The Confessions of St. Augustin (part 5 of 7)

Notes

1. 677

   See note 3, page 71.

2. 678

   1 Pet. ii. 5.

3. 679

   Ps. vi. 3

4. 680

   Ps. lxxix. 5, 8.

5. 681

   See his Life by St. Athanasius, secs. 2, 3.

6. 682

   Matt. xix. 2l.

7. 683

   Rom. xiii. 13, 14.

8. 684

   Rom. xiv. 1.

9. 685

   Eph. iii. 20.

10. 686

    See book iii. sec. 19.

11. 687

    Ps. xxx. 11.

12. 688

    Ps. cxvi. 16, 17.

13. 689

    Ibid. xxxv. 10.

14. 690

    Ibid. xxxv. 3.

15. 691

    Volebas, though a few mss. have nolebas; and Watts accordingly renders "nilledst."

16. 692

    Matt. xi. 30.

17. 693

    Ps. xix. 14.

18. 694

    Archbishop Trench, in his exposition of the parable of the Hid Treasure, which the man who found sold all that he had to buy, remarks on this passage of the Confessions: "Augustin excellently illustrates from his own experience this part of the parable. Describing the crisis of his own conversion, and how easy he found it, through this joy, to give up all those pleasures of sin that he had long dreaded to be obliged to renounce, which had long held him fast bound in the chains of evil custom, and which if he renounced, it had seemed to him as though life itself would not be worth the living, he exclaims, How sweet did it suddenly become to me,'" etc.

19. 695

    His love of earthly things was expelled by the indwelling love of God, "for," as he says in his De Musica, vi. 52, "the love of the things of time could only be expelled by some sweetness of things eternal." Compare also Dr. Chalmers' sermon on The Expulsive Power of a New Affection (the ninth of his "Commercial Discourses"), where this idea is expanded.

20. 696

    "In harvest and vintage time had the lawyers their vacation. So Minutius Felix. Scholars, their Non Terminus, as here; yea, divinity lectures and catechizings then ceased. So Cyprian, Ep. 2. The law terms gave way also to the great festivals of the Church. Theodosius forbade any process to go out from fifteen days before Easter till the Sunday after. For the four Terms, see Caroli Calvi, Capitula, Act viii. p. 90."—W. W.

21. 697

    Ps. lxxxiv. 6.

22. 698

    Ps. cxx. 3, 4, according to the Old Ver. This passage has many difficulties we need not enter into. The Vulgate, however, we may say, renders verse 3: "Quid detur tibi aut quid apponatur tibi ad linguam dolosam,"—that is, shall be given as a defence against the tongues of evil speakers. In this way Augustin understands it, and in his commentary on this place makes the fourth verse give the answer to the third. Thus, "sharp arrows" he interprets to be the word of God, and "destroying coals" those who, being converted to Him, have become examples to the ungodly.

23. 699

    Rom. xiv. 16.

24. 700

    In his De Vita Beata, sec. 4, and Con. Acad. i. 3, he also alludes to this weakness of his chest. He was therefore led to give up his professorship, partly from this cause, and partly from a desire to devote himself more entirely to God's service. See also p. 115, note.

25. 701

    Ps. xlvi. 10.

26. 702

    See vi. sec. 1, note, above.

27. 703

    Luke xiv. 14.

28. 704

    Ps. cxxv. 2.

29. 705

    Phil. ii. 27.

30. 706

    Literally, In monte incaseato, "the mountain of curds," from the Old Ver. of Ps. lxviii. 16. The Vulgate renders coagulatus. But the Authorized Version is nearer the true meaning, when it renders gvnnym, hunched, as "high." The LXX. renders it teturomenos, condensed, as if from gvynh, cheese. This divergence arises from the unused root gvn, to be curved, having derivatives meaning (1) "hunch-backed," when applied to the body, and (2) "cheese" or "curds," when applied to milk. Augustin, in his exposition of this place, makes the "mountain" to be Christ, and parallels it with Isa. ii. 2; and the "milk" he interprets of the grace that comes from Him for Christ's little ones: Ipse est mons incaseatus, propter parvulos gratia tanquam lacte nutriendos.

31. 707

    See. v. 16, note, above.

32. 708

    See vi. 17, note 6, above.

33. 709

    Though Augustin, in his Quæst. Evang. ii. qu. 38, makes Abraham's bosom to represent the rest into which the Gentiles entered after the Jews had put it from them, yet he, for the most part, in common with the early Church (see Serm. xiv. 3; Con. Faust. xxxiii. 5; and Eps. clxiv. 7, and clxxxvii. Compare also Tertullian, De Anima, lviii), takes it to mean the resting-place of the souls of the righteous after death. Abraham's bosom, indeed, is the same as the "Paradise" of Luke xxiii. 43. The souls of the faithful after they are delivered from the flesh are in "joy and felicity" (De Civ. Dei, i. 13, and xiii. 19); but they will not have "their perfect consummation and bliss both in body and soul" until the morning of the resurrection, when they shall be endowed with "spiritual bodies." See note p. 111; and for the difference between the ades of Luke xvi. 23, that is, the place of departed spirits,—into which it is said in the Apostles' Creed Christ descended,—and geenna, or Hell, see Campbell on The Gospels, i. 253. In the A.V. both Greek words are rendered "Hell."

34. 710

    See sec. 37, note, below.

35. 711

    Ps. xxvii. 8.

36. 712

    As Christ went into the wilderness after His baptism (Matt. iv. 1), and Paul into Arabia after his conversion (Gal. i. 17), so did Augustin here find in his retirement a preparation for his future work. He tells us of this time of his life (De Ordin. i. 6) that his habit was to spend the beginning or end, and often almost half the night, in watching and searching for truth, and says further (ibid. 29), that "he almost daily asked God with tears that his wounds might be healed, and often proved to himself that he was unworthy to be healed as soon as he wished."

37. 713

    These books are (Con. Acad. i. 4) his three disputations Against the Academics, his De Vita Beata, begun (ibid. 6) "Idibus Novembris die ejus natali;" and (Retract. i. 3) his two books De Ordine.

38. 714

    That is, his two books of Soliloquies. In his Retractations, i. 4, sec 1, he tells us that in these books he held an argument,—me interrogans, mihique respondens, tanquam duo essemus, ratio et ego.

39. 715

    Several of these letters to Nebridius will be found in the two vols. of Letters in this series.

