. 6 7 doubtedly every day brings us nearer to His coming. But what the interval is it is not for us to know. S. Paul And yet said the night is departing, the day is at hand. how many years have elapsed Nevertheless what he

A

!

said

is

true.

There is again "the last days."
1

much
13.
1

to reflect
last

"In the
6.

on in the expression days grievous times
2
4

3
5
7

Letter Letter Letter Letter

199,
199, 199,

19.

6

Letter 199, Letter 199, Letter 199,

15.
17.

21.

199,

22. 

LETTERS ON BIBLICAL EXPOSITION
shall

205

come" (2 Tim. iii. i). "In the last days I will pour forth of my Spirit" (Acts ii. 17). That phrase, "last days," appears to haunt the writer. 1 If the period " " of Whitsuntide was the last days what are we to say of the present ? The novissima hora advances until the days come which will be novissimorum novissimi. There is the coming of Christ through the Church in which He never ceases coming until the end. 2
Augustine is clear that much of the Evangelist's 3 refers to the fall of Jerudescription of the last days salem and not to the end of the world. The abomination of desolation refers to the former not to the latter. The shortenings of the days refers to the calamities at
Jerusalem. But here Augustine insists that passages on the end of the world are open to an allegorical rather than a " 4 literal interpretation. He that is on the housetop " let him not descend into his house may well be understood as a warning against returning from a spiritual to a carnal manner of life. And the reference to the sun darkened was never more truly fulfilled than when being the Light of the World was hanging from the Tree. 5 Augustine's correspondent held that the end of the world 6 must be near because the signs were being fulfilled. Men's hearts were failing them for fear, and in anticipation of things which were coming on the earth. For no single portion of the earth was free from affliction and tribulation. Augustine is not convinced by this. For did not S. Paul teach that when they " are saying Peace and safety then sudden destruction

cometh"?
whether

(r

Tim.

v.

3).

It is

questionable, therefore,

mentioned does not mean experience in store for the Church rather than the It may be that precisely when the world is world. in a state of peace and security that the sudden
the
tribulation
1 3 5

Letter 199, Letter 199, Letter 199,

2

24.

28 and 29.
34.

4
6

Letter 199, Letter 199, Letter 199,

25.

32. 36. 

2o6

THE LETTERS OF

ST.

AUGUSTINE

may come upon it. But at the time at which Augustine was writing both Church and World were suffering tribulation and nowhere could any one speak of peace and security. The time when the sun shall not give its light is allegorically the time when the Church's influence shall not be felt and the stars will fall from heaven when those who shone in moral excellence collapse and fail in time of trial and temptation, in times when the strongest of the faithful will be shaken. 1 The end must be not when a selection only of these
destruction
;

indications
is

is

accomplished,

2

but when the entire series
is

complete. His Church.

Meanwhile Christ
will
3

perpetually coming in

Moreover the end

be when the Gospel has been

universally proclaimed. Augustine's correspondent supposes that this had already happened in the Apostolic age.

Augustine cannot think this opinion correct. There are many African peoples who have not yet

come and worship Thee, O Lord" (Ps. Ixxxvi. 9). unto the The words, "Ye shall be my witnesses ends of the earth," no more apply to the Apostles only
. . .

heard of the Christian Faith. 4 Now it is not only the Roman Empire but all nations to whom the Gospel is The dominion of Christ is to extend to be preached. from sea to sea and from the river unto the world's end " All nations whom Thou hast made shall (Ps. Ixxii. 8).

than the words,
the world."

" I am with you always unto the end of Both utterances apply to the Church. 5 Thus, says Augustine, drawing his lengthy disquisition Error is to to a close, 6 I have told you what I think. be avoided so far as human power permits. What is certain is that whether it be soon or late our Lord will come. Meanwhile no man is in error so long as he is aware of his ignorance, but only while he thinks he
1

3
5

Letter 199, Letter 199, Letter 199,

2

39. 46.
49.

4 6

Letter 199, Letter 199, Letter 199,

45.

47.
52. 

LETTERS ON BIBLICAL EXPOSITION

207

knows what he does not. On the subject of the Advent of Christ, the real evil is where men act irreligiously on the ground that the Lord delays His coming. Setting that instance of the bad servant aside, Augustine says that the good servants who look for their Lord's coming One believes that our watchfully are of three kinds. second that His coming will Lord will come soon. not be yet. The third confesses his ignorance. All For all alike love His these are consistent with belief. coming. The first says, Let us watch and pray for His 1 The second, Let us watch and coming will be soon. for even if His coming be delayed, our life is short pray, and insecure. The third says, Let us watch and pray, for life is short and uncertain and we know not when the Lord will come. Now, since the Gospel says,

A

"

Watch and
xiii.

pray, for ye

know

not

when the time

"

is

(Mark

precisely

33), what else does this third maintain than what the Gospel teaches ? The only difference between the first kind and the last is, that the last admits

will rejoice.

If the first is right, the others that he does not know. If the second, then there is the risk that those who believed the first may lose heart on finding that it is not true, and so cease to believe in the Advent altogether. Thus the first holds the more desirable belief, the second holds the more safe, and the third combines the more desirable with the more safe, for he goes astray with neither of them, since he neither affirms nor denies. In an important letter to Consentius, 2 Augustine discusses the doctrine of the Resurrection of the Body. Consentius asked whether the Lord's Body now possesses bones and blood and the lineaments of the flesh. Augustine replies that he believes the Lord's Body to be now in heaven as it was on earth at the time of the AscenHe assumes that the Resurrection appearances of sion. Christ to the disciples represent exactly the Resurrection He quotes the Lucan report: "Flesh and bones state.
1

Letter 199,

2

53.

Letter 205, A.D. 420. 

208

THE LETTERS OF

ST.

AUGUSTINE
"
:

as ye see me have." And the passage Shall so come as ye have seen Him go." Thus Christ's Body in heaven is as it was in the appearances during the great Forty

Days.

At
in

the

same time

this substantial identity

and identity

He said, It is sown an animal body, it is raised spirit. a spiritual body. Now as the animal body is not soul but body, so the The Resurrection spiritual body is not spirit but body. Body of Christ was certainly a spiritual body." But it was body not spirit. Witness the invitation, Handle me and see, for a spirit hath not flesh and bones as ye see me have." The flesh of Christ was already a spiritual 3 body. But it was not spirit it was body.
:

body what qualities He pleases and add others. Thus the necessity of food and hunger will disappear, but the power of taking food will remain. Corruptibility will vanish, but the physical features will remain. As to the text, " flesh and blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of God," Augustine does not interpret the words as a reference to works of the flesh. For moral problems are not the subject with which the Apostle is It means the corruption of the flesh. dealing. When S. Paul says, "Thou sowest not that body which shall be," he does not mean to deny substantial identity between the present body and that of the Resurrection. Wheat is always the product of wheat. What he means is, that if God adds to the bare grain that which was not previously in it, much more can He restore that which was in the body of man. 1 Augustine is quite clear that a spiritual body does not mean a body transmuted into spirit. 2 Man, who consists of body and spirit, will not become all spirit. The Apostle did not say, It is sown a body, it is raised a

appearance is consistent with considerable change. The Divine power can remove from the nature of the

Letter 205,

6.

2

Letter 205,

10.

3

Ibid. 

LETTERS ON BIBLICAL EXPOSITION

209

When S. Paul says that " flesh and blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of God," he means that the corruption of mortality cannot be transferred to the future
life.

1
it

can be said that the flesh can inherit the that flesh cannot inherit. 2 the sense of substance, the other in the sense of corruption. It appears that thoughtful minds were being greatly exercised on the difficulty of reconciling 3 Christian morals with ordinary social and political standards of Men were asking then, as since, how is it possible life. to reconcile the Christian ideal of patient endurance with the political ideal of retaliation. Augustine suggests that the Pagan ideals commended a willingness on the part of statesmen to overlook an injury that a State is by its very constitution a multitude of individuals united 4 that the intention in patiently in mutual concord to the loss of worldly advantage is to show submitting the superiority of faith and righteousness, thereby appealing to the offender's better nature, and overcoming evil with good. Augustine points out that the 5 precept on submission to violence is intended to sugwhat is the right inward spirit rather than what is gest

Thus

Kingdom of Heaven and The one assertion is true in

;

;

For Christ Himself the appropriate outward action. when smitten did not turn the other cheek to the smiter, but expostulated with the aggressor's injustice. Thus in this instance our Lord did not fulfil the letter of His own precept. But the spirit which guided Him is re" vealed in the prayer on the Cross, Father, forgive them, Neither did S. Paul for they know not what they do." the letter of Christ's precept when struck by an obey attendant in the high priest's court. Augustine did not consider that there was anything inconsistent with the
Letter 205, Letter 138. the Eucharist. 4 Letter I38,
3
1

13.

For the
10.

16. Letter 205, earlier part of this letter see chapter
5

z

on

Letter 138,

13.

o 

210

THE LETTERS OF

ST.

AUGUSTINE
"

God shall Christian temper in the Apostle's indignant smite thee, thou whited wall." He also thought that the Apostle's apology for his language was pure sarcasm, since it was impossible for so instructed a person not to realise that the presiding personage was the high priest. Moral indignation is right, 1 and severity of correction is right and both are compatible with the Christian
;

disposition.
2 The Christianity does not absolutely prohibit war. advice to the soldiers in the Gospel was not to throw away their weapons, but to do violence to no man, and But to tell a man to be to be content witli their pay. content with his pay implies approval of his profession. It is observable that Augustine in another letter pleaded with the same statesman to mitigate the 3 penalties incurred by the fanatical and violent Donatists. No reader of Augustine's letters will fail to appreciate the note of caution and carefulness, the restraint imposed by consciousness of the individual theologian's liability to error, which for the most part pervades his

As his reputation inreplies to his correspondents. creased he became an oracle to some whom he considered unwise admirers. Consequently he puts thoughts forward tentatively and expressly asks for criticism and if need be correction. On one occasion he was led to
express his dislike for Cicero's commendatory language man who never uttered what he had reason to 4 recall. Augustine held that this was more likely to be He true of a perfect fool than of a perfectly wise man. vastly preferred the Horatian warning the word once spoken can never be recalled. It was that sense of

about a

:

responsibility for his utterances, he tells us, which led to keep back several of his works from publication, especially his writings on Genesis and on the Holy

him

Trinity.
1

5

So again he
14.
4

is

anxious about his writings on
2

3

Letter 138, Letter 139.

Letter 138,
5

15.

Letter 143,

3.

Letter 143,

4 

LETTERS ON BIBLICAL EXPOSITION

211

Free Will. They have passed into many hands and cannot be called in for correction. But if readers will x for point out errors to Augustine he will be grateful if the books cannot be corrected, the author may. On certain points he had carefully refrained from dogmatisThus, whether the individual soul is derived by ing. transmission from the first man, as the body is, or whether each soul is a new creation, he has not ventured to determine. The subject is most mysterious, and he is bound to confess his ignorance. If any one can inform him from reason or from Scripture what is the truth about this, he will be grateful. He insists on these two
;

sources of knowledge. " For if reason be found contradicting the authority of the Divine Scriptures, it only deceives by a semblance of truth, however acute it be, for its deductions cannot in that case be true. On the other hand, if, against the most manifest and reliable testimony of reason, anything be set up claiming to have the authority of the Holy Scriptures, he who does this does it through a misapprehension of what he has read, and is setting up against the truth not the real meaning of Scripture, which he he has failed to discover, but an opinion of his own alleges not what he ha^s found in the Scriptures, but what he has found in himself as their interpreter." 2 In order to complete Augustine's teaching on the state of the Departed it may be well here to add a summary of his teaching given elsewhere in a work composed for the instruction of Bishop Paulinus. Although it is not included among Augustine's letters the distinction between yet it is a letter after all letters and treatises being in Augustine's case almost impossible, since the one constantly tended to pass into the other. Paulinus, Bishop of Nola, wrote to ask Augustine whether he considered that burial at the chapel of a
;
:

1

Letter 143,

7.

Cunningham's

translation.

2

Ibid. 

2i2

THE LETTERS OF

ST.

AUGUSTINE

martyr was an advantage to the dead. The question gave Augustine an opportunity of recording his thoughts on relation to the Departed in the short and very 1 Paulinus interesting treatise on Care for the Dead. held that the religious instincts which prompted men

and more especially the fact the Universal Church offered supplications for them, could not be without significance on the other hand this seemed hard to reconcile with the Apostolic words " must all stand before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive according to the 2 This things done in the body, whether good or bad." declaration warns that everything to profit Apostolic us after death must be done before death comes not afterwards, when it is the time to receive according to things done in the body. The solution of the problem Augustine finds in the principle that the departed can only be aided by the Church 3 if they have made themselves susceptible of
to care for the departed,

that

;

:

We

;

such aid by their life when on earth. Thus their being aided by the Church's intercessions does not contradict their requital for things done in the body, but forms The divisions of the Departed are accordpart of it. those who are tco saintly to need the ingly three Church's intercessions those who are too evil to be and those of an intermediate type, benefited by them whose conduct when on earth makes them susceptible of such aid. The type of behaviour on earth determines such susceptibility. If no merit is acquired in this life
:

;

;

is

is vain to expect it afterwards. Thus the Church right in her practice of intercession for the Departed, and yet every man is judged according to his works.
it

answer, Augustine considers, might suffice. contradiction is solved. 4 But the importance of the relation between Dead and Living leads him to

This

The

1 De Cura pro mortuis gerenda, written about Gaume's Edition, VI. 865888.

A.D. 421.

Works,
3.

2

2 Cor.

v.

10.

3

De

Cura,

2.

4

Letter 143, 

LETTERS ON BIBLICAL EXPOSITION

213

The Books of the Maccafurther and fuller reflections. bees speak of sacrifices offered for the Departed but even if this were never read of. in the Ancient Scriptures, the practice of the Universal Church, which in is this point luminously clear, possesses no small In the priest's prayers at the Altar there authority. is a commendation of the dead. But on the question whether the locality of burial affects the condition of the soul of the dead person, Augustine appeals to sentiments already expressed in the work on the City of God. 1 Care for the burial of the dead is rather a consideration to the living than an advantage to the To which he now adds that in no case departed. should intercessions for the souls of the dead be The Universal Church herself discharges neglected. this office for those who have no near relatives to plead If this intercession be ignored he cannot for them. 2 think that the corpse's proximity to sacred places can But a faithful mother's desire aid the departed soul. 3 for her son to be buried in the church of a Martyr, surely implied a belief that the Martyr's merits would help his soul which belief was in itself a sort of interBut yet cession, and that would aid, if anything can. Augustine would plainly deprecate concern for mere 4 The physical proximity to the relics of a saint. scattering of Martyrs' ashes on the Rhone, which Eusebius records, would never have been permitted by Providence if thereby any loss accrued to the dead. " Fear Christ answered this beforehand when He said, not them that kill the body, but after that have no more Human sentiment indeed might that they can do."
; ;

be thereby distressed by anticipation 5 which explains, " Augustine thinks, the Old Testament menace Thy shall not come into the sepulchres of thy fathers." body But if we think in accordance with the Gospel, we rest
: :

1

Letter 143, Letter 143,

2

4.
4

Letter 143,
8.
6

6.

7-

Letter 143,

Letter 143,

9. 

214

THE LETTERS OF

ST.

