according to which God appears to the pure for sorrow and wailing, but only for salvation
Cuap. XIII. ] ON THE TRINITY. 35 but yet it is necessary that both the just and the wicked should see the Judge of the quick and dead, when they will be judged in His presence; '" Marvel not at this," He says, "' for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear His voice, and shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation." * stand with whom he was speaking, and thought Him to be only the Son of man:9 Why, He Says, askest thou me about good? that is, with respect to that form which thou seest, why askest thou about good, and callest me, according to what thou seest, Good Master ? This is the form of the Son of man, the form which has been taken, the form that will appear in judgment, not only to the righteous, but also to the ungodly; and the sight of this form will not be for good to those who are wicked. But there is a sight of that form of mine, in which when I was, I thought it not robbery to be equal with God: but in order to take this form I emptied myself." That one God, therefore, the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, who will not appear, except for joy which cannot be taken away from the just; for which future joy he sighs, who says, ** One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord: "' ™ that one God, therefore, Himself, I say, is alone good, for this reason, that no one sees Him for sorrow and wailing, but only for salvation and true joy. If you understand me after this latter form, then I am good; but if according to that former only, then why askest thou me about good? If thou art among those who '* shall look upon Him whom they have pierced,'' * that very sight itself will be evil to them, because it will be penal. That after this meaning, then, the Lord said, 'Why askest thou me about good? there is none good but One, that is, God,'' is probable upon those proofs which I have alleged, because that sight of God, whereby we shall contemplate the substance of God unchangeable and invisible to human eyes (which 1s promised to the saints alone; which the Apostle Paul speaks of, as " face to faces" "S2and of which the Apostle John says, "We shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is;''™* and of which it is said, ''One thing have I desired of the Lord, that I may behold the beauty of: the Lord," and of which the Lord
For this purpose, then, it was necessary that He should therefore receive that power, because He is the Son of man, in order that all in rising again might see Him in the form in which He can be seen by all, but by some to damnation, by others to life eternal. And what is life eternal, unless that sight which is not granted to the ungodly? '°* That they might know Thee,"' He says, ''the One true God, and Jesus Christ, whom Thou hast sent.'?? And how are they to know Jesus Christ Himself also, unless as the One true God, who will show Himself to them; not as He will show Himself, in the form of the Son of man, to those also that shall be punished ?3
31. He is *' good," according to that sight, according to which God appears to the pure in heart; for ** truly God is good unto Israel, even to such as are of aclean heart.''4 But when the wicked shall see the Judge, He will not seem good to them; because they will not rejoice in their heart to see Him, but all
of the earth shall then wail because of Him," 5 namely, as being reckoned in the number of all the wicked and unbelievers. On this account also He replied to him, who had called Him Good Master, when seeking advice of Him how he might attain eternal life, "'Why askest thou me about good ?°® there is none good but One, that is, God.''7 And yet the Lord Himself, in another place, calls man good: ''A good man,"
He says, ''out of the good treasure of his heart, bringeth forth good things: and an evil man, out of the evil treasure of his heart, bringeth forth evil things.''*® But because that man was seeking eternal life, and eternal life consists in that contemplation in which God is seen, not for punishment, but for ever-
Himself says, ''I will both love him, and will manifest myself to him;"' ** and on account of which alone we cleanse our hearts by faith, that we may be those '"* pure in heart who are blessed for they shall see God:'* and whatlasting joy; and because he did not underohn v. 22-29. 3 | Augustin here seems to teachthat the henomenal appearance of Christ to the redeemed in heaven will be different from that to all men in the day of judgment. He says that he willshow himself to the former ''in the form of God;"' tothe latter, 'tin the form of the Son of man.'' But, surely, it is one and the same Godman who sits on the judgment throne, and the heavenly throne. His appearance must be the same in both instances: namely, that of Godincarnate. The effect of his phenomenal appearance upon the believer will, indeed, be very different from that upon the unbeliever. For the wicked, this vision of God pearcere will be one of terror; for the redeemed one of j joy.—W. G. T.S.]
2 John xvii.
9 [That is, a mere man. Augustin here, as in some other places, employs the phrase ' 'Son of; man"' to denote the human nature by itself—not the divine and human natures united in one person, and designated by this human title. The latter is the Scripture usage. As ''Immanuel'' does not properly denote the divine nature, but the union of divinity and humanity, so ''Son of man' does not properly denote the human nature, but the union of divinity and humanity.—W. G., T.S.
4 Ps, Ixxiil. 1. 5 Apoc. i. 7. 6 [Augustin's reading of this text is that of the uncials; and in that form which omits the article een ayasou.—W, G. T. S. ]
10 Phil. ii. 6, 7. 11 Ps, xxvii. 4. 12 Zech. xii. xo. 13 x Cor. xiil. 12. 14 1 John iii. 2. 15 John xiv. 21. 16 Matt, v. 8.
7 Matt. xix. 17. 8 Matt. xii. 35.
ST. AUGUSTIN. [Boox I.