40. 716

    Luke iii. 5.

41. 717

    Ps. xxix. 5.

42. 718

    Reference may with advantage be made to Archbishop Trench's Hulsean Lectures (1845), who in his third lect., on "The Manifoldness of Scripture," adverts to this very passage, and shows in an interesting way how the Psalms have ever been to the saints of God, as Luther said, "a Bible in little," affording satisfaction to their needs in every kind of trial, emergency, and experience.

43. 719

    Ps. xix. 6.

44. 720

    Ps. iv. 1.

45. 721

    Ibid. ver. 23.

46. 722

    Eph. i. 20.

47. 723

    Luke xxiv. 49.

48. 724

    John xiv. 16, 17.

49. 725

    Acts ii. 1-4.

50. 726

    John vii. 39.

51. 727

    Ps. iv. 1.

52. 728

    See v. 16, note, above.

53. 729

    Rom. viii. 34.

54. 730

    Eph. iv. 26.

55. 731

    See iv. 26, note, above.

56. 732

    Rom. ii. 5.

57. 733

    Ps. iv. 6.

58. 734

    See v. 12, note, above.

59. 735

    Ps. iv. 6.

60. 736

    Ibid.

61. 737

    John i. 9.

62. 738

    Eph. v. 8.

63. 739

    Internum æternum, but some mss. read internum lumen æternum.

64. 740

    Ps. iv. 5.

65. 741

    Ps. iv. 7.

66. 742

    That is, lest they should distract him from the true riches. For, as he says in his exposition of the fourth Psalm, "Cum dedita temporalibus voluptatibus anima semper exardescit cupiditate, nec satiari potest." He knew that the prosperity of the soul (3 John 2) might be injuriously affected by the prosperity of the body; and disregarding the lower life (bios) and its "worldly goods," he pressed on to increase the treasure he had within,—the true life (zoe) which he had received from God. See also Enarr. in Ps. xxxviii. 6.

67. 743

    Ps. iv. 7.

68. 744

    Ibid. ver. 8, Vulg.

69. 745

    Ps. iv. 8; in his comment whereon, Augustin applies this passage as above.

70. 746

    1 Cor. xv. 54.

71. 747

    Ps. iv. 9, Vulg.

72. 748

    Compare the beautiful Talmudical legend quoted by Jeremy Taylor (Works, viii. 397, Eden's ed.), that of the two archangels, Gabriel and Michael, Gabriel has two wings that he may "fly swiftly" (Dan. ix. 21) to bring the message of peace, while Michael has but one, that he may labour in his flight when he comes forth on his ministries of justice.

73. 749

    In his Soliloquies (see note, sec. 7, above), he refers in i. 21 to this period. He there tells us that his pain was so great that it prevented his learning anything afresh, and only permitted him to revolve in his mind what he had already learnt. Compare De Quincey's description of the agonies he had to endure from tooth ache in his Confessions of an Opium Eater.

74. 750

    That is, on the waxen tablet used by the ancients. The iron stilus, or pencil, used for writing, was pointed at one end and flattened at the other—the flattened circular end being used to erase the writing by smoothing down the wax. Hence vertere stilum signifies to put out or correct. See sec. 19, below.

75. 751

    Antistiti.

76. 752

    In his De Civ. Dei, xviii. 29, he likewise alludes to the evangelical character of the writings of Isaiah.

77. 753

    "They were baptized at Easter, and gave up their names before the second Sunday in Lent, the rest of which they were to spend in fasting, humility, prayer, and being examined in the scrutinies (Tertull. Lib. de Bapt. c. 20). Therefore went they to Milan, that the bishop might see their preparation. Adjoining to the cathedrals were there certain lower houses for them to lodge and be exercised in, till the day of baptism" (Euseb. x. 4).—W. W. See also Bingham, x. 2, sec. 6; and above, note 4, p. 89; note 4, p. 118, and note 8, p. 118.

78. 754

    In his De Vita Beata, sec. 6, he makes a similar illusion to the genius of Adeodatus.

79. 755

    This book, in which he and his son are the interlocutors, will be found in vol. i. of the Benedictine edition, and is by the editors assumed to be written about A.D. 389. Augustin briefly gives its argument in his Retractations, i. 12. He says: "There it is disputed, sought, and discovered that there is no master who teaches man knowledge save God, as it is written in the gospel (Matt. xxiii. 10), One is your Master, even Christ.'"

80. 756

    He was baptized by Ambrose, and tradition says, as he came out of the water, they sang alternate verses of the Te Deum (ascribed by some to Ambrose), which, in the old offices of the English Church is called "The Song of Ambrose and Augustin." In his Con. Julian. Pelag. i. 10, he speaks of Ambrose as being one whose devoted labours and perils were known throughout the whole Roman world, and says: "In Christo enim Jesu per evangelium ipse me genuit, et eo Christi ministro lavacrum regenerationis accepti." See also the last sec. of his De Nupt. et Concup., and Ep. cxlvii. 23. In notes 3, p. 50, and 4, p. 89, will be found references to the usages of the early Church as to baptism.

81. 757

    The Bishop of Milan who preceded Ambrose was an Arian, and though Valentinian the First approved the choice of Ambrose as bishop, Justina, on his death, greatly troubled the Church. Ambrose subsequently had great influence over both Valentinian the Second and his brother Gratian. The persecution referred to above, says Pusey, was "to induce him to give up to the Arians a church,—the Portian Basilica without the walls; afterwards she asked for the new Basilica within the walls, which was larger." See Ambrose, Epp. 20-22; Serm. c. Auxentium de Basilicis Tradendis, pp. 852-880, ed. Bened.; cf. Tillemont, Hist. Eccl. St. Ambroise, art. 44-48, pp. 76-82. Valentinian was then at Milan. See next sec., the beginning of note.

82. 758

    Antistiti.

83. 759

    Augustin alludes to this, amongst other supposed miracles, in his De Civ. Dei, xxii. 8; and again in Serm. cclxxxvi. sec. 4, where he tells us that the man, after being cured, made a vow that he would for the remainder of his life serve in that Basilica where the bodies of the martyrs lay. St. Ambrose also examines the miracle at great length in one of his sermons. We have already referred in note 5, p. 69 to the origin of these false miracles in the early Church. Lecture vi. series 2, of Blunt's Lectures on the Right Use of the Early Fathers, is devoted to an examination of the various passages in the Ante-Nicene Fathers where the continuance of miracles in the Church is either expressed or implied. The reader should also refer to the note on p. 485 of vol. ii. of the City of God, in this series.

