lest by this deception he should seduce us into harmful acts. For, when he deceives the corporeal senses, and does not thereby turn the mind from that true and right judgment by which one leads the life of faith, there is no danger to religion. Or if, feigning himself to be good, he does or says things that would fit the character of the good angels, even if then we believe him good, the error is neither dangerous nor fatal to the Christian faith. But when, by these alien wiles, he begins to lead us into his own ways, then great vigilance is required to recognize him and not follow after. But how few men are there who are able to avoid his deadly stratagems, unless God guides and preserves them! Yet the very difficulty of this business is useful in this respect: it shows that no man should rest his hopes in himself, nor one man in another, but all who are God's should cast their hopes on him. And that this latter is obviously the best course for us no pious man would deny. 61. This part of the Church, therefore, which is composed of the holy angels and powers of God will become known to us as it really is only when, at the end of the age, we are joined to it, to possess, together with it, eternal bliss. But the other part which, separated from this heavenly company, wanders through the earth is better known to us because we are in it, and because it is composed of men like ourselves. This is the part that has been redeemed from all sin by the blood of the sinless Mediator, and its cry is: "If God be for us, who is against us? He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all. . . ."[126] Now Christ did not die for the angels. But still, what was done for man by his death for man's redemption and his deliverance from evil was done for the angels also, because by it the enmity caused by sin between men and the angels is removed and friendship restored. Moreover, this redemption of mankind serves to repair the ruins left by the angelic apostasy. 62. Of course, the holy angels, taught by God -- in the eternal contemplation of whose truth they are blessed -- know how many of the human race are required to fill up the full census of that commonwealth. This is why the apostle says "that all things are restored to unity in Christ, both those in heaven and those on the earth in him."[127] The part in heaven is indeed restored when the number lost from the angelic apostasy are replaced from the ranks of mankind. The part on earth is restored when those men predestined to eternal life are redeemed from the old state of corruption. Thus by the single sacrifice, of which the many victims of the law were only shadows, the heavenly part is set at peace with the earthly part and the earthly reconciled to the heavenly. Wherefore, as the same apostle says: "For it pleased God that all plenitude of being should dwell in him and by him to reconcile all things to himself, making peace with them by the blood of his cross, whether those things on earth or those in heaven."[128] 63. This peace, as it is written, "passes all understanding." It cannot be known by us until we have entered into it. For how is the heavenly realm set at peace, save together with us; that is, by concord with us? For in that realm there is always peace, both among the whole company of rational creatures and between them and their Creator. This is the peace that, as it is said, "passes all understanding." But obviously this means our understanding, not that of those who always see the Father's face. For no matter how great our understanding may be, "we know in part, and we see in a glass darkly."[129] But when we shall have become "equal to God's angels,"[130] then, even as they do, "we shall see face to face."[131] And we shall then have as great amity toward them as they have toward us; for we shall come to love them as much as we are loved by them. In this way their peace will become known to us, since ours will be like theirs in kind and measure -- nor will it then surpass our understanding. But the peace of God, which is there, will still doubtless surpass our understanding and theirs as well. For, of course, in so far as a rational creature is blessed, this blessedness comes, not from himself, but from God. Hence, it follows that it is better to interpret the passage, "The peace of God which passes all understanding," so that from the word "all" not even the understanding of the holy angels should be excepted. Only God's understanding is excepted; for, of course, his peace does not surpass his own understanding.

                     CHAPTER XVII                     Forgiveness of Sins in the Church            64.  The angels are in concord with us even now, when our  sins are forgiven.  Therefore, in the order of the Creed, after  the reference to "holy Church" is placed the reference to  "forgiveness of sins." For it is by this that the part of the  Church on earth stands; it is by this that "what was lost and is  found again"[132] is not lost again.  Of course, the gift of  baptism is an exception.  It is an antidote given us against  original sin, so that what is contracted by birth is removed by  the new birth -- though it also takes away actual sins as well,  whether of heart, word, or deed.  But except for this great  remission -- the beginning point of a man's renewal, in which all  guilt, inherited and acquired, is washed away -- the rest of life,  from the age of accountability (and no matter how vigorously we  progress in righteousness), is not without the need for the  forgiveness of sins.  This is the case because the sons of God, as  long as they live this mortal life, are in a conflict with death.   And although it is truly said of them, "As many as are led by the  Spirit of God, they are the sons of God,"[133] yet even as they  are being led by the Spirit of God and, as sons of God, advance  toward God, they are also being led by their own spirits so that,  weighed down by the corruptible body and influenced by certain  human feelings, they thus fall away from themselves and commit  sin.  But it matters _how much_.  Although every crime is a sin,  not every sin is a crime.  Thus we can say of the life of holy men  even while they live in this mortality, that they are found  without crime.  "But if we say that we have no sin," as the great  apostle says, "we deceive even ourselves, and the truth is not in  us."[134]      65.  Nevertheless, no matter how great our crimes, their  forgiveness should never be despaired of in holy Church for those  who truly repent, each according to the measure of his sin.  And,  in the act of repentance,[135] where a crime has been committed of  such gravity as also to cut off the sinner from the body of  Christ, we should not consider the measure of time as much as the  measure of sorrow.  For, "a contrite and humbled heart God will  not despise."[136]      Still, since the sorrow of one heart is mostly hid from  another, and does not come to notice through words and other such  signs -- even when it is plain to Him of whom it is said, "My  groaning is not hid from thee"[137] -- times of repentance have  been rightly established by those set over the churches, that  satisfaction may also be made in the Church, in which the sins are  forgiven.  For, of course, outside her they are not forgiven.  For  she alone has received the pledge of the Holy Spirit,[138] without  whom there is no forgiveness of sins.  Those forgiven thus obtain  life everlasting.      66.  Now the remission of sins has chiefly to do with the  future judgment.  In this life the Scripture saying holds true: "A  heavy yoke is on the sons of Adam, from the day they come forth  from their mother's womb till the day of their burial in the  mother of us all."[139]  Thus we see even infants, after the  washing of regeneration, tortured by divers evil afflictions.   This helps us to understand that the whole import of the  sacraments of salvation has to do more with the hope of future  goods than with the retaining or attaining of present goods.      Indeed, many sins seem to be ignored and go unpunished; but  their punishment is reserved for the future.  It is not in vain  that the day when the Judge of the living and the dead shall come  is rightly called the Day of Judgment.  Just so, on the other  hand, some sins are punished here, and, if they are forgiven, will  certainly bring no harm upon us in the future age.  Hence,  referring to certain temporal punishments, which are visited upon  sinners in this life, the apostle, speaking to those whose sins  are blotted out and not reserved to the end, says: "For if we  judge ourselves truly we should not be judged by the Lord.  But  when we are judged, we are chastised by the Lord, that we may not  be condemned along with this world."[140]      