AUGUSTINE

assured that the locality in which the body lies cannot l affect the soul. Augustine refers here to stories of the dead appearing to the living in dreams and pleading for He is not convinced that such apparitions are burial. consciously created by the dead, since the living appear also to us in dreams, and yet are quite unconscious that they appear. Augustine quotes a case from personal Eulogius, a pupil of his at Carthage, told experience. him that when preparing to lecture on Cicero he came upon a passage which he could not understand. But in the night in a dream Augustine himself appeared and " It was not myself/' says Augusgave the explanation.
tine.

"

It

was

at Milan,

ference is involve their personal intervention, since similar visions of the living are experienced apart from their conscious His solution is, that such visions are the activity. 2 If the souls of the products of some heavenly agency. were present in the affairs of the living and departed can speak to us in dreams Augustine is certain that his mother who had followed him over seas and land on earth would certainly not have failed to appear to him. He cannot credit that the happier conditions of the other world have rendered the Departed forgetful of this, and that she should neglect to comfort her sorrowing son, whom she never could bear to see in distress. To Augustine's mind the Psalmist's thought is applicable " When my father and my mother forsake me the here Lord taketh me up." 3 And if a departed mother does not present herself to us again, still less can others of the dead know what we do or what we endure. " Thou art our Father though Abraham be ignorant of us and Israel recognises us not." Hence the promise: "Thou shalt be gathered into thy grave in peace and thine eyes shall not see the evil which I will bring upon this
: ;

unconsciously to myself. For I between us lay the sea." Augustine's inthat visions of the Departed do not necessarily

was

my image

1

Letter 143,

12.

2

Letter 143,

16.

3

Psalm

xxvi.

ia 

LETTERS ON BIBLICAL EXPOSITION
1

215

There, then, are the spirits of the dead where place." they do not see what is done or experienced in this life by mankind. The parable of Dives and Lazarus is not in contradiction with this. The rich man remembers his brethren on earth but he is not said to be acquainted with their state. Just as we pray for the dead without a knowledge of their condition. 2 Augustine nevertheless suggests that each fresh accession to the other world would bring increase of information
;

;

what they are permitted to remember they are also permitted to impart. Angels also, if permitted, may do
if

the same.

of the departed Samuel to King Saul 3 prediction of Saul's future may, or may not, involve an actual appearance of the dead, but have been caused by other means. The Book Ecclesiasticus says of Samuel that 4 "after his death he prophesied." Augustine is aware that some may think this unconvincing, since the Book is not contained in the Hebrew Canon of Scripture. In any case this objection will not hold of the Evangelical manifestations of Moses and

The appearance
his

and

Elijah.

that the departed, 5 although ignorant of the condition of the living, do nevertheless answer their petitions? Augustine acknowledges that he cannot explain. Religious experience affirms that the departed And this experience saints do answer petitions. Augustine respects. Perhaps it is that they possess a modified ubiquity perhaps they pray generally for the living in ignorance of their actual state, as we do for the
it is
;

How

Departed and the Almighty, Who is everywhere present, hears their prayers and answers as He pleases. But the question is, Augustine confesses, beyond his powers. He would rather inquire of those who know.
;

1

2

Kings

xxii.

20.

z

De

cf. Augustine's reply to Simplician 2, 4 tionibus."

3

Cura, "
:

18.

De

diversis ques-

4

Ecclus. xlvi. 20.

5

De Cura,

19

and

20. 

CHAPTER

VII

THE CORRESPONDENCE BETWEEN AUGUSTINE AND JEROME
IT would be possible to group together Augustine's to various other persons besides Jerome. For example, Paulinus of Nola. But the series with Jerome is by far the most celebrated, and possesses a distinct importance of its own.
letters

subjects discussed are The. translation of Scripture from the Original instead of from the Greek. The importance of a Version already in possession. Bishop Lightfoot's use of the correspondence at the time of the discussion on our Revised Version will be remembered. 2. The dispute between S. Peter and S. Paul recorded
1.

The

in Galatians. 1

of the Origin of the Soul. This 3. The question subject became inevitable when the Pelagian Controversy raised discussion on Original Sin.

The correspondence between Augustine and Jerome throws considerable light on the characters of the two great men who were in many ways so deeply contrasted. It seems that the two never saw one another. This is
little curious. For Augustine went to Rome in 383 and remained there until he left for Milan in 385, while Jerome was resident in Rome from 381 to 385. And if Augustine was obscure at the time, most certainly

a

1 For modern accounts of the discussion between Augustine and Gesammelte Schriften und Jerome on this subject see Mohler Aufsatze, 1839, pp. 1-18; Zahii in Neue Kirchliche Zeitschrift, 1894, p. 435 Dufey in the Revue du Clerge fran^ais, 1901, pp.
:
;

141-9.
216 

LETTERS TO
Jerome was
opposition

ST.

JEROME

217

No name roused more attention and not. It than his. is, therefore, strange that Augustine never saw him. On the other hand, Augusinterests during those years were not in the tine's Yet it is strange that so alert direction of the Church. a mind was unconscious of the perfect fury which Jerome's sermons and writings roused in the religious But movements within the circles of the capital. Church do not always greatly affect the world. This correspondence was extended over twenty-one
years.

which he wrote to Jerome, probably Augustine lays stress on the fact that they had never met but adds that he has a good idea of Jerome's appearance, since Alypius had paid Jerome a visit and had reported to Augustine his impressions. He informs Jerome that Alypius, now a Bishop, is his most intimate friend and that if they are two in body, they are one in mind. Augustine calls Jerome his fellowpresbyter, although it is quite possible that this letter was written after the writer had been consecrated
In the
first letter

l

in 394,

;

;

Bishop. Fellow- presbyter is Augustine's usual description of Jerome (see Letters 67 and 71) also of other priests after his own consecration.
;

Augustine's purpose in writing is to give Jerome some advice on the direction which his studies were taking, 2 and to criticise one of his interpretations. Augustine was anxious that Jerome should confine his attention to the Greek Septuagint translation of the Hebrew Scriptures and should not concern himself with transThe Bishop lating direct from the Hebrew into Latin. considered that very high authority must be allowed to He notes that subsequent transthe Greek translators. His inference is that it is lators are unable to agree. not credible that any further light can be discovered. With regard to the differences between more recent
1

Letter 28.

2

Letter 28,

2. 

2i8

THE LETTERS OF

ST.

AUGUSTINE
:

translations he puts to Jerome the following dilemma Either these passages are obscure or else they are clear. If they are obscure, Jerome is as likely to misunderstand them as the other translators. If they are clear, it is not likely that the Septuagint translators misunderstood. The other subject in Jerome's writings which exercises the Bishop's mind is the explanation given by the critic of the famous dispute in Galatians between S. Paul and S. Peter. The interpretation of this passage had a curious history before Augustine's time. Two opinions on S. Peter's

One was that he failed in moral courage, and vacillated once more as he did at the trial of his Master. Among the early supporters of this The other interpretation was S. Cyprian. (Letter 71.) was that such inconsistency was unlikely on the opinion part of one who supported S. Paul at the Council of decided reluctance prevailed to ascribe Jerusalem. such vacillations to one so distinguished. Accordingly a totally different construction was placed upon the scene. One of the greatest exponents of this second
conduct had existed.

A

interpretation
S.

was S. John Chrysostom. John Chrysostom observed that many readers of

Galatians imagine that S. Paul accused S. Peter of dissimulation. But, said Chrysostom, this opinion comes of superficial reading. Peter is a person whose

very

name

suggests immovableness,

1

and whose

faith

Chrysostom accordingly mainlikely to fail. tained that the two Apostles arranged the scene at Antioch beforehand. "I withstood him to the face"
" I withstood him in means, in Chrysostom's opinion, " appearance, but not in reality." And because he was " blameable means not blamed by S. Paul, but blamed by the Gentile converts who were offended at his aloofness. If the contention between the two Apostles had been a real one, Chrysostom is sure they would
1

was not

Works, Edition Gaume, Tom. X. 815,

816. 

LETTERS TO
have held
believers.
it

ST.

JEROME

219

privately,

for

fear

of scandalising the

The whole scene, then, was a diplomatic arrangement. The Jewish converts would not have
listened to criticism from S. Paul. S. Peter, therefore, to take their side, and allowed S. Paul to pretended criticise him for his conduct. S. Peter offered no reply to S. Paul's reproaches, so that when the Jewish converts found that their chief had no defence to make, they themselves would be compelled to fall into line with This was certainly subtle. But S. Paul's instructions. the interpretation inflicted appalling violence on the text. And it seems extraordinary that Chrysostom should have performed so perverse a feat of exegesis. Yet this interpretation was widely prevalent both before Chrysostom's time and afterwards. It was traced to

Origen and was supported by distinguished writers. S. Jerome read Chrysostom's explanation and adopted it. Jerome's explanation of the incident at Antioch was that 1 S. Peter, who was well aware of the indifference of Jewish observances, and showed it by associating for a while with the Gentile converts, withdrew from the Gentiles simply out of diplomatic desire to win the Jews. He, therefore, pretended a zeal for Jewish observances which he did not really feel. In Jerome's opinion this
attitude of S. Peter led S. Paul, who saw through the older Apostle's motive, but saw also that it was endangering the doctrine of Christian Grace, to counteract S. Peter's diplomacy by pretending to denounce him.

Thus S. Paul, the experienced controversialist, adopted a new and original method of refuting the Jewish excluslveness. Jerome explains that if any one supposes S. Paul to have really intended to rebuke S. Peter he is mistaken. For that would put S. Paul in contradiction with his own statement that to the Jews he became as a Jew in order to win the Jews and in contradiction also with the fact that he allowed Timothy to be
;

1

Jerome's Works.

Edit. Vallarsi.

Verona 1737. Tom. VII.

405. 

220

THE LETTERS OF

ST.

AUGUSTINE

circumcised. Thus, as Jerome put it, S. Paul met dissimulation by dissimulation a pretence of observing the Law by a pretence of rebuke. Biblical instances of dissimulation, urged Jerome, could be found in Jehu's treatment of the worshippers of Baal. And indeed dissimulation may be justified where it tends to spiritual
;

advantage.

Jerome mentions that certain writers maintained that named in this incident was not the Apostle but some other individual otherwise unknown. This was apparently suggested to protect the Apostle from the criticism of Porphyry, who charged him with having erred. Jerome dismisses this view as incredible. The
the Peter
in order to exclude the a desperate expedient. S. Paul then artfully simulated an indignation with S. Peter which he did not feel, while in reality he corrected the Jewish adherents through rebukes ostenIf any person is not sibly addressed to S. Peter.

invention

of

another Peter
is

belief that Peter erred

satisfied

explain

how

with this interpretation, says Jerome, let him S. Paul could condemn in another what he

practised himself.

This exposition by Jerome is more than Augustine can endure. 1 In his opinion it is exceedingly serious. For if an Apostle may officially advocate what he believes to be false, the whole foundation of faith in This theory of the their utterances is undermined. fabrication of an officiosum mendacium is, in Augustine's
opinion, simply fatal to the belief in the veracity of Holy He is sure that there can be no room in Scripture. 2 Apostolic utterances for piously intended falsehoods. He points out the Apostle's earnest and solemn insistence on the duty of truth. This was S. Paul's express declaration in regard to the doctrine of the Resurrection.

Nothing could exceed his horror at being found false witness concerning God.
1

Letter 28,

2

3.

Letter^S,

4, 

LETTERS TO
urge

ST.

JEROME

221

Augustine pictures S. Paul's feelings if any one were to " Why are you so shocked by this falsehood, when the thing which you have said, even if it were false, " tends very greatly to the glory of God ? This promotion of edification at the expense of sincerity and truth would be to S. Paul simply abhorrent. Augustine
:

is

sure of that.
If this

maxim

of concealing truth in the interests of

expediency be once admitted, one result will be that individuals believe one portion of Apostolic teaching

and
he

reject another.
is

If

bound
to

possible missible

to lay ascertain

down when

Jerome maintains this theory rules by which it will be
false

statements are perletter

and when they are not. 1 Jerome wrote to Augustine before the

from

Africa reached him. He sent one letter in 396 by subdeacon Asterius and another in 397 by the priest Praesidius. 2 The purpose of the former was to congratulate Augustine on his consecration of the latter to
;

commend

Jerome by the disturbed condition of the outer world. Augustine replied to these letters rather dissatisfied
with Jerome's brevity. 3 The Bishop a second time criticises Jerome's opinion that S. Paul's opposition to S. Peter at Antioch was diplomatic and not genuine.
S. Paul's emphatic protest, Now the things that I write unto you behold before God I lie not," is to Augustine conclusive proof that the writer did not simulate an This unreal grievance against S. Peter's behaviour. conclusion is still further confirmed by S. Paul's own words, "When I saw that they walked not uprightly
4 If S. Peter was according to the truth of the Gospel." after all walking uprightly then S. Paul's assertion is And if what he says in this place is false, how false.

Praesidius to his notice, and to salute Alypius. in his Monastery at Bethlehem is much troubled

"

Letter 28, 5. Letter 40, A.D. 397.

2

4

Letter 39. Letter 40,

3. 

222

THE LETTERS OF

ST.

AUGUSTINE.

we to know when he is telling us what is true ? That question will be answered according to individual inclination and preference. l Jerome does not need to be informed that the words " to the Jews I became a Jew that I might gain the Jews" (i Cor. ix. 20) refer to sympathy, not to dissimuare
lation. S. Paul did not criticise S. Peter for observing the Jewish tradition but for compelling the Gentiles to 2 Judaize. to Augustine therefore calls on Jerome to retract 3 sing a Palinode. Augustine further observes that he had previously written to Jerome on this subject. But he is aware that the letter could not have reached Palestine as the bearer
;

was unable to complete his journey. That was apparently two years before (see Letter 28). Some correspondence had already taken place between 4 Augustine and Jerome on the writings of Origen. These letters appear to have been lost. But from the allusion on the present occasion Augustine was evidently keenly conscious alike of the value and of the dangers "of He must have said as much to Origen's writings. Jerome. Jerome, who had committed himself to an enthusiastic approval of Origen, which he afterwards found inconvenient, was now particularly sensitive of his

own

reputation for orthodoxy, and appears to have replied with the rather obvious remark that in ecclesiastical writers we must commend what is orthodox and condemn what is heretical. Augustine answers that he

hardly required this piece of information. What he does require to know is definitely the precise subjects upon which Origen deviated from the truth. He suggests that Jerome's work on ecclesiastical writers would be greatly improved if he were to add to his notice of heretics a statement of their theories which the Catholic
1

3

Letter 40, Letter 40,

z

4.
4

7.

Letter 40, Letter 40,

5.

9. 

LETTERS TO

ST.

JEROME

223

Church has condemned. Indeed, if Jerome would write a small book on heresies to be avoided, he would confer great service on those who are unable to read Greek. Unfortunately, Augustine's letter of criticism on Jerome's expositions, instead of reaching Jerome, reached other people first. When Jerome heard about it he wrote 1 complaining that Augustine is reported to have written a book against him and to have sent it to Rome. Augustine replied that he had not written a book against him, but had only criticised some of Jerome's expositions in correspondence. The distinction between a book and a letter is in Augustine's case somewhat subtle, as his letters quite frequently assumed the proportion of a
treatise.

