Chapter II.—God Just as Well as Merciful; Accordingly, Mercy Must Not Be Indiscriminate.

“But,” say they, “God is ‘good,’ and ‘most good,’14    See Matt. xix. 17; Mark x. 18; Luke xviii. 19. and ‘pitiful-hearted,’ and ‘a pitier,’ and ‘abundant in pitiful-heartedness,’15    See Ex. xxxiv. 6, 7. which He holds ‘dearer than all sacrifice,’16    Hos. vi. 6; Mic. vi. 8; Matt. ix. 13; xii. 7. ‘not thinking the sinner’s death of so much worth as his repentance’,17    Ezek. xviii. 23, 32; xxxiii. 11. ‘a Saviour of all men, most of all of believers.’18    1 Tim. iv. 10.  And so it will be becoming for ‘the sons of God’19    1 John iii. 1, 2. too to be ‘pitiful-hearted’20    Luke vi. 36. and ‘peacemakers;’21    Matt. v. 9. ‘giving in their turn just as Christ withal hath given to us;’22    Comp. Matt. x. 8; but the reference seems to be to Eph. iv. 32, where the Vulgate reads almost as Tertullian does, “donantes invicem, sicut et Deus in Christo donavit vobis.” ‘not judging, that we be not judged.’23    Matt. vii. 1; Luke vi. 37.  For ‘to his own lord a man standeth or falleth; who art thou, to judge another’s servant?’24    Comp. Rom. xiv. 4.  ‘Remit, and remission shall be made to thee.’”25    Comp. Luke vi. 37.  Such and so great futilities of theirs wherewith they flatter God and pander to themselves, effeminating rather than invigorating discipline, with how cogent and contrary (arguments) are we for our part able to rebut,—(arguments) which set before us warningly the “severity”26    See Rom. xi. 22. of God, and provoke our own constancy?  Because, albeit God is by nature good, still He is “just”27    Comp. Isa. xlv. 21; Rom. iii. 26. too.  For, from the nature of the case, just as He knows how to “heal,” so does He withal know how to “smite;”28    Comp. Job v. 18; Deut. xxxii. 39. “making peace,” but withal “creating evils;”29    Isa. xlv. 7. preferring repentance, but withal commanding Jeremiah not to pray for the aversion of ills on behalf of the sinful People,—“since, if they shall have fasted,” saith He, “I will not listen to their entreaty.”30    Jer. xiv. 11, 12; vii. 16; xi. 14.  And again:  “And pray not thou unto (me) on behalf of the People, and request not on their behalf in prayer and supplication, since I will not listen to (them) in the time wherein they shall have invoked me, in the time of their affliction.”31    Jer. xi. 14.  And further, above, the same preferrer of mercy above sacrifice (says):  “And pray not thou unto (me) on behalf of this People, and request not that they may obtain mercy, and approach not on their behalf unto me, since I will not listen to (them)”32    Jer. vii. 16.—of course when they sue for mercy, when out of repentance they weep and fast, and when they offer their self-affliction to God.  For God is “jealous,”33    Comp. Ex. xx. 5; xxxiv. 14; Deut. iv. 24; v. 9; vi. 15; Josh. xxiv. 19; Nahum i. 2. and is One who is not contemptuously derided34    Gal. vi. 7.—derided, namely, by such as flatter His goodness—and who, albeit “patient,”35    Comp. Rom. xv. 5; Ps. vii. 12 (in LXX.). yet threatens, through Isaiah, an end of (His) patience.  “I have held my peace; shall I withal always hold my peace and endure?  I have been quiet as (a woman) in birth-throes; I will arise, and will make (them) to grow arid.”36    Isa. xlii. 14.  For “a fire shall proceed before His face, and shall utterly burn His enemies;”37    Comp. Ps. xcvii. 3. striking down not the body only, but the souls too, into hell.38    Comp. Matt. x. 28; Luke xii. 4, 5.  Besides, the Lord Himself demonstrates the manner in which He threatens such as judge:  “For with what judgment ye judge, judgment shall be given on you.”39    Matt. vii. 2; Luke vi. 37.  Thus He has not prohibited judging, but taught (how to do it).  