                  CHAPTER XVIII[141]                              Faith and Works            67.  There are some, indeed, who believe that those who do  not abandon the name of Christ, and who are baptized in his laver  in the Church, who are not cut off from it by schism or heresy,  who may then live in sins however great, not washing them away by  repentance, nor redeeming them by alms -- and who obstinately  persevere in them to life's last day -- even these will still be  saved, "though as by fire." They believe that such people will be  punished by fire, prolonged in proportion to their sins, but still  not eternal.      But those who believe thus, and still are Catholics, are  deceived, as it seems to me, by a kind of merely human  benevolence.  For the divine Scripture, when consulted, answers  differently.  Moreover, I have written a book about this question,  entitled Faith and Works,[142] in which, with God's help, I have  shown as best I could that, according to Holy Scripture, the faith  that saves is the faith that the apostle Paul adequately describes  when he says, "For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision avails  anything, nor uncircumcision, but the faith which works through  love."[143]  But if faith works evil and not good, then without  doubt, according to the apostle James "it is dead in itself."[144]   He then goes on to say, "If a man says he has faith, yet has not  works, can his faith be enough to save him?"[145]      Now, if the wicked man were to be saved by fire on account of  his faith only, and if this is the way the statement of the  blessed Paul should be understood -- "But he himself shall be  saved, yet so as by fire"[146] -- then faith without works would  be sufficient to salvation.  But then what the apostle James said  would be false.  And also false would be another statement of the  same Paul himself: "Do not err," he says; "neither fornicators,  nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor the unmanly, nor homosexuals,  nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor  extortioners, shall inherit the Kingdom of God."[147]  Now, if  those who persist in such crimes as these are nevertheless saved  by their faith in Christ, would they not then be in the Kingdom of  God?      68.  But, since these fully plain and most pertinent  apostolic testimonies cannot be false, that one obscure saying  about those who build on "the foundation, which is Christ, not  gold, silver, and precious stones, but wood, hay, and  stubble"[148] -- for it is about these it is said that they will  be saved as by fire, not perishing on account of the saving worth  of their foundation -- such a statement must be interpreted so  that it does not contradict these fully plain testimonies.      In fact, wood and hay and stubble may be understood, without  absurdity, to signify such an attachment to those worldly things  -- albeit legitimate in themselves -- that one cannot suffer their  loss without anguish in the soul.  Now, when such anguish "burns,"  and Christ still holds his place as foundation in the heart --  that is, if nothing is preferred to him and if the man whose  anguish "burns" would still prefer to suffer loss of the things he  greatly loves than to lose Christ -- then one is saved, "by fire."  But if, in time of testing, he should prefer to hold onto these  temporal and worldly goods rather than to Christ, he does not have  him as foundation -- because he has put "things" in the first  place -- whereas in a building nothing comes before the  foundations.      Now, this fire, of which the apostle speaks, should be  understood as one through which both kinds of men must pass: that  is, the man who builds with gold, silver, and precious stones on  this foundation and also the man who builds with wood, hay, and  stubble.  For, when he had spoken of this, he added: "The fire  shall try every man's work, of what sort it is.  If any man's work  abides which he has built thereupon, he shall receive a reward.   If any man's work burns up, he shall suffer loss; but he himself  shall be saved, yet so as by fire."[149]  Therefore the fire will  test the work, not only of the one, but of both.      The fire is a sort of trial of affliction, concerning which  it is clearly written elsewhere: "The furnace tries the potter's  vessels and the trial of affliction tests righteous men."[150]   This kind of fire works in the span of this life, just as the  apostle said, as it affects the two different kinds of faithful  men.  There is, for example, the man who "thinks of the things of  God, how he may please God." Such a man builds on Christ the  foundation, with gold, silver, and precious stones.  The other man  "thinks about the things of the world, how he may please his  wife"[151]; that is, he builds upon the same foundation with wood,  hay, and stubble.  The work of the former is not burned up, since  he has not loved those things whose loss brings anguish.  But the  work of the latter is burned up, since things are not lost without  anguish when they have been loved with a possessive love.  But  because, in this second situation, he prefers to suffer the loss  of these things rather than losing Christ, and does not desert  Christ from fear of losing such things -- even though he may  grieve over his loss -- "he is saved," indeed, "yet so as by  fire." He "burns" with grief, for the things he has loved and  lost, but this does not subvert nor consume him, secured as he is  by the stability and the indestructibility of his foundation.      69.  It is not incredible that something like this should  occur after this life, whether or not it is a matter for fruitful  inquiry.  It may be discovered or remain hidden whether some of  the faithful are sooner or later to be saved by a sort of  purgatorial fire, in proportion as they have loved the goods that  perish, and in proportion to their attachment to them.  However,  this does not apply to those of whom it was said, "They shall not  possess the Kingdom of God,"[152] unless their crimes are remitted  through due repentance.  I say "due repentance" to signify that  they must not be barren of almsgiving, on which divine Scripture  lays so much stress that our Lord tells us in advance that, on the  bare basis of fruitfulness in alms, he will impute merit to those  on his right hand; and, on the same basis of unfruitfulness,  demerit to those on his left -- when he shall say to the former,  "Come, blessed of my Father, receive the Kingdom," but to the  latter, "Depart into everlasting fire."[153]      

                     CHAPTER XIX                        Almsgiving and Forgiveness            70.  We must beware, however, lest anyone suppose that  unspeakable crimes such as they commit who "will not possess the  Kingdom of God" can be perpetrated daily and then daily redeemed  by almsgiving.  Of course, life must be changed for the better,  and alms should be offered as propitiation to God for our past  sins.  But he is not somehow to be bought off, as if we always had  a license to commit crimes with impunity.  For, "he has given no  man a license to sin"[154] -- although, in his mercy, he does blot  out sins already committed, if due satisfaction for them is not  neglected.      71.  For the passing and trivial sins of every day, from  which no life is free, the everyday prayer of the faithful makes  satisfaction.  For they can say, "Our Father who art in heaven,"  who have already been reborn to such a Father "by water and the  Spirit."[155]  This prayer completely blots out our minor and  everyday sins.  It also blots out those sins which once made the  life of the faithful wicked, but from which, now that they have  changed for the better by repentance, they have departed.  The  condition of this is that just as they truly say, "Forgive us our  debts" (since there is no lack of debts to be forgiven), so also  they truly say, "As we forgive our debtors"[156]; that is, if what  is said is also done.  For to forgive a man who seeks forgiveness  is indeed to give alms.      72.  Accordingly, what our Lord says -- "Give alms and,  behold, all things are clean to you"[157] -- applies to all useful  acts of mercy.  Therefore, not only the man who gives food to the  hungry, drink to the thirsty, clothing to the naked, hospitality  to the wayfarer, refuge to the fugitive; who visits the sick and  the prisoner, redeems the captive, bears the burdens of the weak,  leads the blind, comforts the sorrowful, heals the sick, shows the  errant the right way, gives advice to the perplexed, and does  whatever is needful for the needy[158] -- not only does this man  give alms, but the man who forgives the trespasser also gives alms  as well.  He is also a giver of alms who, by blows or other  discipline, corrects and restrains those under his command, if at  the same time he forgives from the heart the sin by which he has  been wronged or offended, or prays that it be forgiven the  offender.  Such a man gives alms, not only in that he forgives and  prays, but also in that he rebukes and administers corrective  punishment, since in this he shows mercy.      Now, many benefits are bestowed on the unwilling, when their  interests and not their preferences are consulted.  And men  frequently are found to be their own enemies, while those they  suppose to be their enemies are their true friends.  And then, by  mistake, they return evil for good, when a Christian ought not to  return evil even for evil.  Thus, there are many kinds of alms, by  which, when we do them, we are helped in obtaining forgiveness of  our own sins.      73.  But none of these alms is greater than the forgiveness  from the heart of a sin committed against us by someone else.  It  is a smaller thing to wish well or even to do well to one who has  done you no evil.  It is far greater -- a sort of magnificent  goodness -- to love your enemy, and always to wish him well and,  as you can, _do_ well to him who wishes you ill and who does you  harm when he can.  Thus one heeds God's command: "Love your  enemies, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them that  persecute you."[159]      Such counsels are for the perfect sons of God.  And although  all the faithful should strive toward them and through prayer to  God and earnest endeavor bring their souls up to this level, still  so high a degree of goodness is not possible for so great a  multitude as we believe are heard when, in prayer, they say,  "Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors." Accordingly, it  cannot be doubted that the terms of this pledge are fulfilled if a  man, not yet so perfect that he already loves his enemies, still  forgives from the heart one who has sinned against him and who now  asks his forgiveness.  For he surely seeks forgiveness when he  asks for it when he prays, saying, "As we forgive our debtors."  For this means, "Forgive us our debts when we ask for forgiveness,  as we also forgive our debtors when they ask for forgiveness."      74.  Again, if one seeks forgiveness from a man against whom  he sinned -- moved by his sin to seek it -- he should no longer be  regarded as an enemy, and it should not now be as difficult to  love him as it was when he was actively hostile.      Now, a man who does not forgive from the heart one who asks  forgiveness and is repentant of his sins can in no way suppose  that his own sins are forgiven by the Lord, since the Truth cannot  lie, and what hearer and reader of the gospel has not noted who it  was who said, "I am the Truth"[160]?  It is, of course, the One  who, when he was teaching the prayer, strongly emphasized this  sentence which he put in it, saying: "For if you forgive men their  trespasses, your Heavenly Father will also forgive you your  trespasses.  But if you will not forgive men, neither will your  Father forgive you your offenses."[161]  He who is not awakened by  such great thundering is not asleep, but dead.  And yet such a  word has power to awaken even the dead.      