Jerome replied to this that Augustine's criticisms upon him 2 have now arrived, and he finds that the Bishop invites him to retract his exposition. Jerome says that he is not such a fool as to be hurt by Augustine's interBut he advises the younger man not to pretations.
3 challenge his senior in the field of Scripture exposition. Let Augustine Jerome is old and his work is done. leave him in peace. 4 None the less an old ox can give an ugly kick sometimes.

But Augustine felt it impossible to act on this advice. 5 For Jerome was engaged in labours which the Bishop He was translating the Old strongly disapproved. Testament from the Hebrew instead of from the Greek. Accordingly Augustine wrote again in the following The difficulties of correspondence in those days year. were immense. Augustine had already sent a letter to Jerome by a priest travelling to Syria. But the priest was delayed in order to be consecrated Bishop, and So the letter was now entrusted to shortly after died.
another messenger. In the present letter Augustine takes Jerome to task
1 2 Letter 67. Letter 68, Letter 68, A.D. 402.
?

4

3 Letter 68, A.D. 402. 5 Letter 71, A.D. 403.

2. 

224
for

THE LETTERS OF

ST.

AUGUSTINE

1 translating the Book of Job from the Hebrew. a translation from the Greek. They already possess Jerome would be much better occupied in interpreting the Greek and Canonical Scriptures. For if his rendering of the Hebrew comes into use in Churches, the idea will prevail that the Latin Churches differ from the Greek Churches. 2 Augustine cites a case where Jerome's Version of the Book of Jonah from the Hebrew was introduced, and created such opposition among the people that the Bishop had to apply to the Jews to know whether Jerome's Latin or the older Latin represented the Original. Even then the Bishop was forced either to withdraw Jerome's rendering or else to lose his

congregation. Augustine, therefore, strongly advises Jerome to base his translations on the Greek of the and not upon the Hebrew. 4 It was now seven years since Augustine's first letter on the incident at Antioch. Jerome now in 403 or 404 replied remarking that Augustine was constantly writing letters to him, and requesting an answer to a certain document which has at last reached him. But Jerome professes himself unable to understand why a document intended for himself should be circulated in Italy and in Rome, while no copy came to the person for whom it was intended. copy was found by a deacon, Brother Sysinius, five years ago not in Augustine's possession, not in Africa, but in an island of the Adriatic. Some of his friends, who abound in Jerusalem and the Holy Places, are suggesting that Augustine is making all this fuss simply from motives of vainglory and ambition. Jerome has no wish to oppose a Bishop of his own communion more especially since some of the

3

LXX

A

;

Augustine's letter appear to him no better than heretical. Either let Augustine send an unmistak-

remarks

in

1
3

Letter 71, Letter 71,

2

3.
4

5.

Letter 71, Letter 72,

4.
?

A.D.

403 or 404. 

LETTERS TO
ably genuine signed
letter,

ST.

JEROME

225

let him cease to worry an he wants to show his ability let him find some youthful competitor fit to meet a There are plenty of such people in Rome. Bishop. The Veteran Jerome will applaud Augustine's victories. Like Barzillai of Gilead, the charms of David's court can possess no attractions for Jerome. He willingly

or

old

man

in his cell.

But

if

relinquishes all the pleasures of youth to his son. The recluse observes that Augustine had denied the 1 charge of having written a book against Jerome. is it, then, that Italy what Augustine has not possesses written ? And why ask Jerome to reply to what you deny that you wrote ? Jerome is particularly exasperated by being invited to retract his opinions. It is not becoming for one who from early manhood to old age has toiled with his brethren in a small religious house to write anything against a Bishop of his own communion.

How

After

all,

he does not know

much

of Augustine's

and the Commentaries be hard to show how far these diverge from the Greek interpreters. With which Parthian shot he takes farewell of one whom
writings, except the Soliloquies on the Psalms. It would not

he

calls

"

my

son in years,

my

father in ecclesiastical

position."

was not easy to reply in suitable terms to such a Augustine .was evidently dismayed by the rude and savage temper of the learned old recluse, and did his best to soothe and conciliate. He has sent Jerome a copy of the incriminated document by one of his deacons, and hopes that by this time it will be in Jerome's hands. The letter which Jerome has written contains evidences alike of benevolence and vexation. Augustine did not mean to give ofTence. Nothing could be further from his intention. But since his letter has had that effect, the good Bishop asks Jerome's forgiveness. Augustine then quotes from Jerome's angry epistle
It

letter as this. 2

1

Letter 72,

2

4.

Letter 73, A,D. 404.

p 

26

THE LETTERS OF

ST.

AUGUSTINE

a passage in which the old priest condescended to a more kindly tone, and expressed the wish that he and " Yes, indeed," echoes the Augustine might meet. " It is distance which makes these difficulties. Bishop. I wrote likewise concerning the passage in Galatians
I was a Juvenis, and now, lo I am already Sener, and I have received no reply." He wishes he could pay Jerome a visit. Since that is impossible, he contemplates sending one of his sons in order to obtain For Augustine has not and instruction from Jerome. cannot hope to have, the knowledge of Scripture which Jerome possesses. Whatever capacities he may possess for study have to be entirely devoted to the instruction of his people. His ecclesiastical occupations preclude any further research. Then he touches upon a very delicate matter indeed. It was notorious that Jerome and Rufinus, formerly the

when

!

greatest of friends, were

now

the bitterest of enemies.

Augustine had been reading Jerome's own published utterances about it. And he can only say, Woe to the world because of offences! And because iniquity abounds the love of many shall wax cold. What man
will not
foe, if

now

fear to find in his dearest friend a future

Jerome and Rufinus can be enemies. Augustine becomes deeply earnest over this. He was profoundly moved that two men intimately united in continuous study of the Sacred Writings, separated from secular pursuits, unencumbered by worldly affairs, living together in the very land which Christ's sacred feet had trod the very land where He said, "Peace I leave with you, My peace I give unto you," being also men mature in age, and dwelling habitually on heavenly themes,
;

should deal in terms of virulent antagonism. " Truly," exclaims the Bishop, " man's life on earth is a period of If I could anywhere meet you both, I would trial.

throw myself at your could weep no more,
eloquence of
love, first

and there weeping till I would appeal with all the to each of you for his own sake,
feet,
I 

LETTERS TO

ST.

JEROME

227

then to each of you for each other's sake and for the sake of other men, above all for the weak brethren for

whose salvation is imperilled you a position so conspicuous on the world's platform I would beseech not to publish bitter words which, after the quarrel is ended, you will not be able to withdraw, and which you will fear to read for fear of
Christ died,
:

whom

:

who occupy

: rousing evil passions again." then acknowledges that some of Jerome's Augustine utterances had terrified him. He could not forget the facts while reading Jerome's letter to himself. If mutual inquiry and discussion between Augustine and Jerome can be conducted without bitterness, be it so. But if neither can criticise the other's writings without loss of charity, let discussion cease and charity be pursued. Let us only pursue knowledge which puffeth up so long as no injury is done to love which

edifies.

To appreciate this reference in Augustine's letter to the quarrel between Jerome and Rufinus the whole xstory should be read in Duchesne, Histoire A ncienne de TEglise,
Tom.
III. pp. 38-68. Ed. 1910. Here it may be sufficient to say the dispute between the two aged students was about the heretical tendencies of Origen. Until the

year 392 Jerome had freely translated Origen's works and had spoken very highly in commending them. However, about that date, through the bustling activities of that inveterate heresy-hunter Epiphanius, Palestine

became torn into two ferocious camps of friends and opponents of Origen. Then Rufinus, Jerome's friend, who was at that time visiting Rome, produced a version of Origen's great work De Principiis, carefully omitting, however, from his translation all Origen's unorthodox opinions, on the ground that these had been interpolated by his enemies. Rufinus went so far as to identify Jerome's name with
1

Letter 73. 

228
his

THE LETTERS OF
own
version.

ST.

AUGUSTINE
in

Jerome's friends

Rome

thereupon

stirred

up the old recluse of Bethlehem to dissociate himself from Rufinus and his translations. Jerome accordingly published a complete translation of Origen's work containing all the incriminating theories which Rufinus had discreetly omitted. Thereupon Rome moved itself, and issued a condemnation of Origen,

Then Rufinus published a selfprohibiting his works. defence. Jerome, particularly sensitive for his reputation for orthodoxy, fell on Rufinus with all the unscrupulousness and ferocity of which he was capable in his worst It was Jerome's unrestrained abuse moments. and bitterness which scandalised all who knew him, and called forth, among other letters, Augustine's remonRufinus withdrew into silence. strances. Ten years But even then the ancient fury revived, later he died. and Jerome in the most unedifying and deplorable terms gloated over his friend's decease. The scorpion had expired the grunter was now dead and Jerome
: :

was delighted. There was certainly need of more than ordinary diplomatic caution in conducting a theological discussion with a student of this disposition. By way of precaution against giving further offence Augustine submitted his letters to the criticism of Bishop Praesidius, asking him to correct it, if he saw anything defective either in its substance or its form. 1 Before this fourth letter from Augustine had reached
criticism

Bethlehem, Jerome had written his reply to Augustine's on the dispute at Antioch between S. Paul and
S. Peter. 2

Jerome says that three

letters,

or rather small

Then he cautreatises, have arrived from Augustine. tiously leaves a way to evade the statements contained in his own reply, by saying that he is compelled to
write hastily, since the carrier leaves in three days. None the less he writes a very careful answer. His
1

Letter 74.

z

Letter 75, A.D. 404. 

LETTERS TO

ST.

JEROME

229

bitterness has subsided. He is now sure that Augustine desires the victory of truth, that he is not seeking his own glory, but Christ's he is contending with a peaceful
;

mind. Then, as to his Commentary on the Epistle to the Galatians, and Augustine's opinion that the dispute between the two Apostles was not simulated but genuine, Jerome explains that he had expressly stated in the preface to this work that he had made a collection of He had followed the comments of other interpreters. the Commentaries of Origen. Then he quoted Didymus the Blind also Apollinaris of Laodicea, who, also Alexhowever, has since forsaken the Church Eusebius also, of Emesa l ander, a former heretic Theodore, too, of Heracleum last, but not least, there
;

;

;

;

;

was John Chrysostom, who recently, in pontifical digwas ruling the Church at Constantinople 2 and who followed the interpretation given by Origen. This is an imposing array of eminent expositors, thinks " If you reproach me for being in error, allow Jerome.
nity,

men as these." then, for the authority of his interpretation. Now for the interpretation itself. Jerome insisted that long before S. Paul's supposed opposition to him at Antioch, S. Peter was well aware that the Law was not to be imposed on adherents of the Gospel. Indeed, in Jerome's opinion S. Peter was the author of the decision in the Council of Jerusalem. Jerome further calls attention to the high value which S. Paul ascribes to Did not S. Paul declare that after S. Peter's authority. three years he went to Jerusalem 3 to see Peter and
to be in error with such

me

So much,

abode with him fifteen days? And again: "Fourteen and I years after I went up again to Jerusalem went up by revelation, and communicated unto them that gospel which I preach among the Gentiles, but privately to them which were of reputation, lest by any
.
. .

1

Letter 75,

2

4.

Letter 75,

6.

3

Gal.

i.

18. 

230

THE LETTERS OF

ST.

AUGUSTINE

means I should run, or had run, in vain." 1 This passage shows, says Jerome, that S. Paul had no security in preaching the Gospel unless he was strengthened by the opinion of Peter and those who were with him. 2 In the case under dispute Jerome maintains that Peter's belief was orthodox, but that he was led by fear of the Judaisers to dissimulate his real belief. He was afraid that the Jews, whose Apostle he was, should revolt from the faith of Christ in consequence of the Gentile neglect of Mosaic observances. Now, argued Jerome, S. Paul did precisely the same 3 For he circumcised Timothy. And why ? Bething. cause of the Jews who were in that place. Let S. Paul therefore excuse in S. Peter the very thing which he did himself. So again with S. Paul's vow at Cenchrea. So with his conformity to Jewish customs in the again
Temple.
4

"

Therefore, said Jerome, both S. Paul and S. Peter professed a mere external conformity to Judaism through fear of the Jews. 5 " " It was not an officiosum mendacium in the Apostles 6 Peter and Paul. Jerome resents the idea. It was an
It showed the prudence of both. plain that what commended this interpretation to himself was that it protected S. Peter from the disdainful criticism of such men as Porphyrius, as well as that it protected S. Paul from the charge of

honesta dispensatio."
it

But Jerome makes

having rebuked in another the very line he himself had on other occasions adopted. Jerome then proceeded to criticise Augustine's exposition. 7 Augustine held that S. Paul's conduct was prompted by sympathy, not by fear, when he says that to the Jews he became as a Jew in order that he might gain the Jews. This was genuine compassion, not dis1

3 5
7

Gal. ii. 1-2. Letter 75, 9. Letter 75, n, 12. Letter 75,

2 4

Letter 75, Letter 75,
Ibid.

8.

10.

6 

LETTERS TO
simulation.

ST.

JEROME

231

He acted He humoured them.

S. Paul

like a physician to a sick person. had been a Jew. If he

still adhere to Jewish observances as an Apostle, in order to show there was nothing hurtful in them so long as a man did not place his hope of salvation in them. S. Peter would not have been in error in permitting Jewish converts to retain their previous rites. His error consisted in forcing these things on the Gentiles in
:

was now a Christian he would

compelling the Gentiles to Judaise. 1 The Jerome cannot tolerate Augustine's exposition. opinion that a converted Jew might retain his former
practices,

would

justify

every

sect
;

of

semi-Jewish
those

character: Ebionites, Nazarenes, etc.

in fact, all

communions which attempt

to be both Jews and Christians, and succeed in being neither Christians nor Jews. could S. Paul, Jerome asks indignantly, retain the sacraments of the Jews after his conversion to

How

Paul say that if a man was cirDid he not profit him nothing? " say, " If ye are led by the Spirit ye are not under the law ? You are a Bishop, a Master in the Church of
Christ?
2

Did not

S.

cumcised Christ would

Christ, says Jerome prove the reality of your explanation by accepting a Jewish convert who has his son
;

Then you will circumcised and keeps the Sabbath. know that it is harder to justify your own explanation than to find fault with that of other people. 3 Jerome pursued the subject with hard mechanical distinctions. 4 Augustine said these Jewish rites were not necessary to salvation. Jerome answered If they do not bring salvation why are they observed ? Either, adds Jerome, a thing is good or else it is bad. There These legal is no middle state of moral indifference. observances must be either one or the other. You say I say they are bad. they are good.
:

Letter 75, Letter 75,

2

13.
4

15.

Letter 75, Letter 75,

14. 16. 

232

THE LETTERS

'OF ST.

AUGUSTINE

Then, relapsing into one of his moods of excruciat1 ingly bad taste, Jerome sarcastically requests Augustine not to rouse against him the clamour of the ignorant little congregation who venerate Augustine as a Bishop,

and when they hear him orating in church accord him the honour due to his ministry. Only let Augustine leave the half-decrepit old man alone, and find other Seas and lands lie people to instruct or reprove. between them. So great is the distance that the sound of Augustine's voice can seldom reach so far. And if Augustine does write letters they reach Italy and Rome sooner than the person to whom they should have been
directed.

