S. AURELII AUGUSTINI HIPPONENSIS EPISCOPI DE CATECHIZANDIS RUDIBUS LIBER UNUS .

 CAPUT PRIMUM.

 CAPUT II.

 CAPUT III.

 CAPUT IV.

 CAPUT V.

 CAPUT VI.

 CAPUT VII.

 CAPUT VIII.

 CAPUT IX.

 CAPUT X.

 CAPUT XI.

 CAPUT XII.

 CAPUT XIII.

 CAPUT XIV.

 CAPUT XV.

 CAPUT XVI.

 CAPUT XVII.

 CAPUT XVIII.

 CAPUT XIX.

 CAPUT XX.

 CAPUT XXI.

 CAPUT XXII.

 CAPUT XXIII.

 CAPUT XXIV.

 CAPUT XXV.

 CAPUT XXVI.

 CAPUT XXVII.

Chapter 18.—Of What is to Be Believed on the Subject of the Creation of Man and Other Objects.

29. “Whereas, then, the omnipotent God, who is also good and just and merciful, who made all things,—whether they be great or small, whether they be highest or lowest, whether they be things which are seen, such as are the heavens and the earth and the sea, and in the heavens, in particular, the sun and the moon and other luminaries, and in the earth and the sea, again, trees and shrubs and animals each after their kind, and all bodies celestial or terrestrial alike, or whether they be things which are not seen, such as are those spirits whereby bodies are animated and endowed with life,—made also man after His own image, in order that, as He Himself, in virtue of His omnipotence, presides over universal creation, so man, in virtue of that intelligence of his by which he comes to know even his Creator and worships Him, might preside over all the living creatures of earth: Whereas, too, he made the woman to be an helpmeet for him: not for carnal concupiscence,—since, indeed, they had not corruptible bodies at that period, before the punishment of sin invaded them in the form of mortality,—but for this purpose, that the man might at once have glory of the woman in so far as he went before her to God, and present in himself an example to her for imitation in holiness and piety, even as he himself was to be the glory of God in so far as he followed his wisdom:

30. “Therefore did he place them in a certain locality of perpetual blessedness, which the Scripture designates Paradise: and he gave them a commandment, on condition of not violating which they were to continue for ever in that blessedness of immortality; while, on the other hand, if they transgressed it, they were to sustain the penalties of mortality. Now God knew beforehand that they would trangress it. Nevertheless, in that He is the author and maker of everything good, He chose rather to make them, as He also made the beasts, in order that He might replenish the earth with the good things proper to earth. And certainly man, even sinful man, is better than a beast. And the commandment, which they were not to keep, He yet preferred to give them, in order that they might be without excuse when He should begin to vindicate Himself against them. For whatever man may have done, he finds God worthy to be praised in all His doings: if he shall have acted rightly, he finds Him worthy to be praised for the righteousness of His rewards: if he shall have sinned, he finds Him worthy to be praised for the righteousness of His punishments: if he shall have confessed his sins and returned to an upright life, he finds Him worthy to be praised for the mercy of His pardoning favors. Why, then, should God not make man, although He foreknew that he would sin, when He might crown him if he stood, and set him right if he fell, and help him if he rose, Himself being always and everywhere glorious in goodness, righteousness, and clemency? Above all, why should He not do so, since He also foreknew this, namely, that from the race of that mortality there would spring saints, who should not seek their own, but give glory to their Creator; and who, obtaining deliverance from every corruption by worshipping Him, should be counted worthy to live for ever, and to live in blessedness with the holy angels? For He who gave freedom of will to men, in order that they might worship God not of slavish necessity but with ingenuous inclination, gave it also to the angels; and hence neither did the angel, who, in company with other spirits who were his satellites, forsook in pride the obedience of God and became the devil, do any hurt to God, but to himself. For God knoweth how to dispose of souls109    Rather “spirits.” See the correction made in the Retractations, ii. 14, as given above in the Introductory Notice. that leave Him, and out of their righteous misery to furnish the inferior sections of His creatures with the most appropriate and befitting laws of His wonderful dispensation. Consequently, neither did the devil in any manner harm God, whether in falling himself, or in seducing man to death; nor did man himself in any degree impair the truth, or power, or blessedness110    The beatitatem is omitted by several mss. of His Maker, in that, when his partner was seduced by the devil, he of his own deliberate inclination consented unto her in the doing of that which God had forbidden. For by the most righteous laws of God all were condemned, God Himself being glorious in the equity of retribution, while they were shamed through the degradation of punishment: to the end that man, when he turned away from his Creator, should be overcome by the devil and made his subject, and that the devil might be set before man as an enemy to be conquered, when he turned again to his Creator; so that whosoever should consent unto the devil even to the end, might go with him into eternal punishments; whereas those who should humble themselves to God, and by His grace overcome the devil, might be counted worthy of eternal rewards.