                      CHAPTER XX                            Spiritual Almsgiving            75.  Now, surely, those who live in gross wickedness and take  no care to correct their lives and habits, who yet, amid their  crimes and misdeeds, continue to multiply their alms, flatter  themselves in vain with the Lord's words, "Give alms; and, behold,  all things are clean to you." They do not understand how far this  saying reaches.  In order for them to understand, let them notice  to whom it was that he said it.  For this is the context of it in  the Gospel: "As he was speaking, a certain Pharisee asked him to  dine with him.  And he went in and reclined at the table.  And the  Pharisee began to wonder and ask himself why He had not washed  himself before dinner.  But the Lord said to him: 'Now you  Pharisees clean the outside of the cup and the dish, but within  you are still full of extortion and wickedness.  Foolish ones!   Did not He who made the outside make the inside too?   Nevertheless, give for alms what remains within; and, behold, all  things are clean to you.'"[162] Should we interpret this to mean  that to the Pharisees, who had not the faith of Christ, all things  are clean if only they give alms, as they deem it right to give  them, even if they have not believed in him, nor been reborn of  water and the Spirit?  But all are unclean who are not made clean  by the faith of Christ, of whom it is written, "Cleansing their  hearts by faith."[163]  And as the apostle said, "But to them that  are unclean and unbelieving nothing is clean; both their minds and  consciences are unclean."[164]  How, then, should all things be  clean to the Pharisees, even if they gave alms, but were not  believers?  Or, how could they be believers, if they were  unwilling to believe in Christ and to be born again in his grace?   And yet, what they heard is true: "Give alms; and behold, all  things are clean to you."      76.  He who would give alms as a set plan of his life should  begin with himself and give them to himself.  For almsgiving is a  work of mercy, and the saying is most true: "Have mercy upon your  own soul, pleasing God."[165]  The purpose of the new birth is  that we should become pleasing to God, who is justly displeased  with the sin we contracted in birth.  This is the first  almsgiving, which we give to ourselves -- when through the mercy  of a merciful God we come to inquire about our wretchedness and  come to acknowledge the just verdict by which we were put in need  of that mercy, of which the apostle says, "Judgment came by that  one trespass to condemnation."[166]  And the same herald of grace  then adds (in a word of thanksgiving for God's great love), "But  God commendeth his love toward us in that, while we were yet  sinners, Christ died for us."[167]  Thus, when we come to a valid  estimate of our wretchedness and begin to love God with the love  he himself giveth us, we then begin to live piously and  righteously.      But the Pharisees, while they gave as alms a tithing of even  the least of their fruits, disregarded this "judgment and love of  God." Therefore, they did not begin their almsgiving with  themselves, nor did they, first of all, show mercy toward  themselves.  In reference to this right order of self-love, it was  said, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself."[168]      Therefore, when the Lord had reproved the Pharisees for  washing themselves on the outside while inwardly they were still  full of extortion and wickedness, he then admonished them also to  give those alms which a man owes first to himself -- to make clean  the inner man: "However," he said, "give what remains as alms,  and, behold, all things are clean to you." Then, to make plain the  import of his admonition, which they had ignored, and to show them  that he was not ignorant of their kind of almsgiving, he adds,  "But woe to you, Pharisees"[169] -- as if to say, "I am advising  you to give the kind of alms which shall make all things clean to  you." "But woe to you, for you tithe mint and rue and every herb"  -- "I know these alms of yours and you need not think I am  admonishing you to give them up" -- "and then neglect justice and  the love of God." "_This_ kind of almsgiving would make you clean  from all inward defilement, just as the bodies which you wash are  made clean by you." For the word "all" here means both "inward"  and "outward" -- as elsewhere we read, "Make clean the inside, and  the outside will become clean."[170]      But, lest it appear that he was rejecting the kind of alms we  give of the earth's bounty, he adds, "These things you should do"  -- that is, pay heed to the judgment and love of God -- and "not  omit the others" -- that is, alms done with the earth's bounty.      77.  Therefore, let them not deceive themselves who suppose  that by giving alms -- however profusely, and whether of their  fruits or money or anything else -- they purchase impunity to  continue in the enormity of their crimes and the grossness of  their wickedness.  For not only do they do such things, but they  also love them so much that they would always choose to continue  in them -- if they could do so with impunity.  "But he who loves  iniquity hates his own soul."[171]  And he who hates his own soul  is not merciful but cruel to it.  For by loving it after the  world's way he hates it according to God's way of judging.   Therefore, if one really wished to give alms to himself, that all  things might become clean to him, he would hate his soul after the  world's way and love it according to God's way.  No one, however,  gives any alms at all unless he gives from the store of Him who  needs not anything.  "Accordingly," it is said, "His mercy shall  go before me."[172]      

                     CHAPTER XXI                          Problems of Casuistry            78.  What sins are trivial and what are grave, however, is  not for human but for divine judgment to determine.  For we see  that, in respect of some sins, even the apostle, by pardoning  them, has conceded this point.  Such a case is seen in what the  venerable Paul says to married folks: "Do not deprive one another,  except by consent for a time to give yourselves to prayer, and  then return together lest Satan tempt you at the point of self- control."[173]  One could consider that it is not a sin for a  married couple to have intercourse, not only for the sake of  procreating children -- which is the good of marriage -- but also  for the sake of the carnal pleasure involved.  Thus, those whose  self-control is weak could avoid fornication, or adultery, and  other kinds of impurity too shameful to name, into which their  lust might drag them through Satan's tempting.  Therefore one  could, as I said, consider this not a sin, had the apostle not  added, "But I say this as a concession, not as a rule." Who, then,  denies that it is a sin when he agrees that apostolic authority  for doing it is given only by "concession"?       Another such case is seen where he says, "Dare any of you,  having a case against another, bring it to be judged before the  unrighteous and not the saints?"[174]  And a bit later: "If,  therefore, you have cases concerning worldly things," he says,  "you appoint those who are contemptible in the Church's eyes.  I  say this to shame you.  Can it be that there is not a wise man  among you, who could judge between his brethren?  But brother goes  to law with brother, and that in the presence of  unbelievers."[175]  And here it might be thought that it was not a  sin to bring suit against a brother, and that the only sin  consisted in wishing it judged outside the Church, if the apostle  had not added immediately, "Now therefore the whole fault among  you is that you have lawsuits with one another."[176]  Then, lest  someone excuse himself on this point by saying that he had a just  cause and was suffering injustice which he wished removed by  judicial sentence, the apostle directly resists such thoughts and  excuses by saying: "Why not rather suffer iniquity?  Why not  rather be defrauded?"[177]  Thus we are brought back to that  saying of the Lord: "If anyone would take your tunic and contend  in court with you, let go your cloak also."[178]  And in another  place: "If a man takes away your goods, seek them not back."[179]   Thus, he forbids his own to go to court with other men in secular  suits.  And it is because of this teaching that the apostle says  that this kind of action is "a fault." Still, when he allows such  suits to be decided in the Church, brothers judging brothers, yet  sternly forbids such a thing outside the Church, it is clear that  some concession is being made here for the infirmities of the  weak.      Because of these and similar sins -- and of others even less  than these, such as offenses in words and thoughts -- and because,  as the apostle James confesses, "we all offend in many  things,"[180] it behooves us to pray to the Lord daily and often,  and say, "Forgive us our debts," and not lie about what follows  this petition, "As we also forgive our debtors."      79.  There are, however, some sins that could be deemed quite  trifling if the Scriptures did not show that they are more serious  than we think.  For who would suppose that one saying to his  brother, "You fool," is "in danger of hell-fire," if the Truth had  not said it?  Still, for the hurt he immediately supplied a  medicine, adding the precept of brotherly reconciliation: "If,  therefore, you are offering a gift at the altar, and remember  there that your brother has something against you,"[181] etc.      Or who would think how great a sin it is to observe days and  months and years and seasons -- as those people do who will or  will not begin projects on certain days or in certain months or  years, because they follow vain human doctrines and suppose that  various seasons are lucky or unlucky -- if we did not infer the  magnitude of this evil from the apostle's fear, in saying to such  men, "I fear for you, lest perhaps I have labored among you in  vain"[182]?      80.  To this one might add those sins, however grave and  terrible, which, when they come to be habitual, are then believed  to be trivial or no sins at all.  And so far does this go that  such sins are not only not kept secret, but are even proclaimed  and published abroad -- cases of which it is written, "The sinner  is praised in the desires of his soul; and he that works iniquity  is blessed."[183]      In the divine books such iniquity is called a "cry" (clamor).   You have such a usage in the prophet Isaiah's reference to the  evil vineyard: "I looked that he should perform justice, yet he  did iniquity; not justice but a cry."[184]  So also is that  passage in Genesis: "The cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is  multiplied,"[185] for among these people such crimes were not only  unpunished, but were openly committed, as if sanctioned by law.      So also in our times so many evils, even if not like those  [of old], have come to be public customs that we not only do not  dare excommunicate a layman; we do not dare degrade a clergyman  for them.  Thus, several years ago, when I was expounding the  Epistle to the Galatians, where the apostle says, "I fear for you,  lest perchance I have labored in vain among you," I was moved to  exclaim: "Woe to the sins of men!  We shrink from them only when  we are not accustomed to them.  As for those sins to which we are  accustomed -- although the blood of the Son of God was shed to  wash them away -- although they are so great that the Kingdom of  God is wholly closed to them, yet, living with them often we come  to tolerate them, and, tolerating them, we even practice some of  them!  But grant, O Lord, that we do not practice any of them  which we could prohibit!"  I shall someday know whether immoderate  indignation moved me here to speak rashly.      

