Chapter 116 of 396

blood ?? What power is there in this blood, I shalt return."4 In the words, '' Unto dust

Cuar. XII.] ON THE TRINITY. B75 IG STE a it a a am mR a Ee would not need a physician, who is in the Hebrew Jesus, in the Greek Zwryp, but in our speech Saviour. And this word the Latin language had not previously, but could have, seeing that it could have it when it wanted it. And this foregoing sentence of the apostle, where he says, '' For when we were yet weak, in due time He died for the ungodly," coheres with those two following sentences; in the one of which he spoke of sinners, in the other of enemies of God, as though he referred each severally to each, vz. sinners to the weak, the enemies of God to the ungodly.

by the death of His Son. And I will explain, as I shall be able, here also, how this was done, as much as may seem sufficient.

CHAP. 12.—-ALL, ON ACCOUNT OF THE SIN OF

ADAM, WERE DELIVERED INTO THE POWER OF THE DEVIL.

16. By the justice of God in some sense, the human race was delivered into the power of the devil; the sin of the first man passing Over originally into all of both sexes in their birth through conjugal union, and the debt of our first parents binding their whole posterity. This delivering up is first signified in Genesis, where, when it had been said tothe serpent, '' Dust shalt thou eat," it was said to the man, "' Dust thou art, and unto dust thou shalt return."4 In the words, '' Unto dust shalt thou return," the death of the body is fore-announced, because he would not have experienced that either, if he had continued to the end upright as he was made; but in that it is said to him whilst still living, '' Dust thou art,' it is shown that the whole man was changed for the worse. For *' Dust thou art" is much the same as, '' My spirit shall not always remain in these men, for that they also are flesh." Therefore it was at that time shown, that he was delivered to him, in that it had been said to him, '' Dust shalt thou eat." But the apostle declares this more clearly, where he says: ** And you who were dead in trespasses and sins, wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of unfaithfulness; among whom we also had. our conversation in times past, in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others.'® The

CHAP. II,—A DIFFICULTY, HOW WE ARE JUSTI-

TIFIED IN THE BLOOD OF THE SON OF GOD.

15. But what is meant by "' justified in His blood ?? What power is there in this blood, I beseech you, that they who believe should be justified in it? And what is meant by ''being reconciled by the death of His Son?" Was it indeed so, that when God the Father was wroth with us, He saw the death of His Son for us, and was appeased towards us? Wasthen His Son already so far appeased towards us, that He even deigned to die for us; while the Father was still so far wroth, that except His Son died for us, He would not be appeased? And what, then, is that which the same teacher of the Gentiles himself says in another place:

shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us? He that spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all; how has He not with Him

also freely given us allthings ?"? Pray, unless the Father had been already appeased, would He have delivered up His own Son, not sparing Him for us? Does not this opinion seem to be as it were contrary to that? In the one, the Son dies for us, and the Father is reconciled to us by His death; in the other, as though the Father first loved us, He Himself on our account does not spare the Son, He Himself for us delivers Him up to death. But I see that the Father loved us also before, not only before the Son died for us, but before He created the world; the apostle himself being witness, who says, '' According as He hath chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world.'??, Nor was the Son delivered up for us as it were unwillingly, the Father Himself not sparing Him; for it is said also concerning Him, ''Who loved me, and de-

children of unfaithfulness'' are the unbelievers; and who is not this before he becomes a believer? And therefore all men are originally under the prince of the power of the air, 'who worketh in the children of unfaithfulness.'' And that which I have expressed by

originally '' is the same that the apostle expresses when he speaks of themselves who **by nature' were as others; zz. by nature as it has been depraved by sin, not as it was created upright from the beginning, But the way in which man was thus delivered into the power of the devil, ought not to be so understood as if God did this, or commanded it to be done; but that He only permitted it, yet that justly. For when He abandoned the sinlivered up Himself for me.''3 Therefore together both the Father and the Son, and the

Spirit of both, work all things equally and harmoniously; yet we are justified in the blood of Christ, and we are reconciled to God