Augustine here displayed greater critical insight than Jerome. The Bishop appreciated better than the priest what was permissible and natural in a period of transition from the Old Dispensation to the New. Jerome's challenge to the Bishop, to allow Jewish observances at Hippo in the fifth century which S. Paul thought expedient to allow in the first century, shows a lack
of
historical

imagination

;

a

rigorous

application

of

expediency without regard to altered circumstances. After this reply to Augustine's criticism on the exposition of Galatians, Jerome turns to the Bishop's remonstrance with him for translating the Scriptures direct from the Hebrew. Augustine had thrown his argument into the form of a syllogism. 2 Either the passages which the Greek translators have rendered were obscure or they were If they were obscure Jerome is as likely to obvious. If obvious, the Greek be mistaken as they were. translators could not have been mistaken. Jerome replies with another example of the same Either the Scriptures which the ancient syllogism. expositors have interpreted were obscure or they were If the former, why does Augustine presume obvious.
1

Letter 75,

18.

2

Letter 76,

20. 

LETTERS TO
to think he can explain

ST.

JEROME

233
If the latter,

them any better?

Augustine's expositions are superfluous. Jerome adds a formidable list of earlier expositors of the Psalms. Yet in spite of this impressive array of authorities on the Psalms, Augustine did not hesitate to add another exposition which, as Jerome has already reminded the author, he had read. Let Augustine allow other persons the same freedom which he has exercised for himself. All that Jerome has done is to let men know what the Hebrew original contains. If they had rather not 1 know, nothing compels them. As to the case cited by Augustine of the Bishop who introduced Jerome's version of Jonah and had to withdraw it rather than lose his congregation that could not alter the fact that the version was a faithful reproduction of the original. If any Jews disputed it, that their malice or their ignorance. only betrayed On this note of imperturbable confidence the letter closes not, however, without another disdainful expression, as of one bored to distraction by the ignorance of his contemporaries. Jerome begs Augustine to let an
:

;

old

man

rest.

nity, teach for him to
It

Let the young man, set in pontifical digthe crowds. As for Jerome, it is enough whisper to one poor reader in the corner of

a monastery.

would scarcely be a matter for surprise if correspondence ceased, or was, at least, temporarily interrupted But Jerome wrote again. after such letters as these. It is quite possible that he did not realise the exas2 perating nature of his bitter and disdainful language. As a matter of fact, he wrote again to Augustine in the
this time in a far gentler spirit, following year (405) even asking to be remembered to one of Augustine's friends and disciples, Bishop Alypius, but ending with an unfortunate expression about playing in the fields
;

of Scripture.
1

Letter 75,

22.

2

Letter 81, A.D 404 

234

THE LETTERS OF
this letter

ST.

AUGUSTINE

takes the word prosaically. He fails to see that the apparently frivolous expression may cover deep earnestness
:

1 Augustine replied, harping, also most on Jerome's closing word. unfortunately, Augustine

To

"

When

Looking below

light

speech we utter

frothy spume and frequent sputter Prove that the soul's depths boil in earnest."

And he takes occasion to inform Jerome of his profound conviction that no writer of the Canonical If Scriptures has committed any error in his writing. Augustine encounters any passage which seems contrary to the truth, then either the text is defective or
play.

There is a curious lack of humour in Augustine's remark that he is prepared for serious study not for

the translator misrepresents the original, or else the reader has misunderstood the meaning. Doubtless Jerome would not desire his writings to be treated with the deference due to the prophetic and apostolic
Scriptures.

"Now," argues Augustine, "if I am bound in virtue of your own life and character 2 to believe that you have not written insincerely, much more am I bound to maintain that the Apostle Paul believed what he wrote when he speaks of Peter not walking rightly according to the truth of the Gospel. Of whose sincerity can I be sure if not of the sincerity of S. Paul? More especially is this the case where the Apostle has prefaced his utterances with the solemn declaration The things which I write unto you, behold, before God, I lie not.' " If any one maintains that it is better to believe that the Apostle Paul 3 wrote something which is not true than that the Apostle Peter did something which is not right, this would be equivalent to saying that it is better to believe that the Gospel relates what is false than to
*
:

1

3

Letter 82, A.D. 405. Letter 82, 5.

2

Letter 82,

4. 

LETTERS TO

ST.

JEROME

235

believe that S. Peter denied his Master. Thus reluctance to believe that an exemplary and distinguished person was occasionally to blame, leads men to bring the whole of the Sacred Scriptures into suspicion." This treatment of Scripture is, in Augustine's opinion, 1 worse than what is done by the Manichaeans. For while they indeed reject statements of Scripture, they do so not on the ground that the apostolic statements are erroneous but on the ground that the text has been It is quite another matter, and immeasurcorrupted. ably more serious, to charge the Apostles with affirming

what is false. Jerome says
Augustine
S.

it

is

incredible
"
I

S. Peter for doing the very thing
replies Paul did, but
:

am
S.

S. Paul rebuked which he did himself. 2 not now inquiring what

that

Paul wrote. If S. Peter acted rightly, then S. Paul has written what is false but if what S. Paul wrote is true, then it is true that S. Peter was not then acting in accordance with the truth of the Gospel. Augustine maintains that S. Peter acted as he did with a view to compel the Gentiles to live as Jews. 3 Now there is no parallel between this and the conduct of S. Paul in the case of Timothy, or in his conformity to Jewish observances at Jerusalem on S. James's advice. S. Paul's occasional conformity to Jewish observances was intended to refute the Jewish suspicion that he 4 regarded such observances as deadly. 5 If the Council of Jerusalem had already taken place, then it was already decreed that no man should force as Augustine himself the Gentiles to Judaise. If, believed, the discussion between S. Paul and S. Peter occurred before that Council met, none the less was S. Paul anxious that S. Peter should openly profess what he inwardly believed, for both Apostles really
;

what

1 3 5

Letter 82, Letter 82, Letter 82,

6.
8.

2 4

Letter 82, Letter 82,

7.

9.

10. 

236

THE LETTERS OF
faith was,

ST.

AUGUSTINE

S. Paul was not teaching S. Peter but only rebuking his dissimulation in forcing the Gentiles to act as Jews. 1 Augustine can see no reason, in spite of Jerome's the Jewish observances are not to be authority, why placed among things indifferent rather than among those that are intrinsically good or intrinsically bad. This was his own opinion, for instance, with regard to It was a thing indifferent. fasting on the Sabbath. Observances which were not to be imposed on the Gentile convert were not necessarily to be forbidden to the convert from Israel. " But why may I not say regarding those institutions 2 of the old economy, that they are neither good nor bad not good since men are not by them justified, they having been only shadows predicting the grace by which we are justified and not bad since they were divinely appointed as suitable both to the time and to the people ? ... I would esteem it a favour to be informed by your Sincerity, whether any saint, coming from the East to Rome, would be guilty of dissimulation if he fasted on the seventh day of each week, excepting the Saturday

agreed in principles.

what the

:

;

before Easter. For if we say that it is wrong to fast on the seventh day, we shall condemn not only the Church of Rome, but also many other Churches, both neighbouring and more remote, in which the same custom continues to be observed If on the other hand we pronounce it wrong not to fast on the seventh day, how great is our presumption in censuring so many Churches in the East, and by far the greater part of the Christian world Or do you prefer to say of this practice, that it is a thing indifferent in itself, but commendable in him who conforms with it, not as a dissembler, but from a seemly desire for the fellowship and deference for the feelings of others ? No precept, however, concerning this practice is given to Christians in the Canonical Books. How
. !

1

Letter 82,

10.

2

Letter 82,

14. 

LETTERS TO
much more then may

ST.

JEROME

237

I shrink from pronouncing that to be bad whicl^ I cannot deny to be of Divine institution this fact being admitted by me in the exercise of the same faith by which I know that not through these observances, but by the Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ
:

I

am

1

justified."

2 Accordingly Augustine contends that the Old Testament regulations of ceremonial were predictions of the Christian realities. On the advent of the realities the former remained only to be studied but not to be any longer observed. They were tolerated for a time, but were not to be enforced for fear of being understood to be conditions of salvation. S. Peter's fault consisted in pretending to accept this view, which he did not really

Consequently S. Paul correctly criticised him not walking uprightly according to the truth of the Gospel. There was no dissimulation in S. Paul's conduct. He was perfectly frank. He could permit the occasional observance of the Jewish ceremonies, but he never imposed them as necessary. But the time for such toleration of Jewish ceremonies 3 was long since past, and S. Paul's occasional permission of them could no longer in Augustine's opinion be followed in the fifth century. The case of S. Peter and S. Paul 4 raises the question
hold.
for

whether it is permissible to speak falsely on the ground of expediency. Is it at any time a Christian man's duty to say what is false ? Augustine refers to S. Matt. v. 37, Is it not required in stewards S. James v.12, Psalm v. 6. that a man be found faithful ? 5 Accordingly the true interpretation of the incident " And Peter is that S. Paul spoke with entire sincerity. himself received, with the holy and loving humility which became him, the rebuke which Paul, in the interests of truth, and with the boldness of love adminTherein Peter left to those who came after istered."
1 3

Cunningham's
Letter 82,
17.

translation,
*

I.

2

327.
21.
5

Letter 82,

Letter 82, Letter 82,

15. 22. 

238

THE LETTERS OF
that, if at

ST.

AUGUSTINE

him an example,

the right path, they should not think accept correction from their juniors.
therefore, Paul

any time they deviated from it beneath them to

On
x

that occasion,

was to be praised

for upright courage,

and Peter for holy humility. Jerome had defended his opinion

by appeal

to the

authority of seven other expositors. be allowed to remain in error in the

asked to company of such

He had

But Augustine shrewdly observes distinguished people. For the inthat four of these seven are questionable. terpreter of Laodicea has, on Jerome's own admission, abandoned the Church Alexander is a former heretic, also on Jerome's admission Didymus and Origen are both sharply criticised by Jerome himself, in recent Three writings, and on matters of great importance. only of his seven remain. And to those three Augustine opposes three others Cyprian, Ambrose and S. Paul himself. For S. Paul forbids us to ascribe to him " The things which I write dissimulation when he says unto you, behold, before God, I lie not." Augustine, therefore is not at all overcome by Jerome's appeal to He will not allow Jerome's right to be in authorities.
;

;

:

:

error with anybody. 2 S. Paul's claim that to the Jews he became as a Jew, and to the Gentiles as a Gentile, was to be understood of sympathy and not of dissimulation. Augustine explains this at considerable length. As to Jerome's severe charge 3 that Augustine had sent a book to Rome against him, Augustine replies, first, that it was not a book but a letter secondly, that it was not sent to Rome but to Jerome thirdly, that it was not against him but only a friendly discussion. As to the insinuation which Jerome discovered in the request that he would sing a palinode or recant, Augustine assures him that nothing could be farther from his
; ;

1 3

Letter 82, Letter 82,

23.

2

Letter 82,

26.

33. 

LETTERS TO
intention.

ST.

JEROME

239

He asks Jerome's forgiveness for a most He humbly requests Jerome to unintentional offence. " For although so far as the titles correct his mistakes. of honour which prevail in the Church are concerned, a bishop's rank is above that of a presbyter, nevertheless
in

many

things Augustine

is

inferior to

Jerome."

Augustine acknowledges that Jerome has convinced him 1 that it is right to translate the Old Testament from the original Hebrew. But he also asks for a copy of Jerome's translation from the Greek, of the existence of which he was not aware. His only objection to the translation from the Hebrew read in Church having was lest the revised version should cause disturbance among the congregation. He is replying here 2 to three of Jerome's letters. He promises to take greater precautions in future that his letters may not fall into other hands, before reaching the reader's to whom they are directed. He pleads But for perfect frankness of discussion between them.
only
love.
if

this

can be done without endangering brotherly

Whether S. Jerome replied to Augustine's interpreIf he did tation of this incident may be left uncertain. so no trace of the reply survives. But what is certain is Some that the old student adopted the Bishop's view. ten years after this correspondence with Augustine,
'Jerome wrote
415).
his treatise against the

Commenting on

must be blameless,
that
if S. Paul says accordance with the to blame that even

Pelagians (A.D. the text that a priest or bishop Jerome takes occasion to remark that S. Peter walked not rightly in truth of the Gospel, and was so far Barnabas was carried away by his

dissimulation, what person can wonder if he is not credited with that blamelessness which even the chief of the Apostles did not possess ? 3
1 3

Letter 82,

34.
i.

Jerome's Works,
22.

Letter 82, 36. Vallarsi's Edition, II. 702,

2

Dialogus Con-

tra Pelagianos, 

2 4o

THE LETTERS OF
mention
is

ST.

AUGUSTINE

of Augustine in this place. But whole work the Bishop of Hippo is mentioned by name and in terms of admiration. Augustine repeated his exposition in his treatise against Falsehood which was probably published after
at the close of the

No

made

Jerome's death.
story of this disputed interpretation is in a masterly summary by S. Thomas. He points out that between Augustine and Jerome there were four differences of opinion as to the incident in Galatians. 1. The first difference was, that Jerome distinguished history into two periods before Christ and afterwards and held that the Law was beneficial in the former, and disastrous in the latter. Augustine,however,distinguished after three periods (i) Before Christ; (2) immediately and held that the Christ and (3) the subsequent ages Law was not disastrous in the case of converted Jews in the Apostolic Age, and that there was no sin in its observance, always provided that they did not place their hope of salvation in it. Augustine's reason is, that if the Jews on their conversion had been forbidden all the Mosaic observances, this prohibition would have set the Jewish Law on a level with idolatrous observances. 2. The second difference between Augustine and Jerome concerned the Apostles. Jerome held that the Apostles never in reality observed the Law, but simulated observance in order to avoid giving offence. Thus S. Paul's discharging a vow in the Temple, or circumcising Timothy, or conforming with S. James's directions as to legal customs, was all done from mere motives of diplomacy and expediency and not from a religious spirit. Augustine on the contrary held that the Apostles sincerely meant what they were doing when they conformed to the Mosaic requirement, only they never regarded such observances as in any way necessary to salvation. This attitude was justifiable in a period of

The whole

admirably given

:

;

:

;

;

transition. 

LETTERS TO

ST.

JEROME

241

3. The third difference between Augustine and Jerome concerned the conduct of S. Peter. Jerome held that Peter's dissimulation was not a sin because it was not prompted by fear but by charity. Augustine held that it was a sin although a venial one. For Peter unwisely attached himself overmuch to the Jewish side. S.

Thomas holds that Augustine's argument is stronger than that of Jerome. For Jerome indeed adduces seven authorities in support of himself. But of these authorities four are questionable because the writers were addicted to heresy. Whereas Augustine, to Jerome's
remaining three, produces three others. And Augustine's three defenders are Ambrose, Cyprian and S. Paul himself. For S. Paul said that Peter was to be blamed. That judgment cannot be set aside. The opinion of Augustine is the truer because it agrees with the Apostle's
words.
4. The fourth and last difference between Augustine and Jerome is concerned with the action of S. Paul. Jerome said that S. Paul did not really rebuke S. Peter,

but only simulated a rebuke. Thus, according to Jerome, there was dissimulation on both sides. Augustine maintained that Peter seriously observed the Law and and that S. Peter sinned S. Paul seriously rebuked him in keeping it because he scandalised the Gentiles, while S. Paul did not sin in rebuking him, because no scandal was involved in the rebuke. 1
;

The question of the Origin of the Soul was much debated in the Church of the early fifth century. Rufmus, priest of Aquileia, had summarised three distinct theories about it while writing on Origen in 398. Jerome fell on Rufinus, with extraordinary ferocity and scorn, for admitting that he was ignorant which of these
theories
1

was

true. 2

But, while Jerome severely criticised
III.