                     CHAPTER XXII                           The Two Causes of Sin            81.  I shall now mention what I have often discussed before  in other places in my short treatises.[186]  We sin from two  causes: either from not seeing what we ought to do, or else from  not doing what we have already seen we ought to do.  Of these two,  the first is ignorance of the evil; the second, weakness.      We must surely fight against both; but we shall as surely be  defeated unless we are divinely helped, not only to see what we  ought to do, but also, as sound judgment increases, to make our  love of righteousness victor over our love of those things because  of which -- either by desiring to possess them or by fearing to  lose them -- we fall, open-eyed, into known sin.  In this latter  case, we are not only sinners -- which we are even when we sin  through ignorance -- but also lawbreakers: for we do not do what  we should, and we do what we know already we should not.      Accordingly, we should pray for pardon if we have sinned, as  we do when we say, "Forgive us our debts as we also forgive our  debtors." But we should also pray that God should guide us away  from sin, and this we do when we say, "Lead us not into  temptation" -- and we should make our petitions to Him of whom it  is said in the psalm, "The Lord is my light and my  salvation"[187]; that, as Light, he may take away our ignorance,  as Salvation, our weakness.      82.  Now, penance itself is often omitted because of  weakness, even when in Church custom there is an adequate reason  why it should be performed.  For shame is the fear of displeasing  men, when a man loves their good opinion more than he regards  judgment, which would make him humble himself in penitence.   Wherefore, not only for one to repent, but also in order that he  may be enabled to do so, the mercy of God is prerequisite.   Otherwise, the apostle would not say of some men, "In case God  giveth them repentance."[188]  And, similarly, that Peter might be  enabled to weep bitterly, the Evangelist tells, "The Lord looked  at him."[189]      83.  But the man who does not believe that sins are forgiven  in the Church, who despises so great a bounty of the divine gifts  and ends, and persists to his last day in such an obstinacy of  mind -- that man is guilty of the unpardonable sin against the  Holy Spirit, in whom Christ forgiveth sins.[190]  I have discussed  this difficult question, as clearly as I could, in a little book  devoted exclusively to this very point.[191]      

                    CHAPTER XXIII                     The Reality of the Resurrection            84.  Now, with respect to the resurrection of the body -- and  by this I do not mean the cases of resuscitation after which  people died again, but a resurrection to eternal life after the  fashion of Christ's own body -- I have not found a way to discuss  it briefly and still give satisfactory answers to all the  questions usually raised about it.  Yet no Christian should have  the slightest doubt as to the fact that the bodies of all men,  whether already or yet to be born, whether dead or still to die,  will be resurrected.      85.  Once this fact is established, then, first of all, comes  the question about abortive fetuses, which are indeed "born" in  the mother's womb, but are never so that they could be "reborn."  For, if we say that there is a resurrection for them, then we can  agree that at least as much is true of fetuses that are fully  formed.  But, with regard to undeveloped fetuses, who would not  more readily think that they perish, like seeds that did not  germinate?[192]      But who, then, would dare to deny -- though he would not dare  to affirm it either -- that in the resurrection day what is  lacking in the forms of things will be filled out?  Thus, the  perfection which time would have accomplished will not be lacking,  any more than the blemishes wrought by time will still be present.   Nature, then, will be cheated of nothing apt and fitting which  time's passage would have brought, nor will anything remain  disfigured by anything adverse and contrary which time has  wrought.  But what is not yet a whole will become whole, just as  what has been disfigured will be restored to its full figure.      86.  On this score, a corollary question may be most  carefully discussed by the most learned men, and still I do not  know that any man can answer it, namely: When does a human being  begin to live in the womb?  Is there some form of hidden life, not  yet apparent in the motions of a living thing?  To deny, for  example, that those fetuses ever lived at all which are cut away  limb by limb and cast out of the wombs of pregnant women, lest the  mothers die also if the fetuses were left there dead, would seem  much too rash.  But, in any case, once a man begins to live, it is  thereafter possible for him to die.  And, once dead, wheresoever  death overtook him, I cannot find the basis on which he would not  have a share in the resurrection of the dead.      87.  By the same token, the resurrection is not to be denied  in the cases of monsters which are born and live, even if they  quickly die, nor should we believe that they will be raised as  they were, but rather in an amended nature and free from faults.   Far be it from us to say of that double-limbed man recently born  in the Orient -- about whom most reliable brethren have given  eyewitness reports and the presbyter Jerome, of holy memory, has  left a written account[193] -- far be it from us, I say, to  suppose that at the resurrection there will be one double man, and  not rather two men, as there would have been if they had actually  been born twins.  So also in other cases, which, because of some  excess or defect or gross deformity, are called monsters: at the  resurrection they will be restored to the normal human  physiognomy, so that every soul will have its own body and not two  bodies joined together, even though they were born this way.   Every soul will have, as its own, all that is required to complete  a whole human body.      88.  Moreover, with God, the earthly substance from which the  flesh of mortal man is produced does not perish.  Instead, whether  it be dissolved into dust or ashes, or dispersed into vapors and  the winds, or converted into the substance of other bodies (or  even back into the basic elements themselves), or has served as  food for beasts or even men and been turned into their flesh -- in  an instant of time this matter returns to the soul that first  animated it, and that caused it to become a man, to live and to  grow.      89.  This earthly matter which becomes a corpse upon the  soul's departure will not, at the resurrection, be so restored  that the parts into which it was separated and which have become  parts of other things must necessarily return to the same parts of  the body in which they were situated -- though they do return to  the body from which they were separated.  Otherwise, to suppose  that the hair recovers what frequent clippings have taken off, or  the nails get back what trimming has pared off, makes for a wild  and wholly unbecoming image in the minds of those who speculate  this way and leads them thus to disbelieve in the resurrection.   But take the example of a statue made of fusible metal: if it were  melted by heat or pounded into dust, or reduced to a shapeless  mass, and an artist wished to restore it again from the mass of  the same material, it would make no difference to the wholeness of  the restored statue which part of it was remade of what part of  the metal, so long as the statue, as restored, had been given all  the material of which it was originally composed.  Just so, God --  an artist who works in marvelous and mysterious ways -- will  restore our bodies, with marvelous and mysterious celerity, out of  the whole of the matter of which it was originally composed.  And  it will make no difference, in the restoration, whether hair  returns to hair and nails to nails, or whether the part of this  original matter that had perished is turned back into flesh and  restored to other parts of the body.  The main thing is that the  providence of the [divine] Artist takes care that nothing  unbecoming will result.      90.  Nor does it follow that the stature of each person will  be different when brought to life anew because there were  differences in stature when first alive, nor that the lean will be  raised lean or the fat come back to life in their former obesity.   But if this is in the Creator's plan, that each shall retain his  special features and the proper and recognizable likeness of his  former self -- while an equality of physical endowment will be  preserved -- then the matter of which each resurrection body is  composed will be so disposed that none shall be lost, and any  defect will be supplied by Him who can create out of nothing as he  wills.      But if in the bodies of those rising again there is to be an  intelligible inequality, such as between voices that fill out a  chorus, this will be managed by disposing the matter of each body  so to bring men into their place in the angelic band and impose  nothing on their senses that is inharmonious.  For surely nothing  unseemly will be there, and whatever is there will be fitting, and  this because the unfitting will simply not be.      91.  The bodies of the saints, then, shall rise again free  from blemish and deformity, just as they will be also free from  corruption, encumbrance, or handicap.  Their facility [facilitas]  will be as complete as their felicity [felicitas].  This is why  their bodies are called "spiritual," though undoubtedly they will  be bodies and not spirits.  For just as now the body is called  "animate" [animale], though it is a body and not a "spirit"  [anima], so then it will be a "spiritual body," but still a body  and not a spirit.      Accordingly, then, as far as the corruption which weighs down  the soul and the vices through which "the flesh lusts against the  spirit"[194] are concerned, there will be no "flesh," but only  body, since there are bodies that are called "heavenly  bodies."[195]  This is why it is said, "Flesh and blood shall not  inherit the Kingdom of God," and then, as if to expound what was  said, it adds, "Neither shall corruption inherit  incorruption."[196]  What the writer first called "flesh and  blood" he later called "corruption," and what he first called "the  Kingdom of God" he then later called "incorruption."      But, as far as the substance of the resurrection body is  concerned, it will even then still be "flesh." This is why the  body of Christ is called "flesh" even after the resurrection.   Wherefore the apostle also says, "What is sown a natural body  [corpus animale] rises as a spiritual body [corpus  spirituale]."[197]  For there will then be such a concord between  flesh and spirit -- the spirit quickening the servant flesh  without any need of sustenance therefrom -- that there will be no  further conflict within ourselves.  And just as there will be no  more external enemies to bear with, so neither shall we have to  bear with ourselves as enemies within.      92.  But whoever are not liberated from that mass of  perdition (brought to pass through the first man) by the one  Mediator between God and man, they will also rise again, each in  his own flesh, but only that they may be punished together with  the devil and his angels.  Whether these men will rise again with  all their faults and deformities, with their diseased and deformed  members -- is there any reason for us to labor such a question?   For obviously the uncertainty about their bodily form and beauty  need not weary us, since their damnation is certain and eternal.   And let us not be moved to inquire how their body can be  incorruptible if it can suffer -- or corruptible if it cannot die.   For there is no true life unless it be lived in happiness; no true  incorruptibility save where health is unscathed by pain.  But  where an unhappy being is not allowed to die, then death itself,  so to say, dies not; and where pain perpetually afflicts but never  destroys, corruption goes on endlessly.  This state is called, in  the Scripture, "the second death."[198]      93.  Yet neither the first death, in which the soul is  compelled to leave its body, nor the second death, in which it is  not allowed to leave the body undergoing punishment, would have  befallen man if no one had sinned.  Surely, the lightest of all  punishments will be laid on those who have added no further sin to  that originally contracted.  Among the rest, who have added  further Sins to that one, they will suffer a damnation somewhat  more tolerable in proportion to the lesser degree of their  iniquity.      