Whence the apostle withal judges, and that in a case of fornication,40    Or rather incest, as appears by 1 Cor. v. 1. that “such a man must be surrendered to Satan for the destruction of the flesh;”41    1 Cor. v. 5. chiding them likewise because “brethren” were not “judged at the bar of the saints:”42    See 1 Cor. vi. 1–6; v. 12.  for he goes on and says, “To what (purpose is it) for me to judge those who are without?”  “But you remit, in order that remission may be granted you by God.”  The sins which are (thus) cleansed are such as a man may have committed against his brother, not against God.  We profess, in short, in our prayer, that we will grant remission to our debtors;43    Luke xi. 4. but it is not becoming to distend further, on the ground of the authority of such Scriptures, the cable of contention with alternate pull into diverse directions; so that one (Scripture) may seem to draw tight, another to relax, the reins of discipline—in uncertainty, as it were,—and the latter to debase the remedial aid of repentance through lenity, the former to refuse it through austerity.  Further:  the authority of Scripture will stand within its own limits, without reciprocal opposition.  The remedial aid of repentance is determined by its own conditions, without unlimited concession; and the causes of it themselves are anteriorly distinguished without confusion in the proposition.  We agree that the causes of repentance are sins.  These we divide into two issues:  some will be remissible, some irremissible:  in accordance wherewith it will be doubtful to no one that some deserve chastisement, some condemnation.  Every sin is dischargeable either by pardon or else by penalty:  by pardon as the result of chastisement, by penalty as the result of condemnation.  Touching this difference, we have not only already premised certain antithetical passages of the Scriptures, on one hand retaining, on the other remitting, sins;44    Comp. John xx. 23. but John, too, will teach us:  “If any knoweth his brother to be sinning a sin not unto death, he shall request, and life shall be given to him;” because he is not “sinning unto death,” this will be remissible.  “(There) is a sin unto death; not for this do I say that any is to request”45    1 John v. 16, not quite verbatim.—this will be irremissible.  So, where there is the efficacious power of “making request,” there likewise is that of remission:  where there is no (efficacious power) of “making request,” there equally is none of remission either.  According to this difference of sins, the condition of repentance also is discriminated.  There will be a condition which may possibly obtain pardon,—in the case, namely, of a remissible sin:  there will be a condition which can by no means obtain it,—in the case, namely, of an irremissible sin.  And it remains to examine specially, with regard to the position of adultery and fornication, to which class of sins they ought to be assigned.

CAPUT II.

Caeterum, Deus, inquiunt, bonus et optimus, et misericors et miserator (Psal. CXI, 4), et misericordiae plurimus (Joel II, 13), quam omni sacrificio anteponit (I Reg. XV, 22; Ose. VI, 6; Matth. IX, 13, XII, 7); 0983D non tanti ducens peccatoris mortem, quam poenitentiam (Ezech. XVIII, 23, 32, XXIII, 11), salvificator omnium hominum, et maxime fidelium (I Tim. IV, 10). Itaque et filios Dei misericordes et pacificos esse oportebit (Matth. V, 9, 7), donantes invicem, sicut et Christus donavit nobis (Coloss. III, 13); non judicantes, ne judicemur (Matth. VII, 1). Domino enim suo stat quis 0984A vel cadit: tu quis es, ut servum judices alienum? (Rom. XIV, 4). Dimitte, et dimittetur tibi (Luc. VI, 37) Talia et tanta futilia eorum quibus et Deo adulantur, et sibi lenocinantur, effoeminantia magis quam vigorantia disciplinam, quantis et nos et contrariis