Of Faith, and of the Creed

S. AUGUSTINE

OF

FAITH, AND OF THE CREED.

S. Aug. Retract, i. 17. About the same time in the presence and by order A.d.393. of the Bishops, who were holding a full Council of Africa at HippoRegius, I discoursed, as a Presbyter, of Faith and the Creed. Which discourse, at the very earnest request of some particular friends, I have formed into a book; in which the truths themselves are treated of, without adopting the form of words which is given to the Competentes to learn by heart. In this book, in treating of the Resurrection of the flesh, I say, " The body will rise again according to Christian Faith, Cap. 10. "which cannot deceive. He who thinks this incredible attends to what^{See s}* the flesh is now, but does notconsider what it will then be; because in that jjj"_r "time of our angelical change it will be no more flesh and blood, but only xiv. 72. "body;" and the restofwhatl there sayof the change of terrestrial bodies into celestial bodies, because the Apostle said in speaking thereof, Flesh |_ Jl and blood shall not inherit the kingdom of God. But whoso takes this so' as to think that the earthly body, such as we have now, is in resurrection so changed into a heavenly body, as that there will be no limbs nor substance of flesh, must doubtless be set right by reminding him of the Lord's Body, who appeared after Resurrection in the same members, not only to be seen by the eyes, but also to be handled with the hands, and even proved Himself to have flesh by discourse, saying, Handle Me, Luke and see, for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see Me have. Whence , it is plain that the Apostle did not deny that there will be the substance of flesh in the Kingdom of God; but either called men who were after the flesh ' flesh and blood,' or the corruption of the flesh itself, which then surely will be no more. For when he had said, Flesh and blood shall not inherit the kingdom of God, it is right to understand him as having added for explanation what follows directly, Neither shall corruption inherit incorruption. Of which point, on which it is so difficult to convince unbelievers, any one who will read my last book ' On the Cap. 6. City of God' will see that I have treated with all the pains I could bestow.

16 The Faith of the Creed guarded by explanations.

De Fide Seeing that it hath been written and confirmed by most Bolo. strong authority of Apostolic teaching, That the just liveth ^ of faith; and that this faith requires of us the duty both of Hab. 2, heart and tongue: for the Apostle says, With the heart man Rom. 1 believeth unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession J7^-, „ is made unto salvation: it behoveth that we be mindful both

Oral. 3,

li. of righteousness and of salvation. Since of a truth being ^ 'about to reign hereafter in everlasting righteousness, we Rom. cannot be saved from this present evil world, unless also '* we ourselves, striving for the salvation of our neighbours, make profession likewise, with the mouth, of the faith which we bear in the heart: and that this faith be not in any part violated in ourselves by the deceitful craftiness of heretics, we must with pious and cautious vigilance provide. However the Catholic Faith in the Creed is known to the faithful, and committed to memory, with as much brevity of speech as the matter allowed, in order that, to those who have been born again in Christ, commencing and still suckling, not yet strengthened by most diligent and spiritual handling and knowledge of the divine Scriptures, there might be put together in few words for their belief, what was afterwards in many words to be expounded to them as they should advance, and rise unto divine doctrine by the assured firmness of humility and charity. Wherefore beneath these very few words put together in the Creed, the most part of heretics have endeavoured to hide their poisons; whom the Divine mercy hath resisted and yet resists by means of spiritual men. Who in respect of the Catholic Faith have obtained, not only to receive and believe it in these words, but further, by the enlightening of the Lord, to understand Is. 7, 9. and know it. For it is written, Unless ye shall believe, ye ^xx" shall not understand. But the handling of the Faith avails to the fortifying of the Creed: not that itself should be given in place of the Creed, to those who are now obtaining the grace of God, to be committed to memory and repealed, but that those things which are contained in the Creed it may guard against the lyings in wait of heretics by Catholic authority, and by a more fortified defence, ii. '2. For certain have endeavoured to persuade that God The

Omnipotence implies creation of matter from nothing. 17 Father is not Almighty: not that they have dared to assert Dp-Fidb

FtfiVM"

this, but in their own traditions are convicted of thus _B0L0. holding and believing. For wherein they assert that there ~ is a nature* which God Almighty created not, out of which nature however He framed this world, which they grant hath been beautifully set in order; they so deny God to be Almighty, as not to believe that He could have created the world, unless for the framing of it He should make use of another nature, which was already in existence, and which Himself had not created; forsooth from their carnal use of seeing smiths, and house-builders, and workmen of all kinds, who, unless they be aided by materials already prepared, are unable to arrive at the effect of their own art. For in this way they understand the Framer of the world not to be Almighty, if He were unable to frame the world, unless these should aid Him, after the manner of materials, some nature not framed by Him. Or if they allow that God the Framer of the world is Almighty, they must of necessity confess that He made of nothing those things which He made. For there cannot exist any thing, whereof He were not Creator, being Almighty. Because although something He made out of something, as man out of clay, yet assuredly He made not out of that which Himself had not made; for the earth, whence the clay was, He had made out of nothing. Aud if the very heaven and earth, that is, the world and all things which are in it, He had made out of some material, as it is written, TJiou W/to hast made the world of matler unseen, VfM.

1117

or also, without form, as certain copies have; in no way is' it to be believed that that very matter out of which the world was made, although without form, although unseen, in whatsoever manner it existed, could have existed of itself, as if coetemal and coeval with God: but its manner, whatever it was, which it had, so as, in whatsoever manner, to exist, and to be capable of receiving the forms of things distinct, it had not, save from the Almighty God, by Whose goodness exists not only whatsoever thing is formed, but also whatsoever is formable. For between the formed and the formable there is this difference, that the formed hath already received form,

* Of the Manichean doctrine, see note at the end of the Translation of St. Augustine's Confessions.

