words of the apostle, that "*we see now phrases, vez. for that which says, "' we see now
Cuap, IX. ] ON THE TRINITY. 207 a See that is bright: since the obscure form, too, is the image of God; and if an image, then assuredly also '*' glory,'' in which we are created as men, being better than the other animals.
trope wherein one thing is understood from another? as in the Epistle to the Thessalonians, '' Let us not therefore sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober: for they who sleep, sleep in the night; and they who are drunken, are drunken in the night: but let us who are of the day, be sober.''3 But this allegory is not an enigma, for here the meaning is patent to all but the very dull; but an enigma is, to explain it briefly, an obscure allegory, as, e.g., '* The horseleech had three daughters,'' 4 and othex like instances. But when the apostle spoke of an allegory, he does not find it in the words, but in the fact; since he has shown that the two Testaments are to be understood by the two sons of Abraham, one by a bondmaid, and the other by a free woman, which was a thing not said, but also done. And before this was explained, it was obscure; and accordingly such an allegory, which is the generic name, could be specifically called an enigma.
For it is said of human nature in itself, '' The may ought not to cover his head, because he is the image and glory of God.'"' And this nature, being the most excellent among things created, is transformed from a form that is defaced into a form that is beautiful, when it is justified by its own Creator from ungodliness. Since even in ungodliness itself, the more the faultiness is to be condemned, the more certainly is the nature to be praised. And therefore he has added, °' from glory to glory:" from the glory of creation to the glory of justification, Although these words, "*from glory to glory,' may be understood also in other ways;—from the glory of faith to the glory of sight, from the glory whereby we are sons of God to the glory whereby we shall be like Him, because "'we shall see Him as He is.''* But in that he has added, **as from the Spirit of the Lord," he declares, that the blessing of so desirable a transformation is conferred upon us by the grace of God.
16. But because it is not only those that are ignorant of the books that contain the doctrine of tropes, who inquire the apostle's meaning, when he said that we '' see now in an enigma, but those, too, who are acquainted with the doctrine, but yet desire to know what that enigma is in which *' we now see;'' we must find a single meaning for the two phrases, vez. for that which says, "' we see now through a glass,'' and for that which adds,
CHAP. 9.—-OF THE TERM '' ENIGMA,' TROPICAL MODES OF SPEECH.
, AND OF
15. What has been said relates to the words of the apostle, that "*we see now through a glass;'' but whereas he has added,
''in an enigma,' the meaning of this addition is unknown to any who are unacquainted with the books that contain the doctrine of those modes of speech, which the Greeks call Tropes, which Greek word we also use in Latin. For as we more commonly speak of Sscthemata than of figures, so we more commonly speak of tropes than of modes. And it is a very difficult and uncommon thing to express the names of the several modes or tropes in Latin, so as to refer its appropriate nametoeach. And hence some Latin translators, through unwillingness to employ a Greek word, where the apostle says,:** Which things are an allegory,' ? have rendered it bya cir-
an enigma.'' For it makes but one sentence, when the whole is so uttered, ** We see now through a glass in an enigma," Accordingly, as far as my judgment goes, as by the word glass he meant to signify an image, so by that of enigma any likeness you will, but yet one obscure, and difficult to see through. While, therefore, any likenesses whatever may be understood as signified by the apostle when he speaks of a glass and an enigma, so that they are adapted to the understanding of God, in such way as He can be understood; yet nothing is better adapted to this purpose than that which is not vainly called His image. Let no one, then, wonder, that we labor to see in any way at all, even in that fashion of seeing which is granted to us in this life, vz. through a glass, in an enigma. For we should not hear of an enigma in this place if sight were easy. And this is a yet | greater enigma, that we do not see what we | cannot but see. For who does not See his own thought? And yet who does see his own thought, I do not say with the eye of the flesh, but with the inner sight itself? Who
- cumlocution—Which things signify one thing by another. But there are several species of this kind of trope that is called allegory, and one of them is that which is called enigma,
Now the definition of the generic term must necessarily embrace also all its species; and hence, as every horse is an animal, but not every animal is a horse, so every enigma is an allegory, but every allegory is not an enigma. What then is an allegory, but a
3 1 Thess, v. 6-8, Ay Prove XXX.0155
t x John iii. 2. 2 Gal. iv. 24.