84. 760

    Ps. cxvi. 15.

85. 761

    Cant. i. 3, 4.

86. 762

    Ps. lxviii. 6.

87. 763

    See viii. sec. 15, note, above.

88. 764

    We find from his Retractations (i. 7, sec. 1), that at this time he wrote his De Moribus Ecclesiæ Catholicæ and his De Moribus Manichæorum. He also wrote (ibid. 8, sec. I) his De Animæ Quantitate, and (ibid. 9, sec. I) his three books De Libero Arbitrio.

89. 765

    In his De Vita Beata and in his De Dono Persev. he attributes all that he was to his mother's tears and prayers.

90. 766

    Ecclus. xix. 1. Augustin frequently alludes to the subtle power of little things. As when he says,—illustrating (Serm. cclxxviii.) by the plagues of Egypt,—tiny insects, if they be numerous enough, will be as harmful as the bite of great beasts; and (Serm. lvi.) a hill of sand, though composed of tiny grains, will crush a man as surely as the same weight of lead. Little drops (Serm. lviii.) make the river, and little leaks sink the ship; wherefore, he urges, little things must not be despised. "Men have usually," says Sedgwick in his Anatomy of Secret Sins, "been first wading in lesser sins who are now swimming in great transgressions." It is in the little things of evil that temptation has its greatest strength. The snowflake is little and not to be accounted of, but from its multitudinous accumulation results the dread power of the avalanche. Satan often seems to act as it is said Pompey did, when he could not gain entrance to a city. He persuaded the citizens to admit a few of his weak and wounded soldiers, who, when they had become strong, opened the gates to his whole army. But if little things have such subtlety in temptation, they have likewise higher ministries. The Jews, in their Talmudical writings, have many parables illustrating how God by little things tries and proves men to see if they are fitted for greater things. They say, for example, that He tried David when keeping sheep in the wilderness, to see whether he would be worthy to rule over Israel, the sheep of his inheritance. See Ch. Schoettgen, Hor. Heb. et Talmud, i. 300.

91. 767

    "Animam oportet assiduis saliri tentationibus,' says St. Ambrose. Some errors and offences do rub salt upon a good man's integrity, that it may not putrefy with presumption."—Bishop Hacket's Sermons, p 210.

92. 768

    Not only is this true in private, but in public concerns. Even in the crucifixion of our Lord, the wicked rulers did (Acts. iv. 26) what God's hand and God's counsel had before determined to be done. Perhaps by reason of His infinite knowledge it is that God, who knows our thoughts long before (Ps. cxxxix. 2, 4), weaves man's self-willed purposes into the pattern which His inscrutable providence has before ordained. Or, to use Augustin's own words (De Civ. Dei, xxii. 2), "It is true that wicked men do many things contrary to God's will; but so great is His wisdom and power, that all things which seem adverse to His purpose do still tend towards those just and good ends and issues which He Himself has foreknown."

93. 769

    That is, not only from the time of actual marriage, but from the time of betrothal, when the contract was written upon tablets (see note 10, p. 133), and signed by the contracting parties. The future wife was then called sponsa sperata or pacta. Augustin alludes to this above (vii. sec. 7), when he says, "It is also the custom that the affianced bride (pactæ sponsæ) should not immediately be given up, that the husband may not less esteem her whom, as betrothed, he longed not for" (non suspiraverit sponsus). It should be remembered, in reading this section, that women amongst the Romans were not confined after the Eastern fashion of the Greeks to separate apartments, but had charge of the domestic arrangements and the training of the children.

94. 770

    1 Tim. v. 4, 9, 10, 14.

95. 771

    Gal. iv. 19.

96. 772

    1 Thess. iv. 14.

97. 773

    Phil. iii. 13.

98. 774

    1 Cor. ii. 9.; Isa. lxiv. 4.

99. 775

    Ps. xxxvi. 9.

100. 776

     Ps. iv. 8, Vulg.

101. 777

     Ps. lxxx. 5.

102. 778

     Rom. viii. 23.

103. 779

     Wisd. vii. 27.

104. 780

     Matt. xxv. 21.

105. 781

     1 Cor. xv. 51, however, is, "we shall all be changed."

106. 782

     Dean Stanley (Canterbury Sermons, serm. 10) draws the following, amongst other lessons, from God's dealings with Augustin. "It is an example," he says, "like the conversion of St. Paul, of the fact that from time to time God calls His servants not by gradual, but by sudden changes. These conversions are, it is true, the exceptions and not the rule of Providence, but such examples as Augustin show us that we must acknowledge the truth of the exceptions when they do occur. It is also an instance how, even in such sudden conversions, previous good influences have their weight. The prayers of his mother, the silent influence of his friend, the high character of Ambrose, the preparation for Christian truth in the writings of heathen philosophers, were all laid up, as it were, waiting for the spark, and, when it came, the fire flashed at once through every corner of his soul."

107. 783

     For this would be to sorrow as those that have no hope. Chrysostom accordingly frequently rebukes the Roman custom of hiring persons to wail for the dead (see e.g. Hom. xxxii. in Matt.); and Augustin in Serm. 2 of his De Consol. Mor. makes the same objection, and also reproves those Christians who imitated the Romans in wearing black as the sign of mourning. But still (as in his own case on the death of his mother) he admits that there is a grief at the departure of friends that is both natural and seemly. In a beautiful passage in his De Civ. Dei (xix. 8), he says: "That he who will have none of this sadness must, if possible, have no friendly intercourse....Let him burst with ruthless insensibility the bonds of every human relationship;" and he continues: "Though the cure is effected all the more easily and rapidly the better condition the soul is in, we must not on this account suppose that there is nothing at all to heal." See p. 140, note 2, below.

108. 784

     1 Tim. i. 5.

109. 785

     Ps. ci. 1. "I suppose they continued to the end of Psalm cii. This was the primitive fashion; Nazianzen says that his speechless sister Gorgonia's lips muttered the fourth Psalm: I will lie down in peace and sleep.' As St. Austen lay a dying, the company prayed (Possid.). That they had prayers between the departure and burial, see Tertull. De Anima, c. 51. They used to sing both at the departure and burial. Nazianzen, Orat. 10, says, the dead Cæsarius was carried from hymns to hymns. The priests were called to sing (Chrysost. Hom. 70, ad Antioch). They sang the 116th Psalm usually (see Chrysost. Hom. 4, in c. 2, ad Hebræos)."—W. W. See also note 13, p. 141, below.