CAPUT XVIII.

29. De hominis et rerum aliarum creatione quid credendum. Homo in paradiso constitutus. Cur creatus qui praesciebatur peccaturus. Lapsus hominis et angeli nihil Deo nocuit. Quoniam Deus omnipotens, et bonus et justus et misericors, qui fecit omnia bona, sive magna sive parva, sive summa sive infima; sive quae videntur, sicuti sunt coelum et terra et mare, et in coelo sol et luna, et caetera sidera, in terra autem et mari arbores et frutices et animalia suae cujusque naturae, et omnia corpora vel coelestia vel terrestria; sive quae non videntur, sicuti sunt spiritus quibus corpora vegetantur et vivificantur: fecit et hominem ad imaginem suam; ut quemadmodum ipse per omnipotentiam suam praeest universae creaturae, sic homo per intelligentiam suam, qua etiam Creatorem suum cognoscit et colit, praeesset omnibus terrenis animalibus. Fecit illi etiam adjutorium feminam: non ad carnalem concupiscentiam, quandoquidem nec corruptibilia corpora tunc habebant, antequam eos mortalitas invaderet poena peccati; sed ut haberet et vir gloriam de femina, cum ei praeiret ad Deum , seque illi praeberet imitandum in sanctitate atque pietate; sicut ipse esset gloria Dei, cum ejus sapientiam sequeretur.

30. Itaque constituit eos in quodam loco perpetuae beatitudinis, quem appellat Scriptura paradisum; praeceptumque illis dedit, quod si non transgrederentur, in illa semper immortalitatis beatitudine permanerent: si autem transgrederentur, supplicia mortalitatis expenderent. Praesciebat autem Deus eos transgressuros: sed tamen quia conditor est et effector omnis boni, magis eos fecit, quando fecit et bestias, ut impleret terram bonis terrenis. Et utique melior est homo etiam peccator, quam bestia. Et praeceptum quod non erant servaturi, magis dedit, ut essent inexcusabiles, cum in eos vindicare coepisset. Quidquid enim homo fecerit, laudabilem in suis factis invenit Deum: si recte egerit, laudabilem invenit per justitiam praemiorum; si peccaverit, laudabilem invenit per justitiam suppliciorum; si peccata confessus ad recte vivendum redierit, laudabilem invenit per misericordiam indulgentiarum. Cur ergo non faceret Deus hominem, quamvis eum peccaturum praenosceret, cum et stantem coronaret, et cadentem ordinaret, et surgentem adjuvaret, semper et ubique ipse gloriosus bonitate, justitia, clementia? maxime quia et illud praesciebat, de propagine mortalitatis 0333 ejus futuros sanctos, qui non sibi quaererent, sed Creatori suo gloriam darent, et eum colendo ab omni corruptione liberati, cum Angelis sanctis semper vivere et beate vivere mererentur? Qui enim hominibus dedit liberum arbitrium, ut non servili necessitate, sed ingenua voluntate Deum colerent, dedit etiam Angelis. Et ideo nec angelus, qui cum spiritibus aliis satellitibus suis superbiendo deseruit obedientiam Dei, et diabolus factus est, aliquid nocuit Deo, sed sibi: novit enim Deus ordinare deserentes se animas , et ex earum justa miseria inferiores partes creaturae suae convenientissimis et congruentissimis legibus admirandae dispensationis ornare . Itaque nec diabolus aliquid Deo nocuit, quia vel ipse lapsus est, vel hominem seduxit ad mortem: nec ipse homo in aliquo minuit veritatem aut potestatem aut beatitatem Conditoris sui, quia conjugi suae seductae a diabolo, ad id quod Deus prohibuerat, propria voluntate consensit. Justissimis enim Dei legibus omnes damnati sunt, Deo glorioso per aequitatem vindictae, ipsi ignominiosi per turpitudinem poenae (Gen. II, III): ut et homo a suo Creatore aversus victus diabolo subderetur, et diabolus homini ad Creatorem suum converso vincendus proponeretur; ut quicumque diabolo usque in finem consentirent, cum illo irent in aeterna supplicia; quicumque autem humiliarent se Deo, et per ejus gratiam diabolum vincerent, aeterna praemia mererentur.