18 Christ the Only Son, the Word, the Wisdom of God.

De Fide but the formable is capable of receiving it. But He Who Bolo. ^on things bestows form, Himself also bestows the power of receiving form; seeing that of Him and in Him is of all ¹ speoio- things the most kindly kind', unchangeable: and therefore species. Himself is One, Who to each thing assigns, not only that it be beautiful, but also that it be capable of beauty. Wherefore most lightly do we believe that God hath made all things out of nothing: because, even although the world have been made of some material, that very same material hath been made out of nothing; so that by the most ordered gift of God, there should take place first a capacity of receiving forms, and afterward all things, whatsoever have been formed, should be formed. But this we have said, that no one may imagine that the sentences of the divine Scriptures are opposed one to another, seeing that it is written, both that God created all things out of nothing, and that the world was made out of matter without form.

3. Believing therefore in God the Father Almighty, we

ought to think that there is no creature which was not

created by the Almighty. And, because He created all

John 14, things by the Word, which Word is called also the Truth,

l Cor. 1, and the Power, and the Wisdom of God, and under many

^24- other names is He suggested, Who is commended to our

faith, Jesus Christ, the Lord our Redeemer, that is, and

Ruler, the Son of God: for that Word, by Whom all things .

were made, could none other beget, save He, Who by Him

iii. made all things: we believe also In Jesus Christ The Son

Of God, The Only-begotten, that is, The Only Son Of The

Father, Our Lord. Of which Word, notwithstanding, we

ought to conceive not as of our own words, which being put

forth by the voice and mouth, strike upon the air, and pass

away, nor exist any longer than they sound. For that Word

abideth unchangeably: for of This very Word it was said,

"Wisd.7, when it was said of Wisdom, In Herself'abiding She maketh

all things new. But therefore was He called the Word of the

Father, because by Him the Father is made known. As

therefore by our words this is our purpose, when we speak

the truth, that our own mind may become known to him

who hears us, and that whatsoever we bear secret in our

heart, may by means of signs of this sort be brought forth The Word is from the Father, not as our words from us. 19

for another to understand: so That Wisdom Which God theDEfiDb Father begat, seeing that by It there is made known unto _BOLo. worthy minds the most hidden Father, is most suitably called His Word.

4. But there is a very great interval between our mind and our words, by which we endeavour to make known this our mind. That is, we do not beget audible' words, but'sonanmake them, and body is the subject-matter for making them. But there is a very great difference between mind and body. But God when He begat the Word, begat That which Himself is: nor yet out of nothing, nor out of any matter already made and created: but out of Himself That which Himself Is. For this we also endeavour, in speaking, if we diligently consider the aim of our will; not when we lie, but when we speak the truth. For what other thing do we attempt, than to carry our very mind, if practicable, into the mind of the hearer, that he may know and see it thoroughly; that we may indeed ourselves remain within ourselves, and not depart from ourselves, and yet may put forth such a sign as that there be produced in the other a knowledge of us; that so, as far as the power is granted, there be put forth by the mind as it were another mind whereby to declare itself? This we do endeavouring both by words^b, and by the very sound of the voice, by the countenance, and by the gesture of the body, that is to say, by so many contrivances desiring to shew that which is within: because we are unable to put forth some such thing, and therefore the mind of him who speaks cannot become entirely known; whence also there is a place open for lies. But God the Father, Who both willed and was able to declare Himself most truly to minds about to know Him, This begat in order to declare Himself, Which Himself Is Who begat; Who also is called His Power and Wisdom, because by Him He wrought and set in order all things; of Whom therefore it is said, It reacheth from one end even unto the Wisd.8, other end in Its strength, and setteth all things in order in Its sweetness.

5. Wherefore the Only-begotten Son of God was neither iv. made by the Father; because,as the Evangelist says, All things ;*^{ohn J}» ^b al. making effort with the offspring of a word.

20 The Son uncreated, and equal in Godhead, yet made Man. De Fide were made by Him; nor begotten in time¹, seeing that God

FT SVM

Bolo." being ever-eternally wise, bath with Himself His evev-eteraal

1ex tem- Wisdom; nor unequal to the Father, that is, in any thing

?,h'? 2 less; because also the Aposlle says, Who, being set in the

6. form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God.

Wherefore by this Catholic Faith both they are excluded

who say, that the Same Who is the Father is the Son:

because both this Word could not be with God, save only with

God the Father, and He Who is alone is equal to none.

*St..Ath. They also are excluded who say that the Son is a creature,

??V. ^^T- although not such as are the rest of creatures. For how

great soever they may say that a creature is, if it is a

creature, it hath been created and made. For condere (to

build) is the same as creare (to create), although in the usage

of the Latin tongue creare is sometimes said, where the

proper word is gignere (to beget); but the Greeks make

a distinction. For we call creatura what they call xTiVfta

or Xti<tis; and when we wish to speak without any ambiguity,

we say not, creare, but condere (to build). If therefore the Son

be a creature, how great soever it be, it hath been made. But

we believe in Him, by Whom all things were made, not in

Him by Whom all other things were made: for neither in

this place can we understand, all, in any other sense, than,

whatsoever things have been made.