4 Gen, ili. 14-19. 5 Gen. vi. 3. '' Strive with man,"' A. V. 6 Eph. ii. 1-3.

3 Gal. ii. 20. 1 Rom. viii. 31, 32. 2 Eph. i. 4.

THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN. [Book XIII.

from the days of adversity, until the pit be digged for the wicked. For the Lord will not cast off His people, neither will He forsake His inheritance, until righteousness return unto judgment, and all who follow it are upright in heart.''? At this present time, then, in which the might of the people of God is. delayed, ''the Lord will not cast off His. people, neither will He forsake His inheri-. tance,'' how bitter and unworthy things soever it may suffer in its humility and weakness; '' until the righteousness,'' which the weakness of the pious now possesses, '' shall return to judgment,"' that is, shall receive the power of judging; which is preserved in the end for the righteous when power in its due order shall have followed after righteousness going before. For power joined to righteousness, or righteousness added to power, constitutes a judicial authority. But righteousness. belongs to a good will; whence it was said by ner, the author of the sin immediately entered. Yet God did not certainly so abandon His Own creature as not to show Himself to him as God creating and quickening, and among penal evils bestowing also many good things upon the evil. For He hath not in anger shut up His tender mercies.' Nor did He dismiss man from the law of His own power, when He permitted him to be in the power of the devil; since even the devil himself is not separated from the power of the Omnipotent, as neither from His goodness. For whence do even the evil angels subsist in whatever manner of life they have, except through Him who quickens all things? If, therefore, the commission of sins through the just anger of God subjected man to the devil, doubtless the remission of sins through the merciful reconciliation of God rescues man from the devil.

the angels when Christ was born: ''Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men of good will.''3 But power ought to follow righteousness, not to go before it; and ac-. cordingly it is placed in ''second,'' that is, prosperous fortune; and this is called '' second,''+ from '*following." For whereas two things make a man blessed, as we have argued above, to will well, and to be able to do what one wills, people ought not to be so perverse, as has been noted in the same discussion, as that a man should choose from the two things which make him blessed, the being able to do what he wills, and should neglect to will what he ought; whereas he ought first to have a good will, but great power afterwards. Further, a good will must be purged from vices, by which if a man is overcome, he is in such wise overcome as that he wills evil; and then how will his will be still good? It is to be wished, then, that power may now be given, but power against vices, to conquer which men do not wish to be powerful, while they wish to be so in order to conquer men; and why is this, unless that, being in truth conquered, they feignedly conquer, and are conquerors not in truth, but in opinion? Let a man will to be prudent, will to be strong, will to be temperate, will to be just; and that he may beable to have these things truly, let him certainly desire power, and seek to be powerful in himself, and (strange though it be) against himself for himself. But all the other things which he wills rightly, and yet is not able to have, as, for instance, immortality and true and full felicity, let him not cease to

CHAP, 13.—MAN WAS TO BE RESCUED FROM THE POWER OF THE DEVIL, NOT BY POWER, BUT BY RIGHTEOUSNESS,

17. But the devil was to be overcome, not by the power of God, but by His righteousness. For what is more powerful than the Omnipotent? Or what creature is there of which the power can be compared to the power of the Creator? But since the devil, by the fault of his own perversity, was made a lover of power, anda forsaker and assailant of righteousness,—for thus also men imitate him so much the more in proportion as they set their hearts on power, to the neglect or even hatred of righteousness, and as they either rejoice in the attainment of power, or are inflamed by the lust of it,—it pleased God, that in order to the rescuing of man from the grasp of the devil, the devil should be conquered, not by power, but by righteousness; and that so also men, imitating Christ, should seek to conquer the devil by righteousness, not by power. Not that power is to be shunned as though it were something evil; but the order must be preserved, whereby righteousness is before it. For how great can be the power of mortals? 'Therefore let mortals cleave to righteousness; power will be given to immortals. And compared to this, the power, how great soever, of those men who are called powerful on earth, is found to be ridiculous weakness, and a pitfall is dug there for the sinner, where the wicked seem to be most powerful. And the righteous man says in his song, ** Blessed is the man whom Thou chasteneth, O Lord, and teachest him out of Thy law: that Thou mayest give him rest long for, and let him patiently expect.

I Ps, Ixxvu 9.