                     CHAPTER XXIV              The Solution to Present Spiritual Enigmas to Be             Awaited in the Life of the World To Come            94.  And thus it will be that while the reprobated angels and  men go on in their eternal punishment, the saints will go on  learning more fully the blessings which grace has bestowed upon  them.  Then, through the actual realities of their experience,  they will see more clearly the meaning of what is written in The  Psalms: "I will sing to thee of mercy and judgment, O Lord"[199]  -- since no one is set free save by unmerited mercy and no one is  damned save by a merited condemnation.      95.  Then what is now hidden will not be hidden: when one of  two infants is taken up by God's mercy and the other abandoned  through God's judgment -- and when the chosen one knows what would  have been his just deserts in judgment -- why was the one chosen  rather than the other, when the condition of the two was the same?   Or again, why were miracles not wrought in the presence of certain  people who would have repented in the face of miraculous works,  while miracles were wrought in the presence of those who were not  about to believe.  For our Lord saith most plainly: "Woe to you,  Chorazin; woe to you, Bethsaida.  For if in Tyre and Sidon had  been wrought the miracles done in your midst, they would have  repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes."[200]  Now, obviously,  God did not act unjustly in not willing their salvation, even  though they could have been saved, if he willed it so.[201]      Then, in the clearest light of wisdom, will be seen what now  the pious hold by faith, not yet grasping it in clear  understanding -- how certain, immutable, and effectual is the will  of God, how there are things he can do but doth not will to do,  yet willeth nothing he cannot do, and how true is what is sung in  the psalm: "But our God is above in heaven; in heaven and on earth  he hath done all things whatsoever that he would."[202]  This  obviously is not true, if there is anything that he willed to do  and did not do, or, what were worse, if he did not do something  because man's will prevented him, the Omnipotent, from doing what  he willed.  Nothing, therefore, happens unless the Omnipotent  wills it to happen.  He either allows it to happen or he actually  causes it to happen.      96.  Nor should we doubt that God doth well, even when he  alloweth whatever happens ill to happen.  For he alloweth it only  through a just judgment -- and surely all that is just is good.   Therefore, although evil, in so far as it is evil, is not good,  still it is a good thing that not only good things exist but evil  as well.  For if it were not good that evil things exist, they  would certainly not be allowed to exist by the Omnipotent Good,  for whom it is undoubtedly as easy not to allow to exist what he  does not will, as it is for him to do what he does will.      Unless we believe this, the very beginning of our Confession  of Faith is imperiled -- the sentence in which we profess to  believe in God the Father Almighty.  For he is called Almighty for  no other reason than that he can do whatsoever he willeth and  because the efficacy of his omnipotent will is not impeded by the  will of any creature.      97.  Accordingly, we must now inquire about the meaning of  what was said most truly by the apostle concerning God, "Who  willeth that all men should be saved."[203]  For since not all --  not even a majority -- _are_ saved, it would indeed appear that  the fact that what God willeth to happen does not happen is due to  an embargo on God's will by the human will.      Now, when we ask for the reason why not all are saved, the  customary answer is: "Because they themselves have not willed it."  But this cannot be said of infants, who have not yet come to the  power of willing or not willing.  For, if we could attribute to  their wills the infant squirmings they make at baptism, when they  resist as hard as they can, we would then have to say that they  were saved against their will.  But the Lord's language is clearer  when, in the Gospel, he reproveth the unrighteous city: "How  often," he saith, "would I have gathered your children together,  as a hen gathers her chicks, and you would not."[204]  This sounds  as if God's will had been overcome by human wills and as if the  weakest, by not willing, impeded the Most Powerful so that he  could not do what he willed.  And where is that omnipotence by  which "whatsoever he willed in heaven and on earth, he has done,"  if he willed to gather the children of Jerusalem together, and did  not do so?  Or, is it not rather the case that, although Jerusalem  did not will that her children be gathered together by him, yet,  despite her unwillingness, God did indeed gather together those  children of hers whom he would?  It is not that "in heaven and on  earth" he hath willed and done some things, and willed other  things and not done them.  Instead, "all things whatsoever he  willed, he hath done."      

                     CHAPTER XXV                  Predestination and the Justice of God            98.  Furthermore, who would be so impiously foolish as to say  that God cannot turn the evil wills of men -- as he willeth, when  he willeth, and where he willeth -- toward the good?  But, when he  acteth, he acteth through mercy; when he doth not act, it is  through justice.  For, "he hath mercy on whom he willeth; and whom  he willeth, he hardeneth."[205]      Now when the apostle said this, he was commending grace, of  which he had just spoken in connection with the twin children in  Rebecca's womb: "Before they had yet been born, or had done  anything good or bad, in order that the electing purpose of God  might continue -- not through works but through the divine calling  -- it was said of them, 'The elder shall serve the younger.'  "[206] Accordingly, he refers to another prophetic witness, where  it is written, "Jacob I loved, but Esau have I hated."[207]  Then,  realizing how what he said could disturb those whose understanding  could not penetrate to this depth of grace, he adds: "What  therefore shall we say to this?  Is there unrighteousness in God?   God forbid!"[208]  Yet it does seem unfair that, without any merit  derived from good works or bad, God should love the one and hate  the other.  Now, if the apostle had wished us to understand that  there were future good deeds of the one, and evil deeds of the  other -- which God, of course, foreknew -- he would never have  said "not of good works" but rather "of _future_ works." Thus he  would have solved the difficulty; or, rather, he would have left  no difficulty to be solved.  As it is, however, when he went on to  exclaim, "God forbid!" -- that is, "God forbid that there should  be unfairness in God" -- he proceeds immediately to add (to prove  that no unfairness in God is involved here), "For he says to  Moses, 'I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will  show pity to whom I will show pity.'"[209] Now, who but a fool  would think God unfair either when he imposes penal judgment on  the deserving or when he shows mercy to the undeserving?  Finally,  the apostle concludes and says, "Therefore, it is not a question  of him who wills nor of him who runs but of God's showing  mercy."[210]      Thus, both the twins were "by nature children of wrath,"[211]  not because of any works of their own, but because they were both  bound in the fetters of damnation originally forged by Adam.  But  He who said, "I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy," loved  Jacob in unmerited mercy, yet hated Esau with merited justice.   Since this judgment [of wrath] was due them both, the former  learned from what happened to the other that the fact that he had  not, with equal merit, incurred the same penalty gave him no  ground to boast of his own distinctive merits -- but, instead,  that he should glory in the abundance of divine grace, because "it  is not a question of him who wills nor of him who runs, but of  God's showing mercy."[212]  And, indeed, the whole visage of  Scripture and, if I may speak so, the lineaments of its  countenance, are found to exhibit a mystery, most profound and  salutary, to admonish all who carefully look thereupon "that he  who glories, should glory in the Lord."[213]      99.  Now, after the apostle had commended God's mercy in  saying, "So then, there is no question of him who wills nor of him  who runs, but of God's showing mercy," next in order he intends to  speak also of his judgment -- for where his mercy is not shown, it  is not unfairness but justice.  For with God there is no  injustice.  Thus, he immediately added, "For the Scripture says to  Pharaoh, 'For this very purpose I raised you up, that I may show  through you my power, and that my name may be proclaimed in all  the earth."[214]  Then, having said this, he draws a conclusion  that looks both ways, that is, toward mercy and toward judgment:  "Therefore," he says, "he hath mercy on whom he willeth, and whom  he willeth he hardeneth." He showeth mercy out of his great  goodness; he hardeneth out of no unfairness at all.  In this way,  neither does he who is saved have a basis for glorying in any  merit of his own; nor does the man who is damned have a basis for  complaining of anything except what he has fully merited.  For  grace alone separates the redeemed from the lost, all having been  mingled together in the one mass of perdition, arising from a  common cause which leads back to their common origin.  But if any  man hears this in such a way as to say: "Why then does he find  fault?  For who resists his will?"[215] -- as if to make it seem  that man should not therefore be blamed for being evil _because_  God "hath mercy on whom he willeth and whom he willeth he  hardeneth" -- God forbid that we should be ashamed to give the  same reply as we see the apostle giving: "O man, who are you to  reply to God?  Does the molded object say to the molder, 'Why have  you made me like this?'  Or is not the potter master of his clay,  to make from the same mass one vessel for honorable, another for  ignoble, use?"[216]      There are some stupid men who think that in this part of the  argument the apostle had no answer to give; and, for lack of a  reasonable rejoinder, simply rebuked the audacity of his  gainsayer.  But what he said -- "O man, who are you?" -- has  actually great weight and in an argument like this recalls man, in  a single word, to consider the limits of his capacity and, at the  same time, supplies an important explanation.      For if one does not understand these matters, who is he to  talk back to God?  And if one does understand, he finds no better  ground even then for talking back.  For if he understands, he sees  that the whole human race was condemned in its apostate head by a  divine judgment so just that not even if a single member of the  race were ever saved from it, no one could rail against God's  justice.  And he also sees that those who are saved had to be  saved on such terms that it would show -- by contrast with the  greater number of those not saved but simply abandoned to their  wholly just damnation -- what the whole mass deserved and to what  end God's merited judgment would have brought them, had not his  undeserved mercy interposed.  Thus every mouth of those disposed  to glory in their own merits should be stopped, so that "he that  glories may glory in the Lord."[217]      