John i, fe,But since the Word was made Flesh and dwelt among us,

the same Wisdom which was begotten of God, deigned also

³ al.' a-to be created among men '. And to this applies the saying,

ail The Lord created* me in the beginning of His ways. For

things.' _tne b_eg',_nni_ng _Gf His ways is the Head of the Church, which

22. is Christ clothed in human nature, by Whom should be

nessed gi^{ven unto us an} example of life, that is, a certain way

^mei' whereby we might attain unto God. For, save by humility,

'we were unable to return, who fell by pride, as was said

Gen. 3, _unto our first creation, Taste, and ye shall be as Gods. An

example therefore of this humility, that is, of the way

whereby it was necessary that we should return, our Restorer

₆. ;_,* 'Himself hath deigned to shew us in Himself, Who thought

it not robbery to be equal with God, yet emptied Himself,

receiving the form of a servant; that He might be created

a Man in the beginning of His ways, the Word by Whom The Son taught Moses His own Name, I AM. 21

all things were created. Wherefore according to this, that DbFife He is the Only-begotten, He hath not brethren; according Bolo" to this, however, that He is the First-begotten, He hath ~~ deigned to call brethren, all who after and through His First-born-ship¹ are born again unto the grace of God' Pⁿ'niathrough the adoption of sons, as the Apostolic teaching Lute 8 instructs us. The Son by Nature therefore, of the very^^IHebSubstance of the Father, was He the Only One born; being Gal. i, That Which the Father Is; God of God, Light of Light ;jfP^hbut we are not by nature the Light, but are enlightened by That Light, that we may be able to shine with wisdom, for Hint was, it is said, the true Light, Which enlighteneth every John i, man coming into this world. We add therefore to our faith⁹of things eternal the temporal dispensation also of our Lord, which He deigned to bear and minister for our salvation. For according to this, that He is the Only-begotten Son of God, it cannot be said, He was, and, He shall be, but only, He Is: because that, which hath been, now is not, and that, which shall be, is not as yet. He therefore Is unchangeable, without respect of times and variation. Nor do 1 think that it is to be ascribed to any other source that He suggested unto His servant Moses such as His Name. For when he . inquired of Him, in case the people, to whom he was being sent, should despise him, by Whom he should say that he was sent, he received an answer of Him, saying, / Am 7Hy<TExod.3, I Am. Afterwards He added, These things shall thou say unto ^uthe children of Israel, He That Is hath sent me unto you.

7. From which I trust that it is by this time clear to spiritual minds, that no nature can exist contrary to God. For if He is, and this word can properly be spoken of God only, (for that which truly is, abideth unchangeably; seeing that that which is changed, hath been something which now it is not, and will be something which as yet it is not,) therefore hath God nothing contrary to Himself. For if it were asked of us, what is contrary to white, we should answer, black; if it were asked, what is contrary to hot, we should answer, cold; if it were asked, what is contrary to quick, we should answer, slow; and all such like things. But when it is asked what is contrary to That Which is, it is rightly answered, that which is not.

22 The Son, made Man, truly born of a Woman.

Defide 8. But _si_nce (_as \ h_ave said) through a temporal disBolo. pensation, in order to our salvation and restoration, through the operation of the goodness of God, by That Unchangeable Wisdom of God our changeable nature was assumed; we add the belief in temporal things done for us in order to our health, believing in That Son of God, Who Was Born By The Holy Ghost Of The Virgin Mary. For by the gift of God, that is, by the Holy Spirit, there was granted unto us so great humiliation of so great a God, as that He deigned to

'toium assume the entire Man' in the womb of the Virgin, His

nem. Mother's body undefiled indwelling in, undefiled leaving. Which temporal dispensation in many ways the heretics lay wait against. But, if one shall hold the Catholic Faith, so as to believe that the entire Man was assumed by the Word of God, that is, body, soul, spirit, he is sufficiently fortified against them. Forasmuch as, seeing that that assumption was made for our salvation, one must take heed lest, by believing that some part of us pertains not unto that assumption, it pertains not unto salvation. And whereas man, except the form of his limbs, which hath been assigned different to different kinds of living beings, is not separate from the cattle, save by a reasonable spirit, which also is called mind; how is the faith sound, wherein it is believed that the Wisdom of God assumed that of ours which we have in common with the cattle, but did not assume that which is enlightened by the light of wisdom, and which is peculiar to man?

9. But they also are to be abhorred, who deny that our Lord Jesus Christ had a mother, Mary, upon earth; whereas that dispensation hath honoured either sex, the male and the female, and hath shewn that it pertaineth unto God's care, not only that sex which He assumed, but that also by means of which He assumed it, by bearing man's nature, by being born of a woman. Nor are we compelled to deny the Mother John 2, of Christ, by that saying of His, Woman, what have I to do with thee? not yet is Mine hour come. But lie admonishes us rather that we may understand that according to that He

'perso- was God He had no mother, the character* of which majesty

^nam' He was about to display by turning water into wine. But

in that He was crucified, according to that He was Man was Objections to this shewn to be futile. 23

He crucified; and that was the hour, which was not yctD■fmE

EtSYM-
BOLO.

come, when it was said, What have 1 to do with thee? not

yet is Mine hour come; that is, the hour in which I shall ~ acknowledge thee. For then being crucified as Man He knew His human¹ Mother, and most humanely entrusted her' homito His best beloved disciple. Nor let that move us, that_Jol^₁₉ when word was brought to Him of His mother and His²⁶-²?brethren, He answered, Who is My mother, or who My Mat.is, brethren ? fyc. But let it rather teach us, that our ministry, whereby we minister the Word of God to our brethren, when parents hinder, they ought not to be known by us. For if each one shall therefore think that He had no mother upon earth, because He said, Who is My mother? he must of necessity be compelled to deny also that the Apostles had fathers upon earth; seeing that He gave them charge,saying, Call ye not any your father upon earth: for One is your Mat.23, Father, Who is in Heaven.