110. 786

     In addition to the remarks quoted in note 1, see Augustin's recognition of the naturalness and necessity of exercising human affections, such as sorrow, in his De Civ. Dei, xiv. 9.

111. 787

     "Here my Popish translator says, that the sacrifice of the mass was offered for the dead. That the ancients had communion with their burials, I confess. But for what? (1) To testify their dying in the communion of the Church. (2) To give thanks for their departure. (3) To Pray God to give them place in His Paradise, (4) and a part in the first resurrection; but not as a propitiatory sacrifice to deliver them out of purgatory, which the mass is now only meant for."—W. W. See also note 13, p. 141.

112. 788

     Ps. lxviii. 5.

113. 789

     Rendered as follows in a translation of the first ten books of the Confessions, described on the title-page as "Printed by J. C., for John Crook, and are to be sold at the sign of the Ship,' in St. Paul's Churchyard. 1660":—"O God, the world's great Architect, Who dost heaven's rowling orbs direct; Cloathing the day with beauteous light, And with sweet slumbers silent night; When wearied limbs new vigour gain From rest, new labours to sustain, When hearts oppressed do meet relief, And anxious minds forget their grief." See x. sec. 52, below, where this hymn is referred to.

114. 790

     Rom. viii. 7.

115. 791

     1 Cor. xv. 22. The universalists of every age have interpreted the word "all" here so as to make salvation by Christ Jesus extend to every child of Adam. If their interpretation were true, Monica's spirit need not have been troubled at the thought of the danger of unregenerate souls. But Augustin in his De Civ. Dei, xiii. 23, gives the import of the word: "Not that all who die in Adam shall be members of Christ—for the great majority shall be punished in eternal death,—but he uses the word all' in both clauses because, as no one dies in an animal body except in Adam, so no one is quickened a spiritual body save in Christ." See x. sec. 68, note 1, below.

116. 792

     For to have done so would have been to go perilously near to the heresy of the Pelagians, who laid claim to the possibility of attaining perfection in this life by the power of free-will, and without the assistance of divine grace; and went even so far, he tells us (Ep. clxxvi. 2), as to say that those who had so attained need not utter the petition for forgiveness in the Lord's Prayer,—ut ei non sit jam necessarium dicere "Dimitte nobis debita nostra." Those in our own day who enunciate perfectionist theories,—though, it is true, not denying the grace of God as did these,—may well ponder Augustin's forcible words in his De Pecc. Mer. et Rem. iii. 13: "Optandum est ut fiat, conandum est ut fiat, supplicandum est ut fiat; non tamen quasi factum fuerit, confitendum." We are indeed commanded to be perfect (Matt. v. 48); and the philosophy underlying the command is embalmed in the words of the proverb, "Aim high, and you will strike high." But he who lives nearest to God will have the humility of heart which will make him ready to confess that in His sight he is a "miserable sinner." Some interesting remarks on this subject will be found in Augustin's De Civ. Dei, xiv. 9, on the text, "If we say we have no sin," etc. (1 John i. 8.) On sins after baptism, see note on next section.

117. 793

     Matt. xii. 36.

118. 794

     Matt. v. 22.

119. 795

     There is a passage parallel to this in his Ep. to Sextus (cxciv. 19). "Merits" therefore would appear to be used simply in the sense of good actions. Compare sec. 17, above, xiii. sec. 1, below, and Ep. cv. That righteousness is not by merit, appears from Ep. cxciv.; Ep. clxxvii., to Innocent; and Serm.ccxciii.

120. 796

     2 Cor. x. 17.

121. 797

     Rom. viii. 34.

122. 798

     Matt. xviii. 35.

123. 799

     Matt. vi. 12. Augustin here as elsewhere applies this petition in the Lord's Prayer to the forgiveness of sins after baptism. He does so constantly. For example, in his Ep. cclxv. he says: "We do not ask for those to be forgiven which we doubt not were forgiven in baptism; but those which, though small, are frequent, and spring from the frailty of human nature." Again, in his Con Ep. Parmen. ii. 10, after using almost the same words, he points out that it is a prayer against daily sins; and in his De Civ. Dei, xxi. 27, where he examines the passage in relation to various erroneous beliefs, he says it "was a daily prayer He [Christ] was teaching, and it was certainly to disciples already justified He was speaking. What, then, does He mean by your sins' (Matt. vi. 14), but those sins from which not even you who are justified and sanctified can be free?" See note on the previous section; and also for the feeling in the early Church as to sins after baptism, the note on i. sec. 17, above.

124. 800

     Ps. cxliii. 2.

125. 801

     Jas. ii. 13.

126. 802

     Matt. v. 7.

127. 803

     Rom. ix. 15.

128. 804

     Ps. cxix. 108.

129. 805

     See v. sec. 17, above.

130. 806

     Col. ii. 14.

131. 807

     See his De Trin. xiii. 18, the passage beginning, "What then is the righteousness by which the devil was conquered?"

132. 808

     John xiv. 30.

133. 809

     Ps. xci. 13.

134. 810

     Matt. ix. 2.

135. 811

     Luke viii. 15.

136. 812

     The origin of prayers for the dead dates back probably to the close of the second century. In note 1, p. 90, we have quoted from Tertullian's De Corona Militis, where he says "Oblationes pro defunctis pro natalitiis annua die facimus." In his De Monogamia, he speaks of a widow praying for her departed husband, that "he might have rest, and be a partaker in the first resurrection." From this time a catena of quotations from the Fathers might be given, if space permitted, showing how, beginning with early expressions of hope for the dead, there, in process of time, arose prayers even for the unregenerate, until at last there was developed purgatory on the one side, and creature-worship on the other. That Augustin did not entertain the idea of creature-worship will be seen from his Ep. to Maximus, xvii. 5. In his De Dulcit. Quæst. 2 (where he discusses the whole question), he concludes that prayer must not be made for all, because all have not led the same life in the flesh. Still, in his Enarr. in Ps. cviii. 17, he argues from the case of the rich man in the parable, that the departed do certainly "have a care for us." Aërius, towards the close of the fourth century, objected to prayers for the dead, chiefly on the ground (see Usher's Answer to a Jesuit, iii. 258) of their uselessness. In the Church of England, as will be seen by reference to Keeling's Liturgicæ Britannicæ, pp. 210, 335, 339, and 341, prayers for the dead were eliminated from the second Prayer Book; and to the prudence of this step Palmer bears testimony in his Origines Liturgicæ, iv. 10, justifying it on the ground that the retaining of these prayers implied a belief in her holding the doctrine of purgatory. Reference may be made to Epiphanius, Adv. Hær. 75; Bishop Bull, Sermon 3; and Bingham, xv. 3, secs. 15, 16, and xxiii. 3, sec. 13.