                     CHAPTER XXVI                   The Triumph of God's Sovereign Good Will            100.  These are "the great works of the Lord, well-considered  in all his acts of will"[218] -- and so wisely well-considered  that when his angelic and human creation sinned (that is, did not  do what he willed, but what it willed) he could still accomplish  what he himself had willed and this through the same creaturely  will by which the first act contrary to the Creator's will had  been done.  As the Supreme Good, he made good use of evil deeds,  for the damnation of those whom he had justly predestined to  punishment and for the salvation of those whom he had mercifully  predestined to grace.      For, as far as they were concerned, they did what God did not  will that they do, but as far as God's omnipotence is concerned,  they were quite unable to achieve their purpose.  In their very  act of going against his will, his will was thereby accomplished.   This is the meaning of the statement, "The works of the Lord are  great, well-considered in all his acts of will" -- that in a  strange and ineffable fashion even that which is done against his  will is not done without his will.  For it would not be done  without his allowing it -- and surely his permission is not  unwilling but willing -- nor would he who is good allow the evil  to be done, unless in his omnipotence he could bring good even out  of evil.      101.  Sometimes, however, a man of good will wills something  that God doth not will, even though God's will is much more, and  much more certainly, good -- for under no circumstances can it  ever be evil.  For example, it is a good son's will that his  father live, whereas it is God's good will that he should die.   Or, again, it can happen that a man of evil will can will  something that God also willeth with a good will -- as, for  example, a bad son wills that his father die and this is also  God's will.  Of course, the former wills what God doth not will,  whereas the latter does will what God willeth.  Yet the piety of  the one, though he wills not what God willeth, is more consonant  with God's will than is the impiety of the other, who wills the  same thing that God willeth.  There is a very great difference  between what is fitting for man to will and what is fitting for  God -- and also between the ends to which a man directs his will  -- and this difference determines whether an act of will is to be  approved or disapproved.  Actually, God achieveth some of his  purposes -- which are, of course, all good -- through the evil  wills of bad men.  For example, it was through the ill will of the  Jews that, by the good will of the Father, Christ was slain for us  -- a deed so good that when the apostle Peter would have nullified  it he was called "Satan" by him who had come in order to be  slain.[219]  How good seemed the purposes of the pious faithful  who were unwilling that the apostle Paul should go to Jerusalem,  lest there he should suffer the things that the prophet Agabus had  predicted![220]  And yet God had willed that he should suffer  these things for the sake of the preaching of Christ, and for the  training of a martyr for Christ.  And this good purpose of his he  achieved, not through the good will of the Christians, but through  the ill will of the Jews.  Yet they were more fully his who did  not will what he willed than were those who were willing  instruments of his purpose -- for while he and the latter did the  very same thing, he worked through them with a good will, whereas  they did his good will with their ill will.      102.  But, however strong the wills either of angels or of  men, whether good or evil, whether they will what God willeth or  will something else, the will of the Omnipotent is always  undefeated.  And this will can never be evil, because even when it  inflicts evils, it is still just; and obviously what is just is  not evil.  Therefore, whether through pity "he hath mercy on whom  he willeth," or in justice "whom he willeth, he hardeneth," the  omnipotent God never doth anything except what he doth will, and  doth everything that he willeth.      

                    CHAPTER XXVII                 Limits of God's Plan for Human Salvation            103.  Accordingly, when we hear and read in sacred Scripture  that God "willeth that all men should be saved,"[221] although we  know well enough that not all men are saved, we are not on that  account to underrate the fully omnipotent will of God.  Rather, we  must understand the Scripture, "Who will have all men to be  saved," as meaning that no man is saved unless God willeth his  salvation: not that there is no man whose salvation he doth not  will, but that no one is saved unless He willeth it.  Moreover,  his will should be sought in prayer, because if he willeth, then  what he willeth must necessarily be.  And, indeed, it was of  prayer to God that the apostle was speaking when he made that  statement.  Thus, we are also to understand what is written in the  Gospel about Him "who enlighteneth every man."[222]  This means  that there is no man who is enlightened except by God.      In any case, the word concerning God, "who will have all men  to be saved," does not mean that there is no one whose salvation  he doth not will -- he who was unwilling to work miracles among  those who, he said, would have repented if he had wrought them --  but by "all men" we are to understand the whole of mankind, in  every single group into which it can be divided: kings and  subjects; nobility and plebeians; the high and the low; the  learned and unlearned; the healthy and the sick; the bright, the  dull, and the stupid; the rich, the poor, and the middle class;  males, females, infants, children, the adolescent, young adults  and middle-aged and very old; of every tongue and fashion, of all  the arts, of all professions, with the countless variety of wills  and minds and all the other things that differentiate people.  For  from which of these groups doth not God will that some men from  every nation should be saved through his only begotten Son our  Lord?  Therefore, he doth save them since the Omnipotent cannot  will in vain, whatsoever he willeth.      Now, the apostle had enjoined that prayers should be offered  "for all men"[223] and especially "for kings and all those of  exalted station,"[224] whose worldly pomp and pride could be  supposed to be a sufficient cause for them to despise the humility  of the Christian faith.  Then, continuing his argument, "for this  is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour"[225]--  that is, to pray even for such as these [kings] -- the apostle, to  remove any warrant for despair, added, "Who willeth that all men  be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth."[226]  Truly,  then, God hath judged it good that through the prayers of the  lowly he would deign to grant salvation to the exalted -- a  paradox we have already seen exemplified.  Our Lord also useth the  same manner of speech in the Gospel, where he saith to the  Pharisees, "You tithe mint and rue and every herb."[227]   Obviously, the Pharisees did not tithe what belonged to others,  nor all the herbs of all the people of other lands.  Therefore,  just as we should interpret "every herb" to mean "every kind of  herb," so also we can interpret "all men" to mean "all kinds of  men." We could interpret it in any other fashion, as long as we  are not compelled to believe that the Omnipotent hath willed  anything to be done which was not done.  "He hath done all things  in heaven and earth, whatsoever he willed,"[228] as Truth sings of  him, and surely he hath not willed to do anything that he hath not  done.  There must be no equivocation on this point.      

