Fourth Division.

[Hitherto the order followed in the arrangement of the letters has been the chronological. It being impossible to ascertain definitely the date of composition of thirty-nine of the letters, these have been placed by the Benedictine editors in the fourth division, and in it they are arranged under two principal divisions, the first embracing some controversial letters, and the second a number of those which were occasioned either by Augustin’s interest in the welfare of individuals, or by the claims of official duty.]

Letter CCXXXII.

To the People of Madaura, My Lords Worthy of Praise, and Brethren Most Beloved, Augustin Sends Greeting, in Reply to the Letter Received by the Hands of Brother Florentinus.

1. If, perchance, such a letter as I have received was sent to me by those among you who are Catholic Christians, the only thing at which I am surprised is, that it was sent in the name of the municipality, and not in their own name. If, however, it has pleased all or almost all of your men of rank to send a letter to me, I am surprised at the title “Father” and the “salutation in the Lord” addressed to me by you, of whom I know certainly, and with much regret, that you regard with superstitious veneration those idols against which your temples are more easily shut than your hearts; or, I should rather say, those idols which are not more truly shut up in your temples than in your hearts.1571    Reference is here made to the laws of Honorius against idolatry, passed in A.D. 399. See below in sec. 3. Can it be that you are at last, after wise reflection, seriously thinking of that salvation which is in the Lord, in whose name you have chosen to salute me? For if it be not so, I ask you, my lords worthy of all praise, and brethren most beloved, in what have I injured, in what have I offended your benevolence, that you should think it right to treat me with ridicule rather than with respect in the salutation prefixed to your letter?

2. For when I read the words, “To Father Augustin, eternal salvation in the Lord,” I was suddenly elated with such fulness of hope, that I believed you either already converted to the Lord Himself, and to that eternal salvation of which He is the author, or desirous, through our ministry, to be so converted. But when I read the rest of the letter my heart was chilled. I inquired, however, from the bearer of the letter, whether you were already Christians or were desirous to be so. After I learned from his answer that you were in no way changed, I was deeply grieved that you thought it right not only to reject the name of Christ, to whom you already see the whole world submitting, but even to insult His name in my person; for I could not think of any other Lord than Christ the Lord in whom a bishop could be addressed by you as a father, and if there had been any doubt as to the meaning to be attached to your words, it would have been removed by the closing sentence of your letter, where you say plainly, “We desire that, for many years, your lordship may always, in the midst of your clergy, be glad in God and His Christ.” After reading and pondering all these things, what could I (or, indeed, could any man) think but that these words were written either as the genuine expression of the mind of the writers, or with an intention to deceive? If you write these things as the genuine expression of your mind, who has barred your way to the truth? Who has strewn it with thorns? What enemy has placed masses of rock across your path? In fine, if you are desiring to come in, who has shut the door of our places of worship against you, so that you are unwilling to enjoy the same salvation with us in the same Lord in whose name you salute us? But if you write these things deceitfully and mockingly, do you, then, in the very act of imposing on me the care of your affairs, presume to insult, with the language of feigned adulation, the name of Him through whom alone I can do anything, instead of honouring Him with the veneration which is due to Him?

3. Be assured, dearest brethren, that it is with inexpressible trembling of heart on your account that I write this letter to you, for I know how much greater in the judgment of God must be your guilt and your doom if I shall have said these things to you in vain. In regard to everything in the history of the human race which our forefathers observed and handed down to us, and not less in regard to everything connected with the seeking and holding of true religion which we now see and put on record for those who come after us, the Divine Scriptures have not been silent; so far from this, all things come to pass exactly according to the predictions of Scripture. You cannot deny that you see the Jewish people torn from the abodes of their ancestry, dispersed and scattered over almost every country: now, the origin of that people, their gradual increase, their losing of the kingdom, their dispersion through all the world, have happened exactly as foretold. You cannot deny that you see that the word of the Lord, and the law coming forth from that people through Christ, who was miraculously born among their nation, has taken and retained possession of the faith of all nations: now we read of all these announced beforehand as we see them. You cannot deny that you see what we call heresies and schisms, that is, many cut off from the root of the Christian society, which by means of the Apostolic Sees, and the successions of bishops, is spread abroad in an indisputably world-wide diffusion, claiming the name of Christians, and as withering branches boasting of the mere appearance of being derived from the true vine: all this has been foreseen, predicted, and described in Scripture. You cannot deny that you see some temples of the idols fallen into ruin through neglect, others thrown down by violence, others closed, and some applied to other purposes; you see the idols themselves either broken to pieces, or burnt, or shut up, or destroyed, and the same powers of this world, who in defence of idols persecuted Christians, now vanquished and subdued by Christians, who did not fight for the truth but died for it, and directing their attacks and their laws against the very idols in defence of which they put Christians to death, and the highest dignitary of the noblest empire laying aside his crown and kneeling as a suppliant at the tomb of the fisherman Peter.