137. 813

     1 Cor. xiii. 12.

138. 814

     Eph. v. 27.

139. 815

     Ps. cxvi. 10.

140. 816

     Ps. 1i. 6.

141. 817

     John iii. 20.

142. 818

     Heb. iv. 13.

143. 819

     Ps. v. 12.

144. 820

     Rom. iv. 5.

145. 821

     Ps. ciii. 3.

146. 822

     1 Cor. ii. 11.

147. 823

     1 Cor. xiii. 7.

148. 824

     Ps. xxxii. 1.

149. 825

     2 Cor. xii. 10.

150. 826

     2 Cor. i. 11.

151. 827

     Ps. cxliv. 11.

152. 828

     In note 9, p. 79, we have seen how God makes man's sin its own punishment. Reference may also be made to Augustin's Con. Advers. Leg. et Proph. i. 14, where he argues that "the punishment of a man's disobedience is found in himself, when he in his turn cannot get obedience even from himself." And again, in his De Lib. Arb. v. 18, he says, God punishes by taking from him that which he does not use well, "et qui recte facere cum possit noluit amittat posse cum velit." See also Serm. clxxi. 4, and Ep. cliii.

153. 829

     Rev. viii. 3.

154. 830

     Ps. li. l.

155. 831

     Ps. xxv. 11.

156. 832

     Ps. ii. 11.

157. 833

     2 Cor. xii. 9.

158. 834

     1 Cor. iv. 3.

159. 835

     1 Cor. iv. 4.

160. 836

     1 Cor. ii. 11.

161. 837

     Gen. xviii. 27.

162. 838

     1 Cor. xiii. 12.

163. 839

     2 Cor. v. 6.

164. 840

     See Nebridius' argument against the Manichæans, as to God's not being violable, in vii. sec. 3, above, and the note thereon.

165. 841

     See his Enarr. in Ps. lv. 8 and xciii. 19, where he beautifully describes how the winds and waves of temptation will be stilled if Christ be present in the ship. See also Serm. lxiii.; and Eps. cxxx. 22, and clxxvii. 4.

166. 842

     1 Cor. x. 13.

167. 843

     Isa. lviii. 10.

168. 844

     Rom. i. 20.

169. 845

     Rom. ix. 15.

170. 846

     Anaximenes of Miletus was born about 520 B.C. According to his philosophy the air was animate, and from it, as from a first principle, all things in heaven, earth, and sea sprung, first by condensation (puknosis), and after that by a process of rarefaction (araiosis). See Ep. cxviii. 23; and Aristotle, Phys. iii. 4. Compare this theory and that of Epicurus (p. 100, above) with those of modern physicists; and see thereon The Unseen Universe, arts. 85, etc., and 117, etc.

171. 847

     In Ps. cxliv. 13, the earth he describes as "dumb," but as speaking to us while we meditate upon its beauty—Ipsa inquisitio interrogatio est.

172. 848

     Rom. i. 20.

173. 849

     See note 2 to previous section.

174. 850

     Ps. xxxii. 9.

175. 851

     Colligitur.

176. 852

     Cogitur.

177. 853

     Cogitari.

178. 854

     Luke xv. 8.

179. 855

     See note, p. 75, above.

180. 856

     Amos v. 4.

181. 857

     1 Cor. xv. 22; see p. 140, note 3, and note p. 73, above.

182. 858

     That is, as knowing Latin.

183. 859

     Isa. xlviii. 22.

184. 860

     Since "life eternal is the supreme good," as he remarks in his De Civ. Dei, xix. 4. Compare also ibid. viii. sec. 8, where he argues that the highest good is God, and that he who loves Him is in the enjoyment of that good. See also note on the chief good, p. 75, above.

185. 861

     Gal. v. 17.

186. 862

     See viii. sec. 20, above.

187. 863

     John xiv. 6.

188. 864

     Ps. xxvii. 1.

189. 865

     Ps. xlii. 11.

190. 866

     See sec. 29, above.

191. 867

     John xii. 35.

192. 868

     "Veritas parit odium." Compare Terence, Andria, i. 1, 41: "Obsequiam amicos, veritas odium parit."

193. 869

     John viii. 40.

194. 870

     See iv. c. 12, and vii. c. 10, above.

195. 871

     In connection with Augustin's views as to memory, Locke's Essay on the Human Understanding, ii. 10, and Stewart's Philosophy of the Human Mind, c. 6, may be profitably consulted.

196. 872

     Job xxiii. 8.

197. 873

     See p. 74, note 1, above.

198. 874

     Job vii. 1. The Old Ver. rendering tsv' by tentatio, after the LXX. peiraterion. The Vulg. has militia, which ="warfare" in margin of A.V.

199. 875

     "It will not be safe," says Anthony Farindon (vol. iv. Christ's Temptation, serm. 107), "for us to challenge and provoke a temptation, but to arm and prepare ourselves against it; to stand upon our guard, and neither to offer battle nor yet refuse it. Sapiens feret ista, non eliget: It is the part of a wise man not to seek for evil, but to endure it.' And to this end it concerneth every man to exercise ten pneumatiken sunesin, his spiritual wisdom,' that he may discover Spiritus ductiones et diaboli seductiones, the Spirit's leadings and the devil's seducements.'" See also Augustin's Serm. lxxvi. 4, and p. 79, note 9, above.