2 Ps. xciv, 12-15. 3 Luke is. 14. 4 Res secunde.

TRINITY. Li

Cuap. XV.] ON THE the death of the cross for righteousness ? And what more powerful, than to rise from the dead, and to ascend into heaven with that very flesh in which He was slain? And therefore He conquered the devil first by righteousness, and afterwards by power: namely, by righteousness, because He had no sin, and was slain by him most unjustly; but by power, because having been dead He lived again, never afterwards to die.' But He would have conquered the devil by power, even though He could not have been slain by him: although it belongs to a greater power to conquer death itself also by rising again, than to avoid it by living. But the reason is really a different one, why we are justified in the blood of Christ, when we are rescued from the power of the devil through the remission of sins: it pertains to this, that the devil is conquered by Christ by righteousness, not by power. For Christ was crucified, not through immortal power, but through the weakness which He took upon Him in mortal flesh; of which weakness nevertheless the apostle says, '' that the weakness of God is stronger than men.''®

CHAP. I4.—-THE UNOBLIGATED DEATH OF CHRIST

HAS FREED THOSE WHO WERE LIABLE TO DEATH.

18. What, then, is the righteousness by which the devil was conquered? What, except the righteousness of Jesus Christ? And how was he conquered? Because, when he found in Him nothing worthy of death, yet he slew Him. And certainly it is just, that we whom he held as debtors, should be dismissed emanates free by believing in Him whom he slew without any debt. Inthis way it is that we are said to be justified in the blood of Christ.'

For so that innocent blood was shed for the remission of our sins. Whence He calls Himself in the Psalms, '' Free among the dead."'? For he only that is dead is free from the debt of death. Hence also in another psalm He says, '" Then I restored that which I seized not;''3 meaning sin by the thing seized, because sin is laid hold of against what is lawful. Whence also He says, by the mouth of His own Flesh, as is read in the Gospel: '*' For the prince of this world cometh, and hath nothing in me," that is, no sin; but '' that the world may know,'' He says, ''that I do the commandment of the Father; arise, let us go hence.''4 And hence He proceeds to His passion, that He might pay for us debtors that which He Himself did not owe. Would then the devil be conquered by this most just right, if Christ had willed to deal with him by power, not by righteousness? But He held back what was possible to Him, in order that He might first do what was fitting. And hence it was necessary that He should be both man and God. For unless He had been man, He could not have been slain; unless He had been God, men would not have believed that He would not do what He could, but that He could not do what He would; nor should we have thought that righteousness was preferred by Him to power, but that He lacked power. But now He suffered for us things belonging *to man, because He was man; butif He had been unwilling, it would have been in His power to not so to suffer, because He was also God. And righteousness was therefore made more acceptable in humility, because so great power as was in His Divinity, if He had been unwilling, would have been able not to suffer humility; and thus by Him who died, being thus powerful, both righteousness was commended, and power promised, to us, weak mortals. For He did one of these two things by dying, the other by rising again. For what is more righteous, than to come even to

CHAP. I5 —-OF THE SAME SUBJECT.

19. It is not then difficult to see that the devil was conquered, when he who was slain by Him rose again, It is something mofe, and more profound of comprehension, to see that the devil was conquered when he thought himself to have conquered, that is, when Christ was slain. For then that blood, since it was His who had no sin at all, was poured out for the remission of our sins; that, because the devil deservedly held those whom, as guilty of sin, he bound by the condition of death, he might deservedly loose them through Him, whom, as guilty of no sin, the punishment of death undeservedly affected. The strong man was conquered by this righteousness, and bound with this chain, that his vessels might be spoiled," which with himself and his angels had been vessels of wrath while with him, and might be turned into vessels of mercy.® For the Apostle Paul tells us, that these words of our Lord Jesus Christ Himself were spoken from heaven to him when he was first called. For among the other things which he heard, he speaks also of this as said to him thus: °° For I have appeared unto thee for this purpose, to make thee a minister and a witness both of these things which thou hast seen from me, and of those things in the which | will appear unto thee; delivering thee from the people, and from the Gentiles, unto whom now I send thee,to open the eyes of the blind,

