spirit, soul, and again are consists,—namely, body,—which
3G6 ON FAITH AND THE CREED. [CHAP. X.
thy mind ; " i but also toward our neighbour, for " thou shalt love," saith lie, " thy neighljour as thyself;" ^ and inasmuch, moreover, as the faith in question is less fruitful, if it does not comprehend a congregation and society of men, wherein brotherly charity may operate ;
CiFAP. X. Of the catholic Churchy the remission of sins, and the resurrection of the flesh. —Inasmuch, I repeat, as this is the case, we believe also in THE HOLY Church, [intending thereby] assuredly the catholic .
Tofliiotli heretics and schismatics style their congregations churches. But heretics, in holding false opinions regarding
God, do injury to the faith itself ; while schismatics, on the other hand, in wicked separations break off from brotherly charity, although they may believe just w^hat we believe.
Wherefore neither do the heretics belong to the Cliiirch catholic, which loves God ; nor do the schismatics form a part of the same, inasmuch as it loves the neighbour, and consequently readily forgives the neighbour's sins, because it prays that forgiveness may be extended to itself by Him who has reconciled us to Himself, doing away with all past things, and calling us to a new life. And until we reach the perfection of this new life, we cannot be without sins. Nevertheless it is a matter of consequence of what sort those sins may be.
22. Neither ought we only to treat of the difference between sins, but we ought most thoroughly to believe that those things in which we sin are in no way forgiven us, if we show ourselves severely unyielding in tlie matter of forgiving the sins of others.'' Thus, then, we believe also in tlie remission of
SINS.
23. And inasmuch as there are three things of which man consists,—namely, spirit, soul, and body,—which again are spoken of as two, because frequently the soul is named along with the spirit ; for a certain rational portion of the same, of which beasts are devoid, is called spirit : the principal part in us is the spirit ; next, the life whereby we are united with the body is called the soul ; finally, the body itself, as it is visible, is the last part in us. This " wliole creation" (crcatura), how-
' Dout. vi. 5. ' Luke x. 27. ' Matt. vi. 15.
CHAP. X.] BODY, SOUL, AND SPIRIT. 367 ever, " groaneth and travaileth until now." ^ Nevertheless, He has given it the first-fruits of the Spirit, in that it has believed God, and is now of a good will. ^ This spirit is also called the mind, regarding which an apostle speaks thus
" With the mind I serve the law of God." ^ Wliich apostle likewise expresses himself thus in another passage : " For God is my witness, w^iom I serve in my spirit." * Moreover, the soul, when as yet it lusts after carnal good things, is called the flesh. For a certain part thereof resists ^ the Spirit, not in virtue of nature, but in virtue of the custom of sins; whence it is said, "With the mind I serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin." And this custom has been turned into a nature, according to mortal generation, by the sin of the first man. Consequently it is also written in this wise,
" And we were sometime by nature the children of wrath," that is, of vengeance, through wdiich it has come to pass that we serve the law of sin. The nature of the soul, however, is perfect when it is made subject to its own spirit, and when it follows that spirit as the same follows God. Therefore
" the animal man ^ receiveth not the things which are of the
Spirit of God." ^ But the soul is not so speedily subdued to the spirit unto good action, as is the spirit to God unto true faith and goodwill; but sometimes its impetus, whereby it moves downward into things carnal and temporal, is more tardily bridled. But inasmuch as this same soul is also made pure, and receives the stability of its own nature, under the dominance of the spirit, which is the liead for it, which head of the said soul has again its own liead in Christ, we ought not to despair of the restoration of the body also to its own proper nature. But this certainly will not be eflected so speedily as is the case with the soul ; just as tlie soul, too, is
' Rom. viii. 22.
Reading spiritil'i. Taking apiritiis, the sense might be = Nevertheless, the spirit hath imparted the first-fruits, in that it has believed God, and is now of a good will.
3 Rom. vii. 25. * Rom. i. 9.
5 Instead of caro nominatur. Pars enhn ejus (jiuTdam rfslMit, etc., some good Mss. read caro nominatur et resislif, etc. = is called the flesh, and resists, etc.
Eph. ii. 3. ^ Animalis liomo, literally = the soulish man.