200. 876

     We have ever to endure temptation, either in the sense of a testing, as when it is said, "God did tempt Abraham" (Gen. xxii. 1); or with the additional idea of yielding to the temptation, and so committing sin, as in the use of the word in the Lord's Prayer (Matt. vi. 13); for, as Dyke says in his Michael and the Dragon (Works, i. 203, 204): "No sooner have we bathed and washed our souls in the waters of Repentance, but we must presently expect the fiery darts of Satan's temptations to be driving at us. What we get and gain from Satan by Repentance, he seeks to regain and recover by his Temptations. We must not think to pass quietly out of Egypt without Pharaoh's pursuit, nor to travel the wilderness of this world without the opposition of the Amalekites." Compare Augustin, In Ev. Joann. Tract. xliii. 6, and Serm. lvii. 9. See also p. 79, note 3, above.

201. 877

     In his 38th Sermon, he distinguishes between continentia and sustinentia; the first guarding us from the allurements of worldliness and sin, while the second enables us to endure the troubles of life.

202. 878

     Wisd. viii. 21.

203. 879

     In his De Trin. ix. 13 ("In what desire and love differ"), he says, that when the creature is loved for itself, and the love of it is not referred to its Creator, it is desire (cupiditas) and not true love. See also p. 129, note 8, above.

204. 880

     1 John ii. 16. Dilating on Ps. viii. he makes these three roots of sin to correspond to the threefold nature of our Lord's temptation in the wilderness. See also p. 80, note 5, above.

205. 881

     In Augustin's view, then, dreams appear to result from our thoughts and feelings when awake. In this he has the support of Aristotle (Ethics, i. 13), as also that of Solomon, who says (Eccles. v. 3), "A dream cometh through the multitude of business." An apt illustration of this is found in the life of the great Danish sculptor, Thorwaldsen. It is said that he could not satisfy himself with his models for The Christ, in the Frauenkirche at Copenhagen,—as Da Vinci before him was never able to paint the face of the Christ in His noble fresco of the Last Supper,—and that it was only in consequence of a dream (that dream doubtless the result of his stedfast search for an ideal) that this great work was accomplished. But see Ep. clix.

206. 882

     Ps. ciii. 3.

207. 883

     Eph. iii. 20.

208. 884

     Ps. ii. 11.

209. 885

     See note 4, p. 140, above.

210. 886

     1 Cor. xv. 54.

211. 887

     Matt. vi. 34.

212. 888

     1 Cor. xv. 54.

213. 889

     In Augustin's time, and indeed till the Council of Orleans, A.D. 538, fasting appears to have been left pretty much to the individual conscience. We find Tertullian in his De Jejunio lamenting the slight observance it received during his day. We learn, however, from the passage in Justin Martyr, quoted in note 4, on p. 118, above, that in his time it was enjoined as a preparation for Baptism.

214. 890

     1 Cor. ix. 27.

215. 891

     Luke xxi. 34.

216. 892

     Wisd. viii. 21.

217. 893

     Ecclus. xviii. 30.

218. 894

     1 Cor. viii. 8.

219. 895

     Phil. iv. 11-14.

220. 896

     Ps. ciii. 14.

221. 897

     Gen. iii. 19.

222. 898

     Luke xv. 32.

223. 899

     Phil. iv. 13.

224. 900

     In his De Dono Persev. sec. 53, he tells us that these words were quoted to Pelagius, when at Rome, by a certain bishop, and that they excited him to contradict them so warmly as nearly to result in a rupture between Pelagius and the bishop.

225. 901

     1 Cor. i. 31.

226. 902

     Ecclus. xxiii. 6.

227. 903

     Titus i. 15.

228. 904

     Rom. xiv. 20.

229. 905

     1 Tim. iv. 4.

230. 906

     1 Cor. viii. 8.

231. 907

     Col. ii. 16.

232. 908

     Rom. xiii. 23.

233. 909

     He here refers to the doctrine of the Manichæans in the matter of eating flesh. In his De Mor. Manich. secs. 36, 37, he discusses the prohibition of flesh to the "Elect." From Ep. ccxxxvi. we find that the "Hearers" had not to practice abstinence from marriage and from eating flesh. For other information on this subject, see notes, pp. 66 and 83.

234. 910

     Gen. ix. 3.

235. 911

     1 Kings xvii. 6.

236. 912

     Matt. iii. 4.

237. 913

     Gen. xxv. 34.

238. 914

     2 Sam. xxiii. 15-17.

239. 915

     Matt. iv. 3.

240. 916

     Num. xi.

241. 917

     So all God's gifts are to be used, but not abused; and those who deny the right use of any, do so by virtually accepting the principle of asceticism. As Augustin, in his De Mor. Ecc. Cath. sec. 39, says of all transient things, we "should use them as far as is required for the purposes and duties of life, with the moderation of an employer instead of the ardour of a lover."

242. 918

     Luke v. 8.

243. 919

     John xvi. 33.

244. 920

     Rom. viii. 34.

245. 921

     1 Cor. xii. 22.

246. 922

     Ps. cxxxix. 16; he similarly applies this passage when commenting on it in Ps. cxxxviii. 21, and also in Serm. cxxxv.

247. 923

     "For some," says Thomas Taylor (Works, vol. I. "Christ's Temptation," p. 11), "through vain prefidence of God's protection, run in times of contagion into infected houses, which upon just calling a man may: but for one to run out of his calling in the way of an ordinary visitation, he shall find that God's angels have commission to protect him no longer than he is in his way (Ps. xci. 11), and that being out of it, this arrow of the Lord shall sooner hit him than another that is not half so confident." We should not, as Fuller quaintly says, "hollo in the ears of a sleeping temptation;" and when we are tempted, let us remember that if (Hibbert, Syntagma Theologicum, p. 342) "a giant knock while the door is shut, he may with ease be still kept out; but if once open, that he gets in but a limb of himself, then there is no course left to keep out the remaining bulk." See also Augustin on Peter's case, De Corrept. et Grat. c. 9.

248. 924

     Job vii. 1, Old Vers. See p. 153, note 1.

249. 925

     Ps. vi. 2.

250. 926

     Ps. lxxvii. 10.

251. 927

     1 John ii. 16.

252. 928

     2 Cor. v. 2.

253. 929

     Gen. i. 31.

254. 930

     Tobit iv.

255. 931

     Gen. xxvii. 1.

256. 932

     Gen. xlviii. 13-19.

257. 933

     From the beginning of the hymn of St. Ambrose, part of which is quoted, ix. sec. 32, above.

258. 934

     Assumunt eam, in hymno tuo, non absumuntur ab ea.

259. 935

     Ps. xxv. 15.

260. 936

     Ps. cxxi. 4.