4. The Divine Scriptures, which have now come into the hands of all, testified long before that all these things would come to pass. We rejoice that all these things have happened, with a faith which is strong in proportion to the discovery thereby made of the greatness of the authority with which they are declared in the sacred Scriptures. Seeing, then, that all these things have come to pass as foretold, are we, I ask, to suppose that the judgment of God, which we read of in the same Scriptures as appointed to separate finally between the believing and the unbelieving, is the only event in regard to which the prophecy is to fail? Yea, certainly, as all these events have come, it shall also come. Nor shall there be a man of our time who shall be able in that day to plead anything in defence of his unbelief. For the name of Christ is on the lips of every man: it is invoked by the just man in doing justice, by the perjurer in the act of deceiving, by the king to confirm his rule, by the soldier to nerve himself for battle, by the husband to establish his authority, by the wife to confess her submission, by the father to enforce his command, by the son to declare his obedience, by the master in supporting his right to govern, by the slave in performing his duty, by the humble in quickening piety, by the proud in stimulating ambition, by the rich man when he gives, and by the poor when he receives an alms, by the drunkard at his wine-cup, by the beggar at the gate, by the good man in keeping his word, by the wicked man in violating his promises: all frequently use the name of Christ, the Christian with genuine reverence, the Pagan with feigned respect; and they shall undoubtedly give to that same Being whom they invoke an account both of the spirit and of the language in which they repeat His name.

5. There is One invisible, from whom, as the Creator and First Cause, all things seen by us derive their being: He is supreme, eternal, unchangeable, and comprehensible by none save Himself alone. There is One by whom the supreme Majesty utters and reveals Himself, namely, the Word, not inferior to Him by whom it is begotten and uttered, by which Word He who begets it is manifested. There is One who is holiness, the sanctifier of all that becomes holy, who is the inseparable and undivided mutual communion between this unchangeable Word by whom that First Cause is revealed, and that First Cause who reveals Himself by the Word which is His equal. But who is able with perfectly calm and pure mind to contemplate this whole Essence (whom I have endeavoured to describe without giving His name, instead of giving His name without describing Him), and to draw blessedness from that contemplation, and by sinking, as it were, in the rapture of such meditation, to become oblivious of self, and to press on to that the sight of which is beyond our sphere of perception; in other words, to be clothed with immortality, and obtain that eternal salvation which you were pleased to desire on my behalf in your greeting? Who, I say, is able to do this but the man who, confessing his sins, shall have levelled with the dust all the vain risings of pride, and prostrated himself in meekness and humility to receive God as his Teacher?

6. Since, therefore, it is necessary that we be first brought down from vain self-sufficiency to lowliness of spirit, that rising thence we may attain to real exaltation, it was not possible that this spirit could be produced in us by any method at once more glorious and more gentle (subduing our haughtiness by persuasion instead of violence) than that the Word by whom the Father reveals Himself to angels, who is His Power and Wisdom, who could not be discerned by the human heart so long as it was blinded by love for the things which are seen, should condescend to assume our nature, and so to exercise and manifest His personality when incarnate as to make men more afraid of being elated by the pride of man, than of being brought low after the example of God. Therefore the Christ who is preached throughout the whole world is not Christ adorned with an earthly crown, nor Christ rich in earthly treasures, nor Christ illustrious for earthly prosperity, but Christ crucified. This was ridiculed, at first, by whole nations of proud men, and is still ridiculed by a remnant among the nations, but it was the object of faith at first to a few and now to whole nations, because when Christ crucified was preached at that time, notwithstanding the ridicule of the nations, to the few who believed, the lame received power to walk, the dumb to speak, the deaf to hear, the blind to see, and the dead were restored to life. Thus, at length, the pride of this world was convinced that, even among the things of this world, there is nothing more powerful than the humility of God,1572    1 Cor. i. 23–25. so that beneath the shield of a divine example that humility, which it is most profitable for men to practise, might find defence against the contemptuous assaults of pride.