10. Nor let it take away in us from that faith, the thought of the woman's womb, as that it should therefore be necessary to reject such a conception of our Lord, because baseminded^* men think it base. Because most truly does the'sordidi. Apostle declare, both that the foolishness of God is wiser iCor.l, than man, and that to the pure all things are pure. There- ?^"_t j fore they, who thus think, ought to consider, that the rays of 15. this sun, which at least they praise not as a creature of God, but adore as God, is every where poured abroad through foul smells of sewers and whatsoever things are horrible, and in these works according to its nature, and yet becomes not thence vile by any contamination, although the visible light be naturally more allied to visible filth: how much less therefore could the Word of God, Which is neither corporeal nor visible, be polluted out of a female body, where It assumed human flesh together with soul and spirit, by the intervention of which the Majesty of the Word dwells more retired and separate from the frailty of a human body. Whence it is clear that in no way could the Word of God be spotted by a human body, whereby not even the very human soul is spotted. For not when it rules and quickens the body, but when it lusts after its mortal goods, the soul is spotted of the body. But if they wished to avoid the spots

24 Our Lord's Crucifixion, Resurrection, Ascension. DeFide of the soul, they would dread rather these lies and blas

EtSYM- .

Bulo. phemies. v. 11. But it was little that our Lord for us humbled Himself

in being born: there was added, that He deigned also to die Phil. 2, for mortal men. For He humbled Himself, being made subject even unto death, and that the death of the Cross; lest any of us, although he should be able not to fear death, might yet shrink from some kind of death, which men judge most ignominious. Therefore we believe in Him, Who Under Pontius Pilate Was Crucified And Buried. For it was necessary that the name of the judge be added, that the times might be known. But when that burial is believed in, there is made a calling to mind of the new tomb, whereby, to Him about to rise again unto newness of life, witness should be borne, as unto Him about to be born, by the Virgin's womb. Johni9, For as in that sepulchre no other dead body was buried, neither before nor after; so in that womb neither before nor after was any thing mortal conceived.

12. We believe also that He On The Third Day Rose

Again From The Dead, the First-begotten unto brethren

Eph. i, about to follow after Him, whom He called unto the adoption

of sons of God, whom He deigned to make co-partners and

co-heirs with Himself.

vi. 13. We believe that He Ascended Into Heaven, which

Mat.22, place of blessedness He promised unto us also, saying, They

Gal 4 ^snaM be as angels in the heavens, in that City, which is the

26. mother of us all, Jerusalem, eternal in the heavens. But it

is wont to offend certain either impious heathen or heretics,

that wo believe that an earthly body was taken up into

heaven. But the heathen for the most part are anxious

to treat with us with the arguments of the Philosophers, so

as to assert that nothing earthly can be in heaven. For our

Scriptures they know not, nor understand in what way it His sitting at the Right. Hand of The Father. 25

l Cor. was said, It is sown an animal body, it arises a spiritual

''body. For it was not so said, as if body were changed into

spirit, and became spirit; because now also our body which

i anima. is called animal, hath not been turned into soul¹, and made

soul. But by a spiritual body that is understood, which hath

been so subjected unto the spirit", as that it is suited to

^c al. ' Because it is to he so ordered.'

a heavenly habitation, all frailty and earthly stain having been Defide changed and turned into heavenly purity and stedfastness. This "goTM" is the change, of which again the Apostle says, We shall all 1 Cor. rise again, but we shall not' all he changed. Which change i_so'y^ the same Apostle teaches is made not for the worse, but for the better, in that he says, And ire shall be changed. Where 1 Cor. however and in what manner the Body of the Lord is in i '⁶²heaven, it were most over-curious and superfluous to inquire; only we must believe that He is in heaven. For it belongs not to our frailty to discuss the secrets of the heavens, but it belongs to our faith to entertain high and honourable thoughts concerning the dignity of our Lord's Body.

14. We believe also that Hcsitteth At The Right Hand vii. Of The Father. Yet must we not therefore suppose that God the Father is inclosed, as it were, within a human form;

so that, when we think of Him, there suggest itself to our mind a right or left side: neither the very fact that the Father is said to sit, must we think that that is done with bended knees, lest we fall into that blasphemy, wherein the Apostle curses them, who changed the glory of the incor-Rom. 1, ruplible God into the likeness of corruptible man. For such a likeness unto God it is impious for a Christian to place in a temple; much more is it impious to place it in the heart, where truly is the temple of God, if it be cleansed from earthly lust and error. Wherefore we must understand that, ' at the right hand,' is used in this sense, in the highest blessedness, where is righteousness, and peace, and joy; as the kids are set at the left hand, that is, in misery, by reason of unrighteousness, labours, and torments^a. Wherefore that Mat.25, God is said to sit, signifies, not a position of the limbs, but a Judicial power, of which That Majesty is never void, in assigning to men their deserts'; although in the last Judg-»digna ment much more manifestly among men will be hereafter the ^d,8ⁿ"^,• undoubted brightness of the Only-begotten Son of God, the Judge of the quick and of the dead.

15. We believe also that He Will Thence Come at the viii. most fitting time, and That He Will Judge The Quick And The Dead. Whether by those names are meant the just and

the sinners; or whether those whom at that time lie shall

^d al. ' the labours and torments of unrighteousness.'

26 Each Person of Himself God, yet the Three One God.

DRfiD■find before death upon the earth, are called the quick, and ^ebolo. those the dead, who at His Coming shall rise again. This

temporal Dispensation' is not simply, as that Generation according to that He is God, but also, hath been, and shall be. For our Lord hath been upon earth, and now is in Heaven, and shall be in His brightness the Judge of the quick and of the dead. For He shall so come, as He hath

Acts i, ascended, according to the authority' which is contained in the Acts of the Apostles. According to this temporal dispensation then He speaks in the Apocalypse, wherein it is

Rev. i, written, Thus saith He, Who is, and Who was, and Who is

i;\_iXj. to come'.