261. 937

     Sanctificatori meo, but some mss. have sacreficatori.

262. 938

     See xi. sec. 7, and note, below.

263. 939

     See note 6, sec. 40, above.

264. 940

     Ps. lviii. 10, Vulg.

265. 941

     Ps. xxvi. 3.

266. 942

     Ps. lxiii. 27.

267. 943

     1 John ii. 16.

268. 944

     Augustin's great end was to attain the knowledge of God. Hence, in his Soliloquia, i. 7, we read: "Deum et animam scire cupio. Nihilne plus? Nihil omnino." And he only esteemed the knowledge of physical laws so far as they would lead to Him. (See v. sec. 7, above, and the note there.) In his De Ordine, ii. 14, 15, etc., writing at the time of his conversion, he had contended that the knowledge of the liberal sciences would lead to a knowledge of the divine wisdom; but in his Retractations (i. 3, sec. 2) he regrets this, pointing out that while many holy men have not this knowledge, many who have it are not holy. Compare also Enchir. c. 16; Serm. lxviii. 1, 2; and De Civ. Dei, ix. 22.

269. 945

     John xxi. 22.

270. 946

     In allusion to those venatios, or hunting scenes, in which the less savage animals were slain. These were held in the circus, which was sometimes planted for the occasion, so as to resemble a forest. See Smith's Greek and Roman Antiquities, under "Venatio," and vi. sec. 13, note, above.

271. 947

     Ps. ciii. 3-5.

272. 948

     Matt. xi. 30.

273. 949

     Jas. iv. 6.

274. 950

     Ps. xviii. 7.

275. 951

     Isa. xiv. 13, 14.

276. 952

     Luke xii. 32.

277. 953

     Ps. x. 3, in Vulg. and LXX.

278. 954

     Isa. xlviii. 10, and Prov. xxvii. 21.

279. 955

     Lam. iii. 48.

280. 956

     Ps. xix. 12. See note 5, page 47, above.

281. 957

     In his De Vera Relig. sec. 92, he points out that adversity also, when it comes to a good man, will disclose to him how far his heart is set on worldly things: "Hoc enim sine amore nostro aderat, quod sine dolore discedit."

282. 958

     1 John ii. 16. See beginning of sec. 41, above.

283. 959

     Lev. xix. 18. See book xii. secs. 35, 41, below.

284. 960

     It may be well, in connection with the striking piece of soul-anatomy in this and the last two sections, to advert to other passages in which Augustin speaks of the temptation arising from the praise of men. In Serm. cccxxxix. 1, he says that he does not altogether dislike praise when it comes from the good, though feeling it to be a snare, and does not reject it: "Ne ingrati sint quibus prædico." That is, as he says above, he accepted it for his "neighbour's good," since, had his neighbour not been ready to give praise, it would have indicated a wrong condition of heart in him. We are, therefore, as he argues in his De Serm. Dom. in Mon. ii. 1, 2, 6, to see that the design of our acts be not that men should see and praise us (compare also Enarr. in Ps. lxv. 2). If they praise us it is well, since it shows that their heart is right; but if we "act rightly only because of the praise of men" (Matt. vi. 2, 5), we seek our own glory and not that of God. See also Serms. xciii. 9, clix. 10, etc.; and De Civ. Dei, v. 13, 14.

285. 961

     Gal. vi. 3.

286. 962

     1 John i. 8.

287. 963

     Ps. cxli. 5, according to the Vulg. and LXX. The Authorized Version (with which the Targum is in accord) gives the more probable sense, when it makes the oil to be that of the righteous and not that of the sinner: "Let the righteous smite me, it shall be a kindness; and let him reprove me, it shall be an excellent oil, which shall not break my head."

288. 964

     Ps. cix. 22.

289. 965

     See his De Civ. Dei, v. 20, where he compares the truly pious man, who attributes all his good to God's mercy, "giving thanks for what in him is healed, and pouring out prayers for the healing of that which is yet unhealed," with the philosophers who make their chief end pleasure or human glory.

290. 966

     See xii. sec. 35, below.

291. 967

     See ix. sec. 10, note, above, and xi. sec. 39, below.

292. 968

     Heb. xii. 1.

293. 969

     See p. 153, note 7, above.

294. 970

     Ps. xxxi. 22.

295. 971

     It would be easy so to do, since even amongst believers, as we find from Evodius' letter to Augustin (Ep. clvi.), there was a prevalent belief that the blessed dead visited the earth, and that visions had an important bearing on human affairs. See also Augustin's answer to Evodius, in Ep. clix.; Chrysostom, De Sacer. vi. 4; and on Visions, see sec. 41, note, above.

296. 972

     Eph. ii. 2.

297. 973

     See note 5, p. 69, above.

298. 974

     2 Cor. xi. 14.

299. 975

     In his De Civ. Dei, x. 24, in speaking of the Incarnation of Christ as a mystery unintelligible to Porphyry's pride, he has a similar passage, in which he speaks of the "true and benignant Mediator," and the "malignant and deceitful mediators." See vii. sec. 24, above.

300. 976

     Rom. vi. 23.

301. 977

     See notes 3, p. 71, and 9 and 11, p. 74, above.

302. 978

     1 Tim. ii. 5.

303. 979

     Not that our Lord is to be supposed, as some have held, to have been under the law of death in Adam, because "in Adam all die" (1 Cor. xv. 22; see the whole of c. 23, in De Civ. Dei, xiii, and compare ix. sec. 34, note 3, above); for he says in Serm. ccxxxii. 5: "As there was nothing in us from which life could spring, so there was nothing in Him from which death could come." He laid down His life (John x. 18), and as being partaker of the divine nature, could see no corruption (Acts ii. 27). This is the explanation Augustin gives in his comment on Ps. lxxxv. 5 (quoted in the next section) of Christ's being "free among the dead." So also in his De Trin. xiii. 18, he says he was thus free because "solus enim a debito mortis liber est mortuus." The true analogy between the first and second Adam is surely then to be found in our Lord's being free from the law of death by reason of His divine nature, and Adam before his transgression being able to avert death by partaking of the Tree of Life. Christ was, it is true, a child of Adam, but a child of Adam miraculously born. See note 3, p. 73, above.

304. 980

     See De Trin. iv. 2; and Trench, Hulsean Lectures (1845), latter part of lect. iv.

