Chapter 23.—Epilogue.

As for what they say, that some men, by the use of their reason, have lived, and do live, in this world without sin, we should wish that it were true, we should strive to make it true, we should pray that it be true; but, at the same time, we should confess that it is not yet true. For to those who wish and strive and worthily pray for this result, whatever sins remain in them are daily remitted because we sincerely pray, “Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.”498    Matt. vi. 12. Whosoever shall deny that this prayer is in this life necessary for every righteous man who knows and does the will of God, except the one Saint of saints, greatly errs, and is utterly incapable of pleasing Him whom he praises. Moreover, if he supposes himself to be such a character, “he deceives himself, and the truth is not in him,”499    1 John i. 8.—for no other reason than that he thinks what is false. That Physician, then, who is not needed by the sound, but by the sick, knows how to heal us, and by healing to perfect us unto eternal life; and He does not in this world take away death, although inflicted because of sin, from those whose sins He remits, in order that they may enter on their conflict, and overcome the fear of death with full sincerity of faith. In some cases, too, He declines to help even His righteous servants, so long as they are capable of still higher elevation, to the attainment of a perfect righteousness, in order that (while in His sight no man living is justified500    Ps. cxliii. 2.) we may always feel it to be our duty to give Him thanks for mercifully bearing with us, and so, by holy humility, be healed of that first cause of all our failings, even the swellings of pride. This letter, as my intention first sketched it, was to have been a short one; it has grown into a lengthy book. Would that it were as perfect as it has at last become complete!

23. Illud autem quod dicunt, sine ullo peccato aliquos 0200 homines jam ratione utentes, in hoc saeculo vixisse vel vivere: optandum est ut fiat, conandum est ut fiat, supplicandum est ut fiat; non tamen quasi factum fuerit confidendum . Hoc enim optantibus et conantibus et digna supplicatione deprecantibus, quidquid remanserit peccatorum, per hoc quotidie solvitur, quod veraciter in oratione dicimus : Dimitte nobis debita nostra, sicut et nos dimittimus debitoribus nostris (Matth. VI, 12). Quam orationem quisquis cuilibet homini sancto et Dei voluntatem scienti atque facienti, praeter unum Sanctum sanctorum, dicit in hac vita necessariam non fuisse, multum errat, nec potest omnino illi ipsi placere quem laudat: si autem se ipsum talem putat, ipse se decipit, et veritas in eo non est (I Joan. I, 8); non ob aliud, nisi quia falsum putat. Novit ergo ille medicus, qui non est opus sanis, sed aegrotantibus, quemadmodum nos curando perficiat in aeternam salutem: qui et ipsam mortem, quamvis peccati merito inflicta sit, non aufert in hoc saeculo eis quibus peccata dimittit, ut etiam cum ejus timore superando suscipiant pro fidei sinceritate certamen: et in quibusdam etiam justos suos, quoniam adhuc extolli possunt, non adjuvat ad perficiendam justitiam, ut dum non justificatur in conspectu ejus omnis vivens (Psal. CXLII, 2), actionem gratiarum semper indulgentiae ipsius debeamus; et sic ab illa prima causa omnium vitiorum, hoc est, a tumore superbiae sancta humilitate sanemur . Hanc epistolam dum dispositio mea brevem parturit, liber prolixus est natus, utinam tam perfectus, quam tandem aliquando finitus.