/«""• 16. Thus then having been set in order and commended ^1x- to faith, both the divine Generation of our Lord, and His human Dispensation, there is added unto our Confession, in order to perfect the faith which we have concerning God, The Holy Ghost, not of an inferior nature^a to the Father and the Son, but, so to say, consubstantial and coeternal; inasmuch as That Trinity is One God, not so that the

• idem. Father be the same Person^s, Who is also the Son and the Holy Ghost; but that the Father be the Father, and the Son be the Son, and the Holy Ghost be the Holy Ghost, and

Deut. 6, This Trinity One God, as it is written, Hear, O Israel, the Lord yovr God is One God. Yet if it be demanded of us concerning each separately, and it be said unto us, ' Is the Father God?' we will answer,' He is God.' If it be asked whether the Son be God, this too we will answer. Nor, if there shall be such a question put concerning the Holy

⁵aliud. Ghost, ought we to answer that He is any other thing³ than God; earnestly taking heed against so understanding it, in

Ps.82,6. t_ne sense in which it is said of men, Ye are gods. For they are not by nature Gods, whosoever have been made and created, of the Father, through the Son, by the gift of the Holy Ghost. For it is the very Trinity Which is signified,

Bom. when the Apostle says, Since of Him, and in Him, and

See S.' through Him, are all things; Although therefore, when it p"* 8° ^{De aemari}ded ₀f us concerning each severally, we answer, Some natural things imperfectly three in one. 27

« Dispensatio, used of the Incarna- Introduction, Ep. to Leander, c. v. tion, as OUm/ua in Greek. I Ben. conj. 'minor' for ' minore;'

'auctoritatem. See S. Greg. Mor. 'not inferior in nature.'

that He, concerning Whom the question is put, is Goo!,dbfide whether the Father, or the Son, or the Holy Ghost; yet _B0I-0." should not any one think that three Gods are worshipped by us.

17. Nor is it wonderful that these things are said concerning an ineffable Nature, when even in those very things, which we see with the eyes of the body, and judge of by the sense of the body, some such thing happens. For when as, being asked concerning the fountain, we cannot say that it is itself the river; nor, being asked concerning the river, can we call it the fountain; and again, the draught which is of the fountain or river, we can neither call the river nor the fountain. Yet in this trinity we use the name 'water,' and when the question is put concerning such, we answer of each, water. For, if I ask whether it be water in the fountain, it is answered, water; and if we ask whether it be water in the river, there is no other answer made, and in that draught no other answer will be possible; and yet we call them not three waters, but one. Certainly good heed must be taken, that no one so think of the ineffable Substance of That Majesty, as of that visible and corporeal fountain, or river, or draught. For in these the water, which is now in the fountain, goes forth into the river, and abides not in itself; and, when it passes from the river or from the fountain into the draught, it abides not there, whence it is taken. Therefore it may be that the same water belongs at one time to the term fountain, at another to the term river, at another to the term draught: whereas in That Trinity we said, that it cannot be that the Father at one time is the Son, at another the Holy Ghost: as in a tree, the root is nothing else than the root, nor the trunk any thing else than the trunk, nor can we call the boughs any thing else than the boughs; for what is called root, that cannot be called trunk and boughs; nor can that wood which pertains to the root by any passage be at one time in the root, at another in the trunk, at another in the branches; that rule of the name remaining, that the root is wood, and the trunk wood, and the boughs wood; and yet that they are not called three woods, but one wood. Or, if these have some dissimilitude, so that they may be not absurdly called three woods, by 28 The Son, how distinguished from The Father.

Dbfide reason of difference in solidity; yet that other at any rate all _B0L0" allow, if from out one fountain three cups be filled, thai they may be called three cups, but can not be called three waters, but altogether one water; although when asked concerning each several cup, you answer that in any one of them is water; although there in this case take place no passage, such as we were just now speaking of, from the fountain into the river. But these instances in bodies have been given, not by reason of their likeness to that Divine Nature^h, but because of the unity even in things visible, that it might be understood to be possible, that some three things, not only singly, but also altogether, may have one single name; and that no one wonder or think it absurd, that we call the Father God, the Son God, the Holy Ghost God, and yet that we worship' not three Gods in That Trinity, but One God, and One Substance.

18. And concerning indeed the Father and the Son,

learned and spiritual men have treated in many books,

wherein, as far as men could unto men, they have endeavoured

to suggest, both in what manner the Father and the Son

i'unus,'were not One Person, but One Substance'; and What

^""r"' severally² the Father was, and What the Son; the One the

prie.' Begetter, the Other the Begotten; the One not of the Sou,

the Other of the Father; the One the Beginning of the

I Cor. Other; whence also He is called the Head of Christ,

II 3 . .

'' although Christ also is the Beginning', but not of the Father; but This the Image of the Other, although in no wise unlike, and altogether without any difference equal. These things are treated of more largely by those who, not so briefly as wc, wish to unfold the profession of the whole Christian Faith. Therefore, in so far forth as He is the Son, He received of the Father lhal He Is, whereas He received not this of the Son: and in so far forth as through unspeakable mercy, by a dispensation in time, He assumed Manhood, that is to say, a creature subject to change in order that it may be changed for the better;

l, No corporeal illustration seems same instances are used, capable of expressing at once the 'al.« that there are not' numerical unity of the Divine Essence, ^k John viii. 25. cf. Gr. rtii i(X'" '•

and the perfection of each Person. See n s«l XaXS fy*r». 'Principinm qui et

St. Hil. de Trin. ix. 37. where the loquor vobis.' Vulg. See also Col. i. 15.