36 THE WORKS OF even the Father,3 that the good servant may enter into the joy of his Lord,' and that He may hide those whom God keeps in the hiding of His countenance from the confusion of men, namely, of those men who shall then be confounded by hearing this sentence; of* which evil hearing ''the righteous man shall not be afraid''5 if only he be kept in '' the tabernacle," that is, in the true faith of the Catholic Church, from ''the strife of tongues,''® that is, from the sophistries of heretics. But if there is any other explanation of the words of the Lord, where He says, ever else is spoken of that sight: which whosoever turns the eye of love to seek it, may find most copiously scattered through all the Scriptures),—that sight alone, I say, is our chief good, for the attaining of which we are directed to do whatever we do aright. But that sight of the Son of man which is foretold, when all nations shall be gathered before Him, and shall say to Him, '* Lord, when saw we Thee an hungered, or thirsty, etc.?'? will neither be a good to the ungodly, who shall be sent into everlasting fire, nor the chief good to the righteous. For He still goes on to call these to the kingdom which has been prepared for them from the foundation of the world. For, as He will say to those, °° Depart into everlasting fire;'' so to these, "* Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you.'' And as those will go into everlasting burning; so the righteous will go into life eternal. But what is life eternal, except "'that they may know Thee," He says,
Why asketh thou me about good? there is none good, but One, that is, God;"' provided only that the substance of the Father be not therefore believed to be of greater goodness than that of the Son, according to which He is the Word by whom all things were made; and if there is nothing in it abhorrent from sound doctrine; let us securely use it, and not one explanation only, but as many as we are able to find. For so much the more powerfully are the heretics proved wrong, the more outlets are open for avoiding their snares. But let us now start afresh, and address ourselves to the consideration of that which still remains.
One true God, and Jesus Christ, whom Thou hast sent ?''* but know Him now in that glory of which He says to the Father, '* Which I had with Thee before the world was."? For then He will deliver up the kingdom to God,
3 1 Cor. xv. 24. 4 Matt, xxv. 21, 23. 5 Ps, cxii. 7. i 6 Ps, xxxi. 21,
I Matt. xxv. 37, 41, 34. 2 John xvii. 3-5.
BOOK: Lh.
AUGUSTIN PURSUES HIS DEFENSE OF THE EQUALITY OF THE TRINITY; AND IN TREATING OF THE
SENDING OF THE SON AND OF THE HOLY SPIRIT, AND OF THE VARIOUS APPEARANCES OF GOD,
DEMONSTRATES THAT HE WHO JIS SENT IS NOT THEREFORE LESS THAN HE WHO SENDS, BE-
CAUSE THE ONE HAS SENT, THE OTHER HAS BEEN SENT; BUT THAT THE TRINITY, BEING IN
ALL THINGS EQUAL, AND ALIKE IN ITS OWN NATURE UNCHANGEABLE AND INVISIBLE AND
OMNIPRESENT, WORKS INDIVISIBLY IN EACH SENDING OR APPEARANCE, created the other. Nor shall I be afraid of giving my opinion, in which I shall more desire to be examined by the upright, than fear to be carped at by the perverse. For charity, most excellent and unassuming, gratefully accepts the dovelike eye; but for the dog's tooth nothing remains, save either to shun it by the most cautious humility, or to blunt it by the most solid truth; and far rather would I be censured by any one whatsoever, than be praised by either the erring or the flatterer. For the lover of truth need fear no one's censure. For he that censures, must needs be either enemy or friend. And if an enemy reviles, he must be borne with: but a friend, if he errs, must be taught; if he teaches, listened to. But if one who errs praises you, he confirms your error; if one who flatters, he seduces you into error.
PREFACE. WHEN men seek to know God, and bend their minds according to the capacity of human weakness to the understanding of the Trinity; learning, as they must, by experience, the wearisome difficulties of the task, whether from the sight itself of the mind striving to gaze upon light unapproachable, or, indeed, from the manifold and various modes of speech employed in the sacred writings (wherein, as it seems to me, the mind is nothing else but roughly exercised, in order that it may find sweetness when glorified by the grace of Christ);—such men, I say, when they have dispelled every ambiguity, and arrived at something certain, ought of all others most easily to make allowance for those who err in the investigation of so deep asecret, But there are two things most hard to bear with, in the case of those who are in error: hasty assumption before the truth is made plain; and, when it has been made plain, defence of the falsehood thus hastily assumed. From which two faults, inimical as they are to the finding out of the truth, and to the handling of the divine and sacred books, should God, as I pray and hope, defend and protect me with the shield of dis good will,t and with the grace of His mercy,
Let the righteous," therefore, '' smite me, it shall be a kindness; and let him reprove me; but the oil of the sinner shall not anoint mynnead er
CHAP. I.—-THERE IS A DOUBLE RULE FOR UNDERSTANDING THE SCRIPTURAL MODES OF SPEECH CONCERNING THESON OF GOD. THESE MODES OF SPEECH ARE OF A THREEFOLD KIND.
2. Wherefore, although we hold most Iwill not be slow to search out the substance | firmly, concerning our Lord Jesus Christ, of God, whether through His Scripture or|what may be called the canonical rule, as it through the creature. For both of these are|is both disseminated through the Scriptures, set forth for our contemplation to this end,!and has been demonstrated by learned and that He may Himself be sought, and Him-|Catholic handlers of the same Scriptures, self be loved, who inspired the one, and|namely, that the Son of God is both under-
1 Ps, v. 12. 2 Ps. cxli, 5.