S.

Thomas, Comment, in Galat. Lectio
ii.

Works, Parma
I.

Edit. T. XIII. 396. 2 Apol. S. Hieron. adv. Lit. Rufini,

8.

Works,

497.

Q 

2 42

THE LETTERS OF

ST.

AUGUSTINE

another writer in this spirit, he omitted to say which Nevertheless Jerome theory he himself maintained. had written elsewhere, on the words of Ecclesiastes " Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was, and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it" (Eccles. xii. 7), the following comment: "Hereby they are convinced of folly who think that souls are transmitted together with bodies, and do not come from God but are x generated from the bodies of their parents." after his controversial attack on Rufinus Some years Jerome was requested by persons of distinction in Africa to explain the problem of the Origin of the Soul. Marcellinus, Augustine's friend, the same who presided over the Donatist Conference in 410, had already tried to
:

But Augustine get the Bishop to solve his difficulties. confessed himself unprepared. Thereupon Marcellinus
There were wrote to Jerome, who replied in 41 2. several theories concerning this difficult problem of the
It was questioned whether it descended from Heaven, as the Platonists taught and Origen with them or whether it was part of the substance of God, as the Stoics and Manichaeans and the Priscillianists in Spain believed or whether it was kept in some Divine treasury long ago established, which Jerome thinks a or whether it is created for each separate foolish notion and incorporated within it or whether it is transbody mitted from parents like the body, as Tertullian, Apollinaris, and the greater part of the Western Church
2

soul's origin.

;

;

;

;

believed.

After enumerating all these perplexing varieties of opinion (which might have been far more simply stated, for the real problem of the period was whether the soul was created or transmitted), Jerome refers his readers to his criticisms against Rufinus, and says that he has But as a matter of fact given his own opinion there.
1
2

Works,

III. 493.

Vallarsi.

Letter 165

among

Augustine's

Verona, 1755. Letter 126 among Jerome's.
; 

LETTERS TO
this is exactly what his correspondent to

ST.

JEROME

243

he has not done.

He
"

then advises
will give

apply to Augustine,

who

you

his opinion, or rather mine, in his

own words." This
:

again was exactly what Augustine would not do partly because his mind was in suspense, and partly because he leaned towards Traducianism, since he saw that the Creationist theory was hard to reconcile with the doctrine of Original Sin. Here Jerome left the subject of his letter and went on to speak of his troubles and his studies. He had been engaged in writing a Commentary on Ezekiel. Then came the awful news of the Fall of Rome. Jerome was so overwhelmed by the calamity that, according to the proverb, he hardly knew his own name. He sat long in silence and in tears. Then he roused himself to write part of his Commentary. Then came an outbreak of violence in Palestine and at Bethlehem itself. Jerome himself was in danger, but by the mercy of If laws are suspended Christ he was enabled to escape. in war-time, how much more is the study of Scripture, which requires a multitude of books, and silence, and uninterrupted calm, and the labours of secretaries? However, Jerome has sent a copy of his work to Fabiola, from whom Marcellinus can get it if he
wishes.

Jerome adds further details in his Commentary on There he relates how the Fall of Rome was followed by the appearance of refugees, men and women
Ezekiel.

of the highest rank from Rome, reduced to beggary, hoping at least to find security from the terrors of barbarian invasion in the sacred places of Palestine. Jerome was forced by sheer compassion to lay aside his He must, he studies and weep with those that wept. turn Scripture words into deeds, and instead of says, 1 saying holy things attempt to do them. was informed by Marcellinus that he had Augustine
1

Preface to

Book

III.

on Ezekiel.

Works, Tom. V.

80. 

244

THE LETTERS OF

ST.

AUGUSTINE

received Jerome's reply. And this led Augustine himself to write his letter on the subject to Jerome. The bearer of Augustine's letter was the historian

Paul Orosius. Paul Orosius, a young priest belonging to the Church in Spain, had been sent to Africa to consult Augustine on the heresies of the Priscillianists, 1 which at that time distressed the Spanish Communion. Augustine was

and

impressed by the young priest's earnestness and zeal, sent him on to Jerome at Bethlehem with a
has come to me, by bond of Catholic peace a Orosius, brother, in point of age a son, and in honour a fellow
letter. "

Behold a religious young

man

2

name

who

is

in the

of quick understanding, ready speech be in the Lord's House a vessel rendering useful service in refuting those false and pernicious doctrines, through which the souls of men in Spain have suffered much more grievous wounds than have been afflicted on their bodies by the sword of barbarism. For from the remote western coast of Spain he has come with eager haste to us, having been prompted to do this by the report that from us he could learn whatever he wished on the subjects on which he desired information. Nor has his coming been altogether In the first place, he has learned not to believe in vain. in the next place, I have all that report affirmed of me taught him all I could, and as for the things in which I could not teach him, I have told him from whom he may learn them, and have exhorted him to go on to you." 3 With this letter of introduction Orosius visited S.

presbyter

:

a

man

and burning

zeal, desiring to

;

Jerome

at Bethlehem.

doctrines concerning the soul 4 which Augustine regarded as incontestable were as follows

The

:

1
2

cf. S.
cf.

3

Leo, Letter 15. Augustine, Letter 166, A.D. 415. S. Augustine, Letter 166.
S.

4

Letter 166,

3. 

LETTERS TO
1.

ST.

JEROME

245

2.
3.

4.
5.

6.
7.

soul's redemption can only be secured by Baptismal Regeneration. These doctrines being regarded as fundamental l and beyond dispute, the problem is Whence has the soul contracted guilt of original sin, guilt from which it can only be delivered by the sacrament of Christian Grace ? Augustine tells Jerome that in his treatise on Free will (which appeared in A.D. 395 and had been widely circulated), four different opinions were mentioned concerning the Origin of the Soul 1. That all other souls are derived from the soul of
:

The The The The The The The

soul is immortal. soul is not a part of God. soul is immaterial. soul is sinful and fallen. soul cannot deliver itself. soul's salvation depends on our Redeemer.

Adam.
2.
3.

That at each birth a new soul is created. That pre-existing souls are sent into each new

human
4.

body.
souls enter

That pre-existing

new

bodies of their
in
is

own
reality

accord.

Augustine enumerates these four opinions. But he reduces them to two Either the soul
:

or else the transmitted, and exists prior to the body The soul is created simultaneously with the body. two alternative theories are called Traducianism and Creationism. To appreciate the letter before us and Augustine's interest in the problem, it must be remembered that he was now in the thick of the Pelagian controversy. The problem of Original Sin confronted him. The doctrine of Original Sin was obviously greatly affected by the If the soul of each question of the Origin of the Soul. new child was transmitted from the soul of the primitive
;

1

Letter 166,

6. 

246

THE LETTERS OF

ST.

AUGUSTINE

the share of the race in the losses of Adam was But if the soul of each new child was newly created, then the body alone was inherited but not the How then could a newly created soul spiritual nature.

man

intelligible.

become contaminated by moral evil with which it was in no way whatever connected? Therefore Augustine's decided preference was for the theory of Traducianism. But he finds that Jerome has in his writings advocated
Creationist ideas.

He

discusses the Creationist theory,

and explains what he conceives to be its strong points and also its difficulties. Jerome maintained, then, that a new soul is created at
each
If

human
it

birth.
this,

was objected to finished His work and
Christ's words,
"

that at the Creation

God

My

Jerome would refer to Father worketh hitherto." That
rested,

was what Jerome told Marcellinus (cf. Letter 165). Marcellinus had found Augustine unwilling to be dogmatic on the subject, and therefore wrote to Jerome for something more decided. Jerome, however, referred him back to Augustine. Augustine now tells Jerome frankly that he is in a state of indecision on this
problem.
"

sent to me scholars, to whom you wish impart what I have not yet learned myself. Teach me, therefore, what I am to teach them for many urge me vehemently to be a teacher on this subject, and to them I confess that of this, as well as

You have
to

me

;

of

other things, I am ignorant." Supposing, then, Creationism to be the true theory, can Jerome explain why infants require remission of sin in the Sacrament of Christ? Or, if there is no sin in them, why are infants who die unbaptised excluded from salvation ? That was Augustine's difficulty, created by the traditional belief: which was not only the positive affirmation that the baptised are saved, but the negative affirmation that the unbaptised are lost. How can this exclusion from salvation of the infant dying unbaptised

many 

LETTERS TO

ST.

JEROME

247

be harmonised with the justice of God ? That was the problem as it struck Augustine and his contemporaries. Augustine held (i) that the fate of an infant dying unbaptised is perdition, (2) but also that God cannot punish the innocent. Consequently he was bound to ask what
the proof that Creationism is true. 1 Augustine agrees with Jerome that the Creationist of the soul's origin is by no means refuted from theory the text that God finished His work at the Creation. The Creation was the bringing into existence that which had none. But the text, " My Father worketh hitherto," means that God continues to fashion preThus Genesis and S. John's Gospel existing material. do not contradict but agree. 2 It is undeniable that God continues to make at the present time many things which did not exist before. Another objection against Creationism 3 was that in the case of an illegitimate birth this theory makes God create a soul in response to human sin. Jerome's answer was that nature need not refuse to mature the wheat because the grain was stolen. Augustine commended this answer. He felt that the method of Providence was constantly out of ill to bring forth good. But there are difficulties in the Creationist theory
is

which Augustine owns he

is unable to solve. profoundly moved by the sufferings of infants in the present life. 4 But he sees that this may turn to good account in the parents, whose power of compassion may be developed in this way ( 18), and who may be Faith may chastened through this means \gf*A 13). also leave the problem unsolved in the hands of Providence (ib.}. Moreover, who can tell what recompense

He was

God may
5
(

reserve in the after

life

for these afflictions?
this

Augustine quotes from his discussion of subject in his treatise on Free Will. 2 1 12. Letter 166, n. Letter 166,
i8).
3
5

Letter 166, Letter 166,

4

15.

Letter 166,

16.

18. 

248

THE LETTERS OF

ST.

AUGUSTINE

All this, however, can only apply to infants who will hereafter be saved. 1 It is no answer to the problem of those who die unbaptised and will be lost. 2 Now no man can be redeemed except in Christ. To say that children who depart this life without the Sacrament of Baptism shall nevertheless be made alive in Christ, is, in Augustine's view, to contradict the Apostolic teaching, and to condemn the practice of the Universal Church. It was certain that no one could be saved unless made

" Whosoever shall ing of the passage in S. James ii. 10 the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is keep guilty of all." The letter is a lengthy disquisition on the idea that virtues must co-exist, and that all sins are not of equal gravity. These two treatises of Augustine, the one on the Origin of the Soul, the other on the Teaching of S. James (Letters 166 and 167), arrived safely at Bethlehem. Jerome replied in a highly laudatory but curiously cautious and reserved epistle, 4 in which he announces that Orosius has arrived and has been received in accordance with Augustine's request. But they have fallen on hard times, wherein silence is better than speech. Study is at an end. They are leading a dog's
:

Augustine saw no possibility of except through the Sacrament of Baptism. He seems to have held not only that the Church is tied to observance of Christ's Ordinance and cannot confer life except through the Sacrament, but also that Christ Himself is so bound to the Sacrament as to be unable to confer the gift except through the outward means. Grant His premises and his logic is And those premises are no doubt what irreproachable. Jerome would have granted. Thus the difficulties of Creationism remain unsolved. This letter to Jerome was followed by another, 3 in which Augustine asked to be told what was the meanalive in Christ.

And

their being

made

alive

1 8

Letter 166, Letter 167.

20.

2

4

21. Letter 166, Letter 172, A.D. 416. 

LETTERS TO
life

ST.

JEROME

249

It seems as if Jerome, who had at Bethlehem. plenty to say about recent Pelagian movements in^ Palestine and the character of Bishop John of Jerusalem, thought it more prudent not to commit himself He preferred to send the news by mesto writing. senger when Orosius returned. Jerome has received the two treatises which Augustine sent him. They are very learned and brilliantly eloquent. But Jerome is not able to reply. " Not," says the old student, " that he finds anything meriting rebuke in them, but that every man has his own opinion." Augustine has produced all the available Scripture evidence on the subBut Jerome would rather be ject which he discusses. permitted to praise the Bishop's ability. Moreover it would never do to let envious people and, above all, heretical people, see difference of opinion between Augustine and Jerome. Jerome is resolved to be devotedly attached to Augustine, to venerate him, and to defend Augustine's utterances as if they were his own. Jerome informs Augustine that he has given the Bishop an honourable mention in a treatise lately published It is urgently against the Pelagians (Book III. 19). necessary that Augustine and Jerome should combine to drive out this most deadly heresy from the Church. Pelagianism is always pretending penitence in order to It is afraid retain the right to teach within the Church. to be brought out into the light, for fear it should be

expelled or perish. Jerome closes with various salutations, and adds a postscript to the effect that he cannot send Augustine his critical Latin text of the Old Testament, because transcribers familiar with Latin are scarce in Palestine. The problem of the Origin of the Soul is discussed

by Augustine
from Caesarea,

in a
in

letter

1

written to Bishop Optatus

Mauritania, whither he had been sent Zosimus on some business connected with the by Pope

Roman

See.
1

Letter 190, A.D. 418. 

250

THE LETTERS OF

ST.

AUGUSTINE

Starting with facts beyond dispute, Augustine says that the soul is not body, but spirit; not part of God, but created. God created Then he raises the grave problem souls whose destiny, as He foreknew, would be perdition. Augustine here gives expression to his Predestinarian If God had only created souls who would be theories. redeemed no concrete illustration would have existed of the state from which redemption delivered men. There would only be illustrated what the redeemed enjoyed but not what they escaped. The full benefit of Redemption would be concealed from lack of examples. Augustine went further than this. He thought that the number 1 of the lost would immeasurably exceed that of the redeemed. And this belief does not appear Their destiny was just, and to have disturbed him.
:

Why

God was

not concerned about their numbers.

There was only one way out of damnation, this was the Sacrament of the Mediator. 2 But here the problem of the Origin of the Soul comes
For, as Pelagius argued, if each soul is a separate and the body only is derived from Adam, how could the soul be condemned by the mere entrance into But if the soul is transmitted to the child the body?
in.
3

creation,

its parents, how can it be responsible for another And how can God, forgives our person's sin ? actual transgressions, impute to us a sin which we

from

Who

personally never committed ? Here Augustine speaks with characteristic humility and caution. No man must be ashamed to confess his ignorance, lest by professing to know what he does not know he dooms himself to perpetual ignorance. 4 In questions whose inherent obscurity surpasses our powers, and where Scripture does not come to our aid, it is only rashness for human presumption to define.
1

*

Letter 190, Letter 190,

n.
14 and 15.

2
4

Letter 190, Letter 190,

13.
16. 

LETTERS TO

ST.

JEROME

251

Nothing certain can be ascertained from Scripture 1 concerning the origin of individual souls. Augustine refers to his previous correspondence with Jerome, who held the Creationist view while Traducianism was the 2 opinion of the Western Church. Augustine desires his writing on the subject to be taken as the work of an inquirer, not of a teacher. He declines to dogmatise. But he is obviously more disposed to believe that each soul is transmitted rather than a fresh creation, since the Traducianist theory agrees with the doctrine of Original Sin, and with the Pauline doctrine that by man came death, and that in
;

Adam

all die.