7. O men of Madaura, my brethren, nay, my fathers,1573    Referring to his birth at Tagaste (not far distant from Madaura), and to Madaura as the scene of the studies of his boyhood. I beseech you to awake at last: this opportunity of writing to you God has given to me. So far as I could, I rendered my service and help in the business of brother Florentinus, by whom, as God willed it, you wrote to me; but the business was of such a nature, that even without my assistance it might have been easily transacted, for almost all the men of his family, who reside at Hippo, know Florentinus, and deeply regret his bereavement. But the letter was sent by you to me, that, having occasion to reply, it might not seem presumptuous on my part, when the opportunity was afforded me by yourselves, to say something concerning Christ to the worshippers of idols. But I beseech you, if you have not taken His name in vain in that epistle, suffer not these things which I write to you to be in vain; but if in using His name you wished to mock me, fear Him whom the world formerly in its pride scorned as a condemned criminal, and whom the same world now, subjected to His sway, awaits as its Judge. For the desire of my heart for you, expressed as far as in my power by this letter, shall witness against you at the judgment-seat of Him who shall establish for ever those who believe in Him and confound the unbelieving. May the one true God deliver you wholly from the vanity of this world, and turn you to Himself, my lords worthy of all praise and brethren most beloved.

EPISTOLA CCXXXII . Madaurenses idololatras ad veram religionem hortatur, terrorem incutiens denuntiatione judicii extremi, quod venturum esse persuadet; quippe cum caetera de christiana religione in Scripturis praedicta jam evenerint: et demum perstringit mysterium Trinitatis et Incarnationis.

1025

1026 Dominis praedicabilibus, et dilectissimis fratribus MADAURENSIBUS, quorum per fratrem Florentinum epistolam accepi, AUGUSTINUS.

1. Si forte illi qui inter vos catholici christiani sunt, talia mihi scripta miserunt, hoc tantum miror, quod non suo potius quam ordinis nomine. Si autem revera omnes aut prope omnes ordinis viri ad me dignati estis litteras dare, miror quod patri, et in Domino salutem scripsistis; quorum mihi superstitiosus 1027 cultus idolorum, contra quae idola facilius templa vestra quam corda clauduntur, vel potius quae idola non magis in templis quam in vestris cordibus includuntur, cum magno est dolore notissimus: nisi forte jam de salute ipsa, quae in Domino est, per quem me salutare voluistis, tandem prudenti consideratione cogitatis. Nam si non ita est, quaeso vos, quid laesi, quid offendi benevolentiam vestram, ut me titulo epistolae vestrae irridendum potius quam honorandum esse putaretis, domini praedicabiles, et dilectissimi fratres?