possumus repercutere, quae et Dei severitatem intentent, et nostram constantiam provocent? Quia, etsi bonus natura Deus, tamen et justus (Psal. VII, 12). Ex causa enim, sicut sanare novit, ita et caedere (Deut. XXXII, 39); faciens pacem, sed et condens mala (Is. XLV, 7), poenitentiam malens (Ezech. XVIII, 23, 32), sed et Hieremiae mandans, ne pro populo peccatore deprecaretur: Quoniam si jejunaverint, inquit, non exaudiam obsecrationem eorum; et rursus: Et tu ne adoraveris pro populo, et ne postulaveris pro his in prece et 0984B oratione, quoniam non exaudiam in tempore quo invocaverint me, in tempore afflictionis suae (Jer. VII, 16, XI, 14, XIV, 11, 12). Et adhuc supra, idem misericordiae praelator quam sacrificii: Et tu ne adoraveris pro populo isto; et, Ne postulaveris misericordiam consequi eos. Et, Ne accesseris pro his ad me, quoniam non exaudiam utique misericordiam postulantes (Ibid.), utique ex poenitentia flentes et jejunantes, et adflictationem suam offerentes Deo. Deus enim zelotes (Exod. X, 5, XXXIV, 14), et qui naso non deridetur (Galat. VI, 7), adulantiam scilicet boni ati ejus. Et qui licet patiens (Psal. VII, 12), tamen per Esaiam comminetur patientiae finem: Tacui, numquid et semper tacebo, et sustinebo? quievi, velut parturiens; exsurgam, et arescere faciam (Isa. XLII, 14, 15). Ignis enim praecedet 0984C ante faciem ipsius, et exuret inimicos ejus (Psal. XCVI, 3), non solum corpus, verum et animas occidens in gehennam (Matth. X, 28). Caeterum, judicantibus quomodo Dominus comminetur, ipse demonstrat: Quo enim judicio judicaveritis, judicabitur de vobis (Matth. VII, 2). Ita non prohibuit judicare, sed docuit. Unde et Apostolus judicat, et quidem in causa fornicationis, dedendum ejusmodi hominem Satanae in interitum carnis (I Cor. V, 5), increpans etiam quod fratres non apud sanctos judicarentur (I Cor. VI, 1, 0984D sqq.). Adjiciens enim inquit: Ut quid mihi eos qui foris sunt, judicare? (I Cor. V, 12.) Dimittis autem, ut dimittatur tibi a Deo (Luc. VI, 37). Delicta mundantur, quae quis in fratrem, non Deum admiserit. Debitoribus denique dimissuros nos in oratione profitemur (Matth. VI, 12). Sed non decet ultra de auctoritate Scripturarum ejusmodi funem contentiosum alterno 0985A ductu in diversa distendere, ut haec restringere fraenos disciplinae, illa laxare videantur, quasi incertae, et poenitentiae subsidium illa prosternere per lenitatem, haec negare per austeritatem. Porro et auctoritas Scripturae in suis terminis stabit sine alterutra oppositione, si et poenitentiae subsidium suis conditionibus determinatur sine passiva concessione, et ipsae prius causae ejus distinguantur sine confusa propositione . Causa poenitentiae delicta condicimus. Haec dividimus in duos exitus: alia erunt remissibilia, alia irremissibilia; secundum quod nemini dubium est, alia castigationem mereri, alia damnationem. Omne delictum aut venia expungit, aut poena: venia, ex castigatione; poena, ex damtione. De ista differentia jam et quasdam praemisimus altercationes Scripturarum, hinc retinentium, hinc 0985B dimittentium delicta. Sed et Joannes docebit: Si quis scit fratrem suum delinquere delictum non ad mortem, postulabit, et dabitur vita ei (I Joh. V, 16); quia non ad mortem delinquit: hoc erit remissibile. Est delictum ad mortem: non pro illo dico ut quis postulet (Ibid.): hoc erit irremissibile. Ita, ubi est conditio vel ratio postulationis, illic etiam remissionis: ubi nec postulationis, ibi aeque nec remissionis. Secundum hanc differentiam delictorum, poenitentiae quoque conditio discriminatur. Alia erit quae veniam consequi possit, in delicto scilicet remissibili; alia quae consequi nullo modo possit, in delicto scilicet irremissibili. Et superest specialiter de moechiae et fornicationis statu examinare, in quam delictorum partem debeant redigi.