Distinction of the Holy Ghost from the Son less denied. 29

many things concerning Him in the Scriptures are found Sodefide said, as that the impious minds of heretics wishing to teach _bolo. before they understand, have been by them led into error, so as to think Him not equal to the Father, nor of the same Substance; such as are these; since the Father is greater Johni4, than I; and, The head of the woman is the man, the Hcad\ c₀r. of the man is Christ, and the Head of Christ is God; and, J¹'³Then shall He Himself be subject unto Him Who made all 15,28. things subject unto Him; and, I go unto My Father, andJohn20, your Father, My God, and your God; and some other of this sort; all which have had place, not to signify inequality of Nature and Substance, that those other be not false, IandJohnio,

30

the Father are One; and, He that hath seen Me, hath seenx _u'_num. My Father; and, The Word was God; for He was not^Johnl4r made, seeing that all things were made by Him: and, He John i, thought it not robbery to be equal with God; and all other h... „ such: but these have had place, partly by reason of that6. ministration of Manhood which He took upon Him, whereby it is said, He emptied Himself; not that That Wisdom was Phil. 2, changed, seeing that It is altogether unchangeable; but because in so' humble a guise He willed to be made known unto men: partly therefore by reason of this ministration were those things thus written, which the heretics falsely charge; partly for this reason, because the Son owes to the Father that He is, this also assuredly owing to the Father, that He is equal and alike^* to the Same Father; but the^*par. Father oweth to no one whatsoever He is.

19. But concerning the Holy Ghost it hath' not yet been so fully and carefully discussed by learned and great expounders of the divine Scriptures, as that there may easily be understood His propriety also, by which propriety it comes to pass that we can call Him neither the Son nor the Father, but only the Holy Ghost; saving only that they proclaim Him to be the Gift of God¹, that we may believe that God giveth not a Gift inferior to Himself. This however they observe, that they proclaim not the Holy Ghost to be begotten as the Son of the Father; for Christ is the Only Son; nor of the Son, as if a grandson of the Supreme Father: nor yet that He is indebted not to any for That

I Thus St. Hilary repeatedly names Him by the title Munut.

30 The Holy Ghost called the T^ve of The Father and The Son.

Defide which He is; but to the Father, of Whom are all things;

_B0L0 "that we establish not two Beginnings without a beginning, which is most false and most absurd, and not proper to the Catholic Faith, but to the error of certain heretics. Yet certain have ventured to believe the very Communion of the Father and the Son, and, so to say, the Godhead, Which the Greeks call ©eotijy, to be the Holy Ghost^m: that, seeing that the Father is God, and the Son God, the very Godhead, whereby They are joined One to Another, the One by begetting the Son, the Other by co-hering to the Father, may be made equal to Him by Whom He was begotten. This Godhead therefore, which also they would have understood to be the mutual Love and Charity of the Two, One toward the Other, they say has been called the Holy Ghost, and by many proofs of the Scriptures they support this their opinion; whether it be by that which is said, Since the love of God hath been shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost Who hath been given tts; or whether by other many such testimonies; and by the very fact that by the Holy

Rom.

6.

^m The notion as here stated, at least if taken to the letter, is heterodox, and he shades it off into truth instead of denying it. The Essential Godhead is clearly the Essence of the Father, not the Person of the Holy Ghost. The analogy of Being, Knowledge, and Love, to the Holy Trinity is stated by him also, De Civ. Dei, xi. 24, &o. And in B. xv. De Trinitate, §. 29—31. he says expressly that the Holy Ghost may be, and is, in Holy Scripture, properly called Love, as the Son, Wisdom; though every Person of the Blessed Trinity be of Himself essentially Wisdom and Love. See also P. Lombard, Sent. i. Dist. 10. and the commentators on it, and St. Thos. Aq. Sum. Theol. i. qu. xxxvii. art. I. The statement quoted by P. Lombard, from St. Jerome on Ps. xvii. 1. in found in the ' Breviarinm in Psalterium,' which passes under his name. "The Holy Ghost is neither Father nor Son, but the Love, which the Father hath in the Son, and the Son in the Father." See also the remarks of Nicolas de Lyra on John i. 1. The danger involved in this way of speaking is that of imagining the Attribute to be What we calf the Holy Spirit, instead

of remembering that He is a Person, whose Nature is shadowed forth to us by the Name of the Attribute; a point guarded by all these writers, and by St. Aug. himself, De Trin. xv. 37. cited by Petavins. "And if the Love with which the Father loves the Son does ineffably declare the communion of Both, what more fitting than that He be called Love, Who is the Spirit common to Both. For this is the sounder way of believing or understanding, that not the Holy Spirit only is Love in That Trinity, yet not without meaning is He properly called Love because of what hath been said. As not He alone in That Trinity is 'Spirit,' or ' Holy,' since the Father is Spirit too, and the Son Spirit; and the Father Holy, and the Son Holy, which piety dcubteth not: and yet He is not without meaning called The Holy Spirit. For because He is common to Both, He is called thatproperly which Both are in common. Else if in That Trinity the Holy Spirit alone is Love, certainly then the Son is found to be Son, not of the Father only, but also of the Holy Spirit." See the rest of this Book, and Fetav. de Trin. vii. 12.

Texts of Holy Scripture which seem to speak thus. 31

Ghost we are reconciled unto God; whence also, when Iibdefidb

is called the Gift of God, they will have that it is sufficiently _bolo.

shewn, that the Holy Ghost is the Love of God. For we

are not reconciled unto Him, save only by love, whereby

also we are called sons: not now under fear, as servants,

because love perfected casteth out fear; and we have re-1 John

ceived the Spirit of liberty, wherein we cry, Abba, Father. i'j₀'_nI1

And because, having been reconciled and called back into *i ¹⁸

friendship by love, we shall be able to understand all the 15.