Meanwhile he falls back on the declaration of Pope Zosimus where the Traducian theory is maintained, and the doctrine reaffirmed that there is no deliverance except through the Mediator, and that deliverance is 3 only conferred upon the baptised. After all, it is better that the problem of the Origin
of Souls should remain obscure than that God should be supposed the author of sin, or that the baptism of infants should be regarded as meaningless. 4 Towards the close of A.D. 419, Jerome wrote to Augustine 5 another letter, which he sent by the presbyter Innocent who was to have carried letters to Africa from Palestine the year before, but failed. Jerome He is always writes this time in an amiable mood. glad, he says, of a reason for writing to Augustine. If it were possible he would take the wings of a dove and fly to Africa. Alypius and Augustine are to accept his congratulations because by their efforts the It has been a Celestian heresy has been throttled. widespread and deadly poison. Jerorrfe announces the He speaks with profound death of the lady Eustochia.
1

2

*
5

Letter Letter Letter Letter

190, 190,
190,

17.

20.
23.

(See Letters 143, 165, 166.) 4 Letter 190,

24.

202, A.D. 419. 

252

THE LETTERS OF

ST.

AUGUSTINE

He cannot publish his letter yet. To do would give reasonable ground for complaint. Jerome might think him actuated by motives of selfmust
wait.

disgust of the miserable Synod of Diospolis (i.e. the Palestinian Council, in which the Bishops were misled by the plausible profession of the Pelagians). Jerome sends greetings from Albina, Pinian and Melania (whose visit to Africa in 41 1 had led to the sensational scene in the Church at Hippo: see Letter 124). Paula also greets him. In the year 420 Augustine wrote to Optatus, Bishop of Milevis, 1 telling him that the letters sent to Jerome cannot be published at present, since there is still hope that Jerome may send an explanation of the problems concerning the Origin of the Soul. Five years, indeed, have elapsed since Augustine wrote to Bethlehem, but he has not abandoned hope that an answer may yet arrive. He tells Optatus the contents of Jerome's brief reply, and points out that there is no refusal to consider the subjects set before him. Consequently Augustine

that

display, rather than
truth.

by

serious desire to ascertain

the

Augustine infers from Jerome's letter that his friend does not decline his inquiries that he is well-disposed towards him and was anxious to avoid the appearance of public controversy between them. He hopes the result will be that his successors will see how brothers in affection may dispute on a difficult question and yet preserve each other's esteem. Augustine writes with disThe rugged old student of Bethlehem required cretion. to be carefully dealt with. Meanwhile Augustine has much to say to Optatus. For Optatus has been criticising adversely those who maintain the Traducianist theory of the soul's origin. " I must admit I have so far Augustine frankly owns
;

;

:

1

Letter

202

B.,
I.

No. 144

Works,

p. 1146. 1062.)

(This letter

is

among

Jerome's, 

LETTERS TO
failed to discover

ST,

JEROME

253

the soul can derive its sin from unlawful to question) and yet not itself be derived from Adam. At present I think it better to sift the matter further than to dogmatise

how

Adam

(a truth

which

it is

rashly."

Therefore he would be glad to know what scriptural basis Optatus can find for rejecting the Traducian theory. If Traducianism is rejected, it becomes necessary to Is it a explain how a soul is provided for the body.
separate creation ? For doubtless Optatus does not credit the theory of transmigration, which Origen and Priscillian taught, that souls have pre-existed in a former world and are placed in the body in accordance with their deserving. That theory is refuted by the scripture which says that Jacob and Esau before their birth had done neither good nor evil. If Optatus has scripture testimonies to produce against Traducianism would he let Augustine have them ? Traducianism does not imply, as Optatus seems to think, that God is not the Creator of the soul, any more than it does in the case of the body. Optatus admits that Traducianism has been held by some of his predecessors.

Augustine would be glad to know upon what grounds they founded their belief. Meanwhile of course hesitation and uncertainty are It is curious to contrast Augustine here with justified. Jerome's reckless and reasonless contempt of Rufinus for hesitating between the opposing views. Now when we have reason to be Augustine says doubtful about a point, we need not doubt that we are There is no doubt that we ought right in doubting. " to doubt things that are doubtful Augustine 8). illustrates S. Paul's doubtfulness whether it was in the body or out of the body that he was carried up into the " third heaven. Why may not I then, so long as I have no light, doubt whether my soul came to me by genera<:
:

(

tion or
'

unengendered

?

Christ said of certain matters,

It

is

not for you to know.'

What

if

Christ,

Who 

254

THE LETTERS OF

ST.

AUGUSTINE

knows what

is expedient for us, knows this knowledge " not to be expedient ? Hence, as at present advised, Augustine is unable to

restates his own perplexity. It a soul derive original sin from a source from which it is not itself derived?" ( 10). There is Augustine's real interest in the problem of the soul's its bearing on the Pelagian Controversy. origin This letter to Optatus was written in 420. This year is said to have been the year of Jerome's death.

decide.
this

Meanwhile he

is

"

:

Can

:

Jerome's death removed any need for delay in publishing Augustine's own letters. The Bishop now freely circulated them. 1
1

See Retract. 11-45. 

CHAPTER
LETTERS TO
AUGUSTINE'S
"

VIII

WOMEN
"

Letters to Women may well be grouped together, because they help to illustrate the position occupied by women in Church Life at the close of the fourth century and beginning of the fifth. They were written to Ecdicia, a married woman to to Maxima, to Seleuciana, to a Sapida, a religious studious girl, Florentina; to Italica, on the Vision of
;
;

to Melania, a refugee in Africa after the Fall of to Proba, widow of the Consul to Juliana, widowed mother of the religious Demetrias to Paulina
;

God

Rome

;

;

;

to Felicitas, Prioress of a Conto Fabiola. vent to a religious Community of There is an impressive letter written by Augustine x to Ecdicia, a married woman who had alienated her husband. She desired to live with him as a sister and
;
;

on the Vision of God

Women

;

To this proposal she had induced him to consent. She then insisted on dressing like a widow, or in a costume appropriate to one who has no husband at To this he objected. She went further still, and all.
not as a wife. without consulting him gave away his possessions in alms to two monks. On discovering what she was doing he made some furious remarks on monks, abandoned her, and went to live with another woman. She then applied to Augustine. If she expected approval of her conduct she was entirely mistaken. He tells her that she was wrong in the first instance because
1

Letter 262.
255 

256

THE LETTERS OF
I

ST.

AUGUSTINE

she lived with her husband as a sister and not as a wife, while he was reluctant that it should be so. No such manner of life is lawful for married persons unless by their own mutual consent. Augustine refers her to S. Paul's teaching on the duties of the married (in i Cor. viii. 1-17), which he insinuates she has either not heard or not realised. He maintains that if by mutual consent a vow of self-restraint has been taken, it ought, being a mutual self-dedication to God, to be kept perBut he only gives this advice on the underseveringly. standing that consent has been given. Otherwise the

married

woman

is

absolutely prohibited from registering

any such determination.
Augustine then proceeds to deal with the duty of humility and obedience in domestic life. She was entirely wrong to ofTend her husband in matters of
dress.

She was quite wrong again in giving away his possessions in alms to the monks without his knowShe has deprived her husband of ledge or consent. in charitable deeds to which if she had acted sharing otherwise she might have gently led him. Augustine asks her whether any person's temporal advantage is more precious to her than her husband's eternal advanIf she had been more considerate, would she not tage. rather have postponed her gifts to the poor lest she scandalised her husband and caused him to recoil from Let her only think what she would have religion ? gained if she had gained her husband. Which is the greater to break one's bread to the hungry or to deliver a soul from the devil ? Augustine contends that a married woman has no " I will do what I will with my own." That right to say was contrary to S. Peter's teaching (i Pet. iii. 5-6). Moreover there was the child to be considered. mother has no ri^ht to give away in charity what would become the property of her son. Augustine reminds her of the apostolic words " If any provideth not for
:

A

:

his

own, and especially

his

own

household, he hath 

LETTERS TO WOMEN
denied the
(I

257
"

faith,

and

is

worse than an unbeliever

Tim.

v. 8).

Augustine tries to enable her to realise that it was not unnatural that her husband should object to her dressing like a widow while he was alive. The Bishop concludes by exhorting her very earnestly to be humble-minded, to care lest her husband perish, to prny for her husband, to write to him and ask his forgiveness because she has sinned against him, and to promise in future that if he will keep his vow of selfMeantime restraint, she will serve him in all things. there is no need to tell her that her son is rather in his father's control than in hers.
dedicated to the religious life. 1 When her brother died she sent a tunic which had belonged to him as a present to Augustine.

Sapida was a

woman

Augustine accepted it, and writes to say that he is wearing it, in deference to Sapida's request since she says it would be a comfort to her, and he does not wish But Augustine never liked people to hurt her feelings. to make him presents which would in any way distinguish him from other people. In one of his sermons 2 he explained his reasons for this. Costly robes were sometimes sent him as suitable " But it is not becoming for to his episcopal position. he said, "who is poor, and who is the son Augustine," Would you have men say that in the of poor parents. Church I found means to obtain richer clothing than I
;

could in

my

employment ?

father's house, or in the pursuit of secular That would be a shame to me."

He went on to tell the congregation that if such gifts were sent they would be sold for the benefit of the
"
I

Community.

assure you that a costly dress

makes

because it is not in harmony with my profession, or with such exhortations as I now give you,
blush,
1

me

Letter 263.

*

Sermon

356. 

25S

THE LETTERS OF
ill

ST.

AUGUSTINE

and

locks are whitened, as you see,

becomes one whose frame is bent, and whose by age."

A

lady

named Maxima wrote

to Augustine

1

com-

plaining that erroneous doctrine was being taught in her neighbourhood. The letter does not say where she lived. She was apparently presiding over others in a The erroneous doctrine was religious Community. the Incarnation. clearly concerning Augustine assures her that what she holds is true namely, that the Son of God took human nature complete, that is, both a rational soul and mortal flesh, without sin. If she possesses any writings which contradict this faith Augustine asks her to send them to him. False doctrines are frequently based on misunderstandings of Scripture. And it is most important that the erroneous character of such
:

If Maxima interpretations should be demonstrated. wishes to possess any of Augustine own writings let her send a messenger for copies of them.

lady named Seleuciana had encountered a sup2 of the austere Novatianist theory that while the repentance of the unbaptised could be accepted by the Church, no such concession could be made in the case of deadly sins committed after Baptism. This follower of Novatian held that S. Peter's penance for his denial of Christ was the act of an unbaptised person. Augustine replies that it is true that when Peter denied our Lord the Apostle had not yet been baptised with the Holy Spirit. For our Lord Himself said to them after His Resurrection, " Ye shall be baptised with the Holy Ghost not many days hence." But if we say that the Apostles had not yet been baptised with water, we may be encouraging men to disparage Baptism, which the apostolic practice shows to be a deplorable error, since S. Peter expressly ordered Cornelius, who had received the Holy Spirit, to be baptised.
porter
1

A

Letter 264.

2

Letter 265. 

LETTERS TO WOMEN

259

Augustine accordingly maintains that the case of Baptism was similar to that of Circumcision. Both became essential only after they were divinely ordained. But after that Christ had taught that except a man be born of water and of the Holy Spirit he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God, it is not necessary to ascertain the precise date of an individual's baptism. The very
fact that persons are within the Body of Christ, that is, the Church, and belonging to the Kingdom of Heaven, and their very position shows that they are baptised. The only exception to this is the case where persons

opportunity to be In which case their passion is to be considered baptised. But that exception is inapplicable to the equivalent. Those who had plenty of time to baptise Apostles. others had time themselves to be baptised. But not everything that was transacted is recorded. The baptism of S. Paul is recorded. That of the other Apostles is not. But that they were baptised ought not to be doubted, because it is required by Christ's

overtaken by martyrdom had no

command. The disciples were already baptised with the Baptism of S. John Baptist. So many think. Or was it not
the Baptism of Christ which they received ? Augustine He thinks that Christ Himthinks this more credible. He who washed their feet self baptised the Apostles. would not shrink from this ministration, in order that His servants, through whom He baptised others, should themselves be baptised. This seems implied in Christ's words to S. Peter " He that is washed needeth not save to wash his feet, but is clean every whit" (John xiii. 10). To Augustine's mind that shows that S. Peter was
:

already baptised. When this adherent of Novatian maintains, as Seleuciana reports, that the Apostles taught penitence not Baptism, he is not ineligible. Penitence is a But it is necessary for sin after condition of Baptism. as well as before it. Baptism 

260
If

THE LETTERS OF

ST.

AUGUSTINE

he means that the Apostles substituted repentance Baptism, and that the repentant were not baptised, Augustine is not aware that any Novatianists say so. Seleuciana should inquire carefully whether this is being maintained. Perhaps the disputer is not a Novatianist at all, or only thinks he is. In any case what is certain
for
is.

and

that the theory is foreign to the rule of Catholic faith, to the teachings of Christ and His Apostles.
is

dious

extant a letter from Augustine 1 to a stuHe had girl offering to help her in her studies. corresponded with Florentina's mother and desired to

There

encourage

He the daughter in religious learning. hears that Florentina did not like to write unless the Bishop wrote and gave permission. Augustine assures her that he will do his best to answer any questions she may send him. If the Bishop knows the answer he will send it. If he does not know, and the ignorance is not detrimental to faith and safety, he will if he can set her mind at rest. If it is a matter which he does not know,
;

and yet which ought to be known, he will pray for enlightenment, that he may not fail her and will reply in such terms that she may know in matters where both are ignorant to whom they both must look for
understanding.

thrown on African Church life 2 in the letters written to Pinian and Melania. Melania was heiress of one of the wealthiest houses in Rome, and had lived with her husband, Pinian, in one of its finest palaces, until the calamitous invasion of the Goths under Alaric in 410. Like many others of the Roman aristocracy she took refuge in Africa, where also she had large estates. Here she sold much of her property and gave away lavishly to the Churches and Monasteries and the poor, especially in Thagaste, where she lived in religious austerity, and where Alypius, Augustine's friend, was
is
1

A very curious light

Letter 266.

2

Letter 124, A.D. 411. 

LETTERS TO WOMEN

261

Augustine wrote to Melania and Pinian welBishop. coming them into Africa and excusing himself from paying them a visit advancing years prevented him from facing the rigorous winter which his weak and sensitive constitution was at no time able to bear. Even if that had not been the case his restless and turbulent people would not permit his absence. The result of this letter was, that Pinian and Melania, together
:

with Bishop Alypius, paid a visit to Augustineat Hippo. an extraordinary scene. The Hereupon followed CathoKcs of Hippo were assembled in Church when these distinguished visitors, whose reputation had preceded them, entered the building. As soon as they were recognised the people shouted to Augustine, calling on him to ordain Pinian to the priesthood. It seems that Augustine had anticipated the possible rise of some such disturbance, for he immediately informed the people, as soon as he could make himself heard, that he had promised Pinian not to ordain him against his will adding that if his promise were broken the people might have Pinian as their presbyter, but they would no
;

longer have Augustine as their bishop. That warning subdued the people for a moment. But they soon broke out more fiercely than before. Pinian was terrified. Augustine feared for -the safety of his visitors. The wildness of the African nature was roused. Every moment Augustine expected this fanatical outburst might end in murder. Augustine stood in helpless He dared not leave the Church for fear of indecision.
his guests. But he was perfectly powerless Meanwhile the people turned furiously to protect them. on Bishop Alypius, and accused him of frustrating their

danger to

demand through
wanted to

sordid motives, and only because he rich man in his congregation at In the midst of this outrageous confusion Thagaste. Pinian sent a messenger to Augustine, to say that if he was ordained against his will he swore that he would Augustine had not the depart from Africa. But
retain a 

262

THE LETTERS OF

ST.