305. 981

     Medius, alluding to mediator immediately before. See his De Civ. Dei, ix. 15, and xi. 2, for an enlargement of this distinction between Christ as man and Christ as the Word. Compare also De Trin. i. 20 and xiii. 13; and Mansel, Bampton Lectures, lect. v. note 20.

306. 982

     Some mss. omit Cum spiritu sancto.

307. 983

     Christ did not, as in the words of a well-known hymn, "change the wrath to love." For, as Augustin remarks in a very beautiful passage in Ev. Joh. Tract. cx. 6, God loved us before the foundation of the world, and the reconcilement wrought by Christ must not be "so understood as if the Son reconciled us unto Him in this respect, that He now began to love those whom He formerly hated, in the same way as enemy is reconciled to enemy, so that thereafter they become friends, and mutual love takes the place of their mutual hatred; but we were reconciled unto Him who already loved us, but with whom we were at enmity because of our sin. Whether I say the truth on this let the apostle testify, when he says: God commendeth His love towards us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us'" (Rom. v. 8, 9). He similarly applies the text last quoted in his De Trin. xiii. 15. See also ibid. sec. 21, where he speaks of the wrath of God, and ibid. iv. 2. Compare Archbishop Thomson, Bampton Lectures, lect. vii., and note 95.

308. 984

     Rom. viii. 34, which is not "for us wicked ones," but "for us all," as the Authorized Version has it; and we must not narrow the words. Augustin, in Ev. Joh. Tract. cx. 2, it will be remembered, when commenting on John xvii. 21, "that they all may be one...that the world may believe Thou hast sent me," limits "the world" to the believing world, and continues (ibid.sec. 4), "Ipsi sunt enim mundus, non permanens inimicus, qualis est mundis damnationi prædestinatus." On Christ being a ransom for all, see Archbishop Thomson, Bampton Lectures, lect. vii. part 5, and note 101.

309. 985

     Phil. ii. 6, 8.

310. 986

     Ps. lxxxviii. 5; see sec. 68, note, above.

311. 987

     John x. 18.

312. 988

     Ps. ciii. 3.

313. 989

     Rom. viii. 34.

314. 990

     See note 11, p. 140, above.

315. 991

     John i. 14.

316. 992

     Ps. lv. 7.

317. 993

     2 Cor. v. 15.

318. 994

     Ps. lv. 22.

319. 995

     Ps. cxix. 18.

320. 996

     Col. ii. 3. Compare Dean Mansel, Bampton Lectures, lect. v. and note 22.

321. 997

     Ps. cxix. 122, Old Ver. He may perhaps here allude to the spiritual pride of the Donatists, who, holding rigid views as to purity of discipline, disparaged both his life and doctrine, pointing to his Manichæanism and the sinfulness of life before baptism. In his Answer to Petilian, iii. 11, 20, etc., and Serm. 3, sec. 19, on Ps. xxxvi., he alludes at length to the charges brought against him, referring then finally to his own confessions in book iii. above.

322. 998

     Ps. xxii. 26. Augustin probably alludes here to the Lord's Supper, in accordance with the general Patristic interpretation.

323. 999

     Ps. xcvi. 4. See note 3, page 45, above.

324. 1000

     Matt. vi. 8.

325. 1001

     Matt. v. 3-9.

326. 1002

     Ps. cxviii. 1.

327. 1003

     He very touchingly alludes in Serm. ccclv. 2 to the way in which he was forced against his will (as was frequently the custom in those days), first, to become a presbyter (A.D. 391), and, four years later, coadjutor to Valerius, Bishop of Hippo (Ep. xxxi. 4, and Ep. ccxiii. 4), whom on his death he succeeded. His own wish was to establish a monastery, and to this end he sold his patrimony, "which consisted of only a few small fields" (Ep. cxxvi. 7). He absolutely dreaded to become a bishop, and as he knew his name was highly esteemed in the Church, he avoided cities in which the see was vacant. His former backsliding had made him humble; and he tells us in the sermon above referred to, "Cavebam hoc, et agebam quantam poteram, ut in loco humili salvarer ne in alto periclitarer." Augustin also alludes to his ordination in Ep. xxi., addressed to Bishop Valerius.

328. 1004

     "He alludes to the hour-glasses of his time, which went by water, as ours do now by sand."—W. W.

329. 1005

     Augustin, in common with other bishops, had his time much invaded by those who sought his arbitration or judicial decision in secular matters, and in his De Op. Monach. sec. 37, he says, what many who have much mental toil will readily appreciate, that he would rather have spent the time not occupied in prayer and the study of the Scriptures in working with his hands, as did the monks, than have to bear these tumultuosissimas perplexitates. In the year 426 we find him (Ep. ccxiii) designating Eraclius, in public assembly, as his successor in the see, and to relieve him (though, meanwhile, remaining a presbyter) of these anxious duties. See vi. sec. 15, and note 1, above; and also ibid. sec. 3.

330. 1006

     Ps. lxxxvi. 1.

331. 1007

     Rom. x. 12.

332. 1008

     Ex. vi. 12.

333. 1009

     Augustin is always careful to distinguish between the certain truths of faith and doctrine which all may know, and the mysteries of Scripture which all have not the ability equally to apprehend. "Among the things," he says (De Doctr. Christ. ii. 14), "that are plainly laid down in Scripture, are to be found all matters that concern faith, and the manner of life." As to the Scriptures that are obscure, he is slow to come to conclusions, lest he should "be deceived in them or deceive out of them." In his De Gen. ad Lit. i. 37, he gives a useful warning against forcing our own meaning on Scripture in doubtful questions, and, ibid. viii. 5, we have the memorable words: "Melius est dubitare de rebus occultis, quam litigare de incertis." For examples of how careful he is in such matters not to go beyond what is written, see his answer to the question raised by Evodius,—a question which reminds us of certain modern speculations (see The Unseen Universe, arts. 61, 201, etc.),—whether the soul on departing from the body has not still a body of some kind, and at least some of the senses proper to a body; and also (Ep. clxiv.) his endeavours to unravel Evodius' difficulties as to Christ's preaching to the spirits in prison (1 Pet. iii. 18-21). Similarly, he says, as to the Antichrist of 2 Thess. ii. 1-7 (De Civ. Dei, xx. 19): "I frankly confess I know not what he means. I will, nevertheless, mention such conjectures as I have heard or read." See notes, pp. 64 and 92, above.