secret things of God, therefore it is said of the Holy Ghost,

He shall lead you into all truth. Therefore also that con- Rom. 5,

fidence in preaching the truth, wherewith the Apostles were j_onnl6

filled at His coming, is rightly assigned unto love; because ^1S

also distrust is ascribed unto fear, which the perfecting 4-'

of love shutteth out. Therefore also It is called the GiftEph. 3,

of God, because that which each man knows, he enjoys^7-8

not, unless he also love it. But to enjoy the Wisdom

of God, is nothing else than to cling to' It with affection :' cohat

nor does any one abide in that which he perceives, except

by affection; and therefore He is called ' Spiritus Sanctus'

since all things whatsoever are sanctioned", are sanctioned"»^anc,

. . untur.

in order to abiding, nor is there any doubt that the term

'sanctitas¹ is used from 'sancio.¹ But especially do they

who maintain this opinion make use of that witness, where

it is written, That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and John s,

that which is born of the Spirit is Spirit; seeing that Godj_oiia4

is a Spirit. For herein He speaketh of our Regeneration, 24.

which is, not according to Adam of the flesh, but according

to Christ of the Holy Spirit. Wherefore, if mention is made

of the Holy Spirit in this place, when it is said, seeing that

God is a Spirit: they say, that it is to be observed, that it

is not said, Seeing that the Spirit is God"; but, Seeing that

God is a Spirit; so that the very Godhead of the Father and

of the Son is in this place called God, which is the Holy

Ghost. To this is added another witness, in that John the

Apostle says, Seeiny that God is Love. For here also 1 John

he says not, Love is God, but, God is Love; that the Very'

Godhead may be understood to be Love. And whereas, in

that enumeration of things connected one with another,

⁰ al.' the Spirit is of God.'

32 Mysteries of Godhead seen only by the pure in heart.

Etsvm! ^w^^ere 1* i^{s sa,}d, All things are yours, and ye are ChrisCs,

Bolo. and Christ is God's; and, The head of the woman is the

l Cor. 3, ffi_{an an}d the Head of the rlian is Christ, and the Head of

22. 23.

1 Cor. Christ is God; no mention is made of the Holy Ghost;

¹¹' ³* this they say falls under the rule, that the very connection is not usually numbered among those things which are connected one with another. Wherefore they who read with more attention seem to recognise the Very Trinity in that

Rom. place also, where it is said, For of Him, and through Him, ''and in Him, are all things. Of Him, Who oweth to no one His Being; through Him, as through a Mediator; in Him, as in Him Who holdeth together, that is, unites and joins.

20. This opinion is opposed by them who judge that that communion, which we call either Godhead, or Love, or Charity, is not a Substance; but they require that the Holy Spirit be set forth to them according to that He is Substance, and understand not that it could not otherwise have been

l John _Said, God is Love, unless Love were a Substance. That is, they are guided by experience of things corporeal; since, if two bodies be joined one to another, so as that they be set near one another, the very joining is not a body; since, when those bodies which had been joined are separated, it is no more; and yet it is not understood to have, as it were, departed and passed away, as those bodies themselves. But let such as these make pure their heart, as far as they can, that they may be able to see, that there is not any thing such in the Substance of God, as if in It Substance were one thing, and that which is Accident to Substance were another thing, and not Substance, but whatsoever can be in It conceived of, is Substauce. But these things may easily be said and believed, but seen, how they are in themselves, they altogether cannot be, save by the pure heart. Wherefore, whether that opinion be true, or whether it be any thing else, the Faith must be .held unshaken, that we call the Father God, the Son God, the Holy Ghost God; nor yet three Gods, but That Trinity One God; nor yet different of nature, but of the same Substance; nor yet so that the Father at one time be the Son, at another time be the Holy Ghost; but the Father ever the Father, the Son ever the Son, and the Holy Ghost ever the Holy Ghost. TJie Church. Remission Spirit, Soul, and Body. 33

Nor rashly concerning things unseen affirm we any thing asDEfiDr, knowing, but as believing; since seen they cannot be save ^EgoTM~ by the cleansed heart; and he who sees them in this life in part, as has been said, and in a riddle, cannot effect that l Cor. he also, to whom he speaks, shall see them, if he be hindered '' by impurities of heart. But, Blessed are they of a clean Matt. 5, heart, for they shall see God. This is our faith concerning God our Creator and Renewer.

21. But, since love is commanded us, not only towards God, when it is said, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with Dem. 6, all thy heart, and vrith all thy soul, and with all thy mind;'

but also towards our neighbour; for, Thou shalt love, saith Mat.22, He, thy neighbour as thyself: again, since that faith, if it contain not a congregation and society of men, wherein brotherly love may work, is less fruitful; we believe also in the Holy Church, meaning thereby assuredly the Catholic. For both Heretics and Schismatics call their congregations Churches. But Heretics by holding false notions concerning God violate the very faith; and Schismatics, on the other baud, by unrighteous rendings asunder, break away from brotherly love, although they believe the same things as ourselves. Wherefore neither Heretics pertain unto the Catholic Church, which loves God; nor Schismatics, since it loves its neighbour; and therefore easily pardons the sins of its neighbour, because it prays that itself may obtain pardon from Him, Who hath reconciled us unto Himself, blotting out all things past, and calling us unto a new life: unto the perfection of which life until we attain, we cannot be without sins; yet it concerns us of what kind they be.

22. Nor must we only treat of the difference between sins, Matt.6, but must altogether believe, that in no way can the sins¹⁶which we commit be forgiven us, if we ourselves shall be inexorable to forgive sins. Therefore we believe also in The

REMISSION OF SINS.

23. And since there are three things whereof man consists, spirit, soul, and body; which again are called two, because often the soul is named together with the spirit; for a certain reasonable part of the same, which beasts are without, is called the spirit: that which is chief in us is the spirit; next, the life whereby we are joined unto the body, is called

D

34 Spiritual [fie. Resurrection of the Flesh.

De Fide the soul; finally, the body itself, since it is visible, is that

Kt SVM

Bolo. which in us is last. But all this creature groaneth and is in Rom. s, travail until now: yet hath the spirit given its first fruits °,

in that it hath believed in God, and is now of a good will.