AUGUSTINE

He sent no answer, tell the people this. and in his perplexity consulted Alypius, who washed his hands of the whole affair and replied " Don't ask me." Thereupon Augustine obtained silence and informed
courage to
the people. They immediately demanded that Pinian should promise that he would reside at Hippo, and that if he were ordained at all it should be for that Church. To this demand Pinian yielded. With Augustine's consent he vowed that he would keep this engagement. Peace was then restored and the congregation dispersed. But peace was not secured beyond the precincts. Pinian and Melania and their relatives made serious accusations of sordid motives against Augustine's people if not against Augustine himself. But the most singular part of the incident is Augustine's defence. 1 He insisted with the utmost solemnity He admitted that it that the promise must be kept. was made under the influence of fear; none the less he appealed to the example of the Pagan Regulus, who swore to the Carthaginian that he would rebel, and

kept his oath, although

its

fulfilment

meant

torture

Augustine quoted the Psalm "he that sweareth unto his neighbour and disappointeth him not." Augustine urged that unless he and Alypius required the fulfilment of this promise they must not expect any man to credit their promises any more. He insisted that an awful Divine retribution would follow on perjury, and prayed that from such temptations Providence would deliver them. He allowed no to the terrorising influence of a fanatical African weight people, although he confessed that at the time he fully expected that some one would be murdered before the day was done. He repudiated indignantly the sordid construction which had been placed upon the conduct

and death.

of his people.

One

of the wealthiest and most distinguished families
1

Letter 125. 

LETTERS TO WOMENin

263

Rome about the year 400 was the family of Proba. She was widow of a Consul. Three of her sons attained to consular dignity. Jerome said that this was a 1 dignity which hardly any one of her family missed. The family is commemorated in the poems of PrudenHer husband was baptised when near his death tius. and buried near the apse of S. Peter at the Vatican. 2 Proba was the mother of Juliana, whose daughter
Demetrias
the astonishment of early in the fifth century. Proba was in correspondence with most of the great Churchmen of the time, including Jerome, Chrysostom and Augustine. Chrysostom wrote commending to her care a priest and deacon who had travelled to Rome.
set

the

example, to
veil

Rome, of taking the

This was

in 4o6. 3

But in 410 came the sack of Rome by Alaric. Proba and Juliana and Demetrias took flight to Africa. As
they were setting sail they could see the smoke of the burning city. They reached Africa safely, but Heraclian, Count of Africa, an avaricious and unscrupulous person, extorted a great sum from them before allowing them
to settle in security. 4

Jerome has given a graphic description of Demetrias How she dressed herself professing the religious life. in coarse attire and went to her mother and grandmother and confessed her wjsh to take the veil how both these religious women wept for gladness. Jerome here grows eloquent in the fervour of his approval. " Every Church in Africa danced for joy. The news reached not only the cities, towns and villages, but even the scattered huts. Every island between Africa and Italy was full of it the glad tidings ran far and Then Italy put off her mournwide, disliked by none. and the ruined walls of Rome resumed in part ing,
;

;

1

Jerome, Letter, 130.
Baronius, A.D. 395, 6. Vol. vi. 163. Chrysostom, Letter 168. Works, Ed. Jerome, Letter 130.

2

3
4

Gaume,

III. 840. 

264

THE LETTERS OF

ST.

AUGUSTINE

their olden splendour; for they believed the full conversion of their foster-child to be a sign of God's favour

towards them."

Proba being now settled in Africa sought Augustine's advice on the subject of prayer. Augustine accordingly sent her a letter of spiritual
direction. 1

The Letter is divided into two parts first, concerning the person who prays secondly, concerning the objects for which prayer should be made. As concerning the person, 2 Augustine dwells on the obstacles to religious life, caused by wealth, of which Proba was so conspicuous a possessor. 3 Then on the fact that all human life is desolate, whatever
: ;

be

its

Christ.

earthly condition, until it finds its real life in Proba must learn to regard all earthly posses-

sions with indifference, 4 seeking nothing from them but bodily health. And this is to be sought because it qualifies us to discharge life's work.

concerning the object for which prayer should be this up in the advice to pray for a happy life. And if asked what constitutes happiness, he replies that it does not consist in gratifying our own will and desires. (This is one of the subjects which Augustine discussed in the villa outside Milan

As

made, 5 Augustine sums

the early days after his Conversion, De beata Vita) his teaching with a quotation from Cicero. True happiness consists in possession of all we desire, 6 provided that we desire nothing but what we ought. Desire for the health of those we love is right, but it does not constitute happiness. May we also desire distinction and power for them ? 7 Yes, if we desire it in order that they may minister
in

Here he supports

1

3
5
7

Letter 130. Letter 130, Letter 130, Letter 1 30,

2

*

4.
6

9.
1

Letter 130, Letter 130, Letter 130,

2. 7.

11.

2. 

LETTERS TO WOMEN
to others.

265

it out of pride and arroappeals to Prov. xxx. 8-9 for the superior safety of those whose lot is neither wealth nor poverty. But the secret of a happy life lies in no external 1 The secret of happiness possessions, or temporal state.

But

if

we

desire

gance

it

is

disastrous..

He

God. Prayer should be concentrated on the effort to acquire It must be persistent and persevering. this life in God. 2 Christ's illustration is of the importunate widow. This prayer must be offered in faith and hope and love. 3 It is offered not with the purpose of giving God information, 4 but for the development of our
is life

in

spiritual powers.
5 Prayer must be continuous as a spirit of aspiration, finding expression in words at stated seasons. The value of prayer does not in any way depend 6 Yet it is neither wrong nor unprofitupon its length. able to spend much time in prayer, provided that this does not interfere with our performance of our duties and good works. Augustine relates that the brethren in Egypt were accustomed to brief frequent petitions, attention being awakened and fixed for the moment. 7 This was found to be a remedy against inattention and wandering He gives advice which shows great knowthoughts.

Prolonged prayer is capable of continuous attention. Prolonged prayer is rather a mental attitude than a use " much speaking." It is very different from of words. At the same time It is rather a state than an utterance. of course words are necessary. And here Augustine gives a summary 8 of the meaning of the Lord's Prayer.
ledge
desirable
if

of

human

limitations.
is

the mind

1 3

5
7

Letter Letter Letter Letter

2

130,

130, 130, 130,

14. 16.

4 6 8

18.

20.

Letter Letter Letter Letter

130,

15.

130,
130,

17.
19.

130,

21. 

266

THE LETTERS OF

ST.

AUGUSTINE

All

maintains,
petition
is

truly Christian petition is included, Augustine 1 in the clauses of the Lord's Prayer. Any

which cannot be harmonised with that Prayer carnal even if it is not unlawful. Indeed, it must be unlawful, since those who are born again of the Spirit must offer spiritual petitions. may of course use other words beside the Prayer but the substance must be the same. As to the persons in whose behalf prayer is made, 2 these are ourselves, our friends, strangers and enemies. When S. Paul said we know not what to pray for as we ought 3 (Rom. viii. 26), he is not betraying ignorance of the Lord's Prayer, but acknowledging ignorance

We

which

may be

own prayer
All

Thus his spiritually expedient for us. for deliverance from the thorn in the flesh
in

the form in which it was offered. must be conditioned by the There is proviso which Christ uttered in Gethsemane. so much that we do not know. Accordingly there is a certain docta ignorantia* But it is an ignorance instructed by the Spirit of God. The letter concludes with a request that Augustine 5 may be aided by Proba's prayers.

was not granted
Christian

prayer

The

letter to the

lady Italica

6

ought to be placed

in

a

collection of spiritual letters. It is concerned with the Vision of God, and with the correction of misconceptions about it. The Vision of God 7 is for the mind, not for

the bodily eye. It is a case of mental apprehension, not of physical discernment. The objects of physical vision must occupy space. Put God does not comply with this condition. He dwells " in the light which no man can whom no man hath seen, nor can approach unto see" (i Tim. vi. 16). He is not accessible to bodily
;

1 3 8
7

Letter Letter Letter Letter

130, 130, 130, 130,

22. 25.

2
4

31.
3.

6

Letter 130, Letter 130, Letter 130,

23.
28.

62, A.D. 408. 

LETTERS TO WOMEN
"

267

but He is accessible to mental vision. shall " see Him as He is (i John iii. 2). But then this " vision depends on resemblance to Him. shall therefore see Him according to the measure in which we This likewise is not bodily but shall be like Him." When the Apostle says we shall see God spiritual. " face to face," the seeing is not physical. God has not a face like ours. Numerous misconceptions prevailed l in the popular It was fifth-century theories about the Vision of God. held, for example, that while in this life we see God with our minds, in the next we shall see Him with our bodily eyes and that not only the good but also the evil will see Him. To this Augustine answers that, according to the Beatitudes, it is the pure in heart who shall see God. The text, " Now we see through a glass darkly, but then face to face," is not a contrast between mental vision and physical, but between two degrees of mental vision.
sight,

We

We

;

All Vision of God is mental. curious dilemma was propounded

A

sions.

The

question was put

:

Was

in popular discusChrist able to see

If not, then the Father with His bodily eyes, or not? God is not omnipotent. If yes, then so shall we be able in the future life. Augustine replies by asking why this question should net apply the be confined to the sense of sight? not same inquiry to the other senses of Christ? whether Christ heard God with His bodily ear ? inquire The Is God, then, to be a sound as well as a sight?

Why

Why

theorist recoiled from this application.

Well, then,

it is

no detraction from the Divine omnipotence that God

is

essentially invisible to the bodily eye. This great subject, the Vision of God,* is further expounded in a letter written for the edification of a lady

named

Paulina.
1

It is

a treatise in
2

itself,

and a subject

Letter 130,

4.

Letter 147. 

268

THE LETTERS OF

ST.

AUGUSTINE

which enables the writer to reveal the depth of his own which govern all It is, as he says, a subject which must be known by experience rather than by discussion. Those who have learned from our Lord Jesus Christ to be meek and lowly in heart make progress rather by thought and prayer than by reading and hearing. Not indeed that instruction has no further place but that when he who plants or waters has done his task, 1 he must leave the rest to Him Who gives the
spiritual experience, and the principles personal relation between God and man.
;

Meantime the reader must not accept instrucsion on Augustine's authority, but either because the instruction is verified by Scripture, 2 or verified by the reader's inward experience. All knowledge comes to us either through the avenues of the senses, or by the inferences of the mind. 3 see by the eyes of the body, we see also by The material world is the object the eyes of the mind. of the former sight will, memory, understanding, inThere is telligence, are the objects of the latter. another sphere ascertainable neither by bodily nor by mental vision, namely, the sphere of things accessible
increase.

We

;

only by faith. This sphere of faith is very large indeed. 4 Without it we could neither know the existence of cities we have never visited, nor of the historic incidents before our Nor could we know who were our parents and time. who are our relatives except for the exercise of faith. Faith is the method of ascertaining these as well as the Incarnation and Resurrection of Christ. The correlative of faith is the authority of the testifier and if confidence is at times misplaced, it is none the less an inevitable principle of human existence.
;

The objects accessible to sight are things present the objects of faith are things absent. 5
1

;

3
5

Letter 147, Letter 147, Letter 147,

i.

2

4

4.
7.

Letter 147, Letter 147,

2.
5. 

LETTERS TO WOMEN
believed. 1

269

consists of things seen and things ye see him not, Blessed are they who have not seen yet believing." and yet have believed." Things may be seen either by the eyes of the body or by the eyes of the mind. But the objects of faith are those which are neither seen by

Thus our knowledge "

On whom though now " 2

the eyes of the body, nor by those of the mind. Hence, then, we understand what it is to see, and what it is to
believe.

Apply this to the Vision of God. We know that God can be seen, for it is written, " Blessed are the pure in 3 And " we shall see him heart, for they shall see God." " 4 as he is." Yet no man hath seen God at any time." 5 " Whom no man hath seen nor can see." 6 Yet " their angels do always behold the face of my Father which is in heaven."
the explanation of these ? Augustine thinks better refer to that great exponent of Scrip7 It is the nature of God to be ture, S. Ambrose. invisible, yet He manifests Himself to whom He wills. But the plenitude of His Divinity cannot be compreis

What

we had

hended. 8 He can be revealed through Christ to the human mind. manifestation of Him can be given, but His When it is said that essential nature cannot be seen.

A

the pure in heart shall see God, the meaning is that inward preparation qualifies men to be recipients of Divine manifestations and enables them to realise God's Presence. Thus is it true that no man hath seen God at any time 9 that is to say, as He is in His essential On the other hand, " He that hath seen me being'.
:

1

Letter 147,

8.

2 i

Pet.

i.

8.
2.

3
5 7

Matt.

v. 8.
i.

4 6
8

i
i

John

18.
17.

John Tim.

iii.

vi. 16.

9

Letter 147, Letter 147,

Letter 147,

22.

29. 

270

THE LETTERS OF

ST.

AUGUSTINE

hath seen the Father," because Christ is the Revelation of the Father. The whole subject is summed up in such terms as the 1 If you ask whether God can be seen, I following. answer yes. If you ask how I know this, I reply because the Scripture says " Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God." If you ask how He can be called invisible if He can be seen, I answer He is invisible by nature, but He can be seen when and as He
:

wills.

Augustine here is moved to give a warning on the danger of all theological discussions. While we debate how God can possibly be seen, we may lose the 2 disposition, the sanctified spirit, without which it is Yet the intellectual study of to see Him. impossible these problems concerning God is essential. For the localising and the materialising of God are most danIt makes the greatest difference gerous to true religion. whether we hold concerning God what is contrary to And the effort to convert body into fact and truth. is endurable, but not that of converting spirit into spirit body. Now God is Spirit, not body. Our bodily eyes cannot see Him now, and never will. He must be seen, when He is seen, by the spirit, and not by the

body. This raises the question of the change which will pass over the human body in the Resurrection. 3 However spiritualised the body will become it will not cease to be body. It will not be converted into spirit. Again he appeals to S. Ambrose's teaching. And not without a half apology, 4 assuring his correspondent that his regard for Ambrose is not simply due to the fact that the Bishop of Milan's teaching was the providential means of his deliverance from error, nor simply because through Ambrose's ministry he received the
1 3 4

Letter 147, Letter 147, Letter 147,

2

37.

Letter 147,

^50 and
52.

51.

Cj. p.

I93/ and

49. 208. 

LETTERS TO WOMEN
;

271

saving Baptismal Grace but because of the intrinsic value of Ambrose's instructions.

Proba and Juliana sent Augustine a gift to commemorate Demetrias's taking the veil (yelationis apophoretuni}.