                    CHAPTER XXVIII                             The Destiny of Man            104.  Consequently, God would have willed to preserve even  the first man in that state of salvation in which he was created  and would have brought him in due season, after the begetting of  children, to a better state without the intervention of death --  where he not only would have been unable to sin, but would not  have had even the will to sin -- if he had foreknown that man  would have had a steadfast will to continue without sin, as he had  been created to do.  But since he did foreknow that man would make  bad use of his free will -- that is, that he would sin -- God  prearranged his own purpose so that he could do good to man, even  in man's doing evil, and so that the good will of the Omnipotent  should be nullified by the bad will of men, but should nonetheless  be fulfilled.      105.  Thus it was fitting that man should be created, in the  first place, so that he could will both good and evil -- not  without reward, if he willed the good; not without punishment, if  he willed the evil.  But in the future life he will not have the  power to will evil; and yet this will not thereby restrict his  free will.  Indeed, his will will be much freer, because he will  then have no power whatever to serve sin.  For we surely ought not  to find fault with such a will, nor say it is no will, or that it  is not rightly called free, when we so desire happiness that we  not only are unwilling to be miserable, but have no power  whatsoever to will it.      And, just as in our present state, our soul is unable to will  unhappiness for ourselves, so then it will be forever unable to  will iniquity.  But the ordered course of God's plan was not to be  passed by, wherein he willed to show how good the rational  creature is that is able not to sin, although one unable to sin is  better.[229]  So, too, it was an inferior order of immortality --  but yet it was immortality -- in which man was capable of not  dying, even if the higher order which is to be is one in which man  will be incapable of dying.[230]      106.  Human nature lost the former kind of immortality  through the misuse of free will.  It is to receive the latter  through grace -- though it was to have obtained it through merit,  if it had not sinned.  Not even then, however, could there have  been any merit without grace.  For although sin had its origin in  free will alone, still free will would not have been sufficient to  maintain justice, save as divine aid had been afforded man, in the  gift of participation in the immutable good.  Thus, for example,  the power to die when he wills it is in a man's own hands -- since  there is no one who could not kill himself by not eating (not to  mention other means).  But the bare will is not sufficient for  maintaining life, if the aids of food and other means of  preservation are lacking.      Similarly, man in paradise was capable of self-destruction by  abandoning justice by an act of will; yet if the life of justice  was to be maintained, his will alone would not have sufficed,  unless He who made him had given him aid.  But, after the Fall,  God's mercy was even more abundant, for then the will itself had  to be freed from the bondage in which sin and death are the  masters.  There is no way at all by which it can be freed by  itself, but only through God's grace, which is made effectual in  the faith of Christ.  Thus, as it is written, even the will by  which "the will itself is prepared by the Lord"[231] so that we  may receive the other gifts of God through which we come to the  Gift eternal -- this too comes from God.        107.  Accordingly, even the life eternal, which is surely the  wages of good works, is called a _gift_ of God by the apostle.   "For the wages of sin," he says, "is death; but the gift of God is  eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord."[232]  Now, wages for  military service are paid as a just debit, not as a gift.  Hence,  he said "the wages of sin is death," to show that death was not an  unmerited pun ishment for sin but a just debit.  But a gift,  unless it be gratuitous, is not grace.  We are, therefore, to  understand that even man's merited goods are gifts from God, and  when life eternal is given through them, what else do we have but  "grace upon grace returned"[233]?      Man was, therefore, made upright, and in such a fashion that  he could either continue in that uprightness -- though not without  divine aid -- or become perverted by his own choice.  Whichever of  these two man had chosen, God's will would be done, either by man  or at least _concerning_ him.  Wherefore, since man chose to do  his own will instead of God's, God's will _concerning_ him was  done; for, from the same mass of perdition that flowed out of that  common source, God maketh "one vessel for honorable, another for  ignoble use"[234]; the ones for honorable use through his mercy,  the ones for ignoble use through his judgment; lest anyone glory  in man, or -- what is the same thing -- in himself.        108.  Now, we could not be redeemed, even through "the one  Mediator between God and man, Man himself, Christ Jesus,"[235] if  he were not also God.  For when Adam was made -- being made an  upright man -- there was no need for a mediator.  Once sin,  however, had widely separated the human race from God, it was  necessary for a mediator, who alone was born, lived, and was put  to death without sin, to reconcile us to God, and provide even for  our bodies a resurrection to life eternal -- and all this in order  that man's pride might be exposed and healed through God's  humility.  Thus it might be shown man how far he had departed from  God, when by the incarnate God he is recalled to God; that man in  his contumacy might be furnished an example of obedience by the  God-Man; that the fount of grace might be opened up; that even the  resurrection of the body -- itself promised to the redeemed --  might be previewed in the resurrection of the Redeemer himself;  that the devil might be vanquished by that very nature he was  rejoicing over having deceived -- all this, however, without  giving man ground for glory in himself, lest pride spring up anew.   And if there are other advantages accruing from so great a mystery  of the Mediator, which those who profit from them can see or  testify -- even if they cannot be described -- let them be added  to this list.      

                     CHAPTER XXIX                              "The Last Things"            109.  Now, for the time that intervenes between man's death  and the final resurrection, there is a secret shelter for his  soul, as each is worthy of rest or affliction according to what it  has merited while it lived in the body.      110.  There is no denying that the souls of the dead are  benefited by the piety of their living friends, when the sacrifice  of the Mediator is offered for the dead, or alms are given in the  church. But these means benefit only those who, when they were  living, have merited that such services could be of help to them.   For there is a mode of life that is neither so good as not to need  such helps after death nor so bad as not to gain benefit from them  after death.  There is, however, a good mode of life that does not  need such helps, and, again, one so thoroughly bad that, when such  a man departs this life, such helps avail him nothing.  It is  here, then, in this life, that all merit or demerit is acquired  whereby a man's condition in the life hereafter is improved or  worsened.  Therefore, let no one hope to obtain any merit with God  after he is dead that he has neglected to obtain here in this  life.      So, then, those means which the Church constantly uses in  interceding for the dead are not opposed to that statement of the  apostle when he said, "For all of us shall stand before the  tribunal of Christ, so that each may receive according to what he  has done in the body, whether good or evil."[236]  For each man  has for himself while living in the body earned the merit whereby  these means can benefit him [after death].  For they do not  benefit all.  And yet why should they not benefit all, unless it  be because of the different kinds of lives men lead in the body?   Accordingly, when sacrifices, whether of the altar or of alms, are  offered for the baptized dead, they are thank offerings for the  very good, propitiations for the not-so-very-bad [non valde  malis], and, as for the very bad -- even if they are of no help to  the dead -- they are at least a sort of consolation to the living.   Where they are of value, their benefit consists either in  obtaining a full forgiveness or, at least, in making damnation  more tolerable.      111.  After the resurrection, however, when the general  judgment has been held and finished, the boundary lines will be  set for the two cities: the one of Christ, the other of the devil;  one for the good, the other for the bad -- both including angels  and men.  In the one group, there will be no will to sin, in the  other, no power to sin, nor any further possibility of dying.  The  citizens of the first commonwealth will go on living truly and  happily in life eternal.  The second will go on, miserable in  death eternal, with no power to die to it.  The condition of both  societies will then be fixed and endless.  But in the first city,  some will outrank others in bliss, and in the second, some will  have a more tolerable burden of misery than others.      112.  It is quite in vain, then, that some -- indeed very  many -- yield to merely human feelings and deplore the notion of  the eternal punishment of the damned and their interminable and  perpetual misery.  They do not believe that such things will be.   Not that they would go counter to divine Scripture -- but,  yielding to their own human feelings, they soften what seems harsh  and give a milder emphasis to statements they believe are meant  more to terrify than to express the literal truth.  "God will not  forget," they say, "to show mercy, nor in his anger will he shut  up his mercy." This is, in fact, the text of a holy psalm.[237]   But there is no doubt that it is to be interpreted to refer to  those who are called "vessels of mercy,"[238] those who are freed  from misery not by their own merits but through God's mercy.  Even  so, if they suppose that the text applies to all men, there is no  ground for them further to suppose that there can be an end for  those of whom it is said, "Thus these shall go into everlasting  punishment."[239]  Otherwise, it can as well be thought that there  will also be an end to the happiness of those of whom the  antithesis was said: "But the righteous into life eternal."      But let them suppose, if it pleases them, that, for certain  intervals of time, the punishments of the damned are somewhat  mitigated.  Even so, the wrath of God must be understood as still  resting on them.  And this is damnation -- for this anger, which  is not a violent passion in the divine mind, is called "wrath" in  God.  Yet even in his wrath -- his wrath resting on them -- he  does not "shut up his mercy." This is not to put an end to their  eternal afflictions, but rather to apply or interpose some little  respite in their torments.  For the psalm does not say, "To put an  end to his wrath," or, "_After_ his wrath," but, "_In_ his wrath."  Now, if this wrath were all there is [in man's damnation], and  even if it were present only in the slightest degree conceivable  -- still, to be lost out of the Kingdom of God, to be an exile  from the City of God, to be estranged from the life of God, to  suffer loss of the great abundance of God's blessings which he has  hidden for those who fear him and prepared for those who hope in  him[240] -- this would be a punishment so great that, if it be  eternal, no torments that we know could be compared to it, no  matter how many ages they continued.      113.  The eternal death of the damned -- that is, their  estrangement from the life of God -- will therefore abide without  end, and it will be common to them all, no matter what some  people, moved by their human feelings, may wish to think about  gradations of punishment, or the relief or intermission of their  misery.  In the same way, the eternal life of the saints will  abide forever, and also be common to all of them no matter how  different the grades of rank and honor in which they shine forth  in their effulgent harmony.      