This spirit is also called the mind, of which the Apostle says, Rom. 7, With the mind I serve the Law of God. Who also in another

25

Rom. i place saith, God is my witness, Whom 1 serve in my spirit. ⁹- But the soul, when it yet seeks after fleshly goods, is called

the flesh. For a certain part of it resists^p the spirit, not by nature, but by custom of sins. Whence it is said, With the mind I serve the Law of God, but with the flesh the laiv of sin. Which custom hath been changed into nature according to our mortal generation by the sin of the first man. And therefore it is written, And we some time were by Eph. 2, nature children of wrath, that is, of vengeance, whereby it hath been brought to pass that we serve the law of sin. But the nature of the soul is then perfected when it is subdued unto its own spirit, and when it follows the spirit, the spirit following God. Therefore the carnal man perceiveth not l Cor. 2, the things which belong unto the Spirit of God. But not so speedily is the soul subdued unto the spirit unto good works, as the spirit unto God unto true faith and good will: but at times its natural impulse is more slowly checked, whereby it falls away unto things carnal and temporal. But since it also is cleansed, being established in its own nature through the rule of the spirit, which is its head, unto which, its head, Christ is a Head; we must not despair of the restoration of the body also unto its proper nature, but certainly not so speedily as the soul, just as the sold not so speedily as the ifi^Co7- spirit; but in a fit season at the last trumpet, when the dead 63.' shall rise again uncorrupted, and we shall be changed. And therefore we believe also in The Resurrection Of The Flesh; not only because the soul is restored, which now by reason of fleshly affections is called flesh; but this visible flesh also, which is by nature flesh, whose name the soul hath received, not by reason of its nature, but of its fleshly affections: therefore this visible flesh, which is properly called so, we must without doubting believe that it will rise agaip. For

• Ben. has spiritfls, ' Yet hath it P 4 JVIss.' and resists,' omitting ' for given the first fruits of the spirit.' a certain part of it.'

The Body shall rise fitted for a heavenly state. 35

the Apostle Paul seems to point out this itself as if with theDEfiDi finger, when he says, It behoveth that this corruptible put on*TM*' incorruption. For when he says, This, he, as it were, points i _eim, his finger towards it. But that which is visible may be pointed at by the finger: since the soul also might have been called corruptible; for itself is corrupted by moral vices. And when we read, And that this mortal put on immortality, the same visible flesh is meant, because at it from time to time there is, as it were, a finger pointed. For the soul too, as it is called corruptible by reason of moral vices, so may it also be called mortal. That is, it is the death of the soul to fall away from God*; which its first sin in Paradise is contained in the Sacred Writings.

24. Therefore the body will rise again according to the Christian Faith, which cannot deceive. Which if it seem to any one incredible, he regards what the flesh now is, but considers not what it will be: because in that time of angelic change, it will be no longer flesh and blood, but only body'. For the Apostle speaking of the flesh, says, The flesh qfi Cor. cattle is one, the flesh of birds another, of fishes another, qf_i0\ creeping things another; and there are bodies celestial, and bodies terrestrial. For he says not, • and flesh celestial:' but he says,' both celestial and terrestrial bodies.' For all flesh is also body, but all body is not also flesh: first, in those things terrestrial, since wood is body, but not flesh: but to man or cattle there belongs both body and flesh: but in things celestial no flesh, but bodies simple and bright, which the Apostle calls spiritual; but some call ethereal. And therefore that which he says, Flesh and blood shall not 1 Cor. inherit the kingdom of God, contradicts not the resurrection¹⁶'⁵⁰" of the flesh; but declares what that will one day be, which is now flesh and blood. Into which sort of nature whosoever believes not that this flesh can be changed, he must be led step by step unto the faith. For if you demand of him whether earth can be changed into water; by reason of the nearness, it seems not to him to be incredible. Again, if you demand whether water can be changed into air; he answers,

i cf. Eccles. x. 12. i(x'n Intt^tifrntiai, 'See the passage from his Retracta

ij(tirty iftfra/tiuu A** Kv;i<». LX X. tions quoted at the beginning of the

"iuitium superbite hominis, apostare a treatise. Deo." Vulg. •

36 Eternal Life. The Creed why learned by novices.

»r,Kidrthai neither is this absurd; for they aTe near one another.

*bolo!"And if the question be asked concerning air, whether it can be changed into an ethereal, that is, celestial, body; already the very nearness- persuades. What therefore he allows may be done by these steps, that earth be changed into ethereal body, why does he not believe that, when there is added thereto the will of God, whereby a human body was able to walk upon the waters, it may be done most speedily, as it is

i Cor. _said_, i_n the twinkling of an eye, without any such steps, just ''as generally smoke is changed into flame with wonderful quickness. For our flesh is certainly of earth; but philosophers, (by whose arguments most frequently the resurrection of the flesh is opposed, in that they assert that there cannot exist any terrestrial body in heaven,) allow that any body whatever may be turned and changed into all bodies. After that this resurrection of the body shall have taken place, being set free from the condition of time, we shall enjoy' throughly Eternal Life with love ineffable, and stedfastness without corruption. For then that shall

l Cor. take place which is written, Death is swallowed up in victory,

16,64. _u.f_wre it_, o Death, thy sting? where is, O Death, thy strife? 25. This is the Faith which in the Creed is given unto Christian novices in few words to hold. Which few words are known to the faithful, that by believing they may be made subject unto God, having been made subject may live rightly, by living rightly may cleanse their heart, with a cleansed heart may understand what they believe.

■ al. ' The body heing aet free, &e. shall enjoy.*