He
its

which, for

1 replied in a letter of congratulation, brevity and contents, is a remarkable

contrast to Jerome's effusive and redundant epistle. None the less Augustine agreed with Jerome in his estimate of the religious life. He hopes that those who envied the social distinctions of the Anician House will

emulate their sanctity. Bishop Alypius and Augustine together wrote a letter to Juliana, 2 Froba's widowed daughter-in-law, mother of the religious Demetrias. The Bishops were at Hippo

when Juliana
lating her

replied to

Augustine's letter congratuveil.

on her daughter taking the

Juliana evidently felt a little nettled because Augustine warned her not to pay attention to perverters of the faith. She thanked him for his admonition, but hastened to assure him that persons of that description were kept at a distance from the house, and that neither she nor any of her relatives had been known to lapse into heresy no, nor even into minor errors in faith. Augustine replies that he considers Juliana's house to be a Christian Church of no small importance but that there are errors against which it is necessary to be on
: ;

guard.

has been reading a book which he understands addressed to Juliana's daughter Demetrias, in which spiritual graces are ascribed exclusively to our personal This document was the work of Pelagius. No efforts. 3 one, says this book, can confer spiritual wealth upon
is

He

you except you yourself. That maxim Augustine affirms

to

be

absolutely

irreconcilable with Apostolic Christianity.
1

The power

3

Letter 150. Letter 188,

2

Letter 188, A.D. 418.

4 

2 72
is

THE LETTERS OF

ST.

AUGUSTINE
iv. 7).
it

from God and not from ourselves (2 Cor. cannot receive this word but they to whom
(Matt. xix. u).
gift
is

All

is

given

"Every good
(i

gift
17.)

and every perfect

from above" (Jas. i. that thou didst not receive?"

"What
iv. 7).

hast thou

Cor.

God does

not only help us to know what we ought to do, but also inspires us with love, so that we may carry into effect what we know we ought to do. Instruction in the ideal must be supplemented by power to love the ideal. And that power to love is a gift of God. 1 Augustine is well aware that Juliana's house has been unimpeachably orthodox on the doctrine of the unBut there are other errors most perdivided Trinity.
his excuse for dwelling, on the error before him. To length, deny the source of a gift which comes from God is to do God a wrong, that is to wrong the Holy Trinity. He, therefore, bids Juliana ascertain whether in the book 3 in question, the help of God is anywhere acknowthis

nicious. 2

And

must be

perhaps at

undue

ledged except in the sense of the gift of human nature, or free will, or forgiveness, or revelation of doctrine. 4 Yet the fact is, that we are not only aided by a revelation of truth, but also by an infusion of charity enabling us to perform what we knotv to be our duty. Thus Augustine can only consider this book to be 5 It encourages the religious dangerously misleading. to glory in herself instead of glorying in the Lord. Augustine adds that its author is Pelagius, although the book does not say so. This he gathers from a letter by
;

Pelagius which has come his way. He, therefore, asks Juliana to look into the matter and to acquaint him with the- result of her inquiries.

The
1

Bishop's vigilance and anxiety were
6
2 4

more than

justified.

3
5 6

Letter 188, Letter 1 88, Letter 188,

8.

12.

Letter 188, Letter 188,
40.

10. 13.

14.

See Augustine, De Gratia Christi,

For the contents

of 

LETTERS TO WOMEN

273

Troubles had arisen in a Community of Women over which the Bishop's sister formerly presided. 1 Augustine wrote to Mother Felicitas and the Sisters a letter in which he dwelt on the necessity at times of reproof, and of the spirit in which reproof should be uttered and
received.
If a

person takes offence at being reproved,

and the reprover retaliates, it is plain that the reprover was not qualified to give reproof but rather himself That is the spirit in which requires to be reproved. those in authority must act. They must aim at concord
rather than at getting the better of each other in dispute. As vinegar corrodes a vessel if it continues long, so anger corrodes the heart if it is cherished till the morrow. 2 Augustine also wrote a long letter to the Sisters. He is peculiarly grieved that, just at the very time when Donatists are coming into Unity divisions should break forth in a Monastery within the Church. The Sisters want to displace their Superior. Augustine points out that the present Superior has been there for years she was assistant to his own sister, the former All the present Sisters had been Superior, now dead. received by her, passed their novitiate and taken the
;

vows under her rule. She had successfully governed the House and increased its numbers. Augustine thinks that if the proposal to remove her had come from himself, the Convent would have great reason to deplore it. He exhorts them to submit to her authority. The Bishop proceeds to lay down rules and give advice to the Sisterhood. The House contained Sisters
of widely different social position. He recommends that allowance should be made in the Convent for the wealthier sort, and that they should not be required to forego everything to which they had been accustomed in the world. The life must not be
Pelagius's letter to Demetrias, see Letters on the Doctrine of Grace, p. 126. 1 2 Letter 211, A.D. 423. Letter 210, A.D. 423.
s 

274

THE LETTERS OF

ST.

AUGUSTINE

made unnecessarily hard for them. On the other hand the poorer sort must not expect to find in the Convent indulgence and comforts which they never possessed in the world nor must they give themselves airs because they now associate on terms of equality with persons whom they dared not approach while living in the world. At the same time those who formerly held distinguished positions in the world must avoid pride of social distinction. Pride can so easily vitiate the best of human deeds. The chapel is to be kept exclusively for its sacred Nothing must be permitted there which may purposes. disturb or distract those who enter it to pray. They ought to fast. But only so far as health allows. Those who are unable to fast should not take food except at mealtimes unless, indeed, they are ill. Religious books are to be read to the Sisters at meals. Everything conspicuous in dress or demeanour is to be carefully avoided. They are to warn each other of their faults and to report to the Superior the defects of a Sister who refuses If the offender refuse correction, she to listen to them. must be expelled from the Sisterhood. Augustine regulates the care of the sick members, the charge of the store-room and the library. Manuscripts are to be applied for daily at a fixed hour, and not to be given out at any other time. They are to cultivate mutual forbearance and forgiveness. They are to give obedience to their Superior as a mother. Also they are to obey the presbyter who has charge of them.
:

:

To complete the number of Augustine's letters to women, we must add the short note to the famous
Fabiola (Letter 267).
to S. Paulinus

There are also the

letters written

and

his wife Therasia.

All

these letters imply (what

we know from

sources, such as the Letters of S. Jerome)

other not only a 

LETTERS TO WOMEN
among
the

275

high level of education, but also of theological knowledge
of the early fifth century. Whether writing on Christian ethics to the selfwilled lady Ecdicia, or on the Incarnation to Maxima, or on Novatianism to Seleuciana, or on Pelagianism to Juliana, he certainly does not break the bread of knowledge into any smaller fragments than when he is It is questionable whether the Churchwriting to men. women were not better informed on doctrine than a number of the Churchmen of a corresponding social level. When Augustine wrote to these Roman ladies, he nowhere gives such elementary instruction as he did to Count Boniface, who had to be informed what the difference was between a Donatist and an Arian

women

Augustine

is

(Letter 175).^ And certainly his spiritual letters, such as that to Italica on the Vision of God, or to Proba on Prayer, are as profound as any writings of the kind composed by

Augustine for men. These letters also reveal the extent to which Community life appealed to women of the highest social and intellectual rank of that period.
also that the elaborate refutation of Pelagianism the treatise on the Grace of Christ and on the doctrine of Original Sin, was written for the instruction of Albina, Pinian and Melania.
in

Note 

CHAPTER

IX

LETTERS ON THE EUCHARIST 1
sacramental teaching was largely given the problems created by schism. The question what constituted validity of a Sacrament was forced upon the Church by the theories of the Donatists. Incidentally much had to be taught concerning the sacramental principle in general, and the nature of Baptism and Ordination in particular. The Sacraments, therefore, are discussed all through the letters on the African Church divisions. But there was also much sacramental teaching which clearly would have been given in any case if no divisions had existed. Above all, Augustine has much to say in his letters

AUGUSTINE^

in

discussions on

It seems desirable to collect together the principal features of his instructions on the Sacrament of the Altar. Some insight into the devotional practices of Augustine's times is to be obtained from the letter to a priest named Casulan. 2 Casulan had been reading a work by a priest residing in Rome, whose purpose was to enforce on Christendom the custom prevalent in the local Roman Church of fasting on the Sabbath Day. The author was an ecclesiastic of a narrow type, and a person whose hard aggressive soul exceeded his knowledge. Casulan, who was evidently a little scandalised by the author's arguments, appeals to Augustine

concerning the Eucharist.

1

See

1908.
2

Karl Adam, Die Eucharistie-Lehrc des Darwell Stone, Doctrine of the Eucharist.
276

h.

Augustin.

Letter 36. 

LETTERS ON THE EUCHARIST
for

277

information whether it is lawful to fast on the Sabbath. To this inquiry Augustine sends a long reply. It should be noticed that in this letter the Sabbath and the Lord's Day are never confused. The Sabbath is the Jewish festival, the last day of the week the Lord's Day is the Christian festival, with which the week This distinction is clearly carefully observed begins. by all who were concerned in this discussion. Indeed,
;

the discussion is unintelligible if the Sabbath and the Sunday are identified. To the question, Is it lawful to fast on the Sabbath ? Augustine replies that if it were not, neither Moses nor Elijah nor our Lord during their protracted fasts

would have done so. If any one, therefore, infers that fasting on the Lord's Day must also be permissible, Augustine replies that this cannot be done without
causing scandal to the Church. And here he appeals In those to the principles of custom and tradition. matters concerning which Holy Scripture gives no certain ruling, the custom of the people of God, or the decisions of our forefathers, must be regarded as the law. 1 Now the custom of the Church, excepting the Roman and a few Western communities, was not to fast on the Sabbath. The Church at Rome fasted on Wednesday,
writer argued that three times in the week, otherwise the Christian would be no better than As if, says the Pharisees who only fasted twice. 2 Augustine, the Pharisee was condemned on the ground of the insufficient number of the fast days which he Besides this, adds Augustine sarcastically, the kept. Not Pharisee gave tithes of all that he possessed. many Christians did as much. The Roman writer argued with so little sense of
it

Friday and Saturday.

The Roman
to fast

was necessary

at

least

1

mos
2

In his enim rebus de quibus nihil certi statuit Scriptura divina, populi Dei, vel instituta majorum pro lege tenenda stint. Letter 36, 7. 

278

THE LETTERS OF

ST.

AUGUSTINE

proportion that the logical inference would be that Christians ought 1 to fast on the Lord's Day as well as the Sabbath. Otherwise they paid more deference to the day on which the Lord lay in the grave than to that in which He arose from the dead. The Roman wrote in praise of fasting in extravagant terms. By

food Adam lost Paradise, and Esau his birthright. If, as the Roman asserted, fasting on the Sabbath was the avoidance of all sin, the Lord's Day ought not to be deprived of those advantages. But to argue in such a manner is to scandalise the whole Church, which 2 does not fast on the Lord's Day. When the Apostle said that the Kingdom of God was not food and drink, he was not insisting that it was a Christian obligation to Nor was it a true interpretation fast on the Sabbath. 3 of Scripture to identify fasting with the Sacrifice of Praise. 4 Fasting is a practice confined to certain days and omitted on festivals; but the Sacrifice of Praise was offered by the Universal Church on every day. The Roman pamphleteer reached the extreme of his extravagance when he denounced all who did not fast on the Sabbath, and fulminated against them the woe incurred by all who put bitter for sweet and darkness To which Augustine answers that he instead of light. is not sure what the writer means. But, whatever he means, Casulan must not suppose that the Christian city (urbs Christiana, i.e. Rome) advocates fasting on the Sabbath in such a manner as to condemn the 5 practice of the Christian world (orbis Christianus). But here the Roman author fell back on the authority of S. Peter. Peter himself, who was "the head of the Apostles, doorkeeper of Heaven, and foundation of the 6 Church," had taught this practice of fasting on the Sabbath to the Romans whose faith was proclaimed in the whole orbis terrarum. The story was, that the
1

3 5

Letter 36, Letter 36, Letter 36,

12. 17. 20.

2

4
6

Letter 36, Letter 36, Letter 36,

16.
18.

21. 

LETTERS ON THE EUCHARIST

279

Apostle S. Peter being about to contend with Simon Magus on the Lord's Day fasted on the Saturday with
the Church of the city and that the Roman Church in memory of Peter's triumph continued to observe the Sabbath as a fast, in which practice certain other Western Churches followed them.
;

the

Augustine in reply inquires whether, assuming that Roman custom can be traced to S. Peter, the other

Apostles taught the rest of the Catholic world the If opposite practice in contradiction to S. Peter. the Roman advocate replies 1 that S. James taught the same at Jerusalem, and S. John at Ephesus, as S. Peter taught at Rome, but that all these Churches have departed from their teaching and only the Church at Rome has stood firm, this is only to raise problems it is just as easy to say that which cannot be solved the Western Churches, Rome included, have not kept what the Apostles delivered unto them, and that the Eastern Churches, where the Gospel was first proclaimed, have kept what all the other Apostles together with Peter himself taught them, namely, that they ought not to fast upon the Sabbath. Obviously there is no end to such mutual recriminations. Nothing can come of them but interminable controversy. After all, unity of Faith is consistent with diversity of observances. The King's daughter, i.e. the Church, is all glorious within. But the diversity of observances are but the fringes of the Church's vesture over which there is no necessity to arouse contention. The Roman advocated these claims further by urging that it was the duty of a Christian to be as unlike
;

The Jew by observing the Jew as possible. Sabbath rejected the Lord's Day, how then could a To fast upon the Christian observe the Sabbath? Sabbath commended itself as the plainest revolt from anything Jewish. The old dispensation was gone. Old
the
1

Letter 36,

22. 

2 8o

THE LETTERS OF
passed

ST.

AUGUSTINE
cannot
serve

things had masters.

away.

You

two

The Roman went on to emphasise the differences He maintained that between Israel and the Church. the Jewish Ara had given place to the Christian Altare ; the Jewish Sacrifice of the Flesh to the Christian Sacrifice the Jewish Offering of Blood to the of the Bread Christian Cup. Augustine criticises these distinctions as inaccurate. The name Altare occurs constantly in the Law and
;

The Altare of God stood in the the Prophets. Tabernacle. And the term Ara occurs in the apostolic The Martyrs plead under the Ara Dei writings. There was the shewbread on the (Apoc. vi. 9-10). Table of the Lord in the Jew's religion. And we are now partakers of the Body of the Immaculate Lamb. Accordingly it would be more in harmony with fact if we were to claim that the old had been made new in Christ that one Altare had succeeded to another, one Bread to another, one Lamb to another and Blood to Bread. There had been a transition from the carnal to the spiritual. Thus, whether the Sabbath was kept as a fast or not, the carnal meaning of the day has
;

ceased.

Looking to the New Testament principles as a whole, Augustine says it is clear that fasting is enjoined, but no detailed application of the practice to any specified days is found either in the teaching of* Christ or in that of His Apostles. Fasting on the Lord's Day ought nowhere to be encouraged. It is a mark of the
Manichaean heresy. Augustine says that the reason why the Church fasted on the fourth day of the week is because that was the day on which the Jews took counsel to slay our Lord. 1 The Friday fast requires no explanation. The Sabbath was observed as a feast by those who
1

Letter 36,

30. 

LETTERS ON THE EUCHARIST
thought chiefly of our Lord's
fast