2 Ps, Ixxxviii. 5. r Rom. v. 9.

4 John xiv, 30-31. Sok te IXiX) 4,

THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN. [Book XIII.

finished, but expecting faithfully and patiently the blessedness which the future life, being set free, will have for ever. For the devil being cast forth from his dominion, and from the hearts of the faithful, in the condemnation and faithlessness of whom he, although himself also condemned, yet reigned, is only so far permitted to be an adversary according to the condition of this mortality, as God knows to be expedient for them: concerning which the sacred writings speak through the mouth of the apostle: '* God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.''® And those evils which the faithful endure piously, are of profit either for the correction of sins, or for the exercising and proving of righteousness, or to manifest the misery of this life, that the life where will be that true and perpetual blessedness may be desired more ardently, and sought out more earnestly. But it is on their account that these evils are still kept in being, of whom the apostle says: '' For we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are called to be holy according to His purpose. For whom He did foreknow, He also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the first-born among many brethren. Moreover, whom He did predestinate, them He also called; and whom He called, them He also justified; and whom He justified, them He also glorified.'' It is of these who are predestinated, that not one shall perish with the devil; not one shall remain even to death under the power of the devil. And then follows what I have already cited above:7 *' What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us? He that spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all; how has He ag iat Him also freely given us all things ?'' ® and to turn them from darkness [to light], and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified, and faith that isin me.''* And hence the same apostle also, exhorting believers to the giving of thanks to God the Father, says: '' Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of His dear Son: in whom we have redemption, even the forgiveness of sins."?? In this redemption, the blood of Christ was given, as it were, as a price for us, by accepting which the devil was not enriched, but bound: that we might be loosened from his bonds, and that he might not with himself involve in the meshes of sins, and so deliver to the destruction of the second and eternal death,* any one of those whom Christ, free from all debt, had redeemed by pouring out His own blood unindebtedly; but that they who belong to the grace of Christ, foreknown, and predestinated, and elected before the foundation of the world,' should only so far die as Christ Himself died for them, z.e. only by the death of the flesh, not of the spirit.

CHAP. 16.—THE REMAINS OF DEATH AND THE

EVIL THINGS OF THE WORLD TURN TO GOOD FOR THE ELECT. HOW FITLY THE DEATH OF CHRIST WAS CHOSEN, THAT WE MIGHT BE JUSTIFIED IN HIS BLOOD. WHAT THE ANGER

OF GOD IS.

2o. For although the death, too, of the flesh itself came originally from the sin of the first man, yet the good use of it has made most glorious martyrs. And so not only that death itself, but all the evils of this world, and the griefs and labors of men, although they come from the deserts of sins, and especially of original sin, whence life itself too became bound by the bond of death, yet have fitly remained, even when sin is forgiven; that man might have wherewith to contend for truth, and whereby the goodness of the faithful might be exercised; in order that the new man through the new covenant might be made ready among the evils of this world for a new world, by bearing wisely the misery which this condemned life deserved, and by rejoicing soberly Because it will be

Why then should the death of Christ a a come to pass? Nay, rather, why should not that death itself have been chosen above all else to be brought to pass, to the passing by of the other innumerable ways which He who is omnipotent could have employed to free us; that death, I say, wherein neither was anything diminished or changed from His divinity, and so great benefit was conferred upon men, from the humanity which He took upon Him, that a temporal death, which was not due, was rendered by the eternal Son of God, who was also the Son of man, whereby He might free them from an eternal t Acts xxvi. 16-18. 2 Col. i. 13, 14. 3 [In this representation of Augustin, the relics of that misconception which appears in the earlier soteriology, particularly that of Irenaeus, are seen: namely, that the death of Christ ransoms the sinner from Satan. Certain texts which teach that redemption delivers from the captivity to sin and Satan, were interpreted to teach deliverance from the clazuzs of Satan. Augustin's soteriology is more free from this error than that of Irenaeus, yet not entirely free from it. The doctrine of justification did not obtain its most consistent and complete statement in the Patristic church.—-W. G. T. S.]

Gir Con, x. 8, 2 Cee, 8 Rom. viii. 28-32.

4 Apoc. xxi, 8. 5 1 Pet. i. 20.

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