208 THE WORKS OF ST. AUGUSTIN. [Book XV.
the paralytic man, "' Be of good cheer, my son, thy sins are forgiven thee,'' said within themselves, '' This man blasphemeth,'' For how did they 'say within themselves,'' except by thinking? Then follows, '' And when Jesus saw their thoughts, He said, Why think ye evil in your thoughts ?"'? So far Matthew. But Luke narrates the same thing thus: does not see it, and who does see it? Since thought is a kind of sight of the mind; whether those things are present which are seen also by the bodily eyes, or perceived by the other senses; or whether they are not present, but their likenesses are discerned by thought; or whether neither of these is the case, but things are thought of that are neither bodily things nor likenesses of bodily things, as the virtues and vices; or as, indeed, thought itself is thought of; or whether it be those things which are the subjects of instruction and of liberal sciences; or whether the higher causes and reasons themselves of all these things in the unchangeable nature are thought of; or whether it be even evil, and vain, and false things that we are thinking of, with either the sense not consenting, or erring in its consent.
The scribes and Pharisees began to think, saying, Who is this that speaketh blasphemies? Who can forgive sins but God alone? But when Jesus perceived their thoughts, He, answering, said unto them, What think ye in your hearts?"'3 That which in the book of Wisdom is, '' They said, thinking,'' is the same here with, '* They thought, saying." For both there and here it is declared, that they spake within themselves, and in their own heart, z.e, spake by thinking. For they
spake within themselves,'' and it was said to them, **' What think ye?" And the Lord Himself says of that rich man whose ground brought forth plentifully, '' And he thought within himself, saying." 4
CHAP. 10. — CONCERNING THE WORD OF THE MIND, IN WHICH WE SEE THE WORD OF GOD,
AS IN A GLASS AND AN ENIGMA.
17. But let us now speak of those things of which we think as known, and have in our knowledge even if we do not think of them; whether they belong to the contemplative knowledge, which, as I have argued, is properly to be called wisdom, or to the active, which is properly to be called knowledge. For both together belong to one mind, and are one image of God. But when we treat of the lower of the two distinctly and separately, then it is not to be called an image of God, although even then, too, some likeness of that Trinity may be found in it; as we showed in the thirteenth book. We speak now, therefore, of the entire knowledge of man altogether, in which whatever is known to us is known; that, at any rate, which is true; otherwise it would not be known. For no one knows what is false, except when he knows it to be false; and if he knows this, then he knows what is true: for it is true that that is false. We treat, therefore, now of those things which we think as known, and which are known to us even if they are not being thought of. But certainly, if we would utter them in words, we can only do so by thinking them.
18. Some thoughts, then, are speeches of the heart, wherein the Lord also shows that there is a mouth, when He says, '' Not that which entereth into the mouth defileth a man; but that which proceedeth out of the mouth, that defileth a man." In one sentence He has comprised two diverse mouths of the man, one of the body, one of the heart. For assuredly, that from which they thought the man to be defiled, enters into the mouth of the body; but that from which the Lord said the man was defiled, proceedeth out of the mouth of the heart. So certainly He Himself explained what He had said. For aiittle after, He says also to His disciples concerning the same thing: ''Are ye also yet without understanding? Do ye not understand, that whatsoever entereth in at the mouth goeth into the belly, and is cast out into the draught?" Here He most certainly pointed to the mouth of the body. But in that which follows He plainly speaks of the mouth of the heart, where He says, '' But those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart; and they defile the man. For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts," 5 etc. What is clearer than this explanation? And yet, when we call thoughts speeches of the heart, it does not follow that they are not also acts of sight, arising from the sight of knowledge, when they are true. For when these things are done outwardly by means of the body, then speech and sight are different things; but when we think inwardly, the two
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For although there were no words spoken, at any rate, he who thinks speaks in his heart. And hence that passage in the book of Wisdom: '* They said within themselves, thinking not aright.''* For the words, '* They said within themselves,'' are explained by the addition of ''thinking.'"' A like passage to this is that in the Gospel,—that certain scribes, when they heard the Lord's words to
2 Matt. ix. 2-4. K. 3 Luke v. 21, 22. 4 Luke xii. 17. 5 Matt. xv. 10-20.
x Wisd. ii. x.