                     CHAPTER XXX            The Principles of Christian Living: Faith and Hope            114.  Thus, from our confession of _faith_, briefly  summarized in the Creed (which is milk for babes when pondered at  the carnal level but food for strong men when it is considered and  studied spiritually), there is born the good _hope_ of the  faithful, accompanied by a holy _love_.[241]  But of these  affirmations, all of which ought _faithfully_ to be believed, only  those which have to do with _hope_ are contained in the Lord's  Prayer.  For "cursed is everyone," as the divine eloquence  testified, "who rests his hope in man."[242]  Thus, he who rests  his hope in himself is bound by the bond of this curse.   Therefore, we should seek from none other than the Lord God  whatever it is that we hope to do well, or hope to obtain as  reward for our good works.      115.  Accordingly, in the Evangelist Matthew, the Lord's  Prayer may be seen to contain seven petitions: three of them ask  for eternal goods, the other four for temporal goods, which are,  however, necessary for obtaining the eternal goods.      For when we say: "Hallowed be thy name.  Thy Kingdom come.   Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven"[243] -- this last  being wrongly interpreted by some as meaning "in body and spirit"  -- these blessings will be retained forever.  They begin in this  life, of course; they are increased in us as we make progress, but  in their perfection -- which is to be hoped for in the other life  -- they will be possessed forever!  But when we say: "Give us this  day our daily bread.  And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our  debtors.  And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from  evil,"[244] who does not see that all these pertain to our needs  in the present life?  In that life eternal -- where we all hope to  be -- the hallowing of God's name, his Kingdom, and his will, in  our spirit and body will abide perfectly and immortally.  But in  this life we ask for "daily bread" because it is necessary, in the  measure required by soul and body, whether we take the term in a  spiritual or bodily sense, or both.  And here too it is that we  petition for forgiveness, where the sins are committed; here too  are the temptations that allure and drive us to sinning; here,  finally, the evil from which we wish to be freed.  But in that  other world none of these things will be found.      116.  However, the Evangelist Luke, in his version of the  Lord's Prayer, has brought together, not seven, but five  petitions.  Yet, obviously, there is no discrepancy here, but  rather, in his brief way, the Evangelist has shown us how the  seven petitions should be understood.  Actually, God's name is  even now hallowed in the spirit, but the Kingdom of God is yet to  come in the resurrection of the body.  Therefore, Luke was seeking  to show that the third petition ["Thy will be done"] is a  repetition of the first two, and makes this better understood by  omitting it.  He then adds three other petitions, concerning daily  bread, forgiveness of sins, and avoidance of temptation.[245]   However, what Matthew puts in the last place, "But deliver us from  evil," Luke leaves out, in order that we might understand that it  was included in what was previously said about temptation.  This  is, indeed, why Matthew said, "_But_ deliver us," instead of,  "_And_ deliver us," as if to indicate that there is only one  petition -- "Will not this, but that" -- so that anyone would  realize that he is being delivered from evil in that he is not  being led into temptation.      

                     CHAPTER XXXI                                    Love            117.  And now regarding _love_, which the apostle says is  greater than the other two -- that is, faith and hope -- for the  more richly it dwells in a man, the better the man in whom it  dwells.  For when we ask whether someone is a good man, we are not  asking what he believes, or hopes, but what he loves.  Now, beyond  all doubt, he who loves aright believes and hopes rightly.   Likewise, he who does not love believes in vain, even if what he  believes is true; he hopes in vain, even if what he hopes for is  generally agreed to pertain to true happiness, unless he believes  and hopes for this: that he may through prayer obtain the gift of  love.  For, although it is true that he cannot hope without love,  it may be that there is something without which, if he does not  love it, he cannot realize the object of his hopes.  An example of  this would be if a man hopes for life eternal -- and who is there  who does not love that? -- and yet does not love _righteousness_,  without which no one comes to it.      Now this is the true faith of Christ which the apostle  commends: faith that works through love.  And what it yet lacks in  love it asks that it may receive, it seeks that it may find, and  knocks that it may be opened unto it.[246]  For faith achieves  what the law commands [fides namque impetrat quod lex imperat].   And, without the gift of God -- that is, without the Holy Spirit,  through whom love is shed abroad in our hearts -- the law may bid  but it cannot aid [jubere lex poterit, non juvare].  Moreover, it  can make of man a transgressor, who cannot then excuse himself by  pleading ignorance.  For appetite reigns where the love of God  does not.[247]      118.  When, in the deepest shadows of ignorance, he lives  according to the flesh with no restraint of reason -- this is the  primal state of man.[248]  Afterward, when "through the law the  knowledge of sin"[249] has come to man, and the Holy Spirit has  not yet come to his aid -- so that even if he wishes to live  according to the law, he is vanquished -- man sins knowingly and  is brought under the spell and made the slave of sin, "for by  whatever a man is vanquished, of this master he is the  slave"[250].  The effect of the knowledge of the law is that sin  works in man the whole round of concupiscence, which adds to the  guilt of the first transgression.  And thus it is that what was  written is fulfilled: "The law entered in, that the offense might  abound."[251]  This is the _second_ state of man.[252]      But if God regards a man with solicitude so that he then  believes in God's help in fulfilling His commands, and if a man  begins to be led by the Spirit of God, then the mightier power of  love struggles against the power of the flesh.[253]  And although  there is still in man a power that fights against him -- his  infirmity being not yet fully healed -- yet he [the righteous man]  lives by faith and lives righteously in so far as he does not  yield to evil desires, conquering them by his love of  righteousness.  This is the _third_ stage of the man of good hope.      A final peace is in store for him who continues to go forward  in this course toward perfection through steadfast piety.  This  will be perfected beyond this life in the repose of the spirit,  and, at the last, in the resurrection of the body.      Of these four different stages of man, the first is before  the law, the second is under the law, the third is under grace,  and the fourth is in full and perfect peace.  Thus, also, the  history of God's people has been ordered by successive temporal  epochs, as it pleased God, who "ordered all things in measure and  number and weight."[254]  The first period was before the law; the  second under the law, which was given through Moses; the next,  under grace which was revealed through the first Advent of the  Mediator."[255]  This grace was not previously absent from those  to whom it was to be imparted, although, in conformity to the  temporal dispensations, it was veiled and hidden.  For none of the  righteous men of antiquity could find salvation apart from the  faith of Christ.  And, unless Christ had also been known to them,  he could not have been prophesied to us -- sometimes openly and  sometimes obscurely -- through their ministry.      119.  Now, in whichever of these four "ages" -- if one can  call them that -- the grace of regeneration finds a man, then and  there all his past sins are forgiven him and the guilt he  contracted in being born is removed by his being reborn.  And so  true is it that "the Spirit breatheth where he willeth"[256] that  some men have never known the second "age" of slavery under the  law, but begin to have divine aid directly under the new  commandment.      120.  Yet, before a man can receive the commandment, he must,  of course, live according to the flesh.  But, once he has been  imbued with the sacrament of rebirth, no harm will come to him  even if he then immediately depart this life -- "Wherefore on this  account Christ died and rose again, that he might be the Lord of  both the living and the dead."'[257] Nor will the kingdom of death  have dominion over him for whom He, who was "free among the  dead,"[258] died.      

                    CHAPTER XXXII                           The End of All the Law            121.  All the divine precepts are, therefore, referred back  to _love_, of which the apostle says, "Now the end of the  commandment is love, out of a pure heart, and a good conscience  and a faith unfeigned."[259]  Thus every commandment harks back to  love.  For whatever one does either in fear of punishment or from  some carnal impulse, so that it does not measure up to the  standard of love which the Holy Spirit sheds abroad in our hearts  -- whatever it is, it is not yet done as it should be, although it  may seem to be.  Love, in this context, of course includes both  the love of God and the love of our neighbor and, indeed, "on  these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets"[260] --  and, we may add, the gospel and the apostles, for from nowhere  else comes the voice, "The end of the commandment is love,"[261]  and, "God is love."[262]      Therefore, whatsoever things God commands (and one of these  is, "Thou shalt not commit adultery"[263]) and whatsoever things  are not positively ordered but are strongly advised as good  spiritual counsel (and one of these is, "It is a good thing for a  man not to touch a woman"[264]) -- all of these imperatives are  rightly obeyed only when they are measured by the standard of our  love of God and our love of our neighbor in God [propter Deum].   This applies both in the present age and in the world to come.   Now we love God in faith; then, at sight.  For, though mortal men  ourselves, we do not know the hearts of mortal men.  But then "the  Lord will illuminate the hidden things in the darkness and will  make manifest the cogitations of the heart; and then shall each  one have his praise from God"[265] -- for what will be praised and  loved in a neighbor by his neighbor is just that which, lest it  remain hidden, God himself will bring to light.  Moreover, passion  decreases as love increases[266] until love comes at last to that  fullness which cannot be surpassed, "for greater love than this no  one has, that a man lay down his life for his friends."[267]  Who,  then, can explain how great the power of love will be, when there  will be no passion [cupiditas] for it to restrain or overcome?   For, then, the supreme state of true health [summa sanitas] will  have been reached, when the struggle with death shall be no more.

                          CHAPTER XXXIII                                 Conclusion            122.  But somewhere this book must have an end.  You can see  for yourself whether you should call it an Enchiridion, or use it  as one.  But since I have judged that your zeal in Christ ought  not to be spurned and since I believe and hope for good things for  you through the help of our Redeemer, and since I love you greatly  as one of the members of his body, I have written this book for  you -- may its usefulness match its prolixity! -- on Faith, Hope,  and Love.