» 1 Cor. ii. 14.
368 ON FAITH AND THE CREED. [CIL\P. X.
not restored so speedily as tlie sj)irit. Yet it will take place ill the appropriate season, at tlie last tnnnj), when "the dead shall rise uncorrupted, and we shall be changed."^ And accordingly we believe also in the resurrection of the flesh, to wit, not merely that that soul, which at present by reason of carnal affections is called the flesh, is restored ; but that it shall be so likewise with this visible flesh, which is the flesh according to nature, the name of which has been received by the soul, not in virtue of nature, but in reference to carnal affections: this visible flesh, then, I say, which is the flesh properly so called, must without doubt be believed to be destined to rise again. For the Apostle Paul appears to point to this, as it were with his finger, when he says, " This corruptible must put on incorruption." ^ For when he says this, he, as it were, directs his finger toward it. Now it is that which is visible that admits of being pointed out with the finger ; since the soul might also have been called corruptible, for it is itself corrupted by vices of manners. And when it is read, " and this mortal [must] put on immortality," the same visible flesh is signified, inasmuch as at it ever and anon the finger is thus as it were pointed. For the soul also may thus in like manner be called mortal, even as it is designated corruptible in reference to vices of manners. For assuredly it is "the death of the soul to apostati:?e from God; " ^ which is its first sin in Paradise, as it is contained in the sacred writings.
24i Rise again, therefore, the body will, according to the
Christian faith, which is incapable of deceiving. And if this appeaiTS incredible to any one, [it is because] he looks simply to what the flesh is at present, while he fails to consider of what nature it sIkiU be hereafter. For at that time of angelic change it will no more be flesh and blood, but only body.*
For when the apostle speaks of the flesh, he says, " There is one flesh of cattle, another of biwls, anotht?r of fishes, another
' The text gives, Mora quippr anim(t est apostatare a Deo. The roforonce, perhaps, is to Ecclua. x. 14, where the Vulgate has, initium aupcrbice hominia, apostatare a Deo.
Augustine refers to this statoment in the passage quoted from the Retractations in the Introductory Notice above.
CHAP. X.] THE EESUERECTION OF THE BODY. 369 of creeping things : there are also both celestial bodies and terrestrial bodies." ^ Now what he has said here is not " celestial flesh," but " both celestial bodies and terrestrial bodies." For all flesh is also body ; but every body is not also flesh. In the first instance, [for example, this holds good] in the case of those terrestrial bodies, inasmuch as wood is body, but not flesh. In the case of man, again, or in that of cattle, we have both body and flesh. In the case of celestial bodies, on the other hand, there is no flesh, but only those simple and lucent bodies which the apostle designates spiritual, while some call them ethereal. And consequently, when he says, " Flesh and blood shall not inherit the kingdom of God," ^ that does not contradict the resurrection of the flesh ; but the sentence predicates what will be the nature of that hereafter which at present is flesh and blood. And if any one refuses to believe that the flesh is capable of being changed into the sort of nature thus indicated, he must be led on, step by step, to this faith. For if you inquire of him whether earth is capable of being changed into water, the nearness of the thing will make it not seem incredible to him. Again, if you inquire whether water is capable of being changed into air, he replies that this also is not absurd, for the elements are near each other. And if, on the subject of the air, it is asked whether that can be changed into an ethereal, that is, a celestial body, the simple fact of the nearness at once convinces him of the possibility of the tiling. But if, then, he concedes that through such gradations it is quite a possible thing that earth should be changed into an ethereal body, why does he refuse to believe, when that will of God, too, enters in addition, whereby a human body had power to walk upon the waters, that the same change is capable of being effected with the utmost rapidity, precisely in accordance with the saying, " in the twinkling of an eye," ^ and without any such gradations, even as, according to common wont, smoke is changed into flame with marvellous quickness ? For our flesh assuredly is of earth. But philosophers, on the ground of whose arguments opposition is for the most part offered to the resurrection of the flesh, so far as in these they assert that no terrene body
1 1 Cor. XV. 39, 40. 1 Cor. xv. 50. 3 i Cor. xv. 52.
FAITH. 2 A