2. Quod enim scripsistis, Patri Augustino, in Domino aeternam salutem, cum legerem, tanta spe subito erectus sum, ut crederem vos ad ipsum Dominum, et ad ipsam aeternam salutem aut jam esse conversos, aut per nostrum ministerium desiderare converti. Sed ubi legi caetera, refriguit animus meus: quaesivi tamen ab epistolae perlatore utrum jam vel essetis christiani, vel esse cuperetis. Cujus responsione posteaquam comperi nequaquam vos esse mutatos, gravius dolui quod Christi nomen, cui jam totum orbem subjectum esse conspicitis, non solum a vobis repellendum, sed etiam in nobis irridendum esse credidistis. Non enim potui cogitare alterum Dominum, secundum quem posset episcopus pater a vobis vocari, praeter Dominum Christum: et si esset hinc aliqua de interpretatione vestrae sententiae dubitatio, subscriptione epistolae tolleretur, ubi aperte posuistis, Optamus te, domine, in Deo et Christo ejus, per multos annos semper in clero tuo gaudere. Quibus omnibus perlectis atque discussis, quid mihi aliud occurrere potuit, aut cuilibet homini potest, nisi aut veridico aut fallaci scribentium animo haec esse conscripta? Sed si veridico animo ista scribitis, quis vobis ad hanc veritatem interclusit viam? quis aspera dumeta substravit? quis rupium praerupta inimicus opposuit? postremo quis basilicae januam ingredi cupientibus clausit, ut in eodem Domino per quem nos salutatis, eamdem salutem nobiscum habere nolitis? Si autem fallaciter atque irridenter haec scribitis, itane tandem mihi negotia vestra curanda imponitis, ut nomen ejus per quem aliquid possum, audeatis non veneratione debita attollere, sed insultatione adulatoria ventilare?

3. Sciatis me, charissimi, cum ineffabili pro vobis tremore cordis haec dicere: novi enim quanto graviorem et perniciosiorem causam sitis habituri apud Deum, si frustra vobis haec dixero. Omnia quae praeteritis temporibus erga humanum genus majores nostri gesta esse meminerunt, nobisque tradiderunt; omnia etiam quae nos videmus, et posteris tradimus, quae tamen pertinent ad veram religionem quaerendam et tenendam, divina Scriptura non tacuit; sed ita omnino cuncta transeunt, ut transitura esse praedicta sunt. Videtis certe populum Judaeorum avulsum a sedibus suis, per omnes fere terras disseminatum atque diffusum: et origo ejusdem populi, et incrementa, et regni amissio, et per cuncta dispersio, sicut praedicta, ita facta sunt. Videtis certe ex ipso populo verbum Dei legemque prodeuntem per Christum, qui ex illis 1028 mirabiliter natus est, omnium gentium fidem occupasse atque tenuisse: ita haec omnia praenuntiata legimus, ut videmus. Videtis certe multos praecisos a radice christianae societatis, quae per Sedes Apostolorum et successiones episcoporum certa per orbem propagatione diffunditur, de sola figura originis, sub christiano nomine, quasi arescentia sarmenta gloriari, quas haereses et schismata nominamus: praevisa, praedicta, scripta sunt omnia. Videtis certe simulacrorum templa partim sine reparatione collapsa, partim diruta, partim clausa, partim in usus alios commutata; ipsaque simulacra vel confringi, vel incendi, vel includi, vel destrui: atque ipsas hujus saeculi potestates, quae aliquando pro simulacris populum christianum persequebantur, victas et domitas, non a repugnantibus, sed a morientibus Christianis, et contra eadem simulacra pro quibus Christianos occidebant, impetus suos legesque vertisse, et imperii nobilissimi eminentissimum culmen ad sepulcrum piscatoris Petri, submisso diademate, supplicare.

4. Haec omnia Scripturae divinae, quae in manus omnium jam venerunt, ante longissima tempora futura esse testatae sunt. Haec omnia tanto robustiore fide laetamur fieri, quanto majore auctoritate praedicata esse in sanctis Litteris invenimus. Numquidnam, obsecro vos, numquidnam solum judicium Dei, quod inter fideles atque infideles futurum esse in eisdem Litteris legimus, cum illa omnia sicut praedicta sunt venerint; numquidnam solum judicium Dei venturum non esse putabimus? Imo vero veniet, sicut illa omnia venerunt. Nec quisquam erit homo nostrorum temporum, qui se in illo judicio de sua possit infidelitate defendere; cum Christum cantet et justus ad aequitatem, et perjurus ad fraudem, et rex ad imperium, et miles ad pugnam, et maritus propter regimen, et uxor propter obsequium, et pater propter praeceptum, et filius propter obedientiam, et dominus propter dominationem, et servus propter famulatum, et humilis ad pietatem, et superbus ad aemulationem, et dives ut porrigat, et pauper ut sumat, et ebriosus ad phialam, et mendicus ad januam, et bonus ut praestet, et malus ut fallat; et christianus venerator, et paganus adulator, omnes Christum cantant, et qua voluntate atque ore cantent, eidem ipsi quem cantant rationem sine dubio reddituri sunt.

