Augustine: Earlier Writings (continued)
THE USEFULNESS OF BELIEF 3O5 you dare to pass sentence on them without a teacher? If anything occurs in them which seems to you absurd, would you not accuse the slowness and worldly corruption of your own mind —which is common to all fools—before you bring an accusation against books which, maybe, cannot be understood by fools. You would seek for someone both pious and learned, or who was widely reputed to be such, by whose precepts you might be made better, and more learned by his teaching. But such a man, you say, is not easy to find. You would make elaborate inquiries. There is none in the land you live in? What better cause could there be to send you on a journey? There is none, or at least no signs of one, on the mainland? You would take ship. If none were found in the nearest country across the sea, you would proceed to the lands where the history recorded in these books is said to have been enacted. We did nothing of the kind, Honoratus. Instead, by our own arbitrary judgment, we unhappy youths condemned a religion which might have proved to be most holy, and at any rate was still an open question, a religion which has taken possession of the whole world. What if those things in the Scriptures which seem to offend some unskilled persons were put there on purpose, so that when we read anything abhorrent to the feelings of ordinary folk, not to mention prudent and saintly folk, we should the more earnestly look for a hidden meaning. Don't you see how men try to put some fine interpretation on the beloved Alexis in Vergil's Bucolics, for whom the harsh shepherd sang his song? (Eclogue 2.) And how they affirm that the boy about whom Plato is said to have written an amatory poem has some deep significance which escapes the understanding of the unskilled? So a richly endowed poet, it appears, may without sacrilege publish lustful songs.
18. Were we, then, prevented from inquiry into the Catholic Faith by some legal penalty, by the power of adversaries, by the worthless character or ill-repute of its sacred officers, by its recent foundation, by the fact that it must be professed in secret? There is nothing of that kind. No law, divine or human, prohibits inquiry as to the Catholic Faith. Certainly human law allows it to be professed and cherished. About divine law we are assuming that we are still uncertain. No enemy terrifies us if we are weak; but of course truth and the soul's salvation ought to be sought at whatever risk, even if they cannot safely be sought and found. Dignities and powers of all ranks serve this divine cult with the greatest devotion. The name of religion is most honour* able and in the highest repute. What then hinders thorough
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