5. Est quiddam invisibile, ex quo Creatore principio sunt omnia quae videmus, summum, aeternum, incommutabile et nulli effabile nisi tantum sibi. Est quiddam, quo se ipsa summitas majestatis narrat et praedicat, non impar gignenti atque narranti Verbum, quo ille qui Verbum gignit, ostenditur. Est quaedam sanctitas, omnium quae sancta fiunt sanctificatrix, ipsius incommutabilis Verbi per quod narratur illud principium, et ipsius principii quod pari se Verbo narrat, inseparabilis et indivisa communio. Quis autem hoc totum, quod non dicendo dicere conatus sum, et dicendo non dicere; quis hoc possit serenissima et sincerissima mente contueri, eoque contuitu beatitudinem ducere, atque in id quod intuetur deficiens quodammodo 1029 se oblivisci, et pergere in illud cujus visio nobis invisibilis est , quod est immortalitate indui, et obtinere aeternam salutem, per quam me salutare dignamini? Quis hoc possit, nisi qui omnes superbiae suae toros inanes, peccata sua confitens, complanaverit, seque substraverit mitem atque humilem ad excipiendum Deum doctorem?

6. Quoniam ergo a vanitate superbiae prius ad humilitatem deponendi sumus, ut inde surgentes solidam celsitudinem teneamus; non potuit hoc nobis tanto magnificentius, quanto blandius inspirari, ut nostra ferocitas non vi, sed persuasione sedaretur, nisi verbum illud, per quod se Angelis indicat Deus Pater, quod Virtus et Sapientia ejus est, quod corde humano visibilium rerum cupiditate caecato videri non poterat, personam suam in homine agere atque ostendere dignaretur, ut magis homo timeret extolli fastu hominis, quam humiliari exemplo Dei. Itaque non Christus regno terreno decoratus, nec Christus terrenis opibus dives, nec Christus illa terrena felicitate praefulgens; sed Christus crucifixus, per totum terrarum orbem praedicatur. Quod riserunt prius populi superborum, et adhuc rident reliquiae: crediderunt autem prius pauci, nunc populi; quia tunc ad fidem paucorum, et contra irrisionem populorum, cum Christus crucifixus praedicaretur, claudi ambulabant, muti loquebantur, surdi audiebant, caeci videbant, mortui resurgebant. Sic tandem animadvertit terrena superbia, nihil in ipsis terrenis esse potentius humilitate divina (I Cor. I, 23-25), ut etiam saluberrima humilitas humana, contra insultantem sibi superbiam, divinae imitationis patrocinio tueretur.

7. Expergiscimini aliquando, fratres mei, et parentes mei Madaurenses; hanc occasionem scribendi vobis Deus mihi obtulit. Quantum potui quidem in negotio fratris Florentini, per quem litteras misistis, sicut Deus voluit, adfui et adjuvi; sed tale negotium erat, quod etiam sine opera mea facile peragi posset: prope omnes enim domus ipsius homines, qui apud Hipponem sunt, noverunt Florentinum, et multum ejus orbitatem dolent. Sed epistola mihi a vobis missa est, ut non impudens esset epistola mea, cum, occasione a vobis accepta, idolorum cultoribus de Christo aliquid loqueretur. Sed obsecro vos, si eum non inaniter in ea epistola nominastis, ut non inaniter vobis ista scripserim. Si autem me irridere voluistis, timete illum quem prius judicatum irrisit superbus orbis terrarum, et nunc judicem subjectus exspectat: erit enim testis affectus in vos cordis mei, per hanc, quantum potui paginam expressus; erit testis vobis in judicio ejus qui credentes sibi confirmaturus est, et incredulos confusurus. Deus unus et verus vos ab omni hujus saeculi vanitate liberatos convertat ad se, domini praedicabiles, et dilectissimi fratres.